Farm Sanctuary Petition

I'm excited for MoFo to start. I already have some posts lined up that I'm saving for November. I wanted to mention the petition that Farm Sanctuary is having to convince President Obama to send his pardoned turkeys to them instead of Disney. I was previously unaware that the President pardons two turkeys every Thanksgiving and sends them to live at Disney. I'm not sure why they go to live at Disney theme parks, but I hope that Farm Sanctuary's petition is effective! Farm Sanctuary has to have all 15,000 signatures by November 15th. Please go sign the petition and read about how you can help the pardoned turkeys avoid being Disney attractions.

A few things I've had on my mind

I absolutely hate seitan. I know this is blasphemy to most vegans but I absolutely cannot stand it. I can't eat it now because of the gluten but even before I was aware that gluten bothered me I hated it. On the other hand, I love tempeh. I adore it, for real. I love tofu too but I try not to eat it as it isn't fermented like tempeh and it sometimes gives me stomach issues. I also have to limit my soy intake because of my hypothyroid, so when I eat soy I make it worthwhile.

I love almond milk. It's just so creamy and delicious. Because of it, I don't miss soy milk. I gave up the soy milk because of my thyroid and only drink it rarely if I'm at a vegan gathering or a friend's house. If you haven't tried it, you should. Yummmm almond milk =]

I'm participating in Vegan Mofo! Hopefully I'll have time to post as much as I would like. I don't think I'm gonna have a theme or anything other than trying to whip up some good food and take pictures.

The past couple of days haven't been good food days for me. I've felt under the weather and I've been swamped with school work. I also had some naughty cravings for Asian food. Oh how I love it. I live in a very small place but we somehow have good options for vegan Asian food. I hadn't been eating very much because of feeling bad so I felt like I deserved a treat. I got miso soup to soothe my throat and Thai yellow curry with tofu. It of course came with white rice and potatoes, which I ate, but I added peas, broccoli, and cauliflower once I got it home. I tried to make it a little bit healthier! It was delicious.

Mac un' cheesy

I love love love mac n cheese...I loved my mom's homemade dish with pasta shells before I was vegan and since switching my diet I've searched for the perfect vegan version. Even though I haven't been able to recreate my mom's mac n cheese, I have figured out a super easy and quick spicy dish with peas and tempeh. If you don't ike peas or don't have tempeh, you can always just make the cheese sauce and noodles. Avoid this dish if you don't like nutritional yeast as it uses quite a bit. I call it mac un' cheesy =]

1 cup gluten free or regular pasta
1/2 c frozen peas
1 tbsp earth balance or smart balance light vegan butter
3 tbsp non dairy milk
1/4-1/2 c nutritional yeast
1/3 8 oz pkg soy tempeh cut into bite size pieces
Vegan parmesan topping (I use chipotle Parma! but you can use the one of your choice it will just make the dish less spicy)
1 tsp tamari, soy sauce, or Bragg's liquid aminos
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pasta according to directions. While that's cooking, thaw the peas in the microwave. Start cooking the tempeh in a pan with the soy sauce of your choice. Once it starts browning, add in the cayenne pepper and turmeric. Once that's done, set aside. In the bowl that you will be eating out of, melt the butter (I use the microwave). Add in the non dairy milk to the bowl and warm both the butter and milk in the microwave (10 seconds should do it). Add salt to taste and the nutritional yeast. Stir well and add the nooch until you get your desired consistency. I usually add 1/2 c nooch to my butter milk mix because I like my cheese sauce thicker. Once you have your desired consistency, drain the pasta noodles and add them to the cheese sauce. Add the peas to the bowl and mix thoroughly. Now add the tempeh on top and sprinkle your parmesan. Voila! Mac un' cheesy!

This is how mine looks. It's ugly but soooo delicious!

The Kind Diet

Yesterday I picked up a copy of Alicia Silverstone's "The Kind Diet". I wasn't expecting it to be really great or anything but I had heard it had some good recipes. The book surprised me. I've been a vegan for years as well as a health freak so there's not much she could tell me about how healthy being a vegan is. I still enjoyed reading the beginning of the book that detailed why animal products are bad for our health, the environment, and the well being of our animal friends. It's always nice to get a reminder of why I live the way that I do (as if Kitty ^above^ isn't enough of a reminder!). Alicia gives plain old vegan meal plans and recipes as well as healthier, macrobiotic superhero ones. The recipes look pretty good and I'm even going to be trying some of the superhero dishes (I love miso soup and she has a killer one).
I decided to make the Caesar dressing from her Caesar salad recipe on page 175. Since I don't have permission, I won't be publishing the recipe here. I did change a couple things in the recipe. I'm allergic to gluten so I used Bragg's Liquid Aminos instead of shoyu. I also swapped raw almonds in for the roasted almonds the recipe called for. No croutons for me due t the fact that I have yet to find a gluten free bread I can stand. The dressing was delicious! I ate it on:
Romaine hearts
Celery
Tomato
Parsley
Onion
I know that sounds like a skimpy, bland salad but I knew the dressing was going to be very strong and I wanted it to shine through on simple veggies.
As my main dish, I made brown rice and ate it topped with leftover homemade veggie chili, nutritional yeast, chipotle Parma, fresh cilantro, and avocado.