McDougalling: Round 2

I'm back on the McDougall program again. Here are a couple of the things I've been eating:


These are the Soy-Free Breakfast Sausage Patties from A Veg*n for Dinner's blog served with shredded potatoes. I made them pretty close to the recipe, except I left out the oil, maple syrup, milk, breadcrumbs and vital wheat gluten. This makes them MWL! :) I also reduced the sage to 1/2 tsp and baked them on a baking stone. They were very good but a bit too salty for me. So next time I make these I'll be reducing the salt content.

Can you spot the mystery roasted veggie? It's a purple potato! You can see what they look like pre-roasting here. Very unusual, but in my opinion quite pretty. They are slightly sweet. Yum!

A little heart to heart with myself

Just a picture from my window of the seemingly endless days of snowy gloominess.

If you noticed some missing/edited entries, it's because I'm doing some blog cleaning. :)

General warm fuzzies concerning Veganism

Today I <3 being Vegan. As some of you know, at times I struggle with my choice to eat Vegan. In my daily life, I try my hardest to follow Veganism. (that sentence makes it sound like a religion but since I already have religion, to me, Veganism is a life choice)

Anyway, I've been trying to figure out what to do with my leather jacket. My Mother gave it to me a few years ago and I can't help but feel the weight of it (emotionally) when wearing it. She was so very proud that she was able to afford to give it to me, but I know she would understand my choice to give it away. The main problem with getting rid of it is that doing so will leave me without a winter coat. I live in CANADA; it's cold here. :) I'm trying to work up the courage to go to the Salvation Army and ask if I can have an exchange--my leather coat for a non-animal based coat. Do you think that would work?

For dinner, tonight the family had chicken and fried potatoes. And maybe it makes me less of a person, but generally I like the smell of cooking meat. It reminds me of all the dinners pre-veganism. However, tonight the chicken smell grossed me out. Yay! Hopefully that will happen with beef soon, too.

Tomorrow I have cooking time. Fantastic! I hope to make some chicken seitan that I actually like this time. Also, some desserts are in order. And don'tcha know, the FIL who is an extreme Omni (he thinks I'm just on a special weight-loss diet for some reason), almost tried the beef seitan from here--it looked so real/good! I was amazed. He would have eaten it, but MIL informed him of it's true nature.

And the following may be a bit more than you needed to know...
A few years ago I had my gallbladder removed due to gallstones. So my digestion system has been an EXTREME burden. That is, until I've been eating a Vegan diet. I have solid poo now! It's true! No more horrible cramps and endless diarrhea. Everything is swirling right on down properly. :)

Hopefully I haven't grossed everyone out proper. Go Veganism! :)

Some sucking up and falling down the stairs

First let me apologize that I didn't say how good Vegan Dad's brat recipe is earlier. I feel guilty not mentioning it before (for some weird reason). You can find it here. This was actually the first thing I cooked using Vital Wheat Gluten. It was awesome and I took it camping for Vegan Sister & I to munch on. This was about 3 months ago, so no pictures. Sorry!

Secondly, I recently tried A Veg*an for Dinner's TVP Meatballs in the form of burgers. These rocked and the family loved them. They are very filling, so if you are going to make burgers, I'd make them a bit thinner than if you were making ones of beef (ick). You can find the recipe here. Once again, no pictures--we ate them too fast! These babies really stick together, so next time I'm going to simmer them for a bit in sauce. Yummmm.

Ah, today I fell down the stairs for the third time in 5 weeks! I'm ok, just really sore with a baseball sized lump on my tailbone. Those stairs are 'short' and the carpet is worn down giving the edges a slipperyness. So I've been ordered not to cook today/tonight. I don't know when I'll be able to have time in the kitchen again, so there may be awhile before the next cooking post.

I have a semi-big interview tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed. :)

Vegan Mini-OMAC Session

First let me say a big Thank You to everyone who offered support and understanding on my last post. It was much appreciated. :)

Now from a previous cooking day, I have a LOT of Seitan Chick'n leftover (different recipe from my previous Seitan attempt). It turned out really rubbery and I was ready to throw out the batch. But a fellow blogger saved the day! A Veg*n For Dinner had some tips on working with Seitan here that suggests some tips for saving batches of Seitan that don't turn out as planned.

So here is what I'm planning on making:

• 4 small/medium size pizzas
• 4 entrees of Seitan Chick'n Parmezan over wheat spaghetti
• 4 entrees of Seitan BBQ Chick'n with rice & mixed veggies
• 6 entrees of Seitan Roast Beef with mashed potatoes & mixed veggies
• 4 Seitan Roast Beef subs (Philly Cheesesteak Style)
• 10 Rice & Chick'n burritos
• And time permitting, TVP Burgers & Chick'n Pot Pie

32 Meals in all! If I can get it all done in time. :)

Some items I already have in the pantry and for the rest Wookiepants has allotted $25-30. Surely you notice that the above doesn't contain a lot of veggies, but hopefully this can be improved in the future. I also wanted to create meals that would show my fellow dinner companions that Vegans really do eat tasty stuff--not just boiled potatoes and salad!

Luckily living near a Bulk Barn, this allows me to buy just the right amount of spices/flour needed and not get stuck with a whole jar of something. Spices that I'll buy are: Sage, Cayenne, Italian Seasoning, Vegan Beef Bullion, Soy Flour, Anise Seed, Red & Green Peppercorns, Crushed Red Pepper Flakes, Rice Flour, Tapioca Flour, Vegan Chick'n Soup Powder. Hopefully, and most likely, this will come to about $5-8.

That leaves me with about $30 for: 2 cubes Firm Silken Tofu, Tahini, 4 cans White Kidney Beans, Jalapenos, Black Olives, 3 Green/Red Peppers, 2 Sweet Onions, Lemons, Frozen Mixed Veggies, Potatoes, Fries, Mushrooms and Tortillas. Hopefully this will all fit in my budget, if not the Mushrooms will be first to go.

Tomorrow evening I'll post some photos and how everything went down. Also, I'm making a Seitan Roast for the first time, so will post how that turns out.

Vegan doubts, again

Yeah, so lately it has been a bit rough for me to justify being vegan. It's mostly due to our living conditions. I'm still out of work and being told I'm overqualified left and right. How exactly can a secretary be overqualified?! (in desperation I've applied for minimum wage jobs) So our finances are tight, which means no eating out. Probably a good thing due to our dining out issues.

Wookiepants is footing all our bills and I hate to ask him for any money to get groceries primarily for yours truly. The rest of the family is happy to live on meat/starch heavy diet supplemented with a daily vitamin, which is much cheaper than what I usually eat. Today for lunch I had bread with a piece of pretty craptastic vegan cheese on top melted via the microwave. I'm starving right now, but instead of getting some more bread, I crave fresh veggies.

Tonight the in-laws are having big, huge inch thick steak. Ah, but what will I eat? --this is an everyday dilemma for me. I've made suggestions many times before and offered to cook my own meal every night. (this is usually turned down) I try to not be an ungrateful wretch, as our rent payment is such a great deal, including our groceries and utilities.

Ok, so if being vegan is going to place a burden on my family, why do it? This is the question I have been struggling with. I feel tension building each time I make a separate dinner for myself, when I am allowed to. There is so much leftover of their Omni meals that often most of it goes to waste. Isn't it somewhat horrible of me to watch that food waste away? That some animal was butchered for the sole purpose of rotting in some back corner of the fridge?

Still, I cannot bring myself knowingly to eat meat or it's byproducts. Every time I think about it, a movie reel begins to play, repeating what I've seen of the brutal killing of the animals for food purposes. Sometimes, though, I think I should just suck it up and stop being such a thorn in the side of the family's meals. Everyone would be so much happier if I would, I think. I find it ironic that the reason I started eating a vegan diet is because of health issues, but the reason I continue to follow it is because of animal cruelty in the food industry.

Ok, so enough whining. I'm trying to think what I can do that will make things easier to keep eating vegan without dining on bread/toast/cheese. My wonderful Wookiepants will (if I just swallow my pride and ask him) find a place in the budget for about $10-15 a week or so. I know frozen veggies are sometimes cheaper, so maybe I will stock up on those. And I know that Vegan Dad sometimes finds second-chance veggies/fruits at No Frills, which we have around where I live. (I find No Frills to be a scary place due to the lack of manners of its patrons)

I'll will just have to finalize some weekly meal plans that rely primarily on rice/whole grains. And if I can find some time to cook, I can squirrel away some meals. Otherwise it will be convenience vegan foods, which are not very healthy. I'll deal...thanks for reading my vent. It really helps somehow just to put all this frustration out on the net. :)

UnChicken Patties

Yesterday I offered to cook dinner, which the MIL took me up on. I had two thoughts.

1) Yay! I get to cook an all-vegan dinner that we can all eat together!

2) OMG what am I going to cook that will knock the socks off my Omni dinner companions?!

I was very nervous because my last two entrees for a vegan family dinner were disasters. First there was a dubious meatloaf recipe that was horrible and after that, a lasagna that had mushy rice noodles. Now, previously I did have one whopping success -- soft tacos with store bought pre-seasoned TVP. However, this was not really homemade.

Luckily I had the whole day in the kitchen, some awesome cookbooks, my fellow bloggers and the Internet to figure out what to make. We had pasta the night before, so a pasta dish was out. I didn't want to risk having a batch of seitan turn out bad, but I did need some type of meat replacement. Tofu was risky as well, because the Teen Daughter liked it but I wasn't sure if the MIL & Wookiepants would.

So I decided on bean patties done chicken-style because of my recent experiments with Bean Balls. I wanted to try these without the Vital Wheat Gluten and use Instant Mashed Potato Flakes instead, but I chickened out. (no pun intended) Also, I didn't try baking these since fat was not an issue -- a tip from VCON when cooking for Omnis is to not worry about fat.

I served the patties with homemade mashed potatoes & vegetable gravy, peas & corn. Everyone scarfed these down and said they would be quite happy to have them again! The only negative feedback I received was that the edges were a bit too crispy. I actually liked the crispness, but I think baking these would prevent the edges from becoming very crispy. Note: I had a leftover patty that was fried last night, for lunch today (reheated in oven) and it was still good.

UnChicken Patties

Makes about 8 hamburger bun size patties

Ingredients

2 cans (540 ml) White Kidney Beans, rinsed & drained

3/4 cup Nutritional Yeast (optional)

1/2 cup Vital Wheat Gluten

1 cup uncooked rice (I used long grain)

1 Tbsp Onion Powder

4 Tbsp Vegan Chicken-style bouillon, divided

Note: I used vegan chicken broth powder instead

Oil for frying (unless you want to try and bake them)

Pepper to taste

3 Tbsp diced Jalapenos (optional)

Directions:

Cook rice according to your preferred cooking method, but add 1 Tbsp of the Bouillon to the water while cooking. While the rice is cooking, in a large bowl mash the beans until no whole beans are left (do not puree). Add to the bowl the cooked (and cooled) Rice, Nutritional Yeast, Onion Powder, Vital Wheat Gluten and remaining 3 Tbsp Bouillon. (pepper to taste) Knead for about 5 minutes. Set aside and let rest for 20 minutes.

At this point I formed two patties and set them aside for the Teen Daughter who doesn't like spicy food. To the rest of the mixture I worked in the chopped jalapeno. (use gloves if mixing by hand!) I think if you don't want to use jalapenos, some diced onions, mushrooms, tomato or whatever you wish could be added. Just add something, or I think these would be too plain tasting. Form the remaining mixture into patties. In batches, fry the patties in about 1/4" of oil until brown on both sides.

Here is a picture of one of the patties with jalapeno:

While I was mashing the potatoes and making the gravy, I put the patties in the oven at 300 degrees for about 45 minutes to keep them hot and bake them a bit longer. I don't think baking them in addition to frying them is necessary.

These are best served, in my opinion, on a bun with a dollop of cream cheese and jalapeno jelly. I'd also throw on some more jalapenos, but I'm just spicy like that. ;)

Yum!

Bean Balls Revisited and Granola

Yeah I slacked off for a day, sorry about that!  I did do some cooking yesterday.  Well, some experimental cooking and baking to be precise.  First of all I wanted to muck with VCON's Bean Ball recipe.  Specifically, I wanted brown rice to be added and to leave out the Vital Wheat Gluten.   It's a very basic recipe and I prepared it 4 different ways.  On the top and right, the balls were baked with the top being rolled in cornmeal.  On the bottom and left, the balls were fried in about 1/4 inch of Olive Oil, the one on the left was rolled in cornmeal.  

The results?  The fried ones on the bottom, not rolled in cornmeal were the best!  I popped one in my mouth and almost groaned audibly (ok, I did).  The baked ones were gross, but I think that was because of the non-stick spray.  The spray burnt a bit and I think the balls soaked up that smell/flavor.  The cornmeal coated and fried balls were ok, but the cornmeal made them have serious issues with holding together (I wouldn't recommend making them this way).  Over all, it was a good experiment.  They all would have issues holding together in a sauce, so you would have to add them at the end (probably why VCON uses the VWG).  Oh, and next time, I'm making these into 'cutlets' and frying them in a very thin layer of oil.  Yum!

Experimental Beany Rice Balls

Ingredients

1 can (540 ml) Black Beans

1/2 cup Nutritional Yeast (optional)

1/2 cup uncooked Brown Rice

1 cube Beef-style Vegan Bouillon

1/2 to 1 cup Bread Crumbs

Seasoning of your choice (I used some Italian Seasoning)

Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook rice using your preferred cooking method, but add the Bouillon to the cooking water.  Mash beans, not pureed, in a medium bowl.  Add to beans,  your seasoning, Nutritional Yeast, Salt & Pepper, and cooked Rice.  Mix well and add enough Bread Crumbs until you have a very stiff batter.

Form small balls out of the batter (no bigger than a quarter).  You will probably have to rinse your hands often as the dough gets quite sticky.  Cook either in oil on the stove, or in the oven on a greased baking sheet until browned.

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Granola!

I've been wanting to try the Breakfast Bars recipe from Lady's Vegan blog, and finally got around to it.  I used only almonds as the only nut ingredient (cause nuts here are expensive) and organic blueberries as the only fruit.  I thought I was getting a bargain--who knew organic blueberries are like $8 per pound?!

Just a quick question, does everyone have some super-secret way to chop nuts?  I laid mine out on the cutting board and quite dubiously eyed the lot of them.  I raised the knife and 'chopped' .  Nuts went flying every which way!  The baby cat had a heyday chasing after the lot of them.   :)  I eventually just used a soup can to crush about 6-7 at a time.  But if you have an easier way that doesn't involve a food processor, please let me know.

Anyway, in spite of my modifications, this recipe was really tasty.  Unfortunately I couldn't get the granola to form bars, but it was my fault as I deviated from the recipe.  I think adding the 1 1/2 cups of coconut did it in.  :)   Or it could have been using maple syrup with only 25% 'maple syrup'.  How do they get away with even calling it Maple Syrup in the first place?  

Anyways, this was VERY tasty and I have been snacking on it all week.  Thanks Lady Vegan!

Shopping Vegan & Kitties! (again)

No real cooking today.  Granola was for breakfast with a glass of rice milk.  For lunch, the quesadillas (mushroom, onion, bean puree & quinoa) from yesterday's cooking session.  It turns out that I'm not a huge fan of quinoa, which is probably a good thing due to how expensive it is.  I will probably make myself eat the rest of them, but we'll see how it goes. 

Oh, the Spouse & I went to check out Veggie Paradise, a Vegan market of sorts.  The store is quite small, but there was a large selection of prepared foods and ready-to-cook convenience foods.  The shopkeeper was very informative and showed us lots of neat stuff.  She pulled out some frozen 'shrimp', and I swear they looked like the real deal!  They had some of the Tartex Pate (in three different flavors!), that I remembered seeing on Lady Vegan's Blog (she won the pate for submitting a recipe to vegweb.com).  I was tempted to buy the pate, but didn't.  Overall the items seemed a bit pricey, but convenient if I get in a pinch for dinner. 

On another note, it seems like I'm having more losses than wins in the kitchen lately, so I may be just doing some recipe testing from the cookbooks I have instead of doing my own thing.  Isn't that is what cookbooks are supposed to be for, to cook things?  :)  Hopefully I'll get my cooking groove back, because I am bit discouraged.  So when discouraged/sad/lonely/happy/cuddly where do I go for comfort?  To the kitties of course! 

Cat photos from this point onward, you may want to skip reading the rest if you aren't interested.  Starting from the oldest to the youngest (who made her Internet debut here):

Theo in all his furry glory.  Look at the fur on his paws!  It actually grows between his little kittie toes!  Despite appearances, he is quite skinny and sometimes borders on the anorexic side.  He had to have surgery about a year ago on his urinary tract and it almost bankrupted us.  I was seriously considering breaking into the animal hospital to steal him back after they completed the surgery.  But family loaned us some money and we got him back legit.  He is now 7 1/2 years old.

Here we have Theo again with a baby Nova, who is actually about 2 1/2 years old now.  Theo is the 'alpha' male of the group, but is very playful.  When we moved from the states, where he had free reign of about an acre and hunted avidly (much to my dismay), into an apartment in a high-rise condo in Ontario on the 8th floor, he became depressed. His personality changed from a VERY active & playful cat, to one who slept all day and ate very little.  We decided to adopt a playmate for him to hopefully bring him out of his depression without the need for medication.  It worked!  :)

Full grown and looking for trouble (please ignore my messy desk).  Nova is...well, different.  Imagine a cat with ADD who is super smart and has dependency issues with Yours Truly.  He can also be temperamental, stubborn and occasionally, melt-your-heart sweet.  He loves to sleep on the Spouse's chest at night. 

Ahh, and then there is baby cat, Mizea.  She melts my heart and turns me to a cooing, crazy cat lady at the blink of her little innocent eyes.  I would probably knit her little sweaters and booties if I could learn to knit.   :)

And one more of Mizea to show how tiny she is.  She was sleeping so soundly that I got to take a ton of pictures.  That is a 'AA' battery beside her.  She is 5 1/2 months old.

Lessons with Quinoa

Today I had my kitchen time and wanted to do breakfast/ lunch/ dinner cooking for the next two weeks.  With 5 glorious hours to accomplish this, it seemed like enough time.  At 12:30pm I headed off to Bulk Foods, where unfortunately as usual, I was distracted by all the awesome stuff they have.  Oh well, there was still had a little over 4 hours!  

I headed off to the grocery store, but while in the car, my stomach started making ominous sounds.  Grr! I explained to my stomach that we would be tasting (snacking) as we cooked.  I somehow don't think the stomach understood because it continued it's rumbling and kicked in with some pangs.  So, off I went to nearby Indian  restaurant for a quick lunch.  I finally got to the grocery store where organic produce seduced me with all their yumminess.  And cremini mushrooms (my fav!) were on sale.   Happy, happy!

On the way home I tried to rationalize to myself that I would speed-cook and still get everything done in the 2 hours, 40 minutes.  Yes 'speed-cook'; I know it's not a word, but in my desperate state of mind it had become one.  I happily envisioned mushrooms flying from the knife to the skillet, while the quinoa simmered quietly in the background.  It would be fabulous!

So as not to bore you with any more details, panic did indeed set in during the last hour.  I felt like a contestant on the Iron Chef that you just knew wasn't going to make it to the end.  And sure enough, out of my planned 11 dishes, only 4 were completed!  Gah!  I ran out of mushrooms, didn't have the time to make the pan-seared tofu for one of the dishes and one big mistake...

I should have looked up quinoa before cooking it for the first time.  But no, I was confident it was similar to couscous and stayed really tiny.  So into the stockpot went the whole kilogram of quinoa, with enough water to cover it.   So engrossed I became in the other preparations, I didn't notice that the quinoa was now as high as the top of the pot.  Go ahead and laugh, if you already aren't.  :)

Lesson learned and I have enough quinoa to eat for a week!  (or two or three)  Here is what was finished:  One giant pan of lasagna (pictured below), 6 quesadillas, 3 mushroom & lentil burgers and quinoa pilaf.  Not too horible for less than three hours of cooking time, but not great either.

I'll put the other dishes up later on, but for the lasagna it was pretty basic.  I used brown rice lasagna sheets, store-bought tomato sauce, sauteed onions & mushrooms, tofu ricotta & spinach and a white bean puree with Nooch. The layering from the bottom up: pasta, mushroom mixture, pasta, ricotta & spinach sprinkled with Nooch, pasta, white bean puree with Nooch.  I topped the dish with some sprinkled breadcrumbs--oh yeah and I sprinkled the tomato sauce throughout the dish.  If anyone is really interested in the recipe, just let me know and I'll post it.

So this was a fail for OMAC, for those that were interested.  Actually it's going to be harder than I originally thought since OMAC usually features one meat served in a variety of dishes throughout the month.  Also, I'm trying to follow a low GI diet, which means I need a LOT of whole grains and a LOT of veggies.  I'm trying to not depend on soy and wheat gluten too much.  But I haven't given up on OMAC.  :)

*Just a little update on the lasagna:  the rice lasagna sheets came out horrible.  All globby and starchy.  Even though the fillings were good, I threw out the whole pan.  Anyone have any suggestions?

Under the weather

Have a nasty bug that's working it's way through my system so I haven't been eating anything elaborate (or worth taking a photo of, anyway).  Breakfast was a granola bar, lunch was a bowl of leftover soup and dinner was a tortilla filled with hummus & bean sprouts.  

I'm a bit excited about having kitchen time tomorrow and am going to spend the rest of the evening planning what to cook.   :)  If I am lucky I can make a week or so of meals to freeze.

Which brings me to an idea I had on Canadian Thanksgiving.  I used to be really into OMAC (once a month cooking) when I was an Omni.  These recipes were super cheap to make, too.  Feeding a family of 3-4 with $5 or less a meal.  I think that eating Vegan will actually make OMAC a LOT easier and possibly cheaper.  Don't ask me why, I'm just optomistic.  I have spreadsheets linked to Word documents containing recipes, etc.  I was like the super nerd of OMAC and I'm not ashamed.  

My biggest problem right now is that most of the recipes are not Veganized.  Also, most of them rely  heavily on processed foods.  Processed foods are not really an option once my eyes were opened to the effects they have on a person's body.  Actually I may just see if I can whip up a quick OMAC plan for the next week...or two.  Woo boy, I'm getting excited and suddenly posting has lost it's appeal.   ;)

Until tomorrow!

Creamy Comfort Soup and Mini Beanballs

So today I wanted something warm and comforting, and to help Vegan Sister, something cheap and fairly quick.  Maybe it's the cooler weather or maybe it was yesterday's uncomfortable-Thanksgiving that inspired this craving, who knows?  Now I remembered seeing a gorgeous picture of a creamy soup featuring green beans primarily.  Upon searching every single cookbook I have and most of the blogs I frequently read, this proved to be an elusive recipe.  So if you are the proud owner of something that sounded like the above, yeah I know it's kind of vague, please let me know.

Needless to say, I improvised.  But prior to the creamy green bean soup craving, I've been wanting meatballs.  I made some Beanballs from Veganomicon for the first time.  Now these are pretty cheap and not too time-consuming, but I don't think Vegan Sister has vital wheat gluten available in her area.  I'm not an expert on cooking with vital wheat, but I think you could substitute some flour.  At least that's what I've heard other bloggers say.   I decided to make some tiny beanballs for the soup and some big ones for a meatball sandwich to have at lunch tomorrow.

This is the first time I've made these and well, honestly, I wasn't super impressed.  However, the Teen Daugher was, which makes this recipe a keeper.  To me, they really tasted like smooshed beans in a ball shape, which was probably the point.  I guess I was expecting something more exciting?  I don't know.  I did like the smaller ones better than the bigger ones.  I made the small ones about the size of a dime, and the larger ones about the size of a quarter.  The small ones 'poofed' in my mouth, which seemed slightly humorous to me.   :)

I snacked on the bigger ones while making the soup, unashamedly dipping them in big globs of BBQ sauce.  The Teen Daughter loved these!  Currently as I write this she is stealing the leftover ones, cold, from the fridge.  She loves my Black Bean Burgers (keeps telling me I should put the recipe in the blog) and said the beanballs are like mini Black Bean Burgers.  This is high praise coming from her, believe me.

(sorry for the crappy photo, I was busy snacking on the beanballs to cease the groaning from my tummy) On to the soup! You can really use whatever veggies you have on hand. 

Creamy Veggie Soup with Mini Beanballs:

Serves about 2-4 people depending on how hungry they are.

Ingredients:

4 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced

1 large clove Garlic, diced finely

1/2 Yellow onion, separated into rings (use whatever onion you have on hand)

1 cup chopped Carrots

1 cup cut Green Beans

2 cubes Veggie Bouillon, or 3-4 Tablespoons loose Veggie Bouillon

   or 5-7 cups homemade Veggie Stock

1/4 cup Vegan Margarine

1/8 to 1/4 cup flour

Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

Place potatoes, carrots, garlic and onion in large stockpot with bouillon and enough water to cover the veggies by about an inch (if using veggie stock, just use this instead of the water/bouillon mixture).  Boil until potatoes and carrots are soft enough that they can easily be pierced with a fork, about 15 minutes.  Note: I kept the onion in rings so that I could remove them prior to serving -- Teen Daughter won't eat onions.  Feel free to dice yours and leave in the soup.

Melt Margarine into a pan and slowly add flour until mixture is thick and bubbly.  Add to soup and simmer soup for about 10 minutes.  At this point, add salt and pepper to taste. Note: If you want a lower fat version, use mashed potatoes to thicken the soup (or instant mashed potatoes).  You can even mash/blend some of the mixture to make it creamy.  Add beanballs to soup immediately before serving.

The Spouse and I like a few splashes of Hot Sauce added our bowls to make this extra tasty.   :)

Canadian Thanksgiving and Whining

So I had my first Thanksgiving as a Vegan in an Omni household.  It was uncomfortable.  Wow.  Not sure if there was some underlying family matters that were not voiced or it was the fact that I wasn't eating meat.  (probably the former)  And shame on me for not being more prepared.  I won't make that mistake next year.  I just have to say, really?  Did we really have to have the rack of lamb AND the ham?  Really?   :(

I am lucky enough to have two Thanksgivings every year.  One here in Canada with the In-Laws and one in Ohio with my family.  So needless to say I will be preparing my own fare for the American Thanksgiving.  Luckily I have my Vegan (sometimes) sister, who should be safely back in the states now, to help with the cooking/planning.  

I did stumble across an idea I want to explore for Vegan cooking while I was reading blogs tonight, which made me feel a bit better.

I really don't have anything else to post, which is good because I don't want to depress anyone who stumbles on this.

Not-Ribz Two Wayz & Kitties!

I had some help on this one from baby cat. I was taking pictures from different angles with only a few seconds between each one, when the little one jumped up just as I was hitting the capture button:

Luckily she only sniffed the Thai sweet chili sauce! :) We have three cats, and all of them were rescued. Our oldest, who is 7, was dumped with his brothers and sisters in a tied garbage bag on the highway. Luckily someone finally noticed the bag was moving and took them to the nearest veterinarian who was able to save a few of the kittens. The middle cat, who is 2, was adopted from the Canadian Humane Society. And baby cat who is making her Internet debut in the above picture was rescued by Colony Cats Rescue. She is the sweetest cat ever and melts into an adorable boneless mass whenever you hold her, which she demands quite often.

A couple of kitty things before moving onto the food. Please, if you are a Canadian Voter in Ontario (I'm not yet, unfortunately) visit the Canadian Humane Society's website to learn about the new proposed Bill 50, the Provincial Animal Welfare Act. This Bill will not protect many animals from cruelty including farm animals, zoo animals, performing animals, etc. Please visit the site or Google the Bill to educate yourself on this issue! (yes I know I'm begging and sounding preachy)

Secondly, having animals puts me in the dilemma a lot of Vegans with animal companions have. Cats are made to eat meat, but I wondered if they can adapt like humans. I came across a blog [broken link] blog where this [broken link] explains how she is feeding her cats Vegan food. There was only one visitor comment on the blog, so if any of you reading this has experience with changing a cat's food to Vegan fare, please let me know! Also on that article was a link claiming this is what PETA says about feeding your companion animal a Vegan diet. I'm going to talk to the Spouse tonight concerning this.

Oh, and I have a job interview this afternoon for a position that is paying big bucks. I hope to dazzle them. :)

Ok, onto the food! Here are what I've lamely titled "Not-Ribz Two Wayz". Hey, no ribbing, I don't get paid to think of cool sounding names. :)

I made Seitan last week and it turned out pretty good. I'm not thrilled with the results, but satisfied. I basically used a combination of two of Bryanna's Seitan recipes and a mix of my own spices. I believe that just about any standard Seitan recipe would produce similar results, so I won't post the recipe until I tweak it a bit. However here's what I made with part of the roast (I still have about 2 pounds of Seitan in the freezer).

The Seitan on the left is tossed with salt and pepper and the one on the right is coated with BBQ sauce. There isn't really a recipe for this, but just a method to put it together: I cut the Seitan into chunks, coated them with flour, added salt and pepper and fried them in oil until crispy and brown. I halved the batch and immediately after frying and tossed half with salt & pepper. The other half went back on the stove with some store bought (yeah I was lazy) BBQ sauce until it was bubbly and sticky. I thought the Salt & Pepper chunks were tasty dipped in Thai Sweet Pepper Chili Sauce (store bought again). The remainder of the BBQ chunks made a reappearance with some Vegan cheddar cheese in a pita the next day. I nuked it and boy did that add a nice chewiness!

The verdict? The BBQ chunks were a HUGE hit by all! BOOYAH! In fact upon finding I ate the leftovers the Teen Daughter was quite disappointed. She would like these as part of our regular family meal options. I almost did a happy dance! :) I can't wait to try Seitan in other recipes.

Vegan Black Bean Quesadillas

Before moving onto the recipe, just a few thoughts.  I'm hoping (cause it will make me feel better) that sometimes the most devout Vegan wonders if they made the right choice.  Yesterday and today I've been struggling with my choice.  No need to send reassurances (unless you want to!)  as images of animal cruelty/killing flood my mind at the thought of eating outside the Vegan boundaries.

I've been trying to pinpoint what is making me waver and have ruled out "living with Omnis makes it too difficult".  I think it may be that I expected the Spouse and Teen Daughter to come around faster than they are.  On Friday I asked the Teen Daughter (who is 14) if she wanted to watch a PETA video with me and she agreed.  We watched together and she seemed very affected by the footage.  We both cried and at the end she expressed how horrible she thought it was.  Then that was it.  I guess I was expecting a huge revelation to hit her and suddenly have another Vegan in the household, but nope.  I don't know if I should probe further about how she feels, as I don't want come across as forcing my beliefs onto her.   

It's just so sad now for me.  It used to be that family meals were anticipated by the whole family as I prepared their favorite dishes.  I felt proud and silently enjoyed watching them devour their dinners.  Now our family meals feel disjointed, but this could be due to living with the in-laws.  They cook very differently than I do, and the Teen Daughter has made it known how she feels.  Oh well, I'll just have to come up with more dishes that all of us can enjoy together.   :)

On to the recipe and this one is simple!  Sometimes simple food just warms the soul, though.  Ah, as to how the family felt:  the Spouse thought it was great as did the MIL, and the Teen Daughter wouldn't have touched this if I deep fried it in sugar!  ;)

Black Bean Quesadillas

Serves 5-6

Ingredients

1 can Black Beans, drained & rinsed

1 large Onion (I used a Spanish Sweet Onion)

7-10 Mushrooms (I used Cremini)

1 Green Pepper

1 Red Pepper

2-3 cups Vegan Cheddar Cheese (I used Vegan Gourmet Nacho Cheddar)

Note:  if you don't want to use cheese, don't.  If you can't find Vegan Cheese, Lady Vegan's Kitchen has a great Quesadilla recipe that uses Nutritional Yeast here.

1-2 tbsp Olive Oil

8 Flour Tortillas

1-2 tbsp Vegan Margarine (I used Earth Balance)

Optional:  Vegan Sour Cream and Salsa

Directions

Chop Onion, Peppers and Mushrooms (stems removed) and set aside.  Heat Olive Oil in large skillet and add veggies.  Note: non-stick cooking spray can be used in place of the Olive Oil to reduce fat, but veggies may not crisp up as nicely.  Cook veggies just until softened and Onions are nice and brown.  Add Beans, mix, and place in bowl to allow flavors to mingle.   I added some salt and pepper at this point, but no other seasonings as I wanted veggies to stand out in this dish.  You could, of course add whatever seasonings you like and I'm sure the end result would be just fine.  I found that while the veggies are cooking, it is a good time to shred the Cheddar Cheese, which should be covered and placed in fridge.

Wipe out skillet with paper towel and melt 1/2 tsp Margarine.  Swish the Margarine around to coat the skillet as much as possible.  Lay a Tortilla in the skillet and carefully move the it around to soak up the Margarine.  When the Tortilla is golden remove from heat--there is no need to fry both sides of the Tortilla.  Repeat for remaining Tortillas.

When Tortillas are cool enough to handle, spread bean & veggie mixture on ungrilled side, top with about 1/2 - 3/4 cup Cheese (if using cheese).   Place on top of Cheese, another Tortilla,  grilled side up.  Repeat until you have used all Tortillas.  Place stuffed Tortillas in oven oven at 375 for about 15-20 minutes or until slightly golden brown.

Cut in halves or fourths and serve with Sour Cream and Salsa, if desired.  Enjoy!

Quick Fried Rice

Just a quick recipe you can whip up in about 25-30 minutes.  Here is Slightly Fried Rice with Tofu:

I wanted something different than the standard Peas in this dish, so after cooking I put in some chopped Cucumber.  I found the results really yummy!

My family's take on the dish -- the Teen Daughter really liked this!  Well, without the Cucumber, but she said the Tofu was OK!  The Spouse said it looked nice but he didn't want to try it.  The MIL snuck a bite while it was cooking and proclaimed it really good!  So 2 out of 3 isn't bad.   :)

Slightly Fried Rice with Tofu

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked Rice

2 tbsp Olive Oil

2 tbsp Soy Sauce (I used the light version)

1/3 block of extra firm Tofu, chopped into 1/2" cubes (I used the low-fat kind)

1 tsp Garlic Powder (fresh garlic would be better)

1/2 tsp dried Thyme

1/2 tsp dried Sage

1/2 medium to large Onion, chopped (I used a sweet Spanish Onion)

1/4 cup chopped or sliced Carrots

1/4 cup chopped Cucumber or whole Peas 

        *if using Cucumber, remove seeds and most of pulp

Directions:

Start cooking Rice according to instructions.  Note: I don't follow the instructions because if I do, my Rice never turns out right.  Instead I put the desired amount of Rice in a pan with a lot of water, more than recommended and drain off the excess when done.  But please cook the Rice whichever way suits you!

While the Rice is cooking, begin to warm the 2 tbsp Olive Oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. (don't put the heat up high enough so that the Oil begins to smoke!).  Chop the Tofu and toss with 1 tbsp of the Soy Sauce, Thyme, Garlic Powder and Sage.  Note: if using fresh Garlic, add to Tofu at the end of it's cooking cycle.  Add the Tofu to the skillet and cook until the nicely browned on most sides.  Add carrot and saute for about 3 minutes, then add the onion.  Cook until vegetables start to soften.

About this time the Rice should be done.  Add the Peas to the hot Rice and spoon over mixture in the skillet.  Note:  if not using Peas, then leave out and mix in the Chopped Cucumber right before serving.  Sprinkle the remaining 1 tbsp of Soy Sauce over the Rice and stir mixture.  Cook the mixture for about 5 minutes, or longer if you want some of the Rice a bit crispy.

Enjoy! 

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This post is late.  Originally I started writing it last night, but got distracted when the Spouse came home from work.  We ended up renting some movies, so blogging fell to the wayside.  :)

I should note that I'm looking for work right now, which is why I have more time for elaborate dishes.  Well, this recipe isn't elaborate, but the Seedy Garden Burger was -- for me.   We recently tried to move to the USA because of the lower cost of housing and living.  This didn't work out at all and was hurting our family.  So I had to give up an AWESOME job and head back as we (Spouse and me) were going insane from being apart.  

And remember the Seitan I mentioned from my last post?  Let's just say it was pleasantly surprising and I have some plans for it.  :)

Seedy Garden Burger

Thanks for all the comments on my first post and everyone's support.  What a great community!

As promised, a new recipe.  Below is Garden Burger on flatbread with sauteed Cremini mushrooms, tomatoes from my in-laws garden and alfalfa sprouts.  Served with the burger is a mixed salad with raspberry vinaigrette.  Yum!  I guess as far as food blogs go, I may have cheated with this post since I made these days before and froze the extras.  Don't worry, I paid for my cheating when my stomach moaned in protest (skipped lunch) as my inner perfectionist fussed over the photo.  Eventually the stomach won, and that is why the photo is too busy.  :)

This was loosely based on the Garden Path Burger in Healthy Pleasures Cookbook (published by the Dietitians of Canada).  Now, I'm not an expert chef by any means, but the original recipe must have been held together by faith and hope.   ;)    I say this because there were no binding agents.  So, I changed a good bit of instructions & ingredients to get a better texture and taste.  Also, before you head off to round up the ingredients for this recipe, let me warn you that this is not a 'meaty' burger but a 'nutty' one. 

I should note that the Spouse, Teen Daughter and FIL would not eat these as there were too many unidentifiable colours in the burger.   The MIL took one for lunch today but I've yet to hear her opinion.

Seedy Garden Burger

Makes about 12 patties.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Lentils

1/2 cup Quick Rolled Oats

1 can coarsely chopped Chick Peas

2/3 cup finely chopped Onion (I used a Spanish sweet onion)

1/2 finely chopped Red Pepper

1/4 cup chopped Green Onions

1/2 block extra firm, grated, Tofu (I used the low-fat kind)

1/2 cup Pumpkin Seeds

Salt & Pepper to taste

Olive Oil or Non-stick Spray to grease pans

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.  In a medium pan add Lentils and 1 1/2 cup water.  Simmer for 10 minutes, drain slightly but allow for some water to remain (about 1/4 cup) and put Lentils back in pan.  Add to pan the Pumpkin Seeds, Oats, Green Onion, Chick Peas and grated Tofu.  Stir & set aside to allow flavors to mingle and the Pumpkin Seeds to soften slightly. 

While the Lentils are simmering, you can start sauteing the Onions and Peppers until softened.  Add Salt & Pepper to taste.  When onions and peppers are softened, add to the Lentil Mixture and allow to cool enough so you can handle the mixture without burning yourself.  Now you have to get the mixture to bind together so we can form the patties.  I found the best way to do this without loosing texture is to put your hands right into the mixture and squish with your fingers.  You may also want to slightly 'knead' the mixture as well. 

When the mixture starts to come together, form into patties and place on greased cooking sheet for 20-30 minutes.  Flip the patties over halfway during the baking process so that both sides get nice and brown.  When done, allow to cool before removing from the pan as the patties are fragile and may crumble easily.

Enjoy!

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Cooking has been such a challenge at the moment due to living at our in-laws house.  Both the MIL and FIL are omnivores.  They really try very hard to think of my diet, but fail to see past the common misconception that Vegans only eat salad (and potatoes).  So my first few dinners here were salad.  A recent one was boiled potatoes placed on a bed of lettuce.   :(   

The MIL is very welcoming of new foods and has been more than willing to try new things.  She ate a vegan meatloaf that was horrible!  (I couldn't even finish it)  She, the Spouse and the Teen Daughter all raved about the Soft Tacos with pre-seasoned TVP.  The MIL and Teen Daughter also loved the Spaghetti with reconstituted TVP, the Spouse said it was OK but didn't taste like meat.  The MIL also gave me the recipe in this post.  She is such a great support!

Now I try to cook for myself in advance so that dinner emergencies (see salad and boiled potatoes above) don't pop up, but don't have all my spices, cooking equipment, etc.  This means I've been in danger of having some pretty unsatisfying dinners.  I've scraped by with cooking on the fly, last night having a pretty good tofu stir-fry and currently as I type, having some seitan in the oven.  I'm super nervous about that turning out good because in all honesty it doesn't smell all that great.

I guess it all boils down to (no pun intended), that at the end of the day I feel good knowing what I put into my body.  :)

Some background on Vegan Me

So, how did I become Vegan?  It really wasn't for the reasons you might suspect.  About six months ago, I was really interested in self-sufficiency -- and still am.  I was reading John Seymour's book (for the 30th time) on the subject, "The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It" when a phrase in the book stood out on the page.  Now I'm not certain about copyright laws, so I'll paraphrase; basically he found that eating meat while being unable to kill the animal you mean to consume to be hypocritical.  I found myself agreeing.

Now while I didn't immediately become vegan, I suddenly became aware of the meat products I consumed.  Each time I consumed meat, I tried to make myself imagine killing the animal in detail.  I soon knew I would be unable to kill any animal unless under extreme duress to do so.  Still I waffled on the issue of vegetarianism.  The idea of becoming vegetarian (I really didn't even know what Vegan meant)  was daunting.   Cooking had become a hobby I had invested much time and self-training in.  A hobby that mostly revolved around the cooking/preparing of meat.  I was quite proud of my skills and enjoyed the complements my cooking received.  How could I limit myself cooking to vegetables and still enjoy cooking?

A month or so passed and I went to the doctor for some illness.  While there, I had some blood tests done that indicated higher than normal cholesterol levels.  This was really no surprise being  raised in the southern USA by a mother that served meals revolving around meat and it's byproducts.  (lard was a staple in the pantry)  After becoming an adult I emulated my mother's cooking and cooked for my family in the same fashion.  After the cholesterol test results, I knew my diet had to change.  Upon doing research for natural ways to lower cholesterol, I found that reducing/eliminating meat in a diet can help do so.  I began searching for meat alternative recipes that would be naturally lower in fat.

In this search I came across many vegetarian/vegan websites.  After reading so many blogs/posts on being vegan (got distracted when looking for recipes), I was becoming more convinced that a vegan lifestyle was right for me.   Eventually, I stumbled across Vegan Dad's blog.  I found so many awesome recipes for meat replacements!  One day while looking through his blog archives I found a post called "Meet Your Meat" that contained a PETA video.   Normally I would have skipped this, assuming it was propaganda from/for PETA, which I believed only showed the absolute worst animal treatment instances.  However something made me view it, the part of me that wanted to know the truth about animal treatment practices in the meat industry.  I sat through the whole viewing, crying almost the entire time.  (a side note: while viewing the video I was speaking on Skype to the Spouse and he was begging me to turn it off --cause of hearing my sniffles)

So that's it.  Now, I'm a vegan -- though still new and currently in transition from vegetarian. Also, I'm re-learning to cook but with the help of so may vegans out there.  I have recently bought Veganomicon and The Complete Vegan Kitchen.  Both have been very helpful.

Next post will have a recipe, hopefully sharing what I've learned (in a noobie Vegan way).