Feeding the New Family

Hello readers! I am back on the blog after having crossed the great divide from pregnancy into parenthood. Baby M arrived and she is wonderful and perfect in ways that Greg and I could have never imagined.

When Baby M was born, I learned a lesson that I intellectually understood pre-baby but felt viscerally as a new mom - BRING NEW PARENTS FOOD. Truly. I recently found this list of ways to be helpful to new parents. I had a friend who also recently become a new mother point out to me that the only problem with this list is that number 10 should repeat bring food, simply because it's that important. And she is correct.

You may feel that bringing food simply feels like a token or like you are going through the motions. Friend, I am here to tell you: FOOD IS EVERYTHING. Baby M was stubbornly breech, so I had a planned c-section, and frankly I was in no position to cook until 6-8 weeks postpartum. And really, even if I hadn't had surgery, given the effort and exhaustion that goes into caring for a newborn, plus the fairly constant stream of calories you need if you choose to breastfeed, I simply can't imagine I would have been ready to cook for that period of time anyway. Had we not had family and friends feed us, I'm pretty sure I would have starved to death. The number one tip I have given friends who have become new parents is that the price of admission to come visit the baby needs to be food of some kind, and I stand by that advice, 100%.

With that said, what kinds of food should you bring? The reality is that new parents probably don't have time to do any food preparation, so ideally the food you bring will work cold or can easily be pulled out in small portions and zapped in the microwave or warmed up on the stove. (As a note, ideally this food should be brought in containers you never need to see again, like Gladware, and remember to tell the new parents you don't want it back so they don't feel like they need to chase you down to return your storageware!)

So what should you bring? Many endless choices abound (and Greg and I benefited from the talent and creativity of others immensely), but one that I can't recommend enough is the wonderful classic: Soup!

Soup is really wonderful to bring for many reasons:
- It meets my criteria of being easy to reheat and eat.
- It's extremely delicious.
- It's super easy to make.
- It's great for vegans, adaptable for those with food sensitivities, and embraced by omnivores alike!

If you want to be really fancy, stop at Panera Bread and pick up a sliced loaf of sourdough bread, which is accidentally vegan - hooray!

My nephew was born a few months after Baby M, and feeling as strongly as I did about bringing food, I made batches of chili and froze it in my sister's freezer, and then everytime I went to visit, I made sure I had food, and that food was almost always soup and bread. Oftentimes I would make a variation on this soup and bring it along.

Another great option, which also happens to be a staple in my house, is a variation on Zesty Black Bean Soup, from the fine folks at Whole Foods. This soup is full of flavor - and seriously, so easy to make, it's almost embarrassing.

First, heat up approximately 1 Tablespoon of oil (olive, vegetable, canola - whatever you have on hand) in a stockpot over medium to medium high heat. Add the veggies of your choice. For us, this is usually frozen corn and bell peppers.

Once the veggies have some color on them (usually after 5-10 minutes, depending on if you started from frozen), add your spices. For us, it's onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, and, the secret of this recipe, a bit of cinnamon!

 Stir in your black beans and tomatoes (crushed or diced, whichever you have on hand - though we tend to go the fire roasted route for an extra bunch of flavor), add your veggie broth, and bring to a boil.

 Once the soup is boiling, bring to a simmer for ten minutes -and that's it, you're done!

Once the soup is cooled down, load it up in disposable storageware and head out to the lucky family who will receive your bounty! (Or double that recipe so you have dinner, too.)

And that's all there is to it! So go ahead, get cooking, and be a hero to a hungry new family who will only be too happy to eat up your efforts. :)

---
Black Bean Soup (as adapted from Whole Foods)
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. plant-based oil (I usually use olive oil)
1 pound of the veggies of your choice (I usually use half frozen corn and half frozen bell peppers)
1 to 2 Tablespoons of onion powder
1 to 2 Tablespoons of garlic powder
1 Tablespoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 to 2-15 oz cans of black beans, rinsed and drained, 1 1/2-3 cups of cooked black beans
1 - 14.5 oz can of crushed or diced tomatoes
32-48 oz of vegetable broth (I usually use 48 for a brothier soup; you can always use a 32 oz container of broth and add water for the rest)

Method:
1) Heat oil in a stock pot on the stove over a medium-high flame.
2) Add veggies; saute for 5-10 minutes (depending on if you are using frozen) until the vegetables have some color on them.
3) Mix in the spices, beans, and tomatoes. Add the broth and bring to a boil.
4) When the soup is boiling, reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes.
5) Serve or package up for a lucky family!

Meal Ideas: The World's Easiest Taco Salad

One of the biggest daily challenges anyone faces, vegan or otherwise, is meal planning. It can be hard to think about what to have for dinner tonight, much less for the next week. I think meal planning can be especially daunting for  a new vegan - in addition to figuring out what to eat, you likely have a pattern of  foods that you use as a fallback, many of which probably aren't vegan, so then you feel like you are going to starve.

Have no fear - I will help you through this hurdle! It's an area where I used to struggle, too, and frankly I didn't realize meal planning was a vegan stumbling block for me - until I read Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's 30-Day Vegan Challenge and she talked about this very phenomenon and offered very practical solutions to combating this problem. (That is one of the many reasons her book is so helpful - please help her bring the book back into print by contributing here! If you want more information, check out my post one her campaign here.)

Since I know how helpful it was for me to have some guidance both for meal planning generally and for vegan meals particularly, I plan on devoting some of my posts to planning healthful and tasty meals. So if you're a new or experimenting vegan, I hope these posts help you see that eating well (both in terms of nutrition and taste) doesn't have to be overwhelming. Or if you're a vegan who is bored with your usual routine, I hope I can shake things up for you.

Today's post will be about one of our favorite lunches: taco salad.

I will admit that in terms of weekday lunches, I have it pretty easy. Since I work in downtown Chicago, I am surrounded by a number of establishments that have accidentally vegan food (seriously - I'm looking at you Chipotle, and Noodles & Company, and Protein Bar, and Pret a Manger, and Panera Bread, and many others, which I will post about later!) and the mecca of vegan chains, Native Foods. But let me tell you, paying for lunch can add up fast. Plus, I realize that not everyone is so lucky to have so many lunch options - or, if you're like Greg, you have a job where you don't have any time to leave the premises to get lunch, much less find a joint where you can get vegan food.

To help us save some extra cash and ensure that poor Greg can actually eat during the day, I started to prepare our lunches ahead of time. This taco salad recipe evolved from a list of lunch suggestions that Colleen recommends in the 30-Day Vegan Challenge. She provides a basic framework for this (and other!) easy salads, and this taco salad has become a tasty and super easy to prepare staple in our house. Here is how our family prepares taco salad.

Before I begin, I would like to say that this salad is very free form - it usually morphs based upon what we have in our house, what sounds good, and anything I'm trying to use up.  For example, since summer is almost upon us, fresh veggies from the farmer's market would be great in this salad - or not so fresh veggies that are getting ready to go bad. Today's version of the salad is a direct reflection of my pregnant state - I'm in my third trimester, I'm tired, and I have no desire to cut things up. So frozen veggies to the rescue!

First, heat up about 2-3 teaspoons of oil over medium to medium-high heat in a saute pan. If you are trying to cut down your oil intake, you can add less oil and use spray oil to cover the rest of the pan, or you can heat up some vegetable broth instead of oil. Add your veggies - this time around, I added half a bag of a frozen three bell pepper mix and about 3/4 cup of frozen corn. Saute until the veggies start to brown. For me, since the veggies were frozen, this took about 10-12 minutes (fresh veggies will take about 5-10 minutes), until the vegetables started to look like this...

I apologize - I know the picture isn't the best, but notice that the bell peppers are softened and the vegetables have picked up some color from the pan.

Once the veggies are prepared, throw in some beans and spices. You can use canned beans or dried beans prepared ahead of time - check out my recipe for Easy Slow Cooker Beans if you'd like to try and have some beans on hand, for recipes such as this one. Here I added about 3 cups of black beans, or the equivalent of two drained and rinsed cans of beans. Veggie crumbles would work well, too.

In terms of spices, for taco salad you can use a taco seasoning packet or, as Colleen recommended, you can just throw in chili powder, cumin, and salt, which is what I usually do since I'm not organized enough to have taco seasoning ahead of time. Here, I added about 1-2 Tablespoons of chili powder, 1/2-1 teaspoon of cumin, and 1/2-1 teaspoon of salt. We are also big garlic lovers in my house, so I added about 1-2 Tablespoons of garlic powder (yes, pregnancy has made me disinterested in chopping up fresh garlic - I have no guilt!). You could also zest this up by adding fresh or bottled lemon or lime juice as well, or if you want a little kick you can use cayenne pepper (or you can add part of a diced jalapeno when you're sauteeing the veggies).

After mixing in the beans and spices, go ahead and add some salsa; this picture shows roughly 3/4-1 cup of salsa. In a surprising twist, don't feel like you have to use an expensive salsa - I usually add the mild or medium store brand. I prefer jarred salsa, both due to my aforementioned pregnancy laziness and because jarred salsa tends to be a little runnier, and I like adding the extra moisture to the pan. Plus, since you are adding so many other flavors to the pan, having a fancy salsa is less important. Greg concurs - he is very particular about his salsa and rarely uses the basic store brand for his chips, but he loves the salsa in this taco salad.

Anyway, go ahead and mix in the salsa and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the salsa has reduced into a thick sauce. I usually start light on the salsa and more if necessary so this phase can go quickly. Usually I can reduce the salsa in about 3-5 minutes, though if I add too much, it can take up to ten minutes.

And here is the delicious final product, ready to eat, in about 20 minutes! You can prepare this weekend before a work week or throw it together during the work week since it cooks up so quickly.

We usually eat this salad for lunch, but it can easily be classed up for dinner, too. Here are some serving suggestions:
- I took this salad and split it into two containers for lunches. You can reheat it or eat it cold - we like it both ways.
- You can enjoy it with chips if that's your bag, but it's great on its own.
- If you want to class it up a bit and make it more like a salad, you can mix in fresh greens before you eat it (or cook the greens right in), or scoop this out on top of greens. I would use something a little hardier, like spinach or raw or lightly cooked kale.
- This would work well with some sliced avocado on top or a dollop of guacamole.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we have!

---
Quick and Easy Taco Salad
Note: since this recipe is free form in nature, this recipe will provide basic guidelines to throwing together a taco salad. Don't be afraid - be creative! (Or simply use up what's leftover in your house.) If you would feel better with some more specific measuring guidelines, please check out my commentary above for two servings.

Ingredients:
Oil (canola, vegetable, grapeseed, or olive all work well), spray oil, vegetable broth, or any combination of these three ingredients
Fresh or frozen diced veggies (we like bell peppers and corn)
Black beans or veggie crumbles
Taco seasoning packet (or 1-2 Tbsp. chili powder, 1/2-1 tsp. cumin, and 1/2-1 tsp. salt)
Optional extra spices and flavors (garlic, cayenne pepper, and lime or lemon juice are all possibilities)
Salsa

Method:
1) Heat oil/spray oil/vegetable broth in a saute pan over medium or medium-high heat. (If you use oil or an oil/spray combo, you can probably use 2-3 teaspoons. For veggie broth, I would put a thin layer on the pan; as the broth evaporates while you cook, you may need to add a Tablespoon at a time so your food doesn't stick.)
2) Saute your vegetables until they begin to brown. Fresh veggies will cook in 5-10 minutes; frozen will probably take a little longer, like 10-15 minutes.
3) Mix in black beans or veggie crumbles plus the spices.
4) Add salsa; I like to start light (like 1/2-1 cup) and add more if the mixture looks dry. Reduce the mixture until the salsa becomes a thickened sauce. Depending on the amount of salsa you add, this can take 3-10 minutes.

Enjoy! Make ahead for an easy lunch or throw together for a fast weekday dinner. Check out the post above for serving ideas.

The World's Easiest Vegan Fudge Recipe (Or How to Make Friends and Influence People)

I confess; this post might end up being my undoing. I am so excited about this can't lose fudge recipe: I know how daunting vegan baking and cooking can seem (though I promise, it doesn't have to be!) and just how difficult it can be to find an easy vegan fudge recipe that is still delicious, which is why I decided to share it.

And therein lies the personal problem for me. I have made this fudge countless times and shared it with friends and family at parties and brought it as a hostess gift. It is always wildly popular and loved by all who eat it, but once those folks read this post and see just how easy it is to make, they might feel like I'm phoning it in whenever I bring it as a gift. But for my fair readers, it's a risk I've decided to take.

I am truly stretching my brain to remember where I found this recipe for the first time. I remember the day I found the recipe. I just desperately wanted fudge. Fudge usually involves marshmallows; I don't usually keep vegan marshmallows in my house and they can be on the expensive side (though I strongly recommend the delicious Dandies brand if you are inclined to go buy some). I also wasn't excited at the prospect of standing over a stove and going through the actual rigamarole of fudge-making; I just wanted to fudge to appear. I think I may also have wanted peanut butter and chocolate, too.

Now that I reread that passage, I must have been having a cranky day of fudge craving - yikes!

Anyway, I ended up ordering vegan fudge from Realist Mermaid on Etsy. When the fudge arrived later that week, it was delicious (though I just checked, and sadly, it appears she took down her store). But that did not fix the problem that I wanted fudge NOW. So I looked around on Allrecipes and found what appeared to be the world's easiest, three-ingredient recipe for fudge. All three ingredients were in my house. There was almost zero effort in putting it together. And there was chocolate AND peanut butter in it. I excitedly made it and I've never looked back!

This fudge recipe has been a hero to my countless times. I've thrown together as a dessert when I've been invited to parties at the last minute, it's been a great on-the-go snack (both for winter, when fudge tends to make a holiday appearance and summer, when I want to keep the oven off), it is fancy enough to be wrapped up nicely and presented as a hostess gift, and it can also feed at least one pregnant lady who OH MY GOODNESS NEEDS CHOCOLATE NOW. (I'm going to keep it real with you - I'm actually eating this fudge while I'll type this post.)

Here's how it all comes together!

These are the three ingredients you need - one cup of vegan chocolate chips, one cup of peanut butter, and 3/4 cup of maple syrup. For chocolate chips, I like the Enjoy Life brand, though I've also been known to get the Whole Foods 365 brand Vegan Semisweet Chocolate Chips. (Ghirardelli Semisweet Chips also used to be vegan, but it's been awhile since I've checked.) For peanut butter, I always use natural peanut butter. I tend to get chunky, but smooth or chunky will work. For maple syrup, just get the real stuff. Grade A or B is fine; the grade has to do with the color and flavor, not the quality, so just get what's on sale (I keep a big jug of it in my fridge).

Add all of the ingredients to your pot and melt together, stirring constantly, over medium-low to medium heat. This should only take a couple of minutes...

...until it looks smooth and yummy, like this! (Of course, if you use chunky peanut butter, the peanut chunks will remain. I think that's a positive thing personally!)

Line a square pan with parchment paper. Pour in the fudge mixture and spread it evenly throughout the pan. You might find the edges do not neatly go down; that's okay. Those pieces will just turn out "rustic," which means your friends will believe you that it's homemade, or you can just cut off those little pieces and eat them yourself later. :) If you don't have parchment paper, you can also grease the pan with vegan butter (like Earth Balance), but I strongly encourage you to use parchment paper; it really makes the job - and most any other baking or cooking job - easier.

When you're done, cover and put in the fridge for at least an hour. With this batch, I was tired, so I stuck it in the fridge overnight. When the fudge is firm, remove it from the fridge. Lift the fudge out of the pan by holding onto the parchment paper.

Remove the parchment paper and put the block of fudge on a cutting board. Cut up into slices (I usually cut columns, then rows, as demonstrated above).

And voila! Delicious fudge, ready to be shared! Or not... :) Happy eating!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge
adapted (I'm pretty sure) from Allrecipes

Ingredients:
1 c. vegan semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
1 c. peanut butter, smooth or chunky (I use natural peanut butter)
3/4 c. maple syrup (Grade A or B is  fine)

1) Melt together chocolate, peanut butter, and maple syrup on the stove over medium-low to medium heat until smooth.
2) Pour mixture into an 8- or 9-inch square pan lined with parchment paper or greased with vegan butter, like Earth Balance.
3) Cover and chill in refrigerator for at least an hour, until firm.
4) Cut fudge into squares (if using parchment paper, I recommend lifting the fudge out of the pan first, peeling off the paper, then cutting up the squares on a cutting board).
5) Store in the fridge.

Easy Peasy Dried Beans

Two of the biggest questions I often hear about going vegan involves expense and meal planning - specifically, how do you figure out what to cook and keep the cost reasonable?

Like any diet you pursue, vegan or otherwise, planning ahead is one of the best things that you can do to tackle both of these problems.  If you live in the real world, though, "planning ahead" may not be in your habit pattern or, frankly, your vocabulary. While I certainly don't want to discourage you from planning ahead, there's no need to feel guilty if you can't think past your next meal, much less what you will be eating for a week.

I am one of these latter folks. Some weeks, I've got a perfect meal plan all set up on Sunday, with the shopping and food prep done, and we are ready to execute. Then there are other weeks where I open up the fridge and desperately hope there's at least a container of Whole Soy & Company yogurt in there so at least I have breakfast worked out, and whatever you do DON'T ASK ABOUT DINNER.

One of the best tricks I've figured out for both of these meal planning scenarios is to have some beans on hand. I'm not going to get into the merits of beans - there has been enough written on their awesomeness that I don't need to get into much detail here. They are also extremely versatile, which I plan to tackle in future posts. But let's be real - they can also be super annoying.

How can the humble bean be annoying? Basically, you've got to make a decision: canned or dried. You can't beat the convenience of canned beans; crack open that can and you're ready to go. If you prefer minimally processed food, though, then there's no question that dried is better than canned. Canned beans are also relatively more expensive: I can spend $2 on a one-pound bag of organic dried beans and end up with multiple cups of cooked beans, or I can spend $1.19 on a can of organic beans and yield, well, a can of beans. Now, with this said, in the processed food/expensive spectrum, neither of these violations are particularly egregious, so if you prefer to keep canned beans in the house, I tip my hat to you. If, however, you prefer to go the dried bean route, you will end up with healthier product at a fraction of the price.

But oh, dried beans, what a pain you are to make, what with your soaking and rinsing and boiling and taking several hours to get done. Ugh. That is, until I watched one of my close friends make a delicious dinner, using a slow cooker and zero soaking of beans. ZERO SOAKING OF BEANS. So I found the recipe, adapted it a bit, and realized I could use the crock pot to prep my beans and stick them in the fridge or freezer or ahead of time with almost no effort.

I admit, I still have to make these ahead of time, but I can prep these beans on a whim, without planning for soaking time or being close to the stove at all times. I can basically rinse out some beans, pop them in the slow cooker, and run errands or go about my day while the beans are preparing themselves. And Greg often prepares these beans, too; he will notice that our bean supply is low, so he'll just knock out a quick batch while he's working on other things. It's a huge help! I used to stray away from the slow cooker for making beans because I've read all kinds of things online about getting an uneven product, but I have to tell you, I have now prepped beans this way countless times and never had a problem.

So here we go!

First, figure out what beans you want to use. This recipe should basically work for any bean; Two BIG warnings though:
- NEVER use this recipe for red kidney beans. Kidney beans contain a naturally occurring toxin that the old version of bean prep knocks out...but I'm not confident that the slow cooker can neutralize this toxin. As a result, in my house, we eat canned kidney beans, where this toxin is never a problem. In my mind, it's worth the slight extra cost for the peace of mind.
- There is no need to use a slow cooker to prep lentils or split peas; these are quick cooking, non-soaking beans that should just be prepped on the stove (although there are plenty of delicious slow cooker recipes that utilize lentils or split peas - and in those cases, have fun!).

Anyway, for this example, I used about 2 cups of black beans. Two cups is pretty standard in my house, but I've used more and less; I find it doesn't really matter.

 Place the beans in a strainer and give them a good rinse, sorting out beans that are broken or just generally look unappetizing and removing any rocks that may have accidentally gotten in there. (I remember reading that tip once, thinking it was weird and unlikely, and then one time actually finding rocks.)

Place the beans in the insert of any slow cooker, then fill up the insert with water until it's nearly full (leave maybe an inch or two at the top.

Cover and cook on high - that's it! Check after about 3 1/2 hours, but the beans should be pretty well cooked after four hours. You'll know they are done because they are soft and tender to bite into without dissolving into mush, or, if you are a visual person, you should be able to pull on the skin of the bean and it easily pulls away.

When the beans are done, dump them in the strainer and rinse them with cold water. This does two things. First, it stops the cooking process. Second, if you are like me and sometimes (which means often) forget about the beans and they are a bit overcooked, this will help firm the beans back up. (In related news, if you think you overcooked your beans, fear not! They will be fine, usable, and still delicious after the cold water rinse! If you're still not convinced, pop them in the freezer. I promise - it's really okay.)

At this point, do as you please! I usually put some in the fridge and the rest in the freezer, and then they are ready for my use when I am having a meal prep panic attack.

Happy Bean Eating to you  and yours!!

Easy Slow Cooker Beans

Ingredients:
Up to one pound of beans (do NOT use kidney beans/red beans or lentils or split peas)

1) Place up to one pound of beans in a strainer. Rinse and pick through the beans to remove broken beans and anything that shouldn't be in there.
2) Put beans in a slow cooker insert; fill with water, leaving 1-2 inches of space at the top.
3) Cook beans on high for 3 1/2-4 hours, until beans are soft and tender to bite. You should be able to pull on the skin of the bean and it easily pulls away.
4) Rinse beans in a strainer with cold water.

Beans are now ready to go in any recipe or can be put in the fridge or frozen.

The Farmers' Market Love Affair Continues

I've talked about how farmers' markets are to me what shoes are to Carrie Bradshaw: it's fundamentally an intense love affair and a scary proposition all at the same time.

I've taken the love a step further; my friend Katie introduced Greg and me to Newleaf Grocery in Rogers Park, and it is now officially all over. Newleaf delivers weekly, organic produce boxes that include almost entirely local produce with some an additional surprises thrown in. For example, I was thrilled to see mangoes this week; I popped it in the blender with the raw ice cream recipe, and a wonderful concoction was born - and devoured. Even better - Newleaf delivers year round, which means my madness can continue well into the winter months. Oh happy day!

Of course, adding Newleaf into my farmers' market mix means that I am really setting myself up for produce overpurchasing. Don't get me wrong; the boxes from Newleaf are plentiful and a great deal, especially considering the contents. Unfortunately, because I have no willpower when it comes to fruits and veggies, each time I walk past any kind of farmers' stand (which are all over Chicago now), I end up taking something home.

I've talked before about herding those veggies together and making soup, but sometimes I want to change it up a bit. Greg loves stir fries; I think they're fine, but I don't necessarily seek them out. Thank you Shape magazine for featuring a recipe for Indian Vegetarian Curried Fried Rice. It gave me the best idea for putting together a base recipe to help me clean out some vegetables - and some grains, too! Yes, sometimes I have a variety of leftover grains lurking around my house, from rice to quinoa to millet, and this stir fry is a great way to make those disappear as well. Depending on the grain you pick, you can also make this dish gluten free as well.

Finally, if all of my talking about farmers' markets leaves you wanting more local fresh produce, but you don't know where to turn, check out Local Harvest. It's a tremendous resource for finding anything you could possibly want, from stands to CSAs.

Clean Out the Pantry Stir Fry (adapted from Shape magazine)
Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients:
Grain of your choice (be creative, or just clean out what you have! Our favorite is quinoa)
Vegetable oil (use something with a higher burn temperature, like vegetable, canola, or grapeseed) or spray
Onion, diced, if you're using it
1 tsp. powdered ginger (or 1 Tbsp. minced fresh, if you have it)
1 1/2 -3 cups vegetables (favorites include garlic, green beans, carrots, celery, peppers, corn, broccoli, but seriously anything would work)
1 Tbsp. curry powder
1 -2 c. beans (take your pick; I usually use ones I'm cleaning out of the fridge. I've used chickpeas, black beans, red beans, and pinto beans)
1 - 1 1/2 c. tomatoes, if you're using them (fresh, sliced, or canned; even crushed works)
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
A couple cracks of black pepper

1) Prepare grain according to package directions. When you are within 10 minutes of finishing the grain, start the stir fry in a separate pan or wok.
2) Heat oil or spray in pan; add onion, if using it, and ginger. Stir fry for about 30 seconds; add your vegetable mix. Stir fry for about 2-3 minutes, until vegetables are crisp tender but cooked.
3) Add in curry powder; cook with other ingredients for about 10 seconds.
4) Add beans and tomatoes; cook for 2-3 minutes, or until all liquid is reduced (whichever happens second).
5) Mix in soy sauce and pepper; cook for one minute.
6) Serve over grain.

Ask Veg Baker, J.D.: Why Does Making Eggplant Scare the Pants Off of Me?

Okay, perhaps my title is a little goofy, but it's supposed to cut to the chase about a series of questions and misconceptions that people tend to have about eggplant. So, I thought I would just systematically attack the myths and fearmongering that accompany eggplant prep so everyone will be more likely to enjoy this wonderful farmers' market staple.

Question One: How do I pick a good eggplant?

As with most produce, knowing how to select the proper eggplant can really make or break your cooking experience. This isn't meant to be scary, though; picking a good eggplant is actually quite easy to do. It simply requires that you ignore marketing and confidently follow the proper steps to picking the right one.

I feel that most people gravitate towards the largest, most purple-y eggplant they can find, because whenever they see pictures of this pretty bulbous beast, that's what it looks like. Resist my friends - these eggplants actually tend to taste the worst. The bigger an eggplant, the more likely it is to be bitter. Instead, I recommend you buy smaller (or several smaller, depending on your cooking agenda) eggplant instead; it is far less likely to be bitter or brown inside.

You also want an eggplant that is firm to the touch and that has smooth, non-blemished skin. If it feels even the slightest bit soft when you touch it, put it back. Yes, I realize most eggplant at the grocery store feels soft to the touch. That doesn't mean you should buy it! Eggplant has a very short shelf life, so if you can find it fresher, like at a farmers' market or your local CSA, I'd go that route. Also, don't buy an eggplant unless you are going to make it that night or no later than the next day. Yes, they really do go south that quickly.

Finally, don't let the color throw you too much. There are many different varieties of eggplant that all taste great but that are different colors. I just made eggplant last night that was purple and white speckled, and it was fantastic. Just follow common sense - does the color look like it could just be a different variety of eggplant? Then grab it. Is it brown and moldy and gross looking? Then keep walking. Trust me, this is very easy to do in practice.

Question Two: Do I need to salt my eggplant, or, how do I get rid of the bitterness of an eggplant?

This question is actually more controversial than you might think. Intellectual minds differ on whether salting is required.

For those who have no clue what I'm talking about, salting an eggplant is thought to pull the bitterness out of an eggplant. You cut the eggplant into slices, sprinkle salt on the pieces, and lay them in a sieve for 30 minutes. Rinse, and you've got workable eggplant.

The short answer: salting will never hurt an eggplant, so if you're nervous about it or treat salting as a security blanket, go nuts. Personally, I never salt, for a number of reasons. First, I'm lazy. Second, as addressed in Question One, if you buy a fresh, smaller eggplant, bitterness is likely not an issue. Third, a lot of the bitterness of an eggplant is actually in the outer skin. As a result, I tend to just slice off the skin and cook the goodness that is inside.

So short answer: there is no real wrong answer. If you follow the basic steps in selecting an eggplant, salting is likely not necessary, but it will never wreck your final product.

Question Three: Why bother with eggplant if there is no nutritional value?

Sigh. This stereotype is perpetuated by eggplant haters, and I'll never understand it. It is true that, in the scheme of fruits and vegetables, eggplant is probably the most nutritionally lacking, in the literal sense - it's pretty much just water. That said, that doesn't mean that eating eggplant is like eating donuts or something. Quite the opposite; it barely has any calories and I believe it is really high in one of the vitamins...I just can't recall which one. Maybe A? Regardless, worst case scenario, eating eggplant is like drinking a glass of water, so don't let it throw you.

It's this nature of eggplant that makes it so popular and a favorite of mine, frankly. I feel like it is the tofu of the vegetable world; you can prepare it pretty much anyway you like and it will take on the fabulous flavors of whatever you mix with it. This provides an almost zero calorie way to bulk up your meals to fill you up without adding anything horrible.

In fairness, this sponge-like quality of eggplant means that it also has a tendency to absorb a lot of oil, too. Although delicious, that could quickly convert eggplant into a high fat food, so be careful. I tend to head this off at the pass by using spray if I saute eggplant, or I broil or grill it instead.

Question Four: Why is preparing eggplant so complicated?

Making eggplant in and of itself isn't complicated. Like most any other food, it is as easy or hard to cook as you make it. I think when most people think of eggplant, they think of eggplant parmesan. Don't mistake me, I love eggplant parmesan. Greg and I had it served at our wedding! That said, I never make it at home. I find that it is very expensive and labor intensive to do, and I just don't think mine tastes as good as the wonderful dish the fine people at Maggiano's prepared for our reception. In fact, eggplant parmesan is one of those rare dishes that, if I want to serve it, I have it catered - it's just better taste-wise and more cost effective.

Eggplant parm isn't the only way to make eggplant, though. There are a number of ways to make it, including cutting it into slices and grilling it or broiling it, frying it or sauteing it on the stovetop, adding it to a stew or Moroccan tangine, or tossing it in a stir-fry.

The recipe that follows is one of my new favorite ways to make eggplant; it is so easy and quick to do, you can't mess it up. I wouldn't recommend eating the final product of the eggplant from this recipe. It will, frankly, be kind of bland. Rather, I use this method to prep the eggplant for use in another dinner recipe, like adding it to a sauce or a curry, or even just cooking it up with other vegetables to go over rice, or to spice it up and put it in a salad. The point is: this recipe is a great first step to help you get the eggplant ready so you can feel free to be creative with eggplant in other recipes while knowing that you have properly cooked the eggplant in the first place. Enjoy!

Versatile Steamed Eggplant (adapted from The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet)
Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, quartered and thinly sliced
Approx. one pound of eggplant, skin removed, cut into matchsticks
Salt and pepper

1) Combine onion and 1/4 c. water in a wok or deeper pan on high heat; reduce to simmer, cover, and steam for 3 minutes.
2) Mix in eggplant with another 1/2 c. water. Cover and steam, stirring every 90 seconds or so, until the eggplant is tender but not mushy or falling apart. This could take anywhere from 5-8 minutes. If there is any extra water in the wok, drain through a sieve and reserve onion and eggplants.
3) Sprinkle scant amounts of salt and pepper. It's ready to move on to its recipe du jour!

Note: The onions are also quite tasty in this, so I tend to keep the eggplant and onions together and omit or reduce any onions that might be in the final dish.

Guilt Free Ice Cream and Easy Homemade Milk

This post is a two-for-one: it allows Greg to indulge in his love for ice cream while I can avoid grodiferous milk.

In the fairness of full disclosure, I should mention that I have never liked milk. Granted, there are extremely compelling vegan and health reasons for not drinking dairy, and I agree with those wholeheartedly. Since I try to avoid the preachy on this blog, though, I'll just front with another fact of life. I have always disliked milk, even when I used to eat 5-inch thick steaks. Seriously. My mom used to add chocolate to my milk when I was a kid and simultaneously pay me a dollar or so (which was truly a fortune to a 5 year old!), and I wouldn't do it. I hated the taste; it made me gag. My parents used to order chocolate milk for me to drink at lunch each day, and I just gave it to whatever kid had forgotten his or her lunch that day. I finally confessed after third grade I never drank it, and my parents kindly stopped ordering it for me. I always did - and still do - eat cereal totally dry. You get the picture.

Now in a drastic shift from my sour feelings towards milk is Greg's adoration of ice cream. It's kind of funny, actually, because Greg is by far the healthiest eater I know. We just signed up for a CSA, and although it's no shock I'm all for it, Greg is really excited about it, too, and all of the things we can do with our weekly allotment of fruits and vegetables. Truth be told, we may need to buy a bigger share because Greg will likely polish off today's box in the next two days. So needless to say, it's always a surprise to people how much he adores ice cream. But Greg being healthy Greg, he always feels bad about it. Even though I certainly think he deserves a treat and is in tremendous shape, he feels bad about this particular indulgence of his.

How do we reconcile these things? Raw almond milk! I was reading Ani Phyo's Ani's Raw Food Kitchen when I sort of saw her recipe for Vanilla Mylk but didn't really think about it. (Remember, my relationship with milk is long and torturous.) But then, I noticed her suggestion that her mylk can be run through an ice cream maker and turned into "ice cream." She had my attention.

As my previous posts have indicated, I love using our ice cream maker, but there is a drawback: when making ice cream, the recipes I use have to boil the ingredients on the stove top, and then I have to wait 3 or 4 hours for the mixture to cool before I make ice cream. Since I have no patience for these things when my sweet tooth is calling, I tend not to make it much. With raw ice cream, though, you can go straight from blender to ice cream maker, no waiting. Hooray!

After making mylk for the first time, I also realized that the recipe for vanilla mylk is a perfect base for making other flavors of ice cream. Want mint chocolate chip? Add a small amount of peppermint extract to the blender and dump in chocolate chips during the last 5 minutes of churning in the ice cream maker. Have a ton of seasonal fruit? Blend it directly into the mylk or cut it into chunks and add it towards the end of the churning - or both! Basically, this can't go wrong. And, bonus - the mylk tastes good as milk and can live in the fridge for a few days. Woo hoo! Maybe there is hope for me!

As for Greg, he loves the raw ice cream experiments. First, it's vegan, so no guilt. Second, he's even more impatient than me when it comes to ice cream, so there's only a half hour wait for his treat to go from blender to maker to spoon. Third, this stuff is definitely nutritionally better than what you would get at the store. The only "sugar"? Dates. The only fat? Almonds, and there's protein, too. No cholesterol. And a bonus: cheap to make!

Ani also has a recipe for chocolate mylk, which would probably make another great ice cream base. Once I make that, I'll report back with a recipe update.

Vanilla Mylk, adapted from Ani Phyo/Raw Ice Cream Base
Yields: Pitcher of mylk/3.5-4 quarts of ice cream (my 3.5 quart ice cream maker can hold this recipe)

Ingredients:
1/2 c. almonds
1/2 c. pitted dates
1 tsp. vanilla
Pinch of salt
4-5 c. water
Other ice cream favorites (fruit, peanut butter, cookie dough, chocolate chips, nuts - be creative!)

1) To make mylk, combine first five ingredients until smooth in a blender. There will be some almond bits floating around at the end; you can either strain them out or leave them in, it doesn't matter.
2) For ice cream: before combining ice cream ingredients, add any fruit or flavored extracts you'd like to try, and then blend. If you like slushier ice cream, add closer to 5 cups of water. If you like a stiffer ice cream, then go closer to 4 cups. Again, for a smoother ice cream, strain out any extra bits, but you can leave them in if you like.
3) Freeze mylk mixture according to ice cream maker instructions. If you are adding mix-ins (nuts, fruit chunks, peanut butter), add them during the last five minutes of the churning process.

A Sports Drink Recipe...in Progress

I don't really talk much about another passion of mine, which is running. Clearly, since this is a baking and vegan blog, it wouldn't really make sense for me to talk about it much. Now that I'm training for my first marathon (Chicago Marathon on 10.10.10!), I'm finding my running world and my cooking world overlapping more and more. Nutrition is an important part of effective running anyway, but the more miles you log each week, the more crucial it is that you properly fuel yourself - not just for performance, but so you don't hurt yourself.

I hope to finish developing some recipes that have benefited my running; but first, I'm switching gears slightly and focusing more on proper hydration.

In general when I run, I like to log around 20 miles per week. I'm now at the point of the summer where my mileage is increasing to closer to 25, and 30 is not too far away. As the mileage goes up, so does the thermometer, which obviously adds a physical stressor. And finally, thanks to the awesome powers of Groupon, I started Bikram yoga with the wonderful yogis at Bikram Yoga Andersonville as a way to cross train. I love it! I do it twice a week, and I can feel myself getting stronger and being more in control of my body. Part of Bikram's wonderful effects, though, comes from the fact that it is practiced in a room that is 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

This ostensibly means that I am working out extremely vigorously, in extremely hot temperatures (because I only run outside), six days a week. I suppose I didn't think this was a huge deal; I never thought I'd say this (seriously - ask my friends from high school and college), but I love exercising for the health of it and how it makes me feel, so I wasn't paying too much attention to the heat.

This became a problem last week when I had to leave my yoga class halfway through because I thought I was going to throw up. I then had a horrible headache, was dizzy, and when I made it home, I could not get out of bed or really talk for the rest of the day. I couldn't even physically lift my head until about 4:30. Awesome.

Turns out, among other things, I was living my day to day existence in a pretty severely dehydrated state. Of course, there were early warning signs - I had all of a sudden been starving for no particular reason, and I was really tired. I think I got sick during my class because my body had just had it at that point.

Fortunately, in terms of addressing the problem, rehydrating is easily achievable. I was told to double the amount of water I'm drinking and to drink more electrolytes. I can get on board with this, but there were two things I wanted to avoid. One, I generally don't mind sports drinks, but I wasn't too crazy about pumping tons of sugar and artificial coloring into my body. Two, although I have no problem lots of drinking water, when you are asked to drink about a gallon of water a day, you really do have a threshold of water you can think about drinking.

After doing some research and taking advice from the yogis and medical professionals, I tried two products I liked. The first is smartwater. Smartwater is literally water with non-sodium electrolytes in it. I was pretty skeptical at first, but after pounding a liter before my last yoga class, I'm definitely a convert. It tastes great, and I really feel more hydrated and balanced. When I reach a point where I just can't handle anymore water, I've become a fan of coconut water. Coconut water is literally what it sounds like; water that is extracted from a baby coconut. This stuff is great because it naturally has a bunch of potassium and electrolytes in it, without the sugar (and no worries, it's fat free, so there aren't the saturated fat issues). Most people I know love straight coconut water. I personally like the brands that come with some pineapple or pomegranate in it. I feel like I'm drinking juice, although I'm clearly not drinking juice. It's great!

One issue, though? Paying for this stuff. Smartwater is pretty reasonably priced at my Whole Foods at $1.49/liter, and Whole Foods has its own store brand for cheaper, but I still have some bottled water purchasing guilt. Coconut water is definitely more on the spendy side, but if you order it in a case of 12 from Amazon, the price is about the same as Gatorade and shipping is free.

That said, Greg is skeptical of the electrolytes in smartwater, and he's not a fan of the cost of coconut water. We decided it was time to try and make our own electrolyte water at home.

And, um, let's just say it's a work in progress. The deal I made with Greg was that I would try to make some recipes to please his frugal side, but he had to try them first to make sure they weren't gross. Boy, I'm glad I did that. This is definitely a trial and error process. I first tried a recipe that is all over the Internet, about Bob Harper's electrolyte recipe featured on the Dr. Oz show. I made it. Greg said he felt like he was drinking the Dead Sea. I took a sip and instantly bolted for the sink. So gross! I then tried again with less salt. This time, Greg thought it was way too sweet, and I still felt like I was swimming in the ocean. I abandoned that recipe.

The one that I think has the most promise is the one I've posted below. I think it is a good candidate for a recovery drink, but I still think it's too salty to swig while actually engaging in exercise. The nice part is the drinker has more control over the sourness or sweetness of the drink, without messing with the electrolyte balance.

Truthfully, I really hope I can figure out this recovery drink recipe. It's at the point now where it is palatable and will do the job, but I think it is on the brink of being amazing. That said, if you try it and have suggestions, please let me know! I think there will be a recipe update in the future.

In the mean time, the deal I have with Greg now is that I will limit my smartwater intake to when I'm actually exercising and I won't just swig it around the house for fun, and coconut water will wing its way to our house through Amazon. Of course, I can hope through the power of laziness that I'll get my way after all and just drink smartwater and coconut water, but now the vegan experimenter in me wants to get this right!

Recovery Drink recipe, in progress
Yields: 1-8 oz. glass

Ingredients:
8 oz water
Pinch of sea salt
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice (usually the juice of one lemon)
0-1/2 tsp. agave nectar.

1) Mix water, salt, and lemon juice together. For Greg, he likes it just like this.
2) For me, I still think it is a little salty. Gradually add agave nectar until you get the flavor to a sweetness you like. There is still a salty undertone, but the drink tastes more like lemonade. Greg doesn't like this version because he thinks it is too sweet, so definitely play around with the sweetener.

Exposing the Dark Underbelly of the Farmers' Market

I love the summer because of the farmers' markets. I love that, every Thursday, I can wander through the Daley Center Plaza, without any sort of produce agenda, and I can pick up unbelievable, probably picked that morning or the day before stuff, which tastes amazing, will last much longer because it is fresh, and is inexpensive. The Daley Center is also great because there are so many small artisans selling craft breads, jams, honeys, and other tasty delights.

During this season, recipes abound with what to do with all of these fresh ingredients. Restaurants talk about the salads they create that day based on vegetables picked that morning. Open any newspaper or perform a simple search on Google, and you can find any recipe that emphasizes fresh ingredients, how to maximize them, and how to make something simple to bring out those flavors.

And I think that's all fine and dandy. Those recipes are delicious, and if I'm at a restaurant with farmers' market specials, I will definitely order it and love it. So why my, ahem, melodramatic title? The obvious first reason is pure marketing; you're reading this, aren't you? :) But in all seriousness, I find when I go to a market, I have absolutely no self control. Maybe everyone else has will power, but I find the combination of unbelievable ingredients at ridiculously low prices leads me to buy most things that look fantastic. Unfortunately, this means I have tons of produce that is difficult for Greg and me to finish in a reasonable amount of time. And this is what I mean by the "dark underbelly." There's so much focus on what to do with vegetables the day of purchase, but what do you do when time has passed and wilting seems to be an imminent issue, I know it's time to save the produce.

Yes, save the produce! Greg and I pride ourselves on the fact that we nearly never throw away food. Yet I have already admitted to having an overpurchasing problem. How to reconcile? With soup!

I should confess upfront that Greg and I are fiends for soup; we eat at least one, and usually two, homemade soups a week for dinner. But summer soups are so special because of the wide range of produce available, and we take full advantage of it! The trick is, just like at the market, not to be too attached to the actual vegetables that go in the soup. I literally just go through the fridge and fruit and veggie basket, pick what looks like it is ready to go. The beauty of this recipe is that the soup will taste delicious from the variety of vegetables, but there is no need to go with vegetables bought the day of market; since everything will be heated and melded into a soup, you don't need perfectly fresh ingredients like you would in a caprese or beet salad.

The basic idea of the soup is an adaption from one of the corn broth based soups in Veganomicon, but definitely feel free to make it your own. I will sketch out general guidelines of how to prioritize and add vegetables, but this is definitely a time to be creative! And because it's soup, feel free to make it ahead for an easy, reheated dinner.

Save the Farmers' Market Soup
Yields generous 4-6 one bowl servings

General outline of ingredients:
Olive oil or spray
2-4 cloves garlic or shallots, minced or pressed
1/3 -2/3 cup onion, diced
1 1/2 cups of some combination (feel free to add or omit) celery, carrot, and/or parsnips, diced
2-3 cups (give or take either way) of an assortment of vegetables, diced. Suggestions: potatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, bell peppers, jalapeno pepper (or red pepper flakes or a hit of sriracha sauce for spice, if you're into that), but be creative!
2 tsp. dried thyme
Scant salt and pepper
1 quart of veggie stock
2-3 cups corn (fresh or frozen works)
1 lb. tomatoes, diced (fresh, canned, whole grape tomatoes - all those options are fine!)

1) Spray or add 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil into a stock pot and warm over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic/shallot and saute for a couple of minutes, until onions are at least starting to sweat.
2)Add the celery/carrot/parsnip combo and saute for another 2 minutes. If you have any hard vegetables (for example, potatoes), add those and cook for another 2-3 minutes and then add remaining veggies and thyme, salt, and pepper; cook for 3 minutes. Otherwise, just cook the onion/garlic/celery/carrot/parsnip combo for 4-5 minutes and then add the veggies and thyme.
3) Add the corn and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add the stock. The vegetables should at least be covered; if the veggies aren't covered, or if you like a more watery soup, feel free to add another cup or two of water. Cover, bring to a boil, and then reduce to a low simmer and tilt the lid slightly to let some steam escape. Simmer for 45 minutes.
4) The soup should have a slightly creamy texture, but with some of the chunkiness of the vegetables. There are two ways to do this after the 45 minute simmer period. If you have a stick blender, turn off the heat, insert the blender, and puree parts of the soup, being sure to leave chunks and not blend the whole thing. Otherwise, scoop out 1 1/2-2 cups of soup, set aside, and run the remaining soup through a blender. Add the vegetables back in.
5) Turn the stove back in and stir in the tomatoes. Heat for ten minutes and serve.

Tastes great with the biscuits or beer bread.

Raw! or Raw?: An Opinion in Progress

I think it's pretty clear that I have a love for sweets. Anyone who writes a blog about baking and who can finally take the leap to veganism because she's gained confidence that tasty desserts will follow is pretty much a dead giveaway. Unfortunately, this also means that I basically can't keep sweets in the house. If there's a cookie within arm's reach (or sadly, climb on a chair reach), that tasty morsel doesn't have a prayer for survival.

I just figured whatever latent sugar addiction I seem to have would doom me to a life of restriction and not keeping yummy treats in my house since I apparently have no self-control. And then, a magical thing happened - a friend suggested I try a raw diet. She said that it helps control appetite and that, even though everything is free of processed sugar, the desserts tend to be sweeter and hit the spot without the sugar addiction.

I was intrigued by this notion, but then she asked me - what do I think about the raw diet? The answer: I don't (or rather, at the time, I didn't). I didn't know anything about it so I felt I couldn't draw an opinion about it, but I wasn't compelled to get information about it, either. Before I launched into raw experimentation, I started to read up on the subject.

Now that I've read two books on raw foodism, my opinion is...well, it's still a work in progress. I think some of the principles of going raw, while others trigger the "common sense" button and reinforce that I'm not the type to go totally raw. For example, the authors have talked about how going raw is very filling because the food stuffs are all full of fiber, which is a great plus for weight loss. I definitely agree with that, and I have made a point of incorporating raw snacks into my day and having some raw sides with my cooked entree. Other stuff just seems off. For example, one author stated that when you go totally raw, you can just follow your body's cravings. That means some days she'll just eat oranges and avocados, and she'll feel ethereal all day. I can't help but wonder if she feels ethereal because she's starving.

Nonetheless, I decided to start experimenting with raw desserts. I decided that, since I don't exactly eat treats for nutritional value, I should try the raw versions of some sweets. Since I just wanted something that tastes good, I truly didn't care about the purported health advantages of eating raw.

Happily, I was thrilled to find out that raw desserts (or at least the ones I've tried so far) are delicious! They are mostly made out of nuts and fruit, so no sugar addiction, and the surplus of fiber in the final product sated my appetite very quickly. And of course, the most important thing - they fill the bill when I need a treat!

One item that has been particularly popular in my house and with guests is raw apple pie, I recipe I tried from Any Phyo's book The Raw Food Kitchen. I've made it a few times now, and it's always a winner. It is both sweet with crunchy apples at the same time, and the crust is to die for. Plus, instead of clearing out half a pie tin (like I am fully capable of doing), one slice is totally satisfying and my craving is curbed.

As I experiment more with the raw food diet, I will post my winners and failures. For now, enjoy this classic apple pie without turning on your oven!

The Best Raw Apple Pie (adapted from Ani Phyo)
Yields: One pie

Crust ingredients:
2 c. almonds
2-4 c. pitted dates
Scant salt

Syrup:
1 orange, peeled
1/2 c. pitted dates
Water

Filling:
3 large apples, thinly sliced (skins on or off is up to you)
1 c. raisins (or a handful, if you're lazy like me)
3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1) To make the crust: pulse almonds in food processor until you have small, ground up almond bits. (Be sure to pulse - if you go too fast, you'll make almond butter.) Add salt, and gradually pulse in dates. Start with two cups, and keep adding dates until the crust starts to stick together. This could be a huge number of dates; don't sweat it. When the crust is done, pat down into a pie pan like a regular pie crust.
2) To make the syrup, liquefy orange in a blender. Blend in dates. Gradually add water until you have a syrupy consistency.
3) To make the filling, mix together the syrup with the apples, raisins, and cinnamon. Fill pie crust, and you're done!

Keeps beautifully in the fridge (yes, the apples stay crunchy and don't turn brown!); just cover with plastic.

A Bunch of New

Hi everyone! I apologize for the extended hiatus. Thank you for coming back!

During this time off, three fun new things have happened that I want to share - one related to food, one related to healthy living, and one just because I'm excited. :)

Working in reverse order, here's the new excitement in our life - our third fuzzy girl, Molly the Dog!


Molly joined our family in March from PAWS Chicago. Were we thinking about adopting another dog? Kind of. Greg and I tried to adopt Red, a very sweet puppy who became paralyzed after he was shot by robbers, last fall. Let me take a moment to plug Red - he would be an awesome addition to your home! He is very sweet and playful. We just couldn't adopt him because he needs to be a solo doggy, something he couldn't get in our crazy house. If you have questions about him, let us know!

Anyway, Red planted the seed in our brain for a third puppy, although we weren't actively looking. And then, one day, Greg and I were volunteering at PAWS, Greg saw Molly's face, and we knew there was no turning back. Molly is a four-year-old German Shepherd-Alaskan Malamute mix. She is a very sweet and mellow girl and has filled a spot in our house we didn't know was empty until we brought her home. Her doggy sisters Sheila and Lucy are just in love with her! I haven't been able to capture a really good picture of the three of them yet , because Molly has a gift for evading the camera - even when she's sleeping! When I do, I'll change my profile pic. But in the mean time, I do have proof these three love to snuggle.


The next piece of fun news? One of my very bestest friends, Sonja, has started her own blog, Defying Gravity, and I hope you will check it out! Sonja will be blogging about her experiences with running and skating, and I can't recommend her highly enough. I could listen to Sonja talk about her active lifestyle for hours; she's an incredibly engaging person who has wonderful insights on becoming and staying active. Her enthusiasm for running gave me the bug, and three years later, I'm training for my first marathon! Anyway, check out her blog; if you're checking out my blog because you'd like to live a healthier lifestyle, then you'll love Sonja's blog. Or, if you eat way too many cookies like me and that's why you're here, then Sonja can help you with that, too. :)

And finally - the food! One of my friends suggested a few months ago I try to incorporate some raw recipes into my diet. Although I was skeptical, I have to say, all of the luscious desserts I have made so far are awesome! I'm definitely not 100% raw, but I love incorporating raw foods (and desserts especially!) into my diet. Seeing as how the length of this post has already gotten way out of hand, I'll tease your taste buds with a recipe for the most amazing raw fudge from super raw enthusiast Alissa Cohen ever and I'll focus my next post on my thoughts about going raw - and the yummy results that follow. And a bonus with this recipe? Delicious chocolate without baking!

Fudge Balls (adapted from Alissa Cohen) - and no, not Chocolate Salty Balls
Yields: about 15-20 fudgy pieces

Ingredients:
2 cups pitted dates
2 cups almond butter
1/2 cup cocoa powder (or carob powder, if that strikes your fancy)

1) Process dates in a food processor until smooth.
2) Add remaining ingredients and process until well mixed.
3) Using a cookie scoop or a tablespoon, scoop the mixture into individual balls.

Keeps in the fridge for 7-10 days; they can also be frozen.

Ask VBJD: What Are You Eating for Thanksgiving? (The Savory Answer)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I absolutely love the holiday season; heck, Greg and I got married ten days before Christmas, so I must love the season! There is just a magical feeling in the air, and I always reflect on how grateful I am for all of the wonderful people in my life.

One question I get every year is: what am I making for Thanksgiving or Christmas? Truth be told, I think this is less of a vegetarian question and more of a question from curious friends and family who know I love to cook and to bake, and they're just wondering what I'll be whipping up. And because they know I can talk about food endlessly, I'm happy to oblige!

This year for Thanksgiving, Greg and I will be bringing Apple Cider Green Beans and a cookie plate to Thanksgiving dinner. As a result, I've decided to split up the answer into two days so I can talk about both of the recipes.

Apple Cider Green Beans is an adaption of a recipe my mom saw on 30 Minute Meals about five years ago. I am guessing some of my readers are Rachael Ray fans, while others are groaning, so I will do cowardly thing and bow out of the discussion. What I will say, though, is that regardless of whatever you think of Ms. Ray, I have often turned to her recipes, particularly for party situations, because they aren't fussy and often can be prepared ahead of time easily, and the final results have always come out a hit.

Apple Cider Green Beans is no exception. Basically this dish has two components: the green beans and the apple cider onion topping, and both are a snap. Basically, you buy frozen green beans and just heat them right before serving in the microwave, and you can make the apple onion mixture a day ahead of time and just easily reheat on the stove or, if you must, in the microwave (a bonus I find when I go to other houses, since extra oven space tends to be a novelty at this time of year). Mix together and serve, and you're all set. This recipe also easily doubles, triples, quadruples; you basically can't go wrong.

Also important, though, is that the final product is just delicious. The apple taste just fits right in with the season, but it's not too sweet, and the green beans give the perfect crunch. It's also not laden with fat, so it's a relatively guilt-free meal. If you're still scrambling around for a great side dish for Thursday, please consider putting this on the list!

Apple Cider Green Beans (adapted from Rachael Ray)
Yields: 4 servings

1-2 tsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 - 2 1/2 c. apple cider or apple juice
1 lb. bag frozen green beans

1) Heat the olive oil over medium high heat (you can cut back on the fat by spraying the pan first with nonstick spray and then adding 1 tsp. of oil). Saute the onion until caramelized.
2) Pour in the apple cider or juice; reduce until there is a thick, syrupy liquid, stirring frequently. This can take from 20-30 minutes. (If you are making ahead, store in a container in the fridge at this point. Reheat right before serving over medium heat in a saucepan or in the microwave. If using the microwave, check every 30 seconds a stir frequently).
3) Cook green beans in the microwave according to package directions.
4) Mix apple cider onion and green beans together; serve.

Turning Yucky into Yummy

As much as I've been enjoying my vegan transition, there's been one area that's been a little sticky...and that is finding a yogurt substitute. This is something that, in theory, should be super easy to do. I used to eat dairy yogurt at home only, because the big brands (with some exceptions) usually have gelatin in them, a definite vegetarian no-no. Yogurt used to be a way for me to enjoy something sweet and got a little kick of calcium and protein, too. So on my to-do list, I added finding a yogurt substitute.

Let's just say I'm not there yet.

I used to be freakishly afraid of soy yogurt. When I finally got up the nerve to use soy yogurt in my baked goods, my fear diminished. Soy yogurt has truly proven to be a great substitute for sour cream or eggs in a recipe, and I'm happy to include it all the time. But each time I cracked open the container and thought about eating it straight, by itself, I'd turn up my nose and decide against it.

Finally, after all of my soy yogurt baking exploits had been successful, I decided that I was being truly unfair. If soy yogurt could be substituted in baked goods with no change in the overall taste or texture of most of my recipes, then I should like this stuff by itself. Or so you think. One spoonful of the vanilla yogurt later, and I thought this should be headed for the trash.

As you all know, though, I hate wasting food, and I definitely did not want to throw away a perfectly *good* (good as in not expired, not tasty...) container of soy yogurt. I remembered a recipe in Jillian Michaels's book Master Your Metabolism for a dairy smoothie, so I used that recipe for inspiration and threw some ingredients in a blender, put some of it in a travel mug for work, and then froze the rest. The smoothie was good and filling.

What I wasn't expecting was how delicious the frozen concoction would be. I brought that to work the next day, intending to stick it in my fridge in my office so it would thaw and I could have an afternoon smoothie. Wouldn't you know, by 3:30 I was starving and needed protein, and that sucker was just as frozen as it had been at 8 AM. So I grabbed a spoon from the lunchroom and started eating. And it was fabulous! It tasted just like a fruit sorbet, and it provided snacks for me for the next several days.

Perhaps I shouldn't yet give up on my yogurt substitution quest; when my Whole Foods starts to carry rice milk yogurt, maybe I should give that a try. I tried a lime flavored soy yogurt and didn't like that either, but perhaps I will like another flavor. I do know one thing, though; if I eat soy yogurt for the rest of my days as a smoothie or a dessert, I'll be just fine.

Fruit Smoothie or Fruit "Sorbet"
Yields: Depends on amount of fruit you add...probably roughly 4 cups of the mixture

Ingredients:**
1 c. blueberries
2 c. frozen strawberries
1 banana
6 ounces soy vanilla yogurt
1 Tbsp. agave nectar (honey would work too, but many vegans do not eat honey)

1) In a blender, combine all ingredients.
2) Either pour in glasses and drink as smoothie, or freeze in a container for at least 6-8 hours to make the frozen dessert.

**Please note that any combination of fruit would probably work; this is just what I used. It is important, though, to make sure that at least some of your fruit is frozen, otherwise you won't get a smoothie. If you don't have frozen fruit, just add ice, but be aware that could water down your smoothie if it gets too warm.

Ask Veg Baker, J.D.: What's the Deal with Applesauce?

Hello everyone! First off, please accept my apologies for my one week delay in posting, but I'm back and raring to go!

To make up for my absence, I thought I would address a question I get all the time: what's my obsession with putting applesauce in so many of my vegan recipes?

My answer: because applesauce is a wonderful multitasker and can replace both a liquid fat AND eggs! (although not necessarily at once...read more below...)

When I was a young sprout, my mom taught me a great trick I could put right up my sleeve: you can use applesauce to replace the oil in boxed mixes. It's great because if you're in a pinch and you're out of oil (or other liquid fat, including melted butter), applesauce can swoop in and save the day. I often bake with it because it works like a fat with the benefit of having no fat; this means you preserve the flavor of a tasty baked good while cutting out obscene amounts of fat. No complaints here! Applesauce also works great because it adds a dense moisture to foods and adds depth to the final product's flavor profile without altering the taste itself. All in all, these are all great things!

When I decided to go the vegan route and was looking for eggs substitutes, I was shocked to see that applesauce can also be used. I should caution that applesauce cannot be used universally as an egg substitute; as Isa Chandra Moskowitz so eloquently stated in Vegan with a Vengeance, it helps to determine whether eggs are used in a recipe to bind the ingredients together or whether the eggs also leaven. As long as the eggs were used just to bind, applesauce is great. Therefore, I find that applesauce works well in quick breads (like pumpkin bread), cakes, and some "heftier" cookies, like the Oatmeal Banana Cookies and the Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk cookies. The other reason I like to use applesauce as an egg replacer is because I cut down on food waste; whenever I would buy a dozen eggs or egg beaters, they almost always went bad before I could finish using them. I don't have that problem with applesauce, or if I have a bunch, I can freeze the applesauce until I need to bake with it.

This all said, I wouldn't use applesauce to replace both the fat and the eggs in a recipe; I would figure out which role you want it to play and then determine a substitute for the other product. For example, with rare exception, I tend to use applesauce as an egg replacer when the recipe calls for a solid fat. Applesauce can only replace liquid fats, and I can use Earth's Balance as a great dairy replacment. However, if the recipe calls for oil, I almost always replace the oil with applesauce to cut down on fat and then play around with other egg substitutes, like bananas or soy yogurt.

So, appropriately, to further today's celebration of applesauce, I am including a recipe for homemade unsweetened applesauce, with tips for how to sweeten it, if that's your cup of tea. I played around with this recipe over the weekend. My wonderful mom offered to pick up "some" apples for me when she went apple picking - she very generously gave me a bushel! So needless to say, I'm trying to put those apples to good use. Similarly, if you ever find you have a couple of apples in the fridge that are not much longer for this world, you can save them by scaling this recipe down and making some applesauce.

I should also note that unsweetened applesauce - which is literally just water and apples - is dog-safe. You can freeze it and give it to the pups like ice cream. I'm not so sure if unsweetened applesauce is universally liked by dogs, though. I made some applesauce for Sheila and Lucy over the weekend and gave them an unfrozen version, and they were kind of confused. They clearly really wanted to like it, but they had never seen anything with that kind of texture before, so they were a little weirded out by how it looked. No matter; it was tasty to this human. :)

Please note, if you do choose to go beyond this recipe and add other ingredients, please don't feed it to your dog.

Unsweetened Applesauce
Yields: 2-3 cups of applesauce

8 apples
1 cup water
(hints for sweetening for a human-only version are at the end)

1) If you please, remove the skins. Some people like sauce with the skins on, but others think it is weird to have skins floating around their sauce. This is a judgment call on your part.
2) Core the apples and cut into bite size pieces. For reference, I often use an apple corer that also yields 8 individual slices; I cut each of those slices into 3 pieces, and that is enough. Don't feel like you have to do a crazy dice.
3) Put apples in a pot with one cup of water and cover. Bring to a boil.
4) When boiling, give the apples a stir (they should start to be mushy at this point), turn the heat down so the water is simmering, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally.

That's it! You can easily scale this recipe up or down and freeze what you don't want.
If you like a little sweetness in your sauce, at the end of the 20 minutes simmering, you can add a little white and/or brown sugar and some cinnamon to taste; mix until dissolved, and you're done. Some people also like cloves, but I think cloves are gross, so I wouldn't know about that. :) Just remember, if you add these ingredients, this recipe is no longer dog safe.

Cheaply Decadent

I never thought I would see "cheaply" describe "decadent" in my life. But I think homemade truffles might be just that.

As I think this blog has made clear on a fairly continuous basis, I just cannot get enough of chocolate. How so? The summer I gave up chocolate, I lost 40 pounds. Well, there was the whole diet and exercise thing, but let's be real, no chocolate probably played a major role there, too.

But now that chocolate has firmly re-entered my life, I'm not too shy to say that I can enjoy it in many forms and, thank goodness, it has not been too difficult to go the vegan route and still preserve all that I love about chocolate. One of my weaknesses, though - and one of my expensive weaknesses - is truffles. Compounding the problem is that I live in the home city of Vosges Haut Chocolate, which simply has the best truffles. EVER. The concept behind Vosges is simple. Chocolate by itself is not that exciting; however, by adding some slight flavors (some you can taste directly, and others you can't), chocolate can *pop* in exciting and unexpected ways. And my addiction began!

But boy, do you pay the price for that goodness. Nine of those awesome truffles are $26. And are they worth it? Yes. Can I afford to keep that up to feed my addiction and impress my family and friends? No. Fortunately, because I apparently have the cognitive level of a very small child, I found that as long as I avoid going to the Vosges store, I forget about them. Out of sight, out of mind.

And then, my neighborhood Whole Foods opened, and started selling Vosges chocolate bars - clearly NOT a good situation. And although I had a difficult time putting the words "cheaply decadent" together, I have an even harder time putting "will" with "power." Yipe!

Enter the Barefoot Contessa, here to save me again! I saw her make these truffles on her Food Network show, and I was amazed at how easy they are to make and just how darn fancy they are; use soy cream and read the labels on your chocolate, and you've also got a vegan treat. I also strongly suspect that these truffles make a good "base" recipe; that is, at the stage where you add the coffee (which provides said *pop* here), I wonder if you sub in some of the Vosges secret ingredients if you will get an equally fancy result with a different flavor. In her original recipe, Ina Garten adds 2 tablespoons of Grand Marnier as well as the coffee. But I'll save those fun experiments for down the road.

Chocolate Truffles (adapted from the Barefoot Contessa)
Yields: A whole bunch of truffles (although these store well in the fridge)

Ingredients:
1/2 pound good bittersweet chocolate (My vegan fave is Equal Exchange or 365 Brand dark chocolate)
1/2 pound good semisweet chocolate (Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate chips are vegan)
1 cup soy cream 2 tablespoons
1 tablespoon prepared coffee
1/2 teaspoon good vanilla extract
Powdered sugar
Cocoa powder

1) If necessary, chop up the chocolate and put them in a mixing bowl.
2) Heat the soy cream in a small saucepan until it just boils and then cool for 20 seconds.
3) Pour the cream on the chocolate (be careful; try to find a bowl that won't get hot). Slowly stir the cream and chocolates together until the chocolate is completely melted.
4) Stir in coffee and vanilla, and set aside at room temperature for an hour.
5) Using two teaspoons or a cookie scoop, scoop round balls of the chocolate mixture onto a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll each ball of chocolate in your hands to roughly make it round. If desired, roll in confectioners' sugar, cocoa powder, or a mixture of the two.
6) Store in the fridge.

Spoiling Puppies on a Budget

Words cannot describe how much Greg and I love our puppies, Sheila and Lucy. From the moment we laid eyes on them at the shelter, we knew both of them needed to come home with us. They were roommates at PAWS Chicago, a wonderful cage-free shelter that Greg and I adore.

Sheils and The Moose, as we more commonly call them, were in the same suite. When we adopted them, they were four months old. They had been at PAWS for one month. They were brought in with their litters, who were instantly adopted out, and our little girls were left over and paired together. It was clearly meant to be because Greg and I visited PAWS, fell in love with them instantly, swooped them up, and took them home. Now, two years later, I cannot imagine life without them.

People often ask me if the wonderpups are vegetarian or vegan. To their surprise, the answer is no. After doing some research, I haven't really found anything that makes me feel comfortable making the girls go totally veg. From what I can tell, dogs are perfect omnivores; they really do require both animal and plant products to have a healthy diet. Obviously, though, there are the ethical considerations that Greg and I wrestle with as well. I think we've found a balance that makes us comfortable. For their meals, we feed Sheila and Lucy Wellness Sweet Potato and Whitefish food; Greg is a pescetarian, so it made sense to give fish to the girls, too. We also give them rawhides because dogs need to chew! When it comes to treats, though, we give them vegetarian, and almost always vegan, treats, since we figure that will help boost the plantstuffs they need to eat.

We have a wonderful local natural pet food store, Kriser's, that supplies the girls with all they need, but you can also make dog treats on the cheap. The good news is that dogs can eat some of the fruits and vegetables that their owners eat. We feed Sheils and Moose carrots (peeled and cut up), apples (core, seeds, and stem removed), and banana (peeled). The girls also love sweet potatoes, either baked or dehydrated. They are huge fans of natural peanut butter and have a preternatural sense when it is coming out of the fridge. (As far as I know, only natural peanut butter is safe for dogs. More dog food safety below.)

So what does all of this have to do with "being fancy on a budget"? Well, as much as we love spoiling the girls, it can add up. Greg and I like to give the girls a treat we buy at the store, marketed as a "dog smoothie." I used to think, for $7.50 for six servings, it was a pretty good deal. Then I read the ingredients and realized I could make the same thing for much cheaper. After playing around in the kitchen, I yielded a treat that Sheila and Lucy slurped up, and I made the same quantity as what we buy at the store for around $1.50. Smoothie people, you've been great to us, but I think the budget wins on this one.

There are two important words of warning before feeding your puppies homemade treats. First, don't overdo feeding your dogs in a sitting, either with these treats or with fruits, veggies, and peanut butter generally. In an attempt to be delicate, I will just say that fiber has the same effect on dogs as it does humans, and you don't want to hurt your puppy's tummy. Second, please do research before feeding fruits and vegetables to your dogs; there are some that can cause great harm or even death, including onions, grapes, raisins, and avocados. We keep sugar-free gum out of the house, because even a little bit can be fatal to a dog within an hour. In short, please consult your vet for advice on feeding your furry friend.

Homemade Doggy Ice Cream
Yields: 6-8 servings (1 serving = 1/4 cup)

Ingredients:
1 apple chopped up (peeled, cored, seeded, and stem removed)
2 bananas
1/4 - 1/3 c. natural peanut butter
1/2 c. water

1) In a blender, combine all ingredients until smooth.
2) Place in container and freeze until solid (about 5-6 hours).
3) To serve to your dog, scoop up 1/4 c. of the frozen mixture into your pup's bowl. He or she can take it from there. :)