We've Moved to VeganBits.com

Hi Everyone,

It's been almost 6 months and we've got this vegan thing down. To celebrate, we bought our own website, VeganBits.com. You can continue to read about us there. If you're a current subscriber, this blogger subscription will no longer update. You'll need to click on the RSS button at Vegan Bits to subscribe to ensure that you continue to receive our new posts.

Thank you for following our progress and we hope to see you at our new home!

Lane & Jane

Happy Holidays!

Hi Everyone,

Jane and I want to wish you all Happy Holidays. We celebrate Christmas in our household and that means we're going to be incredibly busy over the next week... We're also still having DSL issues, and won't have time to get to the library to post. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. We've got a service call scheduled for the 27th. (Keep your fingers crossed.) We expect to be up and running then.

In the meantime, to paraphrase Elvis Costello ... we wish you all peace and love and understanding, whatever holiday you and yours might celebrate.

Lane & Jane

How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, or Not

Jane has Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" on loan from our local library. She likes to test drive new recipes prior to buying a new cookbook. This cookbook looks very promising. It's almost 1,000 pages and seems quite comprehensive. The recipes we've read sound appealing. So we're pretty excited to try a few.

Recently, we went to our favorite local Indian restaurant and had a delicious, new-to-us, eggplant dish. As Jane was going through the Bittman Cookbook she found a recipe that looked similar to that dish. She actually called me to tell me about it and that she was going to prepare that recipe for dinner tonight. In response to "what are we eating tonight" I usually hear "dinner." Jane has long since stopped telling me what I'm getting since, on rare occasion, I might have suggested I'd rather eat something other than what she was preparing. So I knew she was pretty excited about this recipe since I was hearing about it in advance.

Unfortunately, the dish didn't live up to what we had at Akbar, the Indian restaurant I've been referring too. We were both pretty disappointed in the results. The dish looks pretty, and smells good, but it was kind of, well... not what we had at Akbar. So, this recipes not a keeper. But we're not through with this cookbook just yet.

It's Tex/Mexican for Dinner Tonight

Tonight we had bean burritos with home-made guacamole and Tofutti Sour Cream. Yum. Jane puts black beans, an onion and a few drops of liquid smoke in the food processor, and voilia, vegan "refried" beans. It's a pretty quick and easy meal for her to get together, and we both really enjoy it. She always uses whole wheat tortillas too, so we feel good about our healthy "fast food."

Tonights version had a little brown rice, some diced tomatoes and a healthy dollop of Cholula brand Hot Sauce, which we get at Costco, of all places. And, as usual, the tortillas were accompanied by a large green salad. Dinner was filling and quite satisfying. Thanks Jane!

We're Back -- And Eating Indian Food Again!

First, let me apologize to anyone who has missed our blogging since Thursday. We have been having DSL issues and I am now at my public library using their free wireless. It's certainly not the most convenient way of getting things out there, but it works, and it's better than trying to steal bandwidth from your neighbors! (That is, if any of them are still reckless enough to use an insecure wireless connection.) Anyway, back to the topic at hand!

Last week I ventured out and had Indian food for lunch, and was successful enough to find a few vegan dishes. So last night Jane and I decided to try our favorite Indian Restaurant again. We haven't been since we've become vegans. Our rationale for avoiding this restaurant is that it is home to one of our absolute most favorite dish: Chicken Tikka Masala, an obvious vegan no-no, prepared in a tomato cream sauce which is spectacular.

After 5+ months of being vegan, we figured we might be beyond pining for the Chicken Tikka Masala and wouldn't have any trouble passing it over. Thankfully, that proved to be correct.

We also asked our server for help in selecting items that were compatible with a vegan diet. He suggested the Channa Masala, which is garbanzo beans prepared in an onion and tomato sauce. This sounded similar to something Jane makes with okra, so we decided to try that. Our waiter also suggested the Bengan ka Salan, which is a sauteed eggplant dish prepared in a coconut-tamarind sauce. OUT OF THIS WORLD! We enjoyed it so much that we didn't even miss the Tikka Masala, and may have found our new favorite dish.

Of course, we skipped the naan, and did verify with this restaurant that it is indeed made with egg and milk. But Jane has scoped out a recipe for vegan naan on the internet and will be giving it a whirl some tine early next year. She's got enough on her plate with all the family / holiday things going on now. (You can read that as: I got "that" look for even daring to ask when she'd be baking the naan.)

Naan - It Isn't for Vegans!

I had lunch with a colleague today. We went to an Indian restaurant he knew of, very close to our meeting site, which was important since the weather wasn't cooperating much. The restaurant shall remain nameless, since it isn't one I care to refer to anyone!

Regardless, our server was great. He helped me find a vegan meal and as our food was being brought to the table, he grabbed my naan (an Indian flat bread usually served to help sop up all the delicious sauces), and said he'd provide a vegan alternative for me. Apparently, naan is made with milk and eggs. Who knew?

Again the food was actually pretty bad, but the service was stellar. I was really impressed that this person cared enough to ensure that my dietary requirements were being met. He certainly would not have suffered in any way if I'd been served the naan, and quite frankly, I never would have known it wasn't vegan.

So, once again I've learned you cannot make any assumptions... ASK, ASK, ASK!

Vegan Eggnog

If that doesn't sound like an oxymoron...

About a week ago Jane bought a quart of Silk Eggnog. We've enjoyed the Silk Coffee-Milk and Silk Chocolate Milk, so Jane figured we'd give this a try for the holidays.

One of our guests to this blog, Shannon, commented that this product is amazing. So, once again, I had high hopes. Well, Shannon is right. It's really good, and while I can't say I'd want it every day, I certainly expect we'll be having more of it over this holiday season.

Caveat to the reader: I was never one for traditional eggnog, I always found the rum to be too overpowering. I remember having some one year waaaay back when, in my adolescence, sans booze, that was really good - but my girl cousins wouldn't have more than a glass, too many calories.

The Silk product isn't going to help you out if you're dieting, but it's probably a whole lot lower in calories than those traditional egg and cream concoctions!

You're Vegan, So Fish is Good, Right?

Jane and I were at a holiday party Saturday night (that's where the pie went to that I mentioned in my previous post). It was hosted by neighbors down the block with whom we have a casual, nodding-hello, friendship. The party was a sit-down dinner, and was our first dinner party as vegans.

How to handle this? We really didn't know the hosts all that well prior to the party, so we didn't want to inconvenience them. But if they were planning on a "surf and turf" plated meal, we certainly weren't going to be able to participate in that, nor did we want them to waste their money on food we wouldn't eat. We decided that we would tell the hosts we were vegetarian, but didn't eat much cheese, and hope for the best. When Jane called to RSVP she reassured our hosts that we didn't require any special efforts on their part, and if they were worried we'd be more than happy to bring a vegan dish. Otherwise, we'd most likely be fine with the salad and sides they were serving.

Indeed everything did work out fine. We had a number of vegetarian sides to choose from, and our hosts prepared a few of their items meat-free specifically for us. Somehow the conversation got around to our "peculiar" eating habits so Jane outed us as vegans. The couple from the mid-west didn't know what "vegan" meant. When Jane explained we eat no animal product, the wife asked us if we ate fish. I guess if you come from cattle country, fish aren't animals...

We were asked to all bring a dessert, and the dessert table looked wonderful! There were brownies and caramel squares, and lemon bars. In addition to those goodies, there were two cakes and three pies: Jane's Apple Pie, and two pies from Marie Callendar's (a family style restaurant that is most famous for a wide variety pies). I can't speak to the quality of the other desserts because they all contained eggs and butter, so I didn't partake of them, but Jane's Apple Pie was wonderful. In fact, it was the most consumed dessert on the table. There were only two slices left at the end of the evening, and the poor Marie Callendar's apple pie sat there untouched.

Being a member of the estimated 0.3% of the United States population that is vegan certainly makes party-going a challenging event food-wise. But with a little planning and a bit of communication, everything can work out well in the end.

Happy Holidays.

Apple Pie

Jane has always loved to bake. And I have always loved eating her baked goods. Times have been lean since eggs and butter are out of the picture, but today when I got home I was greeted by a heavenly aroma wafting out of the kitchen. I sniffed my way in, and what did my eyes behold but apple pie. Yay! Apple pie for dessert.

Alas, it was not to be. Jane made that pie for a party we are attending tomorrow night. No matter how much I tried to prevail upon her that we should have a slice to see if the crust came out good enough to bring with us, she wouldn't give in. I guess the thought of having to bake another pie tomorrow didn't really excite her as much as it did me.

Anyway, I'm certainly going to have some tomorrow night and I'm sure it will be great!

Baking Woes

As I sit here struggling with the December Daring Baker's challenge, I am researching my ingredient substitutions, specifically eggs in baked goods. I have two really good references at my side. The first is Ann Gentry’s Real Food Daily Cookbook which Lane has blogged about often, and we love. The second is Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian- an ambitious title, but at just over 1000 pages (if you count the Acknowledgments and Intro sections) it may be accurate. This book is new to us, but looks very promising. We've got it on loan from our local library, but I'm thinking it might need to live in our home!

Anyway, the recipe calls for butter and eggs. Of course it does, who on this earth doesn't bake with butter and eggs, and maybe milk. All us vegans! The rest of the ingredients don't pose a problem, I've got them in my cupboard. But I still have this nagging sense of dread. Why? To date, I haven’t been happy with my baked goods and I think it is the fact that the eggs are not (easy to replace). Now I'm faced with baking again, but that is why I signed up for The Daring Baker's in the first place, to get me baking again!

For egg substitutions Ann Gentry recommends tofu, nut butters, fruit purees, or arrowroot. Mark Bittman recommends this recipe:

2 Tablespoons water
1 Tablespoon neutral oil (grapeseed or corn), and
1 teaspoon cornstarch (I’ll use arrowroot)
Mix together and stir until smooth.

The internet provides a whole host of other options, the most intriguing to me is something with ground flax seed. Intuitively, I think the recipe above will work best because it substitutes for the fat, the liquid, and the binding properties of eggs. Mr. Bittman also suggests 3 tablespoons of silken tofu could be used in place of an egg, but I’ve found it adds an almost gritty texture, and maybe changes the taste; in any event, when I’ve used tofu in place of an egg in baking, I haven’t been happy with the results.

If this recipe turns out to be a success (and I will have the opportunity to taste test), Lane will be bringing it to work for his office holiday party on Tuesday. If not, well I still have a few days to try and get some cookies together!
Merry Happy! -- Jane

It's the Holiday Season....

OK, I'll admit it. I'm one of those guys you used to see frantically shopping on Christmas eve. I wasn't out there trying to get the perfect gift... I was just trying to get any gift. Jane has finally beaten it into my head that "Christmas is Coming." It doesn't matter what time of the year it is, Christmas is always coming.

My wife is always looking for gifts to give. But she's not one of those people who just give gifts for any occasion. She'll hang on to the thing until a birthday or Christmas comes along. Her life is far less stressful that way. And now mine is too.

It's early December, so guess what's around the corner?

So this year, for the third year in a row, I am looking ahead. I'm thinking Jane needs to have a new cookbook, specifically The Joy of Vegan Baking: The Compassionate Cooks' Traditional Treats and Sinful Sweets. But will this be a gift for her, or for me? ;-)

Cream of Tomato Soup with a Surprize

It' s been cold here again. That always makes me think of soup. Luckily, Jane thinks the same way, so we've been having a variety of soups and stews lately. In our pre-vegan life, one of our old standby meals was cream of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, with a green salad. The only possibility left from that meal is the green salad.

This week's foray to the library resulted in us borrowing The Taste for Living Cookbook: Mike Milken's Favorite Recipes for Fighting Cancer by Michael Milken and Beth Ginsberg. It's not a vegan cookbook but it promotes itself as a collection of recipes for fighting cancer, so that got our attention (Jane's family history of cancer being one of the primary reasons we're vegans now). The book is fresh looking and attractively laid out, and a number of the recipes are vegan, and sound interesting. And lo and behold, one of the first recipes in the book is for Cream of Tomato Soup.

So, last night Jane made their version of cream of tomato soup. Cream? you might ask. Well in place of the cream it comes with a surprise... Their note states that oats can be used as a cream replacement in any pureed soup. (Huh?) To accompany the soup, Jane made grilled cheese sandwiches with vegan cheese. (Woo hoo, old standby!) And, as usual a green salad, this time topped with Chili Lime Dressing (recipe from the aforementioned book).

To recap: new cookbook, two new recipes. The salad dressing was outright awful. Thankfully, Jane only made half the recipe, so dumping the rest down the drain wasn't as wasteful as it could have been. The soup wasn't awful, but didn't hold up to the grilled cheese at all. We had leftover soup tonight with the last of the Tender Potato Bread Focaccia; it was better the second day. I don't know whether that's because the flavors had a chance to mature overnight, or if the bread was a better compliment than the grilled cheese.

Tender Potato Bread - Daring Baker's November Challenge

Hi everyone. Today it's Jane who's authoring the blog post. Since I'm participating in The Daring Bakers challenges, I'll be the one blogging. Lane will continue to blog most of the other posts.

Anyway, The Daring Bakers December Challenge was issued today. We're all supposed to wait until a specified day to post about that month's challenge, and I most certainly will respect the rules! (My philosophy is, if you don't agree with the rules of the group, don't join the group... it's that simple.)

At any rate, it looks like it will be complicated to "veganize." So, since I'm feeling a little intimidated about this as my first challenge, I decided to take last month's challenge which seemed much more vegan-friendly (and which I can post about now).

The recipe was a "tender potato bread." The recipe called for 4 medium to large baking potatoes which were supposed to be no more than 16 oz. There was some commentary about using 8 ounces if you are a beginner. Well, bread I can do (I used to make a killer cheddar cheese braided bread loaf in my pre-vegan days), but it's been a while, so I used 12 ounces as a compromise. It was only 3 small russet potatoes. They looked so insignificant in the pot!

Overall, success. But the bread really didn't rise. I don't know if that's the potatoes (dense), or the fact that my yeast might be from another century. Regardless, I was a little nervous after my first rise. The recipe can be finished in a few different ways. It makes more than one loaf. The suggestions in the challenge are loaves, rolls and focaccia. So I made a small plain loaf and a focaccia with olive oil, salt, rosemary and maui onions. Lane wandered into the kitchen several times to see what smelled so good.

Finally it was done. And while I didn't get the results I would have hoped for, the small loaf resembles a doorstop, the focaccia was good enough that we ate 1/3 of it before I got it onto the cooling rack!

I will definitely try this again, but first I need to test my yeast and see if it is time to buy a new package!

Fruit Baskets

It's that time of year again. I often get food baskets at work during the holidays as I deal with a number of vendors at work. Since Jane and I don't drink much, and hardly ever drink wine, this is a much more considerate gift. Unfortunately, most of these baskets are geared to the non-vegan. Yesterday I received a lovely basket with lots of milk-chocolate products, which I "shared" with my co-workers, much to Jane's dismay.

I got a fruit basket yesterday. Finally, a gift I could enjoy! The fruit isn't anywhere near as good as what we pick up at our local farmer's market. But that doesn't mean we're not going to eat it! (Mom would be so happy to hear that!) Anyway, it is the thought that counts.

The basket itself was beautiful, and it was an interesting composition. There was a half of a small watermelon, a pineapple, a bunch of globe grapes and some kiwi and pomegranate. I must admit, I've never seen anything like that before. Jane cut up the fruit and made us fruit salad which we'll have for dessert the next few nights. The kiwi and pomegranate will make nice additions to our dinner salad.

Daring Bakers -- We're in!

Jane has just been conditionally accepted into a group called The Daring Bakers. She's very excited, and I must say I am as well. The Daring Bakers is a group of bakers who are challenged to all prepare the same recipe and then post about it. Being vegan means that Jane will have to alter the recipe a tad, but it is within the rules to do so, provided you have food allergies or ethical concerns regarding the food product. Anyway, that's what Jane told me about the group (and I may have gotten a detail or two wrong... I wasn't completely focused).

I think it's more about the artistic presentation, but it will get Jane back into the swing of baking. She's been pretty much out of it. For a while there I was getting muffins, and even though I loved them, she didn't think they were up to par. She also really didn't care for the pumpkin cookies at Thanksgiving, so we're both looking forward to this exercise.

I understand there is some degree of secrecy involved too... so all the posts re The Daring Bakers will be done by Jane, since she'll certainly be more conversant in the rules than I am. She did mention that last month's recipe was Potato Bread. Sounds yummy!

Go Jane!

The Vegan Refrigerator

Being a "new" vegan means that I often have to tell people I've changed my way of eating. When I do this, I'm frequently met with a look of pure puzzlement. In addition to the question of "why," I am invariably asked, "but what do you eat?" as if there isn't anything but meat and potatoes out there.

So, instead of categorizing a list of foods, I thought I'd take a picture of the refrigerator. See... plenty of food. Granted, there's not much there to just pull out and eat without some kind of preparation, but aren't we supposed to be cutting down on our consumption of processed foods anyway?

This photo's pretty representational of what you'll find any time you open the refrigerator door, except for the soda. Oh, and we haven't tried the Silk Eggnog yet. That's for later!

Stew... Boo!

Dinner tonight was some kind of stew: Black eyed peas, yams, spinach, and soy-chorizo (a Mexican spicy sausage). When I used to cook, Jane and I would have discussions about whether cooking is a science (my opinion) or an art (her opinion). I used to follow recipes exactly. Jane will modify recipes at the drop of a hat; if she doesn't have something on hand, she'll substitute something she feels is logical. Often, she'll eyeball the amount of an ingredient, and if it's something she likes, she'll add more of it to the pot. Most of the time this works out just fine. Every once in a while it is a complete disaster.

The recipe she used tonight called for sausage and red pepper flakes. She had soy-chorizo in the refrigerator that was nearing its expiration date. Since the chorizo is spicy, Jane figured she could use that minus the pepper flakes and all would be well.

Muy spicy! Our first few bites were not promising at all, but as we continued eating our dinner, it grew on us. This iteration of this dish will not be a repeat, however! Jane promised she'd try it again, as the recipe specifies.

Mmmm... Leftovers

Things have been quiet here since Thanksgiving. Something to give thanks for!

Leftovers are another thing to give thanks for. I know that some people complain when faced with the same meal a second time. For me, I could eat Thanksgiving every night. OK, maybe I'd get bored with that too, but five days of eating my favorite combinations of food is not tough at all. Jane laughs and says I could be a cat, and not one of those finicky ones! But that certainly makes her life easier, since she does all the cooking.

We just finished the last of everything tonight. We stretched the Tofurky to 6 servings. Tonight we had Gardenburgers Riblets with the remaining sides. Yummy. They're definitely on the favorites list.

Well, we survived Thanksgiving as vegans. Now let's see how we handle the "holiday eating season." Since Jane won't be involved in the usual baking mania, we're hoping to maintain the weight loss we've achieved so far.

Season's Eatings

Thanksgiving is all about traditions. This was our 10th Thanksgiving together. Our first holiday together was Thanksgiving. For us, it has become a day we recommit to our relationship. As part of our tradition, we have our dinner alone, followed by dessert with our relatives. So this way we have the best of both worlds.

This year we had our first Vegan Thanksgiving. If you've been reading along with us, you've probably heard me whining about not having turkey this year. Well, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Certainly, we missed the turkey, but the Tofurky was a passable alternative. The dinner was very good. Our menu consisted of the following:

• Tofurky Roast and Gravy
• Stuffing
• Homemade Cranberry Sauce
• Mashed Yams
• Cumin Braised Brussels Sprouts
• Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage
• Salad: Mixed Baby Greens with Kiwi and Cranberry

And for dessert:

• Apple Pie
• Pumpkin Pecan Cranberry Cookies

Our traditional (non-vegan) Thanksgiving was pretty much the same. Obviously we had turkey instead of Tofurky. Also, Jane used to make mashed cauliflower instead of the yams, but since that dish requires copious amounts of butter and cream, Jane opted not to try to "veganize" it. She also skipped the onion pie entirely, as that calls for eggs and milk to bind everything together, and she was concerned that the taste would be "off" if she used one of the available alternatives. The rest of the dishes were all our regulars sans the dairy products.

So how was our Thanksgiving in comparison to the previous years? Our side dishes were stellar. If you didn't know they were "veganized, " it's highly unlikely that you would even notice. The mashed yams were a nice addition to the plate. Jane used a little soy milk and spiced them with garam masala and sea salt. They tasted like Thanksgiving!

Cooking the Tofurky was interesting. Since I usually took care of the bird in the past, Jane suggested I prepare the roast this year. When we took the product out of the box, we were struck by how small it was. And getting it out of the casing it was wrapped in proved to be quite the challenge. Really, they could make that a lot easier! But the preparation was easy enough. You put the Tofurky in a pan with some root vegetables and pour an olive oil sage mix over everything and into the oven it goes. Jane and I joked that I was making a baste-free bird, since you plop it in the oven and don't touch it again until 10 minutes before it's done.

It smelled like turkey. But it didn't taste like turkey, and we both missed our turkey. However, it's certainly edible, and much easier to prepare and clean up after than a roast turkey, and we wound up with about six servings instead of the four they suggest on the box. So, we'll do it again next year. By then our taste buds should have completely acclimated to the vegan life!

For dessert, Jane made the apple pie and pumpkin cookies I mentioned above. Of course they were prepared using vegan recipes. Our hosts also had pumpkin and pecan pies which looked delicious, but weren't vegan. As a side note, when being served my pie, I was offered the option of whipped cream. My response, "no thanks Maria, whipped cream isn't vegan."

And now it's time for some leftovers. Yum!

Eat Green - Literally and Figuratively

As I've mentioned in previous posts, once you tell someone you're doing something a little out of ordinary they tend to challenge you. Yesterday we were chatting with our cousins who think we are insane for restricting our diet so severely. Tom wanted to know why, exactly, we were doing this, but somehow the conversation transitioned to something else before I finished my answer. So this post's for you Tom!

1) Health: Vegetarian, and more specifically, vegan diets are credited with reducing the risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and a whole host of other chronic conditions.

2) Environment: Eating lower on the food chain is much better for our environment; it takes fewer resources to grow vegetables than it does to grow cattle! The production of animal based foodstuff is a major source of environmental pollution and consumes vast quantities of resources from water to pesticides to petroleum, not to mention the fact that the grain used to feed cattle could be used to feed humans.

3) Humanity: Factory farming is inhumane. Hens are kept in overcrowded conditions and debeaked to prevent them from pecking each other to death. Pigs are kept in wire cages that are large enough so they are not pressed up against the bars, but not so large as to allow them to turn around. The cows, well they aren't so happy (reference to the "happy cows" dairy campaign here in California). Ducks and geese are force fed to the point of bursting to make liver pate. I could go on, but I find it particularly bothersome to think about any of this.

For more detailed facts and information try the following sites:

• Vegan Outreach for information on all three topics above;
• Peta, for information on cruelty to animals in farming;
• EarthSave, for information on environmental issues and concerns.
• And finally, here's the link to the United Nation's comprehensive report entitled Livestock's Long Shadow, which details the environmental impact of farming on the planet.

Bottom line: We're cutting back our consumption of animal products significantly, and hopefully reducing our chances of heart attack and other so-called lifestyle diseases. We're also reducing our carbon footprint (our impact on global warming).

If any of these arguments have swayed you and you're interested in trying a vegetarian or vegan diet, sign up to take the Veg Pledge here.

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving to all those turkeys who have been spared thanks to the Tofurky.

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Mmmm.... Riblets

So yesterday I was whining a bit, and feeling deprived. Today I'm doing much better. Jane made us BBQ Riblets for dinner. They're a Gardenburger product and quite tasty, if I might add. It's the barbeque sauce that really makes the dish. It's got a really nice peppery tang and is very reminiscent of a barbeque place we used to go to when we still ate animal flesh.

Of course the riblets don't look as good on the plate as they do on the box, but we were really pleased with our meal. Jane steamed some baby zucchini and we had a large green salad to go with it.

I'm a huge "Simpson's" fan and you can often catch me quoting Homer. For those of you who might share this obsession, this product reminded me of the Krusty Rib Sandwich in the episode "I'm Spelling As Fast As I Can." I've been obsessing about my riblets since dinner last night, and have been emailing Jane all day begging for a repeat. Alas, we're having pasta for dinner tonight. (Normally this would thrill me.)

One final note: The nutritional information on the package indicates that there are 2 servings at 240 calories each. Personally, I wanted more than the individual sleeve of 4 ribs in a "riblet"(the entire riblet is edible - no bones!) - maybe next time I can convince Jane to make 1 1/2 packages, I think she would have happily had more as well! 6 riblets at 360 calories with a slew of veggies on the side seems like a reasonable dinner to me.

I Want Turkey for Thanksgiving

Jane and I have been anxious about Thanksgiving, and our anxieties are increasing as the day draws near. You'd think we were hosting a dinner for 50, but in reality it's the concept of preparing a vegan feast in place of the turkey dinner we have perfected over the years that is most daunting.

So far our vegan experience has been positive. For the most part, we've done well. There are things that simply cannot be replaced, however, and I fear one of those things is roast turkey.

We've been culling the internet and our vegan cookbooks for "special" recipes to make our holiday dinner comparable to what it has been in previous years. We've got the menu set. And Jane has the Tofurky turkey in the refrigerator. The sales clerk at Trader Joe's (one of our local supermarkets) told Jane they taste really good and always sell out.

While surfing, Jane came upon Gentle Thanksgiving. They give high marks to the Tofurky turkey. So, again, I'm hopeful. But we've been disappointed before. And I really love turkey.

But that doesn't change the fact that I'm not really wanting to be vegan today (actually, this Thursday). Today, I want turkey, and lox (smoked salmon) and cream cheese on a bagel, and Jane's strawberry shortcake replete with real whipped cream. I'm tired of only having one choice at most restaurants, or worse, having to invent a meal. Today, I want to be an omnivore.

Ingredient

This is a can of pumpkin, and if you click on the photo to the left, you can see the ingredient list reads:

Ingredient: Pumpkin

I don't know why, but that struck me as hilarious. It's not often you buy something processed that consists of only one ingredient. The other pumpkin cans I've seen hanging around the grocery store shelves have multiple ingredients. I know Jane is planning on making a pumpkin pie with this, and she said something about pumpkin biscotti (using this recipe).

For an egg replacer (to make the biscotti vegan), Jane found the advice below at this website

• Flax seed egg replacer is the best overall egg replacer for baked goods around. It adds to the lift and contributes to a texture like that created by eggs in quick breads and cookies.

  Whole flax seeds can be purchased in natural foods stores. Grind them in a spice or coffee grinder to a powdery meal. Use a blender if you don’t have a spice grinder for this.

  To make the egg replacer, use 1 Tablespoon ground flax seeds to 3 Tablespoons water for each egg to be replaced. Whip flax seeds and water together with a hand blender or in a blender until frothy. It’s easier to blend enough for at least four eggs—3/4 cup water to 1/4 cup flax seeds. Replace up to four eggs with this mixture. You can store extra egg replacer in the refrigerator for one week.

I'll let you know how this all turns out! I'm hoping she'll pre-test it tomorrow, but she's a little consumed with the idea of a vegan Thanksgiving these days, and I don't want to push my luck!

I guess you could use the canned pumpkin for just about anything; it certainly looks like it would make squash soup a lot easier to make. I never understand having to roast the cut pumpkin for over 30 minutes. If you're boiling the pumpkin anyway... I'm not a cook, so feel free to ignore that comment.

Anyway, Thanksgiving is coming. As I mentioned yesterday, it's going to be our first vegan Thanksgiving. I'm hoping it's a good one.

Thanksgiving Preview

Well, it's finally here. The holiday season is upon us. Aside from the constant bombardment by advertisers, I know this because when I walked into the kitchen tonight I saw this lovely bowl of autumnal produce perched on the counter. (Some of these items have since made it into the refrigerator.) And wait 'til you see what I found in the fridge (photo below).

I have to admit, when Jane said we were going vegan back in July, one of the first things I thought about was Thanksgiving. Traditionally, Jane got the largest turkey she could find and we spent days making all our favorites... mashed cauliflower (cream), onion pie (butter, milk, cheddar cheese), sweet and sour red cabbage (butter). Our stuffing was killer - a southwestern pepper and cornbread concoction that calls for two cups of heavy cream and 2+ sticks of butter; it's amazingly good. We'd eat leftovers until we couldn't stand the sight of them anymore!

However, only two of our traditional dishes are vegan - the braised brussels sprouts (olive oil, lemon, salt and cumin) and cranberry relish (cranberries, sugar, oranges, wine). And last I checked, roasted turkey isn't vegan. So, when I agreed to this vegan diet I suggested that we revisit the idea of Thanksgiving as it got closer. Confession: I was hoping we'd make an exception for the week. It's not that I'm unhappy with our vegan lifestyle, but I really LOVE Thanksgiving.

As time has gone by the thought of eating animal flesh has become repugnant. Funny how that happened. And now that I've done some reading on the horrors of the dairy industry, dairy products seem far less palatable than before. If we had a local farm with free range milk cows and a farmer who went out and did his milking by hand we would definitely include dairy in our diet. But we live in Los Angeles, and that's about as likely as, well, a vegan turkey dinner!

So for the first time in 10 years, we're completely revising our Thanksgiving menu. Jane's been culling recipes from her vegan cookbooks and a few vegan recipe sites. She'll also "vegan-ize" one or two of our recipes. I think she's nervous... which would explain the tofurky thing. But the picture looks good. I'm hopeful.

Autumn Squash

It's that time of the year again here in sunny Southern California. The weather has gone cool and the produce available at our local farmers market has dropped off. Actually, it's been really hot the last few days (95F yesterday!), but since it's already November 15, I'm pretending it's cool .

But it's also time for autumn squash. I love autumn squash. Jane makes a great squash soup. Or sometimes, she'll roast the squash in the oven with butter (vegan spread) and a little salt and brown sugar. Yum. I walked into the kitchen tonight and saw this beautiful pile of squash on our kitchen counter. I salivating, wondering what I'm getting to eat over the next few days!

Whole Foods

Whole Foods, an upscale "healthy" grocery store, opened the doors to its largest Whole Foods Market west of the Rockies here in Pasadena. It's a monstrosity of a building at 76,770 square feet.

And it's not just a store -- it has a gigantic food court including a Wine and Tapas Loung, a fresh-squeezed Juice bar, a Seafood bar, Asian Food, Italian Food, a MASSAGE LOUNGE (limited hours), Singles events. Not to mention fancy-schmancy cheeses and chocolates.

Jane and I went on opening day. It was crazy. But, we got this lovely Whole Foods grocery bag for spending over $40. I tried to convince the cashier we should get two since we spent $90, but he wasn't buying that.

Will we go back? Yes. They have ingredients we have difficulty finding elsewhere. Will we go back any time soon? Probably not. This has been an eagerly anticipated opening and the store is waaaay too crowded for us!

Cream Cheese Alternative

Jane and I read labels now, religiously. Adopting a vegan diet has ensured that we read labels because who knows what they're sneaking into your food! The thing that makes me most insane is the milk product in most soy cheeses. If you're not manufacturing a dairy based cheese, why would you put in a dairy product, thereby alienating a good portion of your consumers!?!

After a while you "know" certain products are ok to eat. Somehow or another, we thought Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese was one of those, but as I was eating my "bagel with a schmear" (NY speak for bagel with cream cheese) for breakfast this weekend, I read over the list of ingredients.

• Water
• PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL
• Isolated soy protein
• Maltodextrin
• Tofu....

GRRRR! We have three containers in the fridge. We love this stuff. It's the container on the left in the photo above.

However, we were able to find "good" tofutti cream cheese at Whole Foods (container on the right in the photo above). The ingredient list reads as follows:

• Water
• Expeller pressed natural oil blend (soybean, palm fruit, and olive)
• Maltodextrin
• Soy protein
• Tofu...

Now, we just have to get our local Trader Joe's to carry the good stuff. Since they tend to advocate healthy eating it shouldn't be too much of a challenge.

If you eat Tofutti Cream Cheese, the "good" product is in a yellow/white container versus the blue/white container the "bad" stuff comes in, an it says "non-hydrogenated" on the lid.

Live long, eat healthy!

She Let Me Cook

Jane wasn't feeling all that energetic yesterday, and so she let me in the kitchen. It's been cold and drab and wintry here in Los Angeles, and so comfort food was on my mind. What could I make?

• Scrambled eggs with dill, um... not vegan.
• Spaghetti with ground turkey meat sauce, um... not vegan.
• Grilled chicken thighs - too cold to BBQ, not enough time to marinate the chix, and um... not vegan.

Suddenly I had a newfound appreciation for the challenges Jane faces on a daily basis. When you've been cooking one way for over 20 years, it's a bit of a challenge to come up with new meals when you're under the gun.

Then it came to me -- a meal my roommates and I used to cook up in NY in my twenties, Spaghetti mit Peas. The only problem with that is that neither Jane nor I had any idea where the original recipe was, and my friend Rich didn't respond to my email. So I decided to wing it; I'd made the recipe often enough in my life and I knew what ingredients were involved, I just didn't remember exact proportions.

Dinner was exactly as expected, a little heavy on the carbs, but warm and filling and comforting. Of course, we had salad with that.

After we finished eating my computer beeped at me, signifying mail had arrived. Looks like I remembered the recipe exactly! Including the "farts to follow, not date food" warning in the last line!

4 Months

Today is our 4 month anniversary - we started following a vegan diet on 7/7/7 (a most auspicious date).

Today was also the day of my annual check up. Jane and I have been eagerly awaiting today as a day of validation. We have been operating under the assumption that when I got back my bloodwork we would see a dramatic improvement (not that things needed all that much improving.) Unfortunately, the wind was taken out of our sails a bit. Although there was improvement, it was certainly not dramatic enough to shout from the rooftops that we all should be eating vegan.

So, how'd I do?

To date, I've lost 15 pounds. (Only 1 pound in this last month, but you can attribute that to Jane's muffins.) Remember, this is with NO EXERCISE, and no reduction in quantity of food I'm eating.

• My total cholesterol went from 154 to 147 which is a 4+% improvement. Ideally <150
• My HDL (that's the good stuff) went from 46 to 41 which is an 11% reduction. Ideally, it should be over 50 and this can be improved with exercise. Something I'm not doing much of these days. Good > 40
• My LDL (that's the bad stuff) went from 69 to 62 which is a 10% improvement. Ideally <130
• My Triglycerides went from 196 to 221 which is a 13% increase, and not so good. Ideally <150
• My fasting glucose went from 92 to 87. Both numbers are completely within the normal parameter, and show I have no concern about diabetes. Normal is <100
• My blood pressure remained the same.

The most distressing thing for me is that the changes don't seem to be significant enough. We were expecting dramatic improvements. The increase in triglycerides isn't so troubling. The test doesn't really reflect anything more than what's been going on the few days before you take it, but, are we eating too many carbs? It's just so frustrating that this stuff is so complicated. And living the vegan life can be really tough at times.

One more point: I took my blood test a few weeks ago due to scheduling concerns, so this really reflects 3 months of vegan eating.

So, is it worth it? Jane goes for her physical at the beginning of December. We'll evaluate then, but I've got to say, today I miss milk, and turkey, and...

Fudgey - The Dessert

No, it's not related to Fudgey the Whale (a Carvel ice cream cake in the shape of a whale, for those of you who haven't heard of Fudgey the Whale).

Fudgey is "a bundt chocolate layered cake with a dark chocolate, coconut and pecan frosting... and it's vegan." It claims to serve two, but as a dessert, it can easily serve four, or one, depending on how hungry you are and your love of chocolate.

So far, this is the ONLY baked vegan dessert we've tried that's truly worth eating. We've had other things that are passable, but this one tastes great. Our only complaint, there could be a bit more soft-chocolate filling.

Fudgey can be found at Fatty's restaurant in Eagle Rock.

Fatty's Restaurant -- YUM

Close to our home, is a wonderful vegetarian restaurant called Fatty's. Last night was our fourth visit there. Honestly, I don't know why I haven't blogged about them prior to today; the food is excellent, and many dishes are or can be prepared vegan.

We thought we'd tried all the restaurants close to home. We knew Fatty's as a coffee shop, which it was until about a year or two ago. Then they changed over to a dinner-only restaurant, by that I mean they are only open for dinner, and that only Wednesday - Saturday. Too bad! Anyway, we discovered they were serving dinner while walking by one day. What a lucky coincidence for us! Jane and I decided to go there for dinner last night, there was no arm-twisting involved.

We started with the Carrot-Ginger Soup. The presentation was a little better than this. We forgot to take a photo before I dug in! Sorry.

Jane ordered the Sloppy Joe which is an entree and came with a small house salad (or cup of soup, your choice). It was fantastic. It's some kind of veggie meat (we're guessing there's TVP in there) with a wonderful tangy sauce. The "bread" is some kind of phyllo concoction, stiffer than regular phyllo sheets, but definitely not something to eat with your hands. Although we did see someone trying, but his technique involved holding the sandwich upright and bringing his mouth to the food. Well, kudo's to him for trying.

I had pizza. When we were non-vegans, we used to order pizza for dinner one time a month. Often we'd order on the first, being unable to delay our gratification. Since this was the first weekend of the month, I was craving pizza. (I still haven't gotten past that and I'm not sure I ever will!) Anyway, I ordered The Zeppelin pizza (8" size). It was topped with mushrooms and vegan cheese and very good. Jane's thinking she could probably make it at home, and that's her criteria for whether she'd order something out or not. But I would have it again, and probably will!

As a side note, one of our previous visits was with our non-veggie cousins. They're very well off and used to the better things in life. We didn't realize it was a vegetarian restaurant, or we'd never have invited them; they love their steak. But they really enjoyed it and suggested we put it in our rotation. I mention this in case any of you are in the neighborhood...

We were very satisfied with our dinner, but couldn't leave without dessert. We brought "Fudgey" home with us. We'll have that later tonight, and you can read about it tomorrow!

Last Nights Dinner, Brought to You by the Color Orange

As I've mentioned before, sometimes it's a bit difficult for Jane to come up with new things to make on the fly since we're still new to the vegan thing. If she's been busy and hasn't give any thought to what we'll be having, and if there are no leftovers from a previous meal, she'll often do a veggie stir fry with tofu.

Sometimes this works out, sometimes it's just food. Since we go to our local farmer's market on Saturday mornings, this can be especially hazardous towards the end of the week. We don't tend to keep a lot of frozen veggies on hand.

Last night we had one of these stir fry's. It consisted of onions, red pepper, and carrots. It really wasn't bad. Jane used "Curry Simmer Sauce" from Trader Joe's and let the tofu soak up all that curry goodness. It just looked soooo orange.

Vegan Chili

Jane used to serve home-made chili and beer to me and my friends during football season. (Have I mentioned how great my wife is?) Prior to this vegan diet we were not red-meat eaters. Jane would have the occasional cheeseburger or pork product (she was completely addicted to bacon when we went out for breakfast), but other than that it was poultry or fish for us. During games, Jane would make ground turkey chili for us.

I had a few guys over on Sunday for the Patriots / Redskins game and dinner. We've told a few people that we're vegan, but none of these guys knew. So, Jane served us guacamole and chips and beer early on. We have plenty of non-vegan beer on hand and we still have loads of Guinness from our pre-vegan days. And here's my confession: I had three bottles of Guinness. Do I feel guilty? Kind of, but hey, it's Guinness...

(See this post for the disturbing news on non-vegan beer.)

For dinner we had vegan chili with brown rice and a salad. No one noticed the chili was vegan. Jane used red, black, and pinto beans along with TVP (that textured vegetable protein stuff). The TVP provides a little chewy meat-feel to the chili and since everything is smothered in sauce and spices it's not easy to tell you're not eating ground beef/turkey. (I'd say impossible, but I haven't had red meat intentionally in 20+ years.

Needless to say, everyone liked the chili a whole lot more than the game as the Patriots crushed the Redskins.

Traffic

Grr. Some of you may have heard about yesterday's disaster on the 405 (Los Angeles freeway near LAX airport). A truck overturned and traffic was absolutely abominable in the area ALL day!!!! Needless to say, my commute was unpleasant, in both directions. Alhtough certainly not as unpleasant as the poor truck driver who perished in the accident.

I don't really deal all that well with traffic issues. I've been driving this same route for a long time and know exactly how long (to the minute) it is supposed to take me, and when my commute goes long, I start getting antsy. Jane is always threatening to take the clock out of my car so I'll be less frustrated. I'm not sure if that would be a larger benefit to me or to her!

At any rate, I love my wife. Since this is not a blog about marriage, I won't be writing about the times I don't totally love my wife or how difficult marriage can be... Not that ours is a bad marriage, but every marriage can be trying at times. On the positive side, there are moments that make you never want to be single again. Last night was one of them.

I finally arrived home after 1 hour and 16 minutes to find Jane hard at work in the kitchen. Apparently, after seeing the traffic report, she realized I wouldn't be getting home at a reasonable hour. So she made one of my favorites, the spanikopita recipe from Real Food Daily Cookbook: Really Fresh, Really Good, Really Vegetarian. It was just as good as last time. But Jane made a few minor alterations. Mainly, she forgot the leeks, so she used maui onions instead. Personally, I couldn't tell the difference and it was just as yummy as last time! And what a treat to come home to!

And for dessert, because I was so cranky, Jane whipped up a quick batch of muffins. This time she put in wheatberries for added crunch and the fruit was gooseberries. (Huh?) So, the muffins are crunchy and tart. I think they are very good, but Jane doesn't care for them that much. Also, she's still working on perfecting the basic muffin recipe... When she's happy with it, she's promised to post it for you all.

Oh, and Happy Halloween!

Vegan Nutrition

Next week I go to the doctor for my annual physical. I had my blood drawn yesterday. Jane and I are very curious what my blood-work will reveal. I don't have any real health issues, but over the past years my cholesterol and blood pressure have crept up a bit; call it middle age. Reading all the wonderful things I have come across about vegan dieting have led me to hope that both of those numbers will be a bit lower this visit. I'll keep you posted on that.

We do have to figure out if we should ask the doctor to test for anything specific for our subsequent visit... Can they determine if you are getting enough protein, calcium, etc? Are these easy blood tests? I know that an iron deficiency will show up and that is another one of those things vegans need to be cognizant of, but I am concerned about the calcium thing. Jane is having us take a calcium supplement, so we're probably covered, but we need to do a bit more research. And omega-3s? Life was so much easier when we were consuming dairy products.

I've been spending some time at the Vegetarian Resource Group website where they have basic nutritional information. It's by no means comprehensive, but they provide you with broad strokes information on what you might be missing by eating vegan, and the nutrient content for sample foods.

Who knew eating could require so much attention to detail? Sheesh!

Boo!

It's Halloween time. Fortunately, we live on a hill that doesn't get a lot of trick-or-treating traffic, so we won't be tempted by the Halloween goodies.

In the past, we have purchased chocolate goodies to hand out; and to eat ourselves, if we're being honest here! We'd always thought about buying healthier treats to give the kids, pretzels or raisins, but what kid wants those? We remembered when we were trick-or-treaters, those treats were among the least eaten of all our collected loot. We wanted to hand out treats that were appreciated.

This year, we face a dilemna. If we buy the chocolate that we have in the past, how will we pass by the bowl without having a piece or two? And does it actually matter if we do eat some of it? Of course it does! We're vegans now.

But I'm not going to spend $20 for a few pieces of vegan candy to hand out to people who eat McDonald's regularly... So it looks like we'll be giving out pretzels and raisins this year.

Who Says the Brits Can't Cook

(Yes, this is repost. I inadvertently posted this morning instead of saving a draft, so if you read this mornings post skip past the first three paragraphs -- there are some minor edits, but the content remains the same.)

First off, let me apologize to anyone I may have offended with that statement, but when I was growing up in New York it was common "knowledge" that British Cuisine was an oxymoron. Bangers and Mash, Salisbury steak, Toad-in-the-Hole, Steak and Kidney Pie; none of these are particularly appealing to me, and so I had written off British Cuisine as something that I wouldn't partake of.

I have recently changed my mind about that. While I can't say that any of the dishes listed above could ever entice me to give up my vegan life, I have stumbled across a few cooking shows that have caused me to re-think my ideas on British Cuisine.

In my pre-vegan days, Nigella Lawson always had something tempting to offer on her TV show, Nigella Feasts; not to mention her sensual treatment of food. Her show always made me want to eat something. There are a few things I remember seeing her prepare which could be easily converted for the vegan diet, and some that were vegan. Nigella's website (link above) has a recipe index, but it appears the recipes are submitted by visitors to the site. I haven't gotten my hands on any of her cookbooks, so I can't discuss whether her recipes cook up well. But everything looks enticing.

Yesterday I caught a program called "You Are What You Eat" on the BBC network. There is some considerable discussion on the web as to whether Gillian McKeith is legitimate... her science is suspect and she seems to be a snake oil peddler. BUT, the show is entertaining and inspiring. It starts with "Dr." McKeith secretly watching the client for a week or so, then piling up what they've eaten for a week. It's absolutely astonishing to see what people will put in their mouths. Then she barks at her clients and teaches them a bit about nutrition. And they live happily ever after by the end of the show.

I'm not sure that it's something I would watch regularly, but it did inspire me to do some googling, and this link is what inspired me to write this post. I spent considerable time on this site, it's clean and well designed and very informative.

And finally, they have vegan recipes (just click on the vegan option). So, who says the Brits can't cook?

Because...

Any time Jane and I mention that we are now vegan, the invariable question we get is "why?" I stumbled upon this segment from a book I have yet to read. But really, this says it all.


John Robbins, author of "Diet for a New America"

"It is increasingly obvious that environmentally sustainable solutions to world hunger can only emerge as people eat more plant foods and fewer animal products. To me it is deeply moving that the same food choices that give us the best chance to eliminate world hunger are also those that take the least toll on the environment, contribute the most to our long-term health, are the safest, and are also, far and away, the most compassionate towards our fellow creatures."

I Miss Milk

I know there are all kinds of reasons not to consume cow's milk. I've embraced a vegan diet. I drink soy milk, rice milk and almond milk these days. Even though we were drinking fat-free milk in our house prior to this vegan thing, I understand that cow's milk may not be healthful. Not to mention the horrors of the dairy industry.

But nothing beats a tall glass of real milk to go with warm chocolate chip cookies straight out of the oven.

I simply cannot drink a glass of soy milk. I can put it over my cereal and it's an ingredient in many of the meals Jane prepares. But I cannot drink a plain glass of soy milk, or even almond milk. The rice milk is sort of like Horchada (a mexican rice milk concoction that's sweetened and there's a bit of cinnamon too), but unless it's doctored...

I miss cow's milk.

Vegan Road Trip

Friday morning Jane and I loaded up the car for a long weekend trip to Arizona. Our primary reason for the trip was to visit a younger cousin who's away at college in Prescott. We also decided to visit Sedona since it's been nine years since we were there last. It was a beautiful autumn weekend in the Southwest.

But enough about our trip, let's talk food - since that's what this post and this blog are all about!

This trip required a bit more forethought than usual because we knew that food would be an issue. So, prior to our departure, Jane went out and got some goodies to take along. We had: grapes, apples and tangerines; there were also Triscuits and pretzels, and dried apricots. Sounds like overkill, but these wound up saving us from scrounging for more than one breakfast/lunch.

Before we took off on Friday morning Jane also prepared our lunch for the day: hummus in pita, and some carrot sticks to crunch on. I love Jane's hummus, but the sandwiches suffered a bit sitting in a car for a few hours before we ate them. They tasted just fine, but the were practically falling apart, what a mess! Good thing we brought along some wipes!

I'm not going to detail all our meals, or the restaurants we ate at. Suffice it to say, that eating out vegan style can be a bit of a challenge. One meal we even wound up inadvertently eating cheese. The menu detailed the items in a dish, no cheese mentioned. The plate showed up, the restaurant was dark and we didn't identify the cheese until the meal was half eaten. Bummer.

I'm sure we're not the first vegans this has happened to, and it served as a reminder to ask about what we're ordering.

But the most important thing we learned on this trip is that Taco Bell is a vegan's friend. The black bean burrito without cheese is a yummy vegan meal. We had three in three days.

I've got my baker back!

I've been missing Jane's baking. It's not like she baked something every week, but she baked occasionally, and she baked really well. Her coffeecake and strawberry shortcake are some of my favorites, along with apple pie and berry pie. Or her cookies. I could wax poetic here, but I'll spare you all.

Anyway, I've been whining. I understand that learning how to cook vegan after cooking non-vegan for 20+ years is a bit of a challenge. And the baked goods we've tried eating out haven't been particularly inspiring.

So, I've been poking around a few message boards to see what other people are doing. And I got this recipe from one of them: Link Here

Jane made this version of muffins, and they were yummy. We ate the batch in 3 days. (That's two muffins per person per day -- and maybe Jane didn't have two muffins every day.)

Because of the conversion from British cooking to American, they weren't perfect. Jane is going to use a little less oil and sugar and more flour in her next go round. But yay, I've got my baker back!

Looks Like Something the Cat Coughed Up

Our new vegan lifestyle has led to a huge increase in our tofu consumption. Looking to replace meat with some kind of protein, tofu has been the easiest choice. Of course, there is conflicting information out there about just how much tofu you should be consuming. Admittedly, I have done only the most cursory of online searches to solve this newest (to us) nutritional mystery. Since the new vegan thing is different enough, I'm not going to do any further research for now. Suffice it to say, there are other ways to get your protein. Jane usually makes a tofu stir-fry once a week. And there's always a bean based dish or three. We've also had a few things with store-bought chicken seitan. And we've discovered that some grains have protein too! (Couscous and quinoa, for example.)

Looking for alternative sources of protein, Jane decided to try and make seitan at home. We've had seitan, or "wheat meat" as it is also known, in a few of the vegan restaurants we've tried and it's been mostly good. Time for an adventure in the kitchen.

We really both love the "Real Food Daily Cookbook: Really Fresh, Really Good, Really Vegetarian" cookbook by Ann Gentry (as we've said many times already). However, her recipe for basic seitan was far more work than Jane felt like undertaking for her first venture into the world of home-made seitan. We did have a recipe in "The Accidental Vegan" by Devra Gartenstein that looked simple.

Basically, you take some wheat gluten (Jane used Bob's Red Mill Vital Wheat Gluten) and water to form the dough. That's the attractive picture at the top of this post. We've both made bread before and adding the water to the wheat gluten is pretty much like the beginning stages of making a loaf of bread. However, it really looks like cat puke, as any of you who live with the furry beasts can attest to! Then you boil it in water with soy sauce and ginger. Pretty simple. And pretty tasty.

For our dinner last night, Jane then made a gravy based on nutritional yeast and flour and which was rather good. She also roasted butternut squash with olive oil and brown sugar, salt and pepper. The picture does not do it justice. Dinner was yummy. Hearty winter fare. As usual, our entree was accompanied by a salad of mixed field greens with onion, apple, cranberries and a balsamic dressing.