Coconut Juice with Pulp-Totally Vegan

This is the alternative to Gatorade.  I understand Coconut Juice  has more electrolytes than the Red Dye #9 high fructose corn syrup alternative.  I love the pulp it's so chewy!

I'm sure it's bad that it comes from an aluminum can but if I have one a month it can't be too bad.

Water is still my favorite.

Smooth Move

Smoothies!  The last sip of an organic mixed berry, banana, and almond milk smoothie-just in time for a picture

I must check out these vegan products-so should you....

My friend Ame is a culinary guru! Vegan and gluten-free snacks...
Congratulations on this adventure of providing this product to the world.  It is so courageous and creative.
http://thelongevityrecipe.com/home.html


I have an update about Snackers.  I purchased each of Ame's creations.  If I had to choose a favorite it would be the Awesome Onion Crackers.  It's a fitting name because they are Awesome.  They taste like a nice onion cheese without the cheese.  Move over Wheat Thin's there is a new sheriff in town! You don't have to put anything on them, they are perfect on their own.  

Life is just a bowl of cherries...

Life is just a bowl of cherries;

Don't make it serious;

Life's too mysterious.

You work, you save, you worry so,

But you can't take your dough when you go, go, go.

So keep repeating it's the berries;

The strongest oak must fall.

The sweet things in life

To you were just loaned,

So how can you lose what you've never owned?

Life is just a bowl of cherries,

So live and laugh at it all.

"Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries" was the title of a song by Lew Brown and Ray Henderson, sung by Ethel Merman in Scandals (1931).

Best Vegan Tortilla Ever

Please let me know if you can top this one.  Mi Abuelita Bonita Flour Tortillas.  Spinach and Onion.  I normally pick up their whole wheat tortilla and this was terrific.  I must not buy it again because it went down a little too fast.  Toasted with a little avocado smeared on it is the way to go.

Vegan Candy Bar-Oh Yes Baby!

That's how I like it.  After a four hour meeting and an hour commute home it's really great to find a candy bar to hold me over before dinner.  I walked into a health food store and a gal was passing out small samples.  I had to have one.  I opted for the coconut/almond combo.

They don't have that super sugar rush with the high fructose corn syrup that I love from a Snicker Bar but it really still does satisfy.

Check out Eli's Earth Bars..totally vegan

Quick Bite on the road-Sonoma Springrolls

Instead of stopping in for a Chinese lunch special or grabbing a veggie burrito I opted for this option that I think is vegan?  The label only mentions gluten-free.  I checked the ingredients but maybe it has a little honey in the dipping sauce?  Oh well..

When I took them out of the wrapping there was a strange smell like pond water.  I aired them out and then they tasted really good and they kept me full through a 4 hour meeting.  They have tofu in the middle with carrots and lettuce and some flower petals.

Couscous with Mushrooms and Artichoke Hearts

This dish looks just like my other couscous dish shown below.  It tasted very different because I didn't use wine to make it and the Italian herbs really gave this one a nice flavor.  I didn't open a bottle of artichoke hearts I painstakingly prepared 4 artichokes at Mark Bittman suggests and then dug out the hearts.  I only had about two servings of this before I got bored.  This dish is very good but how much couscous can a girl eat in a week?

Breakfast-Tofu Scramble

This picture makes me dizzy because I think it's upside down.  I don't know how to edit pictures or make them look pretty.  You get the picture.

Tofu Scramble has turmeric, garlic, and shallots.  I added basil at the end so I'm mixing cultures a little.  It was still very yummy.  I'm not missing eggs just yet.

Whole Wheat Couscous with Broccoli and Walnuts

I had a lot of fun making this dish.  It's Sunday, I'm listening to KCSM, Latin Jazz.  There was a giveaway for the 5th caller and I was the 5th caller.  So, this dish brought me good luck because I don't normally win anything.  I'm just generally blessed...But today, I really won.  I'm going to see a Brazilian Singer at Yoshi's.

Here is my lucky dish.  I added a little wine at the end because I thought it needed more liquid.  Now, it only tastes like wine but I think once it cools it will be really nice.

Please excuse my hand in the picture.

Vegan Check-In /Recipes this week

It's gorgeous in the Bay today.  These Peonies are blooming and I just can't get over them.

So, I have been doing this vegan thing.  I don't feel any different.  I do love what I'm doing because it helps me focus on good, wholesome, fresh, tasty things rather than the difficult parts of life.

I have had some tummy aches.  I can feel the fiber moving through my colon.  I have been advised to chew my food a little better.  This has helped.  Slow down, chew you food real good if you're going to try this. It's hard when I'm always on the run.  Multiple BM's per day are great...Enough said.

This week I'm making a couple more dishes from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.  I have so many vegetable leftovers from other dishes that I need to use up what I have before I buy a bunch more groceries.

This week:
Jicama Salad With Orange

I have never made couscous so I will start with Whole Wheat Couscous with Broccoli and Walnuts

I might make Couscous with Artichoke Hearts and Mushrooms but I may be tired of the couscous by the time I get to that dish.

Have a great week.

Jicama Salad with Pineapple and Mint

This is another recipe from Mark Bittman's, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.  I think I cubed the jicama and pineapple rather than chop it like Bittman suggests.  I think chopping the cubes up smaller would really combine the flavors of the jicama and pineapple a little better.  With that being said, this is boomin' good.  I'm bringing it to an all meat eaters BBQ.  Think they will like it?

It's hot today-here is my ice cream alternative

An "It's-It" mint ice cream bar is my favorite on a hot day.  I have been worried about breaking down and buying one.  This product is almost just as good.

Vegan Cookie-Alternative Baking Company, Inc.

I finally found a vegan cookie at my local grocery store.  Now I don't have to drive two towns over to get a fantastic cookie.  The only downside is that this sweet little treat is 500 calories for one cookie.  Dang! I could consume only 1/2 of the cookie but who does that?

My Staple Vegan Meal

This goes down real nice...
1/2 Whole Wheat Tortilla
Cucumber
Tomato
Basil
Avocado
Red Pepper Hummus