The Hunger Games: Day Four

As of this morning, I’ve embarked on the beginning of my fourth day of eating like a vegan. I’m not going to lie; it pretty much sucks, though not as much as I thought it was going to suck, so I guess that’s a big old WIN. I’m actually shocked I haven’t cheated yet, even yesterday when my darling sister tried to ply me with chicken liver mousse, brie cheese and Ritter bars. I held fast and firm. Nothing can shake my inner vegan warrior! NOTHING.

Xena was a total vegan face

On a hunger scale, I would say I’m at a steady 5 or 6 all day. That’s my biggest beef (zing!) about the vegan diet; I never feel satisfied or full. I’m not necessarily looking forward to my next plate of steaming veggies. I thought this would be a huge problem for me since most days I turn into the female version of the Incredible Hulk if my blood sugar dips below a certain level. I honestly feared for the safety of my sister and cats. However, I seem to have magically maintained my pleasant demeanor. I will say I have gotten pretty creative on my menu, and that has helped. Going into this week, I made a point of not being lazy and just eating pasta every day and so far I’ve succeeded. Here’s what I’ve had so far:

Day 1

Breakfast: granola with rice milk

Lunch: quinoa with beets and beet greens

Dinner: roasted portabello mushroom “steaks”, roasted potatoes, and green beans

Good looking mushrooms steaks!

Day 2

Breakfast: banana with peanut butter

Lunch: Burrito bowl from Boloco – vegan style (and they totally gipped me on the rice btw)

Dinner: Butternut Squash Soup and corn tortilla quesadilla with rice cheese, tomato, and basil.

A vegan burrito bowl from Boloco. Basically I paid $5.00 for a bowl of lettuce, three beans and a few grains of rice. All I can say is good thing I added the guac!


Day 3

Breakfast: banana with peanut butter

Lunch: butternut squash soup and a wrap with tomato, basil, and mustard

Dinner: roasted eggplant with broccoli polenta

I have to admit, this polenta was really blah without the milk or cheese. Damn you vegans!


In true list loving fashion, here are a few things I've learned about this "whole vegan thing".......

1. The soy lattes at Starbucks are surprisingly good. I don’t usually take sugar in my coffee so this was a bit on the sweet side for me. But by the time the foam melted into the coffee, it was sort of ….nice?

2. I didn’t have high hopes for my rice cheese. I should have guessed that a dairy substitute made with a grain would be, well, grainy. But the package said it was good at melting, and that definitely made it taste less like sticks. Hooray!

3. Season, Season, Season. Without butter and milk to add to things, I found that a little extra seasoning really goes a long way. I have been using veggie stock in the place of water when I cooked most of my grains, salt and peppering like it’s my job, and throwing random herbs into everything. Long live basil!

4. Vegan and Gluten free granola is the pits! As you can see from my menu recap, I bailed on the gluten free granola by Day 2. First of all, it tastes like cardboard coated with cranberry dust. Secondly, my affordable (cough, cough à $7.00) bag, would probably last me three servings! What a rip. I really think the market takes advantage of gluten free people. Just because we haven’t tasted granola in a few years does not mean we won’t realize that this stuff tastes like crap.

5. God bless tortilla chips, salsa, and guacamole. By the end of this wild ride, I think I’ll have to base my strict adherence to this diet on the fact that my almost daily ritual of bingeing on chips and salsa (or guac) and a cocktail while watching Jeopardy, remained intact! God truly loves me if he made booze and avocados vegan and gluten free.

So with only 4 full days to go, I can just about see the finish line of this Vegan Marathon. Look---a nice wedge of Brie cheese is waiting for me with it’s arms (do cheese have arms? Just go with it) open for a big hug.I still have to survive my work potluck (I'm making a vegan pumpkin risotto) and might do a grand finale at a vegan or vegetarian restaurant. Until then.....VEGAN ME.

The Hunger Games; My Week-Long Stint as A Vegan

Vote Vegan? V is for Vegan? Planet Vulcan?

Vegans have been my nemesis for a long time. The Lex Luthor to my Clark Kent. The Joker to my Batman. The Heidi Montag to my Lauren Conrad. Being gluten free, I constantly struggle on a day to day basis with finding foods that I can safely eat. Dining out is often a catastrophe as gluten minefields are everywhere. The fact that people voluntarily choose to not eat the most delicious things in the world like meat and dairy, I can seriously not comprehend it! I get that eating sure so pure and so plain probably means a healthier body, both inside and out, but I’ll put it bluntly. I could never break it off with my one true love; cheese.

Oh Cheese, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways....Cheddar, Gouda, Fontina, Manchego

These days, meat and dairy have become my survival foods. They are almost always naturally gluten free, so I constantly rely on them in my day to day eating. For breakfast, I’m all about eggs, cottage cheese, or yogurt. My dinners are usually based around a protein, and any excuse I have for putting cheese on something, I’m there.

This summer I’ve definitely been slumming it - eating-wise. I traveled a lot, so when I did have time it eat, it wasn’t too pretty. The other day I had macaroni and cheese for breakfast (it was, however, HOMEMADE) so I thiiiiiiiink it’s time for a cleanse of some sort. Anyways, this fall coincides with me challenging myself and what better way to do that then by GOING VEGAN! Not forever, just for a week, and just so that I can experience life on the other side. Perhaps this way, I’ll have a new found respect for those vegans out there, instead of wanting to push their faces into a big pile of foie gras. In general, I feel like I do consume far too much dairy for one person, and if I can learn to live without it for a week, perhaps I can start to eat a bit less and be OK about it. So here goes nothing!!!

Look at this fun fake chicken and cheese! And it only cost me.....$10 bucks!

Yesterday I went to the store to stock up on vegan stuff and I discovered that eating like a vegan is pretty expensive. My usual Sunday grocery list, dominated my meat, dairy and eggs, was now filled with somewhat expensive produce and weird outrageously expensive fake food. I figured I would do gluten free granola and rice milk for breakfast and grains like brown rice and quinoa with a veggie for lunch. I would opt for a meat like veggie option for dinner with, you guessed it, more veggies. I got veggie stock, which I never usually buy because I think it tastes like dirty celery water. I wasn’t going to try to find a lot of dairy and meat substitutes (most usually have gluten as fillers, so that’s a no go) but I could not resist some gluten free fake chicken tenders and a cheese substitute made with soy and rice. YUMMO.

For my last meal as an animal by product eating person, I was going to go for delectable beef short-ribs (my last meal before the electric chair choice). However, my local Shaw’s and their meat department is a tad lackluster, so I had to settle with Cornish game hen. Not that I’m complaining, roast chicken is amazing. So after eating about 3 pounds of crispy chicken skin and some cheesy grits, I drifted off to sleep while visions of vegetables danced in my head.

As I write this, I’m already one meal in and about a cup of rice milk deep into this diet. So far I feel…..ok? I had a banana this morning, followed by vegan and gluten free granola with rice milk, and rice milk in my coffee.

Stocking up the pantry with vegan friendly stuff; BEPs, GF granola and brown rice. I feel like I need to rock some Tevas with socks and my life will be complete!

I felt hungry by 11 am (I’ll mention I had breakfast at 9:30 am), so had some dried apricots and almonds. My stomach feels a little bit empty and I really didn’t get the usual enjoyment out of my coffee. The rice milk really watered it down and gave it a funky soy taste. Blech, I hate soy. Yesterday I roasted some beets and made some quinoa, so that’s lunch. Tonight, I'm having Portobello mushroom “steaks” with roasted potatoes and green beans.

These beets looked lovely at the market, and I would have bought them crazy vegan diet or not.

As I go through today, possibly craving a big, juicy bun-less cheeseburger, my one comfort lies in the fact that BOOZE is vegan. Let’s be real, I would never ever take on a diet that would turn me into a teetotaler. F-that and bring on the vodka tonics.

I’ll be checking in on Wednesday to report on the last few days. If I don’t post anything, there is a chance I either a. passed out from low blood sugar or b. cheated and am embarrassed about my puny will power. But let’s hope neither of those things occur. Go Vegan, Go Vegan, Go Go, Go Vegan!

I Love Homemade Macaroni and Cheese: So Roux Me!

I recently got introduced to Nigel Slater through an article in Bon Appetite. If I was British I clearly would know who he was, as the bio on his book jacket refers to him as one of Britian’s “national treasures”. I don’t know if any American chef has reached that distinction yet. Paula Dean? Emeril? Big head Giada DeLaurentiis?! I doubt it.

Giada -- someone I would refer to as a lollipop head. Also, she annoyingly has to pronouce words like "spaghetti" like an off the boat Italian grandmother ergo I hate her.

Well, Nigel sounded like a first rate guy and he sort of looks like Harry Potter, so in the end, I enthusiastically scooped up his memoir, so eloquently named “Toast”.

Harry Potter's Dad?!! What, what!

“Toast” is a memoir, lead by food. Or more appropriately for Nigel’s life; chocolates, suckers, ice cream, pies, and some hideous canned goods. Slater grew up in the 1960s, probably my least favorite food decade, and his family, albeit one on the wealthier side of things, really indulged in the canned food craze. They were also obsessed with candies and sweets. Every other section dealt with a pie, a treacle tart, or candy from the candy shop. Also, the candies sounded like they were out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Mr. Whippy Cornets, Callard and Bower’s Butterscotch, Parma Violets, and of course Gobstoppers.

Look at that punim

Slater is able to interweave his memories of food as a child, into his memories of things that happened to him during his early life. There are hilarious parts filled with great Briticisms and fun British names (his best friend is a boy named Warell Blub ---best name EVER), sad parts tinged with the sweet recollections of his mother as a young boy (his mother dies of lung problems when he is 10), and also some kiiiiiiiind of creepy parts. If I didn’t know the book was named “Toast”, I would have sworn it was named “Penis”. There is so much wang in this book; I seriously had to take a few breathers. From creepy Uncle Rege, who made him play “find the sixpence” in his pants pocket, to Josh the gardener who never wore underwear and loved to dry off naked in front of an 8 year old, to the creepy masturbator in the woods who ran after Nigel one day as he was taking his daily stroll; there is seriously a lot of creepy man penis talk. I mean I get it, the 1960s, free love, et all -- but creepy British male penis? Yikes! Overall a charming little read. Nigel had a tough childhood, but his love and interest in food really brought him to life and carried him on a path to greatness.

Need to buy this book on half.com!!!!

In the spirit of all things Nigel Slater, I decided to try a recipe from his delicious looking Kitchen Diaries: A Year Cooking With Nigel Slater. This book is gor-or-geous. Really easy to follow recipes, fun narratives and stunning photography that I found myself one hand reading on the train as I commuted home one day. Let me tell you - it was a real feat to drool and hold a 3 pound book in your hand while riding on the MBTA, but I accomplished it rather well. The book is arranged by month, so even though I’m saddened to look away from the summer month sections featuring luscious summer produce, I focused my attention on September and October. So today’s recipe is……..Homemade Macaroni and Cheese with Dijion and Fontina.

I’ve been meaning to do a home-made macaroni and cheese post for quite some time now. Not only is it one of my proudest make from scratch accomplishments, it certainly fits into a food nostalgia post or two.

I have two big memories of macaroni and cheese from my childhood. One involves a version that my mother made in this big stone brown casserole dish with a fancy blue swirl pattern on the bottom. I think she used Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup in it, as I always found myself picking out the cubes of little black soggy mushrooms. It also had ham in it, which I loved, and a crumbly crust of breadcrumbs, probably from a paper canister. My second memory involves the constant battle between Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and Velveeta Shells and Cheese. My older sister loved Velveeta; the weird goop cheese that wasn't quite a liquid or a solid, and that came in a silver pouch. It tasted so metallic to me. Ick. Then there was Kraft with its neon cheese dust. Eventually Kraft came out with the Deluxe version, which meant wider noodles and a creamier sauce (which can be blamed on the extra milk and butter that was called for!) I was hooked. I never was into Annie’s –with the shells and white cheddar. It was too tangy and wholesome for this little soul.

Ahhh, the sweet smell of Kraft neon orange cheese powder

The gluten free alternatives for boxed mac and cheese are pretty eh. Amy’s Frozen Foods makes a fair rice pasta version, and then there is a version by Annie’s, which I improve upon by using Greek yogurt instead of milk. However, nothing beats homemade macaroni and cheese and the key to this recipe lies in both the roux and the type of cheese that you use.

A roux is the French way to thicken a sauce. A roux is also the reason why I can’t eat a ton of French food doused in fancy French sauces. However, since I’ve learned how to GF my roux, my wanna be French life has improved. Basically a roux is a paste made from butter and flour. When hot milk is added to this you get a béchamel or simple white sauce. If you add cheese to this, you get heaven on a spoon. There is also cheese choice to consider. Many people go with the standard cheddar or mozzarella, but I find that American cheese (despite it’s processed roots) gives a really great cheesy, salty flavor, and it also melts really well. Today we’re using Fontina, a superior melting cheese that could be referred to as Land-o-Lakes hot Italian cousin. Land-o-Lakes hot Swiss cousin is Gruyere, but we’ll save that cheese for another day!

I just love giving human characteristics to edible objects! Honestly, what could be better?

Here’s what you’ll need:

Pasta, about ½ to ¾ lb
Butter, 3 T
Flour, 2 T
Onion, ¼ cup diced
Bay leaves, 2
Milk, 2 cups
Fontina, 5 oz diced
Dijion mustard, 1 T
Breadcrumbs, ½ cup
Parmesan, ½ cup
Salt and pepper, to your liking

*fun accoutrements like broccoli, roasted mushrooms or peppers, etc.

Start your pasta water. Use a large pot, and salt the water and place the heat on medium low before you begin prepping. This way, as you prep, the water can slowly get up to temp, then in the last few minutes crank it to high and let it come to a boil.

Place 2 cups of milk, chopped onion, and bayleaf into sauce pan on low heat to warm.

Make your roux. Here’s a step by step guide with pictures! Aren't you lucky??

Start with 2 T of butter in sauce-pan and turn heat to medium.

Butter is king

When butter is fully melted, add 2T of your choice of flour and start to whisk together. I tend to use brown rice flour. It has a nice consistency that I think is comparable to wheat flour. For this particular recipe, I randomly used GF pancake mix? Still worked though! At this point, you don’t want the flour to burn, but you want to make a nice light brown paste. When you smell a nutty flavor, then your roux is ready.

Whatever you do, don't burn the flour!

Add your warm milk gradually and whisk to combine. Keep whisking and watch your heat. You do not want to scald your milk or have it boil over. I've done this many a times. Let’s just say this is not the step in the process where you make a trip to the restroom or when you decide you miss your cat and you need to give her a hug. I've had to learn the hard way....

Whisk, like your life depends on it

As you whisk, you’ll start to notice the sauce getting thicker and thicker. When the sauce gets to the thickness where it will coat the back of a spoon, add the fontina.

Whisk, until all cheese is melted. Add Dijion mustard and then salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

White sauce!

When pasta water comes to boil, add pasta and cook until al dente. While pasta cooks, toss 1 T butter in a fry pan with breadcrumbs and Parmesan and then set aside.

When pasta is done cooking, drain and add your white sauce. Throw into baking pan - casserole or even rectangular or square will work - and then add breadcrumbs on top. Bake in 400 degree oven for 30 minutes until sauce is bubbling up. Top with roasted veggies, meats, or whatever floats your boat.

I was impressed with this recipe. It was sort of like a 5th Avenue version of the mac and cheese that I make almost weekly now. The Dijion added a great depth of flavor, and the addition of bay leaf and onion into the milk really rounded everything out. The fontina delivered; it added a great creaminess that American cheese just can’t muster.

Oven roasted garlic broccoli complimented the rich cheesy texture of the Fontina stupendously!

Once you learn this recipe, you will never have to rely on boxed mac and cheese again. It's really so easy and all you need on hand is pasta, milk, flour and cheese. A great spur of the moment comfort food that you can be proud to say you made from scratch!