No Bake, Choclate Quinoa Bites

This past Friday Devon and I got the privilege of babysitting our nephews and having them sleep over night. We have never had a sleepover with them before so we were really excited for them to come over.

 I wasn’t too sure what we were going to do, because Devon and I don’t have a lot of things for them to play with. But we improvised and they had a blast. The first thing we did was blow up the air mattress they were sleeping on that night and put it in the living room. We were going to watch a movie after supper and thought it would be fun to lay on the floor and eat popcorn. Well the movie was put on hold because Auntie Nikki blew up SO MANY balloons that they wanted to play with those instead. At first Brody and Carson just played with the balloons, but then Brody had the idea of lining them up on the air mattress and then taking a running jump and knocking them all off. It was quite the game, so simple yet so much fun!

They also played with our dogs, Lucy and Stella. Our girls haven’t been around kids much so I was a little wary on how they would respond to having them overnight. But they did awesome! It took Stella a little while to calm down and get used to them being around, but after an hour she was sitting on the floor playing with her chew toy. Only when the kids had food was she on them like white on rice. But Brody and Carson had no trouble telling them to ‘go lay down’ and ‘No Stella this is not yours!’ When they left the next morning each dog took a couch and slept for hours, recuperating from the constant (yet awesome) play time and attention the boys gave them.

Brody giving Stella a hug

Carson hanging out with Lucy

After supper we made some cookies! I had came across this recipe a while ago and thought it would be fun to make seeing as they are ‘No Bake’. I tried the recipe out and immediately knew I had to make some changes. The original recipe calls for ¼ cup of coconut oil, plus ½ cup of peanut butter and I knew that it was going to be way to much oil. But I made it first seeing how it would pan out and I was right. There was so much oil, that the pan they were on had little pools of coconut oil underneath them. This time while making them with the boys I omitted the coconut oil and they turned out perfect. Also I substituted the honey for date syrup and made them balls instead of cookies!

After letting the cookie dough cool off, the boys and I got to work on forming our very own cookies. I gave them free range to make what ever shape or size of cookies they wanted. Which was quite interesting, some turned out like patties, some were balls and some were ‘worms’. Those didn’t make it to picture stage, a) because they ate them b) they looked like cat poop. Yup I said it, cat poop. I know that sounds weird but its true. To the boys they were making worms but to Devon and I, it was something else. No worries though, because they were the kids cookies and they had fun making them!

In the morning I made pancakes for everyone, including myself. I came up with a recipe that didn’t turn out that bad, but they weren’t awesome and I am not posting a pancake recipe that isn’t awesome. The regular pancakes got rave reviews from Brody and Carson, they said I made the best pancakes EVER and that they wanted to eat them every day. I wont lie, that made me feel great, what is it about a kid giving you a compliment that just makes you feel like you are the queen of the world?

By the time breakfast was over, the kids had already got the dog beds from upstairs and were dragging them down to the bottom of the stairs. They wanted to jump off the stairs into the pile of beds, and why not? I used to jump off the stairs, so why cant they? I think they did this for 2 hours, everything from counting each stair as they jumped off, to throwing balloons while jumping and trying to race it down.

We had a lot of fun, only a couple stubbed toes and brotherly fights, but all in all we had a lot of fun spending time with our nephews. Hopefully this is not the last time we get to do this while they are young, I know Jen and Sean wouldn’t mind us taking the boys for the night.

Ingredients Makes - 18-20 cookies

1/2 cup date syrup (recipe below)

4 tablespoons cocoa powder or carob powder

1/2 cup peanut butter or almond butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup shredded coconut

1/2 - 1 cup cooked white quinoa

Over medium heat, combine date syrup and cocoa powder. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes and remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter, vanilla, coconut, and quinoa. You can either use a spoon or your hands to make the balls, but be warned that the batter is messy! Place them onto parchment paper and set in the refrigerator to set (about 15-20 mins)

Date Syrup

5-7 large majool dates

1/4 cup water

Blend in high speed blender until smooth.

Thanks for reading!
Xoxo -N

Lemon Dill Tomato Sauce with Zucchini Noodles

After that life changing curry dish (well, for me it was) I was thinking that the curry sauce is something that could be made to taste like anything. You could omit the curry and add something totally different, and BAM you got yourself a whole new sauce. So what did I want? Sweet, savory, spicy? I wasn’t sure. That was until I was walking through Safeway and for some reason the flavor of dill popped into my head. Mmm dill… that sounds delicious, I haven’t had anything with dill for a very long time and it is one of my favourite spices. Now what? Dill and… dill and… dill and…lemon! So simple yet so perfect. Lemon dill tomato sauce, with zucchini noodles sounds like an awesome supper.

When I got home from Safeway (after scoring 5 bunches of bananas for $4.50, woo hoo!) I started on my dish and boy did it smell good. I don’t know what it is about dill that just screams awesomeness but it does. Like the curry sauce it has a rich, creamy flavor that some people might be surprised to learn that there is no milk or cream involved. That is one of the benefits of blending your sauces, they come out smooth and creamy without the added fat! I also decided to serve this with some steamed broccoli to add some color, body and extra nutrients to the dish. I could have totally eaten the sauce by itself, its that good, but its nice to have texture and color in my meals, and what a better steamed veggie than broccoli! I hope you enjoy this meal as much as I did!



This is what the sauce looks like before you blend it!

Ingredients 2-4 Servings

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 large yellow onion, diced

1 clove garlic, sliced

1 large can of whole tomatoes, chopped in half

½ cup cashews, soaked overnight

1 lemon, juiced

5-7 sprigs of dill, de-stemmed and chopped

Pepper to taste

1 head of broccoli, chopped

In a large frying pan on medium/high heat sauté onions in oil for 10 mins until brown. Add the rest of ingredients and simmer for 15-20 mins. Pour into high speed blender and puree until smooth. While this is cooking, steam broccoli until fork tender.

Zucchini Noodles

1 zucchini per person

Using the julienne blade of a mandolin, slice zucchini lengthwise into long, thin strands. Slice the zucchini just until you reach the seeds in the middle and then stop (the seeds will cause the noodles to fall apart).

NOTE: If you don't have a mandolin you can use a vegetable peeler or a knife.  

If you want the noodles to be hot, put the noodles into the frying pan with desired amount of sauce and cook for 5 mins and serve with broccoli! Enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

Xoxo -N

Banana Strawberry Ice Cream with Vegan Chocolate Chips

 I would like to dedicate this post to all of you who are reading this now, to those of you who read my blog yesterday, and to those who will read my blog in the future. I am so proud and happy to say that I have reached over 5000 hits, and I couldn’t be more excited!! It has only been 5 months and the response has been overwhelming, so I guess I am doing something right?  It is so crazy to think that people are actually reading the things I write and making the meals I create.  So in honor of this awesome milestone of mine, I decided to celebrate with some dessert!

With my sister Ashley on banana island this past week bananas have been popping up everywhere, from Facebook, Youtube and our conversations. So I am not surprised that I was craving this sweet treat tonight after supper, banana ice cream. But not just any banana ice cream, strawberry flavored ice cream! I had just bought fresh strawberries at the grocery store this week and while banana ice cream is delicious, strawberry ice cream is better....with chocolate chips!

If you are a banana lover like me and my sister, you will love her blog post and You Tube channel. Naturally Ashley is a natural heath coach and a banana enthusiast and can take a regular banana and transform it into meals you wouldn’t have even imagined! She just posted 8 Banana Recipe Meals using only bananas and she saved the best one for last, the ice cream. She is an inspiration of health and beauty and you can check out her blog here, her You Tube Channel here, and her on Facebook here.

I have stolen her recipe and added the strawberries!

Ingredients – 1 serving

2 ripe bananas, sliced

3-4 ripe strawberries, sliced

Slice bananas and strawberries, 1/4-inch thick. Make sure the bananas are ripe with lots of brown spots!!

Freeze in a single layer on a cookie tray lined with parchment paper — or in one layer in a resealable freezer bag, laid flat — until solid, at least 6 hours. (I usually freeze them overnight)

Transfer to food processor OR Vitamix/high powered blender.

When you process the bananas, they’ll first go sort of granular, then you’ll start to notice it going a bit creamy near the edges. Once this happens, scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue to blend, scrape, blend, scrape, etc. until the whole thing is a smooth, silky, creamy, moussey dream. This whole process should take 3 to 4 minutes in the food processor and 1- 2 minutes in the Vitamix. 

Serve right away with any toppings you like! I chose vegan chocolate chips :)

Thanks for reading!

Xoxo -N

Again look what my adorable Rottweiler, Stella accidentally did! She thought she was being sneaky by gently licking the glass behind my back but sadly no. It fell of the side table and smashed everywhere! Thanks sweetheart, I was done anyways! 

  

Vegan Cashew Curry Sitr Fry

You know those days where you eat at like 3:30 in the afternoon and when supper comes along you don’t feel hungry but you still feel like you should eat something? That is what happened the night I made this. It was 8:00 and I was searching the kitchen for something to eat and was coming up with nothing. Not that we didn’t have any food in the house, I just was being indecisive about what I wanted. So I walked back into the living room and started to watch You Gotta Eat Here and what came on has changed my life forever!

It was a recipe for Cashew Curry sauce that was vegan! Holy Moly it looked amazing and really easy to make. I was super intrigued and it even caught the eye of Devon, the curry hater. So now I was torn, because it was 8:20 and kind of late to be making supper but I really, really, really wanted to make this… sooo I did! We decided to serve it over rice, and we were kind of pumped because we found white rice in the cupboard, something we haven’t had in a long time.

The whole meal only took around 35 minutes to make and it was well worth it. My thoughts of eating so late were silenced by the amazing flavours this supper had. I think I said “I love this” about 8 times while eating it, and now as I type this I am thinking about making it again for supper tonight. The sauce is creamy, thick, FULL of rich flavor and its not that high in fat which is a HUGE bonus. Aside from the oil there is only the cashews in the sauce which add fat, there is no milk or cream, the usual culprits in fatty sauces.

The only changes I made to the sauce from the show was that I reduced the cashews from one cup to ½, I didn’t put in cinnamon and nutmeg, and she used 2 large onions and no spinach. As I was making it I thought that 2 onions was a bit much, so what would be a good substitute for it? I didn’t want to add more cashews and I didn’t want to add something that would drastically change the flavor of the dish. That’s why spinach works so well, it adds great color, nutrients and body to the sauce without having to sacrifice any flavour or add any extra fat. It’s really a win, win here!

If you are a curry fan or are someone who is interested in trying it, I would say you NEED to try this! It wont disappoint you or your family and friends. Enjoy!  

Ingredients: 2 - 4 people

Cashew Curry Sauce

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 large yellow onion

½ cup of cashews, soaked overnight or for at least 4 hours

1 sm can of tomato paste

1 ½ cups of water

2 cups fresh spinach

2 tbsp curry powder

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp coriander

Red pepper flakes to taste

Heat up large frying pan, add oil. Sauté onions until they are golden brown, about 15 minutes on med heat. In a bowl whisk together the tomato paste and water until well blended, add to frying pan and stir in. Add in all spices, spinach and cashews cook for 10 minutes. Pour into a high speed blender and blend until smooth.

Stir Fry Vegetables and Rice

1 cup of rice

2 cups of water

2 tsp of oil

1 head broccoli

½ head cauliflower

4 stalks celery

½ sm. container white mushrooms

1 clove garlic, minced

½ cup water

While the onions are cooking, I chopped up all of my vegetable and cooked my rice. Sauté the vegetables and garlic until fork tender, about 10 minutes. You could have these cooking in a separate frying pan while the cashew sauce is cooking, to save on time.

Add sauce to the vegetables in the frying pan, and stir in. I try not to waste anything, so after I am done pouring the sauce out, I take ½ cup of water and add it back into the blender, turn it on high to get all the sauce off the sides and pour it back into the pan. Just to make sure its all in!

Serve over rice, quinoa or noodles! Enjoy!

Thanks for reading!
xoxo -N

Fruity Colada Smoothie

On Wednesday I had a not-so filling breakfast of just 3 bananas and 4 cups of spinach with coconut water, blended into a smoothie. Normally I have about 2 cups of berries in there but I was out of my favorite frozen berry blend from Super Store. I thought it wouldn’t make that much of a difference in my day, but boy was I wrong.

While at work I was helping a member and I started to get really unfocused and I had trouble remembering numbers. So I attacked my 3 oranges that I brought as a snack and felt so much better. Thankfully I had a healthy snack with me, because I don’t know what I would have done. Well, I would have probably snuck downstairs to the staff room and grabbed a bag of chips, which is a horrible idea because that isn’t good for me or my body.

So that night I was determined to have a filling breakfast and went grocery shopping after supper. I picked up lots of fruits and veggies, including some pineapple and mango. I had this idea of a pina colada inspired smoothie that day and was excited to try it. Happily, I wasn’t disappointed! The smoothie turned out divine and it is now one of my favorites, even my husband said that it was the best spinach smoothie he has ever tasted. 

As you can tell by the ingredient list it makes quite a lot, around 6-8 cups, depending on how big your pineapple is and yes you drink it all to yourself for breakfast. I know it seems like a lot but you need it, trust me. It lasted me all the way until 11:30 and I felt great, I was alert, I felt full and satisfied, which didn't happen the previous day. So if you ever are craving something tropical and are wanting a really filling breakfast this is the smoothie for you! 

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!

Oh Happy Day!

Have you ever seen the poster “You are one workout away from a good mood”? That is how I felt this morning. I will be honest with you people since I got my new full time position at the bank I have really slacked off on my workouts. When I worked at the gym I could workout four mornings a week. It worked out really good, I got to work at 5:45 and did an hour workout while at work. It was perfect. Now that I don’t have to get up so early, bed has been my lover and the alarm clock is the mistress trying to separate us, so I hate her!

The first week I started my job I worked out one morning, then another week went by and I still didn’t get up. That’s when I get into that horrible funk and start feeling lazy, sad and unmotivated, all because I can’t wake up in the mornings. Yet I used to get up at 5:30am no problem, but I guess when you aren’t getting paid to go to work at that time, it’s less motivating.

Not working out effected my mood more that I ever thought it could have. I ate my feelings and had a negative attitude towards myself, all in two weeks! But this morning it had to stop. I went to bed last night with positive thoughts of “I am going to sleep great” and “I will exercise tomorrow!” and guess what, I did!

I was awake by 6:20am and on the treadmill by 6:30. I ran/jogged for 30 mins and did some light ab workouts on the floor. All in all it took around 40 mins to do and after that I felt GREAT! I was happy and ready to start my day, I haven’t felt this motivated in a long time. When I got to work I was cheery and told my fellow worker David, that I might be overly happy today and to be prepared for a lot of smiling! As I am typing this Gavin Degraw is on and I am literally dancing in my seat while smiling! Who knew that one workout could make me feel so good!? I am hoping I can keep this up because its no fun feeling lazy and frumpy.

So next time you are feeling funky, get up and go for a walk, run or jog, it will make you feel so much better!

I hope you have a wonderful day!

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!

Homemade Vegan Pizza

I have done a couple posts about pizza because well I LOVE PIZZA! Most of the time we order Family Pizza and I get mine without the cheese. However lately I have been wanting to make my own crust, to see how the two compare. Luckily my sister in law Jennifer had an awesome recipe that she shared with me, and  now will share it with you today! 

I really loved how this crust turned out, Jennifer was right it is awesome. I tried to roll it out until is was as thin as possible because I am not a big fan of thick crust. Basically the reason I eat pizza is for the toppings, the crust is just a vessel, but this crust actually tasted really good! The recipe does call for whole grain flour, so thats what I used this time. Next time I will try my hand at a gluten free version and post how it compares! Also I used a Italian and Herb Olive Oil that I really think added the perfect flavor to the crust. If you don't have flavored olive oil but would like the flavors of herbs feel free to add fresh herbs to the dough! 



When you actually think about it, the time it takes to make and rise the dough plus bake it in the oven, is the same amount of time it takes to make this pizza. And it definitely doesn't cost $30 or $40 to make them. So I hope you can take the time to make this for you and your family one night because you wont be disappointed, I know I wasn't. 



Pizza Dough - Makes 1-12inch pizza1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp ground flax
2 1/4 tsp quick-rising yeast
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup very warm water
2 tsp olive oil 
2 tsp. date honey *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.


For the toppings I used:
1 sm can tomato sauce
1 red pepper, diced
1 cup mushrooms, diced
1 cup zucchini, diced
7 kalamata olives, pitted and diced
1 handful of baby spinach 
1/2 pkg of shredded Daiya mozzarella 

Date Honey - makes 1 cup
10 dates
1/2 cup water
Blend in high speed blender until smooth





Thanks for reading!
xoxo -N