The Final Stretch

My last week of veganism was definitely the hardest. It was my spring break and my softball team traveled to Orlando, Florida for a softball tournament, but mostly just for team bonding in Disney World. Though it was an amazing trip, Disney unfortunately doesn't cater to vegans, so to my dismay, my final week was spent starving and living off of dried fruit and trail mix. I'm not saying that if you are vegan then you should stay away from Disney. I'm sure there are plenty of restaurants with many vegan options, but because I was with a large group and couldn't venture off in search of food to fit my diet, I was stuck with very few choices. I was in Florida from Monday to Friday, and so that meant I only had one more day as a vegan at home. Of course I enjoyed it eating guacamole and Whole Foods vegan cookies, but honestly I was counting down the hours until Easter Sunday. I woke up that morning to Andrew walking into my house with a huge bag from Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen. He bought six biscuits and we happily sat enjoying our first non vegan meal. I loved being vegan, and I can truly say that up until Disney, this vegan challenge wasn't that difficult for me, but taking that first bite of my egg and cheese biscuit made me realize just how good some non vegan foods are. That morning I enjoyed every single bite of both that biscuit and a cinnamon roll biscuit. Following the meal, I had to head off to work but was somewhat excited because for the first time in forty some days I would actually be able to eat the bakery goods while working. While there, I still made my normal soy latte because though I could have used regular milk, soy lattes will always be my favorite. This challenge was my best Lent yet. Becoming a vegan has become part of my life and though I enjoyed all the non vegan foods that I ate yesterday, I will probably still continue to choose many vegan options and take this diet into consideration well into the future.

Vegan at heart,
Maggie

Phood in Philadelphia

This past week for part of my spring break, I traveled to Philadelphia with my mom and brother. I did not expect this city to cater well to vegans being as their most famous food is cheesesteak. Watching my brother eat three cheesesteaks in three days made me really want to try one. I was able to find a place that served a meatless steak on the last day. I wasn't able to have cheese on mine and I think that might be why I did not enjoy it very much. Hopefully, I can go back to Philadelphia and try a real one.  

One night, we went to a restaurant near where we stayed called The Latest Dish. I had read reviews about this place and many people commented on their vegan burger. I decided to order it and I was very pleased. Instead of trying to mimic the flavor of meat, it went for its own taste of black beans mostly.

Philadelphia, being the fifth largest city in the United States, had many different options for all different kinds of people. There were cheese steak places on every corner but there were also restaurants with vegan options too if you looked close enough. I was also able to use online reviews to my advantage to see if restaurants were vegan friendly before going to them. I enjoyed my trip to Philadelphia and the food did not take away from this fun experience. 

Almost Easter,
Andrew Jessup

Philadelphia

Today I went to The Morning Glory diner in Philadelphia. The menu did not have many vegan options but they did offer a tofu scrambler which is like scrambled eggs but with tofu. It was very good but the aroma from the other non-vegan dishes at my table, made me miss eggs and bacon. I do not usually eat tofu but if I could prepare it like this I would eat it more often for sure. Eating out often in another city has been difficult but the challenge has been pretty fun.

From Philly with love,
Andrew Jessup

Dessert Guacamole

As mentioned previously, my sister, Hayley, is currently following a strict paleo diet, and so many of our conversations revolve around the weird foods we eat. We were both in the mood for something sweet tonight, and since both our diets limit many dessert foods, we decided to make something. We decided on sweet potato biscuits. I work at Cafe Carolina and the biscuits there are Hayley's favorite, so we attempted to recreate them. Here is a picture:

This recipe wasn't originally vegan or paleo, but we figured we could alter the ingredients to make them fit the requirements. Let's just say that probably wasn't the best idea. Instead of flour we figured we could use almond or coconut flour, but since we didn't have any at my house, we used ground flaxseed (biggest mistake). We then substituted hazelnut milk for regular milk, vegan butter for regular butter, and instead of regular sugar (this is when we split the recipe in two, we used vegan sugar for mine, and honey for Hayley's). Though Hayley thought they weren't that bad, I couldn't even swallow mine. The taste and smell was unbearable for me, and I can honestly say that I'm not exaggerating. Flaxseed was definitely not a good idea; I think almond flour would have made them a lot better. I would be interested to alter the recipe and try again later, but unfortunately these biscuits were a complete fail.

On a higher note, while these biscuits were baking, we made a vegan/paleo chocolate mousse and dipped mango into it.

Now, this recipe calls for an open mind. It is simply one avocado mashed up, with 2 Tbsp. dark cocoa, 2 Tbsp. light brown sugar, and a tsp. of hazelnut milk. When mixed really well, it looks and tastes exactly like a chocolate mousse. I absolutely loved it! Even people who don't necessarily enjoy avocados will like this because the cocoa overpowers the whole dish. Most all fruit will taste good with this (like strawberries and bananas), but I recommend mango. This is definitely going to become a regular dessert at my house.

What a miraculous discovery,
Maggie

Curryblossom

Tonight Eleanor and I went to Curryblossom Cafe. I had never been before, or even heard of it, but Eleanor was excited to bring me because she noticed how many vegan options were offered.  Indian food is one of my favorites, so it was tough to make a decision, especially because usually the vegan dishes are limited to only one or two. To my delight there were so many various dishes to choose from. Eventually I decided on the Chole, which is a chickpea curry served over basmati rice. I also got uttapam bread, which isn't normally vegan, but on request could be made so. This bread was delicious! It was like a pancake with onions and cilantro mixed into the batter. There were also sauces on the side which were extremely interesting and different. I have no idea the ingredients in them, but two out of the four were really good with the bread. I would be interested in learning how to make this pancake because it doesn't seem too complex to make, and even if it is, I wouldn't mind because it was that good. The chole was spicy but also very tasty. Overall, this was a very successful dining experience. I definitely want to go back soon with Andrew because I'm sure he'll enjoy all of the vegan options just as much as I did.

 -Maggie

A House Divided

There are so many different ways of eating, and learning about all of them and how they relate interests me greatly. This past week my family and I have been relating my vegan diet to my sister's new paleolithic diet. The two are extremely different considering the majority of the foods she consumes are meats and animal based products such as eggs, while mine is strictly animal free. The paleo diet only allows the consumption of pre-agricultural foods, therefore, everything must be gluten free and dairy free. Hayley can only eat meat, eggs, fruits, vegetables, and unsalted nuts (peanuts are excluded from the nut group since they are considered legumes, which are agriculturally grown). Soy is also not allowed. I get all of my protein as a vegan through peanut butter, beans, and soy, and all of those foods are ruled out as a paleo. Hayley's way of eating now is rubbing off on my brother (unfortunately eating massive amounts of meat appeals to him more than my vegan way of living off plants), and so recently I've been trying some of his foods. Since dairy and soy are off limits, I've begun to try almond milk. Though it is not my favorite, it's interesting to know about all the various dairy alternatives. On one vegan website that I read, oat milk is extremely popular and preferred over all the other milk alternatives. I am interested to see how that compares to soy and almond milk. Anyway, when I got home tonight my sister and brother were excited to show me a paleo dessert that they created. They were even more excited because it was also vegan, so I was able to try it.

These paleo/vegan ball things are chunks of banana, covered in almond butter, and rolled in chopped walnuts, golden raisins, and regular raisins. Then, they are refrigerated until they aren't as gooey.
For the past few days I've been trying out various almond butters and cashew butters with my brother, and though I still love just plain peanut butter, these almond butter banana balls are really good. I recommend trying them out!



My parents must think their kids are crazy,
Maggie