The catered vegan

So I was out of town for work. With catered meals. In a small town. The upside: I could see all the stars! The downside: I worried about what to eat.

It didn't turn out too badly, thank goodness! However, everytime I asked the caterer what was vegan she instead told me what was gluten free. ...Um, thanks, but could you tell me about the whole animal product thing? Fortunately, she did have lovely curried chickpeas, but without rice. So I ate it with bread--but she had pumpernickel and caraway rye--definitely a weird flavour clash. Do I sound like a spoiled vegan? Well, maybe a little bit. She made vegan things and gluten-free things but it was not a menu, it was a collection of things she could make to satisfy all diets, but without cohesion. Day 2's lunch spread was hamburger casserole for the omnis, eggplant moussake (vegan and gluten-free( and chickpea curry (vegan and gluten-free) with Cesar salad and garden salad. And the eggplant moussaka tasted rather like eggplant and tomato. I suspect she didn't open her spice drawer for that dish.

All this being said, it was definitely far better than the re-heated hungry-fest I had a five-star resort a couple years ago. And partly it was because she made us hummus from scratch, for lunch on Day 1. It was lovely!

Vegan convenience

When I first becamse vegan I was a little in the dark. It was months before I bought a vegan cookbook. (I know!! What was I thinking?) I cooked everything from scratch and gave on the idea of anything remotely cheese0like. And then slowly but surelly I saw the light. I bought Veganomicon, a new grocery store opened up nreaby and stocked a myriad of veg-friendly foods, and I started branching out. I was losing weight when I went vegan; I was torn between buying whatever vegan treats I could find and not spending calories on "junk". It was only two years into being vegan that I realized I didn't need to buy every vegan thing I saw. Yes, the health food store up the street from work has vegan pastry, but it will have them next week too--I don't absolutely need to buy them today.
But god are these vegan products ever convenient. Tonight, I would rather run 5K than cook; and lo and behold I have some Gardein Chipotle Line Crispy Fingers waiting in the freezer. With heat-and-serve vegan foods easier than ever to find, I am saved from actually cooking--and my tummy can still be happy.

My vegan heart, part 2

As vegans, our expectations for restaurant dining become dramtically lowered. Anything above plain salad and fries/baked potato seem like a miracle. So when I go to a restaurant and see something--nay, not even just "something", but a bona fide prix fixe menu--labelled "vegan"... it makes my vegan heart leap with joy.
That happened this summer when I went to lunch at Tabule, and found their vegetarian/vegan prix fixe menu clearly labelled. Thank you, dear restaurant, for erasing all doubt about whether the falefel has eggs in it! And thank you for not simply telling me I could instead order three vegan items off the menu at twice the price of the prix fixe option! And what's more, my meal was so delicious I threatened to go in the back and kiss the chef. (I didn't. But it was a struggle.)

The best things in life are simple

They say the best things in life are free. After spending two blissful but expensive weeks in Italy last spring, I have to say I don't necessarily agree with that statement. However, I think the Italians would agree that the best things in life are simple. A long walk in nature, spending time with loved ones, sharing a delicious meal: these are things without which life would be far less happy.
And so this brings me to panini: considering the intro, you might think I was going to go into the history of panini, what's considered a "real" panini, how all those inauthentic panini-makers out there are disgracing the name...But no.
While I did eat some sandwiches in Italy-- some flat and heated, some not--I am by no means an expert. And besides, I tend to consider myself a contemporary foodie: I borrow from other cultures and traditions at will, take what works for me and what I like, and adapt as needed for what's available and what is, of course, vegan. So I don't really know that much about traditional panini. I belive traditional panini includes meat and cheese, but when I make panini I fill it with veggies. Panini are an excellent way to jam my meal full of vegetables, and a panini press is an excellent way to cook those veggies.
If you don't have a panini press you can use your oven for both grillign the veg and making the sandwich itself. But if you do have apanini press, here's how I do it:
Slice your preferred veggies--I prefer zucchini, eggplant and peppers of various colours-- about a quarter-inch or half a centimeter thick. Grill them on the panini press until softened, then layer them in your bread of choice--lately I've been using the thin-style burger/sandwiches buns you can fnd at the grocery store these days. Add your favourite vegan cheese (mozzarella-style Daiya is pictured) and some kind of flavour, like pesto, tapenade, or dressing; then assemble and grill until warmed through and melty.
It is such a simple meal, but is one of the best things I eat--share it with loved ones, and it can be one of things in life.

Break out of your recipe rut

Sometimes we find ourselves doing the same thing over and over again. Habit can be comforting but it can also be boring. Often we don't even realize we're stuck in a rut until we're on the verge of the umpteenth iteration and we think, "Of course. This again."
I do that with food a lot. I'm sure I'm not the only one--they say most of each person's diet consists of the same 20 foods. And that wouldn't surprise me. There are a few foods I have in the fridge all the time--two of them being toast with hummus and fruit and soymilk smoothies. Both of which I eat for breakfast almost every day. There are sound reasons for this: I don't have a lot of time on weekday mornings and it's simply easier to make the same thing time and again. However, it definitely counts as a breakfast rut. So I was pleasantly surprised when I tried Polenta Rancheros from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Vegan Brunch. It was something I could make on the weekend and heat up in the morning, and it would shake up my morning routine enough that it would get me on a new track for breakfast. And frankly, it's delicious. When fresh, the polenta (in place of eggs in the non-vegan huevos rancheros) is soft and creamy, and the contract with the spicy, saucy rancheros is divine. I also love the chance to cram more avocado into my day. So join me, get out of your rut--polenta rancheros for breakfast!

The best meal I ever had

Picture it: Florence, 2011. (Okay, so it doesn't have the same ring as when Sophia from Golden Girls says it, but I got stuck for an opener.)
I was on vacation in Italy with my mother. Before out trip, my mother had been worried I wouldn't get enough to eat in Italy. She even said she thought I might have to "forget about" being vegan while I was in Italy. Hellz to the no, mom!
But it wasn't always easy. The first place we visited, Venice, had plenty of vegan things to eat, though everything was ridiculously expensive. Next we went to Cinque Terre, a series of small towns on the Ligurian coast in Italy. As vegans know, finding non-animal foods in small towns can be a challenge. Whether this was the cause or whether it was just the style of food in this area, I did have trouble finding food. I lived on veggie sandwiches and plain pasta for 3 days. Thank god I took an online vega'ns advice and brought peanut butter with me! Otherwise I would have been starved for 3 meals a day instead of 2 and a half.
So the most delicious meal I ever ate was our first meal when we arrived in Florence. Taking our guide book's advice, we generally tried to find non-touristy places. Since we were usually in touristy areas, this was difficult. Especially because mom let me scan the menu and see if there anything I wanted before we went in. On arriving in Florence, we checked in to or hotel and walked down the street almost the first restaurant we saw had a ton of things I could eat. And I was so hungry! I didn't realized how hungry I was for real food, after three days of eating protein bars and instant shakes. I order three dishes, and let me tell you, I ate every single bite. My appetizer was olive tapenade; mom didn't get an appetizer but I don't think I shared with her. I also got white beans in love oil--I found this dish throughout Florence and sometimes beyond, so I think it's a typically "Tuscan" dish. Thank god for beans! I gobbled it up. And finally I had pasta with veggies. It had pasta with veggies throughout my visit, but after 2 solid courses before the pasta, I finally was full. Grazie!

Flavourful old favourites

Vegan foods have come a long way. I've been told that 10 years ago it was even hard to find vegan hot dogs. Lately I've seen recipes veganizing everything from escargots to the infamous Double Down. (I have no doubt that the cruelty-free version is nonetheless just as disgusting as the original.)

The trick with veganizing main course dishes is we try to remain faithful to the original without the meat that is often the dish's primary ingredient. Pardon me for the next couple sentences, but I'm going to have a self-righteous vegan foodie moment: cooking with meat is easy with minimal effort, because it has lots of flavour. And cooking--with meat or animal products or not--is about balancing a few crucial elements: flavour, presentation, texture, and culture/memory. So when we veganize things, we have to up the ante a bit to compensate for the fact that we're taking out something that contributes to all of these things. In veganizing French Onion Soup, you take out the beef in the stock and the cheese on top. So how to compensate for this? Well, stretchy, melty, yummy Daiya takes over for cheese quite nicely. But the broth requires a little bit more dedication: I learned this a few years ago when I took beefless French Onion soup to work and a co-worker bluntly declared it lacking. Truthfully, it was lacking, so when I made it again today I carefully took steps to bring back the flavour. If you make stock from scratch, ladle out a liter or so for this recipe and then proceed with the additions to the stock. The result is a rich, brown stock with lots of flavour, and a veganized dish that satisfies.

Veganized French Onion Soup

1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon oil
2 cans vegetable stock, plus water according to directions; or 1 container of ready-to-use broth
1 to 2 cubes mushroom bouillon, plus water according to bouillon directions
3/4 of a teaspoon 'browning liquid'
2 to 3 dashes of liquid smoke
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, or 1/3 cup white or red wine
Approximately 1 1/2 cups mozzarella-style Daiya

Heat sauté pan with the oil. Add the onion to the heated pan and sauté over medium-high heat for a few minutes, then then reduce heat to medium-low and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have become a rich dark brown, anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes.
While the onions are sautéing, prepare the broth. In a large stock pot, add the stock, mushroom bouillon, 'browning liquid', liquid smoke and the garlic.

When the onions are browned, de-glaze the pan with the balsamic vinegar and a ladle-full of the broth (or with wine), then add the onions and liquid to the stock pot.

To bake, use oven-proof bowls and ladle in enough broth and onions to fill each two-thirds full. Add a slice of crusty bread to each, or toast whatever bread you have on hand, and gently place on top of the broth in each bowl. (Denser bread, or whole grain bread, better resists getting soggy during baking than white bread. But toasting helps too.) Top each bowl with 1/3 cup of mozzarella-style Daiya and put in the oven under the broiler until melted, watching carefully so as not to burn it.

Makes 4 to 5 servings, depending on how big your bowls are, and how big your appetite is. :)