TravAils...er...Eliminated

Quote du Jour

    Food is an important part of a balanced diet. ~ Fran Lebowitz

Finding Roots along the Routes

I have a theory...that the original people who lived in the American southwest ate an 
excellent plant-based diet. Basic vegetable ingredients in their diet were beans and 
corn, with other indigenous plant-based foods to the North/South American continent: tomatoes, potatoes, chili peppers, chocolate...oh my goodness...doesn't 
this make you feel grateful to be alive in 2013? Life without chocolate? Eeks!

On our road trip, we decided that our best strategy for sticking to a plant-based diet was eating at Mexican Restaurants. Rice, beans, salsa, guacamole, and tortillas are on every menu, all excellent and very flavorful plant-based dishes that have been around for centuries, easy to prepare and awesomely delicious.

Rooting for Local Ingredients

Stopping by grocery stores, we're finding interesting varieties of beans, with the stand-out Anasazi beans. White and speckled rust and red, the flavor is "meaty."

Dried corn - not cornmeal, corn grits or popcorn - but a variation that looks like corn flakes.

I'd never seen this product before. It looks like corn 

flakes. Added to vegetable soup, it thickened the broth

and provided its sweet corn flavor.~VeggieBound.org

Another benefit from Plant-based Eating
TravAils
Have you ever experienced a change in your body's regularity while traveling? I've always thought it was because of the change in water or sitting too long in the car. Can a plant-based diet healthy for the traveler? Duh, yes!

Eating plant-based, high fiber meals has eliminated any problems folks seem to get while traveling…I'll call this travails…aka constipation, food poisoning, bloating, “food comas.” 

These specific benefits of eating plant-based foods certainly simplifies taking care of ourselves while traveling.

Feelin' Fine!

O Holy Night

O happy day!

The Whole Truth...

Quote du Jour
      The truth belongs to all of us. 
       ~ T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition

Audio Veg-ucation
What we're listening to 
We're listening to an outstanding audio-book written by a hero of ours, T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. The book is Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition, written with Howard Jacobsen, and read aloud by Don Hagen. This science-based book is so well written that it reads aloud beautifully.

For more info, check out this link:
 T. Colin Campbell Foundation

Dr. Campbell understands the data from his and the research of others, the implications of the data to our health, and our world, and articulates the information in a clear, convincing and logical style. For more information about his background and career,click this link: Research Career & Highlights, NutritionStudies.org

We've listened to about 25% of the book so far, and it's resonating with us. It's a perfect audiobook for a road-trip. We listen for a bit, put it on pause, discuss it, then listen some more. Quotes from  Whole, "It's never too late to start eating well," and "we don't have a health care system, we have a disease care system." 

Whole Foods Plant-based
WFPB
For long term health, Dr. Campbell urges people to eat plant-based whole foods. Skip highly processed foods - flour, sugar, oil.

Implementing WFPB is personal
Our VeggieBound mission is to seek out strategies for plant-based eating and living, for a healthier life and healthier world. 

WFPB on the Road
We weren't sure how successful we'd be eating plant-based while traveling. The Standard American Diet - SAD - foods, highly refined, soaking in oil and portion controlled in chain restaurants, are served everywhere. SAD foods are what we avoid, and originally we'd planned to stick with Mexican Restaurants for their rice, beans and salsa. 

Well, we haven't eaten Mexican yet, and today we found a small restaurant that surprised us with really excellent veggie cooking!

Good Food, Well Prepared!
In Benson, Arizona, we enjoyed a great lunch at the Farmhouse Restaurant. With a menu that includes both American-style favorites and Southwestern dishes, we ordered a salad with the best honey-mustard dressing I've ever had (it reminded me of sweet 'n sour sauce), awesome corn bread, and when we asked if they could add veggies to their country-fried potatoes, oh yum, they sure did! Truly, their fresh vegetables were cooked absolutely perfectly, the best I have had.

The Farmhouse Restaurant in Benson, Arizona    
                         serves great food. What a find!  ~ VeggieBound.org                          

When we told the cook that he knows what he's doing with the veggies, he said he's Italian and likes his vegetables cooked al dente. Since this is how I'm going to try and cook my veggies from now on, I'll have to go back to the Farmhouse Restaurant for more of their cooking...for educational purposes, of course! What a find!

To our good neighbors across the border
Feliz Navidad 
Another unexpected sight: The very long line of cars - backed up into Interstate 10, waiting to cross the boarder from El Paso, Texas into Cuidad Juarez. Large numbers of people returning to Mexico to be with their families over Christmas., and folks traveling to Mexico for the holidays.

Plant-based living works for me!

On the Road Again...

Quote du Jour
     On the road again...Goin' places that I've never been. Seein' things that I may 
     never see again... 
          ~ Lyrics from On the Road Again
             (could anyone ever sing this better than Willie Nelson? Not possible!)

Travel Shots
Why do they call it Palm Springs...when what you see springing up everywhere 
are windmills? I have never seen so many!

 Hwy 10, just west of Palm Springs. ~ VeggieBound.Org

Travel Eats
No problem eating plant-based in Palm Springs. I had a spinach-nut burger at the Palm Greens Cafe. This was my first time ever passing through Palm Springs...we forgot to look up at the mountains to see Bob Hope's place. So, I guess we may need to go back someday!

Spinach-nut burger at the Palm Springs Cafe in Palm Springs

Life is good! 

Great Granola!

Quote du Jour
     I can't tell you enough about cinnamon. Cinnamon is an awesome spice to use 
     and it goes great with something like apples in the morning or in a mixture of 
     fruit or in your oatmeal or even in your cereal.                  ~ Emeril Lagasse 

A Recipe from Home Ec. Class
Practical Cooking Skills

I can't tell you enough about cinnamon. Cinnamon is an awesome spice to use and it goes great with something like apples in the morning or in a mixture of fruit or in your oatmeal or even in your cereal.
Emeril Lagasse
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/oatmeal.html#Ur4xt8W3CH85qeYb.99

When I was in junior high school, girls were required to take Home Economics. Sifting, measuring, folding, chopping, sauteing, simmering, working with yeast, thickening sauces - all the cooking basics were taught. At the end of the term, we had a folder with several basic recipes that I still use. This recipe comes from a Quaker Oats hand-out that I still have from my 8th Grade Home Ec class.

One of my children is severely allergic to peanuts. Making my own Granola helped insure that this breakfast food was totally free of peanuts.

A great gift...

Granola is a great hostess gift and for people you want to remember over the holidays. When they were away at college, my children loved receiving homemade granola in care packages. 

And easy to pack!
We pack a bag of granola to take along on our road-trips. This helps us get an early start on the road, and, served with Almond or Soy Milk, starts our day with a guaranteed plant-based meal.

Notes: This recipe is easy to double, or triple, or multiply by 5...quintuple is it? Just make sure you have a baking pan that is large enough! 

I like to use a large deep sided stainless steel bowl for the baking to make it easy to stir the ingredients. Stirring the ingredients every 15-20 minutes helps release moisture and assures even toasting.

Granola

Preheat oven to 300º
Yield: 5 cups

Dry 

     3 cups oats
     1 cup shredded coconut - shredded, grated, whatever is your preference
     1 cup unsalted nuts: almonds, walnuts, pecans, whatever’s on hand
     1 tsp cinnamon

Wet 

     1/4 cup honey
     1-2 Tbsps oil

When toasted then cooled, add
     1/2 cup raisins

In a large bowl, stir oats, coconut, nuts and cinnamon together. In a separate bowl, mix together oil and honey. Add to dry ingredients; mix well.

Pour mixture into a large stainless steel bowl or spread mixture onto large deep sided baking pan.

Toast in preheated oven, for 20 minutes, remove from oven and stir. Return to oven and toast for another 15 minutes. Keep up this process, stirring every 15 minutes, until the granola becomes golden brown and most of the moisture is removed.

Remove from oven and let cool completely. Add raisins, or other dried fruit before storing. Store in a covered jar.Variations

Pineapple Upside-Down Granola
   
     Substitute Macadamia Nuts for the Walnuts
     Substitute dried pineapple for raisins

French Apple Granola

     Add 1 tsp vanilla to honey and oil
     Add 1/2 cup chopped dried apple,along with the raisins

Autumn Granola

     Substitute maple syrup for honey
     Substitute cranberries for raisins

Views from the Road

Eating Granola sure saves my bacon!

Highways: The VeggieBound Frontier

Quote du Jour
    If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, 
    you might better stay at home. ~ James Michener

We're hitting the road to visit family over the holidays. Over the next few days, we'll blog about adventures that fit our VeggieBound "journey to plant-based living."

We'll see what it's like sticking to plant-based eating while traveling. We plan to eat mostly Mexican food because Mexican menus include all kinds of yummy delicious rice, beans, tortillas and salsa combinations.

VeggieBound Roadtrip Mission
To explore our country, see different vistas and experience different communities, to seek out plant-based foods and lifestyles, and to boldly go where we've never traveled before!

VeggieBound Roadtrip Rules

1. Adjust attitude to: relaxed, open-minded, adaptable and adventurous
2. Dress comfortably, bring water
3. Drive Historic and Scenic Routes
4. Don't be afraid to take back-roads
5. Stop at state tourist information offices (look for coupons!)
6. Use the restroom at stops, whether you need to or not
7. Watch road signs for local audio tours on radio channels (and photograph strange road signs!)
8. Think a place looks interesting? Stop and check it out
9. Notice what makes each area uniquely beautiful: Nevada's sage, Florida's palmettos, etc.
10. The best souvenirs? Memories and photos. Leave the land undisturbed. Take your garbage with you
11. Stop at fruit and produce stands
12. Eat where the locals do, at "mom and pop" coffee shops and restaurants
13. Stop by grocery stores and look for local products 
14. Be friendly, listen to what folks are talking about, enjoy their world
15. Marvel at our beautiful world

Aren't you glad we didn't order the hamburger, dear?

Awesome Plant-based Pumpkin Bread

Quote du Jour
   You can observe a lot by watching. ~ Yogi Berra

In the spirit of Yogi Berra's quote, the directions for Pumpkin Bread-UnClogged include a 5-photo tutorial showing how to prepare the ground Flaxseed in this recipe. Observe how the ground Flaxseed changes texture as it sits. This is a special characteristic of Flaxseed.

   The spicy fragrance of Pumpkin Bread-UnClogged spreads warmth and cheer as it bakes.
                                                                                                               ~VeggieBound.Org         

Removing all animal-based ingredients made this
One of my best recipes!

I’ve always loved the Pumpkin Bread sold at a favorite corner coffee shop. When the coffee shop started to display the calorie and fat content of their baked items, I was taken aback. 

One day, out of curiosity, I Googled their recipe…& tah dah…it was posted online! Taking that recipe, I replaced only the oil and eggs with ground flax seed and applesauce, and now, it’s one of my best recipes - plant-based, full of spicy flavor and truly awesome.

Notes: This recipe makes 2 large loaves, or *6 mini-loaves, as pictured.

Plant-based and Awesome 
Pumpkin Bread–Unclogged

Makes 2 loaves

Preheat oven to 350°

Wet     Beat together in a small bowl, then let sit a few minutes

                        3 Tbsps ground Flaxseed

                        ½ cup water

           

            2 cups pumpkin puree or a 15-ounce can pumpkin

            1/3 cup vegetable oil

            1/3 cup applesauce

            1/3 cup maple syrup

            2 cups light brown sugar, packed

            1/3 cup granulated sugar

Dry      Use a large bowl
            
            3 ½ cups flour: a combination of

                        2 cups all-purpose flour and

                        1 1/2 cups whole wheat

            2 tsp baking soda

            1 tsp baking powder

            1 tsp salt

            1 tsp ground ginger

            1 tsp ground cinnamon

            1 tsp ground allspice

            1/2 tsp ground cloves

Add Ins

            ½ cup chopped walnuts

            ½ cup raisins

Toppings      

            Before baking, sprinkle over the top of the batter

                        crunchy sugar, or

                        chopped nuts

Directions

VeggieBound.Org

Add the ground Flaxseed mixture to the wet ingredients and combine. Pour into the bowl with the dry ingredients using use a spatula to fold all ingredients together, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to incorporate all the dry ingredients.  Add chopped walnuts and raisins.

Divide the dough between the two greased loaf pans and sprinkle with a few walnut pieces or crunchy sugar. Bake for 1 hour +, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven. Rest in the pans for a few minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack.

*If making 6 mini-loaves, space the mini-pans in the oven to insure good air circulation and adjust the baking time. Check after 45 minutes

Lots and lots and lots of twinkle lights -
it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!