Vegan Recipes and Plant Based Cooking

I'm going to attempt going vegan again. I've always wanted to do it. Ran in to some problems along the way. But I think I finally have it sorted out. I dunno if this has ever happened to anyone else, but fruit was a huge issue. If I don't drink cow's milk I have a hard time digesting raw fruits. The sweeter ones at least. The starchy ones, like banana aren't a problem. It seems obvious it's a digestive issue as cooking the fruit solves it. And cooking breaks down enzymes and aids in the digestive process. Dunno the science behind it. Not exactly. I know that drinking cow's milk, which is full of lactose causes the body to create lactase. This is how our bodies process the lactose in milk. What the heck that has to do with eating an apple or some cantaloupoe, I don't really know. But there is some connection there. At least for my body anyway. I've been off cow's milk and raw fruit for many months now without incident. When I originally went off c

Here are a few pointers. Things vegetarians and vegans should watch out for. Hidden animals in our food. Fish oil in buttery spread. Some spreads can contain fish oils. Decidely not vegetarian. Gelatin is in so many food. Marshmallows. Jelly beans. Yogurt. Cheese. People think of yogurt and cheese are automatically vegetarian. Not true at all. Many yogurts have gelatin as an ingredient. So do some processed cheeses. Gelatin is made from ground up animal bones. Milk is in so many foods. So many foods where it simply doesn't belong. Breadcrumbs. Soup. Rice mixes. You name it, it probably has some milk in it. Microwave popcorn really threw me for a loop. Why? The A and P store brand is milk free I believe. But it has a lot more fat than other lite popcorns. You're probably much better off with plain kernels and a brown paper bag. It's an interesting phenomena though. I often find the store brand has simpler, more vegan friendly ingredients. Breadcrumbs, popcorn, cookie

Here's a nifty trick I use when I want the flavor of broth, but don't have any on hand. Vegetable broth is mostly salt with a few other spices thrown in. It's nothing all that special and isn't usually worth the price they charge. But it has a lot of flavor to impart to bland foods like lentils, barley and rice. When I want the taste of broth without the expense I reach for montreal seasonings. Montreal steak or chicken seasonings by McCormick or a knock off brand are an easy way to create an instant broth. Just add a few teaspoons to water and you're good to go. They seem overpriced and they are, but there are many many servings in that little jar. You could save even more by mixing your own. Just read the ingredients on the jar and replicate it. It's a great way to cook lentils and barley. Really adds a lot of flavor. I like to use some additional spices and stuff too. I try to create a kind of cajun dirty rice flavor. Some mustard greens. Paprika, chili

Here's a simple tofu sandwich that is simple to make and easy to enjoy. I like to buy the enhanced tofu with added vitamin B12 because that just makes things simpler. If it's in some of my foods then I'm not forced to use a vitamin or cereal to get it. And as you may or may not know, B12 is an essential nutrient which cannot be gotten for non-meat eaters without a supplement. You can take a vitamin, you can use nutritional yeast. You can eat some fortified cereal. You can drink silk almond milk. But you'll never get from plant sources without it being manually instilled by humans. I like to marinate my tofu in soy sauce. For an hour or two. First I drain it. Then I slice the block into thin 1/4 inch slices. Extra firm is my preference. Then I let it soak in the soy sauce. I just save up the free packets I get from Chinese takeout. But store bought is fine. I just marinate it in the same easy peel package in which it came. Using a clip or a rubber band to re close it for

The funniest thing about being vegetarian is that omnivores think it's hard. I don't know why. It's much easier not eating meat. Not washing my hands a thousand times. Not switching spatulas throughout the cooking process. Not decontimating the cutting board. And it costs so much less. See you can't let yourself be fooled by overpriced faux meat products. They are not neccessary. They are conveneint. And some can taste prety good, but thye are by no means repsentative of the average cost of a meat free diet. As with any convenience food they are grossly overpriced. The appeal that dead animal flesh has for people escpaes me. I just don't get it. I ate it for years and hate it the entire time. It's just disgusting and unclean and full of bacteria and diseases. It's so much easier to just drink some B12 fortified almond milk and sprinkle a little nutritional yeast on your sandwich. The meat people eat doesn't make any sense at all anyway. Why do people eat

It was a grilling day again this Sunday. I had half a bag of fresh potatoes left over from last week and did not want to turn on the oven. So I cut them into thick wedges. Simple really. Half the potato and then half it again. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast on the barbecue until charred on at least two sides. I was able to fit the entire half bag of potato wedges onto my tabletop grill. Roughly 2.5 pounds of potato chunks. They took about 25 minutes. I turned them twice. Some of the smaller wedges took a little less time. I then grilled two boca burgers and stuck some garlic on top. When I went to flip the boca burgers I removed the garlic and stored it in with the potatoes. Then we added the cow burgers. Bleck. I put some chunks of garlic on them as well. I sliced up some of the roasted garlic and put it atop my grilled boca burger and topped it with ketchup all on a freshly purchased bakery bun. Mom did the same with her cow burger. Except she had garlic and sweet rel

Lately I've been thinking about going vegan again. I tried it a few times. First time was a disaster. I did not get that eating fruit without consuming dairy was fucking up my body. Now I get that. And I can live without fruit. Bananas were okay. And cooked fruit too. And I can even eat a little raw now. But not much. I've yet to find any info on this on the Internet, but that's definitely my problem. I can't eat raw fruit if I haven't been consuming a fair amount of cow's milk. Strange but true. But now that I know this, that makes going vegan a lot easier. Well, not easier really, but less confusing. I love cheese though. But I'm kinda getting sick of it. And I do feel bad about eating it. It's one of the few dairy items I haven't been able to eschew. I haven't had ice cream in ages. Don't drink milk either. But cheese. Wow. That's a hard one to give up. But I think I'm getting near my fill. It just doesn't taste as good as it u

Well, I did buy a grill after all. A weber smokey joe silver tabletop. It's basically your standard round charcoal grill, but pint sized. I got it at Target for $29.99. Not bad. Not bad at all. I got some corn while I was there too. To roast on my new grill. It's funny cuz I wasn't going to buy a grill at all. But then I realized that my car needed to go to inspection and I had forgotten and my month had expired and the next day was Saturday and I could do it then if I was up early enough. I wound up awake at 7am on Saturday and went to the inspection station 2 days late. There was no line. And it only took a few minutes. And no one cared I was late. On my way home I was passing the Target and decided to go in and look. I first found a pair of cargo shorts for not a bad price in a rare red tone I could not pass up. Then I found the grill and visions of corn and potatoes began dancing in my head. So I went for it. I also got 4 ears of fresh corn and some charcoal. It wa

I've been considering purchasing a table top grill. I've always been hesitant because of the clean up involved. I remember when we had regular sized charcoal grills. It was a hassle. But smaller grill equals smaller mess. And it's no fun turning on the oven in the summer. And roasted corn on the cob is so good. And roasted potatoes. And veggie burgers wouldn't be bad either. Those table top ones can be almost as much as the full size. Decent ones seem to be in short supply. I can't decide if it's just easier to turn on the oven. At least there's little clean up. Do I want to bother with charcoal and lighter fluid and brass scrub brushes. Not likely. The concept is nice. I like the idea of cooking outdoors. But all that waiting. All that cleaning. That doesn't sound like much fun. I'd love some more fire roasted corn on the cob. But I don't fancy shucking it. Perhaps I'm just too lazy for all the delicious foods summer has too offer.

It was quite a shock, but the Cheeburger in Bricktown recently closed down. I don't know why. It wasn't for lack of customers as far as I can tell. The place was always busy. The food was good. I especially appreciated that their veggie burger did not contain egg. And that their onion rings were also egg free. That's hard to find. Their portobello burger was also very nice. And their salad was the bomb. Romaine and black olives and croutons. I'm baffled as to why it shut down. Was the mafia after them? Did they anger the CIA? I don't get it. One day it was dong a bustling business and the next it was gone. What the fuck? Oh Cheeburger, I will miss the artichokes and roasted red peppers you let me put on my veggie burger. And I will miss your creamy jalapeno dip for my fries. And I'll mourn the loss of your wonderful salad full of fresh romaine and black olive. But most of all I will miss the choice you gave me. To have a veggie burger without egg on rye b

When will the restaurant world finally catch on? Vegetarian dishes are a must for any respectable dining facility. Full disclosure is also necessary. Does it have eggs. Does it contain milk. Is it really vegetarian? Putting chicken stock in it is decidedly non-vegetarian. So don't try to fool us with a vegetable filled description. If 2-3% of the population is vegetarian why is it that 2-3% of restaurant menus are not? And why, oh why, must they fill every meatless thing with tons of cheese? Beans people! Beans are what we want. Beans are what we crave. We love us some beans. I swear... restaurants need to hire me as a consultant. They have absolutely no clue when it comes to vegetarian and vegan menu choices. You can't just smother everything in cheese. That won't work. Not all cheese is vegetarian. I don't understand. Because there are so many wonderful dishes that can be made without meat. and without cheese and without eggs. I don't understand their relu