Vegan Experiment On Track

Today was the second day of my experimentation with vegan eating. I think it went okay for the most part. Breakfast was the final (and small) wedge of Apple Pie which I wrote about earlier this week. Lunch was a half circle of pitta bread and a small bowl of yesterday's Beany Stew. I made Butternut Squash Lasagna for dinner.

This what the filling looked like.

A close up of the autumn coloured lasagna filling.

Here is the beginning of the layering process before the noodles are added.

And a close up after the noodles are added.

I made enough lasagna for two pans. That way I would have left overs since this dish was more labour intensive than what I normally cook. Perhaps after I make it a few times it will seem less so.

This is what the lasagna looks like after it is topped with the vegan "cheesy" sauce which is really a roux or a bechemel sauce.

I topped one of the pans of lasagna with soya "Mozzarella" cheese.

The cooked lasagna with the "cheese" topping. Ready for eating.

It was good! My taste taster however, said that while it tasted good, I should have made "real" lasagna with meat. I reminded him that I could not because that wouldn't be vegan eating. He had a two large pieces at dinner and another one later for a snack.

Looks like I ended the day on an error as I had some refreshing pomegranate sherbet. Later, upon reading ingredients I learned that this sherbet contains milk! I usually read labels first, but I really thought I was fine on this one.

An earlier snack included about 8 nacho chips and 4 squares of dark chocolate (50%) at different sittings as well as a half pitta circle filled with alfalfa sprouts, a few slices of avocado and tomatoes. I didn't feel like eating more pasta when I felt a hunger pang.

My First Day Vegan

The new eating regime started Monday. It was a little hectic chopping up all the veggies for luncheon and preparing the dried beans (soaked on Sunday night) and getting it all together for a late lunch. I had risen late otherwise I would have had an early start. In between making lunch, I was replying to emails, making and receiving phone calls, doing laundry, etc.

Breakfast will usually be porridge or hot oatmeal with some cashews & dates/raisins/figs. One can eat the porridge with or without almond milk or your alternative milk of preference. But today, I had left overs of the Apple Cake I made Saturday night. If you recall, I had made a vegan version of it and though it is a dessert, it actually has very little sugar in it, probably less than I would get from the dates/raisins/figs I would put into porridge.

Lunch today consists of Beany Stew with Roasted Garlic.


Ingredients in my version:

~ reconstituted garbonzo beans, two cups
~ reconstituted fava beans, about 1.5 or two cups
~ 8 green beans chopped
~ 1 large carrot, peeled and slided
~ 8 reconstituted mushrooms chopped
~ half a red onion cleaned and diced
~ 1 can of tomato paste
~ 2/3 cups of water
~ stir in baked cloves of garlic 1 or 2 baked garlic heads as in Naomi Roses recipe
~ water as needed. Less water for stew-like consistency. I did not use canned beans so you will have to add more water than the 2/3 cup that Naomi's recipe recommends.
~ salt and pepper to taste when done.

This was absolutely delicious and filling! Actually I had a half filled blue bowl (less than in the photo) and I feel too full now that it is digesting. I also had enough for my roommate who has a huge appetite and saved some for another meal & snack.

Right now I have a wonderful aroma permeating the house as Braised Red Cabbage is cooking in the oven. Here is a sneak peak. I will cook it for several more hours to get it reduced to an almost like sauerkraut consistency. It is piping hot from the oven to be stirred and you can see the steam rising from it. I'm not actually sure what is for dinner but it will likely include this cabbage dish. I think I will have the tempeh burger and the cabbage. Tonight I will try to make some vegan lasagna to have on hand for tomorrow night and figure out how to make falafel for another day (both suggestions of the wonderful Naomi Rose.
Please drop by my other blog post for the day called Window Shopping.

Watercress, Pear, Bacon & Pecan Salad

I've been having a craving for this salad for a couple of weeks now. My plans are to start eating vegan only as of Monday, October 26, 2009, so Sunday night was my last opportunity to satisfy the meat craving for awhile.

I left the making of the salad too late. I was way too hungry when I started chopping up and frying the bacon and shallots together. I was literally shaking from low blood sugar so I didn't wait for the bacon to brown before I threw in the sliced pears and pecans. Normally I would let the bacon and shallots brown before adding in the pears and pecans.

After this mixture browned (mainly the bacon) a bit, I added a sprinkling of brown sugar and then threw in a couple of handfuls of watercress after having washed and cut off the ends. The watercress cooks down very quickly so don't let it go limp when you stir it in to the hot pan. Serve immediately after cooking and sprinkle blue cheese on top while the mixture is still piping hot.

I really enjoyed this salad. I don't know if I even made the recipe correctly, lol. It has been awhile since I've eaten this salad and some of my papers with recipes are still in boxes after the late summer move. I didn't bother to search for the recipe tonight due to the hunger I was experiencing. You can see that my photos are blurred due to the shakiness I was experiencing from low blood sugar levels. My shakes subsided after eating (and "no" the salad wasn't too sweet as I did not add very much brown sugar to it).

Ingredients:

- sliced bacon (half package)
- diced (peeled) shallots (6-8)
- sliced pears (2)
- 8-10 pecans cut in half lengthwise
- couple tbsps. of brown sugar, or to taste
- couple handfuls of watercress rinsed and ends chopped off
- crumbled blue cheese for topping

Try the salad. I think you will love it as much as I do.
I will let you all know how my new regime goes. Keep me in your prayers.

I Love Autumn

My Dogwood tree in all her glory.

Check out my slideshows of yesterday in Vancouver. I relished the small bit of blue sky in an otherwise cloudy and rainy week. Click the arrow to start the slideshows. Double click the snapshots to enlarge them and take you to the photo album. Enjoy!



And then, the unthinkable happened. It got even brighter outside. God is good.

Apple Cake

It seems I've been obsessed with food lately. Good food. I want to fill my body with healthy food and as hard as I try to eat more fruits and veggies, I just don't feel any better. I have even cut out a lot of meat protein and now use extra virgin olive oil rather than the cheaper available alternatives. I've increased the yogurt in my diet for the probiotics and try to eat leafy green veggies. I also eat sprouted grain bread and use heart healthy margarine on the rare occasions I do use margarine.

My body feels beat up and out of shape and I simply have little energy to do much about it. But I think all that is about to change. I've decided to go radical and go vegan for health reasons. In order to do that I've enlisted the help of Naomi Rose, a darling girl from England who has so generously donated her time for my benefit. I'm going to give her suggestions a try and I've already purchased most of my supplies for the week's eating suggestions.

In the meantime, I've already started to make some vegan substitutions in my diet by cutting the meat protein out almost completely and eating only veggies or legumes for dinner. I've been scouring the internet and simply cannot believe the wealth of good looking and probably good tasting vegan food out there. Looking at the photos posted by the various bloggers on the internet makes me motivated and excited to try out this new way of eating. Even if only for a time.

Today I made the Apple Cake below with some vegan substitutions. Unfortunately my photo of the pre-cooked cake isn't a good enough close up as compared to the one in the recipe link. Nonetheless it smelled divine when in the oven. Moreover, it brought back memories of childhood and chilly winter nights when I would arrive home from school. In those days we had a long walk home and it was already very dark as days are very short in winter in the far north. We would get home and how nice it was to arrive to the wonderfully wafting scents coming out of the kitchen oven. Those were joyful and innocent times.

The cake before it goes into the oven.

A close up of the Apple Cake after it has finished baking.

I can't wait to try it. I'd forgotten to cover the bottom of the pan with oil but the cake didn't stick, probably because my pan is enamel (I hope that doesn't outgas. I'd better look that up).

It was delicious! Still lots of cake left for my roommate and a snack for another day.

Here are the vegan substitutions I made "on the fly":

~ I substituted half a mashed banana for the egg
~ I used a mix of gala apples and granny smith apples as the gala were on sale
~ I substituted soy butter for regular butter.

I didn't go completely vegan with the substitutions as I used 1% milk instead of soy/almond/rice.

My guess is that using real butter would have made the sugar/cinnamon mixture a lot more caramelized but the end result of the vegan substitutions lost nothing in flavour or moistness and I must try this again some time.

Tomorrow I will be making a watercress/bacon/blue cheese salad before giving up my meat protein for awhile. Keep me in your prayers as this new way of eating will be a real radical shift for me. I'm committing to a few weeks at the outset. Enough time to see how I fare, how I feel and how I like the food.

Kibet and I are Very Excited

Hello friends,

This is just a short praise report to let you know that a little boy named Kibet was able to get some medical help for his leg.

I first saw Kibet a few weeks ago in a story here . I was able to send some funds and get this little boy and his family some much needed help.

Kibet was very excited, and he could not hide his joy as my pastor friend took him sandals to keep his feet dry and clean and also a blanket to keep warm.

It brought my friends Jonah and Thomas a lot of joy to help this poor family get basic things that some of us take for granted, like doctor visit and medicine for his foot, sandals to keep feet clean and dry, a blanket to keep warm at night and a small treat of fresh oranges.

[Caption: Brother Thomas checks over the oranges for the children.]

[Caption: The children are enjoying the oranges and the blanket.][Caption: The children say goodbye to my friends .][Caption: This little girl also needs to see a doctor]

Please pray for Pastor Jonah and Brother Thomas as they move one step at a time to help these dear ones. A few dollars can be stretched to meet more needs.

Thanks for your continued prayers.
and if you can help please click here

A glorious Tree, A sign of Fall

Yesterday I showed you a road sign. Today it is a weather sign, a sign of Fall. I love the Fall and I love this tree.

A Sign for the Time

I love this sign. I snapped it at the Nairobi Wildlife Orphanage. I always smile when I see this sign. That means I smile often as I use it as my desktop screensaver.

Needing Water

My friend Pastor Jonah sent me this photo. The stone pile in the photo represents the place where people in northern Kenya are hoping for a bore hole and a well. If you can help, please let me know. The people of Marigat desparately need water as it is very hot and dry there.

Photo of the Day

A panoramic view of the city of Kamloops, British Columbia. Kamloops is in ranching country so you can saddle up and ride a horse, though not necessarily in the city proper. You can also enjoy a variety of outdoor sports in the area. There are numerous fishing lodges in the outlying areas and boating is a popular weekend summer activity. Temperatures are rather hot here as far as Canadian summers go. Shade, air conditioning and cool drinks are a must as well as sun protection.

A Wonderful Walk

Wow! For the first time in a week I went for a walk! Well actually it was an early evening walk. First I caught a bus to the post office and walked home, stopping here and there to poke along the way. It was glorious. The weather was balmy and there was the comforting smell of wood burning fireplaces going. Ummm. It felt so good to be out again when I've been cooped up all week.

I was so pleased to find that my much anticipated package of love arrived from Mechelle Tully of Australia. How divine. I'm going to savour listening to her sweet melodies. After that discovery, I went across the street and delighted my taste buds in some food, the first I've enjoyed all week besides the bannock I made last night. I stopped off at Helen's Grill and had a wonderfully succulent lamb souvlakia with rice pilaf, roast potato, tzatziki sauce, Greek salad and garlic bread. I saved half of the large order for a snack later or for a meal next day.

It was a toss up as to whether to stop and buy some produce and catch the bus home or walk and skip out on the groceries. I opted to walk as the night was divine and it's been awhile since I got any exercise. So out came the camera.

Fall leaves on trees. I love the colours.

I think the street lights give these leaves a wonderfully warm glow.

Fall leaves on sidewalk. Aren't they pretty?

Sun Sui Wah, Chinese restaurant visited by Martha Stewart, Home Queen extraordinaire a few years ago when she produced a television special on the City. I believe she proclaimed Sun Sui Wah, the Nobu of the North.

The next two snaps are of a medical centre with delightful mural art on it's exterior walls.

New movies are being shot in the area. How do I know? I spotted these trailers which are make-shift dressing rooms to the stars but I didn't bump into any celebrities. There were at least 3-5 dressing rooms parked here.

People are out and about having dinner at the wonderful cafes along the street. This one with the yellow awning is an excellent Japanese restaurant. It is great to have wonderful restaurants to choose from in all price ranges for every budget. That is one thing I love about my city. Well I must focus on looking at the sights, enjoying the ambiance and the walk. More pictures will come another day.

The winter 2010 Olympics are just around the corner. Maybe you will get to see some of the city streets yourself.