The Vegetarian Buckeye

Strawberry-Banana-Kiwi-Kale Smoothie

2010-03-31T10:57:00.000-04:00

1 cup Skim Milk or Non-Dairy Substitute
1 Cup H2O
1/4 cup So Delicious Coconut Milk Strawberry Kefir
2 1/4 cups Kale
2 Whole Kiwis with skins (ends cut off)
1 Frozen Banana
1 cup Frozen Strawberries
Ice

Nice and Tart!

Nex time, I might do
3/4 cups milk/non-dairy sub
1/2 Cup Strawberries

Purple Green Smoothie

2010-03-28T09:39:00.001-04:00

I am going to start listing the recipes for the green smoothies that I drink each day if it is out of this world delish. If for nothing else, it's a place for me to store my recipes so that I can make them again!

I had gone to Whole Foods yesterday morning and spotted some yummy looking blackberries. I haven't had blackberries in a very long time so decided to purchase them. I thought that they might be a nice addition to my smoothies. I've also gotten hooked on So Delicious Coconut Milk Kefir so I picked up a bottle of that.

I am so happy that I splurged and bought the blackberries. This smoothie was SOOO good!

1/4 Cup So Delicious Coconut Milk Strawberry Kefir
1 Cup H20
1 Cup Skim Milk or Milk Substitute
Scoop of Sun Warrior Vanilla Protein Powder
1 TBSP Activated Barley
2 Cups Kale
1/2 Cup Blackberries
1 Cup Frozen Blueberries
1 Cup Ice

It was very “purpley” and fantastic tasting!

Yumberry - Who's tried it?

2010-02-15T14:28:00.001-05:00

Yumberry

Yumberry...it sounds, yummy! Has anyone tried it yet? Nuts On-Line has a Yumberry powder on their site and it sounds like something I might like to add to my green smoothies.

Yumberry Powder

Here are the benefits of Yumberry according to sixwise.com:

Fight free radicals. OPC is said to fight oxidation 50 times better than vitamin E and 20 times better than vitamin C.
Reduce your blood pressure and protect your heart health.
Lower bad (LDL) cholesterol.
Protect your eyesight and reduce your risk of cataracts.
Strengthen your cell membranes.
Fight inflammation and associated diseases such as arthritis.

Sounds impressive...has anyone tried this?

Vegan Strong is having a giveaway!

2010-02-13T10:45:00.000-05:00

I love giveaways! It gives me a way to try something out before I buy it!

Gina at Vegan Strong, another great blog that I follow, is giving away a Vega Vibrancy Bar prize pack!! YAY! I love to add their protein powders to my daily green smoothies!

Here is some info on the bars that I found on Gina's blog:

"Each Vega Vibrancy bar features:

Sprouts galore – Sprouts are like the express bus to nutrition. The sprouting process converts complex carbs into simple carbs, protein into amino acids, and fat into fatty acids, meaning your body doesn’t have to produce its own enzymes for digestion. Plus the nutrients are in a usable, highly digestible form. With 17.5g of sprouts, Vibrancy Bars have more sprouted ingredients than any other bar on the market.
Raw protein – Packed with 10g of plant-based protein from sprouted buckwheat, hemp seeds, sprouted almonds, brown rice and pea protein.
Fiber, fiber, fiber – With 20% of your daily recommended intake, Vega Vibrancy bars have 5g of soluble and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber slows the release of carbs into the bloodstream, helping control insulin levels, prolong energy, and gives you feeling of fullness, signaling that hunger mechanism to shut off. Insoluble fiber is important in terms of digestive health and cleansing by ensuring toxins don’t build up and spread to the bloodstream."

So, head over here and check out her blog and the giveaway!

Nut's On-line rocks!

2010-02-12T16:36:00.001-05:00

Nut's On-line is a second and third generation family business! You've got to go and check this company out! They have hundreds of nuts/fruits/candies/snacks to choose from! I orderd Lucuma powder, dark chocolate covered raspberris and dark chocolate covered blueberries! They arrived 2 days after I ordered them and had a little "something extra" in there too! (A bag of conversation hearts!) What a fantastic company. What I truly appreciated was that the packing peanuts they shipped my order in disolve in water!!! Please, go check them out...I will be buying ALL of my nuts and seeds from them from now on! They even have Jumbo Medjool dates and chia seed! The prices are great too! I have already sampled some of the dark chocolate covered raspberries and they are FANTASTIC! It's such a friendly company! Go there now!

Help Save These Cows!

2010-02-10T20:11:00.000-05:00

PLEASE HELP!

Please go to this site to help save these cows from slaughter!

http://www.vegandogslife.com/2010/02/help-save-these-boys-from-slaughter.html

The Octo-Straw!

2010-02-10T19:29:00.000-05:00

I know that Valentine's Day is still a couple of days away but, my husband gave me my gift early because it came in the mail today! Check this out!!

He bought it from this awesome shop on etsy, Full Blown Glass! Nice people and gorgeous stuff! I can't wait to use it! Isn't it cool!?!

We had a SNOW DAY here today...no school...woo hoo! So, I spent some time in the kitchen making some new recipes that I found on Kristen's Raw. I love reading her blog as I find it so inspiring!

I made Holiday Chia Pudding and Pillowy Vanilla Cashew Milk. I highly suggest checking out her site. She has NUMEROUS tasty recipes. The Pillowy Cashew Milk is devine! It is one of the best things are I have ever tasted! And, it really is "pillowy!" The Chia Pudding was excellent too. I will be taking some for lunch tomorrow! Sheri from Green & Crunchy , which is another blog I recommend, added a twsit to Kristen's orginal recipe by adding chocolate to it. Check out her version here.

So, tomorrow I will be trying out my new octo straw with a green smoothie in the morning and then some Pillowy Cashew Milk in the afternoon!

Glass Straw Contest!

2010-01-30T09:15:00.000-05:00

Ginger is the new Pink is having a FANTASIC contest! http://gingeristhenewpink.blogspot.com/

She is giving away a $25.00 gift certificate to Glass Dharma http://glassdharma.com/, the wonderful glass straw people! My birthday is right around the corner, and these beauties are on my wish list!

Check it out!

My favorite ones!

Green Smoothie Concotions

2010-01-19T18:39:00.000-05:00

Any good green smothie recipes out there?

Any terrible ones? Combos to avoid?

Tempeh Wontons - 1st experience with Tempeh!

2010-01-14T20:43:00.000-05:00

I made tempeh wontons today. I was trying to make a recipe from VeganYumYum again, but realized I only had tempeh and not seitan. So, I just substituted! The results were fantastic...a little salty, but I may have had a heavy hand when it came to the soy sauce!. I made a ton of these and will be able to take them for lunch once I go back to school! I will post pics soon. My camera battery is dead!

2nd experience with Kale and 2nd green smoothie!

2010-01-13T08:30:00.000-05:00

I had attempted to make a green smoothie last spring. The results were unpalatable! I gave up for a little while and stuck with fruit smoothies.

With a new year upon us and me missing one of my God given organs due to surgery, I decided it was time to try again!

I made a green smoothie this morning. I had tons and tons of kale left from the roasted kale experience...which was fantastic!

I loaded my Vita Mix up! (A fantabulous find on Craigslist! Had my eye on one of these for years. The man who posted it on CL actually lived one street over from me! It was meant to be!)

Kale, Milk, Frozen Strawberries, Large Banana, Ice,and about 1 tsp Maple Syrup

I didn't measure anything...just eyeballed it! At first I did not add the Maple Syrup, but it tastes too bitter without it. Next time I will add Amazing Green to it or maybe some OJ instead of the syrup. I might add more Kale too.

Verdict: Ahh, I now understand what everyone is raving about. It really is delish and you can't taste the Kale once you get the correct balance!

New Schnauzer!

2010-01-12T12:40:00.000-05:00

Here's the latest addition to our family. She belongs to my mom.

My 1st experience with Kale! Roasted Kale - Kale Chips - Crunchy Kale - YUMMY

2010-01-11T13:17:00.000-05:00

I saw many variations of this recipe online and found one in my new cookbook, "Vegan Yum Yum" by Lauren Ulm.

~~I haven’t tasted them yet as I am still stuffed from my delicious breakfast sandwiches!~~ Wow, really tasty!

Here are some pics of the process...

~~I'll let you know what I think in a little bit!~~
These are FANTASTIC!
I will be packing this as a side in my laptop lunch box!

We Won!

2010-01-11T11:30:00.001-05:00

Home for another week

2010-01-11T11:19:00.000-05:00

I recently had surgery and my doctor has kept me home for work. I am a PE teacher so he feels as though I need one more week to recoup! I have been getting lots done around the house and have spent good quality time with the schnauzers...but, I have been getting a little bored!

So, last night I went to Whole Foods armed with my new cookbook, "Vegan Yum Yum" by Lauren Ulm. http://veganyumyum.com/

I had most of the ingredients that I needed, but was low or out of a few. I wanted to make the Breakfast Sandwiches from "Vegan Yum Yum" that were featured on Vegan Strong which can be found here: http://veganstrong.blogspot.com/2010/01/what-ive-been-up-to-in-pictures.html

I set to work on these scrumptious looking sandwiches at about 9:30. It took me about an hour to make them, but, now that I have done it once, I know next time will be a breeze!

I had the most trouble with the "egg" part. I didn’t look like the one in the book or on Vegan strong. Mine were not as "yellow." But, I decided to throw it on an English muffin and give it a go! I was pleasantly surprised! It was FANTATSIC! The "egg" has quite a nice taste to it. I have alway

hated real fried eggs...or any kind of egg, but these have a really great taste! They are fluffy too!

The maple tofu was divine! You could use that for just about any other dish! I may try that with some rice next time. And, the maple tofu was a snap to make!

Check out the cookbook! It is great!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-11T11:08:00.000-05:00

Happy Howlloween!

2009-10-31T20:19:00.001-04:00

Yves Sausage Patties & Canadian Bacon

2009-10-22T20:42:00.001-04:00

I recently had a craving for one of those Egg McMuffin things that McDonalds sells. So, I scoured the web searching for a vegetarian version. I found a few and they seemed to be the same recipe and people raved about how fantastic the finished product tasted. I couldnt bring myself to make the "egg" part because I have never really liked the taste of eggs when I wasnt a vegetarian. So, I skipped the tofu egg. I made biscuits and then toasted the Canadian Bacon and Sausage in my toaster oven. I sliced 2 biscuits in half and placed the "Bacon" on one half and cheese on the other and then the same thing on the other biscuit but with the Sausage. Verdict: Really tasty!! I couldnt be more happy with the outcome.

Brutus Door Sign from ETSY

2009-10-09T23:22:00.000-04:00

Here it is!! The finished product...

Go Buckeyes! Beat Wisconsin!

2009-10-09T23:14:00.001-04:00

Vegan Buckeyes

2009-10-09T23:03:00.000-04:00

I adore Buckeyes...the candy...and the atheltes. We are luck enough in RI to be able to buy Marsha's Buckeye's from the Cracker Barrel gift shop. My mom and I made some this evening...they were actually from a box mix, but were called Bon-Bons. They were pretty good.

After we made them, I was thinking that it might be neat to try out one of the vegan Buckeye recipes. I found a bunch of them on-line. During my search, I also found a couple of recipes for Buckeye Pie!!! Right in time for Thanksgiving!

Here is the link for the pie, if you're interested:

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/best-pie-bakeoff-2008/buckeye-pie-best-pie-bakeoff-2008-entry-18-069631

Anyone ever try the vegan Buckeye recipes? Or, the pie??

Halloween Decor

2009-09-13T14:05:00.001-04:00

We really do love Halloween in our house...or at least I love Halloween in our house. See below for what our front windows looked like a few years ago. It was a lot of work! I have saved all of the little cut outs from year to year so that I could re-use them. We've since moved to a new house that does not have a big front window. So, now I only do one ghost and I have combined the haunted house and the graveyard together.

And here are the pups all dressed up and ready for lots of treats.

I love Etsy!

2009-09-13T13:52:00.000-04:00

I commissioned some work on Etsy recently. I searched high and low for an Ohio State door decoration. When I couldn’t find one, I knew that I could place an ad on Etsy! I had a few bites and went with the best one! Once it is completed, I will post pic of it!

Halloween Dog Collar give away!

2009-09-13T13:36:00.000-04:00

We love Halloween! It's our most favorite holiday! Check out this blog to enter to win this great dog collar!

This blog features vegan dogs! Yes, dog's can be vegan and healthy! Follow the link to learn more about it and to enter this great contest!

http://www.vegandogslife.com/

I bleed Scarlet & Gray...

2009-09-13T13:10:00.000-04:00

And boy am I bleeding. Anyone catch that heartbreaker last night?

I'm sick over it. We were so close!!

I was happy to see that Terrelle Pryor no longer had "he who we shall not speak of's" name on his eye black last night. I'm still really bothered by it though.

Yum! I love the fall!

2009-09-13T12:58:00.000-04:00

Fall Eats

This is from "Vegan Lunch Box" by Jennifer McCann! It's called "Savory Autumn Leaf Pie."
I had fun cutting out the pie crust with my tiny cookie cutters. I can't wait to dig into this tomorrow in the Faculty Room! Especially when I heat it up in the microwave. I love it when people say, "What's that wonderful smell?" and it's from my tasty vegetarian, sometimes vegan lunch!
I've been trying out all the new recipes from her new book "Vegan Lunchbox Around the World." My favorite recipe in the new book is the New England Clam Chowder, of course! It even passed the non-veg test! My co-workers claim that it tastes just like "regular choweder." (Their words, not mine!)

I also absolutley love the nacho cheese recipe. I have been using it a lot lately for my baked potatoes.

Here's her blog:

http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/

Check it out if you haven't already!