Featured Foodie- The belly of a vegan!

We are ending this week with our " Featured Foodie" Kassandra Ortega who is a vegetarian turned vegan, deranged animal lover and supporter of most things positive! Funny enough when i first met Kassandra (Kassie to her friends) in college some years back i knew four things for sure about her, 1 she was always a good time, 2 She is the ultimate animals rights lover, 3 she can talk politics with such passion and most times dramatic insights and 4 she would NOT under any circumstances eat anything that lived and had parents..lol one of my first run ins with this sassy and very in touch with her self personality was at a Superbowl party that i had thrown and she attended. The food was amazing and we had a spread that only a true foodie could understand and enjoy, When Kassie arrived at the party  being the foodie that she is went straight to the food  table and started loudly saying, " I can't eat this, i can't eat this and wouldn't dare eat that". she explained that she was vegetarian which almost sent the whole party in an uproar. Needless to say we all walked away educated about animal rights, the ideology behind being vegetarian and what we decided to do what that information was our business. I recently got in touch with Kassie thanks to some of our readers who had emailed questions about being Vegetarian and Vegan during our month of unprocessed living. I figured who better to answer a few of your questions!

1. How long have you been on a plant-based diet and what caused you to choose this lifestyle?

6 years ago, I watched a documentary called Earthlings (you can watch it for free here: Earthlings.com). It’s an award-winning film about the suffering of animals for food, fashion, entertainment, and medical research. From that day on, I stopped supporting the meat industry. A year ago, I watched another award-winning film, Forks Over Knives (catch it on Netflix or Hulu right now!), that examines a theory that all of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, and even reversed, by dismissing ALL animal-derived foods from our diet. This began my soul search to eliminating dairy products and moving towards a plant-based diet. I have been running on plants for 5 months and absolutely loving it!

2. There is so much criticism around eating plant-based vs. animal-based diets, and how they affect the human body. Have you felt any major positive or negative differences? 

When I stopped eating animal flesh and continued to consume dairy products, I had peace of mind thinking that I wasn't supporting a cruel industry, but I didn't notice a physical positive change in my body. I was slightly heavier in weight than I wanted to be and I didn't have anybody confidence. After 5 months of dropping dairy and becoming plant-based, I lost 15 lbs. solely by diet, my facial blemishes are clearing up and I am starting to enjoy the natural taste of real whole foods. Before becoming plant-based, processed foods were 80% of my diet. It’s amazing how quickly the human body adjusts to change. I can now bite into a raw red pepper and my taste buds go wild

3. Do you crave meat and dairy?

Never. I know what goes on with the meat and dairy industry and I have made the connection that animal products are carcasses and secretions. It disgusts me, so I never desire those products. Those who adopt a plant-diet for health will find this part far more difficult, especially with cheese. Cheese contains 1/10 of the chemical that makes morphine addictive, so our brain receives a false sense of pleasure when it is consumed. I suggest making an effort to slowly wean it out of a diet. Have cheese only 4 times a week, then 3, then 1, then never. After a month or two of rejecting cheese, it is very unlikely the cravings will come back, especially after eating more whole healthier foods.

4. Many people have the notion that all vegans are animal advocates. Is this true?

It is never fair to generalize or stereotype a group of people, especially if it’s a stereotype based only on what one decides to eat, or not eat. Funny enough, I am passionate animal rights advocate. I will stand in the blazing California sun for 4+ hours to hand 1,000 college students a Vegan Outreach booklet and educate about the horrors of the meat and dairy industry and what it does to the human body. But that is not true of everyone who chooses a plant-based diet. Many vegans and vegetarians are regular, everyday folks who may not care about animals and adopted the lifestyle for the copious amount of health reasons. Even if all vegans happened to be animal’s rights advocates, it would be for good reason (watch Earthlings for the good reasons).

5. What is the difficulty level of finding good, quality meals that are conductive to your lifestyle?

On a scale of 1-10 (1 being the easiest and 10 being the hardest) of how difficult it is to find plant-based recipes based around any lifestyle, I would say: 0. Yep. 0. It is so easy to find a delicious vegan recipe in the world we live in today. Plant-based diets are now extremely popular and new plant-based cookbooks and websites are popping up all over! Specific plant-diet blogs that I recommend are Fat Free Vegan (blog.fatfreevegan.com) or Cheap & Simple Vegan (cheapandsimpleveganrecipes.com). Even general recipe sites like All Recipes (allrecipes.com) and Super Cook (supercook.com) have search tools for specific diets. Its insane how many resources are out there that are free and that are easy access to us!

6. What advice can you share to those who are interested in adopting a plant-based diet?

Do your research. Watch documentaries, read books, listen to speakers... do anything you can to continually educate yourself about our food system. Let's just say that our current mainstream food system is not designed for the best interest of the consumer. Keep learning and keep empowering.

Don't feel pressured by others. There are still people out there who haven't made the connection and consider a healthy meal to be a slab of chicken sided with a cheese and ranch dressing salad. Remember, you are the ONLY PERSON who can take control of your own body, prevent disease, cancers and reach optimum health. Don't allow others to pressure you, or make you feel like what you are doing is wrong. It may not be the most popular diet, but you are not alone in the plant-diet revolution.

7. What is one of your favorite recipes?

I will provide two for you all! Dinner and desert.

Southwestern Stuffed Butternut Squash

You'll Need:

1 butternut squash

1 cup of cooked black beans (canned or fresh)

¾ of an onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 red bell pepper, diced

½ can green chiles

½ teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon chili powder

Vegan cheese

Cilantro, salsa, avocado (optional)

teaspoon salt

Directions

-Preheat oven to 375 F.

Halve and seed your squash, and then hollow out each side just enough to form a shallow boat. Brush a baking sheet with some olive oil and also brush your squash with a little olive oil (both sides).

Roast in the oven for about 30-40 minutes, flesh-side down, or until the flesh is soft when you pierce it with a fork (if you leave the skin on, it may need to roast longer).

Meanwhile, sauté onions and garlic in a pan for about 3 minutes. Add bell peppers, chiles, and spices, and sauté another 5 minutes or so. Add beans and stir. Saute a few minutes longer and remove from heat.

Remove squash from oven and stuff with filling. Top with some vegan cheese and return to oven for about 5-10 minutes. 

Chewy Coconut Bliss Bars

What You Need

2 cups flour

1½ sticks Earth Balance

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups brown sugar

½ teaspoon salt

3 egg replacers (I used Ener-G)

1½ cups of vegan chocolate chips

1 cup of shredded coconut

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9×13 glass dish well and set aside (you could also line with parchment paper or greased foil)

Mix together the Earth Balance, egg replacers, brown sugar and vanilla in a bowl.

Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine, and then stir in coconut and chocolate chips.

Pour in the baking dish and bake for about 25 minutes (oven times may vary).

Pictures derived from www.cheapandsimpleveganrecipes.com

Stay Plant Strong,

- Kassy Ortega

Kassy Ortega has a Bachelor's of Science in Business Administration & Marketing from Central Penn College in Summerdale, Pennsylvania. She has done work under The Humane Society of the United States in D.C. and Vegan Outreach, Southern California. She currently is working under People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals as a traveling campus outreach crew member. Kassy resides in Temecula, California with her fiancee, Josh, a Sergeant in the USMC, and adopted fur-baby, Paco. Feel free to email with any questions here: Kassy.Ortega@gmail.com

Foodie Digest- Thank You!

We wanted to take the time out and send a special thanks to our fellow foodies that joined along with our month of unprocessed living. We had over 223 people actually participating through Facebook, Twitter and emailing. Messages that takes on the attitude that we want to see in people, a change in how we eat, which is a direct change in how we live. Our mission as supporters of a healthier lifestyle must never be jolted or diminished by our profession as caterers. We want them to work hand and hand. We understand and recognize that there is a great gap in the world of business versus social and moral responsibility. We are very much dedicated to making up that gap, dedicated to devoting ourselves to our work and business but also to the people whom we service because there is a great deal of work that needs to be done. We thank you for the awesome recipes, feedback and encouragment. Let's become more of the foodies that we all desire to be, one plate at a time!

Natural Gourmet Foodie Team!

Foodie Digest

So, here we are Foodies 14 days into our month of Unprocessed living and we are feeling great about the feedback, tweets and emails that we have been getting from you guys! So many people are telling us how much they are learning about food, how much they are experimenting and of course how much food they are eating! We encourage all of this, we encourage you to get in touch with your inner chef! One thing  we did want to address was a question via email that we got the other day. Alaina asked, " While grocery shopping i have noticed that a lot of the meats that i want to purchase all say all Natural, how do i tell them apart is there a particular brand that you use" That was a good question one that we definitely wanted to address. What you will see a lot of times in the grocery stores are food packaging that say. " All Natural" and this is because people are paying more attention to the foods that they are eating like never before and in an effort in maximize profits while selling us all "false hopes" they label theses foods without any consequences since the " All Natural" term is unregulated. What we would suggest is searching for your local meat whole sales, like a farmers market that also sells meat or a slaughter house. We suggest these people first because we always want to support our local farmers after having a clear understanding of their practices. A for sure place is a Whole Foods store, this company is strict about the items that they allow to be sold within their company. You can be sure that anything that you get from them will be fresh and in it's whole or natural state.We encourage you all to be diligent, investigative and very open to the new foods that you will discover. We don't have long to go so let's continue to strive to live, cook and of course eat better daily! We will see you all Tuesday for our weekly live twitter chat! #NGFChalleneg,#AllNatural, #Realfood

Foodcipe-Sausage Stir fry

In the spirit of our 31 days of unprocessed foods, i chose to use this recipe as a kick off. I recognize that in today's day and age people have little to no time to sit back and make ginormous meals, especially during a busy week. This recipe is soo very quick and easy and it consist of ingredients that most people have sitting in their fridge or cabinets.You can very well substitute the thin stir fry noodles for something a little more to your liking. Aim for 100% whole grain noodles to stay in line with ouuor goal.

Ingredients:

1 pack of Aidells sausages ( Diagonally cut)

2 chopped green peppers

2 chopped red onions

2 garlic cloves minced

1 pound of fresh shrimp, peeled and devined

1/2 cup of red wine vinegar

1/2 Cup of Original Chobani Greek yogurt 2 tbsp of olive oil

1 box of think stir fry noodles

goat cheese

1tbsp salt

1tbsp pepper

Directions:

1. In large wok heat olive oil then add green peppers, red onions, shrimp, sausages together and allow them to cook.

2.in medium sauce pan allow stir fry noodles to cook over boiling water for five minutes( if they cook longer than that they will over cook in wok)

3.Add noodles to the wok with the red wine vinegar allow noodles to cook until soft but not mushy stir in Chobani Greek yogurt , salt and pepper, garnish with oregano

4. After ten minutes of tossing, use tongs to transfer to plate, grate goat cheese over and enjoy!

As always Foodies,

Eat on!!

Follow is on twitter @NaturalGFoodie

Foodie Digest- Eating our way healthy!

As we prepare to start our NEW YEAR!! some of our readers, friends and followers are preparing to go on a month long unprocessed food challenge. We are starting the new year off with the intention on regaining control of our bodies, minds and eating habits. We want you  to walk away feeling empowered and understanding that we all have the ability to change our lives, change the way we eat and the way that we view food. We will be updating our Blog with weekly recipes ( which on our blog is called Foodcipes) that will give you ideas on the foods that you can create for your home and family. Remember if something has more than four or five ingredients that you can't create from home it is highly processed and we want to stay away. Don't let this experience be boring for you. IT WILL BE BORING if you eat salad or the same meal  the whole 31 days. You have to be adventurous and willing to try different foods, foodcipes and desserts that we will feature or that other participants will feature. Walking away from this we want you to have a better understanding of what it means to eat healthy, real and delicious foods, we want to show you  that it is possible to obtain all three of these qualities in one pot, pan or plate. If your on twitter we will be using the #NGFChallenge, #Unprocessed, #Realfood to connect , share stories and encourage one another. We are encouraging you to eat your way smaller and healthier. If you haven't already made the commitment to yourself..There is still time!

As always Foodies,

Thanks for reading& let's eat!

follow us on twitter: @NaturalGFoodie

Foodie Digest- The balancing act of Food

One of the things that we hear often on twitter, our FB and even by email is Eating " Natural is no fun, it takes the joy out actually enjoying food" and the BIGGEST,  " It's just too expensive" each of these come with some truth. But they both can easily be dispelled.  This lifestyle is not for the faint at heart,It's not for the person who is looking for a quick fix or a fad because it takes some serious dedication and understanding of the body before one can even understand the ramifications for not choosing such a lifestyle.

The second issue about pricing can be understood. Somethings can get very pricy when we compare how much it is to it's unhealthy competitors. Frankly if we are honest with ourselves isn't everything that's worth anything more expensive than the stuff that's not? It's the reason many of us would choose an Ipad over a Tablet,  or an Iphone over an Evo,  Gucci over Nike's and ladies Red bottoms over just.. plain black ones.
If this is to be explored we must admit that we are a society that addresses our outer appearance and leave the inner to fend for themselves. It's the reason why we will spend thousands of dollars to look good on the outside and then pull up to McDonald's to tarnish our insides.  Eating is a balancing act, you have got to be able to say to yourself , " I had fried chicken yesterday let's do baked tomorrow." Little things like switching white bread for 100% Whole Wheat, or a Tea instead of a soda. Decisions like these could have you on your way.For me it was an easy and " Natural " sell . It isn't always the easiest.  You have to remember to have fun with it give yourself " Sneak" or cheat days GUILT free.. choose the things that you want to splurge on with your Guilt free days! Always know what you are eating, be aware, be informed and let's learn to treat our bodies good because when we get older we will reap the fruits of our labors!

Love your for listening friends!

Be sure to follow us on twitter @NaturalGFoodie

Foodcipe- Healthified Spaghetti

The one thing that I can truly say that I have learned is that any meal that you create it can be spun into something healthy and delicious! This spaghetti is a traditional blend of peppers, sausages and onions replaced with foods that are a little healthier for you and increases the amount of healthified recipes that you have in your book! I removed any ground beef or Turkey and used.these all Natural Sausages & created a homemade quick and easy sauce.

Ingredients
2 Packs of Aidelle's Sausages
2 Chopped green peppers
2 chopped red peppers
1 Chopped red onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbsp of Extra virgin olive oil, separated
2Packs of Feta Cheese
2 boxs of whole grain pasta
5 tomatoes
1 tbsp of salt
1 tbsp of pepper
3 tbsp of red wine vinegar
Fresh cilantro
Directions:
In large skillet or wok using 1 tbsp of olive oil saute Peppers, Onions, 2 minced garlic cloves. ( remove and place in a bowl)

2. Cut the sausages diagonally creating an oval shaped sausage cut,  then add the sausages to 1tbsp of oil and saute

3. Return the peppers, onions and garlic  into the pan with the sausages and add red wine vinegar allowing flavors to marinate in one another.

4. In a large pot break down your noodles and add into boiling water.

5. Add tomatoes into a blender with remaining Garlic, cilantro,salt, pepper, 1 pack of feta cheese and olive oil. Blend on high until sauce becomes thick.

6. After 10 minutes or when pasta are tender drain the pasta top with sausage and peppers and add homemade sauce.

7. Garnish with some cilantro and grate remaining feta cheese over the dish.

As always,
Eat like a Foodie!

Be sure to follow us on twitter @NaturalGFoodie