Tips For Eating and Living Well
If you live in the Southeast and aren’t doing any gardening this summer, you’re really missing out! We’ve had afternoon rain showers almost daily, which have kept my vegetable garden quite happy. I planted my garden late this year because we had our garden boxes rebuilt and more organic soil brought in, delaying everything. But for whatever reason, the plants love the new soil and the weeds don’t. I’m so happy! …
If you’ve never used a spiralizer to make zucchini pasta, you are truly missing out! I finally caved and bought a legitimate one that has a crank, and I love it! I’m growing zucchini and cucumbers in my garden, so I figured I should start spiralizing! …
I hope everyone had a happy 4th of July!
Our family celebrated with a delicious meal of carrot dogs and oven fries, which you must try if you haven’t already.
Anyway, last week I taught a cooking class at Southern Home & Kitchen here in Winston, and it was a great success! The theme was raw vegan, so “cooking” class is actually a misnomer. The menu included three flavors of cashew cheese, a pear and arugula salad with Meyer lemon dressing, raw zucchini and tomato lasagna, and fresh mint ice cream with chocolate date sauce. I also brought samples of my mini cinnamon rolls for everyone to try. The menu was a hit!…
I used to joke with my husband that I was going make him carrot dogs, as if putting a carrot in a bun would be the saddest and most pitiful meat substitution in the vegan world. It was not until I received the latest PlantPure Nation newsletter, which praised the carrot dog, did I realize that carrot dogs are more than just placing a carrot in a bun and adding toppings. …
A question I’m often asked is, “If you suddenly didn’t have lupus anymore, would you go back to eating the way you used to (as in, eating a standard American diet)?” My answer: absolutely not. The purpose of that question is of course to determine whether a plant-based diet is “worth it” for a seemingly healthy person, or if I regularly choke down my vegetable dinner then go to my room to cry over how much I miss chicken fingers and baked brie. Trust me, it’s so worth it….
Last weekend was the third annual Plant-based for Prevention of Disease conference, hosted by NC State in Raleigh. I attended last year and was blown away by the number of doctors (M.D. and Ph.D), dietitians, and researchers who spoke about the many benefits of a plant-based diet. It was also a great opportunity to commune with like-minded people and discuss the challenges of convincing people to change their diets….
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
To celebrate this excuse to drink margaritas holiday, I’m sharing my most recent development: almond pudding cake with dulce de leche sauce! It’s warm, gooey, sweet, and surprisingly healthful!
These little cakes are vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, and sweetened with maple syrup and coconut sugar. You could even eat these as breakfast muffins if you wanted! …
As a plant-based foodie and lover of all types of vegetation, it’s hard to contain my excitement when spring rolls around and fresh, local produce appears in the markets. After making everything I can with peas and asparagus, I move on to those beautiful stalks of rhubarb, which are impossible for me to resist. …
I often find myself asking my friends, “Have you tried ______ yet? I’m obsessed with it!” And since lists of current obsessions are quite common in the blogging world, I thought I’d share mine with you in this fun little post. …
As promised in my Feeding Toddlers article, here is the recipe for my Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies! Aren’t they cute? These babies are no-bake, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, and oil-free. And yet, they’re mini PB & J sandwiches — like “Uncrustables” without the junk ingredients!…
In my previous post, Feeding Toddlers, I added a list of nutritious snacks for toddlers which included a new favorite in our household: mini cinnamon rolls!…
I can’t tell you how many strangers have come up to us in restaurants and told us they were amazed by what our toddler was eating — whether it was Brussels sprouts, broccoli, tofu, etc. Abby, now two years old, loves to eat. And even though I’d like to take all of the credit for her great diet, I know that parents have to work with the cards they are dealt. Some kids are naturally picky eaters, and there isn’t much parents can do about it….
