Hello, My Love

Look at her sitting there in all her verdant glory! My favorite way to start the day. This is like Yoga in a recycled glass -- then I proceeded logically to actual yoga, courtesy of my friend, Liat. Ahhhh!

Wynne is working on noticing the way different foods make her feel, and is choosing accordingly. She's a pasta girl, but she is broadening her outlook and including more whole foods, and enjoying the noticeable holistic changes.

Here's a recent compromise which provided us all plenty of delicious wholeness:

Clockwise from top left, we have amaranth with sauteed onion, pasta with vegan artichoke alfredo sauce (from a jar, made mostly from cashews) topped with fresh tomato, Chinese longbeans sauteed in olive oil. This food was a hit -- what's not to love?

Vegan Junk Food vs. Vegan Fast Food

"What's the difference?" you ask. Well, from my point of view, vegan junk food is food which I do not know to violate vegan principles, but which likely may. Vegan fast food, for me, is simply vegan food that is easily and quickly thrown together in less time than it takes to go through the drive-through.

Here are examples of each:

This delectible pizza was ordered at Campania, a new, Neopolitan-style restaurant in Alpharetta. This establishment boasts an authentic ceramic pizza oven all the way from Italy, "Double Zero flour", a warm, dark wood interior, and a lovely wine list, all in the incongruent location of a strip mall. "Coins and Firearms" is right upstairs and "Auto Zone" is next door. Seriously, though, the restaurant is worth a visit. The food is phenomenal and different from your average pizza joint.

This fabulous pizza, to me, is vegan junk food. The rare and coveted "Double Zero flour" is still white flour, which I try to avoid, and I have no idea what else the recipe for the dough contains. For my health, I cannot eat dairy in its basic form, but my system has not been bothered overtly by dairy that may exist in baked goods. Still, I usually try to avoid it. So the crust, as gourmet as it is here, is junk to this vegan. All the rest is fabulous, while lacking in basic grains and greens.  This lovely establishment has a very small menu with specific pizza creations. Each item on the menu is so special that I got a little nervous asking for this pizza without the meat and cheese. I could see a thought fleet across the mind of the server for a split second, but then he thought better of following through by speaking it, which I really appreciated. In the past, elsewhere, I have actually had servers try to talk me into eating meat and/or cheese, as surprising as that may be. Once, I have even had a pizza I ordered without cheese brought out with parmesan cheese all over it. When I pointed this out to the server, the response was, "No, that's not cheese, that's parmesan," (!) I had to come off my high horse a bit to gently, patiently, explain that parmesan is, indeed, cheese. Everyone else was finished by the time I received my pie.

I chose to eat this divine vegan junk food because my family and I went out to dinner together and we all wanted to try Campania, of the famous zillion degree oven (roughly) that bakes each pizza, one at a time, in 90 seconds flat! I'm glad I did -- it was delicious! I left the crust ends untouched though.

Vegan fast food is much more common for me, and it normally begins with leftovers. After my yoga class today, I was so zen that I wanted the feeling to linger, so grains and greens it was! I dipped into my already-prepared amaranth and onions from a couple of nights ago, and warmed it with baby kale leaves on top, then drizzled an artisanal olive oil on top and sprinkled it with Gomashio (sesame seeds ground together with sea salt). It took me three minutes to assemble and warm my delicious lunch. That's fast food to me. Sadly, there is no photographic evidence of my fast food lunch since I gobbled it all up without thinking.

To compensate for the missing photo of my vegan fast food, here's a bonus shot:

I harvested these Chinese longbeans in my pajamas this morning before waking Wynne. Forgive the cell-phone graininess. I get a batch-o-beans like this every couple of days or so now. They really grow quickly. These legumes could feed a village. I've pulled out my barren tomato plants already, but left the wire cages for the bean plants to enjoy.  They are entertaining to grow -- always very busy -- so it would be fun to grow these with young children. I don't really get tired of these beans. I have made them into soups and stir fries, I've grilled them in a pan with other veggies and fresh herbs, I've sauteed them with ginger and seaweed and pickled them with ume plum vinegar. It's a great crop.

Each vegan comes to the lifestyle from a different perspective. Some of us were primarily motivated by health concerns, some by compassion for our fellow earthlings, and some by a combination of both. Whatever the case, the lifestyle must be doable. To this end, I choose flexibility occasionally, in the form of a cheeseless pizza. Wholesome, whole food, fast or not, will always be my first choice since the most important thing for good health is to directly tend it most of the time. So for this girl, "vegan fast food" trumps "vegan junk food" but I'm still gonna have that pizza from time to time!

Amaranth!

Billed as an "ancient grain," amaranth is actually a tiny seed indigenous to the Americas. So for those locavores living in North, Central or South America, amaranth fits the bill. A gluten-free source of protein, amaranth is a very interesting alternative to rice or quinoa.

I didn't know what to expect, as I'd never tried it before, so I prepared amaranth for the first time simply -- boiled only in water. I wanted to see what it really tastes like. Unlike quinoa, which I think benefits from cooking in broth with a little tomato paste or some other flavorful liquid, amaranth has a very satisfying, mild flavor on its own, in my opinion. I was surprised at the texture of the amaranth. When I read in the cooking directions that the seeds would "bind together," I was thinking in terms of the texture of polenta. Actually amaranth has a more gooey, gelatinous texture. It reminded me of the texture of chia seeds. My description may not be selling you on this nutritional powerhouse, as texture can make or break a food affinity, and our tastes are all so personal. For me, I really loved this texture and flavor. It was very much comfort food and I craved it with everything from this delicious broccoli rabe (yum!) to a frozen organic vegan burrito. I was sorry to see the bottom of the pot.

If my description of amaranth hasn't turned you off, give it a try!

A Sustaining Breakfast

I love a porridge of Irish oats. I learned from trial and error that I really love these oats a little bit firmer than other folks may. When I have followed the package directions, I've been disappointed to find the oats are not much different from the quick-cooking ones, which is not a terrible thing, but I just prefer to enjoy my cross-cut oats with a chewy texture. It seems more special that way. So I prepared these oats with a little almond milk and water (I'm too lazy to measure!) and after bringing them to a boil, I simmered the panful for only 20 minutes or so. I had to add a bit more filtered water toward the end since the oats were beginning to stick to the bottom. The porridge was lovely and delicious, without the addition of any accoutrements. Eating it out of my favorite Peter Rabbit china from my babies' early childhoods made it all the more special. Have you noticed that almost all of my dishes are chipped or cracked? (we're a rough-and-tumble bunch, I guess)  Not this one! Nobody else wants to use a bowl this small, and I take steps to keep it out of the flow of traffic and out of the microwave. I am the only one who uses it!

The first time my Mom and Dad visited after I became vegan, they brought me a wonderful book, This Crazy Vegan Life by Christina Pirello. At the time, I was deep into a couple of other vegan books, so I set it aside to read later. Over 18 months vegan now, I am finally getting around to reading it. Interestingly, the author comes to the vegan lifestyle from a background of chronic illness, as do I. She has also dealt with the dreaded B12 deficiency which I am now overcoming. This book is jam-packed with nutritional and health information, which is just what I needed at this point of my life and my veganhood.

The above porridge is just a part of a wonderful approach to breakfast advocated by Christina: grains and greens --simple! Along with the Irish porridge, I had steamed lacianato kale, dressed with a scant drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

I didn't waste the "pot liquor" as either my mother or my grandmother used to call it (can't remember who). The "pot liquor" is not as nefarious as you might guess -- it's just the cooking liquid from the steaming of the veggies!

I poured it into a cup and drank it as a tea -- surprisingly delicious! This grains-n-greens breakfast was so nourishing and calming. It provided a wonderful start to my day!

A Delicious Bowl

I'm short on time today but I wanted to share something wonderful I put together recently, inspired by Isa Chandra Moskowitz' Appetite For Reduction. I've only just begun to peruse this wonderful tome, and I like the "bowl" section because it feels very familiar. Basically Isa suggests grain, veggie and sauce combinations that work well. This is the way my brain naturally works anyway, as I am always juggling leftovers and reinventions. I've been in love with quinoa lately, so I went for one of those combos. Quinoa --check.  White beans -- check.   Grilled zucchini -- check, but too lazy to grill.  Romesco Sauce -- hmmmm, roasted red pepper (I had some in a jar) slivered almonds (um, I had whole almonds) red wine vinegar, yes, mustard, yes, agave, yes -- check. So that combo would be a go.

I started with the quinoa, red quinoa to be exact. I boiled it simply with half a bouillon cube. Then I pulled out the food processor and created the romesco sauce, albeit with not quite enough roasted red pepper, and slightly chunkier almonds, but it was amazing nonetheless. Finally I pulled the zucchini out of the crisper and realized it was unfortunately the granite hard one I bought for a small fortune over a month ago. Unbelievably it was still oddly rock hard. My very best knife would not even make a dent. Into the trash it went. So, another plan B -- collard greens!  I very lightly sauteed some wonderful greens and they fit beautifully into the combo slot!  I think I'm going to like this cookbook!

Irish Oats

I love Irish oats! Those are the kind that are chopped once cross-wise instead of completely slivered. The Irish oats retain more of the bran of the grain and are more chewy and nutty.  I love reading about how folks put a cup of oats and some water in their slow-cooker and then wake to aromatic and tender grains. I tried it and my slow cooker is not cut out for this idea. I started the oats out on low, but when I saw they were bubbling up a storm I turned the setting to "keep warm" An hour later I noticed there was not enough water and I added more. by 9:00 when I went to bed, visions of a house fire were dancing in my head so I unplugged the oats and left them in the scalding hot pot on the counter overnight. I still had ready oatmeal in the morning, albeit room-temperature at that point. Thank you, microwave! I have to say, the Irish oats do take a bit more time, but not hours. I think 30-45 minutes would be just fine. The slow cooking left them very similar to quick-cooking oats, which seems to be a waste of a good Irish oat. But my bowlful was saved and enhanced by my fabulous homemade applesauce!  Allspice and ginger and not much agave are my secret ingredients! LOVED this breakfast!

I'd get a different crock pot, but I'd rather save up for a Breville Juicer like Kris Carr uses -- I love my smoothies that I make with the high-powered blender, but the green ones turn out a bit, er, chewier than I'd like, so green juice over ice would be lovely. I know, I'm an oddball in my preferences -- I like my oats chewy, but not my juice!

Feeding the Crave

I love perusing recent posts of my favorite blogs. I enjoy the personalities of my fellow bloggers and am also continually inspired by their kitchen endeavors. Sometimes it's hard to remember from whence an inspiration has come, and usually I find myself changing a recipe due to my own laziness or to avoid another trip to the grocery store. I am not the most organized vegan.

Yesterday I knew my inspiration was from something I'd seen on Stephanie Leah's "Diary of a Frenzied Vegan" (http://omnivore-no-more.blogspot.com). I began working with a dish she had created with wild rice, butternut squash and an apple among other things. But then I realized I'd been eating a fair amount of rice lately and I really wanted red quinoa instead. Looking back, I realize I'd also been inspired by a quinoa dish on Stephanie's blog as well, and I sort of morphed the two very loosely.

This dish involved a lot more effort for me than I usually expend, but then wrestling with any raw winter squash without slicing myself is a guaranteed way to kill half an hour or so. Obviously I am not eating many winter squash, but then that's what makes this delicious panful so special -- it doesn't come around every day!

After successfully chopping the butternut into submission without losing a finger (maybe I just need a sharper knife?) I did enjoy the rest of the prep work for this amazing meal. I started by roasting the butternut and the apple on a parchment sheet at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, as Stephanie does, but otherwise I used up items in my crisper which were on their way to being not so crispy -- a carrot, a large garlic clove, two sad leeks (I removed the sad parts) a cup of red quinoa, some olive oil, a vegan bouillon cube, enough water to keep most of the quinoa moist, and then added at the end three well-chopped collard leaves, a large handful of cilantro and a spring onion. I obviously followed no recipe after roasting the squash and apple, so I would definitely direct you to the source -- Stephanie's recipe.

I really enjoy "shopping my own larder" and finding ways not to waste the food within it. The food in the above panful is truly what I am always dreaming of -- deeply-colored fresh veggies with nutrient-rich whole grains. I crave it all day long. I am eating it now for my "second breakfast" (a smoothie was my first, but looking at that photo I had to have it). The leftovers are delightful, cold out of the 'fridge!

I have to giggle when I realize that many of my omni-friends will take one look at the object of my desire and grimace. I guess I may not have been so hot for this panful of yum a year ago either. But now?  Obsessed!

Oh, The Irony! Good Luck Peas and Rice for a Snowy Day

Here it is halfway through January, and I am finally getting around to serving Hoppin' John. I'm right on schedule for this year actually, since I only took my Christmas decor down a couple of days ago.

For you non-southerners, Hoppin' John is a traditional southern dish originating in the Low Country and the Gullah Islands (South Carolina, Georgia) comprised mainly of black-eyed peas and rice. It is usually prepared with a slab of bacon or a hamhock. Some Hoppin' John afficionados cook the peas with the rice and some cook them separately. The dish is purported to bestow good luck for the year to someone who eats it after the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. There are many legends surrounding this tradition. It was said the southern slaves had smuggled the black eyed peas from Africa and used them in their magical feasts. The plantation owners jazzed the peas up with the pork products and some even hid a shiny dime in the dish. The person at the table who found the dime would have extra good luck in the coming year. There are many theories as to where the dish got it's name. My favorite is that there was an old man with a crutch called "Hoppin' John" who peddled mugs of the magical dish on the streets of Charleston.

I was raised mostly in rural Virginia, which is not as southern as where I am now, but it was southern enough for us to eat black eyed peas for good luck on New Year's Day.  My mom never used any piggies in her peas, she just served them straight out of the can with a little garlic salt, I think. I loved 'em!

So yesterday, on January 11, I endeavored to bestow good luck for the year upon those I hold dear.  I made up a recipe based on what I had on hand. Inspiration had struck too late for me to soak dried peas, so I pulled a can out of the cupboard. You are probably wondering what's so ironic about this lucky-pea installment of A Midlife Vegan. Well, I'll tell you . . .

Once almost all the ingredients were happily bubbling away in my crock pot, I raised the pepper grinder to add one more generous grind of my favorite multicolored fresh pepper. Then the grinder broke in my hands. About 3/4 cup of unground peppercorns were suddenly in the stew and bouncing mischievously all over my countertops and floor. The dogs went bananas, barking and chasing the naughty little spices. My husband went bananas trying to keep the beasts from wolfing down what would surely later result in piles of vomit. I went bananas just in my own little head, as I stared, wide-eyed at the pile of pepper in my good-luck peas. 

"This has got to mean something!" I moaned, ridiculously.

"I mean -- why does this happen?"

My husband, uncharacteristically cool-headed as he went to get the broom and dustpan (I guess he could sense I was hot-headed enough for the both of us) said, "Things don't always have to happen for a reason,"

I disagree, but I kept that to myself since he was being so helpful. 

I scooped as much as I could off the top of the half-finished stew, then reassessed. "I guess I don't need to add that scoop of salsa I was considering," I said to myself.  

As I stirred and inspected, I realized I was at a decision point. Do I throw it away, or go through the stew pea by pea, grain of rice by grain of rice? I opted for the latter. I wasn't giving in to whatever the universe was dishing out, or rather, I just didn't want to waste it, and it would be too much of a mess to throw away. We are all snowed in, and who knows when the garbage man will make it out here.

In any case, I turned off the crock pot and got a large bowl and a plate. I spread out scoopful after scoopful onto the plate, going over the contents with clean fingers to extract every last peppercorn that I could find. This took an hour. Check it out:

Those are the soggy peppercorns I extracted and that is the broken peppermill -- I don't know if you can see the vertical crack in the collar -- the whole top fell off.

The good news -- the resulting peas were expertly seasoned after the peppercorns had steeped for an hour in the hot broth. But you don't have to do it the hard way. Just an extra grind from an intact peppermill would also do the trick.

Here is my recipe:

Good Luck Peas and Rice for a Snowy Day

Ingredients:

3 c. water with bouillon cube or broth

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 c. long grain/wild rice

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 large onion, chopped

1-2 organic carrots, chopped

heart of a bunch of organic celery (about 5 small stalks with leaves) chopped

Salt and pepper

can of black eyed peas, drained and rinsed

a sprig of rosemary, intact (remove later)

a couple of sprigs of sage, intact (remove later)

1 Tbsp. sherry

Put all ingredients into the crock pot except peas, herbs and sherry. Bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer for about 2 hours. After the first hour, add peas and herbs. I also noticed it was getting dry but the rice wasn't yet done, so I added another cup of water. When the stew is thick again, after two hours, it is done. Right before serving, stir in the sherry and remove the herbs.

Here is my good luck stew right before the pepper explosion.

And here it is after I got it all cleaned up, I let it cook a little more and added the herbs. I didn't get a shot of the peas right before I ate them. I was over the whole thing at that point and just wanted to eat. It turned out to be really delicious! Give it a try, and better luck to you, now and throughout the year!