An Avocado Delight

My favorite sandwich!

I love 12 grain whole wheat bread -it has nuts and seeds in it, great texture!

Spread on some hummus -Roasted Red Pepper hummus goes great.

Slice up your avocado, squeeze on some lime juice -keeps it from turning brown, and tastes good.

Put on some tomato slices.

Add thinly sliced red onions, and spinach (or romaine lettuce)

Drizzle with olive oil, add sea salt, a little pepper, and your done!


This sandwich is super nutritious, tastes amazing, and will keep your tummy satisfied!

Easy Sloppy Joes

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 sweet onion diced
1/2 green bell pepper diced
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 package of vegan ground crumbles (I like Boca)
1/4 cup red onion diced
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon mustard
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

Heat pan over medium with olive oil. Add sweet onion, garlic, and bell peppers, cook for just a few minutes. Add Boca and cook a few more minutes. Stir in ketchup, mustard, salt and pepper. Turn off heat, add in red onions and stir.


This is a great recipe for those days when you are low on time and need to get dinner (or lunch) in a hurry. My kids love it, and so do I.

I like to serve mine on top of a big french loaf sliced open hoagie style. Then just close it up and slice desired sandwich sizes. But these are of course still good in a bun.

Tropical Smoothie

Blend together:

One ripe mango
A can of mixed pineapple, passion fruit, and papaya (in juice, not heavy syrup)
Frozen strawberries (about one cup)
Orange juice
Apple juice


*Use as much juice as you need, use more for a thinner smoothie


This will make a full blender, enough for about 4 people.

The Milky Truth

I haven't had a drop of milk (or any dairy product) in almost two years. There are better options available, my favorite being Almond milk, it tastes really good and it can be used the same as cow milk in recipes. The vanilla almond milk tastes sweet, kind of like a milkshake, but not as thick. There is also soy milk, rice milk, and hemp milk. I feel SO much healthier since dropping the dairy.


So what's the big deal about "real milk" anyway??
Well, let's think about it. If we were truly meant to drink milk, wouldn't we nurse into adulthood? I mean, how many other species drink milk as adults (without a human making them), or out of their own species, for that matter? We are weaned for a reason -we don't need milk anymore! Our bodies can't even handle cows milk, why do you think there are so many products out there for gas, and lactose intolerance? Does your stomach ever hurt or bubble after eating ice cream?

Blood and Pus? EW!
Yes, it's true. Sounds unbelievable, I know. "Researchers estimate that an ordinary glass of milk contains between one and seven drops of pus." (MilkSucks.com) The cows are hooked up to machines and milked hard, they are given growth hormones and a number of other drugs to stimulate milk production. They often develop mastitis and other infections, causing bleeding utters and pus.

Dairy cows can produce 100lbs of milk per day, this is 10 times the amount they would naturally produce! Factory farmed dairy cows are spent by the time they are 2-3 years old, and sent to slaughter. The male calves are sold for veal, and the females are replacements for their mothers.

What is rennet?
"Natural calf rennet is extracted from the inner mucosa of the fourth stomach chamber (the abomasum) of young calves. These stomachs are a by-product of veal production." -Wikipedia
It is used to make cheese. Rennet contains enzymes used to turn the milk into curds and whey.

But milk is good for me, right?
No. It irritates the immune system, worsening allergies. Milk consumption is linked to ear infections, asthma, bronchitis, eczema, sinus problems and heart disease (which by the way, is the number one killer of Americans).
We need magnesium to absorb calcium, and since milk is almost completely devoid of magnesium, the calcium in milk is of no use to our bodies.
Cows milk is for baby cows, not humans. It is meant to make a small calf, very large in a short amount of time. The average cow weighs over 1000lbs.
"Still another issue is the hormones found in dairy, both naturally occurring and injected by the dairy farmers. The one hormone that stands out is bovine growth hormone. This hormone is designed to help baby cows grow into adult cows. The problem is we are not cows! The bovine growth hormone causes the cow to produce another hormone called insulin-like growth factor. Interestingly enough, this is the only hormone ever discovered that is identical in every way in two species, cows and humans. Which means it will work exactly the same way in cows and humans. When you consume dairy products, you ingest insulin-like growth factor, which causes increase growth of cells, especially the cells in the mammary glands. The research now strongly suggests that this increase in growth of mammary gland cells is a major contributing factor in breast cancer." -Dr.Joe Esposito

There are tons of other options out there for us. There are substitutions for all kinds of dairy products, including, soy cream cheese, sour cream, ice cream using coconut, soy, or rice milk, whipped cream, cheeses, powdered milk, yogurt, coffee creamers, and tons more. You don't have to go with out the foods you enjoy just because you don't consume dairy.

Legally Blonde

I am going to see a musical today, my first one. Legally Blonde. It should be a lot of fun, I am going with my friend Gaby and her mom. The Fabulous Fox Theater is gorgeous, and Atlanta is always a blast to visit.


First on the agenda, food, my favorite hobby! We are meeting up at Life Cafe, it is a wonderful vegan cafe, I love it, the food is amazing. They have the best veggie burgers in the world, I'm sure of it. Gaby has never eaten there, so I am excited for her to try it!


By the way, the guy who trains the dogs in this show, Bill Berloni, adopts rescued dogs! When the dogs are not needed for shows anymore, he takes them home to his 90 acre dog friendly estate! If more people were like this...
http://www.theatricalanimals.com/

The Perfect Breakfast

Have a fruit smoothie every morning for breakfast. This will help your body detox, boost your metabolism, give you lots of raw fruits easily, fill you up, and help you loose weight! Oh yeah, and it tastes really good, my kids LOVE them!

I like to use:

a banana
a hand full of strawberries
blueberries
blackberries
raspberries
apple juice
a Silk yogurt (makes it creamy)

Add whatever fruits you like, but these are a very healthy and delicious combination.

It is super easy because you can buy large bags of frozen fruits and just dump them in the blender! These are really great, even if you are on the go, you can blend one up and take the cup with you in the car.

Aspartame

Aspartame is found in: All sorts of "low calorie", "diet". and "sugar free" items. Some of these include, Crystal Light, Sugar free KoolAid, sugar free gum, diet sodas, and children's medications.

What's so bad about it anyways? Aspartame at room temperature, breaks down into extremely dangerous and toxic ingredients.
-Formaldehyde (used to embalm dead bodies)
-Formic Acid (ant venom)
-DKP or Diketopiperazine, when in the body it closely duplicates a brain tumor causing agent
-Methanol, very dangerous substance that causes blindness.

Aspartame complaints account for 70% of all complaints to the FDA. Since 1992 the FDA actually stopped categorizing these as aspartame complaints, instead they put them in "death" or "seizure" categories for example. Up to that time there were over 10,000 complaints about it.