Fresh Mango Summer Rolls

This recipe came from the "Vegan with a Vengeance" cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I won't post the recipe, but you can find it here.

It was very light and fresh, and it looks pretty too. I love food that makes you fell happy when you eat it, no sick-full feeling here. The peanuts and peanut sauce really compliment the rolls. My 2 year old son actually ate one, but my daughter wouldn't try it. We ate the rolls with coconut rice.

Coconut Rice
1 cup cooked rice
1/2 can unsweetened coconut milk
mango slices

Combine.

I will definitely be making this in the future!

7 day Cleanse

I have been reading Kathy Freston's book "Quantum Wellness". I remember hearing about this book on Oprah a while back and that Oprah did a 21 day cleanse. She suggests between 7 and 21 days to cleanse the body in order to allow the body to detoxify and give the digestive system a break. It made perfect sense to me so I thought I would try it. Kathy is Vegan and I really admire how consciously she eats and I would love to get to that point, I would also like to look as great as she does! Here is the cleanse:

No sugar - bless my soul, what am I going to do??
No animal or animal byproducts
No alcohol - I don't partake already :)
No caffeine - I don't (usually) partake :)
No gluten

I think gluten will be the hardest thing to stay away from, it seems like it's in everything! Sugar will be hard in the afternoon and after dinner. I'll have to make sure I keep myself busy at those times. So I am starting today and will try to make it to next wednesday. On saturday/sunday I plan on completely fasting since it's fast sunday and I am going to try to go to the temple on saturday. She talks about how we need to detoxify not only for our body's health, but for our spiritual health. I really believe that there is something fundamental about fasting that helps us come closer to Christ and I'm excited to see if I notice any differences, especially during my temple attendance.

Look for daily posts about what I'm eating and how it's going. Wish me luck - I'm going to need it!!

Corn Chowder

I have touted my love for Tal Ronnen the Vegan chef, but I have fallen even more in love with this recipe I found in his cookbook "The Conscious Cook". It's basically a creamy soup, but get this NO ANIMAL BY PRODUCTS!! The recipe I had always used was my mother's recipe for Cream of California soup it is so good, but has milk, butter, and chicken stock in it. Tal's recipe uses a cashew cream. It is SO yummy! I can't hold back my excitement about this wonderful substitute! There are vegan substitutes out there for just about everything, but this is homemade, a great price, and easy to make. I bought a pound of cashews pieces at Winco's bulk section for $3.34 per pound. I only used 2/3 of a pound for the recipe. The recipe calls for whole raw cashews, but they were a bit more per pound and honestly I can't imagine the soup turning out any better, so I'm fine with the cashew pieces. Throw them in the blender with some water and there you go. What's even better, cashew cream will freeze for up to 6 months! I just had leftovers today for lunch, and it was delish!

Bountiful Baskets

I heard about Bountiful baskets coop when they first came to Idaho. I was dragging my feet because I tend to plan my meals pretty specifically and I didn't want to be overloaded with fruits and veggies that I wouldn't have room for in my menu or fridge! Last Saturday I picked up my first basket at the hardware store down the street. I was pretty surprised at just how much produce there was! They give you a small basket of vegetables and a small basket of fruits for $15. I'd say it was worth the money, HOWEVER I shall wait to see if I can actually get through all of it. I still ended having to get quite a few different produce items at the grocery store and went over my budget. I really wanted to try it for the experience, and also because they sell more local, in season produce and because they also have an organic basket for $25. Next time I am going to get the organic basket and see how it compares in size to the regular basket, I've heard you do get LESS produce.

We also got five loaves of bread for $10 and my family loves it. It's whole wheat with lots of yummy grains in it as well.

Stainless Steel Water Bottle

I just saw on Slickdeals that AMAZON has got a stainless steel water bottle on sale for about $5 before shipping. It's eco-friendly and there's no BPA (see my previous post about BPA) in it! Check it out here.

Envirokidz

I've been trying to buy organic food for my family when I can find it on sale or when the price difference isn't too bad. Yesterday while I was doing my grocery shopping I found an organic kids cereal - Envirokidz Organic that was a really great price, about $2/box. That's definitely doable! It's USDA certified organic and they have lots of different kinds to choose from with cute animal pics on the front. I bought a box to try out and after reading through the material on the box I was really impressed. There are no preservatives, it's gluten free, and has low sodium. They also donate 1% of there sales to endangered species, which just feels good, and to top it all off, they reduce their packaging size by 10% which is not only good for the environment (saves 1.3 mil gallons of water, 940,000 KWh of energy, and 144 tons of paperboard) but there isn't that wasted space in the box like most cereals so you actually know what you are paying for.
The big test: Does it taste good? ---- My three year old daughter loved it!
Go Envirokidz!

I read somewhere that organic food prices are based on supply and demand. If we buy it more, the prices will go down, so do what you can to buy Organic. Sometimes you can even find coupons which will make the prices equivalent if not cheaper than its non-organic competitor.

Cradle to grave

My father created a prototype for a label that would go on our foods to show the environmental impacts of each food. I think it's a great idea and it really shows you just how much energy it takes to get something like a piece of steak from the cow to the plate. Take a look at it and if you like it, tell your friends. I think this should be something we NEED to be seeing when we go to pour ourselves a bowl of cereal.