Greek salad with Vegan Feta

The one and only thing I've been missing since going vegan is feta cheese. 

Salty, briny, soft feta cheese...oh, how I miss you....

Or, rather, how I missed you until I came up with my own vegan feta!

You will need:

1 package of extra firm tofu 

(I like to use the Nasoya Cubed Super Firm Tofu)

1 1/2 TBSP apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 TBSP red wine vinegar

3-4 tsp liquid from olives

(sine you'll be using olives in your salad, you'll have this on hand)

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp fresh garlic, minced

2 TBSP tahini

1 TBSP lemon juice

First, you'll want to drain the tofu as it's packed in water. 

Be sure to squeeze out any excess water by pressing the tofu between paper towels.

In a small bowl, whisk together the other ingredients until thoroughly combined.  

Add the tofu to the bowl and stir a few times until it is entirely coated with the "feta" mixture.

Let sit in refrigerator to marinate for at least an hour before adding to your salad.

For your Greek salad you'll need:

Crisp, yummy romaine lettuce

1 Roma tomato, cut into small cubes

A few slices of cucumber

A few slices of thinly sliced red onion

A spoonful of Greek olives 

(or more if you like)

A heaping spoonful of my vegan feta

2 or 3 peperoncini 

(These are optional. I know tons of Greek salad fiends who leave them out.)

Assembly is definitely up to you so use the ingredients "how much you like it."

I dress my Greek salads with Annie's roasted garlic dressing and a little splash of red wine vinegar (you know, since it's handy from making the feta).

Hope you enjoy and be sure to share with your non-veggie friends. 

Happy eating!

Vegan Pancakes

Don't you just want to eat breakfast three meals a day? I certainly do. If I had my own restaurant, breakfast would definitely be available all day - just like one of those greasy spoons. YUM!

Few breakfast dishes satisfy me quite the way pancakes do. For years I've stuck to Betty Crocker's "Favorite Pancakes" recipe for fluffy, moist buttermilk pancakes. Alas, that recipe requires eggs and buttermilk, which are now a thing of the past.

I cannot tell you how happy I was to stumble upon this recipe for pancakes that don't require any animal products and are just as delicious as the old-fashioned kind.  

Warm up your maple syrup (the real kind, not that Mrs. Butterworth nonsense) and get ready for the best breakfast you've had in a long time.

You will need:

1 1/2 cups plus two TBSP whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/2 cups nondairy milk (I use soy)
2 TBSP refined coconut oil, melted
1 TBSP maple syrup, plus more for serving
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.

In another bowl, mix together wet ingredients (except coconut oil).

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and combine until just mixed, lumps are ok.

Next, melt the coconut oil and add it to the batter.

In case you aren't familiar with coconut oil, it comes in a jar and looks a little like Crisco.

You want to be sure not to add the melted coconut oil to the other wet ingredients because they are cold and the coconut oil will harden on contact.

Once all ingredients are combined, drop by 1/4 cup blobs onto a preheated skillet. If your skillet isn't one of the non-stick variety, be sure to use a little of the coconut oil or some earth balance so your pancakes don't stick.


Cook until bubbles appear, the edges are set, and the pancakes are a nice golden brown on the bottom. Flip and cook until the other side is browned.

If you're making lots or you have a small skillet, you can keep them warm in a 250 degree oven.

Serve hot with plenty of maple syrup.

Do your body a favor and use organic ingredients whenever possible. 

Recipe modified from Skinny Bitch in the Kitch

Organic on a Budget

After learning the difference between "Organic" and "Natural," you may be inspired to go Organic. If you choose to do this - because you want to be environmentally conscious or because you simply don't want to injest pesticides - then you will quickly learn that is can be very costly!

The purpose of this post, as you've no doubt gathered based on the title, is to teach you how to buy organic produce and still stay within your grocery budget.

The first thing you should know is why you have chosen to buy organic products in the first place. This is a very personal decision - dare I say, a philosophical one.  If you're making an effort to eat healthier and, therefore, believe that consuming pesticides is a bad idea, then you will may want to stick to the 12 foods that are generally believed to be the most important to buy organic.

If, however, you are concerend for the environment or the planet or ecosystems (or whatever your lingo), then you may adopt the philosophy that "every grape counts" and you'll want to buy as many organic or sustainable products as you can. This is done, in part, by buying organic produce, but it is also done by lowering your consumption of meat and buying locally grown/raised food, among other ways...but those are all future posts.

Perhaps you fall into even a third category that is somewhere in the middle.  In this case, you will want to strike a balance between buying every last organic product you can find and buying only the top 12 recommended organic foods. I suspect most of us fall into this category.

The top 12 foods on the list are ranked so because they are the foods that have the highest levels of pesticide contamination, based on studies conducted by the USDA, Consumer Reports, and the Environmental Working Group and are:

1.Nectarines – 97.3% of nectarines sampled were found to contain pesticides.

2.Celery – 94.5% of celery sampled were found to contain pesticides.
3.Pears – 94.4% of pears sampled were found to contain pesticides.
4.Peaches – 93.7% of peaches sampled were found to contain pesticides.
5.Apples – 91% of apples sampled were found to contain pesticides.
6.Cherries – 91% of cherries sampled were found to contain pesticides.
7.Strawberries – 90% of strawberries sampled were found to contain pesticides.
8.Imported Grapes – 86% of imported grapes (i.e. Chile) sampled were found to contain pesticides.
9.Spinach – 83.4% of spinach sampled were found to contain pesticides.*
10.Potatoes – 79.3% of potatoes sampled were found to contain pesticides.
11.Bell Peppers – 68% of bell peppers sampled were found to contain pesticides.
12.Red Raspberries – 59% of red raspberries sampled were found to contain pesticides.
 

Whether or not you choose to print out that list and bring it along to the grocery store is entirely up to you.  If you don't or if you forget it at home, remember try to remember it this way:

 

If the produce has a thick skin that you would normally peel off - bananas, oranges, limes, etc. - then it's not on the list.

 

Also, you should know that all grapes grown in the state of California are safe to eat, as they are grown under organic conditions - regardless of whether or not they have a sticker noting they are organic.

 

Last, you see that little asterisk (*) next to number 9? There is recent research that has taken spinach off of the list, though most sources still include it.

 

Here is the list of foods that were found to have the lowest amounts of pesticides. Notice that most of them have thick, inedible skins that you peel or cut off.

 

•Asparagus
•Avocados

•Bananas

•Broccoli

•Cauliflower

•Corn*

•Kiwi

•Mangoes

•Onions

•Papaya

•Pineapples

•Sweet Peas

 

*Almost all corn is genetically modified.

 

So, now that you've decided what you'll buy organic and what you won't, you want to be sure to look for these stickers/logos when shopping, as they denote your produce is organic:

 

Happy eating!

Questions? Comments? Have an idea for a future blog post? E-mail me at rn6productions@gmail.com.

Natural vs. Organic

With so much talk about eating healthier, you are bound to run into the terms "organic" and "natural" when perusing the grocery aisles.  Do you know what they mean? Is there a difference?

If you Google the terms, you are sure to find the answers but it may take you a handful of Web sites before you get a straight answer.

Here, in the most basic way I can think to write it, are the meanings of the two terms and their differences:

"Organic" means that the food was produced using little or no pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, hormones or antibiotics. This is all regulated by the USDA, which has incredibly tight restrictions and regulations.

"Natural" is a little less clear. This term is regulated by the FDA and, to date, there is no standard definition in the United States. According to the FDA, any food production company can label a product "Natural" so long as, "it is truthful and not misleading."

Ok, so what does that really mean?

A couple of things. 

First, all "Organic" foods are "Natural" but not all "Natural" foods are "Organic."

In the same way that all Catholics are Christians but not all Christians are Catholics.

I try to think of the difference like this:

"Organic" means that when the food was being grown or raised, it could not have any (or very few) fake substances - hormones, pesticides, fertilizers, or antibiotics. Furthermore, it means that once the food left the farm, nothing could be added to it to compromise the work that had been done in growing or raising it. It can't be sprayed or injected with anything to keep it from the natural process of breakdown and decay that inevitably happens to food.

That's not necessarily the case with "natural" foods. "Natural" typically means that, once the food was grown or raised, nothing is added to it. That means it could have been chock full of hormones, antibiotics, synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides as it was farmed.  Once it left that process, though, it was pretty much left alone.

Things you should know:

• 
  
  "100% Organic" Products are exactly that - nothing fake in there.
• 
  
  "Organic" Products must contain at least 95% organically produced ingredients.The other 5% are foods that cannot be found in organic form or are found on the USDA's approved ingredient list.
• 
  
  "Made with Organic Ingredients" means that the item must contain at least 70% organically produced ingredients.

The last thing I will say is this: there is not enough research at this point to say definitively whether or not "Natural" or "Organic" foods are actually better for you than conventional foods. If you do decide to "go Organic" it should be because of personal preference - whether to make a positive impact on the environment or to make a statement.


My next blog post will include tips on how to eat Organic on a budget and what labels to look for when shopping. I hope you will find it useful!

Happy eating!