Living eco-consciously and other fun stuff!
Category : Dining Out, Food & Beverages
My friend Dana just pointed me in the direction of this great Guide to Meat Free from HSUS. I’m pretty sure I remember seeing all these pages in a past issue of the magazine that HSUS sends to donors but I love that they put all these pages into a book and made it available in pdf via a quick download!
There are some delicious looking recipes, tips for dining out, tips for taking steps to going meat-free, info on the health benefits and more!
Category : Animals, Fun Things To Do
I saw Forks Over Knives earlier this year and think its a must see for all. Even though I’m already vegan I certainly learned loads! Vegetarian Star posted a cool online tool to help you find the nearest theater so you too can see this documentary!
Check out the Forks Over Knives Locator
(I love that their example on the post actually brings up my local theater! Yay Chicago!)
I love that Refinery29′s Sierra Tishgart and Shani Silver did a post on Chicago’s Hottest Vegetarian Restos. Don’t these dishes look fabulous? Check out the article for yourself… I’m sad to say I’ve only been to 2 of the 8 places mentioned! I’d better get on that!
Category : Food & Beverages, Recipes
I had some leftover rice from Thai takeout the other day and some veggies that desperately needed to be used up. So…this is what I came up with…
I put carrots, green peppers, bok choy, portobelloand peas, in the wok with coconut oil. After it was cooked I added the rice and seasoned with onion powder, braggs, brown rice vinegar, nutritional yeast and powdered ginger (which gave it a good zing). I’d never done that combo of seasonings - it was great! Then I took a slice of firm tofu – pressed it between a tea towel to drain it and fried it with some olive oil Soyaki from Trader Joe’s. YUM!
Category : Dining Out
Friday we went to Roy’s in Chicago for Restaurant Week. I was there once a few years ago when I was just starting on the vegan road. I can’t remember what I had but I remember it being a good experience. I was not however offered their vegetarian menu which I discovered while researching Roy’s for Friday’s dinner. Friday afternoon I called to ask if they’d be able to veganize some things on the vegetarian menu. The woman on the phone was wonderful and said they’ve had their vegetarian menu for years and that my waiter would be happy to show me what is already vegan or what could be made vegan for me.
once you're seated they bring edamame to the table - it has the best seasoning on it I've ever had on edamame!
Once we arrived I was sure to ask the host to bring a vegetarian menu to the table for me. Next I told the waiter (who said he grew up vegetarian) and next thing I knew, the head chef was at our table asking me what I wanted for dinner! Let me just tell you that this place was super busy and it was restaurant week and in my mind I figured they’d be annoyed with all the “cheap” people and wouldn’t be into handling special requests but boy was I wrong! All 5 people I was with were ordering off the pre-fix, restaurant menu and I assumed I’d be getting an entree and that’s it. I was pleasantly surprised when the chef created a special pre-fix menu for me. Veggie sushi rolls for an appetizer, a delicious tofu dish as an entree and a black raspberry sorbet for dessert. Yes, I got a VEGAN DESSERT at a regular restaurant! AMAZING! I had packed a little Sjaak’s Peanut Butter Bite in my bag but I didn’t even need to eat it! Lucky me! Everything was delicious – my food as well as everyone else’s. We’ll definitely be back again soon. I really appreciate them taking the time to make me a happy customer. In addition to veg friendly meals, they also have a gluten free menu! Don’t miss out on the cocktails! The signature Hawaiian Martini was delicious as well as the Pineapple Ginger Mojito!
(312) 787-7599 720 North State Street Chicago, IL 60654It appears more and more people are eating less meat! Meatless Mondays surely are playing a part in this. Whether its for humane reasons or for the environment, the meat industry is seeing a decline in beef and pork consumption and they’re worried! Good! I’d at least like to see factory farming become a thing of the past. I’d love for everyone to stop eating meat all together but I’ll be realistic in that its not happening anytime soon. If the demand for meat continues to decline, maybe we can force the factory farms out of business and go back to smaller farms where raising animals is less taxing on the environment and the treatment of animals is often less brutal. It’s at least a step in the direction of eliminating meat consumption.
According to an article on porkNetwork, whose source was the Des Moines Register, ”Beef consumption has dropped from 68 to 59 pounds per person from 2000 to 2010, pork consumption has dropped from 51 to 47 pounds per person over the same time period.” They’re saying this is due to the higher prices of corn and they also are feeling threatened by Meatless Mondays! This is great news for the environment, our health and the animals.
Category : Animals
Category : Food & Beverages, Recipes
The other day I discovered the delicious Gardein stuffed turkey (well obviously not real turkey). These are going to be perfect for me to take home for Thanksgiving when we eat with both of our families. Both sides of the family are being great about preparing the basic veggie dishes with vegan butter and soy milk this year but it’ll be nice to have these to add to my plate. I baked them so they were crispy on the outside and moist inside. I highly recommended these! Eric even enjoyed his! They come two in a packet with a bit of gravy. It was just enough gravy although a bit more would have been ideal. The gravy was good but I honestly like the gravy from those powdered packets better. Next time I’ll make one of those. For sides I made….
Garlic Mashed Potatoes… baby yukon gold potatoes (don’t peel them – the skin is good for you!) garlic powder tofutti sobetter than sour cream (vegan) so delicious coconut milk earth balance vegan butter salt & pepper Stuffing… sautee onion & celery in olive oil then add sliced mushrooms herbs de provence seasoning dried cranberries dried bread chunks broth made with Better Than Bouillon (Chicken) (this stuff is AMAZING – has the best flavor of any bouillon!)Home-style Creamed Corn…(I made creamed corn for the first time!!!) here is the recipe I was out of onion so I omitted that. I added a bit more Arrowroot and a bit of whole wheat flour to really thicken it up. After following the recipe I put it in a 350 degree oven to continue thickening it up.
Category : Food & Beverages, Recipes
I made a version of this the other night and didn’t take a photo so I’m borrowing the original.
I absolutely love squash – really any squash but my favorites are acorn and butternut so this recipe really caught my eye. The original recipe from LunchBox Bunch is here but as usual I made changes according to what I had on hand. Be sure to read the original recipe though as she was very detailed and even shows you how to roast your squash.
1 small butternut squash (roasted)
a few sprigs of sage
coconut milk until its creamy & thinned out to your liking
1/4 c Nutritional Yeast Flakes
1 Tbsp EVOO
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
a few shakes of garlic powder
1 Tbsp maple syrup
a few shakes of red pepper
salt and pepper
I cut my squash in half, roasted it, scooped out the flesh and put it in a bowl with the above ingredients and used my hand blender to make it all nice and creamy then mixed it with whole wheat penne, warmed it up and it was fabulous! Thanks Kathy at LunchBox Bunch for such an amazing dish! I only recently discovered her blog and I’m absolutely in love with it! She has so many great things that I want to try!
Category : Food & Beverages, Recipes
The Urban Vegan recently posted this quick veggie curry recipe. While in Zurich of all places, Eric and I fell in love with red curry so I was excited to find out how easy it is to make. I always used to get green curry and Eric was never interested in curry at all. We ended up arriving in Zurich from Greece very hungry and after wandering around our hotel’s neighborhood we settled on the Asian restaurant across from out hotel. Eric said he was over his hunger and told me to get what I wanted. I was in the mood for curry but all they had was red so I figured I’d give it a go. It was fabulous so of course Eric broke down and tried it and now he’s hooked. So, Thursday night I whipped up this recipe from the Urban Vegan for Eric and I. For our veggies we used cauliflower, carrots and peas. I definitely used a lot more curry paste than she used – well she said to start with 3 tablespoons and I maybe used 5 – I’m sure it just depends on the brand of paste and what I used is not what she used. It was still a bit bland for us so I added some garlic powder, salt, pepper, and a package of soy sauce from some previous take out. At that point it was good but still needed something, not sure what but I’ll continue to play with it since it was so insanely easy to make. Regardless, I’d suggest trying it and adding your own seasonings to get it to your desired taste. The Urban Vegan’s recipe is a great starting point and then you can make it your own. So much cheaper than ordering out for curry and even better is that you can use organic produce which your local Thai place likely isn’t doing.
