Vegan Peanut Butter Cups

My hubby's new favourite treat, we first tried these out around Halloween time when the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup commercial's kept taunting us.  Hubby and I have always had a soft spot for sweets, especially those revolving around peanut butter and chocolate!  After a few tries and a few small changes to the original recipe we got off The Kind Life website, we've finally perfected it to our liking!  Be careful, these are incredibly addicting!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of vegan margarine
3/4 cup of crunchy or smooth peanut butter
3/4 cup of graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of soymilk
1 cup of non-dairy chocolate chips
1/4 cup of chopped walnuts

Directions:
Line a 12 cup muffin sheet with liners
Melt the margarine in a saucepan over medium heat
Remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter, graham cracker crumbs and sugar until it's well mixed (I remove from heat because I was finding the ingredients would burn if I left them on while combining and mixing)
Put over heat and continue to stir for a minute more so that everything is well melted
Evenly divide the mixture between muffin cups (a few scoops per cup)
Combine the chocolate in milk in another saucepan (or clean out and re-use your first one)
Stir over medium heat until the chocolate has melted
Evenly distribute over the peanut butter mixture and sprinkle on the chopped nuts
Place in the refrigerator and for best results let them set overnight

We've tried them with both the soft and crunchy peanut butter.  Hubby loves them either way although I love them with the added crunch.  Both work well and are completely delicious!

Toasted Naan With Black Bean Dip

One of our absolute favourites is this delicious and nutritious bean dip.  Eat it with nacho chips, crackers or our favourite - naan, and enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 can of black beans (drained)
1 cup of spinach (raw)
3/4 cup of salsa
1 tsp. of Cumin
2-3 tbsp. of ground flax seeds (optional)
A pinch of salt

Directions:
Combine ingredients in a food processor and process on high for about 2 minutes or until everything is well blended.

In the meantime put slices of naan on a cookie sheet and cook for about 5 minutes at 375F.  Check regularly and remove when slightly toasted, then use a pizza cutter to cut into small triangles.

Hearty Homemade Vegetable Soup

 It's that time of year again where the nights are getting colder, the sky is getting gloomier and the days are shorter.  This time of year always seems to be when I start craving my Mom's homemade soup.  Last year I asked her how she makes hers since it's always so delicious!  I've since made it my own by adding some variations to it but the great thing about soup is you can always substitute, subtract or add what you'd like and it still comes out delicious!


Ingredients:
1 celery stalk finely chopped
2-3 containers of vegetable broth
1/4 cup of onion finely chopped
1 small carrot finely chopped
1 can of lentils or 1/2 cup of cooked rice (optional)
1 can of spicy red pepper diced tomatoes or 2 fresh tomatoes finally diced
Spices (I use a few shakes of each)
2-3 bay leaves
Small amount of garlic
Red wine (optional)
1-2 tbsp. vegetable oil

Directions:
Start by sauteing the onion with a little bit of vegetable oil in your largest cooking pot until they become clear.  Add a spoonful of minced garlic and the spices you like (I usually use a few shakes of parsley, basil, sage and oregano).  Next add the celery and carrots along with the bay leaves and a splash of red wine if you have it.  Continue to saute until the celery and carrots seem to have softened up and add your can of diced tomatoes.  I love the spicy diced tomatoes because they add a light heat to the soup.  Let this simmer together to get the flavours mixing for about 5-10 minutes.  Next add your lentils or rice if you wish and finally the vegetable broth.  Turn up the heat to high and bring to a boil, partially covered.  Then turn the heat to low and let everything simmer for about an hour.  Leave the bay leaves in the soup for the added flavour but don't eat them!

Personally I love to make this soup in the evening, then let it sit overnight so the flavours really absorb one another before eating it.  My Mom never made it with lentils but I started adding them instead of the rice because they're good for us vegans!  As well I use more vegetable broth then she does because I like having less in my soup and more broth where she prefers it being thick and chunky, so again there are so many variations you can try!

Nanaimo Bars

Hubby has a big sweet tooth and one night announced he was craving a nanaimo bar.  He said someone had them at work and he wanted one so badly that if he had been offered one he didn't know if he could have turned it down!  I immediately set to work to find a delicious vegan nanaimo bar.  The hardest part about finding a new recipe is finding one that's easy and still good!  When I did a search tons of recipes came up but many had odd ingredients and no feedback.  I finally found this yummy sounding recipe with rave reviews and from a published vegan chef which gave the recipe more merit.  You can check out Sarah's website here: http://govegan.net/
In the meantime I whipped these up and oh my goodness are they ever delicious!  It's been so long since we had real nanaimo bars but Hubby and I were devouring these! 

Bottom Layer
1/2 cup vegan margarine
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 tbsp ground flax seed
3 tbsp water
1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1 cup unsweetened coconut, flaked
1 1/4 cup vegan graham cracker crust

Middle Layer 
1/2 cup vegan margarine
2 tbsp vegan milk
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp turmeric
2 cups powdered icing sugar

Top Layer 
2 tbsp vegan margarine
4 1-oz (28g) squares unsweetened chocolate

To prepare the bottom layer : In a medium saucepan on low heat, melt the margarine and sugar, stirring to combine. Once liquefied, stir in the cocoa until smooth. Remove from heat. In a medium bowl, stir together the flax seeds, water, walnuts, cocoanut and graham cracker crumbs. Add the chocolate sauce and stir well. Press mixture into an ungreased 8X8-in pan. Set aside.

To prepare the top layer: In medium saucepan on low heat, melt the margarine. Add the chocolate and melt, stirring often to prevent burning. Remove from heat and set aside to pour over middle layer. You want sauce to be cooled but liquid to still 
spread easily.

To prepare middle layer and assemble bars: In a food processor or medium bowl, cream together the margarine, corn starch, vanilla, turmeric, and icing sugar until well mixed. Spread evenly over bottom layer. Spoon chocolate sauce evenly over middle layer and set pan in fridge immediately. Let chill for 2+ hours before cutting and serving. Makes 9 squares.

I had a difficult time cutting these so they were a little messy but regardless: YUM YUM!

Green Smoothies

Hubby is an avid runner but I find with 10 animals, a full time job, a husband to care for and life in general I only end up at the gym a few times a week.  To offset my lack of gym time I take the dogs for regular walks and walk to and from work but I also try to eat a well balanced diet.

In comes the Green Smoothie!  I subscribe to a wonderful magazine called Vegetarian Times and one article had low calorie meal options.  One was the green smoothie which takes only minutes to make, is a super healthy energy booster and I find it pretty tasty!  I've seen many variations on this type of smoothie but nothing as simple.  I've been drinking it every morning this week and also find it very filling.  I drink the smoothie before I head to work and am still full by my first break.  That's something even cereal doesn't do!

Ingredients:
2 cups of freshly washed kale
1 cup of soymilk
1 banana
1 tbsp. ground flax seeds (optional)

Combine in a blender or food processor, blending until smooth.  Then drink up!

Fall Doggy Walks

Marlow

We are having an absolutely beautiful Autumn day here.  Perfect weather for walking the dogs!  A nearby friend and blogger of Live, Love, Laugh, Meow & Woof recently became a dog owner and asked if we could coordinate a doggy date.  This way they could get acquainted and their exercise all in one!

Marlow munches on my shoes!

Genevieve and Murray are extremely friendly and social so I knew they would all get along well.  What I wasn't sure about was how they'd walk with another person and dog accompanying us!  It was definitely a little challenging but they were actually fairly well behaved.  Of course Genevieve made sure to get as much lovies in as possible out of my friend before we parted ways but both her and Murray were pretty good!

Marlow picks a shady spot for a nap!

I was very pleased that they also were very good to Marlow (the puppy)!  Mostly they were pretty aloof (like when Murray was standing on Marlow's foot and didn't seem to notice) but at the end there was a bit of play time!  Leashes made it awkward to do much other than a playful bounce and paw but they seemed satisfied with that!

Marlow gets fiesty with his new pal Murray!

A Few Photos Here And There!

Unfortunately I haven't picked up my camera enough this year.  Life just seems to always get in the way.  I took a walk around the neighbourhood last week and although it's too early around here for the leaves to start changing I was able to still get a few interesting shots.

This was my favourite photo of the day.  Before heading out, I was watering the garden when I noticed something moving through the mist.  I turned off the water and took a closer look.  It was a female Praying Mantis!  I ran inside, grabbed my camera and began shooting.  I've only seen 3 in my entire life and felt privileged she had chosen my garden to be in!  Even though she's an insect, watching her clean off the droplets of water made me feel like I was watching something so much more special than that!  Amazing! 

A neighbour has these gorgeous Morning Glories growing all over her front fence.  They're all different colours and look so pretty I just had to take a few photos.

One of my favourite flowers and yet I can't seem to grow them!  Too many squirrels around!  This Sunflower was part of a small gardenful, each over 5 feet tall!

This apple tree was actually in someone's backyard but was so large the branches full of apples were towering over the sidewalk.  They looked delicious!

And the rest of these were actually from a bouquet of 'Just Because' flowers Hubby brought home for me.  A beautiful arrangement of Gerber Daisies, Lilies and other small flowers, I couldn't wait to photograph them.  I used several different backgrounds but the dark really made the colour in the flowers pop.

The two Gerber Daisies.  Hubby said he just walked around picking random flowers he thought I'd like.  I've never had a bouquet with Gerber's in them, I was pretty excited!

Lilies have always been my favourite flower.  Tiger Lilies were our wedding flower.

A close-up of one of the Lilies.  Photographing flowers is so easy!  Since they're so small, coloured bristol board is the perfect backdrop.  Pick out the flower you want to photograph and put it in a tall cup or vase.  Put the bristol board about a foot behind the flower, set up your tripod and your all set!

I love flowers but I'm not exactly sure what these are.  They look like a type of Marigold to me or maybe they're a wildflower.  Either way they complemented the arrangement perfectly.

Hopefully I'll be able to get out again soon and get a little creative with the changing season.