I'm Now A Fan Of Farmer's Markets

 

Howdy, folks!  I hope you are blessed, healthy, and doing well!

This might be a short post, but I wanted to share with you that I am now a big fan of farmer's markets.  Up until recently, I had never really been to one.  I have always liked the concept, but never actually got around to going to one.  The idea of supporting local is of course very important.  However, I thought it was difficult to find the time to go to my local markets.

My local farmer's market in town is on Mondays. I almost always work until 4 pm on Mondays, and I try to get my workout in as soon as possible after getting home.  By the time I would be ready to go, it maybe would be pushing 5:30.  And you know I have to eat dinner before it gets too late.  I believe my local market is open until 6:30, and I wasn't sure what the options would be like getting that late.

About a month ago, I wanted to make an effort to actually try going one Monday.  I figured it would be a light workout day, with the walk to and from being the workout (it's roughly about a mile walk to get there from my house).  In fact, the first time I went, I had to wait out a short rain shower.  

Well, I am glad I went.  While there were only about 2 or 3 stands, they had everything I wanted.  My purpose that day was at least getting a few green peppers and just generally checking the place out.  I was also pleasantly surprised with the fact that they also took credit cards.  (You have to understand, I live in a small town and I wasn't sure if the small local vendors would take plastic.)  I did take cash just to be sure, though.

The people were very friendly.  They answered the couple of questions that I had and were helpful.  

I have since been going almost every Monday.  And while I don't think he was there the first time I went, there is also a guy that sells mushrooms!  I believe that he grows most of the mushrooms, but he also goes out and harvests some from the woods.  I leave with my reusable bags full and a big smile on my face.  While there may not be too many weeks left in the season, I will definitely be making sure I go and supporting our local farmers going forward.

And please cross your fingers for me that they have apple cider this upcoming Monday!

I Want To Live On A Farm

Hello, my friends!

I hope you all are having a great day!  It is beautiful in my area, a very comfortable mid 70's with plenty of sunshine.  My kind of weather.

First, let me please make one thing clear.  I am very happy with what I do.  I work with people that have special needs.  It is a very rewarding place to be.  I literally can help make a difference in their lives on a daily basis and I know that I am making a positive difference out there in the world.

However, I do like being by myself (an my close family/friends are ok to be around).  My first choice for another career would be to own a bookstore at the beach somewhere, but that would be expensive and I would have to worry about the hurricanes.  That wouldn't be fun.  So, I thought of something else, living on a farm.

I love animals.  I love being outside.  I love having vegetables.  So I realized that maybe living on a farm would be perfect for me (again, if I can't live at the beach).  I can see myself feeding the chickens every morning.  Yes, I try to be vegan, but I would have no problem eating the eggs from the chickens that I raise and treat well.  I would play with the goats in my backyard.  I can hang out with the cows while they're grazing around.  I would have all the dogs.  ALL THE DOGS.

I would most certainly be having a garden.  And I would love to have a big enough farm where I can grow enough to sell at farmer's markets and roadside stands.  If you know me even a little bit, I know that you can picture me doing this.  

So I have realized that this would be perfect for me.  Either I need some awesome people to buy me a farm or I need to win the Powerball.  If anyone is is willing to buy/give me a farm, please get in touch with me. Until then, I am very happy with where I am at.

Is there anything that you would like to see me blog about?  I am up for suggestions.

Please feel free to leave any positive or constructive feedback in the comments.  You can also email me at blhutton4@gmail.com

Be As Vegan As You Can

Happy Weekend, my friends!  It's going to be a little bit toasty out there today, stay cool and hydrated!

If you have been following me, you may have read one of my recent blogs about my meatless general tso's chicken.  I still can't stop thinking about how good it was.  I made enough for 4 lunches this past week, and I loved every single bite of it.  I'll be making it again soon.

Although I highly encourage to be vegan, I know that for some of us there may be huge obstacles to being 100% vegan.  I am not 100% vegan.  I will never turn down a Reese's or a chocolate chip cookie.  If something has eggs in the recipe, I may still have it.  I do draw the line with meat products for myself.

There could be many reasons for not being able to be completely vegan.  Economic class, access to grocery stores (many people live in "food deserts"), unsupportive friends/family, or simply not being able to give up that one food choice.  And, of course, there are many other reasons/barriers.

Be as vegan as you can.  If you simply cannot give up cheese, that's ok.  If it is harder for you to buy more vegetables, get what you can.  If you can be vegan for breakfast and lunch but not dinner, that's ok.  Little changes can make a big impact.  

I try my best not to judge other people's choices, I don't know their story.  Yes, I wish we all could be completely vegan.  The world would be so much better.  However, any step in the direction in progress.  Do what you are able.

Thank you so much for reading, I truly appreciate that you have taken the time out of your day to ready my blog.

If you would like, please feel free to leave any positive/constructive feedback in the comments section.  Also, you can email me at blhutton4@gmail.com.  

Make it a good day!

Easy, Inexpensive General Tso's Meatless Chicken

Happy Sunday, my beautiful friends!

I hope you are enjoying the day, this is the perfect summer day.  At least in my area, it is sunny and the high temperature will be in the mid to upper 70's.  It's a perfect tank top day!

So far today, it'a about noon local time, I feel like I have gotten a lot accomplished.  I did some laundry, cut some grass, took my niece and one of my dogs out for a short walk.  I also got my breakfasts and lunches ready for the week.  I made 5 of my oatmeal breakfasts and 4 lunches, and now I am going to be starting cleaning the kitchen a little bit.

Speaking of lunches, I wanted to share with you an easy and relatively inexpensive vegan version of General Tso's Chicken.  General Tso's is one of my go-to's when I am getting some Chinese food.  I don't always get it every single time, but it is one of my favorites.

Since I don't eat meat, I have to hope that a place will offer General So's Tofu, which isn't half bad.  Some of the local places have it, others don't.  I will say that for the most part, it isn't difficult to at least get something that is vegetarian when getting Chinese food.

I had a light bulb moment this morning when I was thinking about what to meal prep for work.  I normally try to have several boxes of Aldi's Meatless Chicken Tenders in my freezer (you may know that I love Aldi).  They are actually really good.  If you haven't tried them yet, I highly recommend them.  And as an imperfect vegan, I always have whole grain rice in stock.  Lately, I have been also keeping several of the larger bags of frozen broccoli from Walmart in my freezer.  (I have it mostly to add to my dogs' food.)  Luckily, I bought a bottle of Aldi's General Tso's sauce a couple of weeks ago.

Oh my goodness, it is almost like the real thing from a restaurant!  I made 4 large servings worth of the rice.  I also added some plant based butter to it once it was done.  I added a bunch of the frozen broccoli to it.  Since I was getting this ready for the week, I wasn't worried about letting it thaw out first.  At the same time, I got a box of the meatless chicken tenders out to thaw for a few minutes.  Once it was thawed enough, I cut it up in to smaller pieces.  And then, you guessed it, I added the General Tso's sauce to it.  Add what your heart tells you to.  I like enough to know it's there, but I don't like it drowning in sauce.  

I tried a few bites of it.  I can't wait to have more this upcoming week.  I will definitely be adding this to my rotation.  I'll just have to make sure to buy some more of the sauce next time I'm at Aldi.

Let me know if you try it and what you think of it.

I am trying to figure out how to have an automated email subscription service for those of you that want to subscribe, but I haven't had any luck with finding a free service yet.  In the meantime, if you have a blogger account, you can go to your settings and add this to your reading list.  Also, I am thinking about having my own emails go out for when I write a new blog.  Either the day of or the following day.  If you would like this, please let me know.  My email is blhutton4@gmail.com

If you have any positive/constructive feedback, please feel free to comment on this post of email me at the above email address.

Thank you so much for reading and enjoy your upcoming week!

My Plant Based Journey Part 2

Good day, my friends.  I hope you all are finding ways to stay cool in this heat wave we are having across the country.  It's a bit on the toasty side.  Don't forget to check on your elderly friends/family/neighbors.

So, I am back for Part 2 of my plant based journey.  I believe I left off with the last entry that the first time I tried being plant based, it didn't work for me.  However, Covid then happened.  And when covid started, I said to myself that I wanted to be healthier when it was over than when it started.  I decided that I would give being plant based another try.

The second time I made the attempt (and also the first time), it was primarily for my health.  Of course, I love animals and was concerned about their welfare.  However, I think a lot of us block out what is actually being done to them.  We ignore the truth, I know I did. 

I like to learn things.  I love to read.  I watched pretty much all the Netflix food documentaries.  I read many books about the plant based diet and other ways food could help us with our health.  Along the way, I learned about all the inhumane treatment of animals.  Believe me, it is horrendous.

I started back up with the plant based eating plan in April-ish 2020.  I don't like saying vegan/vegetarian.  I again like to focus on what I can eat, not what I'm not eating.  For the first few months, I slowly transitioned to not having meat.  The last meat I ate that wasn't seafood was in September 2020 and it was a Slim Jim.  I used to love those!  For maybe about another 6 months after that, I again would maybe occasionally have some sort of seafood.  Shrimp was one of my favorite foods and I would treat myself to it sometimes.

Since about spring of 2021, I very rarely had seafood.  At the beginning of the pandemic, I did stock up a little on cans of tuna and such and I hate wasting.  On the rare occasion, I will add a can of tuna to my pasta.  But that's like once every 5-6 months.  I should just donate the rest to a food pantry and be done with it.

So, for about a year, I have been pretty much a "vegetarian," not consuming any meat.  As far as eggs and dairy, I normally wouldn't go out of my way to have it, but I would use it.  I try to avoid them, but I wouldn't stress if they were in something.  (I can't really drink regular milk anyways, but I could have it in something.). I will say that I liked butter in things.  On toast, in pastries, or on some cooked veggies.  But I decided not too long ago that I really want to try as hard as I can to be a vegan.  However, if I have the very sparingly item that has either eggs or dairy in it, I am not going to be upset.  After all, I am not going to give up on Reese's.  I still like to refer to myself as plant based, but essentially I am an imperfect vegan.

While I started being plant based for my health, I would say that the main reason I am now is for the animals.  An animal's life is more important than my taste buds.  Also, it is really important for the environment to limit animal products. 

And don't worry, I get my protein.

And there you have it, my plant based journey up to this point.  I am still learning.  One of the things I am trying to focus on now is how to be a better animal/vegan advocate.  I want to be able to communicate with others better.  I am currently doing a short program through CEVA, Center for Effective Vegan Advocacy.  I am learning many ways to be a better communicator through them.

I hope that you enjoyed ready my journey.  If you have any positive/constructive feedback, please feel free to use the comment section.

Also, you can follow me on instagram at plantbased_brandi

Thank you for reading!

My Plant Based Journey Part 1

 Good day, friends!

I hope everyone is doing well today.  What was one good thing that happened in your day?

Some of you may have followed my original blog site and may kind of know my story.  However, some of you may be new to me and I wanted to talk about my plant based journey with you.

I would like to think that for most of my life, I have consumed a somewhat healthy diet.  I live in western Pennsylvania.  So yes, I consumed animal products.  But I wouldn't say it was the standard American diet.  I loved chicken wings, burgers, and steaks.  I also loved my veggies.  I liked the healthy food (veggie burgers included), but I certainly wouldn't turn down a bacon burger. 

Maybe about 3-4 years ago,  I decided to try a low carbish diet.  I didn't want to go low carb, my body needs the energy.  Plus I never thought it made much sense to exclude fruits and vegetables just because they may have had a higher sugar content.  When I started this eating plan, I also researched food in general and kind of stumbled upon the plant based diet.  Now I really don't like the word diet, because it implies that you are depriving yourself of something.  I like to focus on what I can eat, so I like to say eating plan.

The first time I tried the plant based eating plan, I still was being mindful of the amount of carbs I was eating.  If you are following a plant based eating plan, you know that you really aren't worrying about carbs (as long as they are healthy carbs).  In fact, it's a lot of carbs.  Since I was trying to be mindful about being low carbish, it didn't work.  I was always hungry and went back to eating meat.  But in my heart, I knew that the plant based eating plan was the right path.

Since this getting to be a longer story, I have decided to break this up into separate parts.  Myself, I like reading shorter blogs.  Once they get to be too long, it gets hard for me to focus.

Thank you so much for reading, I am truly enjoying sharing my thoughts with you.  I hope that I am inspiring you in some form.

Feel free to leave positive/constructive feedback in the comments section.

Also, you can find me on instagram at plantbased_brandi

My Favorite Breakfast (At Least Right Now)

 Good day, my friends!

I hope all is well out there!  They are calling for possibly some strong storms in my area this evening, as if we haven't had enough rain lately.  If only I could send some of the rain out west, they sure need it there.

Anywho, today's blog is brought to you by........ Steel Cut Oats.  Up until recently, I had not been a fan of oatmeal.  I would have it once in a blue moon, but never really was fond of it.  I was trying to find ways to have a more filling, protein filled breakfast.  I'm trying to be as vegan as I can, so a breakfast of eggs and bacon was not going to happen.  I was hooked on peanut butter and jelly for a bit, but I would end of feeling like I was starving an hour or so before it was time for lunch.

After doing some research on the World Wide Web, I stumbled upon the traditional oatmeal, but mixing in peanut butter while making it.  Hmmmm, that sounded tasty.  It also called for some chia seeds thrown in, and adding some granola on top.  I'm a texture person, so I liked the idea of adding some crunch to it.   The recipe also recommended using steel cut oats, they're supposed to be better for digestion.

I am not a fan of cooking, so thankfully this only takes about 10 minutes to make enough for 2 breakfasts. I use about a 1/2 cup of quick cook steel cut oats with 2 cups of water.  I add a little bit of maple syrup for the sweetness and add a large scoop of Justin's honey peanut butter.  I add some chia seeds.  After tinkering with the recipe, I now also add some ground flax seeds and a dash of cinnamon.  I bring it to a boil, and then simmer and stir for about another 5 minutes.  Once I turn the heat off, I then add some protein powder.  I still have some leftover whey protein powder that I hate throwing away, so I am using that.  Once that is gone, I have some plant based chocolate protein powder.

After splitting it up into 2 containers, I let it cool for a bit.  Once it has cooled, I then add some berries to it.  I prefer my oatmeal cold, so I put it in the fridge.  The next morning, I'll put it in my lunchbox.  Right before I start work, I'll throw some granola on top.  And there you have it.  A delicious protein packed breakfast.  For the most part, it does keep me full until it's time for lunch.  

What do you like for breakfast?  Do you have a favorite oatmeal recipe?

Let me know what you think.  Positive/constructive criticism is welcome.  I am working on getting ads added to my site.  Once you see them added, please click on them to support my page.  Just clicking them gives me credit.

Thank you so much for reading and I'll see you on the flippity-flip.

My New Favorite Treat

 As some of you may know, and my page name would imply, I follow a plant based diet. I have learning along the way for the past couple of years, not eating any meat.  I am currently limiting my eggs/dairy consumption, being as vegan as I can.  This treat is vegan.

I had a little brain storm the other day on a new treat for myself.  Get plain Wheat Thins.  I myself usually shop at Aldi, so I buy their version (much much cheaper).  Find some peanut butter.  I prefer Justin's Honey Peanut Butter, you don't know what you're missing if you haven't tried their peanut better.  It is sooooo much better than some better known brands.  And lastly, some hazelnut spread.  Again, I use the Aldi version.

All it takes is a tiny little dollop of peanut butter and hazelnut spread on each cracker.  Three simple ingredients that many of us may already have on hand. Oh my yummy goodness! You will be in absolute heaven.  Trust me, you have got to try this little treat.  It's sweet and salty.  It's crunchy and gooey. It doesn't get much better than this.  There may also be times where I make this my lunch for the day.

Also, I am working on getting ads up and running on this site. 

.