wiaw and a vegan delish review and giveaway!

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Gabby @ the veggie nook

Hello lovelies!

Today I’m so excited because not only do I have a day of delicious eats to share with you all, BUT I also get to show off the lovely Carrie’s app Vegan Delish and give a free download code to three of you lovely people!

Now I’m not going to waste any time, so here' goes with What I Ate Wednesday! Thank you to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting!

Some of you might remember from my post on digestive healing, that I’ve started following a 3 meals per day model of eating, much like what is recommended in Ayurveda to give your digestive system a break. Snacking all day basically means your body is constantly diverting energy and resources to digesting as opposed to healing and other important tasks. It also prevents your body from burning stored fat as fuel and instead relied on the foods you are constantly digesting. So, especially for me at this point in my life, this way of eating is win-win! BUT I want to make sure I’m still eating enough and getting enough calories so I’ve been having 3 large meals everyday.

I’ve also been trying to combine my foods properly, but yesterday was not a good example of this. I was very all over the place so if you are trying to combine foods properly, do not use this as a model ;)

Breakfast: I sipped some tea and lemon water early on but I wasn’t very hungry at all yesterday until around 11, so that’s when I ate this. A slice of amazing sprouted grain bread with coconut oil and naturally-sweetened apricot jam alongside a green smoothie. In the mix was a pear, spinach, Sunwarrior protein, chia seeds and almond milk. I topped it with some of Carrie’s Chocolate Buckwheat Brittle from her Vegan Delish App!

Lunch: If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve already seen this and honestly, this is one of the BEST things I’ve eaten in a while and I’m so excited to share with you all the recipe for it! I actually ate this at work but photographed it beforehand to get a better shot. I ate both of these and was incredibly satisfied :)

I think I’m going to call this my Smoky Collard Wrap. It’s a sweet, spicy, smoky, creamy AND tangy wrap all in one. It’s very filling, protein packed and nutrient rich! I actually combined a bunch of recipes together to make it, but once you have them all prepared and ready, this comes together very quickly.

Smoky Collard Wrap (Vegan, Gluten-free)

Makes about 2 wraps, enough to feed one hungry person!

Ingredients (2 wraps, 1 serving)

2 large collard leaves
1/4 cup anti-inflammatory hummus (recipe below)
2 tbsp coconut bacon (recipe below)
1/4 cup sauerkraut
1/2 cup shredded carrots
2 tbsp saffron cheese sauce from Vegan Delish App!
sriracha to taste

Instructions

Prep the collard leaves according to this tutorial.

Place half of all the fillings on each leaf.

Wrap like she shows in the above tutorial.

Eat!

Anti-Inflammatory Hummus (Vegan, Gluten-free)

A slight spin on a classic, this hummus incorporates the anti-inflammatory properties of cumin and turmeric!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (or 1 can, well rinsed)
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
sea salt to taste
water to blend

Instructions

Add all ingredients except the salt and water to a food processor and process until smooth. Add water as needed to help it get nice and smooth. Add salt to taste, process again and serve!

Coconut Bacon (Vegan, Gluten-free, Paleo)

This stuff is AMAZING. It's smoky, sweet and crunchy- all the things people love about bacon without any of the unnecessary use of animal products! I modified this recipe from Me-Shell in Your City and I cannot thank her enough for he inspiration!

Ingredients (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 1/2 cups large coconut flakes
1/2 tbsp liquid smoke
2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp coconut aminos (can substitute tamari or Bragg's if you want, but won't be soy-free)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix all ingredients together except the coconut flakes in a small bowl. Add this mixture to the coconut flakes and mix well to coat. Spread in a thin layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 10 min, stir the flakes and bake again for 6 minutes. Take them out, even if they don't feel crunchy yet. They will harden as they cool.

I'm sharing this recipe on Allergy-Free Wednesday!

Ok, back to WIAW!

Dinner: Packed for work, a big salad with mixed greens, carrot, zucchini, sauerkraut, avocado, brown rice, pumpkin seeds, hemp oil and kelp. YUM!

Dessert: Food-combining no-no, fruit right after dinner! Unsweetened applesauce with blueberries and some almond butter on the side. My stomach seemed ok with it though.

Now I want to talk to you all about this lovely app that my lovely blog friend and Healthy Vegan Friday co-host Carrie developed!

For new and veteran vegans and vegetarians, plus those wanting to explore the benefits of a plant-based diet, Vegan Delish is a recipe app available for iPhones and iPads featuring innovative tools such as a digital shopping list and searchable categories including quick & easy, kid-friendly and slow-cooker. Listed as one of the top 20 Food & Drink paid iPhone apps, Vegan Delish inspires users to make whole food, plant-based meals that are as delicious as they are nutritious.

iPhone Screenshot

I am just loving this app! It has so many great features. The recipes are organized by helpful categories like no sugar, oil-free, gluten-free, low sodium, etc., making it easy to find a recipe according to your dietary needs. There are easy functions that let you email and print a recipe and easy Facebook and Twitter Sharing! It lets you rate recipes and save the ones you love to a “Favourites” section. Within each recipe, you can also add ingredients directly to a shopping list which was so convenient! For more involved recipes, you can check off steps as you complete them too and there’s even a kitchen timer in there!

iPad Screenshot

This app is so user friendly and well designed. It’s easy to navigate and is so visually stunning! Not to mention the recipes are absolutely drool-worthy and are all based on whole foods, with no scary ingredients and are 100% vegan!

I’ve made 2 recipes from it so far and already have plans to make more. I made the Chocolate Buckwheat Brittle and Saffron Cheese Sauce which both are featured in this week’s WIAW. They are both absolutely wonderful and were so easy to make!

Chocolate Buckwheat Brittle: great on it’s own as a snack or as a smoothie topping. Chocolatey, crunchy and raw!

Saffron Cheese Sauce: an awesome grown-up, elegant flavour. Great as a sauce, dip, or as one of my friend’s suggested, it would make an amazing vegan cheese fondue! I used it in my Smoky Collard Wrap!

If you want to get your hands on this app go to the site here and download it. It’s only $1.99, seriously such a bargain for the quality!

BUT because Carrie is so generous, she is offering to give it to 3 of my readers for free! Simply enter using the Rafflecopter giveaway below. I will announce the winners next Wednesday!a Rafflecopter giveaway

I’ll see you all back here for Healthy Vegan Friday!

wiaw on christmas!

Posted on December 26, 2012 by Gabby @ the veggie nook

merry (belated) christmas to my readers who celebrate! my day yesterday was very relaxing, filled with good food, pyjamas and watching movies. today, much of the same continues. a brief outing to visit my old boss and it was right back into the comfies. there is no way i am braving the hoards of shoppers today, so stressful! and i’ve always been an online shopping kind of person anyway.

we got a fresh sprinkling of snow on christmas eve so it was perfectly white christmas morning- that’s the dream!

i’ve been a bad bad blogger lately…sporadic posts with no explanation, and my blog reading and commenting has taken a nose dive. for that i apologize! so today i thought i’d pop in with a what i ate wednesday post, showing what i ate yesterday! this is no means everything i ate, rather a couple highlights. scroll to the bottom of the post for lovely breakfast recipe!

christmas breakfast

i made personal apple crisps for a late breakfast and they turned out delicious! spiced with cinnamon and not too sweet, these would make a perfect breakfast anytime. buuut since it was christmas we served them with drizzles of almond milk and maple syrup!

snacks

i brought the leftovers home with me so a few of these nutmeg logs were had throughout the day

my mom picked up some of this almond-based “egg nog” so i’ve been sipping on that sprinkled with nutmeg. any guesses on my favourite spice? ;)

christmas dinner

my christmas dinner! none of these were my own recipes, but they were all delicious so i have to give shout outs to the blog’s who brought me this wonderful meal:

wild rice no-meat loaf from lifeologia- oh man this was amazing! the savoury flavours of wild rice and beans were complimented by the sweetness of the raisins and cranberries and the walnuts added crunch. i can’t wait for leftovers!

chickpea gravy from vanilla & spice- the hint of ginger in this gravy was lovely and went so well with the loaf.

black quinoa and kale salad from green kitchen stories- i made mine with red and white quinoa (festive) and avocado instead of feta- delicious!

dessert

a delicious carrot pineapple cake with cashew “cream cheese” frosting- recipe was not my own or online so can’t post it, but the frosting i used was a variation on this one! also, aren’t these plates the cutest?

and now the recipe for the personal apple crisps!

this recipe isn’t super sweet, so feel free to up the sweetener in the recipe or drizzle more on top as we did. it uses almond butter instead of oil to add richness, upping the nutrition and there’s lots of cinnamon in there to help balance out your blood sugar from the sweetener. and let’s face it- we could all use a little help balancing blood sugar in the holiday season right?

this is easily doubled, tripled, etc. depending on how many you want to make!

personal apple crisp (vegan, gluten-free, refined sugar-free)

ingredients (1 serving)

1/2 c apple, chopped small
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp coconut sugar
1/8 + 1/8 tsp cinnamon, divided
1 + 1/2 tsp flour of choice, divided (i used brown rice)
3 tbsp gluten-free oats
1 tbsp chopped almonds
1 tbsp almond butter
pinch sea salt

instructions

preheat oven to 350. in a small bowl toss the apple, lemon juice, sugar, 1/8 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp flour together and put in a ramekin.

mix together oats, almonds, 1 tsp flour, 1/8 tsp cinnamon, salt, almond butter and mix till it becomes crumbly. spoon over apple mixture.

bake for 10-13 min, until the top is crispy and golden brown and enjoy!

i will be back here for healthy vegan friday, but will probably not be around much other than that till the end of holidays. so i hope you all enjoy and i’ll see you in the new year!

wiaw #30- welcoming back some sweetness

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Gabby @ the veggie nook

hello everyone!

sorry i’ve been absent from the blogging world for a while. i have been so busy lately it seems like there has been no time for sleeping let alone blogging. but i finally got a night at home to relax so i thought i’d throw together a post about what i’ve been eating lately since i reintroduced a little sweetness back into my life. plus there’s a couple recipes in it for you!

so, for those of you who don’t know, i am participating in sarah wilson’s 8 week pre-christmas sugar-free challenge. it’s all about eliminating sugars in all forms, then gradually reintroducing small amounts back in to see how it goes. so far i have invited back in a few fruits and a tiny little bit of natural sweetener to see how it goes. it’s amazing how going without sugar for a few weeks can make you so sensitive to sweetness! fruit tastes like candy and now a little natural sweetener goes a long way. since i’ve been without sugar for so long, i am limiting my sweetener intake to only natural sweeteners (maple syrup, brown rice syrup, coconut sugar/nectar and stevia) and not letting any others in. and i’m using very miniscule amounts. it feels nice to not need it like i used to.

anyway, today is what i ate wednesday so here are my eats from yesterday (tuesday). thank you as always to jenn @ peas and crayons for hosting! sorry for the bad photos. it seems like whenever i have time to take pictures the lighting is terrible and yesterday was especially dreary here…

started with 2 glasses of warm water with apple cider vinegar (unpictured)

breakfast: green smoothie

being done with my sugar free diet means i am welcoming back green smoothies! oh how i missed them :) this one is a clementine, half a frozen banana, bok choy, a scoop of protein powder, maca powder, spirulina, coconut oil and water topped with goji berries, coconut and the last of some sugar-free sprouted grain cereal.

snack: insert an unpictured clementine and herbal tea

lunch: salad with maple mustard flax dressing (recipe below) and raw pizza bites

this was my school lunch, photo taken at home since i knew i’d forget to later on. a salad with spinach, quinoa, tomato, raw beet, dulse flakes, hemp seeds and a dressing. this dressing is honestly so amazing- i missed it so much on my sugar-free diet, so i decided to make a batch up. there’s a little maple syrup in it, but not too much. i highly recommend it. also had one of these raw pizza bites- packed two but didn’t end up eating one.

maple mustard flax dressing (vegan, gluten-free, naturally sweetened, high-raw)

this dressing is a little sweet, a little tangy and very delicious! it includes some flax oil in addition to olive oil to get some essential fatty acids in!

ingredients (~1 cup)

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup flax oil
1/4 cup raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp maple syrup (not raw)
1 tbsp mustard
1/4 tsp garlic powder
sea salt and pepper (to taste)

instructions

place all ingredients in a blender and blend!

snack: hummus with mary’s crackers and tonic wild blueberry kombucha

i avoided kombucha which on the “absolutely no sugars” phase of this challenge since kombucha is made with sugar. but since it’s fermented, very little sugar actually remains in the final product, so i’m welcoming it back in. this is tonica, a lovely toronto-based kombucha company.. i ate a lot of hummus and crackers, not going to lie…

dinner: chilli-spiced black beans with cilantro-lime rice (recipe below)

and this was my dinner! i don’t think i mentioned this on the blog yet, but i signed up for an organic produce delivery service a couple weeks ago! it’s great because you can choose from a bunch of different boxes (including all veggies which came in handy), but as a result i’ve been getting some interesting produce i wouldn’t normally buy. that’s why i put bok choy in my smoothie and that’s why i ended up with a ton of cilantro. so to use it, i got in my head that i wanted to make cilantro-lime rice. and what goes better with that than chilli-spiced black beans?? nothing. that’s what i thought ;)

this meal was very filling and so easy to prepare. the longest part is waiting for the rice to cook, but everything else comes together in less that 20 min. i left it pretty mildly spiced, since i know i have some readers who aren’t into spicy foods but feel free to add more chilli powder or serve with hot sauce as i did.

chilli-spiced black beans with cilantro-lime rice (vegan, gluten-free, sugar-free)

rice adapted from fresh city farms

ingredients (3 servings)

cilantro-lime rice

3/4 cup short-grain brown rice
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
juice of 1/2 a lime
2 tsp olive oil
1 garlic clove

chilli-spiced black beans

oil for the pan (like coconut oil)
1/2 an onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed well (I like eden foods brand since it's organic and BPA-free)
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/4 tsp chilli powder
3/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
Juice of 1/2 lime

instructions

in a medium saucepan, rice and 1 1/2 cups water to a boil. add a little salt and reduce heat to a simmer. cover and cook until water is absorbed and rice is just tender, about 50 min.

in a medium saucepan over medium heat, and add the coconut oil. cook the onion for a few minutes till translucent then add the garlic and sauté for another minute. add the tomato paste and spices and stir for about 30 seconds to incorporate.

add the beans and the broth. simmer over low heat uncovered, stirring occasionally until most of the broth has been absorbed, about 10 minutes.

meanwhile, in a blender, blend the cilantro, lime juice, olive oil, garlic, and 2 tablespoons water. don't worry about getting it perfectly smooth. chunks of cilantro are fine! stir into cooked rice.

serve the rice with some beans spooned on top. top with some chopped tomatoes and cilantro if desired and serve!

later on there was an apple with cinnamon (unpictured)

and that’s it for me, have a great day everyone!

wiaw #29- sugar-free week 4

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Gabby @ the veggie nook

happy wednesday pumpkins!

well here we are everyone, midway through my fourth week of the 8 week no sugar pre-christmas challenge! not going to lie, it’s been getting tough! all the holiday recipes i want to make, both by other bloggers and ones to experiment with myself are really testing my willpower!

i will say, that i did allow myself a small exception to the rules of the challenge. i have started using sunwarrior protein in my smoothies and oats, or as just a quick snack, which has stevia in it. i was feeling challenged in terms of getting my protein- sunwarrior is just so convenient and i was feeling a little tired without that concentrated protein source. however, i’m not using stevia in any other way and i’m managing to avoid fruit still. i cannot wait till the point in the challenge when i can reintroduce it!

it’s wednesday so i’m going to join in the what i ate wednesday party again to show you all what i’ve been eating! it’s actually great timing- this sugar-free challenge is all about breaking my terrible stress-eating and sweet habits! thanks to jenn @ peas and crayons for hosting! much of this is instagrammed and in poor lighting so sorry if the pictures aren’t great!

a recent breakfast: oats with sunwarrior, carob powder, coconut flakes and macadamia butter. served with a new herbal beverage i bought at the whole life expo a couple weeks ago: chaga black from north american herb & spice. can’t say i was a fan, which i was so disappointed with since chaga mushrooms are so healing! i will try this again when i can have some sweeteners because this needs it!

recent dinner: lentils and rice with veggie and mustard. don’t knock it till you try it. also pictured is some raw carob almond fudge.

recent lunch: huge green salad with dulse, hemp seeds, lots of veggies and a flax dressing.

recent drink: lots of this truffle mint tea and pretty much every other tea. oh and coconut water. my current fav…

taste nirvana coconut water with the pulp!

recent dinner: and indian feast from the cooking classes i help out with for my co-op! coconut veggie curry, chana masala, yellow basmati rice, spelt chapati. shout out to marni wasserman!

recent breakfast: very similar to the other one. oats with coconut, almond butter, cinnamon, sunwarrior, pumpkin seeds and sprouted grain cereal on top for crunch. served with some dandy blend blended with coconut oil. check out this post on coconut oil coffee for the details!

**laurie @ taste of morning and veronica @ veronica’s cornucopia just blogged about coconut oil coffee after seeing it here. check out their takes on it!

recent soup: split pea soup with rutabaga croutons. smoky, sweet and loads of comfort. recipe to come!

recent snack: kabocha spread. seriously guys i have a squash problem.

i’m going to share this recipe tomorrow as a part of a new series on this blog! healthy in a hurry. quick meals or snacks that can be pulled together in 20 min or less and reviews of products that make being healthy on a busy schedule just a little easier!

and just before i go, just wanted to share a link with everyone. remember that fabulous comant i reviewed a little while ago, alter eco? well they are hosting a wonderful thanksgiving contest! head on over to see the details!

hope you are all having great weeks!