Tag: vegan

Easy Cornbread Muffins (Lower Sugar with stevia!)

Easy Cornbread Muffins (Lower Sugar with stevia!)

These cornbread muffins are fantastic served with butter or jam, but are also amazing with just about anything. I enjoy them with soups and I used them to make my cornbread stuffing for Thanksgiving this year. Slightly sweetened and oh so delicious!
Course Side Dish
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 13 muffins
Calories 110 kcal
Author FaylinaMeir

Ingredients

  • 1 cup cornmeal or masa harina
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup unsweetened non dairy milk
  • 1/2 cup HOT water
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons coconut oil not melted
  • 1 large egg or vegan egg replacement see note
  • 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
  • 2 packets stevia see notes
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 375F (190C or gass mark 5). Also add your paper liners to your muffin tin or grease VERY well.
  2. In a large mixing bowl add all of your dry ingredients including your sugar and mix well with a whisk. You don't want lumps of flour or leavener. When they're all mixed add your coconut oil. My house wasn't hot enough for it to melt, but if yours is I recommend popping it in the freezer for 15 minutes or so to firm up. You want to whisk it until there batter has small lumps.
  3. In a small bowl or glass mix together your egg and vinegar. If using flax or chia eggs you can add this also. If using a powder, do not mix this until the end.
  4. Once your oven is preheated (and NOT before) mix your wet ingredients into your dry and add your 1/2 cup of HOT water. Divide equally between muffin cups. I recommend 80% full to give a nice rounded top. This method will yield 13 muffins.
  5. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the tops are slightly golden. Between 25-35 minutes. Remove from the pan to cool. Enjoy!

Recipe Notes

  • Flax or chia seeds work fine as egg replacements, as well as powders (use according to box directions)
  • Calories reflect use of real eggs, obviously fat would be lower if using replacement.
  • I use a brand called pure via (not sponsered) for my stevia and the packets equal 2tsp of sweetness so adjust accordingly, however MOST brands are interchangeable. If using a pure stevia powder (no extra additives) use the tiny scoop provided. TRUST ME it's enough.
  • I use masa harina for the digestibility factor, but regular cornmeal does work fine.
  • Also, you may substitute 2 Tablespoons of coconut oil for 1/2 cup applesauce. Do not replace all the oil; the texture will not be as good.

 

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 muffin
Servings Per Container 13

Amount Per Serving
Calories 110 Calories from Fat 37.8
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 4.2g 6%
Saturated Fat 3.1g 16%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 13.5mg 5%
Sodium 203.5mg 8%
Total Carbohydrate 15.8g 5%
Dietary Fiber 1.9g 8%
Sugars 2g
Protein 2.4g 5%

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Please note nutritional information is provided as a guideline ONLY and can vary greatly depending on ingredients used. TY!

Mexican Rice Recipe – Restaurant Style

Mexican Rice - Restaurant Style

When I lived in Omaha I used to go to the South side all the time to a tiny little tienda that was well known for their beans, salsa, and their rice! Now that we've moved to Chicago I find myself missing home; tonight was one of those nights. So I decided to suck it up and make some Mexican rice! It tasted just like the one from the store and it just warmed my soul. I hope you enjoy!
Course Mexican
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 4 servings
Calories 277 kcal
Author FaylinaMeir

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of long grain rice
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons lard or a neutral flavored oil
  • 2 cups chicken stock unsalted (water is okay too!)
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder or to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin or to taste
  • 1/2 a large white onion finely chopped
  • 150 g frozen mixed peas and carrots I used pictsweet brand
  • salt to taste

Instructions

  1. In a large pot with a tight fitting lid, add your lard/oil and get it heating over medium-high heat. Rinse your rice under warm water VERY well until the water runs clear. Shake off all extra water.
  2. When the oil is hot, but not smoking, carefully add in your rice and stir to coat with oil. Continue to stir the rice every so often until the rice goes from clear to milky in color. Do NOT let the rice burn it will be become very bitter.
  3. Add in your onion and stir well. Cook until the rice just starts to brown. Add your carrots and peas, then add in your tomato paste. Thoroughly mix in the tomato paste so there are no clumps.
  4. Once you remove the lumps add in your chicken stock (or water) in two portions to ensure your tomato paste mixes properly.
  5. Add in your garlic powder, cumin, and salt. Put the top on and boil on medium-high for 5 minutes.
  6. After 5 minutes remove the cover, stir thoroughly, and replace the cover. Turn down heat to a simmer and cook for 25 minutes minimum.DO NOT REMOVE THE LID. It's tempting to stir and oogle over your delicious rice, but you must resist temptation.
  7. After 25 minutes test the rice, adjust the salt, and if need be continue to cook until the rice is done. This rice is more on the dry side, so don't be alarmed. Once finished turn off the heat, stir well, and let sit 5 minutes before serving.

Recipe Notes

To reheat rice add into preheated pan on medium-high and mix for 2 minutes. Then add a spoon or two of water and cover. Cook for 2 more minutes and mix. Rice should be soft like when it was fresh!

If making vegan/vegetarian I recommend refined coconut oil for best results.

 

Honest Advice | How to start any healthy diet / lifestyle ? 11 simple tips

Since losing over 80 pounds I often get asked for advice on either how to lose weight or how to start a diet. I usually take the time to write out my responses, but that gets tedious after awhile. So, here is my LONG overdue 11 simple tips on starting a healthy diet / lifestyle. These things work regardless of the diet, and I have done all of them myself.

*obligatory legal notice*
Before this list I need to remind you that I am NOT a licensed medical professional, I’m just a regular person who has lived the fat person life and has done these tips to change their lifestyle. Please consult a doctor before starting, stopping, or changing your diet OR starting/stopping an exercise program. Thank you!

1. Lifestyle NOT diet

Even though I will refer to “diet” in the video and post, you shouldn’t go searching for a diet. Instead try to find a way of living you can sustain for most of your life with only few modifications. For some this could be paleo or vegan or just flexible dieting. You need to break the habits that got you to where you are today, and I assume, overweight. If you just think of it like a “diet” you’re more likely to gain the weight back later. Which leads me to my second tips..

2. Do it for YOURSELF!

Seem silly this is my #2? Well not really. I explain it to people like this. I used to smoke, and I tried to quit a lot, but it wasn’t until I wanted to do it for myself that I actually did it. Not when my husband quit, or when he asked me to or when my family bothered me about it. Heck, I didn’t even quit knowing it was the right thing (I wasn’t ignorant of what I was choosing to do to myself). Eventually I WANTED to quit smoking, and I did it cold turkey. A diet is the same way. Don’t quit just because a family member wants you to. To break those nasty habits takes self motivation, without it, you’ll probably end up just as fat or worse off.

3. Baby steps or not : whatever works for you!

You’ll often hear people tell you to take baby steps, or maybe to JUST DO IT! (Shia reference? yeah horrible I know!) Well you need to figure out what works for you. For example: if I have junk food in the house, I will eat it because it’s there. It’s best for me to just not buy junk food. I am the type of person to just go all in on whatever I do. For some people though that scares them and if you need baby steps, you do that instead. Set goals and work towards them, but limit yourself on time. If you take “baby steps” for 3 years, you aren’t really accomplishing anything, sorry to say!

4. Make realistic goals

Again, it’s so simple but important. A lot of people get frustrated they don’t lose 20 pounds like the girls in the magazines or can’t lose weight as quickly as their favorite celebrity. The fact of the matter is this, everyone is different. I also tell everyone this simple thing. Chances are you didn’t gain all your weight that quickly, so why should you expect to lose it super quickly? My goal for 2015 is to lose 20 pounds. If I go past that then fantastic, but I’m being realistic. Just because your fitness website says you CAN lose 2 pounds a week eating 1200 calories doesn’t mean you should A. eat 1200 or b. lose weight that quickly. Weight loss is NOT linear, you can look at my weekly weight loss videos and you’ll see what I mean.

5. Set mini goals & reward yourself!

The grind of losing weight can be very stressful, so instead of worrying about it set small goals. Maybe in 3 months you’d like to work up to exercising 3-4 times a week or maybe you want to learn to enjoy new vegetables / foods. Also, don’t forget to reward yourself. Maybe you lose 10-20 pounds and you go buy yourself a nice shirt, or a new pair of jeans. I did this and now my jeans don’t fit anymore and I have to wear a belt to keep them on my butt. HOWEVER I look at these jeans and I feel proud about what I’ve done and that reward is very powerful for me. Try not to reward yourself with food, that can be a bad habit to form.

6. Track your calories

A lot of new fad diets tell you not to count calories and for a lot of folks, this doesn’t work well in the end. You don’t have to be a calorie nazi, but having an idea of what you’re putting in your body is a good thing. Look into websites like myfitnesspal.com , sparkpeople, or cronometer.com. I’m not sponsered by them and have used them before. I personally am on myfitnesspal or mfp. It’s probably the easiest to use, plus there is a social aspect to it. Also, I suggest using a food scale and using GRAMS (yes sorry my American friends) to weigh out food. You’ll find over time, it’s much easier to judge the calories in food. These days I can almost do it just by eye.

7. Pre-plan meals or pre-cook foods for the week

If you find you’re often crunched for time, consider either meal planning your meals for the week OR doing large batch cooking on your days off. For example: if you want to eat quinoa, but that is something you don’t normally have time for. Cook a large batch and store in the fridge, it’ll stay good for 5-7 days depending on conditions. Also consider freezing meals for later like homemade tv dinners. You’ll also probably save money and not waste a lot of food! Extra bonuses.

8. Motivation from family and friends

Going it alone is difficult, so when possible recruit a family member or friend to do this with you. Maybe you and your spouse can go to the gym together or go for walks after dinner. Maybe you and you kids can go play outside or go swimming. You could also make friends online and get together to exercise or keep each other on track. This is a great thing and don’t be embarrassed. My husband and I inspire each other and he makes me want to work harder in the gym. We also check each other meaning if he’s gonna eat something really bad I will say “maybe you shouldn’t” and he will do the same thing to me. It doesn’t work for everyone, but it works for us.

9. Eat veggies first

This is a great tip for everyone, especially those working on trying new veggies. When I was a foster mom I would have all the children (step son included) eat the vegetables first. Over time you learn to enjoy them more, you are also ensuring you get good nutrition and the fiber helps you feel full and gives signals to your brain. This is a habit we all still have today.

10. NO NIGHT EATING!

No matter what diet you follow, unless you work overnight and have your hours flipped around, stop eating towards bedtime. I hear so many people say “It’s just a habit I have”. Well break that habit and make it important. Eating before bed effects your sleep as you then have to put effort into digesting, it can also give you acid reflux, and overall bad sleep. On top of that it can mess with insulin levels and those sleepy time hormones. It’s best to give at least 3-5 hours before bed. If you honestly can’t go that long, then try your bed. No bowl of cereal before bed, no doughnut 30 minutes before bed, and holy crap don’t wake up in the middle of the night to eat. Take a drink of cold water and go back to bed.

11. Exercise isn’t the most important?

Finally we are at the end folks with the most controversial tip on my list. Exercise doesn’t have to be the most important! Put your pitch forks down and let me explain please. At my highest I was 298 lbs, I was in pain and even walking a few blocks was a chore for me. I decided I needed to lose some weight and that was more important than “toning”, but really how much toning do you do at 298 pounds?, anyways I focused on food. I walked when my back would allow me and over time I found I naturally got better at it and my stamina allowed me to do more. Now, I’m not telling you to eat a salad and sit on your butt all day, but if that is what you need for the first few months, then so be it. People often overwhelm themselves by getting healthy. They think they need to go to the gym 3-4 times a week, quit all their bad habits, and eat “clean” (which is a whole different rant!). This isn’t the case. Focus on the food first and get used to your chosen “diet”, then let the rest fall into place.

Do you agree with me ? Do you have tips of your own? Leave me a comment and let me know. Thanks guys and I hope you enjoyed. bye-bye!

Very Berry Paleo Vegan Ice Cream

 

Very Berry Paleo Vegan Ice Cream
 
Prep time
Total time
 
This ice cream recipe is very versitile and yummy! It's Dairy Free, Vegan, Paleo / Primal friend AND is no sugar added.
Author:
Serves: 1 serving
Ingredients
  • ⅓ cup coconut cream or ½ cup coconut milk
  • ⅔ cup water (or ½ cup water if using coconut milk)
  • 100g banana, frozen
  • 40g blueberries, frozen
  • 20g raspberries, frozen
  • 90g strawberries, frozen
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Equipment
  • A high speed blender like a Vitamix OR a decent food processor
Instructions
  1. Add your coconut cream (or milk) to your blender, add enough water to equal 1 cup of liquid. Add in the rest of your ingredients.
  2. Blend on medium speed using plunger if needed (or scrap the sides down if your blender doesn't use a plunger). If using a food processor, pulse several times, scraping down the sides as needed. Blend until creamy and smooth.
  3. Serve immediately or you can stick this in the freeze for 30 minutes to firm up more if desired.
Notes
I use Aroy-D brand coconut cream, if your brand is more solid, you might need to water it down more.

Don't want ice cream? That's okay, use fresh fruit or let the frozen fruit thaw and you'll have yourself an amazing tasting smoothie! Yummy!

Not sweet enough? Add a bit of stevia to sweeten it up.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1 recipe Calories: 300 Fat: 15 Saturated fat: 10 Unsaturated fat: 0 Trans fat: 0 Carbohydrates: 41 Sugar: 23 Sodium: 22 Fiber: 7 Protein: 3 Cholesterol: 0
 

Napa Cabbage Kimchi Recipe – Vegan OR Traditional 배추김치

 

Napa Cabbage Kimchi Recipe - Vegan OR Traditional 배추김치
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Making kimchi is a really easy thing to do. I know it seems daunting, but I promise, you'll love the end result! Best of all this recipe is vegan, but easily made more traditional. If you use gluten free tamari, it's also suitable for those with gluten allergies.
Author:
Serves: 10 servings
Ingredients
  • 2.2lbs (1 kilo) napa cabbage
  • ¼ cup coarse sea salt (for salting)
  • 300g daikon radish (or Korean radish)
  • 1 medium or 2 small carrots
  • 8 green onions
porridge
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 tablespoons sweet rice flour
  • ¼ cup soy sauce or fish sauce
  • ½ cup to 1½ cups red pepper powder
  • 1 tablespoon sugar, optional
  • 2 generous tablespoons ginger, peeled (about a 1½ by 1 inch piece)
  • 8 cloves garlic
  • ½ sweet apple or ½ korean pear or 1 small pear
supplies
  • 1 jar glass jar with tight fitting lid
  • sauce pan & whisk
  • blender or stick blender
  • gloves, HIGHLY suggested for mixing
Instructions
  1. You need to start out by salting the cabbage. This step is easy I promise. Follow along with the video. Cut the cabbage head into 4 pieces like shown and rinse under cold water. Shake the excess water off, and sprinkle salt into each leaf. Don't skip this step, if you don't salt it well enough the end result isn't very good! Leave the cabbage in a glass bowl to set.
  2. After 1 hour, toss the cabbage over, put any larger and thicker pieces towards the bottom. If you want you can spoon over the juice to help soak better.
  3. After another hour (2 hours total) check the cabbage, it shouldn't be gooey but softened. If you taste a piece it will have a slight crunch, but slightly salty.
  4. Rinse the cabbage 2-3 times under cold water. Make sure to rinse off each leaf. You don't want excess salt in your kimchi.
  5. Set the cabbage in a strainer to dry out some while you prepare the porridge.
  6. Add 2 cups of cool water to a saucepan, and whisk together 2 tablespoons of sweet rice flour (often called mochiko because of the brand name). Make sure you remove ALL lumps before you turn the heat on. Turn to medium high and do NOT stop whisking. Once you notice the mixture starting to thicken, reduce heat to medium and cook it for about 2 minutes. It's very important to keep mixing to prevent lumps.
  7. After 2 minutes, shut off the heat and stir in your sugar, soy sauce (or fish sauce), and red pepper powder. Then transfer to a blender jar. If you had an immersion blender (stick blender) this would work better.
  8. Add your mixture to blender along with your ½ apple or pear, garlic, and ginger that you have peeled. Blend on high until all the ginger and garlic are mixed in.
  9. Let this mixture cool to around body temperature. Don't skip this step or you'll cook the cabbage.
  10. Once the mixture is cooled, mix together with the carrot, green onion, and daikon (or Korean) radish. As shown in the video, spread a little mixture onto each leaf and outside of the cabbage. Put into, preferably, a glass jar with a tight fitting lid. An old pickle jar would work great for this. Pack it down and you're done.
  11. Let this sit at room temperature overnight, up to 2 days depending on the season. You want it to smell a little sour and you'll see bubbles from the bacteria in the cabbage. Transfer to your fridge and it'll be good for weeks, couple months even.
  12. Obviously you can eat it right after making it, but after 2 days is better. The juice can be used for soups or pancakes and the longer the kimchi sits in the fridge the more sour it tastes. We love it!
Notes
If you want more traditional kimchi, replace the soy sauce with fish sauce. Also if you are making this for someone who is allergic to gluten PLEASE make sure the tamari you use is certified gluten free!! I cannot stress this enough!

Do NOT use table salt for salting the cabbage, you will end up with gooey cabbage.

The apple/pear is optional but adds a yummy mellow flavor to the kimchi. The sugar is also optional, but if you're a baby with spice like I am, it really makes a difference.

You can add as much or as little red pepper powder as you want. I don't like it very spicy so I added ½ cup, but you can add 1½ cups if you like it very spicy!
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1/10th Calories: 84 Fat: 2 Saturated fat: 0 Unsaturated fat: 0 Trans fat: 0 Carbohydrates: 12 Sugar: 4 Sodium: 538 Fiber: 2 Protein: 3 Cholesterol: 0