Vegan Cookbook Review

I know I'm a little late to the party, as this cookbook hit the shelves back in '09, but my husband just got  The Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen and we have been having a blast whipping up Tal's masterpieces! His recipes contain no dairy, meat, or eggs but do contain lots of flavor. Any of the recipes in this book would be sure to impress your (meat-eating) guests at the next dinner party. I suggest you don't even mention the "v" word to your guests and they may not notice the delicious meal and dessert they just wolfed down was devoid of animal products.

My husband and I ambitiously made one of the more complicated entrees first, but the work is so worth it. Wow was it delicious! We made the Peppercorn-Encrusted Portobello Fillets with Yellow Tomato Bearnaise Sauce and Mashed Potatoes, as seen below.

Next, we created the Cajun Portobello Sandwich with Avocado and Remoulade, except we used regular Vegenaise instead of the remoulade and didn't have anymore avocado in the house, so we just layered on juicy tomato slices and crisp lettuce and holy moly it was soooooo good! We decided this sandwich needs to be a regular item on our weekly menu. It's not too spicy and the marinade makes the mushrooms so juicy.

Chef Tal proves with The Conscious Cook that dining on vegan food doesn't mean sacrificing flavor or substance. Anyone who thinks vegans only eat salads should check this cookbook out. I wouldn't recommend this cookbook to people who don't enjoy cooking though, as it is mostly geared for those who enjoy the process of actually creating their entire meal. Most of the recipes are more for fine dining, like special occasions, but there are a few for everyday cooking as well.

In his own words, taken from the introduction: "There are no sprouts in this book, or in my refrigerator. I don't like them. I like rich, hearty meals, and I love cooking. I love being in the kitchen, alone or with friends. And this book is for people who feel the same--people who love to cook....if you like hollandaise sauce, rich wine reductions, and meat-like textures, you'll love these recipes."

There is more to the book than recipes, as he also includes interviews with other culinary geniuses, a list of his favorite vegan restaurants in the U.S., and a list of items to stock your kitchen with for the best cooking experience you can have.

My husband and I can't wait to make every recipe in the book. Thanks, Chef Tal!

Read the Fine Print

I've always been a label reader. Always. When I was a little girl, as soon as I learned to read I was putting my new found skills to good use, reading not just books, but everything that was written in English. Toothpaste tubes, cereal boxes, even the pamphlet detailing the rules to the game Clue. I took the time to read everything because I enjoyed learning and felt it was imperative to know these things. I noticed I was alone on this quickly when my friends would joke that I was a "nerd" when they would catch me reading the ingredients on our box of cookies. I was puzzled at why they thought it was weird. Isn't the information there for a reason?

So when I started eating a vegetarian diet in 2001, it was already second nature to read the labels of foods, and making sure something was free of gelatin, carmine color (the guts of squished red beetles, used to enhance the red or purple colors of some food products-yuck), chicken or beef broth, to name a few, was easy for me. But many people don't habitually read food labels, which can be disastrous.

Case in point, my husband and I bought some tomato paste last time we went shopping, but forgot we already had some at home. So we ended up with two different brands, one store brand and the other a major brand. The major brand, Contadina, is labeled "Tomato Paste" in large white letters and "Product" underneath in much smaller letters. This tomato paste was made "with Italian Herbs". The generic brand is just labeled "Tomato Paste".

What do you think the tomato paste "product" is made with? Do you think someone with a gluten intolerance, someone following a vegan diet, or someone allergic to soy or corn would think they have to check that their tomato paste would include any offenders? Check it out:

The Tomato Paste Product contains ingredients most of us would never expect, like high fructose corn syrup (second on the list!), Romano cheese, yeast, soy and wheat gluten proteins, and partially hydrogenated soybean oil. Notice the generic brand on the right contains just tomatoes and citric acid. Sure, it's not a perfect comparison, but I showed them side-by-side to prove that all the other ingredients are unnecessary, with or without herbs.

I think it's a reasonable expectation that your tomato paste with Italian herbs would not need all the other ingredients that force the company to include the word "product" on the label. Most of us would understandably just expect tomatoes and herbs. It is not unreasonable for a person who excludes dairy or gluten from their diet to think their tomato paste would be free of these items. We've got to read the labels of everything to be safe.

Especially in restaurants, where the ingredients are not listed for every menu item, you've got to ask questions. I waited tables at a popular pizza chain in California and their spinach and artichoke dip included chicken broth. Totally unnecessary, as was proven when they changed the recipe and omitted the chicken broth and nobody noticed any difference in taste. But who would think that would be in the spinach dip? Don't feel silly about asking--you never know.

I made the mistake once of ordering the minestrone soup at some hole in the wall Italian place without asking any questions about it. It's minestrone, which is a classic vegetarian soup, so of course I just ordered it. It arrived with bacon in it. Bacon, are you kidding me? Leave it to meat-obsessed Americans to ruin a perfectly healthy dish by adding fatty pig flesh. I explained to the server when I sent it back that it isn't labeled on the menu as having bacon in it so I didn't think it wouldn't be vegetarian. Restaurant owners should be wiser about how they describe their dishes on their menus.

Has anything like this ever happened to you? I'd like to hear your stories!

Vodka Sauce Recipe!

I will admit I was skeptical of vodka sauce before I tried it. Why would adding the most flavorless alcohol to a tomato sauce be a good thing? I didn't even like to drink vodka, let alone ruin my pasta sauce with it! But WOW, this is so delicious you won't want to stop eating it even if you're trying to save room for dessert. This is my husband's recipe and he serves it over penne, but of course you can use any pasta you prefer. This recipe will make enough to serve a large family (large as in up to 6 people, not the Duggars), but served with a salad on the side it can go even further. Enjoy!

You will need:

2 lbs (2 boxes that are 16oz each) dried penne pasta
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
4-6 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms (optional, but really adds to the dish)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon each of dried parsley and oregano
1 cup vodka
1 teaspoon each salt and black pepper, more to taste if needed
2 teaspoons sugar
1 (28 oz) can of crushed tomatoes
1 (28 oz) can of tomato sauce or puree
1 cup heavy cream or vegan cream substitute for cooking
Shredded Italian cheeses or Shredded Daiya cheese, optional

1) Get a large pot of water to boil and cook penne until al dente. Drain and set aside.

2) While waiting for water to boil and noodles to cook, saute in a large saucepan the oil, garlic, basil, parsley, oregano, and mushrooms over medium heat 1-2 minutes (if not using mushrooms, saute only 30 seconds). Then add vodka and simmer 20 minutes (this is essential to cook the alcohol out, as not cooking it long enough will leave it tasting too much like a cocktail). Do not boil.

3) Add tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes, sugar, salt, and pepper and cook 15 minutes.

4) Stir in cream and cook 1 minute. Serve over penne and top with cheese, if you so desire.

Deliciously Chewy Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

Craving a soft and chewy peanut butter cookie? Looking for a recipe that excludes eggs and butter? Look no further because these cookies will satisfy your every cookie desire!

You will need:
1/2 cup margarine
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons agave syrup
Ener-G Egg Replacer = 2 eggs
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1) Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare two sheet pans with parchment paper.

2) Cream the margarine in a mixer on medium speed, add the sugar slowly and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Reduce speed to low and add the oil, "eggs", peanut butter, agave syrup, molasses, and vanilla. Blend until smooth.

3) Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt into the wet mixture. Stir by hand just until incorporated.

4) Use a small ice cream scooper to scoop dough and space them about 2" apart on cookie sheet (I put only 6 cookies per sheet). Pour a little sugar on a plate, dip a fork into sugar, and use the fork to flatten the balls of dough into a cookie shape (but don't flatten too much, the cookies will spread out during baking).

5) Bake 12-15 minutes, or until lightly golden on top. Pull from oven, allow to rest a minute, then scoop cookies off pan and place onto cooling rack. Makes about 18 cookies.

Variations: You can add 1/2 cup of chocolate chips to the batter or press chopped peanuts onto the tops before baking for added texture. Yum!

Note: I've found that these cookies stay chewy for about a day, so don't make them days ahead if you plan to bring them to a party (but they are still delicious crunchy!)

New Photo Shoot

Good day everyone!

Terry and I recently had a photo shoot in the whimsical forests of northern Michigan, where trees are at once alive and dead, and you are lucky to catch a glimpse of the animals as they pop up from the ground and scurry about. We could hear almost nothing, except a woodpecker in the distance, and the occasional burst of loud wind rushing through the trees. It was mostly overcast and dreary, but the sun still shined at moments. We shot in a few areas that we thought were the most interesting and tried to capture something subtly profound. The complete photo session is available to members of Liz LaPoint.com. Check it out :-)

We also visited a small town named Goodhart, right off Lake Michigan, where you drive down winding dirt roads among the forest to reach the lake homes. There was a tiny, old, one-room church with an accompanying cemetery. It looked abandoned, since we were there on a Sunday morning and there was not a soul in sight. We eagerly bounced out of the car to shoot in front of it all, when we were suddenly amidst an enormous swarm of little black bugs. We didn't realize they were literally everywhere, so we tried to move on and locate a new spot, but alas, the bugs won that war and we had to give up. There were so many of them, we couldn't open our mouths or we would have been eating bugs for brunch.

It wasn't until later that day that we discovered that the quaint little vacation town of Goodhart was home to a vicious murder of an entire family. It happened in the late '60s, when a family was in town from Detroit to spend the summer at their lake house. It is still considered unsolved.

Nude Drawing

In the early spring of 2010, a friend of mine who is a brilliant artist told me he was going to have some of his work displayed in a major art show in NYC. He said he needed models for nude drawings he wanted to create for the show and asked me to be one of the models. Eric crafts moody, interesting sculptures and paintings also. You can see the drawing of me and the other models here http://ericsonntag.blogspot.com/

How I Keep Model Fit :)

I was a skinny kid all through childhood and didn't even reach 100 pounds until I was almost 18. In my twenties I gained some pounds due to eating a lot of the standard American diet of meat and potatoes, and from including dessert with every dinner. Yikes.

Then I took it upon myself to do a little research into why someone would become a vegetarian. I was studying nutrition, biology, and anatomy at the same time. I was so moved emotionally and intellectually by the flood of new information and philosophical discussions involved that I decided to try it one morning. I quit eating animals cold turkey (no pun intended) and never felt better! The first change happened within a week. I gained a ton of energy. You don't realize how unhealthy you are or out of shape you are until the changes take place. Before, I thought I was perfectly healthy just because I didn't smoke and didn't suffer from a major illness, but after I also started dropping pounds (45 in total) I realized I was unhealthy before my diet change. Another major bonus: I didn't catch a cold or flu for 6 years. Before, I was always sick. If there was something going around, I was bound to catch it. At the time, you think that's normal. But after 6 years went by before I was sick again, I realized that it was a sign of how my poor diet was suppressing my immune system. Consuming more plant foods boosts your immune system. Anyway, a vegetarian diet has kept me slim ever since.

It drives me crazy when I hear someone say "So and So can eat whatever they want/eats like a pig/eats dessert every day and doesn't gain any weight" or "I don't know why So and So is overweight because they don't eat a lot". The truth is, we aren't around this So and So all day every day, so we don't really know how much or how little they eat. We see what they eat in one sitting once a day or once a week and assume that's how they eat even when we are not around. In other words, you don't know if that skinny person who just downed a burger and fries went home and didn't eat anything else the rest of the day and you don't know if that obese guy who just ate a Greek salad didn't go home afterward and spend the rest of his evening polishing off a large pizza and gallon of ice cream. With the rare exception, how much we weigh boils down to how many calories we consume and how many we burn. People who want to blame it on metabolism are lying to themselves because it makes them feel less responsible and therefore less guilty.

I encourage everyone to try a meatless diet for a week or two and see how much better your body runs. Seriously, it was one of the best decisions I ever made.

PS: The best thing about a meatless diet is the absence of disgusting gristle, fat, and bloody veins in your food. Yuck.