Tag: recipe

Celebrate Earth Day

earth day

Earth Day is April 22nd and it is a great time to think about ways we can be kind to our planet.  My kids decided that they want to pick up all the trash around our house for Earth Day.  Even though we live in the mountains, there is an unbelievable amount of trash left on the roads near our home.   Here are a few things that you can do on a daily basis to help conserve our resources.

Following a plant based diet makes a huge positive impact on the environment.  Raising livestock creates a lot of pollution and meat production uses a huge amount of water.  It takes about 2500 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat.  Eating plants uses only a fraction of the water.

Recycle what ever you can.  Most of us are really good about recycling our trash, but try to find ways to recycle or upcycle all your unwanted items.  Donate all your old clothes, electronics, sports equipment and other useable household items.  Reuse as much as you can.  Also, try to buy products that contain recycled materials.

Buy used whenever you can.  Buying something used saves resources and saves you a lot of money as well.  There are tons of great consignment shops and thrift stores everywhere now.

All the little things we do each day really add up, so just making small changes makes a big impact and creates hope for our future!

 

 

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Asheville, North Carolina

For our 9th Anniversary my husband and I spent a few days in Asheville.  It is such a beautiful, cool city and super veggie friendly.  There are so many restaurants in Asheville that are all vegetarian and even a few that are totally vegan.  It is so great to be able to order almost anything on the menu instead of having limited choices.  One of our Favorite restaurants is The Laughing Seed, which is where we had dinner.   We also went to Rosetta’s Kitchen and had some not so healthy snacks, which included chili cheese fries.  Breakfast was at the Green Sage where we had some really yummy fresh juice.  Asheville is definitely a city worth visiting and is where I would love to live.  I was so happy to have some time with my husband.  The few years have been so stressful for our family and he has been my rock.  I thank God for him everyday and for the way he leads our family.  We have had some tough times lately, but we have made our marriage and our faith a priority and both have been strengthened.

Here are the pictures of what we ate:

Asheville

Bloody Mary at The Laughing Seed

 

Asheville

This was Mike’s dinner.  It is brown rice risotto with mushrooms, sweet potatoes and tempeh.

 

Asheville

This was my dinner.  It is the Indian plate with vegetable curry, lentils and naan.  It was so spicy and good!

 

Asheville

Coconut Cream pie for dessert!

 

Asheville

This is the Red Planet juice at the Green Sage where we had breakfast.  It is beet, carrot, apple and ginger.  After all the decadent food the night before this was just what I needed.

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Strawberry Pancakes

pancake recipe

Strawberry Pancake Recipe

This weekend my kids asked for strawberry pancakes, which I have never had before.  They were actually really good, so will be making them again.  I always use the same basic pancake recipe and then just add in whatever fruit I feel like that day.  My family’s favorite  are apple cinnamon.  Of course the kids love chocolate chip pancakes, but those are only for special days like birthdays.  This pancake recipe makes enough for 4, but I usually double it so we have some leftover for a quick breakfast during the week.

 

 

 

Pancake Recipe

2 cups soymilk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup unbleached flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 TBSP agave nectar

4 TBSP canola or vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup of fruit diced (optional)

 

Combine the soy milk and the vinegar and set aside.  In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add the agave, vanilla and oil to the soy milk.  Mix the wet ingredients into the dry until it is just combined.  Don’t over mix it.  Add in the fruit if you are using it.  Cook the pancakes over medium high heat on a griddle or non stick pan lightly oiled of sprayed.  Cook until bubbles appear all over the top and then flip them and cook for a few more minutes until they are nicely browned.  You can keep them in a warm oven until you are ready to serve.

 

Hope everyone enjoys the Vegan Pancake Recipe!!!

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Chef Brooke’s

I am finally home from Florida and my Mom is all settled in her new house here in North Carolina.  This last week has been so crazy, but it has been worth it to get my parents close by.  It is such a blessing to have family close to us again.

Before leaving Ft Myers I had to go to my favorite restaurant there, Chef Brooke’s Natural Cafe.  She always has the most beautiful, delicious food and the best vegan cupcakes.   My favorite are the raw nori rolls with sesame dressing.  I order them every time I go.  This time my husband and I shared the coconut mung bean dahl, nori rolls and the tofu platter.  Normally I am not a fan of tofu, but hers was so good.  My kids took a bite and kept begging for more.

Nori Rolls

Tofu Platter

Coconut Dahl

Vegan Cupcakes

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Legends Dinner

 

Last night we had dinner at the Legend’s Country Club in Ft Myers, Fl.  We had called ahead to see if the chef could make a vegan dinner for our family and they were very happy to work with us.  The Chef made us the most delicious dinner.  We had a acorn squash soup for a starter  and  vegetable purses for our main course, which were absolutly wonderful.  For the purses he filled phyllo dough with squash, tomatoes and a great sauce.  I think that should be on the menu all the time.  For dessert we had raspberry sorbet.  The whole dinner was so good and we were very grateful to the chef and the staff for the wonderful experience.

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Florida

Yesterday we came down to Ft Myers, FL to visit family and help my Mom move.  I am not sure how much cooking I will get to do in the next few weeks, but I hopefully be able to do a few posts.  I also get to see my very best friend who has recently become vegetarian.  I am so proud of her. She is a mother of 4 and a full time engineering student.  Despite her super busy schedule she is trying to totally change her diet to improve her health and that of her family.  She is such an inspiration to me.

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