The Condiment Chronicles :: Vegan Mayo De-Classified

The word is out. The mystery is solved. The myth de-bunked. You CAN make delicious mayo at home, cheap, without bothering any hens! (graphic)

Who knew it was this easy? Vegan Epicurean knew!

After reading the article with the original recipe about what she did, Here's what I did:

I went to BigLots and got a $2 bottle of canola oil, so this was REALLY cheap. I used one cup of oil (50c) and a 1/2 cup of soy milk ($3.50 for a 1/2 gallon, even cheaper when I make the soymilk myself) and the price of the spices and salt. That isn't very expensive to make over a cup of mayo.

Vegan Mayonnaise on the Cheap!

1 1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup plain soy milk (very slightly sweet so I left out the sweetener called for in the original recipe)

1/4 tsp vinegar

1 tbs lemon juice 

1/2 tsp salt

Put all in blender with whatever seasonings you want (I used 1/2 tsp dried mustard but you should adjust the salt, sweetness and tartness to your personal taste. It's only as good as you spice it)

If you have a high speed blender you should be able to whip this up in about 30 seconds. With a regular blender, you may have to mix longer.

Makes about a cup and a half of mayo

Scrape the mayo into a jar with a tight lid and store in the fridge. 

I will let you know how long it stores sometime in the future! It should last as long as the milk is good and when it's mixed with vinegar, salt and oil I think the milk should last a while in the fridge. We'll see. Let me know if you find out first!

Create Less Waste By Keeping a Paperless Kitchen

I've lived so long with out paper towels that I had to click on this link to understand what the title meant:

How to Create A Paperless Kitchen

Paperless is very natural for me. Reading this article made me realize that it's important to share how I keep my successful, paperless kitchen with others. It's important for all of us to cut down on waste in any way we can.

I don't have babies or dogs so it's much easier for us, two grown ups who really aren't very messy and one 9yo boy (who is naturally messy but certainly not a toddler, if you know what I mean).

The best tips for a paperless kitchen:

1 Have an abundant amount of cloth towels of various sizes and absorbency.

2 Have the towels and napkins in very strategic locations around the house.

3 Encourage everyone to use them. Old habits die hard

The above along with the cooperation of all household members are absolutely necessary for paperless to work.


Here are the stations of the towels:

1 Basket of kitchen towels that sub for paper towels and for drying dishes, storing greens, etc.















2 Washcloths for the dishes (no disposable sponges, either).














I buy wash cloths at Big Lots. Usually 3 for a $1 more or less. They are a great all purpose wash, wipe, dab, dry, dust, polish or use as a tissue or napkin. I usually have more in the stack than shown in this photo, they are in the dryer now.


3 Basket of cloth napkins by the main eating table within easy reach of at least two people siting at the table.














These "top shelf" cloths are used as napkins and for smaller drips at the table. For bigger messes there are more hearty towels in the middle basket and "company" napkins in the bottom (you notice there aren't many company napkins). I got ALL of those napkins at thrift stores, usually about 3 for a dollar. I keep my eyes open and buy them when I see pretty ones I like.

4 We don't use paper tissues (kleenex) either and everyone has a little pile of washcloths or hankies by their beds.















If you need a tissue and you aren't in your bedroom, go ahead and grab a napkin and when you are done with it just put it right in the laundry basket by the washer, thanks. Everyone also has a basket in their room for laundry.

Thanks for reading and please tell me your thoughts on a paperless kitchen! Be sure to read the article I linked it's got a lot of great tips.

How to cook Perfect Rice on an Electric Stove

This works for white rice or quinoa.


Perfect Rice

Put one cup rice or quinoa in a large sauce pan or pot.
Add 2 cups cold water
Bring to a boil
Turn the burner off but leave the pan on the burner and put a tight lid on the pan.
Leave the pan for 20 min or longer, no worry of it burning and you have perfect rice whenever you need it!
Fluff, reheat if necessary and serve with curry, chili, beans, gravy, or use for stuffing, vegan meatloaf or patties, soups, salads, sidedishes, breakfast dinner, lunch, brunch or just a snack!

PS: You must use an electric stove. I don't know how to make perfect rice on a gas stove :)

Food and the plants they come from...

Dinner last night

Clockwise: vege bread, butter lettuce, salad made from grape tomatoes, broccoli, avocado and I can't remember what else, leftover carrot curry salad, and a meatloaf that I made.
















The meatloaf was a franken-sort of thing. I made a seitan sausage that came out all wrong. I forgot the salt and the foil split while the thing was cooking so it puffed up instead of staying all dense the way the sausage should. Boo.
So I took a huge hunk of it and ground it up fine in the FP. Then I added and onion, some vege pulp, pecans, and some barbecue sauce, a wee bit of olive oil. I can't remember what other seasonings. I baked it in my silicone loaf pan for about 2 hours at 350F, covered, then let it cool to room temp. I baked it for another half hour at 400, uncovered. Yum.

Here it is in a butter lettuce leaf ready to be eaten by me.















Both of these salads were REALLY GOOD

















****************
PLANTS!!

I got a tomato plant from the Eco Store which is on east main. I couldn't find a online listing for it but I didn't look really hard. I don't think I have the name right.














Anyway, I bought a tomato plant and some swiss chard today, cheap.
I put the tomato in the Topsy Turvy that I bought months ago.


Swiss Chard
















My lily is blooming.































The new starts.
















A carrot top, rooting.

















My celery, rooting. It's growing a lot of leaves!

















Tonight for dinner is cabbage soup and something. Baked potatoes, maybe.

Cheers!

Every Day Should Be This Nice. I Love Mondays

The house is quiet.

The cat is gone for her mid morning nap under the bed.

I woke up at 6:15 and drank 12oz water with a shot of ACV. Then I got the boy's lunch packed and made his breakfast. While he ate I had about 30 oz juice, celery, beet greens and ginger.

I didn't get a photo, so imagine a pink juice here

After I put the boy on the bus, I did yoga; stretching and balance. I stayed on the mat 45 minutes. Down dog. How I love you.

Then I went out and did some gardening i love saying that I planted the pansys in the front flower bed.















I got 8 and was going to put 4 on each side but 4 looked skimpy so I put all eight on the side that gets the most sunlight.














View from the inside



I watered the pots of toms and zukes and transplanted the blueberry bush into a giant pot.
















While soaking the dirt in the pot and mixing it up real good, I found three cigarette butts, a screw in metal hook, like you would hang a plant, and a walnut. I'm going to check the walnut later and if it's good, I'll eat it, hehe. I like playing in the dirt.

One blueberry, three tomato plants, two summer squash, green and yellow.















I watered the indoor herb garden














Another angle. Yes, you can see a face in that rock.














It seems to be coming along all right. From left to right, sage, basil, chives, parsley.


Then I made a green smoothie with avocado, banana, lemon, beet greens, BrainOn and Renew Me, kale and collard and the pulp from this mornings juice. I poured half of that in a glass, drank it, and then went back to the rest in the blender, added more water, some dates and fresh mint I found in the yard.
















I blended it all again and now I'm writing this and having a sweet, spicy, minty, creamy green smoothie. It's 11am and quite a nice start to the day so far.

There are many different Cat Diets. Dammit.

No, not a diet of all cats. What am I gonna feed these cats. They are eating the kibble they came with right now but I want to get them on a more wholefood diet.

As is the case with people doctors, animal doctors get very little training in nutrition. Most of what they learn they learn from cat food company reps. Even IAMS and Science Diet are crap. I cannot with a clean conscience feed my new babies grain fillers and animal digest.

So, the search begins. First there are plenty of cooked recipes I could make at home. Rice or oats, ground beef or chicken,* liver or heart, (eeewww), vegetable oil and iodized salt. I could do that. Make a weeks worth and freeze it. Simple.
Then there is the BARF diet which is raw food, including meat, bones, eggs, greens and fruit.
And then there is Raw Meaty Bones.

And it's making my head spin.

Big White is out and walking around. Little Black is hiding somewhere. BW likes to sleep in the cupboard under the sink in the laundry room bathroom. I figured that out when I heard the door open and shut and he wandered out of te bathroom. Sneaky, he thinks. So I moved all the chemical cleaners that I never use and put the blanket that came in his carrier in the cupboard.

LB, I don't know where she is. We were told that the BW was shy and would probably hide for a week and that LB was the more outgoing and would be all over us. Not that the exact opposite is true, but it's not like I expected it at all. I woke up last night and LB was sleeping next to my bed, on top of my sweatshirt. BW has come back to the bedroom but he just stuck his head in hissed and left. Ok. lol.
I thought they were supposed to be housemates, been together all their lives, etc but they don't seem to like each other at all. Maybe it's some sort of alpha/beta pack behavior, I don't know. I hope all out cat fighting doesn't break out. It's a big house, they could both live the rest of their lives here and practically never see each other if they wanted it that way.
I now have a litter box in two bathrooms and food and water at both ends of the house. I suppose we will all evolve into a daily routine eventually. Sigh.

Footnotes:

*I know, but cats really are obligate carnivores. I hope to eventually get them on a mostly vegan diet but for now, they will be eating animals. I wonder where one would purchases ground mouse...?

Photos of Cats

Big white cat does not approve. Will stay in laundry room until conditions improve.














Smaller black and white cat is cool if it's just you in the room. The boys are very loud and obnoxious and make her long for the hole in the bottom of your box spring















Baby girl hid in the back bedroom and Big white is still holed up in the laundry, but not behind the dryer.

Both have access to food, water and litter.
This is better than I thought they would do on day one.

Yay. I have two kitties.

MLK DAY 2009

Good morning.

The boy is home today. MLK is a school holiday.

We got some hair clippers yesterday and today I gave him a nice clipper cut. 1 inch all over his head. It looks neat and tidy and he likes it that way.
It will save him a good ten minutes every morning doing his hair. His bed head is legendary.

Unfortunately, he also has a bit of a cold so I am trying to keep him quiet and pumping juice. Commercial apple juice, but it is 100% juice. He won't try juice that I make and since I'm off sweet fruit, I don't foresee making any. Now he's having a bagel with Nutella. Not vegan. He doesn't care.

I sometimes get really sad because I know they don't want to stop using dairy products. I don't think I will ever be able to keep a vegan kitchen. Death and sadness flavor everything I eat, even if I don't actually eat the dairy and eggs.
When we were shopping yesterday, the man mentioned that dairy didn't kill cows and I set him straight. I explained the whole process of dairy: rape, pregnancy, abduction of the calves from the mother to be made veal and die young, or to become dairy cows and suffer the same fate as their mother and then be slaughtered after a life of slavery, right there in the health food section. And I didn't whisper.

I hope someone heard me and thinks about it. I hope the man heard me and thinks about it.

We also went to the feed store. We got some seeds and some starter trays. I got a bunch of herbs, oregano, basil, and some marigolds. The man got a few varieties of tomatoes. I haven't ever had my own garden and I don't think he has either. We are both very excited about growing and eating our own tomatoes and herbs. This is year one.

What came in the Mail?

DING DONG! I got a package!















YAY! it's my new DEHYDRATOR!!














It's beautiful. Thank you so much for this! I will make you good foodies with this, baby.














Here's the back














And in it's new home...
Friggin Awesome.













I mean, really friggin awesome.

Anyone need an old Ronco with 7 trays? I will give it to you for the price of shipping...














It's well used but a good starter. It makes you think about things, which is fun.
There is a crack in the lid and I won't lie to you, it's not gonna last much longer.















Leave me a comment if you are interested (i won't hold my breath, don't worry :) it will be waiting in the cold, cold garage with the spiders and the fog machine.

Raw Vegan Sesame Flax Vegetable Crunchy Munchie Snack Crackers Sandwich Bread Pizza Crust RAW RECIPE!!!

When you become a vegetarian it seems like you are cutting a lot of things from your diet. Until you really get into it. Then you realize you have barely opened the top drawer of REAL, Cruelty-free food there is out there!

I quit eating bread, pasta and all things cooked grain long before I went vegan.

I started eating apples instead of crackers. A couple of apples and hummus or some nice goat cheese was a typical lunch or dinner for me.

Then one day I heard about these:













I have been making them since I moved up here but I don't think I have written about them until now, so here we go!

OOwee! Inspired by Isle Dance I have made a batch of green AND brown/red crackers

The green ones are made from pulp left over from juicing celery, parsely, cucumbers and some garlic. The orange-y ones are carrot and the reddish ones are sun dried tomato and red bell pepper.

These are simple to make.
You know I never measure anything, but here are the ingredients:

Whole Flax seeds
Sesame seeds
whatever vege or pulp you have laying around from juicing
a bit of salt
garlic or onion or hing or oregano or whatever seasoning you wish.*
a little water
Food process them up to a doughy consistency and spread on a sheet of parchment paper. I put them in the oven at the lowest heat for about 1 hour then flip them and put back for one more hour.

Then transfer them to the deyhdrator until crispy.**

Make a big batch. Once they are dried they keep in the freezer almost indefinitely. I usually (try to) make enough for a week or more at a time. ***

They are great guilt free munchies for those moments when you want SOMETHING but don't quite know what. They are a great transitioning food. E loves them! I haven't been able to get the boy to try them yet, :(

I make larger ones for sandwich bread and round ones for pizza crusts. Great for a quick lunch or dinner idea!














Spread on some seed cheese or vege pate, add sliced bell peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, sprouts, soaked sundried tomatoes, whatever catches your fancy!

I am sure you can find better recipes for RAW FLAX CRACKERS on the internet, but I hope this can be an inspiration to you.


Footnotes
* you could also make them sweet, I suppose. I haven't tried that yet.

** I heat these at 170F so they may not be considered 100% raw. They can be made in a dehydrator at a temp of 125 or lower for a few hours, flipped and left overnight until crispy
*** They do get eaten fast. I've never been able to make a batch last more than a week!

French Fries ::OR:: One Way to get a Vegetable into a Picky Eater

The boy is 8. He will not eat any vegetable. He likes fruit so I encourage him to eat as much as possible, replacing his usual go gurt or slice of processed cheese with apples, kiwis and clementines whenever I can.

He has been completely cut off from fast food since I got here. As far as I know, anyway.
He misses it and asks for it a lot. Esp when we are out driving and he sees the places.

He and I watched a television show one time and the parents sneaked veges in the children's food with a blender. He asked me why I don't hide veges in his food, but it's hard to hide a vege in a chicken breast. At least it's frozen chicken breaded and baked at home now.

Today I was thinking of how to get a vege into him and french fried potatoes dawned on me.

Peeled them and cut them in Mc fry shape, grease a pan (i used the last few drops in a flax oil bottle but olive would work) with about a tbs of oil for each two potatoes, lay them out evenly, so they aren't touching, sprinkle with salt if desired and baked them at 350F for approx 25 min (the timer died in the middle of the batch)














I almost didn't make it in time with the camera.

And I was told I need to make more.

Success.

I Made Raw Sauerkraut and YOU Can, Too!

Sauerkraut is very good for you and very tasty too.
It is made by a process of lacto-fermentation. You can read more about it here


You will need a quart or larger GLASS jar with a lid and a sharp knife and cutting board or food processor and a large bowl.

Ingredients:

Cabbage
Salt














Chop cabbage in to ribbons. Put it in a large bowl with some salt. I used 1 tbs but next time I will use less.
Pound the cabbage and salt until the juice comes out of the cabbage. This takes about ten minutes.














I used the handle of my large cleaver. It worked pretty well.

Pack the cabbage into the jar. This is an old pickle jar. Keep putting cabbage in and packing it. The jar holds more than you think it might.














Make sure all the cabbage is underneath the liquid so it doesn't get dried out.
Leave one inch of space at the top of the jar, the contents will swell during fermentation

Place one whole leaf, cut to size on top of the jar














This is what is looks like:















Leave it at room temp for three days, or until it tastes as "sour" as you want it.
Don't tighten the lid all the way, because, rarely, the gasses that occur during fermentation can cause the jars to pop. It's not a dangerous explosion, but the jars crack and it makes a mess, is all.

You can see the change in color from fresh green to a pale yellow.














Discard the whole leaf from the top and store the jar, with the lid tight, in the fridge. Keep the sauerkraut pushed below the liquid level so that it does not dry out.

EAT!!















Once made, sauerkraut is a very safe food because its high acidity prevents spoilage. USDA also recommends pasteurizing sauerkraut for storage. This is not necessary if the raw sauerkraut has been properly made and stored, and will needlessly diminish the nutritional value. A slimy or excessively soft texture, discoloration, or off-flavor may indicate spoilage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauerkraut

A Raw Vegan Micro Garden You Can Grow at Home! Growing Sprouts 101!

I sprouted some sunflower seeds.


Sunflower sprouts at 2 days.














It's quite easy.
What you need:

A clean empty jar. A mayonnaise jar is the perfect size. You could also use a drinking glass if you don't have a jar. It should have a WIDE mouth so you can get the sprouts out when they are grown.
A piece of cheesecloth or any thin cloth or a clean nylon stocking will work, too. Just cut the foot off.
A rubber band to hold the cloth on the top of the jar.
a pan or bowl to store
Raw seeds
Pure water
A cool dark place

What to do:

1 put the seeds in the jar. I think that is about a 16 oz jar and I put in a handful of seeds.

2 add pure water, put the cloth on top of the jar, secure it with the rubber band and let them soak for 4-8 hours. The warmer it is where you are, the shorter the soak time will need to be.

3 after soaking rinse the seeds until the water runs clear. You should have the cloth on top of the jar and just run the pure water in and pour it out. Very easy.















4 Get a pan or bowl in which you can prop the jar upsidedown in a cool, dark place, like a cupboard or under the table. Somewhere safe.














5 Rinse in the above described manner twice a day until you are ready to eat them. You may notice a slight sour smell when you rinse. This is fine and the sour smell will rinse away. If the smell is very strong or smells "bad", like rotten, compost them.

6 When you get them to the stage you like eat them!

7 store them in an air tight container in the fridge and they will wait there for you up to 7 days. Compost them if they start to smell bad, turn color or are just too wilty. Fresh is best, eat them as soon as you can.
















When are they ready to eat?

They are ready to eat after the first initial soak! This super short soak germinates the seeds and makes them a living food. The protien and fat turn to carbohydrate and it becomes more of a vegetable than a nut!
You should taste the seeds every time you rinse them so you can decide when the perfect flavor is for you.
When the "tails" start getting longer and you start to see actual leaves, then they are about as old as they need to be and will start getting tough.

If you are making a recipe and it calls for sprouted sunflower seeds, they should look about the way they do in these photos, which is two days old.















"Sprouts grow practically anywhere; flourish in any climate, during any season of the year; need neither soil nor sunshine; are ready for harvest in 2-5 days; taste delicious raw or cooked; have no waste; and are so nutritious that they are one of the most complete foods known to man, rivaling meat in protein and citrus fruits in vitamin C at a fraction of the cost." (Northrup King Co., Consumer Products Division)

Carrot Cantaloupe Smoothie

Terrible photo, wonderful drink!













Next time you get a cantaloupe (or some other kind of sweet melon) save the seeds and pulp that you scoop out of the inside.

Keep them in the fridge and the next morning you can have this lovely smoothie:

Put the seeds and pulp of one melon into the blender * with about a cup of filtered water.
Blend well and strain with colander, cheesecloth, nut milk bag, whatever

Put the strained seed juice back in the blender and add one chopped small carrot 4 dates and 2 ice cubes.

Blend the blue blazes out of it, pour in your favorite glass and, oh, my is that goooood!

* That link is to the Eating Bender site where they are having a blender give away. I entered, you should to. Even if you don't want the Vita-Mix blender, you could give it to me. :)

Simply Raw - Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days

Type 1 and type 2 diabetes can be reversed with raw food diet.

Watch the full length documentary movie. (Simply Raw, 1:31)

Homemade Laundry Detergent For Washing Your Dainty Underthings on the Cheap DIY Off the Grid

I made my own laundry detergent, mostly because I don't like the heavy perfumes in most commercial detergents.











I used a bar of this:















Two cups of this:















I grated the Zote in the food processor, then added the Borax and chopped it all together in the FP.

I have seen a few recipes online and they all called for washing soda. I couldn't find washing soda, so I made it without. I washed a load of laundry, jeans and colored t shirts, a towel, and they came out clean and soft.















I store it in a small, lidded trash bin, lined with a plastic bag to help keep it dry.

The receipt below reads: 2c Borax, 1b Soap. $2.19, 60 loads, 1Tbs/load