Spaghetti Pizza Squash Boats

I love pizza! For those of you who follow my blog you can attest to that with all of my pizza posts. And I can guarantee that this will not be my last rendition of this amazing dish, more on this at a later date!

Last Friday night we went to Jen and Sean’s house for a deck warming party and we decided to order a whole bunch of pizza instead of doing our traditional TGIF party where everyone brings an appetizer. I loved this idea because I really didn’t feel like making anything. There was probably 12-14 of us, so we decided to get 6 extra larges for everyone to share, me getting my own pizza because I am special! I always order from Family Pizza because I know that their crust and sauce is vegan and I think that they have the best pizza for the best price. So what did I order? a tomato, onion, hot pepper pizza and when its delivered I sprinkle some Daiya on top and throw her in the oven. BOOM awesome pizza… and its extra large! Now I didn’t eat it all, don’t worry, I only had about 5 pieces leaving some for a snack later and supper the next day.

We planned on going back to their house the next day for the Rider game so I didn’t feel sad that I left it there over night. Knowing that it’s a meatless, cheese-less pizza, makes me feel pretty safe that no one would eat it. Well I was wrong, dead wrong. Not only was it eaten, but there was only 1 piece left! Out of almost a whole pizza!? I was super shocked! Who would eat this? Then I realized that there were drunk men, still drinking after we left and really who really cares what kind of pizza it is… when you are drunk pizza is pizza.

So what is another way to satisfy your pizza craving… spaghetti pizza!! Well Spaghetti Squash Pizza! I was originally going to do this on a large zucchini but Devon said he would rather have it in the squash so I complied because that also sounded great! It is super simple to make and even easier to devour! I would HIGHLY recommend, like super highly, baking the squash before hand for at least 25 mins. Or else you will end up playing the waiting game like me…I waited an hour and a half for mine to be done. Apparently they cook A LOT faster when they are face down in the oven.

 

Spaghetti Squash Pizza Boats

1 large spaghetti squash

1 can pizza sauce

1 tomato, diced

¼ cup hot bell peppers, diced

½ onion, diced

½ cup black olives

1 cup Daiya, mozzarella

** you can substitute any ingredients for your favorite pizza flavors

Split the Spaghetti Squash in half and de-seed. Lightly oil the halves, lay them face down on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 25 mins at 375 degrees. Chop up the veggies and once the squash is almost fork tender layer inside with the pizza sauce, veggies and then top it off with the Daiya. Bake for another 15 mins. Take out of the oven and start scraping away at the sides so the squash turns into spaghetti, throw it into a bowl and enjoy!!

Thanks for reading!

xoxo -Nikki

A Very Vegan Thanksgiving: As seen on Global TV Regina

I am super excited to announce that Ashley Clark from Naturally Ashley featured my Quinoa Stuffing recipe on Global Regina News this morning . Ashley was brought on to the show to talk about how to veganize your Thanksgiving meal this holiday season. Her recipes included my Qunioa Stuffing and her raw vegan pumpkin pie.

With the holidays are upon us you start to get excited about spending time with your family and eating a ton of amazing food. However, some of us get stressed out in the kitchen trying to get the food all done on time, while others are relaxed because they know they just have to bring buns to moms house and everything else will be made for them. Well, this year my sisters and I plan on helping out my mom in the preparations of this huge meal and the stress that can come with it. So we divided up the dishes and took some of the responsibilities off my momma (aren’t we great kids!) Plus it doesn’t help that all three of us are vegans, with Ashley being gluten free/raw vegan and Chelsea being gluten free/vegan, it can make for a lot of bowls on the table.


So what were we going to bring?
Ashley – salad, raw vegan pumpkin pie
Nikki – vegan/gluten free stuffing, vegan gravy, S’more Pie
Chelsea – mashed potatoes, cranberries 

I am most excited for my stuffing, cranberries and my sisters raw vegan pumpkin pie. Those are definitely the three top things I crave when Thanksgiving comes around. Before we discovered quinoa my mom would always make a rice stuffing for my gluten free family members, it was good and everyone like it, but I thought it was missing something. So last year when quinoa came to my attention I just knew that it would take gluten free stuffing to the next level. 
Then there is my sisters raw vegan pumpkin pie. Something that may not sound as good to you,  but trust me when you try it you will fall in love with it! It is rich, creamy and perfectly spiced just like a cooked pie is, the only major difference is the fact that it has to be served cold. To find the recipe for this awesome pie go to Naturally Ashley's blog found here. As for my stuffing I have re posted it along with some helpful tips to make your Thanksgiving vegan friendly this year!


Tips and Tricks to Make your Thanksgiving Vegan
- Mashed Potatoes: instead of using milk or butter, use almond milk and Earth Balance
- Make a mushroom gravy instead of a poultry based one *see recipe below
- Buy a mock meat substitute if you want to keep up the turkey tradition 
- For appetizers go with hummus or salsa with chips and veggies for a dairy free snack option 
-Salads are usually vegan, all you have to do is choose a dressing that is vegan and voila you got yourself a vegan side dish!
- Try to keep the meat/dairy/egg dishes away from the veggie ones, you could even prepare some of the veggie ones the night before to elevate stress 




Gluten free Vegan Stuffing
·         1 cup of quinoa
·         2 cup s of water
·         1 cup of wild rice
·         4 cups of water
·         1 white onion, diced
·         2 medium carrots, diced
·         5 stalks of celery, diced
·         1 small pkg mushrooms, diced
·         2 tbsp of coconut oil
·         1 clove of garlic, minced
·         1 cup vegetable broth
·         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. Or if you have a rice cooker use that instead, it’s a lot easier!

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 dice 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. Add the mushrooms and broth, spices and quinoa/rice mixture to the pan,  and continue cooking for another 10 minutes.
Serving bowl and enjoy!  

Gluten Free Vegan Gravy
1 medium Onion, diced
1 cup of Mushrooms, diced
1 tsp of Coconut Oil
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1/4 cup of gluten free Flour, I used Quinoa Flour
1 cup of Vegan Broth
2 tsp of Soy Sauce, Vegan Gluten Free 
1 tsp of Worcheshire Sauce, Vegan Gluten Free

In a small sauce pan saute the onions, garlic and mushrooms in oil until soft. Gradually alternate adding flour and broth to the onions and mushrooms until there are no clumps. Add the soy sauce and the worcheshire and continue to cook for another 5 mins. If the gravy is too thick then add more broth/water until you get your desired consistency. I like my gravy to have a smooth texture so I blended mine in my Magic Bullet until smooth. However, if you like the chunky texture then exnay the blender.

Mini Vegan Lasagna's

I love my husband! I seriously bagged one of the good ones and I say a little prayer every day that I have him in my life. Not only does he love me for who I am, he also understands me and accepts me for the way I live my life. And I couldn’t be more grateful for that because it is truly one of the hardest things in life to find.

One of the most recent examples of his awesomeness is on Sunday the Riders were playing and we were going over to our friends house to watch the game. Devon had gone golfing in the morning and I had gone to get groceries for the week. While I was there I called him and asked if he wanted any game time snacks, and usually its just chips of some sort or a drink. However this time he asked if I would pick him up dry ribs….dun dun dunnn. As the main grocery-getter in the family and a vegan he knows that I do not pick up meat or eggs unless asked, I might get cheese for him but that’s where I draw the line. Most of the times he come with me to pick out what he wants for meat products (which is rare), so I don’t have too.

So I reluctantly say yes and go to the death (meat) section to find them and get out ASAP. Well with my luck they are no where to be found and I am caught in the viscous cycle of wandering around trying to find them. With no one around to help me, I start to have an slight anxiety attack and got that feeling of just wanting to get the hell out of the section. So I grabbed chicken wings instead and literally run to the living (produce) section.

When I got home one of the first things I said was “Please understand how difficult it was for me to pick these up…” then I started to cry my eyes out (I'm a crier!!)  Instead of him asking why I was crying or telling me to stop, he just pulled me in for a hug and said “I will never ask you to get those again, I can pick them next time” THIS IS WHY I LOVE THIS MAN! He is understanding and loves me! So thank you to the powers that be for bringing him into my life.

So in light of this event I thought it was time for something amazingly vegan, and one of Devon’s favourite meals. Mini Vegan Lasagnas! Every time I make my vegan lasagna he so kindly reminds me that it is amazing and that it can hold up to any meaty lasagna out there. Another great reason why I love him, he knows how to compliment a lady!

I have been meaning to make these for about two months now but I just haven’t been inspired to do so, until this weekend. They are cute individual sized lasagnas that are cooked in a muffin tin and enjoyed by all! I'm not too sure what was drawing me to make these but they seemed so much fun to make and it was a fun twist on a traditional meal. Plus I wanted to see how the quinoa tasted instead of using regular lasagna noodles.

I was a little wary because I wasn’t sure if they would hold their shape after they were removed from the tin, and that was one of the reasons why I liked them. They were mini lasagnas! Basically anything mini is so much better! And as you can see by the pictures they came out beautifully and tasted amazing!

I truly and utterly feel that the reason why these taste so great is because of the cashew cheese. If you plan on altering my recipe please do not omit the cashew cheese, trust me when I say that it is worth the extra step!

Mini Vegan Lasagna’s

2 cups quinoa, cooked

1 jar of vegan pasta sauce

2 medium zucchini, sliced thinly lengthwise, for 12 servings you will need 24 slices
1 tbsp of coconut oil

½ of medium onion, diced

1 cups of mushrooms, diced

2 red bell pepper, diced

4 cups of fresh spinach

2 cups of Daiya Cheese, mozzarella flavour (optional).

Cashew Cheese

1 cup of cashews, soaked overnight

1/2 cup of fresh basil

¼ cup of fresh lemon juice

2 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp of nutritional yeast

¼ cup of water or vegan broth

Place all of the ingredients into a blender or a food processor and blend until smooth.

**While you are cutting up and cooking your veggies and making the cashew cheese, place the sliced zucchini on a baking sheet and put in the oven on the lowest temperature. That way you can cook off some of the excess water that they contain. I happened to do a load of dishes while cooking these so I would say I left them in for about 25 mins and they turned out perfect. If you don’t have time for this step, don’t worry because the quinoa will absorb some of the moisture too!

Sauté all of the veggie in a large frying pan until fork tender. Grease the muffin tins with some coconut oil so they are easier to remove. Then layer each muffin tin like so:

1)    2 zucchini slices
2)    1 large tbsp of Quinoa
3)    1 large tbsp of veggies
4)    1 large tbsp of sauce
5)    1 large tbsp of cashew cheese
6)    Optional - top with some Daiya

Take the ends of the zucchini and fold over until completely covered. I used some cashew cheese to secure the ends down if they kept popping up. Heat up the remainder of the pasta sauce and put aside.

Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 45 mins and serve with the left over sauce! Enjoy!

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

Quick and Easy Curry Stew

I LOVE CURRY! Like L.O.V.E LOVE  I have made a couple different curry dishes and this is by far the easiest and best I have ever made. I know I have said this about every curry dish I have made, but honestly it just keeps getting better and easier. I was surprised at how quick this meal came together and how great it turned out. 
Like always, when trying a new dish I am always a little wary on if I will like it, but man this is good. Now, I can see a couple of you out there thinking that this might be too hard, you are wrong, it’s only 4 easy steps to awesomeness for this dish. If you are unsure of whether or not you like curry then maybe start off with no curry spices and add little by little instead. For me I used 2 tbsp of curry spice to really bring out that extra punch.

So if you are in the mood for something really fun tonight, why not try out my amaze-balls curry stew, I dare you!

Serves 2-6 people ( I ate the whole pot so really 1-6 people)

Stew
2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp of coconut oil

2 good-sized sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1 large red bell pepper, or 2 small ones, chopped

1 can chick peas, rinsed and drained
1 lime

Sauce

1 can diced tomatoes

2 inch fresh ginger, peeled

2 heaping tablespoons peanut butter

1 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground red pepper flakes

2 tablespoon curry powder

1 tbsp maple syrup

½ can coconut milk

Directions:

Step one – chop up all the veggies

Step two – sauté the veggies, hick peas and oil for about 10 mins in a large pot on medium high, until almost fork tender

Step three – put all of the sauce ingredients into a blender and puree until smooth

Step four – pour sauce over veggies and let simmer for 15 minutes, the longer you simmer the thicker it gets!

Garnish with lime and serve over rice or noodles. Enjoy!

Substitutions

*coconut milk for any that you have on hand

*peanut butter for any other nut or seed butter you have

*sweet potatoes for regular potatoes

Thanks for reading!

Xoxo -N

Vegan Eggplant Soft Tacos

Truthfully I am not a big Mexican food fan. I love guacamole and salsa but tacos, burritos, enchiladas don’t really do it for me. I will eat them for sure, don’t get me wrong, but I never really crave them.

Yesterday however I was thinking about what I wanted for supper and a couple things came to mind but I wasn’t too sure. That’s when I came across a recipe for eggplant tacos, and I that piqued my interest. I just happened to have an eggplant in my fridge that was on its last couple days, so I had to use it ASAP. Well why not eggplant tacos. That’s when I realized that I interpreted the recipe wrong. I thought they used the eggplant as the taco shell, but instead they just had a corn tortilla and eggplant inside. I guess that could work too, but my original way sounded like a lot more fun!. I love trying new food and different ways to eat the norm, and this was the perfect example.

When buying your eggplant you are looking for a large, firm and a heavy one. You don't want to be  too hard or too soft because too hard means its not ripe enough and too soft means its too ripe. Also this is when size matters, because the bigger your eggplant is the wider your tacos will be!

So not only are these gluten free, egg free, everything free (except eggplant and oil) they cut down on carbs, fat, and salt and are a fun new way to look at tacos. I will warn you now, they are messy! But that shouldn’t stop you from trying them out, if anything it should entice you! Because who doesn’t love playing with their food.
My recipe is just a jumping off point, if you wanted you could add black beans, zucchini, hot peppers, anything  you think that would make a great taco, go for it. Also, if you have taco seasoning already at home then you could use that instead of the spices I have listed. I didn’t have any in my house so I thought, why not just make it!

Ingredients - 2 servings
1 large eggplant - 8 slices
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 red pepper
1 onion
5-8 mushrooms
1 lime
¼ - ½ cup of walnuts
½ avocado

Taco Seasoning
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin


Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Using a vegetable mandolin or knife slice the eggplant into ¼ inch thickness. Melt 1 tbsp of coconut oil and lightly coat the egg plant on both sides. Salt and pepper to taste. Put into the oven for 10 minutes. While they are in the oven, slice up your red pepper and onion using the mandolin. If you have one this will save you so much time! In a mixing bowl, add all of the spices together, stir until well combined. Chop up the mushrooms and throw all of the vegetables into a hot frying pan with remaining coconut oil, lime and desired amount of taco seasoning. Fry veggies until soft (the vegetables will probably be done at the same time as the eggplant) Garnish with avocado! Serve immediately and be prepared to get a little messy! Enjoy!

** If you don’t have eggplant but have a large zucchini, that would work just as good! 
** If you are looking for a vegetable mandolin I saw one at Super Store for $10.00. I got mine at Costco for $40.00 and it works awesome.

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