GF One Ingredient Fettuccine with Pumpkin Sage Alfredo...and the importance of movement

Hello vegheads! It's been a few days since my last entry and I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and start to your week. Yesterday I went to my first exercise class since I've began this transformational journey at a wonderful local yoga center where I took a semi-private core training class. I felt so great that I signed up for a package of them. I'm going again tomorrow and then going to stay for a yoga class after. I've been really hesitant to start working out, mainly because of nerves surrounding working out around other people. When you're not real happy with your body, the idea of moving it in awkward poses and motions in front of other people can be quite intimidating! But movement is really important.. it can relax us, reintroduce us to our bodies, and help increase our feel good chemicals in our brain.
I have to say that I've become much more comfortable with my body, though, thanks to my therapist who has really helped me overcome some lingering obstacles from my past, womaning up and facing things I'd usually run from, and working on my self esteem to feel confident in my abilities and comfortable with who I am. What I found really cool was really feeling out my new body with all of the exercises we did. When I got home, I wanted to make something that wasn't too heavy in my tummy, but inspired by a heavier pasta dish and also quick to make. I received a spiralizer as one of my gifts over the holidays from one of my aunts (This one is what I have and I highly recommend it; it even holds other blades in the main compartment) and I hadn't had the opportunity to put it to use, so I decided to try it out. What transpired was delicious magic. And guess what? Completely oil and gluten free.
So much healthy goodness!

Su-Su-Succulents!

So yesterday myself and my roommate rushed to comcast to drop off our cable boxes (we had decided to nix our cable and just watch TV via our laptops and Chromecast). Well, we literally get there at about 4 minutes past 1, and of course a sourly looking security guard shouted ''we're closed!'' and forced us on our way. As we sat and thought about what to do after driving a good 20 minutes or so (and only driving an actual 2-3 miles..that's city life for ya), we decided to head over to the home depot across the street (the first HD I've seen in this city) so my roommate could buy a bulb for her ceiling lamp, which has been burnt out for a couple months. Unfortunately (or fortunately for us in terms of height) we have vaulted ceilings in our condo, so we can't reach these lights ourselves to replace them without a heavy-duty ladder, which we don't own. So it's been a battle with the building company to get them to replace the light.

While at HD, we see isles upon isles as we first walk in of SUCCULENTS! I have recently fallen in love with the purple-tipped kind and decided we should make a giant centerpiece for my deep cherry wood dining room table. So we spent about an hour or so picking out succulents of different heights, textures, colors, and widths. We bought the correct soil, stones (since it's the dead of winter here, there was no way we were going to go on a stone scavenger hunt, even though if it had been spring I would have been total game for it), and even moss to really complete it. Now we just need some big glass shallow-ish bowls to find on Amazon or other sites (any suggestions?) to put it all together.

So for now, we set out our succulents on this gold dish I bought at my buddhist meditation center's moving sale I had volunteered for. I originally used it as a big dish to hold my makeup bags on my desk, but thought it'd look so great on top of this black (cheap) Ikea table I bought a few years ago (which btw, this table has been used for everything from holding cable boxes and wifi boxes to a bedside table for my roommate before she bought her own, and finally this, just to name a few. I highly suggest spending the very few dollars to buy one yourself, it's come in handy and has been moved three times!):

Click on it to get a closer look. My favorites are the 2nd one from the right in the front row, the 2nd from the right in the back row, the cacti with the different colored flowers blooming, the aloe vera plant in the back left for its medical purposes; shoot- I love them all!

Which is/are your favorite/s and why? If this is your thing, please share any info or suggestions with me, I'd greatly appreciate it and am interested in learning more about these.

I will update this once we buy a terrarium(s) and get it all set up. Please feel free to send me any sites that have instructions or set up suggestions..Thanks!

With gratitude,
Jessica

Condiments Recipes and Almond Milk...Vegan Sour Cream two ways, Ketchup, and ALMOND MILK! With photos

So I thought for this next post I would give you a few small recipes that go a long, long way.
I know it may seem like a hassle to think about making your own almond milk, ketchup, and vegan sour cream. The nut-based recipes do take some planning, as you have to soak them. However, none of these recipes take more than 10 minutes tops. The recipes that have nuts and need soaking only take a couple minutes to start the soaking. Making things yourself have a lot of benefits. One major benefit is knowing exactly what is put into it; no mystery or ingredients you can barely pronounce-let alone spell! Another benefit is in the long run it ends up being much cheaper. Take almond milk for example; to make a full pitcher, it only takes 1/2 cup of raw, unsalted almonds. From that 1/2 cup, you should get at least 7 cups of almond milk, plus, the pulp you extract-don't throw it out! The pulp you just dehydrate and can use in smoothies, on salads, as an almond flour, for raw bread, etc. I'll give you a few ideas and directions as to how to dehydrate the pulp at the end of the recipe. The sour cream has two recipes, one with tofu and one with cashews. Now, I personally favor the cashew recipe in terms of consistency, but since it's made from cashews, I like to use it more sparingly. Day to day, I use the tofu-based sour cream just to cut down on extra fat and such. I like to infuse the sour cream with herbs, which makes it really, really good. But more on that with the recipe. This ketchup recipe will give you a LOT of ketchup. Like, 20 ounces. I used a glass jar that holds 25 ounces and it was over 3/4 full. Best part? No high fructose corn syrup! So without further ado... 

 

3 Ingredient Weekday Warm Apples (or Applesauce) and Made From Scratch Vegan Pot Pie

Hello vegheads,
I hope your weekend is off to a good start and you all are able to relax at some point and take time for yourselves. Even though it's the weekend, I'm going to share with you a quick recipe for a homemade apple sauce. My mother used to make this during the week for us growing up when there wasn't enough time to make a slow version. It is very easy, only takes 3 ingredients (including water!) and only takes a few minutes. I will also be sharing with you a recipe for a vegan pot pie. The vegan pot pie takes about an hour including cook time, so perhaps it is more of a weekend meal if you don't want to dedicate that much time. Though one of the perks is that you can really just throw in whatever veggies you have. I did not do any shopping for either of these recipes. If you don't have an ingredient and can't think of a good replacement, feel free to ask and I will pass along some ideas.

So on the menu today we have a delicious and easy vegan pot pie and homemade warmed apples.
I must also say that instead of a chunky apple sauce consistency, I like them to be in their normal shape where I just easily cut them up while I'm eating, so mine doesn't look like a traditional apple sauce at all, but it tastes just like one and has a lovely caramelized sauce. But don't worry, I'll also tell you how to make it more of a traditional sauce. If you're just here for the apples, scroll down past the pot pie recipe and the photos of the pot pie to find the apple recipe. Thanks for stopping by!
               
 

How to find the truth in health trends

Here's an example to give you context about how to decipher the truth amongst the trends:
Over the past week or so I have noticed quite a few vegan/health-based articles and blogs talk about how there are numerous benefits to drinking water with 1/2 a lemon every morning. I started feeling like perhaps this is something to add to my routine, especially since I already drink water first thing in the morning to cleanse the toxins my body secreted throughout the night during its nightly fast.
 So this morning I drank a glass of water with 1/2 a squeezed lemon. The results were not as fabulous as other people have apparently experienced. My throat actually burned a bit and I had a little bout of reflux, which I never, ever have. Needless to say, after that experience I decided to do my own research to see what I could find about the real benefits to see if I should keep plowing through it.

Now, if you type it into just plain google, you will find tons of these blogs listing off reasons as to why this new trend is a must. However, if you look into the scientific evidence, based on unbiased studies and not someones personal experience,  you will find it lacking. In fact, the only research I could find to support this as being beneficial was over 30 years old. In the scientific community, we would pretty much consider that outdated, as really anything over 5 years is considered outdated (in grad school, you were lucky if a professor let you use research conducted in the past 10 years). What I did find though, were medical doctors stating that it can actually do more harm than good and cause stomach issues based on more up-to-date unbiased research. Quite different from what I read before, no?

So what am I getting at? I'm not saying don't try the lemon/water for yourself-you may find benefit. What I am saying is do your own research and educate yourself, don't just take someone's word for it. Always throw in a bit of skepticism. This goes for everything. If you don't have access to scholarly websites, start with Google Scholar or search for articles written by experts on non-biased media outlets (random example of bias: finding an article about the benefits of protein powder on a company website that sells protein powder or a website where the sponsor is the company selling the product they're discussing). There are a million health trends out there constantly coming and going (and I would suspect this warm water/lemon trend was probably in 30 years ago when that study was published) and it can be difficult to sift through them all. Sometimes we want to believe something is working when it's really not doing anything at all (placebo effect). Or sometimes if someone we hold in high regard (or someone in a white coat in an advertisement) tells us to do something to gain x y and z benefits, we believe they're really happening when they may not be at all (diet pills work this way a lot of the time, esp the OTC kind...a lot of diet pills are really just placebos). It reminds me of all the remedies that were sold to people in the 19th and turn of the 20th centuries. There were tinctures and cures galore for every ailment imaginable- most of them did nothing at all and were complete scams.

Before I really got into juicing and eliminating processed/refined foods, I did quite a bit of research on the benefits before making my decision. I watched countless documentaries and read countless articles. I had to sift through what was fact and what was opinion and at times it was challenging. The types of documentaries I prefer for information are ones that try to stick to facts and talk about research or different case studies and what the results were instead of interest pieces (most documentaries have some vested interest, but you can find ones that are more about fact than opinion). The Beautiful Truth is a great documentary about Gerson Therapy. Dr. Gerson was a true pioneer in the benefits of raw food, curing patients with cancers, heart disease, polio (before the vaccine was invented), tumors, and a myriad of other terminal illnesses without using one pharmaceutical drug. There is also the Gerson Miracle.

Remember, change takes time. The more prepared you are, the more tools you will have once you take that leap and you will have a better chance for success. And stay skeptical, always.

I hope your week is winding down and your weekend is full of lots of self care,
Jessica

What's something you're doing for yourself this weekend?

Lime Pudding with Coconut and lavender topping (GF,V)

                                                           

                                                                 

This recipe is for a lime pudding with a coconut butter or coconut whipped cream topping and lavender. If you have lavender essence or extract, you can put in a little with the pudding or the coconut whipped cream (or even stir it up with the coconut butter before putting it on top). I only have the edible dried buds, so thats what I used. I call this a pudding, though it is almost more of a mousse. It's much lighter than a typical pudding. 

Lime Pudding

Smoothie of a Beautiful Concoction

I can't believe I forgot to finish and post this! I wrote this a week or two ago and it's something I must add, as it's a fantastic smoothie....