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.
That dip looks delicious. My boyfriend mentioned last week that he wanted “football” food for Sundays. I know he means the processes snacks, but I want to make healthier versions that we can both enjoy.
Looks amazing – would love to check it out!
Ooh…a book of delicious-ness. Yes, please!
The spiced bar nuts look so delicious! Everything does actually… can you come cook in my kitchen?
These recipes look ahhhhhhmazing. Would love to test them out in my kitchen :D
That Mexican dip look fantastic! This entire post made me hungry. Such great looking food, Angela.
Great looking recipes! I’m trying to do vegan Thanksgiving for my extended family this year and I bet this books would have some great ideas!
Oh please pick me! I would love to win this. I am always looking for new vegetarian/vegan recipes!
Oh, wow! Both look DELICIOUS! Always looking for more fantastic vegan food to fool people with!
I’ve been craving cheese dip so badly this week. I even microwaved a plate of tortilla chips with Daiya on top, thinking it would do the trick.
This is very exciting! The recipes sound awesome, my husband is a sports fanatic I would love to have something healthy to give him on game day :)
I always need new recipes, vegan is a plus.
MMMMmmm this all looks soo good! I could def put that cookbook to use :P I have 4 hungry roommates and a bf who all loooove snack foods! I am always trying to make yummy vegan foods for them, but they are hit and miss.
I NEED the book – I live with a cranky meat eating husband and son. They turn their noses up at anything called vegan.
These snacks look awesome!!! I need some yummy recipe ideas for vegan items that will wow the skeptics for holiday potlucks and parties..The Happy Herbivore Cookbook would be a great resource for that!
I would LOVE to try out the recipes in that book!
That dip looks so fantastic! Amazing, and beautiful photography. The chips too. It’s only 9AM and this looks so good right now!
Wow, that all looks so good. Glad the guys liked it, means I might be able to feed some to my hubby.
Hi Angela! I was turned on to your website a few months ago by a friend and it’s site that I’ve visited daily ever since. Your giveaway makes a great excuse to say “thanks!”
My, my – that mexican dip looks amazing! Would be perfect for game day! I’ve been searching for some good game day snacks that omnis and vegans alike can enjoy and these look perfect!