WIAW #32 OR Weekend Eats

   Hi Friends!

   It's Wednesday and you know what that means! I'm linking up again with Jenn over at Peas and Crayons for more WIAW shenanigans. Oh, and if it's all right with you I'm going to keep this post light and breezy after Monday's slightly heavier post.

Let's get to it!

Breakfast...

Tofu scramble with steamed kale, leftover tomato and cucumber salad, and sprouts by yours truly. I'm obsessed with sprouting and always have some in the fridge plus some seeds in a jar sprouting away on the counter.

Lunch...

Since breakfast was kind of huge, I went with a strawberry mango smoothie for lunch. It may not sound like much but this baby was jam-packed with fruit and then thinned out with some coconut water and a splash of lemon juice. De-lish!

Snack...

One super delicious organic apple with dijon mustard for dipping. Wait, you don't eat apples dipped in mustard? Ha! Don't knock it 'til you've tried it. The children at my work are obsessed with apples and mustard thanks to my influence. You'll love it too, I promise!

Dinner...

Homemade Black Bean Burgers with Boston lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, sprouts, peppers and homemade polenta fries. I've made this burger plate like three days in a row. I love open-faced burgers with no bun. It's so much more fun!

Bevies...

Water! I drink water all day long and I absolutely love to infuse my water with lemons, limes, cucumbers, etc. But my absolute obsession is mixing coconut water with filtered water and adding a ton of lemon wedges plus lemon juice to it. It's so hydrating, refreshing and tasty.

I told you I was obsessed with coconut water. I can't get enough of this stuff!

And of course, there's always time for a glass of wine at the end of the day. I never really understood how people unwind without a glass or two... Or maybe that's just me?
And obviously I drink a lot of coffee... it just doesn't always last long enough for me to actually remember to take a photo!

And last but not least...

I think it should be a kind of tradition, finishing off a WIAW post with a photo of Patchie. Here she is sitting pretty and looking like the princess she is! FYI she never sits in those chairs unless I was sitting there first. Go figure, she always has to take my spot!

Happy Hump Day, everyone!

Love,

Ves xx

WIAW #30 Round Up

Hi Friends!

It's been so long since I've done a What I Ate Wednesday post. I mean I'm always sharing my yummy eats but I miss joining the party and linking it up over at Peas and Crayons. Time to change that! I've got lot's of yummy photos to show you so let's get started!
I took a week off of work while my mom was in town so that we could spend more time together.  My mom spent the weekdays at my brother and sister-in-law's house watching my niece and nephew.  So, during that time, I would come over every day with some yummy food for us to enjoy over lunch.  Once or twice we would take my niece in the stroller (when my nephew was at school) and walk over to the store to pick up some veggie ingredients. Here's a look at the delicious food we enjoyed over that week (or rather, the food I remembered to take pictures of!):

Lunches...

Salad, salad, salad!  Clockwise from top left: We used yummy greens, made croutons from a baguette, and added a veggie burger to make a fab Salad Plate.  By the way, you can never use to much sriracha!;  Seven grain salad medley on top of arugula, cherry tomatoes, avocado and topped with homemade dressing;  Leftover pakoras and samosos added some yummy texture and flavor to the arugula, cherry tomatoes, sprouts and pepperoncini's;  Dessert from Sweets From the Earth!  Peppermint nanaimo bar and a brownie.  So yummy!;  My mom's famous Bread Salad.  I love it!  Chopped baguette with multicolored tomatoes, parsley, green onions and dressing.  Delish!

Dinner when my mom stayed over at my place...

Clockwise from top left:  Tacos!  Veggie ground round with lot's of spices added,  Daiya shreds, sprouts, avocado, green salsa, sriracha and of course, nutritional yeast; Portobella Burger... read all about it here; Veggie Burger, sweet potato fries and a green salad from a pub we ate at during a visit to Niagara-on-the-Lake; Bruschetta appetizer from the same pub, no cheese; Farmer's Market Dinner!  Kale salad, sweet potato English muffins, mixed greens salad and a sweet potato salad.  All from the farmers market.

Food Truck Food!

We went to Holy Food Truck Tuesday again while my mom was here and brought along my sister, sister-in-law and the little ones.  My mom and I split the meals you see above from the vegan food truck karma chaMEALeon. From the top: Jackfruit Tacos with a mango salsa (I added sriracha after I took the photo); Philly Cheeze Steak with fried onions and a side of coleslaw.  Both were pretty tasty but my mom preferred the Philly Cheeze Steak.


I hope you guys enjoyed the food porn.  I'm drooling over the photos and can hardly wait to publish this so I can go and make dinner!  This will certainly teach me to write a post on an empty stomach. Ha!

Happy WIAW everyone!
Love,
Ves xx

Vegan MoFo #4 Holy Food Trucks Batman!

Hi Friends!

So I finally got my butt in gear this evening and headed out to Ancaster for Holy Food Truck Tuesday.  I'm so glad I did!  I really only made it out there to try the food from the karma chaMEALeon food truck (Ontario's first vegan food truck) but, it was so amazing to see 15 different food trucks lined up!

It was really hard to get a picture of all the trucks in one shot so I focused on the ones that were on my side.  My mom, however, took a picture of every single food truck with her camera.  I can't wait to go through those pictures later.  

When we were done gawking at all of the food trucks and the people, we were finally ready to make our way to karma chaMEALeon to check out the menu and place our order.

Thankfully the menu was short so we were able to decide quickly! (The menu items are rotated so the same items may not be available every time.) We decided to share the Sunshine Burger as well as the Bueno Burrito.  

Sunshine Burger with Rosemary Fries

Bueno Burrito

Both the Burger and the Burrito were super delicious!  I don't think I could pick a favorite... okay, well maybe I'm leaning towards the burrito but only just slightly!

This was my very first food truck AND karma chaMEALeon experience and I have to say that I wasn't disappointed.  In fact I loved it!  I can't wait to go back and order something else off their menu. Have you had the pleasure of trying karma chaMEALeon's food?  What did you think?

Love,

Ves xx

Vegan MoFo #2 Summer Obsessions

Hi Friends!

   Today I was thinking about passion in the workplace and for a while there I felt like I had lost a little bit of the love I had for my job.  Do you ever feel that way?  Like some day's it's just hard to remember what you loved about it in the first place?  Well, at my 9-5 I get to work with children so I don't necessarily forget... but, at the same time, the spark I once felt has been slowly fizzling away.  I have so many other things that I am passionate about that I stopped putting extra effort into my day job.  Thankfully, I was able to take a nice break from work this summer and just focus on relaxing.  And not only did I take a vacation from work, but I also took a vacation from thinking about the million other things that I'd like to accomplish.  It's such a relief to just be able to press pause on everything and to focus only on yourself.  I really feel like this summer helped to refresh and rejuvenate me and my brain (ha!).  My coworker and I have been dreaming up big plans for our classrooms and we finally get to start implementing them this week.  I can't wait to get started.  In fact, we stayed late at work just to draw up the plans, and I'm happy to say that the passion I once had for my job is coming back. Woohoo!

But enough about that... let's get to the fun stuff... or as I like to call it:  My Summer Obsessions!

Veggie Burger Bliss! 

    One of my favorite things to make this summer has been veggie burgers.  Homemade or store-bought I have to have them on hand at all times!  I love knowing that there are veggie burgers in my freezer for those nights that I'm too exhausted to cook or I've come home late and want something quick.  I rarely use a bun but I found these delicious sprouted buns at my natural food store and so it's fun to use them once in a while.  The brand that I have is from Silver Hills Sprouted Bakery.  You can click on the link to check them out.

Field Roast Heaven!

    My other food obsession has been hotdogs of all things!  I am so not a hotdog person but my natural foods store finally starting carrying Field Roast Sausages.  I have been dying to try them since becoming vegan over two and a half years ago and I have to say that they were worth the wait.  Have you guys tried them?  They are so good!  Nothing like the soy alternative that was my only option.  These are made using grains and all natural ingredients.  So far I've had the Smoked Apple Sage sausage and the frankfurters.  Next up I plan on trying the Mexican Chipotle sausages.  If you haven't experienced Field Roast you really should.  However, stay away from them if you have a gluten intolerance because they are made using wheat gluten.


My other summer obsessions include:

   Sissiboo Coffee!  I love this coffee and the philosophy behind the company.  They are a small-batch roaster offering fair trade and organic beans.  You can purchase their freshly ground or whole beans at local Farmer's Markets and shops in Halifax, Annapolis Royal, Yarmouth and Weymouth.  Yup, only in Nova Scotia.  But, I think I saw that you can order online and they will ship to you.  This coffee is so worth it!

   Spending time with my sis!  Well, it's not really an obsession, but we have been spending a lot of time together so I though it was worth adding!

   And finally, here are just a few songs that I've been obsessively repeating on my iPod during the past couple of months:

Awolnation - Thiskidsnotalright

New Politics - Harlem

Kings of Leon - Super Soaker

Lorde - Royals

The Neighborhood - Afraid

Bastille - Pompeii

Grouplove - Ways to Go

   There are so many songs that I could have added to this list but these are the ones that get the most play right now.  And, I just realized that I didn't list any fun "upbeat" songs.  Ha!  Believe it or not all of the songs on this list make me dance around while I'm cooking, cleaning, or getting ready to go somewhere.  No joke.  Well, all of them except Royals and Afraid. 

By the way, recipes are coming very soon.  I promise!

Til next time....

Love,
Ves xx

Garden Burgers!

   Hello All!

   I'm so excited to share this recipe with you because I think it's super yummy.  Even though summer is coming to an end, I have not had my fill of veggie burgers and I hope you haven't either.  I can't really call these veggie burgers though, (even though they are full of veggies) because when I think of 'veggie burgers' I think of non-meat burgers filled with beans and veggies and bread crumbs to simulate a meat-burger.  These burgers don't have any beans/legumes in them but they do have some yummy goodness and lots of flavor!
   I used quinoa in these burgers because it's high in protein, gluten-free and I just really like it.  Ha!   I also used Kamut flour (say it like this: ka-moot) in this recipe - mostly because I had it lying around and really wanted to experiment with it.  (In hindsight, I probably should have Googled some ideas but it's way more fun and satisfying to experiment!)  Kamut is an ancient whole grain made from the durum wheat family.  It's high in protein and selenium, plus, it can be tolerated by people with wheat sensitivities.  However, if you have an intolerance to gluten then this is not for you as Kamut does contain gluten.

On to the recipe...

Garden Burgers
Makes about 9 patties

Ingredients:

• 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 3 cups of spinach, finely chopped
• 2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
• 2 small carrots, peeled and chopped

• 1 tbsp. cumin
• 1/2 tbsp. chili powder (not pictured)
•  1/2 tsp. cracked black pepper 
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)
• Celtic sea salt, to taste 
• 2 tbsp. Nutritional Yeast (optional, not pictured)

• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• 1 cup Kamut flour

• 2 Tbs raw coconut oil 
• zest and juice of one lemon (optional)

Directions:
In a saucepan add the quinoa and water (or veg broth) and bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.  Let it sit for five minutes and then fluff it with a fork.  Set aside to cool down.
Saute garlic in a little bit of coconut oil until gently cooked, then add onions, and stir until the onions become soft and translucent. Add the celery and carrots and cook gently for a few minutes, then add the spinach.  Stir in the cumin and other seasonings.
Add the cooked quinoa and stir well. Adjust seasonings to your taste.
Turn off the heat and add the Kamut flour to the mixture. Stir well until everything starts to “bind” together and the mixture cools.
I added the zest of one lemon as well as the juice right at the end when I was combining the mixture.  I think it gives this an added 'zip'.

Form the cooled mixture with your hands into patties on a plate, about 3-4 inches in diameter.
Heat pan to *medium/medium low heat, and add the coconut oil.
Cook each pattie for 2-3 minutes on both sides until firm and browned.

*My stove gets really hot really quickly so I had mine at a lower temp so that it could brown a bit on the outside but still cook through on the inside.

Enjoy!

Love,
Ves xx

WIAW #6

   It's time for another episode of What I Ate Wednesday!  I really enjoy doing these posts because I actually get to see what I eat in a day.  I mean, obviously I know what I eat.  But when you take pictures and then go over them at the end of the day, you really know what you eat.  Or, in today's case, what I didn't eat.
   Today's eats are so pathetic that I am apologizing in advance.  I did not realize how little I ate until I sat down to write this post.  I also did not realize how much coffee I drank today until just now.  Whoops, I guess I needed it!

Onto the eats...

First things first, water!

{This is a recycled photo...}

Coffee!

I didn't realize until 20 minutes after I sat outside drinking coffee that I hadn't had any breakfast yet.  So I ran back in and scarfed down one of these mini buns with a bit of jam on the side.

{Jam not pictured}

Then it was off to work with a to-go cup of coffee.

For lunch I had some watermelon with hemp seeds sprinkled on top.  When I was packing my lunch this was the only thing that appealed to me in my fridge.  However, a couple of hours later I was hungry so I had a handful of triscuits.

{Triscuits not pictured}

On my lunch break I went out and bought another coffee because it was "one of those days".

{I swear I'm not trying to plug Timmies!}

I rushed home after work to get ready to go out to eat with a few of my friends and realized that I was kind of starving!  I had a handful of grape tomatoes to satisfy my hunger until it was time to eat.

At the resataurant I ordered a side salad to go along with...

Doesn't that look delish?

... a Veggie Burger!  I was so excited to order a veggie burger at a restaurant.  Usually they aren't vegan so this was a treat.  A super yummy treat!

Shameless plug of me and my cat right before I left for dinner!  xo

    Well there you have it, my eats for the day.  I'm sorry that they weren't very inspiring but, my brain is sort of on exams right now.  Cooking has been put to a halt and I've really just been 'preparing' food - like salads and things.  I promise that next weeks will be better!

Have a great Wednesday, and eat something why don't ya?! 

Love,

Ves xx

Have a Kind Long Weekend!

   It's the day before the Canada Day long weekend!  Some of you may have taken an extra day off work, starting your weekend early and to that I say, Luck You!  I'm off to work and hoping I don't melt in this heatwave that we're having.
   I thought I'd leave you with some 'kind' food ideas for your long weekend eats.  There's a little something for whatever you have planned.  Whether it's a BBQ cookout, cocktails by the pool, or a sweet tooth while watching the fireworks, I've got you covered.

Source

Start by enjoying some...

 Cheesy Layer Dip and 

 Sweet Potato Crisps while lounging by the pool sipping margaritas.

If it's BBQ fare that you're after try whipping up some...

  Beet Burgers, or...

 Bean Burgers along with...

 Coleslaw - vegan, of course - and

Vegan Caprese Salad.  Then wash it down with...

a Dreamy Dreamsicle Smoothie or,

a Chocolate Macashake.  Finish it all of with 

Chocolate Chip Cookies, of course (a side of [vegan]vanilla ice cream wouldn't hurt either!).

Have a safe and wonderful long weekend full of deliciously kind eats!

Love,
Ves xx