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 #5 Healthy Brownies to LIVE For

   Hi Friends!

   So this weekend my nephew played a championship soccer game and won a trophy... then again, so did all of the other players! Ha.  Did I mention that my nephew is not quite 3 years old yet?  It was a riveting game, nonetheless.  And my nephew was a scoring machine.  I'd post some videos to show you what I mean, but I don't want to be too obnoxious...

My Godson with his soccer trophy.

   I also got to spend a lot of time with my mom this weekend, too.  She likes to divide her time between us "kids" and her grand-kids... the grand-kids get her more though, of course.  Us kids have to fight over the leftover time!  That's okay, I don't mind sharing.  This weekend was pretty low key.  We went for walks, did a little bit of shopping (she wanted to go to Target... I mean, who doesn't want to go to Target?), watched some movies with my sis and munched on yummy food while sipping on some yummy wine.  It was really quite the relaxing weekend.

An assortment of veggies, crackers, hummus, pickles, cheese, and Field Roast Mexican Chipotle sausages.

   We also went to visit my Aunt who had stopped by Kelly's Bake Shoppe in Burlington and picked up an assortment of vegan cupcakes.  It was really nice to try vegan cupcakes made by someone other than myself and they were actually pretty good.  My favorite was the Lime Mojito one.  I'm not sure if that's the actual name of it but it's the bottom one in the photo. 

Vegan Cupcakes from Kelly's Bake Shoppe

   I also happened to do a bit of baking myself this weekend.  My sis-in-law requested that I make a batch of Black Bean Brownies for us to have after my nephew's game.  I seem to be making them a lot lately so I thought I would share the recipe here.  This recipe comes from Chocolate Covered Katie.  I usually play around with it to suit my taste but I'm posting the original recipe here.  I love it and I know you will too!

Black Bean Brownies
Makes 9 - 12 Brownies
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups black beans (1 15-oz can, drained and rinsed very well)
2 tbsp cocoa powder- dutch or regular
1/2 cup quick oats
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup pure maple syrup or agave
1/4 cup coconut or vegetable oil
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup to 2/3 cup chocolate chips
optional: more chips, for presentation

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine all ingredients except chips in a good food processor, and blend until completely smooth. Really blend well. (I did this in my Vitamix because I do not have a food processor) Stir in the chips, then pour into a greased 8×8 pan. Optional: sprinkle extra chocolate chips over the top. Cook the black bean brownies 15-18 minutes, then let cool at least 10 minutes before trying to cut.

Happy Hump Day everyone!

Love,
Ves xx

I Think It's About Time... and Vegan MoFo #1ish

Hi Friends!

   It's so nice to be blogging again!  Summer is slowly winding down and I am doing my best to establish a new routine.  Okay, I haven't actually established a new routine I'm just thinking about doing it.  That's the same, right?  I thought so.  Speaking of routines... I totally failed the July blogging challenge that I set for myself, but, in my defense, it wasn't about food so I lost interest quickly.  Sorry about that.  But, the good news is that Vegan MoFo (Vegan Month of Food) is on for this month and I've signed up for it.  You can check out last year's posts in my archive under October 2012 if you'd like.  I haven't really come up with a theme for this year but I'm thinking it will center around food from the Farmer's Market.  There's an amazing one near my house that I try and visit every Wednesday.  That's the plan so stay tuned for some yummy recipes.  Before I get to any recipes though, I thought I would share some of the highlights from my summer.  Enjoy!

 4th Of July....

4th of July Highlights:  The Food

 Food:  I always try and make "American food" for Independence Day or at least what I think is American food.  In this case it's coleslaw, potato salad, corn on the cob (thanks to my sis-in-law for bringing that) and veggie burgers.  For dessert I made shortbread cookies and a Vanilla Pudding and Berry Parfait.  Drinks: My sister found this really fun drink called Crazy Uncle - Basil and Lime Daiquiri.  The flavor combo was super yummy and it even comes with sugar to garnish the rim of your glass.  So cool.  The only downer is that this particular drink has honey in it.  Bummer.  There's two other flavors by Crazy Uncle so maybe I'll try them... after I read the ingredients!

Sushi...

Note my mad chopstick skills

This wasn't my first time trying sushi but it was my first time going out for sushi on purpose.  My friends and I went to Spring Sushi which is really close to my house (incentive to visit again!).  I love that you get to order off an iPad.  You get to see the photo and description of every item which is so helpful if you are a newbie like me!  Luckily there are a lot of veggie options so I was able to try a variety of different items from the menu.  What were some of my favorites?  Well, any roll I got with avocado was the bomb; there was a bean curd one that was really good (not the very top right... I wasn't a fan of that one); and one with sweet potato... so good!  But my absolute favorite thing was the seaweed salad.  We ordered it twice because we couldn't stop eating it!  Plus they serve it in a bowl the size of a tea cup so you don't get much. Ha!

Vacation in Nova Scotia!

Airport Shenanigans

I love that my youngest nephew Michael dropped me off at the Hamilton airport and my oldest nephew Connor met me at the Halifax airport!  That was such a nice surprise seeing Connor and my parents as soon as I got off the plane.  Connor was waiting to board the flight home and since he was a minor traveling on his own, he needed an escort to wait with him.  Both my parents were granted permission to wait at the departure gate.  Which means that I was the only one with an entourage greeting me before baggage claim!  My mom and I went down to the airport restaurant to catch-up while my step-dad waited for Connor's flight to take off.  We ordered the only vegan thing on the menu plus a glass of wine and enjoyed some girl talk.

Highlights...

Savary Park

My mom's gardens, super hero step-dad, my parents house, silly girls, Bear River, crazy cat...

Green and blue fire and fireworks for my last night.

Last day in N.S....

Halifax Harbor Front

We spent my last day in Nova Scotia walking along the Halifax Harbor front and then stopping to eat lunch at the Hart & Thistle.  My vacation was super relaxing and there were many, many highlights in between my arrival and departure.  But, if I were to include everything then this blog post would never end.

A very special Birthday...

The Birthday Girl, her handsome brother and her cakes.

My sweet little niece Alexandra celebrated her first birthday last month.  It was such a nice day.  So many people came out for her special day, we enjoyed delicious food and the highlight (for me) was getting to make her birthday cake.  I couldn't just make her one cake so I made three, plus two kinds of cupcakes for good measure.  To say that I spoiled her would be an understatement.  Of course, she won't really know that until she's much older... but that's okay!  And since I baked everything, it was all vegan.  I think that was the best part.  And also, hearing everyone say how much they loved the cakes and how they never would have guessed they were vegan.  I never get tired of hearing that.


I hope you enjoyed my summer recap.  Tomorrow I'll share some of my food obsessions over the past couple of months.  There have been many but I will try and condense them!

Happy Labor Day Monday and Vegan MoFo!

Love,
Ves xx

Blog Every Day # 3 & WIAW 29

Hi Friends!

Today's post is supposed to be about what I wore, BUT, since it's Wednesday and all I figured I'd share what I ate instead.  I just got back from a new Middle Eastern restaurant called Paramount that just opened up down the street from me.  Tonight they had an opening night of sorts and were offering complimentary meals to all of the diners.  They only asked that we leave a donation for the local children's hospital.  How awesome is that?  I'll be honest, I was looking forward to this dinner so much that I barely ate all day!

Here's a look at some of the dishes we ordered:

I know what you're thinking, "Holy pita's Batman!".  Yup, that's what we said, too.  We munched on these while we waited for our order.

 For starters I ordered the Okra which had garlic, onions, and tomatoes.  It tasted just like this homemade pepper and tomato saute that my mom makes. Mmm...

My salad of choice was the Fatoush salad, which happens to be one of my (many) favorite salads.  However, this particular Fatoush was lacking flavor.  I won't hold it against them as they were super busy.  We dined around 8:30 and there was still a steady stream of people coming in when we left.  So, I think I'll order it again next time before I make a final judgement. 

One of our friends ordered the Tabbouleh (parsley, tomatoes, onions, with a lemony dressing), which I of course sampled and loved.

My main course was the Falafel Plate.  I loved that they served it with an assortment of pickled vegetables.  The tahini sauce was delish!

For dessert they brought us a sampling plate full of assorted treats.  I didn't try any of them because they looked like they were soaked in butter BUT, I didn't ask anyone about the ingredients so who knows... maybe they're vegan?  

 Here's another look at the desserts.  That's my kind of heaven! 

  I will definitely go back to this restaurant again.  There were so many veg/vegan options on the menu and I'm dying to try one of their pizza's. 

Til next time...

Love,
Ves xx

WIAW #28 and BIG News!

Hi Friends!

I know I've been MIA lately but I have good reason.  I have some big news to share with you!  Do you remember how earlier in the year I said that 2013 was going to be my year?  I honestly wasn't sure what direction I was going in but I knew that I would be making some big changes.  However, I couldn't focus my career path and I was getting really depressed that I hadn't pinpointed what I wanted to do with my education from IIN yet.  Now I know why.  You should know that I don't make decisions very easily.  I blame it on being a Libra.  We are very indecisive and all about balance and harmony.  Well, what better way to create harmony then to start a vegan baked goods business and call it Sweet Vegan Thing?

Before I get carried away with business talk, let's have a look at my eats. It's been a while since I've done a WIAW post so I am playing catch-up.  These photos are from Sunday.

On to the food...

Breakfast was at my sister's.  I made us a delicious (if I do say so myself) tofu scramble.  She actually loved it too and she's a carnivore, so that says a lot!

After cleaning my house I had a chocolate-strawberry "shake" and read my VegNews from cover to cover.  I love 'me' time!

I enjoyed lunch on my balcony because it was such a lovely day.  Lunch was a big salad with lots of veggies, homemade dressing and hemp seeds.

I was feeling snacky before dinner so I had some cocktail tomatoes and dijon mustard.  I had about two plates of these with some wine.  So good.  I could eat tomatoes all day!

For dinner I was craving sweet potatoes but I was feeling a bit lazy so I made a simple Sweet Potato salad.  It was so good and really hit the spot.

Dessert was homemade Peanut Butter Chocolate Ice Cream.  So easy, so delicious, and actually good for you! Mostly because it doesn't have any dairy or added sugar.


 So, back to my business...
As I was saying, before WIAW rudely interrupted us...  I love baking and I love making things look pretty so I think I was pretty much born to do this.  Ha!  Just kidding.  I know there is more to starting a business than that but, at least it's a start.  I am so excited about this new path in my life.  If you had asked me last month if I wanted to have my own baked goods business I would have shouted "no way!" but recently it has started to make more and more sense to me.  This is EXACTLY what I want to be doing.  I have a lot to learn and a lot of work ahead of me but I'm loving every minute of it and it definitely does not feel like "work".  For example, on Friday my sister-in-law and I are heading over to a cafe downtown to sample their vegan offerings.  And then on Saturday my friend and I are heading over to an all vegan bakery to taste some cupcakes and hopefully learn a thing or two as well.  All in the name of research!  We are also heading to Veggie Fest for the day and I'm looking forward to meeting the vendors and possibly getting my name out there.  Wish me luck!  And if you are in the Hamilton area but are living under a rock haven't heard, VeggieFest is on from 11am - 7pm this Saturday at the Ancaster Fairgrounds.  GO!

And here is just a sample of what Sweet Vegan Thing will be offering:

Death by Chocolate

I made these cupcakes for my sisters birthday party and they were a hit!  I named them Death by Chocolate because they are a chocolate lovers dream!  By the way, no one would guess they're vegan which is the best part.

I am in the process of creating a website but, for now, you can head on over to my facebook page: Sweet Vegan Thing and check it out.  I'll let you know as soon as my website is up and running.

Til next time (I'll try not to be a stranger!)...

Love,
Ves xx

Mint Chocolatey Shake

I love chocolate.  I love mint.

Put them together and I am in heaven.  This shake actually reminds me of something that I would have ordered at an ice cream store back when I was still eating dairy products.  The beauty of this shake is that it doesn't have any ice cream in it at all(vegan or otherwise).  It's 100% healthy but, it tastes so decadent you feel like you're indulging.  My kind of shake!

I made this shake around St. Patrick's day when my email was flooded with variations on the "Shamrock Shake".  I've never had a Shamrock Shake from McD's but it sounds like something I totally would have ordered.  So I decided to make my own healthier version for breakfast.  Let's just say it was love at first sip... or slurp actually since I ended up eating it with a spoon!  Since then, I've had one of these at least once a week.  I love it so much!

Before I share the recipe, let me just say that this does not necessarily have to be a healthy shake.  You could definitely swap out the almond milk for some yummy coconut milk ice cream.  And I will definitely do that in the summer time as a treat.  But, for now, I like having it as an occasional breakfast choice that happens to be healthy but tastes like I'm being naughty! 

Mint Chocolatey Shake
Serves 1

Ingredients:
*2/3 of a cup of Almond Milk (I used unsweetened Vanilla) 
1/4 cup raw oat groats, soaked overnight (steel cut and quick cooking oats would work as well)
1-2 cups Spinach
1 frozen banana, cut into chuncks
1 tbs cacao nibs (plus a little extra for garnish)
1-2 drops peppermint extract
*you can adjust the amount of liquid you add to reach your desired thickness

Directions:

Begin by adding the oats, spinach and almond milk to the blender and process until smooth.  Next add your frozen banana chunks and, while the blender is still on, drop in the peppermint extract and cacao nibs.  Process for a few more seconds and then serve.  Enjoy with a straw or a spoon!

The spinach gives this shake it's green color and also an added health boost.  If you're not a fan of adding spinach to your smoothie then you could add a bit of Spirulina powder to get the green color.  I don't recommend adding green food coloring to this because I think it's weird and takes away from the goodness of this shake.  But that's just me.   If you're down with that, then by all means, add away!

I like adding oats to my shakes and smoothies once in a while to make them a bit creamier.  Plus, there's the added benefit of a little extra fiber and protein.

If you don't have cacao nibs then you could definitely sub in some cacao powder  Although, the color won't be the same, it will still taste great.  You could even try adding in some dairy-free chocolate chips instead of the cacao powder.  By the way, I talk about some of the health benefits of raw cacao in this post.

Last, but certainly not least (and totally unrelated to the recipe), I wanted to share with you guys that you can catch the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead for free on YouTube right now.  And since you're all about as health crazy as I am I know you're heading over there right now to watch, aren't you?  I knew it.  And for those of you still here, check out the trailer (which I've posted for you guys before):

What are you waiting for?

Go. Watch. Now.

Love,
Ves xx

WIAW #28 The Weekend Edition

Hi friends,

Welcome to another edition of What I Ate Wednesday!  This week I decided to do things a little differently.  Instead of showing you my Tuesday eats like I normally do, I've decided to show you what I ate on Sunday.  To be honest, my weekly eats are slightly boring (not to me, but you're probably sick of looking at the same ol' food) and not very pretty to look at since I use containers and not dishes to bring my food to work.  Plus, it's always fun to shake things up a bit.  So without further ado, I give you my Sunday eats.

Breakfast:

   I had originally planned on making pancakes for breakfast but I got an enormous craving for something mint chocolatey.  I made this smoothie which turned out to be so thick I poured it in a bowl and ate it with a spoon.  Loved it!  I'll post the recipe tomorrow. 

   To go along with my smoothie I had one of these raw coconut macaroons that I had made the day before.  They were melt-in-your-mouth delicious!  And they only get better with age. ;)

Lunch:

Sunday turned out to be a gorgeous day so I took advantage of it and went out for a super long walk.  I love that the weather is warming up and everyone is out!  When I came back in I made this kale salad with chickpeas, tomatoes, and organic edamame (I love edamame!).  I dressed it with lemon and sprinkled some nutritional yeast on top (after the photo was taken, of course).

Dinner:

I made this Epic Sweet Potato Lasagne that I wrote about in yesterday's post, and invited my sister over for dinner.  We had it with a side salad of swiss chard, peppers, apples and my mustard vinaigrette.  Oh so yummy and second's were definitely had by both of us.  I said it yesterday and I'll say it again: You have to make this Lasagne!  You will not be disappointed, I promise.

Snack:

I ended the day with my fave snack:  Apples with cinnamon and a squirt of lemon.  I'm a little obsessed with this and eat it everyday! 

Throughout the day I also had several glasses of lemon water and a mug or two of tea.  I'm still not drinking coffee (will this cleanse ever end?) but I'm counting down the days until it becomes my daily obsession again.


I absolutely love Sunday food, don't you?  It's so nice to be able to take your time and make every meal with love.  I get that from my mom.  She would spend the entire weekend in the kitchen cooking just because she wanted to and because she loved to feed her family.  We all used to sneak tastes of whatever she was making, not being able to wait for the meal to be ready.  That's one of the things I'm looking forward to when I go and visit my parents this summer... Mom's cooking!  Can't wait.

Love,
Ves xx

Cinnamon Raisin Peanut Butter Eggs

Hi Firends!

This weekend went by in a bit of a whirl and a blur but it was jam packed with slumber-partying, movie watching, revenge marathoning, recipe tasting FUN.  Speaking of recipe testing, I'm trying out a couple of chocolate recipes for Easter and I wanted to share the one that I made yesterday.  I'm a little bit ahead of myself as Easter falls in May for us (for the majority of people celebrating it falls at the end of this month).  But, it's never too early to start making chocolate!  Right?  Especially when it's combined with peanut butter...

I finally bought a jar of Peanut Butter & Co.'s Cinnamon Raisin Swirl on Friday when I was out shopping with my sis.  I mean, who doesn't want a jar of peanut butter at a sleepover?  Okay, I've had my eye on this jar of PB forever but have never bought it.  Now I know why.  It's ridiculously good and even more addictive than regular PB.  I'm kind of a nut butter recovering addict (I don't discriminate, I love them all) and try not to keep any in the house unless it's absolutely necessary.  It was totally NOT necessary to have this in my house!  But, fear not.  Whenever I have indulgent goodies (such as that jar of PB) lying around that I want need to get rid of, I throw it into a recipe and then give it away to my friends and family.

 
This time around, I decided to make Chocolate Covered Katie's Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.  Oh. My. Goodness.  These were amazing!  I followed the recipe almost exactly except that I used my Cinnamon Raisin Swirl PB and I used Carob Powder for the chocolate coating because that's what I had on hand.  I actually had to make the chocolate coating 3 times before it came out the way that I wanted.  For whatever reason the carob powder and the agave nectar did not want to be friends!  So, I omitted the agave altogether and just left the coating as carob powder and coconut oil.  In the end, it did not need the sweetness from the agave, the PB 'dough' is sweet enough.  By the way, I doubled the 'dough' part of the recipe and the chocolate coating is enough for both batches. 

Here is a link to the recipe: Reeses Peanut Butter Eggs

I will definitely be making these again for Easter!  And, if you are wondering who got these delicious chocolates, I gave most of them to my sister (who happened to be here taste testing) and the rest to my coworker.  I had to return her tupperware and my mom raised me to never return empty tupperware, so what's a girl to do?  Ha.  I'm sure that my coworker won't mind the little surprise.

Have a Happy Monday... I hope you didn't indulge in the green beer too much for St. Paddy's Day!

My sis and I opted to have green cocktails instead of beer.

Love,

Ves xx

WIAW # 25 and Not So Tech Savvy

   Hi Friends!

   I'm back with another What I Ate Wednesday post.  I actually had posts all set to go for Monday and Tuesday but there were some technical difficulties over here at the L&L headquarters.  Okay, fine.  I was the technical difficulty!  It turns out that I scheduled the posts for the wrong days (it could've been the wrong month for all I know!).  I thought about re-posting them but for now, let's talk food... in the form of what I've been munching on lately.  Sound good?

   Here is what I ate yesterday... on Pancake Tuesday.  You'll note that there are no pancakes.  It's also known as Fat Tuesday.  You'll also note that there is no Jumbalaya or anything remotely resembling Mardis Gras food.  I had a work function and didn't get home until later so I was not in the mood to fiddle around in the kitchen.  I've already promised myself pancakes on the weekend though, so it's all good.

So, without further ado (and pancakes) here's what I ate...

Bevies:

My liquids are the usual suspects:  Lemon water, coffee, more water, more coffee, some tea... more water.  You get the idea.

Breakfast:

I took this picture during my SECOND snow day of the year AKA last Friday.

Green Smoothie:  My favorite combo lately (like for the last 6 months it seems!) is spinach, celery, mango, spirulina powder, hemp protein, cinnamon and water.  Love it.

Lunch:

Always a salad and almost always the same (I switch up the veggies sometimes).  This one has arugula, grape tomatoes, avocado and a salsa and mustard dressing.  I added some nutritional yeast after I took the photo because it's embarrassing how much of it I use.

Snack:

Berry Smoothie:  almond milk, spinach, hemp protein powder, cinnamon, and mixed berries.

Dinner:

Dinner was quick and easy.  Cookin' Greens athlete mix from the freezer, veggie burger on a bed of greens and tomatoes, topped with avocado.  Again, I added the nutritional yeast after I took the photo.  I swear, I love it so much it's kind of like my Frank's Red Hot Sauce.  You know what I mean... I put that sh*t on everything!  Ha.

Dessert/Snack:

To satisfy my sweet tooth I cut up a banana and added a bit of almond butter and a couple of tablespoons of muesli. It ended up being a bit dry so I added a small amount of almond milk and it was perfect.

   So there you have it - my fairly clean eats for yesterday.  It feels really good to be back on track with my meals.  Don't get me wrong, I love indulging... but, I definitely love clean eating more!

   By the way, are you guys giving anything up for Lent?  I was thinking about what I might give up but, let's be real here... what the heck do I have left to give up?  Well, I guess maybe wine?  Ugh.  Do I have to?  I'll think about it.  Do I even have time to think about it?  I'll keep you guys posted.

And in case you are stuck for ideas -

Here's a list of the 5 most popular things to give up during Lent:

Chocolate

Cigarettes and Alchohol

Facebook(!)

TV

Junk food

(I wish I could find the link where I saw this list because there were some funny comments attached to each thing.)

Happy middle of the week day and also Ash Wednesday!

Love,
Ves xx