Veganism...

...and only 1 week of animal products left!

I am becoming more and more excited about this challenge. I am also working on deflecting the copious amounts of flak I'm getting. This will be a character building experience and a chance to prove to myself that what other people think should not unduly influence my choices. Easier said than done.

I'm a little over half way through Veganist, and I must say that I rather enjoy it. It's a simply written book that goes through 10 promises from the author. One thing I love about Mrs. Freston's approach is that she gets the fact that it's overwhelming to say to yourself: "I'm done eating animal products." (cold turkey much?) She didn't choose to give them up until her 30's, and did so gradually. She felt compelled to cut out one animal at a time, and now has a vegan household (no animal products at home). Her husband still eats fish when he goes out, but he also eats (and enjoys) her vegan cooking.

One of the things I was hoping for in this book was a better understanding of the biological and health impacts of a vegan lifestyle, and the beginning of the book delivers. She then goes into some information (though not as in-depth) about the factory farming scene, animal cruelty, world hunger and poverty, global warming, personal economics. I'm not done yet, but her intro suggests I'm coming up on the spirituality chapters (pretty cool stuff!).

In class evaluations, we are often asked to comment on whether or not the teacher inspired us to research more, and the thing I like most about this book is that it has whet my appetite for more information. It also makes me feel like I've sort of been lied to by society about what my body actually needs, and what's good for me. The good news is that I can educate myself and make my own decisions about how I want to live and eat.

But does it taste good? For that, I provide you with the affirmation that Mr. K, who will eat meat (only if it has already been purchased or cooked, like at a friend's house or a pot luck, he won't order it in restaurants or buy it for home), enjoys my vegan cooking. I used to sneak things like tofu into our food and wait until after he'd tried a vegan cookie or piece of cake before announcing it was vegan. Then I realized he didn't care so long as it tasted good. So now I'm much more open about it (and he gets all the thin mints!). On that note, I leave you with two recipes I've recently made that are quite tasty, and super animal/environment/health/digestive system/budget friendly. :)

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
The recipe I use and LOVE is from 101 Cookbooks, and you can find it here. The only change I made was to combine almond butter with flaxseeds (from trader joe's) and peanut butter, instead of just using straight peanut butter. There is no sugar, just maple syrup (I sometimes subsitute honey or agave nectar, though honey has a strong flavor that comes out a bit in the cookies, sometimes I mix what I have on hand), and I usually use whole wheat flour. You definitely want to try these with a tall glass of cold (non-dairy) milk! I can also imagine they'd be good with chopped nuts inside, bits of chocolate...very adaptable indeed.

Beans and Rice, version #2195
Mr. K and I call this sort of dish "misch" (which is German from "mix," or short for "mixed"), and it's one of our favorites. It's also something that turns out different every time because I make it with whatever I have on hand. (My favorite story about this dish is that I LOVE it, and have since I started living on my own, but when Mr. K and I started dating, I wouldn't make it for him because it wasn't fancy and impressive enough. Then one day I was so tired and needed some comfort food, so I said: "I'm just going to make this, if you don't like it, we'll order a pizza." He LOVED it. It's been a staple for us ever since!)

Last night I made it with the following:

1 c. uncooked "brown rice mix" from Trader Joes (brown rice, black barley, daikon radish seeds--to which I added some MN wild rice I had in my pantry)
1.5-2 c liquid (some combo of water and veggie stock, I use the low sodium organic stock from Trader Joe's)
1 can beans (I used white kidney beans, because we'd never tried them before)
salt, pepper, chili powder (I love ancho chili), smoked paprika, ground cumin (I grind my own), dried jalapeno pepper flakes (or whatever kind of kick you like)

Bring liquid to a boil in a pot (no oil or vegan butter necessary, but you're welcome to use it if you feel like you need it). Add grains, bring back to a boil, reduce heat to medium and let cook 10 min with lid on. Add beans and hot pepper flakes, continue cooking on med to med-low (vigorous simmer), about another 20-25 minutes. The dish is done when the grains are tender and you've reached the desired consistency (it will thicken as it cools, so keep turning it down if you're not sure). As the dish nears "done" add your chosen spices to taste.
**I was originally planning to add in some corn (one of Mr. K's favorite foods), but I forgot. I also often add chopped up peppers, canned or fresh tomatoes. It's also good topped with guac, chopped avocado, sour cream or cheese, and is amazing wrapped up in a tortilla with some salsa.

enjoy!

**A special note for those of you concerned with the health implications of this as dinner.
1. This is an incredibly filling dinner, super low in fat (a whopping 4 grams of fat for the whole dish, so 2 grams each for Karl and I). I had no room for dessert afterward (though I did wash it down with a cool glass of soymilk)

2. This dinner was completely free of anitbiotics, hormones, trace amounts of animal exrement and pesticides

3. This dinner was free of cholesterol and saturated fat

4. One serving of the rice mix has 9 grams of protein, and we each had two servings. We also each had about 2 servings of beans, which were also 8 grams of protein each. That means that each of us had 34 grams of protein in our dinner.

But is that enough?
According to WebMD, adult men and women require 56 and 46 grams of protein daily, respectively. That means that in addition to our protein packed dinner, Karl needed another 22 grams, and I needed 12. Lucky for us, we each had greek yogurt for breakfast, with a whopping 12 grams of protein each. Here is what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast: Greek yogurt with fresh blueberries and a sprinkling of soy cluster and flax cereal (lots of fiber and protein)--no this isn't a vegan breakfast, but I can swap in soy yogurt or hot grain cereal.
*1g fat, 14 g. protein (the cereal had protein too)

Lunch: leftover veggie sautee with tofu bits
*minimal fat, at least 6 grams of protein, loaded with iron and vitamins (beets, kale, zucchini, corn)

Snack: peanut butter cookies
*also loaded with protein and good fats, low glycemic load (thanks to non-white/refined sugar)

Dinner: Misch, glass of soymilk
*5 g fat, 37 g. protein (the milk has protein too),

That brings my total to about:
<15g fat
57 g protein (more than I needed!)

And yes, my requirements will change some day when I'm pregnant. I'll need 71 grams of protein daily, which requires just 14 more grams than I got yesterday. Maybe a snack of yogurt, some almonds. Who knows?