West Coast Welcome Home | Building a Vegan Cheese Board

A Welcome Home wine and cheese isn't complete without a cheese board (a "welcome back" to BC from Winnipeg that Kristin hosted for me - see previous post here). We continued on with our WpgxVan theme by including a piece - the sink cutout - of my dream marble island (from our Winnipeg house we built) that served as our board. And the cheese? Well, I don't actually eat dairy so we were very lucky to be introduced to Chef Karen McAthy of Blue Heron Cheese and Zend Conscious Lounge by local foodie Erin Ireland. Karen's cheeses are entirely plant-based using a variety of nut milks and are aged to perfection - even dairy-lovers are sure to go back for more.

We featured an herbed coconut kefir, a caraway seed cashew gouda, a smoked cashew cheddar, and an almond caper garlic camembert. Dried fruit, toasted crostinis, grilled red peppers, candied nuts and roast chickpeas added colour and flavour to this beautiful faux-charcuterie board that proves you don't need meat and cheese to host a fab party.

PHOTOS: Taya Photography
CHEESE: Blue Heron Cheese
WOOD CHEESE BOARDS: Pier 1 and Homesense
CHEESE KNIVES: Crate and Barrel

Blood Orange Mojito Monday

Cinco de Mayo may have come and gone, but that doesn't mean you can't continue the celebrations all summer long with some Mexi-inspired cocktails! While Mondays may be best known for their friendship with margaritas, we wanted to try something a bit different and opted for a citrus-spiked mojito that is oh so delicious and refreshing. We just love the deep hue of blood orange paired with the mint - it's as eye catching as it is tasty.

We found this recipe on Chef Saavy and it is indeed a winner!

BLOOD ORANGE MOJITO

PRINT

PREP TIME

5 mins

TOTAL TIME

5 mins

Blood Orange Mojito made with fresh mint, simple syrup, blood orange and lime juice. The perfect cocktail for any occasion!

Serves: 1

INGREDIENTS

• 8 sprigs of mint
• 1 ounce lime juice
• 1 ounce light rum
• 1 ounce blood orange juice
• 1 tablespoon simple syrup
• 2 ounces sparkling water


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INSTRUCTIONS

1. Add the mint and lime juice to a tall glass. Muddle together to extract the flavor of the mint.
2. Add in rum, blood orange juice and simple syrup.
3. Top with sparkling water and ice. Serve immediately.

NOTES

Original recipe from chefsavvy.com. Please do not publish this recipe without linking back to the original post found here. Thank you!

Photos: Taya photography
stir sticks: paper and parties
tray: pier 1

Addictive Roasted Pumpkin Seeds (Vegan & GF!)

One of my favourite activities around Halloween is to scoop out pumpkin innards and sort the pumpkin seeds during pumpkin carving. It's been a long standing tradition that my mom and I would roast the seeds and while they roasted, we would carve our pumpkins. Last night we had a bunch of our neighbours over for pumpkin carving, and I was thrilled to carry on the tradition in Winnipeg. Since we had a number of good sized pumpkins, I had a lot of pumpkin seeds to sort through and roast. And are they ever tasty.....

I modified my mom's recipe to make it vegan-friendly, but the recipe listed below is her original recipe, with substitutes listed in brackets, and the ones I used in bold.

Seasoned Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

1 cup rinsed and paper towel dried fresh pumpkin seeds with shell/husk
1 tbsp butter (or Earth Balance or vegan Becel margarine)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (or Braggs Aminos or Soy Sauce or vegan worcestershire)
Good shakes of both garlic powder and seasoning salt to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Melt the butter in the micro or a sauce pan, the  add the rest of the seasonings and stir to make your coating.

Once well mixed, toss with the pumpkin seeds in a bowl until coated.

Spread thinly on a parchment lined baking sheet. Shake a little more seasoning salt on top. (Warning: these are salty - almost salt & vinegar chip salty, so adjust to your taste).

Bake for about 30 minutes or until light golden, then stir and bake for another 10 minutes until golden brown. Take out, stir again, let cool and serve. Bet you can't eat just one! They are incredibly addictive. Such a yummy treat that can be made year round, but I prefer to reserve it just to Halloween so it's something to look forward to every year.

I made both vegan and non-vegan versions last night, and must admit that the Braggs amino (soy sauce) version tasted every bit as delicious as the normal recipe, so give either one a go. I wish I had tried coconut oil instead of margarine, or even no oil at all, to see how it would work. Next year!

Do you roast pumpkin seeds? Do you like them salty or sweet?

Healthy Home | Make Your Own Date Paste

Have you heard of date paste before?

After seeing this nutrition video, I was determined to find some date sugar to be a whole food, healthy alternative to sweeteners in my house. Alas, date sugar was nowhere to be found in stores. Dates? Those I could find. So, I've been using dates to sweeten and add texture to a multitude of recipes for about 6 months or so, and one could call us BFF's.

I buy my medjool dates (the sweeter, tastier kind) at Costco and have found they have by far the best price around. I also buy Parnoosh honey dates in a big container at our grocery store. Although they aren't quite as sweet and decadent as the medjool, they are still sweet, more affordable, and work well for certain recipes. And if all else fails, check your bulk food aisle, because I see dates there all the time.

Now to the paste part. Dates are fantastic and I use them whole frequently, but they do require processing in either a food processor or high speed blender like a Nutribullet or Vitamix for use in most recipes. Many recipes I make with dates I'm already using one of these appliances so it's not a hassel, but sometimes I'm not. Sometimes I just want a quick and easy purreed date to use on the spot. And so that is where date paste comes in.

In a way, it should almost be called "date butter" because the process and end result are very similar to that of a nut butter. Soak, purree, store in a jar. But maybe date paste sounds healthier. Perhaps we should just call it"daste"? No?

Making date paste is ridiculously easy.

1. Stuff your pitted dates into a mason jar
2. Cover with boiling water and soak overnight
3. Drain excess water, and puree in a food processor until smooth consistency
4. Add cinnamon, vanilla bean and/or vanilla extract to taste if you prefer
5. Store in an airtight container in the freezer for anytime use

What can you use dates/ date paste for? Currently, my go to oil/fat-free salad dressing is as easy as 1-2-3 with some of my pre-blended date paste. It is so very tasty and easy to make.

3 parts acid (lemon or lime juice, or apple cider/red wine vinegar)

1 part date paste

Seasoning/herbs to taste

The date paste desolves beautifully in the acidic base and adds a thicker texture to your dressing, not to mention cuts the acidity and adds a nice flavourful sweeteness to your dressing. 

Date paste also makes a welcome substitution for many ingredients in baked goods. Because it freeezes SO well (it doesn't freeze solid), it's easier to have on hand all of the time, so things that call for apple sauce, honey, agave nectar, syrup, sugars etc, I often replace partly or entirely with date paste. The result in a much healthier, whole food sweetened recipe that you can feel better about.

Have you given date paste a try? Or found date sugar anywhere?

Healthy Home | Nut Butter Cinnamon Cookies [ full of the good stuff, free of the bad stuff ]

The more I experiment with plant based recipes, the more I've come to realize how ridiculously easy it is to replace dairy. Last night I made a strawberry banana "milkshake" for dessert: fresh strawberries, frozen bananas, soy milk, vanilla extract, blended to perfection. It was creamy and delightful and not a scoop of ice cream in sight.

Today was another one of those moments. I am attending a "dessert and wine" birthday party for a friend this evening and decided to make some healthy cookies to bring with me. A lot of the vegan recipes I searched for included oil and flour, and I was just not in the mood to make a cookie cookie. I wanted to make an easy, healthy cookie with few ingredients.

I stumbled across this recipe from the Unrefined Kitchen and it mostly fit the bill. I modified it to make it dairy-free and changed the flavour a bit with some cinnamon. Oh my goodness gracious, they are DIVINE. I was hoping to just "test" half a cookie, and ended up eating four. Oopsies, there goes my lunch. I was completely surprised with how much these look and feel and taste like a traditional cookie, but have no oil, no flour, no grain, no refined sugars, and no dairy. And almost better than that, they were super easy to make with minimal clean up.

Nut Butter Cinnamon Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup almond butter
1/2 cup agave nectar, honey or maple syrup
1 Ener-g Egg Replacer "Egg" (could try a flax or chia egg but I'm not sure of the results)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of sea salt
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Line baking sheet with parchment paper
3. Mix all ingredients but the coconut until well mixed.
4. Add coconut (and optional, add chocolate chips, dried fruit, or nuts)
4. Roll dough into balls slightly smaller than a golf ball, space on cookie sheet and bake for 13 minutes until lightly browned.

Makes about 20 cookies.

Thanks to the Unrefined Kitchen for the inspiration! These are DEFINITELY going in my recipe box and will now be my go-to cookie recipe. They even passed my "meat and potatoes" husband test!

If you have a spare 30 minutes this week, give this recipe a try! You will be happy you did :)

Freebies | Printable Heirloom Recipe Cards

Sure, it's Thursday, but I'm filing this one under Freebie Fridays, k? Thank you for throwing me a bone.

I'm sharing my thoughts on passing down recipe cards today over at Modern Parents Messy Kids. Go take a peek and let me know what you think and how you recipe keep. You can also checkout the free download on my Freebies page.

For our recipe box, I customized some cards with our last name. I think this makes a great gift and have already made these for a bridal shower. Stick a set in my upcoming recipe card box DIY, and it is the PERFECT gift!

How do you keep recipes? In a binder? Box? Online? Let me know!

Smoothie Saturday: "Wake Up" Choco Latte

I would be lying if I told you I make smoothies everyday for their taste over their health benefits. Truth be told, I sometimes pack in so many greens and other random ingredients (like beets and pumpkin) that it is sometimes a challenge to finish the whole thing.

It's not that I don't believe in enjoying food and smoothies, I just find it such a lost opportunity to pack in nutritious produce if I don't take it to that next level. I find it difficult to get in my veggies and salad in the winter months especially, so I just feel so much better about my day when I start it with a greens packed smoothie.

That said, every once in a while, I indulge in a smoothie that is more tasty than healthy.  I leave out the greens, I use soy milk instead of water, add extra banana and some peanut butter and or cocoa, and in the end the thing tastes more like a milkshake than a smoothie. Mmmmmmm mmmmm good...

Well, today was the perfect day to try out a smoothie in the middle of the road. It's not PACKED with greens (although it could be), but it's also not overloaded with calorically dense, nutritionally light foods either. Since I was out of soy milk and unable to make my daily double latte, it was the perfect excuse to sneak some espresso into my smoothie. Coffee and breakfast in one- cha ching!

"Wake Up" Choco-Latte Smoothie

1 frozen banana (peeled, sectioned, frozen at least the night before) OR 1/2 an avocado + ice cubes
2 shots of espresso (or, 1 cup brewed coffee - just reduce other liquid)
water or milk or choice to thin to desired consistency

1 teaspoon coconut oil (use only if using water as thinner over milk)

2 tablespoons "power" mix (I use chia seeds, hemp hearts, buckewheat, and flax seeds)
2 tablespoons cocoa powder (regular is more antioxidant packed, but dutch processed is tastier)
2 frozen "green cubes" (pureed spinach/kale frozen in ice cube tray)
1 tablespoon almonds or almond butter
Optional: I added some frozen berries in for some more antioxidants, but not enough to affect the flavour.

Blend until creamy, and enjoy!