New Year, New Possibilities feat. Mediterranean Surprise Dip

With the ever exciting New Year upon us, a lot of us are thinking about what we might do different in the year 2013. Some may even call these New Years Resolutions. I am personally not a fan of making them because I find it very hard to stick with them. Instead I just give myself a list of things that I would like to see change in the new year. Mostly its things like see my family more, clean the house more, put away the laundry after I'm done it, actually DO laundry, ect. My newest addition to the list is eat fewer chips, they are my weakness and I should really try to cut back. I am not going to kid myself and say I am going to quit altogether because who am I kidding, I don’t want too. I feel like the decision has to come on its own, and I can't force it.

This is how I cut out peanut butter from my diet. When I became vegan I was addicted, it was one of foods that helped me transition into veganism. In the beginning I wasn’t going to give it up (no matter how many times Ashley suggested it), but just this past month I began to really recognize that it was making me feel very ill every time I would eat it. I couldn’t concentrate at work, my stomach hurt and I felt really tired. That’s when the light bulb went came on, PING! No more peanuts. It took me a while to get there, but the decision was my own and I wanted to do it!

Of course there are some of you out there who also want to make health changes but might not know where to start. I would suggest watching the Vegucated documentary, its about 3 ‘normal’ New Yorkers who go vegan for 6 weeks. The movie isn’t that long and I found it quite funny at times. I will warn you that there is some graphic footage (I covered my eyes and my husband let me know when it was okay to re-open them, so I will now suggest a buddy system when you watch it, if you are sensitive like me!). You can find it on Netflix and probably on the internet too.

While watching, I heard one of the woman say something that has really stuck with me:

"A lot of people think veganism as a religion, which is totally wrong, its not that you have to live by certain rules. Its about minimizing suffering, it’s not about being perfect”

She is right, it’s about being happy and comfortable with the way you live your life. Furthermore, it is a total different experience for each person. If you want to make a change to vegetarian/vegan and not sure where to start, why not just minimize the suffering? Gradually eliminate things from your diet at a pace you are comfortable with. For me chicken was the first to go, it was something that always bothered me so that made it easier to cut out. Another easy way to minimize suffering in you house hold is buying wild game. My husbands family are now wanting to eat more wild game such as deer, moose or wild boar, for environmental and ethical reasons. We can all share it as a family which makes it more affordable and by eating wild you are not contributing to the slaughter houses. 

My recipe today is inspired by a conversation I had with my friend Rebecca the other day. She transitioned into vegetarianism in July and she expressed that she wanted to go vegan in the new year. This got me excited! Another person to share recipes with, Woo Hoo!

She then asked me “how do you deal with going to family functions and being vegan?” This is something I get asked a lot because its one of the main hurdles people have when going vegan.  My solution is to bring your favourite dish and share with everyone. If they like it, then great you are giving them a chance to try something new! If they don’t like it, then more for you!
One of my favorite dishes to take to family functions is my Mediterranean Surprise Dip, its very simple to make and is really tasty! 

Mediterranean Surprise Dip 

Humus - store bought or you can use my recipe below
1 tomato, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1/2 cucumber, diced
2 green onions, diced
1/2 cup of kalamata olives, diced and de-seeded
Balsamic Vinegar

Humus
1 can of chick peas
1 clove of garlic
3 tbsp of tahini 
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup of water

Put all of the humus ingredients into a high speed blender and blend until smooth. 

Spread all of the humus onto a flat serving tray, then evenly sprinkle the veggies on top. The last thing is to drizzle balsamic vinegar all over. This is a trick I stole from the restaurant Original Joes, it adds a sweet and tangy taste to the dish, and you can use ANY flavor of balsamic vinegar! Serve with pita bread, or my favorite choice, fresh zucchini and cucumber slices. 

Thanks for reading!
xoxo -N

Christmas Quilt Projects!

Have I ever mentioned that I love quilting?! Cause I really do. This Christmas I had 3 sewing projects to finish before the 25^th and each of them turned out fantastic. They were all really fun to make and I was really proud of myself because I didn’t leave it till the very last minute to get them done.

The baby quilt was for my friend Kara, her boyfriend’s sister just had a baby boy named Rhone and she wanted to give him a quilt for Christmas. She found the awesome baby motorcycle fabric on Spoonflower and texted me the link so I could buy it. After seeing the fabric I knew what I wanted to make, the fabric is so busy and I really didn’t want to cut it up so I went for something basic that would show off the great print.

With a lot of parents naming their children different and unique names that are hard to spell and sometimes even pronounce, I sympathize with these kids. My name isn’t different or unique but I could NEVER EVER find anything with my name on it when I was younger. No Nikki Pencils, no Nikki Stickers, no Nikki Erasers. Nothing. Oh there was Nicole (barf, no offense) or Nick (I'M NOT A GUY!)

So I feel like I could help this little guy out by giving him something with his name on it. I know I would have really appreciated it when I was younger, to have something with my name on it. Who knows, maybe my quilt will help him spell his name... I could be helping this little boy learn! Woo Hoo!

I was super happy with this quilt and so was Kara, it’s really adorable and I put a plush backing on it to make it even better. This was the first project I finished, a whole 10 days before Christmas which is really good timing for me!

 

The second project I made was this amazing yet time consuming wall hanging for my friend Spencer. He wanted to give his family friends something for Christmas but wasn’t sure what since they are one of those families that have everything. Then he came up with the idea of a wall hanging to commemorate their farm turning 100. He sent me 9 pictures and gave me artistic freedom to make whatever I want.

 I chose the picture of the original homestead because I felt it would mean more to the family to see the original homestead on the wall.

I printed the picture off onto transparent paper for my overhead projector. I then projected the image onto the wall and individually traced out all of the images onto heat and bond, which I then pieced together to bring the wall hanging to life. Picking out the fabric was a challenge yet fun, because I wanted it all to look as much as the picture as possible but I also wanted to add some more vibrancy that the picture lacked. I had never done a wall hanging before, so it was also my first time doing hand stitching (other than binding), so I think I did a pretty great job. It was so worth all of the needles going through my fingers.... note to self, get a thimble.

The finished project turned out great, I am really happy with it, which doesn’t happen often. And the cherry on the vegan cake was that Spencer texted me on Christmas Eve quoting the woman he gave it to saying “Tell her she did an absolutely fabulous bitchin job” Gotta love it when you can make a 63 year old woman say Bitchin!

The third and final project I made for Christmas was two pillow beds for my nephews Brody and Carson. After seeing these on Pinterest, I knew I had to make them and they looked so comfy and pretty simple to make. I luckily found matching pillow cases at Winners, 2 for $4.99, which was a steal of a deal, especially since they were super cute patterns with cars, stripes and sports balls on them.

All I had to do was zig zag each of the pillow cases together insert the pillows and VIOLA DONE! Probably one of the easiest gifts I ever made. And the icing on the vegan cake here was that my nephews put down their new remote control cars because they were so pumped about them. When opening them Brody yelled ‘WOW PILLOWS!!’ and instantly wanted to play on them. I couldn’t have been happier with their reaction. So next time you are stumped on a gift for your young relatives, think about making them these pillow beds, they are totally worth it!

Thanks for reading!

Xoxo -N

My Mama's Cabbage Rolls Veganized!

One of my families’ favourite things to eat growing up was my mom’s cabbage rolls. On our birthdays we would get to pick what meal we would like her to make and I always picked cabbage rolls. I would even get upset if there weren’t any at Christmas or Easter, that’s how good they are. My mother learned from my amazing Grandma Violet (she is Swedish) who is also a great cook, so no wonder they tasted great. I find that your grandparents/parents heritage determined what type of cabbage rolls you grew up with, ours were covered in tomato juice and had a hamburger and rice filling. When I would try other families cabbage rolls often they would taste weird and sometimes even gross. It was hard to measure up to my moms!!

So with the holiday coming up and with a lot of traveling ahead of us I started to think about what my sisters and I were going to eat. We come from a family of farmers so we were certain that the food was not going to be vegan friendly. But no problem there because we are used to taking our own food to parties anyways! I had already decided to take my Quinoa stuffing but I didn’t think that it would be enough because we are really big eaters. That’s when cabbage rolls popped into my head. I haven’t had them in over a year and I really missed them. I wasn’t going to ask my mom to make them, so I ventured into the long process myself hoping and praying that they tasted at least half as good as my moms.

I had bumped into my friend Karen at the grocery store the day I was picking up my groceries and she told me that Whitney from Grounded Nutrition had an amazing vegan recipe and I should look it up. I knew my sister had been talking with her this past year so I asked her if she had the recipe and luckily she did!

I had already formed a plan of attack in my head and when I looked at Whitney’s recipe it was similar to what I was going to do except for one big difference. She layered sweet potatoes in hers! WOW that was a game changer! I was really excited to add those to my recipe because I knew that they would really add some great flavour to the mix!

I couldn’t wait for my sisters and mom to try them, I was really hoping they enjoyed them as much as I did (I got to try them the day before and nearly ate the entire roaster!) Good thing I didn’t because they were all really impressed with my efforts, and they even said that they tasted like my moms! WOO HOO!



Photography by Ashley Clark

After we got home from Christmas all I could think about was how delicious they were so…… I made 3 more batches! I went to Superstore on Boxing Day and got a whole bunch of groceries and 3 tin foil disposable pans and got to work!

The good thing about making 3 batches all at once is that there is only one mess and it doesn’t take that much time (probably 2 hours of work, but I took my time) The weird thing is I forgot at least one ingredient per batch! The first one, had no parsley or oregano, the second one had no parsley, and the third had no garlic. So they are all going to taste slightly different but I am not worried about it!

Vegan Cabbage Rolls – 1 Large Roaster Full

1 large head of cabbage

1.36 liter can of tomato juice,

1 cup of quinoa, uncooked

1 tbsp coconut oil

2 cups of mushrooms, diced finely

2 cups of celery, diced finely

4 green onions, diced finely

3 carrots, diced finely

2 large sweet potatoes, sliced thin

1 clove of garlic, minced

½ cup of fresh parsley, chopped up finely

4 sprigs of fresh oregano, de-stemmed chopped up finely

Cook your quinoa in 2 cups of water in a medium sauce pan for 20 minutes, and chop up your veggies, garlic and herbs. For the cabbage, remove as much of the stem as possible so you are able to peel the leaves off easily. Place cabbage in large sauce pan and fill it half with water, and set to boil. Check the pot every 5-7 min, removing any leaves that are soft and that peel away from the head easily. BUT BE CAREFUL BECAUSE THEY ARE HOT!  I dunk the hot hot leaves in a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process because I don’t want them to get too soft and mushy. While you are waiting for all of the leaves to fall off I throw the cooked ones in a strainer to drain the excess water. And I then cook the veggies, garlic and herbs and oil in large frying pan until the veggies are almost fully cooked. Stir in quinoa and set aside.

Once all the leaves are cooked, cut off the hard stem at the bottom in the shape of a V. Next take the sliced sweet potatoes and cover the bottom of the roaster, then fill each leaf with a spoonful of filling and roll like a burrito. Place the cabbage rolls on top of the sweet potatoes until the roaster is full. Layer another layer of sweet potatoes and if you have any cabbage left layer that on the very top. Pour the entire can of tomato juice into the roaster and you are done! Cook at 350 degrees for 2.5 hours and serve!



Photograpghy by Ashley Clark

Thanks for reading!

xoxo - N

Super Saver Brownie and Cookie Bites

Have you ever been really excited about trying a new recipe that you slot out time on your days off, take a special trip to the grocery store to get the ingredients, all to find out that the recipe SUCKED BIG TIME? I have and it sucked big time.  

I had wanted to make gluten free, vegan brownies and chocolate chip cookies from scratch because I am a sucker for pre packaged baking mixes. I thought it was time to tie on my apron, roll up my sleeves and do it like my grandma used to. So I searched the internet for some of the best recipes, printed them off and bought the ingredients.

 

The night my sister came over with her awesome egg nog was the night I had decided to bake. I had just finished the cookies when she arrived and I was super disappointed with them. They were dry, crumbly and a bit tasteless. For me if I am going to eat cookies, they better be damn good cookies!! None of these eating bad cookies just because, I want them to be amazing so I don’t feel bad about eating half of the plate!

After that disappointment I moved onto the brownies, which I thought were going to be so much better than the first disaster. NOPE! No such luck for this gal! The taste was a bit better than the cookies but they turned out super dense and super dry. I was really sad now, all of this time, effort and money wasted. Well actually my husband didn’t mind the cookies, he said that they weren’t THAT bad after eating 4 of them. But I didn’t want THAT BAD COOKIES, I wanted AWESOME COOKIES! So technically all was not really lost.

 

Then Ashley and I had a great idea. Why waste the two batches when I  could salvage them and make bite sized brownie and cookie bites. My spirits were up again , I COULD and WOULD have something delicious to eat after all. I used the cake ball method and crumbled up the brownie mixture and my sister thought that bananas would be the perfect binding ingredient. I agreed, who doesn’t love bananas and chocolate. Then I thought about adding dates, they will add more sweetness and even more binding!

Now, I am not saying to go out and purposely make a bad batch of brownies or cookies just to make these. Just, if you ever come across that horrible situation where that one recipe turns to crap and you are about to throw it out, know that you have another option to save all that time and money!

Vegan, Gluten Free Brownie and Cookie Bites

1 8x8 Dry Batch of Brownies or 12 Dry Cookies

1/4 cup of Coconut Milk  

2 Medium/Large Bananas

5 Dates, Soft

Blend bananas and dates together in the blender. Crumble the brownies/cookies into a bowl until all of the lumps are gone. Gradually mix the banana mixture into the bowl until you get a nice moist batter, if you have left over bananas dont worry, just drink them! Roll the batter into bite sized balls and place in the frige to firm up. I also rolled mine in coconut for a special touch!

*I did make the cookie ones, but my nephews ate them all before I could take a picture!!

*You could also roll them nuts, chocolate chips or any other type of toppings!

*If you dont have dates, you could use 2 tbsp of peanut butter! YUMMMMM!

*This would work also if you had left over cookies or brownies that have gone dry (when does that happen? not too sure but I bet it does on occation). Just use less bananas and dates!

Thanks for reading,

xoxo -N

Vegan Egg Nog

Even before I was vegan I hated Egg Nog, mainly for the reason that it was made out of eggs. I just couldn't wrap my head around that and it just grossed me out. So when my sister Ashley told me she made a vegan egg nog I was really intrigued. The night I made my Lasagna Inspired Salad she  brought it over for me to try and after one sip, I knew I was hooked. I thought it resembled the flavor and texture of egg nog perfectly, and it was the perfect holiday drink to share while watching Home Alone. You could even add a little 'holiday spirit', aka Rum, into it to make it even more festive!

Make this a new holiday tradition for you and your family this year!

Banana Nog
- water and meat from one young coconut, or 1 1/2 cups of almond milk
- 2 frozen bananas
- 4 pitted medjool dates
- 1/4 tsp powdered vanilla
- 1/4 tsp of cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp of nutmeg, optional

Blend together in high speed blender and enjoy!!










Persimmon Nog 
For people with banana allergies!
- Water and meat from one young coconut or 1 1/2 cups almond milk
- 2 frozen, peeled persimmons
- 4 pitted dates

- 1/4 tsp powdered vanilla

- 1/4 tsp of cinnamon

- 1/4 tsp of nutmeg, optional

Blend together in high speed blender and enjoy!!

These lovely pictures were designed by my sister Ashley. You can follow her at Naturally Ashley on Facebook! 

Thanks for reading!

xoxo -N

3 Ingredient Vegan Tomato Soup!

So this week I had the most amazing pleasure of getting 3 wisdom teeth out! Yippy Horay! (feel free to picture Mugatu from Zoolander when reading that, I know I do!) I am one of those people who have the hugest fear of the dentist, like crying and looking at all of the exits when I am in there kind of girl. This trip was no exception because this was my first major procedure and I am hoping it was my last. 

Last week I endured 5 days of torture while my bottom left wisdom tooth tried to free itself from my gums. I didn't like this, not one bit. So I finally got the courage to go to the dentist on Thursday to get them checked out, and make sure they were not infected. I was told that there was a month and a half wait to get the tooth pulled but I would be put on the ASAP list and I would be called if something came open. 

Well that didn't last long because on Tuesday I got the call to come in the next day to get it done! Again... Yippy Horay! I told Jessica at work that I was going to puke because I was so nervous, and I'm pretty sure she said 'Ya, I would too!' 

So there we have it, I'm getting it pulled.... tomorrow...... holy crap.

The next morning, in preparation for this awesome event, I went to Super Store to get some supplies, Oranges and Mangos for juicing and tomatoes because I wanted to try this soup that popped into my head the morning of the teeth pulling.

Thats when I get the call from the dentist:

"Would you be able to come in right away so we can take out the other two wisdom teeth?" 

My first thought was:

"F*** NO!'

 More pain!?!?! More teeth to be ripped from my face? They weren't even the ones that were bothering me last week, so I am not mad at those ones (however they have bothered my in the past, I just have forgotten the pain they caused me. Women have that ability, forgetting pain, its our superpower) 

But then my reasoning kicked in and I thought that this was a good thing. Instead of going in three times to get each one pulled separately, I could get it all done at once, and only suffer one panic attack. Win-Win!

Needless to say, I survived. The freezing was the worst part, it always is for some reason. So now I am sitting at home with kleenex in my mouth, because the bleeding just wont stop. Which means its really hard to eat and drink. So of course, I am starving, Luckily though, I bought tomatoes to make my awesome tomato soup! I fell in love with this soup at first sip, its so delicious, frothy, and super tasty for only having 3 ingredients in it! I didn't count the Salt and Pepper because some people don't need it. I added a dash of each to mine though! 

Tomato Soup - 2 servings

3 fresh tomatoes

5 fresh bay leaves

4 tbsp of coconut cream, or coconut milk

Salt and Pepper to taste.

Throw everything in a blender and blend until smooth, pour into a pot and heat until desired temperature. 

OR just eat it cold! 

I hope you enjoy this lovely soup as much as I do! 

 Thanks for reading!

xoxo -N

What is Nutritional Yeast?

I was thinking the other day about how some of you might not know what nutritional yeast is (because I sure didn't a couple months ago) And I have been using it in some of my recipes I post. So I thought I would do just a quick post for those of you who don't know what Nutritional Yeast is! 

Lets see what good old Wikipedia has to say:

Nutritional yeast is a deactivated yeast (unlike the activated yeast found in breads) often a strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. 

It is a source of protein and vitamins, especially the B-complex vitamins, and is a complete protein. It is also naturally low in fat and sodium and is free of sugar, dairy, and gluten. Sometimes nutritional yeast is fortified with Vitamin B12. 

Nutritional yeast has a strong flavor that is described as nutty, cheesy, or creamy, which makes it popular as an ingredient in cheese substitutes. It is often used by vegans in place of cheese. It can be used in many recipes in place of cheese, such as mashed and fried potatoes, as well as put into scrambled tofu as a substitute for scrambled eggs. Another popular use is as a topping for popcorn.

I was a little weirded out by it when I first came across it, but after using it I have grown to love it in my food. Some other ways Nutritional Yeast can be used are:

• Mixed into tomato sauce and pasta, as a type of Parmesan Cheese
• Mixed into chili
• Sprinkled on top of pizza
• Sprinkled on top of veggies before you roast them in the oven

Also for those who have a Superstore or Bulk Barn near by, I found it at both places. At Bulk Barn you get to control how much to take home, where as Superstore might be more convenient. You can also get it at most health food stores, such as Alternate Roots and Nutters!

The recipes I have used it in: 

• Lasagna Inspired Layered Salad
• Vegan Lasagna 

Thanks for reading!
xoxo -N

Lasagna Inspired Layered Salad with Avocado 'Cheese' Sauce

I thought of this salad while lying in bed Sunday morning. I was surfing Pinterest and saw a couple of recipes for avocado mac and cheese. I have been seeing a lot of this recipe lately so I clicked on the link to check out the ingredient list. The one I looked at was not vegan but it had the great idea to use avocado in the cheese sauce. PING! An idea light bulb popped in my head. An avocado cheese sauce would be great on lasagna! But.... I didn’t want to cook it, so the next best thing came to mind. A salad! Which is perfect because I can use all of the ingredients that my cooked lasagna calls for, I just won’t cook any of it!

This past month or so, I have been addicted to the homey flavours that lasagna provides: I have made it 3 times!! YUMMMMM. So I am not surprised that this idea sprouted from my brain. Now I can satisfy my homey lasagna craving with this and feel a little better about eating something that is traditionally seen as ‘unhealthy’. 

This salad is pretty easy to whip up, its just all about timing! First you have to put the cauliflower on the stove to get it steamed. While this is steaming I cut up all of my veggies for the salad and layer them in the bowl. Then I pop my sauce ingredients in the blender, blend for a couple minutes and pour that into a jar and rinse my blender out. By then the cauliflower is usually done, so I take it off the stove and run it under cold water to cool it off (we don't want hot cauliflower mixed with avocado, yick). When making the avocado sauce in my Magic Bullet Blender I had to stir it quite a bit to get it all mixed together. I just didn’t want to add any more liquid to the mixture because I wanted it to be a thicker sauce. I already had the tomato sauce, which was already watery, so two watery sauces wouldn’t have jived well in the bowl. Totally worth the extra effort!

Tomato Sauce Dressing – For 2- 4 servings

2 tomatoes

1 sun dried tomato

½ clove garlic

1 lemon, juiced

¼ cup of oregano

¼ cup basil

3 dates, soaked in water for ½ hour

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth!

Avocado Sauce – For 2 - 4 servings

1 whole avocado

1 cup of cooked cauliflower

½ clove garlic

1 lime, juiced

¼ cup parsley

¼ cup cilantro

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth!!

Layer spinach, tomatoes, orange bell peppers, mushrooms and zucchini, top with the avocado sauce and tomato dressing!!

I was so excited about this dish I just had to call my sister Ashley over to try it. Luckily she wasn't busy and was able to stop by to sample my latest creation. Her verdict?..... She loved it! and because of that she decided to make this lovely post on Facebook! Thanks Ash for the pretty picture collage! 

Thanks for reading!

xoxo- N