Food – Page 6 – Life In Limbo

30 Days To Vegan

December 1, 2013

This past Tuesday, I started a 30 day vegan challenge. For the next 30 days, I won’t be eating any meat, dairy or eggs. Yes, I’m aware that Christmas falls within the next 30 days, which I hadn’t really realized when I first decided to embark on this challenge, but it doesn’t matter. As my mom pointed out, if I can make it through Christmas eating vegan, I can make it through anything.

I’ve been a vegetarian for almost four full years now, though during that time I ate fish or seafood on occasion. I’ve always been of the belief that doing something imperfectly is better than doing nothing perfectly, so though sometimes I didn’t totally fit the strict vegetarian label, I still considered myself a vegetarian.

The Why

I initially stopped eating meat after reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. The ethical and health implications of factory farming truly disturbed me, and I no longer felt comfortable with my eating choices, so I stopped cold turkey (ha!). Even with my convictions, for the better part of a year I still made a couple of exceptions – once for McNuggets (ugh, I know right?), another time for my mom’s homemade barbeque ribs.

I share this to illustrate that sometimes despite my beliefs, I have a hard time accepting change in my life, as I think we all do sometimes. For the last four years, I’ve known that I don’t believe in eating seafood (mainly because of bycatch effects and the toxicity of farmed fish), and yet I still occasionally did, when I willfully ignored the things I already knew.

And for four years, I’ve known there are major problems with eating dairy (for example, the hormones in dairy products, the potential link between meat and dairy proteins and serious disease such as heart disease and cancer, the treatment of dairy cows and chickens) and that eating less dairy is probably healthier for humans. And yet for four years, I willfully ignored the things I already knew, mostly because I didn’t want to seem radical or militant or like a hippie or just plain extreme, which is the way our society tends to see vegans.

But I know the things I know, and it doesn’t sit right with me to ignore those things anymore. I want to strive to live in a way that fits with my values and beliefs, so I want to strive to eat healthier for me and for the planet. And in my opinion, the best way for me to do that is to eat a vegan diet of mainly whole foods. I should note that I certainly don’t judge anyone for their personal choices.

The What

I decided to start with a 30 day challenge because the idea of going without eggs for the rest of my life is too terrifying to contemplate (say what you will, but it is what it is!). I’m going to start with 30 days to prove to myself that I’m capable of eating this way, but I’m aiming to keep it up once the 30 days are up. The hashtag I’m using to share my meals and track my progress is #30DaysToVegan, which to me implies progress towards a goal, not a set number of days.

So far it’s been fun and remarkably easy to eat vegan. I’ve been collecting lots of inspiration for vegan recipes on Pinterest, and I’ve been happy to see that it’s easy to slightly modify some of my favourite meals to avoid dairy (and keep all the taste). My family have been really supportive: for example, my mom has made me a meal or two already, and my dad uncomplainingly ate the nutritious but slightly bland curry I made him for dinner. They might not totally understand, but they accept me and my choices, which is a wonderful feeling. That’s the most important thing to me.

The How

I’ll be posting weekly progress updates over on Guinea Pigging Green, and I’ve been trying to post at least one photo of my (vegan!) food on our Instagram, @GreenGuineaPigs, every day. You’re more than welcome to follow along or even join in!

xo,

Steph

Plum Cake

October 18, 2013

We interrupt this travel journal for a brief update.

I’m home! I’m back. I’ve been busying myself making podcasts, making myself healthier, making lists, making plum cake. I’m trying to be productive. I’m trying to make plans. I’m trying to get a job. I’m trying to breathe when I feel like I’m under an immense amount of pressure to “be successful” and decide “what to do with my life”. I’m missing my friends like crazy (we scattered across this fine country and beyond after graduation) and I’m trying to keep in touch with them.

I’m appreciating the beautiful fall weather. I’m loving all the delicious smells that come out of my family kitchen. I am grateful I don’t have to pack up my things every few days or have cold showers or share a room with seven other people. I am enjoying getting back into a bit of a rhythm in my days. I’m working on keeping my thoughts balanced and positive. I’m loving being around people who love me unconditionally, I’m happy to be having meaningful conversations. I’m happy.

I made this cake because my mom bought a bunch of beautiful plums at the farmer’s market and they weren’t getting eaten. The same day she bought them, Deb from Smitten Kitchen posted a recipe for a Purple Plum Torte. Synchronicity! I’m aiming for more of that in my life.

The recipe couldn’t be simpler, or more satisfying. I followed her instructions exactly and it came out absolutely perfectly. She recommends not trying it until the second day, because apparently that way the flavours have a chance to mingle. I didn’t try it the first day, so I can’t really confirm. But the second day? Wow. It’s delicious. It’s such a simple recipe but couldn’t be tastier. There’s lots of yummy caramelized bits, the cake is moist, and the plums have so much flavour. Plus, it’s gorgeous, isn’t it? It’s so beautifully rustic.

I love almost every recipe Deb posts (um, this margherita pizza??), and would love to get my paws on a copy of her beautiful cookbook. Someday. For now, I’ll keep making the wonderful recipes from her blog.

Happy eating, everyone!

Buddha Bowls

April 16, 2013

This isn’t really a recipe, but then, this isn’t really a normal week. Girl’s got mountains of work, which only means…uncontrollable urges to create things, apparently.

I’m trying to eat healthier these days (which reminds me, I’m plum out of spinach, must remedy!) and I’ve been enjoying trying to challenge myself to incorporate more veggies into my meals. I had a pleasant surprise when I realized I could just pack a big salad for work or for lunch and by pack I mean throw together and by salad I mean a handful of spinach + assorted veggies that are lying around + nuts + salad dressings = badda bing badda boom, a meal (!?!). That was a revelation! An epiphany! For a couple weeks now, I’ve chopped up and roasted a broccoli with an absurd number of garlic cloves, and then forcibly prevented myself from eating all of it in one sitting (which I would quite happily do), and I’ve loved having broccoli just hanging out in my fridge waiting for its purpose in life aka my salad or buddha bowl.

Do you guys know what a buddha bowl is? I didn’t, but I liked the name and googled it and lo and behold, that’s what this is. Kris Carr, Vegan Goddess, says that buddha bowls are veggies, a grain, and dressing – check out her recipe here. I started making these because I was inspired by eating bibimbap at a quaint Korean place and wanted to replicate it at home. Some other sources of inspiration: this homemade bibimbap, this sushi salad, and this sushi salad.

Like I said, this isn’t really a recipe. It’s a lifestyle.

..haha just kidding. But it’s pretty straightforward. Here’s what I usually do:

Make some sushi rice. I follow the directions on the package, then season with salt, a little sugar or sweetener, and rice vinegar to taste.

While you’re waiting for the water to boil and the rice to cook, busy yourself chopping veggies/roasting veggies/pan-frying veggies/assembling other ingredients. Some of my fave toppings:

Roasted broccoli: chop broccoli into small little trees. Lightly coat with oil, salt and pepper, and mix in a few crushed cloves of garlic. Roast at 400 for about 20-30 minutes or until you get the desired bite you want.
Roasted sweet potatoes: chop into small cubes. Coat with oil, salt and granulated garlic. Roast at 425 for 20 minutes, turning part way through if ya want to (works even if you don’t, but one side might be slightly darker)
Fresh or pickled cucumber
Lightly sauteed spinach, mushrooms, carrots, onions
Edamame: buy frozen, you can reheat/cook in the microwave!
Nori sheets, cut up (easiest to cut with scissors instead of a knife, thanks Shutterbean for the tip)
AVOCADO obviously!
Panko bread crumbs sprinkled over top
Gochujang, a spicy red chile Korean condiment
Drizzle of soy sauce
Put an egg on it! (fried)

Pile all your favourite ingredients into a bowl, layering the rice, then veggies and condiments, then the egg. I like to eat my buddha bowls the way I eat bibimbap: stir everything around all in a mush so that the egg yolk gets everywhere and the veggies get all mixed up with the condiments.

I love love love these things because I can load so many odds and ends of my refrigerator into one meal and it’s filling and oh yeah did I mention it’s insanely delicious! Om nom.

Ps. Can we collectively just get into this method for cooking fried eggs? I have tried it a few times now and it’s so crazy cool/effective!

Happy Tuesday everyone! Hope it’s pretty outside where you are and you nonchalantly sit on a curb with your best friend and don’t really think about it at the time but later realize “Spring Sprung! Happy day!” (true story).

Classic Poutine

April 10, 2013

I swear, I’m having a salad week. No, really. I really am. I sauntered over to the grocery store yesterday with visions of veggies dancing in my head, and I packed myself a massive layered salad in a jar for lunch today. I think it has something to do with saying the phrase “plant-based” approximately one bazillion times this week on the podcast. It also probably relates to the fact that this past weekend I ate like as if I was a four-year-old who is allowed to drink alcohol. I basically consumed carbs, sugar, salt, and alcohol. And a whole lot of goldfish crackers. Oops. It was my birthday. Yolo?

Clearly, vegetables are the move in this situation.

So, I promise to share some of my fave veggie-heavy recipes and salads and all sorts of delicious rabbit food soon. But until then, will you hate me if I unload some poutine onto your Wednesday?? (sidebar: it’s Wednesday already? double take)

This poutine is actually not totally *un*healthy, because the fries are simply baked potato wedges and there is only a small amount of cheese (which I bought local, holla!), and as for the gravy: it’s homemade, contains a plethora of mushrooms, and you can control the salt content. See? Guilt-free snacksies.

I loosely used Joy the Baker’s recipe for baked french fries, but didn’t use most of the spices she did. I used salt, granulated garlic, pepper and cornstarch! I basically followed this recipe for wild mushroom gravy but adjusted the proportions because I only needed a small amount. I ended up with a not-very-liquidy gravy, but I liked the taste a lot. The thyme made this dish!

I’ll leave you with a happy (for me) little anecdote about shooting these photos. It was late in the afternoon when I decided I wanted to make this poutine, and was immediately bummed out (as I usually am when I spontaneously decide to make food that I want to photograph late in the day) until I realized that I had enough daylight hours left to make poutine and take photos of it! So then I did, and it made me very happy. The end. Not much of an anecdote, I guess, but I was happy and grateful and noticed that taking food photos while listening to This American Life made me feel just like myself. Hallelujah, thank goodness for Spring.

Happy Wednesday!