Everyday Vegan Bread

Everyday Vegan Bread 

Hi and welcome back to Ria Lives Well!

This weekend just felt like a bread baking weekend. Let me preface by saying I’m terrible at making bread. Like, unbelievably bad. To the point where no words can tell the story of my crap-titude.

But on Saturday, I rolled up my sleeves and tackled this project, one I’ve been meaning to do since moving to Oregon. When you can’t find a loaf of vegan bread that costs less than $4.99, and doesn’t come with an ambush of seeds {so bad, you think the manufacturer added pebbles to the dough}, then it’s time to reevaluate your bread decisions.

Homemade is better anyway. I was reading a book for one of my courses, and the author summed up store-bought compared to homemade perfectly: INFERIOR.

Bread manufacturers have us conditioned to appreciate a loaf of bread that resembles the weakened texture of cake, when bread should be thick and hearty, tough and laced with artistic cracks. Like the Jewish rye or French artisan breads still found at select bakeries. Now that’s the bread I want to eat.

And get rid of all those seeds. Blagh. Too many seeds.

My one regret is that I reduced the original size in half, concerned that I would screw it up. Well, the recipe is so easy to prepare that even a novice can produce a success. And it’s delicious to the point of addictive. You’ll want to double the recipe below.

Everyday Vegan Bread:

1. 2 Cups whole wheat flour 
2. 1 teaspoon sea salt
3. 2 tablespoons brown sugar
4. 1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
5. 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
6. 7 ounces water

Directions: 

1. Pour flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a bowl. Stir until combined. 
2. Create a hole in the middle and add water. Now oil. Stir until you create a tacky dough.
3. On a floured surface, knead dough for 10 minutes.
4. Place into an oiled bowl and let it sit for 1 hour.

5. Punch the dough down and knead for a few minutes to release air. Shape it set it on a greased baking sheet.

6. Bake at 350 deg. F. for 40-50 minutes {the recipe says 30-40, but for my oven, 50 was best}.

It’s the funniest thing; the joy I get from taking a bite out of a buttered slice of toast, sprinkled with cinnamon. 

Or peanut butter–chunky; the best.

And if you’ve never entertained the idea of chunky peanut butter drizzled with maple syrup…do so now.

Of course this bread will also work fantastically with homemade strawberry chia jam.

Or pretty much anything you can think of. It’s as versatile as the name “Everyday Vegan Bread” sounds. So enjoy!

~Live Well!

A Good Morning w/ Banoffee Oatmeal Cereal

Banoffee Oatmeal Cereal 

Hi and welcome back to Ria Lives Well! 

My love of healthy breakfasts and vegan desserts have merged to create this hybrid: banoffee oatmeal cereal.

What I hoped to get out of this was more of a dessert–a rendition of banoffee pie–that I could justify eating for breakfast. It totally worked. With agave as my sweetener and ingredients like homemade vegan condensed milk and bananas, I enjoyed it without a shred of guilt.

Banoffee Oatmeal Cereal: Serving: 1

• 1.5 bananas (sliced)
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1/2 cup oatmeal cereal
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon coconut milk (in a can)
• vegan condensed milk

Let me first say that I made two batches of vegan “condensed milk”. One is the original that I pulled from Detoxinista, which was great, but didn’t seem caramel-y enough for me. So I reduced the amount of coconut milk in half and added roughly four tablespoons {I didn’t count} agave sweetener to create this golden texture. I also didn’t let it sit for 50 minutes, but 20-30 minutes.

Thick and sweet, moving with the sloth of molasses? Bingo, we’ve got vegan caramel.

Directions:

• Make your vegan condensed milk, which doubles as our toffee/caramel.
• Once finished, make your oatmeal.
• Simmer milk in a pot. Add cinnamon. Stir until cinnamon dissolves. 
• As the milk boils, add your oatmeal. Stir until fully cooked–roughly four minutes.
• Add coconut milk and agave. If you have nuts on hand, now is a good time to throw some in. Totes optional, but great if you love a crunch.
• Remove oatmeal from burner.
• Chop your bananas. 
• Bring your banoffee oatmeal cereal together by adding a small amount of sliced bananas in a bow, followed by two tablespoons of oatmeal. Drizzle on a about a teaspoon of vegan caramel. Continue layering until you reach the top.
• Garnish with bananas, cinnamon and vegan caramel.

Making your vegan condensed milk is easy. You boil for five minutes, whisking often.

You reduce heat to simmer, adding your vegan sweetener.

Stir until dissolved. Now allow it to sit for 50 minutes, creating a brown complexion and a caramel taste.

Basically, if you follow the steps from Detoxinista to a tee, you’ll get thumbs-up results. If you want my results, just follow what I stated above.

I just love oatmeal cereal in the mornings–especially when there’s a chill in the air. Last Winter, I found pleasure waking up early every weekend just to make a large bowl of oatmeal cereal. #thatishcray. I know. I’d then curl up in a blanket and enjoy my oatmeal while watching episode after episode of Breaking Bad. Ah man. I’m starting to get nostalgic for the winter.

But then a sunny, wear-your-booty-shorts day like today puts everything into perspective. Winter, who?

~Live Well!

April’s Crush–Five Faves of April

April’s Crush–Five Faves of April 

Hi and welcome back to Ria Lives Well! 

It may not be April anymore…in fact, we have both feet firmly planted in the month of May. But I look back on my faves of last month and feel like sharing my top five beneficial, inspirational and pleasurable April crushes.

5. Bigelow Vanilla Chai 

This stuff is pleasantly addictive. Since I no longer own a blender and can’t enjoy my morning smoothies, I’ve returned to the simplicity of tea and coffee.

Bigelow is my mom’s favorite brand, but she hates the vanilla flavor. As a result, I hated the vanilla flavor. I still don’t know how that worked out. Psychology, man. Stuff is deep.

The other day, I blindly picked up a box of vanilla chai {like my dad says, “I don’t buy what I see, I see what I buy”} and didn’t realize the faux pas until long after. Well, this “faux pas” was an absolute delight! I kept wondering why it tasted so good. And then I looked at the box: Vanilla Chai. Well I’ll be…

One way I enjoy making it is iced and with a sprinkling of unsweetened cocoa powder. Studying in my sweltering attic room, I can’t put into words how relieving this drink is. I asked my roommate, a fellow chai addict, if she ever tried it with cocoa powder. She gave me a look as if I were crazy.

“Don’t judge until you try it,” I replied; and then I showed her how to make it:

• 2 bags of chai 
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• dash of cinnamon (optional, recommended)
• dash of cloves (optional)
• dash of chili powder (totes optional)

Directions:

In a pot, boil water, add chai. Allow it to simmer for 3 minutes; remove teabags. In a different pot, simmer milk. Add cocoa powder, brown sugar and optional spices. Stir until dissolved. Pour milk into tea; heat until blended. Pour over a glass of ice. Enjoy!

So my roommate tried it. And now I have a feeling she’ll be on the receiving end of that “you’re crazy” look.

4. Torani Irish Cream Syrup 

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. This stuff? This stuff here? It is so good! It works wonderfully in my oatmeal, over pancakes, in tea and, most importantly, my morning coffee. It’s a great flavor enhancer for vegans who love coffee, and it replaces the need for extra sugar. It did cost a pretty penny, but was totally worth it. My Torani Irish Creme Syrup plays a special role in my Best Vegan Coffee Ever recipe, which I’ll be posting shortly. The thing about the best vegan coffee is the formula behind it. But I’ll get into that in another post.

3. Puritan Pride Biotin 

I take a lot of supplements for health, so when I find one that doubles as a vanity supplement, I’m all in. Biotin works for those who suffer from hair loss, malnutrition, rapid weight loss, brittle nails and even diabetes–that’s how it works as a health supplement. As a vanity supplement, it thickens hair, grows hair faster, grows nails longer and stronger, and promotes healthy skin. Wins across the board. If you choose to purchase Biotin, make sure to consult with your doctor first.

2. Impulse Co Vegan Lipsticks 

Vegan Lipsticks

If you look inside my Etsy shopping cart, you’ll see my love affair for Etsy’s natural beauty products. Many of these handmade products are vegan, hard-to-find and often affordable. An added bonus is, you’re putting money into the pockets of small business owners rather than a huge, destructive corporation like…I don’t know…off the top of my head? Wal-Mart.

My most recent purchase were these Impulse Co vegan lipsticks.

Image By: Impulse Co. (Etsy) Vegan Lipstick in Medusa

Impulse Co. (Etsy) Vegan Lipstick in Sweet Nothings

I’ve been using them for a few days now, and I can already tell they’re keepers. They moisturize my lips and provide a burst of color with one gentle swipe. This is good news, because it means that both lipsticks will last a while. They were a little more than I hoped they would be, but I still love them and will be re-purchasing.

Gents, this vegan lipstick may not be for you, but if you have a vegan or vegetarian girlfriend, sister or friend, direct them over to Impulse Co. Thank me later.

1. Study Abroad in Chile

Image by: Amazon.
The 2nd edition on How to Survive the Chilean Jungle

Although it’s not official, I’m thinking long and hard about traveling to Chile for a Fall study abroad program. Studying abroad is something every student should experience. A few key reasons I listed on my England essay were:

1. It looks great on a resume, as traveling outside of one’s country requires a set of skills most employers look for.
2. It builds interpersonal strengths on both a professional and personal level.
3. It’s a wonderful experience no one can take from you.

I’m going for a Spanish class, so I have a lot of brushing up to do–1) I haven’t taken a Spanish class in well over a year and, 2) Chileans are among the fastest talkers in all the Spanish speaking countries.

Image by: Amazon A dictionary/Phrasebook for Chilean Spanish–Yes. Chileans have their own Spanish.

On top of that, their accents are thick and they change the suffixes of many words. On top of that, they have unique phrases, such as “pololo/polola” for “boyfriend/girlfriend” instead of “novio/novia“; there’s also “cachai” for “understand” instead of “comprendo/entiendo“. And then on top of that {last one, I swear}, they have a few idiosyncrasies, like ending each sentence with “po”. Don’t ask. I can’t answer.

Suffice it to say, if you understand a Chilean conversation, you can understand any conversation in Spanish.

If I go, I’ll go armed and ready for battle with “How to Survive in the Chilean Jungle”; a book on “Chileanismos”; in other words, Chilean slang or Chilean Spanish.

This way, if I get lost in the language, I’ll be able to find my way back.

My Chilean trip may not be official, but it has inspired me to pursue a forgotten passion: learning Spanish.

~Live Well!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What are your April Faves?

DIY: Vegan Protein Conditioner

Lustrous Hair w/ Vegan Protein Conditioner 

Hi and welcome back to Ria Lives Well!

When it comes to beauty products, vegans get the short end of the stick–particularly in one vital area: protein conditioners. While mainstream cosmetic industries know what our hair needs, they get results through animal testing and the use of non-vegan ingredients, such as mayo, yogurt and emu oil. This isn’t what you want, or what animals deserve.

Image from Wild Earth Market

You can find protein hair products suited for vegans from brands like Nature’s Gate and BWC, but I’ve found a cheaper alternative to the problem: homemade vegan conditioner using coconut milk. Fortified with natural ingredients to replenish lackluster hair, you’ll get similar results, spend less money and yield more product. Did I also mention that one batch is easy to whip up?

Coconut Milk Protein Conditioner:

• 3 tablespoons pure coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon vegan conditioner (homemade or store bought)
• 1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or your favorite carrier oil)
• 3 drops eucalyptus essential oil (or your favorite essential oil)

To make this, I like to first heat everything in a pot. Not too hot. Low heat will suffice, just so all the ingredients blend well together. 

First I add my coconut milk {I double up the recipe so I don’t have to prep the next time–then store what’s left over in the freezer}.

You don’t have to buy light coconut milk–it’s probably best to buy FULL FAT

After the coconut milk, I add my extra virgin olive oil, stirring until the ingredients blend smoothly. The olive oil will not want to mix with any of these ingredients. It’s pure structure only blends well with water. That’s why the heat helps. And of course plenty of mixing.

With enough stirring….

The end result should look something like a beaten egg.

I remove it from the stove, allow it to cool, then transfer to a bowl. I add three drops of eucalyptus oil–the kitchen will perfume medicinally, as this oil smells much like vapor rub.

I then add a moisturizing conditioner.

When it’s done, I pour the recipe into a bottle. You can apply it immediately, or store the content in the freezer until your next wash day. Of course, first reheating it in a pot prior to use.

Vegan Protein Conditioner Application 

• Take lukewarm conditioner and apply it all over scalp–this scalp massage is sure to stimulate growth as much as healthy hair.
• Massage for a few minutes.
• Divide hair in two or four sections, lather on the coconut conditioner and then with a wide tooth comb, comb the conditioner down the length of your hair.
• With a shower cap, cover hair so the nutrients from the oils and coconut milk disperse.
• Leave it in for one hour.
• Rinse out with shampoo and conditioner. If the smell remains, do a second conditioning treatment.

Because our hair is made up of protein, it’s an essential addition to any hair care regimen. So as a vegan, your hair may be deprived of the one thing it needs more than anything else.  This is why coconut milk should be ever vegans best friend. It really is an all purpose ingredient.

Try this recipe for yourself, and reap incredible results. To put it in a few descriptive words, your hair will be: soft, thick, light ‘n fluffy, clean, fresh, lustrous. Do this treatment whenever your hair lacks luster and needs a boost.

~Live Well!

#Makeadifference: Adopt a Pet

#Makeadifference: Adopt a Pet 

Hi and welcome back to Ria Lives Well!

The greatest difference you can make in an animal’s life is to adopt one. Provide a home and show them the love they’re eager to show in kind. If you live near any of these shelters, then share this post; eventually, someone out there will either live near these shelters or know somebody who does. Spread the word, and these animals will find homes rather than be put down inhumanely.

This is Vienna.

If you live near the Central Missouri Humane Society, call 1-877-291-1524 to adopt Vienna.

She’s a four year old Dachshund who loves to play and give kisses. Like every animal, she also loves to be petted. For information on Vienna, please contact the Central Missouri Humane Society. You can also visit their website or give them a call.

 

 

 

Pasadena, California. Pasadena Humane Society. Phone number to adopt or inquire is 626-792-7151

This little guy is nameless, and is in urgent need of adoption. When we think of adopting pets, we often think about furry four legged critters. There are many animals in need of our care. I will be calling the Pasadena Humane Society to found out if the bird can be released after he receives attention. I urge others to make a call, as well. The number is 626-792-7151.

This two year old chow chow German Shep mix is named Talisman.

Talisman is at the Pinal County Animal Care & Control in Arizona. Please call: 520-509-3555

He’s the quintessential loyal pup who enjoys staying by your side. Talisman is quiet, confident and well trained. He is in urgent need of adoption, so if you or someone you know lives in Arizona, near Pinal County Animal Care and Control, give them a call today: 520-509-3555. Who doesn’t enjoy a gentle giant with a face as lovable as his?

Jade is a Shih Tzu who is also in need of urgent help.

Jade is at Orange County Animal Services in 2769 Conroy Rd, Orlando, Florida. She needs our help. The number is: 407-254-9150

She’s a tiny thing who is very desperate for a home. She’s a sweetheart that wants to be a loving adopter’s best friend. Like Adopt a Pet says, she needs our help to be seen and adopted. Jade is in Orlando Florida, at the Orange County Animal Services. Call and help: 407-254-9150.

Mano is a friendly pup with a huge problem: he’s currently in a gassing shelter.

Mano is ready for adoption. Please go by at the Vance County Animal Shelter in Henderson, North Carolina. Call to inquire at 252-492-3136.

He’s a chow chow with a small injury on his tail that’s currently being fixed. He’s a friendly, people loving pup. And just look at that face. He’ll make the perfect companion for walks in the park, jogs on the trail, drinking tea in the morning–pretty much anything. He’s at the Vance County Animal Sheter in Henderson, North Carolina. Phone number: 252-492-3136. 

I want to bring awareness to all of these animals as best as I can. If you do too, please share so others may help. Better yet, if you live nearby one of these shelters, make a difference and adopt a new pal.

Follow my Make a Difference board to find petitions, other pets in need of adoption and healthy pet recipes.

~Live Well

Caribbean Food Goes Vegan

Caribbean Food Goes Vegan 

Hi and welcome back to Ria Lives Well!

Caribbean food isn’t well known for it’s vegetarian and vegan recipes. They cater to the carnivores to the point where I feel like shouting, “I’m vegan! I exist!” While it’s easy to find a recipe for curried goat, one has greater difficulty finding a recipe for curried vegetables. But this is my culture; and there’s no way I’m giving up a hearty, Caribbean meal without a fight.

Fried dumplings and plantains with coconut rice.

When I became a vegetarian in 2001, I quickly realized that my Caribbean food choices had diminished. I was forced to give up Jamaican patties until I stumbled across a restaurant that sold soy patties instead of beef–not the same. And then I became vegan. The soy patties would no longer suffice–the crust was made with butter. And my favorite food of all, potato rotis {extremely popular in Trinidad}, were taken away from me for the same reason.

I’m not complaining.

I’m vegan tweaking.

Authentic Caribbean Dinner {Vegan}:

Caribbean Rice:

•  rice and water 
• 1-2 tablespoons coconut milk {canned; thick top part}
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2-1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 can black beans
• 2 bay leaves
• all purpose seasoning {a dash}
• garlic powder {a dash}

Directions:

• Cook rice according to package instructions. While water is boiling, add two dry bay leaves, and a generous dash of all purpose seasoning and salt. 
• Once cooked, add coconut milk. Add salt, pepper and seasonings. Add beans.

Fried Dumplings:

• 1 cup self rising flour 
• 3/4 yellow onion {sliced}
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• cumin {dash}
• garlic powder {dash}

Directions:

• Add flour to a bowl. Add 1/2 a teaspoon sea salt and a dash of garlic powder. 
• Saute your onions on medium heat until golden {for me, that took seven minutes}. Add a generous dash of cumin. Take the skillet off the stove and let the onions cool before adding them to your flour.
• Mix the onions into the flour and add just enough water to create a dough {for me, that was a little under 1/2 a cup–but do it in increments!}.
• Add 1/2 an inch of oil into your skillet. Heat the oil on medium. Once it’s hot, add your dumplings and fry on both sides.

Plantain:

• Cut one large plantain in half. Slice each half lengthwise until you have several slices {see image below}. 
• Add a tablespoon {maybe more} of oil and fry three slices at a time {plantains are crazy about oil; soaks it up and needs a generous amount to fry properly}.
• Fry for 3 minutes on both sides.

*Add raisins and unsweetened coconut to your rice, if desired. If I had either on hand, I wouldn’t hesitate to add.

Saute your onions until brown and soft.

Once they’ve cooled for a bit, add them to your self rising flour.

Make sure your plantains are sliced lengthwise. Why? Don’t know. They’re just better that way.

Fry them for roughly three minutes on each side.

So when they’re done, they look like this.

Once you’ve created your dough, shape them into small balls. Be careful about sizing. If they’re too big, they won’t cook through.

Before I made these, I called my dad to ask him exactly how one makes fried dumplings. He said to me, “Just make sure the oil is hot. Not too hot, so they’ll burn. But not too low, so they soak up all the oil.”

Very vague.

I set the stove on medium heat {the safest temperature, in my opinion} and watched until every side browned. I didn’t even time it. Yet it cooked perfectly; crispy on the outside, soft within. Just goes to show how easy fried dumplings are to make.

For the rice, I like to put a little sea salt and this herb medley to the water.

Not to mention bay leaves.

Once cooked, I add my absolute favorite ingredient: coconut milk.

Once you bring it all together and throw in some greens, what you have is a delicious Caribbean feast–gone vegan.

This is also a perfect vegan budget meal. Since I am on a budget, I couldn’t incorporate as many ingredients as I’d liked. A small serving of curried eggplant would have been great over the rice. But I worked with what I had, and the outcome was better than expected.

So sit down to your coconut rice with fried plantains and dumplings on the side. Kiss for your fingers snootily, because what you have here is an authentic Caribbean meal without any meat, fish, or dairy. Oh, the power of vegan tweakin’!

~Live Well!

Interview w/ Lawrence Levine: Steps to Save Your Planet

Simple Steps to Save Your Planet

Hi and welcome back to Ria Lives Well!

Happy Earth Day, everyone! 

When I began this blog, I had a lot more than cataloging my food conquests and workouts in mind. I wanted to use it as a tool to make a difference; spark a change in the disconnected; inspire others to get out there and promote animal welfare and preserve our precious environment.

Have I lost most of you?

Hopefully enough have stuck around.

I am no expert on environmental welfare. I know the basics: SUVs are bad; carbon footprints need to be reduced; light bulbs should be fluorescent. My knowledge isn’t enough to inspire…let me think…one single person.

So I’ve turned to an expert: Lawrence Levin from Healing Inspirations, a media producer whose passion for animals and the environment began at a young age when he read The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga by Swami Vishnu-Devananda.

The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga–Image by Amazon

Lawrence Levin says it’s a book about how we don’t need to eat meat, and how we can progress without meat.

“Finally, I went to a yoga camp and found out that the same author had started that camp–that was pretty unbelievable. And I saw people there who were 70 and 80 and in perfect health–and they were eating completely vegetarian.” 

We all know why becoming a vegan or vegetarian changes our lifestyle, our health and the animals we strive to protect. But how does it help the environment?

“If we were all eating vegan and vegetarian, we would only need to use 1/16 of our land. Originally, we had trees naturally creating new top soil. Then we began moving the trees, and what you see happening is, the roots from the trees are no longer holding the soil in place. The soil moves freely. So the land becomes useless.” “We move on to new land.”

Okay. So what happens if the land becomes useless?

“We move on to new land.”

This process, called desertification, becomes a domino effect. Broken down simply, desertification looks something like this:

• Loggers come in and cut down the big trees. 
• They burn the land to clear it for monocrops (soybeans, rice, cotton, etc.).
• With the use of chemicals, they fertilize the soil. They plant crops and set up irrigation systems. Finally, duster airplanes filled with pesticide fly over the crops to kill the bugs.

So really…how much harm is this causing the environment?

“We’ve run out of land. So now we have to import grains from other countries, like South America. Look at what’s happening there; the current rate of destruction toward the rain forest is 2 football fields per second and we’re losing 1,000 species a week. If things don’t change, we’ll lose the rain forest in 30 years. Just 30 years before the amazon is gone.”

Image Source: Flickr

I‘ll be honest: I know very little about desertification. But it’s clear, even to the ignorant observer, that desertification is an unnatural, destructive process that’s destroying our environment and it’s ecosystem. But enough about my thoughts and opinions. What else did Lawrence Levin have to say?

“We’re using the forest to produce land and grow 16 pounds of crop for one pound of beef. Then we use 2,500 gallons of water for one pound of beef. Enough water for one month of showers, we use for one pound of beef. So now there’s pressure to build nuclear power plants because there isn’t enough water to create electrical turbine.”

I’ve always wondered about the worst pollutant offender. What is it? How, if possible, can we stop it? 

“The worst pollutant offender is cows because of their manure. We can stop this by eating less meat. The power of change is as close as our plate. If you don’t put meat on your plate, you don’t have to produce cows to kill it. We’re using more energy than all the transportation energy combined just to supply people with meat.”  

According to L. Levin, he says that the most important thing we can do to save this environment, more than any other combined, is to stop eating meat. I wholly agree. But I know a few meat lovers who don’t. So for those of you who can’t pass up on beef or chicken, but want to play a role in protecting the environment, here’s what you can do:

Be mindful of product feed lines. Buy sustainable products that are easy to replace. Don’t buy things, such as plastic, that you can use once and throw away. If 7 billion people have the mindset of using something once and throwing it away, there’s going to be a lot of garbage.” 

Image Source: Flickr

Now that’s good advice. Rather than bagging your groceries with plastic, take a canvas bag along. Next time you’re at a cafe, ask to use your coffee mug rather than their paper cups. What else can be done to save the planet?

Make your home more energy efficient. Make sure the windows are properly closed. Put energy savers in your shower. Use geothermal energy–buy completely renewable resources that could be used to create electricity, heat and all energy.

L. Levine and I are both strong supporters of a “no-meat generation.” Okay, so maybe that’s not practical. How about a “low-meat generation?” A generation that isn’t willing to give up meat all together, but is aware of the environmental damage caused by the meat industry. This is the generation that wants to make a difference by eating less meat. So, where can you start?

Lawrence Levine’s Top 5 favorite meatless brands

Gardein Beefless Burger

1. Gardein 

2. Yves

3. Blue Menu (President’s Choice)

4. Veggie Patch

5. Veggie Pate 

There are so many {meatless brands}. Just follow me on Twitter where I post lots of recipes. If you follow healing inspirations, you’re going to get a lot of information.

Follow @RisingSign on Twitter, where Levine is always posting delicious vegan recipes like this appetizer from Raw Food Recipes.

According to Levin, these brands are among the best in imitating the look and taste of real meat. So give ‘em a try the next time you’re out shopping.

I know the phrase “save your planet” is easier said than done. That’s why little steps make all the difference. Then come leaps. Then comes change.

~Live Well!