gmstreetteam.com, click on food for good…dig it.

I don’t have an introduction for this.  All I can say is everyone has something to say, something that eats at you as you lie awake and read your story on the ceiling.  And here’s mine.

We have nothing to be enslaved to.  We are actually completely empowered.  And we have always had the power:

Being young

dreams undone by those afraid

of youth

and the loss of youth,

I dressed in dresses

and begged for caresses only a woman possesses.

I take the form of that creature

fine featured

who can strike the match

and set the spark

to start a war–

though the violence ive plucked

that chord i’ve struck

has reached no one my myself, sat stuck.

My shell, my self, silk smooth

has been moved from its form

drawn by the stars in the sky

and whats left to touch are scars

dead dry

to run beneath the tips of my fingers

and cry

I mourned before

This body’s life its time

upon which i had thrust

an unjust crime

of simply existing,

twisting, writhing in my sleep

begging for features featured on dolls and dames

with painted perfection

and possessed the figure

of anything but mine.

But the hand from which this war was born

that bathed

and bruised

and scorned

belongs to no other voice or face as mine.

I’ve branded my skin with those I remember

their regrets and fears and fallen embers

and burned their prints on my hips and hands

to remind myself not to grow or outgrow

those things they demand of me

or I’ll leave them behind.

But my body you see has been scratched and scraped

and scorned and draped in

billows of hate

that don’t belong to me.

Why must I be a better version

of that person

next to me?

Why must I view the vision of myself

and not my own vision?

We forget we are a we

We have shackled ourselves to ourselves

we have forgotten to turn to our neighbor and remember

they are our neighbor

We have forgotten

that it doesn’t matter what your skin says

if your gut

your heart

your foot

do all the talking?

and climbing and walking and dreaming and screaming and howling.

and everything it means to BE.

we surround our selves–drown ourselves

in things to forget everything that we are

our drums thumping pumping hearts

alive alive alive

we are vessels, restless, fighting to show

our personal oppressors

that fact we breathe and bury deep

under piles of papers

and mountains of stuff

that it is enough

just to be alive alive alive

and feel sky.

We are not bad, we are not wrong

in this body we were born in

it is not broken

but strong

and we will move on.

We are not here to be bound broken censored

poked prodded defaced or erased.

We are not here to be nipped, fixed or degrated.

We are here to be celebrated.

A wonderful, fantastic (secretly VEGAN) recipe for Mushroom Bourguignon.  Divine. 

Thanks to Julia Child and Smitten Kitchen.

This filled the bellies of many many vegans and non vegans.  Happy, healthy, easy.  Most of it is filmed without my head in frame, but hey, its my hands that count. Enjoy! 

Thank you to everyone for your generous donation to GoodMakers and for helping to make the Benefit Brunch at Salute an amazing event.Your contribution helped us to raise over $6,000 for the global charities we support.  Amazing!!
Thank you for joining us in making a difference.
Peace and Love,

The Goodmakers Team

I am a big believer in one-dish-dinners.  It’s beautiful to look at, it compiles everything into one bite, and it saves water on washing dishes.  Win, win, win.

After a long week (that continues on), we were having a big dinner and trying to feed a-many without a-money, so the mama of this household decided on a big mexican casserole, and looked at me with guilty eyes and asked, “miss julia, what are you gonna eat?”

Well, casserole, of course.

MY OWN MEXICAN CASSEROLE. (this one feeds 5 or so)

• 4 blue corn tortillas 
• about 1 can tomato puree or tomato sauce of your choice
• hot sauce
• 1 can pinto beans, drained
• 1 can black beans, drained
• cashew cheese (or soy cheese, to your liking. or low-fat for the non vegans)
• about 3 cups sliced shitake mushrooms, sauteed
• succotash of choice (corn, zucchinis, red pepper, veggies of choice, sauteed)

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. In a large casserole dish, brush one layer of olive or grapeseed oil.
3. Then add a layer of tortillas (most likely two, based on the size of your dish)
4.  Layer in your succotash over the tortillas, followed by the mushrooms, some sauce, beans, and a thicker layer of tomato sauce.
5. Add a layer of cheese, then “start over” with two more tortillas.
6. Layer however large you want, and top it all off with tomato sauce and top it with cheese.
7. Bake for about 45 minutes, and top with chopped cilantro.
8. Serve with sliced avocado and salsa of choice (mango, dig it).
9. Love life.

So. Full. So. Good.

YUM, damnit.

Come on down to my BENEFIT BRUNCH on March 26th at Salute Wine Bar.  11-2, donation at the door, proceeds go to charity!!  Brunch bites and bottomless mimosas.  Dig it.

A quick note on Judgement before I begin:

I went through much time and trial to find this out, so I shall spare you both and say this:

There are enough people in the world to judge you, and since you can only control just ONE person (ahem yourself), why not just drop it and be on your own team?  It is not harder than it sounds unless you make it that way.  Leave others to their decisions.  You’re right to exist is nowhere but in your very existence.

Okay so, back to business. I had no gluten free flour, and instead of making something normal, I just decided to go with the theme of my ingredients and make some delicious macaroons.

MACAROONS (veganized if needed)

• 3/4c coconut milk
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs OR ener-g egg replacer (if you use 4 tsp arrowroot, increase your liquid)
• 3 cups shredded coconut
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder or chai powder, pick your flavor :)

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees, and line a sheet tray with parchment paper.
2. in a large bowl mix coconut and powdered sugar and flavor powder of your choice.
3. In another bowl, mix vanilla, egg replacer, and coconut milk, then stir into coconut mixture with a wooden spoon.  It should be super moist.
4. Drop spoonfuls on the sheet tray (forming little balls with your hands) and bake about 20 minutes. 
5. Enjoy!  Dip in chocolate or not, but I always choose chocolate.

These are the biscotti “logs” that you form out of your dough before they get popped in the oven.  When eating “bad” can be so good! Yummm

OKAY! the famous Biscotti, taking this blog by storm. I started making biscotti because it was my least favorite thing in the pastry world to eat- it was so crunchy and took more effort to eat than flavor i got from it.  So, in trying to see what all the fuss was about, I attempted, and my “mistake” turned out to be a dense, slightly chewy brownie, which tasted much more appetizing than the typical crunchy air.  This here lil’ cookie is vegan and gluten free.  So here goes!!

• 2 cup millet flour
• 1/2 cup quinoa flour
• 1.5 tsp xanthan gum
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp gluten free baking soda
• 6 tbsp Earth Balance
• 2 tsp arrowroot
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup vegan sugar
• 1 cup white chocolate chips plus 1 cup for afterwards
• 2/3 cup dried cranberries

BLONDIE BISCOTTI

1. preheat oven to 350
2. In a large bowl cream sugar, earth balance, and vanilla
3. in a smaller bowl, whisk together flour mix, xanthan gum, salt, and arrowroot, and pour into the bowl of sugar and earth balance.  If needed, use a touch of warm water to create adhesion.  Stir in the cranberries and white chocolate chips.
4. form into a log on a baking sheet (add millet flour if sticky).
5. Bake for about 25 minutes, then remove from the oven, and cut little slices diagonally with a serrated knife.  If theyre firm enough, flip on their side and return to oven for about 15 minutes, to help firm the insides.  If not, cut them and pop them back in the oven for about 15 minutes, but watch it! Every oven is different.
6. Melt some white chocolate in a double boiler (or metal bowl over a lil pot of boiling water) and, using a fork, drizzle it over the finished biscotti.
7. Serve with tea and thank yourself for making it like a champ.