.EcoEmbellishments.

Vegan Cauliflower Buffalo Bites!

2013-03-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

Quinoa and black bean stuffed peppers! & Salad

2013-03-05T06:26:00.002-08:00

We bult a raised garden bed!!

2013-03-05T06:25:00.003-08:00

Oh.. and knocked down two walls!!!

Garden Week 3 Update!

2013-02-26T06:55:00.001-08:00

Everything is growing pretty well! I am so exited to see my first pepper on my tree! Cant wait for this stuff to really start growing!! Need to separate the carrots and beats soon! I am hoping my husband will make me a raised garden bed this week end, or I just might be doing it my self! Haha!

Live Well, Be Well & Shine Bright

Always

Vegan Sushi Recipe!

2013-02-26T06:48:00.002-08:00

Okay, so its been a little wile. A lot of good meals have been missed but I must start making more commitment to posting since many people are curious! I am glad to have started up a mini stir and slowly more and more people are asking me questions and a lot of the people are unexpected! It feels great to share just a little bit with someone and help them open their mind =]

Anyway, NOW FOR THE VEGAN SUSHI!

Yes thats right! Sushi can be vegan and super delicious! In request of my friend KiKi, this weekend was girls night and sushi! Girls night did not work out, but I still got all the sushi I could fit in my tummy ! (Dont worry KiKi! I will make some vegan sushi for you soon! )

Literally, the next morning after I made this and posted pics on Instagram and Facebook I got a call from Codys family in Montana. It was just after breakfast for us so I can only imagine how early it was over there, they are early birds. =] They were so excited that they could not wait to ask me how I made this sushi! They are not vegetarians by any means but need to make some appetizers and a main dish for some gluten free and vegetarians at a wedding they are catering very soon. Pretty cool that I can help them out with making a vegetarian dish! =]

I wrote them a email with the things that I learned by making sushi for the first time and videos that I watched before making them! I figured I would share what I wrote them!

What you will need:

-Bamboo Rolling Mat ( you can find at most grocery stores but an Asian market was where I got mine for cheap)

-Rice Vinegar

-Sushi Rice or Brown Rice

-Nori Rolls (seeweed/ also at most grocery and health stores but cheaper at a Asian market)

-Vegan Mayo

-Sugar or Stevia

-Siracha Hot Sauce

-Fillings of your choice:

Avocado

Tofu

Vegan Cream Cheese

Cucumber

Red Pepper

Mango

Leeks

... the list goes on to your imagination!

Of course you can use soy sauce, tamari or liquid aminos along side ginger and

The first thing you will do to get it out of the way because it is so easy is make the Spicy Mayo!

All you need is

Vegan Mayo

Siracha Hot Sauce

This is the simplest recipe ever! All you need to do is take as much may as desired and mix in Siracha to your taste! For presentation, I put the spicy mayo in a ziplock bag and cut of a corner to pipe it on top of the rolls when serving. This stuff is so good! You can also dip sweet potato fries in it and it tastes like the real thing! Just dot go over board bc it is oil, fat and soy!

Next thing you will do is make sticky rice in either a rice cooker or a pot.

This is where you will need your rice vinegar and stevia or sugar. This guy over here can explain better than I can how to make the sticky rice!

Here is my first roll!

Next thing is how to roll!

These two videos were very helpful to me and helped me nail the recipe with their techniques.

Even though this one is not a vegan recipe, it is very helpful!

Okay, yeah so I cheated out a little with showing you through video but I am no professional and this is how I learn things visually! I hope it helps you better to see it then for me to just word it! I did not have enough time to make my own video unfortunately! Just Waiting for my Hubbie to help me make new videos! (hint, hint!)

TIPS

Okay now that you have got that all down I want to share some key tips that really helped me out!

*Cut the fillings into match stick like slices.

*LESS IS MORE with the brown rice! The more rice you use, the less fillings you can put in. Also, waiting to use rice until it is cooled down, but still slightly warm seemed to help than when I waited till the rice was room temp.

*When cutting the rolls use a sharp WET knife, dipping it in water and cleaning it in between slices or as needed.

*Squeeze tightly to make sure all ingredients are

*Put the cream cheese in a ziplock bag and cut a corner to pipe it into the roll easier.

Well I hope you all try to make some vegan sushi! It seemed really intimidating at first for me but once I got the first roll down, I was so confident I made SIX rolls for my family and so we could have left overs! This meal is pared great with some home made miso soup like I did! I used extra mushrooms , extra green onions and tofu! It is very easy to make and is on the label of the miso when you buy it!

Miso Soup

Sweet Kid Roll

I also tried to make a sushi roll for the baby! I figured vegan cream cheese and mango would be super yummy why wouldn't he like it! Well, of course this picky little guy wouldn't like it because it looks STRANGE! I try, I try! If only he would try, he would realize how yummy momys cooking is and how lucky he is to be my son! Haha!

Live Well, Be Well & Shine Bright

Always

Its NOT a Challenge any more! Vegan!!

2013-02-11T07:05:00.001-08:00

We did it we did it, And I couldn't be prouder!!

It was fun, it was tasty, and here I am 31 days in! (promise I will stop counting days and maybe just months! haha)

Today is full of left overs from yesterday and that yummy Mexican casserole that I made last night!

So I just wanted to share my beautiful son enjoying a green smoothy from this morning!

I had almost finished my morning Green Drink and Jayce came walking over and saw there was a spoon left in my cup! He picked it up and fed some of the left overs to me, then....

this happened!

Garden is growing! And even though I was hesitant to start because of how late I was, it is starting to sprout!! First time growing beets, carrots, beans and peas! Just look at that beautiful color of the beet leaves!

DAYYY 30 VEGAANN CHALLENNNGGGEEE !!

2013-02-08T14:38:00.001-08:00

DAY 30 VEGAN CHALLENGE!!

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 7TH, 2013

WE DID IT!! ONE MONTH VEGAN

AND WE AINT STOPIN!! =]

I was planning on my own to keep it going because it feels good and natural to me, but I was so happy when my husband came to me on his own and said, "I want to do this for longer! Maybe, 6 months? A Year?!". Wow I was so proud of him! I know he doesn't have as strong reasons as I do to go vegan, but it is actually what is right for his body! He has lost about 20 pounds since he dropped it all! He is some sorts of lactose intolerant and always had stomach aches at least once day or even or more, since this month started he only has had one or two! I am very excited that it has become pretty much like a habit now! I am learning more and more every day and love the food and love how I feel!!

For our 30th day being vegan we made a recipe from Forks Over Knives The Cook Book, called the Mexican-Style Beans and Rice Casserole. I spiced it up a little and even put in some extra veggies like broccoli and carrots for extra goodness! It was so good! I will not lie, I seasoned it up on my own and gave it an extra kick! I also topped it with some chopped tomatoes and olives to give it a good tang! It tasted so cheese and so creamy! Despite the "4 servings" it claimed, I would say more like 6 with out any sides on the menu!

I HIGHLY suggest this recipe!!

For my Baby Love, I made him Mac'n Cheese from the Forks Over Knives The Cook Book. I added some shreded carrots and spinach to get some extra veggies in him, as well as some gluten free, brown rice breadcrumbs. The pasta was made from quinoa and was gluten free as well! Looks kinda funky, but was yummy! My husband and I have been snacking on it!

Live Well, Feel Well & Shine Bright

Always,

DAY 29

2013-02-08T13:53:00.002-08:00

DAY 29 VEGAN CHALLENGE

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY, 5TH 2013

LUNCH TIME FOR BUBS!!

Made him a vegan pizza with a gluten free tortilla I found in my freezer! Used Dayia Cheese! He was so thrilled!

I got three books in the mail I have been waiting for!! Ordered them with birthday money(all but Easy Vegan, which one of my best friends gave me)! Thrive Foods, Forks over Knives the Cookbook and The Complete Idiots Guide to Plant- Based Nutrition. I was so so thrilled I have some good stuff to read and inspire me! So far I skimmed through both Thrive and Forks Over Knives, believe it or not I am leaning towards Forks Over Knives as being the better book thus far. It seems to have easier recipes with less oil and also easier to find ingredients. As I skimmed through Thrive, I wasn't as excited as I thought I would be, also saw a lot of ingredients I do not commonly use so it will be interesting to go through again and see what I think when trying some of these! I will keep you posted ;)

I would like to hear if you have read these books and what you think! What Other vegan books have you read, and what is your favorite??

For Dinner I made quinoa with some daal and steamed and sautéed yummy kale salad!

Live Well, Feel Well & Shine Bright

Always

The Little Family Garden!

2013-02-05T09:18:00.000-08:00

Finally now that all the wedding planning is over as well as the holidays and lots of travel I decided that even though it is late in the season to start up the garden again! I am no big gardener but I really want to teach my self how! Being vegan/vegetarian it is just logical that if you can grow some of your own food to do so! Prices for veggies are getting expensive and as for the large volume that my family and I try to eat, it would really help us out! Also knowing exactly how our food is grown is a huge plus! We are doing it as organic as we can, and the fruit of our labor is rewarding!

Take a look at the seeds I started and what I planted!

Live Well, Be Well & Shine Bright

Always

Just Pruned the basil plant so its a little small and sad looking! haha

Spinach and Lettuce

Beef boy tomatoes as well as cherry tomatoes!

It is hard to see but I planted sunflowers all along the fence here. I took this more for a "before" picture for reference. You can sort of see the markers where I planted 7-8 sunflowers. Cant wait till they sprout up!!

DAY 28

2013-02-05T07:53:00.001-08:00

DAY 28 VEGAN CHALLANGE

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4TH, 2013

For lunch I finally got to eat the cauliflower that I made for the big game for lunch! I wish there was more but I gave most of it to my husband because I love him! I also ate some salad for lunch.

Hubby was gone for dinner so I made a great little stir-fy with quinoa.

I did indulge in some So Delicious Coconut Milk Ice Cream with no sugar added left over from my birthday! Topped it with some hemp seeds and almond silvers so I didn't feel as bad!

Live Well, Be Well & Shine Bright
Always,
BB
XO

Day 27 Vegan Challange

2013-02-05T07:36:00.002-08:00

DAY 27 VEGAN CHALLANGE

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 3ND, 2013

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!
Super bowl Sunday is a day with parties full of gross gross stuff! Lots of dairy dips, chicken wings, burgers and all this stuff that really isn't good for your body! I was worried going to super bowl party with literally NOTHING TO EAT! I made some cauliflower with buffalo sauce and some vegan blue cheese and also some vegan queso made with fresh veggies and Dayia cheese! The Queso dip was loved by everyone! All my non vegetarian and vegan friends! I was so proud and the dip was gone before I could even take a picture!! =]

We started off with a very hearty breakfast, not the best for you with soy and oil, but it was what my husband and I felt in the mood for!
Tofu Scramble and Potatos!

Live Well, Be Well & Shine Bright
Always
BB

26 VEGAN DAY CHALLANGE

2013-02-05T07:12:00.002-08:00

DAY 26 VEGAN CHALLANGE

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2ND, 2013

For dinner I made some zucchini noodle pasta! We had some left over salad from the day before to go a long! Yum!!

Live Well, Be Well & Shine Bright

Always,

Say 25 Vegan Challenge!!

2013-02-05T07:03:00.001-08:00

DAY 25 VEGAN CHALLANGE

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1RST, 2013

FUNDAY FRIDAY!!!

My very good friend, Kiki, came over for the day and we had a nice girls day (and night)! Shopping at the mall, 2-4-1 cocktails, shopping trip to whole foods, movies and vegan dinner!! Oh, and I for got the movies.. The movies we never finished or payed attention to! Not only is this girl amazing, fun and beautiful she is a vegetarian too if you didn't catch that in past posts ;)

For a pre-dinner snack we make some home made roasted red pepper humus! We love Sabas version, so I figured this was the perfect opportunity to show her how to make humus!!

For dinner I made the New Caesar Salad from the book Thrive Foods by Brendan Brazier, which I am waiting for in the mail! I found the recipe on Eco Vegan Gals youtube channel and didn't follow it to a tee since it was after a drink or two! It still cam came out fantastic! My husband was so happy the next day to eat left overs! Make a big batch and keep it in the fridge!! The recipe was so amazing I only hope the rest of the book will be this killer!! =]

Live Well, Be Well & Shine Bright

Love Always,

DAY 24VEGAN CHALLANGE!

2013-01-31T07:05:00.002-08:00

DAY 24 VEGAN CHALLENGE

THURSDAY, JANUARY 31RST, 2013

BREAKFAST IS SURVED! Green smoothy topped with some eziekel granola, silvered almonds, strawberries and hemp seeds! Was very refreshing ! I used kale, spinach, frozen blueberries, frozen mangos from our mango tree. spirullina, chorella, 1/2 and apple, ice and water! I love the crunch and being able to eat the top with a spoon! It reminds me of a certain smoothy I use to get from the local smoothy shop I would get and eat on the way to class when I was in college- lets just say that version was no where as healthy as one! Places like Jamba Juice can be full of sugar, fat, sorbet and non vegan yogurts and ice cream! Make your own naturally!

Live Well, Be Well & Shine Bright

Always

VEGAN CHALLENGE DAY 23

2013-01-31T06:58:00.001-08:00

DAY TWENTY THREE VEGAN CHALLENGE

WEDNESDAY JANURY 30TH, 2013

For dinner I made the most amazing sautéed kale salad!! I wrote down what I did and hope to make a recipe video really soon!! It came out so good, tangy and crunchy! We ate it with beans and rice from the day before! Yum! I cannot wait to have the left overs for lunch today!

VEGAN DAY 22!

2013-01-31T06:46:00.002-08:00

VEGAN CHALLENGE DAY TWENTY TWO

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29TH, 2013

Great post-birthday lunch with bestie and Season 52!

Stroll at the mall ended at Apple of course. Jayce was so happy!

Live Well, Be Well & Shine Bright

Love Always

DAY 21 VEGAN- MY BIRTHDAY!

2013-01-31T06:45:00.003-08:00

DAY 21 VEGAN CHALLENGE!

MONDAY JANUARY 28TH, 2013

MY BIRTHDAY!

Thats right!! Its my birthday!! I am 24 now, but still a baby!

My mom wanted to take me out for breakfast but didn't know what a vegan would eat at a diner besides potatoes and fruit! haha So I made my self a tofu scramble and a vegan beagle she happened to have! I plopped it all on some bean chips to add crunch! After that we enjoyed a long day of shopping!

Went to Mellow Mushroom for Vegan Pizza since the vegan resutant I really wanted to go to was closed on Mondays! =[ We came home for vegan cake and vegan ice-cream! Now.. I am just going to flood you with photos =]

DAY 20 VEGAN CHALLENGE!!

2013-01-31T06:36:00.002-08:00

DAY TWENTY VEGAN CHALLANGE

SUNDAY JANUARY 27TH, 2013

CHILI COOK OFF!!!

We packed out bags with lots of veggie- and alcohol and brought our own grill! Chili cook off and all that fried food was just not us! Not to mention all the flesh being grilled around us! For breakfast we took out the grill and toasted some eziekel toast with almond butter and made some vegan sausage links! Shared them with my good friend Nikia and Drew who are vegetarians! We were the only Vegies there I am pretty sure!! But we had a blast!!

VEGAN CHALLENGE DAY 19

2013-01-31T06:27:00.004-08:00

VEGAN CHALLENGE DAY NINETEEN

SUNDAY JANUARY 26TH, 2013

Started off the morning right with a green smoothy for two! Matcha green tea, spirulina, spinach chorella and a bunch of other power packing goodies! Baby Jayce wanted to drink all of ours!!

Made some hummus to bring to the Chili Cook off! Did a mod version of Sabras Rosted Garlic! Will prefect and post a recipe soon!

Live Well, Be Well & Shine Bright

Love Always

DAY 18 VEGAN

2013-01-25T11:29:00.001-08:00

DAY EIGHTTEEN VEGAN CHALLANGE!

JANUARY 25TH, 2013

Breakfast Green Smoothy

Lunch was awesome mix of left overs from last night tacos! I chopped up some romaine lettuce topped it with the lentils and sated peppers and onions, avocado, cherry tomatoes and used salsa as a low cal, low fat but very flavorful salad dressing! It was very good and filling and I ate it right up after a 30 min yoga sesh! Yes that was the first work out I have done in probably 4 months! I need to get back on it!

For dinner I took a whole head of broccoli and steamed it. Sautéed some sweet papers and onions and made a orange glaze sauce with fresh squeezed oranges from my back yard! It was so delicious! Topped it with some tofu! I was also craving something sweet so I took a can of La Croix Coconut Sparking water and put some stevia and chopped up straw berries in it! Very good! Almost too sweet!

Live Well, Be Well & Shine Bright

Love Always

GLUTEN FREE, GRAIN FREE AND VEGAN BANANA BLUEBERRY MUFFINS RECIPE!

2013-01-25T11:14:00.000-08:00

I was looking around Pintrest for something to feed my little one for breakfast since he eats the same thing EVERY morning unless we are not home! Ezekiel bread almond butter and bananas and strawberries if they are in season. Very healthy but I am sure he gets a little bored of it! I stumbled upon some gluten free vegan muffins and just decided to throw them all together to make my own version!

Recipe makes perfectly 12 muffins, although in the picture above my husband had to try one right out the oven with a little scoop of coconut milk ice cream (no sugar added)!!

Ingredients

3 Ripe Bananas

1 1/2 Cup Almond Flour

1/2 Cup Coconut Flour

3 Tbsp of Flax Meal for Flax Eggs ( add about 8 Tbsp of water)

1 Tbsp Gluten Free Vanilla Abstract

1 1/2 Tbsp Agave Syrup (You can also substitute stiva or any sweetener of your choice)

Two handfuls of blue berries or as much as you please
1/2 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips or Carib Chips

1/4 Cup Coconut Oil

1/2 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Baking Soda

Optional: Almonds, walnuts or what ever type of nut or fruit you desire!

Pre Heat Oven to 350 Degrees.

Mash bananas in a large bowl. Add flax eggs, vanilla, oil and syrup together. In a separate bowl add all dry ingredients and mix (flour, baking soda, salt, chocolate chips and blue berries). Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients with the bananas. Place muffin liners into your muffin tin and scoop mixture into each liner. Bake for about 20 mins, make sure to use a toothpick to test if the muffins are done.

Mine took a little longer to cook since my oven is very old and uneven temperature.

Let cool and ejoy!!

Live Well, Be Well & Always Shine Bright

Love

DAY 17 VEGAN

2013-01-25T10:09:00.003-08:00

DAY SEVEN TEEN VEGAN CHALLENGE!

JANUARY 24TH 2013

Started off the day with a nice green smoothy! For lunch, I used last nights Indian food in a lettuce wrap and topped it with a tomato slice! Poor picture quality I am sorry, but it was yummy!!

For dinner It was VEGAN TACO NIGHT!! One of my favorite dinner nights of the week!! I made lentils in place of meat- trying to use less tofu/soy and oil. It came out great! If you add taco mix to anything it will really replace your need for meat in your tacos! Make your own taco mix of course since it is filled with sodium and bad stuff!

Of course in the back is my husband taking photos as well! We are definitely food geeks =P

Live Well, Be Well & Always Shine Bright

Love

Day 16 Vegan Challenge

2013-01-24T08:32:00.000-08:00

DAY 16 VEGAN CHALLENGE

JANUARY 23RD

Unfortunately.. yesterday I did not take pictures of any of my food except breakfast!

We ordered Indian food for dinner and it was so good we ate it all before even considering to take pictures- which is a big deal for my family! haha
Below was my breakfast, since I had a very slight hangover with a bad nights sleep, I just smashed up a 1/4 avocado put it on some vegan, gluten free brown rice and millet bread with some garlic salt and paper! Yum!

DAY 15 VEGAN CHALLENGE

2013-01-24T08:24:00.003-08:00

DAY 15 VEGAN CHALLENGE

JANUARY 22ND, 2013

Had a nice day out with wine, salad and shopping with my best friend. =]

DAY 14 VEGAN CHALLANGE

2013-01-23T11:33:00.002-08:00

DAY FOURTEEN VEGAN CHALLENGE

JANUARY 21RST, 2013

The kitchen was bare, nothing for a green smoothy! I made a over night chia seed pudding for breakfast!

For Lunch I wiped up a quick buffalo cauliflower! No recipe here! Just took a bad of frozen cauliflower and sated with some buffalo sauce! Topped with soy Feta Cheese! Yum!! I want some now! haha

Finally got to go grocery shopping and made sure to buy all plant based food! Trying to kick the tofu habit and just add more veggies!!

Dinner was a great yellow Indian lentils over brown rice!