Happy World Vegan Day

Today I convinced my husband to come with me down to Moanuloa Gardens. He picked up his lunch and then took me to Down to Earth to pick up mine. I chose the toasted avocado sandwich. It was wonderful. Next time I will try the vegan rueben sandwich. I heard that one was good as well. Dinner tonight was an array of fruits and veggies. I made a pear pomegranate salad along with some cooked kale & spinach. I also had some of my leftover curried quinoa.

Cooked Kale & Spinach

1 bunch of fresh kale (chopped)

spinach (a few handfuls)

4 cloves of garlic (chopped)

1-2 cups vegetable broth

pepper (to taste)

amino acids (to taste)

Cook on stovetop until desired consistency.

Fresh organic pomegranate

Pomegranite & pear fruit salad

1 pomegranite (seeded)

1 pear (cut into small pieces)

1/2 an orange (cut into small pieces)

agave (to taste)

Oh and again, happy World Vegan Day!!!

Tofutti & Smoothie

This morning for breakfast I had a sprouted wheat, onion, & poppyseed bagel with some Tofutti cream cheese. If you buy this brand of imitation cream cheese you should stick to the yellow & white container. This one is the "healthier" non-hydrogenated one. I am also experimenting with spinach in smoothies. This morning's smoothie was a strawberry & spinach smoothie.

Here's the mixture I tried:

1 handfull of fresh spinach

5 frozen strawberries (thawed)

6 oz So Delicious Coconut Milk dairy free yogurt (Strawberry Banana flavor)

1 Tbsp vanilla soy powder

Yum!

Half day

Today was my half-day of work. I worked from 9-1 today, so I'm definitely not complaining! After work I had to rush home to pick up Silver (SCARS 6 week old kitten) and take him to the foster family who was patiently waiting for me at Walmart. Then I put my boy Sonic in the car, and took off to check on my friend's kittens. I am pet-sitting them while she is away. Sonic got to have a quick romp in her backyard, but wasn't quite satisfied. So after her house, we drove to the park and I let him run to his heart's content. We both got all muddy in the process :)

Tonight my husband and I had dinner at Genki Sushi. I enjoy going there because they have a nice veggie selection. I got the eggplant nigiri, green bean tempura roll, vegetarian roll, & 2 orders of their special which was pumpkin tempura!

It was so good!

Then my husband let me stop at one of my favorite stores, Down to Earth. I picked up a few a the essentials like Kombucha, Tofutti cream cheese, and coconut milk ice cream. mmmm....

My favorite Komucha Synergy flavors so far are the grape & strawberry flavors.

I also got the go to Celestial Foods today and got to grab a few more things like some nutritional yeast, pomegranate, hazelnut soy creamer, crystalized ginger, amino acids, garbanzo beans, & quinoa. That's kind of a strange list now that I look at it. I need to get some sleep. It's midnight. Good night all!

Plastic

Have you ever heard of BPA? I had heard of it before and heard that it was bad for you, but wasn't exactly sure why. I did some research on BPA and plastic and this is what I found. First of all, "Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical building block that is used primarily to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins." Different studies have shown that BPA has been linked to obesity, breast cancer, thyroid problems, neurological problems, reproductive problems, etc. Be careful when using plastic. Make sure to check the bottle recycle label. It will be numbered from 1-7. Here’s your list to what the numbers mean. This way you can know if they are safe:

Plastic #1: Most soda & water bottles are made of #1. It is considered generally safe, but does have a surface that allows bacteria to grow. It's best not to reuse.

*This is picked up by most recycling programs.

Plastic #2: Most milk jugs, detergent bottles, juice bottles, and toiletries bottles are made of #2. This plastic is considered safe.

*This is also picked up by most recycling programs.

Plastic #3: This is used to make food wrap, bottles for cooking oil, and plumbing pipes. #3 is not considered safe to cook food near it. NEVER cook using food wrap in a microwave even if the wrap says microwave safe!

Plastic #4: This is used to make grocery bags, bottles, and bread bags. This plastic is considered safe.

Plastic #5: Wide-necked containers, straws, ketchup, and syrup bottles are often made from it. This plastic is also considered safe.

*Some recycling programs accept this now.

Plastic #6: This is basically styrofoam. Some evidence says that this plastic gives of potentially toxic chemicals. This happens especially when heated! Avoid styrofoam whenever possible!

Plastic #7: This plastic number is a mix. Polycarbonate are in thiscategory, including BPA. Avoid number 7 whenever possible.

I try to avoid plastic whenever possible and just stick to glass.

Quinoa

I am trying out a new recipe tonight with Quinoa. Quinoa is known as "one of the best sources of protein in the vegetable kingdom." Pretty impressive huh? It is an excellent source of protein, iron, B vitamins, zinc, copper, and many other things. This is great for vegetarians & vegans! It is also gluten-free. So I am trying out a curried quinoa recipe. I will update this later on how it turned out.

Meal Starters

Today I tried the Morning Star meal starters chick'n strips alongside some flax seed organic waffles and maple syrup. I love REAL maple syrup! I really love Morning Star brand and haven't found a thing yet that I hated! The only thing I didn't enjoy too much was the Morning Star bacon, because it doesn't get crunchy. The chik'n strips would be great on a salad!

Going Shampoo Free

I have been called a hippie many times, and so what! Maybe I am! Anyway, I have been reading articles about going "shampoo free" and was intrigued. Basically what I've found is that shampoo is a detergent. It strips your hair of all the healthy oil your body produces. Most shampoo also has a lot of chemicals. I personally already use an all natural shampoo and did not think that I could get much more natural than I already am. Then I found this shampoo recipe:

1 Tbsp baking soda to

1 cup of water

Shake it up in a bottle and your good to go!

For conditioner you can use:

1 Tbsp apple cidar vinigar to

1 cup of

water

*This will detangle your hair & restore your natural pH balance.*

Baking soda is such a great thing that seems to be good for everything! I know I use it for everything from cooking to cleaning to litter box to hair, etc.

(I also already use baking soda to brush my teeth!) Just make sure that you buy aluminum free baking soda. Some studies show that aluminum causes alzheimer's. I would ra

ther be safe than sorry, so I use all natural bak

ing soda. You can buy pure baking soda at Whole foods or another place like it near you. I will try going "poo-free" as they call it, and update you on how it goes in a few months or so.