Incredibly Nutritious – all about food.

Many changes have been taking place in our lives… one of them being the way we eat. We tried to eat healthy before, and thought we were doing alright, but our stay with the folks at Gentle World exposed us to new ideas. I really like learning new ways to prepare food, so we bought one of their cookbooks when we left, because I wanted to try some of their magic in my own kitchen. During our few days in their community, eating strictly vegan, I began to feel really different. At first really tired, I think I was definitely de-toxing. Not just physically, before we left I was running on crappy food, a fair bit of stress, and not much sleep. I think we were a pretty sorry lot when we arrived. Anyway, something really cool started happening for me physically after the first two days…. It was while I was sleeping. I would feel really light, and have dreams that involved floating or flying, and when I woke up in the morning I felt really clean and clear and…. well just light I guess. I’ve been thinking that eating animal products is a pretty heavy thing for your body to take on. So back to my mission here, I wanted to share some recipes from the cookbook. BTW, here is their website if you would like to buy one for your own kitchen. http://gentleworld.org/

This Banini Shake is really great. I had it for breakfast the other morning and felt pretty spoiled to be eating what seems like a milkshake so early in the day. As Birds (one of the guys from Gentle World) says, “it tastes just like a malted”. Freeze your overripe bananas (peeled and bagged) for this treat.

Banini (or Vanilla Malted) Shake

1 cup ice cold water

4 bananas – frozen, sliced

¼ cup tahini

1 T maple syrup

1 tsp. vanilla

In blender, start with 1 cup of ice water, add remaining ingredients and blend. If too thick, add more water.

Banana Bread- so yummy, and you would never guess that is sans dairy and eggs. We used applesauce in place of the oil.

1 cup dry sweetener

3 bananas mashed

½ cup oil

2 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. cinnamon

½ cup walnuts (chopped)

½ cup raisins

mix wet and dry ingredients separately. Combine and mix nuts and raisins into the batter. Pour into oiled/floured loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 45-60 min.

Pancakes – Johnny has always liked making us pancakes for a special breakfast treat, so we were pretty pleased to find this vegan version. Once again, you can replace half- or even all – of the oil with applesauce.

Fluffy Pancakes – yields about 8 small pancakes

1 ¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour

½ tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. baking soda

2 T. dry sweetener

½ tsp. vanilla

1 ¼ cups soy milk

2 T oil

Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls then combine and make like you would any old pancake.

We have also been creating a lot of meals ourselves out of the yummy veggies and fruits that are sold locally at the farmer’s market…. They are SO delicious, fresh and affordable. Here’s one of our favorites, our own version of something our friends Sam and Hannah made up:

Bean Bowls

Quinoa – cooked and seasoned with braggs and herbs – then cooled.

Beans – either black or pinto – cooked then cooled. Or you can use a can.

Fresh chopped greens – Kale, Bok Choy, Spinach, Arugula, you name it.

Fresh diced tomatoes

Artichoke hearts, sliced olives (both of these are optional)

A sprinkle of something spicy, like Tabasco or Creole seasoning, or whatever you have.

Salsa

Vegan Sour Cream, made by “Tofutti” – try it, you will like it!

Toss all ingredients in a salad bowl and enjoy. J

The vegans have been really kind to us in letting us buy food from them since they buy in bulk. Here are some of the new ingredients they have turned us on to:

• Daiya shredded “cheese”. It looks like cheese, and melts like cheese. I can’t say it tastes just like cheese, but it tastes kinda close and it’s really tasty. When we picked up the cheese Summer gave us the idea of making mini-pizzas…. So we did that night, with our flatbread buns and they were really tasty little pizzas! Pretty cool that there is such a thing as vegan pizza.

• Tahini- LOVE this stuff. Remind me to post the recipe from the vegan cookbook for French toast using Tahini. We bought a gallon from them and I am loving it. It’s awesome in salad dressings too.

• En-er-gie Egg Replacer- for cooking or baking. This stuff is great.

• Vegan chocolate flavored syrup – made by santa cruz.

• Vegan Cookies – these are kind of pricey, but we have bought a few and they are so tasty. They are the big ones, individually wrapped, made by the Alternative Baking Co.

The vegans also have been sharing their home-grown avocados with us, which we are really thankful for… they are so delicious. In truth, the people at Gentle World have been incredibly kind to us, (in addition to be incredibly delicious haha), we are so thankful for all the help and resources they have provided us with. Really, they are amazing, sincere and gentle people, with an admirable vision.

I have more exciting things to share, like we may be converting a bus into a house for us to live in, but that will come later. Much love and Aloha, until next time.