Norwegian Cruise Vegan friendly?

 We went on a family vacation in the middle of April for 7 nights aboard the Norwegian Jade. This was not our first rodeo.. I mean cruise. We are not those 50 cruise under your belt people but we aren't new either. So this time was different for me though. The last time we did a cruise I was a vegetarian, not a vegan. Was Norwegian up for the challenge? We will see...

The first day we got on board we imminently went for lunch in the buffet area, I was impressed with the signs for 'Vegan' or 'gluten free' in all different locations. The first thing I tried was their offer of 'Veggie burgers available' so I asked. That sent the kitchen into a panic.. they were asking each other "where is it?" After a bit of a scurry they found it and made it on the grill. The taste was better then expected! You could see the vegetables in it so it wasn't a Boca burger... Thank goodness!

 So lunch buffet was a win for them and it continued to be so for the entire cruise. They had awesome Indian food every day for lunch and man was it spicy!!! Asian food one the one side was all labeled 'Vegan' so I was happy that I could freely choose and not worry.

Our little cruisers found plenty of options too, pasta bars with different sauce options (vegan also). Every morning for breakfast there was fruit, breads or all sorts, a fresh juice bar (that was extra $) and plenty for me to choose from! 
My coffee is a must in the morning so I brought my own coconut milk in case the cruise didn't have any non-dairy milk options. However I saw one day someone asking for soy milk and low and behold they had it!! So the next morning I chose a random staff member in the breakfast buffet area for soy milk. That sent a look of panic on her face as she asked someone else where it was, they motioned to the back and she left for at least 15min as I stood there looking like an orphan child with my plate of food and no where to go. Finally she returned and poured me a nice glass which I was happy to have :)
I learned that they keep it in the area where the cereal is at... no need to run to the back.. but neither one of us knew that I guess.

My final verdict? Yes Norwegian Cruise Line is vegan friendly!! Give them a try!!


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Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchilada Bowl Vegan and Candida Diet friendly

As you saw from my previous post I've had to change up how I cook at home. The hubby and our oldest have some diet restrictions now and doing separate meals is just NOT an option for this family/mom.

This was a creation I made out of desperation and hunger. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!!

Vegan, Candida diet, Gluten Free, nut free, dairy free

Ingredients:

Brown Rice (as much as you want to make for your family, left overs are good too)

Enchilada inners:

• 4 large sweet potatoes peeled and chopped small
• 2 TBSP olive or coconut oil
• 1 large red onion
• 2 bell peppers chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 can black beans drained
• 1 small can of enchilada sauce
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 2 TBSP lime juice
• 2 tsp chili powder (or less if the kids are eating it)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp salt

What to do:

Brown rice takes FOREVER! So start that now, I made 3 cups dry for my family but you can make however much you think you need.

While the rice is cooking start on the enchilada 'guts'. With this recipe you will see that what is normally on the inside of the enchilada is now being put on top of the brown rice when you are all down. The tortilla is not needed, this is just as good if not better.

Put the sweet potatoes in a pan with water just covering them. Bring it to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 5min or till the are fork-tender. Drain those and put them on the side.

In a larger pan heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and bell pepper. Saute till onions are tender and bell pepper is softer too.

Add in your salt and pepper and your black beans. Then add in enchilada sauce and stir around till its coated. Then add in the tomatoes, lime juice, chili powder, cumin and salt.

Pour you self a bowl of rice then add in the topping you just made. TADA! Enjoy!!! Add avocado if you like as well

Candida Diet and Being Vegan

In this house we eat healthy or so I thought... I buy organic when we can afford it, whole grains, no processed foods etc. But when the hubby starts feeling tired all the time, feeling 'fuzzy' in the brain, and a load of other symptoms, then its time to call someone. There is a local natural doctor that came highly recommended so off we went to him. The diagnosis? Candida and to much of it!!!!

If you have ever read much about candida you can see we all have in in our systems, but to much of something isn't good. My hubby had an over load of it! So much so that his adrenals were shot and thyroid too. That explained why he was tired and fuzzy in the head for sure. So what to do?

The doctor gave him some drops to help kill it off but he had to change his diet. Woah... what now? We eat healthy! So I'm sure this was not a big deal.... but it was.
He had to get rid of some main things: Soy, sugar, peanuts, dairy and starch. There was a huge list he gave us of can and can't foods, I was at a loss. All my great recipes and menu planning for the week went out the window. (Side note: I am the vegan one he will eat vegan most of the time but will eat meat when we go out to dinner. But since I cook all the meals he essentially is vegan by association :)

Soy was a shocker to me, no tofu??? I love my tofu scramble and tofu in my Indian dishes. What now?? Substitute for beans or lentils, ok for the Indian food or other recipes but the tofu scramble was just gone. He was eating eggs instead and since they came from a local farm that was better then no eggs at all for him.

Sugar, it is in EVERYTHING!!! Really people?!!?!? A jar of tomato sauce, SUGAR. Pita chips, SUGAR. Crackers, SUGAR. Almond butter, SUGAR. And the list goes on....  I read labels before but this was crazy. It make me realize how much sugar we are ingesting and don't even know it. Its scary. My shopping trips were longer and more expensive then ever.

Peanuts, this was new to me. I was buying 2 giant jars of the beloved stuff at BJ's every 2 weeks and it was gone often times before that. Now he can't have it at all, no shakes with it, nothin! Why? They have a fungus. Did you know that? I didn't! So now we had to buy Almond Butter. It was way more then the peanut butter but if it helped the overall health of the family then I consider it an investment.

Dairy, not a problem! We never had cheese or milk products in the house anyways so this was a no brainer.

Starch, no white rice or potatoes or starchy/yeast filled breads. This was tough.... All my bakery fresh bread I bought became a no no. Now we are spending $5 a loaf on Ezekiel bread or food for life bread. There was no option. Brown rice was already in the house so that was not a big deal. I love my potatoes tho!!! Oh french fries how I have weakness for you! The poor hubby was now banned from the deep fried goodness.

In the middle of all this happening our oldest son (5.5yrs old) started throwing up on a regular basis, not the stomach flu I thought it was. It would come and go, he felt nauseous almost all the time. We were constantly on alert for him to vomit and never knew what kind of day we would have. It was frustrating for him and us and we didn't want to see our poor guy so miserable. He was skinny enough, thank his genes from me and his dad for that, so this was not helping that. After doing a food diary I realized it was a food allergy. But to what?? We took him to the same natural doctor that the hubby went to and he did some allergy testing on him. The conclusion? He was allergic to DAIRY and APPLES. Go figure!!! He told us to get him on pro-biotics and to kick out the dairy and apples in his diet. As well as limiting his sugar and peanut intake. Poor guy he loved his mac and cheese and his apples and peanut butter. So it looked like the whole family should just be on the Candida diet.

What has been the result? 
Hubby has never felt better! He has so much energy now and comes home ready to play with the kids instead of wanting to take a nap. His mood has improved and over all it was worth every penny.

Our oldest is back to his normal self, no throwing up and not a bit of nausea. Again worth the visits to the doctor and worth the diet changes.

I find the grocery bill to have changed but not so much that it breaks the bank, I am finding ways to get the things we need cheaper by buying online.

Since I do the cooking and making separate meals for the family is so much work I have just switched us all over to a candida type diet but vegan version. Can it be done? YES! All you need is to think 'substitutions'. "How can I change this recipe to match the candida diet?" You will see in my coming recipe posts the way I changed the recipe to be candida diet friendly. If you have any questions about any of this leave me a message below :)

Vegan Cauliflower Gratin

Are you ready for this? Do you like comfort food? If you answered yes to at least one of those questions then prepare yourself for the yummy treat I am about to show you.

Level of difficulty: kids were at my feet the whole time, they could have helped too!

Time: 20min to prepare and 20min to cook

Vegan (yes Vegan) Cauliflower Gratin

4 lb (2 large heads) cauliflower florets
2 cups precooked brown rice
4 TBSP coconut oil
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1 red onion, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
4 TBSP all purpose flour
3 cups non dairy milk (coconut, almond, soy) room temperature
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp dried Italian herbs (whatever you have on hand, I used oregano, basil and parsley)
1 cup nutritional yeast and 1/4 cup for topping
1 1/2 cup vegan mozzarella cheese (I used Daiya) and 1/4 cup for topping (it was one bag for me)
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
pepper

*make sure your brown rice is done before you start... we all know how long it takes to cook*

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 13 x 9 pan with olive oil or use your coconut oil to grease it

Cut cauliflower into bite-sized pieces and steam for 7min. Combine the cauliflower and rice in a bowl and set to the side.

In a large pot (you will see why you need a large pot at the end), warm the coconut oil over medium heat. Add garlic, onion, salt and pepper. Saute until softened. Add the flower and cook for another minute. Slowly start adding the milk, stirring after each cup to combine. Turn the heat down to low and let thicken. Add the nutmeg, cayenne and Italian herbs, stir. Add in the nutritional yeast and vegan mozzarella, stir. Let it all melt, may need to turn the heat up to medium again. Now take that bowl of rice and cauliflower and add it to the large pot. (Glad I warned you about the large part right??) Add salt and pepper to taste, stir to combine and coat the rice and cauliflower in the yummy cheese sauce.

Pour into the 13 x 9 pan, even out and top with nutritional yeast, vegan mozzarella and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the edges start to bubble and you have a nice brown top on part of it. If you think the mixture looks to dry feel free to pour in some more of the milk in to it.

BEST VEGAN TOFU SCRAMBLE EVER!

Where has this recipe been? I have been trying various tofu scramble recipes, some were so over loaded with spice that it was just to much. Others were boring.... this one takes the cake!

All credit goes to Vegicano... here is the link to his recipe

Tofuevos – Tofu Scramble

1 package of firm tofu – drained
2 TBS Soy Sauce
1 TBS Vegenaise
1 TBS Almond Milk (or non-dairy milk)
1 Heaping TBS of Nutritional Yeast
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp turmeric (for color)
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp paprika
pinch of cumin
salt to taste

Canola oil – for lighly frying the tofu

1. Break up (drained) tofu with your hands (in smallish pieces) into a medium sized bowl.
2. Add the rest of your ingredients to the tofu.
3. Using a rubber spatula incorporate all of the ingredients thoroughly.
4. Taste your tofu. Adjust your salt level.

At this point your tofu as is should taste good. Salt to taste – If you need your adjust your seasonings to your liking this is when you should do it.

5. Heat Canola Oil in a skillet or rimmed pan. Add your tofu and cook until heated throughout.

This is when you decide how you want your tofu. For a harder ‘scramble’ allow tofu mixture to cook longer and brown evenly. For a softer scramble – heat throughout and eat!

Review of the Sprouted Kitchen Bowl + Spoon by Sara Forte

This book is amazing! I was unaware of the Sprouted Kitchen and their other book before I got this book for review. So I would have to say I went into this book completely open minded and with no expectations.

First the Look and feel: I love a good cookbook that gives you a taste of the food via the pictures before you even get to actually taste them in person. This book did exactly that, the feel of the book was warm and inviting. No pretense for fancy dishes or high expectations, from you, the chef. 

The types of food: Let me warn you my fellow reader this is NOT a VEGAN book. There are a lot of recipes that are vegan or can easily be changed to be vegan. But don't think this is a 100% vegan book, its not, nor do the authors claim it to be one. There are some dishes that are made with lean meats but that can be changed to tofu or your meat substitute if you wish.

The recipes: I tried a variety of them on the family, from the Spanish Chopped Salad to the Slow Roasted Veggies and Soba to the Lentil and Rice bowl to the Hippie Bowl to the Ginger Apple Crisp. Every single one I would make again! That is rare.... I chose some recipes that were a weird combo of ingredients in my book and thought "this will be interesting...." but every time the flavors won us over. Even my super picky 5yr old tried the dishes and liked most of them, that was win in my book!

Time: The time some of these dishes take was a bit more then I was thinking, but its mostly just preparing different parts of it then placing them all together. I got wise to that fact after a couple of recipes, so I would make extra brown rice for another night. Or pre-cut some veggies for the next day. But over all once I got the idea of the book the recipes didn't take that long.

The verdict: 5 out of 5 forks!!!
I can't wait to try more from the book and see what their other book has as well

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review

One vegan mom's dislike of slow cooking

Slow cooking, not my strong suit. You think it would be! Mom + busy + home + healthy family = slow cooking simple
Think again... I have had a recipe for weeks that I bought all the ingredients for, got the recipe and had it on my menu for the week . It just sat there, waiting, staring at me. Why? You ask?

A typical night for dinner means I get my 'alone time' while cooking. Yes you read that right!! Once my hubby comes home I start thinking about what item on my menu I will cook tonight. Curry? Italian? Rice? I don't feel like cooking? So that means in under an hour dinner will be prepped, cooked and ready to eat. All in a relative silence of my kitchen while the kids and daddy play in another room.

Slow cookers on the other hand require me to start thinking about cooking around say noon, the peak of mommy and kid time. They get cranky for lunch, I'm breaking up fights, teaching how to share every 5 minutes and you want me to think about dinner too???? Right......

There sits my slow cooker, all by itself....

Don't get me wrong, I like the concept of having dinner done in plenty of time and making it in a large batch so that leftovers are a sure thing. But the time frame is what gets me! My days are busy enough and cooking/prepping a meal just does not fit there.

How can I change that? I want to be more 'ready' for dinner and not have to think about it. But I don't want to have to do it at lunch time or mid afternoon. For now the slow cooker is a game I won't play to often. I won't sell it at our next garage sale, but it sure is going to be lonely in the cabinet.

Feeding Kids in a Vegan Family

It is amazing how concerned people are for your health and well being when you tell them you are vegetarian or vegan. The look on their faces sometimes is priceless! It's almost like you just told them you don't eat anything at all and that you are starving yourself and your family. Close your mouth, a bug might fly in. 

It gets better when you tell them your whole family eats that way, including the 2 toddlers you see running a muck. They immediately ask one of these questions: "Where do you get your protein? Where do you get your calcium? Where do you get your B6 or B12?" Followed by, "What about the kids? Don't they need milk for their growing bones?" Sometimes its asked in a condescending way, almost like they think we are backwoods hippies (is there such a thing?) who don't know any better and have not done our research. That is when I want to hid them over the head with my large juicer and ask them "How to you get your daily vitamins in? A large hamburger doesn't count you know?!?" of course I maintain my self control.

We recently went to a friend's house who has a older teenager who is picky still to this day. So when our boys are fighting over who gets the last apple for a snack the dad was shaking his head in amazement, "That is not normal" he said. Its not??? Should they be fighting over candy? Is that "normal"? Or when we made dinner and our oldest, who loves his broccoli, was upset because it was all gone! The friends we were visiting thought that was just crazy too! What 4yr old is visibly upset because he ate all his broccoli and there is no more to be had? Ours!  

I like our version of normal, it makes me happy our kids are getting a good start and being educated from day one about normal foods that happen to be healthy and good for you. I like that they fight over apples, broccoli, apples, carrots, tofu and any other fruit and vegetable. Is it weird? Is it not the 'normal'? YES! But who cares! Be different! Tell people you are vegan! Tell people you don't eat fast food! Shock! Educate! Carry on....

So we get asked "What do you feed the kids?" "How do you make sure they get their protein?" Etc... So glad you asked! We had a policy with our kids that they eat what we eat, no special meals unless there was an allergy to something. But so far so good and no food allergies! Here is an example of the day:


Breakfast: Blueberry waffles and protein shake with bananas blended in

Lunch: (Leftovers from the night before) Brown rice with Black beans 

Snack: Banana and peanut butter

2nd Snack (you know it happens): fresh veggies picked from the garden green beans, broccoli, sugar snap peas

Dinner: Spaghetti and Lentil 'meat' balls

That is only one day mind you but its filled with vitamins, protein, fiber, fruits and all the other good a kid might need. We also make sure they have their multivitamins along with everything else.



Hope this helps give you an idea! If you have a picky kid there are so many creative ways to make the food look cute and make them want to eat it. But that is a post for another day...