Ⓥ Vegan Kitchen: Matcha Watermelon Smoothie Ⓥ

I'd been wanting to try this amazing sounding matcha smoothie recipe over at the LunchBoxBunch.com for a while. It called for watermelon which I never had on hand but now that it's the summer season they're becoming cheaper which is nice. I tried their version the first time around but didn't use a frozen banana and I do believe it makes a world of difference, so make sure your bananas are frozen when you make this recipe. I also altered the original recipe a little bit to my personal liking. And I've included optional ad-ins that I always use in my smoothies but are totally optional--I just love the health kick. ;) 

I must admit this is definitely going to be a summer favourite! I already loved matcha so much and this is probably one of my favourite matcha recipes now. Hope you enjoy as much as I do! 

Matcha Watermelon Smoothie

1 Banana, frozen

1/2 cup Watermelon cubes, frozen

1-2 tsp Matcha

1/2 Tbsp Chia seeds, soaked overnight or for at least 10 minutes

1 cup Hemp Milk (or other non-dairy milk)

touch of Stevia to sweeten (or other sweetener of your choice)

optional ad ins: 

Protein powder 

1 tbsp Hemp seeds

1 Tbsp Flax seeds

Handful of Kale or greens

Toss all the ingredients together in a high-speed blender and blend until smooth. Add less or more liquid to get your desired consistency.   

Makes 1 serving. Enjoy! 

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Ⓥ Vegan Kitchen: Sautéed Mustard Greens! Ⓥ

Mustard greens can be intensely spicy, especially when you're growing them fresh from your own garden. This year we have a healthy happy supply of mustard greens and were trying to figure out how to eat them since they are entirely too zingy for my taste in a salad. That's when this recipe came along. This is super easy to make and super delicious and healthy!  

Sautéed Mustard Greens

2-3 large bunches Mustard Greens, chopped  

1/4 cup Walnuts (or almonds or other nuts) 

1 Garlic Clove, minced

1 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast

1 Tbsp Lemon Juice

1 Tbsp (just under) Tamari or Soy Sauce

dash of Black Pepper

a little water for consistency

In a large frying pan or pot, toss all your ingredients together and sauté on medium heat until lightly cooked. The greens will shrink a lot. 

I like to add chickpeas sometimes as well, really you can add whatever you feel like. :) This recipe is so simple and easy and delicious! Great way to get more greens into your day. 

Makes a wonderful side dish or snack. 

Makes 2-3 servings. 

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☼ Grow your own damn Food! ☼

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These weekly posts are to share the progress of our garden; sharing photos and our gardening experiments and will hopefully inspire you to grow your own garden too! :) 

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We started our starts (heehee) inside this week in our little indoor greenhouse. Since we have the huge sunroom at our new place it means they also get a ton of natural light--much better than our place last year! We started our tomatoes, peppers, and some collards. Instead of planting them in those wasteful breakable little plastic containers people usually use, we got our hands on these awesome biodegradable ones (again from my dad's DIG garden centre), so when we transplant them to the garden we don't disturb the roots either. Neat, huh?

Cory also planted some radishes directly outside in the first garden bed this week, and a few greens since we've had a pretty warm March this year, and since we have a greenhouse outside to get an early start. That's what else we did today actually; build the outdoor greenhouse. We have a layer of frost cover as well. For the greenhouse, we found some PVC piping and Cory got the plastic cover from his Uncle, so everything is recycled too! :) It should do the trick, there's so much sun exposure and the weather is warming up quickly. 

We did get the one surprise snow dump this week though too. I was actually snowed in, and then slushed in, since it snowed as much as it did and then melted right away! Crazy week. And now it's beautiful and warm and sunny again today… and they say Global Warming doesn't exist. ;p It was definitely a "wtf winter?!" moment. I mean… I loooove winter… 

Anyways… greenhouse up! We still have the second one to do and we still have to make the last bed and fix up the front ones. Always exciting! I can't wait to have fresh food to pick again! Gardening is so rewarding!

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☼ Grow your own damn Food! ☼

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This is a new edition I'd like to start on the blog. Gardening! I'm really quite new to it but we believe so strongly in being self-sustainable, getting back to nature, growing your own food, and eating healthily so I decided it was about time I started these posts. I'll be sharing photos and our gardening experiments and will hopefully inspire you to grow your own garden too! :) 

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We started planning and getting our beds together this week, it's been a fun and busy week! Cory is awesome and went out and got the plywood and built the beds last week so we were all set to get the rest going this week. We went out to my dad's garden centre (Dig, at the junction between Nelson and Castlegar), as I mentioned a couple days ago, and got our manure and sea soil. We're starting from scratch this year which is quite the venture. It's more work initially but it's also nice getting to start from scratch because you can make sure your soil is super rich, not sandy, and free of weeds--which will mean hopefully less maintenance one the food starts growing because we won't need to weed as much. 

Cory took a permaculture course a couple years ago and so he learned a lot, although there is sooo much to know and learn and experiment through experience when it comes to gardening, it really is quite the little adventure. He's teaching me anyway, because I know practically nothing. It's exciting. From our last two years gardening, I can say there is nothing more rewarding then getting to see your little seeds grow into food and eating veggies fresh out of the earth. Truly amazing. Nature is amazing and absolutely under appreciated in our high-technology society. It's nice to get back to the earth, back to what we should be doing. 

I'm going to take a moment just to say that everyone should do what they can to grow their own food. Even if you don't have a garden where you are you can get creative. For instance, at our last place we weren't allowed to have a garden, but we found garden space from Cory's boss who had space they weren't using which we were able to take over. There are also community gardens you can contribute to and benefit from. You can even have little windowsill gardens and grow some greens. And if nothing else you could be sprouting and getting fresh greens every week that way. Do what you can. People are amazing and there are always options out there when you seek them out. So seek them out. 

Anyways, back to your 2013 Garden! 

We have garden space at the front of our house where there is a ton of sun exposure and soil already there for us, but it's small for all our needs which is why were built three more garden beds in the back. There used to be a hot tub in that space so it was already free of grass but there was sand that we first needed to dig out, so we did that. We also dug up the grass because you don't want grass beneath your garden beds or you'll get a ton of weeds. Because there wasn't much for weeds in the grass in this area we were able to turn the topsoil upside down and reuse it for a layer of our garden bed which I'll get to in a minute. For our largest bed we are experimenting with hugel-culture, a method of layering layers to maximize the soils' richness and water retention. Of course, like I said, I'm just learning, and Cory sort of knows what he's doing so this bed was a combination of cultures and is a bit of an experiment. 

So, the layers… 

Cardboard, rotten logs, upside-down topsoil, compost (with lots of wormies), straw, manure, sea soil, straw (to make everything else break down faster and to use as a mulch). 

The logs were hilarious to get. We walked down the highway to the woods and found all these fallen logs. We used Cory's bike hitch trailer thing and carried them along the highway the few feet back home. We felt like real hippies and couldn't help but laugh. Good times. ;) It was also fun playing in the straw. See, gardening is fun! ;) 

Cory finished off the second bed yesterday, while I finally did some work work… and took Lyla out of a walk to watch because it was such a beautiful sunny day. The second bed was a simple hugel-culture of cardboard, straw, compost, manure, and soil without the logs. We still need to finish the last bed and add some manure and sea soil to the front beds to make them richer, and the straw for mulching. 

We haven't started seeds yet but will be starting our indoor seeds this week to keep inside until they are ready to be transplanted. It's almost time to plant some greens as well. Although the sudden dump of snow today may tell us otherwise. We are planning on doing hoop houses, or at least one, in the large bed as a greenhouse as well which will mean an earlier start. We're close the lake so we loose the snow and frost soonest and get a ton of sun exposure so we're pretty lucky. 

Well, that's all for now! This is a long one as there was a lot of work in preparing the beds. Looking forward to sharing more! Send me links to your gardens and what you're up to this summer for eating healthily and growing your own food! 

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Ⓥ Nutty Granola Ⓥ

I've been meaning to make granola forever now. I love granola, it's just so good and delicious and crunchy and wholesome. But… I can't eat cane sugar, which pretty much cuts out all possible buying options for granola cereals. So, I figured it was about time I made some! It's really easy and doesn't take that much time, which is why I have no good reason for not doing this sooner. This granola is super delicious, with a lovely coconutty-nutty flavour. Plus it's healthy and packed full of nutrition and gives you breakfast for the whole week--or longer.

Anyway, enough from me, let's make some granola! 

This recipe is vegan (as always) and can easily be made gluten-free by using gluten-free oats. :)

Nutty Granola

Dry:

3 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup almonds or peanuts, roughly chopped

1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds

1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds

2 tbsp flax seeds

1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1/3 cup raisins

1/4 cup cacao nibs (or vegan chocolate chips)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Pinch of ground nutmeg

3/4 tsp kosher salt

Wet: 

1/4 cup of agave nectar (or use a tbsp of stevia with a touch of agave like I do)

2 tbsp coconut oil

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup of hot water

Preheat oven to 300℉

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the wet ingredients. Stir well. Bring to a boil and then simmer on low for 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently.

In a very large mixing bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.

Add the wet mixture (while still warm) over top the dry mixture and stir well. Stir until thoroughly combined (don't miss any!).

Spread onto a pan lined with aluminium foil (greatly helpful in preventing sticking) and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes. Make sure you give the granola a good stir every 7-10 minutes to ensure even baking. Keep an eye on it as well as the oats can catch quickly if you don't. 

Allow to cool for 30 minutes on the pan before serving. The granola will stiffen up as it cools.

Makes about 6 cups and will keep for 1 month in the fridge in an air-tight container.
Enjoy with some lovely almond milk for an extra nutty flavour!

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Ⓥ Vegan Kitchen: Chickpea Fritters Ⓥ

First thing, these are not falafel, they are lovely crispy chickpea fritters. ;)

I originally found this recipe over at The LunchBox Bunch, with some very slight changes to my liking and to make them gluten free. Check them out anyways, they have a ton of amazing vegan recipes! 

Mine didn't come out as pretty as The LunchBox Bunch, but they still tasted incredibly delicious.

They are pretty easy to make though are a bit messy--but who doesn't have fun getting messy in the kitchen? They are super delicious! 

They'd be great as an appetizer or snack, or a side to a meal like we made them for. I think these would also be awesome in a sandwich or burger, though they are a tad on the crumbly side. 

Of course, these are vegan, and we made them gluten free. 

makes 12 small round fritters.

Pumpkin Chickpea Fritters

1 can Chickpeas, drained 

1/2 cup organic Pumpkin Puree (canned)

1/4 cup Hemp Seeds

1 tsp Garlic powder

2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

1/2 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Black Pepper

a touch of cayenne or chili powder

1 Tbsp Brown Rice Flour (for binding)

1 cup gluten-free panko bread crumbs for coating

Olive Oil for frying. 

*baking note: you could also bake these instead of frying them if you'd prefer. Bake on parchment paper or a lightly greased baking sheet at about 350 degrees for about 20 minutes - or until toasty. BUT the panko bread crumbs are really made for a light fry. 

In a large mixing bowl, add the chickpeas and pumpkin. With a large fork or potato masher, mash the beans until at least 75% of them have been mashed together with the pumpkin.

Add in the spices, apple cider, hemp seeds and flour. Fold together until a moist mixture forms.

Form the mixture into golf ball sized balls and roll in your panko crumbs until well covered - pat down into flatter cakes. 

Preheat a few tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan. Once the oil if hot, place the cakes in the hot oil - carefully!

Try to leave about an inch space between each cake for easier flipping--unlike what I did and mush them all together. ;)  

Cook on each side for a couple of minutes - until toasty brown. Try not to burn, although a bit of crisping is nice.

Let cool a bit, serve, and enjoy! 

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Ⓥ Cheesecake Smoothie Shake! Ⓥ

Don't feel like making a full cheesecake? Well here's a quick and delicious fix, though it does take a tiny bit of preplanning. 

Makes a great dessert smoothie or even breakfast smoothie since it's healthy! :) 

Cheesecake Smoothie Shake

2 Tbsp Cashews, soaked

3 pitted Dates, soaked

1 Tbsp Chia seeds, soaked

1/2 cup water

1 small Banana

1 Tbsp Lemon Juice

3/4 cup Almond Milk

1 tsp Vanilla extract

Stevia to sweeten (or other sweetener of your choice)

Soak the cashews, dates, and chia in about 1/2 cup water in a sealable container in the fridge overnight. 

Toss all the ingredients together in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add less or more liquid to get your desired consistency and sweeten to taste.  

Makes 1 large or two small servings. Enjoy! 

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Ⓥ 10 Minute - Grilled Tofu Tortillas! Ⓥ

Here's a super easy ten minute recipe for you! 

This makes a great lunch, supper, or even snack. Gluten free and vegan as always. :)

Grilled Tofu Tortillas

1/2 pound Tofu (anything from soft to firm works great)

1/2 medium Zucchini 

1 Tbsp (wheat-free) Tamari 

1-2 tsp of spices (I usually grab a dash of everything; Garlic Powder, Black Pepper, Cumin, ground Mustard, Chili Powder, Parsley)

touch of oil or water

4 Corn Tortillas

Daiya Cheese (or whatever your favourite vegan cheese may be)

You can also use whatever veggies you have handy really, the fun of this is it's easy to play around with and fast to make! 

In a medium pot or frying pan, sauté the tofu and veggies in the tamari and spices on medium-high heat until lightly browned and veggies are tender. Add a little oil to prevent any sticking--I usually just use a little bit of water, but I cook in eco-non-stick pans). 

Top the 4 corn tortillas with the tofu mixture, sprinkle cheese on top, and grill in the oven until the cheese is melty and the tortillas are a little toasty. 

Voila! Food in ten minutes! 

Makes 2 servings.

Enjoy!  

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Ⓥ Coconut Lentil Pumpkin Gumbo Curry Ⓥ

There are so many wonderful things you can do with pumpkins! So put them to good use far after halloween! 

This recipe is thanks to my sister for this lovely creation! I finally got around to making this myself, with a few changes since my sister makes awesome food but doesn't tend to write down exact recipes for her creations. ;)

This is delicious and needs to be tried! Healthy, satisfying, oh so goooood! :)

Coconut Lentil Pumpkin Gumbo Curry

Olive Oil

2 tsp Red Curry Paste

2 tsp Yellow Curry Paste

2 medium-large Carrots, diced

1-2 Sweet Potatoes, chopped (or regular potatoes or yams)

2 cups Red Lentils

1 large can, or 2 small cans Pumpkin Puree (or half a large home-grown pumpkin)

1 can Coconut Milk

Kale, Swiss chard, broccoli, or any other veggies you want to add

1 Tbsp Tamari

1 1/2 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Black Pepper 

1/2 tsp Cumin, ground

1/2 tsp Curry powder

touch of water, to thin it down

In a large sauce pan, sauté the carrots and potatoes in a bit of oil with the red and yellow curry paste. After a few minutes, add in the lentils, rest of the spices, tamari, and enough water to fill over the lentils and veggies--and to allow cooking reduction space. Let simmer on medium heat, stirring occasionally, adding more water if needed. 

Once the lentils are almost cooked, add in the pumpkin and the rest of your ingredients and continue cooking until all the veggies are cooked. 

Add more or less water to get your desired consistency. 

Serve over rice and enjoy! 

Makes a huuuuge batch! About 6 large servings. 

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♥ Navitas Naturals: Super Food Products and Power Snacks! ♥

 
Allow my to introduce you to; Navitas Naturals! 

"Navitas" is the latin word for energy, and couldn't be more fitting. 

Navitas Naturals is a green business located in California, making amazing certified Organic, Kosher, and GMP/HACCP Certified products. They take great care in their products to create premium functional whole superfoods that are nutrient-rich, increase energy, health, and well-being, and are rich in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. Navitas Naturals has a wonderful philosophy and care into their products to provide nutritient-rich whole superfoods. Their premium quality superfoods are always free of additives and trans fats, and are minimally processed, using methods such as freeze-drying and low temperature processing to ensure maximum nutrition and safety. And they also have third party testing of all their products. 

This company is Super to be sure! 

So what can you find from Navitas Naturals? Well, firstly, all of their products are raw, kosher, gluten-free, vegan, and 100% organic, and all without refined sugars. They have a number of simple superfood powders (such as acai, hemp, cocoa, maca, camu, and many more), cocoa butter and paste, and nuts and seeds. They also have chocolate kits (yum much?!), coconut palm sugar and stevia, as well as other goodies. 

The other part to make you swoon over is Navitas' delicious "Power Snacks." These are sooooo good you'll probably gobble up the bag entirely too quickly as I did. I love having on-the-go go-to snacks available to me when I need them and these couldn't be more perfect and delicious and nutritious. My favourite is definitely the Cacao Goji Super Food one, but hey, I'm a chocolate fiend, and these are a bliss of chewy goodness and cocoa flavour. Seriously amazing! The other flavours are also super (pun intended ^_~) delicious; Blueberry Hemp and Citrus Chia. These little bite-sized snacks are clearly packed full of nutrition, a fantastic boost at any time of the day.

On top of that, they also have wonderful trail mixes that my hubby is obsessed with. What more could you possibly ask for?

But wait! There is more! Aside from amazing products, the Navitas Naturals website is also a huge resource for wonderful recipes to make with such fabulous superfoods, just to help you out that much more. The website is wonderful, easy to navigate, and a fountain of useful information, listing off the benefits of each of their superfoods with suggested recipes along side each one.

You can find Navitas Naturals popping up more and more in stores, and if they're not in one of your local stores, ask them to carry their products. If all else fails, you can purchase off their website. Win win! :)

Website: http://www.navitasnaturals.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NavitasNaturalsFan

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NavitasNaturals

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/NavitasNaturalsTV   

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Ⓥ Creamy Peanut Salad Dressing Ⓥ

Eat you greens! This salad dressing will have you craving salads! 

I tend to go all out in whatever I make, so… lettuce, fresh sprouts, grated carrot and beets, chopped walnuts, hemp seeds, a sprinkle of nutritional yeast and a dollop of this dressing = my perfect salad. :)

This dressing is also fantastic on a sandwich and I decided that it would also be rather fantastic warmed up over a stir-fry--but I have yet to try it. ;)

Creamy Peanut Salad Dressing

2 Tbsp Peanut Butter, creamy

3 1/2 Tbsp Olive Oil

just under 1 Tbsp Tamari

2 Tbsp Rice Vinegar

1 Tbsp Agave*

1/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Black Pepper 

1/4 tsp Ginger, ground

1/4 tsp Garlic Powder

1/4 tsp Cumin, ground

1/4 tsp Curry powder

touch of water, to thin it down

*last time I made this I was out of Agave so I tried subbing in a touch of liquid Stevia and it turned out delicious still. :)

Combine all your ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth and creamy. Add a little water to thin it down a bit and make it go further, how much you add is up to you to reach your desired consistency. 

Next time I'm going to sub in the olive oil for hemp oil for a healthier variety as well. :)

Store in the fridge, keeps for about 4-6 days.

Makes about 1/2 cup of dressing (I didn't measure, I'm just guessing). ;)

Enjoy! 

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Ⓥ Vegan Kitchen: Happy Thanksgiving! Ⓥ

It's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, so… Happy Thanksgiving Canada! :) 

With my family being a sick we didn't get to do a thanksgiving dinner together, but my hubby and I hosted a Vegan Thanksgiving Potluck at our place with my brother and good friend Tam. Vegan potlucks are the best thanksgivings ever, or for any traditional festive meal. 

[silly face photo reel... life's not complete without one ;)]

Cory made a quinoa kale salad. And I roasted up red kuri squash, parsnips, carrots, and garlic from our garden--and added some sweet potato in there as well. I also made tofu balls and vegan gravy--my usual go-tos for  dinners such as these. Everyone always loves the food, vegan or not, so why the hell not? Beats some poor murdered turkey any day. 

For dessert Tam made the most amazing Lemon poppyseed quinoa flour cake! Sooooo good! 

We stuffed ourselves full of amazing food and enjoyed some great company. All in all, thanksgiving was lovely. :) 

If you're looking for your own ideas for a vegan festive dinner then be sure to check out my other post with suggestions and recipes as well: Holiday Feast. :)

Happy Thanksgiving Canada! Show gratitude wherever you are, you don't need an excuse to give thanks. 

[how many times can I repeat the exact same big goofy smile? Thiiiiss many!]

So, what are you grateful for? How did you spend Thanksgiving--or how do you plan on spending it if you're not in Canada? What are your favourite vegan festive meals? 

Create a nice day!! Much Love and gratitude! :) 

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