vegamemnon

so i’ve decided to go vegan…for good this time. i’ve weighed the benefits and the criticisms…and after reading the new farm vegetarian cookbook, i know that it’s a lifestyle change that i am ready and willing to make.

who better to make this transition with me than mr. matthew koons himself? it has only been three days, but it has been so helpful to have someone with the same goal, helping to make the transition smooth. and it really has been smooth. other than having to read the label of everything, being a vegan has been extremely easy. i get full a lot faster, i feel sustained energy throughout the day, and i love the fact that it forces us to be creative with our meals (since eating out is virtually not an option).

My biggest concern was getting enough vitamins, but it has not been a problem so far. We have been loading up on multis, echinacea, probiotics, and i have continued taking all my regulars…goldenseal, calcium, vitamin c, etc. we have switched over to soy yogurt (which still contains active cultures too), and soy sour cream, but other than that we haven’t had to change too much. The other big concern was protein, but it hasn’t been an issue at all either. We have been eating tofu, nutritional yeast, and I plan on cooking a lot with TVP. Veginomicon and New Farm have been so helpful and such a great resource so far; I was afraid that I would miss cheese too much, but I lowered my intake of it a couple of months ago, and now I don’t think about it at all! We have also been making this vegan cheesey sauce that is soooo delicious and pretty much tastes good on anything. It’s just a mixture of water, nutritional yeast, flour, garlic and mustard. You can also apparently thicken it up to spread on pizzas, but I was just thinking that a sauce and veggie only deep dish pizza might be just as good. New Farm also explains how to make your own meatless meat from gluten flour, which also contains a ton of protein, so I’ll have to give that a try!

I think I might start posting meals on here if I can find a camera, but so far we’ve eaten:

Jamaican jerk sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes, onion, avacado, carrot and veganaise on whoel wheat bread, Potato, tri pepper and garlic breakfast burritos with cheesey sauce and soy sour cream on whole wheat tortillas; tofu, pea, carrot and garlic pastries with chile sauce;spinach, carrot and sprout salad with lemon tahini dressing; steamed broccoli and carrots with cheesey sauce; soy yogurt with almond vanilla yogurt with sliced strawberries, peaches and pluots; jamaican jerk baked tofu with a cabbage salad on the side.

Anyway, I’ll post more on our vegan diet soon!

rv

S'mores Brownies

Brownie:
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
4 large cold eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour

Topping:
4 cups large marshmallows

For the crust: Lightly butter the foil with some of the melted butter. Stir the rest of the butter together with the crumbs, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Press the crumb mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the brownie. Put the butter and chocolate in a medium microwave safe bowl. Melt in the microwave on 75 percent power for 2 minutes. Stir, and microwave again until completely melted, about 2 minutes more. Alternatively, put the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring a saucepan filled with 1 inch or so of water to a very slow simmer; set the bowl on the pan without touching the water. Stir occasionally until melted. Stir the light brown and white sugars, vanilla and salt into the melted chocolate. Add the eggs and beat vigorously to make a thick and glossy batter. Add the flour and stir until just incorporated.

Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the top is crispy and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean, with a few crumbs, about 40 to 45 minutes.

Remove from the oven and carefully position a rack about 6 inches from the broiler and preheat on low. Layer marshmallows across the top and toast under the broiler until golden, (keep an eye on it, it can go quick), about 2 minutes. Cool on a rack, gently removing the brownies from the pan using the aluminum flaps. Carefully separate any marshmallow from the foil and fold away. Cut into 12 (2-inch) squares.

wine crate display cases via Design Sponge

kinda want to make these…