Vegan – Page 3 – Snapshots & My Thoughts by Ailee Petrovic

Recipes October 21, 2014

Healthy Vegan Crustless Apple Pie

I have been toying with the idea of a healthy apple pie for ages now, as anyone close to me knows I adore stewed apples. What exactly is a stewed apple? Simple. It’s when an apple is skinned (optional), cored, diced and popped into the microwave for about 2 1/2 – 3 minutes. It comes out soft and sweeter (how? I have no idea). I eat a stewed apple almost every single night after dinner. It’s the best dessert.

After scouring the internet, I found a lot of vegan apple pie recipes online, but none of them were to my liking (i.e. healthy enough). You don’t need all of that added sugar if you bake with a delicious apple (namely Honey Crisp).

I baked three batches of these vegan, gluten-free, refined-sugar-free, crustless apple pies, adjusting little things each time, and the recipe below is the winner. The ingredients make two servings – baked in little ramekins (I used these from Sur La Table).

PS Isla’s nursery is one of the finalist for Project Nursery’s project of the month! I would love your vote.

Food October 7, 2014

Healthy Vegan Banana Nut Bread

I’ve been playing around with vegan recipes for ages now, trying to bake healthy snacks that actually taste good. I’ve attempted to create a healthy version of Sasha’s favorite dessert – banana nut bread. After many failed tries, I baked a delicious loaf that is vegan, gluten-free and refined sugar-free. And yes, it tastes amazing! I have made it successfully three times now – twice with a loaf pan and once with a muffin tray. Sasha and I both agreed that the muffins were the most moist, but both are good.

I highly recommend this banana nut bread if you’re tagged for bringing a dessert to a party or even if you’re hosting one yourself. This dish works for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Sasha loves to top it with his favorite jam – Bonne Maman Raspberry Preserves, and I love it plain.

Week in Review September 29, 2014

Week in Review

Week three in Houston has passed, and life is showing no signs of slowing down. This past week, we visited lots of family and friends whom we hadn’t seen in almost three months – some who hadn’t met Isla yet. I was talked into doing back-to-back classes at Life Time Fitness with a close friend, and my body is still recovering. Overall, this week had many highlights, which I’ve captured below:

I went to Anthropologie, J. Crew, Carter’s, Kendra Scott and Baby Gap – ugh, feels good to be back). I subsequently ended up at The Container Store again for more slim-fit hangers.
We ate at Ruggles Green and Mary’z – two of our favorite restaurants (see full list of favorites), and I went grocery shopping at Whole Foods for the first time in months!
The weather is finally getting more bearable, so I was able to run outside on multiple days.
After going to the Durango Farmer’s Market all Saturday, we decided to head to one of the big ones in Houston (and bought lots of Sinfull Bakery goodies)
We went to my parent’s house for lunch to celebrate my dad’s birthday (happy birthday!)
Isla went to church for the first time (Bayou City Fellowship) and behaved swimmingly! Thank the good Lord.

Most importantly, this week marked the official stomach-to-back-to-stomach rolling and consistent, deep belly laughter from Isla. The former has me slightly nervous (she’s now getting tied into her changing station), and the latter has my heart smiling. That sound is pure joy.

Lastly, the winner of the Freshly Picked giveaway is Wendy J! I will be emailing you shortly. Thank you to everyone who entered.

How was your past week?
Her happy morning face // A friend lent us a mamaRoo – why didn’t we have this sooner?

Personal September 2, 2014

Week 7 in Durango

Week 7 has come and gone very quickly, with the holiday weekend and my parents arriving in Colorado. We are going back to Houston in one week from today – I am so ready to hug (i.e. squeeze to death) my friends, but so sad to leave this gorgeous weather and valuable family time.

In the past week, we hiked up to Fort Lewis College every morning, tried a new restaurant (Chimayo – amazing and will definitely be on my updated Durango Travel Guide), went to the Saturday farmer’s market (delicious hatch peppers and tasty wheat grass drinks!), made some crepe paper peonies (DIY here), baked more vegan black bean brownies as well as these amazing and healthy cookies, ate even more Cream Bean Berry, watched Isla play with her ‘Mimi’ and ‘Papa’, dominated my parents in Taboo, and practiced playing bean bag toss (I’m awful). The only low point of the week was getting stung by a wasp twice (in my hand and leg) – totally unprovoked on my end! Not fun.

Lastly, I recently set up a Facebook page and Instagram account for Snapshots & My Thoughts. I would love if you were to follow along so I can follow you too! Thanks for reading. xoxo

Read about our time in Durango here: Week 1 | Week 2 and 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6

Food August 25, 2014

Sweet Summery Guacamole Recipe

I am an avocado fanatic – I could eat them all day long, so naturally, I love guacamole. The local grocery store in Durango recently had a sale on avocados – 10 for $10, which is a steal. We bought 10 and then realized they would go bad before we managed to eat them all, as we’ve been adventuring to different restaurants for dinner in the evening. I decided to make my signature guacamole dish, which is sweet and salty, given that I use Robert’s Reserve Roasted Red Pepper and Onion Dip and sea salt. This dip is very summery, given it’s slight sweetness. Depending on whom I am making the guacamole for, I’ll add cilantro to the top or jalapeños – enjoy with Stacy’s pita chips (Sasha’s favorite), or celery and carrots if you’re being healthy like I am right now!

Ingredients

2 tablespoons of Robert’s Reserve Roasted Red Pepper and Onion Dip
3 ripe avocados
2 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon of sea salt
1/8 cup of red onions
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
1 jalapeño pepper (optional garnish)
Handful of chopped cilantro (optional garnish)

Steps

Finely chop 2 garlic cloves and 1/8 cup of red onions and add to mixing bowl
Add 2 tablesppons of the roasted pepper and onion dip (in most grocery stores in a stand alone section near the deli)
Add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice to the bowl and mix
Add 1 teaspoon of sea salt to the bowl – keep out in case you want to add more later
Pit and add three avocados to the bowl – ideal to use a mortar and pestle (I love this Le Creuset one!)
Mix well and add additional salt if desired