John's Plate

Laundry Room Update

2010-01-04T21:48:00.003-05:00

It's been brought to my attention that Arm & Hammer may perform tests on animals. At the least, they're not willing to say one way or another and why else wouldn't they say, really?

So, try out my laundry detergent recipe, but don't repeat my mistake by buying Arm & Hammer. I'm not sure what other brands there are out there, but I intend to do some research. When I find a reputable source, I'll post about it here.

If you know of one, let me know please.

Special Post: John's Laundry Room

2010-01-03T13:19:00.000-05:00

I've long been on the hunt for a laundry detergent that fits my qualifications. There are many available at health food stores that are vegan and (supposedly) eco-friendly. They are pretty expensive, though. I doubt just how earth friendly some of them are, especially considering the amount of water that is being shipped around in those bottles.

Castile soap for laundry

Fortunately, I had a discussion about castile soap with a friend that inspired me to look into using it as a laundry detergent. I wrote about castile soap in a previous post found here . Dr. Bronner's website suggests using straight castile soap as a detergent. That could get pretty costly, though. I found many websites with different formulas for castile soap laundry detergent, but I decided on this one (found here):

1/3 to 1/2 cup liquid lavender Castile soap
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup borax
Mix all ingredients in a 2-gallon bucket. Add hot water to fill the bucket and stir well.

Considering that each load requires 1/4 to 1/3 cup of this mixture, that's a lot of laundry detergent! Considering that I'm single, that amount of laundry detergent would last me a ridiculously long time. So, I reduced the quantities and I fill a fairly large applesauce jar with this formula:

1 tablespoon Dr. Bronner's liquid peppermint castile soap
1 tablespoon washing soda
1 tablespoon borax
1 tablespoon white vinegar
4 cups water

I add the vinegar because some people suggest that when first switching to castile soap laundry detergent clothes can get a residue. Adding vinegar prevents this. Eventually, I may remove the vinegar from my formula. This amount lasts me around 1 month.

Cost

This stuff is dirt cheap. Boxes of borax and washing soda are huge and cost $5 or less here in the Midwest and on amazon.com. They are sold by weight, so it's hard to determine cost per batch of detergent. The amount of Dr. Bronner's in my small batch costs me in the area of 15 cents. Vinegar is really cheap and may only be needed at first. Water costs are negligible. The total cost of everything listed above is about $20. At my laundry rate, I'm pretty sure these quantities would make detergent for me for over 5 years. (Laundry detergent at $4 per year? Surely your math is wrong, John. -I assure you not. I tripled checked because it shocked me, too)

Does it work?

For sure! I haven't noticed any difference in the cleanliness of my clothes. My clothes have a slight peppermint smell. It's not overpowering and as I've said before I'm more than happy with not being covered in overpowering scents. I'm not sure about its stain fight ability. I haven't stained any clothes since I've started using it. I keep some Seventh Generation color-safe chlorine-free bleach around just in case, though.

Earth friendly

As I mentioned in my other post about castile soap, Dr. Bronner's is the most eco-friendly soap I've ever encountered. The other ingredients in this detergent don't seem to have any eco negatives and they're certainly less scary than ingredients in commercial products.

To sum up, it's vegan, effective, eco-friendly and cheap (especially when compared to other eco-friendly detergents). If you give it a try, which I hope you do, let me know how it goes for you.

Special Post: John's Shower

2009-12-24T04:03:00.001-05:00

My vegan diet is a result of my commitment to non-violence, justice, compassion and respect for all life. The diet is easily the most public feature, though. That's why there is a little bit of shock when people realize that the products in my bathroom might be different from theirs. Plenty of people ask me "What do you eat?". I don't think anyone has ever asked me, "What do you use to clean yourself?"

My One Bottle

So, I present to you "John's Shower". I have one bottle, which I use as both soap and shampoo: Dr. Bronner's peppermint liquid soap.

It's a castile soap made with hemp oil. Dr. Bronner's makes a whole line of soaps , lotions and other personal care products. You can read more about them here: www.drbronner.com. I have only used the peppermint scent because it's a few dollars less than the other scents at my local Whole Foods. Maybe one day I'll really treat myself and get a different scent :D

Why I Choose This Product

Animal ingredients and testing - Any product I consume must meet my vegan requirements, meaning there are no animal based ingredients and no animal testing. Pure castile soap means that the soap is vegetable based.
Fair trade - Respect and justice for all life includes humans. So, a product that makes a commitment to treating its suppliers and employees with dignity gets bonus points.
Environmentally friendly - It comes in 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles. It's pretty much just made with different oils and is therefore biodegradable. Frankly, I'd be shocked to find a more ecologically sound soap.
It works! - I feel as clean as ever. If you ever meet me in real life, go ahead and smell me - I dare you. It foams up nicely and I can get a good lather going.
Cost - I pay around $9 for 32 ounces and that lasts me a really long time! You don't need the same volume as you do with other products. The liquid is thin, so you use a small amount and rub it into a thicker lather.
Mild fragrance - Really heavily perfumed products make me want to barf. The peppermint scent is nice, but not overpowering.

So, it's vegan, eco-friendly, fair trade, cheap and it works. This product makes sense for everyone, unless you want walk around smelling like Axe (oh yeah, if Dr. Bronner's had TV ads I bet they wouldn't be terrible and portray women as sex crazed maniacs that can't resist terrible smelling products). So, go out, grab a bottle and let me know how it treats you.

Shower for the animals, for the earth and for your wallet!

A Comeback With A Few Special Posts

2009-12-23T00:36:00.003-05:00

Clearly I haven't blogged in a while...my bad. Anyway, I'm hoping to get better. In order to kick start my return to consistent blogging, I've planned a few special posts. Here's a teaser, these special posts will include posts titled: "John's Shower", "John's Laundry Room", "Hook's Plate" and "John's Bathroom Shelf". If those don't get you excited, I'm not sure what will.

Wingless Seitan Chunks (how to)

2009-07-17T13:53:00.001-04:00

I very rarely eat faux meat. I believe that I've stated that here before. In this post, I will introduce you to one of the exceptions to that. I'm going to walk you through how to make what I call wingless seitan chunks.

However, first I will give you a description. Seitan is a "wheat meat" made mainly from vital wheat gluten. Vital wheat gluten is a type of flour that has had most of the starch removed and is mainly just protein. You can check out the wikipedia page for a more in depth description: Wikipedia: Seitan. These chunks are imitation boneless chicken wings and they are fantastic! Well, my first few batches were just alright. (You can ask my roommate Alex about me squeezing the water out of a certain batch and the amount of salt in that batch) However, after many trials with my vegan roomie, Josh, we can now successfully make consistently good seitan. The pictures for this post are of bbq and buffalo chunks that have been baked. Baking them makes a pretty decent seitan chunk, but from a strictly taste standpoint frying is better. These could be covered with any sauce your heart desires or if they are fried they do not even need sauce.

Sometimes familiar flavors are very comforting. That is certainly the case with these seitan chunks. One night, I made a batch of these and some homemade fries and I was a very happy person that night. (Even though I was a little worried that I had eaten too much fried food)

So, how are they made? The recipe is based off of a recipe from Veganomicon, but I have adjusted the ingredients and changed the process a bit. Set aside about 2 or maybe 2.5 hours for this recipe. For at least an hour and 15 minutes you will just be making sure that the pot doesn't boil. So, it's not an intense, demanding 2 hours.

Ingredient list:
Broth:
8 cups water
2 vegetable bullion cubes (mine are big, you may need 3)
1/4 cup soy sauce

Seitan (dry):
1 cup vital wheat gluten (maybe a little more)
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 teaspoon of poultry seasoning (this is a mix of thyme, marjoram and rosemary)

Seitan (wet):
1/2 teaspoon Better than bullion chicken base (don't worry it's fake and certified vegan)
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 cloves of crushed garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil

This recipe will require that you find a health food store. Unless you have some type of awesome non-health food grocery store. A lot of grocery stores in the Columbus area are carrying vital wheat gluten now, but it comes in a very small package and is too expensive. I buy my vital wheat gluten, nutritional yeast and better than bullion at Whole Foods. The vital wheat gluten and nutritional yeast are from the bulk section (that's where you will find the best price)

Here we have the broth for simmering. It is just a mixture of the water bullion cubes and soy sauce. The cubes will break up upon heating, but don't heat this up until the chunks are in the broth. Just set this aside for a while.

Before starting the to make the seitan, mix the better than bullion and water. Heat this up in the microwave for about 2 to 3 minutes. It should boil. The broth needs to be cold when you make the seitan. So, do this step before you want to make the seitan chunks. If I'm in a rush, I put the broth in the freezer for a while. If you're thinking ahead, though, you can put it in the fridge for a while.

When the broth is good and cold, mix the dry and wet ingredients separately.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix (don't cheat and use beaters!) until the ingredients are well mixed. There should be almost no white from the wheat gluten left.

Then, you get in there with your hands. You are going to knead this for about 5 minutes. When you are done kneading this the dough should be elastic. If it doesn't seem like you are achieving elasticity you either need to add more vital wheat gluten or keep on kneading. It's hard to describe how it should feel when it's done. I would say that it is not the same consistency, but reminiscent of oobleck.

Veganomicon recommends splitting the mixture into 3 parts and kneading some more. Probably not a bad idea.

Seitan is normally made in one loaf and then cut up after cooking. For these, though, I divide them into chunks and then simmer them. I think it gives a better texture, removes the step of cutting up a loaf and creates a more natural shape. I think one of the things that scares people about vegan food (especially tofu) is that it normally comes in distinct shapes. It gives the feeling that your food was created in a lab somewhere. Using this method, we create a more convincing chunk shape.

Anyway, divide the seitan dough into about 35 chunks. I have a ping pong ball in the picture for reference. The chunks will expand in the cooking process, so keep that in mind when choosing your size.

Take all of your chunks and dump them into the broth. I prefer to use a cast iron pot because it is easy to simmer in it. Cast iron pots are not very expensive and I would recommend picking one up if you cook regularly.

Cover and bring the broth to a boil. Immediately after it hits boil back off on the heat, though! Any extended boiling will result in spongier seitan. This is not what we want for a chicken imitation. Slide the lid off just a bit, as pictured. Reduce the heat until the broth is at a low simmer. This is where we want it to be for an hour. Occasionally stir the chunks around during this hour. Make sure to check every once and awhile so that you are always at low simmer.

After an hour of low simmer, turn the heat off. Let the chunks sit for 15 minutes in the broth.

Here is what they should look like coming out of the pot. I use a small strainer and scoop them out because you can save the broth and reuse it. If you reuse it, measure it out and add enough water to get back to 8 cups. Add another bullion cube and some soy sauce, too.

Another view of them.

For reference, here are the cooked chunks next to the same ping pong ball. Now, you have a choice. You can throw the chunks in the fridge and eat later (I think a few hours in the fridge firms them up a little bit) or finish them up now. If you're going to store them for more than a few hours in this state, it is probably good idea to put them in some of the broth.

There are a few choices at this point, as well. My pictures are from a time that I baked the chunks. At the end, I will also describe how to fry them.

I use barbecue and buffalo sauce. You can use whatever sauce strikes your fancy. I use 1/4 cup of cayenne pepper sauce mixed with a tablespoon of margarine for buffalo sauce and barbecue sauce straight out of the bottle. Coat the chunks in flour (you can add some corn starch into the flour, too. I don't think it makes much of a difference). Dip the chunks into the sauce and place in a greased baking pan.

Here they are coated and ready to go into the oven. Set the oven for 375 Fahrenheit and bake for about 20 minutes.

Here they are post-baking. They don't look that much different.

They will need another coat of sauce after baking. So roll them around in some more. Serve and enjoy!

To fry: Coat the chunks in flour. Heat the oil up (I use canola) between 375 and 400 degrees Fahrenheit. I only cook about 6 chunks at a time to maintain good oil temperature. When they are a delicious looking golden, fried color, take them out of the oil. As with all frying, I put the chunks on a paper towel as they come out of the fryer.

You can go ahead and eat them just like that. Maybe dip them in some ketchup or bbq sauce. If you want, you can go the sauce route. Make the sauces as before. 1/4 cup cayenne pepper sauce mixed with a tablespoon of melted margarine or barbecue sauce right out of the bottle. Toss the chunks in the sauce and then EAT!

Let me know if you have any questions, concerns, clarification or whatever else. If you give them a try, let me know how it goes.

Peanut Stir Fry with Tofu

2009-03-23T17:33:00.002-04:00

I love (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE) peanut sauce. Unfortunately, most peanut sauces are made with fish oil. So, I make my own. I found a really easy and tasty recipe here: http://www.ivu.org/recipes/eastasia/thai-style-peanut.html The sauce has a good balance of peanut and coconut flavors (with a little heat).

I add some extra chili paste or some roasted red pepper flakes because I like the heat (I think that's a theme of this blog: I add more of the hot component). This is stir fried with broccoli, snap peas and bean sprouts because snap peas are fun and broccoli and bean sprouts are tasty. (Seriously, in asian dishes, you can't beat broccoli) Instead of serving this on rice, I stir fry some maifun (rice sticks) right at the end of cooking. Those are super good with peanut sauce. They are easy, too. You soak them for about 8 minutes in warm water and then throw them in the wok. Maifun is pretty thin, so you have to be careful to not make a big knot out of them.

With the use of a wok, this dish is very easy to create. For this particular instance, there was some more advanced prep, though. I used a tofu cooking technique called dry frying (I learned it here: http://hubpages.com/hub/How_to_Cook_Tofu_Like_the_Pros) This method is really good for giving the tofu a great, chewy texture. It removes the risk of the dreaded mushy tofu. I followed those instructions pretty closely and even marinated the tofu. Since, the tofu is covered in peanut sauce, I'm not sure that marinating did a lot of good. I'll probably skip it the next time around.

I had my roommate, Andrew, try a small bite of tofu. The next day he was complaining of a rash. Turns out that we discovered my roommate's coconut allergy through this dish. Thanks goodness he didn't eat a whole plate of it.

Chickpea Noodle Soup

2009-03-18T00:27:00.002-04:00

I made this chickpea noodle soup (page 139 of Veganomicon) for my family when I was home a few weeks back. I had never made this soup, so it was a bit of a risk. My standard procedure is to make something for myself at least once before I serve it to others. That way there are, hopefully, no bad surprises. Took a risk with this one, though, and it paid off.

I picked this soup because it sounds like chicken noodle soup and I thought my family would be more comfortable with the familiar flavor. Turns out that this soup doesn't take a lot like chicken noodle soup. Everyone still liked it, though. Pleasing my entire immediate family with a vegan dish, I think, means that this is a VERY good soup.

This is a miso soup, so it's very salty. That's where a lot of the flavor is derived, but as my roommate Josh pointed out, "Hey, salt is good.". This soup also has chickpeas, cremini mushrooms, carrots and noodles. The noodles in this picture are soba noodles, the noodle that the recipe suggests. They're more expensive than ordinary noodles, so the next time I made this I just went with some cavatappi. I don't think it takes anything away from the soup.

There is one drawback. This soup does not keep well. The noodles suck up all of the broth and get mushy. So, I need to make a half recipe or make sure I have plenty of hungry people around when I make this.

With the noodle replacement, this soup is not too expensive to make. A tub of miso seems expensive, but it's good for many batches of soup. This isn't a big time consumer, either. There's some prep of cutting ingredients, but there's a lot of idle time while the soup cooks.

General Tso's Tofu

2009-03-13T20:55:00.003-04:00

The final of the three dishes that are just tofu with Asian sauce on a bed of rice. This is one is the best, though! This is one of my favorite dishes. I've been playing around with the tofu recently and I think there's a better tasting and healthier way to cook it. (I'll cover that in a future post) I've made this several times since this picture was taken and I'm using fresh ginger now. I think it makes for fuller flavors.

The recipe comes from here: http://uncletykiesfoodblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/general-tsos-tofu.html. I double the amount of chili garlic sauce in the sauce, though, because I like the added heat.

After frying the tofu, I stir fry some veggies (in this picture green peppers, broccoli, snow peas and bean sprouts), then add the tofu and the sauce. The veggies are good for you and they make the dish more interesting! I especially love broccoli in Asian dishes. I make more sauce than the recipe calls because I'm adding veggies. I garnish with green onions and sesame seeds because they're tasty and look cool.

This picture is from when I went to my parents' house for the weekend and I cooked dinner for my family. The food was well received by my mom, sister and niece. Except, they thought it was a little too hot. (I significantly reduced the amount of chili garlic sauce, but whatever) My dad will not touch tofu, but he ate the veggies. I stir fried the veggies and tofu separately because I figured that this would happen. I'm not sure if my sister's fiancee ate any tofu.

I think this dish would be well received by most omnivores, as long as they don't have a preexisting attitude about tofu. I buy my tofu for $1.50 a block at Whole Foods, so this is a pretty cheap meal to throw together. One recipe serves 2 people in my opinion. The leftovers are really good, too.

Falafel Plate from Lavash Cafe

2009-03-11T23:42:00.000-04:00

This is the falafel plate from Lavash Cafe. It's a pretty new place. I don't think they have a website, but their address is 2985 N High St in Columbus, OH 43202. A strange location, in my opinion, because it is very close to Aladdin's, another Mediterranean restaurant.

Interesting story about ordering this meal. They have a vegetarian menu posted...

Me: Can you tell me which items on the vegetarian menu are also vegan?
Cashier: *Confused look*
Me: Is the falafel plate vegan?
Cashier: I'm not sure because I don't know what that means.
Me: Oh, I don't eat any animal product. Like no meat, milk, eggs, honey...
Cashier: Oh, okay. Let me go find out.

I was told that the falafel plate was vegan, so I ordered it. I'm pretty sure the cup in the middle of that plate is yogurt dressing, though. Unfortunately I'm not sure that my question was answered correctly. There is always some faith and trust involved when someone else is preparing my food. Before I return, I'll have to make some phone calls to ensure that the food is, indeed, vegan.

On to the food, though. The falafel was good. It was what I would expect from falafel. The hummus was very good, nice and creamy and not too oily (I ate around the olive in it, though). The food at the bottom of the plate is called a lavash salad. It's an exclusive dish to Lavash Cafe and as far as I'm concerned, they can keep it. It was made of vegetables and parsley covered in tahini and lemon juice. It was not a good flavor combination and the texture weirded me out. I would recommend avoiding it if you go to Lavash.

Lavash Cafe is a bit cheaper than Aladdin's, so there is good reason for going back again. I've only had the one meal from them, but I think the food at Aladdin's is better. The inside of Lavash is pretty cool looking, though. I like the vibe :D

Coconut Cake

2009-03-09T17:34:00.003-04:00

This a piece of coconut cake from Pattycake Vegan Bakery. It was wonderful! This was my first experience with Pattycake, but I'll definitely be back.

The cake was delicious, moist and really rich. It was $4. Kind of expensive, but not out of the ballpark when compared to dessert prices in other restaurants. Considering that they use 100% vegan ingredients, a lot of organics and local, seasonal goods, recycled material and buy some fair trade, I'm okay with the price. Good people making good food responsibly deserves financial support.

I'm not sure how they manage such beautiful desserts, but I am jealous of their skills.

My roommate, Josh, had a piece of chocolate mint cake. I stole a bite and it was equally as impressive. They have a wide array of cookies, cakes and muffins and I'm sure I'll be returning, so I'll keep you posted on any other desserts from Pattycake.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

2009-03-06T18:45:00.002-05:00

A classic sandwich! I probably average around 5 PB&Js a week. They fit all of the major criteria: easy, fast and cheap. They're convenient, too, because peanut butter and jelly keep for so long.

This particular sandwich has blackberry preserves. Now I'm using strawberry preserves because it's cheaper. I like wheat bread, but I have a hard time finding it without honey :( So, most of the time I'm eating white bread. I think a PB&J goes perfectly with a big glass of soy milk.

I can't think of anything else to say about PB&Js. You've probably had one. If you haven't had one in a while, give it another chance.

Chocolate Cake

2009-03-05T13:55:00.003-05:00

This cake and frosting are made completely from scratch. The recipes can be found at vegweb: cake, frosting (alternate frosting). Thanks to my friend, Becca, for sending me those links!

When it comes to flavor, this chocolate cake does not lack anything. I think the recipe is easier than most other cakes, too. I don't want to imply that cake is good for you, but without egg it's probably at least better for you than other cakes.

I think I could pass this cake off as 'normal' and people would not even notice. I made this cake and then went home for the weekend. Upon my return, there was no cake left, so apparently my roommates enjoyed it, too :D

Becca has told me that the alternate frosting recipe is better. I'm going to have to try that one next time. It doesn't require heating the ingredients. I had to try to make the frosting three times because I would heat it too much and it would come out with the consistency of taffy. The other recipe sounds easier.

Lentil Nachos

2009-03-04T13:28:00.002-05:00

This is partly an original creation. I got the idea for making taco filling out of lentils while eating some leftover snobby joes. So, I based the lentil mixture on that recipe. I changed the spices to resemble Mexican food and made it a little drier. The cheesy sauce is from La Dolce Vegan. It's made from nutritional yeast and mustard, as well as a few other things.

This dish needs some tweaking, but I think it has the potential to be a good replacement for traditional Mexican food. I used to eat Mexican food a lot, so I've been searching for something with familiar flavors.

My roommate, Andrew, ate this in taco form. He was pretty impressed by the cheesy sauce. I can't remember his exact words, but it was probably something like, "This actually isn't bad". He ate the whole thing, so that's a good sign.

If I come up with an actual recipe for this, I'll be sure to post it here.

Hummus Plate

2009-03-03T12:25:00.002-05:00

This is the hummus plate from Eddie George's Grille 27. I met my former project manager for lunch a while back and gave this a try. This is the fanciest plating for hummus that I have ever seen. Granted, I normally eat it out of a plastic tub. This was really good, but I've only had one bad hummus ever. I wasn't a big fan of the olives on the hummus, but the other veggies were good. The lemon was unnecessary, in my opinion.

Compared to store prices for hummus, this isn't badly priced. It's much cheaper to make at home. It's nice to have a good option so that I can join other people at restaurants.

Kung Pow Tofu

2009-03-02T18:33:00.001-05:00

This is some fantastic kung pow tofu from vegweb. This is pretty similar in style to sweet and sour tofu and general tso's tofu (posting coming soon). I like this better than sweet and sour, but not as much as general tso's.

I like the heat of the kung pow sauce, but this isn't for the feint of heart. (It's been a while since I made this, but I think I doubled the amount of roasted red pepper flakes) I was pretty lazy when I made this and so this is just tofu over rice. This would be great with some stir fry veggies, like broccoli, snow peas and bean sprouts.

I was tweeting (posting messages to twitter) while my tofu was frying and I burned it pretty badly. So, under normal circumstances the tofu shouldn't look this dark.

I also like this dish because it makes me think about the episode of Seinfeld in which George is sweating from eating kung pow chicken and he exclaims, "It's the Kung Pao. George likes his chicken spicy.". Here's a link to a clip of the episode.

Spaghetti with Soy Crumbles

2009-03-01T21:26:00.000-05:00

I have completely removed faux-meats from my diet. They're expensive, salty and make it seem like lack of meat needs to be corrected. Well, that's true for everything, except for this dish. There is something that I really like about soy crumbles in spaghetti sauce. I think it's the familiar texture.

This dish is pretty straightforward. Brown the soy crumbles, add the sauce and then serve over noodles. I like to eat it with some garlic bread (with vegan buttery spread, of course).

The flavor is classic, it's easy to make and cheap. Triple bonus.

10 day absence and my camp experience

2009-02-24T12:53:00.004-05:00

Whoo! My life has been kinda crazy for the last 2 weeks. My last post was 10 days ago, but I think the storm has settled and I'm back on track now.

This past weekend contributed to my absence from blogging because I was away at a camp that had no computers or cell reception (AT&T that is, the Verizon people were gettin' by). I went to a silent weekend, for the whole weekend talking is banned and everyone must use American Sign Language. It was a really good time. (This is going to relate to veganism really soon)

When I sent in my registration there was a vegetarian option. I didn't circle it, I wrote vegan next to it and circled that. Then I wrote a note listing the things that I don't eat and expressed that I was willing to bring my own food, but I would need to know in advance. I didn't hear back from anyone, so a few days before the weekend I emailed the coordinator. She told me that she put me in the vegetarian group and I'd have to ask the cooks what was vegan. Arrgh...I wasn't about to travel to the reddest of red parts of Ohio without an assurance that I would have something to eat for the weekend. So, I prepared food and brought it with me.

During the first meal I went back to the kitchen to inquire whether or not the vegetarian option was vegan, as well. This was an amusing experience because I was not allowed to speak, but the kitchen staff didn't know ASL. So, I wrote on paper and they talked back to me (for all they knew I could have been deaf, how rude of them to talk back to me instead of write down what they needed to say). While working through a language barrier, I had to explain to one of the staff what vegan means. It was a lot of fun :D Turns out the leader of the staff is a vegetarian, who ate vegan all summer (for a health thing, whether or not that's really vegan is a matter to be discussed later). She felt the need to take care of me. So, for the rest of the meals I was set.

For the first breakfast, they whipped up some sort of grilled tofu. This was about 10 minutes after they found out I was vegan. So, they were improvising. It was okay, I wouldn't make plain grilled tofu for myself, though. For lunch they made me a veggie soup and black bean burgers. I'm pretty sure they took every vegetable they had and put it in water. It wasn't bad, but wasn't terribly flavorful. The black bean burgers were good, though. For dinner, I had vegan chili. It was good. Different from the kind that I make for myself, but still very good. It had a good tomato flavor with a little bit of spice. For the final breakfast, I was given a giant bowl of grapes, cherries and an avocado. I shared this with the other people at my table because there was a ton of fruit. Given that the cooks were unprepared to cook for a vegan, I think they did pretty well. I really appreciate their efforts to accommodate me and I made sure they knew it.

I brought soy milk with me, so I had cereal with both breakfasts, as well. I snacked on homemade roasted red pepper hummus and pita that I had brought with me, too. There were some cliff bars there, those were very good.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

2009-02-14T21:36:00.000-05:00

This dessert is a little bit too good. It's dangerous to have these setting out because I want to eat one every time I walk by. The peanut butter chocolate combination is delicious and there is an added crunch to the addition of rice krispies. These remind me of a crunchy buckeye.

This is a no bake dessert, so it's pretty easy. I like this dessert because there are no special substitutions. I haven't encountered someone that didn't like this dessert, so it is omnivore approved.

My roommates and I ate an entire pan of these in about a day. So, the next day I made another! I made these for my immediate family (a tough group of omnivores to please) and they all agreed that they were good.

Scrambled Tofu

2009-02-11T19:28:00.001-05:00

This is scrambled tofu from page 12 of Vegan With A Vengeance. Back in my egg eating days, I was not a big fan of scrambled eggs. They needed to have a lot of other ingredients to make them worthy of eating. I had a problem with the flavor and the sliminess of scrambled eggs. Luckily, scrambled tofu does not suffer from these problems. The tofu pretty much retains its original texture, except it is a little more crumbly. The flavor is derived from the spices added, so there is no nasty egg flavor. I always found myself covering scrambled eggs with a lot of salt. However, there are enough other spices in this recipe, that I didn't find the need to add salt.

I followed the recipe (I normally follow the recipe exactly on the first attempt), so this has cremini mushrooms and onions in it. I think the next time around I will add peppers and potatoes.

This dish received really high marks from my roommate Josh (a vegetarian) as well as my roommate Ryan (an omnivore). Isla Chandra Moskowitz, the vegan chef, thinks this is a good dish to serve to introduce tofu to people. I agree. She also says that she eats this 3 to 4 times per week. I can understand why; it has a really good flavor, offers the comfort of a familiar dish and is easy to make. She serves it with tempeh bacon, I'm going to have to try that, too.

Additional note: I realize that dish of food looks like total crap, but it was SO good! Go ahead and give me a 0 for presentation.

Celery with Peanut Butter

2009-02-10T16:01:00.000-05:00

Celery by itself is weak, in my opinion. It's good as an ingredient to add some crunch, but it's perfect as a vessel for delicious peanut butter (or hummus). (Honestly, as long as it's plant based, I will probably eat it covered in peanut butter or hummus) The peanut butter pictured above is Kroger brand with all of the oil and high fructose corn syrup added. I'm currently working on phasing out those types of 'non-natural' peanut butters. I love peanut butter and as you can see the ratio of peanut butter to celery I employ is pretty high!

I like this as a quick snack and it's not too bad for you. Peanut butter is a little high calories and fat (not something that I'm particularly worried about as a vegan), but is a good source of protein.

This is cheap and fast, too!

North Star Burger

2009-02-09T16:39:00.000-05:00

This is the North Star Burger from North Star Café. Makes sense right? The picture is a little sloppy because I almost started eating it and then I remembered that I needed to take a picture. Their original plating looked a lot better than the mess pictured above. The picture is fuzzy and in bad light, but oh well.

The menu description is, "Just made with organic brown rice, black beans and beets, topped with white cheddar, lettuce, tomato, pickle and onion + simple salad". I specify vegan when I order it, so there is no cheese. A friend of mine ordered it without specifying vegan and she got a different bun, too. I thought mine looked better anyway.

This is probably the best veggie burger that I have ever had, it has a great smokiness to it. It's almost a shame to use the same words to describe this burger and a boca burger. I think the side salad is fantastic, as well. My friend Josh, a vegetarian, didn't like the dressing on the salad, though.

I don't frequent North Star Café because it's pricey (this meal costs $11 but it's a pretty big burger) and this is the only 'true' vegan option. There are other items on the menu that can be made egg and dairy free, but most have honey (their peanut and bbq sauces both do). So, unfortunately this veg friendly restaurant has only 1 menu item acceptable to me, like so many other restaurants.

Popcorn

2009-02-06T12:45:00.000-05:00

Popcorn is a fantastic snack. It's crunchy and a great vessel for salt and butter (or in my case, vegan buttery spread). Popcorn was always a favorite snack of my dad's, so I grew up snacking on popcorn. When I was kid, my mom always made popcorn by cooking it on the stove in a rarely washed popcorn pan and it was really good. I just put mine in a paper bag and pop it in the microwave. Then, I pour come melted butter over it and salt to taste.

Pretty basic - easy, fast, cheap and tasty.

Spanish Rice and Tofu

2009-02-05T15:16:00.000-05:00

This is another pretty fast and definitely easy meal. The rice is a mix from Knorr. They indicate what is in their natural flavors, which is commendable. Vegans are plagued by the natural flavor ingredient. (For those not aware, natural flavor can pretty much indicate anything. Meat, milk, egg...doesn't matter, so it's normally easier to avoid the product than contact the company and ask) The spanish rice mix is vegan friendly and it's pretty decent. I wouldn't put this amongst my favorite dishes, but it's easy to make.

I cut up the tofu, dust it with flour and pan fry it. Then I add it to the rice mix while for the last few minutes of cooking, so that it picks up a little of the flavor.

This takes about 15 minutes to make, maybe less. You need to have your tofu drained and pressed, though. (Or my preference: pressed, drained, frozen and then thawed). This works well for me as a quick lunch between classes.

The mix costs about $1.29. I use, probably, a half block of tofu, so that costs about $1.50 depending on the brand. So, for around $3 I have a pretty good, fast lunch.

Sweet and Sour Tofu

2009-02-04T13:54:00.000-05:00

This dish was amazing! One recipe was enough for me to eat twice, but I couldn't help myself and I came back to eat the leftovers just a few hours after I made this. The recipe comes from Vegan Yum Yum. The picture of the dish on that site looks a lot nicer than mine :D

Unfortunately, I overcooked the tofu and it was a little too crisp (I'm still getting the hang of cooking tofu). I've learned my lesson and it will be better next time.

The prep time for this should probably have only been around 30 minutes, but I failed at cooking tofu and took forever. (Once again, lesson learned)

I would be willing to serve this to omnivores and think this would be a great way to introduce tofu to a tofuphobe. The sauce is so good that it doesn't really matter what it's covering.

This is a great dish for me because besides rice vinegar, all of the ingredients are things that I keep around the house. So, it's really convenient.

Peanut Butter Cookies

2009-02-03T00:40:00.001-05:00

I love peanut butter and I'm pretty sure everyone loves cookies. So, I definitely love peanut butter cookies, these are from page 116 of The Joy of Vegan Baking. My roommate, Josh, made this batch of cookies. This recipe has an optional ingredient of ground peanuts, but we didn't have any on hand.

The egg in this recipe is Ener-G egg replacer and soy milk was used instead of milk. I have no idea how long it took to make these because I sat in the living room and did a prelab while Josh made them. Not too long, though.

A lot of vegan desserts are pricey, but these cookies are not more expensive than the equivalent non-vegan peanut butter cookie.

I thought these were really good when dunked in soy milk. (The soy milk is pictured above inside my very tasteful unicorn and rainbow secretary mug that I found at good will)

I would put these cookies up against non-vegan peanut butter cookies and challenge anyone to tell the difference.

Amy's Vegetable Barley Soup

2009-02-02T00:24:00.000-05:00

I haven't yet had an Amy's product that I didn't like. I really like that the ingredient list specifies vegan, too. Unfortunately, they are expensive.

I have been particularly impressed by Amy's soups. The vegetable barley soup is pretty good. It's not my favorite, though. I think the no chicken noodle soup is the best. Due to the cost, I don't eat them very often, but I try to keep a few cans of soup on hand for those days that I am in a rush and need something that's really fast. I even keep a few cans at my parents' house, so that when I come visit I know there is something I will be able to eat.

Amy's soups are really easy, you just pour the contents of the can into a bowl and heat it up in the microwave. I suppose you could heat them up on the stovetop, but I only eat them when I'm in a rush.

Fast - yes
Easy - yes
Tasty - yes
Cheap - not so much (You can't win 'em all)

Chipotle Burrito Bowl

2009-01-31T15:25:00.000-05:00

Chipotle is my favorite restaurant ever! It's a good thing I don't live in walking distance to a Chipotle or I would probably eat it several times per week. It's really easy to eat vegan at Chipotle. Avoid the obvious (meat, cheese and sour cream), the honey-vinaigrette dressing they use on the salads and the pinto beans (they're cooked in pork). Then voila, you're eating vegan.

On this visit, I got a burrito bowl because I like to mix everything together and then eat it. Other times, I get the burrito. The great thing about going veggie at Chipotle is that you get beans, fajita veggies and guac (and Chipotle's guac is AMAZING!). The guac is always extra on a meat burrito and you have to choose between beans and veggies. My burrito of choice is: rice, black beans, fajita veggies, tomato salsa, corn salsa, hot salsa, guac and lettuce. A side of chips and hot salsa is never a bad idea, either.

Chipotle is great because the vegan options are fantastic and omnivores love it, too! They recently raised their prices, but it's still a lot of good food for $6.

Rice and Black Beans

2009-01-30T17:57:00.000-05:00

There's nothing fancy about this dish. It's cheap and easy, though. This particular bowl of rice and beans is completely microwaved. I ate this one day when I was particularly busy. It's not exactly exciting, but not every omnivorous dish is either.

I only used a half of a can of beans, so this cost about 70 cents. It took about 5 minutes to heat up. I wouldn't serve this at a dinner party, but when I need something fast and nutritious, rice and beans is a good option.

Farfalle with Mushrooms and Pine Nuts

2009-01-28T01:55:00.000-05:00

This idea comes from an episode of 'Good Eats'. I don't usually watch the show, but luckily I felt like procrastinating and watched the pasta episode because one of my roommates had it on. Alton instructs people to craft anti-sauces, which is pretty much olive oil and whatever else you want to eat at the time. My anti-sauce was minced garlic, mushrooms, pine nuts, basil, oregano and a bit of salt and pepper.

I really like the anti-sauce idea because it is really versatile. I just happened to have canned mushrooms, some pine nuts left over from a previous meal and plenty of spices (always!). So, I was pretty much making this by pulling things out of the pantry. Mine turned out pretty good. Definitely would have been better with fresh mushrooms and herbs, but I didn't really plan ahead.

This way easy to make, as well. I prepared the noodles like I would any other time. Right after draining the pasta, I put it in a dish that had some olive and minced garlic in it. I tossed this around until the noodles all had some oil on them. Then, I added the mushrooms and pine nuts (toasted while the noodles were finishing) and seasoned to taste.

Like other hodge podge dishes, it's hard to determine how much this cost to prepare. Pine nuts are a little pricey (but worth it!), but canned mushrooms are cheap. My best guess would be around 3 to 4 dollars. I made enough to feed myself twice.

This dish is suited for anyone. You would just need to figure out what type of things your audience would want to eat. I plan on trying this dish over and over again with different anti-sauces (Roasted red peppers sounds good for next time, I think).

Falafel Pita from Pita Pit

2009-01-27T16:46:00.003-05:00

Pita Pit and falafel are both saviors for the vegan on the go. Falafel is pretty easy to find here in Columbus, OH. Pita Pit makes a good one, though. I had mushrooms, alfalfa sprouts, spinach, romaine lettuce, hummus, onions, green peppers and the secret sauce in my pita. I can't remember what's in the secret sauce, but an employee told me all of the ingredients and it's vegan friendly.

I had an interesting conversation while at Pita Pit. I asked an employee which items are vegan because the menu says vegetarian. She told me she is an almost-vegan (still eating cheese). So we discussed veganism and she was really helpful. She informed me that the cucumbers at pita pit are treated with beeswax, so I avoided them. She scraped the grill of for me, so there was no meat residue on my falafel. It was around 9 PM on a Tuesday, so there wasn't a whole lot of food being made. During busier times, they can microwave the falafel, though.

Pita Pit is delicious, fast and pretty cheap. I think my falafel was less than 6 dollars. I am pretty bad at making my own falafel, plus they have good condiments, so it's definitely worth it.

Here's the nutrition info for my pita (from their website):
Carbs: 73g
Sodium: 1287 mg
Protein: 20g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Fat: 28.5g
Fiber: 9g
Calories: 731

It's a bit high in sodium for the number of calories, but I'm okay with that. The hummus and babaganoush pitas are worse.

I would recommend Pita Pit's falafel to any omnivore or veg. It's so good and I'm sad that I never experienced it before giving up meat.

Black Bean Burger

2009-01-24T17:23:00.000-05:00

Some days in the kitchen you make great food and other days you learn important lessons. This was a lesson type of day. I've had some pretty good black bean burgers in the past, so I was hopeful that I had discovered a good recipe (Veganomicon page 98) for homemade ones.

I tried some of the dough before I cooked these and it was really good. However, I couldn't get these to come out right. After pan-frying, they were firm on the outside, but were too soft on the inside. I tried to correct this by adding some faux egg to bind the burgers together. This still didn't do the trick.

I tried one on a grill and that was worse. The best solution I found was, of course, the least healthy. I fried some of the dough to make a kind of black bean falafel. It still wasn't great, though.

So after many attempts, I am still searching for the secret to black bean burgers. If anyone knows the secret, please let me know.

Hobo Grill

2009-01-20T17:16:00.002-05:00

This is a similar concept to hobo stew, only I cook up a bunch of leftovers and other ingredients just lying around the house and serve it over rice. This idea is somewhat inspired by Mongolian barbecue. The picture above is of the dish rewarmed a day or so after being made, so it doesn't look particularly appetizing.

This hobo grill contains tofu, potatoes, peas, corn, green peppers and onions. It's covered in a homemade barbecue sauce (from Veganomicon page 207). The sauce is pretty good on fries, but I didn't find it to be very good when eaten like this. My friend, Dave, discovered the solution: a little soy sauce.

Hobo grill has everything I want in a meal. It's fast, easy, cheap and hopefully delicious. You can pretty much put whatever you have in the house in and adjust the flavors anyway you want.

Prep time is probably 20-30 minutes, depending on what your ingredients are and how long they need to cook.

Hobo grill costs as much as you want. I use ingredients that I have in the house from other recipes, so it's hard to say how much it really costs.

German Apple Cake

2009-01-19T18:14:00.001-05:00

Vegan desserts are hard to come by in the omnivorous world, so most of the time we're on our own. An inexperienced vegan baker (like myself) can run into a lot of problems when trying to substitute vegan ingredients into old recipes. That's why sometimes it's best to start from a vegan recipe.

This is German Apple Cake (from The Joy of Vegan Baking page 76). The topping really makes this cake. It's apple slices covered with brown sugar, cinnamon and ginger. Several people tried this cake and we all agreed that more topping was in order. The cake doesn't offer a lot of flavor, but it was still good and a good vessel for the topping.

This cake uses applesauce in place of eggs, which is of course appropriate for an apple cake. There is a version of this cake that replaces the faux butter with more applesauce, which makes this cake fat free. I will definitely be revisiting this cake with more topping and no faux butter.

A lot of vegan desserts are expensive because they require ingredients like fake cream cheese or fake chocolate chips. This recipe, however, is made from pretty basic ingredients and is no more expensive that a 'typical' dessert.

Prep. time is about 30 minutes for this cake. The longest part of the prep. is skinning and slicing the apples for the topping.

Cinnamon toast crunch and banana

2009-01-18T19:10:00.001-05:00

UPDATE: I've been informed that the D3 added to cereal is derived from wool. Therefore, most cereals do not meet my criteria for being vegan.

I mentioned this wasn't one of those fancy vegan food blogs, right? Here's some proof of that fact. This blog isn't designed to flaunt my accomplishments in vegan cooking, but to show the meals of my everyday life.

There's nothing fancy about this breakfast. Pour some soy milk over cinnamon toast crunch and then enjoy a banana on the side.

This meal takes about 1 minute to prepare and is very cheap. The soy milk and cinnamon flavors meld wonderfully. I'm just kidding, it's cereal - cheap, easy and pretty tasty.

Snobby Joes

2009-01-17T18:36:00.002-05:00

Snobby Joes (from Veganomicon page 98) offer a familiar flavor, food just like mom used to make. The flavor is really good, but instead of beef these are made from lentils. Lentils are high in fiber, which makes you feel full! I made these over Christmas and the following exchange occurred between me and my omnivorous cousin Jeff:

Jeff: Those are really good.
Me: Thanks.
Jeff: No really, I would actually eat these.

He also mentioned that he thought that they would make great tailgate food and I agree. I think veggies and omnivores alike can enjoy these sandwiches.

I made a double batch and three people ate with plenty of leftovers. These reheat really well, so I like to make extra. It's hard to estimate how much it costs to make this because there are quite a few spices and some maple syrup involved. My best guess would be about $8 for the double batch.

Prep. time is about 1 hour. There is quite a bit of onion and green pepper chopping and a lot of waiting while things simmer.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-01-17T12:15:00.000-05:00

These cookies were made by my roommate, Andrew. It's a recipe taken from his mom and adapted to be vegan. Andrew is an omnivore and it's nice to see him taking the effort to make cookies that I can enjoy with him. The butter was replaced with Earth Balance, the egg with Ener-G and the chocolate chips were vegan chocolate chips from Whole Foods. Andrew doesn't think he can tell the difference between this version and the non-vegan version of these cookies. I would serve these to any person that likes oatmeal and chocolate.

Oatmeal cookie, a hint of cinnamon and chocolate chip flavors come together wonderfully in these cookies. I have had varied success with vegan cookies in the past, but these were excellent. They are good served hot right out of the oven or after they have cooled.

Total prep time should have been around 20 minutes, but Andrew had a little issue with some clumps in the brown sugar extending it to 30. It took about 15 minutes to cook these in the oven.

The cost for these cookies may be slightly higher than the non-vegan version because there is a premium on Earth Balance and vegan chocolate chips. However, a box of Ener-G can make the equivalent of 112 eggs. So, the "egg" in this recipe cost about a penny.

[A note: Traditionally refined sugar was used in this recipe. Using other sugar will obviously increase the cost of the cookies.]

Smoky Tempeh and Sauteed Collards

2009-01-16T17:19:00.012-05:00

This is smoky tempeh (from Veganomicon page 130) and sauteed collards (from Veganomicon page 106). I'm not sure I would offer this up to any and all omnivores, but any veg would probably enjoy this dish. My roommate, Andrew, is an omnivore and he enjoyed it. He tried it and said, "I would eat this...actually, I will eat this". He continued to eat the rest that I had made.

The tempeh had an interesting nut flavor, but the really good flavor comes from the marinade which had a delicious smokiness and made the tempeh a little juicy. The tempeh is supposed to be grilled, but since it is about 2 degrees Fahrenheit outside here in Ohio, I opted for pan frying. The collard greens were sauteed in garlic and the leftover marinade from the tempeh. The true flavor of the collard greens came through, but they were definitely enhanced by the marinade.

This is a very nutritious dish as well, just on the plate above there is 24g of protein, 13g of fiber, a good amount of calcium and iron, 10g of fat (1.5 sat fats), no cholesterol and no sugar.

It only took about 25 minutes to prepare and cook, minus the hour that tempeh marinated and I did something else.

I would estimate this meal (two servings of what's pictured above) cost about $7.