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!