I wanted to make oven fries since deep frying at home is pretty unsafe and I am sure I would set a small fire in my kitchen. At first, I was setting my oven a little too low for those really crispy fries that I wanted so be not afraid of cranking your oven up! Also it is important to make sure that you preheat your oven so the potatoes go into a hot oven to achieve maximum crispiness. You can omit the spice mixture and just use salt if you don’t like spicy foods. The milkshake is simple and unlike diner-style milkshakes, this one does not have any dairy or refined sugars. The salted peanut butter and chocolate combination is the best as any Reese’s cup lover would understand. The bananas make the milkshake thick and creamy. What would we vegans do without bananas?? What weird food combos do you love? 

4 recipes down, 26 more to go! See you tomorrow for Day 5: Best Sandwich Ever! Missed Day 3? Check it out here.

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Day 4 Vegan MoFo: Salted PB Chocolate Shake

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

 

This sweet and salty milkshake is naturally sweetened with bananas and dates, has a touch of cacao, and big peanut butter taste. This recipe takes almost no time to make and satisfies a sweet tooth. This recipe is vegan, gluten free, soy free, and refined sugar free. This recipes makes about 3 cups of milkshake.

Author: Jessica DeMarra

Recipe type: Drinks

Cuisine: vegan, gluten free

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• Salted PB Chocolate Shake
• 1.5 cups unsweetened almond milk
• 2 frozen bananas
• 2 tablespoons roasted peanut butter (I buy unsalted)
• 1 tablespoon cacao powder
• 2 pitted Medjool dates
• 8-9 ice cubes (more if your bananas aren't frozen)

Instructions

1. Add all the ingredients to a high powered blender. Blend until smooth. Serve and enjoy!

3.3.3077

Day 4 Vegan MoFo: Spicy Oven Fries

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

35 mins

 

Crispy fries in the oven are possible! Deep frying at home can be dangerous so opt for oven fries instead. These fries are made with russet potatoes since they have a high starch level which results in a crispier fry. They are seasoned with a spicy mixture of paprika, garlic powder, and ancho chili powder. If you don't like spice, feel free to omit the ancho. Served with the milkshake above or ketchup.

Author: Jessica DeMarra

Recipe type: Sides

Cuisine: vegan, gluten free

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 2 large russet potatoes, washed and cut into fries (peels on)
• 1.5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon ancho chili powder

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl, coat the cut potatoes with the oil, salt, and spices.
3. Transfer the potatoes to the baking sheet and spread them out into a single layer.
4. Bake for 30 minutes, flipping halfway through.
5. Remove from oven once they are golden and crispy. Depending on how thick you cut your fries, the cooking time will vary. After you flip them, keep an eye on them. No one likes burnt fries!!
6. Serve with the milkshake above or ketchup.

3.3.3077

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Sorry about the delay in posting but I have some good news. Exams are done, I repeat, exams are done! Isn’t that just the best feeling?

After my exam, I came home to Mark, who had a sandwich and coffee ready for me, hooray! Also the cookbooks I ordered, My New Roots: Inspired Plant-Based Recipes for Every Season and The Sprouted Kitchen Bowl and Spoon: Simple and Inspired Whole Foods Recipes to Savor and Share had arrived, double hooray! Unfortunately, all I wanted to do was sleep. My brain needed a little R&R.

The next day, I couldn’t shake these feelings of anxiety and guilt. I paced around my kitchen and checked my calendar to make sure I wasn’t missing an appointment but I did not have anything planned. I puttered around the house, sorted laundry and scrubbed the tub but I still felt anxious, almost sick to my stomach. I texted my friend Kristen telling her I was really living it up on my first day off school and told her I thought I was coming down with something. She explained that the anxiety I felt was brought on by not studying for class. She said my brain is in the routine of worrying about studying and when I am not hitting the books, my brain is in panic mode.

I wandered around my apartment, disoriented by not knowing what to do and far too distracted to actually sit down and do anything productive. I put on my jacket, laced up my shoes and headed out of the door. I went for a long walk, something I haven’t done in months since it has been so cold out. The cool air, the empty streets, my music coming through my headphones and the steady pace of my legs helped me clear my head and left me feeling refreshed.

I know I have a hard time relaxing; to truly enjoy doing nothing productive except maybe read a non-food related book or to drink a cup of coffee without looking at my phone. My mind tends to race when I “try” to relax, I feel like I should be doing laundry, cleaning, editing my photos or literally anything on my to-do list for that day but I need the time to unplug. Mark can clear his mind and relax so quickly while my mind is like a live wire, whipping around and shooting sparks in all directions. I asked him for some advice and he told me to just concentrate on my breathing, thinking of nothing else but the air travelling in and out of my lungs. Telling me to “not think of anything” seems to trigger my brain into thinking of EVERYTHING like remembering that time I embarrassed myself at that party when I was 21, running through my recipe checklist and the groceries I need to get for them and anything else that comes to mind. Mark, being the nice boyfriend that he is, let me use his Mala beads to help me concentrate on nothing. I placed the sandalwood beads in my hand, counted them all along its string and concentrated on my breathing. It honestly helped with my fidgety hands and busy mind. Everyone’s method to relax is different and I strongly urge you to find out your own, whether it is running, yoga, meditating, walking or reading a book, find it! I thanked Mark for his help by making him this pudding.

What do you do to relax? Leave comments below with your suggestions.

This recipe is vegan, gluten-free and tree-nut free. The FDA classifies coconut as a nut, even though it is technically a fruit. This recipe is adapted from Oh She Glows: {Almost} Instant Chocolate Chia Pudding. Not crazy about chocolate? Check out my Raspberry-Lemon Chia Seed Pudding.

*Disclaimer:  I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program which means I do earn a small commission on the affiliated links.* Something I am trying out and if it works out, great  but if not I will take it down. 

Print

Yum

Coconut-Chai Chocolate Pudding

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Serving Size: 1-2

Ingredients

• 1 cup coconut milk
• ¼ cup chia seeds
• 3-4 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• Pinch of ground cloves
• Pinch of ground cardamom

Instructions

1. Add all the ingredients to a high power blender and blend until completely smooth. At this point, the pudding may be warmed. Transfer to a serving bowl or cup, cover and refrigerate until the pudding is set and cool. Top with coconut, mulberries, granola or fresh fruit.

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This process happened slowly then all at once, much like falling asleep as described by John Greene in A Fault In Our Stars. This decision has been weighing on me for a while now and I constantly questioned my choice of going back to school to get a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from a prestigious university in Toronto. I had the grades to get in, dare I say excellent grades that would have landed me a few bursaries but (and this is a huge BUUUT) after auditing a few classes, I simply do not want to do it. It is not that I am lazy or find it too impossible a task but I just lacked any drive or passion to sit in a huge lecture hall to discuss the structure of proteins, carbon bonding and take not one, not two but THREE statistics classes?

On a dark early morning a few days ago before I headed to my Advanced Functions class, I sat on the edge of my bed and wept; we are not talking about a single rolling tear down my cheek but sobbed so hard and long that I had to catch my breath. I was alone, Mark had already headed to school, and I felt helpless, overly dramatic and cursed myself for letting my emotions get the best of me. I wiped my tear-streaked face dry, put on my coat and headed to class. This was the first sign of my need to change.

 With Advanced Functions, I am also retaking my Grade 12 English credit to increase my grade average (oh how I could shake my 18-year-old “my-boyfriend-is-the-most-important-thing-in-my-life” self) and my English teacher asked me why I was headed back to university.

“To get my BSc for Nutrition,” I replied.

“What for?”

“I don’t know…” this quick reply even stunned me. I really didn’t know. I said I have a vegan recipe blog and it went hand-in-hand. “It would be beneficial to the site, I guess…it would benefit my readers, I guess…I think I might be good at it, I guess…” I stumbled over my words trying to justify to my teacher a good reason about why I was upgrading my credits to obtain my nutritional degree, feeling the blood rush to my face out of sheer embarrassment. There sure was a lot of guessing for such a commitment. This conversation was the second sign.

The third and final sign of my decision was actually inspired by the writer of Orangette, Molly Wizenberg. I was looking for a book to read on the subway to go to school and saw A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table sitting on my shelve, quickly shoved it in my bag and headed to school. I have read this wonderful written book twice previous to this but this time her book hit me hard, as all good books do. When I read these memoirs of Wizenberg’s life it is like I am sitting with her at her kitchen table and she is telling me these stories herself over a cup of coffee and maybe a fat piece of pain au chocolat. I cried in public while reading her book detailing her father’s cancer and passing, I giggled over her early love affairs in Paris and swooned over the pages when she met Brandon, her now-husband.

One entry of her book hit me the hardest and made me look at my own life in a new light. She describes going back to Paris to research power study and the body for graduate school but after awhile she realized that this work bored her stiff. Wizenberg states, “Paris has a way of getting your priorities straight,” since she spent most of her days reading cookbooks, visiting pastry shops and kitchen supply stores and decided to quit graduate school. Shortly after this, she started her blog.

This was a sort of revelation to me. I didn’t need a degree in Nutrition to be a food blogger. To me, it has always been about the food: the smell of roasted garlic cloves on a warm piece of baguette, the fresh taste of a perfect smoothie combination, the sweet transformation of slow-roasting tomatoes, the cool creaminess of a cashew cheesecake and not the dephosphorylation of adenosine triphosphate (though it is important).

I think I went through all the stages of grief in a single day. I tried to convince myself out of making this decision, I imagined myself getting my acceptance letter and the feeling of pride that comes with it, questioned my sanity and all the while I just wanted to get back into my kitchen and maybe bake something. I laugh at that thought now, having a mental breakdown about my life and future but wanting to bake. How clear my priorities are now.

The academic upgrading was not for nothing and I will continue taking English with the stress of mathematics and unhappiness lifted off my shoulders. Damn, I feel better already.

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Happy (almost) Valentine’s Day! I am sure all you couples are making plans, dinner reservations and the whole lot. Mark and I work in the service industry so we dread every February 14th on our calendar. We rarely do anything for the occasion since we are both fairly sick of it post-Valentines madness but I wanted to make us a special little something to share.

Sometimes I don’t give him enough credit and I can be a real gump with him when he tries to be kind when I am in a bad mood and I just blow him off, a real dick move. I am trying to be more patient, more relaxed when things don’t go my way and appreciate him for all the very sweet, wonderful, and loving things he does for me. He gave me the extra shove I needed to get up the courage to make this site and stick with it despite many failed recipes. When recipes don’t go as planned, we have a little dance party in the kitchen to some good/bad music (favourites include Shake It Off and Miami which he knows all the words to both) just to keep in check that I don’t take myself too seriously. This recipe had a downfall before it was published.

Now Mark “says” he doesn’t love chocolate but once I made Chocolate Chip Brownies from Kristy Turner’s “But I Could Never Go Vegan!” Cookbook he was ringing a very different tune. I wanted to adapt her recipe for this Valentine’s Day post and make it gluten-free. My first batch tasted great: rich, chocolately and with dots of nutty pecans but I couldn’t get them to stand up on their own; the batter was way too soft. Mark and I ate them straight from the baking pan so I knew I had the flavour bang-on. The chocolate was still melted in the middle and the batter was still a little undercooked. This recipe loosely reminds me of a Molten Chocolate Lava Cake from chain restaurants but vegan, gluten-free and not pre-baked then microwaved. I halved the adapted recipe and baked the batter in these gorgeous ramekins I got for Christmas. Chocolate heaven came out of the oven. Though these brownies did not turn out as those fudgey squares I had expected, you just got to make it work and go with it.

For this chocolate sauce, I used Fork and Beans Raw Chocolate Sauce and I topped this dessert with Coconut Bliss Salted Caramel and Chocolate Ice Cream, which are both gluten-free.

There is still time to enter my giveaway for a copy of Kristy Turner’s But I Could Never Go Vegan! 125 Recipes, Zero Excuses. Current fav recipe: BBQ Cauliflower Salad with Zesty Ranch Dressing. An awesome gift for your Valentine?? xoxo

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