Ramblings of a Vegan Traveler

Made this last week and I loved it so much I had to make it again! Great for the chilly fall weather.  Smoky Sweet Potato, Black Bean and Roasted Corn soup          Ingredients: 1 yellow onion, finely chopped 2 cups of baked, peeled, chopped sweet potatoes 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 cups frozen roasted corn 2 cups black beans (rinse first if using canned beans) 4 cups low sodium vegetable stock 2 tsp. cumin powder 1 tsp. thyme (dried) 1 tsp. smoked paprika 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes 1 tsp. chili powder (I used Chile Molida) 1/2 tsp. chipotle powder 1 tsp. ground Himalayan salt 1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper Lacinato kale (chiffonade style, add at end or just into bowl before serving) Cilantro (chopped), added as garnish (as little or as much as you want!) Cashew sour cream (recipe below) Avocado (optional)     Preparation: Add onion to a large soup pot and cook over medium heat until it begins to become transl...

Just had an amazing dinner (if I do say so myself!)  Baked Cheezy Spicy Cauliflower  Quinoa Falafel with Tahini Avocado Dressing  (I didn't have Vegg so I used ground flax/water for the egg substitute - need to experiment with the right amount as they were a bit crumbly. I baked mine and left out any oils. The dressing was good, but I added more lime to mine.) Green salad with cucumbers, tomato, red bell pepper, Caesar dressing The cauliflower was seriously to die for. I almost at the entire thing!  Baked Cheezy Spicy Cauliflower:  Heat oven to 375 1 large head of cauliflower (wash and cut into bite size pieces) In a ziploc bag add the following spices:  5 TBS Nutritional Yeast 4 tsp chili powder 2 tsp cumin 1 tsp smoked paprika 1 tsp South African Smoke Seasoning Blend (Trader Joes' comes in a grinder)   - ingredients of smoke blend: paprika flakes, sea salt, garlic, basil 1 TBS sesame seeds 1 tsp fresh...

Continuing my theme from yesterday of "what do I eat in a day" I thought I'd repeat that trend for what I ate on Monday. Started my day off with my typical "go to" breakfast.  Breakfast - Big bowl of rolled oats. When I say big, I mean big! It fills me up and I am not hungry again until lunch...not to mention that oats are SO good for you.  1 cup cooked rolled oats 3/4 cups blueberries 1/3 cup raspberries 1/2 banana 1 TBS raw pumpkin seeds 1/2 TBS chia seeds 1/2 TBS ground flax seed 1/2 white nectarine  Lunch I was busy doing yard work so I kind of snacked for lunch I had an apple and a white nectarine Had some oil free tortilla chips and fresh salsa Late afternoon snack - I made a chocolate mug cake from Happy Herbivore. I wanted a little treat after all my yard work. I make it like the recipe, but put half in the mug, drop in 1 TBS peanut butter and then the rest of it on top, then cook as noted in the recipe. It's just a little single s...

Someone once asked my what a typical day of eating looks like from me. It was someone who was not plant based and having a hard time figuring out what I would eat. So I figured that during the month of September I would post what I eat several times during this month.  Sunday, Sept. 1:  I did a long run this morning so I wanted a little bit more than just my big bowl of oatmeal after I got back from my run. Before my run I had half a large banana...gotta fuel!  Breakfast - Tofu scramble with black beans, red potatoes, kale, red onions, salsa (ended up with leftovers remaining) Snack - Apple with a TBS of natural organic peanut butter (just peanuts, no added oils or preservatives) Lunch - Big mixed green salad with cucumber, tomatoes, carrots and my vegan oil-free Caesar dressing. Toasted a whole wheat lavash wrap from Trader Joe's and sopped up the left over dressing with it! I LOVE this dressing. The whole wheat lavash wraps from TJs are vegan and also oil-f...

Obviously, everyone has their own right to have their own beliefs and to live their life as they want to live it as long as others are not hurt in the process.  I had a discussion the other day with a colleague who said to me, "if you could just eat anything you wanted and die 10 years earlier, would you go back to eating meat, dairy, eggs, etc? Would you die at 75 instead of 85 to have the pleasure of eating animals again?" My answer, of course, was absolutely NOT! His was that he would rather continue eating tons of meat, etc. and die at 75 than to have to eat healthy and die at 85. I'm pretty sure that with the way he eats he'll never make it to 75, but that is his choice. Sad for his son, but hey it's his choice. I was a bit taken aback by his answer. But then I realized that his idea of what eating a plant based diet consists of would be horrible tasteless food. While that may have been the norm 10 or more years ago, that simply is not the case now. I...

So I think I have now sent this or a variation of this to a handful of people so I figured I should probably put it on my blog.  Obviously...I don't think going plant based is hard. I figure if I can do it, anyone can since I travel for work and never know exactly where I am going to be able to eat.  Breakfast: It's my hardest meal when I am on the road, that’s why I carry my magic bullet blender with me. On the road, if I am not in a hotel with a little kitchenette or at least a fridge and microwave, I make my vega one shake. So I buy VegaOne (it’s pricey, but I feel it’s worth it and I typically only use it when I travel) add almond milk and a banana. Keeps me full until lunch. At home, I typically do oatmeal, usually whole rolled oats or steel cut oats, you can make a big batch and keep it in the fridge for days. I add defrosted blueberries, raspberries, chia seeds and ground flax seed and any other fruit I feel like. I never was an oatmeal lover, but with the fru...

Time to make over your kitchen...Uh-Oh, here come's the plant based food police!  Is it really hard to make your food plant strong and junk free? Nope! It really isn't and it also isn't hard to go plant based. I know that people think it would be SO hard, but in today's era, there are TONS of great whole food plant based recipes that you really won't miss the animal products, fat and sugar.  So why do I think everyone should be eating a low fat, plant based diet?  A low-fat whole foods plant based diet can help prevent and reverse many diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, auto-immune disease, etc. It keeps your body healthy and you feel better. You'll lose weight. Your taste buds will change, I guarantee it. But you do have to make a commitment to do it. Don't you owe it to yourself and those who love you to be the healthiest you can be? I sure think so.  Why is fat an issue? Specifically the bad kinds of fat which are animal based...

I know many of you will say "jackfruit" what the "bleep" is jackfruit? Here's what jackfruit looks like growing on a tree and the fruit itself. They are HUGE! Really want to know what jackfruit is, check this out:  What is Jackfruit? The first time I saw jackfruit was in Thailand. There were trees at a wildlife sanctuary we visited and the guide pulled one off the tree and gave it to one of the Sun Bears! It was also the first place I tried jackfruit (not the one the bear got!).  A lot of vegans, vegetarians, etc. use unripened jackfruit as a meat substitute. In its unripened state it shreds and is great for many different types of dishes, but lends itself especially well as a substitute for chicken and pork in Mexican dishes. I love Mexican food, maybe because I grew up in SoCal. Any cuisine that uses cilantro, cumin, salsa, avocado, and chili peppers is okay in my book!  So I hadn't gone to the store recently, but I did stop at the huge Asian m...