My Superveganova Life: ThanksLIVING 2011!

Its Sunday! My last long run before next week's Scotiabank 5k :) I love love love running in the mornings when the sun is just rising and no cars are on the roads! I can finally breathe deeply! Ran for an hour plus 45min of yoga. Feels super awesome and ready for my bake-a-thon today! I planned to make lots of food because I'm meeting up with my friends to have Thanksgiving dinner at Fresh today (they have 30% discount) so I'm gonna give them the stuff that I made. All recipes are original!

After my run, very sweaty. I got those Nike running gloves at Winners for only $5! They have a pocket for keys!

Ingredients for the first item- my proud creation of The Asian Granola

Ingredients:

1/4 cup each buckwheat and quinoa flour
2 cups sliced almonds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil, melted
1-2 tbsp green/black/white tea leaves or a tbsp of matcha green tea powder
1 tsp each almond and vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt

Mix the dry ingredients first, then stir in the wet until everything is combined. Don't worry about stirring it too much, there's no gluten in here so it won't become tough even if you stir it a gazillion times, although your hands might.

Press onto a cookie tray lined with parchment paper and bake at 325 degrees for about 20 min or until golden brown.

Remove from oven and break into small pieces. Don't wait til its cool before breaking them because they become crunchier after cooling so its harder to break. Make sure its cooled completely before storing ! If they lose their crunch, just spread them in a mini oven and heat for a minute or so at 300 degrees and let cool. Make sure to check when reheating because they burn quickly!

If you are into raw food and are lucky enough to have a dehydrator, you can also make a raw version of my Asian Almond Green tea granola. All you have to do is make your own raw buckwheat flour by grinding them in a Vitamix or coffee grinder (if you use quinoa, make sure to wash them first because they are coated with a bitter substance), mix as usual, then instead of baking, dehydrate them until crunchy.

Ingredients for my second treat- Oh so awesome Dark Chocolate chip Mocha-ish muffin. You won't believe its high in fibre, protein, vegan and practically sugar free! (the only sugar is in the soymilk). You can use any good combination of flour as long as they add up to 3 cups. If you use unsweetened milks, add a bit more stevia powder.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups spelt flour (substitute sorghum flour for 100% gluten free)
1 cup garfava flour (chickpea-fava bean flour)
1/2 cup potato starch
1/4 cup soy flour
2/3 cup strawberry applesauce (or sub regular applesauce)
1 cup strawberry soymilk (or sub chocolate soy/rice/almond milk)
1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate
2 tbsp instant coffee powder
2 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp stevia powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp salt

Mix all dry ingredients together. In another bowl, whisk all wet ingredients together. Make a well in the centre of dry ingredients, pour in wet stuff, and mix very gently until combined. Make sure you get the flour at the bottom of the bowl too! Scoop 1/2 cup of batter into each muffin cup (regular size) and top with chopped dark chocolate and instant coffee powder. Bake at 325 degree for 22-25 min or until toothpick comes out clean. Makes about 8 very big muffins.

Remove from oven, make sure to cool for about 15 min before removing from pan and transfer to a cooling rack, otherwise they will crumble into pieces! If you don't have a cooling rack, go buy one! They cost peanuts, and you won't get sad, soggy muffins.

Yum! Letting them cool down.

Meanwhile, I made raw Melt in your mouth Coconut and Maple coated Truffles :) So simple and easy to make!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups raw almond butter
1/2 cup raisins/dates
6 tbsp cacao powder
1/2-1 tsp extract of choice
Coconut/Maple flakes for coating

Put everything in a food processor and mix until smooth and well combined. Roll into balls, coat with coconut and maple flakes, then refrigerate before serving (tastes so much better!). They are quite soft at first due to the heat from processing, and will harden nicely after 1-2 hours in the fridge.

mmmmmm...so good for your taste buds, even better for your health!

Everything that I made today- in only 3 hours (3 1/2 hours including clean up time. My mom was yelling at me while helping me clean up the super messy chocolate and almond covered kitchen). See how easy and fast the recipes are? Not to mention scrumptious! I even made the almond butter from scratch with Vitamix, if you use store bought, you save even more time. So its no excuse to not make your own food even if you're a super busy I-have-no-time-to-sleep post secondary student (Jessica =D)! Even better is that you can save sooo much money by making your own meals! Also, most of the ingredients are not hard to find and you can always substitute things! (but make sure to use common sense when substituting)

I sliced and chopped the chocolate myself so I had lots of extras. What to do with them? Mix them together and use as a cereal/oatmeal/cake/muffin topper! The possibilities are endless!

So after that, its dinner at Fresh time!

We ordered so much food but still very cheap! I love you, Fresh!

We ordered the Special of the day- Banquet burger for $10 plus a Prix fixe combo, which was $24 and includes a smoothie, an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert to share