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…

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

Vegan Ice “Cream”

I posted an entry in my other blog “Vegan Fitness With Nikki” for some awesome vegan ice “cream”, so if you’re looking for a tasty alternative to dairy ice cream to try at home, check it out! 🙂

There’s two flavours:

1. Coconut Banana Cream Pie (made with coconut milk)
2. Chocolate Strawberry (made with cashew milk)

Vegan Coconut-Carob Bars – No-Bake!

I’m proud of myself for cutting out meat properly this time around. I haven’t even eaten fish, dairy products, or eggs, which is a big step for me. Last time I was vegetarian, I still ingested those three things. This time around, I don’t have anyone pushing meat or animal products in my face on a daily basis, so I’ve found it a lot easier to make it through the first couple of weeks of being a vegetarian. (Brief history: I was a vegetarian for a few years, was with a big meat-eater, so it didn’t last long… Tried again, but went back to eating meat after 7 or 8 months.) (And for those of you who always ask, yes – you CAN get enough protein being a vegetarian. No, you don’t need to drink milk and eat meat. I can’t drink milk anyways…More on this coming up in a new “blog project” soon…)

One of my favourite sweet things to eat is carob. In powder form, solid form, whatever. It tastes awesome, and you don’t have to add any sugar to it! Oh, did I mention I’m also not really eating sugar? Some foods I eat have sugar in it, but not a lot… I haven’t opened up a bag/jar of sugar (white or brown) for a month, maybe longer. I was using honey, but then decided to give agave nectar a try. What a good decision! That stuff tastes great.

Anyways, here’s a recipe that I put together to satisfy that sweet tooth that pops up screaming for chocolate every once in a while! I’ve made this a few times now, one of the times being for a presentation in front of a group for a health and wellness class. The response was great, everyone loved them! 🙂 There wasn’t a single one left, which was awesome, because that means a few people had more than one…

I did a print out with the recipe for people, so instead of writing out the recipe here, I’ll just post a picture of the recipe. It’s so simple, anyone can do it! If you decide to make this, and have ANY questions or are confused, ask away! 🙂 Hope you enjoy! 🙂

Note: mix all ingredients together in a food processor!

 

Mmmmm....

Vegan Tortilla Pizza

This is probably one of the most simple things that I have thrown together, and surprisingly enough, one of the yummiest! 🙂 The best part is the sauce made for this, which I will also give you all the recipe for! 😉 This serves one, however you can save all of the extra sauce and make more!

Vegan Tortilla Pizza

Ingredients:

• 1 whole wheat tortilla wrap
• About 3 tbsp sauce (recipe below)
• 1/4 cup Daiya Vegan Cheese (this is easily my favourite non-dairy, non-soy “cheese”! You would not be able to tell that it’s not real cheese, and I’m really picky when it comes to cheese…)
• Basil for garnish, because it looks pretty. 😉

Method:

• Set oven to broil at about 425 F.
• Spread the sauce over the tortilla, leaving about 1cm around the edges.
• Sprinkle the “cheese” over the saucy tortilla.
• Pop it in the oven, and let it sit in there until the “cheese” is melted, and the edges of the tortilla are starting to brown.
• Serve with some basil sprinkled on top, and enjoy! 🙂

Sauce Ingredients:

• 1 pint cherry/grape tomatoes
• 1 bunch of basil
• 1/4 cup walnuts (I know, it seems weird! It tastes great though…)
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• Pinch of freshly ground pepper

Sauce Method:

• Place all ingredients in a food processor, and process until smooth! Simple as that. Store it in the fridge for 5 days at the most.

Now here’s some pictures, because I’m one of those people who likes to take pictures of their food. 🙂

Into the chopper you go! 🙂

 

If you haven't tried this stuff yet, you should!

 

Finished product, YUMMY! 🙂

Late Night Snack Vlog – Hot Chickpeas

I had a huge urge to eat the bag of chips sitting in my pantry that a friend left here. They’re all-dressed Ruffles chips. I was really, really close to opening the bag… But I don’t want to put those in my body! I’m pretty good with resisting the majority of these junk foods, mind you I do slip up a few times… Tonight, I promised myself I wouldn’t give in [again]… So I decided to make something else that was spicy and crunchy! I also threw together a little something else for dinner this evening/lunch tomorrow! Click play to check it out! Enjoy! 🙂

Post-video posting thought: hmm… What a strange still of the video that shows up on the preview! Makes me look like the old lady on the episode of The Simpsons where Lisa gets lost on her way to the museum… The lady I’m talking about, she’s the one trying to get Lisa to buy an octopus or squid or something… Then she pushes it up against the window of a phone booth and says “You buy it! You buy it!”… Ugh…

I also seem to talk with an upward inflection. Maybe it’s because I get nervous in front of a camera? <–That’s me mocking my upward inflections… ha… ha… ha…

Click below to see the written version of the recipe/method!