Alkaline Mac and cheese

Just because your eating alkaline doesn't mean you have to miss out on any of the flavor that comes from the usual vegan dishes you prepare. My husband created this cheese sauce for the mac and cheese recipe and let me just say OMG it is sooooo delicious. I had to get on him to give me the recipe but here it is!!!

Ingredients

1 lb of quinoa, chickpea, or spelt pasta

1 cup of roasted butternut squash

1 cup of walnuts

1/4 cup of brazil nuts

1/2 of a red onion

thyme

oregano

basil

pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)

onion powder

sea salt

approx. 2 cups of spring water

approx. 1/3 cup of hemp milk

Directions:

1. Boil pasta and set to the side.

2. In a high speed blender add squash, nuts, onion, water, milk, and all seasonings. Blend until you reach a creamy queso sauce consistency. This may take a while. 

3. Drain pasta and mix sauce together with pasta. At this point adjust seasoning to your liking and if you need it creamier add more hemp milk.

4. You can server it like this or bake it in a nonstick dish for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees and top with red chili flakes!

This dish is perfect for anyone transitioning to a vegan or alkaline lifestyle. The nuts make it super creamy and the combination of spices gives it that savory flavor we all love in mac and cheese. Give this dish a try and let me know how you like it!

~Peace begins with your plate~

Alkaline Fried Mushrooms

These are by far my favorite thing to eat. I promise these taste better than any chicken nugget or processed vegan chicken nugget that you can find in the store. I never knew mushrooms could taste so good! I have to control myself because they are fried and if I didn't stop myself I would be frying them up every damn day. If you are trying to transition a picky eater to a vegan or alkaline diet I definitely recommend starting with these!

Ingredients:

2 cups of oyster or portabella mushroom chopped into the size pieces you desire.

2 cups of spelt flour

1 cup of garbanzo flour

2 cups of hemp milk

grapeseed oil

sea salt

cayenne pepper

onion powder

basil

dill

1/3 cup of aquafaba

Directions:

1. In a large bowl add both flours, sea salt, cayenne, onion powder, basil, and dill. Mix everything together well.

2. In a second large bowl pour about 1/2 a cup of the flour mixture and mix with hemp milk and aquafaba. This should give you a thin batter like consistency. If its too wet add more flour if its too dry add more milk.

3. In a large frying pan pour grapeseed oil about 2 inches deep and set heat to medium high.

4. To ensure a clean efficient frying area make sure you have everything you need on hand. You will want your mushrooms, dry mix, wet mix, tongs, and a plate covered in paper towels all lined up and ready to go.

5. Coat your mushroom in the wet mix, then the dry mix, then back to the wet mix, then back to the dry mix and set it in the oil, the oil should be hot at this point to where the mushroom immediately starts frying. If it doesn't you need to let it warm up more.

6. Repeat the process with all of the mushrooms they should take about 5 to 7 minutes to fry and you will need to flip them half way through frying. 

6. When mushroom is done remove from oil with tongs and place on paper towels to absorb excess oil.

7. If you want to keep them warm until serving place them on a baking tray and set in the oven on low temp.

 Make sure you make more than you think is enough because once these things hit the table they will be the first to go! You can eat these by themselves, top a salad with them, or wrap them in a spelt tortilla. There are so many ways to enjoy these delicious fried mushrooms!

Here they are as "chicken" strips

~Peace begins with your plate~

Alkaline Chickpea and Walnut meatballs

If you are craving something "meaty" and filling these meatballs are a great option. You can also form them into burgers and eat them on alkaline bread if you like. The combination of the walnuts and the chickpeas is extremely flavorful. These will not disappoint! 

before baking

Ingredients:

2 cups of cooked chickpeas

1 cup of crushed walnuts

1 cup of spelt or garbanzo flour

1/3 cup of aquafaba (water from cooked chickpeas)

1 cup of portabella mushrooms

1 red bell pepper

1 shallot

sea salt

cayenne pepper

onion powder

ground savory

basil

Directions:

1. In a high speed blender add chickpeas, walnuts, mushrooms, red pepper, and shallot. Pulse until everything is chopped up and blended enough to get molded into a shape.

2. Place mixture into a large bowl and add flour, aquafaba, and all the seasonings. 

3. Use your hands to mix everything together until it molds like actual hamburger meat. You may need to use more flour if its not holding together well. 

4. Mold the mix into meatballs the size of your liking and place on a baking tray covered in parchment paper. 

5. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes flipping halfway through.

6. Allow them to cool down before serving, this helps them stay sturdy. 

I served these delicious meat balls with quinoa and roasted veggies and we absolutely loved them! Remember you can always adjust the seasoning to your liking so that's why I don't give measurements on them, I'm usually just eyeballing it myself lol. Hope you enjoy these Alkaline meatballs!

~Peace begins with your plate~

Alkaline Dirty Rice

This savory rice will have you going back for more. Of course its gonna be a bit different than the traditional dish your used to because one its vegan, and two its completely alkaline! Regardless of the differences its not missing any flavor!

 Ingredients:
2 cups of wild rice
1 red pepper diced
1 green pepper diced
1 onion diced
2 cups of portabella mushroom diced
2 cups of okra
2 cups of cooked chickpeas
sea salt
cayenne pepper
onion powder
ground savory
thyme
1 tbsp. of grapeseed oil (optional)

Directions:
1. Cook rice and set to the side.
2. In a large pan pour in tbsp. of grapeseed oil and put on medium high heat. If you don't want to use oil you can substitute it with spring water.
3. Add onion, peppers, mushroom, and okra. Then add sea salt, cayenne, onion powder, thyme, and savory. Sautee everything together until veggies are tender.
4. Add chickpeas and continue cooking for a few more minutes.
5. Now mix the rice in and add another tbsp. of grape seed oil to create more of a stir fry. Keep tossing the rice through the veggies until all of the flavors are combined. If you need more seasoning now is the time to add it.
6. Turn heat down or off and let sit for a few minutes before serving!

Here I served it with some steamed kale and topped it with alkaline mushroom gravy!

I hope you enjoy this dish and if you do don't hesitate to let me know!

~Peace begins with your plate~

30 day Alkaline cleanse...Dr. Sebi approved!!!

Happy 2018 everyone! I decided to start the new year off by changing my diet up a bit. My husband and I decided to do 30 days of alkaline Dr. Sebi approved eating. So all throughout January that is the goal and so far we are half way done and absolutely loving it! Dr. Sebi has cured everything from aids, herpes, lupus, sickle cell, blindness, and the list goes on!

If you are unsure of who Dr. Sebi is and his methods click the links below.

Who is Dr. Sebi

Dr. Sebi breaking down the foods you should eat

For many people this is a life style change that they follow strictly. Once the month is over we still plan to incorporate many of his teachings into our lifestyle but the main reason we decided to give this a try is to help us transition into more of a plant based whole foods diet cutting out processed foods and vegan junk. There are tons of fruits and veggies not on the Sebi nutritional guide that I cant imagine giving up. We eat a mostly healthy vegan diet but we do indulge in soy and other processed vegan foods more often than we should. Half way through the month and I can already see and feel changes in my body that I know come from eating a clean alkaline diet. I'm all for people eating however their heart desires as long as it doesn't require taking the life of another sentient being, but sometimes even eating vegan you can still be unhealthy so its still good to learn new healthier ways to improve your diet. 

I'm excited to show you guys some of the alkaline recipes I have and will continue to be making throughout the month. They are all super delicious and I honestly don't feel like I'm missing anything. The ingredients are so minimal it makes it so easy to whip up a flavorful meal without over thinking it. Stay tuned because I have LOTS to show you guys!

~Peace begins with your plate~

Here is the link to this interview

Shepards Pie

This dish is so satisfying and filling I usually make it for special events when I know there will be no vegan options and I want to bring something simple and straight to the point! Its got all the fixings one would desire when craving a nice comforting meal!

Ingredients:

1 package of store bought VEGAN dry bread dressing or bread crumbs of your choice

approx. 2 cups vegetable broth

3 celery stalks

1/2 of a sweet onion

2 cups of diced mushroom

1 red pepper

2 heads of broccoli

1-2 bags of frozen mixed veggies (peas, corn, carrot)

8 potatoes

approx. 2 cups of non dairy milk

salt and pepper

garlic

onion powder

parsley

paprika
crispy onion salad toppers (optional)

Directions:

1. Peel, dice, and boil potatoes until soft.

2. Drain potatoes, add milk, salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder, and parsley and mash until creamy. Add more milk if needed. Set to the side.

2. In a large pot sautee diced celery, onion, half of  mushrooms, red pepper, and garlic.

3. Add veggie broth and bring to a boil then add dressing or bread crumbs and mix everything together until dressing softens, add more broth if necessary.

4. Season dressing with salt, pepper, garlic, and paprika. Set to the side.

5. In a large pan add a couple table spoons of water and sautee mushroom, diced broccoli, frozen veggies, salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic. Cook until tender and set to the side.

6. In a large non stick baking dish add dressing and lay flat to create the first layer of  shepards pie. For the second layer spread across the sautéed veggie mix. For the third layer top with mashed potatoes and spread evenly across.

7. Bake pie for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool down before serving.

Top this meal with my delicious  Mushroom Gravy 

Although I don't get into many holidays I still make sure that I am eating good as long as I'm gonna be surrounded by people indulging in various non vegan dishes! What I'm supposed to eat the veggie tray??? Lol, yeah right! This dish has all of your favorites combined into one. Plus its low in fat and guilt free! If you give this recipe a try you wont be disappointed!

~Peace begins with your plate~

Consumerism and its effects on humanity

Well, its that time of year again. People stampeding through stores to get first dibs on the sales, spending money they don't have to show how much they love their family and friends, cars and homes being broken into just so people can get their hands on these so called desired material items. For those like myself who have completely disconnected from this idea of material belongings bringing happiness or labeling them as a "blessing", the world can seem frightening at times. Watching children rip open gifts that they do not need and being told they are fortunate to receive these things is borderline disturbing. What are we really teaching them? We are living in a world where people are judged by the physical things they can achieve more so than the content of their character. We witness this in the celebrity world as well as in our real every day lives. We will drive past another human on the road asking for food and tell our children don't give them anything they are probably on drugs or just need to get a job totally discrediting this person as a living being on this planet. Even animals display more love to their species when in need. How did we get to this point? Most people are working 40 plus hours a week not to survive but to keep up with the material things society has told us we need to have in order to fit in. What if we were spending more of that time with our loved ones and actually raising our children full time as opposed to spending it on the time clock to be able to pay someone else to watch our children so we can purchase items we really don't need for them. I know, I know, that sounds totally crazy right? Not to me it doesn't. Society has warped our minds so much that the most simple things don't make sense anymore.

Everyday we are subconsciously influenced. You turn on the TV and every single commercial is some corporation telling you to buy something that you don't need. Ads are literally everywhere. You drive down the street and billboards are plastered everywhere trying to sell you something. Social media is full of ads and people trying to tell you where to shop and what to eat. We have turned celebrities into idols and strive to live our lives as close to theirs as possible wearing whatever clothes they tell us to wear and looking however they tell us is trending. Individuality is dead. Thousands of people will line up to purchase something to look like everyone else. Corporations are feeding off of this behavior and are controlling society with it. No matter how much we have we always want more and they keep making new versions of the same shit to keep people coming back. People are spending $1000 on a phone that cost pennies to make and don't even question it.  Of course your phone is acting up before the launch of the new one. We don't question anything we just buy not realizing that our money is our time. Time we could be spending on things that actually matter. We believe blessings come in material belongings.  This is what keeps us as modern day slaves. We strive to make more money so we can purchase more things. We even look at people like they are crazy or struggling if they still have a flip phone, drive an older car, wear the same clothes for years, or simply refuse to keep buying things to keep up with society. We refuse to believe that could be a choice.

I'm not saying anything is wrong with treating yourself and your loved ones from time to time, but lets be real as a society we are over doing it and it has created a storm of problems beyond social and economic. As the demand for goods increase so does the need to produce these goods. This leads to more pollutant, emissions, increased land use, and deforestation. The average American tosses 82 lbs of textile waste each year which adds up to 11 million tons of stuff from our country alone. These textiles are not biodegradable which means they sit in landfills for at least 200 years. We are effecting the environment as well. I wont get too deep into that because that is a whole separate post.

I know what its like to be an excessive consumer because I have lived that life myself.  Upgrading phones, trading in cars, owing hundreds of pairs of shoes, needing a walk in closet just to hold my clothes. Spending an hour deciding what to wear because I had way too many things to choose from. I remember those days like it was yesterday. I'm still working to minimalize more aspects of my life. All of those things I was doing was just to solidify my status to others. Go thrifting before purchasing something brand new whenever possible, focus more on giving back to the planet than taking from it. There are enough material items in circulation for us to never have to produce more goods again.  It is this consumeristic mindset we have all been brainwashed into participating in from childhood that keeps us craving more. This behavior is a large part of what is keeping us in debt to a system designed to keep us forever enslaved by consuming so much of our time we think the idea of working less and living better is a fairy tale unless we have come into money some other way.  If you do celebrate Christmas, I encourage you to find ways to express your love to your families with things that cant be purchased. Actually sit down with them and tell them how much they mean to you and all of the reasons why you love them so much and just enjoy good conversation and quality time.

"Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds."