Healthy Hummus

I love hummus. I pretty much eat it every day during the work week as I have a salad for lunch and I use it as dressing. Sometimes I'll make my own dressing or use salsa but hummus is my fave. I NEVER use store bought dressing.....unless I'm dining out.

I usually always make my own hummus as it's so easy and so cheap but lately I've just been so busy! But this weekend I took it easy and made it my mission to make it. Mission accomplished! I love a good challenge. LOL Even if it's a tiny one like this......with myself. :)

Healthy Hummus

Ingredients

2 small cans chickpeas (2 1/4 cups)

1/2 tsp sea salt (or to taste)

1/2 - 3/4 lemon, juiced

3 tsp tahini (I used raw)

1/4 cup water, or as needed

Sunflower seeds (garnish)

Paprika (garnish)

Directions:

Place all ingredients into a blender or food processor and mix until smooth. Add salt to taste and more water as needed.

Serve with veggies, pita or have it on your salad like me! You can add a little olive oil if you like but I use water to make it smooth and omit oil to keep the calories and fat content down. I generally don't like to use oil in cooking like this. I like to get my fats from avocado, nuts and seeds. I try to cook with as little as possible. Fats are good for you and necessary for life, I just like to get them from the right places and def think we consume too much!

Eat awesome my friends!

Peace

xoxo

K

Vegan MoFo Day 5: Chickpea vindaloo with mango and coconut milk

I have been threatening to cook dinner for my friend Danica for months now but every time we plan on it, we end up going out on some sort of adventurous fun time on the town. Not that I'm complaining cuz we have FUN! lol But last night we FINALLY did it! I made her a feast, we chatted and got caught up and started planning our Halloween costumes. :)

I whipped up a new recipe for her on the fly. I had no idea how it was going to turn out but it was deelish!

Chickpea Vindaloo with Mango and Coconut Milk

Ingredients

3 cups chickpeas

1 mango, diced

2 large tomatoes, diced

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 inch piece ginger, minced

2 tbsp Patak's Vindaloo paste

1 can coconut milk

1/2 cup water

Directions:

1. Saute the onions, garlic and ginger with 1 tbsp of grapeseed oil until fragrant and translucent (about 5 minutes) on medium heat.

2. Add tomatoes and saute for another 5 minutes.

3. Add the chickpeas and water, cover and  simmer for 7 minutes. Add remaining ingredients except for coconut milk. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

4. Pour in coconut milk, simmer for 2 minutes and serve!

I served mine with brown rice and a bed of organic spinach. Don't give me credit for the bed of spinach, I stole that idea from the Foundation restaurant. Such a great idea to get some extra greens and adds some pretty colours to your meal.

Chickpea Vindaloo

Chickpea Vindaloo close up

My love for coconut has not diminished at all. Our love story is holding strong. lol. I love cooking with coconut milk! It makes food taste so yummy! This was no exception to this statement. :)

Try it out!

Peace

xoxo

K

Vegucation: Salads and Smoothies OH my!

Smoothies are an awesome way to get a lot of nutrients and fiber in one glass. I love smoothies. I pretty have one every day. And lately I've been a little obsessive with it. I have at least one, but sometimes 2 smoothies a day. They are really easy on the digestive system. Some other benefits of drinking smoothies are:

• Provides a huge amount of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants
• Contains fiber for awesome digestion
• Provides the body with instant energy
• Protects the immune system
• Hydrates you
• Easy to make
• Easy to take on the go
• Add hemp, flax, chia, for protein, omegas, fiber, iron.....
• Add spirulina or chlorella for protein, chlorophyll and other awesomeness
• Add protein powder or shake mix (Vega)

Nuff said.

Every morning I have a smoothie for breaky and then at lunch I eat a big salad. When I say big....I mean HUGE. Its jam packed.

K's Big Salad
Ingredients
Lettuce - spinach, romaine, kale
Cucumber
Carrot
Celery
Boiled yams
Spiced chickpeas
Black beans
Baked tofu
Avocado
Hemp seeds

That's just what's been in my salads for the last few days. A mixture of those ingredients. I'm no dainty salad eater. My salads have to be full of diversity and bulk. There are so many other options too. If I had some almonds or cashews I'd throw them in too. Peppers, tomatoes, fruit, sunflower seeds, corn......endless.

YUM! Look at that lunch! BAM. Smoothie, big salad, peeled orange, apple, and lemon mustard dressing. Yup. I'm healthy. lol Oh a big bottle of water. Easier to track and make sure I'm getting enough.

I honestly don't know who wouldn't be happy with that lunch? It was awesome FYI. I have been feeling totally amazing since I started doing this daily. At least one smoothie and one big salad a day. Ups the raw portion of my diet up. Which has amazing benefits and provides way more nutrients by not heating them. I love cooked food don't get me wrong. But when I have a higher proportion of raw foods in my diet, I feel better. More energetic. My dinners are always cooked though.

Go-to Smoothie

Ingredients

1-1 1/2 cups frozen mixed berries

1 banana

2 handfuls spinach

1 scoop Vega (protein powder)

1 tsp ground flax seeds

1/2 lemon, juiced

2-3 cups water (adjust to your taste)

Other mainstay additions:

spirulina

hemp seeds

chia seeds

lime

almond milk

Sorry I haven't posted a new dinner recipe but I haven't been cooking this week other than these salads and smooties. But I shall tomorrow, don't fret. ;)

Peace

xoxo

K

Food Prep Sundays! Get fresh.

I love food prep Sundays. They make me feel so healthy, in control and organized. This week I took a different approach. I'm really big into smoothies and salads right now. I pretty much always have at least one smoothie a day but lately I've been having more. With the weather getting warmer and the sun shining, I feel like I need more raw foods. So this week I bought lots of lettuce and salad fixin's.

Instead of rice and quinoa, I made cauliflower rice. You can get that recipe here. This time I didn't add the onion, but only because I was lazy to chop it. lol But I also added garlic instead cuz I wanted to test out my new garlic mincer thing. I'll tell yah about it later.

I cooked up 2 cups of dried chickpeas and baked some tofu for added bites of protein and fiber for my salads. To 'beef' them up, if you will.  I also peeled 2 oranges and a grapefruit, washed an apple and made my morning smoothie in advance (So I could go for a run before I leave for the day). On Saturday I made a big crockpot full of refried beans as well.

Woot woot! I'm all set to take on this week. :)

My salad is SO good! I made 2 HUGE ones and ate one on Sunday.

Spinach Tornado Salad

Ingredients

2 cups packed spinach

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 1/2  cup chopped celery

1 carrot, sliced

1 green onion

1 cup chickpeas (see recipe below)

1/2 cucumber, chopped

Baked tofu

1/4 avocado

Dressing:

half a lemon, juiced

3 tbsp mustard

sriracha

Directions:

Combine all salad dressing ingredients together and mix until smooth. Pour over salad and toss. :)

This was the biggest salad EVER! I ate half for lunch and half for dinner. It sure was amazing though.

You can't even see all the goodness that is in there. It is jam packed full of variety so that this salad is NOT boring and would fill up anyone. :)

I was cooking a bunch of chickpeas to just have on hand and maybe whip up a chickpea spinach curry but that didn't feel right. I knew I needed another protein source for my salad so what better way than to throw on some chickpeas! I didn't want just plain ones so I jazzed them up a bit.

Spiced Chickpeas
Ingredients
3.5 cups chickpeas
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili flakes
Sprinkle garlic powder
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tsp Vega EFA Oil

Directions:
Toss all ingredients together until well combined. Add to salads for protein and fibre.

I also sliced up a package of tofu, sprinkled garlic powder and lemon-pepper seasoning and baked at 375 for 25 minutes. I then chopped this tofu up and added it to my salads. I also snacked on a couple slices. Mmmmmm. :)

Its kinda nice to have beans and tofu like this all ready to go. Makes it easier to snack on healthy food. I like to just throw these onto salads or just eating them on their own.

Do you do Food Prep Sunday's as well?

Peace

xoxo

K

Chickpea patties and Superfood Salad

Lately I've really been trying to up my protein rich food intake. I've been way more active than usual. Been doing way longer workouts with greater intensity and weight training a lot more. I have always done some but my focus and heart always belonged to running. I have been increasing that as well, which is why my total workout time has increased a lot. So with all this new muscle I'm trying to grow, I need to ensure I have adequate protein intake. I started taking my protein shake an extra time per day and eating more beans and legumes every day. And more nuts and seeds. Predominantly almonds, flax and hemp seeds. Along with more quinoa.

You saw the other day that I started measuring out a cup in each tupperware so that I can at least get an estimate of what I'm eating each day. And then I make a couple cups of chickpeas or black beans that I can just throw into a salad or whatever I'm eating for an extra punch of protein. Over the last week it's been chickpeas. I decided to mash em up and make some patties. Mmmm.

Chickpea Patties
Ingredients
2 cups chickpeas, mashed
1/2 white onion, minced
1 cup brown rice (cooked)
1 carrot, shredded
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 inch piece of ginger, minced
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup almonds, finely chopped
1/2 cup rolled oats, ground

Directions
TIP: to cut down on prep time, I pulsed the chickpeas, carrot, garlic, ginger, almonds and rolled oats in my food processor. Will give the patties a smoother texture and stick together better. I did not do them all at once though. I did them all separately except for the garlic and ginger.

Saute the onion in 1/4 cup water for 3 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, carrots and almonds; saute for 5 minutes. Add more water if needed, 1/4 cup or 1/2 ladle at a time. Stir in the remaining ingredients and cook for another 5 minutes. Turn off heat and let cool down before forming into patties.

Form into patties and put on parchment paper or a greased baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Flip after 15 minutes.

Serve with mango salsa and side salad. I served mine with a kale spinach salad

Kale Salad
Ingredients
1/2 head kale
2 cups packed spinach
2 tsp hemp seeds
1 lemon, juiced
1 avocado

Directions
Massage avocado onion kale and spinach until fully mashed and combined,. Add lemon and hemp seeds. Season with salt and pepper if needed.

This dinner is PACKED with protein and antioxidants. There is so much goodness in this meal to nourish your body and repair those sore muscles. Next time I will add the "flax egg" to make the patties stick together more. They were actually pretty good, but a little flax never hurt NObody. lol And I would add alfalfa or broccoli sprouts to the salad. More protein. :)

You could also put this in a bun and have a little veggie burger, but I'm foregoing bread for a while. i gotta eat extra clean for the next few months. Summer is coming but more importantly the Spartan race and Tough Mudder!!! Hence the working out more and needing more protein.

Eat clean, train mean, get lean!!!

Peace

xoxo

K

Coconut Chickpea Stew with Kale

I made this lovely stew/soup last week for my friend Lauren. I wasn't really planning on making anything special that Friday night because I was just gonna chill at home and watch some TV by my lonesome in preparation of the big day (my 30th bday). But Lauren was looking for a relaxing night too so I thought it would be good to make something. I love to eat out because it's always nice when someone cooks for you and does all the clean up but I have a love affair with cooking. Relaxes me and makes me feel in control. Lol Weird huh? Cleaning does that too. ha

I unfortunately don't have a picture for you of the soup because the pic was on my phone which is now gone from my life. I have major separation anxiety and cannot get on board with my newly reactivated blackberry. I haven't even set up email or facebook or anything for that matter on it because I'm in denial. Lol I will get another one. As soon as I come up with $500. If you want to donate to my fund, please feel free!! HA

Anyhoo, I'm going to give you the recipe because it was DELISH! I'm sure you can tell that I'm pretty obsessed with coconut milk. Its in a lot of my dishes. In fact, its in tomorrows soup recipe.

Coconut Chickpea Stew with Kale

Ingredients

2 cups chickpeas (1 lg can)

1/2 white onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

6 cups water

2 cups veggie stock

5 carrots, sliced

2 celery, diced

4 cups kale, chopped

1/4 bunch cilantro, minced

1 can low fat coconut milk

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp chili flakes

Directions

Pan fry the onion and garlic in 1/4 cup of water (or oil) until fragrant and translucent. Add the chickpeas, water, veggie stock, carrots, celery and spices and cook on medium heat for 40 minutes. Add the kale and cilantro and cook for another 10 minutes. Once done add the coconut milk, heat for 2 minutes and serve.

TIP: the longer you cook this stew the better. I had mine cooking for 1 hour before adding the kale and coconut milk. Just ensure that you add the coconut milk at the end of the cooking process. :)

Sorry for the lack of picture!! But still make this! I promise its very tasty and satisfying.

Tomorrow I will have pics I promise!!

Peace

xoxo

K

Chickpea Spinach Curry

I love curry. Any and all kinds. Indian, Thai, Japanese, whatevs. I could eat it every day. There is just like a million ways to make it. I love it. I decided to make that this week for some friends. It was a lovely meal. But I forgot to take a pic. So mad!!! Bah. The presentation was so good too. I served it with brown rice and Indian spiced greens. I guess I got distracted. It happens so easily. lol

Chickpea Spinach Curry

Ingredients

2 cans chickpeas

1 onion, diced

3 garlic, minced

1/2 bunch spinach, chopped

3 roma tomatoes, diced

1 tsp turmeric

2 tsp chili flakes

2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp coriander

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cardamom

2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon

salt and pepper

1/2 tsp Vegeta (dry veggie stock)

1-1.5 cups water

Directions

1. Add onions and garlic to pan and fry in a little bit of water, about 1/4 cup. Or use 1 tsp of oil if you're not concerned with fat content. Cook until translucent and fragrant.

2. Add chickpeas, tomatoes and half of the water. Cook for 10 minutes covered.

3. Put remaining ingredients into the pan and stir until mixed thoroughly. Cover and cook until chickpeas are soft. About 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. I added 1/2 tsp of sea salt.

Like I said, I served this with brown rice and Indian Spiced greens but forgot to snap a pic. So this is of my leftovers that I had for lunch the next day. The greens were a nice touch. Super easy to make.

Indian Spiced Greens

1 pkg gai lan

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp fennel

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 lemon

Directions

Dry roast the mustard seeds and fennel for 1-2 minutes then add the greens. Add the lemon and about 1 tbsp of water. Cook covered for 4-5 minutes or until they are done to your satisfaction. 

Since I only have the one pic for you today. And I don't know about you but I love pics. Especially food porn. Here's some that are what I eat/drink on a daily basis.

This is my fave tea. Its a real Japanese green tea. There are many kinds of green tea but this is my fave. Its called Genmaicha. Its got rice in it!

Genmaicha 

 I usually have a green smoothie every morning but I opened up my fridge this morning and I only have lemons. GASP!! How the heck did that happen? lol So I ran to the IGA near my office and picked up this wonderful little breaky. Organic royal gala apple, banana and raw cashews. YUMMY!! Nice change of pace.

My breaky.

 This is a quick kale salad I made to eat last night before I went to a movie. But I forgot it at the office! Dang. Super easy and quick. Kale, lemon, hemp seeds, mustard and salt and pepper. Topped with a little dollop of my pumpkin/hemp seed spread. You can find that here.

Kale salad with Pumpkin/hemp seed spread

I went to the new Sherlock movie last night. OMG I effin loved it!!! So good! It was way better than the first. I liked the way it was shot. And all the scenes where Holmes had this sorta spidey/intuitive/psychic visions. LOL he was always a step ahead of the competition. Lol Plus I love Robert Downey. He's just dreamy. Sigh. 

Peace

xoxo

K

One pot meal: Rice Cooker Pilaf

Sometimes simplicity is a luxury. I make a lot of food and sometimes the recipes can get pretty long and complicated so making something as easy as a one pot meal is glorious. I'm not in the habit of picking up take out on my way home when I'm too lazy. That's what a freezer full of soups and chili's is for. 

One pot meals are awesome, but a rice cooker meal is even better! This was my first one and it turned out DELICIOUS!! I didn't have much confidence that it would all work out but it was so damn tasty. It also needed no attention whatsoever. This was by far the easiest, healthy, tasty, homemade meal I've ever had.

Rice Cooker Pilaf

Ingredients

2 cups brown rice

4.5 cups water

1/2 lemon

1 1/2 cups frozen mixed veggies

1 cup frozen green beans

1 can chickpeas (540 ml)

2 tsp tomato paste

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp Vegeta (or veggie stock powder)

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp chili flakes

Directions:

Put all ingredients into your rice cooker. Cook until rice cooker turns off. Stir and enjoy!

Set it and Forget it!

I'm pretty sure it only took me 5 minutes to prepare it. Maybe not even. There was no chopping involved here at all. :)

YUMMMMMMMMMMY

It was seriously tasty. The only thing extra I did to it was soak it in hot sauce. The usge for me. lol

I'm really quite proud of this recipe. The ease of it has won me over. I'm a HUGE fan of the crockpot (slow cooker) but the rice cooker is coming up as a new fave. I gotta make more rice cooker recipes.

Peace

xoxo

K

One pot meals: Quinoa chickpea Vindaloo

I get lazy like anyone else and don't want to cook. Sometimes so lazy I don't want to order in or leave the apartment. SO in order not to starve I cook up a one pot meal to at least feed and nourish myself and use the least amount of dishes. Lol

I always keep some curry pastes or other cheats like that around for when I'm not feeling making sauces from scratch. I have this Vindaloo Paste from Patak's sitting in my fridge so I thought I'd utilize it for a tasty meal.

One pot quinoa chickpea vindaloo

Ingredients:

1 cup dry quinoa

1/2 can chickpeas

1 stalk kale, leaves removed

1 handful spinach, ripped

2 cups water

1 tsp vindaloo paste

1/2 lemon

hot sauce

Directions:

Put all ingredients except hot sauce and vindaloo paste into a pot and cook for 20 minutes. Ensure that quinoa is cooked, once cooked add the lemon, paste and hot sauce (to taste). Add 1/4 cup water if you want it saucier (which I did). Enjoy!

You could do so much more with this meal, but I just wasn't in the mood. Sometimes quick and easy is the way to go. Haha, that sounded.......funny. ;)

Peace

xoxo

K

Vegan MoFo Day 8: Chana Masala with Acorn Squash

I love Indian food. Its so full of flavour. I'm also in love with chickpeas. I pretty much always have them on hand. If there's hummus in my house.........well there never is cuz I gobble it up pretty fast. I usually make my own, its so easy, but when I'm lazy I will buy it.

I wanted to make Chana Masala with spinach but I didn't have any. But I did have an acorn squash in my fridge. So I roasted that and used it in my recipe.

Chana Masala with Acorn Squash

Ingredients:
1 green chili
1 inch ginger
2 garlic cloves
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp chili powder
3/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander
2 tbsp tomato paste
4 tbsp tomato sauce
1 acorn squash, roasted
1 can chickpeas
salt to taste

Directions:

1. Roast the squash for 35 minutes at 350
2. Put ginger, chili and garlic in food processor and process until fine
3. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large pan, add onion and cook for 4 minutes.
4. Add ginger mixture and chickpeas, cook for 5 minutes with 1/4 cup water
5. Add all the spices and 300ml of water, cook for 5 minutes. Add the paste and tomato sauce.
6. Scrape out squash and add to chickpeas. Stir occasionally. Taste to see if you need to add anymore spices or salt.
7. Serve over brown rice.

Yum! Its almost ready



DELISH!!! That's just green onion for decoration purposes

.



This meal was very satisfying if I must say so. I love how versatile squash is. Who knew it would work so well with this dish. You almost don't even know its there. It adds a little sweetness and heartiness to keep you warm and full all night.

I'm off to Victoria now to run my FIRST ever half marathon. If you don't know, that's 21km. Eeekk, I'm getting pretty nervous. But I'm sure I'll be fine. I'm hoping to finish in 2 hours 30 minutes. I'd rather do it in 2 hours but realistically I'm guessing 2.5 hours.

Its also Thanksgiving this weekend. I have done nothing to prepare for it. My Japanese side will not be celebrating it traditionally. I believe its a Japanese smorgasbord of deliciousness.

Hope everyone has some good food babies this weekend. I'll see what I can throw together for Monday's feast and let yah know.

Peace

xoxo

K