Happy 3 Month Anniversary!

Three months ago I embarked on my new foodie outlook on life and eating. I started simply by participating in Meat Free Monday and planning out vegetarian dishes I could make. When all of your cooking references are based on meat protein, it's a big kick to the head when you try to think differently. I had no idea what I was doing!

Fast forward almost two months and this website was born. My new goal: To eliminate as much meat as possible from my diet. It wouldn't hurt if I could drop a couple of pounds and start feeling better all around either! Being the lazy person that I am, I wanted to see what changes in my diet could do for the over all look of my body (and mind) without changing my activity level (screw you fitness!). I think it may be time to re-address my loathing of fitness.

Friday, I spent $50 at Half Price Books buying vegetarian cook books. It is time to get serious! By the end of next month (April) I want my house to be free of meat. This, however, is a two fold problem. On the one hand, I have the most beautiful, organic, local, free-range/grass fed chicken and beef in my fridge. To throw it out would be a crime and I can't give it away- it's too nice! On the other hand, I can't bring myself to cook them. I keep thinking, if this is the last meat I'll buy for home I want to do something really special with it. I don't want my last memories to be of burnt chicken and tough steak. It should be magickal and a proper tribute.

Part of what's prompted the foray into a totally vegetarian diet was the support of my friends and even my family (who have unwittingly been guinea pigs to vegan and vegetarian delights). My good friend shine recently challenged herself to live vegan for the month of April. Her cold turkey approach scared me but I wished her luck. At the end of her 30 days, she'd lost substantial weight, her skin looked better than ever (in all fairness, it always looked nice), and she felt pretty good. After falling off the bandwagon hard (oh cheese, why do you hate us so?), she's back on the vegan train. I know that if she can do it, so can I. I also know it's a lot easier to change your life with cheerleaders in your corner (especially ones with recipes to swap).

Though I don't think I've attained my side goal of losing a few pounds, my body does feel better in general. My mind, not as much. Maybe I need more B12?? For now, I'm reading my book store spoils and ready for the next step: discovering even more delicious foods that everyone and anyone will enjoy!

Take Action!

* Wednesday I went to my first Meet Up for the Dallas Vegetarians. I have never done anything like this before but it sounded like fun. Plus I had my "stranger danger" buddy shine with me, so what could go wrong? We went to the Bavarian Grill , a German restaurant in Plano. They have a completely separate vegetarian menu (and another one showing what dishes are pork free). I had the vegetable strudel filled with leeks, white and red cabbage, carrots, onions, and mushrooms (though those were not mentioned on the menu). It came with Bavarian potatoes which I learned is code for baked cheese (kinda gross) and creamed spinach (which is listed on the online menu, but not on the printed menu in the restaurant). I HATE creamed spinach, and would have loved the opportunity to sub sauerkraut. Our waitress was a bit off, I felt like she hated us, and not very helpful on substitutions. Also, all I really wanted was the German mixed salad (tomatoes in vinaigrette, cucumbers with dill, green beans with onions, shredded carrots and beets) but it turned out not to be vegetarian and they wouldn't do substitutions (the green beans were cooked in beef broth). Uh, why was it on the veggie menu then? I'll still go back to Bavarian Grill, but may take the opportunity to eat schnitzel instead. As for the Meet Up group, they were very interesting and I would go to another dinner if it was somewhere I was interested in and if my danger buddy could go too!

* New study shows eating charred red meat can increase your risk of bladder cancer.

* Eat Green DFW blogs about sustainable food in North Texas. This week, they shared some delicious recipes to keep in mind when you're at your local farmers market. I haven't been about to get down to the new market at Mockingbird Station yet, but am looking forward to it. I'll probably wait until more produce is available next month.

* Daiya is now available in all Whole Foods! It is delicious and melts wonderfully.

* There's a bill being argued right now that would make it next to impossible to require GMO and non-GMO labels on food. Seriously? Don't you want to know what's in your food? At the least, don't you want to be able to choose what kind of food you eat? What bugs me the most about this bill is that it effects those who use non-GMO ingredients and already label their food that way. Personally, I only buy soy products that say non-GMO and would be pissed if I were no longer allowed to differentiate between the two. Please click on the above link to learn more and sign a petition to stop this blatant infringement on the rights of farmers and manufacturers.

Tempeh Piccata- the whole recipe!

~ It's come to my attention that the recipe cards are not opening or not opening in larger formats, making them difficult to read. I am working on this problem, however, if you ever want me to email the recipes to you, I would be more than happy! Hopefully I can figure out what's going on and fix it! In the meantime, here is the recipe written out:



6 lg pieces of plain seitan 1c. dry white wine
Whole wheat flour for dredging 1/4c fresh lemon juice
1/4 c EVOO 1 c vegetable broth
1/2 c diced shallot 2 T unbleached flour
1/2 c diced onion 2 T soy margarine
1 t chopped garlic 1 c chopped parsley (or 2 T dried)
1/4 c drained capers 1/2 t sea salt and black pepper

Dredge seitan in whole wheat flour and shake off excess. If using tempeh, press it flat (I like using a plate for this), then dredge. Heat 2 T EVOO over high heat in a lg skillet. Add seitan and saute until crisp and golden, about 30 sec per side. Transfer to serving platter.

Heat remaining oil in same skillet. Add shallots, onion, garlic, capers, and saute until soft, about 1-2 min. Add wine and cook, stirring frequently, until reduced by half. Whisk in lemon and cook until reduced further, 1-2 min.

Whisk in broth and flour, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1-2 min to thicken. Whisk in margarine, parsley, salt and pepper. Pour over seitan and serve immediately.

Bon Appetite!

Piccata Me Crazy!

Ever since I read "The Kind Diet" I've been dying to try her recipe for Seitan Piccata. Let me start by telling you that I love anything piccata- veal, chicken, whatever. You cover anything with a lightly creamy lemon wine sauce and it becomes heaven. Since drastically cutting down on my consumption of meat, I thought my favorite Italian dish was lost to me forever.

My biggest problem turned out to be finding large pieces of seitan. It seems my Whole Foods and Central Market are often sold out. Urgh! Instead, I decided to live dangerously and substitute tempeh; plus, I'd never had it before so it would be an adventure all around. Tempeh comes in several flavors and can be found pre-marinated. I chose a 5-grain version for my piccata. The other most important ingredient is the wine. A dry white wine works best and you don't have to spend a lot of money! My newest discovery is Vieux Papes, Frances most popular table wine. (Sorry, the website is in French; so dust off your high school French-English dictionary!) You can purchase these wines at Whole Foods and they typically run around $5-6.

The whole thing came out perfectly! It was so delicious and creamy, fast and easy. The only thing I would change next time is to cut the tempeh in half width wise or try to press it out and make it thinner. I wanted a bit more crunch than was afforded me from an inch and a half piece of tempeh. Hopefully next time, I can make it with seitan (and not have to worry about so much soy).

Just to top things off and play devil's advocate, I also made vegan chocolate chip cookies. The recipe was adapted from an old cook book (possibly Better Homes & Gardens??). I'll post the full recipe soon when I make another batch, but the conversion was really simple: 1 T of olive oil for the egg, whole wheat flour instead of all purpose, and vegan chocolate chips. Everyone loved them, even my Dad who commissioned another batch with pecans. I think I'll make chocolate chocolate chip cookies in a partially vain attempt to use up the giant container of carob powder I have. Wish me luck!

Full recipe here.

Salad Daze II

Happy Meatless Monday! I totally remembered in time- can you believe it? This morning I had sliced strawberries (now in season- yea!) and cantaloupe with a side of pretzels. What can I say? I was in a hurry this morning dealing with the cable guy and trying not to be incredibly late to work. My plan for the rest of the day is to devour some edamame, kale chips, and maybe soup for lunch. If all goes well, dinner will be a seitan picatta recipe I got from "The Kind Life", but I'm going to substitute tempeh instead. Cross fingers it works. (I'll post pics and the recipe if it does).

I kept hearing about nutritional yeast on several veggie blogs I follow and was tired of not knowing what the heck they were talking about. So, earlier this week I found myself wondering aimlessly around Whole Foods looking for the stuff. I had hoped it would come in a cute little glass jar and I could avoid the bulk food aisle completely, but no luck. Thankfully, I still had one glass spice jar left over from the time I received Hungarian paprika as a gift (It came in these cute pouches that revealed a plastic sandwich bag inside. Not very easy to use and messy). If you're thinking of taking the plunge, I suggest you get a similar jar. Plus, they're just so cute in the cupboard!

I have never bought anything in bulk before but thankfully the people at Whole Foods are so nice and took pity on me. It's a bit expensive (mine was $8.99 lb), but a little goes a long way so there's no need to go overboard.

Nutritional yeast is a complete source of protein, full of B vitamins, and low in fat making it a friend to vegetarians and vegans alike. It looks like large flakes of garlic powder and has a nutty/cheesy taste. You can use it in place of cheese in a dish or just sprinkle it into anything you make, such as salads, sauces, soups, potatoes, eggs, etc. I sprinkled about a tablespoon on top of a salad with Romain, spinach, cucumbers, celery, carrots, marinated artichoke hearts, garlic croutons, and balsamic vinaigrette. Yum! I can't wait to try it other ways.

Have you ever used nutritional yeast? Know any good recipes?

My Intro to Baking

Last Monday was WWQTW?, the monthly intro to film/movie club I started. I was so excited to try a recipe for vegan brownies I found in "The Kind Diet" by Alicia Silverstone. The book is a great introduction to vegan living and has some amazing recipes. Even a "flirt" like me found around 30 different things I wanted to try. I was also curious to see if I could pass these brownies off as the "real thing".

The biggest shock was all of the new things I needed to buy to make the brownies. It didn't dawn on me until I was in Whole Foods that I needed just about everything in the recipe. The great thing about recipes from TKD is that there is an online community and forum that you can visit to get more info, hear success stories (and failures), and seek support. It's pretty cool. Not being much of a baker, let alone a vegan one, I checked on the site for any help/info making my brownies. It's a good thing I did as several readers had problems with the recipe. Thankfully, I didn't experience most of what they did.

Take Action!

I get several newsletters a week from different food organizations, from Organic Consumers Association (OCA) to Meatless Mondays. Some call me to action on important food bills moving through Congress and the FDA, others simply provide healthy recipes. Either way, I learn a lot from them and would like to pass the buck on to you, so to speak.

* According to the Cornucopia Institute (which researches and investigates organic and sustainable practices), many of the non-organic veggie burgers we consume contain a potentially harmful neurotoxin. That kind of freaked me out. You think something being vegetarian/vegan means it's safe (or at least safer), but that's just not true. The list of burgers effected by this is astonishing and includes some of my favorites like Amy's, Boca, and Garden Burger. You can get more info and the complete list of good and bad frozen burgers here.

* I love eggs, from my head down to my legs. I had a fried egg on toast today for breakfast and it is, so far, the highlight of my day. Kind of sad actually, but there you go. The United Egg Producers (lobbyists for industrial egg producers) would like you to believe that people prefer the taste of factory farmed eggs to organic free-roaming ones. Uh, I don't think so. The first time I bought organic eggs, I was astonished by the size, colour, and taste. Where had they been all my life? Part of the reason for their superiority is that these eggs come from naturally mature chickens. I'm sure a life and diet of walking around and being outdoors probably helps as well!

The UEP would like to extend the petition allowing "organic" poultry to receive Methionine in their diet. Methionine is a synthetic amino acid that can be found naturally in free-roaming poultry given organic feed. It's already there, so I'm not sure what getting rid of it will do. It's a synthetic not a chemical, so again, I'm not sure if I care. I do however, think the UEP is ridiculous and I am for anything that puts a bee in their bonnet. If you want to learn more about the petition, it's history, and what the UEP believes, go here. You can also sign a petition saying you want truly organic eggs and poultry there.

* Tomorrow I'm posting all about my first experience into vegan baking- pictures included!