Update

Just a brief update, in case anyone's checking... I've been completely consumed with my latest "project." ;-) My husband and I welcomed our daughter to the world in early December, and we've been transfixed with her since. Not much time for cooking, though plenty of family members have been helping out, whipping up quinoa or wheat berries & veggies, vegan kale soup, black bean soup, and other veggie-ful meals for us.

Hope to get back to cooking in a bit, but for now, all my attention is blissfully on our new little one. It's a truly amazing time and I am so in love with her!

Baking Buns! And some changes...

So, over the past 5 months I've been baking something pretty special. I've hinted at it a bit ("more to come on that later...") but wasn't ready to share the recipe until now. So what's the recipe? It involves love, patience, and 9 months of baking....

Yep, I'm preggo! There's a bun in my oven. My husband and I are so excited, happy, and let's be honest, a little freaked out!

Read on for more of my experience with food and pregnancy, if you are interested!

Mom's Pumpkin Bread, Veganized!

Thanksgiving day. Christmas morning. Family. Holidays. Pumpkin bread.

These words just go together for me. We can't have a Christmas or Thanksgiving without this bread, and I can't have this bread without thinking about home, family, and holidays growing up. A warm, delicious, soft, incredibly moist, cake-like bread that melts in your mouth with fall spices and pumpkin goodness. The top forms a thin, almost gooey layer of pumpkin that my brother and I would secretly cut off in pieces, like little mice nibbling away at the best part. This recipe has become almost a part of my family identity- it's right up there with steamy Baltimore summers, Cape Cod vacations, New Hampshire lakes, and long car rides in Ford station wagons- and I almost thought about not sharing it to keep the family secret. But, good food is best shared, and so, I give you... the best pumpkin bread ever. My mom's. ;-)

Simple Pleasures

Ok, I'm on a tomato kick. But these little cherry tomatoes looked too good to pass up at the Farmer's market. And sometimes, the best food is just plain, simple, and fresh. Uncomplicated and clean. All I did with this was cut up the fresh, juicy tomatoes, sprinkle a tiny bit of sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper, drizzle a tad of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and add the fresh chopped basil from my back yard.

Served with fresh baked bread from our local shop.

Fresh and yum! For something a little more exciting, see my vegan caprese or tomato pie.

I love simple, easy, delicious healthy food- and I LOVE sharing it with friends & family! It makes me really happy to get other people excited about healthy food... particularly if I've made it ;-)

Other simple pleasures I'm thankful for today:
Sunny days and blue sky
Cuddling with my dog
Being by the water
A scenic long run

Hope you are enjoying your weekend as well!

Happy Vegan Runner

No recipe in this post, just news from a very happy runner- I did the Big Sur marathon yesterday, and it was awesome!! I was very pleased to run faster than I thought I would, and even better, to have felt great the entire race! I kept thinking, "wait, this is a marathon, I shouldn't feel this good" - but I did! The views were simply incredible, the entire race course was just awesome. Picture starting off among giant redwoods at Big Sur, running by fields of cute little cows and rolling green mountains, and then out along Highway 1 along amazing California coastline- just breathtaking. I wrote a little bit more about our weekend away here. Tomorrow, we're off to Mexico to celebrate and relax some more. For more on my vegan marathon eats, read on...

Happy 2012! Let's Go Vegan!

As you can see, I've updated my blog picture and title - since actually, I DO want more cookbooks (previous title: Not Another Cookbook). Specifically, I want more VEGAN cookbooks!

A few months ago I tried out an experimental vegan month, and the seed was planted. I’ve been meat-free for a long time, and though I kept transitioning from different, more ‘true’ forms of vegetarianism, I think I'd fallen into a bit of a food rut. Before trying out a vegan diet, I had always considered veganism extreme and overly restrictive. To my surprise, after testing it out, I actually found my options opened up in new ways, with innovative and delicious recipes and ingredients. Trying a vegan diet for a month not only drove me to try new foods, but also to ask questions about foods I’d been eating for decades. After all this, I kind of couldn't get the whole vegan thing out of my head. I've decided I'd like to more seriously commit to going vegan in 2012. Labels and categories don't always fit perfectly, but focusing on animal-free food and products is something that seems fulfilling and right for me right now.

Vegan & Veg Blogs

When I first tried out a vegan diet, I was just reaching the tip of the iceberg on the vegan (and food) blogging world. Since then, I've found so many more wonderful food sites, so I'm adding to my original list more blogs that have great photos, personality, and recipes. This will be updated, I'm sure!

These sites inspire me to...  (try things like Chia seeds, waste time, avoid work, take pictures of what I eat, spend way too much time trying to take a good photo of food and arranging things on a plate)....... make a better blog (if only I had more time!)

Vegan:

Finding Vegan

The Lunchbox Bunch    Choosing Raw    The Mighty Vegan   

The Happy Go Lucky Vegan   The Vegan Chickpea

Fork and Beans     Vegan Yum Yum
Vegan Yack Attack   Oh She Glows

What the hell does a vegan eat anyway?     Cupcakes and Kale   

Living on the Vedge       Lux Hippie

The Copycat Cook    Sunday Morning Pancakes
The Kabocha Fashionista   Chocolate Covered Katie 

Vegetarian: (and a few non-veg specific)

FoodGawker     Tasteologie

Sometimes I Veg    Vegerrific   The Pastry Affair     Vanilla & Spice        

Fragrant Vanilla Cake

Oh, you're vegetarian?

In college, I studied abroad one semester in Australia. It was wonderful and exciting, but I had to laugh every time I told someone I was vegetarian. The response was unequivocally, "Oh, would you like chicken or fish, then?"

Despite being a country that loves its meat pies, I don't blame the Australians; this was over 10 years ago, and I've gotten that kind of response in many places. It's pretty rare to hear that today, but I'm wondering if it's being replaced by something else...

"Oh, you're vegetarian? Would you like cheese or cheese?"

Enter a new phase of meatasaurus misunderstanding: the Dairy Age. While I'm pretty sure most people these days understand that vegetarianism, in fact, does not include chicken or fish, I'm becoming a little frustrated that the go-to vegetarian dish always seems to be something dairy-focused; pasta smothered in cheese or creamy sauce=dinner or cheese sandwich=lunch. (Ok, it's not that bad here in SF, but we've been traveling a bit recently, and I'm sad to say these are still the primary veg options in many places). This is partly why I recently tried a vegan diet. Ironically, by adopting what is commonly believed to be a highly restrictive diet, I found my options opened up in new ways. By saying no to cheese, eggs, and yogurt, I opened my eyes to new snacks and meals, to more fresh vegetables and fruits, and totally innovative recipes.

I can't say I know I want to go vegan forever, but I can say this: what's wrong with more vegan dishes, more vegetables for the vegetarians (heck, for everyone)? Without thinking about it, I end up eating vegan maybe 70% of my meals when I cook for myself. I think we could all benefit from taking some recipe ideas from vegans.

Here are some vegans posts I've found that dispell some Meatasaurus Myths:

• The protein myth - Dreena Burton has compiled an excellent resource of vegan protein sources, sure to put to death the age-old question of where vegans get their protein. And it's not just soy-based foods: fruit, legumes, nuts, grains, and veggies all contain more than enough protein for healthy living. See her comprehensive post, including plenty of informative graphs and statistics, here. Also, there's a nice write-up of Animal vs. Plant protein in this post towards the bottom of the page.
• The 'say no to everything' myth- (story at the bottom of the post)
• The myth of no options- check out all these mouth-watering photos! (*Update: I've actually found my options have OPENED as a vegan compared to when I was a vegetarian, since I'm more inventive, track down new ingredients, and make myself more exciting dishes).
• And some of my thoughts on the whole vegan thing... here

I've actually found that vegan recipes (yes, meaning ones without ANY animal products) are the most creative and interesting ones I've ever tried. And by "interesting" I don't mean "tastes bad"! For the past month, even though "technically" my "vegan month" is over, I've only made vegan baked goods, just because I think it's more exciting (and they taste just as good!). When new and different is also tasty and healthy, why not?

So that's my random, anti-cheese rant. My husband would die. For the time being, I do still like dairy (in moderation)... but I don't want to be forced into having cheese/eggs/dairy be part of every meal when I go out, when there are so many amazing (plant-based only!) other choices out there! I'd just like the non-veggers out there to realize how awesome vegan foods can be, and hey- to live a little and try more of 'em.

Vegan Month - Completed!

The challenge: To try out a vegan diet for one month -July 2011
The reason: I'm vegetarian, and have always wondered how hard it would be to be vegan. And, to keep life interesting. I like giving myself little challenges every now and then.
The outcome: A future of much more vegan cooking & eating.

I never really had seriously considered going vegan. I must admit, even I used to think that vegans were just incredibly restrictive and a little too extreme. Maybe living in California has changed my perception a bit, and the idea of just trying out veganism for a month - just to see how hard it would be - seemed like a good one.

Well, I've been pleasantly surprised. For the most part, during my experimental vegan month, I didn't ever feel deprived. Yes, being vegan often requires a little more planning and effort, but vegans also don't just eat twigs & seeds- there's a whole world of vegan options, especially in California. I don't think ever I've made so many new dishes in one month, so it was an exciting experiment!

Some things I learned:

1. First and foremost- it's not that hard to be vegan! Really! (Well, ok, this is coming from a vegetarian, but it was not NEARLY as restrictive as I thought it would be). Yes, you may need to refuse some things you like (or used to like). But almost always you can a) find a vegan substitute or b) make your own healthier version that will leave you feeling better than if you ate that hunk of cheese or scoop of icecream.
2. There are so many great vegan blogs- Finding Vegan is one of my new favorite sites.
3. It's maybe not such a great idea to over-do it on the raw veggies. (We'll just say it can be ... um... unpleasant, digestive and otherwise...)
4. Fake butter works well in baking, as do egg replacers! You can make a delicious cupcake (including frosting) without any dairy products!
5. Don't eat your delicious new favorite raw kale salad 4 meals in a row. Oh wait... see #3. Seriously.
6. It's better to not have the "fake" item and just choose a different ingredient all together- something natural! For example, soy yogurt is gross. I'm sorry, but it is. Better to just pick something that isn't trying to be something else. Also, I learned that Tofutti's Better Than Cream Cheese tastes just like normal cream cheese, but has 5 grams of TRANS fats (the very very bad for your health kind!) Since I usually have low-fat cream cheese, I think that's a step in the wrong direction. Just because something is 'vegan' doesn't automatically mean it is 'healthy'. (The same goes for vegetarian). I think a lot of people confuse that. Reading ingredients & nutrition info is important.
7. Being vegan isn't just about what you eat- it's a conscious lifestyle choice. I have a lot left to learn about not just vegan eating, but the vegan lifestyle. I'm not sure my "vegan month" was a "real" vegan month, since I was focused on eating vegan, and largely forgot about the other parts. While I have always tried to pick products not tested on animals, I can't say I've carefully scrutinized every household product, personal care item, or piece of clothing I bought. Why shouldn't we all be more informed about everything we eat, use, and wear? The problem is we've gotten lazy (myself included!) and don't put forth the time and effort to find out where our food and products come from. But vegans do.

Life lessons I have a lot of respect for vegans. I think in the past, I've tried to sugar-coat or simplify my reasons for being vegetarian, to avoid long discussions or to make the issue more palatable to the general public. ("I just don't like the taste of meat"- while true, it skirts the topic of a full belief system against animal cruelty). Being a scientist, I completely understand we as humans evolved eating meat; however, the way we eat meat today- where it comes from, how it's obtained, what's in it- is not the same. By being so removed from our food sources, the onus is on us to become informed and make decisions. Going vegan for a month caused me not only to question things, but also to become excited about diet and nutrition again. It's been really refreshing to discover, at 33, that there is still so much I have to learn about something we deem to be as basic as food. Reading ingredients on packages, googling whether something contains animal products, searching for recipes- while time-consuming- was exciting and kind of humbling. Ultimately, what it all meant was that I can still really change and there are still plenty of new things to try. Soooo.... am I going vegan for good?? While that wasn't necessarily the point of my vegan month, I am seriously considering it. Life's a journey, and so are our culinary preferences and choices... so I can't close the book on the possibility. Right now, I'm questioning things (Will I feel guilty about not being vegan? But can I really give up cream cheese and froyo for life? ) I am glad I gave those things up for a while, because I just *might* have been in a yogurt-a-day, cheese & crackers, dairy-high-diet rut. I think my next step is to get more information. I think it's good every now and then to take a step back and really think about what you're eating- whether that's to figure out where it comes from, what's in it, or what it does for your health & well being.

Vegan Month

I've been wondering for a while just how difficult it really would be to go full-on vegan, so I thought I'd give it a shot for month. July is my vegan month! So far, so good- I'm just over a week in, and while it's definitely much more limiting than being vegetarian, I do appreciate taking a step back and really thinking about what I'm eating. Instead of grabbing a yogurt or some cheese & crackers for a snack, I'm eating raw veggies. Instead of ice cream for dessert, I'm having fresh fruit or mandarin oranges. It has been a little challenging one or two nights when we've been out, but I think I definitely don't have it so hard in the Bay Area of California, where almost everywhere you go has vegan and vegetarian options.

But I'm ready to start branching out a bit more from my usual salads and stir-frys, and have been searching for some vegan recipe sites. Here are some I've come across that seem like good ones:

• Vegan Yum Yum
• Choosing Raw
  
• Herbivoracious
• Vegan Menu
• The Happy Go Lucky Vegan
  
• Fat Free Vegan Kitchen
  

There are so many! Click here for a complete list, compiled by Healthy Happy Life. And this site is also great for, well, finding vegan stuff: http://www.findingvegan.com/

Suddenly I'm inspired to make something!

What Veg?

Following my last post, I ALSO often get asked what I usually eat as a vegetarian, and how I get my protein. Well, again, this site has (or will have in future postings!) a lot of my favorite dishes, but I thought I'd also list some of my favorite ingredients and products. Of course, a lot of it depends on the season and/or where you live (fresh is ALWAYS best!), but here are some of my staples:

Proteins:

• Beans, beans, and more beans: Northern beans, Cannellini beans, Whole Foods refried beans with chile and lime, Bush's vegetarian baked beans
• Edamame (soybeans- you can find shelled frozen ones in most grocery stores. My new thing is adding them to salads or as a pre-dinner snack with some sea salt on them)
  

Veggies:

• Asparagus (fresh!)
• Artichokes (I've re-discovered these- I really only like them fresh, not canned or frozen- fun to eat and yummy! When steaming them whole, try adding the juice of 1/2 a lemon to the water, and forgo the traditional butter dip- if they are fresh, they don't need it!)
• Corn (fresh or frozen, NEVER canned)
• Orange tomatoes (a nice change to the regular red, and a great pop of color to any salad)
• Parsnips (OMG, I love Parsnips. Peel 'em, steam 'em, eat 'em).
  
• Spinach
• Snow peas (so crunchy, they make for a good chip substitute as an app with dips, or in your salad)
• Sun-dried tomatoes (they add a great flavor to almost any dish)

Fruits:

• Avocado (yep, it's a fruit; my husband inaccurately calls it "the butter of vegetables"- at least the 'butter of' part is right. Rich in omega-3's, avocados are a healthy indulgence)
• Mango (interesting side note: Did you know the inner peel of the mango contains an oil related to that found in poison ivy? I found this out one summer after sticking my face in a mango peel to suck the juice out. I woke up the next morning to Angelina Jolie-sized lips, which would have been great, except that the swelling was caused by tons of tiny itchy painful bumps that were not only all over my lips but also surrounded them and were all over my hands. Now I can only have mango that has been cut for me.... earning me "princess" status in the mango department)

Grains & starches:

• Quinoa & quinoa pasta (don't know quinoa? see my quinoa post!)
• Soba noodles (recipe containing these to come soon!)

Dairy & spreads:

• Greek yogurt (Fage Total brand, 0% - try it mixed with some fresh or dried fruit and a few walnuts- a great breakfast or snack since it's so low in sugar. It might take a little while to get used to the tangy flavor and whipped consistency, but most yogurt is loaded with way too much sugar so this is a much healthier option)
• Cottage cheese, either non-fat or low-fat (excellent source of protein if you eat dairy. My favorite brand: Cabot!)
• Sabra brand hummus (it's the smoothest, creamiest, best hummus!)

Herbs & Spices:

• Basil (just about everything basil touches tastes good. Don't know what it goes with? Find the book Culinary Artistry- it is the ingredient bible to figuring out what flavors go together).
• Dill- I also like dill a lot, but it's a tricky thing for me. I usually end up adding too much, and dill can go on a power trip, over taking your dish. Be forewarned!
• Spike seasoning- a good addition to any veggie household- easy to add flavor to tofu, broccoli, or other veggies.

That's just a sampling. I love big salads filled with as many veggies as you can pile in, and dried fruit too (cranberries, figs, dates, golden and regular raisins- all good additions to a salad). I'm not gonna lie, there are more than a few times a month we have something like frozen pizza or your basic mac & cheese, but it's always good to add peas, broccoli, and/or spinach to get the green in. I also eat my fair share of protein & power bars (new fav: Power Bar's Smoothie flavor) as a filling fast breakfast or sometimes as a snack. And, I could probably eat cereal (has to be 2 types mixed, and with Silk light vanilla soymilk) for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but I try to stay away from that :-)

Finally, I have a new favorite dessert:
Mochi icecream (Find it at Whole Foods (Bubbles brand) or Trader Joe's. It ain't cheap, but it's different and yummy).

Now that we're through with that, we'll get back to the recipes!

Why Veg?

I often get asked why I went vegetarian. I usually tell people that I don't like the taste of meat, which is accurate, but not the full story. For me, it was not a difficult struggle, where I went through meat cravings or felt like I was missing something by not eating meat. But it was a little bit of a journey to get to being a "real" vegetarian. There was one turning point that helped begin the process for me: when I was around 12 years old, I remember going to a fancy grocery store with my mom; when we walked by the meat counter and I saw the entire raw leg of some fairly large animal, that was it. I was like, aaaaaand, I'm done. Combined with my love of animals, the visual of the leg was enough to set me over the edge. However, I did continue to eat chicken for a few years after that through my teens, if for no other reason than to keep my mother sane while I was still living at home. But after going off to college, and reading the book "Skinny Bitch," I decided I couldn't stomach chicken either.

For a while after that, I was pescetarian- meaning I ate fish- although technically, I only ate "non-fishy tasting" fish, and rarely (I've never really fit into neat little categories!). I ended up cutting out all fish as well, and became full vegetarian (meaning no fish, chicken, or other meat whatsoever). I have also experimented with a vegan diet (additional thoughts on that here), and while currently dairy is part of my diet, I can't say for sure it always will be. I have a lot of respect for the vegan lifestyle (meaning no animal products whatsoever); but I also believe in balanced, healthy eating, and that that can be carved out in different ways for different people.

There are as many different variations to the vegetarian diet- including vegan, lacto-vegetarian, ovo-vegetarian- as there are reasons people become vegetarian.

Over the years I'm finding it is getting much, much easier to be vegetarian; it's more common, there are more options, and non-veggie people are more willing to believe that it's not all about just eating tofu, as I'll hope you'll find on recipes on this site...

For more thoughts on vegetarian eating, click here. Also see posts labeled "food/life."

Online recipes

A few years ago for Christmas I made my family a cookbook, a compilation of our family favorites, complete with the funny family photos to go along with the recipes. The challenging part, though, is that for the most part recipes, and food tastes in particular, aren't really a static thing. Ingredients get altered, or the compilation itself- the group of those favorites- gets added to or edited as time goes on. For example, I adopted a vegetarian diet during my early teens, so those sloppy joes and other meaty items I used to like would not be in my favorites today. Recently I got all gung-ho to make another, updated cookbook, adding some new favorites from my friends and various cooking classes I've taken, when I realized- the last thing I want is another book on my shelf! Most of the time these days, I go online to sites like those listed to the right under 'links' to find a new recipe or inspiration for something to make. I was also happy to find out, in enjoying a new recipe from a friend, that she had a food blog to share her dishes. Why not have my own blog to document my favorites and share them with others? So here we go!