Mom's Marinated Vegetable Salad

Mom's Marinated Vegetable Salad

If you are looking for something healthy and quick to make and share with friends and family at your next get togather, you can't go wrong with the following marinated vegetable salad.  My mom frequently made this in demand salad for our family picnics. This lovely salad should be made the day before and travels nicely! 

Marinated Vegetable Salad

 

1 cup of broccoli florets

1 cup of cauliflower florets

1 cup carrots peeled, quartered lengthwise, then sliced crosswise

1 cup of cucumbers peeled, quartered lengthwise, then sliced crosswise

1 cup of red grape tomatoes

1 cup of yellow cherry tomatoes

2 cups of canned medium whole black olives

1 cup of canned sliced mushrooms 

1/2 cup of coarsely chopped green bell pepper

1/2 cup of coarsely chopped red bell pepper

2 packets of Good Seasons Italian Dry Salad Dressing mix (mix per directions on box)

Combine all vegetables/olives/mushrooms in a large sealable mixing bowl. Next pour the Italian dressing over the ingredients. Thoroughly stir the vegetables to evenly coat them with the dressing and seal the container.  Allow salad to marinate for 8 to 12 hours before serving.  Stir well again before serving. 

This colorful vitamin packed side dish is sure to be a hit with your vegan and non-vegan guests alike! 

Love,

Sharon

Vegan "Cheeseburger" Pizza Triangles

What's for lunch? Homemade vegan "cheeseburger" pizza triangles!

I was craving something new and different today for lunch and did not want to make a run to the store.  So I checked out the icebox and viola.... Vegan "Cheeseburger" pizza triangles.

They took less than five minutes to prepare and about 10-12 minutes to bake.  The vegan cheese came out warm  and gooey and the tortilla pizza crust was golden brown and crispy and crunchy...just the way I like it!  

The recipe details below make enough for one...but due to the simplicity of the recipe....you can easily up the ingredients to make enough for the whole family. 

Recipe - (used all vegan ingredients) - lunch for one

• 2 flour tortillas 
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 2- 3 tablespoons of Pizza Sauce 
• 1/4 cup of Gardein burger crumbles
• 8 large dill pickle slices
• 1/2 cup of Go Veggie Vegan mozzarella shreds

Cut the tortillas into four triangles and lightly coat them with olive oil on each side.   Place them on a non stick cookie sheet.  Top each triangle with your favorite pizza sauce, I used a mushroom based chunky spaghetti sauce as my pizza sauce.  

Next top each triangle with Gardein burger crumbles (used them frozen directly from the bag).   Then place a large dill pickle slice on each triangle and top each one with the Go Veggie Shreds.

Bake the pizza triangles for 10 - 12 minutes in a 400 degree oven until the cheese is melted and the tortilla crusts are crispy and golden brown.

Enjoy!

Emotional Eating and Stages of Grief

For most of my life I have struggled with a deep-seated illogical fear of losing my parents, especially my mom.

In college I decided to sign up for a "Death and Dying" course in an attempt to face my fear head on! However, after attending my first "Death and Dying" class, my fear won out and I dropped the class.

Years passed and my parents health seemed strong for the most part...but I still struggled with my fears. My mom and dad were now both in their early 80s and realistically they were entering the winter of their lives. Eventually I would be forced to deal with their deaths. Thus I decided to prepare myself in advance and started seeing a therapist about four years ago. During our sessions she taught me to confront and deal with my irrational fears - especially the one of losing my parents.

Sadly, two months ago my mom passed and I came face to face with my greatest fear! My mom was 88 years old and was one of my best friends! Watching my mom "actively die" was the hardest thing I have ever had to endure. During her final days and nights, as I sat by her hospice bed and listened to her ragged breathing, I struggled to remain calm and squelch an overwhelming and sometimes smothering sense of anxiety and fear.

As I watched her unconscious form struggle my heart yearned for the ability to turn back the clock. There were so many things I had forgotten to ask her! I still needed one more chat with her and one more I love you!

My mom's passing was relatively quick - after about 10 days in hospice early in the evening on May 17 her breathing gradually became quieter and less steady and around 7 p.m. she peacefully drew her last breath.

During her final moments before she fell asleep in Jesus, I (along with other family members and close friends) had the pleasure of holding her hand and reminding her of just how much she was loved!

As we all know the process of grieving is a rough row to hoe and everyone experiences it in their own unique way. However, one thing I had not factored into the grief process was an increased desire for comfort foods. I have always been an emotions driven eater and grief turned out to be no exception. The first couple of weeks while I was sitting with my Mom in hospice and during the burial process my emotions were so high that I felt the constant presence of elephant sized butterflies in my stomach and I was unable to eat. However, as the butterflies faded and numbness and denial set in I felt like everything was moving in slow motion and each day I was just numbly existing.

Then after a few of weeks the numbness started to fade and an intense sadness began to prevail and the dark reality of her being forever gone from this earth set in. I so missed the sound of her voice and our daily phone chats that always ended with I love you's!

As my emotions awakened so did my appetite. Despite being on a healthy eating course for the past six months...I now only crave high fat comfort foods and sweet and salty snacks. Sure, I steadfastly keep the comfort foods and snacks vegan...but they are still high calorie and weight gain inducing. 

Several months ago I was so excited when my friends had shared fresh grapefruits from their backyard tree...now I currently have little desire for fresh citrus and instead crave artificial citrus flavored Sour Patch Kids!  I still eat my fruits and veggies, however, it is not with the same zeal or zest as before.

As my cravings intensified, I keep telling myself, GET A GRIP SHARON - junk food is not the answer for your grief!! However, I was unable to talk myself off the ledge/out of the pantry and I was too embarrassed to reach out to my friends for help. I searched Google for articles on how to prevent overeating during the grief process...but came up empty handed. Had no one in the past ever struggled with this issue? Or maybe they had...but possibly it was not a big health concern for them. However, for me it was, and I needed to get my appetite for comfort/junk food back in check and pronto!!

I also knew I really needed to start chronicling my weight loss journey again (the good, the bad and the ugly)! However, I was torn on how to write about what I was experiencing and I was ashamed to admit to the world that I was struggling to keep it together - especially food wise!

Finally I decided to go back to what I knew had worked in the past. I prayed, emailed my friends who had helped me start this journey in the first place and watched the reality show "my 600 pound life" which always helps me to see the devastating the effects of morbid obesity on an individual. It was hard to start writing, but as I did the tears flowed I felt the therapeutic benefits of writing take place.

My Beautiful Mom

The act of blogging the passing of my Mom helped me to remember and reclaim what I had felt at the moment of her passing. As she breathed her last breath I felt the Father draw near and I experienced a peace that only comes from the true Comforter! Being at my Mom's beside as she died released me of my lifelong fear of death and at that very moment God gave me the assurance that by His Grace I will survive this grieving process. And, as my mother's daughter she who would have wanted me to carry on in health!

Wishing you prosperity in your journey!

Love,
Sharon

Plant Based Weight Loss - 10 Tips for Getting Started

As long as I can remember I've always had very unhealthy eating habits.  Since childhood I have fed and nurtured my unhealthy relationship with food to the extent it has become intricately woven into every facet of my life.  

Sure, I always said I wanted to be fit and healthy, but the sad part about it is that I did not know how to give up my killer eating habits. Nor did I deep down even believe it was possible for me to change my eating habits.  It wasn't until about four months ago, when the curtain of denial was divinely drawn back, that I was able to make the decision to fully embrace a plant based lifestyle. 

If you are in the same boat and have struggled with poor health and weight issues, below are the top 10 things that propelled me into a happier and healthier way of life. 

1. Surrender – many times I had to pray for the willingness, to be willing to let go! For me, divine intervention was the key. 
2. Education - thoroughly research the plant based lifestyle before you start.  The movie “Forks over Knives” is a great movie to watch - http://www.forksoverknives.com/. It provides a great source of education and motivation.  Once you have done the research, choose the plant based lifestyle that will work best for you.   Select a plant based program that you will be able to fully embrace.   In my life, if I want to make a lasting and forever change, I have to believe in what I am doing.
3. Develop a network of plant based friends to support you through the process.  I have been richly blessed with a tribe of plant based friends who are supporting me and cheering me on in my quest to get healthy and lose weight.   Their support has been invaluable!  If you need help in finding a plant based support system social media offers a lot of vegan/plant based support options - such as Pass the Plants, Please.
4. Clean out your kitchen cabinets, fridge and freezer and give away or toss all unhealthy and non-plant based foods.  I did this the night before I started my new lifestyle and I actually cried - which shocked and embarrassed me!   Sniffling I called a friend of mine and together we walked through the emotional process of saying goodbye to the junk food.
5. Purchase a few tried and true plant based cookbooks.   Some good friends of mine gave me a Lindsey Nixon Happy Herbivore Cookbook.  Her recipes are simple to follow and for the most part she uses easy to obtain ingredients.  If you enjoy creating your own dishes, the following website has a great list of essential vegan pantry items - thekitchn.com.
6. Make out a list of what recipes or foods you want to eat for the first week.  This will provide you with the much needed shopping list for your first vegan excursion to the supermarket!
7. Restock your kitchen with healthy plant based foods.  Now comes the fun part, the restocking of your pantry with healthy food items.  If you have a vegan friend, who is available to shop with you, ask them to join you…their insight will be most helpful. Fruits, vegetables and dried beans will be readily available at your local supermarket, however, miso, nutritional yeast and some vegan staples may not be so easy to find at your local markets – especially if you live in a rural area.  So for the harder to find staples, consider making a trip to Whole Foods for your first shopping trip.  I always find their employees to be super helpful.
8. Read a plant based lifestyle article, post or blog or watch a vegan recipe clip everyday.  For me, doing so keeps my desire to get and stay healthy fully stoked and burning strong!
9. Don’t hyper focus on the bathroom scale numbers.   I need to lose a massive amount of weight and it can be overwhelming.   Since December 8, 2015 I have lost 54 pounds, however, I still have a long way to go.  During this journey what keeps me motivated to stay the course is not the weight loss, it is the health improvements. Nothing feels better than starting to regain one's lost health.
10. Be patient and kind with yourself - we did not get unhealthy or obese overnight.  One of the greatest lessons I have had to learn during these last four months on this new lifestyle is to be patient. It is the tortoise that wins the race. 

Wishing you prosperity in your journey!

Love,

Sharon