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.