Smoothies on my new site

What? You haven't checked out my new site yet? Well get on over there, and see my delicious green smoothie recipe.

www.liveeatbewell.com

Holy Heck, come check it out

Ok, so it isn't totally done yet. But I am ready for you to leave blogspot behind and come check me out on my new webpage: www.liveeatbewell.com.

Check out my new receipe for Yellow Bell Pepper Soup!

http://liveeatbewell.com/RipeTomato/?p=162

See ya at the new site!

New Blog Coming

I just want to keep you updated that I haven't forgotten about any of you. I have been working on updating my new blog. It is going to be so awesome. It has recipes and tips and FAQs. It has everything you could ever want and more. That is why I have abandoned you. Well that, and I went on vacation and a close friend of mine had a run in with a hospital and I had to deal with that. But when I launch the new site on Sept. 1, you will love it. I do. :)

Not Quite Dead

My dear, dearest, wonderful followers, fans, family, friends, readers, and haters,

I would like to announce that despite my absence, I am not quite dead. I have been taking my qualifying exams for my PhD. It has been draining. All that on top of working, trying to complete one final class, staying on top of three crazy kids, and trying to somewhat enjoy the summer.

To my dismay, my blog has kinda gone to the wayside in all that. I would also like to announce that thanks to my VEGAN diet, I am looking better than ever.

That is not a photo shopped waistline. Nope it is mine. Of course, I don't have make up on it that picture because I am travelling down a swamp in 110 degree heat. But I still think you get the picture.

I am going on a Disney cruise in a few days, so I may continue to be absent, but I promise, sometime in July, my regular posts will start back up.

The other great news is that I will be migrating to a regular webpage with a RECIPE page!!! I know how awesome all you foodies will find that.

So see ya soon.

Love, Heather

Yeah, but what do you eat with your family?

So the question I get asked the most as a Vegan is "what do you eat?" I get asked this question in varying forms: what do you eat for breakfast, what do you eat as snacks, what do you eat at a BBQ, what do you eat on Easter? So I thought I would answer the question that seems to bother people the most: What do you eat with your family (as in extended family). Right now, my extended family in the area is just my mom and dad. They are super supportive of our food choices, so they are pretty much willing to go along with whatever I choose to cook for us.

I anticipate having a little bit more of a problem with other extended family members, and I am sure you will see a post after Memorial Day weekend about eating in mixed company. But since I haven't really had to cross that bridge with my family, I guess I don't have an answer. I can tell you that in preparation for Memorial Day weekend, I am doing things I normally wouldn't do like buying fake meat hot dogs and vegan marshmallows so that my kids don't feel left out. They said they don't care and don't want those things, but I want to have them on stand by just in case in the moment they change their minds.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Over the weekend we hung out at my parents' house. Robert changed the oil on the cars, the kids swam. I decided to have a BBQ with the family. Crazy vegan says what? How do you have a barbecue in Texas without meat?

Here is our menu:
Potatoes and onions
Mixed squash (yellow squash, pattipan squash, zucchini)
Corn
Green Beans
Kidney Beans
Guacamole
Chips
Sliced radishes
Fruit Salad (pineapple, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, cantaloupe)

As you can see, we grilled the potatoes, squash, and corn. It was terrific. The best part is that it doesn't require any additional butter or oil. It is absolutely delicious.

In fact, everyone really enjoyed the meal. My dad said he was super full, and he thought he should have eaten less! We even got to make the meal a family affair with little Mae helping in its preparation:

Mashing avocados is her very favorite thing! So I guess the answer to the question is that we sure don't go hungry!

Let them eat Meat: Mushroom Taco Filling

Finally, the time for talking about my personal feelings is over. Even though I feel like I could fill up seven blogs with what I am feeling, I am going to quit boring you. Today, you get a recipe. Here is how it came into being.

My mom told me she saw a recipe for taco filling made from mushrooms. I thought it sounded pretty good, and my husband loves mushrooms. So, when we went to the store, my mom and I decided to split a package of baby portabello mushrooms. Then my 13-year-old daughter and I had a real heart to heart conversation.

She keeps saying she wants to go vegan, but she is worried she will loose weight, and she says that since she is 13 already there are certain things she just isn't prepared to give up. She told me that she understands why we don't eat "Fake" meat, but she thinks if the little girls and I can have oreos every once in a while, she should be able to have some fake sausage. Makes sense to me. I love it when they make well reasoned arguments! One of the things she said she missed was taco meat. So I told her about this mushroom recipe and she said she would try it.

She has never eaten a mushroom in her life, and she would never have eaten it before now, but I convinced her, and we had success! We made the tacos and she ate hers on a flour tortilla (whole wheat) with avocado, lettuce, tomato, and onion plus the mushroom mix. She said it is her new favorite meal next to Swiss Chard. So, I call that a pretty successful meal. I told her if her two favorite meals are Swiss Chard and Mushroom Meat, she is ready to be a vegan.

Here is the recipe (and photos):

1/2 pint of baby portabello mushrooms, finely chopped
1 medium onion or 2 small onions, finely chopped
1/2 yellow bell pepper, finely chopped
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper

Directions
The key is to finely chop the ingredients. Here is a photo of the mushrooms chopped before I cooked them.

Then put all the ingredients into a nonstick pan on medium heat. Saute the ingredients until they are soft. Here is the picture of it afterward.

Then you can put it in any type of taco with any type of filling that you want! It is super delicious. We put Shut the Queso Up on top as well for a nice cheese flavor. 

Good luck, and happy eating!

See that pretty girl in that mirror there?

The strangest thing has been happening to me. I haven't really been sure about what exactly it is. Then it just kinda dawned on me yesterday. I think it is really important that I share it with you all. I think part of sharing this journey with all of you is being honest even when that honesty makes me a little vulnerable.

I have been telling all of you about how I have lost weight and blah blah. But I am by no means thin. I mean I still need to loose about 15 pounds before I'm not overweight. For my entire life since about puberty I have struggled with body issues.  At some points in my life it has been down right self loathing.

I hate to look at pictures of myself. I hate for people to touch me especially my stomach. I don't wear swim suits; and when I do, I spend the whole time in some place of dark, dark sadness. Almost two years ago I was an event with all my friends. I don't get to see them very often because we live all over the country. We love each other so much and wanted to take photos. There is a photo of us (with me in it) that made me just want to cry. (see below, I'm on the right in the green undershirt and black top shirt).

I honestly can't even believe I posted that picture. That is how hard it is for me to look at it. So I do crazy things like hide behind my hair. 

You can't see me behind all this hair right? I mean, who am I fooling? But maybe everyone is looking at the hair, right. 

Well, that person is gone. As I said, Yes, I have lost 31 pounds. So, yes, I am thinner, but I am still overweight. So here is what happened.

I was getting dressed, and I looked in the mirror, and I thought, "dang girl, you look good." So I hopped on the scale. . . no change. That is fine. But I was trying to find the reason. So, I just went about my day. But every time I did something I thought, "Wow, you look really nice in that shirt" or those shorts or whatever. And, yes, you read that right. I actually wore shorts. I don't think I have ever done that before. 

Then I was sitting on the couch and my husband looks different and amazing and has lost weight and he looks fantastic. I put my legs in his lap while we were watching a movie, and he says, "Dang Heather, you look so skinny." Then we were getting ready to go to bed, and he says, "wow, you look great. . . like a different person." 

It isn't just that I have lost weight. My skin looks great. I mean beautiful. Not a spot on it. I haven't even been wearing make up and it looks freaking flawless. But I just feel happier about the whole situation. I don't hate to look at the pictures of my new self. (see below a picture of me taken a few weeks ago).

As you can see, I don't really look that much different. But I feel great. I think I look so happy. I feel happy. I mean, let me say that again. I feel happy. Maybe it is all the nutrients in the food or maybe it is being cruelty free or maybe it is just feeling good about what I am doing, but I feel happy. I don't feel embarrassed by that photo. I realize, I still need to loose weight. I am sure I will. But the point is that things are going in the right direction. (See photo below taken about two weeks ago).

I don't know how it looks in this picture because that shirt is really baggy, but those are my "skinny" jeans. I need to go buy new jeans now! But more importantly, I can go out and have a good time with my family without feeling weird or like I need to hide. 

It is all because I decided to kiss cows rather than eat cows. I just feel good. I wish I could give this gift to everyone. I want to share the gift of being cruelty free and helping the environment. I for sure want to share the gift of helping your health with my friends and family, but I just wish I could share this gift of feeling happy about it with everyone I know. 

I know I have written a lot about how eating this way has affected my feeling because I can't just eat away the pain. I have been having some issues at work, and I haven't been able to eat away the anger. And that has been hard. Really hard. Because quite frankly, there is not enough zucchini in the world to push down and cover up anger. But I haven't wanted to eat ice cream. I did make a banana whip the other night, and that covered up a little bit. But come one, it was bananas and raspberries! 

I have had to deal with my feelings and not with food. I think it makes me a better person. It is weird. I have been making all our meals and that makes me feel so connected to our food and to my family. I am doing good things for our local farmers by supporting them. I mean, this whole lifestyle has given me so much to be proud of and it has forced me to deal with me. And the best part is that I can deal with anger and disappointment and sadness and betrayal and hurt all without a chocolate milkshake. I can do it without salty fries. I can do it without food to cover it up. 

The result is that when I look in the mirror, I feel good about myself for the first time in my memory. But this is enough about me. I promise the next posts will be all recipes and product reviews.