Checking In with the 30 Day Vegan Challenge

Remember how I said I was taking the 30 Day Vegan Challenge in Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's book of the same name? In case you missed that post, I'm reading a chapter a day in Colleen's new book. The book is designed for newbie vegans, and each daily chapter provides valuable info on the essentials of veganism.

Yes, I'm already vegan. But I'm reading along for the sake of review. So far, the book has gone over stocking your healthy vegan kitchen, shopping for vegan items in the grocery store, packing vegan lunches, delicious vegan breakfast ideas, and eating vegan on the road.

I'm on Day 11, a chapter titled "Rethinking Meat Cravings: Salt and Fat Taste Good." But despite the meaty theme for today, I chose to make a few veggie-based dishes from another chapter in the book.

I made use of some leftover Labor Day charcoal to grill these Marinated Portabella Mushrooms:

The oil-free marinade is simple: fresh or dried herbs, balsamic vinegar, tamari. I let the caps sit in the fridge for a few hours in the marinade, and then I grilled them for about five minutes on each side.

For my side dish, I made the Herbed Scalloped Potatoes from the book:

Now I realize this looks like a food photo straight out of the '80s. But it was already dark outside, and my indoor lighting situation is less-than-awesome. The flash photos made the taters look weird, so this is the best I've got.

Anyway, unlike most scalloped potato recipes I've made, this one doesn't call for any kind of vegan cheese stand-in. Not even nutritional yeast. Instead, it relies on a broth made from boiling and steeping herbs, like sage, bay leaves, and rosemary. The oil drizzled over the top gave the dish a butter-y texture and flavor. Delicious!

Here's my plate:

I sprinkled a little nooch over my taters because I couldn't help it. I also tossed together a simple salad of romaine, tomato, cucumber, sunflower seeds, and Vidalia onion/tomato vinaigrette.

I realized after I planned this meal that it was mostly void of protein, except for a teensy bit from the sunflower seeds. But that's okay. I eat plenty of protein (too much probably) throughout the day. Sometimes, it's okay for veggies to be the star of the show.

What's your favorite veggie-based entree?

Muffins and Care Packages and New Blogs! Oh My!

I'm still trying to eat healthy, but muffins can be healthy, right? As I'm working my way through Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's Vegan's Daily Companion, a daily affirmation book with weekly recipes, I'm trying to make as many dishes as I can. Every Saturday/Sunday (she combines those days in the entries), there's a new recipe. Last week's was Blueberry Lemon Muffins from The Joy of Vegan Baking:

I substituted whole wheat pastry flour for half the all-purpose called for, and though that lends the muffins a stickier texture, I feel better about eating them for breakfast with some whole grains in 'em. Also, I always bake with evaporated cane juice instead of white sugar. There's also frozen blueberries and lemon zest. A couple of these with a cold glass of So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk and a Zevia cola made the perfect breakfast this morning!

After starting my morning off awesome with these muffins, I didn't think the day could get any better. But it did when my care package arrived from Rick at The Health Sleuth! We agreed to do a package swap months ago, but I asked him to hold off sending it until I got back from Portland because I didn't have money to buy stuff for his package until after my trip. His package is in the mail, but check mine out!

There's two packages of organic King Soba ramen! One is Edamame Miso and the other is Chili Miso! Y'all know how I love ramen, and this is the healthy kind made with brown rice noodles and buckwheat noodles. I can't wait to try these.

Also in the package: habanero linguine, blueberry butter, maple cream (this stuff is like butter made from maple syrup!), salted pistachio chocolate (delicious! I opened this first!), fresh tortillas, a Texas BBQ Primal Strip, an assortment of bars, homemade eucalyptus hemp & tea tree soap, shea butter body cream, and some cute little Amish people magnets (Rick's from Pennsylvania). Thanks Rick!!

And finally, I have some great news! My best friend in the whole world ever, Sheridan, has started her own vegan blog! She went vegan in January, but she was vegetarian for several years before that. We've been best friends since the 8th grade, and we're still as tight as ever. She lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, so her blog is appropriately named Vegan In Arkansas. Check it out!

Let's Talk About Healthy!

At Vida Vegan Con, I had the pleasure of meeting Blissful Chef blogger Christy Morgan. Her Blissful Bites cookbook hit stands just in time for VCC, so I purchased my very own autographed copy at the conference.

When Christy sat down with me to sign the book, she said, "You know it's all healthy food, right?" Ha! I love my that deep-fried reputation precedes me! But really, folks, as much as I love biscuits & gravy and country fried tempeh steak, a lady's gotta eat some uber-healthy stuff sometimes if she wants to keep her girlish figure (whatever that means). It's all about balance, and after one too many Voodoo Donuts in Portland, I assured Christy that I was going to need her healthy recipes. Bad.

The glossy, full-color book is filled with macrobiotic, raw, and cooked vegan foods — all based on whole foods. Nothing processed. I love me some fake meat, but as today's tip in my Vegan's Daily Companion book suggested, we should all be eating whole foods as the foundation of our diet with processed foods playing a more minor role. Christy's Blissful Bites helps re-establish that whole foundation.

Her recipes are organized by season, so for starters, I chose two from the summer choices. I used fresh summer tomatoes from the Memphis Farmers Market for this raw Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho:

Confession: I bought regular tomatoes instead of heirloom, even though the recipe specifically calls for heirloom. At $2 or more per tomato, I just couldn't afford enough heirlooms to make this soup. Regardless, the regular tomatoes tasted fine — juicy and sweet, just like a tomato should be at the height of their season. The tomato is complemented by blended red and green pepper and balsalmic vinegar. Tangy, sweet, salty, delicious.

For my protein, I made Christy's Curry Chickenless Salad and served it with Back to Nature Multi-Seed Brown Rice Crackers:

Wow! I've tried several recipes for chicken salad over the years, but this one takes the cake. It combines both steamed and cooled tofu and tempeh, and there's a little almonds, celery, and currants for crunch. All mixed up in a curry-Vegenaise dressing. Yum!

How do you sneak more whole foods into your diet?

Taking the 30 Day Vegan Challenge

I'm already vegan, so I guess I'm not really taking Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's 30-Day Vegan Challenge. But for the sake of her new book of the same name, I'm pretending I am. I was given a review copy of The 30-Day Vegan Challenge at Vida Vegan Con. I have all of Collen's books, and I was more than happy to offer my opinion on her latest.

But unlike most of her books, which are aimed at people already familiar with veganism, this new book is designed for people who are considering going vegan. Much like with past vegan challenges via Oprah or the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, the program follows the thinking that if a bad habit is broken in a month's time, maybe 30 meat-free days are all it takes to make a permanent change.

It worked for me! When I went vegan in 2004, I initially only gave up dairy, eggs, and other by-products for a trial run of 30 days. And when that time was over, I realized there was no way I could turn back. Vegan food was tasty, and non-vegan food was cruelty. Why contribute to violence when I could live happier on plant proteins?

I wish I'd had a book like Colleen's back then. I had a few rough patches during those 30 days, and I really could have used her advice in chapters on reading labels or finding vegan food on the road. Each short chapter is intended to be read in a day, and each focuses on one small aspect of veganism: baking without eggs, getting enough iron, compassionate fashion, and surviving the holidays.

Interspersed are recipes for Colleen's favorite dishes from her other cookbooks — The Joy of Vegan Baking, The Vegan Table, and Color Me Vegan — such as chickpea burgers with tahini sauce, French toast, no-queso quesadillas, and apple cobbler.

For the sake of the review (and because it's fun!), I'm reading a chapter a day and making at least one Colleen recipe from each week's worth of recipes. I'll post about each one. So far this week, I've read about determining which ingredients in your pantry may be accidentally vegan, the best way to find vegan items in the grocery store, and common animal ingredients to look out for.

The first recipe I made was located in the first week's choices, which were mainly breakfast foods. Even though she included recipes for tofu scramble, tempeh bacon, and blueberry pancakes, I opted for the easiest option — the Blueberry Smoothie:

Now I'm not typically a smoothie-for-breakfast kinda girl. I usually prefer hearty, savory breakfasts. But post-Vida Vegan Con, I wanted something super healthy. And this is no ordinary smoothie. It's filled with blueberries, strawberries, banana, soymilk, orange juice, almond butter, and flax seed. It honestly kept me full until lunchtime! Colleen also includes recipes for her mango smoothie and green smoothie.

If you're not a vegan, BUY THIS BOOK. If if you're already vegan, The 30 Day Vegan Challenge would make an excellent Christmas gift for that veg-curious friend or family member. Check back throughout the month for more food photos and thoughts on the book.

Cleanse Vacation

So I realize it's a little soon after Vida Vegan Con to take a cleanse vacation, but it's Labor Day! It's the last official grilling day of summer. And that means burgers and beer, right?

We celebrated with WAY TOO MUCH grilled food! Here's my friend Greg manning the flames:

We started by placing some marinated tofu and asparagus on the grill:

And then we charred some zucchini and squash, some Boca burgers, and a few portabella mushrooms. I like my food a little burnt, but Greg doesn't. So I got to eat most of the grilled veggies in this batch:

We also grilled corn (yum!!), and I dressed my veggie burger with Miso Mayo, Nacheez Sauce (which I picked up in Portland), tomatoes, and lettuce:

And Greg made vegan potato salad! He was too cheap to buy Vegenaise, so he used a mixture of soymilk, silken tofu, lemon juice, vinegar, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder, and a tad bit of soy sauce to make his own. Plus, he added cooked onions. Yum!

What did you eat for Labor Day?

Post Vida Vegan Con Cleansing Time!

After eating my way through Portland during Vida Vegan Con, it's time for a little healthiness. While I'm not really embarking on an official cleanse, I'm trying to eat lighter, more nutritious foods for a bit. I gained two whole pounds after Vida Vegan Con. While that's not really a big deal, I think it's a pretty good excuse to get back on track.

After a few days of readjusting to life in Memphis, I finally got back into cooking last week starting with this Supergreen Bowl from Appetite for Reduction:

Now, this isn't an official recipe in the book, rather a suggestion in the bowls chapter at the back of the book. I'm sure I could figure out how to combine ingredients for a bowl sans recipe, but it's so much easier to let Isa tell me what to do. :-)

In this bowl, you've got quinoa topped with kale, broccoli, edamame, green onions, and parsley topped with Isa's Green Goddess dressing (also in Appetite for Reduction). The dressing is made from green onions, parsley, tahini, nooch, and some other seasonings. And of course, I topped with whole thing off with sriracha. Oh, and I also added a tablespoon of coconut aminos, a raw version of soy sauce that tastes a little like soy sauce and mirin had a baby.

What's your favorite bowl combo?

Vida Vegan Con: Days Three & Four

I'm combining the two official working days of Vida Vegan Con since the weekend is approaching, and I never blog on weekends. Sorry for the ultra-long post. I promise not to talk too much. I know you really just wanna see pictures!

On the first morning of Vida Vegan Con workshops, we were treated to an AMAZING breakfast buffet! There was tofu scramble, roasted taters, pancakes, gluten-free biscuits with white bean gravy (I went back for gravy seconds and filled a whole mug ... us Southern ladies like gravy, you know), chia pudding, and fruit. I was kinda sad I got fruit because I could have used that space for more taters or gravy:

 

After breakfast, I caught all my favorite cookbook authors sitting at one table! There was Vegan with a Vengeance/Veganomicon (plus more books than I have room to list) co-author Isa Chandra Moskowitz and her boyfriend Vegan Omaha founder/Laziest Vegans in the World blogger John McDevitt. Don't worry. Isa would karate kick John if he was really choking her:

 

And vegan cookbook pioneer Bryanna Clark Grogan and the lady who gave us the steamed sausage and Everyday Dish TV, Julie Hasson:

Plus, our very own Vegan Cookie Connoisseur, Kelly Paloza:

 

A few tables over, the Vegan Goddess of Compassion (otherwise known as Colleen Patrick Goudreau) was selling her cookbooks, including the new 30-Day Vegan Challenge, which I'll be reviewing very soon:

My first panel, Build-a-Blog, with Amey of Vegan Eats & Treats and Sherri of Vegan Nosh, went great! We discussed the ins and outs of building a blog through free programs, like Blogger, versus hosting your own page, as well as how to build a blog following.

After the panel, I went to the Vegan Battle Royale game show, where teams were pitted against one another to test their vegan knowledge with questions, like "Which classic vegan cookbook pioneered the now-popular nooch-based mac & cheese?" (Answer: The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook. Duh!). All attendees were treated with Kittee's Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Cream Pies:

Kittee of Cake Maker to the Stars and Amey of Vegan Eats & Treats led the game show. And to the left, you can see Panda Cookie, who was randomly chosen for one of the two teams:

Lunch was another fabulous buffet: BBQ tempeh, kale salad, grilled corn on the cob, pesto tater salad, orzo salad, purple cauliflower hummus, and raw golden beet salad!

After lunch, I spoke on the Small Town, Represent! panel with John of the Laziest Vegans in the World, Lauren from Whoa Wren, Ryan from T.O.F.U. Magazine, and Elizabeth Castoria from VegNews. We shared tips for finding vegan meals and building vegan community in small towns.

After the day's workshops, we all got gussied up and headed to the Ambridge Event Center for the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary Galarama. On the menu: Sizzle Pie with Daiya Cheese, Gardein sliders, Gardein chicken strips, and spring rolls!

Even my omnivorous boyfriend Paul ate vegan food ... and liked it. Ok, well, he didn't like the Daiya, but that was cool because he pulled the cheese off his pizza and gave it to me. Score!

After dinner, there was a VEGAN ICE CREAM BAR!! We filled waffle cone bowls with Coconut Bliss ice cream and topped them with peanut sauce, Ricemellow Creme, walnuts, crushed Joe-Joe's, chocolate chips, and sprinkles!

Once everyone got their bellies full, it was time to dance off some calories. Jen from That Pain in the Ass Vegan broke it down:

And while others were dancing, I was meeting Vegansaurus blogger/funny lady Laura Beck!

The gala was also a silent auction, and vegans vied for loads of awesome goodies to benefit Woodstock. I didn't win what I'd bid on, but these guys were all lucky winners of a vegan purse, a VegNews dessert basket, a cool dried orange necklace, and so much more!

Now, after the gala, I was stuffed from all the Sizzle Pie and ice cream, but that didn't stop me from hitting up the Upton's Naturals late-night, pop-up seitan sandwich shop at Food Fight Grocery! They were offering three sandwiches made with thinly sliced Upton's seitan. I opted for the BLT, but I was so full that I ended up just pulling the slices out and eating them sans bread:

Sunday began with the same massive breakfast spread, so this time, I left the fruit off my plate in favor of more biscuits. Yes, my priorities are clearly in order.

After breakfast, I served on my final panel — Product Reviews & Ethics. John of the Laziest Vegans, Kyle of Vegan Vagrant, MeShell of Prairie Vegan, and I talked about the do's and don'ts of reviewing restaurants and products.

Lunch on Sunday was a fantastic Taco Buffet! We chose from corn or flour tortillas to fill with Soy Curls, taco "meat," sauteed peppers, vegan sour cream, guacamole, salsa, olives, and Daiya cheese. And there was raw nut meat to stuff inside lettuce leaves, plus rice for the side. Best lunch buffet ever.

After lunch, I watched the Publishing Panel, during which cookbook legends like Isa, Terry, Julie Hasson, Bryanna, Joni Newman, as well as T.O.F.U. Magazine publisher Ryan Patey, discussed the ins and outs of publishing a cookbook.

We were all soooooo very sad when the conference was over. Everyone stuck around after Isa and Terry's closing address for hugs and last-minute photos. Luckily, we didn't have to fly out until Monday morning, so we met up with a group of stragglers at the Bye & Bye, another totally-vegan bar! Here's Katie of Vegan Noms, me, Paul, and Brit on Twit:

It was so hard to choose what to order. After all, it was my last meal in Portland. Plus, everything on the Bye & Bye's menu is vegan, soooo ... I ended up going with the Grilled Cheese made with Daiya, tomato, avocado, onions, and jalepenos:

I think Portland was beginning to wear off on Paul because he loved his meal — the Eastern Bowl (brown rice, nooch-covered tofu, broccoli, and peanut sauce):

After we finished our food, I had a startling revelation! Since Bye & Bye is a vegan bar (with only vegan beer, liquor, wine, and mixers), they must serve a Vegan Bloody Mary. I haven't been able to order a Bloody Mary from a bar in nearly 7 years because most Bloody Mary mixes contain Worcestershire sauce, which contains anchovies. Ick! But the Bye & Bye served a bomb-ass, fish-free Bloody Mary. Best cocktail ever.

As the night wore on, we realized we had to go to bed. Our flight was leaving at 10 a.m. But first, we had to see off the last remaining friends in our vegan posse with a round of tequila shots!! That's Kyle of Vegan Vagrant, Jared (who doesn't have a blog yet), me, Katie of Vegan Noms, and Paul. Brit on Twit was the DD, so she took the photo:

Lucky for me, Kittee was still hanging out late too. She was sitting at the next table over, and I just had to give her a big ole goodbye hug!

Goodbye, vegan blogger buddies! Vida Vegan Con was one of the best experiences of my life, so I'll see you all again at the next one in 2013!