Raw Vegan Lasagna Bites (gluten free, vegan)

It’s hard not to love a good raw lasagna. It takes all the best elements of a quintessential comfort food and turns them on their head, transforming a typically heavy, calorie-laden dish into something light, summery, and delightfully unexpected.

Flourless Vegan Pumpkin Brownies (gluten free, vegan)

This recipe probably looks pretty familiar to some of you. If it does, don’t worry – you haven’t gone mad.

I have decided to revamp and reshoot some of my old recipes (in between posting new content) in order to give them the love and attention they truly deserve. After making these many times over the last year I’ve come up with a few little tweaks which I think make them even better, which, to me, is a natural part of the cooking process. It would be unfair not to share those improvements with you. More importantly, my photography skills have improved significantly since I began this blog just over a year ago. A quick peek at some of my earlier recipes will make that abundantly, cringe-worthily clear. It requires a real effort in mindfulness for me not to agonize over some of those earlier photos! At the same time, it is also really rewarding to see how far I’ve come.

No-Bake Sprouted Buckwheat + Apricot Granola Bars (gluten free, vegan)

This recipe has been a rather long time in the making. It started with a feeling of nostalgia, evoked from photographs of our travels in Austria. I can still recall the sublime beauty of that country as if I had just returned this morning. I remember the overwhelming awe and gratitude I felt in the presence of the vast mountain range that surrounds Salzburg, and the sense of wonder, of having travelled through time, while exploring the ruins of Durnstein castle, once home to an imprisoned Richard the Lionheart.

Spaghetti Squash + Fiddlehead Pasta Primavera (gluten free, vegan)

I’m absolutely in love with this dish. I’ve been making a variation of it for the last year or so, and it always makes for a perfect dinner. Satisfying, wholesome, and flavourful, it can be ready in under 40 minutes but tastes (and looks) like it took two hours. The marriage of classic Italian flavours – parsley, basil, olive oil, and sundried tomatoes – with the rather more Canadian textures of the squash and fiddleheads is really quite exciting. On weeknights it makes for an indulgent-feeling meal, but since there’s no pasta, it’s hardly an indulgence in the usual sense of the word. You’ll be full without feeling overly stuffed, which is something I will always endorse.

Romanesco and Crispy Tofu Quinoa Bowl (gluten free, vegan)

Quinoa bowls are kind of amazing. Endlessly versatile, packed with nutrients, and incredibly satisfying, they make for an ideal packed lunch, especially on days where you’ve hit the gym before even getting to the office.

They’re also a lot of work.

Okay, let me rephrase that. Making all of the individual elements which make up your bowl is a lot of work, but it’s a labour of expediency. Put in the time to pull everything together on the weekend, and you’re set for lunches for the rest of the week. I would never make a single-serving quinoa bowl – it takes the same amount of time to make a small batch as a large, so why not do future you a favour and avoid having to make a lunch every night?

Coconut Java Cookie Dough Balls (and what to do with leftover almond pulp) – gluten free, vegan option

It’s probably too soon to be sharing another cookie dough ball recipe. I thought long and hard about whether I should just tuck this recipe away for a rainy day. But the last couple of weeks, aside from being overwhelmingly busy and exhausting, have seen a lot of unsuccessful recipe testing and unfortunate photo taking. It happens. Some weekends it seems like everything I touch in the kitchen turns to gold, and others… well, let’s just say I ate a lot of waffles yesterday and enjoyed very few of them.

Peppermint Pattie Smoothie (gluten free, vegan)

Happy day-before St. Patrick’s Day!

Whoever first thought to combine chocolate and mint deserves some kind of lifetime achievement award, at least in my books. It’s one of my all-time favourite sweet pairings, so much so that I was rarely found without a box of Junior Mints in my purse during my high school years. These days, I eschew those high-fructose corn syrup droplets of yum in favour of more natural alternatives. I have found some pretty fantastic organic dark chocolate + mint bars over the last few years that satisfy the craving and taste infinitely better, but today I wanted to give a nod to the Irish side of my heritage and celebrate the holiday in a healthful way.

Cream of Tomato and Basil Soup (gluten free, vegan)

I had tomato soup for the first time in my life about three months ago. Yes, you heard that correctly. In my twenty seven tomato loving years on this planet, pretty much all of them have been tomato soup-less. I have no explanation for this, other than the fact that my early encounters with the dish involved staring at red goop from a can and politely (and not-so-politely) refusing. That basically turned me off the whole thing for good. I assumed it would be an experience somewhere in between drinking straight tomato sauce and hot tomato juice – eeyuk! How ignorant I was.

Vanilla Cashew-Almond Milk (gluten free, vegan)

I will admit to being a little late in jumping on this bandwagon, as I am with many things in life. But I am so, so glad I started making my own nut milk a couple of months ago. It was always just one of those things that I avoided for no real reason; I assumed it would be too time consuming, too expensive, too… hard. How wrong I was. If you have ten minutes, a handful of nuts, and some fabric – you can make nut milk.

Pumpkin Pecan Freezer Oatmeal Cups (gluten free, vegan)

On my off-days from the gym, I usually make a smoothie and drink it on the way to work, but if I’m hauling ass and lifting weights at 6am, you can be sure I want something a little more substantial. And since I’m even more pressed for time than usual on those mornings, I need something that can be prepared quickly. As promised, I’m going to be sharing with you as many of my on-the-go breakfast solutions as I have to offer, and this is one you won’t want to miss out on!