I love winning contests.

My husband and I won a Halloween costume contest for our Racoons in Garbage Can getup. Our prize? Free cupcakes from Divine Cupcake.  If you are in Eugene and have not been to Divine Cupcake yet, shame on you.  Every cupcake is vegan and they have a wide offering of gluten free options.  The cupcakes you see below are all vegan and GF, though you would never know it. They taste just as moist and sugary and delicious as a laycupcake.

Thanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful, I sure enjoyed mine. I spent it with some friends, so I didn't prepare a full Thanksgiving meal.  I should also note that I was reluctant to experiment because there's a lot of pressure to make delicious dishes on Thanksgiving.  I therefore found recipes and only modified them slightly.  Below are the dishes I prepared, links to the recipe, and modifications.  

Roasted Green Beans with Onions and Walnuts

via here

Indian Dahl and Rice

via here

 

modifications: substitute oil or earth balance for butter.

Mushroom Gravy

 

 

 

via here

modifications: I used less oil, used vegetable stock in place of water, added more nutritional yeast, less soy-sauce (I used tamari). Replace flour with gluten-free flour all purpose flour.  I also rehydrated some dried mushrooms, chopped them and added them to the gravy, I then used the leftover mushroom-water in place of regular water.

Ginger Pumpkin Pie

via here

This turned out better then my last pumpkin pie, my last PP didn't have enough sugar. This was plenty sweet and had a great kick to it.

modifications: use EnerG egg replacer in place of eggs, replace half and half with a non-dairy creamer (if using soy, try to use organic), used a regular crust and added a hint of sugar and cinnamon to the dough. 

And here's my plate filled with all sorts of vegan and GF offerings.

Vegan and GF Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie from scratch-scratch: no cans, pumpkin filling from a real pumpkin.


Crust:
1 1/2 c. Gluten Free Flour (Bob' Red Mill)
1/2 tsp. salt
4 tsp. earth balance
4 tsp. vegetable shortening
5 tbs. ice water


Filling
1 Pumpkin pie pumpkin
1 1/3c. soy creamer
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg equivalent
1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 c. hot water

Process
Cut pumpkin in half, scoop out seeds and strings, and placed pumpkin halves face down on baking sheet.  Cover with tin foil, and bake at 350 for 1.5 hours

Remove from oven, and cool.  Scoop out insides.  Mix 1 1/3 c. of pumpkin insides and the rest of the ingredients.  Pour into pie crust, and bake at 375 for 55-65 minutes.

For the crust:
Mix salt and flour in a bowl, add in butter/ shortening in slices.  Continue to mix until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Lightly stir in the water, 1 tbs. at a time, until the dough mixes into a ball.  Roll out the dough into a circle 1/8" thick.  Add to pie dish. 

question of the day

One thought about a raw diet: Many people think it is an "extreme" way of eating. But answer me this, how is a diet consisting of nature's bounty in its purest most nutritious form; a diet that is arguably the best diet for the planet, more extreme than a diet that is based on slaughtering animals, ingesting hormones, and food created in a factory?

Raw day 7

I officially made it through Raw Week 2010. I feel really good, my waist is trimmer (4 pounds trimmer), I don't get 3pm sleepy's, and my face is looking clearer . I think I will try and keep it up, maybe for a month, but to be honest, Thai food is sounding really delicious.

breakfast: nada
lunch: Avocado, mustard, and sauerkraut sandwich on my freshly dehydrated bread
dinner: large salad with garlic tahini dressing
dessert: chocolate brownie bites (raw blondie recipe with cocoa powder)
snacked: raw blondies

Raw day 6

breakfast: skipped
lunch: large Taco Salad, and an orange
dinner: zucchinni pasta in a cashew lemon cream sauce
snack: beet, carrot, and "extras" juice, raw blondies

A raw diet obviously uses a lot of produce, and as such will generate a lot of discarded parts i.e. the tops to zucchini, the greens of a carrot, the peel and inside of a lemon, the stems of chard. I have been saving these 'extras' in a container in my fridge so I could throw them in to my next juice. Waste not want not!
After I drank my juice, I mixed the pulp with ground flax, whole flax, and chia to make crackers

dehydrate overnight.
Recipe

Pasta in a Lemon Cream Sauce
Ingredients
2 zucchini
1 c. of hemp sour cream (left over from taco salad)
1/2 c. cashews (soaked)
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 c. basil
sea salt and fresh pepper
water (add slowly until you reach desired consistency)

make pasta from zucchini, blend all other ingredients in blender. Mix and serve.

Raw day 5

This may be the longest I have ever been 100% raw. I feel great and it really hasn't been much of a challenge. In the evening of day 3 I started to get a bad headache (detoxing). I didn't want to take Advil, so I tried to sleep it off, but around 4 am I couldn't sleep it was pounding so hard, so I gave in and medicated. The next morning I woke up feeling great and haven't felt poorly ever since.

Food Diary
breakfast: A tall glass of "nature's gatorade" aka coconut water.
fun fact: Coconut water is packed with electrolytes.

be sure to save the meat!

lunch: Taco Salad, comprised of Raw Taco Meat, Hemp Sour Cream, avocado, cabbage, tomato, and bell pepper. With a side of Corn Chips
dinner: Salad with Raw Garlic Tahini dressing
dessert: Chocolate Coconut Mousse (from my local market)

Recipes
Hemp Sour Cream, recipe found here, the video gives a great tutorial and demonstrates how to open a coconut
Taco 'Meat'
Ingredients
1.5 c. Walnuts, soaked in water for 1-4 hours and drained
2 tbsp. Cumin
1 tsp. Chili Powder
2 garlic cloves
juice of 1 Lime
sea salt

Corn Chips
2 c. corn
pinch of cayenne
sea salt

blend together in food processor. press flat onto teflex dehydrator sheet or use wax paper, and dehydrate overnight for about 10-12 hours, or until crunchy.

raw day 4

breakfast: slept in!
lunch: freshly dehydrated asian pears
dinner: Zucchini Pesto Pasta
dessert: Raw blondies



Zucchini Pesto Pasta
Ingredients
1 large zucchini
a handful of cherry tomatoes
Raw pine nuts
walnut oil
basil
sea salt
fresh pepper


Process
Make pasta from zucchini. You can do this with an awesome spiralizer. If you don't have one, you can use a vegetable peeler to make long long pasta like strands. Chop tomatoes and add to pasta.

Blend remaining ingredients in blender. Mix with pasta.

Raw Blondies
I don't have exact measurements because I just mixed according to taste and consistency.
Ingredients
raw walnuts
dates
honey
cinnamon
pinch of sea salt

Process
Mix everything in a food processor. Shape into small squares and refrigerate.

...and a picture of the Chocolate Blueberry Banana Chia Pudding

day 3

Day 3
breakfast: Chilled Blueberry and Banana Chia Pudding
lunch: handful of almonds, Collard Wrap
dinner: large cabbage and greens salad w/ Braggs and Hummus
dessert: banana soft serve

snacked on: manna bread with almond butter and honey


Chilled Chocolate, Blueberry and Banana Chia Pudding
This tastes almost like dessert, but is very nutritious. Chia is high in protein and calcium, the fruit gives a natural sweetener, and you get the benefit of chocolate minus the sugar. You can learn more about chia benefits here.

Ingredients
1/3 c. chia
2 c. of almond milk or water
1 tbs. cocoa powder
1/3 c. frozen blueberries
1 frozen banana

Process
Mix chia, cocoa powder, and milk in a bowl, whisk, then place in refrigerator overnight.
In the morning, the chia should be gelatinous. Put chia in a blender with blueberries and banana, blend until well mixed. Serve.

Banana Soft Serve
Ingredients
2 frozen bananas (freeze with peel off)

Process
blend bananas until smooth and creamy, enjoy.

raw day 2

Breakfast: slice of rye manna bread with almond butter (trader joe's has a raw variety), bananas and raw local honey (that happens to taste like maple syrup!)
Lunch: Collard Wraps (recipe to follow)


Dinner: Manna bread sandwich with tomato, avocado, live sauerkraut, and mustard.

Dessert: Chocolate coconut mousse (from my local market)

Snacked on: Hummus and vegetables, mango slices, fresh figs


Collard Wrap Recipe (adapted from Alissa Cohen's Living on Live Food)
Ingredients
Raw Zucchini Hummus (recipe to follow)
Chanterelle mushroom (you can use any mushroom, we just have a bunch of chanterelles that our friends brought back from mushroom hunting)
Onion
Carrot
Cucumber
Tomatoes
Avocado
Large collard leaves

Process
Marinade Onion and mushroom in Braggs Amino Acid for about 10 minutes. Slice vegetables length wise. Lay collard leaf on plate, spread hummus on one side and add vegetables, including marinated mushroom and onion. Roll! Simple, huh!

Now for the raw Hummus Recipe.

Raw Zucchini Hummus (from Kristen Suzanne)
ingredients
2 zucchini, peeled and chopped
3/4 c. raw tahini
1/3 c. lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
1.5 tsp. cumin
.5 tsp coriander
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
1/4 c. fresh basil

blend everything in a blender, with the exception of basil, until smooth and creamy. pulse in fresh basil. that's it!

Some raw business

So some of you may be asking, what's the point of going raw? To put it very simply, and with my little scientific knowledge, here is why many swear by a raw diet:

When food is cooked above a certain temperature (about 110 degrees), the enzymes in the food break down. This means that our bodies have to start using our own limited store of enzymes to aid in digestion. Using up our own store of enzymes causes aging, fatigue, and even decreased brain function. This is why so many people on a raw diet look so young, have lots of energy, and are free from a lot of ailments and diseases.

Also, cooking food depletes the nutrient count, so by consuming foods in their raw state you have more nutrient-dense food, and your body absorbs those nutrients more easily.

Some good FAQ can be found here.
http://www.alissacohen.com/raw_faqs.html
http://www.choosingraw.com/faqs/

there are also a lot of great books out there that go into more detail.

Another thing to note about going raw, is your body will DETOX! Basically, its your body taking out the trash that has been piling up. If you have a lot of trash piled up, your detox will be more severe. If you are already pretty healthy, or even better vegan, it will be more mild. Detox symptoms may include headache and tiredness, but everyone is different. When the body starts to detox is when most people throw in the towel. Don't do this, you will just have a miserable time and your body will still have a pile of trash in its system.

And some tips

• Don't calorie count! don't go hungry. eat if you feel hungry, don't eat if you aren't.
• Always make sure you have food on hand. know what you can eat and be prepared. Too often, you will feel hungry, have no idea what to eat, and give in to cooked food.
• Find a restaurant or two that carries a raw dish, or a hearty salad. That way if you are busy and can't prepare a proper meal, you have a backup plan.
  
• To save money, buy produce that is in season or on sale.
  
• Go Organic! If you can, why go through the trouble of detoxing only to put chemicals and pesticides back into your system? With that said non-organic vegetables is better than no vegetables at all, so if you can't do organic, conventional are fine.
  

raw raw raw

I decided to go raw again. The goal is to be 100 % raw for the next week, and then after that at least 80%. In case you feel like doing the same, I will post a daily food log to help give you some ideas of what to eat on a raw diet.

Day 1
breakfast: apple
lunch: zucchini pasta in a 'cheezy' hemp sauce
dinner: salad w/ veggies and seeds and raw tahini dressing
dessert: raw chocolate coconut mousse
snacked on: cashews, raisins, dates, dried mango.

Current Trader Joe's obsession

Masala Lentil Dip
Very delicious. I plan to try and make something equally similar and delicious, because the little carton never seems to be enough.

Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers

Another recipe that I made up as I went along, so its very simple, and can be altered using any type of vegetables and seasoning. Below is what I had on hand. You will need two pots, one pan, and one baking dish.

Ingredients

pot 1

boiling water

pot 2

1c. quinoa (you could definitely use only half a cup, but Dan has a big appetite so I used a full cup)

2c. water

small handful of parsley

salt

pan

oil

1 zucchini

1 yellow scallop squash

1/2 onion

1 clove of minced garlic

1/4 c. sun dried tomatoes

3 tbs. nutritional yeast

1 tbs. mustard

salt and pepper to taste

baking dish

two bell peppers

1c. tomato sauce

Process

preheat oven to 350

1. cut tops off bell peppers and save. bring water to boil, and place peppers in water until softened. set in baking dish, under a thin layer of tomato sauce.

2. begin cooking quinoa in second pot. season with salt, and stir in chopped parsley once quinoa has finished cooking.

3. in pan, heat oil and saute onion. add garlic, then zucchini and squash. add sun dried tomatoes, and stir in mustard. cook until zucchini and squash are soft. stir in nutritional yeast, salt and pepper.

4. layer a spoonful of quinoa into bell pepper, then layer of vegetables, and repeat until bell pepper is filled. place cap on bell pepper.

5. spread the remaining quinoa and veggies around the baking dish. add the remaining tomato sauce.

6. bake in oven for 15 minutes (this will finish cooking the bell peppers and allow all the flavors to combine)

Donuts!

We are lucky here in Eugene because we have two vegan donut places: Holy Donuts, which also has gluten-free donuts, and the world famous Voodoo Doughnuts. Given that we have two great donut shops, in close proximity, with items I can actually eat, I don't tend to crave donuts all too often. However, when Betty posted a recipe for homemade non-fried vegan donuts, I couldn't resist. The recipe comes from Vegan Yum Yum, one of my favorite vegan blogs.

I followed the recipe exactly, with the exception of :replacing soymilk for coconut milk, and using Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Flour in place of real flour. Also, I don't happen to have a donut pan, so I improvised by using a cupcake pan.
To do this, fill the pan with batter about 1/3 of the way, and bake as directed. Once they are baked and slightly cooled, use a funnel spout to poke a donut hole.

click here for the recipe.


With the left over chocolate, I made frozen bananas.

vegan a go go tip #2

Do your research!

Get to know vegan options at chain restaurants, or snack food items that you can pick up at any store. Por ejemplo, I really like Chipotle's vegetarian salad sans cheese and sour cream. I hold the dressing and get extra salsa, if I am really hungry I get guacamole (at no extra cost, huzzah!) So on long road trips, Dan and I research locations for Chipotle, then make sure that's where we stop for food. If you plan ahead, you are less likely to stop just anywhere, and in your haste devour a cheeseburger.

Also, pack snacks. On flights, we will pack a few pbj's (they transport easily), carrots, and apples. This way, if our flight is delayed, or we can't find any good airport restaurants, we have a back up plan.

cheese-substitute? look no further

I can't believe I haven't done a product review on Daiya yet. I am obsessed. I am typically not one for cheese substitutes, but Daiya is incredible. It is melty, stretchy, soy-free, and incredibly delicious on its own.

Daiya has recently become available in stores nationwide, in pre-shedded packs. To be honest I haven't tried the shredded Daiya, my local market sells it in blocks which is the way I prefer it.

If you are interested in trying Daiya, there is a product locator on their website, though I have an inkling it isn't completely accurate. I typed in "Eugene", and only one store popped up- I happen to know it is sold a few other places. So just look in the refrigerated aisle of you health food store.

Sooooo delicious

I am in love with Turtle Mountain, it is a local non-dairy 'dairy' company here in Eugene, but they sell their products all over the country, and in Canada and Korea too. I particularly like their like line of "So Delicious Coconut" products. This includes coconut based ice cream, yogurt, milk, even kefir.

I was most excited about the Kefir, because this is the only non-dairy Kefir I have seen. It's consistency is between milk and yogurt and it is loaded with probiotics and healthy brain fats.

We have also been into the Minis ice cream bars lately, they are the perfect summer treat.

Potato Scramble

You've heard (or read) about my love of the tofu scramble, and don't get me wrong, I really do love this dish. However, in an effort to eat less soy, I have been trying to find a substitute for the tofu. I knew this wouldn't be an easy task considering tofu is the main ingredient, and it is tofu's crumbliness that gives the scramble-like texture. But I thought of one! Well not an exact substitute, and maybe its a stretch, but it does the trick: The Potato Scramble!

I precooked the potatoes, then shredded them in a food processor. In a pan I added veggies, spices (turmeric, paprika, cumin, salt pepper, basil) and sauteed everything together.

It turned out pretty well, definitely not scramble-like though. I think in the future I will use the potato as a shell and make an 'omelet'.

a dessert

Recently I was asked to bring a dessert to a potluck...a potluck full of non-vegan, wheat-eaters. I was at a loss at what to bring because I knew that the attendees, very familiar with standard pot-luck desserts, would taste a difference in my vegan & gluten-free cookies and brownies.

So, after much debate, and having decided not to attempt a previously untried recipe, I made something up, and it worked! Its basically a nut/date crust, with dark chocolate, dairy free ice cream and fruit. Substitute the ice cream for a raw cream and the chocolate for raw chocolate and you have yourself a delicious raw treat.

Crust:

With ice cream:

With berries:

Crust:

Almonds

Cashews

Dates

Coconut

Agave

Blend together, press into the bottom of a cake pan.

Melt chocolate and drizzle a layer on top.

Then add softened ice cream, more drizzled chocolate and freeze until hardened.

Add berries and extra coconut to the top.

too busy to be vegan?

I imagine probably one of the biggest obstacles for transitioning vegans is time, or lack thereof. What does a vegan on the go do for food? Unfortunately I am an expert on this category; many days I leave the house at 7:30am and don't get home until 8pm. So, over a series of posts, I will share with you some advice and tricks I have picked up.

Vegan a go go tip #1: Make extras!

When you finally get around to making dinner, make a bit extra and right away store some in a lunch container. That way when you rush out of the house in the morning, you don't even have to think, just grab what you already set aside.

If you aren't one for eating the same thing for lunch or dinner, at least make a giant batch of quinoa. Instead of cooking up 1/2c. of grain for dinner, make a batch of 3 cups and then keep in a sealed container in the fridge. You can use it in a variety of recipes throughout the week. Por ejemplo:

• Wednesday night: homemade curry and quinoa for dinner
• Thursday lunch: left overs
• Friday picnic: Veggie stir fry with quinoa thrown in
• Saturday lunch: a large lettuce and cold quinoa salad.

Here's a photo of my lunch:

Sick?

I have this uncanny ability of detecting any sort of bug or virus almost the second it enters my system. I felt this happen on Friday, and what I should have done was go to bed early and keep warm, but I did the opposite and have now unfortunately come down with a cold

As a vegan, the whole chicken noodle soup thing isn't really an option, so what do sick vegans do?

There's Amy's No Chicken Noodle Soup, which is pretty good...

But my ultimate quick-fix sickness food is Korean tofu hot pot with kimchi (hold the egg and meat). I swear this works, my reasoning behind it is: it has protein, kimchi is really healthy, and the spiciness kills whatever bugs are floating around, and gets all the gunk out of your sinuses. Plus on an excitement scale, it beats chicken noodle soup any day.

i'm back!

I have taken a long hiatus from blogging, mostly due to my crazy schedule, but also because I figured no one read this blog anyway. But, despite my still crazy schedule, I have decided to commit to reviving this blog, thanks to one special reader who sent me a lovely email. She said my posts are "great" and she wishes I would write something new...eeee!!! I feel so special.

I will restart my blog with a restaurant review, a new burger cart in town. Being vegan for almost 5 years now, most meat and dairy cravings have completely subsided; however, I still occasionally crave In n' Out hamburgers. Which is why I am always on the look out for a great vegan burger. Since going wheat free though, the search has been narrowed.

Luckily there is a great new food cart in town that specializes in vegan burgers, and get this, they have gluten free buns!

The burgers were great, fries too! The GF bun was a little too dense for me, so I think next time I will hearken back to the "protein style" In' N Out days and just get it wrapped in lettuce.

please ignore my lack of makeup and hair combing...it's eugene.