Chickpea of the Sea!!

Hello Everyone! 

I hope you are all doing well :) 

Well. . . Two weeks till race day and I have to admit that I am a little bit intimidated. Yikes! I guess that's normal but I was really hoping not to be! Training this time around has been hard, like really hard, and for this marathon I am unfortunately just hoping to finish, never mind set a pb! Boo :( I just might have taken on a bit more than I can chew (you are right it is rare that I would ever admit to that); running the full marathon ten months after having baby #3 (and no, he is not sleeping through the night) Boo again :(

BUT

I am stubborn (like pushing a solid wood dresser up a flight of stairs by myself because I don't want to wait till Paul gets home kind of stubborn) and I will not back down!! So I am praying to the running Gods to carry me through. . . . I will let you know how that goes (I'm not holding my breath) but in the mean time. . . lets have a sandwich!

Today we are eating Chickpea Salad Sandwiches- I know- so yummy right? If you are not as excited as I am right now just scroll down to the pics and take a look at just how great this looks!! Seriously.

I love this recipe because it really isn't a recipe in the traditional sense; it's very flexible with what ever you have in the fridge and it makes a great tasting, healthy lunch, dinner, snack- whatever!

It's based on the traditional salad style sandwich fillings aka: tuna, salmon, ham- whatever but this one is compassionately chickpea based ;)- Yum!

I could eat this everyday- I'm not even joking.

Here is the recipe!

Chickpea Salad Sandwich (Vegan, Gluten-free)

Makes approximately 2 1/2 cups of sandwich filling or enough for 3 sandwiches or wraps

Ingredients: 

1 can chickpeas rinsed and drained
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1/4 cup finely chopped red pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped cucumber and/or celery
1 dill pickle diced or 2 tsp pickle relish
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp capers
1 tbsp horseradish
1 tbsp Dijon grainy mustard
1 tbsp Veganaise 
1 tsp old bay seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste

Whole Grain Bread and Spinach or lettuce of choice for sandwich

Combine everything except bread and lettuce (duh??)  in a bowl and mash with an old fashioned potato masher and elbow grease - leaving as chunky or smooth as desired! Place between bread, on a slice of toast or in a wrap and add whatever fixin's you like! Manger!!

This recipe is totally adaptable- don't have red pepper- leave it out. Don't like cucumbers- no worries! Some great options are finely chopped radishes (Daikon is a great radish choice), carrots, green onion, hell, go crazy- what about artichoke hearts or water chestnuts- your fridge is your oyster people!! 

Let me know what you all think!

Eat good and be happy :)

Summer Spinach Salad with Kathy's Poppy seed Dressing!!

Happy Easter to everyone! I hope you all had a lovely weekend! We just wrapped up March break and we were able to spend most of it at Paul's family's cabin in Falcon Lake and it was great- though not as relaxing as I was hoping! Boston got sick and cut a new tooth at the same time (lovely) and so sleeping was just about impossible BUT I realize now that when you have such little sleep all the time it's almost as if you are living through a dream; everything is kind of surreal and hazey and, I'm not sure how to achieve this, but if you get just the right amount of lack of sleep you completely bypass the grouchy stage and kind of just become catatonically complaisant; it was great.
One of the things I most look forward to at the lake is running! Especially in the spring when the water's still frozen so your outdoor activities are limited to land. It is much harder there because of all the hills but that's what makes it fun! The best thing about running a hilly route is the fact that you get immediately rewarded after every up hill with a down hill :) Laugh (or scoff) if you want- but I love it!
Anyway, lots of eating at the lake, as usual, I think I gain ten pounds every time I go! Something about the lake I just have to have a little (or a lot of) junk food :) I did make one of my favorite salads so I have a little recipe and a link to the dressing recipe for you today. I love this salad; it is so fresh and summery and healthy too! The dressing recipe comes from Kathy Patalsky's web site Healthy Happy Life.com and it is soooooo good! The salad is really simple and you could change up the ingredients for what you have on hand really easily. I doubled everything to make a giant salad for everyone at the cabin. So without further ado:

Summer Spinach Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing (Vegan, gluten-free)
Makes a family sized salad

Ingredients:

• Bunch of Baby spinach
• Spring mix lettuce blend- I was lazy and bought a ready made mix by Dole but you could use a half a head of green leaf lettuce and a half a head of red leaf lettuce or whatever mix you prefer!)
• 1 cup white mushrooms, washed and sliced
• 1/4 of a large red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 large ripe avocado, peeled and chopped (best to do this right before serving so it doesn't brown or alternatively toss in  a little lemon juice)
• 1 large ripe mango, peeled and chopped
• 1 recipe maple sugared almonds, my recipe found here
• 1/2 large cucumber, chopped
• 1 cup of Poppy Seed Dressing

Throw everything in a big bowl (it's a salad people ;)) and top with dressing just before you serve!

I'm working on a vegan, gluten-free cupcake recipe right now so watch for the post!!
Have a great day all!!

French Inspired Navy Bean Soup!

Okay, so this week I have been struck down with a cold- boo! Just the garden variety runny nose and cough but it still got me down BUT I made this great soup on Tuesday ( I think it was Tuesday)! It is so easy and so comforting and with really run of the mill ingredients that we all have in the fridge and cupboard. I call it French inspired Navy Bean Soup! Why French inspired? Well- I used my Herbes Provençales spice mix I purchased from Victorian Epicure and it really made the dish! Now don’t fret if you don’t have this mix on hand; I have some substitute options in my notes below.

I only have one picture (and it was taken the day after as a left over bowl-shhhh) because I wasn't really thinking to post this or really make up a recipe at all until I served it for dinner and Paul said “Wow, you should post this!” Now, let me tell you, it is pretty hard to get Paul excited for 'whatever I have in the fridge' soup but this is a must try!
I served this soup with Socca- a traditional French street food; it is made with garbanzo bean flour and looks like a crispy flat bread. It is naturally gluten free and vegan and I will definitely post that recipe as soon as I get a chance as it has become one of my favorite gluten-free sides to make and it happens to go marvelously with this soup!

French Inspired navy bean soup

Makes one large pot of soup; enough for a family of four plus leftovers.

Ingredients: 

• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 5 small or 3 large carrots peeled and diced
• 1 zucchini diced
• 3 medium red potatoes peeled and diced small
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 cremini mushrooms; approx. a cup, chopped
• 19 oz  can navy beans
• 2 tbsps. Bragg’s all-purpose liquid soy seasoning
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp Herbes  Provençales
• 2 Bay leaves
• ½ cup dried red lentils
• 2 bouillon cubes- I use GoBio Organic Vegetable BouillonCubes
• 10 cups water
• 150 grams or about 1 ½ cups dried gluten free elbow pasta

In a large pot over medium high heat place oil, onion, carrot, zucchini, potatoes and mushrooms and cook down till onions are translucent and vegetables are just beginning to brown, stir frequently. Add garlic, beans, salt, bay leaves and Herbes  Provençales and cook another minute.

Next add water, bouillon, red lentils and Bragg’s and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours.

Taste for salt and add the elbow noodles to the pot 10 minutes before you plan to serve.

Serve and enjoy!!

Notes:

The longer you cook this soup for, the better the taste and consistency it will have. You can definitely eat it after only 30 minutes but if you wait the extra hour the lentils and potato cook down to make the broth thick and creamy without the addition of flours or starches.  I recommend waiting the time or you could always throw everything into a slow cooker and go that route!

Herbes Provençales is a mix of spices traditionally used in the south of France. These typically include rosemary, savory, thyme, marjoram, tarragon, basil, oregano, parsley and bay. In North America, Lavender is added to this mix. My mix from Victorian Epicure contains lavender and I love the addition but if you do not have this on hand I would suggest: ½ tsp each of rosemary, thyme, marjoram and tarragon, 2 bay leaves that you remove before serving, and ½ cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley. If you don’t have one of these don’t sweat it- the rosemary, thyme and bay will do fine BUT I would strongly suggest either getting a mix with lavender in it or buying some dried lavender and making your own Herbes Provençales mix, you can use it for everything, seasoning vegetables, meats (if that’s your thing ;)), salads or I have even used it in a savory scone recipe! And it’s nice to pretend to be in the south of France every now and then :) 

Black Bean Brownies and a Dark Chocolate Glaze!!

Here it is!! My first dessert recipe and it is a gluten-free vegan chocolate black bean brownie!!! I know sounds crazy but it is decadent, chocolaty, moist, dense and in the words of my four year old “a little rich!”. 

Chocolate Black Bean Brownies

You definitely only need one of these babies to quash that chocolate craving! I first found this recipe on the website Minimalist Baker and it was awesome but I wanted to remove the oil and refined sugar so the following is my first attempt at doing so and I think it turned out pretty good- they aren't too sweet but I like to add a glaze which makes them perfect for a dessert but even without the icing (which is refined sugar free too, by the way!) they are a great little snacking brownie especially with a tall glass of cold almond milk!

I love this recipe because it is so easy to make- all you have to do is throw everything into a food processor and blend- That’s it! Right now I am using a small food processor- an adaption to my hand held blender so I had to make this brownie in two stages but it was still very easy. I first combined the beans, flax, water and applesauce and blended till smooth, then placed them into a bowl.

Dates, vanilla, seed butter and agave mixture.

Than I processed the dates, vanilla, seed butter, and agave (pictured above) and placed them into the bowl with the beans and then added the other ingredients to the bowl and stirred them together by hand- a little more labor intensive but now you have strong muscles! Once cooked I glazed them with a Dark Chocolate Glaze (the recipe follows) and topped them with a sliced strawberry.

This chocolate glaze is so versatile and easy to whip up in just a minute or two. I have made it using almond butter; which is my favorite, but you could use any nut or seed butter you like- peanut butter would also be divine, or hazelnut. . . there are so many variations! This recipe is very versatile; I have also made this glaze with the addition of some almond milk- about 1-2 tablespoons,  and used it as a topping for sliced strawberries! Yum!

I hope you all give these a try, even if you hate black beans- I guarantee you cannot taste them in this recipe and you get a punch of protein in your dessert! Bon Appetit!

Chocolate Black Bean Brownie (vegan, gluten-free, sugar-free)

Makes 12 muffin size brownies

Ingredients:

• 19 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 Tbsp. ground flax seed
• 6 Tbsp. Water
• 6 large Medjool Dates
• 2 tsp. Vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp. Sunflower seed butter (or other nut or seed butter)
• 4 Tbsp. Agave syrup
• 4 Tbsp. unsweetened applesauce
• ¾ cup Dutch processed dark cocoa powder
• 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. sea salt
• ½ cup mini chocolate chips (optional) I use Enjoy Life brand

Preheat oven to 350° and spray a non-stick 12 muffin pan.

Throw everything except chocolate chips into a food processor and combine until smooth. The batter will be very thick- if it seems too thick to process add water a teaspoon at a time.

Divide batter evenly into the muffin tin and bake for 25 minutes, or just until the top looks dry and the sides are starting to pull away from pan. Let cool in pan about 30 minutes before removing. Glaze if desired and enjoy!

Dark Chocolate Glaze

Enough to glaze about 10 brownies

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup dark cocoa powder- I used dutch processed but I don’t think it matters
• ¼ cup agave syrup (could use maple syrup instead)
• 1 Tbsp. Sunflower Seed Butter (or your favorite nut or seed butter)

Mix together all ingredients till combined and use immediately as desired.

Spinach Avocado Salad with Warm Caramelized Onion Balsamic Reduction and Maple Sugared Almonds

Okay, so this is my first recipe post and I don’t want you all to go “Wow, a salad- how original for a vegan- yawn” but really this is an amazing salad and it was by request. After our trip out of town this past weekend Paul‘s stomach was really off and he was in need of a large dose of dark leafy greens and he’s not too into a giant bowl of kale so I came up with this! 

I am going to apologize now for the bad photos, at this point I am using my phone to take them and the lighting and my phone camera isn't the greatest!! Sorry!!

I plated this salad individually and it made two huge meal size portions and two smaller ones for the boys. You could plate this as four hearty portions for sure! The dressing is served warm, it’s sweet, savory and thick, more of a reduction so the flavor is potent and it is easiest to drizzle it over top already plated than make a giant family style bowl full.

First off I made the Maple Sugared Almonds. They are so easy to make and literally take 5 minutes. Place the almonds into a non-stick frying pan over medium low heat. Add the maple syrup and stir frequently. The maple syrup will thicken and the almonds will begin to stick together and then after another minute the syrup will start to crystalize and become opaque and when the almonds look like they are coated in sugar they are done. Remove and set aside on parchment paper to cool.

Second is to cut a large onion and caramelize it over low heat in 1 Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and a dash of sea salt. You want the onion to cook down, turn a golden brown colour and taste sweet. It takes about 15 minutes of cooking to get to this stage.

Meanwhile you can wash all your spinach, mushrooms and grape tomatoes. Finely chop the red onion and peel and chop an avocado. I don’t usually use white mushrooms but I really like the flavor of them raw in this salad. I plated the spinach and sliced about two large mushrooms for each plate, sprinkled a teaspoon or two of the red onion over top, though I didn’t do this for the boys’ salad. I placed a handful of grape tomatoes on each plate and a quarter of the avocado. Now we can go back and finish the warm dressing.

To the caramelized onions, still over low heat,  I added the balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, apple juice and agave and reduced it down till thick, about 5 minutes. 

Drizzle the reduction over the plated salads and top with maple almonds. Enjoy!!

Recipe:

Spinach Avocado Salad with Warm Caramelized Onion Balsamic Reduction and Maple Sugared Almonds (Vegan, gluten-free, soy-free)

Makes 4 large servings

·         Large bunch of spinach

·         8-10 large mushrooms, sliced

·         3 Tbsp. finely chopped red onion

·         ½ cup grape tomatoes

·         1 large avocado, peeled and chopped

·         Caramelized Onion and balsamic reduction- recipe follows

·         ½ cup of Maple Sugared Almonds- recipe follows

Wash spinach and divide among four plates. Wash and chop mushrooms, onions,  tomatoes and finely avocado and arrange  on top of spinach. Drizzle each plate with a quarter of the warm caramelized onion and balsamic reduction and top with 2 Tbsps. Maple sugared almonds. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Maple Sugared Almonds:

·         ½ cup heaping raw Almonds

·         2 Tbsp. Maple Syrup

Place almonds and maple syrup in non-stick frying pan over medium low heat, stiring frequently cook until the maple syrup becomes thick and then begins to turn opaque and almonds become coated in crystallized syrup and no longer stick to each other, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool on parchment paper until ready to use.

Warm Caramelized Onion and Balsamic Reduction:

·         1 Large onion chopped medium

·         1 Tbsp. Olive Oil

·         5 Tbsp. Apple Juice

·         3 Tbsp. Good Quality Balsamic Vinegar

·         1 Tbsp. Dijon Mustard

·         1 tsp. Agave Syrup

Sauté the onion in olive oil over medium to low heat.  Stir frequently and cook until almost all the onions have browned and are caramelized and sweet. This will take approximately 15 minutes. Once onions have caramelized, add in the rest of the ingredients and stir until mixture thickens and is reduced by about a third. Remove from heat and use immediately.

Nutella Substitute Found!!

So while I was in Grand Forks I went to a co-op market called Amazing Grains. It’s right downtown and it has a great selection of organic produce, bulk grains, nuts and flours, and spices. It also carries organic meats, prepared vegan foods and gluten-free flours and prepared foods. Also natural body care items, all natural cleaners and they even have a little restaurant/café too! It was a really neat place and I suggest everyone pay it a visit if they are in the area! Anyway, I always stock up on a bunch of Endangered Species Chocolate bars when I go because I can’t usually get them in Winnipeg and because I am a full on chocoholic with little need for an excuse to go out and buy a bunch of chocolate ;) and guess what I came across- Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut spread!! Now most of you may be thinking-who cares? That just sounds like Nutella- well it does but Nutella is not vegan and it really tore me up having to give up a childhood staple! But even if you do eat Nutella- here is a couple great reasons to give Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut spread a try!

1.   It contains no refined sugar- now that is not to say it has no sugar- just not the crazy processed type that is like the legal heroine most companies feel necessary to fill their products with!
2.  It has over 50% less sugar than Nutella- Nutella has 11g of sugar per tablespoon and Justin’s has just 4g!
3.  Almost double the fiber and protein in 1 tablespoon!
4.  It tastes amazing!!

Okay so I think I have replaced the hazelnut spread of my youth! At least until I make up my own recipe-which I have plans to do as soon as I get a chance and I will for sure be posting that recipe!

If you are looking to try Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut spread you can find it here!