Banana Bread

I woke up this morning to a few fruit flies around the bananas which means only one thing... banana bread! It's one of my favorite things to make as you can add nuts, or not or choc chips... the possibilities are endless! So of course, I whip out one of my trusty vegan cookbooks and looked up a recipe.

Banana Bread "How It All Vegan"...again
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3 ripe bananas, mashed
1tbsp lemon juice (forgot I had a fresh lemon so used half water and half apple cider vinegar)
1/2 c oil
1/2 c sweetener ( I used pure cane sugar)
3/4 cupped chopped dates (I wasn't sure about this one as I've never eaten a date but you didn't even notice them really)
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c wheat germ-excellent source of b vitamins, calcium, iron, protein for a veggie (I didn't have any so I used flax seeds)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 375. Mash nanas until mushy, then add lemon juice, oil, sweetener and dates. Stir very well. (I say very well as one time I didn't stir very well the nanas weren't thoroughly mixed which made for a really cruddy banana bread.) In a seperate bowl, whisk or sift together the flour, wheat germ, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add banana mixture to flour and mix together until just barely mixed. I then folded in a couple handfuls of semi-sweet choc chips. Overmixing is another cause for really cruddy nana bread. Pour into lightly oiled loaf pan (I sprinkled more choc chips across the top of the loaf) and bake for 40-50 min.

Roasted Vegetables

The roasted vegetables was a very simple recipe and as it has tofu, makes a fairly decent entree. One thing about tofu if you haven't cooked with it before is it's very versitile. Having no flavor of it's own, it takes on whatever flavor it's cooked with. Tofu also comes in different consistencies. Soft- generally for smoothies and sauces and Firm- for stir fires and baking. There are different levels in between but honestly, I've never noticed the difference. It's either really soft or firm, the in between usually just crumbles to soft as well as the firm if your not careful. Always press your tofu before you use it to get out the excess water. Google "pressing tofu" for more info or ask and I'll explain. It's not hard, just a pain.

Kids can also be very finicky with tofu. Tell them its tofu and they split. A good way to introduce tofu to them is splurge and by the tofutti "ice cream" sandwiches in the ice cream section at the store. Or just make it for them mixed with a stir fry, or in this case, roasted veggies. One thing I do need to caution. Always have a back up when making something new for the kiddos. Have them take a little bite of whatever vegan creation you've made and if they don't like it, then nuke a burrito or give them some kind of alternate.

Rustic Roasted Veggies taken from "How It All Vegan" (see sidebar)
(I put a star next to the ingredients I didn't have on hand so it wasn't as exciting but I'm sure it would have tasted really good. )

2-4 medium carrots, chopped*
2-3 medium potatoes, chopped (I quartered red potatoes)
8-10 cloves of garlic, peeled (I used 4 or 5-I got tired after doing 5)
6-8 mushrooms, halved*
1 small yam, cubed*
1/2 lb medium tofu, cubed (I used firm)
2-4 tbsp olive oil (I used canola)
1 tbsp dill, 2 tbsp rosemary, cracked chilis to taste*, (I sprinkled paprika all over it), salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Place veggies and tofu on a cookie sheet or large lasagna pan (I used a 9 X 12 glass casserole pan. I wouldn't recommend a cookie sheet as it would truly be a pain to stir the veggies in) and drizzle the oil over them. Sprinkle with spices and mix together until well incorporated. Bake for 40-60 minutes, stirring every 10 min until potatoes are tender.

Welcome!

I'm not a vegan. I don't pretend to be vegan. Three years ago I was at a standstill for family meals. At that point, we never ate lamb or pork (unless it was canadian bacon on a pizza), rarely ate beef and I was bored with chicken. After all, how many ways can you cook chicken?

Back then I was taking nutrition 101 for my nursing prereqs and I could not have had a better instructor. He was a Naturopathic Physician who passed on his holistic view when it comes to food onto his students. He wasn't a strict vegan, ate fish occasionally, but really advocated thinking about what you eat and how it effects your body. It was around this time I started experimenting with vegan/vegetarian foods. I say experiment as one thing I've learned is not two vegan cookbooks are created the same. It may have a snazzy cover, look good, but the recipes could be absolute crap.

Although my family continued to eat meat, my oldest daughter made the change to vegetarian almost two years ago. As a result at dinner there is always a vegetarian or vegan meal. Yes, I still eat meat but I'm slowly making the switch to give it up almost completely. There are many health benefits that come from eating a diet low in meat, such benefits are even greater if a balanced vegetarian or vegan diet is observed.

One thing I've discovered is that vegan/veggie cooking is that it doesn't have to be complicated and you don't have to eat tofu at every meal. I hope to share tasty recipes I come across in different cookbooks as well as any positive nutrition tidbits that come my way. Any changes that I make in recipes I will put in parenthesis.

On the side bar, I'll list cookbooks that I've tried at least 10 recipes in and loved as well as books relevant to nutrition and food. "What To Eat" by Marion Nestle is an excellent book going into detail how not only our meat but dairy products are made, how to make the best produce choices and even reveals how the make up of supermarkets have an effect on what food we buy. "New Vegetarian Baby" is good even if you don't have children as it is very detailed on nutrition, how much our body, needs of what, and how to get them if you are vegan or vegetarian.