I found the Ultimate Resource Guide

Today I found the Ultimate Resource Guide for Plant Based Eating. It has a section for favorite websites, books, and free recipes. It looks like a great compilation of resources.

Check out the books on their list that I've read

• The Starch Solution –I read a library copy.
• Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook. -I read a library copy and decided a needed a copy of my own.
• The China Study-- I  read a library copy.
• The Happy Herbivore cookbooks –I bought the kindle version of three of her books.

 Check out the books on their list that are on my wish list

• The Forks Over Knives Plan - I only read the original Forks Over Knives book from the library. 
• The Vegiterranean Diet 
• Let Them Eat Vegan

There are a lot of great websites listed. I haven't visited Plant-Powered Kitchen or One Green Planet, so I hope to check these websites out later this week.

Rice Milk

Rice Milk is a dairy alternative. You can buy rice milk from the store or make it on your own at home. So far, I've only ever made it at home. It's very easy to make and very inexpensive. You don't have to pre-soak the rice like I've seen for some homemade nut milks. I've found simple recipes on-line that use only two ingredients: rice and water.

How much does the recipe cost?

I believe it cost me less than 50 cents to make somewhere between 2- 3 cups of rice milk. (Sometimes I make is stronger or weaker (by one cup of water), depending on what recipe I'm using it in. I buy my rice online either at Vita-Cost or Amazon.

How long does it take and what tools do I need? 

If I had a high speed blender, this process wouldn't take very long. I don't have a high speed blender, so it probably takes me about 10 minutes to pull of the blender, measure, blend and strain.You can either use a nut bag or a paint strainer. I picked up a one gallon paint strainer that I use(as shown above). I store my rice milk in a glass container in the fridge.

How do I use rice milk?

On the Protective Diet website, Julie often lists the option to use unsweetened soy milk or rice milk. I use rice milk whenever I can to save costs. I make it ahead and store it in the fridge until it's time to use in my recipe. You will need to shake it up as it tends to settle in the jar. I sometimes use it with oatmeal, but not very often.

Where do I find recipes to make rice milk?

Protective Diet has both a written recipe and a video for making rice milk. She starts with dry rice.
Don't Waste the Crumbs has a rice milk video that starts with cooked rice. I've only tried the Protective Diet recipe so far and it's worked for me.

Weekend Research: Food Over Medicine Interview

Food Over Medicine: The Conversation That Could Save Your Life. I listened to this YouTube video interview over the weekend by Elena Wilkins (Vegalicious). This is an interesting interview about Pam Popper's book Food Over Medicine. This book was just released in December and I have it on my wish list but haven't read it yet.

What I like about the interview

I found this interview to be very enjoyable. It was like a casual conversation between two friends. I like to listen to Pam Popper's ideas/messages about nutrition, supplements, and taking care of our bodies. I mostly like her way of thinking that we need to get more people over to eating healthy. I think she said either in this video or another video that we can get really sick people to do just about anything. It's the other people she would also like to encourage. The people that are going to get sick that just don't know it yet.

Pam Popper's Message

I liked her attitude that people need to just start eating plant based and we can't require them to be all or nothing. I think she said if salt helps get your broccoli down, eat it with salt and if you need to wean yourself of meat products to get going, then try her method of tapering off meat. Also, if you are at a party, eat the cake. We can't be offering a way of life that looks horrible to others because who would want to try it. She knows eating this way will help people feel better, get off their medicines, and have a better quality of life.

I looked up this book at Amazon. It appears the book also contains recipes by Chef Del Sroufe (author of the bestselling Forks Over Knives The Cookbook).

Today I start my search for the perfect bran mufin

Why a healthy bran muffin?

I love bran muffins. What started me on bran muffins you ask? Well I think it was in the early 90's that either McDonald's or Dunkin Donuts had a bran muffin. They are my comfort food. They are heavy and filling and satisfying to me. I love to eat a heavy, filling muffin for breakfast. I also recently watched a PBS episode of Martha Stewart making these delicious bran muffins.This sparked my taste buds again, but of course, her recipe calls for eggs and buttermilk.

Does the muffin recipe that I'm looking for exist?

So today I start my search for the perfect bran muffin recipe. Does it exist? I don't know. It may not even be possible without it turning into a brick. These are the criteria that I would consider in the perfect muffin:

• contains wheat or oat bran (I would prefer wheat as I have a huge bag of Bob's Red Mill Wheat Bran)
• no white all purpose flour
• no oil
• vegan (no milk or egg)
• no corn syrup
• no white sugar

On top of that, it would be great if they were delicious, but that might be asking too much. LOL.

Sometimes searching on the internet for a recipe is like searching for a needle in the haystack. It's there, but you can't see it. If a recipe doesn't exist, I might have to be creative and take a couple recipes and experiment in the kitchen.

If you run across such a recipe in the future, can you share it with me? Thanks!

Frugal Tip #2 - Make your own Buns and Soft Pocket Bread

I love saving money!

I save a lot of money by making things at home instead of buying them already made. One example is bread. On the list of P.D. approved recipe ingredients is Amazon Ezekiel Bread made by Food for Life. If you click on that link you will find that one loaf of bread costs $17.50. Ok, so that's just a crazy price. I did however find Ezekiel bread in the frozen section of a Natural Food grocery market that is a 4 hours round trip for me. It was somewhere between $4-5 a loaf. But, I couldn't bring myself to pick up a loaf for that price.

What are my options?

I know some people don't bake or have a fear of baking. That's not the case for me. I bake regularly and have made homemade bread for the last few years for my family in the bread machine I received as a wedding gift from my mother-in-law. Homemade bread doesn't scare me, but making my own buns and pocket bread did. I found two recipes at Protective Diet, that use whole wheat flour, as options. I was very skeptical that this could work. I tried my first batch of pocket bread back in January and I was hooked. It was easy & tasted great!

How much does the recipe cost?

The basic ingredients for the Protective Diet Burger Buns and Soft Pocket Bread are exactly the same. I've calculated that my cost for the ingredients is $1.25. This doesn't take into account my time to make the buns/pockets are the cost of energy. The soft pocket bread makes either 8 regular ($.15)/each or 12 mini ($.10/each). The burger bun recipe yields 6 buns ($.20/each). Since these recipe are part of her premium recipes collection. You do have to have subscribe to the site see the recipes and the video.

How long do they take?

Burger Buns: Prep Time 20 minutes, Inactive Time: 60 minutes, Bake Time: 11 minutes
Soft Pocket Bread: Prep Time: 20 minutes, Cook Time: 10 minutes: Ready in: 1 hr and 30 minutes

How do I store them?

After my buns/soft bread is cooked, I put them in freezer bags and put in the freezer. When I need a pocket/bun I just remove the quantity I need. I either leave out to defrost or toast it up to eat.

What tools do I need?

1. Baking Pan(s)
2. Silicon Mat(s)/ parchment paper
3. Measuring Spoons/Cups to measure ingredients
4. Small and large bowl
5. Fork for mixing
6. Rolling pin
7. Oven for baking

Why do these bread recipes appeal to me?

• I think this is a great option since I know that the bread buns/pockets have healthy ingredients, no preservatives, only the ingredients that I am adding. 
• I can make the bread buns/pockets up on the weekend and save them in the freezer for later use. 
• They are easy for me to make. I don't find the skill level to be difficult with lots of steps and I don't dread making the buns.
• I'm using ingredients that I always have on hand in my pantry. I always have whole wheat, white whole wheat, and whole wheat pastry flour stocked up.
• If I went to the store to buy buns for $1.25, the quality would be very low. So I think I'm getting great tasting buns for a very nice price.

I hope you might consider making your own bread products at home to save money each month. I haven't found an actual loaf of bread recipe that meets my standards: whole wheat flour, vegan (no dairy, honey), no oil. etc, but I'm always on the search. If I find one, I'll be sure to post.

If you are new to Protective Diet, you have to create a login to see her yummy recipes. She has two types of recipes on the site: free and premium. I invite you to create a free login on the Protective Diet site to try her free healthy recipes. I'm confident that you will love them like me plus save money buy eating at home. Click on the Getting Started Video. Protective Diet Education may qualify as a Health Savings Account expense.You may need a pre-existing diagnosis by a physician such as: obesity, hypertension, diabetes etc.

Frugal Tip #1-Save money, make your own corn tortillas

I love saving money!

I save a lot of money by making things at home instead of buying them already made. One example is corn tortillas. I picked up 4 lbs of Instant Masa Corn flour at the grocery store for about $3. I can't tell you how many times I've made tortillas in the last couple month and I still have a little bit of flour left in my bag. The other ingredients for corn tortillas are water and salt. You might want to consider making your own corn tortillas at home to save money each month.

How long do they take?

Tortillas don't take very long to make especially if you follow the recipe at Protective Diet. A different tortilla recipe I found online has you leave the mixture to rest, but this recipe doesn't. This Protective Diet Premium recipe is perfect when you want to save time. She estimates 15 min prep time and 15 minute cook time.

Do I need a press?

No, you don't even need a tortilla press to get started. I have a cast iron tortilla press that I picked up from Amazon to quickly press out the tortilla shells.Check out the two videos that explains how to make hand-pressed corn tortillas. My first time I watched the video and printed my recipe. It was so exciting to make fresh corn tortillas by myself. Since this recipe is part of her premium recipes. You do have to have subscribe.

If you are new to Protective Diet, you have to create a login to see her yummy recipes. She has two types of recipes on the site: free and premium. I invite you to create a free login on the Protective Diet site to try her free healthy recipes. I'm confident that you will love them like me plus save money buy eating at home. Click on the Getting Started Video. Protective Diet Education may qualify as a Health Savings Account expense.You may need a pre-existing diagnosis by a physician such as: obesity, hypertension, diabetes etc.

Winter Seasonal Vinyasa to Start the Morning

This morning I started my day with a Winter Seasonal Vinyasa video by Melina Meza. She's a yoga instructor at Gaiam. Here's the description of the video as they describe it " The winter season in Ayurveda is associated with the dosha-uneven energy pattern called Kapha, which is composed of the elements Earth and Water and which promotes stability in our body and mind."

Even though it's supposed to be Spring, I felt like this was a perfect yoga practice to start my Friday with. I feel at peace and not rushed to get the morning going. She has a wonderful soothing voice during the practice. I have this one included in my favorites and usually do it once a week.

I was only able to squeeze in 20 of the 37 minutes, but it was perfect for me.

Let's start the day!

Kapha imbalance during December through February, such as weight gain or depression, the main intention behind this winter seasonal vinyasa practice is to help raise your core temperature and metabolism and increase circulation with dynamic, invigorating, rhythmic, sequences. This practice with Melina Meza includes sun salutation variations, back bends to open the front of your spine, forward bends to stimulate the backside of your torso, and inversions to promote blood circulation to the brain. - See more at: http://www.gaiamtv.com/video/winter-seasonal-vinyasa#sthash.vQUwW1xq.dpuf

Kapha imbalance during December through February, such as weight gain or depression, the main intention behind this winter seasonal vinyasa practice is to help raise your core temperature and metabolism and increase circulation with dynamic, invigorating, rhythmic, sequences. This practice with Melina Meza includes sun salutation variations, back bends to open the front of your spine, forward bends to stimulate the backside of your torso, and inversions to promote blood circulation to the brain. - See more at: http://www.gaiamtv.com/video/winter-seasonal-vinyasa#sthash.vQUwW1xq.dpuf