Vegan Bodybuilding

I found a GREAT way to celebrate Father's Day for my hubby! A few months ago my husband, I and our two youngest children made a trip to Farm Sanctuary for their annual Hoe Down. It was an amazing experience! So many wonderful farm animals that are truly happy and healthy in a natural environment was just incredible to see. UNBELIEVABLE food and intriguing speakers... I could go on and on but I will save that for another post. But, while we were there we met Robert Cheeke. Who is like the most well known vegan body builder out there...but, we didn't realize that at the time. We just thought he was a really nice guy that was very personable and sweet with the kids. On the way home though I stumbled across a web posting about him and told my husband who he was. His reaction? TOTAL disappointment and not having known that when we were at the sanctuary. You see my husband is very athletic, loves to work out etc... and finding out he missed an opportunity to speak with Robert about this common interest sucked for him. Soooo, being the awesome wife that I am I found out what his speaking schedule was for his new book Vegan Bodybuilding and Fitness was and when a date came up to see him at Animal Acres on Father's Day I jumped on it.Well, the hubby enjoyed seeing Robert speak and he was amazingly thoughtful. I had emailed Robert about us coming down to Animal Acres and he brought a bag of vegan protein powders and other vegan bodybuilding goodies for Cory (that's the hubby's name). He also told us about a new documentary that is due out this year... FORKS OVER KNIVES.

Forks Over Knives...

So excited for any documentary revealing the truth of food!

I have shared this in my own small circle of friends and family as to not be "to activisty" (as my husband puts it) on my blog but I just couldn't help myself... I had to share it with everyone!

This film is said to not be about animal welfare (who not all my connect with), but about our profound ability to take control over our own health (something we all connect with). As humans, as mothers, as fathers, brothers, sisters, children we all want to live a long and fulfilled life. I hope that as more of these documentaries and more information on becoming vegan become available we will all be able to see that the ticket to that long and fulfilling life is to eliminate animal products from our diet if not entirely in your lifestyle. As more people are made aware of the fact that we can find our protein without saturated fat and cholesterol, that our calcium sources do not need to be laden with antibiotics, growth hormones and suffering and that there are soooo many delicious and amazing foods out there that we do not experience with our traditional Americanized diets we WILL see a shift in our health. The need for medication management will drop drastically, children suffering from diabetes and obesity will be no more. And losing a loved one too early to heart disease, cancer and many other degenerative diseases does NOT have to be... If you are not the type of person that listens with your heart to the suffering of animals then be the type of person that listens with your head to the proven science of how your diet is ABSOLUTELY connected to your health.

I have to post my sisters thanks that she sent to Forks Over Knives as I found it to be incredibly well said-

"Please know we have kind regards for those who put life work and effort into something of this magnitude! It is a lifestyle change desperately needed across the globe! For the sake of all earthlings, human born, animals...etc, the cause must be expressed clearly and accurately. I am so excited to see the film and thank you to all who are vested in the film in advance."

Quickly, before I sign off... Forks Over Knives may not be out yet, but Earthlings is available on DVD and for a lighter look at the animal for food industry check out Food Inc. Also, The China Study written by Dr. T. Colin Campbell is a great if you are looking for data and the Food Revolution by John Robbins for how our diet affects the world around us is also a great read!

To birthdays...

I'm an all-star blogger let me tell ya. Last night I celebrated my birthday with family which was wonderful. We had my absolute favorite dinner, veggie sushi! And some seriously sinful chocolate cake. I was so excited to share everything with you...visually. And guess what? I forgot to take pictures!

But, in the interest of blogging here are some sushi ideas and some easy side dishes...

Scratch that! I am an all-star blogger! Put the post on hold for a few days so I could post with a picture.

So I have eaten sushi three days in a row now and I'm thinking I might have a problem. My favorite sushi rolls have avocado and cucumber in them but we always fix up quite a few veggies so everyone can create the roll of their heart's desire.

Veggies-

Avocado (yes!)

Asparagus

Bamboo shoots

Carrots

Cucumber

Mushrooms (I like portobello)

Snow peas

Wait! That list is totally accidentally alphabetized! That would be helping with the homework of a certain fifth grader's fault!

With the veggies you can really go crazy. Whatever is in the refrigerator, whatever you like. I suggest peeling your cucumber and blanching any of your more firm veggies like carrots and asparagus before using them in your veggie sushi.

We also jazz our sushi up with Tofutti cream cheese and a variety of sauces. Trader Joe's makes an AWESOME sauce (thank you Angie for introducing us to it) called Soyaki. Its a ginger and garlic infused soy sauce. I LOVE wasabi paste mixed with a little soy sauce. And of course just a plain low sodium soy sauce works well also.

For side dishes my husband usually makes a fried rice. His secret is yummy and deceiving as he uses tumeric to color the tofu "egg", add in a bit of shredded carrots, broccoli, soy sauce and ginger and its ready.

Last night though my hubby wasn't home so I threw together the Asian pasta salad you see in the picture. My aunt made this for us last Easter and it is so easy and beautiful I had to tell you about it. Its a cold salad made with orzo pasta (1/2 box), 1/3 diced red pepper, a handful of sugar snap peas sliced on the bias (yes those are green beans in the picture.. I was out of the snap peas), 1 medium diced carrot and a some crispy chow mein noodles. You just toss all that together with this quick homemade dressing:

Shake together:

6 Tbl unseasoned rice vinegar

4 Tbl soy sauce,

4 tsp hoison sauce

2 tsp sesame oil (or peanut oil)

1 Tbl sesame seeds

2 tsp agave

Once that is mixed slowly add 1/2 cup of canola oil and shake well.

Pour 1/2 of the dressing over salad and mix. Then add more to taste.

The picture shown is just a quick shot of my lunch today. Usually we serve everything up on little square plates with chopsticks and small dishes for your sauce of choice. It makes dinner just a little more fun when you serve it up pretty!

Who Doesn't Love Double Chocolate Cookies?!

I figured I would start with cookies, it just seemed right. I don't know about you but I ALWAYS flip straight to the back when I get a new cookbook to see what kind of goodness I can find to make.

I love cookies warm, right out of the oven but, I enjoy this cookie more once they have cooled if I use the flax egg version. I have found that there is a hint of flax flavor in these cookies when eaten warm. If you can't help yourself and will be eating these without cooling them first go with the egg replacer option.

These are pure chocolatey awesomeness in the portability of a cookie!

Ingredients

1 Tbls of ground flaxseed (or egg replacer and water equivalent of 1 egg)

3 Tbls of water (omit if you are using egg replacer)

3/4 cup of nondairy butter, softened (I like Earth Balance)

1 cup of a vegan granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups of unbleached white flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup chopped vegan dark chocolate (or you can use vegan dark chocolate chips)

Preparation

Once you have prepared the dough you will be putting it into the fridge until it is cold. As it gets close to cold preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a blender, whip flaxseed and water together until mixture reaches a thick and creamy consistency. Set aside. If you are using egg replacer mix that up and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar until creamy. Add "flax egg" (or egg replacer) and vanilla. In a separate bowl, blend flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add this dry mixture to the wet mixture, and mix until everything is well blended. If you need a little extra moisture, add a small amount of nondairy milk. Stir in chocolate chunks (or chips). Place dough in refrigerator until cold. Once chilled, form balls and place on a lined (with foil) cookie sheet. Bake approx. 9 minutes or until the tops are no longer gooey. I prefer to pull cookies when they feel a bit underdone and then allow them to "cook up" on the cookie sheet outside of the oven. The cookie ends up much more moist that way.

Place in an airtight container to store. But, like most cookies these are best the first day!

Here we go...

Wow! My first post! I'm sooo excited! Aaaand now I'm blank...

Ok, why don't we start with why I wanted to become a blogger... I decided to start a blog because I have found a plethora of amazing information and great ideas in the blog world. We all live in a world that is not always terribly vegan friendly (or even mildly accommodating at times) so I would come to the web for answers and community. I hope to be able to give back a bit in the form of recipe ideas, great products I have found, a little bit of venting here and there and posting any interesting information I come across, be it vegan related, world related or otherwise.

Since, the best part (well, one of the best parts) of being vegan is the food let's start there!