Raw
Vegan Salad Tips – Grate it up!
One of the most challenging aspects of transitioning to a healthier diet is learning how to incorporate actual vegetables into your meals. It’s important to note that fresh vegetables should be a staple in a vegan diet – in any diet, ideally – and that transitioning to a vegan diet shouldn’t just exclude foods with animal products, but should include lots of plants. It’s sound, simple advice, but can be tough to follow!
Here at The Vegan Project, we aim to provide you with tips to make vegetables an easy addition to your day to day meal plan.
Coconut Flax Cookies – Dehydrated!
I’ve been meaning to make sweet vegan treats in my dehydrator some time, and this recipe was a surprising success for a first – time trial.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles
Lately, I’ve had a hankering for chocolate, and since I just bought some chocolate hemp powder, I thought I’d try using it to make some vegan truffles. I have also been on a peanut butter kick lately, so why not throw some of that good stuff in there, too? Oh god… I can’t stop eating them!!
Massaged Kale Salad – Protein Rich Superfood
Kale is rough, tough and kind of bitter, but it’s one of the most nutrient dense foods available…and if you do it right, it can be downright delicious.
Sprouted Lentils – Alive and Delicious!
I just love how alive and vital these little lentils look after me taking care of them for a couple days.
Instead of being a dull little bean inside my cupboard, they are growing and packed with enzymes that help digestion, cleanse the liver and give me amazing energy.
Here’s a quick way to grow your own sprouts this winter with minimal equipment and time.
Creamy Pumpkin Seed Pesto
This creamy pesto was created as a dip for a potluck barbeque, and it was gone before I could write down the recipe! The additions of miso and tahini make it smooth and creamy, with a full flavour that will keep you – and your friends – dipping for more.
Kale Slaw with Barbecue Crumbles
If you don’t already receive the VegNews Magazine emails, I suggest you sign up, because they have source out some of the yummiest recipes around. This Kale Slaw recipe graced my inbox a few days ago, and I just knew it would be perfect for entertaining friends. It was such a crowd pleaser; delicious & flavourful, and gone in mere minutes! I highly recommend this for your next ‘do’, or tonight’s Meatless Monday dinner. A big thanks to VegNews for this one!
Post-Fitness Power Salad
This is my go-to salad after the gym or a yoga class. It’s really quick to make, ample portion of protein and greens, and is tossed in a simple and flavourful dressing. It really helps to replenish my body with iron, b-vitamins, and essential fatty acids after a rigorous fitness session, and it tastes GOOD! If you’re not a fan of tofu, replacing it with more hemp hearts, sunflower seeds, or chickpeas would be nice.
Smokey Walnut Collard Wraps
Have you ever had a collard wrap? They are the low carb answer to enjoying rolled up food. I love eating yummy ingredients stuffed into a delightfully handheld vessel, usually of the flour tortilla kind, or naan, or any any other starchy goodness. But with the summer season officially here, I am urged towards lighter lunch fare that still has some flavour, and girth. Not just for vanity’s sake, but because eating water dense food in warm weather helps you stay hydrated, and provides energy for those long summer days, and nights.
Spring Radish Salad with Fresh Herbs and Lemon
I once had a friend tell me that ‘nobody really likes radishes, they just don’t taste good’, and to the that friend I say, try this salad. I agree, radishes can pack a bit of a punch, pungent and bitter at times with an unexpected spice that hits you right in the nasal cavity. For some, what I just described sounds like taste bud hell, for others…bliss.
Micro-Chopped Salad Wraps with Sprouted Lentils
For this naturally flavoured, raw lunch, I busted out my sharpest, sexiest knife, my mad chopping skills, and a supreme awareness of my fingertips.
How to Incorporate Beautiful (and Edible!) Flowers into your Meals
Edible flowers have long been used in cooking for decoration and flavoring. They make a beautiful garnish, but they can also be an integral part of any recipe. Different flowers bring unique flavors and colors to a dish. Some flavors are just the thing for sweet dishes, while other flowers are more suitable to savories. While some vegetable flowers and wild plant foods might require a foraging expedition or a visit to the local health food market, many edible flowers are available for convenient home delivery. Clever cooks can get flowers delivered in the evening so that they are fresh and in time for dinner.
Raw Coconut Chunk Cookies
A nice little Earth Day walk yesterday brought me to Small Ritual coffee shop in White Rock, a little non-profit business with awesome soy lattes. They were selling cute bags of coconut at the counter from a company called Gathering Place Trading based in Cortes Island, B.C., a super conscious operation that’s all about about where their products come from, and even go so far as to specify their methods of transport on their website. The manager of the coffee shop avidly told me how this amazing coconut was harvested properly, maintaining its oils and nutrients without pasteurization. Sounded good, so I decided to get a bag for just over $4 and make myself some cookies.
Home Made Raw Crackers!
I can’t believe it’s taken me nearly three years of eating a plant based diet to realize that these fiber rich, CRISPY (big fan of the crisp), nutrient dense, gluten free, vegan crackers are so EASY to make.
Nigella’s Linguine with Lemon, Thyme and Garlic Mushrooms – Raw Vegan Style!
If you’ve never seen her in action, Nigella Lawson is the absolutely mesmerizing, gorgeous and passionate cook with a remarkable ability to make food porn borderline x-rated. Her Linguine with Lemon, Thyme and Garlic Mushrooms has long been one of my go-to recipes for entertaining because it’s super simple and addictively delicious. I usually make it with whole wheat linguine, but this version is even easier since it’s made with raw zucchini noodles, so there’s no cooking required! To make the zucchini noodles, you need a fancy piece of kitchen machinery called a spirooli (aka spiral vegetable slicer like this one), which is easy and fun to use!
Sunflower Sprout Salad with Wasabi Ginger Dressing
Hmm, what can I do with a whole bag of sprouts and a big studly grapefruit giving me eyes from across the room? I called Bridget to discuss, suggesting the base idea of ginger for the dressing and seeking some collaborative creativity. Wasabi was the money idea, and the maple syrup stepped in due to the absence of agave. It was so delicious it brought tears to my eyes…
Caesar-ish Salad with Pumpkin Seed Dressing
I know, I know, this picture doesn’t looks like the most genius salad in the world. Pretty basic, green and leafy looking right? In truth, it is pretty basic, and that’s why I wanted it for dinner tonight. I had an awful Bikram Yoga class tonight, all bloated and crampy and still de-toxing from our pal trip to Cabo, so I just wanted something crunchy, creamy and kind of… normal.
Raw Mini Pizza with Spiraled Cucumber Salad
Four months after finding out about my notable gluten intolerance, I am finally ready to commit. It’s been a pretty awkward dance back and forth between strictly gluten free and ‘a little bit shouldn’t hurt’, but I’m going to take a crack at making gluten free vegan (GFV is actually a term FYI) as yummy and maintainable as possible.
Cauliflower Inspired Raw Tabouleh
If you’re looking for yummy low glycemic, low carb options, then you’ll need to consider substituting your grains for more nutrient dense, vitamin rich veggies. Cauliflower is a hearty, enzyme rich sub for quinoa, bulgar or cous-cous in this popular middle eastern salad. The fresh herbs make it so flavourful and vibrant, and it’s super low-cal, just in case you happen to be going to Las Vegas in a couple of weeks.
Raw Chocolate Cherry Malt Shake
Our very talented friend, Julie Beyer, who you might remember from last Spring’s Whole Food Challenge, wanted to share with us her recipe for a Raw Chocolate Cherry Malt Shake. We of course said, YES!
Summer Salads!
Our friend Krystle Charlton is always making the most delicious (and healthy) looking meals for her and her friends. Below are two of her latest summer salad creations. Mango and Quinoa Salad and a fresh asian-inspired salad topped with her Asian Sensation Dressing. Both look fabulous, and really, really good for you. A summer feast on a variety of the season’s finest ingredients sounds great to us – Thanks Krystle!
Do-It-Yourself Veggie Sushi
Who doesn’t love a good sushi date? Sushi restaurants are cheap, quick, and because of the notoriously forgettable service, you’re guaranteed to have lots of time to talk without interruption.
The downfall with sushi restaurants is that there are lots of sacrifices made for that $4.99 vegetable combo. White rice, for starters, is starchy and high glycemic enough on its own before you add all the vinegar and white sugar that makes sushi rice sticky-yummy goodness. The miso soup is almost guaranteed to have remnants of fish sauce/broth (umm, fish from Japan? yikes), which is perhaps a lesser concern than the more than likely msg content (or alternate additives that are basically msg with a name change because msg is so NOT hot right now).
Evergreen Dream Smoothie
Ingredients:
1 pear, chopped
1 banana
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
2 pieces of kale, chopped
1 package of Amazing Grass Green SuperFood
1 cup water
1 teaspoon maple syrup
juice of 1 lemon
1 inch of ginger, peeled and minced
~The Vegan Project
A Very Potent Love Potion: Raw Mayan Chocolate Drink
Raw organic cacao contains high amounts of antioxidants, and the alkaloid theobromine, that positively effect your brain chemistry, and make you feel good. Theobromine originates from the Greek prefix, ‘Theo’ referring to the ‘study of God’, and ‘Bromine’ originating from the Greek word ‘brosi’, meaning ‘food’. So theobromine, literally translates to ‘Food of the Gods’. It is no wonder the Mayans would use chocolate as a means to enlightenment. Read more about cacao in its raw natural state here.
Super-Powered Sesame Kale Salad
Just over a week ago, Jen competed in the Western Canadian Hatha Yoga Asana Championships in Vancouver. This is the super-powered kale salad recipe she ate the night before that led to her placing third! She wanted (and needed) something raw and alkalizing that would give her energy, while also being comforting and delicious:
Soaked Almond Pesto
To help you stay on track and interested with your healthy/yummy veganism, keep lots of tasty options pre-made in your refrigerator. I try to keep cooked quinoa and brown rice on hand, as well as a homemade salad dressing and a couple sauces and dips.
Creamy Lemon-Basil Pesto
This creamy pesto is lemony and fresh, super simple and keeps well in a jar in the fridge for a week. Put it on EVERYTHING! (Makes 2 cups)
Lemon basil, thai basil, sweet basil, purple basil...
Creamy Lemon-Basil Pesto
1 cup raw cashews
the juice of 2 lemons
the zest of one lemon
2 packed cups lemon basil (any variety will do)
4-6 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (i felt like it needed a bit more tang when i tasted it)
1/2-1 cup of olive
water to thin to a desired consistency
Chop the cashews in the blender/food processor first, then add the rest of the ingredients.
~The Vegan Project