Category: Vegan Health & Fitness

12th Vegan Birthday

Today is a very special day, because it is my 12th Vegan Birthday! That means I have been vegan for 12 years already!

It was my first day of college and I made the decision to be vegan. (I had been vegetarian for four years prior to making the switch.) I didn’t know how long being vegan would last; at first, it was just trying it out. But I kept it up because it made me feel better in many ways. It has certainly made me more conscious of the impact my decisions make. Being vegan allows me to live beyond myself. Meat consumption is one of the worst culprits for global warming, not to mention the unimaginable suffering that animals go through. As someone who is recovering from PTSD, I am very sensitive to the suffering and abuse of creatures outside myself. I’m not a saint or anything, but it blows my mind when people don’t get it. I just cannot support any of that.

Living a more compassionate lifestyle doesn’t earn anyone a gold star, by the way. My aim is to try and make the world a better place through conscious decision making. Whenever I talk about these things, it’s often met with defensiveness or attacks. I become hesitant about it, before remembering that this lifestyle isn’t all for myself.

There is also the myth that vegans don’t get enough protein. My running has been increased to the point where I have finished two full marathons and a few half marathons. Besides…Running relies more on complex carbohydrates for energy.

For those who are concerned about protein intake, there are so many ways to obtain it through a plant based diet. If, for example, you are weight training–and there are plenty of vegan athletes who do–vegan protein supplements exist. But usually an athlete can get away without them. 

Smoothies make the best and easiest meals. I’m partial to foods where you can just throw ingredients together and it always turns out delicious. Here is one I’ve been obsessed with lately. It keeps me sustained and clear-headed.

Vegan Smoothie:

  • 1 sliced banana
  • 1 kiwi fruit
  • 1/2 pear, diced
  • 1/2 sliced cucumber
  • Fist full of spinach
  • 2 scoops of Clean Lean Protein by Nuzest. (Or whatever vegan protein supplement. It’s optional.)
  • 1/2 cup soy milk or water

Blend until smooth. Easy!

When asked if I miss cheese, eggs, or other animal byproducts, I really don’t. Not only are there substitutes for those, I’ve gained so much more than what I’ve given up. And for me, that is more important. 

Happy Vegan Birthday to me!

Pacific Northwest Pie

A bountiful harvest awaits you this summer

A wild summer treat

I love summer in Seattle. A heatwave has blanketed the Pacific Northwest, the hot air lulling us into the dog days of the season. One thing I love about living here is that it’s usually mild. While I prefer cooler weather, this isn’t so bad. Drinking lots of water and staying in the shade does the trick to keep cool.

In more exciting news, today is my best friend’s 34th birthday!

There’s a bountiful harvest waiting

This morning, I gathered the ingredients to make a special birthday treat for him. Another thing I love about living in the Pacific Northwest is that there’s an abundant harvest waiting for you in the form of fresh fruit hanging from trees and vines. The fruit is so abundant that a non-profit organization called City Fruit has a program where you can register your fruit tree. So that, in order to minimize wasted food, whatever is left over from the harvest can go to the food banks around the city. I’ve never volunteered for City Fruit, but I know where all of my favorite fruit trees are in my neighborhood.

After picking blackberries, I climbed a tree and picked Italian plums. I love picking fruit straight from the source and eating it on the spot. Urban foraging is one of my favorite things; it reminds us where food actually comes from.

A group of halved and pitted plums on a wooden countertop
Irresistible plums from just blocks away

I picked a whole bunch because I make a pie crumble every year for my friend’s birthday. I call it the Pacific Northwest pie, because the filling is picked straight from the source. The pie crust is store-bought from the co-op, but if you want to make your own, there are plenty of vegan recipes for that. If you really want to be an overachiever and make the crust from wheat and oats that you’ve milled yourself, then that’s an über-Pacific Northwest pie!

You can make something this good, too

This recipe makes two pies.

Pacific Northwest Pie Recipe

Have ready:

  • 2 store bought pie crusts

Filling:

  • 4 cups of Italian plums, pitted and quartered
  • 4 cups of blackberries
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup organic sugar
  • 2 tsp lemon juice

Crumble top:

  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup organic dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup Earth Balance (or whatever vegan butter you prefer)
  • 2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Follow the instructions on how to prepare the pie crusts. They should be on the label.

For the filling, first mix the fruit together. The blackberries will most likely be crushed as they’re stirred around. Splash in the lemon juice. Then add the flour and sugar until everything is mixed well. Spoon the filling into the two pie crusts.

For the crumble topping, cream together the sugar and the Earth Balance. Add the cinnamon. Then add the flour and rolled oats until a sticky dough forms. Divide into two parts. Crumble each part onto a pie.

Bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees. The blackberries will dissolve and the plums will hold their shape.

After the pies are done baking, cool for 20 minutes. The filling gets very hot. Waiting is hard, but trust me on this one. Once it’s cool enough, enjoy the pie. It pairs well with Coconut Bliss vanilla ice cream.

Pie and ice cream go hand-in-hand

Of Windstorms, Broken Ribs, and Gluten-Free Crackers

Wellington is known for its unpredictable weather. All week there have been windstorms, with gales exceeding 100 k.m.h. (That’s 62 m.p.h. for you U.S. folks!) You could feel the whole house shake, and apparently this is normal. My WWOOF hosts live in a high-wind zone, but just one step below the “Special Engineering Required” zone for building requirements. They said that someone’s roof blew off in that area. What!

But they didn’t make me work outside because wind storms are obviously dangerous. So, I got to stay indoors and do domestic stuff, like baking bread for the week!

Really, having freshly baked bread straight from the bread maker is one of the best things in the world. Maybe I’m overreacting a little, but when a warm fluffy bite of whole wheat bread melts on your tongue, you’d be in heaven too. Unless you eat gluten-free. Then that’s understandable if you’re not keen on it.

It is also very likely that I’ve broken a rib when falling on some rocks in Laos almost two months ago. The pain made it very difficult to breathe then, and whenever I sneezed, it felt like my whole body shattered. Slowly the pain diminished to a dull ache here and there. Barely having any rest and all of those benders in Southeast Asia probably did my injury no favors. Lately, the pain has flared up again. I never went to the doctor because it only seemed like just a bad fall at the time. But pain that lasts this long doesn’t feel normal. Even if I did go to a doctor, there’s not a whole lot that can be done for a broken rib. I can at least run and work. That’s what matters the most. I go stir crazy from sitting or lying down for too long. I am safe and warm in New Zealand, and getting plenty of rest in between.

In the meantime, indoor things are just fine. I even made laundry detergent from scratch!

And then came the gluten-free crackers from scratch. The recipe is as follows:

  • 2 Cups gluten-free oats
  • 1 1/2 cups oat flour
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (Or 180 degrees Celsius). Mix all dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients until a dough forms. Let it sit for 15 minutes for the oats to absorb the water. Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick and use a cookie cutter to cut circles. Makes about 10 3-inch crackers. 

If you have only a 2-inch cookie cutter, don’t worry, the gluten-free cracker police won’t come after you. You’ll just end up with more crackers at a smaller size.

There’s only a week left in my worldwide trip before coming home. Reflections on the entire adventure flip through, and yet it feels too soon to write about it. Not all of it has sunken in yet. I’m not sure how this has changed me at the moment.

In the meantime, there’s an ice pack on my side along with the understanding that I’ve lived a little outside my comfort zone.

Vegan No-Sugar-Added Hot Chocolate

I’ve mentioned that it’s winter in New Zealand. The winter blues that have been forgotten hit unexpectedly in this beautiful place.

I run for at least an hour several days a week. The endorphins keep my brain in working order and mood elevated. Sometimes, however, running alone isn’t enough. 

Yesterday was my first day WWOOFing, and it feels so good having a purpose again. Volunteering is something I’ve missed doing, and contributing my time and energy while being a part of something is helping to keep the blues away.

I’m currently staying in a house with two lovely, gracious hosts who are following a strict gluten-free and no sugar diet. While it’s hard to turn down a vegan pastry or dessert, sugar is probably one of the worst things you can feed yourself if you have depression, even if it only hits seasonally. We already know that studies have found that it has the same addictive properties as cocaine. So, when the withdrawal symptoms creep up… It can leave a gaping feeling inside, further compounding the depressive feelings. But I’m determined to work through it.

Running about 30 miles a week sometimes doesn’t quite cut it. In addition to volunteer work, it turns out that not having access to anything sweet is probably what is saving my drifting mentality right now.

Though, the hosts did say I can help myself to anything I like. While I’m grateful there is no sugar in the house, withdrawal can be a bitch. 

So, I whipped up a recipe for a vegan hot chocolate that doesn’t have any sugar added but still hits the spot. The raw cacao contains the antioxidants your body craves without that stuff negating any of it. The spices provide a natural sweetness that is actually satisfying. Say, what!

 

Vegan No-Sugar-Added Hot Chocolate

Ingredients:

  • 1 Liter unsweetened soy milk (or whatever dairy-free milk you prefer)
  • 4 Tablespoons raw cacao powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon 
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon cardamom

Heat up the soy milk in a sauce pan over low heat. Gradually whisk the dry ingredients in until everything is well blended. Try not to overheat the hot chocolate drink, because the heat can kill the antioxidants. But if you prefer hotter drinks and don’t mind that bit, then go for it.

Makes 4 servings.

The spices can be tweaked to whatever you prefer. If you prefer clove and allspice over cardamom, then feel free to switch it up. You can even add vanilla extract to give it a sweeter aroma. 

Enjoy!

Vegan Cupcakes

It was my last day at work on Friday. It felt so surreal. Time to plant new seeds now. I brought in vegan cupcakes for my coworkers, who were delighted to eat them.

I had a little send off last night. Everyone’s warm wishes, assurances, and company were much appreciated. I’ve been feeling a lot of anxiety about traveling for this long, because I’ve never done anything this crazy before. So, it was really nice to see my friends and have them tell me everything is going to be okay. There were lots of hugs all around… And there were vegan pizzas, snacks, and the vegan cupcakes everyone loves.

It’s a recipe that has been kept secret for ten years and I’m finally ready to share it. The cupcakes themselves have nine ingredients, so they’re simple to make. If you don’t have coconut oil, canola oil can do just fine. Water can also be substituted for soy milk. But I promise you, the coconut oil and soy milk make the cupcakes exquisite.

You Will Need:

  • 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup of organic sugar
  • 1 tsp. of baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp. of baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp. of sea salt
  • 1 cup of soy milk
  • 1/4 cup of coconut oil
  • 1 tsp. of vanilla extract
  • 1 Tbsp. of white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put cupcake liners in the muffin tin.

Sift together all the dry ingredients into a bowl and stir together. Then poke a well into the dry mixture with your finger. In a separate bowl, mix together the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients right into the center of the well of the dry mixture. Stir until incorporated fully, but don’t overdo it. (We want the batter to be a little lumpy. If it’s stirred too much, then it loses its texture. Then it won’t rise as well.)

Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners until about two-thirds full. Put the pan into the oven and bake for 22 minutes. Stick a toothpick in the center to ensure they’re fully baked. If some batter clings onto the toothpick, bake for two more minutes.

When they’re done, take the cupcakes out and let them cool for at least half an hour. After they’re cool, it’s time to add the frosting.

Some store-bought frosting, such as Duncan Hines brand, are accidentally vegan. I used the creamy home-style vanilla flavor here, but if you want to make your own, it’s quite simple. There are plenty of recipes around. Here is what I use sometimes:

Vegan Frosting:

  • 2 cups of organic powder sugar
  • 2 Tbsp. of Earth Balance (vegan butter)
  • 2 Tbsp. of soy milk
  • 1 tsp. of vanilla extract

Cream together the Earth Balance, soy milk, and vanilla extract with a hand mixer. Gradually add the powder sugar until a smooth consistency forms and all the lumps are gone. Slather the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes.

And voila! There you have it. I hope you love making these as much as I do! Do leave a comment and tell me what you think. Enjoy!