Ben Gordon takes VICE Sports to Matthew Kenny’s Plant Food and Wine in Venice, Calif., for a mesmerizing vegan meal and espouses on the many benefits.
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A beer cocktail is the perfect summer party drink, especially if you’re a guest. Start with a light beer, add juices and spices and serve. It’s really that easy.
Beer is already refreshing on a hot summer day but kick things up a notch with some hot sauce and lime for a classic Mexican michelada. Start with a can or bottle of light beer and add one of these simple combinations of fresh fruits, herbs and liquors. Even if you feel inspired by the Beastie Boys song, we don’t recommend actually making a “Brass Monkey” which consists of malt liquor and orange juice.
10 Beer Cocktail Recipes for Summer
Bison Brewing makes some truly delicious organic beer. This stunner uses the brand’s Organic Honey Basil blend for a riff on the classic summer julep of mint, sugar and crushed ice.
2. Peach Lambic and Rye Sangria
This genius pairing takes an already peachy Belgian Lambic beer and enhanced it with fresh peaches and smoky rye whiskey. Serve this at your summer barbecue as it makes an excellent compliment to smoked meat.
Start with a white IPA or citrusy beer like Blue Moon for this sweet cocktail with orange juice and fresh strawberries. Perfect for a light summer brunch cocktail.
Add pink lemonade (usually made with raspberries), fresh berries and lime juice to a very light beer.
Mixing beer and lemonade together is an age old favorite but add peach brandy for a very Southern twist. One sip and you’ll be transported to a grand home in Georgia with a wrap-around porch.
Another gorgeous beet cocktail from Bison Brewing uses its botanical brew, “Saison de Wench,” with a rose simple syrup, lemon juice and herbal gin.
Use a sturdy pale ale like Sierra Nevada for this pineapple and rosemary cocktail. Add pretty spears of pineapple to each drink for extra appeal.
This classic Mexican beer cocktail is spicy and refreshing. You really can’t go wrong with an ice cold Modelo, lime and hot sauce.
9. Watermelon Lemonade Beer Cocktail
Take advantage of watermelon season by adding the juice of one small watermelon to a pitcher with some lemonade and four Coronas.
10. Aperol Mist
The Italian purists might take issue with adding precious Aperol to anything other than sparkling water or wine. However, after a sip of the Aperol Mist, a blend of Aperol and Belgian wheat beer all will be forgiven. Don’t forget the lemon twist! Or try an orange?
Related on Organic Authority
Pineapple Lemonade image from Shutterstock.
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At just 35 years old, Josh Tetrick is at the helm of Hampton Creek, a rapidly growing food startup that’s about more than just mayo (get it?): According to Tetrick, it’s about fixing an outdated food system—a mission he recently described in an open letter to the presidential candidates.
“It’ll take courage, because this problem isn’t mentioned with the economy in the weekly Gallup poll of our most important problems. But polling data often ignores what’s stressing out good folks from Birmingham to Boston,” Tetrick wrote in the open letter. “Our outdated food system is the thread running through our most important problems, from diabetes and obesity (health care), to food deserts (race relations), to the decline of our family farms (economy). Folks don’t believe good food for everyone is possible.”
Tetrick founded Hampton Creek in 2011 as a food manufacturing and food technology hybrid. The company’s signature Just Mayo condiment is an eggless mayonnaise that utilizes pea protein and other plant-based ingredients to produce a healthier (and more affordable) product. The company also produces Just Cookies, an eggless, sustainable cookie.
But tasty, well-priced condiments and snacks are only part of a much bigger picture. Hamptom Creek’s fearless leader wants to change the face of the food industry. He thinks the high price of healthy foods is a political issue.
“We didn’t start this company just to sell food products,” he said in an interview with FoodNavigator-USA. “This relates to the reason why we started this company in the first place. Why is it that food that is healthy is too damned expensive?”
Tetrick, whose company has been working on plant-based ingredients that would make industrial eggs obsolete, wants to make food issues a centerpiece of the election. There’s a growing need to nurture food companies like his, and for mega food companies to take bigger strides to make food healthier. As Tetrick points out, healthy foods shouldn’t be a luxury that only the wealthy can afford.
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Image: Web Summit
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I could just sink my teeth into a few mouth-watering, drought-friendly recipes? Wait, what? Just exactly what makes a recipe drought-friendly anyway?
Basically, the rule is this: A drought-friendly meal must include ingredients that don’t require a lot of water to survive and thrive, and that can also be cooked with less water.
Now, you may be wondering, “who thought up this interesting concept?” Well, we’re sure many have come before them, but the duo’s story that caught our eye was Nathan Lyon and Sarah Forman. Lyon, a chef, and Forman, a culinary manager, wanted to be as sustainable as possible while concocting new dishes, so they took to the Water Footprint Network’s online tool and researched various water footprint studies. What did they create with their research, and was it good? Well, from where we’re sitting, the recipes Lyon and Forman made look amazing. We’ve listed two here to give you a taste of what they do.
Yield: 8 to 10 servings
Ingredient
1 medium peach, pit removed and diced small
1 medium nectarine, pit removed and small diced small
1 pint strawberries, hulled and quartered
1 plum, pit removed and small diced small
1 pint red raspberries
Large fresh mint leaves, to taste
½ vanilla bean, seeds, and pod. (To do this, slice down the length of the pod, spread it open, and scrape out flesh by pressing it with a butter knife.)
½ cup Grand Marnier
1 bottle Viognier white wine, chilled
1 bottle sparkling rosé wine, chilled
Method
First, combine the peach, nectarine, strawberries, plum, raspberries, mint, vanilla seeds and pod, and the Grand Mariner and Viognier in a large container. For best results, refrigerate the mixture for a few hours to allow the fruit to chill. When you’re ready to serve drinks, pour the mixture into a pitcher or punch bowl, and add the bottle of sparkling rosé.
Yield: 13 burgers
Ingredients
¼ cup grapeseed oil, divided, plus more for brushing
1 large yellow onion, peeled and diced small (2 cups)
1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided, plus more to taste
20 large cloves garlic, peeled and chopped roughly (1/2 cup)
24-ounces cremini mushrooms, quartered
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided, plus more to taste
4 cups vegetable stock
¼ cup white jasmine rice
½ cup black (beluga) lentils
¾ cup bulgur
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, undrained
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 tablespoon dried Greek oregano
½ teaspoon chipotle powder
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons vegan worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon ground fennel
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Additional items needed
13 burger buns
13 large slices tomato
Lettuce
Pickled shallots
Organic ketchup
Dijon mustard
Method
First: a boring chore… Place an oven rack on the upper position and preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. And now, it’s time for the ingredients! Add your onion, 2 tablespoons oil, and ¼ teaspoon salt to a medium (3½ quart) saucepan — place it over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, for approximately 8 minutes — the onions will become translucent and will begin to brown. Next, stir in the garlic and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for an additional 5 minutes. Remove the pan from heat and spread the onion mixture over a parchment-lined sheet tray to cool. Do not wash the saucepan.
Get out your food processor and pulse half the mushrooms until they are finely chopped (this should take approximately 30 quick pulses). Move your mushrooms to a medium mixing bowl and pulse the remaining mushrooms in the same way. Transfer remaining mushrooms to the medium mixing bowl. Do not wash the food processor, either.
Next, stir to combine the chopped mushrooms with 2 tablespoons of grapeseed oil, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Spread the mushrooms evenly over a parchment-lined sheet tray and transfer the sheet tray to the oven and bake for 30 minutes, stirring once after 15 minutes. Remove the sheet tray from the oven and evenly spread the mushrooms over the onions to cool to room temperature.
In the same medium (3½ quart) saucepan you used for the onion mixture, add the stock. Place over high heat and bring to a boil — add rice, black lentils, bulgur, black beans (with liquid), ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Stir, combine, and bring to a boil again. Next, cover it with a lid and reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes (scraping the bottom of the pan to prevent burning). Finally, remove the pot from the heat and drain excess liquid using a fine mesh strainer. Spread the strained rice mixture evenly over a parchment-lined sheet tray and cool to room temperature.
In a large mixing bowl, using a fork, stir to combine the cooked mushrooms and rice mixtures, panko, dried oregano, chipotle powder, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, fennel, and cumin. Season this mixture to taste with salt and pepper. Put half of the mixture into a food processor and pulse 15 times until the mixture is combined. Next, transfer the processed batch back into the large mixing bowl and stir everything together until well mixed.
Get out a ½ cup measuring cup and measure out ½ cup of mixture per burger. Shape the burgers with your hands into 4-inch (diameter) patties. Set each burger on a parchment-lined sheet tray and brush the top of each burger evenly with oil.
Heat a large, non-stick pan over medium heat for 3 minutes. Move the prepared burgers, oil side down, into the pan and cook undisturbed for 3 minutes. Brush the second side of the burgers with oil and flip each burger over — continue to cook for an additional 3 minutes. Transfer the cooked burgers to a parchment-lined sheet tray and bake for 10 minutes, then flip the burgers and continue to bake for an additional 10 minutes. After the burgers have finished baking, move the sheet tray from the oven and serve burgers on buns of your choosing with tomato slices, lettuce, pickled shallots, ketchup, and mustard. Enjoy!
For more of the chef’s drought-friendly recipes, visit his blog.
Related on Organic Authority
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We’re always looking for new documentaries to add to our “must watch” list. And luckily, 2015 seems to be loaded with amazing docs to investigate. While the year has already been jam-packed with some great pics, we found a few smart documentaries that have yet to be released that we’re incredibly excited to see.
You won’t have to wait too long to see this documentary because it’s coming out today. “That Sugar Film” follows the trials and tribulations Damon Gameau faces as he embarks on a body-changing experiment. His question: What will a high sugar diet do to my body? Gameau proceeds to eat seemingly healthy foods that are, sadly, packed with sugar. In addition to changing his diet, Gameau also examines what other “good-for-you” products are packed with sugar, and delves into some of the deeper issues that affect the sugar industry.
2. “He Named Me Malala”
This documentary follows the life and experiences of Malala Yousafzai, the young Nobel Peace Prize winning Pakistani woman who was shot by the Taliban because she was a girl attending school, something extremists look down on. While the film delves into what happened to Yousafzai (how she survived her attack, became a young activist, and won the Nobel Peace Prize), it also examines her everyday life, and her beautiful relationship with her family. This film doesn’t have an official release date, but will come out in October 2015.
3. “How to Change the World”
Greenpeace has been around for so long that many of us don’t even remember how the organization got its start. This documentary is here to remind us. “How to Change the World” follows the “the earliest days of Greenpeace, detailing the group’s evolution from loose collection of activists protesting a nuclear test to structured organization taking on the whale hunting industry,” according to Flicks.com.
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Photo: Malala Fund Facebook page
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Restaurant menus are the worst. Whose idea was it to put so many food choices in front of us in the first place? No wonder obesity is at an all-time high. Maybe it’s not the quality of the foods we’re eating after all, but rather the fact that with so many food choices, we’re simply destined to overeat. (Okay and it’s also totally the quality of the food.)
But crafty restaurateurs are doing something about it with a single-focus restaurant craze that’s taking off across the country.
Like coffeehouses that don’t stray too far away from the drink, ice cream shops, pizzerias or bagel bakeries that stay true to their roots, eateries focused on a single category of foods such as toast, peanut butter sandwiches, and even just bowls of cereal, are trending right now.
“New Yorkers love to seek out the best of the best. Whey they heard you could have the best PB&J of your life, they got excited about it,” Lee Zalben, founder of Peanut Butter & Co., told Specialty Food News. And, you guessed it–his shop sells peanut butter sandwiches, a haven for creamy and crunchy lovers alike.
Even mega food brands are getting in on the action. Chobani, the famed Turkish-owned Greek yogurt maker, has a Chobani café in Soho. “Here, the Chobani yogurt base finds all sorts of unique iterations: flavors of the month like pumpkin spice and Concord grape, savory creations such as yogurt-marinated beef, and superfood blends like blueberry power,” reports Specialty Food News. “The menu as a whole strives to reinforce the company’s belief that yogurt is not just for breakfast.”
You can find restaurants dedicated to eggs, grilled cheese sandwiches, green tea, potatoes, and (more of these please) to chocolate.
Granted, there are menu options when you get into these spots, so you do have to make some choice about what you’re being served, but it’s not as brutal as deciding whether you want to have a sandwich or a bowl of soup at a regular restaurant. First world problems, obviously, but there’s some science to back this up, too.
Decision-making can be nothing short of traumatic for some people, particularly in a world that’s brimming with options. And while deciding which single-focus eatery to patronize for your next meal may take a toll on you, at least once you get there you won’t spend your entire lunch break ogling over the menu. In fact, you may even get to enjoy a nice meal.
Find Jill on Twitter and Instagram
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Restaurant menu image via Shutterstock
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If you’re having trouble tracking down fresh cilantro in your local supermarket, you may want to breathe a sigh of relief. The FDA has banned Mexican cilantro imports over serious health concerns.
“Some Mexican cilantro is being banned in the U.S. after health officials found human feces and toilet paper in growing fields from which herbs have been linked to hundreds of intestinal illnesses among Americans dating back to 2012,” reports BloombergBusiness.
Mexican-grown cilantro is being detained at the border at least until August, and any of the herb grown in Puebla, Mexico, must undergo inspections and provide certification, the agency says. “Cilantro from other parts of Mexico will need documentation to prove the product isn’t from Puebla, about a two-hour drive southeast of Mexico City,” according to Bloomberg.
The reason for such steep precaution comes as a result of outbreaks of cyclosporiasis that sickened at least 304 people last year. Cyclosporiasis is a parasite that can cause severe diarrhea and digestive health issues.
Since 2013, inspections revealed eight out of 11 cilantro farms in Mexico were found to have bathrooms with no soap, toilet paper or running water, and some farms, the authorities say, had no toilet facilities at all.
“Based on those joint investigations, FDA considers that the most likely routes of contamination of fresh cilantro are contact with the parasite shed from the intestinal tract of humans affecting the growing fields, harvesting, processing or packing activities or contamination with the parasite through contaminated irrigation water, contaminated crop protectant sprays, or contaminated wash waters,” the alert said.
Walmart and Kroger say they have already begun to pull Mexican cilantro off of store shelves, “In an abundance of caution, we decided to withdraw and prohibit sourcing any cilantro from this region,” a Walmart representative said in a statement. The company says it does sell typically Mexican cilantro, but that it’s “not necessarily” from the region of concern.
Restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., says its cilantro comes from California, so customers shouldn’t expect to see it missing from any of the chain’s menu items.
In 2011, a USDA report found that numerous fresh cilantro samples contained high levels of unapproved pesticides.
Find Jill on Twitter and Instagram
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Cilantro image via Shutterstock
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After spending long periods of time staring at screens for the better part of the day, do you ever feel it in your eyes? It’s not just you – digital eye strain is a real condition, and it’s only getting worse now that more people are spending increasing amounts of time working from computers, staring down at smartphones, watching so much TV, and playing lots of video games.
According to The Vision Council, about 93 percent of adults spend more than two hours a day using a digital device, and 60 percent of adults spend five or more hours with a device every day. A research study that examined the tear fluid from office workers had undergone physiological changes comparable to people who suffer from dry eye diseases, suggesting that those who spend a large part of their day working from a computer are at a higher risk of experiencing digital eye strain.
If you’re a screen junkie who suffers from eyes that are dry, red, irritated, tired, or are causing you to experience blurred vision and headaches, it’s time to consider scheduling an appointment with your eye doctor to talk about your digital screen habits and have your eyes checked if you’re due for a checkup. In the meantime, there are a few adjustments you can make right away that can help bring you some much needed relief.
1. Make sure you’re seated properly and your screen is at a proper distance.
Digital eye strain doesn’t just affect your eyes – it can cause neck and back pain too. If you’re sitting at a desk with a computer, make sure your chair helps you sit upright with good support of your spine. Your screen should be at about an arm’s length away from your face. If it’s a smartphone you’re looking at, hold it at an angle slightly below eye level that doesn’t cause you to tilt your head downward.
2. Adjust the brightness on your screen.
Many computers and devices automatically adjust their brightness for the amount of light they detect, but sometimes this isn’t enough. Trying lowering the brightness manually, or consider installing an application like f.lux, which is designed to lower the brightness according to what time of day it is and eliminate that “eerie blue glow” by changing the color of your computer’s display.
3. Shift your eyes to stare at something else every 20 minutes.
The longer you go without taking a break from staring at a screen, the higher your chances are of straining your eyes. Set a timer to take a break every 20 minutes. All you need to do is look away at something else for at least 20 seconds. Remember to blink a few times too!
4. Set your display settings to be enlarged for easier viewing.
Are you trying to read or type text that’s too small to see? If you find yourself squinting at everything or trying to bring your face closer to the screen, it’s time to adjust your text display settings to appear larger. Most major web browsers have settings for this, and even your smartphone operating system should have it too.
5. Eliminate screen glare.
Not only is it annoying to see a reflection in the screen you’re trying to look at, it’s also just terrible for your eyes. If closing the curtains or moving to a different spot doesn’t cut it, you should consider investing in an anti-glare screen for your computer monitor.
6. Minimize screen time before bed.
Digital screens emit a short-wavelength visible blue light that cause more strain on the eyes. It also mimics natural light, and confuses your brain into think that it’s daytime when you spend too much time at night in front of blue light. It’s exactly why so many people have trouble sleeping after watching too much TV or looking at their phones so close to bedtime. Aim to shut everything off at least an hour before you turn in.
7. Invest in a good pair of anti-glare or blue light-blocking glasses.
If you already own a pair of reading glasses with anti-glare coating, then you should be wearing them while starting at any screens. They’ll make a big difference. You can ask for lenses specifically made for use with devices. Another option is to get a pair of glasses that are yellow or amber tinted, which work to balance and block blue light from reaching your eyes. Perfect if you just can’t say no to screen time before bed!
Obviously, the ultimate solution to avoiding digital eye strain completely is to just cut way back on the time you spend in front of screens entirely, which isn’t just good for your eyes, but good for your overall health too. Try to take some time to unplug and enjoy a screen-free day every week if you can.
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Image of woman with laptop via Shutterstock
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No thanks, Arby’s. We don’t need want your meat… We don’t even know where it has been, or where it came from (eek). But we would like you, along with other restaurants, to provide some viable meat-free veggie bacon options.
Not sure if you heard, but earlier this month, Arby’s sent an open letter to vegetarians, in the form of a condescending press release, about it’s new Brown Sugar Bacon BLT. The company essentially offered support for vegetarians who tried to abstain from its meaty sandwich. So funny! The marketing stunt was obviously played to anger vegetarians, and make meateaters laugh, but it left us wondering, “why can’t we not eat meat and have our bacon, too?” We decided to answer our own question and list 7 bacon recipes alternatives.
This seaweed is super sustainable (it requires cold water and sunlight to grow), is packed with nutrients (iron, calcium, magnesium, and protein), and, when smoked and pan-fried, it resembles crispy, salty bacon.
Our sister website EcoSalon posted a popular article about making eggplant bacon. The savory recipe only requires 7 ingredients. Use this ‘bacon” as a salad topper or a sandwich filler.
Seitan bacon has that meaty flavor and texture that people crave. This from-scratch seitan recipe is pretty simple ingredient-wise, but make sure you follow the author’s method to the letter to achieve bacon-y VLT-worthy results.
Tempeh is my favorite meat alternative. And this recipe for tempeh bacon is my favorite on this list because it contains just a little heat. Serve this as a side, or cut up in a salad.
It’s no surprise that tofu also is another one of the viable bacon alternatives. This recipe is really simple and can be made vegan with a simple swap (switch the butter for oil).
The King Oyster mushroom is the perfect shape for fake bacon. This recipe is crispy as heck and will pair well with any other breakfast items you serve your family.
This is the most unique recipe out there and it looks amazing. It’s filled with protein and nutrients, and has sweet and savory ingredients.
Related on Organic Authority
Bacon image via Shutterstock
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