It's no secret that "Shit ____ Say" family videos (i.e., Shit Girls Say, Shit Yogis Say, Shit Girls Say to Gay Guys) have caught on like wildfire. And while I can laugh at them all, my favorite series has to be the vegan ones. Vegans are undeniably easy targets for jokes, and for this very reason, I love the following satirical videos:
There's no surprise that many New Year's resolutions include becoming healthier. Gyms are more packed than any other time of the year; spinning classes are filled with new faces, and treadmills are lined from wall-to-wall with folks sweating away those holiday pounds.
As we've heard time and time again though, becoming healthy isn't just about exercise, it's also about what we eat. Given the abundance of fabulous articles about how eliminating meat (see Mark Bittman's "No Meat, No Dairy, No Problem"), even on a part-time basis, does the body good, it's no wonder that many health resolvers are testing the waters of vegetarianism to purify their bodies.
I'm all for helping people eat vegetarian, whether it's part-time or full-time, which is why a recent email from a friend has inspired me to share my main tips about transitioning to a vegetarian diet over the next few weeks.
Today, I want to share my top three vegetarian recipes that are absolute crowd pleasers, and can also be made with any budget:
1. Shurbat Addes (Syrian Red Lentil Soup): this is a soup that will convince anyone you're a culinary whiz even though it's jaw-droppingly easy. Seriously! It's rare to find a recipe that's this easy and this tasty, and considering it only requires five ingredients, you have no excuse to not go invade your pantry right now and eat it within the hour.
Serve it with a green salad and you've got yourself a balance meal. The recipe requires a mortar and pestle to grind the spices, but if you don't already have one, then one can easily be found secondhand, or at Ikea for under $10. I got mine at Sur La Table for $15. Bonus points: this soup is easy to make and ready to eat in 40 minutes.
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The holidays can be bittersweet for those of us who don't eat traditional Thanksgiving fare (turkey). Questions like, "So what are we going to feed you?", start to come up, as does the blood pressure of hosts who aren't use to accommodating an herbivore.
But believe it or not, there is plenty that someone who doesn't eat meat -- let alone dairy, soy or gluten -- can gobble up at the Thanksgiving table.
This year is unique for me, as I'm looking at holiday dishes with a new perspective: food allergies. Fortunately, I don't have any host(ess) to stress out with my no gluten and no soy veganism, but I can only feel for those who do. So whether you have a food allergy, are accommodating someone who has one, or maybe you're looking to try something new, then I hope my collection of recipes below proves helpful.
Note: please bear in mind that I haven't made all of these recipes, some are on my to-make list, so any notes I make on adapting recipes must be taken with a grain of salt, as I haven't tested every adaptation.
Key:
V = Vegan
SF = Soy-free
GF = Gluten-free
Salad
My name is Ashley and I’m a negligent blogger. I have been cooking new things without sharing; I went on a juice cleanse for two weeks; hells bells, I have been eating as a gluten-free vegan and only mentioned it in passing.
Before you give up hope on me, it’s worth letting you know that in addition to all these other things, I also got a job with Slow Food USA in Brooklyn! (And by job I mean internship for the fall.)
This time last year I was aboard a plane to the land down under. And this year, I’m on a plane again, but this time to a place that doesn’t require a passport: New York City. As I type, I’m actually en route (this was written Friday evening) to La Guardia via American Airlines (sigh, how I wish my beloved Air New Zealand did more flights within the U.S.).
Juicing
About a month ago, I picked up a Breville juicer, and it’s readily become the love of my life. If I could date it, I would. Seriously! Someday I’ll write a formal review of its performance, but I can summarize it with one very enthusiastic oh yeah!
I didn’t quite know what to expect, as I’ve only used one juicer previously, so learning the juicer language – i.e., centrifugal v. masticated – and coming through the various reviews took time, but in the end I'm very pleased. I even loaded up on natural healing books to help me identify which juices were best for certain ailments. Personally inspired by poor skin, I’ve been on a mission to juice regularly since UK raw chef, Russell James suggested I juice at lease once a week, as he cleared up his acne by adopting a raw food-only diet, along with a juice cleanse in the beginning. He advised checking out Jason Vale, another notable Brit who’s known as THE juice man. Jason has a 30-day clear skin routine posted for free (a relief considering most regimens I’ve found are costly).
It's tough to beat Northwest farmers markets in the summertime. Booths are overflowing with peaches, berries, tomatoes and corn. Which reminds me to re-make Smitten Kitchen's tomato and corn pie -- a pie that presented many firsts for me: my first savory pie, my first homemade vegetarian meal, even my first meal with in-season tomatoes from the market!
Mmm...sweet thoughts of how superior summer tomatoes are.
That's enough about tomatoes though, as this isn't a tomato cobbler (but if that interests you then Lottie + Doof and Ellen Fork both have lovely recipes). Back to peaches.
You see, I spent my morning with The Grand Central Baking Book -- and by spent, I mean scanned every recipe I had previously marked as a must-make, nearly every recipe in the book, so it can be returned to the library on time -- which was when I stumbled upon the peach cobbler recipe. Given that my fruit bowl overfloweth with the juicy fruit, it was perfect timing.
So a little vegan-izing and gluten-free'ing later, I had myself a tasty peach cobbler that's worthy of filing in my favorite summer desserts. And yes, I am eating dairy, gluten, wheat and soy-free these days in attempt to try and identify a food allergy. While this won't be forever, I'm definitely learning how to adapt and prepare food in a new way. If you prefer, you can certainly use all-purpose flour and butter to replace my adaptations.
True to form, I'm still hooked on simple summer salads.
Anytime I'm making something as simple as the following recipe is, I feel the least I can do is cook my own chickpeas. So all you need to do is have some in the fridge, or soak them the night before. Because I use chickpeas so regularly, I've gotten in the habit of soaking and cooking some once a week. At the least, they make for a fast snack. Plus, my temptation to eat hummus by the bucket loads, a la You Don't Mess with The Zohan, is perpetuated by having them so accessible.
For the record, this sauce is dangerously delicious. I'm convinced it would be tasty on more than just this salad, starting with an easy addition to plain grains. And for you brown baggers, this salad not only keeps well in the fridge, but still tastes lovely a few days later.
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In the summertime, my patience weens. I like rawer foods, quicker meals and fewer dishes. And with the farmers markets full of raw, colorful treats, why not dive headfirst into salads?
Lately I've been stockpiling salad recipes to make over the summer, and since I had some avocado to use up, I had just the recipe from Eating for England to make.
The good news is how easy and flexible this grain salad is. I'm confident you could use a variety of vegetables in place of the ones Angharad and I did, and it would still turn out nicely. Red quinoa? Chickpeas? I'm sure both would be welcomed substitutes. Aside from ingredients, this dish could easily be served as a filling side dish, or perhaps stuffed into a tortilla.
Bonus points: this is a one-pot recipe (OK, plus a citrus juicer).
Extra bonus points: this is a great dish to make for brown bag lunches, as it keeps well in the fridge.
Continue Reading...To state the obvious: organic food is better for us than non-organic, therefore we should buy/eat it as often as possible.
And as we all know, organic food doesn't always come cheap. So, those of us on budgets must prioritize which foods are the organic must-buys. I have a terrible time remembering which foods I should always buy organic, so if you're anything like me, you need a list you can pull out at the market, or grocery store, to remind yourself. If that's the case then here are two little wallet-friendly cheat sheets I just tucked into my pocketbook:
Number one (via EWG):
Download this PDF if you want to only print out the graphic and not this post.
Number two, which is slightly more extensive and graphically appeasing (via The Organic Center):
Click the image to download a larger version.
Happy organic shopping!
Remember when I said I would be blogging some recipes from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every Day soon? Soon is now. You see, yesterday was Thursday and my biweekly healthy baking adventure continues as I make morning treats for my dad's colleagues.
Oatcakes are seemingly everywhere. If you haven't heard of them, no pasa nada, I hadn't either until recently. However, once they hopped on my radar they were there to stay. I can't seem to shake 'em! Every bakery I peer in has them showcased; every farmers market has them featured...heck, even my local co-op is selling them as an afternoon pick-me-up! Despite this influx, it wasn't until I heard a gal pal proclaim her love for oatcakes that I figured it was time to find out what the big deal was.
Now I know.
I cannot decide if these make for a better breakfast, snack or dessert. They're light enough to be eaten after breakfast without messing up lunch, yet strong enough in sweetness to pass a dessert They're also portable enough to survive as a purse riding snack, hello healthy airplane food! Whenever you choose to eat them is up to you (if you're me then that's within 45 seconds of pulling them out of the oven), just make sure you have a hot cuppa something to wash them down with.
Smitten with the comforting taste these oatcakes pack, there was something about these that tasted familiar. It's warm...it's maple syrup-y...it's French toast! So I think it's fair to say: if you love French toast, you'll love these oatcakes. Pretty impressive for a recipe that doesn't call for a flake of cinnamon, eh?
Also impressive? These oatcakes have 5g of fiber and 5g protein in each cake.
For those with special dietary concerns, I think these oatcakes are pretty flexible. I already substituted the eggs , so if you want to completely veganize them then you could easily leave the butter out and use all coconut oil. I don't know a lot about gluten-free diets, so if you're gf and use this recipe then let me know what tweaks you made. Lastly, if concerned about sweetness, see my notes after the jump.
For my 25th birthday, I bought myself two cookbooks: Madhur Jaffrey's World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking and Heidi Swanson's newly released Super Natural Every Day.
I don't think I could have made two better purchases. Both cookbooks are fabulous, but Heidi's book is the one I've found myself cooking out of more thus far. In case you're unfamiliar, Heidi is the master behind 101 Cookbooks, and has previously published two cookbooks (Super Natural Cooking and Cook 1.0: A Fresh Approach to the Vegetarian Kitchen). She has an excellent flare for creating healthy vegetarian recipes that are delicious, satisfying and nutritious. Heidi's recipes routinely hit the spot, and for this very reason she has readily become one of my favorite, and most trusted, cooks.
When it comes to vegetarian food, Heidi knows what she's doing.
I discovered Heidi and her blog a year or two ago, but began to visit it religiously since vowing to cut down on my sugar intake and cook more whole, natural foods. Most of my previously favored food blogs showcase scrumptious food, but their recipes are far too rich, and far too sweet for me to cook from anymore (Deb from Smitten Kitchen, I love you dearly, but am talking to you). Sure, recipes can be adjusted, and from time to time I'm happy to make healthy tweaks, but it's also nice to cook a recipe from top to bottom knowing it came out exactly as it was intended.
I'm a recipe girl. Many cooks are brilliant at making up recipes from scratch, or improvising here and there because they have good instincts on what goes well with what. I'm not one of those cooks.
Given my desire to stop tweaking previously loved recipes into somewhat healthy ones, I have found Heidi's third cookbook, Super Natural Every Day -- or "SNED" so I endearingly refer to it -- to routinely please my palate and my waistline. At this point I've cooked 2/3 of the recipes in SNED, a rarity for me since most cookbooks I cook from are rented from the library, so I usually only cook 2-5 recipes from them at the very most.
While it was hard to choose, here are my top five favorite recipes from SNED:
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