photo by pierrestephanie

Let me start by saying I completely respect the hardcore raw foodists out there like Karen Knowler, Any Phyo, and Jenna Norwood. I learned a LOT about raw food through them. And they’re certainly getting much more bang for their buck as far as nutrition goes.

A couple of years ago, I went raw for 46 days (check my “going raw” posts to read all about it). I thought it would be a great way to naturally cleanse my body, drop a few pounds, and maybe inspire me to stick with raw food permanently. I even got a colonic at the end of my raw fooding and was told that my system was pretty darn clean already. Great news!

So what were the downfalls?

One drawback is not being able to go out with friends. I have enough difficulty finding vegan things to eat at certain restaurants without adding the raw aspect. It can be a real hindrance to one’s social life, especially if none of your friends are raw (or even vegan). It may sound silly but it’s true.

Another major drawback is winter. In my holistic health class, I learned a few things about Ayurveda that made a lot of sense to me: based on our constitutions (biological fingerprints) some people are more sensitive to cold and are encouraged to eat rich warm foods and spices, take warm vacations, and just try to stay warm in order to stay healthy, remove stress, and keep their bodies in balance. An off-balance body is highly vulnerable to stress and illness. I am extremely sensitive to cold. And when winter rolls around, I’m absolutely frigid. I need my hot coffee or tea in the morning (along with my hot shower) to raise my body temperature.  And when I go outside, it takes me a long time to recover from the experience. You’ll see me constantly wearing thick scarves and hats, even indoors. I like to feel snuggly. So when I eat, I want my food to be hot. I need the hot soups, potatoes, rice, and beans etc.

Here’s a 1.5 hour lecture on Ayurvedic medicine if you’re interested. I found it educational. But I was also required to watch it for class.

When I decided to challenge myself to go raw, it was winter time, which was a bad choice on my part. Even though I could tell I was cleansing myself and that part felt good, I was so cold all the time. Not just physically, but also emotionally. No amount of blankets or hot showers would suffice. Because as soon as I ate something, and it was cold, I felt cold again and that part made me feel miserable.

It’s hard to be happy when you’re cold all the time.

I tried warming things without destroying any enzymes, but it wasn’t warm enough. And now that I’m back in the Midwest, experiencing the brutally cold Minnesota winters, I can’t even fathom going raw. When I’m walking to class in subzero temperatures, eating a cold vegetable is not high on my list.

I’m not saying I’m swearing off raw food completely or anything. Not at all. I just choose not to be 100% raw. Or to put any percentage on it, like many raw foodies do. Instead, I’ll just try to find balance and adjust my foods to coordinate with the seasons. In spring and summer, I can make salads, fresh fruit smoothies, and green drinks galore, and pick up my goodies at the farmer’s market. And I can go to Ecopolitan, a totally awesome all-raw restaurant here in Minneapolis.

But in fall and winter, I’m sticking with the steamed veggies, the baked potatoes, squash, beans, hot soups, rice dishes, oatmeal, hot coffees and teas. I think if I had a chance at ever going raw permanently, I’d have to live some place that’s warm year-round. And even then, I think I’d miss my coffee too much to give it up completely.

In my Sensation & Perception class, we’ve been discussing pain perception. My professor mentioned an article in the New York Times about factory farms, called “Not Grass-Fed, but at least Pain-Free” which brings up this issue: “because the amount of red meat that Americans eat per capita has held steady at more than 100 pounds a year as the population has increased, more animals than ever suffer from injuries and stress on factory farms.”

So, is there a solution?? (Other than the obvious– avoiding animal products)

photo by Xosé Castro

Here’s where it gets highly controversial. It’s the concept of reducing animal discomfort with neuroscience. “Recent advances suggest it may soon be possible to genetically engineer livestock so that they suffer much less.” There are essentially two types of pain perception: there is the pain itself (the quality and intensity) and there is the emotion that goes along with the pain (the unpleasant feeling associated with the pain). So, the animals can feel pain without… getting upset about it. Apparently morphine works this way.

And of course, to study all of this, they had to torture animals in the lab, which is yet another controversial issue. “Neuroscientists have found that by damaging a laboratory rat’s anterior cingulate cortex, or by injecting the rat with morphine, they can likewise block its affective perception of pain. The rat reacts to a heated cage floor by withdrawing its paws, but it doesn’t bother avoiding the places in its cage where it has learned the floor is likely to be heated up.”

The goal is to “genetically engineer” factory farm animals in such a way that their anterior cingulate cortex no longer operates properly. Thus, they will not “feel” the pain they are experiencing.

I understand the good intentions that are coming into play here, but honestly the whole thing makes me sick. I can just see the slaughterhouse workers using this as the perfect excuse to mutilate and torture the animals even more. Like a sadistic science experiment. I’d rather continue to promote cutting meat out of people’s diets, and free range and humane treatment of farm animals. But I know that’s no quick fix and millions of animals continue to suffer. What do you think? I’m also curious to know where PETA stands on this. I encourage you to read the short article, and share your opinion.

Ok, here comes my shameless big company promo. And if you worked with me at Caribou, cover your eyes. I have canoodled with the enemy: Starbucks. It all started because the Starbucks on campus happens to be an ideal location to study between classes. I like quiet libraries, too, but I’m very comfortable studying in busy coffee shops. Especially when I’m wearing headphones, which I generally do when I study. It suddenly dawned on me that Starbucks soy latte’s are way better than any other latte–they must use sweetened soymilk. AND are much cheaper, believe it or not, than the soy lattes sold at the coffee shop in the library where I study.

And they’ve won me over, yet again! On a whim, I decided to try their Green Tea Latte, with soymilk of course. And, oh my word, if that didn’t help me survive finals. It’s addictingly pleasurable. I must warn you, though, it is sweet. And it’s got some caloric density to it. So, if you’re a black coffee kind of person (I go back and forth), this might not be your cup of tea. Oh, and don’t be alarmed. The drink is very green. The green tea they use is actually a powder. It’s a matcha green tea with honeydew.

If you’d rather not spend oodles of your hard earned dollars on a single drink (I was lucky enough to get a gift card from my dear mother), you can buy the concentrate and make your own at home at a much more reasonable price.

Ingredients: An infusion of (water, matcha and other green teas), organic cane sugar, honeydew juice concentrate, natural fruit flavors, gum, Arabic, xanthan gum, guar gum and citric acid.

I tend to prefer avoiding restaurants on Valentine’s Day. Making a meal with your love is more intimate, less commercialized, and less chaotic. And neither one of us is very good at planning ahead, so we’d likely be the poor souls waiting 2 hours to get a table.

So, for tonight’s menu, we’re referencing The Complete Vegan Kitchen

For the entrée: Pad Thai (p.198)

I love Pad Thai and it’s been a long time since I had any really good Pad Thai, so why not make it ourselves? It’s a little more elaborate than most recipes I post, but since I had a helper, I had less chances to screw it up. I have a tendency to skim instructions and leave out important parts. Our result: I think there were far too many noodles for the amount of sauce. It was pretty bland, so we had to keep adding things to make it taste better. I would either half the amount of noodles in this recipe or double the sauce.

Ingredients:

• 8 oz wide, flat rice noodles
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons ketchup or chili sauce
• 1 tsp Sriracha sauce
• 2 tsp oil
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
• 3 green onions,  cut on the diagonal into 3/8 inch lengths
• 1/2 C snowpeas, cut into matchsticks
• 4 oz firm tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1/4 jicama, cut into matchsticks (optional)
• 1/4 C chopped peanuts
• 1/4 C sunflower or mung beans sprouts
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon chopped Thai basil

Bring 3 quarts water to a boil in a large pot. When the water boils, turn the heat off and add the noodles. Let the noodles soak in the water until they are barely tender, about 15 minutes. Drain the noodles in a Colander and rinse with cold water. Reserve.

In a small bowl, combine the lime juice, soy sauce, ketchup, sriracha, and 2 tablespoons of water.

Heat the oil in a wide skillet or wok over medium heat and sauté the garlic and ginger for 30 seconds. Add the carrot and green onions. Sauté for another 1-2 minutes, until the carrot is just barely crisp-tender. Add the snow peas, tofu, jicama, and stir briefly. Add the lime juice mixture and stir to coat the tofu and vegetables, being careful not to break the tofu up too much.

Add the noodles and toss or stir until they are fully cooked and heated through, about 2 minutes. Garnish with chopped peanuts, sprouts, cilantro, and basil.

Makes 4 servings.

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For dessert: Vanilla Pudding (p.304)
note: prepare well before you plan to eat it. It needs to refrigerate for several hours.

I thought we’d go for a simpler dessert, since we already had our work cut out for us with the entrée. And vanilla pudding is delicious. Mmmm.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 C sugar
• 2.5 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 C creamy soymilk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons vegan margarine (optional)

In a heavy-bottomed, medium saucepan, mix the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Whisk in the soymilk slowly so no lumps form. Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it begins to thicken. Lower the heat and continue cooking for another minute or until it is fairly thick. Add the vanilla extract and margarine.

Pour the pudding into a bowl or 4 individual cups. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap so that it touches the surface of the pudding (this will prevent the formation of a tough skin). Refrigerate the pudding for several hours.

Makes 4 servings.

Oh, The Onion, you never disappoint.

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As I’ve mentioned in the past, I totally love Offbeat Bride. It’s such a great means for alternative wedding inspiration. Several months ago, I submitted our wedding to their site. Given how popular the site is, I thought our chances of being featured were pretty slim. But a few days ago, the managing editor contacted me to let me know our profile would be posted this week! And it’s up, as of this morning!!

Check it out!!

It’s very exciting to be recognized on such a great site, and I hope our vegan wedding will be an inspiration to others.

UPDATE: We’re also featured on a totally awesome site called Hi-Fi Weddings. Look here: http://hifiweddings.com/?p=462

If you think Nutella is totally awesome, but are bummed that it contains skim milk and whey, you’ll be happy to know there is an item on the market that tastes like Nutella and is dairy free! Archer Farms makes an all natural Creamy Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Spread. It can be found at Target. It’s great with bread (or with a spoon). Archer Farms, which makes some other delicious products like fruit strips and fruit bars.

The ingredients are: roasted peanuts, sugar (though I do not know how it was processed), cocoa liquor, molasses, and pure vanilla.

For people who like to keep a pretty healthy household, but fall victim to chocolate cravings, like myself, this is a great item to keep on hand.

I finally got around to watching this HBO series everyone’s taking about. And I LOVE it!! True Blood is a fantastic show. It’s well written, has amazing actors, and keeps you on your toes. I cannot wait for the 3rd season to start up this summer. I’m fascinated by how quickly and intensely this show consumed my brain. My husband is delighted and says I’m embracing my inner nerd. And he bought me the Sookie Stackhouse books to keep my occupied until the show starts back up. What a doll.

One aspect of the show I thought my fellow vegans would appreciate is Vampire Bill Compton’s preference for drinking synthetic bottled blood to draining humans. He’s like a vampire gone veg. You could say synthetic blood is comparable to a meat substitute. Way to go, Bill! And Bill is viewed as an abnormal vampire because he doesn’t like to harm humans for sustenance, just as vegans are seen as abnormal for not wanting to harm animals for sustenance. Can you see the parallels here?

And if you haven’t heard, there’s actually a Tru Blood drink on the market. Unfortunately, it’s not vegan. As much as I wanted it to be, I even missed some of the non-vegan ingredients the first time I checked it, like carmine coloring. So, yeah, not vegan

Ingredients:
Carbonated Water, Cane Sugar, Citric Acid, Natural Flavors, Potassium Citrate, Carmine Coloring, Potassium Sorbate, Sucralose, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Benzoate, Caffeine, Niacin (Vitamin B3), Caramel Coloring, Red 40, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin B6, Cyanocobalamin (Vitamin B12), Folic Acid, Gum Accacia, Ester Gum
Here’s a list of non-vegan ingredients I posted a while back.

But actually, I heard the “Tru Blood” liquid they drink on the show is more of a fruit puree, which Stephen Moyer (Bill) said is quite delicious. So, if you want to mimic the drink on the show, make yourself a fruit puree with cherries and strawberries and other fun red fruits. Or drink some pomegranate juice. Yum! Sounds way better than blood orange soda, anyway.

And check out the show! Season 1 is available on DVD now. And season 2 will be out on DVD on May 25th.