First Dairy

So we're vegan . . . and James David has been pretty much vegan for his life, too . . .
Except for 1.5 times when he ate cat food . . . at least one time definitely in the mouth (swallowing uncertain), another time or two where he MIGHT have eaten some but I'm not sure . . .

And of course, he nurses. Breast milk is an "animal product", but he is the one it is meant for! Personally I think cow's milk is great! For baby cows! And human milk is great, too! For baby humans!

Anyway, so he's never had cow's milk (or any non-Mom dairy). Well, he HAD never had any non-Mom dairy! But . . .

Me and Mariclare went to our 10-year high school reunion last week, and me and LJ slept over at my parents' house. It was . . . interesting to say the least! Of course the only people who showed were people who were relatively happy and secure with their current situation. All the haters stayed home, so we had a good ole time!

Such a good ole time that when some unknown and loving family member (ie, Kate), pulled the "awake and seeking attention baby" out of my sleepy arms at 6:30am, I felt nothing but gratitude and immediately zonked out.

So I woke up a few hours later feeling SO happy for the extra sleep, scooped up my cute baby, and my sister comes up like:

"Okay, don't freak out."
I look at the baby, he seems fine. "Okay? What?"
"Dad fed him Greek Yogurt this morning."
"What?"
"Yeahhhhh..."

And I did not freak out. I honestly was still in the mentality of "THANK YOU MYSTERY FAMILY MEMBER WHO RESCUED ME FROM MOTHERHOOD AT 6AM!!" So much so that I was like: "Oh well, at least I got to sleep in". LOL

Though for the record, my Dad did not do this on purpose. Though he is very smart about some things . . . he just did NOT realize. Basically I had brought these leftovers in a yogurt container. My Mom saw this, and told my Dad there was yogurt in there for him. So my Dad went to look for it, saw the leftovers, and then the only other yogurt in the fridge was the Greek Yogurt and he was basically like: "Okay here we go, yogurt".

It's pretty funny though, my Dad was saying that even though James was eating it . . . "it was like he knew he wasn't supposed to be." Hahaha, like he wasn't eating very much of it--and was sort of eating hesitantly? and let me tell you, he can PUT AWAY FOOD normally, so it's funny.

Though I was telling my Dad it probably had less to do with being DAIRY than being an unfamiliar food. He is a well-attached baby and definitely looks to me or his Dad when encountering an unfamiliar food, animal, person, etc. He looks at our reaction to see how he should react. I watch him do this.

So, though he KNOWS my Dad and sister, he doesn't trust them in the same way, so when they were offering him an unfamiliar (TOTALLY UNFAMILIAR) food, he just wasn't quite trusting them that he was supposed to eat it. It's just funny that he was right!

Anyway, the thing I was most concerned about is some kind of allergic reaction (immediately) which didn't happen, and then stomach upset (in the hours after) which also didn't happen. So it ended up being a non-event . . .

But there is the story of first (and perhaps only? Probably not I guess!) dairy!

Vegan Still?

After writing my last entry I started thinking . . . so many people I know who are vegan or vegetarian add meat or cheese back into their diets after getting pregnant . . . people have asked me if I was/am tempted to eat meat or dairy again once I was pregnant and now that I'm breastfeeding, and the answer has always been a resounding no.

However, I wondered to myself if this would change if my diet was limited even further--specifically by needing to eliminate soy. Soy features LIKE meat a lot in my diet--making up a lot of protein and dairy-ish foods, so I think I would be pretty hurting without it. I'm still praying that this ends up not being an issue, but honestly I'm still certain that I would not eat dairy or meat.

More and more often now when I see meat I think "dead animal", "carcass", "cadaver"--it's funny because I have never been like this before. I was never a vegan "offended" by meat and I would often watch my Mom or my Step-Father-In-Law prepare and cook meat because I like cooking but obviously never cook meat. So I felt like it was interesting to me to watch how other people prepare this type of food . . . however, something changed recently.

I still wouldn't say I was OFFENDED by meat, but it definitely makes me sad to see, which it never has before. I think about how that animal was killed to sit on the table or wrapped up on the deli counter. It's like the normal distancing that people do is gone and a steak is a slice of cow--when I see the steak or chicken, I picture them slicing up a dead animal and I feel so sad for the cow or chicken.

Well what about dairy or eggs then? Well, dairy and eggs are also highly allergic to small babies so I don't know if I would even have the option to be "vegetarian", but again I just can't "stomach" it. The idea of eating milk that came out of a cow's nipples just weirds me out. And eggs? Chicken period. Sorry but it's true and that's what I think of when I see it.

So no, no, I don't think I would do it. People are vegan for many reasons and lots of vegans are tempted to eat dairy and eggs the way I am tempted to eat bread when I am being gluten-free. However, I am NOT tempted to eat meat, eggs, or dairy. It is gross to me. I don't care if other people do it! But I will not do it--even to the detriment of my health, to be honest, which might be counter-intuitive. But I guess to me it's almost like asking an omnivorous person if they would eat human flesh if they were starving.

Would I eat meat or eggs if I were STARVING? Well, probably. But in any other case, probably not.

Our Healthy Dinner

This is what we had for dinner tonight. Gluten Free, Vegan, with veggies, fruit, nuts, and beans! Super healthy and very delicious!

Our First Date!

So as I had said, last night we went out for the very first time together without the baby.

And?

We had a great time!

My sister got to my house around 6 and we left around 7. I was very nervous trying to set out James' PJs and night-time diaper and swaddle blanket, and explain about heating up the milk and everything. He was fussing a little when we left and it was heartbreaking to just leave him and walk out the door. As I was waving to him from the doorway I swear he was looking at me forlornly.

I promised myself I wouldn't text my sister for at least a half hour, so I texted my Mom instead (so romantic, LOL): "He was fussing when we left!"

When I did talk to my sister though, she said he was fine and they were playing with his toys, so then I felt a little better. I swear, though, I nearly had an anxiety attack as we were driving--I knew he was fine but I just missed him so much and it's hard to trust someone else to be his sole caretaker when up until now it has only been me and (Big) James. I mean, I OBVIOUSLY trust my sister but clearly, no one knows James and how to comfort him and all of his signals better than us, his parents, you know?

Once I heard that he was fine, though, and especially after we got to the restaurant, it was fine, and fun, to be alone with James. It was strange to feel like I was relaxed in a way without having to take care of him for a few hours straight, but worried in another way from being apart from him!

Anyway, when my first glass of wine showed up it helped a lot, hehe.

I recalled to James that for the last 3 or 4 years, when we were out for our Valentine's dinner, I would say: "This might be our last Valentine's Day alone together before we have a baby/before I'm pregnant!" And depressingly, it was never true. Another year would come and go and I would still be saying that. So it seemed so significant and special that we'd finally done it! We had a baby at home waiting for us! It was like celebrating the accomplishment of finally reproducing!

Hehe. Okay, my entire date post probably shouldn't be about the baby. Here's what we had for dinner (I was on a gluten-free break):

Adrienne: Vegetable dumplings, beet/tofu/fresh basil ravioli with asparagus and garlic greens, and double chocolate "teasecake" (Cheesecake made of tofu).

James: Lentil Soup with bread and carrot/miso spread, Spicy Tempeh sandwich with sweet potato fries, and he shared my teasecake.

I also had TWO glasses of wine in a row for the first time in almost a year!! I just wish I'd dranken them faster so I would have gotten even more tipsy, hahahaha.

I feel like the names of the food does not do it justice. The beet raviolis especially were TO. DIE. FOR. They were handmade from pasta made from scratch and sweetened with beet juice (so they were pink, how romantic, LOL), and then the stuffing was tofu in a ricotta style with fresh basil. And there was some sauce, probably also made from beets--the flavors were just ridiculous. And the teasecake, too. When you think of a cheesecake made out of tofu you are not picturing the delicacy and deliciousness of this cake. It was almost the consistency/flavor of chocolate mousse, with a graham cracker crust . . . it was SO good.

So we left home around 7, got seated around 8, left around 9:45, and got home about 10:30 and thanked my sister and sent her on her way. James was asleep in his swing, so we left him there while we finished up our date upstairs. (Teehee)

As I had mentioned before, it was our first time "together" since James was born, and it was honestly fine! Even fun! I'm really glad I waited as long as I did, though, because I was definitely still nervous when THE moment came, hehe. It definitely felt different but it didn't hurt, so it was a relief to face my nervousness and "take the plunge", so to speak. ;-)

And then we retrieved James from downstairs, put him in his co-sleeper and cuddled up and fell asleep! So all-in-all, a great Valentine's day! :-)

Amy Says . . . More Vegan Foods

My friend Amy showed me a great link for finding vegan and dairy free foods:

Accidentally Vegan

This is basically a much better version of what I was trying to do here!

THANKS AMY!

Common Foods that are Dairy-Free

Here's a bunch of stuff that someone avoiding dairy could eat--all these things are also vegan or can be made vegan. Things that are also gluten-free will be marked (GF). See alternate sources for dairy here.

For breakfast:
Oatmeal (not instant)--made with vegan "milk" and "butter"
Cheerios
Raisin Bran
Rice Crispies (GF)
Corn Flakes (GF)
Frosted Flakes (GF)
Crispix (GF)
Chex (GF)
Kix (GF)
(there are a lot of other vegan cereals as well)
Fruit, obviously
Applesauce
Toast with vegan butter, jam or jelly (check bread label but many are vegan/dairy free)
Bagels with vegan cream cheese or butter
Stirfried Potato (hash browns)

Lunch:
Salad with vinaigrette(GF)--add beans, nuts, seeds, and a variety of veggies for fullness and health
Sandwiches:
-peanut butter and jelly
-peanut butter and banana
-hummus, lettuce, and tomato with salad dressing or "vegenaise" veggie mayo
-meat or tofu, lettuce and tomato with salad dressing or "vegenaise" veggie mayo
-lentils with grated carrots, chopped celery, and lettuce
-tomato and spinach
Wrap: flour tortilla with veggies (tomato, lettuce, spinach, sprouts, cucumber, grated carrot) hummus, and/or deli meats

Snacks:
Potato Chips (GF)
Pretzels
Sweet and Spicy Doritos (this one specific Doritos flavor)
Corn Chips with Guacamole and/or salsa (GF)
Ritz Crackers
Saltines
Fruit (GF)
Baby Carrots with hummus (GF)
Celery with peanut butter (GF)

Dinner:
Pasta with red sauce
Lasagna
Mac and "Cheese"
Grains:
-rice (GF)
-quinoa (GF)
-millet (GF)
-barley
-oats (arguably GF)
Baked Potato (eat with vegan butter, vegan sour cream, steamed broccoli, etc)
Steamed or stirfried Veggies with vegan butter (all GF):
-broccoli
-carrots
-kale
-spinach
-asparagus
-Brussels sprouts
Tempeh (sometimes GF)
Tofu (GF)
Tacos (with meat or fried tofu, lettuce, tomato, hot sauce, beans, rice, avocado, etc) (GF)
Burritos with beans, rice, meat or tofu, spinach, tomato, other veggies
Hot dogs or tofu pups (GF without the bun)
Veggie burgers (can be dairy and gluten free, read the labels!) or meat burgers (GF without the bun)

Dessert:
Fruit (GF)
Dairy-Free Ice Cream (GF)
Pies made without butter (easy to make but hard to find in the store!)
Oreos or Newman O's
Dark Chocolate

I'm going to have to update this more, I know there are a ton of other things.

The basic point of this post is to answer the question: What is there to eat that doesn't contain dairy and/or that is vegan? And honestly it is a lot of stuff. The most common foods are already vegan, really!

Dairy Free Superlatives: Best Substitute Products

The number one thing to dairy-free eating is knowing the best substitute products, and it seems to be pretty unanimous among the dairy-free community which ones are the best. I want to go on record that the brands matter here, that is the whole point of this post. If you get a random dairy-free milk or yogurt (not the brands I recommend here) and it is horrible, realize that I am recommending these SPECIFIC brands for a reason. Try them first and then compare with other brands.

One thing to note is that soy and dairy are very similar proteins.  Many people who have issues with one will have similar issues with both.  If you are still determining you/your baby's allergens, do NOT go too heavy on the soy products because it could confuse the issue.

Also, everything listed here is also gluten free!

Best Dairy-Free Butter: Earth Balance (or Soy Garden—same thing).  Also there is a soy-free version available that's equally good.

This margarine has NO hydrogenated oils, and so does not have that weird mouth coating taste that most margarines have. This means it is healthier than most margarines. It is also less calories than butter, but does contain palm oil, which is a (more healthy) saturated fat. Therefore this butter substitute also has a rich flavor similar to normal butter.
Uses: On bread or toast, in any recipe that calls for butter, in any situation where you would use butter.
Cost: Around 3 dollars for a 15 oz tub


Best Dairy-Free Yogurt: Whole Soy and Co, Soy Yogurt

We like the vanilla best, plain is also good. I usually get it in the big containers but there are smaller ones with fruits like you would pack in a lunch. Very creamy and delicious and has the same health benefits as dairy yogurt because it has the same probiotics (acidophiles, etc). Has that tart yogurt taste.
Uses: As yogurt—NOT a sub for Greek yogurt, though. Soy yogurt has a much thinner consistency than a thick yogurt like Greek yogurt.
Cost: About 4 dollars for a 24 oz tub, 1.50-2.50 for small (6oz) flavored ones.
*soy-based, use sparingly


Best-Dairy Free Cream Cheese: Tofutti Better-than-Cream Cheese

This comes in several flavors and varieties. There is a non-hydrogenated version which I would recommend—it is harder to find but worth it in terms of health.
Uses: On bagels or crackers, in recipes that call for cream cheese
Cost: Around 3 dollars for an 8 oz tub
*soy-based, use sparingly


Best Dairy-Free Ice Cream: SoDelicious Coconut Milk Ice Cream

It is TO DIE FOR. Most people that I know agree that it is as good or better than dairy ice cream. Again, the coconut has healthy saturated fats that give it a rich and creamy taste. Comes in MANY flavors and varieties.
Uses: As ice cream—in rootbeer floats, in sundaes, in banana splits, you know.
Cost: Around 5.50 or 6 dollars for a pint—ouch! Yeah, it is expensive but totally worth it if you have an ice cream craving!


Best Dairy-Free Cheese: Vegan Gourmet Cheese Alternative

We like Monterrey Jack better than Mozzarella, and we like the Cheddar, obviously! Needs to be cooked at temps over 450 degrees (or in the microwave) to achieve melting—for some things like grilled cheese, I pre-melt it (in the microwave) before putting it on the bread or in a cheese sauce. We like to grate the entire thing when we open it, and then keep it in the freezer, and just break off some as needed.
Uses: As a MELTING cheese. On pizza, in lasagna, for grilled cheese, etc. Not really good as a cold cheese (not on crackers, sandwiches, etc). Good in hot cheese sauces for pasta or veggies.
Cost: About 3.50 for a 8 oz brick.
*contains soy, use sparingly


Best Dairy Free Cheese Topping: Nutritional Yeast

Believe it or not, nutritional yeast which is VERY high in Vitamin B 12, very low in calories, and delicious, is both dairy-free and tastes like cheese.
Uses: As parmigiana cheese—on pasta, pizza, casseroles, etc. Can also be used to flavor almost anything. Good on toast or bagels with butter, on salads, etc.
Cost: Depends on where you get it! A bit expensive but since it is used sparingly it lasts for a long time (think of it as a food supplement or spice).


Best Dairy-Free Sour Cream: Tofutti Better-than-Sour Cream

Uses: On Mexican food, on baked potatoes, in recipes that call for sour cream, and to add creaminess to just about everything: mashed potatoes, soup, cheesy pasta sauces, etc.
Cost: About 4 dollars for a 12 oz tub
*soy-based, use sparingly


Best Dairy-Free Milk*: Almond Breeze Brand Almond Milk

This is starred because there are a MILLION different milk alternatives.  Again, I would not do soy, but would try Rice, Almond, or coconut milk first.  Most people prefer one to the other, and they are very different in terms of sweetness, thickness, etc.

Uses: In recipes that call for milk, for dunking cookies, in cereal . . .. see my note about drinking milk below.
Cost: About 3 dollars for a half gallon. The cost of other brands and types of milk vary greatly.


Things there are, unfortunately, no adequate substitute for:

Cold Cheeses—you can find dairy free cheese slices, but it’s not really the same. There is no sub for a slice of cheddar cheese on a cracker, or fresh mozzarella, brie, etc. Something you have to learn to live without.

Milk for Drinking—If you are someone that straight up likes to drink milk, there is no perfect substitute. A lot of people like to drink Almond milk, but it will take an adjustment period. This is something else you just have to accept that it’s not going to be the same and see if there are things that you can like about your alternative milk of choice. Most people I know who liked drinking milk and then switched to a dairy-free milk did NOT like it at first (including myself). I just kept forcing myself to drink it and I hated it less and less and then I actually started to like it, and then I REALLY started to like it. Give yourself time on this.

I think that’s it, really! Most things are easy to substitute and live without once you know what to replace them with!

Doubting Thomas'

So it's pretty funny to me how many people have come out of the woodwork since we gave birth who are totally surprised that he was so big and healthy. Apparently, we had plenty of friends and family members who totally doubted that I could grow a healthy baby as a vegan.

I guess I get the impression that they expected him to be really tiny, or sick, or something . . . YES PEOPLE, a vegan diet CAN contain all the nutrients you need to be completely healthy. LOL! You'd think that the fact that James has been vegan for 12 years and I have been vegan for six years would be enough to convince people that you can indeed sustain life on a vegan diet.

Buuut, apparently the true test is growing a baby, and the fact that we had an 8 lb, 7 oz, long, healthy baby means that we've passed. So if you were wondering, it is NOW official, a vegan diet is healthy. Mine and James' stellar bloodwork and slim figures weren't real evidence, but a healthy James David is. ;-)

P.S. on Breastfeeding Products

I meant to say in my earlier post about breastfeeding that there is something else that has been saving me--I literally could not imagine how bad the nipple pain would be if it weren't for these: Lilypadz.

They are silicone pads that stick to your boobs. They not only keep them from leaking, but they also protect them and keep them from drying out. It is awesome because I can wear them at night without a shirt, and I can wear them under clothes without a bra. I literally cannot imagine any fabric rubbing against my nipples right now. I don't know how people live without these Lilypadz.

One last thing that has been awesome is this nipple butter. My friend Ella recommended it to me as an alternative to Lanolin, since Lanolin is sourced from sheep oils, and we're vegan. I'm sure Lanolin works great, too, but it was really nice to have a vegan alternative, and the nipple butter has been a lifesaver, too.

Labor Lasagna needs it's own post

So I'm on my second bowl of labor lasagna today. Honestly not because I am horribly uncomfortable and need to be in labor immediately, but because IT IS SO GOOD.

I made it with the intention to make it super spicy, but it turned out to be just a normal amount of spicy, which I ended up being grateful for, in the end.

Anyway, I guess I'll write up a ghetto recipe about it, since it is amazing.

First, prepare the ingredients:

-Prepare the sauce. I use my own homemade sauce but you can also just get any jarred sauce of your preference. You would need about 2 quarts (jars) of it though. Heat it up in a saucepan and set aside.
-Prepare the peppers--I used 2/3's of four different kinds of hot pepper cut up into small pieces. You gotta go with the fresh pepper, just using "pepper" or bell peppers is not going to cut it.
After cutting up the peppers, I also cut up a clove of garlic, and put the peppers and garlic in a small amount of sauce (one cup) to heat up and stew.
After a few minutes, turn off the heat and set the sauce aside.
-Prepare the eggplant--slice the eggplant in thin (1/4-1/8 inch) slices. Dip each slice in salt on both sides, and stack the slices up on a plate. Leave them for 15 minutes or longer while you do other things.
Then, when you are ready to use them, wash the slices off and pat them dry with a paper towel or cloth towel. You may notice (hopefully) that they have spewed forth tons of brown liquid--supposedly this is all the bitterness coming out of them. Once they are dried, set them aside for layering.
-Prepare the "protein"--I used tofu but you could also used ground meat or tempeh:
I crumbled up the tofu and fried it in the wok in olive oil with salt for a LONG time, until the water was all evaporated and the tofu was getting nice and browned.
Then I added about 1/3 of the cut up hot peppers and let them cook with the tofu for a few more minutes, as it got even more brown, fried, and yummy. Finally, take out of the wok and set aside for layering.
-Prepare the other veggies. Honestly this could be anything, because the important things are the peppers and eggplant. I used one onion, one red bell pepper, and a grated carrot. Grate or cut into small pieces all of the other veggies you want to use and set aside in individual containers for layering.
-Prepare the cheese. I used vegan cheese (I highly recommend that brand), a mixture of cheddar and mozzarella flavors. If you are not vegan, use regular cheddar or mozzerella ;-). Anyway, grate the cheese up and put it aside.
-Finally, make sure you have a pound of lasagna noodles on hand. I used rice noodles because I'm gluten free and it worked out great, I didn't notice the difference with all the other flavors.

Now you are ready to make the lasagna!

Put a layer of sauce in the bottom of a casserole dish.
Then a layer of lasagna noodles.
Then one or more of the ingredients.
Repeat over and over until you are done, making sure to alternate the noodles in each layer in different directions.
Also make sure to use plenty of sauce--the noodles will soak it right up. After each layer of ingredients put a good layer of sauce before putting in your next layer of noodles.

In terms of what I did for layers: I think I put the carrot and onion in one layer, the tofu in one layer, the peppery sauce and cheese in one layer, the eggplant in one layer, the red peppers in one layer. (Did I forget anyone?)

Finally top the lasagna with a layer of cheese (and Parmesan cheese if you are not vegan), and bake at 400 degrees for a half hour to forty minutes. If you use the vegan cheese, you'll need to crank it up to 475 for the last 10 minutes because the cheese needs to be at a high temperature to melt.

Take it out of the oven, let it cool for at least 10 mins, and then enjoy with some of the sauce that you have leftover from putting it together. If you are lucky, it might look like this at the end:



I can't really get over how good it is, but lasagna IS my favorite food and I probably haven't had it in almost a year, so that might be part of it. I plan on eating it non-stop until it is gone, regardless of the status of labor or baby.

Much Promised Vegan Mac and Cheese Recipe

Alright, so I have been vegan and missing Mac and Cheese for like . . . 6 years now. During this time I often tried Mac and Cheese recipes and I never liked them. They typically used like 1/4 or 1/2 cup of nutritional yeast . . . and don't get me wrong, I love nutritional yeast, but it just didn't cut it for me as a main ingredient of a cheesy dish.

So here we go! I have promised this to so many people recently and failed to ever write it down. Most of the amounts are pretty variable so just experiment and see what you like.

First prepare your pasta according to the package directions. I like to use the traditional "macaroni" shaped pasta because I find with vegan cooking, perception affects taste, so the closer you can stick to your mental schema of "Mac and Cheese", the more it will taste like Mac and Cheese.

Next prepare the cheese sauce.

Heat a small pot over medium/high heat. Melt in Earth Balance Non-Hydrogenated Vegan Margarine. NO, ANOTHER MARGARINE WILL NOT DO. This is the best! (Well, you could also use Soy Garden but it's the same thing under different packaging). But no other kinds. How much Earth Balance? Wellllll, for a whole pound of pasta I'm thinking at least 1/2 cup of Earth Balance. But pretty much use what you want and it'll be fine.

So yes, melt 1/2 cup of Earth Balance per pound of pasta into your sauce pan.

Next, add about 1/2 a tub (or more) of Tofutti "Better than Cream Cheese", and 1/2 tub (or more) of Tofutti "Better than Sour Cream".

Whisk this thickening mixture together and then add some oat/almond/soy/whatever vegan milk to it. Like, not that much, a few splashes. Maybe 1/4 cup or so.

When this is hot and bubbling, add some grated "cheddar flavor", Vegan Gourmet Cheese Alternative. Again, this "cheese" can't really be substituted with anything else I have ever found.

**A note on dealing with the cheese substitute: Generally what we do is grate the entire block of "cheese" the first time we use it, and then freeze whatever we don't use on the first time through. Then you have it in your freezer, pre-grated and ready to go, whenever you need to use it for anything. Just an idea!**

So add maybe 1/2 cup of grated cheddar "cheese" to your bubbling sauce, and whisk until it is all melted. Then turn the heat down to low (or off) and add the final flavor/color enhancers. I generally add:

-A couple of squirts of ketchup (1/2 tablespoon or so?). I honestly haven't decided if this is purely to make the cheese sauce more "orange" or if I like the added flavor, but I do it every time now.
-A few sprinkles of corn starch (maybe 1 tablespoon?)--helps to thicken the sauce a bit more.
-Some nutritional yeast. Didn't mean to hate on it before--I love it. But more like 1/2 tablespoon of it. Not 1/2 cup.
-Some extra salt
-(optionally) some hot sauce--like only a little bit--I like the Texas Pete's or the Sriracha Sauce (the kind you find in those authentic awesome "these people are FROM China/Taiwan/Thailand/etc" sort of restaurants). Anyway, I do tend to add a squirt or so of hot sauce--it doesn't really make it hot--more for flavor (and again, color).


Finally, squirt some Bragg's Liquid Amino's (totally worth buying but if you don't have it, you can use soy sauce) over your pasta, stir, and then pour your cheese sauce over your pasta and stir, and you are ready to go!!

We really like eating this Mac and Cheese with a green side like steamed kale, spinach, broccoli, etc. These vegan substitute things can be a bit intense on their own, so having that green side right there just makes it all taste even better!



So there, finally, the much enhanced vegan Mac and Cheese recipe! If anyone tries it, let me know if you approve! Hehe.

Banana Split

Yum Yum!


So Delicious Coconut Milk Ice Cream (Chocolate, Vanilla, and Chocolate Almond)
Banana
Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Sauce (Hershey's Chocolate Syrup, Peanut Butter, Earth Balance--warmed up in the microwave and whipped together)
And topped with Soy Whipped Cream

Yay for vegan banana splits! :-D

Second Bradley Class

Yesterday was our second Bradley class! The topic this time was nutrition. James was nervous about letting it out of the bag that we are vegan, so we agreed not to say anything about it if we could avoid it.

However, when we played a version of the newlywed game where the husbands had to list their wives favorite foods in different categories--including dairy foods, egg foods, protein foods, etc, I decided there wasn't really much getting around it.

"Well, it might be hard for him to do my favorite egg foods," I explained. "We're actually vegan. So we don't eat dairy, or eggs, or meat."

Our Bradley instructor's eyes bulged at this news.

The approach to diet in Bradley classes is based on the Brewer diet. You'll notice that the Brewer Diet includes four dairy choices and two eggs every day, and liver once a week. Additionally, you should aim to get 80-100 grams of protein daily.

Our instructor was nice about it, said that she knew there were lots of substitutes for milk and lots of non-meat protein sources. "But eggs are SO important to your nutrition! I'll have to ask my fellow Bradley instructors what to eat instead . . . but wow, how will you get 80 grams of protein!"

James and I reassured her that we thought we probably got plenty of protein and were generally pretty nutritionally savvy. "We have lots of friends who are very knowledgeable about nutrition," I explained. "So we're pretty confident in our health."

And we are. Rather than feeling nervous or insecure about our diet choices, we more felt sorry for her that she was so concerned about us. On the ride home we reflected that it must be difficult for vegans that don't have the educational and family and friend support that we have. People are so misinformed about nutrition that unless you surround yourself with the right people and information, I think it would be quite easy, as a vegan, to constantly be questioned by others, and therefore, questioning yourself, about whether this is *really* a healthy diet.

"I was much less confident about it before we started dating," James said to me as we discussed.
I snorted. "Yeah, well, your vegan diet at that time consisted of potato chips, chocolate soymilk, and bread and hummus. You shouldn't have felt very confident!"
"Oh right."

I also couldn't help to notice, as we watched a video presentation by Dr. Brewer, that he was significantly overweight. Unfortunately, it makes it hard to take him very seriously.

But, it is hard to deny the research--0 cases of toxemia out of 7000 people who followed the Brewer diet. And they say that they don't know what causes it. Wow. More and more it is obvious to me that health comes down to diet. I can't help feeling sorry for the people I see in the store, overweight, diabetic, wheezing, suffering . . . I wish they could KNOW, deep inside, what I know now about the way to find health.

Anyway, the rest of the class was quite fun--we bonded more with our fellow classmates, talked about breastfeeding, one of my favorite subjects, practiced the pregnancy exercises we learned last time, and practiced relaxing. Hopefully by the time this baby decides to be born, James and I will feel quite ready to bring him into this world. :-)

Dinner

So, last night we had dinner with the in-laws and also brother-in-law and sister-in-law. (I'm going to be annoying and not use their names for this whole post because we got into this huge discussion/argument about facebook, privacy, etc, and I just feel like in the wake of that, I should not use any of their names. Even though BIL is a writer, goddamnit, he should stop censoring me! Okay, sorry, pregnant lady hormones. Anyway...)

My MIL has been vegan and gluten-free (for the most part) for several months now, and has found that this diet very effectively manages her blood sugar. She has even been able to stop taking meds, has lost a bunch of weight, etc.

Now (meat and gluten eating) BIL and SIL are staying with them for a few weeks before they head off to Russia (SIL's homeland) for the summer. So the last few times we ate over there, MIL and SIL made dishes--which were really good but I could tell they are out of their element.

So we are scheduled to go over their house for a co-birthday dinner (MIL's is in a few days and SIL's is in a few weeks, but they leave for Russia on Monday), so I offered to make the whole dinner--both because it was their birthdays and because they both cooked the last few times we ate together and I made nothing.

Now, I love cooking! But my stupor that I mentioned in my last post seemed to stretch on and on into "I am fighting off a virus" sort of tired/nausea/phelgmy throat . . . so on Thursday, in the wake of a huge headache, I made James come with me to the co-op to get all the things I would need to cook, and on Friday I found myself laying on my couch UNABLE to motivate myself.

Finally I managed to clean up my kitchen, and I brought the cutting board and veggies into the living room so I could sit on my couch, cut up veggies, and watch X-Files reruns all at the same time. I figured the X-Files would distract me from my stupor. I started this cutting at 2:30, and I wanted to leave for MIL's house by 4:30, get there at five, and finish the cooking there.

Around 4, I had almost finished the first (main) dish--Moroccan Tagine. It is a red lentil and spring vegetables stew. I have made it before so I knew it was DELICIOUS. But there are a TON of veggies in it, and despite nearly an hour of dedicated cutting, and then another hour of cooking while cutting, I was done with this one dish, and had started the rice (a mix of brown and wild) but had like three more to go.

Finally I broke down and called James. The original plan was for me to show up at MIL's house with the food--some cooked, some to cook at her house, and he would meet us. Around 4, I realized it was not going to happen, hence the phone call.

James: "Hi Honey! How is everything going?"
Me: "Well, I finished the Tagine."
James: "Well, that's good!"
Me: "Yeah but we still don't have cupcake papers."
James: "Oh damn, well, do you want me to get some?"
Me: "Yeah actually, that's why I was calling. I don't think I'm going to be able to get all this food to your Mom's house by myself. I just started the rice and it's going to take an hour to cook."
James: "Oh."
Me: "Can you come home and help me?"
James: "Um, yeah okay let me just finish up here."

We hang up, and I reaffirm my love for my husband, and I start on this sauce. This is a made-up recipe by me that is supposed to go over steamed bok choy. As part of my previous cutting frenzy, I cut up a TON of shiitake mushrooms (this was what took the longest).

So then I simmered ginger in olive oil for a minute, then added the mushrooms, which immediately soaked up all the olive oil. So I added more, and vegan butter (earth balance) and eventually got them stirfrying as well. Then I added cornstarch to create a gluten-free version of roue, then added homemade soup stock. While that simmered/thickened, I food-processed a can of black beans into paste, and added to the sauce. And that was the shiitake mushroom/black bean sauce.

At this point I searched for the tofu that I planned to baste with the sauce, to go with the bok choy, only to find that we ate it already. :-/ Oh well.

Then James gets home. Yay!! He makes gluten-free cupcakes. From a mix. I'm not a big fan of mixes but I am new to the gluten-free baking world and I'm not quite clear on the chemistry of different flours and ingredients yet.

So I'm onto making the last dish. This one is "Braised 3-Seed Cauliflower".

As an aside, when I speak of cooking, you can usually tell whether it is a real recipe or an "Adrienne Recipe" by the name. Compare "Moroccan Tagine" and "Braised 3-Seed Cauliflower" with "Shiitake Mushroom/Black Bean Sauce". If I was naming the other recipes, the Tagine would be called: Red Lentil and Veggie Stew; and the Braised Cauliflower would be called: Cauliflower and Tomato Stirfry.

Anyway, back to the recipe. Both of these actual recipes are from this book: Vegan with a Vengence. It, along with it's fellows: Veganomican, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and others, are hands down the BEST vegan cookbooks anywhere, any time.

So I made the cauliflower and tomato, and it was ready just as the cupcakes came out the oven. But, if you recall before I got distracted by cooking, I'm still in a stupor. I am sitting on a stool in the kitchen--unshowered, wearing dirty sweat-pants and a glazed expression. I pick out suitable transport dishes for the food, go upstairs, change, and report back down as James is loading all the food into bags and we are off to the inlaws.

We eat pretty much right away (well, after I steam the bok choy--that was the last thing to be done), and everyone is in agreement that all the food is incredible. People even like the recipe I made up myself (which honestly, I wasn't crazy about)--but the cauliflower is BANGING and so is the Tagine, of course.

Then we open presents and cards, eat cake (MIL also bought an amazing gluten-free vegan cake from this specialty store. At first I was mad that she was buying her own cake but OMG it was incredible), and argue about Facebook.

See my next post for the conclusion of this exciting tale.

Militant Vegans

James and I are both vegan, which you probably know if you are reading this blog. For those people who have not known many vegans, or I am the "main vegan" that you know, you may not be aware that there is a social group which I have always referred to as "militant vegans".

A "militant vegan" attempts to spread the vegan lifestyle, often through guilt, disgusting pictures, and fear-mongering. "Militant vegans" often tend to be pretty judgmental of non-vegans, have a more closed social group of friends, etc.

James and I, and most of our vegan friends, are NOT militant vegans. We love all--animals, people; omnis, veggies, vegans, and carnis alike. We have found that while the "militant" approach tends to turn people off and ostracize them from the cause, that a non-judgmental and open approach tends to rally them to support us and explore their own interest in veggie eating.

I came across this article which interviewed an ex-"militant vegan", and I was disappointed--not because she went back to eating meat, but because the impression was given that there was no other kind of vegan besides the "militants".

Therefore, I was inspired to comment, and what I wrote follows here:

"I am a strict vegan and have been for about five years--my husband is also a strict vegan and has been for about 12 years.

I have also noticed and resent the "militant" stance of a lot of people in the vegan community. When I tell people I am vegan, I usually add: "But I'm not militant--you know, I support people eating what they want."

I think vegans work against their own cause so much with being judgmental and exclusive. My husband and I have rallied our families to our cause by simply being strict vegans--we talk about the benefits we see but we know it's not the only way for everyone.

It's just a fact that when you have an open disagreement with someone, they will fight back against you. If you start out "not fighting", and "not judging", your own choices will be more likely to be openly viewed, understood, and not judged as well.

I just wanted to pop in as someone who has had vegan friends go back to being vegetarian or meat-eating, and when asked the question: "I am craving eggs, what should I do?", I have always said: "Do what feels right to you--listen to your body," and often even, "well, try eating an egg and see how you feel." In my experience, some people will devour it whole-heartedly (maybe those that should go back to lacto-ovo), some people will take one or two bites and feel grossed out (maybe those that should stay vegan), and some will eat the whole thing but then feel crappy afterward (they might have some thinking to do). Regardless, I think they have learned something by such an "experiment". I am still close friends with former vegans and have no issues with it.

For the record, I also don't crave sugar. At least, not unless I am eating it often. The less I eat, the less I want to eat, and I think that is probably true for people of any diet choice.

I actually think "my type of vegan" IS a minority, but we do exist. Furthermore, I think we go farther toward furthering the cause of veganism than the "militants". People don't want to fight and be judged, they want love and support. If they get it from you, they will be more likely to listen and take your opinions seriously. This is a lesson that spreads beyond diet."

OMG

I just made this "Egg McMuffin with Cheese", which is in quotes because every aspect of it was fake, considering it was vegan and gluten-free.

The egg was made of tofu baked (fried) with a baste of coconut oil, gluten-free soy sauce, maple syrup, salt, hot sauce (just a little), and nutritional yeast.

The "muffin" was these awesome (gluten free, vegan) "English Muffins" made by Ener-G.

The "cheese" was fake vegan cheese--but this kind that actually melts.

So after I baked (fried) the tofu in the oven for like an hour, flipping it every 15 mins or so and applying more baste, I eventually took slices of fresh tomato and laid them over the slices of tofu and baked it for like 5-10 more mins.

Meanwhile, I toasted the "muffin", and then sprinkled it with the vegan cheese, and then also put it in the oven for the cheese to melt.

And then I just put the tofu/tomato on the cheesy muffin, sprinkled a little more nutritional yeast, and walah, a vegan Egg-McMuffin.

OMG it was SO SO SO good. I can't even express HOW GOOD it was. If I had another English Muffin-y thing I would have eaten another one, and normally I try not to have too much of that fake gluten-free bread stuff.

I just want to make sure any readers understand that this is NOT a healthy recipe. Coconut oil is full of saturated fats--and while in its raw, uncooked form, it does have some benefits (raising good cholesterol which then fights bad cholesterol), once you heat it, these benefits are lost.

And since pretty much every other ingredient (besides the tomato) was 100% fake and super processed, there is ZERO argument for this being a healthy recipe. Trust me, it doesn't matter that it is vegan and gluten free. I think health wise, it is probably on the same level as a sausage egg mcmuffin (from McDonalds). I wouldn't even compare it to a regular egg-and-cheese muffin because I'm pretty sure those are healthier.

But I can say with pretty much complete abandon: I DON'T CARE. It was DELICIOUS, and I will definitely be making this recipe again.

We'll see what "after effects" I have to endure from eating all this fat and fake $hit, though . . . but oh man was it good.