Organic Granny

So, this summer when our little Fil-Can granddaughters visited we went out and bought a ton of rice-- brown rice, brown Basmati, Jasmine rice, and plain old white rice.  While potatoes and beans are our starches of choice, our grandies prefer rice.  However, this year they didn't seem to want to eat it as quite as often, even though the Instant Pot delivers it in a lovely, highly digestible and delicious form. So, this is to say that we have a LOT of rice left in our pantry.  I have been using it up in stews, for burrito filler, etc., but today I ran across a recipe for Champorado, a Filippino sticky rice chocolate pudding, and I thought, hey, I've got these ingredients in spades! And I have an opportunity to see if I can make it fast and easy in the Instant Pot. So..... Measure out the following: INGREDIENTS: 2 C. Rice , clean and soak it   (I used plain white rice, but glutinous rice is what is traditionally used) 3 C. Water 1/2 C. Cocoa 1/2 C.- 1 C.  B

Here is maybe the best Carrot Cake (read: virtuously low-fat, sweet, many-textured, moist and tasty to the max) that I have ever baked.  What a bonus that it is healthy!!  I found it so moist, sweeet and flavourful that I believed a frosting would have ruined it... but feel free to go for the traditional (vegan?) cream cheese frosting if you so desire. INGREDIENTS: 1 cup rolled or quick cooking oats 1 cup chopped walnuts 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt 1/2 cup unsweetened finely shredded coconut 1 cups grated carrots 1 cup pure maple syrup 1 cup pitted, chopped dates (I used Medjool- you could use raisins, etc.) 1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract --------------------------------------- Gratitude  makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.  If you are looking for a project to help you expr

This essay was written, along with various sketches, in the Summer of 2017 when our granddaughters, Alyza and Angelika, spent four weeks with us.

Dr. Greger approves of this rich dark cherry-chocolate smoothie ... daily! https://t.co/d1xFkTzJRv #mmyumm   (@healthiacynthia) August 26, 2018 Dark. Cherry. Chocolate. Smoothie.  This morning the news (and my heart) is full of the sadness and fear of all number of disasters: Hurricane Irma and clan, wildfires burning up large chunks of the world, an 8+ rated earthquake in Mexico.  Yesterday we attended a memorial service for our neighbour's 22-year old grandson who died in a car accident across the world in Western Australia.  On our walk this morning we prayed for Facebook friends in Florida, our dear friend's mom who is somewhere between Florida and Boston, and others in distress.  Meanwhile... in an overcast but mild-weathered, quiet, somber but peaceful Comox Valley tucked away on idyllic Vancouver Island North, on a Sunday morning, we feel grateful and blessed to be spared, at least for now, of the devastation that we see happening livestream.  We have an

My husband has us trying a week-long campaign to see if taking a shot of ACV (apple cider vinegar with the "mother"*) in our water 3X a day will provide us with the health benefits that are "proven" in medical literature: Weight Loss Lowered Blood Sugar and Insulin Sensitivity after Eating High Carb Meals Since we are eating a plant-based, whole food, low fat way, it is helpful to see if the diet can be additionally boosted by the addition of Apple Cider Vinegar. And I want to continue dropping pounds (I weigh in with TOPS weekly) eating the healthy foods that I do.   We have enjoyed a rather hot summer from mid-July until now, so cold filtered water with ACV (1 teaspoon to start, 3X a day) is a refreshing event.   -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- A friend of mine had a drink and commented, "Tastes like kombucha."  She sa

A cancer diagnosis can be a little too much to swallow at the moment it is delivered. So, you go to the doctor to get something like a mole checked out-- you think maybe you will have it frozen off, like your friend Bea suggested.  The next minute you hear:  “Hmm... this doesn't look good.  I'd like to schedule an appointment for a biopsy.” And next, your well-intentioned doctor begins blasting you with descriptions of treatments and protocols (whatever protocols are?) that you must listen carefully to, and do right away.  Your head feels like it might explode. How you proceed can mean the difference between life and death... Chris Wark understands this all too well. In December 2003 (just two days before Christmas!), when he was just 26 years old, he was diagnosed with advanced cancer. It was definitely NOT the Christmas present Chris was expecting, and he was immediately rushed into the cancer treatment system, but a decision he made a few weeks later changed

I haven't posted for a while so this post will be a bit of a catch-up.   The Dessert Table at our Neighbourhood ECLIPSE PARTY on Monday August 21st.                                                         Note the 3-legged guest in shorts... I think this eclipsed the Eclipse (non-Totality) for our neighbourhood. We had a long visit with our charming granddaughters this summer-- almost a month!   They are home again and waiting to go to school and start all those Fall activities that kids look forward to. Yanks ago (maybe 5 or 6 years ago) I purchased an electric pressure cooker called an Instant Pot.  Well, I have used it a few times, but not with the results I envisioned, and it lived for a long time in a back room off the pantry.  By and by, I had read enough stories about the amazing things that people have been cooking at the speed of love, mostly through Jill McKeever's facebook page Plant-Based Lifestyle Support   , and I actually took the time from there to read a

Here is a fast and easy Chia Pudding that is perfect for breakfast (or as dessert, etc etc etc).  Chia pudd fans will know what I mean...  .                               . The Recipe is pretty simple.  You can vary it as you like, but this combination is a winner at our home and I think we will continue to use this as a standard for a simple breakfast pudding. I start by gathering together the ingredients and a wide-mouth Mason Jar with a lid. The ingredients are: 1/4 C. Chia Seed 1/4 C . Liquid Honey (or other sweetener of choice) 1/2 tspn. Vanilla Extract 2 C. Soy Milk (or other non-dairy milk) Strawberries and Blueberries (or other fruit/berry combinations ) as you like            THE METHOD Put all the above ingredients (in order) into a quart-size Mason Jar Whisk ingredients together until thoroughly mixed, paying attention to bottom sticky seeds

W ell, it is hot summer and my grandies are coming to stay for a while!!  Is there any better excuse to make ice cream?  I will make a lot of ice cream.  It will be vegan (no dairy, no eggs, no other animal products- ha) and gluten-free.  It will contain something out of our garden.  It will be sweet but low on common sugars, sugar-less if possible.  It will be relatively low-fat meaning that I won't be using nut purees as the primary base and will likely opt out of using full-fat coconut milk, yummy as it is.  Most of all, it must be creamy and absolutely delicious.... here is the first attempt at the above. INGREDIENTS 2 1/2 C. Almond or other non-Dairy Milk 2 1/2 C. Frozen Mango Chunks (I buy the organic brand at Costco) 1 T. Arrowroot Powder (or Tapioca Starch or Oat Starch) 1 T. Vanilla (in Alcohol) 2 T. Maple Syrup 1 very ripe avocado Berry syrup or Jam, your choice (I used blackberry jam made with stevia) METHOD Combine all ingredients EXCEPT THE JAM/SYR

or watch on Youtube   My Mom She has a large shaped heart  in a pint sized body. She has a warm smile on a cold day. She is a hard worker with soft hands. She laughs at my jokes and  cries when I'm hurt. She's tattooed in my heart and  in my thoughts forever. I love my mom. ©Alyza2017 Purchase at Amazon

Cranberry-Orange-Chia Muffin Recipe Back in the day when people arrived at your door with baked muffins (does that happen any more?) I remember replicating a delectable recipe for orange-date muffins that involved cutting up a whole orange-- skin and all-- and putting it in my blender with those dates that came in hard little blocks from the Co-op, and of course, sugar, eggs, raisins, and oil and probably milk. I got a craving for that fruity, yummy muffin.  I wondered if such a recipe existed for a vegan, oil free muffin with similar ingredients and taste.  Well, I did find a similar yummy-looking muffin recipe from the Vegan Richa blog, and made a few adjustments to get some of the "old" longed-for texture and taste in the recipe below.  See what you think! INGREDIENTS:  1 C.+ 2 T.  organic seedless Orange Juice and Pulp Peel from 1/2 organic Orange 4 T.  Chia Seeds 1/2 C. Sugar (I used organic brown sugar) 1/2 tsp. Vanilla (I didn't have Vanilla, b

Chocolate-Avocado-Chia-Banana Pudding Parfait Spent some time in the garden prepping the soil for planting and needed a bit of a treat for the hard dirty work (ha) so decided to try this lovely chocolate chia pudding recipe.  Then, to amp it up a little for people who love banana cream-chocolate parfait or pie, I decided to add a few layers of really ripe banana.  Hope you like it as much as I do! Makes about 4 Parfaits INGREDIENTS: 4 T. Chia Seeds 1 C. Almond Milk (or other non-dairy milk of choice) Flesh of 2 Ripe Avocados 4 T. Organic Cocoa Powder (or Raw Cacao Powder) 4-6 T. Maple Syrup 1/8 tsp. Cinnamon 1 Ripe Organic Banana METHOD: Assemble ingredients and measure out in advance (or, if less OCD than I, skip this step) Stir chia seeds and almond milk together in the canister of your blender. Let sit 20 minutes. Add other ingredients (except the Banana) and blend until silky smooth Layer Banana and chocolate-chia pudding and garnish with fruit, nuts, or

  This "vegan frittata" is a take-off on the Persian egg dish often called "kookoo sabzi" and baked up for the New Year (March 20th or thereabouts) .  The lovely green fresh herbs really celebrate Spring!  I have used some traditional ingredients (the herbs) and some non-traditional ingredients (umeboshi plum vinegar, almond milk, nutritional yeast, and of course, the tofu.)  I think of this as a World Recipe. Ingredients: 2 C. Organic Fresh Parsley , finely chopped 2 C. Organic Fresh Chives, finely chopped 2 C. Organic Fresh Dill, finely chopped 1 tsp. Tamari 1/4 C. Plum Vinegar 2 pkgs. Extra Firm Organic Tofu 1/2 C. Almond Milk 1/2 C. Nutritional Yeast 2 tsp. mixed Kosher Salt and Black Pepper (Black Salt also can be used)  1 T. Garlic Powder or 1 Clove Garlic , finely chopped Method: Preheat oven to 350F/177C   - Cover the bottom of a casserole pan with parchment paper Saute the Herbs in a small amount of filtered water until li