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.
Really? Anyone, anywhere?? I’ve been waiting for a comp like this – we get left out in Australia! Loving your recipes down (under) here, wow sorry for the bad joke! Any recipe book recommended by you must be fabulous! I would love to get my mitts on a copy!!
Those nachos look incredible!! I’d love that cookbook.
Added it to my wish list in case I don’t win!
Oh my.. this all looks simply amazing!! My boyfriend and my Dad both refuse to eat ANYTHING vegan related and it can be tough to eat healthy since I do all of the cooking. These look like recipes that could change ANY man’s mind!! <3
I’d love to win the Happy Herbivore cookbook to add more great recipes to my vegetarian arsenal!
I would love to get this book for my vegan boyfriend!
I found your site while I was stumbling for the Kind Diet’s Thanksgiving Tofu recipe, and I fell in love with your cooking ideas. I just got out of college and am on my way to teach in Germany, and would enjoy the chance to take a vegan cookbook with some groovy recipes in it. Can’t wait to follow your blog and read more of your cooking adventures !
This looks delicious. I want to make that spicy dip :)
That dip looks absolutely incredible! I can’t wait to try it!
Even the most reluctant folks can be happy herbivores with vegan nachos that look THAT indulging!
that dip looks ahhmazing! Love your recipes that fead hungry hungry men :) !
Great giveaway! I need some new cooking inspiration.
that dip looks great!
MMMMM,mmmmm Good! Who wouldn’t love some new recipes:-) It’s been awhile since I’ve bought a cookbook so this would surely be a healthy treat.
My boyfriend is a vegetarian who eats the same things week in week out.I love cooking and healthy eating so when I asked him why he was like this he said that he’s just not inspired by any recipes we have in books. I showed him the dip recipe and just the title and he got really excited by it and wanted me to make it. I hope that I can win the book to not only inspire my boyfriends love for food again but also so I can create beautiful nutritious food for him.
The cereal bars look great! I’d love to win the cookbook! :)
After looking at those picture, I would love a copy!!!
its so rare to find giveaways that are open internationally, thanks a lot for that! the food looks amazing!! i’m not a vegan myself, but i try a lot of your recipes and usually love them, so i would love to try the recipes from the book too!! have a nice day!!
The cereal bars are so tempting. This book is on my wish list for quite some time :)
I just found your blog yesterday, but I hope I had found it way sooner! So many lovely recipes, thank you for sharing and giving someone a chance to win a book too :)