I love these so much. They are a no bake bar and super quick to throw together. Think salty, sweet and peanut butter-y. Full of oats, nuts and seeds. Healthy fats for the win. Perfect for a quick breakfast or grab and go little lunch. They are caloric so I am not comfortable calling them a snack. (unless I cut them smaller and ate less) Let's be real though, the first day I ate three for breakfast and then realized that this was probably more than half my days calories haha. Fuck. Anyway calories aren't the devil but it's good to be aware. (for me that is) These could easily be made vegan by subbing something else for honey, but I know a lot of vegans out there are cool with eating honey from a reputable source anyway sooo to each their own. I personally love the flavour honey gives these bars. Next time I might sub out some nuts/seeds for some dried fruit and chocolate. Cranberry, chocolate, hazelnut??? Yeaaaa.

Yield : 16 bars

3 cups oats
1 1/4 cup toasted almonds, roughly chopped
3/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
3 tbsp ground flax seeds
3 tbsp chia seeds
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup honey
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
2 tsp vanilla

1. Line a 9 x 13 inch cake pan with parchment paper. You want it to hang over the edges going both ways so it is easy to lift out.

2. Mix all the ingredients except for the honey, peanut butter and vanilla in a large bowl.

3. Heat the honey and peanut butter over medium heat until it bubbles. Stir in the vanilla. Remove from heat then pour the over the oat and nut mixture. Using a rubber spatula fold, stir and mix it all together until it is evenly mixed together. Took me maybe a couple minutes to really get it well combined.

4. Dump all this deliciousness into your prepared pan. Now run your hands under some water really quick to prevent your hands from sticking, and press the mixture into the pan. You want to really pack it down as firmly and evenly as possible so they hold together.

5. I put mine in the fridge overnight and cut them into 16 bars in the morning. But I'm sure a couple hours would do it or you could easily stick them in the freezer for a bit to speed up the process.

Share with friends or hoard them all to yourself.
​

Serves: 4
In restaurant kitchens the goal is always to prepare a dish as much ahead of time as possible without compromising quality. If everything was done last minute people would be waiting hours for their food! For this meal if I was planning to have leftovers vs eating it in one sitting, I would prepare it up until the point of adding the spinach, which is the last step. At this stage I would cool my mixture and keep it in the fridge. Then when I wanted a portion I would simply heat some in a small pan with a splash or so of water, adding my spinach "to order". A note about canned chickpeas: I always used to strain and rinse my chickpeas until the chef I'm working with now at Island Stone Pub (Kensington, PEI) dumped the whole thing into a pot one day to which I replied wtf r u doing? (yes we are allowed to swear, it's a kitchen) and she said: flavour! OK cool. So I tried it at home and realized certainly with this dish I dig it. The liquid from the can helps to create a bit of body/thickness while the liquid reduces a bit.

Ingredients:

• 1 x 540 ml can Chickpeas (don't strain, the liquid from the can helps make this thick and flavourful)
• 450 g (6 cups) Mushrooms, quartered
• 1 large Onion, thinly sliced
• 30 g  (1/4 cup) Garlic
• 600 g (4 cups)  Cherry Tomatoes, halved
• 120 ml (1/2 cup or more to taste) Lemon Vinaigrette* (see recipe at bottom of page
• 100 g (1/4 cup) Nutritional Yeast (more to garnish)
• 1 x 210g box Smoked Tofu, cut into cubes
• 454 g (16 oz) Baby Spinach

Method:

1. Heat a couple tbsp of vegetable oil in a large sautee pan over medium high heat. Get your onions and mushrooms into the pan, season with a couple pinches of salt and black pepper. Make sure the pan is hot enough so you can get a bit of colour happening. We don't want sad mushrooms.

2. Once they are softened up add the garlic to the pan, toss things around a couple times. If you aren't sure when they are softened up, just taste an onion. Is it soft? cool.

3. Now I throw in my chickpeas (add the liquid from the can too!!) and smoked tofu. I add the lemon vinaigrette and if it seems like it needs a splash of water to allow everything to heat through while reducing down into a sauce, then add a bit of water Season with some more S+P. Give this step a couple minutes to get going then...

4. Add your halved cherry tomatoes and Nooch (nutritional yeast). Now I like the cherry tomatoes to stay a bit plump, which is why I add them at the end. When they cook too long the skin starts separating from the tomato halves. Now, I taste the liquid/food in the pan as it is reducing and adjust seasonings. I like to mix about a tbsp of cornstarch with water to make a slurry and then stir it into the pan to thicken the broth, making this kind of stew like. 

Now you can stop here if you are making this recipe ahead. Or add a bit of spinach if you just want one portion and scoop that bit out for your dinner, or add all the spinach if feeding a bunch of people and it's going to be eaten all at once. 

4. Add the spinach and don't over cook it. Once it's mostly wilted, it's good.

5. Taste for seasoning. You might want to add a bit more lemon vinny, or serve with a couple lemon wedges on the side. I top it with more Nooch at the table and garlic panko crumbs. 

I really hope if anyone makes this they love it as much as I do. It truly reminds me that food can be simultaneously vegan, simple and super delicious. 

I keep a jar of this in the fridge for this recipe and for adding to any dish when I want to dress it with a bit of olive oil and added acidity. You can certainly just use straight up olive oil and lemon juice to the dish without making this vinny but..... I like this because I know that the ratio of olive oil to lemon juice is balanced the way I like it without having to adjust too much along the way.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup lemon juice
2/3 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp sugar
3 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp water
pinch of s&p

1. Use a hand blender to emulsify, or whisk really well. Pour it into a mason jar. Refrigerate if you have any leftover (might not I've dumped the whole amount in before)

​

This is my first experiment making vegan mozzarella. I used a recipe from vegan 100 cookbook and Ive added the link below. My hairdresser Erin who is cool AF....got me onto following "avant garde vegan" on social media awhile back. I recently purchased his cookbook and hope to try out more of his recipes and share my results.

Cashew Nuts
Soy Milk
Miso Paste
Tapioca Starch
Nutritional Yeast
Lemon Juice
Salt and Pepper
Garlic Powder

My thought's after first attempt with the mozzarella is that I like it! While it was still hot I was tasting out of the pan, and then tasting again, and again because it was good!! I let it cool before adding it to my pizza. I topped my flatbread with home made pizza sauce, the vegan mozzarella, broccoli  (tossed with evoo and chile flakes and garlic), mushrooms, facon (also from vegan 100 book) and red onion. When it came out of the oven I garnished it with a drizzle of olive oil, nutritional yeast, chile flakes and fresh thyme.

What I learned is this mozzarella doesn't melt like real mozzarella cheese or even taste like cheese at all. It is it's own deal.  While it is quite tasty I wouldn't be satisfied with this cheese if it was the main event on the pizza. Rather I see it working best layered with other flavours to create interest and then in turn, a tasty vegan pizza. I do think it would be perfect in a calzone because in a 500°F oven the top parts of the cheese got a bit too dark and dried out a bit. Typically a super hot oven is ideal for cooking pizza, instead for my 2nd trial I lowered the temperature to 425°F and made sure to have the majority of the mozzarella covered with my toppings so it would stay more gooey. I will definitely keep this recipe in my repertoire but I think I will have to try some other vegan cheesy pizza toppings before I will make this again. I do think its worth trying though!

The recipe from Avant Garde Vegan linked below.

I flew home from my holiday in Switzerland December 31st. What a wonderful visit and I am certain I will be back sooner than later. This trip changed my life. I found love, and connected with my brother, niece and nephew in a special way, it had been 4 years since I last saw them.  

My mum picked me up at the airport in time to go back to her place for an early dinner of all the snacky things. No big NYE plans here. The way I prefer it honestly.  I told myself I wasn't going to drink because it was a super boozy holiday and my liver and my mind needed a break but within 10 min mum was pouring me a glass of wine and I was opening presents. I'm 35, she spoils the shit out of me still. The point about having a boozy holiday and drinking wine when I landed in Canada is that, while I had an amazing vacation the boozing and eating took it's toll on me physically and mentally.  I hadn't been to the gym in over 20 days. Maybe some people, and I wish I could be in this category, can have a holiday and understand that all this is OK and resolve to get back on track later. I certainly resolved to do this but not without a whole hell of a lot of self loathing between the lines. It`s not a mental space I like to be in. But I don`t always know how to get out when I'm in the midst of it.   

​My problem is it's always been an all or nothing situation for me. I don't want to be this way. (so change, right?) I'm either sober and eating salad and yogurt or drinking way too much and binge eating cheese and bread and sweets. And I really mean binge eating. One night I stood half drunk and half asleep eating everything in site. The furthest thing from mindful eating possible. Probably thousands of calories I don`t even know. Then cue a  hangover, belly ache and self loathing the next morning. I don`t have all the answers to finding balance. I don`t always have the will power to have one glass of wine and not 5, or for opening a bag of chips and then sealing it again. 

I`m writing this from my apartment in PEI, home for a couple days now. Our work staff party was last night and I opted to stay sober. I had to. One last hurrah could spiral me into another week of feeling like shit. I don`t know what my long term goal is. Currently I have a sober app downloaded on my phone and it counts the days you stay sober, which full disclosure I reset three times in the first three days. For sure I will reach 30 with no booze or weed. I have to. I have never considered myself an alcoholic or having a huge problem with marijuana but maybe that is the epitome of denial. I often take booze breaks for a week, or two, or a month, but then inevitably I end up drinking and eating too much for a period of time and feeling like garbage. I am not sure I`ve ever completely gone without booze and weed at the same time. Herein lies my determination to prove that I can.  I don't think there is anything wrong with eating and drinking and smoking in plenty, if you can be happy and are not hurting anyone in doing so then go for it.  It's a personal thing. My mental state suffers, I am prone to anxiety and depression already. I wish I could indulge in things in moderation and not over do it. In my perfect world this is how it would be because obviously these activities are enjoyable on some level. Anyway, my sober app is currently at 2 days, 3 hours 11 minutes and 57 seconds. Today will be day 3 back at the gym. Slowly I am starting to feel more level, more like myself. Everyday Sober Time shares an inspirational quote. Today it says. "Happiness is not an accident, nor something you wish for. Happiness is something you design"  Seems legit. I know conceptually that I always have a choice and I am accountable for my actions and my habits or addictions whatever they are. Now I`m going to go make oatmeal with fruit for breakfast and start the day with positive intentions. Writing out thoughts and feelings surely is therapeutic. Pressing the post button somehow makes me feel more accountable to my goal even if no one ever comes across this page. Sometimes you have do things for yourself even if it means you might ruffle a few feathers. If it is a challenge for you or gets you out of your comfort zone it might just be a good thing and probably means you are on the right track.