VeganSnatch on HOLD!!

If you have come here, thank you!! The other VeganSnatches are doing important VeganThings right now & will join us soon!  But in the meantime, Join "SisterSnatch" at: (where she tries to stay out of too much trouble).

Get Skinny, Go Vegan.

Crazy Sexy Diet Adventure Cleanse Day 20-21. Norwalk Juicing and Chakra Balancing.

                          

Video from Sharon Gannon's "Chakra Balancing Yoga" DVD.  Sharon Gannon is a tireless advocate for taking responsibility for our planet and compassion towards all creatures.  Truly a fierce feminine force.  This is an Acacia DVD.  This DVD is great, but if you are a Jivamukti fan, you need the  Jivamukti in a Box CD/DVDs.  It's like hanging out with David & Sharon in your living room.  And if you still want more, you can subscribe to the JivaDiva podcasts that one of their students produces.  Alanna Kaivalya is a musician, a yogini, an author,  and just a beautiful person.  I subscribed when she was doing a "Podcasts for Puppies" drive.    

Holy Basil Herb.  An "Adaptogen" that is touted to help combat stress and calm the nerves.

Well, I never wrote about the "End of the Cleanse".  Maybe because that's when I actually started behaving.  The last few days I ate tons of Kale Salad and Red Cabbage.  Monday I did a 24 hour "Juice Cleanse" and I just made all the juices Sunday Night.  I put Kale, Celery, Carrots, Apple and also Lemon.  Often I squeeze some lemon juice in but this time I just put the whole rind in (organic) and the juice tasted great.  I think it probably helps preserve some of the nutrients as well.  Lots of tea as well and had a minor crisis when I ran out of Mate and had to use some very old Mate with herbs in it (not my cup of Mate).  Finally ordered a 5 pound bag from "The Mate Factor".  Have transitioned from traditional "Rosamonte" to a green Mate that has been dried at low temperatures.

Steeping my Holy Basil Tea in Glass.  Figuring I probably need to Freebase it.  

Compost or Salad?

Bad Woman's Compost.  Sweet Fruits and Yerba Mate. 

Dandelion Greens.

Dandelion, Kale, Hemp Salad.  I usually throw together a dressing of olive or hemp oil, Apple Cider Vinegar, and some type of salt.  Gluten Free Tamari, Sea Salt, or Coconut Aminos (which are a little pricey, but less sodium.  of course my husband says you just use more of it so it isn't truly less sodium)

A Get Skinny Staple.  Fat & Sugar.  Lots of variations on this but basically I take an avocado, carob powder (at least enough to make it dark), a couple dates, stevia, or other sweetener.  Put in Vita-Mix with enough water to blend and make a pudding.  Also you can put one avocado, one banana, carob powder, cinnamon.  The Vita-Mix makes it a super smooth creamy texture.  The Cuisinart will work but I find it more difficult to get all of the little green chunks smooth.  I have also found that the Carob is already sweeter than the Raw Chocolate.  Which is great because you don't really need that much sweetening.  

My Medicine Cabinet.  

So this was my morning project last Sunday..........I just store the juice in Ball Jars.  It took me about an hour to make at least 128 ounces of juice.  So not too bad.  Was worried about storing any of the green juice as you always hear to drink it basically the second you make it.  Even at Liquiteria in New York, you buy the bottled Norwalk Juices.  They aren't made on the spot and then they are stored in plastic! And that's at one of the leading juice bars.  The juice actually tasted great and lasted for days.

Wallpaper came with the house.  No grief, please!  Everyone gives us grief on our wallpaper.  Never mind that the rest of the house is a disaster..........

This  Norwalk juicer was a gift from our Otis.......a puppy who loved Kale Juice but didn't make it to see the arrival of the juicer.  We were borrowing my parent's Greenstar before that.  The Greenstar is also a great juicer, but it takes more time and effort to push the carrots through and it is more difficult to clean.  I think the "hot" juicers now are the Hurom Slow Juicer and the Breville.  I doubt you can store the juices for long, but they are probably great for everyday use.  Of course juicers are just like exercise, the best kind is the kind that you will use.  And for kids that don't like texture in their food (sometimes occurs in autism), a juicer can be a great way to get all of your nutrients.  Kale and Collards are some of the highest rated foods on the ORAC scale plus they have easily asorbable Calcium.  You can grow them year round in most places (if you don't have slugs that you are are nurturing).  But of course Kale isn't subsidized by the government like Milk & Beef.  So you actually have to pay the true cost of growing it.  Or just grow your own.

This makes me proud.  It's not chocolate avocado pudding.  It's not my staple of apples and pumpkin seeds.   

The juicer has bags and cloths to use for the first part of the process.  The bags are for carrots and apples (things that are easy to clean).  The cloths are more for greens.  Some people prefer to use the cloths all the time because they are so much easier to clean.

This is the pulp after it has been squeezed with 200 pounds of pressure.

It's super dry. I always think I should use the pulp for flax crackers but often the timing doesn't work out.

My aunt just wrote me the other day saying she was also reading the "Crazy Sexy Diet" book!  I was totally surprised.  She was one of the peeps I was going to "gift" it to, and had just procrastinated.  Hmmmm.......but does she have Anupy's book yet??  Watch out Mr. R, you might be eating Rajmah and  Dal Makhani for awhile.

The Indian Slow Cooker: 50 Healthy, Easy, Authentic Recipes

Crazy Sexy Diet: Eat Your Veggies, Ignite Your Spark, and Live Like You Mean It!

 Speaking of Dal Makhani,  Gokul's finally opened their second location at 6101 Delmar in the Loop.  All vegetarian all the time, with lots of vegan options and soon will have vegan night twice a month.  We went on opening night and they had the projector running but the Bollywood movies hadn't made it to the new location yet.  I believe the place is Kosher as it was packed with Orthodox Jewish families.  Their other location on Page Avenue is usually packed with Indians, Veggie/Vegan types, University professors & College Kids, a real Hodge-Podge of peeps.  I guess they were swamped their first day at the new location.  Ganesh, Kali, and Krishna haven't made the move yet (their statues) but I hope they do join us. 

The New Gokul.  Bad photo, but it was cold and dark.  And Icy!

In the St. Louis Loop at 6101 Delmar.  Just East of Pi.

On opening night they had Vegan Saag (Spinach), Vegan Dal Makhani (Kidney Beans and Black Lentils), Vegan Dal, Vegan "Potato Chips" (spicy potatoes), Vegan Aloo Baingan (Eggplant & Potato). The food was great and their whole staff was there so they had to close the old location for opening night.  The food is always great there, but it's really the people working there that make you keep wanting to go back.  The people are so kind and you always feel energized after spending time there.  We have been going to the Page location for years now.  It started out as a "Snacks & Sweets" place which didn't have much "real" food and has evolved into a real restaurant with a vegetarian buffet every single day.  

Vegan Kitchari from Anupy Singla's "The Indian Slow Cooker" Book

Whole Green Lentil and Brown Rice Porridge

"Sabut Moong Kitchari" from "The Indian Slow Cooker Book" by Anupy Singla

I woke up at the crack of dawn because I had a meeting with a client, but my bleary eyed self read his email that he had "double-booked" himself.  What now?  I didn't want to try to go back to bed with the dogs and the cat and wake up my husband, who does not thrive on sleep loss (somehow I have the illusion that I do).  Hmmmm.......Okay, just whip up some Kitchari and some Rajmah from The Indian Slow Cooker Book.  The Rajmah takes 12 hours! But if I started it now then it would be done by the time I walked in the door tonight!

You want Moong Beans.  Or "Mung" beans.  But not what may be labelled "Green Lentils"in the Whole Foods Bulk Department.  If they have them in bulk they would be called "Mung" (the type you sprout), and at the International Store they are "Moong".

Mung Beans.  Often a "healing" indgredient.  Easy on the tummy.

Kitchari is when you mix the lentils, rice, and all the other goodies up in one pot.  I had always seen it in the Yoga and Kundalini type cookbooks as being a healing, cleansing type of food.  Maybe because the Mung (Moong) beans are easy on the tummy.  Anupy Singla includes 2 Kitchari recipes in her book.  The Whole Green Lentil and Brown Rice Porridge is the one I made today.  It is the spicy one.  This dish is done in 4 hours!!  And it's incredible.  I kind of thought it might lack a little spice, since I had associated Kitchari with healing upset tummies, but this Kitchari is full of spice and flavor.  The other Kitchari, Split Green Lentil and Rice Porridge, on the page prior, is the "Healing Tummy" one.  We loved this recipe and it cooks up so quickly!  My dad has been heating the water prior to adding it to the slow cooker and make it a little bit less of a "slow" cooker.  He mentioned that there was a little section in the beginning of the book about doing that to decrease the cooking time.  

Organic Brown Basmati Rice.  

Hanging out in my newest slow cooker.  We bought a smaller one so we could go crazy and cook

more than one thing at a time.

All the ingredients Dr. Oz has on his show, nearly everyday, that fix ya up.

Before Cooking.

Slow Cooker Party in the Kitchen.

Finished Kitchari.  After stirring there was no liquid on top.

 I can't believe that in just a few minutes I made this much food.

We ate this for lunch while my husband read me dismal economic news from the ipad.  The HuffPost reiterating what  Karen Weaver had said about the municipalities faltering on their bonds.  Police, firemen, teachers getting cut.  People not getting their pensions.  So unreal, yet I guess totally expected, in our country.  The darkest economic days have not yet arrived.  But Anupy's Kitchari will save the day!

Verdict:  The Kitchari rocked.  I really was expecting something more bland (I am A Spicy Lady) because it didn't have a ton of spices in it. But it was bursting with flavor and I can see where you would be inclined to make it everyday!  This dish is great because it has the rice and mung beans all in one pot.  Sounds like Anupy's kids might be growing up on the stuff.  The Mung Beans are very mild in flavor and supposed to be very digestible.  I used to be able to get them in bulk at Whole Foods but the last few times I haven't seen them there.  I ended up getting them at the Indian Store, where they don't carry organic anything.  But I will probably try to order them organic next time.

Hands down the best new book for Vegans.

If you think you don't "do" slow-cookers, think again.

Anupy has made it so you simply dump dried, unsoaked beans in for these recipes.

You can make these dishes super healthy, for pennies, with only minutes of actual prep time. Also great for all of those "Raw Mom, Cooked Dad" households.  Funny that I even know of such a thing, a decade ago I would have been "What's a cooked Dad?"

Anyway, the Kitchari and knowing we can make super healthy and delicious food for pennies, does help a bit!

Crazy Sexy Diet Adventure Cleanse, Day 17-19. Hemp, it's not just for brownies anymore.

Hemp Cabbage Coleslaw from Kris Carr's "Crazy Sexy Diet".

I am a hemp lover.  I wear the stuff.  I eat the stuff.  And even though a lot of people would identify me with the type that smokes it, that's about the only thing I don't do with it.  Hemp Carob Balls,  Hemp Milk, Hemp Butter, Hemp Pants.  I love Hemp!  There was a sale awhile back on Hemp oil of Nutiva, so I stocked up.  It is "hempy" in flavor, so it may taste strong if you are not used to it but I think it's awesome.  Have been making a lot of Cabbage Salads lately.  Organic Cabbage is inexpensive and makes yummy disease fighting food.  Tonight I used the recipe from the "Crazy Sexy Diet" for Hemp Cabbage Coleslaw.  Double Hit of Hemp with Oil and Seeds.  Of course in the states the seeds are shelled........Still gorging myself with Kale and can't wait to try growing it again in the Square Foot Garden.  Last year I had lots of conversations with the Slugs and I do hope they heed my advice of hanging out somewhere else next season.  I hate using poisons and I exhaust myself spraying exotic oils on my greens.  Finally I was powdering DE on the soil near the end of the season, since it is supposed to be natural and safe.  Of course the slugs weren't the only guilty ones.  Apparently word got out that I was running an insect sanctuary and I had a whole eco-system of tiny creatures.  It doesn't help that I poop out when it gets too sunny (I swear I am allergic to the sun-that with my unending sarcasm will reassure that I will never be a 100% glowing, positive thinking raw foodist!).  Ecuador is the new "House Hunters" realty location.  I had already put that bug in hubby's ear, as all the "cool kids" were moving to the "Valley of Longevity".  But obviously the UV rays and I wouldn't get along.  However, an endless supply of fruit........

Nutiva Hemp Oil in a Jar!

And Day 18 I got to start out with a brisk run!! I was joining the girls for the feeding of the stray dogs and I couldn't get the car down the lane.  Hubby was awesome and got all of the ice and snow off, but the tires were on some ice so I couldn't even get it going.  Luckily I could run to my friend's house, so there I was at 7:00 in the morning, in jeans on top of polartec leggings, big boots, big coat, carrying an extra coat in case we broke down or got stuck.  So I guess if I would have had a vision board that I would ever be one of those crazy people that run when it is still dark and cold and icy, that that was the day it finally happened.  By accident of course.  Pretty lucky I didn't fall on ice and actually hurt myself. I did that later, the falling part, not the hurting myself part.  I fell on the curb, which was apparently an entire ice slope, when I got out of my friends car and then I laughed so hard I think that it should be considered "abdominal exercises" for the day.  I had to laugh so hard because we had just gotten back from seeing lots of animals that live on the streets, and it was bitter cold.  Those days are a little tough for me so I just put up a little emotional wall or I simply can't function.  But it is really great to begin your day with incredibly beautiful, radiant, and giving women.  Sets a good energy for the rest of the day.

I wish I could post photos of the feast I had for my afternoon meeting.  But wait, I couldn't use a camera or a phone inside.  It was OR Juice and Smoothie, the one located next to the Bikram place.  I asked for a juice with all greens but she told me it was "too expensive" so I settled on some carrot, Beet, celery concoction.  Double shot of wheatgrass and Raw Nori Rolls.  Plus lots of signs warning that cell phone usage will damage the supplements.  I'm not sure what the camera thing was about.  The CWE location does allow cell phones.  Cameras, I don't know.

OR Juice & Smoothie.  Lots of Raw, Vegan, goodies.  Not all Vegan though, so ask questions!

And today, Day 19.....Made another Whole Foods run.  Hubby ran out of Tofurkey and Daiya Cheese and needed to bring a lunch somewhere.  Me, I had to stock up on Kale to prepare for the next batch of snow.  Plus, it's just therapy for me, shopping at WF, not necessarily buying the Kale.  Today was easy because a lot of older people were there since it was daytime.  A little more laid back crowd.  I was a Wild Oats girl at heart, but I am really happy that at least there is a Whole Foods is in town, and that I can run out and get whatever silly food I want, today I saw Vegan Rice Whipped Cream in a can (I didn't buy it), whenever I want.  I bought a cartful of super good food and picked up the stuff I needed to make Rajmah (Indian Chili) and Black Split Dal (from the Indian Slow Cooker Book)  for hubby's Superbowl Night. Did hit the gym tonight.  No vision board or letter to myself yet, but this weekend will provide a little more time.  And I leave with a video of "Casey The Cat' who is the most adorable little guy.  This shows his capture.  And he needs a home!! Everytime we would go out and feed him he would beg us to bring him home......well, we did!

Crazy Sexy Diet Adventure Cleanse of Kris Carr, Day 16. Chubby Cargill Chic and Oprah's "Stedman" is now "Studman".

                    

                                                 Healing Cancer from the Inside Out  

Is Stedman going to "flip"??  While I am not going to go on and on and on about the Oprah show yesterday, that discussed veganism while also giving Michael Pollan a chance to justify his unsexy ways, I was uber excited that Stedman seemed to have an interest in the whole Vegan thing.  I guess Oprah had mentioned in passing that she had been at her "Vegan" meeting, about herself and her staff going Vegan for one week, and Stedman wanted to jump right on board.  Apparently he has some interest in continuing with it after the "trial week".  Kathy Freston, "The Veganist", was the Vegan Voice for this show and she had a smokin' hot Vegan Body to accompany it.  Which isn't a point at all really, because it's what's on the inside that counts, but good advertising never hurts.  Even though Kathy advocates a Whole Food (not necessarily Whole Foods) diet, she did accompany one staffer to Whole Foods and they stocked up on "transition" foods, like Tofurkey, Daiya Cheese, Earth Balance, and Almond Milks.  These are all great foods, and even with their packaging carry far less environmental harm than killing cows and chickens, never mind the Karma Points.  But ultimately it's cheaper and healthier to eat foods as close to their natural sources as possible.  That said,  Daiya cheese tastes great and none of these foods have cholesterol.  It seemed that this "Vegan Experiment" made a lot of staffers at least think about how animal products have penetrated every food they buy, and apparently "poop" was a pretty big topic.  I found it hard to believe that a young staffer once only pooped once a week but was pooping every day on the Vegan diet.  Once a week?  Ouch.  I guess I am pretty naive that pooping is such a major difficulty in our country.  It does blow me away that people buy fiber supplements, as if fiber is such a rare entity in food.  There was a meat processing scene, of one of the Cargill's slaughterhouses and a whole bunch of BS by a Chubby Chic who represented "Cargill".  If you want to look like the "Chubby Cargill Chic" eat slaughtered cow.  If you want to look like Kathy Freston, well, eat Vegan.  Look, nothing against "Chub", but "Chub" is always cuter if it comes from Uncle Eddie's Vegan cookies or Fish Gut Free Frey.  Chub is no longer cute when you are being a spokesperson for how ethical and moral you are while blacking out the stun scene.  Let the kids see the friggin' stun scene.  They wouldn't even show it to the adults.

Kathy Freston "The Veganist"

Ah, back to cleansing.  Snow, ice, Kale.  Have been totally owning bragging rights to eating up to 2 heads of Kale a day.  I have been using bananas the last few days which is so not in the Cleanse as low glycemic fruits are preferred.  However,  I have been using and entire bunch of Kale in each smoothie and adding green powder as well.  The whole glycemic thing is pretty confusing at this point.  On one hand you have Hippocrates and Gabriel Cousens dissing carrots and potatoes and on the other hand the Gerson Therapy has you drink 13 glasses of juice, mostly carrot, a day and stewing white!! potatoes. One thing I do know, is that if you are not the most disciplined eater, then you need to have "healthy contraband" in your kitchen.

Kale Salad with Sunflower Seeds, Hemp Seeds, Red Cabbage, Lemon Juice, Coconut Aminos, Olive Oil.

An example is a gal I know who basically eats pork chops and brownies, throw a little pad thai in here and there.  Now she is getting healthier, and truly wants to shed some weight, so she adds green smoothies in her diet, which is awesome.  However, she doesn't eat enough healthy food or have "healthy binge" food around, so she still binges on boxes of brownies.  If you "binge", then you better have some healthy stuff like apples, bananas, or even vegan cookies with fruit sugars.  Being an ethical vegan makes it pretty damn easy to avoid a lot of c**p, because in Middle America, people aren't baking mountains of Vegan Brownies and bringing them to work to share. It's not like there is a Babycakes around the corner.  Sometimes it's good that you can just automatically discount 95% of the food in the room, because you shouldn't be eating it anyway.  Throw stuff you shouldn't eat in the trash.  Yes, the trash.  Then take the trash out, we all remember the episode of Sex in the City where Miranda dug her brownies out of the trash.

So story with the "Brownie Babe".  The green smoothie with a box of brownies wasn't really working so an diet touted by Kevin Tredeau diet of eating meat and dairy only as the vegetable intake was extremely regulated.  And 500 calories total intake a day.  For 3 weeks or something to "reset" your body.  Of course if you eat 500 calories a day you will lose a pound every 2 days!  My point, get healthy binge food so you aren't pumping poison into your body to lose weight.  Buy your Karma Kookies or get your nuts and dates out.  You just have to redefine what "junk" food is.  To me it's bananas.  My butt likes it that way.

Hubby's Quote of the day on topic of my breath: "You smell like you've been lickin' a lawnmower.  Like freshly cut grass."

Now that's what I consider a successful Cleanse Day.

Maybe if I make a Vision Board today, that has a picture on a Vision Board on it, one will come to fruition over the weekend.........And thank you Kris Carr for getting the Green Machine and I back together.  Loving the Kale and Kris helped up reunite.

This book is great for anyone.
Super fun and inspirational.