Crock Pot Meals and Bulk Food Prep

Hello!  It's been awhile since I posted, but I promise I've been staying on top of things throughout this busy winter spurt.  I have some new things to talk about soon, but in the meantime, I've tagged in Erica once again to talk about something fun we did on Sunday:

Last week on Facebook, someone had posted a picture of neatly arranged freezer bags on their kitchen countertop, stuffed full of food.  My first thought was "what is this?" and my immediate second thought was "I want to go to there."  There was a link to this blog post about preparing crock pot meals ahead of time and freezing them. 

I'm jumping on the frozen meal bandwagon.  I haven't really wanted to cook lately, other than usual standards out of necessity, and I love the idea of getting all the work (and clean-up) done in one day to last for several, so that lazier, future me can reap the rewards. 

Since we're trying to stay mostly vegetarian (we do meat meals maybe once a week) I didn't want to use all of the recipes in the link above, all of which called for meat.  I opted for the Healthy BBQ Chicken, which looks delicious, then went around the web hunting for vegetarian options.  I also decided to make a German Potato Soup, Beans Bourguinon (which is like beef bourguinon, I guess, without the beef or bacon), and a Butternut Squash Soup. 

(In hindsight I shouldn't have gone for two soups, and the squash soup is a little light in the bags so we might have to make both of them at once, and that's also not a crock pot recipe so it may very well not work out.  But, onward!)

First I assembled my grocery list and went on a shopping trip.  I don't think I've ever bought seven onions at once before.  Then, I divided up the ingredients into sections per recipe.

My haul.

Then I laid out my gallon freezer bags, labeled them with a marker, and wrote down the last-minute instructions I would be sure to forget, such as what liquids to add and how long to cook. After that, I laid out all of the recipes because I work better with instruction.

The plan.

Then came the chopping.  Lots and lots and lots of chopping.  That's pretty much all it was!  It got pretty Zen, after a while.  Each recipe produced two bags.

And three hours later:

 Ta daa!

We froze most of it, leaving one bag of beans bourguinon in the fridge for dinner this week.  It was easy to clean up since we didn't cook with any dishes, and I really hope these come out tasty.  Only time will tell!

Kitchen Overhaul, and What Santa Brought Us

If being robbed means that you come home and your house looks empty and your stuff is missing, I imagine that the opposite of being robbed would be if someone pulled everything you own out of its place and put it on the floor in plain sight.  One day, between Christmas and New Years, I came home to this:

And this:

Pictured: everything from my kitchen pulled out if its place and dumped in the dining room.

To be fair, it was a project that Erica and I had talked about, especially since a majority of our wonderful Christmas gifts were kitchen-related.  We needed to re-organize and make room for the new stuff, pitch some old stuff, and deep-clean the cabinets.  I just didn't expect to come home to it looking like I'd been transplanted into a Hoarders-type situation.

As tired and hungry as I was, though, I pitched in, because I couldn't wait to see the final product.  It was good, we pared down a lot of kitchen gadgets that we haven't used since moving in, wiped down the inside of  all the cabinets, and found some stuff that we had lost to the sheer depth of some of our drawers  (welcome back, decorative cheese knives!). 

When I came home the next day the kitchen looked like this: 

And our once-hopelessly-disorganized spice cabinet like this:

I took the advice of commenter Alicia from my September post about my messy spice cabinets

 and ordered a  spice organizer off of Amazon.  I could use a second one, actually!

I'm super happy with how everything turned out!  And all our new stuff has a home, which was the biggest concern, although we were elated about what our super-generous family gave us.  Erica's mom gave us our first stand mixer, and Erica's looking forward to making her own bread.  My grandparents got us an 11-cup Cuisinart food processor,  which has been a huge lifesaver already, because before, all I had was a little 1-cup chopper.  Needless to say veggie burgers just got a thousand times easier.  (Also, special thanks to everyone who's asked if I've cut myself on the processor blade yet.  Thanks for the vote of confidence, but the answer is yes.  Yes I have.)

Other faves have included an olive oil mister from Erica's brother, a set of five clear food storage containers from her dad and stepmom, and a cookbook from my mom that we've used four times already since Christmas.  It, and the food processor, helped us make this amazing pizza, our first shot at using yeast/making dough.

I cannot wait to have this again!

Overall, the holiday season was kind to us, and we're nowhere near tired of our new toys yet, so I'll continue posting about all the other fun stuff we get into.

Day 36--My First (and 2nd, and 3rd, and 4th) Attempt at Sand Tarts

It's been a while since my last post, and although the typical holiday hustle is in full swing, Erica and I have been doing an admirable job of not losing track of our goals and commitments.  We're still making all our food at home, and although we've not had the time to be as creative with new recipes, we've been pulling from our reporitore and managing clean, healthy, and budget-conscious eating.  So naturally, I've spent much of my free time over the past two weeks making very non-vegan, non-clean cookies.

But just like everything else this year, I wanted to try something new.  I can make chocolate chip cookies in my sleep, and I always say that they're my favorite, but that's not exactly true.  No, my favorite cookie is the stuff of legends.  One that most people these days have no time or patience for.  One that, apparently, is so Pennsylvania Dutch that my friends outside the tri-county area have never even heard of it.

I'm talking, of course, about sand tarts.  The paper-thin, crispy-crunchy, sugary-buttery  labor of love that I remember from my childhood.  If you do it right, they come out so thin you can see right through them.  And when you take that first bite, unf, they just crumble in your mouth and melt on your tongue!  I usually leave the cookie baking to my dad on Christmas (except for my chocolate chip, which Erica always demands), but this year I wanted a challenge.

However, not only have I never made sand tarts before, I've never even been in the room while they were being made.  And I've always been under the impression that rolling the dough that thin is such an advanced technique that I shouldn't even bother.  I don't even have a family recipe for them!  But still, I wanted to try.  I found a promising-looking recipe on an amazing blog called My Grandma's Recipes.  [I picked this one for two reasons: 1) I liked the name of the blog, and 2) this was one of the few I found that didn't call for powdered sugar, which I wanted to avoid after my vegan baking disaster.]  The only thing I didn't like about it was that suddenly, it became a two-day process, as the batter needs to sit in the fridge overnight.  But that was a common thread in all the recipes I saw.  If only I'd known that this would actually turn into a five-day event spread over the course of two weeks...

... Actually, no, I would have done it anyway, because I learned some pretty awesome things over the past fortnight:

• Meg, the author I yanked this recipe from, recommends lots of patience and wine.  Because of my 60-day water cleanse, I had to forego the latter.  Her way is definitely better--doing this sober sucks.
• I am a master of the technique of "creaming together" butter, sugar, and eggs.

Pictured: stuff that's been "creamed together," in case Hannah Hart was still wondering

• You can roll this dough so thin you can see the pattern on your counter through it, and it still won't be thin enough.
• Rolling this vigorously is a workout, also, I'm wicked out of shape.  After the first night, where I only got through a quarter of the dough, my arms were like noodles and I was a giant baby about it at work.
• One "batch" of this dough makes a ton of cookies.  I still have a quarter of the dough in the freezer.
• The only way I could get the cookies to stay together was to actually just roll the dough right on the parchment paper.  I'm so happy that I figured this out after only ruining one mini-batch.  I felt like a rockstar. Really. 
• For the first time in my life, I really see the value in convection technology, and I wish my oven had it. 
• Erica's family got the first quarter-batch, and even people as close as Philadelphia are not familiar with sand tarts!  (I also learned that testing your first batch on people who don't know how they're supposed to taste is really the way to go.  Huge confidence builder.)
• Decorating them is the only fun part.  I got really into different toppings, and I seriously think they're the prettiest cookies in the world right now.
• You really do get better as you go.  By my third quarter-batch, they were as thin as I think I'm capable of getting them.  At least for now.  

Anyway, my hat is off to moms and grandmoms everywhere, or at least those in the PA Dutch country area.  I have a new respect for you, and what you go through at Christmas to make those tiny treats.  I hope I make you proud; I really did my best. Happy Holidays, everyone!

Day 24--Another Update from Erica!

After Erica's "hat trick" day in the kitchen, she really got inspired to do more.  Over the past two weeks, she's actually been the one doing most of the recipe planning. And as work picks up for me, I could not appreciate it more.  So here's another post from her, updating how she's doing with the "water only" commitment, and some of her latest kitchen triumphs:

Giving up coffee was only supposed to be an experiment.  I told myself after 60 days I'd be right back on it.  But lately I'm wondering if I really want to go back to caffeine?  I function just as well without it.  I'm consciously trying to get more sleep, which is better for me.  So I changed my mind and decided to only go back on decaf.  

Now, though, I'm considering staying the course for the long haul.  Maybe having coffee (decaf) reserved as a weekend treat instead of the status quo.  This would mean I don't go back to those sugary flavored creamers on a daily basis, either.  It's funny how changing your habits changes your way of thinking.  

I've been more active in the kitchen.  Before Val's first challenge, when we were trying to eat healthy and rotating variants of the same old boring recipe, I mentally checked out of the process.  It wasn't fair of me; we're supposed to be a team.  So I definitely owe the household some cooking.  And I'm really enjoying it. 

I made another batch of muffins, banana this time, and shared with people!  I also discovered a love for the Indian spice garam masala.  A recipe required it so I picked some up, and now I can be caught sniffing the jar when no one's looking.  The recipe was for chicken tikka masala, which required an overnight marinade.  (The only thing I did differently was swap in milk instead of cream.)  It was delicious, and this week we're repeating the recipe with veggies swapped in for the chicken. 

 Chicken tikka masala, broccoli, and basmati rice

The reason for the repeat (other than how good it is!) is because I had to buy plain yogurt for the marinade, and the only quantity I could find was a big tub of it.  So, to make sure it didn't go to waste, the goal was to find clean eating recipes that called for yogurt.  I scheduled a vegetarian repeat of the above, and also used yogurt to make a spinach pesto sauce. 

 Spinach pesto, tossed with whole wheat linguine and mushrooms

We're starting to develop the habit for creating a weekly meal plan ahead of time, and building the grocery list around that.  We're saving money as a result. 

And yes, we pay for the monetary savings with more time spent in the kitchen.  But this is not "chore" food.  This is fun and engaging.  We spend time together while doing it.  We come home and look at the recipe board and get excited about what's on deck for that night.  Because most of the time, it's gonna be deeeelicious.

Moving forward, there are two ideas I'm excited to try: 

One, I'm about to run out of instant oatmeal.  It's been my staple breakfast for years, and while I've lost weight on it, I realize that it's still a processed food and I'm not controlling how much sugar (or salt) goes into it.  So this weekend, I'm going to buy some raw oatmeal in bulk and try some clean eating oatmeal recipes.  My goal is to cook a batch of it over the weekend and then keep it in the fridge, flavoring as I go. 

And two, I am going to stop taking vitamin supplements.  I'm lucky in that I don't have other pill regimens, but I've been popping multivitamins for years, taking for granted that it's good for me, never really questioning whether I should.  You can never have too much of a good thing, right?  Well, it turns out you certainly can overdose on vitamins.  Also, vitamins are more complex than just swallowing them, sometimes requiring other pieces of the puzzle (like fat-soluble vitamins).  And the best place to find that correct mixture is in clean food. 

Besides, those multivitamins have "recommended doses" right?  But supplements are not regulated by any governing body!  I'm basically trusting that the little pill I'm taking, which some strangers made in a pharma factory, will give me what the package claims.  

So if most of our dietary needs can be found in the foods we eat, provided we're eating the right ones, it makes taking multivitamins seem unnecessary.  Since I learned that I can quit caffeine, maybe I should break this habit too.

ETA: We had the vegetarian version of the tikka misala tonight, and it was amazing!   ~Valerie

Day 15--Potstickers, Take Two!

A few weeks ago, I made vegetarian potstickers after having some disappointing ones in Vegas. They were really labor-intensive and I felt stupid for essentially ruining the batch with white pepper, which I already knew I hated.

But I knew there was a good recipe in there somewhere.  So last night, armed with extra energy and a helper, I tried again (and left the white pepper in the cabinet).  So here's how it went, in four basic steps:

1.) Use food processor to chop up carrots, shitake mushrooms, cabbage, and red onion (about a cup each); mix together in bowl.

 2.)  Heat mixture in large pan with 1 tbsp sesame oil  and 1 tbsp ginger about ten minutes, until onions start to cook, and mushrooms start to cook down.

Looks so tasty, right? :-/

 3.) Fold mixture into wonton wrappers, making sure one side is pressed totally flat.

Yes, I cheated and bought my wrappers this time! 

4.) Place potstickers in hot wok with a splash of sesame oil, just until the bottoms start to brown.  then add 1/4 cup water and cover until evaporated (this steams them).  When water is gone, the wrappers should be sticky.  And that's all there is to it!

I was particularly proud of this batch!

The cool thing about recipes like this is that you can sub vegetables you like if there's something in it you don't like.  Although, even if you think you don't like cabbage or mushrooms, the way they come together is really so perfect--I don't think this would taste very Asian without either one of those.  I also found that the dipping sauce on the same page as the original recipe is perfect just the way it is.

Anyway, the verdict is: success!  These were a fantastic little treat.  Even with two people, it was still a ridiculous amount of work (Erica had lots of trouble getting her wonton wrappers to stay pinched together), but the yield on this recipe is pretty hefty. We'll probably both get to eat leftovers out of it twice.

Look at that awesomeness, just look at it!

Day 14--Our Thanksgiving

Another one down.  Erica and I rotate years for spending Thanksgiving with my family and her, and this year it was her family's turn to have us.  Our assignment for contributing to the dinner was simple: cranberry sauce.  I thought we'd bring a can of the jellied stuff and a can of the other stuff and be done with it.  But Erica has been really into finding new recipes since her big day in the kitchen, so she found a fancy-schmancy recipe for Cranberry Sauce with Apples and Ginger, so we set to it.  Turns out, even a fancy cranberry sauce is actually pretty simple to make.  And it came out looking and tasting fantastic!

I really, really wish I liked cranberry sauce

So our dinner was amazing and our cranberry sauce was a hit, but I do have to mention that Erica and I both cheated on our water-only pledge: her family is very into wine, so we decided beforehand to allow ourselves a few glasses.  No regrets actually, because we went right back to drinking water the very same night--that's right, I got through Black Friday with no caffeine! I'm rather proud of that.

Coming up in my next post, we tried again with potstickers, this time with much greater success.

Day 7--Guest Post, Courtesy of Erica!

As I've been learning how to cook such a wide variety of things, Erica has expressed interest in expanding her repertoire as well.  Since I've been doing most of the cooking, our cooking adventures struggle most on the weekends, since I'm always working.  

So I challenged Erica to make us dinner Saturday night with the following stipulations: She had to choose and shop for the recipe herself, it had to be clean and healthy, and not something she's ever made before.  I figured the best way to share this experience was to allow her to tell it herself, so what follows is a guest-entry from her, where she documents both her adventures in cooking and her progress with our water-only commitment:

~     *    ~    *    ~    *    ~    *    ~    *    ~

During Val's first 60 day challenge, I was pretty much on the sidelines.  But in this new challenge, it's 2-player mode. 

We're a week into the water-cleanse challenge, and it's more difficult than I thought it would be.  I have not been a soda drinker for years, but I do miss my morning coffee.  I enjoy the taste, and the little daily ritual of brewing a pot.  Also, it's cold out, and nothing beats a hot beverage on a cold day. 

 The first couple days, during caffeine detox, were tough.  I had already been tired from traveling and had to hit the ground running for the work week, and on top of that I had a splitting headache from withdrawal.  But that's behind me.  I've had to force myself to get more sleep every night,   and while I am usually up and ready to go in the morning now, I'm more tired in the evenings. 

 But I'm staying the course. 

 Now let's talk about last night's dinner.  It feels a little strange to be cooking with meat again.  I went looking for some clean eating recipes, and was surprised at how much variety is out there.  I wasn't expecting to see some of the recipes that popped up (pie? mac and cheese? meatball subs??) but I guess I wasn't grasping the core concept, that clean eating doesn't mean depriving yourself but instead means conscious cooking (nearly all the recipes had a nutritional breakdown estimate), cooking as close to scratch as possible so you know and control what goes into your food, and substituting unhealthy ingredients with healthier choices. 

 Anyway, a shepherd's pie recipe caught my eye.  I actually found two recipes, one with turkey, one vegetarian, and hybridized them.  I thought biscuits would go well with it, so I printed out the biscuit recipe too. 

 Oh, and I stumbled upon some muffin recipes.  I love muffins.  And I have a muffin pan, so obviously the universe wanted me to make muffins. 

 Biscuits.  Shepherd's pie.  Muffins.  In other words, a hat trick.  I didn't know if I could do it, but damned if I wasn't going to try. 

 After a quick trip to the store for supplies, where I may have inadvertently double-bought some stuff we already had (check your pantries, kids!) I tried to prep as much as possible.  I set all the ingredients out in three clusters, one for each recipe, along with measuring tools.  Since all three required the oven, my biggest challenge was parceling out the oven time. 

 I decided to start with the biscuits.  After a quick mental calculation, I knew I could wash and prep ingredients for the shepherd's pie during the biscuits' first stint in the oven, and boil the potatoes in tandem with their second stint, since they needed the same amount of time and I only have one kitchen timer. 

 Since I don't have a biscuit cutter, they turned out ugly, but with a little bit of butter they're not bad.  And whole wheat, of course. 

 On to the main course.  Here's the thing about shepherd's pie--it's an involved process.  Between the saucepan and the searing pan and the cutting board, it was a juggling act.  This included but was not limited to:  turkey, carrots, celery, green beans, onions, chives, rosemary, and garlic.

 I also mashed the potatoes with nothing but a fork.

    

Behold, this glorious beast.  

I still had another 45 minutes before Val was due home from work.  Plenty of time to get the muffins done, and after the crazy circus of putting together a shepherd's pie, the muffins were a breeze.  These were apple-cinnamon, and also sugar-free. 

 

These would go great with a cup of coffee.  Sigh. 

 PS  I like white pepper, and Val's vegetarian pot stickers were awesome.  

Day 6--New Uses for a Crock Pot

One of the things I've been vowing to do while I'm re-learning to cook is to use my Crock Pot more.  I got it from my stepmom as a housewarming gift when I first moved out more than five years ago.  I've probably used it less than ten times, infrequently enough that I forget why I don't use it.  I mean, who isn't a fan of ten minutes of prep in the morning, and coming home to a full, delicious, ready-to-eat meal?

Then I pulled out my Crock Pot cookbook, and I immediately remembered why. Most of the meat-based recipes call for gravy or cream-based soups, things that would undoubtedly taste great on a cold night, but things that we nonetheless try to stay far, far away from.  And the "vegetable recipes" are for little more than baked beans and creamed corn.  (There's a problem with cooking veggies in a crock pot anyway, you I haven't come across a recipe that would get ridiculously overcooked if you left it in for 8 hrs.)

So my crock pot really only ever gets used around the holidays.  Wanting to change that, I looked for less traditional recipes, and came up with a promising-looking one for Indonesian-style chicken. All I had to do was throw chicken in the crock pot with a little bit of water and soy sauce, garlic and ginger, and let it cook for the day.  It worked! Less than ten minutes of prep time, and I got to come home to an almost finished product:  in order to make the dipping sauce for the chicken, I simply mixed some peanut butter into the remaining water and soy sauce.  It was great!

So here's to the first non-vegetarian meal I've made myself since I started this journey.  I got to use my crock pot, I made a relatively inexpensive, healthy, and tasty Indonesian-style meal.  I'm going to keep searching for new things to do with the crock pot: wish me luck!

Chicken with Peanut Sauce and Snow Peas

Day 60--The Halloween Party That Wasn't

If you don't already know, Halloween is kinda my thing.  Every year, I have a huge party, costumes are mandatory, I decorate the house, buy a ton of food and candy and beer, prizes for "best costumes,"  the whole nine.  It's a huge event, and we usually get way more people that our house can even hold.  I look forward to it for months, and most of my friends do, as well.

I didn't time this 60-day thing to be ending on party day, but when I realised the coincidence, I was excited.  The original plan involved making a big pot of vegan chili, (and some regular chicken taco meat) slicing up some veggies and having a taco bar tonight, then cooking breakfast for those who crashed in the morning, and inviting those who wanted to stay to get celebratory sushi with us tomorrow.

Nothing ended up going according to plan.  See, we're right smack in the middle of the bizarre Northeast US October snowstorm, and it ended up being worse than anyone had feared.  Some of our friends tried so hard to get here that they only turned around at road closures or serious car issues, but in the end, we had to cancel.

The night wasn't a total loss; Erica and I actually found everything to hook up my original Nintendo and playing Dr Mario, and of course, since I made the chili last night, we ate like kings.  Now she's about to show me "Night of the Living Dead," which I have never seen.  Not the evening I planned for, but not bad by a longshot.

At least we don't have to clean up tomorrow!

Tomorrow I'll post some wrap-up thoughts on what I've been through so far, as well as what's next.   I'm sorry, I just don't have the spoons for it now.

Day 56--Eggplant, and What's Next for This Blog

People have pointed out that it's weird that I've never had eggplant, especially while doing a vegan diet.  I don't know, I have a pretty extensive blended family, and I don't remember any grandmas, aunts, or moms claiming that they had the best Eggplant Parmesan.  Nonetheless, recipes for eggplant dishes always seem to be generational things, so I somehow felt it wasn't my place to try making eggplant, if I wasn't inheriting the recipes from older generations.

The more I thought about it, the sillier that seemed, so I got a recipe for roasted vegetables that included eggplant.  I used the recipe as a very rough guide (what the hell is red rice, anyway?) so I threw together red onion, broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, and eggplant in some EVOO and balsamic vinegar.  I've never roasted veggies in balsamic vinegar before, so it was more than one kind of risk.  But it turned out pretty good!

The eggplant was a bit mushy and thus not my favorite, but the rest of the veggies turned out quite nice.  I may try eggplant again, but I think next time I will have someone else make it for me.

The french fries were an emergency backup plan =D

Well, my 60-day vegan stint is rapidly coming to an end!  I can say I've learned enough about this lifestyle that  I do want to keep, for the most part.  Probably not as extreme with the "vegan rules" as I have been, but I'll continue to try new things and post my findings.

Erica and I have also committed to another extreme 60-day challenge that will start as soon as we get back from Vegas (November 13).   More details on that to follow, but I'm telling you, this one is probably going to be even harder for me.

Day 52--A Solution to My Sandwich Problems

For the longest time, the idea of permanently adopting a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle has really appealed to me.  There are a lot of reasons I didn't act on it until now, but one of the main ones I've always given is "I can't live without sandwiches."  It sounds like a lame excuse, but it's very real.  I used to eat a turkey sandwich every day for lunch, and I could continue that for the rest of my life, and I'd still never get sick of it.  Turkey, American cheese, mayo, lettuce, tomato, and oregano--not even close to vegan.

So, of course, lunch adjustments have been pretty difficult.  I tried a meatless sandwich wrap back at the beginning of this 60-day stint, and it was pretty ... awful.

So after this past Sunday's amazing mushroom sandwich at Isaac's, I tried to recreate the magic. And it worked!  Here's what I did:

3 portabella caps cut in thick slices
4 tbsp. Olive oil
Garlic powder
Oregano
Onion powder

Pour the olive oil into a bowl, mix in the spices until they're even throughout the oil.  Spread the oil mix on both sides of each mushroom slice.

Grill on each side for 4-5 minutes.

I used a grill pan because it's cold outside. Also, I'm out of propane.

These were fantastic.  I put them on a sandwich with tomato, lettuce, and dijon mustard.  Very different from the bland turkey and mayo that I'm used to, but it was awesome!  These mushrooms are a little pricey, so this will have to be a once-in-a-while thing, but the wait will be worth it.

Eight days left, and I finally figured out the sandwich.

Day 44--An Attempt at Vegan Baking

So, I've been putting off trying baking, mostly because yummy cookies and breads are some of the very things I've been trying to avoid.  But also because I was super intimidated at the prospect of baking without eggs.  And, I mean, applesauce as a substitute?  Really?   I can't even remember the last time I bought applesauce.  So I found a recipe for vegan sugar cookies that didn't call for anything to really replace the eggs.  I should have known something was off then and there, but whatever, I'm new at this, so I gave it a shot.

I should also know by now when a recipe calls for an ingredient I don't like, I'm probably not going to like the result.  But I figured, how much could a teaspoon of almond extract really bother me even though I hate almonds? Hmm, red flag #2.  Moving on.  Wait, did I mention that this sugar cookie recipe did not have any regular white sugar in it?  Yeah, powdered sugar only, what.  You know, sometimes a guy in a uniform tells you he's a cop, and you just trust that he knows what he's doing with the handcuffs.  I followed the recipe. Sue me.

So the rest of the ingredients went something like water, soymilk, vanilla, cornstarch, and flour.  And, in my classic tradition of making something for the first time, I made a huge mess:

The wine was totally necessary

As you can see, I had the regular sugar out anyway.  That came later.  When I got everything mixed to the consistency of caulking, I decided it was maybe a bit too thick, so I added some water.  Not much change, but it's cool, I've got flour, I can roll this mess into the shape of a cookie....

Then comes my favorite part, toppings.  See, I've long been a fan of the classic chocolate chip cookie, and until now, that was the only kind I ever made from scratch.  But they have a significant downside in that it's never appropriate to garnish them with cinnamon sugar and assorted colored sprinkles.  The sugar cookies were my chance to go all out. 

Two things I found out, one will be a surprise, and one won't--not-surprise first:

• These cookies were gross.  They were dry and flavorless, oh, except for the almond extract which made them smell like anise.  Ugh.  But surprisingly,
• The batter, which we were free to eat without fear of salmonella (not that that's ever stopped me before), was actually pretty decent.  Just goes to show that cookie dough is the most awesome thing in the world.  That's right, even better than cookies.

 At least they look really good, right?

Nonetheless, Erica has been a real trooper, "taking one for the team," and eating the cookies.  At least one of us thinks they're edible.  I'll try again someday, but for now, I think baking may be way too much effort and mess for treats I'm not supposed to be eating anyway.

Day 33--A Dinner Guest, and Thai Food

My sister has been one of the people most interested in my vegan journey.  We've been talking about it a lot, she's always interested to know what I've been eating, and she's been following this blog pretty regularly.  We live pretty close to eath other, and we've been saying that we need to get together more often.  So when she suggested we get together to a vegan-themed dinner on Friday night, I thought that was perfect!

We decided on Thai, which was another first for me.  I found some really great recipes for Pad Thai and a cucumber salad, and I couldn't wait to get started! I know most of my plan was to focus around being healthy, but guess why everyone likes Thai food so much?  It has a ton of sugar in it.  I figured what the hell, the only sugar I've had in weeks came from grapes and apple juice, so I can afford just this one meal.  Plus, as soon as I saw the recipe for Pad Thai, my mouth was watering for it.

I was nervous about having a dinner guest, and I don't know why.  As much as I've been sharing talking about this, I've been a little reluctant to share food. I don't know what I'm afraid of--judgment, people thinking I'm one of those "pushy vegans," people thinking my food is gross or my choices are invalid.  I was also a little afraid of asking other people to eat tofu, because I know it's one of those things... I've only ever made it two times myself.  But I knew my sister would be willing to try it!

In any case, dinner was a huge success.  It took forever to make, and I kind of made a huge mess, but I always get better at that kind of thing the second and third time I make the same thing. Part of the reason I lovew Thai is because of all the extras you get to put on it, and everything looked so good with the peanuts, lime wedges, and sesame seeds on the salad.  The only thing I didn't get to put in it was sprouts, because my grocery store was sold out of them.  But overall, proabably the tastiest thing I've made so far!  The girlfriend and the sister really enjoyed it, and the night was a lot of fun.  I can't wait to do it again!

Cucumber Salad with toasted sesame seeds;

Pad Thai w/ tofu, peanuts, and lime

Day 30--Half-way Point, and I MADE SOUP!!!!

Well, I'm halfway through this vegan journey, and I just wanted to say a huge THANKS to everyone that's been reading along!  Every few days, I run into someone I haven't seen in awhile and they say "Oh, I've been following your blog! How's that going?"  It's been so uplifting; it keeps me going.  If you're wondering what's in store for the next 30 days, I've been getting requests  for more recipes (links or originals), so I'm going to make sure that happens.  Starting today, actually!

So tonight I came home from work with only one goal:  use food I have in the house to make dinner without going to the grocery store.  I was nervous, because all I had at home was a squash, which I bought impulsively last week and have never prepared before, an onion, and a couple of random fruits.  In my research of what the hell one does with a squash, I kept coming back to soup.  I settled on this amazing recipe for  Vegetarian Butternut Squash Soup with Apples  (which is easy to make vegan with one tiny tweak). 

First thing's first:  I know why people rarely make their own soup--it is involved!!  Cutting a squash is no walk in the park. Seriously, I might have blisters tomorrow.  But it was so worth it.  After all the cutting was done, all I had to do was cook the squash, onion, and apples in vegetable broth and applesauce, then blend it together.  It was a huge hit! Such a perfect savory dish for a nice, crisp autumn day.   And it gave me another "first:" my very first homemade soup.

So, here's to the next 30 days: I hope everything we eat is as tasty as what we had tonight.

I improvised the cinnamon garnish, and even that was delightful!

Day 26--Game Day, Vegan Style!

Football on Sunday is an American tradition.  This week, I was lucky enough to have one of my best buds from out of town and my brother come over for the afternoon games.  All week, I'd been debating on what to put out for appetizers--would people who aren't doing what I'm doing appreciate game day snacks that aren't the typical pizza rolls, spinach queso dips, and bacon-wrapped-whatevers?  I thought maybe I should mix it up, put out some vegan and nonvegan selections.  But then I thought, you know, I'm having a lot of fun with this, what's the harm in exposting people to the good stuff that's out there?  Plus, my buddy recently ditched junk food, so I figured he'd probably appreciate a healthier spread.

Unfortunately, I had a busy weekend, making my own appetizers was out of the question.  The grocery store had me covered, though!  I decided to put out bruschetta with toasted baguette slices, Triscuits and veggies with two flavors of hummus.  Not the most homemade thing in the world, but it was a hit!   The Eagles lost, but the comany was good, so I think a fun time was had by all.

Yes, even our beer is from a 100% vegan brewery.

Oh, and tonight's dinner was too good not to include in this post:  It was the first Asian stir-fry I've done  since stating this thing. A few years ago, it was something I'd make with chicken and chicken broth, and while those were easy enough to replace, remembering the actual recipe was a challenge.  So I pretty much just threw together every vegetable I could find, soy sauce, a bit of veggie stock, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes for heat, and ate it over brown rice. Man, this dish is even better than I remember it; and look at all the colors!

Onions+Mushroms+Broccoli+Red Bell Pepper+Zucchini+Carrots=All The Yum!

Day 20--Adventures in Advanced* Cooking!

*Okay, my usage of the word "advanced" is relative.   When I say that, what I actually mean is I'm not used to making things that involve cooking in steps, or using a food processor, and last night's dinner involved both!

For my final step in adding beans to my diet,  I got a recipe for healthy veggie burgers.  Of everything I've made so far, I thought last night's ingredients made an incredibly tasty-looking picture:

Excitingly healthy looking, right?  Well, I was excited.  And then I learned some things:

1. My food processor is tiny.  I could only fit about a quarter of this stuff in there at a time, so, getting the mixture prepped took almost an hour, and got super messy at times.
2. You should read the whole recipe before you decide that's the right one for you.  I actually got the mixture all together, ready to press it into patties, when I saw the recipe called for them to be pan-fried instead of baked (what the hell, recipe??).  And my fallback recipe had only Celcius instructions for the stove (yeah, I'd had too many glasses of wine for conversions).  So I ended up winging the cooking time and temp.
3. All vegan recipes call for way too many onions.  I like (cooked) onions as much as the next guy, but seriously, sometimes less is more.  I'm glad I used my judgement on this one.

In the end, I think my efforts paid off!  I liked it, and I think Erica did, too.  I'm forcing her to be honest with me in this process, because if I make something she doesn't like, I want to know!  She said these are "different," meaning they don't taste like hamburgers, but that's to be expected, I think.  She did eat two, so it couldn't have been the worst thing ever.   Although I have to agree, the average meat-and-potatoes palate would think this is pretty off the wall.  Me, I'm really excited about having the leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

Chickpea veggie burger with lettuce and tomato on whole wheat bun.

Day 15--Quarter of the Way There, and Last Night's Surprise

So, today officially marks my 1/4-of-the-way point with this vegan cleanse, and I'm feeling really great about it!  As soon as I gave up the caffeine, I started falling asleep almost as soon as I went to bed, whereas, I used to have to lie awake for an hour, maybe two.  It was affecting me way more than I thought.  As a result, my energy is way up.

Food temptation is not at all what I thought it would be.  In the grocery store, I really enjoy shopping for all the produce, and I have no problem skipping the "bad" aisles.  I really only eat processed food once a day, and usually, that food is Cheerios, so I can't even feel too bad about that.  To be honest, though, I miss cheese like crazy. It has always been my biggest weak spot, and it's one of the reasons I'm glad I decided to make this a "vegan" thing--otherwise, I would be justifying my need for cheese at this very moment.  I love cheese on everything.  I don't think there's such a thing as "too much" cheese.  If I decide to add it back into my diet when this is over, I need to find a point of moderation.

The biggest thing I struggle with right now is the work.  I put so much time into this!  Finding new recipes, cooking from scratch, longer trips to the store because I'm being careful about the choices, more frequent trips because no matter how much I plan, never get everything I need in the "big trip."  And the dishes. Dear Lord, the dishes are never ending!  I feel like I'm always doing a chore.  It's definitely not easy.

Which is what made last night so nice:  I worked until 6, I knew we were in need of a grocery trip, and I kept trying throughout the day to get online and get an idea for dinner, but I wasn't getting the chance.  I texted Erica in desperation for ideas, and she texted back with those four magic words: "I've got dinner covered."  It not often that she start-to-finish handles a meal, but I was so happy just not to have to deal with it, I would have eaten anything.

Turns out she made us vegan burritos,  a Tony Horton (of  P90X) recipe, and they were amazing. See, we like to say we don't eat fast food, and for the most part, that is true: we don't do McDonald's or any of the various burger joints ever. But, but, we do occasionally indulge in Chipotle or Qdoba burritos because they are made by gods or something.  We've been saying we should find a healthy recipe that mimics them and Erica really hit the jackpot.  No cheese or sour cream, and brown rice instead of white, but otherwise, it was just like it!  (Minus the food hangover, because we could also control our own portion sizes.)   If you're interested in the recipe, she got it here.

Anyway, I was so proud of her. And she was so into it, it was fun to watch her cook.  I hope this bug strikes her again sometime soon. *hint, hint*