Jun 18 2012
4 Comments
Thoughts

Veganosity

It’s been almost 7 months since I started Turning Veganese, both in terms of starting the blog and starting a vegan diet. I won’t pretend that I’m vegan 100% of the time, but I have come a long way since this post. I’m still amazed that I’ve stuck with it and that I have no desire to eat meat. I walk into the cafeteria or a restaurant, and I remember how bacon and burgers and fried chicken taste… but I don’t miss it. I also know that they won’t taste the same anymore and that it will probably mess up my digestion.

I’ve said this before, but the best thing about switching to a vegan diet is the discovery and rediscovery of foods. Christie posted just a few days ago about rambutan, and I was thrilled when I walked into my parents’ house and saw rambutan and lychee on the counter.

Alright, I’m gonna say it because it’s never not funny and it’s best to get it out of the way: it looks like I’m cupping hairy balls. Now that I’m done being immature, let me just say that they were yummy! I’m still hoping to eat some fresher fruits next month when I’m in Florida, but these were great for having been bought in Chicago. Go to Argyle for these if you’re in Chicagoland.

Another great thing that’s been a recent development is that people have started to treat me like a serious and respectable vegan. People who used to say, “Come on, it’s just an egg, no big deal, just eat it!” will now say, “Um, excuse me, did you just say you’re craving BACON?! DON’T DO IT!!!” Others who said, “I don’t get why or how you’re vegan” now say, “I understand why you decided to go vegan but I don’t know if I can do it… can you help me?” In general, people have gone from labeling me as “weird” to saying they’re proud of me and actually asking me for advice.

I’ve learned so much about nutrition and health and cooking. I’ll probably say that every time I do a health and emotional check-in. Before going vegan, eating was to satisfy hunger or a craving. Now, it’s about making sure I’m getting all the nutrients I need, knowing what goes into my food, and learning, learning, learning. It’s made me into a smarter and happier person. Yes, really.

Thank YOU for reading the blog, whether you’ve been a reader since the beginning or just stumbled upon us recently. My only regret is that I haven’t been as interactive with all of you as I wish I could be. That said, I’m thrilled to be a part of this community. I can’t thank Christie and Brent enough for all the hard work they put in to the blog. I LOVE YOU GUYS. (Yes, these sappy posts will recur on a regular basis. I hope that’s OK.)

Now, please excuse me while I do some research for my next vegan recipe… stay tuned!!! –Melissa

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Jun 17 2012
4 Comments
Main Dishes

Cucumber and Dill Salad with Cashew Cheese

This was a simple afternoon snack for me and Brent. We’ve tried a lot of commercially available vegan cheeses and our next challenge was to make our own so we did, using a recipe introduced to me by Luminous Vegans and you can find it on the Mighty Vegan’s blog.

We started the ‘cheese’ the evening before and after a visit to the farmers’ market I knew what we had to do. We had the following veggies:

2 cucumbers, chopped into bite sized pieces

1 pint of cherry tomatoes

2-3 sprigs of dill, chopped

1/2 purple onion, chopped into large squares

1 tsp maple syrup

1 pinch of salt

cracked black pepper to taste

juice from 1 lemon

We tossed the ingredients together in a large bowl and set it aside to allow the flavors to blend.

Meanwhile we finished making the cashew cheese. The Mighty Vegan’s recipe is incredible. It’s goat cheese. It’s cheaper than any variety we’ve bought at the store. It’s free of preservatives and you can flavor t however you like. We rolled ours in flake red pepper and sweet paprika. We made the cheese into balls and served it with our cucumber salad.

This salad was a perfect complement to the cheese: creamy and buttery cashews brought out the herbal and vegetal flavors in the salad. I also love when I can identify all of the ingredients, their flavors and their beautiful colors in my meal. Nature makes the most beautiful fruits, herbs and vegetables! Then I eat them.

This is Brent and Christie, signing off!

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Jun 16 2012
3 Comments
Dining Out

Domo Arigato Blu Fish Bistro

Japanese restaurants are among the safer places for vegans to choose when dining out. Miso soup, salad with citrus-ginger dressing, tofu and/or veggie makis, udon, etc… all goodies to choose from. When I’m at work and am craving sushi for lunch, I’m glad that I can hit up Blu Fish Bistro.

Blu Fish has a Vegetable Bento for $10 at lunch, which includes your choice of soup or salad. The miso soup is very good: let’s face it. It’s kinda hard to screw up miso soup. If you choose salad, you won’t be sorry. The house dressing is very fresh and tasty.

The bento includes veggie tempura (traditional tempura is vegan but egg is sometimes used; ask if you want to be sure), fried rice, your choice of 3-piece mushroom or asparagus roll, and fried tofu with a sweet/spicy sauce served over a bed of vegetables. Unlike most tempura sauces I’ve had, the tempura dipping sauce at blu fish is thick and flavorful. I love it. I don’t know what secret sauce they use for the tofu, but it’s perfectly sweet with a little kick. The paper-thin slices of avocado and tomato between the tofu slices are a nice touch.

Non-vegans should be happy about the quality of the food and the freshness of the fish. I’ll also say, for the record, that they have one of the best California rolls I’ve ever had. But those were in the pre-vegan days. If we ever go to Blu Fish together, I will watch you eat a California roll.

I love it when I can enjoy a vegan restaurant meal! Domo arigato! –Melissa

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Jun 15 2012
4 Comments
Main Dishes

Veggie Hash with Spicy Lime Peanut Sauce!

This was another experiment. I’m capricious and easily influenced by how pretty things look. Fortunately, vegetables are also delicious so it has been working in my favor more often than not. To make the hash, assemble the following:
1 generous pinch of chili powder
Earth Balance butter as needed
chipotle pepper as needed
1 1/2 cup corn (frozen is fine)
1 sweet potato, peeled, diced
2-3 tomatillos, diced
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
garlic salt to taste
chipotle pepper to taste
14 ounce can blackeyed peas OR 1 cup of blackeyed peas, soaked
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Heat a large skillet on medium-high with 1-2 tbsp Earth Balance until it melts. Swirl to coat the pan. Add the corn, sweet potato, scallion, paprika, garlic salt. Stir occasionally until the sweet potato is soft.
Add blackeyed peas and stir to mix well; cook 1 more minute or until sweet potato are soft and blackeyed peas are warm through. Transfer mixture to a casserole dish.
 
To make the spicy lime peanut sauce, combine the following:
 1/2 cup almond milk
juice from 1 lime (use a fork to get more of the juice out as shown)
zest from the lime
2 tsp peanut butter

Mix well and adjust the seasonings to taste.

 
I served mine with spinach that I prepared with garlic and jalapeño. I plated the spinach and add the roasted corn, yam, and blackeyed peas mixture to the center of the spinach. Add the spicy peanut lime sauce as desired, sprinkle with cilantro and serve.
We hope you enjoy it!
This is Christie and Brent, signing off!
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Jun 14 2012
4 Comments
Lazy Vegan

The Lazy (Filipino) Vegan: Soy Curl Sinigang

Since I started eating soy curls, which have to be one of the best things about being vegan, I’ve gotten lots of bright ideas: soy curl kalbi, smoked soy curls, soy curl caldareta. I’ve been pretty excited about the idea of making soy curl sinigang and soy curl kare kare.

I had soy curl sinigang today, but I’m not going to elaborate because I didn’t do any actual cooking. I just baked some soy curls and then added the sinigang broth and veggies that were already prepared by my parents.

This looks pretty tasty (and it was) but I gotta say that our sinigang is usually a lot more exciting. We usually put lots of eggplants, long beans, and taro root in it. The veggies today consisted of only some “wild spinach” from the backyard. The broth has a sourness to it that is oh so good.

I’ll get into detail when I finally make some of this myself. I love veganizing Filipino food! –Melissa

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Jun 13 2012
14 Comments
Thoughts

Adventures in Fruit: Rambutan!

Rama-lama-ding-dong, you say? NO! Rambutan. Apparently it means “hairy” in Maylay and these babies are definitely hairy. They come in 2 colors that I’ve seen: red and yellow but only one flavor: DELICIOUS!

They taste like lychee except slightly more acidic. They’re delicious and a great source of niacin, manganese and vitamin C. I won’t be snubbing these hairy weirdoes.

 

This is Christie, signing off!

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Jun 12 2012
2 Comments
Main Dishes

Chocolate Rosepetal Chipotle Tofu!

This was definitely an experiment. I love rose and I’ve got an abundance of rose petals so I decided to give them a go in something savory instead of sweet for a change. You’ll need the following:

4 tbsp rose petals
1 carton of water packed tofu, cut into slabs
1-2 tablespoons Earthbalance or other vegan butter
1 large pinch of chipotle pepper or to taste
salt to taste
4 tbsp slivered almonds, toasted
1 tsp agave or rice nectar
1 generous pinch of chocolate powder
1/2 cup almond or soy milk (more if needed)
a dry white wine to deglaze your pan and that will also compliment your meal, you’ll need about half a cup

I started with some frozen tofu that I sliced into 2 slabs. I covered each side of each slab lightly in Butler’s Chik-Style Seasoning and a gentle sprinkle of cracked black pepper and sauteed them in 1-2 tablespoons of Earth Balance butter until they were lovely golden brown. I set them aside while I began to deglaze the pan.

I added 1 cup of white wine, the rose petals and almonds and swirled it until the almonds started to soften. Then I added the chipotle and chocolate powder. and waited until most of the wine had burned off before adding the almond milk. If it starts to curdle, don’t worry, just add more milk. The almond milk helped to keep the spice of the chipotle from overpowering the rose petals. When it has heated through and you’ve had a chance to adjust the salt pepper and agave nectar, it’s ready.

Pour it over the tofu. Brent made some mushroom wild rice and we steamed some asparagus and had an exotic dinner with some interesting flavors.  Still, something was missing (maybe shallots) and I might leave out the almonds next time (and put them in the rice instead). I’ll let you know what happens if we make this again.

This is Christie and Brent, signing off!

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Jun 11 2012
2 Comments
Dining Out

Adventures in Dining Out: Noon-O-Kabab

Noon-O-Kabab has been one of my favorite Chicago restaurants for several years. It’s a Persian restaurant in the Albany Park neighborhood. It’s grown in size and even has a separate location a few doors down for carry-out orders. My usual order at Noon-O-Kabab was their excellent Lamb Shank, cooked and seasoned to perfection. Other favorites were their rib eye and seasoned ground sirloin. Obviously, I had to find something new to try when I went there for dinner recently.

I’m usually disappointed when I figure out what my limited choices are at a restaurant, but I knew Noon-O-Kabab wouldn’t let me down. They have a handful of vegetarian and vegan options, plus several vegan-friendly appetizers. I chose the Adass Polo: a mix of lentils, raisins, caramelized onions, saffron and Persian barberry served with Persian white rice.

You guys, this was excellent. The rice alone is worth the trip, and you can rest easy knowing that they don’t use butter in their cooking. The mix of lentils with raisins and saffron and the barberry gives the dish an sweet and somewhat tangy mix of flavors. It was served with grilled tomato, onion, and bell pepper. I’m looking forward to trying to make this in my own kitchen.

All my dining experiences at Noon-O-Kabab have been pleasant and there are a few servers who have been there since I first went there years ago. The food is always fresh, the restaurant is casual but cozy, and the demographic of the diners is always diverse. As the restaurant has grown, the quality of the food has remained high.

I’m looking forward to trying out another vegan dish next time I go to Noon-O-Kabab. If you’re in the Chicago area, try it out! –Melissa

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Jun 10 2012
5 Comments
Desserts, Snacks

Cantaloupe Bowl of Berries!

Summer is here and local fruits are ripe and gorgeous. There aren’t any words for how delicious this was so I’ll let the visuals speak for themselves.

Enjoy your summer bounty!

This is Christie, signing off!

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Jun 09 2012
1 Comment
Cooking, Recipes

Sweet & Spicy Tofu

This recipe is so easy that I considered putting it in the Lazy Vegan bucket, but the end result is so delicious and potentially impressive that it’s more of a Secret Weapon Vegan Recipe. It involves few ingredients, few steps, minimal labor, and doesn’t take a lot of time. The “sauce” can be applied to any veggie or protein, so it’s also versatile.

This dish is inspired by how my Mom used to bake chicken when we were growing up. She would buy a bunch of drumsticks, coat them with plum sauce, and just bake. Again… so easy, yet really tasty!

Sweet & Spicy Tofu

1 block extra firm tofu
1 tbsp plum sauce
1 stem green onion
1/2 tsp chili garlic sauce or crushed red pepper (optional; add more or less for desired blandness/spicyness)

I got the plum sauce and chili garlic sauce from your everyday grocery store. I would recommend Lee Kum Kee brand for the plum sauce. My market didn’t have it and Dynasty brand worked just fine. I used a block of tofu from a package of fried tofu, bought at the Asian market. I cut the block into strips, but you can cut it into any shape you would like.

I coated the tofu strips with the plum sauce and chili garlic sauce. Add as much as you’d like! I heated up some oil in a pan and quickly chopped the green onion. Then I threw the coated tofu into the pan. I would have preferred to bake instead of fry, but I was really hungry and too lazy to wait for the oven to heat up. Beware: this is a messy fry. If you bake, make sure you get as much liquid as you can out of the tofu.

About two minutes after I put the tofu in the pan, I got a handful of the meaty green onion pieces and added it to the pan. I let it all fry for another minute, flipped the tofu, and then let it fry for another minute after that. Yeah. This only took about five minutes. Keep in mind that I started out with tofu that was pre-fried and already dried out. (Sidenote: my niece came into the kitchen to find out what smelled so good while this was frying.)

I topped the tofu with the rest of the green onion bits. The sugar in the plum sauce gives this a nice coating. I ate this with some rice and steamed broccoli and was very, very happy! –Melissa

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