I am so freaking happy to finally announce that the next installment in my FOOD CAMP cooking instruction series is now in development. This second digital book will be called PLANT-BASED BOOT CAMP, and this time, I’m going big.
PBBC will be a complete 30-day guidebook to taking control of your life. Not only will the book be packed with great tasting, nutritionally complete recipes, those recipes will be 100% plant-based. No meat, no dairy. I’m taking you back to the basics to show you how paying attention to the way your body reacts to food can change your life for the better.
With this book, I’m going to be with you from Day 1 of a brand new life. You will be guided through every meal for 30 days, and along the way I will give you my own tips for healthier living without giving up the things you love. So relax, that means you can go back to eating meat and dairy after you finish PBBC, with a better understanding of how to balance what you eat and when.
A 30-day meal plan, complete with shopping lists, every recipe you need, and the information you need to begin changing your life immediately. This one’s going to be a lot of work, but it will be worth it. For years, so many of you have told me that you want to be healthier, to lose weight, to have more energy. Now I’m ready to do something about it.
So get ready for FOOD CAMP: Plant-Based Boot Camp!
Since I returned to a plant-based diet last year, I have been spending a lot of time recreating my favorite foods in a healthier way, and this meal was no exception.
Let me just get it out there that I am a huge fan of creamy foods. Like huge. So when I saw a basic recipe for making a creamy sauce that was made up primarily of cauliflower, I knew I was going to have to go there.
I’ve been wanting to make something new for dinner for a while now, but I wanted it to have a comfort food feel. When I can’t quite decide what I want to do, I usually look through my photo database that contains years of images from meals (good and bad) long since forgotten. That’s when I saw a photo of an old favorite, and I knew what had to be done.
Throughout much of our lives, we are taught to fear, even despise bees. In reality, we owe more to the hardworking bee than most of us realize.
The mystery plague known as Colony Collapse Disorder has been in the news for several years now. For reasons still unknown, CCD occurs when the adult worker bee population of a hive disappears, leaving the queen and even honey behind. This has lead to a decided upswing in the number of backyard beekeepers across North America who are enjoying the benefit of increased pollinator activity in their communities, and some tasty honey to boot.
Keeping honey bees isn’t easy. It requires expensive equipment and quite a bit of monitoring and maintenance that can be daunting and even off-putting for a novice. Now before you think I’m warning you against home beekeeping, I should tell you that I intend on introducing a hive into my back garden a little later in the year. That said, I want to tell you about some other bees that get less of a spotlight, but do just as much work pollinating our food crops. What’s more, they’re not susceptible to Colony Collapse Disorder!
Check out those awesome little birdhouses… oh, waitaminute! Those are bee habitats! That’s right, habitats for mason bees, to be exact.
Mason bees are incredibly hard workers, but unlike honey bees, there are over 130 species of mason bees that are native to North America. What’s more, mason bees are homebodies in the strictest sense; they don’t ever travel more than 300 feet from their tiny little home to forage. What does this mean to a home garden?
It means that when you have a mason bee habitat in your yard or garden, you’re kinda guaranteed to increase the pollinator activity in your yard, whereas honey bees commonly travel 4 miles away from home to seek out food.
It means that you can increase pollinator activity at home without the expense or potential risk of raising honey bees.
It means that you can help to alleviate the pressure on the honeybee population by increasing the population of other beneficials, like mason bees.
Added bonus? Mason bees hardly ever sting!
Now you’re probably asking yourself why I am telling you about these awesome bees, and I’m glad you asked. I wanted to let you know about masons because I want to introduce you to my friends at Crown Bees and their incredible effort to protect our endangered food supply.
Save The Bees comes at a critical time, when the foods (even beer) we love are at a higher risk than ever before because the number of pollinators is shrinking too fast to keep up with demand. Take a look at this quick video that explains the campaign far better than I could:
Now I want to ask you to join me in supporting the Save The Bees campaign by becoming a Bee Booster. You can do this by donating outright and by adding mason bees to your own back yard or garden. I am planning a big habitat for my own space and I’ll share the entire process with you here, as well as answer any questions you have about the process or the bees. Don’t worry, if I’m ever stumped, Crown Bees are always ready to give you the answers you need.
There’s also a brand new community that I know you’re going to want to take part in. Check it all out by clicking here, or on the Native Bee Booster logo above.
The bees and our beloved food crops need our help, so let’s do it, ya’ll! If you have any questions at all, please leave them in the comments below and I’ll make sure they get answered quickly.
It’s here! It’s here! Tomorrow is the first day of spring 2015 and I’m so excited I can’t stand it! Yesterday I received my order from Longfield Gardens that contains 50 strawberry plants for a special installation surrounding a gazing ball that I picked up from a local friend a couple of weeks ago.
The order also has some ornamental plants that may surprise folks who have been following me for a long time, as I have historically been almost exclusively edible-centric in my plantings. Even though my new garden design is going to be focused on permaculture principles, I wanted to add plenty of color, interest, and diversity to the space, and the gorgeous hostas and cannas will be just the ticket. Here’s what the order contained:
As you can see from the photo above, these plants are shipped bare root, sealed in plastic bags. I have inspected every plant in every bag, and I can say without hesitation that the plant health and quality is top shelf.
I arranged my schedule so that I can spend the majority of 3/20/15 – The First Day of Spring – in the garden as it should be. The cultivator will be breaking the ground, plants will be introduced to their new home, and there will be much dirt under my fingernails when the day is done. I do all of this knowing full well the distinct probability of another frost in the new 2-3 weeks, but I have everything in place to protect my new babies should it become necessary. Until then, it’s time to spring ahead.
Are you planting anything new this year? Leave a comment and tell me about it!
Just like that, without any fanfare, the spring 2015 planting season has begun in my new garden space. Four days before the official beginning of spring, the sun is shining, temperatures are tipping the 80 degree mark and I just can’t help myself – I’ve got to plant something!
Lucky for me, there are several retailers within a few miles that carry the wonderful products from my friends at Bonnie Plants, so all that was left was to exercise a bit of restraint when choosing what I would do today. Because I will be purchasing seedlings from a local source in support of neighborhood gardening projects, I decided on two tomatoes today: Super Sweet 100 and German Johnson. I also grabbed a bundle of Georgia Sweet onions, as I didn’t manage to plant any last fall.
For the first time all year, I have dirt under my fingernails again, and a new back garden space to build out this season. It will be largely permaculture-inspired, with the overwhelming majority of plantings being edible.
After quite a few years without them, I plan to include potatoes in this year’s garden lineup, though I am still on the fence about which variety to grow. I love fingerlings and Yukon Gold and have had great success with both in zone 7, but I’m open to other options if someone can convince me that they will be a better choice.
What kind of potatoes are you growing this year? Leave a comment below and tell me about your experience!
While convenience foods are often not good for us, there’s something about them that draws us in time and time again. Not only are they easy to prepare, they often trigger fond and comforting memories of childhood. I have wanted to create a meat and dairy-free version of my Homemade Cheeseburger Macaroni for a while now, but the recent discovery of an impressive nacho cheese replacement recipe told me that last night was the night.
The brilliance of this meal was absolutely found in the Nacho Cheese recipe from a blog called Hot for Food. It comes together in minutes and has a brilliant flavor. I really can’t recommend it highly enough. If you look at the recipe and it intimidates you, just replace the arrowroot starch it calls for with non-GMO corn starch and you’ll never know the difference.
In place of the ground meat, I am using a soy-based product from Kroger’s Simple Truth line called Meatless Crumbles. The texture and flavor is impressive, and it is as flexible as the meat it replaces. I have to admit that I have been really impressed with the extensive organic and health-forward offerings I have seen in many of the Kroger stores in my area.
At long last, I have finally found the time to start winter sowing the seeds for this spring’s garden. Using reclaimed jugs from a local organic juicer, the first of the seeds are now nestled into their outdoor nurseries, anxiously awaiting their time in the sun.
The first to be sown are four tomato varieties from my vintage library. I planted nine each of:
Winter sowing is the perfect solution for anyone who doesn’t have the indoor space or the time required to start seeds indoors. The entire process is very simple and doesn’t require special equipment or lighting.
In fact, once you have planted your winter sown seeds and watered them in, all you need to do is check them every week or so to see if they need water. Then just let nature take its course and in a few weeks you will have beautiful garden-ready seedlings that don’t have to be hardened off before going into the ground!
I’ll keep you update as to everything I’m winter sowing this year, and if you have any questions, please ask them in the comments below.
Are you growing tomatoes this year? If so, which ones?
When I went vegan a few months ago, one of the goals I set was to create delicious meat and dairy-free versions of all of my favorite recipes. Recently I accomplished my goal with one of my all-time faves, General Tso’s Chicken. This makeover was one of the easiest yet, and it comes together quickly without much effort.
The key to the recipe is the sauce, of course. The original version calls for two cups of chicken broth, so I wanted to come up with an alternative that was just as flavorful. Vegetable broth wasn’t an option because that’s not the flavor profile of the dish. I ended up using a combination of water, red wine, and bouillon and couldn’t have been happier with the result.
Who doesn’t love a good slow cooker recipe? This is a modification of my Red Split Lentil “Crack Soup” recipe, made even easier and with less fuss thanks to the magic that is the slow cooker. You can modify the ingredients to suit your taste, so I have included just the basic framework here. The seasonings are there to create a well-rounded flavor base, so if you don’t want to change anything, you don’t have to. This soup is delicious exactly as it is.
For example: You need a total of three quarts of liquid for this recipe. If you don’t have a quart of vegetable stock, you can substitute it with any stock you do have on hand, or with more water. Want a more substantial flavor? Replace some or all of the water with more stock. More carrots? Love celery? Go for it.
You are the captain of this ship, my friend. Go forth and make this soup your own.
INGREDIENTS
1 quart (4 cups) vegetable stock
2 quarts (8 cups) water
2 cups dried red split lentils
2 cups carrots, cut into coins
1-2 cups celery, sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1 Tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 Tablespoon herbs de Provence
2 teaspoons sea salt
pinch of red chili flakes (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
Place all ingredients in a large slow cooker and stir to combine.
Set slow cooker to LOW and allow to cook for 7-8 hours.
Serve
NOTE: If you like a creamier soup, you can puree using a stick blender to your desired consistency.
My new cookbook is full of incredible recipes that are versatile enough to please any palate, without meat, dairy, or animal products. This isn’t your typical vegan cookbook, this is food for people who truly enjoy eating.
Disclosure
Some posts and sidebars on My Earth Garden include links to sponsors and affiliates. While you are under no obligation to make purchases through these links, a portion of your purchase helps to support this site. I will never link to a product that I do not personally believe in.
In place of the ground meat, I am using a soy-based product from Kroger’s 
The first to be sown are four tomato varieties from my vintage library. I planted nine each of:
