Cancer Busting

I went to Louisiana last weekend with my mom and my brother to a middle of nowhere town as a retreat in a way. My mom was diagnosed with lung cancer about 5 years ago and we beat it but a few weeks ago was diagnosed with bone cancer. So we rallied and decided to take a nice weekend and visit the property of my grandfather in Reeves, La. where my mom grew up. We still own most of the land there and it holds wonderful memories for all of us. My brother and I eat pretty healthy and we also wanted to show my mom how easy it can be to cook delicious meals using whole foods. The grocery stores are sorely lacking in the way of organic and vegan foods but we picked up some nice veggies and greens for the juicer. We juiced and had oatmeal with fruit in the mornings and I made us dinner in the late afternoon. We were staying in an RV so the kitchen area/utensils were less than desirable but we made do. The first night I cooked some spaghetti noodles and tossed them in a simple peanut sauce then added some fresh veggies.

Mom mixing pasta in a tub

Fresh Cukes!

I cooked up some black beans and made some veggie patties with them using some of the oatmeal and about a cup of our morning veggie juice pulp. They turned out great, a bit flimsy but I was pleased with the results.

I don't have recipes for these I just eyeballed it and mashed it all together. I served the patties with a fresh green salad piled high with veggies and some sauteed sweet potatoes on the side. I was pretty pleased with all of e meals we made and my mom really like them too! Let's hope some of it sunk in and she starts eating with more veggies and less processed, sugar free, terribly bad for you food. She is not of fan of juicing and calls it her 'medicine' but I think it will start to grow on her the more she does it. I really want her to watch Forks over Knives, I think that would explain the idea behind a whole food diet better than I can. Does anyone have a success story regarding illness and food?

Juicy Juice

I am going out of town today and will not be able to post again until Monday. I am traveling back in time where there is no internets or cell phone service. Or I am going to the boondocks of Louisiana. Either way technology hasn't made it there yet. I will once again have to play catch up when I get back. In the meantime I will leave you this delicious juice of apples, spinach and beets.

Sammy likes it

Pretty

The Whole Gang!

Here is a rare shot of all the pets in the same area, Francis is on the left, Sammy you have met before, and that is Morris in the front right. Have a good weekend! 

Orange Is The New Crack

Tonight we wanted something quick and wholesome for dinner. We had some sweet potatoes from the farmer's market that I cubed and baked in the oven for about 20-30 minutes. I steamed some tempeh that I also cubed and added to the sweet potatoes in the oven. While that was cooking I put on some brown rice. In the past I have had some trouble getting rice to come out the way I like it, it either either too gooey or too crunchy. What vegan can't cook rice you ask? Oh hi, nice to meet you. Anyways, I have recently found that cooking rice like you would pasta works perfectly. If you have stupid rice issues like me give it a shot! You basically fill your medium sized pot about 3/4 with water, bring to a boil and add your rice. Do not cover! Check it after about 20 minutes, if done, turn off heat, drain, add back in the pot with the lid on for a few minutes. Easy peasy. 

Back to the dish, while the potatoes and tempeh were baking I chopped up some kale and green onions, and grated some carrot. I lightly oiled the kale and tossed it in with the potatoes when they were almost done baking along some crystal's hot sauce and a butt load of nooch. When it was done baking I added the carrots and green onions. Pile it onto the brown rice and you got a seriously good meal. Add more hot sauce if desired.

Dad's Famous Bean Sandwiches

We all have some weird food that we like to make and mine is a bean sandwich my Dad used to make for my brothers and I when it was his turn to cook. We loved bean sandwich night because it usually meant we got to eat them in front of the T.V. Of course his recipe wasn't vegan but it was good and very messy. It also isn't really a sandwich either since it is served on a slice of toast. I mentioned buying some Daiya cheddar slices on sale the other day and I decided the perfect way to test them would be on this sandwich.

They were so good I went back to the store while they were still on sale and bought some Swiss slices as well (more on this soon!). And also on sale was Upton's Naturals Bacon Seitan. Very tasty!

 I usually use wheat bread for this but any sturdy bread will do, just make sure it will be able to support the beans and not get too soggy. My Dad's recipe uses ketchup on the beans, we sometimes leave it out (or forget) so you can too.

Dad's Famous Bean Sandwich Recipe (1 serving)

1- slice bread (I used sourdough but wheat works)

1- slice vegan cheese

2- slices vegan bacon

1/2 C- vegan baked beans (I used canned)

1/2 TB or to taste- ketchup (optional)

Set toaster oven or oven to broil. Cook beans on stove top or in microwave. While the beans are cooking, get your bacon nice and crispy. Toast your bread. Time to assemble. Take your toast and place it on an oven safe pan. Add your baked beans on to the toast. If desired add the ketchup. Lay the bacon on top of the beans and then your slice of cheese. Put sandwich under the broiler until nice and browned or melty. EAT!

On the side is some dirty okra using the okra we got at the farmer's market. Love me some dirty okra! What are some weird comfort foods that you make?

Taco Tuesday

I am not doing the taco cleanse, although I think it is a genius idea, instead I will do taco Tuesday. I had some vegan sour cream that needed to be used up so I made some spicy ass tacos. We recently went to the hot sauce festival and scored tons of ridiculously spicy sauces. I cooked up some pinto beans and flavored them with Yellowbird sauce, which is similar to sriracha but way hotter.

You can't really see the ingredients from the pics but aside from the beans there is rice, spinach, arugula, tomatoes and sweet peppers on top of the sour cream. I also added more hot sauce, not gonna lie, it hurt a bit.  

Eating Rainbows

We made a rainbow. 

And then we ate it. 

Lazy Sunday Pizza

It has been threatening to rain all week in Austin and I really thought today would be the day. It wasn't. There is nothing quite like a good rainy day spent watching movies and pigging out. Alas, it wasn't meant to be...now I have no excuse except extreme laziness. I made olive pizza though and it was the bomb.

Popcorn Tofu at 11 o' clock

Can you see the slice I made with Wheatsville's popcorn tofu? That was the piece I savored for awhile.
I am not a huge fan of Daiya shreds so I use Follow your Heart mozzarella for pizzas. I did recently snag some slices of Daiya cheddar on sale and I must say they are not bad at all, not too Daiya-y. I will be featuring them on my Dad's famous bean sandwiches soon so hang tight.