Cookies!

Today, I had an opportunity to bring in food for school, so what else did I bring but COOKIES!

Here is the recipe:

2 cups flour (white, or whole wheat pastry flour works)

1 teaspoon baking powder (increase to 2 for low altitude)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup raw sugar (this really makes these cookies much better, try not to use granulated white)

1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

vegan chocolate chips, to taste

1/4 cup water (don’t be afraid to add more though, especially at high altitude)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in your final bowl (as in the one you’ll be adding all the ingredients to in the end). Mix sugar, vegetable oil, and vanilla into a small bowl and mix well. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet into the middle of it. Stir the dough until well mixed, and then add chocolate chips. Scoop into balls and place on a well greased (that is such a gross word) cookie sheet. Flatten just slightly because otherwise they will come our exactly like you scooped them. (At least here, they don't flatten because of the lack of eggs…I'm thinking) Bake for 10 minutes. Take them out when they’re still soft, because they harden considerably when they’re cooling.

Auf Detusch (In German!)

Denn ich sagst du ich gehe nach Deutschland nachste Jahr, Ich werde poste mein nachste Artikel auf Deutsch und Englisch damit ich kann üben mein Deutsch. Ich hoffen es ist gut für ein zweite jahr deutsch schülerin. Wünsche mich glück :)

(because I told you I’m going to Germany next year, I’m going to post my next Post in German and English so that I can practice my German. I hope its ok for a second year german student. Wish me luck :))

Pesto Stuffed Mushrooms :) and a very large beet.

Here is the recipe for Pesto Stuffed Mushrooms

Pesto
2 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1 cup loosely packed cilantro
1/2 c. slivered almonds or pine nuts
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (or 1/2 a lemon)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup olive oil plus more for drizziling

10-14 Baby Bella Mushrooms depending on cap size

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
To prepare: Add all pesto ingredients a food processor and chop until it is a paste. If you can, drizzle olive oil into the mixture while it is still chopping, or add it all at once if you don't have a food processor with an opening at the top. Blend until there are no large chunks left.

 Spray/coat a casserole/pie dish with olive oil.
Wash and dry mushrooms. Pull the stems out out of the mushrooms and set in the dish. fill mushrooms with pesto until the pesto is even with the top of the mushrooms. Drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 20 minutes or until juicy and tender.

On the right there is a beet from our farm share.

 I just had to share this beet. It is pretty amazing.





To fix a beet, we've found out, you can roast them at 440 or 425 for 20-40 or more minutes and them chop them up and put it in salads and its delicious. (But beware, they will stain your clothing.)

Peace, Love and Mofo

Spinach Linguine with Pesto and Artichoke Hearts

Before

 

From Veginomicon.

It was really good, but I think would be even better with some red pepper flakes.

It used Linguine, Canned Artichoke Hearts, and a pesto recipe that used basil, cilantro, almonds, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and olive oil. I definitely suggest this one.

  After. :)

 

Also, a little bit of Hummus from today

I think more kids should eat hummus as a snack, simply because it is cheap, filling, a nutritious. Instead of MacDonalds fries. (ok, this leads me to a story, story time!)

 

So there is a McDonalds right across from my school, along with a 7-11, a dollar store, a sonic, a subway, and a really cheap soft serve ice cream place near by. So guess what the majority of my school does at lunch? No surprise. And man, the sugary tea and cookies at 7-11 are raking in the money for them. Ew. Just think, these kids are holding up the reputation for being in the healthiest state in the country. Shame. Now if we had fresh food at school. Oh man, we would all live to be 200 years old. 

Lemony Potatoes and Eggplant and Oatmeal Drizzles

After I got home tonight, I was really hungry and we pretty much just have some random vegetables, so I came up with something pretty good. Here is the recipe.

Lemony Potatoes and Eggplant for 1 or 2

1 Small Eggplant, diced into bite sized pieces (really small, like large potato size)

1/2ish cup water

2 small red potatoes, chopped in half and then into slices

salt and pepper, to taste

‘Sauce”

1/4 cup water

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 tspb. lemon juice (or of 1 lemon)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

To make:

Heat a large skillet to high heat. Once heated, add the chopped eggplant and 1/2 cup water. Cover skillet with a lid and let steam while you prepare the potatoes. Once potatos are chopped, cook in the microwave for 1:30-2:00 minutes, or until potatoes are almost done. Once water on the eggplant has cooked off, mix the ‘sauce’ and pour 3/4 of it over the eggplant, stir, and cover again. After 1-3 minutes, add the potatoes and the rest of the sauce and cook until brown and soft.

Also, I made Oatmeal Drizzles from The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes.

Their pretty good!

Magazine Review: Vegetarian Times and World Class Vegan Runners

So, today I will tell you all about what I think of Vegetarian Times.

Name: Vegetarian Times

Cost per 1 year subscription: 14.95 per their website

Vegan? Partially.

Good points:

• Lots of recipes that are easy to make
• A Recipe Index in the back that tells whether a recipe is Vegan, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Low Calorie, Low Saturated Fat, or 30 min or fewer
• Useful product reviews

Downers:

• Not completely vegan
• Sometimes to many non food product reviews

 

and also, I want to talk about Veganism and running. Because I’m a runner..and…a…VEGAN!

Scott Jurek is the first Vegan runner I can think of. He is a ulta marathon runners. Check out his blog here..

http://www.scottjurek.com/blog/

Also, a nice blog called No Meat Athlete

http://www.nomeatathlete.com/about/

and I just want to reassure you, if you don’t already know, that being a Vegan will most likely improve your athletic performance, never hurt it (unless of course your a junk food vegan). I’ve heard more testimonies lately that being a Vegan gave this or that athlete more energy and a quicker recovery time. Do you guys know any vegan athletes?

 

and finially, I’ve got a question. I’m going to Germany next year for 3 weeks on exchange, in Bavaria, where Kreisfleich (Cheese and Meat) is pretty much what everyone eats. Hopefully I’ll find a German exchange partner that is at least a vegetarian, but beats me. So I ask you-fellow bloggers, to tell me what you take on long trips with lots of traveling for food. Also, have you ever stayed with a non-vegan family? How did you arrange eating?

Peace, Love, and Mofo.

Vegan MoFo Survey

 Survey?
Day 1; Vegan MoFo

Favorite non-dairy milk?
Original Soy Milk.
What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?
Thanksgiving Dinner-
Stuffing
Pecan Pie
and…and…
Topping of choice for popcorn?
Olive Oil and Salt
Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?
Mhmm…thats a hard one. One time I made something, I don’t really remember what it was, but no one in my family really liked it and I was just devastated. It was terrible.
Favorite pickled item?
Probably just Bread and Butter Pickles
How do you organize your recipes?
I don't. I don’t think I have enough yet, but I should start….

Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?
We have a ton of compost, a ton of recycle, and just a little bit of trash.
If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods... what would they be (don't worry
about how you'll cook them)?
Chickpeas, Rice, and Tofu.
Fondest food memory from your childhood?
Birthday dinners.
Favorite vegan ice cream?
Banana, just frozen and blended banana’s
Most loved kitchen appliance?
The food processor or the Mesa Luna knife. That thing does wonders for garlic.
Spice/herb you would die without?
Fresh Basil
Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?
The first cookbook I bought, I think, was Veganomicon.
Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?
Homemade Peach.
Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?
My chocolate chip cookies. They are one of the biggest things people think you can’t make without eggs or milk.
Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?
Tofu definitely. Not a big fan on tempeh, but Seitan is good every once in a while.
Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?
I like cooking a big meal in the early afternoon so it will be ready when everyone wants it.
What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?
Nothing I don’t think. There's not much space above it.
Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.
Fruit Popsicles, An Amy’s Tofu Scramble Pocket, and Coconut Flakes.
What's on your grocery list?
Everything.
Favorite grocery store?
For Prices? Sunflower Market. For good food? Whole Foods.
Name a recipe you'd love to veganize, but haven't yet.
Cheese Grits.
Food blog you read the most (besides Isa's because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the
top 3?
Probably Vegan Dad.

Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?
Eh, I don’t really ever eat either.
Most extravagant food item purchased lately?
I haven’t really gotten much that is exciting for a while, but probably some Diaya.
Ingredients you are scared to work with?

Gluten Free Flour. One try with that was enough.

Happy Halloween!

So I have some pictures for you today from my Halloween haunts.

 
Salsa making, a ninja, Vegan Pizza from Louies Pizza, and Pumpkins.
Also, I'm all signed up for Vegan MoFo.

So, I will be posting every Sunday, Monday, Wednesday ,Friday, and Saturday for all of October. (Hopefully!) So wish me luck as I attempt the epic journey of guiding uneducated teens through the epic that is Veganism.

School Food

http://www.farmaid.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=qlI5IhNVJsE&b=2723877&ct=8842627&notoc=1&msource=Oct10News&tr=y&auid=7274922

This is an article about how to start getting Healthy, local food put into schools. Enough Said.

I don’t know if anyone out there knows just how bad school food is. Even as a elementary student, I knew the food at school sucked. Cardboard Pizza, Rubber ‘Chicken’ Nuggets….

Still, now that I’m in High School, I see kids getting Chips and Sugar Water (excuse me, ‘Flavored’ Water), or Curly Fries and Chocolate Milk for lunch. Gross? yes. Unhealthy? Yes. Contributing to our nations growing obesity problem? Yes.

Sure, there are athletes who eat really healthy because that’s what their coach said, or some kid who still has their mom pack their lunch, but still, that’s less then 20 out of 2000. I think schools have a responsibility to students to teach healthy eating habits from day one. Seeing as how schools are charged with 2076 lunch hours for students over 12 years. 2076 meals can have a profund impact.

The biggest obstacle I’ve encountered when confronting this problem is that healthy, nutritious food is ‘too expensive’. Is it?

http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution

http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution/school-food

One of my new favorite food icons here is the US is Jamie Oliver, out to start a food revolution?

Quite honestly, I’m a big fan. Mostly because I’m still stuck looking at this junk that the USDA calls food. Gross.

But anyway, what do you think? Do you have kids? Do they ever eat school food?

Once upon a time…

          I have a story for everyone. Ok, So yesterday in my English class we were writing an in-class-essay and my teacher was going to bring in Donuts for us to eat during our essay. Because, of course they were not going to be vegan Doughnuts, so I decided to make some of my own and bring them in. :) So I made the ‘Baked Chocolate-Glazed Donuts’ from The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes by Kris Holecher. They were really easy to make, and baked pretty fast, but they were kind of a mix between a chocolate muffin and a cake donut. I then made icing and glazed them while doing Pre-Calculus homework and then put Autumn sprinkles on them. After all the icing had soaked in, they were pretty good; but I didn’t think they were the best ever.
        So, the next day I took my donuts to school and I have never had that many people tell me that they didn’t believe that my donuts were vegan. Why? Because they tasted like something. That was so exciting! My locker partner stole some and handed them out and a couple people I didn’t even know came up to me and said that I made really good Donuts! Crazyyyy. So next time I’m going to bring in some cream filled fried donuts and then see what everyone thinks about vegan food. Yes!

      Also, today my friend came over who eats with me a lot and is really interested in my Veganism. She had never had Tofu before and so me and my other friend (who eats Tofu all the time) made some for her. All we did was fry it real quick in some bottled sauce I had in my fridge. It was pretty basic tofu. She said it was pretty good, but I was happy that she finally had tofu, and it was no longer that ‘strange white bean curd’ that is really disgusting because all I’ve done is eat it raw. (Which is what I hear almost every day about Tofu).
But lots of fun vegan awareness going on.


 
  Banana-nana Pancakes. For what? I don’t even remember.


   Linguine with Almonds, Breadcrumbs, and Olives from Supermarket Vegan.











Hummus filled Portobello mushroom caps also from Supermarket Vegan.

Heart Shaped Rice!

     See? Heart shaped rice! Tonight I got pretty fancy because this was the first time I’ve cooked anything in a while. (look what school does to poor children like me..) But anywho…
This was Basmati Rice pressed and then I used a heart shaped cookie cutter to get the shape…
with Ginger Broccoli from Supermarket Vegan and my own stir fried Napa Cabbage and Swiss Chard
along with a Buddhist Style Kung Pao Tofu also from Supermarket Vegan


Delicious!

BBQ Tofu

This was my Wednesday night creation. Here’s the sauce I made up:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced

2 cups pureed tomatoes (i used diced tomatoes and pureed them in a food processor)

1/4+ Annie's Naturals BBQ Hot Chipotle Sauce (or your favorite BBQ sauce)

3 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3/4ish cup unsweetened coconut milk

add

1 14oz block firm tofu, cubed or sliced ( but soft works too. All I had was soft and it worked just fine)

Heat a large skillet to medium heat. Add tofu and cook for approximately 5 minutes while you prepare the sauce.

To prepare the sauce; Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Puree in a food processor/blender some more if you would like a creamier sauce.

Add sauce and stir, making sure the tofu is well coated. ( Be aware, this recipe makes extra sauce, so don’t try to pour it all on there just yet.)

Cook for 10-15 more minutes, or until tofu is starting to brown/the sauce is boiling/ or its at the done-ness you prefer

Muffins, Muffins, and more muffins!

I recently got ‘The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes’ by Kris Holechek, and have been in a baking stupor ever since.

The book has cookies, breads, muffins, cakes, easy bake oven recipes/ single serving recipes, and some other yeasted recipes. Everything is really fast and easy to make ( although I tend to start modifying things and end up with a more complicated but just as delicious recipe)

The first two days I made 3 loaves of banana bread. Yep, 3 loaves. But I didn’t get a picture because they were usually gone by the time I found my camera. they were kind of small loaves, but that's perfect, because then I can make a bigger variety of things.

Next, Corn bread. Which I don’t have a picture of either. Darn. However, it was really delicious sweet cornbread.

Then, finally…*drum roll* ‘Randy’s Upside Down Sticky Muffins’ Which are those rolls with gooey pecan syrup on the bottom in muffins form.

this one was just a mini loaf made out of some extra batter. The plain one was really good toasted with Earth Balance.

These muffins were so good I used one as motivation to break my personal record at a Cross Country Meet. I wouldn’t eat it unless I did.  and guess what? I did! So i managed to sneak my muffin on to the bus and eat it on the way home. Delicious.

Today, Its my version(I pretty much completely changed the recipe) of the Peary Berry Muffins.

Here is how I did it.

Apple-Pearamon Muffins

2 1/4 c. whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 c. maple syrup or agave  nectar

1 teaspoon baking power ( 2 for low altitude)

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1/4 c. cinnamon or regular applesauce

1 cup almond/soy/rice milk

2 medium pears, peeled and shredded

1 c. apple, peeled, cored, and shredded.

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400. Grease or line about 16 muffin cups.

Combine Dry Ingredients in a large bowl. Combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in wet ingredients and fruit. Mix until just combined.  Scoop into muffin cups until 3/4 full and bake for 20-25 minutes. Make sure to check these after they get out of the oven to make sure the bottoms of the muffins are baked through.

 

 

Eating out with a XC team!

 So...This weekend I had 2 cross country meets where we took a bus both days, and then got dinner/lunch on the way back. Eating out with people can be interesting when you have no choice where to go. However, here is my rundown of Colorado Springs chain restaurants with accidentally vegan option (because, can we really hope that anyone but someone at Whole Foods even knows what a vegan is, let alone carries vegan food?)

1) Chipotle - Veggie burritos with corn salsa, guacamole, and lots of black beans? yes.
2) Subway - Their employees are not very well educated about what is in their food, but fyi, Italian Bread is vegan. I held up a giant line once to find that out.
3) Noodles and Company- They even have a sign that says what's vegan! I love their food!
4) Pei Wei- Has the best tofu i've ever had. I don't know how they make it so dense and delicious. Anyone have any idea?
5) Taco Bell- Yes, Taco Bell. Bean burritos without cheese are actually vegan. So if your ever starving in the middle of Kansas and there's no other food around, Taco Bell is available!
6) Grocery Stores - The #1 resource for a hungry vegan on the move. Enough said.

The past two days I ended up with a Chipotle and a Subway. I was lucky!


Also, thought number 2..
http://www.easyvegan.info/2009/12/09/defensive-omnivore-bingo-game-on/

Check this Defensive Omni card out. Hilarious!

The Science of a Vegan Lunchbox

But back to lunches.
Whatever you do, don’t think the only thing vegans eat for lunch is PB and Jelly on white bread.
First, acquire the proper lunch packing materials

•   A lunchbox, no brown bags.
• Reusable bags (I ordered mine online)
• Small and portable Tupperware containers for salads/dressings/fruit etc
• A Thermos (occasionally used)
• A water bottle

Next, fine tune what you can fit in your lunchbox
I usually take a sandwich/wrap (more on that in a minute)
A piece of fruit or a container of chopped fruit
Some veggies (I’m working on having on hummus on hand all the time too..)
And what else goes in there varies by day
If soup was the night before, then I usually take a thermos full and pack some bread and fruit in the lunchbox.
Also, some of my favorites are dried fruit, nuts, rice yogurt, some seitan/tempeh…and…stuff.

Vegan Lunchbox is a good book, especially if your in a rut of packing the same thing every day for lunch. What do you guys pack for your lunch; or your kids lunch?

Back to High School?

Yep, its that time of year again, as I’m sure all the parents out there know. So this means another year of packing lunches with  1000000000000 times more nutritional content and flavor then those bland USDA school pizzas. Yum!

But first, I recently celebrated a birthday, and here is some pictures of a deliciously vegan dinner.

      “Your Basic Chocolate Cupcake’ with Butter cream frosting from “vegan cupcakes take    over the world” (I’ve had these for two years strait, they are amazing!")

 

 

 

 

 

Eggplant Moussakka with Pine nut Cream from Veganomicon

Cucumber Sandwiches ( Cucumber Slices, and Tofutti Cream Cheese)

Grapes

and a Pink Drink Umbrella…whoop!

 

 

It was all really good, and leftovers have made great lunches this week!

Diaya and Pizza!

So I finally purchased some Diaya… and it was pretty good!
Here’s the Broccoli/Tomato pizza
  and the artichoke/mushroom/seitan pizza!
I have to say the cheese tasted like high fat Parmesan cheese.

It was pretty good, but I definitely wouldn’t eat it all the time. And I definitely couldn't eat to much of it at a time. It did melt the best though, out of all the vegan cheeses I've tried. Next I’m going to have to try the cheddar flavor. I hope its not quite as rich. My (non-vegan) brother wasn't to big of a fan of it, but thats to be expected. He really dosen't really like anything I do. However, it was good pizza!

Next up, Question of the week…
What is it like for you when you cook something vegan and whoever you made it for doesn't like it very much?

Veganism and Environmentalism

Do you think veganism and Environmentalism go hand in hand? Do you know any vegans that aren't concerned about the environment?

A big part of my reasons for being vegan is the effect meat has on the environment. To name just a few..

In Agricide by Dr. Michael W. Fox he states “An estimated eighty-five percent of all US agricultural land is used in production of animal foods, which in turn is linked with deforestation, destruction of wildlife species,extinction of species, loss of soil productivity though mineral depletion and erosion, water pollution and depletion, overgrazing, and desertification.”

The problem I see here is that we are so focused on global warming, that we don’t stop to notice the tool we are taking on our land and oceans. There is not only air pollution, but “water pollution, land contamination, soil erosion, wildlife loss, desertification, rain forest destruction” {Lyman, Howard. Mad Cowboy. New York, NY: Touchstone, 1998. 124-125. Print.}

You wouldn’t think cows cause all those horrible things right? But actually, a lot of land is burned and cleared just to make room for ranchers

It is a 16:1 ratio for pounds of grain to pounds of meat. There would be a lot more food in the world if no one ate meat. Also, think of all the extra energy (not clean energy either) and is needed to grow all that grain. There is the tractors, the planes and spray the pesticides, and all the harvesting and processing energy. The pesticides from the grain (because who grows grains for cattle organic? not many people) create pollution in our waterways and air. It causes algae blooms and red tides.

Check this out

http://www.madcowboy.com/01_FactsENV.000.html

If you can, check out Howard Lymans book Mad Cowboy. Its one of the most well written books ive ever written. If you think vegans are just animal lovers, he will point out the other impacts meat has on our planet and you can see for yourself. Again, I highly recommend this.

but anyway, back to my original question. Should vegans also be environmentalists? Are they environmentalists by nature?

Vegan Cheese and Tofutti

Right now, me and my almost vegan mom are out ona quest to find a good vegan cheese. Colorado Springs isn’t the most vegan friendly town…(like there is basically nothing, i’ve never even met a vegan here)  But our local Whole Foods and Sunflower Market has a few things

Our first cheese we bought was

This. It wasn’t all that good. It is ok toasted over veggies or stirred in Chili Mac, but besides that? Nope.

 

Next was

and this is way better than the other stuff. It dosent melt all that well, but it kind of tastes like goat cheese slices…thats how i would describe it. I’m planning to try all the other flavors and the cream cheese as well. Do you guys have any suggestions about your favorite vegan cheese?

 

Also: From now on I’m going to do (drumroll) Monster Question Mondays! (I don’t know..trying to get my alliteration in here)

for this week..

What is the usual reply to when someone says to your being vegan, “I could never be a vegan!”?

Seattle

Here’s the food highlights from my trip to Seattle.

A eggplant/hummus/pepper sandwich on Italian bread with beet salad.

The sandwich was really good but the guy told me the beet salad was vegan but it had honey in it…lame. It was so good to eat that after a long morning of traveling.

        Giant snicker doodle (who ever came up with that name?). It was AMAZING. It was massive.

         I noticed that it had tofu in it. Time for a experiment! I’m guessing that was what made it so moist.

 

 

 

 

 

Banana Chip Muffin. Fo sho. That thing was muffin heaven. My new goal is to recreate this thing. (except mabye in a smaller size)

 

 

 

 

BEFORE                                                      AFTER

We bought this yummy papya in Pike Place Market along with some peaches and baked goods and ate that for breakfast. Best breakfast ever.

I’m going to post our night at a vegan restaurant in another post. So read that one too!

Vegan food from Seattle up soon!

Check back tomorrow for vegan cookies/muffins/burgers and all around deliciousness!

Notes about dehydrating and Granola Bars

Dehydrating is tricky. A dehydrator makes it easy, but its easy to burn your carrots in a oven. For small things likes peas or corn, spread it out on a baking sheet so that you only have one layer of food. If they are overlapping or touching to much they will dry unevenly. For most foods the range in which you dry it in is between 125 F and 145 F.  Thankfully, meats, eggs, and dairy products are the hardest to dry, so if your new to drying, that's a plus.

After you pack it, make sure it is sealed very tightly so that moisture does not cause it to rehydrate and spoil.

Avoid mixing foods with non-complementing flavors, like peaches and garlic together, because they might aquire the others flavor during the drying.

To save fuel at camp, cook things at home and then dry them so all you have to do is rehydrate.

If you have fresh vegetables, blanch them before hand. (To blanch, steam the vegetables by putting in a basket above a pot of boiling water and cook until just tender, or you can also add the vegetables to boiling water very quickly and then remove, and plunge in ice water. Both work) You do this because otherwise the enzymes in the veggies will cause them to spoil. Dry at 130 F.

fresh, canned, and frozen vegetables and fruits are all good for canning

Dry fruits at 135 F. To slow the browning of fruits soak for 5 minutes in a mixture of 1/4c. lemon juice and 1 quart water.

 

Also, we made granola bars to eat at breakfast.

Anderson Lake Granola Bars

2 c. of you favorite granola

2 c. quick oats

1/3 c. brown sugar

1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup soy butter (these things are not low calorie)

1/2 c maple syrup

1/2 c chunky peanut butter

1/4 c. ground flax seeds

1/2 cup milk free chocolate chips

At Home:

Heat Oven to 350 F

Mix dry ingredients in large bowl, breaking up any clumps. In saucepan, melt soy butter, then stir in peanut butter and maple syrup and heat until melted, stirring often. Stir wet into dry and mix well. Oil a 9x13in baking pan and spread the mix evenly in the pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Right after you remove from the oven, sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top and then spread evenly over the bars as they melt. After you let the chocolate cool for about 10 minutes cut the bars but don’t remove from the pan. This will help keep the bars together later. After the bars are cooled, then remove from pan and store.

Vegan Backpacking Food 2

Day 2:

Breakfast:

2 packets instant oatmeal each with dates, walnuts, and a sprinkle of sugar.

(All of these were packed in one gallon bag, with the dates, walnuts, and sugar in snack size bags)

Lunch:

Backpackers Snack Attack Bars from Lipsmackin’ Backpackin’  by Tim and Christine Conners. + GORP

However, if we hadn’t made those, Peanut butter-trail mix wraps are always a good option.

Dinner:

Vegetable Soup

1 16 oz package frozen mixed vegetables (the kind with corn and peas and such)

2 4oz cans of whole or sliced mushrooms (don't get button mushrooms, they will shrink down to nothing when you dehydrate them)

1 16 oz bag of frozen peas

1 package Ramen noodles (oriental style is vegan, but you don't have to add the seasoning)

2 packages Knorr vegetable mix

1/2 cup instant mashed potatoes

2 tablespoons dried onion flakes

1 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon garlic powder

2 1/2 cups water per serving

 

At home:

If you have a dehydrator, use it to dry your vegetables, but otherwise… Dry the vegetables at 130 degrees for several hours (check them every hour or so, but it will take a while, just be patient). Break up Ramen noodles and add to a large bowl. ADd Knorr packets. When vegetables are finished, add to bowl and mix thoroughly. Add 1 1/2 per person to a bag and make sure to note how many servings you have.

On the trail:

Boil 2 1/2 cups water x # of people/servings and then add soup mix and cook until vegetables are tender (10-20 minutes?)

(to be continued)

Vegan Backpacking Food!

Backpacking food is a troublesome thing. This time however, I did it right. Hers the menu we took (this is for 2 people)

How I'm going to lay this out is a 'at home' step and 'on the trail' step for anyone who actually wants to use it backpacking

Also, here is our cooking gear

1 small pot

1 kettle? I'm not really sure how to describe that one... 

Plus a small stove

Day 1: This was our hike up, all we needed for this night was dinner. 

We ate vegan 'Mac and cheese'. It was surprisingly good. I would definitely eat that at home. 

Here is the recipe.

'Cheese Sauce'

   1/3 cup nutritional yeast
   1/8 teaspoon salt
   1/4 cup unbleached flour
   a dash  garlic powder ( i might even leave it out altogether)
   1/8 teaspoon dried yellow mustard powder
   2/3  cup water
   1 1/2 tablespoon soy margarine

1/2 box macaroni or Penne pasta (that's what we used)

1/4 c dried TVP ( i got mine from the bulk section)

1/4 c. boiling water

At Home:

Mix nutritional yeast, salt, flour, garlic powder, mustard powder, and soy margarine together in a bowl. Mix thoroughly with a fork until the margarine in blended in well. Add to sandwich size plastic bag and store for later.

Add TVP and pasta to separate bags and store for later.

On The Trail:

Boil Water. Add TVP to larger pot. Add 2 fl.oz (1/4 c) of water to the TVP and let sit to rehydrate (about 5-10 minutes)

Add about 5 1/3  fl.oz. (2/3 c.)  boiling water to the cheese powder and close bag. Mix by squishing the mixture around in the bag. 

Cook pasta according to package directions in  kettle and then drain water (the reason i use this one is so that you can easily drain the water off without spilling any pasta. I used the hot water to fill up a Nalgene and put it, very tightly closed, in the bottom of my sleeping bag. To make it warm. It was amazing. but anyway...)

Add the pasta to the pot with  the now rehydrated TVP. Cut the corner off the cheese sauce bag and squeeze into the pot. Mix well and eat!

(to be continued)

Update!

I’ll be off on a backpacking trip this weekend, so tasty vegan backpacking food soon to come!

The Incline Tofu Wrap

Today I hiked the Manitou Incline with some friends. The Incline is a giant staircase that used to be a trolley track, that is now just like a giant staircase. Its only a mile long but it goes  up 2000+ feet. Its pretty intense. Also a really really good workout. I believe Apollo Ohno used to train here when he was residing at the Olympic Center in Colorado Springs. But anyway, its really cool. After hanging around a while in town, I came home and packed or an epic backpacking trip this weekend (more to follow!) and went to a yoga class. By the end, I was…exhausted.  Did I mention famished? So, this is the recipe creation to follow.

The Incline Tofu Wrap

Makes 2 wraps. Time: Less than 30 minutes.

1 block tofu- pressed and cu bed

3 stalks Swiss chard- sliced and chopped

2 radishes-sliced

1 clove garlic, finely diced or pressed (more if you are a big fan of garlic like me, or..haha you dont have anyone to kiss in the next hour or so…)

1 green onion, sliced thinly (don't be afraid to use the whole thing here)

Your favorite balsamic vinegar ( I used a vinegar from a specialty Olive Oil and vinegar shop in Manitou, it was a Piniapple Vinegar)

1/2-2 tbsp soy sauce

your favorite hot sauce to taste

garlic powder or more fresh, pressed garlic.

4-5 slices of cucumber

1 –2  large tortillas.

1-2 slices Tofutti Mozzarella flavor vegan cheese

 

To Make:

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Saute garlic for 15 seconds, but make sure not to burn! Add the green onion, followed by the Swiss chard, and the radishes. As it cookes, make sure to stir it around.

Heat a separate skillet over medium heat, and if using fresh garlic, add and sauté, otherwise add tofu and cook for 2-4 minutes. Sprinkle the tofu with about 1tbsp of vinegar and cook for a minute or so more, until the tofu has soaked up and cooked off some of the vinegar. Add soy sauce to your liking, don’t be afraid if you use alot, it will cook off. Add hot sauce to taste. If using, sprinkle about a 1/8 to 1/3 tsp of garlic powder on the tofu and make sure to mix the tofu around.

While your tofu is cooking, spread the tortillas separately. Add 2-3 slices of cucumber to each tortilla. As your first skillet finishes cooking, divide the mixture into two and put half of each tortilla. When your tofu finishes cooking, add half of the cubes to each wrap. Put 1/2 or a full slice of cheese on both and add more hot sauce to your liking. Wrap and enjoy!

 

(Note to unexperienced cooks, plan out what you are going to chop at what time before/as you cook, so you don’t end up going “Oh s---! I need the swiss chard! Where is it? Where did my knife go! Is my dog eating my cucumber?!ARRRGGGGHHH!”. I would do things in this order,

1. Heat pan 1
2. Press garlic
3. Chop green onion, add
4. Chop Swiss chard and radishes and then add (the 1 or so minute of the green onion cooking is while I was chopping those and seeing what else I had in my fridge)
5. Grab your vinegar/soy sauce/ garlic etc
6. Heat pan 2
7. Cube tofu
8. Add
9. Follow steps

This is not as important in recipes like this, but in soups where timing is important, when you don't want to burn your garlic, and other things like deserts and pastries, make sure you have everything before you start and it will make you life so much easier. I promise :] )

 

yeah. eat that soybean curd.

Making Vegan food for friends...

Ok. So my friend's mom has asked me to cook them a delicious vegan meal. I need to create a masterful creation of vegan cooking goodness. What is the BEST vegan meal you've ever had? (or made,really) I would love some recipes!
So far, Zucchini Muffins

2 1/2 cups shredded zucchini (about 2 medium) 1 cup unsweetened applesauce 1/2 cup canola oil 3 eggs worth of replacer ( i think im going to use flax seeds) 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 1/2 cups sugar 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans Print these coupons... About Concordance™ 1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottoms only of 2 (8x4-inch) loaf pans with cooking spray. 2. In large bowl, mix zucchini, applesauce, oil, egg product, vanilla and sugar until well blended. Stir in all remaining ingredients except walnuts until well blended. Stir in walnuts. Spoon batter evenly into pans. 3. Bake 60-75 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
Also, soba noodles with stir fried veggies and peanut sauce. Does that sound good to you guys?

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