Sheboygan’s Culinary Car

by meaghan // July 15, 2014 // No Comments

JMKAC’s Culinary Car.

It’s almost finished! Well so I’m told. The John Michael Kohler arts center has teamed up with Nourish to create this amazing mobile car/truck/bus! The creative minds behind this adventure are connecting the community through food and arts. They will be using the truck to preform demonstrations on healthy eating, and help educate the public. The big premiere will be at this weekends Mid Summer Festival of the Arts, this Saturday & Sunday, July 19th and 20th. This festival features tons of local artists, workshops and live music throughout the day.

Vegpod has the honor of giving a food demo on board this magical bus at 3pm on Saturday. Come hang out after the farmers market. I will be walking through steps of those Raw stuffed tomatoes everyone loves, and giving out samples and the recipe. Yahoo for community!

Raw Nut Mylk

by meaghan // March 4, 2014 // No Comments

As a mostly full time, stay at home mom, the perks of making all of my own food seems endless. I don’t just mean making breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I’m talking about making my own ingredients.

I suppose before the new family addition, it was difficult to see how I would find the time to manifest doing anything. And of course some days it still is (like this blog for example!) But as Oliver’s duration of sleep at night gets a little longer, and the naps are plentiful, I am happily enjoying the time I have to stray away from the ‘processed’ food we were eating.

I’d like to think that my diet is as healthy as it can be. I eat an entirely plant based diet, mostly organic, full of whole grains and legumes. But there were a couple things hanging over my head that I knew could be eliminated. For example, why was I not making my own almond milk? I had already dived into making my own yogurt, and vegan-naise, so why still buy the processed nut milks? Once my lovely vitamix came into my life, I had no excuse.

So here goes: My raw almond mylk recipe (plain, chocolate, and strawberry versions as well!)

Raw Nut Mylk

Ingredients

1 cup raw almonds, or any other nut
4 cups cold filtered water
1 Tbl. agave (optional)
pinch celtic salt
1/2 tea. vanilla
To make chocolate or strawberry mylk, you will need 2-3 Tbl. raw cacao, or 4 frozen strawberries)

Instructions

Soak raw almonds in warm water with a pinch of salt for at least 6 hours.
Drain water, then rinse.
Place almonds and filtered water in blender. Turn on high for about 2 minutes.
Using a nut milk bag, place bag over a large bowl or carafe. Pour in almond mylk.
Gently twist the top of bag (so not to lose any!) and start to work out the liquid leaving behind the nut pulp.
Return mylk back to the blender and add remaining ingredients (Add cacao or strawberries here.)
Blend on low just to incorporate, unless you are adding in the frozen strawberies- then blend on high.

http://vegpod.com/raw-mylks/

Simple. If you have a toddler hanging around, this is a terrific recipe to let them help. Lailah, my 3 year old roommate, loves dancing and counting with me as we wait for the almonds to blend. She also enjoys “milking” the almonds, and being the first to chug some of the finished product, making sure we made it correctly. So fun!

You also don’t need to discard the pulp! I keep it in a mason jar in the fridge and stir a couple spoonfuls into my steel cut oatmeal in the mornings. Protein boost!

Long ago I gave up soy milk, and switched to only buying soy products that were free of GMO’s and organic. But as of a week ago, I gave up soy. As a tofu scramble loving vegan, it was a hard thing to do! And I’ve started to realize how much soy plays the partner to corn. Soy lecithin is such a sneaky ingredient! Next on my list will be attempts at a vegan butter. I’m so thankful earth balance has a soy free butter.

Hillcrest Farmers Market

by meaghan // November 13, 2007 // 2 Comments

Ahhh, Sunday mornings. Upon wakening, I open my eyes, do a quick stretch, grab my bike, and I’m out the door. OK so it doesn’t happen quite like that every Sunday morning, but the one thing that I do enjoy waking up early on the weekends for, is the Hillcrest Farmers Market. Some of you might argue with me over which is the best of the 20 plus markets San Diego has to offer, but I think I’m sticking with Hillcrest! Located in the DMV parking lot, every Sunday from 9am-1pm, rain or shine, summer & throughout the small season of what is called winter here in Southern California.
There are so many wonderful vendors, but heres some clips of my favorites!

First, and my most favorite, is La Milpa Organica Farm stand. They carry a HUGE selection of the most vita-rich greens imaginable. Ranging from chards, kales, dandelions, collards, mustards, spring mix, and any other dark leaf you can think of. Lately they’ve had a braising mix, which is a blend of all their amazing greens! Heres a pick of them before cooking!

Another new favorite edition of mine, is the Majestic Garlic booth. Geni is usually there with a ton of different flavors to try. All of their spreads are always vegan friendly, and mostly raw. Try the cucumber mint, tarragon, and the smokey flavors! Great for sandwich spreads, cracker dipping, or baked potatoes. Don’t put up a fuss about the garlic breath either! Garlic has been used to fight disease spreading agents, and is super high in anti-oxidants.

Who can walk buy the raw pie guys without stopping to look at the vibrant pizzas! Live pesto pizza is a favorite, made with a flax cracker crust, pesto sauce, and topped with fresh veggies. The also have all different flavors of dessert pies, as well as zucchini noodle pasta! Raw foodies beware!

And the coolest kids you’ll meet at the market, with the best organic avocados, chiramoyas, and friendliest smiles….. Creekside Tropicals!

So if you haven’t been, you should. Support our wonderful local farmers! Your money goes directly into the hands of the farmer, you know exactly where your food is coming from, and you get the best deals in town! What more could you want? I’ll personally provide a wake up call for anyone that wants to bike down on a Sunday morning with me:) We can shop, then munch on some vegan tamales, and samosas! Your treat!

Raw-violi’s

by meaghan // June 16, 2007 // No Comments

This idea was inspired by Cilantro Live. Though I’m not a fan of their version, they are usually too small, and dry. But I thought the idea was way cool:)

The yummy filling consists of soaked pignoli nut pate, sandwiched between 2 vine tomatoes. I then dehydrated these for about 6 hours, flipped, and dehydrated again till they held together nicely. They were gone shortly after I took the picture! Good thing for veggie friends with big appetites!