Best. Pizza. Ever!!

Okay, I’ve made pizza a few times since going vegan, but I believe that this particular one is my crowning glory.  All veggie toppings (red peppers, broccoli, and onions), a crust made with whole wheat flour and a hefty amount of vital wheat gluten, some leftover spaghetti sauce, and—wait for it—no cheese!  Or even a cheese alternative!  I sprinkled a few tablespoons of nutritional yeast over the whole thing, added an assortment of spices, and it was really, really good!  I honestly believe it was one of the best pizzas I ever made.  And it looks pretty, too.  ☺

Not much left over--and the cupcake stayed there just long enough for the picture!

Saturday was the vegan/vegetarian meet-up at the Whetstone Park of Roses.  We had such a good time, and the food was awesome.  We met a bunch of cool people, and we added some Facebook friends because of it.  I also signed us up for another meet-up group that does hiking meet-ups in the area, thanks to a lady we met at the picnic; we really can use some regular exercise again.  The weather was terrible—huge thunderstorm started the second we got out of the car, and it rained pretty much the whole time we were at the park—but that didn’t stop us from having a good time.  And everybody liked my cupcakes!  There were only 4 tiny ones left by the end of the picnic.  That alone says a lot!  Sean and I also got to reacquaint ourselves with the animal activist who got us started down this particular path.  I saw her at the food table shortly after she arrived, and we ended up talking for the next couple of hours about how she changed our lives.  Thanks again, Eriyah!

We have been so incredibly lazy all day Sunday.  We slept in, at when we felt like it, tried to focus mainly on Vita Mix concoctions, and just generally took it easy.  It’s been fun, but I’m hoping to do something a little more active tomorrow.  I told Sean that I really want to get up early and take a nice long walk before it gets too hot.  Then I have a facial scheduled at the Origins shop at Macy’s at noon.  I know he has a photo shoot that needs to happen tomorrow if it’s going to happen at all, and I’m still trying to decide if I’m coming along or not.

First up on the theatrical scene...

Followed by Shakespeare and a vegan picnic!

Even though it’s vacation week, we’re still going to be busy.  I have two plays to review this week (back to Newark to see Weathervane’s production of The Secret Garden on Thursday, and then Rosebriar’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Friday down in Groveport), and I still want—nay, demand!—to see Harry Potter, probably on Tuesday or Wednesday.  So, in a nutshell, Sean is probably going to kill me for booking our social calendar so full when he’s trying to relax…  Oh, well.  It’s not like we usually have lives or anything any other time. 

Must. See. This. Movie!!!!

Another version of chickpea curry, but with cashews added for a little extra sweetness and a surprising crunch.

After more than two years of doing the whole Weight Watchers thing, I came to rely heavily on stir fry.  I stir fried just about everything.  It was quick, easy, and took relatively little planning.  Just cut up some defrosted chicken breast, throw in some broccoli, serve over rice and you’re done.  Since making the switch to veganism, though, I’ve discovered a new passion for curries.

Granted, the preparation is pretty much the same, but I’ve noticed that I’m more willing to experiment with curries than I ever was with stir fry.  Tonight’s curry has a base of chickpeas with some green pepper, onions, minced garlic, carrots, frozen peas and a handful of roasted cashews for a little different texture.  I added ground cumin, curry powder, five spice, garlic powder, and turmeric.  Then I added two teaspoons of the chunky Sriracha sauce (my favorite for cooking; the one in the squirt bottle is much better for a garnish).

Fluffy pillows of whole wheaty goodness!

This is the coup de grace for tonight’s dinner, though—I must say I’m really proud of these.  Since I knew I was making a curry tonight, I thought that fresh baked na’an bread would be a perfect accompaniment—plus, Sean has been begging me to try this recipe for ages.  I used a mixture of whole wheat and all-purpose flour, so it’s a little denser than typical na’an.  The soy yogurt worked just fine.  I still need to work on my rolling technique a little.  These were a lot more like pita than na’an.  Just takes a little more practice, I’m sure.  They turned out really pretty, though.

Chickpea and Cashew Curry with brown rice and whole wheat na'an. Tasty!

Here’s a picture of the whole dinner, complete with brown rice on the side.  Yum!

"Sloppy Janes" and a homemade bagel.

Sean took leftovers with him for lunch today and sent me a picture of what it looked like after he got it all ready.  It’s vegan sloppy joes (which he decided to rename “Sloppy Janes”—not sure why, exactly), vegan cheese, and one of the bagels he made last night.  I have to admit, I got hungry just looking at it, and I was the one who made it!  The bagels came out nice and savory—lots of flaxseed, caraway seed, garlic powder, and some other spices—and the texture was pleasantly chewy.  It’s nice to know I’m not the only one in the house who can make bagels now!

After dinner we both wanted something sweet, so I made Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Brownies, but I made them healthier (and vegan!) by substituting all of the recommended ingredients with a can of black beans.  To do this, just empty the can with the liquid into the blender and let ‘er rip.  I did add a little bit of water to them—maybe a tablespoon or so—because the puree seemed a little thicker than I wanted it to be. After that, just mix the pureed beans with the brownie mix and bake as directed.  You can also do the same thing with pureed pumpkin, though I like the black beans better with brownies.  It works with cake mixes, too.  Just one more tip I picked up from Weight Watchers.  ☺

Presentation is everything.

When we picked up our produce from the CSA farmer last week, there was a lone, teeny eggplant included in the mix.  I had actually been craving eggplant for a couple of weeks, but I never bothered to buy one because it’s not one of Sean’s favorite vegetables.  And as much as I wanted some, I just couldn’t fathom eating an entire eggplant by myself.  So this tiny one was a perfect opportunity to get my fix and to give just a little sampling to everyone else.

After perusing my favorite VegWeb site for a while, I really wasn’t finding anything that jumped out at me.  I finally adapted one recipe to fit what I had and what I felt like doing.  Since the eggplant was really small (think large banana-sized, maybe), I sliced it into rounds.  I dipped the rounds into some soymilk and then dredged them in whole wheat breadcrumbs that I seasoned with Italian seasoning, ground black pepper, and a little chili powder.  The breadcrumbs really didn’t stick very well, but I kept going anyway.  I heated up some safflower oil and fried the eggplant.  It really soaked up the oil, so now I’m wishing I had used olive oil instead of safflower just because I think it would have tasted better.

To accompany my eggplant, I made a homemade spaghetti sauce with fresh tomatoes, oregano, parsley, minced onion, garlic, olive oil, about a tablespoon of sugar (to cut through the acidity) and more Italian seasoning.  I put about 4 or 5 quartered tomatoes in the blender until they were pulverized; then I added two more, but I just pulsed it a little bit so there would be some tomato chunks, too.  I put everything in a skillet and heated it up to boiling, then let it simmer for about 20 minutes to give the flavors time to blend and to cook down a bit.

Just to make sure that the kids ate more veggies than the two eggplant rounds I was planning to give them, I also steamed some fresh asparagus.  To serve, I made whole wheat spaghetti, topped it with the sauce, arrange the eggplant along the edge of the pasta, and the filled in the extra space with the asparagus.  This is probably the prettiest dinner I’ve given them in a long while.

The verdict:  Sylvie finished her eggplant before she started on anything else and said she liked it a lot.  Daniel took some coaxing, but he finally gulped it down—chased with plenty of water.  Sean got 5 rounds because he is, after all, a grownup.  He delayed a bit, but finally finished them all.  I think he’s hoping for a different recipe for the next time, though; they were really oily this time around.  Surprisingly enough, Sylvie didn’t want to finish her asparagus, even though she usually loves it.  I think she may have just been full.

In an effort to get the kids more involved with meal planning, we gave Sylvie a stack of cookbooks from the library and told her that she could help choose what we’re having for dinner tomorrow night.  Unfortunately, there weren’t a whole lot of pictures in the books that I picked out, so now she’s determined that there aren’t any recipes to be found in the 7 or 8 cookbooks I gave her to look through.  Silly girl…  ☺

I think that I may make some brownies tomorrow.  I got Ghiradelli double chocolate brownie mix (it’s vegan!!!), and I think I may make them with a can of pureed black beans to help keep the fat and calorie count down while increasing the protein and fiber.  Thank you Weight Watchers for that little trick!

This is sooooo good when it's warm and fresh!

My kitchen has been invaded by ants this week.  I find this most distressing.  All the time I’ve lived in this house, I have seen an occasional straggling insect.  This invasion goes way beyond that, though.  This week, I have found a tiny battalion working its way to the dogs’ food dishes.  I looked around for humane methods of convincing the little buggers that they should look elsewhere for food.  Chili powder, curry, and vinegar haven’t worked.  Combinations of all three haven’t worked.  The last time I tried the chili powder trick, I found them walking through it to get to the food dishes.  I have cleaned the dogs’ bowls, mopped the floor, emptied the trash daily and swept the kitchen floor every night hoping the stem the tide.  So far, I haven’t seen any more today.  Let’s hope that maybe they found someplace better to go.  I will admit that I squashed a few while trying to sweep them up, and I’m pretty sure a few were drowned in vinegar.  I will also admit that I felt absolutely no remorse over the casualties.  This is why I will most likely never be a member of PETA.  ☺

I had a couple of overripe bananas sitting around the kitchen, so I decided to make some banana bread.  In the interest of trying to be a tad healthier (and possibly drop the 5 or so pounds I’ve gained since becoming vegan—ick!!), I made some changes.  I used 1 ¼ cups of whole wheat flour, ½ cup of unbleached all purpose flour, applesauce instead of oil, only ½ cup of sugar (I figured it would be sweet enough with the applesauce and the really ripe bananas) and I added about ½ cup of chopped walnuts.  I shortened the baking time to just under an hour—about 50 minutes or so—because the bread was starting to look overcooked.  As it turns out, the bottom was still a little underbaked, but it’s edible and not too sweet.  The whole wheat flour made it kind of dense and it didn’t rise very much, but it’s really tasty and doesn’t taste as desserty as some of the other sweet breads I’ve made recently.

After reading Skinny Bitch (and skimming Sean’s copy of Skinny Bastard), I have been trying to cut down on my caffeine intake.  It sucks.  Not that I’m usually too crazy with it—I got myself down to 1, maybe 2 cups of coffee a day, and I don’t drink soda at all anymore—but I really should be drinking more water.  I drank a full glass of water with the banana that I ate for breakfast (trying out the suggestion of eating a piece of fruit for breakfast, wait a little while, and eat another piece of fruit if still hungry), but I still wanted something else.  So I made a cup of chai tea with Silk creamer and a packet of Truvia.  Truvia is a tricky substance for me in beverages:  one packet isn’t enough, and two packets are too much.  I hate having half-packets lying around, so I’m thinking I may just try to deal with my tea being less sweet.  Either way, I greatly enjoyed my chai with a slice of fresh banana bread.  You didn’t really think I wasn’t going to taste it the second it came out of the oven, did you?  *grin*

Tonight is Weight Watchers, and I’m not looking forward to seeing the scale.  I have been hovering in the same 5-pound range for months, and now I’ve completely overhauled my eating habits and gained a few pounds.  Ick…  I know it’s just a matter of finding the right balance, and I have been eating so much bread lately that I’m surprised that I haven’t gained more.  It’s still been kind of frustrating not getting to my goal weight yet, but I’m still working at it, still trying, and still keeping that goal in mind.  I really need to remember that just because it’s vegan doesn’t automatically mean that it’s healthy and low-calorie.  It’s still all about calories in versus calories burned, and unfortunately baking cupcakes doesn’t burn enough calories to justify eating three of them in a day.  I should probably start my running regimen again.  I’m turning into a lump…

Enough pouting!  At least I’ve been keeping up with my kitchen (granted, it’s mainly so deter the ants, but still—an accomplishment is an accomplishment!), and I’m thinking I should probably get the kids out of the house for a while today.  Maybe we’ll go to the Y and they can swim while I run laps.  It’s a perfect day for it, really.  Exercise time, everybody!  ☺

Yummy whole wheat bagel with herbs and seeds in it!

Thank goodness for vegan cookbooks, that’s all I can say.  So many wonderful ones out there – we have a stack of them in the kitchen – but a few of my favorites so far have to be the writing style, awesome recipies and photography of the Veganomicon and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  Visit their web-site, join the forums, buy the books – or at least check them out at the library first.  Each are extremely useful and an enjoyable read as well – not boring, for sure!

Of course, having said that, the recipe that made the bagel above isn’t from PostPunkKitchen, but so many things we’ve made this week have been.