"Nature Supports Life!"

"No animal should die so I can live."

"Gratitude is the foundation of stability and happiness."

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

#SWEET_TOOTH

Some of the best cookies i've made thus far!
It's probably pretty obvious by now that I love finding fun and new vegan dessert recipes, but if you weren't sure, I think this post might convince you of this fact. The first week that I got home from college, I called up my friend Lizi and told her I needed a baking/eating buddy immediantly. So...she came over and we proceeded to make my favorite gluten-free/vegan cookies (http://sketch-freeveganeating.blogspot.com/2010/08/gluten-free-and-vegan-chocolate-chip.html) as well as homemade chocolate covered chocolate-chip-cookie-dough cups (http://peasandthankyou.com/2011/12/01/gifts-you-can-eat-chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-cups/)! SO AWESOME! Here are some pictures and links!

THE DANK
Lizi with out plethora of vegan goodies...it's good to be home!
Awesome baking cups that we used to make the cookie dough cups!






Friday, December 16, 2011

Compassion Over Tradition...a Vegan Thanksgiving

Hello Everyone!
I know, we're a little past Thanksgiving, but I thought that I would post some pictures of the vegan thanksgiving my sister and I made. Our menu consisted of roasted broccoli and cauliflower, an incredible yam dish (steamed yams sauteed with raw almonds and unsweetened dried apricots in light coconut milk),  black bean and pea veggie burgers (http://sketch-freeveganeating.blogspot.com/2011/06/black-bean-pea-burgers.html), steamed brown rice, and a simple yet wonderful kale salad (green kale with purple cabbage, sliced carrots, raw almonds, and dried cranberries tossed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar). The kale salad was the perfect light side to balance out the heaviness of the meal. This was probably one of the best meals I've ever eaten! I have a pretty sizable sweet tooth, so my sister and I took on the challenge of making one of the greatest desserts I've ever consumed. Using a recipe from the blog, "The Tolerant Vegan", we made a chocolate brownie/chocolate chip cookie dough pie! Here's the link...I highly suggest that you try making it! (http://thetolerantvegan.com/2011/01/cookie-brownies/). 


As we ate our completely animal-product-free Thanksgiving meal, my sister and I discussed how ironic it was that on a day dedicated to giving thanks that the majority of people feel completely content eating the meat of animals whose life have been sacrificed for our own carnivorous needs and desires. Instead of showing our gratitude for our lives by eating the meat of living/breathing animals, let's celebrate the incredible produce that our own Earth provides us with. 


Bean burgers before they were baked.

Yam-Coconut milk Sautee 


Chocolate Cookie Dough Brownies

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Awesome Artisana Giveaway!!

http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2011/11/artisana-giveaway-organic-raw-nut.html

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

One of the absolute BEST vegan, healthy dessert blogs EVER! 
Take some time to look at all of the incredible recipes on this site! I hope you're all having a beautiful day. 
enjoy!
Callie 


http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/

Monday, November 7, 2011

Get Creative With Your Lunch!

One of my favorite lunches is what I like to call a veggie wrap! The great part about this meal is that you can put whatever you want in it! Here's my variation of a veggie wrap...not to be bias or anything but it's really delicious. It leaves me feeling light, energized and satisfied. Enjoy! 


Ingredients:
1 Ezekiel tortilla
3 slices of almond cheese (I use the "Lisanatti Foods" brand) 
raw or cooked julienned vegetables (beets, carrots, celery, purple cabbage, radicchio, cauliflower etc) 
4-5 roasted brussel sprouts
1/2 cup of cooked brown rice (optional) 
2 TBSP raw tahini 
A drizzle of olive oil and a dash of sea salt


Assembly: 
1. Warm the tortilla by placing it on top of your stove on low heat right over the flame until slightly browned and warm. 
2. spread the raw tahini on one side of the tortilla and around the edges of the tortilla so that it will stick when you roll it up.
3. Place the vegetables, rice and "cheese" on the side of the tortilla where the tahini is spread, then sprinkle veggies with extra-virgin cold pressed olive oil and sea salt. 
4. Wrap it all up and enjoy! 



Have  a beautiful day! 
Callie 

Rose Makes Dank Curry

It's a beautiful, foggy and rainy day today...perfect day for some delicious homemade curry! This morning I stopped by my friend Rose's apartment just to say hello, but as I entered quaint, white kitchen, I could smell the delicious aroma of coconut milk curry. Rose's recipe for making the curry was extremely easy, all she did was saute vegetables in lite, organic coconut milk with about a TBSP (or to your liking) of curry powder and cumin, sea salt and pepper. She served the final product over some organic quinoa. SO DELICIOUS AND NUTRITIOUS. Here are some photos of my lovely friend and her wonderful curry. 





Gratitude and Happiness, 
Callie 

Saturday, November 5, 2011

I'm Back! The Adventures of a Vegan in College!

Hello Beautiful People! I know it's been a very long time since i've updated this wonderful blog, but i'm finally getting settled into my new life at college and I'm ready to start blogging again about all of the incredible food i'm lucky enough to eat! I've been at college for almost two months now and I have managed to not only continue being a healthy vegan but also share my love of vegan cooking with the new friends i've made here. I'll start of my new chapter of blogging with some photos of the fall-inspired dinner that I made last night with my friends Jack, CiCi, and Althea. We roasted organic pumpkin, acorn squash, and brocoli served with a side of short-grain brown rice and organic black beans. 

Roasting the Squash and Pumpkin: 


1.Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 


2.Cut the squash in half and dress exposed part of the squash with extra-virgin olive oil and sea salt and place face down on a cookie tray. Do the same with the pumpkin except cut into smaller chunks. For the pumpkin we sprinkled it with cinnamon and a little olive oil. 


3. Cook for about 40 minutes, check that it is completely cooked. 


**You can pretty much use this recipe for any type of winter squash. 



roasted pumpkin with cinnamon


gratitude and joy,
Callie 








Friday, September 2, 2011

Friends, Muffins, and Cookies...What more could I ask for?

A few days ago my good friend Georgia came over to my house. Georgia happens to be a great baker (not vegan, but regardless!) and I happen to be vegan, so I thought that we could join forces and make some great vegan baked goods! The result was fantastic. We found two recipes from vegweb.com, one being a recipe for oatmeal-raspberry-chocolate chip cookies, and the other a recipe for blueberry bran muffins. We added some ginger juice to the muffin recipe to make a wonderful ginger-blueberry bran muffin! Enjoy the links for the recipes and the photos! Hope you are all having a beautiful and happy day.  


Recipe for the muffins: 
*add ginger if you're into that :) 
*Also, We used half the amount of sugar and replaced the rest with half of a banana to decrease the amount of sugar! 
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=13552.0


Recipe for the cookies: 
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=34600.0

Ginger- Blueberry Bran Muffins (super healthy) 

Before they went into the oven...all fresh and high-quality ingredients! So Beautiful



Have an INCREDIBLE week! 
love, 
Callie 

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Wake Up Those Taste Buds With A Curried Veggie Burger!

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE! 
Today is a beautiful day, so I thought I would share one of my favorite new recipes with all of you! 
One night when I was searching for something exciting to make for dinner I came across a recipe for black bean-pea burgers from my favorite blog, sketch-freeveganeating.blogspot.com. The result was the most delicious dinner I've eaten in ages! My not vegan mom even loved this meal :) I made some short-grain brown rice and an incredible kale salad to go with the "burger". 


Recipe: 
Happy Kale Salad
1. 2 cups of chopped up organic kale
2. 1/4 head of purple cabbage (julienned) 
3. 1 medium sized carrot (peeled and julienned) 
4. 2 tbsp olive oil 
5. 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 
6. sea salt and black pepper to taste
directions: Mix the kale, carrots, and purple cabbage then massage the rest of the ingredients into the vegetable mixture and let chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve. 

Black bean-Pea burgers
http://sketch-freeveganeating.blogspot.com/2011/06/black-bean-pea-burgers.html

mmmmmmmmmm!


Enjoy! 
Callie

Oreos...VEGANIZED

The other day my older sister, Madison and I were craving something that tasted like junk food. I began to veraciously search through my recipe books and various vegan food blogs I follow trying to find the perfect recipe. FINALLY I came across this recipe on the fantastic blog, "Namely Marly". Madison and I proceeded to make these homemade, vegan oreos and the result was FANTASTIC. If I ever plan a tea party, these will most definitely be on my table! 


Recipe link: 
http://www.namelymarly.com/2011/08/homemade-oreo-cookies/

Before the frosting. 

AFTER THE FROSTING...before we devoured them. 

My best friend Alex, my older sister Madison, and me in the pink shirt  as we enjoy the  outcome of our "hard work". 
Have a beautiful day! 
Callie 

Bring on the Hummus!

I am a HUGE hummus fan. There are so many ways to make a classic hummus recipe extra-ordinary. A few nights ago I was craving something different then my usual asian-style stir fry; so, this is what I came up with. Homemade hummus, brown rice,  a fresh and organic tomato and  cucumber salad along with a toasted whole-wheat pita bread (I was hoping to make one from scratch but I didn't have time so I purchased this one from Trader Joes...it was delicious!) 


Recipe: 
Hummus 
1. one can of organic garbanzo beans (spill out the liquid from the can) 
2. 1/4 cup raw tahini
3. 1-2 tbs of high quality olive oil
4. sea salt and pepper to tast
5. a few drops of shoyu sauce
6. 2-3 tbs of fresh lemon juice 
Directions: blend all of the ingredients in a food processor until smooth.

Tomato and Cucumber salad
1. 3 organic roma tomatoes 
2. 2 organic cucumbers
3. 1/2 cup olive oil 
4. 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 
5. sea salt and pepper to taste
Directions: First, cube the tomatoes and cucumbers and toss with other ingredients in a large bowl. After this let the salad soak in the marinade and chill in the fridge for 15-20 minutes. 

Gratitude, love, and stability,
Callie

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Real Food Daily Dinner

Hi everyone!
Callie and I had an AMAZING dinner with our three friends, Aliza, Courtney, and Kali last night and we want everyone to try one of our favorite vegan restaurants, Real Food Daily. As you can see in previous posts, Callie interned at RFD in May and loved it. We all got different items to show the variety of the food they serve and every. single. thing. was delicious! Here are some photos of our meal, sorry the quality isn't up to the best standards (I think we were so excited to eat the food, we took the pictures quickly:)
                                                       Tacos
                                                       Oreo Cake
                                                       Pizza (my personal favorite)
                                                      Nori Maki (vegan sushi!!)
                                                  Love, Meg

TWITTER VEGAN STYLE

Hi Beautiful People!!!
I know have my own twitter account...so if you want to hear about all of my vegan adventures...follow me on twitter!
 My account name is callieelissa

See you on the web!


Green Smoothie That Tasted Like Dessert!

I'm a HUGE fan of smoothies for breakfast. They make me feel energized and ready to start my day. Unlike the feeling I generally get after eating something heavy like cereal or toast with almond butter, smoothies leave me feeling light and refreshed! Here is a recipe for one of my favorite green smoothies...don't be alarmed by the color. 

Banana-Kale Protein Smoothie

Ingredients: 
1-2 frozen bananas
1 1/2 cups of chopped up kale (you can sub the kale with any other green IE: spinach, chard, lettuce etc) 
1 heaping TBSP of raw almond butter
1 cup of unsweetened almond milk 
*if you like your smoothies on the sweeter side you can add one pitted medjool date to the mix. 
Directions: 
Blend everything together in the blender until it is rich and creamy. I use a very high-powered blender called a vita-mix and I HIGHLY recommend making that purchase...it's an incredible investment. Look it up on google. 
P.S I like to sprinkle some organic cocoa nibs and low-fat/low-sugar granola on top of my green smoothie for an extra CRUNCH! 


Enjoy! By drinking this, you are helping both your hunger and your body! 


gratitude and happiness, 
Callie 


Monday, August 15, 2011

Brown Rice = Centering



Today, my family and I celebrated my little sister's 14th birthday. As a result, I spend the majority of my night last night with my best friend Dani baking an assortment of vegan baked goods. By 3:30 am I had vegan brownies, gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, and non- gluten free chocolate chip cookies. I felt very accomplished today as my family enthusiastically consumed the food I had made without even knowing that they were vegan. The only downside to my baked goodies being so delicious was that I proceeded to eat an absurd amount of them. Can you say "vegan baked goods overload?" By the time I got home from my grandma's (where the party was) I was in need of a centering, pure and cleansing meal for dinner. I steamed some short grain, organic brown rice along side two large organic carrots, two organic celery stalks, and a slice of an olive baguette from LaBrea Bakery (available at whole foods). I drizzled olive oil and sprinkled sea salt over the rice. I spread some tahini on the olive baguette and it was ridiculously satisfying and healing. Although this meal was simple, it was exactly what I needed after an evaporated cane juice (sugar) overload. 
Gratitude and happiness, 
Callie





Thursday, August 11, 2011

PANCAKES AND CHOCOLATE FOR BREAKFAST (still healthy)

This morning for breakfast, I had my best friend Emily over, so I thought that I would make this meal EXTRA special. I decided to try out a new recipe I found on vegweb.com for pancakes. I took it upon myself to add in some vegan chocolate chips, that I buy from Whole Foods,  to the batter. They turned out incredibly well, and were a huge hit with Emily and the rest of my family. We topped the pancakes off with some organic, Grade B maple syrup from Trader Joe's. 


Recipe: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=16252.0


Gratitude and happiness, 
Callie 

Dinner.


Hello Everyone! 
I know that Meg and I have been M.I.A from our blog but we've got good news...WE'RE BACK! To start us off, I thought I would share the dinner that we recently made. We prepared a veggie and tofu stir-fry over brown rice (seasoned with shoyu sauce, olive oil and pepper) along with vegan sushi and miso soup. For the miso soup, we purchased miso broth from whole foods (it is in a carton and it is the whole foods brand) and put in it seaweed, tofu and mushrooms. This was such an easy and satisfying meal! Enjoy the photo and have a beautiful day! 

-Callie

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Berry Banana Soft-Serve

A healthy dessert! I just purchased a mini food processor (costco $30) and I wanted to try it out on a yummy treat. All I did was take a frozen banana and a small amount of frozen berries from trader joes (blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries) and a tiny amount of almond milk and blended it all in my food processor. I got a delicious soft-serve that was great for a summertime snack.
Love, Meg

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Cacao, Kale and Banana Smoothie

Good Morning Everyone!!! 
Although breakfast is my favorite meal, lately i've been finding it difficult to come up with new and exciting recipes for the morning time. Luckily, I concocted this incredible green smoothie recipe! One of the main ingredients that makes it taste so unique and delicious is the raw cocoa powder. Natural, unsweetened cocoa powder is considered a superfood, contains many antioxidants, and gives you a natural source of energy! I use a brand of cocoa powder called "TerrAmazon" and I buy the "Organic Cacao Powder with Maca". "Enjoy. 


p.s: DON'T be afraid of the kale in this smoothie, you can't even taste it as a result of all the other delicious stuff in it! 


Ingredients:
1 frozen banana 
1/4 cup frozen blackberries
1/4 cup frozen mangos 
1/2 -2/4 cup organic chopped kale 
1-2 organic medjool dates (pitted)
1 tbsp of cacao powder 
1 tbsp of ground flax seed 


Directions: Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender (I recommend purchasing a vitamix). Then, simply sit down and appreciate the wholesome ingredients that you're about to consumer :) 



Sorry...it's backwards.

Love, 
Callie.

Monday, June 13, 2011

CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE (ice cream/almonds/and strawberries galore)

As a vegan, it can sometimes be extremely hard to find something to satisfy an intense sweet tooth (which I definitely have). Lately, I've been trying out new dessert recipes in order to solve this dilemma. Tonight, was no exception. Over the course of the day I made, chocolate chip blondies (blogged about those in an earlier post), dark chocolate covered strawberries, almonds, and cashews, and last but not least, homemade cocoa ice cream. For the chocolate covered stuff I simply purchased a bag of 70% dark chocolate chips from Whole Foods and melted the chocolate chips in a double broiler, dipped all of the ingredients into the melted chocolate, placed the finished product on aluminum foil on a cookie sheet, and froze them for about 3 hours. The final product was fantastic! For the ice cream, I followed a recipe from "Sketch-Free-Vegan-Eating) but instead of using carob I used raw cocoa powder and substituted the stevia with 1/3 cup evaporated cane juice. The link is below.

http://sketch-freeveganeating.blogspot.com/2011/02/creamy-carob-ice-cream-w-stevia-vegan.html

All of the goodies served on top of some delicious soy vanilla ice cream from Trader Joes

My homemade cocoa ice cream with grain sweetened chocolate chips
Happiness and Gratitude, 
Callie

Urth Caffe

I went to Urth Caffe with my mom last night for dinner. This was her first time at this adorable restaurant and she proclaimed that this was the best meal she has had in a while! Everything is organic and delicious. I got the Umeboshi plum rice wrap and a green tea blended boba with almond milk. I love that they offer soy, almond, and rice milk as alternatives to cow's milk. It was such a good dinner and I can't wait to go back and try more!



love, Meg

Cafe Gratitude



Tonight, my family and I went to a new restaurant on Larchmont called "Cafe Gratitude". This restaurant is completely vegan and has raw food entrees, appetizers, and desserts as well. The decor and overall atmosphere of this restaurant was warm, trendy, exciting, organic and welcoming. I wasn't surprised that I loved this restaurant however I was surprised that my little sister, older sister, step-dad, and mom (all non-vegans) loved it as well! All of the items on the menu had a different title that read, "I am..." For example I ordered a veggie burger by the name of..."I am Magical". Eating at this restaurant was an incredibly grounding and enjoyable experience!
"I AM MAGICAL"
 Veggie Burger with a side of spicy cashew sauce








"I AM GRACEFUL"
Quinoa, Kale, Tomato, Sprouts, Brazil Nut Parmesan, and Hemp seed pesto bowl













"I AM TRANSFORMED"
Taco Plate


-CALLIE!
"I AM PURE"
Seasonal Market Salad