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Sunday, June 30, 2013

Chai Coconut Rice Pudding (Vegan)

This chai rice pudding is so good.  I found the recipe in Healthy Beginnings.
It takes a little bit of time, but is super easy.


1 cup long grain brown rice (recipe calls for sushi, or short grain rice) long grain worked fine.
2 cups water
2 cinnamon sticks
1 star anise
1 teaspoon ground fresh ginger
8 green cardamom pods
8 whole black peppercorns
6 whole cloves
6 whole allspice berries
2 cups cooked adzuki beans
1 1/2 to 2 cups coconut milk

1/3 cup maple syrup
Pinch of salt
Ground cinnamon, for garnish



Add the water, rice, and spices in a tea ball to a medium size pot.  Turn the burner on medium heat and keep an eye on the rice. 
Once the rice starts to boil, add the aduki beans.  
I had never heard of aduki beans.  I found them at Whole Foods Market in a can.  This is what they look like. 
 



Let the beans and rice boil with the spices until the water is absorbed. 
Turn the burner down to low and add the maple syrup, salt, and coconut milk.  Add the milk slowly.  You may not need all of it.  Keep an eye on the pudding and stir about every 3-5 minutes.  Cook until the rice is plump and soft.  Serve hot or store in a glass container in the fridge.  It's delicious hot or cold and has a unique flavor from the spices, and coconut milk.  The beans add a soft gooey texture.  Enjoy!! 

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Homemade Dog Flee and Tick Repellant (Chemical Free)

Matt and I recently went to Lake Tahoe for a couple of days.  I picked up their local magazine called Healthy Lifestyles.  It had amazing recipes and really good articles about health.  One article had a recipe for a flee and tick repellant.  You can go online to read the newsletter by clicking here.  I have been looking for a good repellant for Dorothy since we like to hike and I don't want her to get ticks.  This recipe smells so clean and fresh.  I hope it works. :)

You will need:
 1 cup filtered water (I used the filtered water from my fridge)
3 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
10 drops cedar wood
10 drops lavender
10 drops peppermint
10 drops citrus
10 drops citronella

Combine the ingredients and soak the collar in the mixture for about 30 minutes.  Take the collar out, let it dry and put it back on your dog.  You can spray the remaining mixture on your dog.  It says to do this once a month for good results.   I put Dorothy's collar back on after soaking it and she and my house smells so good!! 

Fresh Vegan Thai Peanut Salad

I recently bought a book called "Vegan's Daily Companion" by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau.  It has really good recipes and ideas on how to live a healthy vegan lifestyle.  If you want to check out the recipe in this book, the recipe is on page 108.
I didn't have everything the recipe called for and added a couple extra things. The recipe doesn't call for noodles, cucumber, green bell pepper, and carrots.  I didn't have cabbage (I used organic spaghetti in its place) chopped cilantro, or chopped peanuts to go in the sauce.   

This is what I used: 

Fresh Veggies:
Sliced cucumber
Sliced Green bell pepper
Chopped Scallions
Sliced carrots

1/4 box of spaghetti, cooked per directions on the box

Sauce:
1 cup smooth salsa
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoons agave nectar
3 tablespoons orange juice
2 1/2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon tamari soy sauce
1 teaspoon finely minced fresh ginger

Combine sauce ingredients into a small saucepan and cook on medium low until it's smooth and the peanut butter is completely mixed with the other ingredients. 
 Place spaghetti on the plate, add the chopped mixed veggies, and top with the Thai peanut sauce.  
 Enjoy!!

Monday, June 17, 2013

Snack Box Made From A Used Plastic Milk Jug

I have been looking for a new lunch box and reusable bags.  I hate wasting so many baggies when I pack my lunch for work.  I was looking on Pinterest and found this site to make your own sandwich box made from a used milk jug. 
 This is my version of a snack/sandwich box made from a used gallon size milk jug (it's actually a used filtered water jug since I don't like milk).   
Supplies I used:
-Gallon size plastic water jug
-Black Sharpie 
-Scissors
-Velcro
-Scraps of fabric and ribbon
-Hot glue gun

Start with your clean used plastic jug
Mark the jug with your sharpie


Cut the jug and stick the two pieces of Velcro so they match up. 


You can end here, but I was in a crafty mood and wanted to decorate mine.  I found some scrap fabric that I had lying around and brown ball ribbon.  I used my hot glue gun and glued the fabric, then the ribbon to the snack box.  
I can't wait to try out my new snack/sandwich box!

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Campfire Toasted Apples

   Oh my!  I am a new fan of campfire toasted apples!  It's like eating apple pie without the guilt and is a healthy alternative to toasting marshmallows.
 
  Put your apple on a skewer and hold near the coals of the fire.
Keep turning the apple and toast until the skin is bubbly and burnt.  
Peal the skin off the apple and eat up. 
As you can tell, I really enjoyed mine.


Vegan Hobo Dinners in the Uintas

These are hobo dinners I made for Matt and I while camping in the Uintas.
 This is how I make my hobo dinners.  They are so easy, delicious, and fun.
  I used vegan bacon, brussul sprouts, carrots, potatoes, onion, yellow pepper, salt and pepper, and red pepper flakes.  You can use whatever veggies and meat you want, but don't leave out onion, and salt, and pepper.  Those three ingredients are a must for amazing flavor.  Throw the veggies and meat in the middle of the tinfoil and fold the first layer of tinfoil so no veggies are exposed.  Turn it over and wrap another layer of tinfoil, then one more so you have three layers.  This will prevent your meal from burning in the fire.

Throw the hobo dinners in the coals of the fire and turn about every 5-10 minutes.  
Once you feel it's cooked long enough, open one up and see if it's ready(about 45 minutes).  I know it's ready by poking a fork in the potatoes.  If the potatoes are soft, it's done. Once you know the dinner is ready, open it up, let it cool off, and devour.

Vegan Raspberry Mint Cupcakes (in the Uintas)

This is my dad showing off his partly eaten Raspberry Mint cupcake. 
I made these vegan Birthday cupcakes for my friend Paul's 40th birthday.  

If you want the cake recipe, check out, Thesweetestvegan.com.  I made a different frosting than her.  It's a vegan cream cheese raspberry mint frosting (my own creation)
I used: 
  • 1 container Toffuti vegan cream cheese (room temp)
  • 1/2 stick earth balance butter (room temp)
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • About 4 cups powdered sugar
  • Chopped mint
  • Raspberries
  • Pinch of salt to bring out the flavor
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix.  Slowly add the powdered sugar until you have your desired consistency. 

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Number One Pops

It's Father's Day this Sunday and wanted to make my dad something unique.  I like to make the gifts I give because it seems more personable.  I saw a really cute idea for a Father's Day gift on Pinterest.   
This is the one I made


I wrapped the glass bottle holder with cute crafting paper  (I ran out of glue, so I used clear tape.  It worked great!).  I asked my neighbors to drink the Coke, Sprite, and Fantana out of the glass bottles (the 8 year-old girls loved the idea of drinking soda for a favor) and washed them in the dishwasher.  I filled them with small candy, popped the caps back on, and tied on a bow with scrap fabric.  I'm sure my dad won't care about the cutesie stuff, I wanted to jazz them up a little.  :)  

This is what I used: 

  •  paper glass bottle carrier 
  • clear tape 
  • cute paper (I think it's scrap booking paper) 
  • glass bottles (coca-cola, Sprite, Fantana) Wal-mart for $0.98 each
  • Dark Chocolate Peanut M&M's
  • The Dark Side Skittles
  • Sweetish Fish
  • Red Hots
  • Gummy Bears
  • Regular M&M's
  • six pieces of scrap fabric for the bows
  • Sharpie 
  • Scissors
  • A good chick-flick to watch while crafting 
End result:
 Dorothy is inspecting it.  :)  She loves her grandpa!!