Eating Consciously

I have been on a bit of an avocado kick lately and I'm not really sure why. Is it the oddness of skin and pit? The beautiful, green color? Or simply the delicious, creamy, velvety texture it provides? I'm guess it's a combination of all of them, but avocados are quite good for us nutritionally as well. In addition to being a great source of monounsaturated fatty acids, avocados are also great providers of fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, and folate. Avocados are also a complete protein, providing us with all the essential fatty acids. One cup provides about 3 grams of protein. Not to mention they practically melt in your mouth when they are at the peak of ripeness. I thought the creaminess of the avocado would pair well with some crunchy bread and an acidic tomato. What resulted was a bruschetta-style snack that would be a great appetizer, or lunch. Avocado Bruschetta: 1 whole wheat baguette bread (sliced into 2 inch pieces) 1 ripe avocado (mashed) 1 ripe tomato (dice...

I've been baking a lot lately, which is odd because it's summer time, but I'm trying tweak cookie recipes to make them as healthy as possible while still tasting great. I came up with this chocolate chip cookie recipe that came out really well. I decided I wanted BIG cookies, like the ones you get in the cafe. I used 1/3 C measuring cup as the scoop and only ended up with 6 cookies, but they were delicious! The recipe: 1 TBS flax 1/4 C soy milk 1/2 C canola 2/3 C sugar 1 tsp molasses 1 tsp vanilla 1 C whole wheat pastry flour 1/2 C whole wheat flour 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 C chocolate chips Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together flax seeds and soy milk until foamy. Mix in oil, sugar, molasses, and vanilla until combined. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add wet to dry and combine thoroughly. Mix in chocolate chips. Scoop on to a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. In other news, I just recently found out that I have been...

I can hardly believe it's been a little over a week since my last post. I do apologize for that, but I am currently in the middle of an internship and a therapeutic nutrition class that's supposed to be 15 weeks but is crammed into an 8 week session! The other day on my way home from interning before I had work, I was really craving a big sandwich. Of course I decided to hit up the grocery store on the way home to pick up some ingredients to fulfill my yearning. A 2 foot long country wheat roll, an avocado, a tomato, spinach and some tempeh did the trick. When I got home, I immediately sliced open that huge piece of bread. I spread on some stone ground mustard and began layering the ingredients. Tomatoes, avocados, onions, salt, pepper, tempeh... Spinach... Then it wasn't easy getting this thing shut, but I did. Remember, this is only HALF of that sandwich! I shared the other half with my partner and afterwards we headed off to Govinda's for some vegan ice crea...

First, skim through this article that my friend had brought to my attention earlier today. It entitled "Soy makes kids gay" and it's really upsetting to know that this type of information is out there for people to find. http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53327 I hope you would take this article with a grain of salt because it's so problematic for so many reasons. First of all, it mentions all of these "studies", but isn't specific about which study they are referring to and the thing you need to keep in mind is that a lot of these ridiculous studies are funded by animal enterprises. It's really sick that information like this even gets out there. Also, when they do these "studies" they are often using soy concentrates in amounts so high that no human would be able to consume it through a regular diet. You never see studies where they look at the actual bean itself, it's always some weird concentrated form. What I will...

Okay, so I woke up this morning with a sore throat and some mild coughing. I'm probably getting sick because I don't consume enough animal protein, right? Honestly, I can't even remember the last time I was sick. I assume my body is under attack by some type of bug, but I have the perfect remedy. I have used this soup in the past to help build up my immune system and fight off anything that may be trying to infiltrate my system. It's my take on miso soup that is full of ingredients that will help your body combat sickness including raw garlic, fresh ginger, and miso. The raw garlic acts as a natural antibiotic, while the fresh ginger helps to break up mucus. The fermented miso gives a great boost to the immune system. Immune Enhancing Miso Soup 1/2 C miso 1/4 C dried seaweed 1/2 block tofu (cubed) 12 C water 3 TBS freshly grated ginger 6-8 cloves garlic minced 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper 1/4 C lemon juice Salt and pepper (to taste) In a pot, bring the water, miso, seaw...

These oatmeal cookies are not only super sustaining, but super-healthy as far as cookies go. They're a good source of healthy fats, high in protein, and moderate in sugar making them sweet, but not too sweet. Great for breakfast, or with soycream! The blackstrap molasses provides an almost buttery flavor and beautiful color. Super Oatmeal Cookies 2 TBS flax seeds (ground) 1/3 C water 1/2 C canola oil 1/4 blackstrap molasses 1 C brown sugar (firmly packed) 1 tsp vanilla 1 C whole wheat pastry flour 3/4 C whole wheat flour 1/2 C shredded coconut 3 C rolled oats 3/4 tsp baking soda 3/4 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1 C dried cranberries (optional) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flax seeds and water until frothy. Add oil, molasses, sugar, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix together pastry flour, flour, coconut, oats, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cranberries (optional). Add dry to wet ingredients and stir t...

Today was a great day to break out the novelty textured-soy meats. My partner and I enjoyed a quick, vegan Memorial Day meal complete with cookies and ice cream! Check out what we had: Tofupups sizzling over some caramelizing onions! All the condiments! Voila! It wouldn't be complete without cookies and cream soycream and a homemade oatmeal cookie! Don't worry, I'll be sure and post the recipe for those Oatmeal Cookies tomorrow!