I was at my mom’s last weekend, and she had just done a big produce grocery shopping, and thought it would be nice if we made a healthy stir-fry for dinner on Saturday. I had us pick up some ginger and miso, as I’ve been finding that it makes a great combination for a stir-fry sauce.
The veggies here were peppers, onions, carrots, cucumber (yes, cucumber works well in stir-fry!) and bok choi.
Served over sweet potato noodles, and topped with some srirachca. Pan seared tofu is also there.
This is intutite cooking, so I am not adding amounts- do what seems right!
Ginger-Miso Stir Fry Sauce
Yellow miso
minced or grated ginger (as much or as little as you like)
a splash of tamari
a little more than a splash of rice wine vinegar
a drizzle of sesame oil
water or vegetable broth to thin
optional (and not used this time): agave or brown rice syrup to taste
Spray a small pan with oil and brown the ginger.
Add the miso, tamari, vinegar and sesame oil.
Add a small amount of liquid and stir to dissolve the miso. Do not bring to a boil.
Add enough liquid more to bring to a consistency you like; add sweetener if desired.
Heat, but do not boil. Add to your veggies when they are ready.
I probably used about 2 tsp of miso. You can use more or less if you like! I’ve done this sweetened before, but it really doesn’t need it.
I know intuitive cooking can sound intimidating, but with a list of basic ingredients, I’m sure you can do it!
I’m trying to use up stuff that I have around the house before I go grocery shopping again. I have a bunch of different root vegetables that keep well, and among them was some celery root (celeriac). I really wanted something that could be poured over mashed potatoes last night. So, I stood in front of the fridge, figuring out what I had on hand. I came up with the celery root, some frozen seitan, and some frozen veggies. This is what it turned out to be. The seitan was ground up in the food processor before being added.
Mashed potatoes, ground seitan, celery root purée, golden zucchini and green beans. Weird combination, but it works!
I looked for celery root (celeriac) purée recipes, but didn’t find exactly what I was looking for. I don’t think that spreading the purée on the plate would have been all that attractive with mashed potatoes, plus I wanted something smother-worthy, so it’s used like a gravy, although it’s not really a gravy, either. But is was interesting!
Are you wondering what celery root is? It’s exactly what it sounds like. It smells like the more traditional celery, but it tastes much milder, and there’s none of that stringy stuff.
This purée is gluten-free, and the entire meal can early be made gluten free by using tempeh or tofu instead of seitan.
Since this is intuitive cooking, I’m not giving amounts- use what you have on hand. I’ll explain.
Celeriac Purée
celery root, chopped
onion, minced
garlic, minced
water/veggie broth
salt and pepper, to taste
Spray a pot with oil (or heat a small amount of broth/water with which to sauté).
Sauté onion until brow; add celery root and continue to sauté. Add garlic as celery root begins to soften.
Add enough water/broth to cover veggies. Cook until celery root is fork-tender.
With an immersion blender, blend all until a purée consistency. Taste for seasoning. You can add anything like seitan, tofu, tempeh or veggies at this point, if you like.
This whole intuitive thing is about using whatever you have on hand rather than an actual recipe. I had a little more than 1/2 of a celery root, and used a lot of onion, because I like it. I used about 3 cups of broth, but I might use slightly less in the future.
By now you’ve probably heard the news: Paula Deen has Type II Diabetes. She’s had it for years, all while she’s been hawking her brand of fat and calorie laden nightmarish food. Okay, that’s not fair. Lots of people love that kind of food, but you must know how bad for you it really is.
Now, not only is she going to be continuing her food empire, she’s also the new face for “Diabetes in a New Light,” a promotional campaign for Novo Nordisk’s Victoza®. That particular medication is a non-insulin drug used to improve the function of several of the hormones involved in diabetes.
From their website, right under Paula’s smiling face and in bold print:
In animal studies, Victoza® caused thyroid tumors—including thyroid cancer—in some rats and mice. It is not known whether Victoza® causes thyroid tumors or a type of thyroid cancer called medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) in people which may be fatal if not detected and treated early. Do not use Victoza® if you or any of your family members have a history of MTC or if you have Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia syndrome type 2 (MEN 2). While taking Victoza®, tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, hoarseness, trouble swallowing, or shortness of breath. These may be symptoms of thyroid cancer.
Um, do you really want to have to take a drug with that kind of a potential side effect?
Who am I to be pointing that out? After all, I prescribe psychotropic medication to children, for crying out loud. They have terrible side effects (including that some cause diabetes). I know, you’re thinking: pot, meet kettle.
All medications have side effect, and some are more serious than others. When you’re someone who prescribes medication, you’re constantly doing a risk-benefit analysis, e.g., is the risk of harm from what I’m treating greater than the risk of harm from the treatment? Is there another treatment that might work as well or better with less harm? Will the patient be able to benefit from this other treatment before harm is done?
With Type II Diabetes, there is a non-drug alternative for many people. Regardless of how you got it- genetics, overweight, inactivity, etc.- changes in lifestyle will often be all you need to manage your diabetes (I know that you know that you have to be working with your health professional on that. You didn’t? Well, now you do).
But let’s give Paula some credit: it looks like Paula wants to de-stigmatize diabetes. That’s good, right?
You shouldn’t have to be ashamed that you have diabetes. There may come a point in your life with some factors that make it really difficult to avoid. Some medications might make it impossible to avoid, even with good lifestyle choices. And maybe you already have it. On the other hand, if it is within your power, you want to do everything to avoid or delay its onset.
I’m hoping that I don’t need to list out all the reasons you want to avoid Type II Diabetes, because I’m sure you know about things like blindness, limb amputation and heart disease. So how about we let Paula do what Paula has to do, and we’ll all work towards living healthy lives?
On Friday I headed over to New Haven, for a one-day work-related conference at the Omni-New Haven Hotel. I was happy enough to be going to New Haven to check out a couple of my favorite places there, but I was also excited to check out the new Veg restaurant in town- Red Lentil- which just happens to be a couple of doors down from the Omni. Once I knew I was going, I decided that was what I was doing for lunch!
As it turns out, lunch was served as part of the registration price at the conference, so I ended up going by myself, as my colleagues that I was with decided to stay for the free one. At least one turned out to be pretty jealous, as the hotel sandwiches turned out to not be very good.
Red Lentil is more or less an upscale American cuisine restaurant, with some Asian and European influences. The lunch menu is fairly simple, so I ended up ordering a combo of appetizers and sides, since I knew it would be a while before I would be able to get there again. I was not disappointed!
I started off with a house salad. Of course, salad would have been an option had I stayed at the conference for lunch, but this was just the tip of the iceberg! (Har har.)
I also ordered Sesame Encrusted Seitan Strips. They were phenomenal! They were served with a horseradish sauce. The waitress said to go easy with it because it was really hot, but I think she’s just a wimp. Don’t worry, I still left a good tip.
I also went with the sweet potato fries. They are very thick cut, with a crisp skin outside and creamy-soft inside. Served with barbecue sauce. Delish!
I had to get back to the conference, so I got a piece of carrot cake to go. It was light and fluffy, not dense like most carrot cakes, but very carrot-y! The frosting wasn’t overly sweet, either. Good cake, in my opinion! My colleagues who stayed for the free lunch did not enjoy their (hotel-served) cakes as I did mine.
I only wish that I could have gone back for dinner, because the dinner menu looks off the hook.
It’s important to know that this is not an entirely vegan restaurant, but it looks as though almost everything can be prepared vegan, and many items are gluten-free or can be prepared gluten-free as well.
Not the best picture, but excellent, chewy, tasty ribs. And look for better picture quality coming soon!
I find that if I’m not vigilant about how much I put in my mouth and how much I move my body, I start gaining weight again, so I’m being careful now. I know that’s the unpopular thing to do right now among certain crowds, but I have to do what’s best for my health, and being conscious of how I’m eating and moving is a big part of that. And yeah, it involves tracking calories. Otherwise I eat way too many!
To that end, I’ve been trying to do healthy weeknight meals again (well, and for other meals too). Sometimes though, I’m trying to schedule my after work hours just so, and ease is important!
I bought myself a new rice cooker (had a gift certificate to Amazon for selling my old iPhone to Gazelle), and it’s a nice one! I’m hoping to be able to use it in more creative ways in the future, but for the test run, I made some plain ‘ol rice.
I used to have a rice cooker I got for about $20 at Walmart back in the day, but I got rid of it when I got a pressure cooker, and space was at a premium. I also wasn’t too fond of the crust the rice would develop. My mom got a Zojirushi a couple of years ago and swears by it, so I decided to take the plunge as well. I’ve only made the plain rice, and so far I am not disappointed! If you take the rice out right away, it doesn’t develop that chewy crust (though if you like that, it appears to develop when you leave it on keep warm). Plus it doesn’t spray starchy steam everywhere! Rule!
On the flip side, rice takes much longer- it was over an hour for my brown rice to cook.
But, that gave me time to Skype with vegan boyfriend, and then pop those delicious looking seitan ribs from my freezer into my oven. They’re from Veggie Brothers, and they have a bunch of tasty entrees (among other things) that would go perfectly with some veggies and a side.
For the new year 2004, I became vegetarian, making that New Year’s Eve my last taste of meat. By that time, I was mostly vegetarian, eating the occasional meat when someone else made it for me. I was at a party at a friend’s house, and noticed somewhere around 10PM that I hadn’t had any meat all evening, and if that was going to be my last night as a meat-eater, I might as well have something. I ate some meatballs. I think I might have spit them out- they weren’t very good at all. I haven’t looked back since!
(It took me another 3 years to get to veganism, which was much harder, but I’m glad I did).
2011 has been a tough year for many, but I’ve been blessed to have mostly good fortune.
I’ve chosen a post from each month of the last year to highlight how my year has been!
Vegan Pizza Day, January 2011. Looking forward to another one in a few weeks!
Box Office Cafe, April 2011. It’s a terrible picture, but it’s a great reminder of spending time back home, as well as reconnecting with the music therapy community at a conference held there.
Could You Eat Real Food For 100 Days? May, 2011. May was a slow month on the blog, but it got me thinking about what read food actually is, and how I haven’t done the best job of eating more whole foods. It’s a goal for the next year, for sure!
Brunch at Kaya’s Kitchen, June 2011. It’s only available during the summer, and I’m not near them every weekend, so it’s really a treat to be able to have brunch at Kaya’s.
Health At Any Size? September 2011. I talk about health a lot on this blog, and I hope that no one is offended, because one of the topics I often post about is weight. I think you’re beautiful as you are, and being skinny isn’t the point- but I want all of us, and the generations to come be as healthy as possible. Look for more health topics in the new year!
The uncut pie looks rather uninteresting, but there’s plenty of goodness inside!
December has been all about the comfort food.
The seitan I made for Thanksgiving was rather huge, so I cut a bunch of it up into chunks with the intention of making seitan pot pie later. I ended up having to freeze them until I had both the time and the inclination to make it, but I’m glad that I did!
You know, I’m not sure that I’ve ever made a pot pie from scratch? Mostly I’ve had the frozen variety. They’re a bit tricky to make!
Believe it or not, I made this after work. I had made the pie crust the night before, so that just had to be rolled out (I used the olive oil crust from Vegan Pie in the Sky, using white whole wheat flour). I had also cooked the veggies the night before, so that left the gravy to be made, the veggies and seitan thrown in, and then the whole thing to bake. It was fortunate that it happened to be a day where I didn’t come home starving hungry from work, too, as it does take while to bake.
Seitan Pot Pie
1-double pie crust, bought or homemade
2 cups seitan, cubed (use less if you need to, such as if you’re using store bought)
2-3 carrots, sliced
1-2 stalks celery, diced
1 cup frozen peas
2 cups veggie broth
1/2 cup non-dairy milk
2 Tbs margarine
1/2 of an onion, minced
2 Tbs flour
salt, pepper, celery seed, thyme, rosemary to taste
Preheat oven to 425F
Prepare the pie crusts. Have bottom crust ready in the pie plate.
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add carrots, cook for 15 minutes; add peas and celery for the last 5 minutes; drain and put aside. Mix with seitan.
Melt margarine in a skillet; add onion and cook until translucent. Sprinkle flour and mix well with the margarine/onion mixture.
Slowly pour in the broth, whisking as you go and making sure to break up all clumps of flour. Do the same with the non-dairy milk. Add in spices.*
Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly as the sauce thickens and comes to a boil. When it looks like gravy, it’s done. Taste for spices/salt, and then add the seitan/vegetable mixture to the gravy.
Ladle the gravy/veggie/seitan mixture into the prepared pie crust. Put the top crust on, trim, and pinch together/flute the crust. Cut at least 5 slits in the top of the pie to vent steam.
Bake 45 minutes, or until crust is browned and flaky.
*If you’re cool, you’ll add dry spices to the pan when you’re sautéing the onions. Leave fresh for the end!
I won’t call this a healthy weeknight meal, as there’s a lot of fat (crust), and it’s not easy to make when you get home from work unless you’ve done all the prep work ahead of time. It would be nice for a Sunday dinner, though!
Note, you can also make this up to the point to baking and pop in the freezer, then put it directly in the oven when you’re ready to bake. If you are using a glass pie plate, do one of two things:
Put a layer of aluminum foil in the bottom of the pie plate, with a layer of plastic wrap on top, then put in your bottom curst, as proceed with the recipe. Cover with more plastic wrap and foil before freezing, and once frozen, lift the whole pie out of the pie plate, and put the pie back in the freezer as is. Remove foil/plastic and plop back into pie plate when ready to bake, and bake in a preheated oven (will take longer than regular recipe).
Alternately, no foil/palstic in the bottom of the plate, just to cover when in the freezer, leave pie in the pie plate. When ready to bake, put the frozen pie/pie plate in a COLD oven, then turn up the heat. Never, never put a glass pie plate straight from the freezer into a hot oven.
There you have it! This is a really flexible recipe- you can add in whatever veggies you like/have on hand. Pasrnips or potatoes would be good, for sure!
Really simple to make- served along with greens and Roasted Fingerling Potatoes from the Candle 79 Cookbook.
This was a simple dinner I made the other night, just after I got home from work. The tempeh came together quickly while the potatoes were roasting- you definitely have a few minutes before you need to start making the tempeh while the potatoes are in the oven. This meal took about 45 minutes to make (maybe 15 minutes for the tempeh), but much of that was cooking time where I didn’t have to do anything else.
The glaze for the tempeh is really more an intuitive cooking thing- where you throw together a bunch of things that sound good. Essentially, you need enough liquid to cover the tempeh in the casserole dish. For half a block of tempeh (half of an 8 oz package), about 3/4 cup liquid (total) is enough. I’m not giving amounts because you really can’t go wrong! By all means, use whatever it is that you have on hand! If you want to cut the calories, you can definitely have water make up the bulk of the liquid, rather than the cider. You just need something with sugar to make it sticky at the end.
Sriracha-Maple-Cider Glazed Tempeh
Tempeh- one-half block per 3/4 cup liquid
Apple cider or juice
Vegetable Broth
Sriracha
Maple Syrup (or agave, or brown rice syrup…)
Tamari, Soy Sauce, or Bragg’s (just a splash)
Garlic Powder
Ground Pepper
Slice the tempeh into strips.
Arrange the strips in one layer in a covered, microwavable dish.
Mix your marinade together in a small bowl, and pour over the tempeh strips. Cover the dish, and microwave for 4 minutes.
Heat a cast iron skillet. When hot, add the microwaved tempeh and marinade to the pan.
Cook about 3 minutes on each side, or until browned. Let all the liquid reduce until sticky and clinging to the tempeh.
Yes, I’m slow. My New Year’s Resolution is going to be to post more often, but hey, at least you’re getting my Thanksgiving post before New Year’s right? I might even get to my Christmas post this week, too.
Oh, and if you’re looking for anything a little more regular from me, you can also check out my Facebook and Twitter pages. I’ve been posting there much more often!
But on to Thanksgiving!
It was just me and vegan boyfriend, but we had a feast!
We started the day off with Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Delicata Squash stuffed with Sourdough-Cranberry Stuffing
Green Bean Casserole made with a homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup
The meal may have been decadent- but definitely plant based! Thyme Roasted Carrots- easy to make- scrub some organic carrots, lay them in a pan and throw in some springs of fresh thyme. Drizzle with a little olive oil and roast at 400F until soft!
Curried Pearl Onions- another easy one, especially if you buy the pearl onions pre-peeled. Toss with a bit of curry powder (I made some fresh- something like this, but using whole spices, toasted and ground), a bit of olive oil and roast at 400F until soft. Just like the carrots!
What would Thanksgiving be without mashed potatoes?
The main dish- Hazelnut-Rosemary Crusted Seitan. There’s a bunch of recipes out there- mine needs a little work. The seitan was made in the slow cooker- I’ll be posting about that technique quite a bit, soon! You’ll never go back to making it on the stove again.
And for dessert, Cosmos Apple Pie and Old Fashioned Chocolate Pudding Pie from Vegan Pie in the Sky, served with Coconut-Cardamom Ice Cream (that I learned to make in the Herbs and Spices class at NGI!).
It was a ton of food! I was eating it for a week.
I hope that you have all been enjoying your holiday season, whatever it is that you celebrate!
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