peanut ginger quinoa salad :)

Ginger Peanut Quinoa Salad.

                Today I would love to share this awesome vegan salad with you, my very first vegan food post! It’s absolutely delicious and turned out wayyyy better than I thought it would. I feel so fortunate to be able to walk into my backyard in my skimpy little summer clothes and be able to pick some fresh cucumbers and carrots from my mom’s beautiful gardens. I just realized how much I’m going to miss all this fresh organic produce when I move out. L I know I should spend more time helping my mother weed and tend the vegetables but you know how it is, you get so caught up in your own affairs you forget to partake in such activities. Anywaysssssss………. I made enough of this salad for my mother so I hope she takes it as a sign that I truly appreciate all that she does and that I love using the fresh vegetables to nourish my mind and soul.

I would recommend making some quinoa the night before you make this salad and chill it in the fridge. To make quinoa simply combine half a cup of dry quinoa with a cup of water and cook it like you would rice. Also, if you you’re not a fan of ginger, by all means use less, I simply adore it. I ate this on the porch with a nice glass of lemonade and loved every bite. Enjoy!!

Ginger Peanut Quinoa Salad.

1 cup cooked, chilled quinoa

1 small cucumber, chopped into bite size pieces

1 small carrot, grated

1/3 onion, diced.

3 leaves of basil, sliced thin

*optional additions

½ avocado

1/3 cabbage, chopped thin

1 tbsp. roasted cashews

DRESSING:

1 tsp. organic peanut butter

Sprinkle of salt

2 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. sesame oil

Just a little bit of soy sauce if you so desire

2 tbsp. grated ginger

1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

Mix the dressing and simply pour over the quinoa and vegetable and stir. I prefer it chilled but you can also eat this hot if you would like.

Baked apple and banana oatmeal

Healthy apple banana oatmeal; a filling, nutritious breakfast.

 

                Guys, I’ve made a break through… this oatmeal is completely healthy, super yummy, and did I mention it was healthy? People now days fill up on empty carbs like donuts and white flour bagels for breakfast but I say NO! I’ve made it a priority of mine to eat in a way that is good for my body inside and out. I’m in the process of learning ways to sweeten my foods naturally and I’m telling you, I’m beginning to see why god put bananas on this great green earth. A slightly overripe banana will pass up sugar any day. As for syrup? Forgetttt about it. I’m sooooo done with that store bought, sugar filled, and chemical laden poison. (Real maple syrup is a different story; however I haven’t exactly found any in my area yet.)

 The apples add a nice, apple pie flavor when mixed correctly with classic spices like nutmeg and cinnamon. This has totally become my fav breakfast ever. Try hang get your hands on some organic whole oats and make sure your bananas are a little brownish; I promise you it’s not rotten or uneatable.  To bake your apples just stab them with a knife a couple of times and bake them in a shallow dish at 400 degrees for about half an hour. That’s for a pretty big apple though so just use common sense when adjusting the heat or whatever. For those of you that are wondering why I didn’t just add freshly chopped apple into my oatmeal then know this, I think baked apples are a whole lot sweeter and softer. I cannot stand crunchy apple in my oatmeal, instead I like it very soft and pie-like, know what I mean?

 

Appley banana oatmeal!! 2 cheers for a healthy start to a great day!!

 

1.       1/4 baked apple

2.       1 cup organic oats

3.       2 cups full fat milk or skim milk if you so desire, I personally think natural whole milk is healthier than any watered down version.

4.       ½ tsp. cinnamon

5.       1/8 tsp. nutmeg

6.       1/8 tsp. salt

7.       ¼ mashed banana

*optional: nuts, prunes, butter, hemp hearts, or flax.

 

Directions:

1.       Start to cook the oatmeal by combining the oats and the milk in a little pot over medium high heat.

2.       When it looks like it’s almost done add the apple.

3.       Add the salt and spices. At this point you can tell if it’s done or not, the whole process is about 7 mins for me, though some stoves are quicker or slower. It really all depends.

4.       Pour into a bowl and top with the mashed banana. At this point you can add whatever else you would like such as walnuts, sunflower seeds, chopped prunes, or a tad bit of organic honey.

 

Well that’s all I have for you today, I hope you enjoyed my recipe and if you have any feedback then don’t hold back! Hey that kinda rhymes…. Anyways have a splendid day and enjoy your awesome breakfastJ

Vegetarian shepherds pie

 

Once upon a time, deep in the heart of Scotland, a lonely shepherd roamed the grassy hills with his beloved sheep. The sky was a fresh opalescent blue and the grass was green and lush. He spent all day outside so when he came home he was ravished. He was delighted to see his mother had made shepherds pie for dinner, his favorite meal of all. The potato topping was so delicious and buttery, the vegetables so tender, the meat was so… WAIT A MINUTE! Oh no no no that’s not going to work, whatever happened to vegetarian shepherds pie?…. I guess I’m going to just have to make one to complete this story, here we go!

FILLING:

1 small zucchini, chopped into little pieces.

1 small onion, diced.

½ cup green beans chopped into bite sized pieces (or peas if you have them, I didn’t)

2 cups fresh spinach

2 veggie burgers chopped into little tiny bits. (Any veggie burger will do, they all tend to crumble when chopped)

1 cup grated cheese, I used Colby jack.

2 tbsp. olive oil

Salt, oregano, sage, pepper, basil, rosemary to taste

Instructions:

Sautee the chopped onion, burger pieces and zucchini in the olive oil medium high heat till tender. Then add the green beans and spinach till the spinach is nice and steamed. Now season to taste. Put this mixture aside till you have the topping ready.

TOPPING: (I deviated from an original recipe and added mashed carrots for the sweet taste and high nutritional value, feel free to omit if you want, but I highly consider you try it at least once.)

2 small sweet potatoes or white potatoes if you don’t like sweet potatoes. (Chopped for quicker cooking)

2 medium carrots, chopped into chunks.

Pat of butter

2 tsp. sour cream

Pinch of salt

2 cloves garlic, crushed

INSTRUCTIONS:

Boil a pot of water and add the carrots and potatoes, cook till very soft and mashable. Next, mash it all with the butter, sour cream, salt and garlic.

Now for the fun part; layering the pie. Take a pie pan that is big enough to fit all the ingredients. First put a layer of the veggie/cheese mixture, or you can just layer cheese over a bottom layer of veggie mix. Finally spread the potato/carrot mash on top and cover everything, make it look all pretty and picture worthy. Pop it into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes at 340 degrees.

 

Sprinkle some chopped parsley or chives on top when you take it out and serve immediately, preferably with a cup of sweet iced tea.

Meanwhile… the little shepherd boy ate his veggie shepherd’s pie and was very content. He looked forward to having a piece for breakfast with a glass of fresh milk.

The End J

Juicing!!

Juicing; Why I juice daily and reasons why you should too!

It takes a strong, health conscious person to decide to juice everyday and reap the benefits that juicing can provide. It all relates back to the idea that you don’t need to pop pills everyday to be healthy or to cure a certain illness. Juicing, in fact, has been shown to help prevent and reverse many types of problems such as hair loss, obesity, arthritis, acne, and sooooooooooo much more. I know this is true from experience. A while ago I was suffering from some serious hard core acne. I know now that I was going through some hormonal changes that affected my skin in a negative way. Anyways, with a few changes to my diet and a determination to juice all that I can, my acne disappeared…. Like WHOOOOSH!! All gone. I now have radiant, clear skin that continues to amaze me every morning when I look in the mirror. Juicing takes all the essential vitamins from whatever you have chosen to juice, and injects them straight into your blood steam infusing you with energy and life!! I realize some say that juicing wastes all the fiber from the ingredients but honestly I get plenty of fiber in my diet and I compost so what’s being wasted? Some of my favorite vegetables and fruits to juice are:

Oranges: chock full with vitamin C and beta-carotene. Vitamin C helps boost your immune system to ward off illnesses and beta-carotene is a vitamin that helps your body produce vitamin A, which is great for hair and skin. (Isn’t it funny how many articles tell you what vitamins each vegetable has but doesn’t explain what those vitamins do for you? Lol)
Grapefruit: also a great source of vitamin C, significantly more tart than oranges.
Apples: used in many green juices due to the neural flavor of the juice. You can juice apples along with practically anything!!
Sweet potatoes: Now this is an interesting vegetable, many people didn’t know you can juice it raw. When I tell some people I juice raw sweet potatoes they get this suspicious look in their eyes like “is that safe?” I assure you it is and its sooooooooo healthy. Actually I read somewhere that sweet potatoes are almost as good to juice as carrots!! Now that’s something.
Carrots: my absolute fav!! Drinking fresh carrot juice everyday gives you more than enough beta-carotene as well as vitamin C and potassium. The potassium is great for cramps and muscle movement. Not only is carrot juice super nutritious, it’s also DELICIOS!
Swiss chard: I am so lucky to be able to go in my backyard and choose whatever greens I want from my mother’s organic garden. Of everything she grows, Swiss chard is one of my favorite greens. Swiss chard has an abundance of micronutrients and contains lots of precious iron. Swiss chard is so amazing that it’s been labeled a “super-food.” Yeah, it’s that awesome. Swiss chard works hard to regulate your blood sugar and supplies you with antioxidants.
Spinach: also rich in iron. Since everyone’s pretty familiar with spinach, you commonly see it being used in green juices.
Cabbage: even though cabbage juice may cause temporary gas, its benefits blow any concerns out of the water. Cabbage juice is full of vitamin D which helps clear your skin and iodine which is necessary for proper muscle development.
Beets: fresh, raw beets really pack a punch. They have an extreme benefit of detoxifying the blood and are great for those with anemia and high blood pressure. It’s important to use very little in your juice due to its potent properties.
Now that I’ve given you the run-down of nutritious, popular ingredients, let’s get to juicing!! Here are some of my favorite recipes. Feel free to throw in anything else you would like. The key here is to experiment and be creative. *juice is best taken on an empty stomach, preferably in the morning when your body wants it most*

The Orange Canary

½ medium sized sweet potato
2 small oranges
4 medium sized carrots
1 small apple

The Raving Lunatic (you’ll understand the name once you’ve tried it:p)

¼ small cabbage
2 handfuls of fresh kale
2 medium sized apples, any kind.
2 handfuls spinach
2 handfuls beet greens

The Pink Heartbeat

1 very small raw beet
3 oranges
1 grapefruit
4 carrots

I really hope you’ve enjoyed reading this article, I would be more than happy to answer any questions you might have, simply comment down below or email me. In fact emailing me might result in a quicker response but whatever. Oh and if you have any new and exciting juice recipes I’d love to try them!! Viva la juice!

-Gloria W.

Appley-Pumpkin soup

Hello all!! I hope everyone’s having a great, spectacular day. I feel great partly due to the fact I spent my entire day making the most delicious, tummy-warming, who-cares-its-cold-outside soup. I call it, Appley-Pumpkin soup, and I would absolutely love to share the recipe with you so that you too can bask in its healthiness as well as the amazing aroma that I promise will fill your kitchen like a smell sent from heaven. Feel free to play around with the measurements; I honestly don’t worry myself about precise ingredients. Cooking is best when it comes from the heart, not from a page.

Appley-Pumpkin Soup

½ a pumpkin, depending on how much you want to make (I like making hugeee batches for a week of school lunches)
2 or 3 medium sized apples cored and diced. Fuji are great!
1 onion, roughly chopped, (don’t worry about how you chop it; you’ll just be blending it together later anyways.)
2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
3 cups of vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups of whole milk
Assortment of herbs such as thyme, basil, and oregano. If you want a more dessert-like soup feel free to add cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. The possibilities are endless!!
Salt and pepper.
How-to-make-this-amazing-soup

1. First of all, you need to bake that pumpkin. I prefer to put the whole pumpkin on a tray, whole, and bake in the oven at 360 for about an hour. Leaving it uncut results in a moist, mash-able inside.
2. Sautee the onions in the olive oil in a pan with raised sides, you’ll be adding a bunch of stuff into this pan so make sure you use a suitable sized one. After the onions are translucent, add the chopped garlic. When fragrant, add the diced apple and stir for about 5 minutes or until the apple pieces are a little soft.
3. Meanwhile, add the broth to a big pot and bring to a simmer. Go ahead and add the onion mixture.
4. When you’ve taken the pumpkin out of the oven, slice sideways and scoop out the seeds and put them in your compost bucket. Scoop out the insides of the pumpkin and add to the broth mixture.
5. Add the herbs, if your totally lost on how much to add, I suggest just adding a tsp of each herb and then taste. *You can always add more but you can’t take any out.
6. Add the milk. This part is optional, but honestly it’s the milk that will give your soup that nice, creamy feel and taste. If you don’t want to add milk then leave it out and just add 3 tbsp of sour cream.
7. Once you have everything together in the pot, you’re left with a question. How to blend it all together. I own a little hand-held blended so I simply place it in the pot and blend till smooth. I’ve included a picture of my hand blender in case you’re having a hard time imagining what sort of invention I am talking about. It’s a lifesaver! Especially when you love soup as much as I do  anyways, if you don’t own a hand blender, place it in a normal blender and blend in batches till you’ve blended the entire pot.
8. Heat the soup back up till it’s the desired temperature, garnish with a sprig of oregano if you have one on hand, or decorate with a slice of apple.
9. ENJOY!!

If you happen to make this soup, please comment and let me know if I should alter the recipe a bit in case my measurements were askew.

Happy souping!
-Gloria