Plant-Powered Food for Thought

and more on Diet and Environment. 😊 Howdy, everyone! Hope you enjoyed yesterday’s Super Food Pesto recipe as much as I did! Today, we are jumping into Latin American flavors with Refreshing Green Lentil Tacos. I used to make beef tacos a lot, but post-Cowspiracy Kylie made some pretty drastic changes in her diet. Here I was thinking I was a top-notch environmentalist by bringing reusable bags to the grocery, having a reusable K-cup, reusable “cling wrap”, and more. But what I wasn’t prepared for when I hit play on “Cowspiracy” was the truth that no matter how much effort I put forth for the environment, if I continued to eat meat consistently, my carbon footprint, contribution to habitat loss, waste of fresh water, etc. would only continue to skyrocket. *Now, obviously, I still make these efforts and applaud all my green-minded friends who make these efforts. Any step you take, small or large, has a positive ripple effect. But do be prepared. The following are just

Good afternoon, friends. Today, I am so excited to share with you a favorite of mine: Super Food Pesto . It is packed with freshness, flavor, and nutrients. But first, more on why I decided to abandon my old familiar favorites and pursue these new ones. Where did we leave off? Oh yes, the high school dissection. How could I forget? T hat dissection was so traumatizing for me that I had a vivid dream my rat came to life--skinned and all--grew to the size of Godzilla, and chased me through my school. Speaking of funny young-Kylie stories, I used to be a hunting family’s nightmare. My grandpa tried to take me fishing, but I was so distraught to see the fish hooked, that I would release them to safety from reservoir in the back of the boat. Grandpa soon stopped taking me fishing. Any who, my love for animals and my dissection-realization of what meat really was opened my mind a millimeter to the possibility of vegetarianism. But man, every time I thought about it

and more on my background.  As mentioned previously, I have not always been one of those “crazy” vegetarians. In fact, I’ve probably said, “I could never be a vegetarian”--mmm--one hundred times in my life? Throw the possibility of vegan in, and I was certain, I mean certain, that this could never be in my future. I discovered buffalo chicken wings and filet mignon at a young age. I was into the really fancy stuff, none of that kids menu or fast food meat. Although, I did have a thing for Arby’s roast beef. In fact, at one point, my two favorite foods were chicken and ice cream. In college, I frequently had chicken at lunch and dinner, under the impression that it was a health-food, and therefore should make up a large part of my diet (I’ll speak more specifically on health in the coming weeks). However, a couple things got me somewhat open to vegetarianism (and, believe it or not, veganism) eventually. For one, I love animals. As a kid, I made friends with the salama