It’s Hockey Season and that means I’m feeding snacks to a bunch of hungry guys during our weekly game night.
Impressing the male species with vegan food is one of the biggest challenges of all. It’s not so much the taste of the food that I’m worried about; it’s more the stereotype of what vegan means to them. Often, the word vegan doesn’t evoke warm and fuzzy feelings like….beer or pizza….or nachos.
So I make nachos, spiced bar nuts, pizza, and beer fries.
Now they think vegan is just some weird code for really awesome food.
Score.
The other night I was trying to think of some “guy-friendly” snacks (oh, now I’m stereotyping!) and I came across some delicious looking snack recipes in The Happy Herbivore Cookbook by Lindsay Nixon. The publisher sent me this cookbook to check out and I’ve been meaning to try it for a while now. There are all kinds of dips and appetizer recipes to choose from, in addition to breakfast, sides, entrees, appetizers, sauces/dressings, and dessert recipes. Most recipes also have a full colour photograph which is always a nice feature if you are a visual person like myself.
Lindsay specializes in fat-free and low-fat vegan recipes and you can find over 175 recipes in her cookbook. There are also a lot of tofu, tempeh, and seitan based recipes such as her Seitan Pot Roast and Fettuccine Alfredo. If you are a soy fan, you will find a lot of unique options.
For game night, I made Lindsay’s Spicy Mexican Dip (above) made up of cannellini & black beans, nutritional yeast, spices & seasonings, and a hint of lime. I was feeling feisty so I made the Nacho Cheese Sauce and swirled it into the dip before baking it for about 35-40 minutes. Amazing. The only thing I regret was not putting a layer of Daiya Cheese on top!
I served the dip with Lindsay’s Chili-Lime Corn Chips. They are very easy to make and the flavours went perfectly with the dip.
First things first, the boys thought it was actually a real cheese dip.
Secondly, the dip was gone in 10 minutes.
I forgot all about the fact that the Leafs were losing.
I also made the Fruity Cereal Bars (it’s a good thing because the dip didn’t last long) which are fat-free knock offs of those commercial cereal breakfast bars that we all know and love. I wasn’t expecting much from a fat-free cereal bar, but these were good. The oatmeal base is soft and light (a common outcome when using applesauce as a fat replacer) and the gooey jam topping made me want to eat the entire pan.
Sadly, I had to share.
I even thought about trying the the, ‘You don’t want this, trust me! It’s healthy, it’s VEGAN!’ line, but it didn’t work. My cover was already blown.
Vegan food is just a code for really awesome food, remember?
The Happy Herbivore Giveaway!
If you’d like a chance to win The Happy Herbivore Cookbook leave a comment below. I’ll pick the winner on Monday and ship you a copy of this book. Open to anyone, anywhere.
I may be too late for the cookbook giveaway but I simply can NOT stop looking at that spicy mexican dip with the nachos. I MUST have that recipe… seriously its amazing creamy goodness is making me jealous and wishing for smell-o-vision already… ;)
I’ve tried her banana muffins with no oil. They were so moist and delicious I never would have guessed they had no oil. I’m glad to have found this blog. Eating vegan is something I’m slowly learning about and love trying the new recipes. What a healthy lifestyle! Your blog looks great – I’m excited to explore it!
Oh, I would love to win a copy of the book. Thanks Angela for your awesome blog!
Looks super yummy!
What a great cookbook! I love Lindsey’s blog, but have yet to get either one of her books.
Happy Herbivore is amazing! I gift it as often as I can :)
Hey there,
First off, your website is awesome. I have never seen such a wide variety of vegan recipes. Usually it’s all the same.. Salads, soups, breads, but you take it above and beyond and that is just fantastic. Anyway, i was wondering if you could point me in the direction of finding that nacho cheese recipe. It looks amazing. Hope to hear from you soon!
Abigayle
Oh I just made her easy pumpkin pasta for dinner last night- I was looking up more recipes & found this giveaway on your blog (which I also love!) I would LOVE the cookbook!
Hi Angela. I really (REALLY) enjoy your blog and check it almost daily :). Aside from your blog and one other that I’ve found, I have one tried and true vegan cookbook that I use,BUT I would definitely love to expand my horizons. Before I became a vegan, I collected cookbooks but now most of them are a moot point :/ so, of course, I too would love to own a copy of this vegan collection of recipes…
~Hollie
Except I see this was an old post, so please disregard! Doh!
Looks awesome Angela! Looks like I’ll be spending my weekend in the kitchen. :)
I love your site!!! To say I am addicted is an understatement, I check it everyday! Thank you :):):) I would love to try the recipes in the book.
I have been a vegetarian for 10 years now and I am going vegan the first of the year. To win this cookbook would be great and a wonderful way to teach me how to cook without using cheese, eggs,and butter.
Yum!
Just starting out the raw vegan foods. Can’t wait to try these newrecipes.
Hi, I’m new to your site and vegan cooking. My family is not interested in healthy eating like I am. Maybe it’s because I do not know how to prepare vegetarian and vegan dishes in a tasty way. I was was given your site by a friend for ideas and you have so many. I’m hoping your book can “turn” my family.
I decided to look up Spiraliser on google
I came across this page by looking up Spiraliser then looked at some recipies, to my surprise I found your rather tasty recipies..
I am attempting to go more “vegan” these days and have truly enjoyed the delicious recipes. Hoping to Glow;-)
I often toy with the idea of going vegan, but I get bored quite quickly because I am not good at coming up with delicious recipes like these! I’ve only recently started using vegetables that I had never known existed (thank you CSA farms!). Needless to say, this cookbook would go nicely in my kitchen while I make the transition into this lifestyle..
Love your Food! I can’t wait to make some of your Goodies.
John Rokas