Pickled Cucumbers + Lunch Bowl

I don't know when my appreciation for pickled foods started. But I must say I'm hooked! You can actually make pickles in just one day using a brine of apple cider vinegar, water and spices. This recipe is based off of In the Raw's Icebox Pickles, I so appreciate the use of apple cider instead of regular vinegar! yay :)

Funny "pickle fact" about our family: My sisters and I went to drama camp when we were kids. As an activity the camp stood around in a circle and said tongue twisters. Our little sister, Brooke had one in mind and wanted to share it with everyone, it was: Mr. Pickle went into a Pickle, with his friend Pickle. Haha It didn't make any sense! Priceless moment...

Cukies

Pickled Cucumbers:
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup water

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Chili flakes (for heat)

1/4 tsp mustard seed

1/4 tsp dill leaves

Combine ingredients for brine in a small jar, add thinly sliced cucumbers. Let sit overnight in fridge, and That's it, pickles! You can even reuse the brine, store it in the fridge and keep putting pickles into it.

Now for the bowl. I love making these bowls because it means I will have a good lunch for the few days :). Everything can be prepared ahead of time and just stored in the fridge until ready to eat. I topped it with kasha (toasted buckwheat) which gave it a nice surprise of crunch! Drizzle with olive oil and you're good to go!

pickled cucumbers, quinoa, red pepper, kale salad, mushroom/onion sautee, lentils, topped with kasha and olive oil

bowly bowly bowly bowl

Simple Wilted Kale Salad:
1 head kale
Salt, to taste
Juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp olive oil
Pepper, to taste

De-stem kale and slice into bite size pieces. Add rest of ingredients and massage until broken down.

Mushroom/Onion Sautee:
7-8 mushrooms, sliced
1/3 onion, sliced
salt, pepper
1 clove garlic
oil, for frying

Fry onions in oil for 2-3 minutes, add rest of ingredients, cook until mushrooms and onions are tender.

We made a bowl like this before for our Sketch-Free Student Eating series a while back too. Check it out!

We submitted this to Ricki's Wellness Weekend this week.

Cinnamon-Pear Buckwheat Bake

We're finally giving in to the the buckwheat bake craze! We were of course inspired by edible perspective's many renditions of this quick and easy breakfast. This turned out surprisingly good considering how simple the ingredients were.

1 cup buckwheat groats, finely ground
2 tbsp raw buckwheat groats, whole
1/2 tsp baking powder
PInch of salt
1 pear, pureed
1 banana, pureed
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
About 1/4 cups of water

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Blend up banana and pear, water and vanilla. Dump into dry and mix until you have a thick batter. Pour into a greased cake pan and spread out evenly. Bake in a 350F over for 45 minutes. Spread with cinnamon almond butter!

Cinnamon-Almond Butter

2 tbsp almond butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Splash of water
About 3 drops stevia

Perfect breakfast for two

It's pizza!

P-I-Z-Z-A

We topped our bake with this super yummy Quin-ola from Your FItness Dish

We submitted this to Ricki's Wellness Weekend this week.

Veggie, Rice & Bean Burrito w/ Chickpea Tortilla

I've never made a burrito before but it turned out to be crazy easy. Just cook the veggies, throw in rice, beans, spices and salsa (and a few other things). I made about 8 of these and have 7 left waiting in the freezer for convenient consumption. The wrap is made out of just chickpea flour, like a super thin socca. Delish :)

Atop a salad

1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 zuchini, chopped
1-2 tbsp oil (for frying)
2 cups brown rice
2 cans pinto beans (or 1 large can)
6 tsp chili powder (my chili powder is not very strong)
4 tsp cumin
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 cup salsa
3 cloves garlic
Handful of cilantro, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
Salt and pepper, to taste
Chili fakes (extra heat)
Dash liquid smoke

Chickpea wraps:

1 cup chickpea flour

1 cup water

Salt, to taste

Cook onion, red pepper, zucchini, and garlic in a frying pan with oil. Once veggies are cooked through add salsa, beans, rice, spices and nutritional yeast. Cook for a minute or 2. Add in rest of ingredients.
To make chickpea wraps: Mix ingredients for batter, heat an oiled pan on medium, spoon mixture onto pan and swirl batter around as if making a crepe. Flip over to cook other side. Leave wraps to cool, and assemble burritos. Makes 7-8 burritos.
To reheat, place burrito in toaster oven and bake on 350 until heated through.

How to wrap a burrito

Tempeh Breakfast Sausage Patties

I was at the health food store the other day and was looking at all the oils, I usually go for the cheapest (sunflower) for my frying and popcorn needs, but this time I decided on Rice Bran oil.

I remember reading in a post by Sarah from My New Roots explaining how some oils have a low smoke point such as olive oil and shouldn't be used for cooking. She recommends ghee (which is clarified butter) but there is a vegan option! Rice Bran Oil, it has a very high smoke point and is perfect for stir frying. I was like alright I'll try it, it has a nice nutty flavour and you just feel confident that you're not somehow tarnishing the little molecules in the oil.

I have been dreaming lately about vegan breakfast sausage. This recipe has soy in it but it has the two types of soy that I feel good about eating: tempeh and miso. Both are fermented so it digests easier. Miso gives these patties a wonderfully rich flavour, the liquid smoke is optional but makes it so good and well, smokey! :) I loved those big greasy breakfasts before going "Sketch-free", these patties are just as good and healthy too!

On top of ol' smoookey

1 block of tempeh (250 g)
1/3 cup water
1 tbsp rice bran oil (or other oil of choice)
3 tbsp Gluten-free flour blend (brown rice, GF oat and buckwheat)
1 tbsp miso paste
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp dried basil
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp liquid smoke (optional)

Steam/boil tempeh until cooked through. Mash well with fork until small crumbles form, mix with remaining ingredients. Form into patties and fry in frying pan with 1 tbsp rice bran oil (or oil of choice, stay away from olive oil though because they may burn). Cook on both sides until browned and cooked through. Makes about 8 patties.

Spaghetti and Beet Balls

We made this a loooong time ago but never got around to posting it! We made this dinner for our little sister's birthday. Our sister is the type to eat an entire pot of kraft dinner (we couldn't be more different). So we decided on something carby and rich: Classic Spaghetti and Meat Balls. Of course we had to make it vegan and gluten free, but she still liked it! This is a good ol' family meal for veggies and meat-eaters alike.

2 beets, grated (or 4 small ones)

1 can of adzuki beans

1 1/2 cups cooked red quinoa

1/3 cup oat flour

3 tbsp tamari

liberal salt and pepper

3 tbsp olive oil

chopped parsley

1 tsp dried oregano
Liquid smoke (optional)

Dump beans into mixing bowl and mash dramatically with a potato masher until thick and...mashy. Add in remaining ingredients and mix well. Roll into balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes in 350F oven. Serve with rice pasta and spaghetti sauce!

Balls!

mmmmm

really great

Oh how I've missed good ol' spaghetti and meat balls. Beet and quinoa are a waaaay healthier meat substitute to things like seitan and tvp. Plus they end up a nice purpl-y pink colour.

We submitted this recipe to Ricki's Wellness Weekends! Check it out.

Avocado-Lime Smoothie

Whoa man this smoothie is really good, considering it has no sugar / or banana in it! Lime and avocado go well anyway, and gives this smoothie a creamy key-lime pie taste. I noticed that stevia goes really well with lime, because lime seems much more complex than lemon (it has some existential issues to figure out haha), there's a fun, vibrant flavour there that is just lovely in smoothie form :). The lime zest is vital btw! Without it, it will taste flat.

And on top of all the yumminess, the lime actually helps to break down fat in the avocado for better digestion. What's not to love in this smoothie!

If anyone is embarking on a sugar-free cleanse/diet, check our Inner Ecology ebook, it has all sugar-free recipes (and is fruit-free except for cranberry, lemon and lime).

1/2 avocado
1/2 cup cucumber, diced
Juice of one small lime
Zest of one lime
8-10 drops stevia
Water to thin
1 ice cube

Mix ingredients together in a blender, add ice if desired. Makes one serving.
Topped with QuinWow Quinoa Crisps, I've been enjoying these a lot on my smoothies/puddings for an extra crunch.

Frozen Carob-Tahini Balls

So you probably could have guessed me and Jenn are back on the sugar-free train. And you know we can't go on without treats. I made a batch of these after I organized my cupboard, because, well it was all organizey and nice and I wanted to put it to good use. So I used all of my uniquest ingredients to come up with a yummy, sugar-free treat!

I used this Quin Wow's quinoa crisp in this recipe, it is a unique ingredient and is only found in health stores in Ontario and Quebec, unfortunately for you Americans! (although you can order it online on their ordering site). If you can't get your hands on this ingredient, you can use crunchy granola or rice cereal as well.

Crispy candy! Cut in half.

4 tbsp tahini
3-4 tbsp water*
20 drops stevia
1/4 tsp vanilla bean powder (or extract)
3 tbsp carob
6 tbsp oat flour
Tiny pinch of salt
2 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp quinoa crisp (or other crispy grain cereal, optional but so worth it!)

Start by mixing the tahini and water together until thickened, it should be the consistency of a pudding, *depending on the type of tahini you have you may need to add less or more water/tahini to get proper consistency. Mix in stevia, vanilla powder (or extract) and salt, then mix in all other ingredients until you have a dough. Add in sesame seeds and crisp, you can also add in shredded coconut, different seeds, chia seeds. Roll into balls and store in freezer.

New E-Book is out! "Simple Sweets"

We are so excited to release our second Ebook: Simple Sweets. We've been working on it for a good 6 months now, and we're finally finished!

About the book:

• Over 25 new and original recipes created by yours truly that have not been featured on our blog
• High quality photo for each recipe
• Gluten-free and Vegan
• Recipes use only natural sweeteners such as maple syrup, agave and coconut sugar
• We also have a few recipes that contain only stevia to sweeten
• All recipes are low cost to make and use easy to find ingredients.

If you're interested in purchasing this ebook click here. Or click on Ebook tab above.

If you do buy it, make sure to turn off your pop up blocker so you can receive the download! :)

Our 11 Best "Cafe-worthy" Recipes of 2011

Hey peeps, so apparently it's 2012 now...hmm, time for some reflection. This should be exciting...:) We're going back in time! Actually back to when our recipes were pretty extensive, we've gotten simpler since then because of school and such.

These are all the recipes that are 100% amazing and that would be featured in a cafe, if we ever open one ...probably not until we have our midlife crisis in 30 years.

Lucuma Chip Ice-Cream (this tasted like butterscotch ripple amazingness, it's all the lucuma)

Raw Chocolate Mint Pie (man, if you like chocolate and mint and creaminess, this is pretty much heaven)

Awkward pie picture, it's hard to take pictures of slices of pie, don't ask! lol

Thai Peanut Soup (a ravenously addicting, pad thai inspired peanut soup)

Curried Pea Mash (creamy + delicious, there's something about curry and peas that is just so comforting)

Sunbutter Chocolate Bars w/ Stevia (these are so cheap to make and snap like real chocolate bars)

Sweet Potato Vanilla Patty Cakes (Amazing cakes, kind of like potato latkes, except sweet)

Mocha Tart (this is totally sugar-free, it's so light and fluffy and uses a coffee substitute, true yums)

The Sweetest Potato Brownies (the sweet potato just makes these ultra-fudgey and amazing)

Buckwheat Graham Crackers (Gluten-free grahams, these taste just like the real thing!)

Pistachio Orange Cookies (Pistachio + orange create an amazing and unique flavour in these little gems! )

 Vegan "Booster Juice" (title says it all...)

It seems like most of our faves were sweet things last year. That's so funny, because we are planning to release our second ebook which is completely Sweet! (with some sugar-free dessert recipes as well).