Vegan Lunch Makeover

I got sick of spending $8-$10 every day on the same three vegan lunch options in downtown Hanover, so I decided to start bringing my own lunch. With a little planning, I eat a much healthier, tastier lunch that amounts to $5 per day.

I use my evenings to do the "Home Preparation" steps, then I bring all of the ingredients into my office the next morning and store them in the Graduate Lounge fridge. At lunch time, I just have to do the "Assembly" steps, which take about 5 minutes.

Easy Vegan Lunch Ideas:

1) Pretentious Sandwich















Serve with: Terra chips (the red beet and sweet potato variety is cheapest and very tasty) and a bottle of Pom (I like the pomegranate lychee green tea)

Grocery List:
Zesty lemon hummus, arugula, red peppers, and Tofutti soy cheese. If you have a bread machine, buy bread flour and yeast (I buy bulk yeast from the fridge section of my grocery store; 1 large container has enough yeast for about 15-20 loaves of bread and costs $1.17). Otherwise, buy a loaf of French bread.

Home Preparation:
Set aside one or two nights each week to roast the red peppers and bake a loaf of bread (if you have a bread machine). Roasting takes about 30 minutes and the roasted peppers will keep for up to 5 days in a Ziplock bag (see instructions for roasting in my "Tapas" entry).

At-Work Assembly:
Place 1-2 slices of soy cheese on bread and toast both sides. Add roasted red peppers, arugula, and zesty lemon hummus.

Cost Per Lunch: $3.00 for Pom + $0.70 for 1/5 of a large bag of Terra chips + $0.35 per Tofutti "cheese" slice + $0.50 for 1/6 of a tub of hummus + $0.40 for 1/3 of a red pepper + $0.50 for 1/3 of a baguette = $5.45


2) Taco Salad

Serve with: Simply Limeade (juice)

Grocery List: Gimme Lean ground "beef," iceberg lettuce, tomato, onion, Tofutti soy sour cream, Vegan Gourmet cheddar, Trader Joe's corn salsa, vegetarian refried beans, Old El Paso taco seasoning

Home Preparation: Fry the Gimme Lean in a small amount of vegetable oil, then add water and Old El Paso taco seasoning. Use a wooden fork to break the faux meat into small pieces. Store in tupperware. Grate the Vegan Gourmet cheddar and place in a Ziplock bag. Chop tomatoes and onions, shred lettuce and also place in Zip Lock bags.

At-Work Assembly: Layer lettuce with chopped veggies, refried beans, faux meat, soy sour cream, grated "cheese," and corn salsa.

Cost Per Lunch : $0.50 for 1/3 can of refried beans + $0.50 for 1/4 tube of Gimme Lean + $0.25 for 1/4 of taco seasoning + $0.50 for 1/6 tub of soy sour cream + $0.75 for 1/6 block of Vegan Gourmet + $0.50 for 1/6 jar of corn salsa + $1.00 for veggies + $1.00 for 1/4 bottle of Limeade = $5.00

Vegan Vacation: Trip to Farm Sanctuary

Ben and I took a trip to Farm Sanctuary (Watkins Glen, NY) in September to visit my adopted sheep Maggie.

On our drive down, we stopped in Northampton, MA to eat lunch at Cafe Evolution. While we were there, we decided to stock up on some of their INCREDIBLE vegan cupcakes:



After about 5 hours of driving, we arrived at our destination: The Log Country Inn Bed and Breakfast. We had originally planned to stay in one of the B&B cabins at Farm Sanctuary but it turned out that they were booked for the entire month of September when we called in mid-August. It worked out just as well. We ended up staying in a beautiful jacuzzi suite:



The proprietress of the Log Country Inn made us a delicious breakfast of vegan blintzes served with different types of jam on the first morning. On the second morning, she made vegan potato pancakes, served with fresh fruit.

We spent the better part of our first full day in upstate NY visiting Farm Sanctuary. First, we went on a VIP tour to see Maggie:

(She's the one with the dark face standing behind me - she was too shy to let me get very closer to her)

Next, we took a group tour of the entire farm. The tour guide explained to us that pigs are bred to have unnaturally white skin (in order to make their meat lighter) so the people working at Farm Sanctuary have to apply sunscreen to the pigs every day so that they don't get sunburned! Ben was so impressed by this that he decided to adopt a pig named Chuck:

(Ben with a pig - not Chuck)

We spent the rest of our trip in Ithaca, walking around Cornell University's campus and exploring the boutiques and hippie stores. There were a number of wonderful vegetarian restaurants in the area (not to mention the fact that almost every restaurant seemed to have a decent vegan option the menu).


Lodging
1) Farm Sanctuary offers its own Bed & Breakfast that has rooms available from May-October. Guests stay in rustic cabins and use restroom facilities in the Visitor Center. The Visitor Center also has a gift shop which has a wide range of vegan snacks available (ranging from granola bars and cookies to extremely decadent chocolate raspberry truffles!). The $85 room rate includes a continental breakfast of vegan pastries and bagels served with juice, fruit, coffee and tea. Reservations fill up quickly, so call early.

2) The Log Country Inn is approximately 40 minutes from Farm Sanctuary by car and its rooms are available year-round. Guests have a variety of rooms and suites to choose from, some of which include lavish jacuzzi baths. The proprietress is more than happy to make vegan breakfasts (she even advertises this on the website). Rooms range from $70 to $200 for two people.

3) The Ginger Cat Bed and Breakfast is located about 15 minutes' drive from Farm Sanctuary and its rooms are available May-October. The Ginger Cat features two guest bedrooms with a shared bathroom. Vegan breakfast is served every morning and a lavish vegan brunch buffet is available on weekends. Rooms are $85 for two people.

Restaurants
1) Moosewood Restaurant - famous for its vegetarian cookbooks, Moosewood always has a couple of vegan items on the menu.
2) Pizza Aroma - makes pizza with Vegan Gourmet soy cheese
3) ABC Cafe - cute vegetarian cafe/bar on Cornell campus
4) Great Escape Ice Cream Parlor - ice cream parlor that has soft-serve soy ice cream!
5) Everything Wellness Bookstore and Raw Foods Cafe - raw foods cafe in downtown Ithaca

Lemon Risotto

I grew up eating a lot of risotto (my family is Italian), so I've been working on making a vegan version of the risotto that mom used to make. Risotto is actually a pretty easy dish to veganize. Arborio rice has a naturally creamy texture after you boil it, so you don't really need to add cheese to get the right consistency. That said, if you still feel the urge to add non-dairy cheese, make sure that it's a mild-flavored brand that actually melts (try Chicago Soydairy's Teese or Vegan Gourmet in the mozzarella or monterey jack varieties).

Lemon Risotto

Ingredients
1/2 stick soy margarine (I use Earth Balance)
3 shallots finely chopped
white wine (I just use whatever is in the fridge)
zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
1 1/4 cup arborio rice
3 cups approx. veggie stock
1/2 TBSP chopped fresh thyme
1 cup frozen peas
salt, pepper, nutmeg
OPTIONAL: 1 package White Wave chicken-style seitan, chopped into small pieces
OPTIONAL: 2 oz soy mozarella, grated (I used Vegan Gourmet mozarella, but I think that the Chicago Soydairy Teese would have worked even better)

Directions
1. Melt half of the soy margarine and cook the shallots in the margarine until soft. Add about 1 cup of white wine, and half of the lemon zest. Boil until wine is reduced and pan appears almost empty of liquid.

2. Pour in the rice and coat each piece with soy margarine and shallots. Add veggie stock (about 1/2 cup at a time) until approximately 3 cups have been absorbed by the rice. It should take about 20-30 minutes.

3. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, remaining soy margarine and lemon zest, thyme, lemon juice and (OPTIONAL) soy cheese.

4. Add peas and (OPTIONAL) seitan and stir until the peas are heated.

Gifts For Vegans

I meant to publish this post around the holidays, but instead I got busy with studying for my qualifying exams. Most of the items in this list aren't too specific to December 2008, so I thought it might still be useful for people who regularly puzzle over what to get for their favorite vegans. This list mostly reflects things I've thought about giving to vegan friends or neat gifts that I have received.

Lola's Guide To Vegan Holiday Gifts

1) Adopt an animal from Farm Sanctuary.
Pros: Your contribution covers the cost of caring for the adopted animal for one year, which your vegan friend can visit at any time. He/she will receive a photo of the adopted animal along with a biography detailing how it ended up at Farm Sanctuary. Your friend will feel good knowing that your gift is enabling a farm animal to live a better life.

Cons: Kind of pricey (chickens start at $120/year, and cows are as high as $600)

2) Buy a Vegan Cookbook.
Pros: Vegans end up cooking for themselves more often than non-vegans, so cookbooks are always useful. Some of my old favorites include: The Candle Cafe Cookbook, The Voluptuous Vegan, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. There are also a couple of exciting new cookbooks that came out in the past 6 months that your vegan friend may not have gotten around to buying for themselves yet: Vegan Lunch Box, Vegan A Go-Go! and Great Chefs Cook Vegan.

Vegan Lunch Box is especially great for parents who are trying to raise their children vegan. It contains tons of great meal ideas that can be packed in a lunch box.

Vegan A Go-Go! is a wonderful pocket-sized cookbook for the frequent traveler. It contains lots of recipes that use minimal ingredients and travel tips and a guide on how to say "I'm vegan" in a couple of different languages.

Great Chefs Cook Vegan is a compilation of vegan recipes from some of the most famous chefs in the US. The pictures are mouthwateringly beautiful but the recipes themselves are very time-intensive and often require special equipment/ingredients. I like to keep this one on my coffee table to show people who visit my house that even haute cuisine can be vegan.

Cons: There aren't THAT many vegan cookbooks out there, so there's a chance that your friend might already have the one that you end up buying.

3) Send a Gift Basket of Vegan Goodies
Pros: These are available on a number of websites (I usually order them from Pangea) and will be sent right to your vegan friend's house or workplace.

Cons: Less personal. Also, sometimes the products contained therein can be a little strange.

4) Cruelty-Free Fashion
Pros: There are a huge number of non-leather belts, wallets, purses and shoes on the market these days. Buy your female vegan friend a cute purse from Matt & Nat or a pair of vegetarian shoes from Endless.com. Buy your male vegan friend a belt or wallet from MooShoes. These presents all wrap well and provide instant gratification.

Cons: Unless you know your friend's tastes in fashion very well, this gift could end up in the back of his or her closet.

5) Gift Certificate
Pros: These days, you can get gift certificates to vegan cooking classes, restaurants, online grocery stores, Bed and Breakfasts... There are nice gift options in every price range.

Cons: Again, fairly impersonal.

Coconut Seitan With Pineapple-Mango Marmalade

My brother gave me the "You Won't Believe It's Vegan" cookbook for Christmas. I finally got a chance to try out a recipe from it the other day and I was pretty happy with how well it came out. The cookbook recommends serving the seitan with coconut yams. I didn't have a huge amount of time to prepare dinner, so I just served it with rice.

Coconut Seitan

Ingredients:
Seitan (it's fairly easy to make, but I was feeling lazy so I bought 2 of the blue packages of White Wave seitan)
Canola oil (for frying)

Pineapple-Mango Marmalade
1 cup chopped fresh pineapple
1/2 ripe mango, pitted, peeled and diced
1/2 cup red onion, diced
1 TBSP extra-virgin olice oil
1/2 tsp minced fresh sage, or 1/4 tsp dried
1 medium-sized roasted red pepper (see instructions for roasting in Panzanella recipe below)
4 tsps agave nectar
1 TBSP rice vinegar
1 1/2 tsps fresh lemon juice
Pinch of Red Hawaiian Sea Salt

Dredging Mixture
1/2 cup Brazil nuts
3/4 cup grated coconut
1/2 tsp sea salt
Pinch of black pepper
Pinch of paprika

Wash
1 cup coconut milk
2 TBSPS vegan mayo

Make Pineapple-Mango Marmalade:
1. In a saucepan, place all marmalade ingredients and cook over medium heat until bubbling, stirring.

2. Turn down the heat and continue to stir, cooking for 15-20 minutes, or until the mixture has thickened slightly.

3. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool, to let the flavors marry.

Make the Dredging Mixture:
1. Grind Brazil nuts in a food processor until crumbly.

2. Add the coconut, flour, salt, pepper, and paprika, and pulse for 1 more minute to incorporate.

3. Transfer the mixture to a shallow pan.

Make the Wash:
1. In another shallow pan, whisk together the coconut milk and vegan mayo.

Make the Seitan:
1. Dip the seitan slices in the wash, then coat each slice thoroughly in the dredging mixture to end up with a fairly dry piece of coated seitan.

2. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat until hot. Test by tossing a crumb of dredging mixture into the oil - if it bubbles, the oil is ready.

3. Gently slip pieces of seitan into the oil and fry until golden. Transfer to paper towels to drain.

"Cheese" Tartines

When I went vegan six years ago, the only widely-available "cheese" options lacked flavor, had a plastic texture and came in two colors. Recently, there has been an explosion of new vegan cheese products on the market. Thanks to companies like Pangea, people everywhere (at least in the US) have the opportunity to cook with vegan blue cheese, smoked "cheddar" and soy mozzarella that actually melts (!)

Here are a few appetizers that I made using some of these exciting new products:

Seared Pear and Blue Cheese Tartines

Ingredients:
French Bread, sliced and toasted
Bosc pears, sliced and seared in a pan with soy margarine and Riesling
Sheese Vegan Blue Cheese, thinly sliced
Balsamic glaze (I like Blaze)

Cashew Cheese and Lingonberry Tartines

Ingredients:
Carr's Whole Wheat Crackers
Dr. Cow's Tree Nut Cheese (possibly the best vegan cheese ever!)
Swedish Lingonberry Jam

Potage Au Pistou

I found this recipe in Vegetarian Times (Jan/Feb 2008) and adapted it for vegans:

Potage Au Pistou

Potage
2 Tbsps unsalted soy margarine
2 medium leeks, white and green parts chopped
1/4 cup dry white wine
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 large russet potato, peeled and diced
4 medium carrots, chopped
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
4 cups vegetable broth

Pistou
1 cup firmly packed basil leaves
1/4 cup walnuts
1 clove garlic, peeled
1/4 cup olive oil

1. To make Potage: Melt soy margarine in sauce pan over medium heat. Add leeks and a pinch of salt. Cover and cook for 5-7 minutes or until leeks are softened, stirring often. Stir in wine and garlic and cook, uncovered, 1 to 2 minutes, or until most liquid has been evaporated.

2. Add potato, carrots, thyme, bay leaf, broth and 2 cups of water. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes or until potato and carrots are soft.

3. Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaf. Puree soup in a blender or food processor until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

4. To make Pistou: Place basil, walnuts and garlic in blender. Pulse to combine. Pour in oil and blend until smooth. Add water if necessary to form smooth paste. Season with salt and pepper. Serve dollop on top of Potage.