Birthday Week and Biscuits

Sorry for the delay, but the semester is coming to a dramatic finish, and I am suffocating in work! Both school and not-school related, my life is exploding with things to occupy my time, thoughts, and kitchen, believe it or not. Though I've never been known to be a hypochondriac, I may be exhibiting tendencies, as lately I'm convinced gluten is giving me a plethora of problems.

Since middle school it has been known that I have an intolerance for lactose, and subsequently I stopped drinking milk and eating cheese even before I stopped eating meat. I never considered gluten as being one of the culprits for my intestinal problems. Back in middle school, after a visit to the doctor and decision to end the dairy, everything was great. I even remember just a few days after I stopped consuming dairy, and I felt one thousand times better. For a year or so, I was fine. However the pain started coming back, this time just randomly. (previously I was in pain everyday, every time I ate). Now I was experiencing abdominal pain, but for no logical reason, and with no consistency. That's how things have been, except for the past 2 months I have kept a food diary.

I think no matter what your situation, keeping a food diary is a great way to just know yourself (in my diary I noted down any pain experienced). It is definitely fantastic for anyone looking to shed a few pounds, because the sheer fact of realizing what you eat in a day is sometimes horrifying. I found it to be wonderful just because I was mindful of everything I ate, and every time I ate. However I am still unable to notice a pattern that will let me declare "gluten gives me pain."

One thing I did notice is Chinese take-out, without fail, causes me severe pain. I am definitely looking to make home-made veggie lo-mien.

Tonight, I made biscuits. Entirely full-of-gluten biscuits, because the look and sound so yummy. And they are. It is an extremely simple recipe I found on the back of the baking powder tin. Yet here I sit, with stomach cramps.

So! Because of my theorizing, and the intrigue of a gluten-free diet, I have proposed that I will limit my gluten intake. For the time being I'm not going to cut it out entirely, as it is rather pervasive in my house and I have evidence that it does cause my problems, all the time.

Thursday this week is my birthday. Though we have the Babycakes cookbook, I'm not sure if I'll be able to make one of their fabulous vegan cakes! I am still having difficultly procuring some of the ingredients they use, particularly xanathan gum and coconut flour. However I'm considering finding substitutes for these products, and just rolling with the results. Hah.

The good news is, my parents treated me to a camera as a birthday present! Though I picked it out last night, I won't be able to open it until Thursday. But I assure you, there will be pictures of whatever kind of cake I get my hands on. =]

<3 -K

Banana Brownies

So it is Easter Monday, and today I had a proper Easter dinner. The actual Easter was taken up by work for me, and work for my mother, as she was babysitting my baby cousin. Tonight however, my family (mom, dad, sister, her friend, and Mum-mum) sat down for an assortment of foods. Pasta and asparagus, sweet and white potatoes, carrots and parsnips, a salad, and "Gardein Chick Scallopini."

Though I'm not a total advocate for faux meat products, I have to admit the brand new Gardein products are A+. They taste great and are comprised of mostly wheat gluten, making them essentially seitan. I know some vegans are up in arms about faux meat, but here is how I see it:

I want everyone to eat less meat. If a product the looks like real meat, and maybe has a reminiscent flavor, gets people to eat less meat, I am all for it. Many of my friends who are not vegan or vegetarian enjoy faux meat products. Some have even claimed that they would substitute a soy product for meat in their meals. I say "hooray!"

Personally I'd rather eat whole fruits and veggies. Anyway...back to Easter Monday. I like parsnips and I don't understand how anyone can think they aren't good. They taste like what I would expect the Earth to taste like, if I could taste "the Earth."

Now that everyone has left the house and my trombone playing buddy is stopping over, I made brownies! These come from Vegan with a Vengeance, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. They are called "Banana Split Brownies." I made them once before, complete with her delicious gooey banana topping. Tonight however, I just made the brownies. Partly because I don't have any extremely ripe bananas, and partly because I'm lazy.

Next time you have super ripe bananas lying around, and you have NO CLUE what to do with them...MAKE BROWNIES!

<3
-K

Vegan Pancake Love

I love vegan pancakes. I never thought of myself as a pancake person, until now. I have the pancake recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking memorized. This morning with 20 minutes to spare, I whipped up a batch and indulged in chocolate chip pancakes before school. I spoil myself, because I truthfully did this yesterday morning too. But can you really have too many pancakes?





For my next endeavor, I want to make sushi. I've made sushi before, using brown "sticky" rice...although it never really seems that sticky. I plan on purchasing some sushi rice and going to town. Oh, and more risotto too. =]


<3
-K

Gluten-Free Experiments

I'm listening to the Beatles, in the kitchen, observing the dismal weather. I decided it would be a perfect day for waffles! When I was younger and still ate dairy, breakfast treats like pancakes and waffles always left me nauseous. I've tried several different vegan pancake and waffle recipes, some using bananas as a main ingredient, some just replacing non-vegan ingredients with vegan ones. My conclusion on both the waffle and pancake front lies in, you guessed it, The Joy of Vegan Baking. (I use the "Waffles One" recipe)

This morning things changed. I had no flour. No one in my family is sensitive to wheat by any means (my mother would be in shock without pasta), so experimenting with gluten-free recipes seemed unnecessary. I was always curious though, how gluten-free products would taste and what would it be like to have to live with gluten sensitives?

A friend of mine has Celiacs disease and is a vegetarian. I had no idea until we were eating together in our school cafeteria. He had a bowl full of fresh spinach, raw tofu, plain rice, carrots, and a few other veggies. My plate was steaming with wild rice, sweet and sour tofu and veggies, herb polenta, and a fresh salad. I felt so strange- I kept pestering him with "Can you eat this?" "What about this?" questions.

When my family received Babycakes NYC by Erin McKenna as a gift, I was in awe. Each page is adorned with beautiful pictures of the most inspiring desserts. Cookies, cupcakes, brownies, cakes, and shakes...all without gluten or sugar!

I have been extremely eager to try her recipes out, although I'm having trouble procuring a few of the ingredients. My local health store doesn't even carry evaporated cane juice or xanthan gum. Once I do manage to acquire these elusive ingredients, I have diving in. Sometimes I just want to eat the pictures (my favorite is the Mint Icebox Cake).

However in searching for McKenna's gluten-free wonders, I bought what I could get. Coconut oil, soy milk powder, and Bob's Gluten-Free flour were among them.

Back to this morning, I decided I would make gluten-free waffles. For kicks! I also really wanted waffles (much to my dismay I later discovered we were also out of maple syrup). According to Bob, you can substitute his gluten-less flour 1:1 for regular flour. He recommends, "for best results," adding xanthan gum. Alas, my waffles made do without.

And so the waffle-making went along as usual. Then came the taste test! I had to admit I wasn't thrilled to begin with. The taste was very odd. It wasn't bad, it was just different. After downing a few, I came to kind of like it! Granted, it still felt a little weird, but I was enjoying the fact that it was gluten-free. Mentally, I felt really cool. I almost decided to try being gluten-free for a week, just to see how it would work for me. Well, that last for about five minutes because later on I made vegetable dumplings and dunked them in soy sauce.

But who knows, maybe sometime in the coming months I'll pledge to be more gluten-free, because I did feel so cool. And because of Babycakes NYC, I'm excited to see what gluten-free can do. =]

<3
-K

Link to Babycakes NYC website: http://www.babycakesnyc.com/

Apple Muffins!

After sleeping in on this beautiful Saturday morning, Andrew decided he wanted muffins for breakfast (lunch). I headed straight for The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, and flipped through until I found a recipe I had all the ingredients for (which isn't hard, most of them are common household items). Due to the abundance of apples in my fridge, I settled on the Apple-Pecan muffins, but minus the pecans, because my sister is allergic. And so apple-muffin preparation began!

I dubbed Andrew the apple peeler/slicer (2 Macintosh apples), and I set to work on the other dry and wet ingredients. The Joy of Vegan Baking is not only one of my all-time favorite cookbooks, but one that I'd recommend to anyone, vegan or not. It is top for every baked good you can imagine. The muffins this morning were delicious AND nutritious! Flax meal is an awesome and versatile foodstuff.

The chocolate cake recipe in this book is perfect every time, without fail. It astounds my vegan and non-vegan friends alike. I'm still exploring the many wonderful recipes in this book, but let me assure you the chocolate chip cookies are wonderful, as well as the oh-so-simple "banana and chocolate smoothie."



(still cell phone pictures...)



I seriously ate like five. I'm a sucker for vegan cookbooks, so I definitely propose checking them out. Here is a link to Colleen's site for the book, where she has sample recipes! For your pleasure!

http://www.joyofveganbaking.com/

<3
-K

Introductions!

I admit I am new to blogging. I immensely adore reading the wonderful other vegan bloggers out there, so it was only a matter of time before I hopped on board. My immediate family is entirely vegetarian, while my father and I compose the "vegan section." I am a "viking" because of my heritage...1/2 Norwegian blood! The other half of me is Italian, but I couldn't find something Italian that alliterated with "vegan."

I am a student, a worker, a girlfriend (bless my boyfriend-he recently went veg!) and a musician. A LOT of my time is spent in the kitchen. I am (understated) obsessed with vegan food. Cooking and baking vegan treats is my life, aside from the life I previously mentioned. I have a stack of vegan cookbooks that I refer to endlessly, which I'll list later. They are my base for all things. Not until this very day have I created a recipe that was essentially all my idea. It was a dream come true!

In honor of my commencement hear at Blogger, I present my Curried Risotto with Lentils!



(Sorry I don't have a camera yet...these are cell phone photos)


(Risotto looks like mush...)

I don't have a recipe (yet), although it's very simple. I cooked the risotto as usual, I cooked the lentils separately, and mixed them at the end. I flavored with curry spices and coconut milk. It was delicious! Also my first time ever making risotto...and what work that was. I kept picturing myself as an Italian grandmother in her hillside villa looking over the land as she stirs the risotto and grandchildren tug at her apron...

This is fun!

<3 -K