Lunch: Toasted Nori & Brown Rice

The hardest thing about adopting a vegan diet is the lack of fast food options. I haven't really gone out for fast food since my senior year of high school, but as a college student/musician, it can be incredibly difficult to find food outside of my kitchen. I love this lunch combo because its delicious & a cinch to make.

Nori is the same seaweed found in your beloved sushi rolls. This sea vegetable comes in a pack of about 10 sheets, and it contains plenty of vitamins and minerals that your body craves.
I could eat this every day. The beauty about dishes like this is the endless possibility of combinations. Find what makes you happy. Go crazy!

Ingredients:

1-2 Toasted Nori sheet
1 cup of cooked brown rice
2 heaping tablespoons plain vegan cream cheese (the chives & garlic version also works)
Crushed red pepper, optional
1-2 tablespoons of Shoyu (gluten-free soy sauce, found in the Asian Food aisle)

Combo Ideas:

Cubed tofu
Alfalfa sprouts, sunflower greens or any micro greens you wish
Umeboshi plums (Japanese pickled plums that are extremely good for maintaining the alkalinity of your blood.)

Combine the rice, cream cheese, and Shoyu until well combined. If your nori isn't toasted, you can warm it up on the stove for a few seconds. It will turn a bit bright green. Roughly cut the nori with your hands and scoop spoonfuls of the rice onto to the nori. Yum!

Comfort Food: Cheesy Broccoli Soup & Poor Girl's Juice

I can't tell you how many books I read when I first started this vegan journey. After reading The Kind Diet, I became completely obsessed with everything vegan. Every trip made to Barnes & Noble after that led me to one place and one place only: The cooking aisle.

I love all my cookbooks, but the one cookbook that I have gotten the most out of is Chloe's Kitchen.

Courtesy of my iPad Mini

Oh my God, can this girl cook, y'all. (Yes, I'm Texan, have a laugh & keep reading!)

But seriously. In my experience, I would pick up a cookbook and try a few recipes and like a few of them, and really love one or two. 

I haven't encountered a single recipe from this book that I haven't been enthralled with. Every single one in this book is a hit. Even if you've never considered going vegan, or if the whole idea just seems stupid to you, I don't care -- GO BUY THIS BOOK. Or do like me, and get the iBooks version and carry it on your iPad. (or iPad mini ;)

You might recognize Chef Chloe Coscarelli from Food Network's Cupcake Wars. Her vegan cupcakes nabbed her first place -- the first time a vegan chef had ever received top honors on the show. And for good reason, too. Like I said, her recipes are to die for. 

Vegan or not, your kitchen is nothing without this cookbook. 

The Cheesy Broccoli Soup is so warm, creamy and satisfying -- you don't even realize there's no actual cheese in it. 

That's another thing I love about her cookbook: all the ingredients are so easy to find. There are some vegan cookbooks out there that, while I adore them, contain some ingredients that have you practicing your Hooked-On-Phonics. "U..m...e...bo...shi..??" (more on that later.)

The cheesy flavor in this soup comes from Nutritional Yeast, which you can find at your local health foods store or Whole Foods. Now I know what you're thinking....yeast? EW.

Don't mind my sponge
or poor cropping skills

Not "Ew," friends. Yum! They are small little yellow flakes that give dishes a smoky, nutty, cheese flavor. It's totally loaded with B12 -- a hard vitamin for vegans to find without supplements or animal protein. Definitely try it! Your Mac & Cheese will never be the same again. 

Chef Chloe's Cheesy Broccoli Soup in

Sourdough Bread Bowls

Serves 8

This soup has a smooth cheesy base with hearty chunks of tender broccoli. I always turn to this recipe when I'm in need of a cozy comfort-food fix. This dish is a perfect cure for rainy-day blues. Served in a crusty sourdough bread bowl? Yes, please!

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for brushing

1 onion, chopped

Sea salt

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups vegetable broth

2 cups soy, almond, or rice milk

1 bunch broccoli, florets cut, stems trimmed, peeled & chopped

3/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes

2 teaspoons lemon juice

freshly ground black pepper

8 regular sourdough loaves or 16 small sourdough breads

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large pot, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat, and sauté onions until soft. Season generously with salt, add garlic, and let cook a few more minutes.

I have a small pot so I used about 1/2 an onion

Add broth, nondairy milk, and broccoli. Bring to a simmer, cover, reduce heat to medium-low & let simmer for 20 minutes until broccoli is tender.

It already smells amazing at this point

Spoon out a small amount of broccoli florets and reserve. In batches, transfer the remaining contents of the pot to a blender and puree. Return pureed soup to the pot and add the reserved broccoli florets. Over low heat, stir in nutritional yeast until incorporated. Add lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Mix well.

Post-blender 

Slice the tops off each sourdough bread; and using a spoon and/or knife, hollow out the inside. Cut or tear the removed bread into bite-sized chunks and set aside. Brush oil on the inside of each bowl to seal the bread so that the soup will not leak out. Place bread bowls on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned on the inside. Remove from oven and place each bread bowl into a soup bowl. Ladle the soup into the bread bowl and serve with the bread chunks. 

Tips:

*I didn't have sourdough bread this time, so I just made the soup & poured it into a bowl. Easy.

*If you don't have vegetable broth, use 2 cups of water & a vegan bouillon cube.

*I had extra broccoli so I went ahead and pureed all the broccoli that was simmering with the soup all together & then I threw in extra broccoli florets when I put it back into the pot. I then added about 1/4 cup extra nutritional yeast to balance this out.

*Your nutritional yeast may be a little clumpy when you first put it in the pot. Just keep stirring and use a whisk or the bottom of your cooking spoon to get all the chunks and dissolve them into the soup.

*Don't be afraid to get into your spice cabinet!! I added a pinch of sea salt & about 1-2 pinches of Turmeric. It's a lovely spice & it helps detoxify your blood!

Ta-Da!

Poor Girls' Juice

Okay, so I call this my Poor Girl's Juice because I had just moved back to school & I hadn't done very much grocery shopping yet..& I really wanted juice!! You know? Like sometimes I don't want to drink water, Mom!

But really. I had bought tart cherry juice because its good for sleep (recipe for that soon too, promise), but it was tart cherry concentrate. And when I say tart, I mean you'll be squinting your eyes and juicing your cheeks tart.

So, in comes.......water. Who knew? My boyfriend will buy whole milk or big gallons of juice, and then when he's gotten about halfway he'll fill it up with water..which I have to admit I was weirded out by at first, but there's so much sugar in commercial drinks nowadays that it honestly tasted much better with the water. So I adopted the habit. Thanks baby!

Makes 1 Serving

1/2 cup Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate (organic if possible)

1/2 cup purified water

Light Agave Nectar, to taste

Pour the cherry juice and water into your favorite glass. I use about 1/2-1 tablespoon of the agave to sweeten it, but there's a chance you may like it as it is. Of course, if you're feeling extra sweet, add more agave until you're satisfied. Agave nectar is low on the glycemic index, which basically means it won't send your blood sugar off the charts in under a second (ahem...refined sugar..cough cough..).

It is still sugar though, so take it easy.

Do you have any shortcuts when you're on a budget? I'd love to hear them!

Breakfast: Chia Seeds & Blueberries

I came across this lovely combination while I was shopping at my local Whole Foods (love that place).

I loved it so much, I knew I had to recreate it at home. Chia seeds have long been revered as the "superfood of the Aztecs." They have been a dietary staple in Central America for thousands of years. They're a great source of Omega 3s -- which help skin health, brain health, and hearth health -- as well as protein and fiber.

When Chia seeds are mixed with water, or in this case soy milk, they inflate much like quinoa and rice, except they don't need to be cooked. This turns the mixture into a gel-like cereal. If that sounds a bit kooky, don't freak out, consuming chia like this is extremely good for you. Gelatinous fibers like this help cleanse your liver and move everything through your digestive system trapping toxins and bad fats along the way.

This sweet little dish is perfect to start your day. It's so important to have breakfast, as we all know, but we forget to be gentle to our bodies. Don't bombard yourself with fat and sugar right out of bed. It will inevitably lead to the need for that double espresso and a subsequent afternoon "crash." Ugh. I hate that.

This and a cup of tea or a protein shake will be just enough to get you to lunch. Promise!

You Will Need:

Chia Seeds: 3 tablespoons (or more depending on how hungry you are ;)

Non-Dairy Milk: just enough to cover and soak the seeds 

(*I used vanilla soy milk, but feel free to try almond or rice milk instead!)

Blueberries: As little or as many you want!

Combine the chia seeds and milk in your favorite cereal bowl. Soak the chia seeds with the milk for about 20 minutes.

(I like to do this right before I wash my face in the morning, so that it's ready to go after I'm all dolled up.)

And now just add your blueberries and maybe a pinch of cinnamon and you're done!

The chia seeds should have now absorbed much of the milk and they are ready to eat. If your bowl seems a little too watery, you added to much milk. Simply add another tablespoon of Chia seeds. They're so good for you that extras are perfectly fine! How's that for guilt-free? Wait another 10 minutes and the seeds should be good to go by then.

If your bowl seems a little too gel-ly, that's ok! Try mixing up the chia and milk for a bit, if its still too clumpy for your tastes, feel free to add some milk until you get the consistency you want.

I love having this as an afternoon snack, and sometimes even as dessert!

What are some things you guys have for breakfast? I bet there's a way we could vegan-ize it! ;)

Carys

And It's All Vegan

"And it's All Vegan!"

That's the catchphrase I found myself saying after every new vegan meal I cooked. I made the decision to go vegan about 18 months ago when I finally accepted how unhealthy I was.

I lived off of fast food, cheese, soda, alcohol, etc - you name it, I probably ate it. And not to mention, I was no longer working out on a regular basis, my skin looked terrible, I never slept well, and naturally, I had gained weight.

I picked up a book called The Kind Diet, by Alicia Silverstone. Seriously changed my life. I had known people in the past that gone vegan and I would just think, "Idiots."

As a Mexican, my family's cuisine pretty much revolves around meat. Almost every dish includes some sort of beef, chicken, or pork. Even fish was occasional compared to how much meat I ate growing up.

As I read about this whole "vegan" thing and discovered more about the secrets of the food industry and the process of how an animal makes it from farm to the table, I was completely shocked. Actually shocked may be an understatement.

I had a fairly naive idea about how badly animals were really treated. Most of them live in terribly unsanitary conditions and they suffer from birth to slaughter. Cows forced to milk past their natural milking stages, chickens with their beaks seared off and crammed into tiny battery cages (probably with other dead birds), pigs that were put into boiling water STILL ALIVE.........it was just too much for me. I couldn't support that kind of abuse any longer.

Aside from the suffering animals endure, the conditions under which our so-called "food" is processed is anything but healthful. The majority of the animals consumed in the United States are laden with toxins, antibiotics, and other hormones injected at the farm. Have you ever seen the inside of a slaughterhouse? Talk about disgusting. Blood and guts splattered everywhere, cows covered in their own feces-- this is the meat that gets sent to the supermarket. Yummy.

I don't want to lecture for hours on the horrors of the slaughterhouses and farms, because I feel like Peta does a lot of that already. I'm not trying to be arrogant. I created this blog because, ultimately, I love food. Although I have not had any beef, chicken, or pork in about a year and a half now, I have slipped with seafood here and there. I do my best to maintain my vegan lifestyle, however, and I hope to continue through this blog.

Most people believe that becoming vegan means I do nothing but munch on lettuce and seeds all day long. This could not be further from the truth! I have discovered so many different plates and cuisines and flavors that I don't think I would have ever found through the Standard American Diet (SAD) that I was following.

I believe we should eat to nourish, and not simply to "exist." Blah. Just because..well..we're supposed to eat 3 times a day. Baloney!! Eat when you're hungry. Eat when you're happy. Eat when you're relaxed. Food was meant to nourish our souls, and you'll find that with wholesome, plant-based foods, you'll be nourished at the cellular level. You won't believe the difference it makes. And when you discover how delicious plant-based meals can really be, you'll hear me in the back of your mind: And it's All Vegan.

Live With Passion,

Carys