Welcome to my Blog! As you may have guessed, this blog started out as an experiment, but has turned into a way of living. It is mostly about food, but I reserve the right to share or rant or even point the odd finger. I hope you find it entertaining! I encourage your comments and questions!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Christmas Baking

Since this is my first vegan Christmas, I have been very busy planning holiday meals and trying out holiday cookie recipes.  I'm using this as the excuse for my recent blogging hiatus.  But I am back to share the fruits of my labor! 

I began my Christmas cookie baking bonanza with some good old sugar cookies.  And they turned out fine.  Nothing to rave about, but then, they were your basic sugar cookies that the kids just can't live without.  I used a recipe from The Joy  of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau (http://www.joyofveganbaking.com/)

Then I decided to try something a little different.  For some reason I got biscotti into my head and I went searching for recipes.  I found a very good one in Veganomicon http://www.theppk.com/books/veganomicon-the-ultimate-vegan-cookbook/.  I chose one of the variations, and made an absolutely fabulous cranberry pistachio biscotti.  These cookies just scream Christmas with their red and green colour scheme.  They were so great that I ended up making two batches.  In the first I used all whole wheat pastry flour, in the second I used half whole wheat and half white flour.  Both were very good, but the half and half ones had a slightly nicer texture.  I brought these to my yoga potluck xmas lunch and they were popular!



Since the cranberry-pistachio biscotti was such a hit, I moved on to a gingerbread biscotti.  I found the recipe on fatfreevegan.com (http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/12/fat-free-gluten-free-gingerbread.html).  If you go to the blog post you will see that she had some issues with the gluten free version, so I used whole wheat pastry flour and white flour.  I accidentally added too much cinnamon to mine, but they turned out pretty well.  Not as good as the aforementioned cranberry-pistachio delights.

I moved on to peanut butter, since my son wanted to make some for his dad.  I had a recipe hanging around for peanut butter quinoa cookies, so we gave those a go.  This is the recipe I used:  http://www.suite101.com/content/vegan-quinoa-peanut-butter-cookies-a138244.  I doubled the recipe, and cooked them for longer than the 10 minutes they called for since they came out quite soft.  But they were still pretty good, and they have a unique chewy kind of texture from the quinoa.  A bit of a modern twist on the traditional peanut butter cookie.

And last, but definitely not least.... a traditional Canadian Christmas favorite.  I made Better Than Butter Tarts from the How It All Vegan! Cookbook by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer (http://www.amazon.com/How-All-Vegan-Irresistible-Animal-Free/dp/1551520672).  This was one of the first recipes that I have tried from this book, but I have to say these tarts were SUPER EASY and SUPER yummy.  I have the 10th anniversary edition of this book and it says that this recipe is 'new', so it may not appear in earlier editions.  But it worth hunting it down.



Since there are only  a couple of days left before Christmas, and I still have much cooking to do (lentil, wild rice and mushroom timbales with mushroom gravy, sweet potato-pecan casserole) to prepare for Christmas dinner and Christmas Brunch (pumpkin waffles, fruit salad, and various muffins), I wish you all a very joyous and peaceful holiday season.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Dispelling the Milk Myths

I never considered myself to be much of an activist, but on this topic I just might have to step into the ring.  There is so much misinformation out there about calcium intake and milk consumption that I just have to set the record straight. 

My daughter came home from school yesterday after learning in health class that we need milk to make our bones strong and prevent osteoporosis when we`re older.   My brilliant daughter piped up in health class and said "My mom says that milk can leach the calcium out of your bones."  (I love that she is actually listening to me sometimes!!)  and nobody in the class believed her.  Her health teacher asked to see where I found my information. So I took this opportunity to put together a little 'informational packet' for her health teacher.  This incident along with people who have told me they are careful to drink their milk everyday since they have a history of osteoporosis in their family, have inspired me to dedicate this post to dispelling some of the milk myths that we are taught practically from birth.

First of all does calcium intake prevent osteoporosis?  No.  A study conducted in 1992 revealed that populations with the highest calcium intake had higher, not lower, fracture rates than those with more modest calcium intakes (Abelow. BJ et al. Calif Tissue Int 1992: 50:14-8). 

It follows therefore, that milk does not prevent osteoporosis.  In fact, it has been shown that high consumption of animal proteins, including milk can leach the calcium out of the bones (Science 1986;233,4763).  This is because animal proteins contain more sulfur containing amino acids, namely methionine.  The sulfur converts to sulfates and weak forms of sulfuric acid in the body.  In order to neutralize the acid, the body takes the calcium from the bones.  Calcium losses from the bones can be increased by the consumption of animal proteins, salt, caffeine, the use of tobacco and by physical inactivity(http://milk.elehost.com/html/why_does_calcuim_leave_the_bon.html).

The consumption of milk has also been linked with insulin-dependant (Type 1 or childhood onset) diabetes.  Women consuming dairy products may have higher rates of infertility and ovarian cancer than those who avoid dairy products.  Milk consumption has been linked to heart disease, prostate cancer, type II diabetes, muscular dystrophy and other auto-immune diseases, teenage acne and susceptibility to cataracts.   Don't take my word for it.  Check it out for yourself.  Read 'The China Study" (http://www.thechinastudy.com/), check out this website:  http://www.pcrm.org/; the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine.  All the information is there, in black and white.

So why do doctors still tell us to consume dairy products to prevent osteoporosis?  Why are our children learning in school that milk is good for us, that milk makes your bones strong?  Why when my daughter raises a perfectly legitimate point in health class does the health teacher not believe her?  Why are so many people completely misinformed about the health effects of milk and the best sources of dietary calcium?  Ok.....  deep breath......

So where do we get our calcium, if not from dairy products?  From vegetables of course!  Where do cows get their calcium from????   Grass.  Though, I do not recommend eating grass...  Try green leafy vegetables (broccoli, spinach, kale, collard greens), beans (chickpeas, soybeans, pinto beans, kidney beans), dried figs, tofu, oatmeal, calcium fortified soy milk, calcium fortified orange juice.  And as a bonus, the calcium from these plant based foods is more efficiently absorbed by the body. 

Did you know that one cup of butternut squash contains 84 milligrams of calcium??  On that note, here is a totally delicious and dairy free way to get your daily calcium:  Roasted butternut squash soup!!


I adapted this recipe from 'Vegan with a Vengeance' which, as you know, is one of my favorite cookbooks.  Here it is:

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Cut about 2 medium butternut squash in half lengthwise and place cut side down on a cookie sheet and add about a 1/2 cup of water (to keep it from sticking).  Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.  Remove and cool until you can handle comfortably.

Meanwhile in a large stock pot, sauté 1 diced medium onion in 2 Tbsp. olive oil for 5 minutes.  Add 1 minced jalapeno pepper and sauté 5 minutes more.  Add 1-2 Tbsp grated ginger, 3 cloves minced garlic and a tsp. of salt and sauté for 2 minutes more.  Remove from heat.

Remove the skin and seeds from the cooked squash, and cut into cubes.  Add to the stock pot with the onion mixture.  Add 4 cups of vegetable broth (OR 4 cups of water with 1-2 bouillon cubes).  Use a immersion blender to purée until smooth OR purée in a blender or food processor and return to pot.  

Heat through then add 1Tbsp. maple syrup and the juice of 1 lime.  Serve warm.

Enjoy!!