Is it gravy or is it soup? Only the cook knows.

Sauteed Veggie Pita

I had the greatest lunch, a sauteed vegetable pita.  Like most lunches, the inspiration for this one hit me as I stared into the fridge.  “Those portobello mushrooms, I’d better eat them.”  I heated my small skillet on med-high with some olive oil and put a frozen pita in the toaster.  I diced half a mushroom, then chopped up a little zucchini, dropped them all in the frypan and let them cook a few minutes.  You could put in whatever vegetables you like/have.  I sprinkled on that too-salty cajun seasoning I had.  When the the veggies were tender, which didn’t take too long, I turned off the heat and threw in some chopped cilantro.  I put them all in the pita with lettuce and tomato.  Mmmm, salty and wonderful.  A banana and veggie juice completed the meal, and I shared a mango later for a snack.  I don’t think this took more than 10 minutes to make.

Dinner was…interesting.  I was going to make a soup I just saw on PBS’ Totally Vegetarian.  It involved roasted red peppers, and I didn’t realize (because she didn’t demonstrate it) that you have to allow about an hour and a half to make them.

Jalapeno Corn...Soup!

So there I was, standing somewhat desperately in front of the fridge again, when I spied the Jalapeno Corn “gravy” I made yesterday.  This gravy wanted so badly to be a soup that it tasted nothing like gravy, so it fulfilled its destiny tonight.  It was too thick, so I added some water, and also some leftover coconut water (what’s left when you steal the cream for ice cream), 2 chopped carrots, salt and pepper.  It was surprisingly good.

With it I served biscuits, this time with half whole wheat.  I was distracted when I was making them, and I screwed them up almost every way possible, but they were still popular.

Leftover Amaretto Ice Cream was popular too, but homemade ice cream never keeps very well – it gets icy.

Roasted Red Peppers

I did roast the red peppers afterwards.  I put two red peppers on a baking sheet lined with tinfoil.  I put them under the broiler on the highest rack position, according to the directions.  They were practically touching the flame.  You cook them, or rather burn them, turning occasionally, until they are all black.  This takes 15 min or so.  Then you take them out, wrap the foil around them and let them sit for an hour.  Then you just rub the skins off and pull off the stem.  Cut in half and remove any seeds.

Starting Alfalfa Seeds

Another thing I did today was start some alfalfa sprouts.  These are so easy and inexpensive.  All you need is a wide mouth quart jar – canning jars work great, a square of fabric that will cover the mouth, a rubber band, and some alfalfa seeds, which you can find in the health food section or the bulk section of a health food store.  You only need to buy about 1/4 c to get started.  A white cloth will permanently turn sort of beige from the natural dye in the seeds, so don’t use heirloom linens.  I just hemmed a small piece of cheesecloth.  A lightweight baby washcloth might work, or a scrap of old dishtowel.

Put 1 T seeds in the jar and add a little water to cover the seeds.  Put the cloth over the mouth and attach with the rubber band.  Leave it on your counter.  In about half a day, empty the water, and for the next week or so, twice a day you will need to run a little water in to wet the seeds/sprouts, and then drain it out, all right through the fabric.   That T of seeds is going to fill that jar!  They will be ready to start eating maybe 4 days after starting.  Don’t delay, because they will start to get slimy about a week after they’re ready.  I keep them on the counter – maybe they would keep longer in the fridge (once they’re grown).  Use them in salads and on sandwiches/pitas/rollups, anywhere you would use lettuce.

Phew!

My parents came over tonight, and I like to make something special when they come.  Mostly because they appreciate it.

Quinoa

But first I actually have a breakfast to report.  This morning I made quinoa.  I had it with that orange-strawberry-rhubarb syrup I made Sunday, and it was wonderful.  I think fresh fruit goes better with quinoa than the raisins I used to like on oatmeal.  It takes just 15 minutes, and it cooks while I am getting the kids ready for school.

The burritos we had last night were so good, I made one for my lunch today.

Shepherd's Pie, Jalapeno Corn Gravy, Biscuits, and Cajun Cauliflower

For dinner I made a Shepherd’s Pie, Biscuits, and Cajun Cauliflower.  I guess the steam got on the camera lens.  I also made some Jalapeno Corn Gravy to go on the pie and biscuits.  It sounded good, but it ended up tasting like Corn Chowder, and not spicy at all.  I had hoped it would taste more like a brown gravy.  It was OK, but I wouldn’t make it again and I’m not going to bother with the recipe.  Last time I made gravy I just used a packet and it was fine.  The rest of this dinner was very good.

Amaretto Ice Cream on Chocolate Chip Brownie Waffle

For dessert I went all out.  I made Chocolate Chip Brownie Waffles and Amaretto Ice Cream.  I served it with soy whipped cream and sprinkles, and it was very very very very good. The last time I made this, I topped it with raspberry syrup, which was awesome with the chocolate.

We had decaf Earl Grey tea with dessert.

This was a lot of work, but I find cooking fun, too.

My Tiny Garden

Seedlings

How do you like my square foot garden?

Here we have thyme, cilantro, parsley, basil, tomatoes, Swiss Chard, zuchini, and cucumbers.  I’ll also get some Collard Greens.

In a few months, this stuff will be in my blog.

Not Soup

Notuna Sandwich, Bean and Corn Salad, Veggie Juice

Lunch today was a Notuna Sandwich.  I didn’t have any lettuce so I used raw Swiss Chard.  It was good.  Leftover Bean and Corn Salad and veggie juice completed the meal.

Had Jasmine Tea midafternoon, and sun tea and almonds for a snack.

I had told you about our menu schedule.   I made soup on Tuesdays because my husband isn’t crazy about soup and he is often out on Tuesdays.  I’m surprisingly disoriented today because we’ve had to switch some days around for the summer.  No soup for us!  I didn’t know what I was doing for dinner.

Burrito, Swiss Chard, Corn Sticks

I decided to make burritos.  I made some brown rice, defrosted some Southwestern Black Beans, microwaved some whole wheat tortillas (on a plate, under a wet paper towel, 30 seconds), and put out leftover Bean and Corn Salad (cold), salsa, and hot sauce (I use Sriracha – the big bottle with the rooster – flavorful and not TOO hot).  My family could assemble their own burritos from whatever they liked.  This is a picture of my plate, but unlike breakfast and lunch, I do not portion control my dinner – I eat till I’m full.  So I had about twice as much as you see here.

Revereware steamer pot on regular pot

I also served Corn Sticks and steamed Swiss Chard with balsamic vinegar.  Here’s a picture of my Revere steamer pot (the upper pot in the picture), which fits onto several of my Revere pots.  It is more or less like a regular pot except that the bottom is all perforated.  An inch of water in the lower pot does the trick, or I can just put the steamer over boiling potatoes, pasta, etc. – you can’t do that with a steamer which fits inside a pot.

I have a collapsible steamer insert which fits inside a larger pot for larger quantities, but I find it awkward to get the food out of the floppy steamer.  The Revere steamer doesn’t have that problem.

Where do you get your protein?

Almost anyone who finds out I am vegan asks me this, usually sooner rather than later.  It is absolutely the most common question asked.  As a practical matter, it’s really a non-issue for me, but non-vegetarians find it confusing, so I’m going to address it here because while you can see what my menus look like, you probably do not understand the underlying model on which they are based:  How do I decide what to eat?

Please: I am not a nutritionist. While this info is based on reliable sources, this is my own distillation, and I strongly encourage you to read more at very knowledgeable sites such as the Vegetarian Resource Group.  Think of me here as a know-it-all chatting with you over tea, not your doctor.

Protein is amino acids, and every living thing is made up of them, including plants.  There is protein in your carrot.  This makes sense, if you think about it, since what do the animals that we eat for meat eat?  Plants!  Some foods are higher in protein as a percent of their calories than others.  For example, tofu, broccoli, and asparagus get 40% of their calories from protein, and watercress, unbelievably, gets 83%, whereas eggs and hamburger get a measly 33%.  That is probably because eggs and hamburger are higher calorie foods due to their fat.

There are a bunch of different amino acids, but our body can make most of them itself.  There are nine “essential” amino acids that we can’t make, so we need to consume them ready-made, and that’s what I’m going to talk about here.  Animal proteins are often called “high quality proteins.”  This is because other animals have the most similar body composition to us, and so the amino acids are approximately in the proportions we need.   Soybeans, quinoa, and spinach are also considered “high quality proteins.”  “High quality” does not mean that they are healthy, just that their amino acids are already in the correct proportions.

Most foods have all the amino acids, but many plant foods are not high in them all.  For example, grains are lower in lysine and legumes are lower in methionine than those “high quality protein” sources.  You could technically meet your protein needs just by eating bread, but you would have to eat loaves and loaves and loaves every day in order to get enough lysine.  Not practical or healthy.

It sounds like this could be really confusing, trying to keep track of nine amino acids and what foods are high in each one.  Fortunately, the amino acids in the plant world seem to lump into two main groups that are found together, and plant foods tend to fall into four basic categories: high in half the amino acids (nuts, legumes), high in the other half (grains), high in all (soy, quinoa, and a few others), and high in none (most other fruits and vegetables).

The logical conclusion, then, is to eat some grains and some legumes, and they will complement each other’s deficiencies.  Most people have heard of this, and so the next question I am asked is about “combining” proteins.  The idea is that grains and legumes have to be mixed together in some complicated ratio.  This is a myth.  The truth is that, yes, you need to eat some grains and some legumes, but this is no more complicated than eating some grains and some meat.

Here’s how I do it: I make sure to eat plenty of vegetables, but I don’t really look for high-protein ones – too much to keep track of – I’m eating vegetables for other reasons.  Next, I, like most people, have no trouble consuming plenty of grains.  So the only thing I have to pay attention to is nuts/legumes.  I just make sure to have some every day, at some point.  They don’t even need to be in the same meal as the grains.  The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine says vegans need 2 servings of these per day.  A serving is 1 T nut butter, 1 oz. meat substitute (veggie burger, etc), 1/4 c nuts or seeds, 1/2 c cooked legumes, 4 oz tofu or tempeh, or 1 c soymilk.  You can have more than this to satisfy your caloric needs, but this is the minimum, and it’s not much.  All day long, 2 T of peanut butter on my sandwich would completely cover my legume needs.

By the way, when I say “minimum,” that is based on the RDA, which already has almost 100% padding in it.  There is no need to have more than the 2 servings “just in case.”

Two more resources for you.  Here is my favorite Vegan Food Pyramid from the University of Chicago.  I put a permanent link on the upper right corner of my site.  And here is a short, interesting and informative podcast on this issue.

I hope I have been able to clear up the confusion on this issue.

Leftovers!

If I put an exclamation point after leftovers they sound a lot better, don’t you think?  That probably applies to a lot of things actually.  Garbage Day!  Work!  It’s raining!  Say it with a positive spin and you emphasize the bright side, realize that it’s not a bad alternative.

So the bright side of leftovers is no cooking!!!  Actually, I still cook on Leftover Day, but no heavy lifting please.

I’ll start at the beginning.  I am not going to tell you what I had for breakfast, no matter how much you beg.  Instead I direct you to my Breakfast Ideas page, and if I make something not on the list, don’t panic, I’ll put it on there and let you know.

Notuna pita with banana and vegetable juice

I’ll keep going with the lunches a little while, because I seldom have the same thing twice.  But after a while you will get the idea.  Today I had leftover Notuna salad in a toasted pita with a banana and vegetable juice.

Bean and Corn Salad

For dinner I cleaned out the fridge and put the microwave to work.  We had Penne Marinara, Pea and Potato Curry, Broccoli, Green Beans, Guacamole, Focaccia, and someone had their doggy bag.  I made some Bean and Corn Salad to go with it.

I also made Sun Tea.  In case you don’t know how, I put 2 T sweetener (Splenda in my case) into a 2 qt pitcher, fill it with cold water, add 4 teabags (I like to have one fruity one), and set it in a sunny place for several hours.  Serve over ice.  I often put in some fresh mint with the teabags.

We even had leftover cake.

Lasagna Rollups

Waffles with Strawberry-Orange-Rhubarb Syrup

As promised, I have much to report today.

We began with waffles.  These are amazing.  Just buy the flax seed and make them already.

I made strawberry-rhubarb-orange syrup to go on it.  I used to go to Perkins and see the collection of syrups on the table and wonder who on earth would ever choose fruit syrup when they could have maple.  Now that I make my own, I know the answer.  My daughter and I!

I just don’t like artificially flavored corn syrup – it’s so thick and weird – and artificially sweetened artificially flavored syrup is barely food in my opinion.  Real maple syrup is expensive, but I buy it in the largest container possible to save money.  I keep a carafe in the fridge and the rest of the container in the freezer, which is not cold enough to freeze it solid.

Last fall our local store stopped selling the largest size due to short supply, and I just couldn’t swallow the price on the smaller ones.  To make it through to the next harvest, I decided to try this much cheaper alternative, and loved it.  In addition, at 50 calories per 1/4 cup, it has 1/4 the calories of maple syrup and half the calories of the “lite.”

Notuna on Poppy Bagel

Moving on, midmorning I made some Poppy Seed Bagels.  They were done at lunchtime, so I spread some leftover Notuna on it (made with black soybeans), and had that with an orange and some vegetable juice.

Broccoli, Penne Marinara, Focaccia, Lasagna Rollups

Our schedule is all messed up due to vacation, so tonight instead of going to my parents’ I made a special meal for us.  I made Lasagna Rollups, with Penne Marinara (whole wheat) for the picky, Focaccia, and steamed broccoli.  Since I was boiling water for the pasta, I steamed the broccoli over it in my Revereware steamer, but the microwave would do just as well.  My kids prefer a commercial vegan Parmesan made by Galaxy, but I like a vegan parmesan I made myself from raw cashews.  Next time I make it I’ll post the recipe.  It seems strange, but raw cashews seem to have a fresh dairy flavor.  I get them bulk at the health food store.

We had my favorite red wine with this.

Cocoa Cake

For dessert I made Cocoa Cake, and Jasmine White tea with it.

Saturday

My goodness I have been lazy.  I did make lunch again.  This time I made a Notuna Sandwich.  Had an apple and chips with it.

The guy who took my phone order at a rural pizza joint was astonished that I didn’t want cheese on half of one pizza.  “No cheese!?”  When my better half picked up the order, he said the guy said there was “one cheese pizza and one weird pizza.”

I have big cooking plans for tomorrow, I promise.

Friday

Curry Pita & Mango

OK, the only thing I did that resembled cooking today was to make my lunch.  Cultures collided when I toasted a frozen pita and put in some leftover basmati rice and Pea & Potato Curry.  I added some Major Grey’s Mango Chutney, sliced half a mango, and had the usual vegetable juice.  Yum.

We ate at Hogan’s Hideaway and they had a vegan Portobello Sandwich.  Messy but good, and the sweet potato fries were great.

Pea & Potato Curry

Black Bean Burrito

After a usual breakfast (cinnamon raisin toast and juice), I made a burrito for lunch.  I heated up a whole wheat tortilla (microwave on a plate 30 seconds under a wet paper towel), defrosted some Southwestern Black Beans (aren’t they handy?), and made a half recipe of Guacamole.  I assembled it and added some lettuce and jarred salsa.  Some vegetable juice and an orange completed the meal.  This probably took 10 minutes to pull together.

White Tea

In the afternoon I had some Jasmine Silver Needle Organic White Tea, with Splenda.  This is my favorite tea.  I buy the whole dried leaves in bulk.

This tea may seem like a small thing, but having this special habit in the middle of the afternoon makes me very happy.  I have replaced old destructive habits, like eating junk, with new healthy habits that I enjoy and make me feel good, and good about myself.  My habits don’t leave me with a stomachache, a hangover, cavities, or tight pants.  I splurge on good running shoes, good tea, and good organic vegetables, and I figure I’ll make it up in health copays.  People accuse me of having great willpower.  I don’t feel like it.  I can’t sit in front of a bag of nachos and eat just three.  I just identify and remove temptations (such as eating from a jar of nuts), adjust how I think about the stuff that makes my body feel sick (like gloppy, cloying cheese), instate healthy new habits (like vegetable juice and tea), and thoroughly enjoy them.  I indulge myself, but in non-destructive ways.  Because being bad just doesn’t feel good anymore – I no longer enjoy indulgences that will make me sick.

Pea & Potato Curry, Brown Basmati Rice, and Zucchini

Anyway, my parents came for dinner tonight.  I decided to make Pea and Potato Curry.  This is one of my favorite recipes.  I served brown basmati rice and microwaved zucchini with it, as well as microwaved frozen green beans for the picky.

Applesauce Orange Spice Cake

For dessert I made an Applesauce Orange Spice Cake.  I didn’t have any applesauce on hand so I made some with some apples.  In case you don’t know how, I quartered, peeled and cored the apples, then put them in my food processor with some water (add until it is the desired consistency).  I made more than I needed and put the extra in the freezer for use in baking later on.  You are supposed to be able to add lemon juice to keep it from turning brown, but I never got the hang of this.  I grew up thinking applesauce was brown, since my mom would have chuckled to think of buying it in a jar.  Unfortunately, I failed to do this with my kids so now they refuse to eat homemade applesauce.  But they’ll darn well eat it in a cake.

I served the cake with more of the Jasmine tea.  You can reuse the leaves in the strainer about 3 times – it doesn’t get that bitter taste regular tea in a teabag would have.