Korean Style Chili Cucumbers

I love the Korean style banchan cucumbers that I've purchased at my local Asian supermarket. However I don't like that they are made with dried shrimp. So I have veganized the recipe, and it's still just as yummy!

These are perfect as a light appetizer, and are very healthy for you.

I use mini cucumbers as they are far easier to eat.



Ingredients

- 8 mini cucumbers
- 1/2 cup of Korean Chili Paste (check at your local Asian supermarket)
- 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup chives, cut to 1 1/2 inch long

Directions

1. Cut cucumbers in half. Starting at the cut end, slice in criss-cross fashion 2/3 of the length down the cucumber. Careful not to cut through the end, or the filling won't stay in!
2. Mix the remaining ingredients in a bowl to form the chili paste mixture.
3. Stuff the cucumbers with the filling.
4. Place cucumbers in a glass star (A bowl will do fine)
5. Drizzle any remaining chili paste mixture over the cucumbers.

You can serve these immediately, but they are better if you let them marinate overnight.

Vegan Mini Lasagnas with Sun dried Tomato "Ricotta"

These mini lasagnas are so cute! They are the perfect size for a light supper or a workweek lunch.

Serve piping hot, and take the leftovers to work!

Prep time: 45 minutes

Cook time: 20 to 25 minutes

Speedy option: use pre-made sauce and shave 20 minutes off this recipe!

Ingredients

• 1 package vegan gyoza wrappers
• 1 package Yves Veggie Ground Round
• 1 package Daiya
• 1 package of medium tofu
• 1 small jar of sun dried tomatoes packed in olive oil
• 1 head garlic, minced or finely chopped (Reserve one head of garlic for the Sun dried Tomato "Ricotta")
• 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
• 3 stalks celery, finely diced
• 1 large tin of tomatoes, crushed
• 1 or 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tsp raw sugar or agave
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp dried basil
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 lemon, juiced

Method

Make the tomato sauce:

If you are pressed for time, feel free to use a nice pre-made jar of sauce instead of making your own.

1. Heat a large pot on high heat. Add olive oil to pan, and add garlic. Cook garlic just until fragrant.
2. Add celery and onions to pan and stir to combine. Lower to medium high heat, cooking til translucent.
3. Add veggie ground round, basil and oregano. Stir to combine.
4. Add tomatoes, bay leaf, and sugar.
5. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
6. Add 1/2 cup water, and lower heat to medium low.
7. Let simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

The sauce will reduce slightly as the water evaporates, so resist the urge to add salt and pepper until the end. This will allow you to season your sauce properly. Also, do not add any thickening agent to the sauce. The extra water will be needed to help the gyoza wrappers plump and cook.

Make the Sun dried Tomato 'Ricotta'

1. In a food processor, blend the tofu, sun dried tomatoes, lemon juice and reserved garlic clove.
2. Blend until smooth. Feel free to add water if it is too thick. The mixture should resemble a cake batter.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Some of the water from this will absorb into the gyoza wrappers, and making the pasta layer nice and tender and leaving the 'ricotta' layer thick and savory. Almost as good as the real thing!


Assemble the Mini Lasagnas

1. Preheat over to 375 degrees.
2. Line a greased muffin tin with one layer of gyoza wrappers.

Make sure the wrappers go up the sides of the pan. This will make it easier to pop them out later!

1. Add a spoonful of tomato sauce to cover the first layer.
2. Add another layer of gyoza wrappers.
3. Add a spoonful of the Sun dried Tomato 'Ricotta'.

Make sure to cover the entire gyoza wrapper with filling!

1. Add another layer of gyoza wrappers.
2. Add another spoonful of tomato sauce.
3. Sprinkle Daiya cheese on top.

Top these cute little lasagnas with Daiya, and pop em in the oven!

1. Bake in over for 20 to 25 minutes.

Yummy, warm little lasagna muffins!

1. Use a knife to free the muffins from the tin.
2. Serve and enjoy!

Chef's Notes:

• For vegan gyoza wrappers, look at your local Asian supermarket (T and T, Hanareum etc.) I found mine in the freezer section with the dumplings.
• Careful not to use wonton wrappers, which contain egg
• Be sure to read the ingredients on the container to make sure there isn't any egg or animal derivatives added
• Allow the muffins to rest a few minutes before liberating them from their tins, or you are liable to end up with a goopy mess!
• These also make a great breakfast on the go, eaten cold

A Year Exploring the Ethics of Eating, and A New Vegan Challenge

Into Veganism and Back

According to Facebook, on this day in 2010 I stated that I was sick from browsing the PETA blogs and was contemplating vegetarianism. Since then I've gone vegetarian, vegan, and settled into my current status as a flexitarian. It's been an extremely rewarding experience, the end result of which has been:



- I'm concerned about our food supply, which is in crisis



- I have boycotted bottled water



- I wonder why 'organic' is now a high-priced lifestyle that only the rich can afford, whereas it was 'the norm' before the Green Revolution


- I don't know why pregnant women get all excited about eating smoked salmon and brie cheese, but find it completely acceptable to expose their unborn child to hundreds of chemicals via their toiletries, makeup, cleaning products, food, perfume, vehicles, Febreeze spray bottles, Air Wick air fresheners etc etc etc



- I have grave concerns for our planet's farmers, which are under attack by Monsanto and the commercial interests of large corporations



- I fear that my grandchildren will grow up in a world where the beaches are too toxic and cluttered with plastic garbage to play in



- I have planted an organic garden on my patio



- I've rejected my business school brainwashing. Externalized costs are borne by the poor, and it's disgusting. The market needs to be realigned so corporations are rewarded for doing good deeds, not punished with plummeting stock prices.



- I think people should receive tax credits if they dedicate a portion of their lawn to growing food, instead of grass



- I try to store and transport my food in glass jars instead of toxic, oil-based plastic


I'm Not A Judgemental Hippy-Hipster Jerk!
Now, all this makes me sound like a very judgemental person.  After spending 212 days as a vegan, I know first hand how easy it is to become self-righteous food jerk.

In my experience however, it's very hard to be perfect all the time. As a good vegetarian friend of mine put it, "After a while it seems like the only morally acceptable thing to do is sit in a room with the lights off, drinking tap water and gnawing an organic carrot".

This is not my idea of a good time, and chances are it's a lifestyle that won't appeal to people en mass.

But just because you aren't a hardcore vegan, riding your bike past the capitalist jerks sipping their Starbucks in their Porch SUVs , doesn't mean you can't do something meaningful.

In fact, I believe that the only way we will ever bring about a noticeable impact in the world is by getting everyone to make one or two small lifestyle changes. Do not underestimate the impact of critical mass!

Victories
I have made a few small victories in my community, and I am truly inspired by it. These victories include:

- Convincing my mother to drop her chemical laden 'beauty' regime and start using my organic, home made beauty products

- Inspiring my facebook friends to try some yummy vegan recipes

- Getting my parents to do a detox

- Making my partner healthier by cooking nutritious vegetarian dishes for him

- Convincing my partner to drop milk from his son's diet in favor or nut or rice milk


From my experience, people respond more to the carrot instead of the rod. If you make people feel bad about what they eat, how they live, what they drive etc. they won't be open to anything you have to say. Inspiring change is far more effective than demanding change.


A Seasonal Vegan?
So, what has the point of this whole journey been? I am seeking a happy medium. A balance, if you will.

Since ending my Vegan Challenge on May 9, 2011, I have been occasionally eating meat or seafood when I am out with company or as a guest at someones home. I have bought free range eggs and dairy. I have cooked with meat a few times for my partner, but still find it very difficult to have to touch or smell raw animal flesh. If I am cooking for myself, I won't actively go out and purchase meat. I just can't stomach the sight of it.

Lately I have been feeling badly about dropping the challenge. It's been nice to not have to be the hard-to-please vegan guest when I go out to dinner, and I have really missed cheese. But my current feeling is that the costs of eating dairy and meat exceed the benefits.

So that being said, I am going to embark upon another vegan challenge. From today onwards, I won't be buying any more animal-based food.

However, being the pragmatist that I am I will use up the remaining dairy and prawns (leftover from a dinner party) in my fridge.

After all, food is precious. Even if it's not vegan :)

The Politics of Lawns

I have a problem with lawns. Topsoil is quickly becoming a scare resource.  We are running out of the material which we use to grow our food. Yet in North America, we have been conditioned to waste our topsoil growing lawns.

The average home owner sits on a very generous portion of land, which could be used to grow food. But instead of growing food, people put down sod, drench it with chemicals, and use it to grow grass.

The lawn has become the ultimate status symbol. If you have a perfectly manicured lawn, it is a sign of affluence. People who let their lawns get overgrown are a source of scorn by the other law-abiding citizens who 'put in the effort' to maintain their yard.

In the most extreme cases,  we hire low-wage workers to mow and fertalize the lawn. The low-paid workers are exposed to the carcinogenic chemicals, while we sit in our houses and sip chardonnay or go to Choices to buy ridiculously over-priced organic produce.

Am I the only one who finds this bizzare? Why don't people grow their own food on some of their land?

Organic swiss chard, grown on my patio in garden boxes

My parents are a prime example of this. They have both a front and back yard, which they painstakingly maintain every weekend. They love to garden. But they don't grow any food. I recall growing up as a child and not being able to play on the lawn because it was covered in lime, or fertalizer, or it was being airated, or the new grass seed needed a chance to grow.

Why the hell bother having a lawn if your children can't even play on it?


I raised this topic with my parents, and asked them to plant a dwarf fig tree in their yard. They weren't warm to the idea. I pointed out that they could save money on food if they grew some of their own. They still weren't convinced. I argued that they should at least try to grow some of the more expensive food items, like spring mix or figs or asparagus.

After a few weeks of badgering, they have now planted some asparagus. Not a complete victory, but it's a start.

They have recently put up a huge fence around their back lawn, so that their dog can't go in it. So, now the lawn is really just used for:

1) Looking at
2) Walking across

Somehow I feel the land could be put to better use. Especially given the rising food costs coming our way this year.

What do you think? Should more people set aside some of their lawns to grow food? Is the lawn losing its foothold as a status symbol and quickly becoming a sign of stupidity and vanity?

Leave your comments below!

Wild Rose Cleanse Day #1

Today was day #1 and it has gone much better than expected. I sorely missed my morning coffee with organic sugar and soy creamer, and right now I am hankering for a nice glass of red wine. But other than that, it's been smooth sailing. There was no explosive diarreah or extreme intestinal distress, no pounding headache or flu-like symptoms.

I taught dance for 5.5 hours, and had good energy up til the last half hour.

My only complaint is that I was a tad bloaty in the early evening. But I can live with that :)

Zen and the Art of Baby Stawberries

We spread leadened gloss on our vain lips and pay for the sin of vanity with our tumored breasts.

We demand cheap meat, feast upon the tortured flesh, poison the earth and are incredulous when we become ill.

We trust in the Corporation, and let It tell us what to eat, what to breath, what to swaddle our children in.

We buy new things to replace our perfectly good old things, on credit that we cannot afford.

Our old things are buried, our sins buried, our past worthlessness is buried until it pollutes the earth and our grandchildren grow up unable to swim in the oceans, not knowing the taste of real strawberries.

My soul weeps. My heart is heavy, it does not soar.

How has this come to be? Greed. Gluttony. Displaced values and low self worth.

All I need, is enough. More than enough is more than enough. If there is excess when I am done, then I have consumed in excess. And I am ashamed.

To boast of excess used to be a way of showing power, status, and affluence. Excess is gluttony, obesity of the spirit, impairment of judgment.

A one dollar hamburger eaten with one hand while one person drives an SUV one block. This is the isolating metric of our time.

The lucky ones work tedious jobs to earn more money to pay for expensive gym memberships and expensive organic food, so they can escape the diseases of the poor: cancer, obesity, unbridled consumerism and credit card debt.


And still, we are all so alone. Things cannot fill the emptiness.


A fast food bag, travels three feet from the drive thru window to the car. And it has finally fulfilled it's destiny.

The three second journey from the window to the car, where it is pillaged by the chubby, greasy fingers of child on the verge of type two diabetes, is the useful life of the paper bag. Three seconds. Millions of trees logged, barrels of oil burned, kilotons of pollution created for that three second journey.

My heart is heavy. My soul, diminished.

And so I plant a garden. I place seeds in the earth, till the soil with my bare hands, and wait. I am patient, I do not demand more of the earth than it can give. I accept.

I find Zen in my garden. I am sincere in my intentions. I will give to the earth, and will take back only what it yields, less a little bit.

This transaction between myself and my garden, this exchange of energy, is a microcosm. It is a model for world peace. It is the solution to climate change. It is my own little secret, my private revolution.

I take a deep inhale, close my eyes, exhale, and let my gaze fall on my plot of baby strawberries. I smile, and suddenly all is right with the world.

Jenny fell off the Vegan Christmas Bandwagon

So the holidays have come and gone, and I'm relieved.

After all my efforts in locating an ethically produced turkey, my mother went and got an heirloom turkey from Whole Foods. The bird cost a whopping $6/lb. compared to the paltry $0.89/lb at Superstore.



Now, in the days leading up to Christmas I was quite sick. Consequently I wasn't able to cook all my own food and bring it to my parent's for Christmas dinner. Due to a combination of laziness and mother-induced-I-bought-this-expensive-turkey-so-you-better-eat-it guilt, I fell off the vegan bandwagon.

I ingested butter, cream, cheese, seafood, and of course, turkey. I have to admit, I didn't enjoy eating these foods as much as I thought I would. Somehow, things just didn't taste as good as I remember them tasting. And my body was so unused to such rich food, that I ended up with a horrible stomach ache and needed to have one of my dad's antacid tablets.

So, just another typical Christmas. Eat, drink, be merry, and pay for it later in the bathroom.

The one good thing I found about being vegan during the holidays, as that I'm not dealing with the typical holiday weight gain and bloat. I just had one day of eating rich food, instead of the usual 31 days that most people have.

And that feels pretty damn good :)