You Asked

I jumped on board with the “Ask Me Anything” trend and here are some of the questions asked thus far:

If you could eat anywhere you like (past or present), where would that be?

Oh that is a tough one! There are so many places I am dying to try but if I had to say one hmmmm or maybe 2 I’d have to say I would absolutely have to go back to Chennai Garden in Manhattan it’s a vegetarian Southern Indian restaurant that is so good and I love that their menu has the items that have dairy marked so you don’t have to ask a million questions: http://www.menupages.com/restaurants/chennai-garden/

However if there is one restaurant that I am dying to try but haven’t made it to yet it would have to be Fressen in Toronto. I visited their sandwich shop Urban Herbivore and honestly the best sandwich I have ever had and I would love to try their sit down restaurant: http://www.fressenrestaurant.com/

What are some of your favorite websites and/or blogs? 

Ohhh this is a tough question because I have soooo many favorites! 
Since I love so many blogs and read tons I’ll just list a few that I read daily:

http://carrotsncake.com/
http://fitnessista.com/
http://vegancrunk.blogspot.com/
http://anotheronebitesthecrustblog.com/
http://eleanordashwood.blogspot.com/
http://ohsheglows.com/
http://www.healthytippingpoint.com/
http://kristensraw.blogspot.com/

Honestly there are too many to name but you can always check out my blog roll which has a more extensive list. 

As for websites I really love:

http://tastespotting.com/
http://vegnews.com/
http://www.happycow.net/
http://www.menupages.com/
http://veggiething.com/

just to name a few!

Sorry if I left anyone out! I love so many blogs it would take me forever to list them.  Like I said above please check out my Blog Roll for a some what complete list of blogs I read.

what is your biggest inspiration, food wise?

My biggest inspiration is my husband- if it wasn’t for him being vegan I would have never started my blog which originally was about my experiences being a vegetarian girlfriend but cooking vegan for my boyfriend hence “cooking for a vegan lover”. Cooking wise SusanV of Fatfree Vegan Kitchen was the first vegan and blogger that I encountered and she inspired me to blog as well as create my own recipes.

If you would like to ask me a question (anonymously) you can do so here.

Recipe: Coconut Raisin Flax Granola

Coconut Raisin Flax Granola

 This granola is delicious and is great with your favorite non-dairy milk or soygurt. 

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup Blueberry Flax Meal (you can substitute regular flax meal)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup almond pieces
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 cup brown rice syrup
• 3 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons vegan margarine (coconut oil would be a great substitute for vegan margarine)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 & 1/2 cups raisins 

 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Spread the oats, sunflower seeds, flax meal, coconut, almond pieces and pumpkin seeds onto a baking sheet. Place in the oven and toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Grease a baking sheet. 
4. While the oats mixture is toasting, combing the brown rice syrup, brown sugar, margarine, vanilla and salt in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until the brown sugar has completely dissolved.
5. Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees F. Immediately add the oat mixture to the brown rice syrup mixture, add the raisins, and stir to combine. 
6. Pour the mixture onto the greased baking sheet and make sure that the mixture is evenly distributed. Place in the oven to bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Break into pieces and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Review: SoyGo Coffee Creamer

SoyGo sent me a sample of their coffee creamer to try.  This coffee cream is great for people on the go because you can just throw it in your bag or purse.  When you have coffee at work or out on the town you can pull this out and put it in your coffee.  I don’t know about coffee shops where you live but many that I visit either don’t have soy milk or charge extra for soy milk to be added. 

Click to View SoyGo Website

I bring these on trips with me so that I can add a little creamer to my (usually) horrible cup of hotel coffee.  I also love that it gives coffee a nice sweet flavor and isn’t as heavy as liquid soy creamer.  I am not a huge creamer fan usually but I love this when I am craving something sweet.

Review: Nature’s Path Foods

 

Click to View Nature's Path Website

 

Nature Path has provided me with samples of a few of their products which included Shredded Oaty Bites, Optimum Bars and Pomegranate Plus Granola.  My husband and I both loved these products.  I used the Shredded Oaty Bites to make my own snack mix for a holiday party and they were a huge hit. I love that these Oaty Bites are sweet and were great in my snack mix combining the sweet and salty.  

Shortly after I received these samples we went to Disney World so we brought the Optiumum Blueberry Flax & Soy Bars which were delicious.  They were filling and great when we were on the run in the morning and didn’t have time to sit down and have breakfast or as a snack in the afternoon.  

Lastly we have the granola and it was my husbands favorite.  My husband eats cereal or granola every morning and he quickly ate this up.  Nature Path has tons of other great products and flavors of cereal and granola.  Since trying these products we have also tried the Pumpkin Flax Plus Granola which we loved as well. 

Blogger Disclaimer: Nature’s Path Foods provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review in return for the free product.

Review: Caffe Ibis

 

Click to Visit Caffe Ibis Website

Caffe Ibis, located in Logan Utah, was great and sent me four samples of their organic coffees. The four coffees I tried were:
1. Organic Mayan Sunrise Blend- I really loved this coffee it was a great morning coffee that is a blend of dark and light roasts.
2. Organic Aztec Blend- what I loved about this coffee was that it is smooth, sweet and spicy.
3. Organic French Roast Blend- this coffee is rich caramelly, and smooth.
4. Organic Highland Sumatra Dark- This is my absolute favorite of the 4- it is a light french roast that is full bodied and has light acidity.

I drink a lot of coffee and I loved these coffees. The other thing that influences my coffee purchases are the companies ethical practices. Caffee Ibis has great ethical practices that are both socially and environmentally responsible:

Caffe Ibis Mission

“Our mission for thirty years has been to be “unbeatable for quality and freshness, while supporting social and environmental responsibility.” Caffe Ibis endeavors to:

1. Provide customers with mountain grown and mountain roasted specialty arabica coffee with unbeatable quality and freshness.
2. Provide due respect and fair compensation for the people whose labor brings us our exceptional organic coffees.
3. Respect and safeguard the environment that provides the extraordinary growing conditions true specialty organic coffee requires
4. Utilize buying practices that support shade grown and organic coffee, a sustainable coffee future, and social and environmental responsibility.
5. Honor and respect our partners in this endeavor, and the employees and customers of Caffe Ibis Coffee.

We believe that by adhering to the above principles that we will show returns that justify the costs incurred in presenting our goods and services along with the additional costs of future growth.” Source

To find out where you can get yourself Caffe Ibis Coffee you can visit their website or you can order direct from their website. 

Disclaimer: Caffe Ibis provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review in return for the free product.

Book Review: Go Dairy Free

Go Dairy Free by Alisa Marie Fleming is a guide and cookbook for milk allergies, lactose intolerance and casein-free living.  The book starts with a guide to Understanding Dairy and Dairy-Free From a Health Perspective these are the first 5 chapters the book.  These first 5 chapters provide a massive amount of information about dairy, the benefits of living dairy-free and any concerns that one might have about going dairy-free. 

The second section of the book is Eating Away From Home this is one of my favorite sections because it gives great ideas on what to do when eating out at restaurants as well as social events and travel. For those starting out eating dairy-free it is great to know some tips about ordering off the menu at various restaurants.  For example the book categorizes cuisines into green light, yellow light and red light cuisines.  Green Light cuisines are ones that have a number of dairy free options such as Chinese, Japanese, Tai and Vietnamese restaurants.  Yellow Light cuisines are ones that you need to be more cautious about such as Mexican, Greek, African and Caribbean.  The Red Light cuisines are ones you should be extra cautious about such as “American”, Irish/English Pubs, Indian, Italian, French, German or Swiss which all have a number of dairy based dishes. (p. 66-70)

The next two sections are Grocery Shopping & Preparing Your Kitchen and All You Ever Wanted to Know About Dairy Substitutes  I think both of these sections are really great for the newly vegan/those going dairy-free.  In these sections you can find shopping ideas as well as what are some great alternatives.  Here you can learn about a variety of milk alternative s from soymilk to hemp milk.  This section is a great tool for those seeking more information on what the next steps are to living a dairy free life.  

Now that you have made it through all the sections on what dairy is, why you should go dairy-free, what your pantry needs and what there are for dairy substitutes it’s finally Time to Eat! This section is filled with a number of recipes by Alisa Marie Fleming as well as various authors and fellow bloggers such as Ricki at Diet, Dessert and Dogs, Susan from Fat Free Vegan and Celine from Have Cake Will Travel.  All of the recipes featured in this book are great examples of yummy dairy-free recipes that anyone will love. 

The book ends with recommended resources such as online sources in the forms of blogs and various websites.  There are also suggested “offline reading and resources” which vegan, gluten-free/casein-free, food allergy and children’s books. Lastly, there is a great index the list the dairy alternatives and recipes and details whether they are vegan, egg-free, soy-free, gluten-free, wheat-free, nut-free and/or peanut-free. 

Overall this book is a great resource for those who are looking to learn more about going dairy free.  All of the features from dining out to stocking the pantry as well as great recipes for everyone to enjoy make this book a great resource.

Disclaimer: Fleming Ink provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review in return for the free product.

Review: PETA’s Vegan College Cookbook

PETA’s Vegan College Cookbook is targeted at college students who are without a kitchen or have limited access to a kitchen and/or time to cook meals.  All of the recipes are quick and easy to throw together.  Most recipes are based off meat analogues and packaged products with a few fresh ingredients.  It takes items that college students have easy access too such as veggie burgers, canned beans, ramen noodles and vegan cheese slices and creates easy dishes for the student on the run. 

If boiling water or turning the microwave on is as far as your culinary abilities go then this is a great book for you. This recipe book is rather a guide on how to throw ingredients together and heat them up.  If you already know how to cook and can do more than mix, boil water and turn the microwave on then this cookbook is definitely not for you.  This book is not meant to be anything great and you won’t find me using it but if you know someone who is clueless in the kitchen (or you are yourself) it might be worth picking up, if nothing else it’s comical.

Source

Disclaimer: Sourcebooks Inc.provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review in return for the free product.

Spicy Sesame Hummus

• 1-15oz can chickpeas, drained and liquid reserved 
• 1T sesame chili oil
• 3T olive oil
• 2T lemon juice
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1/4 C tahini
• salt and pepper

In a high power blender or food processor add all the ingredients and blend until smooth.  Add the reserved chickpea liquid to create a consistency you like- I like mine really smooth so I added about 1/3 cup of reserved liquid.

Creamless- Creamy Fava Bean Pasta

• 1/2T olive oil
• 1 small onion chopped
• 2 celery spears chopped
• 2 carrots chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic chopped
• 1 -15oz can of fava beans
• 4 mushrooms sliced
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast (nooch)
• 1t garlic powder
• 1t onion powder
• pinch of chili flakes
• 1T lemon juice
• salt and pepper
• 2 cups cooked whole wheat penne (or pasta of your choice- I’d recommend a small pasta)

1. In a large saute pan heat the olive oil over medium-high and add the onion, celery, carrots, garlic and mushrooms.  Saute for 5-7minutes until vegetables are soft and have developed a little color. 
2. Add the lemon juice, nooch, garlic powder, onion powder and chili flakes; stir together then add the vegetable brothand beans. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until the broth has reduced.  
3. Add in the penne and stir.  Let everything heat through and then serve!

Recipe: Maple Chocolate Blueberry Flax Brownies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup NuNaturals Stevia Baking Blend (can use regular sugar)
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1/4 cup blueberry flaxmeal
• 1t vanilla
• 1/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1/4 cup cacao powder
• 1.25 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/4t salt
• 1/4 cup crushed walnuts
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F and prepare an 8×8 baking dish. Mix the stevia, coconut oil, flaxmeal, vanilla and almond milk together and let sit for 5 minutes. Sprinkle in the cacao powder, flour, salt and walnuts and stir until combined. Pour into the baking dish and sprinkle with mini chocolate chips. Bake for 18-23 minutes until a knife comes out clean. I prefer to serve these warm.

If you want to check out our yummy dining at A Single Pebble and Coffee Corner as well as what else we ate the past few days visit Eat. Live. Be Healthy.

Don’t forget you have until 1/31/10 at 8am to enter to win Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil.