Saturday, February 27, 2010

A full day's worth of yum!

Today was a busy day as I had both an audition and a rehearsal. Plus they were nowhere near each other, so I decided it was a good time to try out a new convenience food I picked up: Trader Joe's Vegetable Masala Burgers.








When you take them out, they resemble round frozen hash browns!! The box says "fully cooked, just heat and eat" but then directs you to brush them with ghee or oil prior to cooking them. Well thanks to the excellent influences of the vegans over at Fat Free Vegan, I have been trying to avoid as much unnecessary added fat as possible. Well I am very glad I did because check out how much oil "oozed" out of the burger while it was sitting on the plate:



I decided to fix it in a pita with a avocado sandwich spread that I whipped up the other day. It was basically the flesh of a VERY ripe avocado, garlic and onion powder, almond milk to thin the mixture and lime juice to help prevent browning. It is pretty good on sandwiches as a mayonnaise alternative. Here's the finished sandwich:


After my audition, I whipped out my trusty lunch box and ate my burger. It was lukewarm and very tasty, BUT with 8 grams of fat, only 2 grams of protein and only 1 gram of fiber (wasn't this thing supposed to be ALL vegetables?) it won't be replacing my regular lunches very often.



Dinner was much better. For one thing, it wasn't room temperature! And I didn't eat it in my car! Learning about the benefits of Allium veggies (onions, garlic, leeks etc...) during yesterday's health videos gave me even more reasons to load up on the garlic. So I made my FAVORITE Brussels's sprouts, which are simply broiled with salt, pepper and tons of garlic until they are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I used to hate the sprout until I had it this way, now...Yum!



(Seriously, I was the only one home for dinner and this pan had been full!)



To go with it I made Seitan stew. I had no set recipe, instead I sort of "winged it" as I went along.




I sauteed onion, celery, carrot, red pepper, mushrooms and garlic. Then I added chopped seitan and seasoned liberally with thyme, rosemary, red pepper, black pepper and a pinch of salt and sage.

Next I stirred in about a cup of white wine and boiled for a few minutes to cook out the alcohol. Then I added 2 cups of water and bouillon cubes to match the volume of water (I chose to use a vegan chicken flavor).

After letting this cook for a while, I added about a cup of almond milk, returned everything to a boil and then thickened it with cornstarch.

For a quick, spur of the moment dinner it turned out tasty and filling!


On a separate note, please send me happy, warm thoughts for tomorrow as I am singing on a benefit for Haiti. It would be nice to not only provide a good concert but also to help earn a decent amount of money to send to our charity, Save the Children. We got a write up in the paper if you want more information: www.examiner.com .

Friday, February 26, 2010

Health videos that are PRO-VEGAN!

First of all, I wanted to share with everyone something I saw for the first time at Trader Joe's yesterday. I was walking down the freezer aisle grabbing bags of veggies and fruit when suddenly a new small bag seemed to glint in the fluorescent light. The Trader Joe's near my house now carries frozen pomegranate seeds! (If you have already seen these and they are not a big deal to you... feel free to skip ahead with my apologies....) I had read that they had existed but I hadn't yet had the opportunity to buy them at any of my local stores. They are already cleaned, separated and ready to use. I threw some in my salad today and it was wonderful, tasty and hassle free! Tomorrow I think I am going to try some in my soy yogurt.

Now the real reason for my post is this: Recently someone emailed me the link to a series of the most interesting you-tube videos ever. These are a summary of many of the year's medical and nutritional findings. They are actually very interesting AND pro-vegan. I won't post EVERY video, just a few. If you want to watch the entire series, please check them all out on youtube.

Here is the first one just so you can get the set up:



Skipping ahead, it seems vegans are healthier than the average American:



Also it seems veganism can prevent and improve diabetes!



I am not going to post the entire series but I encourage you to check it out! To me this was pretty exciting news since these studies were from recognized groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the AMA. It is always nice to have some real data stashed away for when people tell me that soy will cause memory loss or that I will get diabetes from all of the carbs in a vegan diet!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

these are a few of my favorite things!

I am such a bad blogger, bad face-booker and emailer too.... It seems I get so busy living life, that I forget to check in with my "virtual" life tools. As a result it has been a month since my last post!

The key lesson I seem to be working on right now is balance! Just like we should balance our diets, we have to balance our lives... and it's that balancing act that can often push people over the edge. So while I realize that my new year's resolution was to be a better blogger, I hope everyone will understand that that is a resolution in progress.

Moving on, here are a few of the things that I am most in love with right now (in no particular order).



Baltimore Vegan Drinks- I know I have mentioned this group/ activity before and there is another event coming up on March 5th! The guys at Dionysus have come up with a great vegan food AND drink menu, so if you are free check it out. Last time I totally fell in love with their organic tomato vodka cocktail. Yum!







Larabars- Recently I picked up one of these little bars, after reading about them on several blogs and even in an old copy of veg news. I honestly didn't believe that they would be so awesome but... they were! The ingredients are all real food, they are 100% vegan, 100% raw and tasty. Man are they tasty, as in ADDICTIVE!!! Plus the one I picked up was very helpful in one of those "emergency" situations we vegans sometimes find ourselves in. You know the one where the non-vegan carefully plans a vegan meal for you (as a guest). They kindly and carefully omit all animal ingredients, but you are left with about 75 calories worth of salad/ steamed veggies. They really meant well and most likely don't realize their gaff. Without some sort of snack I am left hungry AND exceedingly cranky in those situations... with it I am able to remember my social graces.




Chia Seeds- As an alternative to flax seed, these little crunch seeds provided much needed omega 3's and delightful in almost anything associated with breakfast, including smoothies, soy yogurts, and even oatmeal. I have even eaten some straight out of a teaspoon a few times!


and finally I am loathe to admit that I have begun drinking the most fluorescent concoction on earth,
GATORADE on all of my runs that last more than 30 minutes. Although I don't exactly love the taste, eight ounces mixed 50/50 with water seems to help with both hydration and fatigue for the next day. And before you swear that its all in my head, you should know that I swore by watered down juice for years on hikes and during hot yoga. But there is something about the makeup of Gatorade that seems to work better when I am running. Better than the juice, better than the various homemade concoctions that are on the net, better than everything except well... Gatorade. Do I like it? NO Is it cheap? NO Is it natural/organic? CERTAINLY NOT.... SO if anyone has a tried and true organic alternative let me know but until then, I guess I am drinking the stuff.


Oh and then some good foods! First from Iowa Girl Eats, I veganized her recipe for Crockpot Baked Potato Soup by 1) replacing broth with "not chicken" and reducing to two cups 2) replacing the milk with 6 ounces of almond milk 3) omitting the bacon and butter (it was already rich enough) 4) substituting DAIYA cheese It was unbelievably tasty! And although not vegan, she has many great tips and recipes which can be modified. She is a great blogger AND much more consistent than me!

And then, I found a recipe for veggie lomein in an old newspaper clipping. It took some revisions to veganize and make it taste good, but here is what I ended up with. This makes two generous servings, quickly!

Vegan Veggie Lomein

Ingredients:
4 ounces dry somen noodles

Sauce:
1/4 cup vegetable broth (or use "not chicken" if you prefer)
2 tbs red wine or sherry
1 tbs oyster sauce ( I found a vegetarian one at a local asian mart)
1 tbs cornstarch
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp 5 spice powder
3 tsp sesame oil (divided)

Veggies:
3/4 cup onion
1/2 cup carrot
1/2 cup celery
4 tbs garlic
1 tbs ginger
4 ounces pea pods
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 cup frozen spinach
1 cup frozen chopped broccoli

Method:

  1. Prepare all vegetables by chopping into equal sized pieces (mince garlic and ginger)

  2. Put a pot of water onto boil.

  3. While waiting on water combine sauce ingredients in a small container and stir or shake well.
  4. Add noodles to boiling water, after 3 minutes turn off heat and drain.

  5. Heat a large wok or non-stick skillet and add 2 TBS of the oil. Stir fry the veggies in this order: Onions, carrots & celery, frozen broccoli, pea pods & bell pepper, garlic and ginger and finally the frozen spinach.

  6. Add the strained noodles and stir to combine.

  7. Pour in the sauce and combine everything, stirring for 2-3 minutes.