Vegan Advocacy

I've been vegan for almost 2 years. Animal Rights were the key component in my decision to go vegan, but as I've learned more about the health benefits of a vegan diet and I wonder why more people aren't vegan. I recently found out that a good family friend (who's my parents age) had a heart attack. He had to have open heart surgery and he's recovering nicely, but it made me wonder. If he had changed his diet, would he have had to go through that process? Could a change in diet have saved his wife, his children and his grandchildren the pain and fear that they have been through and are still going through? Could it have saved him the pain and trauma of having open heart surgery? I think so. There is incredible research presented in The China Study by T. Colin Campbell that shows how much healthier a whole food plant based diet is for the heart (and the rest of the body for that matter). I know for most vegans this isn't new information, and I'm thankful of that, I'm just wondering how do we get this message out to the world? Or at least to the people that we care about? What do you do to show people the healthiness of living a vegan lifestyle? How do you persuade (or attempt to persuade) people to start taking care of themselves? Something has to be done. People need to know that the things they think are good for them are actually killing them, but how do we do that?
Please let me know what suggestions you have. I'll be working on it too and I'll post what I come up with.

Smoothies!

I've been into smoothies this week. I can't seem to get enough of them. I had one for breakfast the last 2 mornings and I'm having another one for lunch! They're so tasty and versatile. Here is what I've tried and what I think about them. :)

Green Smoothie (First try)
red kale, pineapple, and banana Was good, but was kind of bitter (especially if you chewed on the pulp). Munchkin liked it!

Green Smoothie (Take 2)
red kale (I don't have any other leafy greens in my house right now), pineapple, banana, apple juice, apple, and carrot. This one was much better then the first one. I used a little less kale and the addition of the apple and apple juice made it a bit sweeter. Also, the bananas had time to ripen a little more. Again, munchkin LOVED it and she kept asking for more! (She ate more than I did!!)

Orange Smoothie
Carrot, pineapple (I used canned pineapple for all of them. It's what I had in my house and it seems to work), banana, apple and flax seed, oh and some apple juice (it was REALLY thick and I wanted it a bit thinner). This one is by far my favorite! I'm not a huge fan of kale and I think the red kale might be a bit more bitter than other kales.
I need to keep experimenting with the leafy greens. I also want to try adding some protein. Maybe almonds? Oh, I could make some almond milk and add the pulp into the smoothie. That would be delish! If you can't tell I'm very excited about smoothies. They're like the perfect food!
So what is your favorite smoothie? I would love to hear your ideas!

Happy Eating (and Drinking!)

Vegan Week Update

As you may know, it's been vegan week in our house this week. It's been a struggle to say the least. Hubby has been doing a great job not "cheating." Munchkin on the other hand has been more difficult, so we've made it vegetarian week for her. She hasn't had any meat, but she has had some things with milk and a little bit of honey. She refused to drink the chocolate soy milk after awhile, so we bought some cow's milk and I'm adding soy milk to it. My hope is that we will eventually be able to get her on soy milk all the time. The long term seems more important than the week. I would rather her have a gradual change that sticks than a week without "cheating" where she learns to hate all things vegan! Here are the things we're still struggling with. Waffles - munchkin eats a wholegrain waffle every morning and the ones without milk are REALLY expensive. Milk-which I've already talked about, and Protein. Munchkin is really picky about what she'll eat and right now she won't eat much vegan protein. She'll eat peanut butter and corn (which is really high in protein) but she won't eat much else that I know has protein. Here's a list of things munchkin will eat (maybe you can help me figure out vegan alternatives or ways to expand her horizons).
Chicken, hot dogs, rice (brown or white), broccoli, corn, carrots, pretty much all fruit, spinach if it's hidden in something, spaghetti (all pasta), tomato sauce (not tomatoes, just the sauce), a few leafy greens (she'll eat almost all of them but only a bite or 2), artichoke hearts, candy and chips. I think that about sums her up.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions. I'll try to keep you posted on how we're doing as moving towards a more vegan diet. :)

Happy Eating!

Vegan Week (a week late)

I know I know I know, vegan week was LAST week, but we had some goofy stuff happen and we're doing family vegan week THIS week! Hubby's doing well. He doesn't seem to mind too much and munchkin, well, she had to have a waffle this morning that had milk and egg, but she's been completely vegetarian. At least we're making an effort. I guess I should say at least THEY'RE making an effort. I'm just eating what I normally eat. I think the biggest change for munchkin is the milk. She's a HUGE milk drinker and I've made her go to soy milk. She really really really didn't like it, so I bought chocolate and plain and I mixed them (about 1/2 and 1/2) and she LOVES it! I think I'll keep increasing the plain and decreasing the chocolate and maybe eventually she'll get used to it. We might have a money issue if they both give up milk though. We typically go through a gallon of cow's milk a week and 1/2 gallon of soy milk. If we switch that gallon of cow's milk to a gallon of soy milk we add a few dollars to our already tight grocery bill. Maybe we'll have to cut something out. Anyway, that's about all I know right now. I'll keep updating how the vegan week is going.

Happy Eating!

Alfredo Sauce

It's been too long since I last blogged. SORRY! This week I made a really tasty Alfredo Sauce. Here's the recipe (I actually almost measured things. Shocking I know!)

Ingredients:
1/2 block of firm tofu
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1/2 TBSP Garlic powder
1 TBSP Onion powder
1 or 2 Dashes of Nutmeg
2 heaping TBSP nutritional yeast
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:
Put tofu, milk, garlic, onion, and nutmeg in blender and blend until smooth (add more milk if needed). Dump the sauce in a saucepan and heat. Add nutritional yeast, salt and pepper.
Serve with whatever makes you happy. :)

Happy Eating!

Seitan and Dumplings

It's our weekend without munchkin (my parents are watching her) so we fixed a "nice" dinner. A few weeks ago I made a big batch of seitan and froze it so today I pulled it out of the freezer and made dumplings with it. It's nothing difficult.

Ingredients:
Seitan w/cooking liquid - I used the recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance, but you use store bought seitan and add veggie broth or mushroom stock (if using veggie broth add some soy sauce)
Bisquick heart smart
3 TBSP soy milk

Method:
Simmer the seitan in liquid
Mix the Bisquick and soy milk
Drop dough into seitan and simmer until cooked
Serve with mashed potatoes (or whatever you want, we really like it with mashed potatoes)

Tonight we also had peanut butter apple pie. It was a new creation and still needs some work, but as I said when I tried it "oh my crap!" It was gooooood. I'll get a recipe up sometime. I need to get the proportions right before I post it. Look forward to amazingness.

Happy Eating!

Spaghetti

I haven't been very good the last few days blogging about food, so I'll tell my bad dinner story. Yesterday I made a huge batch of spaghetti, dumped some sauce on it and stuck it in the refrigerator. Tonight, we had it for dinner. It was HORRIBLE! I've had left over spaghetti before, but this was not good. I think it might have been because I overcooked the spaghetti to begin with. Add to that the spaghetti was more like angel hair it was a disaster. I feel bad because I actually gave it to a friend to heat up. I told her I'd never tried it like that so she was my guinea pig. I'm sure she would have preferred cooking. I feel bad for feeding it to my family and I feel worse for feeding it to my friend. Which leads me to another problem.
I always want to take people food when they need meals, but I'm never sure what to take. I want it to be vegan, but I also want people to eat it. I've never been a casserole person. My family won't eat the, so I tend not to make them. So what vegan things can I take to friends that are easy to reheat? What's your favorite left over?

OK, that's all I got tonight. Sorry. I'm planning on actually cooking this weekend so I should have something to say. We're having a grownup weekend. Munchkin is going to my parents for the weekend! :) There will be a lot of cooking and maybe some Christmas shopping. I'm so excited!

Meditation and Musings

So, ever day for the last 2 weeks I've gotten up and meditated. It's the first thing I do in the morning. Before I get out of bed (OK, so sometimes I get up to go potty, but you know what I mean) I meditate for 10-20 minutes (depending on the day). I've noticed huge changes in my mood, my attitude and my outlook on life in general. This morning, munchkin and I were meeting a good friend for breakfast at Bob Evan's, which is 15-20 mins from our house, at 9:00am. No big deal because munchkin has been waking up at 7:30 so we should have plenty of time and there's no need to set an alarm...at least that's what I thought. I open my eyes this morning at 8:34am. Holy crap! We have to leave in 11 minutes and neither of us are up! I jumped out of bed, got dressed, got munchkin up and dressed, and got in the car. (We made it to Bob Evan's at 9:02) I didn't, in the rush and craziness of getting ready in 11 minutes stop and meditate and I've felt it ALL day long! I've been snappy and grouchy. My stomach's been upset, my mind's been in over drive. It's just been one of those days. I'm glad the day is almost over. I'm also glad that I got a chance to experience a day without meditation. Not because it was so wonderful, but because it has really helped me see just how helpful it has been in my life! Even my hubby noticed the difference. I know this doesn't have anything to do with food, but it's a part of my life and I thought you might want to know, if only so that you might try meditation and/or are encouraged to continue if you just started. If you're interested in learning more about meditation, I'm reading a wonderful book Mediation Secrets For Women by Camille Maurine & Lorin Roche. Obviously it was written for women.

I don't have anything wonderful to write about food today. I took pumpkin muffins to church today. They were AMAZING! I was kind of sad that I took them all. I got the recipe from the Post Punk Kitchen website. If you haven't checked it out, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?! I mean, here's the address: www.theppk.com Maybe tomorrow I'll start cooking real food again. Tonight we went to Wendy's. Seriously? Wendy's has some good things. I enjoy the Mandarin Chicken Salad w/the chicken in a separate container (my family eats it-if you're all veg*ns you could order w/o).

Today for lunch I had leftovers. I combined left over tofu scramble with left over tater tot casserole. It was REALLY good.

OK, I'm going to stop typing now.

Happy Eating!

CSI:Miami

I just finished watching CSI:Miami and I'm so glad I'm vegan! I wish I grew all my own food too, but still. The whole episode was about food and how it can kill us. They showed a little bit of factory farming. They talked about how cows aren't supposed to be fed corn, but are anyway because it makes them fatter. There was Ecoli (from contaminated water being used in irrigation) and botulism (from genetically engineered corn). They discussed how it didn't matter to the big companies that 1% of people might die from the engineered corn...it was cheaper and easier (therefore eliminating hunger). Here's what they didn't mention.
They didn't mention anything about being vegan. They didn't mention any ways to prevent illness. They didn't mention what to look for in organic labels.

OK, so that's all I got for tonight. If you watched CSI:Miami tonight, please comment and let me know what thoughts you had.

Thanks!

Tater Tot Casserole (that hubby will eat)

OK, so this isn't the healthiest meal in the world, but it's tasty and my hubby eats it, so that's a bonus for me. There are healthier variations that I'm working on and I'll post them as I try them...well maybe I'll post them as I think of them and you can post how they turn out when YOU try them. :)

Ingredients:

Fantastic World Foods Sloppy Joe mix
1 can of tomatoes
1 carrot (shredded)
½ onion (diced)
1 batch of Cheeze sauce
Tater tots (actually I use Tater Rounds – they’re like smooched tater tots)

Method:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees
Puree the tomatoes in the blender (I do this because my family doesn’t like chunks of tomatoes. If your family doesn’t mind chunks, skip this step)
Put tomatoes, onion, carrot, and package of Sloppy Joe in pan and simmer.
In a saucepan make the cheeze saucePut the “sloppy joe” in a 8inx8in dish, cover with cheeze, top with tater tots.

Bake for 20-30 mins until tots are cooked and cheeze is slightly browned.

My thoughts for making it healthier.

1. Make your own sloppy joe instead of using the box mix. I think I've made it with TVP and that's pretty good.

2. Use shredded hashbrowns or shredded potatoes and mix everything together before baking it.

3. Add in more veggies

4. Use lentils instead of the sloppy joe (not sure about this one, but I really want to play with lentils, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, and cheeze...)

Peanut Butter, Brown sugar, cinnamon roll ups

I got this idea from somewhere and I don't remember where. If I stole it from you, or if you know from where I stole it, please let me know so that I can give the creative genius credit!

Ingredients:

Bread
Peanut butter
Brown sugar
Cinnamon


Method:
Roll out the bread with a rolling pin until it’s smooshed flat.
Put a thin layer of peanut butter (roughly the same thickness as the bread)
Sprinkle on brown sugar and cinnamon
Roll it into a log

Cut the log into small rounds

They make great desserts and kids LOVE them! (Well, at least my kid loved them). I used whole wheat bread and not very much brown sugar (maybe 1 tsp) so they weren't all that unhealthy (at least as desserts go).

Happy Eating!

"Cheezy" Risotto

Tonight for dinner we had Cheezy Risotto w/corn and Boca "Chicken" (well I had Boca the rest of the family had dead chicken chicken). The Risotto was really good. As normal, I don't have a real "recipe" just ingredients and approximations. We've made this a few times before and the last time we made it there wasn't enough so we made a TON. Here's what I've got.

Ingredients:

Risotto Rice (2 cups uncooked)
Water (6 ½ ish cups)
Veggie broth (if you want) (we used veggie bullion stuff-I know, not very specific, but I’m too tired to get up and look at what it’s called.)
Onion powder (to taste)
Garlic powder (to taste)
Salt (to taste)
Vegan Cream Cheese (this was new and I’m not sure that I loved it)
Nutritional Yeast (1/3 cup ish)

Method:
Cook the Risotto according to the package directions. When it’s almost finished, add the onion powder, garlic powder, nut. yeast, and salt. Simmer for a few minutes.
We normally add broccoli to this, but we were out. The only other green thing I had was spinach and hubby really doesn't like spinach. It was pretty good without veggies, but it’s much better when the broccoli (even hubby thought so).

Man...I suck...

So, I like to have something new and creative to talk/write about when I sit down to blog, but tonight...I got nothin. I was thinking about what I've eaten today. I had toast for breakfast with a very nice cup of tea. Then for lunch I had a Boca "Chicken" for lunch. For dinner, I had whole wheat spaghetti w/some Prego sauce. It's not very exciting. I'm so sorry dear readers.

OK, I'll talk about the cheesecake. I finished it today and was so looking forward to taking that first amazing bite and when I took the bite I was....completely...disappointed. :( It was a big bummer. It looks AMAZING, but it kinda tasted like poop to me. (Not that I actually know what poop tastes like, but you get the idea). So here's what I think went wrong. I think I used the wrong kind of almond extract. I think I used cheap chocolate chips for the topping (well I know I used cheap chocolate chips for the topping, but I think the cheapness made it taste...well, cheap). There was also an issue of texture. It was grainy. I don't know if it was the oreos that were ground up in it or if it was that I over cooked it. Or maybe it was just the recipe? I really don't know what caused it. So, the search is on for a good chocolate cheese cake. Actually, I'm thinking a coffee pie w/chocolate ganache topping. We'll see what I come up with.

I know this isn't the best writing/blogging I've done, but that's all I got.

Happy Eating!

Chocolate Oreo Cheesecake

Doesn't the title alone make you hungry? It did me. Check out this awesome website: http://veganyummys.blogspot.com/2009/01/chocolate-oreo-cheesecake.html?showComment=1255560500932#c3330749959218164209

Actually it made me so hungry that I sent my dear husband to the store to buy me Oreos so I could make it tonight. Unfortunately it also calls for chocolate chips which I didn't have him buy, but that's OK. It can be topped tomorrow. I don't have pictures or anything wonderful (because it's in the oven) but here's what I've learned tonight about Chocolate Oreo Cheesecake (and my blender).

1. It's difficult to make chocolate cookie crust (apparently we don't own a pie pan which made this task a little more difficult).

2. You should add the margarine a little at a time instead of dumping it all in at once. You might not need it all.

3. 2/3 cup of chopped Oreos is LESS then 15 cookies...a LOT less.

4. My blender, when on high, destroys Oreos. Even if you just pulse it a few times. (Way to go cheap blender!)

I think that's all I've learned thus far. I might have to update this post tomorrow when I finish the topping and actually TASTE it. :-)

In other news, (I know, stupid, but I couldn't resist) my dear meat eating hubby made VEGAN peanut butter strips. How cool is that? If you've read some of my previous rants about my sweet hubby you'll know that he's not always the most accepting of the vegan goods. Also, I'm working on getting him to agree to try veganism for a week during "National Go Vegan Week" (Oct. 25-31). This is VERY exciting to me!

OK, enough of my crazy ramblings for one day.

Happy Eating!

I was gonna...

I was gonna talk about how wonderful my rice crispy treats were tonight, but I can't because they're not that great. So...I'm gonna talk about how sad I am that my rice crispy treats didn't work. Just kidding. I'm just going to tell you the recipe and then tell you what I think I'll need to change for next time to make them better.

Ingredients:

1 cup light corn syrup

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon soy margarine

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

approx. 6 cups puffed rice cereal

Get the full recipe here: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=6559.0

The first thing I would change is I'd make 1/2 the liquid stuff or double the puffed rice cereal. I think it was too syrupy. The next thing is I would decrease the corn syrup and increase the margarine. That's about all I've got for tonight. I know, lame blog, but it's VeganMoFo and I committed to blogging EVERY weekday (even when I don't have anything to say). :-)

Happy Eating

Rice and Tofu (It's tastier than it sounds)

Rice and Tofu doesn't sound all that appetizing to me, but it was really good tonight. I kind of made it up as I went along, so there aren't measurements exactly, just ingredients and guesses. I'm sure you recipe followers love that. I'm sorry, it's the way I cook, and it allows you to be more open to making things taste the way YOU want them to!

Sorry about the photo quality. I took it from my phone. Iwas too hungry to go get my camera. :)

Rice Ingredients:
Brown Rice
1 can diced tomatoes w/chilies
~3/4 can or black beans (hubby hates beans so I didn’t use a whole can)
~2 cups of corn (I used frozen)

Method:
I cooked things funny because my daughter doesn’t like anything in her rice and my hubby doesn’t like corn. Play with what works best for you and your family.
Cook the rice according to the directions on the package
Add tomatoes, black beans (rinsed), and corn (I cooked the corn before I added it)
Simmer until everything’s warm and flavors have blended

Tofu Ingredients:
Extra firm tofu (drained)
Nutritional yeast
Soy sauce
Oil (for cooking)

Method:
Heat the oil
Slice the tofu kind of thin
Splash some soy sauce on tofu, then cover in nutritional yeast
Fry in the skillet (I think the tofu cooked better in the spots with the least amount of oil. Next time I think I’ll just spray it with something)
(This was inspired by The Spicy Vegan. Check out her blog! http://thespicyvegan.blogspot.com/)

Happy Eating!

Cheeze Suace

I use this cheeze sauce on EVERYTHING! It works in casseroles, mac 'n' cheeze, on pizza...My meat eating, cheese eating husband even likes it!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup vegan margarine

1 1/2 cups veggie broth

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

Soy sauce - to taste

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

~1/3 cup tofutti better than cream cheese

Method:

Mix veg margarine and flour in sauce pan

Whisk in veggie broth, garlic powder, onion powder, and soy sauce.

Mix well and simmer until thickened

When it's thick, add nutritional yeast and "cream cheese"

If you want something thicker, you can add more flour.

Vegan Cheeseburger Mac

I think I've posted this recipe before, but I made a few changes today. OK, so really I just didn't pull out the recipe and I made it from memory which made some changes.

Ingredients:
1 (12 oz) package of "Smart Ground" by LightLife (You could use any ground "meat" alternative)
1/2 of a 1 pound box of macaroni
15 oz of stewed tomatoes (pureed)
1 batch of cheeze sauce

Method:
Put "meat", tomatoes, and pasta in a skillet and simmer. While it's cooking, fix the cheeze sauce.
When the cheeze sauce is finished, add it to the skillet. Simmer until the pasta is cooked the way you like it.

NOTE:
I know a lot of vegans don't like prepackaged foods. I know a lot of vegans don't like fake meats. I understand where you're coming from. They're not really my favorite things either. With that said, my husband, who is a meat and potatoes guy, will actually eat this vegan meal. He likes it. He prefers it to Hamburger Helper (which used to be a staple for him). I would rather my family eat processed vegan "meat" then actual hamburger. If you don't like to use the vegan meat alternatives, you could use homemade seitan. I have a meat grinder attachment for my KitchenAid and someday I'm going to try to make some seitan and grind it. I'll let you know how it turns out. :-)

Happy Eating!

Vegan Wings

Last night for dinner I made vegandad's vegan wings. ( http://vegandad.blogspot.com/2008/05/vegan-boneless-chickenless-wings.html)

They were easy to make and very tasty. Here are things that I would do different next time.

I used bullion instead of "chicken powder" (if I do that next time, I won't use any salt).

I didn't use skewers. Next time I think I'll make them smaller so they're more like "popcorn chicken"

I don't like spicy so I dipped them in BBQ instead of covering them in wing sauce.

We had them for family movie night. I served them with french fries and carrot sticks. So it wasn't the healthiest meal we've ever eaten, but it sure was tasty!

Happy Eating!

Too much soup?

I have a habit of making enough soup to feed a small army (even though there are just 2 of us that eat it). I always think I'm going to freeze it and have it for a long time and it's going to be wonderful, but I never have enough containers to store it. So, today I was telling my wonderful mom my delima (96 oz of veggie soup plus a HUGE pot of chili working on the stove, PLUS some chicken soup I made for hubby) and she told me that you can freeze soup in ziplock freezer bags. Who knew? I'm sure everyone reading this knew already, and I'm just slow, but I think that's pretty cool. So tonight, on my way home from my bible study I'm going to stop and buy some quart size ziplock freezer bags and freeze all my soup and chili. I'll let you know how it goes.

Veagn MoFo Day 8: "Sausage gravy" w/biscuits

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm a HUGE fan of Patrick at PopVegOnline! Yesterday he posted a recipe for biscuits and talked about having vegan sausage biscuits (http://popvegonline.com/blog/?p=376) and it inspired me. My mom used to make sausage gravy every once in a while and it was so good. I decided I could make a vegan version and I did!

For the gravy I used Morning Star Farms Meal starter sausage-style crumbles (don't use the patties or the links, they've got milk and eggs in them), soy milk and flour. I cooked the crumbles in some oil, then added enough soy milk to cover them. I sprinkled in some flour and simmered while the biscuits were cooking. It turned out great! I think meat eaters might be able to taste the soy milk, but I don't mind the soy milk flavor.

Happy Eating!!

Vegan MoFo Day 7: Veggie Soup

I made veggie soup tonight. It was great! Here's my "recipe"

Carrots
Celery
Onions
Potatoes
Canned stewed tomatoes (chopped in the food processor)
Red beans (which I would omit next time)
Garlic
Veggie broth
Thyme
Sage
Salt

I made enough soup to feed a small army (which is typical when I make soup) but it took FOREVER! I think I chopped veggies for 2 hours. OK, I'm sure I'm exaggerating, but it felt like AT least 2 hours. Then it cooked for 3 or more hours. It seriously took me 5 hours from the first veggie to dinner time.

So here's what I learned:
1. Don't make soup on days when you've banned the TV from your small child. (My daughter's 3 1/2...it was difficult)
2. Soup takes a long time...plan accordingly
3. Red beans do funny things when they're simmered for 3 hours
4. There's no such thing as too much garlic
5. Biscuits are REALLY good with soup. Try these http://popvegonline.com/blog/?cat=24 (Thanks PopVegOnline! You ROCK!!)

So what do you put in your veggie soup?

Happy Eating

Lack 'o Motivation

We're having soup for dinner tonight. I'm excited about having soup. I really like soup. However, I do not really like chopping veggies. That's not even true. I normally love chopping things. I have this chefs knife and I really enjoy using it, but today, I just don't want to. Maybe it's because I'm making an amazing veggie soup, but I'm also making a nasty dead chicken soup (for the meat eating hubby of mine). I don't like chopping up dead birds. That's just gross and sad. *sigh* I must find some motivation. I know this isn't exactly a very happy blog today, I'm just needing to vent a little.

OK, off to chop veggies (and dead birds). I'll post the recipe after dinner (assuming it's delish!)

So, what do you do when you're running short on motivation? Any wonderful suggestions? (OK, so honestly they don't need to be wonderful, any suggestions will work). :-)

Happy Hump Day!

Are you living intentionally?

I know, I normally only blog about vegan stuff and I do love all things vegan, but I just need to put this out there somewhere. I've been thinking today about how I want to change as a mom, a wife, a Christian, a person...and there is a theme that keeps coming up in my mind. I need to be intentional. I have a habit of going through the motions. Letting life lead me, versus me leading my life. I need to stop that. I need to think about what I'm doing. Where am I spending my time? What should I be doing that I'm not? How many brownies do I eat without thinking? So here's my question for you, if you lived intentionally, what would you change? How would your life be different? Your relationships? Your food choices? Your exercise habits?

Here's my answer (in short): If I was living intentionally, I would spend more quality time with my daughter and less time waiting for something interesting to pop up on Twitter. I would be aware of what I was putting in my body. I would stop eating because I was bored or angry. I would spend more time focusing on my husband's needs. I would spend more time focusing on my relationship with Christ. I would stop using the television as an escape from my life.

Think about what you'd change. Think about living intentionally for 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 1 lifetime. We only get one chance at life. Let's be intentional about it.

Best Chocolate Brownies!

I have a huge sweet tooth. I love anything chocolate! When I first went vegan I had a dear friend, Nicole, whose son has milk and egg allergies and she helped me discover my first vegan chocolates. I started with Oreos and wacky cake. I now have an amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe (from Vegan with a Vengeance) and a wonderful chocolate brownie recipe. Last night we made brownies and they're so good, I want to share them with you! OK, I know, that's impossible, but I can at least share the recipe. I got them from All Recipes. Here's the link to the best vegan brownies I've had!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/vegan-brownies/Detail.aspx

Happy Eating!

Vegan MoFo day 5

My family doesn't like vegetables. They won't eat them. They hate them. It makes dinner difficult for me because I want them to eat their veggies. So on spaghetti night I trick them. There's a full serving of veggies in spaghetti sauce and I like to add some finely chopped spinach to the sauce. They think it's spices and they gobble it up. OK, so my husband's not an idiot, he knows I "sneak" spinach into his spaghetti sauce, but he doesn't mind it. Says he can't taste it.

So tonight was spaghetti night. We had Nate's Meatless Balls cooked in the sauce and while we were eating it my meaty husband said, "We should have this at Christmas time when my parents come." I like my in-laws, but they're not huge fans of vegan food, also they live over 1,000 miles away and we only get to see them once a year (unless someone dies) so the suggestion to serve them a vegan meal from my meaty hubby came as a bit of a shock. During the course of the conversation he told me that the meatballs that you get at restaurants were ALMOST as good as the vegan ones. Not better, not as good, ALMOST as good! Score one for the vegan team!

I'm still excited about the vegan win. Thank you Nate (whoever you are) for your amazing vegan meatless meat balls! You rock my world!!!

Happy Eating!

This week in our house...

I'm a food nerd. It's ok though, I like it that way. Every week before I make a grocery list, I plan out our meals. Here's what we're having this week.

Quinoa Mexican style (corn, blackbeans, salsa, and 'sour cream')

Veggie Soup

Chili (which we had last week too, but it wasn't very good so I'm modifying it...adding vegan sausage and more tomato juice)

Pizza (which is a weekly thing for us)

Spaghetti w/marinara, spinach and Nate's Meatless Balls

Vegan hotwings from VeganDad http://vegandad.blogspot.com/2008/05/vegan-boneless-chickenless-wings.html

I'll tell ya'll how they turn out as we eat them. I'll also let you know what (if anything) picky meat eating hubby eats. (I normally fix a seperate meal for him, although he really likes Nate's meatless balls and my chili)

Happy Eating!

Vegan Bacon Sandwich

Tonight for dinner my hubby had a bacon sandwich and for the first time in years, bacon actually smelled good. It was strange and a little disturbing. Then I started craving bacon. Which was very disturbing. I had some vegan bacon in the freezer that I've had for months (I bought it for really really cheap). I pulled it out and had a bacon, veganaise, and ketchup sandwich. It was marvelous! I just had to blog about it. It was lightlife smart bacon. It was good and easy. I don't remember what bacon taste like so if you're a new veg*n I don't know if you'd like it, but I thought it was outstanding! :-)

Happy Eating!

VeganMoFo Day 4 - I have the best mom!

My family and I went to my parents' house yesterday for the day and I realized that I have the best mom! I'm the only vegan in the family. I haven't eaten meat in 16 years and I've been vegan for almost 2 years. Yesterday my mom fixed lunch and dinner for us. For lunch we had sandwiches and chips. She made sure that I had multiple options (PB&J or Boca Chicken Patties) w/vegan bread (that she bought just for me). For dinner she had lasagna (beef and cheese), but she made me tofu ravioli. She also made sure that there was dressing that I could eat for my salad, AND vegan croutons! Like I said, I have the best mom in the world!
I just wanted to brag to the world about how wonderful my family is. I hear horror stories about other people and their families. I feel blessed to have the family that I have who honors my choice to be vegan. (Now if only I could get them to join me!)

Happy Eating!

Day 2 of Vegan MoFo...Pizza Night!

Tonight, like every Friday in our house, is pizza night! Before I went vegan it was always cheese pizza, but now...the possibilities are endless! I don't have any amazing secret recipe that's going to blow your mind, but here are some of my favorite pizza toppings.

Artichokes (way better than cheese)
Mushrooms
Onions
Spinach
Garlic
Vegan sausage (which is funny because I never ate sausage pizza when I ate meat)
Cheese sauce (or any vegan cheese)
Olives
Broccoli (it's ok if you cut it up pretty small, other wise I think it's a little odd)

When I'm not really in the mood for pizza I've done a Mexican pizza w/salsa, corn, cheeze, tomatoes, taco flavored TVP...whatever I've got on hand

So...what are your favorite pizza toppings?

Day 1 of Vegan MoFo...Chili

I'm not very good with blogging, please forgive me! I should get better by the end of the month. :-)
Tonight for dinner we're having my momma's chili (veganized). I don't really do recipes, but I can give you a general idea of how to make it so that YOU love! :-)

Momma’s Chili
Ingredients
2-46 oz cans of tomato juice
TVP or Vegan “ground meat” (enough to make it as “meaty” as you like)
Salsa (whatever your favorite is)
Chili powder (to taste)
Spaghetti (broken into tiny bits)

Method
Pour everything in a big pot a simmer until it’s all cooked.

Serve w/vegan cornbread. I made this one today, it's ok but not the best I've ever had. http://www.recipezaar.com/Vegan-Cornbread-115929

ENJOY!!

Recipes

There are two recipes that I've "created" in the last week that my husband, the meat eater, has really enjoyed. I thought I'd post them for those with picky meat eating spouses! :-)



Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients:
I batch of cheeze Sauce
2/3 of a bag of shredded hash browns (the frozen kind - I guessed at how much)
2/3 - 3/4 bag of morning star "sausage" crumbles (I'm sure you could use real sausage, but the morningstar is all cooked and ready to go :-)) If you use real sausage cook it and drain it first
1/2 cup tofutti better than sour cream
bread crumbs (or some other kind of topping - French fried onions would be good, crackers would work, corn flakes might be good too).
Directions:
Mix it all up, put it in a sheet pan (casserole dish) and bake at 350 for 30-45mins (until it's hot all the way through and the potatoes are cooked.



Enchiladas

Ingredients:

1 package Fantastic world foods vegetarian sloppy joe

1 can diced tomatoes

1/2 onion

1/4 cup fresh basil

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 batch of "cheeze sauce"

1/2 container of "sour cream" (I used tofutti's better than sour cream)

salsa

Corn tortillas

Directions:

Saute diced onion until caramelized. Add can of tomatoes, sloppy joe mix, and 1/4 cup of water. Simmer until sloppy joe is cooked. (It should have the consistency of meat, kind of).

Add 1/2 container of "sour cream" (appx oz) to the "cheeze sauce"

Assemble enchiladas (put sloppy joe and some cheeze inside corn tortillas, roll, and place in a pan)

Cover enchiladas with "cheeze sauce"

Bake at 350 for 30-40 mins (until cheeze sauce is slightly browned)



Cheeze Sauce

Ingredients:

1/4 cup margarine (vegan)

1/4 cup flour

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

1 TBSP soy sauce

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1/4 cup nutritional yeast (to taste)

3/4 cup "cream cheese" (to taste)



Directions:

Mix margarine and flour over low heat. Add broth, soy sauce, garlic and onion powders. When sauce is thickened whisk in nutritional yeast and "cream cheese"

This isn't my recipe. My mom found it on a website...maybe vegweb? as a sauce for green bean casserole. It has been modified. If you know where it came from, please leave a comment and I'll give credit where it's due!



Please leave comments - like, dislike, could/should change...:-)

Guilty?

Let me start with a little background. I'm a vegan mom married to a meat eating man, raising a meat eating daughter. Recently I've been thinking/researching/learning, a great deal about the health benefits of being vegan, and finding out that they are numerous. I had no idea that being vegan was so healthy. I just knew that treating animals the way that factory farmers treat them, wasn't something I was willing to support. I was a vegetarian when I met my husband 6 years ago, but I wasn't an advocate. Things are starting to change. I'm starting to change. I see the health benefits of being vegan. I know what it's done for me, both physically and emotionally, and I want my family to convert. I feel as if I've failed my daughter (who is 3 years old) by feeding her the garbage that she eats. She loves hot dogs and chicken sandwiches. (I know, I already said I feel horrible, stop looking at me like that :-)). I'm supposed to do what's best for her, but what do I do when what I know is best isn't accepted by my husband and her father as being the best? I'm working really hard on making vegan meals my whole family will eat and enjoy. I've even gone back to "fake meats" to fill in for my husband. I just feel guilty knowing that I have been feeding (and am continuing to feed) my daughter animal products.
I think maybe I can eventually convert them both...with time and patience (which I don't have an abundant supply of). I'll be posting updates. If you have any suggestions, please let me know!

UPDATE: Tonight for dinner, my 3 year old ate a vegan hot dog. I know it's not the best, but it's better then a regular one! Maybe we're taking positive steps towards becoming a vegan household! :-)

6 "healthiest foods"...according to some.

Yahoo! had an article titled "6 Healthiest Foods You Aren't Eating" so I clicked on it and read the article like any good nutritionally aware person would do. (Here's the link if you want to see it http://droogie.co.uk/veggie/veggiemars.html)
Scallops? Ok, maybe...Dark Meat?! Really? We should be eating more turkey? ONLY a 1/3 of the fat is bad for you. What? Come on people. Why should I be eating more turkey of any kind? It makes you feel full longer. OK, so do whole grains. It makes me so angry to read articles that suggest that we as a nation need to eat more MEAT! I think we eat enough meat. How about we stop eating the animals and end suffering?
Sorry - I just needed to rant.

What do YOU think we need to eat more of? Or less of?

It's Vegan??

I've been baking a lot the last week or so for different events. There was a picnic that I made brownies and chocolate chip cookies for and a meeting that I took muffins to. Most people who knew me well asked, before trying, if my baked goods were vegan. I of course said yes and the response was surprising. Everyone cringed and a few people walked away and didn't even try them. I don't really care if people like my food (that's lie, of course I want people to like my food, but that's not the point) I just want them to give it a shot. Everyone who tried them liked them. I just don't understand people aversion to good vegan food!

Has anyone else had this issue? If so, how do you handle it?

Moving

My dear husband, AKA Meatman, and I have bought a house and we are moving. Actually we have already moved, but we're still unpacking. Hence the lack of blogging. I am currently making a really yummy quick seitan right now for dinner and I still need to post the recipe for the broccoli cheese rice stuff. I have not forgotten, just not had time. Will blog more later.

Veggie Wrap

Veggie Lunch Wrap - so yum!!

spinach
apple - thinly sliced
avocado
red cabbage
red onion
"cream cheese" (I used toffuti better than cream cheese)
Naturally fresh organic sun dried tomato & garlic dressing
whole wheat tortilla

spread cream cheese on tortilla then pile on the veggies and apple. Drizzle with dressing and eat it up!

You can really use whatever you've got on hand, but the apple, cream cheese and dressing go really well together.

Makes a nice salad too - just leave out the cream cheese or mix the cream cheese and dressing before adding to the salad.

Enjoy!

Uh-oh what's for dinner TVP Sloppy Joes

So last night I needed something fast and easy for dinner. I looked around the kitchen and found a can of Manwhich, and TVP. Looked like the beginning of a meal to me. So here's the recipe that I created last night. It was good. My meat eater husband even liked it.

1 cup of TVP
1 cup of water
3/4 can of Manwich
approx 2 tablespoons ketchup
approx 1 teaspoon mustard
Tomato paste (if needed)
Spices to taste (I used garlic, dehydrated onion, and extra spicy Mrs. Dash)


Rehydrate the TVP according to the instructions on the bag. Add Manwich, ketchup, mustard, tomato paste and spices. I just keep adding things until it tastes right. If it's too spicy add brown sugar.

It was good and fast. I will make no claims that it was healthy, but it was good and fast. :-)

Enjoy!

New Cafe

For everyone in Cincinnati who might stumble blindly onto my blog, I must talk about the new vegan cafe. My husband and I went on Friday evening. The food was great, the atmosphere was awesome and the owner was sweet! It's called Loving Cafe and their goal is to make meat eaters vegan by the end of the meal (ok maybe not really, but it should be) - they almost had my husband, a big time meat eater, ready to convert! They had a raw blueberry pie that was out of this world! Just thought I'd share that with everyone! (or since no one is actually reading this yet, I would share it with no one and pray that some day people will start reading ha ha ha)!

Yummy stir fry sauce

Here's my first recipe for my blog. It's my favorite. I make it at least once a week, sometimes 2 or 3 times a week!

Sauce:
5 medium cloves of garlic (to taste)
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of sesame oil
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar (can use red wine vinegar)
Something spicy - My favorite is chili garlic sauce, but you can use crushed red pepper, Mrs. Dash extra spicy, Tabasco - whatever you've got on hand (to taste)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Put everything in a small container that has a tight lid. Put the lid on and SHAKE! (My daughter really likes this part so I let her do it).

Pour the sauce on whatever veggies you're stir frying. I really like it with broccoli, onions, and mushrooms, but I'm sure it would be wonderful on others.

Serve with noodles or brown rice. I like to mix my noodles in with the veggies at the very end of cooking. You can sprinkle it with chopped peanuts or toasted sesame seeds. They're both good and they're completely different.

Oh, for you meat eaters (or vegans w/meat eating spouses) you can add chicken or whatever animals you want at the end.

Enjoy!

Introductions

Hi everyone! I'm Linz. I've been a vegetarian for 16 years and a vegan for almost a year and a half. My husband and daughter are both meat eaters so meals around our house are interesting to say the least. I wanted to start a blog to help out other people who have some of the same odd dinner struggles. My plan is to post recipes that my whole family enjoys including some meat recipes and what I eat on those nights. Hopefully people will read this and enjoy!