Grilled Veggie Kabobs

Eating right does not have to be difficult or expensive.  Next cookout you get invited to ... Take along some veggie kabobs to throw on the grill. 

I did not use any oil on these gems!  I just put them on the top rack of the grill for 30-40 minutes and turned them a few times. 

When I took them off I brushed them with some teriyaki sauce. Delicious plain or over a baked potato or some brown rice. 

I bought these at Walmart .... So much cheaper than anything in the meat counter!  You could easily make your own. 

Today with the leftovers I am going to toss them with some marinara and have them over gluten free pasta!

You could use them as a filling for a veggie lasagna or on top a whole wheat pizza crust for a veggie pizza!  

Add some beans and make a veggie quesadilla! 

Freeze them and add them to your next batch of minestrone! 

Top a salad with them! 

The options with grilled veggies are endless! 

Enjoy and stay compassionate! 

Hot Banana Peppers and Tomatoes

I love summer because the farmers market or my garden is full of hot banana peppers and my family loves hot pepper sandwiches!  My mom made these weekly in the summer!  She used to fry hers in a ton of vegetable oil and yes they were delicious. Now that I don't consume oil I had to find a way to make these just as delicious as her or at least come close. Made them this week and the kids didn't even notice that there was no oil!  The key is to get them soft and even a little brown.  Here is how I did it. 

1 cup of veggie broth (carton or homemade)

1 bunch of yellow hot banana peppers. Tops cut off and sliced lengthwise. Seeds in or out your choice. Seeds in are hotter and wear gloves! You can mix in some sweet bell peppers too. I usually do to cut down on the hotness. This time I used about 10 banana peppers and 1 large red bell 

2 large fresh garden tomatoes chopped

Salt and pepper ... About a teaspoon of salt... Black pepper to taste or leave it out ... Both are optional 

In a large skillet put ½ cup of the veggie broth and all of the peppers salt and pepper over medium heat stirring often cooking  until the broth is gone and they are starting to stick and brown.  Add another ¼ cup of broth and the chopped tomatoes stir scrapping he bottom and then cover for about 5 minutes. Stir again. The tomatoes should be giving off juice.  Keep stirring / covering / adding broth until every thing is soft and the tomatoes are broken down. This can take up to 30 minutes. You don't want a dry end product but most of the liquid should be gone and the tomato juice thickened. If liquid is evaporating too fast lower the heat all the way and add more broth or water.  You may have to play with the heat setting to get the results ...you want to fry without oil but you do need to steam them a bit with he lid on so they do not burn.

We love to eat them on Italian bread open faced!  They are great to add to pizza or steak sandwiches!  I just eat them right out of the bowl. But have your favorite cold beverage on hand as they can be HOT!  Yum!

Enjoy and stay compassionate! 

Cheese Sauce .... Without Dairy ... YUP!

This cheesy sauce is perfect over a baked potato and broccoli!  Make some healthy mac and cheese.. or top some nachos (don't forget the jalapeños!).  Use it any way you would use melted yellow cheese!   

It is very good and easy to make.

In a sauce pan combine the following:

1 /4 cup unsweetened almond milk

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

2 Tbsp corn starch

1/2 teaspoon tumeric

a good few shakes of the following…

onion powder 

garlic powder

paprika or smoked paprika

and a teaspoon of dijon mustard or miso paste (which ever you have on hand)

whisk this together in a sauce pan over medium heat… stirring until it comes to a boil and thickens.  Taste for salt an pepper and add what you like!  

Add 2-3 table spoons of mild, medium, or hot salsa after thickened to turn it into a nacho cheese sauce.

Enjoy and stay compassionate! 

Heart Disease Kills 1 Woman Every Minute in the US

So many people ask me why I have chosen to so drastically change my diet! 

Well… here is my answer! 

If you had to chose between... eating only plants with no added oil, sugar and salt OR major heart surgery with all it's risks and a life time of medication ... Which would you choose?

This is the question I ask myself… For now my answer is a whole food plant based diet.  I really do not feel there is another option at this time.

At 52 I have high cholesterol and high blood pressure.  For 51 years I have paved the road to heart disease with my diet.

I also have an amazing husband and 3 beautiful daughters and I want to be around for all they have ahead of them.

My mom did live to a nice old age of 87.  But her last 10 years were were kicked off with a helicopter  ride, major heart surgery, a pacemaker, and a life time of medications.    She died a not so peacefully of congestive heart failure and I know for 100% certain she would have been around another 10-15 years if not for heart disease.  Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn tells me that does not need be my fate!

How did he tell me this!  He called me on the phone.  A famous retired 82 year old cardiologist, author, and olympic rowing champion took the time to call me on the phone.  Crazy… I know right!  I had goosebumps!

What does Dr Esselstyn believe?  He believes that heart disease need never exist and that it is merely a food-born illness.  Here is what he told me….

The western diet makes our blood sticky and kills the lining of our arteries.  Yes... cholesterol sticks and makes plaque formations but cholesterol isn't the problem… our sticky blood is!
Cholesterol is required for every cell in our body to function properly.  Cholesterol is the bandaid our body sends when bad food injures the lining of our arteries.
Lowering cholesterol with medication MAY prevent 30% of heart disease.  They say MAY and what about the other 70%.  Cholesterol lowering medications are damaging to the liver and increase our chance of diabetes and muscle damage.

Healthy endothelial cells (the lining of our arteries) are the key to preventing and reversing heart disease… yes I said REVERSING.  Trust me… unless you have had a diet your entire life like the Papua Highlanders of New Guinea you already have some degree of cardiovascular disease and you are at risk for dementia, breast cancer, osteoporosis, hypertension and type 2 diabetes!  Know any women that have these??? Do you already have these?

What exactly damages our endothelial cells?  You are not going to want to hear this and you will say no way and you will be adverse to some of these I am going to tell you.  The media and even our doctors are very good at denying these as true damagers but they are.  The media and food companies are big business and they do not want you to believe it and the doctors are not willing to admit it either because they would have to drastically change their diets as well and they don't think you can do it and maintain it as a lifestyle.  Plus it is their job to prescribe you helpful medications despite the side effects.

OKAY… here it is… these foods damage your arterial lining and make your blood sticky and need to be 100% avoided to reverse and prevent heart disease….

FATTY FOODS
FAST FOODS
PACKAGED FOODS
ANYTHING WITH A FACE OR A MOTHER (meat, fish eggs)
DAIRY
and the ones that will really ruffle your feathers…
ALL OILS … INCLUDING OLIVE and especially COCONUT
COFFEE

Think of the above foods as gasoline and think of heart disease as a low grade brush fire… even a drop can be dangerous.  

So if you were thinking "I can cut back on those things and save my self from heart disease" think again.

So what do you eat?

The absolute musts for every single day are:

Oats and Greens… They are the most powerful antioxidants. Oats lower cholesterol, blood pressure and slow the digestion of sugar.  Greens directly heal the endothelial cells that line your blood vessels with the nitric oxide they produce.  Nitric oxide is the strongest vasodilator there is.  Arginine is an enzyme that also build nitric oxide and it is found in legumes and beans.  Exercise enhances nitric oxide synthase… but diet still trumps exercise so you cannot use exercise to ignore what goes in your mouth.
Make KALE your best friend!

After your oats and greens… you can eat

Whole grains (and I mean whole)
Legumes
Beans
Vegetables
Fruit (not juice)

THATS IT!

If you have any signs of heart disease already you must also avoid nuts, seeds, and avocados.  And if you are over weight you need to banish wheat until you get your weight in a healthy range.

Does this sound extreme?  Well these words are directly from

Thursday AM. 3 Days ... 3 Pounds

The 3 day refresh over and 3 pounds down!   It was not too bad. I plan to do it again.  I do feel better and my stomach is flatter. 

I would recommend it for a kick start to better eating or a cleanse if you have been on a bad eating binge.  

I encourage the vegan flavors...

Enjoy and stay compassionate! ! 

Day Two of the 3 Day Refresh Done!

I got through 2 full days of the 3 Day Refresh… My brain was hungry in the evening but my body wasn't really that hungry.   It didn't help that my husbands family stopped by with wings, fries, jalepeno pretzels and cheese sticks!  

I had green beans!  This morning I am glad I resisted any of the temptation I felt last night! 

The shakes are not bad but I will be glad to be done with them… I like to chew my calories!

One more day!  

Got through day one ... Down one pound

Day one was in all honesty not too bad.  I did drink more fluids than I normally would and that can't be bad… other than the bathroom trips.  I did great during the day.  I got hungry and wanted to munch around 6-8 pm.  That is normally where my day goes all wrong.  I am a snacker and usually want to wind my day down with something to much on and a beer or glass of wine… or 2, or 3…!  

I stayed strong and avoided snacks and alcohol.  I had the vegetable dinner recommended in the 3 day refresh instructions.

The chocolate shake for breakfast was pretty good.  2nd day the steveia after taste didn't bother me so much.  The fiber sweep was gritty but not bad at all.  It had a lemony flavor!   The Vanilla fresh shake that goes with lunch and dinner was pretty good too.  I did add some cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg to my evening shake and it was like a desert!  

So far … so good!  Looking forward to the scale tomorrow morning and praying to stay strong this evening.  

Enjoy your day and stay compassionate! 

Starting the 3 Day Refresh today... Results will be in on Thursday

Needless to say with a wedding in Jamaica and then a family vacation in the Outer Banks….I have gotten a little off track on my journey to plant based health.  A little slip up here and there adds to pounds on the scale and a big feeling of BLAH!  

I am giving the Shakeology 3 day Refresh a try to get myself back on track!  This is the VEGAN chocolate that I chose.  

Breakfast is the vegan chocolate shake.  Tastes pretty good except the stevia after taste.  In my normal diet I do not use artificial sugars but for 3 days I will tolerate it.  In an hour I will do the fiber packet and for lunch the vanilla with some fruit.  Dinner will consist of the vanilla and a salad or vegetable.  

I will post my weight each morning and let you know how the previous day went for me!

Wish me luck!

Enjoy your day and stay compassionate! 

Asian Slaw

A food processor makes easy work of this yummy slaw.  If you do not have one… practice your knife skills and try to cut the veggies all the same size!  

Shredded or finely chopped… your choice… I like my cabbage shredded and the rest finely chopped. 

1 small head of cabbage cored

1 small green pepper

1/2 small red onion

1 carrot

a few sprigs of fresh cilantro (optional)

May add some red cabbage for color if you have it! 

The sauce is boss!

3 TBSP smooth natural peanut butter

2 TBSP warm water

3 TBSP seasoned rice wine vinegar

2 TBSP fresh lime juice

2 TBSP grated ginger

2 TSP Sriracha or other Asian flavored hot sauce

1 TSP soy sauce

Mix the peanut butter (I use all natural peanut only peanut butter) and the warm water to get the peanut butter softened and then whisk in the other ingredients.

Toss the slaw with the dressing and chill it for at least 1/2 hour.

I like to serve this with with black bean burgers or chick pea tenders.  It is delicious in veggie wraps too!  

As always enjoy and stay compassionate! 

California Chick (pea) Salad

This light crisp and tasty salad is perfect for summer!  Serve it on a bun, on crackers, or on a lettuce leaf and be all California fancy!

1 cup of chickpeas

3 TBSP vegan mayo

a good dash of poultry seasoning

a couple shakes of salt and pepper

1 stalk of celery chopped

2 TBSP chopped red onion

a handful of red grapes slice in half or quarters (I like a lot of grapes)

Smash up the chickpeas and add the rest of the ingredients.  Put it to chill in the fridge for an hour or so!   

I love it for an afternoon snack on woven wheat crackers with a glass of crisp cool white wine!

Meatless chicken salad… can't go wrong!

Enjoy and stay compassionate! 

Guilt Free Pancakes

Everybody loves a good fluffy moist pancake!  Here is how I make them animal/cholesterol free.

Serves 2

Your best non-stick pan is needed here!

1 tablespoon ground flax seed

3 tablespoons of warm water

1 cup non-dairy  milk (I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk… the 30 calorie one)

1 1/3 cup of baking mix (I get the one at aldi… vegan and cheaper than Bisquick)

Cinnamon (if you like it)

Unsweetened natural applesauce

Pure maple syrup  (optional)

In the mixing bowl… place the ground flax seed and the warm water,stir and let rest for 5 minutes then add the milk and baking mix.  Mix with a whisk or fork until all of the dry is incorporated… don't over mix and some lumps are ok.  It should not be like a paste.. should be pourable. So add more nondairy milk if needed.  

Let the mixture sit and rest for 5 minutes.  

Heat your nonstick skillet to a medium heat and add 1/4 cup of batter… when it starts to get bubbly on the top… sprinkle on some cinnamon to you taste and gently flip and cook through.

I serve mine topped with applesauce and a drizzle of maple syrup.  You can omit the applesauce and go straight syrup but that is too sweet for me!   

You can add other things to this mix too… like 2 TBSP oatmeal, or vegan chocolate chips… you can top it with any fruit puree you like!  You can top with sliced bananas and pureed strawberries… be creative!  

Cut them into strips and put them into your child's lunch box and give them applesauce for dipping! 

Enjoy and always be compassionate!  

Fresh Corn Salsa

Real whole food!  That is the golden ticket to better health.  I bought some fresh picked corn at the farmers market on the way home from the Outer Banks.  After I cooked it up for dinner I had two ears left.  Waste not want not!  

2-3 Ears of corn that has been boiled or steamed and cut off the cob

2 tablespoons of diced jalapeño pepper

2 tablespoons of diced red pepper

2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro

A generous squeeze of fresh lime juice

salt and pepper to taste 

Eat it with chips, on a bean burrito or chickpea taco!   Very versatile salsa!  

Whole grain, fresh, and delicious

Summer Harvest Lentil Soup

This tasty pureed soup is easy to whip up. I put all the ingredients in my rice cooker and hit the heat/simmer for 45 minutes.  You can do it in a nice soup pot on the stove for the same simmer time.  I then put it in batches in my Vitamix and puree it velvety smooth… serve with a crusty chewy bread.

This soup is light, creamy, tasty and fat free.  It is also compassionately vegan. I have used fresh garden vegetables to make it super nutritious and delicious. 

In the soup pot add the following: (cut the veggies the same size for even cooking)  

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cloves of garlic chopped

1 cup or 1 large tomato

5 cups vegetable broth

1 1/4 cup dry lentils (I used red lentils)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

1 large carrot chopped

1 large potato chopped

1/2 teaspoon dried cumin

2 tablespoons fresh cilantro

Bring to a boil then lower to a simmer.  Simmer for 45 - 60 minutes.  The veggies should be tender and the lentils breaking apart.  At this point I taste to adjust the salt and pepper.  

In 2 or 3 batches puree in vitamix or blender.  If you are not good at blending hot liquids… let it cool to room temperature before blending, it can explode without proper venting.  Garnish with fresh sweet tomatoes and cilantro. 

This is a refreshing healthy lunch or a lovely dinner appetizer.  

Lentils are high in protein and fiber.  Lentils are quick and inexpensive.