vegan

3 Comments Posted on food reviews, Health, Uncategorized, vegan

Recipe For Vegan Banana Split Milkshake With No Added Sugar Or Anything Artificial

My 3 and a half year-old son is now so used to me reviewing everything from cars, to road trips, to food products, one of his new catch phrases is, “Daddy, don’t do a review on that!”

vegan banana split milkshake recipe Nick Shell

But it’s just that I am so passionate to share things I enjoy, including my own new recipe for “Vegan Banana Split Milkshake With No Added Sugar Or Anything Artificial,” that I just couldn’t resist from taking pictures to share with my vegan-curious friends.

I figure there are enough people out there, like me, who physically can’t process much processed sugar without suffering from some kind of ailment. For example, my eczema would return if I went back to consuming added sugar in my food.

With that being said, this recipe is for anyone who wants the idea of a Banana Split Milkshake but from a dairy free, no added sugar, nothing anything artificial perspective.

My version also does not include peanuts- most of which are GMO.

I am providing convenient photo collages of the ingredients along with my original recipe.

When I am craving “bad” food, like a traditional banana split and/or milkshake, I ask myself, what is my body actually craving?

The answer: Good fats (from nuts and seeds) and good sugars (from non-juiced fruit, not separated from the fiber found in that fruit).

vegan banana split milkshake recipe Nick Shell

Therefore, my recipe for “Vegan Banana Split Milkshake With No Added Sugar Or Anything Artificial” is actually completely nutritious and completely filling.

Not to mention, it contains less than 1% of your daily cholesterol intake. Research that concept- it’s a big deal!

I’m not saying it tastes as awesome as the real thing, but it works for me. Do you want to try it?

Instructions: Place all ingredients except for the cherry in a blender, put on “crush ice” mode. Pour into a chilled, quirky glass. Then place the cherry on top. Done.

(Instagramming optional.)

vegan milkshake recipe

“Vegan Banana Split Milkshake With No Added Sugar Or Anything Artificial” By Nick Shell

Serves one:

1 banana

1 palmful of strawberries

1 palmful of cashews

1 cup of unsweetened almond milk

1 cup of ice

1 serving of chia seeds

1 serving of unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cherry (on top)

If you do ended up trying my recipe, I would love to know about it. Thanks!

Leave a comment Posted on Health, parenting, vegan

Non-Petroleum Candies Melt In Your Bed, Not In Your Hand

October 8, 2013 at 11:01 pm , by 

2 years, 10 months.

Dear Jack,

I imagine it’s pretty typical for parents to reward/bribe their child with M&M’s during the process of potty training.

However, we’ve watched a few too many documentaries on Netflix to let you eat candy that contains petroleum-based dyes, like M&M’s do.

Instead, we found that Kroger now has their own brand of healthier (and less chemical friendly) alternatives to classic favorites.

I don’t you want to end up like I did as a kid, suffering from anxiety problemsand digestion issues due to food dyes that aren’t actually food.

After all, no one willingly chooses to eat petroleum… yet the FDA approves it as a food additive.

Just like with the beaver [body parts] in vanilla and strawberry flavorings…

But Kroger’s brand, called Simple Truth, makes what they call “Candy Coated Milk Chocolate Drops.”

Basically, they’re M&M’s without petroleum and tar ingredients. Instead, they’re colored with vegetable juice.

So, the deal is, Mommy lets you have two of them every time you go potty… on the potty.

Saturday night, you convinced her to let you sleep with the bag, which only contained about 5 remaining candies.

Mommy trusted you not to eat the candy, but to simply hold the bag all night, like you do your monster trucks and trains.

And you did.

You woke up in a haze Sunday morning, as Mommy and I walked into your room after hearing you mutter something about cats.

There you were, wrapped up tightly in your blanket, with your arms tucked down inside.

As we unwrapped you like a stuffed burrito, we discovered the bag of chocolate candy, still clenched tightly in your grip.

Well, you didn’t eat them, just as Mommy trusted you wouldn’t.

But as you look at the comparative picture above, you can see that your candies melted to mush in the night.

Good thing we had another bag ready for you in the pantry.

 

Love,

Daddy

 

Leave a comment Posted on parenting, vegan

Quality Family Time For My Kid Is… Going To Whole Foods?

September 28, 2013 at 6:37 am , by 

2 years, 10 months.

Dear Jack,

Mommy and I do our best to make sure that the little time we have together as a family is as quality time as possible.

We recognize that even the exact events that are intended to be exciting family adventures can end up taking away from quality time instead of enhancing it.

Knowing that we’ve got a fun road trip to Louisville coming up in just two weeks, we’re trying to make sure that this weekend and next are relatively chill.

It could be easy to assume that the low key events that take place on weekends like this would be somehwhat not that exciting for you.

But I can’t be too sure…

On Monday at your school, I saw on the wall a giant list entitled “What Do We Do With Our Families?”

As usual, you had perhaps the most seemingly random answer of all for the list:

“I go to Whole Foods and go to the pool with Daddy and Mommy!”

The pool part makes sense… but Whole Foods?

I thought it might truly just be nothing more than a random answer, but this reference to Whole Foods came up on again on Friday.

Mrs. Tonya, your school’s director, was telling me how you, the assistant director, and some of your friends were sitting at a table, pretending to be riding in a car.

When Ms. Lisa, the assistant director, asked where everyone wanted to go, the answers immediately starting coming in from your friends: to the playground, to the zoo, to play with toys, etc.

Then came your answer:

“Let’s go to Whole Foods!”

I imagine it was one of those moments where it was as if music was playing, then suddendly, the DJ stopped the vinyl record and everyone froze what their were doing, in an instant state of confusion.

Lesson learned.

Even if it seems to me like certain family activities would not be fun for you, like buying groceries with Mommy and Daddy at Whole Foods, there’s still a decent chance you may identify that event as the most exciting one there is.

 

Love,

Daddy

 

2 Comments Posted on Health, parenting, vegan

Nashville Dad Attempts To Give Up Caffeine For Life

September 15, 2013 at 12:56 am , by 

Leave a comment Posted on Health, parenting, vegan

It’s Okay To Question Where Your Food Comes From

September 11, 2013 at 11:00 pm , by 

2 years, 9 months.

Dear Jack,

Especially as you become age-appropriate to read today’s PG-rated letter, I want you to always question where your food comes from. After you find out, and you decide that you still want to eat it, then, cool.

But I will always challenge you to question the ingredients and/or sources of your food.

I grew up always wondering what was really in hot dogs. (We didn’t have the Internet or YouTube back in the Eighties.)

Now that I know, I’ve learned it’s actually not as disgusting as what the FDA allows food companies to label as “natural flavoring.”

Back on February 12, 2012 (a year and 7 months ago) I wrote, “Is “Natural” Vanilla Flavoring Really From Beavers’ Anal Glands?”

Granted, it’s not the most sophisticated thing I’ve ever written. I figured many people assumed I was just being a weirdo and/or a conspiracy theorist. But that post has received more Facebook likes than other particular post I have ever written: over 1,100.

Apparently, enough people out there in the world are like me, brave enough to question and investigate where our food actually comes from.

My hero in that field is Vani, A.K.A., the Food Babe. I follow her on Facebook and learned that she covered the “natural” beaver flavoring story this week!

She’s the one who earlier this year helped start that petition to Kraft, asking them to remove the toxic petroleum-based food dyes from their macaroni and cheese, as it is for their products overseas.

Since then, she has caused me to question other things, like what’s really in beer.

The Food Babe has become one of my major regular news sources for information about food and nutrition. (That’s supposed to be the FDA’s job… I think.)

Some may say that talking about this is innappropriate.

But I say it would be more innappopriate to ignore what’s really going on just for the sake of not wanting to be perceived as innappropriate. It seems grosser to learn this unfortunate information and complain that it’s innopropriate, only to keep eating it.

I’m not afraid to ask questions about food. There’s nothing wrong with that.

Granted, I’m not necessarily safe to talk about these things on Facebook. I learned that the hard way earlier this summer when, in an effort to figure out the science behind why my constant sinus pressure and heavy mucus production (of 21 straight years) cleared up  immediately after I stopped eating dairy 6 months ago, I genuinely asked if there is already mucus in cows’ milk when people consume it.

That’s when I learned that politics, religion, and food are in the same category. They’re equally sensitive (and often, devisive) topics.

Still, I’m asking plenty of questions about our food everyday; and for better or worse, I’m learning a lot.

Yes, we’ve now become very serious about buying non-GMO and organic foods as much as possible. We don’t trust our health to corporations and their mysterious science-project types of ingredients.

We have control of the situation… by being brave enough to ask where our food really comes from and what effect it has on our bodies. Then we simply vote our beliefs with what shows up on our grocery bill each week.

Let the free market decide what is too disgusting to eat. Let us be the weird ones, if need be.

 

Love,

Daddy

 

Photo: Food Babe.