Best Box Pancakes Ever!

On a whim I bought a box of Aunt Jemima's pancake mix - not the just add water kind. The one where you actually add oil, milk, and eggs. I usually shy away from prepackaged stuff, but my kids were especially cute and endearing that day.
But I tweaked it because I can't follow a recipe verbatim. The first time I made it, I subbed Basil infused olive oil for the oil, Vanilla Silk for the milk, and used regular eggs.

Today, I subbed Lime infused olive oil, Vanilla Silk, and EnerG egg replacer.
Oh my gosh. No syrup required.
Then follow the rest of the instructions on the box.
Let me know when you make it!

White "Minestrone" with Mushrooms

Serves 12 first course or 6 main course
1/2 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 swirl of olive oil (1 1/2 teaspoons)
sea salt
1 bag Bella mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup carrots, sliced
2 cartons (64 oz.) of Imagine 'No-Chicken Broth'
1 zucchini, chopped
1/2 yellow squash, chopped
25 oz. garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup couscous
3 cups spinach, chopped

Saute: onion and garlic in olive oil in a pan over medium heat for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with sea salt to sweat the onion and garlic and make them brown faster.

Add mushrooms and saute for 5 more minutes.
Set aside till later. [Or, do the steps above and below simultaneously in two different pots - get wild!]

Boil carrots in 'No-Chicken Broth' in a large pot over medium heat for 5 minutes or until carrots are partially cooked. [Like they are thinking about being tender. Always start with your hard veggies first. They take the longest to cook.] Reduce heat to medium.
Add zucchini, yellow squash, and beans. Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes.
Turn off heat. Add couscous and the onion/mushroom mixture and cover for 5 minutes.
Add spinach and stir. Serve immediately or the couscous with thicken your soup.
The couscous turns your soup into gelatinous goo overnight. Unless you are trying to make what looks like an aspic.

Balsamic Orange dressing

At a cooking demo at my friend's home, I whipped up this tasty dressing. Just five ingredients.
Balsamic Orange Dressing - makes 1/2 cup
4 oz. olive oil
2 oz. balsamic vinegar
2 oz. fresh orange juice (high pulp)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 squirt yellow mustard (for 2 seconds)

Whisk all together and toss with your favorite greens, bright veggies and fruit. I like to top with toasted coconut and nuts.

Gardein - an honest review

So, last night I tried the much hyped meat replacement product Gardein. I've been looking for a chicken substitute for some time. I bought the "best seller" Mandarin Orange Chicken, thinking it would be the best. Most popular = best tasting.

I read the directions on the bag 2 or 3 times to make sure I didn't mess it up. I didn't even tweak the recipe, which I normally do. The instructions looked simple enough. Surely I could do it!
All I had to do was defrost the sauce bag in a bowl of warm water and crisp up the chicken things.
Heated up my stone coated frying pan, added a swirl of olive oil, tossed in the frozen, pretend chicken breast pieces.

I took much care to make sure that the pieces browned and got crispy without overcooking (that was the big warning on the bag).
Last 30 seconds, I squeezed the sauce into the pan with the rather flat Gardein and heated away. I felt very successful as my kids were wandering in the kitchen and asking, "What are you cooking Mom? It smells like chicken!" Yes, they were incredulous because I haven't cooked meat in my home for many months.
Like the package suggested, I served the Gardein with steamed broccoli and rice - brown with vegetable broth. Dinner looked fabulous! All the right colors - even the kids were excited!

Then, nobody wanted to be the one to take the first bite. "I'm waiting until YOU try it." Mikey from the Life cereal commercials doesn't live with us, so we couldn't make him the guinea pig. Finally the younger tasted it and screamed, "yuck! I am giving this a zero" on a scale of 1 to 10. And, yes, she spit it out. Mind you, she hasn't spit out food for 4 years. The older kid tried the Gardein piece solo and declared, "I give it a 2, but don't make it again. Love the rice and the broccoli, Mom." Trying to let me down easy, I suppose.
Skeptically, I stuck a piece in my mouth. The sauce was tasty. I liked the crispiness of the "meat" but not the texture inside. It was like (I'm grasping as descriptive words here) chewing on a dense pound cake, but little wetter. I'm sorry, but when I feel like eating chicken, I do not want to eat cake all of the sudden.
I determined that it wasn't horrible; the kids agreed; and that it was emergency food. After explaining to my little one WHAT emergency food was - in a bind we could, feasibly, eat it, they agreed. So then we tried combining the Gardein WITH other food - rice, broccoli, or all together. A little better. The older one bumped up her number to a 3, the younger gave it a 1. We tried sprinkling more soy sauce on. No dice.
Then Daddy came on the scene. The younger one warned, "It's emergency food, Dad! You may not like it!" The older, "yeah Dad. I gave it a 3." Way to keep him objective. Great job. So I chimed in, "it's not awful, but it's not good, either." That really worried him because usually I am the positive one about trying new food.
He smothered his with soy sauce and bottled ghost chile sauce and said it was fine.
>Note: ghost chile sauce is so hot and strong that you can not taste anything else but the chile.<
He ate all of his Gardein. I bargained with the kids to eat more of theirs so they could eat a Cutie clementine. I ate mine, but only with rice or broccoli. We still had a few pieces left in the pan. Hubby offered to give them to the dog. I screamed, "No! She's probably allergic to them!"
Hubby countered, "great, we can't give it to the dogs but we're making our kids eat it. Nice."
We have 3 more bags of different Gardein things: beef tips, chicken piccolini, and chicken tenders. I'm going to wait a few weeks before I subject my family to another experiment like that one.

Meatless Mondays

I don't like the name "Meatless Mondays" because it sounds like I am giving up something valuable. Sorta like friendless or penniless. I like to call it just plain old "good food" days. Nonetheless, that's how I started on my journey to be a part-time vegan.
Just try one day without meat, they said. See how you'll survive and thrive, they said.
Okay, so it didn't kill me to have a roasted veggie sandwich instead of a turkey sandwich. In fact, the veggies were more flavorful. And I actually could stand up after eating a pomodoro pasta with fresh tomatoes, garlic, and oil. No passing out on Mondays.
And some of the salads with greens, quinoa, jicama, and black beans make fireworks in your mouth! So, I don't feel like I am being deprived.
So, give it a try, but plan WHAT you are going to eat that day. Otherwise your hands will naturally gravitate to the styro foam tray with chicken breasts when it's time to prepare dinner.  Try using the "Smart Ground" in place of your regular ground beef or turkey in your favorite chili recipe. Most major suopermarkets carry Smart Ground. Then your family won't freak out on you. The last thing you want is a revolt around the dinner table.

Why I Believe Cheating is Allowed

Several months ago, I read a food article in the LA Times, I think. And the author referred to himself as a Cheatin' Vegan. Brilliant! I'm new to this eating healthy for myself and the planet and can't get super down on myself if I partake in a homemade cupcake at a party.
Cake is my downfall. Don't send cakes.
I used to feel guilty if anything from an animal made its way to my gullet. And then I'd think, "Well, I messed up already I may as well go hog wild!" Get it? But now, I have built in a cheat day once a week. I allow myself the freedom to eat a scrambled egg in a pita, or have a strawberry cheese tart. And then get on with my life - no more sulking and feeling like a failure.
I figure my eating habits are 1,000 times better than they were in college. Where macaroni and cheese from the blue box and top ramen soup was the standard dinner. I know many staunch vegans will disagree with me - that cheating opens the floodgates to hell and that my health will suffer and think of the poor chickens. Well, cheating is tons better than going back to the dark side of animal products all the time. And I like to buy my eggs from the farmer at the local farmer's market. He lets them roam free and doesn't de-beak them. They look happy - happier than the happy cows on the cheese commercials.

There are more vegans like I am in the world. Read the Cheatin' Vegan's blog. She has a great perspective on life and living it.  Read what the Cheatin' Vegan has to say on cheating.

Getting started

I'm a newbie to blogging. Why would anyone want to know what I think? They are just thoughts swimming in my little brain. I've never impacted people enough to change the world, at least I don't think I have.
Whenever I tell anyone, I'm eating vegan I get asked, "what can you eat then?" Most people assume that I eat hemp and other hippie artifacts. Not necessarily so.
My food has to taste good. I don't care how good cardboard is for me with all the fiber, it tastes like cardboard.
So you will find that I am particularly picky. For food to cross my lips it needs these 3 ingredients:
good taste, good texture, and good presentation.
Oatmeal always, always tastes better with toppings. Toasted nuts, fresh berries, toasted unsweetened coconut. It doesn't need to be beige to be good for you!