Low Fat Vegan Pad Thai, with Raw Vegan Option

I am a huge fan of Thai food. I love the spices, the creamy sauces, and the heat that comes with most meals. Also I love the fact that they tend to stay away from using meat in most dishes. They love using lentils, beans and vegetables to make up most of their dishes, something that I am very familiar with!

I have wanted to make a Pad Thai for a very long time, but never felt the drive to go for it. Knowing that the Pad Thai I used to eat was amazing, I was a little apprehensive on making a vegan version. But that all changed when I got a major craving for it and just had to make it for supper!

I have seen multiple recipes online for vegan and raw vegan versions and none really stuck with me. They all looked pretty but the ingredients didn’t really entice me to make them. So surprise, surprise I came up with my own! Wanting a challenge I really wanted to make this as low fat as possible. Knowing that anything with coconut milk, peanut butter and noodles tastes great. So I really thought about what was going into this dish and how I could substitute out the high fat things for low fat things!

The first to be subbed out were the noodles. I knew from the beginning that I was going to make mine with zucchini and skip the rice noodles. Not that they are bad for you, just that the zucchini noodles are a healthier choice! Next was the sauce. Traditionally Pad Thai sauce is made from oyster and fish sauce, two things that we vegans cannot eat! So what would give that taste?..... *light bulb* Nori papers! They have that fishy taste because they are made from seaweed and they would blend really nicely into a sauce without changing the texture. Now to give the sauce some substance! I wanted to go for a creamy version of Pad Thai and skip out on the Worcestershire Sauce, Soy Sauce and anything else high in salt and unknown ingredients. Well why not use another zucchini? That would make it creamy without having to add any non-dairy milk.

Results? Fantastic! It had a great nutty flavour, with a hint of spice right at the end from the red pepper flakes. But what is really awesome about this dish is that it can be raw too! So you now have the option of having a raw dish or a cooked one. Two for one here folks!

Low Fat Vegan Pad Thai

-       1 medium zucchini, spagettified with a mandolin or spiralizer

-       2 carrots, shredded

-       2 cups bean sprouts

-       1 cups broccoli, chopped

-       2 green onions, chopped

-       crushed unsalted peanuts

-       lime juice, garnish

Pad Thai Sauce

-       2 limes, juiced

-       1 nori paper

-       1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated

-       2 tbsp peanut butter

-       1 clove garlic

-       1 small zucchini

-       2 tsp Red pepper flakes

Place all ingredients into a blender and puree until smooth.

In a large skillet steam the carrots, broccoli and onions with a little water until almost fork tender (about 7-10 mins) toss in the zucchini, sprouts and sauce and cook for another 10 minutes. Add crushed peanuts and lime. Enjoy!

Raw version!

Don’t cook any of it! Use your favourite raw nut butter and raw nori paper in the sauce. Toss all ingredients together and enjoy!!

Thanks for reading!

xoxo -N

Cast Iron Shepherds Pie, Vegan Gluten Free

Who loves comfort food!? I do, and so does my husband. With our Saskatchewan weather being so up and down lately some days it still feels like January, which is not fun. That’s where my Shepherds Pie comes in, this dish is bound to warm you up, no matter how cold it is outside.

Like always I was on Pinterest and this recipe caught my eye for a couple reasons. One because it looked amazing, and two my sister Chelsea has a similar recipe that she has yet to share with me. So I decided the wait was over and it was time to make this bad boy. I had most of the ingredients in my house which made it easy to prepare, I only needed the green beans and potatoes and I was set. I didn’t make a ton of changes to her recipe but I did make some, so here is her recipe if you wanted to compare ours. I wont lie, the preparation of this dish is a little time consuming so I would suggest doing this when you know you have around 45 mins to prepare a meal. I will say though, it’s well worth the wait.

I had started making this on Saturday night (having the lentils soaking since I woke up) and at 5:30 Devon got a text asking if he wanted to go to the hockey game. Of course he said yes and I was now all alone for supper. There was no way I was going to put off making this because I was so excited to try it. So as I was sitting there wallowing in my loneliness I thought “lets invite Chelsea over and she can try my recipe out!” And luckily her and her boyfriend Taylor weren’t busy and were happy to come over and eat.

Yay! I'm not alone anymore and they both loved my meal, double bonus! We didn’t end up doing too much, basically watched 90’s music videos on You Tube and Louis ck’s (love him) stand up comedy on Netflix. Which, for me, is a really fun night because who could ask for more than family, good food and funny tv!




Ingredients
2 large gold potatoes
1/2 cup almond milk
1 tbsp of coconut oil
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 large carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
½ zucchini, diced
1 cup mushrooms, diced
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups green beans, cut in 1″ pieces
½ cup of dry mixed lentils, soaked for 4 - 6 hours or, 1 can of mixed lentils
1 ½ tsp thyme
¼ tsp sage
2 cups baby spinach leaves, packed
1 tbsp gluten free flour or cornstarch
2 tbsp water (or veg. broth)
1 cup of cheddar Daiya cheese
salt and pepper, to taste

Wash and cut up potatoes into cubes, I leave the skin on mine, place into large pot and cover with water. Cook until fork tender and reserve some cooking water for later. Drain, then add the almond milk and mash until smooth. You can add some of the cooking water if too dry.

Rinse off the soaked lentils, place in a medium sized pot and boil for 30 mins, or until soft.

While potatoes and lentils are cooking, make the filling. Heat up large cast iron pan and oil. Sauté onions, celery, carrots and garlic until browned. Add mushrooms, zucchini and green beans and spices, sauté for 5 mins. Add broth and lentils, stir until well combined. Simmer for 15 mins or until all veggies are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.
There should be some liquid in the pan, if not add more potato water or broth. Add the spinach and stir until completely wilted.
Mix flour and water until smooth, add to the pan and stir until well combined and has thickened.

Spoon the potatoes over the top of filling and level out. Sprinkle cheese over top and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 mins or until the cheese has melted.

Serve while hot and enjoy!

Juice Cleanse Day One!

I think it might have been me telling my sister I was feeling sick that prompted her to ask me to do a juice cleanse, not that it matters because I said yes. Why, you might ask? Because I am crazy. Just kidding, I am trying to reset my digestive system before I head to Cancun on Saturday, and Ashley thought that this would be a great way to do it. I was so nervous going into this that I really didn't think I would make it past day one, even though Ashley insisted that I could. Well here I am drinking my supper juice thinking, holy shit she was right, I can do this. 

THEN I think about my fruit fast and how day one was SO EASY! I was shocked that it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. Then day two hit and I was all like, ohhhh this is how it's supposed to feel. Like I am detoxing, so basically tired, sluggish, with bits of energy through the day. 

Today I felt normal with no real differences in my day to day routine. I had lots of energy, felt great and at 6:30pm I just started to feel tired. I plan on finishing my juice and this post then winding down to go to bed early. Devon isn't juice cleansing but he is fast asleep beside me, maybe he is secretly doing it too....?!?!

So, this is how my day one went:

I started out my day with a liter of water and 1/2 liter of hot lemon water. I also did 50 mins of walking on the treadmill followed by stretching.

All of my juices were made by my Magic Bullet Juicer.

Breakfast juice - 9am

4 stalks of kale

3 stalks of celery

2 apples

1 lemon

½ cucumber

1 cup of water

Lunch Juice - 12:00 pm

12 oranges 

Snack - 3:00 pm

1/2 liter of coconut water

Supper Juice - 6:00 pm

2 tomatoes

2 carrots

2 stalks of celery

1 red pepper

1 lemon

1/2 cucumber

Handful of cilantro

1 cup of water

I am, again, a little nervous for what tomorrow has in store for me but I just have to keep reminding myself that its only two more days. Also, without Ashley here to help me I know I wouldn't have done this on my own, so thanks Ash for pushing me to do this! To be honest, day one went by quite fast and I like the fact that I only had one appliance to clean! 
I will keep you posted on how day two goes so stay tuned!

Thanks for Reading!
Xoxo, Nikki

Butternut Squash Soup with Curry and Roasted Banana

This soup all started at Thanksgiving hosted by our Aunty Michelle and Uncle Shannon. Michelle was talking about the wine night she had just gone to and that she really enjoyed the food. Especially this soup, it was some sort of butternut squash, coconut curry and roasted banana thing. If I could have a picture of my face when she described that soup it would have been priceless. That sounded SO GOOD!! I grabbed my phone and wrote down the key ingredients she just mentioned and could NOT wait to go home and try this. 



My first attempt at this soup was pretty good, , and by good I mean my husband ate it all. I had one bowl of this soup and he had the rest of the pot. I couldn't believe it! I come home from work the next day after making it and was so excited to have a bowl. I go to the fridge and the bowl is gone. GONE?! "Devon where is the soup I made?" ....silence... "Ummm I ate it..." Instead of being angry, which he thought I might be, I was quite proud. I honestly didn't think he was going to like this soup (he isn't a fan of curry) so I was all prepared to bite the bullet and eat most of it. But I guess I was proved wrong, and happily so. 



Another reason why I posted this today is because I had a negative comment thrown my way. I know that these are a daily occurrence in everyday life and they are unavoidable. But I just wanted to put a positive spin on a woman's negative comment, because thats all we can really do when someone puts us down for our life choices. So I really hope you enjoy my soup, its gluten free and vegan so there is a huge group of people that can eat this, so please share this with your friends and family. 

Butternut Squash Soup with Curry and Roasted Banana

1 large Butternut Squash
1 ripe Banana
1 large onion, diced
3 stalks of Celery, diced
4 large carrots, diced
1 tbsp of Coconut Oil
1 clove of Garlic, minced
1 cup of Vegan Broth
6 cups of Water
1/4 cup of Coconut Milk
1 tbsp of Cumin
1 tbsp of Corriander
1 tbsp of Curry
Cilantro, garnish

Cut your squash in half and remove the seeds, place face down on a cooking sheet, along with the banana (still in the peel) and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes. While this is baking, chop up all of your veggies and put them in a pre heated pot and saute with the coconut oil and garlic. Once the veggies are almost fully cooked, add in your vegetable broth and the water. Bring to a boil and then add the coconut milk and spices, stir in. Continue to simmer until the squash is done. Once fork tender, remove the squash from the oven and let it cool down so you can handle it. Chop the squash into bite size cubes and add to your soup, let cook for 10 mins. In a blender, add half of the contents of the pot and the roasted banana, blend until smooth. Pour back into the pot and simmer for 15 minutes. Garnish this with cilantro and serve! 

Thanks for reading!

xoxo - Nikki


**I have posted at the bottom of the page my Facebook post I made this morning in regards to the negative comment, just in case you were more curious about it. 

My Facebook Post:
I love the fact that I work everyday with the public. I get to see some of the same people everyday and I get to meet some new ones. Sometimes these people are interested in my new lifestyle and inquire about it. They will ask me what new recipes I have come up with lately and even some tell me how they just made my chili, spring rolls, or my curry soup. That makes me SO HAPPY! For those of you who read my blog and experiment with my recipes, I want to you know that I appreciate the love and support. It means a lot to me that you take interest in what I have to share. Thank you!

Unfortunately, there are some Nay-Sayers out there who just don't understand this way of life. For example the woman who said I lead a boring life because I was vegan, who now today told another woman that she looses her appetite when ever I talk about the food I eat. I didn't comment when I heard her say this, because I didn't feel the need too and I was already talking with a woman who has always been very supportive and interested in the things I am cooking up. 

Now, I fully understand that there are going to be people who don't agree with me and that's totally okay because life would be boring if we all did. I just think its amusing that she probably didn't consider that I loose my appetite over the things she eats too.

So to end on a happy note, I am going to post later today the recipe I was talking about that "made her loose her appetite". Its my Butternut Squash soup with an extra surprise! Keep a look out for it because I think its FANTASTIC!!

Quinoa Stuffing - Vegan & Gluten Free

As Thanksgiving grew closer I started to think of the things that are traditionally served at Thanksgiving supper that I would not be able to have. Last year I was only vegetarian, so it made things a little easier on me. This year however is different. So I started to think of something that could easily be converted into vegan that would still be a big hit among everyone. Then it hit me! Quinoa Stuffing! This works perfect because my sisters and dad all have celiac disease so they are unable to have gluten. So by doing quinoa stuffing I am able to make a dish me, my sisters and dad can eat. Its gluten free and if I use vegan broth then perfect, two birds one stone. 

  In the picture above there were a couple things that I forgot to add. The sage, cumin and the salt and pepper.

Ingredients

·         1 cup of quinoa
·         2 cup s of water
·         1 cup of wild rice
·         4 cups of water
·         1 white onion
·         2 medium carrots
·         3 stalks of celery
·         1 cup of diced mushrooms
·         2 tbsp of coconut oil
·         1 clove of garlic, minced
·         1 cube of vegetable broth
·         1 cup of hot water
·         3 tsp of sage
·         2 tsp of cumin
·         Salt and pepper

First you will need to clean your wild rice and quinoa. A simple way to do that is to put it in a strainer and run cold water over it.

To make the wild rice: combine rice, the 4 cups of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil, cover and simmer over low heat for approximately 45 minutes, until the rice has opened and fluffed out. Strain out any excess water.

To make the quinoa combine quinoa and the 2 cups of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil, cover and simmer over low heat for approximately 20 minutes, until the water has all evaporated.

Next chop up the mushrooms, carrots, onion, and celery into bite size pieces, and place the mushrooms aside for later. Heat up a medium/large sized frying pan on Medium/High heat, add your oil and sauté the onions, garlic, carrots, and celery for about 15 minutes, or until they are soft. Combine the hot water and the vegetable broth in a bowl and stir until the broth is dissolved. Add the mushrooms and broth, spices and quinoa/rice mixture to the pan,  and continue cooking for another 10 minutes. Reduce heat.

Finally in a large serving bowl and enjoy!  

Thanks for reading!!

xoxo -N

Spring Fresh Rolls with Vegan Peanut Sauce :)

My Go-To Meal #1

When I came home this morning from my first job at the gym, I was wondering what to make for my breakfast/lunch. You see, I work at a gym from 6am-9am and then go to my other job at Conexus Credit Union from 10:45am-2:45pm. So I don’t get to eat my meals at what you would call 'normal times'. I always start my day off with three or four pieces of fruit at the gym after my workout. Then I come home and prepare my breakfast/lunch. And today, like most days, I make my awesome spring rolls! There was a time in September that I was eating these 4 days a week for lunch, that’s how much I love them. I have two other Go To Meals hence why this one is titled #1, numbers 2 and 3 will be coming soon!

Ingredients

Spring Rolls

1 pkg of 12' Rice Papers

1 pkg of Field Greens Mix

1 small zucchini

1 medium carrot

½ of a cucumber

½ cup of cilantro

Peanut Sauce

2 tbsp of Peanut Butter

1 tbsp of Hoisin

1 clove of Garlic

1 Lime, juiced

This recipe makes about 6 large spring rolls, if you had smaller sized rice papers this could make about 12-15. 

So I start out with my super amazing vegetable mandolin that I picked up at Costco for $30. Probably one of the best buys I ever made and not that expensive! First thing I do is julienne my carrots, cucumber and zucchini, throw them in a bowl and mix them together. Next I chop up the cilantro and wash my greens if needed. I listed field greens on the ingredients, but you can use any leafy greens you like. Such as spinach, kale, romaine, chard, ect. Today I used field green mix I picked up from Superstore and added in some Red Chard I had in my fridge.

Also, if you want to add different vegetables, go ahead! I have added yellow pepper, cabbage, avocado, and cooked beets to mine. I just find I always have cucumber, zucchini and carrots on hand, so those end up being my base.

Then I soak my rice paper in water for 1-2 minutes(depending how hot the water is), just until its pliable and easy to roll, and add my ingredients onto the center. I do my layers like this: Cilantro, greens, then veggie mix. I find the veggie mix weighs down the lettuce and makes it easier to roll. Finally roll it up like a burrito and you got yourself a super fresh spring roll.

The Sauce.

This is my all time favourite sauce, I could (and sometimes do, shhh) eat it by the spoon full. Its super easy to make and the ingredients are pretty basic.

All you have to do is: take the four ingredients, place them in a bowl and mix them together. DONE!

Now you can enjoy your spring rolls with peanut sauce! 


Thanks for reading! 

xoxo -N

Sweet Potato Curry Soup

Brr its cold in here!!

 As the temperatures lower, and the leaves get crunchy, there is one thing I come to realize.... its now soup season! And I like to believe that I make a pretty darn good soup, not a soup whisper per say but maybe a soup fanatic. Last fall and winter I am pretty sure I made soup every week, sometimes even twice. I have made everything from an Indian inspired sweet potato/cauliflower soup, traditional harvest vegetable soup, to my all time favourite Peanut Butter Soup (more on this later). The wonder of soup is that you can pretty much put any vegetable combination into a pot, add broth and your favourite spices and VIOLA! You got Soup! So as you can tell, Soup is one of my favourite meals to make. It’s easy to prepare, easy to freeze, and really easy to eat!

Usually my process starts with me being cold and thinking ‘Man I would do anything for a bowl of soup!” So I go home and search my fridge for ingredients that work well together, grab my largest pot and start chopping! Yesterday marked day one of my soup season and boy did it turn out fricken great. As I said before, I was cold at work and thought "Mmmm soup", so I mentally thought of what I had in my fridge and sweet potatoes popped in my head. PERFECT! They are hearty, sweet, colorful, nutritious, and not as starchy as the regular potato. Then I thought, crap I don’t have celery. For me, I can’t make soup without celery. So I raced into Safeway, grabbed a bunch of organic celery and went home to start this soup.

Ingredients

• 2 medium yellow onions
• 3 mediums carrots
• 5 stalks of celery
• 2 medium sweet potatoes
• ½ head of Broccoli
• 1 tbsp of coconut oil
• 1 cube of dry vegetable broth
• 3 cups of water
• ½ cup of uncooked, strained quinoa
• 1 tsp of curry
• 1 tsp of coriander
• 1 tsp of cumin
• Fresh cilantro

  

My soup starts off like any other vegetable soup... chopped veggies! So I take out onions, carrots, celery, broccoli and the main star – Sweet Potatoes! Chop up all the vegetables into bite size pieces, and place the broccoli aside. Heat up your pot on Medium/High heat, add your oil and sauté the onions, carrots, celery and sweet potatoes for about 10 minutes. Add 2 cups of the water, and continue cooking for another 5 minutes to blend the flavours of the veggies with the water. Reduce heat.

This next step is my secret weapon... my blender!! This is something that will change your soup making days FOREVER!!!! I know it did for me. You take half of the cooked vegetables and broth, throw it in your blender and puree.  While this is blending I add my dry broth and spices to the puree while it’s going.

Next pour the pureed vegetables back into the pot and stir in until well blended. This is when you add the last cup of water, broccoli and quinoa and stir. I like my soup on the chunky side (as you can see in the picture) so I don’t add that much water, but if you like more of a watery consistency, add more water until desired thickness or thinness.  Leave on low heat for another 20 minutes or until broccoli and quinoa are fully cooked. Wait for it to cool off a bit, top with fresh cilantro and ENJOY!!

To quote my wonderful husband tonight, “Wow this is really good” followed by “You could make this every week and I would eat this!” and my favourite “I love how this soup tastes like there is cream or milk in it, but it doesn’t!”

That is the beauty of blending the cooked vegetables to add to your base of your soup. It does make your soup creamy without adding any diary to the mixture. So fewer calories, vegan friendly and less ingredients you need to have on hand. Win-win for everyone! So let me know if you try my recipe, I would love to know how you like it and if you did any other variations to it! 

xoxo -N