9. Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook A staple on the shelf of most vegans, Veganomicon IS “the ultimate vegan cookbook” . Be sure to try the Broccoli-Potato Soup on page 138.
I love to cook and bake. I wish I had more time to do it, but when I do, I have some great vegetarian cookbooks to turn to. I recently read somewhere that if you are concerned about food labels and confused about the nutrition facts, you are eating the wrong foods. The foods you should be eating don’t come with labels.
The following cookbooks have great meat-free options that aren’t boring or bland. Please let me know if you try a recipe and what you like the best.
1.Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World: 75 Dairy-Free Recipes for Cupcakes that Rule: It’s no mistake that I started the list with a cookbook dedicated to cupcakes! My favorite recipe is for the Sexy Low-Fat Vanilla Cupcakes topped with icing and raspberries. Other flavors include, Margarita, S’mores, and Chocolate Stout and all dairy & egg free!
2. Skinny Bitch in the Kitch: I love those skinny bitches Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. They have a no nonsense approach, “Kick-Ass Recipes for Hungry Girls Who Want to Stop Cooking Crap (and Start Looking Hot!)” Lentil Vegetable Soup and Peanut Butter Potato Chip Cookies are a couple that I love.
3.The Thrive Diet: What I most love about this book is that it is written by Brendan Brazier, a professional Ironman Triathlete. Are you surprised that an endurance athlete can Thrive on a plant based diet? Check it out and find a variety of vegan burger options, smoothies, soups and even pizza!
4. The Conscious Cook: Delicious Meatless Recipes That Will Change the Way You Eat: One of my husband’s favorite recipes comes from this cookbook. Gardein “chicken” scaloppini with shiitake sake sauce, braised pea shoots, and crispy udon noodle cakes. Yeah baby! I made a great egg and dairy free caesar salad from this book too….so good!
One more thing! I got the best rice cooking tip from a blog called Stone Soup. Instead of putting the rice in water and letting the water boil away, try this! I did it tonight and it came out so good and fluffy. The rice was good but the Stone Soup blog is even better.
One more, one more thing! There is a new subscriber option over here, and up to the right. Please enter your email address to subscribe to receive future posts by email.
Last November, I posted this about a book I was reading, 29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life written by Cami Walker. I only read a few chapters and then got lost in the holidays, and didn’t pick it back up again until yesterday. I just finished the book and know that it is my time to give. I signed up at 29gifts.org and plan to start immediately. This book and project have been out there for a while and I know I am a little behind the times. (I only saw Avatar for the first time two weeks ago!). Either which way, I am glad that that I am finally on board.
This might not look like the perfect time to start a new project. I have several very stressful deadlines looming at work, I am learning some new skills and launching something new and exciting in the next month or two (stay tuned), I am looking for new and innovative ways to get some momentum behind the Ride project, I haven’t been feeling 100% lately and have been slightly, financially stretched. After reading Cami’s book though, I know that these reasons for not starting, are exactly the reasons, I HAVE to get started right away.
The basic premise of 29 Gifts is to give something, mindfully each day for 29 days. Chances are we each give something every day already, but this is something more, something intentional and authentic.
Here are some tips (but not rules!) from 29gifts.org
Be Mindful: The Challenge is intended to be a sacred ritual—it is your opportunity to cultivate a mindful practice of stepping outside your own story for a few seconds each day by serving others.
Don’t Quit: If you have a day that you feel unmotivated to give, it’s ok. Just go for the simple give. Call a friend and give some kind words. Write someone a nice note. Or exchange smiles with a stranger. Every give doesn’t need to be monumental. You might even notice that the “simple gives” feel more powerful than the grand gestures.
Don’t worry if you don’t do it perfectly: If you forget your give one day, be gentle with yourself. This ritual is about progress, not perfection. Sit down and quietly reflect on your day. Review the entire day mindfully and find the times you unconsciously gave so you can bring it into your consciousness. Don’t forget that there is never a day that you don’t give. There are only days that you don’t acknowledge and remember you did.
Be receptive and have fun: Enjoy your 29 days. And remember to stay open to receiving. Giving can’t happen without the receptors of our gifts.
Participate: To get the most out of your experience, take part in our discussion forum and document your experience. Writing in your giving blog or posting videos or images regularly on the site will help you keep giving top of mind during your 29 days—and longer if you choose to stick around.
Stick Around: When you’ve completed you first 29 days, our hope is you’ll feel so inspired by the changes you see in your thinking and your life, that you’ll continue to give mindfully each day. You’re welcome to stick around our community as long as you want to. Many givers have been here for multiple 29-day cycles. You’re also welcome to join us as a volunteer after you’ve completed your first 29-day cycle. We always need people who are willing to commit to help welcome new givers, comment on blog posts, spread the word online, help us organize our community events and fund raisers. If you’re interested in volunteering, contact Erin, our online community manager at erin@29Gifts.org and tell her a bit about yourself, your skills and why you’d like to be a 29Gifts volunteer.
So here we go, I will keep you posted about what my daily gifts turn out to be. I have no plan what they might look like, and that in itself is very appealing to me. I am a planner, so I am curious to see how something like this, with no outline or direction, will materialize. Let me know if you have read the book or are up for the challenge.
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” -Mahatma Gandhi
Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn have been pioneers in preventive medicine. Dr. Campbell wrote The China Study, a book I highly recommend that proves that a plant-based diet can not only prevent but also reverse many diseases. They are releasing a movie this Summer that will really expand on the theory of changing diet to change health. Check out the trailer. Is this something you plan to watch?
Last weekend, I took the time to read two books. Two whole books in one weekend! It was a great escape. Both books were great stories and so uplifting. Check em out!
I am re-reading Journey Into Power : How to Sculpt Your Ideal Body, Free Your True Self, and Transform Your Life With Yoga by Baron Baptiste. And,..I am inspired…again. I got back on my yoga mat last week after an inconsistent couple of months. Unlike any other form of exercise, my yoga mat welcomes me, engages me and keeps me connected to my practice. A treadmill does not connect me to running, a bike does not connect me to cycling and a piece of gym equipment does not connect me to weight lifting. When I do those activities I do them for improvement. I do them with a goal in mind and I usually do them thinking about what I can do next or what I could be doing if I wasn’t doing that.
When I am practicing yoga, it isn’t about the goal but about the practice. I love to do it.
With that knowledge, I still can’t understand one thing. If yoga makes me so happy, so grounded, and so healthy, then why can’t I easily step onto my mat every day?
my favorite paragraph: Christopher Hogwood was a runt among runts. He was the smallest of them all—half the size of the other runts. He is a particularly endearing piglet, Mary told us, with enormous ears and black and white spots, and a black patch over one eye like Spuds McKenzie, the bull terrier in the beer commercial. But Mary was convinced he would never survive. It would be more humane to kill him, she urged, than to let him suffer. But George said—as he often does—”Where there’s life, there’s hope.” The little piglet hung on.
more about the book:
THE GOOD GOOD PIG celebrates Christopher Hogwood in all his glory, from his inauspicious infancy to hog heaven in rural New Hampshire, where his boundless zest for life and his large, loving heart made him absolute monarch over a (mostly) peaceable kingdom. At first, his domain included only Sy’s cosseted hens and her beautiful border collie, Tess. Then the neighbors began fetching Christopher home from his unauthorized jaunts, the little girls next door started giving him warm, soapy baths, and the villagers brought him delicious leftovers. His intelligence and fame increased along with his girth. He was featured in USA Today and on several
National Public Radio environmental programs. On election day, some voters even wrote in Christopher’s name on their ballots. But as this enchanting book describes, Christopher Hogwood’s influence extended far beyond celebrity; for he was, as a friend said, a great big Buddha master. Sy reveals what she and others learned from this generous soul who just so happened to be a pig—lessons about self-acceptance, the meaning of family, the value of community, and the pleasures of the sweet green Earth. THE GOOD GOOD PIG provides proof that with love, almost anything is possible.
I’ve listed several books and websites on The Ride Project Resource page, and now, I have my own Bookstore! Amazon.com makes it easy to set up and I thought it might be an easier way for you to browse the books that I recommend. You will never find a book that I haven’t read or don’t recommend in my store. If you purchase something, I get a small percentage of the sale. If you click through and buy other products from Amazon, I will get a small cut of that as well.
For books that I recommend, see The Ride Project bookstore through Amazon. There are only a few listed so far by category but I will be adding more.
While I am not Vegan with a Vengeance, I did some cooking today from Vegan with a Vengeance : Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal-Free Recipes That Rock. The author, Isa Chandra Moskowitz notes that the hardest part of not eating eggs, for her, is going out to brunch with friends and eating oatmeal while everyone else eats waffles and omelets. I get that! Brunch is a really fun meal and I can’t remember the last time I went to brunch. This morning, I made my own!
The menu included Vegan Pancakes with maple syrup, Breakfast Burritos with scrambled tofu, salsa and guacamole along with hash browns, Veggie Chorizo, toast and jam and melon! Everything was so flavorful. Think freshly ground cumin and fennel seed. I was really surprised that the pancakes were so fluffy (no eggs or cow milk).
The worst part of brunch today – my mom had to go to work afterward, so no mimosas. The best part of brunch today - I am using the leftovers for dinner – crispy quesadillas.
P.S. This book is a must have for your Vegan cookbook collection. I love it!
: It’s no mistake that I started the list with a cookbook dedicated to cupcakes! My favorite recipe is for the Sexy Low-Fat Vanilla Cupcakes topped with icing and raspberries. Other flavors include, Margarita, S’mores, and Chocolate Stout and all dairy & egg free!
: I love those skinny bitches Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. They have a no nonsense approach, “Kick-Ass Recipes for Hungry Girls Who Want to Stop Cooking Crap (and Start Looking Hot!)” Lentil Vegetable Soup and Peanut Butter Potato Chip Cookies are a couple that I love.
: What I most love about this book is that it is written by Brendan Brazier, a professional Ironman Triathlete. Are you surprised that an endurance athlete can Thrive on a plant based diet? Check it out and find a variety of vegan burger options, smoothies, soups and even pizza!
: One of my husband’s favorite recipes comes from this cookbook. Gardein “chicken” scaloppini with shiitake sake sauce, braised pea shoots, and crispy udon noodle cakes. Yeah baby! I made a great egg and dairy free caesar salad from this book too….so good!
: If you need a go to Vegan brunch book, this is it! Christmas morning, I served Isa Chandra Moskowitz’ Breakfast Veggie Chorizo & Scrambled Tofu, served with warm tortillas, salsa and fresh guacamole.
written by Cami Walker. I only read a few chapters and then got lost in the holidays, and didn’t pick it back up again until yesterday. I just finished the book and know that it is my time to give. I signed up at 
by Baron Baptiste. And,..I am inspired…again. I got back on my yoga mat last week after an inconsistent couple of months. Unlike any other form of exercise, my yoga mat welcomes me, engages me and keeps me connected to my practice. A treadmill does not connect me to running, a bike does not connect me to cycling and a piece of gym equipment does not connect me to weight lifting. When I do those activities I do them for improvement. I do them with a goal in mind and I usually do them thinking about what I can do next or what I could be doing if I wasn’t doing that.
. The author, Isa Chandra Moskowitz notes that the hardest part of not eating eggs, for her, is going out to brunch with friends and eating oatmeal while everyone else eats waffles and omelets. I get that! Brunch is a really fun meal and I can’t remember the last time I went to brunch. This morning, I made my own!