New Year, New goals.

My new year and new goals to live healthier started this week with a bag of plant based foods provided by VegMichigan.  I applied for their bag give-away of plant based foods. As luck would have it, they picked me!  It was dropped off at my door Friday.  This afternoon I invited my vegetarian niece over to sample my bag with me.  

At 12 years old my niece decided to become a vegetarian with the support of her parents.  Being the only vegetarian in our big family she was happy to share my introduction to plant based foods.  

VegMichian provided me an insulated grocery bag filled with a sampling of  Beyond Meat Burgers, Daiya, Cheezy Mac (Non-GMO), Silk Chocolate Almond Milk (Non-GMO) and Tofurkey Deli Slices (Non-GMO). 

We started on the Beyond Burger, I was a little hesitant to try it at first.  But my niece's enthusiasm was contagious.  We pulled out the wrought iron pan, sprayed it some cooking spray and heated up the pan, 10 minutes later we had a burger.  

                                  (We grilled our bun.)

I dressed my burger with my homemade chilly sauce, and crisp leaf of lettuce. 

To my surprise it was good, texture, color and bite was just like a real burger.   

We moved on to the Daiya Cheezy Mac and followed the instructions on the box.

The process was like any box of mac and cheese dish, the texture was in line with them too.

We then poured ourselves glasses of Silk Chocolate Almond Milk.   

We both agreed that it's as good as the real thing!

We sampled the Tofurky Hickory Smoked Deli Slices out of the package.  Again I was surprised by the flavor.   The texture is a little different than lunch meat, but I'm not turned off by it at all.

All in all will I add plant based products to my shopping list?

Yes!

Who knows, my niece may not be the only vegetarian in the family for long.

Thank you VegMichigan for this opportunity to try these products.  

I would not have done so if it was not for you.  

 

Mother's day Brunch

For the beginning of May I kept busy with a simple buttercream retirement cake.  I used a butter cream transfer method to create this sweet red motor cycle, camper and camp fire.  Then I  constructed a retirement plaque out of rolled fondant.    Best wishes to the United States Postal Service Person, enjoy your retirement.

 

On  Mother's Day I did a spring brunch for my mother on Sunday afternoon.  I made this Broccoli-Cheddar Quiche, a recipe I found from Martha Stewart. I used a pre-made pastry shell and I added portobello mushrooms to the recipe. Using some of the egg white, I brushed on the edge of the pie crust to give that golden glossy shine to it. It was a very easy and quick recipe to whip up and you can even do it ahead of time for convenience.

As a side for the Quiche,  I made a Non-GMO micro-green salad with julienne cucumbers and strawberries,  drizzled with a pomegranate salad dressing.  These delicate micro-greens needed delicate garnishes and doing a julienne cut to the cucumbers and strawberries worked great.  Drizzling the pomegranate dressing just before serving is a must.  These greens don't need much which make for a light and refreshing side. 

Micro-Greens Strawberry Salad

Ingredients: 

2 oz. package of Non-GMO Micro-Greens (Black Pearl Gardens) 

2 large fresh strawberries (sliced thin, and finely julienne)

1 small seeded cucumber (sliced thin, and finely julienne)

 Marzetti Simply Dressed Pomegranate Salad dressing (placed in a clear squeeze bottle) 

In four small bowls divide Micro-Greens, next top each with a table spoon of julienne cucumbers and julienne strawberries each.  Drizzle with dressing just before serving.

My mother and I were introduced to micro-greens last year at a Cooking Matters with Diabetes class that we took at our local library.  It was sponsored by Gleaners Community Food Bank  and Ford Motor Company. Our class chef introduced the students to new and healthy foods including micro-greens.  We loved them and were hooked ever since last year. (Micro-greens are young delicate vegetable greens that come in mild and spicy varieties.) So I wanted to treat my mother to this side for brunch.  It took some time finding a market that carried micro-greens but I found these at my local Holiday Market.  I called and talked to the young man in the produce department who was very helpful and knew exactly what I was asking for (some local produce markets had no idea what they were).  He even made my day when he informed me they carried a local brand Black Pearl Gardens from Ann Arbor Michigan. I  love supporting my local farmers and shops.  I stopped in that night and was pleased by the variety they had to chose from.  I went with the "Mild Mix Mini & Mighty     Micro-Greens". For the Dressing I used Marzetti Simply Dressed Pomegranate Salad dressing.  

Served with fresh brewed Raspberry Iced Tea garnished with a fresh strawberry.

 

Lastly, we finished with a Cookies and Cream dessert pudding garnished with a Oreo Thins Chocolate creme cookie. 

Wishing my Mother and all Mother's a very Happy Mother's Day!