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

Fresh Rolls with Low Fat Lime Peanut Sauce

I am on that mission again! Trying to find another sauce that holds up to my fresh rolls original peanut hoisen sauce. I swear it is my lot in life to try as many dipping sauces as I can, yes I am that addicted. And this new Lime Peanut sauce is pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. I am really satisfied with the results, especially since its low fat!

As usual I was craving fresh rolls for lunch while at work and I was thinking of that sweet and salty sauce that accompanies them. Which got my brain thinking about how I can adjust my original sauce to make it low fat. Cue in zucchini and you got your self a Low Fat Party! Zucchini is really the best kept secret in the cooking world. It can be used in so many ways its ridiculous.

Low Fat Lime Peanut Sauce

1 zucchini peeled

1 tbsp peanut butter

1 lime juiced

1 handful cilantro

½ clove garlic

Salt to taste

Puree in a high speed blender until smooth and serve with your favorite fresh rolls. My recipe can be found here!

Summer Fresh Vegan Grilled Cheese

This past weekend I was lucky enough to find some fresh garden tomatoes at the farmers market, along with cucumbers, a Cajun spice mix, beets, carrots, beans, potatoes and purple garlic. Of course I was happy to bring home all of my vegetables but I was mainly happy about the tomatoes! For me there is nothing better than a fresh tomato out of the garden. It literally is one of those simple pleasures you can only experience a couple months out of the year here in Saskatchewan, so when they are in season I really try to eat as many as possible because I know it’s going to be short lived.

When I got home I was contemplating what to eat for lunch and then I remembered that I had just bought a new kind of Daiya from Safeway, the Swiss Cheese Slices. And what better way to use them but in a grilled cheese sandwich. I got out the bread, the Daiya and some coconut oil and got to making my lunch, but then I thought “what could make this better?” I searched around my fridge and couldn’t really think of anything to put on top, but then I spied the tomatoes I had just got from the farmers market and that sparked the idea of a tomato, spinach grilled cheese.

After I decided what to put on my jacked up grilled cheese, I wasn’t too sure how this was going to turn out with the spinach and tomatoes. Would the tomatoes make the bread soggy? Will the spinach be too wilted and turn into mush? I wasn’t totally positive this was going to be a hit, but I like to cook dangerously and I was willing to take the risk. And I am really happy I did! Not only did the bread not turn soggy, but the spinach and tomatoes were cooked just right and the cheese was melty!

The tomatoes and spinach really brought this typical sandwich to another level for me. The freshness of the garden tomatoes with the earthiness of the spinach really brought this typical sandwich to another level for me. It going to be really hard to go back to just eating a just plain grilled cheese again because this was one of the best grilled cheeses I ever had.

Summer Fresh Grilled Cheese

2 slices of Bread

2 slices of Daiya Swish Cheese Slices or any other Daiya cheese your prefer

1 tomato

Baby spinach

Coconut oil

I like to layer the sandwich with the cheese on the bread then the spinach then the tomatoes. You want to keep the tomatoes as far away from the bread as possible so it doesn’t get soggy. Also when making a Daiya grilled cheese you kind of have to be a little inventive. Daiya doesn’t melt as quickly as dairy cheese, so when making something like a grilled cheese you have to be a little patient and watchful or else you could end up burning your bread or not having a completely melted sandwich. So what I do is turn the stove onto about medium high and cook the one side until golden brown (about 2 minutes). Then when I flip the sandwich over, I take it off the heat, cover the frying pan with a lid and let it sit for another 2-3 minutes. That way the steam is trapped and helps melt the cheese.

Thanks for reading!

Xoxo -N

This is what I found when I cut open the tomato I was using! Gotta love life's little messages!  

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

Ultimate Spicy Vegan Mac n' Cheese

Sunday was Devon’s (my hubby) birthday! He was away on a stag so we didn’t get to really celebrate, so we decided to do something on Monday night instead! I asked him what he wanted for supper and he wasn’t really that enthused about deciding, so I just let him mull it over for the morning. On lunch I was talking to him on the phone and saw a recipe for Mac and Cheese... well that’s a great idea!

He was down for the idea of an ultimate mac n’ cheese and I was up for the challenge. The challenge of making him something that I am unable to taste and also the challenge of making an ultimate vegan version! I can’t vouch for his version but he said it was awesome (he did go back for seconds!) but I can tell you that mine was the ULTAMITE VEGAN DISH EVER! I am pretty sure I yelled I LOVE THIS about ten times throughout the meal.

What I really love about this dish is that it is half of the calories and fat of what my husband’s was!!  Why yes I did say half! Can you believe that this whole dish is only around 700 calories and 15g of fat? As opposed to 1500 calories and 75g of fat, that Devon’s dish contained. So when you break it down and share this with someone (well, maybe share) your portion is only 450 calories and 7g of fat. I really hope you were sitting down for that one! It was a huge shocker to me too.

What is the secret you ask? Well I guess I can share that timbit of information with you, seeing as I really want you to try this....it’s a sweet potato! Crazy as it sounds it is a really great addition to this tradition dish. It has a creamy texture, rich taste, and a bright orange color that really adds a fun twist. Also substituting out the pasta for zucchini noodles definitely helps in reducing in unnecessary calories plus zucchini is much easier for your body to digest!

The dish really came together, especially with its kick of spice right at the end that literally had me going back for more (I had thirds, I won’t lie).  If you are not a huge fan of spicy food then just cut back on the jalapeno and Franks, or omit the Franks all together. 

Ultimate Spicy Vegan Mac n' Cheese

Severs 2 people (or one person if you are like me and eat the whole thing in one sitting!)

1 large sweet potato

½ cup rice milk

¼ cup nutritional yeast

½ cup Mozzarella Daiya

½ jalapeno, diced
½ tsp garlic salt

1 tbsp Franks Buffalo Sauce

1 medium zucchini

-Bake the sweet potato in the oven at 400 degrees until fork tender (around 45 mins).

-Peel the skin off the potato and dice into chunks (watch out its fricken hot!) and place into a medium bowl, add milk and mash until smooth.

-Stir in nutritional yeast, jalapeno, Franks Buffalo Sauce and Daiya until well combined.

-Using a vegetable mandolin, vegetable peeler or spiralizer make zucchini noodles.

-In a casserole dish combine the cheesy sauce and noodles, top with nutritional yeast and a little more Daiya!

-Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

-Serve and devour! 

Thanks for reading!
xoxo -N

Fresh Spring Rolls with Raw Vegan Coconut Mango Sauce

Ever since the first day of making homemade fresh spring rolls, I have been hooked! I could probably eat them every single day (I actually had them for lunch 2 weeks in a row) but I try to limit them because of the high fat peanut dip. Peanuts also don’t really agree with my stomach so I have been on the look out for a substitute that holds up to my original dipping sauce.

I have tried numerous different dips such as, sweet chili, hoisen, sweet potato, but none can compare to my peanut sauce, it is just that good.

Well on the way home from lunch one day I literally had a light bulb go off in my head! Cashews and mango! Why not pair them together in a dipping sauce for my spring rolls? The cashews will give them that nutty, salty flavor and the mangos will give it that sweet, fresh taste. My mind was set on making this when I got home for lunch, I just had to try it out and see how it held up to what I had imagined. 

So I got home threw some things in a blender and viola- a beautiful sauce has been born! 
To make it even better, I found this awesome spice at The Bulk Barn here in Moose Jaw called Coconut Thai and added it to the sauce. It complimented the flavors so well by adding a little heat and another element of sweetness. If you dont have that spice I offered some substitutions at the bottom. It might not taste the exact same as the original but it still tastes great! 
For my original post on how I make my spring rolls plus the ingredients for my amazing peanut sauce, check it out here!

Ingredients 

½ cup soaked, raw cashews

1 tbsp coconut Thai spice

1 fresh mango

1 lime, juiced

1 green onion

½ clove garlic

Or

½ cup soaked, raw cashews
1 cup frozen mango

3/4 cup raw coconut water

1 tbsp fresh cilantro 
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 green onion

½ clove garlic

1 lime, juiced
½ lemon rind 

Thanks for reading!
xoxo -N

Raw Vegan 'Pasta' Salad

I had the awesome pleasure of going to the lake last weekend for my husbands family reunion. The weather couldn’t have been better and it was really great to see everyone again, seeing as these only happen every 5 years.

All of the food was included with the registration fee but because it was mostly meat I brought all of my own food which mainly consisted of fresh fruit and veggies. I found that because I only brought out fruit and veggies that’s all I ate, well I wont lie, I did have some chips and alcoholic beverages! But definitely ate a lot healthier by bringing my own food.

Some of the things I brought out were ingredients for a mango date salad, some bananas, and this awesome raw ‘pasta’ salad. I originally was going to bring an actual pasta salad but I didn’t want to feel all bloated, plus I didn’t want to boil water in the 30 degree heat! So why not have a raw one and use zucchini noodles instead! They are fresh, easy to make and a lot healthier for you than the grain version.

I used my mandolin to make my zucchini noodles, but you can use a sprilralizer, a vegetable peeler or a knife!

Raw ‘Pasta’ Salad

1 medium zucchini, noodled

2 tomatoes, chopped
5-8 majool dates, chopped

½ yellow pepper, chopped

½ orange pepper, chopped
½ cucumber, chopped
1 lemon, juiced
*optional kalamata olives

Then I got home and thought about making one with a creamy sauce, still have it vegan but I kind of wanted to experiment with flavors. So on Wednesday I broke out the avocados and my Vitamix and came up with this amazing creamy raw vegan dressing!


Raw Vegan Pasta Dressing
1 avocado 
½ cucumber
2 cloves garlic
5 leafs basil
1 lemon, juiced

*optional 1 tbsp nutritional yeast

Put all sauce ingredients into a blender or a food processor and puree until smooth.Toss with the chopped veggies and 'noodles' and serve!


Thanks for reading!!
xoxo -N

Vegan Buffalo Pizza

Well its time for another pizza recipe! Yup another amazing vegan pizza recipe for you pizza loving people out there!

One of the best things I have learned recently was that Franks Red Hot Sauce is vegan! Even the Buffalo Flavour, which I thought would have had milk ingredients in it, but thankfully it does not (horay!) I remember before, when I was silly and didn’t read the ingredients, I would just smell the hot sauce and imagine all the wonderful things I could put it on. Like broccoli, potatoes, and cauliflower.

So when I found out that I could eat it I went crazy and started putting it on everything, such as my all time fav - Steamed Cauliflower with Daiya Cheese and Hot Sauce, super creamy and really satisfying. But my newest creation had me blown away! It was spicy, flavorful, surprisingly light, and a total flavour explosion. My Buffalo Pizza!

If love experimenting with different types of pizza, I highly recommend you try this one out. And what nice about it is you can control how spicy it is. Don’t like spice – omit the jalapeno sauce. Love the spice – add jalapenos on top of the pizza too! The world is your oyster!....mmm whats a vegan equivalent to oyster…. Olive? They are salty right?.... I like it!

Okay the world is your olive! Go on and try my awesome pizza! 

 

Pizza Dough

1½ cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp ground flax
2 ¼ tsp quick-rising yeast
½ tsp salt
2/3 cup very warm water
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp. date syrup *recipe below

In a medium bowl, combine flour, flax, yeast and salt. Mix well.
Measure warm water in measuring cup, then stir in olive oil and honey. 

Pour mix over dry ingredients and mix using wooden spoon to form a ball. 

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 2 mins. 

Grease inside of another bowl with olive oil and place dough inside. 

Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in warm place until double in size (about 20mins).

While the dough is rising I cut up the vegetables to have ready.

Roll out dough over lightly floured surface into a circle. 

Pinch the outer edges up into a crust.

Put on toppings and bake at 425 for 15-20 mins.

Date Syrup - makes 1 cup

10 dates

1/2 cup water

Blend in high speed blender until smooth, store the rest in the fridge!

Buffalo Pizza - Personal Sized Pizza – ¼ of pizza dough batch

¼ pizza dough

1 cup of sliced cremini mushrooms

1 orange pepper, diced

½ yellow onion, diced

¼ cup Franks Red Hot Buffalo Sauce

¼ cup Daiya Mozzarella

Cashew Cheese

1 cup of soaked cashews

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 lemon juiced

1 clove garlic

Pulse in high speed blender or food processor until smooth. If you have time spread out mixture in a metal bowl or on cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 5-10 minutes to reduce some of the moisture. Scrape once or twice to avoid possible burning.

Jalapeño Sauce

1 jalapeno

1 green onion

Small handful of parsley, de stemmed

3 dates, or 3 tbsp of date syrup

Enough water to process

Set to high in a high speed blender or food processor and puree until smooth.

Make your pizza dough and place in the oven on low to rise.

While its rising sauté your vegetables in the hot sauce for 5-10 minutes until they are almost cooked.

Remove dough from oven and divide into quarters.  Take ¼ of the dough and roll it out thinly.

Spread the cashew cheese on the bottom. Then the vegetables and Daiya.

Place in the a 400 degree oven and bake for 10 minutes.

Top with Jalapeno sauce and for added pizza flavor, dip in pizza sauce! Enjoy!!!

Thanks for reading!

Xoxo -N

Vegan Camping with Cheesy Burger Bush Pie

I just went camping this past weekend for the St. Victor Boogie, a motorcycle rally that is held ever year here in Saskatchewan by the Southern Independent Riders. It always promises to be a great time and this year it didn’t disappoint. I even got to sing on stage with one of the bands! So basically I am a rock star now! As for the food, I didn’t really eat like a rock star, because I wasn’t as prepared as I would have liked, but I survived and actually came up with some awesome things to eat.

The Burnout Pit!

Being vegan and going camping you have to be prepared. Everyone usually packs to much food so you could share, but most people usually pack lots of meat products. So now what? You could eat the grass right? Haha no I wouldn’t suggest that, and I hope you don’t get that desperate. Basically you need to be really prepared, so take some time and think about what you would like to eat, especially snacking food.

If you have a fridge I would strongly suggest you take as much fresh fruit and veggies as possible. I brought out avocados to make fresh guacamole for one of those afternoons when you are craving something salty, and fruit and my 3 Ingredient Cookies for when I was craving something sweet. If you have the time before hand I suggest making these cookies for your trip. They are the perfect substitute for granola bars because there is no added sugar or mystery ingredients in them!

The groceries I brought out were:

Dempsters Vegetable Bread

Daiya

Vegan burgers

Vegan hot dogs

Coconut oil

Bananas

Frozen Fruit to make smoothies (we have a small generator so I brought my magic bullet!)

Spinach

Avocados

Salsa

Blue corn chips

Banana oatmeal cookies

Things I forgot - my mangos and grapes

And last but not least – vegetarian beans that were generously given to me by my friend Amber

As you can see there is not a ton of fresh stuff, but I think I ate pretty good for camping. 

I would say that the one thing that saved my butt this weekend was the bush pie maker. They are the greatest camping invention ever and without it I would have probably starved (okay I wouldn’t have, but you get the picture). If your family goes camping and don’t own one, go to Walmart or Canadian Tire and get one now. There are two types out there, aluminum and cast iron. The aluminum ones are cheaper and you get what you pay for. My sister in law Jen put hers in the fire to heat up and the whole thing melted. Clearly that wouldn’t happen with the
cast iron version, so if you can spend a little more, splurge on the cast iron version.

These burgers turned out awesome!
And I love how they are vegan,
gluten free and soy free! 

So what did I make with my bush pie maker? First I made a grilled cheese. If you have ever had Daiya before you know that it takes a while for it to melt, well not in this baby. She was perfectly toasted in less than 5 minutes and the cheese was melted and stringy, YUM!

Second I made a grilled cheese but this time I added beans to it, which was even better! If you are cringing right now I don’t blame you, its not something you eat everyday, but if I could I would. When my sister Ashley got back from Europe she brought back this tasty treat with her and I have loved it ever since. Apparently it is something that they eat all the time, crazy Europeans!

Its always good to drink lots of water!

But you can sneak in a few Palm Bays too!

But the main star of the weekend was the grilled cheese burger, yup I said it and I made it, a grilled cheese burger. This was super simple to make and I was eating it in less than 10 minutes. First I took the vegan burger (Santa Fe variation from Big Mountain Foods) and cooked it in the bush pie maker for 5 minutes, then sandwiched it in between cheese and cooked it once more for 3 minutes. It was pure heaven, even my meat lovin friends were saying how awesome it looked.

Now that I have found a new delicious meal, I am now considering asking Devon to make me a fire this week so I can eat another one because I have never had a better grilled cheese in my life.

Also, there are so many different versions you could make:

Grilled chili cheese

Pizza (think of the toppings)

Fruity ones

The sky is the limit really, so go and have some fun with  your food!

Thanks for reading!

Xoxo -N