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.
Would love to receive a copy of this fabulous sounding cookbbok…I think the more we can alter our preparation of food to a more healthier way, we will start noticing many health changes… Education is Key…and experimenting with food is FUN !!!
I would love to win this cookbook! It would be my first vegan cookbook and would make a great addition to our collection.
That dip looks fantastic! I would love to see what other yummy recipes are in that book! Thanks for the giveaway Angela!!
This book looks great! My husband (and I) would love some new inspiration!!
I would love to win the cookbook!
I love your blog, and the photography is gorgeous!
OMG, that dip looks delicious – I’d probably house the whole platter in one sitting, and even my uber-carnivore Texan husband would dig it! (He’d dig in to it too…so basically, he’d dig it both literally and metaphorically.) I’ve been wanting to pick up a copy of Happy Herbivore for a while now, so I love that you’re having a give-away. :)
Happy Friday!
Wow those look amazing! Nachos are probably one of my favorite foods… Right after peanut butter! Haha! I’d love to win the copy! Hope I have a chance! :)
Sounds like an awesome cookbok! I would love to win it.
I love cookbooks with lots of pictures!! The chips & dip definitely look good enough to ‘fool’ the skeptics in my world.
Hi Angela!
This book would come in soooo handy right about now. I’m on a journey (um..rather slow one…) to a vegan lifestyle, and these recipes would really help ease the transition…especially the Spicy Mexican Dip…Olé! :)
Those cereal bars look amazing!
These recipes sound amazing and I would love to win a copy of the book to test them out on my non-vegan friends :-) Thanks
I definitely need to learn how to convince some football-and-hockey-watching men that vegan food can be just as (or even more) delicious than not!
I’d love to add this to my miniscule cookbook collection!
I love your comment “vegan food is code for really awesome food”! SO clever! I NEED this book, I have a husband that cringes when I tell him a recipe is vegan–so, if I could make some delicious snacky food like you showed, he may change his mind about vegan food!? And, I have just started learning about the vegan lifestyle and your web-site has been my go-to place for recipes and information, so THANK YOU!
These recipes look delicious! My boyfriend and I are helping his parents eat healthier, and this cookbook looks like a great resource for yummy veggie meals to make with them. (I am veggie, boyfriend is getting there, and his ‘rents are limiting their animal products.)
Oh my, the dip and bars both look amazing!!! And vegan food is definitely a code for really awesome food ;).
I am with you, hockey season means feeding hungry boys!! This cookbook would be perfect for that!
That Mexican Dip sold me – I would love to try out this cookbook!!