>>a taste of the vegetarian lifestyle
by
MANDYASHCRAFT
photosDUSTINASHCRAFT
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My name is Mandy, and I am from Corpus Christi TX. My hometown was labeled the “Fattest City in America” by Men’s Fitness magazine, which (as I finished a potato, bacon, egg, cheese, and avocado breakfast taco) I thought was really a shame. Corpus Christi has come a long way, grown beautifully and become more progressive…because we stopped to think about what we were doing with it and how to improve it. How could we make it feel better, look better, and function better in the long run? Your body is your own little city. I physically felt bad eating fatty foods, like I wasn’t getting anywhere; I felt like the magazine was exactly right and for good reason. And just like my hometown changed, I changed myself. I did some research, made educated decisions, and decided not to be a contributor to such an unhealthy statistic. I became vegetarian and it revealed (in a short time, actually) that any little effort you take towards your own health added up to a more positive existence as a whole. A lot of people claim that vegetarians try to “convert” other people to their lifestyle; gives me this image of hippies on bikes riding door to door with pamphlets, saying things like “Do you have a few minutes to talk about vegetables?” But rest assured, I have no such intentions. I don’t even have pamphlets.
E-mail me questions/recipe ideas! mandyashcraft314@gmail.com
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Ingredient of the day: Lemons.
The perfect Fourth of July barbecue is complete with a hot grill, cold drinks, good friends, close family, and the underlying fear of your roof catching on fire. As the sun sets on the giant South Texas mosquitoes, cool your guests off with a pitcher of fresh squeezed strawberry lemonade. It’s not only refreshing, it’s simple to make in large quantities, should you be forced to use a glass to extinguish flaming monkey grass in a sparkler-gone-awry situation. If you’re looking to get a little more patriotic for the holiday, try skewering fresh blueberries to use as a swizzle stick in each glass. You can also spike this recipe with 1 cup vodka. Thank you to My Baking Addiction for this recipe inspiration.
Homemade Strawberry Lemonade
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup strawberries
1 cup lemon juice (4-8 lemons depending on how large)
4-6 cups cold water (depending on how sweet or tart you prefer)
1 cup vodka (optional)
Slices of lemon and/or fresh mint as a garnish for glasses
1. Make a simple syrup by combining the sugar with 1 cup water in a saucepan. Place over medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved; swirl the pan occasionally.
2. Chop fresh strawberries coarsely into various sized pieces. As soon as the sugar is dissolved, add strawberries to simple syrup in pan, and stir. You’re creating a pink, strawberry syrup with fresh strawberry pieces. Reduce heat to low.
3. Add lemon juice, stir. Remove from heat and pour into a pitcher.
4. Add cold water and optional vodka. Refrigerate. Serve over ice, with slices of lemon.
5. You can also get crazy and add a couple sprigs of fresh mint.
Photo by Dustin Ashcraft.
