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 INSANE. And it’s omni-boy approved? Be still my heart!
The nuts look so good!!!!! I am a nut freak, I cam eat a whole
Bag in a sitting! Lol. Also nice touch of the bottle of beer in the background with the nuts!
These dishes look great!
I’d love to win the cookbook because I struggle to find vegan recipes that my family will enjoy
That looks delicious! I would love to try a few of the recipes out.
I would love to learn some vegan recipes! That cheese dip looks amazing.
I would love a chance to enter for the happy herbivore giveaway!! I am sadly sans vegan cookbooks but I would love a chance to build up a collection. Its a good thing there are amazing online blogs like yours with awesome recipes so I can use them to cook up delicious vegan goodness!! :)
Count me in!
Love the Happy Herbivore! Those bars look awesome :)
Oh my, please pick me!!
I’d be so happy.
I’m a new-vegan and a singer:)
Saskia
Would love to win, I’m new to the whole vegan thing and there are no Dutch vegan cookbooks so I would love a copy to educate myself en cook more delicously vegan :)
That dip looks awesome! If I don’t win I’ll be buying the book so I can make the dip for my housewarming party!
I’ve been wanting to buy this cookbook for quite awhile, thanks for the chance to win it! I love your blog, and especially your Nacho Cheeze Sauce (I use it just about every time we make Mexican food, which is usually once a week!)!
That did looks outstanding, would love the book that contains that recipe!
Those bars look yummy! I’d love a new vegan cookbook!
This book looks awesome. I’ve fallen of my vegan diet in the last few weeks so I’m looking for some inspiration to get me going again. Plus, my lovely six year announced last weekend that she won’t eat animals anymore, so I’m really looking for ways to make us a truely plant based family(instead of cooking a meat based meal for her and my husband and veg based for me). Angela, your site is wonderful, but a cookbook would be really handy too.
your husband’s friends (and yours) must love you :) those nachos look amazing, I am putting it on my “to cook next” list :)
I really love reading your blog- especially because I’m going through almost the exact same thing with the gluten scare. I may be allergic to gluten, and when I eat it- I sure feel bad. That being said, a vegan gluten free diet is pretty difficult to come by- but it’s getting easier.
Best of luck- and thanks for the awesome blog!
Sounds delicious- especially the nachos! Always looking for a good recipe:)
Looks great, thanks for posting about the book. I’m sometimes at a loss for ‘fun’ things to serve my vegan friend. This looks very helpful!