Date Day

After being up until the early AM from the midnight run, Tommy and I sleep in late.  We have not done that in a long time.  First order of business was to take the dogs to Pooches and Purrs for daycare and baths.  They were fluffy and nice smelling when we got them back in the evening.

Pear Melon White Tea

Then it was off to Brunch at Teavolve.  It has been a couple of months since we ate there. I started off with a pot of Pear Melon White Tea.  The melon flavor was dominant - it was like drinking a hot honey dew melon. One of the reasons we love Teavolve is for their Red Sangria.  The drink is made with roobios tea and for my tastes, the best sangria in Baltimore.  Also, it is half price by the pitcher at brunch.

Red Sangria

Teavolve is also vegan friendly.  The soup of the day was a Tomato Rice Soup made without cream.  The tomato flavor is more intense without the dairy.

The soup was followed by the Marinated Tofu Salad with a warm, spicy vinaigrette. These two items were enough to fill me up, especially with all the liquids.

Tofu Salad

After a lingering 2 hours of food and drink, we wandered into Harbor East for some shopping.  Tommy needed some new athletic shoes, so we headed into the Underarmour store.  He now has some florescent yellow shoes for the gym.  While we were there, we added a tee shirt and a sweatshirt. Next up was Urban Chic to replace Tommy's jeans that disintegrated a weeks ago.  I added in a sweater for myself.  A pair of socks at City Sports finished the shopping.

After all that shopping, we needed a drink.  Of course, we headed to Wit & Wisdom.  Tommy love the Japanese scotch and the wine choices are always great.  While we were, we ran into some friends who were doing a wine tasting.  We had the chance to have a drink with them before heading out to pick up the dogs.

Wit & Wisdom

A few days ago in the Highlandtown area, a woman was stabbed to death during a home invasion.  One of the FB entries I read while at Wit & Wisdom mentioned that she was a bartender at Shiso Tavern.  We have a favorite bartender there that was about the same age and we were worried that the victim was her.  We always sit at the bar and she takes good care of us.  There was a huge sigh of relief when we walked in and she was tending bar.  The victim worked there part time and was not someone we had seen before.  After talking about what happened, we had some dinner.

Sushi

I started with  the vegetarian sushi.  Tofu and veggies are on the inside and cucumber is wrapped around the seaweed.

Miso Soup

The sushi was followed by Miso Soup.

Spring Rolls

The last dish was some Vegetable Spring Rolls with a spicy sweet and sour sauce.  After that it was time to go home.  All in all, this was a great Date Day.  It is nice to have a relaxing day with no obligations. We rarely eat out these days, so it makes a day like today so much better.

Make it so Number One - Tommy in the Captain's chair

Midnight Run

I had the chance to take part in a fun event on Friday night.  Brooks shoe company held 5 release parties around the country to introduce the new Transcend running shoe.  Charm City Run was one of the stores participating.  Everyone got to wear a demo pair of the shoes and go on a 3.83 mile run at 11:30 pm.  The shoe was available for sale after midnight.  

When I signed up for the event, the temp was supposed to be around 40.  Of course, that did not work out as it ended up being slightly below freezing. The race length was supposed to be 3.83 miles.  There were not any maps for the run since most of it followed the promenade.  However different people took slightly differently routes.  I am a slow runner and lost sight of the leaders on the way to the promenade.  The way I took to get there involve going down some slippery steps.  The frontrunners were already looping around and passing my entry point.  When I headed back, I followed the path they took.  When I did a www.mapmyrun.com route, I did 3.88 miles.   There were 6 people behind me at the turn around point and five got back to the store before me, but they never passed me on the route. According to the organizer, I took the correct route coming back, but it was a little longer. Anyway, I did the run in 47 minutes at a 12.07 pace.  That was good for me.  I did my last 5 K at a 11:57 pace but it was warmer and this was over a half mile longer.  My lungs were burning when I finished.

I thought the shoe was okay.  The fushia strip going around the shoe acts as a guide rail to give you greater stability.  Half way into the run I started having a pain on top of my left foot.  I have several hot spots of pain because of my broken ankle many a year ago, however this was not one of them.  The shoe was also wider than I am accustomed to.  As a result, my feet bumped into each other several time.  Luckily, the bumps were not enough to make me trip and fall.  I am happy with my much cheaper Nikes.  I do like the idea of being able to test run a shoe.  I had run 2 miles before my foot started hurting.  I would have never known it would be uncomfortable during a regular store try on. I wish I could do that with all shoes.

One Year Review

Chili

So, it has been one year since I embarked on a vegan diet.  It has been a good year. Eating at home is a breeze. Processed foods were not a big part of my diet to begin with, now I eat even less.  I have used some

Tacos and Refried Beans

mock meats and cheeses, but they are not the mainstay of my diet.  I will eat less of them this year.

Noodles and Vegetables

There are still plenty of recipes to make, some are modifications. Non dairy milks are great.  I do not crave meat at all.  The thought of eating a slab of meat is kind of gross.  Sometimes I would like some comfort food with ground meat and cheese, but that is rare.

Thousand Island Dressing

Tommy and I definitely eat out less often.  That is good for the waistline and the pocket book.  Eating out is still the hardest part.  It is frustrating to peruse a menu and see nothing I can eat on it.  The farm to table type places are the worst.  They put bacon in everything.  Some places will easily make a nice dish for me, others do not do a good job.

Noodles with peanut sauce, scallion pancakes

 Brunch is the hardest meal because everything is egg based.  Eating while travelling is tougher.  I have had two veggie sandwiches that had cheese on them.  It wasn't on the menu and we were on the road with the limited options. I am sure that will still happen every now and then.

Oatmeal with nuts and fruit

Granola

Health wise, I feel good.  My cholesterol dropped almost 30 points and it was high before. I lost a few pounds and gained a lot of muscle.  I made weight training a priority at the gym and it really paid off. When I had the Bod Pod analysis done, I gained 7 pounds of muscle.  Although the scale hasn't moved much, I am smaller and my clothes fit much better.

Lentil Soup with Rutabaga Croutons

Tommy has been a wonderful sport with this.  He eats vegetarian most of the time.  He likes a little cheese on most dishes.  I buy him some meat, especially if I am making a dish with a lot of veggies that I do not like.  He is also good at picking out the things that he doesn't like.

Mango Salsa

I have found that smoothies and oatmeal make the breakfasts.  You can add so many different ingredients to them to keep it from getting boring.  I snack on fruit and nuts most often.  I have to be careful with bread because I mindlessly eat it.  We have had lot of soups and

Spicy Lasagna

salads. One dish meals are common for dinner.  Stir fry a protein (beans or tofu) and at least 2 veggies and serve over a grain. I try not to make to many desserts, but we have had cookies, cakes and pies.  Earth Balance and bittersweet chocolate are a great team.  It took several tries to get good pancakes, but I have yet to find a good French Toast recipe. But I will trying.  I have made lots of hummus, pesto and guacamole. I make bread about as often as I did pre-vegan. We are enjoying a whole wheat loaf now.  

Portobello Mushroom with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

I claim the year a success and looking forward to another meat free year.

Nachos

Quinoa with veggies and  curry sauce

Tofu steaks, bulgar wheat and asparagus

Christmas Eve

So I am still a little behind in posting stuff. This was our Christmas Eve meal.  We had a smaller meal this year.  We wanted it to be a little bit simpler. In years past, I might have made a dozen or so dishes.  I would start cooking early and we would eat from each dish after it was made. So we would end up eating small plates all day long instead of a sit down dinner.  I brought out the good china and we sat down for a low key meal with champagne.

Stew

This was a slightly sweet stew made with fruit and veggies.  The base was a mix of stock and mango nectar.  The main ingredients were seitan, pearl onions, carrots, dried apricots, and prunes.  It was seasoned with cinnamon, garlic, cumin, cardamom and saffron.

The stew was served over mashed sweet potatoes.  For a salad, we had leftover Apple Slaw from the holiday parties.

Vegetable Bread

On the side, we had some Vegetable Bread.  This white bread was baked with sundried tomatoes, green bell pepper and onions.

Cake

The dessert was a Chocolate Cake with chocolate icing.  The cake was sprinkled with coconut and topped with dried mango pieces dipped in white chocolate, crystallized ginger and dried cranberries.  The white chocolate was not vegan, but was something I had on hand that needed to eaten.  I have just about cleared out all the nonvegan items in the house.  

River hopes that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and that the new year is starting out great for you.

Holiday Parties

I know it is a little late, but I just getting around to posting the food from the Holiday get togethers we did.  While in the past we have thrown huge events, this year I just did a facebook announcement for folks to stop by on three different days during one weeks. I made dishes each night. Sparkling wine is always our go to drink during the holiday season.  I did a Sparkling Cranberry Rose cocktail the first night.  This was made with Prosecco, cranberry juice and sugar.  it had a beautiful fuchsia color and a crisp taste.

Spicy Pistachios

 The food items began with Spicy Pistachios seasoned with coriander, cloves and red pepper.

Salad

A green salad with carrot, raisins, strawberries, mushrooms and celery   to mix in.

Garlic Bread

Garlic Bread made from a french loaf.

Cheese and Herb Mini Peppers.  These were not vegan.  They were made with goat cheese mixed with chives, basil, and tarragon and stuffed in mini sweet peppers.  Since we were inviting guests over, I provided more options in addition to the items I ate.

Real cheese

The second night started with Cheese Decked with Fruit.  I made two versions, one with cheddar and one with vegan cheese.  The cheese was topped with raspberries and walnuts, then drizzled with honey.

Vegan Cheese

I made an Onion Dip using vegan sour cream and mixed with fennel, onion and herbs.  I had fennel, green onion,  radishes, carrots, cucumber and zucchini for dipping.

Onion Dip

The Spinach Spread was made with vegan cream cheese, lemon pepper, spinach, onion, roasted red pepper, Beyond Meat chicken, and vegan sour cream.  This item was spread on nut crackers.

Spinach Spread

I made  big loaf of Focaccia with Grapes that was vegan.  As an accompaniment, I made a baked Brie and Artichoke Spread.

Focaccia

On the last night, I started with Whole Wheat Biscuits and made sandwiches with them.  Some had ham and some had a vegan lunch meat. Real cheese was on the ones with meat and fake cheese for the fake cheese. An apple jelly was spread on top and a Cranberry Relish  was spread inside.

I made some easy rolls from premade frozen whole wheat pizza dough.  They were rolled in a mixed on poppy and fennel seeds.

Rolls

Next was a Grapefruit Miso Salad made from romaine and spinach with chopped yellow pepper, tomato, mushrooms and grapefruit sections.  The dressing was made from miso paste, rice vinegar and olive oil.

Salad

We had an Apple Slaw made with red cabbage, red grapes, apples celery and almonds.  An Apple Cider Vinaigrette was used to dress it.

Apple Slaw

The final item was some Lemon Braised Baby Broccoli.