Juice in the City

When I first moved to NYC, I thought it would be pretty much impossible to eat healthy. Everywhere you turn, there is some guy with a cart or small restaurant cooking some sort of food that smells divine. And you know what they say about smells… it is our most primitive sense. Smells by-pass the reasoning center of our brain and directly stimulate our past memories. Which is why the perfume industry is so successful. And probably why I have such a hard time in NYC sticking to this plant strong thing (there’s a cheeseburger with my name on it!!!!)

Luckily for me, just a quick 10 block jaunt up 3rd avenue is a juice bar. Actually, it’s more like juice heaven. The store is called Juice Generation and they not only have green juices, they have hot juices, smoothies, and a variety of vegan soups and sandwiches. I went there last Sunday and the line was out onto the sidewalk. Everything is freshly pressed/squeezed and tastes great. I ordered the Supa Dupa Greens and the Cold Remedy (a hot ginger/carrot drink). Although I wouldn’t recommend buying juice here 3 times a day (you’d go broke), it’s a good way to supplement your juice reboot while on the run.

For those of you who like sweets and baked goods, there is also a bakery on 1st avenue between 74th and 75th street called Vegan Divas. They have some of the best vegan donuts and muffins… made from spelt!

Baking Soda and Vinegar Shampoo

I started off this “no-chemicals” kick when I couldn’t get rid of these tiny acne bumps on my face. No amount of products, face creams, cleanser would work. Finally, I thought “Maybe my face just needs a break.” I googled some things and saw this new baking soda cleanser thing. I used a baking soda paste and a pure aloe vera juice as a “moisturizer”. Within 24 hours, my face cleared up!

After this, I decided to try using baking soda paste on my hair as a shampoo and diluted distilled vinegar as a condition. There is about a 2 week breaking in period where your hair gets super greasy because it’s getting use to the fact that no sulfate are stripping it of natural oils. It was a great experiment, but my only problem with this is that your hair can end up smelling like nothing… or scalp (when it got dirty). I would recommend everyone try this, it’s super eco-friendly and great for reducing chemicals that you use on your body.

Right now, I’ve decided to go back to using shampoo, but sulfate free ones. I still use the vinegar conditioner, but I’m vain… I like the yummy smells that come from using shampoo! Maybe someday I’ll go back to just using the baking soda shampoo when I can figure out how to get my hair to smell good.

Vintage Furs

Lots of new changes these days! I’m moving to NYC in June and I’ve been doing a lot of traveling back and forth from my place to the city. Even though it is suppose to be spring, the weather is still in the 30′s and fairly windy. After freezing my butt off the last few times, I finally decided to invest in a vintage fur coat. I know that fur coats come at the expense of animals, but what are the environmental impacts of buying a brand new (non-fur) coat? If your coat contains cotton, the production of that cotton includes use of pesticides, insecticides, fungicides, and the pain and suffering of people in third world countries who plant/pick it. The production of any synthetic fibers also contribute to global warming and use of our resources, not to mention, the fact that most of the materials are non-biodegradable.

After doing the math, I decided that buying vintage furs and leathers was the best option for me. It is one of the warmest coats out there (practical use). The factories and companies that sell these fur coats have disappeared long ago. They do not profit from me buying the coat. The person who does? The small business owner who owns the vintage store. By buying vintage/used fur coats, you will be supporting small businesses, recycling products, and not contributing to more global pollution.

Vegan Mac and Cheese

My school schedule is totally hectic so cooking has been out of the question since I returned in September. It is also why I haven’t been updating this thing. Recently, I found a great snack/dinner that is easy to cook, comes in a box, and doesn’t take a lot of effort on my part to prepare. The brand is called “The Road’s End Organics” and it is their vegan mac and cheese. All of their vegan cream products contain nutritional yeast. For those crazy nights when I’m on duty and I don’t have time to shower, much less eat, it is a great way to get some good food and NOT eat at the greasy cafeteria.

Here is the link to the website. You can order online if your local grocery store doesn’t carry them:

http://www.edwardandsons.com/reo_info.itml

Broccoli Cream Soup

First, I’d like to apologize for not updating this blog in almost a month! School has been unbelievably busy and stressful this first month. Today was the first day I even had time to cook anything in my kitchen. I’ve been living off of steamed vegetables, rice, pasta, and homemade veggie burger patties from the cafeteria!

Now that it is colder here in central NY, my body has switched from craving guacamole to creamy hot soup. I wanted to make a soup with more fiber than the mushroom cream soup, so using the same idea of the mashed potatoes and almond milk mixture, I added frozen broccoli and corn instead. A bit of black pepper and dried basil and it’s ready to eat!

Broccoli Cream Soup
1. Boil 5 potatoes
2. Put potatoes and almond milk into blender. Puree.
3. Put potatoes, frozen broccoli, frozen corn in large pot
4. Leave on stove to simmer for 20 minutes
5. Once the frozen vegetables are hot, add spices

How to Make Sushi Rice

Sushi rice is special. You can’t just cook up a batch of rice and be done with it. It needs to be seasoned with vinegar and a little sugar. This post piggy-backs the cucumber roll post I put up a while ago. I made some avocado cucumber rolls today and I thought I’d write about how to make the rice correctly.

Cook your rice (2 cups). I use a rice cooker, but you can do it on the stove if you want. The best type of rice to use is NOT long grain rice. I would suggest going to an Asian store, but if you don’t have access to anything like that and are stuck with long grain rice, add a little extra water to your rice when you cook it.

Once you’ve got your cooked rice, start with 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar (red wine vinegar will work too) and a drizzle of Agave (or whatever sweetener you use). Mix well into rice. Taste. Add more vinegar for a more acidic taste, more sweetener for a sweeter taste.

Now, you’ve got your rice, you can start making your sushi! The great thing about seasoning your rice is that you won’t need to dip your sushi in soy sauce. Very helpful for those of you looking to lower your sodium intake.

Garlic Bread

One thing I use to love was warm garlic bread slathered in hot butter and giant chunks of garlic. Making the vegan equivalent wasn’t too hard. Best part? All you need is a toaster oven. No need to heat up the entire oven!

Start with a few cloves of garlic, broil them until they are soft in the toaster oven. Throw the bread in half way through to warm it up. Warming up the garlic will make it mushy, all you need to do is spread it onto the bread like butter. Sprinkle a little sea salt on top, add a little dried basil, and it’s ready to eat!