Shepherd’s Pie – vegan style

February 23, 2010

I had to share this marvelous recipe that my creative vegan friend came up with.  I’ve made this twice for my family and each time they’ve gone back for seconds and even thirds.   Click for the complete recipe:  Vegan Shepherd’s Pie.

the "meat" replacement includes a variety of delicious vegetables. Carrots, parsnips, celery and onion are a hearty combo!

Boil the potatoes as you would for any mashed variety

the potato topping is great with a unique flavor from using dijon mustard and chipotle spice.

hot out of the oven, let it cool a bit before you cut/plate.

I served the pie with a nice green salad.

 

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Posted by Keeprunningirl

big burrito vegan style

February 2, 2010

I wanted to answer the question, “you’re vegan, what do you eat?”  and “aren’t you hungry?” with an example.   A vegan diet does require creativity sometimes.  And as I’ve mentioned, if you want something good, sometimes you just have to make it yourself.  But being vegan is not about deprivation – food is good, it’s healthy and it is filling.  It can be very simple.  With that in mind, I made super healthy, easy and hearty burritos for my family tonight: 

fresh ingredients

ingredients:

  • Kashi 7 Whole Grain Pilaf
  •  1 package of corn (canned or frozen)
  • 2 cans of organic vegetarian black beans
  • West Soy Seitan – 1 package
  • a handful of chopped cilantro
  • a couple of cloves of garlic
  • a teaspoon or so of chipotle spice (to taste)
  •  a tablespoon of olive oil 
  •  ¼ of a packet of vegan taco seasoning
  • giant tortillas
  • vegan gourmet cheese substitute (cheddar flavor). 

 Optional: salsa, avocado, vegan sour cream – any other stuff you want to stuff into this burrito. 

again, you can add anything to this - onion, mushroom... peppers

Cook the Kashi Pilaf as per instructions.  Heat the oil, cook up the minced garlic.  Add the chopped seitan and about a teaspoon of chipotle spice and heat the combo for about 5 minutes.  Add the black beans, corn and pilaf.  Add about ¼ cup of water and the taco seasoning.  Once it’s all simmering, throw the cilantro into the mix.

I like a little fresh salsa, the vegan cheese adds a gooey texture

 Assemble your burrito and wrap it up.   

yum

eldest son's second vegan burrito

This meal is a hit with my entire family.  My eldest child gobbled one down, asked for another … this is what we eat – we are not hungry.

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Posted by Keeprunningirl

January running and veg-evangelism

January 22, 2010

While I am kind of just running right now with no near term race goal, my running strategy loosely follows a typical training plan for a half marathon – about 4 days of running including a long weekend run of 8-12 miles, an interval run and a couple of tempo/easy runs.  I don’t have a race scheduled but I am sure I will find something that I want to run soon – at least I will be ready for anything up to a half marathon distance, right?  I am relatively injury – free (knock on wood) with the exception of some pain in my hip – particularly on downhills.  I’ve logged about 30 miles on my new pink kicks that I got just last week

The Seattle Rock n’ Roll Marathon is on June 26, 2010 and I’ve been debating the full vs. the half.  I ran the half marathon last year. This debate is a blog post in and of itself…

 

 (concerns: several out and backs and hills in the 2nd half)

 On the food front, veganism gets easier and easier especially with articles like these popping up in the news regularly: 

I do have to remind myself that there is a fine line between being a vegan and an activist.  I think many veg/vegans want to share what they learn about the meat industry, the factory farming abuses, the health issues, the humanity issues etc.. etc… easily becoming an activist or vegevangelist as I’ve come to identify myself on occasion.    But many people simple don’t want to know: “don’t tell me,  “I don’t want to know…”   And on some level, I guess I can relate to the sentiment.  After all, didn’t I run around as a cheese loving vegetarian for the last 20 years – living happily in the dark about the realities of the quality and health risks of milk/dairy and horrific abuses of dairy cows and their little babies? 

 It’s hard, however, to “not know” these days.  The media reports, bloggers like Erik Marcus with his popular and informative blog: http://www.vegan.com/,  best selling books like Jonathan Safran Foer’s  “Eating Animals” all report the realities of the meat, dairy and egg industries and all through mainstream media outlets.   These are the pros, the people I will quote or point to their links for all things vegan…. and that will be the extent of my vege- evangelism.  Unless of course, you do want to know – then I would love to share thoughts, ideas, concerns and recipes!

To be honest, evangelism in general has never been a favorite thing of mine and despite my passionate views on animal factory farming methods, if you dont’ want to know, then you don’t want to know and it makes me uncomfortable to be the one that others might point at and whisper “why that sanctimonious vegan __________!”    

 

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Posted by Keeprunningirl

the end of a love affair (with cheese)

December 21, 2009

vegan-pyramid-1024x768Not too long ago, I light heartedly mentioned that I follow a vegetarian diet.  For over 20 years now, I have chosen to follow a diet that excludes meat but includes dairy and eggs.  It was easy.  I was happy.  Then I went to the bookstore and stocked up on some new reading material.  It began with Born To Run, a great book about the incredible super athlete, ultra running Tarahumara Indians.   I found it interesting that this tribe follows a primarily vegetarian diet and was even more intrigued by ultra-runner Scott Jurek who adopted a vegan lifestyle in the late 1990s and proceeded to win the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run seven consecutive times.  But it wasn’t until I read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer that I even contemplated personally adopting a vegan diet.  I simply love(d) cheese.

My initial thought after completing Foer’s book was to seek out local, natural and more organic sources of dairy and eggs.  To that end, there are several options for eggs in particular that eliminate the concerns of consuming factory farmed products.   For example, Nest Fresh provides consumers with certified humane, organic eggs that are readily available in my area.   Dairy proved to be a bit more of a dilemma for me.  I had to acknowledge some of the harsher byproducts of the dairy industry – namely the baby calves.  As a dairy consumer, I am taking the milk (and milk product) that is naturally intended for the calves.  I am quite unsettled by what happens to these calves.  The logical argument is that these animals are created to provide food for humans.  I understand that argument – but it’s an issue that I find difficult to resolve personally.   

I also found out that many of the cheeses that I have so loved over the years are processed with an enzyme called rennet.  sigh.  Rennet is an animal enzyme that comes from the stomach of a baby calf.  Fortunately for lacto-vegetarians, there are many rennet-free cheeses that are available at most grocery stores.  I didn’t even know I needed to check for rennet – hell, I didn’t even know what rennet was!  This may be the end of my love affair with cheese… even though I know it will be hard to make a clean break.    As a vegetarian for health and ethical reasons, I am facing the fact that my egg and dairy habits are contributing to industries that treat animals as cruelly as any meat production facility.   

For myself, I am ready to try a a well intentioned vegan diet.  It’s going to be hard to break up with cheese for good.  For my family, I am fortunate to be able to purchase certified humane eggs and organic, rennet free cheese for my children, – I know that not everyone has these options.

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Posted by Keeprunningirl