Scrambled Tofu:
(for one)
1/2 package of silken tofu
1 tsp rice bran oil
1 tbsp nutritional yeast seasonings
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
dash of rosemary
dash or two of black salt
dash or two of black pepper
1 garlic cloves minced
Heat the oil and garlic in a pan, add the tofu. Let sizzle for 5 minutes, stirring as needed.
Add the soy sauce if it starts looking a little dry. Add the seasonings, stir fry for a couple more minutes until heated thoroughly.
Sauteed kale:
1 tsp rice bran oil (also great with sesame oil)
1 tsp soy sauce
2 minced garlic cloves
3 cups of chopped kale
Fry garlic in the oil, for a few minutes and then add the kale. Sizzle the kale until it's wilted but still bright green, and may even get a bit crunchy on the edges, if not it's still tasty!
Add the kale and the tofu to one plate and garnish with chopped tomatoes.
These have been my two most common foods this week. And my chia breakfast I've been having for months and months now.
Chia Cereal:
3 tbsp chia seeds
1 scoop of vega nutritional shake vanilla flavor
enough water to cover
2 tbsp apple sweetened cranberries.
Mix everything together and let it soak for a few minutes and it is ready to consume. I also travelled around New York/ New Jersey last week, and took ziplock bags full of these three ingredients and I had an instant nutritional breakfast anywhere I went.
BLT wraps:
This takes less than 5 minutes to make, I was inspired by visiting a vegan restaurant in NYC and ordered this, and it was sooo amazing! I craved it so much afterwards that as soon as I came home I bought the ingredients so I could make it too.
2-3 leaves of romaine
1/2 tbsp vegan mayo
1 slice of cheddar vegan cheese (I use Daiya)
3-4 slices of tomato
(the restaurant also had avocado in the wrap, however the avocados at my local organic store were pretty unripe so I went without)
2 slices of tempeh bacon
1 wrap
I take the shortcut way, of using a microwave.. Take a wrap, put the slice of cheese on one side, plus 2 slices of bacon. Microwave for 45 seconds. Add the tomato, lettuce, and mayo to the other side of the wrap. Roll it up and consume :)
Breakfast Burrito:
tortillas
chao cheese
condiment of choice (salsa, hot sauce, ketchup)
cilantro
Stir-fry Hashbrowns:
4-5 leaves of chopped kale
2 small potatoes grated
1 vegan sausage slice/chopped
2 tbsp vegan margarine
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
8 stalks of asparagus
2 cloves garlic
1 onion chopped
Melt the margarine in a pan, and add the onion. Cook until translucent.
Add potato, asparagus and sausage, cook until the potato softens. Add kale, salt and pepper, cook until the kale wilts, stirring continuously.
Not so Eggs, Tempeh:
2 packages of tempeh, finely chopped or processed using food processor.
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp ground sage
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp water
3 tbsp milk
2 tsp yellow or dijon mustard
2-3 tbsp salsa
1-2 dashes of smoked black salt (optional)
Take one tortilla, half slice of chao cheese and distribute it onto half of the tortilla. Microwave for 30 seconds. Alternatively you could put it in the oven on broil for 3-4 minutes, until cheese is melted.
Take out of microwave or oven and spread salsa, ketchup or hot sauce or other desired sauce onto one side of the tortilla. Place about 1/4 cup of scrambled tempeh on the burrito, then 1/4 cup of the hashbrowns. Use 5-6 cilantro leaves to top it off, before rolling it up. Smother it in salsa or other condiment of your choice!
5 potatoes chopped and steamed for 20 minutes
1 onion chopped
1 leek chopped (optional)
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 green chillies chopped
1 1/2 tbsp ginger minced
1/4 cup coriander chopped
1/2 tsp turmeric
pinch of hing
salt
Saute mustard seeds in oil until they pop. Add cumin seeds, onion and leek let sizzle for 1-2 minutes, then add green chillies and ginger. Add the turmeric and hing, mix well. Combine the potatoes and coriander stir and keep aside.
Tomato Chutney (this recipe needs a good blender or grinder):
4-5 small tomatoes
1 onion
3 chillies
pinch of hing
2 pieces of dry tamarind
1 tbsp oil
salt
Heat the oil, saute chillies and onion for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes and hing. Lightly salt. Keep cooking the tomatoes until they are soft and completely cooked. Add mixture to a blender or grinder and add the tamarind.
Crepes (good blender needed):
3 cups water
3/4 cup dates
1/4 cup dried currents (dates and currents can be replaced with raisins if needed)
1 cup buckwheat flour (I at first put 1/2 oat and 1/2 cup gluten free flour mixture, but the crepes weren't binding, I added 1 cup of buckwheat flour and it helped a lot)
2/3 cup cashews
small handful of sesame seeds
handful of pumpkin seeds
1 tbsp sunflower seeds (all the seeds unnecessarily but can add a cup of nuts/seeds of your choice instead of cashews through sunflower seeds)
2 tbsp flaxseeds
pinch of salt
combine all ingredients apart from flour in a blender. Blend until smooth. Add mixture to flour and stir well. The batter should be a little thinner than waffle batter. Add water if needed.
This recipe was a little difficult, but with practice it an be done.
Pan should be heated to a medium heat -- make sure it is non stick. Pour 1/2 cup of batter on to the pan and quickly rotate pan to cover the bottom, or smear the batter with the bottom of the cup, before it cooks -- otherwise it will ruin it.. but if you do it fast enough it can work.
Eat crepes topped with potatoes and lathered with tomato chutney.
:)
LEMON POPPY SEED BARS
--- So when I had the crepes I add additional batter left over this is what I did with the batter -- I probably had about 2-3 cups of batter left.
I added
2 tsp of lemon oil
1/4 cup poppyseeds
1 cup of oat flour
1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar
1-2 tbsp agave
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
Heated the oven to 375 degrees
Cooked them for 14 minutes.
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 1/1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup water
3 tbsp of oil
3 tbsp agave
1 mashed banana
Combine all dry ingredients, add wet ingredients and mix until smooth. Pour 1/4 cup of the batter at a time on a lightly oiled frying pan. Let it cook on medium heat until the pancakes start to bubble and are stable enough to flip. Cook on the other side until a light brown.
Apricot Mesquite chia cereal
2 tbsp chia seeds
soaked in 1 cup water
4 sliced apricots
1 sliced mango
1/2 tbsp of mesquite
I also had a small bowl of millet cereal with flax milk-- at breakfast late and wasn't sure when I'd be getting lunch.
Fo lunch I made:
Refried Black Bean Quesadilla with pumpkin seed cheese smothered swiss chard
Makes 2
2 rice tortilla
1 tomato chopped
6 tbsp refried black beans
1 small bundle swiss chard
cheese--
1 cup pumpkin seeds
2-3 tbsp water
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons agave
1 dash braggs
Mix the cheese ingredients in a blender until chunky -- consistency of ricotta.
Wash and chop the swiss chard, and pour cheese mixture on top, mix well.
Spread out 3tbsps refried beans onto the middle of the tortilla and put it in the oven
or broiler for 5-7 minutes until rice tortilla gets soft in the middle and crispy on the outside.
Remove tortilla from oven and spread tomatoes, in the middle and half of the swiss chard cheese mixture.
I got home late tonight.. so picked up some of my favorite veggie burgers, put on the cheese -- can throw them in the oven or microwave and then add the rest of the ingredients :)
Switching it up for breakfast this morning:
2 medium to small sized portions
Ginger Peach Tapioca
1/2 cup tapioca pearls
2 1/2 cups of milk
1/2 cup of dried apricots and or peach
1 inch chopped ginger
micropinch of stevia
Put it either in a slow cooker for 1-2 hours or stovetop for 10 minutes. Make sure to stir it, I made the mistake of not stirring and it burned the bottom.. but it was still good :) I added a little bit of vegan horchata to this -- my husband likes to buy it, it's a little sweet and has a cinnamon flavor.. so alternatively once it hits your bowl, you can add a little more sweetener, or 'milk' or cinnamon.
It's best if the nuts and seeds can be soaked overnight before hand, but I often don't soak because, I haven't properly planned ahead.
This milk is a little harder to strain, and has a bit of a strong nutty flavor, but can still be used in cereal, however perhaps this milk is best used for baking or other cooked dishes.
Tri-blend milk
1/4 cup almonds
3 tbsp sesame seeds
3 tbsp of flax seeds
5 cups of water
4 dates
Blend preferably in a vitamix or other blender and strain through a fine mesh or nut milk bag.
Strained material can be frozen and saved later, here is one recipe: raw vegan pie
Going vegan for the first time? You aren't alone. Any question these days can fortunately be typed in to google for an answer. Anything from social aspects of being vegan to recipes to best food replacements, and meal guidances. I've provided below some of the shortlisted tips that I use regularly. Reading labels and asking questions will become commonplace.
A shortcut, is that milk is often listed as an allergen on ingredient lists. However
sometimes they do sneak in ingredients without labeling them on the allergen list.
A few ingredients to look for : milk, butter, whey, honey, meat, egg, casein,
A few ingredients to look for that don't make them not vegan.. but in terms of looking out for your health: corn syrup, sugar, evaporated cane juice,
These sweeteners are hard to avoid, but sometimes it's possible to find options with a lesser percentage of sweetener, or added as a last ingredient instead of a first. The sweetener with supposedly the lowest glycemic index is brown rice syrup, it's not often that it is used in products, but it does happen sometimes.
It's also good to avoid hydrogenated oils, partially hydrogenated oils, aspartame, food colors and dyes. More on food labels
Oh and get yourself a good vegan vitamin B12 supplement :) It's the only vitamin that is questionably less available in a vegan diet.. the vitamin is under lots of scrutiny from different 'health professionals' My view is, that it's better to be safe than sorry.. might as well take it.
As for people who who become iron deficient on a vegan diet, my take on that, is you aren't getting enough greens, greens need to be at the bottom of the food pyramid! :) Followed by vegetables, then legumes and grains, then nuts and seeds (or perhaps vice versa if you are a raw foodist) and seaweeds.
Online recipe resource: https://www.facebook.com/findingvegan
or google finding vegan to go to the website, hundreds of amazing recipes with pictures!
Other of my favorite go-to cookbooks:
Hot Vegan, Robin Robertson
Vegan Richa's Indian Kitchen
(these top two cookbooks are currently my all time favorites)
Fresh from the vegan slowcooker, Robin Robertson
Vegan Pressure cooking, JL Fields
Vegan Brunch, Isa Chandra Moskowitz
The Great Vegan Bean Book, Kathy Hester
Oh She Glows, Angela Liddon (check out her blog: http://ohsheglows.com/ )
Specialty Cookbooks:
Artisan Vegan Cheese, miyoko schinner
Vice Cream, Jeff Rogers
Juice Lady's Guide to Juicing for Health, Cherie Calbom (any and all health issues can be helped with this book! This is what I always refer to if I get a cold or anything, and these juices typically really help clear up whatever is the problem)
Cooking/Uncooking for health:
Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine, Gabriel Cousens
Crazy, Sexy Kitchen, Kris Carr
This Crazy Vegan Life, Christina Cooks
Reboot with Joe, Joe Cross
Ani's Raw Food Essentials, Ani Phyo
Ani's Raw Food Asia, Ani Phyo
I know these lists may be a little overwhelming. I personally started with:
La Dolce Vegan, Sarah Kramer
and
This Crazy Vegan Life, Christina Cooks
I followed Christina's 21 day diet plan, which was hard! Because it was also
very healthy, but it was so worth it, I felt so happy in my skin after 21 days, I did not stop after that!
Others often recommend Veganomicon, by Isa Chandra
and Supermarket vegan by Donna Klein
If you are into bright colorful cookbooks with lots of pictures
may go for Angela Liddon's, Oh She Glows,
or
Big Vegan by Robin Aswell
or
Color Me Vegan by Colleen, Patrick-Goudreau
For more:::
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_1?rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Avegan&keywords=vegan&ie=UTF8&qid=1401900615
Try Pro bars or Larabars -- an easy meal on the go.
(available at Natural Grocers)
Try 3-4 fruits in the morning and a handful of nuts and seeds, for another quick time meal.
Vegan cereal
Read labels! It can be tricky, and although not the healthiest option, it can be a quick way to get breakfast in. Choose a cereal with low to even may no sugar content. Or better the puffed grains. They can always be mixed with cut fruit, flax nuts, seeds, raisins or other dried fruit for a more interesting variation.
Choose your vegan milk. To reduce waste from buying vegan milk, make your own. Blend about 1/4 cup of nuts or seeds with 1-3 cups of water, depending on the thickness you like. It's best to soak the seeds or nuts overnight, but they can also be just blended with water, and then strained by a fine sieve or nut milk bag-- to get rid of the grainy texture. To add some sweetness, add a dollop of agave, or 2-3 dates. Another option is to blend the meat of a young coconut with its water. Another really easy alternative option is 1-2 tbsp of tahini with 1 banana, this makes a very thick and frothy kind of milk, that you don't need to strain. Blend it with 1-2 cups of water depending on the thickness you like.
Raw Oatmeal
Healthy and nutrient loaded, this meal will keep you full for a while. Soak 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of whole groat oats overnight in 2-3 cups of water. In the morning, drain the water, put them in the blender and again add 2-3 cups of water, with a banana, dates and cinnamon. Blend until chunky but easily chewable. Nut milk can be added, berries and any other additions wanted. or http://www.live-green-smoothie-diet.com/2010/08/the-best-ever-raw-oatmeal-for-everyday/
Smoothie
Make a filling green smoothie, load it up of dark green leaves, 2-3 fruits, lemon, ginger, flax seeds, hemp seeds.. whatever you feel like! If you like a sweeter version, make sure to add bananas, dates or nut milk. If you feel like something savory, make a vegetable smoothie, try kale, tomatoes, avocado, green onion and lemon. If you want more veggies for breakfast for added energy, google recipes for vegan raw soups for more ideas :)
Don't be afraid of eating traditional 'dinner' type dishes for breakfast, this can actually really help stabilize the blood sugar and reduce cravings for sweet dishes later in the day. If you can, include dark greens in your breakfast, they really are the ultimate food in terms of nutrition, full of vitamins and minerals such as calcium, vitamin A, C, K omega 3's, iron, magnesium... list goes on :)
Sweet options include vegan french toast, pancakes, crepes, banana bread, toast (which could also be savory depending on the toppings :) )
Lunch
In my mind, I don't differentiate between dinner and lunch.
Are you used to big meals or small meals for lunch, lighter or heavier?
-- I will make something like this as a half faced sandwich,
It could also include, sprouts, dark greens, mustard, cucumber, bell pepper, sauteed mushrooms, or marinated portobello, smoked tofu (available at natural grocers), vegan cheese, vegan butter, vegan meats, marinated eggplant or eggplant bacon.
Salads:
Whatever you can find in your fridge, beets plus oranges, spinach plus apples, dollop some of that cashew cheese on there.. or even just roasted sunflower seeds. Find a good vegan dressing, it can be as simple as balsamic vinegar and oil... PS balsamic vinegar plus fresh basil plus tomato is amazing and can be added to any other salad. If you would rather make your own creamy cashew dressing at home.. for a very filling and nutritious alternative to store bought dressings. Try ranch dressing, replace the 1 tbsp with 1 tsp of salt. It's amazing that most recipes really go crazy on the salt :) Or replace some of the salt with nutritional yeast, zesty spice or seaweed :) Or make one yourself salt substitute. Other options are using lemon zest, dried red pepper, and onion and garlic powders.
One of my favorite dressings is mixing tahini with balsamic vinegar. This makes a very quick and delicious salad dressing and stevia, agave, salt or whatever other ingredients can be added if wanted.
Often what happens is I will have left overs from the previous day for lunch the next day... or on extremely lazy days and unhealthy days I may have: steamed vegetables plus a vegan burger, and maybe some frozen fries. Or maybe a vegan pizza, -- Available at Lee's marketplace, Smith's Marketplace and Natural Grocers. Or vegan pot stickers or spring rolls available at Natural grocers
Snacks
Veggies -- mini bell peppers, snap peas, carrots, celery, even sometimes fresh lettuce can taste good enough to just want to snack :)
vegan crackers -- try flax crackers
Chips and salsa
Fruit -- my all time favorite snack, eat 3-4 fruits in a sitting if you are hungry... It's a great source of calories and energy, with high water content, fiber and nutrients! can also be eaten with nut butter
Avocado smothered in lemon juice and maybe some nutritional yeast and pepper :)
Peanut butter toast
Vegan bars
Banana bread
Include hummus in the snack... on bread, chips, crackers or veggies
Nuts and seeds
Dinner
top ten easy vegan recipes
Quesadillas Try one of these or steam your own veggies and use the cheese recipe from here if you don't want to buy vegan cheese or make a simple cashew cheese
Pizza plus salad Store bought vegan pizza or make your own
Spaghetti lots of veggies and nutritional yeast It can be as simple as (4-5) blended tomatoes plus (4-5) dates, (1/4 cup) oil, (1 tsp) oregano and other italian seasonings with garlic plus (2) zucchinis and (1 package) mushrooms, or it could be 1 can of tomato sauce, 1 tbsp white wine vinegar, 1/4 cup of chopped fresh parsley, 1 tsp of agave, 2 garlic cloves and 1 tbsp italian seasoning, 1/2 tsp salt. Or it could be prepared pasta sauce plus 2-3 zucchinis, or 1 package of mushrooms chopped.
Stir fry and rice 1/3 cup of rice per person, rinse before cooking. Place the rice in a pot and fill with water so the water is about an inch the rice. The stir fry can be really easy, the veggies can be anything in your fridge-- however if eggplant or potatoes are going to be used, would be best to bake them atleast for 40 minutes prior to soften them up enough that they will be cooked through without overcooking the rest of the veggies in the stir fry. Try a seasoning mix such as this, the main idea is that, there is something sweet, savory, bitter, sour and salty within the flavorings.
For example for 2-4 cups of veggies in the pot use 2-3 tbsp of soy sauce, seaweed, or nutritional yeast for salt.
use 2 tbsp of dried herbs or 1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs
use juice of 1/2 lemon or 1/2 orange, or tamarind for the tang (add last to keep flavor) lemon zest or orange zest can also be used
use garlic, onion, turmeric, chili powder, ginger or hing for bitter/strong
use agave, stevia, molasses, sugar, brown rice syrup or maple syrup for sweet Warning** use only a couple grains of stevia to keep it from becoming too overpowering and gross in the dish.
At bare minimum try something like 2-3 tbsp of soy sauce, 1-3 tsp of olive oil and 1-4 cloves of garlic minced. Feel free to add protein to this! Tofu, seitan, tempeh, beans, chickpea tofu
6- Burritos
Canned beans, (or made at home, soak 1/2 cup of dried beans -- note** lentils don't need soaking, for 12 hours or overnight, simmer the next day 2-3 hours.. or put the beans into a crock pot and let cook 4-6 hours on high. They will get to be just like the ones that come in a can :) )
Cook some rice
Make some guacamole
Buy/make some salsa
It can be that simple! Or try this recipe
7- Chili
It can be as simple as a 2 cans of tomato sauce 1-2 cans of diced tomatoes or 3 chopped fresh tomatoes, 1-2 tbsp of chilli powder, 2-3 cans of beans, 2 chopped bell peppers, 1 can of corn or corn from one corn on the cob, 1 tsp of agave, 1 tsp of molasses, 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of paprika, 1/2 tsp of vinegar or for a little bit more involved recipes:
8- Tikka Masala Tempeh
This can be served with rice and salad or steamed veggies
1-2 cups of coconut milk from a can
1-2 tbsp of tomato paste
1-2 tbsp of curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 onion
1 package of tempeh
Fry the tempeh and onions in the oil (garlic can also be added) until browned or onions turn clear. Add the rest of the ingredients heat until hot.
9- Lentils and rice bake
1 cup veggie broth
2 cups tomato sauce or diced tomatoes
3/4 cups of lentils
1/2 cup brown rice
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 tsp italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix all ingredients in baking dish, cover with foil and bake
for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
10. Mix up dinners:
salad
steamed vegetables or roasted veggies
baked potato
plus some kind of protein dish--preferably saucy such as lentil soup, beans in tomato sauce, or some other dish with mushrooms, tempeh or tofu.
If I didn't get around to cooking it may be some kind of frozen vegan food such as vegan spring rolls, dumplings, veggie burger, or other mock meat.
So, for example, baked beans + potato + steamed broccolli, vegan cheese can be added if desired...
When I have the time to properly make something, I always like to have greens as the base, asparagus, bok choy, kale, mustard greens, collards, spinach, romaine.. whatever it is, if it is a bitter green I typically like to steam it.
Typically the starch element of the dish -- pasta, potatoes, rice, quinoa is more of a side event of the dish.
Out to Eat
Ask the chef, ask the waiter. Go for a burrito with beans without the cheese and the sour cream. Get a salad, check to see what dressings are vegan and make sure the candied nuts don't have honey. Find out if the chef can add extra veggies to the salad, steamed or fresh veggies -- broccoli, tomatoes, avocados, olives, peppers... Find out if the chef can add other sources of protein -- mushrooms, tofu, nuts, seeds, or beans.
Sometimes vegan soups are available, find out about the tomato, minestrone, vegetable or even chili.
Wraps and breads often have milk or egg products in them, check first, otherwise find out what kind of vegan sandwiches may be available or wraps.
If at an asian restaurant, find out what dishes may have fish sauce in them, otherwise dishes such as moo shu vegetable may be safe, or other tofu plus vegetable dishes. Dishes with a coconut base -- for example in indian restaurants will be generally more safe.
Dessert
Unfortunately there area limited options out to eat, at least in non-metro areas for vegan desserts. It's possible to find vegan desserts at whole foods, natural grocers and other health food stores. Otherwise vegan ice cream is becoming more popular to buy at bigger food chains such as smith's marketplace and lee's market place.
If I am feeling like something sweet but I don't feel like baking... here is sometimes what I will do...
Snack on vegan chocolate chips with peanut butter
Have a toast, smear it with peanut butter and sprinkle chocolate chips on top.
Snack on just chocolate chips -- when I buy chocolate bars I tend to eat more than I do when I only have access to chocolate chips.. not sure why.
Apples with peanut butter
Bananas with peanut butter
Snack on cocoa beans
or if I have vegan ice cream available I may also have that :)
Otherwise I will just have a pear, an apple or some kind of a vegan bar -- like a lara bar or pro bar
Another option is snacking on dates, cashews or coconut date rolls -- which are really good.
That's about it!!!
Anything that isn't clear or any questions, please post a comment :)
EXTRAS
Best guidelines from Dr. Joel Fuhrman::: 1. Eat a large salad every day. 2. Eat at least a half cup serving of beans/legumes in soup,salad or another dish once daily. 3. Eat at least three fresh fruits a day, especially berries, pomegranate seeds, cherries, plums, oranges. 4. Eat at least one ounce of raw nuts and seeds a day. 5. Eat at least one large (double size) serving of green vegetables daily, either raw, steamed or in soups and stews. -- Consider these guidelines as thou holy protein sources, and holy calcium, mineral and vitamin sources Avoid these five deadliest foods: 1. Barbecued meat, processed meat, and commercial red meat 2. Fried foods 3. Full-fat dairy (cheese, ice cream, butter, whole milk) and trans fats (margarine) 4. Soft drinks, sugar and artificial sweeteners 5. White flour products.
Helpful books:
Nutritarian Handbook by Joel Fuhrman
Juice Lady's Guide for Juicing for Health, Cherie Calbom
Raw family, Victoria Boutenko
Sunfood diet success system, David Wolf The Rainbow Diet, Gabriel Cousens -- He is certainly one of my favorites, he has a retreat center/school/healing center the tree of life, http://treeoflifecenterus.com/
***Note
The first two books, the authors don't talk 100% of a vegan diet, however my mind tends to block out any words on meat and other animal products, otherwise their content is good, I don't agree with Joel Fuhrman that having animal products at minimum of 1x a week is healthy -- it still can create sickness in the long run.. and if sickness is already present in the body.. it doesn't support the immune system to recover fully.... best thing, is to avoid altogether. I don't agree with Cherie's recommendation of specific meats and other animals products. However, her juices are powerful and can definitely assist in many ailments. Each chapter of the book addresses different illnesses.. if she mentions animal products.. replace them with veg protein sources :)
Helpful documentaries:
Forks over knives
Got facts on milk
Eating
Healing cancer from the inside out
Hungry for change
Food matters
Fat, sick and nearly dead
Earthlings--- I have not seen this one.. because I was thoroughly convinced of being vegan prior this.. however I know that this is a very powerful film on some of the wrongs we commit to animals because of our greed for their products.
Here is another film, named ALMA, addressing some of the issues with animal product consumption on our environment.
Non food items
As far as non food items are concerned, I buy all my toiletries also from health food stores,
I make sure that all products have not been tested on animals or contain animal fats in them, it's also possible to make your own products as well :)
I avoid purchasing products that contain:
down-- in particular feathers or down are found in comforters, blankets, coats, pillows, sleeping bags
fur -- trim on coats and boots in particular
leather -- shoes, backpacks, couches, cars, clothes, jackets, sandals, straps, belts, dolls or other ornaments
wool -- sweaters, socks, carpets, blankets, coats
silk -- dresses, shirts, sometimes pants, bags
bones, ivory -- ornaments, trinkets, jewelry
manure -- this may be a very difficult one, especially if you have your own farm or garden, and are trying to get the right ratio of nitrogen and carbon. However, if it is at all possible to use other composted materials from vegetables, or human recycled/composted waste, this releases some of the support of some of these agricultural practices. Of course, using manure is better than allowing it to go to waste, but as far as possible these products ought not be purchased.
Honey
As far as honey is concerned, many vegans do use honey, in the beginning I believed that if it mattered to some people to avoid honey, than I would make it matter to me.. even though I wasn't totally familiar with the process it takes to get honey.
I was kind of stuck in the middle for a while in the argument, until I met my husband who is allergic to honey. I appreciated the way he viewed it.
That taking honey isn't that fair. The bees have to go on something like 1000 trips in order to make a very small amount of honey. And in replacement we feed them high fructose corn syrup. Something in my mind didn't quite click with this relationship, and so I do the best I can to avoid honey.
A good documentary is
vanishing bees
The documentary enlightens upon the best reason in my mind to consume organic :)
This is a hearty breakfast, great for celebrations.If you like vegan sausage, this is a good one
to add it to, but it’s not missing if its not added.Guacamole or choppedchives would be a fabulous adornment but not
necessary.
1 bunch dandelion greens chopped
1 russet potato chopped small
Steam the potato pieces, and once done, put them in a
bowl.Put the greens in the steamer for
just a few minutes enough time that they just barely wilt.
Saute the garlic and onion in 2 tbsp of water until onion is
rather clear.Mix tofu and seasonings in
another bowl and then add to the pan.Cook until hot.Add chopped tomato
to end.
These dishes can be served side by side or mixed, based on
preference.
A few months ago I became really bored of the regular breakfast options. I used to be good at either getting a vegetable juice in the morning or a green smoothie. But after having some pretty bad headaches quite often, I decided to switch up a lot in my regular food routine. I stopped eating bananas and actually having smoothies and juices -- I wasn't sure if the easy assimilation of the sugars were maybe part of the issue in my headaches?? Really not sure.
I don't like heavy foods for breakfast.
Somehow I ended up with this recipe, which I love.
Chocolate Apple Chia 'Cereal'
2-3 apples chopped (pears can also be used or berries)
2tbsp-3 tbsp of chia seeds soaked in 1-2 cups of water or nut/seed mylk of choice
1 tbsp of cocoa powder
1/2 tbsp of lucuma powder (optional)
1 micropinch of stevia
Cut up apples (pears or berries) and place in a large bowl.
Measure chia seeds and put in a glass, fill the glass almost to the rim of water or mylk.
Let sit for 5 minutes -- stirring every minute or so.
Add stevia and powders to chia mixture.
Once chia seeds inflate, pour them over cut fruit.
For Lunch, I had bought some Chorizo and decided to cook that up with some beans.
