Tag: cooking

Lifestyle Tips, Uncategorized

Free Vegan Mentor Program

veganlivingbydanielle

UPDATE Feb 2023: Sadly, this program dissolved a few years ago. However there are similar programs out there, but I don’t have experience with them.

Vegan Outreach: https://veganoutreach.org/vegan-mentorship-program/ 

I volunteer with PETA’s Vegan Mentor Program and highly recommend signing up to receive a mentor if you need help going vegan. It’s totally free!

You’re sent a packet of information about going vegan and assigned a mentor who is available to answer questions and guide you along your journey to veganism via phone call, text, email, video chat…however you prefer.

Since I started last year, I’ve mentored about 11 new vegans. We share recipes, tips on how to face new challenges, and resources to answer your questions.

Sign up today and your free mentor will help you go vegan at your own pace. No pressure! Sign up here!

Already vegan? Interested in becoming a mentor? PETA is always looking for volunteer mentors. E-mail KeithB@peta.org with “Vegan Mentor” in the subject line to get started.

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Lifestyle Tips, Uncategorized

Tips for Cooking Beans

veganlivingbydanielle

Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit…

It’s a topic we don’t talk about enough, but there are ways to cook or consume beans to reduce uncomfortable gas. Beans cause gas because they are complex carbs and have sugars (healthy sugars) that cause gas as they break down in our digestive tract.

**Note: This post is not intended to replace a visit to a medical specialist. I am not licensed or certified to give medical advice. This list contains suggestions that I have personally found useful.**

  1. Progressively add beans into your diet so your body can get used to digesting them.
  2. Avoid eating fruit or other sugary foods at least two hours before or after consuming beans. Adding different types of sugars makes digestion harder and produces more gas.
  3. Don’t just drain canned beans, but rinse them thoroughly.
  4. Chew your food slowly. The process of digesting foods begins in your mouth. The more the food is broken down before entering your digestive tract, the less work has to be done by your stomach and intestines, where gas produces.
  5. Don’t have a meal that combines beans and potatoes. Potatoes also have sugars that conflict with the sugars in beans that makes digestion more difficult.
  6. Avoid cooking meals that combine beans with other proteins. Each type of protein requires different enzymes and they don’t play nicely together.
  7. Make sure your meal is made up by 75% veggies to aid digestion.
  8. Be aware of the types of beans you consume. Mung beans, lentils, and peas have high protein, and produce less gas.
  9. Drink herbal tea after your meal. Certain herbs can reduce uncomfortableness associated with gas. Teas with ginger, peppermint, and/or fennel work best. (Try these: Simply Balanced by Target and Traditional Medicinals.)
  10. Consider seeing a specialist.

 

sources:
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/diana-herrington/pass-on-the-gas-7-ways-to_b_3080786.html 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3228670/

 

Recipes, Uncategorized

Potato Leek Soup

veganlivingbydanielle

vegan-living-by-danielle-potato-leek-soup-ingredients.jpg

Ingredients:

  • 3 leeks, chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 4 leafs of kale, stems removed
  • 1 Tbsp thyme
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 4 cups of broth
  • 2 medium potatoes, diced (peeled, if desired)
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 drained can of chickpeas (optional)
  • 2 Tbsp lemon juice
  • chives (optional, garnish)

Directions:

  1. Chop white parts of the leeks. (I also use the very light green parts.) It is easiest to wash the leeks in a strainer after they are cut.
  2. In a soup pot, sauté the leeks and garlic over medium-low heat until slightly wilted (about 5 minutes).
  3. Remove kale leaf from the stem. Roughly chop the leafy part of the kale.
  4. Add the kale, thyme, salt, and pepper to the pot. Cook for 2 minutes.
  5. Add broth, diced potatoes, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil.
  6. Once boiling, reduce to low heat, add chickpeas, and cover.
  7. Once potatoes are soft, remove the pot from heat.
  8. Remove the bay leaves.
  9. Use immersion blender to blend soup until smooth.
  10. Alternative to using the immersion blender: allow soup to cool off to luke warm temperature, ladle into a blender, and blend in batches. Dump the blended batches into another container or directly into bowls.
  11. If desired, serve garnished with snips of chives.

Enjoy!

Vegan Living by Danielle | Potato Leek Soup

Recipes, Uncategorized

Wheat-Free Banana Bread

veganlivingbydanielle

Vegan Living by Danielle | Wheat-Free Banana Bread

These banana bread muffins are so satisfying and delicious! I don’t feel guilty eating them either because all the ingredients are healthy (in moderation).

If you want the bread to be gluten-free, make sure that the oats are certified gluten-free. Sometimes oats are mixed with other, non-wheat, grains.

Some people are, but I’m not a huge fan of the hint of coconut flavor, so I love to use butter flavored coconut oil in the batter and to grease the pan too! Vegetable oil is another oil you could substitute for coconut oil.

Ingredients:

  • 2 medium-size ripe bananas
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened creamy peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened almond or coconut milk
  • 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 and 3/4 + 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats, divided
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease or line muffin tin or pan.
  2. In a mixing bowl, mash the 2 bananas.
  3. Mix in peanut butter, nut milk, syrup, coconut oil, and vanilla. (Highly recommend adding the peanut butter first. I dropped it in after the milk and syrup…things got messy.)
  4. Use a blender or food processor to grind the 1 and 3/4 cup oats to a very coarse flour as shown below. (Finer flour will yield a final product with a gummy texture.)

Vegan Living by Danielle | Oats for Banana Bread

  1. Mix the coarse oat flour, the 1/2 cup whole oats, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the batter.
  2. Once you have a relatively smooth batter, mix in chocolate chips!
  3. Scoop into your pan or muffin tin.
  4. Use a spatula or knife to spread the batter across the pan. (It doesn’t need to be perfect, just get it into all the corners.)
  5. Cook the bread for 30 minutes, muffins for 15-20 minutes depending on the size of the muffins. (I cooked my 6 large muffins for 20 minutes.)
  6. Check if the middle of the bread is cooked with a toothpick or fork.
  7. Set bread to cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes.
  8. If you greased the pan instead of using a liner, use a fork or knife to carefully remove the bread from the pan.

Enjoy!