quick black beans

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

My original plan tonight was to make something extravagent from one of my new cookbooks, but that was an EPIC fail. I was way to tired to make a huge meal tonight and it was already past my usually eating time of seven. So, I steamed up some asparagus and added some lemon juice, cut up another apple and added some almond butter (if you haven't noticed this is practically my favorite food right now), opened up a can of organic black beans--added some cumin and bay leaves--,and then cooked up some brown rice. It was actually very good and very filling for a quick, unplanned meal. 


I also got some great news from various vegan companies I contacted which you guys will be hearing about in the days to come. Also, if anyone has any advice to help me gain some followers that would be great...i've been doing my best but i seem to be failing in gaining popularity. I also created an Edgy Vedgy facebook page, so if you facebook, which I'm sure you do, please like my page....thanks in advance :] 

Well, i'm calling it a night blogfam. nighty-night! 

Amazing grass and workout

If you read my post from this morning you probably know I've been a bit down about getting back into shape from surgery, but let me tell ya, today's workout was AMAZING. I incorporated some new things into my workout and decided to follow a running plan instead of just winging it everyday at the gym. While I was catching up on my blogs this morning I was reading Kathy Eats Real Food, who I highly recommend following if don't. In her blog about running she has a half-marathon plan that she used so I decided to modify to my recovery and own plans for a marathon. My workout was ecstatic I'm still smiling from how happy I am...after my workout I decided to give Amazing Grass a try and it actually isn't to bad at all...it's a little rich though, maybe next time I'll add some extra rice milk.  I added the packet to my after workout smoothie of banana, rice milk, and some raw oats. I also had another apple with almond butter and some steamed carrots and green beans.


Now, it's nap time. :]

mmm Smoothies

So, it's day three of my adventure back to health and fitness and I can proudly say that I've been feeling great, sore, but great. Every morning I've made a fruit smoothie after my workout. This week I've usually just been using frozen bananas, strawberries, mangos, and pineapple with some coconut water. But today I was a little extra hungry so I had a piece of spelt toast with some almond butter, and an apple that didn't make it past the knife. I've been limiting my carb intake, but when I do enjoy them I make sure their whole grains or something like quinoa. I've also been eating a ton of steamed veggies and fruits. I'm pretty sure I've gone through 2 bags of Trader Joe's asparagus and 2 bags of fuji apples and it's only Wednesday.

On another note, the working out has been a little disappointing, which is to be expected I guess. Before surgery I was running nonstop for miles but now I'm having a hard time completing just 1.5 miles without needing to take a break due to all of the muscle loss in my legs. I've decided that this is definitely going to be an experience for the next few months. I'll be making something from one of my new cookbooks I got for Christmas tonight for dinner, so hopefully you'll be looking forward to another post today.

BTW i picked up a packet of the chocolate amazing grass that was recommended by livinlovinvegan when I went to Fruitful Yield the other day...I still have yet to try it because I'm out of hemp milk but I'm definitely looking forward to it as soon as i get to Whole Foods.

seeing as how my pictures won't load I'll have to add them later.


--exhausted gym rat.

Down to Business

Sunday, December 26, 2010

So, seeing as how I can't sleep and I was planning on doing this blog in the morning I decided I might as well just do it now.  Now that I'm officially going to be 10 weeks out of surgery this coming Tuesday and I've started hitting the gym a bit more and slowly getting back into bowling I've decided I might as well start my training and super healthy eating a few weeks early.  Before I found out I would be forced to have injury related hip surgery I was training for a half marathon and eating a raw vegan diet. Sadly, I have found it extremly hard to eat raw while at school, so I must opt for eating a very healthy plant filled vegan diet while at school. Tomorrow marks my first official day of training for the marathon and getting back into full athlete shape.  I CAN'T WAIT. I've missed running, boxing, and lifting so much.  So, for my last not so healthy meal for awhile I decided to feast on a large piece of homemade vegan pumpkin pie that I made for Christmas as well as some steamed asparagus, a mixture of tangerines, apples, and a banana alongside Isa's Chickpea cutlets...which I recently saw over at livinlovinvegan.






I'll definitely be keeping you updated on my delicious healthy food i'll be making in the days to come as well as some new products I'll be testing in honor of my training.

VegWeb Chocolate Cake

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

So, this morning I woke up and felt the need to bake chocolate cake, don't ask why, I just had this very strong inclination too.  So, after parousing the vegan recipe websites I came across a few on VegWeb that had some good reviews...i decided to pick The Ultimate PMS Chocolate Cake...mainly because it was quick and easy and I was on a time constraint to get to running. Anyways....after taking it out of the oven and testing it sans frosting I wasn't very impressed.  This cake is very dense, not fluffy, and it isn't sweet enough for my taste buds, I personally wouldn't recommend making it.



On another note,  I made some great Pumpkin Date muffins yesterday. These, I highly recommend making. There not to unhealthy and the recipe is very simple.



Pumpkin Date Muffins
2 c dates, chopped
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/4 c corn meal
3/4 c granulate sugar (i substituted agave, you can also use brown rice syrup)
1 t baking soda
1/4 t baking powder
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground ginger
1/4 t ground cloves
1 c canned pumpkin puree
5 T apple sauce
2 t grated orange zest (i leave this out occassionally)
3 T. water

1. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly coat muffin pans with vegetable oil spray.
2. In bowl mix dry ingredients then add dates.
3. In separate bowl mix wet ingredients. Then add to the dry using the muffin method to combine.
4. Bake until tester inserted in center comes out clean. I've found it usually takes between 10-15 minutes depending on the type of oven.

Hopefully you all enjoy this recipe and are enjoying your holiday festivities.

Cold in Chicago

Broccoli and Such

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Tonight I made my first semi-homemade meal since being home...and let me tell ya it was AMAZING! I made some baked broccoli alongside a new item I've never seen before at whole foods...the broccoli was amazing (maybe I'm just biased against broccoli seeing as how it is my favorite veggie; also, there are so many different way's to make broccoli enjoyable).  Alongside the broccoli I enjoyed the Vegan Cranberry Quinoa Loaf from Whole Foods. This product tastes just like the Tofurky Celebration roast, but a little sweeter.  I highly reccomend picking it up...seeing as how I'll be the only vegan attending our Thanksgiving feast of 50+ I decided to just pick up half a loaf on Wednesday instead of buying a whole Tofurky.  It was real simple to prepare it...it comes cold so I just threw it in the oven for a few minutes to warm it up.  





I also have some pumpkin muffins currently baking, which I'm more than excited to enjoy shortly. I'm making some pumpkin cookies tonight so I just picked up the pumpkin bread premade mix from Trader Joe's this afternoon and instead of adding oil and eggs I substituted in 1 cup of unsweetened apple sauce.  I'll definitely be posting some pics tomorrow...until then I hope you all are getting excited about all of the vegan Thanksgiving food posts...i know I am. 

Home Sweet Home

So, my second night home in Chicago and I got to enjoy my Aunt Debbie's homemade chili. Thankfully, she made me my own pot of vegetarian chili. :] i was so excited...not only is she a good cook, but it was also my first homemade meal since I left to school in August.  Her recipe is very simple: tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, a little bit of brown sugar (which I had her leave out), celery, onions, chili powder, and 9 different types of beans.



The best thing I like about chili is that you can be SO creative with it...usually when I make it I use the same recipe but add different types of beans (i usually have about 9-10), daikon, carrots, and sometimes other miscellaneous veggies. Needless to say chili is definitely a must have in any vegan cookbook or recipe box. I also enjoyed this with some vegan rolls (which I forgot to take a picture of)

Climate Connections Part II

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Last spring some of the environmental and health clubs on campus sponsored an event called Climate Connections.  Climate Connections has a "fairesque" with each club setting up their own booth.  Today, we had another Climate Connections, which was set up by Vanderbilt SPEAR, or Students Promoting Environmental Awareness and Responsibility.  Awesomely, they asked VIVA to set up a booth...which of course we were PUMPED to do.  We decided to try out our vegan form of beer pong, which we righteously deemed Veg Pong.  Instead of SOLO cups, Naty Light, and Ping Pong balls we decided to use recycled cups, Almond Breeze milk, and Trader Joe-Joe's candy cane oreos...the idea was awesome at first until we realized people would rather just eat the oreos (which I highly recommend going and picking up a box...NOW, they are SO addicting).  Needless to say the veg pong was not as quite of a hit as we expected it to be, but at least the oreos and milk brought people to the booth.
The other clubs represented were the Interfaith Council, Vanderbilt American Red Cross, SPEAR, and Vanderbilt Biodiesel.  I learned today about the pretty awesome stuff that Vanderbilt Biodiesel does--they take the left over vegetable oil from all of the cafeterias on campus and create a multi-use soap from the glycerin byproduct, which they call "ecosuds".  When my fellow VIVA member Julie and I stopped at the booth we picked up some of the enviro-friendly peppermint soap..I can't wait to use it.  
We also got a chance to meet some fellow veg friends on campus who didn't know VIVA existed...it's always great when I meet a new Vandy veg student whose interested in coming to meetings...hopefully they'll come to the vegetarian dinner next week.

Here's a descent picture of our VIVA booth and our President, Danielle Williams, talking to a student. 

Vegetarian Athlete Article

So, earlier this morning the president of VIVA, Danielle Williams, emailed me this interesting article about vegetarian athletes hoping to gain weight....so I figured I'd post it here in case this pertains to anyone reading.  I don't the source of the article but all of her food ideas are vegan except maybe some of the Odwalla bars...don't quote me one that though because I've never eaten them. I defiantly agree with the article, so hopefully some of you can find this a little helpful.

HOW DO I GAIN WEIGHT AS A VEGETARIAN ATHLETE?
by Julia Driggers, RD

For starters, gaining weight for a vegetarian athlete is the same as
gaining weight for any athlete. First, you want to look at what you
are eating, how much, and your training routine. To gain weight at
your current activity level, all you need to do is simply add extra
calories to your diet. In general, an extra 250 to 500 calories per
day can lead to a 1/2 to 1 pound weight gain, respectively, per week.
For example, if you eat the way you usually do, but add an extra 250
calories everyday for a week, at the end of that week you should gain
1/2 pound. Similarly, if you eat the way you usually do, plus an extra
500 calories everyday for a week, by the end of that week you should
gain 1 pound. The amount of calories you choose to add are based upon
the amount of weight you want to gain. If you desire to gain less than
10 pounds add an extra 250 calories to your daily intake. If you
desire to gain more than 10 pounds, add an extra 500 calories to your
daily intake.

Adding calories to your diet is easy. All you have to do is add more
snacks throughout the day or add extra calories to the foods you eat.
It is important that you add calories with healthy items to provide
more vitamins and other nutrients in your diet. Below is a list of 250
calorie and 500 calorie healthy snack ideas. Try adding one or more of
these ideas every day to help gain weight. Also listed are ways to add
calories to your foods. When you don't have time for snacking, this is
a good way to increase the calories in your food without having to
plan another meal.

There is no need to eat more than 500 extra calories per day for
higher weight gain. Evidence has shown that exceeding more than 500
calories per day and gaining more than 1 pound per week is not
beneficial to the athlete. A greater than 1 pound weight gain a week
can lead to an increase in fat mass and a reduction in muscle mass.
Extra body fat and less lean muscle can slow an athlete down and make
it harder to compete. Once you reach your goal weight, continue to eat
about the same amount to maintain your weight gain.

If your training routine becomes more intense, you will need to
increase the amount of calories you are eating just to maintain your
weight. If you are increasing your caloric intake, but are still
having a hard time gaining weight during training, you may need to
focus more on increasing calories during your off-season. During your
off-season you lead a more relaxed life style and it's easier to put
on pounds. To gain weight during this time, simply follow the
recommendations for adding calories.

250 Calorie Snack Ideas

*2 Slices Whole Wheat Bread WITH 1 Tbs Peanut Butter, 1 Tbs Jelly
*1 cup Orange Juice with Calcium AND 6 oz Soy Yogurt
*1 Odwalla Bar
*1 Clif Bar
*1 Whole Wheat Pita Pocket WITH 5 Tbs Hummus
*1/2 cup Guacamole WITH 1-1/2 cup Celery Sticks AND 1/2 cup Soy Milk
*1 Medium Apple WITH 1 Tbs Almond Butter
*1/4 cup Mixed Nuts WITH 1-1/2 Tbs Raisins
*1 Crunchy Granola Bar AND 1/2 cup Soy Milk
*1 oz Hard Pretzels AND 1 cup 100% Cranberry Juice

500 Calorie Snack Ideas

*1 Whole Wheat Bagel WITH 2 Tbs Almond Butter, 1/2 Medium Sliced
Banana
*Fruit Smoothie WITH 1-1/2 cup Soy Milk, 1 cup Orange Juice with
Calcium, 1 Medium Banana, 10 Large Strawberries, 1 cup Blueberries
*1/2 cup Almonds WITH 1/4 cup Dried Cranberries
*1 Whole Wheat English Muffin WITH 2 Tbs Earth Balance Margarine, 2
Tbs Jelly AND 1/2 cup Soy Milk
*3/4 cup Black Bean Dip WITH 1 cup Tortilla Chips
*1 Slice Wheat Bread WITH 1 Tbs Peanut Butter AND 1 cup Sweetened
Applesauce AND 1 cup Soy Milk
*10 Whole Wheat Crackers (Triscut) WITH 1/2 cup of Hummus
*2 cups Lentil Soup AND 1 Whole Wheat Roll AND 1/2 cup Orange Juice
with Calcium

Tips for Adding Calories to Foods

1. Add Earth's Best Margarine or other vegan margarine (100 calories
per tablespoon), Flax Seed Oil (120 calories per tablespoon) or Canola
Oil (120 calories per table spoon) to stir-frys, sandwiches,
vegetables, cooked cereal, breads, pasta, and rice.
2. Add Wheat Germ (25 calories per tablespoon) to hot cereals, pastry,
cake, and pancake batters and casseroles.
3. Add Veganaise or Oil-based Salad Dressing (90 calories per
tablespoon) to sandwiches, salads, and sauces on cooked vegetables.
4. Add Vegan "Sour Cream" (43 calories per tablespoon) and Vegan
"Cheeses" (50 calories per oz) to potatoes, casseroles, dips, sauces
and baked goods.
6. Add Silk Soy Creamer (15 calories per tablespoon, 240 calories per
cup) to smoothies, hot and cold cereals, pastry, cake, and pancake
batters, and puddings.
7. Add Nuts (82 calories per 1/2 oz) and Dried Fruit (86 calories per
1/2 cup) to hot and cold cereals, yogurts, salads, cooked vegetables,
and stir-frys.

The Health Sleuth Giveaway

Friday, November 12, 2010

Rick over at The Health Sleuth is giving away two jars of Nacho Mom's Vegan Queso this week in honor of MoFo...I highly recommend reading his blog and entering....I've heard amazing things about the Queso, and he just raves about how awesome it is. It would be great on almost anything other than chips it seems like...I'm considering picking some up and trying it with some chick peas in the good ol' food processor this weekend in my dorm room as a nice protein filled snack.  Well, until tonight...keep living meaningfully.

VIVA Vegetarian Feast

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

So, as I have mentioned before, I am the Liason for VIVA, or Vanderbilt Initiative for Vegetarian Awareness here on campus at Vanderbilt and we are having a Vegetarian Thanksgiving feast at our vegetarian cafe/dining center Grins.  The dinner is on November 17th at 6pm and the best part is it's FREE!!! We'll be supplying the Tofurky and some other goodies, but please bring a veg dish to pass.
In honor of thanksgiving our club is also sponsoring two turkeys. I highly recommend doing this yourself also, it's only $30 dollars so why not save a life?? My family and I have decided to save two as well as my bowling team.  Well hope some of you can make it out to the dinner....it's defiantly going to be a BLAST...why not live meaningfully with some fellow college veg?

On My Way Back.

So....it's defiantly been awhile and now that i'm post surgery 3 weeks I'm happy to say that I'm totally ready to start my OFFICIAL blog trail.  This month's Orbis article was released on campus only this week and it already has a TON of popularity..which is exciting.  My article, Veganizing Your Dorm Room, has already been tweeted quite a bit and I've had some great feedback...I'm glad I could help some of my fellow college vegans out.
I'm sad to say I decided to not participate in vegan MOFO :[ but I will be updating my blog this week with a bunch of food pics from various restaurants and my own vegan food endeavors.  I defiantly need to learn how to get my blog some popularity..i'm clearly EPICLY FAILING in this category.  Well i'll defiantly be back with some updated bloggage tonight just thought I'd add a quick blurb about Orbis. Keep living meaningfully!

The Orbis

Thursday, September 23, 2010


If you've already picked up this month's issue of The Orbis, I hope you enjoyed all of our interesting and progressive pieces. If your one of those people who haven't, I highly recommend picking it up on the way to class or checking it out online: The Orbis
For those who don't know what The Orbis is let me do a little explanin'. The Orbis is the progressive student paper we have here on campus at Vanderbilt University. It is written by students and for students. Many of the articles address issues that may not necesarrrily be addressed by our other papers, or are on topics that we feel needed to be investigated more. My specific column, which is based on this blog, is our first "column" and is in the lifestyle/opinion section. I absolutely would love to thank Jon Christian and all the other Orbis staff for giving me the opportunity to write this and I hope that I can be some help to my fellow vegans and vegetarians on campus. 
I was sitting in my philosophy 228 class today when I recieved my first Letter to the Editor e-mail about MY article. I was ECSTATIC. I wanted to take the time to thank Max Fischlowitz-Roberts from Compassion Over Killing for the kudos on my column. It was so awesome to see what a wide variety of readers we have viewing our paper. 
Also, for those who live on campus at Vandy or just go to Vandy I'd love to invite you all to come out to the Vegan bake sale that's going on the weekend of the 8th. VIVA, or Vanderbilt Initiative for Vegetarian Awareness, is doing this bake-sale to help generate the knowledge of our presence on campus and raise some money. 
I'm working on writing a really great in-depth blog entry on protein and iron, seeing as how I'm dealing with the lack there of currently, I figured I'd be some help to those worried about the same. 
So, go check out The Orbis NOW and let me know if you have any thing you'd love to learn or read about. Until next time, keep livin' meaningful. 
S

HOME SWEET NASHVILLE

Friday, September 17, 2010

So...it's been way to long since I've updated, but now that classes have been in session awhile I might as well really start updating. For those of you reading that go to Vandy make sure you check out the Orbis, not just because the paper is awesome, but also because, yours truly will be writing a monthly column in the lifestyle section. My main goal in writing this specific column is not just to help out VIVA, Vanderbilt Initiative for Vegetarian Awareness, or to get some publicity for this blog, but to help educate students on tricks and ways to being a healthy vegan/vegetarian in college.
Originally, I was going to title this blog The College Vegan, but after much consideration I knew I wanted to hit a larger audience than that in the end...thus the.edgy.vedgy was born. :] Clearly, I'm lacking in the followers department, but I'm hoping that can change soon. Anyways...I'll be doing some vegan eating this weekend and working on my next post about some great quick vegan options for your dorm room so hopefully by sunday we'll have some great posts..

until then, continue living meaningfully.

-S

Veganized Snack Wraps

Monday, August 16, 2010

My little brother came home with some snackwraps from McDonald's today and they smelled rly good so I wanted to come up with something easy that us vegans could eat, so I raided my kitchen and came up with this amazing creation:

I absolutely am in love with these and i'm pretty sure they will become a staple in my dorm this year. All I did was take some Mornigstar Chik'n strips and grill them up, throw them on top of some leafy greens, and add my recipe for vegan ranch dressing. I also threw my El Milagro corn tortillas on the skillet to warm them up. This recipe was great, because it only took me a few minutes and they taste great. I had about three alongside my Honest Peach Tea for dinner. I'm still tasting the yummy goodness. I may just have to make some for lunch tomorrow to finish off my ranch dressing...

VeganDish

So, it's been a few days since I've been able to update thanks to getting ready to go back to college, but the best thing happened today. A few weeks ago I was looking at the VeganCrunk page and saw that Bianca had the cutest Vegan cereal bowl..so I did some research and was able to find it on Etsy.com. Jeanette at Vegandish makes THE cutest cereal bowls, mugs, and cupcake stands. I picked out the lilac cereal bowl, and I can't wait to show it off at school. I know all my fellow veg friends will want one.


I used it this afternoon with my basmati/brown rice and spices I made and i ate extra slow because I was to busy admiring my beautiful new investment. The bowl was a bit pricy, but well worth supporting a fellow vegan. In total I paid $28 including shipping. So, if your interested head on over to Vegandish and pick one up!

In the beginning...

Thursday, August 12, 2010

So, here i am writing my first blog and of course all I can think about is food. I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Sarah, a vegan in Nashville, Tennessee. While most college students are enjoying there late night ice-cream, fritos, and chicken ramen; I'm up enjoying dehydrated fruit and snacking on granola.

Veganism isn't all that popular in college, but fortunately living a cruelty free lifestyle has gotten easier over the years. Nashville has tons of restaurants with vegan options, and even fully vegan places to dine. Join me as I learn how to eat a healthy vegan diet while in college. I'll use this blog to share restaurant, recipe, food product, and book reviews; while also trying to make other college vegan lives a lot easier as they join me in my journey.

As a sophomore athlete and student in college I maintain a healthy diet and exercise schedule, and am able to do so while still living a cruelty free lifestyle. Hopefully, I can help others learn how easy it really is to live a vegan lifestyle in college (and maybe I can get some to join us).