my year of living veganously

Four weeks vegan...

Well, well, well. Just like that, in the blink of an eye, I've been living veganously for a month. What have I learned in the past four weeks?

• I don't miss dairy. And for those times I want it--because of habit--I can use alternatives, like soy creamer and purely decadent soy ice cream.
• I once left a cheese stick in my pocket overnight and was amazed at the gelatinous, waxy object it became. Perhaps it was doing the same thing inside me for all those years?
• I feel better. Lighter. As if I'm processing the foods I'm eating more efficiently.
• I definitely have more energy.
• I am a more intentional eater. I stop myself from mindlessly reaching for something to snack on by checking to see if it's vegan.
• I love trying out vegan recipes.
• Traveling-while-vegan is actually easy. It just takes some planning and voicing preferences when choosing restaurants. At a recent client dinner, I asked the person choosing the site to choose a restaurant with at least one vegan option, even if a salad. I took apples, the most amazing easy-to-peel clementines, and raw almonds with me on the trip so I would always have a vegan snack handy during the week, and could eat them for breakfast and/or lunch if the work options weren't vegan. I could have bought them once I got to my destination, but business trips are always so busy and I couldn't rely on finding them. I wanted to be sure I had options. It was such a treat to sit in bed at night reading Coetzee's Disgrace and eating clementines.
• Ahem. I've also learned that it is just as possible to eat a junk food diet while vegan as it is while non vegan. I could eat vegan cookies and cakes all day long if I wanted to, and so another set of choices arises--within a vegan diet, opting for raw, fresh veggies and fruits over processed foods is my next area of focus. Perhaps I've gotten Purely Decadent Pomegranate Chip and Peanut Chews out of my system.
• For the next month of living veganously, I'm going to eat raw until dinner and see how that goes...

Sometimes easy is good

Sometimes making it easy to eat vegan is as close as chop, chop, chop. Every night when I prepare veggies and fruit for dinner, I keep my handy-dandy covered, divided Rubbermaid container at the ready and stock it full.

So when I reach in the fridge the next day for a snack, well, imagine my sheer, unrelenting delight when I find it there, full of raw, vegan goodness. It makes me feel virtuous.

And that's a very good thing. Otherwise, I'd be left to gnaw Peanut Chews until the cows come home, and that's just not right.

Crunchy goodness

I'm undeterred by my older daughter's pronouncement about my new favorite vegan snack, Ryvita Pumpkin Seeds and Oats crispbread: "It looks like the snacks I feed the horses."

Lucky horses. Salty, crunchy goodness.

And for dessert? The Fruit Crunch version.

Vegan restaurant alert - Portland, Oregon

As I see them, I'll collect and post what look like great vegan restaurants to try when I'm traveling. Here's one for Portland, Oregon - will have to check it out this summer when I'm there!

Get Sconed posted today about a meal at Nutshell: "all vegan, sorta upscale, vegetable-focused restaurant in Portland...(there are no fake meats, tofu or tempeh on the menu)" and linked to this review: "Plate-licking-good is how I would describe Nutshell. Or maybe it’s, can’t-get-it-out-of-my-mind."

Am putting it on my list.

[photo from here]

Anatomy of a Snow-Day Dinner

Snow day. Two kids home from school. Dog with an itch. Two cats with slightly irritating meows after hearing them for eight hours straight. Black beans. Perfect storm.

"This is a good day for Black Beans in Chipotle Adobo Sauce, Raw Fennel with Orange Zest Salad, and Vegan Skillet Corn Bread," I thought to myself as I sipped my morning tea with soy creamer. Or maybe I was thinking about how to hide in the upstairs bathroom for a few hours without anyone noticing so I could read the ending of Ian McEwan's The Child in Time.

I started by soaking dried black beans.

Vegan skillet corn bread from Veganomicon (big surprise). With skillet sauteed white corn thrown in. Earth Balance "butter." Black beans cooked with a large white onion halved in the pot, then discarded. A HOT HOT HOT sauce made from chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, which I first saw here and wanted just because I loved the can. Rice from my beloved cooker.

Is it possible to make a delicious corn bread that is vegan? Um, yes. Yes, it is.

And a simple raw fennel salad that was so cool and crisp, a welcome antidote to the HEAT of the chipotle sauce on the beans.

Fennel Salad

Bulb of fennel, sliced thin
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon fresh-ground pepper
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1/4 teaspoon fresh orange zest

If I had some, I would have added a little chopped fresh parsley. And some orange slices. But I ate those slices before they got a chance to join their friends, the Fennels.

A nice snowy evening's dinner. I obviously need an apron and a nice strand of pearls if I'm going to keep this up.

Butter is so....90's

The modern dilemma: What to spread on my sprouted toast in the mornings? Earth Balance. A great substitute for butter not only on toast, but in baking. Go forth and balance.

• No Hydrogenated Oil
• Non-GMO Ingredients
• No Trans-Fatty Acids
• All Natural (NO PRESERVATIVES)
• No Artificial Flavor
• Lactose Free
• Gluten Free
• 100% Vegan

Two weeks vegan...

Today marks two weeks of veganhood. Vegandom? What have I learned, gained, lost?

I've learned:

1. That I have more energy on a dairy-free diet and feel lighter because food moves through me more quickly and fully
2. That being vegan means more intentional eating, which is a good thing
3. While I'm experienced at going to dinner parties as a vegetarian, going to dinner parties as a vegan is tricky. I need to work on that
4. That making vegan soup on Sundays is a good thing--it provides me with lunch through the week
5. That I never really learned to cut a mango
6. That I love my new cookbook, Veganomicon

I've gained:

1. The real taste of foods--the overwhelming sweetness of fruit, for example
2. A realization that I like eating more simply
3. A knowledge that food is fuel, not comfort or solace or replacement
4. A better place for food in my life
5. That this feels like a meditative practice

I've lost:

1. Though I didn't do this as a way to lose weight, I've lost 5 pounds in two weeks without thinking about dieting

Purely decadent

I don't really eat ice cream all the time. Don't get the wrong idea. Most of the time, I'm gnawing on celery sticks.

But a friend told me about Purely Decadent dairy-free ice cream and I felt compelled--you know, as a friend and all--to try it. I picked, by pure chance, the most delicious flavor in the whole entire world.

Pomegranate Chip. Run. Get it. Oh, my.

Spaghetti Squash Mexicana with Tropical Avocado Salsa Fresca

Some people cook their way through The Joy of Cooking. I've decided to cook my way through Veganomicon.

Tonight? I landed on pages 178-179: Spaghetti Squash Mexicana with Tropical Avocado Salsa Fresca.

Even as I chopped the tomato, avocado, pineapple, and cilantro for the salsa, I knew it was going to be good.

I put the spaghetti squash in the oven to bake, and created the spicy black bean concoction that accompanies it with onion, garlic, jalapeno, coriander, chile powder, cinnamon, and more.... The colors and aroma were wonderful. I'll definitely make it again. The salsa could be used in other dishes; the black beans would be great over rice, too.

Loved it!

[photo from here]

Coconut mango goodness

In December each year, Edy's brings out its special edition Peppermint ice cream for the holidays.

I quite like it. With those little cold frozen chunks of hard peppermint candy in it like little treasures from the depths of the North Pole itself. Thrown in as if by little Santa elves, just for me.

What to have in those moments of craving a cold, sweet dessert now that I've gone vegan? I've never liked the thought of soy ice cream or, worse yet, ice cream made from brown rice. Something about the idea of it didn't sound good to me. I couldn't imagine trying it.

Just one more example of the prejudices we build in our heads unrelated to reality. I had never tried soy or rice ice cream, but hated it just the same.

Then my husband brought home Good Karma Coconut Mango Organic Rice Divine because he was tired of me opening the freezer and looking longingly at the festive packaging of the peppermint ice cream.

One word: Yum-ola.

I've tried the Coconut Mango and am hooked. Next time I'll also try Mint Chocolate Chip or Carrot Cake. Brown rice never tasted so good.