Pizza Balls! Take 1.

For this Recipe, I found my inspiration at Happy Healthy Moma. But, like so many recipes, I rarely follow the rules. So, here's my take.

 Ingredients  

• 1 Can Cooked Red Beans
• 1 1/2 cups Quinoa
• 1/4 Pizza Sauce (I used leftover sauce from the weekend)
• 1 cup Non-Dairy Cheese

Process

First off, preheat the over to 350 degrees. Take the red beans and a cup of quinoa and toss those into a food processor. Whirr it up until it's a paste and put that in a mixing bowl. Stir in the leftover quinoa, the cheese, and sauce until completely mixed.

Once mixed, form the mix into 1/2" balls. (I ended up making them bigger, and had to split and reshape halfway through the bake time.)
Place those on a lightly greased baking sheet, and put into the oven for 20-30 minutes. Flip them halfway through the cooktime once the top of has become crispy. Be careful while flipping them so that they don't break.

Pull out of the oven once they've hardened on the outside. Let cool on a cooling rack for five to ten minutes, and enjoy! Serve them with any type of dipping sauce, or plain. Whatever floats your boat.

Fried Rice and Berry Compote. What was that about not having tasty food?

A quick glimpse of tonight's vegan goodies.

The spotlight of tonight's dinner was a plate full of fried rice found at this website. We took out the egg and added in broccoli, corn, and red bell peppers to make it more colourful.
It was a wonderful try, tasting better than any fried rice from local take out restaurants. A very filling dish, and a must try again.

The next dish, and my favourite, of the night was a gluten-free vanilla cake. I used Pamela's Vanilla Cake Mix, substituting 1/4 apple sauce for each egg. The topping is a Balsamic Berry Compote (recipe can be found at the bottom.)

Follow that up with some air popped popcorn for a late night snack, and I'm pretty sure you can call that a day full of yummy vegan goodies.


What was that about vegans not having good food?

Balsamic Berry Compote

Ingredients: 

• 2 Cups frozen mixed berries (I used strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries)
• 3 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup 
• 1/2 Cup Water 

Process: 

Mix water and berries into a small sauce pan, putting on a low heat to thaw out the berries. Once mostly thawed, cut the berries into pieces and mix in the first tablespoon of vinegar. Mix in the maple syrup, the second tablespoon of vinegar, and allow to simmer until the juices thicken. Mix in the final tablespoon of vinegar and allow to cool.

The Veganning

This is the Veganning. The beginning of my journey to become a happy and healthy vegan. But before we get into the good stuff, let's talk about the word "Vegan".
 
What is a vegan? According to multiple dictionaries, the word vegan means "A person who does not eat or use animal products." Now, don't get that confused with Vegetarians. Vegetarians are people who cut out meats, but still eat animal products like cheese and eggs. When you go vegan, it means no cheese, no eggs, no leather, no lard, no snakeskin boots (bad news for you vegan cowboys).

Now, you're probably wondering what weirdo would want to live like that. I know some people have called me a hippie, and I'm just waiting to hear someone call me an alien. But, all kinds of people live a meat and animal product free life and for all different reasons.

Why am I going Vegan? The two main reasons I'm going vegan is for my health and for ethics. Health wise, I've never felt good when eating meat. I've been a vegetarian off and on for almost four years, and I always felt better when cutting it out. And ethics? Well, I love animals. I hate the idea of factory farming and all the animal cruelty that goes on in them. A sad but truthful commentary on factory farming is "Glass Walls" by Paul McCartney. It's not for the weak of heart, but I recommend it to anyone willing. You can find the video here.

So, I hope you keep reading my posts about my journey on the yellow brick road of Animal-free living.