Baked Goods

I love vegan baking!  Here is a pic of a carrot cake I made for my love’s God daughter – her 1st birthday smash cake!

And here are some cupcakes.  Friends of our recently had a private wedding ceremony in Bali.  We wanted to honor them some how so we brought cupcakes to the beach!  I decorated them using colors I think of when I think of Bali.

What’s for suppah?

This summer I’ve been making and bringing tofu kebobs to BBQs.  Veggie burgers are quick and easy, but boring.  People tend to pass them up and have animal products.  The kebobs usually fly! 

A vegetarian chef once said to me, “The key to making tofu is how long you press the tofu.”  After that I bought a tofu press and believe it is up there with the best $30 I’ve spent.  So much easier than wrapping in cheese cloth/rolls of paper towels and piling all the cookbooks in the house on top.  Since I’ve been pressing accordingly, I am getting the hang of cooking tofu.  I really think a good press makes the difference between “oh I tried tofu once and hate the texture” and “the texture is different but I like it!”

Tofu Kebobs
1 block of tofu, pressed and cubed; I do a 4x5 cut to make 20 cubes
1 1/2 T olive oil
Juice from 1 whole lime
2 T brown sugar
1 t cinnamon
1 t chili powder
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t kosher salt
1 chopped garlic clove
Depending on my mood, I usually add onion and garlic powder. 

Whisk ingredients together, place marinade in covered bowl or ziplock bag with tofu, shake to coat, marinate as long as you like or cook right away.

Thread on water soaked bamboo skewers with veggies of your choice, broil in oven or cook on grill; turn kebobs once or twice during the process.

Every oven and grill is different, 10 minutes is a good average.  You’ll know when your veggies start to char a bit and the outside of your tofu gets a bit crispy.

I find this texture is great – crispy on the outside, melts in your mouth on the inside.  Serve with your favorite summer sides!  I have it above with sweet potatoes and an avacado salsa.

Cookie Dough Monster

When ever I make chocolate chip cookies I eat a lot of the dough and I think of two stories about my little sister and her early adventures in cookie baking.

One of her first times reading a recipe on her own she misinterpreted a little something.  Contrary to her belief, 2 1/4 cups of flour meant 2 cups plus 1/4 of a cup of flour.  She scooped the 1/4 cup into the flour twice to add to her dough.  When in the oven, everything seemed to melt and the dough just souped all over the baking sheet.  We helped her retrace her steps to find the issue.

The other time was when she turned off the oven and she decided to let the cookies “rest” a bit.  Then when she felt the cookies were done with their nap, they were burnt to a crisp.

Someone has been after me for a while to bake him some cookies for quite some time.  I stopped procrastinating and did so. 

I’d give out the recipe but I think I’d be crossing some copyright boundaries or whateves.  I use the recipe on the back of the semi-sweet chocolate chips and veganize it.  The chips I’ve always used are vegan to begin with, bonus!  Instead of butter, I use earth balance.  Instead of 2 eggs, I use 2 flax eggs.  I didn’t use as much flax meal this time as I think it tends to make the cookie a tad greasier.  You’d never know they pack extra fiber and omega-3s!

Food Confession.

I put garlic and chili powder on everything.


Well, not my oatmeal.

Another snow day.

I don't really feel productive on snow days. 

My day started with coffee, PB&J oats, and Veronica Mars.  I finished season two.  Chrissy and I have been working on our Logan Echolls face.  He has the same "I'm about to drool on you" expression for every emotion.  I'm about to cry.  I'm about to kiss you.  I just realized I'm in love with you.  My dad SUCKS.  Your step mom bangs me.  I'm going to jail.  I'm out of jail.  I love you again.  I hate you again.  I'm having a party.  In my pants.  Hopefully by the end of the post I'll have a picture for you.

The rest of my day included this:

Yes that is my lunch on my yoga mat.  Had a little Dave action on the mat.  That sounds real bad.  My love, if you are reading this, it was only a podcast yoga workout.  Anyway, I did a different podcast than the other day and I still got tripped up on his half pigeon flow.  I'm going to have to you tube it or something to attempt to figure out what the hell he is telling me to do. 

I was hungry.  As always.  So I made up some onions and made the sandwich!  Chrissy loves me today.  I made her one too.  I had some green tea with it and my book.  Goal is to finish that book today! 

Lets have a closer look at deliciousness...

It was great.  The apples look like pickles but I swear it wasn't an onion and pickle sandwich.  Gross.

What is that hiding behind my sandwich?

Oh.  That.

Just some of the best vegan chocolate chip cookies evah!  Chrissy made them this time.  She's good at that. 

What are you doing to not lose your mind during the snow day?


I almost forgot about Logan's drool!

Source

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Do you see what I mean?!?!  Any other actors/actresses you notice that seem to be making the same face for every emotion?  I'm totally team Logan over team Duncan, but seriously, don't drool on me.

Onion breath.

Before we get into my oral hygiene, Beth put together a special post for all you Cedar Falls V*s! 

I always think of Cedar Falls and the secrets of the town when I hear this song...



Back to morning breath, have I brushed my teeth yet? onion breath.  Ever since I had the sandwich I think I've made caramelized brown sugar onions every day.  How?

An unyun, olive oil, brown sugar, salt, and a cast iron skillet.

Whisk together:
1 T of olive oil
1 T of brown sugar
A pinch of kosher salt

Pour the above concoction on your skillet and let it heat up on a low to medium heat.

Chop as much onion as you'd like while everything gets warm and ready. Mince, slice, whateves.

Combine all on the skillet and make magic!

The steam is getting in the way of a glorious picture, hence why I don't have a completely browned up onion shot. 

I've used the onions in sauce, zucchini cakes, and recreations of the sandwich.  Beth made her own sandwich too!

Veggie Restaurants!!!

In the past week I went to two vegetarian restaurants!!  I wish I brought my camera and took pictures. 


The "BIL" is away on military duty so he treated his lovely wife and I to dinner.  My "SIL," Liz, is such a beautiful person and we always have a blasty together.  The two of them just found out the little peanut-fetus inside is a female peanut-fetus.  I put quotes around the in-law label because don't you have to be married to officially have in laws?  It is so much easier to say in laws rather than, my boyfriends brothers wife sista motha fatha.  PLUS I'm crazy in love with my love and getting married is way too in style for us right now. 


Liz and I went to the Garden Grille and I got my stand by Eggplant Rollatini that is stuffed with herbed tofu-nut cheese.  Delish.  I also had a glass of vino.  Liz got the lasagna special with multiple side salads.  I ran late so she got a salad to appetize herself, then decided to order the lasagna that came with a salad.  Then the server mistakenly thought she ordered another salad.  I ended up eating one of them.  Between the two of us we probably cleared out a garden.  This restaurant has fantastic lunches as well as dinners.  All their desserts are vegan too.  I typically get a juice while I am here but the server inside me felt bad.  Making juice is a pain in the you know what and it was busy.  So I stuck with the lemon water and vino.  The atmosphere is just amazing in this place! 


My sister Katie and I were going to go to the Garden Grille, but plans changed a bit and we decided to meet up in Boston after I got out of work.  The restaurant didn't open until 5, so we got coffee at Mr. Crepe in Davis Square.  This cute place does not have a website.  I loved the high ceilings and the color scheme of the place.  It made me really want to move into a loft with exposed pipes and a ceiling that's half tiled and half industrial.  Really unique.  Katie got a double americano sweetened with vanilla and I got a soy latte.  She is so city.  I love her.


Starving, we wandered down the road hopping puddles of melted snow, wicked gross btw.  We reached our destination of The Pulse Cafe.  This restaurant is completely vegan!  I've been here once before they changed their menu.  Now their menu is more diner style and the food snob in me was initially skeptical until I fell in love with the description of one sandwich.  Apple Melt: Grilled Cheese with Twist: Sliced Granny Smith Apples, Brown Sugar Caramelized Onions, Cheddar Mozzarella Blend and Dijon on choice of White, or Whole Wheat.  I decided to nix the dijon just cause I'm not a huge mustard fan and had the sandy on wheat with a side of fries.  SO GOOD.  Diner style typically means to me greasy and unhealthy but this sandwich was anything but.  The only oil seemed to be from the Daiya Cheese, which is my fave vegan cheese, and it was just amazing.  I almost went back there yesterday after my doctors appt in the city, but I was just so wiped from my day I couldn't dodge snow banks and walk around in the freezing cold.  I need to go back and try their butternut squash mac and cheese.  They use a cashew cheese sauce, I wonder if it is similar to mine.

I'm so hungry right now after writing this post.  I promise next time I'll bring my camera and take pictures so you can see the deliciousness!

Talk amongst yourselves...

What restaurants are you totally digging right now?  Or are you  more craving a type of cuisine?

CREAMY!



What a wonderful day of binge eating. Since I am sick of cafeteria food, a snow day at home meant cooking. Well, I only made one meal but it should carry me through the rest of the work week.

As I mentioned, cheese and I broke up a year ago. There are plenty of replacements but not always the most convenient. Some items aren't easy to find either, as there is not a nearby Whole Foods or TJ's. I loved pasta dishes in creamy white sauces with, you probably guessed it, cheese.

MAC & CASHEW CHEESE
 Adapted from Color Me Vegan by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

INGREDIENTS

• 1 ¼ cup of raw cashews
  
• ½ cup of nutritional yeast
  
• 2 t of onion powder
  
• 2 t of kosher salt
  
• A few grinds of fresh pepper (use with your own taste buds in mind)
  
• 2 cloves of garlic
  
• 1 t of garlic powder
  
• 3 ½ cups of almond milk
  
• 3 T of cornstarch
  
• ½ cup of Earth Balance
  
• Juice from 1 lemon
  
• ¼ cup of Daiya cheddar shreds
  
• Panko or other bread crumbs
  
• 1 lb of whole wheat pasta
  

DIRECTIONS
While your pasta cooks according to its directions, finely process the cashews in a food processor. Don't let it become cashew "butter." Add in nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic (cloves and powder), salt, and pepper. Process a bit more. Again, you want it processed fine. Kinda like a flour.

In a saucepan, simmer the almond milk, cornstarch, and earth balance. Reduce to a low-medium heat and cover for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Combine the liquid and the dry ingredients in the food processor by slowly adding the liquid. Then add your lemon juice. The result will be creamy goodness.

If you are attempting to make this dish slightly more nutritious…

Add some veggies! Broccoli and cauliflower are always delicious au gratin.

Combine everything in your baking pan. I recommend a big baking pan as I initially spilled some of this creamy goodness while trying to stir everything around. By everything I mean cooked pasta, the completed sauce, and veggies. Then sprinkle and stir in the daiya cheese. It is warm enough to melt the cheese. You can eat now, but I love crispy bread crumbs. Plus I didn't cook my veggies yet. I topped with panko and cooked it in a 400 degree oven (don't forget to preheat!) for 15 minutes.

Yum.

Chrissy couldn't wait.



Yes I used paper plates. Do you know how many dishes I've done already?! Don't judge me.  And don't judge my photog shadows. 

Notes: Next time I'd use more garlic and daiya cheese. I might use less nutritional yeast. This was delicious, creamy, and satisfying. I used rottini for my pasta and my dad was upset with me. Macaroni and cheese should only be used with elbows! My cookbook suggested placing the liquid in a mold or bowl, refrigerating, then serving as a hard cheese!

Flapjacks.

Just kidding. Pancakes.

On a snow day you need something hot! Something to help you hibernate. So I made pancakes. I haven't made them in a while. I haven't made them all year. Ha. Enough of the stupid jokes. I made blueberry cinnamon pancakes!

INGREDIENTSInspired by every pancake recipe out there, no specific recipe followed this time.

• 2 cups of flour (I used spelt for extra fiber and protein)
• 2 cups of unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 2 t of baking powder
• 1 t (heaping) of cinnamon
• Frozen blueberries (add as much as you want)

Just mix it all together! Pour it onto your preheated skillet. I used a seasoned cast iron skillet. This recipe made 10 pancakes with the batter portioned out in ¼ cups.

Tip: add your blueberries (or chocolate chips – we all have those days) to the pancake as soon as you pour it on the griddle/skillet. I find it makes less of a mess and will flip easier than a fruit or chocolate chip melting directly on the cooking surface.

Next time I would add more cinnamon and maybe even some more spices, like nutmeg or cloves. Sometimes I add maple syrup right to the batter also for some extra sweetness.

I topped the 'cakes with warmed blueberries and their juice, cinnamon, earth balance and maple syrup.

I heart melty butter.  The blueberry juice made me tie-dye pancakes.

Chrissy's stomach just made a wicked loud noise. Embarassing.  I'll pretend it said thank you.

 

 
What do you make on cold days for comfort food?

WHAT DO YOU EAT?!

I get this question a lot. Understandable. But I'd like to lift the veil a bit and show that a vegetarian diet isn't really all that foreign.

Someone once asked me what I eat for breakfast in a tone that alluded to disbelief that there was anything for breakfast I could eat. Right now I'm sipping on a breakfast smoothie that I've recently become obsessed with. If I know my friends, most of you would vom at the combination of ingredients but it's actually really good. I blend 2 cups of spinach, 1 cup of blueberries, 1 cup of vanilla almond milk, and 1 banana. I've substituted the blueberries for strawberries and also mixed berries. I've tried soy milk too which I think gives it a more yogurt-y flavor. Michael has been having fun with his smoothies and we have had all sorts of stuff thrown in. It's a quick easy way to get 3+ servings of fruits and vegetables right off the bat. It makes a 16-20oz drink that I slurp on for a few hours.

Oatmeal is another breakfast food I love. It's warm, comforting, and depending on how I'm feeling that day, I can vary the taste. Nuts are almost always in my oatmeal. Walnuts especially. They are one of those super foods full of Omega-3s. You don't need to take fish oil capsules that give you nasty acid reflux! Just eat your nuts. Other favorite mix-ins are cinnamon, raisins, banana, and/or apples. Instead of sugar for sweetener, try agave or maple syrup. I find that the fruit and cinnamon combo is plenty to sweeten it up.

Cereals aren't flavored with chicken so they are also a good vegetarian option. If a vegan breakfast is sought, watch out for ingredients like honey. Soy milk on its own was a shock when I was initially transitioning my milk, but I could easily adapt to it in my cereal. It was amazing how quickly my taste buds changed their preference.

Going out to breakfast is a challenge. Even something like homefries, which typically you think just potatoes, can be cooked in bacon fat. The last time I went out to breakfast I got a toasted bagel with peanut butter and a soy latte. Lacto-ovo vegetarians have it much easier with breakfast foods with the world of eggs and cheese wide open.

I will admit that I don't miss breakfast meats like sausage and bacon because I've never really liked either of them. I've always been grossed out by sausage and I think I've only had one bite of it in my life. The idea of meat scraps and left over organs of random animals ground up and stuffed into intestine casing just grosses me out. I've never understood the appeal. There are veggie substitutes for these meats, but I'm not that interested.

How do you decide what to eat for breakfast?

Happy New Year!

A week late...

2009 was eventful and there is no doubt in my mind 2010 will be as well. Could it be better? It is off to a good start.

Michael has been working on a new project recently and for it he has gone vegan. At least for 30 days. Since vegan-hood has been something I've been easing into for years I'm also taking the plunge with every intention of maintaining this lifestyle beyond 30 days. You may not think so, but I feel quite liberated. It's like I'm part of some giant boycott that in turn supports animal rights, human health, compassion, environmental resources, the fight against global warming, and so so much else. I may be just one person, but I have and I am planting my seeds, so to speak.

With this new project, Michael has talked up to 30 day challenge to his siblings and almost all of them (and their significant others!) are joining him on his challenge. One of my sisters has recently gone vegetarian, while the other hardly ever has the desire to eat meat. Both of them joined. I can't tell you how exciting this is for me. I just hope my heart doesn't break when the 30 days are up and they run to the arms of a cheeseburger. I really hope they don't. They'll probably get sick.

I put together two pep-talks/lectures/discussions for all in our families that could attend. Seeing how its a complete overhaul of consciousness when it comes to eating, a lot of info was shared and meaningful discussions were had. We made a completely vegan menu. One night was a bit of a smattering of things and I had grand plans, but I need a triple oven, never mind a double oven. We had pizza made with soy cheese, peppers, onions, and a tad bit of garlic; sweet potato fries made from two different kinds of sweet potatoes (I tried one with a lighter flesh tone so people wouldn't feel too freaked out if they are used to white potatoes); and I made a brown rice dish full of veggies, nuts, and edamame. For those who wanted, there was an unfiltered red wine available. **More on the filtration of wine and beer later. The next evening we had a breakfast theme with a breakfast smoothie, french toast (substitute vanilla soy milk for egg dip), and some veggie bacon.

The discussions have since led to other discussions and talk around the dinner table has become more meaningful. Not that any time we've had together has been meaningless, the awareness of all has just been heightened. Even led to some funny talks about human breast milk cheese. Try putting that on your cracker.

These few weeks preparing and doing have enlightened me even more to the whole food-psychological-emotional connection. Food patterns and habits are cultural and learned. We all have many emotional attachments to what we eat and why we eat it. We love that particular cookie because that is what grandma made every holiday. Although we know cookies in mass quantities are not good for us, it is hard not salivate and slip something extra in our cart while in the bakery section, unconsciously brought back to a time of love and togetherness.

Everyone picked a moral, ethical, emotional reason to pledge these 30 days to vegetarianism. A reason that would make them feel good about making a stand. I don't want anyone attempting vegetarianism to do it just because its a "diet." Diets are over thought and all about restrictions. Yes you are restricted to only eating plant based things, but it is so much more then that. One person picked world hunger as their reason to pledge. Over 70% of the worlds grains are used to feed livestock. Only one pound of meat for human consumption is produced by 16 pounds of grain. Very inefficient. If those grains were used for human consumption, that would be enough food for 800,000,000 people. It's estimated that 30,000,000 people die each year of hunger related illnesses. Those deaths wouldn't occur on a plant based diet.

No matter what happens at the end of the 30 days, there is no doubt in my mind we all will be looking at food differently and feeling food differently as our bodies try to digest. We still will have that attachment, that reason why we pledged to go veg for 30 days.

Are you up for the challenge?


Thanks for reading.


**Beer and wine - sounds vegetarian right? The finished product, generally has no trace of animal products/byproducts but how its filtered/clarified is another story. It can be filtered with gelatin (boiled collagen - bones, skins, connective tissue, and sometimes intestines - of slaughterhouse animals, usually of pigs,cows and horses), isinglass (dried fish swim bladders), chitosan (the exoskeleton of crustaceans), and casein (protein found in cow's milk).

Here are some links for further reading...

http://www.vegetariantimes.com/resources/why_go_veg/
http://www.compassionatecooks.com

Food, Inc.

When I feel very passionate and strong about something, especially in politics, I find it very hard to articulate myself. I find it very hard to even find the right words to write this blog.

For the past three years I've been on a journey of cleaning up my act when it came to food choices. Over three years, really. In my mind I'm a vegan, but I'm finding it hard to give up cow mucous. And by cow mucous I mean milk and cheese products. Economically, it's difficult to adopt these eating habits. Soy isn't exactly cheap. And what about eating organically? A pepper, which is one of the worst vegetables to eat inorganically, can cost 3 times more when produced organically.

We also live in a culture that demands instant gratification, where commercials from McDonalds, Wendy's, Burger King etc etc depict ideas of family, togetherness, affordability at an instant, creating memories around a chicken nugget-toy-and playground, and NOW trying to show that they are smart choices because they offer fruit, even if it may be in one of their fried hormone laden chicken salads....

I do my best to not get upset by loved ones eating meat. Everyone makes their own choices. I even cook meat for my love. But I do now buy free-range organic meat. Patronage to the fast food industry does however make me very upset.

Food, Inc. How Industrial Food is Making us Sicker, Fatter and Poorer - And What You Can do About it is a movie (and book) about these issues and more.

Here is a trailer....

Official Food, Inc. Movie Site - Hungry For Change? - Trailer and Photos

Shared via AddThis


Check out the site and check out the issues section....

http://www.foodincmovie.com

Think about and question what you eat and what you feed your loved ones.