Dinner in a Snap: Coconut-Curry Tofu Steaks, Cheesy-Chickpea Quesadilla, Spinach-Sesame Salad

So last night, I had one of my good friends over for dinner. We met many moons ago when we both lived in the notorious "ghetto" in Ottawa. The "ghetto" was a student housing complex close to the Byward Market. It featured a robust French Madame as the landlady and her itsy-bity French Monsieur (with a Cheshire cat smile) as the landlord. The pair together was the bane of us students' existence. Regardless, it was one of the best times of my life.

Any hoo, this friend is a vegetarian and she has seen me transition over the years from omnivore, to indecisive pescatarian and now, to gung-ho vegan. She has been very patient and understanding with me throughout my journey. When we get together, all we seem to do is cook, eat and talk. It's awesome.

We had both had long days and we were simply ravinous!  I had had hopes of cooking up a gorgeous and extravagant meal with her, perhaps with quinoa or some exotic varieties of legumes and whole grains that neither of us had ever heard of before. But we were both so manic with hunger that we bee-lined straight to the grocery store to buy whatever looked good and cheap.

At the grocery we zipped right to the simplest and easiest place for veggie people to grab grub - the tofu/soy-wiener/veggie-ground-round section! We found some enticing coconut-curry tofu steaks made by President's Choice. Done. Then, in the impulse rack nearby, we happened upon whole wheat tortilla shells (on sale). Quesadilla? Done.

Now we had our protein (tofu steaks), grain (tortilla), so all we needed was a filler for the latter and some veg. The only obstacle we encountered was finding vegan cheese to go in our quesadilla - it turned out to be a bit of a wild goose chase. A successful one, albeit.

The grocery had "Soya" brand cheese loaf. But my conscience could not allow me to buy it after perusing the ingredients and finding (to my horror) casein (a milk protein) in it. Casein is one of those secret/hidden ingredients that gets vegans when they least expect it! It's also said to be the protein that makes calves bond to their mommas and evidentally, humans bond to their milk and cheese.

But any hoo, we hit up another grocer and checked their deli out. Again, only "Soya" brand cheese, which, my friends, is not vegan! We were troubled and dismayed. In my emotional turmoil, and since my friend is a veggie and not a full-blown vegan, I said to her, "Go ahead. Put cheese in your quesadillas and I'll eat mine plain. I don't mind."

I lied.

But I felt proud of myself for saying this. I felt like I was being a martyr. But as it turns out, she could not bear the idea of enjoying a cheesy quesadilla whilst I could not.

"No," she firmly stated. She had already selflessly decided that if I was going down, she was going down with me! What a keeper.

So we danced with the idea of making our own cheese out of silken tofu (it would take too long), or out of nutritional yeast (she didn't like the smell of it), and just when we were about to give up and eat our quesadillas cheese-free, we decided to ask the deli lady where we might find some vegan cheese. She wasn't sure, but her advice was, "Try the milk and butter section."

So we zipped over there, and low-and-behold, there it was in all its glory, shining out amongst the crowd of margarine and butter and other vegan untouchables: Earth Island Cheese! Our choice of mozarella or cheddar. We were both thrilled! Despite its announcement of being "vegan" on the package, I, still feeling untrusting after the "Soya" cheese incident, quickly checked the ingredients. To my delight, it was vegan all the way. Groovy.

We raced home, and whipped up our delicious dinner in 5 minutes flat:

Coconut-Curry Tofu Steaks +
Cheesy-Chickpea Quesadilla with spinach, peppers and mushroom on whole wheat tortillas +
Spinach Salad with grated carrots, peppers, sesame seeds, and mandarin-sesame dressing
________________________
= Yum!

Now, as a vegan rookie, there were some valuable lessons that I learned from this incident:
1. Get in the habit of checking the ingredients of foodstuffs. I will blog on secret/hidden animal ingredients soon (don't worry, there aren't a lot).
2. Be bold! Ask the deli guy, or the store manager if they have vegan alternatives for things like cheese, yogurt, sour cream, cream cheese, etc. From my experience, the more hip the grocer, the more choices they will have. This is also a good practice because it gets in the grocer's mind that there is demand out there for vegan options.
 
:)

A Shout-out to Squirrelly Bread

I want to give a shout-out to my local love, Squirrelly Bread. Thank you for existing, ‘o Squirrelly Bread. You make my mornings start out with a jolt of good energy that lasts long and throughout the day. You are organic, and made without flour; only the finest sprouted grains. You taste great with Udo’s Oil too, and a sprinkle of unrefined sea salt. And, you're baked just around the corner – in agricultural Abbotsford, B.C.!

There are days when I get so carried away with Squirrelly Bread that I will consume 3, 4, even 5 pieces, drizzled (or should I say, oozing) with flaxseed oil, Udo’s oil or some other yummy oil. But I never really regret it. Each piece is packed with protein and fibre and all-natural ingredients. In fact, there are very few ingredients in each loaf and all of them are identifiable – this is usually a good sign of nutritiousness in a processed food.

I must confess that any bread made by Silver Hills is good. The entire line used to be called “Squirrelly Bread”, until recently when they decided to update their look and feel. I like how each bread variety comes in a different coloured bag, with a different illustration on the bag and a slightly different theme. Props to Squirrelly for also being B.C. Certified Kosher, GMO-free and for using biodegradable bags.

My mom, a lover of healthy and simple foodstuffs, first introduced me to Squirrelly Bread. In my opinion, it’s far too delicious to add anything to it like jam, peanut butter, or marmalade. And there are so many varieties to choose from; I could live off of Silver Hills bread the rest of my life and feel perfectly complete.

If you are looking for Squirrelly Bread, but can’t seem to find it, you can use their online store locator - you can also take the opportunity to read their story and meet the people at Silver Hills - they all look vibrant and glowy – probably a result of eating their own yummy breads all their lives. There is also a call out on the website for people who want to participate in their focus group. You get free bread if you participate!

No, this blog is not an advertisement, and I am not hoping to earn some pocket cash off of this message. I just want to express my pure and undying love for a bread that I consider to be quite delicious, pure and undyingly unique.

Spicy Seitan Sausage

Nothing turns my crank more than the "idea" of meat. So when I came across fellow blogger Vegan Dad's recipe for Seitan Sausage, you can bet your bottom dollar I was all over that shite.

Seitan is a delicious and fun meat alternative. It is also known as "wheat gluten". Whole wheat is made up of three different parts: the bran, the germ, and the endosperm. The bran is the outer shell that is high in fibre; the germ is the seed and is high in protein; the endosperm is the part that is mostly carbohydrates. Seitan is made soley from the germ of wheat. Its high protein count, as well its taste and texture resemblance to meat is what has earned it the nickname of "wheat meat". Mmmm

This recipe is super quick and easy, and comes out über yum. So yum, infact, that one sausage was almost enough to turn my carnivorous dad to the dark side, after heartily inhaling it in the car on our way out to dinner. Then, he ordered only vegan food at the Italian restaurant we went to, wrongly assuming that all vegan food was as delicious as my sausages.

When I came home that night, the sausages I had stored in the fridge had disappeared too, but there was a kind and apologetic note left behind on top of the sausage bowl. It seems as though my roommate had one Spicy Seitan Sausage and couldn't stop thereafter. This recipe is awesome.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup black beans*
- 1 cup vegetable broth (cold)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 table spoons soy sauce
- 2 cloves garlic (minced or finely grated)
- 1 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 1/2 tsp fennel seed (ground or crushed)
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- a few dashes of black pepper

Prepare 6 pieces of tin foil so they are ready for wrapping**. Put an inch or two of water in a pot and place a steamer on top. Bring the water to a boil.

Mash the beans in a large bowl until no whole ones are left. Toss the remaining ingredients into that bowl, and mix them around together with a fork. You can also kneed them with your hands, but watch out if you do! The red peppers might sting a bit. Divide the dough into 6 even parts, and then roll each part into a sausage that is 5 inches long. Vegan Dad says to "Wrap dough in tin foil, like a tootsie roll." and not to worry too much about the shape - the rolls shape naturally into 6 nice sausagey logs as you steam them. Toss the logs into the steamer, and steam them on medium heat for 40 minutes. Voila!

Notes:
* The recipe called for pinto beans, but I only had black beans and I found that they worked out just great.
** I didn't have any tinfoil so I improvised with tin pie plates cut in half. You can wrap the sausages in these if that's all you have, if you don't mind the shape being less than symmetrical.

Confessions of a Vegan Chocoholic

Okay, so by about day 3 of my Vegan Adventure, I was about to snap.

I need Chocolate!!

My roomi and I have had this beautiful wonderful thing called a “Chocolate Cupboard” stocked for the full 5 years we have lived together. It is something of a chocolate commune, containing a decadent collection of chocolates from every holiday: there are Purdy’s hearts and Easter eggs with coloured foil wrap, candy-cane striped Hersey’s kisses and even Reese’s Pieces from Hallowe’en. In addition, this scandolous cupboard contains butterscotch treats, hot cocoa packages, chocolate syrup, and a miscellany of Lindts and other Swiss chocolates, at any given time.

I can (and have) thanked my roommate for her Swiss-Austrian background, largely, for the existence of this marvellous cupboard. However, since I embarked on my Vegan Adventure, the thought of this cupboard changes the whole chemical make-up of my body: my mouth waters, then my body starts to quiver, then I start to seize up. Everytime, I must snap myself out of it!

So what is a Vegan Chocoholic to do?

Lucky for me dark chocolate is my most favouritest type. In the past, I would happily inhale any chocolate offered, but dark always did the trick best.

Yesterday after lunch, I had another bout of chocolate fever with a very high temperature. So I checked out some of my favourite darks at the local grocery, the ones with 70 % cocoa or more. The only ingredients I wasn’t sure about but which they all seemed to contain were cocoa butter and cocoa mass. So later, I did some research online, and was ecstatic to find that both cocoa mass and cocoa butter are vegan!! Woo hoo!!

Here are some of my favourite chocolates that just so happen to be vegan-friendly!:
- Endangered Species Dark Chocolate - Kudos to these guys for making wicked chocolate and for looking out for our furry/feathery friends
- Green and Blacks Organic Chocolate - dark chocolate
- Maya Gold
- Lindt Excellence Dark Chocolate Bars
- Ritter Sport - dark chocolate flavours

But there is also an extensive shopping list of vegan "milk" chocolates, if that's your bag, as well as chocolate beverages, chocolate treats, and other chocolate things. Check out this link for that huge list.

Chocolate in its purest form comes from the pod of a cocoa tree. So really, chocolate is just another benevolent bean, delicately hand-crafted by our magnificent Mother Nature.

The Loving Hut

In honour of the 40th anniversary of Mother Earth Day celebrations, I went with my sis and Pop to The Loving Hut on West Broadway on Thursday. It is an all-new vegan restaurant in Vancouver, and the second of its kind in Canada (the first is in Toronto). 

The Loving Hut did not look quite like a bohemian, coconut-filled, thatched roof paradise that I had expected by its name. But what it lacked in interior décor, it made up for in deliciously filling all-vegan food, economical prices, and very friendly atmosphere. I was especially fond of their Wall of Fame, where they hung photos of everyone’s favourite famous vegetarians - Albert Einstein, Leonardo de Vinci, Ghandi, and Thomas Edison, as well as famous Canadian vegetarians like Sarah McLachlan, K-os, Bryan Adams, Shania Twain, Alanis Morissette and Brendan Brazier.

We ordered the nachos to share, followed by an asparagus soup (soup-of-the-day), Ocean Love pizza slice, Loving Hut pizza slice, Happy Spicy pizza slice, as well as a Rainbow Salad. The nachos and the Ocean Love pizza were my favourite menu items. They were cheesy and flavourful and filling. Even the sour cream and pizza dips were soooo good! I think my carnivorous sister and dad were a little stunned but just how delicious and fun vegan food is - everything we ate was totally tasty! Bonus points for serving fairly traded coffees and teas with organic soymilk.

Here is a run-down of prices. What we ordered was more than enough food for three hungry people!:

Nachos (small) - $6.75
Aparagus Soup (small) - $2.25
Ocean Love pizza slice - $4.25
Loving Hut pizza slice -$4.25
Happy Spicy pizza slice - $4.25
Rainbow Salad (large) - $6.75
2 Beck's Non-Alcoholic Beer - $6.00 (for two)
Flower Tea - $2.25
_________________

Total: 36.75

The Loving Hut is a groovy little joint to share a either a big slow meal, or quick little bite.

I give the Loving Hut two thumbs up for edibility, ethics, easy-going-ness and economical-ness. So did the omnivores that I went with!

A Vegan Adventure

If you were to tell me two weeks ago, that I was going to become a both a vegan and a blogger two weeks from now, I would have said "Bullocks!" to you.

I grew up in somewhat of a menagerie; dogs, cats, birds, snakes, degus, guinea pigs, ferrets, fish, hamsters, rats, gerbils, walking sticks, venus fly traps - you name it, I had it - walking or crawling on four legs all over the house. I grew up with an affinity for animals and nature. My border collie Danny is my very best friend. I prefer to spend my time outside.

But despite my love of animals, I also had a taste for animals up until the end of my undergraduate degree in university.

Bless my professor of Social Issues in Communications class. He told each and every one of his students to pick a topic they have always wanted to study, but had always been afraid to study. I picked animal welfare. Then, he told us that we could spend the semester studying it, and create whatever project we wanted out of it. My group chose to create an on-campus awareness and outreach club on factory farming. And so we did. It was the best class of my undergraduate career. It changed my life.

During that semester, I became pescatarian. Since then, I always knew that I would one day transition into full vegetarianism and I 'aspired' to be vegan one day too. But I was too busy enjoying cheese and chocolate and eggs bennies to be serious about it.

Fast forward two years to one month ago. I watched the new Hollywood movie Julie & Julia. Mmmm .. the joys of cooking and eating! I like eating. But I know nothing about cooking.

Fast forward another week, and I hear that the National Geographic has announced that 90% of the big fish in the ocean have been depleted, and that if we continue consuming them at this rate, they will be gone by 2048. So I knix out fishies from my daily menu.

Fast forward another week, and I come across Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet in a bookstore. Once I started reading it, I could not stop. I got in about 50 pages at the bookstore, and practically drooled over her recipes right into the book! She made veganism seem simple, and cooking seem like fun! I bought The Kind Diet the next day.

Now, I am on day 10 of my Vegan Adventure.

I really like reading other vegans' blogs to get tips on the topic, so I thought I'd create my own to share what I've learned. I am hoping to fill up this blog with an array of recipes, from simple to exotic, and always delicious. I also want to share information that I have found through websites and friends. I want to try out vegetarian and vegan restaurants as well as grocery and health stores and to let you know what I think of them. I want to share tips and ideas, and jokes too. I want to let you know what I think of the recipe books that I have read and the various ingredients and brands that I have sampled. I also want to make more vegan friends!

Peace & love

Jewely

Bean There, Done That!

Fun Facts about the Benevolent Bean

• There are over 1,000 varieties of beans.
• Contrary to popular belief, beans and rice do not need to be eaten together to create a complete protein. For instance, you can have a bowl of rice pudding for breakfast and beans at dinner, and you'd still be making up all the essential amino acids needed to make a complete protein.
• Cooked beans can be frozen and defrosted for eating later.
•  The Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation now advocates a bean-based, vegan diet as a great way to reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and high cholesterol.
• Beans are one of the cheapest sources of protein in the grocery store. The average dried organic bean costs a grand total of about 40 cents per 100 g – that’s only $4 per 1 Kg! That’s a lot of protein for 4 buckeroos! Compare that to the cost of 1 Kg of fish or chicken!
• Beans are loaded with protein and fibre and are super low in fat.
• Coffee and chocolate, the source of great pleasure and weakness for much of the human population, come from beans!
• Beans are staples of Indian, African, Mediterranean and Latin American cuisine!
• Unlike meat and animal products, which sit in your gut for between 24 and 72 hours, beans usually pass through your system in less than a day – leaving you feeling light and bouncy!
• It’s super easy to de-fart beans!
• Beans are just plain groovy. Check out VegWeb and AllRecipes for a myriad of ways to cook with beans. 

I challenge YOU to calculate how much money you usually spend on meat in one week. Next week, switch to beans and whole grains as your main source of protein. Then, calculate the difference between the two weeks. I think you will be pleasantly pleased with beans after this exercise.

Mother Earth, We Love You!

Happy Mother Earth Day!

Mother Earth's age roughly corresponds to the age of our Great Star and source of all energy - the Sun. Old Mr. Sun is said to be about 4.5 billion years old and have another 5.5 billion years left in him, which means that the same follows for our Mother Earth. So she's about 45 years old in human years - let's shoot for her to live to 100!

We all know that changing our consumption habits is the # 1 way to directly reduce our ecological footprint. But what is the one thing that we consume the most each day? FOOD! So it would follow that changing the food you eat can profoundly shrink your ecological footprint from sasquatch-sized to baby-sized. The more lightly that each of us Earthlings tread on this glorious planet we all share, the longer this glorious planet will last!

To honour our blessed Mother Earth as well as all of the inhabitants on it, I have decided to become a vegan. Today marks day 9 of my Vegan Adventure.

Peace & Love,

Jewely

Homemade "Milks"

Creamy Almond Milk

This delicious milk is creamy and high in calcium. It makes an excellent alternative to cow's milk and tastes wonderful in coffee or granola. It is also a fraction of the cost of regular milk.

Ingredients:
- Almonds* (1/2 cup)
- Vanilla extract (a splash)
- Water

Soak 1/2 cup of almonds in water overnight. Drain the almond water and add almonds to 3 or 4 cups of water (depending on desired consistency). Add a splash of vanilla and blend in blender on high until smooth and creamy (3-4 minutes).

* Blanched almonds make it smoother and prettier looking. You can buy almonds blanched or blanch them yourself by tossing them in boiling water, waiting a minute or so, dumping them out and rubbing off the skins.

Ideas:

• You can substitute almonds for any nut or seed! Or even nut butter or seed butter!
• You can fortify your milk with vitamins like B12, D, C and Calcium. Just calculate how many days it takes you to get through a litre (for me it takes 2 or 3). Then take the appropriate amount of vitamins for that number of days (so for me, it would be 2 of each vitamin) and grind them in a mortar and pestle. Then, add them in when you blend the mixture! 

Sunflower/Sesame Seed Milk

You can also replace almonds with sunflower or sesame seeds. The instructions are basically the same as almond milk, just use 1/2 cup sunflower or sesame seeds in place of almonds. Soak them over night and blend with a splash of vanilla and in slightly less water than the almonds (2 - 3.5 cups of water). I also recommend adding sugar or stevia or some other sweetner to the seed milk, as seeds are naturally less sweet than almonds. Once blended, you can either pour the milk through some cheesecloth to strain the pulp, or just stir your milk before you drink it each time (if you like to drink the pulp like I do!)


Super Soy Milk

I haven't tried this one yet, but I thought I'd share some of The Cookbook for People Who Love Animals wisdom.

Ingredients:
- Soybeans (1 cups)
- Vanilla extract (a splash)
- Water (4 cups)
- Sugar/Stevia or other sweetner (optional, to taste)

Soak soybeans overnight in water. Drain water and add beans, vanilla and water to blender. Blend on high speed for 5 minutes. Put the milk in a pot, cover it loosely (not tightly or else it will spill over), and cook it on low heat until it comes to a boil. Then, reduce heat to a low simmer and cook for 45 minutes longer. After 45 minutes, let the milk cool and then strain it through a cheesecloth. You should be left with a liquid soymilk as well as pulp. You can add sweetners to taste, if you like. Store both in the fridge.

The Cookbook says you can add banana or fruit juice to the soymilk to jazz it up a bit! They recommend using the pulp left over in grains, casseroles, burgers, or even doggy food! Groovy.

Oh How Rude! How to de-fart your beans

Ever bean on the bus and the person sitting next to you was farting up a beany storm?

Be polite!


De-farting beans is vegan etiquette! It's easy! All you need to do is soak your dried beans overnight in water before you cook them. Or, you can also skim off the foam when you first bring your beans to a boil. Or, you can combine these two methods to added assurance and bonus vegan etiquette points!

If you buy your beans canned, they have already bean de-farted, so no worries!


:)

Coconut-Walnut Porridge

This yummy breakfast makes me feel like I am eating under a coconut tree!


Ingredients:

- Bob's Hot & Tasty Cereal (or any porridge, such as cream of wheat)
- sea salt
- chopped coconut meat (or any fruit you like!)
- chopped walnuts
- brown sugar


Cook porridge as directed on package, and add a dash of sea salt. While porridge is cooking, smash open a coconut with an axe, or something else heavy. Cut out the meat of coconut and slice into chunks. When porridge is done, add coconut, walnuts, and brown sugar. Pour almond milk over it and enjoy!

Maple-Nut Granola

Maple-Nut Granola*

I had a pre-bedtime sweets craving the other night when I was at my Mom's place, but there was nothing yummy beyond craisins in the cupboard. So I whipped up this little masterpiece! Makes a delicious and nutritious breakfast as well!


Ingredients:

- 6 cups quick oats
- 1/2 cup maple sugar or brown sugar
- 3/4 cup wheat germ
- 1/2 sesame seeds or sunflower seeds
- 1 cup chopped nuts
- a sprinkling of craisins
- 1/2 cup safflower oil or olive oil
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- a splash of vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Spread the oats on a rimmed baking pan and bake for 10 minutes. Transfer the oats to a large mixing bowl, and add the sugar, wheat germ, seeds, nuts and craisins. Stir to mix well, then add the oil, syrup and vanilla. Mix until everything is moistened.

Spread the half the mixture on to one baking sheet, and half the mixture onto another (or bake in two batches), and bake for 10 minutes. Stir after 5 minutes to brown evenly.

Let the baked granola cool on the pans, then transfer it to a bowl and stir until crumbly. Store in an airtight container.

* adapted from "The Kind Diet" by Alicia Silverstone

Kelp Powder: A Taste of Low Tide

So, in The Cookbook for People Who Love Animals, it mentions that you can use kelp powder in place of salt. Feeling daring, I went to the grocery store the other day and bought myself about 1/4 cup of kelp powder in bulk at $2.99 per 100g. I bought about $2 worth. Then, I put my nose in the bag and took a whiff. The smell reminded me of the smell of a cove at low tide, the type of cove you don't want to swim in.

I was feeling adventurous at lunch, so I sprinkled this kelp powder all over my delicious chickpea/brown rice/broccoli salad. Then I excitedly took a big bite full, ignoring the caution signals that were going off in my nasal cavity.

What a mistake!

Instead of making my food a bit saltier, as I had expected, the kelp powder totally took over the flavours of the other spices had added to my salad (namely ginger and chili). It made me feel like I had just taken a mouthful of sand, crab shells and dried up seaweed at lowtide.

But alas! I am not discouraged. I have a feeling that a moderate hint of kelp powder would be a nice addition to certain recipes! I just haven't found them yet.

Kelp is a magic food, with many health benefits. For now, I think I'll stick to my unrefined sea salt for salting, and look for some dried kelp snacks to nibble on in the meantime.

Ta!

Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies

I served these little delights at a BBQ at Kits Beach last summer - and they were a hit! This was my first shot at vegan baking, and definitely left a good taste in my mouth :D.Due to popular request, I shall post up the top secret recipe to my simple and yummy Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies!

Ingredients:

•3/4 cup sugar
•3/4 cup brown sugar
•3/4 cup Earth Balance butter
•3/4 cup soy yogurt or soft tofu
•1 1/2 tsp vanilla
•3/4 tsp baking soda
•3/4 tsp salt
•1 tsp lemon zest
•2 1/2 cups flour
•3/4 cup poppy seeds


Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together the sugar, brown sugar and "butter" until smooth and creamy. Add the soy yogurt and vanilla and mix well. Add the remaining ingredients.

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes, or until done.

Yey!!