Guacamole

        My husband, Adam told me I don't make guacamole like I used to. He's annoying, but it's true. I haven't been putting much effort in because it has been going into dishes and isn't the main dish so I figured no one would really notice...wrong! This is good to bring to parties because everyone will like it and it won't even cross their minds that it's vegan.
       I was out for dinner last weekend and being a vegetarian got brought up. It also got brought up that I eat very little dairy and don't like eggs. I sometimes get asked the question "well, what do you eat?". I don't find it irritating. I think it's a good way to talk about normal, human food that everyone eats, including vegans and maybe dinners that people haven't thought of. I'm discovering new things to. Who knew you could make cheese out of nuts and milk out of nuts, oats and hemp?? There are so many egg substitutes; flax eggs, applesauce, bananas, aquafaba and so on. I've made dessert meringues out of aqaufaba and they were amazing. Aquafaba is the juice from chickpeas in case you were wondering. I've learned you can use nutritional yeast...on anything.

        One of the first things my daughter ever ate was avocado. Her dad must be rubbing off on her because now she will only eat it if I make guacamole.
         The weekend Adam and I got engaged we went to a Mexican restaurant and they mashed the guacamole up in front of us with a mortar and pestle. I rarely blend now, I mash. It tastes so much better. We like it a little chunky.

Ingredients:

3 ripe avocado's

1 jalapeno minced
3/4 cup frozen corn
3/4 cup tomatillo (green salsa)
a squirt of lemon juice

Directions:

1. Roast the corn in a pan until it is a little browned and add the jalepeno. Let cool.
2. Peel and mash avocado's with a fork. Add green salsa, lemon juice and corn mixture.
3. Stir until it is well mixed and put in the fridge.
4. Eat with corn chips!

(Sometimes I add mashed garlic and chunks of tomato.)

Vegetarian Fajitas

             I've been wondering what I could use in place of chicken for fajitas: portabella mushrooms! They are meaty and easily sliced and cook up real fast. We also have homemade salsa and guacamole, so I am going to throw those things in. Any peppers will do. I used a variety. To make this super easy I just buy the prepackaged fajita seasoning.
             I love mushrooms! They have so many uses. Some of my favourites are a portabella mushroom tart in puff pastry with caramelized onions and spinach. My husband and I are currently obsessed with oyster mushrooms. They have a totally different consistency than cremini or white mushrooms. I double batter them with a load of spices and then deep fry them and drizzle in buffalo wing sauce....drooling!

Ingredients:

4 portabella mushrooms
2 cups of peppers sliced
1 cup of onions sliced
fajita seasoning
guacamole
salsa

Directions:

Slice onions and saute until clear.
Slice mushrooms and peppers and saute, slowly adding in fajita seasoning mixed with a bit of water.  Add to onions.

Assemble fajita with onion, pepper, mushroom mix and guacamole and salsa.
Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Dog Treats

            This story is so vivid in my mind that I seriously can't remember if I was there or if I can just picture what happened so perfectly that it seems like I was there (maybe I'm just nuts!).
             One of my mom's puppies got it's foot stuck in the vent in the kitchen. It cried out for help and my mom panicked from the hallway adjacent to the kitchen. Side note - I am the voice of reason with my mom. When she was bitten by a dog and somehow lost her shoes in the process I ordered her to the car and calmly took her to the hospital. When she saw my sister's boyfriend naked(years ago) and wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry, I helped her pull it together. So you see, maybe this story was told to me because mom wouldn't have been bruised by the end of the ordeal if I was there; or maybe she would have been because I would have been laughing too hard to help her! Well, either way I digress.
            So where was I? Oh, yes. The dog had it's leg stuck in the vent. My panicked mother runs into the kitchen, forgetting that there is a plate on the floor she had placed there earlier with dog treats on it. She managed to step onto the plate and slides across the kitchen on it. She slide so aggressively (because she started in a run) that she hit the side of the island with her shoulder and took out a huge chunk of the wood! Once she hit the island she fell and landed on her knees. Without second thought she continued her journey to the dog in a crawl across the floor. The dog was saved...the island was not.
         I always find myself asking my mom where a horrendous bruise has come from or why her hand is wrapped in gauze. It's usually just passing conversation, but is generally a hilarious story.
        This story puts me in the mood to make dog treats. Easy peasy!

Sweet Potato Dog Treats

Ingredients:

Washed and sliced sweet potatoes

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Line sweet potatoes on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper.
3. Cook for 30 minutes flipping half way through.
4. Cool and serve!

Riggs and Murtah approved!

Presto! Pesto!

          Why are pine nuts so expensive! Crazy! Luckily you only need 1/3 cup for this recipe and a couple of tablespoons of pesto go a long way. Generally I buy pesto. We like Presidents Choice Splendido pesto the best. This is the first time I made it and we really liked it! My mom gave me a basil plant so I thought that it would be perfect to make pesto.
        Basil has some great health benefits. It is FULL of vitamin K, which helps blood to clot. It is also a good source of magnesium which promotes cardiovascular health. Pine nuts suppress your appetite, are energy boosting and contain anti-oxidants.
        Pesto usually calls for parmesan cheese but a good substitute is nutritional yeast. It will give that cheesy flavour and is super healthy (draxe.com).
        I'm working on cutting cheese out of my diet. I find that to be the most challenging part of eating plant based. It's not so difficult here at home but when we go out to restaurants or to someone else's house to eat it can be tough. It's hard to walk that line between being irritating to others while trying to balance your own morals and ethics.
       I want to keep this blog light so rather than going into why many people are avoiding dairy I thought I would just leave this link if anyone was interested in reading. 
  Anyways, on to the pesto recipe!

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh basil (packed)
3 TBSP pine nuts
3 cloves of garlic
2 TBSP lemon juice
pinch of salt
4 TBSP nutritional yeast
3 TBSP olive oil
4 TBSP water (add more if needed)

Directions:

In a blender mix all ingredients together. Add more water if needed. Serve!

This recipe came from the minimalist baker. 

Coral approved!