Vegan Me(lanie)

    Wednesday we had family dinner at my house. This usually entails me cooking for 6-15 people. I aim to do it once a week..but more recently it has been somewhere around once a month. Breakfast for dinner is one of my favorite things to do…because in reality, breakfast is probably the best meal of the day (let’s be real).

     The last two dinners I’ve made for the fam have proven a new challenge-I have to make vegan food taste good to them as well. I recruited my new kindred spirit Mike to cook with me. We (okay Mike was more there for moral support) made Seitan Sausage from The Chicago Diner Cookbook, Blueberry Cornmeal pancakes inspired by the lovely ladies of How It All Vegan, some homemade hashbrowns and fresh fruit.

Homemade Seitan (to be used in sausage patties)

The Spread

     Alicia Silverstone makes veganism look like a walk in the park. Yesterday Sam lent me Silverstone’s book, The Kind Diet. The tagline is “a simple guide to feeling great, losing weight, and saving the planet,” which sounds fine, but I’ve got some reservations. Her chapter on mainly eliminating sugar from her life really resonated with me, as did her steady approach toward her “Superhero” diet of macrobiotics.

     There are three different dietary choices that she discusses: flirting, veganism, and superhero. Flirting is for those that are too nervous about jumping right into veganism, and just want to test the waters. It’s not really my style to flirt (with dietary choices of course)-I’m much more successful with an all or nothing deal.

     Her take on veganism is pretty standard, and she offers up a “vegan pantry” as well as a hoard of recipes. My large objection is to her Superhero diet, that will prove near impossible for those of us living in winter hell for 4 months out of the year.

     The “Superhero diet” is really just a cool moniker for macrobiotic eating, which has a focus on eating whole (“macro”) foods with little processing (life (“bio”)). Silverstone focuses on natural foods (awesome) that are in season (sounds great), but the oddity for me comes from the restrictions that the diet places on people. While most of them are all in moderation…the goal is to really stick to the tenets.

Here are a few to ponder:

1) Little to no spices, because they are “powerful.” Too bad spices like tumeric have been linked to cancer reduction among other things. I think I just don’t like this one because I really like spices.

2) No sweeteners. Fine. That’s fine. I’m doing great over here right now, definitely don’t want chocolate right now.

3) Nuts in moderation. Eh, I’m not crazy about nuts now anyway. Stupid nuts puns.

4) Fruit as an occassional treat. If I can’t have sugar GIVE ME FRUIT DAMMIT.

5) No “nightshade” veggies (i.e. potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, peppers). Get real Silverstone…duly noted that they cause inflammation that make you more susceptible to things like cancer and heart disease…but I can’t do much without having free vegetable reign.

6) No soy milk. I like almond better anyway! Take that!

7) No processed foods. This is a winner…probably the best part of the macrobiotic diet.

     While I think it has some merits, especially in the underlying philosophy of becoming one with nature and shit…the bottom line is that for most people, this is not a feasible diet. Since a wide variety of fresh vegetables aren’t around all year in Michigan, it is hard to already reduce the limited amount of local vegetables that are available. Now we get no potatoes (and you are also supposed to stay away from chard and beet greens, so cross those off of your Farmers Market shopping list). On top of that, I’m not sure what information to believe about the benefits/problems associated with eating foods like tomatoes or swiss chard. While tomatoes have been linked to reduction in inflammation…I would tell someone to eat a tomato over a piece of high-protein low-fat cheese ANY day of the week.

     Anyway…at the end of the day, going vegan in comparison to following a macrobiotic diet is too easy not to try.

     The first time that I was introduced to Project Flavor I was pissed off. It was Festifall ‘09 on the Diag, and every club that exists (more or less) had a booth. Everyone basically tries to sell themselves (for club members, not money) using t-shirts, bags, candy and the like. Usually clubs get hundreds of interested people that day, and if they’re lucky, they get a few winners. I was initially drawn to Project Flavor because they had baked goods. From far away, it looked like some banana bread or maybe a cinnamon sweet bread. Unfortunately for me, by the time I got there, the bread was gone. Now while most people would move on to the next booth of free shit, I got hooked.

     We cook gourmet meals at the Ronald McDonald house (where families stay when they have kids in the hospital) about every other Friday. As much as possible, everything is from scratch. Our budget is $100 per cookdate, and we need to feed 40 people. The menu is different each week, and we plan what we want to make a few days before that (to leave time for grocery shopping). Contact us at: projectflavor@umich.edu.

Making bread!

You can never have too many onions?

     This past Friday I convinced the leadership board to do a vegetarian (and mostly vegan) cookdate! The theme was Italian and we made gnocchi with a tomato (soy)cream sauce, stuffed onion and parsley bread, white bean soup, spinach lasagna (not vegan), and tiramisu cupcakes (not vegan).

Saucy.

     We ended up having some issues with the potato gnocchi holding together, so we had to add some egg to bind them. I am going to try to fix that recipe that we found to make it legit vegan.

Stuffed bread

     Slightly un-related, I was really craving sweet potato fries on Friday. The late night snack hit the spot.

Sweet Potato Fries

    Mom is going to get mad at me for saying that she never taught me to cook much…but really, she never taught me to cook much.

EDIT: Like I said, Mom got mad at me. So she wanted to also let it be known that she taught me to grill as well. Mom can grill better than any man I know.

I learned at a young age how to make chocolate chip cookies (I will be veganizing them next weekend), which I blame for my sugar addiction a little bit. That said, I didn’t really learn to cook actual food until I took it upon myself in college. But don’t blame her, it’s not really her fault that she didn’t cook with me a lot, because her mother didn’t really teach her to cook either. That, and Dad wasn’t the most adventurous eater around. Anyway…

     To make up for her prior shortcomings, she passed on her cabbage soup recipe to me a few years ago. It is not only filling, but it makes great use for all the odds and ends in your fridge and freezer. It’s also really cheap to make a ton of soup.

     Anyone else have that soup multiplication problem? When you start cooking, you think that it will make a few servings, and then at the end you have 30 cups of cabbage soup and only 1/4 of a freezer worth of space? Welcome to yesterday.

     As promised (and this does make 30 cups for the record) …

Cabbage Soup Recipe:

-16 c. red/green cabbage (thinly sliced)

-3 12 oz. cans diced tomatoes

-2 large onions (I used a red and a Spanish) (diced)

-4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)

-4 zucchini/squash (diced)

-1 6 oz. can tomato paste

-2-3 c. green beans (cut into bite size pieces)

-2 bay leaves

-1 T Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base (THIS IS MY JAM. GO GET SOME ASAP.)

-1/4 c. spices (Oregano, Basil, Thyme, Mrs. Dash-whatever you want!)

-2 T oil

-5-10 cans of liquid

Variations: You can also add basically everything but the kitchen sink here. God I kind of hate that phrase…so just add all that extra stuff that is taking up valuable fridge/freezer space. For instance, I sometimes use corn, okra, celery, or chard stems.

Note: Don’t worry about being exact with the ingredients. That’s the beauty of this recipe-you just work with what you’ve got.

Recipe:

1) Saute onions and garlic in oil until translucent.

2) Add in carrots and saute for another 5 minutes.

3) Add in diced tomato, tomato paste, Better Than Bouillon, and enough water to cover the onions and carrots by an inch or two.

4) Bring that up to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes, while you chop the rest of your veggies.

5) Add in the rest of the veggies, spices, and water to cover. Let cook for a few hours, until cabbage is tender. It will be stew-y, so feel free to add more vegetable broth to make it more soup-like.

     Growing up with a mixed background (Irish, Scottish, Ukrainian, German…), I felt slightly disconnected from culture. I had a lot of Ukrainian influence from my Baba, but on my Dad’s side, there wasn’t a ton of culture in my life. St. Patty’s dad was really only the day for green mashed potatoes and beer, which looking back seems kind of lame. Couldn’t I have gotten my yellow#5 and blue#1 any day of the year? Whatever, chocolate-green milk was pretty kick ass.

     Now the holiday in college has taken on this whole new persona. People go crazy for those tacky light up necklaces (that sometimes would make anyone go in epileptic shock) and anything green. The weather also has this ridiculous effect on people. They wear less clothing, which causes them to drink more, remove more clothing, and then drink more because they realize they’re half naked. It’s this vicious cycle of shit-show-ery, that can start at 8 a.m. because it’s St. Patrick’s Day! Fortunately I was lucky enough (and c’mon I should’ve been as an Irish gal) to witness some drunk messes in my classes. It’s the Michigan difference!

     Anyway I decided to celebrate my making a little thing called Irish Soda bread. I’ve had it numerous times before, but always felt like it lacked moistness that made it worth my time. I got inspired last night, and hit up the People’s Food Co-Op for some last minute ingredients (apple cider vinegar, raisins). They were out of caraway seeds (apparently everyone else had the same brilliant idea that I did to make Irish Soda Bread…), so this recipe lacks ‘em. Next time I will likely put them in, just to see if I like it.

     In slightly other news, I tested out my new camera! The bread pics are from it, and I’m pleased. It has a food setting. For nothing else, this camera is winning (Charlie Sheen style).

     I also dabbled with a Seitan recipe. Seitan is this great protein source that is made from viral wheat gluten. For me it tastes less like eating a sponge than tofu. My recipe is a work in progress. I’ll keep you posted.

Here’s the Irish Soda Bread:

2 c. soymilk

3 T apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)

2 c. unbleached flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

1/4 sugar (turbinado or evaporated cane sugar works well)

1 1/2 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

1 cup raisins or currants (I used both)

2 T Earth Balance

Preheat oven to 350.

1) Combine soymilk and vinegar in a small bowl.

2) Whisk together dry ingredients, saving a little flour on the side.

3) Mix the raisins with the reserved flour until they are coated (this helps them keep their shape!), and add them to the dry ingredients.

4) Add Earth Balance and break it into small pieces in the dry ingredients.

5) Add the wet to the dry and slowly knead until just combined.

6) Dump the dough onto a greased pan and form into a circle. Place an “x” across the bread.

7) Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until done!

Irish Soda Bread!

     I have been having these nightmares where I eat dairy. Two nights ago I had a dream that I had an ice cream cone in my hand. I noted that it was dairy-licious and knowingly decided not to eat it. However, a few seconds later I realized I was eating it unintentionally. I woke up with extreme anxiety. Looks like veganism is sneaking into my psyche. Better there than anywhere else right?!

     I hate wasting food. More than that, I love that crusty stuff that forms at the bottom of the pan whenever you’re making something. I also have a penchant for getting the last drop of sauce out of a bowl (use some bread!), licking the cookie beaters, and eating the skin of things like acorn squash. Most people think I’m crazy, but in reality I’m just a bottom-feeder. Someone needs to eat the scraps, and I’m telling you, this is seriously the best part of a dish. When I scrape out a pot to serve some sassy vegan dish for people, I am just hoping that I will get some of the slightly charred, fantastically flavorful bits.

     Now at work on Tuesday my girl Melissa told me that in Spain, they call the “crust” socarrat. The word is usually used to describe the layer of rice that forms on the bottom of a paella pan, but in my case…I’ll likely use it a little more broadly. There, they even fight over rice crust. It’s beautiful-all the sudden I’m not crazy, but I just live in the wrong place. I’m not complaining if it means that I will end up fitting in, in Spain.

Jambalaya socarrat!

     At work, we made this kick-ass Jambalaya…but I was more interested in the bottom scraps. I mean check that picture-I swear the flavor floats to the bottom or something.

     Today I decided that the hardest part about being vegan is not the no dairy and no fish, it’s the stigma that people carry with them about vegans. There’s a questioning of my decisions more than I have ever had. But while there are a lot of quiet vegans, this girl ain’t one of them. Feel free to question my choices-but don’t think for a second that I won’t question yours right back. :-)

     My newest conclusion is that people equate being a vegan with having some incurable disease. This weekend I had two restaurant ventures, and both times when I told the hostess that I’m vegan, they got that look. You know the look, where they get all shifty eyed, and look like in their head they’re thinking, “Oh, god, I’m so sorry for your loss.” But they don’t say that. It’s something more like, “You’re vegan…um, well, we have salads?” If I wanted a salad I would have stayed home and made one the size of a cookie-mixing bowl, like I do when i want a salad.

     But you see, I didn’t want a salad this weekend. Saturday night I went to dinner with my friend Robert who went to Brazil with me last summer. We are both passionate about food, and spent probably hours gearing ourselves up for the cuisine in Lima, Peru as we traveled by bus across South America. We ended up at Cafe Zola for a late dinner, where I got the look from the hostess, and then the waitress who the hostess needed to check the vegan status of things with. The waitress said that no worries, they had a pasta dish with a vegan pesto sauce! For some reason I was a little hesitant, and questioned to see if they were using egg noodles with it. “Yeah, there is egg in it,” she said. Then it isn’t vegan. C’mon. Luckily, the chef said she would prepare something special with whole wheat pasta or their cilantro rice. At that point I was pretty excited about this special treatment, impromptu dish from the chef/owner. I left it up to her, hoping that in the kitchen she would have an Iron Chef or Chopped moment and get super creative without being able to use dairy.

     The waitress brought us out some vegan-friendly bread from Zingerman’s (and some olive oil for me instead of the butter Robert got) and olives before dinner. Per usual, I drank about a gallon of water waiting for my meal (it gets worse if I have a straw). I’m that person who they leave the pitcher with because I got through it so fast.

     Anyway, they brought my dish out. It was whole wheat pasta with snow peas and peppers, in a chunky marinara sauce.

Pasta

     Now I’m not one to judge food by the presentation because I have had some damn good plates that look like hell, so I waited to make my judgment until after first bite. Then I made my judgments. I was really bland. Thus I added some salt and pepper (I guess she thought vegans can’t have seasonings?). It was palatable, but not really that salvageable. I asked for some of the vegan pesto that goes on the extremely non-vegan pasta, and that helped a bit. At the end of the day though, it was pasta with marinara sauce. My picky sister that eats 15 rotational meals would eat it, and (no offense Liv), that means it doesn’t have enough going on to make it worth my time. The fact that there was not a vegan main dish on the menu initially should have deterred me, but I was feeling ambitious about people accommodating vegans. At least dinner was in good company?

     For some odd reason, when my Dad came to drop off some stuff for me yesterday night, I forgot about the Zola experience and was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed ready to find another restaurant! I chose Grizzly Peak for its appeal to my Father, the quintessential meat and potatoes man.

     I figured that I would be able to find something and if all else failed, should be able to get a few sides and a salad. Well, we walk in and I get the look. Again. In the end I just sucked it up and became content with my salad fate. I at least figured I would get one damn good salad. Again, I was proven too open-minded and naive. I got the salad with beets, apples, and hazelnuts, and had them throw on some cukes and tomatoes for good measure. They forgot the nuts. There were 5 beets slices on it. I could’ve gotten a better salad in the dining hall. ‘Nuff said.

Sad salad

     Dad and I had some good conversation, which meant that I completely owned him in a debate over eating meat. We went into ethics, religion, the environment and health, as he ate deep fried cod matched with deep fried french fries. Maybe the umpteeth time I berate him, he will think about making some changes. 

Vegan Restaurant Rating (thus far)

1) Jolly Pumpkin

2) Cafe Zola

3) Grizzly Peak