Spelt Bread

I have been experimenting with spelt flour lately; it has such a wonderful flavor, nutty almost. I found a basic spelt bread recipe online and took some things out, added some things, and to my surprise it came out great!

Our Vegan Spelt Bread

2 cups spelt flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2/4 cups oats
1 ¼ cups hot water
¼ cup turbinado sugar
2 teaspoons ground flax
3 teaspoons dry yeast

Mix yeast and hot water together until totally dissolved, set aside.

Mix all dry ingredients together and add yeast mix, stir until batter is think and moist.

Pour dough unto a greased loaf pan, smooth out and top with a handful of oats, or any nut or seed of your choice. Cover the pan tightly with greased plastic wrap and cover with a dish cloth. Set in a warm place to rise for 1 hour.

Heat oven to 375 degrees and cook for about 45 min, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from pan and let cool before cutting. Enjoy!

The Story of Stuff

My mom sent me this 20 min video called The Story of Stuff  http://www.storyofstuff.com/
It's about our country’s consumption and waste. Watch it with your kids, pass it on and take action, even the smallest changes can have a lasting impact.

Documentaries

Here are some documentaries about growing problems in our world. It’s good to be informed about the issues and on how to get involved so we can all be a part of the change, not the problem.

The Flow
http://flowthefilm.com/

Food Inc
http://www.foodincmovie.com/

The Cove
http://www.thecovemovie.com/

King Corn
http://www.kingcorn.net/

Killer at Large
http://www.killeratlarge.com/

Capitalism: a Love Story
http://www.michaelmoore.com/books-films/capitalism-love-story

Sicko
http://sickothemovie.com/health-care-proposal/

No Impact Man
http://noimpactproject.org/

Super Size Me
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390521/

WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price
http://www.walmartmovie.com/

The Future of Food
http://www.thefutureoffood.com/

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

We got this recipe from Alicia Silverstone’s The Kind Diet. It is an amazing treat, really easy to make and should be outlawed! Yes they are that good! This book is full of wonderful vegan recipes and is a great guide if you are interested in adopting a plant based diet and lifestyle.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
from "The Kind Diet"
by Alicia Silversstone

Makes 12

½ cup Earth Balance butter (I use a little less)
¾ cup crunchy peanut butter
¾ cup graham cracker crumbs (about 10 graham cracker squares)
¼ cup maple sugar or any other granulated sugar
1 cup non-dairy chocolate chips or carob chips
¼ cup soy, rice or nut milk
¼ cup chopped pecans, almonds or peanuts


Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the peanut butter, graham cracker crumbs, and sugar and mix well. Remove mixture from heat. Evenly divide mixture in muffin tins. I then put them in the refrigerator while to let the mixture set for about 5 min.

Combine chocolate and milk in another pan. Stir over medium heat until the chocolate is melted. Pull the muffin tin out of the refrigerator and spoon the chocolate evenly over the peanut butter mixture. Top with chopped nuts. Put the pan back in the refrigerator and let set for at least 2 hours before serving and enjoy!

We use If You Care baking cups, they also make parchment paper, aluminum foil,

plastic baggies, coffee filters and more, check them out.

http://www.ifyoucare.com/

Our Favorite Cookbooks

We are slowly building up our vegan cookbook collection, there are a quite a few cookbooks we already have with awesome recipes that we can make vegan.


It’s been fun getting cookbook recommendations and browsing through the cookbook section at the bookstore and seeing all the vegan recipes that are just as yummy and just as sinful as non vegan recipes. We are finding a ton of recipes online as well.

Here are our 3 new favorite cookbooks.

http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/

http://www.thekindlife.com/

Addisyn is thriving; she is a great sport trying all sorts of new foods, loving her veggies and is addicted to hummus (dip dip) just like her Daddy. She loves helping in the kitchen and wants to do everything all by herself.

Bobbys Famous Burritos Vegan Style

So Lonny’s Dad makes these AMAZING burritos! The recipe makes 20, the goal is always to freeze half but it never works out that way because they are so darn good they never make it to the freezer!

We revamped the recipe vegan style and could not believe how yummy they were!

Here is the recipe, the original and in parenthesis what we used to make them Vegan. Enjoy!

Bobby's Burritos

Makes 20

2 lbs hamburger (2 lbs gimmie lean hamburger meat)

2 lbs sharp cheddar cheese grated ( vegan cheese cheddar or monterey jack or leave the cheese out)

40.5 oz refried beans (vegetarian refried beans)
1 large and 1 small can cream of mushroom (we made fresh cream mushroom soup, recipe below)
7 oz can diced green chilies
20 large flour tortillas
1/2 cup diced onion
1 tablespoon butter (earth balance)
small bottle of taco sauce

Brown the hamburger and add diced onions
In a separate pan warm up the beans, add a little water to thin them out.
In a separate pan warm the cream of mushroom soup, add chilies and a little water to thin.

Warm the tortillas in the microwave for 10-15 seconds each.
Fill tortillas with hamburger, cheese, beans and a spoonful of mushroom soup and close up the burrito.

Melt a tablespoon of butter in a skillet; brown both sides of the burrito.

Mix in taco sauce to the remaining mushroom soup.
Serve burritos hot with a couple spoonfuls of mushroom soup on top and enjoy!

Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup

(we found this on About.com)

3/4 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp vegan margarine (earth balance)
3 cups vegetable broth
2 tbsp flour
1 cup vegan non-dairy sour cream substitute (tofutti sour cream)
1 cup soy milk (almond or hemp milk will also work)
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot sauté the mushrooms, onions and garlic in vegan margarine for 3 - 5 minutes, until onions are soft.
Reduce heat to medium low and add the vegetable broth. Cover and simmer for at least 45 minutes.
Add the flour, non-dairy sour cream and soy milk, stirring well to combine. Allow to simmer another 20 - 30 minutes, or until soup has thickened. Season generously with salt and pepper before serving.

Addy loved them and Toby was just waiting for even the smallest bit to drop on the floor!

Wake Up Story

For those of you with children. For those of you that plan someday to bring a beautiful child into this sometimes not so beautiful world, please take a look at this. It's time to stop avoiding issues such as these. Take a stand, make a change. If not for you, for your precious children.




I hope that last video opened your eyes or just reminded you about these issues we face. The lack of care and common sense in this country is just sickening. It takes hardly any effort to change the way you look at products available to us in this day and age.
This next video is a woderful company that is doing everything it can to provide us with healthy and environmentally safe products that really are very affordable. Our family uses these products for all our cleaning needs from laundry, all purpose, dish, diapers, and the list goes on.
So maybe next time you are at your local department store, go on and pass up that cleaning supplies isle and go to your neighborhood Co-op, health food store, or online and vote by purchase. Vote for healthy, eco -friendly products for your home and this world. For you, your family, and for all of us. Thanks

4 Year Wedding Anniversary!

Lonny and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary this February. I cannot believe it's been 4 years since our wedding. It still seems like yesterday. We still feel so lucky to have found each other, and we love every day of our lives together.

To celebrate we spend the night down in Minneapolis and took Addy to Nickelodeon Universe in the center of The Mall of America, one place that I will miss for sure after we move.

She had a great time on all the rides and is sure to be a thrill seeker when she gets older!

Black Bean Burgers

We have discovered such a yummy alternative to meat burgers. I dream about these and crave them every day! We got the recipe from The Candle Cafe Cookbook (one of our new favorite cookbooks!)

Black Bean Burgers
from the "The Candle Cafe Cookbook"
by Joy Pierson and Bart Potenza with Barbara Scott-Goodman

Makes 8 Burgers

4 cups black beans

1 cup peeled and diced carrots
1 cup peeled and diced onion
3/4 cup diced red bell pepper
3/4 cup diced green or yellow bell pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 cup chickpea flour
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
8 whole wheat buns, sliced tomatoes, for garnish and lettuce for garnish

1. In a large saucepan, simmer beans in 5 cups of water for 35 minutes. Drain the beans, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

2. In a large bowl, mix together carrots, onion, peppers, salt, 1 teaspoon olive oil, and cornmeal. Stir in cumin, chili powder, cayenne, chickpea flour, lemon juice and cilantro. Stir in black beans and form into patties. Add a bit of the reserved cooking liquid to the mixture if it is too dry. Or if you prefer a smoother-textured burger. Blend half of the mixture in a blender until smooth and combine with the remaining mixture. (We do this, it seems to help the patties hold together better)

3. in a skillet, heat the remaining 1/2 cup olive oil and cook the burgers for about 3 minutes on each side. Serve on whole wheat buns with a slice of tomato and lettuce and you choice of condiments.

These are great with a heaping pile of sweet potato fries. Savor each bite, I guarantee you will be amazed!

Enjoy!

Here we are!!!

Well, hello! This is the beginning of our blog! It all started one day on Craigslist.org. That led to the the water show in front of the Bellagio down on a knee with a ring in hand. Lonny was so nervous, all those people around waiting to hear what was to be said. We won't talk about the rest of that night, just know that it was one of the best nights of our lives. A year of go, go, go wedding planning and tons of fun in between, it was finally time to get married!!! Actually this is where it all started.  February 19th 2006, one of the best days of our lives! Together, forever at last! Our honeymoon in Mexico, a friend's wedding in England, camping in Norcal, Getting Pregnant!! Thanksgiving in Arizona, and a Spa Anniversary in Napa. We were head over heals in love and loving every moment of it! The birth of Addisyn came April 16th 2007 (the other best day of our lives). What a wonderful gift and blessing she is! Soon after, Lonny started a new job in the Coast Guard as a Boatswains Mate. We made the move to our new duty station of Duluth, MN September 2007. Three years of North Country beauty and lots and lots of snow. January 2010 turned  a new and wonderful chapter in our lives as our family became a vegan family. For our health, the suffering environment, and animal rights, we decided that this would be the best move for us. It has turned out to be a wonderful thing! We have never felt healthier in our bodies or better about the products we use in our every day lives as well as how we treat our precious planet. It's ours, we only have one and we need to take care of it. Well, our time here in the Northland has come to an end. Our journey continues, this May, we will leave and will become  residents of Monterey California for the next four years. We are extremly excited about our new life chapter and look forward to keeping you all updated with this blog for years to come. We will include updates, vacation journals, photos, yummy vegan recipes, and much more as we go along this  journey...

A journey of life and love!