strawberries

What do I bring for vegan camping?

August 4, 2013 by Veronica Grace 41 Comments

I went camping for the past 2 weekends this summer in the Rocky Mountains and although it’s a lot of work packing and setting everything up, it is fun getting out of the house, away from the computer and offline for a little while to just relax. Here’s some photos of our tent site to start.

I will admit I was a little concerned with ravenous mosquitoes and rain so I got an eating tent as well, which was handy as it did indeed rain pretty hard twice over the weekend so at least some of the stuff was protected and we could sit under the tent and wait for the rain to pass. The funny thing is we were the ONLY people tenting in this area, everyone else had trailers and toy haulers to hide in. It’s definitely more work tenting, but it’s more affordable and still kind of fun. Although it is quite chilly each morning!

Oh and we also went to do some dirt biking….

Um yeah so I’m apparently trying out dirt biking, even though I have no experience riding dirt bikes or motorcycles in general. It’s probably the scariest thing I’ve ever done, but I got all this second hand gear to try it out. And I’m super glad I did!

Let’s just say that I came home with 8 bruises (2 big ones on my legs) and a smashed thumb from dropping the bike on myself and falling over several times going up and down steep rocky hills. It’s not easy learning how to to shift a manual transmission bike and steer and not be scared of crashing going down a giant hill at the same time lol. I’ll be trying it again, but I have to say I’ve never been so sore in my life. I could barely move the next day after coming home because of the bruises on my legs, and my arms and shoulders were exhausted from picking up and pushing the 250 lb bike up and off me and up and down the hills I couldn’t do.

I feel ridiculous in this outfit. The pants are very high waisted and so thick and bulky they make me sweaty. I also feel like I’m wearing space boots and an astronaut’s helmut!

Here’s our dirt bikes, my bf so lovingly built this little red one for me. I can’t imagine riding anything more powerful, it already feels beastly enough for me… lol

And now you’re probably thinking I’m insane and wondering what the point of this post was, well I want to show you what I brought for food camping, because a few of you wanted to know if I had any “camping recipes” on Facebook. Well I wouldn’t say recipes, but quick meal ideas because honestly spending time prepping, cooking and cleaning WHILE camping in a tent isn’t my kind of idea of fun. I needed a break from food prep and clean up, so I tried to make everything super simple to prepare. The last thing you want to be is hungry and cranky trying to start a camp fire and reach for snacks instead of a healthy meal.

So here’s my list of the top 6 things I brought for vegan camping to keep things simple and healthy for the weekend

1. The first thing I bring camping is pre washed and cut up fruit, each packaged in their own individual containers. (Ex. watermelon cubes in a giant container, pineapple chunks in a medium container etc.) This ensures that the fruit stays fresher longer so juicy fruits such as watermelon and pineapple don’t speed up the ripening process of berries or change their flavor. I brought watermelon, pineapple, red grapes, blueberries and strawberries. I always do my fruit this way and store it separately as I like fresh tasting fruit and not mushy muddled flavors. Whenever I want some fruit I can just grab a plate and a fork and plate some up for breakfast, a side for lunch or a snack. Almost half of my cooler is packed with large containers of prepared fruit to keep me eating fresh and healthy even in the great outdoors.

2. Veggie kabobs are next on my list because I don’t make them at home very often and it’s kind of fun to cook over the fire or a camp stove. I pre wash and slice up all of my veggies and place them in a container and can easily assemble as many as you like for your side dishes. For my kabobs I used yellow and green zucchini, bell pepper, red onion, and mushrooms. I used a metal grate like this to place over the camp stove or fire to cook them.

Instead of brushing the veggie kabobs with oil, I like to drizzle or marinate them in balsamic vinegar and sprinkle a salt and pepper grinder mix over top of them for roasting. If you really like the veggies to absorb flavor I suggest using a little bag or container to toss and marinate them in balsamic vinegar. I was making mine very quickly and just drizzled a bit on top before grilling.

3. Fresh corn is another fun food to bring camping. I got some fresh corn on the cob (you can find this organic and gmo free from farmer’s markets and some health food stores so please don’t freak out) and put it in the cooler along with my ice. When I went to take it out it was actually soaked in water, and this was quite helpful. Pre soaking your whole corn cobs helps them retain moisture while cooking.

Next peel off just the outer layers of the corn husk, leaving the thin inner layers, wrap the cobs tightly in tinfoil and then place directly on a low fire or hot coals for about 20 minutes just until tender. This was the first time I’ve ever put corn directly on a fire and it turned out great! Camping food doesn’t have to be anything complicated, I just keep it really simple and let me tell you my friends were certainly jealous of my fresh and tasty meals I made!

4. For hearty breakfasts I made a double batch of my Deluxe Dijon Tofu Scramble and kept the seasoned tofu in one container and the sliced veggies in little bags separately so I could cook as much as I needed each day over the camp stove. Super easy and nice to have a hot breakfast when it’s cold every morning.

5. For fun I also bring some veggie hot dogs and veggie burgers (see my chickpea quinoa burgers, yam black bean burgers and spicy Mexican black bean burgers). You can also get vegan marshmallows as well to roast over the fire.

credit theartfulgourmet.com

6. To round out my veggie offerings I also brought mixed salad in little ziploc bags for easy serving and used balsamic vinegar as a quick dressing.

So there you have it, a little insight to my vegan camping adventures and what I bring to keep it simple and healthy in the great outdoors. What do you think? What do you like to bring camping and where do you go camping?

Soy-Free Vegan Tropical Acai Berry Bowl Recipe

June 9, 2013 by Veronica Grace 1 Comment

Whipping up acai bowl recipes are pretty easy. I like to use whatever fresh and frozen fruits I had on hand. This one is similar to my Acai Banana Berry Bowl Recipe , but it’s perfect for summer with fresh mango and berries. Acai bowls can be topped with your favorite fruits, but I know some of you have never had one before and are unsure how to make them at home.

Acai is usually sold in a frozen puree for use in smoothies, acai bowls and frozen desserts. You can also buy acai juice, powder and supplements, but I stick with the puree because it’s delicious and a little less processed.

Acai bowls are made up of frozen acai puree, apple juice or soy milk, frozen fruit, granola, fresh fruit and sometimes honey. If you do not have acai frozen puree in your country (I found it at the health food store in Canada and the USA) you can substitute about 1 cup of frozen blueberries.

This is a soy-free version which uses apple juice instead of soy milk to blend it together. You can also use fresh pressed apple juice if desired as well.

Soy-Free Vegan Tropical Acai Berry Bowl Recipe

Serves 1

Bowl Ingredients:

4 oz/ 1/2 cup apple juice (unsweetened if desired)
2 100g packets of frozen Acai (I used Sambazon Original Smoothie Packs)
3/4 cup frozen mango (sub a fresh mango if you do not have a high powered blender such as a VitaMix or Blendtec)

Garnish Ingredients:

1/3-1/2 cup low fat granola of choice (I like Galaxy Granola as it’s oil free)
1/2 -1 ripe banana, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup fresh ripe ataulfo mango, diced
1/2 cup diced strawberries
Small handful of blueberries
Drizzle of honey or agave *optional (I don’t find I need this in mine)

Directions:

1. Remove packets of acai and frozen bananas from freezer.

2. Slice the mango, slice the banana and wash the blueberries and set aside.

3. Add apple juice to your blender. Break up the frozen acai into smaller pieces and cut the plastic open and pour into blender. Add the mango. Blend on low or pulse to break up the frozen fruit. If you have a VitaMix use the tamper to puree into a soft serve. If you have another type of blender you may have to stop and stir and keep pulsing to combine. Stop blending when smooth.

4. Scrape acai mixture into a bowl.

5. Top acai with granola.

6. Top with diced mango, bananas, strawberries and blueberries.

7. Serve.

Have you ever had an Acai bowl? What’s your favorite topping?

Acai Banana Berry Bowl Recipe

April 21, 2013 by Veronica Grace 15 Comments

I have been having my fill of acai bowls since visiting southern California. Originally they come from Brazil, but they are also popular in Hawaii and many American juice bars. I visited one of my raw food friends in California and had the chance to actually make something while on the road in her kitchen. I went in search of acai frozen smoothie mix (as I haven’t seen it yet where I am in Canada) and found some from Sambazon at Whole Foods. (Check their website to find a dealer near you.) It’s about $4.99 for four 100g gram packages. You can use one package for smoothies, or two in acai bowls.

Anyway, these acai bowls are SUPER easy to make and very delicious! The formula is simple: apple juice (or another liquid), frozen acai and banana and topped with granola, fruit and honey or other sweetener. It’s essentially a fruit smoothie granola bowl. You can eat it for breakfast, lunch, after a workout or any time of day. Now these are generally pretty large once you add a bunch of fruit on top of it, so be prepared to make a meal out of it. If not use less fruit topping and less granola for a smaller meal.

If you can’t find frozen acai anywhere near you, you can still make something similar. Try substituting frozen blueberries instead (about 1 cup) and blending that in with the banana and apple juice.

Now onto the delicious recipe!

Acai Banana Berry Bowl Recipe

Serves 1

Bowl Ingredients:

4 oz/ 1/2 cup apple juice (unsweetened if desired)
2 100g packets of frozen Acai (I used Sambazon Original Smoothie Packs)
1 frozen ripe banana (sub a fresh banana if you do not have a high powered blender such as a VitaMix or Blendtec)

Garnish Ingredients:

1/3-1/2 cup low fat granola of choice
1/2 -1 ripe banana, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup strawberries, sliced
handful of blueberries or other berries
Drizzle of honey or agave *optional

Directions:

1. Remove packets of acai and frozen bananas from freezer.

2. Wash and slice the strawberries, slice the banana and wash the blueberries and set aside.

3. Add apple juice to your blender. Break up the frozen acai into smaller pieces and cut the plastic open and pour into blender. Add the banana. Blend on low or pulse to break up the frozen fruit. If you have a VitaMix use the tamper to puree into a soft serve. If you have another type of blender you may have to stop and stir and keep pulsing to combine. Stop blending when smooth.

4. Scrape acai mixture into a bowl.

5. Top acai with granola.

6. Top with bananas, strawberries and blueberries.

7. Serve.

Have you ever had an Acai bowl? What’s your favorite topping?

Fruit and Veggie Smoothie Recipe with Beet Juice

September 10, 2012 by Veronica Grace 14 Comments

Sometimes people ask me, “Can I put vegetables into my fruit smoothies?”. And I say “Well that depends”. I wouldn’t necessarily tell a novice that they should try broccoli or carrots in a smoothie, because those vegetables are pretty hard to blend and you may not like it. Same goes for beets. Don’t just toss them into your blender (unless you have a really high powered one and like a gritty chewy smoothie). So instead I recommend for those wanting to up the nutrition of their fruit smoothies that you juice some veggies like carrots or beets and use that as a base for blending. That way you can get the added nutrition of veggies in your fruit smoothies just like a V8 juice, but a much much healthier version.

Normally I only use water to blend my smoothies (because I use sweet fruit like ripe bananas I can get away without using packaged fruit juice), but using a fresh pressed veggie juice is an idea you can try as well. We all know you can certainly drink more beets or carrots than you can chew, so once in a while this may be a good option for you to sneak in some more veggies to your diet. (Or the diets of your loved ones!)

I decided to try it out, and it’s a very interesting taste, you get the earthiness from the beets, without the smoothie being too overly sweet and it’s a cross between a smoothie and plain veggie juice. It’s nice actually. So this way you are still keeping a lot of the fiber intact and this helps create bulk and fullness so your smoothie is much more satisfying as a meal than just a plain old juice.

Here is my beet juice smoothie creation:

Beet Banana Mango Strawberry Smoothie

Serves 1-2

Ingredients:

1/4 cup fresh beet juice (about a bunch of small beets juiced, tops optional)
2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup fresh or frozen mango
1/2 cup strawberries

Directions:

Pour beet juice into blender and add remaining ingredients. Blend on high until smooth. You can either juice the beet tops or you can chop them up and blend them in.

Additional Tips:

Remember beet greens are a little stronger tasting than lettuce so start out with a little at first and taste test and see what you think. To make this even sweeter add another banana.

Other veggies you can consider juicing to add to your fruit smoothies:

carrots
golden beets
cucumbers
celery
greens (but you can always blend them in too)
other mild veggies

I don’t recommend strong vegetables from the brassica family such as broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower etc. You CAN however make a savory blended salad or savory veggie stew if you use things like tomatoes for the base and skip the fruit. I just don’t find strong sulphur containing vegetables go well with fruit.

Have you ever had beet juice or beet greens in a smoothie before? What did you think?

A Healthier Alternative to Special K, Frosted Flakes And Other Processed Sugary Cereals

April 9, 2012 by Veronica Grace 6 Comments

Who needs to eat Special K for breakfast every day for 2 weeks to lose weight? You certainly don’t have to. You can find any low sugar, low fat cereal of your choice, top it with some fruit and a little almond or soy milk and use that as a low calorie breakfast to start your day. Fresh fruit is always preferable, but you can add things like dried raisins, goji berries, sliced up apricots, prunes, figs etc. as well.

Sugary cereals were never healthy, they were just an excuse to get children and those concerned with fibre intake to eat some grains and get their servings of dairy in. If you’re vegan and still want to eat some cereal from time to time, make up a healthy one of your own. I have some organic corn flakes here (because they were low fat, low sugar and low salt) and dressed them up wish fresh sliced strawberries and served it with some original sugar free almond milk. I also like using sliced bananas, but I didn’t have any that were ripe. Raspberries or other berries work great too. This recipe is gluten free and soy free as well.

Homemade Special K – Corn Flakes With Fresh Strawberries and Almond Milk

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups organic corn flakes (low fat, low sugar, low salt)
1/2 cup fresh sliced strawberries
2/3-3/4 cup almond milk (I used Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Unsweetened Original)

Directions:

Add cereal to a bowl. Top with strawberries, add almond milk and any additional fruits or sweeteners if desired.
If you want to add a sprinkle or brown sugar you can, or you could try the sweetened original version of almond milk if that’s more to your taste.

Enjoy!

Is There A Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Butter? (Like Nutella) Why, Yes There Is!

March 28, 2012 by Veronica Grace 3 Comments

Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Blend (It's Vegan!)

Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Blend with Strawberries

Have you ever asked yourself the question, “Is there a chocolate hazelnut butter or spread that is vegan?” I have. And when I previously googled it, I came up with nothing but homemade recipes for chocolate hazelnut butter spread. Hazelnuts are expensive, and I didn’t plan on making it for just a small sample. Plus if it’s fresh it also goes bad within a week and I was not about to eat the whole batch in one week.

I think everyone remembers eating Nutella as a kid, or if you live in Europe, you probably ate it or still eat it regularly. They have this serious OBSESSION with Nutella in crepes filled with fruit. Very decadent indeed… That get’s me thinking I need to make a vegan chocolate hazelnut crepe recipe soon, I’ve never had one… but for now we’re going for chocolate hazelnut butter on toast with strawberries.

Since I’ve traveled in Europe a lot and there are also many creperies in Vancouver, Canada many places I’ve seen serve crepes with Nutella and because it had dairy in it, it’s not vegan. (The crepes are also not vegan as well.) I’ve often wondered if ANY company was going to get up the guts to actually make a healthier chocolate vegan hazelnut spread without the dairy and for the longest time could not find any. I checked the health food stores in Canada and no dice. I checked a bunch in the USA as well, and just recently found 2 different brands that were dairy free! This was a surprise to me because I had been casually reading labels for a while.

Since the dairy industry has been so adept at lobbying for companies and restaurants to put milk and cheese into everything, it can be very hard to find plain chocolate ANYWHERE. Almost every chocolate and chocolate bar EVEN DARK CHOCOLATE that is manufactured in the USA contains milk fat solids. They do this because dairy is highly addicted, just as addictive as opiates are actually and it makes people eat and crave more. So they now put dairy in all of the dark chocolate to make you eat MORE. How rude!

Same goes for creamy chocolate hazelnut spreads, they put dairy in it to make it more addicting and get you to eat more. Plus it probably is cheaper to add milk to it and less hazelnuts as those are more expensive.

I started looking for vegan alternatives a while ago, but never found any until now. It’s not something I would eat regularly, but more of a treat to put on a slice of toast or a crepe or for a vegan waffle or something. You know, a healthier-than-the-original-version treat.

Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Blend on toast with strawberries. A filling snack or treat for you or your kids.

The strawberries are nice because it makes it not too sweet and has a little tartness to it.

This little baby I found in Portland, OR at Whole Foods Market on a recent trip. I have sampled Justin’s peanut butter cups (the dark chocolate variety are vegan) and was quite impressed at their not too oily or too sweet peanut butter cups. (Christmas treat).

Here they had an entire line of natural nut butters. Including chocolate peanut butter and chocolate almond butter. Crazy! I know…

Let’s take a look at the side. Ah a nice note, it shows they are trying to make a product that is healthier than the major competitors. Who eat’s frosting for breakfast indeed? Nutella eaters that’s for sure. Here are the list of ingredients in Nutella from their website: INGREDIENTS: SUGAR, PALM OIL, HAZELNUTS, COCOA, SKIM MILK, REDUCED MINERALS WHEY (MILK), LECITHIN AS EMULSIFIER (SOY), VANILLIN: AN ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR.

Ingredients and nutritional information. It still contains some oil in the form of palm oil (saturated fat), so sad face 🙁 but at least it’s not hydrogenated and it’s one of the last ingredients on the label, not the first. It’s 90 calories and 7.5 g of fat per tablespoon. Ok good to know. One or two tablespoons max is all you should use for a serving.

Nutella comes in at 100 calories per tablespoon and 5.5 grams of fat, so it’s a little less fat than Justin’s… but Nutella’s first ingredients are sugar and oil and then it’s hazelnut taste is watered down by milk and whey. Justin’s doesn’t have sugar until the third ingredient, and oil is the third last, before vanilla and salt. If you were going to pick one that was a healthier option between Justin’s and Nutella, Justin’s would win. It definitely has more natural ingredients and whole foods in it than mass produced Nutella.

Here is Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Blend inside. It’s quite thick. There’s no oil on top and it doesn’t look rock solid like coconut oil does at room temperature.

Here’s another vegan Hazelnut Butter. This is the first vegan chocolate Hazelnut Butter I found by New World Natural Foods, it’s from a local health food store in Bellingham, Washington. I thought they were the only brand that made a vegan hazelnut butter, so I picked it up.

Upon closer inspection though, it is fattier than Justin’s. 100 calories and 8 grams of fat per tablespoon.

They use cocoa butter instead of palm fruit oil. This butter is stable at room temperature (a saturated fat), which means it is a solid at room temperature and not a liquid. So this must be why they chose to use it in their butter.

Here is what the chocolate hazelnut butter looks like inside. It’s very solid looking and actually looks like cacao or coconut butter. If you seen these you might see the resemblance. There’s little white solid flecks in it, and this is the oil, solidified.

Here is a comparison on warm toast for you. Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Blend is on the left and New World Natural Food’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter is on the right. Immediately I could tell the difference in the two. The one on the right melted very quickly into a liquid. Justin’s was a little harder to spread but more like a nut butter. New World Natural Food’s was more like chocolate sauce when spread.

Here it is again from up top.

So there you have it, there are at least TWO options for vegan chocolate hazelnut butter for you. Justin’s also makes chocolate peanut butter and chocolate almond butter (it is cheaper than the hazelnut butter) if you’re looking for a more affordable treat for your family.

Like I said I was mostly curious because there was a lack of vegan options for this kind of product and I remember eating Nutella as a kid. If it’s your only source of nuts for the day and you have 1 or 2 tbsps, you should be ok. If you’re still eating oils, lots of nuts and avocados and meat and dairy however, this may be a diet of too many rich foods already. Adding this on top of it won’t be healthy.

So which one do I prefer? Hands down I prefer Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Blend. I like that it isn’t too sweet, it’s a little thick, it doesn’t melt into chocolate sauce and it’s ingredients are much more natural than Nutella. For an occasional treat I like this product and they make a ton of different nut butters you can get at Whole Foods Market as well.

Have you ever tried a vegan chocolate hazelnut butter? What did you eat it with?