Snow Fun & Karlito’s Sweet n’ Salty Cereal Snack Mix

We got a lot of snow in Kansas City last Wednesday, and I had a blast playing with my dogs while the snow was still coming down and it was so bright that it was nearly daylight. Me and Mikey the Wonder Dog had a snowball fight … I won. He can’t make snowballs for beans! Then we played chase … He won. I can’t run and chase for beans! Then I made a snow angel. I haven’t made a snow angel in thirty years at least. I hesitated at the thought and then I just went for it! I dropped down into the snow and I was 10 years old again! Fantastic! Mikey the Wonder Dog jumped on my head!

It's amazing the difference in my ability to shovel, workout and play since I've been eating a plant-based diet and getting regular workouts. I enjoyed shoveling the drive as my workout on both Wednesday and Thursday. The air was crisp, the snow was pretty light, and it felt great to be outdoors. I shoveled the drive, the walks and the patio and still wasn't ready to go indoors, hence the doggy play.

On Thursday I got another snow day, and after shoveling again, I curled up on my chair, snuggled under a warm blanket with a cup of hot chocolate and watched Amelie, a movie that’s charming and beautiful. If you live near me, I'll gladly loan you my copy.

And my movie snack? Karlito’s Sweet n’ Salty Cereal Snack Mix! I cop to the fact that Karlito’s recipe is different, but mine is a gluten free version and totally delicious! Here’s the recipe: 3c Nature’s Path Mesa Sunrise cereal, 3c Nature’s Path WholeO’s, 1c-1½c salted peanuts, mixed together and sprinkled with stevia to sweeten to taste. I mix and store it in a plastic bag and 1c = 1 serving. Yum! The Mesa Sunrise is a multi-grain flake-style cereal with corn, amaranth, quinoa, flax and buckwheat. WholeO's are a brown rice and corn Cheerio-style cereal that's gluten free. You can use flake and O-style cereals of your choice.

Switching gears: Sad that the Bears didn’t pulverize the Packers, but as the old Chicago saying goes, “There’s always next year!” I joined a group at Tower Tavern to watch the action and totally forgot (Absolut will do that to you!) that pita bread is definitely not gluten free and ate some of that along with, not dairy free, artichoke dip. What can I say? The trauma of the 1^st half took over!

Go Blackhawks!!!

Recipes and Frank

It was a fantastic weekend! Friday night was dinner at Po’s Dumplings with my friend, Judith. They have an eggplant dish that is sweet and spicy and absolutely divine! Po’s is the perfect place to go with everyone. They have gluten free, vegan, vegetarian, seafood and a lot of meat dishes. Delicious!

The high point of the evening was going to see the documentary Let Me Be Frank about a 50-something, New York Italian, who in the year 2000 was 5'7", 287 pounds and living in San Francisco.  He was a former heroin addict in recovery for 17 years, and the doctors were treating him for Hepatitis C. Frank swallowed a handful of pills every morning including antidepressants; he was miserable both physically and emotionally.

One day he stumbled onto Café Gratitude, and thinking it was somehow related to the recovery community, he went inside and sat down. It became clear that this wasn’t an AA or NA hangout; These were people eating healthy, no one was smoking, and there wasn’t a cup of coffee in front of everyone. He stayed. Something about the feel-good atmosphere grabbed hold. Outspoken and funny, and honestly quite frank, Frank became a regular at Café Gratitude, a raw vegan restaurant. 

One day Ryland, his brother Cary and his friend Conor offered to transform Frank’s life in 42 days. They insisted that Frank sign a contract stating that he would follow their rules, including filming the entire process. The rules included eating a raw vegan diet, weekly colonics, and daily affirmations.

When a filmmaker from New York moved to San Francisco and met Ryland, Cary and Conor, and looked at the raw footage, he knew there was magic to be made. The magic is Frank’s transformation, but it’s more than that: Frank’s honesty and humor make people fall in love with him. Friend them on Facebook so you can attend a screening when they’re somewhere near you, or for those in KC, come on over and we’ll watch it at my place. It is inspirational!

Frank came out and did about a 30-minute Q&A and he looked so good! His humor and language were exactly the same. He was relaxed and enjoyed the audience as much as we enjoyed him. A truly wonderful evening!

When I returned home from the movie, the homemade Maple Baked Beans that had been cooking in my Crockpot all day were done. Delicious! I had never made baked beans from scratch and they were so good I thought I’d inadvertently added bacon. I adapted a recipe from the book 1000 Vegan Recipes, by Robin Robertson. The original recipe was baked and called for canned beans, dry mustard and cayenne pepper. I changed quantities based on the beans used and threw it all in my slow cooker. 

The recipe: 6 cups of mixed black beans, pinto beans, and black eyed peas. (These had been soaked overnight and measured after soaking. I'm confident that you can use any kind of bean you have on hand. If using canned, drain and omit the salt.) 2/3 cup pure maple syrup, 3 tbsp of blackstrap molasses, 1 sliced large onion, 2 sliced cloves garlic, 1-2 tbsp yellow mustard and salt. I salted these as uncooked beans, so probably 1 tbsp of salt. Put the beans in the Crockpot, cover with water, add the other ingredients and cook on low for 8-10 hours. I took the cover off for the last hour of cooking.

Yesterday I made a vegan, gluten free Mushroom Risotto that was delicious. I adapted that recipe based on the mushrooms I had available, from www.thekitchn.com. I substituted tamari for the balsamic vinegar, and fresh mushrooms for dried. I didn’t have shitake’s so I used portabella and cremini. This is a dish that would fool your friends into thinking it’s not vegan. It’s got a richness that I haven’t found easy to create since I took meat out of my diet. Wonderful!

My journey has been a wild ride, but I wasn't filmed during the tough times. Frank's journey has allowed him to be the person that was under all the crap. What a gift!

Monday Morning Ramblings

A gluten free vegan journey is a different trip. I’m not sure what to call this blog since I still occasionally eat seafood. It’s not vegan, although my intent is still to eat a vegan diet. So, I’m leaving the name and working through the confusion and difficulties that surround food choices. That’s the purpose of my blog; to work through the challenges publicly in support of anyone trying to improve their health, animals’ lives and the health of the planet.

The conversion to gluten free is one of those challenges. The reduction in allowable foods has left me with little variety although I recall feeling the same way when I quit eating meat, dairy and eggs. My goal is to follow through on making new recipes each week.

I rarely ate potatoes and now they are a staple making their appearance on my plate at least twice a day. Saturday I made a pot of blackeyed pea soup in my slow cooker and I decided to throw in a few whole russets to let them cook along with the soup. They were delicious! I’ve eaten all four (they were small) topped with a teaspoon of Earth Balance and coarse ground salt and pepper. Yum!

Another favorite that I can still enjoy is my morning smoothie. Combine a half to three-quarters of a cup of cranberry juice with one peeled and quartered orange, two frozen peach slices, three or four frozen strawberries, a couple of chunks of frozen bananas and a small handful of frozen blueberries. After you make it a couple of times you’ll know exactly what quantity works best for the thickness you desire and for the strength of your blender.

If you’re trying the new Weight Watchers Points program, the only thing you have to count is the juice. Use light cranberry juice for very low points!

The smoothie is easy to change depending on what you have available. When I have fresh spinach on hand I like to throw a handful in, and often throw in a few carrots. You don’t taste the spinach or carrots at all. If you have kids who resist healthy eating, make them a green shake, put on a Shrek video and tell them it’s all Shrek will drink for breakfast! A healthy way to start their day!

This weekend friends and I went to JC Wyatt’s in Saint Joseph, Missouri for dinner. The restaurant is owned by two guys from New York, Jim (front of the house) and Jeff (chef), who go out of their way to please. This place is magnificent! It is a restored Victorian home that’s so beautiful it takes your breath away. I gazed at the ceilings all night. Jim created wonderful designs out of period-correct wallpaper.

We had an email discussion relating to diet a few weeks before our reservation, but since the addition of the gluten free happened rather quickly I decided to have the maple glazed salmon rather than ask them to prepare a gluten free vegan meal at the last minute. The food was divine!

The table is asked to limit their choices to two entrées from their menu of the day. They keep it small so that everything is prepared to perfection. The entrée price includes a first course, (ours was a choice of soup or salad), dessert, iced tea and coffee. You are welcome to bring in your own wine or beer. It is so worth the drive to St. Joe’s!

Since we have plenty of snow on the ground, I am going to forgo the gym and workout by shoveling snow. I love shoveling snow when I don’t have to do it right away to get to work. I can pick the time and enjoy the beauty of nature while working up a sweat! Even snow haters have to admit that the first day of a snowfall is beautiful.

The Gift of Time (And Some Great Tea!)

It's been awhile. This year has been a year of change. My company took medical insurance off of the benefit list, and I have a long string of pre-existing conditions which exist in the medical world, but not very much in my physical world. In the past I have been diagnosed with, and suffered from fibromyalgia, asthma, back trouble, a cancerous polyp, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol), and I had a total hip replacement in 2008. All of this adds up to being uninsurable by today's standards. 

Unfortunately for me, insurance companies don't ask what lifestyle changes a person has made. I work out, eat a vegan diet, and lead a less stressful life. My blood pressure is fine now, and my cholesterol (apparently more genetic than diet related) is getting closer. I haven't had an asthma attack since I quit ingesting dairy products, and the fibromyalgia is gone or so mild that I don't even notice it. Both of my hips, new and old, are doing fantastic, and my back doesn't bother me if I don't do anything stupid like lift a 50-pound sack improperly. My colon ... well, really, do we want to go there? 

In an effort to even the score, so to speak, I decided to semi-retire by taking Social Security Survivor Benefits. (For those of you that don't know me personally, my husband passed away in 2003. I qualified for benefits when I turned 60.) I would make the same amount of money, and with medical insurance off the table, I couldn't come up with a good reason to continue to work full time. I cut back to what Social Security allows me to make per month without losing any benefits. In my case it works out to three, six-hour days a week. 

So, the biggest change has been the gift of time. I manage to get everything done around the house, joined a community center and workout several times a week, take my dogs for a daily one-mile walk and still have time to read, take classes, volunteer, play flute in the New Horizons Band and enjoy life.

I recently decided to schedule my daily tasks such as working out, walking the dogs, and actually writing my blog! So, I got out my Blackberry and put recurring appointments in for each day of the week. I'm hoping that by adding this level of organization I will be able to get more out of this gift. So far, so good, I'm writing an entry today!

The weather was awful a couple of weeks ago and so I decided to stay in the entire weekend, during which I got my recipes organized ... YAY! I had them in a binder, but with the switch to eating vegan came a love of recipe collection and they quickly outgrew the binder. I had some room in a file drawer, so I made a hanging file for each category and now I just drop them in. Sweet!

Speaking of recipes, Kansas City has a magazine, Enhance, that is a wellness-focused publication. In the Nov/Dec issue they had a recipe for Ginger-Lemon Tea. It is my new favorite winter beverage! Here's the recipe: 1tsp of freshly grated ginger, 2 lemon wedges, honey & cayenne pepper to taste. Grate the ginger over the cup, fill with hot water, squeeze in the lemon juice and add honey and pepper to taste. It's awesome and provides a powerful immune system boost!

That's it for today. I have Blogging scheduled for Monday and Wednesday morning ... Y'all will know how well my new schedule works! ;)

Potato Sandwiches?

Who would have thought a Gold Yukon potato, microwaved, sliced and served up on whole wheat bread with barbeque sauce would be such a wonderful lunch? Certainly not me, but it is delicious! Thank you, Dr. McDougall. Brilliant!! Today I added a thin slice of sweet onion ... marvelous!

When I told a friend that I had decided to go totally vegan, she remarked that it was great if I could afford it. The comment took me by surprise because while it can be expensive, it certainly doesn't have to be. Beans, brown rice, tomatoes, onions, corn tortillas, celery, carrots, oatmeal, raisins, and a multitude of other choices are quite affordable. After all, how much can a potato sandwich cost?

One can of black beans, one large can of tomatoes, a small can of chilies, a cup of corn kernels, onions and spices make four servings of a terrific soup served over baked corn tortilla chips and fresh avocado chunks. (For the recipe go to: Dr.McDougall's Website.) The cost to make this, without shopping around for great prices, was $8.44 or $2.11/serving using organic tomatoes and beans. It was tasty, filling, and seriously healthy!

Typically I would use dried beans for an added cost savings. A one-pound bag of beans costs around $1.50 and makes 3-4 cans worth of cooked beans. They're also really easy to prepare, so when I have the time I just cook up a bag and freeze them for use later.

I enjoy figuring out how to save money and time. It's a game to me. I was widowed in 2003 and so I only cook for myself. I've learned a few time & money-saving tricks:

• Cook an entire box of whole wheat pasta, then divide into single servings and freeze. You can run under hot water to thaw in a minute.
• Cook 2+ cups of dried, brown rice and divide into single servings to freeze. Thaw in the microwave.
• Before your bananas go bad, slice and lay them out on a cookie sheet. Pop it into the freezer and after they're frozen, remove them from the cookie sheet and put in a freezer bag. They're great for tossing into smoothies. You can also mash them and put them in freezer containers. Just thaw and add to your morning oatmeal.
• You know those few pieces of celery that you're just not going to eat? Chop them up and do the same thing you did with the bananas above. When you're cooking soup, toss in a handful of frozen celery to liven it up! It's easier for me to spend the money to buy fresh, organic produce when I know I've got a use for it if I don't get it eaten quickly.
• Rescue soon-to-be-wasted bread by drying the slices in the oven. Lay them out on the oven racks. Set the oven temp as low as possible. (I think mine goes to about 175 degrees.) You can leave them in there for a couple of hours. If they're not all the way dried out, just turn off the heat and let them sit in the oven until they are. Once they're totally dried out, use the blender to turn them into breadcrumbs. Store in the fridge.
• Here's an inexpensive, quick and tasty side dish: Use a small amount of vegan butter, heat in skillet, toss in breadcrumbs and brown. Throw in a cooked whole wheat pasta, salt to taste, and heat through ... YUM! (You can also add onions and/or garlic to the butter prior to the breadcrumbs. Saute until tender, then add the breadcrumbs and continue as above.) I eat either whole wheat or eight grain bread, so my breadcrumbs are healthy!
• Ice cube trays are my best friends! I have one that makes mini-cubes and I use it to freeze lime juice when limes are cheap. After squeezing room-temperature limes in to a bowl, pour in the the tray and freeze. Transfer to double plastic bags or containers when frozen. The same can be done for lime juice or even orange juice that you just don't finish before it's freshness date.
• I use standard size ice cube trays to freeze cream sauce in small portions. At the end of the day, thaw a serving of brown rice, thaw a couple of cream sauce cubes, toss together with some frozen peas, salt, and cracked pepper ... delicious!

Day two on my Vegan Journey went great. I had the energy to shovel my driveway not once, but twice, spent time on the phone catching up with a couple of friends while I watched the snow continue to fall, and did some research online.

Despite the perilous temperatures and blowing snow,

I love the journey!