The Gentle Barn

I learned something new today. Horses can be rehabilitated with deep tissue massage. Who knew? Apparently the folks at The Gentle Barn did. I went here to find out more about it. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Virtual Barn. You can read about all the animals and how they've been rescued and cured. It's really neat.
I learned about The Gentle Barn from Ellen Degeneres. We're like this. The great thing about The Gentle Barn is that they also have people with special needs at the farm to become close with animals that will be gentle with them They can touch the animals and feed them, which can be very healing to people with special needs.
Here, you can also read about why Ellen when vegan.

Sick

It recently came to my attention here that an Ohio dairy farm, Conklin Dairy Farm to be exact is treating the cows in a disgusting manner. Often chaining the cows to fences and beating them with crowbars, or stomping on their heads.
I know this is in Ohio, and likely that the milk we drink here in Edmonton isn't from there. But this was an undercover work at the farm who captured that video. Just because it hasn't been captured on film, doesn't men it isn't happening from the place where YOUR milk is produced.
Giving up dairy has been really hard for me, but this has made it really easy for me to stop drinking milk. I would never want any animal whose products I'm consuming going through something like that. It's bad enough that they are killed for their meat, but hurting them like that for no reason is unacceptable.
If you go to the above link, you can watch the video (it's really disgusting so be careful) and take action through various suggested forms.
For other dairy options, check out soy milk or almond milk (which is what I drink). You can find these products at any grocery store. I also eat soy cheese. I have been able to find these products at Planet Organic, Superstore, and Sobey's so far. You can feel good knowing that none of the products used to make these items were severely beaten or treated inhumanely.

Homemade

I love to cook. Now that I am vegan, I have to do way more cooking, which is really nice. I love being back in the kitchen.

Lately, I've been finding it hard to eat beans every day. I should really be doing it twice a day. To get by, I eat a lot of hummos. Today, I tried to think of bean dishes that I like, and instantly thought of my homemade minestrone soup. So good.

I take some onion, grated carrot, and grated zucchini and throw it in a big pot with olive oil to soften. I add a clove or two of garlic. Then I add a whole box of vegetable broth, bring it to a boil. Then I add some whole wheat macaroni. That cooks until the macaroni is el dante. Then I add a can of whole tomatoes and a can of navy beans. That cooks for just a few mins. Then I wilt in some spinach (or in today's case, swiss chard) and some parsley. Done.

So easy, and so delish. It really fills you up too. Looking forward to lunch tomorrow!

Celebration

Today is a day I will never forget. It's the day that Miss G's family became whole again: her dad and brother arrived from Jamaica to live here permanently. I will be heading to the airport later tonight to great them, along with some other friends of the family. I can't wait for them to be a full fledged family doing things together!
On a foody type note . . .
I went to Planet Organic after work today - but this time, the south side location, which I forgot was much bigger than the one downtown. It has way more variety! I was so pleased, and I realised something: Everything is going to be okay. I have been having a bit of anxiety (shocking) over eating vegan. But now I know things taste good - samples of So Good chocolate ice cream were helpful - and I can eat most of the same things, just prepared in a different way. My biggest food phobias are things with weird names and things that look like they have a texture I couldn't handle in my mouth. Tofu and tempeh - two of the biggest vegan stables totally turn me off (at this point). But, I am trudging onwards in hopes for a healthier lifestyle.
I came home and made vegan cream of potato soup with potatoes from the farmer's market. I also made a recipe of Garden Green Goddess Dip. The recipe can be found here. http://www.veganchef.com/ It's really tasty and will be good with veggies, pitas, and chips. Yum!
One of my favourite things to do in the whole world is cook. So, having to cook a lot of my meals again has been making me really happy. Especially when they are new and taste good. I can't wait for supper tomorrow to eat my potato soup!

You win some, you lose some

Last night was my friend Jen's stagette. She's getting married this coming Saturday on her acreage - which I'm totally excited for. The stagette theme and events were kept secret until we got to our first destination. The theme was Jen's Amazing Race to the Altar. Yes ladies and gentlemen, a city wide scavenger hunt requiring many wedding type situations and photos of strangers. Our final destination was The Common (101024 124 St) which was a really cozy and cute bar. Except one thing - nothing on the menu was even close to being vegan. So this is the part where I lose some. I opted for the mushroom tart which was delicious, but had goat cheese and I'm sure phyllo pastry isn't vegan either. (Sometimes taking one for the team is a tasty adventure.) In retrospect, I could have ordered the pear and goat cheese salad and asked for no cheese. But I didn't think about it that much.

So, today is when I win some. This morning for breakfast I had a rye bread sandwich with hummos on both sides and tomato and lettuce in between. I love sandwiches for breakfast, and this one fit the bill. Simple, but delicious.

For lunch I made vegan mac and cheese (a recipe I made on the fly - same as normal but with soy cheese, ww pasta, ww flour and almond milk). It didn't look too pretty, but it tasted so good.

Supper consisted of 3 things I've had in mind to make for a while. First I wanted to try a vegan caesar salad dressing that I've wanted to try. With fresh lettuce from the garden - it tasted so light and delicious. Often caesar salad can be very heavy due to the dressing, but this was light. Recipe can be found here. http://vegetarian.about.com/od/saladdressings/r/vegancaesar.htm

Then I made some roasted baby potatoes because I bought some at the farmer's market yesterday. I just coated them with olive oil and put them in the oven for about 40 mins.

And then I made a black bean and quinoa salad. I am supposed to eat beans with a whole grain to get the complete protein. This is hard for me, but I'm getting better.

Attached are some pictures of the food I made today.

Here's hoping for a good week!

Pizza

This morning I had it all planned out - home made pizza for supper. This is something I'm pretty famous for, with my pizza stone from Pampered Chef. However, this time I had to do it vegan. Except, when I got home, the dough hadn't mixed in the bread maker. (I was using my mom's - so maybe that's why.) I was a tad heartbroken. But, I went off to Safeway and bought Amy's Soy Cheese Pizza as a base and then put my own toppings on (with more cheese). It was delicious!

I was worried about two things - veggie pepperoni and soy mozzarella. Verdict = both were awesome. The pepperoni was hidden amongst all the vegetables, so I couldn't really taste it. (I might leave it off next time). And, the mozzarella melted wonderfully and tasted exactly the same as regular mozzarella. Success!!

I can envision many more vegan pizzas in the future.

Here's a pic of the leftovers. (I know I mentioned a pizza stone and this is on a normal cookie sheet. I used the pizza stone for the one I made for the rest of the fam - non vegan.)

Taco Thursday

Well I did a bad thing today and although I brought my lunch to work, I didn't feel like eating it and bought something at the cafeteria instead. I ended up with a grilled cheese sandwich and poutine. Good Lord. I think that's a vegan's worst nightmare. But it was so gooooooood. Reminded me of the days at AOL eating lunch with AM.

So this evening, I knew I had to be super good. On the way home I stopped at SuperStore and made up this meal in my head (thank you very much.) I made vegan tacos and Mexican rice. It was really simple, honestly it took less than 5 mins. The tacos were shells with lettuce on the bottom and then a mixture of salsa, black beans, and corn. The rice was Uncle Ben's brown rice that you cook in the microwave with taco seasoning. It was simple, and so good. I could have put some soy cheddar on it, but if you read my last post, you know I'm not such a huge fan.

Tomorrow I'm making my very first vegan pizza. I love my pizza stone and have been dying to use it since I moved back home (cringe). I'm making my own vegan pizza, and then one for the rest of the fam.

I hope veggie pepperoni tastes good.

Cravings

Lately I've been craving a big hunk of cheddar cheese and also bread. I've heard that the number one thing that vegans crave is bacon. I often think of how easy it would be on the way to work to drive thru McDonald's and have a bacon and egg breakfast bagel which would be delicious, but make me feel awful.

So, for now I think about the wedding I'm going to in a week and half and how much better I'll look in pictures and the dress if I don't eat such horrible food.

Also, to get the bread-iness out of the way I made these delicious vegan banana chocolate chip muffins. I found them on this website http://www.veganchef.com/ along with many other delicious recipes which I can't wait to try. I added carob chocolate chips to fulfill my daily chocolate cravings.

This is a pic of the muffins from last night, and then what I had for breakfast today. I haven't been able to find something to crave my cheddar craving. The soy cheese I've bought looks too oily, like something I couldn't want to eat on it's own. I put it on top of a Mexican type dip which people enjoyed.

Any suggestions?

1/2 Way Through

I'm half way through Good to a Fault by Alberta author Marina Endicott. The story is about a single woman in her 40's who is driving and hits a van with a family inside. As the story unfolds, the reader learns that the family lives in the van and was travelling to Fort McMurray to re-locate and find work.
The main character, Clara, takes in the family as the mother goes into the hospital, later diagnosed with cancer, and the father skips town. She tries to take care of the children, their grandmother, and the mother in the hospital, slowly dying. Dealing with guilt is a major theme of this book. How far is going too far? It reminds me of Will Smith's movie, Seven Pounds. If you haven't seen it, you should.
Good to a Fault is a book club read and so far people are loving it. I'm about half way through right now, and left wondering what is happening between Clara and her Priest, as well as with Uncle Darwin.
I'll let you know . . .

Indulgence on two levels

So, I went to see Eclipse tonight with some friends from book club. We never read the Twilight series for book club (we have standards) but most of us read it on our own. As I was indulging in the meaty flesh of Taylor Lautner on screen, I had to indulge in some movie popcorn. I know - so not vegan. But sometimes you have to go bad to know what's good.

This is a pic of my breakfast. It's 8 grain organic cereal with strawberry soy yogurt. OJ and banana make it complete.

Tomorrow I am going to a Turkish restaurant for supper. I wonder what I will find there!

Emotionally Unstable

Every Wednesday in the summer, the church (http://www.stalbertunited.ca/) I belong to hosts Sundaes on Wednesdays (get it?) where we have a bit of a spiritual gathering and then enjoy ice cream sundaes afterwords. It changes every week. Usually we learn something new about another faith expression. (I skip the ice cream as I'm going vegan now.) This evening, an Anglican minister who is Cree came to do an Aboriginal smudge and prayer circle. At one point he sent a bowl of water around to say a prayer into. First of all, it started with the lady beside me so I was next, which I wasn't prepared for! Then, I said two names of family members who are sick in the hospital, one being my grandfather who was recently diagnosed with lung cancer, dying, and not taking any treatment.

I immediately burst into tears and cried for the rest of the night. At one point, the minister doing the ceremony came over to me and did a special blessing and hugged me because I kept crying. Then afterwards, when it was all over, I tried to escape to the bathroom, but people kept coming up to me and asking me what was wrong - which enhanced the crying.

I bet part of the reason is this going vegan thing is taking a toll on my system. My body is going through detox right now of built up sugars and "nasty foods" in my body. I am feeling hungrier today than I have been in the last few days, but not giving in to temptation. (Although the soy peanut butter chocolate non- dairy ice cream I bought the other day and tried last night was DISGUSTING. I'm basically going to have to throw out $8 worth of fake ice cream)I might have a bit of something tonight that will help my sweet tooth. I haven't made it out again to a grocery store to buy some vegan friendly chocolate.

Comforting myself with food? Shocking.

Lunch

This is what I ate for lunch (along with roasted red pepper hummus from the Happy Camel and pita chips from Dip Sea Chicks - St. Albert Farmer's Market stand). I must say, it was pretty good. It's quinoa with red peppers and peas with a bit of Greek salad dressing for some taste. I really enjoyed it. Although a light looking lunch, it carried me through the afternoon without feeling hungry.

I just cooked vegetarian chili for supper. It is mushrooms, red and green pepper, chickpeas, navy beans, and non-dairy tomato soup with some chili powder and cayenne pepper for flavour. I may steal a bit of basmati rice from my parents as they eat their Mango Chicken dinner.

Bon appetite!

Going Vegan

Alright. The day has arrived. I made my first vegan purchases at Planet Organic http://www.planetorganic.ca/ today. I am following The Kind Diet http://www.thekindlife.com/ and hope to become a full vegan in a couple of months. I bought quinoa, 8 grain cereal, agave syrup, chocolate peanut butter non-dairy ice cream, non-dairy tomato soup, chips, and Earth Balance butter. http://www.earthbalancenatural.com/#/products/ (While this was going on, I had a mild bathroom freak-out from eating a lot of beans at lunch and had to rush to the back. Hopefully over the next few days, this will balance out and become less frequent.) I picked up some soy yogurt, but put it back. Some things I am not ready for yet. Including soy milk, which I have tried before.
I tried to find vegan chocolate (obvi) but couldn't find anything interesting. Anybody have any ideas?
I am about to go cook some quinoa which I found out is just like cooking rice. 2 cups of water for every 1 cup of quinoa. Then I can jut use it to make a quick salad tomorrow.
Wish me luck!

Weekend food

On Friday my mom bought a canoe. So, on Saturday, we headed out to http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/ab/elkisland/index.aspx to try the red canoe and have a BBQ. While my parents strategically took the canoe off the top of the van and brought it to the beach, I took Miss G to the playground. It was a day of firsts for Miss G as it was her first time in a canoe and seeing a buffalo. As we got closer to the playground, I could smell delicious wafts of Indian food coming towards me. When we got to the playground it was filled with little Indian children as their parents sat at the picnic tables surrounding, cooking and eating delicious curries and rices. (I was spying.)

Nevertheless, when we got to our supper of BBQ hot dogs and s'mores, I wondered if they were laughing at our random meat on a stick compared to their beautiful yellow rice. But, in my opinion, there is nothing better than a BBQed hot dog on an open fire.

That being said, I've started reading Alicia Silverstone's book/recipe book called The Kind Diet, A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet. http://www.thekindlife.com/ If you're thinking - Alicia Silverstone as in Clueless - you are correct. As almost everything in my life, I saw it and her on Oprah (http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Alicia-Silverstone-on-Becoming-Vegan) and thought I'd give the book a read. It's actually really enlightening on the food we put in our bodies and how it affects our moods and whatnot. She talks about the nasty foods we put in our body (meat and dairy mainly) and the kind foods we should be eating such as beans, veggies, and fruits. There are three different levels in the book - Flirting, Vegan, and Superhero. I am going to start with Flirting as it will be hard to cut some foods out of my diet while still living at home where mom pays for groceries as I save for a down payment on a condo. I think I'm going to cut out red meat, add beans and legumes daily, and cut out some dairy. Cheese is going to be tough, as will be yogurt.

I wonder where a BBQed hot dog over an open fire fits on there. I guess I could try tofu dogs, but I do have a nasty gag reflex that kicks up when I try new foods that have weird textures. Hopefully I'll be okay.

Breakfast today was at Cora's http://www.chezcora.com/ over interesting conversation with the newly wed Saba. I love it there. Every meal is served with a mound of fresh fruit. It's not an uber-healthy place, but it does have many healthy options to choose from. I ordered the brie and mushroom eggs benedict which is mouthwatering delicious. They also feature a fruit juices daily. Today it was a mixture of banana, blackberry, cranberry, and apple. So good.

I could use a little more kindness in my life, so I will try to embrace The Kind Diet which also promises glowing skin and less gas. I could use a little of that as well.