By the time you read this, I will be in a drug induced delirium listening to a mix playlist I made of: Radiohead, Foster the People, Crystal Castles, Elvis, LMFAO, Pony Up!, Handsome Furs, The National, The Carps, CSS, Britney Spears and Lady Gaga. Yes, I have some guilty pleasures, I’m sure you all do too.

I will also have an eye mask on and hopefully won’t be gripping the chair till my knuckles turn white. I’m getting that little piece that connects your lower gum to your lip snipped, as it’s pulling on my gum, I’m also getting a piece of the roof of my mouth cut and stitched onto a bit of my lower receding gum.

Doesn’t this sound like a party and a great way to kick off a Canadian long weekend? Sure! Should take about an hour. No doubt I will cry when it starts and hopefully the drugs kick in quickly.

My dentist offered me three options for the graft: 1. Another human’s skin, 2. Pig’s skin and 3. My own. I had no idea that pig was an option. I mean even if I wasn’t vegan I can’t imagine accepting a piece of a pig’s skin into my mouth. That’s pretty gross no matter how you cut it. Then there’s the cadaver option, I have watched Six Feet Under and I know it’s not a big deal, but no. I’d much rather they cut my own mouth to take a piece.

Who knew being vegan would extend itself at the dentist? Either way, I hope that I’m passed out enough that I magically wake up in bed with the cats snuggled and Mat holding my hand. Yes, that would be ideal.

Hope your day is better than this!

Update: I’m home resting and I am glad for the pain killers. I didn’t end up taking the Valium, I think she forgot to give it and I wasn’t sure to ask. It also would have increased the cost.  It already cost $1,500, thank god for insurance that covered 80%, but $300 is still a fair bit. I did have a moment where I screamed and had a bit of a panic attack. I don’t know of it was the idea that the roof of my mouth was being cut, or I felt the pressure from the needle. I’m not sure. Either way I’m starting my juice fast and I am grateful for Mat being so supportive and my dentist being so wonderful. She was so kind and understanding. Who knew being vegan was going to be an issue at the dentist?

The other weekend I had a lovely time with my friend Mr. Vodka Von Juice. In the midst of my laughing, giggling and general carrying on I realized I better eat something before I feel the need to socialise in the bathroom. That’s when it hit me – POPCORN. Yes, that was going to solve everything and make me happy as can be. That’s right. Never mind the Young Thai coconut water we had, no, who needs that? Pppfft. Who needs electrolytes when you have glorious carbs? That sounded better to me for some reason, despite the fact that it was more work. The brain works in mysterious ways.

Vegan cheesy popcorn:
3 cups of air popped corn (3 tbsp)
1 tbsp melted Earth Balance (I use non-soy)
1 tbsp nutritional yeast

Add the melted “butter” to the popped corn and immediately start spreading the nutritional yeast and start stirring to try to evenly coat everything. If you don’t it might stick to one particular kernel and be pretty over powering. I highly suggest doing this while inebriated, it’s just that much more fun. Make sure you have a deep mixing bowl because it’s pretty easy to underestimate how hard you’re stirring and then there’s popcorn on the floor and the cats are having a field day because you didn’t notice they were there. Then as you’re trying to shoo them away your popcorn gets cold and that’s irritating; everyone likes hot popcorn.

The very kind people at Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods & Oils sent me a productto review. I used to pass by hemp hearts in the grocery store and wonder what the heck they were. Did they look like hearts, what did they taste like, would I be upset if I bought some and felt I had wasted my money?

Image: http://www.healing-source.com/

Here are the answers: No, like walnuts and not in the slightest. As you can see they’re circular and some still have a bit of husk on them. This doesn’t deter from the taste. I have a hard time putting the bag down and not eating directly with a spoon.

  What the heck are hemp hearts? (From the site): Hemp Hearts are packed full of protein with 10 grams of plant-based protein per 30 gram serving size. Hemp Hearts are a great way to get an ideal ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3‘s including the rare EFA known as Gamma-Linolenic Acid (GLA). Testimonials have shown that GLA alone helps with arthritis, joint mobility, eczema, hormonal balance, migraines, menopause in women, healthy cholesterol & blood pressure levels and even weight management. Check out our testimonial section to read for yourself. Hemp food is extremely easy to digest. Hemp foods contain vitamins, chlorophyll, fibre, calcium and are rich in folic acid. Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts contains no additives or preservatives. Our Hemp Hearts are made in our dedicated hemp food facility that DOES NOT process any dairy, soy, nut or gluten products.

Here are the nutritional facts about Hemp Hearts: (click to enlarge)

They’re low in sugar and high in protein, great source of magnesium and iron. I don’t know how I lived without them for so long and I’m glad I finally did take the plunge.

What is the difference between natural and organic? (From the site)

“Natural” denotes products that are grown using conventional techniques and have NOT been genetically modified. Currently there are no pesticides, herbicides or fungicides registered to be used on hemp.

“Certified Organic” denotes products grown under legal certified organic standards and are produced on land that has had certification assessed by a government agency. In North America, to receive organic certification the farmland has to have been free from chemicals for a minimum of three years.

Inspections are conducted and detailed reports about land use and separation of organic and non-organic are also needed. Manitoba Harvest organic products are certified by Pro-Cert and are marked with the USDA/Canadian Organic Regime logo.

I had no idea the natural bag didn’t have pesticides, I just assumed it did, so good to know! I am not a fan of GMO, so this also makes me happy to know that this product hasn’t been altered in any way.

Now that Hemp Hearts aren’t so odd, what do you DO with these things?

My suggestions:
Sprinkle on salad
In yogurts
Smoothies
Sandwich spreads (un-tuna and potato salads)
Homemade “ice cream”
Sushi rolls
Salsa

Anything you can think of really. The most decadent idea would be to mix hemp hearts in with a hazelnut spread. I think that would be incredibly divine. It’s only to your benefit that you use them, why not make it fun and tasty.

Happy eating!

Summer is coming up and I love having a recipe in my back pocket that I can whip up quickly when going to a party. Christy Morgan of Blissful Bites, has an un-tuna salad recipe that I’ve tweaked a bit. You’ll have to get her book, Blissful Bites: Vegan Meals That Nourish Mind, Body, and Planet to find out what it is. However, I will say it involves chickpeas, mustard, tamari and a few other goodies.

What I like best about this book is the organization and thought put into the ingredients. It makes both logical and fiscal sense to cook with in season ingredients. I like how Christy has colour coded her book and organized recipes by season. Makes things so much easier when flipping through and deciding what to make.

As for the recipe, I took it in another direction and mashed it up a bit more making it almost a paté. As I wouldn’t have regular bread to make a sandwich, I made some raw corn tortillas.

Corn Tortillas: 3 cups of raw corn
1/2 cup flax seed meal
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp cayenne powder

Spread on dehydrator sheet, dry at 110F for 4 hours, check periodically. Flip and dry for another 2 hours if necessary.

The recipe doesn’t take very long to make and would be great in a sandwich or served as a salad in a BBQ setting.

Happy eating!

Welcome! I have the pleasure of being the host site and the first blog post to start the Virtual Vegan Potluck. What a cool idea and thank you very much Annie for thinking of this. Being the creator of VBU, I totally appreciate building a community. This kind of potluck idea is excellent and I am already excited for next year.

Away we go!

I love easy party finger foods. I’m a fan of: apéritif,  hors d’oeuvres, canapés, petit fours, and crudités. Looks like the French really enjoy bite sized foods, non?

I often find I have a lot of left over pulp from juicing. Why not keep the momentum going and not waste?

Pulp crackers:
- 2 cups of pulp
- 1/2 cup ground flax seed meal
- 1/2 to 1 cup of water

Take your pulp and add some ground flax seed meal. Depending on how much pulp you have the ratio should be 1/2 cup flax meal to 2 cups of pulp. Mix the pulp and flax meal in a bowl by hand and add the water in slowly. You might not need all of the water. If you over water, don’t worry, you’re going to dehydrate anyway. Add in some of your favourite spices, I prefer Italian spices and garlic powder. If you’re up to it you can add some cayenne for a kick, but only 1/2 a teaspoon.  Too much can ruin a good thing.

Spread out the mix your non stick drying sheets and take a shot glass to cut the crackers out. My mother always made her cookies this way and I love how perfect cookies come out using this method. Who needs to spend on fancy cookie cutters when you have a shot glass. The left over shapes make excellent croutons.

Dehydrate at 115F for 6-8 hours, depends how crispy you want them.

As for the cashew sauce, hopefully you have soaked cashews the night before, but in case you don’t, just soak for at least 2 hours. This really helps with the blending process and also brings the nuts’ enzymes “alive” so to say.

Cashew sauce:
- 1 cup of raw soaked cashews overnight (minimum 2 hours)
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 1/2 tbsp onion powder
- 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

Mix everything in a food processor until you have a consistency you’re happy with and there you have it. Additional options: parsley, dill, cilantro. Perhaps not at the same time, but they do add a nice flavour.

Happy eating!

Please click below to go forward or back to the next blog in the Virtual Vegan Potluck.

On June 6th I’m having minor gum surgery and my dentist recommended that I don’t eat solids for a week. It’s like a sign because I have been thinking of doing this anyway. The unfortunate part about this is that I don’t have the option of taking a day off and eating solids. I’ve never done well with being forced into a situation. I suppose I will have to. I guess the main fear is being hungry and missing the fact that I won’t be chewing anything.

Our morning smoothie is always fantastic and I look forward to it every day, plus, I really enjoy our green juice in the afternoon, so am I going to be able to get over the hump of not having my huge salad in the middle? Hhm…might have to do a test run day and see what happens. I figure I’ll have to just keep drinking. I am trying to break it down as I would my usual day where I eat every two hours or so.

Breakfast:  Lemon water + smoothie
Mid morning: red juice
Lunch: green juice
Mid afternoon: lemon water
Dinner: green juice

Smoothie: Sun warrior (vanilla), hemp heart, chia seed, strawberries, Almond Breeze (vanilla), cinnamon
Green juice: Kale, spinach, parsley, cilantro, collard green, celery, carrot, apple, dandelion, swiss chard.
Red Juice: Green juice + lemon + beet – apple

I might switch up the green/red juices, I don’t know. It’s whatever we have on hand really. I am slightly worried that I won’t be getting the proper vitamins/minerals. I need to do more research.

If you have recommendations – please let me know!

I loved making Bentos for Vegan Mofo and it took a lot more of my time than I thought. I do enjoy the painstaking details, but it really can drive someone mad. Here’s a quick and dirty, well quick if you have everything and you’re ready to assemble. I don’t think anything about raw food is quick (minus the obvious veg/fruits).

Here’s my first semi-raw bento:

This delightful burger, is from an Ani Phyo recipe, it’s delightful and I wish I had made a cashew sauce for this picture. You can find the recipe here. I really enjoyed making these burgers, I would stress that when forming the patties, squeeze hard to make the items retain their shape, or else things don’t adhere very well.

I marinated these portobello mushrooms over night in: 1 tbsp Organicville BBQ sauce, 1 tbsp organic Tamari sauce, 1 drop of liquid smoke and 1/2 tsp olive oil. They were so tender and fantastic. I used about 3 medium sized caps.

I’ve made this bread before, however, this time I didn’t mix the buckwheat groats and they came out a bit textured, not necessarily a bad thing.

Just for colour and I do enjoy a little bit of mixed frozen vegetables, I threw these organic ones for fun. No ‘butter’, just plain as is, ran them under some warm water and there you have it.

Let me preface this by saying, I am not 100% raw, I just have been adding more raw food into my diet. I’m also not a nutritionist, this is just what I’m doing and I thought I’d share.

That said, I am LOVING the effects of feeling energetic and lively. I can’t say I feel this way eating cooked foods and I almost feel depressed eating something cooked. Mind you, I have a hard time saying no to a serving of Daiya filled lasagne, so there are some cooked foods I enjoy immensely.

I’ve been asked, so what are you eating exactly?

Here’s a run down:

Breakfast smoothie:
1 scoop of Vanilla Sun Warrior
1 1/2 cups Almond Breeze unsweetened vanilla milk
1 cup strawberries
1 tbsp organic natural peanut butter
1 tbsp organic hemp heart
1/2 tbsp organic chia seed (black)
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Snack: Banana

Lunch:
2 slices of Raw bread
1 -2 Raw burgers (depends on size)
1 tbsp Cashew sauce
Organic salad with: 2 cups mixed greens, 1/2 cup carrots, 1/2 cup celery, 1/4 cup red peppers, 5 cherry tomatoes, 1/8 cup red onion, 1 tbsp hemp hearts, with garlic/lemon juice dressing 1.5 tbsp

Snack: Orange

Dinner:
Raw sandwich with said bread (might have two depending on hunger level)
1/2 sliced avocado
1 tbsp cashew nut sauce
Spiralized: 1 cup zucchini, 1 cup red cabbage
Handful of sprouts
Green juice: kale, spinach, celery, carrots, apples, parsley or cilantro (sometimes both)

Snack:
Two squares of Mint Giddy Yoyo raw chocolate

This is an ideal day mind you. I do have a burrito, Daiya smothered pasta, or something else cooked, be it a condiment (mustard, pickles, ketchup, bbq sauce). I’m working my way towards being more raw and I totally love it.

Happy eating!

My favourite restaurant in Toronto is Live Food Bar. I always enjoy my food there and I am often inspired by their “uncooking”. One time I had the pleasure of eating their raw cannelloni and I just had to re-create what I could.

The wrapper is store bought:

Image: Rawguru.com

You can get these at Upaya Naturals, or Big Carrot, I haven’t noticed elsewhere, but if you have please do let me know.

I cut these into quarters, you might get away with cutting them in half, but this way it stretches your wraps and it’s a tad overwhelming to each such a sweet treat in one bite.

Here’s how I made the filling:
1 cup of soaked cashews (overnight or minimum 2 hours)
1/4 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 tbsp agave/sweetener

I used a food processor with an S blade and ran it until the mixture was incredibly smooth. Please do taste along the way and adjust for your own preference.

Strawberry sauce:
1 cup of fresh strawberries
2 Medjool dates (don’t forget to remove the pit)
1/2 tbsp chia seed

I can’t recall what site I saw this recipe on, most likely Gone Raw – they’re a fantastic site and I don’t want to pretend I came up with this. I just like to recognize a good thing when I see it.

Here’s everything together:

I had to include a fresh mint leaf on top of the sauce. It was glorious and I highly recommend going to Live and trying theirs as well.

Happy eating!

I downloaded Happy Herbivore’s Meal plan last week and saw her Chickpea taco recipe. Immediately, I knew I had to try this. As I find most taco shells contain rather strange chemicals, and even the organic ones I could find were just too pricey, I decided to deconstruct her recipe and make it nachos instead. I am a HUGE fan of nachos, I know some of you who are as well and I’m sure you’ll appreciate this. I wish I had thought ahead to make a raw cashew sour cream. That just means there will have to be a next time.

I do urge you to try this recipe, as it was fantastic, I just made my version a little different. Instead of whole chickpeas, I mashed them up and treated them more like refried beans.

Whenever I can use my Thali plate, I love using my hands and building each chip as it’s own appetizer. Here’s my deconstructed version of chickpea tacos:

Imagine a whole plateful of these little guys? Totally fantastic. Mind you, HH’s recipe does not include corn, tomatos, or corn chips,  but this is my take on things. The chickpea mixture of spices she has designed is delightful. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend you find it through her books/meal plans.

Happy eating!