Spaghetti Squash

So awesome and so nutritious – who needs spaghetti pasta when you’ve got spaghetti squash!!

• preheat oven to 375C
• cut it in half lengthwise
• scoop out the guts and seeds (save the seeds for roasting)
• bake face-down (inside/cut edge down) on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper @ 375C for 40 minutes
• it will be hot so use a glove to handle, take a fork and lightly pull the squash into strings, scraping from side to side rather than lengthwise
• done… and delicious
• top with a tomato sauce stir-fried veggies!

Naturally Fresh Tomato Sauce

Fresh and simple tomato sauce. We think it’s hard and that it takes all day.

The truth is that it’s very simple and takes minimal time to prepare, considering most of that time is sitting back waiting patiently as your house fills with an aroma of rich home cooking that would make even the most serious a man salivate and dance around the stove foolishly waiting for a taste.

I recommend you give it a good two hours to simmer so the flavours can really come out to play, three hours is primo.

This was our first shot making a fresh sauce like this from scratch (using fresh herbs and raw tomatoes versus canned) and it was so amazing it definitely makes the “top five favourites” list. We started out wanting just a simple tomato sauce, but as time went on we threw in fresh veggies making into more of a “garden” sauce.  Fresh, simple and delicious none the less.

    

Naturally Fresh and Simple Tomato Sauce

Delicious, fresh, and relatively simple. It’s always best to let a fresh tomato sauce simmer as long as possible, I think we held out for 3 hours total, including prep time.

Prep Time: 15 minutes  Cooking time: 1 – 3 hours (the longer you let the sauce simmer, the better)

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 tsp coarse sea salt
• ground pepper to taste
• fresh herbs, crush using mortar and pestle or chop fine
  • thyme 1 tsp crushed
  • basil 2 tbsp chopped
  • oregano 1 tbsp chopped
  • whole dried rosemary 1/2 tsp crushed
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1 white onion, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 10-12 medium tomatoes, diced into large chunks (skins left on)
• 1 med/large zucchini, diced into large chunks (thick sliced and quartered)
• 1 cup spinach, rinsed and coarse chopped
• 1 red pepper, diced into large chunks
• 1 can tomato paste -156ml

Instructions:

Heat sauce pot on medium heat, add coconut oil to melt, then add diced carrot, onion, celery, garlic and salt. Cover and let simmer on med-low heat to soften veggies, creating the base for your sauce, approximately 30 minutes. Stir every 5-10 minutes.

Add tomatoes and let simmer over medium heat for approximately 1 hour, stirring often, until they cook down to create hearty sauce.

Add herbs and pepper to taste, add tomato paste. We found that no additional salt was required, so wait until the very end if you choose to add salt. Continue to simmer on med-low heat for as long as you can stand it – we simmered for approximately 1.5 hours.

Taste and evaluate your consistency, add seasoning as required.  Add chopped zucchini and red pepper, and let simmer on low heat for another 30 – 60 minutes, remembering to stir every 15 minutes or so.

With 10 minutes left to go toss in the chopped spinach, then remove from heat and serve.  We like to add sautéed sliced portobellos, this time around using spaghetti squash instead of pasta.

“Food for Life” Ezekiel English Muffins

Now I’m not all hip on the sprouted grains thing, but we stumbled across these sprouted whole grain english muffins in the frozen aisle of our grocers natural section and we quite enjoyed them.  They were more dense than you’re typical sourdough, which is our usual pick, but they were still soft and fluffy.

Sadly the undersides were black, which of course you couldn’t see from the packaging, which was disappointing because it shows low quality control… or perhaps they intend them that way, but in any regard it makes for poor presentation.

They were much like a regular english muffin, just packed with the goodness of certified organic sprouted whole grains like barley, millet, malted barley, lentils, and spelt.  They tasted pretty good and were not too strong in flavour.  Clearly not gluten-free.

Overall it was a good experience, and they served their purpose well for our Saturday morning Crumbles’n Toast.  I also learned that sprouted whole grain bread is called Ezekiel bread!

I would buy them again, but perhaps next time we’ll see what’s out there for gluten-free options and try something new.

Happy muffining!

Our Very Own Garden Salad

 

 

A fresh blend of greens including arugula, radicchio, spinach, and dill.

Shredded beets and carrots from our very own garden.

Sliced grilled tofu glazed with sweet thai chilli sauce.

Drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and lemon juice.

Sprinkled with coarse salt & fresh ground pepper.

Topped with cucumber, grape tomatoes, diced hot banana peppers and pumpkin seeds.

Deeee-licious!

A poem about Pierogies

Pierogie, Pierogie…

How I have longed for thee.

Sadly, eggs and dairy are used in the making of most,

but finally I have found one whose taste I will boast.

Simple and delicious, a family recipe will do,

the perfect pierogies for compassionate eaters like me and you.

My preferred way to cook up some tender yet crispy pierogies is to boil them until they float, or approximately 7 minutes, then remove from the water immediately.  Heat up a frying pan, add one or two tablespoons of oil, and pan-fry them on either side on med/high heat for just a few minutes until they brown.  Sprinkle with a touch of coarse kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

This was the first time I ever used this “Supreme” brand.  The Sauerkraut and Mushroom flavour was actually quite delicious, though I don’t think I could eat more than a few because the flavour is quite strong.  However, balance them with the Potato and Onion, which were by far the best I’ve ever had.  The stuffing was fresh, aromatic, smooth and very very tasty.

I felt like I was back at Gramma’s having home made pierogies.  Unfortunately we didn’t have a white onion, which sparked a conversation to support the decision that we must carry a surplus of onions (and bell peppers) at all times, because heaven forbid we don’t have sautéed onions on our pierogies!

Wild Herbivore highly recommends this brand of pierogies, they are out of this world fantastic, and totally free from eggs and dairy!

Finally, frozen vegan pierogies.

“Meaty” Mexi-nachos

Make your own “meaty” mexi-nachos using crumbled tofu and sautéed red peppers, mushrooms, onion and spinach with a sprinkle of taco seasoning!!

Top with black olives, hot peppers and shredded soy cheese for veganized pub fare.

Serve with guacamole and salsa and enjoy!!

Checkout our Scrappy Scramble recipe for the tofu veggie topping (just add taco seasoning to taste).

Tandoori Tofu

How Do The “V”s Cheese?

How do I cheese now that I practice a plant based diet?

Cheese was the hardest thing to give up when I first decided to practice eating a whole-foods plant-based diet.  Not because I wanted to eat cheese necessarily – don’t get me wrong it’s delicious – it was hard because cheese is so deeply ingrained in our cultural fare that you literally have to consciously exclude cheese from EVERY MEAL.  Cheese is everywhere and in everything!  Trust me – pay attention and you’ll start to notice how wide-spread this cheese epidemic is.

Then there’s the fact that cheese is actually addictive because “morphine is found in cow milk and human [milk], purportedly to ensure  offspring will bond very strongly with their mothers and get all the nutrients they need to grow”.  Read more on the addictive affects of cheese: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/cheese-contains-morphine.html#ixzz1yuQ2ooCQ.

Cows are sentient beings, too, just like me and you

I love cows and I don’t want them to suffer so that I can blindly continue an unconsciously dangerous affair with cheese, but I did want to find a replacement because sometimes cheese just needs to happen.  For a cheesy chuckle check out this diary video.

At first we tried to replace cow cheese with faux cheese, but honestly it was just not the same and thought it had a funky taste.  I suspect that’s because we were so new to a plant-based diet that our taste buds would kick and scream when we tried to trick them with cheese that wasn’t full of fat, salt, and sugar, and decided that we preferred no cheese all together.  Over the last few months we have trialled several different brands and would like to share some of what we love.

What we Loved!!

Vegan Parmesan flavour grated soy topping

This stuff is incredible – smells and tastes JUST LIKE PARM!  No soy taste here folks.  This is a staple item for any vegan.

Sprinkle on pasta, salad, pizza, bread…  This isht is fan-freakin-tastic!!!  I’m so happy to be reunited with my parm!!!

For those in Calgary you can get this at Planet Organic.

Veggie Slices – Cheddar Flavour

The perfect slice for the perfect burger – veggie burger, that is.

This stuff melts and tastes like a slice of cheddar.

Found at all major grocery stores.

Okanagan’s Soy Cheese – Mozzarella

Shreddable, meltable, smooth and creamy.  Tastes JUST LIKE mozzarella.  We use this stuff often, shredded and melted on several of our recipes posted here on Wild Herbivore.

Sadly it contains casein which is derived from cows milk.  This is one compromise I’ve allowed myself, in the name of French Onion Soup, Crumbles’n Toast, and Quesadillas.  Found at all major grocery stores.

Creamy Spread – Veggie or Vegan brands

This is the perfect replacement for cream cheese!  I use this in my Pink Chip Dip recipe, on bagels or in layered dips.  It even comes in a Fine Herb blend.

Found at all major grocery stores, but some may carry only one of the flavours.

What we didn’t Love!

We tried Daiya shredded cheddar and mozza and I wouldn’t recommend it, especially for new-time faux cheesers.

It’s very dense and left an earthy soy-like taste in my mouth.  We tried it melted on pizza, and that was my least favourite pizza night.

We tried Rice Vegan Cheddar by Galaxy and found it also has a taste that was just not quite delicious enough.

It didn’t add a cheesy flavour, it was more just there to physically represent cheese.

Meh – not great but not awful I suppose.

Chreese Alfredo Sauce

We tried this out and it didn’t WOW us, but I would try it again.  Maybe next time I would follow the directions exactly, where I added it to a sauté of mushrooms and onions.

So get creative and get your cheese on!  You may just find something that helps you to lean away from addictive fatty cheese and into a plant-based diet.

A Bright Idea!

Here are a few tips on how to create some cheesings, without resorting to faux cheese.

Surprisingly enough, crumbled tofu is very similar in texture to feta cheese.

We recently used it in our own version of Greek Salad and it worked out quite nicely.  We actually used smoked tofu, which is sooo similar in texture and taste toSmoked Gouda – this is a brilliant way to supplement cheese.

Nutritional Yeast is also very popular in the cheese-less community is a way to add a cheddar flavour.  It’s often used to make “cheesy macaroni”, and we also used it in our Crumbles’n Toast and Spanakopita recipes to name a few.

It comes in flakes which you can sprinkle on top of your favourite dish or mix it right into whatever you’re making.  It’s worth playing around with – you’ll notice it’s in a lot of vegan cookbooks.

I hope you enjoyed this article – please share some cheesy comments 🙂

Greek Salad

I love me a Greek Salad, but I haven’t made one since converting to a plant-based diet because I wasn’t sure how I would like it without the creamy crumbles of Feta.

We’ve been experimenting with crumbled tofu over the past month or two (yes, you know where this is going) and it’s served us quite well.  We also recently discovered smoked tofu and I had the idea to crumble that up in our Greek Salad.

the BEST smoked tofu

the less-than-awesome smoked tofu

More specifically, there’s a certain brand of smoked tofu that I love – it’s smooth and creamy and is extremely similar in texture and flavour to smoked Gouda cheese, but the store who carries this particular item was sold out and suggested an alternative brand so we gave it a whirl.  Sadly I wasn’t very happy with it, it was too firm, almost chewy-like.  We had over half the block left and really no desire to serve it up.  So I actually crumbled it into the Greek Salad as a way to use it and avoid throwing out money.

I’m really impressed with how the salad turned out.  The tofu took on the flavour of the dressing and it was visually pleasing as it looked just like Feta.  It would be great with plain tofu crumbles as well.  So the next time you’re looking for a veggie dish that packs a protein punch, try crumbling tofu into your Greek Salad.

We used a dry seasoning and made our own dressing, simply because store-bought pre made Greek salad dressings contain feta (and LOTS of refined sugar).  And well… most everything is better when made simply.

The dressing came out great!  We just mixed a few tablespoons in with some extra-virgin olive oil and a few tablespoons of white wine vinegar.  The ratio was random so you can get creative here and make it how you like it.

Just remember to let the dressing sit for a while because the seasoning needs time to absorb the liquid and the crunchy bits need to soften.  This will give you an opportunity to let the flavours open up and adjust with more vinegar or oil as desired.

Sprinkle with fresh lemon juice and enjoy!!

HELP! I’m addicted to pop!

Looking to scrap the soda, but don’t know where to turn for that sweet bubbly fix?

Scrap the soda and make your own carbonated beverage!

I’m super addicted to soda so I can’t bring it into the house or I’ll drink it up fast and replace it even faster – it becomes an unconscious habit overnight.  I usually don’t notice this nasty trap until it’s 5 pounds too late.

I don’t remember where the inspiration came from, but I brought home carbonated water (aka soda water) and pure cranberry juice – no, not cranberry cocktail which is packed with sugar, but the kind that is too tart to drink with a straight face.  I filled my glass with ice and mixed half soda water and half cranberry juice, and added a little squirt of liquid stevia to neutralize the cranberry pucker.

Voila!  My new favourite sweet drink that helps me to forget all about the cola.

It’s low in sugar, free from caffein, and the body also benefits from the valuable cleansing and antioxidant properties of pure cranberry juice.

Get creative and make your own blend using lemonade or any other pure fruit juice – just try to stay away from juice cocktails or super sweet juices that are packed with those nasty refined sugars – that would totally defeat the purpose of refraining from soda pop, now wouldn’t it.

If you don’t have stevia you can try using agave nectar or even fresh lemon juice to help to balance the tartness of cranberry, but grab some liquid stevia – its a great addition to any pantry.

(note this picture is not a reflection of our normal purchasing practices – I try to purchase a “no name” or a small local brands whenever possible, I cringe to see that I bought Nestle once upon a time).