"Nature Supports Life!"

"No animal should die so I can live."

"Gratitude is the foundation of stability and happiness."

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