Week Three: The First Big Cave

I caved during Week Three. Oh yah, I caved. I totally saw it coming too. It was impossible not to see it coming. Did I do anything to brace myself? No. This was more than settling for the pasta with pesto cream sauce at a restaurant with practically non-existent vegan-friendly options. This was a willful, conscious decision to say "screw these kinder and healthier choices...temporarily."

Yes, I caved. And it was delicious.

The week started off swell. Monday 3.0 was a Leftovers! day for me while Rob the husband cheered on the Canucks. He even took the time to send me pics of his Rogers Arena veggie burger...

How adorable is that? Adorable or whipped. Or both.


Tuesday 3.0: Scarlett Roasted Vegetables (p. 267) / Scrambled Tofu (p. 283)

This veggie dish was probably one of the prettiest meals we've had thus far thanks to the beets colouring the rest of the veggies during roasting.

I subbed in dates for dried apricots, which made the dish really sweet, and I was surprised at how much flavour it had considering it was really only seasoned with lemon. I've never been the biggest onion fan, and although I've been more open to them in the last couple of months, the onions in the dish combined with the sweetness of the dates flavouring the other veggies did not appeal to me at all. Rob, on the other hand, really loved it, because he digs that sweet onion flavour that I can't stand. This is definitely something I'd consider making for a holiday dinner get together even though I personally don't really dig it, because I can see it being something most people (who aren't onion-haters like me) would enjoy. And it's pretty to look at.

Good thing I also made the Scrambled Tofu, because otherwise I wouldn't have been eating much on this evening.

This is one of those dishes, like the Clean, Mean Burritos, where you can take a lot of liberties and use up whatever veggies are in your fridge (or your Fridgesmart). I used mushrooms, napa cabbage, snap peas, and spinach. With this dish, if you try really hard, you can imagine you're eating really rubbery scrambled eggs (you know, for those who miss having scrambled eggs in the morning). Or you can just appreciate and enjoy the tofu scramble for what it is. This would work well for any time of day, and because it's so simple and versatile, I can for sure see myself repeating this one on a regular basis.

So Monday 3.0 and Tuesday 3.0 got the week off to a pretty good start. But then came Wednesday 3.0.

Two words.

Bake Sale.

Not just any bake sale. A Valentines themed bake sale organized by the cheerleading team for which I am the teacher sponsor. Which means that all the goodies get stored in my classroom first thing in the morning. Which makes my room smell like icing when I walk in. Which I do not get desensitized to throughout the morning. Rather, I stare longingly at all the dairy and white sugar (Nasty foods to avoid  #'s 2 and 3 respectively) adorning the back ledge of my classroom while making sure other students don't try to sneak any samples.

Then it gets better.

Because some cheerleaders are in my morning class, they sell a cupcake to a student, who then proceeds to pull it apart into two pieces before eating, revealing its identity as a MARBLED RED VELVET CUPCAKE.

I still don't cave. I spend the morning thinking of that cupcake, and the way the icing pulled apart like a hundred little fluffy, soft, delicious, sugary angel hands reaching out towards each other.

At lunch I wander between the school foyer and cafeteria, running change between the two selling stations and making sure all is going swell. And then I think that because this bake sale is for a good cause, it would be a very good idea indeed to just give them $20, buy a platter of stuff, and send it to work with Rob the next day. Realtors love cupcakes after all.

So I give them $20 and load up a platter of sugary, dairy-laden awesomeness.

And then it happens. I cave and eat 2 cupcakes and a brownie. 2 sugary, dairy-laden cupcakes and a sugary, dairy-laden brownie.

I knew all along I was going to. Was I disappointed in myself? Not really. Low expectations = minimal guilt after all. No guilt, actually. I was still meat free (Nasty food #1) for two weeks at this point, and I was still miles ahead of where I was a month earlier in terms of making healthier and kinder diet choices.

The rest of the bake sale items did in fact make it through the night at our house untouched, and arrived safely the next day at Rob's office, where they were consumed by 9:43 am.

So yah, caving for a good cause (which, by the way, is a trip to a cheer competition in Anaheim) isn't all bad. I'll just keep telling myself that.

Hopefully I'll still feel this positive next month during the Cheerleading St. Patrick's Day Bake Sale, when I know I'll cave again. Crossing my fingers that they'll have the marbled red velvet cupcakes...those sold out before I caved this time around.

Holy Crap there's a Week Two

It became apparent pretty early during my first week of flirting with veganism that this might actually go beyond a one week fling. The original intention was to make healthier and kinder lifestyle choices, and since I was still feeling motivated to continue making those choices after a week, I figured, why not keep going? Why not indeed.

I decided to more specifically set out the criteria. What exactly was "healthier and kinder" going to mean? The first week had been more about trying out Alicia Silverstone's Kind Diet recipes to see if they were something I could get on board with. And they totally were (yay!), which paved the way for the next logical step...avoiding what Alicia calls the "Nasty" foods:
1. Meat
2. Dairy
3. White sugar
4. Processed food

This had been in the back of my mind during Week One, and for the most part I avoided these foods more than I ever had in the past. But that was only supposed to be for a week. Was this going to be doable long term?

Of course it was. Why? Because I still got to set the standards nice and low. Pretty much anything I did was going to be an improvement compared to the way I had been doing it, and the first week had been pretty fun, so there was no reason why I couldn't just continue the experiment with no timelines. It helped that Oprah aired her 1-week vegan experience show right after I finished my first week and introduced me to the term veganish...not quite as memorable as when she coined the term vajayjay, but a noteworthy moment nonetheless.

My buddy Motivation really liked the vegan Oprah episode and seemed to enjoy when I would post pics of my Kind Diet recipe attempts on facebook and get to chat about good food with friends. He also liked it when Rob the husband would take food to the office to share and when my bff (who initiated this whole thing by buying me the cookbook) gave the peanut butter cups the official thumbs up. Motivation and I had been more rock solid than ever before, and were definitely eager to jump into Week Two...

Monday 2.0: Clean, Mean Burritos *with some alterations* (p. 216) / Tahini Dressing (p. 263) on Steamed Kale

Alicia's burrito recipe allows for some improvisation, so we altered the recipe a lot, using Yves Veggie Ground Round instead of beans and whatever veggies we had in the Fridgesmart. We were also able to use the tortillas and some of the tofu cream from the mushroom pizzas we'd made a couple of days before.

This was my first time eating kale, and while it wasn't my favourite steamed green right off the bat, it demonstrated some potential with Alicia's tahini dressing, and I might make it again in the future (once I've exhausted every other steamed green there is to try). The first time I tried the tahini dressing was on arugula, which wasn't the greatest...much better on warm kale. It sort of reminded me of a Thai peanut sauce, which I wouldn't normally associate with steamed greens or salad, but in this case it worked.


Tuesday 2.0: Sweet Potato Lentil Stew (p. 166) / Sicilian Collard Greens (p. 176) / Cornbread (p. 163)

This. Was. My. Absolute. FAVOURITE. Vegan. Meal. Thus. Far.

This was soooooo delicious. Seriously, just, wow. It all came together so perfectly too. I started with the stew, which Alicia recommended serving with some brown rice, the collard greens, and cornbread. I followed her meal plan and it all worked together brilliantly. Though I've eaten sweet potatoes before, it was my first time cooking with them, and they were perfect... the stew was seriously amazing.

This was also my first experience with collard greens, and it will definitely not be the last. This is a steamed green I can get on board with, and I love that it's so healthy. We subbed in pumpkin seeds and shoyu in place of pine nuts and balsamic vinegar to make it more superhero (as per Alicia's suggestions). Because this was the first time I'd ever eaten collard greens I couldn't really say how they normally would go over, but this particular recipe was really flavourful...kinda sweet and garlicky at the same time (weird, I know...but it totally works) and the pumpkin seeds and raisins were a wonderful accent.

And then came the cornbread.

There are three Kind Diet recipes so far that have gotten me ridiculously excited...Peanut Butter Cups, Caesar Salad, and now, Cornbread.

This cornbread is INSANE. I was pretty skeptical preparing it, as the batter is really runny, it makes a swishy sound when you pour it because of the cornmeal, and I was questioning how it was going to turn into something edible. But much to my surprise, the batter rose and turned into muffins, and holy crap were they ever good...kinda crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, sweet flavour, and stupid easy to make. Rob was instantly hooked...we previewed a couple before dinner with some Earth Balance Butter and could have easily eaten the whole batch.

But we made sure to leave some for dinner, which was, I repeat, my absolute favourite vegan meal thus far.


Wendesday 2.0: Leftovers! With Radicchio, Radish, and Fennel Pressed Salad (p. 256) / Creamy Sweet  *Butternut* Squash Soup (p. 253)

Lots of leftovers made for an easy dinner on this night...veggie ground round from Monday's burritos, Sweet Potato Lentil Stew, and rice.

I also tried out the pressed salad, which Rob was not super impressed with.

It's very lightly seasoned with only salt and the idea was to "sweat" the veggies until they sort of resembled coleslaw. It was all right, and was a nice, crunchy veggie compliment to our leftovers, but not something that I'm excited enough about to repeat again.

I also made a second attempt at the soup, this time using butternut squash instead of kabocha, and I did like it better...it was sweeter, and with the nutmeg it hit all the right notes.

 One of my favourite soups is Wolfgang Puck's Organic Butternut Squash, and while I may still indulge in his more caloric non-vegan option once in a while, I'm happy to have found a very, very easy way to have freshly prepared, vegan butternut squash soup on a more frequent basis.


Thursday 2.0: Warm Potato, Soybean, and Cucumber Salad (p. 178) 

One of my fave dishes EVER is Earl's warm potato salad...lots of cream and bacon and warm potato salad-y goodness. Does this vegan version live up to Earls? Not yet (my palate is still a flirting work in progress), but it is VERY VERY good.

Just like the Caesar Salad, I was skeptical putting the dressing ingredients together...they just didn't seem like they were going to result in something that tasted good. And the ume vinegar gave the dressing a pink colour that (while it was pretty on bok choi) didn't really make the dressing look any more appetizing. But, just as I had done before, I put some faith in Alicia, suspended disbelief, and was again very pleasantly surprised.

The dressing was delicious on the potatoes, and the edamame and cucumber gave awesome texture and variety to the salad. Throw in some leftover butternut squash soup and all is right in the world.

I actually had some unexpected and very non-vegan guests over that night, so I tested out the salad on them...and go figure, they liked it. Or, at the very least pretended to like it...but then again, tact and politeness isn't really their forte, so maybe they did genuinely like it, because they would never pass up an opportunity to make fun of me or this whole vegan experiment. 42 and cd also helped me out by eating some of my ice cream...oh Haagen Dazs...I believe I shall miss you most of all...


Friday 2.0: Caesar Salad revisited (p. 175) / Mushroom Caps with Spinach and Roasted Red Pepper Hummus (Sarah's recipe!)

When I started posting pics of my Kind Diet attempts on facebook, a former student and fellow MT'09er let me know that she had been vegan for 3 months, was LOVING it and was seeing some awesome results. She also told me that I needed to try spinach and hummus mushroom caps, so I offered to swap recipes with her...mushroom caps for Alicia's Caesar Salad. These mushroom caps were delicious (crazy garlicky...not good to take for lunch the day of parent-teacher interviews...or are they?) and made an excellent, light meal.

Here's her mushroom cap recipe, copied from my FB messaging :)

Mushroom Caps

6 White mushrooms - capped off
1/4 cup Fresh chopped Spinach 
3/4 cup - 1 cup Red Pepper Hummus (approximate)
Montreal Steak Spice

1. De-cap the mushrooms and lightly layer the bottom of the inside with chopped spinach. (I did this to help absorb the moisture from the humus to keep the mushrooms from getting soggy)

2. Stuff the mushrooms with red pepper humus (I like mine about 1/2" topped off so that the humus gets a little crispy)

3. Sprinkle Montreal Steak Seasoning Spice on top

4. Bake in oven on foiled baking sheet for 12-15 minutes(?) @ 400. 
(I don't remember how long I cooked them for.. You should check on them at 10 minutes.. the mushrooms should be a little softer and darker) I broiled mine for the last 2-3 minutes to make the Humus a little crispy)

Some people cook their caps for 15 minutes at 425.. I find they're likely to get burned.. Cook them how you like them!

This was my second attempt at this Caesar Salad, and it officially solidified its place in my heart...I just subbed in some vegenaise for some of the dijon mustard which I had found to be just a tad overwhelming the first time I made it, and I was hooked. New Caesar Salad for life. For this, Alicia Silverstone, I am forever grateful, and will honor you with a tattoo of your name encircling a vegan Caesar Salad above the African Daisy on my left ankle.

Know what else I'm forever grateful for? Desserts that kick ass. Such as this Lemon-Poppy Seed Poundcake (p. 188).

The cake itself is stellar on its own, but there are two glaze options, and for me it was the Lemon Maple Glaze that really busted out some super tangy awesomeness on a whole new level. I made the mistake of pouring it over the entire cake, when I'm pretty sure you're only supposed to pour it over a slice when you serve it. To prevent it from getting too soggy (which would have been tragic) Rob and I proceeded to eat the entire thing in 24 hours. I know, I know, but it was for the greater good. It surprised me how simple the glaze was to make...it's nothing more than lemon juice, maple syrup, and kuzu (Japanese arrowroot...I think it works as a thickening agent), but holy crap is it ever good.

This post has just been littered with Holy Craps, I'm noticing. I suppose I should use more variety in my choice of interjections, but I guess using Holy Crap in the title kinda paves the way for subsequent Holy Craps to just sneak into the post. Holy Crap indeed.

Let's wrap this up then, shall we?

Saturday 2.0 was dinner out at Washington Avenue Grill with friends...the appy was easy to make vegan: Mesclun Wild Mixed Greens minus the blue cheese (which smells like vomit and feet anyway...I definitely won't be missing blue cheese). The entree, not so easy...Pesto Chicken Linguini (minus the chicken), but it had a pesto cream sauce which was of course dairy, and the linguini was probably made with eggs. It's a lot easier eating vegan in my own home. But dinner was still thumbs up.

Sunday 2.0 was a Leftover! day. Saturday night's pasta, Caesar Salad, and Rob made veggie dogs. I tried making a Thai curry coconut squash and lentil thing that I found online, but it was bland and boooring. I was trying to replicate the Thai Red Curry Squash I had at Whole Foods the week before, and failed. Crap. No holy this time. Just crap. The recipe search continues.

I also made Oatmeal, Walnut and Dried Plum Cookies (p. 186), but subbed in almonds for walnuts and dates & raisins for the plums. I did something really stupid with the cookies halfway through baking, which resulted in my having to re-shape them after they fell to the bottom of the oven (it'll take too long to explain and this post is already brutally long enough), but I managed to salvage a few and they kicked ass, as do all of the desserts I've tried from this book so far.

Week two...officially summarized. Phew!

That was seriously long. But actually quite therapeutic. Which is good, because I doubt anyone is going to read through it all, so at least I got something out of it *sideways smiley face*

Week one in a (protein-rich) nut shell: Week End

I had made it to the weekend!!

This was pretty cool...I had set a goal (granted, one with low expectations, but a goal nonetheless) and was close to seeing it through. When your goal is to "dabble" in something it makes it pretty easy to follow through.

And dabble in the vegan world I did. Or flirted, if you will. During the last week of January, 2011, I made the effort to make healthier and kinder lifestyle choices.

I ate meat once over the course of the week, as opposed to daily.

I consciously avoided dairy and white sugar, though I know of a couple of times when I slipped up on the dairy thing.

I tackled a few recipes in The Kind Diet, and had been really, really impressed.

So impressed, in fact, that I thought this vegan thing might be all right to continue trying out for a little while longer.

So impressed, in fact, that I went to Ikea and bought a bunch of jars to house the grains and beans and seeds and oats and spices and other things that would likely be recurring characters in our kitchen endeavors.

So pretty :)

Rob the husband was so impressed that he offered to make a vegan meal for breakfast Saturday morning, one I could take to go since I had play practice that day.

Saturday 1.0: Cherry Almond Smoothies

These were great. Rob found the recipe at Whole Foods the night before and was totally excited to try it out. He made it twice over the course of the day. The first batch had a little too much almond butter for his taste, since he's a fruity guy and really wanted the cherries to stand out more. So the second time around he used more cherries and less almond butter and it was indeed better. He tried these again with raspberries the following week, which wasn't as good...a bit too sour. The cherries really went better with the nutty almond flavour in the smoothie. Awww, my husband prepared a vegan breakfast.

Saturday 1.0 cont...Thin Mushroom "Pizzas" (p. 220)

We were going to a birthday party on Saturday night (a Transformers themed birthday party, actually...so awesome) so we made the pizzas for a late lunch. These were a bit pricey, as the dried mushrooms were probably one of the more expensive items we purchased during the epic Whole Foods grocery buy, but well worth it. I love mushrooms and olives (Amy's mushroom and olive pizza is one of my faves), so I was eager to try out Alicia's vegan version.

We had a bit of a hiccup when I realized that the Ezekiel tortillas I had bought not even a week earlier had gone moldy. Boo. I suppose I should have known enough to keep them in the fridge as I got them from the refrigerated section at Whole Foods, but I didn't, so Rob offered to save the day and did a quick run to IGA.

If you're a mushroom fan like me you will love these.

The tofu cream makes a unique pizza sauce, although the amount of tofu cream that came out of the recipe was way more than I ended up needing...we threw a lot of it out the following week :(  In the future I'll just plan for another recipe that uses the tofu cream to make within a few days of the pizzas, or try halfing the recipe. We paired these up with some arugula with a simple balsamic vinaigrette and we were good to go.

Alicia actually featured her mushroom pizza on her Kind Life website last month...it is most definitely worth trying. I'm totally going to give this less superhero version a try too.

Later that night at the Transformers birthday party it was pretty tough avoiding temptation with soooo many yummy foods around....especially cupcakes!! I made sure to load up on the fruits and veggies, scored some delicious crackers (didn't get to check to package to see if they were vegan but whatever), and ate some noodles even though I'm pretty sure they weren't vegan either.

But the effort was there! And I didn't touch the meat (but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to). It's a lot easier to avoid meat when out and about than it is to avoid dairy, because you pretty much know for sure whether something has meat in it or not, but the dairy factor is always a bit uncertain.

And just like that we entered the final day of our maiden vegan week.

Sunday 1.0 was pretty lax...Rob continued his cooking streak with veggie dogs for lunch...

After my first Japadog experience a couple of years ago I started putting wasabi mayo on my hotdogs (soooo goooood), and I was kinda choked that I couldn't have wasabi mayo on my veggie dog if I was going to keep it vegan. Unless they make a wasabi vegenaise?? There's an idea. One can always dream...

OK...I seriously JUST realized after writing the above lamentation that all I need to do is add some wasabi to vegenaise and I have wasabi vegenaise. Problem solved. I actually feel a bit dumb right now and am contemplating just deleting the whole thing about the wasabi mayo, but then again, maybe I'd rather not.

We headed out Sunday evening for dinner at Earls with some friends and their adorable little daughter. This was our first restaurant outing since starting the vegan experience. Alicia offers lots of tips in her book about how to handle eating out at non-vegan or vegetarian restaurants, and it turned out not too bad. I ordered my favourite Rocket Salad minus the chicken, parmesan chips and goat cheese coulis.

The only thing I really missed was the goat cheese coulis...that stuff is crazy delicious. But I still enjoyed my dinner, and by the end of it wasn't really missing the goat cheese as much. Rob went a little less vegan...he had the Mediterranean Linguini, minus the chicken (yay!) but kept the parmesan cheese and feta (meh). Baby steps, baby steps. They were still baby steps in the right direction. And I did have a few bites of his pasta (which was delicious), so I suppose I wasn't totally innocent. We have some Earls gift cards to use up in the near future, and I think that Mediterranean Linguini will be my next choice...I'm really curious about what it will taste like minus the cheese.

Overall, by the end of the first week I was feeling content. There were no real feelings of deprivation...only a little temptation here and there when delicious things stared me in the face (like on Monday 1.0 when I bought cupcakes for a friend's birthday from Cupcakes of all places, and I had to avoid the samples...that was actually pretty brutal, not gonna lie). But at home, grabbing snap peas out of the fridge to gorge on when I came home from work instead of a box of Purdys was not too bad. Because the Kind Diet meals were so tasty, I felt completely satisfied after eating, and because the desserts were so incredible, this actually felt doable for a longer stretch. Rob was totally on board, making this SO MUCH EASIER than I imagine it would be if he wasn't (I have a seriously awesome husband...I really do).  Making the time to cook was going to be an issue, but Motivation didn't seem like he was going anywhere, and I figured that as long as he decided to stick around, I'd take advantage of his presence.

And if Motivation stuck around long enough, maybe I'd start noticing some of the benefits Kind Lifers mention...weight loss, more energy, clear skin, an overall feeling of well being and centeredness, a clear head and a clear heart...ok...getting a little Kumbaya for my own good, I know. Gonna stop there now before I feel compelled to pull out the tambourine.

I guess it's only fitting to end my Week One Vegan Experience Summary with something super awesome, and I don't trust myself to come up with something awesome enough. So instead I offer up Wil Wheaton's latest Stupid Cel Phone Video to wrap up what was truly an unexpected and encouraging week.

Week one in a (protein-rich) nut shell: Part Three

After breaking my 2-day vegan streak I was excited to get back on track. But before I regale the blogosphere (blogosphere...such a bloggy word) with details of the remainder of the maiden vegan week, I need to get back to this meal plan thing for a minute.

If I had realized before how helpful a meal plan was, I think I would have significantly cut down on the amount of processed food I've filtered through my system over the years. Maybe I was just entertained with the novelty of this experience, but it was actually sorta kinda exciting to get home and know what the plan was for dinner on any given night AND rest assured that we had the ingredients to make it happen. I totally see why people are so into this. It makes life easier. Who'da thunk predictability can be a good thing?

Anyways, on to day four.

Thursday 1.0: Ginger Pasta with Zucchini *but I used asparagus because I left the zucchini off the shopping list...oops* (p. 238 ) / Gingered Green Beans with Hijiki *minus the hijiki* (p. 258) / Creamy Sweet Kabocha Squash Soup (p. 253)


Pasta never fails to satisfy.

This dish had great flavour. The ginger made it a bit zingy and the tofu added really nice texture. I was a bit disappointed that I overlooked the zucchini during our epic grocery buy, but the asparagus proved itself a really decent substitute. I never used to be a fan of whole wheat pasta, and now I can't imagine why that was.


The ginger-fest continued with the gingered green beans.

I left out the hijiki even though it was supposed to be a major part of the dish because the green beans were not on the meal plan for the week. I just happened to notice them in the book when I started making the pasta and thought they would compliment the meal nicely. Spontaneity! It worked out well, and the ginger in both dishes was not overwhelming and made my hands smell pretty awesome (if your idea of awesome is hands that smell like ginger). I suppose I should put hijiki on the grocery list for a future Whole Foods trip so I can appreciate the dish as it is meant to be appreciated.

And the easiest part of the meal to prepare...

Alicia absolutely loves kabocha squash, and this was my first time cooking with it. The soup was so incredibly easy to make...just boil the squash in water and mush everything up and you have soup. Stupid simple. I ended up putting it in the blender to make it super smooth. The soup had a slightly bitter taste that I wasn't the biggest fan of, but Rob really enjoyed it, and when he took it to work for lunch the next day someone suggested that he sprinkle some nutmeg over it. I resolved to definitely try that the next time I made this soup, but with butternut squash, which I assume would be sweeter.

Overall, a stellar, satisfying meal for Thursday night.

Friday 1.0: Whole Foods Buffet

Having done more cooking during this week than I would normally do over a few months, Rob and I decided to let the good people at Whole Foods cook dinner for us on Friday night. We've always been fans of the Whole Foods buffet, but we were especially grateful to see how many vegan options they had now that we were looking for them.

This meal was amazing, and looked super colourful and pretty too. Rob really enjoyed the vegan nacho cheese (9:00 on the bowl, which I actually thought was pretty gross), and I fell in love with the Thai red curry squash (1:00 on the plate). OMG this was AMAZING...sweet and soft and warm and coconutty and absolutely PERFECT, so I am now on the hunt for the most incredible Thai red curry squash recipe ever.

It was really inspiring nearing the end of our first vegan week to reaffirm how many vegan options we had available to us. Unfortunately, I realized afterwards that the spinach orzo I so thoroughly enjoyed had feta cheese in the dressing. Oops. Other than that I think we did pretty darn good. Pretty darn good indeed.

Week one in a (protein-rich) nut shell: Part Two

Day one of the vegan experience was successful, which made it relatively easy to continue the experiment into day two...


Tuesday 1.0 - Risotto with Oyster Mushrooms, Leeks and Peas (p. 228)/ Baby Bok Choy drizzled with Ume Vinaigrette (p. 264)

It turned out the mushrooms I bought were brown crimini and not oyster. Oops. 


This was the first time I made risotto on water and not broth. It was still flavourful with the stellar combo of mushrooms, leeks and peas, but I wonder if there is a reason I can’t make it on a veggie or mushroom broth. Hmmm...

The ume vinaigrette was one of the most unique things I’ve tasted. Ume vinegar is super salty, and I thought it’d be overwhelming on the bok choy, but it was a really great balance of flavours, and had a very pretty pink colour. I found myself really enjoying the risotto that soaked it up on my plate too. 

Going through Alicia’s recipes, I noticed she seems to use umeboshi vinegar and umebosi plum paste quite a lot. I had never heard of this stuff before, but my first experience with it gets an official thumbs up, as does our day two dinner. 

And for dessert...Mochi Waffles with Lemon Rice Walnut Syrup (p. 286)

Another first this day...cooking with mochi. This stuff is super super hard, and it softens as you heat it up. I cut up strips of it, put it in the waffle iron, and oddly enough, it kind of puffed up and turned into a waffle. Though the lemon-walnut rice syrup was very tasty, I wasn't super impressed with the waffle. I didn't dig the "ricey" flavour and it was a bit hard to chew. Maybe the flavour and texture is something my non-vegan palate will eventually come to appreciate, as my brain is still used to waffles being soft and fluffy and covered in fruit and whipped cream. Because my Whole Foods Guru really sang mochi's praises, I resolved to try this again, as a waffle, but next time with flavoured mochi...I've seen it in cinnamon I think. I'll also try cooking it for slightly less time, which might help with the tougher texture. A learning curve, for sure. 


The fact that I was actually thinking about "next time" at this point suggested that maybe we would make it through the week's meal plan after all. 

Which brings us to day three...

One of the things I have started doing, which is new to me, is preparing my lunch the night before work. I would normally rarely eat lunch at work (on really busy days I'd barely even notice I was hungry), but it became quickly apparent that a) not eating wasn't really getting on board with the healthy aspect of a kinder and healthier lifestyle and b) purchasing lunch from the school cafeteria in moments of extreme hunger would be seriously limiting in terms of vegan options.

So I made quinoa.


Wendesday 1.0 - Quinoa with Basil and Pine Nuts (p. 224) / Crispy Peanut Butter Treats (p. 184)

I've only had quinoa (which I pronounced as kin-oh-ah until recently) a few times, and I really like it. But I think I've always had it prepared on broth. This version is prepared on water, and while the basil gives it a nice, fresh flavour, the dish isn't super exciting. Rob the husband actually texted me to let me know his thoughts on the quinoa when I packed it for his lunch...

Oh Robert :)


I will try it next time (still thinking there's a next time!) on a veggie or mushroom broth, and perhaps one day my palate will learn to appreciate quinoa for what it is with no bells and whistles.

The crispy peanut butter treats, on the other hand, were delightful.

Mmmm...just like a peanut butter rice krispie treat. Like all Alicia's recipes so far, this was super easy to make. Definitely easier to stir than traditional Rice Krispie treats, as the brown rice syrup is less sticky than marshmallows. I used raisins instead of chocolate chips to make it a bit more superhero. It made a really great snack, and didn't last very long on the kitchen counter between the two of us picking at it. We're not at superhero status yet, and portion control isn't quite factoring into the equation at this point.


The quinoa was for lunch. We had dinner plans that night with friends at their place. When my lovely friend found out we were trying out the vegan thing for the week, she messaged me asking if that meant that dinner needed to be vegan. Since we were just easing into this whole thing, I was happy to eat whatever was the plan for dinner that night, but I offered to bring a vegan dessert. So we had a very un-vegan Wednesday 1.0 dinner (chicken paprika and egg noodles...which were definitely worth breaking the 2.5 day vegan streak for. YUM.) 


But we followed it up with a very vegan dessert...Alicia's chocolate peanut butter cups, of course. I swear those things are spiked with crack. I know there shouldn't be crack in them, because I make them from scratch, but it's like the combination of ingredients somehow causes a chemical reaction that creates a form of crack. Those things are just ridiculously yummy and make me feel ridiculously happy. Kinda like Tylenol 3. 


Was that an inappropriate prescription drug reference? Oh well, I plead new blogger ignorance. I'll be pleading new blogger ignorance as long as I can. 


I have a feeling the peanut butter cup is going to be a recurring character in this blog.

Week one in a (protein-rich) nut shell: Part One

Summing up the first week of this vegan experience might result in an insanely loooong blog post, and I'm still not sure if that's ok...so I guess I should break it up or something? Yah, perhaps.


I had never made a meal plan before. I had never really considered it necessary, because that's something that only hyper-organized domestic engineers or supermoms do. I think I always knew that even if I did make a meal plan, it would be too easy to deviate from it at the first sign of inconvenience and succumb to a bowl of popcorn doused with white cheddar seasoning (which has served as dinner on a coupl...several occasions). 


A meal plan for the week was necessary in this case, though, because grocery shopping for random ingredients wouldn't have worked so well. So I got out the purple mini post-its, bookmarked a few of the especially awesome looking Kind Diet recipes, scored a bunch of Visa points at Whole Foods, and proceeded to lose my vegan virginity.

Monday 1.0 - Polenta Casserole with Seitan (p. 223) / Caesar Salad (p. 175)

The polenta casserole looked delicious in the book...

My version did not look quite as firm...

I think I misread the recipe...I used some leftover polenta I had and just a little bit of cornmeal, along with more cauliflower than I think I was supposed to. The result was a mushy and runny (but still quite tasty) casserole. 

This was also my first time eating seitan. This stuff does not look appetizing coming out of the package, but it was very nice in the casserole. I will definitely be repeating this one...and hopefully doing it right the second time around.

Alicia has these little writeups before every recipe, and her commentary on the caesar salad was “This is the greatest Caesar salad on the planet. Period.”

Now, Rob the Husband and I are huge Caesar salad junkies. I grew up on my mom’s amazing homemade dressing, and have found some very decent bottled substitutes for the days I want to be a lazy cook (which is pretty much always). Alicia’s claim that this was the best Caesar salad on the planet period, though encouraging, was not something I expected my non-vegan-slightly-snobbish-when-it-comes-to-Caesar-salad-palate to agree with. I was no more optimistic as I was putting the ingredients into my magic bullet. Almonds? Tahini? Dijon? Seriously? None of these computed with my Caesar expectations. But I suspended disbelief, blended everything together, and had a taste. 

Wow. 

Just, wow.

**side note...the salad is on the right of the pic...on the left is my runny polenta casserole on some wilted spinach...clarification just in case the casserole looks like a giant crouton**

This was good. Very, very good.

The dressing is very tangy, flavourful, and bold. This isn’t just delicious as a vegan option; this is delicious. Period. I didn’t even miss the bacon bits and parmesan, which are staples in my caesar salads. If vegan food was going to be like this, I was seriously starting to think this week wouldn’t be so difficult after all. 

I have also been converted to homemade croutons...I will never buy them again. Making your own is SO EASY and they are SO YUMMY. Rob the Husband was eating the leftover croutons like a snack afterwards. 

The only thing I thought I would try differently next time is maybe halfing the amount of mustard in the dressing and subbing in some vegenaise. Because we eat a LOT of Caesar salad, more as a meal than a side, the mustard becomes a bit strong over the course of the meal. But overall, I’m so thrilled to have found my new caesar salad :) Yay!

And for dessert...

Ahhh peanut butter cups. The reason behind this whole vegan odyssey. If these didn’t deliver it would have been tragic. But they delivered. Oh, did they ever. I mean, peanut butter and chocolate is pretty promising, but non dairy chocolate? I used vegan chocolate chips from Whole Foods’ 365 line, as the carob chips I tried were yucky...chalky and salty. Bleh. These 365 chocolate chips, however, tasted like...chocolate chips. And melted beautifully and poured silkily over the peanut butter and seriously, how is this desert non-dairy?? 

Doesn’t matter. It’s delicious. 

Vegan day 1 = Great Success.

Vegan-ish

Loved Loved Loved Tuesday's Oprah.


What are the odds? I start flirting with the vegan thing and a week into the journey they air Oprah's 1 week vegan challenge. Crazy informative, honest, and inspirational episode.


Motivation is pretty pleased with himself. I think he might have some pull with Harpo Studios. This timing thing is working out frighteningly well.


And I learned a new word..."Vegan-ish." I resolve to use it several times this week.