Tomatoes Archives - High Vibe Lifestyle

Hi guys! How’s your week going? Did you happen to check in here last week? I added my first travel post to this blog! If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out here. I travel with my family in an RV, and we like to camp, so sometimes it’s a quick trip and sometimes it’s an epic journey. Either way, I wanted a space to share my adventures with you, and of course every post will have great vegan/GF food, travel/camping tips, and lots of photography! In this first installment, we visited a mineral springs resort in a little beach town on the Central California Coast. If you get a chance to check it out, leave a comment to say HI! 🙂 Okay, so I’ve probably (hopefully) made you really hungry with that photo above and you would probably like to know more… so let’s talk about that! This, my friends, is my Parmesan Polenta Bowl w/ Roasted Tomatoes, Greens, and Beans, and it is absolutely everything that is wonderful about food. It’s not difficult to prepare, it’s super healthy, it’s beautiful and it’s absolutely delicious!

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Summer Celebration Tortilla Soup

by Angel McNall

Yum

Summer, Love, and the Evolution of Summer Celebration Tortilla Soup

Last week, my husband and I celebrated the day we met 31 years ago! I was working as a live mannequin at a clothing store on Venice Beach. We were 17 and 22. My husband frequented the boardwalk with his friends, and decided to try to get my number, on a bet. I had noticed him several weekends before, in a crowd of people that had gathered in front of the store, and I felt a connection with him. I was really happy when he came to the store when I got off of work. We met, started talking on the phone, and started dating and the rest is history!

So thinking back to that time, I wanted to give you a recipe that is near and dear to our hearts. This was in the early 90’s so we didn’t even have a computer, and food blogs were definitely not a thing! I had always loved cooking, and now that I had someone to cook for, I wanted to expand my repertoire a bit! Tortilla Soup was one of the recipes in one of the first cookbooks I bought. It looked so yummy, but it definitely wasn’t vegetarian. (I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 16). So I began to tinker with the recipe. My husband (my then boyfriend) loves Mexican food and this soup was an instant hit. Over the years I’ve perfected this recipe and it’s gone through many different variations. This latest one is our favorite, as it really celebrates the bounty of summer! So celebrate with us! Here’s to Summer! Here’s to wonderful summer veggies! And here’s to 31 yrs of being in love! I think that’s a lot to celebrate! 🙂

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Confetti Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

by Angel McNall

Yum

Confetti Stuffed Spagetti Squash

For my first recipe post, I thought I’d share a recipe that is not only satisfying, colorful and delicious, but also near and dear to my heart! It launched me on a path to find new and exciting gluten free, vegan recipes. A few years ago (2012), I had to make a shift in my diet from vegan, to GLUTEN FREE (I swore I’d never go gluten free!!), and vegan. This was really difficult for me. Even though I had a ton of experience with creating recipes, and helping others change their diets, to be presented with my own diet crisis, was really revealing. I immediately understood, and had boundless compassion for what others that are confronted with this mandate go through! I will link more about this experience, at a later time, but let’s just say, going gluten-free rocked my world… as in, I had no idea what to eat! :0 So, one Sunday morning, I decided to go to the Farmer’s Market, because I get a lot of inspiration there! I live in Ojai, California, which is a tiny little town, nestled in a fertile valley, about 15 minutes inland from the beach. Ojai is an eclectic mix of artists, movie stars, farmers, everyday folk, and tourists, united by their love of this unique place and deep concern for it’s preservation. Our local farmer’s market is almost exclusively organic, and between the abundance of fresh fruits and veggies, the flowers, and the artisan goods, it’s a great place to get inspiration. It’s like an event! Every Sunday morning, our little town is hopping with energy as tourists, and residents converge on the farmer’s market to buy produce, dance to the Iron Mountain Boys (a bluegrass band that performs atop a vintage flatbed truck), eat fresh tamales, get a free hug from Al, and meet and greet! So it was at the vibrant scene that I found myself on a hot Sunday morning in the summer of 2012, and it was here that I found what I was looking for! ~Inspiration~! Spaghetti squash has been a favorite summer treat of mine since I was a kid and my parents grew it in our garden, and since it’s so prolific, there was an abundance of it at the market that day. I picked it up, thinking I would use it as a side dish…. to what, I didn’t know, because what else could I eat?!