Wow, has it really been this long since my last post?! I guess the holidays will do that. I hope everyone had a great holiday season and so far a good 2014. I’ve made this risotto several times now, and I swear we love it more each time. Sure, there’s a little prep work involved, as well as some constant stirring, but I promise you, it’s worth it. You can even read a book while you make this. Seriously. Have a book  handy because you  might as well get some reading done as you stir. (A glass of wine wouldn’t hurt either).

INGREDIENTS:

3/4-oz pkg. dried shiitake mushrooms
3/4-oz pkg. dried porcini mushrooms
3 C vegetable broth
3 C fresh spinach, chopped
1/8-1/4 C lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 large onion, chopped small (about 1 C)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs olive oil, divided
16-oz cremini mushrooms
1-1/2…

Ain’t that the truth? After a month of eating a vegetarian diet (at least) and mostly a plant-based, or vegan, diet, I have learned that it gets easier. My husband, though, having just recently watched Forks over Knives with me, has decided to commit to a much-more plant-focused diet. He has always been a hearty eater, someone who is high energy and burns calories quickly, it’s been difficult for him to “fill up” on this type of meal during the first week.

Knowing that it is possible to eat this kind of diet and eat filling meals I went in search of some supporting evidence and found this awesome blog post on sproutnewroots! Many of these snack ideas I’ve read before and several I’ve tried.  We were fortunate to move into a health-conscious neighborhood of Louisville with a GREAT health section of the grocery.  I frequently crank out my…

“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.” Thomas Edison, captured from The Vegecution of Robin

I’ve been wanting to write about my diet for a while now, but it feels like such an enormous task. Back in October, after having had a few bad-eating months during my transition to a new city and beginning class full-time on top of a lot of turnover in positions at work… food became a last priority.  Nobody on this earth, except perhaps your mother, is going to prioritize your health. Since the time you left home for college or whatever you did after high school, you have had to make choices for yourself; choices that effect your health.  Do we eat out again tonight? Do we order in? Do we…

Oh. My. Gosh.

On a whim, I just made the most mouth-watering, hearty, delicious plant-based pizza in the world.

As many of you know, last night was the BCS championship football game (shout out to my bro-in-law’s team FSU for the big V) so Michael and I were looking for something we could eat for the game.  He researched a few vegan pizza recipes, but to be honest, after our Mellow Mushroom Vegan Pizza disaster, we were a little hesitant. We ended up scrounging up leftovers for the evening… but the recipes he found did get me thinking.

I figured, if there was an easy vegan pizza dough out there, I could probably make this work!  I had tons of veggies in the fridge (thanks to the snowpocalypse scare in Louisville this weekend… no snow but the temps were below 0!) I opened the fridge to find lots of…

This recipe rules. There’s a few reasons why it rules.

1. It’s really cheap.
2. You can customize it to add any fruit you like.
3. You can customize it to add anything to the crumble.
4. It’s really, really easily vegan. Not many carnists out there will recognise that it’s vegan.

I usually love to stick to recipes. I love to follow measurements because I feel like there’s very little room to make mistake. You really will struggle to make mistakes with this recipe, despite the fact that it’s not a recipe at all. Have fun mixing stuff together and making it all taste yum!

Ingredients:
Plain flour
Rolled oats
Wholegrain oats (the larger kind)
Desiccated coconut
Brown sugar
Vegan friendly margarine
Cinnamon
Tinned peaches (1 and a half in juice)
Apples (about 2 med size)
Loaf-sized tin for baking in

Firstly, I peeled and chopped the apples and cooked in a dash…

This is our family’s very favorite soup, it looks average until you taste it! The flavors blend together perfectly, it’s like magic! Perfect for a chilly overcast day 😀

Bean & Veggie Soup
Serves 6

5 cups vegetable broth (we use Better than Bullion, Veggie)
14 1/2 ounces diced tomatoes – Italian style
15 ounces canned kidney beans, drained
15 ounces canned white kidney beans, drained
1 bag frozen broccoli
½ bag frozen cauliflower
1 can green beans
1 zucchini
2 diced potatoes, preferably red
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon thyme
ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a large sauce pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 25 minutes.

You can view the original recipe here: FatFreeVegan.com