A Night Out at The Pulse Cafe - Somerville, MA

Oops, I did it again!  Obligatory self-explanation paragraph.  My last blog post, where I was explaining how stressed and busy I was, should have been an indication to me that I needed to slow down before I made myself sick, but I didn't figure it out until too late.  Last Friday, I left work early for some R&R, but within 3 hours I had a fever and chills and felt generally terrible.  I got smacked down by a flu/evil sinus infection combo that had me completely out of commission for four days.  Then John got it too, but only the flu part. He's better for the most part, but I'm still having some sinus symptoms.  Needless to say, I didn't eat much worth writing about last week.  Lots of Gardein Crispy Tenders and noodle soup bowls.  But last night, we had tickets to see comedians JB Smoove and Richard Lewis in Boston.  The tickets were one of my Christmas gifts to John, so there was no way we were missing it.  Smoove & Lewis, who are cast members in the wonderfully ridiculous HBO show "Curb Your Enthusiasm," are two of the funniest people ever to both John and me.

Before the show, we decided to try grabbing some dinner.  We've tried a number of the places in & around Boston, but the relatively new Pulse Cafe in Somerville is a place we've missed so far.  I checked out the menu on their website beforehand, and it looked like a good place to fall off the healthy vegan food wagon for a night of indulging, so we went for it.  We were able to find free street parking a block or so away, which was both miraculous and probably illegal.  The restaurant is 100% vegan, which is also miraculous (and thankfully not illegal).  I do think it's a great thing to go out to not 100% vegan places to ask for vegan options so that vegan-ness becomes more mainstream, but I will also say, there is something so fantastic about not having to worry about whether or not I can trust the restaurant staff to understand what "no animal products" means.  Behold the easy way to be a fat vegan:

Vanilla & Chocolate Milkshakes

This coconut milk-based shake was definitely Georgia-approved.

 

Appetizer - Loaded Fries - French fries with cheezy sauce, sour "cream", and tempeh bacon

Bacon Cheeseburger - House made patty, cheeze, tempeh bacon, garlic aioli, & veggies on a multigrain bun

Philly Cheeze Steak - Peppers, onions, seitan "steak", and Daiya mozzarella on flatbread

I ordered the burger and John ordered the cheesesteak, but we ended up swapping, because his sandwich was too cheezy.  It was supposed to come on a sub roll, which would have balanced out the cheeze better, but they had run out.  I loved it, but the lack of bread did make it a bit rich.  The burger was very tasty, if a little small.  I would probably get a side salad with it next time to round out the meal.  The loaded fries were just as delicious as they look; in fact, I wish I had some now!  They had a number of dessert options, but since we were in a bit of a hurry at that point, we ended up grabbing two of their homemade glazed doughnuts to go.  They were made to order and warm.  I was totally in love!  They were very doughy and not very sweet, but that was okay to me, because I am a bread maniac, but John wasn't that impressed.  I think he would have gone for the apple crisp with ice cream if we hadn't already had milkshakes.  

With tip, it was $50, which is definitely on the pricey side for an appetizer, two sandwiches, a couple of milkshakes and a couple of small doughnuts, but it's about what should probably be expected for dinner in Boston.  The portion sizes were on the smaller side as well, but considering that the food is rich, that's probably a good thing.  We would check this place out again sometime when we are in the Boston area for a night out, and they do brunch on the weekends as well, which would be worth a try.

John's out on an acting job tonight so I'm flying solo.  I went to the movies once already (saw The Rite - it was okay - standard demon possession stuff with the added bonus of creeptastic Anthony Hopkins), and I might go again later after I work on our short film editing project for a while, if I can work up the nerve to go back out again in the cold & wind tonight.  Quite a few things to post this week, and I'm hoping I can get to them.  Right now, I think I'm going to head into the kitchen and find something to eat.  I ran out of Gardein, so I might be in trouble!  :)

Slow Cooker Vegetable Stew

Hi, I'm back!  I want to apologize for disappearing for a week.  It wasn't necessarily because I wanted to, but more because I've been going non-stop since last week.  I almost always have quite a few irons in the fire, but this last week, it's all converged to make me a little nuts.  Besides the blog and the full time plus job, John & I have a film production company business as well, in addition to him being an actor (and me driving him to auditions so he doesn't have to pay to park in Boston or Providence -- and he got the Providence job by the way, hooray!).  We work in non-fiction and fiction both, and depending on the project we could be handling everything from writing to pre-production to packaging and selling an end product.  Right now, we are also interested in getting into some freelance video editing.  So over the last week, I've been on the road a lot while also working and trying to stick to my every day exercise program and eating halfway decently and maybe getting at least 6 hours of sleep.  So no big deal, right?

The good news is, I have plenty of things to post, so provided I have time and can shut up about my life long enough to talk about food, I should be able to jump on a few times this week to share some of the recipes I've had lately.  The most thematically appropriate for this post seems to be this one, which uses my most neglected kitchen appliance, the slow cooker.  I don't know what it is about me and the slow cooker, but it's just not something I think of using very often.  I know how easy and convenient it is, but I guess I tend to be more hands-on with cooking.  The only meal I tend to think of as a definite crock-pot dish is stew.  I used to make beef stew a few times each winter, so I decided to make it without the beef (or seitan or another meat substitute) this time and see what happened.  What happened?  A hearty, healthy and delicious vegetable stew!  It's also oil free, so I think it would fit in with Eat to Live and McDougall followers.

Chunky Vegetable Stew

3 stalks celery, chopped

3 carrots, peeled and cut on the bias

6 small potatoes (Yukon gold), peeled and diced

1 onion, chopped

1 cup cooked lima beans

1 can green beans, drained

1 large can diced tomatoes, with juice

1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed

Garlic powder, oregano, salt, and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients except spices in slow cooker.  If necessary, add water to make sure vegetables are mostly covered.  Cook on low for 6 hours, stirring occasionally if possible.  In last 30 minutes, add spices, stir, and simmer.  A light touch with the salt is best.    

I almost never eat corn or lima beans but when I had them in this stew I remembered how much I love them.  They taste so good with tomato for some reason!  I almost always am saying in my recipes to adapt based on what you have on hand, and that is no different here, but I will also say that something about this combo is particularly tasty.  This would probably be pretty great with cornbread, but we just ate it as is.

We managed to make it through Tuesday without a full-on blizzard, which is more than I could have said for the last two weeks, and the sun was actually still out when I left work today, so that has me in a better frame of mind.  Hope the same holds true for the rest of you!

More Almost Homemade Vegan Dinners

Tonight, central Massachusetts is experiencing a brief respite between massive snowstorms.  I am in a hotel room about a mile away from my office so that I could minimize my driving time.  My Hyundai Accent is a great little car, but it's not a snow plow, and I'm hoping that by the time my workday is over tomorrow, a lot of the 2 feet plus of snow will be fallen and pushed out of the way so that I can get home without too much trouble.

Needless to say, these are the times when being vegan can be really difficult.  I didn't know the extent of the snow we were getting until this morning, and when I saw that it could be in the 25 inches range, I threw together a suitcase hoping I would be able to spend the night closer to work.  (I'm only about a 20 minute drive away on a normal day, but that has stretched into over an hour when we get snow like this.)  I also threw two days worth of breakfast and lunch into a bag (English muffins with Smart Bacon and vegan "egg" for brekky sandwiches, a tofu "egg" salad sandwich, an apple, and some leftover pizza--yes, sad food, I know--I was in a big hurry), and grabbed a few dollars worth of quarters for vending machines in case of emergency.  Tonight, I got capellini pomodoro from Olive Garden right next to my hotel.  Vegan?  Yes.  Blog-worthy?  No.  But at least I got a hot meal and a big (dry) salad.  Plus John talked me into bringing my laptop so I can post a couple of the things I've been sitting on for a while.

Both of these meals are homemade except for one convenient ingredient each.  In both cases, it was something I had sitting around for a night when I was short on time but still wanted to make sure I got something healthful and veggie-packed.

Vegan Chorizo Potato Hash

5 medium potatoes (Yukon golds are good in this), uniformly diced, peeled if not organic

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

1 medium to large green pepper, coarsely chopped

1 cup sliced mushrooms (button or cremini)

1/2 tomato, diced

1 package soy chorizo (sold at Trader Joe's and other well-stocked supermarkets)

Parboil potatoes in a large saucepan over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes or until slightly yielding but still holding shape.  In a large skillet or wok over medium heat, saute onions and peppers in small amount of water until onions are beginning to soften.  Add drained potatoes and stir fry for a few minutes.  Add mushrooms and continue to stir fry until potatoes and mushrooms are beginning to brown.    Add chorizo and continue to stir fry.  When chorizo is heated through, add tomatoes and stir fry for several minutes until tomatoes begin to lose shape.  At this point, onions and pepper should be tender crisp, potatoes cooked through, mushrooms browned and chorizo starting to brown.  Makes about 5 servings.

It's not the most attractive meal, but it's tasty and filling, and it's one of the first vegan meals I ever thought up.  John is a "meat" and potatoes kind of guy, so it's something he really enjoys and always wants an extra serving of.  Interestingly, the package of soyrizo I used this time had a similar recipe printed right on the package.  

Cauliflower Chickpea Curry

1 medium onion, diced

1 medium green pepper, diced

1/2 head of cauliflower

2 cups cooked chickpeas

1 jar of vegan curry simmer sauce (I used Trader Joe's brand, but Seeds of Change makes a few truly excellent varieties as well)

Cooked brown rice

Saute onions and peppers in water over medium heat until slightly softened.  Add cauliflower, chickpeas, and simmer sauce.  Mix well and lower heat to low.  Simmer for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cauliflower has softened to tender crisp.  If mixture becomes too thick, add water and stir.  Once cauliflower reaches desired texture, serve mixture over cooked brown rice.  Makes 4-5 servings.

John & I both love Indian food, and I got an Indian vegan cookbook for Christmas, but I haven't had a chance to really get involved with it yet.  Right now, with the amount of snow we have on the ground, even the simplest trip to the grocery store takes more than twice as long as it should  Maybe when all this snow finally subsides I'll be able to get to one of the nearby Indian groceries and pick up a few ingredients to experiment with.  For the time being though, with how busy I have been, and how little I care to leave the house, this will definitely do!

Happy Vegan-niversary to Me!

Today marks the end of my second year as a vegan!  I drove John down to an audition in Providence tonight, and we decided to get a couple of vegan pizzas from Nice Slice.  It's a pizza & sandwich place right near Brown University.  It's not 100% vegan, but they can make practically everything on their menu vegan.

We went with the Phoni Roni and the Philly Cheez Steak.

After the ride back from Rhode Island, the pizza was a little chilly, but it was still very good.  I love to cook pizza at home, but it's also great to be able to get takeout on a busy night when we feel like celebrating.  Being able to get vegan brick oven pizza also reminds me that I'm not missing a single thing without dairy and meat!

Our favorite omni food was pizza, and when we initially went vegetarian, we were eating cheese pizza more than anything else.  It was kind of ironic, since I had initially intended to go veg for health reasons, and there are only a few things less healthy than cheese, especially for lactose-intolerant me.  We decided to give up dairy for a month to see how we responded.  As it turned out, it was the best decision I ever made.  I lost about 35 pounds within the month!  It took longer to completely detoxify, and it was really difficult.  I had an outbreak on my face, not just of pimples but also cold sores and even a boil.  I also got a terrible ear infection that wouldn't respond to treatment.  After three months, I was finally rid of all the terrible effects of a dairy-filled diet, and I have never looked back.  Much like my initial transition to vegetarianism, my transition to veganism started out selfish; I just wanted to improve my health and give myself a little edge over the cardiovascular disease that runs in my family.  But what kept me from backsliding wasn't thinking about myself; it was thinking about animals.  I finally made myself confront what it really means to eat meat or to ingest dairy products and eggs, and once I did that, it became impossible to go back.  There are so many common sense reasons to go vegan, and now that I have 2 years under my belt, I couldn't imagine living my life any other way.

A Tale of Two Alfredos

A food that I almost never ate as an omnivore that I have ironically embraced in its vegan form is alfredo.  (Another is mayonnaise.  I guess I am a silken tofu junkie!)  I had fettucine alfredo a few times, always just heated up out of a jar, never made from scratch.  For some reason, after being vegan for about six months, I got a huge craving for this creamy comfort food.  I tried a number of different recipes, but none of them quite hit the spot, and one of them was downright nasty.  So I gave up for a while.  Then, for Christmas 2010, I got the book Vegan Comfort Food by Alicia Simpson  and thought, what the heck, I'll try again.  She has two recipes, and I tried the easier one.  And it was heaven.  Creamy, cheesy, fatty heaven.  It's been our go-to alfredo recipe ever since, and while I don't think any other alfredo will taste quite as good, it's that fatty part that has me concerned.  The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of oil.  Since we usually end up eating half of the recipe each, that means 1/4 cup of oil just in my serving, and that's 400 calories of pure fat.  Now that I am tracking calories and attempting to cut down on added fat, this recipe just doesn't work for me every day.  Does that mean I will give it up completely?  Not on your life!  But maybe now I'll have it twice a year instead of once a month.

I prefer my alfredo sauce over rotini with a lot of pepper.

After making the smart decision to cut back on my alfredo consumption, I was hit with the realization that I would have a pretty hard time giving up on alfredo completely. Fortunately, I have Happy Herbivore's e-cookbook, which features a low fat, oil free alfredo.  I remembered trying it before and thinking it was okay, so I tried it again.  I must have had to adapt or leave out a few ingredients last time, because this time, it turned out to be great! It isn't completely traditional-tasting (one of the ingredients is nutmeg, which I think turned John off it completely), but I thought it was a very good low fat recipe for a creamy, cheesy pasta sauce.  It definitely satisfied my craving for creaminess and nutritional yeast (yes, I crave nutritional yeast; I love the taste!).  I'm not sure if this recipe appears in the new Happy Herbivore cookbook yet (my copy is not in my hands yet),  but there is a similar recipe on her website, if you google "Instant Vegan Alfredo."

Even less guilty with a green salad drizzled with homemade maple-mustard dressing!

The healthier eating and daily exercise is paying off pretty well so far, since I've lost about 6 pounds in a little over a week.  I am getting kind of fatigued with the calorie tracking, because between my job, tracking food, and blogging, I feel like I'm on the computer all day.  But it is definitely worth it to see the numbers on the scale going down, and feel my energy level bursting through the roof, since that is usually far from the case at this time of year when it's dark and cold.  

I'm going to sign off and get cozy for another big snowstorm tonight.  Hope you are all staying warm and enjoying your night!  

Four Fun Facts & Further Falafel

My title might not make much sense, but I had to go for it with the alliteration!

The fantastical Jenny of Vegan And So Forth tagged me with Four Fun Facts.  If you haven't clicked on her in my blog roll yet, please go ahead and do it.  You'll love everything about her and her adorable family.

So here we go!

Four TV Shows I Watch:

I don't watch much current TV, so I would have to take it to the DVD's/Netflix and say:

1.  Star Trek (original series & Next Gen)
2.  Real Time With Bill Maher
3.  True Blood
4.  Sketch comedy (Kids in the Hall, Monty Python, Mr. Show)

Four Things I'm Passionate About:

This is pretty tough to narrow down, because I think I'm a pretty passionate person; annoyingly so, in fact.  My friends are nodding right now...

1.  Veganism......of course!
2.  Traveling, especially to Hawaii or to explore a city I haven't visited yet (I've been to 47 states).
3.  Reading and writing, and Shakespeare
4. Music (listening to it, playing it, singing it, writing it, everything about it)

Four Words/Phrase I Use Too Much 

I had to consult John, and he couldn't think of anything.  I'm usually pretty conscientious about not overusing phrases, but if I fall into any traps, they would be:

1.  In my opinion
2.  Pretty Cool
3.  So.....
4.  Really?

Four Things I've Learned From The Past

1.  Be aware that some people will mistake your kindness for weakness.  Don't expect it from everyone, but understand how to interpret the signs and assert yourself so that you don't get lost.

2.  Most of the time, no one is really thinking about your mistakes as much as you are.  They are too wrapped up in their own.

3.  99% of the things on your to-do list are completely unimportant in comparison to sitting quietly with someone you love and feeling the sun on your face.

4.  The only thing that can stop you from living the life you want to live is you.  If you allow yourself to give up some of that control, you will slowly but surely coast onto the path you were meant to walk.

Four Things I'm Looking Forward To:

1.  SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2.  Vacation - even just the planning part, which often ends up being just as much fun as the trip itself
3.  Visiting my family in Mississippi this spring/summer
4.  Working on a new video production project with John

Four Things I Love About Winter


Wow, this is just a cruel and unusual question at the moment, considering the possible foot of snow headed toward me, that will be landing on what's already stacked up.


1.  It ends?  Maybe????????
2.  Christmas & my birthday
3.  Winter clothes, I like sweaters much more than t-shirts
4.  Vegan hot cocoa

So (Really?) I will be tagging a couple of other folks who I have been fortunate enough to meet since I started this blog a mere 24 days ago, who have been really supportive and friendly commenters on my blog:  Melody and Laloofah.  Ladies, in my opinion, you are pretty cool.

In other news, I wanted to let you know that I tried the falafel sandwich at Firewood Cafe, a new little restaurant that's only a few blocks from my house.  We were helping some friends move and needed to grab a quick lunch.  Instead of stopping and grabbing a horrendously overpriced sandwich to go from the local health food store, we decided to pop in and compare the Firewood's falafel to some of the others in town.  This restaurant is just getting started, but if their falafel sandwich is any indication, they should be in good shape.  The sandwich is not on the menu (the falafel mentioned is a salad), but they didn't bat an eye when I asked for it.  It's almost like a salad rolled up in a pita, because there's a ton of lettuce involved.  I found that to be a positive, since it was so crisp and fresh.  There's also red onion and tahini sauce, which is nicely not overpowering, as it can often be when people glop it on haphazardly.  The price is very nice, at less than $20 for two of us to have a sandwich, chips, and a soda.  At the moment, their drink and side selection is limited, but we were told that other options are on the way soon, including fries and a BYOB option.

I promise there is some falafel hiding in there somewhere!

This is only half of the sandwich, as I hoovered down the first half instantaneously.  Hey, we were helping people move!  Lots of stairs!  Heavy stuff!  10 degrees out!  Hahaha. Seriously though, totally recommended for an inexpensive, filling meal on a weekend afternoon.  Try it out!

Cooking with What You Have

Today, even though I was standing downtown in the freezing cold for over an hour, I had one of the best, most rewarding experiences I've had in a while.  That's because John & I volunteered today with our local Food Not Bombs chapter to cook and serve free "rescued" food to anyone who wanted some.  The Food Not Bombs movement has independently run local chapters whose purpose is to gather vegan and vegetarian food that would otherwise be thrown away, prepare it, and serve it to the public.  John has always liked volunteering to feed people, and with how much I love to cook, it was a natural fit for me as well, but it was also a heck of a unique experience!

The Worcester group seems to have recently experienced a change in members, so it ended up that John and myself, along with the group leader Julia, were the whole group (at least today).  We showed up at noon to see what we had to cook with.  I sometimes cook at home based on what I have hanging around, especially when making a tofu scramble or a stir fry, but this was definitely my first experience with having such a specific and limited range of ingredients to work from, and my first time to make such a huge serving size.  I'm usually cooking just for two, and maybe making enough for four so I can have leftovers. We had about 8 eggplants, 10 yellow squash, a great deal of baby bok choy, a package of mushrooms, and some tomatoes.  Julia and her housemates also had a great variety of spices and other staples like oil and soy sauce to work with as well.  Based on what we had, we decided to do a stir fry.  I taught John how to chop squash, and he did a great job (seriously, he was a champ!) manning the two stir fry skillets.  We had to use a third pot since we had so many veggies, so I decided to add all the tomatoes to that pot and make a kind of curry soup.  (Sorry, iPhone pics again...)

Veggie Stir Fry - This started in two pans and cooked down to one

Curry Soup

Both dishes plus brown rice - pay no attention to the grilled cheese in the foreground -- not for us!

The curry soup started out as more of a riff on ratatouille, but about halfway through, after looking at the spices, I decided to go Indian instead.  It turned out to be a big hit with John, and I was happy we made a soup since it was so cold, and the people on the street were very excited about it.   The other challenge I didn't mention, which turned out to be my favorite thing of all, is that we cooked all of this on a wood-burning stove!  It was challenging, but so much fun to cook the old-fashioned way!  We also had bags of oranges and some bread that we gave out as well.

At the moment, the main challenge for Food Not Bombs Worcester is to get people out to eat the food.  Although we were able to serve quite a few meals (and we got rid of all our oranges and bread), we still had a good bit of soup and stir fry veggies left over.  However, with the cold today, we still considered it a great success.  John and I will definitely be volunteering again, and hopefully going forward we can get more consistent with when and where we serve food so that we can get more people out to eat.  If anyone in the Worcester area (of like the two of you who read my blog, haha) is interested in volunteering, let me know.  We plan to try to make and serve these meals every other Saturday, more than likely somewhere on Main Street until spring comes.  Next time, I will post as soon as I have more info so any of you who wants to can come on down and eat!