Product Review: Engine 2 Plant-Strong cereal

I was wandering the aisles at Whole Foods and came across this cereal and had to try it! I am familiar with the Engine 2 vegan based diet, so I figured the cereal would be a good breakfast! By the time it took to take the picture (I took 2), the cereal was soggy. Maybe it's because I am used to the processed cereals of my past, but that just seemed fast. I used sweetened vanilla almond milk, and even with that it seemed very plain. I'm not a sugary breakfast cereal kind of person, but even with the berries, walnuts, granola, and shredded wheat; it had little flavor. I went to cereal for something different, but I think I'll stick to my oatmeal, cinnamon, and a touch of almond milk from now on. It's tasty and economical.

Baked Black Bean & Tofu Tacos

Ingredients:
15oz can black beans
1 block extra firm tofu
taco seasoning (recipe for homemade seasoning below)
medium salsa
romaine lettuce
tortillas



Taco Seasoning:
1T Chilli Powder
½T Cumin
½t Paprika
½t Garlic Powder
½t Onion Powder
½t Oregano
½t Red Pepper Flakes
½t Natural Iodized Sea Salt
½t Fresh Ground Pepper (I just eyeballed it with a pepper grinder)

Preheat oven to 400° F. Drain, press, and crumble tofu and put in 8x8" baking dish.  Drain and rinse can black beans and pour over tofu.  Sprinkle taco seasoning of choice over beans and tofu to taste (about ¼c or all of the mixture above).  Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15.  You can warm up the tortillas in the oven for the last 5 minutes on a baking sheet.

Add black bean & tofu mixture to tortilla with salsa and lettuce and eat!

Tofu Baked Ziti

This is a different recipe than previously posted.  This recipe is one I made up on the fly using what little ingredients I had and a few borrowed in a borrowed kitchen.  

1lb uncooked brown rice pasta
1 block extra firm tofu
1T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3T Nutritional Yeast
1t Garlic Powder
1t Onion Powder
1t Italian Seasoning
½t Finely Ground Sea Salt
¼ Fresh Ground Pepper
2-3c Pasta or Marinara sauce

Cook brown rice pasta to package directions.  Preheat oven to 375° F.

Drain and press tofu and crumble into a medium bowl. Massage olive oil into tofu.  Add spices and mix well. Once pasta is cooked and cooled, add ½c pasta sauce to the bottom of a 8x8 baking dish.  Add a layer of pasta, then a layer of the tofu mix, then another layer using ½c sauce. Repeat until dish is full adding extra sauce on top to make sure everything is covered.  Bake for 30 minutes.

Sorry no photo - hubby and I gobbled it up!

Crock Pot Sweet Black Bean Chili

Crock Pot Sweet Black Bean Chili

Ingredients:
2c black beans (soaked overnight.  3/4c dry)
½ Red Onion, chopped
½ Jalapeno, seeded and diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1¼ c Organic Vegetable Broth
1c water
1 bay leaf
½T Dark Chili Powder
½t Cayenne Pepper
½t Cinnamon
¼t Cumin
½T Raw Sugar

Directions:
Saute onion, jalepeno, and garlic in ½ T olive oil for 3-5min on medium-low.

Add black beans, vegetable broth, water, onion, jalapeno, garlic, and spices to the crock pot. 

Cook in your crock pot for 8 hours on low. (I cooked 6 hrs with with the last hour on high to speed it up.  Seemed to work out OK.)

Makes 2 servings.  Double or Quadruple for larger batch. 


Forgot to take a photo and just ate it right up!  I ate mine over some brown rice pasta.   I'd say it turned out pretty well for just winging it.  Next time I'm going to try to cook the beans right in the pot without presoaking per advice from The Vegan's Husband. 

The many variaions of the Tofu Scramble: Spicy Spinach Tofu Scramble

Spicy Spinach Tofu Scramble

I have made the tofu scramble before (on MANY occasions actually) but I've always eaten it the same way.  Today I decided to mix it up a bit. 

Ingredients:
1.5 Tbsp Earth Balance
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 block firm tofu, crumbled
1 Tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder
1 tsp turmeric 
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
½ c chopped fresh spinach (I just used two handfuls)
1 c Mild Organic Salsa


Put the Earth Balance and garlic into the frying pan on medium and cook for 3 minutes.  Mix in tofu, soy sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, turmeric, and nutritional yeast and cook until tofu is yellow, firm, and turns into brown little balls.  Once Tofu is close to your desired consistency, add chopped spinach and cook for another few minutes until spinach shrivels and the salsa is warm.

You an serve this multiple ways - I ate it with home made hash browns and topped with salsa and hubby made a burrito with a tortilla, hash browns, and the scramble. Yum!

My Plastic Free Journey

My Plastic Free Journey

This is how much plastic I threw away in a week and a half (minus the one recyclable juice container that our city will take).  Most of this is normal consumption with a few added items from cleaning out a closet over the week.  Times this by 52, give or take a few items each week, and you have created a mini landfill of waste that will never break down in the environment and will pollute our land and water forever!

 This is what brought me on my plastic journey thanks to reading Plastic Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too by Beth Terry for the first book in the Eco-Vegan Gal Book Club (You can join the book club by visiting her Google+ Page - Whitney Lauritsen and asking her to add you to the EvG Bookclub).  All these years I have been thinking I was doing my part by recycling anything I can - even taking all the office's recyclables home from work - but recycling is just a small part in dealing with our plastic problem and by not purchasing items made with plastic, you would be doing the world a much greater good as the resources were never used, pollution never created, and at the end of it's lifecycle it will not be just sitting in a landfill for all eternity.

I would definitely recommend reading this book as it really opened my eyes to the world of plastic - why it's bad for you, the animals, and the environment. It is filled with TONS of great resources so I would really recommend buying the e-book - always having the information at your fingertips, searchable, and saves the resources of creating and shipping the book to you. 

To me, being a vegan isn't only about not eating animals or animal products; it's about making the world a better place for the animals, the humans, and the future of our planet.  Too often we can get caught up in our modern world and not think about how every decision we make affects the world around us.  

This photo (taken from thedelicousday.com who listed credit as Chris Jordan) of a decaying carcass of a baby albatross bird on the island of ___ that was printed in Beth Terry's book was the reason she started her plastic free journey and inspired mine as well.  The mother birds mistakenly see the floating plastic mess as food and scoop it up and feed it to their babies.  The plastic leaves them hungry instead of nourished and eventually leads to their death.  Other animals are similarly affected - sea turtles mistaking plastic bags for jellyfish, fish eating plastic instead of a meal - and it is all too common. 

An entirely plastic free life seems quite impractical in a plastic filled world, but there are many ways we can reduce our consumption and remove many plastics from our life entirely.

Things you can do today:

1. No more plastic grocery bags! I'm sure you've been given many reusable bags branded with company logos over the years.  If you still have them, use 'em!  If not, invest in a few reusable cloth (preferably organic if it will come in direct contact with your food) bags and put them in the trunk of your car.  Stick a little reminder on your steering wheel to remember to bring in your bags anytime you are at the grocery store, or any store for that matter.  Make sure to let the cashier know in advance that you brought your own bags.

2. No more throw away bottles of water! I've gotten used to carrying my cheap reusable aluminum water bottle with me wherever I go, but after reading Beth's book. I plan on switching to glass.  Plastic water bottles not only create TONS of waste, but the plastic itself leaks chemicals into the very water you drink!  Turns out the aluminum bottle I was carrying is also lined with BPA, a form of plastic now being banned in baby bottles, that could be contaminating the water I drink.  You can also use glass or stainless steel bottles such as Kleen Kanteen and refill it at home or the nearest water fountain!  I have never been a fan of city tap water, so I filter my water at home and bring my bottle plus an additional reused glass juice container to refill it when I'm at work or somewhere for long periods of time. I plan on purchasing a Life Factory glass bottle on my next trip to Whole Foods and repurpose my aluminum bottle at home.

3. Read Plastic Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too by Beth Terry! Beth does a fantastic job of explaining the why and how's of removing plastic from your life.  The book is filled with many great websites and resources for helping you get started.  Also check her website MyPlasticFreeLife.com and take the challenge and join the discussion!

 

 Week 1 of Plastic-Conscious Grocery Shopping

Considering the amount of stuff I bought, I didn't fare too bad.  It will definitely be a challenge to come up with more creative ways of removing it entirely from my shopping experience!  Instead of purchasing small plastic-packaged items, I opted for the bulk bins (top row).  Although the bags are plastic (my reusable organic cotton produce bags had not come in it) the amount is much less or the ratio of food I purchased.  They will be put into the canisters below them and I saved the plastic bags for reuse if I'm ever in a pinch.  Even my organic kale (bottom) had a little metal twisty tie covered with plastic, but far less than a plastic covered bunch, so it was my best option.  I purchased the LightLife Smart Strips(center) with a plastic coated box and plastic packaging for the strips for a recipe I already had planned, but plan to leave the processed foods out of my next shopping excursion.  Finding plastic free nut and seed milks seemed next to impossible, so I purchased one while I research how to make my own nut milks at home.  Hubby was feeling ill, so I opted for the most plastic free soup I could find while still avoiding BPA-lined canned soups (far right) but I believe the packets had a plastic coating. My gluten-free Pumpkin Delight cookie by Alternative Baking Company (far left) was an impluse buy.  I didn't even think of the plastic!  I felt guilty after I brought it home and realized my dilemma.  Sadly, ABC cookies will have to go in favor of the home made.

That is the start of my plastic story.  Leave a comment with what you can do to reduce plastic consumption in your home.  I'd love to hear your ideas!

The Perfect Fall Oatmeal

The Perfect Fall Oatmeal

Pardon the quality. Phone photos are just so much faster!

I know it's a little bit early to be thinking of fall, but I just love all the fall decorations and fall flavors; so I tend to jump the gun a little.  I'm already thinking about all the pumpkin goodness I can make!

I've been on and off trying to live gluten-free, but I failed a few times this week just not thinking or completely ran out of GF friendly food.  Today's recipe I believe is gluten-free, but I can't vouch all the ingredients were made in gf facilities.  It's a start!

The Perfect Fall Oatmeal

Ingredients:

1 c hot water (I took mine straight from the tea kettle after it boiled)

½ c Gluten Free Oatmeal (I used Bob's Red Mill)

¼ c Raisins and Dried Cranberries (I used about half each but you can use your preference)  

1 T cinnamon

dash of cloves

dash of nutmeg

1 T brown sugar

Put your oatmeal, raisins, and cranberries in a bowl (I recommend a non-plastic bowl due to the temperature of the water).  Boil the water and pour into the bowl immediately after boiling.  Stir and let sit until the oatmeal has absorbed most of the water.  Stir again and add the spices and brown sugar.  Mmm mmm mmm!  Would be perfect for a cool fall morning, or even in the summer heat of Florida with some air conditioning.  lol.  Enjoy!