Granulated Garlic Powder-Cup Coconut Creamer-Mozzarella Cheese-Room Temperature

Mac and Cheese (gluten free, soy free, vegan)Total Time: 45...

Mac and Cheese (gluten free, soy free, vegan)

Total Time: 45 minutes. Serves: 6-8
Ingredients:

• 1 pound shell pasta (I use a Quinoa & Corn combination)
• 4 tablespoons Earth Balance Soy Free Spread, plus extra for greasing a casserole dish
• 2 cups unflavored coconut milk (not cans)
• 1/2 cup coconut creamer (I like So Delicious Original flavor) 
• 2 cups shredded Daiya cheddar cheese
• 1 cup Daiya mozzarella cheese
• 1 Udi’s hamburger bun, toasted 
• 1 tablespoon millet flour
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons salt, plus a few tablespoons extra for pasta water
• 3 tablespoons organic cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water, room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees FGrease a 9x12 inch casserole dishIn a large stock pot with boiling water, add few tablespoons of kosher salt to the water, then pasta and stir frequently to prevent clumping.
In a mini food processor pulse the toasted hamburger bun until a breadcrumb consistency.  Set aside.
In a medium heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat, melt Earth Balance spread.  Add coconut milk, coconut creamer, salt, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and let it cook until it’s just about to boil, about 3 minutes.  Stirring occasionally.  
Meanwhile, in a small glass bowl, mix cornstarch and millet flour with room temperature water.  Raise the heat to medium high, pour in the cornstarch mixture, and whisk vigorously for a few minutes until it thickens, about 3-5 minutes.  Once thickened, add both Daiya cheeses, stir to blend.  Drain the pasta once it’s reached al dente (cooked, yet firm), put the pasta back into the large stockpot, add the sauce and mix well. 
Fill the greased casserole dish with the creamy pasta mixture evenly, add breadcrumbs evenly across the top.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Serve hot. read more..

Portobello Mushroom-Apple Cider Vinegar-Cup Pumpkin Seeds-Vegan Kickstart-Chopped Celery

Vegan Kickstart: Raw Vegan Mushroom Burgers

3 large portobello mushroom caps, chopped
2 tsps liquid smoke
1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 tsp rosemary or thyme
1) Mix the tamari, liquid smoke, agave, and ACV in a bowl. Add mushrooms and try to mix them well into this marinade. Let sit for about 2 hours.
2) In a food processor fitted with the S blade, grind pumpkin seeds till smooth.
3) Remove mushrooms from the marinade (reserving it) and add to the processor. Process till the mixture has very little texture, but isn’t as smooth or uniform as a nut pate. If it’s overly pasty, add a few tablespoons of water or your leftover marinade.
3) Add the carrot, celery, and thyme, and pulse to incorporate it all, still leaving some texture.
4) Shape into four patties and dehydrate at 115 for about 2 hours, flip, and keep dehydrating for another 3-4, or until they’re the texture you like. Alternately, you can bake these at 325 degrees for about 30-35 minutes, flipping once. Serve over greens, on some raw bread, or in a wrap sandwich! read more..

Global Climate Change-Lifestyle Change-Vegan

Hey ! For my end of the year final in my writing class I am writing a 20 page paper on the Yogi Lifestyle. Your blog is where a lot of my information is coming from. I wanted to know though, (if you don't mind) why you chose to be vegan, and how your life has changed since you made this lifestyle change. I would be quoting you in my paper if that is okay ? : )

Hey! Aw that is super cool! I am glad that my blog is able to provide you with some information and that you want me to be apart of it (:     Currently I am not full Vegan yet. I’m half-vegan I guess you could say since the only dairy I consume is in Morning Star patties, chocolate, and Ensure when I have them. I will transition to full vegan as soon as I feel I am ready. However, maybe my answer will be still be valid, so lets just say, for the purpose of your paper, that I am full vegan (if that works for you).     I chose this lifestyle for three reasons: For my health, for the animals, and for the planet. Everything that we do impacts not just ourselves but everything around us. Animal farming is the number one cause of global climate change, 99% of all land animals are used for factory farming (in which the the standards for ethical treatment continue to decline), and studies have proven that a vegetarian/vegan lifestyles are healthier for the body.      My life has vastly changed since making these dietary changes. My compassion, love, and respect for animals has grown further than I thought it could. You don’t realize how much love you have for another being until you stop putting it on your plate. It’s effected my body greatly as well. 60% of adults can not digest digest milk and most of them either don’t know it or choose not to make a healthier dietary change. Not consuming dairy has made such a huge impact on my body, especially being lactose intolerant. I can’t even begin to explain how much my digestive system has thanked me for not consuming dairy, and not eating meat has made my body feel “lighter”, more energetic, healthier, and much happier.      I hope this was okay? … and not too much. haha. If you would like anything else, ask away! (: read more..

Lemon Juice-Soy Sauce-Eggplant-Cilantro-Parsley

Quinoa Eggplant Caviar

2 onions, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
¼ cup minced cilantro
¼ cup minced parsley
1½ tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1. Roast eggplant.
2. Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil until soft. Stir in the quinoa and lightly toast for 1 minute. Stir in the water and salt to taste; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover the pan, and gently simmer the quinoa for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes. Uncover the pan and fluff the quinoa with a fork; transfer to a bowl and let cool.
3. Puree the eggplant with the cilantro, parsley, soy sauce, and lemon juice in a food processor. Stir this mixture into the quinoa. Adjust seasoning, adding soy sauce, pepper, or lemon juice to taste. Garnish with sprigs of cilantro and parsley, if desired. read more..

Calcium Consumption-Scientific Studies-Calcium Loss-Bone Health-Milk Myth

Debunking the Milk Myth: Why Milk is Bad for You and Your...

Debunking the Milk Myth: Why Milk is Bad for You and Your Bones -Excerpts from article linked above. Click the link or photo to read the full (interesting and informative) article. Also, I thought that photo was funny so I used it.

• Milk Depletes the calcium from your bones. Not only do we barely absorb the calcium from cow’s milk (especially pasteurized), but it also increases calcium loss from the bones.
• Cows milk is custom-designed for calves. Thanks to our creative ingenuity and perhaps related to our ancient survival needs, we adopted the dubious habit of drinking another species’ milk. Unlike humans, once calves are weaned, they never drink milk again. Each mammalian has it’s own “designer” milk, and cows’ milk is no exception.
  Cow’s milk contains on average three times the amount of protein than human milk which creates metabolic disturbances in humans that have detrimental bone health consequences.
• Scientific studies show that milk increases fracture risk.  Many scientific studies contradict the conventional wisdom that milk and dairy consumption help reduce osteoporotic fractures. Surprisingly, studies demonstrating that milk and dairy products actually fail to protect bones from fractures outnumber studies that prove otherwise.
  The 12 year long Harvard Nurses’ Health Study found that those who consumed the most calcium from dairy foods broke more bones than those who rarely drank milk. This is a broad study based on 77,761 women aged 34 through 59 years of age.
• Shocking statistics ignored by mainstream medicine. Amy Lanou Ph.D., nutrition director for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, D.C., states that: “The countries with the highest rates of osteoporosis are the ones where people drink the most milk and have the most calcium in their diets. The connection between calcium consumption and bone health is actually very weak, and the connection between dairy consumption and bone health is almost nonexistent.”
• Milk is an acidifying animal protein. Like any other animal derived protein-rich food, milk has a positive potential renal acid load (PRAL) which triggers a protective biological reaction to neutralize all the damaging acidic protein before it reaches the kidneys.
  The body is designed for survival, so it sacrifices bone density to protect the kidneys and urinary tract because the latter are essential to survival. And the most readily available source of acid neutralizer is in the bones. So even though milk contains calcium, it ends up sapping your bones of that crucial mineral.
• Today’s milk is a processed food. Until the end of the 19th century in Europe and the beginning of the 20th century in the US, milk was consumed unpasteurized or raw. Later on, homogenization became the industry’s standard. These processes further alter milk’s chemistry and actually increase its detrimental acidifying effects.
  Nowadays, milking cows are given antibiotics and most are also injected with a genetically engineered form of bovine growth hormone (rBGH). A man-made or synthetic hormone used to artificially increase milk production, rBGH also increases blood levels of the insulin-growth factor 1 (IGF-1) in those who drink it. And higher levels of IGF-1 are linked to several cancers.

read more..

Black Beans-Ingredients-Olive Oil-Garlic-Vegan

Is olive oil vegan? Are black beans vegan if they came from a can and are plain? How much garlic should I eat if I want to add a lot of it to a dish? How healthy is quinoa???

Yes, olive oil is Vegan. Black beans from a can are vegan unless otherwise stated in the Ingredients. They are plain but they have added salt and some of them have other things in them. Always check the ingredients because some canned (refried) beans have lard in them. Garlic… that depends on how much you want to add and what you are making. Taste test it. Maybe mince half of a clove and add it into the dish and if it’s not enough, add more. That only works with some dishes though. And you can read about the health benefits of quinoa here. It’s a good alternative to rice and regular spaghetti noodles and pasta. For me, they are a lot less bloat-y. read more..

World Health Organization-Mustard Greens-Collard Greens-Calcium-Bones

kellie-the-vegetarian:The dairy industry would like us to...

kellie-the-vegetarian:The dairy industry would like us to believe that milk builds strong bones. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year to advertise milk and cheese. Yet, a 12-year Harvard study of 78,000 women demonstrated that those who drank the most milk broke more bones than women who rarely drank milk. Evidence from around the world shows that in countries where dairy intake is highest, osteoporosis is most prevalent. Where dairy is seldom consumed, bones remain strong into old age. While we certainly don’t need milk, we do need calcium to keep our bones healthy. The good news is that a plethora of vegetarian foods-including beans and greens, dried fruit, nuts and seeds, and fortified juice and soymilk-all provide ample calcium.How much is enough? The World Health Organization recommends we consume 1000 milligrams of calcium every day, while the recommended daily allowance in North America and developed countries—where people eat a high-protein, high-salt diet—is 1000 to 1300 milligrams a day. Here is a list of some of our favorite calcium-rich foods:Collards (1 cup cooked): 385 mg
Fortified orange juice (1 cup): 350 mg
Dried figs (10 medium): 269 mg
Tofu (1/2 cup): 258 mg
White beans (1 cup cooked): 161 mg
Mustard greens (1 cup cooked): 150 mg
Navy beans (1 cup cooked): 128 mg
Kale (1 cup cooked): 94 mg
Chickpeas (1 cup cooked): 80 mg
Raisins (2/3 cups): 80 mgNow that you’re armed with knowledge about the bone-boosting calcium in your favorite menu items, try these quick and easy ways to create scrumptious snacks and meals using plant-based, calcium-rich foods:1. Pour some calcium-enriched soymilk or nut milk on breakfast cereal, and sprinkle some raisins on top.
2. Add kale, collard greens, or mustard greens to salads. Chop up a few dried figs and toss them in to add calcium-packed sweetness.
3. Use kale or collard greens on sandwiches instead of lettuce.
4. Add a few tablespoons of silken tofu to a fruit smoothie.
5. Add beans to salads, mash them on toast, or cook with some veggie dogs. read more..