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

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

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