Raw Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

These little guys are every where in the vegan community right now, and for a good reason. There is no sugar or gluten in them and they are tasty AF. 
They only reason I'm not making them every single day is because they take hours to make. There's not a lot of labour, but they do need to sit in the oven for about 4 hours. These days I've been able to make them more since I found out my dog has severe separation anxiety and I don't want to leave my house unless I have to (my neighbours hate me).  Usually people make these in a dehydrator but I don't have one yet so I made them on the lowest setting in my oven which is actually quicker than using a dehydrator so I'm winning. 

Raw Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

Makes about 3 medium sized cinnamon rolls 
Takes 4 hours to make (make them when your chilling at home the whole day)

Ingredients: 

2 Bananas

10 dates 

1 tsp Cinnamon 

Instructions :
1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees
2. Slice Bananas length wise in 3 slices and put on wax paper (warning if it's not the no stick kind you want to grease so the bananas don't stick 
3. Sprinkle Bananas in the oven and bake for 1 hour and 45 minutes. 
4. While the Bananas are in the oven make the date paste by blending 10 dates with 1/4 cup water in a high speed blender
5. After an hour and 45 minutes in the oven take out the bananas and spread on the date paste. 
6. roll up the bananas into the size you want them (like a cinnamon roll)
7. Put back into the oven for two and a half hours 
8. Take out, let cool and enjoy 

Tips :
*While baking the bananas wedge a wooden spoon in the oven door to let moisture out, this will bake them faster
*make some banana nice cream to put on top of them and eat them while their hot. 

Ethically Made Shoes

“Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.” - J.K Rowling

     I'm so excited to expand from posting just food on here to lifestyle posts (mainly ethical fashion).

    Shoes are a favourite of mine I used to love buying designer shoes, I would display them and never wear them, although most of them were made in France or Italy where I am sure the workers were treated well, they were all made out of some kind of animal. I struggled with this and being a "good" vegan for a very long time. I will never buy another pair of animal shoes but I can not part with my beloved collection yet. I also don't want to have to buy cheap shoes that are fake leather since I'm sure they probably aren't good for the environment.. do you see my predicament. so Instead I set out to search for the worlds best shoes and I am very surprised at the amount of shoe companies I found that are not only fashionable, but vegan, environmentally friendly and ethical made (some even made  in Italy).  

From left to right top

Mink Shoes  - Guys!!! these are made in the same factories as Chanel, Christian Louboutin, Jimmy Choo and Dolce and Gabana, they are going to be good quality. The difference? they are animal free, environmentally friendly and a fraction of the price. 

Bhava Shoes - This website has every style of shoe you could want. They outline the 4 fashion victims they don't want a part of :  #1 animals, #2 our planet, #3 the workers, and #4 you. I can't wait to buy a pair of boots from them next winter

Matt & Nat - I've been obsessed with their purse collection for a while, this Canadian company uses recycled plastic bottles in their lining and just recently added shoes to their collection. It's not the biggest shoe collection yet, but I've already decided to purchase their Berri shoes this summer. 

Love is Mighty - The bohemian in me wants every single shoe in this collection. These ones are made in India by local artisans trying to preserve their craft. These shoes are 100% handmade and vegan. 

I do believe the world is starting to become a better place with all these brands caring about people, animals and our planet my heart is truly at ease.  💓💕💓💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

Lettuce Wraps

"I'm pretty good at sticking to what I know. You don't see me social commentating on health-care or presidential debates. I talk about what I know because I'm petrified of being wrong."- Gary Vaynerchuck

Hi Friends, I've been blogging for a few months now and I love it...but I would love to take my blog into a new direction. I still want to be adding in vegan recipes because I love creating these recipes, however I am still really passionate about fashion (I am a fashion designer for those who don't know). Actually, I was initially really into ethical fashion and then from there I started studying more about veganism and the lifestyle.  I've had a lot of people ask me about sustainable fashion companies and I want to be able to share these companies with all of you. I hope for this blog to morph into an ethical lifestyle blog. 
Plus I can't wait to finally finish the new blog design and share it with all of you. :) 
💕💕💕💕💕

Lettuce Wraps 

Makes 4 wraps 

4 pieces of lettuce

1 avocado 

half a tomato 

1/8 cup of chopped onions 

Spicy Lemon Dressing 

juice of half a lemon 

pinch of Cayenne pepper 

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 tsp of Maple Syrup 

Instructions 

1. Cut avocado and tomato into cubes and mix with chopped onions 

2. distribute onto lettuce leaves

3. Mix Dressing Ingredients 

4. Pour Dressing over the lettuce Wraps 

5. Enjoy 

Raw Vegan Tacos

"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting" - E E Cummings

Happy Tuesday everyone. Just want to thank everyone for the love on my last post about adopting Nika. It was my top post to date with lots of views...so happy that she's in our lives.  

I apologize for the not so great picture today. When I got home, I was hungry and so excited to try making raw vegan tacos that I took a total of 4 pictures that didn't turn out amazing. But I promise they taste so good!!! 

   The Jicama taco shell wasn't as big as I was hoping so next time I think I'll use lettuce wraps instead, however they did taste good.  For those of you who have never tried a jicama before, it has the texture of a potato, but sweeter and more flavour. 

I would highly recommend these for those who are trying to eat healthy. They still have so much flavour but nothing unnatural or unhealthy in them. 

Raw Tacos

Raw Ground Beef (not actually beef)

1 cup of your favourite nuts - I choose walnuts, almonds and pecans, but feel free to substitute. 
1 tablespoon of avocado oil 
1 tablespoon of taco seasoning 

1 Tomato 
1 Avocado 
1/4 Onion 
1 Pepper (I used a yellow pepper but feel free to use your favourite ones)
1 Jicama 
Vegan Sour Cream - Find recipe here. 

Instructions:
In a food processor mix nuts, avocado oil and taco seasoning until well mixed.
Slice the Jicama into thin slices - this will become the taco shell 
Cut up all the other vegetables and place them on the taco shell, with the "Meat" and vegan sour cream. 
Enjoy!

Meet Nika Our Rescue Dog

“Who knows what the long-term effects of saving rescue dogs are and the healing lessons and love they bring to Earth? Each one of us has the capacity to influence hundreds - even thousands of people or animals through the way we live our lives.” 
― Jadi Kindred, Intuitive Animal Connections

Hi Guys exciting news here. I adopted the cutest dog yesterday! her name is Nika and she is a chihuahua jack russell mix. 

This was a super random adoption but when the opportunity comes along you just need to take it. 

Being a vegan and someone who has animal welfare heavily on the mind I refused to buy a dog from a store or a breeder, which ever kind of dog it was it needed to be a rescue dog. My husband however wasn't convinced that a rescue dog was the way to go since they do sometimes come with problems. 

Then while randomly looking through BC SPCA website one day we found this little girl in the quesnel center (about a 7 hour drive from Vancouver) we called them and put our application in right away. Since they can't ship dogs anywhere we had to drive 14 hours there and back this weekend. but she is soooo worth it. She is energetic, cuddly, friendly and we haven't heard a bark from her once. I feel so happy to have provided this dog with a home that she'll be in forever. 

*Shirt is from BCSPCA. 

Blueberry Nice Cream

"If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good"-Dr Seuss

As you guys probably already know, I eat nice cream everyday... sometimes even twice a day. I never add extra sugar to my nice creams and like to keep them as simple as possible. this one is as simple as it gets. Just blend 2 bananas with 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries and voila you have blueberry ice cream. How basic!!! 💕💕💕

Blueberries are super nutritious and have lots of benefits a few are: 

They are full of anti-oxidants (the stuff in our body that fights disease, and helps slow down ageing)
Improves memory 
Full of fiber (keeps you full for longer)

So to stay young for longer the trick is to eat more blueberries!!! 

Green Goddess Salad

"Time and health are two precious assets that we don't recognize and appreciate until they have been depleted." - Denis Waitley

Hello Friends. It's been awhile! first I was on Hornby island over Christmas with family and then I was in Las Vegas for work. Meanwhile I was upgrading my website to self hosted, although I'm still not sure if I will be using the website for my fashion label blog (which will include Vegan recipes) or for my personal food blog (this one).  Too many directions!!!

I'll admit I haven't been eating the healthiest lately. Healthy food in Vegas is hard to find!. But now that I am back and hopefully things will slow down for awhile, I'm going to be cooking and posting some really healthy, yet delicious recipes on here. 

This one I made for my friend yesterday and was really just a combination of the green food in my fridge. but the sauce is what gives it some wicked flavour.  It's already one of my favourites.

Green Goddess Salad

Serves : 2

Time : 30 mins 

Ingredients: 

1 Avocado 

2 Broccoli heads 

2 handfuls of Arugula 

10 Brussel Sprouts 

3 TBSP of Walnuts 

2 TSP Butter

1 tsp Maple Syrup 

Dressing : 

1 TBSP Vinegar

1 TBSP Maple Syrup 

1 TBSP Olive oil

1 TBSP Tahini 

pinch of Salt 

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Peel Brussels sprouts so they are individual leaves (as much as you can) and put into oven for about 20 minutes. or until the leaves are starting to brown. 

Put Broccoli into boiling water and cook for 15 mins. 

While the Broccoli and Brussels sprouts are cooking prep the salad dressing and the Plate

First mix all the Dressing ingredients together. 

cut the avocado into pieces and put on the plate

Drizzle the avocado with a couple tsp's of Dressing 

add a couple handfuls of arugula on top of the avocado 

once brussels are done mix them in a bowl with 2 TSP of butter and 1 tsp of maple syrup, make sure to mix them well. 

Put the brussel sprouts leaves on top of the salad 

add the walnuts and broccoli on the salad 

Drizzle with some more dressing.

Enjoy!