Broccoli and Walnut Topped Perrogies

This recipe is from the Quick Fix Vegetarian. You can click here for some of the recipes from her cook books. This recipe was super simple and well received by the whole family. Even a slight human disaster on the stove (inadvertantly melting the perogie package to the wrong burner cover) couldn't keep this meal off the table in less than thirty minutes.

I don't often eat broccoli, but I probably should more often. Like other cruciferous vegetables, broccoli contains the phytonutrients sulforaphane and the indoles, which have significant anti-cancer effects. The walnuts of course are a source of omega 3's for vegetarians.

I love cupcakes!

I took these to yoga class the other night. One of my coaching clients was celebrating her birthday. So we all got to partake in the celebrations! These are lemon gem cupcakes with lemon butter icing. No redeeming nutritious qualities, however, pretty delicious!

My newest cookbook

No, my copy of Eat Drink and Be Vegan has not yet arrived, sigh. Amazon.ca is still giving me a projected delivery date of December 5th on my pre-order!

However, I did treat myself to this cook book by Robin Robertson, author of Vegan Planet. I do like the recipes out of Vegan Planet, however I find them a bit time consuming. Quick Fix Vegetarian on the other hand has loads of great recipes for very simple suppers. The recipes are what he calls pure vegetarian - meaning vegan, no dairy or animal products of any sort on the ingredient list. So far I have made a couple of recipes from the book and I am really impressed. Another exciting feature of this book are some quick fix appetizers and desserts! Gotta love that! Watch for some upcoming posts of recipes from this cook book.

Chocolate Butt Cakes!

Every time I see this picture on Dreena's blog, I get all side tracked from what I am doing and all I can do is think about chocolate cake. On Sunday night I was dreaming all night about this cake. Seriously, in my dream I couldn't find my Everyday Vegan cookbook and I was totally distraught over not being able to make this cake. When I woke up in the morning I found my copy of Everyday Vegan on my cook book shelf and sighed a huge sigh of relief. I vowed to make this cake as soon as I could.

There was only one problem... can you believe I don't have round cake pans? So, we decided to make them into cupcakes instead. This worked out well because I had about half enough ingredients for the icing! Trinity and I got to work. After mixing the flour and all the other ingredients Trinity and I realized we didn't have any canola oil in an aerosol can to spray our cupcake liners. Whenever you have an emergency like this and your hubby is out with the car it is a total life saver to have a friend and neighbour like mine! Off we went to Karyn's house. "Karyn we need spray oil!" When we got to Karyn's house, Karyn said, "Trinity, what is all over your bum?" I have to tell you that Trinity is one of the most tactile children I know.... hands in the flour, hands on your bum, flour on your bum. Karyn said, "You're not making cupcakes, you're making butt cakes!" And there you have it, the name stuck. Here are our butt cakes. They were so delicious and super easy to make!

This super trimmed down, non-fattening cake will definitely make an appearance at my healthy baking vegetarian cooking class. Whether it will be cake or butt cakes, I'm not sure yet.

Enchilada Casserole

This is another super simple supper for my next vegetarian cooking class on Saturday September 22nd at 5:00 p.m. This was a really simple vegan enchilada casserole. The process of rolling enchiladas is eliminated by creating layers in a casserole dish. I made it vegan by cutting out the cheese sauce on top and topping it with a avacado cream sauce from Dreena's Vive le Vegan cook book. I think next time I will just skip the avacado dressing and do a simple guacamole instead. I served the casserole with salsa and a simple cole slaw. Not too pretty, but nice and easy and tasted great. Hubby gave it two thumbs up and came back for seconds.

Vegan for a day?

I came across this article in my research about metta meditation today. It was located on a blog through the yoga journal website:

Celebs go vegan for peace

Christy Turlington, Russell Simmons, Sting and Donna Karan are participating in the Global Mala Project, an international effort that uses yogic events to raise awareness and funds for global causes on the United Nations' International Day of Peace (Sept. 21), by going vegan for the day. According to the United Nations, the waste emissions from animals raised for food contributes more to global warming than all the car and truck emissions in the world. How many of you are vegan or vegetarian? Why did you decide to eliminate animal products from your diet?

This little article has got my knickers in a knot. I am excited about the Global Mala Project, in fact I am hosting two events on Saturday September 22nd to support it. I appreciate that celebrities are raising the consciousness around global warming and the raising of animals for food. But really, how hard is it to go vegan for a day? How hard is it to call up your personal chef and say, "Can you make it vegan today?" Let's see some commitment with guts! How about vegan for a year. If you really care about the planet, how about just switching to a vegan lifestyle for the rest of your life?

Vegan Fettucine Alfredo

More recipe testing for the September 22 vegetarian cooking class. People have already started registering, so I'm sure it will be sold out! This one is a definite keeper. I still can't believe that it tasted like traditional fettucine alfredo, without the cheese!!! You can't believe how happy I am about this! It is good for you too! I won't give away all the secrets here, you have to come to the cooking class. I served the fettucine alfredo with a fresh salad topped with avacado, pears and red peppers. I whipped up a simple raspberry vinagrette to drizzle over top.

Tortilla Soup and Southwestern Rice and Black Bean Salad

More recipe testing for the next vegetarian cooking class. This cooking class in particular is easy and fun to prepare for since it is simple suppers. Pictured first is a Southwestern rice and black bean salad. This was super easy to make and was tastey.


Below is a really unique Mexican inspired tortilla soup. It was tastey too!



My daughter has become really interested in baking. Here are some vegan oatmeal raisin cookies from Dreena's Everyday Vegan.

West African Peanut Stew

This is a recipe I am testing for my next Vegetarian Cooking Class. The next class is a simple suppers class and this was pretty easy to put together. The broth for this stew is thickened with peanut butter (I used almond butter) which gives it a little extra protein punch. Not only to almonds give vegetarians some protein, but they also help to lower LDL (the lethal kind) cholesterol and lower your overall risk for heart disease. It also has cabbage and okra.

Cabbage is a super nutritious food. The many phytonutrients is cabbage work as antioxidants to disarm free radicals before they can damage DNA, cell membranes and fat-containing molecules such as cholesterol. Now, new research is revealing that phytonutrients in crucifers, such as cabbage, work at a much deeper level. These compounds actually signal our genes to increase production of enzymes involved in detoxification, the cleansing process through which our bodies eliminate harmful compounds. A cleanse is just what I can use after a week of "all inclusive resort food" in Cancun Mexico.