The BEST Vegan "ice cream" ever!

I've started to look at trying some vegan products. The main things I need to replace would be cheeses and eggs so my first vegan choice was...Daiya shredded cheese.

This definitely does not taste like cheddar cheese. The up side is that I think I could use this as a cheese replacement for things like salads, sandwiches and any dishes where cheese is more of a condiment.

Another amazing vegan product is So Delicious coconut ice cream. Not made with milk, I tried the product line made from coconut milk. With chocolate in the mix, it was like eating creamy, frozen Mounds bars. Expensive as hell, but friggin amazing.

Curried Banana Flower and Mung Beans

When we were travelling in Africa we saw tons of banana plants. Bananas were served with almost every meal. Oddly enough, the banana flower was never used in any dishes.

Banana Plant with large Purple Flower

When using fresh banana flower, it's important to soak the chopped flower in buttermilk or a water and lemon juice mixture to get rid of the strong, bitter taste. An alternative is to use canned banana flower.
This recipe calls for Asafoetida powder. An alternative to this could be onion salt, garlic powder, or fresh garlic.


Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup dried, green mung beans, soaked for a couple hours
• 2 cups banana flowers, finely chopped, and soaked in watery buttermilk overnight
• 3 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp. Asafoetida powder
• 4-6 green chillies, slit lengthwise
• 2-3 red chillies, broken into a few pieces
• 5-6 curry leaves
• 1/2 tsp. Turmeric powder
• 1 cup onions, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup coconut, freshly grated (or dried, unsweetened)
• 1 lime or lemon

Directions:

1. Place the mung beans in a container with some salt and a little water and cook until slightly tender. Drain water if any.
2. Strain out the banana flowers from the buttermilk.
3. Heat oil in a medium skillet. Add the asafoetida powder, cumin, and mustard and saute until they start to pop. Then add the green and red chillies and fry for a minute. Add the curry leaves and turmeric powder and fry for a few seconds.
4. Add the onions along with some salt, and saute on medium heat until translucent.
5. Add the banana flowers, cooked moong dal, salt, and a sprinkle of water. Cover and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the flowers are tender.
6. Add the grated coconut and cook for a couple more minutes. Remove from heat.
7. Mix in the juice of half a lime.
8. Serve the banana-flower curry with lemon or lime wedges and plain rice. 

Cheesy Wild Mushrooms and Seitan

This is recipe is modified from a recipe using breaded chicken. I'll frequently cook both the chicken and vegetarian versions to satisfy both vegetarians and non-veg. 


Ingredients:
3 cups mixed, wild mushrooms, sliced
8 oz seitan, thickly sliced
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons pumpkin seed oil
2 1/2 cups of grated mozzarella and Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup vegetarian broth

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Place half of the mushrooms in a 9x13 inch pan. Dip seitan into beaten egg, then roll in the nutritional yeast.
Heat the pumpkin seed oil in a skillet. Brown both sides of the seitan.
Place chicken on top of mushrooms, arrange remaining mushrooms on seitan, and top with cheese. Add vegetable broth to pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until top layer of cheese is melted and crispy.

Mushroom Miso Soup

I like miso soup every once and a while (especially when the craving for something salty hits). The convenience of buying the pre-made, dry version is ruined by the fact that they all contain "bonito"; a type of fish. I haven't been able to find a packaged mix that doesn't contain bonito so I ended up trying this quick and easy homemade recipe for mushroom miso (I used dried shitake, portabello, and enoki)


 

A bundle of enoki mushrooms

The soup is surprising hearty—using enoki gives the texture of noodles in your soup.


Ingredients:
5  cups water
1/2 cup of dried mushrooms
2-3 tablespoons miso paste
3/4 pound assorted, thinly sliced mushrooms (shitake, oyster, enoki, king, lobster etc)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red bell pepper, diced
300 grams tofu, cubed
2 green onions, chopped

Directions:
In a large pot, bring the water and dried mushrooms to a boil. Turn off the element, and let the mushrooms steep for about 15 minutes. Add the miso paste and mix well.

In a skillet, saute the mushrooms in the olive oil. Add the bell pepper and continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes. Add the mixture to the miso broth along with the tofu and green onions.

Serves 4
Nutritional Breakdown Per Serving
  224 Calories
  8 g Fat (29.1% calories from fat)
  12g Protein
  32g Carbohydrate
  6g Dietary Fiber
   0mg Cholesterol
   337mg Sodium

Veganism myths debunked: Infographic

Love this infographic from Mother Nature Network that lists a variety of common myths and false perceptions about veganism... http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/stories/veganism-myths-debunked-infographic

Among them:

1. Vegans don't get enough protein
2. Vegan diets are unhealthy
3. Being Vegan is Expensive

Bet you didn't know these things were made from animals!

As if it isn't enough that you to have to read the ingredients to find hidden animal by-products like lard and gelatin, here's a list of everyday items that surprisingly could contain animals...

1. 1. Toothpaste (eeewww meat toothpaste)
2. 2. Tires on cars or bikes (may contain stearic acid)
3. 3. Stuff made with wood like furniture or wooden musical instruments because they are glued together with animal based glue.
4. Biofuels (there's actually chicken and beef biodiesel)
5. Fireworks (stearic acid again)
6. Fabric softener (tallow is the culprit here)
7. Shampoo and conditioner (wtf!)
8. Plastic bags (again...wtf?)

Add to this list sugar which I previously blogged about and wine (blogged about in Is your wine vegetarian? )

Read the full article here: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/9-surprising-items-made-with-animal-ingredients.html

Vegan Pumpkin Pudding

Ingredients:
1 lb silken tofu
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup maple syrup
1 cup canned pumpkin, unsweetened
3/4 tsp cinnanom
1/2 tsp mace
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Blend all ingredients in a food processor. The pudding may be a bit runny but will firm up in the fridge.

Pour into four serving dishes

Top with whipped, sweetened coconut milk (or for non-vegan—fresh whipped cream). To make the whipped coconut milk you will need a whipped cream dispenser. This is the one I use from WhipRite: http://www.creamright.com/product/WCD-AM-300BA-AL.html

Pour in chilled, low or full fat coconut milk with a couple of tablespoons of maple syrup. Shake very well to firm up the cream.


Serves 4

Nutritional Breakdown Per Serving (without topping)

   248 Calories
   6 g Fat (20.0% calories from fat)
   10g Protein
   43g Carbohydrate
   3g Dietary Fiber
   0mg Cholesterol
   283mg Sodium

Easy Bean Curry

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 large onion, chopped
1 tablespoon grated gingerroot
1 tablespoon curry powder
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
2 cans (19 oz each) beans (drained and rinsed)(lentils, kidney, romano etc.)
1 teaspoon (or more!) curry paste

Directions:
Heat oil in large pot over medium heat and stir fry the mustard and cumin seeds until they pop. Add onion, ginger, garlic and curry powder and stir fry until lightly colored. Add tomatoes with juice, beans and 1 tsp curry paste (to start!). Simmer for about 20 minutes or until thick and saucy. Keep adding curry paste to taste during the cooking.

Serve with rice, pita, toast, chapattis, or nan.

Serves 6

Nutritional Breakdown Per Serving

  221 Calories
  4 g Fat (15.3% calories from fat)
  11g Protein
  37g Carbohydrate
  14g Dietary Fiber
   0mg Cholesterol
   835mg Sodium

Enjoy Those Schweddy Balls

Anyone who remembers the Saturday Night Live skit with Alec Baldwin and Molly Shannon talking about the Schweddy Balls will love this!

Ben and Jerry's have immortalized the skit with a new ice cream flavour called—"Schweddy Balls".

Note: according to Ben and Jerry's web site, all their ice cream is vegetarian-no meat products used in production.

Nutritional Yeast

I friend at work told me about using nutritional yeast as a protein supplement. I've been using it for about 1 and half years now and I must say it took a bit of getting used to.

First strike against it: The name!
YEAST...that you eat...come on! This doesn't sound palatable at all. When you add the word Nutritional in front it sounds even more gross.

Second strike: The look!
Have you ever had tropical fish as pets? I have. I would feed the them flake food, I think it was called Tetra Min. It smelled like very strong fish. Well nutritional yeast looks exactly like that fish food except it's a pale to bright yellow colour—thankfully without the strong, fishy smell.

Third strike: How it's made!
Nutritional yeast is an inactive yeast and is grown specifically for its nutritional value. Like edible mushrooms it a fungus, howver this type is grown on molasses. It is produced by culturing the yeast with a mixture of sugarcane and beet molasses for a period of 7 days and then harvested.(Wikipedia)

Despite all that, it has an OK flavour, reminiscent of nuts or cheese. High in B12 and protein, it makes a great vegan substitute for Parmesan cheese.

Tomatoe Pie

If you grow tomatoes and find yourself overwhelmed with excess...this is an great recipe to use em up. It's reminisant of a deep dish, cheese pizza. I've had people pile on the compliments, even when they normally don't comment recipes.

Tomatoe Pie
1 9-inch pie shell
1 large yellow or red onion, chopped
3 cups roughly chopped tomatoes, squeezed to remove excess juice
1/4 cup choped fresh basil
3 cups grated cheese (any mixture of vegetarian sharp cheddar, parmesan, monterey Jack, Gruyere or Mozarella)
3/4 cup low fat mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Hot Sauce (or Tabasco)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:
The recipe calls for the pie shell to be baked and then cooled first. Since the pie is going to be baked in the oven for about 20-30 minutes, I figured that I could used a slightly cooked shell. I'm certain a raw crust would be OK but I havn't tried it yet.

Spread the onions evenly on the bottom of the shell. Next, layer the drained, chopped tomaotes and finally spread the fresh basil on top.

In a bowl mix the mayonnaise, cheese, hot sauce, salt and pepper. Spread this mixture, as the final layer over the pie.

Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees C.

Being Vegetarian Does NOT Mean you are going to be Skinny!

I am constantly astounded by the number of ads and media that drills into our heads that veganism or a vegetarian lifestyle is a guaranteed way to lose weight. Peta is the worse culprit of this misconception as their "Save the Whales" campaign demonstrates.

OK, perhaps if you constantly stuff your face with burgers, chicken wings, fish fries, and cheese then changing to a vegetarian lifestyle will cause you to loose weight—but this will happen not because you've sworn off animal products but because your calorie content is lower. That's it!!

If you eat well already—eating low fat cuts of meat, fish, low fat dairy and vegetables—you probably will NOT lose weight on a vegetarian diet.  Especially if you substitute animal protein—low fat cuts of meat, fish etc—for high fat dairy products. You may even gain weight.

So if you think you are going to be skinny by switching to veg, take an honest look at how you eat now (and look at your calorie intake). If you calculate that you'll be taking in less calories by going veg, then you'll have success in losing weight this way. The calories will tell!

Remember—cows can get fat by eating only grasses.

Swiss Chard Pesto

When I here the word "pesto" I always think of the basil, parm and pine nut variety. I've heard of substituting the parm with asiago or romano or using blanched almonds instead of pine nuts, but when I came across a recipe that uses swiss chard in it, I was intrigued. This recipe maintains the basil with the added bonus of the chard. I have lots of swiss chard growing in the garden and haven't had a chance to use it at all this summer so this was the perfect opportunity!!

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cups Swiss chard, with lower stems removed
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup walnuts
2 ounces freshly grated pecorino or parmesan cheese (vegetarian variety)
1/2 cup of packed basil leaves
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
Heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil and wilt the chard leaves in the oil. remove from heat and let cool.
In a food processor combine the garlic, walnuts, basil and cheese. Pulse until the mixture is finely ground and mixed. Add the cooled, swiss chard and mix well.
Pour in the olive oil and mix until fully blended. Refrigerate or freeze.

Ginger Pumpkin Bisque

The word "bisque" traditionally is used to describe a soup made with lobster or shell fish of some sort. Alternatively it is can be used to describe soup made with roasted vegetables. For this recipe I used roasted pumpkins instead of the canned variety therefore—bisque!

Possible Recipe Substitutions:
Olive Oil: Pumpkin seed oil can be substituted for the olive oil. It will give your soup a darker colour and a deeper flavour.
Shallots: The recipe also calls for 3/4 cups of shallots. If you don;t have them handy (or don't want to pay the crazy price) you can use one of the following substitutions:

• 3/4 cup sweet onion + 2 tablespoons chopped garlic chives
• 1/2 cup regular cooking onions + 1 crushed clove garlic

Apple Cider: The 1/2 cup of apple cider can be substituted for any one of the following

• 1/2 cup beer
• 1/2 cup apple juice
• 1 medium apple (juiced)

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil or pumpkin seed oil
3/4 cup chopped shallots
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1/4 cup unbleached flour
4 cups vegetable
1/2 cup apple cider
1 (15- or 16-ounce) can pumpkin or 4 cups fresh, cooked pumpkin
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
1 teaspoon dried sage, crushed
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/16 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup half-and-half or whipping cream

Topping (optional)
Whipping cream or low fat sour cream
Fresh thyme


Heat oil over and add the shallots, onion, and ginger; cook until tender.
Stir in the flour and cook for 1-2 more minutes. Pour in the broth and cider all at once, stirring constantly to avoid lumping. Cook and stir over until thickened and bubbly.
Mix in the pumpkin, maple syrup, bay leaves, dried thyme, cinnamon, pepper, and cloves.
Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.
Remove from heat. Discard bay leaves. Cool slightly.
Blend the mixture in batches using a blender or food processor.
Once the entire lot is smooth, return it to the saucepan and stir in the cream.
Heat through, but do not boil.

When serving, swirl a little sour cream (or whipping cream) into each bowl and garnish with fresh thyme.
Makes 6 servings

Is your wine vegetarian?

It would be a natural assumption that all wines are vegetarian, right? They are made from grapes and other additives that are not animal based.

WRONG!

Unfortunately some wineries will use an animal-based product called finings to remove the small impurities in the wine. Since most finings do not remain in the wine, the wineries do not need to list the finings as an ingredient. Because of this you will not know if the wine you are drinking is vegetarian unless you direct questions to the manufacturer.

Luckily there are web sites that already have that info:

• Veggie Wines
• Vegitarian Network Victoria
• Frommers Vegan Wine Guide
• Barnivore

Unfortunately, many wine makers change their recipes from year to year so a wine that is deemed vegetarian one year, may not be in the next.

Goat Cheese, Tomato and Arugula Pasta




Arugula growing in my garden

 This year was the first time I've planted arugula. The stuff is growing like wildfire and is crazy-ass hot (spicy)!! It's so strong tasting that I can't imagine using it in a salad so this recipe is perfect.


Ingredients
5 1/2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
2 cups coarsely chopped arugula, stems included
1 1/2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
2-3 cloves of minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
8 ounces penne pasta

Directions
Cook pasta until al dente.

Combine goat cheese, arugula, cherry tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, and salt and pepper in a large serving bowl.

Drain pasta and toss with goat cheese mixture.

New Marketing that Reveals Animal Welfare

I recently tweeted about a new rating system that is being introduced by Whole Foods Market.
The system shows a 5-step animal welfare chart. The plan is to color code labels on all animal products so that consumers can make informed chocies when purchasing these products.

Although this doesn't prevent cruel conditions, it could send an important message to the farmers if this catches on.

Garlic Bok Choy Stir-fry

I know this sounds wierd, but I frequently have extra bok choy in ny fridge that needs to get used up. This is a quick and tasty side dish. It calls for brown sugar however you can substitute any sweetener that you prefer.

Garlic Bok Choy Stir-fry

1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon ginger, freshly grated
2 cups shiitake mushrooms, chopped, stems removed
6 cups bok choy, chopped into 2 inch strips
2 red pepper, sliced into thin strips
2 tablespoons tamari sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice  or white wine
1 tbsp brown sugar (or maple syrup for vegan)
1/4 cup cashews or raw peanuts for garnish

Preparation:
In a pot, heat up the sesame and olive oil.Add the onion  and cook until soft.
Add the mushrooms, garlic, ginger and red peppers. Cook until peppers are just beginning to soften.
Add the remaining ingredients, and cover for two to three minutes to steam bok choy.

Serves 6

Nutritional Breakdown Per Serving

  331 Calories
  7g Fat (15.5% calories from fat)
  11g Protein
  69g Carbohydrate
  11g Dietary Fiber
  0mg Cholesterol
  394mg Sodium

Curried Carrot and Ginger Soup

I'm not too fond of cooked carrots however I needed to use up ~2 1/2 lbs of carrots. I didn't have enough carrots to juice for this recipe so I decided to modify a soup recipe from the Oprah web site:

Curried Carrot and Ginger Soup 
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 1/2 pounds carrots, scrubbed but unpeeled, cut into 1/2-inch thick rounds
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon grated ginger root
5 cups vegetable broth
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste


Preparation:
Heat up the oil and add onion, celery and galic. Cook until softened. Add carrots, curry powder and ginger.
Mix well and cook for another minute or two.
Pour in broth and cook uncovered until the carrots are soft (approximately 30 minutes).
Puree the soup in a food processor or use an immersible hand blender.

You can serve the soup like this or add 1 cup plain nonfat yogurt or light coconut milk into the entire batch. I choose to stir in 2 tablespoons of non-fat sour cream into each serving.

Serves 6

Nutritional Breakdown Per Serving
 228 Calories
 6g Fat (22.4% calories from fat)
 7g Protein
 39g Carbohydrate
 8g Dietary Fiber
 2mg Cholesterol
 1410mg Sodium

On the menu today—Veggie Rolls

The first time I tasted a veggie roll made with rice paper, I was quite turned off. I was used to eating spring rolls and egg rolls that are deep fried. The filmy, see-through, sticky white rice paper seemed almost gross to me and it was quite a few years before I tried it again.  

Luckily I am a firm beliver in trying something at least three times before swearing it off totally. With that rule I find there are only a few things in the food realm that I absolutely do not like after multiple attempts—parsnips, herbal teas and cilantro (being top contenders) That being said, my second attempt at trying veggie rolls (with rice paper) met with better success.

 To buy one, pre-made Veggie roll at the sushi section in my local supermarket it costs about $5 (includes dip) for one roll. If you make them from scratch you could probably make 6-8 roll for the same price. Needless to say I have since started making them at home.

Here's how I make mine:

Veggie Rolls
6 large, round rice papers
6 leaves of romaine lettuce
3 avacados
1 large English cucumber
1 super large carrot (shredded)
1-2 tablespoosn of rice vinegar

Preparation:
You can purchase already shredded carrots, but it is cheaper to do it by hand. If you have a mandoline the slicing is made a bit easier.

Once shredded, pour a tablespoon or two of rice vinegar over the carrots and mix well. I will sometimes prepare this a day ahead, leaving the carrots in the fridge until I'm ready to put the rolls together.

When you are ready to assemble, then cut the ends off of the English cucumber then split in in half down the entire length. Split each half into three separate pieces, lengthwise.

Wash and pat dry enough romaine letuce leaves - one piece per roll.

To assemble:
Dip a single sheet of rice paper in water for about 20 seconds. Place the wet sheet on a large plate.
Place a single lettuce leaf  in the middle of the sheet. Line the middle of the leaf with the shredded carrot. Try to make sure that the carrots are not too wet from the rice vinegar (strain or pat dry if neccessary ). Place one piece of cucumber lengthwise down the centre and then place slices of avacdo along the strip of cucumber.

You are now ready to roll! Working with rice paper can be difficult but gets easier with practise. If the paper was soaked enough, it should be filmy and slightly elastic. Pull the paper as taught as possible while rolling, tucking the ends in as you go.

Goma—Sesame seed dressing

Enjoy with a Goma dipping sauce—a Japanese salad dressing that is made with sesame seeds.