Watching What I Eat

School is going well, I have one student each on clarinet, saxophone, and flute now. My students are doing well, I'm enjoying it, blah blah blah. Let's talk food.

In the past year, I've started making changes to my diet. Some have been more successful, some are important to me, some are convenient, and some most have been failing miserably lately. The most important change for me has been cutting out dairy and finding non-dairy replacements for foods I still really want. Another important shift for me has been the move towards a vegan diet. Without fail, any (non-vegan) person I talk to about veganism (is that a word?) says "Oh I could never do that," "It's so hard," or "I just couldn't - I love cheese (or bacon, or whatever) too much."

Which is true. But also not.

If you know me, you know that I LOVE bacon. And cheese. And meat. And ice cream. I love pretty much all food. Despite all this, eating vegan has been reasonably feasible for me. How?

First of all, I know that really I can't do cold turkey (pardon the pun). I have to work my way into a new habit or routine. If I tried to wake up one day and cut out all animal products no questions asked - I would never be able to do it. Instead, I started making smaller, feasible changes. I replaced my cow's milk with almond milk. I started increasing my veggie count, decreased the amount of meat. I tried Daiya vegan cheese (which is surprisingly amazing. You should try it sometime.) and have really enjoyed.

Along with allowing myself the time to switch, I've also given myself flexibility. I know that some days I'll be totally happy to have a tempeh sandwich with vegan everything. Other days, I really just want a burger. And that's okay! If I've been eating a standard American diet (full of meat, cheese and sugar) for some 25 years, then it's fine if it takes me a little bit of time to change my habits and cravings. 

Now, if I allow myself to slip a little whenever I "just want a burger," how do I keep myself from falling off the bandwagon? I don't stock non-vegan foods in my house. The only time I eat non-vegan is when I'm eating out. By not stocking non-vegan foods, I keep myself on track (generally). Plus, eating out is more special because I don't to do it very often.

I'd highly recommend that you try out at least a little bit of a vegan diet, even if you just try Meatless Monday. If nothing else, it's kinda fun to try these new things! Also, there are some really yummy meat substitutes.

I plan on talking more about this topic later, but let me know if you have any questions about anything I've talked about!

Vegetable Broth

Okay, today's post isn't that exciting, but I wanted to share a kitchen idea with you, one that I gained from Trent over at The Simple Dollar. I really appreciate the information that Trent posts, and the obvious amount of work that he has done to build a great blog.

The post I linked to above is about turning leftover vegetables that would otherwise be thrown away. Basically, take any scraps from the veggies you prepare (carrot ends, peeled skins, tomato cores, the center of bell peppers, etc.) and cook them in water with a little salt and pepper, and...Voila! Vegetable broth! I usually cook mine on the stove, I boil it for 20-30 minutes or so and then strain it, but Trent suggests the crock pot. The crock pot method is definitely great, because you don't have to watch it like you do a boiling pot of water.

The magic in this is two-fold: One, you're taking easy steps into resourcefulness - creating something new with items you already have. Second, you're stretching your dollar even further. Think about it. Say you pay $10 for raw produce, but you only use about 85% of the produce while cooking. If you throw away all the scraps, then you're only using 85% of what you paid for. When you use that remaining 15%, you've now eliminated the need to buy broth, plus you now have a great pre-made, homemade seasoning that cost you nothing (except the negligible cost of heating the water). You can use that broth in place of water when cooking rice, beans, quinoa, I've even used it when making savory pastries. It adds a depth of flavor that you can't get with plain spices.

Easily one of the BEST kitchen suggestions I've heard, and definitely my personal favorite. Try it out, let me know what you think of it!

My Homemade Chili

This chili is less expensive and healthier than store bought chili. Remember that the fairly pricey initial purchase of spices will pay off big time in the long run. They last a long time and can be used for many, many different recipes.
My chili recipe is two-part: the chili itself, and the seasoning (which is never store bought!) Hope you enjoy!


Homemade Chili (completely from scratch)


4 c. Water*
1 to 1 and 1/4 c. Beans (I use mostly Kidney Beans and make up the rest with lentils and cranberry beans)
3 Tbs. Chili Seasoning, divided (see below)
2 c. drained and chopped vegetables (I'll use 1 c. canned tomatoes, then add diced onions, bell peppers, even chipotle peppers if I feel like it. Almost anything southwestern will work).


* Instead of water, I like to use vegetable broth, liquid drained from the tomatoes, etc. This adds a great flavor to the beans.


In a crock pot, combine 2 ½ cups water, beans, and 1 1/2 Tbs. of chili seasoning. Let cook on Low until beans are soft (I usually let them cook overnight). Once beans are cooked, add vegetables and 1 1/2 Tbs. of seasoning. Add more water as needed. Cook until veggies are soft.
Add more seasoning if desired. Serve with fresh avocado and shredded cheese on top of a nice bowl of tortilla chips for an amazing meal! It stays good in the fridge for several days, and is freezable if you want to make a lot and save it for a rainy day.

Should you desire to add some meaty texture, I'd recommend using TVP (textured vegetable protein). It may sound weird, but it's very similar to ground beef, but with lower fat content. If your finished chili is runnier than you want it to be, the dry TVP will absorb some of the extra liquid.
If you would rather just use ground beef or turkey, cook it separately and flavor it with more chili seasoning. Make sure you drain it VERY well before adding it to the chili, or you'll be adding a lot of grease.


It's a pretty straight-forward recipe, but here's the deal: it's hyper-flexible. Don't like bell peppers? Don't add them! Prefer crushed tomatoes to diced? Fine! Like a wetter chili? Add more liquid. Etc, etc, etc. Prefer more beans, less beans, more veggies, or less? Make it spicier, garlickier, plainer, fancier, whatever you want!
That's what I love about cooking at home. Much more personalization is possible. Really, most recipes are. For instance, with the banana bread posted last week, if you don't like all the spices, then you can omit them, and you can add nuts instead. Or add both. Also, if you happen to be living in a vegan household, use non-dairy milk and butter. It won't change the final product significantly.

Chili Seasoning
1 Tbs. Cumin/Cumin Seed (a heaping Tablespoon!)
1 Tbs. Paprika
1 tsp. Fennel Seed (I use whole)
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 tsp. Black Pepper
1 1/2 tsp. Salt

Basically, just mix all ingredients and store. This amount of seasoning will get you through two batches of chili, depending on how much you decide to use. I always try to use whole Cumin Seed and Fennel Seed (as opposed to powdered or ground), but that's mostly because I like using my mortar and pestle. It gives me the (possibly misguided) impression that the end result tastes better for having hand-ground the spices.
For spice (optional, but certainly recommended!): Some Cayenne Pepper, Chipotle Pepper, or Chili Powder. Be very careful, as a little bit of spice will go a very long way when dealing with crock pot cooking! Always start with less and add more as needed.

This spice mix is also great for ground beef or TVP (if you're vegetarian or vegan) when adding it to chili, or for taco night.

Spiced Banana Oat Muffins

I started this blog with the intent of discussing and sharing multiple facets of my life, and so far it's pretty much only been about music and practicing. I've been wanting to branch out and bring other topics into the mix but wasn't sure where to begin - until yesterday when I finally started cooking at home again. Since we're a vegan household, all of the recipes I post will be vegan, BUT you don't have to make them vegan if you don't want. We use almond milk and soy butter, but you can certainly use regular dairy if you want!

I'm going to start with Spiced Banana Bread. The recipe I use is based on this one. I've increased the milk slightly since I've added the grains. The vinegar helps make the bread more moist. I decided to add it to the banana bread after I saw it in few vegan cake recipes. You may also want to use 3/4 cup sugar, if you want it a little sweeter.

1/3 c. margarine, softened

1/2  c. sugar

2 c. flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

2 mashed bananas

3/4 c. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. allspice

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

2/3 c. assorted grains (oatmeal, plain granola, etc.)
1 tsp. white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix margarine and sugar in a large bowl.

Sift in the flour and spices, mix well.

Add liquid ingredients and grains and mix well.

Pour into greased muffin pan...

and bake for 45 minutes!

The recipe makes about 18 muffins, depending on what size you make the muffins. As you can tell, six of them have a little streusel-esque topping (melted butter, sugar, cinnamon, milk, wheat germ and granola). I don't know what the proportions I used were, I'll get that later. Here's a shot of the delectable finished product:

For the 'grains,' I use a mix of oatmeal, wheat germ, granola, whatever I have or want to put in. You can even use nuts if you want - I once made a banana bread with cashews in it that was pretty yummy. For this one I used these 'nutty nuggets' that I found in the cereal aisle of Kroger when we lived in WV. I thought they would be nice to mix with bran cereal for a tasty breakfast, but no. Just, no. They have NO flavor, are incredibly hard - not crunchy, just hard, and just suck. However, they work great in baked goods, so it's not a total waste!

Also, about the bananas. We always have bananas around for breakfast and snacks, but sometimes they go bad before we eat them. When they do, I just throw them in the freezer. Most people already know that, you probably do too. Now you know twice. You're welcome.

Hope you try these out and enjoy them!