More Lindsay Love!

Look Lindsay Nixon, I know you have a husband and all. But I really think we should get married anyway. I assume this means that you would cook delicious fat-free meals for me every night, right? If so, let's get hitched!

Yes, I just proposed to the author of Happy Herbivore. Since she's spoken for, I may have to keep dreaming. But maybe I can just marry her book. I would settle for that. Why am I so very enamored with Lindsay and her recipes? Here's why — Spicy Greens with Spicy Sausage:

It's simple really. Just Lindsay's homemade spicy steamed sausages (made in the Julie Hasson way) sliced up in collards with red pepper flakes, onion, garlic, and hot sauce. But as a Southern girl, I've never been all that crazy about collards that weren't cooked for at least 40 minutes. I've tried the quick-cook methods, but they always leave something to be desired. For some reason, Lindsay's simple preparation is just as tasty as if the greens simmered on a stove for hours. And there's no oil! Just blows my mind, really.

Did you notice that sexy macaroni peeking in the background? Yep, that's a Happy Herbivore recipe too. There's two variations on vegan mac & cheeze in the book — one is baked and the other is made on the stovetop. As a former fan of boxed macaroni and cheese, I opted for the latter — Easy Macaroni & Cheese:

It's made with Lindsay's creamy-as-hell vegan noochy sauce. Ridiculously good, y'all.

Hawaiian Herbivore

I know I've been raving on and on about Lindsay Nixon's Happy Herbivore cookbook, but that's because it's just that awesome. All her recipes are vegan and low-fat or fat-free, and I'm not typically a low-fat kinda girl. But you cannot tell the fat is missing in most of her dishes! If I don't miss it, why do I need it in the first place, right?

Take for example, this Hawaiian Chickpea Teriyaki bowl:

I made this simple supper on Monday night, and there's not a bit of added fat in the recipe. The chickpeas are sauteed in a spicy teriyaki sauce, but there's no need to add oil to the pan. And the chickpeas soak up all that yummy sauce, so they're full of flavor. I served the peas over brown rice with some mango-habenero salsa.

Since the dish was a little lacking in veggies, I went with a side salad of baby romaine, radishes, cucumbers, mandarin oranges, and a homemade pear balsamic vinaigrette:

After the Kickstart cleanse, I'm trying to incorporate more fruit into my daily meal regimen. I've discovered that sneaking fruit into salads is a perfect way to get the nutritional benefits into an otherwise savory dish.

Superbowl Diablo Dogs!!

I generally pick my fave Superbowl team based on which team has the best color scheme and logo. This year, that meant I was backin' the Packers. Lucky for me, my shallow reason for supporting Green Bay led to me supporting the winning team. Considering that I know nothing about football, I have a pretty decent record of choosing the winning team every year. Pays to be shallow.

The real reason I watch the Superbowl isn't for the game or even the commercials. It's all the food (and the beer) of course. Most years, I make some variation on vegan buffalo wings, but I had a major hankerin' for chili-cheeze dogs. And that can only mean one thing — Diablo Dogs!

The idea behind this monster of a veggie chili dog came from the incredibly-awesome Jen of Pain In the Ass Vegan. I've made 'em before, but it's been awhile. Click here for Jen's step-by-step photo guide to building a proper Diablo Dog.

For mine, a jumbo Smart Dog is stuffed into a toasted whole wheat bun spread with Earth Balance and homemade horseradish (grated, prepared horseradish mixed into some Vegenaise). That's topped with Amy's canned chili, Nacho Mom's Vegan Queso, minced onion and jalepeno, sweet dill relish, bacon bits, and plenty of hot sauce. Oh yes, that's the business.

I had to eat something semi-healthy on the side to make up for my Diablo Dog transgression. So I whipped up a batch of Lindsey's Low-Fat Guacamole (a.k.a. Edamole) from Happy Herbivore:

This avocado-free guac is made with edamame, lime juice, onion, and cilantro processed in a food processor. The the recipe calls for tomatoes, but I straight-up forgot to buy one when I went on my Superbowl day beer run. Instead, I mixed in some salsa.

Now I'm a huge avocado fan, and when I first saw this recipe, I honestly didn't think I'd be trying it. Why would I ever want to sub out an avocado? But I ate lots of calories in Little Rock over the weekend, and I figured it couldn't hurt to cut back just this once.

The edamole was actually pretty darn tasty, and the leftovers don't brown overnight in the fridge. I'll probably stick to creamier avocado-based guac for most occasions, but this was a great substitute since I was the only one eating it. Now I have leftover guac for days!

By the way, I mentioned an upcoming giveaway last week of Lindsey's fabulous Happy Herbivore cookbook. The publisher had suggested a giveaway when I was contacted about reviewing a copy. But I learned after my last post that they're out of giveaway copies until April, so I think I'll hold off on a contest until then. Sorry! If you can't wait (and really, you shouldn't wait cause this book is awesome!), you can always order the book from Amazon.

What'd you serve on Superbowl Sunday?

Happy Un-Egg McMuffin

I recently received a copy of Lindsay Nixon's newly-released Happy Herbivore cookbook for review. As a long-time fan of Lindsay's low-fat vegan blog, I'd been awaiting the book's release for ages. Over the years, I've downloaded several of her e-books and I knew this full-color, food porn-heavy book would be awesome.

There's literally a photo on almost every page! That's such a rarity in cookbooks, but it's so nice to see every dish. My mouth waters when I flip through the pages, and I want to make everything! In case you don't know about the Happy Herbivore way, most dishes are made without added fat. They're not all fat free, but many are. Even Lindsay's delectable baked goods (think strawberry cupcakes and black bean brownies) are healthy!

I'll be hosting a giveaway of this book next week, along with reviews of several more recipes. But I wanted to throw in a little pre-giveaway teaser tonight. The first recipe I've made from the book was this Breakfast Sandwich:

In my pregan days, I would occasionally go through the McDonald's drive-thru (gasp! I know!) for an egg and cheese McMuffin or biscuit (sans the sausage of course). I always loved McDonald's weird eggs made from some kind of egg mix. They were unlike any other eggs I could make at home back then.

But Lindsay has it down, and her "eggs" aren't even eggs. The breakfast sandwich actually uses two recipes from Happy Herbivore — the Nomelet (a baked vegan tofu omelet) and the Breakfast Sausage (it contains quinoa and Gimme Lean!).

The Nomelet recipe makes one big giant omelet, but you cut it into pieces for individual breakfast sandwiches. The English muffins were Orowheat Extra Crispy, the only vegan ones I could find without driving out to Whole Foods. The cheeze is Galaxy's soy vegan slices, which have greatly improved since the last time I tried them.

Anyway, this sandwich is a winner ... way better than anything I ever ordered from McDonald's! Tune in next week for more on Happy Herbivore and a cookbook giveaway.

Do you have a past fast food guilty pleasure?