Thursday, February 24, 2011

The good, the rad and the yummy.

Coming from someone that used to think chicken wings could be part of a balanced diet, this vegan thing is pretty darn fun. After stopping by the friendly neighborhood organic grocer, I realized that if you have the money, you can get some cool stuff! Sure, $8.99 for a tub of vegan ice cream seems a little steep, but can you really put a price on happiness? Plus, how often will I need to buy tubs of vegan margarine and Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese? Probably not that often. For $50, my fridge is now stacked with the basics required to concoct all the tasty food I can imagine. 

The Good
Once I got home, I flipped through the book to see what I wanted to try for dinner this time. The great thing about cookbooks with so many pictures is that it almost feels like you are in a restaurant, flipping through a menu with tons of choices. I decided to try a recipe for sweet lime chili tofu. From start to finish I was done in half an hour, and the steps in the book really helped to organize the timing of all the different parts of the dish to bring them together at the same time. This is what I came out with:


The tofu was so tasty, but the broccolini and quinoa, although cooked with some spices and lime, were a little bland. I will definitely try this one again, but next time I'll make double the sauce, so once it reduces in the pan I can drizzle it on all the other good stuff. I decided that this might be better if it sat in the fridge overnight and let all the flavours blend, so I put it aside and figured I would take it for lunch. For dinner, I went with some comfort food: Tacos.

The Rad
Refried beans, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, and the oh-so-necessary Franks Red Hot. There's something about the crunchy tacos and the gooey beans that just gets me every time. Perfect combo, and oh so simple. Thanks to it's under 10-minute prep time, this is a fave when I'm short on time, or just not in the mood to slave over a hot stove for an hour. That doesn't happen too often, though, especially in the winter. One thing I love about cooking in the cold weather is the way it steams up all the windows in my apartment. It just adds to the comforty-goodness of all the yummy food.

The Yummy
One of the many perks of living across the street from my bro is the fact that his wife bakes. Vegan style. Last night I had the honor of being the taste tester of such items as the basic (and mouth-watering) nut filled brownie and the elusive triple banana cupcake:  banana cupcake, slathered in banana cream icing with a tasty surprise of banana custard in the middle. 24 hours ago, if you you told me such a cupcake existed, I would've said you were crazy. Now, it's all I can think about. Think of the best cupcake you have ever tasted. Times that by about ten, and you may come close to this. She packed a few of the goodies for me to take home, and the two banana cupcakes didn't make it to see another day.

Well, all in all it was a pretty fun day for me yesterday. I'm really enjoying cooking, I love trying out all the new things, and I look forward to working with seitan, if I can ever find out where to get that stuff.

Until next time,

N

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

cookbooks make all the difference

Sitting at work yesterday, I started thinking about what to make for dinner. Tofu? Beans? Tofu WITH beans? That's when I came to the realization that I really needed to broaden my choices if I'm going to make this work. A quick jaunt around the corner and 25 dollars later, I had in my hands a shiny new cookbook: Vegan Yum Yum by Lauren Ulm. What sold me on this book was the fact that every single recipe had a delicious photograph of the finished dish. Surprisingly, not many cookbooks do this. As I was flipping through, one recipe jumped out at me: Hurry Up Alfredo. Wait wait wait...Alfredo?  I can have alfredo sauce? So, like a kid on Christmas morning, I couldn't wait to get started. Lets see...cashews, yum! soy milk, yum! mustard...um, not so yum. Nutritional yeast? ok, wierd. I decided not to judge it, and just do as it said. That is quite possibly one of the best choices I have ever made, because this pasta was spectacular. It was creamy, salty, thick and rich. A couple of splashes of hot sauce, and I was in pasta heaven. So, my tip for any of you interested in trying Vegan cooking: just try new recipes, even if they seem weird, or contain things that you don't think you like.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

This is soy much harder than I thought...

So yesterdays attempt at eating and being vegan was pretty much a big fail. It began when, out of years of habit, I squeezed honey into my coffee. One hour into my first day at attempting to be vegan, and I've already screwed it up. I shrugged it off, and vowed to remember next time. As snow started falling later in the afternoon, a co-worker came up with the incredibly delicious idea of hot chocolate. As the door closed behind him, my voice screaming after him to "MAKE IT SOY!!" was echoed through the halls. Mission accomplished. I smugly sat in my chair, proud of my great dedication to this new vegan thing, only to have the smile melt away as quick as the whipping cream gooping up the top of my new found hot chocolate. Ohhh, darn. Well, since the whipping cream is ALREADY in there, and it wasn't a conscious decision to order it on MY part...does it really count? After much deliberation, I decided that I wouldn't feel right eating it, no matter what. So, I scooped out what I could, and enjoyed the remainder of my 95% soy hot chocolate. Oh wait. There's sugar in hot chocolate. Sugar's not vegan...ugh. I swigged it back anyways, feeling semi-guilty, and again, I vowed to remember for next time. 

Home sweet home after a long day of work, I had friends over for a painting session, and we decided to save my kitchen the mess and just order in. No problemo! Vegetable pasta for me please, no cheese on it. Thanks! It came, it was tasty, and I was satisfied that there was at least one meal that I didn't mess up somehow. Well, that was short lived. One of my friends had saganaki (you know, breaded and deep fried Greek cheese?) After two glasses of wine, my self control was non-existent, and I had some. I'm not going to lie. It was DELICIOUS. Delicious with an aftertaste of guilt. 

I hope that was the last slip-up. I do think that I managed to learn my lesson. I had a pretty bad tummy ache this morning, and I figure that the lump of deep fried cheese sitting in my gut had something to do with it. I need to get some Teese, so next time the uncontrollable urge for cheese arises (and trust me, it WILL), I'll be prepared to whip up a grilled "cheese" sandwich and satisfy the cheese-beast that lives inside me.

Well, living up to my word, this morning, as I poured my coffee and instinctively poured honey into the spoon to stir it in, I remembered. No honey. But it's already poured...sooooo. NO HONEY. I washed off the spoon in the sink, reached for the organic raw sugar, and stirred away with a nice pour of soy creamer. The guilt-free coffee tastes much better. 

Trust me.

Monday, February 21, 2011

The day I decided.

The weekend, although cold, was beautiful. The sun was out full force on both Saturday and Sunday, coaxing about 95% of the population outdoors, myself included. 

As I sat wondering what to make of Saturday, I happened upon a gift I received last year for my birthday. Determined to put all my fear aside, I dusted off the rollerskates and headed down to the underground garage of my building, far from prying eyes. They have seen some use on the 600 square feet of hardwood in my apartment, but I knew that unless the seawall had couches and chairs, I'd be doomed. Time to brave the concrete.

Several minutes of lace-tying and many deep breaths later, I stood up. I'm not sure how to even describe the first time getting up on rollerskates, but it can probably be likened to the tilt-a-whirl. An hour later, I'm proud to say I could skate pillar to pillar in the parkade. Fantastic! Feeling like something phenomenal had been accomplished, I retreated back to my lair and spent the remainder of the afternoon sitting in the sun trying to figure out how to crank out my next masterpiece.

Sunday led me to the local convention centre. The Vancouver Wellness Show was on. I guess a little wellness never hurt anyone. Aside from the booths stating that they knew the spiritual reasons behind UFO visits, and those insisting that you could "vibrate" yourself thin on expensive-looking machinery, it was a pretty good show. As I strolled home with my two re-usable bags filled with expensive flax crackers and some freeze-dried fruit whose package boasts 90% nutrient retention, I couldn't help but feel like a bit of a sucker. I had realized I just paid to get into a room and spend money on stuff. But, to be honest, I'll probably go again next year.

Later that day, as I had done some character designs for a friend's blog, I was invited over for some vegan mac and "cheese" for lunch. Incredible. "Teese" may be the food item that will convert me from vegetarian to vegan. I honestly had a hard time telling the difference between that and real cheese. Again - Incredible. There was even grilled "sausage" in there. Mmmmm! Quite possibly this was the best payment for my art that I've ever received.

On that note, I'm going to try to commit to veganism for a little while. I started out with vegetarianism on January 3rd, I suppose as part of a New Year's resolution. Originally the goal was set at 30 days, but that's come and gone and the urge to consume meat really hasn't come up. Tofu is really growing on me as the main part of my dinner meals. It's boneless, it doesn't have random little cartilage bits (yuck), and it's cruelty free! win-win situation, I'd say (and so would the chicken).

So, feel free to follow me on the adventurous road of adopting a vegan lifestyle. This should be interesting indeed.

Till next time,

N