Slow Cooker Vegetarian Baked Beans

The other day I was at a loss on what to make for dinner. It was Superbowl Sunday and while neither my husband or myself were watching the game, I wanted something easy. And cheap. Something that I could keep in the fridge for a few days. I decided on homemade baked beans. It turns out this is dirt cheap to make, it makes a lot and is way better than the cans you buy at the grocery store. I wanted dried navy beans but they were out of stock at my grocery store (who runs out of dried beans???) so I grabbed some tinned beans and hoped for the best. They actually worked really well, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

Here is what you need:

4 tins of white navy beans drained and rinsed

One white onion diced (you can use more if you like things extra oniony.

put these 2 items in a large slow cooker. 

In a bowl mix:

1tin of tomato paste (6oz)

1 cup of water

1/4 cup each of maple syrup and molasses

4 tbsp of brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4tsp nutmeg

1 tsp Lea & Perrins

1/4 tsp soy sauce

2 tsp dried mustard powder

1 tbsp of barbecue sauce

** If you want to add some heat and smokiness, add 1 tsp of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce that has been pureed

I also added a few drops of sriracha sauce

 

Stir up the wet items and stir into the bean and onion mix. It will look as though you do not have anywhere near enough sauce but do not panic and add more – there will be plenty.

Turn on the slow cooker to low and leave for 8 – 10 hours, stirring occasionally.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vegetarian Gravy

It’s been about 3 years since I’ve had gravy. Nothing on fries, nothing on potatoes, and frankly, on Christmas or Thanksgiving, while the rest of the family is smothering their food with the meat gravy, I’ve been feeling a little left out.

UNTIL NOW.

This is my take on vegetarian gravy. It sounds weird. I’ll admit that. You don’t read the ingredient list and think ‘yum!’ But give it a shot. It’s well worth it.

 

1 tbsp margerine or butter (don’t use oil)

6 mushrooms (the normal white or brown kind) chopped finely. If you want a chunkier gravy you can leave some bigger pieces. I know, that sounds gross, but once you’ve tried this you’ll know what I mean.

1/4 of an onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp flour

1 tbsp nutritional yeast (not bread or baker’s yeast)

1 tsp tamari or soy sauce

2 cups of vegetable stock

First of all, melt the butter in a pan and saute the mushrooms and onions. Add the flour, yeast and tamari/soy sauce, stir until the mixture starts to thicken. Add your stock slowly, don’t just pour it all in. This will help with a lump free gravy. (Flour lumpy, not mushroom lumpy) Continue stirring until it is the consistency you’d like. If you don’t want to have the bits of mushrooms, puree in a blender and for an even smoother gravy, strain through a fine strainer.

Recipe Search

I am on a mission. A vegetarian cafe by my house makes the most delicious veggie rolls. I have also discovered that Lifestyles in Victoria makes a similar veggie roll, except theirs is called a spicy vegan roll. Regardless of what the store names it, it is delicious. The only problem is that aside from a few key ingredients, I have no idea what is in it. I have been able to figure out this much: Kidney beans, corn, potatoes, shredded carrot….and pastry. The pastry bit I can figure out. It’s the rest of it that is causing me grief.

Does anyone know what I’m talking about? Better yet….does anyone have a reciepe? I would be more than happy to pay/bribe/sell my soul for the ingredients to make these.

Secret Supper Club

This year was my year for amazing and thoughtful Christmas gifts. My husband got me a mug with our puppy’s picture on it. My brother got me a book that I had been dying to read, and some munchies to go with it. My parents got me a signed Ann Rule book, and some really nice and comfy gym clothes that I have been wearing more around the house than at the gym.

My sister and her boyfriend got me an adventure. No, really. They got me a trip to Vancouver and dinner at Vancouver’s Secret Supper Club. Also they are putting me up in thier condo in Steveston.

I am supposed to be going over this weekend. From what I understand about this meal, you don’t know where you are going until just before you need to be there. I think they give you about 2 days notice. Also, you are sworn to secrecy because it’s not a restaurant you are going to, but someone’s house. You bring your own booze (yay!) and a chef will cook you dinner, you meet other people, and everyone has a great time. You eat dinner, drink your wine and then slosh your way home. How can that not be fun?

I am super excited for this. They have picked a vegetarian one to go to, and it will be myself going, along with my sister and a friend of hers.

I’ve done some research into this, and apparently these Secret Supper Clubs or Underground Restaurants are the newest foodie trend. I recently saw an episode of Jamie Oliver’s ‘Jamie’s American Roadtrip’ where he went to a few of these in New York, and then hosted his own. I thought it was such a neat idea, and wondered why there were none close to where I live. Turns out, there are! (PS – Check out Jamie’s website http://www.jamieoliver.com/ There are all sorts of neat video clips, recipies and ideas to try)

Back to dinner on the mainland. I’m supposed to be heading over on Saturday. I have no idea what to expect, other than to have a great time!

New Years Resolution Dilemma

New Years is upon us again, and I have been asked about 4 times if I have a resolution to keep.

I do not.

Last year I thought of the ususal resolutions, lose weight, be less temperamental, eat better, go to the gym more, etc. Some I kind of kept, others just fell to the wayside.

I get that January means a fresh start for a lot of people, but do we really need a resolution to feel complete? Why are we so compelled to have something that we plan to achieve but wait until the beginning of a new year to begin to accomplish this?

I think that whenever we decide to set a goal for ourselves, whatever it may be, it should be done when we feel ready and believe that we can accomplish the goal. When we decide to set that goal is irrelevant. You may set a New Years goal to lose weight, but unless you are ready to make the necessary changes, it’s not going to happen. The same with quitting smoking. Unless you are ready to put down that pack and buy some nicotine patches, your chances of quitting are slim. Just because it’s the new year doesn’t guarantee that you will feel ‘ready’ to achieve your goal, or to even begin taking the small steps to get to the starting point.

I commend everyone out there who has set a goal at any point and was able to follow through and achieve what it is they were aiming to do.

I set a goal for myself back in March. My goal was to be kinder to animals by not eating them. Sure, I have the odd bit of fish here and there, but have completely cut out beef, chicken and pork. That was my goal, and I am so proud to have done that. I feel so healthy, so much better about myself, and have taken quite an interest in nutrition and health, and am constantly looking for different things to try, different recipies to make, and just expanding my knowledge of vegetarian cooking. Recently a friend told me that she was quitting drinking coffee and drinking more green tea. She said after the coffee detox (which sucked) she began to feel really good, and reccomended I try it. I think it would probably be good for me to give it a shot, since I am somewhat of a coffee addict. Even if I cut back on my coffee during the week and had a Saturday morning coffee, I am sure I would see improvement.

So, to everyone out there regardless of resolutions: Ring in the new year with happiness. Focus on all the things that are ahead of you, the opportunities you will come across, the friends you will meet, the things you will accomplish. If you have a resolution, I hope you succeed! If you don’t have one…..well, don’t sweat it. I don’t have one either, and couldn’t be happier.

Cookie Exchanges

This past week my coworkers decided to have a cookie exchange. We do this around Christmas, and most of the staff jump on the cookie exchange bandwagon. Last year there were 17 of us, each making 1 dozen cookies for the other 16 participants. This year there were only 15 of us, and we decided to only make 1/2 a dozen cookies per person. Why anyone needs 7 1/2 dozen cookies is beyond me, but hey, I’m not the one who organizes these things. I would be happy dishing out 4 cookies per person. This means less baking for me.

Last year I made white chocolate chip and cranberry cookies, and it was an absolute nightmare. I ended up in my kitchen around 1am, still baking, flour everywhere. I was tired, cranky, drinking coffee like a madwoman so as to be able to stay awake to bake the last 3 batches rather than give my coworkers a bowl of raw cookie dough and the baking instructions, which at the time seemed extremely tempting. Hey, nowhere does it say the cookies actually have to be baked and edible at the time of the exchange.

Did I mention I hate baking? Baking is like a science. If you are off by even 1 tbsp of an ingredient you are screwed. But you don’t know it until your product comes out of the oven. It may look wonderful, but it’s when you take that first bite that you realize that something is not quite right. If you are doing it for a cookie exchange (such as I was) you are then stuck with a double batch of whatever it is you are making that tastes like crap.

This year I had a plan. I decided against the traditional cookies and opted for mini banana breads. I armed myself with a cookbook and headed to my grocery store to get all the necessary ingredients, as well as a mini loaf pan.

4 hours later and I had 45 tiny banana breads. They looked good. They smelled good. They even tasted good! I bagged up 14 little packs of 2 loaves each (I figured that each loaf was the equivalent of 3 cookies) and my husband I did quality control on the remaining loaves.

I am now in possession of 84 different types of cookies. Eighty Four!!!! This includes no less that 3 types of shortbread,  2 batches of chocolate chip cookies, 1 package of fudge, chocolate balls, oat fudge bars, and I have no idea what else. What am I going to do with 84 cookies? Eat them, sure. But even if I have 2 cookies a day that will still take me over a month to eat the entire lot. Just under a month if my husband helps.

So, my December question is this: Cookie Exchanges – A good idea for getting tasty treats, or the worst idea in the history of man?

Here’s hoping everyone has a wonderful Christmas filled with family, friends, good food, good wine, and lots of holiday cheer.

Skinny Bitch – aka The Worst Book Ever

I was recently given a copy of the book Skinny Bitch to read. I was told that this was THE book to read if I needed any kind of incentive to continue with vegetarianism.

This is quite possibly the most horrid book I have ever read, and I didn’t even read it. I started to flip through it, and while they call you names (fat, asshole, unhealthy) that wasn’t nearly as bad as the ‘You Are What you Eat’ chapter. That was where they started talking about slaughterhouses, and basically pure animal abuse. It’s only a few pages, but it’s a disturbing few pages. It made me question if it was embellished or written for shock value. Either way, I was not impressed. Had I been in an episode of Friends, this book would have definitely ended up in the freezer alongside Little Women.

Needless to say, I gave the book back and just explained that I couldn’t read it. I got the assurance that ‘No, no, that’s the worst part. The rest of it is okay’ but really. How much worse can it get?

I think that books like that, the ones that take it to the extreme, they do more damage than good. I’ve read a few books on why vegetarianism is good for you. Some get into the whole animal thing, others focus on the nutritional benefits. Either way, I think that a gentle approach is a bit more reader-friendly than ramming the information down the reader’s throat, all the while swearing at them and calling them names.

One of the best books I have read is Alicia Silverstone’s ‘The Kind Diet’. It brings to light some information about the animals, the processing of them, thier diet, but it is done in a way that won’t leave you sobbing into your pillow for a week after reading it. Her book is like talking to a friend, who just happens to be very well educated in the subject of vegan diets. Also it has really pretty pictures and really tasty recipes. I read this for a bit after giving back the other one. It does have the ‘hey this is what happens to animals’ but it’s nowhere near as upsetting. She acknowledges that yes, those stories can be hard to read. Yes, it’s unpleasant, but by choosing to change your lifestyle and diet, even if it’s not every day, you won’t be supporting places that cause that kind of harm. Its a very caring book. It’s purpose is to educate you, not upset you. It’s less scary, less intimidating, and the best part, it doesn’t insult you. It doesn’t demand anything of you, it doesn’t tell you that you are a crappy person if you have steak or chicken. It offers information and a challenge. It asks to you just be open to trying a new diet. It has a whole section on what she refers to as ‘Flirting’ where you are open to these new ways of eating. That’s where I started, and after the first 2 weeks when I realized that my skin looked better, that I felt amazing and that I had more energy, it encouraged me to continue.

I lent The Kind Diet to a friend, who gave it back after having it for 2 days, saying that she hadn’t finished it but she wanted to go get her own copy to highlight, dog ear, and try the recipes.

It’s just that kind of book.

Vegan or Lactose Free Cheese

Can anyone reccomend a good one? Dairy has never really been overly easy on my tummy, but it has been getting progressively worse. This weekend I made homemade pizzas for dinner. On my pizza I put just enough cheese to lightly cover the top, maybe about 1/8 of a cup, if that. I spend the majority of the night curled up on my couch, in the fetal position, drinking mint tea and praying to either die or for the pain to go away.

I thought that maybe it was something I put on the pizza (besides the cheese) but the only thing I put on was veggies. Having never had a digestive issue with vegetables, I ruled that out.

The next morning my husband and I went to Tim Hortons for coffee where I got my usual double-double. Within 15minutes of drinking my coffee it started again, and I ended up in the same place as the night before. Except this time I was smart enough to climb into my bed with my electric blanket.

When the pain finally subsided I went down to the organic market in search of a yummy vegan cheese. How hard can it be to find? Apparently it’s very hard to find. The stuff they had there had a bizarre squishy texture to it. While I don’t want my cheese to be rock solid, I also don’t want it mushy and oozy.

I am putting the call out to everyone who has tried vegan cheese (or lactose free cheese…) to please PLEASE reccomend something!! I am not a huge cheese junky but there are sometimes when you just need it. Like on crackers. And pizza. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks all!

Engevita Yeast Dressing – The Recipe

I realized that a whole back I had promiesed to post a copy of this recipe and for some reason never got around to it. So, as promised, here it is.

What you need:

• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast (not brewer’s yeast)
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup tamari
• 1/3 cup cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons garlic (I often just thrown one or two whole cloves in and let the blender do the work)

Blend for a minute or so until everything comes together. With the blender running, remove the lid and slowly add (in a thin, steady stream):

• 1 1/2 cups canola oil or other light vegetable oil (don’t use extra virgin olive oil as the flavor is too strong)

Store in a jar in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Vegetarian vs. Vegan

Let’s talk eggs, milk and cheese, shall we?

We’ve all heard the speech about how we are the only species to drink the milk of another mammal blah blah blah. Yes, it’s true. Up until recently I thought that we were kind of doing dairy cows a favor. They eat thier grass and hay, they get full of milk and we milk them. They eat more grass and hay, produce more milk, and we milk them some more. It turns out there is more to this story.

Dairy cows do not just produce milk. Sure, thier name would insinuate that is what they do, just like laying hens lay eggs. (More on the eggs later) No, it turns out that dairy cows are not a specially bred type of cow that produce milk. Dairy cows, much like people, have to be pregnant to produce milk. So, the farmers who own the dairy cows have to make sure that, yup, you guessed it, the dairy cows stay pregnant. When the mommy cow finally has her calf, she does not get put in a nice little stall with her baby to nurse it. The baby gets taken away. They are fed by machines until they are old enough to either a) get turned into dairy cows (the girls) or b) get turned into veal (the boys) There was a story in a paper a while back where a mother cow broke out of it’s pen and travelled something like 3 miles to find her baby.

The mother cow is then milked. Not by nice warm hands that are gentle on her udders, but by a machine. The machine is attached to the cow and goes to work. This is done day after day. For those of you who have been pregnant, I’m sure you are well aware of what happens to the nipples after you’ve been nursing for a while. For those of you who haven’t been pregnant, I’m sure you have heard about it from your pregnant friends. The nipples get sore. They get dry. They crack. In some cases they may bleed a little. Cows experience the exact same thing. While we are lucky to be able to go to the drug store and buy a cream or salve to put on for this, cows don’t get that. Instead, day after day, they are hooked up to a machine and milked and any blood goes into that milk. This continues until mommy cow is ready to be pregnant again.

Consider that this milk is what your cheese is made out of. And ice cream. Each carton of milk, cream cheese, cheddar or ice cream is probably made the same way, with the same milk from these mass-produced dairys. With those cows, who don’t ever really get a break.

What kind of a sucky life is that? I have never been a huge fan of dairy, the odd ice cream in the summer, some cream cheese on my bagel, but I pay for it dearly as dairy is not my friend. Recently I switched to soy milk and it’s much easier on my tummy as well as my concience.

Onto the eggs. We all have the idea that our chickens are running around on a farm, they have a nice little henhouse where they each have thier own nest, and every day a nice farmer goes out to the henhouse while the chickens are out running around and gathers the eggs. It’s a nice thought, but not necessarily always true.

Imagine the inside of your stove. Now imagine 4 chickens in it. Now stack the inside of that stove with the 4 chickens 5 or 6 stoves high. That is where the majority of your eggs come from. The chickens are crammed in a small cage, fed crap food, and all they do is lay eggs. They have nowhere to sit or lay down, they have no dirt to go scratch in, no space to strech thier wings. They never get let out of the cage, and there are hundreds of these cages packed in a facility. This is why your grocery store can charge you only $1.99 for eggs.

Free run eggs are quite a bit different. Free run means that the chickens are not cooped up in cages. Normally they are kept in a big barn, they are able to run around, but there are also tons of other chickens in that same barn. It’s overcrowded, it smells bad, they ususally don’t get to go outside, but it’s a lot better than what is described above. These eggs cost a bit more than the $1.99 grocery store eggs.

Free range eggs are by far the best. Those chickens lead the good life. Especially if they are organic. They are fed good, whole grain. They have thier henhouse. They get to run outside and scratch in the dirt. Those are the eggs that cost the most. If you are lucky to have a local farmer’s market you can ususally get them for $4 or $5. Now, I know a lot of you will say that $5 is a lot to spend on eggs, but buy purchasing the $1.99 eggs, you are simply supporting the farms that cage thier chickens up 6 cages tall and 4 birds per cage. Not a good life.

Vegans have nothing to do with any animal product. No eggs, no dairy, no honey. No leather. Nothing. While I do still indulge in the above things, I am more careful with my choice. I only buy my eggs from my local market. I have never been a huge cheese fan, but try to buy that locally also, from the smaller farms that are able to hand milk thier cows and treat them well. 

I completely support those who have chosen a vegan lifestyle.  While I do not follow that lifestyle I am very aware of where the products I buy come from, and even though it’s not entirely cutting certain things out of my life, I feel that it’s important to be aware of where things come from, and then making the decisions that suit you and your lifestyle best.

It’s all in the choices that you make. Not everyone is able to get farm fresh eggs, not everyone can afford to buy small dairy farm milk and cheese. I get that. But being aware of what you are purchasing can make a world of difference. What if everyone refused to buy milk or eggs until the way the animals producing these things get changed? What if we all wanted our chickens to live the happy life with the farmhouse and the garden? What if we all took a stand and said that until our dairy cows are allowed to roam in a pasture of grass, get taken care of for thier sore udders and keep their babies beside them? It’s a small step, but money talks. By making decisions as to what and where you buy these things, gives you the power. The power to take the money away from the mass produced market that doesn’t care about the animal’s well being, and the power to support the people that do.

What’s your choice?