Helping you thrive with plant-based nutrition for a long & healthy life.

I love and collect a lot of fun art but the photo above is one my favorites. It was drawn by a homeless child I tutored in a local shelter. Despite her dire situation, she found a special place in herself and drew such a beautiful positive message – Joyful! (with a g – don’t worry we worked on her spelling).

It got me thinking about faith and how much faith it takes to try to change your life. Certainly deciding to become a vegan took faith. My grandmother spoke about faith a lot to me when I was growing up. If I lost my glasses – my grandmother would say “if you have faith, you will find them”. If something upset me at school – she would tell me to have faith in people.

It really stayed with me and I believe that one believes what one tells themselves over and over again.

I recently read “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell and I loved his perspective on genius, work ethic and what it takes to accomplish anything (including being a vegan) and in one word it is practice. I think faith can be practiced everyday by believing in it.  So have faith in yourself today in what ever challenges you and remember faith is a magnetic force to a positive life. We all deserve that!

So here is what I had for dinner last night. A simple stir fry of green beans and tempeh. Quick, easy and satisfying. If you don’t know what tempeh is – it is a traditional soy product originally from Indonesia.

It is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into cake form. To be honest – it kind of looks a little gross but tastes good and pretty much takes on what ever flavors you add to it.   It also has a nice crunch which is missing in a lot of vegan meals. The best thing about tempeh is that it’s a great source of protein, easily absorbed by the body, high in fiber and has been proven to help lower cholesterol. I tried it in a traditional Indonesian dish with an ordinary vegan twist (meaning spicy of course and not as many ingredients). It’s day 86 – Wish me luck!

SPICY TEMPEH & GREEN BEANS

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Servings: 2

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

Main

• 1 1/2 tsp red chili powder
• 1 1/2 tsp low sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• juice of 1 small lime
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 cups trimmed green beans
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp red curry paste (or red chili paste if you don’t like curry)
• 8 oz block tempeh
• 4 red chili peppers, seeded and chopped (I like serrano) You don’t have to add this many – I just like things spicy
• 1/8 to 1/4 cup vegetable broth

Method

 

Steps

1. In a medium bowl, with your hands crumble the block of tempeh
2. In a small bowl, mix together chili powder, soy, salt, sugar and lime – set aside
3. In a large wok or skillet, heat oil, over high heat. Add green beans, red curry paste and the veggie broth. Cook 3 minutes, shaking pan and flipping every 30 seconds. Add tempeh, garlic and chili peppers and cook 3 minutes, gently flipping every 30 seconds to brown tempeh on all sides. Add chili powder sauce and cook 1-2 minutes, shaking often until green beans and tempeh have browned. You want the tempeh brown and the green beans crisp.