Archives for posts with tag: vegetarian

The Soda and Cider Experiment

June 19, 2010 //
1

My hair and skin have been looking kind of blah lately. Of course, a lot of it could have something to do with my poor diet (too much junk food and coffee), lack of exercise, and stupid family crap that is stressing me out. I truly believe that how you treat your body internally can be seen externally (hair, skin, nails, etc.).

I suffer from oily hair and acne-prone skin (despite being in my thirties). In addition to my LUSH products, which I still love, I also use lots of benzoyl peroxide to treat my acne. The benzoyl peroxide does keep the acne at bay, but you have to use a ridiculous amount everyday, and it bleaches your clothing/towels/sheets. Plus, I’m not so sure it’s that great for your skin in the long-term.

Just as I was about to place an order for more benzoyl peroxide, I came across a post on Jezebel about creating your own natural beauty products. A particular response post by a commenter inspired me to go in a different direction.

The commenter suffers from oily hair and acne-prone skin just like I do, and she listed her entire natural beauty ritual in her post. I’m going to give her regimen a shot and stick with it for two months to give it enough time to work (or not work). Oh, and I still plan on using my LUSH products, but incorporating the regimen in with them since most of it isn’t for everyday purposes. I’ll post updates weekly. And yes, I know she uses honey, which is a no-no for some vegans (I’m on the fence), but I’m going to try it. I do plan on omitting the egg in the hair mask.

Here’s the commenter’s post:

Face
-A little baking soda mixed into a very gentle facial cleanser makes an amazing facial scrub that really reduces blackheads. (2-3x/week)
-Apple cider vinegar (raw, with the mother) and strong green tea, mixed 50/50 and used as a toner. Delivers antioxidants and vitamins to your skin, exfoliates, helps keep bacteria at bay and balances your skin’s pH levels. It is better than any primer to keep my face from being an oil slick at the end of the day. (1x/day)
-A few drops of jojoba oil as a moisturizer. It is the closest thing to natural sebum and does not clog pores. It helps regulate oil production and keeps skin pliable to avoid cystic acne. Also reduces redness. (2x/day)
-Aspirin and honey mask (1x/week)
-Green clay mask (1x/week)

Body
-Coffee body scrub: ground coffee, olive oil, pure raw honey and brown sugar. Delivers antioxidants, smooths away dead skin, moisturizes and protects. It also smells great and the caffeine in the coffee is anti-inflammatory. It’s a little messy, but worth it. (1x/week)
-Coconut oil as a shaving lotion. Lubricates, moisturizes, protects, heals.

Hair
-Baking soda for shampoo (or mix into your favorite shampoo). (2x/week)
-Apple cider vinegar rinse (50/50 with water) keeps hair shiny, healthy and manageable (1x/week)
-Salt water rinse adds body and volume. (1x/week)
-Egg, olive oil and avocado mask: comb through wet hair, leave on at least 20 minutes, shampoo out (1x/month)

I’ve already washed my hair with baking soda and the vinegar rinse, and while it’s still wet at the moment, it does feel cleaner.

Also, in addition to the new beauty regimen, I’m going to focus on better nutrition and more exercise, which I plan to blog about too. One of the many great things about having a blog is that it keeps you honest. So I’m hoping that if I post an exercise routine on here, I’ll actually stick with it. Hopefully.

What say you? Any natural products/regimens that you’d like to share? Any advice?

Week 1 Update: So far, so good. While I haven’t tried everything on the regimen, I’ve tried most of it, and well, it seems to be working. Or at least it hasn’t caused me to break out yet, which is a good thing.

For the face, I’ve used the baking soda scrub, and the honey and aspirin mask, and they left my skin feeling smooth and bright. I haven’t used the green tea/cider vinegar toner yet; instead, I’ve been using the 50/50 water and vinegar rinse as my toner, as well as for my hair. I haven’t done the green clay mask yet, but I plan on doing so soon.

And speaking of hair, the baking soda and cider vinegar rinse left my hair feeling clean and shiny. I haven’t done the salt water rinse or the hair mask, but I plan to soon.

As I posted a few days ago, the coffee grounds/brown sugar/honey/olive oil scrub left my skin ridiculously soft and not at all greasy. However, it made a huge mess in the shower and turned it into a slip ‘n slide, which is kind of dangerous. Oh, and watch out for coffee grounds getting into, ahem, certain parts of the human anatomy. I’m just sayin’. I’m probably going to invest in a shower mat so that I don’t fall and break my neck the next time I do it.

So, all in all, I’m happy with the results so far. I do know that anytime you start a new skin regimen, it takes time to see results, so we’ll see. I’ll continue to keep you posted.

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Categories beauty, natural, product review

Mac and Cheeze

June 5, 2010 //
3

As I was taking pictures of this dish, my husband said, “I thought you already posted the mac and cheeze recipe on your blog.” And honestly, as often as I talk about the Vegan Yum Yum Mac and Cheeze recipe, I’m surprised that I haven’t posted my version on here. Lauren Ulm’s recipe really is the best version of the comfort food staple that I’ve had since becoming vegan.

Whenever I make this dish (and I make it ALL the time), I always double the cheezy sauce recipe because I like my mac and cheeze rich and creamy. And the sauce is wonderful on its own; I’ve used it to make a vegan chile con queso to pour over nachos.

As far as the pasta, I like to use whole-wheat shell pasta because it holds more of the sauce, but regular macaroni works well for all you mac and cheeze purists out there.

For the bread crumb topping, I typically throw a couple of slices of bread into my food processor and pulse a few times. You can also use store-bought bread crumbs if you don’t have a food processor or are feeling lazy. But this time around, I decided to use some panko crumbs that I had on hand. And that’s probably what I’ll use from here on out because they added an extra crunch to the dish that you just can’t get with regular bread crumbs.

So, without further ado, here is the mac and cheeze recipe:

Mac and Cheeze (adapted from Vegan Yum Yum)

Ingredients:

1 lb shell pasta or elbow macaroni (I used whole-wheat)

1 cup bread crumbs

Cheezy Sauce:

2/3 cup Earth Balance margarine

½ cup all-purpose flour

2 tbsp miso (I used red)

2 tbsp tahini

2 tbsp tomato paste

6 tbsp low-sodium tamari

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 ½ cups soy or almond milk

2/3  cup nutritional yeast

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Prepare the pasta according to directions.

While the pasta is cooking, mix together the miso, tahini, tomato paste, tamari, and lemon juice in a small bowl and set aside.

Melt the margarine in a saucepan over medium-low heat. As soon as the margarine is melted, add the flour and whisk until dissolved to form a roux. Whisk the miso mixture into the roux and keep stirring.

Slowly whisk in the milk. Whisk constantly to avoid burning and to avoid lumps. Turn up the heat a bit and add the nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper. The mixture will thicken as it heats up, but continue to stir. Once it starts to boil, it should be ready.

Add the pasta to a large casserole dish and stir in the cheezy sauce.

Top with bread crumbs.

Place in the oven for about 25 minutes, with the last 2 or 3 minutes under the broiler to brown the top.

For some reason, I always like to serve my mac and cheeze with green beans and sliced tomato.

Enjoy!

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Categories food, vegan

The Leftover Queen

March 26, 2010 //
1

Here’s the thing: I love to cook, but I don’t always have the time or money to whip up a new meal every single night. If I have a work deadline approaching, I can’t always take an hour or two to cook and then clean the kitchen. And with my husband going back to school, and both of us changing jobs, we’re on a pretty tight budget this year. That’s why I look for recipes that will give us leftovers to eat off of for a few days.

This week, I decided to make a big ol’ pot of vegetable soup to cover a few dinners, and jam-filled oat muffins to cover breakfast for a few days. Both are incredibly easy to make and budget-friendly.

As far as vegetable soup is concerned, I don’t follow any particular recipe. I like to use vegetable soup as an opportunity to clean out my refrigerator. I happened to have some celery, carrots, and cabbage in the fridge, so I threw those in the pot with some potatoes and other frozen veggies. But you can add whatever you like. I don’t typically measure anything when I make my soup, so the measurements below are approximations. This will serve two people for at least two days, and you’ll probably have extra to freeze for later.

The jam-filled muffins are taken from The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau (a must-have for any vegan cook). They are very hearty and perfect for the morning rush.

Vegetable Soup


Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

¾ cup chopped yellow onion

3 cloves of garlic, diced

1 cup diced red potatoes

1 cup diced carrots

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup frozen lima beans

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup sliced cabbage

1 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes

2 cups tomato juice

2 cups water

2 vegetable broth cubes

1 ½ tsp dried oregano

1 ½ tsp dried thyme

1 ½ tsp dried basil

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and the garlic and cook for about 4 minutes, or until the onions are translucent. Add the rest of your ingredients and bring the soup up to a boil. Turn down the heat to medium, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes and carrots are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste. Like most soups, this will taste better the next day, but you can certainly eat it right away.

Jam-Filled Oat Bran Muffins (from The Joy of Vegan Baking)


Yield: 16 muffins*

Ingredients:

2 tbsp ground flaxseed

6 tbsp water

2 cups oat bran

1 cup unbleached all-purpose or whole wheat pastry flour

½ cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp salt

1 ¼ cups nondairy milk

1/3 cup canola oil

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

½ cup strawberry (or any fruit) jam

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease your muffin tins.

In a food processor or in a bowl using an electric hand mixer, whip the flaxseed and water together until you have a thick and creamy consistency.

In a large bowl, combine the oat bran, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the flaxseed mixture, milk, and oil. Stir in the walnuts, if using. Add to the dry ingredients and mix just until blended.

Fill the prepared muffin cups less than half full with batter.

Place a dab of jam or preserves in the center of the cup.

Add more batter to fill the cups two-thirds full, concealing the jam.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on your oven. Cool in the tins for 3 minutes, then remove to cool on a wire rack.

*I only got 12 muffins out of the recipe, but I over-filled the cups.

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Categories food, vegan

Livin’ It Up Shaker-Style

March 25, 2010 //
0

My husband and I are coming up on our fourth wedding anniversary, so we decided to celebrate by taking an overnight trip. And being the party animals that we are (see Game Night), we decided to visit the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill in Harrodsburg, Kentucky.

One of 34 buildings on the grounds.

I really think I was a Shaker in another life (well, if you take away the crazy religion part, and, oh yeah, the whole no-procreation thing). But in terms of their simple lifestyle, I’m all in.

The grounds are home to 34 buildings (there were originally a few hundred), some of which you can actually stay in for the night.

The building we stayed in for the night.

Our room. Simple, but beautiful.

If you’re ever in Kentucky, I highly recommend it as a place to unplug and just relax. Since we stayed there in the middle of the week and during the off-season, we felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. We were able to freely stroll the grounds and hike the trails.

These stone walls covered the property.

The Inn does have a charming restaurant. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to stay vegan, but we were able to adhere to a vegetarian diet. It is a little on the pricey side, though. The next time we go, we decided that we would spend a little extra money to stay in a cottage, which does have a sink and a microwave (no stove), and bring our own food.

The Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill is a non-profit corporation with a goal “to preserve and maintain the site of the Shaker community which once existed here; to protect its buildings, its countryside and the records and articles pertaining to its builders; to make these buildings and grounds available for the broader uses of culture, education and recreation benefiting the citizens of Kentucky and others who visit the Commonwealth.” So if you pay to tour the village, it all goes back to maintaining the property.

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Categories travel

A Meat and Two Veg

March 10, 2010 //
0

When I first became a vegetarian at the tender age of 15, fake meats were few and far between and their flavor left a lot to be desired. Some 15 years later (yikes!), the variety and flavors of meat substitutes have come a long way since the canned Worthington hot dogs that I used to consume way back when.

About a year ago, I came across Field Roast Smoked Apple Sage Sausages. They are extremely flavorful and a great source of protein. I try not to depend on fake meats too much because they do tend to have a lot of sodium, but they are perfect if you need to pull together a meal in a pinch.

This is a hearty and comforting dish that is extremely easy to make, and will satisfy vegans, vegetarians, and meat-eaters alike. Even my dad, a (real) meat and potatoes kind of guy, considers it to be one of his favorite meals.

Smoked Apple Sage Sausages, Roasted Potatoes, and Cabbage

Serves 2 (plus leftovers)

1 package Field Roast Smoked Apple Sage Sausages

1 head of cabbage

2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes

olive oil

rosemary

coarse salt

pepper

½ cup of water

1 vegetable broth cube

Coleman’s mustard

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Slice the potatoes into uniform cubes and spread evenly onto a cookie sheet.

Drizzle olive oil over the potatoes to lightly coat them.

Sprinkle rosemary, salt, and pepper over the potatoes and then toss.

Place the sheet into the oven for about 45 minutes, or until the potatoes are golden brown. (I like my potatoes a little crisp on the bottom.)

Slice the head of cabbage into quarters and then slice into inch-thick strips.

Rinse the cabbage but don’t drain it too much. The water will be used to steam it.

Place cabbage into a large pot and set to medium-high heat.

Add water, vegetable broth cube, pinch of salt and pepper, and cover. Steam for 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove the sausages out of their casings and slice into half-inch pieces.

About five minutes before the cabbage is fully cooked, toss the sausages on top of the wilted cabbage and cover. You just need to steam the sausages to heat through since they’re already cooked.

Serve with a dollop of Coleman’s mustard on the side to dip the sausages and potatoes.

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Categories vegan
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