Running and Veganism for a Chunky Girl

I've been away from my vegan blog for a while because I took a break from veganism but I'm back. Well, sort of because I'm changing it up a little bit. I am still choosing healthy, low fat, mostly plant based nutritious meals but I'm allowing myself to eat meat whenever I crave it. I completely see and understand the benefits of being 100% vegan but I am also someone that has been struggling with weight loss, cravings, and trying to stay healthy my ENTIRE life!!! So if I suppress cravings, I usually end up going on a binge. My obsession with donuts is a perfect example. I HAVE to stay away from donuts because I can't have just one. I had to move once because there was a krispy kreme that opened up right around the corner from where I lived and everyday was a struggle to stay away from that place. Because I would buy one, then two, then three, then four...and the next thing I knew I'd eaten a dozen and felt sooo guilty and gross about it. Like a drug addict, but with donuts. :) I know what you're thinking though, come on Iris!!! It's called self control but we all have weaknesses and mine is self control and having a really hard time controlling my cravings.

I also went jogging today and had a really funny thought about running. I've always wanted to be one of those people that look soooo at ease when running. When I run I feel like I look like a slow motion scene in a movie. My boobs swinging one way and my belly swinging the other way. I've also always wanted to be able to smile while I run. Smile at other runners but I'm sure my look is of pure strain. Other runners, especially girls look like the breeze is romantically blowing through their hair...Me, I look like I'm pushing through a tornado trying to avoid flying cows at every turn. Other runners grunt erotically, have shallow, sexy breathing but I sound like a freaking chorus of people hyperventilating. BUT what always keeps me going is knowing that I'm way ahead of that person sitting on a couch, thinking they should get up and move but don't get up and move. I may not look like a runner but I'm hoping that one day I will.

On that note, my favorite thing to eat on those mornings that I wake up with the urge to run is oatmeal. It is healthy, filling and gives me instant energy in the morning. To me, oatmeal is kind of like tofu because whatever you add to oatmeal is what the oatmeal ends up tasting like. Fruit, sweet potato, cinnamon, brown sugar, vanilla almond milk...it's kind of magical in how well it combines with anything you throw into the bowl.

This morning it was peaches, blackberries, raspberries and a sprinkle of brown sugar. Enjoy!!

 

-V

Vegan spicy eggplant with kale and white Rice

At my local Thai restaurant I tasted a spicy eggplant dish that tasted sooo delicious I had to try and recreate it. I did a lot of research online and almost all recipes included oyster sauce or fish sauce so I decided to attempt re-creating the taste with a vegan friendly recipe.

The reason I'm so excited about how it turned out is because I had absolutely no recipe to follow. I used ingredients that I thought would taste well together and would also give me the same type of flavor as the dish I tried at the Thai restaurant. Also, cooking has always been my escape. It's the only activity I can do where I think of nothing else but chopping, mixing, tasting, mincing and anything else done through out the cooking process.  It's my therapy.

Main Ingredients:
1 large eggplant, rinsed and diced in large chunks
1 bunch of fresh kale, rinsed and cut into strips (below I've included instructions on how to prepare the kale for cooking)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil

Sauce Ingredients:
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons organic sugar
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons vegetable broth
1/3 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup water
4 to 5 dried red hot chili peppers, make sure to soak in hot water for about 10 minutes prior to cooking with them
 
Ingredients prior to cooking:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 




How to prepare the kale for cooking:  
Rinse kale well in large bowl of warm water; place in colander, drain
Discard any discolored leaves
To trim away tough stem ends, make "V-shaped" cut at stem end; discard tough stems (I found this picture online, not mine but this is how you remove the stems)

Prepare a chiffonade of the leaves by rolling them up jellyroll style.

Slice the rolled leaves crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices with chef's knife. Separate the kale into strips

How to cook the eggplant and kale:
Pour vegetable and sesame oils into a 12-inch nonstick frying pan or a 14-inch wok over medium-high heat. When hot, add eggplant and stir frequently until soft when pierced and lightly browned. Transfer the eggplant to paper towels to drain.

In the same hot pan/wok add the kale and saute until soft and wilted, add the cooked eggplant to the pan again and pour the cooked, thickened sauce to the pan (how to make the sauce is explained below). Mix all ingredients together until eggplant and kale are covered in the sauce.

How to make the sauce:
In a bowl, mix soy sauce, garlic, sugar, vinegar, vegetable broth, cornstarch, water, garlic, and chilies. Mix together  until cornstarch is dissolved. Pour into a saucepan and stir until mixture is simmering and thickened, about 2 minutes. Below what my sauce looked like after 2 minutes of simmering.

How to serve:
Serve the spicy eggplant and kale over cooked white rice or brown rice.

Hope you enjoy!

-V

Organic Brown Rice

A quick and easy dish to make if  you want to eat something filling that's ready in 15 minutes or less!

Ingredients:
1 package ready to eat Organic Brown Rice from Trader Joe's (the air sealed package, not frozen). I should have taken a picture of the package for easier reference but didn't. :(
1 package of your favorite sliced or diced mushrooms. For this recipe I used 2 large portebella mushrooms diced in big chunks
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
1. In a medium sauce pan heat the oil over medium heat. Once the oil is heated mix in the mushrooms and saute until tender/done
2. Open the package of brown rice and mix in with the mushrooms, add the tablespoon of soy sauce and mix together until the rice is fluffy and warm
3. Add salt and pepper to taste (taste before adding since the soy sauce may add enough salt)

Picture of finished dish:

"Meat Sauce" - My style

Yesterday I went to visit a friend and his mom was making spaghetti with meatballs and I had a huge craving for a really good meat sauce and pasta. So today I decided to try and make vegan meat sauce and after taking the first bite my craving was definitely satisfied!

This is what the dish looked like after being served.

Ingredients:
1 package of Trader Joe's brand Beefless Ground Beef
1 package of sliced mushrooms (you can use any type of mushroom, your choice)
1 16oz can of diced tomatoes, preferably unsalted
1/4 of a cup of vegetable broth
1 packet of Trader Joe's Taco Seasoning
1 table spoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Pinch of Salt
1 package of your favorite pasta





Directions for meat sauce:
Heat the EVOO in a medium saucepan over high heat, throw in the mushrooms to saute, add a pinch of salt to the mushrooms while sauteing. Once the mushrooms are a little soft add the entire package of the beefless ground beef and mix together. Heat for about 3 minutes and add a few sprinkles (about 1/2 table spoon) of the Trader Joe's taco seasoning and 1/4 cup of the vegetable broth. Simmer for another 4 minutes and then add the entire can of the diced tomatoes. As you are mixing you can smash up the tomatoes to release more of the juices. Simmer on low heat for about 8 minutes and your meat sauce is done.

Cook pasta as directed in the package and once cooked pour the meat sauce over the pasta and serve.

It's delicious! And I didn't miss any of the real meat.

Enjoy!

-V

Sea Veggies!!

These are 'effin delicious! And a great snack. Just had to share.

-V

mmmm Gumbo! The quick cooking Vegan kind of Gumbo.

For Vegan Wednesday this week I experimented with Vegan Gumbo...no such thing as Vegan Gumbo you say? Well, after you tastes this recipe you will definitely change your mind. I had a really hard time finding frozen okra for this recipe but after discussing it with my critics the okra can be removed from the recipe and it would taste just as good. Okra isn't for everyone! I personally like the squishyness of it but some people have an issue with the texture.

Pictures of the gumbo while it cooked without the okra:

Picture of the gumbo while it cooked with the okra:

In the pictures above I doubled the recipe, but I'm listing the original recipe which is supposed to yield 4 servings.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thinly

1 16 oz package frozen bell pepper strips (I found mine at Trader Joe's, they have the multi-colored bell pepper strips)

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes (I chose organic, no salt added diced tomatoes)

1 15 oz can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed (I only drained 1/2 of the liquid and did not rinse)

1/2 tablespoon of cajun spice

1/2 tablespoon of Chef Paul Prudhomme Blackened Redfish Magic Spice

1/2 pound Vegan sausage links cajun spiced (I did not find cajun spiced vegan sausage so I replaced with Tofurkey Spicy Italian Sausage) cut into 1 inch slices

3/4 cup rice (I chose Trader Joe's ready cooked brown organic rice)

8 ounces frozen cut okra (optional as it does add a different texture)

Hot Sauce to serve with (but it's spicy enough without the hot sauce)

Directions:

Heat oil over medium heat in a large pot until warm

Add garlic and saute briefly

Stir in bell peppers and cook for about 4 minutes

Stir in tomatoes, beans and seasoning spices

Bring to boil and add rice and sausage

Cover and simmer for 10 minutes

Add okra and simmer for another 10 minutes, if you are not using ready cooked rice simmer until rice is cooked and make sure to add more liquid as needed

I think this recipe would be just as delicious if you excluded the vegan sausage. It is substantial enough to provide good protein without the soy sausage.

Enjoy your gumbo!

-V



Good News...sort of.

Today I went to meet with the Cancer Board at Kaiser in Los Angeles as a result of the tumor they removed last month. I met with 4 different cancer specialists to review my medical history and to discuss options for future treatments...let me tell you! It was a very sobering experience. There were 3 other patients there that had cancerous tumors removed from the same gland that I did and all 3 were bald, very sickly, pale looking and going through chemo. One of the doctors even made a comment about how healthy and glowy my skin and face looked after only 4 weeks since surgery. I realized then that the difference between me and the other 3 patients was that I had chosen to become vegan the day after my surgery and have been on a vegan diet for almost 4 weeks now. When they weighed me I was shocked and pleasantly surprised to see that I weighed 24lbs less than the day I went in for my surgery. That's without exercising, so now that I have the ok to exercise I'm sure my weight loss will increase.

Now, after the doctors reviewed my case they confirmed that my tumor was caused by the radiation that I received when I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Radiation therapy is a very common method used to kill off cancer cells in your body, but in my case the radiation therapy also caused the cancerous tumor to develop in my parotid gland, many many years after my diagnosis with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. I did take this news a bit hard because I prefer radiation therapy over chemo, hands down. But now radiation will not be an option for me when fighting cancer. My doctors were very supportive of my decision to go vegan. They all agreed that even though my decision to go vegan may seem drastic to some, it's a small change compared to what drastic measures they would recommend to decrease my chances of getting a cancerous tumor again. Recommendations like a full hysterectomy at my age and since cancer runs in my family AND I have a long history of cancer myself my odds of developing breast cancer are sooo high they would recommend a full removal of both my breasts. One of my friends told me that she would rather be alive and not whole, then dead and whole but the thought of losing both my breasts scares the crap out of me.

I've been asked by Kaiser to be a part of a trial genetics study because my medical history is so unique. The study would monitor me once a month to note any changes in my body and be able to detect another cancerous tumor almost as soon as it develops. But I think that my choice to become vegan is going to save me from cancer. I am so committed to this to prove to everyone that a vegan, healthy, plant based diet is the fountain of youth and the best medicine againts cancer.

A picture just 2 days after surgery:













A picture 4 weeks after surgery:













Good health and love.

-V