I'm Feeling A Little Vegan Today ...

Well helloooooooo, my friends!  I have almost kicked the bronchitis and I am back to work.  Yippee!  It feels good to be on the move again I tell ya.  Today's post is includes all vegan recipes and all made with the glorious Vitamix.  I feel pretty sure that the Vitamix is the best investment I have ever made.  I use it at least once a day and usually a lot more than that.  I have no ties to the company or anything of that sort.  I am just truly amazed by how easy it makes it to cook and eat healthily.  I love it.  


As for the vegan thing ... let me explain.  I didn't start all of this with any intentions of becoming a vegan, nor am I at all sure that I want to make that a goal.  That being said, I realized that a lot of the recipes and foods I am drawn to right now do fit into the vegan lifestyle.  I have been reading about the health benefits and my interest is definitely peaked.  I was a vegetarian for a year before my doctor encouraged me to add meat back into my diet to get enough nutrients.  I think I can figure out how to do that now without meat, and I could give it up again.  As for milk, I love almond and soy milk, so I think I could give up cow's milk without much effort.  But, then we get to the cheeeeeese.  I love cheese... hard cheese, cottage cheese, cream cheese ... I could go on and on, but then I would start to sound like that guy from Forest Gump.  After eating that amazing cashew cheese on my sandwich at lunch the other day (see previous post), I actually caught myself beginning to entertain the idea of giving up real cheese.  It almost feels like blasphemy to even say that.  I grew up in a house full of cheese lovers and have always happily fit in.  Give up cheese?  It still sounds ridiculous to even say it aloud.  Like I said, I am not tied to this at this point, but my feelers are out and I am ready to explore a bit.  So, for now, I think I am going to try to just go vegan for one day a week and see how that goes.  I'd love to hear about any of you who have entertained the vegan idea or who are fully vegan at this point!


So, I started the day with a peach, banana, kale, and almond milk smoothie.  I think I am getting addicted to these.  I keep trying to add more greens and less fruit as I go, making them healthier and healthier.  YUM.  I did a little research on green smoothies and feel I need to share this little fact.  Nutritionists and doctors recommend that you rotate your greens if you are a regular green smoothie drinker.  Tracy Russell from www.incrediblesmoothies.com gives two main reasons for rotating your greens.  First, rotating your greens promotes nutritional diversity.  Different greens have different nutrients, vitamins, and phytonutrients.  Switching them up ensures you get all kinds of good stuff!  The second reason is the most important.  All greens contain small amounts of toxins as a defense mechanism to protect the plants from predation.  Eating only one type of greens in large amounts all of the time can lead to a build up of these toxins in your system and cause adverse effects.  So, you just need to mix up which greens you use.  Ms. Russell suggests rotating between the families of greens as shown below.  Please see the Incredible Smoothies Website for more information.

I ate my favorite salad for lunch - spinach with blueberries, strawberries, sunflower seeds, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.  I planned out my meals for the remainder of the week and hit the Fresh Market to do my grocery shopping.  I do love that place.  It is a little hard on the wallet, but it seems so worth it.  I am working on ways to save money there, but truly, it is not much more than my old grocery bills full of junk were.  


One of the things I decided to try this week was homemade cashew cheese.  Trust me, you will want to read this and try this recipe adapted from www.mylifeinapyramid.com.


Ingredients:

• 3 cups raw cashews (yes, this means unsalted and not roasted)
• 1/2 cup filtered water (use your Brita or water out of the fridge door if you have a filter)
• You will also need additional filtered water to soak the cashews
• 4 tablespoons dry white wine
• 4-5 teaspoons fresh lemon juice (about 1 whole lemon)
• 4-6 cloves of garlic (I use 6 because I am a garlic addict)
• 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sea salt (or more or less to taste)
• 1-2 teaspoons cracked black pepper (or more or less to taste)
• 4 heaping tablespoons nutritional yeast

I am sure you are thinking, "What in the hell is nutritional yeast?"  Let me tell you.  I feel like I have been let in on a delicious secret.  I know the name sounds nasty, but the actual stuff is SO good.  It has a sort of cheesy, nutty taste and seems to make a lot of foods taste better.  According to Wikipedia, "Nutritional yeast is produced by culturing the yeast with a mixture of sugarcane and beet molasses for a period of 7 days and then harvesting, washing, drying and packaging it. This is commercially available in the form of flakes or as a yellow powder similar in texture to cornmeal, and can be found in the bulk aisle of most natural food stores. It is popular with vegans and vegetarians and may be used as an ingredient in recipes or as a condiment.  It is a source of protein and vitamins, especially the B-complex vitamins, and is a complete protein. It is also naturally low in fat and sodium and is free of sugar, dairy, and gluten. Some brands of nutritional yeast, though not all, are fortified with vitamin B12." You can cook with it, add it to popcorn, slip it in smoothies, and much more.  It is a pretty awesome discovery.  I found mine at a local health food store.  

Preparation Instructions:

1.  Soak the cashews in filtered water for approximately two hours.  You need just enough filtered water to cover the cashews.  These do not need to be refrigerated ... just leave 'em on the counter.  

2.  Strain the water from the cashews and rinse them.  Then, add them to your blender (VitaMix!).  

3.  Add all of the remaining ingredients: 

4.  Blend on high and VOILA!

5.  Refrigerate over night to thicken the mixture and allow all the flavors to come out.

Now, I am aware that these pictures are not necessarily the most appetizing.  But, you must trust me.  This stuff is INSANELY good!  It is rich and creamy.  I mean, seriously ... just look at the ingredients ... how could this not be delicious, right?!  I spread some on sprouted bread (I will discuss that awesome food in an upcoming post).  SO GOOD.

I can't wait to add tomato. onion, and sprouts to this in the future.  Did I mention this is SO good?!?  It is.  I am just saying.  ;)

I then went on to make what some call a "blended salad" for dinner.  Blended salad is basically soup, but it is chock full of vegetables and greens.  Nutritious indeed!  I used a recipe from the Choosing Raw Website:  Jennifer Cornbleet’s Garden Vegetable Soup Recipe.  

Ingredients:

• 1 small zucchini, chopped
• ½ large tomato, chopped
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 cup greens (I used more like 2-3)
• 10 leaves fresh basil
• ½ large avocado, chopped
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp white miso
• ¼ tsp salt
• Dash of cayenne
• 1 ½ cups water

Preparation Instructions:

1.  Blend all ingredients except for greens and basil in blender (VitaMix!).

2.  Add greens and basil and blend again.  If you are using the VitaMix, you can allow the soup to continue to blend until is hot.  Yes, that's right ... the blender actually heats the soup!  Ridiculously awesome

3.  Garnish with basil.

4.  Serve and Enjoy! 

Look how all these veggies got turned into delicious soup (and this is without all the greens I added!).  

The soup turned out great.  I didn't use the white miso because they were out if it at the store.  I'm not going to lie ... it does taste very healthy ... but in a good way!  I needed to add extra salt, but that might just be me.  I think I would add fresh garlic next time as well.  You can never go wrong with adding garlic, right?!

Phew ... this was a long post!  It is all worth it to me though.  Eating and living like this is filling me full of energy and making me feel really good about myself.  It feels really good to be filling my body full of nutrients as I try to regain my health and live to my full potential.  I hope that my sharing will help you along your way as well.  I'd love to hear how you are doing on your journeys!  Until next time ... take good care of you!