Grilling out again

When I got home from work tonight, I found my husband reprising the feast we had last night, with more grilled veggies and a burger with all the fixin's.  This time is was a boca and not a made-from-scratch burger, but it was amazing nonetheless.  Tonight, I took some photos -- y'know, just to give me something to drool at this winter when grilling is but a distant memory.

Look at all those grilled veggies!  Zucchini, beets, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, eggplant, onion, banana peppers, green beans... Did I forget anyone?  My husband seasoned them up really well, but I still topped them with a little Famous Dave's Sweet and Zesty barbecue sauce.

Burger guts!  Wow, yum.  Thanks for the awesome dinner!  Simple, but my husband and I both agreed, we could eat this every night and be happy.  Man, I love summer!

Cooking from a book and a box

Today we had some friends over for a grill-out.  The main event was a heap of barbecued veggies from the CSA, but I also thought I'd make some other new stuff to try.  I whipped up the black bean burgers from the vegan bible, Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.  It was quite easy; the hardest parts were mashing the black beans and chopping the cilantro.  Actually, patting the burgers was a lot of fun-- Unlike patting meat burgers, which even my buger-loving mate admits is disgusting.  Ah, the simple joys of being vegan: you can lick the burger off your fingers!  I managed to follow the recipe to the letter (which I never do).  Well, up until it told me to pan-fry the burgers.  I mean, this was a grill out, not a pan out.  And the gluten in the burgers really helped them keep their shape on the grill. 

The burgers were a huge hit.  Our dinner party consisted of a vegetarian, two open-minded omnivores, and me, the lone vegan, as usual.  But everyone raved about the burgers and no one missed the meat or cheese. 

But you know what was even better?  Dessert.  My husband wanted to whip up some brownies, so we busted out the box of Ghirardelli double chocolate brownie mix...  wait, did you just say "wha-haaa??"  Did you know that Ghirardelli makes vegan brownie mix?   No?  Well, probably because (a) Ghirardelli is not in the habit of marketing to vegans and (b) most vegans have the good sense not to make boxed brownies.  But I happen to LOVE "accidentally vegan" things.  And in case you steer clear of the boxed mixes at the grocery, let me tell you that a good portion of the boxed brownie and cakes mixes are vegan.  Up until you add egg, of course, but that's why we have egg replacer, right?

Maybe my love of boxed brownies means I have no backbone...that I'm pumping money into the pockets of "big food."  But I don't care.  I love to find out what random things are actually vegan.  And maybe if I buy enough of the vegan brownie mixes, big food will change all the boxed mixes to being vegan.  ...Well, a girl can dream, right?

And anyway, I balanced out the brownies with real, honest-to-goodness homemade ice cream, again from Veganomicon.  This was the first ice cream I've made all year, and my husband says my best venture to date.  Well, that's because I was using full-fat-and-sugar everything, just like the recipe says.  I used almond extract instead of vanilla, and it was heavenly.  It never got very solid, but it made a fluffy, dreamy sort of soft serve.  And it was awesome on brownies.

I'm embarrassed to say that I have been vegan for over 2 years and owned Veganomicon for over 6 months, but this is the first time I've cooked from it.  I just don't use cookbooks much -- I'm more likely to wing it or look something up online.  But when I decided I wanted to make black bean burgers, I figured Veganomicon would have a recipe, and I happened to have almost everything it required.  So we'll call that providence.  And after my first two tries, both unqualified sucesses, I will definitely be using it more often in the future.  Maybe I'll even remember to take pictures.

Cooking on the fly

Today, I was driving home from my parents' house and smelled the intoxicating scent of grilling burgers.  I know, I know, vegans aren't supposed to think burgers smell good.  But I do.  I was thinking about grilling a little myself when I got home, but the lone freezer-burned boca waiting for me left me feeling a little cold.  Then I got to thinking "hmm, I had those red kidney beans for lunch and there are a few left...could I make a burger out of those?"  Well, I figured I had to give it a try.

Now, let me be honest, I am not a very accomplished "made from scratch" cooker.  I would rather eat things that have only a couple of ingredients.  I make stirfrys, soups, and salads like whoa, but I've never gotten around to making a lentil loaf or homemade seitan or anything like that.  I figured my craving was a sign that it was high time for me to try and make my first veggie burger.

So, when I got home, I dumped the rest of the red kidney beans (about half a can) into the food processor.  I topped that with a one-ounce pack of salted peanuts, a clove of garlic, 2 purple cherry tomatoes from yesterday's CSA box, and maybe a third cup of quick oats.  I shook in a little rendezvous spicy BBQ rub and seasoned salt, and let 'er rip!  It mixed up pretty well, but it was a little sticky (what should I have done or added?).  So instead of grilling it, I fried it up in a pan with a little olive oil. 

Let me say, it wasn't super buger-ish, but it was amazing.  The beans and nuts and just a little spicy...mmm!  I will definitely try this again, but maybe I'll take a peek at a recipe first!  Do you have a favorite veggie burger recipe you'd like to share?

The key to a happy relationship...

...is food, of course. 

As I was getting ready to leave work yesterday, my husband sent me a text hinting at those 3 little words that every spouse loves to hear: I'm making dinner.  When I got home, there were boca burgers on the grill, buns a-toasting, and this cornucopia cooking up, smelling so good:

A week or two ago, my husband invested in a grill basket, and it's been wonderful.  It's a way for him to finally enjoy preparing and eating all those great CSA veggies!  (See what we got this week?  Potatoes, carrots, onion, eggplant...)  He seasoned these up really well, but in the end we both gave up and ended up dousing them in the wonderful barbeque sauce that I brought home from my trip to Memphis (I prefer Rendezvous, he likes the Corky's apple).  We liked them so much, we both had seconds!

So, are any of you wondering whether my husband is vegan, too?  Well, he's not.  He a meat-loving omnivore.  I know some vegans would be scandalized.  I've met vegans who have cut people (even parents) out of their life for not going vegan.  But that's not me.  My husband was a meat-eater when I met him, and I am not going to try and force him to change. 

But I sure am happy that he's so open-minded.  He cooks vegan for me and has never asked me to make him anything I wouldn't eat.  He goes to vegan restaurants with me when we travel, he loves tofu salad, tempeh "cheesesteaks" and is addicted to morningstar grillers (not vegan, I know, but he likes them).  He even "vegan-izes" his family recipes and brings them to omnivore potlucks  --- when I'm not even going to be there!!  He defends my veganism when I'm not around.  So yes, he still happily consumes animal products, but he's come a long way from his bachelor days to meet me half-way, and I would be an idiot to throw him out of my life because of what he eats or buys.

So the truth comes out:  I guess I'm not really a militant vegan at all.  My veganism is a personal choice -- a very personal one, in fact.  And it's based on my own personal morality and what I can live with and what I can't.  I won't ask anyone to conform their morals to mine.  I'm not going to try to convert anyone to a different religion or try to change their opinions on abortion, so I'm not going to threaten or coerce them into going vegan...  But what I can do is ask them to look at the truth.  Expecting people to consider the realities of animal exploitation is not too much to ask, I think.  So I tell people what happens to the baby calves that should be drinking the milk that is, instead, turned into their ice cream.  I explain how, exactly, a "free-range" chicken spends its days.  I tell people about the environmental harm caused by cattle CAFOS and the way that a pig suffers in a hog barn.  But then I let them make their own choices.  That they listen and think is all I can ask.

And though I would like my husband to choose veganism some day, for now I'm just very glad that he listens to me and supports my decision.  It's enough that we can respect each others thoughtful choices.  And it doesn't hurt that he cooks me awesome vegan dinners, either!

Going hungry

If my goal is to illustrate that a vegan can adapt and find suitable eats even in a part of the country where no one understands the word "vegan," then I will call yesterday a massive failure.  I went to a lovely outdoor music festival at a venue nearby in Iowa.  The show was awesome - Flobots, Spose, Cage the Elephant, Weezer (among others) - but I knew eating would be an issue.  So I just didn't.  Ugh.  Almost 8 hours outside with nothing to eat.  I did have some delicious, refreshing lemonade, but my food options were very limited.  A pickle at one place, french fries or chips at another...I could have had a veggie pita without cheese or sauce, but that sounded messy and bland.  I justified it to myself by thinking, "who wants greasy pizza when it's so hot out, anyway?" but the truth is that it was really frustrating not to have any real options.  And of course we couldn't bring food in.  I would like to think that they would be understanding if a person had dietary restrictions, but I happened to be next to a diabetic woman at one point and she said she wasn't even allowed to bring food in.  So very frustrating. 

I had a fun time anyway -- the lemonade sustained me and was quite yummy, and I wasn't famished even after the show - I ate a big lunch knowing I wouldn't probably be able to eat much at the venue.  Still, though, this is just one more thing that needs to change.  Vegans should have the option to be robbed blind by vendors in exchange for mediocre food, too!

O U QT...

I'd like to post about what I've been eating, like so many of my favourite vegan bloggers -- to whip up something complicated and divine and post drool-worthy pictures.

But I'm lazy. And in the summer, cooking, for me, is just tossing together whatever veggies in the fridge are about to go bad. Tonight for dinner, I had a baked potato topped with black beans, the last of the red salsa I made the other day, and a boca chic'n patty...add some cumin and chipotle powder, and you have something that is mighty tasty and satisfying -- but no one wants to see a photo of that pile of mush.

Luckily, for dessert I had Cuties, which, as the name implies, are pretty cute.

Do you know Cuties? Cuties are the first vegan ice cream I ever tried. My good friend in college, who was also the first vegan I ever met, really loved them. I was still a long way from being vegan myself, but I agreed that they were irresistibly tasty. I introduced my lactose-intolerant brother to them, and he couldn't believe they were dairy free.

I don't really eat them much anymore (I prefer chocolate chip cookie dough coconut ice cream if I'm going to indulge), but our neighborhood grocery store randomly had them --and on clearance (which means they're probably never going to stock them again) so I had to grab a box, just for old times sake.

And they're still tasty:

I've been vegan-ish for almost exactly 2 years. My commitment to the lifestyle continues to grown, but I remember that when I was just starting out, it was nice to know that there were vegan analogues of the things I loved. I used to LOVE Skinny Cow brand ice cream sandwiches (ice cream is one of the few things I still crave), and for the first summer, it was nice to have Cuties around to protect me from myself when the Skinny Cows were calling my name. Two years later, it's much easier to think of the actual cows when I have a craving, but it never hurts to have a delicious vegan ice cream treat on hand, too.

What vegan goodies are so good that you loved them even as a non-vegan (or you know non-vegans who love them)? What animal product analogues do you think are even better than the "real thing?"

CSA is a-okay

Monday is CSA day!  Well, today is actually an off-week, but Monday is usually CSA day.  Have you heard of a CSA?  It stands for community supported agriculture and it allows goofballs with black thumbs like me to get our mitts on some real, fresh, local goodness by buying a "share" of a local farm.  For a little bit of money, you get a weekly share of whatever's growing at the time.  It's an amazing way to enjoy the bounty of the season and participate in making local produce farming more sustainable.  If you've never heard of this, do a search for CSAs in your town, there are a lot popping up all over the place, even in Lincoln, NE, where there are plenty of farmers, but most of them grow feed, not food.  I'd like to think I'm doing my little part to let farmers know that growing chard can be just as profitable as growing, say, grain sorgum.

Here's the link to my CSA: Community CROPS!  I think my CSA is extra-special because it is the organization that runs the community gardens in my town.  They also have a larger farm just outside of town and they run many programs that benefit the community.  They teach cooking classes (several of which I have attended), classes on composting, and probably most importantly, they provide training and support for people who want to farm as a source of income.  This is often means recent immigrants, like this fella Efrain, who moved his family here from Mexico.  He started farming at the community farm and now he rents his own farmland.  For the last couple of weeks, he has contributed tomatillos to my CSA box, and he even shared his recipe for salsa verde for the CSA newsletter.  I made some tonight, so I'd like to share the recipe with you.  Thanks, Efrain!

Salsa Verde, Efrain-Style:
6 tomatillos, husks removed
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
18 cilantro leaves, finely chopped
1 jalapeno or another hot chile
1/4 onion, finely chopped
salt to taste

Boil the tomatillos and hot chile in water for 3-5 minutes, until the tomatillos turn pale yellow.  Place the tomatillos and chile in a blender with the garlic cloves and blend until it's the consistency you prefer.  Place mixture in a bowl and stir in the onion, cilantro, and salt.  OR, if you prefer, you can blend all the ingredients together in one step. 

Yum:

So that's Efrain's recipe.  To be honest, I have a hard time sticking to recipes, though.  I always use way more than 6 tomatillos, because the ones I have are small.  The first time, I left out the cilantro and used green onions, because that's what I had.  It was delish.  Tonight I was lazy and stuck it all in the blender at once.  Delish again.  It is pretty spicy, though.  If you don't like a lot of spice, maybe use only part of a chile. 

Regardless, you can make the recipe your own because it's super easy just to throw together.  The hardest part is boiling the water. I'd always wanted to make green salsa but I never had the gumption to try until some tomatillos turned up in my CSA box.  What a great way to force yourself to try new things!  Are you part of a CSA?  What showed up in your share that you'd never tried but that you totally love?

Back home

I survived the road trip to Memphis!  It was a lot of driving, followed by a lot of heavy lifting and sweating, followed by even more driving -- but I'm glad I went.  I rode in the car with my dad for about 24 hours total, and it was quite enjoyable.  This is remarkable because my dad is the sort of guy that has 2 satellite radio stations programmed: the 60's station and Fox News radio.  Ultimately, we're more alike than we are different, but there are a few discussions we just have to choose to avoid.

So what about the food?  As predicted, I spent a fair amount of time at Subways.  My fave: footlong veggie on wheat with oil and vinegar and all the veggies!  One place had guacamole, which the Subways back home don't have anymore, so that was a nice addition.  There were some lowlights, though:  McDonald's.  I never eat at McDo because the only thing I can get is fries and I don't like their fries.  But we found ourselves at McDo twice.  So I ate the fries.  The first time, I tried to get a salad.  There was something on the salad menu called "fruit and walnut," and so I asked:
"So, what is that?  Just a salad with fruit and walnuts?" 
The confused and awkward cashier girl just mumbled "I don't know, yeah, I guess.  Maybe without lettuce." 
I was really puzzled, but thought this sounded promising.  "But there's no, like, chicken or cheese, right?" 
"Um, no?"  She responded. 
"Okay, I guess I'll have that." 
Well, that was a mistake.  It turns out it's a 3 compartment packet with one pouch of apples and grapes, one pouch of candied walnuts, and one pouch of vanilla yoghurt.  Oh.  The apples were actually quite nice and made good dippers for the candied nuts.  But yes, this item is clearly not vegan.  Boo.

And what does a vegan eat in Memphis when traveling with 3 omnivores?  Well, I had fries, onion rings...yeah, that's about it.  Want to see what a vegan eats on Beale Street?  Here it is:

Blehh --More onion rings!  The spicy barbeque sauce was quite wonderful, though.  Still, thank goodness for clif bars, primal strips, and fruit!  Yesterday, on the way home, we were thinking about stopping in Sikeston, MO at Lambert's Cafe for the famous "throwed rolls," but I announced, "Maybe we should just go to Subway again.  You know, the only vegetables I've had in two-and-a-half days have either been fried or in the form of V8 juice..."  So we went to Subway again.

In defense of Memphis, I could have tried a lot harder.  I'm sure there are more vegan-friendly restaruants than those I visited.  In fact, we originally were going to get dinner one night at Rendezvous, which is both world famous and the only barbeque restaurant my brother could think of that had a vegetarian section on the menu.  But there was an hour wait and we decided to go to Beale Street instead.  Maybe it makes me a "bad" vegan, but I'm happier to eat onion rings (again) than to drag my family all over creation finding a place I can eat actual food.  I want to appear like the most laid back vegan ever.  That's my strategy.

That is, until I see the horse-drawn carriages.  Yes, they're romantic, but when my brother's girlfriend said, "Look, horses!"  I just couldn't stop myself from saying, "Look at how they're suffering." She immediately agreed, and I don't think my brother or dad could argue, but then we launched into a discussion about the relative intelligence of different farm animals.  ... Yeah, this is one of those conversations I try to avoid having with my dad, who was a farmer and a country minister before we moved to the "city" shortly after I was born.  This is particularly a conversation I would rather not have late at night when we're all cranky and tired after a day of moving heavy furniture and when we still have to walk all the way back to the car and drive all the way back to campus.  But, being the passionate vegan I am, I couldn't help but speak in defense of pigs. 

Pigs, which everyone agrees are the smartest animals, are also probably the most dangerous.  As my brother said,
"They're really intelligent, but they're also total assholes, so I don't feel bad about eating them." 
I responded by saying, "They don't have to be.  Some people keep pigs as pets and they are as affectionate and easy to train as dogs.  Pigs are only dangerous after we torture them." 
"But," my dad pointed out, "dogs are naturally affectionate.  Some of these rescue dogs have been tortured horribly, but are never as dangerous as pigs.  They have the capacity to still be gentle and loving." 
"Well," I replied, "maybe we shouldn't be juding the goodness of an animal by its ability to tolerate cruelty.  I, for one, don't judge pigs for holding a grudge for being tortured.  I certainly wouldn't forgive anyone who tortured me the way we treat pigs."
After this, we were all too tired or half-drunk to argue any more about it.  Which is probably for the best.

That's how most of my animal rights discussions with my family go.  Which is why I don't have them very often.  What do you do?  I wish I was more effective.

Well, at any rate, I'm home.  Time to spend a day recovering before the work week begins again tomorrow.  Have a good Sunday!

On the road again.

I'm about to head out on a road trip:  my big brother is moving to Memphis and I'm driving him out there along with his girlfriend and our dad.  It's about a 12-hour drive, which isn't terrible, but it does mean I'll be living off fast food for the next 3-and-a-half days.  Mmmm...sounds like a whole lotta subway to me.  And clif bars.  Lots of clif bars.  No, but seriously, this is the point of the blog, right?  To see how this lonesome vegan survives in a not-so-vegan-friendly world.  Let's put my survival skills to the test in one of the barbeque capitals of the country.  Wish me luck!

The lonely vegan

It's not easy being vegan in Lincoln, Nebraska.  I don't know a lot of vegans.  There are no trendy diners serving vegan blueberry-corn pancakes.  Folks give me funny looks when I order my sandwich with no meat, no cheese, and no mayo...  And look out if I try to talk animal politics with the folks at work! 

I wanted to start a blog to document my winding, never ending path toward vegan-ness, and also perhaps as a comfort to any other vegans who, like me, live out in the boons and are constantly bombarded by bacon from every direction.  If you're the only vegan you know, let's talk.  I know there are plenty of us; we don't all have to be the lonely vegan.

I might like to use this place to share my story, and if you stumble upon this blog, please share your story, too.  I'll also share recipes, vegan news stories, product reviews, tips on surviving being the only vegan in town, and other random thoughts. 

I'll start with the story that prompted this blog:

I, of course, subscribe to VegNews, the world's finest vegan publication.  But it causes me a great deal of angst when I look at the stories about vegan vacations I can't afford to take and see all the ads for delicious vegan food that isn't sold within 500 miles.  For example, I have been DROOLING over all the descriptions of Daiya Cheese for, what, a year?  Maybe longer?  They tell me it's gooey, it's melty, is oh-so-cheesey!  Oh, why don't I live in Portland or New York!?

But a couple of weeks ago, there it was: Daiya Cheese in my very own co-op, only a few blocks away.  I selected the mozzarella variety and gladly shelled out the approximately $5.  I virtually floated home, so sublimely joyful and eager to stuff my face with cheesey goodness.  I lovingly sprinkled it on an enchilada (I know, shoulda gone with the cheddar variety, but I like mozzarella, okay!?!) and popped it in the microwave until it actually started to melt (!!).  I savored the spicy smell of my dinner, took in all the creamy, meltiness.  I took my first bite, and...  Eh, it was good, I guess.  Yes, it melted.  Yes, it stretched.  Yes, it was salty and creamy like cheese ought to be.  But it didn't taste like cheese.  And you know what I realized then?  That's fine.  Because I realized I don't actually miss cheese all that much.

It turns out that I was just freaking out about Daiya because I was curious and also cranky that every other vegan in the world had tried it but me.  And it was good.  Not life-changing, but the next time I make pizza (which is the one time I really do miss cheese), I'll probably splurge and buy some.  If, of course, the co-op still carries it then.  *Sigh*  The uncertain gustatory future of the Heartland Vegan...

I have similar stories about gardein, soyatoo, and coconut ice cream (which is the one thing that was EVEN BETTER than the hype).  Maybe I'll share my thoughts on those products, or you can share yours.  Until then!