Fast Fall Fare!

If you are like most of the people that I know, fall is the busiest season of the year.  Between kids sports, NFL football, the world series, early Christmas shopping, and preparing for the inevitably crampacked November & December months, we are all begging for more time!   That being said, my tips this month are going to be recipes for quick, delicous, and nutritious meals that will make great leftovers!  You will notice that I have listed organic ingredients specifically, as well as almond milk and vegan sour cream.  These are not exotic ingredients, you can get these at any grocery store in place of your conventional ingredients.  This is about the time that you may be asking, "Well what will I do with the remaining almond milk?"  Almond milk can be used in place of dairy milk in most, if not all of your recipes.  I use it to cook oatmeal, on cereal, in pancakes, cookies, cakes, soups, homemade ice cream, you name it!  It has 50% MORE calcium than regular cow's milk and lacks casein, the protein found in cow's milk that has been found to be carcinogenic.  Use vegan sour cream in place of conventional sour cream, but bear in mind that it tastes closer to real sour cream when mixed with something, not so much by itself.  What about the meat alternative?  My husband is the king of "How close it it?"  He actually likes the alternative ground/tvp and even my kids' friends can't tell the difference on the ground products, thus making these products tasty and healthy without the cholesterol that real meat contains.  I hope that you enjoy these recipes!  Happy Fall!

Slow Cooker Chili:

2-3 cloves of organic garlic crushed
1 organic onion sliced
1 can organic kidney beans
1 can organic cannelini beans
1 can organic crushed tomatoes (or 3 or 4 fresh organic tomatoes blanched)
2 tsp Emeralds Southwest Seasoning
1 cup TVP or 1 pkg meat alternative ground such as Smart Ground (found in the vegetarian refrigerated section at the store)
1 fresh organic jalepeno
salt/pepper to taste

Prep Time:  About 5-10 minutes

Place first 6 ingredients in the crockpot first thing in the morning.  Set temperature to low and let it cook all day.  About an hour before you plan to serve, put the TVP + 3/4 cup of water or the pkg of meat alternative into the crockpot and give it a stir.  If you are a fan of heat add the jalapeno (sliced) now.  Serve in one hour.  I hate leftovers, even I love this one a second time around! 

Veggie Tacos:

Prep Time:  About 15 minutes

2 tsp organic vegetable or olive oil
1-2 cloves organic garlic minced
1 organic zuchini sliced then quatered
1 organic squash sliced then quartered
1/2 organic onion sliced into small pieces
1 organic tomato diced
1 organic avocado
1 bunch organic cilantro
1 container vegan sour cream
1 pkg orgnanic tortillas (or if you prefer homemade email me for an easy recipe)

In a large skillet heat the oil and then add the onions.  Cook for about 10 minutes until brown.  Then add minced garlic, zuchini, & squash.   Cook until tender but not mushy.  Place a spoonfull on tortillas & garnish with a slice of avocado, diced tomatoes, a couple of stems of cilantro, and vegan sour cream.  For extra flavor add some garlic powder, onion powder, and a pinch of salt to a cup of the vegan sour cream and mix thoroughly before placing on tacos.

Pumpkin Soup:

Prep Time:  About 20 minutes

2 tsp organic veggie oil
1 small organic onion sliced into small pieces
3 cloves organic garlic, minced
1 can organic pumpkin
1/4 cup vegan sour cream
1 cup organic veggie broth (low sodium)
1 cup organic almond milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 - 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (to your taste)
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

I saved my favorite for last!  This soup is a thick, hardy, and nutritious soup.  This recipe makes 4 servings.  You may want to double it if you would like to have leftovers or seconds!  I would serve this with cornbread.

In a large skillet heat the oil and then add the onions. Cook for about 10 minutes until brown. Then add minced garlic and cook another minute or two.  Next add pumpkin, almond milk, & seasonings.  Give it a good stir then slowly add the veggie broth.  If you like it a little thinner then add more broth.  Stir everything together then transfer to a blender and blend until smooth.  Garnish with some extra sour cream if you wish.  Yummy!

So Many Activities, So Little Time!

Obviously by the amount of time that has passed since my last post, I can certainly sympathize with all of you busy parents out there!  Drill team practice, volleyball practice, football & volleyball games, fall baseball practice, and the list goes on!  With all of the running here, there, and everywhere, how can one eat healthy while on the run?  As I've mentioned before, I am a non-dairy vegetarian.  (For all practical purposes I am vegan except that I cook with the eggs that my own chickens lay.)  It's always a challenge to find vegan meals outside of my house since we live out in the country in Texas.  Meat rules here.  Nonetheless, I do manage.  If I do run short on time I will run through a place like Chipotle or Freebirds World Burrito and have them make me a vegan burrito or taco.  I swap out the cheese and sour cream for avocado.  I have them add lots of veggies, and the beans serve as protein.  It's healthy, vegan, and fast.  Most places have salad, but you have to watch that you are getting a salad that is not made of iceburg lettuce and use a healthy dressing to go with it.  But there's always those situations where I am not afforded any items that are on my menu, for example, the snack stand at football & baseball games.  In this case, I plan ahead.  I ALWAYS pack fresh fruit.  I take a protein bar (Vega Vibrancy Bar is one of my favorites), some bean dip, and pitas.  It's a healthy brown bag meal.  If anyone stops me for bringing in food I simply tell them that I have food sensitivities and am unable to eat from their snack bar.  I have yet to have anyone argue with me.  The key here is to plan ahead.  It takes less than 5 minutes to whip up a batch of bean dip and pack my brown bag booty, and it's well worth the time!  Did I mention that since going vegan I have lost 6.5 lbs and a size and a half?  At 120 lbs, that's a wonderful accomplishment since I only had about 5 lbs to lose.  Remember, you are what you eat and you either pay the farmer or you pay the doctor.  Isn't your health and future health worth a few extra minutes of time?   Well, I'm heading off to pick up the carpool and then onto a volleyball game that my daughter is playing in.  (I see a brown bag booty in my future!)  I'll leave you with this super easy recipe for my bean dip:

Bean Dip

1 can of beans drained (I switch between cannellini, navy, and black beans)

1-2 TBS of lemon juice (start with one and add the other if you need to)

basil leaves

1/2 tsp salt

1 clove garlic run through a garlic press

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.  Start with just a few basil leaves and add more to taste.  Enjoy with some pitas, corn chips, fresh sliced veggies, crackers, or tortillas. 

CNN Article on Heart Disease, the #1 killer in America!

Hey Y'all!  In case you missed the documentary Sunday night that I blogged about last week, check out CNN.com.  On the left side of the page are some great stories on preventing, treating, & REVERSING heart disease.  If you know someone that passed away from a heart attack or is living with heart disease, wouldn't you love to go back in time and share this information with them? 

The Last Heart Attack

Watch CNN Headline News Sunday night at 8pm EST.  There is a documentary called The Last Heart Attack (Dr. Sanjay Gupta), that talks about how heart disease, the #1 killer in america is basically a food born illness and how food can be used as medicine.  This pretty much coincides with all of the books, articles, and documentaries that I have been watching over the last 5 months.  I am excited to see that this message is going more and more mainstream!  America can be healthier and our healthcare costs, which are already stretched far beyond what they should be, could go down if everyone would heed advice from the experts & make their health their focus.

Easy Steps to Cancer Prevention

In my quest to find out everything I can about cancer prevention, I have researched many, many websites, watched several documentaries, and have read countless articles and a couple of books.  The one common denominator that all of these resources have is that americans eat way too many animal based products.  This information comes from all different backgrounds - cancer research, vegetarians, and doctors.  I purposely researched in this way, so as not to have a bias opinion from one specific type of group.  Did you know that heart disease, the number one killer in America, can be arrested, and in some cases reversed just by going to a plant based diet?  Now before you think I've fallen off of my rocker, I'm not suggesting that you suddenly give up all of your meat, dairy, & eggs.  Remember what I said last time...baby steps!  Some of the healthiest cultures in the world eat little to no meat.  Rather than have their sides revolve around their main course of meat, they use very little meat to season a particular dish.  Since going to a plant based diet in June I have listened to people comment that I won't be healthy due to my protein intake or that my meals won't be balanced.  Often, these people have not educated themselves about diets around the world and which diets rank healthiest.  (By diet, I mean lifestyle diet, not weightloss).  Several cultures do not include any meat at all and this has been their tradition for hundreds of years.  Interestingly enough, they have some of the healthiest populations on earth.  Cutting back on your animal in take is not as hard as you may think.  Every little bit helps, so start small.

Last week I gave three tips to get on the road to a healthier you.  Here are three things to help you build on that foundation:

1.  Eat two pieces of fruit per day.   This is an easy one.  Grab a banana in the morning for breakfast and have a different type of fruit in the evening for dessert or have a fruit salad with your dinner.  Fruit is loaded with vitamins & antioxidants that will support your overall health.

2.  Replace your dairy milk with a non-dairy milk.  Although I've drank almond milk for a long  time, my favorite is a relatively new product made by Silk.  It's called Silk Almond Milk.  In my opinion, it has a better consistency than other almond milks that I have tried.  Also, it's really easy to find because most mainstream grocery stores carry it.

3.  Try making one vegetarian dish per week.  I found that the easiest one to start with is an asian stir fry.  You can pick out the veggies that you like to stir fry.  Then add a sauce, such as teriyaki sauce to give it some flavor.  My family really like this because the sauce gave it a "meat flare" without actually having meat.  I also added some udon or chow mein noodles (not the fried ones, the ones that are like traditional pasta).  If you really want to be fancy, you can also add some baked egg rolls to the menu.  They are super easy to make and bake in just a few minutes.  You can find the egg roll wrappers in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.  (This is where you would find the noodles as well.)

That's it for this week.  Remember, each step contributes to a healthier you, so sit back, relax, and enjoy your body transformation!  Good luck and God bless!

Healthy Pizza Recipe

Crust:
1 pack of active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 cup warm (not hot) water
3 cups flour
1 tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt

Toppings:
1-2 tbs olive oil
onion sliced thin
mushrooms
black olives sliced
artichoke hearts
sundried tomatoes
Daiya mozerella style vegan cheese (found at most healthfood stores)

Mix first three ingredients in a large bowl and let it set for about 5 minutes until it becomes frothy.  Add half of the flour, salt, & olive oil and start mixing.  (I use an electric mixer with a kneading hook, but you can also do this by hand.)  Add in the rest of the flour a half cup at a time until it is all mixed in.  Continue kneading for 3-5 minutes until the dough is smooth but still a little tacky.  Next, coat a large bowl with olive oil, then place the dough in the bowl and cover it with a towel.  Let rise for 1-1.5 hours, then roll out and place in a pan sprinkled with corn meal.  (Crust recipe given to me by my friend, Michelle Rutledge).

For toppings, lightly coat the unbaked crust with olive oil, then sprinkle cheese to cover.  Next, add the toppings listed above in the quantities that you prefer.  Then bake at 425 degrees for 18-20 minutes. 

Because this pizza is loaded with veggies and not a lot of fat, it's delicious and nutritious!  No feeling guilty about this indulgence!

It's so overwhelming! Where do I begin?

Turn on the TV or radio.  Practically everyday you hear about all kinds of things that have adverse effects on  your body and mind.  There are so many things to consider...where do you begin?  Baby steps!  Many topics means many opportunities!  Implement one thing at a time.  The way that our family started  was by recycling.  Helping our environment means less pollution on our planet, which in turn helps our air & water quality.  These are vital things we cannot live without that are getting worse everyday. 

Next, we started shopping for organic groceries.  What is organic?  The organic food industry is heavily regulated.  The USDA has very specfiic requirements for a product to be labeled organic.  Organic foods are produced using methods that do not involve the use of synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, and do not contain GMO's (genetically modified organisms), nor are they allowed to be processed using industrial solvents, chemical additives, or irradiation.  Why is this important?   The fact of the matter is that you pay the farmer now or the doctor later.   There are loads of studies out there about the effects of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, etc. in our food supply. Practically every bite that you put in your mouth has been treated with chemicals at some point before it became a finished product.  These chemicals add up and can have devastating consequences on the human body. 

Now I know what you are thinking..."But organic is so expensive!"  Eating organic is not as expensive as you may think.  We have a family of four and we eat almost exclusively organic.  Our grocery bill last week was $114 and our bill this week was $80.  We eat very well balanced, nutritious, tasty, FRESH meals. But, before you go running to the frig and pantry to throw everything out that you own, remember that I said baby steps.  Here are three steps to help you get started:

1. Recycle everything that you can! 

2. Replace items with their organic equivalent as you run out of them.  Look for the USDA Organic seal.

3. Make an edible centerpiece for your table and be sure to rotate the produce in and out of it.  This step turned out to be crucial in our family.  As soon as I started keeping an edible centerpiece on the table my kids started taking in more fruit and stopped asking for junk food when we went shopping.