Fire Damage

Jane and I were out and about today, running errands, as we usually do on Saturdays. We talked about lunch and decided to eat at Grassroots in South Pasadena. Grassroots has rapidly become our favorite restaurant. We've eaten there three times in the past three weeks. The food is delicious and they're less than ten minutes from home. You can't beat that.

Grassroots is actually a health food store, with a small prepared-food service counter inside. They serve healthy, organic meals. And although they're not exclusively vegetarian, you can always get a great vegan meal there, not a feat easily accomplished so close to home.

On the way over, Jane was reading the menu out loud and we were discussing the merits of our various choices. Would I have the Cuban Bowl again, or would I try the one of their wraps? Or maybe a Vegan Plate with their entree du jour. Jane was thinking the Taco Salad.

We turned into the empty parking lot and looked at each other with panic in our eyes. Wire fencing barricaded us from the storefronts in the strip mall where Grassroots lives. Apparently there was a fire last week and our beloved restaurant is closed indefinitely. Jane spent the next two hours grieving the loss of this restaurant. I kept reminding her that the owner's losses were greater than our own - and of course, we feel very badly for them. Hopefully they've got sufficient insurance and will be able to re-open and soon.

In the meantime, now where will we eat?

Peach Cobbler

Jane often gets the urge to bake when it cools down. Our vegan diet has kept that pretty much in check. The first week we were vegans she made the chocolate cake out of the Real Food Daily cookbook. It's amazing what you can do with tofu.

Anyway, the cake cost about $20 to make (and that's not including electricity), and Jane didn't love it, so we haven't had much in the way of prepared desserts. It's mostly been cut up fruit and the occasional soy dessert from Trader Joe's. Nice summer desserts that we really enjoy.

But it's been unseasonably cold here. We're actually experiencing autumn! OK, not a real New England type of Autumn, but there's been a nip in the air and it's great to crawl into bed at night - perfect sleeping weather. So tonight, Jane broke out the vegan cookbooks and made a pear cobbler. Normally I love her cobbler. She's always having to dole it out so I don't eat the whole thing in one night. But I've got to say, this wasn't spectacular. I missed the butter. Or maybe I didn't care for the ginger in this recipe. In any event, this one wasn't a winner, although it looks good!

Woo Hoo - I've Lost 14 Pounds

That's 14 pounds, gone without really trying.

Sometime in June Jane, my wife, decided we were going vegan. Since we're not billionaires, we decided that we'd finish off all the animal product in the house first. We also had a trip planned for the end of June, and didn't want to start our new lifestyle on the road. Nor did we want to have struggle with a new way of eating upon first coming home, so we settled on 7-7-7 -- an auspicious date.

I have to admit, I was a little reluctant, although I didn't say much since Jane is the primary food preparer in our household. And she said the literature promised all kinds of health benefits, which sounds great when you're middle aged. (I mean really, who cares when you're 20's, a bag of Doritos and a few beers makes a great dinner then.)

We've been doing OK, there are the occasional moments when one of us will look at the other and say "I could really go for a _____ right about now." But it not too often. Cheese and desserts are the toughest things. But we're doing OK being vegan.

So, this morning when I weighed myself and realized -- I've lost 14 pounds, without doing a thing!!!! -- I proudly proclaimed myself a vegan. I'm still the couch potato I've been for the last few years. I didn't take any magic pills or have any surgery. And half of the weight I wanted to lose just fell off all by itself. The vegan diet is magic!

Woo hoo!

Lane

Hearty Winter Fare

So, we went from brutal summer heat to winter overnight. We even had over an inch of rain (that's slightly less rain than we had all of last year!), which is highly unusual in that we normally don't have rain between April and October.

It's been like winter here. That was enough for us to break out the flannel house-pants and hearty winter recipes. Jane made a recipe called Lebanese Style Lentils with Pasta for dinner the other night. It's from the Dr. Neal Barnard Book on being a vegan. The pasta seems a little weird to me, but it all tasted yummy. It's got lentils and spinach and onions, etc. Next time, Jane said she'll skip the pasta and have a loaf of some crusty whole grain bread along with the dish.

Maybe We'll Just Stick to Breakfast at Home

Jane has a friend who works in Hollywood. This woman, Kay, is so busy she only surfaces every few weeks or so, and then we only just manage to meet for breakfast. It's been a long standing thing with us, and we all seem to really enjoy it.

Yesterday was our first breakfast with Kay since we've been doing the vegan thing. Well, I can only say that I am not looking forward to future breakfasts out. The only items on the menu were oatmeal or cream of wheat. And it's not that I don't enjoy a good bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. But that's just not what I want to eat when i go out.

Kay was outwardly sympathetic to our plight, as she plowed into her steak and eggs, but somehow I don't think our shining example of vegan happiness and healthiness is going to convert her any time soon!

End of "Summer"

We live in Southern California, and because of that, we have "Summer" sometimes through November! But that doesn't seem to be the case this year. We had a brutal heat wave last week, but that's a distant memory. High temps of "only" 70 with HEAVY rain the past couple of days.... You can feel an autumnal nip in the air....

Since it's just about Autumn, we're trying to make sure we stock up on all of our Summer favorites before they're gone.

We picked up a bunch of okra at the farmer's market this weekend and Jane made her signature vegan recipe for dinner last night. We discovered okra last Summer. It's great, you just have to make sure not to overcook it or it will get slimy. But this is one of my favorite vegan dinners.

Palak Tofu

In the past, Jane and I have truly enjoyed Indian cuisine. However, being vegan, we are a little reluctant to even try our favorite restaurants. Chicken Tikka Masala is not a vegan dish! And most of the dishes we most enjoy, even though they could be adapted with tofu, contain ghee and/or cream. Alas.

Jane recently bought "The Accidental Vegan" by Devra Gartenstein, and made our first vegan Indian dish, Palak Tofu.


Yum! I knew I was in for a treat when I smelled the aromatic spices as I stepped out of my car.

This is another one for our rotation.

Eating Out

One of the things we're having the hardest time adjusting to is eating out. We used to go out for dinner two or three times a week, and lunch one day over the weekend. As part of our transition to vegan eating we decided to minimize our temptations and keep it to once per week.

Most of the restaurants we've eaten at have had reasonable fare, but nothing worth drooling over. You'd think there would be a large enough vegan/vegetarian population in Southern California to merit a few exceptional restaurants here. After all, what do most people say when you mention Southern California....

Our new find "Grassroots" in South Pasadena. Grassroots is really a health food store with a cafeteria-style "restaurant."

Actually, we didn't go there for the food. Jane was looking for Umeboshi paste to make a recipe from the "Real Food Daily" vegan cookbook. Unfortunately, they didn't carry it. But we were talking to the clerk who suggested we try the vegan shepherd pie which was their special that day. Normally we both get something different to try, but luckily we didn't. I don't think I would have been able to give Jane my second half. It was DELICIOUS!!!! Jane agreed and we went back for lunch Monday. Jane tried their taco salad, which was big enough for two. I had their Cuban Bowl, which is something I could eat every day.

Yay! Another restaurant on the list.

Lane

Harshing My Mellow

Jane and I are newly middle-aged, with no children. So please excuse me if today's title is woefully out of date. I heard this phrase in the recent past and have been waiting for an excuse to use it!

We were at a party Sunday afternoon. It was a gathering where we only knew the hosts, so we were thrilled to meet a group of vegans. Hey, we're new at this, maybe we could learn something, eh?

It always amazes me how judgmental people can be. We were discussing our new vegan "diet." As I've mentioned several times in the past, we've opted to change our diet primarily for health reasons, although Jane is all for reducing our "eating" footprint. (Vegan eating is much less stressful to the environment, uses far fewer resources to feed an individual, and is certainly more compassionate to our companion residents on this earth.) We also practice "catch and release" with all our uninvited guests (spiders).

But, we wear leather shoes, sometimes. And we believe that it's your choice whether you follow a vegan diet or something else. We also believe it's your choice what you wear and whom you associate with.

The people we met at this party, who shall remain nameless, were appalled that we were not members of PETA; that our primary objective in being vegan wasn't the betterment of the planet; that we don't feed our pets a vegetarian diet; and that we generally follow a live and let live philosophy, we don't proselytize . Jane was wearing her new Birkenstocks, leather upper, and was basically told she didn't know how to be a vegan. So, I guess we didn't make any new friends today.

Really folks, lighten up. Every little bit helps the planet. We're all doing the best that we can. And stop harshing my mellow!

Veggie Burgers - Yum!

So Jane's been a little reluctant to try to make a vegan burger on her own. We've had a few when we've gone out for dinner, but they tend to be a little crumbly. She's been making Dr. Praegers Tex Mex burgers on occasion at home.

Last night we had Tex Mex burgers, salad with balsamic honey mustard dressing and roasted red peppers, home-made guacamole and chips, and Whole Foods mild salsa. Yum.

I'd recommend these. They also tend to be a bit crumbly, but they have a very good taste to them, and they cook up easily in the toaster oven. I could even make this dinner myself! (I'm kidding Jane, really I am!)

Party Time

Jane and I were invited to a party Saturday night. It was our first party as vegans, and it was a "work" party. Jane's co-worker had about 30 people over. For the most part, we've been keeping the vegan-thing quiet. We haven't told anyone other than close friends and family. We don't really want to have to justify our lifestyle decisions to anyone, and people seem to be really confused by veganism, and some are even outright hostile, if we're vegan, do we wear leather? what do we feed our pets? what do we do about the perpetual ant problem we all have in southern California? ....

At any rate, eating at the party wasn't as difficult as we thought it might be. We had some of the veggies with hummus during cocktail hour. Dinner was buffet style and there were a few pasta options along with steamed vegetables.

When dessert came around we simply begged off, saying dinner was so yummy we had no room for anything else, except for tea. No one was the wiser. Success!

Real Food Daily Restaurant

We finally made it over to Real Food Daily in Los Angeles. After having purchased the Real Food Daily Cookbook by Ann Gentry, and having some success with the Turkish Lentil Stew and Chocolate Cake, we were anxious to try out the restaurant and see if it lived up to our expectations. And our expectations were high. The recipes are a little on the complicated side, but they're really, really good.

We went early and were lucky enough to find parking easily. We'd read reviews that parking could be an issue. The ambiance was average, and unfortunately for us, the sun was setting while we were eating so Jane was blinded by the light. But the food was worth it. This is the best vegan food we've had to date!

We told our waitress we were newbies and asked her to recommend our eats. She suggested we start with the Better with Cheddar Nachos. Jane was all for that as the "cheese" recipe in the cookbook seems a little daunting, and the few experiences we've had with vegan cheese have been less than stellar. Our waitress also suggested we add the taco mix. So we did. We both agreed that we could skip the taco mix next time, but the nachos were really amazing. The cheddar cheese, tastes like cheese, and we should know - we've had real cheese as late as June!

The nachos come with tortilla chips, melted cashew cheddar cheese, black beans, pico de gallo, guacamole, tofu sour cream, all piled high on your plate. There's enough there for four people as an appetizer for sure! And oh, can I rave about the cheese some more!

For dinner, we shared "Pandora’s Box" - which is one of their September specials. It's creamed tofu spinach in whole wheat phyllo dough pastry topped with mushroom gravy. It comes with two sides: the Athena cold barley salad and a marinated baby beet salad. Jane commented that the gravy tasted "brown." She didn't care for that, but the spinach phyllo concoction was more than edible. And surprise, surprise, the beet salad was truly delicious. Neither of us is big on "grain" salads (Jane absolutely abhors Tabbouleh), so I'll skip the review of the barley salad.

For dessert, we shared the Coconut Moon Pie. It was pretty good too. We're still having trouble transitioning away from non-vegan desserts. They're just not as good. So we mostly have fresh fruit, or the soy desserts we've previously blogged about that we get at Trader Joe's.

Overall, we lament the fact that the restaurant is too far to put it in our regular rotation. We really enjoyed our experience and will definitely be back.

Spaghetti Redux

Pasta seems to be one of those vegan things. There are tons of recipes in every vegan cookbook.

Tonight we're having spaghetti. We've had this one before. Jane has not done a whole lot to her original "recipe." She uses Whole Wheat Pasta, Trader Joe's Marinara Sauce, and now .... ground meat alternative. Of course, there's more too it than that. She does something with olive oil and garlic and onions... and I know she sneaks in the vegetables that are sort of on their way out, I've seen the zucchini peel in our compost bucket. But it all works! No special vegan recipe needed here!

Lane

We All Scream for Ice Cream

We had a slew of 100+ days at the end of August, 10 straight! And when it's that hot out, all thoughts turn to ice cream. OK, maybe not all, but our sweet thoughts do turn to ice cream when it's that hot out.

Jane and I were relieved to find out the Double Rainbow Very Cherry Chip Soy Cream was vegan goodness. We'd often purchased that in our non-vegan days and enjoyed it. The chocolate chips are dark chocolate and contain no milk products. And it tastes like ice cream.

We bought to So Delicious Chocolate Velvet Frozen Dessert over the weekend and finally got around to trying it last night. This will definitely be a staple in our household. And, best of all, a serving size is half a cup, instead of the usual quarter cup!. It's not ice cream though, the texture is way different. It's more like a gelato. But we've got no issues with that.

Happy desserting!

Lane

Vegan Meats

Jane's having a tougher time than I am regarding the transition to vegan "meats." We laugh that she has more discerning taste buds than I do, but in reality, she ate meat longer than I did. We've been "semi-vegetarians" for years, eating only chicken and fish. But every once in a while Jane would have a cheeseburger, or pork chop, especially at her family gatherings. In any event, she held off a bit before trying vegan meat alternatives thinking that the more time she had between "real" meat and vegan meat, the more likely she was to accept it.

She's tried wheat gluten versions of meat at some of the vegan restaurants we've been too. I love them all. She's found them to be hit or miss.

Since it's been brutally hot lately, we've been having salad and sandwiches for dinner a lot. Jane has been pleasantly surprised with both the Yves Vegan Salami and the Vegan Meat (which we think resembles bologna).

We're still holding off on trying the vegan cheeses, although we have some in our fridge (no casein!). Cheese is one of the harder non-vegan things for us to let go of. There's a recipe in one of our vegan cookbooks that claims to have a really good cheddar cheese alternative from scratch, but we're both skeptical. I'll let you know when we've worked up the courage to try that one!

Lane

Too Hot, Baby

It's been too hot to crack open the vegan cookbook. Or to even bother looking at recipes online. So, what's for dinner? Jane's been on strike, it's way too hot to be slaving away over a stove for dinner. So, she's been making some delicious salads.

We've had tomato salad and cucumber salad. Jane will be posting some of her own vegan recipes once she feels she's got the swing of things. There's green salad for lunch and dinner every day too.

Last night we had toasted bagels with soy cream cheese and vegan salami. Condiments: onions, sliced tomatoes and pickled okra. That's right, pickled okra. (They taste like pickles, surprise!) Of course, there was a green salad with that. Yummy.

Lane

Happy Labor Day

Happy Labor Day to all.

Today is Labor Day in the US. The holiday began in 1882, originating from various unions desires to create a day off for the working man. Today, Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer. Summer's other unofficial anchor is Memorial Day, which is the last Monday in May, and serves as the kick-off to summer here in the US.

What do these two holidays have in common? BBQ! Americans love to BBQ, especially on these holidays. So what's a vegan to do when they attend BBQs? Participate!

Vegans can BBQ too. Grilled vegetables are yummy! Jane and I were visiting relatives this weekend. There were lots of BBQs. We had grilled vegetables and grilled soy hot dogs, plenty of salads and guacamole. There's always veggie burgers too. Who needs a cheeseburger anyway?

Sorry for the delay in getting this post out. It was so hot today that we had a power outage for a while....



Lane

What's Cooking?

Jane is the head of this household. So with her decision to become vegan, she took on the monumental task of re-learning how to cook. So far, she's doing pretty well. In the month that we've been "doin' the vegan thing" as she calls it, there's only been one "let's not do this again" meal. I don't recall what that was, and she tore up the recipe.

Last night we had Turkish Lentil Stew, a great big green salad, and a hunk of whole wheat french brad from Ralph's. For those not familiar with the store, Ralph's is a Southern California supermarket chain. Yeah, I know.... Ralph, food... not the best of connotations, but the market is close by, good, and surprisingly, stocks a large variety of vegan items.

Because it's just the two of us, we often have the same meal two or more nights in a row. Hey, I'm not cooking, and I'm not complaining! Besides, I often say, when it comes to food, I could be a cat, as I'm willing to eat the same meal over and over and over again.

The Turkish Lentil Stew is from Ann Gentry's book "The Real Food Daily Cookbook." Apparently, the are a couple of Real Food Daily restaurants in and around Los Angeles. The restaurants are our list to try, but they're a little further than we normally travel. However, if the cookbook is any indication, the trip will be well worth it. When we go, I'll let you know our impressions.

Lane