Avocado Reuben

I got this recipe from PETA, here. Instead of regular mustard, I used a spicy brown mustard and it added a nice little kick to it. Absolutely delish :)

Captain Vegetable

My love for Sesame Street will never die.

Miso butternut squash soup

This is an extremely poor picture because A-my camera is broken so I have to use my phone that doesn't have flash & B-it was dark in the room. I just wanted you to get the idea- chunks of squash, noodles, various veggies. This recipe is from the cookbook Vegan Soups and Hearty stews For All Seasons.

Stew

I got this recipe here on This Is Vegan . I saw the picture and it looked soooo delicious. I tweeked the recipe a little to my taste because I can not bring myself to eat chickpeas or sweet potatoes. I added in a little bit of celery and a few carrots. Sooooo amazing. The house smelled so good all day! I was lazy and didn't get out of bed until 10:30am to make it, so I didn't eat dinner until 9:00pm last night but it was sooooo worth it.

It has an awesome spicey tang to it, I had to buy tumeric for this recipe I had never used it before, so that new taste was really awesome for the taste buds.

I think its time for left-overs for lunch :)

Interesting email

AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY
IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY ('TRY', BEING THE KEY WORD) TO ELIMINATE CANCER, JOHNS HOPKINS IS FINALLY STARTING TO TELL YOU THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY .

Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins :

1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer
cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have
multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients
that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after
treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the
cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable
size.

2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a
person's lifetime.

3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer
cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and
forming tumors.

4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has
nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic,
but also to environmental, food and lifestyle factors.

5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing
diet to eat more adequately and healthy, 4-5 times/day
and by including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing
cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells
in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract etc, and can
cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.

7.. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars
and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.

8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often
reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of
chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor
destruction.

9. When the body has too much toxic burden from
chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either
compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb
to various kinds of infections and complications.

10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to
mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy.
Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other
sites.

11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer
cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.

*CANCER CELLS FEED ON:

a. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made
with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute
would be Manuka honey or molasses, but only in very small
amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in
color Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt.

b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the
gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting
off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk cancer
cells are being starved.

c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based
diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little other meat,
like chicken. Meat also contains livestock
antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all
harmful, especially to people with cancer.

d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole
grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into
an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked
food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live
enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to
cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance
growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building
healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most
vegetables including be an sprouts) and eat some raw
vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at
temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C)..

e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high
caffeine Green tea is a better alternative e and has cancer
fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or
filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap
water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of
digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the
intestines becomes putrefied and leads to more toxic
buildup.

13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By
refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes
to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the
body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

14. Some supplements build up the immune system
(IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals,
EFAs etc.) to enable the bodies own killer cells to destroy
cancer cells..&nb sp;Other supplements like vitamin E are known
to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's
normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or
unneeded cells.

15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit.
A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior
be a survivor. Anger, un-forgiveness and bitterness put
the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to
have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy
life.

16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated
environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to
get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen
therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer
cells.

Heaven on earth.

This right here, is heaven on earth. I promise you, $4.29 for 4 popsicles will NOT seem at all absurd after you try one bite of these amazing slices of heaven. They also have coconut ones, haven't tried those yet - next grocery trip I will be though! They are completely vegan AND soy free !!!

You can check out their website here. You can check where they sell them near you. (Rockford people-it only lists Choices Natural Market, but I found these at Woodmans in the freezer section that is for vegan/vegetarian items at the beginning of the organic aisle!)

Pasta with veggies

Simple enough.

Dear Squash

I didn't try squash until I was 20 years old. A guy I worked with told me that he was making spaghetti squash for dinner and I wrinkled my nose & asked what that was. He explained he cut a squash in half, baked it, then added sauce, meat, sausage, cheese and baked it a little longer. He told me that the squash came out in strands just like spaghetti.

In my mind, squash is squishy babyfood that looks like throw-up. So I had to try this out. I add random veggies with sauce (green olives are my favorite to add!) or I just skip the sauce all together and put some butter or olive oil with italian seasoning on it.

It literally does taste just like spaghetti... actually, a little better because it has a little crunch to it. Try it! { I've read that it has anti-cancer type effects, have I convinced you to eat this marvelous vegetable yet?!? }

Tofu lasanga rolls

I ate these... but I can't say I enjoyed them too much. I can't take credit for them completely, my friend Katie helped me make them (hence why the presentation is a little better than usual -- I would have never taken the time to roll them so well). I would have loved them minus the tofu... let's be serious, tofu is freaky. It was my first experience with it and I nearly gagged the whole time. It smelled like pumpkin, then when we were cooking it, it smelled like eggs. It jiggles and its just weird, I'm sorry, some things I just can not get past.

The good thing about this meal was that we tricked Katie's boyfriend (sorry again Steve) into eating this.... after he went on & on about how vegetarian food is so nasty and he would never eat tofu. Atleast now he's tried it and can talk as much smack as he wants... I know I will. Tofu is gross.

First Veggie burger

It took me 13 months of being a vegetarian to try a veggie burger. It freaks me out.. its too similar in texture (and surprisingly, taste) and my thought is... if I don't want to eat meat, why eat something like it? I was never a real big meat eater as it was and now it just plain disgusts me. Which doesn't help with the mock meat. I finally gave in and grilled a veggie burger.. it was good. They won't be a staple in my kitchen, but once every few months maybe. It takes me like 30 mins to eat these (NO not because of the crazy amount of veggies loaded on it) because I chew very cautiously, scared that Ashton Kutcher is going to pop out and say "THAT'S REALLY COW!" Yes I realize this is ridiculous, but if you're going to read this blog you really need to accept the completely aack-bass-wards way my mind works.

Yes I did eat all of those green onions too.... I eat atleast 5 green onions a day, I'm addicted. If it reaches 8:00pm and I don't have any green onion in me-- watch out.

Orange Smoothie

Organic Oranges. Almond Milk. Ice. + Blender = Delicious smoothie !!