My Old Pal Parsnip

Back when I was studying abroad in England, about four years ago now, I found myself eating a vegetable side dish that took me pleasantly by surprise.  Long strips of lightly sweet root vegetables fell apart just right between my teeth and on my tongue.  I recognized the carrots immediately, but what were the white ones?  Were they white carrots?  They were a delectable mystery.

I soon found out that these ground dwellers were parsnips.  If you've never run across a parsnip before, I am not surprised.  They taste like a cross between a carrot and a potato--that's the best comparison I've been able to think up.  They look like a white, top-heavy carrot with osteoporosis.  They are amazing.

Several times I have tried to recreate the mildly sweet parsnip at home, but each time I somehow failed.  Once, I learned the hard way that you should peel parsnips first.  Once, I boiled them first which proved fruitless.  They just never turned out right.

After several attempts, the dear parsnip faded into the back of my mind to be all but forgotten.  Some stroke of fate pulled it to the front last week and I was determined to find the recipe the top all recipes for carrots and parsnips just like that first dish I ate in England.  Not only that, but I would serve it at Thanksgiving dinner.  So I went to The Food Network and did a search.  Chef Danny Boome, a Brit himself, had a simple and mildly sweet recipe for carrots and parsnips calling for olive oil, honey, thyme, salt and pepper.  I nearly pissed my pants.  It was going to be the one.  It was written by an Englishman. It had to be good.

And it was.  Even my parents approved.  I was all set to buy more ingredients for Thanksgiving until too many people decided they were bringing vegetable dishes to our house for the feast.  Oh well, maybe next time!  At least my long quest for the perfect parsnip has been satisfied.

**The Vegan Issue**
Honey--it is not vegan.  This is another element of my almost veganess.  Vegans don't eat honey because it takes bees to create it.  Taking honey is like taking bees' food.  This is where I get confused.  I keep hearing that honey bees are raised and bred to make more honey than necessary so they have enough food and enough to give away.  That makes it *okay* to take their honey, but we're also manipulating the bees in some way (is this genetic engineering?  just breeding?).  Obviously we aren't killing the bees because that would make harvesting honey a fruitless industry.  I rarely use it and I don't like the taste of honey itself, so the idea of consuming honey rarely affects me until I come across a recipe like the carrot and parsnip recipe.  I am sure the honey can be replaced with agave or brown rice syrup.  That is the beauty of having so many sweeteners at your disposal.

In case I don't post beforehand, have a fabulous Thanksgiving!

Mushroom on a Stock

Ha, I got you with that title, didn't I?  Okay, so it was lame.  At least I tried.

Today I made mushroom stock, the first stock or broth I've ever made from scratch.  It was surprisingly easy and the aroma filling the kitchen definitely pleased my nostrils.  I was just sad to dump all those delicious mushrooms and onions and garlic and goodies after all was done boiling away.  I suppose I could have saved it for another recipe, but all the flavor had been juiced out.

I haven't used any yet.  We use broth and stock quite a bit around here, though.  Instead of using water for couscous and rice, we use vegetable or "fake chicken" broth to add flavor and depth to the dish.  I saw the mushroom stock recipe in my mom's latest issue of Cooking Light and thought it sounded not only unique and different, but fabulously delicious.  I love mushrooms.

You're probably waiting for the problem.  There's got to be a problem here.  Nope!  Well, I used celery instead of leeks, but that was by choice.  And the oil burned to the bottom of the pot, but I'm letting it soak and maybe I'll fall asleep before remembering to scrub again and then Dad'll do it for me.  Haha.  Wishful thinking.

In other news, today is Ed Asner's birthday.  Happy 80th birthday, Ed!  You're probably wondering what Ed Asner's birthday has to do with my blog.  Well, looking at his filmography (which oddly includes TV) I was reminded of Mary Tyler Moore.  I adore that woman for her charm, her work, and her activism.  And I just read that she's a vegetarian!  Go, Mary!



Sleep well--there's a full week ahead!

No It's Not!

I really shouldn't watch so many cooking shows.  I think about food far too often as it is.  And then you have the problem that 99.9% of the shows involve meat-based dishes so I either start thinking of ways to make them vegetarian or I start thinking about how unfortunate it is that there aren't enough vegetarian dishes on cooking shows.  Or I think about how absolutely disgusting that stuff on TV is.  Let's face it, some of that junk is absolutely ridiculous.

Anyhow, every once in awhile there is a gem.  Somebody decides to feature a meatless meal.  I dance in my seat for a moment before I realize what is wrong with the episode.

Yes, I always find some flaw.  I'm overly critical like that.  I'm trying to improve myself.

Take the episode of Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals that I saw today.  Portobello mushroom hoagies.  That sounds interesting to me.  Leave off the cheese and I'm good.  But then she gets down to it and starts actually making the hoagies, marinade first.

What is in the marinade?  None other than Worcestershire sauce.  I'm sorry, but Worcestershire sauce is not vegetarian.  It would have been all fine and dandy had she not gone off on a this-would-be-great-to-serve-to-your-vegetarian-friends schpeel.  No.  It would not.  


This vegetarian's enemy of a sauce contains anchovies.  Anchovies are fishes.  That is very un-vegetarian.  Yes, I rant.  Yes, I complain.  I do not complain about Ms. Ray alone.  She is not the only one.  


But instances such as this raise questions.  What do restaurants use to marinate their mushrooms?  Do we have to start asking everyone what ingredients they use before we order or eat?  Is food going to become even more of an issue that it already is and should not be?  


ACK!


There are vegan versions of Worcestershire sauce in health food and fine food stores, but I've never bothered to purchase them.  I hear much of the flavor of the original version comes from the fish anyhow.  I could be wrong.  


But the moral of my story is, even professional chefs don't always know what they're talking about and it is quite irksome.  Makes me want to write some letters.  

The Piggy Flew

Soooo...

I've been slacking again.

It's hard to post about food when you're sick with H1N1 and have to choose quite carefully what you are going to consume because wait, will a chocolate bar agree with tamiflu?  How bad will the stomach cramps be today with all this hacking-up-of-the-lungs?  


I've been very careful about my food consumption--faux chicken soup with noodles, scrambled eggs, glass after glass of juice-and-carbonated-water, etc.

I managed to keep down some roasted brussels sprouts tonight (lightly tossed in olive oil with salt, pepper, and thyme).  The left over noodles-mushrooms-and-vegan-sausage-combo at lunch didn't do as well.

Did I mention the juice?

Ordinarily I'd jump at the chance to dabble in the kitchen while under a week-long "house arrest" (as I affectionately call it), but I don't want to infect all of the household food supply.  And there's that stomach sensitivity thing.

So, until the piggy flies away, happy eating!

A Conglomeration of Notes

It's been one of those too-long-between-posts again.  What can I say?  Some weeks aren't very adventurous and sometimes I avoid the blog like the plague.  Why?  I don't know.  It's daunting.  I cook something new and think gee, now I need to blog it.  But I also think, who really wants to read about how I put pumpkin seeds in the brown rice and threw it into the hollows of a squash?  Whoopee!  It might have been a first for me, but I bet it's nothing new in the universe.  Blogging takes motivation and self-esteem.

Well, after a certain length of time, a new blog post is necessary so that the blog doesn't die and become just another speck in the universe (or is it already?  This is clearly not the time nor blog for metaphysics).

So now I get to tell you all how this is the first week I've weighed in at a gain since I've started losing weight.  Yes, I know it's natural to have plateaus and gains while trying to lose weight, but the first gain is always frustrating (not that the rest aren't, as well!)

I blame it on the vegan rice crispy treats, recipe courtesy of Alicia Silverstone.  Yea, I finally got around to make those little devils and I didn't even put the chocolate chips in.  Sure they're not bad for you (really only brown rice and peanut butter when you get down to it).  Not bad until you find yourself picking at them all...day...LONG.  I cannot keep my hands away from these things.

I wasn't Little Miss Perfect the rest of the week, either, but I still blame the treats.

In other news, the shelter I volunteer at had a Halloween party/bake sale on Saturday.  Needless to say, none of the goods were vegan friendly (aside from the chips that went with the $3.00 hotdog lunch you could buy).  I stayed most of the day to help out with the dogs and didn't eat anything from breakfast until I got home around 4:30pm.  That's when it hit me how hungry I was.  That didn't bode well when my parents and I went out to dinner at a local restaurant.

My parents really like this restaurant and I was so-so on it after turning vegan.  I decided to ask what the black bean burger was made of so that I didn't have to stick with a bald portobello mushroom on a bun again.  The waitress was amazing and brought out the book that had all the ingredients of the pre-prepared foods and she read off every last gorey detail (i.e. soy protein, wheat gluten, etc.)  I was shocked to hear a lack of cheese and egg proteins listed.  I should add that the black bean burger is actually two of these burgers stacked on top of each other.  Usually with cheeses, avocado, pesto, and crispy fried onion thingies.  I asked for it without the cheese and avocado (I don't like avocado which I guess is a sin against vegans everywhere) and they automatically put the pesto on the side.  It was delicious but my stomach paid for it the next day.  (I ate the whole thing...and despite my choosing the side salad instead of fries, it wasn't pretty).  I'm thinking of writing an email to the restaurant applauding them and the waitress.  Nights like that make me giddy.

Tonight I attempt cooking curry for the very first time.  Wish me luck!

One Single Can

My friends, it is pumpkin season.  I love pumpkin.  I love pumpkin breads, cakes, cookies, spice lattes (soy of course), spice teas, etc.  I even love to munch on the seeds which are quite healthy provided you don't add tons of oil and salt.  I just don't like pumpkin pie.  Call me odd if you will; you won't be the first.

This year I seem to be learning how to use pumpkin in all new ways.  For instance, at the Pet Expo at Arlington Race Track this year, a fellow daschsund-person gave the weenie-slimming advice of adding canned pumpkin to our dogs' food.  We opted to leave the kibble alone as our poochies produce enough "#2" as it is.  I've also heard that canned pumpkin is good for upset dog tummies.  For the same reason as stated before, we usually stick to the rice method of soothing the aching bellies.  But, it's a very dog-friendly food.

When I heard this next tip, I just had to try it to see if it really worked.  Tip: Instead of adding eggs, oil, milk, butter, water, or whatever else a cake mix might call for, just add one 15 oz can of pumpkin and bake as directed.  You're not supposed to be able to taste the pumpkin in the final product or tell that it's high in fiber and low in fat.  Anyone I told this method to gave the "yea right" face.

I blended a vegan-friendly devil's food cake mix with one can of pumpkin.  I managed to fill 18 cupcake papers with the batter.  The batter was delicious and only vaguely pumpkiny.  Twenty minutes later out came the moistest devil's food cupcakes I have ever eaten!  You would never know all those ingredients were omitted and replaced by pumpkin.  I highly suggest having a party and tricking all your guests.  Better yet, trick your children and then tell them they've just eaten a vegetable.  Mwahaha!

I might have to eat another one for breakfast tomorrow morning.

On the Road to Being Less Clueless

I've been watching Rachael Ray's talk show quite a bit lately.  It's not that I love the show or have nothing better to do, it's that when Bailey and/or Bill settle themselves all cozily in my lap while I have a cup of coffee and am in my pajamas and Live with Regis and Kelly has ended, I find it difficult to pick myself up off the couch and get on with my day right away.  So, I sit and watch at least half of Ms. Ray's show.  This really goes to show how worthless my life is right now.  I need a job.  Hire me.  Please.

Anyhow, the other day Rachael had the most amazing guest on.  Well, maybe the second most amazing since yesterday Julie Andrews was on.  Alicia (pronounced Ah-lee-see-ah) Silverstone spent quite a bit of time sitting next to Rachael promoting her new book and her fabulous lifestyle.

When I was in elementary school and Clueless was a hip movie to watch, I must have watched it every single day.  If I were like most crazy little girls, I would have had every line of that movie memorized, only I'm not good at that kind of thing and really only remember one or two lines I love from movies.  They are the lines nobody else remembers, and if I were to recite them to you right now, you wouldn't be able to name the movie for the life of you.  But nevertheless, I watched that movie as if my life depended on it.  I did not understand the deeper significance until much later in my life, but it served its purpose.  And this is how I always knew Alicia Silverstone.

Since then I have heard in passing of her desire to help animals and the environment and that she was possibly a vegetarian.

Dudes.  She's a vegan.  And she wrote a book about it.  It's a book-cookbook called The Kind Diet not only because it's better for the planet but it's better for your body and soul.  I ALMOST DIED.  This was a vegan on Rachael Ray's show.  She was talking about being meat free and dairy free and living a life for the planet and suddenly I was worshipping Alicia Silverstone again.

I have been wondering and pondering and asking around to find out what vegan cookbook to buy.  I only have omnivorous and lacto-ovo cookbooks.  Well, folks, I know what book I'm buying.

I wish I had known what I would be seeing because I would have recorded the episode on the DVR.  Everything I've been trying to convey to my omnivorous friends and family she said so easily and comprehensibly.  I think I squee'd out loud at one point.

And the crispy rice cereal treats (because using the well-known name would be a trademark issue) looked so divine.  I've tried making them with marshmallow fluff, which is gelatin free, but they come out hard.  She uses rice syrup and they come out just right!  I need to get my hands on that book.  There is too much I'm missing out on.

Which brings me to my next point.  I was grocery shopping with my mom this weekend and I could not for the life of me find a good quality whole wheat bread that is made without milk!  What the hoot?  We ended up buying the high-fiber, low-calorie health bread with all the extra ingredients that make it not-recommended to eat, but it was the only whole wheat bread without milk.  Really, people?  Really?  It's wheat bread!  So as we went down the aisles of the store and my mom noticed all the things I won't eat anymore, she reminded me of how she believes I'm "missing out on so much."  Instead of sighing and shrugging as usual, I spoke up and said, "No, I'm not."  If you think like many vegans, you'd think that all those things aren't supposed to be eaten by us anyhow so how am I missing out?  Plus, where there is a will, there is a way.  That is why I'm experimenting with recipes and vegan ingredients.

So, I may start making my own bread.  It's good for the arms and the spirit.  My family baked bread for a living before coming to the United States.

I may also rent Clueless for some laughs and good memories.  It's too bad I don't still have the little tea set I used to have and used for drinking hot cocoa with my friends after playing in the snow.  I'd totally break that out and use it while watching the movie if I did.  And yes, totally just said totally.  Twice.