Happy Thanksgiving, y’all! This time of year, vegans and vegetarians are always being asked what we eat for Thanksgiving. As if an absence of turkey is synonymous with the end of the world. I’m all for tradition and culture and support Americans' rights to fully enjoy the turkey that is so integral to their holiday meals. But there are options for those looking to move away from mass-produced turkey; locally produced turkey is often healthier, safer, better for the environment, and more ethically sound. Many vegans and vegetarians opt for Tofurky. Or you can just leave turkey behind altogether; we used to always make the cheesiest, creamiest Mac n’ Cheese for our Thanksgiving dinners. Being a little more health-conscious, creative, and, well, vegan this year, we opted for an entirely new menu. The first three recipes are taken from my vegan bible, Isa Does It. We began with a Butternut Squash Bisque based with coconut milk and vegetable broth, with just a little spice to add some kick. After being thoroughly warmed, we moved on to a Kale Salad with Apples and Lentils. We used some of the last of the kale from our garden for this dish. Next, the entree: Pumpkin Gnocchi with Seared Brussel Sprouts and Tarragon Cream. This was a spin on the original recipe, which used sweet potato instead of pumpkin, and it turned out really well. We made our own pumpkin puree (more on that later), and the dish was super hearty and filling. It even made brussel sprouts taste good. Finally, we ended with an apple crisp that we made healthier by cutting the sugar down to ⅓ of its original amount and using stevia and brown sugar in place of white sugar. Homemade Pumpkin Puree Not only was making our own pumpkin puree a good bonding opportunity for my mom and me, but it also meant our pumpkin dishes had a slightly more savory flavor. The difference was not extremely obvious, but it was still well-worth the experience. Plus, making your own puree from local farmers’ pumpkins is a fantastic way to support the community in a sustainable manner. We used three medium sugar pumpkins, which produced the equivalent of several cans of puree. Read on for more instructions on how to puree: 1. Choose the right pumpkin. Jack-o’-Lantern pumpkins are too stringy, but sugar pumpkins and pie pumpkins are good choices. 2. Slice the pumpkin into wedges. 3. Scoop the seeds and guts of the pumpkin out of the wedges, and set the seeds aside for roasting later (a very easy process, and pumpkin seeds are so healthy and delicious!). It is easiest to do this under running water. 4. Place the wedges on a baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes at 350 degrees, until tender. 5. After allowing them to cool, peel the skin off of the meat of the pumpkin. It will come off without a fight. 6. Blend the pumpkin meat in a food processor or blender until creamy. Voila! Pumpkin puree. You can store the puree in the freezer for up to a year if you don’t plan on using it all in the next few days. Enjoy! If you are looking for a yummy, healthy recipe for your pumpkin puree, head over to Lee Tilghman's blog, "Lee From America," for a pumpkin fat ball recipe. These delicious treats are great snacks that tap into healthy fats to keep you full. That stash in the freezer is calling my name right about now...
0 Comments
I speak as a privileged, pampered student of a university that, in the freshman dining hall, offers five different types of fruit and herb infused water alone. I speak from an institution that has ensured every single campus dining hall and restaurant offers at least one vegan option, and I speak as a proud diner that has access to rice milk, soy milk, and almond milk instead of sodas, which are no longer present in our dining hall. I speak as someone who has tasted the juicy cherry tomatoes and orange watermelon grown right on the campus farm. But despite my unusually fortuitous position, I can still present to you the following feasible and simple eating habits that can be implemented at practically any American college to promote personal and environmental health.
Personal Eating Tips: 1. Take advantage of the salad bar at regular meals. Free food offered by eager student organizations inevitably includes pizza, ice cream, and donuts. You will almost undoubtedly take advantage of this free food, so make a commitment to eat healthy while it is on your own schedule. 2. Stock your dorm fridge and shelves with healthy, ready-to-eat options like bananas, apples, baby carrots (& hummus!), and nuts. Let’s admit it: most of us lack the self-control to resist grabbing for a snack while studying. By stocking your room with only healthy options and NO junk, at least the snack will most definitely be healthy. If you think you might need a dessert as a reward for a hard night of studying, hide away some dark chocolate behind healthier options. 3. Drink water! Lots of it! Water is not only a safeguard against classic college hangovers, but is vital to kidney, muscle, and metabolic functioning (among many, MANY other things). And yes, fruit and herb infused water is addicting and delicious, so pop a strawberry or orange into that bottle for extra zing. Campus Initiatives: 1. Become involved with a campus farming project, if available. UNC offers a Community Garden that connects with campus organizations and classes to promote sustainable agricultural practices, social change, and academia. They even accept compost donations and host volunteer workdays. NC State has been sourcing food from their Agroecology Education Farm since 2013, and you can volunteer here every 1st and 3rd Saturday from 10 AM until 1 PM. The farm is hosting a dinner on October 7th with live music and tours, which I may well crash. Then, of course, we have the Duke Campus Farm with which I have already fallen in love. It supplies produce to Duke Dining and empowers students by offering job and volunteer opportunities on Thursdays and Sundays from 3-5 PM. 2. Request options that suit your dietary needs; most places are more than willing to accommodate (if for no other reason than to keep your business)! You will be surprised how much is available to you if you only have the courage and foresight to ask. 3. Join a group that focuses on feeding your local community. Increasing access to healthy produce and dietary education is one of the most empowering and sustainably charitable actions you can take as a citizen. 4. Cook with friends. Find the dorm with the best kitchen, split the costs on the ingredients, and cook up something tasty. Then take the Frisbee off the shelf, grab a blanket, and have a family picnic outside. Welcome to the last post of the four-part series on blueberries! In my opinion, this is the most enjoyable post to apply to your life because it involves cooking! Here’s what you gotta do: pick your own blueberries (as described in Thursday’s post), cook or bake something with them (possibly drawing inspiration from a recipe below), understand why you are doing your body a great service by eating them (as described in Friday’s post), and then mindfully chow down on whatever you have created (perhaps by using a mindfulness technique like the one described on Wednesday). Good luck!
Recipe #1: Blueberry Soba Noodles (Serves about 6) Blueberries and noodles? Do they really go together? I was also skeptical when my friend tossed them into the pan during a cooking session unguided by recipes, but, man, was that a fortunate leap of faith; the sweet juiciness of blueberries pairs perfectly with noodles and a creamy sauce! Bananas and strawberries were also stars of his dish. Sadly, the fourth course of cocoa noodles did not turn out quite as well as the fruit noodles. I adapted this recipe from one found here, mainly by tinkering with the spices, proportions, and cooking directions, and swapping out some of the ingredients. Ingredients: 16 oz soba noodles 3 cups blueberries ½ cup hoisin sauce 4 tbsp rice vinegar 4 tbsp lime juice 2 tsp sriracha 1 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp cornstarch 16 oz extra firm tofu Coconut oil for frying 5 cloves garlic 3 tbsp fresh ginger, minced (or ¾ tsp if using powdered) 1 tsp salt 1 cup fresh basil, chopped ¼ cup pine nuts, toasted Shredded coconut for topping Instructions:
Recipe #2: Blueberry, Coconut, & Peach Smoothie Bowl (Serves 1) Mmmm coconut goes so well in such a wide variety of dishes...from curries to smoothies, it lends a creaminess that cannot be matched. Pair it with blueberries and peaches, and we have a holy trinity. Ingredients: 1 peach, pitted and sliced 1 cup blueberries ¼ cup coconut cream ¾ cup coconut or almond milk ¼ tsp cardamom ¼ tsp vanilla 1 handful of ice cubes Extra toppings (cacao nibs, shredded coconut, pumpkin seeds, toasted walnuts, granola, chia seeds, ground flax seeds, hemp seeds, etc.) Instructions:
Blueberries rank just as highly in healthiness as they do in taste. Blueberries are most nutritious when eaten raw, as a baking temperature of 350 ℉ or higher will damage their vitamins, enzymes, and antioxidants. Nevertheless, they are still nutritious in baked goods as well (did someone say blueberry muffins?). Read on to find out more about why you should feed your body this delicious fruit!
1. Flavonoids (polyphenols with antioxidant properties), and more specifically, anthocyanins, are abundant in blueberries, and they neutralize free radicals in your body to prevent structural damage to cells. These antioxidants are believed to slow the physical aging process and help prevent cancer. Blueberries are believed to have the highest antioxidant level out of all commonly consumed fruits and vegetables! 2. The antioxidants in blueberries also prevent the oxidation of LDL cholesterol (harmful cholesterol), helping in turn to prevent heart disease. 3. Although one cup of blueberries contains 15 grams of sugar, research suggests that the anthocyanins prevent spikes in blood sugar levels and improve insulin sensitivity, thus helping lower your risk of Type 2 Diabetes. 4. Blueberries are a great source of fiber, measuring in at 3.6 grams per cup, and they therefore will help your digestive track move things along. 5. Blueberries are rich in Gallic acid, an antioxidant that helps prevent fungi and viruses from making you ill. Gallic acid may also soothe inflammatory diseases like asthma because it inhibits the release of histamines and pro-inflammatory cytokine expression. There are many, many other health benefits associated with blueberries, such as improved eye sight and memory. The levels of antioxidants in these berries are astounding and we can attribute most of the health benefits to these antioxidants. So, next time you grab some blueberries, don’t worry about their calorie count or how many minutes of exercise you need to do to burn them off...rest in the knowledge that you are doing your body a great service by eating some delicious berries! My family has been picking blueberries at the same farm for as long as I can remember. Indeed, some of my earliest memories involve my two brothers and I piling into the car with our homemade, recycled milk jug berry buckets (more on that in a moment). There are several benefits to picking your own berries, and if you have access to a farm, I highly suggest taking advantage of doing so this summer! In the Winston-Salem area of North Carolina, blueberry season typically lasts from late June until early August. Why do it?
1. The price of picking your own berries inevitably beats the price of buying those puny, little cartons of berries in the grocery store. I picked two gallons yesterday for $14, whereas the same amount in the average grocery store would cost around $40-$50. What’s more, if you go to the right farms, they will let you overfill the gallon buckets so you actually get even more bang for your buck! 2. Picking berries forces you to spend some quality time outdoors. Thus, you get some great Vitamin D without even eating anything! 3. You can eat berries while you pick (it slows you down, but who cares? Why would you turn down a free lunch?). 4. You support your local farmers, and you literally watch the blueberries make their way from farm to plate. They don’t travel across the entire country and harbor associated carbon emissions costs (an estimated 11% of carbon emissions related to the food industry are linked to food miles). A healthy local economy benefits both yourself and others. And if you live in the country like me, buying locally is just plain nice. 5. Your hands pick better berries than hired hands. When you pick your own berries, you have the power to choose the largest, juiciest berries available. 6. If you choose the farm at which you pick wisely, you can avoid eating berries treated with excessive pesticides. This benefits bodily and environmental health. 7. Picking your own berries helps you be more mindful and appreciative of food. When we are more mindful and appreciative, a blueberry (and life, for that matter) tastes sweeter. Tips for picking your own berries: 1. Go early in the morning, when the farm opens. The day is only going to get hotter. 2. Don’t pick the edges of the rows; that is where everyone else picks. Venture towards the middles of the rows for the most berries. I found yesterday that the sunniest row had the most berries because everyone else wanted to stay in the shade! 3. To go along with Tip 2, don’t pick the first bush you see. Choose your bush wisely; you want to find one that you can pull off handfuls of ripe berries all at once. If you are picking berries one at a time, you are doing it wrong. 4. Ripe berries will come off of the bush easily. Do not force the berries to come off the bush before they are ready. 5. Bring a milk jug bucket in which to put your berries (see photo). The buckets supplied by farms can be a pain to carry around. Simply take an old milk jug (or OJ jug for my vegans), cut off the top, and loop a belt through the handle. You can now wear it around your waist! 6. Bring along some music, a podcast, an audiobook, or a friend. You might be out there a while. Today, I picked two gallons of blueberries at our local patch, and man, do they taste good. This is the first of four posts on blueberries that I will be uploading over the next several days; today, we focus on mindfulness, tomorrow, on why and how you should pick your own berries, Friday, on the health benefits of blueberries, and Saturday, on how you should incorporate blueberries into your baking and cooking.
So, without further ado, an exercise in mindfulness: Have you ever taken the time to truly appreciate the blueberry, or do you just grab handfuls and pop them into your mouth? Next time you get the chance, follow these steps to become more mindful and appreciative of what you are eating. 1. Take one single blueberry and place it on a plain surface in front of you. 2. Look at the berry. Notice its texture. Appreciate its color gradient. How big is it? How many points are on its crown? Is it dry or is it wet? If it is wet, notice how the water is pooled on its spherical shape. Does it have any blemishes? 3. Place the berry in your hand and close your eyes. What does it feel like? Move the berry between your fingers and around the palm of your hand to sense its texture. Is it hard or soft? Does it feel fragile? Is it smooth? Does it have any wrinkles? Notice its weight. 4. Raise the berry to your nose. Do you smell anything? Does it smell sweet or sour? Does it smell fresh, or does it smell like chemicals? 5. Slice the berry cleanly in half with a sharp knife. Repeat steps 1-4. Additional questions to ask yourself include: How does the inside of the berry connect to the outside skin? What shapes do the color gradients form inside the berry? What new colors do you see? How are the seeds distributed? 6. Close your eyes, and place the berry in your mouth. Before you start chewing, appreciate its taste. Is it sweet or sour? Does the taste align with what you smelled earlier? Does the taste change over time from its initial state? Start to chew very slowly, appreciating how the textures and flavors change as you break down the berry. Notice how the juice might ooze or squirt from the berry. Listen to the sound of yourself chewing. 7. After about twenty seconds, mindfully swallow the berry. In the future, try to slow down when eating. Take the time to actually look at and taste your food. Among other things, mindful eating can help one overcome overeating, emotional eating, and stress eating. It forces us to slow down and give necessary attention and gratitude to food, a commodity that we often take for granted in first-world America because of its ubiquitousness. You can further appreciate the beauty and wonder of fresh produce when you eat slowly (honestly, do you not find yourself in awe every time you see the inside of okra?). I find eating with my fingers also helps me eat more mindfully. You can incorporate this practice into your life everyday with any kind of food, although it is easiest with simple foods. Enjoy. When we came back from Iceland early Sunday morning, we found zucchini and yellow squashes the length of our arms and the width of our lower legs waiting for us on our counter. Six or seven of them. What were we going to do with all of them?? We found the answer in zoodles: zucchini noodles that are made with vegetable spiralizers and can be paired with a wide variety of sauces. The zucchini and squash were so big that we only needed ONE to feed FIVE people! We ate zoodles Sunday and Monday nights, and we are planning on eating the rest in chocolate zucchini cake, yellow squash muffins, zucchini bread, and simple roasted vegetable dishes. Enjoy the following two recipes for zoodles. If you don't have a vegetable spiralizer, you can substitute regular noodles, but spiralizers can be pretty cheap (we got ours for $25) and are wonderful devices that make eating vegetables easy and fun. I don't much like yellow squash, but I love it in the form of "noodles." Zoodles in a Light "Cheesy" Sauce: Serves 5 Ingredients:
Zoodles in a Heavy Almond Butter Sauce: Serves 5 Ingredients:
On my 18th birthday last November, my brother’s girlfriend gifted me with one of the best presents I have ever received: the Isa Does It vegan cookbook. While I was not yet vegan, it was a commitment that I knew was on my imminent horizon; for several months, I had foreseen myself trying out veganism in college. That night, after opening up the rest of my presents and eating cake, I flipped through every single page in that cookbook. I fell in love with it on the spot.
As you have followed this blog, you have probably figured out that vegetarianism and veganism are actually quite feasible if you have access to quality recipes that guide you to regularly creating tasty dishes. I find many recipes online (thanks, Pinterest!), but the majority of the dishes my family cooks are based off of a few well-loved cookbooks. In this post, I want to introduce you to a few of them. Cookbook #1: The High-Protein Vegetarian Cookbook by Katie Parker and Kristen Smith Review: I bought this book for my father as a birthday present last year. He used to ask me what I wanted for dinner each night (back when we did not use a weekly calendar to plan our meals), and I found myself always requesting something high in protein. My family is extremely athletic, and we need that protein in every meal! This is an excellent cookbook with both vegetarian and vegan recipes. Katie Parker is the blogger behind Veggie and the Beast, and she collaborated with dietitian Kristen Smith to create this cookbook full of nourishing recipes, each with corresponding nutritional information (and mouth-watering photos). I highly recommend this cookbook for all you athletes out there! Favorite Recipe: Without a doubt, my favorite recipe from this cookbook is the Sesame Soy Lettuce Wraps. The crispy lettuce “tacos” combined with coconut lime rice, mushrooms, red peppers, and sesame soy-soaked tempeh is to die for. This might actually be my favorite recipe from any cookbook! Cookbook #2: Fresh & Fast Vegan Pleasures by Amanda Grant Review: Before I became vegan, we hardly ever used this cookbook. Now, we pull recipes from it once or twice a week. Most of the recipes call for ten or less ingredients, and international dishes abound. The book provides instructions to create a plethora of desserts, as well as starters, snacks, entrees, and sandwiches. It even includes an informative section on how to incorporate important nutrients into a vegan diet! Favorite Recipe: The Moroccan Spiced Couscous with Fruit is absolutely delicious. I love the sweetness of the apricots, dates, and raisins paired with the flavors of cilantro, almonds, mint, and saffron. Of course, I’m a sucker for chickpeas as well, and they are integral to this dish. Cookbook #3: The New Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas Review: Packed with 325 recipes, this cookbook is a follow-up to Thomas’s The Vegetarian Epicure. Her original cookbook was published in 1972, and hippies loved it (so of course, we own it, too). The New Vegetarian Epicure was published in 1996. The recipes are arranged into meals, and typically each meal consists of four or five recipes. Although we have never cooked a meal from this book, we use the recipes quite often. It is usually pretty easy to substitute vegan alternatives for ingredients like milk and butter (by using almond milk and olive oil), so you should look into buying it even if you are vegan. Favorite Recipe: The Butternut Squash and Pear Soup is fantastic. The sweet cinnamon and pear is balanced out by creamy, heartwarming butternut squash. This is the perfect winter soup. I have tried many butternut squash soups, and this has been my favorite by far. Cookbook #4: Vegetarian Planet by Didi Emmons Review: Planet, indeed. From Caribbean to Thai to American to Syrian fare, this cookbook takes you on a trip around the world by showing you how to cook delicious vegetarian meals. Breads, chutneys, soups, dumplings, crepes, rice, and more...this is the cookbook with perhaps the most variety on this list. It is perfect for anyone who likes to let their taste buds explore! Favorite Recipe: The Black Rice Cakes with Zucchini and Lemongrass are very, very tasty and flavorful. I love black rice, and the pairing of black rice patties with sweet sauce was quite different from any rice dish I had ever before tasted. Cookbook #5: Isa Does It by Isa Chandra Moskowitz Review: Of course, I had to include this one. It is my vegan bible. No question. My goal is to cook every single recipe in this book by the end of 2018 (there are a lot of recipes!). Packed with tips on how to chop, char, and stock your kitchen, this book will teach you how to refine your cuisine in a time-efficient manner. Each recipe has an estimated “active time” and “total time” to allow you to better plan your time in the kitchen. Chapters include your basics (soups, salads, pastas, breakfasts, and desserts), as well as more intriguing collections like stir-fries & sautés (Asian food with Isa’s own Jewish-American twist), bowls (each of which consist of grains, veggies, protein, and sauce), and Sunday night suppers (comfort food!!). I could go on forever about this book...but why don’t you just go buy one for yourself? Even my German friend Anna is buying one, despite the fact that she will have to convert the measurements to metric measurements, because it is so amazing! Favorite Recipe: OK, that is just not a fair question. I love everything in this book. If I had to choose one, it would probably be the Tempeh Meatballs & Spaghetti. Even though marinara sauce gives me dreadful heartburn, a little sickness is a price I am willing to pay for eating this dish. As I’ve mentioned before, I love tempeh, and the “meatballs” are perfectly chewy and bursting with flavor. That’s a wrap! I encourage you to go out and buy one of these cookbooks and fall in love yourself. If you do not want to pay for a cookbook, you might even be able to check one out at your local library (and if you’re like me, you will never, ever return it). As I sit here eating one of the most delicious cakes I have ever tasted, I am proud to say that it is 100% raw, 100% vegan, and 100% free of added sugar. Is this even possible? Two years ago, I would have incredulously asked, “How can something so simple and vegan instantly transport me to a carefree, summer state-of-mind?” I kid you not, though, The Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever” is playing through my head right now, and I am in heaven. This cake is that good. And it took me all of fifteen minutes to make (excluding the time it took to set in the freezer).
I am approaching the three-month mark of my vegan commitment, and one of the most important and inspiring lessons I have learned during these past three months is, contrary to common belief, making vegan food is easy...and the resulting dishes are delicious. As I transitioned to veganism, I gradually branched out my diet to include more raw, wholesome foods. Now, I crave fresh, crispy salads, and I even remember one swim workout this past winter during which all I could think about was tempeh. Vegan food is freaking delicious, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise! Veganism has also made me more mindful of what I put into my body, and that intensified appreciation for nourishing food makes every dish I consume that much tastier. Two years ago, I had a limited, only moderately nutritious meal plan that basically repeated on a loop each week: mac n’ cheese, egg on toast, spaghetti with marinara, biscuits and scrambled eggs, smoothie, French toast, and a cheese & pepper burrito. I hated rice. I hated salad. I hated broccoli, beans, and carrots. Potatoes were gross, and I avoided tofu at all costs because it reminded me of jiggly white brain matter. Now, I eat all of those foods on a daily basis. I love them. I attribute this to being forced to eat them in Austria, where I did not want to be rude and turn down my host mom’s cooking. In Austria, I surprised myself by instantly falling in love with almost every vegetable I tried for the first time. All it took was a little open-mindedness and my desire to enjoy the vegetables, and I was hooked. You can put any vegan food on my plate now, and I can almost guarantee you that I will love it. I think it bears repeating: vegan food is freaking delicious, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise! With that said, enjoy this recipe from The Queen of Delicious’s blog for a raw vegan strawberry cheesecake. I suggest using fresh strawberries (get out there to your local strawberry farms; they are closing up shop here in North Carolina!). Later this summer, I plan on experimenting with blueberries and peaches in the place of strawberries. Finally, here are some nutritional benefits of this recipe…
You won't regret it. Over the past few weeks, I have become increasingly interested in the practice of eating without utensils, where your fingers form the bridge between your food and your mouth. My family ate at Taste of Ethiopia, an Ethiopian restaurant in Greensboro, last week, and this was my first experience eating sans utensils in a public setting. A few months ago, I cooked an African peanut soup for my family that was served with homemade ugali. We grabbed handfuls of ugali dough from a bowl in the center of the table, formed little dough cups, and then filled the cups with the peanut soup. This experience felt extremely intimate, and I appreciated the textures and warmth of my food so much more than I would have if I had used a spoon. Of course, like most people, I grew up being chastised for messy hands after meals, and I have been conditioned to keep my fingers far away from food morsels for about eighteen years. But in many cultures, most notably to Americans, Indian culture, eating with your fingers is standard practice. Here are five pros of setting aside the fork, knife, and spoon, and using what we are all naturally gifted with instead:
1. When you eat with your hands, you are often forced to eat more slowly. Thus, you become more mindful of how much you are eating and can avoid overeating more easily. 2. It is difficult to eat with your hands and play on your phone at the same time. This demand for your attention will help you focus more on eating mindfully and appreciatively. 3. It is good for your digestive health! When your fingers come in contact with food, sensors in your fingers receive information concerning the food’s temperature and texture. This information is passed along to your brain, which then instructs your body to begin releasing digestive enzymes. 4. By allowing the healthy flora (bacteria) on our fingers to enter our mouths and bodies, we pave the way for a healthy gut microbiome. A gut full of healthy bacteria is necessary to proper digestive health. 5. More fun. Less dishes. Enough said :) I challenge each of you to try eating a dish you would normally eat with a spoon or fork with your fingers this week instead! You can grab some naan or bread to help you out. Enjoy! |
Archives
October 2018
Categories
All
|