Vegan Chili Mushroom Bites

 One of the questions I get asked a lot is “what do you eat at parties, or family get togethers?” Most of the party food out there is either meat or dairy based and sometimes both! So often when I go to parties it is usually slim pickins for me, hence why I am always bringing food with me everywhere I go.

This weekend was my sister in law Brittany’s, 21^st birthday and she had TGIF at her house to celebrate. TGIF is Devon’s families way of staying in touch with each other throughout the weeks. Almost every Friday we all get together at someone’s house for appetizers and drinks and catch up with each other. I usually bring some sort of dip like hummus for me to eat and share with people but this week I tried something new. I’ve been really itching to make these and I was super excited to give them a shot.

Every stuffed mushroom recipe I have come across uses some sort of cheese mixture in them. Which got me thinking, what about stuffing them with other things rather than cheese?!?! I mean it’s not like cheese is the only thing that would taste good stuffed in mushrooms, so what would? CHILI would! And of course I would be using my famous sweet potato chili. Now that I had the main ingredients figured out, what would a good garnish? How about a little Daiya cheese and jalapeno? Devons family haven’t had a lot of exposure to Daiya so why not top off these tasty bites with a little, plus why not add some heat with a bit of jalapeno? Yum! These sounded so good, I knew that they would be a huge hit with the family.

When I make my chili I try to freeze half of the pot in single serving portions. This not only helps me not eat the whole pot of chili but also saves me some time on nights that I don't feel like cooking. I just so happened to have two bags of chili in my freezer, the perfect portion for my chili bites. This averaged about 4 cups of chili, which filled up 3 small pkgs of mushrooms.

These heavenly bites turned out awesome, the whole family loved them and the only thing I would change is the fact that I didn’t make more!

Ingredients

4 cups – appox – sweet potato quinoa chili

3 small pkg of mushrooms, destemmed

2 jalapenos, sliced

½ cup Daiya Cheese

Stuff the mushrooms with the chili, top with jalapeno and cheese. Bake in a 350 degrees oven for 15 mins and serve!

Rawkin Cabbage Roll Wraps!

If you are someone who is just transitioning from cooked vegan to raw vegan diet, this is a recipe for you! Cabbage rolls are one of the most popular comfort food dishes out there and when making a lifestyle change like switching to a raw diet its nice to have meals that are a healthy reminder to what you used to eat. So what better meal that raw cabbage rolls? Cabbage rolls are my all time favorite meal, growing up my mom would make them for my birthday supper every year. I had no idea how these raw ones were going to turn out but I was really excited.

I do have to give my sister Ashley credit for this one guys, it was her idea and I am envious that I didn’t think of it first. We were going for supper at my moms house on Family Day and she was making cabbage rolls, vegan and regular for everyone. Ash and I were talking about eating all raw for a couple days we were sad that we couldn’t eat the vegan ones my mom made. That’s when she thought about making raw cabbage rolls. She had just bought her non pasteurized sauerkraut and was wanting to use it, and what better way than on cabbage rolls. She came up with the filling and thought we could roll them in zucchini slices. It was a good idea, but why not wrap them in raw cabbage leafs? They are cabbage rolls! So I guess I can claim 10% of this awesome idea. Yay!

I think this recipe is such a great example of how eating clean and raw can be fun and tasty. I honestly wouldn’t have thought about eating raw cabbage rolls before I turned vegan, and that’s what I love about this lifestyle, it makes you think about food in a whole new light. And even if you aren’t raw, or vegan, try this out, be adventurous in your meals because you never know what flavors you might find and love.

Rawkin Cabbage Roll Wraps! 

1 cabbage head, carefully peel off layers of cabbage so that they are whole and perfect for wrapping. 

3 cups Cauliflower, riced in food processor/Vitamix(Pulsed)- set aside.

Tomato Sauce:
1 red pepper
1 garlic clove
2-5 soaked sun-dried tomatoes
1/4 fresh lemon juice
1/4c raw tahini
a few sprigs of each parsley and oregano

Blend ingredients in blender. Pulse Blend.

Pour onto riced cauliflower and mix well.
Use as filling in your cabbage rolls, I put in two tablespoons of filling, some diced tomatoes and a little bit of unpasteurized sauerkraut. Wrap it like a cabbage roll and eat fresh. They can get a little messy, but they sure taste good!!! 

Thanks for reading!
xoxo -N