The Post-Punk Kitchen

In the last entry I shared with you my love for my new cookbook "Vegan with a Vengeance," by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I wanted to also put you in-the-know about her website, "The Post-Punk Kitchen," where she has her cooking show episodes posted for all to see. Even if you're not a vegan, these recipes look quite tasty (I haven't tried them yet). Plus, it's just fun to watch - I'm a "dry wit" girl, and this show is full of it. Check it out.

Risotto, My Love!

For my birthday my husband got me the best vegan cookbook EVER: "Vegan With A Vengeance."

Not only is it fun to read, but the recipes are really accessible. I mean, most of them use ingredients that I've never tried, but wasn't that part of the point of me becoming a vegan? To expand my horizons? I made my first dish from this book tonight - "Mushroom and Sun-Dried Tomato Risotto."

I knew I'd have to make a little jaunt across town to "Whole Foods" (natural grocery store with lots of specialty items) for this one, as it called for several things that the "Bi-Lo" just wouldn't have, i.e. cremini mushrooms, fresh herbs, arborio rice. In the past, although I love shopping at "Whole Foods," I've shied away from it just because it is more expensive on most things. However, I decided that if I was going to be serious about being a vegan and actually enjoy it, I'd have to suck it up and pay a little extra now and then for those special ingredients.

It took me an hour to find everything I was looking for, mostly because I'm so used to seeing my food packaged in a certain way that I didn't recognize it even when it was right in front of me. For example, it took me 10 minutes to find and bag my mushrooms. I saw mushrooms right away, but they were loose in a box in front of a sort of fresh veggie deli counter. And they were $5 a pound. Well, surely these had to be the special mushrooms. Weren't there any more somewhere, perhaps in a shrink-wrapped styrofoam container? Nope. I reluctantly bagged up what I thought was 3 cups of cremini mushrooms, just knowing that that bag was probably worth more than my shoes. Surprisingly, that big bag didn't even come to a pound. In retrospect, of course it wasn't a pound! Mushrooms are primarily air. I just saw the sticker price and freaked out. If the sticker had said "35 mushrooms for $5," I'd have gone, "Oh, what a bargain!"

I was also pleasantly surprised to find that the fresh herbs were much less expensive at "Whole Foods" than I had seen them for at other stores. And I didn't need to use tons of any one of them, so they will last me for several recipes.

The hardest things for me to find were the arborio rice and nutritional yeast (yeast is for another recipe - stay tuned). I was looking all over the store for them in their pre-packaged bags, the way I'd normally find them. But here these items were kept in bins, much like candy in a candy store. As it turns out, "Whole Foods" buys the majority of the nuts and grains they sell in bulk so that they can a) keep prices down and b) reduce the amount of unnecessary packaging that goes on, thus saving even more money and creating less waste. Three cheers for them! Again, the prices on the bins made me a little nervous. But really, nutritional yeast weighs about as much as saw dust.

My point? I didn't go broke at the register today. Although I don't think that it would be financially prudent to do all of my grocery shopping at the health food store, I am no longer scared to walk out of there with a large paper bag full of food. Especially when the food is so obviously better (tasting and nutritionally) than what I could get at my regular market.

As for the risotto, this recipe was so wonderful that even my husband, a self-proclaimed mushroom hater, said he would eat it as a main dish if I was to make it again. It says that it serves 4, but I had quite a bit of it tonight and still ended up with 5 one-cup servings as leftovers. I'm not generally a cookbook girl. Like, I can usually take 'em or leave 'em and I don't use them but maybe on holidays. But do yourself a favor and BUY THIS BOOK and all of the savory pseudo-fancy ingredients that comprise the recipes in it.

That is all.

Ricism Addendum

Just a quick note: in my entry entitled "Ricism" I concluded that white rice isn't necessarily bad for you, just not AS good as brown rice or whole grain. Wellllll......I've since read that white rice actually isn't the best choice because the process of making the rice white removes the alkaline from the rice, causing it to raise the acid levels in our bodies and throw off our pH balance. It breaks down into sugar much more quickly than brown rice, throwing insulin compensation into overdrive, making a person more susceptible to diabetes.

So there ya' go. The naked truth about rice. That is all.

It's Mini! (part 2)

As stated in the last entry, I love all things mini. So it stands to reason that mini-corn is one of my favorite parts of Chinese steamed veggies! A couple of weeks ago, I had forgotten to bring a lunch with me to my girl's house (I am watching a little girl this summer), so we packed her a lunch, picked up some fabulous Chinese food for me, and went to the park to picnic.

As I lifted the plastic from my steamed veggie medley, she peppered me with questions:

"Is that broccoli?"
"Do you like broccoli?"
"What are those round things?"
"Why do you eat it with rice?"
"What's that?"

The last question was directed at the mini-corn.

"That's mini-corn," I responded.

"Why is it mini?" she asked.

"Well, it's not really corn. It just looks like corn. See?" I showed her.

"So what is it if it's not really corn?" she asked.

"Ummm....uhhhhh...." I articulately responded. I really didn't know. I just knew that I could pop the whole thing in my mouth at once and it was pretty tasty. Off to Google I went!

Well, color me surprised! Baby corn actually is just that - baby corn. They just pick it right away when the stalk silks appear. I thought it was some Asian delicacy and it was just called baby corn because it looked like baby corn. Nope. It's corn. As a baby. And it's not a special variety of corn, either. Field and sweet babies end up with the same flavor anyway because it's too early in the corn's life for it to have developed a sweetness.

So what does this mean nutritionally? Well....

Baby corn is high in folate, a B-vitamin; four ounces provides 31% of the RDA. It is a good source of several other nutrients too: the same serving size also provides 13 percent of the potassium, 14 percent of the B-6, 10 percent of the riboflavin, 17 percent of the vitamin C and 11 percent of the fiber adults need each day. (Baby Corn Brochure)

However, we shouldn't trade in all of our grown-up corn for baby corn:

Yellow corn contains carotenoids, which are substances that may help prevent coronary artery disease, certain cancers, and cataracts. In particular, yellow corn is abundant in two carotenoids, zeaxanthin and lutein, which keep eyes healthy. The more yellow the corn is, the more carotenoids it contains, since these compounds provide plants with color. Baby corn, being pale, would carry lesser amounts of these carotenoids than mature corn. (Baby Corn Brochure)

So, there you have it. It's cute, it's healthy, it's important enough to have it's own group of advocates make it a brochure: Baby Corn.

Click here to check out the above picture and others by Krissy.

They're Mini!

As summer has progressed, my schedule has become increasingly full, and as a result, I've been looking for the quick meal ideas. I have technically stuck to the rules of veganism, but I've allowed my diet to become a little mundane - peanut butter sandwiches and organic corn chips with guacamole have been on the menu more than once since the beginning of June.

So last week I decided that enough was enough and I braved three new dishes. And since I love all things mini, I decided that I'd try mini cabbages, AKA Brussels sprouts . I've always been afraid of Brussels sprouts because I've imagined them to be like giant squishy peas or something. But then I read somewhere that they were more like cabbage, which I do like if prepared properly. So I thought, "hey, why not?" I found a recipe for maple Brussels sprouts with pecans and carrots, and went to town.

This recipe uses pure maple syrup, sliced carrot rounds, chopped pecans, and, of course, Brussels sprouts cut in half. Plus some salt and pepper to taste. I thought that anything with the sweetness of maple syrup would be fantastic...unfortunately I actually gagged in the middle of my first bite. Something about the texture of the Brussels sprouts just didn't work for me. Maybe I cooked them too long, because I found them to be a little softer than I had expected, like when you cook broccoli too long.

Since becoming a vegan I have learned to tolerate varied vegetable textures a little more because, as you know, when you eat out you have enough to worry about just trying to find something that you'll eat, let alone trying to be picky about how it's cooked. And if these sprouts had been tastier, I may have been able to bypass the gag. But the flavor was just a little sprout-strong. As leftovers I've found that I can eat them as long as I cut them with rice or couscous, but if I make them again I will definitely be following a different recipe.

I got to thinking, though, if Brussels sprouts have to be doctored so much just to make them not taste like poo, are they really worth eating as a health food?

Enter Google.

Firstly, Brussels sprouts are not in season - in fact, they're about the opposite of in season right now. Good to know. One sympathy point for Brussels sprouts.

Secondly, they are super high in vitamins K and C. So high, in fact, that if you ate one serving you'd be good to go on these vitamins for almost 3 and 2 days respectively. One healthy point for Brussels sprouts.

Now the biggies...these little mini cabbages help ward off cancer in a billion different ways. Plus they promote skin health, boost the immune system, provide tons of cardiovascular benefits, and protect against birth defects and rheumatoid arthritis. (Check out WHFoods for details.)

Whew! I'm not even going to rack up all those points. Brussels sprouts win.

So, I suppose I'll give them another shot (remember how fabulously open minded I am). I'll just keep looking for recipes that better enhance the flavor of these little guys.

Ricism

My husband and I have been visiting quite a few Chinese restaurants lately on our date night, as it's much easier to find things that we will both eat on their menus. He can have his General Tso's Chicken, and I can have steamed veggies, quite often with tofu. Some places have a better selection than others, and some places definitely know how to do veggies better than others (how you can mess up steamed vegetables I don't know, but apparently you can...), but overall, it usually turns out okay.

The only down side to Chinese restaurants is that not too many of them have brown rice. I don't usually make a big deal out of this because it's just rice and date night is worth it to me to not necessarily have my ideal meal. But I did mention the other night to my husband that it would be nice if more places served brown rice. This prompted my husband to ask, "what's so wrong with white rice if 100 gazillion Chinese people eat it every day?" I answered authoritatively and without hesitation, "it's bleached."

Hm. I heard myself say it, then quickly thought my answer through. Was it bleached? I really didn't know why brown rice was supposed to be so much better for you. I had just lumped it in with all the other whole grains I was supposed to substitute for the bleached, processed grains.

So I did what I always do...I googled.

As it turns out, the extra processing involved to make the rice white does actually remove nutrients from the rice. The first step to processing all rice is to remove the outer husk. At that point - ta da! - brown rice. But then to make it white they have to remove the inner husk, and then they polish the rice wuth glucose or talc. This processing takes a lot of vitamins and minerals away, AND there's not nearly as much fiber left. (www.greenlivingtips.com)

So, I don't think that white rice is necessarily bad for you, but brown rice is a whole lot better. I won't throw a fit about it, but given the choice I will choose brown. Who can't use more fiber?

Abstinence is the Best Protection

I have spent the last two months trying to purify my body of all toxins and chemicals. Now, I won't pretend I've been perfect. Like, although I have eaten a lot more natural foods, I have not purchased too many organic veggies and fruits and therefore, I'm sure, still have pesticides coursing through my veins. And I have not completely given up libations (blast you margies and your seductive allure!).

Still, I know that I am a lot more "pure" than I used to be. When people have asked how veganism has been treating me, I've always considered the question carefully and answered, "Yeah, I guess I do have more energy. It's been a lot easier to wake up in the mornings and I am getting a better night's sleep. So I suppose I do feel better over all." I've noticed little changes and improvements in my quality of life, but nothing just monumental.

That is, until today.

As part of my change to a healthy lifestyle I gave up the daily coffee and replaced it with orange juice. Firstly, I wanted to cleanse my body of the caffeine. Secondly, I only really like my coffee with creamer, and since I was giving up dairy, my morning coffee kind of went with it. I didn't go through any withdrawal to speak of, and the orange juice has been a wonderful kick-start to my day! Now, I have had the occasional soy latte since the big switch, but it's been decaf (which I know is not any better for me chemically, but there again, not perfect yet...).

Today I was feeling saucy but thrifty, so decided that I would like to make my own homemade iced soy latte. However, the only coffee I had in the house was full octane. "Oh, well," I thought, "caffeine this once won't kill me." And I proceeded to make my latte.

Holy s.....stuff.

I gave up coffee once for Lent, but I didn't really have any problems going back on it. Probably because I continued to ingest caffeine through other sources like soda. But today, half a glass just about sent me through the roof. And not in a good boost-of-energy sort of way. More like a bad-hit. Not that I've ever used illegal drugs, but from what I understand, the wrong stuff will send you off sick and wanting to crawl right out of your skin. And now, about an hour later, I just want to crash for several hours.

Coffee used to be my solace beverage, my personal escape. But now I can honestly say that after today I never want to experience coffee again. And when people ask me if I've noticed a difference in how I feel as a vegan, I can say with true conviction, "YYYEEEESSSSSSS."