Creamy Broccoli & Spicy Veggie Rice.

I've been out of town this summer and have found myself creating meals from basic foods-because I am running low on funds and not in my own properly stocked kitchen. Two days into my summer vacation I stocked up on whole grains (pasta, rice) and a lot of frozen veggies. This meal proves that as long as you have a basic whole grain, fiber and some sort of seasoning-you can make an excellent tasting meal for yourself while you're away from home.

Rice:

1/2 cup whole wheat (brown) rice. I'm a fan of Uncle Ben-because he's super easy. I NEVER add the salt or "butter" to the rice..there's totally no need for it.

1- 1 1/2 cups of water

1 cup frozen veggies

"Middle Eastern Spice" (I found this in the Beau's cupboard-it's a mixture of curry, turmeric and cordiner.)

Black Pepper

Montreal Steak Spice *it's vegan-shut up! Not just for steaks!*

Bring to a boil and let simmer covered on medium-low heat, stir every now and then. About 5 minutes into the simmer process, add 2 tbsp of low-sodium soy sauce.

Creamy Broccoli

1-2 cups frozen broccoli

2 generous tbsp of organic peanut butter

3-4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce * If you've got BRAGGS-use it in replacement of the soy sauce and add according to taste*

3-4 tbsp orange juice

garlic powder to taste

While the broccoli is being steamed, combine the remaining ingredients into a saucepan on medium heat, starting with the peanut butter. Add steamed broccoli and toss to coat!

Easy 3 a.m. Veg Muffins

I am the first to scoff at muffin mix from a box. It's true, I much prefer to do any kind of baking from scratch and encourage people to dirty their hands and create from raw ingredients. However, my friend is not of the same mentality. The man likes his muffins, and he can pop them out "fuss free" when the mix comes from a bag. 3am, a few mornings ago the baking bug nibbled away at our insides! With our pre-packaged muffin mix in tow, we set out to bake.

Most mixes (pancakes,cookies,muffins,cakes) are already vegan-it's the eggs you are instructed to add that makes the muffins non-veg. Easy solution: add 1tbsp of unsweetned applesauce for every one egg the box requires. For a personal twist, I threw in some oatmeal and crunchy cereal. The nice thing about these mixes is that they are mostly fool-proof!

So have fun and add in some nuts,dried fruit or morphine. ..Kidding about the morphine. Just make sure to READ the label on your mix to make sure the dry ingredients are AOK.

My veg muffins are in the blue silicon tray! FDA approved silicon cookware is a blessing! Easy to clean, less likely to burn the bottom of your baked goods AND you use a LOT less fat in your baking because you do not have to coat the pan with oil before you bake. I run a little grapeseed oil through just incase-but it is not a must. I use a silicon pan for my loafs and they come out perfect everytime!

NomNom!

Just Click the Damn Link...

For a VERY imporant news UPDATE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ7J7UjsRqg&feature=related

Green Your Sex Life

From Dreamscapes' Green Business Partnership -

You can recycle your bottles, cans, and paper products. Now you can recycle your old sex toys!

Recycling Your Sex ToysFinally, there’s an environmentally friendly way to dispose of used or broken vibrators, dildos, plugs, or any other sex toy you may have. Our Sex Toy Recycling program offers you a way to recycle sex toys that you no longer want or use.

It is Simple and EasySimply drop your clean used toy(s) in the mail, when we receive it in our warehouse we will have it cleaned and disassembled. The rubber, silicone, hard plastics, metal, e-waste and motors will be sent to recycling facilities that process the materials for reuse. Did you leave the batteries in? Don’t worry, we dispose of them responsibly..

Help Your PlanetNow, when you get rid of that old, broken or unused sex toy, you will be helping our environment. You can feel good that you have done one more thing to cut consumer waste, reduce landfills and help eliminate the toxic chemicals that seep into our soil and ground water.
Be Rewarded For Your Good DeedNot only do we make recycling your sex toys simple, we also offer a reward as an incentive.

For every package of toys you send in to be recycled, you will receive a $10 gift card to use at one of our affiliate partners as well free shipping when applicable on your next order. So the more you recycle, the more you can play. Going green has never been this much fun!

http://recyclemysextoy.com/

Grocery Shop Pick!

Yay! I found this fabulous things today while stocking up. Mixed Pepper Strips mmM 2/4$ dollars.

White Zinfandel

Introducing Naked Grape Red Wine Spritzers!

Naked Grape is a popular unoaked Ontario wine and has just introduced spritzers to their line-up of all star wines. I was lucky to sample some before it hit shelves on Friday (at your nearest Wine Rack) and was VERY impressed. It is BEST served over ice-or frozen cranberries!

Now let's have a wee discussion, while we're talking about alcohol. I love it. But not all alcohol is vegan or vegetarian friendly- many beers and wines are filtered through animal bone, or literally have fish guts, fish eggs or chicken pieces added to the wine or beer for flavor. Companies can add these ingredients to their alcohol without having to publish *contains flesh* on the label of the bottle. Why? I don't know, but it's legal and is so the case. There are lots of great vegan wine/beer directories on the Internet, and I shall provide some links before we part.

Now I don't drink beer, do not like it. Too much yeast, carbs..all for a bad buzz-but most German beers are vegan safe. STAY AWAY FROM BRITISH BEER unless you want some chicken nibblets up in your hangover.

Anyway, moving back to the wine. It's good, go drink some-rich in antioxidants and turns you into a really hot Tori Amos singing Lush.

CHEERS!

For a listing of vegan alcohol visit: www.barnivore.com

BROWNIE TIME!

MmmMmm.

There are so many wonderful vegan brownie recipes out there, and hopefully this one is able to compete in the running. These brownies are moist, dense and chewy so don't expect hardcore fluffy crumble-in-your-mouth kind of wonder. This is a re-worked recipe I found on VegWeb.

I have to say these were a HIT in the household and I too enjoyed them. For icing I used the chocolate icing from HIAV, which I will post as well and hope that I am not in any violation of copyright laws. *HAAY SARAH KRAMER*

What You'll Need:
2 cups flour. 1 cup white and 1 cup whole wheat
1 cup water
1 cup brown sugah ("sugar" for all you non-gangsters reading this,)
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp organic vanilla extract
1/2 extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1 very large bar of 80% dark chocolate.

Directions:

1) Over low heat, boil water and add 1/2 cup of flour stirring constantly. You want a thin glue paste mixture. Remove from heat and LET IT COOL.

2) Add sugah, vanilla, cocoa, oil and salt. Then add the remaining flour-water mixture. Stir.
3) Add the rest of the 1 1/2 cups of flour, baking powder and melted dark chocolate.

4) Then, you're going to get a dough that should look like this and be very hard to do anything with other than stick it into a greased pan. So do just that. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Let these babies cool for a good 40 minutes before you put on the icing, trust me-it'll be worth it.

How It All Vegan's: Chocolate Icing pg 149

What You'll Need:

1 cup cold water (I really hope I don't need to tell you it should be filtered water. Common people, GET WITH THE TIMES and INVEST IN A WATER FILTER! Ick)

5 tbsp white flour
1 cup raw cane sugar
1 tsp organic vanilla
6 tbsp Earth Balance
3 tbsp cocoa powder

On medium heat combine water and flour until it's a thin gluey paste like your brownies were. Remove from heat and cool in fridge. It's best to make your icing BEFORE or DURING your brownie process. I had my favorite dinner guest hook up the icing while I made the brownies so it worked out great. If you're alone and cooking these babies up-make your icing before you do anything else..you really want it to cool. In a medium bowl combine raw cane sugar, vanilla, Earth Balance, and cocoa powder until mixed. Add the cooled flour mixture to this and whisk together until there are no lumps, bumps or clumps. Stick in the fridge until your brownies are cooked and cooled.