Eat with Integrity

Eat consciously - Don't eat an accident * Create more and better food choices

Monday, April 27, 2009

Eating Vegan Changes the World and Me

I followed the Internet machine's cookie crumbs and came to Sean Bonner's post about eating vegan to change the world. He has an excellent series of posts about how to change the world--specifically, the environment--through our own personal actions. Being vegan was the first suggestion because of the huge impact it could have on healing the environment.

I have been toying with eating vegan for almost two months now. I am not fully vegan yet, but I am making progress towards it. Right now, I am learning the skills to make eating vegan delicious and triumphant for myself. For example, I am buying less dairy and eggs, making delicious and nutritious dairy substitutes (rather than just buying icky processed soy dairy substitutes), and expanding my repertoire of vegan recipes.

I don't want to force myself to eat vegan. One day I will find eating vegan makes me happy, healthy, and satiated, and I won't want anything else. For now, I have to confess, I just ate a homemade crustless quiche because that was what the leftovers in the fridge called out to me to make. I am not ready yet. But I am learning more and eating more vegan every day.

For the longest time, I couldn't imagine going vegan because that would have meant drinking coffee with soy or rice milk. I loved the bitter cut with creamy, and soy and rice milk just don't cut it because they are too watery. So in February, I just decided to stop drinking coffee. Then I don't add milk to my drink! Now I drink mostly green tea in the morning, because it is the only kind of tea that I don't want to cut with milk.

It is now almost May, and I haven't drunk coffee in a cup--even though I have had a few tiramisu slices and a scoop of accidentally-ordered mocca latte ice cream. It was quite easy, like my going vegetarian. One day, without much forethought, the idea just occurred to me to eat vegetarian or to replace coffee with tea. And even though sometimes I see how much easier and convenient it might be to eat meat or drink coffee, I don't go back. Like those phases of my life are in the past now, dead to me.

The irony is that I occasionally drink a chai or tea latte. Yes, I quit my caffeine addiction in order to support my vegan exploration but still indulge in frothy milk drinks. Perhaps one day my brain will decide that the time is right for me to eat no more dairy or meat products. And I won't ever go back.

Carol J. Adams, author of The Sexual Politics of Meat, says : "You think change is too hard; not changing is harder, you just haven’t found that out yet."

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Thursday, April 23, 2009

Vegan Truffles!


Inspired by the vegan truffles I used to order from Lagusta in NY, I made some vegan truffles of my own!

Coconut milk infused with earl gray tea, dark chocolate, and carob powder = pure deliciousness!

Usually, for cream-based truffles, after blending the cream and chocolate together, one puts the mixture called "ganache" in the fridge. I did that with the coconut ganache, but it became too solid in the fridge. So the next time I make this, I will try rolling the balls as soon as the ganache cools.

Also, the truffles taste really coconut-ty but not at all earl grey-ish...back to the recipe board!

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Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Dried Fruit + Almonds Carob Energy Balls


Sometimes substitutions and improvisations work, and sometimes they don't.

I changed the Raisin Nut Ball recipe on page 49 of the Healthy Living Cookbook - Excellent Vegan Recipes from HerbalLegacy.com, and I wondered if I would have liked it better as it was.

Their recipe called for mixing half raisins or currants and half nuts, a mix of almonds, cashews, pecan, and walnuts. I decided to go diverse with the fruits and mixed it up with dried apples, mangos, apricots, plums and half almonds and a generous dose of carob. Since carob is naturally sweet, it made the balls too sweet for my taste.

If I were to make these again, I would substitute cacao for carob, since cacao is naturally bitter.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Vegan Almond Mayonnaise with Roasted Asparagus and Leftover Pasta



The magical world of almonds has opened my eyes to vegan food without processed soy products!

After tasting delicious raw vegan almond mayonnaise at Rohvolution a few weekends ago, I set out to find a recipe to make my own raw vegan almond mayonnaise. I found the magical one on page 35 in the Healthy Living Cookbook - Excellent Vegan Recipes from HerbalLegacy.com, which they call "Almonnaise--a Perfectly Mucusless blender Mayonnaise".

I adapted their recipe somewhat to my taste, because I like stronger flavors and wanted something more like aioli.

Blend, in the following order:

1/2 cup whole raw almonds soaked in water for 24 hours
1/2 cup water
1 tsp nutritional yeast
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp salt or kelp
1-1.25 cups olive oil
5 Tbs. lemon juice

Keep up to 10 days in the refrigerator, tightly sealed.


Since asparagus is in season, I decided to pair the creamy, tart mayonnaise with the flavor that can only be described as asparagus--unless you want to call it "pee-ish". Which is not so appetizing...

I roasted a few asparagus stalks at 240 degrees Celsius for 15-20 minutes after tossing them with some oil and salt. These are from Morocco as Germany's aren't ready yet; at least, I haven't seen them at market.

I paired the asparagus and dressing with some left-over whole-grain pasta from last night, and the raw vegan almond mayonnaise was pretty good with the pasta too--a creamy lemon sauce.

After I took the photo, I added some roasted black sesame seeds for contrasting color and smell. Yum yum yum. I really can't wait to make more!

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