Earthly Delight

2009-04-13T06:58:00.003-04:00

so, i know i made this blog vegetarian but it still feels so wrong posting anything that isn't vegan.. i actually have in fact been cooking a lot.

This summer I will be photographing almost everything here:

get fit: summer 09

the blog is my 2009 summer fitness goal blog and hopefully I'll manage to use this tool to help me achieve my personal fitness goals in the next four or so months. Maybe once I get into the habit of posting vetarian meals once again I won't feel as concerned from then on?

We'll see, if not then this officially marks a summer hiatus of earthly delight until sept 09. see you then! x

PS please feel free to check out my other blog... and be perfectly honest if you think I'm being a complete dolt in any way. mk? x

Diet, Dessert, and Dogs has a new site!

2009-03-20T14:31:00.003-04:00

DDD; Diet, Dessert and Dogs is a blog run by a fellow Torontonian, Ricki. I've actually unfortunately never met up with Ricki--not even for fair trade organic tea and vegan biscotti (which in Toronto is ridiculously easy to go out and get) but don't worry--we've got time.

In any case, in conjunction with the release of the coverwork for her upcoming cookbook "Sweet Freedome", Ricki has launched her new website; http://www.dietdessertndogs.com/ Super neat, right?

To celebrate, and help spiffy up her new site, shes holding a giveaway contest where alls he asks for is for you to give her some constructive criticism, or let her know what you for sure like/love. So do it. And win some maple syrup--if you've never had real maple syrup, you need to try it. If you're from Toronto, have some cake. mm cake.

Freeganism

2009-03-11T08:39:00.002-04:00

I thought this was a super interesting thing to watch. If I'll go freegan all too soon? Maybe not... there are a lot of homeless in my area of town who I'm sure need the bagels put out by Timmy-Ho's each night more than I. But definately (free) food for thought.

http://www.oprah.com/media/20080601_tows_196016001OCOMTRASH_O_VIDEO_1

Back!!!

2009-03-01T16:58:00.004-05:00

So I'm back from Costa Rica!

It was simply amazing, there was MORE than enough food--I barely ate any of the luna bars. There were one or two restaurants that were lacking, but for the most part it was all you can eat buffets that were costa rican/american fusion so I loaded up on salads, (often fresh) bread, veggies, and lots of wonderful fresh fruit!!! :D Mmmmm... And of course, rice and beans!!! (Gallo Pinto!) (I also ate non-vegan things like scrambled eggs, oatmeal (which was always made with milk), and a lot of cheese sandwiches as my prepared bag lunch, so if you're a vegan travelling on a trip like this, DO bring those luna bars--they'd have been much more essential were I vegan!)

I wish I knew how to put these photos behind a link, but I'm afraid I'll have to just share them all with you whether you like it or not... hope no one has dialup... PS Throughout the photos notice I am NEVER without my field book. I sometimes left it when I went to the loo. Sometimes.

Frist day there I was starving, bought a fruit I'd never tried before. It was green with purple flesh and white milky sap. Strange, but definately good.

The fruit was, in general, AMAZING. Every day we had fresh papaya, watermelon, and pineapple--without fail. Cantaloupe made a few appearances, and banana one or two (which was strange, because they served them to the workers, just often not us.) Mangos were not in season. *BIG ANGRY FACE* But I guess I shouldn't complain. :P

The most amazing quesadillas of my life. Fresh salsa and refried black beans to accompany. The quesadillas were filled with lots of fresh veggies and there was a vegan option, because they gave the same dish to the girl with a milk allergy travelling with us. (I'm pretty sure mine had cheese, from the photo at least. While eating all I could taste was amazing. She agreed it was very good.)

The pineapple-guava jam was AMAZING. If you ever see it in the supermarket (I actually saw some today) I HIGHLY recommend trying it.

sometimes they were less creative with their vegetarian options, but that was ok...

Sometimes they were VERY creative... this was actually an awesome sandwich. The bread was home baked, not just factory whitebread (though not much more nutritionally valuable, a bit tastier) and the veggies were just ground up steamed veggies I recognized from the buffet the night before. But I think they added some garlic and spices. It was rather tasty. Maybe 4 hours of hiking does that to anything, i dont know... but I remember I wasnt starving when I ate it and liked it anyway.

One of the things I always have loved is Bananas. Especially the idea of finding wild bananas. On one of our hikes through a national park I spotted some banana trees that I recognized couldn't be cultivated bananas (there are some differences). No one believed me so they all got to see the short asian girl jump. and jump. and jump. And finally knock a banana down. It was ridiculously hard to peel, I ended up having to use a knife, and it got sticky sap all over my hands. Those are two reasons we don't eat wile bananas, and this is the third;

SEEDS. That, and they taste like crap pretty much. NOTHING at all like the sweet bananas we're used to, or even the starchy-savory/sweet plantanes.

Oh, and by the way, that hike was through the rainforest. Let me just say, your state of being in the rainforest is "sweaty"... I used to want to work in the Amazons. No. Just no. Dry heat for me. PS notice the sunburn. It was horrid. ><

Saw some volcanoes.

Hiked through the cloudforest.

Hit up a beach or two.

And a swamp. and dry forests. and transition forests. and mountains. and hot springs.

So I'll leave it at that. I had a great time! (There are some photos I left out on flickr, if you want to see STILL more.)

Now, on a slightly different topic, I just wanted to say. CCV (aka CCK, now) is having a jocolate giveaway. Talk about YUM. ^__^ Run over before March 19th to get in on the action! Best of luck!

OH WAIT. One more thing. The truth about shade-grown coffee.

Its bollox. The trees that provide the 'shade' really just take up room where coffee plants could be planted, meaning that the fields need to be even LARGER to get the same amount of coffee. This was one of the BEST shade grown coffee plantations we saw, BY FAR. So imagine what the average, or even the worst, was like...

Betty

2009-02-08T12:25:00.005-05:00

The past few days "Betty" comic strips have been making me really happy. (Full Vegetarian series is Feb 2 to 8th, I believe, but I chose the ones I really liked most.) I want to share with you:

February 4th

Ever heard "only pansies are vegetarian"? Are you kidding me? If you're one of this big, macho guys who craves meat day and night, you better be one TOUGH MAN to be able to say too bad to those cravings and do whats right anyway. All the more reason to make me swoon. <3

February 5th

Haven't we all heard the "but plants have feelings too" thing? <3 this.

February 6th

Amazing retort to "I like the taste of meat". I like the taste of a clear concience! <3

February 7th

He should check out some of the blogs I have linked here--I'm sure he'd get some really amazing recipes off of Tofu Mom, or Vegan Dad, or (of course) Jonie... and that's just a start!

PhotoJournal?

2009-02-08T09:08:00.002-05:00

I have decided to try and photodocument my day's food. Already I sort of ate second breakfast without photographing it.. So here's first breakfast.. Banana Pomegranate Parfait.. and tea!

Anyway, I'm off to Costa Rica on Monday--I'm almost all packed, almost all done my essays, almost.. ok that's a lie, I'm dying of panic attacks really.

But all will be good... soon.

Looking forward to "mangas"--mangos so big they use the femenine form!

mmm.

(Oh, and yes I only drink non-dairy milks... remember I made a post back when about how in Canada there's just no reason not to?)

Turns out Vegans CAN get Salmonella

2009-02-01T16:59:00.006-05:00

Clif Bars and LUNA bars, among several other health bars that use peanut butter, are on voluntary recall because of salmonella incidents.. Ironically enough, I saw this after I got home from buying an entire case of 15 Nutz over Chocolate LUNA bars.. *sigh* I hate that Canada only carries 5 of the flavors, and that really that's the only one I care for.. oh well, I'll have to settle for the others and take these back for exchange asap.

And here I thought I could scoff in meat-eaters faces about salmonella and the rest.

In other news.. just over a week till Costa Rica. I am SWAMPED with work. AUGHGHGHG. I have literally gained 5 pounds with the stress, but no worries--hiking every day and living off of fruit for 2 weeks cus their rice and beans aren't vegetarian will likely get me back into shape. I *have* been going to the gym every day--but I have a body fat scale and know as a fact, a bit over half of those pounds were *not* muscle. :P

P.S. I am in love with soy milk and frozen berries. Best snack ever. Unfortunately I have discovered I'm only ok with certain brands of soy milk.. So Nice does not check out (nor Vitasoy, though Silk does) :(

Live and learn.

PPS Dear Clif Bar Company--If you want to send me one of each flavor of your luna bars so I can try them out and be like "oh yum" and then beg the health food stores in Toronto to order a greater range of flavors, I'd be down with that. Just sayin.'

grumbles

2009-01-23T15:03:00.003-05:00

I go to the Hart House every day to work out. It is approximately a 10 minute walk from where I live. 15 if I'm moving slow (which I often do on the way back, as I practice my bellydancing while walking. I figure its under a down coat--no one knows, right? Im sure I look ridiculus but whatever.)

Ugh, ugh ugh ugh. Posters for Mark Bittman's talk have been catching my eye for months, he gave a talk at 7pm on Wednesday, and unfortunately I had class 6-8pm. Still, I have to admit I simply forgot. Maybe its for the best, I really shouldn't skip my class.

Anyway, I read this and it just made me more sad for missing out.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090121.wlbittman21/BNStory/globebooks/home

Though I have to admit, vegan until 6 is kind of strange.. especially since most would take that to mean dinner=indulge to excess. Vegan until 6, and then vegetarian I'm totally cool with, but "anything goes" is a little iffy advice. While to him it might mean a veeery little bit of meat, I can see this to most meaning an entire steak. Oh well, either way I like that someone so popular has woken up to the issues on meat.

For the record though, and don't hate me, but I'm currently vegetarian. I don't know if I mentioned... there's a list of reasons but in the end its just a personal choice. I do still drink soy/almond milk (my body has gotten a lot better with soy), use vegan products, eat mostly vegan protein bars (mmm Luna bars) etc. Really its mostly just yogurt and some egg whites back in my diet. That being said, I'll avoid posting here unless its vegan, I just wanted to be 'straight' with you guys, especially if I'm gonna start posting more often.

xo

The Yummiest Contest on Earth

2009-01-22T18:21:00.003-05:00

Diet, Dessert and Dogs is holding an ultra-amazing giveaway contest.

http://dietdessertndogs.wordpress.com/2009/01/22/yes-we-candy-big-announcement-number-two/#comment-5363

She's giving away chocolate, AND baked goods--though you can only cash in on the baked goods if you're a TO resident. Best of luck to everyone though, and be sure to check out her blog in general--its pretty great!

As for a personal update: I'm sorry I'm being so bad about it, I really am... I'm at a bit of a crossways in life I suppose.. I'm seeing if I can get more into food photography and at the same time trying to figure out a bajillion other things in life.

The sorority is ridiculus, we just had rigged elections. I don't even care if somehow this post gets back to me, its just insulting being forced to vote when you're only given one candidate and you know even if you vote "no" they'll be put into the position. Don't get me wrong, I love the candidates, but I (and they) find the rigging disgusting.

I met a chef (not even vegetarian..) who I actually really liked, and was excited about doing some food photography with (using a friends digital SLR, how exciting!) but unfortunately he's gone AWOL on me. (I'm a tiny half-asian vegetarian, how scary can that be? Apparently scary enough..)

I'm going to Costa Rica super soon to study tropical ecosystems.

I'm going to the gym every day, and have also taken up Pilates and Belly Dancing--the both of which I love.

I'm hoping to get a job at the lab of my dreams this summer and perhaps into an indepentent study project in that lab next year.

I am eagerly awaiting the summer; its farmers markets, time to cook, and of course--nature!!

xoxo all

cauliflower-pear wasabi soup

2008-12-25T13:08:00.004-05:00

So the other day I went on a date to The Red Tea Box. While that cafe/restaurant/tea house was much more expensive than promised (supposedly an under $40/couple restaurant... unlikely story.) it was absolutely charming. There not only were there various vegan options on the menu, but all three soups they had on were vegan. So obviously we got the soup sampler.

The trio of mushroom soup was much much too salty for me, though my date didn't mind awfully, and even I agreed that it was good for drenching the provided bread in for flavor. The pumpkin-carrot-ginger soup was good, though I'd had that combination of flavors so many times it didn't take my anywhere new. The cauliflower-pear wasabi soup though. Wow. Wow. Wow. Right then and there my date and I agreed we would have to make that soup sometime soon--we even considered making it for dinner that night, but he'd already had a mushroom pasta sauce on the simmer. (Which, with chickpeas--my favorite way to eat pasta sauce, if not plain, was amazing.) Unfortunately the relationship didn't last the night (but we made it past dinner.)

Now, if something as little as a breakup would deter me from making this soup... well I wouldn't really be me now would I?

This soup is amazing, I love it to bits. First and foremost I love. Love. Love! the flavor combination. No soup I've had before has played with me quite so much. The creaminess of the cauliflower, the hint of sweetness from the pear, and the lovely little nip of the wasabi... just beautiful. I don't even want to mention that its virtually fat-free and low calorie yet super filling: yes it happens to be but please please forget this fact. Please. It also happens to be one of the easiest soups of my life. And easy on the wallet.

So here it is, my rendition of Cauliflower-Pear Wasabi Soup

Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower, washed and chopped up. (Use the stem too, there's no reason not to.)
2 large ripe pears, washed and chopped up.
2-3 tbsp wasabi paste
1L vegetable broth

Pour the broth, pears, and cauliflower into a pressure cooker and cook for about 20 minutes until the cauliflower and pear are really quite soft and already falling apart. Add the wasabi and blend with an immersion blender. Voila.

If you don't have a pressure cooker, never fear--just boil until soft in a large pot. If you have no immersion blender--blend in parts in your regular blender but a word of warning; either let it cool or remove the center part of the lid if you can, else it will splatter like nothing else.

This soup simply dissapeared. My mother and I would have enjoyed more wasabi, my brother would have enjoyed less--so adjust that to taste. It's quite nice as a hint though, coming through the sweetness of the pear and just nipping gently without actually biting. But if you're into the kinky stuff... ;)

Enjoy! And Merry Christmas! (And whatever else you may be celebrating. At my house we celebrate nothing, so I'm a little out of the loop as to what I should be wishing you. But well wishes nontheless!)

Excitement Excitement!

2008-09-22T17:55:00.003-04:00

My days certainly have turned around.

Food chair for recruitment has been insane. I've been shopping and cooking like no tomorrow. I've whirred out litres upon litres of hummus (which I've quite perfected into a silky smooth whipped art), chopped pounds of celery and carrots, steamed barrels of corn, and who knows what else. (Including decorating two 12" by 18" cakes into slates.)

So yesterday I felt like crap and popped a few cups of popcorn, slathered with ketchup and nooch, and put on the season 1 disk of Greek and munched away while seeing what people seem to be falling heads over for (and I too have taken to after 6 episodes of popcorn munching goodness.) That cheered me up a good bit and then my SO called and that made me super happy. We both admitted that we really couldn't wait a full month until we saw each other and made plans for me to go on October 3rd to Montreal. I'm so excited--him and I are going to check out a vegan restaurant (or two); some terrace bars, see if we can't go to the Contemporary Art Museum (which happens to have an open night the first Friday of every month--which we'll be there fore) and of course, most importantly, see each other.

Then, today, to add to my high, I get an e-mail from Ruth Toth; founder of Fresh. At first I got super excited thinking maybe, just maybe I'd somehow gotten an interview despite my lack of serving experience. Unfortunately not so, but instead I'd won a $100 gift certificate from a draw I was entered in for my feedback. When I went in today to get it I got the opportunity to talk to both the owners of the branch just 2 doors down and they were both amazing people. One of them went on a search for my resume, so fingers crossed she finds it--I left her my name and phone number and asked if she could let me know if she couldn't find it, so I'd resubmit it. I spoke to the other owner about Agave Nectar and Teese; he seemed really interested in trying out Teese so who knows, maybe I too will be exposed to this seventh vegan wonder of the world.

So yeah, there's my update of excitement!

More soon, with photos hopefully! Keep your fingers crossed for me--hopefully I get an interview!!! Oh, and wish me luck for recruitment--we've got a lot of quality girls coming to our final round, so here's hoping they accept our bids! (Tomorrow night!!!)

Vegan This, Vegan That

2008-09-12T09:46:00.002-04:00

So what is of the up you may ask? With the sorority's fall recruitment prep in full swing (I've taken on the position of Food Chair, so needless to say I'm doing a LOT of cooking. My hummus makes my sisters go wild; hopefully the potential new members will be as impressed!)

The open date for my latest exchange came and went and so far seems to have gone well. The US postal service took their liberties with the package of one of our recipients; who happens to be a mod over at the veggieboards... Within hours I'd managed to round up a group of other participants each willing to pitch in 5 bucks (or in the case of the origional sender, 45! She's working on getting the insurance to pan out the cash by the way; i'd feel horrible if she had to pay for TWO packages..) and sent out this gift. (Photo taken by the user, Froggy, when he got it..)

I'm happy with how it came out--I hope he really truly enjoys it all!

I can't wait to start sending the SO packages. He phones me and writes to me whenever he can (<3) anad says that soon enough he will be able to recieve small packages--the indoctrination period ends this weekend. I'm still hoping to go see him at the end of October. mmmmm Montreal!!! Je l'aime! <3

Also, I've decided I would be an awesome vegan server--I'm really friendly and have a great memory and attention to detail.. I know a ton about vegan food, food allergies, and special diets and have cooked for all of them, so I can really help people with the menu... and I think I'd just love a job where I get to share the joy of (vegan) food with people!! I've started handing out resumes.. it started with just one and now I'm slowly expanding the circle of applications, mostly because I realized with no waitressing experience I'm going to have to throw a lot more darts to get a bullseye. Fingers crossed!!! Wish me luck!! (And if I get hired, come eat at the restaurant!! There are so many of you Ontarionian vegans!!)

Lifeguarding and instructing is awesome, but downtown Toronto has no city pools!

Well, that's my update for now. I got a new camera, though photo-quality wise its actually not better than my last, its just (a) slimmer and (b) mine. My dad didn't want me to take his when I moved (reasonably).

Hmm.. lately.

2008-08-22T23:26:00.003-04:00

What have I been up to? Work. A lot of work. What do I eat you ask?

Breakfast: A protein smoothie... frozen fruit, almond milk, and vegetarian protein powder (soy, pea, hemp, and rice mix.. I can handle the soy in that pretty well)

Lunch: Plain beans and nori, made into a wrap as I run out the door for work.

Snack/Dinner: Salad and a LUNA bar. Fruit.. sometimes more beans when I get back from work though I get back quite late.

Pretty much, I mean there's fruits and nuts here and there, but for the most part its kind of dull.

The certain someone I mentioned once or twice before has become my SO, for those who were wondering. And he left about a week ago for basic training--he's to be an airforce officer in the Canadian Military. (Which, for those who might have noticed, explains the ribbon on my banner.) Am I pro war? Heavens no, and neither is he--he wants to do search and rescue and peacekeeping, and I want him to be safe. So I support our troops, who protect us.

I've been taking lots of photos for him, and I put together the most awesome asian themed care package--wasabi peas, wasabi cashews, aloe vera juice, pocky, cock sauce (Its actually chilli sauce--we just call it cock sauce because of the rooster on the label..)... I was going to add some more perishable stuff last minute, but I had the forsight to e-mail an administrator first to ask what is allowed in care packages. My answer? NO FOOD OR CANDY.

Well then. They never said beverages, but I'm going to take a safe bet...

So photos is all that's allowed, photos and letters, so I've been doing just that.

As for my blog? I'm sure you've noticed its been tapering, and I dont know if the food part will resurrect any time soon--I really am swamped and might not have a chance to make anything really post-worthy for a while. Sure I'm eating and cooking and even catering for my sorority's recruitment, but is it super awesome cool? Not really I feel.

So, my blog will now officially become more of a "what's going on in my life" sort of deal--so that when my SO manages to get on the net and misses me, he can check here--as he said he would (and he seemed so crestfallen when I mentioned my blog was all but dead that that is what inspired me to simply convert its main focus.)

I really don't mind if you stop reading it; I totally understand that my life as a vegan lifeguard/student/sorority girl isn't quite what was promised at start, but if you want to follow along; you're more than welcome to come for the ride!

Vegan Hundred

2008-08-22T23:10:00.003-04:00

As made by Hannah over at BitterSweet

Your mission, should you choose to accept it:

1) Copy this list into your own blog, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Post a comment here once you’ve finished and link your post back to this one.
5) Pass it on!

1. Natto
2. Green Smoothie
3. Tofu Scramble
4. Haggis
5. Mangosteen
6. Creme brulee
7. Fondue
8. Marmite/Vegemite
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Nachos
12. Authentic soba noodles
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Taco from a street cart
16. Boba Tea
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Gyoza
20. Vanilla ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Ceviche
24. Rice and beans
25. Knish
26. Raw scotch bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Caviar
29. Baklava
30. Pate
31. Wasabi peas
32. Chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Mango lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Mulled cider
37. Scones with buttery spread and jam
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Fast food french fries
41. Raw Brownies
42. Fresh Garbanzo Beans (I haven't but seeing garbanzo beans in the pod, via the link Hannah provided, made me really happy--I'd always wondered..)
43. Dahl
44. Homemade Soymilk
45. Wine from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Stroopwafle
47. Samosas
48. Vegetable Sushi
49. Glazed doughnut
50. Seaweed
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Tofurkey
54. Sheese
55. Cotton candy
56. Gnocchi
57. Piña colada
58. Birch beer
59. Scrapple
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Soy curls
63. Chickpea cutlets
64. Curry
65. Durian
66. Homemade Sausages
67. Churros, elephant ears, or funnel cake
68. Smoked tofu
69. Fried plantain
70. Mochi
71. Gazpacho
72. Warm chocolate chip cookies
73. Absinthe
74. Corn on the cob
75. Whipped cream, straight from the can
76. Pomegranate
77. Fauxstess Cupcake
78. Mashed potatoes with gravy
79. Jerky
80. Croissants
81. French onion soup
82. Savory crepes
83. Tings
84. A meal at Candle 79
85. Moussaka
86. Sprouted grains or seeds
87. Macaroni and “cheese”
88. Flowers
89. Matzoh ball soup
90. White chocolate
91. Seitan
92. Kimchi
93. Butterscotch chips
94. Yellow watermelon
95. Chili with chocolate
96. Bagel and Tofutti
97. Potato milk
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Raw cookie dough

I'm not dead

2008-08-17T08:39:00.002-04:00

I know it seems like I've been dead, but I've not. I spent the past week saying goodbye to my sweetheart who is, as we speak, boarding a plane to go to St. Jean, Quebec for his basic training for the Canadian Armed Forces. I wish him all my love and blessings.

What did we do this week? Oh some really fun stuff--we went to his brother's wedding. Gasp how did I manage to eat you may ask? Well, I brought my own food and simply told the caterers I was special diet but didn't want to give them a hassel, so if I could just come to the back between dishes to make myself my food I'd love it. They were more than pleased to accomodate, so that was that. I got to use the cute little bento box I picked up in Spain (I put almonds in the cutlery holder, and I left in the divider so the pits could go somewhere. Tricksy aren't I?)

I hope some good photos come of me and the SO ripping up the dance floor--we're pretty amazing if I do say so myself! I'll be sure to post a good one here if I can!

Oh, I wish I'd taken a photo but I made two really gorgeous things last night; an awesome salad and some really great bread. The SO's family devoured both, so I'd say it was a hit. I'll give the recipe's here and when I make it again, some photos!

Cranberry Almond Salad

Salad:

454g baby spinach (pre-washed)
3/4 cups sliced almonds
2/3 cups dried cranberries
1-2 tsp flax seed oil

Warm the flax seed oil very gently over low heat, add the almonds and toss well, toast the almonds. Allow to cool and then throw together with spinach and cranberries.

Dressing:
1/2 cup sweetener
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 T flax seed oil
1/2 tsp paprika
2 tsp minced onion
1 T poppyseeds
1 T seasame seeds

Toast the poppyseeds and seasame seeds gently until fragrant. Allow to cool and then either whisk all ingredients together, or as I do; put in a jar and shake shake shake! :) Allow to sit at least 1hr. To serve mix with salad; I used about 3/4 of the dressing I made.

Adapted from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Jamies-Cranberry-Spinach-Salad/Detail.aspx -- which you can see has over a thousand good reviews!!! This salad is simple but good.

Whole Wheat Olive-Oil Pine Nut Bread

For a bread machine--I was just playing around. The SO's family loved it, even ventured to say it was the best bread they'd ever had. I think that was an exageration, but it definately was good.

Wet: 1 c. Water* & 1/3 c. Olive Oil*

*(I watched the knead and felt it was too dry, so I added a little bit more of each, next time I make this I'll see if I can't adjust the recipe so that's not needed.)

Dry: 3 c. whole wheat flour, 1 T organic sucanat, 1 T gluten, 1 1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp instant yeast
2/3 tsp dried basil, 1/2 tsp dried rosemary (give or take..)
1/3 c/ pine nuts, roughly chopped

1 tsp to 1 T olive oil for glaze; I used some flavored olive oil I keep around, but plain is fine.

Put all but pine nuts and glaze oil in the bread machine, as per your bread machine's instructions, on medium crust, 2lb white bread. Watch to make sure, as mentioned, that there is enough liquid to avoid flour on the corners. 5 min into knead 2 toss in pine nuts. 20 minutes from the end of baking brush with olive oil, and again at the end. Allow to sit inside the bread machine once done for an hour before removing.

That's what I did, I'm sure there's a better way--but this works!

Now I've got formal recruitment to work on--I move in two weeks and the week after tht the sorority will start to open our doors to new girls. I'm in charge of the food, among other things, so perhaps I'll get some good photos.

The cookbook reviews might have to be further postponed. Again, my apologies!

Water Fasting--Is it Healthy?

2008-08-04T07:09:00.002-04:00

I've been water fasting for approximately 20 hrs now, and while I feel fine I started to wonder--is it really that healthy?

I mean over and over we're told to never starve our bodies, that less than 900kcal a day is super bad, that no protein will result in severe muscle loss--so is it ok? On the other hand, I really wish I could cleanse my intestines, I feel like I would really benefit to get rid of all of that.

Liquid fasts sound more sound to me, but even then? I'm going to call off my fast and maybe do it in a few weeks once I've gathered more information. I've been reading around and all the medical opinions seem strongly against it, and only homeopathic sites are for water fasting. While I prefer naturopathy/homeopathy... I'm not sure how quick I want to be about discarding medical opinions? I'm at quite a crossroads..

Spain is almost done

2008-08-03T14:04:00.005-04:00

My grandparents are much better, for those who are curious--I'm still spending the majority of my days and nights sitting with my grandparents. I have looked at all the cookbooks I promised to review and my issue is all the recipes either require an ingredient (be it ingredient or spice) that I can't easily get in Spain, include soy, or use the oven. While I could find a way around any of the above issues, it would be a hassel that likely would also make the food come out badly--or me just not like it. (As much as I adore what soy does to me... I even avoided all of the soy yogurt while I was here. Honest.)

One thing I'd really like to do is a fast--so I decided I might as well fast till I get back to Toronto: it sure would make my flight easier (since I didn't ask for a vegan option). So here we go: A 3 day water fast (Monday to Wednesday) and I will spend Thursday and Friday incorporating juices and some fresh fruits and vegetables back into my diet. I will try and update daily as that might help me keep to it... We shall see. Why do I want to fast? Lets say I read up on all of the ailments a fast should cure you from and I feel I could benefit.

Has anyone done a fast before? How was it for you? Any tips? I'm especially concerned coming off of the fast: any tips for how I should do that, especially to avoid binging? (While I'm not doing this to lose weight, I'd rather not gain because of it...)

In other news; the second veggie board snack exchange is officially underway! I did not include myself this round because I simply don't have the money or energy to put a package together, but I'm really excited to see what other people get! :)

Cheers! -ED

Update

2008-07-21T11:19:00.005-04:00

Quinoa milk is not aweful. But it sure isn't my preferred choice. The taste of quinoa is noticable, but that should be fine, I don't know why I don't like it though.. its watery and not at the same time, its sweet and not in a good way...

The oat pudding wasn't so amazing either, too sickly sweet...

Hazelnut milk however.

Wow. Soooo wonderfully good, the taste of hazelnuts is just awesome to have in your milk. Oh yum yum yum!

As for the egg front. Someone on the veggieboards pointed out to me that no matter how humane the chickens are raised, the male chicks are still killed because they're simply not needed. I know I know--I knew this, but until they mentioned it to me I'd sort of forgotten? That was the same day I made that last post, so since then I have avoided egg once again. A two day hiatus, in which only one of them I consumed egg... haha... well I gave it a chance, and went back to the better option, what can I say? ;)

As for the grandparent front--they're doing better, they're not perfect, but better.. they still need quite a bit of care so I haven't even thought of cooking yet, but soon!! I'm SO sorry I really am... these reviews might be a month or two late, but I promise they will come...

Spanish "Dairy"

2008-07-18T06:32:00.004-04:00

No-name or supermarket brand soy yogurt from Caprabo and.. um.. another I can't remember? As well as brands from Danone etc. Soy yogurt drinks as well!

Oat yogurt (Bought one to try)

Almond and Hazelnut puddings

Hazelnut, Tigernut (not chufi though), Oat and QUINOA milk! (I bought some Quinoa milk--it only comes as a powder but thats cool; means I can bring it home)

Why is Canada so behind?!

So, if you can't tell--I'm back in Spain. I went to NYC first but ended up here. I know I know I promised cookbook reviews; to both the readers and the writers of those books I apologize profusely. Both my grandparents are really rather unwell but are slowly getting better. My second cousin of three months is also in town so between the three everyone's running around with our hair on fire. The moment this calms down I'll start cooking again--for now I'm living off of veggies and beans and whatever people feed me.

I have taken a bit of a 'hiatus' from veganism--I will eat the eggs here. I feel they are actually free range. (Most of my neighbors keep their chickens in very large fenced areas in the backyard and go and collect eggs from their little wooden houses once a day--and sell whatever extra.) I wont cook with eggs myself--its just too wierd for me, but if someone makes me something with egg, I don't mind, knowing where it came from and being scared crapless of the chickens myself; knowing they're taken care of well. Dairy I am still uncomfortable with, despite the fact we let them pasture in the mountains and all that--I feel milk is meant for babies. My standards for the goods I use and clothes I wear have not changed. But I am now ovo-vegetarian. Once I return to Canada I will likely return to veganism, but of course I will keep this blog completely vegan either way. I hope this doesn't deeply upset anyone...

Photos of these 'dairy' products to come, and reviews hopefully--the soy I might end up trying even though it doesnt agree with me; we'll see. :)

Cooking!

2008-06-21T15:38:00.004-04:00

So me and two of my sorority sisters who are veg*n decided to get together to experiment a bit with vegan cooking. Since I didn't know what they had and didn't want to run back to my house (which we ended up doing ANYWAY cus I forgot the nooch. D'OH!) I packed everything I could think of that maybe she wouldn't have.

(In the cardboard box are my knives and a few things from the fridge like tahini, apple sauce, miso, etc.) As you'll see a lot of this is just spices and dried beans. Not exactly stuff you wont find in a 'regular' household, just never know what the recipe calls for--since we hadn't picked our recipes yet. (Notice the ton of books I had ready to choose from) In the end we just made seitan and tempeh. They were both good, and while the tempeh did disagree with me a bit--it definately wasn't half as hard on me as most soy products!

My friends helped me make chocolate covered banana lollies for a street-party potluck that was that evening, which we froze cus I feel like banana tastes like ice cream when frozen. They were a hit. Yummmmm. (I bought the chocolate from wal-mart, it was just a dark belgian chocolate which happened to be vegan. :D)

OH! And my package from the vegan snack exchange I set up on the veggieboards arrived. WOW did my sender outdo herself! Thanks again missj5! For those interested join veggieboards.com. My blog there is 100% dedicated to the exchange so it will give you any info you might need to know about joining in in the future. I hope to make this something that happens once every 2 to 3 months.

Oh, and here are some brownies I baked the other morning for a certain someone I was going to the zoo with. Me being all embarassed and shy I told him I baked them for my brother and just stole some for us. Lies. They came out kind of bad though, because I sort of winged it. I chopped up a bar of endangered species dark chocolate, added all of the cocoa powder I had left, sifted my regular whole wheat flour to get rid of the bran (but even so, it was obvious it wasn't a dessert flour. Oh well..) I liked it because while they were really chocolatey (and they were my first time using agave ever, which I found soo wonderfully sweet) they didn't HIT me, you know?

From the exchange I brought the same certain someone a brownie and a cookie, and it got me a kiss, so thanks again missj5. Those brownies are sinfully fudgey though--nothing like mine. Lol, he thought I'd baked it at first and was saying how much better it was. He was probably a bit embarassed when I let him know that I didn't bake those, just the worse ones. ;) Its ok, I'm no baker.

Anyway, a lot of my energy and attention right now is on my assignment that I had 6 weeks to do and am just starting--due next Friday.

Upcoming is volunteering with the Toronto Vegetarian Association (veg.ca) at the Pride Parade on Sunday. Also, I have recieved permission from all the cookbooks but Very Vegetarian to publish some recipes for you all in my reviews--so look for that!

Wow.. I'm sorry! Here's how my trip went!

2008-06-21T15:28:00.003-04:00

First of all I really really want to apologize for my lack of posting. I keep meaning to do it and managing not to. So here I am, DOING IT.

My trip went well, I met one of my best friends' Aunts and explored Kitchener/Waterloo. I bought some frames and a plate for plating at liquidation world, and a vegan cookbook for 99c at the Salvation Army! It's by The Big Carrot--a store I believe I mentioned in my blog before.

Anyway, I also went to this wonderful little spice shop one morning. It had EVERYTHING. Here's what I got (with the little cash I had on me..)

Wasabi Peanuts!! These things were sooo addictive!!!

So many recipes I want to try called for Keffir Lime Leaves so now I have them, and I'd remembered reading about zaatar. Zaatar definately had a GORGEOUS smell to it and I just had to have it. I later read its usually just mixed with oil as a dip... I decided to sprinkle some on some tomatoes, and eat it with some pumpernickel (which is my love affair, by the way.. luckily finding vegan loaves is doable even at my "No Frills" (a lower-end grocery store chain in Canada; better prices but usually less selection/quality)

So yummy! I loved it.

We also went to a chinese market and tried some wierd fruit we couldn't find the name of. I believe it starts with an A. It had a texture like a mix between a kiwi and a pear, and it tased like raspberries and bananas and a LOT of Agave nectar!! (SO SWEET)

I also found some jackfruit in water, actually a few brands had them but this had the lowest sodium of them. I'm sure its available in TO (what isn't?) but I hadn't seen it yet, so I picked up a can. I would've gotten more but I had forgotten my wallet, and my friend's aunt treated me to it--but I didn't want to push it!

I also stopped in on a nice little farmers market in Kitchener

but most of the produce etc was too expensive for me--they did have some jewelry for a steal though, and I got some nice earrings and a bracelet.

When I was there I tried the choc-cherry bar I mentioned in my movie

It was pretty yummy!

It was moist and sweet--very chocolatey and dessert-like.

All in all a good trip! :)

LASTMINUTEROADTRIPWHOA!!!

2008-06-12T15:40:00.001-04:00

Guys don't hate me. Its amateur and its unedited and it was done with my camera because my camcorder requires more than 10 minutes for me to figure out how it works. (I DO have a digital camcorder on that note, I just don't ever use it. ever.)

So yeah, if you hated how amateur this was.. HINT HINT help me edit the actual shows.

Thanks and wish me fun!

Money CAN Buy Me Love. (and why being friendly and talkative really DOES pay.)

2008-06-11T18:01:00.001-04:00

Growing up I never really visited The Junction; an area of Dundas St. W quite near my home. Part of it was because I lived closer to Bloor West Village, and part of it was because it simply came off as run down. Since my childhood however it has slowly but surely been improving. Recently, the most noticable of these improvements has been quite relevant to me as three vegan friendly establishments opened; The Beet, The Sweet Potato, and Rawlicious.

In any case today my sister and I decided to go for a walk through there--part job-hunting part jus spending time together (which we do all too little nowaday.)

First we stopped into a used bookstore and of course I dart for the cooking section. To my surprise at least 20% of the cookbooks were vegetarian! I picked up a few of the vegan ones and wondered "hmm.. should I get these? They're so much cheaper than in store.. some of them you can't even find in Canada easily.." but my student wallet screamed with indignation and I sighed and left.

After we came across the showroom store for Lavishy--I was so excited; they had jewelry of all sorts--from shiney to shimmery to funky to cute; novelty items and tasteful items and quirky items all at a really good price. I got some watermelon earrings for $10 and a beaded ring and bracelet each for $5! They had some really gorgeous pleather wallets and I know once I get more money I'll be running back!

Anyway, once I got home all I could think about were those cookbooks. And then I thought--well, ok. So yes I'll end up spending maybe $50.00 to $60.00, but I usually would be spending $80 or $90 for the same books, and frankly--I'm going to be vegan for the rest of my life, so I can consider this my older, established self making an investment. Yes, that's right. I pretended I was a time traveller. How else do you reason with your wallet? It bought the argument well enough and I jettied off back to the store!

When I was there I decided to only get the ones with vegan advertised explicitly on the cover--there were raw "uncookbooks" and several vegetarian cookbooks that I believed were in fact vegan, but even so I could only afford so much. I put the three, mint-condition books I had quickly picked out on the desk of the store owners, which was an antique wooden desk littered with books, and as he started to write up my purchase in his little notebook we chatted. He asked if I was vegan and I said yes, and told him a little bit about the monetary dilemma I had in order to explain why I hadn't just bought these earlier. I also explained that I was a time traveller. Only without those exact words, perhaps. We spoke of some restaurants in the area and just this and that as I flipped through the other cookbooks available to me to see if any really stood out--but my wallet, time traveller or not, was beginning to moan so I decided it was time to pay.

The owner looked at my purchase and said "You know what? I want to cut you some slack--you're a student and I get that. I'm going to give you a small discount." I was so happy--I figured he'd take maybe two or three dollars off the total... in fact? He took a couple dollars off each book!

The Voluptuous Vegan, priced $27.50CAD on the spine he was selling in store for 12.99--he gave it to me for 10.99. Fresh & Fast Vegan Pleasures, priced $24.00CAD he was selling in store for 10.99, and sold it to me for 9.99! Finally, Very Vegetarian, priced $27.99CAD he had up for 16.99 and sold it to me for 14.99! Altogether, after tax, my bill was $37.77CAD--for three huge mint condition vegan cookbooks that would have been $90.61 at regular price--not to mention possible shipping!! (Foods that don't bite back I actually got for five bucks at Chapters in the clearance bin. Chapters is like the Canadian version of Borders.)

I have already flipped through them and am so impressed by these books--they're truly gems!! My plan is to give a review of each of them, after cooking a few of their dishes and reading through them more carefully--so look for that!

Other things that are upcoming: I have recieved some encouragement to work on that show now that its the summer and have decided I will most definately do so. I'm practicing these days making salads and stuff on camera to just get used to speaking to a camcorder. I have no video editing skills AT ALL and if anyone wants to jump up and say "I CAN DO THAT" then we really *can* get this show on the road. If not.. well.. I'll try and get at least one up by the end of the summer...

Episode: Mint

2008-06-09T19:11:00.005-04:00

Buying fresh mint + thunderstorm = recipes. And food porn. And goodness. (Although the thunderstorm does get in the way of proper lighting, so apologies for any slight decrease in photo quality. I think I managed to get a few good ones despite.)

I believe all the essentials have been said, so let the food post begin!

Quinoa and Pea Salad with Mint and Lemon

This salad has enough substance that you can eat it as a main dish, but is cool and refreshing to help you stay feeling light in the summer heat. This recipe makes 4-6 main servings, or 8-10 as a side.

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa
water (enough to cook quinoa, at least 2 cups)
1 cup frozen peas
2 tbsp roughly chopped fresh mint
1/2 a lemon
salt and pepper

Preparation:

Cook the quinoa by boiling it in the water until they look like miniature Saturns (little balls with rings around them)--drain well and put back in the pot, stirring with a fork to help fluff it up as it dries out.

Take the frozen peas and add it in to the quinoa once the quinoa is dry (but still warm)--this will defrost the peas and gently soften them without actually cooking them. Add in the mint and squeeze the lemon half till you feel you've gotten 1/2 to 2/3 of the juice in it. (So the juice of 1/4 to 1/3 of a lemon) This is, obviously, to taste. Sprinkle in a little bit of salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Mix and allow to completely cool before serving. (If you leave out the salt to make this low sodium, the recipe won't suffer much. :))

Summer Strawberries

What's more refreshing than strawberies, mint, and lemon on a hot summers day? Makes for four generous servings (or 8 smaller servings).

Ingredients:

1.5 lb strawberries
1.5 tbsp chopped fresh mint
2 to 3 tbsp dried blueberries
1/2 a lemon
1 tsp sweetener

Preparation:
Wash and slice the strawberries in half. (If they are really huge you can further cut them, but they really don't have to be even in size. What is optimal is to have them all of a size that can gracefully be put into the mouth and eaten.) Mix the mint, blueberries and sweetener with the juice of 1/3 to 1/2 of the lemon half and the zest of the lemon half. (So the juice of 1/6 to 1/4 of a lemon.) Mix well and allow to sit for the flavors to combine for at least 1/2 hour, preferably saran wrapped and refridgerated.

Mint Milk

In the winter, as snow blizzards outside and the wind whistles at your windows you cuddle up with a warm cup of chocolate milk. Well now you can have that comfort year long--in the summer, as the rain pours outside and the thunder cracks in the distance you can cuddle up with a warm cup of mint milk.

This tea is warm and comforting. The almond milk thickens as it is heated and is infused with the soothing taste of mint. The mint is not overpowering but can be tasted clearly in the milk, and leaves you with a refreshing yet cozy aftertaste. The recipe makes for one serving.

Ingredients:

Mint tea bag.
1 cup almond milk
1 tsp sweetener
a hint of nutmeg.*

Preparation:

Put everything into a pot and put the heat onto medium-low. Gently stir constantly to avoid scalding the milk. Stir for approximately 5 minutes; the milk sould be hot and a light matcha green color (like that of green tea ice cream). Serve hot.

*(No more than a scrape or two with your knife--on that note: always freshly grate nutmeg. I hated nutmeg until I started grating my own; now its the spice I will put in almost anything.)

Mint Tea

Mint tea aids in digestion, helps clear colds, and is just darn right comforting. How could I make a post on mint and leave out my go-to tea when my tummy is hurting or I'm feeling sick? No recipe, just get a mint teabag, boil the water, and steep. Alternatively; put the mint teabag into lukewarm water and allow it to sit for an hour before drinking, or even put it in cool water and allow it to sit overnight. I have been told that the cold/overnight method results in the best tea (plus it is then considered raw, I believe.)

BONUS: Freezing Mint

If you're anything like me, an entire bunch of herbs bought at the grocery store is more than you could ever use in one recipe. So here's how I freeze the extra. I wash it and allow it to dry, or pat it dry. I take all the good leaves off the stem and spread them on a plate; make sure you don't have clumps of leaves and also try to avoid piling them too high. 2-3 high should be the maximum (you could even freeze them in a single layer, should you have enough freezer space). Once they're frozen you can put them in a ziplock bag; ready to be used. They will be defrosted enough to chop within minutes when you want to use them, assuming your freezer isn't deathly cold.

This method works well for any herb that is generally used raw, with only a rough chop. It works for cooking herbs too, however an easier method exists for those; wash them, pick what you would use of them, chop/dice/grind, and freeze them in an ice cube tray; half tablespoon per cube (or less, depending how many people you generally cook for. I usually cook for four.) Once frozen you can put these cubes into a ziplock bag, and when your recipe calls for a tablespoon of said herb, just grab two cubes (or the appropriate amount) and dump them in like that; no need to defrost.

After sleeping on it

2008-06-09T19:08:00.002-04:00

I only slept a few hours last night, but after breakfast and properly waking up I felt so much better. I have come to one conclusion;

I am so thankful for my job. I am so thankful that I am trained and given the opportunity to help people like Simone who need me.

I really want to say thanks to hoodedclawjen from the VB (who, by the way, I will hopefully meet up with soon enough to have a vegan shindig)--she really helped me feel better.

What a day...

2008-06-09T00:01:00.002-04:00

I'm a lifeguard and today a little four year old girl slipped and fell and hit her head. Her mom took her to me and I was first guard for the whole incident, as well as guard in charge (i.e. I took care of her first aid, and ordered the other two around.)... in the end everything was okay. She came back after going with EMS to the hospital and getting her head "glued" together (I'm thinking it must be like a fancy version of liquid skin--because they use "staples" for stitches, so glue must be for bandaids? Oh those emerg. doctors..) to talk to me and thank me and let me know she was ok and we had a good giggle about how wierd it is to get glued together. Her mom wrote me/my boss a two page letter thanking the staff, and me in particular as I was the only guard she really dealt with, for how we handled it all.

She left her address so I wanted to thank her for letting me know she was ok (definately made me feel a good bit better)

I wrote a thank you on the back to Simone (i.e. in language a four year old will get) and added: "I think this giraffe had one too many strawberry ice creams!"

((She was too young to know what day it was, or even her address. Some of my questions to assess her LOC included favourite animal (giraffe), favourite color (pink) and favourite ice cream flavor (strawberry)...))

As if the day wasn't crazy enough, when we finally re-opened the pool later on in the day I was first guard for another incident, but it was a minor and no real treatment was required other than some calming down and some speaking, and filling out yet another report.

So all is good right?

So why am I unable to eat, and I just keep thinking about it.. the amount of blood.. the smell.. talking to her.. the things I did wrong, the things I did right. I don't feel guilty--I got enough compliments from her mother, my coworkers, the patrons and even EMS that I know I did well. (And besides, she came back beaming and giggling--what more could I ask for?)

I'm tired but I can't sleep. My stomach is aching but I can't bring myself to eat... I want to talk to someone but I can't pick up the phone, I dont know what I'd say or how it would help. So I guess I posted here. The joy of the internet.

SoyAge, by GranoVita

2008-06-08T09:12:00.002-04:00

When I was in the Big Carrot (a store which I love, by the way..) I was glancing at the soy yogurt, as is habit (yogurt and eggs were the two things I had to give up going vegan, as you might have read previously.) and I saw these:

Despite my slight soy intolerance, I HAD to try them, thinking it might just be a brand of soy yogurt in Toronto that could begin to rival european soygurt (look ma I coined a term.) They had several flavors but eagerly I grabbed the two that seemed the most appealing and added them to my cart.

This morning I took one out for breakfast; hoping to have a creamy yogurt treat with its beautiful tang and tart flavor help me start my day. I was, unfortunately, dissapointed. That's not to say it wasn't good--it just wasn't yogurt at all. Once I got past my initial dissapointment I allowed myself to enjoy it; I don't know what to compare it to, other than it was a little creamy, very fruity, and had an interesting texture that was like a mixture between custard and jello. A very set pudding perhaps, or jam, but not as sweet. On the label as I read more closely, the main ingredients were fruit and soy was only 2% of the whole shebang. Well, even though it wasn't what I'd hoped for--at least my body wasn't going to suffer for it. (I doubt 3g of soy will cause me serious discomfort, but we'll see.)

SIDE STORY: I also saw vegan "chef-grade" puff pastry, vegan frozen pie crusts of all sorts (whole wheat, spelt, etc.), lots of vegan instant dinners/hors d'ouvres/etc, Kelp Caviar--all of which I'd be happy to review if someone is interested in knowing about them. I myself reasoned; I didn't buy these things as an omni, why would I buy them now?

Marg's Chickpea Salad

2008-06-07T06:57:00.004-04:00

Oh Marg. How we all loved you, and yet how much you upset/annoyed us with your funny "one piece only" rules and incessant lectures. I personally appreciated it--well the rationing maybe not (you know we ended up eating a sandwich at the end of every meal to make up for the small portions... we're growing kids doing a lot of work, we need food..) but definately the "no cross-contamination" nazi-like strictness was almost essential to me. (Imagine if they took the meat spoon and used it to toss out peas..) And frankly, I liked your cooking so everyone else can complain all they like.

One thing though Marg, that was simply divine, was your chickpea salad. Everyone loved it. (Well, except for Brent, but he's got this wierd anti-chickpea thing going on. I blame it on the combination of his height and his [red] hair.) So Marg, this one's for you... (Marg actually sent me her recipe)

Marg's Chickpea salad

1, 19 oz can chick peas
2 Tb chopped red onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 diced tomato
1/2 cup fresh parsley
2 Tb oil*
2 Tb red wine or balsamic vinegar
1 Tb lemon juice
salt and pepper

Mix and let sit half hour to an hour before serving.

*I used this much oil, but doubled the chickpeas and most everything else. I also added a good handful of kalamata olives, chopped up and pitted of course.

Photos

2008-06-06T21:06:00.002-04:00

Some photos I've found on my dads camera, when I was uploading them. (Thus the delay of June 3rds post..)

We sat down at the table for dim-sum at the chinese restaurant and lo and behold, first thing they offer us--seitan four ways! I was so happy yum yum yum. ^__^ We now are back to going to dimsum almost weekly--something I thought would never happen once I went vegan.

Packing for camp! The "milk" only lasted me just over a week! Luckily we went into town and I bought some more! (I got the president's choice organics brand and its soo good!)

My lunch today. Salad with Sundried Tomato-Lemon-Basil Dressing. Seitan came out a bit funny this time, but still good. And of course, some trusty blueberry tea.

This meme I stole from Hannah over at BitterSweet

The concept:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker).

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name

Day... 7?

2008-06-03T11:24:00.004-04:00

Whoa.. a full week already? I was convinced I was on day 4 at the most!

Friday... I can't remember. Saturday I worked all day. Sunday we had a bunch of people over for a barbeque, and I made a chickpea salad, a sprout salad, and the salad I made last time once more. That raspberry dressing really is killer. I also noticed my toilet water is bright fuchsia. Maybe not something you want to hear about on a food blog, but I think its kind of funny. I refrained from buying beets today on that note.

Here are my beet/raspberry salad, and my sprout salad:

Here's my chickpea salad; it wasn't amazing--I'd loosely followed a recipe I'd gotten from the camp I was at, cus that one was pretty awesome--and this one could've been better. I'll tweak it and post once I'm satisfied.

And this salad was brought by the guests:

I didn't try it though, as the dressing had honey--but this is definately an inspiring combo for another day!

I also made a pear-cranberry tart from VwaV but forgot to cover it with tinfoil for the first bit, so it was way too dry. :( I was bad and tried Natura maple soy ice cream (my first non-dairy soy ice cream ever)--it was so creamy and good. My stomach was like AHH STUPID afterwards.

On Monday I went and did a bit of a photoshoot at the crack of dawn, so by 7am all we could think was cofffeeeeeeee. I wasn't even thinking and put a ton of soy milk in mine (though really there wasn't a good way around it unless I were to drink my coffee black. Dairy is not an option.) and my stomach was later on not so happy again.

Today has been blissfully soy-free, and I made a broccoli and black eyed pea salad:

Day 2

2008-05-29T19:36:00.005-04:00

So while my sniffles and cough are much worse, my GI issues are much, much MUCH better. This makes me very very sad--soy is something that I adore, and it seems that my body does not agree. Perhaps in small quantities I'd be fine though, since I ate it through my childhood?

Moving on..
I had a really great salad at dinner today! A title? A title... Um... I'll leave that for you to decide.

-Organic baby lettuces (red & green romaine, red & green oak leaf, lollo rosa, tango), organic red & green chard, organic mizuna, organic arugula, organic frisée, organic radicchio. ((From Earthbound Farms--but of course you can sub how you like.))
-A mix of tomatoes, or just cherry tomatoes
-carrots, chopped roughly
-baby potatoes, cooked through and allowed to cool
-beets, chopped roughly, tossed in oil and salt and roasted for 50min to an hour, allowed to cool.
-corn on the cob, steamed and then the corn sliced off the cob.

assemble and top with raspberry balsamic vinegar and garlic and rosemary oil

Garlic and Rosemary Oil: simply take some good quality olive oil (extra virgin preferred) and several cloves of garlic and a generous amount of dried rosemary and allow the rosemary and garlic to sit in the oil to flavor it--this can last as long as you like, and you can fill up the oil to the top whenever its getting low.

Raspberry Balsamic Vinegar: allow 1 cup of frozen raspberries to thaw, pour in 1/3 to 1/2 a cup of balsamic vinegar and the juice of 1/2 a large lemon, as well as some lemon zest. Mix well.

The sweetness of the raspberries played off of the sweetness of the beets and corn nicely, and brought out the sweetness in the carrots and tomatoes--I used the word sweet too many times: it really wasn't overpowering, the oil, rosemary and garlic brought it back down to earth if you know what I mean. (I'm obviously not a food critic..) This was a hit with my family!!

We also had the rest of the corn on the cob, and lentils with ginger. We enjoyed this dinner with some blueberry tea, cooled (though not chilled) and with a few slices of lemon--very refreshing and yet warming (especially nice for sick little me!)

Funny how everyone enjoyed this dinner, and yet my mom makes comments like "I would lose so much weight if I were vegan--there's nothing to eat!"

Oh! And my mother has taken onto the sprouting craze! She bought some lentils and "sandwich saver mix" that are meant for sprouting, we're on day.. 2? 3?.. they should be ready to eat any time now!

She's so taken to it that she's also trying to sprout soy beans, mung beans, and who knows what else--though these she just bought as dried beans that are meant for cooking. Does that work? We'll find out...

Day 1

2008-05-28T22:06:00.004-04:00

There is soy in EVERYTHING. Ok maybe not everything, but like--I'm eating away at my cereal this morning because I didn't feel like oatmeal. Oops.

Then I was offered some gum and it was vegan--except for the soy lecithin. Well poo. (I chewed it anyway--honestly, I doubt trace amounts of soy are my issue...) I definately was much better today than I have been since I got back.

I am sick though, with a cough--I've had a cough the past few days and last night I went and played Ultimate Frisbee. Of course it was the coldest day in the past like, three weeks--my fingers couldnt even bend by the end of it! So now I'm feeling relatively sick--I made tomato lentil soup today, no recipe; just got a whole lot of garlic and the onion I had left (which my newly sharpened knife cut through like EB! And here I always thought my knife skills were bad because it didn't ever look as easy as the people on TV--well now my knife sure is flying!) Added in some veggies I'd roasted back when and frozen, as well as some frozen peas and corn and potatoes (just emptied out whatever was left in the baggies) put in some lentils I'd cooked earlier and some tomato soup concentrate that had been in my cupboard for some time. Add some herbs and salt and presto--such an awesome soup. Mmm.. I overate. Oops...

I also bought some Hemp milk--only 4g protein/cup (soy milk has 8) so I guess I'll have to stop counting on my 'milk' as a good source of protein (almond milk, which my family has stocked up, only has 1g!) Oh well, it's not the end of the world.

On to day 2--hopefully with some photos and maybe even a recipe or two!

SHE LIVES

2008-05-27T22:28:00.002-04:00

Sorry I've been MIA for so long! I was gone for two weeks up north measuring Thalictrum dioicum with my hands while scaling cliffs and getting most of my protein from oatmeal, peanutbutter, and the occasional bean. :P But seriously, it was fun! (I also went 'frogging' while drunk--ok so maybe its not vegan to go and catch frogs, but if it makes you think any higher of me--I couldn't catch a single one! :P Besides, it was catch and release, the herpatology students just wanted to learn about them--all in the name of ecology (and often conservation!))

Since then I've done some cooking--I made my first seitan sauges ever using this recipe by Vegan Dad Here they are:

I also made a really pretty oriental salad with goji berries, seasame seeds, snow peas, carrots, and okra.

I bought those ingredients, plus taro root and jicama at a chinese market for cheap cheap cheap! Taro root tastes like coconut flesh when raw--but apparently I shouldnt eat it raw because its toxic? Can't make me more sick than i already am!!

That note brings me to the real point of this post: I am not ok. Not long after I went vegan I started to get severe gastrointestinal problems... mostly embodied by a really foul odor... *cough* Anyway... I always thought my intestines would get used to it and all, but when I was up north it went away and when I came back to TO it's worse than EVER... I don't think its gluten, cus I lived off of bread those two weeks.. so I'm going to try and cut out soy for the next two weeks. Considering the fact I'm working out every day (I even got myself a personal trainer to teach me how to use free weights--so far its going great) and I'm training for a marathon (and I'm doing the Run for the Cure (for Breast Cancer)--anyone who wants to sponsor me can just follow this link and donate anything from 1 dollar to your hearts desire--every penny helps!!) protein is going to be a major concern for me--I'm already looking into alternatives to soy milk that are better in protein than my almond milk (which is only 1g per cup!!)--I've got lots of beans and stuff too, and might get a protein powder that is soy-free. I would eat seitan, especially since I loved vegan dad's so much--but I sort of noticed it made me sicker after I ate it... wierd? The only soy in it was the tablespoon of soy sauce really, and since I'm half asian I basically grew up on soy sauce and tofu, so this is all confusing me.

If you have any suggestions as to what it could be, if not soy, please do share. Until then, I'm gonna try soy-free...

Navy Bean Banana Cake

2008-04-28T20:43:00.007-04:00

I really really was craving something banana walnut today. I was also really craving something along the lines of Black Bean Brownies or White Bean Blondies (PS can you tell I love Have Cake Will Travel?)... but neither was quite right. So I did what any girl would do. I made my own recipe!

Navy Bean Banana Cake

This bean cake doesn't need to 'set'; it does that on its own. It's got a wonderfully subtle banana flavor with the occasional crunch of a walnut, and sweet accents from strawberry jam. It's easy to make (even I could do it..) and uses things that are generally around the house, generally. It's very forgiving and will allow for many substitutions. I have another idea with this one, something I haven't seen done yet (maybe because its not possible) but for now, I'll give you this; (MAD THANKS to Have Cake Will Travel and through her, Activist Mommy--I never ever ever would have thought up how to put beans in a dessert without them... in fact you could even call this a sort of amalgamation of the two recipes almost.)

Ingredients:
1 can (14oz) Navy Beans--very well rinsed, drained.
1/3 cup quick oats
1/3 cup (scant) whole wheat flour
1 tbsp flax meal
2 very large bananas (approx 9"--so you might want 3 medium!) Peeled and mashed!
1/3 cup walnuts (or more, if you like...) Rough chop (pulse in food processor if you only have halves.)
2 tbsp margarine
2 tbsp soy "cream"*
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup splenda (or sweetener of your choice. Please don't use stevia unless you have baked with it before and actually enjoy that extremely planty taste..)
1/4 cup to 1/3 cup Strawberry jam (or jam of your choice--I used ED Smith's "SPA Fruits" Strawberry jam to keep it low sugar/low GI)

Toppings:
Sliced bananas, peanutbutter, chocolate chips, sliced figs, dessicated coconut...

Preheat the oven to 350F. I used a springform cake pan as thats my favourite for making any cake (sooo easy to get out!) but feel free to use whatever cake pan you want. Approx 8in dia. Grease your pan with margarine or oil or a spray.

Put the oats in the food processor and give them a good whirrr until it's a coarse flour. Add in the rest of the ingredients except for the walnuts and let it mix well, then sprinkle in the walnuts through the top (or just stop, add in, and go again..). Once it's a mix, pour/scoop into cake pan. Lick the sides and spatula clean.** I licked the blades but I really don't recommend you do it. Especially if you're under 18--I don't want any angry mommies knocking on my door.

Pop in the oven and let it bake for 25-30 min, or until the edges are golden brown and coming off from the sides.

Take out and unfasten the springform; if you didn't use a springform just leave it, as I really don't know what would happen were you to invert it. Take your jam, mix it vigorously by hand first and then spread it on the warm cake--the cake will help the jam melt and become almost like a thick glaze. Really let it layer on there; the cake itself is not overly sweet so the jam really helps to sweeten it and make it a definite dessert item. Let that all cool before you put on any other toppings. I topped mine with sliced banana and natural peanutbutter, as you can see. It's firm and set and ready to be enjoyed whenever you're ready to eat it. :)

Bon Appetit!

PS, This is what I (alone) ate for 'dessert' today: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26169994@N08/2450086462/in/photostream/

*I collect the 'gunk' thats always left at the bottom of my soy milk--so long as you use it within ten days of the soy milk being opened its a perfectly wonderful cream! Omit this if you don't have it, or just use soy milk--not worth opening a pack of silken tofu for this... (Unless you have some already open..) Soy yogurt would also work.. and if you're daring you could always try soy cream cheese, but don't say I recommended it because I've never even TRIED soy cream cheese.

**I usually HATE eating batter. Seriously, I would refuse to eat raw cake batter as a kid almost always--likely because it tasted like sugar and I knew it contained raw egg. How gross is that. Anyway, the habit stuck but for this.. oh yummm. I could have that for breakky! Anyway..

Summer Summer Summer!.... And exams.

2008-04-23T15:32:00.002-04:00

Exams, the sorority, work.. its all been caving down on me so I haven't had a chance to post. I HAVE been taking photos though. I also recently just organized a Vegan snack exchange on "VeggieBoards" so can't wait for my package--I'm excited for my recipient too--its gonna ROCK! ^__^

So to me, this is evidence that summer is really here:

salad--avacados 2 for 89 cents!

carrots and fennel

the yummiest, tenderest artichikes--9 for a dollar.

blackberries, 99 cents a pint

mmmmm... fresh, fresh fruit. Cantaloupes 88 cents each, pineapple for 1.99, berries... doesn't get better...

in a glass..

miso-teryaki eggplant on the grill.

did some sweet potato too!

asian coleslaw (recipe coming--I LOVE this..)

Wish me luck on my exams--I'll make a more coherent post this weekend.

Provencal Mustard, on Kale

2008-04-06T09:18:00.005-04:00

I bought this mustard recently (I LOVE mustard, and thought I'd give it a try.) I adore it--it's the fastest romesco-y, mustard-y sauce you'll ever get. Just take a spoonful and mix with some water to thin down. Just like that spread in a sandwich would be simply awesome.

Here it is, watered down a bit, with some Kale. mmmm.

Cranberry Jam

2008-04-06T09:04:00.004-04:00

A few months ago, when I had orange-overload, I bought no-sugar pectin to make marmalade. I never got around to it because of school, work, and sorority stuff was just piled too high to find time.

About a week ago I watched a bit of Alton Brown's "Good Eats" where he said frozen cranberries can last six months or so. It didn't take the rocket scientist in me to figure out that the 5 or 6 bags of frozen cranberries we had in the freezer would not be done within the next few months. And then it hit.

This jam is great. It's sugar-free (I used Splenda..), sweet and yet tart.. it's got a very similar flavor combo as to what I do for thanksgiving/christmas cranberry sauce, but of course--its a jam.

1 bag of frozen cranberries. (3 cups)
1 orange (will need zest and juice)
1/2 to 1 tbsp ginger
1 cup sweetener
1 box sugar-free pectin
1/4 cup water

Put the cranberries, ginger, and orange zest and juice in a saucepan and allow it to simmer till the cranberries have popped. Add the sweetener and stir till dissolved. Add the pectin and allow to boil gently, stirring, for 5-10 minutes. Put in jars and allow to cool.

This made a jar and a half, so I did not feel the need to steralize the jars and make them air-tight. They were ready to use as jam within minutes, as the amount of pectin in there is huge. As you can see, this was NOT a runny jam/jelly--it did spread well though, have no fear, but if you want it a bit more runny, cut down on the pectin.

April Foodtv Challenge (Vegetable Tart)

2008-04-06T08:57:00.004-04:00

So when I saw the newest foodtv challenge is vegetarian-friendly (and is vegetarian if one gets rennet free cheese) I decided to make it. After all, the feta was just a topping--this was a pretty brainless 'veganization'.

My entry:

was so excited to see a veg-friendly recipe that I had to jump up and cook right away! I wanted something more Spring-y, and I was missing some ingredients, so I used mint and parsley in place of sage, mixed the butternut squash with sweet potato, and used roasted onion in place of fennel. I didn't have any phyllo on hand, so I simply used rice paper. I topped it with slivered almonds instead of feta to make this dish totally vegan. I had to give it two goes (same filling) to get the rice paper crust just right. This is an awesome recipe to get rid of all the extra veggies you have lying around and aren't totally sure what to do with!

In all honesty, this was a really boring veg-dish. You can tell off the bat when you read the recipe it will be. But I didn't think saying that would be very nice in the entry. Who knows, maybe the phyllo was the make or break...

It was pretty though. My entry photos:

The contest itself:http://www.foodtv.ca/BLOG/archive/2008/04/01/april-cooking-club-recipe-challenge-potato-vegetable-samosas.aspx

Am I too Pushy?

2008-04-01T11:02:00.002-04:00

Maybe. But I can't help it. I saw foodtv.ca's spring menus and information were all so pro-veg, and I couldn't help but look around. Their menus, articles, and even new blog are all healthy, organic, and veg-based.

This article, however, upset me:

"10 Food and Nutrition Myths Debunked!"

Some of the writer's information was slightly off, but for the most part I agreed with the information she was handing out to the public. Except for Myth #10.

Myth #10: Dairy products are bad for you. Unless you’re allergic to milk products, there’s no good reason to cut this food group out of your diet. Dairy products contain many of the nutrients and compounds we need to be healthy, including protein and calcium. Dairy products are available in low-fat and fat-free versions, so try these if you’re concerned about fat and calories.

I couldn't help it. I had to reply.

I agree with almost everything you said. Except on the dairy front. The dairy we drink is processed to Pluto and back, as if it weren't disgusting enough to begin with. Low-fat/fat-free versions have undergone more modifications than Michael Jackson's nose. There is a reason dairy allergies are among the top 9 in Canada. But that's not to say that milk was healthy to begin with. Laden with Bovine Growth Hormone and Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1, milk naturally (organic or not) is formulated to cause one to gain extreme amounts of weight, extremely fast (after all, it is meant for a baby calf to grow from 90 pounds to 400.)

The fats found in milk are not healthy at all—laden with saturated fats and cholesterol, milk is an artery clog waiting to happen. Healthy fats include mono and polyunsaturated fats found in nuts, avocados, olive oil, flaxseed, fish, etc. The protein attained in milk has been linked to heart disease, diabetes and osteoporosis, and milk has been found to be a potent carcinogen.

Quote, from Cancer Facts & Figures 2008, Page 45 from the American Cancer Society: "Individuals who maintain a vegetarian diet ... have a lower risk of many cancers."

For those who want to do their own research, I implore you to visit the American Journal of Epidemiology (Epidemiology is the study of factors affecting health and illness in populations) and search "dairy" in their database. Read the titles of all the hits that come up—the titles alone will inform you of the death trap that is milk, and if you feel so inclined: read the abstracts, or even the articles—and learn more about how you can prevent poisoning yourself.

As if it weren’t enough that eliminating dairy from your diet will benefit your own health—there is the cows to think of too. Cruelty in the dairy industry is not as well known by the general public as that of the meat industry, but it is definitely there. Dairy cows are repeatedly impregnated only to have their babies taken to slaughter and their milk stolen from them by cold, painful machines that suck knot only the milk but the pus and blood from cows’ infected udders to be consumed by humans. After several short years (much shorter than a cows’ expected lifespan) the dairy cow dies and is slaughtered for hamburger meat. Unfortunately, organic dairy is even more cruel—as the cows must go through this torture without painkillers or antibiotics of any kind, and die twice as quickly as their ‘regular’ counterparts.

But I understand that all this is hard to believe. So I ask you to do your own research—don’t take my word for it, I’m just a near-anonymous poster on a website. Think for yourself, look into it yourself, and make your own decisions. Even if you simply choose to substitute dairy milk with vitamin fortified organic soy milk (which provides the same vitamins with zero cholesterol, less fat, and no animal proteins) and continue to eat cheese, yogurt, and other dairy products—everything helps.

Feel free to contact me with your comments, questions, or concerns at earthly.delight@live.com

Light Food

2008-03-31T08:16:00.004-04:00

So I realize my post is a lot of very light food--but that's ok, sometimes we don't want to eat "heavy" foods. By light I mean low-fat, low-protein, as those are the foods that make us feel heavy since they're harder to digest. It just so happens, these are also light calorie-wise, but that's really not what I meant by it.

First is my lunch from yesterday.

Carrots with sundried tomato dip. I was short some ingredients, so this was a bit of a tester--I'm sticking to my origional recipe, but for now this works. It had a gorgeous color because I put in some red wine!

Then there was tomatoes, seasoned with salt and olive oil, with walnuts and pine nuts tossed ontop. I really like tomato "salads" as its something we have all the time in spain--I can never make mine as good as my aunt can. Maybe she has the leg up because her tomatoes are spanish tomatoes from her backyard.. mine are hot house tomatoes from Jersey or something. Yeah, that might do it. My wine accidentally spilled into this, so they had a bit of a wine flavor, paired well with the walnuts though so it wasnt a disaster.

And some vegetables, straight from a freezer bag (it was a veggie mix) into the steamer, onto a plate with olive oil, salt, and parlsey--I just wanted to show that plating really IS everything. (Although it tasted amazing..)

The spread:

As for my breakfast today... well, I had the following:

Half a canteloupe (it doesn't look like much, but this thing was sweet as candy!)

And, for the first time--millet puffs. They're like wheat puffs but.. millet. I loved the idea, and what I love most is that they're a one ingredient food. I really hate cereal because its almost impossible to get it without sugar as the second or third ingredient. (Well, I LOVE cereal because its tasty tasty, but yeah.) For a while I was eating ezeckiel 4:9 because I like that its all real ingredients (no chemical names with no "regular" analogs..) but it's such a heavy cereal, and often in the morning I want something light. Puffs are 50 calories/cup and so light and fluffy! That's perfect for me! These millet ones were such a textural adventure--I highly recommend you try it once. Since we're so used to sugary cereal, I do suggest you sprinkle some sweetener on it (I use up my stevia that way, I realized a while ago stevia is way too planty to use more than half a pack at a time.)

Anyway, here it is:

And, for those poor souls who actually don't know what wheat puffs are, I had a bowl right after:

Ok, so I hear a lot of "fruit is so expensive" and then a lot of "you eat a lot of fruit" and i'm not sure if I like the assumption that I believe is going on between the two. My canteloupes were 99 cents each. My papayas were 99 cents each. My mangos were two for 89 cents. Oranges are a bag (8?) for a dollar (though that was a huge sale). Kiwis are a bag (24?) for 4 dollars. Apples are 89 cents a pound. No, its not "cheap" or "free" but its a really good price for really healthy, tasty stuff--so I buy a bit less 'junk food' per month and get my tasty fruit instead. (PS, yeah I know I'm a lucky bum.. those prices are GOOD aren't they?!)

Foodity Food

2008-03-28T16:27:00.004-04:00

For anyone who hasn't tried raw zucchini pasta--DO IT. It's simply DELISH, 100% You can make a raw marinara sauce if you want a fully raw dish, make a cooked one if you're not, or you can simply open a jar of pasta sauce like I did. Here it's with roasted brussels sprouts (my fave..), what was left of my gazpacho, and some mustard chickpeas. So amazingly good.

(Here it is just mixed--so amazingly good. It really didn't need any garnishes.)

Oh, and for those dieters out there--each serving is 1-2 baby squash (depending how much you want to eat)--which is 2-6 calories. Seriously, a large baby squash is all of 3 calories. Tomato sauce tends to be very low calorie too. Great great thing to eat to help fill you up--but obviously make sure you've got some real calories accompanying it--moderation not starvation. ;)

Here I have an apple salad--sliced gala apples, raw pumpkin seeds, and an apple vinaigrette (apple butter for sweet, apple cider for sour, and cinnamon-infused sunflower oil).

And here's my exotic themed fruit breakfast, because I love fruit. ^__^

These were such amazing things. Of the above, the gazpacho, pasta, salad, and fruit are raw. (Duh.) So.. everything but the brussels sprouts and pasta sauce... well fine.

Liquify THIS!

2008-03-24T18:47:00.003-04:00

My mom bought more produce than me, my brother, and her will EVER be able to finish (I kid you not--three full papayas, a few kilos of clementines, a kilo of kiwis, a kilo or two of mangos, a kilo of apples, a few kilos of bananas... need I go on? Thank GOODNESS for the freezer.. I spent a few hours peeling, cutting, laying out and freezing. Whew.

I also liquified a ton of it. So here are the results. I will continue to work on the gazpacho recipe, as I'm not perfectly happy with it, but if you google gazpacho you'll get many recipes that I'm sure are quite good. The beautiful thing about gazpacho is that its light, healthy, and raw. (Though the lycophene in tomatoes isn't really available to you until cooked really, but oh well. I get enough cooked tomato in other parts of my diet, so I'm not splitting any hairs. This way I get the vitamin C and A ok?)

This is butternut squash soup--with lots of ginger. Warms me up even straight out of the fridge. Yum!

Rustic Roasts

2008-03-22T13:09:00.002-04:00

Today I decided to roast a consortium of veggies for lunch. To add to it I made the best risotto I'd ever tasted. Sweet Potato Barley Rissotto--it was had a bit of sweet, a lot of cream, and a hint of zip. It also made me realize that if I want to tone my arms, all I have to do is make risottos--an hour of figure eights will get me into shape in no time.

Also on the menu were cranberry-orange roasted butternut squash, braised leeks and yucca homefries.

Here's the squash before roasting, because honestly the colors are too pretty not to post. I feel like it should be thanksgiving or christmas, not easter, but oh well.

And the final product:

(even larger)

Sweet Potato Barley Risotto

- 1c barley
- 1 to 2L vegetable broth*
- 1c soy milk
- 1/4 cup sweet potato puree/soup**
- Some dehydrated vegetable flakes

Boil the barley in 2 cups vegetable broth until the broth is halved, stir in figure eights until there is very little water left, and then keep adding a little bit of broth and stirring until the barley is al dente. (approx. 45 min) Sprinkle in the vegetable flakes and add in half cup soy milk and the sweet potato puree. Stir in figure eights rigerously, adding more soy milk as needed (or more vegetable broth if you find it too creamy) until the barley is soft and tender and the risotto is of a creamy consistancy. Altogether took me 1.5hrs. Bikini here I come.

*I pressure cooked a few litres of water with the leek leaves and celery earlier.
**I used Imagine Organic Sweet Potato Soup and made sure only to pour out the thickest part that was more a puree. http://www.imaginefoods.com/products/product/1579.php If you're going to make your own, make sure there's ginger in there-that really helped with the risotto. The depth from the other flavors was lovely too.

PS I haven't forgotten about the gelato--my mom returns from Spain this evening and is an almond nut, so I'm going to make crepes and gelato for Easter Brunch tomorrow to celebrate her return. :)

Food Food Food

2008-03-21T14:04:00.002-04:00

Snobby Joes (With corn on the cob, sourkraut and pickles) in a Pita cus it's what we had. :P Yummy anyway!

Vanilla and Chocolate (Silken Tofu) "Gelato"---sorry for the blurryness!

Cherry and Torrone (Silken Tofu) "Gelato"---These were simply brilliant!!!! They tasted divine, especially the Torrone one (I loooove almond), they were a great texture, and they totally masked the tofu taste. The vanilla and chocolate were less successful on all three levels.

I'll post the recipes for the cherry and torrone gelatos once I make them once more and actually measure--this was a test run just to see if the idea would even work! It was really yummy and both I and my brother were more than happy to eat the ice cream, and since it's made with silken tofu its actually quite low-calorie, so I should make this again soon (read: tomorrow or Sunday..)

Apart from that.. happy easter!!!!!!!

Yet more food

2008-03-17T19:53:00.002-04:00

Ok, I really wanna post my food porn adventures--but the sundried tomato dip recipe shall be at the bottom, kapish?

Steamed kale with a tahini dressing, and stuffed red peppers (stuffed with quinoa, corn, and black beans--"idea" from VwaV though I really really botched up the recipe by not reading the ingredient list or instructions until *after*... still came out delish! My brother loved it, and that's always a good thing. :P)

Haha, I saved one for my lunch tomorrow--since none of my tupperwear would not smoosh it, I found an old So Nice yogurt container.. I think its cute.

(steel cut ;)) oatmeal--cocoa powder, peanut butter, banana (which melted in while cooking) and cinnamon... mmmmmmmmmmmm... I was a happy happy camper this morning!

Onto the Recipe!

Sundried Tomato Dip

Ingredients:
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1 pack light firm silken mori-nu tofu.
8 olive oil-packed sundried tomatoes, with with a generous amount of oil on them. (If you're using dry sundried tomatoes, blanch as instructed and add 2 or 3 teaspoons of olive oil to the mix.)
2-3 cloves of garlic
the juice of one medium-small lemon
a pinch (about 1/2 tsp, to taste) of; red pepper flakes, rosemary, oregano, black pepper
a teaspoon of dijon mustard
a dash of salt (about 2 tsp, to taste.)

Pulse the slivered almonds till they're crumbly in a food processor and remove.

Put in the tomatoes, tofu, lemon and garlic (you can start small with the garlic: 3 cloves make it quite strong!) and blend until smooth. Add in the spices, mustard and salt (again start small and work up: the red pepper flakes, mustard and salt are the only ones I feel "MADE" the dip, the rest added depth to it.)

Mix in the almonds to give your dip a really gorgeous texture, a bit of crunch, and a bit more flavor.

Enjoy!

This makes enough for quite a few--about 2 cups of dip in my experience, though beware: it goes fast! Let's say each serving is 1/3 cup (though I've had a good few servings in one sitting, honestly it is just a dip.)

Per 1/3 cup (5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon) serving:

Calories: 76, Fat: 4g, Sodium: 226mg (9.4% DRV), Carbs: 4.2g, Fiber: 1.2g, Protein: 5.2g

Sorry I've been Out for so long--here's a bit of a "dump" update!

2008-03-16T12:07:00.002-04:00

What I've been a-eating:

butternut squash soup with mashed cauliflower and shiitake mushrooms.

A personal fave--mustard/salsa dip... simple, easy, and so so yummy.

I tried Sunergia's Tomato and Basil Feta "cheese"--it was alright, I prefer the bleu though and will stick with that, but it definately was ok sliced and on a thick slab of tomato!

Making some of V-Con's lemony potatoes

mmmmm they were so, so, so good. Definatey something I'll make over and over again. I used a mix of purple, ruby, and russet baby potatoes, if you couldn't tell!

Some sundried tomato dip--really amazing--it dissapeared in no time! I'm going to post the recipe for this soon! (I actually will this time!)

Dinner after a long day--lentils sauteed with portabello mushrooms, a spoonful of "tzaziki" made based on V-con's caesar salad dressing recipe (only *slightly* adulterated--so delish!), and salad with a nice warm glass of soy milk. Simple, and tasty.

By goldwater

I've gotten into the smoothie craze--I make a few a day!! Thank goodness for unsweetened almond milk, or else I might actually feel guilty about drinking so much goodness. Honestly, when my mom tries them she always exclaims "this tastes like ice cream!" and won't drink much more because she's afraid she'll gain weight! This one was raspberry, peach, pineapple and flaxseed, with a shot of vanilla and a hint of nutmeg. ^__^ Yum!

Sundried tomato, lemon, pesto and green pea 'carbonara'--or really, with my newly invented egg-yolk mixture.

I made this egg yolk mixture with black salt, olive oil, a bit of nooch and some flaxseed--it tasted so much like the real thing it was uncanny! Slightly more runny than what you get in your fried eggs, but that's ok. I mopped it up with some toasted bread--just the way I used to mop up the yolk of my fried eggs. Very tasty!

View from my kitchen window, what am I thinking? I'll tell you: *sigh* great, more shovelling. At least its pretty...

By goldwater

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

2008-02-27T08:27:00.002-05:00

Lookie at what I got in the (e-)mail:

"Dear all.

This is to confirm that you have been assigned to the Introduction to Tropical Ecosystems
module offered by David Currie and myself. We will be updating the course website
(http://www.science.uottawa.ca/~gblou656/cours_tropical/index_trop.html) over the next
few months and will inform you once it is done.

Looking forward to meeting you all,

David & Gabriel"

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! I'm going to Costa Rica next reading week to study tropical ecosystems. Look at the course website, its intense beyond believe *SCREAMS* OH MY GOSH IM SO EXCITED IM GONNADIEEEE!!!!!!!!!

Vegan Stars

2008-02-21T07:11:00.003-05:00

You know, it's really great finding out your favourite 'famous' people are vegan.

Not long ago I discovered Dan Piraro, writer of the Bizarro comic which has been my personal favourite since I started reading the funnies in the Globe and Mail (Toronto Newspaper), is vegan. I always knew he was very much for animal rights, as many of his cartoons sent very strong messages, and let me tell you--I have tons of those, plus many others that are just about issues today or just funny in general are pinned up ALL over the pinboards in my room and kitchen, and stuck all over the fridge too. I checked his website recently and it turns out, he's Vegan!! He's actually one of the founders of Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary (http://www.woodstockfas.org/about.shtml)! I sent him an e-mail letting him know how much I admired him and that he truly was an strong influence that led me towards being who I am today and guess what? He took the time to send me one back! Not just a "um thanks k bye" but a real, thought out, response. <3

Then today I find out Nathalie Portman, my favourite actress of all time, is Vegan! Not just that, but she's launching a Vegan Shoe line and her shoes are GORGEOUS (helps that one of the reasons I like her so much is I really like her style.)

I demand everyone go out and buy as many shoes from her brand as possible so it stays up and running. DEMAND.

Farmers Market

2008-02-19T16:28:00.007-05:00

Sorry it took so long! Here's a bit of a photojournal of the experience as there's not much to explain. I'll say it now that there was a LOT more than what I just photographed--the entire town turns into one big market on market day. So amazing.

20 euros--that's including the soy yogurts, oat milk, and artesanal bread! (Each about 2 euros) Not bad eh? I can't WAIT until the summer when I come visit and the earth is literally exploding with food!

Here is some of the stuff I did with it:

Makin' soup!

Potato Leek and White Bean Soup.. SO GOOD! I'll post the recipe for it later, its a MUST as its really really amazing.

Baked Apple... mmm.. the carmel that came out of this was soo good.. apple carmel YUM.. (I used it to decorate the apple.. and ate up whatever else I could!)

Artichokes! I used an orange and some ginger to help flavor them, but they really kept their artichoke flavor. Yummm. I'd been craving artichokes for so long...

Calçotada!

2008-02-18T10:35:00.003-05:00

Vegans are the very image of beauty and grace.

In Catalunya, calçots are loved and adored. (see: http://www.pilotguides.com/destination_guide/europe/spain/calcotada.php) My family is no exception. My aunt has her "salsa pels calçots" (not actually a 'salsa' as we think of it, but a really really creamy beautiful dipping sauce) integrated into her lifeblood, we have our own special calçotada bibs and we are all more than happy to get down and dirty for this fun and festive (vegan) tradition!

Here are the calçots (aka resprouted onions), in various stages of their DOOM.

We grill them on an open fire, charring their outside skins and letting them steam themselves. MUAHAHAHA. (And who said Vegans weren't masochistic?)

It takes a long time to get them all done. My father, grandfather, and I sat around at the table eating the dipping sauce with bread and drinking wine. Lots of wine. So much wine. Here we are with our bibs!

Here they are, ready to be devoured--we wrap them in the newspapers to keep them warm as we carry them in and as we eat them, so as you go you unwrap another package and thus your food is always warm!

We then peel off the dirty, sooty, charred skin to reveal a tender, sweet onion! mmm.

Dip that in some of the salsa de calçots and DOWN THE HATCH! (Usually you tilt your head back like in the topmost photo.. this one was just really hard to bite apart without some fingerhelp... and my cousin decided to take advantage of the opportunity, lol.)

I'm working on translating the recipe for the salsa de calçots from my aunt... not Catalan to English, that's easy but "oh about a pan full" to "10 tomatoes". :P Shall post that soon!

Oh, and I went to market today! Lots of great photos from that and a potato, leek and white bean soup recipe, but I really must go out and play for a bit! See you later!

Huge-Ass Post

2008-02-18T10:15:00.004-05:00

Got my uncle's digital camera a-uploadin'.. wow have I got a post for you.... Actually, these posts are best seperate, so I think I'll make them seperate anyway. Here's that pear tart as I promised.. its from VwaV, except I didn't have cranberries, so I soaked raisins in hot water for a bit (they were still raisin-y, I just didn't want them to soak up moisture.) I had no almond extract so I used vanilla, umm.. a few other modifications occured, including the fact that the only pan I had was for roasting and that the oven had no temperature settings so I guessed. It was amazing amazing amazing anyway!

This had ONLY JUST made it out of the oven and was being devoured!! Wait, wait I say! Even though the recipe said to let cool, and even though this was baked at around 270*F rather than 375, and even though... yeah... despite all that, it came out flawlessly good. Mmm. The ginger-almond-pear combo with a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg was simply divine!!! I used almost twice the amount of ginger. Oh, and I had no measuring cup or spoons, so the flour/almond/sugar ratios were ballpark: Which ended up being a good thing as the pan was too big, but I'd made a bit more than the recipe called for.

Breakkie!

2008-02-17T05:15:00.002-05:00

Blogslut? Why yes!

Here's my breakfast! (Notice that we have no mugs/cups in this house, so bowls it is. That's ok, I like LOTS of tea anyway.)

(Oh, and I had some yogurt and raisins after--one breakfast is never enough for me!)

Valencia orange (Valencia isn't far from where I am) and pomegranate, fresh from the market.. oh goodness this was good!!!!

Haha, this is my wonderful teapot. My kitchen is a little rustic, I'll show it in more detail later.

Well, chances are you'll get another update within the day, so keep checking. ;)

Spain

2008-02-16T18:49:00.005-05:00

Hm, where to start. With the flight I suppose. I had it explained to me that vegetarians can indeed eat fish when I went to see if, last minute, I could possible have a vegetarian meal. (So it wasnt their fault they couldn't provide me with that: I really gave almost no notice--I was really absent minded when my dad was booking and forgot to ask him to ask them for one.)

The flight itself was cool though, as I ate the grapefruits, dried fruit and nuts, and ginger candies I'd packed myself (it was a night flight so I didn't exactly need an arsenal of food) I chatted with the boy (who I later found out is named Clive) about veganism. He himself was completely omniverous but really really curious to know as much as he could about how I live, what I eat, and how he could go about learning to make more veggie-based meals. The only thing he did 'wrong' was he KEPT assuming vegan=healthy. I tried to explain to him how I feel about that: that being vegan isn't intrinsically healthy, its just when you're thinking that hard about what's going in your body and obviously have that much willpower--making the healthier choice isn't a huge leap. That and dude, half of my groceries come from health food stores.

He was shocked and appalled to learn Oreos are vegan. In a good way. ;)

Anyway... Spain:

It's LOVELY here.. how happy I am that not only is there no snow, but I can go around in my sweater alone!! I LOVE it here love love love.

Oh, and I found out there is quite the population of strict vegetarians here. I went to the small health food store in town and what a surprise not only to see a variety of soy milks, but a variety of rice milks, almond milks and, get this, oat milks. I had never even HEARD of oat milk! I bought a plain soy milk because I was tired and wanted to eat, but I promise I'll buy some oat milk to review. Has anyone ever heard of this?

They also had more soy yogurt varieties than I'd EVER seen before! Four brand names, two of them "dessert" yogurts that came in gorgeous individual glass containers, one of them had yoplait type drink tubes, flavors like lemon, apricot, dried plum, pomegranate, passionfruit, (plus all the usual like chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, field berry, blueberry, peach, etc.) I was BLOWN away. I got plain though, as its my favourite, and as its the only one of other brand names I've tried so it would make it easier to review. I LOVE apricot though.. and am addicted to dried prunes.. and LOVE lemon yogurts.. so.. I think you will get to see some variety soon enough.

link to larger image, if you want to see the flavors in more detail: (I know I was curious..) http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/1847/feb15012cix6.jpg

Here's the plain one I bought (I didn't photograph even a SMALL portion of the stuff they had..) (oh and I'm totally showing off the view from my balcony.)

It was amazing!!! So wonderfully creamy and smooth--it didn't have the strange aftertaste I find from So Nice. It was a thicker, smoother, better version of the home made soy yogurt I made, but for 1.70Euro and zero time commitment! Absolutely amazing.. it makes me cry that I don't have this at home.

Here's one of the brand names of soy milk they had. The taste was ok--a little on the watery side, and a little nutty. It sort of reminded me of tigernut milk (very common here in spain.. oh I guess that's another vegan option isn't it! But its a dessert here so its very very sweet!) which was a nice childhood memory sort of thing.

Then I pulled my trolly to market. (I have to take a photo of my trolly--just bought it and i LOVE it to bits.. its bright orange and has huge wheels so it doesnt jiggle to hell and back on those cobblestone roads! Definately bringing it back to Canada!)

So much variety, almost all nuts were raw with only a few to "snack on now"--Spaniards appreciate cooking with nuts and the beauty of home roasted nuts.. which also makes a raw diet much easier! I didn't take photos of the many many fruit stalls and vendors but I should have. Monday is real "market" where all the farmers and other merchants come to town so you'll have wonderful photos of that!

I bought the most beautiful raisins there

I mean I KNOW you can get mixed raisins anywhere, but these just seemed so gorgeous...

The HUGE vats (I mean huge--I could've easily fit in one!) in this stall were impressive! They all cooked different sort of beans and some 'deli salads' of sorts--all vegan really, as they were made with simple, fresh ingredients... and that doesnt include milk or egg.

(This is actually from a different shop, but of the same idea) MMMM THIS is how garbanzo beans are meant to be bought.. they were perfect absolutely perfect. I'd never tasted chickpeas quite so gorgeous!!!!

Here's me, happy with my chickpeas:

I proceeded to then COOK!

I stewed some tomatoes in a tad of water, added in some garlic, and then olive oil, thyme, and 3/4 kg of chickpeas.. Mmm this was AMAZING. Everyone devoured it!!

Roasted butternut squash with cloves and cinnamon, and a dash of nutmeg, ground with mortar and pestle and tossed with olive oil. SO GOOD.

I also made an pear tart, inspired by a recipe in VwaV, but the photos of that is yet to come as I used my uncle's camera for that.

Oh, and I have found some of the most gorgeous plates and cutlery odd and ends in storage, which I'm taking back, and a store that sells some fancy cool plates and stuff that I'll check out in more detail on Monday.

I'll also share photos of what its like to cook with an oven with absolutely no temperature indicators, no food processor, blender, measuring cups, or most other normal utensils. Its a blast.. honestly everything keeps coming out really great! See you later alligators!

xoxo.

Leaving On a Jet Plane....

2008-02-14T13:52:00.002-05:00

So I'm headed to Spain for 10 days, leaving in about two hours. Very excited! My father is from Spain and so I'm going for several reasons including the fact my grandparents are very old ( :( ) and 'it shows' if you know what I mean... and my cousin is in her last trimester and I can't wait to see her belly big and swollen!

Market is on Monday and I just can't wait to go out and see what there is. I'll be sure to take as many succulent photos as possible! I have LOTS of homework to do while I'm there so I'll have my laptop, and consideirng how often I post.. I wont miss a beat.

Hasta Luego!

(Actually I come from north eastern Spain where we speak Catalan predominantly, but shh.)

Sunergia Blue Cheese

2008-02-09T20:38:00.000-05:00

So I'm reviewing the 'blue cheese', as promised. When I opened the 'cheese' from its packet, the aroma hit me first--it smelt just like, well.. blue cheese! As I cut into it I realized the texture is much like that of firm tofu: it holds together, it will crumble if you make it but it definately doesn't stick to the knife or crumble apart on first touch.

It tasted quite good--first I was a little dissapointed as I realized I could taste a hint of tofu underneath the spices, but then as I chewed I realized it really was a good sub--well spiced, has that blue cheese flavor and a good aftertaste.

My dad (who is omniverous, though tends to eat a lot of vegan food--one of the vegan restaurants on campus knows him by name and even gave him a christmas gift! He goes every day! Sometimes I get him to take me, hehe! ^__^) stole some and really liked it--he told me that I have to buy a few next time I'm in kensington! I think that does say something indeed.

I took some and crumbled it into a pear, walnut, radish and arugula salad with a balsamic vinagrette. Mmmm. Deeeelish!

And just to prove to you that it is indeed low calorie (150 for the whole circle), here's the back. I also like how something so seemingly processed has such simple ingredients.

Overall I definately liked it and am looking forward to getting the other flavors.

PS i rate my review 6/10: I wish I was better at this. Practice makes perfect?

Mushroom Mushroom!

2008-02-09T09:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I decided to help myself to some of my mums dried mushrooms. Mmmmm. I love mushrooms. (So much I made them into a heart! Actually that was a bit of an accident, hehe.)

Traditionally these are cooked with meat and they tend to soften and become infused with the runoff fat from the animal. It's really easy to cook them without meat of course: It's just necessary to keep in mind the implications.

Dried mushrooms first need to be soaked--the wood ear mushroom (the one that's thin and curly, a personal fave) only needs to be soaked 15 minutes or so. I then marinade it for as long as possible (less marinade just means add more soy sauce at the end) in a mixture of rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and sweetener. Finally, I steam it for 5-10 minutes until heated through. This goes fabulously with sticky rice for a quick, simple treat.

The shiitake mushrooms need to be soaked overnight, as they're much tougher. They're a great addition to miso soup, as a sort of vegetarian dashi. They an also be steamed until tender or added to almost any clear soup. They add a noticable, but (I find) pleasant flavor to any dish.

Kensington Exploration Supreme!

2008-02-08T15:26:00.000-05:00

So I today I went to Kensington Market and got BLOWN AWAY by the great vegan selection in the health food stores there!!! Like, here in high park I have more than my fair share of health food stores (4 within walking distance, at least) and a really great selection at all the grocery stores, and figured myself lucky.
Kensington is just... wow. And the prices... wow. I went beserk with my cell camera, as you can see below:

Huge ice cream selection--I just photographed the stuff I hadn't seen elsewhere: Soy ice cream is really really common and easy to find in all my supermarkets etc, but I'd only seen one or two types of tofutti cuties before so:
They even sold them individually! I know this summer that's how I'm going go try my first tofutti cutie (I've never been a big ice cream person so I'd probably never buy a box, especially without trying one first!)

They also had soy delicious bars individually:

They had a HUGE selection of Vegan cheeses!

When I saw the blue cheese--for only 3 bucks, and it was a brand I hadn't heard of or seen before, and it was pretty low calorie (I care..) I HAD to buy it. Product review to come!

They had a lot more stuff, actually I think the store owner was vegan because I was talking to him (he apologized profusely for the mess by the way, when I asked if I could take pictures--he was in the middle of stocking the fake cheese/meat area so it was all jumbled) one of the workers came up and told him that someone had brought them a cake, only it was a 'dairy-cake' and he was like "oh well... someone will eat it maybe? That was nice anyway." So yeah..

The prices in the store were all great, I was very happy--unfortunately little ol me just had my half filled knapsack from class instead of a cart of some sort. Definately going to go sometime with a trolly to be able to do some proper grocery shopping. I went to another healthfood store right after with slightly different selection, still lots of stuff, and slightly better prices on what was in both stores. Very impressed overall.

Kensington is great too because it has lots of Produce stores, and is right beside chinatown. I got kumquats, snow pea stalks and bananas from chinatown. Yummm soo gooooooood. (The kumquats really are in season! My mom got mad that I didn't buy more than a pound or so--it IS chinese new year after all!) (Ps. my mom is from Hong Kong)

(I'm getting better at this photography thing, aren't I?)

Oh, this is a meal I had a while ago, and I felt like photographing it. Sliced tomato drizzled with oil, turnip fries, mixed veggies, miso soup and green tea.

This was the kicker--SO GOOD. Frozen strawberries with mint green tea poured ontop. I'm not patient enough to leave strawberries out overnight.. this made them SO sweet it seemed impossibly good, with a small hint of the mint. Mmmm. Tastes better than it looks.

Fruit Appreciation Post

2008-02-01T12:00:00.001-05:00

Fruit it like this gift from the Earth. It's got wonderful flavors, textures and sweetness. It's loaded with nutrients and its (usually) quite low calorie. (Anyone who thinks the sugars in their fruit is going to add to their hips--honestly put down the mars bar and go ram your head into the wall a few times.) You can grab it and throw it in your pack to eat on the go: it's a no-fuss, no-effort, no-thought kind of treat. (Though I admit some fruits are much much easier to eat if you have at least a knife. Like watermelon. Even then I've manged without. ;))

So yeah, here's to the fruit that we love!

All these images belong to other people and were found via google. If anyone who owns the copyright has issues with me posting the photos in my blog let me know. I uploaded them myself so I'm not even stealing bandwith.

Photos Photos Photos

2008-01-30T15:26:00.000-05:00

Just posting more photos--I know I know my first post was all I'm gonna be a superstar and now its dwindled to photoposts here and there, but the thing is I realize that I know how to cook well for myself, but I'm no chef makin up recipes, so till I get good at that stuff I'm gonna just post what I do know: how to eat. ^_^

My parents and I went to Buddha's Vegetarian Foods for lunch the other day. It's 100% Vegan and super cheap and tasty. It is a little run down venue-wise but frankly, mmmm. And the following 4 dishes were 32 dollars altogether, before tip.

I went to Fresh (http://www.juiceforlife.com/) with my friend Lia back when.. I was pretty dissapointed. We ended up paying 15 bucks each after tip and tax (we each got a drink--she got the special smoothie which is half price and I got an americano, but honestly?) and yeah.. I guess Lia got a pretty good deal, she couldn't even finish her dish and her smoothie was pretty nice looking. I on the other hand was left wanting.. and a bit hungry. Apologies in advance for the quality of my camera phone.

I got the bunless burger. That bite sort thing? Yeah, it came like that. Oh, and the fact its on the corner of the plate I think was to 'teach me' for saying no when she asked me if I wanted a side and double checked when I said no thank you. I figured an 8 dollar burger must be pretty humungo. Wrooong. The venue is very chic, clean, upscale and all that which is nice as it has been noted that sometimes vegan restaurants are a little.. shabby shall we say?

Lia got a "dragon bowl" described as: "grilled tomato, zucchini & tofu steaks with rich miso gravy, cilantro, green onions & sesame seeds", on brown basmati rice.. it was pretty generous and definately more fair. It was $11.

Restaurants and Cookbooks!

2008-01-18T22:33:00.000-05:00

I made soy yogurt. In my area So Nice is the only one I can find, but I really don't like the taste of So Nice, so I mixed about a cup of So Nice with about 1.5L of Vitasoy (I LOVE vitasoy) and let it incubate for about 10 hours (I use vitasoy light so that might be why it took so long.) I strained it to get rid of the water so it was nice and thick. Yummm.

I made Shiny Happy Hummus and Baba Ganoush, both with recipes from http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/ The garlic in the Hummus was REALLY strong, so I made sure to cut back for the baba ganoush, and I love lemon so I was generous with that. Mmmmmm.

I baked a cake and iced it using recipes from La Dolce Vegan!, and baked chocolate chip cookies from it too. I took it to work and they all dissapeared in a BLINK. Everyone LOVED it!!! People were raving about how nice and moist my cake was, and how great the cookies were. ^__^

Went to Mt. Everest restaurant. All you can eat buffet for 8.95. The food is really great, and I love their attitude--meat is an "alternative". Its refreshing to have the vegetarian side of the menu be the biggest side. ^__^ http://www.mteverestrestaurant.ca/home.htm

Baked a crustless pumpkin pecan pie. Recipe here http://vivaciousvegansrecipes.blogspot.com/2006/10/pumpkin-pecan-pie.html It was pretty good--not the best pumpkin pie I've ever had by far. Really missed the creamyness in most pies, but it was well flavored and super low calorie.. once you got past the pecan crust heheh.

Guests over for dinner...

2008-01-06T19:01:00.000-05:00

Veggie Sushi! Avacado/cucumber rolls and pickled beet/bamboo shoot/cucumber/avacado/carrot rolls! Yummmmm! These dissapeared in a flash, everyone loved them.

Thai Red Vegetable Curry! Everyone was raving about it--and everyone was omni, except for 1 vegetarian, so I guess I did good! Makes me happy that everyone loved it so much!

Oh, and yesterday I made my own kimchi.. let's see how it goes...

Recipes:

--SUSHI--

Sushi is pretty simple, and you can put whatever you like in it. All you need is a sushi mat, nori sheets, rice vinegar, some dry white wine, some soy sauce, some sugar, rice, and of course fillings.

RICE SEASONING
3.5 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 tsp sugar
1.5 tsp soy sauce

Mix together and heat to melt, I just nuked it for 10 seconds and stirred.

RICE
For the amount I made: 1 1/2 cup water, 1 1/2 cup rice, 2 tbsp dry white wine.
Boil the rice for about 15 minutes, a bit more if its brown rice. Do not stir. Uncover and turn to high heat for a short period of time, about 20 seconds. Recover and remove from heat, let cool for 15 minutes and then stir with a wet spatula to let any water leftover (should be very little) to evaporate. Mix in rice seasoning well.

-CARROTS
Slice your carrots into small strips and boil for 5 minutes in a mixture of 1 cup water, 1 tbsp sugar, 1tbsp soy sauce to get rid of the worst of the crunch. This IS sushi.

-BEETS
If you have fresh beets you might want to pickle them a day or two ahead, just put them in a sealable container with water, vinegar, sugar and salt and leave them in a cool place at least overnight. The water in the container will turn a scarlet red, on the day of drain this and rinse, so that you don't have red sushi.

SUSHI ROLLS
Lay your nori ontop of your mat shiny face down. For the big rolls with lots of stuff in it, use a full nori, for your smaller rolls cut the sheets in half (or just make them with a lot more rice wrapping them).
Lay a thin layer of rice (no more than two rice pieces thick) ontop of the nori, leaving 1-3cm of room on the top and bottom edge (parallel to the way you'll be lying your fillings, and to the way the bamboo is running on your mat.)
Place the fillings in, quite close to the bottom edge of rice. Make sure you dont overstuff, especially if making the smaller rolls. Roll tightly and firmly, using the mat, and making sure the fillings are firmly tucked in. Make sure you don't wrap your mat!
Use a little bit of water to wet the outermost edge of the nori, which has no rice on it, and pat it onto the wrap. Use the mat to roll the roll around a bit to make sure its nice and firm.
When you cut it, cut it with a wet knife. You'll want to wet the knife every cut, or at least every few.

Good luck! Often the first doesn't turn out perfect, but with a bit of practice you'll get the hang of it!

--THAI RED VEGETABLE CURRY--

1 pack (100g) red thai curry paste
3 cans coconut milk (i used 2 light cans and 1 premium.. since light is just watered down premium, this translates to about 2 premium or 4 light..)
1 cup vegetable broth (if you're using 4 light, add less broth. If you're using 2 premium, you might want to add more.)
1 cauliflower head
2 cups roughly chopped carrots
3 cups roughly chopped potatoes--already cooked till 'al dente'. I roasted mine.
1 red pepper, chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped
5 spring onions, diced
juice of 6 key limes (about 1/2 a cup)
a hint of mint, chopped finely (about 1/2 tbsp)
a handful of basil
chopped roughly (about 1/2 cup)
1 inch piece of ginger, grated (or food processorized)
5 cloves of garlic, grated
2 tbsp raw sugar
about 1tbsp oil

Start by lining the pan with a bit of oil and sautee the garlic, ginger, and curry paste until fragrant, on medium-low. Add the onions and sweet peppers and let them cook together 2-5 minutes on medium.
Add all the other veggies, the coconut milk, the lime and mint. Let it cook together for about 20 minutes.
Add the basil, sugar, and vegetable broth and let it simmer for 20 minutes, uncovered, and then for another hour at least covered.
At that point I turned mine off and let it sit till the next day (still warm) when I reboiled it (to get rid of any germs) and served. I'm sure if I had served instead of turning it off it would have been tasty, but obviously the longer the veggies sit in the curry, the more flavorful they get! This is like a stew: every time you cook it it gets better. :)

Can you tell I act on Impulse?

2008-01-06T11:15:00.000-05:00

So I looked into the other majors/specialists I want and I literally started squealing when I read all the course 'requirements' for the Ecology Specialist. I LOVE IT. I LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT. These are my dream courses, the ones I'd convinced myself didn't exist! "Pick two of the following" CAN I PICK ALL 8?!?! I am SO happy. So yeah, I've already made the switch. :) I can most likely still finish university in 4 years on schedule (I.e. graduate in 2) as I have most of the basic courses needed (I'm not switching out of "life science" so the transition is relatively small.)

Oh, and I really want to get http://coned.georgebrown.ca/section/culi/vegecert.html Isn't it awesome?!?! Unfortunately, each course is about 300, except for the tofu one. I want to take the Culinary Arts one.. I'm going to let my new specialist settle down to make sure I have the time, but I'm pretty gung-ho. I'd also like to take the tofu course, vegetarian II (which has a lot less dairy than Veg I.. though I might still be interested in I as substitutes are far from impossible to come across) and Indian cuisine seems interesting. Chinese seems almost silly as my mom is Chinese, so its the only cuisine I grew up with.. but we shall see.

Excitement. Excitement. Happy. Gotta go cook and take photos! See you later!

So, this entry isn't really vegan food, but I didn't know where to put it.

2008-01-05T22:38:00.001-05:00

I spent today cooking, coming to revelations about my life.

I actually have a DREAM for my future, can you believe it?! I actually have a focus again. I won't say all this research into vegan cooking and just vegan websites and books in general did not have a huge play in it. I was wandering aimlessly about, studying immunology just because it was the hardest program I felt I could do well in.. now I have a dream.. two rather. I am going to switch at the end of this year from an immunology specialist to another major.. most likely environmental biology or evolutionary biology.. I've wanted this for so long but I always thought it was a stupid dream, but now I figure, why not, why do other scientists get to do this and I'm working towards confining myself in a lab? I want to go to the amazons, discover new species--my university takes students every year to go do that, so why can't I? I want to make it my job, and it's a real job you know that? Finding new plants to be the next miracle drug, finding new, better ways to use the rainforest rather than the way its being torn down today for soy fields that quickly wear away. (The amazon jungle has very nutrient-bare soils that can only sustain soy fields for a very short amount of time--a period of years--before new ground must be cleared. Yay tofu. :-/ Unfortunate but true..)

That, or when I graduate with my bachelors, I might go to chef school. I think it'd be really cool to start up my own gourmet vegan restaurant that caters to really high rollers--you know, uber chique and uber pretentious. I don't really care that its not good ol homestyle, I want it to be high profile and I want it to really make vegan cooking a huge deal that will go in the papers and get everyone going, hay that's neat! Make my kitchen 100% cruelty free: the soaps in the restrooms vegan organic, the lightbulbs the most energy conserving on the market.. that sort of thing. I think it'd sell... But the only way to find out if a dream works is to give it a go right?

So yeah, now I have two dreams that both would make me blissfully happy, rather than. "Oh, I don't know.. med school I guess."

So yes, I am happy.

In other news I spent the day cooking, as tomorrow we're having guests over for dinner. I made thai vegetarian red curry, which I will take photos of tomorrow, and am probably going to make brussels sprouts as well as vegan pumpkin pie. Here goes!

Oh P.S. I found two food processors hidden away in my kitchen today--one is a nice small hand blender I saw Cat Cora use on Iron Chef America, and that's when it was like haaaay I've seen one of those before, which got me looking in the first place. And the other is a full sized blender. I also have two juicers. Who knew???? Makes me a happy happy camper.

Oh P.P.S. I found this on Isa's LJ http://isachandra.livejournal.com/ which she used before wordpress. It's amazing. I love it. I love that its vegan, I love that its hilarious, I love that now I know how to make ice cream without an ice cream maker. I. Love. It. I wish there were more episodes but this is the only one. :( A true inspiration for me. (I haven't given up on my shows yet!)

Oh, P.P.P.S. I've added a bunch of links to vegan blogs as you might see. These are so much better than mine and are definately my inspiration. As it says there, they are WORKS IN PROGRESS! There are many I've forgotten, I just put it up. Oh, and this is another treasure I just found. http://everydaydish.tv/

I know this is old news to many, but not to me, and as this is my blog I MAKE THE RULES MUAHAHAHAHAH. *happy*

Sundried Tomato, Caper, and Basil Pesto Salad

2008-01-03T16:55:00.000-05:00

Mmmm.. Lunch.

How do you make it? Well you take a salad, with all its wonderful salad things (in my case it's got baby arugula and spring mixed greens topped with tomatoe, carrot, beet, cucumber, yellow bell pepper, green onion and parsley) and some Sundried Tomato, Caper, and Basil Pesto dressing.

How do you make this dressing? Easy. Take some sundried tomatoes and dice them up really fine (food process even), and a lot of basil and do that for the basil leaves too. Throw in some capers and some smashed garlic, about 3/4 cups of oil and 1/2 cup of vinegar (balsalmic probably tastes better, but I only had rice vinegar), give it a mix (or a shake in my case) and BAM! Serve it with a spoon rather than pouring to get some really nice basil/sundriedtomatoe/caper action going. Oh, and don't be too generous--this really is just oil with some flavors, and you really don't need more than a teaspoon of oil for even an oversized salad like mine. Mmm.. Food. Served with some chilled chammomile citrus herb tea this was the perfect lunch.

I thought this just looked cool! Basil, sundried tomatoes, capers and smashed garlic. I used smashed garlic rather than minced or crushed garlic so it can easily be removed while eating.

Stevia

2008-01-02T10:44:00.000-05:00

Zero calorie sweetener that just might be good for you.

So I was thinking--stevia hmmm? Is it any better/worse for me than splenda? Aspratame has been demonstrated over and over again to be hazardous to one's health, as has saccharine, but sucralose (splenda) has managed to keep a decent rep. Stevia is an all-natural sweetener coming straight from the Stevia plant, and I wanted to know: am I making a healthy choice by choosing it?

So I googled it, and here's what I found, in a nutshell: (all sources linked below so you can do your own reading too.)

It helps with weight loss, especially in obese persons, as it seems to help 'turn off' hunger sensations when satiation has occured. (The tests in my opinion were performed with groups too small for the results to exceed standard deviation--i.e. it could've been a fluke.)
It helps with insulin release, and thus glucose tolerance. (Again, I feel the tests were performed on groups that were too small for comfort.)
It consistantly tests safe.
It's calorie free.

Despite the fact that some of the findings were based on testing that had a little too much room for error in my opinion, I think that while not 100% reliable, those results definately are promising. I think further testing would be needed to make these possibilities 'facts' about stevia, but it's sure worth hoping, and definately not a bad thing!

So there you have it, it's stevia for me!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia
http://www.steviacanada.com/
http://www.stevia.com/

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

2008-01-02T09:39:00.001-05:00

First off, I would like to say that last night, through tofu-n-sprouts' blog I also found the multitude of other vegan blogs with the most mouthwatering recipes and photos that I am truly intimidated. I am SO glad I started this up if ONLY because I managed to find all that great stuff! I'm going to keep going with this blog nonetheless because a. more recipes never hurt, even if mine aren't quite status quo. b. I hope someone finds the nutritional bits of info that I add useful and interesting. c. It's fun! d. I really really want to get the cooking show up and running. Already its more formed now than yesterday--I have a team who wants to eat what's made, the kitchen is booked (its owner is keen on knowing more about cooking veggies himself). Episode themes and menus have been picked, now its about testing the recipes and making them really splendid enough for the public eye, and actually filming.. and editing. Wish me luck!

So I woke up this morning and decided.. hmm.. I want oatmeal.

Ingredients:

just over 1/2 a cup of oats.
just over 1 1/2 cups water
1 small fuji apple (i didn't want to use an apple that was very overpowering, empire or cortland should work nicely too)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
3 packets stevia (about 6 tsp sugar, if you want to use sugar, or to taste)
small handful of raisins

I put the water on the element and brought it to a boil, and dumped everything in, letting it come to a boil again. I put the lid on and let it sit for 15-20 min.
Serve, sprinkle with some more cinnamon (i like it really cinnamon-y), add some soy milk and voila. Breakfast is served.

Nutritional Bit: Oats are full of fiber, both soluble and insoluble, they have beta-glucan which helps lower cholesterol levels and significantly reduces risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke, as well as 'activating' white blood cells to 'charge up' the immune system. Some scientists believe they also boost the ability of the body to terminate cancerous cells and research is being done as we eat. Oatmeal has a low GI, has anti-inflammatory properties, protein, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, manganese, and a bit of iron. Make sure you pick steel cut or at most rolled oats (which mine were)--the more processed they are, the more useless they are to your body. Sorry instant oatmeal, but you're cut. (har har)

Intro + What You Really Want (Recipes!)

2008-01-01T14:39:00.001-05:00

Ok, so I believe veggies are #1. Grains taste good--but are for the side, or just on occasion. Its veggies that are my staple food, and fruit of course. So most of my recipes will focus on veggies, though I'm going to make an effort to include more recipes with grains, beans, and tofu since that seems to be what people like.

In this post I include some info on picking produce, some recipes, and some nutritional tidbits of information in red under the recipes that contain the veggie I'm talking about. Happy eating!

BEFORE YOU PUT IT IN YOUR MOUTH: PICKING AND CLEANING YOUR PRODUCE

Pesticides: Buy Organic and Wash!
One thing I'd like to say before we start cooking is that almost everything I cook with is organic, and I strongly suggest you do the same. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) lists off the most and least contaminated foods, and I strongly suggest looking at their site and using the information they provide to make an informed decision about what you're buying. I understand organic is more expensive (though, vegetables are significantly cheaper than meat, so you're really saving anyway) but what could you possibly be saving those pennies for that is worth more than your health? I personally like to use veggie wash to get rid of any pesticides on my inorganic produce, and often will wash the organic in it as well: there is such a thing as organic pesticides and they are used, so don't bite into that apple before you wash it!

For your convenience, I've listed the top 12 most contaminated foods and the 12 least. It is good to read the way these were chosen etc. so I still suggest visiting the site.

12 Most Contaminated Fruits and Veggies (Pesticide load in parenthesis): "The Dirty Dozen"
Peaches (100), Apples (96), Sweet Bell Peppers (86), Celery (85), Nectarines (84), Strawberries (83), Cherries (75), Lettuce (69), Grapes--Imported (68), Pears (65), Spinach (60), Potatoes (58)

12 Least Contaminated Fruits and Veggies (Pesticide load in parenthesis): "Consistantly Clean"
Eggplant (19), Broccoli (18), Cabbage (17), Bananas (16), Kiwi (14), Asparagus (11), Sweet Peas--Frozen (11), Mango (9), Pineapples (7), Sweet Corn--Frozen (2), Avocado (1), Onions (1)

I wonder if the fact that most of the cleanest are also fruits that have thicker skins or veggies that have its outer layers removed before cooking usually?

Locally Grown Produce: Save the planet, delight your tastebuds
I know not everyone is lucky enough to have an organic farmers market just down the street. (It just so happens I do!) however I know for a fact that finding fresh local produce is far from impossible in most of North America and Western Europe--I've travelled quite a bit. So whenever possible, I strongly suggest getting locally grown produce. Why? Well, let me tell you a few of the great things about local fruits and veggies!

It's more eco-friendly! Since the fruit has to travel less to get to you, the transportation emissions are much less: the last thing this planet needs is more pollution: believe you me!

It's more fresh! The produce you're eating came off the vine sometime within the past few days, rather than the past few months! That's a HUGE difference and you'll really notice it when you taste it. Fruits and veggies that ripen on the plant taste so much better.

It's more nutritious! Since the farmers who pick it know that it's not going to have to last months before its consumed, they pick it when its right at its peak. That means the produce has the maximum amount of time to absorb nutrients before it shows up on your plate.

THE GOOD STUFF: RECIPES

So here are some really basic, really fast, really easy recipes. I'll edit photos in as I make them again.

Braised Mushrooms
These Mushrooms are cooked up asian style, really quick to make!

1/2 lb button mushrooms (10ish)
1/4 lb shiitake mushrooms (8ish--if you buy them dehydrated remember to soak overnight)
1/4 lb oyster mushrooms12oz straw mushrooms (can come from a can)
2 tsp vegetable oil (or grapeseed, safflower--ones with mild tastes.)
1 tsp butter replacement, or just an extra tsp of oil
2 cloves garlic, minced (i like extra garlic usually so more like 4, but to each their own)
1/3 cup water
1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
pinch black pepper

1. Brush your mushrooms, or rinse them: personally I dont think the 0.5oz of water mushrooms will soak up is worth caring about. Just don't wash them with soap as that wont taste great. Trim stems of the mushrooms and drain the straw mushrooms and give them a quick rinse if they were canned.

2. Place stir-fry pan over high heat until hot. Any skillet that's a little deep will do. Add oil and butter replacement and allow it to heat until the surface of the oil is dancing. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for about 10 seconds. Add everything else. Cover and cook until mushrooms are tender, about 8 min.

Great to serve over some rice.

Nutrition Blurb: Mushrooms have been used medicinally for ages and have huge health benefits. They're great at absorbing toxins, they're antioxidants, they're suspected to be metabolic enchancers, and they're loaded with nutrients. Shiitake mushrooms have all eight essential amino acids (something us Vegans/Vegetarians have to pay extra attention to getting). They produce lentinan which is used to prolong survival of cancer patients (it actually fights the damage from anti-cancer drugs, rather than the cancer itself). Button mushrooms contain significant amounts (50% to around 10% of recommended Daily Values, in decreasing order) selenium, riboflavin, copper, niacin, pantothenic acid, phosphorus, zinc manganese and thiamin. [Information in this blurb relies heavily on The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth by Jonny Bowden, a book I highly recommend reading, as well as other sources which have been linked.]

Turnip Mash
I made this up the other night and love it to bits. By made up I mean there was no recipe: of course this has been done time and time again.

1 medium/large turnip (or rutabaga)
1 garlic head
3 tbsp olive oil
pinch of rosemary (1 tsp for those who need to measure)
pinch of salt (to taste.)
2/3 cup soy milk

1. Peel the waxy skin off of the turnip and then chop up into even pieces. The smaller, the faster it will cook obviously. Boil in water until soft. For rough 1-inch pieces this should take about 20 min. Meanwhile, place the garlic on some aluminum foil or on a tray and in the oven at about 400F. Leave it for about 10 to 15 min, until the flesh is soft and golden: you'll have to actually check as the skin wont give it away.

2. Take the roasted garlic and pull out all the flesh, discard the skin. Put it in the oil with the rosemary and let the oil really soak up the flavor.

3. Once the turnip is soft, drain the water. Pour in the oil mixture and the milk and mash. I use a hand held blender but by hand works too of course. Add in salt as you like, and feel free to experiment with other spices like paprika, black pepper, tumeric...

Nutritional Blurb: Those of you who are trying to lose weight will be happy to know that turnips, like melons and summer squash, are "high volume" foods--that is, they fill you up for less calories. A cup of cooked turnips is about 35 calories and has lots of fiber, potassium, vitamin C and calcium.

Sweet Potato Chips
Here's another quick one I just made up. Again: By made up I mean there was no recipe: of course this has been done time and time again.

sweet potatoes
olive oil
salt

1.Slice your sweet potatoes nice and thin: use a mandolin, cheese grater, or just a sharp knife. Try and make them even, as the thinner they are the higher the heat you want to cook them at to get the skin nice and crispy and the insides just soft enough. When the potato is thicker it needs longer for the insides to soften, and you don't want the skin to burn.

2. Drizzle some oil into the skillet and turn the element to somewhere between medium and near max. I like to slice mine thin so for me I keep it pretty near max. Once the oil is dancing on the surface it's hot enough. Make sure you dont let the oil smoke--that means your nice cis-unsaturated fats are turning into trans-fats. Yuck!

3. Lay the potato chips down individually, and just let them cook, once the edges are golden, flip them and let the other side cook. I like them done when I can bend them in half without breaking them with tongs, but if you want them more of a 'chip' let them fry a bit longer. Place them on a few paper towels to soak up the excess oil. Salt while still hot!

Nutritional Blurb: Sweet potato is definately a starchy treat, but what a treat at that. I absolutely love the taste of sweet potato in all its form, and it is high in fiber, rich in antioxidants, has vitamin A, potassium, a bit of calcium and they're thought to be anticarcinogenic.

Grilled Zucchini
Really easy, and I love it. My aunt has more zucchini in her backyard than she knows what to do with, so I've had zucchini in almost every way shape and form.

Zucchini (1 large per serving, or 3 baby zucchini)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (About a teaspoon per serving)

1. Slice your zucchini evenly. Using a mandolin really is best for this. If you have baby zucchini, just slice them in half lengthwise--they're soft and tender enough that they can cook through even when thick.

2. Get your griddle (or the largest frying pan you have, if you dont have a griddle)really, really hot. If its not nonstick you'll have to quickly brush on some oil. Lay your zucchini down on the griddle and let it sit, about 10 minutes.

3. For the sliced zucchini you know its ready to be flipped when it "sweats"--beads of water will form on the side facing you. For the baby zucchini you want the skin to be soft and dark to about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way up. When you flip your zucchini the side that has just been cooked should be a nice golden brown color--if you've got a lot of white or pale gold, quickly turn it back and let it cook for a bit longer (don't keep flipping back and forth, each side should just cook once).

4. Cook until both sides are golden brown and then put it in a dish you can cover to let it keep warm while you cook your next batch. Once you've cooked all your zucchini, drizzle with olive oil and salt to taste and serve.

Nutritional Blurb: Zucchini is a summer squash and is stuffed full of potassium, folate, vitamin A and manganese. They're thought to be good for your eyesight and are most definately high volume foods, weighing in at about 28 calories per cooked cup!

So it Begins

2008-01-01T12:52:00.000-05:00

I'll start with Welcome. This blog is dedicated to vegan cooking and eating. While for the most part I want to share recipes I've taken and made my own (or simply made up) with the wonderful vegan community, I'm also going to try and include nutritional information, and probably the occasional odds and end.

I'm working on getting some cooking shows up soon, I have a camera, camera crew, a guy who knows a bit about editing, and picked the kitchen I want to work in: Now i just need to get it all together. And convince the guy whose kitchen it is to let me use it to film. Shouldn't be a problem: he'll get to eat the food!

My origional plan was to launch a cooking website of my own, or at least a blog on a site owned by me. But I decided to give it a test drive on a free site before investing the 20 dollars needed to get my own .org/.com/.net.

So I hope you enjoy the site, I'll probably have a few recipes up even by later today: for now I'm going to explore my options with the blog. Happy New Years by the way!

-Manda.