T.M.I.

As the title reads, this post may be "Too Much Information", but I feel it has to be said to get a real understanding of why my vegetarian lifestyle is so important to me.

So here goes, 'nothin!

Since moving to Phoenix from Ohio in 2006, I noticed a great decrease in my health.  I had always been a healthy person with no real concerns.  The only medication I was taking at the time was my birth control.  Very quickly, my allergies were through the roof and my breathing became difficult.  Like I never felt I was getting a real good breath.  Then after about 2 years of teaching, I began noticing heart palpations...like ALL.THE.TIME.  It scared me.  I started feeling a tightness in my chest and pains down my arms.  Was it possible for a 27 year old to have a heart attack?  All this spiraled me into a panic attack and the next day I called a Cardiologist to set up an appointment.  I went through all the hoops... Holter Monitor, EKG, Stress Test, etc.  Everything came back fine... phew!  I went to my regular doctor and she tested me for asthma.  Check!  It's what I had..problem solved, right?  Not really.

Then came the pain of other sorts.  My stomach started fighting against me while on a trip back to Ohio.  I was soooooo sick. These pains were on and off for months on end.   It felt like I.B.S. but then I noticed it coincided with that time of the month. Stomach pains, lady part pains, me curled up and crying for hours.  No one could figure out what was wrong with me.  One doctor thought it was acid reflux.  No dummy, it wasn't!

I ended up having endoscopic surgery because my gyn thought it could have been Endometriosis. After quite a few hundred dollars and a surgery, everything came back fine.  My doctor put me on continuous birth control thinking it would help the pain.  It kind of worked, well it's still kind of working I guess.  I think I've just grown used to it.

Then the whammy!  I had an abnormal pap... for the first time in my life.  And an FYI- I'm the type of gal that DOES NOT miss her yearly exam.  I had a biopsy done and then the results came.  I was a hair away from having cervical cancer.  There are 3 levels that they rate the abnormal tissue: CIN I, II, and III.  III means that if the abnormalities penetrate down and any further, you have cancer.  Half my cervix was covered in this, and the rest was CIN II.

My life flashed before my eyes.  I mean I didn't have cancer, yet... but how in the HELL do I go from being fine to basically being told that you will have cancer if we don't remove this?!?  I held myself together as my gynecologist told me she wanted to refer me to a gynecological ONCOLOGIST!  Eeek, cancer doctor!!!  My doc was afraid that her doing the surgery could end up damaging me so much that I may not be able to have babies.  And PS- I got married in June and we were planning on letting nature take its course this coming June.  I was devastated.  She stated that she wanted to send me to a specialist in order to have the best shot at saving my fertility.

So I can go on and on about what I felt and what I went through, but I won't.  I will say that I was depressed because for the first time in my life, I felt as though I had been the healthiest I had ever been. I was feeling great and proud of my choices.  Why was this happening now??

I began to rely more and more on my lifestyle to be my new "medicine".  I feel very strongly that what you put in your body can cure you.  I started eating less dairy and animal products.  I began reading labels and looking closely at the ingredients choosing only to put things in my body that would nourish me.  I went back to my Body Talk gal.  If you've never heard of Body Talk you should check it out.  It does a lot of the same things that acupuncture can do but without the needles.  She helped me through my heart problems and my asthma.  Actually, she was the one who noticed my breathing and asked me if I had asthma.  She was the reason I went to my regular doctor.  BAM!

So moving on.

My surgery was a huge success.  They removed everything and my results came back negative, meaning the cells had not penetrated any further and that there was no evidence of cancer.  HALLELUJAH!!!

Now, onto healing and looking to the future.  I had a great friend say it best when responding to my "Why now?  I'm the healthiest I've ever been" question.  She said, "Well, because your body was ready to handle it.  Ready to fight it off.  This has been in you all along and your body knew that this was the time it could take care of it."  I think she was right.  I feel wonderful and I have a new outlook on life.  I look forward to having babies, and I should have no problems getting pregnant.  The problem lies with staying pregnant.  However, with today's technology, I choose to stay positive that things will work out the way they are supposed to.  I do not have room in my life for negativity.  Your mind is a powerful thing and letting negativity take over can be poison to the soul.

I refuse to be poisoned.

Food is my medicine and I will continue to give my body what it needs in order to keep myself working the way I am intended to.  And if this craziness happens to show its ugly head again.. I will fight it.  I will kill it.  My body will be strong for me.

And if you're still reading, I shall leave you with tonight's dinner recipe.  Truth be told, I stole it from my dear friend Nicole, blogger at Pepperoni Is Not a Vegetable and recipe contributor for Good Veg.  I made her BBQ Tofu with Pineapple & Coconut Rice.  Here's her recipe from Good Veg...


INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups coconut milk (almost all of a 13.5 ounce can)
1 cup basmati rice, rinsed
Red pepper flakes
1 can pineapple chunks
1/4 cup water
Your favorite barbecue sauce
1 package firm tofu, frozen and thawed
2T olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Make rice the way you usually do (on the stove or in a rice cooker) but with coconut milk instead of water or broth. I put 1 cup of basmati rice in my rice cooker with 1 1/2 cups of coconut milk, 1/4 cup water, and a few shakes of red pepper flakes. Cook rice until done (about 20 minutes), fluff, and set aside.
2. While the rice is cooking, preheat your oven to 350*. Press the tofu several times to remove excess water. A clean dishtowel or paper towels work well for this. Place the tofu on a cutting board and press down from above with the towel until it seems most of the water is gone. Be careful to apply the right amount of force – too much pressure could cause the tofu to break and crumble.
Cut the tofu into 1″ cubes and place in a large Ziploc bag or bowl. Add enough of your favorite barbecue sauce to coat the tofu, shake or stir to cover evenly. Let sit in your fridge for at least 20 minutes.
3. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the BBQ-marinated tofu and saute for 5-10 minutes over medium-low heat, turning frequently.
4. Place the sauteed tofu in a shallow pan and bake for 10 minutes. Turn after 10 minutes and bake for another 10. The tofu should be relatively crispy on the outside and softer on the inside.
5. Open and drain the pineapple. Place a serving of coconut rice to a bowl or plate, and add equal parts BBQ tofu and pineapple.
Put on some of your favorite music, pour yourself a drink you love, and enjoy!

A picture of my rendition

*The only thing I did differently was add some veggies that I had on hand.  I sauteed up some sliced golden carrots, broccoli, and green onions and added them to the baking pan with the tofu.  To die for!*


So, my friends- feed your body what makes it feel good.  Whatever that may be.  You only get one body so take care of it and throw negativity out.the.window!

-Peace, Love, & Veggies :)

Feeling Like a Pepper With Its Head Cut Off!

You know the saying, "I feel like a chicken running around with its head cut off"?  I feel like that today but a veg-i-fied version!  I had a spent a FANTASTIC weekend with a dear friend and fellow food blogger Nicole Navratil, who was visiting me from Minnesota.  Nicole and I first met through a past job in which I taught 2nd grade, and she was our school's Music teacher who also served as my aide during Reading Block.  We quickly became friends, and that was that.

Nicole has been my #1 inspiration for changing my eating habits, my lifestyle, and starting this blog.  You should really check hers out... www.perpperoniisnotavegetable.com  She's not preachy, and is a wonderful resource for anyone looking to cook more veggie meals.  Anywho, can I say how wonderful it is to spend time with someone who shares the same interest as you do??  I don't have any veg friends here in Phoenix, so when she came to town, we lived it up!  We hit up a local Vegan restaurant  called Green where we indulged on yummy food and discussed our recipe ideas.  Here's what we had...

Nicole's Jerk Tofu Salad

My Singapore Tofu

We had a wonderful weekend, then it was back to the grind.  I had surgery about 3 weeks ago, and upon returning to my class full of energetic Kindergartners, it's been like starting the year all over.  The kids are wearing me out, there's a million and one things to get done, and all I want is a glass of wine and a loooooong nap!  Hence- I feel like a chicken with it's head cut off, or in my case, a veggie.  And that's what I did for dinner tonight!  I cut some "heads" off a few peppers and stuffed those little buggers!

Here's the recipe if you feel so inclined:

Ingredients

2 Green Bell Peppers (I will use red in the future, but green was what I had)
1T EVOO for brushing
1 1/2-2 C cooked long grain brown rice
1C thinly sliced or shredded carrots
1 1/2 C chopped mushrooms
1 medium onion chopped
1 handful fresh Spinach
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 can diced tomatoes. Fire Roasted if you have them on hand.
1 tsp. Parsley
2T fresh chopped Basil
2T sliced Almonds
2T dried fruit, such as cranberries or raisins
H20 or Veggie Stock for sauteing
Fresh lemon juice

Directions

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking dish with a thin layer of H2O.  Halve your peppers and remove the seeds and ribs.  Leave the stem on if you can.  Brush the cut sides with EVOO and place in the baking dish.  Sprinkle with S&P.  Bake for about 15 minutes or until the peppers are soft and can be easily poked with a fork.

Heat a few tablespoons of water or veggie stock in a saute pan.  Saute onion and garlic until the onion is soft.  Add sliced/shredded carrots and cook for 5 minutes until soft.  Add chopped mushrooms and spinach and cook for another 2 minutes.  Add tomatoes, rice, basil, parsley, almonds, fruit, and cook until ingredients are warmed through.  Season generously with S&P.








Spoon mixture into the peppers and place back into the oven for 15-20 minutes.  Remove and let set for 5 minutes.  Squeeze fresh lemon juice over top, pour yourself a hefty glass of wine and ENJOY!




















A few suggestions:

-Look for peppers that are "well-rounded"  Hahaha!  No seriously, the deeper the center, the more you can stuff them with ;)

-Using a variety of pepper colors will really make this dish stand out.

-You can use any rice you like.  Wild rice would be amazing.

-Speaking of which, use any veggies you want to stuff the peppers.  I used what I had in the fridge and what I though would taste good together.  Feel free to omit anything you don't necessarily like.  That's what cooking is all about!

-Garnish with whatever you'd like!  Fresh herbs, cheese, whatever!

Did anyone eat any yummy veggie meals this weekend?  I'd love to hear about them :)