the vegan bitch is back!

  Okay! I am back for good! The past few months have been crazy with the holidays, moving changing scedules, work......blah,blah,blah....excuses, excuses. But during that time I have been cooking up some new recipes, working on some old ones, and working on Anatomy of a Green Kitchen (public access vegan cooking show).  So, those of you who are revisiting or those of you that are new, I hope everyone enjoys the recipes, reviews, stories, news and editorials.

Some interesting news on the Veggie front. As if we needed yet another reason to love our presidential family, Michelle Obama told Oprah in the April issue of O magazine that there are plans for a White House vegetable garden.  The purpose of the garden will be for children's education on cultivating not only the veggies, but healthier eating habits and lifestyles. The first family will enjoy the fresh produce, and possibly local food banks too! Oh, Obamas.....

A green hip tip is get yourself an stainless steel water bottle! 8 out of 10 water bottles end up in a landfill and not recycled. Yes, some companies have 'redesigned' their water bottles to use less plastic, but when they end up in landfills, they still take millions of years to decompose.  Also, plastic water bottles leach chemicals (BPA) which can be toxic, especially at high temperatures (like leaving a water bottle in your car).  Klean Kanteen is a family owned company.

  They use medical grade stainless steel, are 100% recyclable (as if you wanted to get rid of it), they are members of 1% for the planet,  and are BPA-free! They are also manufactured with fair wage and safe labor regulations. Oh, and you'll look cool.

And my recipe this week comes from me obsessively buying

 tomatoes EVERY time I go shopping.  They are so

 appealing.  Yellow ones. Orange on the vine. Heirloom. Baby roma. Grape. I love them all, until they take over my fridge. So to start our dinner the other night I made Basic Tomato Bruschetta. It is quick, easy, light, and deliciously yummy! I used it as an appetizer, but could easily make a meal of it. And it looked super pretty because I used red and orange tomatoes!

Basic Tomato Bruschetta

2-3 Tomatoes (any kind, color, shape, size....do not discriminate the tomato)

1/2 small red onion

2 cloves garlic

1/4 c. fresh basil, chiffenade

1 Tbs. olive oil

salt/pepper to taste

favorite bread

1 Tbs. nutritional yeast flakes 

1. Dice everything up finely. You can use a food processor and pulse it. But I find that sometimes it gets too 'salsa-like' when I use the processor.

2. Mix well and refrigerate for an hour.

3. Pre-heat oven at 400.

4. Slice bread into 1/4 inch slices.

5. Top with tomato mixture.

6. Sprinkle nutritional yeast flakes on top. (This is my new favorite alternative to Parmesan!)

7. bake for 5-6 mins. Until mixture is heated through and bread is toasted on bottom.

8. ENJOY!