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