Coming back to the city, we realized how much we craved meals from our own kitchen and needed huge bowls of veggies asap. Going on vacation, I tend to go crazy on snacks, wine, and coffee so I needed a reset meal to get me back on track. This bowl is simple, quick, gluten free, full of veggies, and dressed with an addictive spicy peanut sauce. Sometimes to eat a giant bowl of veggies, all you need is a great sauce and this one is a winner. I highly recommend using the red chile flakes but if spicy food is not your jam, feel free to omit it. 

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Reset Power Bowl

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

7 mins

Total time

27 mins

 

This is my go-to bowl when I have been eating a less than optimal diet. Huge portion of veggies with protein from whole soy beans and a spicy sauce. If you don't like the spice, feel free to omit. This recipe is vegan, gluten-free and grain-free. This serves 2 large portions or 4 smaller ones + extra sauce.

Author: Jessica DeMarra

Recipe type: main course

Cuisine: vegan, gluten free

Ingredients

For the Spicy Peanut Sauce

• 3 tablespoons natural crunchy or smooth peanut butter
• 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons tamari or Liquid Bragg's
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup
• Fat pinch of red chile flakes or a squirt of Sriracha (optional)
• Sesame seeds (optional for garnish)

For the Reset Power Bowl

• 2 zucchinis, made into zoodles
• 1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
• 1 red pepper, cut into matchsticks
• 1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
• ½ cup frozen edamame
• 5-6 green kale leaves, stems removed and roughly chopped*

Instructions

For the Spicy Peanut Sauce

1. In a blender, add all the ingredients and blend until combined. Set aside until the bowls are ready.

For the Reset Power Bowl

1. In a medium sized pot, bring some water to a boil and cook the edamame for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. Add about 3-inches of water into the empty pot and set a steamer basket inside. Over medium-high heat, add the broccoli and steam under al dente, about 2 minutes. Add the kale and steam for an additional minute.
3. Meanwhile, transfer the zoodles and matchstick veggies to the serving dishes. Add the edamame, kale, and broccoli. Drizzle with Spicy Peanut Sauce and top with sesame seeds.

Notes

If you prefer the kale raw, shred the kale and massage with some sesame seed oil at least 15 minutes before serving*

3.3.3077

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I dislike getting ready for a trip; the anxiety of forgetting something really important, making sure the fridge doesn’t have anything that will go bad while your away, snuggling my cat Barb extra tight before I go as she tries to wiggle out of my affectionate embrace, only for me to chase her around the apartment telling her to “love me!” Mark is patient as I frantically go over my checklist in the shower, at the front door, in the car and then again as we pull along side the airport drop off. He makes sure I have my essentials: passport, underpants, laptop, phone and their chargers. Yes, I really need my phone that badly. I triple check that my hotel has Wi-Fi, something I really cannot live without, for blogging and Netflix purposes (currently addicted to Human Life from BBC) and I am out the door.

This is the part I like best about the trip, getting to the airport. It seems weird but I really like being at the airport. Going through security is not great but I love finding my gate, treating myself to a fancy coffee and a food magazine, computer on my lap, headphones in my ears and a figurative “Don’t Talk To Me” stamped on my forehead. This is my “out of the apartment” paradise.

Traveling solo can be liberating and this is my second trip in my life where I have taken off by myself. I like having own agenda, doing what I want to do without anyone else’s opinion in my way. As much as I enjoy travelling with friends or Mark, there is something cathartic about travelling alone. There is no compromise on restaurants or events and I will be hogging my king size bed all to myself, I plan to sleep like a giant X in the center of the bed, taking all the pillows and blankets for myself. I also have the added luxury of not having a 14-pound cat stepping across my face to wake me up to feed her, only to go back to bed after I have fed her to snuggle up a sleeping Mark.

I booked my trip to Vida Vegan Con in March and I have been counting down the days ever since. I am looking forward to meeting my favourite cookbook authors, fellow bloggers and veg-friendly vendors, in particular the taco trucks. I plan to eat my fill and then some. I truly never thought I would ever go to Texas but I am over the moon happy that I decided to go. I will probably never see so many vegans in one room ever again and in Texas no less! So if you are headed to Vida Vegan Con this weekend and you see my face, please introduce yourself. I will be happy to meet you.

Texas has had some devastating weather recently and my sincerest sympathies go out to those families who have lost loved ones and their homes.

Cold Soba Bowl with Lemon Miso Sauce

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

Author: Jessica DeMarra

Recipe type: vegan, 30 minute meal, gluten free

Ingredients

• Lemon-Miso Sauce:
• ¼ cup raw cashew butter
• ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon white miso
• 1 tablespoon each extra virgin olive oil + toasted sesame seed oil
• 1 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
• 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup or agave
• 5-6 tablespoons water
• Pinch of red chili flakes
• Bowl:
• Buckwheat soba noodles (or your favourite gluten free noodles)
• ½ tablespoon toasted sesame seed oil
• ½ tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup frozen edamame
• ½ cucumber, sliced thinly on a bias
• 1 red pepper, cut into matchsticks
• 1 carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks
• 1 green onion, cut into thin slices (the green part only)
• Spicy vegan kimchi, optional
• Optional Garnish:
• Sesame seeds, black or white
• ½ nori sheet, cut very thin
• Chili flakes if desired

Instructions

1. For the Lemon-Miso Sauce:
2. Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend on high until smooth. The mixture will thicken as it cools so add more water a little bit at a time until desired consistency. I added a grand total of 6 tablespoons of water. I found it easiest to leave the sauce in the blend and its spout makes it easy to pour onto your bowl.
3. For the Bowl:
4. In a medium pot, add water and salt and boil on high heat. Add the noodles and cook as the package directs. Cook until al dente, drain and rinse over a coriander. Shake the coriander so most of the water is drained. Place cold noodles in a large bowl and dress with the sesame seed oil and lemon juice.
5. While the noodles are cooking, prep the vegetables.
6. Add more water to the now empty pot and place on high heat until boiling. Cook the edamame until tender, about 4 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool. They cool down quite quickly.
7. Divide the noodles and vegetables between two bowls. Top with sauce and garnish with nori and sesame seeds. Serve!

3.3.3070

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We recently purchased one of those fancy cords that hooks up from your television to your computer so we have been watching a lot of the FIFA World Cup that we stream online to our TV. It has been fairly heated around the apartment after I decided to walk in wearing an England shirt and Mark, being Scottish and a Celtic fan, was less than impressed (Celtic verses Rangers is a serious heated battle). He said immediately upon seeing my shirt, “Don’t let my mother see you in that!”

Though I am not too crazy about sports in general but events like FIFA or the Olympics I can totally get into. I love the collective enthusiasm over a loved team or the mutual hatred over another. The best part of watching a sport event is the pub food. I am a glutinous beast when it comes to greasy pub style food; my first date with Mark was at a pub where we shared a pitcher of beer and chicken wings. Nachos are probably our most favourite pub dish; easy to share, spicy and you know someone loves you when they let you take the last chip with cheese melted on it. We use to get the jarred fluorescent orange nacho cheese in the chip aisle but after going vegan we no longer purchased it. However, I still really love the creamy spicy sauce but after reading the ingredients list I knew I had made the best choice in giving it up. I wanted to recreate the chip aisle in a healthful way. Say what?? Yeah you heard me, I wanted to have my nachos and eat them too.

Jarred salsa is pretty good, can work great in a pinch and so many varieties are available, why would anyone bother to make it? Homemade salsa is usually served raw while jarred salsa is cooked and fresh summer time tomatoes make my mouth water. Jarred is great when tomatoes aren’t in season and taste like Styrofoam but when the weather is hot, fresh tomatoes are the way to go. It turns out fresh homemade salsa is pretty quick and easy to the make with the assistance of a food processor. A quick chop, chop, chop, pulse, pulse, pulse and voilà salsa! Not as quick as opening a jar but it is worth the process (get it? Process…? Hahaha oh I just kill me.)

The guacamole is also a fairly simple recipe but instead of buying a ton of avocados I used a little trick from the Forks Over Knives Cookbook to yield more guacamole. Edamame! I was hesitant at first since I LOOOOVE an all-avocado and I have tried many recipes with substitutions but did not crave them again. The FOK style guac uses all edamame but I knew I needed some of that green buttery stuff to tingle my taste buds. I did a part avocado/part edamame with tasty results and kept the rest of the ingredients simple to let the avocado shine through. Remember to keep those pits! Placing the pits in the prepared guacamole help it from getting discoloured. 

Vegans will try to make nacho cheese out of anything: cauliflower, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, milk with a roux, tofu and my favourite: cashews. Soaked cashews are a vegan’s creamy dairy free dream and I use them all the time. When I made my Ultimate Cheesy Kale Chips, I thought the sauce, before cooking it, tasted like nacho cheese. This recipe tastes better than any other plastic version of nacho cheese out there and it completely: vegan, oil free, sugar free, gluten free and almost raw. Yeah you heard me again, making the chip aisle healthful! Now I know cashews have a lot of fat in them but I will take the cashew nut fat over any other type of fat any day. Going turbo for a few minutes on your Vitamix makes the cheese warm, which is insanely delicious. Warning this cheese is addictive and tastes great on tacos, quesadillas and anything that needs a cheesy kick (on everything really).

Making chips without oil was a little trickier and they do have a slightly different texture than a store bought deep fried chip but they can hold the weight on a heavy dip of guacamole, which to me is a sign of a good chip. I used lime juice to help the salt stick to the corn tortilla and dusted them with a little more ancho chili powder since I am hooked to that smoky flavour. Plain salted with lime juice is good as well in case you don’t like spicy stuff.

With these recipes, crack some beers and turn on the game to cheer for your fav teams. England is sadly out now much to Mark’s delight but there is still plenty to cheer for like how it finally feels like summertime. Oh and don’t forget to pass the chips.

Quick Corn and Pepper Salsa

2014-06-27 10:10:23

Yields 2

Fresh, quick and full of spicy summertime flavours

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Prep Time

10 min

Total Time

10 min

Prep Time

10 min

Total Time

10 min

Ingredients

1. 2 Roma tomatoes, stemmed and cut into quarters
2. 1/3 cup roughly chopped red onion
3. 1 garlic clove, peeled
4. ¼ cup light packed cilantro leaves
5. ½ jalapeno pepper, diced
6. ½ red pepper, diced small
7. ¼ cup corn, fresh or frozen (thaw if using frozen corn)
8. 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
9. ½ teaspoon kosher salt or fine grain sea salt

Instructions

1. In the bowl of the food processor, place the quartered tomatoes and pulse 3-4 one-second pulses until tomatoes are chunky. Transfer the tomatoes to a medium bowl.
2. In the now empty food processor bowl, add onion, garlic, cilantro and jalapeno and pulse 9-10 one-second pulses until minced but not pureed.
3. Transfer the mixture to the bowl with the tomatoes.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and stir the mixture together.
5. Serve with chips or on top of burrito bowls.

Notes

1. Don’t over process the tomatoes; it will cause them to release more liquid.
2. Fresh salsa is always more liquify than jarred since the jarred stuff is cooked.
3. This recipe is a medium spice level, omit the jalapeno completely if you want a mild salsa

By Jessica DeMarra

Sprouts & Chocolate http://www.sproutsandchocolate.com/

Protein Packed Guacamole

2014-06-27 10:18:10

Yields 2

Fresh, buttery guacamole with a protein punch

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Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

4 min

Total Time

40 min

Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

4 min

Total Time

40 min

Ingredients

1. ¼ cup lightly packed cilantro leaves
2. 1 small garlic clove, peeled
3. 2 tablespoons diced red onion
4. 2 teaspoons diced jalapeno
5. 1 cup frozen edamame, cooked according to the package instructions and drained
6. 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
7. 2 large ripe avocados, halved and pitted
8. ½ teaspoon kosher or fine grain sea salt

Instructions

1. In the bowl of the food processor, pulse the cilantro, garlic, onion and jalapeno for 8-10 one-second pulses. Transfer the mixture to a medium sized bowl.
2. In the now empty food processor, add the edamame, lime juice, ½ of 1 avocado and salt and puree until completely smooth. Add the puree to the onion mixture and stir until combined.
3. Dice and scoop out the remaining 1½ avocado and gently fold it into the edamame puree.
4. Place the pits in the mixture, cover, refrigerate and let the guacamole rest for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Notes

1. Keep the pits of the avocado! Placing the pits back into the prepared guacamole helps it keep it green.
2. This recipe is a chunky guacamole but if you want it smoother, just place all the avocado into the food processor and puree.

By Jessica DeMarra

Sprouts & Chocolate http://www.sproutsandchocolate.com/

Ultimate Vegan Nacho Cheese

2014-06-27 10:23:29

Yields 2

Spicy, creamy and a million times better for you than any nacho cheese you have ever had.

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Prep Time

5 min

Prep Time

5 min

Ingredients

1. 1 cup raw cashews, soaked for 2-8 hours or quick soaked (bring water in a pot to a boil, add cashews, put tight fitting lid on the pot and take it off the heat. Let the cashews soak in the hot water for about 1 hour)
2. 1 red bell pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
3. 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4. 3/4 cup nutritional yeast
5. 1 teaspoon salt
6. ½-3/4 teaspoon ancho chili powder
7. ¼ cup water

Instructions

1. Place all the ingredients in a high power blender and blend on high or turbo until completely smooth. Going turbo makes the cheese all warm too.

By Jessica DeMarra

Sprouts & Chocolate http://www.sproutsandchocolate.com/

Oil-Free Ancho-Lime Baked Corn Chips

2014-06-27 10:31:04

Could an oil-free chip be delicious? The answer is in the crunch.

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Prep Time

3 min

Cook Time

25 min

Total Time

28 min

Prep Time

3 min

Cook Time

25 min

Total Time

28 min

Ingredients

1. 8 small corn tortillas
2. 3 teaspoons fresh lime juice
3. ½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
4. Pinch of ancho chili powder

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Stack the tortillas on top of each other and cut into fours.
3. Place the pieces in a single layer divided between the two sheets.
4. Sprinkle the pieces with the lime juice, coating both sides. Sprinkle with salt and lightly dust one side with the ancho powder.
5. Bake for 15 minutes, flip the chips and cook for another 10 minutes until the edges are golden brown. These won’t keep very long since they aren’t fried so serve within the first day of being made.

Notes

1. Watch your chips after you flip them since burnt chips are never delicious.

By Jessica DeMarra

Sprouts & Chocolate http://www.sproutsandchocolate.com/

The post Vegan Pub Style Dips with Ancho-Lime Baked Corn Chips appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.