Three recipes and a PlantPure page

First, a warm welcome to our new members --- Terri in Los Angeles, Charlotte Jean in Sedona, Arizona, and Mark and Jennifer Gallagher in Vancouver, Washington! Jennifer and Mark came to our Spring Potluck in Portland last weekend, bringing fresh enthusiasm for the plant-based path.

There were fifteen of us this time, enjoying a splendid array of potluck dishes. We'll be sharing all the recipes over the next few weeks, starting with these two:
Susan's colorful salad :http://mindfulcooking.org/recipes/roasted-cauliflower-chickpea-and-golde...
and Bob and Steve's delicious potato-tempeh-tofu casserole: Mom’s Morning Casserole

Once we were settled, we went around the room and each of us told something of where we were with food. We heard that shifting to whole foods can make your thought processes clearer... it's easy to be satisfied on a meal as simple as millet and cabbage.... it feels good to move your diet into alignment with your values... Cathy is teaching plant-based nutrition to health professionals in an online course... Diane volunteers in nutrition education for the Food Bank... there is a good new restaurant in Portland called Epif... We talked about addictions and learned that alcohol addiction is related to sugar cravings .... and chocolate cravings can be overcome using the mindfulness methods of Scott Kiloby (seen on YouTube).

We ended up in a conversation about how "pure" we need to be -- whether in terms of certain ingredients (salt, sugar, oil) or of avoiding all animal products --- at this point I affirmed that our project is about exploring the possibilities of plant-based food together, not about striving for perfection. Steven put it in perspective by reminding us that we are about mindful cooking: the goal is to make our choices with awareness and be able to "hold the tension" of the differences among us. Each of us can also hold lightly our uncertainty as we wonder, 'how far can I go with this?' We can just relax, explore and see where it takes us.

Turning to a new subject here, Linda Hendrickson has found a nifty new way for us to talk to each other online. She has made a page for us on Plant Pure Pods! This link should give you a chance to look at it. I'll send a separate email with all the directions for getting connected to it.
https://www.plantpurepods.com/podsdirect/

Before I end, here is that third recipe, Hearty Hemp Bars (my current addiction ;-)
Hearty Hemp Bars

Happy cooking,
Eve