Blueberry Apple Crisp

I had blueberries to get rid of, but not enough to make an all-blueberry dish. Behold, a recipe I made based on this fruit crumble idea.

Blueberry Apple Crisp


In a greased 9x9 dish, toss the following until coated:

• one pint package of blueberries 
• two small apples or one large apple, chopped (I didn't peel mine, to keep the pectin and nutrients)
• juice of half a lemon (1 1/2 Tablespoons)

Add the following to the fruit and toss again until coated:

• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar 
• 1 Tablespoon flour

In a separate bowl, combine:

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup flour (I used whole wheat)
• 1/4 cup sugar (I used brown). This is very little sugar for the whole dish, and will make it just sweet enough to bring out the flavors of the fruit and the topping. Add more sugar to taste.
• 1/2 cup raw nuts (I used walnuts)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• dash of nutmeg
• 2 dashes of cinnamon
• pinch of salt

Drizzle canola oil (it took me about 6 Tablespoons) into the dry mixture while stirring, and combine until crumbly. Distribute the mixture evenly on top of the fruit and bake at 400F until the fruit is bubbly and the crumble topping is brown and crisp (about 45 minutes).

How do you like to use extra blueberries?


Vegan on a Shoestring

Easy Homemade Salad Dressing

I don't buy salad dressing anymore. All the creamy ones I used to enjoy at my local supermarket contain milk, and all the vinaigrettes are a rip-off considering the largest part of the dressing is just water and sugar. I make my own, using whatever I have on hand. It only takes a minute to make and is so tasty and much more natural than the sugar-laden stuff in a bottle.

Ingredients

• Equal parts oil (I use olive oil) and apple cider vinegar. If you only have white distilled vinegar on hand, do two parts oil to one part vinegar.
• Whatever seasonings you have on hand that you are in the mood for. I usually use dried basil, garlic powder, salt.
• I usually add some kelp granules (for iodine) and ground flax (for omega-3). I can't really taste them in the dressing so it's a great way for me to sneak the extra nutrients. The ground flax also thickens the dressing a little so it coats the salad more nicely.

I put all the ingredients in a jar and shake it up. Voila, instant homemade dressing.

What's your favorite salad dressing (whether store-bought or home-made)?


Vegan on a Shoestring

Juicing

I decided to buy myself a juicer this year, using gift money I received for my birthday. After a lot of research online, I decided on the Breville Compact Juicer which had glowing reviews as high as the Omega brand masticating juicers but only costs about $100, compared to about $300 for an Omega. The Breville takes about 5 minutes to hand-wash, and it cleans easily except for the spinning mesh part which requires thorough scrubbing with a brush. Here is a video with details about the juicer.

This is a juice I recently made - cucumber, celery, carrot:

The thing with juicers is that you are left with pulp. I think that throwing out the pulp is a waste of perfectly good fiber and whatever nutrients didn't make it to your juice. Alicia Silverstone recently blogged about saving veggie scraps in the freezer so you can make your own broth. I had heard about this before but it just seemed so annoying at the time. Like, every time I cut an end off something I have to put it away? What a drag.

Now that I have a juicer, I have loads of scraps and I hate to see them go to waste. So now I have a ziploc bag in the freezer that I am dedicating to veggie scraps. When I have juice pulp or I'm cutting veggies, I can just open the freezer, open the zip bag, and put the scraps in. When I have enough to make a broth, I'll let you know how it comes out.

Do you like fruit or veggie juices? What is your favorite?

Do you save your veggie scraps? What do you do with them?

Vegan on a Shoestring

Caffeine

Since becoming vegan 6 months ago in January, one thing I have noticed is that I have really cut down on caffeine. Being a full-time student in a doctoral program and working 30-35 hours a week between my job and my fellowship, I am suuuper freakin busy when school is in session. I am out of the house all day every day, and then with whatever time is left over I am supposed to study, take care of myself (food, grooming, laundry), and periodically let my friends and family know I'm still alive.

I used to run on coffee. I used to drink it just to get through each day. However in my spring semester (February through May) which was my first semester as a vegan, I only drank coffee on very long days when I hadn't had enough sleep. During the two weeks of taking final exams and finishing final papers (3-hour naps in lieu of full nights of sleep), I only had coffee less than a handful of times. After my last final exam, I stopped drinking coffee. Being able to lay off the caffeine has made me feel better, function better, and spend a lot less money.

And then I had coffee for the first time in a month.

On the July 4th weekend I was with friends who drink coffee regularly. We took a little trip to Dunkin Donuts, where I ordered a large iced coffee (black, of course), not because I was tired after having only a few hours of sleep but because I missed the taste and because it was hot outside. I should have listened to my body and not ordered such a big coffee but I was thirsty as hell and the medium iced coffee just looked so...small. That night, I woke up at 5 in the morning, restless with achy/twitching arms and shoulders, and couldn't fall back to sleep for two hours.

The next morning we took another trip to Dunkin Donuts. I decided to order an iced tea instead of coffee. Since there was a promotion that any size is $.99 (and because it was still really hot outside), of course I ordered the large iced tea. That night, I again woke up at 5 in the morning with the achy/twitching arms.

Then came the paranoid thoughts that I could possibly have a neurological disorder, or "restless arm syndrome" (Is that even a real disease? How would I live that down?).

While the only thing I can think of that would have caused restlessness is the caffeine, it's really hard for me to believe. I did not feel extra energetic from the drinks, so I don't understand how they would wake me up in the middle of the night. Regardless, from now on I am going to listen to my body and keep away from the caffeinated stuff unless I feel tired.

Are you sensitive to caffeine? Have your caffeine habits ever changed?
Do you ever experience restlessness at night? How do you handle it?


Vegan on a Shoestring