Two Words ... Vegan Marshmallows

Long before the thought even entered my mind that it was about time I make the transition from Vegetarian to Vegan marshmallows were off limits due to the gelatin used to make them.

There was a short period of time in my early college days when I went on a "marshmallow bender" and ate as many as I could ... the giant puffy kind ... that swell in your stomach and make you beg for mercy once they have stewed there for a while waiting to be digested ! Ah, the ignorance of youth.

This also reminds me of a couple years later -- after transferring from my Community College to a University. On a pit-fire excursion for ceramics class I was tempted by marshmallows dancing on twigs in the crackling fire ... that charred exterior with the molten insides that I remembered from childhood dangling there and calling my name. As I had the PETA fact sheets playing through in my head I also had my (rather charming) professor taunting me ... "just ONE marshmallow? How long has it been since you've had a marshmallow? Oh, wouldn't it be awesome after all this time!" Be it the crush I had on him, the lateness of the hour, or just simply being human I ate the bruleed morsel and felt a moment of ecstasy ... followed by a rush of regret. Yes, I am still talking about food here and yes it was "just a freakin' marshmallow" I didn't 'fell' a deer or anything but to me it was just as bad. All of that work supporting my 'cause' for what? I quickly let myself off the hook for the event -- I was human after all. My only veggie friend at the time came to the pit armed with veggie dogs and mangled coat hangers so that we too could participate. Good times!

All of this rambling brings me to present day when such a thing exists as a VEGAN MARSHMALLOW sans gelatin. They must be refrigerated, are a bit pricey, and the cost of shipping is rather cost-prohibitive but alas they exist. This elusive Vegan mallow can be difficult to get your hands on ... to my knowledge there are 2 brands only - one air puffed version & one gourmet/homemade style. The later was found on a recent trip to Whole Foods Market in the refrigerator case between goat's milk yogurt and a kefir drink so it's amazing that I even stopped to look at the little squares of goodness because at first glance (given their location) I thought they were a farmer's cheese or paneer of some sort. There was no price tag to be found but I knew they would be around $6 and justified the purchase as my "treat" for the week. Now, trying to explain to a 5 year old boy who has never tasted a marshmallow before that he can only have ONE is a whole other story for another blog entry. :)

Sweet & Sara (R) makes the luscious homemade/gourmet style Vanilla Marshmallow I speak of . Though I have not had the opportunity to try the air puffed variety they are made by Chicago Soydairy and are called Dandies Vegan Marshmallows. I found them online while drooling over the junk-food offerings at Food Fight! Vegan Grocery.

I am excited to make some Vegan S'mores with my oldest son later today!

Fun With Food !

No, my life is not ALL about food but I am a self-proclaimed "foodie" so it's a pretty significant portion of my daily routine. :) I have been having lots of fun with food since my last entry ... I should have taken better mental notes though because some of it is escaping me at the moment. I will start with this morning and work my way back ... or try to anyway. ;)

A recent thumbing-through of old PETA materials brought a few dark horse products to light for me ... things at the regular old mega mart that I wouldn't normally look twice at ... pizza crust in a tube being one of them.

1.) This morning I pulled out the Pillsbury Original Pizza Crust, unrolled it , pressed it out a bit, and brushed it with melted Earth Balance. Then I sprinkled on a mixture of cinnamon + sugar that I keep on hand for toast, rolled it up, sliced it into rounds, and placed it on my Silpat lined baking sheet. :) After about 25 minutes at 350 degrees I had my very own cinnamon rolls ! Yes, they were simple and less nutritious than other breakfast foods but they were nostalgic ... memories of making cinnamon rolls from scratch with my Grandma Gobin flooded my mind. Other than the time and labor involved in the original these were also not laden with lard. :)

2.) Recently we used the Pillsbury Thin Pizza Crust for making pizza as a family. My FAVORITE pizza sauce (hands down) is Muir Glen ! I hate to even admit it but until we discovered theirs my favorite pizza sauce was one that came in a kit ... you know the one with the chef on the box. ;) Sad but true. Anyway, we made a simple one with just "cheese" and one with 1/2 pineapple + 1/2 mushroom,olive, and fresh basil with garlic. So so so YUMMY ! Our oldest son (and the only one old enough for pizza) likes pizza that has "orange & white cheese" so we used both the Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet(R) Mozzarella style and Cheddar style blocks which I threw into the food processor to shred. Everyone enjoyed it more than words can express! Yes, we could have gone to the new pizza place that offers Vegan pizza but we would have missed out on the bonding experience ... and our wallets would be much lighter. :)

3.) We had a friend and her son over three times since my last post, once for a snack and twice for dinner. She is in transition from a healthier version of the "standard American diet" to a Vegetarian diet. In this time of change I feel it's important to support her ! So, we had meals that are easy.

The first meal was pasta with sun dried tomato pesto & olive/mushroom tapenade (super-quick in the food processor) with broccoli romanesco and garlic bread. I am drooling thinking about how tasty it was !

The second was a simple meal of spring rolls (purchased at Costo) with a few dipping sauces and an Asian spinach salad with edamame, sliced almonds, and mandarin orange segments with a soy-ginger dressing. YUMMY !

To break the ice (food wise) on our first play date I made the very best peanut butter cookies I have ever tasted ... and they were Vegan. Even my husband who doesn't eat cookies ate 3 or 4 !

I used the recipe I found on the Earth Balance site and just added peanut butter chips. Between 3 adults and 2 little cookie monsters we ate 2/3 of the cookies that afternoon ... and the remaining dozen were split between my cookie jar and a goodie bag for the road. :)

That's all I can think of for now but you better believe it's a daily joy to discover awesome shortcuts to incredible Vegan edibles !

Like a Kid in a Candy Store

Today we went into town so to speak ... we live so far North in Houston that certain areas of it seem as though they take forever to navigate ... as though we live in the country and have to "go into town". :) Living in Austin around the corner from Central Market would spoil anyone let alone self-proclaimed foodies so it was a rare treat to visit Houston's Central Market. I was like a kid in a candy store as we navigated the winding isles wondering what would be around the next corner. As I peered around the end of one aisle a middle-aged lady wielding a mini-cart clipped me and as the searing pain of metal against my ankle set in I managed to utter "oh, that's okay" when given an apology. It was an accident after all.

I couldn't help but flash to a memory from the Westgate Central Market in Austin about 5 1/2 years ago when an actor (T.L. Jones) of recent No Country For Old Men fame ran over my foot with his shopping cart while making a b-line for the beer/wine section of the store ... I would not have even given him a second thought if it were not for the fact that I was about 7 months pregnant at the time and that he didn't even seem to notice me being there let alone say "excuse me".

Okay, that has nothing to do with the topic at hand but nonetheless part of my HerStory. :) So, we had a great family outing to CM and came up with endless possibilities for this week's menu plan. There are (as I have discussed in prior entries) many Vegan options in the traditional grocery store but it's just nice to go to a specialty market and have even more choices. The sheer excitement of seeing Banyan Foods Vegan Egg Rolls in several varieties invokes visions of a toddler with the first taste of chocolate.

Comfort Food

A recent stressful event left me searching the pantry for ... comfort.

My newly adopted Vegan life gave me pause at a moment when I normally would have eaten my way mindlessly through this and that. There was a time when I would have done so without even a second thought. I would have made a blue box of mac & cheese (you know the one) and would have polished off well more than a single serving. Once upon a time I would have found solace at the bottom of a pint container of ice cream or in an ooey gooey cheesy pizza. Gluttony? Sure. But more than that the "comfort" should always outweigh the guilt. Right? Sometimes it is more simple as with Ramen Noodle Soup when I am feeling a bit under the weather or mashed potatoes when I have an upset stomach.

All of this leads me to these questions -- 1. When do we learn to turn to food for comfort? 2. Why do some people eat with their emotions and others not? 3. If it's not acceptable to eat emotionally then why does our culture have the phrase "comfort food" ?

There are certain food associations that are quite clear in etiology for me as with the soup. I have memories from childhood of my Grandmother making me Ramen Noodle Soup with crushed saltine crackers when I was sick. Of course it was cheap and had whatever animal extractive was cheapest but the nostalgia is there ... so now I make it with the Asian noodles and my Better Than Bouillon paste (Vegetable Base) and VIOLA! it's Vegan Noodle Soup. :) Mashed potatoes are an easy one with the addition of Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread and Silk Unsweetened Soymilk.

I am using my transition from Vegetarian to Vegan not only to change what I eat but how and when I eat it. Rather than searching for the Vegan Mac & Cheez that comes closest to the blue box version in order to facilitate my "comfort food fix" I took the opportunity to examine why it has given me "comfort" in the past. Was it the flavor, the texture, the process of making it, or was it tied to something else ? ? ? I don't have all the answers yet but it's a work in progress.