I Was a White Knight...Once

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So, when a friend asks you to write a review of their book, you should read it right away. Don't delay! Don’t procrastinate and let those little things like…life, moving homes, losing your job, or getting lost in a steamy romance novel, distract you from what is really important; reading a friends creative work. That is my lesson learned! This is a long overdue review of, I Was a White Knight…Once: An Uncommon Memoir by Nathan Timmel.

Timmel is a good friend, professional comedian, and an excellent writer. Having followed his blog for quite some time, I knew this would be a great book. However, I was surprised at the candor and openness he displayed in writing his memoir. If you have ever sat and wondered, “Am I the only one who has held onto a crazy doomed relationship like this?” Or, if you have ever sat and listened to a comedian and wondered, “Where the hell does he get this stuff?” Then, you are the perfect person to pick up this book and settle in for a great read. Nothing is held back as he bares his soul in reflection. Somehow he manages to make you laugh in one sentence then he draws you into the frustration and anxiety experienced in the next part of his story. Timmel takes you through his growing up, his parents divorce, crazy stalkers, horrible relationships; this book has it all!

Intermingled in the tale of his upbringing, you will hear stories from a different side of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Timmel has traveled numerous times overseas to entertain our troops to help lighten their heart and mind, if only for those moments; doing his part to support the troops. It is different reading the perspective of the war from someone who steps into the active war zone for brief periods of time in a totally different role. He ends up being witness to active attacks, dizzying helicopter rides and real moments of emotion with those he encounters.

I’m not one who regularly reads memoirs and this would not be my normal choice in reading material. In fact, I admit to reading this purely because it was Nathan. I’ve seen him perform numerous times, and love how his routine has changed and grown over the years. He is one of the best comedians I have ever seen and so I wanted to read his book out of curiosity. As a reader, you get sucked into the emotion and realness of his story. Sitting in my reading chair, I was giggling to myself through parts, rolling my eyes at his crass nature and shaking my head in wonderment. I challenge you to pick up this book and promise you will enjoy it whole-heartedly, just as I did.  

Purchase your copy of I Was a White Knight…. Once: An Uncommon Memoir on Amazon.

And check out Nathans blog and upcoming performances at: www.nathantimmel.com

PS~ In case you were wondering, Nathan is a vegetarian so he earned his spot on this blog.

Save that Fruit!

Okay, so I love buying lots of fresh fruit because it looks delicious and is tasty this time of year. However, I am not always great at eating it before it becomes overly ripe. I end up with browning bananas, bruised apples, and berries that do not look quite as appetizing as the perfect shiny new ones. Faced with the high price of organic fruit and loathing letting it go to waste, I have found a few ways to save that fruit!  Here are some time and money saving tips to take care of your fruit.

Freezing is a great solution for bananas, strawberries, blueberries, etc. Make sure you wash your berries and trim any spots that may be worrisome. Peel the browning bananas and put the fruit into a zip lock freezer bag or other freezer container. Frozen fruit is perfect for morning smoothies. If you have lots of fruit you can portion it out into a few days worth of smoothies with a mixture of bananas and berries in each Ziploc. 

Eating a healthy vegan diet means making sure you get enough fruit and vegetables in your day. When the season is right and your organic favorites go on sale buy them in bulk! Why pay $6 for a pound of organic strawberries* when you can get them fresh on sale during the summer, and freeze in all of those delicious nutrients for later.  I’ve had some fun bagging up an entire case of fresh delicious peaches for freezing. They make for great winter cobblers and crisps. If you do this, make sure you put a date on your frozen goods.

Ripe berries also make for fabulous sauces ~ Strawberry Shortcake is one of my favorite summer time treats. Preparing the sauce is really simple. Clean fruit, slice it up, sprinkle some sugar, let it sit, and wha-la you have berry goodness. 

Apples and pears are delicious when baked. If your fruit is a little bruised, go ahead and cut out the brown spots and make dessert! Here is my quick and easy apple or pear dessert solution:

Baked Apples or Pears

1-3 Pieces of fruit halved

½ cup water or apple juice

1 tsp of cinnamon

1 tsp sugar

1.     Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

2.     Wash and prepare fruit, slice off any bruised areas. Cut in half and core center.

3.     Place fruit along with ½ cup of water or apple juice in a shallow pie pan.

4.     Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over fruit. You can leave out the sugar but I find it helps create a “syrup” that is great over the baked fruit.

5.     Bake for 40 minutes until fruit is soft

6.     Serve hot over soy ice cream or alone with the juice drizzled over the top

Do you have a favorite way of putting your fruit to good use? Please post other ideas and recipes in the comments section!

*Always buy organic strawberries, this is one of the top fruits you want to spend the extra money on for the organic label.

http://www.naturalnews.com/032173_strawberries_pesticides.html

Zuppa Tuscana – Veganized

My favorite lunchtime treat was always soup, salad and bread sticks at Olive Garden. I could eat endless bowls of Zuppa and basket upon basket full of bread sticks. So after reading through tons of recipes online, I have figured out how to make my favorite soup VEGAN! I promise this dish delivers flavor and will satisfy any hungry soul! Enjoy!!

Zuppa Tuscana!

5-6 potatoes – cut into small squares

4-6 cups vegetable broth (I use 3 cubes of vegetarian broth and water)

1 cup chopped onions

2-3 cloves of garlic chopped

2-3 Cups of chopped greens – Kale or spinach

1 package Italian tempeh (Upton’s Naturals or season your own sausage style tempeh)

1 can coconut milk

1 tsp salt

1 TBSP Italian Seasoning

1 tsp red pepper flakes

Boil potatoes, onions, garlic and spices in vegetable broth until potato is soft. Add tempeh and coconut milk and let simmer ten minutes. Add chopped greens and simmer another ten minutes and wha-la! Delicious and wholesome tasting Italian soup!

Quinoa Fruit Salad

This year for Easter I had a few friends over for dinner.  One of my friends enjoyed the dish below so much she had seconds and thirds and took home a container of leftovers! I love rocking a vegan dish that satisfies a room full of carnivores

Ingredients

1 cup of quiona

1 ½ cup water

2/3 cup slivered almonds

2/3 cup dried cranberries

2 small apples – finely chopped

1 blood orange

2 TBSP sugar or agave nectar

1 tsp cinnamon

1.    To prepare quinoa: 

     Soak grains for 5-10 minutes and rinse well (this helps to remove the small outer rim that can sometimes make quinoa bitter). Heat water to boiling and add quinoa. Cover and turn heat down to low. Steam for about 15 minutes. It will cook up and look similar to rice - the water should be completely evaporated.

2.    Prep other ingredients while the quinoa is cooking.

3.    Once quinoa is ready, add fruit, nuts sugar and cinnamon.Stir ingredients together.

4.    Squeeze the juice from the blood orange – this provides flavor and a bit of color. Stir well to incorporate juice.

5.    Refrigerate and serve cool! Enjoy!

Cheers!

Protest Iowa Ag Gag Bill - March 1, 10:30 am

Are you as angry as I am about the new "Ag Gag" bill passed by both the house and the senate here in Iowa yesterday?! I cannot believe in a state that has one of the worst reputations for puppy mills and huge factory farming of animals that we would silence and punish people trying to help bring animal abuse to light. 

Take Action: Silent Protest organized by Mercy for Animals

Des Moines Capital, Thursday, March 1

10:30 am - W. Mall of the Capital Building, corner of E. Grand and E. 9th st.

Details from Mercy for Animals:

A Silent Protest will be held outside of the Capitol building in Des Moines, against this dangerous and secretive "ag-gag" law.  We are looking for as many people as possible to attend our protest tomorrow, Thursday March 1st.  We will be meeting at 10:30 a.m. on the West Mall of the Capitol building, at the corner of E. Grand and E. 9th.  

We ask everyone to please wear all black.  We will provide signs and be wearing tape over our mouths and blindfolds over our eyes to symbolize what these bills do  - they prevent people from speaking out and exposing factory farms, and they prevent society from seeing what goes on behind the closed doors.  

This ag-gag law will make it a felony to take a video or photograph of a factory farm, or do any kind of undercover investigative work like MFA does - which often result in criminal convictions, corporate animal welfare policy changes, the advancement of animal welfare laws, and heightened public awareness about cruelty to farmed animals.

This is the first ag-gag bill to pass in the U.S., and would set a dangerous precedent for other states to pass them as well. Currently, nine other states have ag-gag bills pending. Doing a demo would likely garner national media coverage as this would be the first passage of such a controversial, precedent-setting bill.

If you or any friends and family you may have interested in attending the protest, please call or email Kenny Torrella, Chicago Campaign Coordinator at 773-971-3895, kennyt@mercyforanimals.org

Feel free to post about this on Facebook to get the word out.  http://mercyforanimals.org/events.aspx?state=other 

We appreciate your time and support!

Sincerely,

Krystina Tucci

Creamy Scalloped Potatoes

I LOVE potatoes. Cook them any way you want and I will eat them. When I was a kid my mom made scalloped potatoes as a side dish, or added vegetables and meat and made it a meal. It is one of those comfort foods from childhood that I have missed since going vegan. Up until last night, I had not been able to master a tasty vegan recreation. I searched through different recipes for inspiration and then looked at my fridge to see what I had. The result: a creamy, perfectly seasoned, “cheesy” potato heaven. Coconut milk for baking is my favorite thing in the world and it is perfect in this recipe.

Creamy Scalloped Potatoes

4 medium potatoes

1 can coconut milk (I used light coconut milk)

1 bunch of fresh spinach

1/3 cup of nutritional yeast

2 TBSP Corn Starch

1/3 cup vegan sour cream

1 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

½ tsp dried cilantro

½ tsp thyme

1 cup vegan cheese (I use Daiya)

½ cup or 1 stick vegan margarine

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees and oil a 9X9 or 8X12 baking pan

2. Cut potatoes in thin slices. Layer potatoes, spinach and Daiya in the baking dish. Save some cheese for the top layer.

3. In a mixing bowl combine coconut oil, corn starch, sour cream, nutritional yeast and spices. Blend well to get out any lumps.

4. Pour liquid mixture evenly over potatoes. Sprinkle remaining cheese, a bit of cilantro and salt and pepper on top.

5. Bake uncovered for 50-60 minutes. Use a fork to test if extra time is needed.

6. Remove from oven and let set for 15 minutes before serving. (A burned tongue did not take away from the enjoyment, but I don’t recommend it to anyone else.)

Additions:

Feel free to add other vegetables, broccoli, corn, etc. Also, add in a protein of your choice, it should bake really well. We added some of Upton’s Italian Sausage Seitan and it was really delicious. If you add anything else, share to let everyone know how it works!

Vegan Iowa Restaurant Guide!

I get to travel all over the state for work and this can make eating out a bit of an adventure. A project I have been wanting to tackle for a really long time is a comprehensive list of restaurants that are vegan, vegetarian or veg friendly here in Iowa.

I've added pages to this site (located on the top right hand side) directing readers to restaurants near you that are great vegan options. However, one diner cannot make the list alone and I need your help! (I really do not eat THAT much) Share your favorite vegan places to eat in Iowa City, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Sioux City, Mason City and across the state! Your hot spots will be added so we can share the vegan love with everyone.

Thanks so much!