Cook With Nikki – Signing Off

Hi Everyone!

Thank you all so much for reading Cook With Nikki. I’ve had so much fun writing in this blog over the years, and have gone through so many changes since starting it up.

One of the biggest changes I’d say that I’ve been through, is having gone vegan. I’ll spare any readers a long entry on why I chose to go vegan, or why I remain on a diet where I no longer consume animal products… But what I will say is that it was one of the best decisions that I could have ever made for my body.

I’m still writing, and posting recipes – head on over to www.cookwithnikkiveg.blogspot.com to check some of them out!

I will still keep this blog up for now, but over time I plan on taking some of my older recipes and re-vamping them into a vegan (raw or cooked) version of an old goodie.

This is a difficult decision, as when I look back I almost feel like if I erase this blog, I’m erasing a big part of my life. It’s a long process of letting go, but it’s something that has to be done. As much as I love sharing recipes, what I don’t love is knowing that people may come across this blog and see recipes that include animal products and assume that it’s something that “Cook With Nikki” (sorry to refer to myself in 3^rd person) finds acceptable.

I’ve come to realize that there is not one single good reason to use animal products in the foods which we consume. Again, I won’t go into my beliefs here – but just wanted to let any of you who may still be reading this know that I’m not just abandoning my blog – rather, I’m moving on.

Have a great day everyone, and I hope to see you all at my new blogging home – www.cookwithnikkiveg.blogspot.com

 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Tarts

This past weekend, the boyfriend and I decided to hit up a vegan potluck in Toronto. At a loss for what to make, I was originally going to make some spinach (vegan) cheese phyllo triangles. Unfortunately I didn’t plan far enough ahead (I’m a bit off of my kitchen game lately it seems), and discovered that I wouldn’t have enough time to make these little guys because I’d have to let the pastry thaw for at least 5-6 hours. I’ve worked with this stuff many times before, and the best way to work with it without the sheets ripping is to do the thaw properly, and not use a microwave (or oven) to attempt a quick thaw.

So in the middle of the grocery store in panic mode, I decided to make something else. Thinking of some simple and quick desserts I’ve made in the past, I settled on throwing together some chocolate peanut butter tarts. One more thing – pie tart shells… Were they vegan? I look at the puff pastry – it had butter… Damn. I broke out in a sweat, hoping I wouldn’t have to Betty Crocker the tart shells due to buttery ingredients… I checked the tart shells, and score! They used vegetable based oils in the ingredients instead of butter. Happy Nikki.

So I tossed a package of shells in my basket, grabbed some more key ingredients, and went home to get started.

Oh, you may want to know what ingredients I used in these… So here you go! These are super simple to put together, and look really cute!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Tarts

Ingredients:

• 15 mini pie tart shells

Peanut Butter Mousse

• ½ cup silken tofu
• ½ cup creamy peanut butter
• 2-3 tbsp maple flavoured agave nectar (can sub. any liquid sweetener you like here, and this is purely to taste)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Chocolate Base

• 3 squares unsweetened dark chocolate if using Baker’s chocolate. Otherwise, about ½ cup chopped dark chocolate of your choice
• 2 tbsp agave nectar

Garnish

• Slivered almonds

Method:

• Bake the pie tart shells according to the package directions, and set aside to cool
• Mix all ingredients for the peanut butter mousse in a food processor, and mix until combined. Allow to cool in the fridge while preparing the chocolate.
• In a saucepan, melt the chocolate with the agave nectar. Once the chocolate is melted, spoon about 1 tsp of chocolate into each shell, and allow to cool for a few minutes.
• Take the peanut butter mousse out of the fridge, and put about 1 tbsp of mousse in each shell.
• Garnish with slivered almonds.
• Eat, and enjoy! 🙂

Pre-moussing!

 

Moussed and garnished!

Ready to serve! 🙂

 

Simple Green Juice

I was feeling like I needed some green in my life, so here’s a quick green juice I threw together today! (I didn’t actually throw it… I juiced the food, and drank it.)

Simple Green Juice

 

Ingredients:

• 1 large bunch of baby spinach
• 1 cucumber – skin on
• 2 small pears – skin on, cored

Method:

• Juice all ingredients, and drink up! 🙂 Simple as that.

Yum…

An Update!

Alright folks, it’s time to find some motivation… I’ve been slowly getting myself back into the kitchen, with most things being strongly influenced by health/fitness.
I promise (and I know I say this a lot) that I will be updating this soon! Somehow blogs take a backseat to everything else in life – especially when it’s just a blog for fun and not for anything else.

Anyways, there is one blog that I update daily – Vegan Fitness with Nikki – a blog exploring some stuff on fitness, food, and my journey through P90X. Determined to make it to day 90 this time around, I ramble on aimlessly about my ups and downs of the crazy fitness program, and hopefully offer some form of motivation to others who think they can’t actually DO P90X – because if I can get through it, anyone can. Seriously.

There WILL be more recipes posted here soon… But in the mean time, hop on over to my other blog OR come check me out on my Twitter account. I’m also up on Instagram! 🙂

Vegetarian and Vegan Events in Toronto – 2012

Hey everyone! 🙂

I love food festivals, and I love finding fun things to do in Toronto.

So just a little heads-up on some awesome foodie events in Toronto that are coming up in the next few months that I’ll be attending for fun! Check them out!

Toronto Veggie Pride Parade – June 2 2012

• From Yonge and Bloor (Asquith Ave.) to Trinity Square (near Eaton Centre)
• Saturday June 2, 2012. 11:30am – 3:00pm
• 2012 Silver Sponsors: Camino, Fressen, Live Organic Food Bar, Sweets From The Earth, Toronto Professional Fire Fighters’ Association, Urban Herbivore, and more!

Toronto Raw/Vegan Festival – June 9-10 2012

• 918 Bathurst St. (North of Bloor)
• Saturday June 9, 2012. 10:00am – 8:00pm
• Sunday June 10, 2012. 10:00am – 4:00pm
• Workshops after 4:30pm
• Admission is FREE!

28th Annual Vegetarian Food Festival  – September 9-11 2012

• Harbourfront Centre – 235 Queens Quay West
• Friday September 9, 2012. 4:00pm – 9:00pm
• Saturday September 10, 2012. 12:00pm – 9:00pm
• Sunday September 11, 2012. 12:00pm – 7:00pm
• Admission is FREE!

Food Photography Obsession – 4 Years of Foodie Memories

This gallery contains 4 photos.

This is a little random [and quite off-topic for this blog] but today as I was taking a [yet another] picture of one of the drinks I made in the juicer, I wondered when my obsession with taking pictures of … Continue reading →

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Breville Juicer Review and A Glass of Sass

Hey everyone! This video is a LONG one, but in it I review the Breville juicer that I just got! It deserves a long video! 🙂

I also mention a really cool raw vegan book I got, and use the juicer to make one of the recipes! So if you have the time, check it out! 🙂

Here’s the recipe I used for the Juice in the video!

A Glass of Sass

Ingredients:

• 1 whole bunch spinach
• 1 medium cucumber
• 1/2 bunch celery
• 1 small bunch parsley
• 1/2 inch knob of ginger
• 2 apples, cored
• 1/2 lime, peeled
• 1/2 lemon, peeled

Method:

• Juice all ingredients one at a time in the order mentioned above.
• Serve and enjoy! 🙂

The book title is: “Rawesomely Vegan! The ultimate raw vegan recipe book”, and the author is Mike Snyder. It’s definitely worth a read!

Here’s the juicer on the company website!

PS: Here’s the recipe for the Ruby Red Super Juice that I mention in this video! 😉

Vegan Peanut Butter Mousse

Hey everyone! It’s been a while since I’ve updated because I’ve been putting a lot of focus on my class project blog, so here’s a little something sweet to make up for it! Check out Accack of the Vegan’s Blog for an AMAZING peanut butter mousse recipe!

I’m not going to re-post the recipe, so you’ll have to give her blog a look-see to find it. 😉 My alterations to the recipe were that I used coconut sugar in place of regular sugar, silken tofu in place of hard tofu + soy milk, and I used agave nectar in place of molasses.

Here’s a picture of my serving of this delightful mousse! I highly suggest you give it a try…

YUM! Peanut butter mousse!

Recipes Are Posted!

Hi everyone! Just want you all to know that I haven’t forgotten about this blog! I’ve been putting time into school, and my side-project for one of my classes: Vegan Fitness With Nikki

Here’s some of the recipes that I’ve posted there recently!

• Dill Hummus
• Today’s Smoothie – Peanut Butter Jelly Time!
• Vegan Chocolate Pudding – My Avocado’s Fate

That’s just a taste of some of the recipes I’ve posted over there (hah, pun intended), so go check them out! 🙂

Have a great day everyone! 🙂

Smoothie – Coco-Choco-Banana

After my P90X Kenpo X workout today (my schedule is off a bit, but I’m still working through it), I needed something good to calm my muscles. 🙂 I had some coconut water in my fridge, so decided to use that instead of almond milk, and I’m pretty happy with the result! (Why have I never really given coconut water a chance before? That stuff tastes great…)

So here’s today’s smoothie recipe! 🙂

Today’s Smoothie: Coco-Choco-Banana

Ingredients:

• 1 cup coconut water
• 1 frozen banana, cut into chunks
• 1 scoop protein powder (I’ve been using the chocolate Performance Protein by Vega for a little while now, and I’m loving it! So yummy, and dairy/soy free!)
• 1 scoop GREENSuperFood by Amazing Grass – chocolate flavour (pictured below)
• 1 tbsp flax seed meal
• Splash of pomegranate juice

Method:

• Blend all ingredients together, and drink up! 🙂

 

coco-choco-banana smoothie

GREENSuperFood