A perfect meal.

I love this meal so much. Just made it for dinner tonight and thought I should post. I discovered it over a year ago, and it's been a constant favorite ever since. It's quick, easy, nutritious, super tasty, and there are plenty of leftovers (well, when cooking for only two or using as a side dish). It manages to be hearty AND refreshing at the same time. Kind of a miracle meal.

I used to make it without onion and it came off as too lemony, so I reduced the amount of lemon juice. But since I've become obsessed with raw red onion (very, very wisely obsessed, since raw red onion is SO DELICIOUS), the original amount of lemon juice tastes just perfect; setting off the sweet and slightly spicy onion with citrusy goodness. Try it!

Moroccan Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

3 Cups cooked quinoa (1 cup dried)

1/3 Cups freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoons sugar

1-1/2 Cups canned black beans, rinsed

1-1/2 Cups corn kernels (about 2 cobs) or defrosted frozen

1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

11 fluid ounce cherry tomatoes, quartered

1/2 Cups slivered almonds, toasted

1/4 cup chopped green or black olives

1/4 Cups chopped fresh mint

1/4 Cups chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1.Cook quinoa, according to package instructions.

2.While quinoa is cooking, whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, salt and sugar into a vinaigrette in a small bowl.

3.Combine quinoa and all remaining ingredients, except fresh herbs, into a medium-sized bowl.

4.Drizzle with vinaigrette. Toss to combine.

5.Refrigerate for at least one hour to allow flavours to combine. Add fresh herbs just prior to serving. May be served at room temperature.

Nutrients Per Serving

Nutrients per serving: 407 calories, 17 g fat, 14 g protein, 56 g carbohydrates, 11 g fibre. Excellent source of vitamin E, folic acid, thiamin, iron, zinc, phosphorus and magnesium.

Gardening, smoothies and tempeh

It's been so busy around here and it's hard keeping up with a blog--I've made so many things I want to share, been working on my new garden and going to yoga almost every day. So I'm going to cheat and take elaborate blog posts and combine them into a super quick catch-up:

Gardening!

My garden. (This is supposed to be about 'home ec' after all, and what's more home economical than investing in a garden??) We put in a mixture of seed and seedlings, planters and raised beds. All told, we have in the ground: basil, thyme, mint, lettuce, arugula, mizuna, kale, spinach, bok choy, pumpkins, watermelons, summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, broccoli, climbing beans, malabar spinach, red bell peppers, jalapenos and carrots.  It's beautiful and cute, see? And I have this handsome guy to stand guard:

And this handsome guy as a chore boy:

 

And I love everything about it. *sipping lemonade from the sidelines* *...yeah, right.*

I have a feeling this is the beginning of a long and beautiful love affair between gardening and I.

 Smoothies! I've been drinking one every day as my first meal of the day. It's my first effort towards getting more fruit, greens and raw food into my diet--not to mention probiotics (from almond yogurt), omegas (from flax) and maca root. It's convenient and fast to be able to consume all these things quickly so I have more time in my day to do what I do best: write. And make dinner. :)

Side note: for a long time I didn't understand or care to understand the "raw food" movement. If you're like I was, you don't either, so here's the quickie, super-simplified explanation (it's actually interesting!)--your body needs enzymes to do everything, including to digest food. So, food already has enzymes in it, if you don't cook 'em dead. If you're not eating your enzymes, the enzymes elsewhere in your body are all 'Aw, man! I was just in the middle of stopping this cancer cell or healing this inflamed joint! And now I have to go help digest this food! Sorry to abandon you, Other Lifesaving Work, but basic nutrition trumps all!' So. Make sense? Increasing raw foods, if not going on a pure raw diet (kind of pointlessly rigid, in my opinion), is good for you. The End.

Smoothies have been very experimental and some have been better than others. I made a post-workout smoothie the other day that was outstanding; it tasted like a delicious chocolate covered raspberry dessert. But, and I quote from the source: "The walnuts in this shake provide heart-healthy fats and about 4.5 grams of protein, as well as potassium and magnesium, essential electrolytes for muscle function." So drink up, workout junkies!

Raspberry Walnut Smoothie:

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

1/3 cup frozen raspberries

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 frozen banana

1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder or cacao nibs

1 tsp vanilla

dash of lemon juice

dash of agave syrup

Ridiculously good.

And tempeh! 

My new staple food! I think I've had it maybe once before, but I couldn't really remember so I definitely didn't have it as good as I made it last night. Why I love it: it's super high in protein, it's a fermented soy product (assuaging my soy do-I-or-don't-I? anxiety--Google "fermented soy" if you're like 'huh?'), and it's really freaking yummy.

Recipe for the salad I made for dinner last night, from Food 52.

Snow Pea, Cabbage, and Mizuna Salad with Marinated and Seared Tempeh

By Gena Hamshaw • April 3, 2013 •

Photo by James Ransom

Serves 4 (or 2 if making as a dinner salad)

Basic Marinated Tempeh

• 2 tablespoons apple cider or rice vinegar (apple cider is my preference)
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon grated or minced ginger root
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 8 ounces tempeh, sliced into thin strips (about 1/4 inch or a little less)
• 2 teaspoons coconut oil (optional, for frying)

Snow Pea, Cabbage, and Mizuna Salad with Miso Mustard Dressing

• 6 ounces snow peas, trimmed
• 2 cups red cabbage, shredded
• 1 cup carrot, shredded
• 2 cups mizuna
• 2 green onions, sliced thin
• 1/4 cup cilantro, diced
• 2 tablespoons mellow white miso
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup

1. To prepare the tempeh, whisk together the vinegar, soy sauce or tamari, water, ginger, and sesame oil. Arrange tempeh in a large, shallow bowl (a small casserole will also work) and pour the marinade over the pieces. Allow them to marinate for 2-3 hours (or over the course of a day, refrigerated).
2. You can either bake or pan fry the tempeh. To fry, heat the coconut oil on a skillet pan or in a large frying pan over medium high heat. Cook each side for about four minutes, and serve hot. To bake, heat an oven to 375 degrees and bake them tempeh pieces for 25 minutes, flipping once through.
3. To prepare the salad, heat a small pot of water to a boil and boil the snow peas for about thirty seconds. Rinse under cold water and let them dry, then cut the peas in halves or thirds.
4. Mix all remaining salad ingredients.
5. To make the vinaigrette, blend the miso, mustard, lemon, oil, garlic, and syrup in a blender till smooth or whisk together briskly. Dress the salad to taste, and top with the seared tempeh. 

Wow is all I have to say about that dish. Just vegan perfection on a plate. (I opted to fry my tempeh in coconut oil, FYI.) I couldn't find mizuna anywhere, however, so I mixed arugula with more mellow spinach figuring I'd get a similar flavor profile. I was also in a huge hurry and forgot the snow peas. OOPS. And STILL amazing. Here's what mine looked like:

 

And that's all she (me) wrote! Off to the library for some novel research...

Fatty McFatson

I was craving some serious fatty fat tonight. SO, I hauled out the coconut milk, pine nuts, peanut butter and olive oil, and threw a party. I made the summer squash and tomato dish yet again (a new family favorite) and indulged us all in some noodles with spicy Thai peanut sauce topped with shiitake mushrooms (fresh from the farmer's market!) and broccoli.

I love making peanut sauce because it's easy to do without a recipe. If I want a quick and sweet peanut sauce, I melt peanut butter in veggie broth, adding brown sugar and curry powder to taste.

If I want a more decadent sauce, like I made tonight, I still start with a little veg broth, melt the peanut butter, add some red Thai curry paste and a can of coconut milk, and then salt and cayenne to taste. (I could use more expensive curry paste for the same kick, but I like to cut a cash corner here and cheat with cayenne instead.) It's one of the few things I make without measuring...I eyeball it and taste through the whole process. (Oh, it's tough tasting peanutty coconutty sauce, but somebody has to do it.)

Then for dessert (of course this meal needed a dessert!) I made DELICIOUS Kiwi Banana Muffins from (what else?) Color Me Vegan. The muffins were tart and delicious (and made with gluten free flour they turned out great!), and the zest from one divine Minneola tangelo really made them special...oh, yum.

None of these food items matched, or even coordinated. But they were all delicious. It was all so worth it. Salads and smoothies tomorrow. :)

Kiwi Banana Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour (I used Bob's Gluten-Free All Purpose)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
zest from 1 medium orange (or tangelo. :) )
3 ripe bananas, peeled
8 ripe kiwis, peeled and divided (maybe less; read directions before peeling)
1/2 cup non-dairy butter, softened (I used Organic Earth Balance)
1/3 cup granulated sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly oil muffin pan (or two; recipe makes 12-14 muffins)

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, orange zest, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl or in a food processor or blender, mash/puree the bananas and 5* of the kiwis.
(*you are looking to get about 1/2 cup of kiwi puree. My 5 kiwis gave me a whole cup; so try 2 or 3 at a time and see if you need more.) Add the butter and sugar and stir to combine. Your non-dairy butter will probably look chunky in the mix; that's okay.

Chop the 3 remaining kiwis into bite sized pieces. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, add the chopped kiwi, and stir to combine.

Spoon the batter into individual muffin tins. If using GF flour, feel free to fill the cups pretty high...mine didn't rise too terribly much. Or at all, even. The book didn't specify, so I went on the generous side of 1/2 full, but could have done more. If you're using regular flour, I can't vouch for it.

Bake for 15-20 minutes (mine took 20) or until a toothpick inserted into the center of your muffins comes out clean.

Cool for ten minutes on wire rack. (Don't cave to temptation and dig in, those kiwi chunks inside are HOT!) Slather with Earth Balance butter for a sweet, tart and salty decadent treat. :)

Easter Feast!

Today I worked my booty off to make an Easter feast for the family (M's side). I admit it was only 99.5% vegan...the Quorn Turk'y Roast I bought has a little bit of egg in it (I noticed too late...still learning to closely read labels!!).

And after a brief dilemma in the freezer aisle, I decided to go ahead and keep up my family tradition of making canned fruit salad with non-dairy whipped topping (which contains a small amount of sodium caseinate, a milk derivative). I felt like I've given up so much of the food I grew up with, I think I can give myself allowance 2 or 3 times a year to buy a crap (non)food product that has a tiny bit of milk derivative. In the name of avoiding obnoxious militancy; as well as maintaining tradition and conscious hypocrisy.


So, confessions aside. What was on the menu? (from left to right)

 --summer squash and tomatoes with cheesy pine nuts, take two (twice the topping was just the ticket! YUM.)
--Quorn turk'y roast with homemade vegan mushroom gravy (recipe from Whole Foods, HIGHLY recommended! (Click for recipe.)
--honey roasted whole carrots (thanks, Brooke!)
--lavender roasted purple potatoes



*Not pictured above: the red-headed stepchild of the meal --fruit "salad" (see left, below. Yeah, it's a family/Lutheran grandma thing.)

 And for good measure, a glamour shot of just the pretty lavender roasted purple potatoes with purple onions. I take eating the rainbow as seriously as wearing the rainbow. Recipe from Color Me Vegan! (Of course.)

It was all really delicious. I love cooking so much.

Summer food!

When I’m not swiping my recipes from the internet these days, I’m probably digging into this book (if you know me well, you are chuckling or at least slightly smiling at the perfection of me and this book, together):

I love it. I’m dreading the day I’ve cooked through everything, because I have yet to make something from it that is not completely delicious. Tonight was no exception…it's really starting to feel like Spring around here (and Spring here is Summer, since it's so hot in the summer you can't do much outside). So after some refreshing Apple Avocado Arugula salads (recipe here: http://www.shutterbean.com/2012/avocado-apple-arugula-salad/ ) we enjoyed summer squash with cherry tomatoes topped with ‘cheesy’ toasted pine nuts. Over quinoa, to boost the protein content and make this ‘side dish’ a main course. (To add to the summery feel, we sat out on the front stoop listening to the cicadas while we ate.)

Apple Arugula Salad (before I added the sunflower seeds)

Because I love you, I will now transcribe the recipe from the book. But I highly recommend buying it, no matter who you are, if you’re looking for delicious ways to incorporate more color and produce into your diet. (And who isn’t?) I have a feeling this recipe will be mind-blowing mid-summer, when these particular veggies and herbs are overflowing in the garden, so bookmark it!

(*I used dried thyme and left out the parsley, because I didn’t have either fresh. I doubled the basil to make up for it. It still turned out amazingly.) (Oh, and next time I make it, I'll double the pine nut topping and work half of it through the veggies before topping, because I really like salty, cheesy goodness.)

Summer Squash with Cherry Tomatoes topped with Cheesy Toasted Pine Nuts

Ingredients:

1 ½ pounds green and/or yellow summer squash, cut into ½ inch cubes

2 to 3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp minced fresh parsley

1 tbsp minced fresh basil

1 tbsp minced fresh thyme

4 or 5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

2 cups grape or cherry tomatoes, stemmed and halved

salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

¼ cup pine nuts

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Combine the squash, oil, herbs, and garlic in a large bowl and toss to combine. Add the tomatoes, salt and pepper, and toss gently. Set aside.

Add the pine nuts, nutritional yeast and salt to taste to the food processor and process until the pine nuts are crumbled and thoroughly combined with the nutritional yeast and salt.

Transfer the veggie mixture to a 9x9 or 9x13 inch glass casserole pan. Spoon the pine nut crumble over the top (mix a little in if you’d like).

Bake to 25-35 minutes or until the squash is tender. Remove from the oven and serve bubbly and hot.

Serve as a side dish or over quinoa to make it an entrée—because the squash and tomatoes break down from the heat in the oven, they form a bit of a thin sauce that is delicious (infused with the cheesy pine nuts and garlic!).

Happy eating! :)

Dinner tonight...

As I mentioned before--dinner making is my strength.

I finally got a blender to make smoothies for breakfasts and/or lunches, and I didn't have ingredients. I finally got ingredients, and I couldn't find my recipes. I found my recipes, and couldn't find the time today to actually get around to making a smoothie like I intended. So, I'm writing this on an empty tank. Very bad, Mandy. But dinner will be delicious and nutritious! Very good, Mandy!

I woke up late, since I was disoriented by M being gone on S's field trip and assumed it was super early when I first woke up and he was gone. So I slept until 11 AM. Oops.

I had intended to spend the day cleaning, doing laundry, prepping food, planning a fall retreat, and getting some writing done. I did some measure of all of those things in the 3 hours before M picked me up to spend a little time all together with S after school, including the first phase of making this No-Fu Love Loaf that my friend J introduced me to last weekend when I stopped by for a quick visit (see her blog here: http://veryveryverygreen.blogspot.com/).

It's a bit of a process; probably 2 hours when all is said and done (I'm a slow cook--so I know when it says 1 hour 15 minutes, that means 2 hours in Mandy world), so I did the cooking the oats and lentils, assembling the ingredients, pressing into a loaf pan part and put it in the fridge. The plan is to put on the topping and bake in the hour before dinner, as well as prepare salads and my favorite smoky roasted cauliflower as a side dish. Here is the recipe, originally found here: http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2012/04/dreenas-no-fu-love-loaf.html

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup brown (green) lentils
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 dried bay leaf
• 3/4 cup bulgur (toasted cracked wheat) (for gluten-free version, use certified gf steel cut oats)
• 1 cup water, boiled
• 1/4 cup natural ketchup
• 1 cup rolled or quick oats (ensure gf certified for gluten-free)
• 3 tablespoons tamari (use wheat-free for wheat/gluten-free version)
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 2 tablespoons ground white chia (or can use flax meal)
• 2 tablespoons vegan Worcestershire sauce (see note for gf version)
• 2 tablespoons tahini or sunflower seed butter
• 2 teaspoons blackstrap molasses
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/8 teaspoon ground fennel (optional)
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Topping:

• 3 – 4 tablespoon natural ketchup
• 1 teaspoon vegan Worcestershire sauce (optional) OR 2 tsp vegan bbq sauce (optional)

Instructions

1. Combine the lentils, vegetable stock, 1⁄3 cup of water, and bay leaf in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 25 to 30 minutes, until just about tender. Once done, add the bulgur and boiling water, cover, and cook on medium-low heat for another 8 to 9 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly oil an oven-proof glass loaf pan and line the bottom of the pan with a strip of parchment paper to cover (place it in to protrude along the short ends of the pan; this helps for easier removal of the veggie loaf from the pan). Combine the topping ingredients in a small bowl.
3. Once the bulgur is cooked, remove the bay leaf and add all the remaining ingredients (except topping). Stir very well. Transfer the mixture to prepared pan and pack it in. Spread the topping mixture over the top.
4. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 25 to 28 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 7 to 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 to 15 minutes or so, before cutting to slice and serve. Serves 5-6.

Curious about that cauliflower? Seriously, if you have yet to be introduced to the wonders of smoked paprika, it's a must-try. See the recipe here: http://theshiksa.com/2011/12/06/smoky-roasted-cauliflower/

I'm thinking raw kale salads...kale ripped from the stems, rolled and sliced into shreds. Topped with sunflower seeds, tamari roasted pumpkin seeds, the red bell pepper that is threatening to head to veggie heaven sitting in my fridge, and my favorite dressing:

(ready for this?)
Equal parts lemon juice, olive oil, and Bragg Amino Acids. SO GOOD ON KALE.

OK, I'm making myself seriously hungry, so off to find a snack...I'll update this post with a picture of dinner, after it's done. :)

Update: DELICIOUS. M said,"This is exactly the sort of thing people make fun of vegans for. "Lentil loaf" like it automatically tastes like cardboard and is boring and disgusting. They have no idea." And they don't...

Post #1!

I decided I felt like writing about vegan issues and plant-based diet nutrition enough that I should really start a separate blog to deal with this stuff, and leave the other for the more personal stuff. 

To those wondering what the heck I'm doing with myself lately, I'm basically devoting myself to learning home ec full-time. I’m also really enjoying cookbooks and trying new recipes. This is such hard stuff! I hope when I have kids that I’ll have the energy to focus on teaching them the home economics most people of my generation are struggling to teach themselves. It’s an often sneered at subject that occupies the center of most of our lives, like it or not. 

We see this as an investment in our finances, health and the health of our future family: my long term goals are to reduce spending on groceries and eating out, learn to garden and harvest my own produce, and have a solid enough understanding of nutrition, food and cooking that I can effectively teach others.

So, here it is. I’ll be sharing my process here: what I’m learning about nutrients, a balanced plant-based diet, the challenging (and the surprisingly not-challenging) stuff. (Giving up cheese? Easy. NEVER. WOULD HAVE. BELIEVED IT.)

So far, here’s what has surprised me the most:

All my life, and I mean ALL my life, I have fought a (mostly losing) monster battle against sugar cravings. Many have commented on the coincidental rhymings of “Mandy” and “candy,” given that wherever I am, candy isn’t likely to be too far from my side. When I was a kid and my dad indulged me for the two or three weeks a year I spent with him, I always had spending money and thus I always had a brown paper bag of candy by my side. My cousins knew this. They would seek me out instead of walking to the Amoco when they wanted a Now and Later.

I didn’t grow out of this like most people do. I tired, to some extent, of kiddie candy, but I still constantly was plagued by this desperate need for ice cream, cookies, chocolate.

Since I’ve gone vegan, and I swear on everything holy I am not making this up to sound like a Miracle Diet TV ad (this is not a diet—I eat plenty of fat and calories!)—the cravings are gone. Seriously. Just gone. Every night, at the time I’m used to craving sugar uncontrollably, I stop and think about it. I focus on my body and search high and low for the desperation. I think about ice cream, cupcakes, frosting, brownies. And while of course the memories of how these treats taste are pleasant ones, I find that I don’t want or need them every night anymore. This blows my mind. Sometimes when I find myself wanting sweets, I notice that after 3 squares of dark chocolate I really don’t want any more. Where in the past I would have inhaled the whole bar in one sitting.

Maybe it’s the increase in complex carbs—I’ve been determined to avoid the vegan pitfall of eating too many white carbs and not enough protein and have thus drastically reduced my white rice and pasta intake. I stick mostly to brown rice, quinoa, beans and lentils, and sweet potatoes for my carbs (these foods are not only complex carb sources, but also add significant amounts of protein to my diet). I know this helps with blood sugar issues. Or maybe I was secretly lactose intolerant all my life and never knew. I did have a bad dairy allergy as a kid but seemed to ‘grow out’ of it—maybe my symptoms simply hid themselves better.

Whatever the reason, I’m beyond thrilled. I would crave the sweets and give in, and they would be so satisfying, but inevitably leave me feeling sluggish—that ‘lead weight’ kind of exhaustion every day. It was awful.

Now my typical dietary day (which is a work in progress) looks something like this:

Morning: coffee. (gah, I’m going to have to cut this when I try to get pregnant, which is going to suck.) a handful of nuts, a nut bar, or peanut butter with crackers. fruit. I’d like to upgrade to doing green smoothies (fruit and greens) and add flax seeds to give me the omega-3s I’m no longer getting from fish or fish oil. That’s my next project.

Lunch: the weakest spot of my day. On a good day, sometimes I’ll heat up dinner leftovers. On a mediocre day I’ll eat a raw veggie or fruit. Sometimes I fall into letting myself starve and then pigging out on chips. Trying to avoid gluten and not eating meat has rendered my old lunch sandwich standby obsolete, and my poor little neural pathway just doesn’t know where else to lead me. My journey to improve my mid-day nourishment will be documented here.

Dinner: This is my forte. I love planning and cooking dinners. I’m learning, slowly but surely, how to blend flavors without the crutch of a recipe, and how to put together the foods I have leftover without wasting them.

A typical dinner at my house might be something like: a stir fry or curry with veggies and tofu over brown rice. Sauteed brussel sprouts with apples and pecans and a side of quinoa. Sweet potato tacos with peach salsa on corn tortillas. Cajun red beans and rice (a southern classic I’ve become addicted to since moving to Mississippi). Sauteed mushrooms with wild rice. Chickpeas and spinach, modified and made the easiest thing ever from a pinterest recipe. Occasionally I’ll indulge in Thai-style spicy peanut sauce noodles (brown rice pasta; usually Tinkyada brand). YUM. My next dinner goal is to learn how to make vegetarian sushi (with seaweed wraps) and do it once a week, to increase sea vegetable intake (awesome source of vegan calcium, and satisfying ocean flavor for the former fish eater).

I also love being creative with salads and try to eat a big one before dinner—I love kale salads with sunflower and pumpkin seeds, sometimes with bell pepper and onion chopped in, with a lemon juice, olive oil and Bragg Aminos dressing (equal parts). A new favorite I just discovered—avocado, raw red onion, and half a sweet grapefruit (including all the juice) on top of greens. OMG. Sounds weird, but just believe me and try it. If the grapefruit isn’t quite sweet enough, I’ll drizzle just a teensy, TINY bit of agave on top. A little bit goes a long way. Like, runs a freaking marathon of sweetness long way.

Supplements: 5000 of Methyl B-12 daily. I use Jarrow Formulas and dissolve it under my tongue ($13 for 60 lozenges on Amazon). This, I’ve found through quite a bit of research, is the most important thing any vegan or vegetarian should do for their long-term health. B-12 is an essential nutrient and it’s only found in animal products—in significantly lower amounts in eggs and dairy than in flesh. It’s tough to absorb enough orally as it is, and drugs such as hormonal birth control will deplete your body of its stores, so even animal eaters should be cautious and ask to get your level checked with your annual blood work. I noticed from day 1 of taking my supplements that my anxiety, which had been increasing in intensity at an alarming rate in recent months, was immediately under control.

I need to add D3 from a vegan source (hard to find) and maybe omega-3s from flax as well.

I'll do fancier recipes with pictures and such in the future... but this was a long one on its own. So for now, a quick favorite weeknight dinner for my fellow mushroom worshippers:

Cook up some organic wild rice (I buy the bulk mixture at my local co-op) in vegetable broth instead of water (low or regular sodium, depending on your personal salt preferences).

Sauté ½—1 lb of mushrooms (whatever kind/s you like; slice larger varieties) in 1 tbsp coconut oil. Add 1 tsp or so of dried or fresh thyme and salt to taste when mushrooms are mostly done.

Mix up mushrooms and rice. Serve with side salad of your choice. Done!