MY VEGAN RECIPES

Hello Dreamers!

I hope everyone is well and following their dreams. I have heard several success stories from people participating in Veganuary. It’s still not too late to become Vegan for the remainder of the month and show compassion to animals and the environment. Check out Veganuary US 2017 for some of my posts.

I promised to give you recipes this week and will do so, but first I want to give my input on a topic that is concerning. I have had several people tell me that they are being bullied and criticized for their vegetarian/vegan choices. I hope this is not becoming the norm, as I had it happen to me this week at work. It all started when I came in on Monday. I have yoga class before work so I am usually running just on time on that day. When these particular coworkers saw me, one of them commented that I am a “healthy bitch” and then they all took that as an opening to criticize my vegan lifestyle choices. While one of them was comparing me to a rabbit, another kept up the chant, “But don’t you crave meat?” It was impossible to educate them because they would not listen to anything I had to say and just wanted to laugh at whatever I brought for lunch that day.

It reminded me of the movie Grease where Olivia Newton John plays Sandy and the girls are making fun of her while she is in the bathroom at a slumber party. She doesn’t drink, she doesn’t smoke, …...you know the rest. She was being scrutinized for being too perfect.

It seems that if our eating habits are different, it gives people free reign to pick on us. My coworkers are all nurses, some smoke, and others are obese, have diabetes and all are sedentary (they also make fun of my running).

These are grown adults, I hate to think of a child being picked on for the same thing at school, but the children are probably more mature than that.

So I just wanted to mention two books from my library:

:

Living Among Meat Eaters by Carol L. Adams and VeganFreak by Bob Torres and Jenna Torres

These brilliant authors have found a way to survive the nonsensical arguments that are proposed by meat eaters. I found both of them on Thriftbooks.com, and if you work or live with a meat eater, these books may help you keep your sanity. I think the next time I am bullied at work, I will just give them a wide-eyed look and say, “Are you making fun of me Riz?”

Check out the recipes below, these are a bit spicy, perhaps you could bring them to a Super Bowl Party next month and tackle some of those bullies into eating on the Vegan side.

Sweet Potatoe Black Bean Enchiladas

2 large sweet potatoes (baked)

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powdeser

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp kosher salt

1 (15 oz) can black beans (drained/rinsed)

1 ½ C. shredded vegan mexican cheese

1 (12 oz) can enchilada sauce

6 flour tortillas or 12 corn tortillas

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Scoop pulp out of sweet potatoes and place in a large bowl

Add garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, salt,

Black beans, 1 C. of the vegan cheese

Combine all ingredients in bowl.

Place half of enchilada sauce in 9x11 baking dish

Place ½ C of mixture on top of each tortilla and roll up.

Place enchilada seam down in baking dish, pour

remaining sauce on top.

Cover with foil and bake 15 minutes. Remove foil

and sprinkle with remaining vegan cheese.

Bake uncovered 15 minutes or until

Cheese is melted slightly. Enjoy

Hot and Sour Soup

6 C. vegetable broth

2 C. mushrooms

1 sm. Can bamboo shoots

1 sm. Can water chestnuts

2 tbsp. Soy sauce

½ tsp. Pepper

1 tsp. Hot sauce (optional)

2 tbsp. Vinegar

3 cloves garlic, minced

½ C. scallions

2 tbsp chili oil (find in the chinese food aisle)

Bring vegetable broth to simmer in medium size pan.

Add all ingredients except scallions and chili oil.

Simmer 20 minutes. Add scallions and simmer 5 more

Minutes. Stir in chili oil. Add additional soy sauce to taste.

Spicy King Pao Cauliflower

1 medium head cauliflower (cut into bite size pieces)

½ C. garbonzo bean flour

½ C. water

1 tsp. Garlic powder

½ tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Melted vegan butter blend

⅔ C. King Pao sauce - to taste

Heat oven to 450 degrees. In medium size bowl, combine flour, water,

garlic powder, and salt. Whisk until smooth. Toss cauliflower into

garbanzo batter, coat each piece, place on lightly greased nonstick baking

sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, tossing halfway through. Combine melted

Vegan butter and King Pao sauce in large bowl. Remove cauliflower from

oven, toss in hot sauce mixture. Place back onto baking sheet and cook

For 25 minutes until crisp. Allow to cool, serve with hummus dip or vegan

Cucumber dressing. Enjoy

Send in your comments and experiences. Next week we will end Veganuary with some resources

to keep you inspired to stay vegan all year long. And finally a new look for my dreamboard page!

Keep Dreaming

Coleen