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!
[Giveaway Finished]
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.
This book looks a-mazing!! Would love to try some recipes from it! :)
Spicy Mexican Dip? Yum! I would love this book!
I’ve been reading your blog for awhile now and I absolutely love it. I’d love a copy of that cookbook.
This book looks full of great recipes! Pick me, pick me :)
I’m just beginning to really learn how to cook (your creamy avocado pasta was the first thing I made!) and I would love a new veggie cookbook for inspiration!
Woohoo, thanks for hosting an awesome cookbook giveaway! :D
i’m not surprised the ‘it’s vegan’ didn’t work, i mean look at those cereal bars!! they look fantastic. what a great giveaway :)
Wow, looks delicious! I would to check out all these recipes in the cookbook. I’m sure they are all wonderful and more ideas for me, the better. :-)
They look delicious!
That dip looks soooo yummy! I would love to ck out the cookbook!!
Those dishes look amazing. I love your blog! “Vegan” is a new concept to me and I’ve had fun trying your recipes and fooling my husband! ‘-) I would love the chance to win the cookbook so I can fool him more often!
All the snacks look amazing! If men are won over you know they’re golden : ) I’d love a copy of the book… Hope you have a fantastic weekend,
Grace
High five for convincing guys to eat vegan food! And another for convincing them that food doesn’t need to have dairy or meat in it to be delicious!
I am in desperate need of a cookbook – I left all of mine back home when I moved for university. This one sounds like an absolute gem!
I already have the cookbook and ADORE it! it’s really great and a must-have for anyone into healthy vegan cooking and baking!
(btw, her single-serving brownie can very easily be made gluten free and is delicious!)
ME!! ME!!! I NEEEED this book! I’m really trying hard to convert our family over to a more plant based diet. And my husband is a true carnivore. If it doesn’t have a stick of butter or full of cheese, he isn’t satisfied. ugh Oh…and sausage on sunday mornings. blech! So if I had new ideas and guidelines it’d make the whole conversion more automatic. I’m looking forward to that! And besides, down here in Texas, it’s FOOTBALL time. College on Saturday, NFL on Sunday. Whole weekend of snacking!
I have learned so much since I started following your blog and this is yet another example! I cannot wait to try this!
omggg i would abs love to win her cookbook! wen i first became a vegan i bought alot of cookbooks and most wich ive only made a recipe out of bc they just use wierd ingredients and so ive spent alot on cookbooks i dont wich stinks, i go on happy herbivore all the time and use a different recipe all the time shes awesome! yet i dont have her book yet bc theres already so many recipes i use on her site but wow id be a busy girl in the kitchen if i had that book! would abs love to win it!
I would love to win this cookbook. I am moving in with my boyfriend in a week (!!!) and I need some healthy, tasty meal ideas :-)
jeez, that dip looks good! I’ve seen the HH book about, but haven’t glanced inside it yet.