A Greener Life

Being vegan for us is first about healthy eating, second about animal rights. We do believe that animals are treated inhumanely, for the most part, before they are slaughtered and made into products for us to consume, but we know that’s not always the case. Also, the ethics of meat-eating is pretty gray in my opinion, so it’s not always an open-and-shut matter.

This all being overly-said, I digress. The first reason we’re vegan is for health reasons. We are of the belief that one can simply consume more nutrients thanks to a vegan diet. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

And as any person who likes to eat knows, it’s good to get a variety of types of food in your diet to feel satisfied. Even though Myk and I don’t eat meat, dairy, or eggs, we definitely feel satisfied that we are experiencing a full array of delicious, satisfying foods. Among many other things, we’ve made delicious golden tofu, stir-fried colorful veggies, tempeh and greens, quinoa and chickpeas, black beans with a cornbread crust, and let us never, ever forget the soups.

Because soup is, if not the backbone, definitely an important rib in the vegan skeleton, I’ll share this awesome recipe for Green Soup which my dear husband invented.

Ingredients:

• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1c. frozen okra, chopped
• 1 small bunch asparagus
• 1/c. water
• 2c. broccoli florets, chopped
• 1 1/2c. green beans (frozen okay)
• 1/2c. frozen corn
• 2c. frozen spinach
• 1 avocado, cubed (optional)
• 4c. unsweetened plain non-dairy milk
• Splash of olive oil
• 5 tbsp. nutritional yeast
• 2 scant tbsp of Vegi-Zest or Veggie Base by Vogue (available @ Whole Foods)
• 2-3 tbsp. Bragg Liquid Aminos, or to taste
• 1/2c. pepitas

Sauté garlic in a splash of olive oil in a stock pot. Before it turns brown (maybe 1 minute), add water, okra, and asparagus.  Boil/simmer over high heat with the water until the water is nearly boiled away, the okra is bright green, and the asparagus is tender (but not yet mushy..that will come later). Okra is kinda slimey, so this helps it break down a bit.

Turn down the heat to medium.  Add the splash of olive oil and the other frozen veggies (and optional avocado–leave this out for a lower-fat version). Slowly add the milk and bring the soup back to a simmer. Simmer for about 10 minutes until things start to look nice and soupy.

Now, I’ve never used an immersion blender, but I imagine now would be a fine time to use one, if you’re so inclined. In other words, if you don’t like your soup chunky, you better blend this stuff up. We are totally fine with chunky green soup, but I can definitely see the appeal of blending.

Add the yeast and the Bragg’s, stir to incorporate. Sprinkle a few pepitas on each bowl of soup. You’re done! Enjoy your green soup!

Image courtesy of (Dr.) George Hatcher.

Kale about to be oven-baked where it will turn crispy and you will forget it ever started as kale.

Since I started cooking more seriously last fall (I should say, since I started cooking last fall, period), I’ve discovered there are several things I’d consider staples to our vegan food stash. Here’s a partial list of things I keep on hand at all times. But before you read that, first admire this tray of innocent kale, about to be baked into a delicious treat known as kale chips. Now I know you know that I have lost my mind but I swear–THIS IS SO GOOD. There are so many recipes out there, but here’s your crash course recipe: preheat oven to 400. Take a bunch of organic kale, wash it, cut off the ends, and tear into bite size pieces (as you see here). Toss to coat (lightly!) with 1 or 2 tbsp olive oil.  Lay a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and lay the kale on the parchment (if you don’t have parchment, don’t sweat it). Bake for approx 10 min until it’s papery-sounding when you poke at it. Remove from oven. Enjoy!

Now, the list of things you can’t live without!

Proteins:

• organic tofu
• tempeh
• variety of canned beans (garbanzo, black, white, etc)

Grains/pseudo-grains:

• quinoa
• brown or red rice
• all-purpose and whole wheat pastry flour (and also all the other usual baking stuff–baking soda, powder, organic sugar, vanilla, etc)
• smattering of other stuff–flax, barley, amaranth, millet, whatever you’re in the mood for trying

Produce:

• some variety of dark leafy green (swiss chard is my favorite right now, but kale and spinach are also usually in there, or you could try mustard or collard greens)
• onions-red and white
• small or medium organic potatoes
• fresh broccoli
• frozen corn, okra, green peas, snow peas, and organic edamame (for soup)
• frozen stir fry veggies
• 28oz can of cooked, diced tomatoes (for soup)
• one or two varieties of whole fruits such as oranges, bananas, organic apples, or plums

Misc:

• nutritional yeast
• olive oil
• powdered vegetarian boullion (yes, I know it has tons of salt, but it’s good for so many things)
• Bragg Liquid Aminos
• Veganaise
• various seeds such as pepitas

Myk and I are going to try to start buying our produce at farmer’s markets on the weekends here in Houston. We really are in one of the few places in the country that has a year-round growing season, so we are going to try to take better advantage of that.

A note on cooking: I’ve been cooking a lot from Vegan Brunch lately, but I will also cook pretty much anything from Veganomicon. I find their scones and muffins especially worthwhile in that book (my personal favorites are the lower-fat banana bread and the pumpkin cranberry scones), but everything I’ve tried has been pretty good.  I also hope some magical elf will leave me How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman someday–I’ve immensely enjoyed learning about food in How to Cook Everything, so I think it’s vegetarian counterpart will be awesome.

Now all I need is a bigger kitchen!

The casserole, pre-cheeze

Whenever I describe vegan cooking or baking to others, it sounds disgusting. All the things that are actually delicious to me just sound gross. The wost offender, of course, is nutritional yeast. Even it’s nickname, “nooch,” isn’t much better.  What’s also amusing to me is that people seem to think vegan cooking/baking is “healthier” somehow. It won’t save you any calories, but it certainly is a healthier way to live, long term.  This recipe is definitely not health food.  You have been warned.

That being said, I’m going to just forge ahead with this recipe in hopes that you will look past all the weird things it’s asking you to do, make, and eat, and just enjoy the fact that it’s pure, delicious, and will make your tummy happy.

Cheezy Quinoa Casserole

You will need:

• 1cup cooked quinoa
• 2 cups parboiled broccoli
• 1 cup sauteed mushrooms (or canned, if you’re lazy…no shame)
• 1 package extra firm organic tofu
• 2 tbsp + 2 tbsp olive oil
• Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (optional)
• 1 batch of the cheeze sauce from VeganYumYum (holla! Great recipe if you ever want mac and cheeze. Which I do. Frequently.)

Preheat your oven to 350F and spray a medium-sized casserole dish (or souffle dish). If you don’t have spray, don’t sweat it–just lightly grease with olive oil. Or, if you don’t want to do that, it’s not the end of the world. Just have a dish ready.

Bust out the rice cooker and put your quinoa in there with 1 1/4c of water. Alternately, put 2 cups of water and your quinoa on the stove and boil, covered, until the little white circle forms around your quinoa. If the white rings don’t form throughout the quinoa and you run out of water, just add a bit more. In my experience, it’s much harder to overcook quinoa than rice. Also–about quinoa–I really like Alter Eco red quinoa more than the white kind. It’s really full-flavored and delicious…and ethical! Also, because of the color, it’s easier to see when it’s done because those white rings pop right out.

Next, prep your cheeze sauce. VeganYumYum does a pretty good job of walking you through all the steps. Obviously, just make the sauce and omit the mac part.  I’d like to mention that my daughter is allergic to sesame seeds, so I replaced the tahini with almond butter and it worked very well. I’m sure I’m missing some of that great nutty tahini taste, but it’s better than a trip to the hospital and the epi-pen, right?!

Next, prep your tofu. Now, I have discovered the secret to having fun while cooking tofu and/or tempeh. The secret, friends, is an iron skillet (side note: my friend Cinnamon just wrote a cookbook praising the iron skillet–hooray Cinnamon!). It’s darn fun to cook on one of these things because you don’t worry about scraping it, burning it, or denting it otherwise. It’s just a straight-up, honest to goodness cooking tool. Use it. Love it. Here’s how I cook my tofu, and it’s based on a beloved favorite restaurant from college, The Grit in Athens, GA. First, drain the tofu and shake off the excess water. Slice the tofu into either cubes or triangles (I am a fan of the triangles because it’s so cute to hear my toddler identify them). Then, take 2tbsp of olive oil and heat it on med-high in your skillet. Once it’s hot, place your tofu in the pan. Turn the tofu periodically using a metal spatula and let it get a lovely yellow color on every surface. You may need to add a little bit (maybe another tbsp) more oil during this process. If you’d like, you can also add the optional splash (or squirt/spray, as the case may be) of Bragg’s in there at this time. Take the tofu out of the pan once golden, wipe out your skillet (carefully, iron skillets stay really hot for a while) with a paper towel. At this point, you can roll your tofu in some nutritional yeast to cover it. Heat your skillet again, place 2tbsp of oil in there, and repeat what you just did. Your tofu should be nice and brown and not nearly as wet as when you started. My mouth is watering just writing about this.

Next, parboil your broccoli. It will only take a couple of minutes, and you basically just want to make the broccoli bright green and barely soft. I put about 1/2″ of water in the bottom of a pot with a lid, boil it, put the broccoli in, wait a couple of minutes, and then it’s done.  Also at this point, you can sautee your mushrooms until they exude a juice, remove from heat. Or, open the can of mushrooms and drain.

Now comes the fun part: LAYERING. Take your beautiful red white-ringed quinoa and layer it on the bottom of the casserole dish. Then, take your broccoli and mushrooms–layer those next. Then, the tofu layer. Then, take your cheezy sauce and carefully pour it over the top of the whole concoction. It’ll seep down in between all the delicious bites of tofu and broccoli and will touch the top of the quinoa. YUM. O.

Bake at 350F for 25 min until it’s bubbley and the cheezy sauce it slightly browner than it was before. Remove from oven, allow to cool, and serve.

Spicy Fish Tacos: not vegan, but lovely nonetheless

My companions and I ate at Ruggles Green this week and I thought that since it’s Houston’s first (and only) “certified green restaurant” that I needed to check it out and write about it here.

So, what exactly is a “certified green restaurant”? According to the certificate, Ruggles Green does not use styrofoam (yay!), recycles extensively, and does some other stuff–like compost their coffee grounds, energy-efficient lighting, use of “green” building materials (bamboo was used in their dining booths), and non-toxic paint on the walls.

Veggie nut burger: hemp protein, sauteed vegetables, pecans, almonds, macro greens and fresh mozzarella, lettuce, tomato, and red onion served on a whole wheat bun. Served with sweet potato fries.

The dining area is long and narrow. When you walk into the restaurant, you order at the front, take a number, and your food is delivered to your table. I, myself, like this setup because I can’t imagine a server trying to navigate such a narrow dining area with a huge tray full of food. Also, if you only have an hour or so to eat lunch, cutting out the service can save some time.

The restaurant is in the Montrose area of town, which is part boho, part yuppie. This place was more “wine bar” than “burrito” if you know what I mean, but I felt that the menu was reasonably priced, especially for the large portions.

Speaking of the menu–there weren’t any vegan options I could identify, but I just left the cheese off my burger and was fine. There were also a couple of decent-looking vegetarian and raw options, and the staff seemed pretty vegetarian/vegan/raw-friendly. They seemed unfazed when I asked for them to leave the cheese and whatever else dairy off my sandwich.

2 of my companions ordered the Naturewell Natural Beef Burger, another had Spicy Fish Tacos, and I had the Ruggles Green Veggie Nut Burger. Mmmmm…nut burger.

Overall this place was great–it had a good vibe and has a children’s menu, so I suspect they like kids (even though we didn’t see any). I’ll definitely be returning, probably when/if our parents come to town.

As a vegetarian, a mom, and a picky eater, I truly appreciate the awesomeness that is Chipotle. Let me tell you why:

• simple, healthy, delicious food
• if you like meat, they use free range and antibiotic-free animals
• nice staff
• clean restaurants
• very little and/or biodegradable/recyclable packaging and waste

It really beats getting a white paper bag full of styrofoam and plastic wrap!

While I usually feel kind of bad when I leave a Chipotle and there’s a ton of rice and beans on the floor from where my toddler misses her mouth, I am showing the love here and in my tips. They are also very environmentally-conscious in their energy consumption and design (LEED certified, green cutlery, wind turbine energy, solar panels, wow!). And did I mention it’s delicious? Find a Chipotle near yourself and thank me later.

Here at A Greener Life we’re committed to greenifying (I know that’s not a word…) every aspect of life.  That’s why we’re going to share with you, from time-to-time, our exploits with cooking and baking…of the vegan variety.

Why vegan? Why not vegetarian? Well, part of this is business and part of this is personal. I’ll focus on the personal for the purpose of this site, but there are many environmental reasons to go vegan.  There is also the ethical point of view, which I’ll just steer clear of on here, but if you want to see a more artistic campaign for going vegan, just go check out the work of Sue Coe.

So on to the personal–my daughter is one of those unfortunate people that is allergic to a lot of stuff. Tons of nuts, dairy, eggs…that’s her!  And basically, since she doesn’t eat meat either (we’re admirers of the food learnings of Dr. Joel Fuhrman), my husband and I cook all her meals (unless we find the rare restaurant that has things she can eat…like Chipotle).  I have never been much of a cook in my life until this point, but for the benefit of my daughter I decided to just suck it up and cook and bake most of our food. I thought I would hate it but…I actually find it really relaxing. Also, it’s incredibly satisfying watching her scarf down some braised tofu that I made for her.

I will be able to post recipes occasionally, but I will likely point you in the direction of where I got the original recipe. Here’s my flaw as a cook: I can’t really get too creative because I don’t know what I’m doing. I enjoy following directions and I am learning about food, but for the most part I’m still a novice cook and have to play by the rules.

Look forward to some vegan goodies on A Greener Life!