Search This Blog

Sunday, January 8, 2012

On the Road to a Month-Long Vegan Vacation

I had been reading a ton of vegan blogs and cookbooks and decided to try a 30 day vegan diet. I had a number of reasons for trying this: the challenge of a new way of cooking and thinking, a healthier approach (no cholesterol, no casein, hopefully less saturated fat and more healthy fats, more vitamins), a more ethical and kind diet (no animals harmed), and just getting in the habit of eating more vegetables. I planned to start this challenge in the new year, on January 1st, 2012, along with anyone that would like to join me. Despite still having a week or so before the challenge, this didn't mean that I wasn't going to experiment with some recipes before the V-day. If I was going to give up meat, poultry, eggs, dairy (ahem, cheese!), and all animal products, then I would need some good replacement recipes in my arsenal. Since C and I already eat a load of veggies, fruits, and legumes, this wasn't so much of a concern for me. I'm not a fussy veggie eater, bring on the colours! What I was worried about was cravings for meat, the texture of meat, cheese, and eggs. We already drink almond milk (usually unsweetened) so that would be fine. Yogurt, well, my afternoon snack would need to be replaced. Really, I had no firm plan, I was just going to make notes of recipes I wanted to try and go with the flow.

First on my list was a seitan recipe. According to my readings, vegan replacements for meat are usually made of either vital wheat gluten or soy. Seitan is a wheat gluten version of meatless protein. I decided to make my first attempt a Vegan Nom Nom vegan blog version found here.
The recipe seems to be pretty typical. Vital wheat gluten and nutritional yeast (I found both at Bulk Barn) get mixed with other dry ingredients, usually seasonings.
seitan dry ingredients
 Next, the wet ingredients get mixed together in another bowl. Typically, this is another way to season the dough...lemon juice, veggie broth, garlic, oil, tamari or soy sauce.
seitan wet ingredients
 Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. A spongy dough will form immediately. This recipe requires that the seitan be formed into rounds, flattened as you're able (the gluten tends to spring back) and then boiled in a broth like dumplings.
seitan mixture
seitan dough done
leftover hunks of fake meat, saved for later (these get covered in leftover broth)
 Honestly, this stuff was pretty easy to make! No slaving away in the kitchen or needing to defrost anything. Sure, you needed to make a broth, but I had other seitan recipes waiting to be tested that were simply baked. Excellent! Now, for actually serving this up. Meal one: sliced and pan fried seitan served on a slice of sprouted grain bread with homemade black bean spread (can of rinsed and drained black beans, leftover fresh salsa, onion, jalapenos, tomato, garlic and salt and pepper, all in the food processor until smooth), sprouts, a fresh tomato, and some fresh baby spinach leaves. A side of lightly sauteed zucchini. The verdict? The sandwich was filling and had a meaty flavour and texture, although more of a processed meat texture. The flavour was mostly garlic and soy sauce but quite tasty.
seitan sandwich with bean spread and zucchinis
side view of the seitan sandwich
 What else could I make with this seitan? I had 2 more large chunks bobbing in their broth in the fridge like little organs in formaldehyde. Stew! Ok, you've recently seen the beef version so you understand the concept, but would it work with seitan? Would it work with vegan margarine? We'd soon find out...
Since I didn't need to brown the meat, there would be nothing in the pan to de-glaze. Hmmm...I decided to make a roux instead...flour, garlic, and vegan margarine. Whisked up until thick and then I poured in some veggie broth.
the start of a vegan stew
 Since I wasn't entirely sure how this would turn out, I thought that making a smaller batch might be practical, in case it wasn't as edible as I hoped. I chopped up a couple of potatoes, some carrots and celery.
veggies for the stew
 Since no meat needed to be cooked until tender, this wouldn't need to stay on the stove for too long. I chopped up the seitan into bite-sized chunks and into the pot!
chopped seitan
 With all of the chopped ingredients in the pot, it was time to season the stew. It wasn't getting as thick as I had hoped so I started with the seasoning...some red wine, a bay leaf, thyme, pepper...left to simmer.
meatless stew
 With the stew shaping up and not quite ready to eat, I decided to make myself a quick stir fry. With C out of town, I was cooking for one. I stir-fried some broccoli, cauliflower, soy slices (dehydrated fake meat from Bulk barn), and soba noodles. I stole some of the seitan's liquid to cook the meal and poured it all into a brightly coloured bowl. A little bit of cherry sauce on top to finish and I was ready for a filling meal! Chopsticks in hand, I plopped myself onto the couch for a relaxing dinner.
delicious stir-fry
 We had bought a package of curry flavoured tempeh strips (fermented soybeans, pressed into a block) and I loved them! I found a recipe for tempeh bacon that sounded good on Epicurean Vegan but couldn't find any plain tempeh at Superstore. I looked up how to make my own tempehfacon (fake bacon) out of firm tofu? See the base recipe that I used here.
I just made sure to drain and press out as much of the liquid from the tofu as I could before marinating the sliced bacon-sized strips.
Water, liquid smoke (I found a hickory version at Superstore), maple syrup and soy sauce. I left the tofu to suck up as much flavour as possible for about 20 minutes.
marinating facon
 Carefully placing the delicate tofu strips into a hot oiled pan to cook until golden...
facon cooking
 A careful flipping and more of the sauce poured over top of these golden, crisp, and sticky beauties. The smell was fantastic! The liquid smoke and maple definitely made the kitchen smell bacon-y.
facon almost done
 Now, what could be better than a BLT? Except, I had no lettuce...so, I had to use sprouts instead. No matter, they would nicely hold the sliced tomatoes in place. My vegan mayonnaise, Nayonaise, was also from Superstore. Another variety is called Vegenaise.
BLT ingredients 
cross-section of the sammie
 Served with some sauteed zucchini and mushrooms and some steam asparagus and we had ourselves another fine meal. C approved of this dinner and so did I. I would definitely be making this fake bacon again and again, I was already thinking about trying it with the seitan instead of tofu.
Facon sprout and tomato sammie and sides
 I tasted the stew before packing it up into the fridge for later and C did as well. It was actually rather tasty. The wine flavour came through first, and it was salty and more like a rich soup. Not bad but it could be perfected.

With my brand new orange Bodum coffee grinder just waiting to chomp up its first beans, we drove down to Cornelia Bean on Corydon to buy an inaugural bag. After indulging in some decadent loose leaf tea, we made our way home to grind our first batch of beans for our little French press. The aroma was unbelievable and the coffee was amazing! This grinder was quick and precise and hardly made any mess at all. Guests will be definitely treated to freshly ground coffee at our place now!
freshly ground coffee
 The vegan experiments were going ok but I was still not officially on the wagon, so to speak. On New Year's Eve, C and I went to Polo Park Shopping Centre for a little impromptu shopping as he owed me a trip for Christmas. I was bought a very cute little strapless sweetheart neckline navy polka-dotted dress and then to my dismay and C's good fortune, the mall was closed. With another hour and a bit until our reservation at Sushi Cushi (which we like to call Sushi Oushi), we decided to stop into Earl's for a drink. Had I known that we were going to be "going out" I would have worn something a little nicer than jeans and a brightly coloured hoodie. No matter. I was there with the love of my life, away from it all, for a night. We sipped our drinks, his Whisky Sour and my slushy Lemon Meringue, and slyly smiled at each other as a large plate of fries was presented before us (a little pre-dinner snack). The salty crisp hot fries were perfect and was cheers-ed each other while discussing our new year's resolutions. With fries eaten and drinks finished, our hunger settled just enough, we left to make our sushi reservation. We had received some money from my grandparents for Christmas and decided to use that to treat ourselves to this lovely night out. We had about $35 left and this bought us some Bakudan, Volcano, Happy Mouth, and one other roll, along with edamame beans and my first taste of sushi pizza. Mmm! The meal was tasty but a little too heavy and fried tasting for me. We headed home to relax, spend some quiet time with the girls, and sleep. Happy new Year's, everyone. I hope that you had a great year and have some great resolutions that you're working on for 2012. Cheers and goodnight.

No comments:

Post a Comment