delaïdo » food

good day in town for vegans

delaïdo — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:09:40 +0000

Today at a local grocery store I discovered Gardein brand “veg meats” that I’ve eaten at Sublime, a vegan restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. I’ve tried the Gardein “veal” at Sublime. It was scrumptious!

My local grocery store has several kinds of Gardein in the refrigerated special foods section. You can get a $1 coupon on the Gardein website, plus there were some Gardein packages with another coupon sticker attached.

I think the Gardein products are really tasty, but the meat-like texture and consistency kind of grosses me out a bit now since I haven’t eaten meat in years. I have to keep telling myself it’s veggie. I’m not sure I’d buy it just for me, but I’ll definitely buy it to serve to my omnivore friends and family.

Today I bought the Tuscan breasts and used one in a pesto panini for my omnivore husband. He had no idea it wasn’t meat. After he finished eating his sandwich, I confessed to him my vegan trickery. He was truly surprised, but admitted that it was “delicious.” I can’t wait to trick him with the bbq skewers!

P.S. Just so you know, I have not been paid by Gardein to post this.

new foods

delaïdo — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:40:00 +0000

I’ve been making lots of soups these days even though it hasn’t been cold this week. I am in the soup mood, I guess, due to the book I’ve been reading. I bought a daikon and miso for the first time and then made and ate miso soup for the first time. And I’m still alive to tell about it.
I’ve also tried kale for the first time (I think). It’s not nearly as bad as I had imagined, in fact, I quite like it. My plan is to eat steamed kale (steamed for about 4 minutes) and miso soup for breakfast this week to see if it will help speed along my weight loss goals.

I’ll definitely try it again.

delaïdo — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 14:47:00 +0000

Yesterday I tried out a recipe from This Crazy Vegan Life for the first time: Tofu, Asparagus and Red Pepper Stir-Fry over Quinoa. I selected it because I pretty much had all the ingredients already, plus it sounded tasty. I made it at my parent’s house since I didn’t think G would be home for supper. Mom said it smelled good, but only ate some of the steamed asparagus. Dad had decided to eat leftover meatballs (yuck) but was intrigued by the quinoa, so he tried a spoonful of it, decided it was good, then began to eat the entire dish, including tofu! He loved the quinoa; he kept asking what it was over and over until I brought out the bag and let him read the packaging. He loved the onions, peppers, and garlic in the dish, and could live with the (spicy) tofu. I loved the orange and ginger in the dish.

leek and lentil soup

delaïdo — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 19:07:00 +0000

Who’s in the mood from some lentil and leek soup? Me! Leeks and lentils are my 2 favorite soup ingredients. I’ve never tried combining them in soup, so today is the day.
I found a basic recipe on a website of a sherry producer and decided to use it as a guideline for creating my own soup. It took me about 35 minutes to make it from start to finish.

delaïdo’s leek and lentil soup:

1/2c dry red lentils
1/2c dry French (black) lentils
4c organic low-sodium vegetable broth (a 32 fl. oz. box)

1/4c walnut oil
1tsp Thai hot chili paste
2 large (or 3 medium) leeks
2 cloves garlic
2 inches of ginger root
1/2 tsp dried French thyme leaf
4c (more) organic, low-sodium vegetable broth

1tsp Tamari sauce
1/2c medium sherry

1. Rinse all the lentils and place them in a large bowl.
2. Bring 4c broth to the boil and then pour it over the lentils in the big bowl. Leave it to rest.

3. Prepare and chop leeks. (Remove several layers from winter leeks or a single layer from summer leeks. Trim most of the green off, clean well, chop into bite size pieces, clean again.)
4. Mince garlic and (peeled) ginger.
5. Heat the walnut oil over medium heat.
6. Add the chili paste. (It will pop and splatter.) Stir it for a few seconds.
7. Add leeks and lightly sauté for 3-4 minutes to soften.
8. Add the thyme, garlic, and ginger, stirring for a couple of minutes.
9. Add the lentils and broth, plus add additional 4c broth.
10. Simmer until the lentils are tender, not mushy. (about 20 minutes)

11. Remove from heat and add tamari sauce and sherry.

About 6 vegan servings

Vegan motivation and possible thoughts of detox

delaïdo — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 02:58:00 +0000

I picked up This Crazy Vegan Life at the grocery store bookshelf the other day because I need some motivation. I gained 1,4kg in January, mostly from stress eating at work and from going to parties hosted by omnivores where all I can eat is chips&salsa and hummus. Don’t get me wrong, a person can never eat too much chips& salsa, hummus&pita, but it does make you gain weight when you eat it many times each week.
This Crazy Vegan Life is written for new vegans, but I’m still enjoying it. It is a nice refresher on many topics, particularly remembering how to answer the questions of omnivores, but I especially like all the information about nutrition. G is always amazed at Americans’ lack of knowledge about nutrition, since he learned all that basic stuff both at home and in school in France, but I never learned it as a kid, so I am enjoying learning all about it know.
The second half of the book is recipes… and I recently discovered that there is also a meal plan that looks like a detox plan. It has crazy suggestions, like having miso soup for breakfast. Who eats soup for breakfast?
After having thought about it for a day or so, I just might try the detox plan. I need to lose these 1,4kg, plus 12 more, so I might as well consider the possibility.