Tag Archives: vegan

The China Study

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veganmofoHappy October!

Happy VeganMoFo III!!

VeganMoFo is celebration of all things vegan and I’m excited to be a participant this year! I thought I’d kick of VeganMoFo with a quick report of a book I’m reading:  The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., and his son, Thomas M. Campbell II.

The China Study is the most china studycomprehensive study of the relationship between animal protein and diseases such as cancer, osteoporosis, and autoimmune disease. It was published in 2005 and I’d been hearing all about it, but I had always been hestitant to read The China Study because I thought it would be technical and dry.

Not so!

The China Study is simply blowing me away. And I’m only on page 70!

Here’s what’ I’ve learned so far.

  • There are three stages of cancer, which the author compares to planting a lawn. The Initiation Stage is like putting seeds into the soil. The Promotion Stage is when the grass begins to grow, and the Progression Stage is when the grass gets out of control and grows places you don’t want it to grow.
  • The chemicals that “plant the seeds” of cancer are called carcinogens and they originate primarily from industry byproduct but can also be found in nature.
  • Professor Campbell (author of The China Study) found that decreasing dietary protein decreases the chance that carcinogens will evolve into tumors into the Initiation Stage.
  • He also discovered that when protein needs are exceeded, disease onset begins (the Promotion Stage).

  • Finally – here’s the doozy – plant protein does not promote cancer growth, even when consumed at higher levels. Only animal protein promotes cancer growth.

  • In fact, plant protein actually DECREASES tumor development.

Interesting, huh?

Now I haven’t read past page 70, and I’m sure there are LOTS of critics of this book. AND he did a lot of animal testing, which I didn’t know about before I bought the book and that breaks my heart. But I thought what I’ve read so far was worth sharing. It seems that eating vegan, plant-based foods may decrease the onset of many of the diseases that plague the US. How cool is THAT, VeganMoFo?

If you’ve read The China Study or have any opinions of it, please share!

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Vegan Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

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I LOVE this time of year for many reasons.

One of which is…PUMPKINS!

Pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin scones, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, and Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks. Mmmmm…..

So today I created…Vegan Pumpkin Pie Smoothie for the hubby and me.

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Vegan Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
Makes 2 12oz smoothies plus a little extra

What you need…

  • 1 12 oz glass full of ice
  • 1/2 container vanilla silken tofu (or plain – I thought this would be a good use for the vanilla tofu I had in my fridge)
  • 3/4 cup pumpkin
  • 12 oz So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Beverage (you could use any vanilla milk – this is just what I had on hand)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract – maybe 3/4 teaspoon if you didn’t use vanilla tofu
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • agave nectar to taste – I used about 2 tablespoons

Add all to the blender and buzz it up…

Enjoy!

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VEGANMOFO III

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No I’m not swearing at you in some weird vegan way :) veganmofo

VeganMoFo is the Vegan Month of Food, being celebrated throughout cyberspace by bloggers who are interested in all things vegan.
Here’s the VeganMoFo challenge: for the month of October, blog every weekday about vegan food.

And so, I’m excited to say that I will accept this challenge.
I will finally face tempeh head on.
I will explore new ways to enjoy nutritional yeast.
I will debate the value of bamboo vs plastic cutting boards.
I will cook up a storm from my billions of cookbooks and share my results with you.
I will veganize the heck out of any non-vegan recipe that crosses my path.

I’m excited.
I hope you are too.
Whether you are vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, omnivore, flexitarian, whatever (!)
I’m sure you’ll find the VeganMoFo experience to be fun and educational.
And if you are a blogger, I hope you’ll join me!  :)

On another note, here’s the latest Marty Update!DSC_0157
As you  know, Marty had her second surgery two weeks ago to remove her fibro sarcoma.
We go the biopsy results back last week and learned that Marty is now cancer free!
Today I am taking Marty back to South Paws to get her stitches removed.
And thus this chapter has ended.
I am ecstatic!

Peace and love,

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PS: IMPORTANT! I just switched over to wordpress. org and a new host. So if you are signed up for the Eat. Run. Do Yoga. blog feed, you need to re-subscribe at

http://feeds.feedburner.com/eatrundoyoga/wayG

you might still be getting the new blog posts at the “old” feed, but that will run out in 30 days so please sign up using the above link and delete the old feed!


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Vegan Coconut PB-n-B Stuffed French Toast

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Oh. My.

I’ve really outdone myself!   :)

I decided to participate in Vegan Appetite’s Food Network Friday.
The challenge was to “veganize” a recipe from the Food Network’s website for Banana Stuffed French Toast.
We had the option to add or omit ingredients as we like.

In my opinion, what goes great with bananas?? Peanut Butter of course!
AND…I had some canned coconut milk that was leftover from a curry I made a few days ago.
AND…I had a carton of So Delicious’ Vanilla Coconut Milk Beverage (which by the way I am CRAZY about!)

So you see it was a no-brainer.

And thus Vegan Coconut Peanut Butter and Banana Stuffed French Toast was born!

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So how to make eggless French Toast you might ask? There are actually tons of recipes for vegan French Toast. I started out by looking at Vegan with a Vengeance’s vegan “Fronch Toast”  recipe. I had made it before and the use of chickpea flour is just genius. Thank you Isa! From there it was simple.

Vegan Coconut Peanut Butter and Banana Stuffed French Toast
Makes about 4-5 thick slices

Ingredients

  • 1 loaf of Italian bread (purchase this UNsliced)
  • 1-2 ripe bananas
  • peanut butter (natural please!)
  • 1/2 cup coconut milk from a can
  • 1/2 cup So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk Beverage
  • 1/4 cup chickpea flour
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • dash of salt (optional)
  • vegetable or canola oil
  • maple syrup
  • toasted coconut (optional)

Directions

  1. Preheat over to 375.
  2. Cut off about 2 inches or so from the end of the loaf of bread – do whatever you like with it!
  3. Cut a slice of bread about 1.5″ wide. Make a slit down the center of the slice  but only from the top going straight down so you leave the sides and bottom intact. Basically you are creating a “pocket” for the stuffing. Repeat for 3-4 more slices.
  4. Place the bread on a cookie sheet into the preheated oven. Let bake for about 3 minutes – you want the bread to feel dried out and slightly stale – but not toasted. Alternatively of course you could just use stale bread!
  5. Once the bread is dried out, cut the bananas into small slices and place the slices into a bowl. Add some peanut butter and mix around – it’s ok if the bananas get smooshed.
  6. Stuff the banana mixture into the bread “pocket.”
  7. In a separate wide and shallow bowl, combine the coconut milk, coconut milk beverage, vanilla, cinnamon, salt (if using), and chickpea flour. Mix until combined – it’s ok if there are a few lumps.
  8. Pour oil into a large non-stick skillet until there is a very thin coating on the bottom – I used a 12″ skillet and used about 2T oil. Preheat the skillet.
  9. Place the stuffed bread slices into the coconut milk mixture until well soaked. Then carefully place the soaked bread into the preheated skillet.
  10. Cook each side for about 2 minutes. When it’s browned and crispy it’s done!
  11. Serve with maple syrup, sprinkle with toasted coconut, and eat your “vegan coconut peanut butter and banana french toast” right away!

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YUMMY!

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French Toast: I'd Love YOUR Help!

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I’ve been thinking about French Toast a lot lately, ever since I made vegan French Toast during the Labor Day weekend. It was so delicious. I hadn’t had French Toast, much less VEGAN French Toast, in a very  very long time.

So I was thrilled to stumble upon Vegan Appetite’s Food Network Friday to discover that the topic for this week is Banana Stuffed French Toast!

Here’s how Food Network Friday works.

Vegan Appetite selects recipe from The Food Network – in this case it’s the Neely’s Banana Stuffed French Toast.
All you do then is veganize it – remake the recipe without any meat, dairy, eggs, honey – any animal product at all.
And in the process you can add things in, take things out. Basically, make it your own.

So I have lots of ideas swimming around in my head for this.
But I thought it would be fun to ask YOU what you think would make an awesome stuffed French Toast.
Peanut Butter?
Marshmallow?
Coconut?
All of the above?

I’d love your help – what would be your idea makeover of the Banana Stuffed French Toast recipe?

Looking forward to reading your ideas!

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If We Want to Save Them We Must Eat Them

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I’m outraged.

As I’ve mentioned before, lately I’ve been listening to Colleen Patrick-Gudreau’s Vegetarian Food for Thought podcasts. I really love her clarity and thoroughness in her efforts to educate about food choices and debunk myths about vegetarianism.

In one of her podcasts, Colleen mentions Heritage Foods, USA, an organization that serves as the sales and marketing arms of the Slow Food Movement. In the podcast she read a piece of their “About Us” page and it was so…insane… I just had to look for myself.
Here it is:

The farms and foods that once sustained our forefathers as they settled this great land are now endangered. Farms are going belly up every day and the foods small farms raise are being lost forever because they are ignored by industrial agriculture. Just as the Bald Eagle and Panda Bear are on the brink of extinction in the wild, so are numerous varieties of livestock like Bourbon Red turkeys, Red Wattle pigs, Tunis sheep, Barred-Plymouth Rock chickens and Iroquois corn flour. If we want to save them, we must eat them! And Heritage Foods USA exists to help accomplish this goal by selling foods from small farms to consumers and wholesale accounts.

Huh? If we want to save them, we must eat them???

Ok…if we eat the animals then we increase demand for them and so small farms will continue to manufacture them.
I get it.
But…

  1. Is continuing to torture and slaughter the Bourbon Red turnkeys, Red Wattle pigs, Tunis sheep, and Barred-Plymouth Rock chickens really helping them?
  2. We’ve manipulated domestic animals to the point that they are no longer natural. Should we really continue to treat these living beings as products to be harvested and manufactured?
  3. Does this mean we should start eating Bald Eagles and Panda Bears to help support the efforts to save them from the brink of extinction?
  4. Heritage Foods says they promote “humane production.” How is sitting down to eat the corpse of a defenseless victim “humane?”
  5. Isn’t this just propaganda to sell more “product?”
Ringing the necks of turkeys is considered "acceptable" by the industry

Ringing the necks of turkeys is considered "acceptable" by the industry

We need a paradigm shift.
We need to stop treating animals like commodities.
Animals are living, breathing, feeling, sentient beings.
If you have or have ever had a pet you know this to be true.

Ok. Rant over. I’d love to open up a dialogue about this. I’ve stated my opinion…what’s yours?

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Homemade Soy Yogurt

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Today I experimented with making homemade soy yogurt.

I don’t think I ever blogged about this, but I tried making soy yogurt once before. I used my new Salton yogurt maker (for some reason, these yogurt makers are now being sold for about $100 – but just 2 1/2 months ago I paid $21.82. Inflation?!) and I used a recipe that called for agar agar powder. Well I bought agar agar FLAKES, thinking ok similar enough. Well, the yogurt ended up having a horrible texture. I threw it all out and decided to try again when I came into possession of agar agar powder, which hasn’t happened yet.

Then the other day I stumbled on what I’d call a very “casual” soygurt recipe on Have Cake Will Travel.  (This looks like an awesome blog by the way. Her current recipe for PB&J Pie looks amazing! I think I will follow the blog but OH NO WHERE’S THE RSS FEED SIGN UP??) So I tried the soygurt recipe today and gosh darn it’s looking pretty good!

Here are some (not-so-great) photos of my process:

Mixed together the ingredients and got this:

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After one minute in the microwave it looked like this:

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After another minute in the microwave:

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You really have to watch the soygurt closely to make sure it doesn’t foam over and mess up your microwave!

And finally, it looked like this:

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The recipe recommends adding in fruit and flavorings at this point but I am keeping it plain. This way once I’m ready to eat it I can add in whatever I’m feeling in the moment.

So the soygurt is going into the fridge to chill and thicken. The flavor is good, so we’ll see what kind of texture we get. I can’t wait to see what I have tomorrow morning! Stay tuned….

Do you have a great non-dairy yogurt recipe?

We took this picture of Marty tonight while we were out on our walk. She’s walking herself LOL!

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My Stevia Nightmare and the Vegan Donut Comeback

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I decided over the weekend that I was going to go a week without sugar. I was off to a good start yesterday:

Breakfast: Smoothie with almond milk, vanilla Spirutein protein powder, banana, spinach

Lunch: Smoothie with almond milk, vanilla Spirutein protein powder, banana, spinach, peanut butter  + CARROT CAKE???!!!

Ok so that ended my week sans sugar. Oh well.  :)

But even though my Sugar Free Week lasted only four hours, I was nevertheless inspired to try baking with stevia last night. Stevia is an herbal sweetener that has zero calories. Sounds great, huh? I already use stevia in my hot coffee and tea and I really like it, so why not try baking with it?

I found a recipe for Peanut Butter Bars – the description under the recipe was “Sure to please.” The recipe included stevia, oats, whole wheat flour, lots of peanut butter, and an icing that included cocoa powder, more peanut butter, and of course stevia. Sounds great to me!

OK – they totally sucked. The stevia left a horrible aftertaste that I couldn’t get rid of, no matter how many peanut butter M&Ms I ate last night! (Yes at this point I was back in full sugar swing). So I’m not even going to bother posting the recipe or a picture – they don’t even look good. But I’m still curious about stevia – do you have a good recipe that uses stevia?

Somewhat miffed about the stevia but not defeated, I moved on to…DONUTS!

I found a donut recipe on line at Vegan Yum Yum that looked pretty good. The pictures look amazing! I made a few modifications to the recipe:

Vegan Baked Donuts
Make 8 Donuts

Dry Ingredients:

  • 1 Cup All Purpose Flour
  • 1/2 Cup Sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1/4 tsp Salt
  • 1/4 tsp Nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp Cinnamon

Wet Ingredients:

  • 1/2 Cup Vanilla Almond Milk
  • 1/2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
  • Egg Replacer for 1 Egg
  • 4 Tbs Earth Balance
  • Sugar

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350º F and lightly oil a baking sheet.
  2. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients with a whisk to mix thoroughly. Combine wet ingredients (not the sugar) in a small sauce pan over medium low heat and mix until earth balance is melted. This mixture should feel just slightly warm.
  3. Add wet to dry and mix until just combined to form a very soft, wet dough.
  4. Drop by 1/4 cup onto your baking sheet. Create a hole in the middle of each donut using your finger and an oiled butter knife.
  5. Sprinkle sugar on top and bake for 16 minutes. Mine looked like this before I put them in the oven:

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They should not be browned on top, but a tester will come out clean. Cool completely on rack before decorating.

Here’s what they looked like when they were done:

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It looks like there’s a little Rosie on my thumb! LOL!

IMG_0735I mixed up a little pb2 + powdered sugar + almond milk and created a makeshift frosting for this last one. YUM! But I have to say I liked them plain too. I KNOW they don’t look great but they taste really good. I think I might have to get a donut pan if I am going to make more donuts! I also need to get better at photographing my products…any photography tips???

The Best Damn Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Last night we had our end-of-yoga-teacher-training celebration. It was really fun – everyone brought some food to share. I made desserts! I made the Light Lemon Cake from The Joy of Vegan Baking (one of my favorite cookbooks) – it turned out really good. I also made a vegan Fruit Pizza which I found at about.com.  The FLAVOR was good, but it was really messy. For some reason the cream cheese (Tofutti) layer turned out kinda runny.

Finally, I ALSO made amazing Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies! I found the recipe on allrecipes.com and made a few changes. I think they would be better if they were a bit more peanut buttery, so I’m going to tweak the recipe and see if I can get it there. I also want to see if I can replace the corn syrup and some of the sugar. Anyway, here’s the recipe for what I baked yesterday. I wish I had taken pictures but I forgot!

Giant Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
1/2 cup Earth Balance, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons Ener-G egg replacer + 4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dairy-free chocolate chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
  2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth.
  3. In a separate bowl, beat the Ener-G and the 4 tablespoons of water for about 2 minutes.
  4. Slowly add the Ener-G mixture into the peanut butter mixture while stirring. Then stir in the corn syrup, water, and vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop by 1/4 cupfuls 3 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.
  5. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheet before removing to wire racks to cool completely.