Vegan Mofo Day 9: thanksgiving in photos

I'm spending the weekend visiting my parents in scenic Kemptville, and enjoying plenty of down-time and the uncanny combination of changing leaves and unseasonably warm weather. Dare I say best Thanksgiving weather ever? We had our big family dinner at my stepmother's family's cabin, which was nice because a) we didn't have to host, b) I managed to avoid spending a lot of time around a turkey carcass, and c) I could bring all my own food and because they're used to my dietary peculiarities they don't ever bother commenting anymore! In fact nobody even voices curiosity about what I'm eating, they just let me go my merry vegan way while descending into their own food comas. Because yesterday was beautiful and I actually had my iPhone in alert, today's post is going to be a mini photo journal.

(breakfast: "Scottish" [aka steelcut] oats with banana and pumpkin seed butter)

(walking to the "island" with Elvis [the poodle])

(local flora given a helping hand -- or stick -- by my father)

(Elvis enjoying the lookout)

On the way to the cabin we stopped at a little roadside vegetable stand and bought some produce for Sunday night dinner. Nobody was tending the stand: a sign asked up to use the "honour system." Love it! Almost as much as I love a giant $0.50 zucchini...

(Elvis enjoying the foliage)

(a little Thanksgiving campfire action)

(dogs and a lake? Thanksgiving win!)

And now here's my personal Thanksgiving feast (I came nowhere near finishing this plate, but it sure looked special all heaped up like that). I made wild rice with kale and portobello mushroom gravy (just portobellos sauteed with garlic and a little olive oil until they get juicy, then simmered in veggie broth and thickened up with corn starch and plenty of nooch), and half a baked sweet potato topped with diced pear, walnuts, and cranberries lightly dressed with maple syrup and cinnamon.

Dessert (not pictured) was fresh pumpkin puree (SO MUCH better than canned, it's barely the same food) blended up with soaked dates and cashews, a little maple syrup, and pumpkin pie spaces, then topped with raw cashew cream. It was basically pumpkin pudding or uncooked pie filling, and it was absolutely divine.

(Look at those shamefully muddy paws!)

Vegan Mofo Day 7: a brief review of the Urban Herbivore

Today was a culinarily unremarkable day. There was a lot of green smoothie, a little bit of leftovers, and most of it was eaten in transit as I went from home to school to bus station to Toronto to Ottawa... But I did manage to fit in one "proper" meal, albeit in a huge rush.

A dear friend met me at the bus station and escorted me to the new Urban Herbivore location in the Eaton Centre's very swanky Urban Eatery. I have fond recollections of tasty grilled paninis and divine muffins sampled when another friend used to work there, and so I had pretty high hopes.

(photo credit)

Because I'm still off gluten and having a hard time with large quantities of raw veg, I opted for a grain bowl. Coming in at over $9 after tax, it's not the cheapest take-out option, but I'm willing to pay more for real food. For that price you get an ample serving of grain (quinoa or rice) with your choice of six toppings from their generous veggie bar and sauce.

I was sort of underwhelmed with this meal. The ratio of quinoa-to-vegetable was off (about 2 cups of quinoa and the stingiest serving of spinach ever) and the tahini sauce, while very tasty, was meagre. I opted for a simple combination: shredded carrots, baby spinach, roasted beets, marinated mushrooms, and a double serving of steamed broccoli. It was nice that they had such simple whole foods available, and many of the options weren't cooked in oil, which is rare. The beets and mushrooms were particularly delicious. Unfortunately, the quinoa had de puy lentils cooked right into it (normally a delicious surprise but not the greatest news for me considering that I'm still struggling with legumes); I ate around them as best I could but still ingested quite a few and had the tummy ache to prove it.

The plus? In half an hour I ate a healthy, balanced meal and was off to the train station. If for no other reason than the convenience I will come back. Though next time I'll probably opt for a salad.

Vegan Mofo Day 6: photo fail!

I'm having a really hard time getting into the habit of photographing the food I make. Case in point, tonight. I had two lovely ladies over for what we've been fondly calling "Trouble Table" dinners (that is, when we eat out we're always the "trouble table," harassing the staff with all our dietary restrictions: gluten free, vegan, soy free, legume free... Tonight we had a beautiful dinner of roasted acorn squash and eggplant, sauteed broccoli and bright red chard stems, roasted red, yellow, and green peppers, sprouted lentil and walnut balls, and raw fermented cashew cheese, followed by raw mini chocolate and lime cheesecakes (eaten with much oohing and aahing and mmming).

All the food was beautiful and simple and satisfying, shared with wonderful friends and a huge bottle of wine. But when I'm having lots of fun eating great food with my friends, taking photos is the last thing I think of doing.

Perhaps I was not meant to be a food blogger after all?

Vegan Mofo Day 5: the smoothie of my dreams

I love smoothies. I love them so hard. And I'm not a smoothie snob: I love them all. I love my spinach-and-kale-packed green smoothie that makes my roommates gag, and I love me a giant booster juice on a hot summer day. But the smoothie I had for breakfast this morning was something special.

Okay, it is not the most attractive smoothie in the world (khakhi is not a colour we associate with deliciousness). And it is not assisted by my drinking it out of a one litre Sleeman's beer stein. But forget about appearances! This was all about TASTE.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
serves 1-2 depending on COMMITMENT

Ingredients:
1 frozen banana
1 scoop protein powder (I used 1/2 scoop plain and 1/2 scoop vanilla chai Vega Whole Food Health Optimizer, hence the greenish hue)
1 handful raw soaked almonds and 2 cups water, or 2 cups almond milk
1/2-1 cup roasted squash or sweet potato (you could use canned pumpkin here, but I'm certain part of what made it so delicious is the use of home-roasted organic sweet potato)
cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg to taste

Blend the dickens out of it. Drink with great relish. Seriously, you should have seen me with my arm elbow-deep in this cup scraping out the last vestiges of smoothie. It was embarrassing.

Vegan Mofo Day 4: in which my blender gets a lot of use

This evening I got home from a long day of email-answering, grade-calibrating, and Evelina-reading, and wanted to do nothing more than spend my night in the kitchen. And that is exactly what I did.

After whipping up a quick dinner of sauteed garlic, ginger, kelp, and purple kale, in a simple miso-tahini sauce (served over more white rice -- naturopath's order!) I turned to the four huge jars of nuts that I'd left soaking overnight: macadamia, almonds, cashews, and walnuts. I had a plan to make an exciting surprise or to for my aforementioned foodie friend (who surprised me the day after my exam with a delightful raw chocolate torte).

First up: Mini Lime Cheeseackes

(date-macadamia-coconut crust)

(blending up the filling with my trusty Bamix)

(the completed cheesecakes, ready to go in the freezer)

I was inspired here by The Healing Kitchen's award-winning Key Lime Mini Pies, and decided to do a cheesecakey spin on them using my adorable little ramekins. The crust is a combination of soaked macadamia nuts, medjool dates, and unsweetened shredded coconut, with a little splash of agave nectar to help things blend (NB: I adore my Bamix, but making all these raw desserts with it is a pain in the butt!). The filling is half a ripe avocado, about 1 cup of soaked cashews, agave to taste, and the juice and zest of one lime. The avocado gave it a lovely light green huge, and the filling is so fluffy and zesty compared to the buttery richness of the crust. I can't wait until these babies are ready!

But because I can't leave good enough alone: Spiced Chocolate Orange Cheesecake

The crust, pictured above, consists of a fistful each of soaked almonds and walnuts, a liberal tbsp of cocoa powder, one medjool date, and about 1/4 tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. The filling (not pictured, but amply sampled) is soaked cashews blended up with agave nectar, cocoa powder, and the juice of 1/2 an orange. It's richer and denser than the lime-avocado-cashew mix, but still incredibly delicious. I only made one of these, so somebody better be willing to share!

I find raw or semi-raw concoctions incredibly fun and satisfying to make. They're very messy and tactile and interactive and experimental... but I think I might need a better blender/food processor.

Vegan MOFO Day 3: what do I do with a sprouted lentil?

One of the foods I have been desperate to reintroduce into my eating repertoire is legumes. I love me a legume. They normally make up a very substantial portion of my protein intake and general deliciousness index. In the summer I throw a half cup onto a pile of fresh produce and call it a meal. In the fall and winter I prefer them cooked into things (like black beans in chili, chickpeas in stew, lentils in soup--you get the picture).

After an unfortunate failure to eat cooked lentils, I decided to give sprouted a try. I'm not normally a sprouter. I have nothing against it -- quite the opposite, in fact -- but I am notoriously lazy and terribly unlikely to plan any meal more than 30 minutes before eating it, so my beans usually come out of (no sodium added) cans. However, a dear friend and whole-foods-partner-in-crime absolutely swears by it. Cooked legumes give her terrible stomach pain, but sprouted they are her very best friends. So, figuring it couldn't hurt, I soaked my lentils overnight then threw them in a colander under a light dish towel and commenced thrice-daily rinsing. 

Much to my delight, in three days my lentils had developed adorable little tails and become crunchy sweet deliciousness. I sample a few on top of some rice noodles and sauteed veggies and they made my tummy very happy. Next I tried sprinkling them over veggie soup along with a generous portion of dulse: more happiness. Now that I knew I could eat them, it was time for something a little fancier.

First up: Roasted Acorn Squash with Garlicky Greens and Sprouted Lentils

This was my friend's creation, and I won't take credit for it, but I will document it. There is no recipe, because that woman doesn't cook from recipes, she cooks from pure instinct.

Ingredients:
1 medium acorn squash
about 3 huge handfuls of baby spinach
fresh garlic and ginger
dulse
sprouted lentils

After slicing the squash in half and cleaning out the seeds, she threw it in the oven to roast at 400 for about thirty minutes (until the whole kitchen smelled like delicious). She then washed the seeds and lightly toasted them in a non-stick pan.

Meanwhile in another pan she sauteed some finely minced ginger and garlic (maybe a tsp of each) until lightly browned, and then threw in the spinach and tossed it around until it was cooked down a bit, soft and bright green. She then seasoned it with the dulse.

When the squash was ready, we stuffed it with the garlicky green and topped each half with a generous handful of sprouted lentils and a little more dulse. The result was a sweet, savory, complex dish that paired beautifully with a light Beaujolais. Delicious!

Next: Lentil and Leftover Toss

Today I revisited my sprouty little friends in the form of what I am calling, for lack of a better term, my Lentil and Leftover Toss. In a frying pan I threw half of last night's dinner, a tupperware container of roasted eggplant, half a cup of sprouted lentils, and a little water. One everything was warm through I tossed on some more dulse (don't you love how that purple colour contrasts with the orange background?) and devoured it enthusiastically. To recreate, here's how I'd go about it.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sprouted lentils
1/4 head of kale, roughly chopped
1/2 head of broccoli, roughly chopped
2 tiny eggplants (or 1 cup) cut into one-inch dice
1/2 cup cooked brown rice (or other grain of choice: quinoa would be great)
1/2 cup of miso gravy (I use the recipe from Refresh, but any favourite recipe would work)
dulse to taste (or salt, if you prefer)

Toss the eggplant with a splash of olive oil and roasted at 350 for about 20-30 minutes, until nicely browned all over and tender inside. Meanwhile, steam the kale and broccoli just until cooked through (you can tell they're done when they turn bright green, but the fork test also works). Throw everything in a pan together and toss it around until it's all warm through. Add water as necessary to deglaze and keep the sauce from drying out.

Vegan Mofo Day 1: Of Stress, Food, and Blogging

(broth, dry toast, green tea, consumed in front of an open laptop)

 This photograph serves for me as a perfect visual icon of the month of September. I spent this month in a state of school-induced panic the likes of which I may have never experienced before. For those of you who are in or have completed grad school, the single word will be capable of striking fear into your hearts: comps. 

Or, at my university, Primary Area Qualification exams. But the jist is the same. You spend a year of your life reading an enormous list of books, and at the end of that year you complete a set of exams meant to indicate whether you are prepared to become a PhD Candidate, or ABD (all but dissertation). 

Now, I am not unaccustomed to stress. I have, after all, been a student for over seven years IN A ROW now. But I have never felt so totally overwhelmed and completely consumed by a task as I was by this one. I stopped sleeping. I stopped seeing my friends. I did very little besides sit at my desk for up to 14 hours a day studying. And worst of all: I stopped eating. 

To be honest, I still cannot say with total certainty that exam-induced stress was the primary cause of my ongoing stomach ailments. But I'm sure it didn't help. The point is that what started at the beginning of September as a little stomach discomfort soon evolved into a full-out loss of appetite, inability to eat most solid foods, and corresponding physical weakness and diminished energy (though the mid-month discovery that I could still stomach Vega Whole Food Health Optimizer was a saving grace). With the ability to eat went the ability to go for stress-relieving runs. Also went my main source of stress relief: cooking and baking. 

I am a stress eater. This is not, obviously, the healthiest relation to food, but there it is. When I am under a great deal of stress I bake myself delicious vegan cookies. And then I eat. Them. All. Without vigorous exercise and/or eating, I found myself totally ill-equipped to handle the stress of these exams. Hence my retreat into my office, my failure to establish even a semblance of work-life balance, and my current resolution.

I am taking advantage of Vegan MoFo to do two things. First: I am reclaiming the pleasure of food via this (previously grossly neglected) blog. Because I recognize increasingly that, without a non-school-related outlet I am too prone to devolve into an anaemic recluse, I am striving to make blogging a conscious form of self-care outside (though never fully divorced from) my academic pursuits. 

Second: With the exams now passed (YAY!) and over, I expected my health to miraculously return, but it has not. During the month, in an attempt to give my digestion a break, I cut out soy, gluten, corn, refined sugar, coffee/black tea, and originally legumes (I am starting to reintroduce them, with only minimal success), as well as most fats. Interestingly enough, I am starting to regain my physical energy, and am enjoying tremendous mental energy and clarity. Now working with a naturopath (who has me on a strict regime of probiotics, digestive enzymes, and congee), I am striving to recover. I am also interested in using this month, however, to explore the realm of vegan cooking beyond soy, gluten, and other common allergens. 

First up: a weekend in Toronto, and eating out with A LOT of dietary restrictions...