I think I’m detoxing! I haven’t had meat or dairy (maybe in minuscule un-noticeable portions) since the day after I wrote my FOK post. Don’t even ask. I had one last event that I had to get all meaty at, and let’s just say I paid the price. Yuck! But, since then, I’ve really been sick with allergies. I’ve never really had allergies before so I’m not sure if it’s because I’m detoxing – or because of the smoke left in the Texas air combined with really high mold counts right now. I’m counting on posting in a few more days, telling you how wonderful I feel! Oh, and don’t be fooled – I’m not a true vegan by any means. I am still eating a ton of fish. I am also not scouring every ingredient label for tiny amounts of animal products. Baby steps.
I will keep this post as short as I can, but I have a lot to say. I don’t have any new recipes to share. I have been busy…and rattled by the fires in my neighborhood. Literally the after day I posted last, I went to run errands, and came home to see fire and smoke billowing through my neighborhood. The end result was us being evacuated for 2 nights and 24 houses burned to the ground. So terribly sad, but our street was blessed to be untouched. I can’t even begin to describe how sad and scary it was. You can see 30 seconds of it and hear it in my voice here, just before Lance and I decided to head OUT of the neighborhood. Sorry for the shaky hand. I was scared!
Smoke headed into our neighborhood after running errands
My son, thanking firefighters for saving our neighborhood.
A few days after the fire, reminding me Who is in charge...
On a lighter note, I have been trying some new-to-me recipes that Melissa and Jennifer have posted (and a couple of “old” ones!)! On Monday, I wanted to try Melissa’s collard green recipe! It was FABULOUS! I think I overdid the currants – next time I will put in 1/4 cup of currants after they have soaked! I served them with some fresh (and REALLY YUMMY) salmon burgers that I got from HEB. The “cheese” you see is veggie cheese, but to my surprise, the second ingredient is Casien from milk protein? What? Why not just eat real cheese then? I will be going to Whole Foods this weekend on the hunt for some true vegan cheese. Anyone have any suggestions? ”Cheese”, preferably without all the junk in it? Anyway, it was a wonderful meal and the family was happy!
On Tuesday, I decided to try Jennifer’s Root Stew!! Yum!! I changed it a little bit, to suit my liking. The spices in this dish are a little sweet – so I added some spice by doubling the mustard seed, and I added 2 teaspoons of white pepper. YOWZERS! It was spicy! I’d recommend 1 teaspoon of white pepper, 2 if you like it spicy! Just adjust it to your taste. I’ll add it to the recipe page as OPTIONAL! :) I’m adding a picture of it cooking so you can see the liquid since it disappears into the quinoa in other pictures! Oh and a sidenote… I actually took a potato masher and mashed the stew just a little bit to break apart some of the large veggies. When eating, I did wish it had a little crunch to it. I think I’ll add some chopped water chestnuts to it next time, for a little crunch.
Root Stew, cooking
Root Stew, served!
I thought I needed some green, so served this with the Avocado and Kale Salad staple I make so much. I was inspired by Melissa’s collards, so I added some toasted pine nuts to it this time. Wonderful!
And finally, last night I made another staple in our house… fish tacos, served with Melissa’s black bean and corn quinoa. This is literally one of my favorite things to serve and eat. EASY meal – just put some frozen, wild fish (I like mahi mahi) in the oven on 400 and make the quinoa while the fish is cooking. Serve with tortillas of your choice (or not) and some avocado slices – (or leftover kale/avocado salad!) – and put some of the quinoa dish in your taco. Easy Breezy!
I hope I have “revived” some of our old recipes and given you some ideas for YOUR meal planning next week! I literally have a fridge of leftovers that will get us through the next couple of days. Yay leftovers!! :) What are some of your favorite, healthy recipes? We would love to know!
And last, would you be interested in a Forks Over Knives companion book and DVD combo? I can’t tell you how passionate I am about this movie. See my post about it, if you haven’t already. I think it should be required watching AND this is our 100th post, so we are GIVING away a DVD and the companion book! All I ask in return is that the winner tell ONE person about this movie. Oh, and maybe you could even tell someone about our little site. :)
The book is filled with many more healthy eating ideas like these – so if you’d like to be entered, comment below. Just say I’M INTERESTED and we’ll randomly pick a winner on Saturday! Would you believe I don’t even have a copy of the book? I just count on Melissa to give me the recipes! :) I’ll get it soon. :)
Savor each happy, healthy moment!
~Kim
About Kim
I’m interested!!!!!!!
I”M INTERESTED!!! I have actually been searching for the movie to make my family watch it and have not been able to find it in my area. I have gotten my family off of red meat and junk, but still can’t get them off of chicken and turkey and I have been experimenting with different So Delicious milk products with my kids to get them off of milk. Have not found a veggie cheese yet that they like either. THey love quinoa and I have tried many recipes with that over the last week! Love the tacos and stuffed peppers! Baby steps to a healthier family…that is why I would love the movie so they can truly see the impact of meat and dairy on their bodies! Thank you also for this blog! I love the recipes and have learned so much!
Donna
IM INTERESTED!!!!!!
So interested!!
I’m interested!!!!
I’m interested!!!!!!
great post – looking forward to trying some of these recipes!! Quinoa and black beans tacos is a weekly staple at my house! try Daiya cheese – delish and dairy free!!
oh and I’m totally interested!
I’m interested!
Very interested! I have told co-workers about the movie and plan on chatting with my Mom about it as well as your website!!
I’m interested!
I watched the movie on netflix”s and now force all my friends to watch it when they come over. I would love a copy to place at the hospital I work at so colleagues could borrow it.
IM INTERESTED!!!
I’M INTERESTED!!! I watched the movie two days ago and have begun the talks with my family about the effects animal protein has on our bodies. Obviously since I have seen the movie I would give it to someone else to watch. (I’d keep the book though
Hey! who knows, maybe I would start a “pay it forward” with passing FOK around the neighborhood!
Oh me, me, me!!! I talk about this movie to EVERYONE I meet! This movie had such an impact on our family. We are down to having meat 2 times a week and believe me that is a HUGE milestone! I am completely off of milk and have been for some time, but it is getting my family on board with it that is the challenge. But I am working on it!
This is such a generous offer, thank you so much for extending this contest to your readers!!
I’m interested
Thanks! (PS I use Daiya Chees it’s totally vegan and wonderful!!!)
I’m interested!
I’m interested!!!!!! I have told my mom about the movie!
I am very interested. I have not watched the movie yet, only heard about it from a friend who highly recommended it.
I’m interested and have been telling everybody about FOK. I’m probably bordering on annoying, but I feel that passionate about it. I have been meat free for the last week since I watched FOK. I’m almost dairy free. Working slowly on the family. Teen son feels this is one step short of torture. Young daughters (4 & 6) seem to be game. Husband is being so supportive and he’s the one who does all the cooking since I recently returned to a full time job after being a SAHM for 7 years. Did I mention I’m INTERESTED?!
I’m interested!
Yep – I’m interested too…. and while I’m at it… I’d like to share a recipe that I’m eating right now. It’s a squash soup – courtesy of my CSA – Harmony Farms (chef Katie and chef Jim).
2 Tbsp butter (I used Earth Balance)
1/2 cup onion
1 celeriac, peeled and chopped (not optional… adds so much)
2 cups of apples, cored and diced
2 cloves garlic
4 cups of squash, baked, peeled, and mashed
3 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
10 cups of veggie stock
5 sage leaves
1/2 of cream (or cream-like product!)
2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cider vinegar (or more – I love this stuff)
Sweat onions, celeriac, apples, garlic in the butter over medium heat 5 minutes.
Add squash, salt, pepper, and stock and bring to a boil, simmer 40 minutes
Remove from heat, add sage and blend
Add cream, honey, nutmeg, and vinegar…
Serve… eat…. yum.
That’s Harmony Valley Farms…
I’m interested!!
Recipe sounds so good ! What is celeriac though ??
I am definately interested, the movie did not play at all in our state and I have been wanting to see it. I would love to be able to show it at my church. I have been researching a vegan diet for a while now and have made a few changes, I think the DVD and book would help me transition to a plant based diet.
Oh my gosh!! I think I’ve told about 20 people about this movie!! In FACT! I’m a member of our public school system’s ‘Wellness Committee’ and I’ve emailed all of the other members requesting that they watch FOK (as well as Food Inc, and Fat Sick and Nearly Dead!!) before our next meeting in November — I told them that I would try to arrange for a place to watch FOK together for those that don’t have Netflix or access to the movie otherwise…. I would LOVE to win this — It would take the weight off my shoulders to share it with those responsible for creating the lunch menus for our children for years to come!!
Thanks so much for offering it as an opportunity!! What a wonderful gift!!
Kiera
PS — love the recipes on here!! Our family had the same reaction to FOK as yours did — my husband is a Chiropractor and, therefore, we are pretty healthy-minded folks – but I got up and threw out our milk and cheeses and we are solely plant-based dieters, now!! =-D
I’m interested!
I watched the movie on Sept. 3rd and have been vegan ever since! I don’t like seafood, so that is one less thing for me to stop eating ;o) I haven’t eaten milk, cheese, eggs or meat. I’ve made it for my family while I make my own meal on the side
I’ve made many great meals from your site and from a cookbook I already had called Vegan with a Vengeance. I’d love to own the movie so my hubby can watch it and so I can loan it out. And believe me, I’ve already recommended the movie AND your website to several people over the past 2 weeks 
Im Interested!
I’m interested!!!!
I was hoping to get this because I would love to loan it to all my friends! This was amazing movie and I have been telling everyone about it. It has changed the way I look at food and eating. I promise to loan it out and keep telling everyone about it.
I would so love the FOK set! Today was Day One of a whole foods/vegan “let’s see if we can do it” attempt and we did it!!! I would love the set to make sure we give our 2 lil kiddos all the proper nutrition they need as we make this change to better our health!
I would so love the FOK set! Today was Day One of a whole foods/vegan “let’s see if we can do it” attempt and we did it!!! I would love the set to make sure we give our 2 lil kiddos all the proper nutrition they need as we make this change to better our health! A couple friends have recently “liked” your page as a result of my FB post. Here’s to many more!!
Celeriac is celery root. It looks funny, but tastes divine. We often make a winter root veggie saute of sweet potato, celeriac, parsnip, carrot, etc. Great in soups & stews also.
I’m very interested!!!!
I’m INTERESTED!!!! I’ve already told people I know and don’t know about this film…lol! And I would love the book I’ve heard so many great things about it! I have also shared your site with friends, btw I LOVE it! And check out the Happy Herbivore Cookbook it is amazing! I bought it on my kindle for $4.99 yesterday. It has so many great pratical recipes!!! Check out their site too happyherbivore.com!
I’m extremely interested!
I’m interested!! My husband and I watched the film a couple of weeks ago, and he has been eating a vegan diet since (I have been vegan since March). We’d love to own the companion book and share the film with family and friends
I am interested! I loved the movie. I have read the China Study and like you I stopped giving my daughter cows milk. All Almond milk now. I would love to own the movie and book!
I am definitely interested:)!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh! I would be sooo interested in the DVD!!
I’m interested!!
I’m definitely interested…thanks
I’m interested!!!
I’m interested!!!! I watched the movie this weekend (thanks to my friend). He recommended it because I was so down after receiving some bad results from the doctors. I really want to get involved with this so that I can live a healthier life and turn things around, I just wasn’t sure where to start. Thanks for having this site to help those who are trying to make a change!!