Cranberry Zucchini Bread

Yes, we still have more zucchini than we know what to do with!

Over the weekend, I made a Cranberry Zucchini Bread and it turned out fantastic!

Here are the ingredients:

1 1/2 cups organic whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup cinnamon unsweetened apple sauce
1/4 cup raw sugar
1 1/3 cups shredded zucchini
1/3 cup almond milk
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon

Here are the steps:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly mist a loaf pan with Pam.
2) In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.
3) In a large bowl, combine applesauce and raw sugar.  Mix in shredded zucchini, almond milk, and vanilla extract.
4) In 4 batches, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined.
5) Add batter to your loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes. Insert a toothpick and pull it out.  If it is clean, pull the loaf out of the oven, if it has batter on it, bake for an additional 5 minutes and re-check.
6) Use a knife to separate the bread from the pan and place the bread on a cooling rack.  Allow to cool for 20 minutes before serving.

For The Record

For the record, I do not believe eating Vegan is the only way to eat.  I do not believe that a Vegan diet is the cure-all to every ailment known to man.  I do not believe that eating Vegan, will by any means, give you super powers.  I do not judge people based on the foods they eat, contrary to what most of them believe.  It is your right to eat what you want, how you want, and when you want. 

Vegan eating is my answer to my past health problems and is now a preventative measure to ensure I do not visit that dark and scary ally again.  As I have written before, it is the only option for me to not be on medication.  No amount of exercise and  healthy eating (animal products) could reduce my cholesterol and get rid of my Acid Reflux Disease.  I tried it, lost 30 pounds, became lean, and ate very well with the result of decreased numbers, but still high numbers that placed me at risk.  Eating Vegan cured me.  I decided to take the healthy route instead of the easy pharmaceutical one that would lead me down a path of thinking, "it is okay to eat this because my meds will take care of me."  In my case, medicine was not the answer!

Who is the Vegan diet for?  The Vegan diet is for someone who knows they can eat their fruits, veggies, beans, and grains and who will not become a junk food Vegan.  You have to be smart about your food choices and really plan to make sure you are getting enough iron, calcium, zinc, and iodine (I am not going to say protein because protein is soooo easy to get!).  I have said it before, just because it is Vegan does not mean it is healthy!  There are so many junk food options out there for Vegans, it is crazy.  Do I think you should avoid them at all costs?  In an ideal world, yes because it would be the healthiest option, but in reality, no.  I save these items for special occasions and treats.  It is nice to have some dairy free ice cream every once in a while and it is nice to have a diary free cookie every now and then.  Should these be consumed on a daily basis?  Not at all!  How often do I consume Vegan junk food?  In all honesty, about once a month, if that.  The Vegan diet is for someone who is headed down a road that leads to medication and ultimately a road that increases your chances of having a heart-attack, cancer, or even a per-mature death.

How do you get started on a Vegan diet?  It really depends upon your personality.  If you feel you can do it cold turkey, go for it!  If you feel you need to take gradual steps and become a Vegetarian first, then a Vegan, do it!  If you feel you need to cut meat out one day a week, then move to two, and so on, do it!  In my eyes, anything that leads to a healthier way of eating is the right path to take.  Find foods you love, and consume them often.  If you don't like a certain food, don't punish yourself and eat it.  Food should be good!  If you only like spinach blended up in a smoothie so you can't taste it, blend it up! 

Am I the perfect Vegan?  No way!  I have so many areas I can improve upon!  This last year, I cut out processed cereal from my diet and replaced it with rolled oats.  That was difficult to do because I was a cereal addict.  We are talking, 6 boxes a week...by myself!  Do I consume too much sugar?  I wouldn't say I consume a ton, but I do eat a little more than I should.  I am a work in progress!  Do I still eat foods with some oils in them?  Yes.  This is another area I need to work on.  I don't consume a lot of it, because I get chest pains if I do.  I consume so little, most people wouldn't see it as a big deal, but I see it as an area I can work on.  I never bake with it.  I do spray Pam in the pan so my food will not stick, but I am working on that.  I do eat granola bars that have oil in them.  I do eat chips every now and then that have oil in them.  Do I get my 5-7 servings of fruits and veggies every day?  This, I can say I do!  Remember the Spaghetti Squash Zucchini Bake?  That dish alone has roughly 5 servings of veggies in it per serving!

Honesty is the key to better nutrition.  We must be honest with ourselves first, so we can take a look at what we are putting into our bodies and see where we can improve our diets.  For the record, I will always be honest with my readers.  For the record, I commend you for taking a step towards a healthier lifestyle.  For the record, I am not perfect, nor are you, but together, we can encourage each other to strive for optimal nutrition in our daily lives.

Sourdough Bread From A Starter

When we visited our friends, Kyle and Tara, in Goodyear, Arizona, when we went on our vacation last month, they had just pulled out this amazing loaf of bread from the oven.  It was so fluffy and light and huge!  Tara cut off a piece and gave it to me so I could try it. For me to say it was the best sourdough bread I have ever had would be an understatement!  She showed me how she made a starter and explained how to keep it alive by feeding it.  Lucky me, she sent us home with some of her starter, so I too could make my own dairy free bread.

After feeding it for a few weeks, I finally made my bread.  I followed the directions to the "T" this time, and after a few text messages, will be following Tara's instructions instead.  Since the conventional method asked to make two separate loaves on a baking sheet, that is what I did.  Next time, I will put all the dough into a loaf pan and bake it that way.

Here are the instructions to care for your own starter.

Straight from Breadtopia's website, the instructions to get your hands on a starter are as follows:

• Step 1. Mix 3 ½ tbs. whole wheat flour with ¼ cup unsweetened pineapple juice. Cover and set aside for 48 hours at room temperature. Stir vigorously 2-3x/day. (“Unsweetened” in this case simply means no extra sugar added).
• Step 2. Add to the above 2 tbs. whole wheat flour and 2 tbs. pineapple juice. Cover and set aside for a day or two. Stir vigorously 2-3x/day. You should see some activity of fermentation within 48 hours. If you don’t, you may want to toss this and start over (or go buy some!)
• Step 3. Add to the above 5 ¼ tbs. whole wheat flour and 3 tbs. purified water. Cover and set aside for 24 hours.
• Step 4. Add ½ cup whole wheat flour and 1/4 to 1/3 cup purified water. You should have a very healthy sourdough starter by now.

And here is the recipe Tara gave me to actually make my bread.  The instructions bellow are directly from King Arthur Flour's website:

• 1 cup "fed" sourdough starter
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt (I left this part out)
• 5 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour (this can be any brand)

1) Combine all of the ingredients, kneading to form a smooth dough.
2) Allow the dough to rise, in a covered bowl, until it's doubled in size, about 90 minutes.
3) Gently divide the dough in half; it'll deflate somewhat. 
4) Gently shape the dough into two oval loaves; or, for longer loaves, two 10" to 11" logs (This is where I will from not on place the entire batch of dough into a single loaf pan). Place the loaves on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise until very puffy, about 1 hour. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 425°F.
5) Spray the loaves with lukewarm water.
6) Make two fairly deep diagonal slashes in each; a serrated bread knife, wielded firmly, works well here.
7) Bake the bread for 25 to 30 minutes, until it's a very deep golden brown. Remove it from the oven, and cool on a rack.   

The flavor of this bread is delish!  The texture is perfect and not super dense.  Once I get good at making this bread, I plan to venture out and start adding extra nutrients like flax seed, whole grains, etc.. 

Daily Nutritional Requirements To Thrive

As parents, and as humans really, we tend to overestimate the value of the nutrients we or our children are getting on a daily basis.  When I visited the Dietitian on my daughter's behalf, I walked away with a handout that includes the daily recommended nutritional values of all ages.  I thought I would share it with you all:

Here are the daily recommended values according to Kaiser Permanente:



Protein:

Age 1-3 Male 13g Female 13g

Age 4-8 Male 19g Female 19g
Age 9-13 Male 34g Female 34g
Age 14-18 Male 52g Female 46g
Age 19 + Male 56g Female 46g
Pregnant or Breastfeeding 71g

Iron:
Age 1-3 Male 7mgs Female 7mgs
Age 4-8 Male 10mgs Female 10mgs
Age 9-13 Male 8mgs Female 8mgs
Age 14-18 Male 12mgs Female 15mgs
Age 19-50 Male 8mgs Female 18mgs
Age 51 + Male 8mgs Female 8mgs
Breastfeeding (14-18) 10mgs
Breastfeeding (19+) 9mgs

Calcium:
Age 1-3 Male and Female 500mgs
Age 4-8 Male and Female 800mgs
Age 9-18 Male and Female 1300mgs
Age 19-50 Male and Female 1000mgs
51 + Male and Female 1200mgs

Vitamin D:
Age 1-18 Male and Female 400 IU
Age 19-70 Male and Female 400-800 IU
Age 71 + Male and Female 600 IU
Pregnant or Breastfeeding 400 IU

Zinc:
Age 1-3 Male 3mgs Female 3mgs
Age 4-8 Male 5mgs Female 5mgs
Age 9-13 Male 8mgs Female 8mgs
Age 14-18 Male 11mgs Female 9mgs
Age 19 + Male 11mgs Female 8mgs
Pregnant (14-18) 12mgs
Pregnant (19 +) 11mgs
Breastfeeding (14-18) 13mgs
Breastfeeding (19 +) 12mgs

B-12:
Age 1-3 Male and Female 0.9mcgs
Age 4-8 Male and Female 1.2mcgs
Age 9-13 Male and Female 1.8mcgs
Age 14 + Male and Female 2.4mcgs
Pregnant 2.6mcgs
Breastfeeding 2.8mcgs

Protein Sources:
1 Cup cooked Quinoa 8g
1 cup cooked Couscous 6g
1 cup cooked brown rice 5g
2 tbsp peanut butter 9g
1/2 cup kidney beans 7g
1/2 cup tofu 20g 1/2 cup tempeh 20g
1 veggie burger 10g
8oz soy milk 10g

Iron Sources:
1/2 cup tofu 6.7 mgs
1 cup lentils 6.6 mgs
1 cup cooked beans 3-5 mgs
1 packet instant oatmeal 3.8 mgs

Calcium Sources:
1 cup cooked collard greens 358 mgs
1 cup soy milk 300 mgs
2 tbsp. black strap molasses 274 mgs
1/2 cup tofu 258 mgs
1 cup cooked kale 180 mgs

Vitamin D Sources:
Sunlight!
1 cup soy milk 100 IU
Zinc Sources:
1/4 cup wheat germ 3.5 mgs
1 cup wild rice 2.2 mgs
1 cup quinoa 2 mgs
1 cup cooked beans 1.8-2.5 mgs
Vitamin B12 Sources:
1.5 tbsp nutritional yeast 8 mcgs
1 cup soy milk 1-3 mcgs

Recently, I have been added to a group of people who are passionate about nutrition and given some of the medical tests they have gone through, they are proof not all foods are the same.  For instance, a man and his wife both had a urinalysis done to check their protein levels.  The husband, a vegan, and his urine came out clean, his wife however, is not vegan and is a meat eater and her urine test concluded she was not getting enough protein.  I think a lesson we can learn from this, is that not all protein or calories are equal.  Proteins are digested and absorbed differently in the body just as calories are.  Plus, our bodies obviously react in different ways.  I think we should use this information as a guide as to how much nutrients are needed to fuel our bodies daily, and if you are concerned you or your child is not getting enough, go get them tested!

 

Spaghetti Squash Zucchini Bake

We have zucchini coming out of our ears over here!  Our garden is almost producing faster than we can consume them!  My husband had recalled one of the dishes his mom used to make before we were married and he really wanted to have something similar.  His mom would bake zucchini and hallow out the core, filling it with a chicken marinara pasta.  We obviously don't eat chicken, but the pasta with marinara sounded delightful.  I had my husband pick up a spaghetti squash from the grocery store, and although I wanted to make this dish for Father's Day, we ran out of time, but we had it last night and it was so tasty!  We had some extra spaghetti squash after we filled our zucchini, so my husband took the extra spaghetti squash with the extra sauce to work the next day and said it was great!

I set my oven to 375 degrees and let it preheat.  Then, I grabbed a cake pan and filled it with about 1/2 inch of water and placed the, cut in half and hallowed out (seeds), spaghetti squash (hallow side down) in the water bath.  I set my timer for 35 minutes and proceeded to work on the zucchini.  Talk about a massive zucchini, this thing was huge!  Just as I cut and hallowed out the spaghetti squash, I used the same process with the zucchini.  After lining a baking sheet with parchment paper, I placed the zucchini on the pan hallow side up.  With 25 minutes left on the timer, I set the zucchini in the oven on the rack bellow the spaghetti squash.

Time for the green sauce!  By now, you know I love my rocket blender!  The tomatoes, green onion, red onion, and kale with the almond milk got thrown in and was pureed until smooth. I had to do it in 3 batches because the canister is not that big.  After pouring the puree into a sauce pan, I added my spices and let it simmer for a few minutes until the spaghetti squash and the zucchini were done.

I used tongs to take the spaghetti squash out of the water bath and placed it on a cutting board.  With the tongs in my left hand to hold the spaghetti squash steady and a fork in my right, I began to "pull" the strands of the spaghetti squash out.  Half of the squash was plenty to fill both zucchini wells.  Time for assembly!  Take a spoon and add as much sauce to the bottom of each zucchini well as you would like.  I did just enough to where you could not see any of the white of the zucchini.  With the tongs, take the spaghetti squash and fill each well.  Then, add as much of the green sauce as you would like to top off your dish!  Place back in the oven for a 5 minute low broil and your dish is ready to be served!

 Here are the list of ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash
1 larger zucchini
water to fill water bath
3 tomatoes, halved
6 bulbs of green onion stalks, chopped
1/4 cup chopped red onion
3 stalks kale with leaves torn away from stocks
1/4 cup almond milk
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1/2 tbsp dried marjoram
1/2 tbsp dried basil
1 tsp paprika

The steps:

Preheat oven to 375

Fill cake pan with 1/2 inch water, place hallowed out spaghetti squash hallow side down and bake for 35 minutes.  Place hallowed out zucchini, hallow side up when timer reaches 25 minutes bellow spaghetti squash in the oven.

Place tomatoes, chopped green onion, chopped red onion, kale leaves, and almond milk in a food processor (I used a rocket blender) and blend until smooth.  Add green sauce mixture into a small sauce pan and add spices.  Let simmer for a few minutes until both squashes are done.

Once the squashes are done, take the spaghetti squash and pull the strands of spaghetti squash out with a fork.  Spoon green sauce into the zucchini wells and add spaghetti squash on top.  Then, top spaghetti squash with more green sauce and place back in the oven for 5 minutes on a low broil.  Enjoy!

Serves 2-4 depending on the side of your zucchinis.

Oil...Broken Down!

Besides being 100% fat calories and containing ZERO nutrients, oil can be detrimental to your body.  Many health experts condone the use of oils and even say they are healthy for you to eat.  If that is the case, then why do I get chest pains whenever I consumed foods with oil in it over a two day period?  The Foodmatters film, Hungry For Change, said it best, "The simpler I get, the healthier I get."  Isn't that the truth!  The closer we get to the whole, plant-based, food, the healthier it is for our bodies.  Many people consider oil to be a natural food, and it is in a sense, however where does oil come from and how do they get it out of the plant?  They have to process it!  Therefor, if you want the benefits of olive oil, eat some olives.

So, how do we get around not using oil in our foods?  Simple, we substitute!  Sure, your cakes may turn out a little more dense, or your foods may stick a little to the pan, but we need to cut back on our oil consumption!  Here are some simple tips to substituting for oil in your recipes.  If your baking recipe calls for 1 cup oil, you are adding 1,910 calories to that dish/desert as a whole. Say that recipe serves 12 people, you are adding roughly 160 calories just in straight fat to each serving...and that is without adding any other ingredients! That is 30g of saturated fat and a whopping 216g of total fat as a whole, now let's break that down per serving. We come up with 2.5g saturated fat and 18g of total fat!  Let's substitute that 1 cup of oil with 1 cup of organic unsweetened applesauce.  As a whole, 1 cup of applesauce is 102 calories and has ZERO fat!  Per serving, we have 0g of fat and only 8.5 calories!  If you substituted your oil for applesauce, you would save those 12 people you were serving 151.5 calories and 18g of total fat! You can also substitute soy, almond, or coconut yogurt for oil when baking.  You will yield higher calories and fat than if you were using applesauce, but it won't be nearly as high as if you were using any type of oil.

Furit purees are also a good baking substitute!  Just like applesauce, you can use blueberries, bananas, strawberries, peaches, mangos, or just about any other pulpy fruit.  The benefit of using fruit purees over oil is less calories, no fat, and added nutrition!

Try adding water to your pan to saute veggies instead of oil. Heating oil releases free radicals and free radicals in the body are known to cause cancer!  Eeek!  Let's break it down. Heated oil to saute food= more fat, more calories, and the release of free radicals in the body.  Heated water to saute food= no fat, calories, or free radicals in the body.  I opt for the water!

Am I perfect?  Hardly!  I am still working on reducing the amount of oil my family consumes.  We never bake with it for ourselves.  We always substitute with applesauce or yogurt when baking.  We do use Pam when we cook Boca Burgers on the stove (I have yet to experiement with using water in the pan instead) and I used to use Pam when I would grease cookie sheets or bread/cake pans.  Now, I use parchment paper which saves oil and clean up!

Veggies In Your Muffins!

As I was gardening this morning, I had to harvest some Zucchini.  I already had some my Mother-In-Law had given me, and I had so much I didn't know how I was going to cook it all.  Three nights ago, I purchased The Happy Herbivoire for my Kindle.  Why haven't I bought this cook book before?  I have no idea!  The Kindle version was only $4.49, a real steal if you ask me.  There had to be a recipe for Zucchini in there somewhere!  Ah ha!  Chocolate Zucchini Muffins it is.

My daughter had just gone down for her morning nap and I was able to gather the ingredients straight from my fridge and pantry.  I started out with my Mise en Place (as we discussed with the Irish Soda Bread reicpe).  After I had all the ingredients measured out, I began mixing them together as Lindsay Nixon, the author of The Happy Herbiviore, had suggested.

I am the type of person who is never happy with recipes that are given to me and I always make adjustments here and there.  Since baking soda already has sodium in it, I omitted the salt, and I wanted these muffins to be a breakfast item, so I added just a few oats.  In the future, I will add more oats and incorporate them into the batter with shredded apple and carrots and reduce the sugar content from 1/2 cup down to 1/8 cup.  I also used the small holes on my grater so I could increase the amount of Zucchini that went into the recipe instead of the larger holes which would give me the 1/2 cut grated much quicker.  I even think you could add a little more to yield some extra nutrients.

The recipe asks to preheat the oven to 350 degrees and to grease your muffin pan.  I wanted to see how much these muffins would stick, so I sprayed Pam on all of the muffin wells, leaving one un-greased.  After the muffins baked, the one muffin I did not grease came out with ease and did not stick to the pan.  Mental note* there is no need to spray my muffin pan when using this recipe!

Here are a few visuals of how the recipe went together:

 Grated zucchini using the small holes on the grater.

 Banana, applesauce, and sugar mixed.

 Mise en Place!

 Combining wet and dry ingredients in 4 batches.  This is batch 1.

 Batch 2.

 Batch 3.

 Batch 4.

 The completed batter.

 I added the oats as my own addition!

 And here is the final product!  They are surprisingly chocolatey in flavor and you would never suspect there was any Zucchini in the recipe.  The muffins are also very moist and not dense like many Vegan deserts/pastries.

Here is my modification of the recipe:

1 1/4 cups organic unbleached flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 large ripe banana, mashed
1/2 cup unsweetened cinnamon applesauce
1/2 cup raw sugar
1/4 cup almond milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
Rolled oats to sprinkle on top of muffins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon together using a fork to mash any clumps.
In a large bowl, mix mashed banana with applesauce and sugar.  Once combined, add the almond milk, vanilla, and zucchini.  Stir until you have a nice even consistency.
Add the dry mix to the we in 4 batches, stirring until the dry mix just disappears.  You do not want to over mix the batter!
Spoon into muffin pan 3/4 full.
Sprinkle each muffin with a pinch of rolled oats.
Bake for 18 minutes, checking by inserting a toothpick into the center and pulling it out.  If the toothpick comes out clean, pull the muffins and transfer them onto a cooling rack, if batter is on the toothpick, bake for an additional 5 minutes and re-check with a new toothpick.

My daughter LOVED these muffins and I am sure once my husband gets home from work, he will too!

Why Go Vegan?

The question I get asked most often involves the reasoning behind my Veganism.  As an animal lover, most people think my animal rights activism side has come out and I want to save the world and its resources by converting people one Vegan at a time.  While I do love animals and see them in a whole new light since converting to a strictly plant-based, Vegan diet, my story is more complex than feeling the heartache of knowing an innocent animal died to feed a mouth.

Looking back, it started in 3rd grade.  I would get this terrible pain in my chest, back and right ear.  The pain would be so intense, I felt as if a knife was being stabbed through my back, into my chest, all while hitting a nerve that shot up to my ear.  Curling up into the fetal position, I would cry and wish the pain away.  That method does not work, by the way!  This pain went on for years and I never knew what it was.

I came down with a viral infection and my husband, who was my fiancee at the time, drove me to Urgent Care where the doctor had many questions.  The most surprising one being when I had my tonsils removed.  Come to find out, I was born without them...who would of thought, but that is besides the point.  After a few questions, I did have a viral infection, but walked away with a prescription for the pharmaceutical strength Prilosec.  He diagnosed me with Acid Reflux Disease and apparently, I had been experiencing the horrible symptoms of it for eleven years.

Fast forward to January of 2008.  I went to the doctor because I was sick, yet again, and my migraines were debilitating me to the point where I couldn't walk because each step sent a pounding sensation to my head where I felt as if my brain was just lose inside bouncing from hemisphere to hemisphere.  I hadn't been able to exercise because the migraines would last a week, or even a week and a half, and once I felt like I could exercise, the weather was against me.  My amazing doctor sent me to the lab and had my blood drawn to do a full lipid profile.  I didn't think anything of the test, but within three days, I got a call.  Since when do the nurses actually call a patient to give them test results?  They call when it isn't good news and you need some type of intervention!  I was given six months to get my numbers down, or else, they were placing me on medication!  For me, the meds were the easy way out, but there was no way I was going to be placed on the same Staten drugs my grandparents took!

After extensive research, I made huge changes.  I joined the gym at San Diego State University where I was studying for my B.A. in Psychology.  Working out became a part of my routine and I exercised and lifted weights four to five days a week.  At the same time, my diet was completely different.  I cut out all red meat and only consumed four ounces of extra lean chicken or turkey a day.  Eliminating all saturated fats was also essential, as well as reducing my sodium intake.  Learning to read labels was not difficult, but it took a conscious effort.  Realizing I could not eat a lot of the foods I had been eating was an eye opener and fueled my new passion for a cleaner and healthier way of not only eating, but living.  Sounds healthy, right?  Thirty pounds down, and going from a size nine to a size three was a confidence booster, but that was quickly shot down by my six month re-check on my lipid panel.  My numbers had gone down, but they were not anywhere near where I wanted them to be.  I still had high cholesterol, but was borderline for needing medication.  That was not good enough for me.

The Best Man at our wedding sent me a couple of books and I read them cover to cover in a matter of days.  One changed my life, The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell.  I had been slowly killing myself with my food.  No one ever taught me how to eat healthy or about nutrition until our Best Man enlightened me.  I began a Vegan diet as soon as I had finished the book and have never looked back.  Three months into this new way of life, my Acid Reflux Disease was GONE, my acne was GONE, my skin felt more hydrated, I was sleeping better, I had more energy, and the best part of all, my cholesterol numbers fell into the middle of the normal range!  My doctor was blown away and told me he was going to use my numbers as an example to his patients to show them lifestyle change is better than taking a pill everyday!  He even suggested I start teaching a cholesterol course at the hospital!  I am now referred to as his "Favorite Vegan Patient!"  Besides having many ailments disappear, I have not been as sick as I used to be.  Now, if I do get sick, it literally lasts a day, then I am back to feeling 100%.  Basically, being Vegan is the only way for me to not be on medication.  I wish I knew how to nourish my body when I was younger, however I am taking this opportunity to share my knowledge with those who are willing to listen and want to change their lives.  Here is my Cholesterol Transformation:

Since going Vegan, I have watched many documentaries on health, diet, and lifestyle, as well as read many scholarly journals and research papers relating to a Vegan diet and disease. Most of the videos I have watched talk about Cancer and how our food and lifestyle choices contribute to its rapid growth within our bodies.  With having four members of my family battle Cancer (I thank God they are all survivors!), I have yet another reason to continue on with this lifestyle! Cancer appears to run in my family as well as Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, and High Cholesterol, why wouldn't I make this change for myself and my family to lengthen my time here on this Earth? 

The opportunities keep presenting themselves since I have changed my lifestyle.  One of those opportunities took me to New York to appear on the Dr. Oz show!  Although I did not get to talk, it was a fantastic memory I got to share with my daughter and it is a memory I will never forget!  Yes, Dr. Oz is as nice a person in real life as he is on T.V.!  This blog has also opened doors for me and I hope it will help others become more informed and give them the strength to change their lives!

Our Food Needs Nourishment, Too!

After being inspired by a few friends, I ordered organic seeds from Seeds of Change so we could plant our first garden.  I spent hours on their website, researching the types of plants that would thrive best in our hot Southern California climate.  We live in a rural area where it gets over 100 degrees and can get down to as low as the mid 30's.  I had to find seeds that would germinate in the lower temperatures because it was early Spring when we planted, and seeds that would thrive in our intense heat.  Some seeds I took a gamble on, mainly because I really wanted to grow specific food types.

 For the last 3 years, my husband has been prepping our soil with the intent of one day planting a garden.  When we moved into our house 5 years ago, you could barely see the ground, that is how many weeds were covering the backyard.  In fact, my husband borrowed a walk-behind weed whacker from my parents and discovered a motorcycle track that had been hidden by the thick, tall, and dry weed overgrowth.  We picked a flat area where the sun and shade both hit.  We fenced it off and rotor-tilled the land to turn the soil and increase its potential to grow some amazingly nutritious food.  My husband made rows with a drainage well in between the rows to allow for a good soaking of the roots.

So far, we have been able to enjoy our Chard, Spinach, and Emerald Oak Leaf Lettuce.  We just pulled our first beet out of the ground the other day and can't wait for the rest of our garden to be ready to harvest.  Here are some photos I took this morning of our growing garden:

 Our first ear of corn is growing!

 Here, you can see our corn, beets, and red onion.

 Our chard is very moist and you can eat it straight from the garden.  No cooking or added ingredients needed!

 Emerald Oak Leaf Lettuce.  This stuff grows like crazy!  I can pick enough for salad for a week and then I have enough for another week ready to be harvested!

 Beets.

 Carrots are almost ready!

 Zucchini!

 My first little cucumber!

My mini watermelons are starting to get their vines!

Just as our bodies need to be nourished properly to thrive, so does our food!  Lots of sunshine, water, and care goes into the food we grow, as this is the food that strengthens our immune systems and fights off free-radicals that cause cancer.  Love your greens!

Whole Foods Virgin

The closest health food stores to me are Sprouts and Trader Joe's.  They don't have the best selection of products, but at least they are something!  I try to make a Sprouts run at least once a month to stock up on my essentials; dry beans, rolled oats, nuts, nutritional yeast, and the occasional tofu.  While we were on our vacation in Scottsdale, Arizona, there was a Whole Foods about 1.5 miles from our resort.  We even walked there one evening to get some exercise!

Yes, I was a Whole Foods Virgin!  I walked in and was ahhhhmazed at the size of the store.  You could probably fit 3 Sprouts inside 1 Whole Foods!  Their produce selection was fantastic and their prices were comparable to what I would be paying in San Diego.  I fell in love with their alternative dairy section.  They had every kind of plant-based milk and plant-based yogurt you could imagine!  I even purchased almond yogurt for the first time, just because I wanted to try it. 

Since we brought most of our food with us in a cooler, we only needed a few items, and I didn't get to spend nearly as much time in the store as I would have liked.  Good news, there is a Whole Foods about 35 minutes from my house.  My husband and I have already decided we will be making a Whole Foods run once a month.  I don't know how I lived without shopping there!

Anyone who knows me knows how much I adore hummus!  I can down a container in a single sitting, but normally feel guilty because it is filled with fat and oil.  Guess what we found in the hummus section...wait for it...Oil-free Hummus!!!  The company that makes this genius and tasty hummus is Cedar's.  They spell hummus, hummos on their packaging, so if you are looking them up online, make sure you have the correct spelling.  The creamy consistency of the hummus was surprising.  My husband and I both preferred the Cedar's brand with zero oil to the hummus we were used to eating with the added oil and tahini!  Organic baby carrots were the perfect food to dip into the hummus and our daughter loved sucking the hummus off the little carrot sticks.

Did you know you can shop and drink wine or beer at the same time?  We were enlightened by one of the wine and beer specialists, who went and grabbed us a free taster from their in-house bar.  What grocery store has a bar?  The associate must have known my taste because he brought me a raspberry beer he said is the best beer to give someone who hates beer...guess what, that's me!  It was so flavorful!  My husband and I browsed the beer and wine selection and were quite amazed at the large and unique selection they had to offer.  It was almost as if there was a BevMo! right inside Whole Foods.

After being distracted by the wonderful amenities Whole Foods has to offer, I finally made it to the freezer section, the whole reason we were there!  I needed to buy Dr. Praeger's Veggie Patties for our daughter to have for a couple meals while we were on vacation.  Whole Foods had the ENTIRE line of Dr. Praeger's products! I feel as if I have been sheltered from so many products for years!  Now, we can't eat a lot of the Dr. Praeger's line, but there are a few things we can eat, so we tried the Tex Mex Burgers instead of the California Burgers.  I was drawn to the frozen desert section since it was just across the isle from the veggie patties.  Like a cat stocking its prey, I was planning my attack on the freezer section!  There it was, Decadently Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough!  Ice cream of any form had not touched my lips in over a year and since we were on vacation, I figured I would splurge!

A grocery store run that was only supposed to consist of apple sauce and veggie patties turned into baby carrots, hummus, soy milk, 3 different kinds of dairy-free yogurt, wine, beer, ice cream, veggie patties, and corn tortillas.  I am proud to say, I am no longer a Whole Foods Virgin!

Nami, A Restaurant Review

A week and a half ago, my family and I were on vacation in Scottsdale, Arizona, aka, a Vegan's paradise!  It is amazing how many options are available for those who consume a plant-based diet free of meats and other animal products.  After we ate at Green in Phoenix, see that restaurant review here, we walked next door to their sister cafe, Nami.  It was "Nami Nami Nami!"  I had read about their tSoynami's online and was itching to have one.  It has been years since I have had soft serve and I was jumping at this opportunity.

The decor was quite similar in style to Green, but much more white and pure feeling.  The same types of photos lined the walls, and once again, I had to study the photos.  You can see right into the kitchen from the main counter and it was spotless.  The display case was calling my name, but I refrained from ordering one of everything just because I knew I could eat it!  After looking at the specials on their ginormous chalk board menu, I had made my final decision, the tSoynami Dough Boy it was!  Here is the description off their website:
"A tSoynami is an ice cream treat that gives you super powers*! It starts with our house made organic soy based, soft serve ice cream. Then we stir in all sorts of goodies of your choosing or you can pick one of our signature combinations. Enjoy one today! * Super Powers not guaranteed."  The Dough Boy consists of Vegan chocolate chip cookie dough...oh, I can still taste the creamyness of the dough and the huge chunks of chocolate chips that get stuck in the crevasses of your teeth!  We enjoyed our tSoynami Dough Boy as we drove back to our resort.  It was the perfect treat for 103 degree weather! 

Now, call us crazy, but we departed for San Diego shortly after 8 am and arrived at Nami about 8:20am.  What did we order for our drive home?  Do you really have to ask?  We are the crazy San Diegans who ordered 2 tSoynami Dough Boys and a Blueberry Cream Cheese Turnover.  Do you know how long it has been since I have had a turnover?  The crust was so flaky and just melted in your mouth.  We gave a couple of bites to our daughter and she gave it two "Nami Nami's!"

I am pretty sure both of our tSoynamis were completely consumed by the time we reached the outskirts of Avondale, Arizona.  Now, we can only dream of having such amazing deserts and pastries!  That was probably my last "treat" for a while.  Nami, you left us wishing your home was in San Diego!  Thanks for the foodie memories!

Oil-Free Salt-Free Re-Fried Beans

Finding re-fried beans that are Vegan is difficult, but finding them with no oil and low sodium is even more difficult! The plus side to making your own: you know what is in your food, there is no BPA from the lining of the can, and they are way healthier! After making many batches of bland re-fried beans, I have finally perfected my recipe!  This recipe will serve approximately 8 to 10 people, so you can cut down on the ingredients accordingly if you need to make less.

Ingredients:
2 cups dry pinto beans
5 cups water, plus 1/8 cup water
2 avocados
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp chili powder

The steps:

Soak the pinto beans in a bowl overnight prior to cooking them.  Soaking the beans allows for better iron absorption (score!).  Once the beans are soaked, place them in your pressure cooker, adding in the 5 cups of water, and set it to the rice setting for 15 minutes.  Cut up the two avocados and add them to the saucepan.  When the beans are done cooking, strain them, and add them to the avocados. With a potato masher, mash the beans and the avocado until they are mixed well.  Add the 1/8 cup water and remaining ingredients.  Turn your stove top on to medium heat and mix the ingredients thoroughly.

Optional Ingredients:
Green Onion
Corn
Kale (Great for added Calcium and Iron)
Tomato

Serving Suggestions:

Side Dish
Re-Fried Bean Tacos
Re-Fried Bean Burritos
Re-Fried Bean Lettuce Wrap
Re-Fried Bean Burger (try adding rice and some organic unbleached flour to bind them together)

I love how the avocados give the re-fried beans a creamy texture.  My non-vegan family eats these beans, which is great because I feel like it is something we can all eat together.  These beans are high in fiber, iron, and protein, and are a guiltless dish you can serve to your family and friends!

Real Lemon Custard With Blueberries

I was feeling creative today and at the same time, was craving something tangy and sweet.  My daughter and I ventured into the back yard and picked a few lemons.  After searching for a good recipe online, I couldn't find one that sounded good, so, I improvised.  Here are the ingredients I used to create this Real Lemon Custard With Blueberries:

3 lemons pureed
1 carton firm tofu
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
3/4 cups fresh blueberries

I blended all the ingredients together until I reached a smooth consistency. Then, I poured the mix into a 8x8 glass baking dish and placed it in my preheated 350 degree oven.  I allowed the blueberries to infuse their flavor into the lemon and tofu for 40 minutes, then I pulled it out of the oven.  I stirred the liquidy mixture, and with a large spoon, scooped out the mix and placed it in a small glass dish.  I placed the glass dish in the freezer for about 45 minutes until it had solidified, but was not frozen.  This desert will be the perfect Summer snack for the next week.

Easy Irish Soda Bread

Today was a baking day.  I grabbed my go-to baking cook book, The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes and flipped through until I found something simple that did not require too much time, as I only had about 45 minutes before my daughter was going to wake up from her nap.  Irish Soda Bread it is!  The recipe only calls for a hand full of ingredients and the best part, I had everything in my kitchen!  I leaned about Mise and Place when I became certified in Baking and Pastry Arts in high school and highly recommend using this technique when following any recipe.  It is a great way to organize your cooking and make sure you have not omitted any key ingredients. 

The recipe calls for the following:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup oat flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt (I omitted)

1 cup dairy-free milk

1 tsp mild vinegar

I used Unsweetened Good Karma Flax Milk, which I will NEVER use again.  I purchased this milk to try, and it had a horrible, bitter, after taste.  I figured I would just use it baking and it should be fine.  Well, my bread turned out bitter, and I know if I used almond or soy milk, it would have been delicious!













I did not have any oat flour in my pantry, so I made my own.  I used a heaping 1/2 cup of rolled oats, and placed them in my Rocket Blender to make a smooth, flour consistency.

 Here is my Mise en Place!

 After I mixed my dry ingredients together, I created a well in the middle of the mixture to pour the mixed vinegar and milk.

 Once everything was mixed together, I formed a ball of dough on top of parchment paper and placed it in my preheated 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Thirty minutes later, my bread looked beautiful!  Next time, I will be using Almond Milk so I will be able to enjoy it!!!!