Heavenly Hemp Pancakes

Yum yum, give me some! These pancakes are made with hemp protein and a touch of cinnamon, and are sure to please :) I make them a couple times a week, and it's the one thing I know the kids will always eat! Haha

Preheat griddle or frying pan (non stuck), to 375 degrees (just below medium). 

1.5 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup Manitoba Harvest hemp pro 70       protein powder

2 Tbsp baking powder 

3 Tbsp raw sugar

1/2 tsp sea salt 

1.5 tsp cinnamon

2 cups soy milk (original)

1 cup very hot water

1/4 cup oil (I used avocado)

Whisk all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine all the liquid ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and stir until combined. Don't over mix! 

Using a 1/3 cup measure, pour the pancakes onto the griddle on frying pan. Cook until bubbles start to form and the edges start to cook. Flip and cook for another couple minutes until golden brown and cooked through. 

Serve with your favourite toppings! 

Veggie pot pie

While I don't have a complete recipe for this dish, I wanted to share. I made the pastry using coconut oil instead of shortening, and I made a "cheese" sauce using butternut squash. 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup virgin coconut oil
1/2 cup vegan margarine
1 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp ground chia seeds
6 Tbsp warm water
1 cup all purpose flour
1.5 cups sprouted whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup non dairy chocolate chips 

In a small bowl, mix the ground Chia seeds and the water together. Set aside. 

Cream together the peanut butter, coconut oil, vegan margarine and sugar in a large bowl. Once smooth and a little fluffy, add in the maple syrup, chia mixture and vanilla. Mix to combine. 

In a separate bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the chocolate chips. 

A bit at a time, add the dry ingredients to the wet. Mix until it is thoroughly combined. Roll dough into balls approximately 1.5 inches in diameter, and place on parchment lines cookie sheet. Flatten with the bottom of a cup or fork until they are about 1/2 inch thick. Bake at 375 for about 13 minutes. 

Remove from oven and let sure for about 5 minutes before transferring. Store in an airtight container. 

Farro Chickpea Veggie Burgers

Veggie Burgers- using farro

I recently picked up a bag of farro, and I was trying to figure out what to do with it. I decided to make some veggie burgers yesterday, and figured that would be a good way to use it. I basically took my previous recipe and just tweaked it a bit.

You will need:

2 cups cooked Farro (cooked in veggie stock)
2 cups cooked chickpeas
1/2 cup walnut halves
3.5 cups finely chopped mushrooms (raw measure)
3/4 cups finely chopped onion
1 cup panko bread crumbs
2 Tbsp tamari
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 + tsp sea salt

Cook farro according to instructions on the package. For me, I cooked 2 cups farro with 3 cups veggie stock, then drained the excess liquid once it was cooked. This will make about 2.5 cups.

Pulse the walnuts in the food processor a few times until they are fairly finely ground. Set aside.

Next, pulse the chickpeas a couple of times so that they are broken down slightly, but not so much that they are the consistency of hummus!!  Set aside.

Next, heat 1 Tbsp of the oil, and saute the onions and mushrooms until soft. Add a pinch of salt to season. Once all the liquid from the mushrooms has evaporated, add in the walnut crumbs and cook for a couple minutes.

In the food processor, combine half the mushroom/onion/walnut mixture, half the chickpeas and half of the cooked farro. Place the other half of all these ingredients in a large bowl. Add the remaining 2 Tbsp of olive oil, 2 Tbsp of tamari, 1 Tbsp of maple syrup,  and puree until you get a somewhat smooth paste.

Add the contents of the food processor to the large bowl and add in the nutritional yeast, panko, garlic powder, onion powder, basil, oregano and salt. Mix together and if the mixture seems too wet, add in some extra panko as needed. Add extra salt if needed. My chickpeas were canne and had salt, so if you are using salt free chickpeas, you may need a little more.

Preheat oven to 375.

Form into balls approximately 2" in diameter and flatten into a patty about 1/2 -3/4 " in diameter ( should make 12 patties). Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet, and bake at 375 for 16 minutes. Flip over carefully and bake another 16 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for at least 5 minutes before removing. They will be a little fragile, but should get less fragile as they cool.

Creamy Smokey Red Lentil Soup

You will need: 

2 tsp coconut oil

1 cup chopped onion

1.5 cups of chopped carrots

3/4 cup chopped celery

9 cups water

3 vegetable stock cubes

2 cups chopped mushrooms

3 cloves of garlic, minced

3/4 cup red lentils

2 cups cooked white beans 

2 cups cashew milk (1/2 cup cashews blended with 2 cups water)

1/4- 1/2 tsp liquid smoke

4 cups chopped baby spinach 

Salt n pepper to taste. 

Heat oil in large pot on medium high. Add onion, celery carrot and garlic. Sautée until soft (but not brown). 

Add in water, red lentils, mushrooms and stock cubes. Simmer on medium until lentils are soft (about 15 min). 

Add in cashew milk, liquid smoke, white beans and spinach. Simmer for another 10-15 min. Soup will thicken while it cooks from the white beans and cashew milk. Remove 3 cups or so, purée and add back in for a thicker soup. Add salt n pepper to taste. 

A Change of Direction

So many of us have been there. That moment in your life when you think to yourself, "Something needs to change. I can't go on feeling like this anymore!". The problem often is, that we just don't know how. We are stuck in a rut. Believe me, I know that feeling all too well. There is no magic pill, as much as we all wish that there was, but there are changes that we can make, in order to start living our lives in a way that makes us feel ALIVE and HAPPY. In the past couple of months, I have made 3 changes in my life that have helped me do just that. Exercise, clean, portion controlled eating, and personal development. I had the help of my wonderful friend and coach, Tatiana Amico, and it has changed my life so much in such a short period, that I want to pay it forward to others who are struggling like I was.

This is my story. If any of this resonates with you, or you think you could benefit from incorporating clean eating and exercise in your life, please don't hesitate to contact me via Facebook or email (jaime@jaimerubeniuk.com). I'd love to help you! 

I am 35 and mom to 3 beautiful boys, ages 5, 3 and 4 months. To say that they keep me busy in an understatement! Lol. I love them with all my heart, but I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty crazy a lot of the time. I've struggled with depression a lot of my life, as well as negative thinking, binge eating, and people pleasing. Pile 3 crazy boys on top of all that, and you have a recipe for disaster. I've always been really great at faking a smile and pretending everything is okay, but who the heck wants to go through life like that? Not me. 

A huge part of my struggle as a mom, is that I have never really focused on myself. Once and awhile, here and there, sure, but I have  never made a serious commitment to take care of me. I'd always hear people say that in order to take care of anyone else, you need to take care if yourself first, but those words never fully sunk in. The same goes for loving yourself. If you don't take care of yourself, you start loving yourself less, and when you don't love yourself, you don't take care of yourself. It's a vicious cycle. 

With each pregnancy I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, as well as post partum depression. I did really well controlling my diet during pregnancy and never had to take insulin, but as soon as baby was born, BAM!! GIVE ME FOOD! And not healthy food (well, some), but it was like I had to make up for all the carbs and sugar I missed out on during pregnancy. I stayed strong during my pregnancies for the baby inside me, but couldn't seem to do the same for myself afterwards. 

I've also always been emotional eater. If something good happened, it was an excuse to celebrate, with food. If something bad happened, it was a reason to curl up in the couch and shove my face full of food. Family gatherings, food. Baby shower? Food. Birthday? Food. And booze. Let's not forget that. You get the idea. 

My PPD this time around has been far less, although I do believe it was my worsening condition that prompted me on this journey. I felt great right after birth, but then started binge eating again and quickly started feeling horrible, I was headed for rock bottom pretty quickly, and decided I had nothing to lose. By no means am I saying that lifestyle changes can cure PPD, as it is a very complicated condition, but I do believe it can help immensely.

So fast forward to today. I've been on a journey of learning to love myself and treat myself with respect, through exercise, portion control, eating REAL whole foods, and reading/listening to personal development. Eating poorly and not exercising made me into a grumpy, unhappy, mom, who had a really good chance of developing type 2 diabetes in the future. I'm changing all of that. I am in control. This is my life, and I'm taking it back. I'm becoming the mother I want to be, being an awesome role model for my kids (ps. They are eating much better now too, yay!), showing them how to live a healthy lifestyle, and LIVING my life. Not just surviving it. I cannot emphasize enough how much of a difference these changes have made in my life. I still have a long ways to go, but the future is looking bright :) Oh, and looking more fabulous each day is definitely an added bonus! ;) 

Here is a picture of my physical transformation so far. 

I'm still here!

I'm still here! Haha. I don't want my blog to disappear for being inactive so long, so I figured I had better post! We welcomed baby #3 into our family about 4 months ago,so things have been pretty busy! I haven't been spur creative in the kitchen lately, due to the fact that we are currently in a bachelor suite that has only a toaster oven and a couple elements, but once we get back to living in a house, I hope to post more recipes!

Recent Eats part 2

Here are a few pics of some recent meals I've made. I'm notorious for whipping stuff up without a recipe, and not keeping track of amounts, so unfortunately I don't always have a recipe to post. Sorry! :( One day I'll get better at that! 

Vegan chili with cashew sour cream:

Vegan mint ice cream bars )based on this recipe, then dipped in a mixture of melted coconut oil, raw cocoa, and maple syrup:http://bettyrawker.com/2013/02/20/vegan-mint-ice-cream/): 

  

Thai noodle salad with tofu:

Kale chips:

Mac n "cheese" with broccoli used this recipe: http://boldvegan.com/creamy-vegan-mac-and-cheese/):

Grilled smoked "gouda" and tomato sandwich with homemade Caesar salad (used this recipe for the cheese: http://vedgedout.com/2012/10/22/smoked-coconut-gouda/): 

Avocado sushi with tempura veggies:

"Fish" tacos:

Enchiladas with a "cheesy" sauce:

Apple cinnamon pancakes with tofu "bacon":

Butter chickpeas (like butter chicken, but veganized):

Chocolate Banana Pancakes

Here's a great way to get some greens and hemp hearts into your kids if they can be finicky like mine are. They won't even know what's in them :)  I've used sprouted flour in the recipe as well to increase nutrition, but if you do t have any, you can substitute with whole wheat flour. 

You will need:

1.5 cups almond milk (I used original)

1/4 cup hemp hearts

1 tsp vanilla extract 

1 large, ripe banana

1 large handful of baby spinach (about 2 cups)

1/8 cup pure maple syrup

3 tbsp oil (I used grapeseed)

1/4 cup raw cocoa

1 cup sprouted whole wheat flour

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt 

Combine first 8 ingredients (almond milk through cocoa powder) in high speed blender and purée until smooth. 

Combine the remaining 4 ingredients in a large bowl and stir with a whisk to combine. Add the wet ingredients from the blender and stir until all the dry ingredients are absorbed into the wet mixture. 

Heat frying pan on medium heat and cook pancakes as you normally would. These take a little longer to cook because of the banana and spinach. 

I used a non stuck pan to cook them without any oil, and I also cooked some in coconut oil. They both came out fine, so the choice is yours! :) 

Mini Pizza Biscuits

This morning I saw a recipe for mini pizza biscuits going around Facebook, so naturally my mind started devising a vegan version. Took a shot at it, and they turned out well :) I'm sure that this recipe could be played around with quite a bit to make different versions. 

You will need:

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 Tbsp garlic powder

1/2 Tbsp dried basil

1/4 tsp Italian seasoning

2 Tbsp nutritional yeast 

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup shredded mozzarella style daiya 

1 Tbsp ground chia seed

2.5 tbsp warm water

3/4 cup unsweetened soy milk

16 slices veggie pepperoni, chopped 

Warm pizza sauce for serving.

Preheat oven to 375 and grease a 24 cup mini muffin tin.

In a small bowl or cup, combine the 1 Tbsp of ground chia with the 2.5 Tbsp warm water. Set aside. 

In a bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, salt, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, basil, and Italian seasoning. Add in the daiya and the chopped veggie pepperoni slices and give it a few tosses. Add in the soy milk and chia egg, and stir until combined. Dived evenly between the 24 muffin cups, and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from tin and serve with warm pizza sauce. 

 

Thanksgiving Dinner

Dessert (Pumpkin pie parfait)

My dinner plate:

Which consisted of:

Veggie bake:

Stuffing:

Caramelized onion and brussel sprouts with toasted pecan and dried cranberries:

Mashed potatoes baked in a muffin tin:

Orange infused cranberry sauce: 

Mushroom gravy: 

Buns: 

Turk'y cutlets: 

Recent Eats

I cook so often without a recipe, that I often end up with delicious meals, but no recipe to post on my blog. I need to work on that! Haha. Here are a few pictures of recent foods I've made but didn't record recipes for. 

Vegan Taco Bake

Calzones

One Pot Pasta with a Chik'n Cutlet

Vegan Black Forest Cake

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate and Peanut Butter Medallions

Yam Gnocchi with a Basil Butter Sauce

Quinoa Greek Salad with Breaded "Scallops"

Vegan BLT Pizza

Vegan Chik'n Noodle Soup with a Homemade Biscuit and Homemade Caesar Salad

Vegan French Toast

Chocolate Cupcake with Real Raspberry Icing and a Sugar Decoration

Homemade Breadsticks

Homemade Spinach and Basil Infused Fettuccine with Cashew Alfredo and a Grilled Portobello

3 ingredient cookies... Well 8 ingredient in my case!

I'm sure most of you have seen the recipes for these 3 ingredient cookies using mashed bananas and oats. This is my interpretation :) I often use recipes like this to incorporate healthy foods like hemp hearts and chia seeds into my kids diet. They are quite picky right now, so I'll take any chance I can get! They aren't super sweet, and may not satisfy an adults sweet tooth (like mine which is waaaay off balance right now), but they are great for kids. You could even add some chocolate chips for an extra treat :) 

1 cup quick oats

2 ripe bananas (medium)

1/4 cup hemp hearts

1/4 cup raisins

2 tbsp ground chia seeds

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Pinch of sea salt 

Preheat oven to 350. 

Mash bananas until smooth. Add all other ingredients and mix until combined. Spoon onto cookie sheet (either greased or lined with parchment paper), using a tablespoon (should make about 16 cookies). Slightly flatten cookies using a fork and bake for 15 minutes at 350. You want them to be firm and just starting to get a golden brown hue to them. Once cool, store in an airtight container. 

Taco "Meat"

Here's a great alternative to using the prepared soy based "ground beef" products. 

You will need: 

1 cup walnut halves

8 medium mushrooms

1 small onion

2 tbsp oil (I used grape seed)

1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt (depending on your palate)

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp smoked sweet paprika

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp Italian seasoning (I used clubhouse)

1/4 cup water (more or less)

1/4 tsp cayenne (optional)

Grind walnuts in food processor until they look like coarse bread crumbs. Set aside in a bowl. 

Next, roughly chop onion and quarter the mushrooms and add to food processor. Chop until they are roughly the same consistency as the walnuts. 

In a pan, heat the 2 tbsp of oil on medium high, and add the onion and mushroom mixture. Basically you want to cook the water out of the mushrooms since they contain so much and you don't want a soggy "meat". Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, and then add the walnuts. Add in the rest of the ingredients, with the exception of the water. You may not need the full amount or you may need more, depending on how dry your mix is. Add it a bit at a time until you have a moist, but not soggy mixture. Cook until you start to get a nice brown crust forming on the bits of walnut onion and mushroom. 

Now add it to taco or burrito shells and add your favorite toppings! :) I topped with lettuce, tomato, and my new favourite sauce which is vegenaise and salsa mixed together :)

Homemade Ice Pack

I've seen quite a few "recipes" if you will, on how to make a homemade icepack, and most call for 2 cups of water and 1 cup of rubbing alcohol. I added a bit more water to mine because it wasn't really freezing. Maybe my rubbing alcohol was stronger than normal.... Not sure.  I also added a couple drops of blue food colouring. A great way to get rid of it, as I will never use it for actual food after discovering how bad it is! Just wanted to share :) 

You will need:

1 cup rubbing alcohol

2-3 cups water

3-4 drops blue food colouring (optional)

2 large ziplock bags

Mix all ingredients in one ziplock bag. Push all the air out and seal (don't suck it out... haha... the fumes are strong!). Then place inside the second bag (just in case it leaks). Place in freezer for a few hours. If it doesn't seem to be freezing at all, just add a little more water. If its freezing too much, add more rubbing alcohol. 

Giving my couch new life!

It's no secret that my couch needed a good cleaning.. lol. We have had it for 4 years, and it has been through a lot, especially with 2 toddlers!  Wiping it with a microfiber cloth and water was working for awhile, but it lost it's touch.  I found some helpful hints online and tried them out, and they worked great! I don't have complete before and after pics, as I wasn't planning on blogging about it, but I have a couple. I also used some old pillows, took the stuffing out, and used it to get rid of some of the sagging in the back of the couch. Who knew that there were handy little zippers hiding underneath that would allow you to do this?? Lol. Oh how I love the internet! 

I used some rubbing alcohol, an empty spray bottle, a stiff bristle brush (kinda like this one),  baby wipes (I used Kirkland brand), and a blow dryer. The method I used was putting the rubbing alcohol in the spray bottle, spraying/saturating couch (small sections at a time... I did a square or 2 at a time on my couch), giving it a good scrub with the brush. and the a good scrub/wipe with the baby wipes (you will go through quite a few!). You will see the dirt come off on the wipes. Somehow the rubbing alcohol helps lift the stains and also helps get rid of old water marks. You can then blow dry they area. You probably don't have to blow dry, but it dries faster, and also allows you to see if you missed anything right away. You should do a little test in an inconspicuous area just to make sure it won't affect the color. My couch is fairly light, so there were no issues. I used this method on my entire couch, but it will also work as a spot treatment in the future :) Happy cleaning!! 

The below pic is the "before". The left side has been cleaned and stuffed with extra pillow stuffing, the right side has not:

After stuffing and cleaning:

Before cleaning:

After cleaning: