Friday Drink: The Dead Parrot

So, this may not sound like a vegan friendly drink, but it is and it's sooo very good. Nicely balanced and, in part, good for you ;) Try it and let me know what you think!

In a shaker with crushed ice add:

• Two shots of your preferred Vodka
• Two shots of Pomegranate juice (organic)
• One ounce lime juice
• One ounce triple sec

Shaken and served up!

Status Update: Seedlings

Our seedlings of yellow squash, zucchini, cabbage, broccoli and peppers are coming along nicely. They are extremely fragile, as many haven't formed their true leaves yet. 

I have them outside for some natural light today. If the wind picks up they will come inside, as I don't want to stress them out to terribly.

Facts not Fears

Check out this site so you know what fruits and vegetables to buy organic! Facts not Fears https://ift.tt/2ql9cDh

Last Season's Harvest: Spaghetti Squash Dinner!

This week we cut open the last of our harvested spaghetti squash for dinner. We harvested it in early September 2017. We kept fresh by keeping it in a cool, dark corner of the kitchen. 

We brushed it with olive oil and baked it for 45 minutes at 400 degrees. Topped it with our homemade pasta sauce (sauteed clove of garlic, 28 oz can of Muir Crushed Roasted Tomatoes and Italian seasonings) and served it with an arugula salad. 

For the salad dressing I made a agave/mustard dressing. (mustard, agave nectar and almond milk). Bon appetit!

Garden 2018: Seedlings

We started our tomato seedlings inside about three weeks ago. We also started, cabbage, zucchini, yellow squash and broccoli in small peat pots about a week ago. It is not to late to plant these.

The best advise I can give you is to not worry about the science of gardening, just get the seeds into the dirt, keep the seedlings moist and warm until they sprout and then water on a schedule, to allow the seedlings to dry out a bit between watering, and add dirt as they grow. We have a small greenhouse (purchased on Amazon) that allows us to keep the seedlings inside at a sunny window and protected from predators (aka Pekoe the cat). Note Tomato plants are poisonous to cats.

Broccoli, Squash and Cabbage Seedlings

Tomato Seedlings

If you have the space in the yard or in a large container, this is the time to plant peas outside. We expect our first harvest this spring to be our peas. Tasty peas are a good reward at the brink of the garden season.

Last year we had strong tomato plants from seed shown here:

2017 Tomato Seedlings (Last Year)

Spicy Spring Lentil Soup

• 1 onion diced, white or yellow (small)
• 28 oz can of  Muir's Organic Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes
• 1 package of Fernandez enchilada seasoning,(or your own mix of chili powder, chipotle, cayenne seasoning)
• 1 cup of red lentils
• 1 32 oz box of Vegetable Broth
• 1 red pepper diced 
• 1-2 diced serrano peppers (depending on how spicy you want the soup)
• tablespoon of lime juice
• 1 orange pepper diced 
• 1-2 yellow squash, medium size diced 
• 1-2 zucchini squash medium size diced
• 1 cup of diced carrots
• 1 cup of chopped cauliflower 
• 1 heaping tablespoon of garlic minced
• fresh cilantro - handful cut (or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• 3 dashes of chipotle Tabasco or equivalent

Put all ingredients in a Crock-pot and cook on high 4- 6 hours or until ingredients are tender but not overcooked.Salt to taste and serve with slices of avocado on top.

Go Vegan You Dirty Girl!

I want to be part of the wave of positive foodies that will change the emotion attached to the word "Vegan". Even in my own household I have recognized the negative connotation adhered to the word. In a restaurant I  have been conditioned to not use the word Vegan but to request no dairy, fish or meat with my dish. (Yes, I am going to continue to capitalize Vegan!). If we continue to promote being "Vegan" as a positive movement, more people will benefit from eating a plant based diet.

I'm a bit tired of defining the word, but thankful it is now moving up in mainstream conversations on Facebook, Twitter and publications. At the Tony Robbins UPW event (Unleash the Power Within) in San Jose, CA this month, I was happy to see the open encouragement of a plant based diet. UPW in itself was a powerful, life changing experience, a topic for another day, but I thought to myself at the time, what a movement it would be if 12,000 people decided to no longer eat animal products! How awesome that would be if it transcended to friends and families?

Why are you Vegan? Isn't hard to find something to eat? Where do you get your protein?...are all questions I hear often. The truth is, I get it, I was skeptical too when I was introduced to "this way of living". I have probably eaten more animals in my lifetime than most of you and once could never imagine a meal without meat. Originally, from Texas, I learned early on that everything has meat or an animal product in the ingredients. For God's sake I would put a slab of bacon and a stick of butter in my famous Black-eye pea Soup!

In my late thirties I started to see my health degrade. I was pre-hypertension, had kidney stones, constant vertigo, low energy, intestinal issues, horrible menstrual cycles and I couldn't keep the weight off. My stress was through the roof and I had bouts with depression. Because my Mom had always relied so heavily on pharmaceuticals I couldn't bring myself to follow in her foot steps, I saw the end result and it wasn't pretty.

My husband and I watched "Forks Over Knives" and "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" and I realized there was hope. We made small changes, first removing everything in the house that had high fructose corn syrup. Red meat was easy, so it was second to go. Pork, was just as easy to remove from our diets and then we pealed away the chicken products and eventually fish. Fish took a little longer to remove from our diet but became easier, as it was harder and harder to find fish that was actually clean and from a good source. As we removed the animal products from our diet we added fruits and vegetables. Condiments were easy as well, as there are so many options available for salad dressings, dips, and sandwich spreads.

Fresh Spinach

The result: My blood pressure drastically improved in the first 60 days, and has been excellent since. I lost 10-15 lbs over the course of 3 months and I have kept it off to this day (8+ years later). I haven't had a kidney stone since being Vegan. My energy is through the roof. It took about a year, but my vertigo is gone. I was able to get off of the "Pill" as my hormones evened out and I no longer suffer from depression. I am finally happy and health, as it should be.

Being Vegan positively impacts the environment and the welfare of animals. I may not have started my journey initially for the animals but it certainly solidifies why I will always remain Vegan as I love animals and know that we, as a society, need to shift our food consumption to  plant based food.

I have many sources that I contribute to my daily routine. I have attempted to take the best from the experts. Finding what works for me and incorporate it into a life routine. First off, eating Vegan isn't hard, it is quite simple. I hope by sharing this information it will encourage you to consider a plant based diet. I will dive into the how's of Vegan food shopping and cooking in a future posts, but putting that aside this is my daily routine:

Daily

• 6:30 AM - Morning Juice (green with lots of veggies) 
• 8:00 AM - Coffee with Soy Milk 
• 10:00 AM -  Mixed Nuts with raisins  (snack)  
• I try to keep this to a good size hand full

• 12:30 PM - One big salad a day (either for lunch or dinner)
• I am creative here I mix in beans, quinoa, roasted Brussels sprouts etc. Try taco salads, spinach salads, kale salads for example.
• For alternate lunch option try a Vegan Soup (chili, minestrone, lentils) 

• 3:00 PM - Orange or a Banana 
• 7:00 PM - Big salad or vegan cooked dinner

This is my M-F routine, I have a bit more flexibility on the weekends. I hope this information is helpful to you and if you have any questions please reach out.

Live well,

Dirty Girl Suzanne

While in Switzerland...

While in Lucerne, Switzerland we visited a local grocery and I was amazed by the selection and size of the produce! Everything is organic, Europe doesn't use pesticides like the U.S does. 

Europe uses crop rotation, natural fertilizers and a stewardship of the land to ensure production for generations.

Showing off to Dad

Today I got to show off my garden to my Dad. It's August 4th and the garden, and yard is in full bloom!

July 4th!

July is when you really take a look at the progress of the garden. All of the rows are established. You can see where some plants may crowd other rows, especially for us because we densely plant our rows, to get the most out of our garden. Really important to thin out, if you haven't already because throughout July and August the garden will be its biggest yet! We start harvesting greens at this point, kale in the lower right and collards above (see pictures below). Everything else needs time.