Tag Archives: avocado

May5

Cinco de Mayo Tortilla Soup

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Cinco de Mayo Tortilla Soup

This is one of those recipes that I’d made for years and sort of forgot about. I’m glad I remembered it, because it’s so darn easy. And as a bonus, my kids completely devoured it last night for dinner. So it’s definitely a winner!

Oh so long ago I picked up a Nordstrom cookbook. Sounds a little weird I know, but they have a cafe and the food is actually really quite good. The book I have is more than 10 years old. It’s the Nordstrom Friends and Family Cookbook and I’ve adapted many recipes from it. It’s not a vegan book, so I’ve had to be a little creative…which I like to do.

Their recipe for tortilla soup is outstanding. It calls for chicken, but I just add more vegetables instead. It’s awesome!

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Apr8

“Get Your Protein On” Bean Salads

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Curry Chickpea Salad, Italian White Bean Asparagus Salad + Black Bean Avocado Salad

Recently, I’ve had several conversations with people about how to make sure you get enough protein following a vegan diet. Honestly, this is the most common conversation that I have about eating vegan. The answer for me is by eating a healthy variety of whole plant-based foods that includes beans, nuts, nut butters, seeds, tempeh, tofu and some whole grains like quinoa.

I’m not big on tracking this kind of thing and I don’t count calories, but for a nutrition class I took while I was in culinary school I was required to track my food intake for two weeks. What I found is that my vegan diet met all of my protein needs perfectly. So I don’t sweat this too much. My focus and energy is directed toward holistic wellness and I trust that my healthy lifestyle will always support me.

Matt Frazier, an ultramarathoner and author of the book No Meat Athlete says “If you’re eating enough for your activity level and consuming a variety of whole foods, you will get all of the protein you need.” He explains that for his weight and activity level he needs about 2,500 calories per day and shoots to get about 10% or 250 calories from protein.

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May7

Caribbean Cobb Salad

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Foodie Yoga Girl made the big leap from the blogosphere into the real world last weekend with her very first cooking class event. The hands-on class was in honor of my friend Heather’s birthday. I shared Heather’s raw oatmeal raisin cookie recipe a while back. She and I met during our yoga teacher training. She’s lovely and it was so much fun being a part of her celebration.

For the class, we set up three stations, each focusing on a different cooking method. One group was in charge of baking jerk tofu. Another group at the stove made sauteed plantains and cilantro lime rice. And the third group (Heather’s parents who were visiting from Colorado) was in charge of this beautiful recipe for Caribbean Cobb Salad.

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Apr16

Macrobiotic Bowl

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Food fascinates me. Well, clearly, I write a blog about it. Seriously, I love how I introduce some new thing about food into my life and then it leads to something else. Or I meet someone or go somewhere and learn something completely new.

Eating an amazing meal in Boulder, CO inspired me to transition to vegetarian eating. Reading the World Peace Diet during my yoga teacher training affirmed my commitment to a vegan lifestyle. My first macrobiotic meals, at Casa de Luz in Austin and Green Vegetarian Cuisine in San Antonio, felt life changing too.

Although, I’ve only had a few macrobiotic meals so far, I love the way they make me feel. Balanced. Energized. Vibrant. Healthy. There is something to it and I want to learn more.

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Mar17

White Bean Enchiladas + Green Chile Sauce

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I get so much pleasure out of teaching yoga and making connections with so many different people. One thing I have discovered, unexpectedly to tell you the truth, is that it is such a joy to teach yoga to families. Seeing parents engage with their kids on the mat…being silly together and being focused, making animal noises and playing games and then lying still at the end of the class.

Family Yoga Night has become something I so look forward to and thoroughly enjoy. After the class, we usually have a potluck (it’s a yoga thing!). This month, I made these yummy white bean enchiladas. I’ve made black bean/sweet potato enchiladas with red sauce for years. So I thought how about white beans with green sauce and it works perfectly. I adapted a recipe for the sauce from a cookbook I picked up while traveling in New Mexico last summer. It’s a winner.

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Nov13

Wanderlustful Açaí Bowl

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I spent last weekend doing yoga and more yoga at Wanderlust Festival Austin. I took classes from rockstar yogis, like Shiva Rea, Seane Corn, Janet Stone and MC Yogi. We posed, we flowed, we flew, we laughed, we danced and we had a blast. And since we were in Austin, we ate some pretty good food too.

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Sep18

Lots of Veggies Sushi Rolls

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When I was in yoga teacher training, veggie sushi saved my life. I would come home late, tired and hungry after a long day of practicing yoga. Although I was super hungry, really the only thing I wanted was vegetable sushi rolls…a little seaweed salad was okay too. I’m not sure I can explain this, looking back. Maybe it was the salty taste from the nori and soy sauce. Maybe it was the fact that sushi rolls can be light and filling at the same time. For me, it was a craving that could not be denied.

On these evenings, I usually had rolls from my favorite asian restaurant or really I was not that picky, grocery store sushi was fine too. But now that I have a little more time, I really like making my own rolls. And what’s fun is that I get to come up with weird combinations that I wish I could find on a menu but I never can, like mango/cucumber.

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Aug30

Cactus Tostadas + Prickly Pear Salsa

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Okay, this one is a little out there. I get it. But it’s so fun and different that I had to share. So I mentioned recently that I took a little field trip to my local hispanic market, Mi Tienda, which is owned by the supermarket chain, HEB.

So for my Houston friends, if you haven’t been here, think about checking it out. There is fun music the minute you walk through the entrance and an agua fresca/horchata bar and fresh tortillas and a huge bakery area and a cactus kiosk. Yes, a whole section of the store devoted to Nopal cactus!

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May13

Groovy Grilled Guac + Homemade Chips

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Summertime is around the corner and I’m thrilled to start cranking up the grill. Love to throw a bunch of colorful veggies together in a grill basket. Recently, I had a firm avocado and added it to my mixed grill to see what would happen. Oh. My. So awesome. So I got the idea to grill all of the ingredients for guacamole and see what it would be like.

Well, it’s pretty groovy…and really easy. I even grilled the limes! I tried it two ways: (1) everything chopped up in the grill basket; and (2) the ingredients directly on the grill. Both methods worked well, but I had a slight preference for skipping the grill basket and working with larger pieces directly on the grill.

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Apr29

Vegan Caesar Pasta Salad

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I’ve been making variations of this salad forever. It’s so great to take to a potluck because it can feed a lot of people. When the weather warms up (it’s pretty much summer here in Houston now), this salad is just what I’m in the mood to eat.

Traditional Caesar salads include parmesan cheese and anchovies. To make it vegan, I include nutritional yeast to get the cheesy taste and kelp powder to mimic the fish flavor. You should be able to find kelp powder at Whole Foods and maybe even your local grocery store in the organic spice section. (Houston peeps, I got mine at HEB.)  Most Caesar salads also include croutons which I skipped this time, but if you like that, make a batch using day old bread cut into cubes and sauteed with olive oil, salt and pepper.

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