Wednesday 30 November 2011

It only takes one thought...

When I became vegan, food took on a completely new meaning for me. And I started paying more attention to nature and animals. It's like a whole different world opened up and I could see things in a much brighter light. I believe everyone should be given a chance to change and make things right. And so this song was born, out of thinking it's never too late to make it good.

Saturday 26 November 2011

Mom's vegan lasagna





I went spinning this morning and when I came back home, the house was smelling delicious. My mom was in the kitchen making a veggie lasagna. She roasted some vegetables before adding them to the dish, so each layer had a nice flavour. It was really good and I hope you make this, because it's good and good for you :)

Ingredients:
1 package of spinach lasagna
1 eggplant

5 zucchinis

2 bell peppers (red and yellow - or whatever you have handy)
1/2 pint of cherry tomatoes
2 cups shredded collards


 tomato sauce (you can make your own or buy it ready)

bechamel sauce ( 1 cup vegan butter, 1/2 cup wholewheat flour, about 3 cups of almond milk, 1/c cup nutritional yeast, salt and pepper. Melt the butter, add the flour until blended. Start adding the milk until it's like a sauce, careful you don't add too much. When it's done, add the nutritional yeast for some yummy cheese flavour and the salt and pepper. )


Boil water and cook the noodles for about 13 minutes. Then you can start assembling the lasagna.
Put tomato sauce in the bottom of the baking pan (we used this one). Then the noodles, eggplant, more sauce, noodles, zucchini, sauce, bell peppers, noodles, bechamel sauce, collards, noodles, sauce, zucchini, noodles sauce and some cherry tomatoes on top if you'd like.
Bake for 40 minutes at 370F.
Here's the final product:


YUM!

Thursday 3 November 2011

Gluten-free Vegan Esfihas

I watched my mom make this a bunch of times. It looks complicated at first, but it's not so bad.
She usually uses whole wheat flour, but we decided to try to make it gluten-free. We used a mix of brown rice flour and teff flour. After mixing and letting it rest for about one hour, the dough was still a bit wet so we added some more brown rice flour and it was okay. The end result was great, so we were pretty happy. And my dad liked them, so we know we were successful. Here's the recipe:

Dough:  1 tbsp yeast
              1 cup warm water
              1/2 cup olive oil
              1 tbsp ground flax seed and 3 tbsp water (substituting one egg)
              1 1/2 tsp vegan sugar
              1 1/2 tsp salt
              1 1/2 flour (teff and brown rice)


the dough after we let it rest and worked with some extra brown rice flour

Topping : 1 package Yves Meatless Ground Round
                1 small red onion (chopped)
                1 cup chopped olives
                drizzle olive oil

Work the dough and make some mini pizza discs:

Put them in a 350F oven for 20 minutes. Check if the dough is cooked and if not give it another 5 minutes.
They are great with some hot sauce or lemon juice. Enjoy!

Saturday 29 October 2011

Multicolour Couscous


When I turned vegan, this is one dish I discovered I really like. It's light and nutritious and you can do a million things with it.
We had this for lunch and it was great. So, here's the recipe:


2 cups of multicolour couscous (or any type you like - I used the Israeli couscous and it's great too - kinda resembles pasta in the texture)

2 cups of boiling water

Put the couscous in a pot and pour the boiling water. Put the lid on and wait 5 minutes until the water is absorbed.

Chop: 1 red pepper, 1/2 red onion and 1 cup of green onions. Also 2 cups of green olives (or any kind of olives you like)

Mix everything together. Add a bit of salt, pepper and drizzle some olive oil.
Super easy and really delicious. Enjoy!

Wednesday 12 October 2011

Crushed peanut cake


I made this today because I was craving something sweet and I happened to have all the ingredients at home. It turned out really good actually, so I decided to share the recipe with you.

1 can of soy condensed milk (if you don't have it, you can make your condensed milk by blending 1 cup of soy powder, 1 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of water and 2 tbsp of Earth Balance)

1 package of tea biscuits (I found some at the grocery store that were dairy and egg free, so you should check the box)

300g of peanuts (unsalted!)

Put everything in the food processor until it's mixed. I used a glass container to put the mix in and then refrigerated for a couple of hours. Everyone loved it and I will make this again :)

Monday 10 October 2011

Raw Cashew Cake



2 cups Raw Cashews
1 cup Pitted Dates
¾ cup Cocoa Powder
½ cup +2tbsp Agave
1 Avocado

Put cashews in a food processor until finely ground. Add the dates, ½ cup cocoa powder and ¼ cup agave. Process until a thick dough is formed. Put half of the dough inside a tin or glass container (whatever you have that is not very big). At this point you should make the frosting, by blending avocado and remaining cocoa powder and agave.
Spread half the frosting on one half. Place the other half on top and spread on remaining icing. It's awesome! Just make sure to make it a day before you want to serve it. Refrigerate and serve :)

Wednesday 5 October 2011

Breakfast Smoothie


I'm not really a breakfast person. I'm rarely hungry in the morning, so a breakfast smoothie is the way to go. I buy frozen berries and spinach and I freeze bananas as soon as they get ripe (we buy a lot of bananas).

Here's what goes in my smoothie:

1 cup almond milk
1 frozen banana
a handful of frozen berries
3 balls of frozen spinach
1 tbsp ground flax seed
1 tbsp raw cacao
1 medium piece of ginger

Put everything in the power blender and serve.
I like how the ginger gives the smoothie a subtle bite. Also, I substitute the spinach with anything green I have in the fridge. Arugula is great and so is kale. Sometimes, I add beets and carrots and it's a delicious way to start my day. You should try :)

Saturday 1 October 2011

Garlic!

Yes, I love garlic! It makes everything taste great, so when I saw this video the other day I had to share it with you.



I originally saw this video on vegan.com which is a great website with lots of useful information.
So, I hope this can make your life a bit easier. Peeling garlic is really not my favorite thing.

dZ's yummy garlic bread

1 loaf of your favorite bread
Earth Balance (probably about 1 cup)
Olive oil (1/2 cup)
Garlic (minced) - 4 cloves
1 tbsp oregano
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1tbsp nutritional yeast

Mix and put it on the sliced bread. Bake for 10 minutes at 375F, check to see if it's ready. If not give it another 2 or 3 minutes.
Eat!

Wednesday 28 September 2011

Easy Dinner :)

Rice Paper Wraps
Probably the easiest thing you can make!
Buy some rice paper at any Asian store or even at the Asian aisle at your local grocery store. It looks like this:

You are going to need a bowl of water to dip the rice paper before rolling it. It doesn't take long to get moist enough to wrap.

I used grated carrots, beets and guacamole for my wraps:

Carrots

Beets

The final product
Guacamole is very easy to make too: 

1 avocado (mashed)
lemon juice
1/2 onion (finely chopped)
2 tomatoes (chopped)
one splash of hot sauce (cause I like spicy food)

Very easy and very delicious!!!

Raw Aura!


If you live near Mississauga, I recommend you try this restaurant. The food is delicious and you can just relax and enjoy the flavours, because they use all organic, gluten-free, sugar-free ingredients. All raw, which is my favorite cuisine by far.

Some of the things I ate and love:
Collard Green Falafel

Lasagna

Big Kale Salad with live bread

Sweet and Sour Noodles

Burrito
Chocolate Banana Cake

Totally in love with their food! Raw Aura is definitely AWESOME!

Lentils

If you don't have a lot of time, but still want to eat something nutritious, then you should consider making some lentils. After you give them a good rinse, you put them in a big pot, cover them with water, let it boil and then simmer for 20 minutes more or less. When they are ready, chop one onion and lots of garlic. On a separate pot, add some olive oil and fry the onions and add the garlic. Add a ladle of lentils and some seasoning like onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, whatever you like in your food. I like hot chilly powder and sometimes a bit of Indian spices. Stir everything together and pour on the pot where the lentils are. So easy and so good!
You're probably going to end up eating everything, but if you don't, here's something delicious for you to do with the leftovers:

Lentil Hummus

Leftover lentils (just the lentils, not the saucey part) - I used about 3 cups
2 Tbsp tahini
4 cloves garlic
lemon juice
1 Tbsp Tamari

Put everything in a food processor or a blender and EAT! Soooo good you won't believe it!

Monday 19 September 2011

Rice Rice Rice!


I have to admit I was never a huuuge fan of rice. Until I discovered black rice. It's really easy to make and it's ready in 30 minutes. You can find it at the bulk store and cook it like regular rice. 2 cups of water or vegetable stock for 1 cup of rinsed rice. I usually just boil the rice with no added oil. Then when it's ready I can create something delicious.


dZ's happy rice

4 cups of cooked black rice
1 handful of sesame seeds
1 handful of sunflower seeds
1 handful of cashews
1 sweet potato (roasted)
1/2 cup of goji berries
1/2 cup of raisins
1 avocado, diced
1 tsp sesame oil

Mix and EAT!
This is super nutritious and guaranteed to make you HAPPY!

Quinoa

Even before I became vegan, I remember asking my dad to get me some quinoa at St. Lawrence Market. I love the nutty flavour and you can eat it on its own or mix it with veggies, seeds, goji berries and a touch of sesame seed oil. DELICIOUS!

Quinoa - pronounced keen-wah was once called "the gold of the Incas," who recognized its value in increasing the stamina of their warriors. Not only is quinoa high in protein, but the protein it supplies is complete protein, meaning that it includes all nine essential amino acids. Not only is quinoa's amino acid profile well balanced, making it a good choice for vegans concerned about adequate protein intake, but quinoa is especially well-endowed with the amino acid lysine, which is essential for tissue growth and repair. In addition to protein, quinoa features a host of other health-building nutrients. Because quinoa is a very good source of manganese as well as a good source of magnesium, iron, copper and phosphorus, this "grain" may be especially valuable for persons with migraine headaches, diabetes and atherosclerosis.

You cook quinoa the same way to cook rice. First you have to rinse well. Then for each measure of quinoa, you double the water. Boil and 20 minutes later it's ready. You can use vegetable stock instead of water for some more flavour if you want.
I love quinoa salad! And one of my favorite salads is tabouleh, so instead of using bulgur wheat, I used quinoa instead. And it's awesome:

bunch of italian parsley, nice and clean, chopped
1 big sweet onion, chopped
a handful of mint, chopped (I have lots in my garden!)
1 cucumber, chopped
2 cups of cooked quinoa
juice of 2 lemons
olive oil (2tbsp)
himalayan salt
pepper

yummmmmmers!!!! 
I can eat this everyday in the summer! It's refreshing and makes the house smell really good! 




Sunday 18 September 2011

A little about me

I love animals. They are kind and respond to kindness. I also love sports. I cycle and play tennis. And I think that being healthy is the best thing you can do for yourself. So it wasn't difficult to give up meat, dairy and eggs. My decision was final after I watched Forks Over Knives. If you haven't seen this movie, you are missing on some vital info that could totally change your life. It changed mine. I was a different person after I left the movie theatre and from that day on, I never looked back. Becoming vegan was super easy and I looked up some recipes (OMG so many amazing vegan sites, so there is lots of support everywhere) and our meals became way more exciting than they used to be. So, I want to share my new passion with you. Food is part of what you are. By taking you along my food journey, you will get to know more about me.