8 Healthy, Yummy Meals and Snacks

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Well, at least I'm early for the last set of wishes. I actually starting crafting this post on December 1 (maybe that date will even show up at the bottom of this post since it's been in draft mode so long?). My new year's resolution will be to post more - it's just been a little tricky since free time is pretty hard to come by with a busy toddler and another little one on the way! Thank goodness my all-day sickness has waned, allowing me to again be excited to try new recipes.

Chelsea Style Waffles from Vegan Brunch - the first time I made these I just subbed maple syrup since I was too lazy to go to the pantry to find my barley malt. Am I ever glad that one day I did muster up the strength! I love the malted taste. And these always turn out, unless past waffle disasters.

Green Goddess Pizza from VwaV - what took me so long to make this!!! Delicious, but hideously garlicky. I now make Isa's dough recipe in my breadmaker, but use whole wheat flour, and it turns out great.

Chickpea Eggplant Stew from Vcon - I was on a real eggplant kick for a while. This was pretty easy and so yummy. Unfortunately, I can't stomach the thought of eggplant anymore, so I'll have to wait until the end of this pregnancy to try this again.

Creamy Cauliflower Soup from Vegan Lunch Box - love it! Ash gobbles this up. Great way to eat what I find to be a bland veggie.

Heart Healthiest Cookie in the World from VT - I may have the title completely wrong, but geez, it's a long one. They were good, but a little labour intensive. The second time I made these, I tried making them with agave nectar and skipping the whole EB/sugar melting step, but they turned out pretty gross.

Leek and Bean Cassoulet from Vcon - I can't say it was my fave. I like making my own veggie pot pies with chick'n tenders instead. Maybe I found it too beany?

Stewed Tofu with Miso Gravy from VwaV - I served it with mashed sweet potatoes and it was heavenly.

Eggplant Moussaka from Vcon - loved it! But again, will put this one on hold. I found it to be much less labour intensive than the rollatini but with the same great taste. I think I used jarred pasta sauce to avoid extra effort.


I received plenty of new cookbooks for Christmas - Vegan Soul Kitchen, Short Cut Vegan and Vegan Comfort Food, so I'm totally pumped about blogging about them!

Clearing Out the Archives

I was checking out my pics, and realized that I hadn't posted a few gems. Because it's been so long, I can't really remember the exact titles and where things were from, but I'll do my best.

First up, Cardamom Rice Pudding from an issue of Vegetarian Times. I love rice pudding, but I didn't love this one. Maybe it was all of the almonds plus dried cranberries and strong cardamom flavour, but this was a little much. I'll stick to my usual recipe.

I had some baby cereal that tasted way too iron-fortified for Ash to like, so I used it up in my banana muffins recipe! I tossed some in with some oats and added a little extra soymilk. They were my best muffins ever!

Mystery salad alert! I have NO idea what this was, but I think it was from a recent VT issue. I don't think I'll make it again, whatever it was, probably because I wouldn't even know what issue to look in!

Now for all the good stuff - delicious Vegan Lasagna from the latest VT. A little bit of effort, but pretty fast. Instead of cooking onions and garlic separately for each of the Speedy Red Sauce and Spinach Filling, I cooked them together and split them up. Cut down on alot of the time. I have to say that this recipe did confirm that I really don't like vegan cheese. I never liked regular cheese, so I'm not sure why I thought I'd like soy cheese, but I gave it another shot with this recipe and will omit it in the future.

Triple Nut Torte from a holiday issue of VT. Very easy, and super good! Instead of using a double boiler for melting the chocolate, I just stuck chocolate chips in a bowl and put the bowl on the hot cookie sheet (used to toast the nuts). Melted like a charm! Why don't the authors put these tips in? I'm sure it's not just new moms that don't need extra effort nor to wash extra dishes!

Finally, the most delicious Pan Pizza ever. I used the crust recipe from the most recent VT, but filled it with Isa Pizza toppings instead. Way better than the Hut, even for obvious reasons that it isn't laden with pepperoni! I can't wait to make this again. I'm going to try a pile of different mushrooms and onions. I'm so glad that I have a cast iron pan just for this recipe alone!

I {Heart} Pizza

My sweeties and I feasted on Isa Pizza Crust with tomato sauce, Basil-Tofu Ricotta, grilled zucchini hearts, eggplant, peppers and 'shrooms, baked on slate tiles.





I hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day!! A little Vegetable Love for all!

Isa Pizza!

After seeing way too many blogs with Isa Pizza from VwaV, I decided to try it myself! I first made my own whole wheat dough in my breadmaker:

I then made the Tofu Basil Ricotta, as well as the Basil Pesto. I used plain tomato paste as the sauce, then added the ricotta and pesto as instructed. I piled on the mushrooms, but decided to omit the olives:

After baking:

This was SOOOOOO good. Thank goodness my dough recipe makes two pizzas! I'll definitely be making this again soon!

I also baked up some cookies that I kept in the freezer - individually frozen, so that I would bake up a few when necessary. Kyle likes these alot, and feels like it's breakfast in a cookie. I only have a pic of the 'before' shot, as I forgot to take a pic of the 'after'. I thought I'd make up for it by including my tasty recipe.

Sarah's Yummy Vegan Cookies

¾ cup chopped pecans or walnuts

¾ cup chopped almonds

2 ½ cups large flake oats (not instant or rapid)

1 ½ cups chocolate chips

1 cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 mashed banana

1 ½ cups Sucanat

1 cup Earth Balance

1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, mix nuts, oats and chocolate chips. Set aside.

3. In a smaller bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

4. In a large bowl, cream together banana, Sucanat, Earth Balance and vanilla until very smooth. With a wooden spoon, add flour mixture to banana mixture and stir until combined. Add oats mixture to banana/flour mixture, and stir until combined.

5. Drop a tablespoonful of dough onto lined cookie sheets (or use a small scoop!). Flatten each mound of dough with the greased bottom of a measuring cup. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden, but not brown (they may look underdone, but as they cool they will harden and stay chewy!). Cool on sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

6. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy!