Posts Tagged ‘vegan’
Vegan Athlete Tips: Brendan Brazier
After suffering an intense bought of stomach pains, cramps, and intestinal distress due to a “non-constipating gentle” iron supplement on Monday night… I’ve been re-reading everything I can about vegan iron sources and blood building.
I found the article bellow on a website called In a Vegetarian Kitchen. It’s an interview with Brendan Brazier, the vegan triathlete and author of one of my favorite books: The Thrive Diet.
The book is filled with great recipes and advice that I use often as a resource. He has some great recipes and really advocates gluten-free eating.
I agree with the underlying principles that Brazier presents, especially his explanation of stress.
I talk about the cummulation of stress often with my athletes. It’s not just stress from training that takes a toll on the body, but all types: nutritional (from eating the wrong foods or not enough), emotional (from work or relationships), and environmental (from toxins and polluntants in both our homes and the outdoors). Basically, the idea is that the system is overwhelmed by the sum of all these types of stress… and you can’t handle enough good stress if you are up to your neck in bad stress. This is why it’s nearly impossible to have a great workout or race after a devasting breakup, or at the end of finals week.
Check out the link bellow for Brazier’s tips on vegan eating as an athlete:
Brendan Brazier on Vegan Diet Transistion for Athletes
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Green Berry-Chia Smoothie
1 Cup blueberries (I use the frozen wild blueberries from Trader Joes)
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Soooo Delicious Coconut Milk!!
I can’t contain my excitement for this new coconut milk! It totally took me by surprise. We were in Ashland for the Easter holiday weekend (UP is a Catholic school, so they get a four-day weekend) and I started jumping up and down when I saw this in the Co-op. By the way, the Ashland food co-op is like my home away from home. I practically live there when we’re visiting. Luckily Ian is a sport and let’s me make a daily (sometimes twice daily) trip. Why is it so exciting? They have mate on tap, three kinds of raw-granola in their bulk section, a juice bar!!!, a huge assortment of kombuchas, amazing fresh fruit and gorgeous young coconuts & dates… my mouth is watering… I’m going to stop now.
When we got back to Portland I was elated to find that my very own Whole Foods in the Pearl is carrying both the orginial and the unsweetened varieties. I picked up a carton of the unsweetened version last night and made some hot rice porridge for desert. It was so creamy I wanted to cry.
Heat in a pan on the stove:
2 Cups water (use less water for thicker consistency)
1/2 Eden Organic’s Brown Rice Flakes
(you could use hot rice cereal, but I like these flakes the best)
Pinch of celtic sea salt to taste
Local Raw Honey to sweeten – great for spring allergies!
(could sub agave, stevia, maple syrup)
Splash on the Coconut Milk!
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Coconut Candies
I’ve started to think that I am addicted to sugar lately because I simply cannot stop eating dates…. especially the huge medjools in the refridgerated produce… mmmm. Then at lunch today I got a date bar from Oskri (I eat their sesame flax bars all the time). The bar was 100% dates and so sweet it was almost cloying- like eating a big tablespoon of honey straight from the pot. It definitely needed some meaty walnuts to balance it out…. I did end up eating all 160 calories of it, just in small pieces.
I’m waiting for Natalia Rose’s newest book to come in the mail: Detox 4 Women. It was just released on April 7th and I ordered it that day from Amazon.com, but it just hasn’t arrived yet. Hopefully it won’t be back ordered too long since I think I need to start the yeast phase soon!
Until then…
This recipe comes from the VegNews Recipe club. They have great recipes (vegan, but not always gluten free or raw) and they just shoot them straight to your email address. They are often a source for inspiration in the kitchen.
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup raw walnuts
3/4 cup dates, pitted
3/4 cup dried apricots
3/4 cup shredded coconut
2 tablespoons orange juice
Zest of 1 orange
Shredded coconut, for coating
What You Do: 1. In a food processor, pulverize the raisins, walnuts, dates, and apricots for 1 to 2 minutes or until finely chopped. Add coconut, orange juice and zest. Process for an additional 1 to 2 minutes or until mixture comes together to form a ball.
2. Place some shredded coconut on a plate. Dampen hands with water, form mixture into one-inch balls, and roll in shredded coconut
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My Daily Hummus
Sometimes there is nothing more satisfying than hummus. It’s quick, easy, and super versatile. My hummus recipe isn’t really exact…. but I end up making it a couple times per week. I’ve been known to eat most of it with a spoon and consume an entire container of salsa with it. For some healthy dipping options, romaine hearts are my favorite, but any veggie will do the trick! If you’re looking for something with more substance… there’s rice crackers and Mary’s Gone Crackers are wonderful too.
In your food processor or blender:
Chop 2 cloves of garlic, then add:
1 can Organic Garbanzos
1 can Cannellini beans (which are Italian White Kidney Beans)*
2TBS or Big spoonfuls of Tahini (sesame seed paste)
Splash of lemon juice (add more to taste)
Splash of Olive oil- add to get the consistency that you want. (sometimes I leave it out or just add a splash)
2 tsp of paprika
Salt & Ground pepper to taste
Sometimes I add Cayenne & Cumin for a Mexican variation… and my favorite is when I add roasted red peppers (jarred or roasted in oven and peel skin). I’ve also added palm hearts, kalamata olives, sun dried tomatoes and roasted eggplant. Ian likes it when I add fresh basil and walnuts or pesto to the mix.
The possibilities are endless!
*Instead of Cannellini you can use 2 cans of Garbanzos or substitute Great Northern Beans. I like the Cannellini beans because they give the hummus a really smooooth texture. And if you don’t want to use canned beans you can always buy them dry and cook them, but that takes longer… and usually when I’m making hummus, I’m ultra hungry.
For a hilarious commentary on hummus (and gluten-free white people).
Check out this post from Stuff White People Like.
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A Tale of Two Cookies
We were gone all weekend at the Stanford Invitational track meet in Palo Alto. The weather was simply phenomenal and left me wondering, “why don’t I live in the bay area?” This point was driven home when we disembarked in Seattle to a sleeting 38 degree afternoon. And although Portland was a few degrees warmer when we finally landed, it was raining even harder.
So, after a beyond-muddy long run on Sunday, I decided that I would usher in nicer weather with some Spring Cleaning. Sometimes there is no greater satisfaction than bringing organization to chaos and disarray! OK… so maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But I have been obsessed with cleaning and detox more than ever lately. I just want to shed any unnecessary baggage and live lightly, freely. I have recently donated significant portion of my clothes, weeded out unused kitchen items, and shredded loads of old receipts and papers.
In the spirit of domesticity and my new creative energy, I embarked on two new cookies- both vegan and gluten free of course…. Pumpkin Seed Hippie Cookies & Sunbutter Delights… one for me and the other for Ian.
1/3 C raw agave (amber)
1/3 C erythritol
1/2 C almond butter
1 C quinoa flakes
1 C almond meal
1/2 C rice flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp celtic sea salt- ground (or kosher salt)
3/4 C pumpkin seeds
Splash of almond milk for added moisture.
Cream coconut oil, sweeteners and almond butter together. Then add dry ingredients mixing well. I mixed these with my hands! If you want it to be sweeter, just add a few sprinkles of stevia. Drop dough in small mounds or spoonfulls onto cookie sheet. (I use the silicone liners so they are non-stick, if you don’t have these you will need to greese the cookie sheet).
Bake for 12-16 minutes at 300 degrees until edges get golden.
3/4 C Raw sugar or evaporated cane juice
1/4 C Fruit sweet or apple juice concentrate
1 C Sunflower seed butter
1/2 C Garfava Flour
1 C Potato starch
1/4 C Tapioca Starch
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp Ener-G egg replacer wisked with 2 Tbs warm water
Bake for 12-14 minutes at 350 degrees until golden brown.
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Happy Holidays! 30% off at Siftbakery.com
Want to order vegan & gluten-free cookies for Christmas? Order by Sunday at noon and your package will ship Monday, 12/22/08 USPS priority. Enter Promo code FRIEND for a 30% discount on all orders through the end of the year. Happy holidays!
We’ve also added beautiful letterpress cards (from Egg Press!) to our inventory that you can purchase to go along with your order. Email us your personal message and we’ll include it in the card.
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Mmmm waffles….
yum.Related Posts:
Gluten-Free Vegan Cookies: New Flavor & Free Shipping
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Rice Yogurt
Ok- one more product idea: RICE YOGURT! Why did it take so long for someone to think of this? I actually found this for the first time down in Ashland, Oregon (home to the best Co-op in the world)! Another one of those: “its about time,” things. And then a few weeks later it came to New Seasons!
This stuff is pretty sweet, so it more of a dessert thing than a lunch thing for me…. but I love the blueberry kind! And I have really missed yogurt since I stopped eating the soy-stuff. One of my favorite foods was the Vanilla soy-yogurt from Wildwood! Ricera isn’t the same, but it is close and lets me pretend.
Now if someone will please come up with a gluten-free, vegan cheese without soy! (I know this would probably take a miracle)
