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If you eat what you’ve always eaten…

Tags: eating habits, food, health, vegetarian, weight loss, weight management

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Categories Veggie Bites of Wisdom

A better Puerto Rico is within our grasp…

We have a Facebook group of blogger friends from Puerto Rico. It’s funny, but none of us have ever met each other in person. As nice Xmas gesture, we decided to collaborate by writing guests posts in each other’s blogs. We were paired with another blogger and my partner was Meryland from Otros 20 Pesos.

Otros 20 pesos is an expression we use colloquially to refer to “something beside the point”. Meryland uses her blog to discuss and create positive social consciousness. She shares ideas, thoughts and information to make her readers react and reflect. This made me share with her readers my vision on a topic very important to me – the well-being of Puerto Rico and the world we live in.

This article was originally published in Spanish in Otros 20 Pesos… I hope you enjoy it and would share your POV on this topic.

A BETTER PUERTO RICO IS WITHIN OUR GRASP…

Social networks have been filled the last few weeks with cries for peace… desperate shouts from people who are sick and tired that the drug wars are being fought in our own backyards. It’s a mass cry to live in a more tolerant world and society.

What has surprised me of this whole movement of asking and demanding peace… is that most people believe it’s something that someone else is not doing. I am OK… I am part of “the good people”. The “bad ones” is someone else… those who are taking peace from us.

Have you ever sit down and think thoroughly how YOU are contributing to peace in Puerto Rico? Have you analyzed how much YOU could be contributing to all the animosity and negativity in our country YOU so much detest??

We create our OWN desitny

I practice YOGA for 12+ years now and one the YOGA teachings is we are the architects of our own destiny. We are taught of the law of “cause and effect”… of the Law of Karma, which is a universal law that’s always at play whether we believe in it or not.

According to the Law of Karma, we reap what we seed. So if we plant love, positivism and happiness, that’s what we’ll get out of life. On the same hand, if we plant animosity, hate and resentment, that’s what life will have for us in return. It’s just like a boomerang… And how do we “plant”? We plant via our actions, words and thoughts. If we speak, do and think positive and constructively our life will reflect it too.

If this law is in effect 24/7… and what we get out of life is the exact product of what we do, think and say then, what happens in Puerto Rico wouldn’t it be the product of what the people in the Island do, think and say too?? Think about it…

We have no control of what others do, think or say… but we have full control, or at least try to make a conscious effort, of what WE do, think and say. It’s all in our attitude. If we make a conscious effort to have a more positive outlook on life, we’ll see how our surroundings will change for the positive. Focusing on the positive, the negative will start of disappear.

Reconnecting with my True Self

One of the thoughts and actions we have every day is the decision on what to eat. We decide if we will feed ourselves with something that contributes to our health or not. When I started practicing Yoga I developed an awareness of the effect of what I put in my mouth with my health, inner peace and the harmony in my surroundings.

It was not a sudden decision. But day by day, through exercise, diet, meditation and many other actions, I have made great progress in living a healthier, happier life. I noticed I preferred more natural and vegetarian alternatives. These little decisions gave me more inner peace, not use as many dirty words and I started welcoming the occurrences in my daily life with much more ease. Hey… I do sometimes still struggle with some of my past issues. I still lose it once in a while, but this happens less and less as time passes by. But we cannot give up. We must correct ourselves as soon as possible and move forward again.

To be healthy is to be happy. Our happiness is directly related with our overall health. Good health is not the absence of illnesses. Our overall health is made up of mental, social, intellectual, spiritual, emotional health. And the key to improving our environment is to make a conscious effort that our actions, even what we eat each day, affect this environment.

Be the Change you want in the World

By doing small, positive and healthy changes in your daily life you can also make a difference in the world. Maybe you never considered it before, but integrating a more natural and vegetarian lifestyle can certainly have a positive effect in your life and on society.

Individual wellness becomes collective wellness. A society of unhealthy people becomes a sick society. Start with yourself. Just like Michael Jackson said – start with the man in the mirror. Set the example FIRST and inspire others to do the same. We can create the Puerto Rico we want to live in. One person at a time. One action at a time. One thought at a time.

Tags: diet, food, Puerto Rico, resolutions, vegetarian

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Categories MY EDITORIAL

Basil Cheesecake

24 Dec

I planned the whole menu for my sister’s baby shower… and appetizers is my thing. So I had a few ideas already in my mind. I would work with puff pastry to make something savory and something sweet. I would make a version of Rosemary Almonds but using cashews, which are easier on more adult teeth. Gotta think of the grandmas…

I brought with me an exquisite Pigeon Peas Antipasto too, but I was missing something else. Like a dip. But I was running out of ideas. I can’t make Veggie Dip one more time!!!

Then… I remembered a recipe I had seen from Giada DiLaurentiis – a savory cheesecake recipe designed to use a small cheesecake pan, just like the only one I have!! I had to adapt the recipe to make it egg-free and integrated some ideas I have learned while making Pumpkin Cheesecake over Thanksgiving.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we all did… this recipe is a keeper. Great for making in advance… great to bring to a party too!!!

SAVORY BASIL CHEESECAKE

Butter, for greasing the pan

1/2 cup part skim ricotta cheese, at room temperature

4 ounces 1/3 less fat cream cheese, at room temperature

3 ounces goat cheese, at room temperature

2 tbs sour cream

1 tablespoon brown sugar

3 tsp egg replacer + 4 tbs water

Pinch of salt and freshly cracker pepper

1/2 packed cup chopped fresh basil

Extra-virgin olive oil, for serving

Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a small bowl mix together the egg replacer and the water. Whisk well to combine and set aside. The mixture will foam and grow a bit.
Butter the bottom and sides of a 4 1/2-inch diameter spring-form pan. Wrap the outside of the pan with a piece of heavy-duty foil. If you don’t have heavy-duty foil, just double on the foil.
Place the ricotta cheese, cream cheese, goat cheese and sour cream in a food processor. Pulse until mixed.
Add the brown sugar, the egg replacer mixture, salt and pepper and blend until smooth. Add the basil and pulse until incorporated.
Pour the cheese mixture into the prepared spring-form pan. Place the pan in a glass baking dish that’s slightly larger. Pour enough hot water in the baking dish to come halfway up the sides of the spring-form pan. Make sure the foil top edge is above the water line.
Bake until the cheesecake is golden at the edges and the center of the cake moves slightly when the pan is gently shaken (the cheesecake will become firm when chilled), about 45 minutes. Turn off the oven and allow the cheesecake to cool in the oven for 1 hour.
Remove the spring-form pan from the baking dish and remove the foil. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate the cheesecake for at least 3-4 hours. Remove the cheesecake from the spring-form pan. Allow the cheesecake to come to room temperature before serving, about 30 minutes.
Drizzle the top of the cheesecake with extra-virgin olive oil and serve with assorted crackers.

This is a great recipe to make the day before you need it. Just chill in the fridge and get out before your guests arrive. The cheesecake will hold very well at room temperature.

Tags: basil, cheese, cream cheese, Egg-free, food, Goat Cheese, ricotta cheese, sour cream, vegetarian

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Categories appetizers

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Veggie Bites of Wisdom #24

22 Dec

Tags: animal crackers, cookies, food, truths, vegetarian, wisdom

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Categories Veggie Bites of Wisdom

Mushroom Parmesan Pinwheels

21 Dec

I asked around my foodie friends on the internet on various ideas for appetizers… and my friend Suzanne (I wish I could tag you like on FaceBook) suggested to make puff pastry pinwheels filled with mushrooms and parmesan cheese.

Having just come from making an amazing mushroom filling for the lasagna at my nephew’s birthday party and knowing how impressed my sister was at the flavors of such filling, I decided to venture myself to making these as one of my savory appetizers. My spinach pinwheels were the HIT of the last baby shower I hosted. Kids love anything savory rolled in puff pastry and these mushroom ones were not the exception.

I have requests for the recipe already… so here it is for all of you interested.

MUSHROOM PARMESAN PINWHEELS

2 sheets of puffed pastry, defrosted in the refrigerator overnight – I just buy it and place it in the fridge…

24 ounces button mushrooms, finely chopped

1 small onion, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)

2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme leaves

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 teaspoons fresh juice from 1 lemon

2 oz goat cheese

2 tbs sour cream

½ cup Parmesan cheese, shredded

Salt and Pepper

Olive oil

Add a generous drizzle of olive oil to a large pan over medium heat. Add onions and cook stirring occasionally. Add mushrooms and continue cooking stirring occasionally, until liquid evaporates and mushrooms start to sizzle, about 10 minutes.
Add the thyme, soy sauce and lemon juice and stir to combine. Add the goat cheese and sour cream and stir once more. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool off a bit.
Open the puffed pastry (which comes folded in three). Place some flour onto a clean surface and flour the rolling pin too. Roll out the pastry so that it loses the creases where the folds were.
Sprinkle some parmesan cheese and spread an even layer of mushrooms leaving a border on one edge.
Start rolling from the farthest edge from the border you left without mushrooms. Roll the pastry onto itself until you create a log.
Repeat with the second sheet of pastry in the package. Place logs in the fridge covered with a moist paper towel for about 10-15 minutes or until you’re ready to bake them. This is important for the pastry to harden a bit again. It’ll be easier to cut if the pastry is cold than if it is at room temp.
Slice the logs into ¼ inch pieces. Place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake in a 425F oven for about 10-12 minutes, until the cheeses smell great and the pastry is puffed and golden delicious.
Transfer them to a cool plate and serve them immediately. But they will keep very well at room temperature as long as there’s not a lot of humidity… lots of humidity makes puff pastry soggy.