Avocado chocolate pudding

It sounds weird, but it's actually quite good. This treat consists of only three ingredients:

One avocado (very ripe works best)
1 tablespoon dark chocolate/cocoa powder (Dutch chocolate is awesome)
Agave or maple syrup - about 1/4 cup (haven't tried honey, but it might work - agave is really good and is available in almost any health food store - I've also seen it at some regular grocery stores too)

Mash everything together in a bowl with a fork until no green is showing - it will look like icing or mousse and tastes yummy!

Pancake recipe

This is easy and better than the pre-mixed packaged stuff:

1 1/2 cups of flour (spelt flour is good if there is a wheat or gluten allergy)
1/2 cup raw sugar or other sweetener (agave syrop, maple syrop or honey)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/4 cups milk (soy, almond, rice, hemp or your regular dairy milk - if you're not avoiding dairy)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla flavouring

Mix together the following ingredients:
flour, sugar (or sweetener), baking powder and spices - i.e. add cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. (also good to add: flax seeds, hemp seeds, nuts or chocolate chips)

Mix in a food processor or blender:
milk, olive oil, vanilla (add pumpkin pureed if making pumpkin pie pancakes, and add cinnamon and all spice to the first bowl too)

Combine both groups of ingredients and heat up the frying pan with some oil to cook the batter. Heat the oven to 200 degrees to keep the pancakes warm

Also good to add:
Raspberries, blueberries, apple pieces (good with cinnamon), strawberries

Week two on the vegan journey

Things are going quite well so far. Week two is done and there has been no meat consumption except when I asked for a veggie hotdog and the vendor gave me a beef one. I would've tried returning it if we weren't busy hunting for a taxi to get home from a party. One minor oops - but I am right back on track again.

Eggs. I love them, and I can't deny it! I eat them at least three times a week. They are really good with toast, with spinach or in an omellette. This will be a hard one to give up, so I'm not going to just yet. Egg replacements in recipes for desserts are no problem - as the taste of egg is not really an issue here. Tofu scramble recipe - now there's something I would like to try soon and will post the outcome on here when I do.

Cream in the coffee. The soy milk coffee "cream" just doesn't cut it - not that I don't dislike soy or soy milk - it just doesn't work as a creamer. Try a mocha latte or chai drink with soy milk - it is actually quite good, but not as a cream replacement in a regular cup of java. Those coffee whiteners are not an option either, because they are full of chemicals and I think that stuff is actually flammable (scary thought, if that's accurate..)

Those two items are going to be the biggest hurdles. Dining out, while this is done on a strict budget and not done as often, is going to be interesting for finding vegan items. There are some amazing vegetarian eateries around the city. Chinatown has great choices - from black bean and chili braised eggplant to curried tofu. Miso soup and california rolls. Pizza and pasta - with or without cheese? The vegan version of pizza is good, depending on the toppings. I will be experimenting with pasta at some point and see where that goes...

Stay tuned for recipes :)

Recipe sites I found

Here's some great websites I have come across in trying new recipes:

Post Punk Kitchen: http://theppk.com

http://vegweb.com

http://busy-vegan.com

I'm working on some ideas of my own and will post these soon...

One week!

It's been almost one week and I have managed to avoid all meat - not just red meat. Now it's time to move on to step #2: Vegetarian. Eggs and dairy still ok at this point, but I'm looking for alternatives. Here's what I had this week:

Avocado salsa and spicy hummus - both homemade and consumed with tortilla chips
Homemade pasta sauce (slow stewed tomatoes for hours) with spaghetti
Potato, leek and carrot soup - I made it into "cream" soup by blending it
Falafels
Grain salad with lentils
Curried tofu
Oatmeal with apples and cinnamon
Lots of fruit - apples, plums and pears
Sweet potato fries (made spicy)
Apple pie and pumpkin pie with rice milk ice cream, topped with cinnamon and maple syrup

I also enjoyed an amazing veggie burger. It tasted so much like beef, I initially thought they made a mistake...but it was tofu. Very tasty!

If you have any recipes you would like me to post, or any suggestions of your own, please post your requests/ideas!

Recipes coming soon! There will be pictures too :)

The first of many vegan desserts

Here's an idea for dessert, especially around the holidays or when you have guests: apple pie or apple crisp (or any vegan apple treat) topped with rice or soy milk ice cream, sprinkled with cinnamon and maple syrup. If you don't have maple syrup, agave works well too.

Soup stock recipe

Great for all soups:

1. Fill a large soup pot with 8 to 10 cups of water

2. Add the following: 4-5 medium onions cut into quarters with the steps removed (include the skins, as they have tons of nutrients), 2 bay leaves, 1-2 tablespoons of peppercorns, soy sauce, sea salt, celery (3 or 4 stalks), 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, 4-5 cloves of garlic and any spices and herbs you like (dill, basil, oregano, parsley...)

3. Bring everything to a boil on medium heat, and add any veggie peelings, leftover potatoes, lettuce and/or spinach leaves, etc. I usually bring to a boil and let it cook for 1 and a half to two hours on low-medium heat.

4. When this is cooked, drain the stock from the cooked veggies. The veggies can be used for whatever else you like or the compost. The stock can be enriched further with miso paste (a great fermented soy bean soup base - the best kind is found in natural food stores, as regular grocery stores tend to have only the kind with MSG). You can also add other veggie soups or sauces in your cupboard, if you want a particular flavour - I've added squash soup or throw in a few roasted peppers, cook a little longer, and this will strengthen the flavour more. It really depends on what type of soup you're using the stock for. Last night, I made this stock, then added 5-6 potatoes (peeled, chopped) and three huge stalks of leek, cooked for just over an hour, added more spices and after everything cooled, I blended it in batches. The kids loved it! Cream soup without the dairy = pureed potatoes, or add a non-dairy milk (such as a unflavoured soy or rice milk).

There will be more recipes on here soon :)

The first weekend

This is the first weekend on my road to veganism and so far so good! Officially, I am off all red meat, and although poultry, fish, eggs and dairy are still on the menu, I have managed to avoid all of these except for one egg (to make pancakes, and I used soy milk instead of dairy) and the cream in my coffee. That's it. When we had family over to visit on Saturday, it was pizza - one veggie and one with pepperoni - oh yeah, I forgot to mention the cheese on the pizza. Ok, now that's all...

One egg, cream in the coffee and cheese on the pizza. No meat at all.

So, what did I eat in place of chicken or fish? I had curried tofu with egg plant on black bean sauce and rice. Delicious! There was some consumption of chocolate, licorice and marzipan (the best dessert made with almonds ever). Having company is a great excuse to have treats.

The plan tonight is cream of leek and potato soup. I will be making the soup stock from scratch using lots of veggies and spices - the recipe will be posted on here later. Enough soup to last for the week, or at least half the week (the whole family really likes this one). The reason for making the soup (and stock) from scratch: avoidance of monosodium glucamate. That stuff is horrendous....and it's in almost everything you buy pre-packaged at the grocery store. With the exception of natural food and health stores, try this little exercise when grocery shopping: look for a can of soup that does not contain MSG - and good luck finding one! I have found this to be nearly impossible, unless there is a natural food area in the store. I'm one of those people that reads labels and ingredients on everything, so grocery shopping with me takes at least an hour - if only for one basket of goods.

The plan is off to a great start!

For starters

Today I went grocery shopping, and look at what I found: tofu turkey, soy ice cream, vegetarian pate, rice crackers, miso soup and loads of veggies! We are off to a good start.

So, in case you're thinking, am I going to impose this change in diet on my partner and the kids? No, I won't do that. They will, however, be subjected to taste tests and fridge-hogging of various meat-free alternatives and soy food. Don't worry guys, I'll leave space for your stuff.

This weekend's challenge: pizza with visiting family. Since I'm now in the no-more-red-meat phase, there will be no pepperoni, ham or bacon toppings on my half. Chicken and cheese - still ok...for now. I'm having ideas already - potato and leek soup, spinach salad with pecans and raspberry vinaigrette. Let's see how this goes.

The Journey begins...

Welcome to my very first blog! This is the start of a journey on which I will drastically change my diet from that of a carnivore to a vegan. Today, I eat meat...tomorrow, it's tofu time!! Well...not quite that fast...

Becoming vegan is not an overnight achievement. It will require research, planning, hunting for recipes/meat and dairy replacements, and many other challenges. The goal is to be completely vegan by January 1, 2011 when I will no longer consume any animal products or by-products. The goal, is to continue this for one full year - until December 31, 2011, and maybe beyond...

Many people become vegan or vegetarian for different reasons - ethical, dietary, health-related or a combination of these. I have always felt strongly for the humane and ethical treatment of animals - even for those of us who consume meat or diary, it has always been my preference that these animals be raised and treated the best possible, even if they inevitably end up on a dinner plate.

In some climates, hunting is the only way to survive as vegetation and farming are not available; greenhouses and the transportation of goods to these remote areas is costly and not affordable for the average person. To be a vegan and live in Nunavut, now that would be a serious challenge!

Living in the downtown of a major city, raising three kids, balancing life's challenges, activities - as well as the budget - is always a huge challenge. Finding healthy, organic food = very expensive. The availability and demand is here, and so the price is often high, but this will be part of the goal - to meet the challenge of going vegan on a reasonable budget. I try to buy organic when it's affordable, but that can't always be done - sometimes it's the plain tofu from Chinatown, or the gourmet smoked organic variety from the St. Lawrence Market.

As I discover new ideas, recipes, inventing or re-inventing recipes - I will post them here. The road to veganism will be done in stages, by process of elimination, until the new year. If I make a change, move up a step in the plan or try something new, I will post it here. Even if I cheat - oops - I will admit it. There are many vegan-friendly places around the city, but then there are the cheese shops, sushi bars, delis and gourmet burger shops.

Today I start with one step: no more red meat! That means no more steak dinners, no more beef burgers or meaty pasta sauce. It's soy ground round instead! I can do this...I can do this...

For every meat there is a meat replacement!