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

Muffin Success!

Yesterday morning I decided to make blueberry muffins. I had found what seemed to be a good recipe and was excited to try them out. Though my previous baking attempts were somewhat of fails, I was hoping for this time to be better, and thankfully it was. I made twelve, and they are already gone. Many friends got to try them and all seemed to enjoy them (or at least pretended to), so I was happy with the outcome. Here is a picture of how they turned out:

Recipe:
-3/4 c. whole wheat flour, 3/4 c. unbleached white
-3/4 c. granulated sugar
-1/2 tsp. sea salt
-2 tsp. baking powder
-1/3 c. vegetable oil or applesauce (I used vegetable oil)
-1 Flax Egg**
-1/3 c. soy milk (plus OJ for extra liquid)
-1 c. blueberries

Crumb Topping:
-1/4 c. sugar
-1/8 c. whole wheat flour
-1 Tbsp. vegan butter (I use Earth Balance)
-3/4 tsp. cinnamon

**Flax Eggs: Blend 1/3 c. ground flaxseeds with 1 c. water. The gooey mixture is equivalent to 6 eggs. 1 egg (required for this recipe) is about 3 Tbsp. of the mixture. Refrigerate the extra.

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder. In a separate measuring cup pour vegetable oil, flaxseed egg, and milk. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix well. If batter is thick, add OJ or more soy milk until it becomes pourable, but not too runny. Fold in berries. Grease muffin pan or use paper liners and distribute batter evenly. For crumb topping, mix all ingredients, and get out all butter lumps, then evenly distribute over batter. Bake 15-20 minutes.
(Recipe from vegancoach.com)

These are definitely worth trying, and I hope you enjoy!
Maggie

Blueberry Muffins

Today, I was lucky enough to be able to enjoy two blueberry muffins. While similar, both muffins had distinct characteristics which separated them. I ate the first blueberry muffin of the day at lunch and the second one after dinner.

The first blueberry muffin I ate was made by Maggie earlier in the day. She had woken up early that morning (though not as early as she would have liked, she noted) to make these muffins. She said she enjoyed baking them and hopefully she will share some pictures of the process on her next post. But I have to say the pleasure was all mine. I was extremely impressed (not to imply that I had been expecting mediocrity) by the taste and the texture. The muffin was soft and moist but stayed together throughout the eating process. The speed at which I ate the muffin and my unwillingness to share with anyone is a testament to the quality of this blueberry muffin.

The second muffin was purchased by my mother at Whole Foods. I often hear of Whole Food's great selection of vegan baked goods but this was my first personal encounter. This version of the vegan blueberry muffin was larger and more dense than Maggie's version. The taste was not as sweet and the blueberries were more of the focus in this one. I was not happy at the amount of muffin that stuck to the wrapper after I had unwrapped it. But I did enjoy this hearty muffin.

I enjoyed eating both muffins and would happily eat both again. I believe that the Whole Food's version is better suited as a breakfast food and Maggie's version is more of a dessert food. The density and starchy flavor of the Whole Food's version make this more of a meal item. The rich sweet flavor of Maggie's version makes me think of this as more of a dessert item because I think I would feel bad eating this every day because of how good its taste. I would say that Maggie's version of a vegan blueberry muffin was the winner because of its overall superior eating experience.

Andrew Jessup

B12 Conscious

All week I've had vitamin B12 on my mind. On Wednesday, I took a mental health morning and happily got in some much needed sleep. I woke up to a text from one of my sister's friend, explaining all the reasons why I should take vitamin B12. She went on to tell me how without the consumption of any animal products our bodies aren't able to get enough of it. B12 is needed for blood formation, and a lack of it in the body can lead to anemia and decreased immune responses. I thought this text was especially ironic considering I had taken the morning off due to fatigue.  The person who sent me this even offered to buy me the vitamin herself, just so I would take it. Due to her major concern, I did some research on it and it is true that vegetarians, especially vegans have a hard time getting this vitamin. The reason is because B12 comes from the soil. When animals eat grass or or other plants directly from the soil, the humans who eat those animals or products from them, are also getting the vitamin. Even our ancestors who lived off of plant-based diets, took their food directly from the ground and probably didn't wash it as thoroughly as we do today, so they probably still ate a good amount of soil and directly took in this vitamin. Many vegan websites recommend taking vitamin B12 supplements. Other ways to get this vitamin is in B12 fortified foods and drinks such as soy milk, and also in nutritional yeast.
After all this research I've been blaming much of my tiredness and emotional reactions to this lack of B12, and in reality, yes, a B12 deficiency can be harmful, but much of life is mental. I went on a run yesterday and though I didn't go as far as some of my other runs, I was just as tired if not more, and the first thing that I did was blame myself for not getting enough of this vitamin. I don't want to start blaming my weaknesses on a lack of this vitamin. It is very important though so I'm probably going to start getting B12 fortified soy milk, but as of right now, I'm still deciding on whether I should take the supplement. I'm glad my sister's friend made me aware of this even though it's somewhat getting to my head. I don't want to be a naive vegan, actually have something go wrong, or become unhealthy from this way of eating, so I'm glad to now know about B12.

Learning something new everyday,
Maggie

Chow Down

In my endless pursuit of knowledge, I went to the local library to try and find some interesting books about the vegan lifestyle or on nutrition in general. While searching the catalogue of the library, I discovered that the most popular books about nutrition and veganism were mostly checked out. This took me by surprise, but I've come to conclude that this must be a good thing as it shows that people are interested in this subject and therefore their health. I was able to find one book that was available titled, “Vegan Freak: Being Vegan in a Non-Vegan World.” A few chapters into this book, I have not found it as interesting as “Skinny Bitch” was, but I think I will continue to read it.

After looking through the books at the library, I went to the movie section. I was hoping to find any kind of movie that I hadn't seen yet, but I happened across a documentary called “Chow Down.” I just finished this movie, literally minutes ago, and I felt compelled to write about it. Besides the typical health film stuff about the government and statistics, what made this movie especially interesting to me was how it went inside the lives of people who were dealing with chronic diseases. These people were going to attempt to reverse the effects of their illnesses by changing their nutritional habits. The movie has many interviews with doctors from around the country who all mainly agree that: “The majority of common chronic killing diseases are food-borne illnesses which need never occur.” (-Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr. M.D.). The concept of food and poor nutrition being the source of so many deaths in this country to me was amazing. The likelihood of heart disease, the number one killer, and cancer, the number two killer of people in America, can be drastically reduced by proper nutrition.

Anyone who is not fully convinced of the importance of nutrition or anyone who needs motivation to start eating properly should, without a doubt, watch this documentary.

Eat like your life depends on it,

Andrew Jessup

Day 23

We're already over half way through our vegan challenge and I'm excited to say that I've really been enjoying my vegan diet. I've gotten to the point where it's not hard at all and becoming more natural everyday. Though occasionally I miss many of the desserts and sweet foods that I love, I've learned that eating fruit is a good cure to my sugary, non vegan cravings. One of my favorite desserts is a bowl of strawberries, blueberries, and bananas. Another food that is sweet and vegan are graham crackers. Those seem to make do when fruit just doesn't cut it. I hate to say it, but I've been becoming a little lazy with experimenting with different vegan foods. I pretty much stick to the same handful of safe foods around my house (peanut butter being a staple ingredient to my diet), but earlier this week I went to Whole Foods for lunch with a friend and was pleasantly surprised with all of the vegan options. I knew that Whole Foods catered much of their food to vegetarians, but to my convenience, many of their vegetarian options are also vegan. It helps that all of their hot/cold food dishes include a list of ingredients for each item. I got a salad with different types of tofu on top, and I saw a vegan hummus pizza that I'll be sure to try later or try to make myself. Whole Foods definitely motivated me to try to experiment more because it can get a little boring eating the same types of food at home. Inspired from the previous day, I decided to be a little more adventurous, so this morning for the delayed opening, Eleanor and I ate some vegan pancakes. They looked exactly like normal pancakes and were made almost the exact same way, but instead of normal milk, we used soy milk. Eleanor really enjoyed them, but I didn't think they were sweet enough. I'll probably just add sugar to the batter next time because the original recipe didn't call for any. I'm really excited for the second half of veganism!

Whole Foods is definitely my inspiration,
Maggie

Blood Drive

One of the main criticisms I have received during my time as a vegan has to do with how I will maintain iron levels in my blood. This was especially important this past Friday because I wanted to donate blood during my school's blood drive. In order to give blood, my finger was pricked and my blood was tested for iron to ensure I had sufficent amounts. The test showed that I had healthy levels of iron in my blood. So, this will no longer be a concern for me as I continue my vegan adventure.

Today, I read a very interesting article in The New York Times about fake meat and its effects on the environment and the food industry. To me, it was fascinating and his experiences with fake meats I found very similar to mine. I have posted the link at the bottom of this post and I hope you all will check it out.

Iron-y,
Andrew Jessup

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/opinion/sunday/finally-fake-chicken-worth-eating.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

Road Trip

Hayley and I woke up early this morning and set out on a day trip to Charlotte, Winston Salem, and Greensboro.  This weekend is the end of Hayley's spring break and after a full week of her working multiple hours at her job, we decided that the best way to end her vacation would be to go shopping. Anyway, we stopped at Whole Foods before heading out, and I couldn't resist passing up a vegan cookie, so I picked out a coconut nut one to go along with my soy latte.  My favorite lattes are at Cafe Carolina because the soy milk is unflavored. Starbucks and Caribou both have vanilla flavored soy milk, and in my opinion the flavored kinds just don't taste as well in coffee. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that the soy milk used at Whole Foods is unflavored because I thought the only time I could indulge with a latte would be at work.  Though I still like Cafe Carolina's lattes better (all soy milks have different flavors), this one was still very good.  So, we eventually made it to Charlotte and got so carried away with shopping that we didn't really think about eating. It wasn't until a lot later when we were heading to Winston Salem that we noticed we were starving. After some walking in downtown we came upon a cute restaurant called, 6th and Vine. This is a picture of what I got:

This is the Asian salad, which is arugula with tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, mushrooms, and a seaweed salad on top. I also added some grilled tofu. It came with a dressing, and even though Hayley said it was really good, it looked creamy, so I didn't take a chance with it.  Plus, the seaweed salad on top added enough flavor without the need for any kind of dressing. This salad was a normal meal for me except for the seaweed. I'm pretty sure I never would have thought to add seaweed to a salad, but it was surprisingly good. Before this meal, I thought seaweed was only eaten with sushi, so that being said, it was definitely a risk for me to try.


Overall, our road trip was successful, both with the shopping and the restaurant choice.

Who knew green slime could taste so good,
Maggie

One of the 2.5%

Today, Andrew told me a very interesting statistic. Apparently in the United States, 2.5% of the population is vegan and 5% are vegetarian. We both thought that these numbers were high, but then again, I don't know that much about veganism in other states, so I did some research. Portland, Oregon is a well known location for vegans.  Following Portland is Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. 2.5% still seemed pretty high, so we looked at how that percent relates to our school.  If 2.5% was an accurate statistic, then 40 students at our high school would be following a vegan diet, and I just don't think that's correct.  Still, it's interesting to know about other vegans throughout the country, and I'm sure there are more concentrated numbers in various locations.  Having Andrew tell me this today made me want to know more about veganism throughout the world. If I find anything of interest, then I'll definitely post links!
Anyway, my own vegan diet has been going really well.  I can't really say that I've eaten many interesting dishes, but I had a vegan chili the other night which was pretty good. Then today, I had a doctor's appointment and before going back to school my mom and I stopped by Whole Foods to get breakfast.  I love the vegan cookies there, but since it was morning, I wasn't ready to eat one of those.  Luckily, in the bakery section they had vegan blueberry muffins, so I decided to try one.  All of the items in the bakery case show the ingredients used in each item, and for both the vegan cookies and this muffin that I ate, applesauce is a prominant ingredient used. I'm pretty sure the applesauce takes the place of the eggs and makes the dough bind together and be less crumbly.  Maybe next time I make cookies I'll try applesauce, considering my previous ones didn't bind together very well at all.

Applesauce may be the key,
Maggie

14 going on 40

Tomorrow will begin the third week of veganism for me and I am happy to say that it has gone well. I have had almost no difficulty resisting temptation and I have been able to keep my energy up, which were essentially the only two things I was concerned about. In order to stave off boredom, I have tried to eat a variety of different foods and this has worked well so far.

Being a vegan has made me much more aware of how food is made. A few nights ago, I found myself looking up restaurant menus online and calling the restaurants themselves in order to get more information on their food. I have never really done this in the past, as I can always find something suitable to my taste. Now that I am vegan, I usually like to familiarize myself with menu's before arriving.

In the past, I have been skeptical of any vegetarian meat options but recently I decided I would like to try a veggie burger. At 501 Diner, there is an option for a black bean veggie burger and I thought that this would be a good place for my first experience.

The burger usually comes on a non-vegan bun but I was able to substitute the bun for some vegan whole wheat toast.

I thought this burger was very good. Instead of meat imitation, like the soy chicken, this black bean burger had its own distinct taste. Though the black bean burger did not taste like meat, it was still delightful in its own right. This was a good first experience with veggie burgers and I look forward to trying other renditions of this dish and sharing the results with you all.

During these two weeks, I have tried to immerse myself in the vegan culture. One fun way that Ive done this is by following twitter accounts that have a vegan perspective. I've followed vegan magazine editors, doctors, nutritionists, vegan athletes, and the official twitter account of PETA. These people have shared articles about the environmental effects of a vegan diet and also many, many recipes. Lots of these articles are fascinating and all of them are at least informative. I will try to set up a way that I can share some of my favorite articles with you all.

Sorry for the delay between my posts, I promise I will begin to post more often. Thanks for reading!

Vegan for 14,

Andrew Jessup

All You Have To Do Is Ask

This weekend hasn't been too eventful concerning my vegan diet.  For dinner last night I ate a salad with guacamole and dried fruit (yes, that sounds strange, but guacamole is my favorite food and I love dried fruit, so the combination was very tasty). I decided that dinner tonight should be a bit more interesting.  Hayley, Eleanor, and I decided to go out, and we were torn between Saffron or Carrburritos. We eventually decided on Saffron because it was new and different.  Plus, one of our friends who is vegetarian works there and is always saying how good the food is. As we were gazing over the menu, I was becoming a little concerned because I wasn't familiar with many of the foods.  Most everything contained the ingredient paneer, which is a type of Indian cheese.  The waiter was extrememly friendly, and though I felt that I was being annoying, I had to ask whether certain dishes contained milk. Being the good waiter that he was, he brought me a sheet of paper with a list of vegan dishes, lactose free dishes, and gluten free dishes. Even though most of the dishes aren't normally vegan, the cooks can alter certain ones, so I picked the Tawa Subz dish and had the spiced onion sauce, which he told me contained milk, made vegan. The dish, though spicy, was delicious. It was mixed vegetables cooked with different spices. I'm not sure how they altered the sauce so that there was no dairy, but it looked like there was some sort of sauce on it, so maybe they used coconut milk.  I trust the waiter though so if he said it was vegan, then I believe him. So far everything has been going really well. I love trying new dishes and being so aware of everything that I eat. It definitely hasn't been as hard as I thought, but having to ask so many questions in unfamiliar restaurants can get somewhat annoying (for both the waiter and the people that I go with). I also want to note that my energy levels haven't decreased at all since becoming vegan. I've been able to keep up with my running and can't tell any difference between my pre-vegan diet and now. I'm excited for next week and new food experiences!

Maggie

Definitely Not Destined to Be a Baker

Usually I enjoy baking. I'm fairly decent at it because I typically follow recipes so the product most of the time turns out how it's supposed to. My first attempt at baking something vegan was that seven grain bread, and since that didn't turn out the greatest (I still don't know what happened), I decided to try again.  Today I had friends coming over to work on an English project so I thought it would be an opportune time to bake some vegan cookies. I found what seemed like a good recipe for classic chocolate chip cookies. They weren't made with anything strange like tofu or egg replacer, it was just a simple cookie recipe where the butter was just replaced with a vegan version.  Anyway, I used semi sweet chocolate chips, and my brother and I thought it would be better if we added some peanut butter too. When we finished, we tried the dough and it was quite tasty. This is the picture:

So the taste was fine, but the texture was extremely off.  They were crumbly and didn't hold together very well.  The strange texture seemed to take away from the taste, so I wasn't too happy with the outcome.  Though my friends seemed to enjoy them, I'll probably try a different recipe for next time.  Maybe it was because of the peanut butter, but other than that we followed the recipe exactly so I don't really know what happened. By the end of this vegan challenge I'll hopefully master baking things, but as of right now it's fun to experiment.

Third times the charm,
Maggie