Odds-n-Ends, Back to School Edition

Long time, no post, I know. Transitions have always been a challenge for me, creature of habit as I tend to be. With the kids at school, I am now thriving in a new routine, but it has taken me almost a week to settle into it. I'll share a bit of life in general around here during the transition.

The photo above is an example of a lazy way to make the mundane fabulous. This is just whole wheat linguine with jarred marinara, daiya "cheese"and kalamata olives, along with grape tomatoes and fresh oregano from my garden. The others ate theirs without all my chosen goodies.

Here is something tried and true: greens, grains and beans. The addition of french bread makes it vegan junk food, though.

Oops -- I forgot that nobody else at home doesn't really mean nobody else at home. I'll have to shut the door all the way if I want privacy. Otherwise Ellie's gonna get into my business.

On a night out with the man, at Sage, a restaurant/bar where we frequently order tapas with our drinks, I ordered what I usually do -- Mediterranean Crostini without the feta. It is the only thing on the menu veganizable except for a boring salad. Normally the veganized crostini is perfect bar food, but the other night someone in the kitchen must have decided to "improve" the crostini by broiling the toasts covered in feta. Grrrrr -- they thought I had only meant no additional cheese on top! How many times have I ordered the exact same thing? The photo is of the second batch of crostini after I sent the first one back. The cheese had been buried under all the yummy Mediterranean veggies, and we each had a bite or two before my husband noticed the flavor of cheese. I knew it tasted different, but I had forgotten what cheese used to taste like, I guess. Within five minutes of the accidental cheese eating, my head filled with stuffiness and confusion and I really was quite a boring girl for about an hour. Cheese steals my joie de vivre, my witty banter, my sense of humor. I just sit on the bar stool like a lump -- of cheese.

Back at home, after I had finally regained my personality, we decided to watch a concert DVD in our basement theater, and my husband did push-ups on the coffee table. Okay.

Taking a good look at my bread and pasta filled transitional days, I understand why I am feeling a bit, um, fluffy around the edges. Noticing and analyzing trends in cravings is a good way to get a read on what is going on with our bodies. I was craving carbs because of my lack of energy from the B12 deficiency. There is great news on that front, personally, though. I saw my Integrative Medicine M.D. the other day and she trained me to give my own B12 injections! I am no stranger to needles, since my mainstream MS medication is a daily subcutaneous injection, self-administered, but it had been ten years since I had done the intramuscular injections. The longer needle is a bit more of a challenge psychologically, but if one doesn't overthink it, the IM shot is a breeze. Now I can give myself B12 every two weeks! I bought a vial of B12 (30 doses) and a bunch of syringes for $94, and my labor is free. I am going to save a bundle on what it would have cost me to go in every two weeks to have my M.D. administer the shots. I love my doctor. She's always looking for a way to get what I need for less. Isn't she cool?

Homemade Tapas

Last weekend we had plans to meet some friends for a drink. We found ourselves ready to go about an hour early and, since the weather was lovely, decided to spend the time with some homemade tapas on the screened porch. Here is what I quickly threw together for us to nibble upon. I spread a flatbread with hummus, sundried tomatoes and arugula, then sliced it like a pizza. On the side are some pickles: my homemade ume radish pickles and also some sweet and spicy"Wickles Pickles" that I had picked up at the grocery store.

I also made a nice herb dip to go with the brown rice chips we like so much. Here are the ingredients of my dip:

The herb mixture was from a Pampered Chef party my Mom attended. I did not measure anything here, just a dollop of each ingredient. Very easy.

I only took about 3 minutes to throw all this together, and it was as good as any restaurant tapas, in my opinion!

Beach Food

You're looking at what I ate at least once a day while I was living in the beach condo. It would have been better on a couple of pieces of Eziekiel bread, which I couldn't find at the beach, but I wasn't complaining. This is six grain bread, spread with hummus and stuffed with kale that was rubbed with plenty of lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper. It made a handy picnic lunch to eat on the veranda or with my toes in the sand. Eating the same thing for a while might not float your boat, but personally, food like this never gets old. Raw, dark green leafies, especially paired with a protein such as hummus, beans, whole grains or avocado are what I crave. One day, as I took a big bite while sitting in my beach chair, one of my friends said, "That looks GREAT, Cheryl!"

Another, meat-eatin' friend said, "No, that does not look great, and by the way, you've got something in your teeth!" He was only razzing me -- I had nothing in my teeth. Here he was later in the day while I was still going strong from my nutritious lunch:

Besides my fabulous green sandwiches, I also ate a few great restaurant meals, not without the need to educate local Florida Gulf Coast chefs ("yes, parmesan does count as cheese, but that's okay, I'll wait for you to make a new one!")

Otherwise, I enjoyed fresh sliced tomatoes on "buttered" bread and made a big honkin' bowl of fresh salsa to share with everyone, along with some jicama and red peppers in lime and cayenne for dipping. I also made a bowl of fresh guacamole that did not last long enough for me to snap a photo.

Mmm, the simple basics go perfectly with an effortless beachy existence!

Bunco!

I hosted our bunco group in my basement pub the other night. It was a wonderful opportunity to flex my "vegan ambassador" muscles. Though I personally enjoy "freaky" vegan food as much as the next vegan, it's nice to show folks that vegan food does not necessarily need to be so very different from the food they are used to. Featured here are Alicia's Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups from The Kind Diet, fresh dipping veggies with my avocado aioli, crostini with "butter" and olive tapenade and with artichoke spread. Here are my easy recipes:

Artichoke Crostini
Ingredients:
1 can artichoke hearts in water
5 Tbsp. Vegenaise
5 drops umeboshi vinegar
salt and pepper
1 baguette, sliced thinly
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spread the bread slices on a cookie sheet. Toast the bread until lightly browned, turn the slices over and  toast the other side. Meanwhile, drain the artichoke hearts and press in a colander with a bowl and something heavy on top for several minutes to squeeze out as much moisture as possible. Combine all remaining ingredients in a food processor and pulse until desired consistency is achieved. Top each toast with a spoonful of artichoke spread. I then garnished with a sprinkle of black sesame seeds.
Variation: Butter each toast and top with olive tapenade. I bought mine at Costco. The butter is a nice compliment to the oily/vinegary tapenade. 

Avocado Aioli
3 avocados
6 Tbsp. Vegenaise
Juice of 1 lime
salt
Process all ingredients in a food processor.


I have featured this aioli several times on "A Midlife Vegan", and each time it is different. It's that kind of a recipe -- hard to mess up.  The proportions don't matter so much. This version was more avocado-centric than others. The lime is crucial.

It was so fun to get together with the girls and I love feeding friends healthy, kind food. After rolling the dice, I didn't personally win any money, but everyone loved my food so I still felt like a winner!

No Post-Vacation Weight Gain!!

We returned from our Florida road trip on Sunday. I hopped on the scale, feeling a bit fluffy from the not-so-regular diet I followed those nine days. Reminder:  I did mostly follow a vegan diet, but remain unconvinced that everything was prepared without butter. And dark leafy greens are hard to come by in South Beach. Nevertheless I did not purposely eat animals or their products, except for the butterbeer in Hogsmeade, that is.  But I digresse. The result on the scale:  a three lb. gain.  Believe it or not, I was pleased with this.  I typically carry home an extra 5-7 lbs. from a week in, say, Cancun, or the Bahamas.  But this morning, after less than 48 hours in my own home, with my own collards and the veggies in my garden and beans in my cupboard, I am back down to normal -- a zero vacation weight gain!!  I guess those three lbs. were just due to my sluggish system from the unfamiliar foods!

Upon our return, I found my garden burgeoning and lush.  So I whipped up a batch of my famous salsa.  I have mentioned my recipe before in this blog, but it varies according to what I have on hand.  This time, the ingredients were 100% homegrown, except for the EVOO, lime juice, salt and pepper. I used:

4 ripe medium tomatoes, plus a handful of cherry tomatoes, all diced
one jalapeno pepper, seeds removed, diced
one half of a medium red onion
one small sweet bell pepper, diced
one tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
juice of half a lime
salt and pepper to taste

Just combine all this.  Unbelievably, all that luscious juice was produced from the veggies.  Really the only liquids I added were the one tablespoon of oil and less than that amount of lime juice.  The homegrown veggies are just so bursting with flavorful juices that all it takes is a little salt to release them. I ate this on a baked potato with some american veggie cheese. Ole!