Raw for Lent: Days 14-17

Tuesday, Day 14:

Got up and went to last day of class.  Skipped breakfast, I know, shame on me.  It was an awful icky day.  Stopped to pick up some layering tanks at old navy, then came home and made some "sushi" -- lightly food processed cauliflower "rice" with nori, cukes and avocado as well as some unpasteurized nama shoyu (which is, btw, so much saltier for some reason...probably because it was like, fizzy when I opened it).

I also tore into some of this mayan chocolate stuff that tastes kind of like coffee, it's very bitter.  Not awful but not my fav.  I had about 3 pieces before giving up.

I realized I had run out of savory sundries and still can't bring myself to just drink my protein like a good girl, so I ran out and bought some kale chips, "cheesecake" celery, kale and lettuce to snack on.

So, I ate the kale chips and this RAWesome raw cheesecake that is so delicious that it gets to live with Hail Merry in the world of "things I would eat all the time anyway" then passed out from being old.

Wednesday Day 15:

Hit the gym, this is 1/3 of the way there y'all!  Foodstuffs for the day include: honeydew melon, cashews, mango, sauer kraut.

Thursday Day 16:
Another morning of gym time, then some chocolate macaroons.  Dinner became a protein drink with 1 T maca, 2 T cacao, 4 scoops epic, 1 T hemp seed, 1 banana and 1 C raspberries.

Friday, Day 17:
Morning made an exact replica of last night's protein drink dinner. and took my midterm which was way harder than anticipated.  Snack was Kale Chips.  Passed out at 8pm.

I also wish there were an easier way to get photos up in this blog.

Raw for Lent: Days 13-14

Monday, Day 13:

Monday meant some more yoga, but I bailed. I ended up finishing the recording for the LAM! LAM! tour and getting my screens set up and considering paint color, then hit the gym. Food was...a banana. An apple. A noble attempt to eat more kale salad both before and after work, then a grapefruit and a handful of almonds for dinner/pre-bed snack.

Tuesday, Day 14:

Today was a barn day! Sadly, Shep, my trainer, doesn't think Jazz is ready to do lessons, so I rode Newman, my old love. Newman is still a totally awesome horse; just am totally amped on Jazz. Regardless of a little misbehavior (apparently, Newman has not been ridden again since I last rode him!) and silliness, he was a very good boy and listened well.

After riding, I decided to finally pull out my Sun Warrior and made a shake of almonds, water, chia gel and frozen strawberries, which I put in my bag for work and drank there. I forgot how congealed the Sun Warrior shakes tend to get. Or maybe it's the Chia doing it. Whatever, I choked it down but the shake wasn't as filling as I remembered said shakes being, so I ended up stopping at Whole Foods and picking up some new stuff. I got some more kale, zucchini, tomatoes, apples, a little guac and these "Brad's Raw" chips.

So reviewing the Brad's Raw Chips. I decided to go for the "cheddar" version because I wanted something to eat with guacamole and figured the nacho type chip would be the best for my needs. First thing, these chips are EXPENSIVE. Like, $8. Ouch. But, they are good. Some of them are better than others (like, in the same bag), because the slightly thicker ones, while sturdier, have that sort of chewy fruit leather texture as a opposed to the light crunch of the thinner ones. Overall, my impression was that they tasted like slightly spicy, healthy wheat thins. And ya know, that works for me. Hell, it's probably even worth the $8 splurge every so often, like tonight, when I just want something quick and easy and tasty. Or when I'm craving the bready crunch. Also, they supposedly give away free chips and prizes (HELLO I WOULD LIKE SOME FREE CHIPS THANKS!) if you join the mailing list or like them on facebook. So overall, I'd say the company is not totally evil and the product is good, but this is definitely a once-in-a-while indulgence because of the price, so stick to your sun warrior and apples and bananas if you are cheap like I am.

BUT that said, I did just totally splurge on a food dehydrator so I'm gonna make some kale chips and zucchini chips and maybe fruit leather yayyyy.

On another note, I don't often get into politics, but feel it is necessary to start to raise awareness for something that is a really important issue here in the state of North Carolina. The civil and human rights of people in same-sex partnerships in the state of North Carolina are currently under a huge threat. Amendment One proposes to make the same-sex marriage ban in North Carolina part of the state constitution.

Just to be clear, same sex marriage is ALREADY illegal in the state of North Carolina.

This bill would essentially lay the groundwork to invalidate existing same-sex arrangements like custody, estate settlements without wills, visitation rights at hospitals and prison and could even be used to overturn restraining orders or convictions based on "domestic violence."



If you would like to know more about the amendment from a fairly unbiased source, you can see the BallotPedia Page for Amendment One. If you would like to contribute or get involved, Protect All NC Families is an excellent organization doing fine work. The best thing you can do, though, is tell anyone you know in North Carolina about this upcoming issue.

Regardless of how you or your family feels about same-sex marriage, remember, it is ALREADY ILLEGAL in the state. This bill is not about banning gay marriage in NC, but is about the LEGAL marginalization of a minority group. Replace "gay" with any other minority group and you'll know how to vote. We are beyond this as a culture.

Raw for Lent: Day 18-22

Saturday, Day 18

Today was the bear day at work; got up and headed to work. Snacked on a raw organic bar on the way over, then had several students in a row cancel, so I made a salad at the Whole Foods salad bar, tossed some guac on it and chomped away.

After teaching, I headed to the restaurant job. I brought a Pure blueberry bar and a pint of kumquats. Note; it is very hard to eat a whole pint of kumquats in one sitting. The sourness eventually started to irritate my stomach a little I think.

Tried Kevita, which is like an off brand kombucha. It is weird. I got the mango coconut flavor and it tasted sort of thick and slimy. I wouldn't recommend it, even though it is cheaper than kombucha.

Made kelp lasagna with the sun dried tomato sauce and cashew cheese. Kelp noodles are disgusting. They have the texture of the crunchy bits in seaweed salad. Alternately, think severely undercooked spaghetti. They also have that weird "packaged in some kind of preservative juice" seaweed flavor (kind of like the shirataki noodles) that I really couldn't get past. I cut up half a cantaloupe instead and ate that. Waste of good sauce. :(

Sunday Day 19

First meal was cabbage and dip. I didn't have to work in the morning, so I busted open my chocolate flavored Sunwarrior protein. Sunwarrior is a raw vegan protein powder that had the best rating of all the ones I looked at, has a complete amino acid profile and packs 20g of protein into a shake, which is probably quadruples my protein intake for the day.

The shake I made was:
1 scoop protein

1 tsp spirulina

1/2 c blueberries

1 banana

1 c almond milk

It wasn't bad just a little too sweet. The visual aspect was very unappealing; kind of a greyish sludge with black speckles in it. I sucked it down over the course of a night's work, then had the other half of the cantaloupe and some kimchi.

Monday. Day 20

Cherry Pure bar for breakfast, then went to do the major shop; I'm sick of a bunch of food so I ran through Goneraw.com and my Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Raw for inspiration. Cukes are nowhere!!!! How the fuck can I make pickles?

Lunch was another protein shake:
1 scoop sunwarrior

1 c almond milk

1 c fresh blackberries

1 tsp spirulina

The shake was slightly better, and a slightly more purple hue.

While I spun the shake, I tossed together some guacamole and cut it down with peas. Sadly, I think I overused the peas, so it's a little too sweet. I ate it with crudite and Raw One flax crackers. They are pretty much exactly what I remember of raw crackers (crawkers!) which is to say satisfying, but sort of weirdly slimy from whatever they use to hold the cracker together. I also picked up a new type of Rhythm Chips; the bombay curry ones. Sadly, Whole Foods no longer had the other kinds. I missed the nachos :(

I also tossed together this green pea and almond dip recipe tonight. It was not really delicious. Maybe it would be better blended in vitamix, but here was just sort of minced and the consistency of quinoa or something. I quartered a red pepper and put the mixture into the quarters.

Tuesday, Day 21

Nearly halfway there!

This morning I got up, scarfed a banana and some coconut water then headed to the barn. I was able to jump Poncho, the little white pony on my own (outside of a lesson!) for the first time and even though the footing was lousy and I didn't know how much to do with him, we had a good time. Also took out Nissa, my old lady, who was also a good girl, although sort of lost it toward the end, which is fine. We were just hacking, so no real danger.

When I came home, I finally NAILED the protein shake!

1 scoop powder,

1/2 T spirulina,

1 mango

1 c chia gel

1 c almond milk

1 c blueberries

It actually tastes GOOD. Like jello pudding cups. Well, maybe not quite, but very similar. The Chia gives it a pudding quality I think. Tastes for real like chocolate pudding.

Wednesday, Day 22

For breakfast, had chia goodness with banana, a few blackberries and almond milk.

Made a shake:

1 scoop sunwarrior

1/2 T spirulina

1 c grapes

1 c almond milk

1 c chia

1 mango.

It was not bad. Filling enough and healthy feeling. We played a rock show with Turbo Fruits and Pujol (more information on that at the Pink Flag blog). Playing rock and roll without drinking is rough and stuff.

Had an apple, then came home and had a few cashews, then tried to eat a grapefruit and got tired halfway through so gave up and went to sleep.

Raw for Lent: Day 14-16

Tues, day 14:

I made raw granola, chia, banana and blueberry cereal for breakfast. I was gonna add almond milk, but it has separated and looks icky. The raw granola, btw, is tasty, especially after the chia gel softens it up.

Dinner at work was the leftover shake from day 12 and tomatoes.

Snack was cashews, pecan and grapes.

Weds, day 15:
I accidentally skipped breakfast, so ended up stealing blueberries from the kitchen for my breakfast. I definitely hadn't been eating enough because I kind of had that hunger headache feeling.

I hit up Whole Foods and picked up some guacamole and salsa to mix together (feeling so lazy) for snack. I peeled and chopped up some carrots and celery to eat with the guac, but also bought some kale chips (that were super expensive, but REALLY good) at whole foods by Rhythm Organic. I tried the "nacho" flavor because it had the most vitamin A but am excited to try the rest.

After teaching, I came home and spun together a new slightly tastier shake:1/2 cantaloupe
1 mango
1/2 c blueberries
1 c cabbage

12 oz coconut water
1 tsp spirulina powder

Drank half of it and had a pure apple cinnamon bar for dinner, went to quiz and lost it :(

It started pouring on the way home, so I sat in my car and listened to Room on tape until the rain let up, then I fixed myself the rest of the guac with some more carrots, celery, some cabbage and some cukes as well.

Day 16:
Got up this morning expecting my chia goodness to have arrived from amazon, but no dice yet. Instead, I tried my second "Pure" food bar: the "chocolate brownie" which actually tasted like a chocolate brownie; kind of like that Boston brand kind. It was trippy, but pretty tasty. I also chopped up a 1/4 cantaloupe, a banana, chia gel and raw granola for longevity.

I hit the post office and did some writing, then we had band practice, after which I whipped up a new batch of spinach dip and a new tub of cashew cheese (fermenting as we speak). After practice, I also noticed my Sun Warrior protein, chia goodness and kale noodles had arrived from amazon. I also went to drink some almond milk but it was all cheesy and curdled so I dumped it and set some almonds to soak for tomorrow's breakfast.

For dinner I made cabbage and cukes to eat with the spinach dip (which is really so much better after the onion has had a day to mellow out, but I'm hungry and sick of eating bar-food) and some passionfruit-grape juice and watching grey's anatomy because I totally without a doubt have a vagina.

In other news, I have now tried all of the Raw Revolution bars and actually kind of like their little bite sized awesomeness; theyre great for a little something sweet or a pick me up (and I feel like my supply is limitless). The best flavor by far is the chocolate coconut, which tastes kind of like a mounds bar. I still like the spirulina second best and all the rest are sort of whatever.

I have also been relying on the Raw Organic bars for snackeroos, which are okay but taste sort of like glue to me (I have the chocolate ones). Take what I say with a grain of salt; I don't really actually like chocolate. I only bought the chocolate ones because they were on sale and I'm cheap.

40 46 Days of Raw: Day 37

So I retried almond milk now that I got a nut milk bag and I can say with authority: NEVER MAKE ALMOND MILK WITHOUT A MILK BAG. It's ridiculous. Wonderful.

Not wanting to waste almond meal, I pulled together a quick recipe for raw cookies.

Raw Thumbprint Dough Cookies
~1 cup (the leftover from making almond milk) almond meal (still wet is ok!)
1 tsp maca powder
1 tsp raw cacao nibs
1 banana, mashed
1/2 tsp psyllium husk
1/2 c mulberries
8-10 raspberries
agave nectar/maple syrup/honey

Mash almond meal with banana, maca, and psillium. Add cacao nibs and mulberries, mix well, then form into balls. Press into small discs, place a dot of syrup on top to hold a raspberry in place (a little syrup on top too if you like) then enjoy! :)

I also made some chia gel with coconut water instead of regular water to make a sort of chia "jello." For lunch, I polished off the rest of my Go Raw granola with some almond milk and some white Chia. Obviously, I got a few fun things in the mail yesterday, one of which was chia. Chia is a south american seed, a big component in "chia goodness" and has a light, nutty flavor on its own and a tapioca-like consistency. I've been eating the Chia Goodness cereal, but also dropping chia seeds into other food. Aside from being very filling, it also has lots of soluble fiber, water (from the absorption) and beneficial fats. I also got some psyllium husk powder which I'm going to try and get into my body to promote that soluble fiber stuff. Lastly, I ordered some maca powder and cacao nibs.

Me and Mississippi played tennis on what was a beautiful day (intermittent winds, 78 degrees, sunny). Then I came home and planted some raspberry bushes. For dinner, I made raw spaghetti with sauce. I processed some sun dried tomatoes and walnuts into the sauce, but for some reason really wasn't feeling it, so I mixed up an alfalfa sprout, tomato and avocado salad with some balsamic vinaigrette and ate that.

I went to see Free Electric State and Veelee at Tir Na Nog in Raleigh. I have not seen either band since last year, and while both were good, I was straight blown away by Veelee's somewhat anthropological approach to music. From Ginger's drumming paraphernalia (maracas, noisemakers etc) to Matt's almost digeridoo pedaltones, to the wordless vocalizing that permeates so many of their songs. I can't really describe the music except that it is turquoise and entrancing.

Listened to some of our new tracks on the way home, discussed the new Ted Leo and Titus Andronicus. Ate a grapefruit, passed out. A good day.

40 46 Days of Raw: Day 36

So...it was an interesting day. As you all probably know, Wednesday is sort of my personal "hell day," in that I work 11 til about 3 at the Fed, then go directly to my first of seven lessons at the studio, then drive direct from Chapel Hill back to the dirty D for some pubquiz, my respite and joy for the day.

Restaurant job was good (and I made some decent scratch) but failed to pack any food besides a banana and was worried that I was going to have to wait until 8 to sneak into whole foods and grab something or worse, order a salad for dinner...but I had a cancellation and was saved. At whole foods, I picked up some kombucha, fruit salad, kimchi and a Raw Organic Food bar...the fiber one. Apparently, the chocolatey ones are only 80% raw (then why do you call yourself raw, food bar?), and the only one that is seemingly totally raw is this "generic" fiber food bar. It tastes like every power bar I've ever eaten in my entire life and that is to say: edible, but sort of disgusting. Kind of what I imagine soylent green would taste like. After I opened up the kimchi, someone made a comment that it "smelled like cabbage" in the studio, at which I giggled since I'm totally becoming creepy smelly food person as a raw foodie, more so than I ever was as a regular vegan...and as a regular vegan I was creeped out by most smelly foods that did not involve garlic (yes, that includes peanut butter, yes, peanut butter kind of creeps me out).

I ran home, packed some of my homebrew kimchi up for my friend Mississippi Steve and skeedaddled over to pubquiz. He and my buddy Rusty both enjoyed it, so again, kudos, Yummy Vegan Dinners, for posting an idiot proof recipe. While Steve and Rust ate the kimchi, our team totally ate it at pubquiz. We headed over to Whiskey for our friend Jay from Red Collar's birthday. One bar turned into another when we popped back to the fed for a very late dinner and lo and behold, there was John Edwards. Yes, the senator who cheated on his cancer ridden wife with like, everyone PLUS a documentary film maker. He was chatting up two age-inappropriate girls who left in a hurry and about 40 seconds later, he was out the door. Beth commented that it was weird that nobody had bothered him and we all decided that it was likely because nobody who drinks at the fed actually gives a shit about John Edwards. Although I will say that he looked rather thin and pretty dapper. Sort of like one of those aging 80s icons (there's one in particular in my mind but I can't think of him, so I'm just going to give you Don Johnson, who is a fine approximation).

And suddenly we were on our way to Teasers.

For those of you unfamiliar with Durham, Teasers is the "nice" stripclub in Durham. We've also got the slightly less-nice Diamond Girls, then the out and out sketchy Quality Bathhouse and Cabaret Royale. Don't mistake these for the whorehouses (Tomcats and whatever the hell that place is on Rigsbee). For those of you unfamiliar with me, check my goodreads. Sex work (and stripping in particular) is a pet passion of mine as a regretfully not-women's studies major in college. I think my life might've been different if I spent about 60 hours a week in college talking about gender instead of just the 20 I spent working at the Women's Center. Man, I worked at a women's center in college, I *am* a cliche.

It was a pretty hilarious evening, given that Rust was our strip club ambassador, helping us see how to tip correctly, what you can buy with a dollar etc. A lot of funny things were said and done. A few highlights:

Goth-y dancer: Come on man you're gonna get me in trouble.
Jay: How do you know I'm not a high roller?
Rust: The HIGH ROLLER in a denim jacket!
(everyone laughs)
Rust: He likes to play it down.

Jay (re John Edwards): Motherfucking white wine.
(ed note: Jay took serious issue with John Edwards' decision to drink white wine as opposed to beer, liquor or red wine. This was said about 16 times over the course of the night.)

Otty: Jay, we've never shared music, but we shared many nipples tonight.

Justine, the very nice stripper: Never bite a nipple in motion.

Creepy Strip Club Regular waiting outside after the club is closed: Y'all take your demented selves out of here. My dick is hard, now move on.

After all that, I came home, fixed myself some chia goodness with raspberries and attempted to make guac using a storebought salsa called fresh cuts, which was VILE and caused me to waste an avocado, I fell asleep. Thanks for joining the adventures.

Oh and I decided to go to 9pm Holy Saturday. :) So it'll be 46 days of Raw from now on.

40 Days of Raw: Day 29-30

Man, so I realized I screwed up my lent count...apparently 40 days goes to Palm Sunday, not Easter Sunday. Me being an idiot, I've been doing the 47 day count for, well, my whole life. It's either me or my mom for teaching me that it goes through to Easter. Anyway, commenters, your choice. 47 days? Or just 40?

Day 29: A day of discovery.

Ch-ch-ch-chia! Oh man, so I bought this "Chia Goodness" and finally, a sect of vegan food whose product names match their actual contents (Raw Crunch, Chia Goodness...as opposed to Leahey Valley's Vegan and Delicious which should really be questionable and vile). I fixed myself a bowl of this delicious treat with some fresh strawberries, almond milk and agave nectar. I've illustrated several different preparations. I tend to like the 2 TB chia breakfast to 4TB almond milk and 2 TB water, sitting for about 30 minutes to get super gelatinous. It really does taste like cream of wheat!

I also marinated some cabbage and broccoli in balsamic vinaigrette overnight. It made a great salad, but it was a little lousy for snacking in a service job, where I was constantly worried I had broccoli in my teeth :).

Day 30: Boring but delicious
Breakfast of Chia and strawberries
Lunch of an arugula, strawberries, walnuts and vinaigrette. Really pretty and quite tasty too!
Snack of a raw crunch bar.
Dinner of Red pepper and chia with banana, as well as some kombucha.

I have two insanely busy days ahead of me, so it'll probably be another dull combo post, but please readers, weigh in and let me know how to approach this! I've really actually enjoyed being raw now that I've gotten into the swing of things (although I am still fiending for bread!) and am considering doing one 100% raw day per week when I can really focus on the technique and then incorporating at least 1 raw meal per day into my regular diet. Maybe more!

40 Days of Raw: Day 6, in which Whole Foods becomes Whole Paycheck

I've advocated for years that if you shop wisely, you can shop cheap at Whole Foods. Today, I failed. But I'll tell you why!

#1 Splurge item of day: Ulimana Truffles. At 13 a jar, they are steep. But they're truffles. And the truffle I snuck in the parking lot said, "You did the right thing, BS."

#2 Splurge item: More Sunja Kimchi. I can't help it. Until I can figure out how to make edible kimchi, I will let the Sunja company continue to have its way with my wallet.

#3 Splurge item: About 2 pounds of Cashews. I don't care. Nuts are my life right now.

#4 Splurge item: Vitacoco coconut water and some fancy juices to mix with it. I just wanted to toss together a quick pick me up that is not hippie juice. Hippie juice is tiring.

#5 Splurge item: Arugula. Yes, it's $5 a little plastic box/bag thing. But I want to mix it with my chard and some pears to make something earthy, spicy and delectable.

#6 Splurge item: prep food chutney and salsa. I got some mango and salsa. I figure I'll mix them together with other things, make salads, etc.

These things did come in handy tonight when I came home and saw it was SUSHI NIGHT. I hate to be left out, so I popped some cauliflower into my processor, pulled out some untoasted nori, spread the cauli-rice out, laid some cuke strips, avo, radish pickles and finally mango salsa and BLAM. Flavor explosion. The sushi doesn't hold together very well when it gets too big, so for part 2, I made a variation of my (As yet unprinted, holding out for when I open a restaurant, don't you dare steal this as your own) sushi salad. The salad this time was a bed of nori with cauliflower, cukes, avo, radish pickle and rice vinegar. Pictured in the feast, the extremely generous maki rolling Dork did (I believe the filling was rice, avocado and peanuts), tempura broccoli, carrots and sweet potatoes, my sushi salad (with food porn close-up) and of course, lots of water, dipping sauces for the non-raw kids and rice vinegar!

This meal was a lot quicker and easier than I anticipated. I think next time I'll try to grind the cauliflower a little smaller so it gets a little wetter, and maybe do a (I was thinking about this on the ride home, actually) cashew-ginger cream dipping sauce and/or hold sushi together agent. See the first (much better, somehow) roll at right. It's surprising that I was more conservative and successful with the first pass. I think once I got the taste of food for real, I kinda went nuts trying to get more of it and lost my patience. :)

The scent of heated oil was actually a turn off for me, but visually, I have to admit that the sight of broccoli tempura was tempting. As was holding itself together rice-sticky sushi. Observe pretty tempura.

I also purchased a bunch of chickpeas and am considering an experiment in soaking them to get some raw hummus/falafel/legume goodness into my life. Cauliflower just ain't the same without its partner in crime. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, off to share the cucumber and radish pickle goodness with the world.

Day 6? First time on raw diet where I have had a tummyache from eating too much food, so, I think we win. Raw sushi = totally approved.

Daiya - A love story

Oh Daiya, what is there to say? We met, we danced and now our romance has ended.

It all started out when I ordered Daiya from vegan essentials. Half a pound of cheddar, half a pound of mozzarella. Just some modest tastings. Oh my, I didn't know.

I will tell you that Daiya, without a doubt, is the best cheese substitute I've ever tried. Seriously. It makes Teese look like Veganrella. Cheddar Daiya makes the best mac and cheese I've had that didn't involve dairy. No exaggeration. Spinach fusilli, broccoli, silk and some daiya cheese, melted together in a pot creates some seriously good mac and cheese.

I made nachos for the first time ever and discovered that I think nachos are okay. But hey, at least now I've had them! See picture. They look pretty good, though, right?

The mozzarella Daiya is just as good. Want melty, stretchy cheese pizza? I know it looks a little splotchy in the picture, but I threw the stuff on the pie directly out of the freezer so it was kinda clumpy and melted well enough to create soft squishy cheese.

Then, I went raw. Daiya became a memory, like that German boy I dated for 3 months, knowing full well I wouldn't see again until I got over to Europe 2 years later. A great thing. About a week before I got off the raw diet, I went by Chapel Hill Whole Foods to request that they carry it. Time went by and nothing, so I waited, patiently.

One day, while shopping with Dork and advising her on which vegan products to buy (gimme lean sausage for tofu scramble, yves breakfast links for regular sausage needs) I noticed a new package in the dairy case. DAIYA. Literally screamed. The cereal stock guy looked at me like I was nuts. But Chapel Hill Whole-y heard my prayers. Obviously, we each bought some.

I made pizza with broccoli, spinach and smart deli pepperoni on a corn-based gluten free crust (pictured). I made mac n cheese to feed me for days, packed it up and ate it for days. Then went and bought more. I simply couldn't get enough Daiya. I considered asking the store to start carrying Rossini pizza (made with Daiya) since the Amy's gluten free soy pizza (made with Daiya and rice crust) is kind of horrible. Well, not the pizza, but reheating rice crust is not friendly.

Then, around my birthday, something changed. I had a batch of mac and cheese after a night of somewhat unfortunate drinking choices and the next day...I CRAVED DAIYA NO MORE. (Yes, just like that Burger King only TMNT Release). The spark was gone. The taste of it did nothing for me. I could walk past pizza parlors and watch my friends eat blue box with no jealousy.

Of course, that hatred passed. Tonight, Dork told me she was making daiya pizza (mixed mozzarella and cheddar) with fresh peppers, tomatoes and Smart Deli pepperoni (really, is there any other kind?). And when she offered me some? "Oh hell yeah."

NC Beer List

Over the past year, I've become more interested in local craft beer due to a growing relationship between local brewers and local rock musicians, as well as a growing buy-local mentality. With that in mind, I've started to compile a list of the vegan-friendliest brews for those of you who live in the NC area (or have access to some of these beers). I've withheld my own personal recommendations from this list because it is incomplete and because I hope to possibly pilgrimage (a la Beer Y'all) to some of these breweries and do a side by side comparison of their wares to bring you the best and brightest from each one!

Without further ado, the list thus far:

Aviator - Vegan Friendly
Fuquay Varina, NC

We don’t use isinglass in any of our beers (we did use it in the past…but have discontinued it) and to now we have not used honey.

You can list them all!

Cheers,

Mark.

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Carolina Brewery - Vegan Friendly!
Chapel Hill and Pittsboro, NC
carolinabrewery.com

Thanks for your interest in the Carolina Brewery. We always have Sky Blue Golden Ale, Copperline Amber Ale, Flagship India Pale Ale and Oatmeal Porter on tap, plus seasonal beers.Our beers are made with malted barley, hops, yeast and water. None of our beers contain isinglass, dairy, gelatin or honey. For a complete list our beers please visit our website www.carolinabrewery.com.
Thanks, -Jon

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Carolina Brewing Company - Vegan Friendly!
Holly Springs, NC
http://www.carolinabrew.com

According to John, "We don’t use any honey, isinglass, dairy or gelatin at all so every beer we make is vegan."

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Catawba Valley Brewing - Vegan Friendly!
Morganton, NC
http://www.catawbavalleybrewingcompany.com/

At this time all of our Beers are Vegan, In the past we used some different clarifying agents, (Isinglass to be exact) But I haven't used anything in many years . So were safer , fresher and happier..

Thanks

W Scott Pyatt

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Craggie Brewing Company - Vegan Friendly!
Asheville, NC
www.craggiebrewingco.com

My name is Bill Drew and I am the owner/ brew master of Craggie Brewing Company. Thank you for your interest in our beers. Have you had a chance to come to our tasting room to sample our wares yet? All our beers are "Vegan". No clarifying agents or foam inhibitors. We don't filter either. Most of our beers are just malt, hops, yeast, water. Since yeast is a living organism, is it an exception to the rule? Some of our other beers do contain candy sugar, molasses, ginger, spruce tips, strawberries, blueberries, etc. depending on the seasonal recipe. I hope this is helpful. Thanks and cheers!

Bill

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Foothills Brewing Company - Vegan Friendly!
Winston-Salem, NC
http://foothillsbrewing.com/

We do not use isinglass in any of our products, nor do we use honey. I believe, as a result, all of our beers could be considered vegan. If you have any more questions, feel free to contact me at jamie@foothillsbrewing.com or directly at 3364079276. Thanks for the interest! Jamie Bartholomaus (Brewmaster)

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French Broad Brewing Company - Vegan Friendly!
Asheveille, NC
http://frenchbroadbrewery.com

Thanks for your interest in French Broad beers. We would love to be listed on your blog. We do not use isinglass or any other animal by-product in the production of our beers. Thanks again for checking with us.

Cheers,

Drew Barton

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Ham's Brewhouse - Mostly Vegan Friendly!
Greenville, NC
www.hamsbrewhouse.com

It's actually easier for us to list our brews that aren't vegan. The only ones that are not vegan are our Mother's Milk Cream Stout (it contains lactose) and our Sunfest Lager might not be vegan. We filter our Sunfest Lager and our filter modules contain DE (diatomaceous earth), but I'm not sure how you guys feel about DE. Here's something to read if you're not familiar with DE....

http://veganfootprints.blogspot.com/2008/06/diatomaceous-earth.html.

Other than that, all our brews can be considered vegan.

The only fining (used for clarity) we use is Irish Moss, which is made from different kinds of seaweed.

Other than those two, any of our brews listed at www.hamsbrewhouse.com would be considered vegan.

Thanks!

TL Adkisson

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Heinzelmännchen Brewery - Mostly Vegan Friendly!
Sylva, NC
http://yourgnometownbrewery.com/

Except for our Ancient Days Honey Blonde Ale, all our other Ales (Gopher, Hoppy Gnome, Gnutty Gnome, Middleworld Brown, Black Forest Stout, Weise Gnome, & Big Amber Ale). We use a cold maturation process to clear most of our beer with an occassional dose of Trub Clear (an Irish Moss product) in our specialty Ales due to the higher protein content of that style. You can find beer style descriptors on our website.
Prosit,
Dieter

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Highland Brewing Company - Vegan Friendly!
Asheville, NC
www.highlandbrewing.com

Hi – Thanks for your interest in our brews. All our regular and seasonal beers are vegan. Our regular beers are Kashmir IPA, Oatmeal Porter, Gaelic Ale, Black Mocha Stout, and St. Terese Pale Ale. Our seasonal beers are Cold Mountain Winter Ale, Black Mountain Bitter, Clawhammer Oktoberfest, and Cattail Peak Wheat. Barb @ HBC

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Liberty Steakhouse and Brewery - Mostly Vegan Friendly!
High Point, NC and Myrtle Beach, NC
http://libertysteakhouseandbrewery.com

Nice to hear from you and also about your interest in our craft beers. We do not use isinglass or gels here at Liberty, nor do I add lactose to any of my beers. Sometime in the future (as I have in the past), I will be utilizing honey, but it would be advertised as such. I believe I will be making a honey wheat ale in the Spring. One point to make is the fact that beer is created by the metabolism of sugars and other constituents by yeast. There is active academic debate whether fungi, which brewers yeast is a type of, is a plant or animal. I personally (along with most) categorize fungus into its own group and leave the plants and animals into their own respective groupings. I would guess that you would have to interpret the definition of fungus to yourself and decide whether or not beer is in fact vegan. I personally think it is as long as lactose, finings or other animal products are not utilized. If you have any other questions, please contact me at your leisure. Thanks!

Cheers,

Todd Isbell

Brewmaster

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Lone Rider Brewery - Somewhat Vegan Friendly
Raleigh, NC
http://www.loneriderbeer.com

Shotgun Betty (unfiltered Hefeweizen) is completely vegan. Our other beers do use finings.

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Natty Greene's Brewing Co - Mostly Vegan Friendly!
Greensboro and Raleigh, NC
http://bigdraft.com

the only beer we use isinglass finings on is our General Stout, and the Irish Honey Red contains honey.
all of our beers are vegan aside these two. here is the list of the main sellers:

Guilford Golden
Wildflower Witbier
Southern Pale
Buckshot Amber
Old Town Brown
Cannonball Double IPA
Black Powder Russian Imperial Stout
Red Nose Winter Ale

at our pub locations in Greensboro, and Raleigh we brew over 40 recipes over the year and all of these are vegan.

in a follow up email, Sebastian mentioned:

I missed one, the Milk Stout we do has lactose sugar in it which is derived from dairy products...specifically whey.

Sebastian Wolfrum
Director of Brewing Operations | Natty Greene's Pub and Brewing Company

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Olde Hickory Brewery - Mostly Vegan Friendly
Hickory, NC
www.oldehickorybrewery.com

Thank you for contacting the Olde Hickory Brewery! I've spoken with our brew master and confirmed that the vast majority of our beers are vegan friendly. The only beers we make which are not are the Imperial Stout and Christmas Ale, both of which contain honey. The bottles of these are labeled with "made with honey." All of the rest of the beers listed on our website are vegan friendly, as well as our Dopplebock which is new and not yet on the site. Best, Nikol Wuest

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Red Oak Brewery - Vegan Friendly
Whitsett, NC
www.redoakbrewery.com

Thank you for your inquiry. We brew 3 different lagers and all are vegan. We brew according to the 1516 law of purity the oldest consumer protection law in the world. This allows only 4 ingredients; Malted Barley, Hops, Water and Yeast. The beers we brew are Hummin' Bird, Red Oak and Battlefield Bock. We do not filter the beer or clarify it. We brew the way all beer used to be made.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Chris Buckley
Brew Master

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Top Of The Hill - NOT Vegan Friendly
Chapel Hill NC East Franklin St., Third Floor, Chapel Hill, NC 27514 100 East Franklin St., Third Floor, Chapel Hill, NC 27514
"I am sorry but we use Isenglass in all of our beers. No isenglass remains in the beer but we do use it to clarify instead of filtering.

Cheers!"

Scott Maitland

Proprietor

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Triangle Brewing Company - Vegan Friendly!
Durham, NC
http://trianglebrewery.com/

As of last inquiry (July 2009) all beers are vegan.

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Still Awaiting Feedback:

Appalachian Craft Brewery - Fletcher, NC
Asheville Brewing Company - Asheville, NC
Big Boss Brewing - Raleigh, NC
Boyland Bridge Brewpub - NC
Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery - Farmville, NC
Front Street Brewery - Wilmington, NC
Green Man Ales and Brewery - Asheville, NC
Huske Hardware House Brewing Company - Fayetteville, NC
Outer Banks Brewing Station - Kill Devil Hills, NC
The Mash House Restaurant and Brewery - Fayetteville, NC
Mother Earth Brewing - Kinston, NC
Pisgah Brewing Company - Black Mountain, NC
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery - Charlotte, NC
Weeping Radish Farm Brewery - Jarvisburg, NC

It's All Good? Tempeh-tations? How about no.

So, in my never-ending quest to find delicious, easy pre-packaged nutritionally sound vegan food (funny, all my experimentation with pre-packaged food is really making me excited to MAKE MY OWN), I stumbled across two new products at Whole Foods recently. I'll spoil the article for you. I don't know who names these new products, but I am *certain* that he or she did not actually try them before naming them. See below for descriptions and recommendations for substiutes that are edible.

It's All Good: BBQ Skewers (1 out of 5)

I'll be honest with you. I bought both kinds of it's all good meat, the BBQ Beef Skewers and Chicken Good Stuff (black bean and corn), but after opening and trying the BBQ Beef, I am really reticent to try the chicken ones, even though they were kind of expensive. Yes, the Beef skewers were that bad.

Taking them out of the package, they are like most other fake meat products. That is to say, somewhat unappetizing. Despite that, I soldiered on. Firstly, I'll admit that I cooked them in an oven, not in a pan. All I can say is gross gross gross and we will leave it at this:

Tempeh-tations: BBQ (1 out of 5). Chicken Good Stuff: fuck that I won't even eat it.

Field Roast vs. Viana

Hi Guys...
I know I got *massively* behind on blogging...the holidays, eating healthy and working hard will do that to you!

I'd like to offer some advice on "exotic" fake meats, per my palate.

First off, I probably should let you know that I bring Light Life bologna to work for lunch almost every day. Light Life is my friend.

Secondly, I ordered several products off Veganessentials.com to try and they came in evenly down the line.

We'll start with the bad:
I did not want Field Roast deli slices to be vile, since Field Roast tends to strike me as a little healthier (I can pronounce and understand what all ingredients are). Unfortunately, they are VILE. I ordered the Lentil Sage and Smoked Tomato flavors.

I really wanted to like these but they were inedible. You don't have to take my word for it, but they're pretty pricey, and you'll be happier just making a hummus sandwich. I know I was.






However, there is a company out there that's worth its price tag. That company is Viana's Holzfaller Farms. The products are supposed to look like the image to the right, but they actually look more like large tear drops. Having been a vegan for a while, amorphous, unidentifiable fake meats don't really scare me. I ordered the cowgirl steaks and the chicken fillets.

The steaks are really good, solid seitan. They taste a lot like Field Roast celebration roast, but less salty and without the somewhat peculiar filling. They work very well with greens and mashed potatoes. More than the steaks though, I found the chicken fillets to be worthwhile. The breadding is light (I definitely reccommend baking, not microwaving or pan frying) and the flavor of the meat is also mild. This made it excellent both on its own and used in a dish. I'm very big on garlicky greens at the moment (thanks to my CSA) so I made a little Chicken Parmasean with Collards. It's pictured at right. I just used some of Mom's Brand Spaghetti Sauce and leftover Mozarella Tease, put it in a dish and baked on 350 for about 20 minutes. Picture of it at left. I ate that all up and it was delicious. More to come, soon!

Battle of the Fake Cheese

So in my mixed bag from Vegan Essentials, I purchased several types of fake cheese, including the much-fawned over Teese.

I should preface this with the fact that 1 - I am still very happy with the "cheese-like" consistency of road's end, but my local whole foods has deigned to NO LONGER CARRY IT, thereby driving me into a tizzy of rage, not helped by the fact that my roommate Wessie is seriously an easy mac addict. I am easily influenced in food cravings.

Here are my findings:

Teese Mozzarella = 4 1/2 out of 5
Teese Cheddar = 2 1/2 out of 5
First, the Mozzerella. This is the first vegan cheese I've come across that I actually would EAT BY ITSELF. It reminds me very much of that lame-ass fat free string cheese my mom used to buy me that was pretty tasty, but didn't string out and that I would in turn share with my dog. I've had Teese Mozzarella in a lasagna, so I know it'll be good in that usage. Emboldened by everyone's love of teese and praise of its melting powers, I decided to make a pizza.

Now, as you can see, the pizza looks pretty good (as evidenced by the narfed piece). That said, you can probably see that my pizza looks nothing like the Teese photo magic pizza to the right. I can forgive the lame meltiness. It's not that bad, I'm used to un-melty cheese and frankly, I don't use cheese enough to care too much. As far as substitute mozzerellas go, this one has my blessing.

Now, to discuss the Cheddar. Teese, maybe your cheddar is in beta, maybe it's still a little soft, but don't stick a fork in it because you're not done.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Teese, it comes in little red sausage roll up plastic thingies. I dislike these plastic roll up thingies for a couple of reasons:
1 - you have to peel it away to get to the (very slippery and very expensive) Teese, which, on my first attempt, led to a piece of (very slippery and very expensive) teese ending up on my (not so clean) kitchen floor and going for a visit to the garbage disposal.
2 - they are strangely shaped and do not fit easily into small size tupperware, which means you have to either store them in ridiculously large tupperware OR in plastic baggies
3 - the nutritional info is not listed on the packaging, which means you first have to go online, then you have to weigh your teese (or figure out how many times 26g goes into 1 lb, which I couldn't do) to know how much you are supposed to consume at one sitting.

Which brings us to the unique issue with the cheddar. Upon opening the cheddar, it looks, smells and tastes exactly like kraft singles. Which is AWESOME. Kraft singles and string cheese-- looks like I found the two bland american cheese substitutes I was searching for! Unfortunately, this doesn't hold up. Once you put it over heat (or overnight in the refridgerator) the flavor of the cheddar literally leaks out. I noticed when making my mac and teese (with 3 servings/80 g of teese to 2 cups noodles) that it was kind of...well...flavorless. The next day, I figured since I'd spent about 12 bucks when all was said and done on this pound of food, I may as well use it. I opened the bag and my hands were covered in a cheddar smelling liquid that leaked from the Teese, and took several good washings to get off. Melted? No flavor. After a day in the fridge? Less flavor and lots more icky water.

Again with the cheddar I found the melting power to be truly lacking (note big chunk of teese floating in bowl after boiling for almost 10 minutes). I guess I shouldn't say lacking--it is about on par with Follow Your Heart Brand cheeses and similarly reconstitutes into a gelatinous sludge when it cools. While the slightly sweet and almost absence of the chalky vegan cheese flavor of the mozzerella means i'll probably shell out for it again, particularly for use in my thanksgiving lasagna, sadly the cheddar needs to go back to the lab, in my opinion.

Follow Your Heart Cream Cheese = 3 stars out of 5 stars
I found this FYH Cream Cheese at Earth Fare. I like it better than I did at the beginning of last week, when I slathered it onto a bagel for the first time. In truth, I'm not sure if it's the fact that although Tofutti is probably higher fat, that it reminds me more of the low fat cream cheese my mom used to get from the bagel place. The FYH cream cheese tastes like really really thick FYH mayo. And when I started treating it like "supermayo" it changed my outlook on this product. Instead of 2 tbsp FYH cream cheese on a bagel, try 1 tbsp FYH cream cheese on bread, with some fake bacon and a little smart deli bologna. Because FYH Mayo is so high fat (1 TBSP runs 100 Cals) while the "Supermayo" is high fat, but not even close (2 TBSP runs 70 Cals) you get more bangs for your buck. I'd stick to tofutti for your "cream cheese" needs, but as a miracle whip/low-cal mayo, this is pretty worthwhile.

Tofutti Slices = 4 out of 5
Tofutti slices are the perfect american cheese substitute because
1- they come wrapped like american cheese
2- they are as unhealthy as american cheese
3- they kinda sorta melt and burn the crap out of your mouth like american cheese
4- everyone pretends to hate them but secretly loves them like american cheese
These singles still strike the right chord when making vegan "grilled cheese" or make a mac and "multi-cheese."
I don't care that they're probably made of hydrogenated oil and the hopes and dreams of vegan children. Tofutti and I are going to run away together and make hydrogenated oil babies.

As long as I'm unabashedly praising tofutti and their hydrogenated ways, can I just say that I desperately miss Tofutti Pan Crust Pizza Pizzaz? I live in North Carolina, not the land of the vegan, but for three shining months, Tofutti Pan Crust Pizza Pizzaz found its way into my local Kroger natural foods freezer without fail. Until all of a sudden it vanished and everyone pretended they had no idea what I was talking about when I asked why it was gone. This is my "stuff I miss about cheese" post and french bread pizza is definitely up there.

Lastly, I can't review the Sheese I bought because when I opened it it had spirals on top that looked like mold and I was too icked out to eat it. Does anyone out there like Sheese? Or Cheezly? I'm starting to grow wary of trying new vegan cheeses. They can be really gross.

The Curious Case of Shirataki

This week I managed to hit a pretty big milestone-- dropped a size in clothing. Which is awesome.

Anyway, since I spend a lot of time on both thedailyplate.com which is an excellent free resource for tracking your calorie and nutritional consumption (although lacking in the vitamin dept) and also a lot of time looking at weird foods on the internet, I've been put in an ad targeting pocket for diets. I saw this ad that was like "miracle noodles" and I wondered...could they be talking about Shirataki?

Once, about 2 years ago, I saw a bag of tofu shirataki in my local whole foods. I have insulin resistence, so I always am looking for good sources of carbohydrates and more protein. Anyway, I bought the bag thinking "yummy protein pasta" and ended up chucking it because after I opened it it smelled like magic markers and paint drying and I couldn't bring myself to eat something that smelled like that.

Well, I'm over myself. I did a little research on the interweb. Shirataki is the new oolong tea or acai berry--something most of us have known about for a while but now it is the "new miracle diet food." Granted, shirataki is sort of a miracle diet food. The real stuff has about 6 calories a cup (compared to pasta's 140-200) and is extremely filling. HOWEVER it is not really pasta-like. If you approach it more like a noodle shaped foodstuff (in the same way that soba noodles and spaghetti squash are pasta-like, but simultaneously different) you'll be happier with it. Tofu shirataki is considerably more palatable, consistency-wise, than ordinary yam shirataki, which is supposedly rubbery and gross. The smell can be reduced with thorough washing and a solid parboil. Armed with five dollars, I set off for the whole foods to purchase some of the stuff.

I bought some fettucini style, thinking that wide flat noodles might be easier to pass off as something other than spaghetti, went home and set to rinsing them thoroughly in 125 degree water. I then set a pot to boil for the parboil (seriously guys, this smell is something else) and started a little "get your nutrients on" sauce on the side, made of Yves Ground, Rao's Tomato sauce, broccoli and spinach. The point of pasta, for me, is the way delicious sauces wrap around the noodles, not the noodles themselves. I made a TON of sauce, probably 3x as much as I'd need, but I figured if the noodles were again inedible, I could just eat the yves/veggie concoction and call it a night.

After a 4 minute parboil, I rinsed, blotted and tasted one of the noodles. It tasted like nothing, and sort of had the consistency of glass noodles, so I dumped the shirataki into my sauce, stirred and then parceled it off. Overall, not a terribly high calorie meal, packed with protein-- came in at 365 calories (using 1/2 package shirataki, 1/2 package yves, 1 c broccoli cuts, 1/3 c frozen spinach and 3/4 c Rao's) per serving, with 31g Carbohydrates, 13 of them are fiber, 37g Protein and 10g fat. Not terrible.

So next week maybe I'll try either a shirataki and chreese or shirataki w/ peanut sauce. I also probably need to work on my food photography. Maybe I should refresh on VeganYumYum's big mfing photography post. But I think she's way more visual artsy than I am. It looks gross, but it's actually really tasty and really filling. I promise. =)

Minestroni-licious

I have been so bad with the blogging.

Well, for those of you who suffer the same dilemma, I am a somewhat chubby vegan, and am in the process of losing that pudge. So, I joined weight watchers and am on the "core" program, which helps me focus on my real food goal, which is to eat 50% vegetables. I was gonna say raw, but frozen veggies rock.

Anyway, we talked about SOUP in this week's meeting and soup is one of my favorite foods. A friend at work teases me and says it's all I ever eat. After talking about it at the meeting, I realized that while Amy's soups might be a godsend, they are fairly unhealthy sodium-wise, environment-wise and I could make my own soup much better.

So I did.

The Harris Teeter by me (I still miss being walking distance from Whole Foods!) has a whole "Kosher Foods" section, from which I have discovered two amazing things:

1. Gabila's Knishes, pictured at left. If you've never had a Knish (chances are, living in the South as a "Goy" as we Jews say, you haven't), you are in for a treat. I explain them as the Jewish Samosa. Or the Jewish Hush Puppy. But closest thing is the Jewish Pierogie.

The best thing about Knishes is that they are, for the most part, Parve, which means no dairy (although eggs and fish don't count as meat or dairy, so watch out). The best thing about Gabila's Knishes is that they have traditional fried square knishes, baked round knishes, and then little mini spinach knishes! Awww. I won't lie, it's a little pricey, but man, I'm happy to see Knishes.

2. Tabatchnik's soup. As I explained, Kosher food is nice because most of the time all you have to look for is eggs/fish in your parve food. The soups come in little frozen packets and in regular sodium and low sodium versions. I like the soups on their own, but I like them better as "soup starters" because a cup of soup is not a meal for me.

For this particular foray into soupmaking, I started with a Minestrone base, then started dumping in some of the last of my Brinkley Farms CSA veggies for the week, since I had a whole new batch coming in. I tossed some zucchini, yellow squash, broccoli, fresh diced tomatoes and frozen diced collards into the pot, dropped in a "not chicken" bouillion cube, added another 2 cups of water, put a top on and took a shower.

When I came down, my Tabatchnik's was melted, my tomatoes were stewed, my bouillion was dissolved and my soup was simmering nicely. I put half in a bowl and ate it, then I brought the other half to work the next day. Deelish.

I always forget to take pictures of the stuff before I start eating it, maybe because I'm always kind of hungry for lunchtime. Soup is still my favorite lunch. And a delicious dinner. And snack.