WIAW #34 OR A Day of Favorites

   Hi Friends!

   Are you ready for another edition of WIAW? Me, too! This is actually Sunday's eats, not Wednesday's AND, they all just happen to be my favorite foods. So, without further ado, let's get on with the eats!

Breakfast...

Tofu Scramble with Avocado Toast

  Lately I've been obsessed with two weekend-type breakfasts: tofu scrambles, like the one above, and my new favorite Chickpea Omelette. I can't get enough of either lately!

Lunch...

Spring salad with lot's of veggies, hemp seeds and a homemade vinaigrette

I love salad! If salad were the only food I could eat for the rest of my life, I would be totally fine (and happy) about that!

Snack...

Organic Gala Apple and Earth Balance Coconut Peanut Butter

I thought about cutting the apple and plating it with a spoonful of the peanut butter, but I knew that if I did that then I would have gobbled it up before I could take the picture. If salad is my weakness then there is no word for what peanut butter is. If I allowed myself, I could finish a jar in less than a week! No joke.

Dinner...

Chili-Lime Lentil Tacos on  sprouted Corn Tortillas with Guacamole

I love tacos! This is another meal that I could eat every single day and not get sick of. And it's so versatile. You could pretty much turn anything into a taco, or taco-like food as I like to call it. I've been known to cook up a veggie burger, chop it up, and add it to a corn tortilla along with some peppers and salsa. I've also done that with a Field Roast sausage. Fast food but healthy and delicious!


In keeping with my Day of Favorites, I thought I would share my favorite songs of the moment. The ones that I hit the repeat button to three times before I let the playlist move on to the next song. Every.Single.Time.

Click to listen....















For some reason I could not find the original to this ^ song on SoundCloud so check it out here on YouTube (warning- explicit lyrics) if you haven't heard it yet... that's only if you've been living under a rock. The remix is only okay. It's missing the drums. Oh, the drums!

And, last but not least, this last song has been on repeat for a LONG time. I had to add it. I love running to this song so I listen to it a lot. It's also my morning alarm... so yes, I do listen to it on a daily basis! Haha! LOVE it.



I hope you enjoyed the little music break! You danced a little, didn't you? Me too!

Happy Hump Day!

Love,
Ves xx

Chickpea Omelette

   Hi Friends!

   I have a fun and simple recipe for your Monday. Maybe you're on holidays, or maybe you're at work, but either way, you're going to want to make this for dinner... and then again for breakfast tomorrow! This is a soy-free and gluten-free alternative to your usual tofu omelette or scramble. Not that there's anything wrong with a tofu scramble. I love them! But it's fun to mix things up a bit once in a while. This recipe uses chickpea flour (or garbanzo bean flour) which you can find at a Bulk Barn, or in stores (Bob's Red Mill makes one) and at Indian markets as Besan flour.

   I've tried making an omelette using chickpea flour once last year but I completely destroyed it. I don't even remember if it tasted good but I do know that I wasn't in a hurry to try again anytime soon. Then, chickpea omelettes started popping up on my instagram feed and the pictures would make me drool! I finally decided to try again. I took a few pointers from a couple of different users and I was so thrilled with how it turned out! Obviously, I had to share it with you guys!

Let's get on with the recipe...

Chickpea Omelette
Ingredients:
1/3 cup Chickpea Flour
1/2 tsp ground flax seed
1 scant tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dehydrated onion (or onion powder)
1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional but yummy)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup water + 2tbsp
1-2 tsp Earth Balance butter, for greasing the pan

Directions: 

After you've gathered all of your ingredients, preheat your pan on medium heat. Combine all of the dry ingredients in a small bowl.

Add the water and whisk it all together. The consistency should be on the thinner side, like a beaten egg except a bit more watery. If it's too thin it will not cook properly (trust me).

Brush a bit of Earth Balance butter on the pan before pouring the mixture in. Swirl the mixture around until it's evenly distributed in the pan. Then leave it to cook for about 4 minutes. Don't fuss with it and NO flipping.

While it's cooking, prepare your filling. Don't be shy, choose whatever you want. I chose asparagus this time. I marinated it for a couple of minutes using my vinaigrette and then I quickly grilled it on the stove while the omelette was cooking.

You'll know the omelette is done when it starts to pull away from the sides of the pan and the edges begin to lift up a bit. Ease it onto a plate using a spatula for support. Then, add your filling to the omelette before folding it in half.

Easy, right? And the best part is that you can play around with the spices to suit whatever filling you want to add. I've added a bit of cumin and chili powder to the base and then warmed some salsa to fill the inside with along with some greens. So good! FYI: There's 13 grams of protein in this omelette from the chickpea flour, flax seed and nutritional yeast!

Enjoy and have a Happy Monday!

Love,
Ves xx

Happy 4th of July!

   Hi Friends!

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   I just wanted to take a minute and wish everyone (who's celebrating) a wonderful Independence Day! I may be living in Canada (and loving it) but there's still an American girl inside me and I can't help but celebrate every American holiday. Luckily the important people around me love to humor me! Secretly, I think they enjoy celebrating right along with me. I mean, who doesn't like to party and eat delicious food that's been prepared for them, am I right? Ha!

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  So, enjoy your BBQ's, picnics, beach fun, family time, fireworks, and whatever other shenanigans you're getting up to today! I know I will!

Even if you aren't celebrating the American Independence Day, it's still Friday! That's worth celebrating, too!

Happy 4th of July and TGIF!

Love,
Ves xx

Happy Birthday Canada!

   Hi Friends!

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   How are you celebrating this holiday? Praying that it doesn't rain? Ha! Me too. Seriously though. Have fun, make a picnic, spend time with family and friends and watch some fireworks. If you have to work, I'm sorry. I'll think of you while I relax the day away!

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Happy Canada Day! 

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Love,
Ves xx

Raw Pad Thai

Hi Friends!

I hope you're keeping cool! I think the temperature in my neck of the woods reached 39C or something crazy like that. I'm definitely thankful that I have central air conditioning in my home. Especially for Patchie, I don't think that old girl can take too much heat and humidity!

See what I mean? She's too used to living in the lap of luxury. But, enough about her, let's get on with my super easy recipe!

Since summer is in full swing and the temperature will only continue to rise, who actually feels like turning on the oven? Or even the stove for that matter? Not me, that's for sure! My summer menu is always filled with an abundance of raw food; from smoothies in the morning, to salads in the afternoon, to some sort of veggie dish at night, and fruit in between. I love to eat the rainbow and it's so much easier in the summer! Which brings me to my super yummy recipe. I know there are many different Raw Pad Thai recipes on the interweb and I encourage you to have fun and experiment. I've been making this one on and off for a couple of years and I make it slightly different each time. Usually I use some sort of nut butter in the dressing, but not this time. I think this was my favorite way which is why I wanted to share it with you guys.

Raw Pad Thai
Ingredients:
1/2 cucumber or 1 zucchini cut into thin strips
1 carrot, peeled & julienned
1/2 bell pepper (orange, red or yellow), julienned 
1 green onion, finely chopped
1/4 red onion, finely chopped or sliced into thin strips
handful of parsley, chopped
small handful sprouts 
1 tbsp hemp seeds or sesame seeds (optional)
1/2 lime, juiced
2 tablespoons coconut aminos

Pad Thai Dressing
1/2 - 1 avocado (I used 1)
1 clove garlic
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 tablespoon coconut aminos 
1/2 lime, juiced
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon agave nectar

Directions:
I used my mandoline to help everything come together quickly but you can use a vegetable peeler if you don't have one. Cut away the top and bottom of the zucchini and then slice it on the mandoline or with your peeler. Stack the strips together and slice them lengthwise 2 or 3 times depending on how wide your zucchini is. *Hint* This is also how you make "zucchini linguine". :-) Place the zuchini and the rest of the veggies in a bowl. Add the parsley, lime juice, and tamari to the veggies and give it a toss with your hands. Let this marinade anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. I let mine hang out in the fridge for about an hour because I like the carrots to get a bit soft. While the veggies are marinating, make the Pad Thai Dressing.

For the dressing, add all of the ingredients to a blender and process until smooth and creamy. Take your veggies out, drain the marinade and squeeze some of the excess liquid from the veggies. Place them in a new bowl, or use the same one (and save yourself from washing more dishes!) and take about 2 tablespoons of the dressing and mix it in with your hands, ensuring that all the veggies are coated. Garnish with sprouts and hemp/sesame seeds, serve and enjoy!

** The extra Pad Thai Dressing will last in the fridge for a couple of days. Use it as a dip for veggies!

If you do feel like turning the oven on, feel free to add some baked tofu...

Yum!

Happy Monday everyone! Stay cool!

Love,
Ves xx

WIAW #33 & Roasted Golden Beet & Citrus Salad

   Hi Friends!

   Welcome to another edition of WIAW. This post was actually all set to go for last Wednesday but because I'm so brilliant I totally forgot to schedule the post Tuesday night. And Wednesday was a bit of a write off because I had a late night at work. So, I didn't even really look at a computer. That being said, the only thing the same about this post is the food pictures. It's funny when I reread some of my past posts that I've started but never finished, I can never manage to put myself back in the same frame of mind or mood that I was in when I started writing it. Does that ever happen to you guys? So, I scrapped the post, kept the photos and added a recipe. Enjoy!

Let's get started with the food...

First things first: Water! Not pictured, but you know the drill... water + lemon = a happy Vesna in the morning; Coffee! You can't see inside the mug but it's always organic and always black... I don't mess around. Breakfast: Another Strawberry Mango Smoothie... I'm obsessed! Snack: 1/2 a Grapefruit... this was quite possibly the size of my head and super juicy! After I was done eating the wedges I totally squeezed all the juices into my mouth. I know, I'm so lady-like... Lunch: Way later I had a simple Open-faced Sandwich on sprouted grain bread with, tomatoes, lettuce, sprouts, dijon mustard and a bit of hummus. Dinner: A Giant Salad with sweet potatoes, lettuce, peppers, cucumbers, sprouts and a citrus vinaigrette. Yum! Snack: I had a gorgeous bowl of organic cherries before heading off to bed. Oh man were these good and the perfect thing for my sweet tooth!

So, I promised you a recipe...

This salad was the bomb-diggity (do people say that anymore?) but it almost didn't happen. Thank goodness I decided to root around in my veggie crisper or I wouldn't have found the golden beets that I had bought the previous week. Hooray for small miracles!

Onto the recipe...

Roasted Golden Beet & Citrus Salad
Serves 1 as a meal
OR
Serves 2 as a side salad

Ingredients:

Salad:
2 medium golden beets, tops and bottoms trimmed
1/2 grapefruit, sectioned, juices reserved
1/2 - 1 small head romaine lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces
1/4 small red onion, chopped
handful parsley, finely chopped
small handful alfalfa sprouts

Vinaigrette:
(feel free to double, triple, or even quadruple 
this recipe. I only made enough for the salad)
1 tbsp grapefruit juice
1-2 tsp white balsamic vinegar
1-2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1-2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp agave nectar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 415F. Wash the beets and trim the tops and bottoms but don't peel. Wrap them together in foil and place them directly in the center oven rack or on a shallow baking pan. Bake for about an hour or until fork tender. When the beets are ready, remove them from the oven and allow to cool before handling them. Once cooled, carefully peel the skin and slice them into wedges. Layer the romaine, beets, grapefruit, onion, sprouts and parsley on a plate. In a small bowl whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients and drizzle on top of the salad. Serve with a fork and a smile.

Happy Middle-of-the-Week Day!
Love,
Ves xx

And of course, I can't forget a photo of this little trouble maker!

Sprouting 101

   Hi Friends!

   For the past few months I've become quite the sprouting machine! I'm obsessed. Sprouts are so good for you, super yummy, and extremely easy to make at home. I make them on a weekly basis and usually have two jars on the go at a time plus a container in the fridge for eating. They don't really last long in my house because I sprinkle them on everything and sometimes just eat them on their own. If you haven't tried sprouting yet, what are you waiting for? In this post I'm going to simplify sprouting for you and you'll wonder why you haven't tried it sooner. I promise.

Day 1...
   First, choose your sprouts. I like to have two different ones on the go at a time. Lately it's been Alfalfa and Super Spicy Lentil Crunch, which is my current favorite. For this post I'm using alfalfa.

   Place 1-2tbsp of sprouting seeds into a mason jar (I used a 1L sized jar) and add water. Swirl it around and then drain the water, taking care not to lose any seeds. Add the seeds back to the jar with about a cup or so of filtered water. Soak for 2-6 hours, preferably in a darker corner of the kitchen or in the cupboard. I like to soak mine for at least six hours because I find that the longer the seeds soak, the better the sprouts. That's just my opinion.

After the seeds have finished soaking, drain them and rinse them one more time. Place them back in the jar, cover it and place the jar on an incline to allow it to drain. You can do this in a dish rack, or a bowl like I do. If you don't have a sprouting lid for your jar, just use a clean j-cloth or even a cheese cloth would probably work too. Keep the sprouting jar out of direct sunlight or in a cupboard if possible.

Day 2...
Rinse the seeds twice a day to keep them from drying out. I do this in the morning and again in the early evening. If you are using a cloth to cover the jar, take the cloth off when you rinse the seeds and use a mesh sieve to help you drain the water.

Day 3...
By day three you should start to see little sprouts at the end of the seeds. Success! Keep rinsing the seeds out twice a day.

Day 4...
More sprouts! Don't forget to keep rinsing the seeds morning and night.

Day 5...
The jar will almost be bursting with sprouts, but that's okay! You may need to take the lid off when you rinse the sprouts and use the handle of a spoon or fork to stir them around a bit so that the water works it's way in between the sprouts.

Day 6...
The sprouts are ready! I did the final rinse the night before so that they would be ready in the morning. Two tablespoons of sprouting seeds will produce about 6-8 cups of sprouts. How amazing is that?

   You've just seen how super easy it is to sprout at home. Considering you would probably pay between 2-4 dollars for a cup of sprouts at the market, it's worth it to grow your own. If you start on Sunday, you can enjoy fresh sprouts by Thursday or Friday, depending on how long you like the sprouts to be. I like mine long! Store them in an air tight container and keep them in the fridge. They should stay fresh for about a week or so. Sprinkle them on everything. Salads, smoothies, tacos, wraps, sandwiches, burgers, etc. Yum!

Why should you eat sprouts?

1. Excellent source of enzymes
2. High in protein
3. Rich in essential nutrients (Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B6, and Vitamin K; as well as these minerals: Iron, Phosphorous, Magnesium, Potassium, Manganese, and Calcium)
4. Aid in weight loss (because of it's fiber content, plus they are low in calories)
5. Easy to digest
6. May help to regulate blood pressure

What are you waiting for? Get sprouting!

Happy Monday!
Love,
Ves xx

Hamilton Veggie Fest: Recap

Hi Friends!

I went to the Veggie Fest in Hamilton this weekend and it always makes me happy to share fun vegan products, food, etc with you guys. Here is a recap of Saturday:

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Clockwise from top left: 1. NingXia Red If you're anything like me you'll want to pronounce the 'X'. Don't. It's pronounced Ninja, which I guess is obvious, but I just really want to say it phonetically. Ha! The woman at the booth was very passionate about this antioxidant drink and mentioned many benefits to consuming it daily, one of them being improved vision. I found it very fascinating, not that I have any kind of issue with vision or eye health, but I'm always interested in improving health through nutrition rather than medicine. 2. Young Living Essential Oils. She was also very passionate about the essential oils. I learned the benefits of some of them but the one that stuck was Lemon. I'm a huge fan of having lemon water in the morning and go through lemons like crazy. Using a few drops of lemon oil in your water has the same benefits multiplied by a thousand. Oh, and it also purifies your water. Crazy, huh? 3. 3 Teas This was a gorgeous display of tea. I tried the Organic Strawberry Green Tea. I'm not a fan of most green teas but this was really good. 4. Nature's Roots Wheatgrass! Wheatgrass just always makes me happy. They were offering shots for $3 but I had my eye on something else so I didn't get one.

Oh how I love vegan treats, especially when there's samples! Giddy YoYo is probably one of my favorite raw vegan companies. I LOVE their chocolate and can honestly say that every one of the flavors are delicious. I've also purchased their cacao powder and am currently using their spirulina powder - love them both. At the festival I purchased their sea salt and I can't wait to start using it as well. Live On Chocolate power puddings! Have you had these before? They are the ultimate healthy treat! You feel like you are indulging but there is absolutely nothing bad in them, only good REAL ingredients. My favorite is the coconut lime flavor which they turned into frozen pops for the festival. It's also what I chose to buy instead of the wheatgrass shot. Oh man, it was SO good and totally the right choice! Everything Nice (bottom right corner and the photo above it) is what I like to call a healthy "fast food" company. They package a variety of meal kits that take most of the prep work out of cooking. You may have to chop an onion but that's as far as your prep goes. Just add water and simmer for about an hour. I love this idea for families who are too busy with extra-curricular's to get a healthy meal on the table during the week. We got to sample the Canadian Pea Soup which was really yummy.

Clockwise from top left: Fun "bean" spaghetti's from Upaya Naturals made from black beans, adzuki beans, and mung beans. Raw Pumpkin Seed oil from Styrian Gold. They made a quick 2-ingredient salad dressing using the pumpkin seed oil and a few squirts of an ice wine syrup. I swear it tasted like peanut butter and jam, in a good way. Richardo’s Ontario Hemp Hearts - Locally grown hemp seeds... yes, that's right, LOCAL as in Ontario! The Mustard Seed Co-op had a table full of products that they offer in-store. I had no idea they were already open for business so I'm excited to visit their store in the very near future. Rallis Ice Pressed Olive oil and Soap in the Raw. The lavender soap smelled like heaven but was too pricey for me.

Just a few of the products, samples and brochures that I brought home from the festival. Vegan dog food from V-Dog. I can't wait to send this sample to my parent's so they can give it to their dog Lexi. New Moon Kitchen's Gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, Ultimate Kale Chips pink salt flavor, and Giddy Yoyo's Mountain salt. I also finally bought my first glass straw from the Upaya Naturals table - you can't really tell in the photo, but it's pink, obviously. I bought my vegan key chain from the Cedar Row Farm Sanctuary table, and I got buttons from the Oliver's Garden Project table and the Fur Bearer Defenders table.

It was a great festival and I wish I had remembered to take more pictures of all the wonderful offerings. But, I was too busy sampling goodies and chatting with some pretty amazing people! My highlight was chatting with Victoria Moran, who I was first "introduced" to through IIN as one of our speakers. She was so inspirational that I googled her as soon as the lecture was over. I'm so happy that I was able to connect with her in person even if it was only for a few minutes.

Last but not least...

You can't have a Veggie Fest without a vegan food truck! There were many different vegan food offerings at the festival but I was holding out for Karma Chamealeon. I love their food. We split the Bourbon BBQ Burger and the Philly "Cheeze" Steak. Both were delish but the bourbon bbq burger was my favourite. Next time I absolutely have to try the coconut onion rings!

I hope you enjoyed my Veggie Fest recap! I had so much fun and can't wait for next year's festival!

Happy Monday!

Love,
Ves xx

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