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.

This Town is Too Small

Way too small. I ran into one of my patients at my gym today.

"Dr. Lowenstein?" (not my real name)

I turn around. "Mr. Albertson!" (not his real name either)

"Good memory! How are you?"

And hence started our odd smalltalk. Of course I remember the guy -- 54 year-old who had a heart attack about one and a half years ago. I cared for him as a first year fellow on our CCU. He drinks too much, but otherwise is doing ok. Granted, at his last appointment 6 months ago I suggested he join this gym with the tongue-in-cheek caveat that "you might run into your cardiologist", I never really thought about what to say to a patient in the gym, or the grocery store, or anywhere else outside the office.

As I was leaving, I thought of what to say. "Good to see you. Keep up the hard work and have a great Thanksgiving," was going to be my line. But, I looked around for him and he was gone.

Nonetheless, it's good to see patients taking my advice and exercising.

Boycott JCrew

Many companies, including Banana Republic, J. Jill, the Gap, and H&M, do not sell fur. However, JCrew's clothing lines include fur, including fur from China, where there are no real laws regarding animal cruelty and the trade in dog and cat fur thrives. See JCruel.com for more details, and when shopping for gifts this holiday season, avoid JCrew.

Medical Licensure is a Pain

I have to apply for medical licensure in the state that I'll be in next year. What a nuisance -- they want a letter from every malpractice carrier I've ever had, verification from each of my training programs, a validation of my character, a new ID number, a verification of my profile from the AMA, and so on and so on....

What a nuisance.

Am on call again for the cath lab. Went into the hospital for something earlier in the evening... hoping not to have to go back until the morning.

Up All Night in the Cardiac Cath Lab

I think I spoke too soon in my last blog. I get into bed, get comfortable, fall asleep, and no less than an hour later, the pager goes off -- MI ALERT. That means someone is in the midst of a heart attack and we are emergently being called back to the Lab. I throw on scrubs, hop in my car, and speed the ten miles in my car to the hospital.

The case seemed to take forever. And when we were finally done sometime after 3 am, we were requested to emergently do a heart catheterization on a braindead person who would be an organ donor.

Slept at the hospital for 2 hours, woke up and did one more case. Fortunately the case went smoothly, and I went home shortly thereafter to sleep for the day.

Slept for much of the morning and early afternoon, woke up, and called to accept the fellowship position for next year. Then got a phone call from my future program director. Seems like a really good guy.

Got the Job!

Was surprised by a page this morning as I was finishing up a case in the Lab. It was the program that I interviewed at 10 days ago -- while they were planning to wait until January to offer spots, they really liked me and wanted to offer me a position!!!

Put me in a tough spot -- have one more interview 10 days from now, but they want to hear this week. I told them I'd get back to them. I think I'm going to take the position.

Yipppppeeeeeeeeee!

Am on call tonight -- home call, that is. Did one acute case in the Lab, will likely have to go back at some point to do another in the middle of the night. But, thanks to ACGME rules, if I get called in again, I can likely take off the afternoon tomorrow.

My hands are so gross! Whenever I'm in the Lab during the fall or winter, they get itchy, crack and bleed. Steroid cream and moisturizer help somewhat. It's not a latex allergy -- I've been tested for that.

Well goodnight... hopefully the Lab will not call me back and all my patients will stay healthy tonight.

Morningstar Farms Steak Strips and other Vegan Eating Adventures

mmmmm yummy!

Found them on my jaunt through the local health food store. Threw them in a wok with eggplant, broccoli, and a garlic sauce. Yum! The steak was a bit mushy since I didn't read the instructions that said to only cook it 3-4 minutes...oops!

Met 2 girlfriends for lunch. After an hour and a half Master Swim workout, I was super-hungry. I got a veggie-filled breakfast burrito with salsa and some home fries, only after my usual barrage of annoying vegan questions: Can you make that without the egg and cheese? Can you add more veggies? Is there any butter used to fry the burrito? What about the home fries that come with it -- any butter? Then after I saw the fruit of the day decided I had to eat that too. I was so full, and that was 3 hours ago, but I'm hungry again! Gotta feed the tapeworm.

Dinner will be sauteed sweet onions/shallots, a bit of canola oil, carrots, white beans, and veggie broth. I throw it in the food processor, and it looks nasty at first, but it is so yummy and full of protein and vitamins and is quite healthy.