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!

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Thanksgiving Meal Planning

The leaves are falling, the geese are migrating and Thanksgiving is just around the corner.  And with Thanksgiving comes..... the family meal.  This year, I am dreading it.  My mother has a way of making me feel like I am being a pain in the butt with my refusal to eat like a normal human being.  She has absolutely no idea how to feed me.  She can't even imagine a meal without animal products of some kind.   And I think she feels I am somehow depriving my children, so she brings them over chicken wings and cheese slices! 

I know it's not her fault.  She grew up with a diet rich in meat and cheese.  She was taught that you had to get your protein from animal products and your calcium from milk.  She has given up trying to convince me that a vegetarian diet is not healthy, but when it comes to family meals, she is at a loss.

I suggested a potluck style meal and told her I would bring some dishes.  And she has agreed to put aside some mashed potatoes without dairy.  Fair enough.  So now I need to find some festive holiday vegan dishes that will convince my family that food can be tasty without animal products.  I can rise to the challenge!  I'm thinking sweet potatoes, stuffed squash, spinach dip in a pumpernickle loaf, vegetable strudle...  I just checked the label for frozen puff pastry and it is vegan!   Heck, I just finished making chocolate chip cookies!!  And they are mighty tasty if I do say so myself.  The test will be whether there are any left at the end of the day tomorrow!!  All those new cookbooks will come in mighty handy!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Dinner at Denise's

We were fortunate to be invited to dinner this weekend at the home of a fantastic hostess and friend.  Since hearing of my recent dietary changes, she stepped up to the plate and prepared a fabulous Persian vegan feast.  The menu consisted of a roasted eggplant dip apetizer followed by a main course of sweet potato stew and an absolutely gorgeous tri layered pilaf.  Unfortunately the pictures don't do it the justice it deserves.  I can only begin to imagine how labor intesive it was to prepare.  The bottom green layer was flavored with green onion, the middle orange layer was carrot and the top red layer was beet.  It was garnished with pistachios.  A work of art almost too pretty to eat.  Dessert was chocolate banana mousse.  Delicious and light.  I believe the recipes, as well as the menu, came from one of the Moosewood Cookbooks.





I am truly grateful to have friends that are so supportive of my not always easy to accomodate dietary choices.  But for someone to go to the effort to cook a gourmet vegan meal....  that's special.  Thanks Denise!!  Next time it's my turn.  I'm already scouring my cookbooks.

Speaking of cookbooks...  I picked up two new ones this weekend:  Vegan with a Vengence by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, and Vegan Table by Colleen Patrick Goudreau.  I was also looking for The Joy of Vegan Baking, but they were out!!  Both look great, but I haven't tried any of the recipes yet.  I have made several dishes from FatFreeVegan.com though.  I made the lentil soup :  http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/02/rainy-day-lentil-soup.html  and it was really tasty and easy to make.  I get new recipes every day on facebook!  How great is that??

And while in Ottawa I went to Rainbow Foods and picked up some of that Vegan cheese that they were raving about in VegNews....  I was not overly impressed.   I also picked up some nutritional yeast.  I'm not quite sure what to do with it yet, but I'll figure something out.....

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Giant Zuke

I was given a zuchini the size of a watermelon from someone's garden this week.  Now I had to figure out what to do with it.  So I spend an entire day planning, searching for recipes on line and then cooking. 

The first project was a roasted vegetable soup that turned out so well that I just have to share the recipe.  I cut about a third of the moster zuke into chunks removing the tough skin and seeds, peeled and cut 2 sweet potatoes, two and a half red peppers and one and half red onions into chunks.  I added a head of garlic peeled and drizzled the whole bunch with olive oil and salt and roasted them until they were soft.  Then I blended the whole batch with a carton of vegetable broth until it was smooth.  I dumped the whole mess in a stock pot and added some water to thin it out.  Then I added 1teaspoon each of curry, cumin, cinnamon, salt and paprika and about a quarter teaspoon of red pepper flakes and two bay leaves.  I simmered it for a while and voila!  My daughter had 2 bowls and my cubicle neighbor commented on how good it smelled! 

Next I attempted 2 kinds of zuchini muffins, one with raisins, the other chocolate.  Neither turned out great, but I didn't bother to peel the zuchini and the peel was very tough.  I'm still on the look out for a good vegan zuchini muffin recipe.  I've read good things about 'The Joy of Vegan Baking' by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau.  Perhaps I will check it out.

Luckily it was my daughter's day to do the dishes!!!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Propoganda at School

My son came home from grade 3 today with propoganda from the Dairy Council.  It's a sticker that says that milk helps your kids stay healthy, alert and ready to learn.  This is a pet peeve of mine....  why is the Dairy Council allowed to advertise their products in schools?  And who gave them the responsibility of educating our kids on a healthy diet?  I try to tell my kids that we're not going to eat dairy products because they're not good for you, and at school they are learning that dairy products are one of the 4 basic food groups.  If you contradict the school on this particular issue, does this give the kids the right to question the school on whether or not math and science are important to learn?   It's good for kids to question authority sometimes, but how do you disagree with the teacher on this issue without undermining her/his authority? 

On a lighter note...  I made a chickpea masala for dinner with salad and my 15 year old daughter and her friend ate every bite!  I'm just happy that I got her to eat something other than bagels and tomato soup.  It almost makes up for her not being willing to try my green smoothy this morning.  If only the little one hadn't spilt the beans about the spinach hiding in there!!

Monday, September 13, 2010

The Beginning

This little experiment all started in earnest soon after reading "The China Study".  It's difficult to continue to eat animal protein after reading the scientific reasoning presented by Campbell and Campbell.  The fact that a diet of animal protein causes heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, and osteoperosis.  And so my motivation is health related, even though some of the animal rights reasoning is pretty compelling too. 

I decided to begin my vegan transition on September 7th, the day after Labor Day.  Why?  Because the kids are back in school, vacation is over  and I could squeeze in one last trip without hunting down vegan restaurants.   Besides, how could I possibly go to Paris and not eat my body weight in cheese??? For some reason, I forsee eating out as one of the more challenging aspects of maintaining a strict vegan diet.  I suppose it's just something to get used to. 

So, it's been a whole week and it has been pretty easy!  Despite a potluck lunch and a meal at a restaurant.  It does take planning and preparation.... and some will power.  I gave up meat years ago, but I have had a long and lingering love affair with cheese.  From what I have read, this is common.  Something I read said that casein (the protein in dairy products) acts like opiates in the brain and is therefore addictive! I'm not sure I buy that, but I do love cheese.  Not surprisingly there are several vegan cheese substitutes out there.  I have tried one soy cheese that was pretty good, but the ingredients included trans fats and casein. Sigh.....   Besides, the little town I live in only has one grocery store, which I'm lucky carries some soy milks and meat replacements. 

But it's nice to know I'm in good company.  I found a list of celebrity vegetarians on the Happy Cow website and I was surprised at the length of it!  Some were not too surprising...  Alanis Morisette, Alicia Silverstone, Deepak Chopra, the Beatles...  But Socratese, Plato, Aristotle, and Einstein were also on the list!  Lots of big brains!