Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas
and Happy Holidays from Argentina!
Sunday, December 23, 2012
The Easiest Vegan Cookies You'll Ever Make
These vegan cookies are delicious, total guilt-free and easy enough to make on the road (only two basic ingredients: oatmeal and banana). I highly recommend them to all you vegan travelers out there!
Mine came out a little bit funky-looking because of the chocolate chips I used, but I promise you they tasted great! They were very moist and had a banana flavor and for my toppings I added dairy-free chocolate chips, walnuts, vanilla, and raisins. Yum!
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| My 2 Ingredient Vegan Cookies |
Saturday, December 22, 2012
The Best Lower Body Hotel Room Workouts
Maintaining a healthy body is part of encompassing a vegan lifestyle and as a traveling vegan, it becomes an even greater challenge to keep in shape without the help of your local fitness center.
So as a way to help all of my fitness-loving vegans who are on the road and missing the gym, here are just a few of my favorite equipment-free YouTube workouts that target the lower body (hips, butt and thighs). I hope you will find a favorite among these and stay tuned for more of my favorite hotel workouts that target the rest of the body!
Thursday, December 20, 2012
How To Deal With New Cultures As A Traveling Vegan
If you have not experienced this yet, it is almost 100% guaranteed that you will be asked the following questions at some point along your journey upon revealing that you are a vegan:
- "But..Why?"
- "So wait...you don't eat ANY meat?"
- "So...what DO you eat?"
- "Where do you get your protein?"
- "Where do you get your calcium?"
- "Isn't that unhealthy?"
- "Aren't humans supposed to have meat in our diets because we are omnivores?"
- "How do you 'enjoy life'?"
I have found that Veganism is not only uncommon here in South America, but a completely alien concept to many. I am the first vegan that my boyfriend's parents have ever met, for example, and most people have a very hard time understanding the rationale behind this "strange" lifestyle.
For this reason, it is important to be prepared when traveling and know how to handle these situations in the best light possible. Of course, any vegan is already used to being asked these questions by people every day of their lives, but being surrounded by a completely different culture takes extra care and consideration. On one hand, you want to integrate into the local culture and do not want to offend anybody or come off as rude, "preachy" or demeaning to your host country. However, on the other hand, you want to educate and spread truth throughout the world along your travels.
I have found so far that the best response to these questions is to give a brief explanation followed by a recommendation of some of your favorite vegan books, articles, or videos to those who are interested in learning more about veganism. There are truly so many great sources of information out there available in so many different languages and this may be the easiest way to educate others while traveling.Just a few of my favorites are the documentaries include: "Forks Over Knives", "Earthlings", "Food Inc" and "Fast Food Nation". Three of my favorite books are "The China Study", "Slaughterhouse", and "Skinny Bitch" (the book that first turned my attention from vegetarianism to veganism).
For travelers, my number one source recommendation is Gary Yourofsky's speech on Youtube, "The Best Speech Ever," because it is available in almost every language (Spanish included), has a title that people will easily remember, and has a ton of information in a one hour long speech. You can check it out here and upload it to any social media site to share with your new travel buddies who might be giving you a hard time!
Savory Lentil Brown Rice Veggie Burgers
Introducing my latest vegan traveler challenge....
BROWN RICE LENTIL BURGERS!
With so few faux meat options here in Argentina, I was seriously craving some sort of veggie burger and decided to take things into my own hands! I knew this was going to be a tricky one to pull off, but desperate times call for desperate matters!
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| The Final Result |
I decided to try a lentil burger above other veg options, because lentils (or lentejas in Spanish) are plentiful and cheap in Argentinian supermarkets. The lentils and other ingredients fit easily into my travelers budget and I wanted to make a big portion so that I could eat them over a few days.
For my recipe, I looked through these options and ended up combining them according to what I had available in my kitchen. Below you will find the recipes I stumbled upon (there's so many available). I definitely think that it's easiest to pick the one that best fits your circumstances as a traveler and go from there. For most of these, you can omit some fancy ingredients and they will still come out just fine.
I decided on boiling the lentils, blending half of them, and adding salt/pepper, and sauteed shredded carrots, onions, garlic, and beets. I then mixed them all together with whole wheat breadcrumbs and brown rice. Then after greasing my pan, I shaped them into patties and baked them for about 25 minutes.
The outcome: The lentil burgers tasted great but came out a bit dry and didn't stick together really well. The taste was actually much better when frying them on the stove, but the consistency turned out much better in the oven (they hardened more in the oven and fell apart on the stove).
Bottom Line: As a traveler, it would have been easier and taken much less time and effort just to boil your lentils and then sautee them with the veggies and breadcrumbs. You would get the same delicious taste and all the same nutrients without all the hassle. But if you have some time, go for it! However, I think this challenge was a little bit too ambitious for me along my cooking journey and so I probably won't be trying this recipe again until I return home.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Easy Raw Vegan Guacamole Lettuce Wraps
Here's a quick idea for a super cheap and easy raw vegan snack while traveling: Guacamole Salad Wraps. Just pick up some avocado, onion, salt, pepper, tomato, lemon, and iceberg lettuce from the local super market, prepare your guacamole to taste, and fill the lettuce with your guacamole. Then just wrap it up and enjoy!
For the smoothie in this picture (which turned out to be delicious by the way!), I just added some canned pineapple, shredded coconut, banana, green apple, 1 packet natural sweetener and ice into a blender and voila!
This is a super healthy vitamin-packed lunch recipe that will make you feel revived and energized instantly! Enjoy!
Vegan Salad Topping Ideas
Since finding healthy and vegan options can be challenging while abroad, here's a list of some of the vegan-friendly salad toppings that I have used so far while in Argentina. Hope it helps!
- Beets
- Carrots
- Arugula
- Lentils
- Quinoa (yes they have quinoa here!)
- Canned Beans (Cannelli, Garbanzo, Kidney, Black)
- Nuts (Almonds, Walnuts, Chestnuts, Peanuts)
- Seeds (Chia, Sesame and Flax Seeds are surprisingly abundant)
- Corn
- Tomatoes
- Celery
- Peppers
- Romaine
- Spinach
- Bean sprouts
- Broccoli
- Onion
- Fruits (apple's are easiest to find)
- Brown Rice
- Whole wheat crackers
- Potato or Sweet Potato (goes by batata)
- Avocado
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