Eating Consciously

1 C cauliflower florets 2 C portobello mushrooms 1/2 yellow onion 1 C quinoa 1/4 tsp red chili powder 1/2 tsp liquid smoke 1/4 tsp red pepper (ground, optional) 1 lemon juiced 1/2 block silken tofu 2 C water 2 tbs olive oil salt to taste In a large skillet, cook olive oil, cauliflower, mushrooms, and onion over medium heat until onions become translucent. Add chili powder, liquid smoke, red pepper (optional), and any salt. Cover and let sit on lowest heat. Bring water to boil and add quinoa, stirring frequently until all water has absorbed (about 10-15 min). Add quinoa to vegetables and let sit, covered. Put 1/2 block tofu into food processor with lemon juice. Blend until smooth and creamy. This will be your "sour cream". Serve a few scoops of "sour cream" over the smoked quinoa.

1 bunch of red swiss chard 2 C of cauliflower florets 1/2 C sliced portobello mushrooms 1 lemon (juiced) 2 TBS olive oil 2/3 C dry whole wheat couscous 1 C water 1 tsp dried tarragon (or fresh) 1/2 tsp dried sage (ground or fresh) salt (to taste) Put red swiss chard, cauliflower and olive oil into a pot with a lid and cook on medium heat until swiss chard is cooked down and cauliflower has softened slightly. Add sage, tarragon, lemon juice and any salt. Turn off and let sit covered. Bring water and mushrooms to a boil, turn off heat, and add dried couscous. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Serve cauliflower and swiss chard over couscous. Serves 2-4.

It's true! You can most certainly eat anything you want if you just follow a few simple instructions. I have been doing it for over 10 years now (and I'm only 21) and I never gain weight, never get "junk food cravings", and I always obtain the proper amounts of nutrients in my diet. I know this because I often am required to track the nutrient content of my diet, using specialized programs in school (I study nutrition). The best part of the entire "diet" is that I am completely vegan and the funniest part is that as much as I am harassed about getting enough protein, I actually consume more protein than my meat eating peers! I have been able to achieve all of this by eating a varied, whole foods diet! You must notice two key parts here: varied and whole foods. By eating a varied diet, which means not consuming the same foods day in and day out, you are essentially insuring that whatever nutrients you are missing in one food, will be compensated for in a

Check out this huge head of cauliflower I picked up today. It seriously weighs about 6 pounds!

I just visited a great restaurant with a good vegetarian menu over the weekend. It is Farmicia and is located here in Philadelphia. If you have never been there and are in the area, they are definitely worth checking out. While there, I had the best chickpea soup I had ever eaten, so of course I had to recreate the recipe when I got home. Here is what I came up with and it tastes pretty close to what I had at the restaurant and a lot healthier I am sure! It's Indian inspired and can be spicy or not depending on your taste. It's the perfect soup to warm you up this time of year. Please try it out and let me know what you guys think. Here it is: 1 small onion 1 red bell pepper 1 small zucchini 2 cans tomato sauce (no salt) 2 cans garbanzo beans (chickpeas, no salt) 3 cups water 1 tsp whole fennel seeds 2 tsp coriander (ground) 2 tsp cumin (ground) 1/2 tsp red pepper (optional, ground) salt (to taste) black pepper (to taste) Sweat (cook over low heat) onions, peppers, zucc

So often I hear people say, "Oh, I heard that "fill in the blank" is bad for you", or "Oh, I heard that "fill in the blank" is so good for you". People often use statements such as these because they belive them to be true. Usually, their source is some sort of media outlet, but I am here to tell you that these sources are not reliable and do not reflect concrete, scientific evidence. Studies we hear about on the news are usually based on only one study that was formatted into a press release and paraphrased by a reporter. What many people do not know, is that not all studies are credible, and most importantly, not all studies are able to be replicated. In science, a study must be replicated many, sometimes hundreds or thousands of times, before it is accepted as a credible statement in the scientific community. The ones we hear about on the news are usually a one time study that shows some type of interesting data. What you need to be aski

Many people believe that we are supposed to eat turkey for Thanksgiving because it is tradition. Did you know the first Thanksgiving took place in 1621, but our version of the holiday didn't begin until 1863! Let's take a minute here and talk about the REAL first Thanksgiving. Everything we know about the first Thanksgiving is based on only TWO first-hand accounts. Turkey is never even mentioned, just "many fowle and five deer", so for all we know they were eating quial and pheasant. Whether or not they had turkey is not the point of Thanksgiving in the first place. They were celebrating the harvest! The harvest which consisted of bountiful fruits, vegetables and grains. The meat served at the first Thanksgiving was only there as something extra special that they would not normally have. Today, we can have meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I hardly think having turkey for Thanksgiving is anything special for anyone in this country of gluttons. The only re

I wanted to make you aware of something I was completely unaware of until today. I was speaking with a man I had met in Whole Foods, who told me he was a beekeeper, when he saw me looking at the honey. I was not buying honey, but I was interested in what he had to say. He informed me to always make sure of where your honey comes from and how it is aquired. I asked him what he meant exactly, because I did not really understand what he was getting at. You know those cheap versions of honey that are so often found in supermarkets and cupboards across america in those little bear jars? Apparently, those and many other brands, resort to feeding bees high-fructose corn syrup when pollen sources are not available. That explains the off-taste you often find with commercialized brands of honey. He informed me that even some of the not-so-cheap brands use the corn syrup, or simple syrup solutions, in the off-seasons when plant sources are not abundant enough to keep up with production. H

Have kids? READ THIS! It's a little advice packet I made up to help get kids involved with their food in order to build healthy eating habits for life. Be a strong role model. Children learn from their environment. It is impossible to expect your child to make healthy decisions if the family is unable to exhibit a positive influence. Parents often make the mistake of saying things such as " do as I say, not as I do." Start out making small steps toward creating a healthier environment and you will notice the child will begin to follow along. Here are some ideas on steps you can begin to implement immediately: 1. Start out by changing your own diet. When the child sees that you are eating healthy snacks, he/she will be more likely to want the same. Make sure you also take steps to educate yourself to understand what your child's nutritional needs really are. 2. Make sure the entire family exhibits a positive image. If other family members are eating unhealthy foods su

Why hemp? For vegans, hemp is a wonder food! It contains all the essential amino acids and a perfect balance of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids. It is a great source of protein, fat, and also contains some vitamins and minerals. Oh, and let's not forget what else hemp can do! Paper Textiles Plastics Cosmetics Fuel! Mulch Animal Uses Contruction Oil Fibre You have probably seen hemp in the store, right? Yes, that is because the difference between industrial hemp and marijuana is that industrial hemp contains less that 1%, but usually closer to 0% THC. Now for the kicker, the good old USA still considers industrial hemp to be a controlled, abusive substance. Therefore, WE CAN NOT GROW HEMP IN THE US, BUT WE CAN IMPORT THE FULL GROWN, HARVESTED PLANTS AND DO WHATEVER WE PLEASE WITH THEM! Does this make any sense? No, of course not! I just saw a great documentary called, "Standing Silent Nation", which follows a group of Native Americans in the midwest as they are arrested an

No, I'm not talking about shopping at Whole Foods Market. I'm talking about eating foods in their most natural state and preparing meals yourself, from scratch. Trust me, I understand not having enough time to cook. I work two jobs, go to school full-time, and do an un-paid internship, yet I still find the time to prepare at least 3 meals a day from whole foods. Just because it's homemade doesn't mean it has to take long, or be complicated. For instance, it takes me less that two minutes to prepare breakfast, a bowl of granola with pumpkin, hemp, and sunflower sunflower seeds with soymilk. For lunch, even easier, how about a whole wheat tortilla with hummus, tofu, and spinach. Dinner usually takes the longest to prepare, but never more than 45 minutes. How about some lentils cooked with Indian spices and brown rice? I even make my dessert from scratch by throwing some hemp milk and nuts into my ice cream machine. When living a vegetarian, or vegan lifestyle, it

I talk a lot about giving up meat because of it's effect on the environment, but have you ever considered giving up bottled water? I was under the assumption that most people understand the global effects of consuming bottled water, yet still, I see so many self-proclaimed, environmentalists, consuming bottled water on a regular basis. I'm going to be straight forward, I don't care what kind of bottled water you drink, it's bad for the planet, plain and simple. Let's go through a quick rundown: Plastic- According the the WWF, in 2001, we were using about 1.5 million tons of plastic to create 89 billion liters of bottled water each year. Imagine what it must be now! About 90% of these bottles ARE NOT RECYCLED! Fossil Fuels- The bottled water industry uses an extremely substancial amount of precious fossil fuels and other natural resources to manufacture these water bottles. Energy- I once heard a statement that it takes 1,500 times more energy to create one b

DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS IN YOUR PET'S FOOD? PLEASE WATCH THIS VIDEO BY DR.SHAWN THE NATRUAL VET. He is live on Martha Stewart Channel Sirius 112 if you have it, listen to him. This guy is great, but this video is about to expose the biggest unknown crisis in food. PET FOOD!!! Although, he has tried to release this to the media, no one will cover the story! Please watch, you will be shocked!!!!

In regards to Columbus Day, I figured I would give you a little history lesson. You may remember learning is history class about the Nothwest Passage. For many years, people believed they could set sail from Europe and travel north to reach Asia. This was before we knew the entire Arctic Ocean was solid ice. That is why we decided to travel east and discovered the Americas. Had we traveled north today, we would have been able to sail the Northwest Passage. That's because for the first time in history, all the ice has completely melted, allowing a straight path through what is the Northwest Passage. If that doesn't make you want to eat consciously I don't know what will! Remember, what we eat has a direct impact on our environment, so it is very important that you begin making food choices that do not contribute excessive pollution through delivery, or packaging that will ultimately end up in landfills! Also, don't forget that giving up animal products is one of

This weekend I realized how unaware people are about the global crisis concerning commercial fishing when the chain-restaurant I work at on the weekends, Bertucci's, began selling wild-caught Chilean Sea Bass! While they assure it is from reputable sources, no sources are reputable, or safe for that matter. Chilean Sea Bass are a slow-growing species that breed late in life, so any fishing for them is extremely devastating for the recovering population. Also, each year approximately 200,000 endangered albatross birds are caught in the long lines of hooks used to troll for sea bass and other fish. Sounds really reputable, doesn't it? You may or may not know already that 29% of all fished species are down in population by 90%! Yes, that's correct, many currently fished species are down to the last 10% of the populations compared to 50 years ago and in 50 more, at the rate we are going, they will all be extinct! Let me just sat that again, EXTINCT! That means they will

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I feel that many people think that I am a vegan solely because I am agaist animal cruelty! That couldn't be further from the truth!!!l Top 6 reasons for being VEGAN! ++++++GLOBAL WARMING!!! +++++WORLD-WIDE STARVATION!!! ++++DESTRUCTION OF HABITATS +++DEPLETION OF NATURAL RESOURCES ++ANTIBIOTICS AND HORMONES +UNETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS! When are people going to realize that factory farming effects so much more than just animal welfare? Please comment with your opinion, because this subject has me rather upset. Feel free to add to the list! Let's see how many reasons we can come up with.

Below I have copied and pasted this blog from www.philafoodie.blogspot.com . Something needs to be done about this, but I'm not really sure what we can do. If anyone is in, or around the Philadelphia area, please leave a comment and maybe we can work together to coordinate some sort of protest. Philadelphia Chefs for Choice invites you to Freedom Foie for Five: a special celebration of foie gras. All next week, the week of October 1, both for lunch and dinner, you will be able to sample this deliciously controversial dish for only $5 at the 20 participating restaurants listed below. Here is the mission statement that these 20 chefs and restaurateurs have endorsed: We, the chefs and restaurateurs of Philadelphia, listed below, believe in the freedom of choice, for ourselves and our clients. As chefs, we believe in the humane and natural husbandry of animals, and are dedicated to using the highest quality ingredients. As business people, we want to be able to decide what to put on