Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Red Pepper Seitan

So in a continued effort to provide real vegan content instead of just talking about vegan, I present you with tonight's dinner.

This little scorcher of a dish has a ton o' spice, but it's also a good dish to serve to unsuspecting guests whose mouth you want to burn. See...it's called red pepper chicken because of the red bell pepper AND the red pepper flake. Most unsuspecting guests won't realize the heat floating around in the sauce...until it's too late.

Red Pepper Seitan
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 2 medium carrots, sliced into coins
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1/2 medium white onion, diced
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce + 2 tablespoons
  • 1 teaspon pepper
  • 1/2 tablespoon garlic
  • 2 tablespoons red pepper flake
  • 1 package of seitan cut into 1/2 inch pieces
  • 1/2 tablespoon corn starch
  1. Place a skillet over medium heat. When hot, add two tablespoons of olive oil.
  2. Add the carrots, red pepper, and onion and cook until the carrots begin to soften.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix all but two tablespoons of the soy sauce, the pepper, garlic, and red pepper flake.
  4. Add the soy sauce, spices, and seitan to the skillet and boil the seitan until it is soft.
  5. Mix the remaining the soy sauce and corn starch to form a slurry and add it to the skillet. Mix well.
  6. The sauce should begin to thicken. Once it is thickened, serve over rice noodles.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Angel and Devil on My Shoulder

When I weighed myself this morning, the scale dutifully reported that I had gained 5 pounds!! So much for there being no such thing as an overweight vegan.

Well... that's not exactly fair. I know that I am in a marathon, not a sprint. I can't say I'm very pleased by this turn of events, vegan or no. Still, without adversity, there's not success and if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.

Stupid scale... Maybe I should it. No animal products there.

Actually, I think it will be better for me in the long run that this happened. It has both driven home a valuable point and made me really look back on what happened last week.

Firstly, it's likely that I didn't lose six pounds last week and so I didn't put on five this week. At least not of anything but water.

Secondly, I will admit that I didn't have the kind of week I wanted. I didn't get much cardio at all which is, as I understand it, cardio is really what burns the fat. There is a limit to what strength training alone can do. As a corollary to this, since I did do a lot of weight trainining, some of the weight could be musicle.

Third, I didn't watch what I ate very carefully over the weekend. I ended up eating large portions of less than healthy stuff for several days with only my long run to show for it. This includes not only fried foods, but salt and alcohol which I need to get out of myself.

Most importantly, this morning's trip to the scale was a real eye opener and it has taught me that I definitely need to get back on track.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Jogging

I really, really wanted to go jogging today, so I did. I jogged for an hour for all intents and purposes I did it non-stop.

Either the vegan thing is working, the diet is working or I need to move to warmer climates because I haven't felt this good in a while.

And it was on my bad day.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Feeling A Lot Better Today

I'm pretty tired, but I feel a lot better.

I was supposed to have dinner tonight with friend Heidi, who has been both vegan guide and animal-free cheerleader on my vegan journey, but I canceled because I felt pretty crummy this morning. In the process of canceling, she gave me this recipe for sunny milk which is ridiculously healthy and serves as a base for things which fight colds. She recommended ginger which is supposed to increase blood flow (a great thing for getting toxins out of the blood.)

Even better, she was nice enough to let me share the recipe.
  • 1/3 to 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup ice
  • 2 tablespoons agave nectar (vegetarians could use honey)
  • 1/8 teaspoon mineral salt
  1. Blend and serve

This recipe will save for three days refrigerated in a glass jar.

Again, this recipe is just a base. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, even cayenne to kick up the flavor.

Sickness: 0 Me: 1

I felt pretty crappy all day yesterday and into today. I am sure this is largely due to lack of sleep and the fact both Tina and Ethan have been sick.

Oh, and the fact I've had to wake up at 6:30 the past two days when usually I get up at 8 (did I mention how nice it is to work 9-6?)

If fact, I strongly attribute the fact I have not gotten sick to this point to be a sign that there's something to this vegan healthy living stuff.

Anyway, traditionally sick time in the Perrin household has meant one thing: the world is the sick one's buffet. No expense is spared nursing the ensickened back to health. Which, before being vegan, meant hot and sour soup and fried wontons. Mmmm hrmm...no vitamins, empty calories, what more could I ask for.

Not this time. Largely because I have to answer to this blog, I made the vow not to break down and eat ice cream and fried foods. Yesterday I ate what I would have eaten any day since I started being vegan. (Though I did get some really spicy noodles that did wonders for opening my plugged nose...)

Today, I vow to do the same. 7 pounds in two weeks. That's my motto this time. And I am going to stick to it.

WORKOUT REPORT

Even though I was sick, I still did an arm work out. I didn't do cardio because I didn't want to wear myself out.

I just felt it was important to stick to the plan.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Not Sure About Hemp Powder

A few posts ago, I talked about vegan protein pwoders and how I was currently using hemp powder.



I'm not so sure about hemp powder.



With the whey powder, I was used to adding a little water and making a sort of vile chocolate milk. The key was to only add enough water to fully dissolve the powder and then open throat and down it goes.



Hemp DOES NOT DISSOLVE IN WATER. It retains this sort texture sort of like ... well ... grass. Toasted, nutty tasting grass.



I am pretty sure it's good for me because there's I am not jonesing for protein (which was my major concern about doing vegan strength training) but I'm just not sure if it's worth it.



I think I am going to try soy protein next. My coworkers be damned.

Onion Rings: 1 Me: 0

At work today we carried on our tradition of welcoming new employees into the company by taking them to Jackstack, which for those of my readers outside of the Kansas City, is perhaps the finest BBQ restaurant in the world.

And even though I am vegan, I come from KC. I know a thing or three about what makes good BBQ.

The thing that makes Jackstack so great, though, is their veggies. They have seasonal veggies and veggie kabobs and bunches of delicious non-meat foods.

And they have onion rings. Which should be vegan right? Right??

Of course not...milk/cream and probably eggs form the binder on the stupid things, making them still delicious, though decidedly non-vegan.

D'oh.

Down 6 Pounds...

...Maybe more...

More later...

Monday, May 12, 2008

Update

...Sorry I've fallen off the radar for the past few days. Life has a way of being busy.

For those keeping score at home, I exercised a mere four times last week. That's kind of shoddy, but hopefully I did my body good by walking around the Plaza with my son for an hour, maybe an hour and a half on Sunday. Frankly, chasing him around is a pretty intense cardio workout.

Friday night, was arm night. I got to try out my new weights. I'll blog more on them later, but they are both supersweet and a distraction at the same time.

Saturday was back and shoulders day and then I went for a nice jog. I jogged somewhere between a mile and a half and two miles. It was rainy out, so it was nice and cool, and I was running by Turkey Creek which was higher than normal and running fast...

All in all, it was a good time for exercise.

The food front, I did okay. On Saturday, I think I only ate twice and they weren't small meals. But I did develop a new sweet potato recipe that I'll share soon as well.

But for now...sleep.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Vegan Protein Powder

Part of strength training, no matter if its vegan or carnivorous, is getting enough protein so that the body has the building blocks to build muscle.

Normally, this is not that much of an issue. Studies are showing that most Americans are ingesting far more protein than needed to be healthy, even active. In fact, I'll try to find the link, but there's a study linking increased rates of kidney disease with high protein intake because so many Americans are making their kidneys work harder to pull all the loose protein out of the system.

Anyway...when you don't eat meat, eggs, milk, etc. protein is a bit harder to come by. Yes, foods like my beloved seitan is a good source of protein, but they are not a completely protein. I still need to eat legumes (i.e. beans) to get a full amount of protein. And frankly...if I eat too many beans I have unhappy coworkers. If you know what I mean.

Normally I take whey protein, being that it's complete and easier to digest than other animal-based proteins. Again, not really an option because of the whole milk thing.

So, I asked around at Whole Foods and the nice lady there said I should try Hemp Protein. I had never heard of it before, but the lady seemed to know what she was talking about. I asked specifically about soy protein, which is sold in stores next to the friendly whey in containers that looked very similiar.

I was told I could take it, but that it was harder to digest and might (can you guess what's coming...) make me gassy. Hemp Protein it is.

Hungry...

Something is going on in this here body of mine and I think it's a good thing.

I am hungry. Not ravishingly hungry or overpoweringly hungry, but like "Go grab a bag of Jelly Bellies" hungry. That hungry where I don't need to eat, but I used to. Perhaps there's something to this vegan fitness thing after all.

Vegan Fitness Exercise Report
Today was leg day. I did 4x20 on squats, leg extensions, and leg curls. I then finished up on the leg sled and did calves before doing some good ol' ab exercises.

By the end of the workout, my abs hurt and my quads hurt. That's a pretty good sign.

Sushi: 0 Me: 1

Finally...a success story.

I took Ethan to Shogun, our favorite sushi/teppanyaki place last night. In many ways Shogun is my Mt. Everest. My impossible goal. They have the best sushi in the world bar none, hands down. And I do so dearly love sushi.

Then again, it's not exactly vegan now is it.

So I ordered the teppanyaki vegetables with ... no butter! (Which is vegan as near as I can tell.) Either because we eat there all the time OR because the request is just a bit different, Andy, the owner/chef ended up cooking my food special. It was FANTATIC. Better even than if it had been cooked with butter and that's saying something. (Let's face it, butter tastes good, it's why it gets used so often.) So in this case +1 for being vegan instead of being vegetarian.

I will admit, the sushi menu looked awfully appealing and I was tempted to ask for a special set of rolls made without fish or cream cheese, but in the end I enjoyed my veggies and sriracha and the boy and I had a great time.

I'm not saying it wasn't hard to pass up the yum yum sauce (made with mayo) or eat my sons veggies (they were cooked in butter) but I know I would have to blog the next day about how I knowingly ate butter. And I couldn't give up on being vegan. Not by a long shot.

Vegan Fitness Report
So I did make it into the gym yesterday! Woo hoo!

At first, I felt like crap. But once I started lifting, I started to feel better.

Until I got on the elliptical and ran so hard I nearly threw up. I had to slow down for a second, but I still finished strong.

Yesterday was chest day (vegan chest day?). I did my usual 4 sets of 20 on the dumbell press, incline press, flies, and the press machine. Then finished with abs and the above mentioned cardio.

So far, I cannot tell much of a difference about being vegan vs. not being vegan when it comes to working out. I'll have to see as time progresses.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Sloth: 1 Me: 0

So I haven't exercised in three days...that's not so great. I'm fairly disappointed in myself despite there being little I can do to control it. On days when I cannot lift, I am finding it very hard to balance class or Ethan and exercise.

That's more of an observation and something I am just going to have to work. Plus, my weights are coming soon, so that should be better.

On the plus side, I talked to Tina and she is going to let me have Friday off from moving so I can work out. That's three days in the gym...I'll need to find one more. This may mean I need to improvise a home strength training work out. I'll need to figure something out...

Cooking Classes

Class was tough last night. The lesson was on Mother Sauces, bechamel, volute, tomato, hollandaise. When I signed up for the series, this was the class I was most excited about.

And then I went vegan. And butter is pretty clearly verbotten in vegan cooking.

So are eggs. Also not vegan.

And so is cream. Nope, not vegan.

So I made a bunch of sauces. Everyone else said they were good.

Oh, and better yet, this week's homework: compound butters and buerre maine.

I'm pretty sure they're not vegan either. ;)

Monday, May 5, 2008

Cinco de Mayo: 1 Me: 0

I started off week 2 with rather more of a whimper than I had hoped.

I stepped on the scale: 356.7...exactly 1.1 pounds lighter than I was when I started. So I guess that's good...but at the same time...I was hoping for more.

I attribute my less than hoped for weight loss to several factors:
1. I am strength training. The last time I lost a lot of weight, the first few weeks I gained weight on the scale because I was building muscle.
2. Mediterrean Food. Because so much of it is vegan, I ate eating Mediterrean food a lot last week. Both a lot and frequently in fact.

Which really brings me to point #3:
Portion Control. I am going to prove that no matter how I limit my dietary choices, I can still stay heavy if I don't control how much I eat. And that's kind of a sad fact, but if there's a way to eat unhealthy, I seem to be able to spot it.

So what I've decided is that each week I'll focus on one goal. Last week I focused on just being vegetarian. This week I am going to focus on sticking to a reasonable portion with one day where I eat as I please. Unfortunately...that day was today. Yay Cinco de Mayo! Yay vegetarian fajitas with no cheese or sour cream. Hooray vegan liquor.

Boo portion control tomorrow...

Exercise Report

Um...yeah... So at 10:45 my wife called me and asked me to come home and sort through some stuff at the old house so she could keep moving.

I had no choice. Then I had class. So...no exercise for me today. *Big sigh*

Fortunately, I got my shipment confirmation and my dumbbells are heading this way. Then I can exercise whenever I want.

Except after drinking vegan liquor.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

First Vegan Weekend--Day 2

It was an up and down day. Went to a "vegan friendly" restaurant listed on a Kansas City vegan website... Was looked at like I was from Plant Freakizoid when I asked for vegan food.

I improvised. Then I got some real food.

More later...

Saturday, May 3, 2008

First Vegan Weekend--Day 1

Why I decided to be vegan on the same weekend I moved I'll never know. Still, the move is over(ish). All the furniture that is coming is here and so is most of crap.

I feel pretty good. Well, I feel exhausted, but I think that is to be expected.

All in all, this going vegan thing has been pretty easy, though I know that I owe a debt to the vegans who have come before me. If they had not created the demand for vegan products in the stores and in restaurants, I might very well have found this task impossible.

The one, I would say major slip up I had was vegan ice cream. I found this banana-fudge ice cream that is hands down the best ice cream I ever had. Despite my attempts to only have one ice cream per week...I could not resit.

Vegan Exercise Report
Why I decided to start strength training the same week I was going to move I'll never know.

So for exercise today...I moved. Isn't that enough??? :)

Tomorrow, I hope to get in a good jog. We have a trail here that runs by Turkey Creek. I think I am going to put the boy into the jog stroller and go sight seeing.

Friday, May 2, 2008

Day 5 Recap

Tonight, we had dinner at Aladdin's Cafe, a Mediterrean restaurant that has a good grasp on what is vegan and how to modify dishes to be vegan.

We ate family style with three entrees between us (our friend joined us.) We have a cauliflower dish that was okay, a rice/lentil dish that was pretty good, but the star of the show was the falafel (yes, it's fried, I only had 1/2 of a piece.) It was the best falafel I've ever had bar none, hand's down. The Baba ghanoush was also suprisingly good.

The dolmas were good, but a bit minty. The hummus was excellent.

And it was all vegan.

The odd thing was that both Indian food and Mediterrean food use a lot of olive oil. However, after eating tonight I didn't feel sick after eating the food. Either I had too much fried food at Rucci or there's something about the fact that the olive oil is drizzled on the food rather than heated. I am not sure. Either way, my stomach does not feel like it is trying to crawl out of my body right now.

I consider that a good thing.

Exercise Report
Today was arm day and I actually made it down there. I was really pleased with myself.

When it comes to strength training, I think I hate arms the most, mainly because my arms are so weak. Compared to my legs and chest and back, my arms are puny. Even when I was benching 250 and deadlifting and squatting well north of 425, I was curling maybe 95 pounds.

Still I try to use that as motivation.

I've also decided to work my obliques more, which I started today.

Guess what...I'm sore!

Vegan Booze

The words: greatest...site...ever:
http://tastebetter.com/features/booze/type=liquor

I Am Not Hungry

Yes...this comes as a huge surprise to me as well.

I've done some research into weight loss and everyone says eat smaller meals so I decided I would go with the 6 meals per day plan. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner with snacks in between.

On Monday, 6 was about 20 too few. Tuesday, the 2 hour intervals could not come fast enough. Wednesday was Indian food day and I felt good.

Yesterday and today...nothing. I've had to remind myself to eat.

I think this is a good thing, especially if I don't gorge tonight at dinner. (We're trying Aladdin Cafe, which is very veg friendly.)

I don't know, if any weight loss gurus are reading this, tell me. Should I eat when I'm not hungry? Probably so I don't eat too much when I do, right?

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Indian Food: 100 Me: 0

Last night Tina and I went to dinner at Rucci, our favorite Indian place.

I had always suspected that Indian food could veganize rather easily, then I saw this link. http://www.vegkansascity.com/restaurants.html

In it, the site says that Rucci has the largest vegan menu in the city. I was hooked.

The only problem, and it's one that I cannot seem to get around, is that even when vegan, Indian food is NOT healthy. The samosans are fried. The fried veggies...fried (shocker, I know.) But even the food, though not cooked in ghee or coconut oil (a.k.a. vegetarian ghee), is heavy and greasy.

I could barely enjoy my meal. I just felt heavy. My stomach was upset and my feet hurt. I don't know why they hurt, I fear it's a condition, but being an American male, I refuse to go to the doctor. I do know that when I don't eat like crap, they don't hurt.

Exercise
I exercised today. That's two days in a row. As long as I hit the gym tomorrow, I am going to count moving on Saturday as a day of lifting exercise. That will be four days of weight training with Monday spent cardio for a total of five.

Week 1...Mission Accomplished.

Cheerleader? Sure. Zealot? No.

My buddy Ryan IMed me yesterday and we got to talking about being vegan. Like everyone I have told about going veganism, he was a little surprised that I would take the plunge as it were.

And then he said it. The undercurrent that has gone unspoken between several of my firends and spoken with several others. Basically, he was concerned that I was going to become one of those vegans. The in-your-face, meat-is-murder, die-and-go-to-Hell-sinner type. To be honest, I wasn't ready to deal with this question due in no small part because I had to deal with when I became a vegetarian. I thought it was behind me.

It is important for me to say that I will NEVER condemn someone for eating meat. It is just not in my make up to go on the offensive like that. However, I do strongly believe that eating commerically farmed meat fully of antibotics and crap is the probably the worst dietary choice short of the Doritos and Pepsi plan. This has led me to want to hold dialogues, cook, and basically do the whole more-flies-with-honey-than-bugspray thing and not even towards the goal of ending the consumption of meat. I just want people to eat better.