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Breanna's personal Pinterest board

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Discover recipes, home ideas, style inspiration and other ideas to try.

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Organic produce CSA

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Kokkoya Organics. 1.6K likes. An urban farm in Yangon.

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Make an informed decision

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We've all been there. You go to start a recipe for your favorite chili or bean soup or from-scratch hummus and then it hits you: you forgot to soak the beans! Of course you can reach for canned beans at this point, but if freshly cooked beans are what you really want, then read on for how to quick-soak your beans and cut the soaking time down to just one hour.

Whether you plan your recipe the night before or an hour before, we highly recommend that you soak your dried beans before cooking them. This presoak begins the softening process and allows the beans to cook more quickly and evenly. Ideally, you would soak the beans for several hours before cooking, often overnight, so the beans have plenty of time to absorb water slowly.

But if you don't have time for a long soak or just plain forgot, then there's still hope. This quick-soak method shortcuts the hours of waiting by first bringing the beans to a boil, then letting them soak in the hot water for about an hour. This doesn't actually cook the beans - they're not ready to eat quite yet - but this puts your beans at the starting line, just as if you'd soaked them overnight.

How To Quick-Soak Dried Beans

What You Need

Ingredients
Dried beans, any amount
Water

Equipment
Saucepan or small Dutch oven

Instructions

1. Rinse the beans: Pour the beans into a colander and rinse them under cool running water. Check and discard any stones or other debris. Drain.

2. Transfer to the saucepan and cover with water: Tip the beans into a pot and cover with about 2 inches of water.

3. Boil the beans: Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Cook the beans for 1 minute, then remove the pot from the heat.

4. Soak for 1 hour: Cover with a lid and let the beans to soak in the warm water for one hour.

5. Drain the beans: Drain the beans into a colander. Rinse and begin to cook according to your recipe.

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How To Quick-Soak Dried Beans in Just One Hour

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We've all been there. You go to start a recipe for your favorite chili or bean soup or from-scratch hummus and then it hits you: you forgot to soak the beans!

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Aspire to Eat Less Meat? Then You're a Reducetarian!

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The reducetarian community eats less meat and enjoys a healthy lifestyle through a sustainable diet that spares animals from cruelty.

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Local Chemical Free Produce

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Go Green Store - Buy chemical free fruits and vegetables

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We have wide arrays of fresh fruits and chemical free vegetables along with miscellaneous healthy snacks and cooking condiments to support your healthy lifestyle.

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Local online grocery store

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Local soy milk and tofu

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SoyAi Myanmar, Bahan Yangon. 4.8K likes. We want to have better tomorrow and Soyai is the Self-substainability Business.

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Plant based restaurants in Yangon

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Search Results for 15 miles from yangon - HappyCow

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451, Pyay Road, 8 Ward, Kamayut Township, Yangon, Myanmar

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Comprehensive, free starter kits

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Plant-Based (Vegan) Starter Kit - Vegetarian Society Singapore

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Step 1 Step 2 Download your favorite starter kit below that matches your motivation - all free! Step 3 Explore all the resources on AASG website! - Where can you eat out at? - Where can you find comfort foods to satisfy cravings? - Want to meet others on the journey?

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I love the vegetable section in Asian grocery stores because there are so many greens to choose from, especially when I'm tired of kale and chard. But for those who haven't cooked a lot with Asian greens, the produce aisle might be a bit overwhelming, especially since the greens can go by multiple names.

As with most greens, Asian greens can be steamed, stir-fried, stewed, braised, chopped, and cooked in dumplings or soups. Some of these can even be served raw in salads! Here's a guide to some popular varieties to help you shop like a pro.

1. Napa Cabbage

Also known as: Chinese cabbage

Napa cabbage is probably the most well-known, as it's also available in non-Asian supermarkets. It's a large vegetable with white stalks and pale green leaves arranged cruciferously. The shape is oblong. Napa has a mild taste and a soft texture when cooked, and it's the key ingredient in Korean kimchi. Napa is best used in stir-fries and soups, but is also great eaten raw.

2. Gai Lan

Also known as: Chinese broccoli, kai lan

Gai lan is a dark-green vegetable with thick, glossy stalks, large leaves, and small yellow flower heads in the center. It's a little more bitter than broccoli, but the stalks taste similar to broccoli stalks. It's usually steamed and served with oyster sauce, although it can be used in stir-fries if the stalks are blanched first.

3. Pea Shoots

Also known as: Snow pea shoots, snow pea tips, snow pea leaves, pea tendrils

Snow pea shoots have hollow stems with tender leaves, and thin, wispy tendrils. They have a mild, delicate flavor and are often stir-fried with garlic, cooked in soups, or eaten raw in salads.

4. Bok Choy

Also known as: Pok choy,bok choi, Chinese white cabbage

Bok choy is a vegetable sold in either mature or baby form and is easy to find now in conventional grocery stores. Mature bok choy has white stems and dark-green leaves; baby bok choy is smaller and light-green in color. It has a mild flavor similar to chard, and is best used in stir-fries, braises, soups, and stews.

5. Yau Choy

Also known as: Yu choy sum, yu choy, yao choy, Chinese oil vegetable, sometimes labeled choy sum or choi sum (although that can technically refer to any variety of baby Chinese greens)

Yau choy (translated from Chinese to mean "oil vegetable") has dark-green leaves and pale, thin stems, and sometimes is attached with edible yellow flowers. Use yau choy the same way as bok choy - steamed or stir-fried.

6. Gai Choy

Also known as: Chinese mustard greens, Chinese mustard, Indian mustard

Gai choy is a large vegetable that is a dark yellowish-green color. Usually some of the stems and leaves are ruffly and curled. It has a bit of a mustardy, spicy "bite" to it. Red mustard greens have a flavor similar to wasabi.

Gai choy is usually pickled, stir-fried, stewed, or braised. It's recommended that it's blanched first if you want to remove some of the bitterness.

7. Water Spinach

Also known as: Water spinach, Chinese water spinach, ong choy, river spinach

This tall, leafy green has hollow stems and tender leaves with a mild, sweet flavor. Unlike regular spinach, water spinach does not leave that weird coating on your teeth you when eat it. It is traditionally stir-fried with a pungent shrimp paste in Chinese cooking, but can be used in much the same way traditional spinach is used, although it does not wilt down as much and stays relatively crunchy.

8. Chinese Celery

Chinese celery looks like traditional celery, but has much thinner stalks and usually has the leafy tops attached. It has the same aroma and flavor of celery, although some say it is more intense in flavor than traditional celery. The stalks can be a bit fibrous, but Chinese celery is great in soups and stir-fries - and both the stalks and leaves are used.

9. Shanghai Bok Choy

This version of bok choy has light-green leaves and pale yellow-green stalks. It has a sweet, delicate flavor and can be used in much the same way as baby bok choy.

10. Amaranth Greens

You're probably more familiar with amaranth seeds and flour, but the beautiful greens, which used to be seen as weeds, are edible both raw and cooked. Amaranth greens come labeled as white (although mostly green in color) or red (with red or purple streaks) varieties, contain a lot of protein, and have a delicate flavor and generally tender, hollow stems. Cook into stir fries or soups or eat raw but note that there may be a slight astringent flavor. Look for younger varieties and avoid bunches with budding flowers, which indicates maturity.

Updated from a post originally published October 22, 2009 by Kathryn Hill.

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A Visual Guide to 10 Varieties of Asian Greens

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I love the vegetable section in Asian grocery stores because there are so many greens to choose from, especially when I'm tired of kale and chard. But for those who haven't cooked a lot with Asian greens, the produce aisle might be a bit overwhelming, especially since the greens can go by multiple names.

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Local tahini and peanut butter

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Roots Myanmar. 339 likes. Supporting farmers going back to their organic roots. Sesame. Peanuts. Locally grown. Locally roasted. Stone ground and delicious.

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Vegetarian meal prep recipes- spend some time prepping these recipes on the weekend and you will have healthy meals for the whole week! Save money, reduce your stress, and eat healthier!

This year, we've been incorporating more and more vegetarian meals into our lives. I think I may have finally convinced Ben that vegetarian food can be just as filling as a meal with meat!

Increasing the number of vegetarian meals you eat can have a surprising number of benefits, including lowering your risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer, as well as reducing impact on the environment ( source). And by no means do you have to go 100% vegetarian to gain these health and environmental benefits, just swapping out a couple of meals per week can make a difference.

It's really easy to convert many of the meal prep recipes on Sweet Peas & Saffron into vegetarian meals, but I've been working hard to come up with 100% vegetarian meals as well. They are even simpler to throw together than meat-based recipes because often, opening a can of beans will do the trick when it comes to your protein. How easy is that?!

Today I'm sharing with you 25 Vegetarian Meal Prep Recipes...these are all lunch and dinner recipes since they are the harder recipes to find. If you are looking for meal prep breakfast recipes, check out this round-up of 28 Healthy Breakfast Meal Prep Ideas; most of them are already vegetarian. Looking for 100% plant based vegan meal prep recipes? Check out this round-up of 25 Vegan Meal Prep Recipes.

Shall we check out these vegetarian meal prep recipes?

1. Cauliflower Rice Black Bean Burritos from Sweet Peas & Saffron // 2. Meal Prep Veggie Stir Fry from Wholefully

3. Sundried Tomato Chickpea One Pot Pasta (Meal Prep) from Sweet Peas & Saffron // 4. Pho Soup Made In Mason Jar by Veggie Balance

5. Grilled Veggie & Black Bean Meal Prep Bowls from Sweet Peas & Saffron // 6. Roasted Broccoli Chickpea Quinoa Bowls from Nourished The Blog

7. Slow Cooker Chickpea Tortilla Soup (Freezer to Crock Pot) from Sweet Peas & Saffron // 8. Curried Chickpea Bowls with Garlicky Spinach from Eating Bird Food

9. Meal Prep Chopped Chickpea Salad from Sweet Peas & Saffron // 10. Crockpot Vegetarian Curried Lentils from New Leaf Wellness

11. Lasagna Stuffed Portobellos (Freezer to Oven) from Sweet Peas & Saffron // 12. Teriyaki Quinoa Bowls from Simply Quinoa

13. Freezer to Oven Enchilada-Stuffed Sweet Potatoes from Sweet Peas & Saffron

14. Rainbow Power Salad from Pinch of Yum

15. (Make Ahead) One Pot Black Bean Fajita Pasta from Sweet Peas & Saffron

16. Black Bean Salad with Roasted Sweet Potatoes from Naturally Ella

17. Smashed White Bean Spinach Quesadillas (Freezer Friendly) from Sweet Peas & Saffron

18. Healthy Make-Ahead Burritos from Yummy Mummy Kitchen

19. Make Ahead Chickpea Butternut Squash Fajitas

20. Meal Prep Balsamic Tempeh & Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Bowls from Simply Quinoa

21. Chickpea, Barley and Butternut Squash Lunch Bowls from Sweet Peas & Saffron

22. Vegetarian Black Bean Enchiladas from A Cedar Spoon

23. Southwestern Sweet Potato Jar Salads from Sweet Peas & Saffron

24. Broccoli Quinoa Casserole from Eat Good 4 Life

25. Cauliflower Cashew Lunch Bowls from Sweet Peas & Saffron

Bonus! Butternut Squash Enchilada Casserole from Sweet Peas & Saffron

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25 Vegetarian Meal Prep Recipes | Sweet Peas and Saffron

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Vegetarian meal prep recipes- spend some time prepping these recipes on the weekend and you will have healthy meals for the whole week! Save money, reduce your stress, and eat healthier! This year, we've been incorporating more and more vegetarian meals into our lives.

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Singapore Vegan Blog

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More Than Veggies - Plant-based recipes inspired by Asia, from Singapore

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Plant-based recipes inspired by Asia, from Singapore

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The latest blog post from VeganHealth.org

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Join The VRG with $35 via our subscription form, and receive the Vegetarian Journal for two years and a copy of Simply Vegan!

Support The VRG

Help yourself and others. Click here for ways to support this website and The Vegetarian Resource Group.

The Vegetarian Journal Online

Read the latest articles ( PDF):

Kale Salads Every Day!; The Long and Short of It: All Kinds of Rice; The VRG's 2020 Video Contest Winners; Latin American Food High in Calcium; Nutrition Hotline; Note From the Coordinators; Letters to the Editors; Scientific Update; Notes from The VRG Scientific Department; Veggie Bits; Book Reviews; Vegan Cooking Tips; Vegan Action; Back Cover

Featured VRG Publications

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VRG's Vegetarian Video

Check out VRG's video, "A Hunter's Guide to His Vegetarian Daughter and His Vegan Son," and share with your friends!

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vegetarian recipes vegetarianism vegan nutrition health jewish cookbook teacher lowfat low-fat food ingredients animal non-leather

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Join The VRG with $35 via our subscription form, and receive the Vegetarian Journal for two years and a copy of Simply Vegan! Help yourself and others. Click here for ways to support this website and The Vegetarian Resource Group.

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The 'Dirty Dozen' isn't a uniform worldwide list. Find out where you might be getting exposed and the best sources for pesticide-free produce and products. By Laura Paul
Wide use of pesticides began in the United States in the early 1950s and has since spread worldwide in the production of food. The term 'pesticides' includes insecticides and herbicides that inhibit weeds and prevent insects from destroying plants. Today, approximately 5.6 billion pounds of pesticide are used per year worldwide. This in-depth look will explore ways in which these chemicals find their way into our bodies systems through our food supply.

In Hong Kong, we get our food from all over the world. The standards and regulations surrounding the use of pesticides vary per country, though The World Health Organisation's Core Assessment Group reviews pesticide toxicological data and estimates the acceptable daily intake (ADI) for individual pesticides. ADI is often used as the global standard in research on the effects of pesticides in your daily food.

Most likely you have heard of the 'Dirty Dozen,' but did you know that the dirty dozen is not a uniform list around the world? In the United States, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has an extensive report detailing the highest concentrations of pesticides in the most widely known 'Dirty Dozen' list. In the United Kingdom, Pesticide Action Network UK (PAN UK) increases consumer awareness on pesticide levels of European produce. Their Pesticides on a Plate guidelays out an array of test results, and their website whatsonmyfood.org provides extensive information. Australia-based Friends of the Earth published The Dose Makes the Poison highlighting fruit and vegetables containing pesticide residues. Finally, The Centre for Food Safety in Hong Kong published a report in June 2012 called The First Hong Kong Total Diet Study: Pesticide Residues Report No.4, which categorized 150 foods and their pesticide residues.

The most disturbing food from the EWG report in the United States is the grape. According to EWG findings, "A single grape sample contained 15 pesticides. Single samples of celery, tomatoes, imported snap peas and strawberries showed 13 different pesticides." And whilst no short-term toxicity is shown in humans or animals, research "studies involving life-long exposure in rodents have demonstrated liver and kidney dysfunction and a significant increased risk of cancer, with shortened lifespans."
FOOD IN HONG KONG
You can find solace in sourcing some produce from Europe where there is a higher degree of regulation, especially with baby food. But, even Europe has seen a decrease in the number of pesticide-free or pesticide-reduced options. Soft orchard fruits like nectarines and peaches had a 100% incidence of pesticide residues with over 96% of samples containing more than one pesticide. Surprisingly, in the UK and Australia, one of the greatest offenders is flour. In response to this finding, PAN UK published Pesticides in Your Daily Bread outlining the multiple chemicals and residues found everyday in your tasty sandwiches and baguettes.

What about food in Hong Kong? The Centre for Food Safety's report called The First Hong Kong Total Diet Study: Pesticide Residues Report No.4 (TDS) is a comprehensive report with over 90 pages of detailed information from foods tested to the exact pesticide residue found on the food. It is impressive in its depth and breadth and the spokesman at the CFS was very responsive in answering questions. The spokesperson did clarify that even though some residues are higher in certain foods, the TDS " considered the exposure to chemicals from the whole diet and not just individual foods." Samples were examined based on the four main pesticide categories of organophosophates, carbamates, pyrethrins and

dithiocarbamates. CFS tested vegetables, fruits, some processed foods and meats. Food samples were obtained through different outlets such as wet markets, supermarkets and restaurants.

With these daunting facts in hand, consumers are still left in a quandry on what to purchase at markets and what is safe to order at restaurants. Furthermore, research is falling behind, as the combined toxicity effects of multiple pesticide residues present in fruit or vegetables has not been studied according to the spokesman for the Centre for Food Safety. Pesticides have only been studied on an individual basis, despite the widely accepted practice of using multiple pesticide formulations. Additionally, when estimating ADI, researchers assume an average body weight. Consideration should be given to groups such as children, the elderly and populations below the average body weight. These individuals consume a higher percentage of pesticides per kilogram of body weight. Moreover, children now consume pesticides in larger quantities than past generations, and no targeted research has been conducted on the effects of long-term pesticide consumption on child development.

When discussing pesticides, it's important to mention the concentration of pesticides in processed food. Author Michael Pollan, who highlights the plight of the potato in his book Omnivores Dilemma, talks about potatoes produced for fast food being sprayed with such toxic pesticides that there is a period of five days where no person can go into the field, even if important equipment breaks down. He goes on to write on his website that potatoes are now being modified to produce their own insecticide, bacillus thuringiensis, that causes potato beetles to die from the bacterial toxin upon eating the leaves. Furthermore, pesticides become more concentrated in some foods like jams and jellies when they are cooked.

The easiest solution for avoiding pesticides is to buy organic items. However, the price point for organic is not realistic for all consumers. Helen Scott of Mango Menus, an online guide to food shopping in Hong Kong, understands this challenge. One of her aims is to source deals for organic produce and meat every week through her website mangomenus.com. She says, "I often have exclusive deals with online vegetable and produce companies or with other online companies that sell organic produce." Her Hong Kong-focused food guide and meal planning service gathers local deals every month. Subscribers can usually enjoy a discount of 10-20% by signing up for her monthly e-mail which adds up to large potential savings.

Sonalie Figuieras and Tracy Turo of Ekowarehouse, an online business-to-business platform for certified green products, have spent a great deal of time researching the breadth of organic labels from across the world. There are dozens of organic governmental and independent non-profit organization certification schemes. They explain that organic produce cannot be grown with synthetic pesticides. Organic processed products can have a varying percentage of organic ingredients but may still have the 'organic' label. The only way to verify a product is completely organic is to either read the ingredients label carefully or look for packaging with the '100% organic' label.

To make matters more complicated, the technicalities of organic language does not necessarily mean foods are pesticide-free. Pesticides derived from natural sources can be used, according to organic guidelines. One such natural pesticide is called spinosad. Spinosad is similar to carbamates and is particularly toxic to bees before the product has dried on the plant.

If you cannot purchase organic, the next best solution is to wash your produce thoroughly. Soft-skinned and waxy produce generally have more pesticide residues after washing, so it is recommended to lightly rub the produce with a cloth or vegetable scrubber. Although water can be effective, the best option is a diluted vinegar rinse. A study conducted by the Stateof Connecticut's Department of Analytical Chemistry compared four different washes, a 1% dish soap solution, and rinsing with water alone. This study confirmed that rinsing with water was equally effective as any special solution or spray. Hong Kong's Total Diet Study recommends soaking vegetables for at least an hour and gently rubbing produce where applicable.

Whether imported or local, most conventional produce will contain at least one pesticide and most will have several. By alternating the foods you eat, you vary the types of pesticides ingested plus your body will be thankful for the different sources of nutrition.

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The Dirty Truth About Pesticides in Asia - Healthy Living Asia

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The 'Dirty Dozen' isn't a uniform worldwide list. Find out where you might be getting exposed and the best sources for pesticide-free produce and products. By Laura Paul Wide use of pesticides began in the United States in the early 1950s and has since spread worldwide in the production of food.

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Researchers recently used an organ-on-a-chip model to study the interaction between human blood vessel tissue and brain tissue derived from human stem cells. They discovered that the blood vessel tissue can activate genes to direct the development and maturation of spinal cord tissue.