Sloppy Joes

I made a sloppy joe sandwich on a whole wheat bun. I sauteed one cooking onion, along with chopped red and yellow peppers (hydroponic peppers, no less!), then added some Annie's barbecue sauce and Boca Burger Crumbles.

Good Karma Vegan House in San Jose

Whenever I travel, I go out of my way to dine at at least one vegan or vegetarian restaurant.

I just got back from a trip for work to San Jose. I ditched my group during the lunch session, as they're not really into veg cuisine, to "go find my peeps" at a local vegan restaurant. The Good Karma Vegan House was absolutely amazing! For $7.75, I got a heaping plate with brown rice, indian tofu, "lemon chicken", stir-fried vegetables, and a drumstick, and for dessert some tapioca pudding. If I ever get back to San Jose, I'm definitely going back to Good Karma!

Johnny Rockets

Tonight I ended up at Johnny Rockets, not by my choice, but at least they have a vegan Boca Burger. Unfortunately, when you order it if you want it vegan you have to request that there be no butter on the roll. In my case, our waiter brought one out with butter anyway, and it's a good thing I checked.

Passive aggressive waitstaff..... grrrrrr.....

Anyway, I won't be cooking for a few days.

My Favorite Garlic Sesame Sauce

This marinade from Starport Foods is what I use for all my recipes with a sesame sauce. It's the best stir-fry marinade around.

Sorry it took so long, Starla!

Cooking Eggplant

To answer Lisa's question, I have two ways that I cook eggplant:

1) Oven -- Pierce the eggplant several times with a fork, coat in olive oil and place in the oven at 450 degrees for 45 minutes. Let the eggplant cool. Then, slice it in half and use a fork to comb the eggplant out. It will be soft and stringy.

2) Stovetop -- Keeping in mind that eggplant takes longer to cook than other vegetables, I add it first. I cut it into small pieces and sautee in oil, wine, marinade, or pasta sauce for about 15-20 minutes.

Pasta with Eggplant

I know it looks funky, but remember, I'm just a vegan girl with a full-time job....

Last night, I decided I felt like making baba ganoush. Unfortunately, though, after roasting the eggplant, I realized that I have no tahini and was feeling way too lazy to drive to the grocery store. So, I saved the roasted eggplant in the fridge to do something with it today.

I sauteed the eggplant in canola oil with some frozen spinach, garlic, pepper, and cumin, then added some Prego traditional spaghetti sauce.

The final product tasted good, but I'll freely admit that the sauce looks kinda nasty.

Vegan Firefighters

Today's New York Times includes an article about a team of five vegan firefighters in Austin, Texas. One found out at age 37 that he had high cholesterol, and through a vegan diet he's been able to bring it down to normal levels.

I think it's a great piece. It is a terrific reminder that being hearth-healthy isn't all about pills and angioplasties, and that our lifestyle and habits are crucial.

In case you can't pull up the article, here's a link to the Engine 2 Fire Company's home page.

Meat 'n Potatoes

For dinner, I had Gardenburger Riblets, broccoli stir-fried in garlic sesame sauce, and a twice-baked potato. The potato is something my grandmother liked to make us -- you bake the potato (or, in this case, pierce it with a fork and microwave on high for 6 minutes), slice it in half, mash the insides with a little butter, and then put it in the oven.

Note the ratios of food groups on the plate -- one quarter lean protein (riblet), one quarter starch (potato), and one half vegetable.

Vegan in a Brazilian Steakhouse

I did not cook today. Instead I went to the local young Jews' happy hour. However, I'll share my most recent uncomfortable vegan story.

In Atlanta last week, I ended up at a place called Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian steakhouse. It's a place where men dressed as butchers move through the restaurant at a frenzied pace slicing meat off of a skewer for diners. And, they have a salad bar. But, unfortunately, there was constantly one of these butchers/waiters dropping a slab of meat in front of me, because the 100-pound girl next to me could definitely pound down meat.

Fortunately for me, our waiter was very accomodating. He told me the few items off the salad bar that were vegan: lettuce (but no dressings), chick peas, mushrooms, asparagus, and tomatoes. And he brought me polenta faster than I could eat it. So, I ate well and enjoyed my food, though I was clearly grossed out by the carcass-like skewers of meat around me.

Veggie Stew

I made a veggie stew from a recipe that I adapted from Linda Haynes's The Vegetarian Lunchbasket. What I love about this book is that the recipes are easy to make and don't include exotic ingredients.

I sauteed organic cabbage, peas, corn, cannelini beans, and baby bella mushrooms in canola oil for 5 minutes, then added 1 cup of vegetable broth and simmered for 20 minutes. Then I added 1/8 cup of whole wheat flour, two packets of soy sauce, salt and pepper, and simmered for 5 more minutes.

I enjoyed this stew with a toasted whole grain english muffin coated with Earth Balance Buttery Spread (vegan margarine).

Groovy "Chicken" and Noodle Stir-Fry

My most recent creation was adapted from a Wegman's recipe that included chicken. I boiled 8 oz of vermicelli and set aside. Then, to three tablespoons of hot vegetable oil, I added one chopped onion and two cloves of minced garlic. I added a 16-oz bag of frozen vegetables -- any veggies will do, but I chose a mixture with cauliflower, lima beans, carrots, and zucchini. I let this mixture heat, then added 2/3 of a cup of water, 1/4 cup plus two tablespoons of soy sauce, and four teaspoons of corn starch, allowed this to thicken while stirring frequently for ten minutes. Toward the end of this time I added a bag of Morningstar Farms Chik'n Strips. Finally, I added the cooked vermicelli.

Greens n Beans

I blanched the escarole in boiling water for one minute, drained it, and squeezed out much of the water. I heated one garlic clove and one tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet, then added the escarole, one can of cannelini beans (undrained), and a bit of veg soup powder mix, and sauteed it covered for about 5 minutes.

This was a side dish, not my entire dinner. It went well with some vegetable sushi from Wegman's and tofu in sesame sauce. And four Fig Newmans for dessert.

Reversing Heart Disease

I just returned from a trip to Atlanta for the American College of Cardiology annual conference. It was a great experience, and my favorite part was learning about the late-breaking clinical trials.

One such trial is the ASTEROID trial, presented by Dr. Steve Nissen from the Cleveland Clinic. The study found that rosuvastatin (Crestor), a cholesterol-lowering medication, when given at a high dose, can safely lower the LDL (bad) cholesterol to an average of 60 and reverse heart disease. As Dr. Nissen pointed out with a loud round of applause in response, this is the first cholesterol-lowering medication trial that showed a reversal of heart disease. It was a well-done study and emphasizes that lower is better when it comes to LDL cholesterol.

That's terrific, but I kept thinking, there is one way of reversing heart disease: The Ornish Lifestyle Program. The Ornish Program includes a very low-fat vegetarian diet, exercise, meditation, and group support, and though it was a small study, it led to improvement in symptoms of angina and mild regression of coronary artery disease.

I think that the medical community focuses too much on pills to solve our problems. We assume people are too stupid and lazy to be responsible and live a healthier lifestyle. But, living healthfully is the key to longevity. I think that as health care providers that we need to focus more on empowering our patients to take better care of their bodies and not just give them pills.

Meeting the Garbanzo Bean... and enjoying some great Vegan dining!

Garbanzo Bean and I first met online about 13 years ago when we were both planning on attending USC for college. We were even going to be roommates! At the last minute, I changed my mind and attended another school. However, we somehow managed to keep in touch, and met for the first time yesterday while I was in Atlanta! It felt like we were old friends, and we had an awesome dinner at Cafe Sunflower, a vegetarian restaurant. I had "meatloaf" with mashed potatoes, gravy, and asparagus, and for dessert a slice of chocolate raspberry cream pie (and some of the Bean's peanut butter cream pie). Mmmm was I stuffed!

Lentil Controversy

After all the posts suggesting that I don't need to soak or cook lentils that long, I checked the package. Indeed, that's what it suggested, and my recipe came out ok. They're brownish green lentils, and they are labeled "Lentils". I'm not sure why. When I've done yellow lentils, a soak for 4 hours and cooking for 20 minutes was ok, but these required so much longer.

I'll be on a blogging hiatus for a few days, so have a terrific weekend everyone!

Lentils

Ok, I've never cooked lentils from scratch before. I had no idea that even if you soak them overnight that they still take an hour and a half to cook! But, they came out good. A little olive oil, one cooking onion, one roma tomato, then the lentils, with a little water on top.

In the meantime, though, I was hungry! So, I had some Whitewave Wheat Meat and leftover chole. The lentils will be dinner tomorrow.

Chole

Chole (pronounced "cho-LAY") is a traditional north Indian dish with chick peas and spices. As I leared from Lisa's friend Vani, all good Indian food starts with mustard seeds. Perhaps this is an over-simplification on my part, but her advice works, and when I move to Boston in July, I plan on tracking her down for more lessons in Indian cooking.

Anyway, start with about a tablespoon of olive oil and some mustard seeds on medium heat. When the mustard seeds start popping, I turned the heat down to low and added one chopped cooking onion, and shortly thereafter a can of drained and rinsed chick peas and two chopped roma tomatoes. On top of that, I added some sea salt, ground pepper, and spices: turmeric, coriander, cumin, paprika, and garlic. I heated the mixture on my stove for about 15 minutes, then ate it with a couple slices of whole wheat pita bread.

One Year as a Vegan!

This week, I'm celebrating one year as a vegan!

I became a lacto-ovo vegetarian at age 16, about 14 1/2 years ago, probably most motivated by my younger brother's committment to the cause. The literature from PETA that he received helped too. One day, it just hit me, that I couldn't eat a poor animal who lived in suffering only to become my chicken sandwich.

Then, I read more about how egg-laying hens suffer, crammed into crates without room to stretch their wings or roam, and how poor dairy cows have their babies taken away from them only to be confined for their miserable brief lives. And "cow pus" from the multitude of infections that dairy cows' nipples suffer from due to the machinery that milks them, that grossed me out.

But it took me a year and a half from that point to become a vegan. I had no idea how to live without dairy or eggs -- how do you dine out at restaurants? What about birthday cake? My (now ex) husband loves making me French Toast -- wouldn't he be disappointed?

I realized that going vegan was the right thing to do. For the animals, for my health, and for the environment. There are more dining out options than I ever thought; a birthday cake can be made vegan, and so can French Toast.

I've never regretted becoming a vegan. I only wish I'd done it sooner.

"Natural" Chicken?

Arby's has a new ad campaign for their "All Natural Chicken sandwiches". What I don't get is, All Natural as compared to what???

Another reason I'm glad I'm a vegetarian.

Bean Dip

Lisa gave me this recipe that she used recently for a bean dip. It came out good, and I used about half of the suggested amount of olive oil (in other words, 1/4 cup instead of 1/2).

2-15 oz cans black beans, rinsed
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 cloves garlic
Salt
½ cup olive oil
¾ cup (to taste) fresh cilantro leaves

Eggplant and Tofu on Couscous

In my wok, I sauteed eggplant in olive oil, balsalmic vinaigrette and tamari sauce, then added some extra-firm tofu.

Not Much Cooking Goin' On

My house is going up on the market tomorrow. So, after working so hard to clean off my beautiful ceramic cooktop stove, I don't want to mess it up.

Tonight's dinner was a Bravissimo frozen pizza with veggies and Amy's split pea soup. Dessert was a Natural Choice frozen fruit bar, a few strawberries, and a few too many Newman-O's.

This picture shows my leftovers, which will be lunch tomorrow.

In the midst of not cooking so much, I am looking forward to trying out a local pizza place that just added a vegan menu! It's not terribly healthy stuff, including fries, vegan mac salad with vegenaise, and vegan mozzarella, but if it's vegan and in town I want to help keep them in business.

Portobello Stir Fry

My stir fry this evening has portobello mushrooms, broccoli, yellow pepper, and onion with some sesame sauce. Note the absence of tofu or "fake meat" product. I have already OD'ed on soy today -- soy milk with my cereal, tofu in my lunch, edamame (soy beans in pods) as a frequent nosh.

Also, I've realized that my diet is full of sodium. I advise my patients to avoid salt, usually because they have high blood pressure. While it's not endangering my health to eat too much salt, as my blood pressure is normal and I do not have heart disease, I notice that my weight fluctuates quite a bit and I've been getting very bloated. This stir fry is fairly low in sodium too, with probably 250 milligrams of sodium per serving.

Yellow Lentil Dal

First off, I've found my mojo, thanks to all of you who may have been concerned. Today was a much better day in the lab, for the most part. My needle found arteries when it was supposed to find arteries and veins when it was supposed to find veins.

For dinner, I made yellow lentil dal, my own take on an Indian dish. I soaked some yellow lentils overnight. In my frying pan I poured a little Canola oil (like a tablespoon or so) and added mustard seeds, cumin, coriander, turmeric, salt, pepper, and garlic. When the mustard seeds were popping, I added the drained lentils with some cold water and 2 chopped roma tomatoes, simmered for about 25 minutes.

I've Lost My Mojo

Some days you're on fire. Some days you're not.

Today in the cath lab, I prepared to do a right heart catheterization, in other words go through a vein in the neck with a catheter to take pressure measurements of the right side of the heart and the lungs. The patient's veins were tiny because he was so dehydrated, and I tried and tried and tried.... and then stuck my needle into his carotid artery!!!!

Then, I was so frustrated, that when I tried to get the vein in his leg, I missed. My attending, impatient with my handiwork, took the needle and in two seconds had his needle in the femoral vein.

Fortunately, there were no immediate complications of me sticking this patient's carotid artery. But, I'm still disappointed in myself.

Tomorrow will be a better day.

Low(er) Fat Spinach Dip

I've made a spinach dip that goes over really well with non-vegetarians at parties, who doubt that something so yummy could really be vegan. However, it's loaded with fat, so I don't make it at home for myself... until now.

This evening I was playing around in my kitchen, and I have a revised recipe for a more healthy, less fattening spinach dip:

One pound frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
One can of chopped water chestnuts
Two tablespoons Vegenaise (vegan mayonaise)
Two tablespoons Tofutti Better-Than-Sour Cream (vegan sour cream)
One and a half teaspoons of soup mix (I use Croyden House kosher imitation chicken soup powder)

Mix it all up in a bowl, put it in the fridge for a couple hours, and serve. The big difference is that the original recipe calls for a half of a cup each of Vegenaise and Tofutti sour cream.

Hummus Pizza

I was inspired by a recipe from Dreena's website. This is a piece of pita bread topped with a layer of hummus, chopped roma tomatoes, and spinach, toasted in the oven for 10 minutes.

Farting Vegans?

I found a great answer to the question of flatulence and vegan diets from VegWeb. It's far better than anything I can come up with.

I'll add to that, though, if you have a dietary allergy to something that you consume in large quantities, such as soy, it can cause gas. I have a bit of an allergy to soy, and if I eat too much of it, or if I have a lot of chocolate (this I don't understand, but it happens) then the gas is flying out of me in a big and potentially embarrassing way. I'm allergic to dairy too, and it used to do this to me even more so, but that is completely eliminated from my diet since becoming vegan.

So, figure out what in your diet is making you gassy, cut back on it, or eat your culprit food and try to avoid society for a few hours.

Eggplant and Tomato Sub

I made this Indian-style, because I loooove Indian food!

Poured a little canola oil in a frying pan with some mustard seeds. Once the seeds were popping, I added eggplant, onion, and some mushrooms. Then I topped with some spices -- turmeric, cumin, coriander, paprika, pepper, and salt. Finally I added a chopped tomato.

I poured the mixture into the sub roll and heated in the oven for 10 minutes at 425 degrees.

I need to post more.... coming soon will be a response to "Anonymous" aka Fart Man. Just kidding buddy :) we'll talk.

Speaking about Veganism and Heart Disease

Last night, I gave a talk to our local Ornish group, Heartbeats For Life. They're a bunch of folks who have heart disease or an interest in heart disease and prevention through following Dean Ornish's Lifestyle Program, which includes a lowfat vegetarian diet.

My topic was the importance of diet and exercise in women's heart health. I spoke to about 45 people, and as this was my first speaking engagement of this type, I was quite nervous. However, I got a lot of great questions and comments from the audience, and I've even been asked to give the same talk to a different group, which is a terrific complement.

A lot of my talk was devoted to explaining the benefits and misconceptions of a vegetarian/vegan diet. I talked about the deceptions of the dairy industry, which I think surprised people. My take-home message for the audience was, as I've said on this blog, that heart disease isn't all pre-determined, that WE have the power to change our destiny through diet and exercise.

I'm looking forward to doing it again.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes and Scrambled Tofu

My vegan take on pancakes and eggs absolutely hit the spot!

Did you know that Bisquick is vegan? I followed the directions on a box of low-fat Bisquick, substituting Ener-G Egg Replacer for the egg, soy milk for the milk, and adding a whole bunch of chocolate chips. The scrambled tofu is mashed firm tofu with some frozen spinach, salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic.

Caravan of Dreams

I had the pleasure of being in New York City during its biggest snowfall ever!! The benefit of this was that my friend and I didn't have to wait to be seated for brunch at Caravan of Dreams in the East Village.

The restaurant is vegan, organic, kosher, and much of the menu is raw food. The music was great, kind of a middle eastern beat, and also a guy playing piano live. There were so many great choices. We each had the Country Breakfast Platter with spelt-berry pancakes and fried tempeh, along with sangria, coffee or tea and a salad, all for $14. What a filling and delicious brunch!

I swear, I'm like a wide-eyed kid in a candy store whenever I go to a vegan restaurant, because near where I live we have three vegetarian restaurants, but no vegan restaurants. I love having choices on the menu, though I must admit that it feels a bit overwhelming because I'm not accustomed to being able to choose from multiple options.

And I don't have to bombard them with the usual vegan littany of questions that I always begin with, "I'm sorry, I'm going to be difficult. I'm a vegan. That means I don't eat dairy, egg, meat or fish, or anything that comes from an animal.... ok so what kind of broth does the soup have? And what is that fried in? Is there cheese in that? Can you make it without the sour cream? No, I don't want cheese on top. No really, no butter either..."

Baked Ziti

I had a craving for pasta. I prepared some whole-wheat spirals. While they were boiling, I put a block of firm silken tofu in a blender with lemon juice, basil, garlic, salt, and a little frozen spinach. After the pasta was done, I poured it in this little casserole dish and added the tofu blender mix and some Prego Traditional, stirred, and put in the oven at 375 for about 15 minutes.

Seitan Stir-Fry

After my unsuccessful attempt at tempeh, tonight I decided to stick with what I know -- seitan, broccoli, mushrooms, and red peppers in garlic sauce. Delicious as always with leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Clif Builders

I didn't cook anything today, as I had some frozen Ling dumplings for lunch and went out to dinner with the ladies for Italian food, where I got some mediocre greens and beans dish.

Recently, I tried Clif Builders. I'm on a rotation where I'm at the hospital in the afternoon and often into the early evening, so I don't have the chance to go home and have dinner before going to the gym. A Clif Builder about 2 hours before a trip to the gym gives me all the energy I need for a 40-minute run and an hourlong weight training session. They taste like a candy bar, but they have 275 calories and 20 grams of protein. And, of course, they're vegan. What more can you ask for?

Maybe I'll cook something tomorrow...

My First Attempt at Cooking with Tempeh

This didn't come out so good.

I added the tempeh last. It tasted bland, like it didn't absorb the stir-fry sauce that I added, and it was awfully chewy.

Next time I cook with tempeh, I'll try smaller pieces and add it earlier.

Salad with Tahini Dressing

I have some organic greens, apple slices, avocado, sunflower seeds, and tahini dressing. This salad accompanied leftover whole wheat pasta. I had fruit and a few Fig Newmans for dessert. Fig Newmans are addictive.

Does anyone know of a good tahini salad dressing, either a recipe or a commercially prepared dressing? I had an amazing tahini dressing at a Govinda's in Denver, and one of the Hare Krishnas was kind enough to write down a recipe off the top of his head, but it just didn't come out right.

What I cannot do

Lonna and Melissa's comments definitely hit home for me.

I've saved the lives of heart attack victims. I've diagnosed and treated patients and improved their lives through modern medical technology. I've convinced patients to change their lifestyles, to give up meat, to quit smoking, to drink less, to take their medicines, to exercise, and so on.

But, what I cannot do is get my 51 year-old father to go to a doctor. He prides himself that he hasn't had a full physical exam since 1974, the year he and my mother married, the year before I was born. He's been to a doctor a handful of times, but only for things like ear infections or a required "work physical".

He's overweight, out of shape, and who knows what his blood pressure and cholesterol are. I've tried insisting. I've tried begging. But that gets me nowhere. I love him, but he's the most stubborn person I know.

Honestly, there's only so much we can do. When I'm talking to a patient, I'm "the doctor". When I'm talking to Dad, I'm his little girl, and my advice simply doesn't hold weight.

So all I can do is be patient. One day, something will happen that will bring him to a doctor. I just hope it won't be too late.

The Problem with Heart Disease...

...is that we're so good at treating it. People feel so well after their heart attack or stent that they go back to their old bad habits.

I went to visit my patient who is recovering from bypass surgery. He has an inherited lipid disorder, so his cholesterol and triglycerides are much higher than normal people. On top of that, he smokes a pack and a half of cigarettes each day.

At age 35, he had a heart attack. We put a stent in, and he felt better. We told him to quit smoking. He didn't. At 38, he came back with more chest pain. His first stent was clogged and he had a new narrowing of a different coronary artery. So we put a new stent in and opened up the old stent. He continued to smoke. Now at age 40, he had more pain, and last Friday he had bypass surgery.

I told him that now he has to quit smoking. Absolutely has to quit. If he doesn't quit, his bypasses will become blocked or he'll die. NOW he's more motivated and has found some help from nicotine patches.

Remember this: We may inherit bad things that put us at higher risk of heart disease. However, we control our own destiny. Through exercise, not smoking, and eating well, including a well-balanced vegan diet, we can stay healthy for a long time.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Yellow Squash and Spinach

The yellow squash was sauteed with some sea salt and pepper in olive oil for about 5 minutes. I added some frozen spinach, and then some traditional Prego.

After my 2500 meter swim, this meal hit the spot.

Another Stir Fry

While I was gone last week, I really missed my wok. For this creation, I sauteed some onions in canola oil, adding sliced mushrooms a couple minutes later. While the onions and mushrooms were cooking, I boiled some broccoli florets in water for a few minutes. Then, I added the broccoli to the wok and a Szechuan garlic sauce. When the creation was almost complete, I added some Morningstar Farms Chik'n Strips, and cooked for about two more minutes.

Helping Patients Kick the Meat Habit

Usually, I don't tell my patients that I'm a vegan. However, I do tell them to cut out meat from their diets. I recommend more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and suggest that they use meat-like foods such as veggie burgers instead.

One patient today explained that the next time he sees me he'll be making loud "baaaa"ing noises because he'll be a goat from "eating so much grass".

At least I got my point across.

Lazy Chili

This is the easiest stuff to make in the world. I use Donna's brand of organic barbecue sauce for the flavor. I put a little oil in the bottom of the pan and add a can of drained kidney beans, and sautee them for a few minutes. Then I add the entire bottle of Donna's sauce, some burger crumbles (Boca or Morningstar Farms), frozen corn, and some chick peas. I stir and cook for about ten minutes.

Anything can be dumped into Lazy Chili. I've used pinto beans, black beans, or cannelini beans in previous recipes.

Harmonia's Eggplant Curry ROCKS!

It's great to be back in my own kitchen.

This evening I whipped up Harmonia's Eggplant Curry. It was awesome. I sauteed the onions in oil first, then added the mushrooms, and then the rest of the sauce ingredients. And, since I forgot to get a tomato at the grocery store, I poured in a cup of Prego Traditional sauce.

Oh... and watch out for the Laffy Taffy. The little ones are vegan, but the big candy bar-sized ones have egg albumin.

Free Ice Cream!

My gift to you -- a pint of Purely Decadent Soy Delicious. This stuff is soooooo good, and it has no dairy or animal products whatsoever. All you have to do is send an e-mail to pam@turtlemountain.com and state that you were sent by a Veg News ad winner (me) and include your full name and mailing address. She'll send you a coupon for a free pint.

Sorry Mom!

Mom just checked out the blog. She wanted to reply to my post from last Thursday about her and my dad eating a lot of Taco Bell, but somehow couldn't get the reply to post.

Mom, I am very grateful to have you and Dad as vegetarians. And, yes, I realize that when you're not super busy with work that you cook -- did you see the picture of the Thai food that I posted? And, they don't always go to Taco Bell -- sometimes they eat at Panera, or Zoup! (a soup place), or go out for Indian food.

Mom and Dad, thanks for everything lately. I couldn't ask for better parents in a time like this.

Boca Spicy Chik Patties

I made myself a Chik Patty sandwich on whole wheat bread with Vegenaise, ketchup, and avocado. Don't know why, but lately I really have a thing for Vegenaise.

Anyway, need to find a new digital camera so that I can finally post some pics again.

Camera broken?!?!?!?!?

First, it uses up batteries within seconds, literally. Now I can't close the battery cage, and even if I hold it closed the camera won't turn on. I think it's time for a new camera.

So, sorry, no new pics for now.

I don't really like salad.

That may sound like a bizarre statement to come from a vegan. But, truthfully, a pile of lettuce and raw vegetables doesn't appeal to me, which is why I find it so annoying that when you go to a restaurant and you ask if they have something vegan they pipe up with what they think is a brilliant suggestion of "Oh we have salad!" Like omnivores, I like to eat something of substance. I may be a vegan, but I am not a goat.

However, if it's a hearty salad, then I'm all for it. For dinner, I fixed a salad with avocado, walnuts, Craisins, and shredded Tofurky. I made a Thousand Island dressing of a 1:1 mix of Vegenaise and ketchup. I'd have a beautiful picture to show you of the salad, but as my camera eats batteries, I cannot do that. However, as I am in leftover mode, and I have plenty of avocado to use up, it will likely reappear.

Portobello Mushrooms with Sweet Potato Lemon Chips

This is a portobello mushroom cap (actually, I ate two of them) coated with a mixture of tempura, olive oil, and balsalmic vinaigrette, and baked at 400 on each side for about 7 minutes. The sliced sweet potatoes are coated with lemon olive oil and seasoned with some sea salt and ground pepper and baked for about 25 minutes.

Right now, I'm in leftover mode, as I'm heading to Orlando for work at the end of the week and will be gone for 10 days. That means I need to get rid of as much perishable stuff as possible, which will include the other half of this sweet potato, broccoli, onion, and a quarter of an eggplant.

Thai Food

I'm back! The weekend was a much needed break. I didn't do any cooking, but I did do a lot of shopping. Mom whipped up dinner tonight -- some prepackaged Thai peanut sauce, mixed with light coconut milk, fried tofu, and veggies, all on white jasmine rice. It was quite good.

Taking a Hiatus

It's been a somewhat crazy week. Tonight I went out for sushi with some girlfriends and then went to see Brokeback Mountain. Great sushi -- got a tofu inari, veggie roll, avocado roll, and shitakke mushroom roll, along with a salad and some edamame. And, a very good movie.

So, I haven't been doing much coooking these past few days. I'll be heading back to Detroit to visit my parents this weekend for a much needed hiatus from things. While I'm there, I'm sure I'll get the chance to cook. They're lacto-ovo vegetarians, with heavy emphasis on the lacto-ovo, and they subsist on Taco Bell.

So, I'll bring the digital camera with me and probably whip up a few things while I'm there. Have a great weekend; I'll be back to blogging on Tuesday!!!

Laffy Taffy is Vegan!

And I loooooove Laffy Taffy! But, I had no idea it was vegan -- I always assumed that it had some type of egg albumin or something to make it so soft and chewy. Not that it's healthy or anything, but it's good to know.

For more things that are "accidentally vegan", check out I Can't Believe It's Vegan.

As I'm moonlighting at the hospital tonight, I'm patronizing my favorite (and unfortunately the only) vegetarian restaurant in town, Skippy's. I had a Sloppy Joe sandwich made with Boca burger crumbles and a really big slice of vegan chocolate cake that my waistline really doesn't need but absolutely hit the spot.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Asparagus

I took some fresh asparagus and sauteed it in basting oil, which is grapeseed oil with some other goodies added to it, and added some ground pepper and sea salt. The pasta sauce is a "meat" sauce -- Prego Traditional with Morningstar Farms Burger Crumbles.

Vegan Resolutions

Thanks to all of you for your responses to my question of "Vegan Enough?" I've been vegetarian for over 14 years, and now vegan for ten months.

This year, I resolve to eliminate honey from my diet. This means I need to be less lazy about my choice in buying bread -- I need to find a good loaf of whole-grain bread that doesn't have honey.

My other resolution is to not gain weight. I've lost 3 1/2 pounds since Christmas. I'm now 5'10" and 164 pounds, and want to lose a couple more pounds. I'm going through a particularly tough time in my life, and succeeding will be difficult, but I know I can do it. It just means that I can't turn to food for comfort, especially at night. I can do this.

Portobello Sub

I put a little olive oil in a frying pan, then added chopped onion, yellow and green pepper, and eggplant, followed by sliced portobello mushrooms. Then I added some tamari sauce and balsalmic vinaigrette, and sauteed a little longer. I poured the mixture into a sub roll, which I put in the oven at 400 degrees for ten minutes. Loved it.

Vegan Enough?

Is it enough to simply call yourself a vegan? Can others just not be vegan enough?

We don't eat meat, fish, egg, or dairy because factory farming is so cruel to the animals and to the earth. But what about honey -- do we care about the plight of the bees? And then there's white sugar, which doesn't contain animal products, but about 50% of the time we know that bone char was used to process it. And then, what about products that may have been processed in a plant that uses cow milk, that may have "traces of milk"? Do we shun these items too? Or how about the mono- and diglycerides? And then organic vs inorganic.

For full disclosure, I'll tell you what I do: I do not consume egg or dairy. Every so often, I'll eat something with honey in it, though I try to avoid it. I do have some regular sugar in my house, though I usually purchase organic sugar, and I regularly purchase and eat food with white sugar. And the "traces of milk" really doesn't bother me. I purchase organic produce when it is reasonably priced and available. My reason for being vegan is my abhorrence of factory farming -- I try not to get too caught up in the minutia, or I'll make myself crazy and the message is lost.

Also, I do not wear leather. This is a real pain because I wear a size 12 shoe, preferably in a narrow, and places like Mooshoes don't carry a lot of size 12s. I certainly don't wear fur (though when I was 10 I did own an alpaca fur jacket, but I had no idea back then). I don't buy merino wool any more since being educated by PETA's campaign of the cruelty of that industry. However, there are a few wool and silk items in my closet, but I now try to avoid buying these things.

When I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian, I used to absolutely freak out if I found out that there was chicken broth or gelatin in something that I ate. Now as a vegan, I realize how ubiquitous animal products are, and I do my best to avoid them. If I slip and find out something I ate wasn't totally vegan, I remind myself that I do more than most to eat a cruelty-free diet and I don't do it again.

My brother is a lacto-ovo and has been one since age 10 (he's now 27). He lives in LA and has the luxury of being able to eat in only (or mostly) vegetarian restaurants and will not go anywhere that serves veal or lobster. I wish I lived somewhere where I could do that.

Am I a real vegan? I'm not perfect, but I do my best. I commend anyone who realizes the cruelty of factory farming and the unnecessity of animal products in a human diet. Anyone who avoids beef, or chicken, or whatever -- more power to them, they're doing better than most.

So whatever you do, for the farm animals, for your health, and for the planet, keep doing it, and resolve to do more.

Pasta Primavera

Yup, the old vegan standard. I used a little leftover Tofurky Sausage. Yum!

Easy Indian Food

Patak's Rich Tomato and Onion Cooking Sauce goes well with just about any veggie combination. It was being sampled at Wegman's with ground beef, sweet potatoes, peas, and raisins. Here, I have peas, corn, eggplant, sweet potato, seitan, and yellow raisins, and I put it on a bed of plain couscous. I've also used tofu, which soaks up the flavor of the sauce very well.

Toasted Subs

I sauteed some onions, green and yellow peppers, and eggplant in canola oil, and then added some Tofurky sausage and Prego pasta sauce. Then I poured the mixture into a couple of sub buns, which I put in the oven at 400 degrees for ten minutes.

They came out good. The one on the right is with cheese; the one on the left is vegan.

Party Food!

I am going to a New Years party tonight. It is an hors d'oeuvres and dessert party. I am bringing a spinach dip from vegweb.com, some chopped veggies and whole wheat pita for dipping, and the chocolate chip cookie recipe that I made for last night's party. I really LOVE those cookies!

Here's a party etiquette question: When you attend a party at a non-vegan's home, what do you bring? Do you bring both an appetizer or main course and a dessert? When possible, I prefer to bring both, so that my host doesn't have to be overly concerned about what I will eat, I won't worry that I won't have anything to eat, and to show others that vegan food can be quite yummy. I have few vegan acquaintances, so this is always an issue for me.

These Chocolate Chip Cookies are SOOOOO Good!

FINALLY I have found a vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe that can rival any non-veg recipe. I got these off of Vegweb.com. I'm on my way to a Hanukkah party, and I am so excited to share these cookies.

Broccoli, orange peppers, and tofu in Spicy Orange Sauce

It's on the stove now. I can't wait to eat it.

I called General Mills about the 8th Continent. With their new formula, they are now using Vitamin D2, which is vegan. The representative said that if it say "Vitamin D" on the label, that it comes from an animal source, but "Vitamin D2" is not from an animal source.

Silk Chocolate

This evening, I'm enjoying some Silk Chocolate -- Vanilla Silk with Hershey's dark chocolate syrup.

Has anyone tried the new reformulated 8th Continent vanilla soymilk? Any thoughts???

Pat's Beans and Greens -- Vegan Style

I picked this recipe up at Wegman's. It includes chicken broth, poultry sausage, and cheese. I've substituted mushroom broth and Tofurky sausage, and of course omitted the cheese. For the sake of good health, I also substituted whole wheat penne pasta. It came out good, but in retrospect I would have used vegetable broth instead.

Cook 1/2 lb of whole wheat penne pasta and set aside. Sautee 4 crushed cloves of garlic and 2 chopped Tofurky sausages in 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Then add 3 cans of canellini beans and 24 oz of broth. Cook for 20 minutes, then add 1/2 bag of escarole and cook for 15 more minutes. Add the pasta, stir, and serve.

French Toast for Dinner!

Every get in one of those moods where you're tired out and all you want is comfort food?

I tried out the "Fabulous French Toast I" from How it all Vegan! by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer. I made half of the recipe, which was enough liquid for three bagel halves and two slices of bread. On the plate accompanying the french toast is some avocado (why not?), and on the side a sliced Granny Smith apple.

The french toast came out perfectly! While all I planned on was two bagel halves, I ended up eating the third. The two slices of bread will serve as lunch tomorrow with fruit.

I think I could make this recipe for my lacto-ovo veg family and they'd like it. Heck, I'll bet this could even tempt my girlie Stella across the pond.

I love Vegan Knitter's Christmas Feast. We have a few holiday parties coming up, and I just might bring her Shepherd Pie with me to one of them.

Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah!

Being the good Jew that I am, I'm working this weekend so that my Christian colleages can have the day off. Fortunately, good celebratory people are staying out of the hospital, but as they develop bloating and various gas and chest pains, I'm sure I'll be busier this evening.

I've been munching on leftovers and TV dinners, as hospital cafeterias are notoriously veg un-friendly. Some of my favorites are Amy's kitchen, from whom I've likely bought enough of their products over the years that I may have solely bankrolled little Amy's college fund. I love the non-dairy Veggie Pot Pie, the vegetable enchaladas, and their burritos. Ethnic Gourmet makes a terrific Pad Thai with Tofu.

Have a wonderful holiday, everyone, whatever you celebrate!

Portobello, sweet potatoes, and spinach in 30 minutes

Here's an easy meal to make from a sweet potato, frozen chopped spinach, and portobello mushroom caps. If you enjoy multitasking as I do, you'll be done in 30 minutes.


Portobello Mushroom:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Clean portobello caps and remove stems. Mix up a marinade with equal parts balsalmic vinaigrette, tamari sauce (sweet soy sauce), and olive oil. Brush the top of the portobellos and put in oven for 7 minutes. Then turn the mushrooms over, marinate the bottoms, and cook for 7 minutes more.

Spinach:
Add some oil (I used sesame oil in honor of my friend Lisa :) to a large pan and some mustard seeds and cook on medium heat. When the mustard seeds are popping, add frozen spinach and some vegan margarine (I like Earth Balance Buttery Spread). Then add salt and spices of your choosing -- I like cumin, coriander, basil, turmeric, oregano, pepper, and chili powder. You can also add some chopped tomato or tomato sauce, or even chunks of tofu. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 7-10 minutes.

Sweet potatoes:
Fill a medium pot of water and set to boil. Peel and chop a sweet potato into several small pieces so that it softens more rapidly. When done, drain potatoes, add Earth Balance and a little cinnamon sugar and mash the potatoes.

Tofurky Sandwich

Tomorrow's lunch: Whole wheat bread with Tofurky slices with avocado and Vegenaise. Vegenaise is a mayonnaise dressing without eggs, and it's quite good. I'll add a couple clementines and two Newman-O's.

So far, there's a lot of "fake meat" meals. I don't usually use this much of it, and like to incorporate tofu and seitan into meals as protein sources.

Site traffic -- I love it!!!

Hey... welcome to my blog!!!!

Today I had some leftovers from earlier in the week, so I have no recipes to share today.

Remember, the number one killer of women... not cancer, but HEART DISEASE. A vegan diet full of fruits, veggies, soy, and whole grains goes a long way to reduce your risk of dying of a heart attack.

Stir Fry with Veggie Steak Strips

My favorite kitchen toy is my wok. It makes stir fries come out terrific. I made veggies and Morningstar Farms Steak Strips with sesame garlic sauce. It took fifteen minutes flat.

Boil some water and add the broccoli. Boil the broccoli for four minutes to blanch. Drain. While the broccoli is blanching, heat some canola oil in a wok. Add leeks or onions. Sautee for a few minutes. Then add chopped eggplant. Add in some sesame garlic sauce, then portobello mushrooms, and then the broccoli. Finally, add about half a bag of Steak Strips. Cook for 3 minutes more. Mmmm yummy!

Oh, and the Chocolate Chip Cookies that I recommended from Sinfully Vegan... I take that back. My original batch replaced half of the maple syrup with organic white sugar and the cookies came out much better.

Patty Pan Squash with Carrot Stuff

Lunch at work today. This Patty Pan Squash with Leeks is about the easiest thing in the world to make. Take some Basting Oil and smear it on the bottom of a pan. Then add the leeks and patty pan squash -- for that matter you could add just about any other veggie or tofu -- and pour a little more oil on the top. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Accompanying it is some leftover Carrot Stuff from last night and a couple of home-baked chocolate chip cookies. The cookies are from the book Sinfully Vegan and are the easiest chocolate chip cookie recipe ever! They consist of barley flour (sounds weird, I know, but it works!), canola oil, semi-sweet chocolate chips, vanilla, and maple syrup.

Have a good one... and if you know of a good Hanukkah gift for a 90 year-old grandmother, drop me a line!

Inspired for a New Purpose

I have finally figured out what to do with my blog......

Lots of people wonder what I eat as a vegan. I am a huge fan of the Vegan Lunchbox blog. Jennifer and Shmoo have inspired me to show what I eat. But, I come from it at a different angle.

I'm not a homemaker, I'm not a chef, and I'm not publishing a cookbook. I am a 30 year-old vegan cardiologist-in-training with a full-time job living alone and cooking for myself. I cook dinner for myself at home every night. The leftovers often become part of lunch the following day.

Above is tonight's dinner. It's a Gardenburger Meatless Riblet with some of what I like to call Carrot Stuff (based loosely on a recipe from Lorna Sass's The New Vegan Cookbook). I take about 10 oz of a sweet mayan onion, slice it, and sautee it for about 15 minutes in 3 tablespoons of canola oil. Then I add 1 cup of vegetable broth, 1 can of drained chick peas, and salt and pepper, and simmer for another 15 minutes. While that is cooking, I put 12 oz of carrots in water, microwave for 12 minutes, and drain. Then I pour the onion/broth/chick pea mixture into a food processor with the carrots and blend until smooth.

Carrot Stuff is relatively easy to prepare and refrigerates or freezes quite well, so it will be a good side dish for lunch tomorrow.

Vegan Cardiologist

I'm the only vegan cardiologist that I know of. That gives me the opportunity to talk to the local Ornish group. The Ornish Lifestyle Program is a program to reverse coronary disease, including a low-fat vegetarian diet, exercise, meditation, and group support. I get to talk to them in February, which is the American Heart Association's Women and Heart Disease awareness month.

I'm on fire!

Just got back from master swimming. It went very well. I've been swimming with them once a week for two months, and I really feel like I'm getting more efficient and a bit faster. It's a great feeling.

I love elective time... it gives me the chance to sleep in. Tomorrow I don't have to be in until noon and on Friday until 10 am.

Today with all my elective spare time, I put together my new CycleOps Magneto trainer. Now I can ride my bike inside!

My New Starbucks Habit

Tonight I decided to get out of the house so that I could get some actual studying done. Boards are coming up in November and I need to cram some knowledge into my head. So, headed to the local Starbucks and got a soy hot chocolate... mmm yummy. Itself, it's not worth the $3.24, but in a setting where I can't surf the internet, read blogs, turn on the tv, stuff my face with extra calories, etc. etc. etc. it was well worth it.

J Crew is ok now

Thanks to PETA, JCrew has agreed to stop selling fur. I'm so glad to hear that, because I really like their clothes and didn't want to have to boycott them forever. So my Boycott JCrew banner is gone.

I'm getting over a bit of an upper respiratory infection. I never get sick -- really -- and then I get sick twice in the course of one month. That just pissed me off.