Chopped up a cucumber, threw in handsful of sesame seeds, raisins, flaxseeds, and topped with a quick vinaigrette (just apple cider vinegar, oil, and herbs/salt).
Heavenly, it was, and it reminded me that getting back on the vegan train means blogging again about it, so here you go.

Nice to see you.

This recipe comes my way from my sister-in-law Elizabeth, a newcomer to vegetarian cooking who’s texting me every few days for advice on transitioning to a less meat-centric diet. I’m working on adding some guest contributors here so that there will be many more fresh and delicious recipes than I can churn out AND manage to blog about all on my own. Stay tuned! Meanwhile, Elizabeth has the (kitchen) floor:

I love meat.  Not the way I love the beach or chocolate, but with a deep and abiding passion.  It has been a long, healthy, and sometimes hedonistic affair.  I had thought this affair would last forever.  But earlier this summer, my lover, Red Meat, turned on me with a vengence that took me completely by surprise, twisting my insides into painful knots I thought would never untie.

As I lay writhing in pain for the 4th time in a week, I found myself evaluating my diet.  Most of my meals are meat-centric.  My husband is the son of a farmer, raised on meat and potatoes, and happiest when he receives meals of same.  I took this into consideration when making my decision to switch over to the dark side.  Ultimately, it came down to a matter of health, both mine and his.  And so, with my heart pounding in my chest, I took a leap, and bought out half the produce department at the local grocery store.

In the ensuing weeks, I have experimented with fennel (we don’t like it), salads (they’re ok), homemade dressings (jury is still out), left over rice turned into curried stirfry (specifically requested that I not make it again).  And, being summer, lots and LOTS of squash.  Being a southern girl, I have perfected my sauteed summer squash and onions.  One of my favorite all-time southern favorites.  The other night as I set out to prepare another 75% vegetarian meal, I picked up a hefty, yellow summer squash and realized… I couldn’t face another pan of sauteed squash and onions.  The ensuing recipe just sort of formed as I went along.

Fried Summer Squash
2 cups flour
1/2 - 1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 - 3 eggs, beaten well
1 - 2 yellow summer squash

Cut squash into 1/4 x 3″ strips.  Put flour and seasonings into sealable container.  Dip strips into beaten eggs, then add to flour mixture.  Seal the container and shake it up till the squash is well coated.

Heat olive oil over medium heat.  Shake the excess flour from the strips and place in pan.  Fry in small batches until browned and slightly crispy.  Enjoy!

Alas, I’ve had a run of a couple of months where tasty experimental home cooking had to take a back burner to convenience…and when I did cook, it was generally something hasty and not worth blogging, really.

And then, sadly, I fell off the wagon for a week or two on the heels of a visit to Austin, where I find it extraordinarily difficult to keep vegan (trust me, cheese eaters - they give you a queso IV-drip when you hit the tarmac at AUS). My love of the mostly vegan diet is enormous, but as a reformed cheese and meat lover, I do have my setbacks.

I have since made my way back from the darkness, but it’s getting harder and harder to have the time to cook whole foods, really. I’ve managed to get back on the vegan train, but I haven’t been experimenting very much, and frozen veggie burgers and canned beans are high in the rotation right now.

So the other day, post-farmers market, I needed to use a massive pile of kiwi and had a strange idea - kiwi and avocado.  Later, when my husband and I were tearing through yet more veggie burgers with uncharacteristic glee, I realized that I’d stumbled on a totally outstanding seasonal condiment that really gussied up an otherwise completely average meal.

I figured this recipe would hold up well as the temperatures climb (trust me, non-Californians, they will, soon) and kiwi make their way into the supermarkets. RIght now, the furry little buddies are $1.50 for a bag of 20 (20!) at the Alemany Farmers’ Market; they’re said to be richer in Vitamin C even than our beloved oranges, and the tangy bite combined with creamy avocado is delicious with a pungent peppery finish (provided by the chili paste - use fresh serranos or jalapeños for a stronger bite, and swap out parsley or cilantro as you prefer them).

This tangy guaca-salsa  needn’t be reserved for Mexican dishes, but is definitely great on a spicy fajita or veggie burgers. I piled it onto a Quorn brand breaded “chicken” patty at lunchtime today and it was equally phenomenal. If you switch the cilantro for parsley, it’s even more neutral/less south-of-the-border and adapts rather nicely to other cuisines.

KIWI AVOCADO GUACASALSA

7-10 kiwi fruit, peels removed (they’ll be smashed, so don’t worry about chopping)
2 avocados
3 chopped jalapeno or serrano chilis or 2 t thai chili paste (sambal oelek)
1/4 c chopped parsley or cilantro
juice of 1 lime (I like a lot of lime, but you can use less if you want - experiment and taste)
pinch salt
sprinkle of garlic powder

Put it all in a bowl and smash it to a chunky consistency. Tastes best if refrigerated for at least 20 minutes.

This is for AG, cause she seriously rocks.

It was a total spur of the moment silly idea.

Hope she makes good use of it!

(AG says: I’m leaving this post exactly as you see it because the woman who wrote it, the lovely Catherine Hicks  (aka Starweaver) posted it as the first test post on this new blog layout. You see, Catherine is my new hero - she cooked up this new layout on the spur of the moment and gifted this new location for 90 Percent Vegan and TOTALLY SURPRISED ME WITH IT out of the blue this afternoon! Eeeep!

And now I have to get to work actually using categories and tags and all the Wordpress features I know and love. Swoon. Thank you thank you thank you, Catherine, what an amazing surprise!!!!!)

I promise, more recipes are coming. It’s been nearly too busy this week to cook anything, much less anything worth sharing. Forgive me, Father, for I have eaten popcorn and canned soup at dinner this week at least once. Each.

I did, however, get to read an informative page at The Veggie Table which has a very straightforward breakdown of some of the myths about protein - namely, that it’s difficult for one to obtain complete proteins in a vegan or vegetarian diet. Not only do we not need as much protein as many of us think, but it turns out there’s a long list of food combinations that a lot of us already eat by choice that provide perfectly complete proteins. Cool. (Please pass me the tortillas and refried beans!)

I’m bookmarking the page, because I haven’t yet memorized these combinations, being that I’m a relatively new 90 Percenter; now that I’ve gotten to eating low on the food chain again, I know the trick to staying with it will be making sure I’m careful to stay on top of nutritional needs on a daily basis so I never “crave” my old friend meat in the first place.

And indeed, my small, simple can of pea-based soup from tonight wouldn’t have given me what I need on its own, but with the slice of wheat bread recommended alongside it, what do you know? I’m totally sated.

A few quick notes on this fine evening about how I plan to develop this site:

- The aim I have in mind is to share recipes for others who may love meat, but who don’t love being meat eaters…or who are just trying to eat meat a little less. I may share information about the health benefits of a vegan or vegetarian diet, but as you might have guessed from the title of this blog, I’m not 100% vegan and I don’t aim to be.

There are definitely times that I will eat animal proteins, even some occasional meat. I have tried, and I found it very hard to keep a 100% vegan/vegetarian diet; I always ended up abandoning it because I thought I was a terrible vegetarian whenever I craved the foods I had been raised with…and inevitably fell off the wagon.

But when I stopped looking at the “low on the food chain” diet as an abstinent, all-or-nothing proposition, something happened. After that, I gave myself permission to just be a better consumer of food, if not precisely a perfect one. I wanted to reconcile the meat-lover in me with the parts of my heart, instincts, and intellect that tell me quite clearly that meat is not a sustainable choice, not in the Western diet’s current level of consumption, so I started out vegan and worked my way to where I felt my mind, body, and soul were in alignment.

I’ve discovered that a good balance for me was eating just a little animal protein as a small portion of a healthy and flavorful diet based mostly on vegetables and grains. I still eat eggs, because I buy from the farmer. And I won’t freak out if a dish I’m served has some cheese in it (though mostly cheese just makes me feel awful when I eat it, anyway).

And once every few weeks, I even enjoy the indulgence of a little bit of animal protein in the form of meat. I try to verify the source of the animal if it’s possible, though I’m claiming no sainthood in vegan heaven, to be sure. And even though “90% Vegan” is my catchy-ish name for it, the truth is that my diet includes less than 10% of its proteins from animal sources. Now, from what I am able to discern on the ‘nets, we Americans eat way more of it than we need to — and certainly more than is healthy, so when you figure in the resource-hungry, cruel act of factory farming to the mix, you seal the deal for me: I just don’t want to eat much meat or cheese.

So yes, I probably still eat lots of trace animal products in my mints (Altoids have gelatin, did you know? If you like Altoids, thank a pig!) and a true vegan might reject my favorite fake cheese (which has some casein in it). But my goal is to reduce my environmental and moral impact as best I can, because as an honest-to-gosh meat lover, I’m not sure I will ever eliminate that impact completely in my lifetime. We’ll see, especially as I learn how to cook so well that I forget what meat tastes like, but for now I will never be the role model for the militant vegan lifestyle, and that’s okay by me.

I will say that it’s rarer and rarer (hey, a steak pun!) that I ever crave anything so high on the food chain as beef now, despite the fact that good beef was always my meat of choice. (I’m not sure I recall the last beef I had, actually. My wedding…?) Anyway, my recipes here will limn toward being as vegan as I know how to make them, but I encourage you to improvise too, to give feedback, and make your own (educated) decisions about what you eat and what cruelty or environmental impact may be underneath your plate.

Some other thoughts…

- I’m making the commitment to fewer updates in favor of better results. I made an almost-completely-awesome vegan Tom Ka Gai soup/noodle hybrid tonight…but the thing is, the results, while incredibly tasty, were not-quite-100%. Before I post it in haste, I want to do another run ( with more chilis and better purple basil, if you must know right away!) here in the test kitchen. This site is just a hobby for now, so before I go sharing any half-arsed recipes, I’m going to make a good attempt to perfect them.

- I am monkeying with the Blogspot layout within an inch of its life (er, rather, my abilities) and I’m still not happy, so I may just have to get some hosting for real. Sorry if the color changes are giving you a headache, and thanks for reading anyway.

- Here is a picture of a celery root. Lest you think that’s nonsequitir, I’ll tell you that I learned last week from my friend Molly that these things are fantastically tasty, and I aim to explore their mysteries in a future recipe.

Meanwhile, tell me it’s not amazing that this homely little buddy could be edible AND tasty, and I’ll call you a cynic. It’s amazing.
Thanks for reading!

I like tofu - but only certain ways.

Friends in California, I bet you’re nodding with me. Sis-in-law in Utah, I bet you’re laughing and thinking, “She thinks I’ll get this bunch to eat tofu!” And I wouldn’t blame any longtime meat-eaters for rejecting it the first time they tried cooking with it themselves. Tofu can be awful.

Specifically, I cannot abide by slimy crumbs of tofu lolling around my stirfry, looking less like food and more like fallen drywall from the ceiling on my plate. The first hundred or so times I made stirfry with tofu, when I was a young midwestern vegetarian wanna be whose one Chinese restaurant experience didn’t include exposure to tofu, I kinda thought that crumbly and sorta bland was just how it was meant to be, and decided I didn’t like it - for years.

Since then I’ve indeed learned that tofu doesn’t have to be slimy and crumbly. In fact, in addition to its highly adaptable mild flavor, it turns out it can be chewy and firm and have a “skin” on it that provides the same kind of tooth that meat lovers enjoy on a browned piece of meat. Glory be: tofu doesn’t suck!

The trick is to press tofu between paper towels to remove the water content, which helps with its structural integrity in the pan. Browning the tofu in oil (olive works fine, but your final dish happens to be, say, a Thai or Chinese one that would welcome it, peanut oil is also nice) firms it further, and a chili or honeyed glaze seals the deal - the tofu is now firm and toothsome, and holds up to the other ingredients in a stirfry. You can also keep the tofu in slices (below I’ve cubed it) and cook it in slabs to serve like a tofu steak, but for beginning tofu-eaters, that can be intimidating — a larger slab-o-tofu’s center can still be a little too, well, too much like tofu for some. These smaller cubes add the protein and the tooth but also cook through enough that the slime factor is nil.

I’ve been playing with this tofu thing this week and monkeying with different sauces, so I’d love to hear your favorites. This Chili glaze, last night’s experiment, gave a spicy but nuanced kick to its vegetable friends in the pan.

CHILI GLAZED TOFU

2 t oil
1 package Extra Firm tofu, sliced 1/2″ thin

sauce:
4 T vegetable broth or water
1 T cider, balsamic, or rice vinegar (I’ve experimented with all of these, and always like the result)
2 T honey or syrup
2 T ground fresh chili paste (future post: I’ll share a recipe for making your own)
pinch salt

Press the tofu between paper towels for 10 minutes.

Stir all sauce ingredients together in a small bowl.

Cut tofu into 1/2″ cubes.

Heat 2 t oil in wok or fry pan until shimmering. Cook tofu until golden brown on bottom, about 6 minutes; turn gently once, and brown next side. Turn again gently to brown each side (this is why you cut the cubes larger, but I really don’t worry about being patient enough to cook every single piece on every single side - they stay firm so long as you turn them three times, I’ve found). Don’t turn more than necessary - pieces crumble easily until they’re browned.

Turn heat down and slip your sauce ingredients into the pan. Stir gently to coat and let cook until sauce firms to glaze (your tofu will be covered with the sticky, syrupy sauce). Remove from pan and reserve; make your desired stir fry or other dish, and toss tofu in at the end.

When I was a full time meat eater, I was a big fan of Niman Ranch meats. They promised “unsurpassed animal care” and animals raised on the largest network of sustainable U.S. family farms and ranches. Their animals are never given antibiotics or hormones, and are vegetarian-fed. And the meat they raise is, in fact, delicious.

So it’s a bummer to learn that Niman Ranch will soon merge with Chicago Natural Food Holdings LLC, its main investor, because the company “never turned a profit.” I’ve remained a proponent of sustainably farmed meat for those that feel they can’t do without a good steak (or heaven forfend, bacon) once in a while - but always agreed with Michael Pollan that maybe meat isn’t supposed to be as cheap as factory farming makes it, and would pay a little more for the reassurances that are offered by the ranchers in a small independent collective like Niman.

I don’t know how other so-called sustainable meat companies are doing, nor do I know the businesspeople behind the company — but one would think that Niman, which has long been the label of choice at every eco/health-conscious Bay Area market and restaurant I ever visit, ought to have been able to make it work as an independent company.

Or maybe it’s just that that the cost of mass-produced meat is too high, period.

Vegan Winter Vegetable Soup

1 T Earth Balance
1 pack “Good Deli by Yves” imitation Canadian bacon, cubed

4 T (1/2 stick) Earth Balance
1 c onion, finely diced
2 c leeks, finely diced
1 c carrots, finely diced
1 1/2 t dried tarragon (if using fresh, double amount - for soups, dried herbs can work fine, as long as your bottle isn’t terribly old)
1 t dried thyme (ditto)

6 c vegetable stock
2 c potatoes, finely diced
1 c spinach, cut into 1/8″ ribbons
salt (to taste - i use about 1/8-/4 t for a large batch - potato absorbs salty taste, so if you’re cutting sodium, try a season-all blend instead)
pepper (to taste)

1/2 c Silk brand soy creamer (make sure you don’t get Vanilla by accident!)

melt 1 T Earth Balance (EB) in large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add Canadian Bacon and cook until it begins to brown (it burns pretty easily, so only cook for about 5 minutes, less than you would real bacon). Remove “bacon” with slotted spoon and reserve it, leaving bacon-flavored buttery bits behind.

Add the 4 T EB to the pan and bacon “drippings”; melt on medium heat and add onions and leeks. Saute for 7-9 minutes, stirring occasionally, until your kitchen smells like savory heaven and onions are translucent. Stir, add carrots and cook for another 2 minutes.

Add vegetable stock and potatoes; bring to a simmer for 15-20 minutes until potatoes are mostly cooked, but not soggy. Add spinach and spices; stir in.

One cup at a time, process HALF the soup in your blender and add back to the rest in the pan. (This gives it an awesome half-creamy, half-chunky texture.) Add back the Canadian bacon bites, and the salt, pepper, and creamer. Simmer for 4-5 more minutes, but never let it boil. Serve with warm crusty wheat bread.

Alternatives: replace spices with any you’d use with mashed potatoes: dill, rosemary, parsley, paprika.