Healthy Green Smoothie

Tags

arugula, banana, cooking, green juice, recipe, smoothie, vegan, vegetarian

Believe it or not, arugula and bananas are a great combination for a smoothie. I know it sounds weird, but don’t dismiss it until you try it! The addition of lime also makes this smoothie refreshing. Rich in potassium and magnesium, this smoothie is also great for your heart health.

Ingredients:

• 2 slices lime or lime juice
• 2 bananas
• 1 cup of arugula
• 1 cup of milk alternative (such as soy or almond milk)
• 3-4 cubes of ice
• 1 cup of orange juice

Directions:

1. add all the ingredients into a blender
2. blend until smooth. For vitamix-blend on 4 for 10 seconds, then turn it on high and blend on 7 for another 10 seconds
3. Serve immediately!

-NZ (recipe created by my SO)

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“Love Juice” Iron-rich Smoothie

Tags

apple, beets, blender, dairy free, Food, iron rich food, kale, recipe, smoothie, vegan, vegetarian

As Valentines day approaches, some of you may be wondering what would be a fun, creative and healthy way to take advantage of another American tradition that usually makes for fun cubicle decorating and themed parties. Well, do I have the answer for you – an iron-rich beet and apple smoothie! This smoothie is named after one of my favorite cafe owners in history – Drew, from the Namaste Cafe in New Brunswick, NJ. Drew no longer owns Namaste Cafe, but he came up with all the great recipes they ever served, and one of my favorite juices there was this apple, beet, lemon, ginger conconction called love juice. A search for iron-rich foods yielded this amazing recipe, which reminds me so much of the love juice at Namaste Cafe

Some caveats: If you have anemia, make sure you are evaluated by a doctor or healthcare professional. If you have moderate to severe anemia, you may need to take iron pills, or you might even need more significant intervention, such as a blood transfusion. This is not a substitute for necessary medical care (as is the case with anything else on this blog).

One thing about iron pills is that they are somewhat constipating. This smoothie is quite the opposite. No sense feeling bound up in addition to being sick! This is a great smoothie for those who are anemic or have a tendency for heavy monthly cycles, even if you are already on an iron pill for a short period of time.

Men have to be wary of having too much iron, but this does not have enough iron to cause iron overload in men (men need about 8mg of iron. This smoothie has about 2 mg. Pre-menopausal women need about 18mg per day)

Ingredients:

• 2 small beets, cut into large chunks
• 1 apple – large chunks
• 4 dates
• 1/2 cup kale
• 1-1.5 cup water

Directions:

1. Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth. May need to add extra water to achieve desired consistency.
2. Pour into a cup and enjoy!

-DS

 

Vegan Potato Salad

Tags

celery, cooking, cooking methods, peas, potato, recipe, salad, side dish, snacks, steam, vegan, vegetables, vitamin c

Potatoes are probably one of the most readily available produce out there. They are available all year long, and when prepared correctly, can be nutritious as well. They contain vitamin B6, potassium and vitamin C. Generally, nutrition and taste vary depending on the type of potatoes: from russet to red to purple potatoes, potatoes come in a lot of different varieties.

While everyone have their own concept of the ideal potato salad, I like my potatoes to be a little on the firm side with skins intact (more nutritious). I prefer to use red potatoes, purple potatoes or fingerling potatoes, but feel free to sub the recipe with your favorite potatoes. Be sure to pick organic potatoes, to avoid GMOs.

Here is my vegan potato recipe:

• 1 lbs. organic potatoes
• 1 cup of vegan mayonnaise (I use Grapeseed Oil Vegenaise®)
• 2 tbsp. pickle brine
• 1 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 11/2 tbsp. Swiss sweet mustard
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 cup thinly chopped celery
• 1/2 cup peas (frozen or fresh)

DIRECTIONS:

1. The best way is to steam whole potatoes, as it retains more of its water soluble vitamins (such as vitamin C) than boiling. But, you can also boil them as an alternative.
   1. To steam: steam potatoes in a large pot ~10 minutes
   2. To boil: cook whole potatoes with water in a pot in medium heat until the water boils. Reduce heat to low and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.
2. Cool the potatoes.
3. If you are using frozen peas, make sure to boil or steam the peas first (~3 minutes).
4. Cut the potatoes into bite size cubes.
5. Add the cut potatoes along with celery and peas in a mixing bowl. Season with salt and mix.
6. Add the rest of the ingredients and toss gently.
7. Cover and refrigerate the potato salad for at least an hour. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

-NZ

Top 6 Vegan Products to Buy at Trader Joes

Tags

plant based, product reviews, vegan

First, want to thank Deborah of Urban Naturale for featuring us on her Plant-based postluck party! Our fall root-vegetable vegan black-bean burger was featured.

I want to start this post with a caveat – I am a huge fan of the plant-based lifestyle and I have tried to go vegan many times, but I have not yet fully succeeded. My last attempt floundered when I was doing a 2-week night-shift around the holiday season. Trust me when I say ICU nurses and Emergency Department nurses ALWAYS have access to candy and dessert, ESPECIALLY around christmas time! And then there was the candy drawer in the family medicine office – let’s just say nurses will always make sure there is some candy around. Maybe it’s because of their motherly nature, or due to their stressful jobs, or because their patients are so grateful to them and bring them candy. Probably a combination. I love my nurses though – couldn’t have survived residency without them!

Despite my unsuccessful vegan attempts at being vegan, my fridge and pantry is almost completely vegan, and I rely on certain products to make the majority of my diet pretty close to plant-based. Trader-joes has been a life-saver. My favorite story about trader joes is that the first voluntarily organic thing my husband ever bought was from Trader Joes! Pretty cool, huh?

I got the idea for this post because I saw this one from A Dash of Soul about the best vegan items at TJs, and after I got myself some of that strawberry coconut dessert, I decided the world needed to know how Trader Joes helps me be practically vegan. Here goes!

1. Mildly Spiced Organic Vegetable Burritos: These guys are awesome. You get two burritos for $3.29! Way cheaper than the other frozen burrito alternatives out there – Amys black bean vegetable burritos for example, are generally $3.00 for one burrito. And they are quite delicious. A lot of vegan burritos have a ton of rice, and this decreases the nutrient density of the burritos. These burritos are big on vegetable and bean content. I usually take off some of the tortilla to further improve on the nutrient density.
2. Trader Joes Creamy Valencia Peanut Butter – This peanut butter is one of the best peanut butter finds ever! Valencia peanuts are super low in sugar and starch, and have 3g of fiber per 2 tbsp serving. Valencia peanuts are less likely to have aflatoxin, which is something found mostly in peanuts grown in humid climates. Although the government monitors how much aflatoxin is allowed in peanut butter, it’s always good to minimize the possible susceptibility to liver cancer. Valencia peanuts are also generally sweeter. This means they really don’t need any extra sugar to sweeten the peanut butter.
3. Trader Joes Goddess Dressing: For those who love creamy dressings, this one comes as a salad-rescue. This dressing has a tahini base and is one of my favorites, next to just using lemon, salt, pepper and olive oil. The tahini flavor isn’t over-bearing either. Beware the fat content though! 18% of your daily recommended intake!
4. Trader Joes Cruciferous Crunch Collection Salad Mix: The easiest salad you will ever make is using a small handful of this salad mix, and combining it with a bigger handful of any other salad green (eg. Arugula, Spring Mix, Mache) and adding a small handful of nuts. Toss with the above dressing, and voila! You have a salad that is crunchy and flavorful, and of course, packed with immune-boosting, cancer-fighting cruciferous vegetables.
5. Trader Joes Organic Oats and Flax Seed Oatmeal: Flax seeds pack lots of nutrition. They are high in fiber and omega 3 fatty acids. Flax seeds and oats are both particularly high in soluble fiber, which is really good for decreasing your cholesterol (soluble fiber binds to bad cholesterol and fat). Soluble fiber also is particularly helpful for improving your gut flora as it has prebiotic properties (helps build a favorable environment for good bacteria to grow). Thats why this product is a staple in our house. Beware – it does have some sugar – 1 packet has 11g to be precise. That’s about 2.5 tsp. I’m willing to live with that.
6. Trader Joes Dark Chocolate Chips – I know, they are a dime a dozen – most dark chocolate chips are vegan, too. However, a lot of dark chocolate chips are kind of hard and you might as well be biting into very sweet cacao nibs. The way these are formulated, they are super deliciously easy to bite into. Throw them in your oatmeal, eat them on a peanut butter sandwich with some toasted coconut, blend them in your smoothies – these are magnesium containing, anti-oxidant rich, pure decadent, deliciousness. 1 tablespoon of these contains 8g of sugar, so something to watch out for.

Do you have any TJs favorites? Would love to hear yours!

-DS

How to Make a Vegan Bean Burger with Whats in Your Pantry

Tags

anti-inflammatory foods, Beans, coconut oil, vegan

After last weeks post (Translation: after wasting hours of productivity looking at delicious vegan and vegetarian black-bean burger recipes), I realized that bean burgers are one of the most versatile recipes out there. An old Mark Bittman customizable soup recipe came into my mind, and I decided to impart to you all a customizable vegan bean-burger recipe.

Since my inspiration for this post was the many bean burger recipes out there in cyberspace, at the bottom of this post, I’ll also post some links for other bean burger recipes that I found helpful.

The components of a bean burger:

1. Beans – (any kind – 2 cans will suffice. Examples – black beans, chickpeas, white-beans). Dont throw away the liquid, and mash these up. You want to mash them up enough so that you have a batter, but not so much that its a puree.
2. Binder: This is to hold your patty together. Personally, I love my black-bean patties a little crumbly. Lots of recipes use eggs – 1-2 will suffice, but we are going for vegan here. You can use a vegan egg replacer. Here’s a nice infographic with egg substitutions:  I am not sure how well bananas, apple sauce and peanut butter would work out here though. If you were using a vegan substitute, just use the vegan equivalent of 2 eggs (eg) 2 tbsp of ground flax. Whats nice is that you actually dont have to let the flax seed sit in water before hand for this recipe because the flax will absorb the moisture from the batter.
3. A grain or starch: Other than the potato/sweet-potato and brown rice, the starches also have a binding quality to them. Most recipes use a cup. Example are grains like quinoa, oats, brown rice, panko bread crumbs and even bread (one recipe suggested you put bread into a food processor and use the bread-crumbs from that). I have seen other recipes use sweet-potato or just potato, and chick-pea flour (besan) is another common one. You can also use corn starch or tapioca starch. You can use whole grains or you can grind them in a coffee grinder to make a flour. Oh yeah, you can use wheat or a gluten-free flour of your choice too.
4. Filler: Add whatever vegetables you want! Whatever you use, chop it up really fine. Lots of black-bean burger recipes use cilantro, onions, corn and jalapenos for the south-west feel. Beets, surprisingly, were a big hit. Lots of burgers include a green vegetable like chopped frozen spinach or kale. Zucchini or squash is another common add in. For a mediterranean feel, you can use chick-peas as your bean and egg-plant as your dominant vegetable, and then add parsley and paprika. Basil, ginger mushrooms and soy sauce will give you an asian feel
5. Spices: Go nuts! Use whatever you want! Most use cumin and garlic powder at a minimum. Use about 1tsp of salt or more to taste. If you arent using jalapenos, you might want to add crushed red pepper, sriracha, or chili powder. Paprika lends a smokey-ness. Soy-sauce lends a nice, savory umami flavor.
6. Dipping sauce (optional): Adding a tbsp of Sriracha to some vegan mayo you have lying around is common. You can use some salad dressing. Another option is to make a tahini or nut-based based dipping sauce. Or you can use any condiment in the fridge. An avocado base or guacamole is another option.
7. 2 tablespoons of your choice of heathy cooking oil

To make the burger:

1. Mash up the beans with the bean juice from the can using a fork or masher. Add in your starch, spices, and binder. Add in your veggies. Use a wooden spoon or your washed hand to mix the batter so the ingredients are distributed evenly.
2. To cook the burgers, coat a cast iron pan with your oil of choice (I like coconut for its high smoke point). Spoon the batter on to the pan and flatten with your spoon so it looks like a patty. Let it cook on low heat for 20 minutes on each side. The burger is ready to be flipped when it is holding together on the side which it is cooking on. The flip and cook to your desired crispiness.
3. You can also bake these too but I havent tried to do that yet. I will update this post if I do.

Add on your condiment and place between 2 pieces of scrumptious bread if desired. Serve with a side salad to make the meal complete.

Other Black-bean burger Recipes:

Black-bean Burgers with Chipotle Lime Tahini and Crunchy Guacamole from Host the Toast

Simple Black Bean Burger Recipe on All-recipes.com

Spicy Chick-pea veggie burgers from Running on Real Food

Sweet-potato Black-bean burger from minimalist baker

Vegetarian Mushroom Burger from Rock-Recipes

Best-ever beet and bean black-bean burgers from Epicurious

Fall Root-Vegetable Bean-Burger

Tags

anti-inflammatory foods, Beans, chilli, gluten-free, vegan

Lately, I have had an insatiable craving for vegan black-bean burgers. I have no idea why, but the crispy crunchy outside with the soft inside, combined with the savory flavors of the vegan mayo and/or sriracha on top..mmm… the symphony of flavors was begging for a replay.

..So I had one, and then another, and then I just started to look for recipes for vegan black-bean burgers online. It’s funny, I know how hunger works, and it is not satiated if you look at 20 pictures of just delectable looking vegan black-bean burgers on the internet. Of course, make delicious vegan black-bean burger patties is what I did. When my husband who has the most discerning palate of anyone I know said they were tasty, I knew I had to share with the world. Especially because bean-recipes are one of my favorites to share with the world.

I was super excited about this recipe because I literally did zero shopping for it – everything I used was already in my pantry.

Ingredients:

• One can of black beans, drained, and one can of chickpeas, with the juice.
• 2 packets of trader-joes organic oats and flax oatmeal
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 4 serrano chillis chopped fine (I like my burgers spicy! You can de-seed and use jalapenos, or sub bell-peppers if you like)
• 1 cup of Frozen root vegetables (or frozen beets or steamed or canned beets)
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 3/4 cup frozen chopped spinach
• 1/2 cup frozen or canned corn
• 2 tbsp of coconut oil

Pic of a raw frozen patty. Batter should be mashed up but still chunky. Pink color is from the beets

Instructions:

• Mash up the beans and chickpeas. You should still be able to see half fragments of beans – so don’t mash up too much!
• Add chopped jalapenos and serranos, salt, coconut oil and soy-sauce
• Grind oatmeal in a coffee grinder to a fine powder and add to the mixture
• Grind frozen root vegetables in a blender into a powder. Use the dry blades that make powders for this. You can also grate fresh beets/root veggies, or coarsely blend steamed (preferrably lightly steamed) or canned beets. Shredded or grated carrots are a good addition here as well.
• Add frozen spinach
• Mix everything together so the ingredients are distributed evenly
• Spoon onto a cast iron skillet coated with oil and heat for 15 minutes on each side. The cooked patty is brown and has a crust on the top and bottom.

Check out some of my inspirations for this recipe on our pinterest vegan burger board

The topping for the burger is a local jalapeno pesto from the farmers market – Baby Clydesdales Small Batch Hot Sauce

– DS

This post was shared in the following link-ups:

Sweet Vegan Dessert Recipe: Japanese Dango with Miso Syrup

Tags

cooking, dango, dessert, Food, halloween, japanese food, miso, recipe, sweets, vegan, vegan dessert, vegetable dish

With halloween just around the corner and sweets offered at every turn, what better way to satisfy your sweet tooth than to make a unique vegan treat for you and your family! This Japanese dango dish might be a hit at the next halloween party. They are sweet, sticky and light. So you can save you and your family from the sugar crash…

Dango is a traditional Japanese dessert made from rice flour and is similar to mochi in texture and taste. They have a light sweetness to them, making them a good alternative to heavy desserts. You often see dango served on a skewer with green tea.

Ingredients/Directions

To make dango, you need:

• Rice flour, 1 cup
• Water, 1/2 cup

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Knead the ingredients together with your hand until the dough has a slight elasticity but the surface is not too sticky.
2. After the dough is ready, divide the dough into 8 equal parts. Make each part into a round ball (like a meatball).
3. In a large pot, add 3 cups of water and let it boil.
4. Then, drop the dango balls into the pot of boiling water and let it cook for ~3 min. The dango is ready when they start to float up and takes on a slightly translucent color.
5. Take out the dango and put them in a cool water and let it sit.

To make the miso syrup, you need:

• Water, 1/2 cup
• Agave syrup, 4 tbsps
• Miso, 1 tsp (preferably red miso)
• Potato starch, 1 tsp

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a small sauce pan over low heat.
2. Stir the mixture until it becomes a slight sticky consistency.

To assemble the dango:

1. Put 3-4 chilled dango on each skewer stick
2. Pour the syrup sauce over them and they are ready to serve!

-NZ

Gluten-Free Vegan Corn and Kale Porridge

Tags

breakfast, cooking, fall, gluten-free, healthy, kale, paleo, porridge, recipe, vegan, vegetarian

For me, nothing says comfort better than a bowl of warm porridge. I’ve recently discovered using corn as a grain-substitute for porridge. It is really fast & easy to prepare, so it’s a great meal for when you are short on time. To take advantage of all the fall vegetables, I’ve been making this savory grain-free corn and kale porridge. You can easily substitute the kale for other vegetables, like chard or spinach.

Note: be sure to purchase organic corn to avoid eating genetically modified corns.

Ingredients:

• 1 ear of organic corn
• 1 teaspoon of olive oil
• 1/4 of yellow onion, diced
• 1/4 cup of almond/soy milk
• 1 cup of kale, chopped
• 1/2 cup of water
• A dash of red pepper flakes
• Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Use a knife, grate the corn kernels into a bowl
2. In a large pot, sautee the onion in oil on medium-low heat until they become translucent.
3. Add the corn, kale and water to the pot and cook x5 minutes. Then add your choice of soy/almond milk and sea salt. Let the pot simmer for 10-15 minutes until the mixture thickens.
4. Serve hot with red pepper flakes and ground pepper.

-NZ

this recipe is linked up at Real Food Fridays

Vegan Mofo Recipe: Family-friendly Chocolate Cup-Cakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Tags

baking, cooking, cupcake, dessert, vegan, vegan mofo 2015

So Vegan Month of Food is here, and we at Practice-Vitality are making the effort. Sometimes, that means broadening your mind. We like to stick to recipes that are healthy, but it turns out that my cousin, hidden away in the beautiful hills of West Virginia, has been baking amazing vegan pastries – I had to display her work! You understand, right? I mean look at them! Plus they are mini-cup-cakes. Its all about portion control, right?

Great. Todays Vegan Mofo theme is “Quick, Easy and Delicious”, and of course I have determined that this recipe is quick and easy and it is definitely delicious! It has been kid-tested, adult approved.

My cousin is a very spiritual person, and she often sends our family lovely little affirmations. In honor of her, here is a positive thought for you to consider while you munch on this delectable morsel of a cup-cake:

“A river of compassion washes away my anger and replaces it with love” 

Tips:

• Can interchange flour and sugar to adjust the sweetness
• Can use brown-sugar

Chocolate Cake (Batter makes 24 mini cupcakes)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated, white sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup use vegan butter or any oil of your choice
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350 and place rack in the center of the oven.
• In an ungreased mini-cupcake pan, stir together flour, sugar, sifted cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt
• Add melted butter or coconut oil, water, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. With a fork, mix all the ingredients together until well blended.
• Depends on the oven – may need to bake for about 30 minutes, or until the cake springs back when lightly pressed, and a tooth pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Check after 13 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and place on a wire-rack to cool.

Vanilla Butter-cream Frosting: 

• 1 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted vegan butter
• 2 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 1 tbsp almond milk (try adding 1/2 tbsp first, then check consistency. If necessary, add the other half )

Instructions:

• Mix together util blended and creamy
• Add vanilla bean paste and milk and continue to beat for another minute
• If desired, add more vanilla bean paste to taste, or more confectioners sugar to make it stiffer

Serve to guests in an gorgeous display at a party, proudly proclaiming their vegan-ness 🙂

-DS

Breakfast Recipe Roundup: Vegan MoFo Tribute

Tags

antioxidants, smoothie, vegan

Picture of smoothie from one of our original posts!

Hello all! We at Practice Vitality are not officially participating in Vegan MoFo’s BlogRoll, but have made a conscious decision to get caught up in the excitement! We love plant based recipes here at Practice Vitality. Why? Some of it is related to personal health conditions, and some of it related to early influences from the world of nutrition.

We will try to participate in Vegan MoFo in some shape or form (A blog post a day is a little much for us but social media posts are up our alley on the other days).

Today’s theme is “Rise and Shine! It’s MoFo time! Tell us about your breakfast.” Accordingly, here is a collection of a few breakfast recipes from our blog over the past few years. I can’t tell you how much fun it was to go through our old posts – a trip down memory lane!

Triple Power Flax Seed Energizing Oatmeal

Healthy Version of Tropical Greens Recipe

Protein Packed Spring Power Smoothie

Berry Peach Bubble Gum Smoothie