Now, before you try it keep in mind that if its not prepared right it can come out bad. You have to make sure you cook it after you add the cheese sauce, like it says on the back of the box. If you miss this step it will come out yucky. Also, adding stuff like vegan margarine and daiya soy cheese make it more tasty and realistic. I also add a squeeze of lemon and a little Tabasco sauce to give it more of a kick. I’ve tried every flavor mac and cheese from this company and they are all good, but I am leaning towards the shells being the best.

At my local health food store, Whole Foods, they sell this stuff for like $3.00 a box but on Amazon you can get a 12 pack that equates to $1.67/box. Not bad for a vegan meal!

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

I appreciate this Administration’s efforts to support ordinary folks through these difficult times. And I am finally starting to see a glimmer of light at the end of this dark tunnel. But, from now on, in order to make things easy on myself, I will post an article more or less once a month and take the dates out of my blog. Cause after all, this information is pretty much timeless. Eating whole unaltered foods is not going out of style any time soon, and there’s no need to place emphasis on the date that something like this was written. Blogging should be like a fine wine that you always go back to and not a chore that you are tied to. That’s just my take on it, I don’t like turning passions into chores.

I appreciate the lovely comments I have gotten and just wanted to share a big vegan hug to the world and thank you and god for the blessings I have witnessed.

Peace and Love

There are five reasons that I can come up with to seek out locally grown food, in season food:

1. Better for the environment - Trucks don’t have to haul the produce over long distances.
2. Better taste - The faster the produce gets from the tree to your mouth, the fresher it will be & the better it will taste. I have found this to be especially true with avocados.
3. More vitamins - If you are buying food in season it was probably grown outdoors with the right weather conditions for that particular piece of produce, which enhances the nutritional content.
4. Great deals - I.E. there is an abundance of strawberries in strawberry season so it drives the price down.
5. Spiritual reasons? - Eating in season is a big part of Chinese medicine, and Ayurvedic teachings. Plus, it makes sense to stay in harmony with natural relationship between our bodies and the earth.

The way Seasons works is it asks you for your location and it pulls the date from your iPhone. With that info, it gives you lists of produce that tell you what is currently in season, going out of season, and coming in season. When you click the item, it tells you a brief history of the it, and an interesting graph that shows when you can buy the food local and when you can buy it shipped long distance. You can narrow the main list to only show what it grown locally.

Since owning this app, I have learned many random facts about food. Like, did you know that there are about 70 different varieties of produce that are always in season including carrots, broccoli, bananas, avocados and most types of lettuce? And did you know that garlic originally came from Asia and that China is the largest producer of it? (I would have guessed Italy). Okay, I’ll stop with the annoying facts…

Check it out if you have an iPhone, or maybe you can find some sort of hack to run it on your PC. That’s not really my department. If all else fails, the only back up I can recommend is the book Fresh Produce Guide, which functions as an encyclopedia of 300 different varieties of produce. In addition to the seasonality, this book describes how to select the the best fruit/veggies, and common ways to cook and store them. However, it’s not as convenient as the app, because you can’t just pull up what is in season now. Good luck, and remember that farmers markets are a surefire way to eat locally grown, in season.

I’ve been really addicted to raw kale salads lately. They are full of nutritional life energy, and they really hit the spot when you just need something healthy. This recipe is my favorite. There are only 5 ingredients so as long as you have the other stuff on hand in your kitchen, the only fresh ingredient you need is the kale. This recipe literally takes about 5 minutes.

If you’ve never had a raw kale salad, let me assure you that it does not taste like plain raw kale. A raw kale salad requires you to wilt the leaves so it takes on a milder taste that is easier on your digestion.

• 1 bunch of raw kale
• 1 t salt give or take
• 1/2 cup coconut oil (other oils will work, but I like coconut because of the sweetness)
• 1 handful of raw cranberries (soaked in oil for a couple minutes to soften them up)
• 1 handful of raw pinenuts (or silvered almonds)

Peel or chop the leaves off, so that the leaves are separated from the stem. (the stem is too thick to eat). Then chop the leaves a little, if the pieces are to big. You know, just so its the right size to fit in your mouth. Place the kale in a large bowl and sprinkle the salt so that the leaves are lightly coated. Now is the fun part. Press the leaves down and start to kneed them like you would do to bread. Pick them up and squeeze them to facilitate the process. After a couple minutes you will notice them turning a darker green color and taking on a slightly cooked texture. Once that happens you are ready to toss in the rest of the ingredients. If the coconut oil is hard, you may need to warm it up a bit by dipping the jar in hot water. Taste the salad and add more salt if needed. You’re salad should have a lightly salted but mostly sweet taste to it. Salivate over your healthy creation.

Check out my new project, pot costume. Kinda silly right?

I suggest quadrupling my tahini dressing and storing a big vat of it in the fridge, so you can enjoy it throughout the week. If you’re taking this to work, I suggest shredding the veggies on Sunday, and putting them in separate containers. Then assemble the salad at work and add the dressing. Voila!

There are 4 elements to this salad. Everything is raw:

Organic Greens: Pretty much whatever you have in the fridge that is a dark leafy green will work. Pick what you like. I like my baby spring lettuce mix, baby spinach, your favorite sprouts, or wilted kale.

(Wilted kale is one of the only ways to eat raw kale without gagging. Its pretty simple. Peel or cut off the leaves of your kale and throw away the stems. Place the kale it in a bowl with a small amount of salt sprinkled on the kale. Then squeeze the kale with your hands until it shrinks and starts to resemble a cooked texture. Hint: this is a popular way that kale is prepared in many raw kale salads that you see at the health foods markets.)

Organic Shredded Carrots: You can try to grate this stuff by hand, but I don’t recommend it! I use my mini-chopper grater attachment to grate my carrots. Most food processors come with a grater attachment which allows you to feed the produce through a shoot. Your produce gets spun through a grater, and sent out into the processor or into a bowl. It’s very fast and easy.

Organic Beets: Same technique as the carrots.

Tahini Dressing: Tahini salad dressing is popular at many vegan and raw restaurants. I have been playing around with this a bit and finally came up with what I believe to be the best tasting recipe. My secrets are adding a little agave to balance the bitter with sweet, and ginger makes everything all good… I am not a chef, but it sounds good when I talk like one so…. anyways, I must warn you if you haven’t had tahini dressing, you may want to make a small amount at first to see if you like it. It has a strong flavor, so its not for everyone, but to me its worthy of plate licking.

Ginger-licious  Tahini Dressing

• 2 T raw tahini (you can buy raw tahini or you can blend raw sesame seeds in your Vitamix)
• 1 and 1/2 t ginger
• 1/2 cup oil (olive or safflower both work well)
• 1/3 cup water
• 2-3 cloves garlic (optional depending on your taste for raw garlic, try a teaspoon of powdered garlic if you you’re not into raw)
• 1 T lemon juice (about 1/2 small lemon)
• 1 to 2 t Nama Shoyu or tamari
• 1 to 2 t agave
• dash of cumin (optional)

Blend until smooth. Taste and then play around with it until you get your desired thickness and taste.

I hope you get as much joy out of this salad as I do. Live long and prosper.

There are a couple factoids that you may be interested in before you get into the make-your-own pizza adventure:

Vegan pizza can be made in two different ways, as a no-cheese pizza or as a soy cheese pizza. No-cheese is pretty straight forward, you can order this from your local takeout joint by ordering the vegetarian with no cheese.

I would like to also point out, that there is an awesome no-cheese frozen pizza made my Amy’s called the Roasted Vegetable Pizza, which is sold in many natural foods markets. Here is a tip for those of you that have a Trader Joe’s in your area: TJ’s sells a Trader Joe’s brand Roasted Vegetable Pizza which is actually made by Amy’s and is exactly the same product but it sells for just under $5.00 instead of the $6.00-8.00 range of the Amy’s brand. I personally have about 5 TJ’s Roasted Vegetable pizzas in my freezer at all times for those days when I’m too lazy to cook.

The cheese versions are made with a brand called Follow Your Heart 99% of the time. I know this because I have been to several vegan pizza restaurants, and whenever I ask them what brand of cheese they use, I get the answer Follow Your Heart. The reason for this is very important, many of the other soy cheeses on the market are made with milk proteins or whey, or casein, which leads me to the next fact:

Most other soy cheese brands are not vegan. Just read the ingredients. Sadly enough, there are some unscrupulous pizza companies that are selling “soy cheese pizzas” that many customers assume are vegan ahhhhem…ZPizza . Unless it’s made with Follow Your Heart, it’s probably not vegan. Be sure to ask. Follow Your Heart has become the staple brand at restaurants and for do-it-yourselfers because it is truly vegan—no casein, it melts, and it taste good.

UPDATE: There is a new vegan cheese on the market that vegans are raving about called Daiya, and it is quickly becoming available at health food markets around the country. So as of August 2009, Daiya followed by Follow your Heart seem to be the favorites for vegan pizza. There is also a brand called Teese vegan cheese, but I haven’t had much luck with it.

My Favorite Vegan Pizza Recipe

I don’t know about you, but if I am going to make a pizza from scratch it better be good! I’m lazy This recipe I am about to share fits the bill. It is adapted from Isa Chandra’s infamous Vegan with a Vengeance. I’ve made this pizza several different times for several different people and there is a unanimous agreement that this pizza rocks;  Even with… no especially with non-vegans  I think its the fennel that “makes it.” If you’ve never cooked with fennel, you are in for a treat.

I have managed to get the prep time on this pizza down to 30 minutes by buying pre-seasoned tempeh, pre-made dough, and pre-made pizza sauce. We can still say we made it from scratch, right? Good, I made this for my last potluck dinner and it was a big hit. Thanks Isa!

Potato, Fennel and Tempeh Sausage Pizza

• 16 oz package of pizza dough (I get mine from Trader Joe’s, you can also make it yourself with  1 C water, 1 and 1/2 T sugar, 1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast, 2T olive oil, 3 cups all-purpose flour, 1 t salt * see prep directions below)
• Pizza Sauce (Try to get pizza sauce and not Marinara)
• 1 cup shredded vegan mozzarella (Follow Your Heart recommended)
• I/2 package pre-seasoned Italian tempeh

or

• 1/2 package plain tempeh cooked with 1/2 T fennel seed, 1/2 t basil, 1/2 t oregano,  1/2 t red pepper flakes, 1 clove of garlic, 1 T tamari or soy sauce, 1/2 T olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice
• 1/2 medium-size russet potato, scrubbed cut in half and thinly sliced (under 1/4 inch)
• 1/2 fennel bulb (the white part of the plant)  -sliced very thinly
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• Olive oil for drizzling and brushing

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Heat up your tempeh (add above spices if you’re using plain) over medium heat in a pan for about 10 minutes until slightly browned. Try not to over cook. Roll or stretch out your dough the best you can (about 12-14 inch round or square)—whatever shape comes out, lol. Place it on a pizza stone or regular baking sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal. Isa insists on using a pizza stone. You can get a cheap one with free amazon prime shipping here, or else just use a regular baking sheet.

Spread a thin layer of pizza sauce (about 1/2 cup) on the dough leaving about a an inch border. Sprinkle your soy cheese. Sprinkle your sliced fennel, garlic and potato. Drizzle with olive oil, and rub oil on the crust. Bake for 8-12 minutes, or until crust starts to brown and cheese melts. Slice, serve, and enjoy.

Pair it with your favorite beer or root beer!

* Pizza dough from scratch (makes 2 pizzas):

Add warm water and yeast into a bowl to proof it. Let it sit in water for 10 minutes and if it bubbles its working, if not start over with another package.  While waiting for the yeast to prove itself, mix the flour and salt in a separate bowel. If the yeast is good, add the oil and stir, then add the dry ingredients. It should mix into a dough ball.

Sprinkle some extra flour on a flat surface, add flour to your hands, and need your dough for about 10 minutes. Next put it into a large bowl coated in olive oil. Turn the dough ball around so it is coated in olive oil. Cover the bowl with a damp paper towel, and let it sit for an hour.

After that, the dough ball should be about twice as big. Take your dough and knead it again on a flowered surface; it will go back down in size. Now the dough needs to rest for at least 10 minutes. When you’re ready to make the pizza cut the dough in half and use half to make a 14 inch pizza by rolling out the dough the best you can. Use a rolling pin, if you have one, and try to stretch it into some sort of 12-14 inch shape. Place it on the baking pan or pizza pan that is sprinkled with cornmeal, and don’t worry about the shape the pizza will be beautiful!

I can’t say enough times how impressed I am by the work that went into this. The article reads like it came out of a scientific journal. The two anonymous bloggers detail step-by-step the lengthy process that went into this, and all the precautions that they took to make sure the results were as accurate as possible. The results? Shockingly enough, 7 of the 17 restaurants tested positive for traces of either shellfish, eggs, or casein (a highly addictive milk protein). Here is the chart of their results:

The results rank the foods based on the amount of the non-vegan ingredient:

Negative: 100% vegan

Positive: Trace amounts were found, could be caused by shared equipment with non-vegan foods, or restaurant employees not washing their hands

High: Contains non-vegan ingredients

Overload: Contains a significant amount of non-vegan ingredients

What is going on here? Are our beloved “vegan” restaurants trying to pull a fast one on us? After reading this post, I would conclude in most cases the answer is no. It turns out, that most of the restaurants that failed the test are small family-run vegan Thai restraunts, which import their vegan ingredients from Taiwan or China. In these countries, ingredient labeling is much less stringent than in the US. Often times the smaller additives are left off the label. There are also errors when it comes to translating the ingredients into English, yikes!

Another cultural context to consider is that “vegans” in Taiwan are mostly just vegetarians for religious reasons (Buddhism). So in Taiwan, it is much more acceptable to have eggs or dairy in their fake meat products. So taking everything into context, I would call this a miss communication or a glitch in the system rather than an all out fraud.

Sigh…… After finding out this information, I can’t say that I will never eat fake meats again, because my intention is to eat vegan to the best of my ability, meaning I know that I occasionally eat trace amounts of non-vegan ingredients through no fault of my own. However, I will think twice about visiting the restaurants which tested “high” or “overload”.  I am also comforted by my choice to eat mostly raw because I know that the veggie-meats, regardless of how good they taste, are a processed food, and should not be consumed on a consistent basis anyways.

For me, this news just gets me more excited about getting more into raw. Stay tuned to my raw adventures!

You’ll notice that Food Should Taste Good chips have a variety of interesting flavors:
Sweet Potato, Olive, Chocolate, Multi-Grain, Jalapeno, Buffalo, Lime, Potato and Chive, Cinnamon, and Yellow Corn. I tried sweet potato and chocolate flavors… (I’m a bit of a risk taker)

Chocolate: These chips were delicious! I will definitely buy these again. They were reminiscent of a lightly-salted, baked corn chip with a coco-puffy aftertaste. Sorry, that’s the best I can do to describe them!

Sweet Potato came in a close second because the flavor wasn’t as distinct, but pleasing nonetheless!

Both are highly addictive…

These corn chips are non-GMO and baked in high-quality oils like sunflower and safflower, along with other all natural ingredients (IE nothing that you can’t pronounce). They are not raw, but sometimes you just need something convenient to munch on. Great for school lunches (if you have kids) or for a pick-me-up snack at work.

They taste gourmet but without the gourmet price tag. Its cool that I found something I can stock up on and not feel guilty about. There’s nothing bad in the ingredients that I would be worried about building up in my system.

Woo hoo! I found most of the flavors on Amazon for a better price than Whole Foods or the manufacturer’s website. You can buy them in 12-packs and only spend $2.37 per bag, about $1.00 per bag cheaper than Whole Foods! Plus, free shipping if you have Amazon Prime. Here are the links: (keep in mind 6 ounces is your standard large-sized bag of chips)

So we are primarily left with two options for milk: soy milk and almond milk. Soy has been somewhat of a controversy in the health foods movement. Regardless of your view on it, we can all agree that homemade almond milk is significantly less processed than its soy counterpart. Homemade almond milk is considered a raw living food despite mandatory pasteurization. If you are concerned about costs (almond milk is more expensive) I would use homemade almond milk half of the time, and soy milk the other half of the time— Great tip, if you are worried about overdoing soy.

Okay, enough about the why’s, lets get into the hows! You will find that its pretty easy to make delicious, creamy almond milk. All you need are almonds, water, a blender and a fine mesh strainer. I use nut milk bags as a strainer because of the superfine mesh. Here’s a great deal for 4 bags from Amazon.com.

4 Nut Milk Bags - Buy 3, Get 1 Free - New & Improved!

Steps

1. Add about 1 part almonds to 2-4 parts water to the blender, depending on how creamy you want it to be. I like my almond milk extra creamy so I use 1 part almonds to 2 parts water. *Note you can also use soaked and rinsed almonds instead of straight almonds to make an almond milk with more enzymes.
2. Blend on high for a couple minutes. It helps to have a high-speed blender like Vitamix or Blendtec.
3. Milk your almonds, lol. pour the mixture through the nut milk bag and squeeze out all the liquid into a pitcher. Put the remaining pulp into the freezer and save for a recipe that calls for almond flour.
4. Enjoy! Try adding a little agave and a splash of vanilla and see the magic happen.

Uses of Almond Milk

You can use almond milk for just about everything you would use soy milk for. The taste of homemade almond milk is very creamy and neutral so it works well in a variety of dishes. One of my favorite things is making creamy, milkshake-like, raw smoothies. Give these recipes a go. Warning: these smoothies are highly addictive, but that’s how our health foods should be I tried to name them based on how they taste…

Strawberry Living-Dream Smoothie

• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1 and 1/2 cups frozen strawberries
• 2 dates
• A handful of ice

Blend until smooth with a high-speed blender.

Green Creamy Mojito-Style Smoothie

• 1/3 cup almond milk
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 2 cups frozen tropical fruit (I use a mix of mango, pinnapple, papaya and strawberries that I get from Costco)
• a couple handfuls of spinach (add just enough to where the smoothie starts to turn green)
• Juice of one lime
• 1 Tbsp Agave (to taste)
• A handful of ice

Blend until smooth with a high-speed blender.

I’ve lumped together a tutorial on how to grow sunflower sprouts and wheatgrass into one article cause they are both so fun & easy to grow, and if you can grow one, then you can grow the other.

You can save a lot of money by growing them yourself! I can drink a shot of wheatgrass juice everyday for a whole week for pennies VS. spending $3.00 for one shot at the local juice bar.

Here are the health benefits that I have read about both:

Wheatgrass: Although the mother of wheatgrass juicing, Ann Wigamore, was sued several times for her extravagant health claims about wheatgrass juice curing aids and cancer, there are still plenty of double blind studies that support the therapeutic benefits, and wheatgrass has been shown to increase the quality of life of cancer patients. Wheatgrass juice is a potent form of chlorophyll which mimics hemoglobin, and increases red blood cell count. Wheatgrass has also been shown to increase oxygen levels in the blood which can benefit you in a whole host of ways, from increased energy, to faster healing, to increased libido —Ooh-la-la. From my experience, drinking a couple ounces of wheatgrass juice is akin to drinking a cup of coffee coffee it the morning. It provides that natural long lasting energy that everyone seems to be looking for. And, remember to drink it early in the day, for that same reason, lol.

Sunflower (sprouts)/greens: Technically, I am talking about sunflower greens, but most people use both phrases interchangeably. Sprouts usually refer to soaking hulled sunflower seeds overnight, whereas the greens (pictured left) take about a week to grow, and must be grown with unhulled sunflower seeds. Sunflower greens are 25% protein and on an ounce per ounce basis have a similar protein count to chicken. This makes them an awesome food for vegans and also explains why they have a meatier taste than other sprouts. If you haven’t tried these I can tell you that many people regard them as their favorite sprout because of the taste, myself included.

Lets get started. Here’s a list of things you’ll need. I’ve included the Amazon.com links, because when I tried driving around to find all this stuff, it gave me a headache cause most of the people at Home Depot and places like that didn’t know what I was talking about. After surfing the web for a couple hours, I noticed that Amazon.com has the best prices.

Materials

• Wheatberries : Here you can get them for $1/lb; Its a very good deal:
  Certified Organic Wheatgrass Sprouting Seed - 25 lbs
• Unhulled Sunflower Seeds: These are usually around $3-$4/lb depending on how much you buy, but if you have a bird store around your house you might be able to get a deal. However for organic, you should buy from this link (it’s the best price I’ve found):
  Organic Sunflower Sprouting Seeds (Un-Shelled)- 3 Lbs- Edible Seed, Gardening, Hydroponics, Growing Salad Greens, Sprouts & Food Storage - Sun Flower
• Trays You should get a set of the kind with holes and the kind without, so when you put the one with holes in the other you can get the proper drainage.
  5 Pack of Durable Black Plastic Growing Trays (with holes) 21
  5 Pack of Durable Black Plastic Wheatgrass Growing Trays (Without Holes) 21
• Minerals: (Optional) adds trace minerals to your sprouts. I use azomite.
  44 Lbs of Azomite - Organic Trace Mineral Soil Additive Fertilizer - 67 Trace Minerals: Selenium, Vanadium, Chromium
• Dirt: Also, commonly referred to as your grow medium. Buy a big bag of this stuff at your local nursery.

Directons

1. Measure about 1 and 1/2 cups seeds (wheatberries or sunflower) and soak overnight
2. Place the tray with wholes into the tray without holes. Fill it up with about an inch of dirt, and mix in about a 1/4 cup minerals.
3. Water your dirt mixture. Drain seeds, and spread them over the dirt in an even layer. Cover the seeds with an extra tray or a wet paper towel (this keeps the seeds moist and in the dark while they sprout).
4. Check back on your sprouts in 2-3 days. If they are about a half inch to an inch tall, you can take off the cover and put them next to a sunny window
5. Depending on your climate water your sprouts every other day or as needed. I am growing mine indoors so I can get away with watering once every 3 days. If you overwater you could cause mold to grow, remember you just need to keep them moist. Your sprouts will grow to the side if they are by a window. If you want them to grow straight you can rotate them once a day.
6. In about 7-9 days from the day you planted them, your sunflower greens or wheatgrass will be ready to harvest! Wheatgrass should be about 6-8 inches tall. Sunflower greens should have 2 leaves and the hull should be starting to open or fallen off. Don’t wait too long, when the second set of leaves comes in.
   Harvesting Wheatgrass: Cut with scissors. If there is some mold around the roots, cut above the mold.
   Harvesting Sunflower Greens: Cut with scissors. Pick off the hulls that have not fallen off. (This can take 5-10 minutes to get all the hulls off)
   Do not rinse! The water  on the sprouts will greatly shorten the fridge life. Store grass or sunflower sprouts in zip lock bag in the fridge. Wheatgrass keeps for about a week. Sunflower greens keep for about 5 days. If you must, rinse before you eat. (I don’t rinse my sprouts because there are soil microorganisms that are healthy for me, and there are obviously no pesticides) Dirt don’t hurt
7. Enjoy!
8. What to do with the roots: You have one of two options. You can either chuck them in the trash or you can compost. Composting will take about 3 months maybe 2 if you add worms (Ann Wigamore recommends adding red wiggler worms which can be purchased at your local nursery or bait shop). You basically get a bin that provides darkness and air circulation. Then you add a layer of roots and a layer of worms and repeat that layering pattern as needed. In about 2 months you will have a dark blackish looking soil that can be used as your grow medium for more sprouting. Make sure that your compost has no visible roots or vegetable matter before you use it. Using compost too soon will lead to problems such as mold or a weak harvest.

Juicing Wheatgrass

You can either use a wheatgrass juicer or you can blend wheatgrass in a blender and strain it with a nut milk bag. You will probably need to add water to get your blender to pulverize the wheatgrass. It helps to have a high speed blender like Vitamix but a regular blender will work as well; you just won’t get as much juice. Here’s a link to a good quality nut milk bag:
4 Nut Milk Bags - Buy 3, Get 1 Free - New & Improved!

Drink about 2 ounces (more if its diluted with water) per day to start. You can mix your wheatgrass juice into apple juice or a smoothie if you don’t like the taste. Wheatgrass is very powerful, and should be drunk in small doses. Listen to your body to know the amount that’s right for you.

Happy sprouting!