I have recently fallen in love with vinegar.

The vinegar in my cupboard :)

If you spend any time on green- or sustainable-living blogs (as I do in copious amounts), there is no doubt that you’ve come across information on the (literally) hundreds of uses of white vinegar. I was dubious but decided to give some of the suggestions a try… and now I am obsessed. Obsessed!!

In the last couple of days, I have seen vinegar outperform more expensive and toxic alternatives, and seen it do things I never knew were possible! I cannot wait to see how many applications I can find for vinegar in the long run :D

This weekend, I used white vinegar to:

• Deodorize a Trash Can – In this case, vinegar did what soap could not – remove a foul odor lingering in a plastic trash can. I just filled the bin with water, added a little vinegar, let it soak overnight, then rinsed. No odor! It also, without effort, removed the stickers that were permanently adhered to the bottom of the can :)
• Clean Stainless Steel -  the outside of my Berkey water filter is shiny, polished stainless steel and it is always smudged with fingerprints and watermarks. All my soaps leave a film on the surface, but not water and vinegar! I mixed water and vinegar (equal parts each) in a spray bottle and spritzed some on the metal, then wiped. Voila! Sparkling clean.
• Perk Up Leafy Greens – The lettuce in my fridge is getting a little old and wilted – enough so that I had none to put on my sandwich this afternoon. So I soaked a few leaves in cold water with less than 1 Tbsp of vinegar for about five minutes and the lettuce was like new! Fresh lettuce! And it didn’t taste or smell like vinegar at all.

Also,  in the health and hygiene category, I’ve found that vinegar can:

• Deodorize Your Body – As some of you may know, I am currently experimenting with wearing no deodorant/antiperspirant. Most of the time, there is absolutely no adverse smell at all (yay!) but when I work up a sweat, things get pretty stinky pretty fast. Yesterday, I was beginning to stink and Cory and I were heading to a restaurant for dinner, so I sprayed both of my armpits with vinegar and (despite smelling like a salad for a few minutes) the odor completely disappeared! [The vinegar smell evaporates and disappears once its dry.]
• Boost Your Health – Because of the numerous health benefits, last night Cory drank an 8-oz glass of water with 2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar and 1 tsp honey and this morning he reported that he felt great. When I asked him for details, he just said that he felt “way better.” Yay! [My suspicion is that his pH levels have normalized. - People who eat lots of meat and dairy experience acidic bodies, and apple cider vinegar helps to alkalize your blood and therefore balance pH. Also, it helps detoxify your organs, specifically the liver and kidneys, which would make anyone feel better!]

My little vinegar water spritzer (1:1 vinegar to water)

Here are some articles I’ve recently read about the uses of vinegar, in case you’re curious about how you might use vinegar in your home.

• 254 Uses for Vinegar… and Counting by Paul at WiseBread
• 131 Uses for Vinegar (nicely broken down by usage category)
• 20 Unusual Uses for Vinegar by Stephanie of EcoSalon
• 23 Ingenious Uses for White Vinegar from Care2.com

Happy vinegar adventures to you all!

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Tags: cleaning, frugality, green living, health, links

I invented this recipe last night and (to my surprise) it turned out really delicious! I can’t put my finger on it, but something about this recipe tastes very… Indian? Like maybe garlic naan and aloo gobi?… I can’t figure it out or figure out why! Maybe it’s because I have a cold x___x

Vegan Baked Potato and Veggies (Indian?)

This recipe is very flexible and below I’ve given explanations for how/why.

I know it looks LONG, but this recipe is really very easy to make and the ingredients are very simple!

INGREDIENTS

1 russet potato
1 large carrot, sliced thinly
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
~1 Tbsp onion, diced (I used red onion, any will do)
~2 Tbsp fresh chives, chopped

olive oil
crushed red peppers (optional)
cayenne (optional)
thyme (optional)
salt & pepper
nutritional yeast (optional / or substitute with cheddar cheese for non-vegan)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400°F

Potato: Scrub potato with vegetable brush under water, then dry. Prick potato all over about 15 times with a fork. Cover the potato with a coating of olive oil (usually 1 tsp will do) and rub the skin with some salt*. Place potato directly onto oven rack in the center of the oven and bake for about 50-65 minutes, depending on the size of potato (my medium-size potato took 60 minutes).

Veggies: When the potato is about 20 minutes from being done, prepare all the vegetables. In a frying pan, begin cooking the carrots with a teeny amount of olive oil on medium-high heat. After 1-2 minutes, add the onions. After 2-3 more minutes, add the celery, garlic, chives, and a little water (2-3 Tbsp).

Stir everything up, then add the spices: a light dash of red pepper (more if you want it really spicy), a light dash of cayenne pepper (more if you really like cayenne!), and a REALLY light dash of thyme (a little thyme goes a long way). Add a light dash of salt and a dash of pepper.

Cover frying pan with a lid** and reduce heat to medium. Cook another 4-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Finally, add the kale on top of veggies and cook on low-medium heat, covered, for 3-4 minutes until the kale is well-steamed.

Combining: When the potato is finished, cut it in half lengthwise and open it up completely to let it cool (on a plate). Score the white insides to help the potato cool and open up the halves even more. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and nutritional yeast (or if you must, cheddar cheese), then pour all the veggies op top and eat!

That’s all. I’m so happy to be sharing my kitchen adventures with you :D

Although I have several great vegan and vegetarian cookbooks, I rarely follow recipes… instead, I whip things up from scratch without knowing what the meal will become! LOL :P I’m so eager to use up whatever is fresh in my fridge that I end up with a lot of odd combinations. The ones that make it to facebook are only the recipes that turned out well :)

* Oiling and salting the potato will make the potato skin soft and delicious after baking – so you can eat the skin instead of throwing it away. Also note: you can bake the potato at 425°F for 40-55 minutes if you’re in a rush, but I think slower/lower temperature baked potatoes taste better.

** If you don’t have a lid, use a large plate or a crock-pot lid (that’s what I did :P). Covering the frying pan helps the veggies cook all-around without losing moisture.

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Tags: dinner, health, meals, recipes

I often post vegan recipes and snack ideas over at the Antishay fanpage, but from now on I’m going to post longer recipes here. It’s just much easier than storing the recipe in an photo’s info box on facebook :P

Misty's Vegan Potato Soup

This recipe was requested by many people on facebook, so here goes… VEGAN POTATO SOUP!!

My friend Misty made this for me a few days ago and I am STILL eating leftovers! The best part is that it reheats on the stove in a flash, so I don’t need to use the microwave ;)

The recipe is pretty loosey-goosey so don’t worry about exact ingredient quantities, or even exact ingredients for that matter! When I make it myself someday, I may add a couple of carrots :P

INGREDIENTS

10 or so yellow/soup potatoes, peeled and diced
3-5 stalks celery, sliced – leaves and all
1 small onion or 1/2 large onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 to 1/2 purple cabbage
5-6 stalks kale, chopped – including stems
olive oil
vegetable bullion
nutritional yeast (optional)
salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS

Peel and dice potatoes. Bring 10 cups water to boil in a covered soup pot while preparing other ingredients. Add bullion according to directions or to taste — for this soup I believe we used 5 cubes of vegan vegetable bullion.

Once water is boiling, add potatoes to water in pot, stirring occasionally.

In a frying pan, saute onions and garlic in a negligible amount of olive oil until onions are partially clear and soft. Add the onion and garlic mix to the boiling potatoes, and add the cabbage and celery too.

A couple of minutes before the potatoes are thoroughly soft, add the kale for the last few minutes of cooking. When the potatoes are soft through and they begin to break when you stir them, t’s done!

Serve in bowls, add salt and pepper to taste (may not be necessary), and top with nutritional yeast if you want to  — I think it adds a nice nutty flavor to the soup.

The soup will get better and better as it ages! If you wanted to, you could keep cooking it until everything turned to mush, but in my opinion it’s ready to go as soon as the potatoes are done cooking :)

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Tags: dinner, health, meals, recipes

A Hearty Dinner :)

Leftover vegan potato (+cabbage, celery, onion, kale…) soup made by my friend Misty :) DELICIOUS as leftovers! I had an egg over-easy in a basket (slice of buttered bread fried with the egg) and tomato warmed with garlic salt on the side. Oh, and I had crackers and cheese and grapes for lunch :P (feeding myself well…) — Happy New Year!!

P.S. I have a cold :S

P.P.S. Yes, this counts as post #1 of my 52-posts goal for 2012. I didn’t say they had to be LONG posts! ;)

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Tags: health, meals

I don’t want to run today.
Well, I have to clean the house, I’ll do that first.

I don’t want to run today.

I really don’t want to run today.
We have to go to the grocery store and the bank…
Come on, baby, let’s go.

I love shopping with Cory :”> Feels like family.
Ok, I really don’t want to run after dark.
Maybe after I read my email…
No, dammit. Just put your running clothes on.

Where the heck are my socks?
I’ll be back in an hour. If I don’t go, I’ll kick myself later.

God, I love this song.

This really isn’t that hard.

Hahaha did you see that license plate?!

This sunset is gorgeous.

Wow, this is really fun!
I feel so alive!

What? Over?

Well, that was easy.

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Tags: c210k, exercise, health, mindset, motivation, running