Dessert Trial: Brownies

This afternoon I experimented with a brownie recipe from my new favorite book (a gift from Gitana herself) "Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero (my vegan baking idols). The recipe was fantastic - I almost had to ask my dad to put me in a straightjacket to stop myself from eating the raw batter by the spoonful.

Feeling a little daring, I swirled half a can of soy dulce de leche into the batter before popping it into the oven. Unfortunately, every time I tested the tray and came out with a toothpick-ful of gooey melty caramel, I thought the brownies were taking unusually long to bake and added another five minutes to the timer... And by the time I was satisfied with the consistency of the caramely top, the chocolate goodness underneath had become somewhat cakey.

But the good news is, I won't be using that sneaky dulce for the wedding brownies, so they're doomed to turn out perfectly moist and brownie-like. And I'll be making at least two trays, so there'll be plenty to go around.

I have not yet purchased my professional food camera, so you'll have to settle for these iphone shots for the time being:

vegan brownie bites with dulce de soya swirl

Just eat a piece of meat.

Early last fall, my hair started falling out in clumps. I’m 27.
Washing my hair every day was traumatizing as more and more strands tangled in my fingers.
It must be because I’m vegan. Or so said my father the doctor, my fiance the Inca, and my endocrinologist. Just eat a piece of meat.
I bought expensive shampoo with placenta in it. I’m not sure what type of animal it came from, but at six months before my wedding, and with a frightened look on the Inca’s face every time he looked at my receding hairline for long, I was desperate.
It had to be stress was the consensus. I was changing countries and moving in with my fiance in Peru. That would stress anyone, right?
But it didn’t get better once I started to settle in here. I had a serious problem. Several bloods tests and doctors’ visits, and even a non-vegan week involving red meat, didn’t help.

Around the holidays, I desperately wanted to recreate the feeling in my new home from my old home: warm cookies, a steamy kitchen, and plates of not-so-good-for-you decadence.
I found this RecipeZaar Vegan Oatmeal Raisin recipe – my first time making cookies from scratch – and they were unbeLIEVable AND easy to adapt (added nuts, added cocoa powder, etc.) They had flax as an egg replacer.
I ate so many I felt ill. But my hair loss seemed to slow in those days.

Just say no.

Today was one of those awful moments when, after mentioning several times that I don't eat animal products, an enormous piece of rotisserie chicken on my plate at a family lunch.

I ate the fries and the salad. I was fine. But there were a pair of eyes burning a hole into my plate from across the table. The host was undoubtedly confused as to why I wasn't touching it. And because I sometimes have no spine, I ate 5-6 bites of the chicken and handed the rest off to the Inca during a discrete moment alone at the table.

It's really frustrating. And I feel gross. I'm trying to balance it out with a bowl of cereal and a whole mango for dinner.

I hate being in that position, and I hate not having the spine to say "I'm sorry, I don't eat meat" when the food is in front of me.

Food, Inc.

Add this to your Netflix queues! Fascinating documentary about the food industry...

Dessert Trial

Tonight my parents had some family friends over for dinner. They happen to be vegans, so obviously they became my dessert guinea pigs. I served a sampling of the vegan desserts I prepared earlier this week as a trial run for Gitana's upcoming wedding: chocolate truffles, golden vanilla cupcakes with strawberry buttercream frosting, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Hey, even though the bride lives 3,500 miles away from the pastry chef, somebody's still gotta test the wedding cake (or, in this case, assortment of miniature desserts). I am happy to report that it was a great success! Oblivious to the fact that they were my guinea pigs, the company said, "These are delicious - you can't even tell they're vegan! You should make them for your friend's wedding." Done and done, folks.

chocolate truffles, admired from afar

chocolate truffles, up close and personal

my little army of golden vanilla cupcakes with strawberry buttercream frosting

oatmeal chocolate chip minis

Two more recipes remain to be tested: Brownies and Biscotti B. (I trialed Biscotti A last week. It was a veganized version of my mom's famously popular omnivore biscotti. While they turned out well and disappeared in a matter of days, I'm eager to test this other made-for-vegans recipe. Especially now that I received my shipment of vegan white chocolate chips from veganstore.com) Updates to follow!

Restoring Lost Nutrients

I'd like to share this article, which was sent in one of the Jillian Michaels e-newsletters I receive daily:

Our bodies were made to thrive on the fresh, natural foods that Mother Nature provides. But the longer a food's journey from soil to plate, the more interfering chemical processes it has probably endured along the way. Vital nutrients are lost during that trip — ones that would otherwise have played important roles in your body's healthy metabolism and everyday functioning.

So how do you get back to basics? First of all, ditching the "frankenfoods" for fresh foods is one of the best ways to reap those natural benefits. If you can't pronounce the ingredients in a food, you shouldn't be eating it — period. Second, make sure you're getting the important nutrients your body needs. Don't sacrifice them in the name of a dollar.

(I couldn't agree more! I've been trying to follow the "if you can't pronounce" rule for months. WHY on earth would you put something into your body if you don't know what it is, what it does, etc? I get SO frustrated when my family insists on buying food items from the closer, cheaper, larger grocery chain. That's great that you're saving fifty cents, but you're pouring unnecessary chemicals and shit into your body. I'd rather spend an extra $20 on wholesome, natural food items than spend that $20 on a doctor's visit in thirty years after a lifetime of eating chemical-laden cancer-causing foods. But I digress...)

Here are a few key nutrients to focus on, along with their daily intake amounts as recommended by the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, and food sources that supply them.

Folic acid (400 mcg): Not only has folic acid, or folate, been shown to help lower ACTH, an adrenal hormone that can lead to increased blood pressure, it's also essential it's also essential for any woman of childbearing age — even those not planning on getting pregnant. In case a woman does become pregnant, folic acid will prevent neural tube defects in a fetus that result in brain and nervous system damage.
Food sources: 1/2 cup cooked lentils (179 mcg); 1/2 cup cooked spinach (132 mcg); six spears asparagus (134 mcg)

Niacin (20 mg): Niacin is a heart-healthy superstar because it increases your HDL ("good") cholesterol and lowers your LDL ("bad") cholesterol. It also turns dangerous, tiny LDL particles into larger ones that are less likely to induce heart attacks.
Food sources: 3 ounces tuna (11.3 mg); 3 ounces salmon (8.5 mg); 3 ounces turkey (5.8 mg)
(Note to self, find vegan alternatives for Niacin!)

Vitamin D* (2,000 IU): This baby helps your body regulate its calcium level, boosts immunity, discourages autoimmune conditions (such as chronic inflammation), lowers blood pressure, and may reduce the risk of osteoporosis and breast, colon, and prostate cancers. Not getting enough can negatively affect insulin and glucose levels in people who have type 2 diabetes.
Food sources: 3 ounces canned pink salmon (530 IU); 3 ounces canned sardines (231 IU); 8 ounces milk fortified with vitamin D (98 IU)
(Note to self, find vegan alternatives for Vitamin D too!)

Selenium (70 mcg): Most of the active, fat-burning thyroid hormones (T3) in our bodies are activated when selenium-dependent enzymes help convert inactive T4 to T3 by removing one iodine atom. Selenium also boosts the function of certain enzymes that help the body detox from the effects of environmental pollutants, pharmaceuticals, and radiation. Talk about one green nutrient!
Food sources: 3 ounces crabmeat (41 mcg); 3 ounces shrimp (34 mcg); 2 slices whole-wheat bread (23 mcg)

*The Linus Pauling Institute also recommends 10 to 15 minutes of direct midday sun on arms and legs or face and arms at least three times a week. It still pays to be smart, however, when spending extended periods of time in the sun, as prolonged exposure to direct sunlight has been linked to premature aging of the skin as well as skin cancer.
(Fine by me - I always look better with a little tan anyways!)

And to further illustrate my point, I'd like to present a little comparison for you:

Ingredients in General Mills Fiber One Original Bran Cereal:
Corn Bran, Whole Grain Wheat, Wheat Bran, Corn Starch, Guar Gum, Color Added, Cellulose Gum, Salt, Baking Soda, Corn Oil, Aspartame (Phenylketonurics: contains Phenylalanine), Vitamin E (Mixed Tocopherols) Added to Preserve Freshness.

Ingredients in Nature's Path Organic Smart Bran Cereal:
organic wheat bran, organic oat fiber, organic evaporated cane juice, organic psyllium seed husk, organic barley malt extract, organic oat bran, organic whole oat flour, sea salt.

It only takes a few seconds to scan the ingredients list on the products you buy, but it's well worth the time investment!

You know you're a Type A Hippie when...

... your inner Hippie bakes 36 mini vegan golden vanilla cupcakes with vegan strawberry buttercream frosting... and your inner Type A tracks the nutrition information in order to determine the amount of fat and calories per mini cupcake.

Goals, and our first recipe that couldn't be simpler

As a Type A struggling hippie, I make to-do lists for all of the crunchy, granola-y things I want to do.

So as I sit here sipping a 2.5 liter bottled water infused with 1/2 tsp of freshly grated ginger, swearing that the first sip already helped my migraine (indomitable by prescription meds), I am organizing my list of green/vegan/health projects for Feb. 2010:

1. Make own laundry detergent, dishsoap, and degreaser.
2. Use shampoo less and less.
3. Recycle more and more.
4. Find a less chemically bodywash, or make one.
5. Be more faithful to my yoga routine
6. Be in bed by 10:30 pm.
7. Break the bottled water habit. My stomach should be adapted to boiled Peruvian tap water by now.

Ginger water infusion

About us

Tequila Tanya and Gitana are two Type A 20-somethings exploring their hippie tendencies together through maintaining a vegan diet, attempting greener living, and struggling to figure out their lives in the wake of huge life changes.

This terrifically fastidious yet prone to lolly-gagging and slow living pair of procrastinators met in Paris and spent a year supposedly studying, but largely eating savory and sweet crepes, drinking cheap wine with twist off caps, buying train and plane tickets around Western Europe, and getting piercings in out-of-the-way Barcelona shops.

In the eight years following, their friendship and love for food strengthened and adapted as they each relocated around the US and the world, never living in the same city again until 2008. It was during that brief geographic overlap that in March 2009 Gitana made her first steps from vegetarian to vegan based on health, allergies, and ethics (yes, in that order.) Independently, Tequila Tanya made the same choice around the same time. Together they set out to explore the vegan treasures of New York City, like Red Bamboo, Lula's Sweet Apothecary, Zen Palate, and Blossom.

Health benefits followed: Skin brightened. Stubborn weight dropped. Energy picked up. Bellies were full and hearts were happy. New lifestyles emerged.

There have been temptations, slip-ups, and complications. But Tequila Tanya and Gitana remain faithful to the goal of 100% dietary veganism.

***

Gitana, a freelance journalist, now lives in Peru, where old vegan staples like Morningstar Farms products, and vegan versions of nearly everything, do not exist. But there is tofu.


Meanwhile Tequila Tanya left corporate tech America and spent eight months traveling from the US to Asia, back through the Middle East, and finally regrouping in the Philadelphia area to start T's Sweet [Vegan] Treats.