Vegan Teen Cuisine

Bacon cookies?

2009-01-17T10:57:00.000-08:00

What happens when you take vegan sugar cookie dough, dye half of it red, and arrange the two colours in long strips?

Oh yeah.

I need a nap :)

2008-11-15T09:40:00.000-08:00

Oh man, life has been crazy lately. School work is getting really insane, we got our report cards a few days ago, basketball tryouts start tomorrow, I'm a silly teenaged girl with a crush, and my little friend Aquila died! :(

Aquila was a leopard gecko that I bought when I was 10. He did live to be 6 1/2, but I'm still feeling kinda down about him dying :( Yesterday, I put him in an old Converse shoebox and sent him down the North Saskatchewan River. It was a really nice lizard funeral and watching him drift away was just so peaceful.. (besides, the ground is cold and digging a hole is hard)

Anyways, I was tagged by the lovely Paulina to do this nice little "Seven Facts about myself" meme. Here we go!

MORE THAN YOU PROBABLY EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT ME

#1. I love, love, love, LOVE music. I'm really into "indie" music, mostly folk rock, crazy experimental stuff, psychadelic folk punk, and lo-fi folk pop. Heh. My favorite artists are Neutral Milk Hotel, The Velvet Underground, Jacob Borshard, A Drum and an Open Window, Xiu Xiu, and the Microphones.

Lately, I've been obsessed with this song by Margot and the Nuclear So and So's:

#2. On the subject of music... I play guitar! Both electric and acoustic. I've actually recorded a bunch of songs and a few of them are up on the internet...but I'll keep that secret & seperate from this blog, for the time being. hehe.

#3. I don't watch much TV usually, but we got an elliptical trainer a few weeks ago. Now, I get to watch random shows when I'm working out. And BY FAR, my very favorite show is The Office. It's so funny!

Dwight Schrute is my hero :)

#4. I've got a brother and two sisters, all younger than me. We're a big, happy family.

#5. I used to be a really quiet person, but ever since I started high school I'm different. Now, I have an amazing group of friends that love me for who I am, so I say things without thinking a lot of the time. That's not necessarily a good thing, but it just shows how comfortable and happy I am with these people, more than I have with any other friends I've had.

#6. Ever since I went to San Francisco for those 3 days in August, I've been DYING to go back. :) It's now my very favorite place in the whole world. I guess I haven't travelled all that much (I've been to SF, some of Hawaii, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, most of Alberta & BC) but I know that I've fallen in love with San Francisco.

#7. I made a note on Facebook that was a list of movies I want to see, and now my friends are lending me movies all over the place. How sweet! I watched Donnie Darko last night; whoaaaa that was such a cool movie. Weird, definitely, but that's what I like.

So.. I tag anyone who has seen Donnie Darko and who wants to do these Seven Things!

November 10th, already?

2008-11-10T15:26:00.001-08:00

Oh man... Well, here's what's been going on as of late:

Oct 30th: Environmental Club Bake Sale! About 50-60% of the goodies were vegan and it all went super well. We managed to raise 225$! That's a record!

Oct 31st: Halloween! I dressed up as Edie Sedgwick, one of Andy Warhol's superstars of the 60s.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the full costume, but I did have some free time with iPhoto before my friends came over:

But yeah, Halloween was super fun :) I had 15 friends over and we just had a good time. It was unusually warm, too, so we went to a park and played tag! haha

I didn't go trick-or-treating.... But I think I'm going to try doing that on Christmas this year. Hehe.. Just imagine the looks on people's face! Oh boy.

And, well, school has been insanely busy. I had 9 things due today!
Anyways, see you all again soon :)

Vegan MoFo: The FOOD REVOLUTION*

2008-10-27T18:57:00.000-07:00

OK, so previously I might have talked a bit about this, but here's the whole deal. Be prepared for some hardcore rambling.

This summer, I lent Diet for a New America to a friend, and it really had an impact on him (he's now vegetarian and near-vegan). Long story short... with another friend, we've put together a presentation on plant-based diet. And today, we presented for the very first time, to some CALM (Career and Life Management) classes at their school.

It went pretty well! I'm not a huge fan of public speaking, but I did the section on Nutrition and I knew my stuff so I didn't have any huge 'mind-goes-blank' moments. The other parts of the presentation were Animal Rights, Environmental Ethics, and Human Rights. :) My two buddies both did a great job too, needless to say.

Cookies make people like you. It's a fact.

As far as I knew, we totally aced it. Our audience seemed quite interested and the feedback sheets gave us plenty of positive reviews. We brought chocolate chip cookies, too, which were definitely a hit!

In case any of you were wondering... here are just a few of the things that we included in the presentation:

A discussion with the class on what they already knew about vegetarianism/veganism/flexitarianism (it worked out quite nicely, since I'm a vegan and my two friends are vegetarian and flexitarian)
Dan Piraro's veganism video
The first few minutes of Meet Your Meat
This great PETA video on 30 reasons to be a vegetarian
Graphs from Diet for a New America on disease rates, animal protein, and such
A handout with the vegan food pyramid, how you can get everything you need from plant foods, and some practical tips
COOKIES :D
A question and answer period

:) We're going to be presenting again in November, and maybe even at the local church after mass one day (I don't go to that one, but supposedly the priest there is vegetarian!)

AND, my friend "got an email back from Bruce Friedrich (PETA's vice president of International Grassroots Campaigns -- the guy who wrote veg nutshell) congratulating us on our presentation and asking us to send him the videorecording" (since we recorded the whole thing). Whoaaa! This is so exciting! :D

Anyways, sorry for the wordy and incoherent and rambly post, but I'm just super happy right now. :) I can't believe this is happening!

*We sort of named the presentation after John Robbins book, of the same title. It's a snappy name, plus I did a quick 'commercial' for the book anyways.

Vegan Mofo: Stuff.

2008-10-25T14:50:00.000-07:00

Oh dear, I've missed a few more days of blogging, but it's just because life is being quite insanely busy at the moment :S

Anyways, here's a recent bento:

It's a sunset! I love the colours :)

In other news, the Environmental Club at school is really doing well so far. Thanks to my co-president's extrovertedness and my cookies, we've managed to keep up a membership of 30+. Wow! Last year, we had like 10 at this time...

On Tuesday, we did some awesome environmental activism in the form of Project Porchlight. Basically, a bunch of us just went door-to-door, handing out Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs and telling people how to be more energy efficient.

It was really fun and we had a great turnout. We're actually planning on doing it again next Tuesday!
(Haha, that was just someone's doormat, I thought it was funny)

As I mentioned before, I bring yummy vegan baking to every meeting, with great results, seeing as the room is crowded every time.

Here's some of what I brought recently:

Sugar cookies!

Super-fudgy brownies!

The good old standby of Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies!

We're having a BAKE SALE on Thursday, too... a VEGAN BAKE SALE! How exciting! We made posters last meeting and they're up all over the school now. Some of the ones my friends made are quite hilarious... "BE LIKE A VEGAN*... BUY FOOD *you may also buy food without being a vegan" and "VEGAN BAKING: A NATURAL HIGH" Hehehe :)

Vegan Mofo: Cross-Country Provincials!

2008-10-20T18:24:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not posting Thursday or Friday! I've been real busy- I went to see Feist, I had a few big exams, plus this past weekend was provincials for cross country! Yay! (I talked a bit about this after the City Finals)

The races were held in Canmore, which is an absolutely beautiful town in the Canadian Rockies. I hadn't been there since last summer, so this was really quite exciting :)

The 75 runners from my zone (that's all the age groups) left together Friday at noon, on two buses. It's a 4-hour drive, more or less, which isn't too bad. I watched some movies on my iPod: the end of Factory Girl, Little Miss Sunshine, the end of Chelsea Girls, and a bit of Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind... in case you were wondering.

Getting dinner Friday evening was a little chaotic. I was with 8 other friends and we set off to find Subway at 7, then after much walking we find out at 8:30 that it was closed. We went to Boston Pizza, but I didn't really want anything there, so after ordering pasta takeout we went to Safeway... Long story short, I had a mango, a banana, and two kiwis for dinner. It was delicious :)

Oh, and Saturday's pre-race breakfast? It was some steel-cut oatmeal that I'd soaked overnight in soymilk and cinnamon! SO GOOOOD. Just like last time!

Unfortunately, it rained ALL Friday night, so it was cold, foggy, and WET in the morning. I usually kinda like that sort of weather, but not for running on DIRT trails. There were big puddles everywhere. The start of my race wasn't so great... "Grizelda" actually pushed me and I had to sprint right through a huge muddy puddle!

Otherwise, the race was great :) As an Intermediate Girl, I had to run 4km as two laps of 2km each. The course was very hilly (this was at the Canmore Nordic Center and we were using some of the trails used in the Calgary 1988 Olympics for cross-country skiing), but I was fine with that. I like hills, hehe.

In fact... I actually passed my nemesis, Grizelda, on a hill! It was right near the end of the first lap, and boy did it feel great. I don't like how competitive I can be, but Grizelda was always just so mean to me... plus she had a "cheer team" come to provincials to cheer her on.

Anyways, I ended up coming out 33rd out of 120, which I am VERY HAPPY with! I came 10th at the City meet, so I was aiming for top 80 or something. So 33rd makes me quite happy :)

Needless to say, I was VERY muddy!

My school did pretty well overall, too, considering we only had 5 athletes running. My buddies got 5th, 6th, 13th, and 51st. Go them!

All in all, provincials were really a great experience. I think I really want to join a track club, though. Most of the people there actually ran competitively most of the time, while I'm just a plain old neighbourhood jogger. I need to get serious!

Vegan Mofo: The epitome of autumn flavours?

2008-10-15T15:58:00.000-07:00

This is probably my #1 new favorite recipe, like seriously. It's absolutely delicious, and I've officially decided that toasted + oven cooked quinoa is THE BEST. :)

Sorry that the picture isn't fabulous, I'm not so great at making casseroles look good.

Carrot-Squash Quinoa

1/2 cup quinoa
1/2 onion diced finely
1 clove garlic
1 cup diced squash
1 cup diced carrot
1 tbsp orange zest
1/2 cup apple juice
1 1/2 cup veg broth
1 tsp sage/ rosemary cilantro parsley
Cinnamon and cumin to taste (optional- but it is fabulous!)

In a skillet, lightly toast the quinoa. This isimportant as it gives it an nutty flavour :)
Combine EVERYTHING in a baking dish
Bake in the covered dish for 50 min at 375F- then uncover and bake for 10 more minutes. Enjoy!

Vegan MoFo: Squashy squash squash

2008-10-14T15:38:00.000-07:00

It's definitely autumn here- late autmun, actually! The temperatures have dipped below freezing and most of the leaves have fallen :(

However, there's always the lovely seasonal fall foods- warm, comforting, and delicious. As I mentioned in the quiz yesterday, my favorite is... squash!

I lovvvvve winter squash (squashes?)- they're just so sweet and delicious!

I'm kinda busy tonight, but tomorrow I'll post a yummy squash recipe that also uses quinoa and carrots... It's really quite magically delicious. :D I'll get back to your comments too!

Vegan Mofo: Quiz time!

2008-10-13T13:53:00.000-07:00

I found this awesome little quiz from a lovely vegan blog... Unfortuantely, I accidently closed the tab and now I can't figure out what blog it was. Ack! So sorry :( But yeah. Fun quiz time!

EDIT: thanks jeni! This quiz is from Food Snobbery is my Hobbery :)

1. Name a song that involves food in some way.
Food by Tinyfolk... haha. I love the lyrics: "When I was a dinosaur, looking for food, you were the foooooooood"

2. What criteria do you use when choosing a new cookbook to buy?
I'm not all that picky, but I like a lot of baking recipes and soup recipes, more than anything. And I don't like pasta, so I'd rather that there isn't a huuuge pasta chapter.

3. What did you eat today?
Oatmeal and berries for breakfast, then leftover grilled vegetables & roasted beets for lunch, and I haven't had dinner yet...

4. Name a vegan food that you know exists but you have never tried.
Vegan cheese, haha. I'm just not all that interested, I never liked dairy cheese anyways.

5. The Food Network just called and needs you to start your new show tomorrow. What will the title of the show be?
Vegan Teen Cuisine!

6. Favorite hot sauce or other spicy condiment?
Kimchi is pretty spicy, right? I don't use many sauces or condiments but I do also love curry paste and plain old cayenne.

7. How old were you when you became vegetarian/vegan?
I went vegan when I was 14 :) I was never vegetarian, I just kinda lept into veganism all at once.

8. Favorite vegan cheeze?
um, does nutritional yeast count? I've never had any manufactured vegan cheeze!

9. Cutest baby animal?
Oooooh this is a toughie. All of them?

10. Favorite type of jam/jelly/marmalade/preserves?
Homemade saskatoon berry jam!

11. Do you take any vitamins/supplements?
yepp, gotta make sure I get that B12 for sure!

12. What food/dish most embodies the Fall season?
acorn squash

13. What food would you have a hard time living without?
Carrots and eggplant and oatmeal

14. Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate?
GREEN TEA.

15. It's 10PM and you're starving. What do you eat?
Whatever leftovers are in the fridge... bean soup!

16. If you have an animal companion, what is his/her favorite food?
My gecko likes crickets...

17. Worst injury you've gotten in the kitchen?
I've burnt my hand a few times, but nothing serious.

18. When you have a food-related question, who do you call?
Um, to the internet! I'm more of a research person than calling people person :P

19. Summer is ending- What food will you miss most?
Fresh garden tomatoes... nothing else compares

20. What snacks do you keep in your purse/backpack/desk at work?
I don't do much snacking, but it'd be a little baggie of carrot sticks or something.

21. Favorite soup to make on a rainy day?
Garbonzo beans with lotsssss of vegetables

22. What's your favorite combination of fresh vegetable and/or fruit juices?
Spinach-strawberry-kiwi, HANDS DOWN.

23. Favorite brand of root beer?
I don't drink pop...

24. Make up your own question!
Hmmm....
The great debate: which do you prefer, tofu, tempeh, or seitan?

I'd have to go with seitan, to be honest. I love how you can make it so easily yourself and add whatever seasonings you want right into the seitan!

Vegan MoFo: just a quick post

2008-10-10T21:10:00.000-07:00

Ack, I meant to write up a nice Vegan MoFo entry on delicious autumn squash... but I ended up being much busier today after school than I expected. Among what I did today was go see Nick & Norah's Infitite Playlist, which was GREAT. :D I loved it.

Anyways, here's something funny I heard right when my friend turned on the radio in her car:

"Yeah, I'm not actually vegan, but I like to say that I am to make myself seem more interesting"

Hmm... I don't know who was being interviewed on the radio there, but I don't mind that he associated veganism with being interesting. Better than being boring!

Also, happy Thankgiving to all my fellow Canadians! :) Eat lots of vegetables!

Vegan MoFo: my very first RAW DAY

2008-10-09T18:22:00.000-07:00

I've always been really curious about the whole 'raw food' thing. It's not that I don't get my own fair share of uncooked veggies and fruit and such, but the idea of going 100% raw seems really cool to me, not to mention the supposed health benefits. I'm not planning to go all-raw, but incorporating more raw food into my diet can only be a good thing!

So yeah. I decided that today would be a raw food day. :) Here's how I did it:

Breakfast: Biiiig ol' fruit salad (banana, mango, apple, grapes...) with a generous sprinkling of ground flax

Lunch: A really lazy bento box of chopped veggies (and some apple, hehe)

Snack: Mango and raspberries and some banana and some almonds

Dinner: A BIG salad, plus some banana with almond butter

Snack: hasn't happened yet... but probably some almonds :)

More than anything, I noticed that I developed an unusually extreme craving for fruit. I guess I felt great eating raw.. I was a bit tired but that's most likely from sleep deprivation as I've been super busy lately.

I'll definitely try a raw day again, though, no doubt about it. And I'll totally prepare, too, by sprouting some lentils & wheat berries. mmm! I'm thinking that I might try this once or twice a month, but probably a bit more often than that when it's summertime again :)

Vegan Mofo: Super foods are super fuel!

2008-10-08T14:57:00.000-07:00

Today, I had a cross-country meet, but it wasn't just any cross country meet! This was the CITY FINALS. *cue intense music*

(I'm not going to tell you all how I did until the end of the post, hehe! keep reading!)

Anyways, the runners placing in the top 15 would be sent to Provincials in Canmore (in the Rocky Mountains). Dang! As much as I love running, though, I hatttte racing. There's something I just greatly dislike about the competition, since running is just a fun thing for me. So, I decided that I'd go into this race without any expectations or pressure, just the goal of having a good time. I've got a really competitive nature so I do have to try to suppress that.

Now, that doesn't mean I didn't take the race seriously, because I did! Especially the fueling my body part...

For breakfast, I had steel-cut oats, and they were just excellent. I feel awfully clever, too- instead of having to cook them for a long time in the morning, I simply soaked a bowl of oats overnight in soymilk. By the morning, they were slightly tender, so I just added more soymilk, cinnamon, and blueberries. I popped that in the microwave for a bit, and voila! A delicious & nutritious breafast that was dang easy.

(picture from wikipedia)

Mmm.... steel-cut oats. I love the chewy texture, it's fantastic :)

Anyways,, my race was at 1:45, so I didn't want to be eating a big lunch. I put together a lazy bento last night, using some of the new paper/nori-cutters I bought.

Fun shapes! Moon, sun, big circle, little circle, hear, star, tulip, and other flower.

A light lunch of mixed greens, celery, steamed carrots, tomatoes, and zucchini was really quite perfect...

How about a close-up on those shapes? :)

Anyways, yeah the race. It was a sunny day, but cold (10 degrees Celsius) and super-windy. Ack!
Plus, my 'archnemisis' was there. Let's just call her Grizelda, okay? She goes to a different high school than me, but we were together for awhile in junior high and she was SO mean to me, for no reason. It was so stupid... but anyways, she's a good runner too. At the last meet, I beat her and it practically made my day. It's silly, I know.

The one thing I love about this particular race course is the fact that it's practically all hills. I love hills!

Um, yeah I don't think you all really want to hear about all the little details of the race... but guess what?

I came in 10th! Way ahead of Grizelda! AND, that means I'm going to PROVINCIALS! Next weekend! In Canmore! Woohoo! I can be a poster child for veganism!

Yeah, I've still got my runner's high going on right now. :) See you all tomorrow!

Vegan Mofo: Bribery with baking

2008-10-07T16:08:00.000-07:00

As I may have mentioned before, I'm the co-president of my school's environmental club. While the ecological impact of animal agriculture isn't THE reason I'm vegan, it's sure something to think about! I remember reading something in a John Robbins book, and it went something like this:

Let's say you take 7-minute showers, and you shower every second day. Now, imagine how much water you could save by not showering for an entire year... This is how much water you could save by not eating just one pound of Californian beef.

Shocking, isn't it?

Anyways. Environmental Club. The year has only just started, so one of the most important items on the agenda is to keep membership UP and encourage people to stay interested and participate. We had 60 people sign up at Club Day this year (a record!), and so far most people have been coming to the meetings at lunch. Let's just say that the classroom gets quite cramped!

Of course, in my experience, people generally like cookies and yummy baked goods. So I've been mass-baking huge batches of cookies to pass around and the meetings. :D And they go over quite well!

So far, I've made chocolate chip cookies and double chocolate chip cookies. I'm considering bringing brownies for next time, but I don't know. I keep running out of chocolate chips, and those get expensive!

Any recommendations for something with wide appeal, easy enough to transport, can be made in fairly large quantities, and is just plain delicious?

Vegan Mofo: Ethiopian food > everything else

2008-10-06T19:52:00.000-07:00

Restuarant Review:

Habesha
9515 118 Ave. (Edmonton, AB)
Open M-F: 10am-2pm and 5pm-10pm
Saturday: 10am-2pm; Sunday: 12pm-10pm
(780) 474-2206

First and foremost, I'm going to apologize for the lack of pictures. For some reason, my camera decided to totally conk out on me. Not fair! It's working now, but unfortunately I didn't get to snap any shots of the food :(

I didn't have school on Friday, so my mom and I seized the opportunity to check out Habesha, a relatively new Ethiopian - Eritrean restaurant in Edmonton. It's in a bit of a sketchy area, but the interior is quite lovely and welcoming.

We shared a vegetarian platter (about 24$), and unfortunately I can't remember the actual names of all the dishes. There was a lovely spinach one, a deeply flavoured lentil wot, a thick and spicy split pea 'paste', a potato-cabbage-carrot mixture, some heavily spiced green beans and carrots, and of course the fresh greens & tomato salad in the middle. It was all served on a biiiiiig piece of injera bread, with additional pieces rolled up in a nice little basket.

Choosing favorites is tough, but I reallllly liked the spinach, as well as the green beans & carrots. And I can't get enough injera bread, either!

We were quite satisfied with this meal. Although it is my favorite, I'm not quite a connaisseur of Ethiopian cuisine just yet, so I can't tell you whether it was super-authentic or not. But I can tell you that Habesha makes some tasty food!

And as much as I love making my own injera... mine never really compares to what I can find at a restaurant. I'm thinking that I should head out to Habesha every once in a while and order a huuuge amount of injera to go. I'd be one happy camper for the next few days, that's for sure!

Vegan Mofo, day 3: Brenda Davis!

2008-10-03T10:11:00.000-07:00

(this is mostly a nutrition-related post.. but still about food!)

Last night, I went over to a local college to see Brenda Davis give a talk about fighting disease with food. She focused on her experience in the Marshall Islands, where she ran a Diabetes Wellness Center.

It was really quite interesting, and I wish I'd taken notes! Overall, Brenda Davis emphasized a whole foods, plant-based diet coupled with exercise. As for what to cut out, she put much emphasis on animal foods and processed foods.

One thing that I found interesting was something she said about whole grains. The best ones to eat would be the ones that are intact (quinoa, whole wheat berries), broken (steel-cut oats), or rolled (oatmeal!). However, whole grains that are ground into flour, made into things like cereal and crackers and bread, or puffed, should be less important. This all had to do with managing diabetes, since the ground or puffed grains are much more quickly absorbed into the bloodstream. At least, that's what I got out of it.

Hearing about how the Marshall Islands people traditionally ate 60 years ago vs. how they eat now was quite remarkable and really sad. Before, their diet was based on local plants and fish, their main source of starch being the potato-like breadfruit. Now, it's mostly Spam, donuts, ramen noodles, fatty 'variety meats', white rice, and sugar, sugar, sugar. She showed a picture of a little girl, maybe 6 years old, with a popsicle in one hand and a can of pop in the other. And guess what? That picture was taken at 6:30 AM- it was breakfast.

In fact, Brenda Davis even said that a favorite breakfast among Marshallese children was a package of dry ramen noodles with a packet of Kool-Aid powder sprinkled on top... yikes! It's even been said that it would be harder to design a type 2 diabetes-inducing diet better than the one most Marshallese people eat today.

However, the way that Brenda was able to turn some of these people's lives around was just amazing. Even 2 weeks into the intensive intervention program, they reported to no longer have pain in their arms and legs, could now walk confortably, weren't constipated, and didn't have to get up to go to the bathroom at night. And that's only after 2 weeks!

Here are some participants' testimonies (taken from Brenda Davis' article)

"My pilot’s medical certificate was denied when I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I am 38 years old. I was devastated as this certificate is necessary for my work as a pilot. I heard about the Diabetes Wellness Program and I became a participant. I completely changed my diet and embarked on a daily exercise program. Upon my last physical check-up, I was told that I am fully recovered and my pilot’s medical certificate was approved. I no longer have diabetes. I am very thankful. I have my career and my life back.
-Lorak Lorak"

"I was bedridden all the time because in my mind I considered myself dead. I was skeptical about the program and told my wife that nothing could cure me. You see, I had a stroke and half my body was paralyzed. I had been in my bed for a year. I could not walk at all. Now I am proud to say that I can walk all the way to the supermarket without any pain in my body. I thank God for His plans to bring these doctors to our small island.
-Amanu Toeka"

Isn't that just amazing? I love hearing stories like that :)

One great message that I got from this had to do with hope and really having faith in your own ability to take control of your life. Previously, most Marshallese believed that their high incidence of diabetes was due to radiation (the United States used some of the islands for atomic bomb testing, and exploded the equivalent of 1.5 Hiroshima bombs every day for 11 years!). There was a sense of hopelessness and that they were being owed something. But now, at least in the community where Brenda Davis helped out, it isn't as much like that anymore. These people have their lives back. They're no longer destined to deteriorate in their diabetic condition until they need to have limbs amputated. Can you believe that 50% of Marshallese 35 or more years old have type 2 diabetes? This condition is the #1 cause of death and disability there, and half of all surgeries are amputations for diabetics. Yikes!

But yeah. It was great. :) Brenda Davis is awesome.

Brenda Davis' article on her experience in the Marshall Islands
Pictures from the Marshall Islands from her website

Vegan MoFo, day 2 (ish..)

2008-10-01T21:58:00.000-07:00

When I wrote yesterday's post, I totally forgot that it is now the Vegan Month of Food! Oh dear! I'm still totally participating though- ready for a post every weekday- at least? I hope I am!

Anyways, here are some recent bento lunches. I'm not going to post them ALL, since that is a lot of catch-up and not all of them are terribly interesting.

Here, I put some bell peppers on top of a medley of vegetables, and gave them faces. I called it "Expressive Peppers", haha.

I've also been going with a musical theme lately, making bentos for some of my favorite bands.

First up is a Neutral Milk Hotel bento! Yay!

It's supposed to be an aeroplane flying over a sea of eggplant, in honor of my favorite album (In the Aeroplane over the Sea). :)

Then, I made a Velvet Underground bento. It's got the Andy Warhol banana from their debut album, The Velvet Underground and Nico.

I was pretty proud of that one :) The white background is made from mushrooms, sliced top to bottom.

Last but not least, here's a Deerhoof bento. They've got a song called 'Come See the Duck', hence the duck.

(That little green thing in the corner is a lilypad)

I don't have school tomorrow, so I won't have to make another bento until Sunday evening. I don't mind the wait- does anyone have any ideas for a theme? Bento brainstorm! I might just continue musically, or make ones dedicated to each of my friends, but I'm always open to new, exciting concepts!

Getting creative with my breakfasts, part nine: French toast!!

2008-10-01T05:55:00.000-07:00

You know what's crazy? I hadn't ever, ever, ever made vegan french toast before I tried WildSpice's recipe. And I haven't had nasty eggy french toast in ages, like at least 5 or 6 years. Whoa!

Anyways, this recipe is amazing. I love how the banana gets soaked into the bread so nicely...mmm..

French toast with some mango :)

Even better, it's relatively quick and easy to make, if you prepare the dipping batter the night before. Then, it's only a matter of soaking the bread and tossing it in a skillet!

The banana 'batter' is quite delicious on it's own, too. I even mixed a half-batch with some brown rice and then microwaved it all. The result? A delicious rice porridgey goodness!

On that note, I've been feeling quite proud of myself lately! I've had this strange aversion to rice for the past few years. It's got such a weird texture, it's just... weird. However, lately I've been eating leftover rice for breakfast, with cinnamon and soymilk. Just like I'd eat cereal! I really like rice this way (not to mention quinoa!). Yay!

I've been super busy lately, with cross-country and basketball and homework, but there should be a biiiig bento post coming up soon!

Charmouuuuuula! (and a massive amount of cookies)

2008-09-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

When I first saw the Roasted Vegetable with Tomato Charmoula and Quinoa on the Fat Free Vegan blog, I couldn't believe my eyes. This had to have been the best. roasted vegetable recipe. ever. I also quite enjoy the word 'charmoula'.

I love the idea of tossing the vegetables in a tomatoey sauce before roasting. More flavour, less oil is necessary, and a great boost in nutrients.

The spices used in the charmoula are fantastic, as well. I could probably eat the tomatoey spicy goodness just by itself, never mind the veggies! :D

Before mixing and cooking:

Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to take a picture of the cooked dish. We had a bunch of family over and the whole baking dish was CLEAN before I had a chance to grab seconds. Definitely a hit!

On another note, I spent a good chunk of time the other day baking 104 double chocolate chip cookies...

Most of them are for the first Environmental Club meeting (I'm co-president and I'm doing whatever I can to keep the membership from dropping!). Of course, I'm keeping a few to stockpile in the freezer for whenever I need a quick plate of cookies for various sorts of occasions.

They turned out quite well, albeit a little flat- which seems to be happening a lot to my cookies lately. Maybe I just have a bad habit of overmeasuring the liquid ingredients?

These cookies were quite DARK and chocolately, I sprinkled the ones for environmental club with a bit of powdered sugar for extra sweetness:
:) I hope that they'll be a hit!

Getting creative with my breakfasts, part eight: improv cupcakes

2008-09-23T20:13:00.000-07:00

I love, love, love pancakes as a breakfast food, almost as much as I like oatmeal or cereal. One thing I DON'T like about pancakes, though, is having to drag out a recipe and measure everything in the morning. I'm too hungry to do that!

I have solved that laziness issue by preparing it all the night before, but lately I've been going the extra step and just making it up as I go along! A little of this, a little of that, and cook at a certain temperature in a skillet until done. Mmm.

These pancakes here were made from quinoa, teff, oat, and spelt flours. They were quite good, especially when topped generously with cinnamon :)

These ones had a similar combination of flours as those above, but in very different proportions. I also added much more cinnamon to the batter.
The result? Ugly pancakes that tasted good enough for me to eat the entire batch... yikes.

Maybe I'm just lucky and my next improvisation with pancakes will be a real disaster- has anyone else tried doing this? Ever freed yourself from a recipe and just gone with your gut, not even bothering too much with the basic chemistry of baking?

More.... bentos!

2008-09-21T20:12:00.000-07:00

Before anything else... I made this cute little chopstick case! It was sewed together with fabric scraps I found in the basement :) Now I won't end up with a plethora of lost chopsticks hiding in the bottom of my backpack.

Monday:
It was supposed to be ME! :D
On a bed of mixed greens and sliced zucchini and pickles, I had a zucchini body & head, sweet potato arms, grape tomato hands, carrots for legs, beet juice for blush, and a nori face. My hair was tofu noodles tossed in curry powder. I only wish my REAL hair were that curly! Curse my straight locks.

Tuesday:
This was a lazy lunch. Mixed greens and tomatoes, steamed carrots, sliced pickles, celery. I gave the celery faces, though, and felt slightly sadistic as I ate them.

Wednesday:

Ocean! My friend J gave me the lovely idea :)
Underneath it all are some mixed greens, then I put a layer of zucchini on top. The sand was made from a lovely spread/dip of nutritional yeast, dijon mustard, curry powder, soymilk, and dulse seaweed. Mmm, SO GOOD! The starfish was made from the very last beet scraps, the flower and dolphins and big fish were punched out of nori, the seaweed is zucchini, then the little orange fishies are carrot.

Thursday!
J gave me the idea for this one too :)
I had a layer of mixed greens underneath, but I wish I'd just done zucchini instead because the leaves were way too 'bumpy'. The sun was a slice of cucumber with that nutritional yeast spread I mentioned earlier, with carrots for rays. The stars and planets were bell pepper with various craps of other veggies, while the cute little comet in the upper right corner was carrot, zucchini, and nori. Oh, and the whole dark sky was nori too.

I didn't have school Friday (yayy!), so no bento then :S

And here's mine for tomorrow:

You know that song by Oh no! Oh my! ? "Walk in the Park"? I was thinking of it when I made this.... "Nice day for a walk in the park...."

I put some leftover green salad on the bottom, then covered it in zucchini. The grass is made out of a big piece of nori and the path is made out of that same nutritional yeast spread (I'm addicted... and I WILL post a recipe sometime). The tree and bush are made out of romaine lettuce, while the tree's trunk is a zucchini scrap. Those little orange flowers are carrot with some weird turmericy sauce I made for the centers. As for the sun, it's got that same weird sauce for rays, then is made out of bell pepper and nori.

Whew! See you all again real soon, hopefully- and with something other than bentos!

The leaves are turning yellow, the corn is just getting ripe...

2008-09-15T19:47:00.000-07:00

..and it is definitely no longer summer. It makes me sad that the days are getting shorter and colder, but we still have a little while before winter is in full swing.

Oh, yes, in case anyone was wondering, that picture above was taken at a recent party at a friend's house. Someone found corn growing from someone's backyard into the back alley, picked it, and of course I just took a big bite. It was actually quite good :)

I've made a few more bento lunches since the last post, so I'll definitely post those soon!

Oh, bento!

2008-09-10T19:30:00.000-07:00

I am becoming way bento obsessed. I still have a long way to go before I am a real artiste or oekakiben-iere, but I'm still having a lot of fun with this!

This was yesterday's lunch:(I wanted to do a sky, and a bell pepper sunset is way more exciting than blue-dyed...something)

what it was: on a bed on tofu noodles (tossed in tamari and chinese five-spice), I layered red&orange&yellow peppers. I halved a pickle slice and used those at the bottom for grass, along with some celery chunks. I used some nori flowers (punched out with my sister's handy little tool) and cut out a nori tree trunk. The tree trunk's leaves were Italian flat-leaf parsely :) as for the sun, it was a carrot slice embellished with nori and beet rays!

I didn't want to eat my little creation, though, which might be the downside to making these bentos! At least I snapped pictures before gobbling it up :)

And here's what I had today:

what it was: mashed turnip & apple with cinnamon, nori snake with beet tongue, then the foliage was made up of cut pickles, romaine lettuce, nori zigzag rectangles, and shredded raw spinach. I also had some steamed carrots (under all the green stuff)

It's not quite as pretty as yesterday's, but I really wanted to use that snake somehow. My mom's turnip & apples are really good, too, so I was glad to use up some of the leftovers.

Yesterday's dinner was awesome, as well. I'd just come back from my school's cross-country club, so I was hungry. Guess what's on the stove? A pot of chili! Thanks, Mom!

It was Sarah's Delicious Chili from How it all Vegan, to be exact. That is such a perfect chili recipe- the spicing is perfect and I love its richness, although we always add a ton of other vegetables :) I had it with some romaine lettuce, turnip and apple, and roasted cauliflower (not pictured). Needless to say, I had seconds of everything!

(if you have HiaV, I highly recommend that recipe. I've made photocopies for a bunch of my friends and they ALL love it- even the diehard meat-eaters!)

Quite possibly the best & easiest corn recipe ever

2008-09-09T15:17:00.000-07:00

You know how we associate certain 'tastes' with different times of the year? I'd say that gingerbread is definitely Christmastime, miso soup reminds me of midterm exam time in January, and juicy, sweet apricots mark the end of June / the start of summer. However, the #1 taste I associate wtih that 'turning point' when late summer turns into fall would be my dad's firepit corn.

For as long as I can remember, when it's that time of year when the local corn is just perfect, we have corn roasts in our backyard at least a few times a week. This is the absolute BEST way I've ever had corn, and ever will! Because the kernels themselves are right on the embers, the natural sugars in the corn become carmelised and oh-so-sweet.

The best way to enjoy this recipe is sitting right by the fire, using corn husks to hold your hot ear or corn. I like to just devour it without any condiments or regard to proper eating manners. Don't forget to floss after!

Firepit Corn

what you'll need:
-fresh ears of corn in husks
-a firepit

1. Start a lovely little campfire!
2. When it's starting to die down, spread out some hot embers
3. De-husk the corn and place on the embers (Save the husks, though!)

4.Cook the ears until done... make sure to move them around every few minutes.

They'll be done with they look like this:

5. Remove from the embers, hold in your hands using some of those leftover husks, and ENJOY!

A MARVELOUS day in the life of Peggy the Veggie

2008-09-08T15:11:00.001-07:00

Today was an absolutely AWESOME day. I don't even know how it all went so well, but it was fabulous.

In fact, I'll indulge you all in a play-by-play of some of what made today so great: (I won't go over everything, obviously. that would be too much.)

6:30 woke up (let myself sleep in a bit as a treat), had a shower
7:00 had waffles for breakfast!
8:15 didn't miss my bus to school
8:45 gave a copy of PETA's Vegetarian Starter Kit to my friend KB, who is going to try out vegetarianism (YAY!)
9:00 Math! yay! (I'm such a dork :P)
11:49 Lunch... I took the time last night to make a spiffy bento!

I used the tofu noodles again, this time tossing them in beet juice, paprika, and chili powder. They were then placed on top of a bed of spring greens and nori butterflies were sprinkled on top.

I also had some firepit corn (more on that in an upcoming post!), steamed garden carrots, and a sliced garden tomato.

Once again, I used slabs of bell pepper to keep my food from jumping around too much :)

I also didn't feel like doing my social studies homework, so I tied a little ribbon bow onto my chopsticks.

The verdict on this lunch? YUM YUM YUM. My friends loved how much effort I put into it, but I think it's way worth it.

1:26 I had a spare! It's awesome, I've got 6 other friends who all have a spare that block too so we went for a nice walk. The weather is sure cooling down (it's like 15 degrees Celsius) but it was warmer than it's been lately

4:00 When I got home, there was a little surprise waiting for me!

You see, about two weeks ago, my mom and sisters and I went to a pottery painting place where we had a lovely afternoon decorating and exploring our creative sides.

I had decided to do a little bowl with vegetables around the side. I'm happy with how it turned out! It's going to be the best little bowl from now on, for soups and stir-fries and oatmeal and cereal...

The house also smelled really nice, and this was from the lovely lentil soup on the stove. Yay! I love my mom's lentil soup :)

AND, the pumpkins in our garden are totally done now! We picked them and now I'm super-excited to do something with these bad boys. There were only two, but that's fine.

Soybean shreds and my new bento obsession

2008-09-06T21:53:00.000-07:00

The day I bought those tofu noodles, the first thing I did was heat them up with some tomato sauce. You know, even though the texture wasn't a whole lot like pasta, I really liked it! I've never been a big fan of the taste & texture of wheat pasta anyways so this was a lovely surprise.

For Friday's bento lunch, I decided to take these noodles in a very different direction... I put them in sushi! After minor chopping and seasoning them just a little, I placed them on a little sheet of nori, just like one would do with rice.

Shredded soybeans / tofu noodles lightly dressed in soy sauce and cayenne pepper

On top of the shredded bean curd, I placed cooked beets (from my great-aunt's garden!) and julienned steamed carrots (from our garden!).

It was a little hard to roll up, since I had made a not-so-smart decision to fold the nori in half, but it turned out okay. Plus, I got to eat the scraps! :D

The rest of my bento was a bit more simpl: steamed carrots, a salad of romaine lettuce & bell pepper, then bits of bell pepper all over to act as 'filler'. Filler is useful to stop your food from getting all jumbled around, not to mention the little cupcake liners that were also put to good use.

I still had extra bell pepper... so I played a bit of 'peek-a-boo' with my vegetables! I hid the carrots and romaine salad under bell pepper lids.

Thankfully, by the time lunch rolled around, my bento was still intact. The sushi was sooo good, but then again I'm a big fan of beets in general so that could have been a big part of it.

It was so cool, though- the beet juice managed to turn some of the tofu shreds pink! That totally made me remember that beet juice is a wonderful natural food dye... Does that mean more pink food in my futre? Possibly :) And I don't even like pink that much!

A lovely shot of those beets:

Mmm, I love beets. :) So sweet and so delicious, and SO packed with antioxidants- just look at the colour!

On a bento-related note, today I took my sister's paper-punchers and made a bunch of little decorative nori pieces. Among what I made are dolphins, various sizes of circles, flowers, butterflies, my name, a tree trunk, and a snake. I can't wait to start making awesome bento lunches with those! I'm thinking of using lettuce as leaves for the nori tree trunk. :)

For some neat bento inspiration, check out the blog Lunch in a Box. It's not vegan, but there are some really neat things up there. Like the cutest little apple rabbits!

Just Bento is another site/blog that has a TON of complete bento recipes, complete with a 'V' marking all the vegan options. Awesome! There are a good deal of vegan recipes up there, not to mention the ones that could be easily veganized. I'm already drooling over the Glazed Triple-Soy Loaf, and the vegetable-coloured rice is just too cute.

Am I getting a little bento-obsessed? ...maybe :)

"And in the mornin', I'm makin' WAFFKES!"

2008-09-06T10:32:00.000-07:00

Is it just me, or does anyone else ALWAYS think of that scene in Shrek whenever they hear the word 'waffle'?

...

No? Just me?

Oh well. Waffles are still DANG GOOD, and I made a big batch this morning to celebrate my first school-year weekend. I used the vanilla waffle recipe from Fat Free Vegan, using whole wheat pastry flour and cornstarch instead of potato starch.

naked waffle! :o
(looks like I need to put more batter in the iron...)

They turned out perfect- just crispy enough and just sweet enough. I froze the extras for school morning breakfasts. I didn't use the optional blueberries, which actually ended up okay because the waffles turned out just like the ones my mom used to make- but vegan and BETTER!

I used vanilla bean, too, instead of the extract. I'd never done that before, but I liked being able to see the specks of vanilla in my waffle!

I've decided that my favorite waffle topping are homemade chunky applesauce and cinnamon. How about you?

(coming up tonight [hopefully] on Vegan Teen Cuisine: talking about the 'tofu noodles' and the bento I brought to school on friday)

A trip to T&T

2008-09-04T16:36:00.000-07:00

Today after school, I took the bus to T&T, an Asian supermarket in West Edmonton Mall. Oh, how I love that place. Sure, it does sell some very not-vegan stuff, but there's tofu, vegetables, fruit, rice, spices, seitan, other fake meats, a billion different soymilks and fruit juices, sauces... It's awesome :)

This time, I bought some canned water chestnuts, canned sliced bamboo shoots, kimchi, and soybean noodles.

I love, love, love water chestnuts! I don't have them very often, only when we go out to eat (which is rarely), and if it's a Chinese restaurant. So why not buy a can so I can have them at home? WOOHOO.

I first had bamboo shoots recently, and I'm now a big fan of those as well. They'll be delicious incorporated into a stir-fry!

Kimchi is one of my new obsessions. It's spicy, salty, yummy, and good for you! I'm actually convinced that it's really been helping my digestion lately. I used to get bloated quite often, thanks to the high volume of high-fiber food in my vegan diet, but that's totally gone WAY DOWN. Is that TMI? Sorry. I'm just a happy, kimchi-munching fool :)

And those tofu noodles! They looked sooo cool, and at 2$ for a bag I couldn't resist. It looks like they're real healthy too- the only ingredients are soybeans and water. Yay! I'm thinking of using this high-protein 'spaghetti' just like wheat pasta- stay tuned for that!

Today's Lunch & Some Randomness

2008-09-03T17:03:00.000-07:00

Another salad for lunch; unfortunately my bento box is NOT airtight and the dressing leaked all over my bag on the way to school. Ack! There goes my precious flax oil! The salad was still excellent, though, and very colourful :)

I layered red bell pepper, steamed carrots, grilled eggplant, and fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley. Mmm!

Some veganism-related events that happened at school today:
(WARNING! This might sound awfully boring and tedious to you, my dear readers, but I can't help getting happy when people discuss anything to do with veganism with me)

-In Chem, my teacher told me that he ALMOST didn't buy a steak at Safeway because he was thinking of me. He still bought the meat, but I'm considering giving HIM some seitan steak and he won't even be thinking of cow steak at all!

-My friend W had some chicken feet on the bus today that he had received as a gift from a friend. Like, little chicken feet. Actually. They were in a little package and cooked and everything :(
So of course, my friend M has a look at the packet and opens it and starts eating it! He then hands some to K and W, who start eating it too. Ugh! So these three boys manage to stink up the bus ("eeww! what smells like cat food?!?") and it's just absolutely disgusting. Revolting!

I also found the reaction of some friends interesting. One in particular seemed super grossed out, and I jokingly said 'Well, you eat chicken all the time, so what difference does it make to you?' She then responded with, 'Yeah, but they're chicken FEET'

-Thennnnn my friend E told me that this whole fiasco made her want to be vegetarian, so I was like "Oh that's awesome!" and we had a little discussion. To be honest, it didn't sound like she was too serious about it, but who knows what might happen...

-A few minutes later, I was talking with some friends and they asked about 'my chili recipe' and if they could have copies. I had to explain that this wasn't really MY RECIPE, that it's Sarah's Delicious Chili from How it All Vegan, but I was glad to see that they were interested!

-Finally, just before getting off at my stop, my friend Z told me about some vegan makeup she had found at a recent trip to BC, and I asked her what brand and she said she's get back to me on that. Ok, so this conversation doesn't really have a point up here on the blog, but evidently my veganism is really 'rubbing off' and my friends are becoming more aware. Yay! I love them all no matter what, but when they're awesome I love them just that much more :)

First day of school

2008-09-02T20:00:00.000-07:00

For breakfast, I had another Fat Free Vegan omelette- and it was ever better than yesterday's! I mixed in more spices and cooked it just a little bit longer. The result was absolutely delicious!

Here's part of what I packed for lunch: a lovely little rainbow salad!

I think I'm going to start going all-out and making crazy bento boxes with those intricate seaweed details and such. Fun fun fun :)

Dinner was a lovely, savory vegetable soup. I LOVE VEGETABLE SOUPS! Especially with brussel sprouts :) It's weird, I only like those little guys two ways- totally mushy in a soup, or roasted until crispy. Steamed or boiled is just 'meh'.

I actually stirred some homemade hummus into my soup bowl, too, for a boost of protein and creamy yumminess.
That's not all we had for dinner, though. The whole family meal was vegan, which was really quite cool and has been happening more and more often. I love it!

We had the soup, hummus, garlic bread, gnocchi, fried potatoes & carrots, and garden cucumbers. What a feast!

And how was school itself? It was fine... I'm in grade 11 now, so it was nice not being a little grade 10 anymore. My classes all seem okay too. I feel like such a nerd for saying this, but I'm actually so pumped for math this year. I'm doing 20/30 IB, so it's basically going to be EXTRA PACKED and won't leave me bored. :)

There's only one thing that annoys me about my schedule... I couldn't get put into Phys Ed! :( So I now have a half-year spare, which is okay, but I'd rather be in phys ed. Guess I'll just go for a walk in that time then! After being active all summer, being cooped up in the school drives me insane.

(actually, my school is right beside a Health Club / gym, so I'm thinking that some days during the winter I could totally go for a little workout there! hopefully it'll be okay that I'm under 18...)

--

Lately, my #1 favorite snack has been the Curry Roasted Chickpeas from the Fatfree Vegan Kitchen. These are SO GOOD and insanely addictive.(to the left is the garlic bread we had for dinner, minus the garlic and toastedness since it wasn't done yet!)

That's all for now! :)

Getting creative with my breakfasts, parts four & five & six: tofu scramble & blueberry pancakes& vegan omelette

2008-09-01T08:19:00.000-07:00

MEGA POST!

(For those who haven't read some of my recent posts, I've been getting sick of my usual breakfast of cereal/oatmeal with berries. Armed with the internet and a shelf-ful of vegan cookbooks, I'm now trying to vary my morning meal as much as possible, with delicious results!)

When I first started looking that the Vegan's Hundred lists, I saw that tofu scramble was on there, and I realized that I hadn't ever made it before. Ack! What kind of a vegan hasn't ever had tofu scramble?!

So, the next morning, I quickly whipped some up, using silken tofu, curry power, cumin, turmeric, onion, garlic, nutritional yeast, and red pepper. Sorry, I didn't measure anything!

I had it with two pieces of Ezekiel toast and grilled eggplant & zucchini. I ended up scooping the scramble onto the toast and eating it like a very messy sandwich.

To be honest, I wasn't a huge fan. Next time, I might try it with a different kind of tofu, maybe, or different spices.

Hanging in there?

I also made Dreena Burton's Banana Bliss Pancakes from Vive le Vegan! However, instead of bananas, I used frozen blueberries. These were soooo good!

They were dang easy, too. I mixed the dry ingredients together the night before so there was very little to do in the morning. I can definitely see myself making a big batch of these for breakfast and freezing the extras!

Oh, before I move on: I made my Apple Crisp for breakfast again, but in the microwave this time. It turned out pretty well! Not as crispy as oven-baking would have made it, but still delicious and 10 times faster. This would be another excellent option for school mornings.

Finally, just this morning, I made the famous Vegan Omelette for One from FatFreeVegan. And WOW, did that ever turn out great! Even though my batter was a bit too thick, it still cooked through and flipped over.

For the filling, I just used chopped bell pepper and fresh baby spinach. Next time, I'll take the time to properly stir-fry some veggies and seitan. mmm!

I like the omelette way, way, way more than the scramble. I'd never eaten an omelette before (not even before I went vegan) but I love how it's basically just a pancake with whatever you want inside. I'm definitely making this again! How easy would it be to whip up the ingredients in the blender at night, then simply cook it up the next morning? (answer: very easy)

I've also got my eyes on this Indian Vegan Omelette, made with chickpea flour. Has anyone made that or something of that sort? It looks really good!

I've got some quasi-sad news, though. School starts again tomorrow, and my life is going to get awfully busy again. I'm going to do my VERY BEST to keep blogging, even if it is just taking pictures of my school lunches or whatever. Hopefully I'll do better than last year, when I didn't blog for weeks at a time. :)

The Vegan's Hundred

2008-08-29T21:51:00.000-07:00

I found this on the Bittersweet blog and thought it was a real neat idea! There's a LOT of vegan food out there, so I was curious myself to see how much of this I've tried.

(I've only said that I've eaten something if it was the VEGAN version- pregan omni stuff doesn't count)

(I've also made my own comments in green)

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 (I just made it for the first time ever like yesterday, so there will be a post on that soon!)
4. Haggis (Weird... but I wouldn't mind trying just a bite)
5. Mangosteen
6. Creme brulee
7. Fondue
8. Marmite/Vegemite (I'd like to try both of those!)
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Nachos
12. Authentic soba noodles
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Taco from a street cart (It was at our Folk Music Festival, which I have yet to write about. Ack! The taco was reallllly yummy though)
16. Boba Tea
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Gyoza
20. Vanilla ice cream (I knowwww, I'm so lame, I've had other soy ice cream flavours but not vanilla it seems)
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Ceviche (I DEFINITELY would like to at least try that, looks intriguing)
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 (I'm thinking that I should totally do that, but maybe chili instead of chowder because I just looovvvvve chili. And I've also heard about putting pumpkin soup in little mini carved-out pumpkins. Awesome! But I digress.)
33. Mango lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Mulled cider
37. Scones with buttery spread and jam
38. ~~Vodka Jelly~~ (um, no thanks..)
39. Gumbo
40. Fast food french fries (ugh)
41. Raw Brownies
42. Fresh Garbanzo Beans
43. Dahl (my friend R makes THE BEST DAHL EVER. I don't know how she does it. I just eat it, and a whole lot of it)
44. Homemade Soymilk (I'd like to try doing that sometime, though)
45. Wine from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Stroopwafle (haha, that is awesome. I'd try making those for sure, with some sort of molasses filling... mmm)
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 (seitan!)
67. Churros, elephant ears, or funnel cake (I have made traditional Croatian elephant ears in the past, I should totally veganize that!)
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” (I'm not a big fan of neither pasta nor cheesiness, but I'm open to trying this. and if I made it, my family could be THAT much closer to going vegan!)
88. Flowers
89. Matzoh ball soup
90. ~~White chocolate~~ (I used to like the non-vegan stuff when I was little, until it started to give me headaches. Now, my brain just associates white chocolate with headaches. Oh dear.)
91. Seitan
92. Kimchi
93. Butterscotch chips
94. Yellow watermelon
95. Chili with chocolate
96. Bagel and Tofutti (I've made my own bagels and those were excellent, but I'll have to admit that I haven't tried Tofutti)
97. Potato milk
98. Polenta (I've been meaning to make some for ages... maybe for breakfast first day of school? :)
99. ~~Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee~~ (I really, really don't like coffee :P)
100. Raw cookie dough

Uh oh, I've only tried 37 of those... I fail! Guess that means I should eat more :) There are a lot of these that I have always wanted to make, so perhaps I should just get to that!

Getting creative with my breakfasts, part three: seitan!

2008-08-28T09:17:00.000-07:00

When I think of seitan, one of the last things that come to mind are breakfast (the first few are DELICIOUS, YUM, and WOW THAT LOOKS LIKE SAUSAGE). However, on my recent breakfast creative streak, I decided to make seitan 'gyros', very loosely based on a recipe from Nava Atlas' Vegan Express. I say very loosely because I ended up straying very, very far from the original recipe. :)

I ended up with a lovely little seitan stir-fry, and it was insanely delicious. I usually prefer 'sweet' breakfasts, rather than savory, but this is exquisite.

Sorry for the bad picture, I was too hungry to try to make it look nice!

Now, what sort of seitan did I use, you ask?

I originally wanted to use RnSK's recipe from the PPK Seitan O'Greatness thread, but of course I kept making my own changes and substitutions.

Here's what I ended up doing:

Peggy's Garlicky Seitan

(preheat oven to 350)

1 1/2 cups wheat gluten
1/4 cup chickpea flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp coriander seed (whole, not ground)

Mix these dry ingredients together in a bowl until combined

In another bowl, mix:

2/3 cup water
1 1/2 tbsp leftover bean soup, or hummus would do just fine
1 1/2 - 2 tbsp finely minced garlic
1 tbsp finely minced onion
1 tbsp tamari sauce
1/8 cup apple cider vinegar

***Before adding them to the bowl of liquids, I first used a mortar and pestle to combine the garlic and onion and bean soup. The original recipe asked to puree the onion & garlic into a paste, but I decided to be hardcore and go the good old-fashioned way. I didn't quite end up with a paste, but I enjoyed the little bits of garlic throughout the seitan. YUM.

Add your liquid ingredients to the dry bowl. Stir, knead, and make sure it's all well incorporated. Roll into a log and wrap with foil, nice and tight. Place directly on rack in preheated oven.before baking

Bake for about 75 minutes. That's how long I went for and was pleased with the results...

Once you take it out, let it sit for a few minutes to cool down JUST UNTIL you can touch it safely. Open up the foil and remove your seitan log. Be real careful, since the steam can come out all at once. That can end up being reallll dangerous! Let your seitan cool some more.

At this point, I started slicing up my log into thin rounds, little chunks, and fat little 'fingers'. Slice however you like! I also made some thicker rounds that I ended up grilling as little mini-burgers. In the future, I'd totally love to make a special fat burger seitan log that will be sliced into nice thick gluteny patties. :)
I took this picture because that slice of seitan was just tooo weird. That little chunk of garlic/onion looked way too much like a piece of animal fat from a nasty meat sausage. Ack! My mom ate that slice. Doesn't that look weird, though?

I can't believe I don't make seitan that often. It's real easy, tastes hella good, and the flavour combination possiblities are ENDLESS. I'll also admit to eating little chunks of seitan straight out of the freezer.. hehe.

Grilled fava beans!

2008-08-28T08:10:00.000-07:00

Last year, after buying some fresh fava beans at our local farmer's market, I tried cooking them two ways: grilled and boiled. The grilled ones won on both taste and texture, so when I bought some more fresh beans this year that's all I did with them.
It's actually RIDICULOUSLY easy. Grill the fresh pods for about 10 minutes, then remove and let the insides steam for about 10 more minutes. Open up the pods, skin the beans, and voila! Delicious fava beans (also known as broad beans)!

I didn't bother seasoning this time. Instead, I mixed mine in with some leftover seaweed salad. Yum!

(I apologize for the not-so-great picture there, I was hungry and just quickly grabbed any old bowl)

I've still got some bean pods in the fridge that should really be used up soon. There's so much that I could do with them that I can't decide what! I don't think I want to just settle for mixing them into a salad. Anybody have any ideas?

Getting creative with my breakfasts, part two: apple crisp!

2008-08-27T08:32:00.000-07:00

(For the past year or so, my breakfasts have been awfully tedious: frozen fruit and either cereal or oatmeal, loaded with cinnamon and flax seeds. Every single day! Lately, since the summer break is coming to a close, I decided that now is the time to be a bit more imaginative. Some variation in my diet can't hurt, either!)

Previously, I've blogged about my friend H, who I am helping to go vegetarian/vegan and to start a vegan lunch program. The other day, since the trees in our neighbourhood are producing LOADS of apples, he sent me a lovely apple crisp recipe:
Vegan Apple Crisp 12 cups sliced (5 - 10mm thick) apples 3/4 cup olive oil 2 1/2 cups flour 1-2 cups oats 2 tablespoons cinnamon 1 tablespoon nutmeg 2-3 cups brown sugar (note: 2 is tart! but I recommend you do it this way and then if anyone in the family wants it sweeter they can just sprinkle sugar over the top of it afterwards.) What you do: 0. (Preheat oven to 360F or 375F... see Step 6) 1. Put the 12 cups of apples in a large bowl. 2. Add oil, stirring until all apples are coated evenly in a thin layer of it. 3. Add sugar, until evenly coated. 4. Add flour, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg all at the same time just on top of the pile of sugared apples and then stir 5. Stir some more until the consistency is even throughout. 6. Place it in glass (oven: 360F) or stoneware (oven: 375F) container(s) that match the portion to a thickness of about 2-4 cm and then bake it at the above corresponding temp. (Optional, throw some more oats on top of it before putting it in. In my oven at least the oats got nice and crispy and didn't burn.) 7. Usually about 20-35 mins later its done (depends on thickness) you know its done when the apples at he bottom are soft and the top gets dark brown and crispy. 8. Cool (and optional serve with soy ice cream.) Makes an incredibly overwhelming number of portions. probably 20+...but it disappears: In my family it went in two days! So I made some more this morning:-)

Looks like a fantastic recipe, doesn't it? Problem is, I didn't feel like slicing up 12 cups of apples :S Instead, I altered the recipe to make a single portion and made some other changes as well: (I'm no good at following recipes to a T!)

Peggy's Apple Crisp for One

-1 cup sliced apples
-1/2 cup rolled oats
-2 1/2 tbsp whole spelt flour
-1 package powdered stevia
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-3 tbsp applesauce (instead of oil)
-flax seed and additional cinnamon, for sprinkling on after (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. In a bowl, stir together the rolled oats, spelt flour, stevia, and cinnamon until well mixed.
3. Add the apples and applesauce and mix. Chunks of dough are just fine- in fact, I think that's the best part!
4. Put into some sort of bakeware. I used a mini ceramic pie dish.
5. Optional: sprinkle additional rolled oats on top. They'll get real toasty!
6. Bake for about 20-30 minutes, or until it looks done and smells great.
7. Let cool, or not, and eat it hot right out of the bakeware. :) Sprinkle on flax seeds and additional cinnamon.

I really, really, really liked this. The contrast in textures was phenomenal: crunchy oats, soft and chewy batter, tender apples...

I've even tried a variation of this, with quinoa flour instead of spelt & frozen mangoes and peaches instead of the apples. Yum!

Getting creative with my breakfasts, part one: injera!

2008-08-26T08:49:00.000-07:00

(found my camera cord! yayy!)

For the past year or so, my breakfasts have been awfully tedious: frozen fruit and either cereal or oatmeal, loaded with cinnamon and flax seeds. Every single day! Lately, since the summer break is coming to a close, I decided that now is the time to be a bit more imaginative. Some variation in my diet can't hurt, either!

The first 'new breakfast' I tried was Ethiopian injera bread, which I made using the recipe from here but quartered. I absolutely LOVE injera bread and I definitely wanted to try it again after mediocre results last summer.

the very first injera

Even though injera is usually served as an accompaniment to savory dishes, I like my breakfasts to be on the sweet side, so I topped mine pancake-style with applesauce, berries, cinnamon, and flaxseed. Delicious! I ended up having quite the break-FEAST, and it was soooo good.

I've actually had it for breakfast 3 times already, and the injera just keeps getting better and better. One of my very favorite toppings so far is simply a sprinkle of stevia and cinnamon. Mmm!

I'm doing a lot of experimentation, too. I'm made the not-so-brilliant observation that a thicker batter = pancake that isn't so flexible, while a thinner batter = more authentic injera.

I love, love LOVE injera. It tastes DANG GOOD. Plus, it's awesome how I can start fermenting some batter one morning, then cook it up for breakfast the next day. :)

Uh oh!

2008-08-24T20:47:00.000-07:00

I know, I promised another post soon, but there's one problem and it is called I can't find my camera cord. That means no pictures! Oh no!

Hopefully I can figure out where it's hiding, then I'll put up a post real soon. Otherwise.... maybe I'll have to talk about injera, fava beans, apple crisp, and seitan, all without pictures :(

A bit of catch-up (no. not ketchup!)

2008-08-20T21:20:00.001-07:00

I hate to admit it, but my meals have been really boring and really lazy this summer. Lack of motivation? A busy schedule? Who knows, but I should still be putting in a bit more effort, especially since I'll get even busier once school starts.

Here are some of the more interesting meals I've been making lately, as well as a product review:

I cooked up a simple stir-fry, and wrapped it up in a sheet of nori. mmm!
I should have double-wrapped it, though, since the nori got kinda soggy real quickly. oh well, it still tasted great!

My mom recently bought some 'It's all good Veggie Chicken Breasts". I'm usually not a big fan of the fake meats, mostly because they taste so... real, but I had to try these since she had gotten them just for me.

I must say, while a bit salty for my tastes, these were really good! I sliced some up and grilled it to put in a deliciously summery salad.
In fact, my mom fed some of this product to my sisters & one of my sister's friends, without telling them it wasn't a real dead chicken. It got rave reviews, and the diners still don't know that they were eating 'veggie chicken breast'.

Out of 10, I'd have to rate this at 8.5. It's not something I would eat everyday, but it's dang good.

On another note, here's my new lunchbox!
(in case you can't read that, it says 'CHORUS CLUB- If you like song, join us please, let's sing together)

I got it for 2.50$ at Heritage Days. Unfortunately, it's a bit too shallow to fit most of our little containers inside. I can deal with that though, since those singing fruit are just too cute!

coming up on vegan teen cuisine: easy breakfast apple crisp and praising seitan!

San Francisco, day 3 (this was the 13th)

2008-08-19T07:24:00.000-07:00

Thank goodness I had done some research before the trip, since I had found out that there is a farmer's market on Wednesdays right by the Civic Center, only a few blocks from our hotel. We walked down there in the morning for a lovely breakfast of fresh fruit.

In fact, my entire morning meal was made up of FREE SAMPLES! It was great- so many of the stands were giving out free morsels of their fruit, so I made a point of trying one piece at every oppurtunity. Mmm... I also had a fresh fig (yes, I did actually buy that one) and it was the #1 best fresh fig I have ever tasted. Soooo sweet, and sooo good. :)

It pained me to see all these delicious fresh vegetables, but to have no way of cooking them myself... Oh, how I wish our hotel had a kitchenette, or even a microwave...

The most beautiful okra I have ever seen!

Oh man, eggplants are quite actually my very favorite. There were so many different kinds on display, it was really neat.

I'd never seen fresh edamame before!

I've never had a bitter melon before, but they sure do look cool!

After that, we did some shopping on Union Square... yay! I'm not going to blog about that though, since it can't be terribly interesting for you all ;)

Our lunch was the fruit we had bought at the Farmer's Market. I think I am a big fan of those white peaches :D

We then headed over to Golden Gate Park, which was just beautiful. I am totally going to live in San Francisco at some point, and I think I'd like to live somewhere near this park.

We also visited the San Francisco Botanical Gardens at Strybing Arbory. My mom and I had a lovely walk through the beautiful trees and flowers and bushes. Oh, how I love plants.

My favorite fart about the gardens, though, was the 'smell garden'. I can't remember the official name, but basically it was a little area full of the most fragrant plants, some of which included lemon balm, cinnamon, rosemary, and many, many more.

My mom and I then wandered over to the Japanese Tea Gardens. While I have never been to Japan, my mom has, and she said that the landscaping was quite close to being authentic.
We even stopped for tea at a little cafe in the gardens, which ended up being a huge ripoff. They charged 4$ per person for a little cup of tea, plus the cookies and crackers that automatically came with your order. What if I don't want crackers? Too bad, I still get charged the 4$ and I still get the cookies and crackers. I did open up a fortune cookie, though, and supposedly I have "a quiet and unobstrusive nature"

Look at this crazy bridge!

Around 5, we had an early dinner back at Cafe Gratitude. Yes, we just HAD to go back!

This time, my mom had the Asian Kale Salad, while I tried out the 'I am Warm' Miso Soup. It was good- not too much different than my own miso soup, but still delicious. We discovered, though, that putting some of the kale salad into the soup yields a fantastic combination. Om nom nom!

We had a flax-carrot cracker again, of course, and I also tried the 'spicy Mexican slaw'. It wasn't very spicy, but I like cabbage so it was still good.

For dessert, we tried the raw fruit crumble. mmm! It was DELICIOUS and has totally inspired me to try making some sort of raw dessert like that sometime.

After dinner, we took a bus north and starting walking around down Hyde street. I was on a quest to find the 'Steepest Street in San Francisco'- Filbert Street, between Hyde and Leavensworth. And boy, was it ever steep! Crazzzzy.

We then kept walking down Hyde Street until we hit Fisherman's Wharf. It was nice going along there a second time, mostly because we didn't feel so much like tourists after having seen it all before.

My absolute favorite part about those little tourist shops is the knockoff sunglasses! I ended up buying two pairs on the trip, both 'Ray-Ban Wayfarers' (blue and black).

The next morning was quite depressing. I always hate having to pack up and go home after a fun trip! Breakfast was some 'I am great!' raw granola we had bought from Cafe Gratitude. Sooo good!

My mom was being kinda OCD about getting checked in on time, so we ended up with 2 hours to waste in the airport. Of course, as soon as I saw a little Japanese fast food place, I insisted that we check it out to see if there was any seaweed salad.

And, lo and behond, there was!

And.. that's it! Three days really weren't enough in San Francisco. I really, really, really want to go back, and I'm thinking that I'd like to live there for a while too. I love how the city is set up and how effectively the bus routes are laid out. I love how it doesn't get too hot or too cold, and I love how it has both the busy downtown and the quiet parks. I've left my heart in San Francisco!

In other news, I have quite a few catchin-up blog posts to do, so I'm hoping to get those done soon! A product review, some meals I've been making, Folk Fest, and a recipe!

thanks for reading :)

San Francisco, day 2

2008-08-16T23:41:00.000-07:00

(this was Tuesday the 12th)
This day was super-busy, but isn't that the best?

We started off with a bit of shopping on Union Square, which was a lot of fun but not much to write about.

For lunch, my mom and I shared an eggplant wrap at Alexandria's Cafe, a very little place right near our hotel (beside the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on Market). This wrap was ENOURMOUS but very delicious. If I recall correctly, it was eggplant, various vegetables, a tahini sauce, and tabbouleh. Mm! It didn't look so pretty, hence the lack of pictures, but dang did it ever taste great.

We then took a bus down to Fisherman's Wharf... the ultimate tourist trap. This was OK with me, actually, since I was expecting an actual wharf with dead fish all over the place. Instead, it was just a bunch of touristy shops and restaurants and attractions.

After a bit of walking around, we were getting a bit hungry, so our snack was some of the delicious fruit we spotted at a stand.

Mmm, that was one delicious meal. I am definitely a big fan of fresh fruit.

Before leaving for San Francisco, we asked all sorts of people who had been what we should make sure to do there. Everyone mentioned Alcatraz- and, funny enough, we didn''t end up going there! Here's picture of the island:

While walking around Fisherman's Wharf, I made sure that we made a stop at the Wax Museum. Being the compulsive researcher that I am, I'd looked up the museum before we left, and after finding out that Andy Warhol was in an exhibit, I decided that we had NO CHOICE but to go.

Hey there Andy! :D
(as a side note, his 80th birthday would have been August 6th, if he hadn't died back in 1987)

My very favorite part of Fisherman's Wharf, though, was a homeless man with a brilliant sense of humour. He was sitting behind a garbage can with a large fake bush held in front of him:
As unsuspecting passerby walked along, he would reach out with the bush and shout, effectively scaring them to bits. It was hilarious, and people were lined up along the streets just to watch him frighten the oblivious.

This guy was pretty cool too: (a one man band!)

Originally, we decided that we would rent bikes and cycle from the Wharf across the Golden Gate Bridge, then take the ferry across. My mom and I scrapped that plan when we decided that we were too lazy to get the bikes. Instead, we walked.

Yes, that is right, we walked from Fisherman's Wharf, across the Golden Gate, and to Sausalito. We took a 3-hour walk over a 30-minute bike... because we were too lazy! Haha

It was really a lovely walk, though, albeit a bit cold.

Yay, Sausalito!
Unfortunately, the last bus to San Francisco left Sausalito at 7:00... and we got there at 7:15. We warmed up in a little Italian restaurant as we waited for a taxi (ick, I'm not a big fan of taxis).

By this time, it was almost 8, and we were DANG HUNGRY. We went to Axum Cafe for Dinner, a lovely little Ethiopian place.

My mom and I split the Vegetarian Platter for Two... So good!

Center: Alicha (mixed vegetables in spices), to the left: salad, clockwise from there: Hamli (spinach and jalapeno peppers in onions, garlic, and spices), Kintishara (mushrooms and tomatoes in onion, garlic, and spices), Tumtumo (lentils in onion, garlic... and spices), Alicha Ater (Chickpeas in onions and spices)

SO GOOD, or at least it was the perfect way to satisfy our growling tummies.

Fifteen minutes later:
(unfortunately, the injera bread wasn't made out of teff- what gives?)

After that, we returned to our hotel by bus, I went for a run in the fitness room, and we went to bed. I must say, falling asleep was not hard at all!

San Francisco Double Dutch Disco* (day 1)

2008-08-16T07:01:00.000-07:00

*bonus points to whoever knows what song that is from! :)

My mom and I left for San Francisco at 4AM Monday morning- it was a bit crazy, considering I'd only gotten 1 1/2 hours of sleep. Not to mention we 'didn't show up' in the system and we had to buy new tickets! (thankfully we are now being reimbursed)

We arrived in San Francisco at 8AM, which was actually quite fantastic because now we could actually have the whole day there!

First stop was the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art! This was where we picked up our Citypasses- we decided that we didn't want to bother with a car, walking and taking the bus is where it's at. This also included free admission to the SFMOMA, which was awesome!

I'm a big fan of Andy Warhol, so it was very exciting to see some of his paintings there.

For lunch, we walked down over to the Mission District. Before we left, I'd put together a nice little list of restaurants & addresses on an index card and circled them on a map. This really saved us a lot of time. Unfortunately, two of the restaurants we closed for lunch.... but finally we stumbled upon Udupi Palace.

This was a nice little South Indian Vegetarian place, and as soon as we walked in we were hit by the most heavenly scents of delicious food being cooked up in the kitchen.

My mom ordered the vegetable curry:
I had a few bites of her meal, and it was good. Not exceptional, but it was a good curry. The orangey sauce on the left was sort of citrusy and really yummy. We didn't even touch the yogurty sauce- my mom said that she'd go vegan for the entire trip, and she stuck with that!

I ordered the mix vegetable uthappam- a rice/lentil pancake with vegetables mixed right in. It was pretty good! I'd love to try making it on my own sometime.

The top sauces were some sort of spicy chili sauce, a coconut sauce, and what I think was a cilantro-y one. They were all pretty good, but I liked the green one the best.
The orange sauce in the metal bowl was okay- it tasted like my mom's curry, which doesn't mean that it was BAD, just nothing special.

*EDIT: it seems that the 'orange sauce' is actually a soup known as sambal. oops! That's what I get for not doing my research!

Overall, though, it was a great meal and very satisfying for two hungry travellers. :)

Then... we went shopping at a random mall we came across.

We dropped off our bags at the hotel, and then headed down to Cafe Gratitude! It's a mostly-raw, vegan restaurant. It's also the only 100% organic restaurant, according to or server (most restaurants that claim to be organic are only 'organic when available')
I started off with 'I am Bold', a tomato/carrot/celery juice. Yum!

My mom ordered the soup of the day, a bean & rice chili, as well as the 'I am Graceful' Thai quinoa bowl. I tried some of each, and they were good.

We ordered two sides as well, a carrot-flax cracker and the sprouted almond and sesame hummus. The crackers were especially delicous!

I ordered the Asian Kale salad... and it was SO GOOD. I was craving some greens, and this towering mountain of raw kale was definitely what I was looking for. Mmm!I really, really, really like Cafe Gratitude, or at least the Mission location. We ended up going back on Wednesday- more on that later!

I'm back!

2008-08-15T20:44:00.000-07:00

Whew! We got back from San Francisco yesterday afternoon. That was one fantastic trip! We were only there for 3 nights (3 full days) and I wish that we could have stayed longer. There was no lazing around, though- our days were packed and busy, but in an absolutely wonderful way. I'm not a big fan of wasting time just sitting around in the hotel... I DEFINITELY would like to go back to San Francisco again, or even live there at some point!

I'll write a post on the first day tomorrow, then go from there. :) I just got back from work so I'm super-tired right now.

As well, I'll also need to write something up about the Folk Fest! THAT was fabulous too! And I finally got to see Broken Social Scene live! :D

See you all later :)

Lemon poppyseed cookies!

2008-08-07T14:34:00.000-07:00

The other day, I made some yummy lemon poppyseed cookies from Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan. I can't remember their exact name, sorry!

Unfortunately, I inadvertently added a bit too much liquid, so the cookies turned out very thin...
But they're still delicious! :D Hopefully next time I'll get them spot-on.

In other news, I'm going to the Edmonton Folk Music Festival tonight. Fun fun fun! I'll be real busy for the next few days... then after that I'm off to SAN FRANCISCO. Dang, am I ever excited!

Heritage Festival

2008-08-04T20:41:00.000-07:00

(here's the post I wrote on the Heritage Festival last year)

Every year, during the August long weekend, Edmonton has a Heritage Festival down at Hawrelak park. It's a wonderful celebration of cultures from around the world: over 60 pavilions representing more than 75 cultures!

As you can imagine, not only is there dancing, music, crafts, clothing, jewelery, and anything else remotely cultural... but there's also AMAZING food. It's actually quite overwhelming how many vegan foods are offered. Just look at that menu! Food and drinks are bought using special food tickets, which can sometimes get annoying when you're stuck in a long ticket booth line, but it's not a big deal if you get a lot of tickets early in the day.

Usually, when we go, I'm there with my family for an hour or two for just one of the days. This year, I decided that there was so much to do and see and EAT that I would go all 3 days. Intense!

On Saturday, I went with my friend Jaime. We were there for 4 hours, which ended up being just a bit much. It was definitely a lot of fun, though, and I really liked going into every single pavilion.

We also discovered the 'freebie' tents set up by sponsors- radio stations, the army, the city government, the police service, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Enmax, Western Union... I managed to end up with a reusable grocery bag, some frisbees, a few pencils and pens, a notebook, a poster, bookmarks, a flashlight keychain, erasers, temporary tatoos... and more! Jaime said that she felt bad about taking all this free stuff, but I joked that "it's not stealing, it's just taking advantage!" (besides, I'm going to use most of this swag anyways, especially the frisbees)

What did we eat? I had alicha, Eritrean vegetables on injera bread. YUM. OH WOW DO I EVER LOVE INJERA.
In fact, it was so good that I headed to the Ethiopian pavilion for some more injera, but with two kinds of lentils instead.

Needless to say, I was one happy vegan. :D

One dish that Jaime had was an interesting sort of Japanese pizza/pancake, okonomi yaki. I had a feeling it wasn't vegan (and I was right), but it would be cool to make a vegetable-loaded vegan version sometime.

The next day, Sunday, I went with my mom and sisters. We were there for only an hour or so, haha. I still managed to get some great food, though! Heh.

From the Kenyan pavilion, I bought some kale with simmered cornmeal. The kale was delicious, albeit a bit oily, while I wasn't a huge fan of the cornmeal. Still a satisfying lunch, though, and I was glad to support the Kenyan culture. There wasn't anyone in line when I popped by their pavilion, which is unusual at Heritage Days, so I felt bad for them!

I had a craving for some more vegetables, of course, so I then headed down to the Taiwan Buffet for some mixed vegetable stir-fry. Yum! Still a bit oily, but still delicious.

At the Vietnamese tent:

Yay, gotta love that green tea!
When I biked back to Heritage Days today (Monday), I met up with a group of friends. Being the last day of the festival, it was a good deal more crowded than it had been on the previous days. When we were watched Jaime do her Irish dancing, which was definitely very cool. Actually, all the dancing there is really quite awesome!

Now, what did I eat? I had some fresh mango from Fiji, alicha again from Eritrea, and some Perrier water from the French pavilion. :)

Overall, I had an AWESOME time. I'll do my best to go all 3 days again next year, since it's such an amazing experience and only happens once a year anyways. Besides, there was some food that I didn't get to try because it ran out (namely, the steamed vegetables from Ethiopia! I was looking forward to those, but both times I went on two seperate days they had run out) or I just didn't end up getting (barbeque corn, Nepalese black bean & rice soup).

Can't wait for next year! :D

Yay!

2008-08-01T18:45:00.000-07:00

Kris from Kris' Cruelty Free Kitchen has been so kind as to nominate me for an award! :D awesome!Now, here are 7 BRILLANTE bloggers who deserve this fancy award too:
(I'm sorry if you've already been nominated by someone else- guess that just means that you're EXTRA brillante!)

(in no particular order, of course)

1. Paulina of Veggie Delight
2. Bazu of Where's the Revolution
3. Cherry the Teenage Health Nut
4. Vegmomma's Vegan Family Dinners
5. Carrie of the House of Simon
6. Don't get mad, get vegan!
7. Atxvegan of Eat'n Veg'n

:)

Also, I've got some DANG exciting news. I'm managed to turn two friends onto veg*nism!

One, H, is an avid environmentalist and was interested in the 'green' aspects of going meat-free. I lent him Diet for a New America, and soon after he decided to go vegetarian. Exciting!

The other friend, F, got all my information diluted through H, and he's totally gone vegetarian too. This is quite surprising, really, since F used to be the most enthusiastic carnivore I've ever known. He's made jokes before about how "one day, Peggy's just going to SNAP and run into a field, and just take a big bite of the nearest cow."

So yes, I am very happy about that.

Also, today I had a lovely picnic with some friends. It was definitely a great time- decent weather, a fun game of rugby, just good fun with my friends. But most awesome of all, was the face that H and F brought vegan chili! YUM! It was Sarah's Delicious Chili from How it All Vegan, and it is highly recommended.

H, another friend, and I are also starting to plan out a vegan lunch program for schools. We're going to try it out at their school first, but we've got some good brainstorming down and I'm fairly confident that this might turn out. Maybe I'd even be able to start the program up at my own school, once we have a package put together and everything! It'd start out real simple- perhaps just some veggie burgers and vegetables on a barbeque with whole wheat buns, plus snack-size boxes of soymilk. I can't wait to see where this will go, so I'll do my best to keep you all updated!

Remember last year when I went to the Heritage Festival? Well it's that time of year again, and I'm heading down their tomorrow! I can't wait to eat some injera... yum!

See you all soon... hopefully!

(Also, I am heading off to SAN FRANCISCO in 10 days, yay! Needless to say, I am very excited)

A momentous occasion!

2008-07-16T09:54:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, my friend J and I went to another friend's lake cabin. It was a lot of fun and a lovely relaxing weekend. Most exciting, though, was the fact that this friend's uncle was... vegan!!

You see, while I have 'met' my fair share of vegans through the internet, I've never met one in 'real life' before. Sad, isn't it? I suppose I could always go to one of the vegetarian picnics organized around here, but I haven't gotten around to that yet. Anyways, it was rather exciting to finally meet another vegan. Yayy!

I can't help but laugh at myself, though. I was all excited and nervous about talking to him, as if it were a big deal. We did end up having a little chat about veggie burgers and vegan cheese, which was kinda cool.

In other news... The rain is POURING DOWN right now and I'm getting frustrated because I want to go for a run & have a shower before I go to work, but it seems like this storm isn't going to pass over anytime soon. Guess I'll just have to brave the elements!

ACK. long time no post (and the meme, finally)

2008-07-15T13:53:00.000-07:00

Oh dear, it's been ages since I last posted! After exams were done & school ended, I went to BC for a while for my brother's soccer tournament, then I just got caught up in work & summer fun...

Anyways, while I was in the Okanagan, we went shopping at this one mall and for lunch I had a delicious seaweed salad. I'd always wanted to try one, and I was quite impressed! The texture was different, but still good, and the dressing was sweet and sesame-y. Mm!

Here's a cellphone picture I took:
(I didn't think to take a picture until it was almost done... hehe)

I ended up buying 3 more salads to eat for dinner. Yum! :D

From now on, whenever we head out to a sushi place or japanese restaurant, I'm going to make a point of ordering seaweed salad, if I can.

Also... Cherry tagged me in a meme a while back, and so now I'll fill that out :D

1) LAST MOVIE U SAW IN A THEATRE? Get Smart. I went with some friends, and boy that was funny. Steve Carrell is one hilarious man.

2) WHAT BOOK ARE U READING? Animal Farm by George Orwell, it's pretty good!

3) FAVOURITE BOARD GAME? Either Cranium or this one game I played once at a friend's house- Telepathy? I think that's what it was called.

4) FAVOURITE MAGAZINE? VegNews or Teen Vogue

5) FAVOURITE SMELLS? Vanilla, laundry, cinnamon, and tomato plants. And fava bean soup!

6) FAVOURITE SOUNDS? Music by Neutral Milk Hotel, my youngest sister's laugh, waves hitting a beach, the hilarious things my friends say..

7) WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD? Worrying about the future, or realizing that you've done something SO stupid but the soonest you can talk to the person is like the next day so there's nothing you can do but fret and worry and drive yourself INSANE.

8) WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN U WAKE? Breakfast (hehe)

9) FAVOURITE FAST FOOD PLACE? No thanks... If I'm forced to eat fast food, I'll have a dressing-less salad at Subway, basically a big plate of iceberg lettuce and vegetables.

10) FUTURE CHILD'S NAME? I like Waverly for a girl and Finnegan for a boy. I also once had this crazy idea of naming my kids after colours... Scarley, Rusty, Goldie, Chartreuse, Aquamarine, Cobalt, Violet... but that is just a silly idea I once had. There's no way I'd ever have that many kids :S

11) FINISH THIS STATEMENT—IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I’D... save it for when I'd really need it.

12) DO U DRIVE FAST? Erm, I don't drive. I still don't have my learner's, ack!

13) DO U SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? Nope

14) STORMS–COOL OR SCARY? definitely cool!

15) WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR? I don't have one :) I walk, bike, take the bus, and have my mom drive me as a last resort

16) FAVOURITE DRINK? Water, or my special stevia lemonade with cayenne pepper for a kick. SO GOOD.

17) FINISH THIS STATEMENT-IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD… start writing and recording some songs. I love playing guitar, and even though I'm not the best singer it's fun anyways.

18) DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI? You bet

19) IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY OTHER COLOUR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE? I'd like to be blonder than I am now, but if it has to be a totally different colour than I'd say purple :D

20) NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS U HAVE LIVED IN? Just Edmonton!

21) FAVOURITE SPORTS TO WATCH? I don't like to watch sports on TV, but I like watching my brother play soccer or my friends play ball hockey

22) ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Cherry was probably the first person to comment on my blog, so that has definitely kept me going! :)

23) WHATS UNDER YOUR BED? some socks, a stuffed penguin I sewed when I was 12, the box from the tree I tried to grow last summer, and the headpiece to my sister's unicorn halloween costume (?)

24) WOULD U LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN?? I guess so, I could always try things differently... Although, it would be pretty cool to be someone else, or an animal. this is a weird question.

25) MORNING PERSON OR NIGHT OWL? I bit of both, I guess! I always wake up early but I like staying up late too...

26) OVER EASY OR SUNNY SIDE UP? No eggs for me!

27) FAVOURITE PLACE TO RELAX? Running in the Edmonton river valley, or in the river valley having a picnic with friends.

28) FAVOURITE PIE? I made a yummmmy vegan berry pie once, that was good, although it was more of a crisp or crumble.

29) FAVOURITE ICECREAM FLAVOUR? Lemon sorbet

30) OF ALL THE PEOPLE U HAVE TAGGED, WHO IS THE MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?

(I'm not going to tag anyone, so if you're reading this meme and think it sounds like fun, go ahead!)

What's been happening lately...

2008-06-18T15:13:00.000-07:00

Well...

On June 5th, the environmental club did a park clean-up, which was real fun. Even better was the fact that we had a potluck after- yum! I brought VLV Homestyle chocolate chip cookies, as always, as well as a yummy bean salad:

Peggy's Potluck Staple Corn & Black Bean Salad

You'll need:
(measurements are approximate- fool around with them as you'd like)

2 cans black beans
3 cups of frozen corn
1 chopped red pepper
1 tbsp flax or olive oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar OR lime juice
1-2 tsp cumin
Chopped parsely (optional)

Mix together in a big bowl or container... and enjoy! This tastes really good if you leave it in the refrigerator for a few hours ahead of time.

This was a real big hit, even among the enviromental club's dedicated carnivores!
--

Also, my last day of classes was the 11th- yay! Right now, I'm in the middle of exams, with 5 down and 3 to go.

(Why so many, you ask? My school isn't semestered so we have all the finals at the end of the year. Plus, I'm taking 2 languages- French and Italian- and each of those has a Multiple choice/written component as well as an oral exam. Ack!)

The weather has been SO nice here lately- it's summer indeed! On Monday my friend J had a super-fun year-end party at her house, and I had a really great time. I did get a little bit sunburnt, but luckily that has faded into a tan. I need to wear more sunscreen!

Actually, I lied. The weather has indeed been great, but the weather YESTERDAY was insane. Around 4:30, it started to pour like crazy- I don't think I've ever seen it rain so hard in my life. The clouds were so dark that it actually seemed like it was nighttime. There was lightning and thunder and lots and lots of wind. In fact, one of the trees in our neighbour's backyard got blown over! Into our own backyard! And crushed a part of our fence!

Here's a cellphone picture I managed to take:

Yikes!

My dad managed to get down to business, though. Soon enough, the neighbours were all outside helping us clean up, and by 8:30 my dad even had new fenceboards up. Good as new!

Lastly... Cherry the Teenage Health Nut tagged me for a meme! :D I won't do it now (I should actually study :S), but I'm looking forward to filling it out later tonight or tomorrow! :)

Calling all San Francisco vegans!!

2008-06-03T17:33:00.000-07:00

(Or really, anyone who's visited the place)

This summer, I'm going to be heading down to San Francisco for a couple days. I'm very excited, since I've never been to mainland United States, and California sounds absolutely awesome.

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone had recommendations restaurant-wise. I'd love to try some delicious vegan fare- I don't eat out often, but this holiday will be an exception. Also, I think I'd like to stop at a farmer's market or two to fulfill my fresh veggie needs, so anything on that front would be veryvery helpful as well.

Thanks in advance! :)

I'll be going with my mom probably sometime around early August, so expect to see lots of pictures of the trip up on Vegan Teen Cuisine!

Watch out California, here comes the Peggysaurus...

My cousin's wedding! & one last thing about the birthday

2008-05-26T19:47:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I went down to Okotoks for my cousin's wedding. It was quite lovely, despite the rain, but I'll only blog about the vegan-related aspects just to keep this short.

Anyways, this is the first wedding reception I've been to since going vegan, so I was a bit nervous about how this would go down. The dinner was at the Calgary Golf and Country Club, so naturally I assumed it would be a sit-down dinner.

Now, a month or so ago, my cousin contacted me on Facebook to ask me if I ate chicken or not. Of course, I said that I didn't and explained briefly what vegans choose not to eat. I was glad to see that he made this effort, to say the least, and I was excitedly anticipating exactly what I would end up eating.

Shall I put it simply?

The dinner was AMAZING. Not perfect, but pretty darn close!

First was a rich lentil soup. The only difference between my dish and everyone else's was that mine didn't have cream in it. And it was still amazing, of course! I'm definitely going to try pureeing my lentil soups, as it seems to add an air of sophistication, hehe.
(this picture doesn't do it much justice, unfortunately)

Next was a salad, and mine was just like everyone else's: grilled vegetables with lettuce and vinaigrette.
WOW that was good. I'm not a fan of artichokes or olives, so I left those, but the mushroom, zucchini, bell peppers, and tomato were fabulous! I just wish I got more!

And now for the main course...

What was on the other diners' plates? Some sort of chicken dish, vegetables, and scalloped potatoes. They all said it was very good, but I think what I had was WAY better!

Behold:
Potatoes, spinach, and mushrooms in a delicious tomato sauce, with steamed green beans and carrots on the side. Mmm! I don't like potatoes so I left those alone, but otherwise this was exquisite. I found myself trying to eat every last bit of tomatoey goodness and foraging for every piece of decadent mushroom. You don't always hear people describe mushrooms as decadent, but these were amazing! I was impressed with the steamed vegetables as well. They weren't overdone or underdone- they were JUST RIGHT.

And of course, dessert!

Strawberry sorbet and fresh berries- a PERFECT end to a great meal. What everyone else received was a chocolate mousse in a tall, fancy white chocolate 'glass', adorned with various types of chocolate shavings and fruity sauces. I didn't feel in the least bit jealous, as I only needed a light dessert anyways. In fact, I had my youngest sister eat the ice cream for me- I'm not used to food being that sweet!

All in all, I was extremely impressed with my 'special' vegan meal. I don't know quite what I was expecting, but what I ended up eating blew my mind! :D I am going to thank my cousin profusely for this!

Has anyone any wedding stories to tell- good or bad?

Now, I'm sure you're all growing sick of my raving about how awesome my friends are, but here's something else from my birthday party.

This was the card I received from my friend K:

(reads:
Grandma
You're loved so much)

Oh K, you are one silly guy.

And on the back, he wrote:

(No animals were harmed in the making of this card)

Hahahaaa, is that not awesome!?!?!

(as a side note, this K is the same guy who brought up the 'cinnamon challenge' back in November...)

Anyways, that's all folks, thanks for all the comments on previous blogs and I'm sorry for not replying to everyone. I'm still awful busy- final exams start in two weeks!!!- but as soon as things settle down, I'll try to get right back on track!

100th post!

2008-05-18T21:05:00.000-07:00

Oh dear, I've been a horrible blogger, but I'll try to get right back into the groove of things!

I really can't believe that this is only the 100th post, actually- I've grown SO much since I first started. For one, I am much more confident now in my veganism and it's much easier for me to stick up for myself than it was before. And of course, my cooking & baking has really improved as well! Yay for personal growth!

On another note, last night I had a bunch of friends over for a belated birthday party. It was SO much fun! We've been having some amazing weather lately, so even though it was 7:00 and starting to cool down a bit, we had an insane water fight. All of us ended up drenched, but it was the most fun I'd had in a long time.

I made a lovely vanilla cake, based on the Vanilla Cupcake Recipe from the Joy of Vegan Baking, with the Buttercream Icing recipe from the same book:
And of course, I had to make something deliciously and decadently chocolately, so I also baked up the Chocolate Cake recipe, also from the Joy of Vegan Baking. (that is one AWESOME cookbook, highly recommended!!)

The cake was already so rich, so I decided to just dress it up with strawberries. Nice and simple! No icing required here!

Have I mentioned how amazing my friends are? Haha, I know I have, but I'm going to have to say it again. They bought me the most thoughtful gifts! :)

Like, this cute little vegan pin:

And a record of my FAVOURITE ALBUM EVER! Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea!!! (now I just need a record player...)

And even, some awesome action figures...

Mr. Bacon and Monsieur Tofu!

"You're going down, soy boy!"

"Not this time, you greasy punk!"

Haha... so yes, my friends are AWESOME, soooo supportive, and just overall amazing. I can't believe how happy I am right now! :)

On another note, I did give my presentation for Social class on dairy farming. People did seem shocked about what really goes on, so I'm glad I got my message across. Unfortunately, nobody has approached me yet to talk to me about anything veganism-related, but if anyone is making changes in their own life it's not like I HAVE to know.

And that's it for now, see you all next post!

happy (belated) birthday to me!

2008-04-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

I turned 16 last Sunday (the 13th)! Yayy! We had some family and family friends over :)

Of course, I HAD to make some delicious vegan cakes for the occasion, so despite my homework overload (grrr!), I managed to bake up a storm:

-One chocolate cake from a Vegweb recipe (I used 1/2 cup cocoa)
....with the Chocolate Buttercream Icing from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

-Two cakes made from The Joy of Vegan Baking's Vanilla Cupcake recipe
....one was decorated with VCTOTW Vanilla Buttercream icing, but with a bit of orange extract and sprinkled with lemon zest.
...and the other was left plain, but served with a berry sauce (frozen berry mix warmed up with a bit of maple syrup).

I only had the plain vanilla cake with the berry sauce, but it was SO good! Mmm. The other cakes received rave reviews, especially the chocolate one! People just couldn't believe it was vegan!

Donuts!

2008-04-03T16:20:00.000-07:00

Oh man, I want to make vegan doughnuts sooooo bad... It's like they're the ''last frontier''!

from VeganYumYum

That is all for today :)

I'm a terrible, terrible person!

2008-03-24T10:27:00.000-07:00

Aahhh! I haven't blogged in forever! :( It's awful, I just lose track of time and all of a sudden it's almost April. Yikes!

So, what HAVE I been up to?

Taking over the world with vegan cupcakes!
For Christmas, my dearest cousins gave me Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and I'm loving it! Yay for delicious vegan baking!Golden Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Icing, plus a bit of peppermint extract in the batter and crushed (vegan) candy canes on top!

Coconut Lime Cupcakes

Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing!

Speaking of delicious vegan baking...
My school's environmental club had a bake sale, since we're raising money to adopt a panda. I brought in Fudgy Brownies (from Vive le Vegan!), Golden Vanilla Cupcakes (from VCTOtW, with sprinkles!!!), and Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies (from Vive le Vegan). To remind people to buy treats, I made a note on Facebook. The next day? People were ASKING SPECIFICALLY for the "vegan stuff"! Whoaaa!

Needless to say, other people brought baked goods too, and we ended up making over 200$. It might have been over 250$, but I can't remember :S
At the moment, in my Social Studies class, we are doing projects on global issues, and my topic is animal rights. Hehehe! My focus is going to be on dairy farming & veal farming. The project is both an essay and a powerpoint presentation, and even though it's going to be a lot of work, I'm excited to spread the vegan word! Right now, I'm watching Earthlings on Google Video, and DANG it's good. Scary stuff, but that's what goes on...
Also school-related: We've been doing a nutrition unit in my PE class, and part of that is a huge nutrition project. Cue the groans from everyone else, but I was quite excited! I've officially decided to go into nutrition / naturopathy when I'm out of high school, so this project was just a way for me to dive deep into the world of nutrition, plus show my gym teacher just how fabulous a vegan diet can be!
My friends are awesome! I don't know if I talked about this before, but since starting high school, I've found myself a whole new group of friends. They're incredibly supportive of me, which just makes all the difference. At parties, there are always vegetable & fruit trays, and one of my dearest friends has started to only bake vegan cakes for these occasions. He's so sweet!
Spring break starts next friday, so hopefully I'll be able to do molto blogging during these next few weeks. I miss the vegan blogging world! Unfortunately, my cooking has been awfully uninspired lately, but I just need to rekindle the passion, that's all. Hopefully, this hectic high school life will get less busy...

Well, that's all for now, I'll hopefully write again later this week. :)

I'm back- and my camera is too!

2007-12-14T17:58:00.000-08:00

Yep, after such a long time without posting, I'm glad to say that I AM back! Life has been insanely busy, that's all. In fact, I've got a bunch of homework that I should be getting a start on right now, but first...

My camera is fixed! Yay! Here are some old pictures from late October:

For dinner on Halloween, my mom was mighty clever and made a delicious dish with carrots, orange bell pepper, red lentils, and black beans.. get it? Orange and black? :D

A stir-fry... I can't remember exactly what was in it, but it was sure good!

Brownies!

Oatmeal raisin cookies!

More cookies!

Now, what have I been cooking lately? Well, I haven't had much time to make lovely meals for myself, but I've been doing a good deal of baking for friends & school projects. Here are some new things that I've made recently:

-Sunny Corn Muffins from the ppk- sooo good!
-Baseler Leckerli- a Swiss cookie I made for a French project. They turned out real well! Instead of honey, I used 1/2 cup corn syrup, 1/4 cup agave nectar, 3 tablespoons maple syrup, and one tablespoon blackstrap molasses. Mmm!

Never, ever, ever again...

2007-11-24T23:10:00.000-08:00

Storytime!

So, I was at a friend's house today, with a bunch of other people, and these two guys start talking about some silly contest where you have to frink a gallon of milk within one hour. Ew! NOT VEGAN! Anyways, then my friend A talks about being dared once to eat a teaspoon of cinnamon and how he couldn't do it, and K adds that he threw up after trying it.

Of course, as I might have mentioned before, I LOVE cinnamon. It's my favorite spice! (or at least it was... keep reading!). So I say, "Hey! I could totally do that!"

Someone goes to fetch a teaspoon of cinnamon, I stick it in my mouth, and that's when the world ended. All the moisture in my mouth was sucked up, dry as a desert, and I could not breathe. I coughed some of the cinnamon into the sink and thrust my face under the tap in an effort to drink some of the water. At this point, I'm choking, my eyes are tearing up, the back of my throat is burning, and I feel absolutely sick. My friends are all laughing and laughing, naturally.

Now, my friend J sees all of my suffering, but she is not one to turn down a dare, so SHE insists on trying the cinnamon challenge. I warned her! Even so, J takes on the teaspoon of cinnamon and goes through all the agony that I did.

For the next two hours, we're downing glass after glass of water in an attempt to settle our stomachs, we're burping periodically, we've lost our voices, and we struggle to get rid of that terrible, lumpy, burn-y feeling at the back of our throats. Agh. All that from the cinnamon...

In any case, I got home about an hour ago from this party, and I still smell like cinnamon. I've totally lost my voice and I sound like an old bullfrog. Not only that, but when I sneeze, guess what comes out? ...cinnamon!

The moral of this story is NEVER EAT PLAIN CINNAMON.

And, for the record, cinnamon is no longer my favorite spice- I can't see myself using any of it for quite a while. :(

note: I totally had some lovely food pictures on my camera from more than a few weeks ago, but unfortunately it's still not working... someday soon!!!

Vegan MoFo Questionnaire

2007-11-13T18:01:00.000-08:00

Liz from Food Snobbery is my Hobbery posted a lovely little survey the other day, so of course I just HAD to fill it out!

1. Favorite non-dairy milk?
ONLY So Nice Unsweetened. Nothing else compares. :) Although, Almond Breeze is might fine too..

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?
Pita bread, Ratatouille, and Baba Ganoush

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?
Chili powder, but I'm not a big popcorn eater

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?
Aha, once the cap to my jar of cumin seeds fell off, and cumin seeds poured into the frying pan, but it was too late because I'd accidently put them in after all the vegetables instead of before... It tasted pretty gross!

5. Favorite pickled item?
Pickled ginger :)

6. How do you organize your recipes?
...I don't. :S

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?
Compost, ideally, otherwise the trash.

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods...what would they be (don't worry about how you'll cook them)?
Oatmeal, lentil soup, and eggplant

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?
I'm only 15, so there are so many fond ones that I can still remember... When my siblings and I were little, my dad used to do this thing we called 'bread & honey'. We would sit on his lap, one at a time, and my dad would take a tiny piece of bread, spread on some butter, squeeze on some honey, and put it in our mouth... Totally not vegan!

10. Favorite vegan ice cream?
Hmm, I like making my own sorbets with just frozen raspberries and bananas, that's all. :)

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?
My Magic Bullet, I suppose. What a handy dandy little blender.

12. Spice/herb you would die without?
CINNAMON!!!!

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?
Personally, my oldest cookbook would be this one called 'Easy Vegetarian'. A large part of it is very un-vegan friendly, but there are a few gems!

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?
I don't like jam, but the smell of raspberry jam is absolutely wonderful.

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?
Dreena's homestyle chocolate chip cookies! Or the Vive le Vegan Fudgy Brownies. :D

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?
Seitan

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?
Lunch

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?
Nothing...

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.
Flax seeds, leftover lentils, and gingerroot

20. What's on your grocery list?
Nutritional yeast! Planet organic was all out last time. :( We're running low on soymilk, too.

21. Favorite grocery store?
Either Planet Organic or Roots Organic Market, or that one health food store I loved in Kihei...

22. Name a recipe you'd love to veganize, but haven't yet.
There are three: Rocky road brownies, pavlova, and my mom's Ski Cake

23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa's because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the top 3?
Oh, that's a toughie!
-Where's the revolution?
-Yeah, that "Vegan" shit!
-Have cake, will travel

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?
Fruit is my candy!

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?
Oh, I don't know... Goji berries, perhaps?

26. Make up your own question to put here (and answer it).
If it were possible to live off of one food and still be perfectly healthy, what would you eat for the rest of your life?
Persimmons! What an amazingly delicious fruit! :)

Below is a blank list of the questions for you to copy and paste and answer on your blog. Post a comment so I know to read yours!

1. Favorite non-dairy milk?

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?

5. Favorite pickled item?

6. How do you organize your recipes?

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods...what would they be (don't worry about how you'll cook them)?

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?

10. Favorite vegan ice cream?

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?

12. Spice/herb you would die without?

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.

20. What's on your grocery list?

21. Favorite grocery store?

22. Name a recipe you'd love to veganize, but haven't yet.

23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa's because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the top 3?

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?

26. Make up your own question to put here (and answer it).

Just a quick post

2007-11-11T20:02:00.000-08:00

I made something today :D

Peanut Butter Cups! Just like Reese's!

Seriously, this is one of the simplest dessert recipes ever. It only has 4 ingredients, two of which you could probably leave out (the sugar and the salt), and none of the steps are too complicated. Granted, it does take a certain amount of skill to melt chocolate, and to paint the inside of muffin cups...

In any case, I can't vouch for how these taste just yet, as they are for a friend, but they turned out great as far as I can tell.

As well, I've been brainstorming other brilliant combinations based on this whole chocolate cup idea:

Peanut butter & banana cups- add a thin layer of banana, or maybe puree it into the peanut butter itself
Chocolate cups as ice cream bowls :D
Chocolate cups with ice cream inside, and that layer on top as well... so the ice cream is like a surprise :o
Chocolate cups as 'pie crusts' for individual Chocolate Espresso Truffle Pies
Chocolate cups with a minty filling
..... a coffee filling
..... a coconut filling
..... a spicy chili filling, for an interesting twist

And on and on... Feel free to brainstorm with me by leaving a comment!

In any case, judging my all my posts lately, you'd think that all I do is bake treats and eat little else. Not true! I haven't had much time to cook, but I've been subsisting quite well on shredded cabbage + my favorite salad dressing du jour, steamed carrot, reheated seitan, oatmeal, and pita bread. Yum.

See you all around, and I hope to catch up with all your blogs!

A baking weekend

2007-11-04T09:16:00.000-08:00

Since I have friends with birthdays on the 5th and 6th, I thought that it would be a lovely idea to bring a grand assortment of vegan treats today

Here's some piccies of what I whipped up:

Vive le Vegan! Fudgy Brownies

[note: my camera is DEAD and won't upload any pictures! :( I'll fix up this post when I can get it working again]

Oatmeal Cookies, with raisins instead of the chocolate chips

Vegan Fudge from Shmooed Food/Vegan lunchbox

:D
The semi-healthy oatmeal cookies are there as a counterbalance to all the chocolately goodness of the brownies and fudge, hehe.

Edit: Well, I brought all these treats to school today (Tuesday), and they were popular all right. :) Even the oatmeal raisin cookies!

Being a generous vegan is a happy thing

2007-10-27T13:07:00.000-07:00

You've probably seen Isa Chandra Moskowitz's article on Vegan Culinary Activism. In case you haven't, go check it out! Among some of her suggestions are asking local cafes to carry vegan items, offering to write a food column for your local newspaper, or bringing vegan baked goods to a bake sale. My favorite from the list, though, is "Bring cookies to the office". Of course, I'm in high school so I'm not working in an office just yet, but I have been bringing yummy vegan treats to school!

Here's what I've baked up so far to hand out to friends & random people:

Dreena's Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies
Double Chocolate chip cookies (from a vegweb recipe that seems to have disappeared
Brownies from Vive le Vegan
Chocolate cupcakes from this wonderful cake recipe

I can vouch for all these recipes as they were all very well received. :)

I've only been doing this every two weeks, so every second Monday, and people love it. Plus, sometimes they're so shocked that something VEGAN could taste so good!

The next treat I'm whipping up will be fudge, as per my friends' requests, so that's be fun. I'm using a Vegan Lunchbox recipe that I haven't done before, so that's going to be exciting.

In any case, a bunch of my friends and I got together yesterday (Friday) and I, naturally, brought cookies. I made PPK gingerbread cookies and decorated them all halloweeny with my sisters. Fun fun fun!

It was a good cookie recipe, except that the dough was really fragile, if that makes sense, and that was both while trying to transfer the cookies onto the tray and while decorating the cooked ones. That was A-OK though, because missing heads and limbs make for excellent Halloween cookies!

Here are some quick pictures I took:

This one is the Flying Spaghetti Monster... just something that my friends and I like to have a good laugh about. Pastafarians, haha.

here, you can see my unicorn in the background, as well as a ghost up front. The black icing kinda leaked a bit. :(

A skeleton!

And, an adorable little Frankenstein.

The cookies received rave reviews. :D They were gone in a flash!

----

cold, gray skies...

You know what's crazy? It snowed yesterday! When I was walking to the bus stop, I was even caught in a little snowstorm. Not fun! :(

On the other hand... It's almost November, and after November is December, which means that Christmas is just around the bend. Oh, I just love Christmas. :) To relate back to being a culinary activist, I think I'll give all my friends little 'gift baskets' of vegan goodies. Something tells me that they'd like that!

Anyways... thanks for reading and see you all soon! I'll try to catch up on all the food blogs if I can, I don't like to be all 'out of it'.

Blog Action Day was on Monday

2007-10-20T08:45:00.000-07:00

From http://blogactionday.org/:

"On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future."

Isn't that a neat idea? Now, unfortunately I've had too much homework lately to post (ugh), so I couldn't really participate in this. However, I did do something environment-related on Monday!

My school has an environmental club, you see, so on Monday we did a fluorescent lightbulb campaign. Basically, we went door-to-door around a neighbourhood close to the school and handed out lightbulbs & talked about the benefits of fluorescent vs. incandescent. It was great fun! I was surprised at how many people already had "green" lightbulbs though, but that's a good thing.

Hopefully I'll be posting again soon, bye!

It's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's (finally) the SPROUTING POST!

2007-10-11T15:47:00.000-07:00

I have no homework today, other than studying for an Italian test, so I thought that it was about time I wrote the promised sprouting post.

SPROUTING

What you need:

-A legume, grain, or seed to sprout
-A mason jar (preferably with a screen lid)

Now, this legume/grain/seed can be something you bought packaged nicely at a health food store, like this:
Or, feel free to use any dried bean or grain you have lying around. I've done chickpeas, lima beans, quinoa, and even wheatberries! Anything works, but one thing to remember if it's your first time is that smaller grains like quinoa are harder to sprout than big ol' chickpeas.

Also, don't sprout kidney beans! When they're raw, they can contain harmful amounts of a toxin called phytohemagglutinin. Eep.

As well, if you don't have a metal mesh lid for you're jar, that's just fine. I only have one because my dad made it for me. You can improvise. I've had to use paper towel in the past and simply place the jar upside down. Click here for a place where you can buy special sprouting lids.

Now, fill your jar no more than 1/3 full of whatever it is you're sprouting. Rinse your legumes/grains/whatever by filling the jar with water, swirling, and draining. That's where the mesh lid comes in handy! Refill it again now, with cool water, and place your sprouter aside. Let soak for 8-12 hours, or overnight.

After this soaking period, drain the water out, and rinse a few times using cool water and swirling the jar. Let the jar drain completely now, upside-down - I like to put the jar on top of a paper towel to let the water drip out.

Next, for the next few days, do this rinse-drain process 2 to 3 times a day. You can take one minutes in the morning, after school/work, then again in the evening.

At first, you won't see much, but after a day or so your little sproutsies will start to look like this...
and this..
then this...

Of course, nothing lasts forever, and especially not sprouts. As soon as the 'tail' is long enough, generally the length of the bean/grain itself, place your sprouts in a container and refrigerate.

I'm usually too lazy to do this, but there's something you can do to keep your legume sprouts lasting longer: before you refrigerate, place the sprouts in a bowl of water and pick off all the 'hulls' or 'shells'. Like, in the picture above of my lentil sprouts, you'd take the little brown things off.

What do I do with all these sprouts?!?!?

You can use them in:

salads
sandwiches
as a nice raw topping for soups or stir-fries
raw dips- like my raw hummous
sprouted crackers
and more!

Well, that's all! I think that I've covered everything. :) Feel free to ask any questions in the comments.

I should practice some Italian now- ciao!

I'm back!

2007-10-07T07:51:00.000-07:00

This week has been insanely busy, so I apologize for not posting since last Thursday. However, I did take a bunch of pictures, so here's what I've been cooking, eating, and doing this week:

A stirfry :I'd accidentally made it a bit too spicy, so I placed the stirfry on top of some crisp bean sprouts. This worked like a charm- the sprouts balanced the spiciness well, and I was able to eat my dinner after all.

I made a warm, soothing curry soup, and it was delicious. I followed one of my old recipes, too!

My parents were in BC last weekend, and they brought back some wonderful things from the Okanagan, like peaches and super-sweet plums. Also, when they were there, they went to a nut orchard, and picked up some fresh walnuts, chesnuts, and hazelnuts. Mmm! Chestnuts are my favorite nut EVER, so I was very pleased. :)

And, on Monday my dad pressed the grapes after letting them sit in barrels for a few days to ferment. I'm not quite sure about what's going on, but here's a picture of the pressing equipment:

Mm, this was a soup from FatFree Vegan- the "Clouds in a Sunset/Roasted Cauliflower Soup". We added a plethora of other vegetables, and it was delicious. I would definitely have this again.

This soup wasn't made by me:Nope, it was my littlest sister, K., who made it! After school one day, she said that she didn't like the soup everyone else was going to have for dinner, so she made her own with carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic... And she did it all herself! Even the cutting and sauteing- she's such a cool 7-year-old. :)

We bought a can of Soyatoo the other day- I have yet to try it, but my sisters had some and they said that it was pretty good. Yay! That's a real compliment coming from those whipped-cream-avores.

This was my lunch yesterday:
Erm, I can't quite remember what it was, but it was good.

Yesterday, I made a double-batch of Dreena Burton's Homestyle Chocolate Chip cookies and put them right into the freezer for next week. I'm having a bunch of friends over and I know that these cookies will be well-loved. :)

Some cookie pictures:

And that's all!

Anyways, I know that I promised to do a post on sprouting and I'll get right on that as soon as I can!

(and Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all of you up here in Canada)

My vegan lunchbox

2007-09-27T06:14:00.000-07:00

I haven't been making anything spectacular lately, but I though that I could show you all what sort of lunch I like to pack for school.

But, first of all, here's my lunchbox:

Isn't it cool? It has pictures of different hot peppers, as well as how hot they are in Scovilles. My mom found it in someone's recycling bin and took it home & washed it. I don't see why someone would throw out a perfectly good lunchbox like that...

And, on the inside, I've got a collection of produce stickers. I've allllmost covered the entire interior! :D

Anyways, I know that this was a few days ago, but here's what I had for lunch on Monday:

Carrot & bell pepper sticks and bean sprouts, a roti, a mandarin orange, lima bean sprouts with parsley & flax oil & lemon juice, and a stir fry on top of some greens. Mmm!

A close-up on those sprouts:
Anyways, I've got to go pack today's lunch now... See ya!

(Sorry for the horribly short post, but it's harder to find blogging time now. Also, I'm staying with my cousins this weekend so probably no posts then either. :( I'll see what I can do. )

R is for roti

2007-09-23T14:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I made some roti out of my borrowed copy of A Spicy Touch not once, but twice! It's a long and fairly uninteresting story, but let's just say that it all disappeared before I could pack some away for my lunches next week.

There were only 3 ingredients to this simple recipes: whole-wheat flour, olive oil, and boiling water. I did replace a bit of the flour with wheat gluten, though, which makes it 4 ingredients, but still! This recipe is easy enough that I was able to make it by memory the second time.
The dough did seem a bit too wet and sticky, though. I had to use a lot of flour during the rolling-out process.

I didn't manage to take any pictures of my roti on the frying pan, unfortunately, but here's a photo of the end result:

mm! Hot off the stove, the roti were slightly crispy. However, after a few minutes, they got soft enough to use just like a tortilla or pita bread. Taste great, too!
:D I can't wait to make roti again- I'll experiment and add spices right into the dough.

----

I did bring cookies (Dreena's Homestyle chocolate chip) to school the second day, but I've decided that I should again! I chose a Post Punk Kitchen recipe this time- Chewy Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies. (wow, that's a lot of 'c's... what if they had caramel and coconut, too? and crunchy rice crisps? and crushed candy cane?)

I give this recipe 5 stars! Easy, smells great, and received rave reviews.

K. and I made a big cookie pizza with the last chunk of dough:

:) I think my friends will be happy!
----

Finally, today at Superstore I found a neat 'Exotic Mushroom' pack. It had several different kinds of fresh 'shrooms, from porcini to button to enoki to a pile of others. I love enoki mushrooms so much- they're just adorable! I put some in a yummy stir-fry, starring alongside onion, kale, and plain old cultivated mushrooms.

:) And that's all for now! I'll try to post again real soon, and hopefully it will be all about sprouting. I received some good questions after my last post so I'll try to write a detailed 'FAQ' entry, with detailed sprouting directions!

See you all then!

Rawified hummous & other news

2007-09-22T09:07:00.001-07:00

I've posted several times before about how much I love sprouting- anything from lentils to quinoa to wheatberries to lima beans. My absolute favorite, though, has got to be chickpea sprouts. They're just DIVINE. The taste is decidedly raw and different from cooked chickpeas, but has its own appeal.

Anyways, I had a jar of sprouted chickpeas kicking around and decided to make a special raw hummus. Mmm! I've also got two Lebanese friends, so I packed up a little container to bring to school for them to try. (I brought along some pita bread for dipping, too!)
The verdict? They liked it! It does have a different flavour with sprouted chickpeas vs. cooked, but this hummus is addictive all the same.

What went into this hummus, you ask? Here are some rough estimations:

1/2 cup sprouted chickpeas
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 1/2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp water
1 tbsp fresh parsley
1 small clove of garlic, very finely chopped

It had a tuna-salad-esque texture, so next time I will probably add more olive oil/water to thin it out. Or, I'll take a totally different direction and add celery & kelp, and call it a faux tuna salad!

In other news, my dad's grapes are in! See, every year, he buys dozens of 35-pound crates of grapes and makes his own wine. It's really a neat process, from the squishing and pressing and siphoning and everything else that he does. This year, he's bought Shiraz and Merlot grapes, but also got a crate of Thompson seedless just for eating:

Mmm, BEST GRAPES EVER! They're remarkably sweet but still have a good dose of grape-y flavour.

Also, my mom's friend Shami has lent us two neat Indian cookbooks:
I'm really excited to try out some of the recipes in them! There are a few neat flatbread recipes, as well as a handful of intriguing daals. As for the ones containing meat and/or dairy, they look mostly veganizable, so I'll have fun doing that!

Yay for the weekend, and yay for finishing most of my homework already! :)

Seitan O'Greatness, Tikka Masala version

2007-09-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

Before I talk seitan, I'd just like to quickly let VegMomma (and any others in Edmonton) know that I get my pita bread at IGA, the Italian Center, or Planet Organic. It comes from the Sunbake Pita Bakery, located itself at 10728 134 Avenue NW. There are other stores you can get it at too, so just look around a bit. :)

-----

Anyways....
I made seitan according to the Vivacious Vegan's version of the well-known Seitan O'Greatness.

Here's a nice shot of the dry ingredients:

Mixing in the wet ingredients & kneading was my favorite part- I should make some bread sometime, because I really love getting right in there!

After kneading:
Erm, doesn't look so appetizing, at least not yet...

I don't like the idea of putting food in aluminum anything (something about Alzheimer's, I think), so I used a layer of parchment paper under the foil.

I loved being able to set the timer for 90 minutes, then just doing WHATEVER I want during that time. It's not like cookies, or roasted veggies, when you need to take them out fairly soon or at just the right time so that they don't burn.

And, here's the finished product:
A cross-section:

I left some bigger chunks of garlic when I minced it, which ended up really neat. The pieces got very soft and moist and wonderfully garlicky.
I've cut the whole log into nice, tiny strips that I can now add to a stir-fry or whatever else.

Alongside some yummy sushi, I packed some little pieces of seitan in my lunch for today. It's such a yummy, compact source of protein!

That was definitely a great recipe, and I'll probably follow it again pretty soon, but make some variations. A lot less nutritional yeast, for one- the cheesy aftertaste isn't really my thing. I really liked the complex flavours though- some spices hit your tongue right away, others you can taste just as you're swallowing. Awesome!

I had a lot of homework last night to work on, but I couldn't help but take a picture of the lovely sunset outside my window:

And, I've got some exciting news to share! I had a blood test last Wednesday, and the results are in- my protein, iron, B12, etc. are all GREAT! Yay! I'm a healthy, happy vegan! :D

Organic Roots Food Market- restaurant review

2007-09-18T06:15:00.000-07:00

I didn't have school yesterday! We don't have short Thursdays, so 1 or 2 Mondays per month are PD days. :D It's awesome.

So, yesterday, my mom and I went out for lunch at Roots, by the U of A. I'd never ever been there before, but it came recommended by a friend of a friend of mine, so we decided that we might as well!

Roots is both a health food store and a nice little cafe built into one. We did buy some neat things there, but I'll talk about that later...

I ordered the Veggie Supreme panini and my mom ordered the Mediterranian panini (with goat cheese- boo!). We also got salads on the side, here's mine:
Their salad bar was filled with SUCH variety! There were: mixed greens, baked tofu, bell pepper, sprouts, tomatoes, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, red onion, and a WHOLE LOT MORE. They also had 4 salad dressings (Nutritional yeast dressing, ginger wasabi vinaigrette, a lemony one, and a tahini one), all of which were labeled as vegan. I chose the ginger wasabi one, and it was very good.

At each table, in addition to salt and pepper, there were two other shakers: kelp granules and candied cardamom. I thought that was cool!

Here's my panini:
It had a roasted garlic spread, a red pepper spread, spinach, sprouts, and a whole lot more. I liked it a lot, but especially because of the size. It was nice and tiny, maybe about 12cm x 12cm, which is so perfect. It filled me up without making me feel gross and uncomfortably full, not like some sandwiches you might get elsewhere.

I'm definitely going back again, mostly for the amazing salad bar. :)

And, what we did buy there? Among other things, a sugarpie pumpkin:

My mom made a yummy, lemony quinoa pilaf with it- not quite spiced to my liking (it needed more ginger), but still very good.

I DID make seitan yesterday, too! I'll write about that after school. :) See you all in blogland then!

Whoa, it's Sunday already?

2007-09-16T11:51:00.000-07:00

Yikes, I didn't mean to take a break for this long! I guess time just flies by when you're doing homework...

Speaking of homework, I've got a LOT of it, but it's mostly just one subject. In my English 10H class, we're reading To Kill a Mockingbird and there are a few projects we're doing at the moment. One is to draw the Radley House:

Ugh, I'm still not quite done.... I don't mind drawing & colouring too much, though, so I've been coping pretty well so far.

Anyways, this isn't a whining-about-homework blog, this is a vegan food blog. So, let's see some vegan food!

I've been busy, as mentioned before, so my meals this weekend haven't been as fancy as theywould have been. Today, though, I had a delicious wrap of grilled eggplant and peppers, chickpeas, leftover broccoli stems, and a good dose of Ras el hanout.

We've been buying this delicous whole wheat flatbread lately, and it's replaced pita bread for me! I absolutely love it. It's paper-thin and flexible, so you don't have to mess around with stuffing it like you would a pita- you can just wrap it around your filling like a tortilla.
See? Paper-thin!Plus, it comes in HUGE rounds- probably about 1 meter/3 feet in diameter! I love tearing off just what I need.

Anyways, enough raving. Here's the aforementioned filling: (not a fantastic picture, but it tasted great; trust me!)

See you all again soon! :)

ps: If I have time, I'm going to make my first seitan EVER today or tomorrow. I've be using the Vivacious Vegan's modified Seitan O'Greatness recip e. I'll post my endeavors into wheat meat making!

Award meme & no frosty tomatoes for us!

2007-09-12T19:31:00.000-07:00

The lovely Bazu has tagged me with a meme!

Thanks so much! :) That totally surprised me and made my day.

I'm going to tag Carla of But did they EAT it?. Some of the recipes she's come up with are just absolutely amazingly original. And, often Carla will tackle a basic recipe in a way that nobody has before. Look at this recent post and see that she made spiral spanakopita! If that's not creative, I don't know what is!

Also, I found it quite original and creative how Tracy of A Veg*n for Dinner made 'bonz' for her seitan ribz... check it out!

Really, though, I think that there are SO many creative vegan bloggers out there. Give yourself a nice big pat on the back! :)

Last night, my mom found out some how that there would be an overnight frost-yikes! That meant we had to pick ALL the tomatoes right then.

Well, we didn't pick them all, but stopped instead after 3 shoeboxes (2 full of green tomatoes and 1 with ripe or semi-ripe ones)

I liked this tomato a lot... see the pretty yellow stripes?

Haha, this one has a nose!

Also, my mom stopped at the Italian Centre on Monday and got some neat stuff, including:

Hot peppers!
You know how you're supposed to wash your hands RIGHT AFTER you get the juices all over your fingers? Well, I didn't, so now I've got blistering heat literally at my fingertips. Putting my contacts in is not a very pleasant experience...

Figgies! Yay for fresh figs! These are the only ones left, and they're mouldy and gross so I don't think they'll end up in my tummy anytime soon. The other ones were yummy, trust me!

Improvisation baking- does it get any more fun than that?

2007-09-10T19:45:00.000-07:00

Last school year, I pretty much subsisted, as far as starches were concerned, on biscuits. And not your traditional biscuits, either. Mine are whole-wheat, either fat-free or full of omega-3s, shaped like little clumps, and are chock-full of veggies, fruits, and spices.

The best part about baking these biscuits? I never use a recipe! Ever! It's so fun. I don't measure, either, so it's important that one gets the hang of it

Here's how it usually goes down:

Dry ingredients:
Flours (combination of 1 or more of these: whole wheat, spelt, quinoa, oat, soy...)
Baking powder
Spices- anything in the pantry!
Chopped fruits or veggies
Flax seeds, bran, other random additions

Then I add enough soymilk and water to make a dough that's just wet enough, form into biscuits, and bake at 375 for about 20 to 25 minutes.

Some neat biscuit flavours I've made:

Apple cinnamon
Tomato basil
Carrot ginger
Almond cinnamon
Banana
Broccoli, with sage, savory, and thyme
Blueberry
Bell pepper and paprika

Last night, I made a batch with my awesome littlest sister (who shall henceforth be known by her middle initial, K.) It was apple-cinnamon, which of course filled the house with the most lovely smell, of fall and back-to-school ickyness but in a perfectly OK way.

Sometime, I think that I'll go CRAZY and make a revolutionary biscuit with a ton of vegetables -cauliflower, carrot, broccoli, onion, tomato, zucchini- add some fragrant Indian spices, and call it a CURRY BISCUIT. Whoa.

Anyways, here's the stir-fry I had for dinner tonight. I'm not going to wax poetic about it because I'm tired. Plus, it's a STIR-FRY.
It sure looks pretty, though.

Thanks for reading though all this incoherency, have a fantastic few days until I post again!

2007-09-09T17:34:00.001-07:00

After 4 whole days of school, it's so nice to be cooking again! This weekend, I've really done a lot of improv lunches and dinners, and boy has it been yummy.

Friday night: I made a 'curry' stir-fry with a vast rainbow of veggies:

I started off by sauteing the red chili, onion, and garlic with some yellow curry paste. My awesome littlest sister helped me out by adding the next vegetables when I asked for them (Ok, now mushrooms! Tomatoes! Carrots! ...)

Once the veggies all almost done, I added some warmed-up soymilk. I then let that reduce (uncovered of course), and I ended up with a creamy skillet of tastiness.

I ate the whole thing. Yes, that's right. The WHOLE THING. :D

Saturday's lunch: No pictures, sorry, but I made a lovely onion, mushroom, and lentil stir-fry, then put that on top of some romaine lettuce and steamed broccolini. I'm really loving the stir-fry-on-top-of-salad thing that I've been doing lately- lots of contrasting tastes and textures. Mmm! You don't even need to use a salad dressing, either.

Saturday's dinner: 4 different kinds of salad... we went to my great-aunt's 70 birthday party and I was perfectly happy to fill up on leafy greens and raw veggies. Plus, I made a hefty bowl of apple-cinnamon oatmeal before, so I was fine.

Sunday/today's lunch: Another stir-fry+salad. This time, I used a Moroccan spice blend with bell pepper, tomatoes, kale, mushrooms, an onion, and some frozen white beans I found kicking around in the freezer.

Now, on a bed of romaine lettuce and raddicio, with nori strips:
It was very fragrant (I used a bit too much of the spices), but very delicious and rich-tasting. The nori was a random addition and didn't go well with the flavours of the dish, so I'll leave it out for sure next time.

Finally, we just had some roasted veggies (cauliflower, onion, broccoli, garlic, garden carrots, bell pepper) for dinner, as well as a plethora of other things.. Mostly leftovers. Yummy all the same. :)

I found a chunk of tofu in the freezer, so I defrosted it and it's currently all chopped up and marinating in tamari, vinegar, ginger, Chinese 5-spice, and some other things that I just threw in there...

Don't you love how frozen tofu gets all those cool little air-holes?

For this next week's lunches, I have some leftovers in little containers so I should be ok. Also, I'm probably going to assemble some rice-less sushi and I'll find another yummy soup recipe for my mom to have fun with. Yay for being vegan and NOT going hungry!

Big thanks to my mom!

2007-09-06T18:44:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in a previous post, school has started again and I'm as busy as ever. I've been juuuust scraping together a lunch for the next day. Thankfully, my mom has been preparing delicious dinners for me (and the rest of the family) that are flavourful, vegan, and just plain yummy! I'm so proud of my mom- I did have to show her where some of the spices are hiding in the pantry, but so far her results have been great.

We had a delicious Creamy Cabbage and Zucchini Curry yesterday and the day before (lots of delicious leftovers). MY dad and MY brother even liked this. WHOA!

Then, tonight we had the Earthy Lentil Stew from Vive le Vegan! It was really yummy- a lot like the lentil soup we usually have, but with a bit more depth in flavour. My dad & brother loved this too!

When I eat lentil soup, I like to add some interest to it by adding some toppings- always fresh raw veggies, cut into tiny pieces. Plus, the raw vegetables contribute a boost of vitamin C, making the iron from the lentils even MORE bioavailable.

I used cabbage, yellow bell pepper, garden carrots, and tomato today:
Spinach, lemon juice, and broccoli are some add-ins I like as well.

:) Sometimes I add too many veggies and my soup is suddenly a salad!

Lastly... on my run today, I saw a lovely rainbow (it was a fantastic run, by the way. Edmonton has perfect weather in the fall for that kind of thing). It kinda snuck up on me, too- I turned a corner past some trees, and BAM! :) So, once I got back home I grabbed my camera to take a piccie.

Happy Thursday everyone!

My letter has been published! Finally!

2007-09-05T18:50:00.000-07:00

Yay! :D

They even gave my little letter a silly title- 'How to be a vegan'

See it on the website here

I'd love to write a nice, big post right now, but I've got homework and a lunch for tomorrow to pack. Gah. See you all in blogland sometime later this week!

First day of school! And, 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town....'

2007-09-04T15:12:00.000-07:00

When I walked into the house this afternoon, I couldn't believe my nose. My home smelled of spicy, exotic food- something that my mom doesn't cook that often (my dad & brother like bland food.). Then, I remembered: I was getting really frustrated last night, because I'd just made dinner for everyone (my mom was out), then all of a sudden I had to make my lunch for school, and it couldn't have too many raw veggies or legumes because nobody likes vegan gas... so I was totally overwhelmed.

Then, my mom saw how I was feeling and offered to make something yummy for me, something that I could pack up for school. I picked out a Creamy Cabbage and Zucchini Curry recipe- it looked really delicious! I don't think it's authentic Indian, as it uses both garam masala and curry powder, and as I recall Dino said that you wouldn't do that. Ah well, it sure smells good! I'll take pictures later. :)

Also, I was tagged by Jackie to do a fun meme. It's Christmas themed, too! How fun. A bit early, but fun.

Santa's First Meme
* What is your favorite Christmas gift? Clothes are always practical, but fun... books are nice too. I've got my eye on a food dehydrator for this year! :D
* What is your best memory of Christmas? On cold winter nights, we used to sit on a couch by the Christmas Tree, in the dark, watching the colourful lights blink... such a magical moment.
* Depending on where you live do you have a hot or cold Christmas? COLD!
*Would you prefer to try the opposite weather at least just once? Naw, Christmas isn't Christmas if it isn't -20 C! My dad always lights a fire in our fireplace- burns trees, yes, but it's cozy warm.
* What do you prefer in a tree? Fake or real? Real!
* What is your favorite Carol? Ooh, that's a toughie... I like The Happiest Christmas Tree, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, I Believe in Father Christmas, Walking in a Winter Wonderland, or Christmas Time is Here from Charlie Brown. :) Anything other than The Little Drummer Boy... I fainted from standing too long when we were singing that song in grade 4 music class and haven't been able to enjoy it since.
* What is your favorite Christmas Dinner? Something simple and vegan, of course... Nothing too fancy-pancy. Maybe some baked sweet potatoes, quinoa, and a simple bean soup.
* Do you wear a Santa Hat at Christmas? Not really.. it messes up my hair. :D
* Have you ever seen me delivering your gifts? Nope! :o

Edit: Gahh! I'm so silly! I forgot to tag some more people. Well, I say that anyone who has time on their hands can have some fun with this meme. :)

Bagel time!

2007-09-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

Bagels! My mom loves them, especially the multigrain ones. Of course, I don't like it when we buy food that we could easily make on our own. "Why don't we make some?" has pretty much become my motto:

One of my sisters: "Mm, I like pretzels. Can we buy them sometime, mommy?"
Me: (jumping in on the conversation) "Why don't we just MAKE some? :D"

I've said that about doughnuts, pies, pita bread, naan bread, risotto, even breakfast cereals. And, of course, I found a recipe for bagels and just HAD to make some.

We used this recipe, with multigrain bread flour instead of white bread flour. It might look labor-intensive, but it's really a lot of fun! The recipe is very basic and is just begging for variations, but tastes great as is, too.

First, you mix the dough and knead for 10-12 minutes:
[note: I'm in my running clothes since I wanted to go for a run right after we finished :) ]

After letting the dough rise for 15 minutes, you get to actually make the bagels! Fun!
The recipe said to form 8, but those would make huuuuuuge, monster-sized bagels the size of my head. We made almost 30 smaller ones.

before the 2nd rise...

...and after!

Next time, we'll try to make the rings much thinner. The holes kinda disappeared!

Bagels are traditionally boiled before you bake them. This recipe calls for a 'broth' of water, barley malt, and salt. That malt is really sticky and rather tough to measure....

The bagels had to be simmered for 45 seconds on each side. After a while, I stopped counting each second and guessed when the time was up. I thought that they were so cute- little bagels floating in a warm bath. :)

Then, after letting the bagels drain a bit on dish towels, we brushed them with soymilk and either left them plain or added a topping- poppy seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, or good ol' flax seeds. Or a combination! This was my favorite part.

We slipped the bagels into the preheated oven (450 degrees!), turned the temperature down to 425, and let the oven do its magic.

Voila! Perfect little bagels. Aren't they adorable?

I'm not a huge fan of bagels- too dense and bready for me- but I had a little bit of one and it was realllllly good!
My dad even loved these! He had two... Whoa! I think these are going to end up a family staple, seeing how much we all enjoy these bagels. They ended up the perfect size for school lunches.

My 10-year-old sister did the toppings for a bunch of them, including the crazy one with tons of flax seeds (bottom left-hand corner).

I've got some great variations in mind for next time that we could try making by kneading the additions into each little ball of dough- cinnamon raisin, blueberry, chocolate chip with cocoa for a real treat, 'trail mix' with dried fruit and extra nuts and seeds, Hawaiian with dried pineapple & papaya and shredded coconut, sundried tomato and basil...

I'm going to give this recipe 10 fresh figs out of 10. The kneading is relaxing, shaping the donuts is fun, 'bathing' the donuts is rather enjoyable, and dipping bagels in various toppings is something the whole family can take a part in. Hah, I sound like a commercial. But, TRY THESE, okay?

The link again: http://www.onnetworks.com/videos/dinner-with-the-band/making-bagels-and-lox-with-el-p/recipe

Last day of summer...

2007-09-03T07:32:00.001-07:00

I can't believe that school starts TOMORROW! Crazzzzzy. This summer had been so great- I haven't really done much, but there were little things in my life all summer long, like tennis camp or going to watch all the FIFA U-20 World Cup games at Commonwealth. I've done a lot of cooking and baking, which I'm real happy about. :)

In any case, school is going to take over my life pretty soon, so I probably won't be posting as often as I am, unfortunately. I'll do my best, though!

***

Also, it's been a full week since that slightly 'anti-vegan' column was published in the Edmonton Journal and I sent in a letter. I don't think it'll ever be on the Letters page, unfortunately. Argh!

I'm planning to make some bagels with my mom later today, so I'll post again later about that adventure. :)

Big post- catching up on the last few days

2007-08-31T12:51:00.000-07:00

Thanks everyone for your support! My letter still hasn't been published, unfortunately, but if they do tomorrow that'd be real cool. It would be in the Saturday paper, and I imagine that lots of people would read that! :)

In other news....

-I tried fresh figs the other day! AMAZING! I was actually feeling kinda bummed out a few hours earlier, having only had dried ones, but then we went over to my cousins' house after supper. And guess what? They had picked up some Calimynra figs from the Italian Centre! I'll need to go there ASAP.

Fresh figs have a very different flavour from dried ones... It's a lot mellower and less intensly sweet. I had four. :)

-Also, we went to the Shogun Japanese Restaurant last night, because my brother was on the Alberta North soccer team and it wwas a year-end-party sort of thing. I'd nevvvvver been there before, so I was kinda worried. Would I go home starving or would there be vegan options a-plenty?

In a nutshell, watching them cook dead cow, chickens, and shrimp right in front of me was NOT at all enjoyable, but the servers were verrrry understanding. I ended up having a dressing-less salad, some fried silken tofu in a thinned teriyaki sauce, a bowl of white rice, and a biiiig plate of stir-fried zucchini, mushrooms, onions, and bean sprouts. I didn't eat much rice or fried tofu, but the stir-fry was yummy!

We stopped at Planet Organic on the way home and I picked up some whole wheat pastry flour, garbanzo bean/chickpea flour, and wheat gluten. :) I'm planning to do some baking, make some chickpea pancakes, and seitan is on the menu as well!

-The other day, when my sisters and I were out for a walk, there was an adorable caterpillar sitting on the sidewalk. We didn't want him to end up squished, so gently coaxed the little guy onto a stick to take home with us.

My awesome littlest sister made the cutest little home for him, complete with a bed and a branch for when he needs to make his cocoon. No walls or cage, though- this is a FREE-RANGE caterpillar!

We decided to name him Miwiki. After some research, it had been discovered that Miwiki is a Spotted Tussock Moth caterpillar. :)

Recipe Review: Cornmeal pancakes from Comfort Food Vegan

Two big thumbs up! My sisters, my mom, and I alll loved these. Easy recipe (I measured and mixed the dry ingredients the night before), yummy results. They tasted kinda like tortillas from the cornmeal, so I ate them as 'tacos' with a blueberry-cinnamon-blackstrap molasses- ground flaxseed filling. Delicious! I might add some raspberries to the batter next time. What a treat that would be!

Recipe Review: Lisa's Chocolate Cake from VegWeb

This is one of those 'wacky cakes' that use vinegar and baking soda as a leavener/egg replacer. The recipe was simple, easy to follow, and turned out great, of course. I use 3/4 cup of cocoa instead of 1/3 cup! :) I knew that that would be the way my mom would like it.
I decided to go with a chocolate-orange theme and drizzled each slice with an orange syrup (sugar plus orange extract plus soymilk) and some grated orange chocolate. Rave reviews, of course.

We had tofu nuggets for dinner tonight, and they were SO GOOD. I used some oats in the 'breadcrumbs' and used a lot more of the spices. I sliced them real thin to make them extra-crunchy. I should so use my mandolin slicer next time!

(and no, that's not the mandolin I have... Mine's a cheap Starfrit one, not an awesome 170$ one. hah.)

This isn't really a recipe review, since I didn't really follow the recipe, but I made the Spicy Kohlrabi and Tomato Stew from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian today as a stuffing for my lunch pita. I only had one kohlrabi, so I added a bell pepper too. Also, I didn't add any liquid, so the result was more of a stir-fry than anything else. I CAN say, though, that it was yummy!

Whew, I think that's all for now. I've been trying to do as much fun cooking and baking as I can now, since school starts on Tuesday. Wahh! I don't want to start high school. :(

Groceries! Rambutan! Okra! Miso soup! Yay!

2007-08-28T14:49:00.001-07:00

My mom and I went to Ikea and Save-on-Foods yesterday, and I got some neat stuff.

Thai chiles: they're tiny and cute, but REAL spicy! I tried just a tiny little bit and I could still feel the burn 15 minutes later.

Rambutan! More on that later. ;)

Okra! More on those later in this post, too.

Shiitake mushrooms! (for miso soup... more on THAT later as well)

Two awesome spice blends- Moroccan and African. Mmm.

Yellow split peas: just because! Dino posted a split pea falafel recipe on the Vegan Freak Forums, plus World Vegetarian has plenty of exciting recipes with these bad boys.

And, from Ikea.... a MORTAR and PESTLE! Who needs a coffe grinder? I can grind up my quinoa into flour with this! Aha.

Girl vs. Rambutan

I couldn't help wantign to eat this strange fruit right away, so I grabbed a knife and got cracking!

The skin was kinda thick and tough, but peeled away easily once I got in there.

Eep, looks like an egg!

It was really yummy, though. The taste was a lot like a lychee, if you just happen to be familiar with those.

And all that was left was the seed....

I've never, ever, ever had okra before. As I had no idea as to how to prepare this odd vegetable, I turned to Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian (from the library) and the internet. Well, I came across dozens of recipes for fried okra (no thanks) and gumbos, but I wasn't in the mood for either. So I just thought, "DOWN WITH THE MAN! DOWN WITH THE SYSTEM! I'LL DO WHAT I WANT WITH MY OKRA!"

So, I started off by washing & drying completely, like it said to do in World Vegetarian.

I made a nice little stir-fried dish, and here's how it went:

Okra with tomato and pepper
serves one with a bit of leftovers for tomorrow

2 tsp canola oil
Fresh chopped Thai red chile to taste- I used maybe 4 little slices. It's hot stuff!
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped onion
11 okra 'pods'
1/2 cup chopped tomato
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper

Place oil in a frying pan or wok over medium-high to high heat. When the oil is hot, add chile, garlic, and onion. Saute until onion is almost transculent. Turn heat down to medium

Stir in okra and stir-fry for 1 minute, then add tomato and bell pepper. Stir-fry for 2 minutes, then add 1/4 cup of water and cover. Check periodically in case something burns! The okra should be done after about 7 minutes, or when it's tender.
Exceptionally colourful and just as tasty! It's real easy, too. I love when the okra releases that weird, viscous goo. So cool!

And, of course, miso soup. I'm not going to post the recipe, because it was just too simple! 4 ingredients; that's all. This is one of those times when less really IS more!

Admittedly, it turned out more like a stew than a soup, but yummy nonetheless.
(I like how the sun had been painted onto the bowl in juuuust the right place! Sunrise soup :D )

I was really flattered when my mom told me that my miso 'stew' was good- she's been to Japan!

Ok, fine. I'll divulge the recipe. I warned you though- it's realllly basic and effortless!

Easy-peasy Miso Soup

3 cups water
100g/3.5 oz shiitake mushrooms- remove the stems and slice the caps.
3 leaves kale- remove tough inner stem and cut into strips
1 1/2 to 2 tbsp miso (to taste), made into a slurry by mixing it with a bit of water.

Bring water to an almost-boil, then stir in mushrooms and kale. Turn down the heat to medium-low. When kale is cooked, maybe 3 minutes, take the pot of the heat and stir in miso slurry. And serve!

Green onions would be a lovely addition.

****
The letter to the Edmonton Journal (see this post) has been written and sent! Here's what I said:

In Monday's Body & Health section, in the 'Ask an Expert' a reader sent in a question about whether it's hard to be a vegan of vegetarian these days because 'everything contains animal byproducts'.

Contrary to what one might think, NOT everything contains animal products. Sure, there are times when you have to watch out for whey in your margarine or gelatin in your sunflower seeds, of all things, but by living on whole plant foods it's not hard at all. This means whole grains, legumes, fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as nuts and seeds.

If that's not your thing, there are plenty of vegan prepared foods as well- some of which, like veggie burgers and frozen dinners, can be found at mainstream grocery stores as well as health food stores.

Also, Michael Gaenzle makes the point that vitamins B12, folate, and calcium can be difficult to obtain enough of on a vegan diet.

To begin with, vitamin B12 is produced by bacteria and fungi in the soil. Meat-eaters and lacto-ovovegetarians get this nutrient from the animals that eat these micro-organisms in their feed. Unfortunately, vegans can't depend on the soil for their B12 because of pesticides, so must depend on fortified foods and supplements. This is a simple matter of consuming nutritional yeast, fortified soymilk or meat analogues, or taking an adequate supplement.

On the other hand, folate is a nutrient that is plentiful in vegan and vegetarian diets. In fact, those eating a plant-based diets can obtain 20% to 50% more folate than they need! (source: Becoming Vegan by Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina). Good plant sources of folate include romaine lettuce, spinach, asparagus, turnip greens, mustard greens, parsley, collard greens, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, and lentils.

Finally, calcium can be plentiful in the vegan diet in many forms- calcium-rich greens like kale and broccoli, calcium-set tofu, fortified non-dairy milks, super-grains like quinoa, figs, almonds, and supplemented forms, if necessary. Really, it's not difficult at all. These sources are generally much better choices than cow's milk, anyway- cow's milk is for baby cows!

As a side note, there are indeed gelatin-free, vegan marshmallows. They can be purchased online at Vegan Essentials or at other similar sites.

I hope that my letter will be published. Cross your fingers!

Yesterday's lunch and today's frustrations

2007-08-27T08:09:00.000-07:00

Yummy pita sandwich... I built this in layers: Broccoli + grilled eggplant and zucchini + "Dry" Red Lentils from Madhur Jaffery's World Vegetarian + a few dollops of my horseradish-peach chutney. So good!

I got World Vegetarian at the library a few days ago, and it's just the most amazing cookbook ever. To begin with, it's HUGE. 768 pages and over 650 recipes! While there is a chapter on dairy and eggs, and there are recipes calling for cream or yogurt or butter, most are vegan or easily veganizable.

There's just SO MUCH in there. I don't know where to start!

Madhur Jaffrey's Indian roots are pretty obvious in this book, as there are probably more recipes from India than other cultures, but that's just fine with me. :)

I liked the idea of her 'Dry' Red Lentils because they sounded ideal as a sandwich filling, or pretty much anything else. This recipe was verrry simple and basic- the only ingredients called for are red lentils, oil, garlic, and onion, with the option of adding carrots and celery. I doubled the veggies, of course. :)

And what an easy recipe! The hardest part was waiting as the lentils soaked for a few hours.

I was veryyy impressed with the results- flavourful, without actually using any spices, and as 'dry' as she had promised (as an alternative to when red lentils are cooked to a 'soupy' consistency'.

What a great basic recipe! It will be perfect for lunches once school starts again. I've frozen the extras!

****

In the Edmonton Journal, every Monday they have a special 'Body and Health' section. Usually, the paper will run an 'Ask the Expert' column, where people will write in and specialized Edmonton doctors will answer their questions.

Here's what today's question was:

(read the whole article/column here)

"In a recent Get Fuzzy comic strip, one of the characters laments that a personal trainer was right in saying there are animal byproducts in everything -- from veal stomach in cheese and glycerine in bubble gum, to gelatin in marshmallows and live bugs in yogurt. Since the bugs or bacteria are live in probiotic yogurt, does this mean vegetarians can't eat it? And, is it true that everything contains animal byproducts so it's harder to be a vegetarian or vegan these days?"

Did you catch that?

And, is it true that everything contains animal byproducts so it's harder to be a vegetarian or vegan these days? (emphasis mine)

I wouldn't quite say that EVERYTHING contains animal byproducts. :) Or is there some whey hiding inside my eggplants and gelatin in my tofu?

Of course, the professor who answered this question was an assistant professor of microbiology, but near the end of his response he couldn't help being a nutritionist as well:

"Vegans, though, have difficulty getting the full recommended daily amount of vitamin B-12 or folate. If you make a decision to become a vegan in your adult life, you may still have enough reserves from your meat-eating days for those nutrients to carry on for a while, but eventually you may need to supplement. This has been a problem for vegan pregnant women especially, because the requirements they need go up quite substantially.

So there are some vitamins you have to pay attention to if you're a vegan. The same goes for calcium, because in the average Canadian diet, dairy products are the most significant source of calcium. If that's taken out, you have to figure out how to get it back in by choosing another source of calcium."

Argh. Not nearly as frustrating as Nina Planck, of course, but I hate when people make it sound like veganism is hard.

I don't know why he talks about the B vitamin folate/folic acid, either. According to the World's Healthiest Foods website, "Excellent sources of folate include romaine lettuce, spinach, asparagus, turnip greens, mustard greens, calf's liver, parsley, collard greens, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, and lentils." All of those, except for calf's liver (aw! poor baby cows! :(), are from plants and VEGAN. I don't see why this nutrient would be hard to get enough of... In fact, in Becoming Vegan, Davis and Melina say that "Adult vegans and lacto-ovo-vegetarians consume abot 20% to 50% more folate than nonvegetarians".

I'm thinking about writing a letter to the Journal to clarify some of these points, and to make it very clear indeed that a healthy vegan lifestyle is EASY PEASY.

Sweet, spicy, and sooooo good

2007-08-25T18:44:00.000-07:00

We've got a monster in our backyard! His name is Horseradish and is taking over part of the garden... Almost 5 feet tall and more than that in width!

I don't really like the idea of wasting all those lovely, flavourful greens, so I decided to make a horseradish chutney or 'pesto' with them. My mom offered a brilliant idea as to what to combine with the leaves- peaches! How convenient- our peaches are getting a bit old, too...

I whizzed up some horseradish leaves, peach chunks, and a few fresh herbs and spices in the Magic Bullet. The result? A hot, pungent chutney with a bit of sweetness. Mmm- it's like commercial horseradish, but sooooo much better.

Horseradish-Peach Chutney
makes about 1 cup

3 cups of washed, dried, chopped horseradish leaves- loosely packed
3/4 cup of diced peaches
3-4 leaves of fresh mint
Pinch of fresh parsley
3 grinds of black pepper

Pack all ingredients in a food processor (a blender would probably work to) and blend until fairly smooth. I suggest weighing down the horseradish greens with peach to make for easier blending. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed (you might need more peaches if it's not sweet enough; yours might not be as overripe as mine were!)

Use like you would your usual chutney or horseradish- I'm going to try some in a pita sandwich. :)

Horseradish greens might be tough to find commercially, but they are occasionally used as a salad green. Your best bet will be to find someone who grows their own, like us. They'll appreciate it!

Horseradish greens and nutrition:
I couldn't find much information on the internets, but supposedly they contain vitamins A, B, and C, and are packed with iron and calcium. It's high in protein as well, containing the amino acids methionine and cystine, both of which are supposedly in 'short supply'.

(take all of that with a grain of salt- it's just shifty information form the internet. but, horseradish leaves are leafyy and green, you can't really go wrong!)