Le Pizza Fries

Muhahahah I have suckered you in to another pizza recipe! You maybe wondering "is this woman mad? This is the like 20th pizza post!" Why yes, I am mad... mad about pizza!
I didn't even like pizza back when I wasn't vegan, it was just another supper idea that didn't really catch my attention. But ever since I turned vegan I am addicted! I love creating new fun ways to eat pizza, some healthy like my spaghetti squash pizza boats found here, or some not so healthy like my newest post...PIZZA FRIES!!!
Yes I said pizza fries. Two of the greatest foods ever, combined into one amazing dish that will have you wondering why you never thought of this before. I know I did!
Well its simple, bake fries in the oven until toasty brown.
Top with your favourite vegan pizza toppings, like:

• hot peppers
• tomatoes
• olives
• mushrooms
• mock meats
• onions
• pineapple

Sprinkle with some Daiya Mozzarella, broil it for 5 mins (be careful you don't burn it like I did!)
Heat up some pizza sauce to dip in and viola you got yourself supper! Or a snack, or maybe ever breakfast! This would be the perfect college breakfast!
If you are feeling generous you could even share this dish at a party with your friends. If not eat this in the car before you go in and blame your dog for eating it while you were getting ready (if you don't have a dog, I cant help you).

Thanks for reading!
xoxo -N

Easy Vegan Banana Muffins

I promised about a month ago that I would post these awesome Vegan Banana Muffins my sister in law brought to my Vegan TGIF party. Well better late than never!
Out of all the vegan banana bread/muffins I have tasted these are by far my favourite. Not only are they super moist, they are super simple to make with no complicated ingredients.
Everyone at the party was reaching for these when Jen placed them at the table, even the kids were asking for seconds and thirds! I hope you enjoy these as much as we did! Thanks Jen for sharing the recipe!

Easy Vegan Banana Muffins
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 large bananas, mashed
3/4 organic coconut palm sugar
1 flax egg, 1tbsp ground flax and 3 tbsp. water (let sit until thickened)
1/3 cup apple sauce

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tin with muffin liners.
Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a separate bowl combine banana, sugar, flax egg and apple sauce. Fold into flour mixture until smooth (do not over mix as that will make them dry). The batter will be very thick and kinda fluffy.
Scoop into muffin liners.
Bake for 13-15 mins.
Muffins are done when they spring back when lightly tapped.
Makes about 12 medium sized muffins.
Thanks for reading!
xoxo -N

Quick Vegan Chocolate Pancakes with Banana Ice Cream

I came up with this recipe out at my dad's cabin this past weekend. Jen, Sean and the boys were out for the weekend with us and I wanted to make something special for breakfast on Sunday. I was talking to Jen and thought about making chocolate pancakes and wished I could make them for the boys that weekend. So I took a look in the cupboards and came across cocoa powder. It was like the chocolate gods were speaking to me saying PLEASE MAKE CHOCOLATE PANCAKES! I mean come on, why would there be just straight up cocoa powder at the lake? Then I looked in the freezer and saw that there was vanilla ice cream. Not the greatest thing to eat in the morning and its not vegan but why not, the kids were going to live a little. 

"Cue Bolt of Lighting" 
I have bananas.... I have a freezer.... I have my Vitamix.... I CAN MAKE BANANA ICE CREAM!!! Its vegan, healthy and the perfect topping for my chocolate pancakes! Needless to say I was super excited to make these bad boys!

The picture doesn't do them justice, I had like 1 minute before we started eating and Brody came out with me and asked about 50 questions while I was trying to capture a decent photo. But take my word for it, they were delicious, the boys had two each and I had four! Haha ya I really lived it up this weekend. What I loved most is that Brody asked for 4 servings of banana ice cream! Something I didn't have to worry about because its just bananas!

I used the Bisquick pancake mix, but if you make your from scratch that would work too!

Thanks for reading!!
xoxo -N 

Lazyman Perogies, Vegan Gluten Free

To some families perogies are a way of life. They have them at every special occasion supper, every pot luck meal and they are always in the freezer for a midnight snack. For me that was not the case. I didn’t grow up with perogies in the house, and I can’t actually recall ever eating them as a kid. Maybe it was because my dad is celiac and there wasn’t any gluten free options back then or because my family just didn’t care for them. Either way, they were not my go to food as a kid like cabbage rolls were. And because of that I don’t really care for them, unlike my husband who craves them and can eat a whole plate of them.

So as the good wife that I am I like to cook some meals with him in mind, and this was one of them. My sister Ashley had made this a while ago, but it definitely wasn’t vegan seeing as it contained bacon and cream cheese. So I took this as a challenge, like I normally do when it comes to traditional meat and dairy recipes. (like cabbage rolls, chili and pizza)

So with a little substituting I came up with this gluten free, vegan lazyman perogie recipe that even had me loving perogies.

It is another one of my comfort food recipes that is perfect for all of our snowy Saskatchewan days. By not having the cream cheese layer that Ashley’s had, you also reduce the calories quite a bit in the recipe, not that it’s a low fat one, but I didn’t see the need for it. It is rich and creamy and honestly tastes just like perogies.

So I if you are one of those families that treat perogies like a religion, give my recipe a try and see how it how you like it. I know my husband loved it, so maybe your family might love it too!

Ingredients

2 golden potatoes, cubed

1 cup of almond milk

½ cup of Diaya, mozzarella

1 large yellow onion, diced

2 tsps coconut oil

1 pkg lasagna noodles, gluten free or regular

1 pkg of Dayia, cheddar

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook the potatoes until they are fork tender and strain. While the potatoes are cooking cook the lasagna noodles until tender, strain and rinse off. I used a deep dish 8x8 cooking pan and only need 6 noodles.

In a small frying pan, sauté the onions and oil until golden brown, about 15 mins.

In a small sauce pan on medium heat combine the milk and cheese. Stir until all of the cheese is melted and well combined with the milk. Pour over cooked potatoes and mash until smooth.

I poured a little milk in the bottom of the pan to avoid the noodles sticking to the pan.

Layer:

Milk, noodles, mashed potatoes, onion, Daiya cheddar, noodles, mashed potatoes, onion, Daiya cheddar. Done!

Cover with tin foil and cook for 15 mins, and cook uncovered for 5 mins in the oven. Let set for 5 mins, then serve and enjoy!

3 Ingredient, Vegan Oatmeal Banana Cookies

Lately I have been really thinking about what I eat and what goes into it. Well lets be real, I am constantly thinking about what I eat, every single day, almost every minute. If you were having a conversation with me I probably think about food at least twice during our time together. Just ask me next time we are talking, and I bet I could list off a couple things that have been floating around in my head.

I have been seriously considering making some sort of change and what came to mind was only eating things that are one ingredient. I am able to mix and match, cook and freeze, what ever I want, but I am going to try and eat things with one ingredient on them. It is actually going to be a little harder than it might seem. I cant have my broth to flavour stir fries or soups, no hoisen sauce for my spring rolls or no Daiya! Yes I said Daiya. That one is going to be the hardest to give up because since I have come home from Mexico I have been eating it like crazy! Hence the need for cutting back on it.

So I guess this is my first challenge to all of you who are reading this. Can you go even one day with only eating things that are one ingredient? It might sound difficult, but aren’t you up for a new challenge in your life? I'm not saying to do this forever, heck I am not going to, but just try one or two days and see what it's like. You will be surprised at how much OTHER stuff you actually eat throughout the day.

A great example would be: Toast with jam and peanut butter, and a coffee with creamer in it.

A simple breakfast that I am sure a ton of people eat for breakfast. But when you break down the list of ingredients in just those “two” items that you might choose to have for breakfast you would be surprised at how many things are in it.

This is what their websites have listed:

Smuckers Strawberry Jam - STRAWBERRIES, SUGAR, GLUCOSE, GLUCOSE-FRUCTOSE, PECTIN, CITRIC ACID

Kraft Peanut Butter - Select roasted peanuts, soybean oil, corn dextrin, sugar, hydrogenated vegetable oil, salt

Dempsters Whole Wheat Bread - Whole grain whole wheat flour including the germ, water, glucose-fructose/sugar, yeast*, vegetable oil (canola or soybean), salt, wheat gluten, vinegar, calcium propionate, sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate, monoglycerides, acetylated tartaric acid esters of mono and diglycerides, sorbic acid. May contain calcium iodate, calcium carbonate, calcium sulphate, cornstarch, ammonium chloride. *order may change. May contain soybean, milk ingredients and sesame seeds

Coffee Mate Original - WATER, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN AND/OR COTTONSEED OIL, AND LESS THAN 2% OF SODIUM CASEINATE (A MILK DERIVATIVE)**, DIPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, SODIUM ALUMINOSILICATE, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, CARRAGEENAN.

In that 'simple' breakfast there are 40 different ingredients, and that’s not including the 'may contain' in the bread. I honestly couldn’t believe how many ingredients were in the bread alone and the Coffee Mate, I only recognize the corn syrup, water as recognizable food ingredients. 

This post is not about putting down what people eat, it's about wanting you to make informed decisions and realizing what you actually put into your bodies everyday. Because I think when we actually take a hard look at what we are eating, we make better choices in the long run.

So again, I challenge you to the “One ingredient day” and see what you could change in your daily eating habits. Who knows you might actually like the changes you make. 

In honor of the one ingredient challenge, I present you some pretty fricken awesome cookies! I saw this recipe on Pinterest and it looked really simple with only 3 ingredients in it, I knew as soon as I saw it that I had to try these out. Not only are they vegan, but they are diabetic friendly, and can be gluten free. I was at first wary of the recipe because I wasn't sure what the texture was going to be like, so I bought regular rolled oats from the bulk area, to save some money. But now I know that they are delicious I plan on buying Only Oats, the gluten free oats that my family can eat. 

For me I was instantly won over by the texture. They are moist, soft and chewy, almost like a granola/banana bread cookie. They are really good right out of the oven, but also remain soft days later. 

Also, I understand that chocolate chips do not follow my one ingredient rule, but it is just a suggestion and if you want chocolate flavored cookies you could reduce your rolled oats by one tbsp and add in one tbsp of raw cocoa powder! 

I did three batches of cookies, chocolate chips, dates and chia seeds!

Ingredients - 10 cookies

2 ripe spotted bananas

1 cup rolled oats, Gluten free or regular

1/4 cup one of your favorite filling

     - chocolate chips     - coconut flakes     - cranberries

     - dates                    - walnuts               - almonds

     - chai seeds            - raisins 

*You could even add some spices to the mix to add some different flavors to them, such as cinnamon or nutmeg. 

Pre heat oven at 350 degrees. Mash bananas, stir in rolled oats and your third ingredient. Grease cookie sheet with coconut oil. Spoon on tbsp sized balls onto pan, lightly smush them down into cookie forms (they don't change their shape much). Bake for 15 minutes and let cool for 5 before serving. DONE! And Enjoy! 

Thanks for reading!
xoxo -N

Hashbrown Casserole, Vegan Gluten Free

Oh yeah this is happening! A vegan hashbrown casserole, something that many people are familiar with at Christmas time or on Mothers and Fathers Day. Devon's mom make this every Christmas morning and it is something I really missed eating. So about a month (I think right after Christmas) I had this idea about making a vegan version but I haven't had time to make a big breakfast. But today was the day to make some magic and Devon and I were super excited. 

I woke up this morning and started to make the Mushroom soup, not your typical breakfast food but it is definitely necessary for this dish. This is something you could make the night before if you have limited time to make breakfast in the morning. It doesn't take too long but its a step you can do before hand.

If you have followed my blog for a while you might recognize this recipe from my vegan poutine recipe (found here). I have altered it slightly to make it a soup instead of a sauce, and the final product turned out amazing. I gave a spoonful to Devon to try and he LOVED it. He came into the kitchen to help me mix the casserole together and when I turned around I saw him eating it out of the blender with a spoon, with a slight guilty look on his face. When ever I make something he likes he automatically says "Do you remember how you made this?" Thats how I know he really liked it because he wants to make sure I can make it again for him. Luckily I did remember and wrote it down! I am for sure going to make this again for lunch one day, probably paired with grilled cheese sandwiches! 



I was also able to share some of this with my sisters, Ashley and Chelsea. I shot them a text after it was done and extended an invitation to them to stop by and try it. Of course they showed up and gave their verdict on what they thought of my newest creation. No surprise, they also loved it, going back to eat out of the pan until it was almost all gone (they left us 3 bites left, thanks guys!) I am always happy to share my food with people, it makes me feel good knowing that other people enjoy my cooking just as much as I enjoy cooking it. I hope you guys enjoy this recipe as much as we did, its something everyone can enjoy, even if you aren't vegan. 



Vegan Mushroom Soup - 2 cups
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium onion, minced
1 small pkg of white mushrooms, minced
1 tbsp of Better than Bouillon, vegetable broth
1 cup water
3 tbsp of coconut milk
1/3 cup quinoa flour, or any other gluten free flour
1 cup water

In a small sauce pan saute the onions and garlic until brown, add mushrooms and saute until soft. Mix the bouillon and water until dissolved and then add to the mushrooms, cook for 5 minutes, then add the coconut milk. Gradually alternate between the flour and water and stir until there are no clumps. Once done pour into a blender and blend until smooth. This should make about 2 cups of mushroom soup.

Hashbrown Casserole

8 cups of frozen hash browns

1 pkg shredded Daiya Cheese, cheddar flavoured

1 medium onion, diced

2 cups of mushroom soup

Grease a glass pan and pre heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl put hashbrowns, 1 cup of the Daiya, onion and 1 cup of the soup and mix until well blended. Pour into the glass pan and level it off with the back of the spoon. Top the casserole with the rest of the soup and the Daiya. Cover with tin foil and bake for 45 min, then bake uncovered for 15 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes and serve!

Thanks for reading!!!
xoxo -N

Nature's Path Waffles: Organic, Gluten Free and Vegan

Supper around my house usually sounds like this:

Me: Devon what do you want for supper?

Devon: I don't know, what do you want?

Me: I don't know either...

Which sometimes leads to:

Devon: Lets go to the grocery store!

Thursday was one of those days. We just couldn't decide what to make and with Devon and I watching the Food Network before supper that didn't make the task of choosing any easier. So off to Safeway we went, in search of something delicious to make for supper.

I wandered the produce section for a bit, while Devon got ingredients for Chicken Fried Sandwiches. I ended up with celery... haha for a quinoa stir fry! Yummy! Luckily I had everything else I needed at home so I was done in the produce section. Which got me wandering around the store looking at random stuff waiting for Devon to be finished. 

Then, there they were in the frozen isle........... Gluten Free, Vegan Waffles!!! Holy crap! I am pretty sure I gave the other Safeway patrons a show with my happy dance right there in the gluten free frozen section. So of course when we get home I just had to try them, how can I not!? I pop them in the toaster and after the first minute we start to smell this heavenly smell of sweetness. Its the waffles. They are made of pear and grape juice which give it this amazing smell of awesomeness. I topped them with cantaloup and they were great, they tasted really good, just like real 'Eggo's', but better. 

These are perfect for families who are just transitioning into a Gluten Free lifestyle. They are a great substitution for the 'regular' version, I would even say that kids wouldn't be able to tell if they were gluten free or not!

Quinoa Breakfast Style, 7 Ways

I used to love cereal. Like full on obsession. You know how I posted that I loved October? Well cereal was right underneath there. I lived on this stuff when I was going to university and living on campus. We had the typical horrible cafeteria food, that always looked questionable and inedible. But luckily there was a wall of cereal to choose from, it was like a mecca of choices. If I can recall, there was Golden Grahams, Corn Pops, Rice Crispies, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Frosted Flakes, Lucky Charms, Mini Wheats, Honey Combs, and probably 12 others that I cannot think of. I was always thankful for this 'wall of awesomeness' because without it I would have starved!! If you were to ask anyone of my friends from Rez, I am sure they would say that the cereal wall was one of the best things (next to cross track fries) about eating there. Most of the time you would see me carrying out 2-3 bowls of cereal for each meal, plus sneaking ziplock bags full of Golden Grahams for study snacks.

Quinoa with Apples and Cinnamon

Lately, I have been doing a lot of thinking about the food that I eat and what is in it. Right now there are tons of commercials trying to tell you that their products are low fat, no fat, high fiber, high protein, no sugar, no additives, no preservatives ect,  like McDonalds, Activa, and Cheerios. They can all be quite confusing because what do you focus on? For me, I am starting to really focus on simplicity! Simplicity is your best friend when trying to make healthy, wise choices. How could you go wrong with a fresh fruit salad for breakfast, or a lettuce wrap full of fresh veggies for lunch? When you really think about it, the less ingredients, the better. 

I really like the saying, if you can't pronounce the ingredients, its not good for you. I have posted a picture of the ingredients in Cheerios, one of the most popular cereals out there. And two of the ingredients listed are trisodium phosphate and tocopherols .... I have no idea what these are. I know, I could probably Google it, but WHY am I Googling ingredients in my food! That is ridiculous and a bit disturbing. Think of the some of the food that you eat on a regular basis and the possible mystery ingredients that you are possibly consuming.

So with this thought of eating Simply, I came up with a great breakfast dish that I know you will love. It's gluten free, vegan and can be catered to anyone’s taste. It's Quinoa for Breakfast! Yes, quinoa for breakfast, you heard me correctly. I love quinoa, for any meal and for breakfast I think it's a great substitute for oatmeal. It is high in fiber and protein, contains calcium, and it's a seed (not a grain like oatmeal), which makes is easier for your body to digest. It is also very easy to prepare, its a 2 cups of water to 1 cup of quinoa and it only takes about 15 mins to cook. I find that one cup of uncooked quinoa makes about 3.5 cups of cooked quinoa, so that around 3 serving sizes (well that depends on how hungry you are, I can eat the whole fricken pot sometimes!)

Yummy quinoa breakfast!

Basically you treat Quinoa like oatmeal, you can put any type of toppings on in that you like. My absolute favourite is the blended quinoa with coconut milk and bananas. After you blend it, it has the exact texture of oatmeal and if you are a cream of wheat fan, add a little more liquid and blend it longer until you get a silky smooth texture. Also, if coconut milk isn't your thing you could use almond milk, or rice milk!

I have listed 7 of my favourites that I really enjoy and I hope you do too!

Blended quinoa with coconut milk and bananas.

Blended Quinoa with Coconut Milk and Bananas

1 cup of hot, cooked quinoa

1/4 cup of coconut milk (or any milk of choice)

1 medium banana

Put quinoa, milk and half of the banana in the blender, and blend until desired consistency. Cut up the rest of the banana and serve on top!

Dessert Breakfast - Chocolately Quinoa with Bananas

1 cup of hot, cooked quinoa

1/4 cup of chocolate almond milk

1 medium banana

Put quinoa, milk and half of the banana in the blender, and blend until desired consistency. Cut up the rest of the banana and serve on top!

Other ideas

Quinoa with diced apples and cinnamon

Quinoa with frozen blueberries and almonds - I like to leave the berries frozen!!

Quinoa with walnuts and cinnamon

Quinoa with peaches and maple syrup

Quinoa with almonds and dates

****You could also blend any of the other 5 with milk before adding the toppings****

Thanks for reading!!!
xoxo - N

Parisian Brunch feat. Vegan French Toast and Berries

This weekend was very eventful for me because it was my birthday!! I have always loved my birthday weekend, and when I say weekend I really mean weekend. I feel that your birthday shouldn't just be one day, I feel that you should try and stretch it out as much as you can. Especially when food is involved!!

When deciding what do to this weekend, my mom decided to have brunch on Sunday. I thought that it was perfect, I love breakfast food and I have wanted to try out a new French toast recipe. And of course I wanted to do a vegan recipe, so I replaced the eggs and milk for bananas and coconut milk.

Now my brunch wasn't a surprise brunch, but I was not expecting such an amazing spread of food and such am awesome theme! The only thing I was I told is to wear something black that is simple yet dressy. So when I walked into my mother’s condo I was so surprised that there was a theme at all. There were pink and black balloons, with an Eiffel tower and hat boxes decorating my mom’s kitchen. It was a Parisian Brunch! Then I was told that the men had to wear fake mustaches and the women had to wear red lipstick.

So we cracked open the bubbly, made mimosas and started on preparing brunch. There was a tower of berries, coconut milk whipped cream, vegan and regular French toast, scrambled eggs, and maple glazed ham. We were also doing gluten free French toast and regular French toast, boy there was a lot of food.

Vegan French Toast

2 ripe bananas

½ cup of coconut milk

1 tsp of cinnamon

1 tsp of vanilla (optional)

Heat up your non stick skillet on medium/high heat. Put all of the ingredients in the blender and puree until smooth. Dip your bread in the mixture, gluten free or regular bread (gluten free went over the  best in our house, even with people who are not celiac).  Brown on both sides, and serve with whipped cream and berries!

Kitty wanted to join the brunch after we all left the table,
And I don't blame her, it was good!

 All of these amazing pictures were taken by my sister Ashley from Ashley Clark Photography. 

Thanks for Reading!!

xoxo -N