Monday, April 26, 2010

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

We've been watching season 1 of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution nonstop for the last few days... wow. There's no push for vegan or vegetarian eating habits, just a drive to cook with fresh food instead of prepackaged garbage. You'll be yelling at the TV a lot of the time while you watch it, but it is definitely entertaining. Sad and nauseating, but entertaining.



We'll follow this post up with a veganized version of the simple stir-fry Mr. Oliver has been teaching the town of Huntington.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Times Colonist 10k Race

We'd been training for this race since January, and the day finally arrived! Today we ran the race in a respective 55 and 56 (ish) minutes. I'm sure there are some folks out there wondering how Vegans stay alive, let alone run a 10k race. The fuel you choose to fill your body with is essential to any activity you do. In our case we chose carbs, carbs, carbs to get us through the race.

The night before the race we filled up with baked yams, a green salad (with sprouts, marinated cherry tomatoes, and a balsamic Dijon dressing), as well as whole grain brown rice and white beans. After dinner we concocted a delicious probiotic smoothie with cashew cream, water, frozen fruit, 2 bananas and cacao powder.

The morning of the race we pounded back some oats with chopped up bananas and raw almond butter. Make sure to keep hydrated - it will make you or break you. Don't chug down a bottle of water pre-race though, or it will likely resurface. Another tip we learned from the 10k clinic was to experiment with your breakfast on training days. You will soon find out which items do and do not work for you (ie- if you chose that chocolate eclair with Count Chocula cereal and chocolate milk you may see the half-digested remnants on your neighbour's lawn).

A nutritionist that spoke during the 10k clinic I attended warned us against drinking cow's milk prior to a race. He said the milk may actually start to curdle while you run.

Happy running!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Almost 100 Mile Challege Pasta Salad

Since posting about the 100 Mile Challenge a week ago we've been watching it online (follow the link two posts below). Luckily we've been inspired at a time where the local farmers markets have plenty of local produce to choose from. We took the easy way out and made a big a$$ pasta salad. No we're not having guests over, we just like to eat a lot.

We're calling it Almost 100 Mile Challenge Pasta Salad because the pasta is definitely not local. Apparently it's out of Edmonton so that's got to be better than Italy, right? The dressing also isn't local, but we'll sort out those details next time... Maybe we should call it Pasta Salad with Local Veggies, but we've got to stick to a theme... jeez enough with the criticism already people.

Local:
1x Red Peppers
1x Yellow Peppers
1x Orange Peppers
5x White Turnips
1 x Head of Watercress
1x Small red onion
1x Cucumber
Basil Leaves

Al Gore hating, climate changing, smogtacular products of doom:
Dressing:
1/4 cup Olive Oil
2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 tsp Sea Salt
1 tsp Pepper
2 tbsp Dijon Mustard

Pasta:
Organic Kamut Spiral Pasta

Mix everything together and clean up. You're ready to eat!

Buckwheat Banana Waffles!

Behold the Buckwheat Banana Waffles! Okay, maybe we had some issues learning how to use the waffle iron properly (not cooked enough first, and then a little burnt second)... but once we got the hang of it they (for the third and last waffle) turned out pretty well. The recipe below made 3 waffles. Double it and snack on 'em all Sunday.


1 1/2 cups of buckwheat flour
1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp oil (we used melted coconut oil)
1 cup of your favourite vegan milk (rice, almond, oat, soy, etc)
1 banana
3 tbsp maple syrup

Blend the oil, milk, banana, and syrup together and set aside.

Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Pour 'wet' mixture into 'dry' and mix.

The method we'll use next time will be:
Lightly oil waffle iron. When up to temperature pour just over a cup of the mixed batter in and close. It took about six minutes for the steam coming from the iron to slow down considerably. At this point we opened the iron and popped out our delicious waffles. Repeat 1000 times and cover with fruit and syrup.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

The 100 Mile Challenge & No Impact Man

Our eco-conscious friend Anna recommended the following documentaries for our, and now your, viewing pleasure. Thanks Anna!

Keep checking out the blog for our own 100 Mile Challenge... length: undetermined.

THE 100 MILE CHALLENGE
http://100mile.foodtv.ca/video/watch-episode-1-online-purge

"Exactly what it sounds like: you challenge yourself to eat only foods grown, produced and sold within 100 miles (160 km) of your home. Anywhere from a week to a year... the length of the challenge is up to you."

Eat local. Quit F?*king up the planet... or something along those lines. The TV show, which aired on Food TV, took place in Mission, BC and is available for viewing on the website above.



NO IMPACT MAN
http://noimpactman.typepad.com/

"A blog by Colin Beavan about what each of us can do to end our environmental crisis, make a better place to live for ourselves and everyone else, and hopefully come up with a happier way of life along the way."

Have you seen Wall-E? Essentially, the earth is covered in garbage and the human race is forced to leave the devestated planet. Colin's documentary shows how his family had an overall positive impact on the planet... they showed what could be necessary to stop the Wall-E story from become a reality.


7KSSQNKYV5DN

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Vegan in Maui - Pa'ia Part 2

We have developed a bit of an addiction to coconut water. Soooo delicious and refreshing, plus it is a great source of potassium and electrolytes. We couldn't get enough of it in Maui and keep chugging it now that we're home. We're also big fans of coconut oil. I have been using it on my face since I ran out of my regular moisturizer and my skin has been really soft. I thought it would be too oily, but it soaks right in before bed.

The last stop during our Maui trip was a visit to the Flatbread Company in the small town of Pa'ia. We expected the Flatbread Company to be a small, cozy establishment. It turned out to be a very popular kid friendly restaurant with lots of room for its patrons. There is a massive wood fire pizza oven inside which was pretty cool - it gave the flatbread a delicious smoky flavour. We ordered a vegan pizza with avocado, pineapple and other goodies. De-lish! They also had wheat free spelt crusts available.



Another great addition to our diet is Spirulina. We had it in our smoothies in Kihei and bought some to take home with us. The powder form is great, and you can just dump it in your smoothie for some great minerals and vitamins. My grandparents got a huge kick out of it when we made bright green smoothies at their place. Their apprehension quickly turned to delight after tasting the banana mango tropical smoothie we blended up for them. My grandpa said that making smoothies was "fun" - we totally agree!

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