Tag: Vegetarian/Vegan

Vegan: Fueling the body with healthy post-workout snacks

Aynaria Leave a comment

Bodybuilding-ant.07.10.10.jpgWhen you do a lot of physical activity, you tend to burn a lot of energy. That makes perfect sense right? The question is, how are you fueling your body to deal with this increased activity?

Since my appetite increases based on my activity level one of the ways, I combat this issue is having snacks readily available. Whether I work out at home or make tracks for the gym, I’m armed with a nutrient dense snack that will fuel me through my workouts.

Before beginning my workouts, I always eat a light snack. Why? For the extra energy and stamina needed to assist me throughout my exercise! Once your workout has ended, your body still needs fuel. Why is that? Think about all the muscles you used during your workouts, the energy you expended during your training. I guess we should replenish some of what we lost, right? Having a post workout snack helps assist the body with replenishing your depleted glycogen stores. Glycogen stores are depleted during a strenuous workout. A post workout snack also aids repairing muscle tissue.

I’ve included some of my post-workout snacks below…

  • Post-workout smoothie

    • One of my favorite pre and post workout snacks are green smoothies. For protein, I normally add 1/4 cup of freshly ground almonds to the blend. If I’m working out at the gym, I make sure I carry an extra container with my green smoothie. I use Klean Kanteen Stainless Steel Water Bottles. I’ve been using them for years and haven’t had to replace my originals yet. I like them a lot since they keep my drinks cold, which is especially important when I’m sitting in the dry sauna.

  • Hummus and Collard Wrap

    • If you don’t like the collards try romaine lettuce or use pita bread.

  • Berries and Nuts

    • Carbs and protein, I tend to eat 1 cup of berries with a few tablespoons of almonds.

For those who want to see an extended list of where vegans get their protein, check out the Vegan protein link at the Vegetarian Resource group.

Question: What are some of your favorite pre and post workout snacks?

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Fitness, Smoothies

Strawberry, blueberry, and Banana soy milk smoothie

Aynaria 2 Comments

soy-milk-smootie.07.06.10.jpgFresh fruit is always welcome in our household (as I type this I’m munching on a red delicious apple) however at times we don’t always want to eat our food.

Sometimes it’s more delightful to sip a sinfully delicious (and healthy drink.) Especially when I’m curled up with a great book, working on projects for my clients, quick boost after an intense workout, checking emails, etc. Well you get the idea… In those situations, I reach for my Vita-mix blender and create a delicious smoothie.

Occasionally family and friends will ask me for soy based smoothies. With my cooking website, I used to get emails too. To be honest, soy milk isn’t something I regularly use in our household. In fact, I haven’t used it in years. Yeah, yeah I know that blows some peoples stereotype that vegetarians and vegans are all tofu eating, soy milk drinkers… but I’m not one of them. That being said, in my early veggie days I did try soy milk, just to get an idea what it was like. Later on I did make a few soy milk smoothies for my daughter and she really liked them too.

Why don’t I use soy milk? I much prefer eating whole foods, and soy milk is a processed food. I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad food but as I’ve already stated, I prefer whole foods. For those who don’t know, whole foods are foods that haven’t been processed or unrefined foods. Think of it as sticking to as close to the natural food source as possible. I know some people might view the way I eat as extreme. That always makes me chuckle and shake my head a bit, since the way many people eat, pre-packaged meals, condiments, artificially made sweets and savory snacks are far removed from what our bodies are designed to eat. In some cases, these nutrition-less foods are pumped with vitamins to replace what wasn’t there to begin with. Are you going to tell me that way of eating, isn’t extreme? Come one now, let’s get real! What’s extreme? Constantly feeding our bodies with ‘fake foods’ lacking any nutritional value. What we eat plays a major role on our health. Quit burying your head in the sand folks, make a change.

It’s sad to see that so many, are so far removed from the way we were designed to eat. I’ve met numerous people that thought they were doing great health-wise, until they made changes to their eating habits. When you clean up your eating style, you’ll most likely see a positive change. More about that in a later post…

All right back on topic, I don’t add additional sweetness to my smoothies or juices since I feel that we’re getting enough natural sweetness from the fruits that I do add to our smoothies. At times, I think people go overboard when they add ‘extra sweetness’ to their blends.

Anyway, I decided to include a simple soy milk smoothie below. I prefer freezing some, or in some cases, all of my fruit for a thicker consistency. As with other homemade drinks you can add to or take away the fruits you don’t like.

Vegan: Strawberry, blueberry, and banana soy milk smoothie

  • 2 cups of plain soy milk
  • 1 cup frozen strawberries
  • 2 frozen bananas; peeled, cut, and frozen
  • 1/2 cup blueberries

Directions

  1. In a blender add all ingredients.
  2. Cover and blend until smooth.
  3. Serve and enjoy!

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Moondancer, Smoothies, Vegan, Vegetarian, Soy Milk Smoothie

Peach & Banana fruit pudding; Simple, delicious, & nutritious

Aynaria 5 Comments

peachesnbananas.06.30.10.jpgDesserts don’t have to be elaborate to taste good. I like the simple things in life so it’s no surprise that it applies to my food too.

Take my vegan food photos, I usually don’t go out of my way to arrange the food before I snap the shot. It’s more of a here this is what I made kind of thing, no bells or whistles, lol. However I do know that some really do enjoy seeing those type of things, so you might see me do a little bit now and again.

Anyway back to simplistic desserts (that are anything but that in the way they taste.) My daughter was asking for something to eat last night, and so I let her choose her dessert. She eagerly reached for two peaches and a banana and said, “Mommy, can you make me some of that yummy fruit pudding?” So here’s it is…

Peach and Banana Fruit pudding

  • 2 peaches
  • 1 Banana

Directions

  • Place ingredients in food processor
  • Blend until smooth

That’s it, serve and enjoy!

I only made enough for my daughter; I did spoon the remaining batter out of the food processor before I washed it. Yum, it was delicious. It’s a perfect, not to mention a healthy treat, anytime, and it’s good for you too. How’s that for simple, nutritous, but delicious?

Homemade fruit bars/popsicles

Here’s an idea, if you want something different you can make homemade fruit bars too. Why make them when you can purchase them from the store? I’ve been making homemade popsicles and fruit bars for years. Let me tell you something, they taste a lot better than the store bought variety.

Benefits of making homemade fruit bars

  1. Cheaper than store bought fruit bars
  2. They’re preservative free
  3. Only thing in them is raw fruit
  4. Freshly made, so you’re getting the maximum nutrition
  5. You know exactly what’s going into the fruit bars

Where can I purchase popsicle molds?

You can purchase them at many discount stores. I’ve even seen them at grocery stores. You can always find popsicle molds online too. The ones I have are similar to these popsicle molds. If you cannot find them, or don’t want to purchase the molds. You could use paper cups. You could scoop out the frozen dessert with a spoon or add Popsicle sticks (available at most craft stores.)

The beauty of making your homemade popsicles/fruit pops, is that you have a large variety of fruits to choose from. Yes you can sneak vegetables in the homemade fruit pops also! You can come up with the ones you like the best.

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Raw food, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian, whole food, Moondancer, New Tag, Raw food, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian, whole food, Fruit pudding

Vegan Veggie rolls (Egg-less); Cooking and bonding with my daughter

Aynaria 4 Comments
Eggrolls_2.06.25.10.png

Vegan Veggie rolls (Egg-less)

Do you ever plan your meals in advance? If I’m going to be extremely busy, it’s something I do. I believe it’s important to have healthy food options available and so when I know I’m going to have a few days/weeks of nonstop business, I prep my meals in advance.

With myself, it usually means combining vegetables or fruit together, storing them in a glass container and tossing them into the freezer until it’s ready to use. Beans are soaked and cooked in bulk so if we’re craving some type of bean dish I only need to get the beans I need to prepare a meal.

Speaking of food, we had eggrolls this past Saturday. I make two verions; baked and fried. We don’t eat too much fried foods but this past Saturday… we did. The oil was hot; so after a few seconds the rolls were done. I drained the oil, and set them aside into one of my pyrex glass containers. The rolls had a crispy outer shell, and the filling was only slightly cooked. They were a big hit with my daughter (they always are) and so my daughter is clamoring for more.

This evening I pulled out my Kitchen Aid food processor and added the following vegetables to it.

  • Carrots
  • Collards
  • Broccoli
  • Garlic
  • Ginger

I pulsed the vegetables until they were chopped finely. Instead of soy sauce I added Bragg Liquid Aminos, curry, & cumin to the filling. *sidenote* For those who might not be aware, Braggs is a replacement for soy sauce. It has the same taste and it has the added benefit of having essential amino acids are bodies need too. You can’t beat that, something that is delicious and healthy. 😉

Food Storage
When it comes to storing food, I only use glass storage containers. You won’t find plastic containers in my house. I put the filling into one of my Pyrex storage containers and set it in the refrigerator. I’m currently soaking Garbanzo beans (Chickpeas) too. I’m thinking I’ll make Chickpea cutlets tomorrow. Oh, my daughter wants me to make the eggless egg rolls too, we’ll see!

Eggrolls_3.06.25.10.png

Vegan Veggie rolls (Egg-less)

I’ve included a few shots of the vegan eggrolls we made this past Saturday. They were delicious; pairing the broccoli and carrots together was a great idea. They really worked well together, and the carrots added mildly sweet taste to the eggrolls.

Cooking & Bonding

My daughter was happy. She helped me make them, so she was bursting with pride at how well they turned out. She enjoys helping me prepare meals. It’s a great time to find out what’s going on in her world, and I also talk about the benefits of the vegetables and fruits I use in our meal preparation. I really don’t have to tell her too much anymore, when it comes to nutrition/health she knows more than a lot of adults I know. I believe it’s important to not only educate adults, but children too, about the foods they eat, the benefits of following a healthy diet, and the possible problems that can arise if we constantly abuse our bodies by consuming the wrong things.

Making healthy choices

If we keep making poor health choices, in time it can take a toll on our bodies; Allergies, weight gain, heart attacks, cancer, etc., too many to list, but I hope you get the idea. Depending on the ailment, many can be avoided (and at times reversed) if we would only make healthier choices. Sadly, many of us think we have all the time in the world. There’s such a huge disconnect between food and the effects it can have on our health. It seems that many people have the misconception that healthy food simply doesn’t taste good. This is simply not true. I love preparing meals that are not only delicious are a healthy choice for my daughter. Naturally, I want the best for her, and one of the ways I show this is by the foods I prepare.

Regarding that Vegan Chana Masala recipe, I’ll still be posing it. In fact it would have been published on the day I posted the curried zucchini noodles recipe, however I accidentally deleted it, whoops! I haven’t done something like that in years, lol.

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Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian, whole food

Vegan: Curried Zucchini Noodles w/Steamed Vegetables (Gluten-free)

Aynaria Leave a comment

World Cuisine Tri-Blade Plastic Spiral Vegetable Slicer.jpgDuring the warmer months, one of my favorite go to vegan dishes is a simple pasta. They are simple, delicious, and a unique way to introduce vegetables at your meal.

I’ve never been a fan of the traditional pasta. Way too much flour for myself, but I’ve always loved the vegetables pastas. Naturally, since you are using vegetables in place of the traditional pasta, your pasta is gluten-free.

I’ve been using vegetables, in place of the traditional pastas for several years. However, it wasn’t until about four years ago that I purchased a machine to make my ‘angel hair’ pastas. In order to make the pasta I use a spiral vegetable slicer.

I’ve tried the Saladacco, but didn’t like it at all. The spiral vegetable slicer I use is the World Cuisine Tri-Blade Plastic Spiral Vegetable Slicer. Thanks to this slicer, I can make vegetable pasta in seconds.

It’s a hot day in Maryland, and I thought I would share one of my raw & cooked dishes. Although we’ve made a raw & cooked version before. Today my daughter and I ate this dish raw. Enjoy!

Curried Zucchini Noodles w/Steamed Vegetables

  • 2 cups of zucchini noodles
  • 1 tsp curry
  • 1/2 cup sweet peas
  • 1/2 cup yellow onion
  • 1/2 cup diced tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup red bell pepper
  • 1/4 cup mushrooms
  • Pinch of salt(optional)

Directions

  1. Put noodles & tomatoes in a bowl. Set aside.
  2. Add a few tbsp of water or vegetable broth
  3. Add remaining ingredients stir for a few minutes
  4. Remove from heat
  5. Combine with noodles and tomatoes
  6. Serve & Enjoy!

 

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Raw food, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian, whole food

Vegan: Creamy Dhal with lightly sauteed collard greens and tomatoes

Aynaria 3 Comments
Dhalwcollardsntomatoes_2.png

Creamy Dhal with lightly sauteed collard greens and tomatoes

Earlier this week, I wrote about the Chana Masala I created. It was fun to make, and my daughter and I enjoyed eating it too. I love Indian food. You’ll usually see me preparing at lest one Indian dish weekly.

Yesterday, I decided to create another Indian dish, this time I choose Dhal. My daughter and I both love Dhal, we don’t eat it as much as we might like. There are so many other delicious and healthy vegan recipes out there; I definitely don’t limit what I prepare. I like variety.

Initially, I didn’t know what I wanted to accompany the creamy Dhal. There are so many choices; potatoes, zucchini noodles, rice, carrot salad, etc. but I finally decided on collard greens. Collard greens, along with many other dark leafy greens, are plentiful in our garden. Additionally dark greens are delicious and nutritious too. Don’t overcook your greens. Trust me, they taste great! I headed to our garden and picked four large collard greens. I stepped over to our row of onions and pulled up one yellow onion.

Once I was back in the house, I grabbed my favorite stainless steel skillet, added some olive oil to it and started to lightly saute four cloves of garlic, three basil leaves, and some freshly ground cumin seeds. I must say, the aroma that filled the house was heavenly. 🙂 After a few minutes I added one freshly chopped yellow onion. Once the onions turned clear I stirred in the collard greens and tomatoes. I lightly cooked them for about three minutes.

My sauteed collard greens with tomatoes served as the bed, and I topped it with the creamy Dhal. I like creating dishes that are on the table within minutes. If I didn’t count the cooking time of the Dhal (lentils), this meal was made in less than fifteen minutes. It was short on prep time, but definitely not lacking flavor-wise. I made enough for leftovers! No surprise there, since I usually do.

In yesterdays post, I mentioned that I’d be attempting to post one recipe weekly. In addition to that, you might see posts of the food I eat. In many cases, I won’t post a recipe at the time, but eventually it might get here at Celebrate Life!

After all not only am I posting the recipe via MarsEdit. I’m also storing the picture in MacGourmet Deluxe. As I mentioned in an earlier post, MacGourmet Deluxe is a recipe and wine management software program devoted solely to the Mac platform.

A few days ago, my daughter asked me what was my favorite cuisine? I was stumped, there are so many different types of cuisine I enjoy. I couldn’t narrow it down to just one, but three of my favorites are; Caribbean, Indian, and African.

Question? What’s your favorite cuisine?

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Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian, whole food

Celebrate Life: One recipe per week

Aynaria 2 Comments

recipe-book-place-mat.06.22.10.gifYou want to know something? I’ve been finding it hard to sit down and write down the vegan recipes I create.

A few years ago, I created a vegan cooking website where I created and posted Vegan recipes. Thanks to a personal website I owned, I had gotten into the habit of writing down the measurements of whatever I prepared so now it’s simply a matter of doing that again. I’ll admit it’s not easy. At times when we break a routine, it can be hard getting back into it again, yah know?

I’m not one to follow a recipe; I’ve always created my own, when I was a little child I took directions from my mother. I’ve been doing that since I could remember. During childhood, I can think of many bombs I made in the kitchen. I wasn’t afraid to explore, and try new ingredients in whatever I created. However, as I got older that didn’t happen, I knew what would work.

I guess that’s understandable; I’ve been cooking for 35 years now and I enjoy being creative. I first learned to cook on a wood stove. I started cooking when I was four years old. Naturally, I was supervised at that age, and for a few years after that too. I can still remember the excitement I experienced creating simple meals that people actually enjoyed eating! These days I’m passing my love of cooking on to my daughter. It’s wonderful to see that she truly enjoys being creative in the kitchen.

Even though I don’t follow recipes, I do have a lot of recipe books. I find it inspiring to read what others are making, reading their thoughts on techniques, and listening to the stories they have to tell.

Since I’ve always come up with my own recipes I do find it hard to take the time to write down what I’m preparing. My natural tendency is to just create, but I’m trying to change that. Again, I find myself trying to remember to write down the measurements as I cook, so I can pass on the created recipe to others.

The good news is I remembered to do that with the Chana Masala recipe I made earlier this week, so yes Janet I’ll be posting it on Celebrate Life! sometime this week. 🙂

If you like creating jewelry, or simply love looking at pretty things be sure to check out Janet at her virtual home, Singing Woods. Janet’s a jewelry maker and has created some gorgeous pieces, and yes she has an Etsy shop too.

All right back to my cooking ramble, the Chana masala I made a few days ago didn’t last long in our house. It was delicious when it was hot, and amazing the next day when I served it as a cold dip.

Oh, one last thing… I’m publicly challenging myself to post at least one recipe per week on this website. Initially, it will be tough but after a while I know it won’t be an issue.

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Recipe, Vegan, vegetarian, Vegetarian, whole food