Mexi Pizza

4 whole grain tortilla wraps (or one large prepared pizza crust)
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1/4 cup water
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 diced medium orange bell pepper
1/2 diced medium cooking onion
3/4 cup finely sliced romain lettuce leaves
1/2 cup frozen corn
1 jar store bought salsa
1 small avocado, cut into chunks
cashew cream* (substitute sour cream for non-vegan)

1. Begin preparing cashew cream by bringing water to a boil (omit, if using sour cream)
2. Pre-heat oven to 350oC
3. In a large bowl, mash black beans, water, chilli powder, and salt together
4. Dice bell pepper and onions, and thinly slice lettuce leaves, and set aside.
5. Assemble 4 pizzas on cookie sheets by layering black beans, then lettuce, bell peppers, onions and frozen corn, and then spooning salsa onto tortillas. 
6. Cook for 10 minutes.
7. While cooking, prepare the rest of the cashew cream, and chop the avocado.
8. When pizzas are done, top with avocado, cashew cream and more salsa if desired. Allow to cool shortly before eating. 

Note: for younger kids, the tortillas can be difficult to cut. Replacing tortillas with one large prepared pizza crust from the grocery store may be helpful. 


*Cashew cream

1 cup unsalted, un-roasted cashews 
5 tbsp fresh lemon juice (1 large lemon)
1/2 cup unsweetened soy or almond milk
1/2 tsp salt

1. Bring a small pot of water to a boil and add cashews. 
2. Allow to boil momentarily, then remove from heat. Set aside and let cashews soak for 20 minutes. 
3. Drain cashews and add to a blender, along with lemon, milk and salt. Blend until smooth with no chunks. 

I recently posted this photo on my Instagram feed and was amazed by how many people liked it! Some meals are just the perfect combination of nutritious and delicious, not to mention appealing to the eye. This deconstructed fajita in a taco salad style was one of those meals. When it's not in a salad, I do this meal with Food for Life's sprouted grain wrap- the only wrap I have yet to find without hydrogenated oils and tons of unnatural ingredients. The basis of this meal is comprised of four parts- 1) refried black or kidney beans, 2) sautéed bell peppers and onions, 3) fresh tomato salsa, and 4) fresh guacamole. 





Fajita Taco Salad
(Serves 4)

Beans
2 cups (approximately) black beans or kidney beans
1.5 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin 
Hot sauce (optional)
Salt and pepper
Water

Put the beans in a sauce pan on the stove on med-high heat and cover with water. Add seasoning and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to low and allow to simmer for a short time, then mash the beans until you reach a desired consistency. 

Peppers
3 medium mixed colour bell peppers, cut into strips 
1 lg cooking onion, cut in half and sliced
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Add olive oil to a frying pan at high heat. When hot, add peppers and onions, and salt and pepper. Continuously stir the peppers and onions until they have brightened in colour and have just turned soft, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. 

Salsa
4 medium tomatoes, deseeded if possible and finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced 
1 tbsp white vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

Remove as many seeds from the tomatoes as possible in order to keep your salsa from becoming too watery. Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix together. 

Guacamole 
2 large ripe avocados 
1/2- 1 lemon, depending on size
Salt and pepper

Juice lemon into a bowl and remove any pits. Add avocado and salt and pepper and mash all ingredients with a fork. Season more to taste. 

To serve
2 small heads of romaine lettuce, washed, dried and chopped
A large handful of organic corn chips, crushed 

Divide lettuce into 4 large bowls. Top with cooked peppers, then corn chips, beans, guacamole and salsa. Add some whole corn chips for dipping. And don't forget a nice hot sauce on the table! Enjoy! 

There are a few foods in my kitchen that make an appearance in many of my snacks and meals. Include in these are kale, miso, lemon juice and nutritional yeast, just to name a few. I love the flavours, colours and contrast of these foods, and this pasta was a beautiful canvas on which to merry some of these flavours. This meal can be made in a hurry- basically in as long as it takes to boil the pasta. Black olives and walnuts would have also been great toppings for this one. 

For an easy nutrition boost, create this dish with a whole grain pasta. There are so many kinds to choose from out there!




Kale and Miso Pasta
(Approximately 2 servings) 

3 tbsp olive oil to sauté
1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 medium tomatoes, diced
about 4 cups of kale (de-stemmed, cleaned, sliced)
fresh juice of 1/4 of a lemon
3 tbsp miso
pepper to taste
nutritional yeast topping
cooked penne (or other) pasta

In a frying pan, heat the oil on med/ med-high heat. Add the onion and cook until soft (about 5 minutes). Next add the garlic and cook for one minute. Then add tomatoes, cooking for a couple of minutes, and then kale and cook until soft- about 6 minutes. It helps to add a little water to the pan and cover it to cook the kale. When tomatoes and kale have softened, remove pan from heat and add lemon, miso and pepper. Stir until miso is mixed in, adding some more water if needed. When pasta is cooked, at it to the sauce and mix everything together. Portion in bowls and add nutritional yeast to serve.  

For many non vegans, pesto isn't pesto without Parmesan cheese. Indeed most store bought versions also contain some sort of cheese so if you're a strict vegan, homemade pesto is the way to go. 

In my opinion, the best parts about pesto is the strong garlic flavour, the saltiness, and richness of nuts and olive oil. Pesto goes a long way in creating delicious pastas, as a pizza sauce, as a veggie and cracker dip, on oven roasted potatoes, in dressings and more. 

Here's what you need: a 'green' base, garlic, olive oil, salt, nuts, and nutritional yeast. Be creative- instead of the traditional basil, why not try cilantro, spinach, or kale? Instead of pine nuts, how about sunflower seeds or walnuts? 

Spinach Pesto
(Makes enough for one box of penne or bow-tie pasta)

3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup whole walnuts (less if walnuts are chopped)
1 tsp salt
3 cups loosely packed spinach (I used two cups spinach, one cup kale)
1/3 cup olive oil or more to get a smooth consistency 
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
pepper, to taste

In a food processor, blend the garlic cloves and walnuts until uniform. Add in the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth. Taste, and add more salt, pepper or oil if desired. 


* For a delicious meal, I roasted a head of chopped broccoli florets and a red pepper, cut and tossed in a little olive oil and S&P at 375F for about 30 min, or until cooked and broccoli quite golden brown. I used bow tie pasta, tossed in the pesto, roasted veggies and some fresh chopped black olive and mixed everything together. Two thumbs up! 

It's been months since I've posted a recipe! Not that I haven't been making tons of new food, I just haven't had the mental space to keep up with the Full Of Life site. Between being pregnant, and working a full time teaching job, though food was being made, eaten and enjoyed, there was a severe lack of photographing and blogging! 

However, I'm now officially on maternity leave (!!) and have plenty of mental space to jump back into my webpage. I've been super inspired today and to finish the day off, I'm posting tonight's dinner recipe.

Here's a nice treat of a creamy, flavourful pasta using a unique combination of green beans and mushrooms. 


Creamy Green Bean and Mushroom Pasta
(Serves 4)

1 box of penne pasta cooked according to box directions (pictured is spaghetti but I also made penne which was much better)

olive oil
2 small cooking onions cut in half lengthwise and sliced thinly
2-3 cups fresh green beans- washed, ends trimmed, and sliced roughly lengthwise in half to make thinner 
1 8oz package of any style mushrooms- cleansed and sliced thinly, stems removed  
5-6 cloves of garlic finely minced

1 tbsp arrowroot flour or white flour (for thickening)
1 cup regular organic soy milk
1 veggie stock cube
1 tsp dried thyme
pepper, to taste

1 tbsp miso
1/3 c nutritional yeast 

1) In a large sauce pan, sautee onions in a good amount of olive oil over med-high heat until browned and soft. 
2) Add in mushrooms, green beans and garlic. Allow mixture to cook while stirring occasionally but not too much. 3) Meanwhile, prepare a small bowl with the veggie cube, thyme, flour, and pepper. Add in enough boiling water to blend everything together so there are no lumps and clumps. 
4) When most of the water is cooked out of the beans and mushrooms, add in flour and seasoning mixture in.
5) Turn down heat to medium low and add in soy milk. Allow mixture to simmer and thicken. Add more soy milk if desired, and more flour if you want it thicker. 
6) Turn off heat and add in miso and nutritional yeast. Make sure miso is mixed in without lumps. If you don't have miso you can use salt or tamari/soy sauce. 
7) Add cooked penne to sauce, mix together and serve! 

Toasted sliced almonds would be delicious on top. I topped it with toasted sesame seeds but I'd leave them off next time. 

This is a really delicious, filling, and best of all, quick salad for an easy meal. Serve it with some fresh bread for a bit of balance and you've got an amazing, well rounded meal full of taste and packed with nutrients. 

On a plate, layer:
baby spinach
thinly sliced purple cabbage
thinly sliced purple or Spanish onion
thinly sliced tomatoes
sliced (or canned) green olives
toasted chopped almonds (dry toasted in a pan on medium heat until fragrant and roasted)


Drizzle this with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and some pepper and eat up! It's way more filling than it looks!

Warm noodles in a hot broth with any veggies and protein you like, spiced up or down to your taste. Pho is a meal that suits everyone, and the interactive part of preparing your soup to your taste makes it a fun meal to enjoy together. 

Once the broth and tofu are prepared for this meal it takes no time to put together. I'd count on 30-45 min to have this meal from fridge to table, with not a lot of hands on time or attention needed so you'll be free to do other tasks as dinner cooks. And you can always prepare the broth and tofu earlier in the day to make this meal ready in 10 min when the time comes.




Pho
(Serves 4)

Broth
6 cups water
3 veggie stock cubes
8 whole garlic cloves
2 inches ginger, peeled and cut into cubes 
1 small onion, peeled and cut in half 
2-3 tbsp rice vinegar 
soy sauce to taste 

Simmer first 5 ingredients for 20 minutes. When finished, add rice vinegar and soy sauce to taste. Strain soup before using, or simply avoid putting garlic, etc. into soup bowls. 

Tofu
Dice one block of firm organic tofu into half-inch cubes. Heat a frying pan to med/med-high with oil and add tofu. Brown all sides of tofu and set aside.

Veggies
Prepare veggies and herbs by washing, cutting and arranging on a plate. I use some combination of red peppers thinly sliced, bean sprouts, bok choy or other green (thinly sliced or even lightly cooked), carrots julienned, broccoli, and so on. For herbs, I always use cilantro and sometimes add basil.

Flavour Boosts
lime (2 or 3 wedges per person)
herbs (above)
soy sauce
hoisin sauce
hot sauce (sirache)

Noodles
Prepare pho rice noodles according to package instructions. I use one package for 4 people.  

When noodles are cooked, drain and portion them out into bowls, adding broth and tofu. Serve with veggies and flavours for each person to add to their own preference. 

Here's a quick little recipe that mixes in a bit of everything. I prepared a few ingredients before hand and threw this together in a pan today for lunch. It was quite similar to an 'egg foo young' dish my sister used to make us when we were kids. Crumbling the tofu as you would for a scrambles gives it a nice texture within the veggies and rice.

This recipe is in loose terms and meant as more of a guide. I'd do one and a half cups of cooked day-old rice per serving for a meal sized portion. Here I used about 2 cups.





Tofu Fried Rice 
Makes 2 small portions

2 cups cooked cold rice (day old)
1/3 block of firm tofu, crumbled
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium carrot peeled and cut into match-sticks
1/2 small onion diced
1 clove of garlic sliced thinly or minced
5 small leaves of romaine lettuce thinly sliced

2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
3 tbsp soy sauce or Bragg's (to taste)
1 tbsp Sirache hot sauce or other
 
1. Prepare all your ingredients by a) crumbling tofu into a bowl, b) dicing onions, garlic and slicing carrots and putting in another bowl, c) thinly slicing romaine and putting it into a 3rd bowl.

2. With a fork, blend the peanut butter, soy sauce and hot sauce together, just to get the peanut butter broken up.

3. Heat pan on med-high heat and add the olive oil. When hot, add tofu and stir-fry until texture becomes dry, but not necessarily golden.

4. Add onions, garlic and carrots and stir-fry with the tofu for about 3 minutes until the onions become slightly translucent. 

5. Add the rice to the pan and stir-fry until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed and hot.

6. Turn off heat and add the sauce. Adjust sauce to taste.

7. After rice and sauce are mixed, add the romaine. It will wilt sufficiently with the heat of the rice. Serve in bowls and enjoy!

Instead of a recipe today, I'm offering some toast inspiration! So often I'm ooh-ing and aww-ing alone at the table while eating one of the world's most delicious open faced sandwiches, so it felt right to share. 

Of course toast and toppings don't really seem to fit into the 'recipe' category.  There is no recipe and you can't go wrong! But sometime we just need a little inspiration about what to eat next. As for my diet, I'm bound to eat something like this a couple of times a week for lunch. These days I've been making some great sandwiches too, even a triple-decker the other day!

So, where to start? Ezekiel Sprouted Grain Bread, that's where! Of course the choice is yours, but this is the only bread I buy. Made from whole ingredients, sprouted grains and lots of other goodies, there's no other bread like it. Admittedly, I like it because it's crispy when toasted and super healthy. I buy the grain and seed kind- in a blue bag. You buy it directly from the freezer at most stores, and from my freezer at home it goes straight into the toaster. I'm not a fan of it 'fresh' as it's a little try, but for toast- Winner!

As for toppings, I use some combinations of protein/fat, veggies and some flavour. More specifically- a mashed up avocado, hummus, a nut pate or a cheesy cashew spread. Then I go for veggies- spinach, tomato, cucumber, onions, cabbage, peppers, lettuce, sauteed mushrooms, etc. And always salt and pepper. The past few days I've also added olives, hot peppers, sundried tomatoes or something in that 'umph' category to give it a little extra zing. Of course I love Vegenaise as a spread for a sandwich and some sort of Dijon mustard. Olive oil and balsamic vinegar are also pleasing. Truly, the opportunities are endless and delicious. 

Now here's a few more pictures to get your sandwich creativity flowing! Enjoy!  
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This is a super easy meal that requires chopping a few onions, getting some cauliflower prepped and opening a few cans. I usually have most of the ingredients in my cupboards so I use this and its variations as a go-to meal when I haven't planned much else. 










Chickpea and Cauliflower Curry
(Serves 4-6)

2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cooking onions, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp curry powder
Bragg's liquid aminos (or soy sauce or salt) and pepper to taste
1 large can of diced tomatoes
1 can of drained and rinsed chick peas
1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 can of coconut milk (optional)
raisins and/or shredded coconut for topping

Directions:
Add onions to hot oil in a large sauce pan equipped with a lid, on med-high heat.
Allow onions to cook for a few minutes before turning heat down to medium.
On medium heat, add minced garlic and curry powder, and stir fry for 1 minute.
Add diced tomatoes with their liquid, salt and pepper, and chick peas.
Allow tomato mixture to simmer with lid on, on med-low, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add can of coconut milk and small cauliflower florets to tomatoes and allow to simmer with lid on for 5-10 minutes until cauliflower is soft, but not overcooked.

Serve on top of couscous or brown rice and top with raisins and shredded coconut. 

Variations include not adding the coconut milk and instead adding the cauliflower earlier to soften. Or adding spinach at the end of the tomatoes cooking instead of the cauliflower, with or without coconut milk.

Let me know what variations you come up with!

Enjoy!
Andréa :)