Well, it’s almost here.  In just three short days, we’ll be sitting aboard the Norwegian Sun sipping champagne as we sail under the Golden Gate Bridge.  In store for us are stops in Mazatlan, Acapulco, Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas and LOTS AND LOTS of margaritas.  I hope some yummy vegan food is thrown in there somewhere too.  I’m packing a notebook to write down all of my meals so that I can fill you in when I get back.

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this…

…my snacks for our voyage.  Matt thinks I’m insane for hauling this stuff along with me when cruises are typically food-fests, but I don’t want to eat a bunch of crap or stuff that I normally wouldn’t eat.  He’ll thank me the minute he gets hungry and wants one.

Adiós amigos!

Looks good, doesn’t it?!

And it was good, if you like gelatinous, rubbery, nutritional-yeast tasting goo.  I picked up The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook from the library and tried 2 cheese recipes from it.  Who sits around thinking “I’ll mix some cashews, nutritional yeast, agar flakes and spices together and make vegan meunster cheese”?  Crazy!  Yeah, this wasn’t good.  Everything about it was horrible- the texture, the taste, everything.  It was so bad that I didn’t even bother offering it to Emma.  Sick!

In addition to the meunster cheese, I made the recipe for Mozarella hoping that I could use it on pizza later in the week.  That one was made with oats, nutritional yeast, cornstarch and spices.  Really, who thinks this stuff up??!  That one didn’t even firm up and (yes, I tasted it) was equally repulsive.

In spite of these set backs, I am not throwing in the towel with this book.  There are a few cheesy sauce recipes that I’ll try out before decided whether or not I want to add this book to my home collection.

I found this article and thought it was pretty humorous.  While traveling, it can often be difficult to find healthy food in airports and such.  It can be even harder to find vegan food, as the traveler in the article points out.  The funniest part of the article was him trying to convince the security agent that his peanut butter wasn’t a security risk:

On a recent flight I brought a jar of vegan creamy peanut butter with me. The security agent insisted that my carry-on food product was a cream, and therefore a forbidden substance.

A rather strange discussion ensued in which I tried to explain that peanut butter was a solid with a “creamy” consistency. Creamy was, in this case, an adjective. And the peanut butter should not be thrown in the trash.

The agent looked at me as if I were as nutty as my peanut butter.

With our cruise fast approaching (only 2 weeks away!!!), I’ve been wondering myself if I will have problems finding vegan food.  While I have only been wondering, my very sweet and thoughtful omni-best-friend is so worried for me that she offered to contact the cruise line to find out if there will be vegan food on the boat.  What do vegans eat anyway?

I don’t think it’s necessary to go to such great lengths.  Every restaurant I’ve ever been to, even the most meat-centered, has made a vegan/vegetarian dish when I have requested it and not seen one on the menu.  Most menus are customizable.  In fact, to a certain extent, I think the traveler in this article isn’t as resourceful as a vegan needs to be in a non-vegan society.  For example, I can think of LOTS of things that can be made vegan with a little creativity:

1. Burritos.  Most airports have burrito joints.  Order a basic burrito– beans, rice, veggies (if available), lettuce and such.  Add some guac, but ask for no cheese and no sour cream.  If the beans are refried, confirm that they are vegetarian; likewise with the rice as it has the potential to have been made with animal stock.  Even items from places as gross as Taco Bell can be made vegan.  Bean burrito, no cheese.  Tostada, no cheese. Etc.  Etc.
2. Burgers.  Burgers are abundant as a quick and cheap meal.  Order a burger, sans patty and mayo.  Add extra veggies, if possible.  Order a side of fries and pile the fries inside the bun in place of a patty.  This would do in a pinch, but you do run the risk of the bun being not vegan-friendly.  Bread can be tricky.Now, I know if I don’t address it, people are going to suggest “what about the BK Veggie offered by Burger King?”  Yes, many places are not offering veggie patties which they will use on a burger in place of the battered dairy cow flesh.  I would only order this as a last resort and would specifically request that it be microwaved instead of grilled to avoid being contaminated with said battered dairy cow flesh on the grill.  I would also order is sans bun and mayo.  Keep in mind that the BK Veggie is offered as a “meat free” burger, not as one that is veg*n friendly.
3. Sandwiches.  Chain sandwich shops like Subway are usually present in the airport.From Subway’s website:The menu items that do not contain any animal-derived ingredients are the Veggie Delite® on Italian bread and the Veggie Delite® salad. Also these individual items do not contain animal-derived ingredients: all vegetables, oil, vinegar, mustard, sweet onion sauce and Fruizle. The wheat bread and deli roll contain honey but no other animal-derived ingredients.

   (Note: the Italian Bread at Subway is the only vegan bread.  The others contain honey and/or cheese.)

   If there isn’t a Subway around, any kind of sandwich loaded with veggies, without mayo is probably a safe option.  If you’re unsure about the bread, ask, or go for a salad.

4. Salad.  While some may not consider this the most filling of meal options, I can’t think of anything easier.  There would likely not be any customization necessary, just be sure to order it with a vinaigrette.

5. Pizza.  I’ve been to many an airport with a Pizza Hut and isn’t this list from their website handy?  Order a veggie pizza, no cheese, with Thin ‘N Crispy dough.  The benefit of a custom order is that you’ll be assured of having a freshly baked pizza and not one that has been sitting under a heat lamp.
   
6. McDonald’s.  Doesn’t get much grosser than this, but desperate times call for desperate measures.  Even Mickey D’s, the most vegan unfriendly of fast food establishments, can do if you find yourself without any other alternatives.  I haven’t been here in years and don’t even know what they serve anymore, but thanks to their very high tech website, I was able to download a menu and ingredients list.  Everything on the list has weird ingredients in it– like corn syrup as the first ingredient followed by high fructose corn syrup as the second ingredient.  One may argue that McDonald’s does, in fact, NOT serve food, since food is meant to nourish the body.   I would agree.  Eat here at your own risk.  The only reason I’m listing it here is because they are everywhere.If you were in a position and had to resort to McDonald’s, your options would be pretty limited, but at least you wouldn’t starve.  Options: Any salad minus chicken and cheese.  Be sure the dressing is a vinaigrette of some sort.  I would stay away from the Caesar Salad, only because Caesar dressing typically contains anchovies and cheese.  Be forewarned that the croutons have whey in them.

   Another option may be one of the wrap sandwiches, minus the chicken of course.  The ingredients list for the tortilla it gets wrapped up in is hard to read (lots of weird sounding things) and I’m not sure that it is vegan.  If you order this, add any veggie that you can to it (tomato, pickle, etc.) and maybe just use the lettuce as the wrap instead of the tortilla.  If you truly were desperate enough to eat at McDonald’s, the vegan police won’t hunt you down for eating a possibly non-vegan tortilla.

7. Starbucks.  Again, another chain that is everywhere.  Some are even offering hot sandwiches and snack packs to go.  All of them have little packs of nuts for sale and sometimes dried fruit.  I guess some stores are now offering oatmeal, which appears to be vegan.My biggest gripe with Starbucks is that they charge you 40 cents extra to have your drink made with soy milk.  I mean, is there really that much difference between the cost of cow’s milk and soy milk?  No.  The cost of a Starbucks drink should be all inclusive– tea/espresso, syrup, milk.  I’m sending them a letter.  Alright, I just sent them an email requesting that they start offering more vegan snacks and stop charging an extra 40 cents for soy milk.  If you agree with my gripe, send them an email too.

8. Breakfast.  Finding a satisfying breakfast while on the go can be challenging.  Again, a bit of customization is necessary in order to get something that will fill you up.  Stay away from pancakes, waffles and the like since these items are typically made with both dairy and egg products.  Instead, opt for a vegetarian omelet without the eggs.  If they have tofu in the kitchen (which would be a small miracle), ask that they make it with that instead.  Ask how they cook the omelets and request that yours be cooked with a little bit of oil instead of butter, if necessary.  Have some toast on the side, dry unless margarine is an option.  Top it with some fruit preserves.Oatmeal is also a great option.  It’s filling and healthy.  Order it without milk.  Ask for soy milk, if they have it, or some apple juice.  Apple juice on oatmeal is actually quite good.  Add a little cinnamon and you instantly have apple-cinnamon oatmeal!

I hope this dispells the myth that vegans have a hard time finding something to eat while traveling (or even eating out).  Yes, it may be difficult to find food of the caliber that you are accustomed to, but you’ll need to relax your palate a bit if you don’t want to starve to death.

I found the camera.  If it had been a snake…  Without further ado, here is our chaos-free freezer.

The fantastic part is that most of the stuff in here is destined for my parents house.  Everything stacked in the back right is Emma’s food– pancakes, pizzas, etc. for her to eat while we are on vacation.  The left side is random bags of nuts and frozen vegetables.  Of course, Matt’s lime popsicles are right out front.  And the big container in the middle is full of cookies (also destined for my parents house).

The door:  some frozen bananas, nuts, sesame seeds, some mystery tomato product, bay leaves, ground flax seeds, baking powder, ginger, and ice packs.

It’s amazing to be able to locate things without having to tear the entire freezer apart.

Well, the Great Purge is behind us and my freezer is back to normal.  No more chaos.  I’ll be posting photos of our new and improved freezer as soon as I figure out what the heck I did with my camera.  Anyway, I managed to use up lots of our frozen fruits, veggies, random stuff.  It was great.  Some things ended up being tossed (like some spinach & ricotta raviolis that was dated sometime in 2007 and that we don’t eat anymore).  Aside from little things like that, I’m pretty proud that not much else went to waste.

Toward the end of the purge, we were at a bare minimum of food.  We had a pretty well stocked pantry, but the fridge and freezer were both pretty bare.  So, here ya go… our last meal of freezer food:

The last of some coleslaw that I made on Saturday morning, a golden beet drizzled wih a strawberry balsamic vinaigrette, some french fries, 2 spring rolls and some vegan meatballs.  It was good, but nothing very figure friendly or super nutritious.  All the food groups were represented and, like I said before, I have been lazy/busy lately and not really in the mood for cooking.

Breakfast was nothing special and I didn’t even bother taking any photos of it.  Emma had a banana mini-muffin that I made yesterday, some strawberry banana coconut yogurt and some fruit.  She ate it all, except for the yogurt which she only ate a few bites of.

Lunch was a bit more exciting, but not much.

Mac & Chreese; white beans; edamame

Emma’s favorite food lately has been edamame.  She likes squeezing out the beans (I pop them open slightly to make it easier).  Today, we tried something that I’ve had in my pantry forever, but have never made: Road’s End Organics Mac & Chreese.  The nicest thing that I can say about this product is that it tastes better than it smells, which is like concentrated nutritional yeast.  I really don’t care for nutritional yeast, but Emma didn’t seem to mind.  She ate two helpings, even after eating all of her beans.  Yep, she has to be hitting a growth spurt.

While on the topic of nutritional yeast, I nearly missed out on this super great snack because I was scared to try it.  I picked it up, read the ingredients, saw that it had nutritional yeast in it, put it in my cart, had second thoughts, took it back out, had third thoughts, then put it back in.  I’m glad I forced myself to buy these because they are awesome:

These taste eerily similar to Cheetos, but don’t coat your fingers in toxic-colored orange goo.  Oh yeah, and these are vegan!  I highly recommend.

And lastly, let’s move on to the topic of my freezer.  Jennifer has inspired me to do a freezer cleanse before buying more groceries.  Now, I did go to the store today to pick up some juice, snacky things and a few fresh veggies, but the main component of our meals this week will be from my freezer.  I’m embarrassed to share these photos with you, but extra motivation will really help keep me on track, so here goes.

The Door: flax seeds, bananas, more bananas, strawberries, spinach & ricotta ravioli's, some tomato product of some sort, bay leaves, ground flax seeds, nuts, ice packs

My Freezer: ice tray, popsicles galore, waffles, beans, edamame, cashews, and who-knows-what-else shoved in the back

Really, can anything else fit in there?  Probably not without falling out.  A lot of this stuff is destined for my parents house when Matt and I go on vacation, but all of the stuff shoved in the back could be used up and/or properly organized.  Whatta mess!

I can’t promise that any dazzling dishes will come from this, but we have to do it.  I’ll take photos at the end of the week when (hopefully) this mess is gone.  I’ll also keep a list of what I find when I excavate and how I used it.

P.S. My fridge isn’t much better.  Yes, I have the pack rat gene.

This weekend has been pretty interesting, yet enjoyable. Yesterday, some friends and I went to lunch at Cafe Gratitude in San Francisco. This was my first vegan, raw dining experiences and I toted along my camera to capture the moment on film. Well, I forgot to take any photos of my food, so I will describe it as best as I can. The menu was overwhelming. There were so many choices and everything is called “I Am…” something. I had “I Am Sassy,” which was a virgin margarita smoothie made from fresh lemon juice, water, strawberries, agave and salt. DELICIOUS! So refreshing, especially on a (unusually) warm San Francisco day. My entree was “I Am Abundant,” a sampler plate. I couldn’t make up my mind and was getting more and more overwhelmed by the second, so I thought it best to go for the sampler. Excellent choice. I ate the entire thing and licked the plate clean. It came with: chili con queso with chips (some sort of nut cheese and crackery things), Asian kale-sea veggie salad, hemp seed pesto crustini, olive tapenade and sprouted almond hummus with sourdough buckwheat crackers, spring roll, and a mini house soup. I know it all sounds a little strange, but it was so, so, so good. Since I could eat anything I wanted on the menu, I opted for dessert. We shared a piece of German chocolate cake, served a la mode with a vanilla nut milk ice cream. I was in heaven! I liked this place so much that I absolutely have to get their cookbook. If you don’t live near San Francisco, I suggest that you pick up a copy of their cookbook too.

Next on my list of “firsts” this weekend was popping popcorn unassisted, old-fashioned style in a big pot. After a minute of research on the internet, I put the corn kernels in a big pot with a little canola oil and some salt. Amazingly enough, they actually popped! I used it to make the popcorn ball recipe Vegan Lunchbox.

These were a mix of the popcorn, some toasted pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries and dried apples held together with a mixture of brown sugar, brown rice syrup and a little water. While these are super tasty, they are also super sticky. It’s easy to lose a filling, if you catch my drift.

And lastly, I took my first trip to the Asian market today. I was really, really scared to go- fear of the unknown, I suppose- but it wasn’t that bad. I can now imagine what it must be like for a meat-eater to think of going vegetarian. My fear of going to the Asian market may be similar to what a meat-eater may experience when considering vegetarianism. It all makes sense now.

It was different, to say the least. I couldn’t understand many of the labels, the smell was a combination of seafood and urine (at least that’s what it smelled like- I’m sure there wasn’t any urine among the food products), and some of the items were bizarre (dried sardines, some strange yam products). Nothing that I’ve ever experienced before, but I will go back. I spent the first part of my trip wandering up and down the aisles. I now know pretty much where everything that I may want to buy is, so next time will be quick and more familiar. I was able to find the things I needed for dinner and everything was extremely inexpensive. By far the best thing, though was this bag of candy:

You can see at the top the big banner spelling out “healthy.” I’m not sure what that refers to, exactly, as the list of ingredients is as follows: “corn syrup, sugar, coconut fat, gelatin, dehydrated fruit juice, citric acid, gum arabic, natural and artificial colors and flavorings added.” I know that the addition of gelatin means that this is not a vegan product, but I was dying of curiosity. I had to know what this “healthy” candy tasted like. It’s really not that great; sort of tastes like a Now-and-Later or a Mamba.

I remember going to the circus as a kid.  At the time, it was truly entertaining- I wasn’t old enough to think how unnatural it is for an elephant, bear, lion, tiger, etc. to do tricks.  It’s not only unnatural, it’s unbelievably cruel.  If you’ve ever been to the circus, did you ever stop and think about how trainers get the animals to do those tricks?  I can assure you that it is torturous and is not something you want your money supporting.  If you don’t believe me, you can watch this video to see for yourself.

The reason for this rant is because I just learned that Ringling Brother’s is coming our way and absolutely loathe Ringling Brother’s and other circuses like them.  If you want to do something to help animals in circuses, click here and consider supporting animal-free circuses as an alternative to circuses like Ringling Brother’s.  There happens to be one in San Jose, for those of you in my neck of the woods.

I came across this article and thought I’d share. I also stumbled upon this blog by accident, which is where I saw this article and the blog is hilarious!  Check it out.

I must say that since going vegan, my once brittle and flimsy fingernails are so strong that I have to cut and file them now (instead of them breaking off the minute they get longer than the end of my finger). Amazingly, I also no longer suffer from eczema. I used to get patches of it on my elbows and occasionally on my legs, but I haven’t had any eczema problems since eliminating dairy and eggs. Amazing!

Our menu for the rest of the week has consisted of leftovers. Good for using up food before it gets stinky; bad for blogging.

Amy watched Emma for us yesterday evening while Matt and I went to the movies and dinner. The last movie we had seen together was Sicko back in July, so this was a real treat for us. It was also my first vegan dining experience, and I had to say that it went pretty smoothly.

We hadn’t planned to go any place special for dinner, but wound up at Margarita’s in downtown Redwood City. Their menu had 3 vegetarian options and Matt opted for the spinach enchiladas. They came topped with tomatillo sauce and cheese (although he ordered his without the cheese). None of the vegetarian options looked that appealing to me, so I asked if I could have veggie fajitas instead of chicken or shrimp ones. Not only was it a possibility, but it totally exceeded my expectations. I had expected to get fajita fixing’s minus the meat (i.e. onions and bell peppers), but got a huge plate full of onions, bell peppers, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, and yellow squash. I did my best to veganize my meal, but I had to turn a blind eye to the rice and beans. I was assured that they were vegetarian, but I have a suspicion that the rice may have had a little butter in it. Oh well. I can only do my best and I can’t be the veg police at restaurants that cater to meat eaters. One thing that did happen, and it was my mistake, was that my beans came topped with a bunch of cheese. I should have specified no cheese, but I forgot. It wasn’t that big of a problem, though, since I just scooped all the cheese off to the side and ate the uncheesied beans.

So far, so good with eating out. Matt always teases me saying that I’ll never be able to eat out again, but I think it’s do-able if you don’t mind customizing the menu options.