Easy Vegan Black Bean Dip

Are you looking for a simple appetizer to take to your next party? Try this easy vegan black bean dip!

My sister in law Brittany brought this to a Mexican TGIF party this past week and I was so thankful that she did. I hadn’t eaten much before we went thinking that there was going to be a lot of guacamole and salsa but sadly I was wrong. There was some quac and veggies but that was it (well for food that I could eat) so when Brit showed up with this amazing dish, I almost took it all for myself, hording it in the corner with the blue corn chips. But I thought I would be nice and share with everyone so they could taste how amazing the dip was.

What I really love about it is that it is super simple to make, just toss into a blender and puree! I know the color isn't the greatest but really what can you expect from a bean dip other than the awesomely brown color! 

Quick and easy Vegan Bean Dip

1 can organic black beans

1 jar of organic salsa

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 handful cilantro 

1 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp chili powder

1 lemon juiced

Blend in a high speed blender or food processor until smooth. It can be served hot or cold and paired with tortilla chips or fresh veggies! 

This is for sure going to be one of my go-to recipes when I am in a bind and need to bring something to a party. Thanks Brittany!

Side note** Brittany didn't put in the nutritional yeast or the chili powder in to her dip, so if you don't have those things on hand I can guarantee that it still tastes amazing!

Thanks for reading

xoxo -N

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

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!!

Sweet Potato & Quinoa Chili, Vegan and Gluten Free

Go To Recipe #2

As much as I love the summer months here in Saskatchewan, I do really love Fall. The smell of brisk cold air outside, the crunch of leaves and the comforting feeling of eating a hot meal to warm you up. For me nothing says comfort food more than chili and with today being the first snow fall of the season I thought it was time to share my awesome chili recipe. 

I am constantly bragging that my chili is the best. In fact, it is so good that my older sister who is a raw vegan ate 3 large bowls!! She picked around the beans, but absolutely devoured the rest. Good thing I wasn't looking forward to left overs... :) 

When I first started to cut out meat from my diet, hamburger was one of the first things to go, along with all poultry. So when making chili I just used beans and veggies but it just wasn't as satisfying. I missed the hearty feeling that chili had, and with just beans and veggies it felt like a thick soup. Then I discovered Quinoa and found a new main star for my chili. Quinoa gives the meaty texture, its gluten free and seeing as there is 22 grams of protein to 1 cup, this is something that will definitely fill you and your family up.

This recipe is super simple to throw together and if you don't have a couple of ingredients, substitute them out for other things you have in your fridge. The only thing I suggest you try and keep in there are the Sweet Potatoes which add a great chunky texture and of course the Quinoa.

Vegan Chili

1 tbsp of coconut oil

1 onion, diced

1 clove of garlic, minced
3 celery stalks, diced
2 medium sweet potato, diced
1 small zucchini, diced
5 large mushrooms, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 large can of black beans
1 large can of kidney beans
1 can of beans in tomato sauce
1 can of tomato paste
1 large can of diced tomatoes
2 cups of vegetable stock 
1 cup of uncooked, strained quinoa

1 tbsp of chili powder

1 tbsp of cumin

1 tbsp of coriander

Cilantro for garnish

Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium low heat. Add onions, garlic, celery and sweet potatoes and sauté for about 10 minutes.  Add the tomato paste, tomatoes, chili powder, corriander and cumin and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring until spices are fully blended in. Add the mushrooms, red pepper, zucchini, beans, stock, and season with salt and pepper. Continue to cook for about 5 minutes, then add the uncooked strained quinoa. Continue cooking for about 30 minutes, stirring frequently, or until quinoa and potatoes are cooked and the chili has thickened. Top with avocado and chopped cilantro.

Thanks for reading!!

xoxo -N

Mexican Style Quinoa and Black Bean Stuffed Peppers, Gluten Free and Vegan

This month, something was brought to my attention that just made October so much cooler. October is Vegetarian Awareness Month!! For those of you who don’t know me, I love October. And when I say love, I mean LOVE LOVE LOVE. My birthday is in October, thanksgiving, my dogs birthdays and Halloween! Now this just puts the cherry right on top!
One of the main messages that Vegetarian Awareness Month is promoting is Meatless Monday’s. This is where you go all of Monday without eating any meat. I know for those of you who are meat eaters, it sounds hard, but I swear it isn’t. I even bet some of your favourite meals are vegetarian. When you actually start looking for amazing meatless meals, you will find that the options are endless.

Some simple ideas can include:

Taking your favourite Fettuccini Alfredo and instead of adding meat, add mushrooms
Vegetarian Pizza – You could do a mushroom, peppers, tomato, olives, ect. There are a lot of ingredients that go really well on a pizza. Now is the time to be creative.
Do breakfast for supper! Who doesn’t love pancakes for supper? Pair those with some scrambled eggs or omelets and you got a great meal!

Last night for supper I was in the mood for something Mexican inspired. So I checked the fridge and I was in luck, I had red and yellow peppers! And one of my favourite dishes to make is quinoa stuffed peppers. They are quite simple to make, and if you want you can do any flavour of stuffed peppers, such as Italian or Greek.

Ingredients2 yellow peppers
1 cup of cooked quinoa
1 tbsp of coconut oil

1 medium onion, diced

1 cup of zucchini, diced
1 ½ cups of mushrooms, diced
1 medium tomato, diced
1 cup of black beans

1/4 cup of Daiya Cheese
1 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of coriander
2 tsp of chili powder
1 tsp of onion salt

 

Pre heat your oven to 350 degrees and heat up oil in a medium sized frying pan on Medium/High heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté them for 10 minutes, or until they are soft. Stir in your mushrooms, zucchini and tomatoes until evenly distributed, sauté for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and add your spices, mixing them well into the vegetables. Finally stir in the quinoa and black beans. Continue to cook on low/medium heat for another 5 minutes.

Then take the peppers and cut them in half length wise. This will make them easier to stuff, they will lay more evenly in the pan and they are easier to eat. If your peppers are odd shaped and do not stay upright in the pan, stick toothpicks in the sides of the pepper to stabilize them.

Once your vegetable mix is ready, place your peppers in a baking pan – I used an 8 inch square cake pan. Then spoon the mixture into the peppers, almost to the point of over stuffing them.

This is the point when I remembered that I had just bought a new package of Pepper Jack Daiya Cheese. I love this stuff, it melts like cheese, tastes like cheese and would be the perfect touch to my stuffed peppers.

I took about ¼ cup of the cheese and evenly distributed it on top of the peppers. This is one of the reasons why you should make sure your peppers lay flat in the pan. Because if they didn’t your stuffing and cheese would fall out.

Now they are ready to put in the oven! Now because the inside veggie mixture is already cooked, the bake time isn’t very long. We are only baking the peppers until they are soft, which takes about 15-20 minutes or until the cheese melts. This step is really up to you, the longer you have it in the oven, the softer the pepper. I like my pepper to be a little crunchy, so I only bake it for 15 minutes.

Once your peppers are cooked to your liking, take them out of the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes. Then serve!





Thanks for reading!!

xoxo -N

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