another cook-a-thon

Today I was snowed in and took advantage of that by cooking all day. Also yesterday evening, I made this. It’s pretty good for a super healthy version of a bad for you treat. 

Today while the snow fell I made:

• The buffalo tofu wings I made last time I posted.
• Easy apple pies for an apple pie milkshake from Spork-Fed (my newest cookbook)
• Vegan home style “chicken” from Happy Herbivore, it’s basically seitan cooked chicken style with gravy. It’s really good and has a really good texture and no weird taste.
• Cheese crisps and vegan fettuccine Alfredo, also from Spork Fed.

I ended up doing tons of dishes, and my back kind of hurts from being over the stove/sink all day. But I had delicious foods!

My non vegan brother and boyfriend really liked the alfredo with cheese crisps.

Here is a picture of it.

yay I’m posting again! I’m sorry I’ve been neglecting this!

So I kind of got off the vegan wagon for a month. I feel really guilty about it but the good news is that I’m back. I also was being lazy about cooking for a few weeks, and made semi prepared meals a lot. However, I also broke that spell yesterday, when I basically cooked all day long making really delicious things I’d like to share.

Here are the recipes and the pictures I took:

http://www.madejustright.com/post/quick-fix-snack-roasted-chickpeas

I was glad I made these first because I snacked on them the rest of the cooking session. I made them with thyme and oregano and they were soooo good.

Then I made these: 

http://www.thevegancrew.com/?p=3219

and here is how they came out: 

I seriously could not tell they weren’t made with real cheese!

Then I made the green tea cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Instead of the green tea glaze I made an almond “buttercream” frosting.

Then I made Moshed Potatoes from the Soy not Oi! Cookbook zine. I altered the recipe this time though, and instead of lemon pepper I put garlic salt.

Finally, I made these: 

http://www.madejustright.com/post/vegan-hot-wings-recipe

I was really surprised at how amazing they were.

That was the culmination of my day in a dinner! I however could barely eat less than half of what I put on my plate, I was so full!

absence

Sorry guys for the lack of entries lately!

I’ll be back with a new post later today!

Exciting things are happening.

Veganism conversions and Oprah and her staff on veganism

Lately, especially due to all the media attention it’s been getting, in a mostly positive light, I’ve been resisting a bit of an urge to preach veganism to the extreme. This is the blog post where I actually DO preach it to the extreme, amongst other things.

I’m very frustrated that even after Oprah goes vegan, (a challenge, my dear Oprah? the first week is a breeze…very few people striving to be vegan for the multitude of reasons one would want to be a vegan for would quit within the first week I’d imagine) and out of her 300 some odd staff members who joined her, very few of them will make a life long commitment to it.

Even Lisa Ling, who was both privileged and cursed to see the brutal murder (um, slaughter…they both sound bad to me, but I think murder sounds worse haha) of a cows in a slaughterhouse/meat making facility, continues to eat the flesh of animals. She said she appreciates where it comes from more. What? That’s the most absurd comment I have ever heard, coming from someone who just witnessed what few people have actually experienced firsthand. I wish I could think of an analogy of how stupid that sounds, but I’ll try—eh, I thought about it good and hard and there is no situation that would sound more absurd than this. I thought, well, maybe it would be like someone who witnessed an innocent person being murdered thanking the murderer for making him appreciate life more, because he saw a murder and now appreciates life more. I don’t know. To me, after seeing an innocent animal being brutally killed so that I am shivering and crying and flinching my eyes, I wouldn’t feel like eating my vegan food for a month after, never mind resuming eating meat soon after, like Ling.

The thing I am having the hardest part understanding, is how some humans just don’t care. I want to stress it’s not necessarily Lisa Ling I have a problem with, because I don’t think she is the only one like that. But what, psychologically, makes some people convert to veganism once they learn the truth, and others continue to consume animals and animal byproducts?

It can no longer be said that all meat eaters just don’t know or see the full spectrum of the issue, that they don’t realize how an animal is killed for their supposed benefit, etc…because there are people like Lisa Ling, who do, and continue with their old ways, that feed their bellies with the suffering of the animals that went into their food.

No amount of appreciation for where the food comes from makes up for the inhumanity of what we’re doing to the innocent animals that we say we need to survive, but that there is no longer any evidence scientifically that we do.

For a species that prides ourselves on our ability to have moral reasoning, why are we so immoral on the whole?

How can anyone make peace with themselves when they know the horrible truth of the meat and dairy industries and continue to enable and support it?

I am saying all this, because I really don’t understand.

I feel there are two different types of people right now who eat meat and dairy products. Those that are blinded from the truth and reality that the food they eat is a product of murdering animals, or that they need to eat the animals because they will die or die quicker if they don’t, and those that know fully well that those two reasons I just mentioned are false, and yet, somehow have some way of distorting reality so that they can detach themselves from the truth. That, my friends, is delusional.

Recently this weird person on twitter kept commenting to me, in an argument that was sparked by an unrelated, fad diet that I commented on, the Paleo diet, and she kept criticizing my desire to eat with morality in mind. What is wrong with being moral? While she is undoubtedly one of those people I described that believes not eating meat will compromise our health, which probably explains why she was so against being moral (why would anyone be against being moral otherwise, unless they are homicidal and corrupt in other possible yet rare and deviant ways) with food, it just sounded so ridiculous to me.

That whole experience with the Paleo diet crazed commenter to me, signifies something that kind of freaks me out, and that I want to kind of avoid thinking about, put in the back of my mind, just like people who deny where their food really comes from and keep eating it, and that is that the people in power and involved in the whole process of meat production, agriculture, dairy, livestock, big food, government, fda, usda, etc etc…are intentionally trying to mess with us so that we have these strange psychological reactions to this issue.

There is definitely some kind of psychological disconnect that is being forced upon many of us in the United States and elsewhere. I am hopeful because I am an example of someone who can see past it, but I’m not sure if others will be as lucky.

I guess the best I can do is continue to share my thoughts and feelings on the matter, continue to talk about and educate and make painfully aware how serious the whole issue is, and maybe I can get through to one person who can get through to more, and it will pay it forward.

Also, I want to share another really great blog I found through my twitter. He can say some things much more succinctly than I can and with much more eloquence. Also he is very knowledgeable about the history of our perception of animals. Check it out: http://www.snargleplexon.com/

My first ever vegan candy taste-a-like invention, Sweetie Rolls! (Vegan tootsie rolls) with RECIPE

I am so proud! I’ve been wanting to create a vegan recipe on my own and I finally did! It’s a vegan version of tootsie rolls! But they taste better than the original, which I think taste like super waxy chocolate! These are way fluffier and awesome, and are made with raw cacao powder, and since they’re not cooked (though the recipe is not raw), the cacao powder maintains it’s nutrients (at least I think it does as far as I know).

I have the recipe for you! It’s also going to be posted by me on vegweb. here:

Vegan Tootsie Rolls, Or as I call them Sweetie Rolls!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons softened vegan margarine (I use Earth Balance Brand)

1/2 cup raw cacao powder (you can use regular unsweeted cocoa powder if you don’t have it)

3 cups powdered sugar 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup soya powder
1/2 cup corn syrup or possibly brown rice syrup if you like them healthier/less sweet

Directions:

1. If you have a standing mixer, mix margarine, and all powdered ingredients in the bowl. Alternatively, you could use a spoon and mix it together until the margarine is incorporated into the powders.

2. The next step is to add the corn syrup or brown rice syrup. You may also be able to use agave, but I think it might not taste as good.
Again, if you have a standing mixer, keep it running on medium speed while you slowly pour in the syrup.
Note:  I don’t recommend using a hand held mixer or a cheap standing mixer, as it gets very heavy and thick eventually, and you definitely might break a hand-held mixer doing this, and I don’t want someone to break an old standing mixer if it can’t handle it. If you have a kitchenaid mixer, which I do, I had no problems with it.
If you don’t want to risk it, instead you can blend it and knead it all together like bread dough or clay. It will probably work better this way, as I still had to scrape the sides of the bowl off with my hands and combine it a bit more by kneeding after I mixed it in the kitchenaid for about 5 mins.
At first it will be a light brown, and then become a darker color, when it gets dark, it’s almost done.

3. Finally, roll into coils of a length of tootsie rolls, or cut them down to size. I formed the dough into a giant ball and pulled off smaller pieces, warmed it up in my hands like clay, and then rolled it, and cut it to the size I wanted. This would also be great for making different shapes or sizes, or even using as chocolate modeling clay! It would be fun to make with kids.

The raw cacao powder gives it some additional nutrients and probably a richer taste, so I really recommend it! You can get a great deal on it by Navitas Naturals on Amazon!


The recipe was adapted from this one: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/easy-tootsie-rolls/Detail.aspx

Moral Fiber in our diets! (kind of ranty)

Hey, so I thought I’d discuss a bit about why I’m a vegan.

Though I have been off and on for awhile, this is my longest and most deeply rooted commitment I have had to veganism.

I admit that sometimes it is hard to stay a vegan when most of your friends and people you seek support from are not. It was especially hard being in romantic relationships with vegan unfriendly people. It’s hard trying to maintain friends, or make new ones, and when they invite you somewhere to eat, having to decline or not eat with them because the place they chose has no vegan dishes on the menu.

When I made myself committed to staying vegan this time around, the first thing I had to conquer was this very problem. I decided to meet with a nutritionist, because I was choosing this not just for moral reasons, but because I feel this is the healthiest route as well, and needed to learn ways of being healthiest with it, to make sure I was doing it well. I found out that a nutritionist I was recommended was vegetarian, and was eager to see her. She was very helpful.

The first rule I learned about being a vegan with a broad social life, is to not bring up the topic that I’m a vegan unless absolutely necessary or if I am asked about it.

It was kind of hard to do, but made sense. It is especially helpful in work situations. Now, most of my friends know I am a vegan, and I try to only have friends that are supportive of my lifestyle. So I feel like I can talk about my food more, but I never get into the moral and health benefits/reasons behind my life choice of veganism, because it often makes people feel like I think I’m a better person than they are because I’m a vegan, unless they’re willing and open to discussing these reasons with me.

I don’t think I’m a better person for this choice, instead, I think that, knowing what I know, and having the beliefs I have, this is the best choice for me and the best thing I can do in terms of helping people, animals, the environment, and my health. I know the statistics, horror and torture animals go through to be food, the unhealthy factors of eating meat, milk products, etc, the impact meat based diets have on the environment and the issue of worldwide hunger and poverty, and a wealth of other things I know surrounding the issue of meat and animal byproduct consumption, and if I DID NOT become a vegan, I would feel like a bad person, immoral, etc. Maybe it’s just me, I don’t carry it on to how I feel about you as a person. Of course I’d be thrilled if you were a vegan, but I understand people have different beliefs, ideas, and have the right to those and their own choices.

The fact of the matter is, that most people, for a variety of different reasons, may choose to ignore, not research, all the issues surrounding their meat eating habit. I keep wanting to type that it’s their choice to eat meat, but in reality, they were most likely not given a choice, nor educated to any alternatives, at all, or not until it was too late for it to be a big struggle for them to give up their food addiction to meat, and animal byproducts.

I keep thinking of the argument that some people have, that we are meant to eat meat, because we are animals, and animals hunt other animals, especially when that animal is higher up on the food chain. Well, yes, but, seeing as we are the highest link on the food chain, and the most intelligent animals as far as we know, we are smart enough to develop and research that we can be completely independent of the need to consume animals and remain perfectly healthy. Yet, for whatever reason, and for reasons I’m not going to really address, we do not.

I believe we are indeed the most intelligent animal, and thus, we have an obligation, as that most intelligent animal, to find ways to stop suffering on this earth amongst our fellow animals.

To say that many animals do not have the power to care, know, suffer, feel pain, etc, is ridiculous, because, once again, we are animals, and we have the power to do all those things. Never have we determined that other animals cannot either. Sure, it’s a bit different, and they have other strengths and weaknesses depending upon the species it is we’re talking about, but this is almost a perfectly intuitive point.

As caring, thinking, feeling animals, we are lucky enough to be in this species, a species where we don’t have to worry about being eaten by bigger, more powerful other species. And as animals with the ability, we need to do the best we can do to care for others. We can use our thinking, to educate other humans and research and create delicious foods that decrease our total reliance on animal food and byproducts. As Albert Einstein roughly said, nothing will benefit the human race more than a vegetarian diet.

So, that’s the start of my moral discussion with veganism, I’m sure I’ll go back to it more, but I just wanted to get this out there. I’m sorry it was a bit rambly/ranty, but I figure getting these ideas delineated a bit and written down would be a good start and kind of release some frustrations I’ve been having lately.

My cookbook library.

I have been lucky to acquire a lot of great cookbooks. Here are all the ones I could find and a review/summary of them. Enjoy!

Appetite for Reduction

By Isa Chandra Moscowitz

I got this less than a month ago and it is already my most used cookbook. I have made the Caesar salad with eggplant bacon and really authentic tasting Cesar Chavez dressing, the Sushi Roll Edamame Salad, and the Goddess Nicoise Salad. I love that these salads are so beautiful and delicious and can be a whole meal! It’s hard to find a good cookbook with great salad recipes and a lot of them, and this one definitely does! I’ve also made the orange scented broccoli, scallion potato pancakes, tempeh helper, and lettuce wraps with hoisin mustard tofu. I can’t wait to make the baked onion rings, shaved brussels sprouts, masala tofu, and a lot more! It all seems great and is lower calorie, healthy, and delicious!

Babycakes

By Erin McKenna

This cookbook is from the famous vegan, (mostly) gluten free and (mostly) sugar free bakery of the same name in NYC. I’ve heard wondrous things about the bakery, but I can’t say the same about the cookbook, which is really disappointing, and for awhile I thought I had lost my touch as a baker, until I heard a rumor that they didn’t actually test the recipes, and adapted them from their bulk batched recipes from the bakery. Two totally different things here. Obviously the quantities of ingredients and baking times, as well as probably some of the methods, are quite different when you’re making bulk batches for a retail bakery than if you’re making a dozen at a time at home that might last you several days instead of one day. Here is why I think this is true. The chocolate frosting comes out wonderful, yet the white frosting (and they are both very similar recipes with a few small differences) always comes out clumpy and nasty. It almost reminds me of crushed up pills made into a paste—-nasty. Yet the chocolate frosting is creamy and delicious. Then, some things never seem to bake fully. I had to toss out several recipes I made. The carrot cake recipe was revolting—it had way too much of one of the spices, I couldn’t figure out which, but in their defense it could have been the flour they suggested I use. I was so excited to get this cookbook, but it has been largely disappointing. I am going to try more recipes from it eventually, and see what else goes wrong, as well as what DOES taste good, and go to the actual bakery which I doubt will ever have a nasty tasting thing there.

Food Not Bombs

By CT Butler and Keith McHenry

Not exactly a conventional cookbook, but I thought I’d include it here anyhow. I got this from Microcosm Publishing, and although it was lost for awhile and I just found it, it seems pretty essential as a guide to start or get involved with something like Food Not Bombs (for those of you who don’t know, Food Not Bombs is a grassroots type nonprofit organization that feeds homeless people vegan food in major cities across the nation. For more information on whether your city has a chapter, you can check out Food Not Bombs on the web. Anyhow, this book has recipes to make food in large quantities, and really makes me want to get involved. If only there was a more active chapter ‘round Rhode Island!

How it all Vegan!

By Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer

This is a must have cookbook and I also love the title. It’s not just a cookbook, it has great vegan life advice, craft recipes, cosmetic and lifestyle (cleaning, dogfood, etc) recipes. It has a section for vegan kids, and a special section on quick and easy recipes that aren’t as involved for when you’re feeling lazy and hungry. My favorite recipe is the easy tofu faux egg salad (not to be confused with the more demanding recipe). They have a list of products that are not vegan that are less well known which is helpful, and recipes on how to make a variety of different kinds of “milks.” I’ve had it for a while but I have yet to try many of the things I want to try eventually, there is so much here!

Kristen Suzanne’s Easy RAW Vegan Dehydrating

by Kristen Suzanne

I purchased this book along with my NESCO dehydrator I just recently acquired from Amazon at a fairly good price. It is probably one of the only raw vegan cookbooks that is strictly about food you can make with a dehydrator, if not THE only. It seems pretty nice so far, I haven’t tried anything yet, but it does have a creme fraiche recipe, a nut cheese, and pancakes! I wish it had some cookie recipes and stuff like that. It does have a good amount of tips about having a raw diet and the ingredients and stuff you need. Seems pretty comprehensive.

Please Don’t Feed the Bears!

Edited and laid out by Abjorn Intonsus

This is my favorite zine based vegan cookbook. It was lost in my room for a while, and I am now just going through it again and trying stuff. A lot of it is very spicy it seems, and I am not sure how I feel about that…I love the death metal looking funny vegan pictures and such. It has a great zine layout. I am happy there is a vegan corn dog recipe, but sad I don’t have a deep fryer for it, as a vegetarian corn dogs were one of my favorite prepared foods, but it is harder to find vegan pre-made versions of them. So I’ll be making those soon when I can use my friend’s deep fryer!

Soy Not “Oi!”

Compiled by the Hippycore Krew

This is a book that was compiled from a zine I had heard about. I got it off of the Microcosm Publishing website, a favorite of mine (http://microcosmpublishing.com/)

I have to say I have used this a lot (but not as much as I’d like!) It has a very zine-like quality to it, which I like, but others may not. There is a great chart of vegan sources of nutrients, among other things that aren’t exactly recipes which are also interesting. I have made Steve and Harmonies Wheat Gluton (Wheat Meat Mate), and although it sounded weird, the combination was amazing, Punk Popcorn (the best), and Tofu Veggie Dip (eh).

Tofu Quick and Easy

By Louise Hagler

I like this cookbook, it has some inventive recipes that utilize the staple of tofu. I don’t really use it all that much because I forget I have it, but it’s a really good cookbook, with things like tofu stuffed shells, pizza, etc.

Veganomicon

By Isa Chandra Moscowitz and Terry Hope Romero

This is near perfection. My favorite recipe that I have made numerous times is the eggplant, potato, and zucchini moussaka. It tastes so authentic and amazing. Great desserts, great everything!

Vegan Brunch

By Isa Chandra Moscowitz

This is the newest edition to my cookbook library. So far I have made the coffee and chocolate chip muffins and they were really good. I mixed them with half unbleached white flour and half spelt, though. I AM SO EXCITED that this cookbook has recipes for bagels AND English muffins, two of my favorite things to eat for breakfast. I have been thinking of all the creative flavors I can invent for those two recipes! I was a little disappointed with some of the other things that were included in the cookbook, the recipes don’t sound as appealing as some of her other cookbooks, but I think the bagel and English muffin recipes and other baked goods in the book make up for the $11 I spent on amazon for the book!

Vegan Lunch Box Around the World

By Jennifer McCann

I like this cookbook because it has recipes categorized by all different parts of the world. I bought this cookbook because as a hobby I enjoy making bento boxes. The cookbook is a little weirdly laid out, but that’s my only complaint so far, everything I’ve made from it is great. I say it’s laid out weird because it gives you menus based on the geographical area first, with descriptions and other text about the menu, and no recipes until you read through all the different menus where then the recipes are no longer categorized by geographic, but by what type of food they are. I thought it would have been better and more intuitive if it was just laid out by menu, but that’s my personal opinion. So far I really love the Maui Onion Dip. It’s delicious and has a great texture! I’ve made it twice, once at Thanksgiving as an appetizer. Mmmm.

The Vegan Table

By Colleen  Patrick-Goudreau

One of my favorites! The premise of this cookbook is to entertain guests with the recipes, and so I find it great for that. It has a lot of pictures of the food which I always love as cookbook quality. I have so far made the elegantly simple stuffed bell peppers, french onion pie (omg mmmmm!), peanut butter and jelly cookies, tofu spinach lasagna (the least impressive), monkey bread (came out amazing!), matzoh chocolate brittle (yummmy!). As you can see it’s a really well used cookbook (although it amazingly doesn’t look it yet!) and there are so many other things I want to try. To think, at first I was a bit skeptical because the picture of the author on the cover just didn’t strike me as a vegan chef type, but I got over that real fast when I looked at it more in depth!

Vegan with a Vengeance

By Isa Chandra Moscowitz (the queen of vegan cookbooks that are good)

This one definitely looks worn. My favorite recipe was what I made from Thanksgiving, the pumpkin seed and sage crusted tofu with roasted pumpkin and cranberry relish. It was sooooo good. I also like the coconut cupcakes, and the fauxstess cupcakes have frequently been a hit, although I haven’t perfected the royal icing yet. If someone was asking me for advice on a new vegan’s first cookbook, this would be my recommendation.