Day 125 -- I Love My Sweeties -- Sap

I was watching a reality show the other day about a guy who gets dropped on a deserted island and he's left to fend for himself.  He's forced to build a shelter and search out sources for food.  After ten or fifteen days, he's really dragging and I was thinking that he could use a candy bar or something sweet for a pick-up.  Then, I realized, that although sugar is a mainstay of our diets, we really don't know much about it -- beyond the fact that it comes from sugar cane.

There are so many different sources of "sweet" that I decided to do a little research.  In looking through vegan backing recipes, I've come on any number of sweeteners that I don't recognize. On Day ?, I talked about agave nectar, but over the next three days, I'm going to look at a few more.  I know that sugar is basically sugar, no matter where it comes from, but I'm still curious.

As I said, the primary source of sugar in this country comes from the sap of the sugar cane plant.  It's usually dryed or boiled to extract the sap and can be made into cane juice, syrup, molasses, powdered sugar, and granulated sugar.  Many vegans use demerara, muscovado or turbinado sugar in baking.  What's the difference?  This article from the Baking Bites website offers an explanation -- What Are Demerara, Muscovado and Turbinado Sugars?  Another article, What's The Difference -- Muscovado, Turbinado and Demerara  quoted below, adds some other less refined sugars to the mix.

• Demerara - This is a type of cane sugar with a fairly large grain and a pale amber color. It has a pleasant toffee flavor and can be used in place of brown sugar.

• Turbinado - Less processed than brown sugar, turbinado is made from the first pressing of sugar cane and retains some natural molasses. It has a light caramel flavor that makes it a good replacement for regular white sugar.

• Muscovado - Another cane sugar, this one has a very moist texture and a strong molasses flavor. It can be found in different strengths, as you can see visually in the image above and read about here. It's excellent in savory dishes like barbecue sauces and marinades.

• Sucanat - Made from crystallized pure cane sugar, this truly unrefined sugar retains a higher proportion of molasses than other types of cane sugars. It has an intense, rather burnt taste that can be jarring in lighter baking recipes but is fantastic in things like spice cakes and ginger cookies.

• Jaggery - This sugar is typically made from palm, coconut, or java plants and comes compressed into a pattycake or cone. It has an earthy sweet flavor that we like over oatmeal and in some fruit crumbles.

• Piloncilo - Similar to jaggery, this uniquely Mexican sugar is the secret ingredient in many salsas, soups, and mole sauces. It has a strong and almost-smoky molasses flavor.  In Central and Latin America, this product is called panela.

Other types of sugars come from sap.  Maple sugar/syrup is the most obvious, but other trees such as birch and palm (date palm, coconut palm and others) also produce sweet sap, as does the sugar pine. John Muir thought that sugar pine syrup was tastier than maple syrup!   Sorghum and maize plants also product a sweet sap.  And of course, agave sweetener, which comes from the sap of the agave plant.

In my next installment of "I Love My Sweeties", I'll learn more about sugar made from seeds and roots!

Day 124 -- Spring Is Here!

After a very long winter, we had our first real day of spring today.  The weather was warm, the breeze was light and I went grocery shopping.  I came home with a couple bags full of veggies -- a bunch of beets, a bag of oranges, lemons, bananas, a bag of small Vidalia onions, whole Shitake mushrooms, whole Crimini mushrooms and sweet corn.  It felt so good to lug those heavy bags home.

But the best part of it was looking at my purchases at the checkout and seeing that I only had three things in a box -- golden raisins, currants and whole grain crackers.  I did buy a bottle of spray I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Butter.  Can't eat corn without salt and pepper and it doesn't stick unless it has something to stick too.  The lady in front of me had bags of snacks and two cases of sugared soda, along with a few veggies.  I was proud of my choices -- choices that seem to come more naturally to me now.  We I see good looking or inexpensive veggies, I immediately think about what I can cook with them.

Tomorrow I'm going to make roasted beets and Vidalia onions and serve with with an Orange-Miso dressing over herb salad and quinoa.  I'm also going to make a mushroom and seitan stroganoff this week.  And the Detox Salad that I posted recently.  Oh, and I have to make some molasses cookies!   I can hardly wait for the first farmers' markets of the summer.  All that fresh produce to choose from!

Day 123 -- Eat Your GOMBBS!

Dr. Joel Fuhrmann is a leading advocate for healthy eating, particularly vegan eating.  In a recent article on his website, DiseaseProof (Eat Smart, Live Happy), he suggested that people try to eat more "superfoods."  Superfoods are the most nutrient-dense, health promoting foods on the planet.  And GOMBBS is a handy acronym for remembering what the "superest" of these superfoods are -- greens, onions, mushrooms, berries, beans and seeds.

Just as a check, let's see which of these things I ate yesterday.  Greens-- I had a bowl of sauteed spinach with garlic. Onions- I added a half a red onion to my tofu stir-fry.  Mushrooms- I added a package of shitake mushrooms to my stir-fry.  Berries - I ate some Craisins.  Do they count?  Beans- Hmm.  I guess tofu would count as beans?  Seeds - I hit these twice yesterday.  Chia seeds in my pumpkin smoothie and sesame seeds in my stir fry.

In his article, GOMBBS: Greens, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries, Beans and Seeds, Fuhrmann explains the benefits of all these foods and this is definitely worth a read.  I was directed to this article by one of my favorite websites, FatFree Vegan and using a recipe for Susan Voisin's Superfoods Soup, I decided to develop my own Superfoods Soup, using the ingredients that I love.  It should be noted that along with onions, other members of the allium family are just as super:  garlic, leeks, scallions, and shallots.

My Very Own Superfoods Soup

1 sweet onion, halved and sliced
5 to 8 oz. of Shitake or Crimini mushrooms, sliced
3 large cloves garlic, sliced thin
1 cup frozen shelled edamame (or frozen peas)
2 t. Korean red pepper flakes or 1 t. crushed red pepper
4 c. organic mushroom broth
2 c. water
1 small bunch of kale, washed and stripped from stems and torn into pieces (4-6 leaves)
1 1/2 T. yellow miso
Garnish with sliced scallion and  toasted sunflower seeds

Saute onions and mushrooms until slightly wilted.  Add garlic and saute until fragrant.  Then add edamame, red pepper, broth and water.  Let broth come to a boil, then add kale and reduce heat.  Simmer until kale is tender.  Remove soup from heat and mix a small bit of broth with the miso.  Stir to make a smooth paste and  then add back into soup.  Ladle into bowl or mug and garnish.

So there it is.  Everything but the berries.  A bowl of fresh or frozen blueberries drizzled with honey for dessert would  make this the perfect super superfoods meal.  Or maybe a blueberry smoothie made with flax or chia seeds?

ETA:  This soup was fantastic!  One of the best I've ever made.  The Korean red pepper flakes (which I bought for my Amazing Kimchi Adventure) added a nice bit of heat to the broth, but it wasn't overwhelming. Combined with a Detox Salad, I think I'm going to have a very healthy week!

Day 122 -- Another Milestone In A Year-Long Journey

Four months ago, on December 27, 2012, I decided to make a major change in my life.  Now, here I am, on Day 122, a third of the way through the year.  I'm over a third of the way toward my weight loss goal, but I expect that as I get closer to my goal weight, things will slow down.  Though I'm tracking my weight loss, this still doesn't seem like a diet to me.  I'm eating all the time and there's no deprivation.  And I still love veggies!  Let me show a little veggie love before I go on.

In looking back at my first four months as a vegan, I think I did pretty well.  I ate meat once -- pepperoni on a slice of pizza a week ago.  I have eaten tiny amounts of extraneous cheese a few times (picked out of a salad and stuck to some guacamole) and enjoyed a few treats that contained eggs and butter.  And I can't seem to visit my favorite restaurant without indulging in the ranch dressing dip with the tortilla chips.  So, I will proudly declare that I'm mostly vegan.  About 98% vegan.

Of course, the vegan police will beg to differ.  If anything other than veggies pass my lips, then I'm not a vegan.  But every now and then, I meow like a cat. Does that mean I'm not 100% human?  So, I'm going to continue to eat vegan, even though I might not be considered a vegan.  One thing is very true -- I'm so much healthier than I was four months ago.  I feel good!  And I'm looking forward to the next four months.

Day 121 -- Meeting Some Meat Alternatives

After my mini-rant about tofu yesterday, I decided to do a little more research into meat alternatives.  I happened upon this article on popsugar.com.  Meat Alternatives Explained: Tofu, Tempeh and Seitan.  This is what I was looking for.  Meat Alternatives For Dummies!

I've never eaten tempeh or seitan and I'm not even sure where to find it in the grocery store (it's not next to the tofu, I can tell you that).  But after reading the descriptions, I'm really thinking I might enjoy either tempeh or seitan alot more than I "enjoy" tofu.  Which I don't really enjoy at all.

The author describes tofu as spongy, wet and smooth.  I'd add slimy and bland.  But it does pack 10 grams of protein in 1/2 cup with only 80 calories and 5 grams of fat.  Tempeh is twice as many calories, twice as much fat with a protien count of 15 grams.  And then there's seitan.  Three times the calorie count as tofu, but lower in fat grams.  And 36, yes!, 36 grams of protein in a half cup.

Tofu is made by curdling hot soy milk and adding a coagulant.  It's kind of like cottage cheese, I think.  And though I love cottage cheese, I just can feel the love for tofu.  Tempeh is made from fermented cooked soybeans and has a firm, chewy texture.  And then there's seitan, which is made from wheat (surprise, surprise!).  It's made by taking wheat dough and washing the starch out of it which leaves an elastic blob which is then cooked.  And sometimes it comes marinated or flavored already.  Sounds yummy.  But it has to be better than tofu.  Anything is better than tofu.  Or almost anything.

So, now I'm going to have to go search out tempeh and seitan and see what all the talk is about.  I think I like the sound of seitan.  Not soy.  Chewy.  Maybe marinated.  I could definitely eat that.

Day 120 -- How Do I Hate Tofu? Let Me Count The Ways.

I buy it with the best of intentions.  Tofu.  As a vegan, I'm supposed to eat it.  Yet, there it sits, in the back of the fridge, well on its way to spoiling.  The use-by date is today, so whether I want to or not, I'm going to have to use this damn tofu in a dish.  But what to make?

Yes, even that photo looks boring to me.  Oh, and before I go on, can I just say that it would be very helpful if the tofu manufacturers would make a smaller container of tofu.  The most I ever use in a recipe is a half a block and the other half just rots in the refrigerator.  And man, when it rots, it really stinks up the joint.  Yet another reason why I resist even buying tofu.  All right, rant over.  Now, I think I need to find a recipe or the tofu will end up in the garbage.

I have a package of shitake mushrooms that need to be used and some red bell peppers and a red onion.  I feel an Asian dish coming on here.  Oh, and I'll add some edamame so I get a legume in my meal -- in case I don't eat the tofu.  I have some brown rice noodles that will be good with the dish.  But how to cook the tofu?

My sister gave me a recipe for teriyaki tofu, which uses slices of tofu, dredged in cornstarch and fried until brown.  While frying it, it's basted with a teriyaki sauce.  I think I'm going to go with that and then stir-fry my veggies and make a spicy sauce.

I am not excited.   But I keep hoping that I'll learn to like tofu if I just keep trying to eat it.  Maybe this time?

ETA:  I labelled this Good Eats, but I was being sarcastic.

ETA More:  All right. Maybe tofu isn't that bad.  Dredged in cornstarch and fried until brown, then braised in 1/4 cup cooking sherry, 3 T. soy sauce and 1 1/2 T. brown sugar?  It was pretty yummy when served with stir fried veggies and brown rice.  But it did take frying it until it was crispy to get some decent texture.

Day 119 -- Thank Goodness Alcohol Is Vegan!

I've had a particularly difficult week.  Lots of conflict and angst, which is unusual for me since I'm usually a very chill person.  But this was one of those weeks when I just needed a drink.

I miss a lot of foods from my old diet -- cheese, sour cream, and an endless list of desserts made with butter and eggs.  But there's one thing that I'm not sure I could give up if it weren't part of a vegan diet.  There are just sometimes when you need a really good drink.

It's really the only time I allow myself to enjoy sugar and calories without any guilt.  I normally stop at just one drink and tend to stick to margaritas, bloody Marys or beer.  I think I am going to try to find a few drink recipes that might be a little healthier.  Here's one from Vegetarian Times for a Pineapple Ginger Elixir.  An elixir sounds very healthy to me!

Pineapple-Ginger Elixir

Serves 4

To turn this sweet-and-spicy cooler into a cocktail, add a shot of rum to the bottom of each glass and stir well. Don’t forget to break out the drink umbrellas.

4 cups fresh pineapple cubes

2 Tbs. minced fresh ginger

¼ cup light coconut milk, optional

2 ½ Tbs. lime juice

2 Tbs. pure maple syrup

1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract

¼ tsp. ground cinnamon

⅛ tsp. ground cardamom or allspice

⅛ tsp. cayenne pepper, optional

4 ½-inch-thick pineapple rings and/or lime wedges, for garnish

1. Purée pineapple cubes, ginger, and 1/2 cup water in blender until smooth. Strain through fine-meshed strainer into bowl, stirring with spoon to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard pulp, and return liquid to blender.

2. Add coconut milk (if using), lime juice, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom, and cayenne (if using) to blender; blend until smooth. Serve over ice, and garnish with pineapple rings and/or lime wedges.