Tag Archives: vegan

Carrot Cake Chia Pudding AND Parsley Arugula Tabbouli Salad

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Happy May! It’s hot here in Southern CA, so it’s definitely time to be outside getting the (container) garden in gear, and loading up on fresh and alive foods…

And I have 2 great new recipes to help fulfill that mission. Starting today, I am a monthly contributor to the Breast Cancer Yoga Blog, and will be posting articles on vegan diet and new recipes each month. I’m extremely excited to be part of the contributor family there, and look forward to the amazing information that will be shared by everyone.

You can visit the blog to read my first article, Eat Your Way to Health & Vitality with a Plant-Based Diet , and find my 2 new recipes. And while you’re there, enjoy some of the other wonderful content, such as this article on the Ahimsa Trinity by Yogini Kaliji.

Video Blast: Cranberry Orange Oatmeal

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I don’t have a lot of fond breakfast memories from when I was growing up. In high school, I do remember getting up late every morning, rushing so as not to be late for school (even though I was late for homeroom nearly every day), with a hurried glass of orange juice on the way out the door.

Earlier, in elementary school, I did a little bit better. I would usually get up with enough time to sit down at the table and choose which of the little packets of hot cereal I wanted to have that day. I loved Cream of Wheat. There was just something about the creamy, slightly gritty texture, and the lumps… I LOVED the lumps! We’d always have the little flavored packets – maple brown sugar was my favorite.  Can we say sugar addict? :-)

But I hated oatmeal… couldn’t stand it. The texture was gross, all slimy and gooey, and the flavor always seemed to be at the top. Once I ate the top layer, there was nothing left except for the tasteless oats that were getting cold at the bottom. Continue reading →

Transition to Vegan: Tip #1

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Today begins a series of posts that will discuss some of the things that come up when transitioning to a vegan (or raw or other new type of) diet.

One thing that I find is that sometimes people are so thrilled about what they are doing and want to jump right into it, they quickly become overwhelmed. So many meals… breakfast, lunch, and dinner…. that’s alot of new ideas to come up with. New groceries to buy, new preparation techniques, and new utensils, all being juggled with family and work and other activities. Whew. Continue reading →

I made the best soup ever today!

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I really had no idea this was going to be as good as it was, so I have no photo, and no actual recipe… so this is going to be lots of guesstimates :-)

But this soup was so amazing that it has to be recorded.  I’m always hesitant to say “It tastes like [insert name of animal food here]” because I think vegan food is spectacular on its own and should not be compared to animal foods, but sometimes it is helpful in giving people an idea of what it’s like. Today’s soup was like an incredible smoky bacon cheese soup… and it’s made of butternut squash!

This is how it was created:

I started with a small-medium butternut squash (maybe 1 1/2 cups cubed), 1 diced shallot and 1 whole dried chipotle pepper. I put it all into a saucepan with about 4 cups of water, brought it to a boil and then simmered it until the squash was soft.

I took out the pepper and cut off the stem (I’d tossed the whole thing into the pot for cooking to give as much flavor as possible), then put the pepper (seeds and all) and the squash/shallot/water into the vitamix. I added about half a cup of cashews, about 3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast, and salt & pepper to taste and blended it all together.

And that’s it! It was so fast, required very little effort on my part, and was truly the best soup I’ve ever had.

Enjoy! :-)

Garlic Red Pepper Chia Crackers

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Garlic-RedPepper-Chia-Crackers

I have an ongoing love affair with crackers… I absolutely love them.  Vegetable crackers, sweet crackers, tamari-flavored rice crackers, even plain stone-ground whole wheat crackers….  they are such an easy, portable snack or addition to a meal.

I think my least favorite crackers are flax crackers, mostly because the flax seeds are usually left whole and they get all stuck in my teeth. And really, what is the point of that, since flax seeds need to be ground for us to get their benefits. Not a fun experience, with little benefit….  (although I did recently see a great-looking recipe for fruity flax crackers that used ground flax, so a version of those will make an appearance soon!) Continue reading →

Chai Spice Hemp Smoothie

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Technically, this isn’t a “chai” smoothie, since “chai” means tea in some languages, and there’s no tea in this…. but it does use the spices that are used in some variations of Masala chai – Indian spiced tea. Does that have enough qualifiers for you? :-)

I actually cheated in this smoothie and used Vanilla Spice Hemp Protein powder. I love adding protein powder to my smoothies, and this is one of my favorites because it doesn’t have any stevia in it. Stevia is fine for some, but I can’t stand the taste, so I try to avoid it whenever possible. This one does have some sugar in it, but I’m willing to take that in exchange for no stevia.

If you don’t have this particular protein powder in your cupboard, you can replicate the flavor with a dash of vanilla, dash of cinnamon, dash of nutmeg, dash of ginger and a tiny dash of cloves.

The rest of the ingredients make this an AMAZING smoothie! As always, feel free to substitute with what you have on hand – if you don’t have all raw ingredients, non-raw will work just as well.

  • 1 1/2 frozen bananas
  • 2 dates (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon raw almond butter
  • 1 1/2 cups raw nut milk
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla spice protein powder (or corresponding spices mentioned above)
  • 1/2 tablespoon raw carob powder

Blend together until smooth and enjoy!