Fun with pasta

No time for sass today. We're going to get straight to the FOOD.

The easiest vegan meal to make is pasta. EVERYTHING goes with pasta. Just pick your favorite vegetables and hop to it!

I made this pasta salad to take to work for lunch. Here I started with Ancient Harvest Gluten Free Organic Pasta (made with quinoa), and added steamed zucchini and yellow squash, grape tomatoes, black olives, sundried tomatoes, Italian dressing (Whole Foods 365 brand) and vegan grated topping from Galaxy Nutritional Foods. I usually only make two days' worth at a time because I'm a little picky about "leftovers." But you can probably make up to 4 days' worth and it would still be good.

Product of the Day: Lush Aqua Marina cleanser roll. This little is effective but gentle on sensitive skin. Apparently it's all in the seaweed. It looks like a very strange sushi roll. An added bonus is that it is technically a solid so you can put it in your carry-on bag when you fly. I don't see how I can ever go back to any other cleanser. I tend to use several of Philosphy's products but even they seem a bit harsh and synthetic in comparison to Lush products.

Tubers are tubular

My cousin Alisa and I were discussing the merits of sweet potatoes last weekend, and I realized that I eat them far too infrequently considering how tubular they are. Nothing against good old Russet potatoes, but pretty much every traditional potato dish can be re-made deliciously with sweet potatoes: mashed, baked, French fries, even chips...you just can't go wrong with a sweet potato.

Caution: Vegecagoan is going to be a bit educational today.

For this post I did a little research on the nutritional value of Russet potatoes and sweet potatoes. Check out the comparison of some of my fave nutrients:

Source: Nutrition Data (www.nutritiondata.com) which apparently trademarked the term "Estimated Glycemic Load™" or "eGL." But I made this chart myself!!!

Contrary to popular belief, partly due to that crazy Atkins™ phase Americans went through around the millennium, Russet potatoes are not "bad" for you. It is true that sweet potatoes are stars when it comes to fiber, Vitamin A and Vitamin C, but other than that they are quite similar to their friend Russet.

I expected the eGL of the sweet potato to be lower than it is. Estimated Glycemic Load™ is Nutrition Data's take on the glycemic index. A higher number means that when you consume a certain food, your blood sugar spikes. This is not good. Ideally you want to keep your blood sugar levels consistent throughout the day, or at least on a smooth trajectory. This prevents a ton of bad outcomes, ranging from sleepiness (a mental "crash") to breakouts. As a reference point, a serving of tofu has a eGL of about 2. This is very good.

That's enough for today. Now please don't make fun of me if you witness me succumb to the temptation of regular white French fries.

Quick recipe that you can easily remember: Cut a sweet potato into slices. Lay the slices flat on a baking sheet and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and fresh pepper. You might also try a little paprika. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

Full disclosure: the tuber in the picture is actually a yam (and that's tempeh in the bottom left corner). It turns out that the yam is not the nutritional powerhouse that its döppelganger is, but I didn't know this when I was cooking earlier this week. Choose sweet potatoes...learn from my mistakes.

Product of the Day: Another Giovanni product...Giovanni Invigorating Conditioner - Tea Tree Triple Treat conditioner. I've been using this for about a week, in combination with semi-weekly treatments of NutraFix Hair Reconstructor. My bathroom is quickly filling up with Giovanni products. Great products, great prices, no critters.