crack the plates

Earlier this year I started to eat more whole foods (read: less of a junk food vegan diet) and exercise on a regular basis. Since breakfast is such an important meal, I wanted to make something rich and tasty that would go the distance. Cereal is fun and all, but it doesn’t really last. Cold days made oatmeal appealing, and after years of shunning it, I finally landed on the perfect recipe.

Perfect Adrienne Oats for One

You will need:

• 1 cup filtered water
• sea salt. I’m a salt hound so I use a little less than 1/2 teaspoon per serving. Feel free to use less if you need to, but remember that this recipe was formulated to balance sweet, salty, and gently spicy flavors.
• 1/2 cup organic oats (not steel-cut)
• 1/8 or less teaspoon of pure cayenne pepper (not not NOT chili powder!) Cayenne provides pure, clean heat.
• A tablespoon of chia seeds, black or white
• 2 tablespoons hemp seeds
• 2 tablespoons of maple syrup

In a small pot – I use vintage Corningware – bring the water and salt to a boil on high. Add the oats and reduce heat to medium high, stirring, uncovered. Allow to cook for two or so minutes and then add the chia seeds and cayenne, stirring well. The chia seeds will make the oats thick and creamy. Continue cooking over medium, medium-high, (depending on how efficient your stove is or if you’re working over a flame) partially-covered, allowing the oatmeal to thicken. When it looks just about done, remove it from the heat completely and cover. Allow to sit about three minutes. Uncover (it should still be quite hot/steamy) and incorporate the hemp seeds and maple syrup. Serve!

For two people, use 1 cup of oats, 1 3/4 cups water, scant teaspoon of salt, 2 tablespoons chia seeds, full 1/8 teaspoon cayenne, 1/4 cup hemp seeds and 1/4 cup maple syrup.

Daily smoothie

If you’ve followed my food log, you know that for a while I made a breakfast of the “daily oatmeal” and the “daily smoothie”. These days my body seems to process energy so efficiently that I don’t need such a big breakfast to feel full. Either oatmeal or a smoothie will do, and since it’s heating up in Georgia, it’s more often a smoothie.

I’m not going to give a smoothie recipe because there are all kinds and you should just eat what suits you. Instead, I want to give basic instructions for making a green fruit smoothie in a non-BlendTec/Vitamix blender. Folks love these machines because they are super-high-powered and efficient. Indeed, I’ve witnessed with my own two a Vitamix quickly turn an avocado pit into puree. But at this point in my life, I can’t afford or justify a $400 blender.

Thankfully, my pal Tim Brauhn of Denver Seitan Company introduced me to the Breville Ikon a few years ago on his blog Practical Raw. He’s a big raw foods enthusiast, and covers the blender well here. I purchased a remanufactured version of the regularly-priced $179.99 in September 2010 for around $80, and the price has since dropped to just under $50.

It’s a splendid blender, one I would recommend to just about anyone – especially at the remanufactured price! Not quite two years later, it blends up smoothies with a fierceness. You honestly could throw everything in at once and hit go, but with months of smoothie-making experience, I think I’ve hit on the perfect order of operations for a basic greens & fruit smoothie:

1. First add firmer/thicker fruits to the blender. For me this usually means apples and oranges, and sometimes a banana if I don’t add the banana a little later. (Banana at some point is a MUST for creaminess.) For you it might be some other kind of thick fruit or even vegetable!
2. Pour liquid (I usually choose water, or water mixed with a little non-dairy milk) over fruits to cover. Two cups is good for one large smoothie.
3. Blend about 30-45 seconds, or until thoroughly masticated.
4. Add frozen fruit to this mixture and blend about 1 minute. Note: if using small berries like blueberries, you might need to blend 2 minutes. I like to drink my smoothies with a straw, and big chunks of anything make this difficult! Also add the banana at this point if you haven’t already (banana can be frozen or not).
5. If you like a cold smoothie, add optional ice after the frozen fruit. Blend thoroughly, about 45 seconds. If you don’t care, don’t add ice. But note that a cold temperature makes it go down easy. :)
6. Add tender greens and blend briefly, about 15 – 25 seconds. If using firmer greens, like kale, blend a little longer. But I like to add them last so that they don’t get too masticated. You just want them to be in very very small pieces, not completely liquified. My tender green is almost always spinach, as it doesn’t need to be pre-cut or gently shredded before going into the blender like kale or collards.
7. You might also add extracts (stevia is my favorite) or powders (hemp, other plant-based protein, or amla) in the final step.

My recipe usually goes like this: blend apple and orange in water 45 seconds, add frozen banana and other fruit 60 seconds, the ice 30 – 45 seconds, and finally spinach and extracts for 15 seconds. That’s one of the healthiest under-five-minutes breakfasts around!

Note: if the above smoothie directions seem too wordy or unclear, check out my twitter for the quick and dirty version. 

These are two recipes that really worked for me, but of course you should make them your own. Maybe you won’t make the oatmeal recipe to the letter, but you’ll consider throwing some hemp seeds in your bowl for a wonderful creamy nuttiness. Maybe you have a Vitamix but care to see how we who live without slum it. Either way, happy eating!

Today is the first day of the second week of my 28th year. I like New Year’s Day, but I always seem to lose sight of the fact that my new year starts on my birthday. (Duh!) Maybe it’s because my birthday feels like just another holiday – it comes round, but it doesn’t really signify a major life change. Christmas invites time for family, Thanksgiving pause for gratitude, Lent, a period of purposeful reflection. But birthday? Just a party!

And so it began, with a Cloudy With a Chance of (Vegan) Meatballs-themed gathering. The company was smaller than last year, numbers-wise, but just as quality. I was so pleased with the party that I sent off thank-you notes in record time, on the first postal day after my party. I thanked most folks for contributing food – even the elegant raspberry & chocolate mousse birthday cake was a gift! – or for joining with alacrity in the silly games Nate arranged for us: a cream cheese and jelly sandwich eating contest, an egg hunt (my fave!), and another, too weird to describe. I felt loved and grateful.

Yep, that's me wearing a felt pizza dress, chasing Manny during the egg hunt.

thank you notes and birthday cards and letters: I don't mess around.

Sunday I didn’t make it to Meeting with the Religious Society of Friends (let’s just say Friends or Quakers henceforth, okay?), but that was my choice. I wanted to sleep in after an (all things considered) tame night, and that’s what I enjoyed. I had a light workout and a memorable dinner at one of my most favorite restaurants, Sauced, where Ria treated me to a grilled pizza with oyster mushrooms, truffle oil, and arugula. We sat on the patio and gazed into the strangely sunny early evening. Thanks, Daylight Savings Time – as annoying as you were in the morning, you made for some nice pictures.

Oyster mushroom-truffle-arugula pizza sprinkled with house nut-based parmesan.

housemade seitan and kale pizza

Monday I made slow-cooked crowder peas and learned of a tragedy in my friend-family. The partner of one of my closest and oldest pals was wrongfully imprisoned over a paperwork error from four years ago. When said partner discovered that she had been robbed and called the cops to file a police report, they ended up taking her in instead. There was little I could do for her as she suffered a week of hell at the county jail, so I comforted my pal as much as possible with food and company. Tuesday she came over for a hearty meal and we went to the DMV. Standard operating procedure – two hours for a five minute appointment – but I was glad to wait with her.

crowder peas and mom's cornbread

Wednesday was special because I got to connect with three friends I hadn’t seen recently. Mel, who I’d missed since graduation in 2006, came over for curried chickpeas, basmati rice, and the laziest and loveliest three hour conversation I’ve had in a long time. You know how sometimes you get anxious when you haven’t seen someone in years? I might have had a little bit of that getting ready, but as she walked in the door it melted away. She’s just got that kind of presence.

Later Jared and Aubrey, beloveds not glimpsed in three months, joined us for a late dinner of a simple dal soup, more chickpeas, bhindi masala and birthday cake for dessert. They weren’t able to make to my party because of work commitments, so I was really happy to see them. We cawed over RuPaul’s Drag Race. For the record, my favorites are Sharon and Latrice.

Sharon Needles

***

Latrice Royale

Chad is flawless, too, and I hope she makes into the top three with these two.

Thursday I got to see my friend Vic when he came over to play Dungeons and Dragons with Nate and five other local nerdy men. When I was a teen I held common assumptions about D&D-playing boys: they’re socially-awkward outcasts who likely smell a bit. I didn’t want to have any part of it. So it’s funny now to see this group of attractive, accomplished, articulate folks descend upon our house every Thursday for a bit of nerdity. Even better, Vic came with a gift of $1.50 Daiya he found on closeout.

Friday was a day of extreme highs and lows. As for the ups, I spent the day with my oldest friend Jessica, who drove down from the northeast Georgia mountains for a joint post-birthday celebration. We did gentle yoga at a local studio, had lunch at the farmer’s market, did a quick workout at the gym, got pedicures at an upscale spa, went thrift shopping, and had dinner with Nate at Burnt Fork BBQ, our favorite. Better still, my wrongfully-imprisoned friend was released!!! Sadly, I learned late that night that an older f/Friend had passed away because of cancer. It’s been very hard to talk about because she was such a fixture in the Agnes Scott and Atlanta Friends Meeting communities, and even though I hadn’t sat down for a one-on-one lunch with her in almost a year, I can feel the weight of being among hundreds, if not thousands, of people missing her deeply.

Saturday I was honored to contribute cupcakes – the first cupcakes! – for a vegan baby’s first birthday. I chose carrot cake and grated the vegetables on a microplane so that they would be extra fine and still retain a lot of moisture. I made the recipe a little healthier by, among other things, cutting the sugar by a quarter, using half applesauce instead of oil, and holding the nuts (common allergen that should not be given to children under two) and raisins (potential choking hazard). She didn’t get frosting, either – that’s way too much sugar for a baby! :) I was careful to reserve the nuts and raisins for most of the batter so that everyone else could enjoy them. It really wasn’t really a big deal to make the necessary modifications, and everyone seemed to love the cakes, baby included!

I’m sure I missed a few things, but that’s basically it for my first week. Today I went to Meeting, had a good workout, and enjoyed a scrumptious soup and sandwich lunch at home. I’ll be making another post tomorrow about my second month’s food & exercise log progress. It’s been very good, so I’m looking forward to that. Til then, here’s a picture of Perl curled up with the world:

Bawwwww.

Sigh. The time has come, and no, it’s not to lip synch for my life.

It’s time to adjust to eating less!

Remember how I mentioned in my last post that one of my goals for Feb-Mar was to be gentle with myself as I see my caloric needs and energy level change? I was worried because I knew that as I continued to work out and eat highly nutritive whole foods, I’d find that I crave less and get satisfied on smaller amounts of food. This is on top of having more energy and even needing less sleep than I used to.

When I wrote that goal I was aware that it might sound more than a little strange to some. If you’re unhappy with overeating, the prospect of getting full on less might sound really appealing. And, of course, who doesn’t want to have more energy, need less sleep, and not be as bothered by nagging cravings?

For some reason, I’m having a hard time with it. Maybe it’s based in something simple, like the fact that I just like routine. Let me explain: I’ve been eating the same breakfast now for almost two months – a bowl of oatmeal and a green smoothie – and this morning of all mornings I discovered that the 16 ounce smoothie was enough to make me almost uncomfortably full. (Important note: I started on an empty stomach.) Now I’m struggling with the bowl of oats that I made out of habit, but it’s clear I’m not going to be able to finish it. I may have to wait an hour or two.

This really disturbs me! But I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s just ruffled feathers over routine. Or perhaps it’s a worry that eating lighter meals = less nutrition? I seem to have a nagging feeling that a smoothie can’t be enough, even though it is packed with a 1/2 cup of blueberries, a whole banana, a whole orange or apple, and handfuls of spinach – enough food that, not blended into a drink, would fill a large bowl! I feel an urge to complement this great bounty with a bowl of oats.

I might also be battling some overeating symptoms. I’ve never been one to compulsively eat food for the sake of eating food, but I have definitely just kept eating (past the point of satiety) because the meal continued to delight and entrance me. Think three-hour European dinner, not binging. Lately food feels just as delicious, but the “you’re freakin’ full!” signals come so hot and heavy that I have to bury my fork.

Perhaps most of all, I fear sliding back into the same routine that caused rapid unhealthy weight loss years ago. I counted every calorie consumed and then worked every one off at the gym later that day. This is a sickness and it is called exercise bulimia. Back then, I ate very small, light meals, mostly carbs and proteins. A usual day would be high-protein cereal with soymilk for breakfast, the same for lunch, and grits with scrambled tofu for dinner. No smoothies, no big salads, no huge pots of vegetable soups. I constantly craved what I was denying myself. I lost weight rapidly.

Clearly, my early struggles with being happy on less is informed by a constellation of factors.

And yet, however much I am informed or influenced by past actions, I need to realize that this is a new day. Today, I eat rich, balanced, delicious plant-based meals. I snack when I feel like it, but I’m not bullied by insatiable, urgent cravings for sugar or fat. I work out almost every day, only now it is driven by a desire to have a strong body, rather than to look a certain way. I have more energy and need less sleep.

Feeling full on less doesn’t mean all the horrible things I think it does. In fact, it probably means a whole lot of awesome things. I look forward to the time when I see it as a blessing!

Saturday, February 18 marked one month of keeping a food and exercise log here at Crack the Plates. Perhaps one of the reasons you haven’t seen me much on this, the main page, is because 1) I’ve been adjusting to a new way of life and 2) I include so many details in the daily write-ups. But I thought it would be fun to take a look back at what I’ve accomplished in the past month.

Introductory notes: I started logging my daily eats on January 3, which happens to be the exact day we found out that our former residence was in the process of foreclosure. (Not that I need to remind, but – along with two other families – we were living in an apartment in a house owned by some guy in New Jersey.) The fact that we had to arrange an emergency move made careful record-keeping difficult to say the least. We also did a lot of eating out in that hectic time.

We spent out first night in the new place on Sunday January 8, but it took 10 days more for me to on a regular updating schedule.

Between January 18 and February 18, I logged everything I ate every day – except Valentine’s Day, when I refused to log (even though I sorta kinda did anyway).

That’s 32 days of logging!

Of those 32 days, I exercised 25. Almost all of it has been on the elliptical machine at my gym, where I’ve progressed from a resistance of 7 to 13. I exercised for a total of 24.71 hours, or the equivalent of an entire day!

I didn’t share mileage and calories statistics for every workout, but if I total what I did record, I burned 14,766 calories going 99.94 miles.

I know that the calibration systems aren’t perfect, but I’m pretty pleased with this!

I’m glad that food logging and working out have finally become habitual. I can’t tell you how many times I just refused to start because I was afraid of how long it would take to see progress. I also didn’t have much faith in myself that I would be able to do this. Posting online publicly, embarrassing though some things were to admit, was a major motivating factor. There were lots of times when I didn’t want to post, or was embarrassed by what I had to report, but the knowledge that a small group of friends and possibly strangers were keeping an eye on it motivated me to keep up with things.

Sharing these numbers helps show me that 1) it’s not useless to start and that 2) I do have the willpower to keep up. It’s so easy to tell myself that I don’t, but it’s not true. I did it. And hopefully I’ll have another update to share come March 19. (Feb 18 – Mar 18).

As for my goals, I started this project with two: 1) reducing the amount of food I ate while still maintaining a varied, satisfying diet and 2) working out regularly. It wasn’t about weight or body image. In fact, I haven’t weighed myself in months. I still have no idea what I weigh, and I probably won’t know til I go in for a check-up soon. Once I know, I might get on a schedule of weighing myself about once a month. Obsessing over numbers (weight) is a big trigger for me, and one I want to keep to a minimum.

Weight isn’t the issue – being healthy is. I realised I ate way too much (way too quickly) for the activity level of my lifestyle. I love to eat, and I knew that if I wanted to maintain my rich, delicious, varied diet I’d need to reduce my caloric intake or start working out regularly. Since I already wanted to become more active, I made that my second goal.

My goals for February:

1. Continue logging food daily without judgment or negative words (“should have” “embarrassed” “bad/naughty/guilty”). What I eat is what I eat – it makes up who I am. There’s no place for judgment.
2. Continue logging exercise when I do it, color-coded in green. Soft goal of continuing to exercise five times a week.
3. Be gentle with myself as I see my caloric needs and energy level change. As I’ve gotten into a regular schedule of working out and eating highly nutritive (high net-gain) whole foods, I am weirdly finding that I crave less and get satisfied on smaller amounts of food. Further, I have way more energy and may even need less sleep than I used to. Adjusting to these seemingly positive changes might be frustrating at first, especially for someone who is used to eating lots and lots of food.
4. Continue to resist obsessing over numbers or gains, especially with regard to exercise. Be aware of my history of “overdoing it”.

What do you think? Have you been following along? Do you find this inspiring or discouraging? Do you keep a food or exercise log?

Hopefully now that this has become less novel and more routine I’ll be able to get on a more regular schedule of updating Crack the Plates again – not just the food log page. :-) Til then!

Happy February! Do you love or loathe v-day? I’m pretty indifferent about the sentiment – I shower my Nate with affection year ’round, not just on the 14th – but I adore all the treats. One helpful thing about having been vegan for years is that I’ve been able to try a wide variety… and sporting a sweet tooth that just won’t quit, I have plenty in the off-season, too. Whether you’re buying for your vegan sweetie or just want to give cruelty-free this year, here are my tried-and-true picks for 2012:

Lagusta’s Luscious

Lagusta’s Luscious chocolates are heartbreakingly delicious and painstakingly made by hand with truly artisanal ingredients. Founded in 2003 by a passionate vegan chef, Lagusta’s Luscious artisanal chocolates combine a deep commitment to social justice, environmentalism and animal rights with the love of bold flavor of a true foodie and the obsessive commitment to artisan techniques of a chocolatier. We work closely with small farmers and producers in our beloved town of New Paltz, New York and across the country to source everything from our Maui vanilla beans (from a tiny two-acre vanilla farm) to the candy-striped beets grown by Farmer Jessica less than a mile away. From our 100% fair trade and organic chocolate to our 100% post-consumer recycled paper boxes and packing materials, we are a completely vegan business committed to sustainability without sacrifice. (from the website)

Now, from me: Lagusta is my hero. I fell in love with her tellin’-it-as-it-is style at her personal blog - found while searching for a vegan’s account of Alinea dining – and I stayed for the food. If you’ve hung around Crack the Plates for a while you know she inspired my own meal delivery, after running a successful one in New York for nine years. Now she devotes herself to the chocolate shop full-time. I don’t know how she manages it, but everything she does is perfect. Perfect. That said, her truffle flavors tend to be a bit more mature than you might be used to - beet-coriander, anyone? Sea salt seaweed shiitake? The best place to buy for the sophisticated eaters in your life, she’s also got plenty of the less-adventurous, including peppermint patties, peanut butter cups, and a pomegranate and lemon gift box. You simply can’t go wrong.

For valentine’s, she’s gifted the world with “a six-inch two-piece heart box made entirely of delicious edible semisweet chocolate is filled with nine artisanal treats, then carefully sealed with chocolate ‘glue,’ wrapped in a compostable vegetable cellulose bag and tied with a gorgeous red ribbon made from compostable vegetable fiber. Each heart is filled with two Cashew Rosewater Cream “Love” Hearts, two White Chocolate Strawberry Hearts, one Large Stone ground Cinnamon Solid Heart with cardinals with hand-painted red wings (painted with beet-derived tinted cocoa butter), one Intense Anatomical Heart with black salt, cacao nibs, coffee beans, and dried cherries, one Butterscotch Caramel wrapped in red damask paper, and Two tiny Blue Birds of Happiness—solid 60% chocolate hand-painted with blue and green wings.” $35. (Link)

Desiderio Chocolates

I was introduced to Vanessa Dione’s creations via head Vegansaur Laura’s late-2011 freak-out over Gourmellows. Gourmellows are half-marshmallow, half-truffle, all deliciousness, as Dione puts it. I totally agree, but I fell in love with the Nougatissimo. Her Gourmellows are a treat anyone could love, but the crunchy, fresh, abundant almonds, pistachios and hazelnuts bound in not-too-sweet-or-sticky vegan nougat (with the option of chocolate-covered) reduced me to a puddle. (Note to all my friends: giving me choco Nougatissimo earns you a permanent +1000. :-)) The caramels (Caramella) are also scrumptious. I recommend the vegan sampler so you can try everything and decide for yourself! At $7.50, it’s a steal! (etsy shop; her website: vegan line and inspiration.)

Sjaak’s Organic Chocolates

Based in Petaluma, California, Sjaak’s mission is to create the highest quality gourmet organic chocolates possible while simultaneously supporting a positive work environment, fair trade practices and encouraging sustainable agriculture through the use of organic, non-GMO ingredients. It is also the goal of Sjaak’s Organic Chocolates to build a socially responsible, profitable business that can be carried on for generations to come. (from the website). I’ve been happily eating Sjaak’s for years. Omnivores and dairy fiends who’ve been blessed with sampler boxes have loved every bite. Some of your v-day options include: organic raspberry bites, vegan “milk” chocolate nuts & chews valentine’s box, a giant tub – about 110 pieces – of solid fair-trade chocolate hearts, limited edition hearts of cherry box, individual hearts of cherry, nuts & chews in a limited edition handmade box, limited edition Birdie box, and the dark chocolate lavender truffles in a beautiful box. My favorites are the organic fair-trade European assortment ($9.95 for 9 pieces) and the English Toffee ($9.95/bag).

Note: If items are sold out on Sjaak’s website, look for them at Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe, Food Fight! or another online vegan store.

What I Got for Myself: Spencer’s Market Be My Vegan Valentine Deal

I’ll be doing an entire post on my favorite Spencer’s Market soon, but the quick version is that it’s a private vegan weekly deals site offering limited quantities of small-batch vegan products at up to 70% off. Signing up is a breeze: Do so here. They just ask for your name and e-mail address and only e-mail you when new deals are out (once a week). Alas, the Vegan Valentine deal sold-out fast – but you can still get Obsessive Confection Disorder’s treats here. OR you can pick up the current Spencer’s deal – Green Tara Spirulina treats – and tell your healthy sweetie you want them around for a long, long time.

Sweet and Sara Vegan Marshmallows

Sweet and Sara vegan marshmallows are delicious! They’ve got all the gentle yielding puffy meltable sweetness of a “regular” marshmallow without all the total abhorrent yuckiness of gelatin. Despite their being made “from real strawberries”, the strawberry marshies are, in my experience, very delicately sweet and not very berry – they actually remind me more of pink cotton candy in the best possible way! This year they’re offering a beautiful chocolate-dipped strawberry marshmallow heart at $3.50 per piece.

Thoughtful Valentine Treats for a Crowd: Equal Exchange Kits

For office, classroom, and beyond, the “My Fair Valentine” kit from Equal Exchange chocolates is the perfect way to share v-day treats with a lot of friends. For $9.99 you get a kit of 24 mini chocolates and 24 cards with cute illustrations and fair-trade information. Spread awareness and love at the same time for a totally reasonable price. I’m kind of a loner these days, but if I worked in an office/was still a student, I’d definitely be snatching up several of these kits. It can be hard to just start talking to someone about the importance of fair-trade – especially if you don’t know them very well – but these precious kits make breaking the ice a breeze.

Unsweetened options

I’ve been drinking the “chocolate-covered strawberry” Valentines Tea from Adagio Teas since college. For Valentine’s this year they’re offering the Love Petals teas. Noting that they contain cream and chocolate flavors, I e-mailed the company to find out if they’re vegan. Fifteen minutes later I received a reply: ”None of our flavors contain dairy, and the chocolate chip pieces in our flavored teas are vegan as well.” Hooray!

Ways to give and give!

My dear best pal Jenny runs a small vegan baking and savory food business in Chicago called The Mixing Bowl Bakery. This Valentine’s day she’s offering cupcakes, chocolate-covered strawberries, frosted cookies, and oreo truffles at ridiculously low prices. (Think a dozen cookies for $14 and four giant chocolate-dipped strawberries for $5. Yeah.) The first two are local only (delivery and pick-up) and the last two are shippable. Ten percent of the proceeds from her valentine’s sales will go to Chicago-based Mercy for Animals.

I’ve noticed that lots of no-kill shelters and animal advocacy groups do special Valentine’s events, either by reducing the cost of adoption or simply highlighting potential future friends. Even if they don’t advertise anything, if you’re ready to adopt a friend, ASK! And if your house is full-up, it is always a good idea to donate to an animal advocacy group like Mercy for Animals (not PETA!) or a no-kill shelter. I am proudly 100% against buying animals while homeless pets are left to suffer and die. (Even if you have an allergy or feel you need to get a “special breed” there are plenty of single-breed rescues if you’re willing to do a little bit of work.) Further, non-profits like MFA and your local shelters rely almost entirely on donations for their operating costs. Every little bit counts! If you’re in Atlanta, I recommend PAWS no-kill shelter or my friend Elizabeth, who runs the wildlife rehabilitation center (specializing in raccoons) Tails from the Hart (current buddies-in-residence featured above).

for do-it-yourself folks!

I recommend the following cookbooks for making treats for your sweet: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, Vegan Pie in the Sky; Vegan With a Vengeance (Nate requests the chocolate raspberry thumbprint as his vegan v-day gift); Vegan Brunch – the best way to start the day; More Great-Good Dairy Free Desserts by Fran Costigan; Ani Phyo’s Ani’s Raw Food Desserts (the chocolate fudge cake pictured here will blow your mind); Sinfully Vegan by Lois Dieterly.

Where do you stand on no-fat-added cooking? If you’re a vegan who reads cookbooks and keeps up with blogs, you’re likely familiar with the concept of “steam-frying” in particular. I first became acquainted with it years ago, via Bryanna Clark Grogan’s Almost-No-Fat Cookbooks and Vegan Feast blog. Isa covered it in Appetite for Reduction, released December 2010. The vegan cook who seems to be getting the most attention for no-fat-added cooking lately is Lindsay, of Happy Herbivore, with her eponymous cookbooks – but the methods are nothing new.

Basically, steam-frying proponents say that instead of starting with a little oil in your pan (and then adding the onion or other vegetables or proteins), you should save yourself the fat and use a little water for “frying”. (It’s not “frying”, at all, of course – frying by definition means using fat.) The water sizzles and steams the food. Over high heat, it will evaporate quickly, but you just need to add a splash of water to keep it going. (And be sure to work that thin spatula, ‘cuz stuff sticks!)

Can you guess my position on steam-frying?

Probably: I have long been a staunch opponent. ”I will use less fat”, I concede, “perhaps one tablespoon instead of three. And I’ll even measure it so I know I’m not cheating. But I will not “steam-fry” my food!” As a classically-inclined cook, I took the idea of doing without a little oil in the pan as an almost personal affront. Oil is necessary for caramelization, even cooking, and crispiness… AKA, deliciousness! I love fat, flavor, richness, lusciousness – and I love my big fat body, too!

But here’s the thing: I had never actually tried true steam-frying before today. And when I did, I made something truly tasty.

My first steam-fried red curry with onions, garlic, bell pepper, tempeh, potato, and spinach.

I was shocked. Dumbfounded. Speechless. How does this taste good? It’s wrong! After all, one of my culinary adages has long been the following: everything good starts with a fried onion.

Now I’m eating my hat and admitting the truth: I managed to make something delicious with no added oil.

I should point out, however, that this dish was by no means fat-free: it contained a scant half-cup of coconut milk, which contains 17 grams of fat. The tempeh has 11 grams per serving. Put these together in the amount that I ate, and I got 14 grams before we even started thinking about added oil (which would contribute another 7 grams if I stuck to one tablespoon).

(HEY! MAYBE THAT’S WHY IT TASTED SO GOOD! The tempeh and the little bit of coconut milk saved the day! I shall have to try this steam-frying business with a lower-fat dish.)

Still, I’m glad I saved myself the 7 grams and attendant calories. I love fat, but honestly, I didn’t miss it. And that’s the point, right?

Here’s what I did:

• In a large skillet I heated about 1/3 cup water on high.
• Once it was simmering, I added onion: I started with half a small organic red onion, diced, and half a small organic white onion, diced.
• Then a large organic garlic clove, thinly sliced, and half a large organic red bell pepper, chopped.
• Stir-fried these in the water til the water evaporated, then added a little more water, then permitted to evaporate again.
• In the meanwhile, mixed about 1.5 tablespoons of red curry paste in some hot water, added 1.5 tbsp organic, fair-trade sugar, 2 tbsp organic lime juice, 1.5 tbsp organic tamari, and about 1/2 cup organic coconut milk.
• Poured over the onion sauce and let it simmer violently.
• Crumbled a block of organic tempeh over, heated through, folding with my spatula often.
• Added slices of cooked organic potato, mixed and heated through.
• Added handfuls of organic spinach and steamed gently.
• Served!

In conclusion: steam-frying may be an awesome power to wield, but it must be employed thoughtfully. At best, it will save you some fat/calories without detracting from the overall finished flavor, but it won’t give you the crispy/caramelly flavor and texture you expect on onions/veg/proteins. Use in moderation. :-)

Happy Chinese New Year! ‘Tis the year of the Dragon, and it just so happens that I live with one. Yup, it’s Nate’s time to shine! And why not? I read yesterday that “dragons…tend to be brave, innovative and highly driven, regularly making it to the top of their profession.” Now, I don’t put much stock into anything that purports to define 6.8 billion individuals according to a handful of categories, but that sounds a lot like Nate to me. He was recently promoted to Lead Developer at his company (there are only two!) and just yesterday he gave a big scary 1.5 hour talk to all of technology (around 60 people) about one of his (incredibly important game-changing) projects. He’s always thinking, dreaming, creating… and while he may be gentle and soft-spoken in general, at work he’s confident, assertive, and usually right. He inspires me!

Papacat and babycat... taken this morning!

I decided to do a special dinner to celebrate yesterday’s big accomplishment. Neither of us have been all that tempted by comfort food lately, but last night he requested an old favorite: smothered-bbq-baked tofu. Dinner was great but didn’t seem enough of a tribute to his awesomeness, so I made cupcakes, too. I served them on the little dish he gave me at Christmas: a customized cupcake stand by Jeanette Zeis Ceramics. Jeanette is an Atlanta-based artist and vegan, known throughout the country for her careful, detailed work. Why, just recently her work popped up on theppk.com’s recipe for caramelized beets!

***

It says “Your Smile Makes Me Smile”, which is one of our little sayings. :-) You can order your own customized cake stand from Jeanette at her Etsy shop. Sure would make a sweet little Valentine’s present, especially when topped with a home-baked vegan treat!

what up, internet pals. There’s a bonsai tree at the entrance of my new neighborhood. Every time I see it I imagine it saying, “what up. welcome back. You live here now.” It helps the sting of a thrown-together, last-minute, surprise move to a new neighborhood with new lifeways and new opportunities.

Honestly, though, I’m liking it. At first the noise was ***overwhelming*** – big blended multi-generational family to one side, always comin’ and goin’, lots of kids under ten (once even playing in OUR front yard) screamin’ they little heads off, uncles (there are six) washing & fixin’ cars with the doors open and the music blasting; work-from-home carpenter to the other side – but in the past days (rain) things have gotten a little quieter. The house is absolutely gorgeous and I adore the owners so I hope the noise doesn’t become an issue. Y’all know I’m sensitive – especially to high-pitched kiddo voices. We shall see.

Right now it feels like a blessing to be in a stable place with stable allies. I want to grab all of it up in my arms – the gas range, the arch between the dining room and the living, the kitchen nook window seats, the running hot water – and hug it. The beginning of this month hurt so much that I am grateful just to not be hurting anymore. Bonus that it’s so beautiful. I need to motivate myself to unpack the rest of these boxes so I can have housewarming/RuPaul parties.

Crack the Plates update: where is Crack the Plates? Had we not been forced to move, Crack the Plates would have had a first delivery two days ago on the 17th. But we did, of course – and I am still adjusting to the new space. So the first Crack the Plates delivery will be Tuesday January 31. Two weeks later than I had hoped to resume, yes, but this way I’ll be able to do it right. I’m excited. More in the upcoming weekly e-mail.

RuPaul’s Drag Race is starting back up on the 30th, which means we’ll have to have our very first Ru-ha on Wednesday February 1. Mark those calendars, y’all!

what I ate: It’s true that I haven’t been updating the main page of the blog since the move, but I have been trying to keep up here with a daily food log. I’m doing my best. I don’t expect many people will be interested in what I’m eating, but if you’re cravin’ content, feel free to visit. I’ve got a small number of folks keeping an eye on it regularly to help me with accountability, but I’d love comments from anyone. Just don’t be mean.

spencer’s market: this week my new favorite thing is spencer’s market, a weekly vegan deals site. I like them because so far they’ve actually featured interesting things. So much of deal sites – Groupon, Scoutmob – is crap, just crap. Especially Scoutmob, as they move ever further past the perimeter and feature junk like “free cheese pizza” and every meaty-meat-meat entree under the sun. (Seriously, EAT VEGETABLES AND WRITE ABOUT THEM.) If you’re vegan, vegetarian, or interested in vegan/vegetarian foods or yummy stuff in general, you should probably sign up for Spencer’s Market. BONUS: They do not e-mail you. So far they haven’t sent me a single e-mail except to confirm orders I’ve placed. They don’t even pester you with announcements about that week’s deal. Is there a downside? Doesn’t look like it. So sign up here!

finally, THIS: A CROW SLEDDING.

Today I went to market and purchased

• a case (12 blocks) of firm, locally-made tofu, $10.50
• ten pounds of Himalayan basmati rice, $10
• 2.5 lbs of organic young spinach, cleaned, $8
• three pounds of organic yellow onions, $2.50
• five pounds of organic tiny yukon gold potatoes, $3.70
• just over four pounds of organic bananas, $2.44
• a bunch of organic curly red kale, $2
• five pounds of organic carrots, $4.50
• a loaf of organic sourdough, $4
• just under a pound of australian chia seeds, $5
• organic celery, $2.50
• three organic lemons, $1
• three boxes of organic vegan broth cubes, for ease of soup-making, $8
• half pound of organic ginger, $2.11
• half pound of organic shallots, $1.40
• half pound of organic garlic, $2.31
• half pound of organic red pepper, $2.23
• a pound of organic, fair-trade coffee, $12

Tab: just under $90.

I should be feeling okay about this, right? Food enough for two weeks easy for under a hundred. But… I’m not. This is the first week I’ve purchased all of my produce at the “farmer’s market” rather than from local organic Georgia farmers. (And it’s not even a farmer’s market – it’s a giant food warehouse of stalls stocked with insanely cheap produce sourced from all over the world. Organic prices are so low I don’t know why people even bother with the “conventional” stuff.) January in Georgia is tough, because even though our growing season is much longer than most, it isn’t this long. We finally got a hard frost last night that killed everything… won’t be til April til we can start harvesting young greens again.

I’ve been thinking about this article from the nytimes: Organic Agriculture May Be Outgrowing Its Ideals. I wonder how much of what I picked up today came from a monocrop or one that’s taxing the watershed. Maybe I got lucky and it was only that red pepper, the first I’ve bought since late summer. But the truth is, I don’t know.

One thing I can do is to continue focussing on seasonality. Bell peppers and tomatoes aren’t being grown anywhere nearby, but there’s a good chance that organic collards, kale, and root vegetables are. I can craft my meal delivery menus around these items, just as I do when summertime offers an abundance of tomatoes, okra, green beans, and tender squash. Other ideas?

Happy new year, folks. Hope day three is pleasant for you. Here in Atlanta it began with surprisingly low temperatures, even a little snow! (Nothing stuck.) I’m sitting at my new desk with a cup of dancong aria, belly full of oatmeal, happy to be inside. Soon I’ll write about my unofficial new year’s resolutions, but I need to start by covering that other major holiday – Christmas.

My Christmas was crummy. I travelled 936 miles by car (one way) from Atlanta to Poughkeepsie, NY, only to arrive with a fever, chills, and what would develop into a painful chest cold. I spent the first two days confined to bed, taking lots of tea and alternating between chills & a burning fever. (From Friday night til early Monday it stayed in the 101 range.) It was the worst and I cried some. As a friend said, it’s hard to be sick – it’s even harder to be sick away from home.

And I was mad about it, since I’m so wary of germs. No, I don’t keep hand sanitizer in my purse or wash with toxic triclosan (Ever – I believe in good germs, and that stuff’s just all kinds of messed-up), but I’m careful about avoiding sick people, taking care of myself when I start to feel down, not touching just anything (especially in public), and washing my hands thoroughly and often with real, normal, totally adequate soap. When they finally win I question my strategy/integrity/sanity.

Thankfully Nate took expert care of me. I know it wasn’t easy for him and I really appreciate all he did. And there were a handful of outings: Monday night to Karma Road in New Paltz for a ginger-juice and a giant salad; Tuesday’s bright spot was lunch with Mark at Gomen Kudasai. Wednesday: back in the car for the 936 mile trip back.

Since the most recent holidays left much to be desired, I’m going way back in this post to post-Thanksgiving, or my three-year anniversary with Nate. It’s holiday themed since we went to Rock City for the Enchanted Garden of Lights. I’ll also share some pictures from later in December when we went to the light show at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. And finally, I can’t resist telling you about Gomen Kudasai. What a wonder!

Anytime we head towards north Georgia we stop in Kennesaw at Loving Hut for their burgers. Neither of us are into veggie burgers – we probably eat a half dozen per year, or less – but there’s just something about these Loving Hut burgers. Anticipation provokes an illness we call Burger Madness, which is usually accompanied by screeching, moaning, clutching our sides in agony, rolling of the eyes, tearing at our hair… you know, apocalyptic stuff. Thankfully, just one bite heals Burger Madness:

Burger Madness sated.

Vacations are about eating, so a few hours later, once landed in Chattanooga, we headed over to Sluggo’s Vegetarian Cafe. This is the “north” location – the “south” is in Pensacola, Florida. Friend Hillary told me about this place (and all the other wonders of vegan Chattanooga). We couldn’t have done it without her!

Cozy, tree-house for grown-ups interior.

The attitude is casual and service, pretty laissez-faire. Order at the counter, serve yourself drinks, grab a board game or book from the rolling cart to the right. Bus your table if you want (or move some former patron’s stuff for a better seat).

Our first night there I was feeling a little down from the holidays (SEE ABOVE!) so I ordered a big salad. I’m pretty sure this is just the chef: romaine, lots of veggies, shredded house cashew cheese, shredded house seitan, tahini dressing.

Oh, and a side of one of the “vegetables” of the day – mac and cheeze.

Nate was feeling more extravagant and had the panhandle tofu: very thin slices of pressed, seasoned tofu wrapped in nori and topped with dill sauce and capers. Served with a lovely little coleslaw, cheezy grits, salad, and unsweetened cornbread.

I’m only a little ashamed to admit that we ate at Sluggo’s all weekend. There are several places in Chattanooga that offer vegan choices, even full vegan menus, but Sluggo’s is the only vegan cafe. And heck, the food was so good that we didn’t feel the need to go elsewhere. The “spicy cheeky ‘wings’” pictured above is something we ordered every time.

Nate has this thing about seitan wings. Whenever we end up at a vegetarian place that serves a version of “wings” (which when you think about it, is so totally freaking disgusting – who eats a bird’s wings?! Seriously, a BIRD’S WINGS? Horrifying) he has to order them. Up til recently the front runner has been Chicago Diner, but a year or two ago they changed the formula and they’re not even as good as they used to be. Sluggo’s blows Chicago Diner out of the water, crafting a vegan wing that even I find delicious. The texture is perfect, the buffalo sauce is ideal, the house ranch concoction the perfect accompaniment. Every single other vegetarian restaurant making wings should just give up and make a pilgrimage to Sluggo’s to learn from the masters.

Another saladish-type thing for me. Spinach, rice, a contemptibly-small amount of breaded-and-fried-tofu, peanut sauce. Nothing special but very tasty.

Nate’s lunchtime “Berliner” – seitan on rye with kraut, russian dressing, onions, you know, that sort of thing. Very sweet baked beans. Standard yummy salad. He wasn’t digging the sandwich so we traded and I lost my mind. It transported me back to a sunny summer day outside a little hole sandwich shop I went to possibly once with my mom, where she ordered “philly” “cheesesteak”-style sandwiches. Sluggo’s was better, of course, not least because it’s cruelty-free, but I just like I love catching a whiff of a scent that takes me back to a particular place in a particular time with certain individuals doing certain things, so I enjoy food’s evocative abilities.

The menu:

The Pecan Dusted Seitan was also a tastebud wayback machine, but as this post is getting long already I’ll spare you the narrative. Just order it when you go to Sluggo’s, okay? If you get nothing else, get the seitan.

Ok, so why love Sluggo’s so much? I have eaten at places like this all over the country, from San Francisco to Chicago to New York and yes, even here in beloved Atlanta. Let’s face it: in search of flavors of a bygone era, vegans eat a lot of junk. Heartburn-inducing wings, crap May-Wah meat analogs, Daiya on everything, giant grinders, milkshakes, disco fries, etc. It’s the kind of gross activity you might feel free to indulge on vacation but pretty much no other time. And let’s be real here, it doesn’t make you feel great.

Sluggo’s wins because they do absolutely everything on their simple little menu right. The dishes harmonize and leave you feeling happy and light. Everything tastes fresh and made-on-the-spot: they didn’t mix gallons of the noodle sauce that morning, they made it just now. The nut cheese, the seitan, the sauces, the dressings – all of it is homemade. It takes time, but when a plate is presented at your table you feel like you’re in someone’s home. If Isa Moskowitz opened a restaurant (which she is doing!), I expect she’d serve food like Sluggo’s.

After lunch, Ruby Falls. Ruby Falls is a 145-foot underground waterfall located within Lookout Mountain near Chattanooga.

A surprisingly decent picture for a cell-phone camera:

I dunno, do you see Cthulhu?

After Ruby Falls, some caffeine at the totally lovely Pasha Tea & Coffee house at the base of Lookout Mountain. If I lived in Chattanooga this would be my hangout. CASE IN POINT: only place I’ve ever been with agave in a syrup dispenser AND stevia (!!) in the sugar jar.

Next, Rock City for the Enchanted Garden of Lights. Derisively, wikipedia calls Rock City a “roadside attraction” – but it’s just a park, really. A park you have to pay to get into. It’s at the top of Lookout Mountain and it’s basically this meandering path through a bunch of natural (natural!) rock formations and gardens. In wintertime the ownership transforms it into a little lit paradise.

Call me corny/stupid/whateverthehellyoulike, but I’m really into this sort of thing. If you haven’t noticed, I’m kind of a big kid in a grown-up body, and anytime I’m able to unabashedly run around acting silly, I’m in my element.

Nate looking handsome near the entrance.

You know, an elf. Some mushrooms.

Stuff like this: giant, house-sized light displays.

Nate became inordinately irritated with these footmen and American flags at the entrance of the Fairyland Caverns. What the hell does America have to do with Fairyland Caverns, he huffed: “the statues are from Germany.”

Fairyland Caverns and Mother Goose Village are caves with German sculptures enhanced by blacklight. Creepy.

A sweet shot of the demons.

Another.

A couple weeks later we went to ANOTHER garden light show, this one at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Same deal, a lot smaller, entirely illuminated by LEDs. Here’s Nate posing with Santa Mantis (my insistence).

Some creatures with santa shoes and hats.

Magical.

And now, New York! On my first day out I immediately noticed a little flock of white geese. For better or worse I am attuned to auspiciousness and definitely considered this little scene lucky. We headed towards New Paltz where we met Mark and Maresa at Lagusta’s shop. Sadly (not for her!), Lagusta was in Hawaii. Grabbing the last haselnusse bar and a Maresa cupcake eased the sting a bit. :-)

Lunch at Gomen Kudasai with Nate and Mark. Here, goma onigiri (brown rice ball).

Ume onigiri, with umeboshi plum paste.

Our sweet little table.

Our fascinating lunch partner.

Nate’s chilled natto udon. I was so proud of him. Few vegans have eaten, much less enjoyed natto. I’ve got a good one. :-)

My kitsune udon. Very sweet, I mixed in a bit of kimchee. My only complaint with Japanese food is that I am a heat hound and there’s not much of a place for it. Lagusta, correct me?

Absolutely perfect little kabocha yokan. I tried to ascertain if it was made with agar-agar but the person who brought out it out wouldn’t say, just insisting it was vegan. :-) So is agar.

Dining at Gomen Kudasai was a great help to my spirits. Mark always provokes such thoughtful conversation and the food was tops. It seemed as good as anything we could have gotten in New York City, yet in the pleasant pastoral town of New Paltz. Owner Youko was especially kind to us – she referred to us as “special guests from Georgia” and served every course even though lunch is typically casual. She even presented us with small pottery vessels made by her father (“they lack lids!”) as going-away gifts. Y’all got a good thing, New Paltzers. Keep ‘em in business.