Monthly Archives: December 2011

Dec 02 2011
1 Comment
Thoughts

Checking In

It’s been almost three weeks since I made the decision to eat more veggies, less meat, and no dairy. I have continued to eat my share of meat, which is a little disappointing. Sometime soon, I will need to set goals around eliminating meat and fish if I truly want to have a vegan diet.

I went two weeks without dairy. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. The first time I cheated with dairy was when I had hot cocoa one afternoon. The cocoa was delicious, but I’m guessing that the massive gas pains I had a couple hours later were due to the milk. I thought I would miss cheese the most. I picked up some soy cheese from Trader Joe’s and was turned off by it. It didn’t seem any different from dairy cheese in taste or texture. I just did not find it appetizing and it was a bit anticlimactic, considering that I had gone so long without dairy cheese. Speaking of cheese, I had pizza for lunch a couple of days ago. I have decided that if I am going to go rogue on my non-dairy diet, a slice of cheesy veggie pizza is worth it.

One item that I am really surprised I have avoided so far is the egg. I really like having eggs for breakfast because they’re fast and easy to make, and they’re versatile. But, at this point, I would prefer a tofu scramble even if I wasn’t trying to be vegan. Now, I’m sure eggs are in the baked items that I still eat, but I’m not too concerned about that.

I have some emotional reactions to share. I find that I feel defensive and patronized sometimes. I don’t like hearing, “Wow, good for you, you’re so good,” from someone as they eat a juicy cheeseburger. I also don’t like it when people ask why I’m eating healthy or what the hell quinoa is or remark that I’m being weird. It’s kind of a general annoyance when people feel the need to interrogate or poke fun at me about things they don’t understand. It’s also a little upsetting when someone whom I have told I am trying to be vegan offers me meat dishes and says, “it’s okay to eat meat this one time.” While I am sort of the worst vegan wannabe right now and I know veganism is not something everyone understands or agrees with, I do wish that the people whom I care about and who supposedly care about me will support me (or, at the very least, NOT shove meat in my face and tell me it’s ‘ok’ for me to eat it).

Overall, I have to say that I am learning a lot and I’m having a lot of fun trying out new things and experimenting in the kitchen. I see food in a different light. I’m so much more aware of what I’m putting into my body. I also have to say that, despite what sounded like a complaint in the previous paragraph, I am really grateful for the people around me who are supportive of this change.

Thanks for reading! -melissa

Tagged
Dec 01 2011
3 Comments
Cooking, Main Dishes, Recipes

Penne with Portobello Mushrooms, Artichokes, & Spinach

I enjoy cooking, but I don’t do it very often. My parents always make plenty of food for the entire family. Therefore, I tend to eat a lot of Filipino food, which I LOVE, but Filipino food can be hard to vegetarianize, let alone veganize. Clealy, I need to start cooking to minimize cheating on my vegan diet. I can only eat so much tofu, so I decided to cook some pasta for dinner. I had portobello mushroom caps and a can of artichokes, so I thought about those two ingredients for a bit, and then went online searching for “penne portobello artichoke recipes.”

I don’t often impress myself when it comes to cooking, but I will happily brag that I knocked this out of the park! First, I need to give credit where credit is due, and tell you that I found the original recipe on Tastebook by way of Google.

Ingredients:
8 oz of your favorite penne pasta: I used whole wheat
1 can artichokes in water, drained
2 portobello mushroom caps
handful of walnuts
a bunch of spinach
“balsamic vinegar”: I didn’t have balsamic vinegar so I mixed together 1 tbsp red wine vinegar and 1 tsp sugar and used about half of the mixture
olive oil
minced garlic: I ended up using about 4 cloves
red pepper flakes (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pasta and drain. Clean and de-rib the mushroom caps and chop (I went to YouTube for a tutorial on cleaning and de-ribbing the mushrooms.) Saute the mushrooms and garlic in olive oil. Add the artichokes, spinach, and walnuts and stir gently until the spinach is wilted. Add the balsamic vinegar and red pepper flakes. Gently mix everything. Add the pasta and stir until it’s heated through. Put some on a plate or in a bowl and pig out.

Some notes: I added a bit of olive oil to the mix two or three times from start to finish, and threw in more garlic after adding the pasta to the sauce. The red pepper flakes actually infused their spicyness into the veggies while cooking, so every bite had a kick. I absolutely LOVED it, but you may want to consider adding at the very end or simply putting it on the table to add as you eat the dish.

I’m really happy because, not only was the end result delicious, I had a LOT of fun cooking this. I had a really good rhythm in the kitchen with this one. Yay!

xoxo and happy cooking… melissa

Tagged , , , , ,
Newer posts →