So I'm Thinking Of Going Vegan

are fruits vegan?

Snort. Of course they are. (A pepper, by the way, although often confused with a vegetable, is definitely a fruit.) And even though I thought the question quite funny, I clearly had not explained veganism well enough to a certain family member. So, to make up for it, I will now list ALL foods (starting with fruit) that are vegan:

• apples
• oranges
• pears
• bananas
• peaches
• cherries
• strawberries
• blueberries
• raspberries
• potatoes
• squash
• beets
• turnips
• kale
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• peas
• lentils
• kidney beans
• black beans
• navy beans 
• chickpeas
• tomatoes
• tomato juice
• tomato sauce
• rice
• barley
• oats
• quinoa
• nuts
• seeds
• bread
• crackers
• pasta
• peanut butter
• jam
• ketchup
• mustard
• relish
• tea
• coffee
• juice
• tofu
• tempeh
• soymilk
• almond milk
• dark chocolate
• chips
• popcorn
• ...

Well, as you can see, this completely incomplete list would get so incredibly long if I actually listed every vegan food that it would take forever to write or read. The point here is that with so many vegan foods the question of "What do you eat?" is pretty ridiculous, and more importantly, everyone already eats vegan food every single day. So tell that to someone the next time they swear they wouldn't ever touch vegan food, snort.

Niagara VegFest was awesome!

Picked up tons of brochures, menus, cards and guides from vendors, restaurants, the Critical Animal Studies program at Brock University, and organizations like Cedar Row Farm Sanctuary and Toronto Pig Save. The stuff above is just a sampling.

Organizers of the inaugural 2012 Niagara VegFest did a great job and 1250 people dropped by throughout the day. Take a peek at their photos, but don't be fooled -- they were taken BEFORE all the folk were packed in! Kid you not, at times you couldn't even move, which on the one hand was great (yay, there's a huge interest in this event!), but also a bit ironic, I thought, given that one of the things we vegans are trying to eradicate is beings being overcrowded, snort. ;)

There were workshops, great speakers, raffles, lots of yummy food (I sampled oatmeal cookies, raw pumpkin cheesecake, massaged kale salad and chana masala for lunch), there were books, tees and pins to be bought, and the day closed with a screening of Vegucated. I had to leave early in the afternoon so missed the film, but am already looking forward to the festival next year. Well done EVERYONE!

Oh, and because this year's festival was such a success, organizers have already promised a bigger venue next time. Woot!

Niagara VegFest!

Will be happening about 12 hours from now. Woot!

cheesecake in a jar heaven

So about three weeks ago I was fortunate enough to visit Rise Above Bakery in St. Catharines, Ontario with my sister-in-law. Treated myself to the cherry cheesecake in a jar pictured on the left and absolutely LOVED it. And I'm not even that fond of cherries, so I was really blown away. Their cinnamon sugar doughnut was also good, and Kyle Paton is a sweetie. No wonder his treats taste so yummy! :)

This cute little bakery also does catering and hosts three-course dinners Wednesday nights, so if you're in the area at all, check them out.  

Of course now I'm drooling and fixated on when I can get my next cheesecake fix, so excuse me while I peruse my cookbooks to see if I can whip something up myself...

Won't be as good as Kyle's though. Sigh. 

p.s. what's your favourite downfall dessert?

the easiest laziest vegan chili ever

This may also be one of the laziest posts ever as I've already added these pics to Flickr, snort, but I thought it was worthwhile reposting as this really is a quick and tasty meal when you're in a hurry and all you feel like doing is opening up a bunch of cans. I know, canned goods may not be your idea of home cooking, but they're handy! 

Anyway, all you have to do is open up and combine the ingredients below. One can of tomato soup (but don't add water as the chili will be soupy enough), one can of red kidney beans, one can of chili seasoned diced tomato (yay, you don't even have to add chili powder if you don't want!) and half a package of Yves Original Ground Round. Put everything in a medium-sized pot, heat, let simmer for a while, and eat! Okay, you could always add additional items, and unlike me, you'll probably want to add more spices, but basically, this is it. Because don't you have better things to do than to spend all of your time in the kitchen? ;)   

vegan culinary confessions

Ready? Well, in a nutshell, I don't really like cooking.

Now that probably won't come as a huge surprise given that I've already confessed to a certain lack of enthusiasm for baking. But I was thinking more about it the other day when I was trying to pinpoint exactly what it is that I don't like about baking in particular, and realized to my shame that it all came down to it being too much work. In other words, I'm probably the laziest vegan in the world! Specifically what I find most annoying about baking is all the precise measuring you have to do. And that is precisely what I like about soup (the one dish I do enjoy making): you just throw everything into a pot in whatever amount you like or happen to have on hand. No recipe to follow, no persnickety measurements, and not even a required order of ingredients. Nope, you just do what you want, and then let it do what it wants for a while. Which maybe makes me more of a culinary rebel than the laziest vegan ever? Oh, and I don't ever put soup in a blender either. If I want it all smushy, I just let it simmer longer. ;)

So given my distaste for dishes that require more than five ingredients (including spices), and more than fifteen minutes of prep time, why do I torture myself and even look at the gluttony of vegan food blogs available? Blog after blog showing me just how lazy, undisciplined and pathetic I am for not creating my own culinary concoctions day after day. And that's the problem of course, because just as I admire flowers and gardens maintained by someone else, I like looking at food when prepared by someone other than myself. But all this blog ogling makes me wonder how anyone has time to do all of this delicious cooking, not to mention cleanup and shopping. Am I a bad vegan for sometimes wishing that I could just pop a pill to get all of my nutrients? Snort.

am I the only vegan who DOESN'T like cupcakes? ;)

I know; I almost feel like a traitor just for saying it! Snort. And it's not as if I hate them per se, but they just don't do anything for me. They don't make me squeal with delight, don't make me go ooh and aah, and they don't (unlike a certain cookbook would like) take over my world in any way. Now before you go thinking I'm the grumpiest vegan ever, I've never really liked regular-sized cakes either. The icing, especially, is usually too sweet for my taste.

And that, at the risk of you viewing me as ultra grumpy, brings me to the commonly held assumption that a vegan diet is healthier. Well it can be, but not always. All those cupcakes and other admittedly yummy vegan desserts can be high in both sugar and fat. I myself gained weight after turning vegan in part because I felt I deserved more treats. Using a generous amount of olive oil when sautéing onion and garlic didn't help either. In some ways, I find eating healthy even more of a challenge these days because I've never liked vegetables much, am not keen on most faux products, and find that beans will only take you so far!

Now another perfectly reasonable explanation for my cupcake aversion could be that I'm not only grumpy but also lazy, and not having easy access to vegan sweets in a small town means that I would have to bake them myself. And baking is NOT something I'm good at, or enjoy. Or maybe my appetite is so large that those little cakes are too darn small for me?

So, do you like cupcakes? Is it unveganly not to? Should there be a support group for cupcake-challenged vegans like me? ;)

a REAL Happy Meal

Oven roasted carrots, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, apple, pear, onion, garlic, and brown beans in tomato sauce. Served on a bright, cheerful plate. Healthy, filling, and unlike at a certain restaurant chain we all know, no sentient beings were sacrificed. :)

a good vegan creamer can be hard to find

I don't drink a lot of coffee, but when I do, I want to enjoy it to the fullest. That meant, before I became vegan, half and half cream. The best alternative that I've found so far is Soy Silk for Coffee. But unfortunately, only one store carries it in the small town I've moved to, and as it's not within walking distance it has to be picked up for me. (I asked one store who carries Earth Balance to stock it, but they said no.) So, I decided to try the items I photographed on the left with the following results.

Rice Dream? Not much of a dream for me. Too watery in the coffee (which I tend to make strong anyway), and it turned my oatmeal to glue. Next, I tried Almond Breeze, which also proved to be too watery, although better with my oatmeal and I didn't mind the flavour. Finally, I used coconut milk. I have to admit I normally detest coconut, but surprisingly I quite liked the taste and it had a nice creamy texture as well. But, it completely curdled my coffee! Although it kind of looked curdled in the can already so maybe it had gone bad? So back to Soy Silk I guess although I hate bothering people to get it for me, or take regular soymilk (not as good) when I run out. What about you? What do you use?

lactose intolerance

Snort. But I find it funny that people view lactose intolerance as a health problem in need of treatment. Um, maybe the body can't easily digest lactose because we're not meant to be eating dairy in the first place? And ethically speaking, since we shouldn't be stealing milk from animals anyway, shouldn't we ALL be lactose intolerant? Maybe vegans need to reclaim the term! And while we're at it, become egg, honey and meat intolerant as well. ;)

so good Veganaise

While I'm still reminiscing about food products, I also don't think I told you that I tried Veganaise this past summer and was pleasantly surprised. Never a big fan of mayonaise (I preferred Miracle Whip in my pre-vegan days); I quite liked this concoction with my tomato sandwiches. Ah, remember summer and yummy field tomatoes? Sigh. Anyway, I would buy Veganaise again although it IS a bit pricey. There are recipes out there though for making your own, but I don't use enough at one time to warrant making a whole batch that will only last for 7-10 days. Unless I'm making potato salad, I guess. Hmmm, maybe I'll have to find those recipes after all.

so nice Noel Nog

 
Before it gets even later in the year and even more ridiculous to still be talking about Christmas, did I tell you that I found vegan eggnog for the holidays? It tasted just as good, except it wasn't as thick as the regular stuff. Will definitely buy again!

  

I do NOT like mushrooms

In fact, as a friend of mine knows all too well, I DETEST them. So you can imagine my surprise then when I found out that the delicious dish I was noshing on (can't remember the specific name) was composed of the fried or breaded (dreaded!) mushrooms. I recoiled when I found out, but have to admit that they were so good that I continued to eat them. ALL of them. That'll teach me! Snort. The buffet to the left at the small but wonderful vegetarian/vegan restaurant called Affinity, was responsible for this minor mushroom miracle. ;)

breaking the tofu barrier

Yep, I finally did it. Made something with tofu the other day and absolutely loved it, which means that I can no longer claim to hate the stuff, and should change the subtitle of my blog if I don't want to be considered a liar. It all started when I decided to bake a vegan cake for my sister-in-law (I'll have to make that a separate post), and bought some tofu in case she wanted coffee icing. She opted for chocolate instead, so I ended up with tofu that I wanted to use up. Consulted my vegan cookbooks, and decided that scrambled "eggs" couldn't be that bad. Chopped and fried a whole onion, threw in some minced garlic, and then added and fried the cup of tofu I had cubed until it had all crumbled and was starting to get browned. Added a big splash of Bragg, and OH MY GOD -- it was heavenly! And so filling, which is great for me as I tend to get hungry right quick. But that all goes to show that it's NOT the tofu, but the tofu maker, snort. I think in my case though I've always had tofu served in fairly big cubed pieces which I found too bland and slippery. So now I know what to do, and hey, I'm even ready to play around with the soft silken stuff for desserts, so bring it on! :)

p.s. haven't forgotten about trying to find some vegan statistics and am working on it

vegans on The Amazing Race!

Yep, there will be two vegans on The Amazing Race premiering this Sunday evening. Eric and Lisa are married yoga instructors, and it'll be interesting to see how they fare. But apparently there was a vegan last season as well (Mike, who appeared with his father Mel), although I don't remember this ever being mentioned. I wonder what he thought of the challenges involving animals at the Phuket Zoo in Thailand? I certainly wasn't too impressed with the elephant portion of the show, and the posing with the tiger just made me sad. In fact, the exploitation almost made me stop watching The Amazing Race altogether.

And what about the food challenges? How as vegans will Eric and Lisa react? Usually the food is meat or fish-based, so would they make an exception and eat items they normally wouldn't? In Season 13, Terrance, a vegetarian, ended up eating sheep, and I think he regretted it. But being vegan means an even greater commitment to not consume animal products in any way, so I wonder how the vegan couple will handle this ethical dilemma.

How would you?

made my own jam!

I'd been meaning to do this for a while ever since my neighbour gave me some of his. So I found a recipe for sugar-free berry jumble jam in The Garden of Vegan cookbook (click on link in Amazon widget if you want more info on the book), and it was super easy. I decided to use a 600 gram bag (equals about 3 cups) of mixed frozen berries instead of fresh, and 1/2 cup of frozen apple juice concentrate. Couldn't be bothered putting it in a blender, so just used my potato masher to squish the berries a bit more. Cooked them for about 10-15 minutes, added the frozen apple juice concentrate, brought it to a boil until it reached a consistency I liked, poured it into a warm glass jar with an air-tight lid, let it stand overnight, and voila! Tasted really good, although I have to admit that buying store-bought jam IS cheaper. But hey, not half as much fun and making my own jam really impressed my mom. :))

Will take and upload a photo when I can, although it might take a while what with moving and all. Hope to be back soon, and hope to post more regularly then too.

expanding culinary horizons

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not very brave when it comes to food. I like dishes that I'm familiar with, am not too fond of anything too hot or spicy, and tend to make the same stuff over and over. And even before I turned vegan I would order favourite items from restaurant menus (not that I ate out a lot), instead of trying something new. But I was in a mall the other day and realized that I was hungry enough that I wouldn't be able to make it home before having to eat. So I walked around the food court looking for something quick, cheap, filling, and vegan. Quite the order! Luckily, I then happened across The True Indian Gourmet where the staff patiently filled me in on what the different dishes were. When I explained that I was vegan, they right away understood and pointed out the dishes that contained no animal products at all. I ended up trying the vegetable samosa, and they let me sample the chana masala (chickpea curry) with basmati rice and boy were they both ever good! Spicy, yes, but I didn't seem to mind, and it occurred to me that maybe I should try more ethnic dishes that I wouldn't otherwise consider in order to literally spice things up a bit. Hmmm.

good soup, but not vegan!

good soup, but not vegan!,
originally uploaded by Tulip Girl.

I could have sworn it was as I checked the label in the store, but after making and eating this quite good soup, I checked the ingredients again and found it contains parmesan cheese. What a bummer. And here I've been eating only vegan stuff without fail for almost a year!

an accidental soup

So I was standing in my kitchen today looking at my fairly bare cupboards wondering what to make (haven't gone shopping yet!), when I spied a can of black-eyed peas. I only had about 1/2 cup of red lentils left, but then remembered the head of cauliflower languishing in my crisper, and voila, another pot of soup was born! Kind of an odd combination of ingredients, but I let it simmer for a while, and it tasted pretty good. :) 

speaking of spuds

Last month's recipe for sweet mashed potatoes reminded me of the time someone gave me a bag of spinach that I didn't quite know what to do with. Even though spinach is healthy and all, I'm not that fond of it and rarely buy it for myself. But I didn't want to waste it, so it finally occurred to me that I could mash it in with potatoes, which I do like! And I have to admit it tasted really good. I first sauteed some onion with garlic, threw the spinach on top, closed the lid and let it cook for about ten minutes. After my potatoes had boiled, I mashed them, then put in the spinach, onion and garlic mixture and mashed that in. Yum!