Monday It's Vegan Night: Let's face it, sometimes the best a busy parent can do to get a healthy veg meal on the table at the end of a busy day is to stop at a restaurant or grocery strore on the way home to pick up something pre-made.
The good news is that the unhealthy, frozen TV dinners that many of us remember from childhood aren't our only option to feed our kids today. Amy's Kitchen meals are some of our favorites. From the vegan ziti kids meal to the other ethnic vegan meals for "grown ups" that our "someday grown ups" love, too, there's plenty of relatively healthy veg options that you can pull out of your grocer's freezer and into your stove or microwave in a pinch. Our favorites include the Amy's Black Bean Vegan Enchiladas Whole Meal and the Indian Mattar Tofu.
Take-out is another option for vegan families in a hurry, albeit somewhat more expensive. We attended VegFest here in the Tampa Bay area this weekend, which my teenage daughter referred to as a veg eater's "Heaven." We tried food from Evos, the first truly healthy fast food chain, and from the Loving Hut. Check those links to see if either chain restaurant is in your area. We also experienced some amazing vegan food from some of the local food trucks that specialize in healthy food options, including a delicious Ethopian veggie platter from one local vendor.
Don't forget to explore your community for vegan options that may be your next Meatless Monday option, one for which the only culinary fingers you need to lift are those to pay the bill!
Keep working for change,
Dana
Friday's News + Gathering: I'm delighted to be at VegFest this Saturday to spread the message that raising meat-free kids isn't only possible, it's admirable! But that's not always the message parents get from our very non-veg society.
Today, I'm re-running segments of the post I wrote that announced the birth of my website, VegMoms, for anyone I meet at VegFest who may be visiting this site for the first time.
VegMoms is intended to be a place online for Mindful Moms (and Dads) to feel supported in growing Healthy Kids and to get recipes and tips to make Fabulous Vegan Food for their families.
As a mom of three mostly vegan, all-vegetarian kids who oftentimes finds that we're the only family in the school, neighborhood or workplace who is doing so, I wanted to create a resource for moms of veg kids that will help make living the veg life less isolating and more fun -- and VegMoms is it!
I decided to launch this site for all of us VegMoms after blogging on VillaVegan.com for more than a year, writing the book The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Eating for Kids and talking to hundreds of veg parents through research for the book and at the natural foods store where I work. I hope you that find VegMoms' weekly menu will nourish your veg lifestyle.
Parents who are raising their kids in the vegan and vegetarian life are smart, socially and environmentally conscious, healthy and forward thinking. We want to provide our kids with the best nutrition possible while leaving them with a better world. And, like all parents, we still want our kids to say the food we make for them is yummy!
To help you in that effort, here's what you'll find at VegMoms:
Monday: It's Vegan Night! (TM) Start your week off right here with an entire menu -- main dish, sides, and dessert -- for one great vegan meal each week (easily adaptable to vegetarian for those who are).
Tuesday: Natural Health Find a quick tip on natural healthy living for kids and adults from the latest medical research and time-tested natural remedies.
Wednesday: VegKids Focus on how to help your vegan or vegetarian kid be healthy, happy, and well-fed as they navigate through an omnivorous world at school and with friends.
Thursday: Working for Change Meet people and organizations that are working to change our culture to be more veg-friendly, more compassionate toward animals, healthier and environmentally responsible.
Friday: News + Gathering Read the must-know highlights of the week's news stories about the safety of our food supply, animal rights, environmental issues, children's health, school lunches and more. Every story will have a suggested action item directly attached, so with a click of the mouse, one call or another easy-to-do action, you'll be able to add your voice to the discussion about the issue.
It's my hope that VegMoms will also add more features soon, including: A quick boost veg motivational thought for moms delivered to your inbox daily; a weekly newsletter delivered to your inbox; coupons to your favorite and new favorite veg products; an extensive blogroll on all five main menu topics on the site, guest bloggers and more.
So email me at vegmoms@gmail.com or leave a comment on any blog post that inspires you to do so. Thank you for being a great example for your children. When VegMoms connect, we can grow a better world for our kids, one meal at a time. Keep working for change, Dana
The Food Guide Pyramid, beloved by lunch ladies and health teachers, isn't working in real-life America. The Power Plate may be the answer. Promoted by The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, The Power Plate shows the only necessary food groups for a truly healthful diet are fruits, veggies, grains and legumes (beans, lentils, peas, nuts and seeds). Animal products are optional foods, which studies have shown cause many health problems when eaten in excess. True, a vitamin B12 supplement is essential for those who are entirely meat- and dairy-free, but swallowing one supplement seems trivial compared to battling cholesterol, obesity and the myriad environmental ills that come with our culture's heavy reliance on meat and dairy.
Check out the power plate and tell me what you think. Dr. Neal Barnard at PCRM says "It's Time to Retire the Pyramid." In my view, an idea whose time is long overdue.
BBQ Tofu, Vegan Mashed Potatoes and Veggies. Coconut Bliss Bars: This BBQ tofu is crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. Along with the mashed potatoes and veggies, it's a stick-to-your-ribs All-American meal. You can make it mild or spicy, depending upon the sauce you choose to use. We make a double or triple batch for cold BBQ sandwiches the next day.
BBQ Tofu
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: about an hour
Serving Size: 2 or 3 pieces
Servings per recipe: 4
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup olive oil
1 TB maple syrup
1 TB blackstrap molasses
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 lbs extra firm tofu
3/4 cup jarred barbecue sauce
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly coat a 9x12-inch glass baking dish with non-stick vegetable spray.
2. In a small bowl, mix together peanut butter, olive oil, maple syrup, blackstrap molasses, paprika, salt, onion powder and garlic powder with a spoon for two or three minutes, until smooth.
3. Drain and dry the blocks of tofu by wrapping in paper towels and squeezing over sink. Cut each block into six rectangular pieces, for a total of 12 pieces.
4. Place tofu in the prepared baking dish and, using a small spoon, drizzle peanut butter mixture over the top of each piece of tofu, spreading it out evenly over each piece. Flip over tofu, and coat other sides.
5. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, flip over tofu using a spatula, and bake for 30 more minutes.
6. Remove from oven. With a marinade brush, lightly coat each side of the tofu pieces with BBQ sauce of your choice. Bake for 5 more minutes. Serve with more BBQ sauce and cranberry relish, if desired.
Vegan Mashed Potatoes
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Serving Size: 1 cup
Servings per recipe: 4
6 med white or yellow potatoes (appx. 2 lbs), peeled and quartered.
3 TB vegan margarine, like Willow Run or Earth Balance
1/4 cup plain soy milk
1 tsp salt
1. Boil potatoes in deep pot for 20 minutes or until fork tender. Drain.
2. Add margarine, soy milk and salt and mash potatoes with a hand mashe rfor 3 to 5 min until smooth.
3. Stir with a wooden spoon to desired consistency. If potatoes are a bit dry at this point, add a bit more soy milk. Or, if desired, add vegan sour cream.
Veggies
Steam any of your family's favorite veggies as a side. We serve broccoli spears, asparagus, corn on the cob or brussel sprouts with this meal.
Dessert
Luna and Larry's Coconut Bliss coconut-based vegan ice cream flavors are among our favorite ways to finish any spicy meal.
How many hours of sleep do you get on average? For most people, even those of us who pride ourselves on living a healthy lifestyle, the answer is: Not Enough. But even a minimal lack of sleep has been linked in some studies to both obesity and a higher risk of diabetes. Just three nights of staying up too late and getting up too early increases insulin resistance, according to an article in Psychology Today (pg. 54, Jan-Feb 2010). Even worse, it’s not easy to make up for late nights. PT reports that insulin activity doesn’t rebound even after four days of sleep recovery. And people who are tired tend to eat more, adding to the problem.
The lesson here for those of us who try to eat a healthy, plant-based, meat-free diet is that maintaining a healthy weight — and overall health — is about more than just what we eat. Cutting sleep hours, not making time for at least a little exercise and letting stress run wild in our lives can lead to health problems almost as readily as eating fast food five times a week can do for omnivores.
I’m a mom of three young kids, I have two jobs and work a lot of late nights at my computer, so I know how hard it is to manage the demands of work and life and still find time to sleep. But I also know it would be a lot harder to walk around checking my blood sugar many times a day and using an insulin pump. So I’m going to make more effort to get at least six (maybe some nights 7 or 8?) hours of sleep every night this week. How about you?
