Vegan Challenge: Vegan Quiche

Doughnuts at the Snack Table: An glance at my last month of very tempting emails.

My Day 3 Thoughts:

Without fail, at least 3 times a week a mass email gets sent out from various people in my office. The subject line reads something like, "Cookies at the usual spot!! :):) " or today's, "Doughnuts at the snack table!" There was 4 dozen of them. I don't even really like doughnuts (hah, lie. I love them but know how bad they are for me so I tell everyone I hate them). Try again: My self-control is usually quite good, but today, knowing I can't have those doughnuts, those damn doughy circles of goodness were on my mind all day.


I suppose its actually a good thing I "can't have" the doughnut.  As I mentioned yesterday, it's not like I'm particularly hungry. 

But that makes me wonder, had it not been for the vegan diet, would I want the Boston Creme this bad?

And if I were a "real vegan," sworn not to consume animal products for truly ethical and moral reasons far bigger than myself, would I still want the Boston Creme? Or would the thought of those poor cows and chickens be enough to put me off completely?

I also wonder... is there some small part of the Boston Creme that's vegan, and I could just eat that?

This is only day 3.

My Day 3 Menu:

Breakfast: Granola and Soy Milk
Snack: Pumpkin and Sunflower Seeds
Lunch: Last night's leftover (faux) Chicken Quesadilla
Snack: Apple
Dinner: Quiche

So I made this quiche... it took me forever. And I was excited about it because it required a lot of steps, a lot of garlic, a lot of sauteing spices. Sounds like it should be great, right? WRONG. It just tasted like tofu. The only redeeming feature was that I couldn't find a vegan pie crust, so I used a regular pastry crust, which was sweet and delicious (but cheating).

Here's the recipe. Everyone else seems to love it so perhaps I did something wrong??

Here's a lesson learned: When the deliciousness of a dish is largely based on a single ingredient (in quiche's case: eggs) you can't replace that ingredient with something else and expect it to taste the same!!!

Vegan Challenge: Homemade Granola

My Day 2 Thoughts:

I'm one of those people that has to eat every 2 hours or else I turn into Sigourney Weaver at the end of Ghostbusters, so I thought the lack of vegan snacks could be a problem. In reality, I don't find I've been all that hungry. 

I'm in the process of renovating my basement (office lemming by day, demolition expert by night) and I was actually kept pretty full by what I had to eat today.  I think it must be the granola.  Talk about hearty.

My Day 2 Menu:

Breakfast: Homemade Granola, BC Fuji apple, and soy milk (see recipe below!)
Snack: Sesame and Pumpkin seeds
Lunch: Mixed 6-bean Salad
Dinner: Quesadilla with tofu chicken and vegan cheese. 

This homemade granola recipe is excellent!
I highly recommend trying to make your own rather than buying it.
Processed granola tends to be high in fat and high in price, while this is neither!

Homemade Granola Crunch Recipe

Ingredients:

 6 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1-2 cups chopped assorted nuts
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/3 cup flax seeds (whole or ground)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup turbinado sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2-2 cups water
2 cups dried mixed fruit (I used dried bananas and raisins)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Mix all ingredients except the fruit. For non chunky granola, skip to step 3.
2. For granola with chunks, slowly stir mixture in pot over low-medium heat until ingredients become sticky and form clumps (it will be somewhat hard to stir). If you need to add more water, do so.
3. Dump mixture onto 2 large jelly-roll pans, spread evenly. Bake for 1-1 1/2 hours (less time is needed for the granola with no chunks), stirring every 15-20 minutes. Granola will be a golden brown when it is ready.
4. Cool granola by spreading it out on flattened paper grocery bags. Add dried fruit.

Store in an air tight container; it should last several weeks.

This is where I got the recipe from.  Thanks Vegweb.com!

Vegan Challenge: Day 1

I have prepared a meal plan for the week.
I have done the grocery shopping
I have said my goodbyes to all things meat and dairy.  Bye-bye milk for tea in the morning. Bye-bye brie.  Bye-bye spicy tuna rolls (I'll miss you most of all).
And so it begins...

My Day 1 Menu:


Breakfast:  Kashi Puffs with my roommate's soy milk
Snack: My own mix of sunflower and pumpkin seeds  (if you like trail mix, its cheaper to buy the nuts in bulk and make your own!)
Lunch:  Salad, lots of chick peas.
Dinner:  Pho (see recipe below!)

I love pho. I mean, I really love it. And THIS is a great recipe. I spent some time in South East Asia, and I'm not saying that qualifies me as a "connoisseur" or an "expert with a perfectly refined palate" but I mean, I spent 3 months in Cambodia.  And that's right next to Vietnam, where pho is from. So yah, I know what I'm talking about.

 

**I like to give credit where credit is due, but I have no idea where I got this recipe from.

The Best Pho You'll Ever Make

Serves 4

Ingredients:

6 oz. rice noodles

1 1/2 cups snow peas, ends trimmed

1 cup shredded carrots

1 piece ginger (1/2 inch thick) peeled and chopped

1 star anise

3 whole cloves

8 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth if you are trying this vegan!)

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/4 inch strips (obviously discount this ingredient if you're trying it vegan)

1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and cut into thin strips

1 tbsp fresh lime juice

1/2 cups chopped scallions

2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

4 sprigs basil

1 lime, cut into 4 wedges

Steps:

1. Boil noodles in salted water for approx. 3 minutes. 

2. Place prepared snow peas and carrots in a colander; Drain noodles over snow peas and carrots; Rinse; and divide among 4 bowls

4. Tie a sachet of ginger, star anise, and cloves in cheesecloth or loose leaf tea bag; Place sachet in a large pot with chicken/vegetable broth; boil 5 minutes.

5.  Reduce heat to medium  (if you're making without chicken, skip step 6 and move onto 7).

6.  Add chicken

7.  Simmer 5 minutes 

8.  Add bell pepper and lime juice and season with salt

9. Remove sachet; ladle into bowls; top with remaining ingredients

Nutritional Info:  (with chicken and chicken broth)

395 Calories per serving

5 g. fat (1.3 g saturated)

51 g carbs, 3.7 g. fiber, 38 g. protein.

The first time I made it it took me around half an hour, but since then have gotten much faster :) Try it out and let me know your thoughts!!

My Changes:

I have tried this good pho recipe a variety of different ways.  With shrimp/prawns instead of chicken, with different kinds of peas/shoots.  In this photo I've added some bean sprouts.  Its great every time.

So far, eating vegan ain't so bad!  (I feel like this is like one of those times in the movies when the lead says something positive, and the audience cringes because they know that shortly its all going to go completely the opposite way...)

Challenge: 3 Week Vegan Diet

I drifted back and forth from vegetarian to ravenous meat eater for the past 4 years.  Is going vegan really that big of a stretch?

I used to think that vegans were just birkenstock wearing, dreadlock sporting, PETA-freak, granolas.  That's not to say a lot of vegans aren't that way, but my research made me realize going vegan is also for environmentalists, health nuts, and feed-the-hungry types (I fall into the latter category). I was pretty much hooked on the idea of becoming a vegan, if only for a little while, when I read that:

“Nearly half of the world's grains and soybeans are fed to animals, resulting in a huge waste of food calories. The extent of waste is such that even a 10% drop in US meat consumption would make sufficient food available to feed the world's starving millions.”

A word of caution: Before starting any diet its important to do your research! I picked up Jack Norris' Vegan For Life, which includes all the info you'll need to do a vegan diet right.

The Motivation: My motivation to complete this challenge is going to be the thought that by avoiding animals products, I am reducing animal suffering, and in my small way possibly helping someone not go hungry.

The Goal: Save some animals, green up the earth, get healthy, and reduce world hunger!

The Challenge: Consume no animal products for 3 weeks
This includes meat, animal milk, cheese, eggs… if it comes from an animal, it’s stayin’ out of my mouth. 

Oprah went on a vegan diet for 3-weeks in 2008, and in February Oprah and her staff went on a 1-week vegan diet, so I’ll be using a lot of her recipes, as well as some additional ones I find on my own.   And lets face it, if Oprah can do it, I can do it.

Difficulty Level: When I was in my first year of university and I watched “Fast Food Nation.” There is a graphic scene in a cow slaughterhouse which really turned me off eating meat. I don't really cook red meat for myself, but will occasionally make chicken if I start to crave it.  Remember, cravings are your body trying to tell you something, and you should always listen to your body! I will eat a burger once and a while, and my dad makes a mean steak I just can’t refuse. For these reasons I don’t call myself a vegetarian, I simply don’t eat a lot of red meat. Since I don’t eat a lot of meat to begin with, and I am a big fan of tofu products, that part of the challenge should be relatively easy. I do, however, love bread, cheese, milk, etc. I also love going out for dinner but hate to order salads when I go out.  So that 'vegan option' is out the window. 


Overall Difficulty Level: 8.5/10

Start Date: Monday, April 11
End Date: Sunday, May 1