May 3rd, 2010 at 17:15
Kaye Spector of Cleveland.com wrote: I adopted a vegan-based diet almost a year ago. The most common question I get is, ”What do you eat?” So here is the answer, a bite-by-bite account of what I ate over three days this week.
Here is her online food diary.
I subscribe to Vegan Soapbox, and a few days ago, Eccentric Vegan shared her three-day food diary, as well.
This has inspired me!
My meals consist of a blend of home-cooked recipes from varying cookbooks (and subsequent lunches from leftovers) and some favorite staples from the Co-op. Ty and I now shop almost exclusively from the Co-op for anything food-related and increasingly for toiletries, paper towels, shampoo, etc as we use up our old stuff.
Our mutual goal is to stay away from as much processed stuff as we can, but we also take into account that we’re only human and sometimes we just don’t have the time to make everything from scratch. So when we do buy pre-packaged and processed food, we keep an eye on the labels, so we know what we’re really getting. We’re big fans of buying fresh bread from Bread Farm and Avenue Bread, and supplement that with loaves of Dave’s Killer Bread, which makes awesome toast and sandwiches.
We just signed up for a half share of the Growing Whatcom CSA for the summer growing season. I’m super excited for our first box of produce, which we get to pick up on June 17th. The half share is every other week, as opposed to every week. We decided to go with that because we were worried that we might not use everything up in a week, which is highly likely! In any case, I’m looking forward to the challenge of using everything in our box!
Here’s my three-day food diary:
- Saturday, May 1st
Breakfast – banana, raisin bran with extra raisins, rice milk
Lunch – pad thai (leftovers, “Brooklyn Pad Thai” recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance)
Snack – 6 medium-sized strawberries
Dinner - spinach pasta with edamame pesto
Snack – 1 slice of Powerseed bread with peanut butter
- Sunday, May 2nd
Breakfast – 2 slices of Good Seed bread with strawberry conserve
Snack – handful of grapes
Lunch - chili peanut tempeh with steamed rice and teriyaki sauce
Dinner - whole wheat spaghetti with low sodium tomato and basil sauce and dumplings (“Easy ‘Meat’ Balls” recipe from Vegan Family Favorites, which I refuse to refer to as “meat”)
Dessert – raspberry sorbet
- Monday, May 3rd
Breakfast - apple spice oats
Lunch – sandwich on Powerseed bread with Swan baked tofu (from the Co-op), romaine lettuce, vegan mayo, and Dijon mustard
Dinner – enchilada pie (sweet onion and cremini mushrooms sautéed in vegetable broth, mixed with spinach, olives, tortilla strips, and enchilada sauce)
April 15th, 2010 at 19:58
Here’s a preview of what I’ve been up to, lately. I haven’t posted in a while, mostly because when I get annoyed/frustrated by something, and I have the power to do something about it, I can’t sit by and not do something about it.
Case in point, I’ve been growing increasingly dissatisfied with my current blog theme. Sure, I loved it when I first designed it, but now I’m discovering that it really lacks functionality, and I’ve been dying for functionality.
So, here you have it: my new blog theme. I’m still tweaking things. Alright, let’s be honest … I’ve been tweaking things for over a month. Make that two. Mostly, I keep changing my mind about small, nobody-else-would-care-or-notice-but-me elements.
Everything is currently solid in my mind (which is why I’m sharing), except for the footer. I can’t quite make up my mind about how I want that to be. And really, that’s what’s taken up most of my “tweaking” time. I pull up the design in Photoshop, stare at it for a while, browse the web for some inspiration, stare at my design in Photoshop again, then close it. That’s usually how it goes.
But … I’ll figure out what I want to do, eventually. Then I’ll slice ‘er up, crank out some code, and put this baby together. Oh, and I am most definitely installing a captcha, this time around. I’ve been getting a crapload of spam comments, which is terribly annoying.
So, yeah … feedback would be nice!
In other news … CM over at Vegan in Bellingham is organizing a vegan dining out night, where we all get together and try out a restaurant, which we may or may not have been to before. I’m super excited about it! Getting to hang out and dine with other vegans, connecting, and I’m sure having discussions about how veganism is going for us, talking about issues, I don’t know … all kinds of stuff, I’m sure. Sounds like we’ll be trying out Bloom, a relatively new and vegan restaurant in downtown. Sweet! Haven’t been there before, so I’m excited.
Anyway, that’s it for now. Let’s see if I can get my butt in gear and finish up my new design.
February 15th, 2010 at 19:13
I just have to write a quick note about Billy McHale’s. First and foremost, they specialize in ribs, steak, and burgers, so this is not a vegan-friendly place. However, we went there tonight for Ty’s birthday, as he loves their chicken strips and brownie sundaes.
I ordered the “Mushroom Cheddar Burger” with a Gardenburger, no cheese, and no mayo. I’m not sure if the Gardenburger was vegan or not (the “Original” is not), but regardless, it was my only choice. Our server, Sahara, was super nice and even made sure to mention that the mushrooms were cooked in a beef broth, so I was able to have them cooked another way. It impressed me that she made the connection between my lack of cheese and mayo, and the broth.
The only downside was that apparently they didn’t get the “no mayo” memo, in the kitchen, as my bun had mayo on it. I mentioned it to our server, and she looked quite mortified until I assured her that I don’t have an allergy. I ate my meal and enjoyed it, but I’ll probably have some kind of salad, the next time we go, if we go. All of their salads have some kind of meat, egg, or cheese, but I’m sure they can tweak a salad fairly easily.
February 14th, 2010 at 21:51
I tried my hand at making truffles, last night. I found this truffle recipe through the Novel Eats blog. I wanted to have a gift to give to Ty’s family, but didn’t want to just provide them with chocolates they could buy for themselves at any store. There’s nothing special about that. It’s like, “Here, I spent about thirty seconds picking out these mass-produced chocolates that just about every other American is getting today. Enjoy!”
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Alright, so they’re not filled with caramel, nougat, or other sweet fillings. They’re basic, simple truffles that don’t really need any doctoring up. I used 75% dark chocolate which I found at the co-op, and rolled the truffles in a powdered sugar and cocoa mix, to cut the bitterness.
Truffles, using any recipe, aren’t healthy by any stretch. But again, I wanted to provide Ty’s family with something they would find delicious, without the milk, butter or eggs. Thinking about it, it’s a bizarre thing to be essentially saying, “See, vegan food can be really bad for you, too!” What is this world coming to, where we have to impress people in this manner?
I’d like to think I made up for it a bit with dinner. I brought basically all of the fresh fruit we had and made a delicious fruit salad of pears, bananas, kiwis, mango, and blueberries. And we brought lettuce, so everyone would have salads with dinner. It’s sad, though, when the lettuce is smothered in Caesar dressing, bacon bits and butter-filled croutons. My raspberry vinaigrette was quite delicious, though.
Ty’s mom tried out a recipe for chicken parmigiana, and apparently over-cooked the chicken. During dinner, she mentioned something to me about how I wasn’t missing anything, since it was over-cooked. In my head I was thinking, um, I wasn’t missing anything, anyway.
*sigh* Sometimes misconceptions take forever to clear up.
I’m super proud of my dad, though. We talked on the phone for a while today, and after our conversation, I’m left with the impression that he actually is going vegan. He says he’s “going veggie.” Hmm. In any case, he’s lost 10 lbs since adopting a low-fat “veggie” diet. I didn’t know this until we talked today, but apparently his doctor was talking not in terms of if he develops diabetes, but when. That scares me; I never knew that. So I’m doubly proud that he’s taking steps in the right direction.
I just got the book Becoming Vegan in the mail, and I’m looking forward to getting into it. (I’m currently engrossed in The Food Revolution, which I think everyone should read.) Now my dad has Becoming Vegan on his “to read” list and I think has requested it at his library.
Yay, Dad!
It’s funny … I think he will be the one keeping me going, when I lose my way. Now that I’ve established myself with my eating, I need to start reducing the amount of oils and fats I consume, and start following in my dad’s footsteps. He says he has about 30 lbs more to lose to get to his goal weight. I have 50 more. Considering that I’ve already lost 30 lbs (last year), I have a pretty good outlook. If I reduce fats and oils in my diet, and keep an eye on my portion sizes (I typically have issues with that), there’s no way I could not lose weight.
I’m excited! And I feel good! I look in the mirror every time I’m in the bathroom, and I feel like I look healthy. Okay, so I’m still 40-50 lbs overweight. But I feel really good, for where I’m at. And I’ve started taking bellydancing classes, every Thursday.
One final thought: It absolutely disgusts me that McDonald’s is a sponsor for the Olympics.
February 8th, 2010 at 20:43
When I first decided to adopt a vegan lifestyle, I was incredibly worried about what my family’s reaction would be. I knew my brother would accept it and give me encouragement. And a bunch of links to nutritional supplements and a ton of advice. My mom, I wasn’t so sure about. I figured she’d accept it with reservations (for my well-being). I was mostly worried about my dad, as he likes to have solid facts and reasoning behind things. When I made the switch, I had none of the above.
The funny thing was, when I had dinner with my dad at our favorite Chinese place a few weeks ago, he was the one who was bringing up the topic of veganism! He’s concerned about his health as he gets older and is taking steps to not consume as many animal products, as they are high in fat. So when I told him about me, it was basically an “it’s funny you should mention that…” moment. His reaction was essentially two thumbs up and a bit of metaphorical cheering. I even sent him an email that night, full of helpful links that I’ve discovered. So, that was easy. (Btw, he’s not going vegan unfortunately, but vegetarian.)
When we visit my family on Whidbey now, I bring along my Veganomicon cookbook and binder full of recipes I’ve printed out and scanned, and we figure out what to cook based on those. My mom even copied a bunch of recipes, the last time we were down. I feel good about cooking for them, because I know they’re eating healthier than they otherwise would be (even though my mom eats well) and because I’m also sharing myself with them. I’m showing them that they can still have delicious and healthy food, without any animals being involved.
Doing dinner with Ty’s family is a lot harder, unfortunately. Ty’s cousin, who is also vegan (along with her two daughters and husband), told me that usually when they have dinner at another’s house, they just eat whatever the host is having (as long as it’s not pork or seafood). I wouldn’t have a problem with that, but when the dinner is ham and cheesy hash browns … yeah, I’m not doing that. Last night I brought my own dinner of brown rice with edamame and tahini sauce, and washed it down with some apple juice.
I’m conflicted because, on one hand, I don’t expect anyone to cater to me. But I also don’t like having dinner there and eating only what I bring. But when everything has cheese, butter, milk, etc. and in large quantities … what am I supposed to do? I feel like the odd one out, with my brown rice and edamame. But I’m not going to sit down and have what everyone else is having, if it has anything like that in it. Physically I could consume it, but I’d feel like shit afterwards. Not very much physically, but mentally. I’d feel like I let myself down. You pick it back up the next time and keep pushing forward, but there’s still a bad feeling that lingers.
I guess we’ll see where things go, from here. We’re trying to limit how often we have dinner with Ty’s family. I’ve been thinking that I need to put together a simple, tasty dinner and have everyone over. And cook things that everyone would eat, or should eat. And show them that this is not weird, that it’s tasty and fulfilling, and that I’m doing something good for myself, when I bring out my own portion of dinner. Maybe that would help?
At this point, I don’t know. I just don’t know.
January 31st, 2010 at 15:51
Yesterday was my mom’s birthday, so Ty and I made the trip down Whidbey Island to Langley, where we all got together at my mom’s house to celebrate. My grandma had offered to make my mom a cake (not like she had any energy to do it), and I knew that if she did, I would likely not be able to eat it. Or rather, I shouldn’t eat it. I could, but I wouldn’t have felt good about it.
So, I made a cake! I’ve had my eye on this Chocolate-Orange Cake recipe for quite a while, and figured now was as good a time as any to try it. (It wouldn’t have been a good time, had it been a flop, but I had trust that it would turn out well.)
The cake was incredibly tasty, even though my icing was way too runny and pooled all around the cake. It made for delicious stuff to dip your finger in, though. It was also quite rich, and I’d like to explore how it would taste without the orange tones, and as just a simple chocolate cake. It could be good with raspberry incorporated into it, as well. Mmm! I might have to try that for Ty’s birthday, which is coming up in a few weeks.
Other foodstuff that made an appearance at my mom’s birthday dinner included some dinner rolls, a red and white quinoa blend which was mixed with fresh basil and spinach pesto (care of my brother), some roasted brussel sprouts with toasted garlic (care of Vegan with a Vengeance), some chicken that my mom cooked (which I obviously didn’t touch), and orange slices which were left over from making the cake.
All in all, it was a very successful, very delicious dinner, and everybody ate everything and enjoyed it. Except Ty, who just ate the chicken and a couple of rolls, which he claimed to be fine with. I’d planned on heating up some peas for him, but forgot to verify with my mom that she had some. Oh well. Still, a very fun day!
January 24th, 2010 at 11:05
In cooking exploration, sometimes you come across a food combination that you never would have thought of (for some reason!) and you just have to try it. That was the case with a really funky sandwich that I made out of my Veganomicon cookbook, which had mixed results. Overall it was good, but I would have been happy if it was half as complex, because it would have still tasted delicious!
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Last night I was poking around the web, mostly browsing my favorite vegan food blog, and I saw this recipe for Blueberry-Banana Bread. I had one of those, “Why didn’t I think of that?” moments. I showed the recipe to Ty, and he didn’t seem altogether very excited about it. But I knew I had to try it. So, I did!
Unfortunately, I have this bad habit of cooking things in the evening, and then I have to wait until the next day to have decent enough lighting to take decent enough shots. And of course, by then, the bread is half-eaten.
But what delicious bread it was. It could be better, though. I was one banana short, so I made up for it with some additional applesauce. Next time I try making it, the flavor is going to rock. Also, I plan on checking out white whole wheat flour. And maybe by the next time, I’ll have some fresh blueberries to work with, instead of the ones I froze last summer. We’ll see!
One thing that I absolutely love about baking vegan, and kind of have to giggle about, is the whole “licking the spoon” bit. When making cookies or breads, or anything that would have called for eggs, you don’t have to feel bad about licking the spoon! Because, hey, there’s no risk of getting sick! You could lick the whole damn mixing bowl, if you like! And that makes me laugh and feel slightly holier than thou. In a good way, of course.
January 20th, 2010 at 19:36
Having lunch with my co-workers today turned out pretty much like I expected … we had Thai food! Denise really has a thing for Thai food, so I wasn’t surprised. We were in Everett, so we went to a Thai place across the street from the convention center, called Thai Gusto.
I was sent out of class about 15 minutes early, to get us a table and order some appetizers to be ready for when everyone else got there. While I was waiting, I talked with one of the servers and she brought me a Thai iced tea (without the creamy milk stuff). She also stopped back to check if the tea was too sweet, and topped it off with some unsweetened tea. I asked about the possibility of ordering pahd thai without the fish sauce and egg, and she said that would certainly be fine. She also went one step further to confirm that I was able to have soy sauce, which I thought was really great.
All in all, Thai Gusto gets an A grade, from me. It also had a really great atmosphere, an awesomely-designed menu, and the servers were very kind and accommodating. So if you’re ever around the Everett area and are feeling for some Thai food, check out Thai Gusto. I think you’ll be pleased with your experience.
January 19th, 2010 at 20:00
I’m in Seattle, for a few days. Ty had to come down for some work stuff, and I had the chance to stay with him in his hotel. My work has two 12-month classes called EVOLVE, and the first class for each group meets tomorrow and Thursday, in Everett and Lynnwood. So instead of driving down from Bellingham and back up each day, I’ll be driving up from Seattle. And I get to stay with Ty, which makes life easier on both of us.
Since our hotel room doesn’t have a kitchen or fridge, we’re stuck eating out or eating packaged food. There’s a small market in the lobby of the hotel, so I’ll be able to purchase semi-fresh fruit for my breakfast, which is good. Dinners are another story.
Where we are, on the west side of Lake Union, there’s not much to choose from for healthy food. Lots of burger/steak and seafood joints. Tonight we had dinner at Jillian’s, about a block from our hotel. It’s mostly a billiards club, with your usual “bar plus a bit more” type of menu. I was able to order a flatbread pizza, which was really good. It had a pesto sauce (hopefully with no cheese in it!) and “roasted” veggies on top. (I don’t think they were really roasted, but whatever.) I also stole a few fries off of Ty’s plate. Not very healthy, but vegan!
I’m looking forward to Thursday night. I’ll be having dinner with my dad at our favorite Chinese place in Mountlake Terrace. I’ll be getting Moo Shu Vegetables, which I know is vegan. In the past I’ve gotten Moo Shu Pork, but there’s so little pork (and it’s so flavorless) anyway, so I don’t think my tastebuds will even notice the difference.
We’ll see what kinds of choices I’ll have for lunch, tomorrow. No idea where we’ll go during our break from class, but my boss has a penchant for Thai food. Hmm.
January 18th, 2010 at 10:47
Okay, so I’m having a complete blast trying out recipes from my new cookbook, Veganomicon. My first try from the book was the “Chewy Chocolate-Raspberry Cookies” recipe. I call them brownie cookies, for good reason … ’cause they taste like brownies!
I made three modifications to the recipe, which ended up leading to a fourth modification. The recipe calls for raspberry preserves, which we don’t have. So I substituted strawberry. I have a feeling the cookies would have turned out more rich, with the raspberry. As it is, you really don’t notice the strawberry.
I also didn’t have almond extract, so that didn’t go in. I’m not big on almonds, but I do like the overall flavor, so I think I may pick some up the next time I go to the co-op. The next batch will have it for sure.
My third modification was subbing agave syrup for half of the sugar. This turned out well, as far as sweetness went. However, it meant that my cookie dough was much more wet, leading to the fourth modification: using a lot more flour. I added in whole wheat flour in small increments until I felt like the dough was about right, and then floured my hands while rolling the balls of dough.
These cookies are simple enough (and inoffensive enough) to bring to people’s houses just because, or for a company potluck. And let me tell you, I’m going to have a lot of fun cooking things and sharing them with the unsuspecting. This isn’t to force vegan food on them, but to show, hey, we can make totally awesome food, too! And there’s nothing weird or abnormal (or unhealthy, for the most part) about it!
My first experiment was on my co-workers, and I made these Skinny Figgy Bars, from FatFree Vegan. They were a huge hit, and later that afternoon I visited with Ty’s cousin and her little girls, and they devoured most of what was left of the bars. Ty even tried one eventually, stating that it wasn’t “too bad.” This is progress!
