Grateful for Beans

This Sunday morning, I woke up and started in on my breakfast. I didn't want anything fancy, but I was craving some really solid protein, the sort of food with substance that would last me through my planned walk downtown.

What I put together wasn't revolutionary: multigrain toast with peanut butter, a bunch of grapes, and a half cup of pinto beans straight from the can as a side--no sauce, no seasoning, no nada.

The toast was good, as were those sunny, fat green grapes from Chile, but those beans. Those. Beans. They were creamy and salty and rich and profoundly satisfying.

They were more than just what I was in the mood for, more than just what my body happened to be craving. They tasted heavenly. And as I ate them, I was instantly and profoundly grateful for those simple little guys.

My favorite thing about eating vegan is the way my attitude has changed toward food. Yes, my taste buds have definitely changed--even low sodium rice cakes and plain veggies taste pretty damn scrumptious--but it's more than that.

People focus on what you have to give up when you become vegan, on the denial aspect on it, but they forget that you get to eat fabulous, fresh, colorful food every day, food that doesn't just sustain your body but nourishes it.

Veganism introduced a new form of gratitude into my life: gratitude for my ability to afford fresh vegetables year round, for the time I have to prepare them, and for their availability at my local supermarket. Gratitude for beans and lentils, hummus and split peas, avocados and asparagus and kale. And I'm grateful every time I get to eat just exactly what I want, when I want it.

A surplus of gratitude, even over plain old beans--how can extra gratitude ever be a bad thing?

Daal-icious: Lentil and Sweet Potato Stew from EHH

Ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha! Ha ha . . . *wipes tears of laughter away* Ha . . . *sighs* Ha.

Now that that unavoidable pun is out of the way, let me tell you about daal.

Is your mouth watering? Because my mouth is watering. 

Daal (sometimes spelled dal or dahl) is a thick, spicy lentil stew that's usually served served over rice or another grain. Daals are common to a lot of eastern and middle eastern cuisines, and they come in a lot of different varieties. What they all have in common is that they're delicious and economical and make fantastic leftovers.

Red lentils. 

I love this simple sweet potato version from the Everyday Happy Herbivore cookbook. (Jeez, Lesley, fangirl, much?)  It's pretty straightforward to make--just double the recipe and give yourself 45 minutes for veggie prep, cook time, and the simmer at the end, and you'll have a delicious dinner and lunch for the week!

Chopped acorn squash and sweet potatoes. And my slippers.

Also, I say this in the most flattering way possible, but this daal might as well be made of ground brick because of how wonderfully filling it is! I love having it for lunch because it leaves me stuffed until I walk home at the end of the day, which is a rare and wonderful thing. Either quinoa or brown rice taste great with it, so it's easy to ladle over with whatever grain you have on hand.

Sweet potato and acorn squash daal with none of the trimmings.

This is also a recipe that's very easy to fiddle with in case you want to sneak some supplementary vegetables into it or if you need to trade out one or two of the pantry staples. For example, brown lentils taste even better than the red in this recipe, in my opinion, though they take longer to cook. Kale or chard could take the place of the spinach easily. And I've used half of an acorn squash along with the sweet potatoes, and it tastes even better that way!

Daal with quinoa already mixed in.

Finally, if you've never tried garam masala before, today is the day. It's a blend of spices common in Indian cooking. It's somewhat similar to curry powder but tends to be more aromatic because it includes cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon. (Also, the store-bought blends I've tried are less spicy than curries, though that definitely depends on what brand you get.)

You can make your own blend of garam masala to taste, pick it up in the Asian section of your grocery store, or purchase an array of blends at your local Indian market. Trust me: it's absolutely worth the $3 it'll cost you to have it on hand--I use it in just about everything these days!

Daal with brown basmati rice, cilantro, and sriracha!

Note: I saw Mac Demarco in concert last week. He is awesome and crazy and a little creepy and I'm weirdly in love with European Vegas. If you're into nostalgic, grainy indie rock, you should definitely check him out. 

Sweet (Secretly Bean-y) Spreads

Yes, you read that right: Sweet. Bean. Spreads.

I recently read Vegan for Life, an overview of vegan nutrition written by two registered dietitians.  It was a tremendously helpful book, and one of the most important messages I took from it was that I'm probably not getting enough protein!

Image via TheVeganRD.com.

But, to be fair, I suspect that I wasn't getting enough before I went vegan, either--as someone who ate very little meat, few beans, and a scattering of dairy products, how could I? But now I know that the daily protein recommendation for women is around 45 grams (more if you're more active) and that my default vegan diet was leaving me as many as 10 grams short per day.

Moreover, the Vegan for Life authors recommended getting most of one's protein through legumes like peanuts, peas, and beans. Peanut butter? Oh, yeah, check! Peas? Sure, I can add those to a lot of dishes--check! Beans? Ummmm, that's harder. I get sick of beans--beans on salads, beans in pasta sauce, beans on tortillas, beans in curries and soups, beans for every meal, beans in and coming out of my ears!

Image from ABCNews.go.com's nice little article about vegetarian protein sources.  (Well, it's nice until they include beef. But I'll take it.)

So what to do? Well, I bought some protein powder for smoothies, learned how to make seitan (more on that later!), and started thinking of ways to sneak beans into my diet.

Thus began my new love affair with bean-based sweet dips and spreads. It sounds weird, I know, but with a good food processor and a can of beans--particularly the miraculously creamy great northern/navy bean--you can get the creamy, rich texture so often associated with butter-based frosting. And you get it with much less fat and more iron and protein than frosting can give!

Fudge dip! (These little containers never last very long . . .)

First, I tried the fudge dip found in Everyday Happy Herbivore (which is pretty much my favorite cook book ever). This stuff is incredibly tasty when spread on a whole wheat tortilla, multigrain bread, or a rice cake. AND it's low-calorie (less than 50 per serving, according to my calorie counter). AND it's full of protein. AND it satisfies my crazy chocolate addiction.

Mmmm, freshly processed goodness. Don't forget to lick the bowl!

Two notes on this recipe: 1) In my opinion, using navy beans is absolutely vital. The cannellini bean version is okay, but the navy beans are much smoother and have a milder flavor. 2) I always make the variation that includes peanut butter. Yeah, it adds fat, but just a tablespoon or two contributes a lot of richness and helps you get away with using less sugar!

More recently, I tried this chocolate chip cookie dough dip from Chocolate Covered Katie because . . . Wait, does anyone really need an excuse to eat raw cookie dough? That's pretty much a gimme.

Cookie dough dip! (Or raw vegan cookie dough. Or whatever you have to call it to make it okay for yourself.)

The brown sugar is really what makes cookie dough taste like cookie dough, and the same is true for this dip! I would definitely use brown sugar as your sweetener if you have it on hand. Also, this is a very forgiving recipe because it doesn't have to be baked, so feel free to make it to taste. And while it's not exactly low-calorie (my version clocked in at over 65 calories per tablespoon), I could still justify walking around my apartment licking it off the spoon as an after-dinner treat!

It's okay on bread, better on rice cakes, and best when eaten alone!

The moral of this story is that I still love beans, but sometimes I like my beans to be seen but not tasted.

Also, you can never trust a vegan: we will hide beans (or kale or quinoa) in everything.

Getting Started: Vegan Breakfast Tips

 

I love breakfast. When I was little, my mom never let me out the door without eating something, and I still can't get away with skipping it. It was also the very first meal that I started doing vegan last summer. Here are some quick, easy steps to get you started veganizing your breakfasts:

I don't have nearly enough brain power to take pictures of my breakfasts in the morning, but the Garden of Vegan tumblr has some beautiful breakfast food photography! Check it out!

1. Start small: Buy some non-dairy milk. Non-dairy milk is probably the least intimating, easiest way to start thinking vegan. Because let's face it: skim milk tastes kind of crappy anyway, and it's always expiring, and you're always running out, and you have to recycle all those plastic bottles but not the caps, and ugh, I'm over it. On the other hand, Tetra-packed almond milk, coconut milk, and soy milk are easy to find at your local grocery store, easy to stock up on, and relatively tasty. None of it tastes like "real" milk, but it does taste good, especially sweetened soy milk (though my favorite is unsweetened almond). That first bite of cereal might leave your palate a bit confused, but if you give yourself a week to get used to it, I promise that you won't even think about dairy milk--I know I haven't missed it! 
2. Start reading your labels. When you're waiting for your coffee to brew in the morning, take a minute read your cereal and bread labels. It should be pretty baffling; the lists of ingredients in most processed foods are long and mostly incomprehensible, and there's almost always whey, milk, or even eggs lurking somewhere in there. Don't throw this stuff out--enjoy it until it's gone, but take a few minutes the next time you're at the grocery store to read the labels on what you're buying. Is there something there that's vegan, comparable in price, and similar to what you already eat? Try it! I'm particularly fond of Nature's Path Organic Flax Plus Multibran Flakes, which are certified vegan and quite tasty when topped with almond milk, chopped walnuts, and dried banana chips. 
3. Think about lasting power. My main complaint about going vegan is that, unless I pay a lot of attention to protein, I'm hungry every two hours. Breakfast is a great time to eat hearty grains and nuts to get you through to noon. I try to eat a very hefty breakfast--around 400 calories and packed with as much protein; fiber; and omega-3 fats from flax seed, walnuts, and pumpkin seeds as I can handle.
4. Know what you need. If you have an hour every morning to make and consume a delicious, hot, gourmet breakfast, then you really don't need to read this post. But if you're like everyone else in the world, your mornings are rushed and you're probably shooting lasers out of your eyeballs because of how much you hate mornings. (Anyone else? Just me? Okay then.) Be gentle on yourself by working with your habits. Are you a grab and go sort of person? Then make granola bars on the weekends or buy pre-made cereal, granola bars, and dried fruit. Do you have five minutes to throw something together? Then plan on making some oatmeal or a smoothie while you're waiting for your coffee to brew.
5. Add it up. Store-bought vegan foods are often "health" foods, by which I mean that they're all moral and bland and fiber-y and sad tasting. In those cases, supplement it until you love it. Lackluster cereal? Top it with a teaspoon of honey and sunflower seeds. Has your pita gone stale in the fridge? Use a heavy hand with the Earth Balance and your favorite jam. Are you an inveterate oatmeal hater? You just haven't found the right toppings yet! Try dried fruit, nuts, agave nectar, and cinnamon until you're happy again. 

Here are some of my favorite vegan breakfast components: 

1. Peanut butter. Just . . . peanut butter. Forget its connotation with school lunches: peanut butter is delicious. It has always been one of those foods that I could eat a whole jar of with a spoon and still kind of want some more, so veganism has been a great excuse to add it to just about every meal. It's full of protein and is deeply satisfying because of its high fat content. I eat a lot of peanut butter on toast, bagels, and oatmeal. There are five different varieties in my pantry right now, and I kind of wish there were more!
2. Bread and bagels: you don't have to give them up! I promise you a post about baking easy vegan bread and pitas soon! But, in the meantime, many grocery stores with health food freezer sections do carry some very delicious vegan breads, and while vegan bagels are uncommon in grocery stores, Panera actually has a few vegan varieties you can stock up on. (Including everything bagels--my favorite!)
3. Oatmeal: do it old school. I grew up on (deliciously) sugary packets of Quaker instant oatmeal, but I never found them tasty or filling enough to keep my interest as an adult. Moreover, they're also packed with whey and dried milk and about a bajillion other processed ingredients. But plain quick oats cooked in the microwave with non-dairy milk is incredibly filling and full of protein and fiber. And seasoned with a dash of salt, honey or agave nectar, peanut butter, walnuts, ground flax seed, cinnamon, and cardamom, it's pretty damn delicious. Not to mention cheap! 
4. Get that vegan a smoothie. Vegans love smoothies. Vegan bloggers are the queens of smoothiedom. Not only are vegan smoothies delicious and shockingly versatile (I kid you not: you can make vegan smoothies with frozen peas that actually taste like chocolate milkshakes!), but, if you use the right kind of ingredients, they stick with you and are packed with the protein and fiber needed to keep you full.  And you can sneak a half scoop of vegan protein powder into them with very little work.
5. Want to get fancy? Google it! Vegan waffles and pancakes and granola bars oh my! Based on what I've seen online, there's very little you can't do with vegan breakfast baking. I haven't gotten too into this yet, but I prefer my breakfasts to be plain and hearty--anything too sweet or complicated will unsettle my stomach. But go to town! Google will show you the way!

Note: Yes, I did just post a Jack Johnson song on my blog. No, I am not ashamed. It's cheesy and wonderful and there's a ukulele and I love it.  ;)

Bookshelf: Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

Distance. It’s essential to writing nonfiction of all sorts, including book reviews, and I have to start this review by saying that Jonathan Safran Foer and I are both lacking the necessary distance to write on the subject of factory farming.

Eating Animals is hard to review because I ended up agreeing with Foer’s conclusions so completely. I believe that Foer shares my fault: while the early chapters of this book state again and again that he is trying to create a fair, balanced, and thorough examination of the consequences of eating meat, an examination that would address the social, historical, environmental, and ethical implications of carnivorism, he is unable to do so. His investigations very quickly lead to such moral outrage over the cruelty of factory farming that his book is essentially hijacked; no matter how much page space he gives to the thoughts of farmers and slaughterers who are in favor of our current factory farming system, I knew very early on where Foer’s argument was going.

Fortunately, it was a place that I already wanted to be.

Foer started writing Eating Animals because he was about to have his first child, and after a lifetime of switching back and forth between vegetarianism and omnivorism, he felt it was morally imperative to make a firm decision on the subject of eating meat. He started by thinking about what eating meat meant in his larger culture (he’s Jewish) and in his family’s unique traditions, and moved on to personally visiting factory farms and slaughter houses and interviewing those who work at both institutions.

I won’t go into details here as a courtesy to the squeamish, but what he found was so shocking that it didn’t take long—maybe 50 pages—to figure out that he is well on his way to permanent vegetarianism. Foer does an admirable, shudder-inducing, nauseating job of describing the lives of factory farmed pigs, chickens, and cattle and the casual brutality perpetuated by the underpaid and overworked laborers being exploited by the factory farming system.

When I say “cruelty” and “brutality,” I’m not talking about slaughter; I don’t have a conceptual problem with humans, natural omnivores and hunters, killing animals for consumption. I’m talking about the largely unregulated, profit-driven factory farming industry that sees animals not as beings worthy of healthy, relatively painless lives and quick, respectful deaths but as protein production units. I’m talking about the short, filthy, disease-ridden, anxious, brutal, stifling lives these animals live in tiny cages. I’m talking about the cruelty that comes from stressed, underpaid, and unregulated human beings given complete power over animals and the abuses that spring naturally from that kind of power.

Beyond the hideous cruelty of the system, there is also the heinous environmental impact of factory farming to be considered, not to mention the terrible costs to our public health in the forms of mutated flu viruses, antibiotic resistant bacteria, epidemics of food poisoning, asthma and disease related to pollution from factory farming facilities, and the skyrocketing health costs that come from heart disease and cancer (both of which have been linked to the over-consumption of meat). Foer does great job of covering these issues whenever he takes a break from describing the farms themselves.

While I do fault Eating Animals for its lack of balance and its occasionally wobbly, indistinct structure, the highest compliment I can give it is that it has changed my life. It cemented my decision to move toward a vegan lifestyle. I literally shudder when I see meat now, because I know what happened to that animal. I know the moral cost of that meat. Foer has so convinced me that I don’t think I can ever allow myself to purchase factory farmed meat or eggs again. Not when there are so many other options available to me.

Basically, Eating Meat is a fabulous book if you are like me: interested in the environment and animal welfare and willing to be radicalized. If you’re not, this is a book that will sicken you and cause some painful cognitive dissonance. No matter what, you should be aware that knowing what factory farming really means will force you to make a moral decision about participating in our current food system; whether that is a good thing or not is up to you.

Snow Day the Third: Only Weather-Essential Vegan Cornbreads Must Report to Work

Holy moly, another snow day!

My parents have been requesting a link to the killer vegan cornbread I made for them a couple of weeks ago. This is a perfect accompaniment to any snow day soups that might be simmering in kitchens out there on this cold, wet Kansas morning.

I've always been on the fence about cornbread. For a long time, the only cornbread I knew was made from a Jiffy box. It was neon yellow, dry, crumbly, and largely tasteless, and it felt like little more than a distraction from whatever spicy stew or chili was at the center of the table.

But, as I've gotten older, I've encountered some truly delicious cornbreads, my absolute favorite being a sweet, spicy jalapeno cornbread baked in a cast iron skillet at Houston's on the Plaza in Kansas City. I went to dinner there with a friend and learned that, while the cornbread isn't on the menu, they'll make it special for those who know to ask for it.

But this cornbread actually rivals Houston's. That's right, a vegan cornbread is equal to the best cornbread I've ever had. If I can just incorporate jalapenos into this recipe, then I basically never need to leave the house again.

I won't repost the recipe here because I followed it nearly verbatim from the original. (By the way, according to the description at Food.com, this recipe was developed by an 11-year-old vegan baker for a cornbread contest which she, predictably, won.)

One note: this recipe calls for combining ground flax seed and water into what is known as a "flax egg." When exposed to water, flax swells and becomes all glue-y, which makes it an ideal substitute for eggs in binding vegan baked goods. It also makes for pretty little brown flakes in the final product, which I find visually appealing!

My flax egg, on its way to getting gummy.

This recipe calls for boiling the flax and water together for three minutes, but I've never seen that direction anywhere else, so I ignored it. Instead, I combined the flax seed and water, stirred them together, microwaved them for about 30 seconds, and waited until the mixture got a little gloppy. (Yes, that is a technical term.) It worked just fine.

Also, I replaced one tablespoon of flour with 1 tablespoon of vital wheat gluten for extra structure and sliceability. One of the Food.com commenters recommended it, and the substitution worked well, though you probably don't need it if you don't have any gluten on hand.

Trust me: this is tasty even before baking.

Oh, and have I mentioned the best thing about vegan baking? Like, the best thing ever? YOU CAN ALWAYS LICK THE BOWL WITHOUT FEAR OF SALMONELLA POISONING FROM THE EGGS. I strongly recommend that you at least lick the spoon after making this if not the whole bowl: trust me, it's worth it.

Vegan baking: GAME. CHANGER. Vegan cornbread: a very sweet snow day treat!

For a Spicy, Lazy Snow Day: Vegetarian Curried Chili with Chickpeas

Happy snow day, everybody!

In case you don’t live in the Midwest, about 10 inches of snow has been dumped in the middle of Kansas. Most schools and businesses were closed around 9:00 p.m. last night, long before the first snowflake had even hit the ground.

Today, I’ve baked a loaf of bread and made granola bars, but if I didn’t have a bunch of leftovers that I needed to eat this week, I’d totally be making this chili instead of blogging right now. It's just perfect for a chilly, blustery day like this!

Now, let me start with a caveat: I don’t really like chili.

Growing up, my parents adored chili. Some winters, they made it twice a week, and we always had leftovers two of the five remaining nights. It was perfectly fine chili—my favorite chili, even, with its rich tomatoes and approachable spices, hearty with kidney beans and ground beef—but by the time I went to college, I couldn’t stand the sight of the stuff. Never again, I thought.

Eventually, after about three years without it, I started to crave chili again during my senior year of college. I played around with a bunch of vegetarian chili recipes, got disappointed, and gave up.

But about a year ago, I stumbled upon Emeril’s spicy delicious magical unicorn of a vegetarian chili; I made a lazy person’s simplified, pantry-friendly version of it and was in love. Here was a chili I could get behind!

But the true origin of this chili came one night when I wanted to make it and discovered that I was short on both black beans and chili powder. After poking through my cabinets, I came up with a solution. Hence my magical curried chili with chickpeas was born!

This is a rock ‘n’ roll vegan chili. It’s hearty and swampy and satisfying and subtly exotic. The curry powder isn't noticeable, but it does add a layer of richness and aroma that's unusual in a chili. But most importantly of all, it doesn’t mess around: it is spicy. And award-winning! (I tied for first place in my office’s chili cook-off this year. I was waaaaaayyyyy too proud of myself!)

So, yes, this chili does pass muster, even with omnivores. In the words of my ground beef-loving, chili con carne-venerating father, “I would actually eat this again.” Which, in case you don’t know him, is very high praise.

This chili is a snow day essential, and it’s likely that you have everything you need on hand to make it. Even if you’re missing some of the ingredients, it’s a very flexible recipe: as long as you have the onions, garlic, corn, tomatoes, beans, and chili powder, you’re going to come up with something pretty tasty.

Note: I just saw The Delta Saints at a local venue. Half of the band is from Kansas, and they were shockingly good. If you like really loud blues-influenced Southern rock played by some technically skilled white kids wearing suspenders, definitely check them out. They put on a good show.

Happy snow day, Kansas!

The view from my kitchen window around noon today. What do you think? About 10 inches?

Curried Vegetarian Chili with Chickpeas (Lazy Woman’s Version)

2 TBSP canola or vegetable oil

1 ½ cup chopped sweet yellow onion

1 cup chopped sweet bell pepper (orange and yellow are best, but red works and even green will do in a pinch)

2 TBSP minced garlic (I don’t measure this out, but 4 cloves usually works for me)

2-3 minced Serrano peppers (jalapenos are a fine substitute, but please always watch out for pepper burns when you’re chopping!)

---

2 cups of corn kernels (I use frozen sweet corn microwaved to room temperature)

---

1 ½ TBSP chili powder

½ TBSP curry powder (replace this with more chili powder, if you don’t have curry on hand)

1 TBSP cumin powder

½ tsp salt (add more later to taste)

¼ scant tsp cayenne powder (if you want a milder chili, go with 1/8 tsp or skip it altogether)

---

1 large can diced stewed tomatoes (4 large fresh tomatoes work as well)

1 can tri-blend beans, rinsed and well-drained

½ can black beans, rinsed and well-drained

½ can chickpeas, rinsed and well-drained (feel free to use whatever beans you have on hand—a can of kidney beans and a can of black beans makes for a perfectly delicious substitution!)

1 small can of tomato sauce (optional—I’ve made this without the tomato sauce, and it’s a little less soupy but perfectly tasty)

1 scant cup water

---

To taste, salsa for spice and richness, salt, additional oil for richness, and red wine vinegar or lemon juice for acid and tang.

---

Optional toppings and accompaniments:

chopped cilantro

sliced avocado

Daiya vegan mozzarella

vegan sour cream or vegan onion raita

vegan cornbread

Heat the oil in a soup pot over medium or medium-high heat. Once warm, saute the onion, bell pepper, garlic, and peppers for about 3 minutes.

Add the corn kernels and saute for another 5 or 6 minutes.

Add chili powder, curry powder, cumin, salt, and cayenne to the pot and mix well, sauteing for another 30 seconds to a minute.

Add canned (or fresh) tomatoes, beans, tomato sauce, and water to the pot. Bring back up to a low boil and simmer for 20 minutes. (Or, add these final ingredients, bring to a low boil, and leave on low in your crock pot until needed.)

After 20 minutes of simmering (or hours of crock potting), taste the chili and add the "to taste" ingredients as needed (salsa, salt, oil, and red wine vinegar or lemon juice). Serve with cornbread, a blizzard, and bluesy southern rock. 

Here Comes the Sun: Tunisian Vegetable Stew from the Moosewood Restaurant

"And all was light": That about sums up my feelings about this golden-hued Tunisian Vegetable Stew from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. This was one of the dishes I started making last summer that made me think that going vegan wouldn't be so impossible after all. For all its humble ingredients and simple cooking method, it was revelatory.

One of the first things I discovered about eating vegetarian or vegan is that trying to emulate meat-based dishes will usually leave you disappointed. It's far better to look for new recipes and dishes that you've never tried before, dishes that make vegetables shine on their own instead of warping them into flavors they don't naturally have.

This African-style stew is a perfect example of this. This is what happens when you take fresh, healthy vegetables; cook them properly; and spice the hell out of them: satisfying, flavorful magic.

This recipe requires some chopping and some waiting as each round of ingredients softens, but, really, as far as soups go, this one is incredibly low maintenance and pretty quick to knock off. (I won't repost the recipe here because I follow the recipe linked above very closely, with the exception of leaving out the currants.)

What makes this stew "Tunisian"? Well, I'm obviously no expert on African cooking, but all of the spices (cayenne, turmeric, and coriander) are common to Indian cooking, except for the cinnamon. I know, I know, it sounds crazy--cinnamon in a savory dish?--but it adds a subtle, sweet, exotic fragrance to the otherwise spicy, tomato-rich sauce that makes it addictive. You can't help but want to eat more, and more, and more of the stuff.

Until, of course, it fills you up. Which it does admirably, especially at only . . . (wait for it) . . . 150 calories per cup serving. That's right, folks, you can easily go in for seconds on this one. I tend to make it on Sundays and eat it all week at work for lunch. I've tried it with rice and pita bread, but so far I like it best with a hunk of cornbread. (The dairy-free variety, of course!)

Also, can I just say that cabbage is a shockingly underrated vegetable. It plays so nicely with spicy flavors, and it's filling and nutritious, and coleslaw exists, and . . . Wait, I'll stop there.  It definitely deserves an ingredient profile of its own!

The Crabby Vegan: Lazy Pepper Pasta

Okay, so the very first week of this vegan thing, I had more late nights at work than usual. I came home each night tired and, in the great tradition of my father’s family, hangry as all get out.

Cheese used to be a great crutch on nights like these because cheese when added to anything at all is pretty damn tasty: tortilla chips, pitas, pasta, crackers, salads, whatever—it was an easy, thoughtless way to dispatch with dinner.

But that night, I wasn't about to give up so easily. I threw together what had to be the crabbiest, snarliest dinner of my life. I called it “Lazy” in the title above, but let’s be honest, folks: in my mind, it was definitely Bitchy Pepper Pasta.

The beauty of BPP (or LPP, if you’d prefer) is that it takes about ten minutes to throw together and it's likely that you have everything you need in your kitchen already. Pasta? Check. Olive oil or spray oil? Check. Garlic? Check. Scraps of veggies, preferably bell peppers and onions, lurking at the bottom of your crisper? Check.

Here’s the “recipe” written in the spirit in which it was created:

Get your salted pasta water boiling. While you’re waiting on that, splash your olive oil (or lightly spray your Pam) in a pan. Mince up your garlic and slice your veggies. (How thin? What, do I look like your mother? Follow your heart, hon.)

Whenever your water starts to boil, add your pasta of choice (I like whole grain because it's heartier and more filling), and set your oiled pan on medium high heat. If some of your veggies are of a tough variety, saute them first and add your other stuff later. Or, if you’re in the throes of an epic hangry, just dump everything in the oil and let it take care of itself. Don’t forget to sprinkle the veggies with salt to taste.

Saute until the minced garlic is a little brown or until the veggies are slightly soft but still firm or until you’re sick of sauteing and you need a break to pour yourself a glass of wine.

Your pasta should be about done at this point. Strain the cooked pasta and throw it in your veggie pan if there’s room. (If not, finish off your veggies and then dump everything in big bowl and stir. Whatever's clever.) If you used any greens like spinach, add them last and let them wilt a bit. (Spinach doesn't add much flavor to dishes when shredded finely, but it does add iron and makes it look kind of fancy like, you know, you put some thought into it or something.)

If you want a Greek flavored dish, add lots of pepper and a splash of red wine vinegar and maybe some kalamata olives and stir until everything’s warm. If you don’t have any of that crap on hand, sprinkle some red pepper flakes on it and move on with your life; nothing’s perfect, so this doesn't have to be, either.

Dump the whole thing in a bowl. Take a picture of it for your blog and lament how blurry the picture is. Reevaluate your life choices and wonder if veganism and/or blogging is for you.

Take three bites along with another sip of your wine. Sigh deeply as your stomach gets the message that it is indeed finally being fed and that you’re not going to waste away in The Great Famine. Decide that maybe everything is going to be alright after all.

Proceed to nomz. 

Pusheen knows what's up. 

Ingredient Profile: Chickpeas

I am not exaggerating when I say that I feel romantically toward chickpeas.

Image from all-creatures.org, which has a lovely write-up of chickpeas and their nutritional content. 

For a long time, my only experience with the common garbanzo bean was seeing their strange, lumpy, beige-ness staring at me from salad bars. I thought they looked like pelleted cellulite, and I was not into it.

The first time I felt my heart flutter at the sight of a chickpea was when I discovered Indian food in college. Chana masala (chickpeas in a curried tomato sauce) and chole saag (chickpeas in a rich spinach sauce) are perhaps the best tasting foods in the world, and you can make a lot of curried dishes with chickpeas at home that are simple, filling, and voluminous. (Spicy chickpeas and dill is a personal favorite.) 

I've also included chickpeas in vegetarian chili and spicy African stews with great success. And in a pinch, they perform admirably as part of an Italian-style pasta dish when sauteed with veggies in a little bit of oil until their skins begin to burst; just throw some vegan tomato sauce on top and add to a whole grain pasta of your choice. 

Oddly enough, Bush's really are the best canned chickpeas I've tried, thought most organic brands are equally delicious. 

Furthermore, chickpeas are great on top of a quick salad or even as a snack; I have definitely been known to scoop out a half cup so I can eat them plain with my fingers. They’re slightly nutty and salty straight from the can, with a tender, crumbly texture. They’re capable of taking a backseat to strong spicy flavors, the tangy freshness of tomatoes, or the acidity of vinegar or Dijon. Basically, they’re like a really fantastic character actor, capable of stepping up and stealing a scene when you need them to, or hanging back and supporting your other flavors in their Oscar-bid roles.

More than anything else in my kitchen, chickpeas are my go-to vegan protein of choice, full of protein and iron, satisfying and adaptable.

Perhaps such a ubiquitous food doesn't need an ode, but isn't that the whole point of a blog like this? To simultaneously celebrate and be grateful for those foods that make living the life we’d like to live possible?

Chickpeas are my Meryl Strep, and I will always give them all of my newbie vegan awards.

Image from Thinkprogress.org. Yayyy Meryl!

The Humdrums: Roasted Garlic Hummus

I'm just going to get it over with and admit it: this post is a cliche. A vegan blogger "experimenting" with hummus, that most hippie-ish of all hippie foods? That bland protein paste that so many people insist on smearing on a pita and calling a "meal"? That beige staple of the Mediterranean and patron saint of sad veggies wraps everywhere? It has been done. A lot. 

But it is a starting place, and it was the very first thing I decided to make when I chose to start veganing it up.

Also, when I don't have hummus, I'm lost. Snacks and quick-grab lunches become well-nigh impossible. Hummus is always there for you, always ready to go. And if you can't be with the tzatziki sauce or guacamole or (let's face it) veggie cream cheese spread that you love, good old friend-zoned hummus is always there for you. Maybe not in your heart, but, you know, he'll always help you move a couch.

Not only was I out of hummus a couple of weekends ago, but my favorite grocery store hummus, Sabra's roasted garlic, hadn't been on sale for a few weeks, which meant that I was considering shelling out nearly $5.00 for 12 ounces of the stuff. The below recipe probably cost me less than $3.00 to make, AND I got about twice as much hummus out of it than I would buying it pre-made.

A basic hummus recipe is a lot easier than people think: chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, salt, garlic, and lemon juice, meet my good friend Mr. Food Processor. That's. About. It. Even the exotic-sounding tahini is just unsweetened sesame seed paste, which happens to taste a little tangy and almost spicy. (If you ask a shelf stocker, you can find it at most grocery stores without too much trouble.)

And now for an admission: the first time I made this particular roasted garlic hummus recipe, I misread the recipe and made it wrong--super wrong--and really didn't care for it. Naturally. It was way, way  out of proportion. The second time around, I treated the recipe right and it was pretty damn tasty. (Though it did give me atomic garlic breath that was vanquished only by a good tooth brushing.) 

Ideas for the future:

• Blend a batch with dried red pepper flakes, a little chili olive oil, and maybe even a dash of chili powder or cumin to eat with chips and salsa. 
• Blend in a little bit of red wine vinegar, kalamata olive pieces, and maybe even some fresh spinach for a pita-ready Greek-style hummus.
• Edamame hummus. THAT IS A THING AND IT IS DELICIOUS. 

Basically, this recipe, like hummus in general, really welcomes variations and making it to taste. And it was easy to make--the hardest part by far was cleaning those damn nooks and crannies at the bottom of my food processor. Why do they make them like that?!

Note: I have had this post sitting in my drafts for three weeks. Veganism is going well--returning to blogging . . . now that's going to take some dedication!

Week 1: Early Lessons

This was really not an ideal week to go all vegan-y. Work has been hectic, with long, weird hours, which means that I'm a) hungry at work more, b) at home and free to cook less, and c) exposed to horribly tempting and distinctly UN-vegan cookies and brownies on a regular basis. I feel like I've been waiting forever for the weekend already! Not only will I be able to go to the grocery store and cook some good food for myself, but also I won't be burning through my calories at what feels like a ridiculous rate. (Being hungry every three hours is NOT going to cut it. Adapt, body, adapt!)

Still, I can consider the hunger pains to be growing pains. Here's what I've taken from this week:

1. I can't skip the grocery store like I used to. Grabbing a quick meal at work is going to be nearly impossible depending on where I'm at, so I have to give myself enough raw materials to cook with and snack on before the work week begins.
2. I really need to stick to cooking a big meal on Sunday nights, something satisfying that I can have for lunch throughout the week. Knowing that I had a big pot of vegetable stew to look forward to would have made me much, much happier at several points this week.
3. If I'm not eating something that I love for my meals, then the temptations I run into in between are going to be much more painful. Full=happy.
4. Don't go to a Mexican restaurant if you can't remember whether or not they have a vegetarian section on their menu. (This lead to the most depressing "black bean burrito" I've ever eaten. [Because it wasn't a burrito. It was a flour tortilla wrapped around a mound of plain black beans with a little hump of iceberg lettuce on the side. Sad face. ])
5. Fat is good. My body is totally missing the cheese I used to sprinkle on everything, and I'm having a hard time feeling full for long. So far, avocado and peanut butter have helped a lot, but damn. I've got to look into finding some fatty proteins that stick to my ribs. I've always been afraid of seitan, but maybe?
6. Never let yourself run out of chickpeas. Never. You will get home and go to make a salad and cry and cry and cry.

The good news is that so far, I'm batting a thousand: I was able to stay vegan for all eight meals and three snacks I've eaten this week. Go team!

About In the Key of Vegan

Welcome to In the Key of Vegan! 

For 2013, I'll be trying something fresh, exciting (I hope), and new: weekday veganism.

I'll be using this blog to post vegan recipes, pictures of my weekly cooking attempts, profiles of my favorite ingredients, updates on my vegan transition, and . . . well, whatever else suits my fancy. This is a blog about experimenting in the key of vegan--this blog isn't meant to be prescriptive, inflexible, or alienating. Vegan shamers or non-vegan shamers are welcome to close this tab and head right on back to refreshing their email inbox. ;)

About Me

After more than a year living as a weekday vegetarian and a little over three months of dieting based on calorie counting, I discovered that I was perilously close to becoming a weekday vegan without much thinking about it.

For most of my weekday vegetarian life, I subsisted on vegetables, breads, hummus, hard boiled eggs, and a tremendous amount of cheese. However, that diet actually lead me to gain weight, and when I began calorie counting as a way to get back into a healthy BMI range, I quickly realized that cheese just wasn't worth the calories. Hence my thick slices of cheddar were slowly replaced with a sprinkling of feta and then, eventually, with avocado, hummus, and nut spreads.

Once the leap from largely vegetarian to largely vegan started to seem more like a hop, there were plenty of reasons to do so. While veganism has largely been associated with the "cruelty-free" movement, I decided to join in primarily for environmental and health reasons.

Consuming meat (particularly that of ruminant animals) and dairy as produced by the industrialized food system is incredibly inefficient and harmful to the environment. Furthermore, meat and dairy products, while perfectly healthy when consumed in moderation as part of a varied diet, can also contribute to serious health problems.

Hence my veganistic tendencies. At this blog, you'll find weekly recipes, an overview of some of my favorite cooking ingredients, and a whole lot of enthusiastic screwing up! I'm a fairly inexperienced cook, and a very inexperienced vegan cook (hello, people, I grew up on chili, goulash, tuna casserole, Jell-O, and pizza!), but what I lack in experience I make up for in enthusiasm and my willingness to look like a well-meaning doofus in a public forum. You'll also find music because, well, I felt like posting music along with my recipes. Hit the play button if you like!

Here are some FAQs to get you started:

• What exactly does "vegan" mean?
• It means eating only plant-based foods and avoiding all foods derived from or produced by animals. This includes meat, dairy, eggs, and honey. There are plenty of good resources out there--Google it and go wild! 
• What is the environmental impact of eating meat?
• A lot has been written about this, and there are a lot of different factors in industrial meat production that contribute to global warming and pollution. You can find some good stuff about this at the Freakonomics blog, the World Preservation Foundation, Scientific American, and The Guardian. 
• Wait, how can veganism be healthy?
• Usually, vegan diets are extremely low in cholesterol and saturated fat and force you to avoid processed and high sodium foods, so vegans tend to be less likely to suffer from high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes. Also, veganism encourages you to eat a lot of whole foods and nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables. In fact, The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics generally finds properly planned vegetarian and vegan diets to be at least as healthy as and often healthier than the typical American diet. Moreover, there's increasing evidence that vegan diets can do a surprising amount to prevent cancer. 
• Don't you miss out on important vitamins and minerals by skipping meat and dairy?
• Sometimes, depending on your diet, yes. Iron, calcium, vitamin B12, and vitamin D are some of the most cited vitamins missing in a vegan diet, but those can easily be replaced by eating carefully and adding a multivitamin if you're not getting your recommended daily intakes. Personally, I only really worry about iron because I'm prone to anemia, so I try to eat a lot of beans and spinach and take the occasional supplement. 
• Why "weekday vegan" instead of going all the way?
• I was a strict vegetarian for a year in college, but that diet left me slightly anemic and very annoyed. It forced me to skip potlucks and dinners with friends. I felt like I was always throwing wrenches into plans and making life complicated for my carnivorous friends. (And I ate a frozen meal for Thanksgiving dinner that year, for goodness sake--it was heartbreaking.) For me, strict vegetarianism or veganism would be alienating to others and frustrating to myself. I choose weekday veganism because it allows me to socialize freely a few days a week while still making a big difference five days a week. I believe in flexibility and not letting the ideal be the enemy of the good, which is, in part, what this blog is about.

Have more questions? Post them in the comments below and I'll add them to my list!