Deviled Potatoes

Deviled Potatoes

You will need:

6 small red potatoes

olive oil

4 T vegan mayo

1 t yellow mustard

1-2 T chopped onion

1-2 T chopped green onions

dash of hot sauce

dash garlic powder

garlic salt, salt and pepper to taste

paprika

It is up to you whether you want to peel the potatoes but I like to leave the skins on for crunch. Lightly spray a baking sheet and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut potatoes in half and coat all sides generously with olive oil. Place them face down and bake for 45 minutes.

In the meantime, mix all the other ingredients together including about a teaspoon of paprika but also saving some paprika for the tops when they are done.

When the potatoes are done, let them cool until you can work with them and hollow out most of the potato with a spoon so it looks like a deviled egg. Take the potato you remove and add it to your mayo mix, stir to combine.

Now, Fill your potatoes with the filling and dust with paprika.

I like these warm or cold. 

Makes 12 halves.

These won't last long so you may want to double the recipe.

the meat of it

DISCLAIMER:  I am aware that a plant based diet isn't the solution to all our problems. I am not trying to judge anyone for what they eat, just sharing my viewpoint, which could be totally wrong but it's my blog and I can write what I want! Bahahahah ;)
 

Lately, I've started to have a lot of negative feelings about food choices. I haven't felt this way for a very long time, since I first stopped eating meat in college and wanted everyone to get on board with me. I'm pretty active on facebook and I see people I know posting links about saving endangered animals and puppy mills and environmental problems but I know that these people still eat meat. Now, please don't read this and think I'm judging anyone for eating meat, I'm not! I ate meat for the first 20 years of my life so I'm not trying to be all high and mighty :), but I stopped in 96 and haven't missed it at all. For me, it was so easy to give up and that was 14 years ago when there weren't nearly as many options as there are now! It was all about animal abuse in the beginning but I've found other benefits.

I can't help it, it bothers me when people say they love animals and want to protect them, but see nothing wrong with eating food they know comes from factory farms, it just seems like a contradiction. Then, when someone mentions factory farming and the huge impact meat production has on the planet they get all upset and make excuses without ever having tried a plant-based diet even for a week. How can you say something won't work, if you refuse to even give it a try?

I hear things like:
1) I have to eat meat, I have diabetes
2) I need my protein
3) I get sick when I don't eat meat
4) My family would never go for it
5) It's too expensive
6) I hate vegetables
7) Soybeans are bad for you and vegetarians eat all kinds of soy
8) Vegetables havings feelings too, don't you feel bad about killing them?

Noone, ever just says "I like meat and it's all about what I like, so I don't plan on giving it up anytime soon" which is closer to the truth and honestly would be a better answer than the ones I listed. Those excuses I listed have pretty simple responses:

1) I have to eat meat, I have diabetes:
Plant based diets are recommended by doctors for diabetics. And, if you've eaten meat your whole life and now you have diabetes, don't you think eating more veggies might be worth a try.
You can read more about this at WebMD via CBS news:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/26/health/webmd/main1837927.shtml

2) I need my protein:
Ok, this one is so silly and I'm really tired of it. Protein deficiencies never happen anymore unless you simply don't eat enough food. More info on protein:

http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/protein_myth.html

Think you need animal protein to get fit, check out this website:
 http://www.veganbodybuilding.com/



3) I get sick when I don't eat meat:  
I always want to ask: Really, how long have you went without it? What did you eat in the place of meat? If you ate too much soy that could be the problem. If you tried to live on pizza and macaroni and cheese that is a real problem. Did you eat a variety of food? Did you do research?


4) My family would never go for it:
It's true, they might not go for it, but what if you sat them down and explained why you want to try it but let them know in the end the choice was up to them. It's a chance to try new things, to experiment with food, maybe lose some weight. What's wrong with that?


 5) It's too expensive:
Have you seen the price of meat, dairy and eggs? If you learn to cook and bake for yourself it will be no more expensive than your previous diet and you may even find it to be cheaper, especially in the summer months.


6) I hate vegetables:
Well, if you hate them, that's all the more reason you should want to destroy them with your fork ;)
But seriously, I hear people say this all the time and when I ask which ones they've tried the answer is usually none or "well, I had a tomato once and it wasn't too bad" We all get stuck in routines with food, step out of the box and try something new!
 
7) Soybeans are bad for you and vegetarians eat all kinds of soy
It's true that vegetarians can get caught up in eating to much soy. I've been guilty of it, but we shouldn't eat anything in excess and should focus on a variety of foods including nuts, grains, fruits and veggies. Less processed food should be eaten without a doubt. I have my concerns about soy and especially the big name companies putting out low fat soy foods, they make me nervous. I don't think they have our best interest at heart. But fermented, organic soy foods like tofu seem fine to me.


 8) Vegetables have feelings too, don't you feel bad about killing them? 
This is the one that makes me laugh the hardest, because it usually comes from someone who really thinks they have a logical excuse but it's just so ridiculous. It's true that plants can respond to some stimuli, however at the end of the day they have NO brain and NO central nervous system. They are not like animals! And, in most cases we don't kill the plant to get the berry, veggie, seeds, etc.. those are given freely by the plant. You don't see many animals walking around missing a thigh.


What to do?
1) We all need to eat a lot less food period, we have become a nation of overeaters.

2) If possible we should try to grow some of our own food and buy local

3) We should try to make food choices that have the least impact on the planet and involve less animal cruelty. I don't expect everyone will give up meat, but it would be nice if people could cut back.

We all know there are health benefits associated with a plant based diet: much lower incidences of  heart disease, certain cancers,  high blood pressure, diabetes, etc... I am aware that a plant based diet isn't the solution to all our problems. But I look at all the negatives associated with eating meat, the mass cruelty involved in producing meat and the overall state of our planet and cannot understand why people don't choose to eat differently.

Sometimes, I think there's hope, then I take a trip to the grocery store look at people and what they're adding to their carts (processsed food void of any nutrition) and I know there isn't much hope for our planet. It makes me sad to think what it will be like in 50 years.

Spiralized Squash with Walnut Pesto

This is so easy to make and a good alternative to pasta if you are trying to eat more veggies. This time of year it's easy to get your hands on surplus squash. First, you need a spiralizer like the one shown below. It turns veggies like zucchini and squash into something that resembles pasta and you can eat it raw so you get more benefit from the veggie. Tonight I used yellow crookneck squash.



Just peel the squash and spiralize. Now for the pesto, take a cup of walnuts (you could also use pine nuts) and process in your food processor for a minute or so, then add 2-3 T extra virgin olive oil, the juice of 1 lemon, some fresh basil and some fresh parsley, sea salt, nutritional yeast and any other spices you like. I didn't put measurements because I just throw in whatever. Process until smooth but still a bit rough. Add pesto to squash and it's ready to eat!

Columbus Ohio Vegan Meetup

Yesterday I attended the Columbus, OH Vegan Meetup. If you're vegetarian or vegan and aren't familiar with meetup.com it's worth checking out. Meetups are organized by topic and city, so search for vegetarian and nearby cities to join a group. I like the Columbus Vegan Meetup because Columbus is only 2 hours away and has SO many veg friendly restaurants. This meetup was held at On The Fly, which is part of Dragonfly Restaurant.

I had been to Dragonfly before but never to On The Fly, so I was curious about the whole setup. I arrived a few minutes late and went into the building, which is a small room next to the restaurant with a counter and a few tables. It was hard to choose but I decided on tacos and chocolate mousse pie. Then, I found a place oustide at one of the cute little tables. The weather was perfect for this meetup, not too hot and a nice breeze. My order came and there were 3 tasty vegan tacos consisting of a corn tortilla, refried beans, lettuce and a veg cheese sauce. My favorite part was definitely the dessert. The mousse pie was thick and rich and creamy, all around delicious. I drank water in anticipation of how sweet and rich the pie would be, so for the tacos and pie my total came to $9.90. This isn't the cheapest place to eat but compared to Dragonfly, which will probably run you $15-$25 per person (and is well worth it) it is a more affordable option.

After the meetup, I decided to hit a few shops before making the two hour drive home. I love thrift store shopping and Columbus has the best thrift stores! These 2 fun bottles had to come home with me. Got both of these for only $4.50!!

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The Crocosmia Lucifer is finally blooming! Spent most of the day weeding, not fun but necessary I guess.
Went to Lowes and bought a sedum assortment. I'll get some sedum pics up soon. Love these little groundcovers!

Pineapple Crisp

I've been eyeballing the Pineapple Crisp Recipe from page 184 of the  The PDQ (Pretty Darn Quick) Vegetarian Cookbook: 240 Healthy and Easy No-Prep Recipes for Busy Cooks  for awhile and since I had the book out I decided to get the rolled oats and canned pineapple to make it today. Glad I finally did! This really turned out tasty, however when I make it again I will make some changes. I must have had extra juicy pineapple chucks because reserving 1/2 cup of the juice from the can and adding it to the recipe made this WAY to watery. See all that unnecessary liquid:

Once I took it out of the oven, I drained the liquid, but it would have tasted better if it wasn't there at all, so next time I will omit the juice. It also needed a lot more topping, which was the best part, crispy and sweet, loved it lots. So next time, I will double the topping. I think something else that would probably help is to use crushed pineapple, since the chunks weren't uniform in shape, the topping didn't stick really well. Other than those few changes, this recipe was a hit! The topping part was so good, I'm going to use it on some other fruits.

 Look for more recipes to come from PDQ Vegetarian Cookbook

Have a great evening!

Chocolate-Granola Refrigerator Cookies

 

Today, I made the Chocolate-Granola Refrigerator Cookies from page 176 of The PDQ (Pretty Darn Quick) Vegetarian Cookbook: 240 Healthy and Easy No-Prep Recipes for Busy Cooks

I like this book, though all the recipes aren't vegan, many are and you can make substitutions to make them vegan in most cases. There's a recipe for pineapple crisp that I really want to try soon.

I chose this cookie recipe because it was fast and required few ingredients. Still, I didn't have everything it called for, like walnuts or pecans and granola. Since I'm not a big nut fan anyway, I just omitted this and in place of granola, I used oats.

These turned out really good. I love the raisin, chocolate and coconut combination! It took no time to make them either. The picture did not turn out so good I'm afraid. Don't let the fact that they look so gross deter you :)

These didn't get as hard as no bake cookies. Maybe they will after a few hours. Doesn't matter to me though.
They won't go to waste.

Growin' Some Peanuts, 2 Product Reviews & More Owls

My local nursery had something new this year that looked like a lot of fun-- peanut plants. I'm totally unfamiliar with growing peanuts, but I picked up a couple plants to try it out. I'm not even a big peanut fan, I just couldn't pass them up. I'll keep you posted on the nut situation.

Eating alone tonight so I went out to the garden, gathered some stuff for a salad and topped it with one of my favorite bottled salad dressings- Annie's Naturals Goddess Dressing. It's vegan and all natural and despite it's strong taste, I love it. I usually go for light salad dressing but this one is thick. The only real downside is that for the price, about $4.50 per bottle, it doesn't last me more than about 3 days worth of salads. I would love to come up with a recipe for something similar to make at home. If you have a recipe, please leave a comment!
Watch the label because there used to be 2 versions of this and one wasn't vegan.

Since I worked hard in the gardens today and as I mentioned I'm eating alone, it seemed like a good time to pull out one of my favorite convenience foods-- Simply Asia Sesame Teriyaki Noodle Bowl
I really like the flavor. It's a little sweet and the sesame seeds really make it special. You make this in the microwave in 2 minutes. They even give you the bowl and a little fork which makes it perfect for work. The downside-- I'm not a big fan of using a microwave and it's high  in sodium-- 47% of the RDA, yikes!! Another thing I don't really like is the bowl can't be recycled. However, since the bowl comes with a lid, it makes a great little seed starting container.

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Months ago, I bought this adorable craft paper at a local hobby store. The same day, I found a gift bag with this owl on it. Lucky for me, the peachy color was a perfect match. I planned on doing something with it at some point and last night while I was super bored, I pulled the stuff out. I took a tray and painted it cream, then decoupaged the paper on, cut out the owl and adhered it, then topped it all with a protective coat. The end result, is a cute little tray that matches my living room.

This cutie came from a customer. She read the blog, saw I like owls and gave it to me :) What a nice gesture. The bottom comes off and you can put a candle in it. And it looks very cool lit up. I really love my customers and not just because they give me things ;)

Got this baby at a flea market. I think it's an owl. I guess it could be a chicken, but in my mind it's definitely an owl. Poor guy isn't perfect- has a chip on one ear- but I'm not complaining.

We've had this lamp for a couple of years.
Can you guess why I like it?

What's Blooming in June?

All kinds of pretty flowers are blooming in my garden right now. Pictured are yellow yarrow, red velvet yarrow, spirea, lilies, multi-colored bee balm, echinacea, and pink lemondade honeysuckle.

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The Colors of Bee Balm 

Bee Balm is such an inpressive flower. It grows wild here in Ohio but you generally only see it in red. I was lucky enough to find some pink growing alongside the road so I dug up a little and brought it home. To my sheer delight, some of it ended up being purple! 

• Bee Balm is a complexion booster and can help minimize redness
• American Indians used it as a seasoning
• The flowers can be eaten and make a lovely salad garnish
• Fresh and dried bee balm leaves can be used to make a medicinal tea
• Steam inhalation of the plant can be used for sore throats and bronchial inflammation
• Wild Bergamot was used also as an sweat inducer for ceremonial sweat lodges
  

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Daisies & Beautyberry Bush Foliage

 Pink Yarrow

 Red Velvet Yarrow

Torch Coneflower

 Lily

Pink Lemonade Honeysuckle

Strawberry Scented Geranium

Mr Lincoln Rose (one of my favorites)

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What's About to Bloom?

Crocosmia Lucifer

Mint Explosion

Sunflowers that re-seeded from last year

Total Hotdog Failure but Saved by Hummus

Well, tonight I went to the grocery store and spent about $25 on spices I didn't already have (mace, coriander, ground cumin, and cardamon) and supplies to make the homemade veggie hot dogs at this link: http://thriftyliving.net/?p=107

Unfortunately, I hated them! Maybe I did something wrong, but the texture just didn't do it for me at all. I normally like stuff made with tofu too, so I really thought these would turn out good.   :(  It's so disappointing when you buy a bunch of stuff, work hard on a recipe and it isn't even edible. These are going in the garbage I'm afraid.

Luckily, I also picked up ingredients for Olive Hummus and some pita pockets. The hummus turned out super! So I made myself a sandwich and whipped up a batch of fudge, which also came out nice. The night turned out not to be a total waste of food after all!

Times are tough, eat salad for free!

Hungry tonight, craving a salad and I have no lettuce! I really need a salad! It's mid March in Ohio so I can't go outside and get a fresh salad from the garden, but lucky for me I have a yard with edible greens.

I gathered chickweed, chives, and salad burnet. Cleaned it up, tossed in some vinaigrette and it's done!


Next, it's leftover vegan beef stroganoff and mashed potatoes from last night.

Nettles & Chickweed Oh My!

Last year we created a little garden to sit this red buddha statue in that Danny has had for years. Beside it we planted a Contorted Filbert (very cool plant!). Other than those things and a couple thyme plants I really had no plans for this garden. I was so surprised and happy when I went out today and saw the huge patches of dead nettle and chickweed! I know these are weeds and can be hard to control, but I appreciate each of them for their medicinal and edible properties.

I pulled a few of them up to use and there were so many worms underneath. Worms are a gardener's friend!

The soil in this bed now looks rich and dark, much better than any other area in the yard. I wish the veggie garden soil looked so good! But right now, it is a mess. There is lots to do before we can plant and I'm not too sure winter is finished with us yet :(

Chickweed is pretty easy to identify by its tiny white flowers and growth habit. It grows in thick clumps or mats. The leaves are oval in shape. Though there are different kinds of chickweed, they look very similar to one another. Nutrient rich chickweed can be eaten raw in salads or cooked in soup. Just make sure you are 100% positive of its identification before eating any wild plant!

The type of nettle I found today is purple dead nettle. 

Nettles are huge garden helpers:

1) Add fresh nettle to your compost pile- nettle makes an excellent activator because of its readily available nitrogen content

2) Make Nettle Manure Tea to fertilize your plants by packing about 2 pounds of fresh nettle, gathered in the spring, to a bucket and adding a gallon of water. Leave this for 2 to 3 weeks. Be sure to stir it occasionally. After letting it sit 2-3 weeks, strain the liquid from the nettles. Put the used nettles in your compost pile.  Before using your manure tea, dilute it to the strength of 1 cup of fertilizer to 10 cups water.

A really fun thing to have in your garden is hens and chicks, the plant. Hens and chicks plants are mat-forming succulents that produce clusters of rosettes. The parent rosettes are the "hens," and the smaller rosettes that spring from them are the "chicks" or "chickens."  These are must haves for tiny pots, shoes and other small garden containers. They will multiply continuously and you can share them with friends and family. I keep mine on the porch during the winter and they do just fine here in Ohio. When there isn't a danger of frost or freezing I sit them out in the sun. As far as I know they have no medicinal or edible properties but they sure are cute!

Signs of Spring

I was very happy to go out this week and find my first garden flower of the year- an English Daisy. I started these from seed last year and got no blooms, they were a bit of a disappointment but I have high hopes for them this year.

Also found some little flowers popping up in the yard. Chickweed should be along soon so I can start making fresh infusions again!

We had a couple 70 degree days so the cats are enjoying some outdoor time. This is Domino, our heavy weight.

Tonight for dinner we had vegan beef stroganoff and mashed potatoes, yummy!

Vegan Mashed Potatoes are super easy to make. Bring water to a boil, scrub and quarter about 5 potatoes and boil for 25 minutes. Drain and immediately blend with a hand mixer adding vegan sour cream, almond milk, Earth Balance margarine, minced garlic, chopped onions and salt and pepper to taste.

For gravy I used this gravy mix

Artichoke Stuffed Portabella Shrooms

This will take you about 5 minutes to prepare minus the baking time:

1/2 cup vegan cream cheese
can of artichoke hearts (drained)
italian seasoning
dried parsley
salt
garlic salt
rosemary/sea salt grinder or other spices
8 portabella stuffer mushrooms

Preheat over to 425 degrees.
Take the stems out of the mushrooms and put them into the food processor. Add cream cheese, artichokes, and spices to taste to food precessor and blend until smooth. Spoon mixture into shrooms and bake until warmed throughout.

You can top these with vegan cheese before baking if you like.

Buffalo "Chicken" Wraps with Lime Cilantro Basmati Rice

This is a very easy and tasty meal. For the wraps you will need:

tortillas
soy chicken patties or nuggets, cut into pieces
bag of lettuce
roma tomatoes, dices
button mushrooms, diced
onion, diced
fresh cilantro

Buffalo Sauce:
red hot sauce
melted earth balance margarine

Ranch:
1/2 cup mayo substitute
1/2 cup milk substitute (I use almond)
rosemary salt grinder
celery salt
dried parsley
garlic salt
dried parsley

1) Cut up "chicken" and heat in skillet until warm
2) Prepare "ranch" by putting mayo and milk along with spices to taste in food processor. Sit aside
3) Prepare buffalo sauce by mixing hot sauce with melted Earth Balance to taste. Take warm "chicken" out of pan, put it in a plastic bag and pour in the buffalo sauce. Shake and sit aside.
4) In a bowl combine tomatoes, onion, mushrooms, cilantro, and salad mix. Pour "ranch" over veggies.
5) Lay out your tortillas and prepare your wrap: tortilla, "buffalo chicken", veggie/salad ranch mix, and wrap up.


Lime Cilantro Basmati Rice (Similar to Chipotle restaurant rice)

You will need:

2 t Earth Balance Butter
4 t fresh cilantro, chopped (or more if you like)
1 1/2 C basmati rice
1 cup water
1 t salt
juice of 2 limes

In 2 qt saucepan, melt butter. Add rice and lime juice and stir well. Add water and salt and bring to a boil. Once it has reached a boil, cover, turn down to low and let simmer for 15-25 minutes until rice is soft. Remove from heat, add cilantro and fluff with a fork.

My first Seitan Sausages & Chickpea Pasta Soup

I've been battling a cold for over a week now. All that's left of it is a nasty cough, so tonight I was craving some hot, spicy soup. I chose Chickpea & Pasta Soup and it did seem to clear my cough a bit temporarily. The recipe is shown below. Add other veggies if you have them on hand.

Since I've been sick my favorite past time has been surfing the internet for veg recipes or recipes I can veganize. Out of my huge stack, seitan sausages made it to the top of the list.



Just finished a batch of seitan sausages and I am so proud! I'm not posting the recipe yet because I think they need more flavor. The texture is good but they need more taste appeal. I'm encouraged enough to keep working on these.

Chickpea and Pasta Soup

If you don't like spicy, this won't be for you. It isn't super hot but more than some people will want. It turns out like a cross between veggie chili and veggie soup.

4 cups vegetable broth
1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 (14 oz) can stewed tomatoes
3/4 c chopped onions
3/4 cup chopped celery
3-4 cloves minced garlic
1 T italian seasoning
1/8 t crushed red pepper
1 C farfelle (bow tie) pasta
2-3 t lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
garlic salt to taste


Combine all in large stockpot, cover and cook over med-low for 45 minutes to hour.

Raw V8 Style Juice

I've had a V8 or 2 in my day an while I liked the flavor, there are a few things about it that make it less healthy than juicing your own fresh veggies.

For one thing it contains a lot of sodium which didn't really matter to me when I was younger but I try to watch it now. And, everything is from concentrate and it's been pasteurized so you aren't getting the full effect of the veggies. I've also heard rumors that V8 isn't vegan, it is however listed as vegetarian according to this page. There's a little vegetarian icon included. This does not mean it doesn't contain dairy derivatives hidden in the "natural flavors".

V8 Juice Ingredients: Tomato Juice from Concentrate (Water, Tomato Paste), Reconstituted Vegetable Juice Blend (Water and Concentrated Juices of Carrots, Celery, Beets, Parsley, Lettuce, Watercress, Spinach), Lemon Juice from Concentrate (Water, Lemon Juice Concentrate), Salt, Natural Flavoring, Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid), Citric Acid.





If you don't have a juicer, get one as soon as you can! You'll be able to make wonderful concoctions like this Raw Veggie/Fruit V8.

All you need is a juicer and a variety of veggies and fruits. I used 1 cup salad blend, 1 bag baby carrots, 1 tomato, 1/2 a bunch of celery. I only had one tomato or I would have used 3 or 4. You can add a pinch of sea salt if you like. More tomatos will make it taste more like V8. You can also add some fresh herbs like cilantro, basil, oregano

This juice is super fresh and very good for you!

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Have I mentioned how much I love vintage owl stuff? Well, this is an owl necklace from my collection. It's really big and really great! I've not seen another one like it and the best part is I paid only $1 for it at a junk store. Baaahahahaha!!