simplicity is bliss*

Sometimes when things get a little hectic (or a lot hectic) you just need something that is simple and comforting....

Steamed bok choi with a drizzle of umeboshi plum vinegar//

kombocha squash with onions and a pinch of salt. Thats all :)

world vegan day

source

I'm in a super festive mood today because not only was yesterday Halloween, today is World Vegan Day (the 67th anniversary of the term "vegan") and also the two year anniversary of me following a vegan lifestyle wooo!! All this definitely calls for celebration...a giant vegan lower-back tattoo perhaps? Ummm I think I'll try a less permanent and painful means of commemorating this awesome day by reflecting a bit on why I chose a vegan diet and why I've stuck with it.

I don't remember the exact day I "officially became a vegan" but I do remember visiting my best friend at her college for Halloween weekend and even though it was definitely an inconvenience to find options in her cafeteria or the small college town she lived in, I distinctly remember not making any exceptions. One of the biggest struggles of becoming vegan was feeling like an inconvenience when it came to feeding time. From family dinners, staying with friends and even going out on a date, I often found myself apologizing for my restrictions. Over the past two years I've learned to stop feeling sorry and started sharing all the information and food I have learned since begging this journey. Pretty much everyone I approach with confidence (and samples!) has been extremely receptive and appreciative. All of my roommates have adopted a vegan diet for the most part and the craziest thing is- I never once asked any of them to even try to go vegan. Keep your cheese in fridge, have an egg in the morning, I don't mind. But I think (and what I've been told) is that by simply observing how simple (and inexpensive!) it is to be vegan and healthy and thus reap all the amazing benefits, making the switch to a vegan lifestyle ends up being the obvious reaction.

For me, I started dabbling in veganism when I moved back to New York from Southern California (ironically enough) and was living on my own rather than in a dorm or with my mom. I had the opportunity for a fresh start and complete control over what I would fill my refrigerator and stock my cabinets with. I have always had an interest in health but at this time I also became increasingly interested in food politics and veganism seemed to be the answer to my search for the most ethical, environmentally sound and most importantly, healthy lifestyle choice.

a glimpse at my pantry- what more could you need?

these make me really happy and I want to make/ eat them.

leftover steel-cut oat and broccoli scallion pancakes

I have been so crazy busy this week-between looking for a roommate, searching for an apartment and then signing the lease (I literally feel like I batted an eye lash and all this happened)-I have been so exhausted. Too exhausted to even go food shopping or cook food! (I know! And those are like, my two favorite activities!!)

So when I went to take a dinner break from sorting/ packing all my stuff, I didn't really have much to work with. I was actually craving falafel, or something similarly warm and crispy, but I didn't have ANY of the ingredients needed to make falafel:( What I did have was a big container of steel-cut oats I cooked up the week and a random array of vegetables. I just kinda grabbed whatever looked good and started mixing things together with the intention of making some sort of stir-fry or veggie burger. The outcome of concoction tasted JUST like the scallion pancakes I used to eat from the chinese restaurant near my house when I was younger-only wayy better (less greasy + more flavorful)

just like take-out, only better

Here's what I mixed together. The measurements are complete estimates because I just used what was leftover!

~1c steal-cut oats, cooked and cooled

~1/3c daikon radish, grated (or chopped, but I like to grate my veggies with a cheese grater, which is obvi not ever used for cheese;)

~3 scallions, chopped (white part included) plus leave some aside for a super-shmansy garnish

~1/4 broccoli florets, chopped into tiny pieces, excluding the stems (sorry stems!)

-1T ground flax seed mixed with 2T water, set aside to turn into a gel

-1T brown rice flour, or whatever flour you have on hand (all purpose would work)

-1 pinch of cumin

-1 pinch of cayenne or other spiced pepper (I used a lot because I love heat)

-salt and pepper to taste

-olive oil for pan (although cooking spray would work if you are trying to cut down on oil)

Mix all the oats and veggies in a bowl. Then add your spices and binders (flax "egg" and flour) While the oil is heating in the pan, use your hands to form a ball of the "dough" and then plot it into the pan. Let it crisp up a bit before using a spatula to flatten it into a pancake shape. Cook until both sides are crispy and brown, about 8 minutes total, depending on the size of your flame and how crispy you like it (or how hungry you are.) Serve with some chopped fresh scallions on top. Viola!

This would make a great appetizer to go with an asian stir-fry. Wow, I should really go grocery shopping!

Guess who's back (back, back, back)...

Helloooo...I don't know if anyone is even still reading this thing (or if they were in the first place) but after taking a 5 month hiatus...I'M BACK! And for good this time, with the promise of more frequent and varying posts, but only under one condition...part of the reason why I lost my ambition to keep this blog going (aside from moving 4 times and overwhelming myself with school, work, internships, friends, family etc…) was because I really didn't think it was reaching anyone. And while I do love having a place to archive all my findings and yum adventures, my main motivation is to share my wealth of knowledge with others. This is because I can say that the hands-down best resource for me when transitioning into a vegan and more environmentally responsible lifestyle has been through the internet. As a student, both in college and the world, I feel that I owe every thing I know to the amazing individuals and communities of people who have been gracious enough to share their findings with me. I haven’t really done too much in the form of marketing my blog, but I could really use your help to feel like my voice is being heard. I think with the encouragement of others, the energy to continue to collect information and start many interesting discourses will only come naturally. So, in exchange for your support, today I would like to share one of my favorite recipes of all time.

Trail of Kale Salad::

Ingredients:

1 bunch of kale (or 2 small bunches)

pinch of sea salt

1 lemon

1 avocado

¼- ½ red onion, sliced thin

sesame seeds

optional:

¼c arame seaweed, placed in a bowl of warm water and left to rehydrate

dulce/ seaweed flakes. I use this mix.

Click image to enlarge

Wash the kale leaves rip into bite-size pieces. In a large container, massage the leave with the salt and allow it to sit out and soften for about ten minute. The longer you massage, the more enzymes in the kale break down and the softer it becomes. Return to the bowl and squeeze the juice of a lemon over the leaves and massage. Slice open an avocado, remove the pit and slice into pieces before dumping it on top of the kale and, you guessed it…massage it into the leaves. Add in the sliced red onion, hydrated arame and top with sesames seeds and seaweed flakes. This is the type of dish that tastes better the longer you let it sit in the refrigerator. So good I could literally eat the whole bunch!

What have been your most useful vegan resources?

Stay tuned for more! And tell your friends;)

RAWmadan

So while all my roommates were Austin Texas for SXSW this past week week, and left in the apartment was just me, Mr. Bones and the residue of four girls with crazy hectic lives and probably the remains of a few parties that our hung-over selves did a skimpy job of cleaning up after. I took this week as a perfect opportunity to do a little detox; of our home and myself. I cleaned all surfaces and scraped the crust that collected on the bottom of our fridge and tossed anything that had been living in there for too long.

Like I said, I also felt that I needed to detox myself a little bit of the sludge that built up over midterms week. I figured since I would finally have some time (ended up not being nearly as much as I thought) I would try to stick to only clean, raw foods. I had dabbled in raw foodism a few summers ago but I think the fact that I lacked my own kitchen and general knowledge of nutrition back then, I didn’t really go about it in the best way.

While actually preparing all these raw meals was a bit time consuming, it was totally worth it and I definitely reaped many benefits including more energy, clearer skin (like, actually cleared up all existing blemishes and I still haven’t gotten any new ones since!) diminished food cravings, minimized anxiety and just all around boosted my mood! I was about 90% raw for 5 consecutive days (I think my tahini is not raw and I may have had some roasted nuts while baby sitting...whoops o well) but I felt better almost immediately and would suggest trying to go raw for a day here and there or even just incorporating more raw foods into your diet. I think since the weather is starting to get warmer (…and then randomly cold again?) we tend to naturally gravitate towards more fresh and lighter cooked foods. Some other things that I think also attributed to me feeling great this week include:

-taking vitamins daily

-dry brushing (exfoliates, good for blood flow and release of toxins)

-rubbed coconut oil all over my hair and body (and I’m so silky smooth because of it :)

-apple cider vinegar (diluted into a hair rinse and toner balances ph levels)

-yoga (felt like I was really able to concentrate on each movement and how it affected my body. Sounds all hippy-dippy I know, but I truly just felt so much more in-touch with my body. I also accidentally went to a Bikram yoga class for the first time (hey, it was advertised as “hot yoga”) and instead of running out of studio, I stayed, gave it a try and…absolutely LOVED IT. It was one of the most intense things I’ve ever done but it was great and I plan to incorporate it into my normal yoga routine. One of the best mistakes I’ve ever made!)

-went on a few jogs outside with Mr. Bones (although I don’t think running is good for our bodies (or at least mine) these run-jogs I went on made me feel strong and energized. It also forced me to spend more time out side, I got explore parts of my neighborhood I don’t generally get to and it also made Mr. Bones very happy, which made me happy.

-sleep (something I often don’t get as much as I like of.)

-no T.V.-I’m really not a big T.V. watcher, I’ll usually just watch a few shows on my computer from time to time but I really made and effort to spend less time in front of screens.

Okay…now onto the recipes!! Breakfast usually consisted of smoothies (which I actually ate with a spoon, out of a bowl, parfait-style, much more satisfying and pretty. Lunch and dinner were either salads or veg dishes and I really tried my best to be experiemental and keep things interesting. I’m going to post the recipes over a couple of days with some updates of other (non-food related!!) things I’ve been up to this week. Hope you try some of these recipes out and enjoy!

My oatmeal replacer:

So I’ve mentioned on here before that I pretty much eat oatmeal everyday for breakfast. While oatmeal is delicious and nutritious, it is not raw. Therefore I set out to find a way to fit all a filling mix of carbs and protein into my morning meal. Enter the smoothie parfait. The general formula was this:

1-2T ground flax seeds, soaked in 2-4T water for a bit before in the same bowl I ended up eating out of

1 cup frozen fruit

1 cup liquid for blending (this was either water or almond milk for me but you could also use juice)

1 stalk of whatever leafy greens you have lying around (virtually tasteless and then boom- you just ate raw leafy greens for breakfast without even realizing!)

Agave nectar for sweetness

Superfoods!

2T hulled, raw hemp seeds (for protein! But you can also use raw protein powder. Nutiva makes a great one)

1-2T cacao/ maca powder blend

1T cacao nibs sprinkled on top for a pretty presentation, energizing kick and satisfying crunch!

1T of whatever else I’ve got (this was mostly some pumpkin or sesame seeds-I’m really into crunchy smoothies- but gogi berries are great to. Other stand-out super foods I use when I can are spirilina, chia seeds...

**A note on superfoods: These are NOT SUPER hard to find. They can pretty much be found at any health food store or at Whole Foods. I got mine from the bulk bins at the 4th Street Food Co-op because it was the cheapest option and I was able to bring my own bags to eliminate packaging and not shipping! The Navitas Naturals site has an amazing selection as well as an array of recipes to give you ideas of how to actually use them.

Even when I’m not eating all raw, I think flax seed crackers make a fabulous snack. Unfortunately, packed varieties are so stupidly expensive that I never get to have them unless I make them myself (which I should really do more often). They are quite simple to make, the only thing is you have plan ahead about 12 hours before want to eat them. They’re great with dips, crumbled onto soups or salads, made into an open-face sandwich with avocado and veggies or eaten on their own like chips.

Flax Seed Crackers:

½ cup ground flax seeds, placed in a mixing bowl and soaked over night in 1 cup of water

½ white onion

crushed garlic to taste (I used just under a whole clove because I am a garlic fiend)

½ red bell pepper

½ orange bell pepper

1 stalk of celery

1 jalapeño pepper

1 large handful of mixed leafy greens

sea salt and black pepper to taste

Roughly chop all the veggies. I should mention that no two batches of flax seed crackers I make have ever been the same. I always use whatever I have on hand (I should mention that this is a great way to put to use whatever veggies you have that are on their way out) but this batch was particularly tasty so I decided to write down exactly what I put in, but feel free to shake it up! Anyways, so the veggies are chopped and then I decided to put them in the blender, but you can choose not to if you want a chunkier cracker. Then I dumped in the flax seeds, which are now a jelly-like substance from soaking. I whirled everything together and poured it back into the original bowl and stirred in the salt and pepper.

Then, using a spoon, I spread it onto my dehydrator trays **lined with parchment paper** very important to do this so that you do not end up with bumpy crackers and a crusty dehydrator (I know this from experience) I did this by cutting one strip of parchment paper the same width as the tray and then using it as a template to make more. Don’t worry too much about wasting so much parchment paper, you can totally just wipe them off and reuse! I found it to be easiest to drop a blob of the “batter” on the end of the parchment paper where it overlaps another, and spread it across in order to hold them all in place, making sure that each “loaf” is equal in thickness.

Then repeat until all the mix is on the tray, plug that bad boy in and walk away. The great thing about dehydrating is that you can’t really burn/ overcook/ mess anything up (at least I haven’t found a way to do so…yet) I left mine for about 10 hours, but you’re gonna want to switch the order of the trays around at least once so that they dehydrate evenly, and I also flipped the crackers about 2 hours before they were completely dehydrated. Return to find yummy and addictive crackers, Yay!

*While making these I felt inspired and decided to experiment with something I had never tried before. For a small portion of the batch I added some nutritional yeast and pressed some pumpkin seeds on top once I spread the mix on the tray. These were totally out of this world and I will definitely make them again. They were a bit denser tasting than the others, so I was happy to have both on hand for variation. The pumpkin seeds on top tasted great also looked really beautiful.

Here’s a salad recipe I used these flax crackers in. It’s really exceptional and filling too!

The Cheezer:

Dressing:

Juice of one lemon

1 T tahini

1t barley miso

1 splash of braggs liquid aminos

2 garlic “sections”, crushed

1 T nutritional yeast plus more for topping

black pepper, to taste

The salad:

Mixed greens

Gingered carrots (grated carrots and ginger mixed and refrigerated overnight)

Onion

Scallion

Daikon

Broccoli

Jalapeño pepper

Cheesy-pumpkin seed flax cracker, crushed

(red cabbage could be nice/ add color but I didn’t have any on hand)

Keep checking back for new recipes this week!

Do you have any favorite raw snacks you'd like to create on your own?

oatmeal-mixing it up!

Now that classes have started up again, it seems like I'm literally running out the door every morning. My favorite way to fuel up a busy winter day is with oatmeal. I personally like steal cut oats the best. They cook up faster than oat groats and feel heartier than rolled oats to me. I also just discovered Trader Joe's Quick Cooking Steal Cut Oats, which I've been subsisting on ever since. Now, I know you must be asking yourself, as a foodie, how do I not get bored with the same breakfast every freaking day? They key is to switch up what I add to the oats! Here are some of my favorites:

SWEET OATS:

1. Apple-cinnamon oats:

Chop or grate one whole apple. Bring 1 cup of apple cider (I like TJ's) to boil, add oats and lower heat to simmer. When about half way cooked, add chopped apple and lots of cinnamon (I also add ground flax seeds at this point). Pour the porridge mixture in a bowl and top with maple syrup and some nuts or seeds (I like chopped almonds) and raisins if you like!

I topped this bowl off with some pan-toasted rolled oats for some extra crunch!

2. Coconut-almond oats:

Cook oats as you normally would (using water or sometimes I use almond milk if I want something extra creamy) Top with shredded coconut, flax seeds and chopped almonds.

3. Simple berry oatmeal:

Cook oats normally, in salted water or non-dairy milk of choice. Top with fresh berries, such as blueberries and sliced strawberries. Top with aprox 1/2 T of maple syrup if you're feeling really wild :)

SAVORY OATS:

1. Chipotle-Cheezy Oats:

Add to cooked oats:

1 T ground flax seeds

1 T pumpkin seeds (pan toasting them until they brown/ pop adds a nice toasty flavor)

1 T nutritional yeast

1 pinch cayenne (or other spice of your choice, I've been using "hot peppeh" that I brought back from Ghana)

tons of black pepper

salt to taste

2. Simple Seaweed/Sesame Oats:

Cook oats normally. Top with flax and sesame seeds, occasionally half an ume plum if I feel like I need the extra health, and seaweed of choice. I have a nice three seaweed flake blend (dulse, laver and sea lettuce) and sometimes I crumple up half a sheet of nori and toss it in there too. Yum. Seaweed for breakfast!

What's your favorite way to cook up oatmeal?

healing foods

After stumbling upon this article (if you can call BroBible a legitimate literary source...and no I'm not even sure how I came across this) about the 25 best foods to cure a hangover which, in my humble opinion are some of the worst foods in general, I began thinking about foods that heal. Between the holiday season, new years, and winter break coming to an end, I feel like there have had numerous opportunities in which I have been the test-subject in experimenting with foods that make you feel like you are undoing the results of over-doing it. For example, after downing a few too many glasses of $9.99-jug-wine last night, I awoke this morning feeling...you guessed it!...dehydrated and foggy and, as per usual, hungry. In my groggy-eyed, cotton-mouthed state, I managed to whip up a stir-fry by first sauteing garlic and onion with some sesame oil, then throwing in one grated carrot, grated daikon radish, sliced kale and stirred in some brown rice I (thankfully) had already cooked up before. When everything was cooked and heated, I added the juice of a 1" piece of ginger (grated the ginger, then squeezed and discarded the pulp) and a few splashes of Braggs Liquid Aminod to the mix. I topped the mountain of food-just the right combination of carby-salty goodness I was looking for- with sesame and pumpkin seeds for protein and iron! I considered making a quick miso-tahini dressing, but I was honestly too lazy to even do that. The results? I actually felt so much more clear headed by the time I finished my breakfast and a big tea. I was able to get to yoga and then straight to my internship without a problem. Don't you love food that actually makes you feel good?

this is a photo of the first meal I cooked for myself in Africa-"brown rice" with tomatoes and yam leaves (my African stand-in for kale) sauteed with tons of garlic and onion.

Also, I am intrigued by this whole FebFast idea, but maybe that's just because I'm still feeling the effects of last night. I also really want to check out this one day cooking workshop at 3rd ward.

Soup's On!

I've been back in New York for a few weeks now after spending an amazing and utterly life-changing four months in Ghana! And...it's cold as hell, so you know what that means? Time for soup. If you can imagine, cooking in Ghana was tough. Not only was there a lack in accessibility to the ingredients I needed, there was often times a lack of gas in the stove (or in the entire country for that matter). Even when we had gas on the stove, they were really janky. It was a boil to death/ burn or nothing situation. So, when I first got back to America and was staying at my mom's place with complete access to her fully-functional kitchen and wide array of ingredients, plus the painfully cold weather (hey, it was 103 degrees almost everyday before I left, ok!) equals tons of staying inside and cooking!

This recipe is adapted from The Gorgeously Green Diet's Turkey Chili. My changes are written in italics. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil (I used coconut oil because it has a higher smoking point than olive so it is healthier for cooking foods for longer periods of time)

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced (I double, maybe tripled this. I love me some garlic!)

1 1/2lbs organic ground turkey (Obviously I omitted this entirely. I added another cup of kidley beans two cups of pinto beans)

1 tbsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

1/2 ground cinnamon (I would probably omit this next time I make this recipe. It made the chili a little sweet and I like mine with more of a spicy kick)

1 tsp salt

3 cups vegetable broth (I used a bit less as I like my chili chunky!)

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (I've made this without before but it actually adds a very crucial, smokey flavor)

1 15-oz can kidney beans (or two cups of dried beans that you cook before hand. cheaper and healthier :)

1 15-oz can whole organic tomatoes

1 medium zucchini, cubed

2 medium carrots, grated

2 cups stemmed and chopped rainbow or swiss chard (I substituted kale for this because that is what I had and also because I love kale, hence the name of this blog!)

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (Didn't do this because I don't really care for cilantro and did not have any of this. I just added more kale!!)

I also added about 2 small jalapeño peppers because I am a spice addict!

What I used:

You don't need these exact brands for this recipe, these are just some great kitchen staples that worked wonderfully for me!

Check out my sweet paper towel backdrop! I'm so professional.

From left to right: Trader Joe's Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, The Wizards Vegan Worcestershire Sauce, Imagine Organic No-Chicken Broth, Trader Joe's spices and Spectrum Organic Virgin Coconut Oil

What I did:

First I cooked up all the beans together. I soaked the beans overnight and then discarded the soaking water, covered them with fresh water and brought it all to a boil. I let them boil uncovered for about 5-10 minutes, skimming off the foam from the top of pot (that's the part that gives you gas. gross. Then I covered them and cooked them for about 40 more minutes.

Then I tossed in the veggies and spices and mixed it all together. I covered it all with broth and let it simmer until the veggies were fully cooked and the beans were nice and soft.

Then I tossed in the veggies and spices and mixed it all together.

I covered it all with broth and let it simmer until the veggies were fully cooked and the beans were nice and soft. Viola! Delicious, filling veggie chili! I froze half of it in small containers that I can just throw in a pot and re-heat when I don't have time to make dinner from scratch. I kept the rest in the fridge and ate it throughout the week as a soup, mixed into grains or rolled up in a brown rice wrap.

wise words from an Afregan

This is an excerpt from an interview with The Precision Afrikan over at africanvegans.com. You can read the whole interview here.

3.How do you see the culture that developped in Black Africa as connected to veganism?

I am not a practicing archaeologist or anthropologist in this matter, but much anecdotal and historical evidence presents some of the people of Kemet, also known as Ancient Egyptians, as vegetarians. In general, pre-colonial diets where of whole foods, whether or not meat was included, and pre-colonial lifestyles in many parts of black Africa were seen, by Western anthropologists of the time (mid-19th century), as among the healthiest in the world. Now our life-spans and quality of life are the shortest and most miserable, largely due to neo-colonialism, neo-liberalism and rule by criminal governments. We are aid-dependent, and land tenure in Africa is at a state of perpetual crisis, while cash-crops prioritize growing cacao, coffee, and flowers over food. We even sell immense hectares of land to foreign countries for them to grow food for their own populations! Animal pastoralism is another problem, destroying vegetation across vast swaths of land and accelerating desertification. If all that land grew fruits and vegetables, many of our dietary and food security problems could begin to find resolution. And all these tendencies greatly exacerbate gender inequality as women struggle to grow kitchen gardens to feed families and tend to the crucial but totally unpaid task of reproductive labor, while men tend to focus on cash-crops and preferentially receive implements and resources from governments, multinationals and some NGOs to grow them.

Overall, transitioning towards veganism in Africa will ease malnutrition, raise production levels, increase self-sufficiency and I think reduce tendencies towards conflict and needless aggression. In terms of food policy, we can grow so much of our own fresh fruits and vegetables, organically and sustainably, if we focus on that goal at the continental and grassroots levels. In terms of societal outcomes, I think veganism improves social tolerance, physical well-being, reduces stress, makes the brain work more efficiently, improves immunity and reduces illness, reduces cancer levels, and so on. People will be more cooperative and conscientious of proper land stewardship and societal responsibility and cohesion in a vegan society – at least. Veganism in Africa would probably be far more revolutionary than that.

5.In France, when we think about revolutionary afrikan position in North America, we think about Move or Dead Prez. Nevertheless, we would have a criticism: it seems that a poisonless perspective was the central aspect, not really nature, the animals, the Earth. What would you say to that?

For Africans, there is little time to focus on animal liberation alone. It makes no sense, when humans are in so much misery. Someone like me could never get behind the white animal liberation scene, because they act like it is the central problem of injustice in the world, which from my perspective is absurd and laughable. Oppressed people start at the perspective of their own oppression. Of course, everything else is included when we consider the foul human trends that lead to all kinds of exploitation. Aggression, greed, ignorance, violence, dominion – these are applied to create hierarchies and exploitation amongst humans and between humans and animals. But someone like me and I think Dead Prez or the MOVE Organization sees an urgent need to focus on human problems, and cannot in good conscience focus on animal liberation alone. Only a very privileged person can afford to only focus on animal liberation, so for a lot of people of the revolutionary African position in North America, that sort of thing is very alien, and rightfully so in my opinion. We don’t have the luxury to focus on one single issue, especially one that is tangential to our own suffering and oppression as black human beings. It all must be included – human liberation, Earth liberation, non-human liberation.

I've definitely noticed the lack of vegan options or even healthy food items for that matter and an obvious ignorance about nutrition. The other night we watched a documentary made by a former NYU in Ghana student about the FanIce craze here. FanIce is a frozen treat that comes in a plastic pouch. You bite off the edge and suck the ice cream out. In the documentary, locals who were interviewed about how much they love it also made comments about how it is soooo good for you and "makes you grow big and strong." I know that there are people here struggling to consume as many calories as possible for the least amount of money, but it I think there should be more information about how to get in non-dairy/sugar-loaded forms.

wait, am I actually in Africa?!?

Today we had more orientation stuff. One of our professors, Nat Amarteifo, (who used to be the mayor of ghana!) told us a bit about the history of Ghana and then we went on a bus tour of the city. They took us through Jamestown, which is one of the poorer parts of the region, and it was really sad to see. The houses were literally one room boxes made out concrete with tin roofs held in place with rocks. There were people bathing in dirty water holes and emaciated goats everywhere! Definitely not at all like the area we are staying in, and seeing this way of life made me appreciate everything I have back in New York so much. Regardless of their horrible living situations, all the Ghanaians waved and smiled at us through the bus window. They would crowd around the bus and try and get us to buy stuff from them by shoving like, bracelets and crazy sculptures in our face and grabbing our hands. I’m thinking it wont be as intense when I am no longer traveling with 42 other (mostly) white American kids...

After the tour we went for lunch to this place called Frankies and they had hummus!!! Which they spell it "homos" (and when I told this to my mom via email, she wrote back asking if they had “lesbos” on the menus as well. haha mom!) I freaked out! It tasted so good and I was so happy to have protein/ anything besides white rice!

Dinner was at Sunshine Salads in Osu (they have a branch in Lebone which I’m sure I will try very soon as our meal plan covers dinner there on Tuesdays and Thursdays). I had salad (!!) a noodle dish, yellow rice and this amazing spicy, mushroom-veggie-gravy-saucy stuff. They also brought out some veggie somosas that they has left over and it was the most amazing somosa everrrr! Hints of cinnamon and cumin mmmhhmm mmm! I think I’m going to try and steer clear of deep fried foods from now on though. I feel like all the meals I have eaten here are really heavy and we’ve been shuttled around on a bus everyday. Not walking + heavy foods = blaahh.

organic brown rice!! yeee :)

After we finished eating, my friend Kate and I ventured out to find some groceries to bring back to the house. The school stocked our kitchen with a few basics like toast, crackers, and lots of juice J but I realized that because it is going to be a challenge to find protein in many of my meals (why does everyone think that vegans only eat vegetables!?!) I bought a banana (plantain? I shall find out…) at a stand for 40 pesewas. We also checked out Qwick Pik, pretty much a mini mart, and I found organic brown rice for c4.40**sigh of relief** There is no official certification symbol anywhere on the label, so I’m gonna have to trust Kiki’s on this one…I’m going to chop up my banana (or plantain, still dunno) and freeze is so I can make a hemp protein smoothie tomorrow!! Yummm. I’m so exhausted and have to wake up at 7am, yet again.

P.S. For my class The Art of Travel I have to write a blog post on varying aspects of my semester abroad in Ghana. You can read those entries over here.

well, i was huuuungry

when my friend melissa and i lived on 8th street and avenue c together (aka loisaida !!) there were many nights when we opted to stay in and watch movies with snacks and central air conditioning rather than drag ourselves out to a hot, sketchy bar and get hit on by hot , sketchy dudes. one night we made this crazy vegan-pesto-whole wheat-pizza. well, we were huuungry.

(if you don't get my reference, watch this video immediately. it's hilaaaarious!)

i never make the same pizza twice so this recipe is very loosey-goosey 

ingredients you will knead (pahaha i crack myself up sometimes)

1. pizza dough (i've been lazy and using trader joe's whole wheat, but there are so many easy recipes)

2. pizza "base" (the one pictured bellow is an adzuki bean-based pesto that i made because i shit ton of them and also because pine nuts are really expensive right now! there are sooo many different options to choose from like:

-classic tomato sauce either with veggies on top or, although i've never tried this before because i'm not the biggest fan of food replacements, you can sprinkle some vegan cheese on top. i've heard really good things about daiya)

-go mexican theme by using refried beans and then top with avocado, pico de gayo, corn, jalapeno and bell peppers, taco seasoning...ayos mios!

-take a Mediterranean twist with a hummus base topped with mushrooms, kalamata olives, parsley or whateva floats yr boat.

3. toppings!! i kinda covered this already, but ya you can pretty much use what you like/ have on hand. i normally chop up some veggies and saute them in garlic and olive oil so that they're nice and cooked through to avoid burning the crust. another tip is to slice them very thin.

some optional additions:

-nutritional yeast (adds a nice cheezy flava and is packed with vitamin b12, which is hard to find in a vegan diet)

-pan-toasted nuts

-fresh or dried herbs

-dried chili pepper flakes

STEPS:

when your dough is all kneaded and set a side to rise, roll it out on a floured surface and spread your pizza base on nice n thick.

whole wheat crust with adzuki bean pesto and sprinkled with nutritional yeast

add the topping of your choice, here we used sauted veggies

for the left side of the pizza we used leftover veggies we had from take-out!

next, pop the whole thing in the oven and bake according to the instructions on the package (about 10 minutes, or longer if you like it extra crispy!) then, the hard part; letting it cool off before digging in (this is important because it allows the crust to get, well, crusty) may i suggest doing this by an open window (although i think its counter-productive when it's the same temp as your oven outside...but it makes me feel domestic :)

everyone on avenue C can totally smell this thing from the forth floor

i think you know what to do next! mmm i can't wait to make this again. i wanna try making a mexi-cali pizza next time. this is also the perfect dish to make for a non-vegan dinner party (melissa is an omnivore, and two people totally count as a dinner party!) oh, did i mention the left overs freeze really well?

something's (not) fishy

a lot of people are surprised to hear that as a vegan, one of my favorite food is sushi. "whaaa?!?!? how do you eat sushi? i thought you were veeegaaan?" they ask. well...for your information, sushi just means seaweed wrapped around cold rice and a toppping...dummy! and don't think i go to a japanese restaurant and order an amateur cucumber roll or something like that. i thought that sushi made with fish would be something i missed as a vegan but i was so so wrong. instead i discovered all the delicious vegan sushi options like sweet potato tempura, oshinko (japanese pickles) and all the various veggie-combo rolls.

i also started making my own sushi because i was eating it so often. it's actually really easy to do (did i mention it travels really well?) making it the perfect go-to lunch...or dinner...or breakfast (yup, i just admitted it)

here are a few snapshots of some sushi rolls i made over the year, blatantly exhibiting the evolution of my sushi-making-skillz:

first attempt-these were the only four that actually came out. obviously still an amateur.

brown rice kimchi roll on the right and no-rice spinach and marinated tempeh roll on the left. looks like some mung bean sprouts were thrown in too!

tofu-avocado on the left and kimchi on the right...honing those skillz

did i mention warm sushi is delicious too??

i invested in some classy butterfly chopsticks

this roll is made with tahini (its easier to spread it if you wisk it with a little water first) and sliced carrots and sauerkraut. i know it sounds gross but there is something about the savory/sweet/salty combo that is so so good. accompanied by some steamed kale (duh)

what is your favorite kind of vegan sushi?