DIY Soda for Summer!

Did you ever wish that you had a cheaper, healthier alternative to coke and Diet Coke? Did you know that Coke is the drink of the Death Squad? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HFZ3cH1UAI

Well you do have an alternative. Yes, of course you could drink water, but sometimes it does not hit the spot for me. So what's a thirsty person to do? Easy peasy.

1. Take a mason jar or other container, and put two tea bags in it. Use any tea of your choice. I like the Tazo Passion Tea for this. Fill it with water, place in the fridge and wait two hours or more.

2. Remove tea bags. Now you have a strong concoction that you can use as a sort of soda concentrate base. I use about 1/4 base to 3/4 seltzer water. Pour over ice. You can mix it with non fizzy water if you prefer. Garnish with a slice of citrus if you're feeling fancy.

3. Drink, repeat, be refreshed.

July Issue Rawks!

First, the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale in San Francisco earned $3000 for animal groups last weekend. I am very happy to have donated some whole wheat chocololate chip cookie squares! Kudos to the awesome people who organized it so that people like me could drop off cookies and feel warm and fuzzy all week!

The July Issue of Rawk You Like a Hurricane is shaping up to be exciting! Articles about prenatal yoga with the awesome yogaformommies.com system, waste-free lunch, adding raw food side dishes to healthy vegan dinners, meal planning, Health at Every Size, my break up with the weight loss industry, reviews of delicious Zukay dressing and more! Will I be pregnant before the July issue is complete? Maybe not, but I'll keep you all posted!

Bake Sale Sunday!

I am excited! This weekend, I am baking some vegan chocolate chip cookie bars to take to a vegan bake sale to benefit animals. A year ago, I would have wanted very much to do this, but I would not wanted people to say, "Oh, of course the fat girl made cookies." Now I think "Yeah, the animal-loving girl (who happens to be fat) made cookies because she cares." That makes me very happy. And I'm confident in my cookie bars, because I'm using the chocolate chip cookie bar recipe from How it All Vegan. One year I made these and gave them out in little individual containers for Xmas, and people loved them. They always turn out well. Yay cookies! Yay animals! Yay changing perceptions and rejecting limitations!

I'm also going back to Belly Dance classes in less than a month. This is daunting, but I have always enjoyed it before. I am almost always the biggest girl in the class, but teachers have always been cool (with one notable exception who need not be named).

Have a great weekend everyone. It's Pride Weekend here in San Francisco, and I am proud to be part of the diverse Bay Area. Cuz hey, there are people that think fat people shouldn't have families too. Everyone should have fair treatment.

Dinner Plans for Week of 061509 to 062109

Monday Night - Veggie Fried Quinoa with Baked Veggie Egg Rolls
Tuesday Night - Burnin' Butt Burritos from Garden of Vegan with Corn
Wednesday Night - Veggie Pizza Salad
Thursday Night - Tabbouleh, Hummus and Pita
Friday - Hongshao Dofu with Broccoli and Rice from Please Don't Feed The Bears
Saturday - Black Bean Soup from Moosewood Restaurant
Sunday - Chef's Choice

Mushroom Couscous Success

Woo hoo! I was trying to recreate a mushroom couscous dish that I previously made from a boxed mix. Through the magic of the internet, someone else had already done it! I used way more mushrooms, and Mr. Monster said to post that he RAVED about it. Hooray! http://vegfrugalhousewife.com/2008/05/11/curried-mushroom-couscous/
Thanks vegetarian frugal housewife!!

I also made Sunny Shiitake Carrot Salad from Frank Giglio's Raw For All book. It was delicious. I recommend this book, and will be reviewing it in the next zine. You can check out Frank Giglio here: http://rawfoodfrank.wordpress.com/purchase/

Yoga and Dinner Plans for Week

I picked up a book today called Mega Yoga by Megan Garcia. It's yoga for larger people, with modifications. I did the 30 minute sequence today, and it was good. Challenging, but my muscles feel good. My quadriceps feel like they worked hard. Her website is here if you want to check her out: http://www.megayoga.com/index.php

Dinner Plan for Week of 06/08/09 - 06/14/09

Monday, which is now Mexican Monday! Mexican Pizza, Corn and salad. Mexican Pizza is an old recipe I have in my recipe box. You just cook 3 oz of soy taco crumbles for a minute, add 1/4 c salsa and cook five more minutes. Spread a 6" corn tortilla with 1/2 cup refried beans, top with soy mixture and 2 TBSP cheese (optional, or soy cheese for me). Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Serve topped with 1/2 cup lettuce, 1/2 cup chopped tomato.

Tuesday is Israeli Couscous with mushrooms and broccoli, cooked in veggie broth.

Wednesday is Microwave Lentils and Rice, from Garden of Vegan.

Thursday is Leftovers.

Friday is Big Bowl of Miso Noodle Soup from Garden of Vegan.

Saturday is the WTF "Chik'n" Wings from the PETA book that I didn't get around to making this week.

Sunday is open for chef's choice!

Cooking Up a Storm Saturday

What a lovely Saturday. Woke up late, did yoga with the hubby. Went to farmer's market at BART station, it was only so-so. Made Puttanesca Scramble and toast for breakfast (with Iced coffee of course). Recipe here: http://theppk.com/blog/puttanesca-scramble. We gave it two thumbs up. Didn't take a photo of anything today, just ate it.

Went to dog park, always a good time. There was a very sweet little girl there who was totally in love with all the dogs. She kept calling Gomez and he would jump on her lap and she would squeal and say, "He's a cuddler!" every time.

Came home, chilled out. Made Polenta Croutons (YUM!) and caesar salad with Living Caesar Dressing (both from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan, linked in earlier post). I loved the dressing, hubby not so much. I think I'll definitely make it again to take to work. Also made mixed berry cobbler. Used the recipe from Vegan With a Vengance (altered the peach cobbler recipe). It turned out very well. Lots of cooking and homemade eating today. The link to Vegan with a Vengance is here: http://www.theppk.com/veganwithavengeance.html. I've made several recipes from it, and they were all good. Can't wait to see Isa's new Brunch book.

Then we watched Murder My Sweet on dvd. Excellent.