The 1:29 Project

Struggles and Reflections in September

2011-09-15T18:11:00.001+09:00

Am I the worst vegan blogger ever or WHAT?!

I know.

When we lived in Okinawa, my schedule was such that I found all kinds of time for blogging. I also had friends living right there with me who loved to cook and encouraged me to do it. Here in Ireland, I have been ill more than is usual for me. I've been sick with something or other more than half the time we've been here. I don't know if it's the air or the climate or just that I have a particular susceptibility to the germs and pollen here. Whatever it is, I fell out of the habit of sharing my cooking with you all. I have been meaning to do a kale blog for over a year now, and I promise I will eventually get around to it. Kale has become an ingredient in almost everything I cook, and its versatility and nutritional benefits are just seemingly endless.

The tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attack just came and passed. I spent it alone at home while Ashley stood post at the American embassy here in Dublin. The day passed kind of blank. If you are an American, I think you will probably understand the way it felt. It's not an active, whirling sort of sadness anymore. It has settled into the pit of our stomachs as a more steady, gnawing, inactive sort of aching discomfort. We are watching our nation implode with all sorts of economic and political problems while the media and government officials pit Americans against one another with the most hateful and horrible rhetoric I've ever heard. Apparently, we're supposed to hate each other, now. On a day that we all remember as the most horrifying we ever experienced, we were all a team. Everyone obeyed traffic laws. People quietly and without request just stopped being in a hurry and helped each other with whatever they could do. I am struggling now to understand where that quality went and how things got from that to this. My tiny hometown in Arkansas lost a member that day. She was a stewardess on flight 11. I had not spoken to her since I was a child, and she was a couple years older than me, so I never was close to her...but I still think of her every year on that day. I remember her dressed in a band uniform with her hair - it was long then - and her gorgeous feline eyes crinkled in a smile. She was laughing with someone. That flash memory of her is all I can remember with any clarity. Sara was her name. All I am is sad for her family and ashamed that I didn't know her better when we were children. Sigh. It makes no sense, and I have grown very weary of the ugly and political ways that day and all the loss it brought is being used.

I know. You don't come here for politics or sadness. You come here for recipes and vegan ideas. See...that's the problem. That's what I come here for, too, and I haven't had many recipes or vegan ideas lately. I struggle to stay vegan in Ireland. The products and produce I grew accustomed to are not all available here. Dairy is a very central focus of meals in Ireland, and I can't even find tofu on the grocery shelves three visits out of five. I found a little store that sells almond milk and soy protein crumbles, but they aren't the kind I'm used to, and there is a learning curve. I eat a lot of rice and vegetable bowls and I have found myself sliding back into dairy consumption on a relatively regular basis. We order a lot of takeout because I find myself feeling unwilling to cook at home. I get crispy chili tofu from the Chinese place and I get a veggie burrito bowl from the Mexican place, and I get flatbread pizza with no cheese from the pizza place. It's very monotonous and repetitive.

So, to those of you who still come by to check for new posts periodically, God bless you for sticking by me. :) I am struggling. I think all vegans struggle at some point or other because it's hard, sometimes, to live differently than the mainstream does. I have fallen into a rut. We eat out too much, I don't cook as often as I used to, our life here in Dublin is hectic and dotted with unpleasant governmental things, and I am often preoccupied.

I am an imperfect vegan. I am an imperfect person. I am the worst, most procrastinating-est blogger in the whole wide world. But I am still here. I use this blog, myself, as a cookbook of sorts. Just last night, I pulled the laptop into the kitchen to use my lentil soup recipe. It really is good, isn't it? I've taken to adding chili paste in for killing sinus pressure. At least for a while after eating a bowl, I can breathe through my nose. /nod

Tell me some stories or send me some requests. I would tell you all the posts I'm thinking of making, but it seems like every time I do that, it's destined not to happen. Ha ha! No more disappointing everyone. Have a look at the old recipes. Try out the colcannon for Halloween. I have every intention of resurrecting the blog and getting my butt back to the kitchen where I am happiest. This is just a slump time. It will end eventually.

In the meantime, pray for America, pray for wisdom in our government, and pray for the little Nix family in Ireland. We surely appreciate it.

Forty Days of Trial

2011-03-10T09:24:00.001+09:00

Hello, Everyone!

Today is Ash Wednesday. For Christians, this day symbolizes the beginning of Christ's 40 days of fasting in the desert before he began his ministry. Lent is the name we give this time spent in contemplative prayer and self-sacrifice that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Sunday (the joyful day on which we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus...and I have no idea where the eggs and rabbits came into it).

Though my religion is not the focus of this blog, it is the motivation behind both my veganism and my desire to share that veganism with others. For me, Lent is the perfect time to buckle down and refocus my energy on introspection and an examination of my conscience.

Whatever your religion or belief, there is benefit in this practice. We, all of us, can improve. We, all of us, have character flaws to examine and work on. Self-examination is the only way to mature - to grow. Being a "good" person is easy, and the judgment of that condition is entirely subjective. Meditating on what you believe being a good person really means and then orienting your life to be better than you are has actual meaning. Too few people ever look at themselves in a meaningful way, and I think lives never examined are lives wasted.

I will be spending this week finishing up two posts. The first will be about kale. The other will be about my current personal struggles with veganism and faith. I hope you will all indulge me in one or two spiritual posts per year. After all...it is my faith that led me to this place, and I cannot separate my veganism from my belief in God. Without that belief, I wouldn't be vegan.

A contemplative, safe, and blessed Ash Wednesday to you all.

Fried Fishy Sandwiches

2011-02-27T03:16:00.001+09:00

As is pretty obvious from some of my previous entries, I really love Toni Fiore's video podcast, "Delicious TV VegEZ." This past month, the podcast put out a recipe called "Tofu Phish Fillet Sandwiches," and I was inspired! Here is a link to Ms. Fiore's original video recipe. Mine is very similar, and the inspiration for it came entirely from the VegEZ original, but let's be honest: I just didn't want to make mine quite that healthy. Ha ha!

Lookit, I'm from Arkansas, and I'm from rural, backwoods Arkansas. I grew up in a place where my brother and I would walk to our own pond--barefooted most of the time--and throw a simple line from a cane pole with a cork bobber and a worm on it into the water. My mother would make hush puppies and fried bits of catfish and serve it with cole slaw and thinking about it makes me drool...mmm! So, I loved eating fried fish practically from the time I left the womb. I also loved fried fish sandwiches. For years, I would go through the drive-thru of some fast food joint or other and get a fried fish sandwich slathered in cheese and mayo. I won't lie. I savored every single horribly unhealthy bite. When I saw this recipe, a little catfish-shaped lightbulb went off over my head. I knew I could make this a fried fishy concoction, so I scrambled down to the kitchen and made my little modifications. Here is what we did in Kitchen de la Nix...and it was GOOD, Y'all. Seriously, wondrously good. At the end, I'll tell you how I'll make this differently next time, and remember that if you don't want this recipe fried, you can save calories and fat by making it Toni Fiore's way. Just watch her video.

Fried Fishy Sandwiches

1 block Frozen Firm Tofu, thawed

Dry Egg Replacer (two eggs' worth)

4 Sandwich Rolls (we used a lovely vegan Ciabatta roll we found at Tesco)

4T Malt Vinegar (Toni used cider vinegar, but I prefer malt vinegar with fish)

1T Old Bay Seasoning

3/4C Panko Bread Crumbs

1/4C Regular Plain Bread Crumbs

2T Plain Flour

2 1/2tsp Nori, ground

1tsp Onion Powder

1/2tsp Garlic Powder

1/2tsp Sugar

Salt and Pepper to taste

Before you really start assembling things here, you might need to make a few preparations. First, the nori. Nori is a seaweed steamed and rolled out into sheets and toasted. It is typically sold in sheets, and I had never seen any for sale already powdered or minced up into small pieces. I tried cutting it into tiny pieces, and that would work if you wanted to spend an hour dealing with it, but I didn't. So...I got out my coffee bean grinder. I tore the sheet of nori into pieces that would fit in the grinder. It took less than a minute to grind the entire sheet, and it did the trick beautifully. If you can find nori already ground up...awesome. If not, try this or a food processor.

Now for the tofu. You cannot make this recipe properly without first freezing your block of tofu. When tofu is frozen, the texture of it changes. When you thaw a block of frozen tofu, you will find that the texture of it is very spongy and far more structurally sound. The mouth feel of previously-frozen tofu is different, as well..."meaty" is an apt adjective for it. For this recipe, you really need to freeze the tofu. Just put the entire package, unopened, into the freezer as soon as you get home from the store with it. Take it out and thaw it completely. When you open the package, squeeze the block thoroughly to remove the water. You now have a block of tofu that will soak up any sauce or marinade like a sponge - literally.

Slice the block of tofu into eight uniform slices, blot with a paper towel on both sides, and set aside. In a bowl, mix together the malt vinegar, sugar, and 1/2tsp of your ground nori. Whisk these together and set aside. Using a dry egg replacer like the one I have pictured above, get a 2nd small bowl and mix the equivalent for two eggs according to the package instructions. Set this aside as well.

In a medium bowl, mix the panko, bread crumbs, flour, garlic powder, onion powder, Old Bay, remaining nori, salt, and pepper with a fork until all ingredients are evenly distributed. Taking each slice of tofu, dip them in the vinegar mix, coat with the egg replacer, and then dredge in your bread crumb mix. Once fully coated, put the slices aside on a plate or tray to await frying.

Cover the bottom of a deep skillet (you don't need a lot of oil...just cover the bottom of the skillet), and heat the oil until a bit of the breading dropped in immediately bubbles. Once your oil is heated, place each of the fishy planks into the oil and cook on one side until golden brown (about 3 minutes). Flip each slice over and do the same thing on the other side. Remove the planks from the oil and place them on some paper toweling to drain.

Voila! Make sure to share a piece with any Children, Foster Bassets, or Husbands who wander through while you assemble the sammiches. We made these with lettuce, tomato, and red onion on lovely ciabatta rolls. They were awesome...and they really did taste like fried fish. There was one thing we'd change...

The Next Time I Make This Recipe:

I will not dip the individual tofu slices in the vinegar mix. I will simply press the entire block of tofu, once squeezed free of water, into the vinegar mix on each side. We love the malt vinegar flavor, but we think the slices soaked up too much individually. Though it was quite tasty this way, we felt the strength of the vinegar flavor took away from the spices and other flavors in the breading. This is a matter of preference. If you want a milder malt vinegar flavor, try dipping the entire block in the vinegar mix rather than soaking each slice.

Breakfast Hash

2011-01-09T23:02:00.000+09:00

I promised a breakfast hash posting a while back when I made it for the first time. It is delicious. Then I got the flu...bad flu...serious flu...like 103-degree temperature for four days flu...followed by three SOLID weeks of recovery while it lingered and clung on for dear life. It was HORRID. Then there was Christmas and my birthday. It's the age-old holiday season excuse. But I'm back, now, so let's just forget all that viral crap and put it behind us, shall we?

One thing I've really worked to recreate as a vegan is egg dishes...because I loved to eat them once upon a time. Real eggs really, REALLY skeeve me out now, so I can't even "cheat" and eat one now and again. I seriously find eggs and the entire concept of eating eggs revolting.

But I still miss the taste and texture I used to enjoy so much.

Fortunately for me, I have found a friend in tofu. From the earliest days of my vegan eating, I have been pleased with tofu/turmeric scrambles. They work for me. Heck, I didn't even add anything to my tofu scrambles...just tofu, vegan butter, turmeric, and S&P. Voila. It might have all ended right there because I am a creature of implacable habits, but the trouble was that my husband didn't really like plain ol' tofu and turmeric scrambles.

So, from the very beginning, I have been on a mission to have yummy breakfast at home for Mr. Nix. Sometime in late November of last year...I succeeded. Here is our breakfast hash recipe. It's simple, it's inexpensive, and my husband really likes to eat it. Enjoy!

1:29 Project Breakfast Hash

1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 medium bell pepper (any color), diced
1 large or 2 small potatoes, scrubbed and diced
2/3 block Firm Tofu, diced
1tsp Turmeric
1tsp Garlic Paste (or 3 cloves minced garlic)
1/4tsp Hot Chili Paste (or Red Pepper Flakes), optional
c. 2T Vegan Butter
c. 1T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Over medium high heat, get your pan nice and warm. Add the butter and oil. Let those get really good and hot. Add in the onion, bell pepper, tofu, and potatoes. DON'T touch them, yet. Just let them sit there in the hot fats. While this is happening, throw in the garlic and chili. After about a minute, stir this all up. Get it good and mixed together and add the salt, pepper, and turmeric. Once all of this is well-incorporated and happy together, put your spoon down again and let it sit. We want browning to take place. Put all your ingredients away and wipe down your counter while you let it sit there and cook (about 3 minutes). At this point, you should see some lovely brown marks on your onions and potatoes. Your breakfast hash is now ready to eat...however: if you are like Mr. Nix, then you like your breakfast potatoes a little darker. Allow the hash to cook to your personal texture preference from this point. Remove from heat and serve. We like to eat this with toast and jam.

Redefining Dinner

2010-11-27T05:58:00.000+09:00

One of the challenges of going vegan is learning to change our concept of dinner. What does dinner look like? What does an appetizing plate contain if we aren’t going to put any meat or cheese on it? Tonight, while I was cooking the family evening meal, Mr. Nix came into the kitchen with me to “help.” This is special code language for “playfully harass me while I cook.” At some point during the shenanigans, he stopped and suddenly shouted, “You know what you need to do?” I smiled. “No, Bubby, what do I need to do?” “You need to make a book called, ‘Side Dish No More,’ and make it all about how you make vegan entrees – you know, the main dish for a meal.”

Tonight’s dinner was an excellent example of how I’ve begun to naturally replace animal fats and proteins on our dinner plate with things most Americans consider only as a side dish. Our plates tonight held roasted root vegetables, steamed fresh green beans, and jasmine rice covered with a tomato porridge sauce I made up because I didn’t have any flour to make tomato gravy. It was completely scrumptious, healthy, and satisfying.

It has taken me a year for this sort of dinner to come naturally. I have spent most of my first year as a vegan having to hunt specific ingredients and meticulously plan menus using online aids. Today, I am able to stand in my kitchen and look around at the items I have on hand to make a meal for my family, but it took months of laborious work and a lot of trial and error to get here. That’s because the American dinner plate is all about a meat, a starch, and a vegetable. If it doesn’t contain these three items, it ain’t a “healthy” or “complete” meal. I spent the first 34 years of my life cooking that way. All of my culinary habits involved butter, eggs, bacon grease, meat, and cheese. Every meal I knew how to throw together, and all of the components I was comfortable using were formed around the 3-part traditional American dinner plate.

Getting out of that mindset takes time because it is cultural and habitual. I have been grateful more than a few times over the past year that I was already a kitchen person when I went vegan. I love food, and I love to cook. I’ve always been a quick study in the kitchen, so that comfort level and experience has served me very well in this year of transition. For those who are not already familiar and comfortable with home cooking, who don’t know by feel how to mix together or substitute fats and proteins and grains and spices with one another…well, I can imagine that the process of redefining dinner can present a serious obstacle.

If you find yourself asking, “What can we eat?” or saying, “I just don’t know what to make,” on a regular basis, the best advice I know to give is the following:

1.) Learn how to make soups. Soup is forgiving. By that, I mean that once you get the basic recipe, soup is really hard to mess up. For inexperienced or uncomfortable cooks, soup can help you feel confident about trying new things.

2.) Make meals that include three dishes like the one in my picture here. They bring comfort and familiarity. Mr. Nix LOVES when I make meals that look like this for him because they resemble and “feel” like the old meat-starch-veggie plate. Get three different colors on the plate or put three different textures. Think of it as a crisp-chewy-smooth plate. Ha ha! Whatever criteria you use to choose your dishes, always work with three. It’s amazing how attached Americans are to that three-item plate.

3.) Get online and find recipes to try. If you’re anything like me, you’ll end up eating several along the way that turn out with less than desirable results. My recipe failures this past year have included two cornbread recipes (I finally made my own), a veggie meatloaf (went into the garbage…it was THAT bad), too many pasta recipes to count, an eggplant dish (I still shudder when I think about that one), some tofu attempts…it goes on and on. These failures are okay because in between the bad recipes, you’ll be learning what does work for you.

4.) Finally, remember that you can’t erase a lifetime of habit in a week or two. Give yourself time to figure out what you like seeing in that empty spot on the plate where your chicken leg used to be. I’m still a work in progress after a year. I mean, I still can’t shake off the egg mayonnaise…but I’m learning. You will, too.

God bless you and keep you.

Irish Bruschetta

2010-11-26T04:12:00.001+09:00

Well...it's bruschetta made in Ireland. Same thing, right? Actually, the tomatoes are from France and the basil is from Israel, but the baguettes were made right here in Dublin...this morning. I made 5 baguettes and 3 pounds in tomatoes worth of this recipe this morning, and it was ALL eaten up by the guests before anyone ate any of the omni food. I was pretty danged proud of it. People were just hovering around the platter, and I had to keep refilling it. /flex

Shortly after getting off the plane last week, we got acquainted with Roly's Cafe here in Ballsbridge. It's conveniently located less than a block from our hotel, so we ate there more than people would generally do in our first week. The bread there is just really, really good, and they make it all onsite.

Here at home, now, we are located about a mile away from Roly's. We have no car, yet, but because it is Thanksgiving, and because I didn't want to show up at our sponsor's house empty-handed, and because we don't have much in the kitchen to cook with, and because I really wanted to use these incredible mix-n-match tomatoes I bought on Tuesday...well, Mr. Nix was sent for a walk in the cold this morning to retrieve some Irish French bread from Roly's. And here we are.

Make this. Trust me.

(my very first post from the new kitchen! Squeal!)

Bruschetta
There are no measurements here. Go with your gut and use what you have.

Good Crusty Bread
Tomatoes
Fresh Basil
Olive Oil
Salt
Black Pepper
Garlic Clove, peeled

Chop your tomatoes into nice, bite-sized pieces. Chiffonade your basil. If you don't know how to cut in a chiffonade, you can either look at our page here, or you can chop it up any ol' way you like. Mix together the tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper to taste, and then drizzle with olive oil to get a nice coating. Stir this all together. Taste for salt content, adjust, and then put it in the fridge to marinate while you prepare your bread.

Slice your bread into the desired size pieces. I used baguettes today because these were meant to be little bite-sized appetizers. If you use this for a meal, go big or go home. Use a nice heavy Italian bread or get funky and use a dark pumpernickel. Whatever you use, keep the pieces a good size for handling. We don't eat this with a fork, People.

Now, if you want to be healthy about all this, you can just toast your bread in the oven. This is Thanksgiving, though, so I brushed the bread slices on both sides with olive oil, and I was generous with it. Next, I fried them in a pan on the stove. Either way, once your bread is crunchy and ready to go, it's time to add the garlic.

Take a raw, peeled garlic clove and just rub it against the crunchy bread. Like a grater, the bread will sort of consume the garlic. Rub the bread with the garlic on both sides and then set your slices out on a platter.

Get your tomatoes out of the fridge and spoon generously onto the bread. Get as much of the tomato mixture on the slice as it will hold and then have fun watching your family or friends try to be all neat while they eat it.

This stuff is better than the bees' knees. It's freaking delicious. Enjoy it, and Happy Thanksgiving.

I Think I've Turned Japanese

2010-11-16T00:16:00.000+09:00

The Flag of the Okinawan Prefecture of Japan

I love my country. Although America will always be my homeland and my primary patriotic love, my home has been elsewhere for a long time, now. Okinawa and her people have been very good to us for the past three years, and we are leaving her in a matter of days. There is both sadness and joy in this. This little island has been my first experience as an expatriate, and I have both hated and loved every day of it.

I felt a sort of vertigo when we moved here. I was displaced and dizzy in a foreign country that was truly alien to me in every way. The language, the food, the architecture, and even the toilets were strange and intimidating to me. Since that shaky first impression, however, Okinawa has become my home. The people are open and kind and generous - astonishingly so. The food has grown on me, and now I can't imagine being without it. My tiny concrete house has become my home. I am in my element here.

There is a very third-world feel to Okinawa. Everywhere you go, you see the rubble of abandoned buildings, unkempt and overgrown fields, empty lots piled with rusty rubbish, and narrow streets filled with simply-dressed people on foot or bicycle. Large portions of the island are covered by the overwhelming stench of chicken, pig, and cow manure when the fields are spread and the wind blows just right. The heat and humidity are just stifling about 8 months out of the year. The appearance of relative poverty and overcrowding are all around you from clothing hung to dry off of every high rise balcony to the narrow, pothole-filled streets to the homeless beggars gathered under overpasses and on the sidewalk corners.

Despite all of this, there is also a wild sort of beauty to Okinawa. Miniature farms with tiered fields strung up in fairy lights to protect the tropical crops from chilly nights. Huge, jutting hills covered with a dense tangle of jungle trees, vines, and underbrush. Massive, sheer-faced cliffs descending hundreds of feet down into the waves of the Pacific Ocean. Little fishing boats. A man walking a bull down the street. Ancient stone Shinto burial temples covered with moss. Young children playing baseball in perfectly manicured parks. Majestic ruins from the Ryukyu Empire dotted all over the island. Incredible sprays of carefully-cultivated orchids, lilies, and other extraordinary flowers. The sea is also, literally, all around. In some places violent, with white waves crashing on jagged rocks, in other places clear and cerulean and calm. And, then, there are the Okinawan people.

The Okinawan people seem almost childlike to an American at first glance. Their culture is open, truthful, and incredibly polite. Doors are routinely left unlocked because theft is practically unheard of. Everyone from the manager of a bank to the man who landscapes the public medians takes pride in his job. There are uniforms of a sort for every type of work here, and the Okinawan people always look clean, pressed, and professionally intent on their work. This kind of personal pride in even the lowest wage work is almost totally absent from today's American society. Watching it still takes me by surprise, sometimes...even after three years. There is an obsession here with anything cute (kawaii) or decorative. The Japanese gift-giving traditions are complex and puzzling. The appearance of the gift is just as or even more important than the contents of the package. The importance placed on gift wrapping and presentation crosses over into the service industries. Even at the 100¥ store, any fragile item you purchase will be neatly wrapped in newsprint and tied or taped into a little gift shape. Everything is wrapped in rice paper or tied with beautiful ribbon. No opportunity for decoration or artistic presentation is overlooked. Okinawans delight in children and family. Complete strangers will take a young child from her mother and entertain her with games and play or treats out of the blue. American mothers are often taken aback by this kind of behavior, but it is born of a cultural love for children. There are no looks of angry annoyance at childish antics in public. Everyone in every age group is patient and accommodating to both the children and the families moving about in society with them.

All of these things, the good and the bad, have become a part of my space - my new natural habitat. I see them and am surrounded by them every day. Now, all of that is about to be over. America has chosen a new home for us, and because we serve The United States in this family, that is simply that. Our new home will be Dublin, Ireland. I don't know how we're going to adjust to the culture shock of being Okinawanized Americans living in Europe...but I know we will find a way to manage.

Today, my husband, our daughter, and I are packing suitcases and preparing for the last TMO shipments (military movers, basically) that will be taken from our home. They will come for the next two days, handle everything I own, pack it up in wooden crates, and put it all on a ship for Dublin. I'm ready to go, but I will be very sad to leave.

Typhoon Soup!

2010-10-28T19:45:00.001+09:00

We may be headed for Dublin, but we still live on Okinawa, and today we are receiving a visit from Typhoon Chaba. It's been chilly (for Oki) and gloomy for days in the run-up for this storm. I felt we needed something hot and soothing. We ate colcannon and heavy, bad-tasting meat loaf for dinner yesterday, so I wanted this to be something lighter and less clunky in the tummy. Soup, of course, is always an excellent solution for this.

Because we are planning a move, there isn't a whole lot of food in the house, and I've used most of what I bought over the last week for specific, planned meals. I rooted through the pantry and fridge to see what I could find and just threw everything that looked like a soup ingredient up on the counter. This is what I came up with, and it was quite good.

This little soup is a simple, spicy, and stick-to-the-ribs meal without being heavy. I call it Typhoon Soup in honor of the storm which inspired me to make it. Do try this. It's lovely. I made a cornbread to serve alongside. The slice you see up there in the photo is from my standby 1:29 Project Cornbread recipe. It just looks different because I used whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose. It, too, was perfect. As the ladies on my Irish Mommies board would say, "It went down a treat."

Typhoon Soup
c. 1C Potato, diced
c. 1/2C Celery, diced
c. 1/2C Carrot, diced
c. 1/2C Onion, diced
1/4C Kale, chopped (optional)
1C Lentil Beans
1 Can Tomato Soup
4C Vegetable Broth (I made mine with a bouillon base)
1tsp Garlic Powder
1/3tsp Red Chili Flakes
Salt & Pepper to taste
the Juice from 1/2 of a Lemon (about 1T)

Heat a stew pot over medium heat with about 1T of canola oil. Toss in the potato, celery, carrot, onion, and lentils. Stir all of this around until the onions soften up a bit. Add in the soup and dry spices. Once that is all mixed and you've taste-tested for spice levels, pour in the broth. Turn down to simmer and cover your pot. Let it cook for 30-40 minutes until the lentils soften up. I don't like my lentils mushy, but if you do, you'll need to let it simmer longer than we did. Add your lemon juice and do a final taste test for salt and pepper adjustment. Voila!

**Note of Trivia**
For those who were unaware, whenever you see the abbreviation "c." in a recipe or manual--or anywhere else for that matter--it stands for the word, "circa." Circa is the Latin word meaning "around." It literally meant around as in around the circle or looking around, but in English we use the c. to indicate around as in "approximately." Cheers!

Colcannon for Halloween

2010-10-27T18:54:00.001+09:00

We're moving to Ireland soon, and I have recently befriended a lovely group of Irish mothers online. In the past few days, they've all been talking with one another about a dish called colcannon. These discussions caught my eye because they kept mentioning "kale" and "curly kale." As any of you who read this blog regularly know...I'm a little obsessed with kale. So...I asked them to explain the dish and tell me how to make it.

Colcannon is a signature Irish comfort dish traditionally made for telling fortunes on Halloween. The cook will hide coins, rings, and other tokens inside the dish to predict marriages and wealth for the coming year. It is simple peasant fare, and it's absolutely and utterly delicious. Here's how to make it:

1:29 Project Colcannon
4-5 lbs. of good, starchy Potatoes
2C Kale, chopped
2C Cabbage, chopped
1/4C Scallions, sliced
1C Soy Milk
6T Vegan Butter (I didn't say it was health food)
4 Cloves Garlic, pressed or minced
Dash Grated Nutmeg
Salt and Pepper to taste

Scrub and cut up your potatoes. Peel them if you like (if your potatoes have a thick skin that will not easily mash, I recommend you peel them). Put them in a large pot just covered with salted water. Boil until forkably soft the way through.

While the potatoes are boiling, heat 3T butter in a pan. When just bubbly, toss in your Kale and Cabbage. As these begin to wilt (about 1 min.), add the garlic, scallion, and some black pepper. Let these continue cooking for another minute or two until everything is soft.

Drain the potatoes and put them in a mixer or a large bowl for mashing. Mash the potatoes down a bit and add the soy milk. Once well mixed, add the nutmeg and another 2T of butter. Stir in the kale mixture and mix until everything is well-incorporated. Taste test for salt/pepper content and adjust. Almost done!

Transfer the colcannon to your serving dish. Make a well in the hot potatoes and place your last tablespoon of butter inside to melt. Voila! You now have before you a scrumptious vegan version of Irish Colcannon.

Meat Loaf Cupcakes

2010-10-27T18:23:00.001+09:00

So, I was looking for a good vegan meat loaf recipe, and I came across this website that suggested putting the meat loaf into a muffin pan so that leftover portions could be frozen and re-heated easily. Having a kidlet who doesn't care for meat loaf, I thought, "Hey! Meat Loaf Cupcakes!" Anyhoodle, we got a recipe and made the meat loaf.

It was terrible.

The recipe we used turned out practically inedible. The flavors were just all wrong. As disappointing as that was, however, there are other recipes to try, and this whole cupcake idea was adorable. Here's how we did it. Use with your favorite meat loaf recipe, and may yours turn out tastier than ours. Ha ha!

Using pre-shaped cupcake foils or squares of tin foil (I embossed my corners in an attempt to be like Martha), line the cups of a muffin pan. Taking generous handfuls of your meat loaf mixture, fill the cups to the top. "Frost" with your topping. I used a mix of ketchup and dry mustard. It's delicious. Pop your meat loaf cupcakes into the oven for about 30 minutes (remember these don't take as long to bake through as a full loaf pan would). When finished baking, pipe on some fun designs with mustard. Done!

The Beagle Has Landed

2010-10-27T00:22:00.007+09:00

Little Kioko has arrived in safety. She is being loved and cared for, and now I can finally rest.

Vegetable Fried Rice

2010-10-25T19:02:00.001+09:00

Because we're in the middle of moving from Japan to Ireland, I have emptied the refrigerator and stopped buying food. We've been living on takeout and the good grace of friends for about a week now. Last night, we were over at Bunnary's house, and she always makes me the most delicious vegan nummies. The specialty of the evening was tofu fried rice. It was Heaven in a bowl.

Now. I haven't been able to stop thinking about that fried rice since we left, and I actually went to the commissary and bought ingredients to make it here at home. It was worth the mess and chaos of making room in the kitchen. Bunnary's rice was a simple comfort dish made with a few ingredients. Using the same process she taught me, I added some ingredients because my eyes got big at the store and I bought up the whole produce section. Also in the process of buying too many vegetables, I forgot to buy tofu. So...here is my basic fried rice recipe...sans tofu. It was delicious!

Remember that this is just a process recipe. You can add tofu, beans, nuts, or seeds if you like, and you don't have to use the vegetables I've used. Use anything you have on hand.

***About the Pictures: Click on them to see the larger versions. These thumbnails look awful!***

Vegetable Fried Rice
5-6C Fluffed Jasmine Rice (that was my yield cooking 2C rice in 3C of water)
1C Carrot, Diced
1C Celery, Diced
1C Yellow Onion, Chopped
1C Mushrooms, any kind, diced
1.5C Cabbage, chopped
2C Kale, chopped
4 cloves Garlic, pressed or minced
2T Soy Sauce (I used low sodium)
3T Canola Oil
Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Heat 2T of the oil in a large pan on medium-high heat. Add the rice. Season with a bit of salt and pepper. Stir-fry the rice for a solid 5 minutes. This will evenly distribute the oil and "fry" the rice. You do not want the rice to burn or change color here. You just want to fry it and get a bit of flavor in.

Remove the rice from your pan and set aside. Heat the remaining 1T of oil in the same pan you just used to fry the rice. Saute the carrot, celery, and mushroom until the mushrooms begin to sweat and the carrot and celery begin to soften (about 3 minutes). Add the onion. When the onions begin to turn clear (about another 3 minutes), add the garlic and stir through.

Quickly add your kale and cabbage. Stir-fry actively until the kale and cabbage are good and wilted. This shouldn't take more than an additional 2-3 minutes. Now, you're ready to toss the rice in. Add the rice back into the pan, and get everything really well mixed. Almost done! Pour in the soy sauce, stir well, and then let everything sit there getting cozy together for a few minutes. This will bring your rice to that nice brown "fried rice" color we all know and love. You can lower the heat and walk away to clean up if you like. By the time you're done putting everything away, the rice will be ready to taste test.

Adjust the salt content to your liking and serve!

Gershwin, Bowels, and Vegan Shops in Dublin

2010-10-22T10:54:00.000+09:00

The U.S. Embassy in Dublin, Ireland

As we have entered this moving process, my "diet" has gone to junk. As a vegan on Okinawa, I have learned that the meaning of convenience food changes drastically when you stop eating eggs, meat, and cow milk. Pre-packaged food here is rarely vegan. Don't even get me started on the packaged fresh bento boxes full of bitter melon, egg, cream, and batter-dipped chicken. /shudder My bowels scream at me for even looking at food like that.

Yes. I said "bowels." I can say, "poop," too, if that helps us break the ice in this area. Lookit, every human being has a lower intestine, and very few American-type human beings treat that particular organ with care and kindness. It is shocking how little thought people give to the health of their bowels and how little attention they give to the regularity of their poop. I mean, seriously. Though certainly not the most attractive function of the human body, pooping is supposed to happen every day...several times. A lot of Americans are completely blocked up most of their adult lives and consider it perfectly normal to be so. It's not. It's very, very bad for you, and it indicates some serious problems with your diet. If you don't poop at least twice a day, or if you need to take daily laxatives to get things moving...you need to put the pork chop down and start eating your vegetables. I'm just sayin.'

Anyway, in my father's family, we have a genetic predisposition to bowel trouble. My baby brother and I, at 31 and 35 respectively, are already showing signs of heading down that problematic road...so trust me: I got over any embarrassment in discussing bowels a long time ago. You should, too.

Back to junk food and being vegan during a move:

So, you all know what kind of junk food I mean, right? Chips (crisps, for you European-types), fries (chips, again, for my Euro people), and all manner of quick-grain foods like pasta and big sandwiches and hot cereals...all smothered or slathered with some kind of fatty sauce full of sugar, salt, and God-knows-what-else.

I've never been thin, but at this rate, I'll be the size of a house in no time. Thinking of that got me to thinking about the Irish looking at me and thinking, "typical fat American." That was a bit embarrassing, and the Irish people mocking me in my head had French accents. That got me thinking about Gershwin's American in Paris, which is a lovely, happy piece of music. So...I put that on the iPod and then started Googling vegan shops and restaurants in Dublin. Yep. I'm nuts. This is what it's like to be me.

So, anyway - yeah, Buddy. I'm going to be a happy camper in Dublin. Look at all I found:

The Dublin Co-op
The vegetarian institution of fair-trade and organic products in Dublin. It's like a farmer's market/whole foods store.

Nourish
The Irish version of Whole Foods, as far as I can tell

Blazing Salads
This is going to be my FIRST restaurant visit when we get there. Just look at their beautiful food, and it's all take-out! We won't have a lot of time for eating out properly at a sit-down place in the beginning, so finding and making friends with a good take-out place will be a blessing. Apparently, their tofu pizza is quite the thing because everyone who reviewed the deli mentioned the pizza specifically!

Govinda's
Doesn't this look divine? I can't wait. I'm thinking Govinda's will be my choice for my first-ever sit-down vegan restaurant experience.

Moving Without Kioko

2010-10-22T09:41:00.001+09:00

Just three weeks ago, we were preparing for a move to The Hague, Netherlands. As life and the Marine Corps would have it, that plan didn't pan out. Instead, we have been assigned to a post in Dublin, Ireland. While we view this as a fantastic opportunity and are excited to see the green of beautiful Erin, there was a hiccup. A big one.

Ireland has a strict animal quarantine, and Kioko had never been FAVN tested. Americans don't FAVN test their dogs as a general practice, and so I had never heard of such a thing. It never crossed my mind that Kioko's veterinary record was anything less than exemplary and complete...but I was wrong.

I have written two posts about all of this on my MCESG Blog, and you can read about the requirements for transporting an American dog to Ireland and the UK in my article, Quarantine for Kioko. What I would rather you read, however, is the story I wrote about Okinawa's Own Saint Francis. In it, I describe how Mary from Itoman saved the day and helped us get Kioko safely to our family in America. There, the beaglet can hang out and get grandbaby treatment from my mother-in-law until the quarantine period is over. We look to have Kioko living with us in Dublin by late April or early May.

We are sad to be losing the company of our Wonder Beagle for six months, but the best we could make out of a bad situation has now taken place. Like I say in my article about Mary, "I miss my dog...but I'm not worried about her anymore."

Benjamin Franklin Went Veggie

2010-09-25T14:27:00.001+09:00

I'm reading The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin right now, and imagine my surprise and delight when I ran across the following:

"When about 16 years of age I happened to meet with a book, written by one Tryon, recommending a vegetable diet. I determined to go into it. My brother, being yet unmarried, did not keep a house, but boarded himself and his apprentices in another family. My refusing to eat flesh occasioned an inconveniency, and I was frequently chid for my singularity. I made myself acquainted with Tryon's manner of preparing some of his dishes, such as boiling potatoes or rice, making hasty pudding, and a few others, and then proposed to my brother, that if he would give me, weekly, half the money he paid for my board, I would board myself. He instantly agreed to it, and I presently found that I could save half what he paid me. This was an additional fund for buying books. But I had another advantage in it.

My brother and the rest going from the printing-house to their meals, I remaind there alone, and, despatching presently my last repast, which often was no more than a bisket or a slice of bread, a handful of raisins or a tart from the pastry-cook's, and a glass of water, had the rest of the time till their return for study, in which I made the greater progress, from that greater clearness of head and quicker apprehension which usually attend temperance in eating and drinking."

This little quoted segment of the writing illustrates two things which make me passionate about being vegan. First, you'll note he saved a great abundance of money by not eating meat. This is because meat SHOULD cost more to produce than crops do. Only in our backward, twisted bureaucracy of corrupt legislation could meat be cheaper than broccoli and potatoes. Second, it confirms that even Benjamin Franklin experienced the same increase in energy and mental well-being on a vegetarian diet that I have. It's not placebo effect. It's actually real.

Just wanted to share. Finding this made me smile.

Palabok and Lunch With What Ya Got

2010-09-25T12:56:00.003+09:00

We're gearing up from the big move from Japan to The Netherlands, and part of that is using up food from the pantry. Well, I went on a "noodles I've never heard of" expedition long ago, and so I have this huge basket of noodles in my pantry closet that I don't know what to do with.

In my fridge, I had a ziploc full of fresh collard greens, already chopped in ribbons that we had leftover from the Lemony Collards recipe, and I needed to use them up before they spoiled. I also had a gorgeous package of mushrooms from the local San-A, which is a Japanese grocery store. I decided to make Palabok and collards with mushrooms for lunch.

So did we like it? The verdict is still out. I'm not really sure. I love collards, and the mushrooms were lovely. The texture of the palabok is like glass noodles, but thicker. It felt...odd...in my mouth. Different sort of texture and relatively flavorless noodle. It's not my favorite, but your personal preferences might be different. Overall, it was a satisfying light lunch, and the flavor was killer.

Enjoy the photos!

Palabok and Collards and Mushrooms, Oh My!

1/2 package Palabok, prepared to package directions*

Fresh Collard Greens, chiffonade

Mushrooms, any type, sliced

2T Vegan Butter

1/2T Olive Oil

Garlic, Salt, and Pepper to taste

*See Palabok directions below the recipe

In a large, flat-bottomed pan, heat the oil and butter. Add your mushrooms and garlic. Sauté until the mushroom aromas really hit you. Add the collards and sauté just until the wilt begins. Toss in the palabok and give everything a few minutes to get heated through and well-mixed. Salt and pepper. Plate and serve! I ate mine with Sriracha hot sauce.

*Palabok comes in a package like the one pictured below. These are made of "Natural Yellow Cornstarch, Water, and Sodium Polyphosphate." Following the package instructions, you take out the desired amount and soak it in hot water from the tap for about 10 minutes.

After soaking, remove the noodles directly into boiling water. Boil for 8-10 minutes until soft. Remove from heat, but leave the noodles in the hot water for another 10 minutes. During this time, using tongs, "stir to loosen" the noodles. Drain and then transfer to a serving dish or, in this case, the pan full of your other ingredients.

Mrs. Land's Vegan Eggrolls

2010-09-24T15:16:00.002+09:00

As regular visitors here may have noticed, I have a new cooking buddy. Bunnary (buh-NAR-Ee) Land is a good friend of mine who I met after she married Derrick, who is an old friend of my husband's. She immediately fit right in with the Nixes' sarcastic and silly ways. She and I have since developed a warm friendship separate from her being "Derrick's wife." I adore her.

Now, Bunnary's family came to America as refugees from Cambodia when she was two years old. With that first-generation Asian cultural heritage and her Southern raising in Alabama, let me just say this woman can cook some wicked fusion foods. She loves eating and being in the kitchen just like I do. What can I say? We bonded over cooking and produce.

On one of the last occasions I was invited to a "do" at the Land home, Bunnary made these eggrolls especially for me as part of the spread she put out for guests. I was touched that she went to so much trouble, and then I ate one. It was so much better than any other vegetable spring roll I'd ever eaten. She is a magician. "You have to teach me to make these," I said. She agreed, and today, she came over and walked me through it. I hope you'll try these. They're super easy, and they are really quick to make. I promise.

I've included Bunnary's tips all along the way with lots and lots of photos. Don't let the length of the post frighten you into thinking this is "complicated." It's anything but, and all the chopping is totally worth it.

As Bunnary likes to say, "Them little ho's is good!"

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Mrs. Land's Vegan Eggrolls

There are very few measurements in this recipe, and the reason for that is simple: you can't screw it up. Really. You can change the ingredients around. You can leave out things you don't like or add things you do like which we have not listed. Basically, this recipe is a good way to get all the produce that's about to go wobbly on you out of the fridge and into a recipe. Use what you have. The staple ingredients for the filling (the ones you really need) are cabbage, glass noodles, and some kind of onion. Everything else is up to you. The following ingredients are the ones we used.

1 package egg-less Wrappers

Shredded Cabbage

Shredded Carrot (we used a vegetable peeler to shave off strips)

Glass Noodles*, softened and cut down to bite-sized lengths

Mushrooms (any kind you like), thinly-sliced

Kale, chopped

Celery, chopped

Green Onion, sliced

Garlic, minced

Cilantro (or parsley), chopped

Canola Oil or Peanut Oil for frying

1/2T Sugar

Salt and Pepper to taste

Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce

Bunnary Tip #1: When chopping your vegetables, make sure you cut them in very thin, elongated strips. Anything chunky or geometric will puncture the wrappers and prevent you from getting the pretty, round rolls you want.

Once you have your ingredients assembled, heat a tablespoon of oil in a wok or large, flat-bottomed pan and begin stir-frying the celery and mushroom. After the celery begins to soften, add the cabbage, carrot, kale, and garlic. Stir this around in the pan until all of the vegetables are soft and pliable.

In a large mixing bowl, toss your cooked vegetables with the glass noodles and green onion. Now, add the sugar and the cilantro or parsley and mix that in. Taste the mix and add your salt and pepper accordingly. That's it! You're ready to roll them up, now.

Bunnary Tip #2: Place a damp towel or paper towel over your stack of wrappers once you open them so that they don't dry out. You need them to stay pliable. If they are allowed to get too dry, they will crack and break when you try to roll them.

To roll up your eggrolls, place a generous spoon of your filling onto the corner of your wrapper (see picture above, top left). Roll the corner over your filling and gently move it into the shape you want with your fingers (see picture above, top right). Remember that the wrappers are delicate, so don't man-handle them. Fold over each of the sides into the center (see picture above, bottom left). Roll all the way to the end of your wrapper. At the last corner, dab a bit of oil on the tip. This will be the "glue" that keeps it together until you fry it. Voila! Now, you're ready to fry.

Heat about 1/2" of oil in your flat-bottomed pan (we used the same pan for cooking the vegetables...just wipe out the remaining clingy pieces with a towel before adding the fry oil). Add your eggrolls when the oil is bubbles around the end of an eggroll when you dip it in. We're not chefs, and we didn't take the oil temperature. We just put them in by the bubble test. Allow them to sit for a minute until you start to see some golden brown corners (see photo above right). Turn them over with tongs and repeat. Once the eggrolls are crispy and brown, remove them to a plate with paper towels to drain. Voila! Serve as soon as they've cooled enough to handle.

Bunnary Tip #3

If you don't want to eat all the eggrolls right away, then reserve some without frying. Keep the unfried rolls in a ziploc in the freezer until you're ready to eat them. They freeze beautifully and go straight from the freezer to the hot oil. No need to thaw.

We ate these while they were still so hot they burned our fingers because we couldn't wait. We used Mae Ploy sweet chili dipping sauce, but you could use anything. I highly recommend finding a sweet chili sauce for these. It was to die.

I hope this was a helpful recipe post for you. Please try these at home. They are fantastic. You may never order takeout spring rolls again.

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If you are confused by the lack of measurement, you can look in our photo of the ingredients above the recipe title. The small glass bowls are 1C containers. The white square measure cups hold 2T of liquid. The little painted ceramic measuring cups are 1C and 1/2C from top to bottom. The large glass bowls in the back are the large and small bowls from the standard Pyrex mixing bowl set.

*What the heck are glass noodles, anyway? Glass noodles can typically be found in the Asian foods section of your grocery store. The package we bought is pictured above. Ours were made from mung bean flour, potato starch, and water. This is typical for glass noodles, and they are almost always vegan. It is not flavor these noodles provide (they are entirely flavorless), but texture. It's unlike anything else, but similar to certain crunchy seaweed salads I've eaten.

Unlike semolina or rice noodles you might be familiar with, these do not require cooking to prepare. Simply take the desired amount of noodles from your package and put them in a bowl of hot water to soak. By the time we're ready to use them, they will be ready to use. Nifty, eh? IF you choose to omit glass noodles from your eggroll mixture, you will need to double up on the cabbage. I strongly recommend you not do that. Get brave and try something new. Glass noodles are well worth the effort in this recipe.

The 1:29 Project Moves to The Netherlands

2010-09-23T14:03:00.000+09:00

As most of you know, my husband is an active duty U.S. Marine. He has recently been selected for and graduated from training at the MCESG Academy in Quantico, VA. What the heck does that mean? Well, it means we're leaving Okinawa, Japan and moving to The Hague, Netherlands. Ashley will be the detachment commander for the American embassy there, and we will be leaving for that new post at the end of October or in early November.

I will continue posting as usual until things get crazy with the move. Then, as I did in February, I will disappear from the internet for several months. I'm sorry, but this time it will not be voluntary. I promise to be as regular with posts and pictures as I can be throughout.

Just wanted to give the heads up.

God Likes Clean Vegans

2010-09-21T12:22:00.005+09:00

"Cleanliness is Next to Godliness."

There are so many reasons why that statement is true. I have trouble being godly and I have trouble with the whole keeping my self, my house, and my stuff clean all the time thing.

I mean, I can clean like a champ once per month on a high caffeine consumption day, but keeping things together and tidy and sparkly...every day? Yeah, that is a very tall order I haven't learned how to fill, yet. It's a lot of work to do all that when you have a husband, a beagle, a kid, and a natural predisposition for general sloth.

I know. You thought I was the second incarnation of Martha, didn't you? Oh, don't be sad. It's okay. It's kind of a vibe I cultivated so that my friends and family wouldn't figure out I was lazy and refuse to love me. I should probably devote some time to these issues in therapy, but I'm just too gosh-darned busy for that kind of introspection right now (note: that was humor). The point is: I'm not like Martha, and my home has probably been cleaned in a manic frenzy which ended less than 5 minutes before you arrived...every time you have ever been over to my house.

I know it's a lot to take in. Just breathe. The shock will pass.

As I begin to mature, and as the general quality, cost, and sentimental value of our possessions rise, I'm getting better at handling my home like a grownup. I'm not as lazy about housework as I was 5 years ago. I take better care of the house in general and my family in particular. Since becoming vegan, I have been altogether more conscious and conscientious in my general efforts toward organizing our little Nix corner of the world . I don't think that's a coincidence.

Cleanliness is next to godliness because, when your home and body are clean and cared for, the mind will slow down and focus on important things. Order in the home lowers anxiety, and it happens automatically. Think about the last time you really scrubbed down a room in your home. When you were finished, and you looked over all the sparkly surfaces with the pleasant scent of cleaners lingering, possessed with full confidence that everything in that room was clutter-free and in its rightful place...didn't you immediately feel the tension just leave your body? Order and cleanliness are things you need for any decent spiritual and philosophical reflection. If you keep an orderly house, an orderly mind inevitably follows. When your thoughts are clear, you can pray better, you will feel better, and you will be better able to care for others.

So, let's talk about cleaners, shall we?

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Homemade Vegan Cleaners
My friend Bunnary and I have an obsession with vinegar. We read a site with 1001 tips for using vinegar around the house, and got a bit ridiculous about it. In that process, we have learned a lot about household cleaners and how to keep things tidy the old school way.

Let me recommend the following cleaners to you. You will need to buy a few plastic spray bottles from the gardening section of your favorite department store, and you probably have the rest of what you need already hiding out in your home. These cleaners are seriously cheap, completely safe, and they can outperform and totally replace about 2/3 of the products you have cluttering up your cabinet and shelving space.

Bye-bye Windex!

and 409 and Clorox counter wipes and Lysol and CLR and Jet Dry and Brasso and Tilex and...

To get you started, you will need a nice all-purpose glass and surface cleaner. Look no further than white distilled vinegar. In a spray bottle, mix 1 part vinegar to 1 part water. This will clean mirrors and glass better than ammonia products at a fraction of the cost. In addition to glass, you can use it to shine surfaces. I have metal and Formica counter tops. On both, the vinegar cleaner gets up the grease, kills the germs, and leaves a nice sparkle. The aroma of vinegar might not be your favorite, but it dissipates in less than an hour, and all that's left is clean. Plus, if your babies or pets get ahold of it, you don't have to be frightened.

Vinegar can be used for many things around the house. You can boil vinegar water on the stove to remove odors, spray it in your trashcans to deoderize and kill germs, and repel ants by spraying it full-strength around the windows and pathways they use in your kitchen. It's a miracle product...for about $2/gallon.

Adieu, Mr. Clean!

and Fabuloso and Mop n' Glo and Spic n' Span and Resolve spray

I have just discovered a new floor cleaner. I got this tip from Martha's Homekeeping Handbook, and it is really fantastic. I've used it to scrub fingerprints and schmoo from the walls, degrease my kitchen stove, and as the title would suggest...to clean floors. It's very easy to make. In an empty, clean spray bottle, mix 1C water, 1C rubbing alcohol, and 1C white distilled vinegar. To this, add 9 drops of your favorite dish liquid. Voila! Clean floors, walls, toilets, sinks, and doors with it. You can also use it to very effectively pull up stains from carpet.

Adios, Pine Sol!

and Magic Eraser and metal scrubbers and Goo Gone

Allow me to introduce one of the oldest, most familiar, yet for some reason the most elusive cleaning products in human history. Meet pine oil. My darling friend Meghann introduced me to pine oil. He is my friend, and he can be your friend, too! Now, I'm not talking about Pine Sol. I mean pine oil. It is a highly-concentrated cleaner that is usually sold in bulk to industrial cleaning companies. They use it in hospitals, schools, and nursing homes for both its anti-bacterial effect and strong scent. Pine oil, when you open the gallon jug it typically comes in, is an amber liquid with a pine scent so potent it will make your eyes cross. A modest cap full added to a spray bottle filled with water is all you need. The thick golden fluid will immediately turn the water into an opaque white liquid resembling milk. That's what you want, and if your pine oil doesn't have this effect...then it isn't real pine oil.

For some reason, pine oil has fallen out of fashion in favor of the pre-diluted brands of cleaners we buy in department stores. Yea, Capitalism. It's a real shame, though, because pine oil will do the toughest jobs in your home all by itself. It doesn't need all the other stuff the companies mix it with to make a marketable product.

I have used diluted pine oil to clean crayon and sharpie marker off walls and floors. I have used it to get dried carpet glue up off of tile. I have used it to clean up rotten potato residue off the floor of my pantry (oh my dear God in Heaven...that smell was the worst thing I've ever dealt with). Basically, if the job is nasty or smelly or requires the big guns, pine oil will get it done.

Pine oil is not toxic and it is a natural product refined from pine trees. Don't allow your pets and children to consume it. It will make them vomit from what I understand. It is totally safe otherwise, and you can use it with confidence. If you have trouble finding real pine oil to purchase, you can order a gallon jug of it here. Note that Pine Sol and the popular-with-green-types brand called Super Pine contain only negligible amounts of pine oil. Though effective cleaners in their own right, neither of these brands is the real deal, and both are considerably more expensive in the long run than a plain gallon of pine oil...which will last an average household for YEARS.

Tot Ziens, Ajax!

and Comet and Soft Scrub and Brillo

When nothing but an abrasive scrubbing cleaner will do, you don't need anything but good old baking soda. Some baking soda on a sponge or scrub pad with water and a bit of dish soap (or the floor cleaner I described above) will scrub and shine steel sinks and appliances, floors, tile, grout, etcetera. You just don't need those other things. If you really like your abrasives, may I recommend the Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day brand. Her cleaners are safe, vegan, and they all smell gorgeous.

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I hope some of you like this post and will try some of these natural cleaners. I'm quickly learning to use them in place of almost everything else on the cleaning aisle. Let me know how it goes...and remember that God likes clean vegans. /wink

I am NOT a Hallelujah Vegan...and You Shouldn't Be, Either

2010-09-20T23:11:00.004+09:00

What the heck is a Hallelujah Vegan, you ask? Oh, trust me I will tell you. I'm seriously peeved about this one, and I'm breaking my rule about blogging while angry for it. I'm white-hot pissed right now. Keep reading; you'll see why.

So...okay.

I've been writing in this blog off and on for a while now. I don't get a lot of comments, but I seem to get some page views pretty frequently--from all over the world, actually--and that keeps me motivated. Today, I couldn't resist the temptation, and I Google'd my own blog.

I was horrified at what I found. Apparently, there is a whole group of people who call themselves "Hallelujah Vegans" and follow a diet they've called "The Genesis 1:29 Diet." I swear on every ounce of integrity in my body that I never heard of these folks before today.

These so-called hallelujah vegans are following a restrictive diet based on a book written by a guy named Gordon Tessler entitled, The Genesis Diet. There's no specific description of the eating plan or any nutritional science that backs up whatever it is that Tessler convinced these people to do. All you see on the Amazon page is a handful of glowing and vague reviews proclaiming Tessler's prescience in "diagnosing" health problems. Diagnosing? Seriously? He's not an M.D. He's a PhD, and good luck finding out what he is actually a doctor of...because I couldn't.

This man is scary. Everything I found about him paints the picture of a total sheister charleton type who goes around getting people all excited about buying his book by calling it "biblical." He's got his various books and DVD's for sale in a number of questionable-looking places. It's a very Scientology-sounding type of quackery with "body scans" and "healing rooms." I mean, that's so straight-up Friend of Xenu that I can't believe there are people who went for it. Tessler is described in multiple places as an "expert" in nutrition and "biblical health." Huh? What does that even mean?

Every online diet review you find for the Genesis Diet is pretty much the same: no specific information about the diet because they couldn't find any...but it's not recommended because it's too low in calories, too high in carbs, and too low in protein (which begs the question, "how do they know all that if they don't know what's in the diet plan?"). Sigh.

There are sites online devoted to trashing veganism because of the frightening results some people had from following Tessler's diet. One of them is called "Losing Your Mind to the Genesis Diet," and they drone on and on for pages and pages about how meat and cheese are the only way to get quality protein (because the Genesis Diet frowns upon beans and legumes and they were idiotic enough to eat that way until their gums started to bleed...nice!). Apparently, the authors of this anti-veg site, which I will not dignify with a link, are either lying to cover up a political agenda against veganism or they were on a pseudo-starvation diet that some nut job convinced them was scriptural...because they were stupid.

I'm devastated to think I might be associated with this guy or his book or the diet or any of this drama because of the name I chose for my blog. I'm angry and crestfallen to find that when someone Googles my blog, the entries they will see on top of my link are related to all this drama and nonsense.

At first, I thought I should change the name of my blog...but I'm not going to do that. I picked it because I felt inspired by reading Genesis 1:29...for myself. All this other tomfoolery has nothing to do with my family or our little project. I have loved the title I chose here and been proud of it, so I don't think I should have to give it up. But going forward, let me just get a few things straight:

1.) Nothing in Genesis 1:29 suggests you should go hungry or that you should neglect staples of nutrition. In fact, the opposite is true. Genesis 1:29 describes bountiful variety in God's gift of all plant life for our use and consumption. It certainly doesn't say you shouldn't eat chickpeas or peanuts...for God's sake!!

2.) Veganism is not a diet. It's a commitment to eating healthfully and plentifully without harming anything in the process. It's about standing up for moral integrity against a corrupt system of "food" production in the developed world which has strayed from basic humanity and the laws of nature.

3.) You do not need animal protein to be healthy, but you do need protein. Eat beans and legumes. Eat nuts. Eat whole grains. Make sure you know where your protein comes from...and eat some every day.

4.)You don't need dairy calcium to be healthy (in fact, a lot of research indicates that dairy consumption hurts calcium absorption more than it helps), but you do need calcium. Eat lots of leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables. Drink calcium-enriched non-dairy milks (like soy milk or rice milk). Know where your nutrients come from, and eat them.

5.) Educate yourself about vitamins B12 and D, and make sure you meet your body's needs for them. It's not hard and nothing has to die in a factory farm for you to do it.

6.) Serving God through veganism is about stewardship. It's not about penance or deprivation or some mystical and rigid adherence to the terminology in any particular Bible verse.

God didn't make the Bible difficult to understand. He didn't hide the truth from you and then show it to "Doctor" Tessler so he could sell it to you. You don't need to buy anything or consult moon phases, runes, or experts in "biblical health" to understand nutrition. If you are hungry...eat. Eat well. Eat a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, fats, and colors...and eat calories. You need them. Listen to Colleen Patrick-Goudreau...not Gordon Tessler. Her podcast is free, and she is an acknowledged, non-crazy expert in vegan nutrition.

So. If you see someone referring to themselves as a hallelujah vegan or to their "diet" as the Genesis 1:29 Diet, know that they have no relationship, connection, or affiliation with me...and then RUN the other way as fast as you can.

Crabby Salad

2010-09-20T18:28:00.005+09:00

Before I went vegan, one of my favorite things to eat for lunch was a simple seafood salad. I would make it with fake crab meat (made from white fish and all kinds of artificial flavorings), mayonnaise, and an assortment of vegetables and spices. I really missed that salad. This week, it occurred to me that I could very easily replicate it with tofu. I have read several recipes that seek to replicate tuna salad and egg salad, so I figured I had the basic idea down.

The following recipe is my ingenious concoction. It was bliss to eat and a cinch to make. I hope you try it. I made a small amount to feed myself and my daughter. If you have a larger group or a larger appetite, this will easily double.

1:29 Project Crabby Salad
1/2 block Extra Firm Tofu, cut into very small cubes
1/4C Mayonnaise**
1 stalk Celery, small dice
1/4C Red Onion, small dice
1 sheet Toasted Nori (seaweed), cut into c.1/3" pieces
1/3C diced Fresh Tomato
1/2 can Garbanzo Beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed
1/2tsp Old Bay Seasoning
1T Fresh Lemon Juice
1tsp Dill Weed (I used dry. If using fresh dill, use 1.5tsp)
Salt and Black Pepper to taste
Paprika for zing
Your favorite salad greens, cut or torn into fork-able pieces

Measurements are approximations. I didn't measure when making this...so use your eyeball judgment and personal taste when adding ingredients. I plan to add avocado and cucumber to the mix next time I make this. You could put in bell pepper, use more lemon juice, omit the nori if you don't care for it, add heat in the form of cayenne...you know, just make it your own. Food is supposed to be joyous and fun!

About nori: Nori is a seaweed which is toasted and sold in sheets. You are likely familiar with nori as the wrapper on sushi rolls. It has a salty and sea-like flavor which recalls the flavor of fish. It added the perfect flavor to this crabby salad. To prepare it, I took one sheet of nori and cut it into small pieces with a pair of kitchen scissors (see photo above this text on the right).

Preparation:
Put the diced tofu into a medium-sized bowl. Pour your lemon juice over the tofu, and sprinkle in your Old Bay. Toss lightly to coat and set aside. In another bowl, toss the mayo, celery, onion, nori, tomato, beans, and dill weed together. Prepare your serving bowls by setting them up with the beds of fresh greens. Now pour your mayo mixture into the tofu bowl, and mix everything together until creamy and well-distributed. Taste test and then add your salt and pepper. Using an ice cream scoop or measuring cup, put a nice 2/3C serving in the middle of each of your bowls over the greens for a lovely presentation. Sprinkle with paprika for some color and zing. Voila!

** A Note about Mayonnaise
Now...I still eat mayonnaise. It is not a vegan ingredient because chicken's egg yolks are used in the making of it. I accept this because I craved it hard after going vegan. It was the one omnivorous food I thought about and missed and wanted...all the time. For most people, that one food is dairy cheese. I assumed, in the beginning, that I would miss steak or cheese or bacon. You know...the usual suspects. But I didn't miss any of those foods, and I certainly didn't want them on a regular basis. If anything, those foods and the smells associated with them repulsed me for the most part. No, I didn't have an issue with cheese. For me, the downfall was egg mayonnaise. Cole slaw, salad dressing, sandwich bread, and a number of other things which constitute my very favorite foods use mayonnaise and cannot be approximated without it.

As most vegans know, there are many vegan mayonnaises on the market in the United States, but there are not any sold here on Okinawa that I have been able to find...and believe me, I have looked. I mail-ordered some Nasoya brand eggless mayo from Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe (AWESOME store with incredible customer service. Please visit them), but I had to throw it out. It was horrible. I mean, I was literally disgusted by the flavor and the smell, and I just simply could not eat it. Vegenaise is a brand highly-recommended, but I can't get it here, and I can't order it via delivery because of the necessity for keeping it cold. I also understand that Wildwood Garlic Aioli is a widely-preferred product, as well. This, too, is unavailable for me while I remain in Okinawa. So, I decided to eat my egg mayonnaise until a proper substitute can be found. I will continue to look for good substitutes in my world travels with the Marine Corps. Until I find one, however, I'm a vegan who eats mayonnaise...and I'm okay with that.

For this recipe, you can substitute any eggless mayo you like to make it completely vegan.

Lemony Collards for Lunch (and how to Chiffonade)

2010-09-19T14:16:00.003+09:00

I went to the local Japanese produce store last week, and I had some things threatening to lose their freshness. My friend Bunnary and I were both in the mood for collard greens today, and so we took to the fridge and concocted the following lunch dish made from leftover pasta, 3 day-old grape tomatoes, and some gorgeous brown cap mushrooms which had gotten a little too close to the back of the fridge and were wilting under a slight ice glaze. Sounds horrible, right? No. This stuff was insanely good, and it was just what the stomach wanted for a hot, sunny midday.

Bunnary's Lemony Collard Lunch
1 bunch Collard Greens, washed and cut chiffonade (see picture below)
1 small Yellow Onion, small dice
5-10 Grape Tomatoes, halved
Mushrooms of your choice, chopped to bite-size pieces
1/2 Lemon, zest and juice
1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
4 cloves Garlic, minced
1 good handful Fresh Basil, cut chiffonade
Salt and Black Pepper to taste
2 servings Cooked Pasta, your choice

In a hot pan, sauté the onion and red pepper flakes in about 1T of vegan butter or olive oil. When the onions are soft (about 3 minutes), add the mushroom, garlic, and collards...in that order. Stir fry until the collards begin to wilt. Add the tomato, lemon zest, lemon juice, and basil. Salt and pepper to taste. When the collards are al dente, the dish is ready to eat. Make sure all the flavors are well mixed. Remove from heat, stir in the already-prepared pasta, and enjoy!

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How to Cut Collards (or any other leafy vegetable/herb) in a Chiffonade
The lovely Bunnary Land demonstrates while I take pictures...

Remember that you can click on any of these thumbnails for a larger, detailed view.

First, cut the thick stems off to the base of the leaves. Stack your leaves as best you can on top of one another. Next, roll the leaves up into a nice tube shape.

Cut the roll in half, and then assemble the halves next to one another facing the same direction. Using a sharp knife, slice across the cut face of the rolls in the desired thickness.

What you end up with is a nice pile of these beautiful ribbons. This is perfect for stir-frying. With fresh basil leaves, you follow this same process, just a smaller scale. The cooked greens look like our last photo here in the recipe above. They were just perfect. And that...is how you cut collard greens in a chiffonade.

Kale & Squash In a Soup

2010-09-17T19:17:00.004+09:00

About two weeks ago, I made a soup recipe from the Toni Fiore podcast called Curried Zucchini Soup. It was a very simple recipe, and it was seriously good. This week, I bought a ton of curly kale and a bag full of ugly little yellow squash that looked lonely in the reduced for quick sale section. On a night that just felt like a soup evening, my friend Bunnary and I decided to couple the ingredients and make something out of them. It was so scrumptious and perfect with just the right amount of spice and a tremendous amount of flavor. This soup would be good with either yellow or zucchini, but we think the best way would be to mix a bit of both in together. Here's how we made it:

Kale and Squash In a Soup
1 bunch Curly Kale, washed and chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 medium Yellow Onion, chopped
4 cloves Garlic, minced
4 small or 2 large Squash, chopped into spoon-able pieces
1T Mild Curry Powder (or dry spice mix of your choice)
1tsp Hot Curry Powder (or red chili flakes if you prefer)
6C Vegetable Stock or Bouillon
Salt and Black Pepper to taste

The Ingredients

Before Simmering for 15-20 minutes

Put just enough oil in the bottom of a soup pot to sauté your onion into submission over medium high heat. Once that goes soft, add the squash and the dry spices, both mild and hot. Get the garlic in there and stir it around just long enough for the garlic aroma to come out of the pot at you. Once that happens, toss in the kale and the liquid. Cover and lower heat. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes until the kale is wilted to a texture you like.

You could serve the soup just like this, but we used the immersion blender to break it up a bit because that's what Toni Fiore did in her recipe for Curried Zucchini Soup, which was the initial inspiration for this soup. It also thickens the soup up a bit, which Bunnary and I both preferred to a brothy texture that evening. If you do use an immersion blender, just pulse it around a bit until you get some thickening. Don't puree the soup. Part of the joy of this particular recipe is the large bites of squash and chewy kale. You don't want to get rid of all that.

Hope you like it as much as we did. It is seriously awesome stuff.

**A note about the spices we used: Here on Okinawa, we enjoy the presence of CocoIchibanya curry houses and the pantry items they sell from the restaurants. The hot curry mix I used is the orange bottle you see in the photo above left. It's VERY hot, and so 1tsp was more than sufficient. Adjust your heat ingredients to your own tastes. I don't like typical yellow Indian curry powders, so I used a McCormick spice mix heavy on ginger. Any curry-like spice mix will work for you.

Irritated

2010-08-30T13:48:00.002+09:00

So I got really irritated today and it was beneath me.

I love me some celebrity gossip, and the site I check for my Hollywood trash had an article about Angelina Jolie from some tabloid or other which claims she used to be a vegan and that it "almost killed her." I don't know about all that. I doubt Ms. Jolie was ever vegan because I've never heard any such thing...and I follow celeb gossip...so, yeah. I think it's a crap story.

But that wasn't what irritated me.

The comments left on this article just really crawled under my fingernails today. I know we're not supposed to listen to the garbage, and I know it's pointless and soul-sucking to dignify the garbage with a response. Pearls before swine, and all that. I know.

But I couldn't help myself.

The comments ranged from "Veganism and anorexia go hand-in-hand," to "You know those people don't eat cheese, right?" There was a series of taunting and name-calling, too, where people talked about how much meat they eat on purpose to antagonize anyone vegetarian who might see the message. Just...juvenile crap. I normally ignore it. This time, I bit. It was stupid. I learned long ago that you don't teach a hostile audience anything in a setting like that. They all hate me on that site, anyway, because I'm politically conservative, don't wish fiery death on Sarah Palin and all her progeny for 6 generations, and don't herald sexual promiscuity as a sign of feminine virtue and independence.

Sigh.

So that just made it worse. Because the vegan message came from ME, someone who voted Republican a few times and suggested that maybe Halle Berry should parent her child instead of auditioning a new stud every week...they'll reject it even harder.

And you know the worst part? There was a woman on there later in the list with a niece who went vegan to copy some celebrity band she likes, and she kind of thrust it on her family without any warning or thought. The girl is basically starving herself because she doesn't know how to feed herself as a vegan, and I could've helped this family with some good advice. But...I made myself look just as ignorant as the hecklers on that board, and so now there's a teen who won't stick with it (because she'll get hungry before any of those band members ask her out on a date)...and I could've, maybe, helped her, instead of mouthing off to an ignoramus on an internet comment list.

So, I'm irritated and deflated and feeling very, very foolish for biting the bait. When will I ever learn?

Pureed Cauliflower Soup

2010-08-29T18:53:00.001+09:00

I bought a huge head of cauliflower at the commissary this week because it just looked good to me. Then, I took it home and worried about it for the following 5 days every time I opened the fridge. I would see it sitting there and think, "What on earth am I going to do with this thing?" I found a lot of vegetarian recipes online for cauliflower, but the ones that sounded best were always soups...and the cauliflower soup recipes were all pretty similar to each other.

So here's what Eliza and I threw together. We didn't necessarily make up the recipe on our own. We read a lot of online recipes and watched a few videos...but they were honestly all very much alike. I'm not sure who to give credit to for this soup, actually. /shrug You will need a sturdy immersion blender or a REALLY good standing blender to do this properly. Just giving you fair warning before you get into it and realize I'm going to ask you to puree at the end.

Creamy Cauliflower Soup
1 large head fresh Cauliflower, cored and chopped down a bit
1 large Yellow Onion, sliced into thick pieces
2 large or 4 small yellow or white Potatoes (if you choose a potato type with skin too thick to blend, peel them. Otherwise, leave the skins on)
1 head Garlic, all cloves smashed, peeled, and chopped
1 stalk Celery, diced
6C Vegetable Broth or Bouillon
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a large soup pot, heat 2T vegetable oil on medium high and then add the potato and onion. Salt to taste (be liberal with it), and stir everything around until you see brown marks on some of the onions. You will likely have bits sticking to the bottom of your pan. That's okay.

Once you have achieved browning on the onions, throw in the celery, garlic, and cauliflower. Stir it around until you smell the garlic from your pot. Add the broth and cover. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to medium. Uncover and stir, scraping up the delicious bits that were sticking to the bottom of the pan earlier. Cover the pot again and allow it to simmer for about 1/2 hour or until your potatoes and cauliflower are soft.

Using an immersion blender, puree the heck out of it until you have a smooth texture throughout. Serve in bowls with some nice crusty rolls. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use a standing blender in batches or, I suppose, a food processor. If you cannot puree the soup, you could probably get a really nice-tasting concoction with the same ingredients I've used here by chopping your vegetables into more appropriate sizes from the beginning.

I love cauliflower, and Elizabeth says it's not as good as broccoli, but she "is a fan." We really liked this soup, and it was really easy to make. I'm pretty sure we'll eat it again.

Toni Fiore's Sugo di Carne

2010-08-25T20:01:00.009+09:00

Elizabeth loves noodles. I mean, who doesn't like pasta, right, but my kid LOVES noodles. Anything made with pasta makes her happy. Tonight, we had friends over who are not vegan, and I wanted to make something they would truly enjoy (and not just tell me they liked to be polite). You can't go wrong with pasta.

This week, Elizabeth and I made our menus from the Delicious TV podcast. It was a fun mommy-daughter activity to sit with a pencil and paper while choosing which dishes we'd make and listing out ingredients for grocery shopping while we watched the videos. One of the dishes Lizzie chose was the sugo di carne (sauce of meat). Tonight, my friend Bunnary and I cooked it together, and it was seriously delicious. With so few ingredients, I thought it would be pretty typical of red sauce and bland. It wasn't. It had a very complex and lovely flavor.

Delicious TV is a winner. For SURE.

Here's the recipe. Even if you already have a vegan meat sauce recipe, I strongly recommend you try this one. As always, I made a few alterations. You can use it my way (typed below) or the original recipe posted by Ms. Fiore in her video podcast under the title "Vegetarian Meat Sauce."

Toni Fiore's Sugo di Carne

1T Olive Oil

1 bag TVP Crumbles

1 onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

Dried Oregano, to taste

Red Pepper Flakes, to taste

1-2T Brown Sugar (not packed, just loose)

1 large can Stewed Tomatoes (Get whatever form of these you like. I used whole, but pureed them beforehand to suite the tastes of my guest. He doesn't like chunks of cooked tomato.)

1 generous handful Fresh Basil Leaves, in a chiffonade

1 generous handful Parsley, chopped (I had to used dried, but fresh would be better)

Salt and Pepper to taste

4-6 servings pasta (use something sturdy like penne or farfalle)

Get your pasta water ready, and time things so your pasta is ready about the time your sauce will be finished.

In a deep, flat-bottom pan, sautee the onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes in the oil over medium high heat until the onions soften and begin to caramelize. Be careful not to over-brown your garlic. Add the oregano, brown sugar, and TVP crumbles. Cook until your mixture looks about like the picture you see below on the right. You should be really smelling the garlic and oregano at this point. Add the tomatoes, and simmer for about 10 minutes. At the very end, lower the heat and add your fresh herbs. Let these sit on a low simmer for about 5 minutes while you get the pasta ready. Right before adding the pasta, be sure to adjust salt and pepper to taste.

When the pasta is done, drain it and add it directly to the sauce. Stir to coat and serve. We ate this with a nice garlic bread (I intended to make a green salad to go alongside, but it totally slipped our minds while we were cooking. It would have been a lovely addition).

No Piggy Rib Sandwiches

2010-08-25T12:31:00.009+09:00

In my omniverous days, I was a huge fan of McRib season at McDonald's. I loved, loved, LOVED those sandwiches. They are obesity, heart attacks, and colon cancer on a bun, but they tasted good to me, and I ate them at least once every time they came around.

I recently found another product from Morning Star that I am in love with because it tastes JUST LIKE the McRib Sandwiches...and it's vegan. I have put pictures below of the product packaging. If there is a non-vegan ingredient I don't know about in these, I would appreciate someone telling me, but I don't think there is.

I'm not usually a fan of faux meats. I will go further and say that I find most fake meat products taste AWFUL. Not only do I find that most don't taste like meat, but they also don't even taste good. They're usually pretty high fat considering the other foods vegans eat, and they're very calorie dense in general. All that complaining out of the way, I gotta tell you that the meat substitutes I do like bring me comfort (love me some grilled veggie dogs and several kinds of veggie burgers). Anyway, this one is a MUST. It's seriously scrumptious, and you just have to try it.

Today, my friend and I will be eating Vegan rib sammiches with cole slaw for lunch. Mmmm.

No Piggy McRibs

1 package Morning Star Hickory BBQ Riblets, cooked according to package instructions

2 whole wheat Hot Dog Buns, ends removed and sliced in half

Cole Slaw to taste, your favorite recipe

Cut the Riblets, once cooked, to fit your bun, top with cole slaw. Voila!

Pot Pie...Mmmm

2010-08-24T18:38:00.015+09:00

So, it's Tuesday, and we were planning on something entirely different for dinner because it is hot as blue blazes on Okinawa today. Elizabeth can be rather insistent once an idea seizes her, though, and she finally convinced me that turning on the oven to make pot pies for dinner would be totally worth it. So here they are in all their glory. This is a recipe taken almost directly from Toni Fiore's Delicious TV free podcast, but there were minor changes, so I'll discuss those in my written version. Remember that you can click on any of the pictures here to see a larger image.

I just finished eating my pot pie. These little suckers are filling, completely delicious, and they smell like the holidays. I will definitely be reserving a spot on my table for these on Thanksgiving. I could not believe the flavor out of these.

Creamy Tofu Pot Pie

(slightly altered from the original recipe on DeliciousTV Podcast)

1 block of Extra Firm Tofu, drained and cut into bite-sized cubes

1-2T Canola Oil for frying the tofu

1T Nutritional Yeast

5T Vegan Butter

1 medium Onion, diced

2 stalks Celery, chopped

3-5T flour (I used 3T of a mix of half whole wheat/half AP flour)

2C Vegetable Stock (I used a veggie cube in 2C hot water)

2C Mixed Vegetables (I used the standard carrot/pea/green bean/corn frozen mix)

1/4tsp Poultry Seasoning (you could use sage or anything else you like)

Salt and Pepper to taste

You will also need some sort of pie shell to put your mixture in when it is finished. We used puff pastry shells like Toni Fiore did in her DeliciousTV podcast video. You could use biscuits or tart shells or whatever you like. You could even serve this over rice or some other grain you enjoy and it would be delicious. Whatever you choose, prepare this beforehand or have it baking while you cook so that it is ready immediately when your filling is all done.

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In a wide, flat-bottomed pan, warm the oil over a high heat. Pan fry your tofu cubes until you achieve a crispy blonde sear on most sides. This will take about 5 solid minutes. Remove the tofu cubes to a plate lined with paper toweling to drain and sprinkle with the nutritional yeast (pictured above). Set aside.

To the same pan, add half the vegan butter and lower the heat to a medium. Sautee the celery and onion until the onions are translucent and the celery begins to soften. Melt in the rest of your vegan butter, and sprinkle in flour until you get a nice, thick paste. This will create the gravy. Pour in your vegetable broth and whisk or stir well until a thick gravy consistency forms (pictured above). This will take only 2-3 minutes. Add broth or flour to achieve the consistency you want as you go. It will vary for different stoves and depending on the flour you're using.

Stir in your mixed vegetables and poultry seasoning. Stir gently to mix everything evenly. Add the tofu cubes back into the pan and add your salt and pepper. What you have should look like the picture I have below. Spoon into your pastry shells and Voila!

Tasty and warm and filling and delicious. Really outstanding pot pies, and I just don't see any reason to find another recipe after this. I don't think I've ever had a better one, vegan or omni.

Spinach Curry from Delicious TV

2010-08-23T16:45:00.009+09:00

Delicious TV is the name of a vegan cooking show hosted by Toni Fiore. They also produce a video podcast of 5 - 10 minute recipe demonstrations, and I am in LOVE with it. I got it from iTunes, but it's a free podcast, so you can find it in a number of places. I highly recommend.

Tonight's recipe was chosen by Elizabeth. She spent an hour watching videos and chose 3 for our menu this week. Now, Elizabeth is used to Japanese curry, and those spices are a bit different from Indian curry flavors. I'm anxious to see how all this is going to go. Please visit http://delicioustv.libsyn.com/spinach_curry for a direct download of the video. If you'd rather just use a plain recipe, I've done my best to type it for you, as it was presented in the video, below.

Delicious TV's Spinach Curry

1 medium Yellow Onion, chopped

2C canned diced tomatoes, juice included

1 clove Garlic, crushed and minced

1 1/2 tsp Curry Powder

1 tsp Turmeric

1/2 tsp Cumin

2lbs frozen chopped Spinach, thawed and water removed (thoroughly squeezed out)

1 can Coconut Milk, unsweetened

1 can Garbanzo Beans/Chickpeas

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Over medium-high heat in a dutch oven or deep skillet, bring the onion, tomatoes, and garlic to a simmer. Add the Curry, Turmeric, and Cumin. Stir well. Add the spinach and toss it about in the pan to get everything incorporated. Pour in the coconut milk. Allow this to cook for about 5 minutes. Add the garbanzo beans and cook until warm through (about another 5 minutes). Serve over rice or potatoes.

I will be serving this over a bed of jasmine rice. Pictures and a recipe review coming in a few hours! :)

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Okay, so I don't mind telling you that I was skeptical of this recipe. I am NOT a spinach fan. I don't really like raw spinach, and I really don't like cooked spinach. Knowing that, you should take it to heart when I tell you that this recipe is AWESOME! As you can see from the photographs, I had a lot of good help. Even Kioko came to the kitchen for moral support (and the chickpeas).

Elizabeth and I both cleaned our bowls.

I had some slight changes to measurements in the recipe , but nothing major enough to really talk about. I used two packages of frozen spinach (the block kind) rather than 2lbs. I used one 14.5 oz. can of tomatoes instead of cracking open two to get an exact two cups. I used about a cup of leftover chickpeas instead of opening a fresh can, and I think an entire can of garbanzos would be serious overkill in this recipe. Other than those minor changes, we made this just as described in the video and ate it in bowls over reheated leftover jasmine rice. It is so good, I can't even begin.

Definitely try this one.

August 2010 - The Year So Far

2010-08-23T15:30:00.004+09:00

Lots has been happening in Nix Land this year, and I have drifted further and further away from the computer and blogging. All of the places I used to frequent online (except for Facebook because that's how I keep in touch with my stateside people) have been sadly neglected. It's okay, though, because we've been doing real-life, world in 3-D things. I miss the connection I have to other veggie people when I'm updating regularly, and it keeps me motivated to pass on that non-vegan ingredient when I'm focused here on a frequent schedule. So, I hope to revive this little blog and my dedication to it.

We will be leaving Okinawa in October or November for another foreign post, and this information has been coming for a while. Mr. Nix is in training for embassy duty in Washington right now, and I am preparing our affairs for such a move. Kidlet is getting ready for 2nd grade. You know, we've just got lots to do. I cannot stand the heat of summer, though, so getting me out of the house can be a chore. I am prone to depressive bouts if I don't get out and about and keep a good schedule, though, so it's really important to press on and force myself out into the world. This blog helps with that, too.

In vegan living news, I have recently discovered Toni Fiore's Delicious TV video podcast, and she is helping me a LOT. The most frustrating thing this year has been learning how to cook food this way. I've always been a kitchen person, and I feel like a space alien in there, now...fumbling around and coming out with food that isn't always so tasty. It's serious ego damage for someone who "used to be" a good cook. I'm learning, now. It's getting better. We don't eat as many boring rice bowls, and I have a nice long list of standby convenience food to choose from because we've taste-tested and learned. It's still a process, though, and the cooking podcast from Delicious TV has been a Godsend.

I'm encouraged that my dedication to these changes has lasted. You know, I don't think I'm alone in this, but I tend to doubt myself when I take on something new and huge. There is a history of procrastination, backsliding, and non-completion in my past. ha ha! I get passionate about something and that lasts a while...but then it fades, and I slip into old habits. That hasn't happened with this. I'm so grateful. I don't want to go back to participating in all that suffering and cruelty...and I don't want to go back to putting all that garbage into my family.

Elizabeth, who is now 7 years old, is slowly working her way into consciously eating vegan. She knows what vegan means, now, and she checks labels in the grocery store. She is adamant about refusing beef. We saw some cows on a truck in the spring and she asked me if they were being taken to be killed for "hamburgers." I told her that, yes, that was likely where they were headed, and she got very thoughtful. "Do you think they cows know where they're going?" she asked me. I told her that, no, they didn't know where the truck was taking them, but they would probably be scared once they got there. She didn't say anything else about it, but she has refused to eat anything with "cow" in it ever since. For some really odd reason, however, she has no sympathy for chickens and will argue with me about why she should be allowed to eat them. So...I let her order chicken without commenting if we're eating out and she wants it. I am able to remind her that chickens are animals just like the cows are from time to time, and that's enough. Again, I don't want this to become a power issue. It's not about power. It's about choices. She's discovering these things one animal at a time on her own, and that's okay with me. I'm the one who fed her meat and dairy her first 6 years, and we live in a culture where people eat meat several times per day and spend their lives veritably surgically attached to a cow udder. Re-framing her world view is not going to happen overnight.

Mr. Nix has not made the change to vegan outside our home, but he continues to fully support what I'm doing and to increase the number of vegetarian meals he eats when away from the house. You can't force people into this kind of change, and I'm just appreciative of such support and positive thinking from my spouse. I try to come at this with an "each new day" approach, kind of like a 12-step program. I have a good support system, and I just live one day of choices at a time. I don't spend time excusing or berating myself for mistakes (hidden dairy) or bad choices (intentional dairy). As a family, we just vow to go on making better choices in the present than the ones we made in the past. It's working quite well. I'm more vegan in daily practice than I ever have been. Ashley is a half-n-half omni/vegetarian. Elizabeth is a chicken-eating vegetarian who sometimes goes vegan. We're a work in progress, and I think we're doing great.

Tonight, I'm making Spinach Curry from Delicious TV because Elizabeth wanted to try it. If it turns out, I'll post the recipe, link to video, and some pictures.

Pictures and Thoughts for February

2010-02-17T09:35:00.014+09:00

Well, it's February. I've been vegan, now, for nearly 3 months, and it's going very well, indeed. I haven't been posting very often, lately, but that has more to do with the statistics class I'm taking than with anything else. As more of a writing and reading sort of person, mathematics will tend to take up a lot more of my time and effort if I am actually meant to learn it. So even though my daily computer time has been reduced by a mean of one and a half hours with a standard deviation of 22 minutes on a standard normal curve...life has been otherwise grand.

I have some pictures from the last week or so to show you. The first one here on the left is a photograph I took of Elizabeth's breakfast one day. She told me, "Mommy, I bet I'm the only kid in my school who gets a chocolate chip cookie for breakfast!" Since this cookie has flax meal, no eggs, no cholesterol, and no dairy fat...I bet her cookie is a much healthier choice than all the kids chowing on sugar-filled breakfast cereal and full-fat cow's milk. So. I let her eat cookies for breakfast, sometimes. :) Eliza's stories of the reactions she gets from classmates in the lunchroom are some of my favorites. Last weekend, Elizabeth and I made a chocolate cake. While we were mixing the egg replacer and measuring out the organic sugar, I answered a round of 6 year-old "why" questions that worked themselves around into explaining again why we don't eat eggs or drink cow's milk anymore. In the end, Elizabeth declared that our cake was healthy (and in many ways, it was). I told her that, yes, it was a very healthy chocolate cake and that it was good for her as long as she only ate one piece. On Monday, when I picked her up from school, Elizabeth matter-of-factly told me, as she buckled her seatbelt, "Well, Mommy, I told Kayla about our healthy chocolate cake, and she said I was lying. Kayla doesn't believe in healthy chocolate cake. I feel sorry for her because she is missing out." Being proud and giggling at the same time...well, it's one of my favorite things about being a mom . Here are some pictures of my first batch of vegan chocolate chip cookies and a recent picture of my smart little princess.

These next pictures below are of some of my lunch bowls. I love rice bowls, and I have finally hit on the rice recipe. Before I give it to you, I will indulge in a tangential rant:

Now, lookit. If you don't want to eat white rice? Don't. No one is forcing you to eat white rice, and nobody with sense would try to argue that white rice is as good for you as brown rice. Go have your bowl of nutty brown rice and enjoy it. That's great. Congratulations. As for me, I can't stand brown rice. I don't like the flavor, the texture, the aroma...nothing about it appeals to me. I'm 35 years old, and I've tried brown rice many ways in many recipes, and I haven't liked any of them. At my time of life, I feel I've earned the right to say, "I don't care for that, thank you." I love barley, oats of all kinds, multi-grain mixtures, wild rice, and muesli. I eat all of these liberally and I'm very adventurous with trying new grains, so I'm not worried about being deficient in high-fiber whole grain products in my diet. I also eat a lot of white rice (as, may I remind you, does the entire Asian population in the Orient...all very healthy cultures with historically long life spans)...and I fully intend to continue doing so. It's not going to kill me. So just deal.

So anyway...I cook one cup of long-grain white rice with 2C of water, one veggie bouillon cube, and a T of olive oil. Bring it to a boil, cover tightly and lower heat to simmer for about 15 minutes (or until water is fully absorbed and rice is fluffy-tender). It is insanely good. I've begun making a double batch and keeping the leftovers in the fridge so I can use it for snacking or quick-cooking later on. The first bowl is Brussels sprouts, chickpeas, and water chestnuts tossed in olive oil (or Smart Balance) and garlic salt on high heat until the sprouts caramelized. If you've never eaten Brussels sprouts this way, you honestly don't know what you're missing. The second bowl is one I made for my husband with all his favorite (or I should say least non-favorite) vegetables. I tossed fresh raw green beans, frozen green peas, blackeye peas, and fresh chopped carrots in lemon pepper, canola oil, and garlic salt until the carrots were al dente. We seriously made gluttons of ourselves.

On to the health and body changes. I'm totally losing weight. Not even trying. Snacking constantly. Eating more carbs than I have ever eaten in my whole life. Not really working out, lately (slacked off because of the holidays and my gym partner's husband deployed, and she's been helping another friend whose husband is deployed while she had a baby....long story). Nope. Nothing. Just...eating the way I want to eat. Losing serious weight. I'm down about 10 pounds now, and pretty soon I'm going to have to go buy some new clothes. I know!! The horror. There has been a bodily downside, but in the Nix family, we're very easy-going people who enjoy laughing at ourselves, anyway. We are seriously the most flatulent family you ever met, now. I'm assuming that this will eventually go away, and we don't find it painful or uncomfortable...just inconvenient. Well. I do. Mr. Nix and Eliza think it's hilarious.

So anyway, this is getting lengthy, but I'll close with the following pictures. A friend of mine took me to a local produce market where everything is local and seasonal. It's all grown within a half-hour's drive of my home. It's absolutely fantastic. Yesterday, I bought the most beautiful yellow carrots I've ever seen, and a bag of fresh basil that made my whole van smell like pesto in the 10-minute drive between market and home. The coup de gras? They have fresh tofu there...made on the premises! It was still HOT from being made in the back. I. was. in. HEAVEN in this store. Will go back with camera next time.

Beagle Break

2010-02-09T21:10:00.005+09:00

Kioko the Wonder Beagle...sometimes, I just have to post pictures of my dog.

Chicken Fried Tofu

2010-02-09T20:06:00.005+09:00

Well, technically, it isn't fried and there's nothing chicken-ish about it, but you get my drift. I was thinking about how much my husband has always loved the meat-starch-veggie meal that is the perfect portrait of a quintessential American dinner plate. Pork chops with mashed potatoes and gravy with green beans. That was one of his all-time favorites. So. I thought long and hard about how to recreate that for him, and this was my answer. I took some extra-firm tofu and sliced it into a pleasing size. I dipped them in soy sauce (which was an idea I got online somewhere) and then coated them with breadcrumbs, salt, nutritional yeast, oregano, and basil. For the gravy I used a vegetarian creamy gravy mix from Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe. It wasn't bad at all. It needed some salt, but aside from that, I was quite pleased with it. In the end, we had a very enjoyable meal, indeed. The tofu was quite tasty, and the texture was really all I could've hoped for. It was really, really good. My only complaint is that it sat very heavy and was much richer than I imagined it would be. Considering that I have eaten a lot of tofu in my lifetime and feel very comfortable and familiar with it, I was surprised to be taken so...by surprise, by the way I felt after eating it.

Alrighty, here's the recipe:

Chicken Fried Tofu

1 Container Extra-Firm water-packed Tofu, pressed, and sliced (ours yielded 6 slices)

2-3T Soy Sauce

2T Nutritional Yeast

1T Corn Meal

3T Plain Breadcrumbs

Dried Oregano and Basil to taste

Spray a cookie sheet or broiler pan lightly with nonstick spray. Get two small bowls just large enough to dip/dredge your tofu slices. In one of these, mix the bread crumbs, yeast, herbs, and corn meal. In the other, put your soy sauce. Take each slice of tofu, dip it in the soy sauce, and then dredge it in the bread crumb mixture until it's fully coated on all six sides. Place on your baking pan about an inch or so apart. Bake at 375-degrees for 10 minutes, flip, sprinkle on more bread crumbs if needed, and then bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Serve with a cream-style gravy while still hot.

Completely Excited - New Food Projects!

2010-02-04T14:15:00.000+09:00

Inspired by

So...yeah. The Smoking Thing

2010-02-04T10:49:00.004+09:00

Yeah, so I'm a smoker. I've been smoking off and on (mostly on) since I was 18, and I'm 35 now. You do the math...I don't care to, thanks. My darling friend of a decade-plus, also named Amy, taught me to crochet in the hopes that I could substitute yarn-craft instead of overeating for smoking when I try to quit.

I'm circling this idea. I'm vegan now, and it feels so good and so happifying (it is too a word). The reason it feels so good is that we are eating and living in direct alignment with our value system and priorities. I mean, I'm finally treating my body like a temple in the food category, but I still smoke. It makes no sense, and I know this...but I like cigarettes. I always have.

So I would sure like it if those of you who visit this blog would give me something useful to work with on this. I really don't have any use for "You know...it takes ten years off your life," or, "Your lungs look like chocolate pudding and smell like an ashtray." Yeah, I read that memo and watched that movie several times. It doesn't help. I don't need shaming or scaring (neither does any other smoker over the age of 20 and your efforts in that direction are a waste of breath, time, and good energy). I need encouragement and tools for self-motivating. If some of you have quit smoking successfully yourselves or are close to someone who has, I'd like to hear your advice, stories, and struggles. I would really, REALLY appreciate it, actually.

Mung Beans and Coconut Curry Rice

2010-02-04T09:19:00.008+09:00

The weather today is crappy. I mean it is Ug-uh-LEE outside. It's wet, a bit clammy-cool, gray and depressing, and you get the picture. On top of the ugly weather, I am in study week for my mid-term in Statistics (which I have to take tomorrow), and I hate math with the fiery heat of a thousand suns. This class is kicking my butt (which is code for, "making me actually work for my grade which no es bueno because I'm an intellectually lazy sloth." And, the final face-slap today is all the laundry I have to fold. So I'm moping...but I'm not alone.

The ever-effervescent wonder beagle, Kioko, is moping, too. I feel bad for her. The sun didn't shine through the glass door to warm her usual spot this morning. It's a very grievous disruption of her daily schedule, and a beagle's morning sunny spot is SFB.

So, Kioko san and I discussed it, and we decided that food was the only possible way to relieve today's general melancholy haze. The beagle, who is an expert on food, suggested that I make something warm, spicy, comforting, and different for the family dinner tonight. I told her she was brilliant, rubbed her belly, and brought her a nylabone to chew in her moping chair. She likes it when I express the proper level of appreciation for her beneficence with her culinary genius.

After careful consideration taken whilst standing in the pantry closet munching on a bag of dried apricots and surveying all the shelf-stable foodstuffs we own in the Nix house, I decided to return to my old idea from last week about mung beans and bok choy. I'm cookin' those suckers...in a recipe...together...and you people are going to LIKE it. Ha ha!

The recipe will be some sort of hot rice bowl which includes the bok choy (I'm thinking of roasting them or braising them and chopping, but I am not yet decided) stirred in with beans and rice (which will be the mung beans cooked into coconut curry rice). This could work...or it could really suck. Wish me luck!

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Finished Product! Oh, this is one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten, but since it was such a foreign thing for me to make, it was a lot of unnecessary work, and I didn't really know what to pair it with. I will be making this again, and now that I've been through the process once, I don't think it will take so much time or effort in future.

Some notes about parts of the recipe you might find intimidating: Mung Beans are small, ovular beans that look like green blackeye peas. I found them in the Asian foods section of my commissary. Given that I live in Okinawa, I can't assume that American grocers will carry them. If you cannot find mung beans, I think lentils would be a suitable substitute. You can achieve perfect crushed ginger root from a fresh piece with a ginger juicer. You can see a picture of mine HERE. You'll notice that it is a ceramic dish with little sharp nubs in a circle. You take a peeled piece of ginger root and gently "grate" it over these nubs. The result is perfectly crushed ginger root. Coconut milk is sold in cans, and you can find it in the Mexican foods section of any standard grocery store. When you open the can, you'll find a layer of soft, semi-solid coconut fat on top of the liquid. Don't be put off by this and, whatever you do, don't discard the fat. It's a natural process, and coconuts have a LOT of fat in them. You need to whisk this solid back into the liquid before adding coconut milk to a recipe. The creamy, wonderful flavor and texture is more than worth the hassle.

This dish is made with coconut milk, spices, white rice, and mung beans, and it is just scrumptious beyond imagining. Here's how I did it:

Mung Beans and Coconut Curry Rice

1C uncooked White Rice
2C cooked Mung Beans
1 can Coconut Milk
1/2C Water
1/2 Yellow Onion, small dice
1tsp Garlic, crushed
1/2T Ginger Root, crushed or grated
1/2tsp Turmeric
1/2tsp Cinnamon
1/2tsp Dry Mustard
1/8tsp Allspice

My mung beans came dry, and I soaked them all day on the counter in a pan full of water. Before cooking them, I drained the soaking water, rinsed the beans, and then cooked them in fresh water at a slow simmer for about 45 minutes. You will know they are ready when the skins split and the beans are tender. Taste a few to make sure the beans are totally cooked before removing from the heat. Once the beans are done, drain and rinse them to remove all the flatulence-causing stuff that cooked out of them in the simmer process. Once the rinse water runs clear, you're all done with the beans.

To make the curry rice, you put all the rest of the ingredients in a sauce pan for which you also have a cover. Stir everything up and bring the mixture to a boil. Cover and turn the heat down to a very low simmer. I babysat it like a risotto because I didn't know what I was doing, and the result was having to put in a LOT more liquid. Don't make my mistake. Cover it from the beginning and just leave it be for about 20 minutes. Check it at this point and taste the rice. When it is tender and the liquid is all absorbed, your rice is done. Fluff the rice with a fork. Stir in the mung beans and serve.

I've never tasted anything like this, and I am so glad I did it.

As for the bok choy...well, I apologize, but you'll just have to wait. Ha ha. I'm all burnt out on cooking for today.

New Foods from the Commissary

2010-02-03T21:00:00.006+09:00

So, I found these at the commissary and am dying to use them. The dates, I have a bit of experience with and loads of ideas. The rice noodles and seaweed sheets, however, I'm not quite sure what to do with. Suggestions, links, pictures, stories, and advice are all welcome!

Bruschetta Pasta Bowls

2010-02-03T18:56:00.006+09:00

So I love bruschetta. I mean, I love bruschetta a lot. The plan was to make a huge platter of it for dinner and just let everyone go nuts, but to my deep chagrin, I didn't have enough bread. I didn't have any fresh basil, either, and if you decide to make this recipe in your own home, please use fresh basil leaves if you possibly can. It will make a huge, huge difference. I reconciled myself to eating bruschetta with dried basil, but bread is an absolute necessity.

Something had to be done.

After looking in the pantry, cursing at the total lack of bread that could be used for bruschetta croutons, getting sidetracked by the mess in there and spending half an hour reorganizing, and being interrupted yet again by a beagle looking very cute and very much like she wanted to play fetch with her stuffed zebra-cow (long story), I finally got back to working on dinner. Tucked in the back of the freezer, I found 3 rather dense wheat rolls from a meal I made like a month ago...and that was all she wrote unless I wanted to break out the icky white sandwich bread my husband and daughter seem to love so much. Sigh. So here's how it all came together...and let me just tell you. Oh Em Jee. Yum.

Bruschetta Pasta

1/2lb. Pasta (we used penne, but you can use anything you like)

4C Grape Tomatoes, quartered

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 large Shallot, diced

5 or 6 cloves Garlic, chopped

Basil, lots of it, use chopped fresh leaves if you possibly can

5-6 slices of baguette or equivalent amount of another sturdy bread

Salt and Italian seasoning to taste (I used a McCormick salt blend)

While your pasta is boiling, put about4T of olive oil in a skillet or griddle over medium high heat. Once the pan is very hot, Put the slices of bread down to toast. Let them sit for about 2 full minutes without moving them. Flip. Same thing on the other side. When you take them out of the pan, they should look something like the picture below (click on all the pictures in this post for the larger view...they're nice). In the same pan, lower the heat to medium and add another T or so of olive oil. Saute the shallot and garlic until the garlic softens and the shallots are translucent, about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and sprinkle in your herbs and salt. When your pasta is al dente, drain it over the sink and then pour the pasta into the skillet on top of your shallot and garlic mixture. Toss to coat in the oil and herbs from the pan. Cut your fried bread into nice, forkable croutons.

In a large serving bowl (or in the skillet if you prefer), add the tomatoes and croutons to your pasta. Toss lightly to distribute everything evenly. Serve in bowls along with a nice little side salad, and try not to die of happiness.

And Now it's February - Thoughts at 2 Months

2010-02-01T09:24:00.004+09:00

Barbecue Chicken Pizza

2010-01-31T19:26:00.014+09:00

We've been seriously missing pizza around here, so I decided to try my hand at one. I was inspired by THIS post on the Chow Vegan blog, and it reminded me of our old omnivorous favorite from Papa John's back in the United States. That pizza had ridiculous amounts of cheese and bacon on it, and we would order one about twice per month. We ate a LOT of it. This one is vegan, so it won't exactly be the same deal, but - you know - I always felt guilty after eating that pizza. I don't think I'll feel any remorse at all for eating this one.

I bought some bok choy last week with the intention of making it my Vegetable of the Week, but it didn't work out very well because I had a visitor, we ended up eating out a lot...etcetera. So the outer leaves were beginning to look a bit wilted. I needed to use it up for something fast. I decided - what the heck - if it goes well with a sweet teriyaki glaze, it can go well with barbecue sauce. So I sliced up the green leafy sections of my bok choy and used it along with onion cut into half moons (I love onions so much that it's stupid). I sprang for a bag of Morning Star Chick n Strips, and voila! I found a vegan barbecue sauce and we were in business. Note: Be careful with Morning Star products. Not all of them are vegan. This particular product is, but many of the brand's other products contain eggs.

1:29 Project Barbecue Chicken Pizza

1 pre-made vegan Pizza Crust (or you can make your own)

1/2 of a large yellow onion, cut into half-moons

the leafy sections of 3 Bok Choy, cut into narrow strips (if you don't like greens or just don't care for bok choy, you can substitute any kind of green or omit it altogether)

1/3C Barbecue Sauce

2T vegan Butter

1/2 bag of vegan Chicken Strips, cut into a small dice

some Olive Oil for brushing the crust (optional)

Add a generous dollop of additional barbecue sauce to your chicken cubes and stir to coat. Heat the butter in a skillet or sautee pan over medium high heat. Toss the onions and bok choy greens until the onions are completely soft and see caramelization begin. The greens will wilt down considerably in this process. Remove the vegetables from heat. Spread the 1/3C of barbecue sauce evenly over the pizza crust. Distribute the chicken cubes. Add the vegetables on top. Brush the exposed crust with olive oil. Bake the pizza at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Cut and serve.

Taco Night with The Nixes

2010-01-28T18:48:00.006+09:00

Everyone loves tacos, so tonight I made these lovely, crunchy, tasty little fellas. They were layered with Taco Beans, Taco Rice, Pico de Gallo, Tofu Cream, and handfuls of fresh watercress leaves. Mr. Nix ate 6 of them. Yes. Six. And I'm the fat one in the family. Sigh. Oh, well. Enjoy! They were fantastic. This will easily serve 4 people.

Taco Beans

1 Can Black Beans

1 Can Garbanzo Beans

2T Canola Oil

1 T Vegan Butter

1 packet Taco Seasoning

Drain but do not rinse the cans of beans. Put them in a food processor together and pulse until you have a chunky, meat-ish consistency. Heat the oil and butter in a skillet over medium heat. Once melted, stir in the taco seasoning. Add the beans, and mash it all around until the beans are warm through and the seasoning is evenly distributed.

Taco Rice

1C White Rice, uncooked

2C Water

1 packet Goya brand "Con Culantro Y Achiote" spice (totally optional)

1/3C Cilantro leaves, chopped

2T Earth Balance

Lime Juice, squeezed from 1/2 a lime

Cook the rice*. Stir the butter, cilantro leaves, and lime juice into your rice while the rice is fresh and warm from being cooked.

*I use a microwave rice cooker, but you can cook your rice however you like. The end goal is to have about 3-4C of cooked rice when you're done. To the water you're cooking the rice in, I suggest adding the coriander and annatto seasoning from Goya called "con culantro y achiote." The ingredient list is vegan as far as I can tell, and this really adds a deeper flavor to your food (and it makes the rice a beautiful orange color that I find very pleasing). You can find it in the Mexican food section. it comes in a box that looks like a bouillon cube package. I'll include a picture of the product at the bottom of this post. If you can't find it...no big.

Pico de Gallo

2 containers Grape or Cherry Tomatoes (about 4C)

1 Jalapeño

1/4C Red Onion

5 cloves Garlic

1/2C Cilantro leaves

Lime Juice, squeezed from 1 whole lime (about 2-3T)

Salt to taste

Put all these ingredients into a food processor and blend until everything is evenly distributed. If you let it sit, covered, in the fridge for an hour or two beforehand, it will be even better. Make a double batch while you're at it. This stuff is fantastic for just about everything.

Garlicky Tofu Cream**

1 package water-packed Silken Tofu

5T Lemon Juice

3 cloves Garlic

1 packet Truvia sweetener

2tsp White Vinegar

1/2tsp Salt

**this recipe is just a modification of THIS ONE I found at Tasty Kitchen

Put everything in a food processor and blend until smooth. Don't just pulse it together. Let it go for a minute or two so that it gets fluffy and thick. Use on the tacos the same way non-vegans use dairy sour cream.

DON'T eat a spoonful of this and decide you don't like it. It's a condiment! It doesn't taste just like sour cream, and it isn't (in my opinion) all that tasty by itself. It is an excellent condiment, however, and I think I might be using it a lot from now on for sandwiches and salads. It was very zippy. :) Look at it like this: You might have noticed that I use cilantro in a LOT of my cooking. I love cilantro, and I cook with it almost all the time...but I've never just taken a handful of the raw leaves and eaten them alone. That wouldn't be good at all, and that's not what they're for. You wouldn't eat mustard with a spoon, right? If you would...well, I don't know what to say to you. Trust me. On the tacos? This tofu cream is heaven. Give it a go.

Peanuts, Ginger, and Lime...Oh My!

2010-01-27T19:40:00.010+09:00

Shortly after moving to Okinawa, a neighbor introduced us to the local Thai takeout place about 10 minutes from our home on Camp McTureous. Anyone reading this who ever lived on this island at Camp Courtney or McT will know exactly which little place I'm referring to. The food is incredible...a bit overpriced, but incredible nonetheless. My favorite dish to order was the Tom Ka Gai, which is a soup made with chicken meat, chicken broth, onions, coconut milk, and copious amounts of ginger, peanuts, and garlic. Since becoming vegan, I have longed with sadness and frustration for that soup and for my total lack of knowledge in Thai cooking. How could I veganize something I never knew how to make in the first place, right?

I read dozens of recipes for tom ka gai online, but all of them were heavily dependent on the chicken for their flavor, and some of them even had dairy products as well. That didn't help me. I abandoned my quest for tom ka gai and focused on making peanut and ginger soups. Three practically inedible disasters made from online vegan recipes were the result. So, this past week, I sat down and created the following recipe. I used proportions from other Asian soup recipes to determine how much of the flavors to use, and I used my memory of the flavors in the restaurant soup along with the flavors I knew were included in traditional tom ka gai's to assemble my ingredient list. We made it tonight for dinner.

HOLY FUDGESICKLES!! (That was for you, Christina) This was a total soupgasm. I am seriously proud of myself for this recipe. I defy anyone to taste my soup next to the restaurant version and tell me the difference (you know, except that mine doesn't have any chlorinated chicken bits, fish sauce, cholesterol, or anything else bad for your body in it). If you make no other recipe from my blog...try this soup. It is just incredible. Now, you'll have to excuse me. I'm am seriously going to finish this post as fast as I can so I can go eat another bowl of this stuff before it gets cold.

Don't be intimidated by the ingredients. If you cannot find lemongrass in your produce section, you can substitute with cilantro (which I had to do this time even though we usually do have lemongrass available) or flat parsley if you don't care for cilantro. Coconut milk is available in regular 14-15oz. cans in the Mexican food section of most grocery stores. Remember that soup is your friend and very forgiving. This one has a long ingredient list, but it's very simple to make.

Enjoy and God bless!

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Project 1:29 Tom Ka Gai

1T Sesame Oil

3T Canola Oil

1 Yellow Onion, chopped

5 Cloves Garlic, minced or crushed

2T Ginger Root, minced or crushed (see photo below)

1/2C Roasted Peanuts, coarsely chopped

1/4tsp Red Pepper Flakes (totally optional)

6C Water

2 Cubes Vegetable Bouillon

1/2tsp Turmeric

1/2C fresh Grape or Cherry Tomatoes, pureed or finely-chopped (do not use a canned product)

1 Can Coconut Milk

4 Servings Soup Noodles (use flat Asian soup noodles or ramen)

1/3C Lime Juice, freshly-squeezed

1/2C Lemongrass, chopped

In a large pot, warm the oils over medium high heat. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, pepper flakes, and peanuts. Toss that around a bit until the onions are softened. Pour in the water, bouillon, turmeric, and tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and add coconut milk and the noodles. Cover. Continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until the noodles are all separated and tender (see your noodle package for cooking times). Remove from heat. Toss in the lime juice and lemongrass. Stir well, and taste. Add salt to taste. Serve hot.

Explanations and Experiences over the Past Week

2010-01-22T01:42:00.004+09:00

Where the Heck I've Been

For any or all of you...if you're out there (Hello!): We have had a visitor all this weekfrom the States, and so I have been derelict in my duties to this blog. I'll share some experiences from my days spent away from the keyboard.

First, I'm getting comfortable with admitting to people in a public way that I am now a vegan. It feels permanent and like it's going to stick, and with each "telling," I become less afraid of people's reactions and more confident in my reasons for doing all this. I am becoming a master of finding ways to eat vegan in restaurants, and I no longer feel that impulse to apologize for my dietary requirements.

The Amy & Amy & Julia Project

I ate a small portion of a special meat dish on Wednesday and, thus, consumed animal flesh for the first time in two months. I did this because it was important to my friend that we cook this dish. Months and months ago (well before I went vegan) we planned to spend an entire day in the kitchen, preparing this recipe and a watching a movie we both loved. I felt it would be incredibly rude to change our plans, and I felt it would make my friend feel that she had somehow imposed on me or hurt me if I didn't at least taste some of it after laboring over it all day in the kitchen. I won't go into detail or bother "defending" my choice to participate in this with my girlfriend of more than a decade. I had my reasons, and I felt (and still do) that they were good ones. This lady has been a friend for more than ten years. I've been vegan for two months. People who love me need time to adjust and realize that I am not a different person--that my love for them hasn't changed and that my "normal" with them is not gone forever just because I no longer eat animals. My veganism brings joy, not sadness, rejection, or judgment. I want to demonstrate the truth of that statement to my family and friends, and I can't do that if I present it to them as a life change I value above my prior promises to them, their feelings, and their relationships with me.

But back to the meat: I was not revolted as I thought I might be. It tasted just like I remembered it always tasting. The meat itself was good and the sauce that was made for it was much, much better than good (we're both excellent cooks). The mouth-feel was the first thing I noticed in a different way. I no longer like the feel of meat between my teeth. The texture was wrong and off-putting. It doesn't feel satisfying in any way to chew on meat, anymore, and being hyper-aware of what I had in my mouth just reinforced my belief that eating animals is not something I want to have in my life. That reinforcement was a huge comfort. Part of me secretly feared that, because it was going to be a tasty dish, that I would really like it and repent going vegan. I was gratified and relieved to experience the opposite. I didn't "enjoy" eating this dish. I ate a small portion of it because I felt obligated to do so. I honestly don't care if anyone approves of this or if it makes sense to anyone else or not. It made sense to me, and I gained valuable perspective and reinforcement from the experience.

In addition, my darling friend knows that I am vegan now, and going forward, she will know to assume that I won't be eating meat or dairy anymore. Because I did not blindside her or reneg on the plans we made long before I went vegan, she has accepted my choice with extreme good grace and support. She is even considering the facts that I shared with her for application to her own life. I can't find a negative anywhere in this visit, and I have nothing to reproach myself for and a great deal of confidence about how to present my new life to other loved ones in the future.

Dairy in the Curry
Next, there was another "lapse," only this one was neither calculated nor committed with my knowledge. We ordered curry, and I got a vegetable dish. Nothing in the ingredient list notified me of a non-vegan component, but then the English translations on Japanese menus are sometimes not as complete as one could wish. Turns out, my dish had copious amounts of dairy in it. The spices being so dominant, I did not notice until I'd already consumed quite a bit of cheese melted into the curry sauce. I pushed my plate away in dismay and embarrassment. Having already made a conscious and calculated choice to compromise my values the day before, I was quite angry to find I had, albeit unintentionally, done it again. I forgave myself, however, because the pain my body put me through was way, WAY worse than I deserved. Cramping, intense acid reflux pain (I suffer chronic reflux, but this was incredibly painful and much worse than my typical episodes), gas pain and pressure for hours, and 36 hours of frequent visits to the "facility." I've never reacted to dairy like that in all my life. I will wear my body's new response to lactose as a badge of honor and a reminder of the truth that humans are not designed to eat this stuff. Dairy is for cow babies...not people.

See You Next Week

So, I'll be busy spending time with my friend and her daughter until next Tuesday. After that, it will be back to business as usual in the Nix house. Everyone reading today...take care. I'll be babbling at you and posting recipes again next week.

Bok Choy and Mung Beans

2010-01-14T23:46:00.004+09:00

This week's vegetables of the week are going to be Bok Choy and Mung Beans. The mung beans I found at the commissary come from Vietnam, and they look like tiny little black-eye peas except that they are a brilliant verdant green--almost a pine color. I can't wait to try them. Now, with these adorable full-size bok choy (I bought them because I think they MUST have been harvested within 24 hours prior to my purchasing them...totally white bases where they were cut and the leaves are just so alive and bright and firm), I have to confess that we've never tried bok choy before. They're not really all that exotic or rare. You can get them in any produce section in any grocery store I've ever seen. All the same, we've never eaten it before.

I am open to any and all recipe suggestions. I'm leaning toward a recipe I found for Thai-garlic pan/stir-fry with the bok choy and a fried rice type of "beans and rice" dish for the mung beans. That said, I'm really looking for a definitive way to eat either of these new foods, and I figured I'd ask for suggestions before diving in.

Breakfast for Bud - Tofu Scramble

2010-01-14T12:40:00.011+09:00

One of my dearest friends in the wide world is trying to change his diet and improve his health. Having never eaten tofu, he asked me what I thought of tofu, how I liked to eat it, and for a suggestion on how to cook it. Tofu, if you think about it, is a pretty alien looking substance the first time you encounter it. It doesn't really look like food immediately upon introduction. It looks kind of like something I'd scrub my counter with, really, and that's a good way to think of tofu. Not as a cleaner, of course...but as a sponge.

Tofu is a lightly processed form of soybeans, and we refer to it as "bean curd." It's been around for - literally - millennia. We know that it's been in regular use, in pretty much the same form we use it in today, for more than 2,000 years. I'd say it's a time-tested food. We can eat it with confidence. Ha ha!

An excellent protein source, tofu is a calorie-dense and "good fat"-rich food. It is filling and good for you. How many things can you say that about? I love tofu, and I cook it a number of ways. For my friend who will soon be eating tofu for the first time, I would like to introduce it by offering my very favorite way to eat it. This recipe is also just an excellent way to meet tofu because there isn't anything else IN the recipe. It's just nothin' but tofu, Baby. So here's my favorite breakfast: The Tofu Scramble.

Basically, the idea with a tofu scramble is to replicate the textural, aesthetic, and nutritional qualities of scrambled eggs. It really does this remarkably well, and making it is very similar in practice to scrambling eggs...you know without the slimy stuff and the cholesterol and the forced molting/beak cutting/menstrual cycle product issues we deal with when eating chicken eggs.

So...I have photographed the process on this, and you can click on any of the photographs to see a larger and more detailed view. When choosing tofu for this recipe, get the water-packed tofu (it will look like the package you see in my picture above), NOT the shelf-stable tofu from boxes. It will be in the refrigerated section. Keep in mind that even though I'm making this a long and detailed post, tofu scrambles can be prepared and on your plate, ready to eat, in about 5 minutes. You will also need vegan butter, onion powder, turmeric, salt, and pepper. Spice measurements are all to taste. Just sprinkle in the amounts you want of each spice.

For this recipe, you will need to buy extra-firm or firm tofu. I prefer extra-firm, and all this refers to is the structural integrity of the tofu itself. Silken or soft tofu, for example, has a creamy texture like sour cream or pudding. Extra-firm tofu can be sliced into cubes and stir-fried. See what I mean? Anyway, when you open your package of tofu, do it over the sink so that you don't get water from the packaging all over the place. Now, tofu takes on the flavors of whatever is around it, so you want to get the "flavor" of the plastic packaging off of it. We do this by just rinsing it quickly under the tap. Once you've done this, cut off about a third of the block. This is the portion we're going to cook, and you need to remove the excess water from it. Tofu is like a sponge, remember, so take two hands and start to squeeze. For our purposes, it doesn't matter if you end up tearing the block apart a bit in this process. You will be surprised at how much water comes out. Don't get obsessive about it, just a couple gentle squeezes to get the bulk of water out. Next, you need to crumble the tofu into scrambled egg-looking pieces (see pictures above).

In a small skillet, warm about 2T of vegan butter over medium heat. Throw in your crumbled tofu, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Next, you want to add your turmeric. About 1/4tsp will do it, but you can add more if you like a stronger flavor. At first, it will look orange, like the photo above left. As you stir it, it will distribute through the tofu and turn everything yellow. Once the turmeric is evenly-distributed, bright yellow, and all the tofu is warmed completely through, you're ready to serve. That's it! I eat this about 2 mornings per week with a piece of toast. It's fantastic.

Cumin-Laced Penne & Thoughts

2010-01-14T00:01:00.004+09:00

I have been feeling a bit lethargic and sinusy over the past two days. This is hardly surprising as everyone I know on this island has either just gone through a nasty flu-like illness or is currently in the throes of it. I think the only reason I've avoided it so long is that I haven't spent much time out of doors because I've been consumed with homework from my statistics class and hiding from the sudden chilly change to the weather.

So, as dinner time approached tonight, I just didn't feel like cooking. This being the case, I decided to throw together something warm, easy, and comforting. It just had to be pasta. This meal ended up being SO spectacular, even though it was really just one of those "throw some things together" type of dishes, that I decided to share. It was amazing. I made an absolute ton of it, but all three of us had seconds, and even the juices left at the bottom of the bowl were consumed. Yep. It was that good. So...without further ado; the recipe:

1:29 Project Cumin-Laced Penne

1/2lb. uncooked Penne Pasta

1/2 can Black Beans, rinsed and drained

1 container small Cherry Tomatoes (about 10), quartered

1/2 of a Yellow Onion, chopped

1tsp finely-minced Garlic (I cheated and used the jar stuff this time)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

juice from 1/2 Lemon, about 2T freshly-squeezed

1/2C chopped fresh Cilantro (you could use flat-leaf parsley if you don't like cilantro)

3 generous shakes of Cumin (about 1/4tsp, but I didn't measure)

1/2tsp Chili Powder

Put a generous amount of salted water on to boil and get your penne started (use package directions for cooking time). While the pasta is boiling, chop your onion, tomatoes, garlic, and cilantro. In a large or high-sided skillet, heat 1T of olive oil on medium and add your onion and garlic. You don't want caramelization here, just get the onion soft and the garlic fusing with the oil. Add the cumin and chili powder. Toss it around until the aroma of the spices starts to really pop. Rinse and drain your penne. Put it straight into the skillet with your onions and garlic. Add the rest of your olive oil, using just enough to get all the pasta nicely-coated. Add in the beans and tomatoes, and turn off the heat. Just before you're ready to plate, stir in the cilantro and lemon juice. Salt to taste. It may sound like a long process, but this only took me 20 minutes from the time I started pulling ingredients out to the plate, and it was ridiculously good. You could serve this with a green salad if you wanted to, or you could add some bread if you felt a need, but we ate this as-is, and it was filling and very comforting all on its own.

In the past month or so of tremendous dietary change, some things have been happening to my body. Some are lovely and welcome. Others...not so much. I'll start with the bad so I can end on a lovely note. :) For starters, my face - especially the jaw line - has been breaking out in painful and really unattractive acne. I've even had some appear on my shoulders, which is just "ew." I've had some serious dry mouth in the mornings, which may be just a side symptom of the sinusy thing I've got going, but it started when I began eating vegan. In addition to these discomforts, I've been extremely gassy and had a vicious reappearance of my acid reflux-related chest pain. Fun, fun, and more fun...just let me tell you.

Now...you have to know that these are all the exact same symptoms I dealt with when I quit smoking for an extended time a few years back (I have since relapsed), and I am recognizing all of this as a detox sort of thing. Whenever you shock your body chemically - whether it's adding something or removing something you've been using habitually for a long time (like nicotine and the chemicals of tobacco smoke or meat and dairy products), the body is bound to freak out. So, I'm taking all this in stride, but it's annoying as all hell; I won't lie.

But, lest we forget, there are a lot of great things happening with my body, too. My scalp, for one, is less oily. I used to have to wash my hair every single day because it would be oily and dirty-looking within 12-18 hours of being shampooed (and, no, it wasn't cheap shampoo or the wrong kind for my hair. I'm 35...I've been dealing with this a long time. It's not a product issue). Apparently, it was a diet-related issue! My hair stays really nice-looking all the way to the root for at least two days, now, and the resultant rest from scouring my scalp is receiving has left my hair looking way shinier and less stressed in only 6 weeks. Good stuff, right? The second great thing is that my appetite has diminished...seriously diminished. I don't get snacky. I don't feel hungry except at the times you expect yourself to be needing a meal, and even then, it's not overpowering. It's that nice sort of nudge you get that says, "Hey...why don't you go and make lunch now?" I haven't had an "Oh my God, Woman, give me food...EAT NOW" moment in weeks. That blood sugar swinging thing just doesn't happen to me anymore, and I get to satiety with less bulk of food than before. I honestly think it's the quality of the food I'm eating. I haven't eaten much crap, lately, and the crap I've indulged in was vegan crap, so it's not been loaded with animal fats. My high fructose corn syrup consumption has almost disappeared because the foods I regularly ate that contained it are all non-vegan. They hide that mess in everything, so I'm sure I've had some, but the amount is just negligible compared to what I was consuming before I made these changes.

Finally, and most exciting of all, I am losing weight for the first time in the 5 years since my back went out. Regular exercise and calorie control never worked...even when employed with consistency over a period of more than a year. My body would not release any excess weight. It was demoralizing and upsetting...and like most overweight people, I knew that no one believed me. People see a chubby woman or a fat woman and just assume she must be lying about all that exercise, and she must be chowing on Twinkies in her room at night because if she were actually doing all these things she claimed to do, she wouldn't be overweight.

I know that's what people think...and that's so hurtful, I can't even begin.

I've digressed...sorry. Anyway, the weight has dropped a bit. It's too early to throw a party and buy new clothes, but Lizzie's piano teacher noticed and gave me a really warm compliment at her lesson on Monday. I'm pretty ecstatic; I have to say.

So...have a great week, Everyone. Know that I am doing well. The family is doing great. Kioko is snoring and it's late, so I'm going to head off to bed. Make the cumin-laced pasta, and if you're considering a switch to living veggie...I can whole-heartedly and honestly tell you that this has been the most emotionally liberating experience I can recall having. Ever. Go for it.

Vegetable of the Week - Japanese Yams

2010-01-12T20:12:00.004+09:00

I decided I should start a tradition of trying and then reviewing a new vegetable that no one in my household has ever eaten before each week. After much careful consideration, I confirmed to myself that this was an excellent plan. So here we are...and the winner this week is Japanese Yams! These heavenly little tubers have an odd and pleasing teardrop shape to them. The flesh is a very sweet marigold yellow color, and the texture is pretty similar to the yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes most Americans are familiar with. Without being fluffy or starchy sand-textured, they couldn't really be called smooth or custardy, either. It's rather a middle type of feel, and I liked them a lot.

I saw these little guys in a forlorn-looking pile all alone at the commissary getting no love. I decided I must have them. The produce guy, who knows me by sight now, stopped by while I was choosing 3 yams and asked me how I was going to cook them. I hadn't really thought about it, so he recommended using them baked. That sounded brilliant to me, so that's just what we did. I baked them, unwrapped, in the oven for an hour at 350-degrees. We churched them up with some vegan Smart Balance spread, and that was pretty much all they needed. Being ever intrepid, I tried the skin. It is not tasty like those on some potatoes, and it is tough and darn-near impossible to chew. So...leave the skin on your plate, but definitely dig in to the yellow fleshy goodness inside. They are incredibly sweet yams, and everyone really enjoyed them.

Greens and Garlic Soup

2010-01-12T18:29:00.009+09:00

Shortly after becoming vegan, I was referred to Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's podcast, "Food for Thought" by a helpful poster at The Kind Life. She told me that Colleen's podcast would help me with a lot of my transitional questions and issues, and she was so right. If you haven't ever listened to the podcast, please do. You're really missing out. Colleen gives lessons about all kinds of issues concerning nutrition, talking about your veganism with others, the facts about animal suffering and farm conditions, and just so many other things. She tells marvelous stories, gives excellent recipes and meal suggestions, and is just an absolutely wonderful resource. If you're a vegan or vegetarian...and especially if you're a new veggie, well, you just have to go and have a listen. You can see Colleen's other work and ideas at Compassionate Cooks' website.

One of the first things I found upon visiting Compassionate Cooks' site for the first time was a video tutorial on how to make a Greens and Garlic Soup. I highly recommend watching that video because the recipe is super easy and very versatile. Being a huge fan of collard greens, I watched and became determined to make the soup for my family. So last night, we had Colleen's Greens and Garlic soup for dinner, and it was fantastic. With so few ingredients and with so little in the way of anything other than garlic as a huge "flavor," I honestly expected this to be bland and boring. I was so incredibly wrong. This stuff was amazing. You really do have to try it.

This is not my recipe, but since Colleen posted it on her site for the public, I'll go ahead and summarize it for you. You will need:

1 or 2 bunches of fresh, leafy greens (kale, mustard greens, collards, etcetera)

1 head of garlic (8-9 cloves), peeled and minced or pressed

4 small potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1T rice vinegar

8C water

1 or 2 veggie bouillon cubes

A splash (about 1-2T) of oil (we used EVOO)

In a large soup pot, heat the oil over medium high heat. Put the garlic and onion in the pot. Stir these around until the onions soften. Add the potatoes, bouillon, greens, and water. Bring this to a boil and then lower the heat, cover, and simmer for about 20-25 minutes until the greens are tender and the potatoes are cooked. Remove from heat and add the vinegar. Stir the soup and taste. Add salt and/or pepper to taste. Serve!

Below are pictures from the prep and a rather poorly-lit photo of the finished product, itself. I'm sorry I don't have a better photo of the soup. The lighting makes it look like an oily soup, but it was SO not. It was absolutely wonderful.

The Transitive Property of Pragmatism

2010-01-12T13:03:00.008+09:00

So, lookit...I'm a pragmatist. What that means in a nutshell is that I'm a solution-oriented kind of gal. I am about getting from A to Z. I don't spend a lot of time fixated on how things should be. I'm far more obsessive about how we can move and change and repair things.

I've had a couple people express confusion with my approach to some things from the experienced vegan side of the veggie community. I have a great deal of respect for people who have been living vegan for a long time, and so I have given these people's opinions and input some serious thought. I am so grateful for all the help, advice, and lovingly-delivered information I have received and the interest and care that has been shown in my struggles and my process. So, please understand that I am not coming at this with a "tone." I just thought it might be helpful to the conversation if I explained the seeming contradiction in my whole approach to living vegan.

For me, becoming vegan was born out of two main beliefs.

My first belief is that the way we raise and slaughter animals in the United States is tragic, appalling, unnecessarily violent, and sinful. I am a Christian, and whether you share that religion with me or not, I will not mince words. I view the methods of meat, egg, and dairy production in America as a collective, mortal sin that each consumer of these products participates in every time they purchase a product that came out of that system. Above the basic horror of it all, I find the sinful nature of it most compelling because at the center of my moral compass is my faith. I believe that God is up there stomping, red-face pissed at the inhabitants of America--the most materially and naturally rich nation on planet earth--because of this fundamentally sinful system.

My second belief is that once we come to the realization that animals are being horrifically abused on CAFO's, in dairies, in egg production facilities, and in the slaughterhouses, we have a moral obligation to figure out a way to best disseminate that information to others in a useful way. I was 25 years old before I knew even the first thing about abuses in food production, so I have to wonder how many of my countrymen are still walking around in America today completely ignorant of what's going on?

I'd wager that there are millions.

So then what should the focus be? My focus is on putting an end in whatever ways I can to the very existence of CAFO's, industrial dairies, inhumane egg production, and these 13 massive slaughterhouses from which every bite of beef, poultry, and pork consumed in this nation is legally-mandated to come out of. That is my focus. Eliminating the very existence of a system like this is my focus. For the animals, for the good our national "soul," for the ecological balance in the land of my country (and, of course, the planet as a whole) and for the very health and longevity of my countrymen, the only thing I'm motivated by is moving, changing, and fixing the problem.

So how do we do that?

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. Protect the rights of all who are helpless." Proverbs 31:8

Educating people who don't know where the steak and eggs on their plate came from is the first and most important thing. It took me ten years from the time I first heard there was animal cruelty in industrial farming to the day I was able to make enough connections between that fact and my own life to motivate me away from eating animals for real and for good. Becoming vegan was the right choice for me, but it took me a decade to learn enough, see enough, and try enough other "things" before I arrived at veganism. That's a slow freaking process! It won't take everyone that long to change (I'm pretty stubborn), but it might take some people even longer than it took me. Given that, my pragmatism screams, "There must be something else we can do in the meantime."

If, after talking to someone about the health ramifications, the ecological devastation, and the horrible conditions under which animals suffer in our nation, that person still won't commit to giving up meat? Well, I'm open to other options at that point, and none of them consist of throwing poop and epithets at the omnivore across from me. "But why not?" you may ask. Why wouldn't I want to shun and disassociate from a person who won't even try after facing and acknowledging the facts about animal consumption? Several reasons, really. First, some of these people are family members, friends, and people I love deeply. Second, some of these people will be resistant at first because of the socio-political agendas and undertones associated with vegetarianism. Thirdly, people are naturally going to be defensive and threatened when someone tells them that the way they're living their life is morally reprehensible. Finally...because whether I choose to insult and shun that person or not, they will still be out there participating in the problem. You have to accept and respect the reality of these things if you want to bring about useful change.

I'm not interested in manipulating people or tricking someone into doing something. If I can communicate to a person who is resolutely against the concept of ethical vegetarianism the facts about inhumane slaughter practices, that person might start buying organic meat and dairy from coop farmers who raise their beef and dairy cattle on natural foods, in pastures with real grass, and in relatively happy stress-free environments. If I can teach a person about what happens to egg-laying hens and about the way poultry chickens have been genetically modified, maybe that person will start buying chicken meat from a small farmer who raises unmangled, natural chickens or one who doesn't employ forced molting or other inhumane practices to get eggs from the hens. Do I, for myself, think these changes are "enough?" Obviously not. If I did, I wouldn't be vegan. Do I acknowledge that, for some people, this is all they're willing to do? Yes. Does it improve the lives of animals and put a chink in the armor of the great industrial meat machine? Yes. Does a person who cares enough to spend more time, effort, and money seeking out organics and coop-raised animal products deserve respect and patience for trying to walk in the right direction? I think they do...yes.

Every step, no matter how small, is progress. When people open up to one or two changes, they find themselves more willing over time to make a few more. That is where my hope lies. I know that my hope is well-founded because it was a series of small steps over time that led me to becoming vegan. When someone is being asked to change an entire lifetime of ingrained habit and perception, it is obtuse to the level of absurdity for the very people asking him to make the changes to insult him or disdain his progressive improvements.

The small improvements do matter, and I'd rather encourage something that matters, even a little, than do nothing. I'd rather promote giving animals happy lives instead of tortured ones. I'd rather support people feeding their children organic animal products instead of hormone and chemical-laced ones so they can grow up undamaged. I'd rather support people making a collective statement to the meat industry that our status quo is unacceptable even if I don't agree with everyone in that collective about what we should change the status quo to. If we can topple Goliath, isn't that worth trying for...even if the rock David has in the sling isn't the rock we wanted him to use?

I hope that makes sense. It's not hypocrisy. It's not a sense of defeatism. It's not a contradiction. It's pragmatism. If I can't tolerate A, but I can't have Z, then I'm willing to investigate B through Y to stimulate progress.

I have dreams about what the future can be, and I want all those dreams to come true. I truly do. Since we aren't anywhere close to seeing those dreams realized anytime soon, I want to spend my time moving closer and closing the gap. Anyway, that's how I look at the whole picture. I hope that helps to clarify where I'm sitting on all this for those of you who've been good enough to talk to me about it.

Vegan Eggs?

2010-01-10T15:05:00.011+09:00

For those of you reading this who don't know me personally, let me explain that I love to cook. Cooking and the duties one occupies herself with in the kitchen are my passion in life. I have always been lauded for my talents in the kitchen. Several of my friends have referred to me as their own personal Paula Deen because I am both Southern like Ms. Deen and I have a mix of humor and joy in the kitchen just like she has. When I became vegan six short weeks ago, I despaired of losing my relationship with the kitchen. It is a huge part of my identity, this cooking thing, and I don't really know how to be a vegan cook.

Rather than allow such a gloomy thought to take me over, I decided that I would be proactive and study how to make this transition. A life without the joys of cooking for my family from our own kitchen would not be worth living to me. Perhaps that's a bit melodramatic, but you get the idea. I pulled out all my dusty vegan cookbooks and ordered a couple more. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, and I finally got my mitts on a copy of Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet. In addition to these books, I have the Low-Fat Moosewood cookbook, The Voluptuous Vegan by Myra Kornfeld and George Minot, and The Vegan Sourcebook by Joanne Stepaniak. So, anyway, I pulled these out and began looking through them. I also got online with VegWeb.com and the Vegan Yum Yum blog. I was determined not to fail at this quest for culinary knowledge.

The most immediately helpful thing for me from all of this was learning about egg replacers. Non-dairy milks are kind of obvious. We all know about them and they're easy to find in conventional grocery stores. Replacing eggs, however, was a bit more difficult. I make a lot of cornbread and muffins and cookies and the like, so baking substitutes were a must. Today, I'd like to talk about the three egg replacers I've found, explain their differences, and tell you how to get them. So...let's talk about vegan eggs:

1.) Firm Tofu

Being Southern, I love me a good fried egg sandwich. My entire life, this has meant bread toasted with butter, a bit of egg mayonnaise, and a fried egg. OMG...yum. Let's face it, though: that's a lot of animal fat. It's been long enough, now, that just the memory of it makes my tongue feel coated and gross. I won't lie, though...egg sandwiches are freaking awesome in the taste department. The salt, the heavy nature of the animal protein, and the filling creamy quality of all that animal fat...yum. I have replaced all of that by using firm tofu for whole egg replacement. Yes. Tofu. I will do a blog post on Tofu's role in replacing the consumption of whole cooked eggs another day, but for those who don't want to wait on me, you can find recipes for Tofu "Egg" Salad, Tofu Scrambles, and Fried "Egg" Sandwiches all over the internet with a simple search.

2.) Flax Meal

I first picked up a bag of flax meal when I saw it in the gluten-free products section of the commissary in early December. I had heard that flax seeds were good for me, but I had no real idea of why that was the case. I was buying a lot of new things, then, just to try them, and I had seen flax seed products mentioned in a LOT of vegan recipes. So, I put the bag in the cart. After getting it home, I read the label more fully. It said I could use it to replace eggs in baking. I tried it in my next cornbread, and it worked! The cornbread had that same cake-like texture I had been missing in my cornbreads. I tried it in some oatmeal cookies, and they puffed right up. Flax meal, however, wouldn't work for everything. There are large brown flecks of the seed hulls and the flavor is decidedly nutty. I couldn't imagine making a custard or pie or cheesecake type of dessert with flax meal. It has it's uses. Muffins, breads, and anything "grain-ish" would be a great recipe for flax meal.

3.) Powdered Egg Replacer

There are a couple brands of egg replacer out there, but the one mentioned over and over in vegan cookbooks and blogs is Ener-G Egg Replacer. I could not find a mail order service to send me Ener-G, however, and while I was searching Bob's Red Mill website for other items, I discovered their egg replacer. I can only imagine that it works in a very similar way to the Ener-G brand, though the ingredient list is quite different. Made of soy flour and soy protein isolate as the biggest ingredients, Bob's Egg Replacer works to bind in baking recipes. I used it in waffles just this morning, and it worked very well. Bob's Red Mill products can be ordered online directly from their site (linked above), and they ship to FPO's. I received my items from them less than a week after placing the order, and that's really saying something since we live in Japan. They must've filled that order nearly immediately.

In the case of both flax meal and the powdered egg replacer, you simply use 1T of the product mixed with 3T of water for each egg in the recipe you're making. In both products, you simply stir the water in and let it sit for a minute or two. The result is a viscous, thick sort of runny paste, and it does the binding work of eggs for you as well as giving the recipe a bit of "lift." Give them a try next time you bake.

These products can seem foreign and you might feel skeptical at first. This is no time for cowardice, though! Get in there and give them a try. They are inexpensive and easy to come by once you know what you're looking for. Good prosciutto ham and authentic pancetta bacon are hard to find, too, but non-vegans don't balk at the inclusion of it in recipes. So if you want to try this out...just do it. It's cholesterol-free, and no one had their beak chopped off, underwent forced molting, or spent a life confined to a battery cage to provide it for you.

Waffles!!

2010-01-09T22:15:00.009+09:00

So, I made vegan waffles for the first time ever. The batter was made from an organic whole grain mix, and I was not optimistic. It looked entirely too healthy and fibrous to taste any good. I was pleasantly surprised. I added cinnamon and vanilla to the batter as I do with every pre-made waffle or pancake batter mix. I did not add citrus, but a nice 1/4C of orange juice would've been yummy, too. These came out rather denser than I'm used to because of the whole grains. They were heavier than "normal" waffles. For that reason, I will add extra baking powder to the mix next time.

Now, we didn't come at this from a health perspective. Nuh-uh. We did this up right with butter (of course it was vegan butter! sheesh) and syrup and HUGE waffles.

They were rich and filling and absolutely delicious. Even Kioko san was allowed to try one bite. These waffles were some of the best I've ever eaten...but they had no eggs, no refined sugar, no white flour, and nothing to feel guilty about (you know, within reason, anyway). How could I have ever thought this would be deprivation?

A Book, a Baby, and a Beagle

2010-01-05T12:56:00.008+09:00

I think every vegan has a story about how they became vegan, and I think it's finally time for me to tell mine. So this blog post will be a bit longer than I normally do. I hope that's okay with you.

In my original post for this blog, I told you that my first spark towards veganism was reading John Robbins book, The Food Revolution. That was ten years ago. I was 25 years old, freshly-divorced, and living alone for the very first time in my life. I had no money, but I was not destitute. That seems to contradict, but I was poor in that special way that only young people can be. I had no money, but it was not a hardship or social obstacle, and I did not consider myself bereft. I had given up both the television and the home computer to my ex upon moving out, and I was as close to buying my own private jet as I was to being able to replace either of them. All I had for entertainment at home was a stereo, my half of the CD's, and my books. It was a peaceful, happy time despite my lack of material comfort, and it was during this period that I began to really grow up.

I believe that maturity comes not only with age (because some people could live to a hundred and still be immature), but also with introspection and circumspection. Without stopping to consider and survey both ourselves and the world we live in, life experience can net us very little in the way of wisdom. I learned to think and to look around during this period of my life, and I came out of it a better person and a more fully-realized adult. It was during this time that I first learned about how the meat industry in America treats animals, the workers that raise and slaughter the animals, and the environmental ravages they inflict upon the earth where these animals and workers are being exploited. I was horrified. I started to change my life at that point, and I never looked at the food on my plate the same way ever again. It was a powerful book, and it spurred me onto the first leg of this long journey...but I wouldn't successfully become a vegan for another decade.

I married Ashley in 2003, and our daughter, Elizabeth, was born late that same year. Thus began the next chapter of my life. I got busy. I had a lot of changes to go through. My husband is a U.S. Marine, and he was deployed to Iraq twice in the following three years. I watched Elizabeth, sometimes alone and sometimes with my husband, as she grew. I would watch my baby girl and marvel at how new everything was for her. Her body was new. Her organs were new. I realized that I was--almost solely--responsible for how she would treat that body and how she would grow--emotionally, physically, and spiritually--over the next several years. In a twist that I now view as a "God breeze," our daughter was allergic to dairy formula. After two infections in my breasts, my milk dried up early, and I could no longer breastfeed. As devastating as this was for me emotionally, all we could focus on at the time was getting nutrients into our little baby's body. We put Lizzie on a formula that our doctor recommended, but she could not tolerate it. She would projectile vomit when fed a dairy bottle, and I became concerned that she had a serious health issue to address. After two weeks of this, something had to be done. I wrung my hands as I waited for our doctor's verdict. She had good news. Elizabeth wasn't sick. She was just a human baby...and her body didn't want the milk from a cow. That was all. Doctor Hu immediately told us to switch to a soy formula. We bought a can on the way home. The first night we gave Elizabeth a soy bottle, she slept through the night--a solid 6.5 hours--and she did so every night afterward for the rest of her infancy. For the first year of her life, we called her our Little Soybean. Elizabeth no longer reacts poorly to consuming dairy (her grandparents were all appalled that she drank soy formula and continually gave her cow's milk to drink when she got old enough to drink it), but she has always been a herbivore, and she has never cared for meat of any kind. Even with those first jars of baby food, she would never condescend to eating the mixtures that contained meat. It is as if she was a born vegan, and I no longer think this was a coincidence of personality. In that first year of Lizzie's life, I pulled out Mr. Robbins book again , and read it through a second time. It was 2004...but I still wouldn't successfully become a vegan for another five years.

Shortly after Elizabeth was born, our family suffered a devastating loss. Our beloved gray and white shelter rescue cat, Kismet, was spooked one day and darted through the front door while I was carrying in a bag of groceries and Lizzie in her carrier. As soon as I could set the bag of food down and get Elizabeth secured in her crib, I raced into the street to find my cat and give her a piece of my mind for running away. She was gone. My annoyance turned immediately to fear for Kismet's safety. We had been stationed on Camp Pendleton (San Diego, CA) for only a few weeks, and Kismet was an indoor cat. She didn't know the neighborhood and we didn't, either. Her veterinary appointment to have her chip inserted and be registered with the base was scheduled for the next morning at 9am. So here we were, brand new in town with a new baby and a cat with Indiana tags and numbers on her collar. There is a large coyote population on Pendleton. We spread signs with her picture and our phone numbers. We looked and walked and called shelters and vet clinics all over the area. We never saw Kismet again. I was devastated and felt personally responsible. My only hope is that, because she is a beautiful cat, maybe someone found her and chose to keep her rather than look for her owner.

I told you this sad story so that you'll understand the happy one which follows a bit better. In 2007, on Elizabeth's fourth birthday, we moved to Okinawa, Japan to live on MCB Camp McTureous. Lizzie announced that she wanted a dog. We'd been joking, Ashley and I, for years about getting a beagle. We knew the breed's personality and shortcomings, and we felt that beagles were the only dogs for us. The problem was that I was not ready. It felt like trying to replace Kismet, and I still got very sad for her, sometimes. Having Elizabeth speak up and ask for a dog, however, made me realize that having a companion animal in the family wasn't just about me. My husband stood back and gave me room to mull it over. We brought Kioko the beagle home shortly after the new year in 2008.

Now...you have to know that Kioko is the most beautiful and amazing dog I have ever known, but she was an absolutely horrid puppy. My friend, Kristi, the vet tech would laugh out loud to see me type this because she had a lot of advice for me in this area before we got Kioko ("Amy, don't get a beagle...for God's sake, anything but a beagle. They're awful!"). It's true. Beagles are horrible little dogs. Ha ha! There was no amount of puppy cute that could compensate for what Kioko and I went through together in her first year at home with us. It was bloody torture. She would not housetrain. She saw absolutely no reason why she shouldn't poop on the end of our bed and then lie down in it. We went through ear infections, respiratory infections, urinary infections, and once--by a fluke of chance that scared me out of my mind--a triple fracture in her left hind tibia. Rock bottom was the day I knelt in my bathroom, full-on weeping, as I scrubbed a fresh batch of poop out of Kioko's coat again while she serenely sat in the warm bathtub licking my face. This constant drama went on for a solid year, and you can learn more about my saga with Kioko the Wonder Beagle here if you're interested. Long story short, we went through Hell together, my beagle and I. The whole time, I would grumble and complain, honestly convinced that I believed getting a dog was a mistake. I thought I didn't like Kioko much. Then, one night, I saw her sleeping in bed with Elizabeth, and it was the most peaceful thing I had ever seen. I realized, as I stood there watching my little babies sleep together, that I have never had a relationship with an animal as special as the one I share with this little dog. I loved Kismet, but Kismet sort of took care of me if that makes sense. Kioko considers herself my dog, and she depends on me for everything. She loves our whole family, but I am the one she looks to when she is confused or frightened or hungry. I am the one she is looking to please when she goes outside to poop even though it's raining. I am the one whose absence she cannot tolerate. How could anyone not feel humbled, gratified, and flattered by that? It was spring of 2009. In less than eight months, our family would commit to becoming vegan.

I don't know why it came to pass on that particular day, but I can tell you the moment I made the firm decision to change our lives forever. It was Thanksgiving Day, and I was preparing a turkey to roast. It was no different than any previous Thanksgiving Day, but as I stood there in my rubber gloves and apron, looking at the finished and stuffed dead turkey on my counter, I was repulsed. I was covered from fingertips to elbow in butter and olive oil and flecks of various herbs from stuffing the turkey. For the first time in my life, I found the entire scenario nauseous. Kioko was in the kitchen with me and all I could think was, "We would never do this to her." I seriously felt like vomiting. Instead, I removed the gloves, washed my hands and arms, asked my husband to put the turkey in the oven, and walked out of my kitchen to breathe. I finished cooking the Thanksgiving meal, and I ate it along with everyone else, though I had very little pleasure in it. The connection had been made; the correlation between the food animals on our table and the beloved member of our family at my feet was solidified. I'll never be able to separate them, now, and I no longer want to. The next day, I told my husband that I wanted to be a vegan, because once you know--once you really know--you can never go back to pretending that you don't know.

There have been many small moments between my first reading of The Food Revolution a decade ago and today. I have flirted with vegan eating in fits and starts over the years. I have actually cried at some of the things I've learned about the treatment of animals. I have spent months at a time energetically reading veggie websites and cookbooks. I started to read the Bible for God's opinion of all this because I couldn't understand how any of this could possibly be okay with Him. None of these efforts, as genuine as they always were, ever "stuck" long enough for me to find the strength and bravery to come out of the closet and really make the changes I needed to make. It took being bonded to a totally dependent animal for me to finally put the pieces into place, and it took getting reconnected with my faith to feel the moral weight of what we, as a family, were doing at the dinner table each and every night. I know, now, that my family has Mr. Robbins' book, Elizabeth's dairy allergy, Kioko's loving presence in our home, and God, our creator, to thank for our present state of awareness and dedication.

I am vegan because of a book, a baby, and a beagle, and I can't think of a better way to honor any of them than by living this change honestly and faithfully...for the rest of my life.

Pantry Visitation Rights

2010-01-04T01:56:00.003+09:00

So, it's been almost a month since we made the big change to vegan food, and we've been very relaxed about our approach so that shock wouldn't set in and tempt us to backtrack. We said in the beginning that instead of throwing out all the food in the house (which would have been nothing better than sheer waste in our eyes given how many people in this world are undernourished), we would gradually use up the products we already had to make room for the new foods that would be coming in.

It hasn't quite worked that way, though. I have been loathe to use any of it. I open the freezer or the pantry and find myself scouring labels, sighing, and putting it back "for another time." We never had a last, gluttonous farewell meal with meat and dairy and all that. We just...stopped eating it once the decision was firm.

So. I have a refrigerator full of turned dairy products and spoiling leftovers that I will be purging from the icebox tomorrow. I feel a compulsion to get all Martha Stewart-brand anal about it, too, and just disinfect the entire refrigerator from top to bottom. The pantry closet is another issue entirely. It is filled with cans of soup, chicken broth, gravy mixes full of whey and "powdered beef product (ew!)," among other multi-syllabic scientific chemical names. There are chips going stale in there coated with powdered dairy products. Every manner of flavored rice (all the sauce packets are full of chicken or beef bits in the powdered mixes, and quite a few have milk products in them). Tuna packets, cream of this and that soups, cereals and breakfast bars containing whey powder...and on and on. In my freezer are several pieces of beef and a packet of stew meat. There are pre-cooked, flash frozen battered and breaded chicken nuggets covered in sauce made of GMO high-fructose corn syrup. There is a box of fish filets that didn't taste any good to us when we still ate fish, frozen microwaveable dinners that no one is going to eat. In my baking and spice cupboards, I have milk chocolate bits, three bottles of multi-colored corn syrup, beef and chicken bouillon, and a candy jar full of...candy.

No wonder America is so fat and sick! Look at what we have in our home...all of it voluntarily purchased and horded away as "staples" to supplement fresh foods that I have always cooked in my kitchen. Our family actually ate a reputedly healthy diet according to pretty much everyone we know! Imagine what the pantries, freezers, and refrigerators of less health-conscious Americans contain.

We have arrived at the conclusion that these foods will not be used up. No one wants to eat it, now. The perishables will have to be tossed, and we will simply recycle the plastic containers as per usual. As for the shelf-stable foods, I will be calling around to the various chapels on island to see if there is a food program for any families in need. If not...I'll have to toss that stuff, too.

It rubs every part of me the wrong way to throw away food. I was raised not to waste, and as an adult who has now reviewed and ordered my own priorities, I still cannot stand wasteful living and excess consumption. Odd thing for a chubby woman to say, maybe, but it's true. I don't mind tossing garbage, but tossing food--even though it's food I cannot use--feels wrong. On the other side of it, however, I know that I will feel better about my home and the groceries in it. There will be room in my kitchen for the good things once the bad stuff is evacuated, and soon I can visit my pantry again in the satisfied, comfortable way I have always done before. I love to cook. I love my kitchen. I want to love my pantry again.

Think fondly of me in the next few days as I cull out and toss. It will be difficult for me to do.

Chili Night!

2009-12-30T01:10:00.004+09:00

I love vegan chili, and over the years, I have combined ideas from recipes I've found all over the place and forged my own, unique vegan chili recipe. Tonight is the first time I've ever eaten this chili as an actual, practicing vegan. To the left, you'll see a photo of all the ingredients (minus cilantro) ready to start cooking in the crock pot.

This chili recipe is SO delicious and filling and warm. Everyone cleaned their bowls...even Lizzie.

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Project 1:29 Chili

1bag of vegan burger crumblies or textured vegetable protein (12oz)
1 15oz can black beans
1 15oz can kidney beans
1 15oz can garbanzo beans
2 cans of diced tomatoes w/chilies
1 bell pepper (any color), chopped
1 yellow onion, medium, chopped
2 stalks of celery, with leaves, chopped
I cube of cilantro boullion (use veggie boullion if you can't find cilantro), dissolved into:
1C warm water
3T molasses
2T chili powder
1tsp cumin
1/4C fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

In a crock pot (slow cooker), stir together all ingredients EXCEPT the cilantro leaves. Cook on high for 2-3 hours. If you like thick chili, remove a ladel full of the liquid at this point and stir in 2T of flour and add this to the pot. Toss in the cilantro leaves, stir, and cook for another 30 minutes.

Surprisingly Peaceful

2009-12-15T01:39:00.004+09:00

So, no matter how I framed going vegan to myself, I always knew that it would require a certain period of willpower and resolve. I knew that it would feel like a "diet" for a while. Not because I'm counting calories or trying to lose weight or any of that judge-y stuff that we go through on a weight-loss or health diet plan, but--let's face it--there are things (lots of them) that I used to eat that I won't be eating anymore. That's got to be a downer until a person gets used to it, right?

But that isn't happening.

My daughter hasn't even noticed a change. She's very young and used to eating whatever yummies she's given, and she's always loved her vegetables. So for her, this is a nonexistent shift. My husband has not had one complaint, and he seems very genuine in his acceptance of everything we're doing. He is still eating omni lunch, but that will phase out as I learn better how to feed him and he's totally open to that. He even sat with vegan leftovers at his desk and ate them right out of the container while praising my vegan gravy with gusto between bites.

As for me? I was prepared for having to work at it and watch my resolve and steer clear of exposure to other people eating omni for a while. I've been shocked to find that it's just not an issue. At all. This is all just happening so smoothly. It's so...easy.

We have eaten like kings this week. I have tasted two new vegetables and discovered a total PASSION for soy faux nog. My daughter and I have been breakfasting on berries and steel-cut oats every morning. It's been an adventure, and a delicious one. No sacrifice. No craving. No temptation of any sort.

There is a peaceful sort of bliss hanging over me right now. My beloved beagle, Kioko, is chewing happily on one of her toys next to my chair. I am reflecting on a wonderful day with a cup of soy nog and a little bowl of pistachio nuts before bed. Life is good. I'm not suffering. I'm not missing anything. I'm not hungry.

And nothing had to die for me to feel this way.

God is good and all is right with my world.

Root Inspiration

2009-12-12T18:47:00.011+09:00

So...I was at the commissary buying materials for the alfredo recipe I was telling you all about yesterday when I got lost in the produce section. For the first time in years, I entered the produce section as a novice because I will be using vegetables for different things than before, now. Having been inspired by a Mock Pot Roast recipe that I read a few days ago, I began picking up root vegetables I had never tasted or eaten roasted with reckless abandon. I loaded up my cart with lovely roots and tubers and headed for the checkout...resolved. The picture on the left, here is just part of the glorious booty I brought home. Starting clockwise at the top left, you'll see parsnips, Japanese sweet potatoes, pearl onions, Japanese carrots, acorn squash, lemon, sweet onion, and tarro root. Aren't they lovely? The following post is devoted to showing you the gorgeous meal we enjoyed from these and the steps I took in preparing it.

1:29 Project Root Roast with Gravy

Clockwise from upper left, you'll see the brilliant purple color of the Japanese sweet potatoes. They taste very much like our own orange-fleshed sweets, but they have a very pleasing, smooth texture. The second photo is a cutaway so you can see the flesh of a tarro root tuber. I had never tasted one before tonight. The third photograph is me seeding an adorable, nutty little acorn squash. Finally, you see the size and shape of a fine Japanese carrot. They taste like our own carrots...just sweeter than any carrot of that size we find in the US. These very large carrots taste like baby carrots. They're incredible.

So, my first job was to peel and chop. The second step was to steam all the root veggies for about 10 minutes to get them good and soft. The picture to the left is all the veggies in the colander I use for steaming suspended over a spaghetti pot. Just put the spaghetti pot lid over the colander, and voila! No fancy steamer basket needed. While the vegetables were getting fork tender, I peeled the pearl onions and chopped some celery and put them in my stone roasting pan. I poured the steamed roots over that, sprinkled with chopped fresh savory leaves, salt, and pepper, and then drizzled the whole thing with extra virgin olive oil. I roasted the whole thing at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

While everything was in the oven, I made a gravy mixture from dry onion soup mix, a can of pre-made mushroom gravy (I checked both labels scrupulously for non-vegan ingredients), and some water to thin it out. This step was inspired by the recipe I linked to above. After the veggies had roasted 1/2 hour, I removed them from the oven and poured my gravy sauce over the whole thing and put it all back in the oven for an additional 30 minutes. As I sit typing, I am waiting for it to come out. You would not BELIEVE the aroma in my home right now. It smells like Thanksgiving in here.

We served these lovely vegetables and their gravy with a little rice and a green salad.

Avocado Inspiration

2009-12-11T12:13:00.003+09:00

So I was eating an avocado on the half shell with salt and lemon juice on it as part of my lunch, and I decided that this is going to be the food that saves me from cheese. It's creamy. It has a savory sort of flavor to it that mimics the joy I feel from cheese (I'll have to look it up to see what the chemical similarities might be.

My new goal is to make a recipe for vegan pizza with an avocado sauce. I'm thinking a spicy avocado sauce with red onion, tomato, and taco-flavored vegan burger crumbles broiled until the tomatoes and onion darken a bit. Doesn't that sound fantastically YUM??

This is doable...I just know it is.

Exclusivity and Purity and PeTA

2009-12-11T10:02:00.004+09:00

I decided, long ago, that a vegan life was morally superior to an omnivorous life. Making that decision was much easier than making real change to redirect my life would be. I believe that there are a lot of people like me out there. By that, I mean that I believe there are thousands, if not millions, of people who have read about how America produces meat and dairy and abhor it without knowing what they can do to change it. Veganism is an obvious first step that each person can take, but it's not as easy as, "stop eating animal products." Sure, that's the mechanical truth of what needs to happen, but it's not that simple. The problems a typical American omnivore faces when trying to make this step are many and varied and complex.

First, there is the problem of knowledge. To a person who has spent an entire life eating meat, dairy, and eggs, the world of vegan cooking can seem alien and inaccessible, and--let's be candid--pretty freaking unappetizing at first glance. It isn't just a matter of "stop eating meat." It is a matter of internal struggle, taking anything from a single moment to a period of years, to form and solidify a belief system with enough power to compel someone to make a gigantic leap into life as a vegan.

I am not typical of the vegan mindset. I did not pursue veganism because I feel it is wrong to eat animal flesh. I don't feel that way. I don't think hunting for food is barbaric. I don't think animals and people are "equal." That doesn't mean that I have nothing in common with other vegans or that I have no place in the vegan community.

I grew up on a farm in rural Arkansas. I grew up helping my parents grow our own food, sell excess produce to others from the bed of our truck, raise and slaughter livestock, hunt for game animals, and feed the fish in our stocked ponds. It was a very subsistence-based and natural way to live. The animals in our care were treated with love, respect, and kindness every moment of their lives--even those last moments. Animal husbandry was an honorable thing when I was growing up. I grew into an adult never knowing thing one about how very different the meat and produce in my grocery store was from that which I consumed in early life. I honestly thought that all farms treated their animals the way we had. I honestly believed that all livestock was killed for food with similar humane practices to those I had witnessed growing up. Naive? Absolutely, but I don't think I was alone in that assumption.

When I learned about the horrific tactics employed with antibiotics, genetic engineering, feeding, housing, and violent slaughter of animals raised for meat in my own country, I was disgusted. I knew I needed to change some things, and I turned to the vegan community of published work and internet talk to find advice, guidance, and support. I received some to be sure, but mostly what I found was frustrating, counter-productive, or downright hostile.

There is immediately an off-putting sort of moral-superiority complex in the vegan community. The language used and the rhetoric tossed about is angry and cruel in its dismissive tone. People new to veganism are often insulted and discouraged right off the bat. Whenever I try to discuss this with a longtime vegetarian or vegan, they usually dismiss my comments by saying something like, "Well, I'm right to be angry." That's true. Everyone should be angry...at the meat industry and the agencies who enable them to continue in their atrocious work. I feel that anger from the vegan community is often sloshed with a very haphazard bucket all over the population. This misses the mark and alienates the very mainstream of society that we need to accomplish real change.

Groups like PETA who call themselves animal activist groups have done as much damage to the cause of animal rights in this country as the USDA. I mean that with sincerity. Good people who would otherwise entertain rational, logical discussion of vegan life are now so jaded and alienated because of shock activism that the very mention of the word "vegetarian" will bring out snarls or snorts of derision from typical Americans. You do NOT convince your peers to see things your way by frightening their children, destroying their property, or using a megaphone to impugn their character. Screeching and righteous moral outrage do not win friends. They do not win battles for us, and they do not enlighten the uninformed. Most importantly, they don't serve to garner public support for ending the inhumanity of industrial meat production.

Another disturbing trend in vegan culture is the concept of purity. Passion is good. I like passionate people. Passion without empathy, however, is pretty freaking useless. At some point you have to ask yourself, "Am I passionate because I want to spread my beliefs, or am I passionate because it makes me feel superior to those around me to be so." I think a huge problem that a lot of vegans don't want to admit or talk about is the idea that veganism is an all-or-nothing prospect. You can find heated discussions between people about whether or not they should be "allowed" to call themselves vegan if they follow the principles in their eating but don't abolish leather goods. You can find yourself the target of sarcasm or biting lectures from an 18 year-old self-righteous twit over innocent questions about why eating honey is considered wrong. Veganism is not generally a culture that shows kindness to its new members or to those who find parts of veganism a good fit for their lives without buying the entire package plan on the first day. It feels very much like a group of people in an exclusive club who reserve the right to refuse entry to anyone with the wrong hair color or handbag. It feels petty and immature, not to put too fine a point on it. At best, it is a formidable thing designed to shame people into submission. In reality, what it does is chase people back into a steakhouse defeated, angry, and defensive.

To all of that, I offer you my personal perspective:

My goal in becoming vegan is to make sure that my own corner lives morally and justly. Beyond that, I want to spread excitement and provide realistic solutions to as many people as I can to help alleviate the suffering of animals, the destruction of ecological balance, and the poisoning of my fellow Americans. All of these evils are inflicted upon my country by the industry of meat production, and I want to make sure that everyone fighting against that industry receives whatever information, support, and encouragement I can offer.

I will practice and extol the virtues of a vegan diet.

I will avail myself of all vegan products that I find useful, affordable, and of good quality to replace their non-vegan counterparts in my home.

I will live an example of realistic environmental responsibility by recycling my family's refuse and maintaining our personal belongings as well as I can to prevent waste.

I will champion organic farming coops who offer meat and dairy taken from animals who were raised well and offer them up as options to the omnivorous friends and family who will not stop using animal products.

I will be kind to and encourage any and all new vegetarians or vegans I meet. I will praise their efforts and be tolerant of whatever approach or belief they have that led them to being part of the solution...even if it doesn't look anything at all like my own.

Official Recipe - 1:29 Cornbread

2009-12-11T09:25:00.007+09:00

Okay...here it is. The Nix Family's official Southern-style vegan cornbread recipe. This is not a sweet cornbread, and the recipe depends upon its being cooked in a cast iron skillet--Southern style. We love this recipe, and we eat it about once per week. I hope you enjoy it like our family does. Any of you intrepid culinary adventurers out there who share with me a love for modifying recipes, please share your mods with me and tell me how it all came out.

1:29 Project Cornbread

3/4C Cornmeal

1C AP Flour

2 1/2tsp Baking Powder

3T Sugar (I used an unwashed organic granulated cane sugar)

1tsp Salt

1/4C Canola Oil

1C Soy Milk

1tsp White Vinegar

1T Egg Replacer (I have used flax meal and Bob's Red Mill brand Egg Replacer. Both work great) stirred into 3T water.

2T vegan butter spread (we use Earth Balance)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Put a well-seasoned cast iron skillet or cornbread mold with the 2T of butter spread into the oven while it preheats.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the soy milk and vinegar; set aside.

In a very small bowl, mix the egg replacer into 3T of water; set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt by hand until everything is evenly-distributed. Add the oil to your soymilk mixture. Whisk (or us a mixer) briskly until it begins to foam (about 2 minutes). Pour the soymilk/oil mixture and the egg replacer into your dry ingredients and mix until everything is well-blended.

Remove the skillet from the oven. Be careful...it's hot! Pour the batter into your prepared skillet. It should sizzle a little bit as it hits the (now melted) butter spread. Bake for 20 minutes and check for doneness with a toothpick. Turn the bread out onto a serving plate and cut into 8 pie-shaped slices. Serve immediately!

"Fettuccine Alfonso" Night

2009-12-10T20:15:00.004+09:00

So, last night, I searched for today's dinner online. I was starting to panic because it's only our second full day of being observant vegans and I was already having trouble finding something that sounded both accessible and appetizing. You have to understand that I am an avid cook. I am at home in my kitchen. My entire adult life, people have admired and envied my ease and--quite frankly--my skill in creating yummy food. It is seriously unsettling to find myself adrift in the kitchen. I no longer know what "goes" with what. I don't have an instinct for eyeballing amounts in vegan cooking. I don't know, after I mix the recipe ingredients, how the dish is going to turn out. I'm disoriented and dazed in my own kitchen. It's completely uncool.

But it's okay. I knew this would be uncomfortable for a while. I figure after 30 days or so, I'll be getting the hang of things. I just need to remember to breathe.

Anyway, about the time I thought I would cry or throw things if the next recipe I saw didn't sound both doable and yummy, I came upon it. The site is called Vegan Food, and the collection of recipes they have is pretty impressive. This one jumped off the page at me...so we're gonna give it a go. Unlike Thursday's recipes, I will make no alterations. Since I am in wholly unfamiliar territory with this stuff...I'm gonna follow the instructions to the letter. Cross your fingers! We'll be serving this with those mini-kaisers I meant to use yesterday and a lovely garden salad made up of whatever looks good in the local produce section.

Fettuccine Alfonso

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed

1 1/2 cups soy/rice milk

2 T tahini

1 T onion granules

1 t salt

1 x 15 oz / 425 g can Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained well

1 lb / 450 g fettuccine

Cracked black pepper

METHOD

Place the corn, milk, tahini and seasonings in a blender and process until smooth (it may take several minutes of processing to completely pulverize the corn). Pour the blended mixture in a medium saucepan and stir in the beans. Warm over medium low until the beans are heated through, stirring often.

While the sauce is heating, cook the fettuccine in a large pot of boiling water until al dente. Drain well and return to the pot. Add the warmed sauce and toss until evenly coated. Serve immediately topping each portion with a generous amount of cracked pepper.

Lentil Soup with Cornbread

2009-12-10T11:34:00.016+09:00

For these first few weeks, I am going to be operating entirely off of recipes and menu plans that I take from websites, blogs, magazines, and whatever else I can use as a source. I have no working knowledge of cooking as a vegan on a daily basis. In addition, it is VERY difficult to find soy protein substitutes other than tofu variations here on Okinawa. So...this is gonna take patience and research.

To make it fun, I will be posting the recipes I find, any modifications I make, pictures of the whole process, and our collective family review of the food each day. I will link to the original recipes I used for inspiration (which one should always do if an idea for cooking is not entirely one's own), but the recipes you see here in the blog will be my modified "actual" recipes. So if you want to eat the same meal we are eating, use the ingredients and instructions you see here in the posts.

Tonight's supper will be interesting for me. As a Southern gal, I have made cornbread my entire life. I know the recipe by heart. I cook it in a cast-iron skillet, and it always contains both eggs and copious amounts of bacon fat. Tonight, for the first time in all my days, I will be making a lentil soup without the flavoring aid of chicken broth and a ham hock. I will also be baking my very first vegan cornbread. I was going to serve it with mini-kaiser rolls I had in the freezer, but the soup recipe recommended cornbread, so now I can't be satisfied without making one of those, too. The lovely little kaisers will have to wait for another day.

Our family review of the final meal and prep photos will be added to this post later tonight.

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*click on the recipe titles to view the original source recipes that inspired tonight's meal. The recipes written on this page are my personal modified versions or "actual" recipes. If you want to eat along with our family, use the ingredients and measurements I've typed out on the posts.

Lentil Soup

1 sweet (yellow) Onion, chopped

1/4C extra virgin Olive Oil

8 baby Carrots, sliced

3 stalks of Celery, with leaves, chopped

1T minced Garlic

2tsp Oregano

2tsp Basil

2 Bay Leaves

2C dry Lentil beans, rinsed

1 Large (28oz) can of Crushed Tomatoes

5 1/2C Vegetable Broth

1/2C Spinach leaves, (chopped finely so that Ashley can't pick it out)

*I had to use frozen spinach this time, but fresh would always be preferable

1T Apple Cider Vinegar

juice from 1 Lemon

Dash of Red Pepper Flakes

Salt and Pepper to taste

In a soup pot, warm the oil over medium heat. Stir in the onions, carrots, and celery; cook and stir until the onions get soft. Add garlic, bay leaves, oregano, pepper flakes, and basil; cook and stir until some caramelization begins to appear on your onions.

Stir in the beans, tomatoes, and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 60 minutes. Add the chopped spinach, lemon juice, and vinegar. Stir together well, taste, and add your salt/pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes more until your spinach is nicely wilted into the soup. Serve.

UPDATE (October 29, 2010): The following cornbread recipe is NOT the official 1:29 Project recipe for vegan cornbread. It is the first vegan cornbread I ever made, and we didn't care for it very much. If you want my recommendation for Southern-style Vegan Cornbread, please visit my cornbread post HERE.

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Vegan Cornbread

2C Cornmeal

1C AP Flour

2 1/2tsp Baking Powder

1/3C Canola Oil

2T Molasses

1T Raw Sugar

2C Soy Milk

2tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

3/4tsp. Salt

2T vegan butter spread

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Put a well-seasoned cast iron skillet or cornbread mold with 2T of butter spread into the oven while it preheats.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the soy milk, raw sugar, and vinegar; set aside. In a large bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the oil and molasses to the soymilk mixture. Whisk (or us a mixer) briskly until it begins to foam (about 2 minutes). Pour these wet ingredients into your dry ingredients and mix until everything is well-blended.

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So How Was It?

Well, it was pretty good. The soup was utterly fantastic, of course, because lentil soup is always fantastic. This recipe is easy to make and there is enough left over to feed a small army. Soups typically freeze really well, so I will split the leftovers between the freezer and fridge. As for the cornbread, we all enjoyed it...but none of us thought it tasted anything like cornbread. The texture was very different than a cornbread made with eggs. It was not at all unpleasant; it was just odd for us. I think that next time I attempt a vegan cornbread, I will go with my old recipe modified to exclude eggs. I'm sure with a little research, I can find a way to substitute or overcome the texture problems.

Thursday - Like a Herd of Turtles

2009-12-10T08:21:00.003+09:00

My husband often says, "Off like a herd of turtles in a snowstorm," whenever we get into the car to leave or when we embark on something new. I feel like saying it this morning. It is 8:32am on Thursday, December 10th, 2009. I just returned home from taking Elizabeth to school, and I am exhausted. All I want to do is turn around and go back to bed. Alas, that just will not do today. I have to meet my gym partner in two hours so that we can go and torture ourselves on purpose for an hour. After this little unsavory ritual, I have a list of pre-Christmas errands to attend to the length of my arm.

I'm going to download the news (Okinawa, remember?) and pour myself something hot and caffeinated to drink. Then...I'm going to find a good vegan lentil soup recipe that won't be totally boring if I leave out the spinach. Ashley despises spinach unless it's raw in a salad. I know! Makes absolutely zero sense. Maybe if I cut it up into smaller pieces so he'll mistake it for parsley or something. Sigh.

Anyway, I'm out for the morning. I'll think I'll use this blog to post the dinner recipes I use. Have a good day, Everyone.

Food for Tomorrow

2009-12-09T23:01:00.005+09:00

In the interest of staying ahead of myself, I will be planning every meal for the family ahead of time, and eating out will be pretty much off-limits. Fortunately for us, we live in Okinawa where there are several good sushi places that offer vegetarian rolls that are to-die and a Thai place that serves a tom ka gai and meatless pad thai that would blow you away.

That's all well and good, but for now, I have to plan out what we're all going to eat. Ashley and I decided that being wasteful is in no one's better interests, so I'm not going to rape the pantry and throw away food. We'll be using up our non-vegetarian food stores in an orderly fashion while I incorporate vegan foods whenever possible. We are also going to approach this from a very relaxed angle. There will be no purity policing in this house just yet.

After rooting around in the pantry tonight, I found a bag of dried lentils. I adore lentil soup, so I'll be making that for supper tomorrow night with some dark mini-kaiser rolls I found in the back of the freezer. Elizabeth is easy to please for lunch, but I've given Ashley carte blanche to spend these first weeks eating "normally" for lunch. Once I know better how to feed him, I will be packing a vegan lunch for him every day like I do with Lizzie. For now, though, I figure I'll keep it low-pressure for my darling and supportive man.

Breakfast is my big struggle. I love eggs. I love bacon. My adoration for butter would be hard to overstate. Fortunately for me, I also really like rice milk. So...for now, it'll be oatmeal made with rice milk for Elizabeth and me in the mornings. Ashley can have a bagel with Earth Balance spread in the car on the way to work. That will keep him pretty happy for the time being. I'll move him into vegan breakfast breads in due time.

That's the plan for Thursday.

Christmas dinner, however, is looming large on the horizon. I won't lie. I have no idea how I'm going to handle it, yet.

Genesis 1:29 - In the Beginning

2009-12-09T19:26:00.003+09:00

And God said, "Behold! I have given you the seed-bearing plants throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food." ~The Holy Bible, Genesis 1:29

We're not a super "religious" family. We're Christians, and we believe. That's about all the evangelism you'll hear from me on this blog. We're not here to convert anyone. We just want to share our journey and the reasons we're embarking upon it. I named this project after a Bible verse because our faith is the reason we are doing this. We believe that God requires human beings to be stewards of both the earth and the beasts we share it with. We believe that God intended our diet to be plant-based. We believe that the practices of housing, feeding, and slaughtering livestock on American industrial farms are inhumane to the point of sin. Because we know what goes on in these industrial farms, we believe that consuming the products they sell (meat, dairy, and eggs) is also sinful. For these reasons, our family has decided to become vegan.

In the year 2000, I read The Food Revolution by John Robbins, and it forever changed the way I look at the food on my plate. Over the years since reading that book, I have tried and failed many times in converting my diet to the near-vegan style which I now believe is the only morally correct way to eat. There are many reasons that my past attempts have failed. The following is a brief list of the major obstacles I met with:

1.) I am a political conservative living in a military subculture. This being the case, I am surrounded by family and friends who associate vegetarianism and veganism with fringe leftist ideals and destructive shock groups like PETA. The negative social pressure was overwhelming, and I had neither the personal courage nor the knowledge needed to explain my decisions in a way that my loved ones could accept. I was shamed out of my goals pretty quickly.

2.) Until very recently, the ingredients used as staples in a lot of vegetarian cooking were unavailable except in specialty stores, and many of them were quite expensive. Tofu, I could get...but nutritional yeast, vegetarian hamburger crumbles, seitan, tempeh, brown rice syrup, and agave nectar? Yeah, not so much.

3.) The few "good" vegan cookbooks available had foreign-sounding ingredients that were completely alien to me, and the vegetarian cookbooks leaned so heavily on dairy products that I couldn't stomach the fat content. I didn't know how to cook like a vegan...and I was not ready to put in the work necessary to educate myself. Today, there are vegetarian foodie blogs and websites all over the internet, and there are hundreds of cookbooks to choose from. Ten years ago, however, that was not the case.

4.) I cannot stand most of the soy "near-meat" substitutes. I don't like soy dogs or soy lunch meats...and soy bacon? Gag me. Most vegetarians begin with these familiar-looking items, and I was no exception. I despaired of ever having good food again, and I didn't know what else to try. Today, veggie burgers (and even soy dogs) have come a long way. I have every hope that this past reason for failure can be overcome.

5.) My husband is an omnivore, and he really does not like vegetables. He is the sweetest man on the planet, but he hates pretty much anything that grows out of the ground. "That tastes like a plant," is his most common complaint about food. I felt like a selfish shrew forcing tofu and broccoli and Brussels sprouts on a man who would gracefully choke them down like a gentleman to support my efforts. He has come, over time, to attach moral significance to what I've been trying to do. For that reason, he is more willing now than ever to dive into this life change with optimism. No other woman on earth has been more fortunate in her choice of husband than I am.

6.) Finally, what it really boils down to is that I never acknowledged how huge a change this would be in our lives. I tried to do too much too fast, and it was never going to work that way. I now have a much healthier respect for the kind of change this is going to require. I am 34 years old. Becoming a vegan doesn't happen in one day...at least, it doesn't for me. I know, now, that it will take planning and work to get through all of this and make it stick for good.

So the goal of our project is pretty simple. With Genesis 1:29 as our guiding principle, our family is becoming vegan. One day at a time, one meal at a time, one choice at a time, we're going to change everything about our relationship with food. We hope you're out there reading along with us. We need your advice, your encouragement, and the knowledge that you're out there watching to keep us accountable.