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Thursday, May 30, 2013

those who daydream in the shower are wishy-washy

Dream Home: Door-less shower

I’ve been thinking of features I want for my dream home and a door-less shower is at the top of my list. Right now our shower is nice and large with a big ledge, but it’s got glass doors which are the worst to clean. I’ll spend an hour working on cleaning the doors with everything I can think of from Windex, to vinegar, to CLR. And after a lot of scrubbing and light-headedness, I still can never get them back to how they looked when we first bought the house. For this reason I want a door-less shower with minimal cleaning requirements. Here are some examples of what I’m thinking:

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

i realized that becoming a vegan was a missed steak

List: Worst things about eating vegan

1. Dealing with other people's reactions

This is by far the most negative aspect to being vegan. People are constantly bugging me and Zach about it. This is usually how the conversation goes:

Omnivore: "Where do you get your protein?"
Me: "Plenty of places, beans, legumes, nuts, green veggies. There's a lot of protein in vegetables."
Omnivore: "Hmm, I guess, but it's not complete protein. Well I could never be vegan, but I eat healthy. I had cereal and fruit for breakfast, and then a little bit of lean chicken with rice for lunch...you eat rice, right?"
Me: "I don't eat it often, but yes, rice is vegan."
Omnivore: "Ok, then for dinner I usually have fish, wait, do you eat fish?"
Me: "No, fish isn't vegan."
Omnivore: "What's wrong with fish? What do you eat?"
Me: "Fish is fine, I just don't eat it. I eat fruits and vegetables and beans and grains. There are plenty of options."
Omnivore: "I could never do it. Are you happy?"
Me: "Not in this moment, but generally, yes..."

And this conversation repeats whenever someone finds out I'm vegan. What I like the least is when people get very defensive about their own diets and start listing everything they eat. That gets old. And people look at me and Zach a lot with pity, which is also strange, since I don't think they realize that this is a choice that we're both okay with. We ate meat and dairy before, now we don't, and we prefer this way, end of story.

2. Eating away from home

Eating in an "uncontrolled environment" can be very tricky. When lunch is provided at work we usually have to bring lunch from home anyway, since the vegan option is generally a very tiny salad consisting of 1 cup of iceberg lettuce, 1 or 2 tomatoes, and a dressing on the side that usually contains dairy.

Eating out is also tricky. Most restaurants have salads, but once you strip them of meat, cheese, and dressings, they get boring. My favorite types of restaurants are Asian ones since they usually avoid dairy anyway and have a lot of dishes with tofu instead of meat.

Zach and I found that the worst place we've been while eating vegan has been France. I don't even think they had a word for vegan since butter and cheese are such staples in their diet. While we were there we had to stray from our diet while eating out since there really weren't any other options.

3. Missing comfort foods

The final worst thing about eating vegan is missing foods that's can't be veganized. Zach misses Reuben sandwiches and steak the most and I miss delectable baked goods and cheese. And holidays are especially hard since food is linked to tradition and social bonding during these times.

Notes:

Despite the negatives Zach and I still enjoy eating vegan foods. See this post for reasons why. As more people adopt this style of eating all of these reasons for why vegan-ism is difficult should get better. So spread the word!

recipe: simple baked cinnamon apples

I've always been a dessert person, but recently I've been trying to remove added sugar from my diet. I've been substituting fruit for my usual after dinner treats, but lately I've been getting really bored of fruit. One good way to spice things up is to heat up the fruit to get an distinct flavor and texture that's reminiscent of the flavor of delicious, sugar and butter filled baked goods. Here's a quick way to doctor up apples:


Directions:
(serves 1)

1. Spray a small baking dish with a light layer of oil. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Chop 1 apple and add to baking dish.
3. Sprinkle cinnamon on apple.
4. Sprinkle apple with about 1/4 c non-dairy milk and another light layer of cooking spray.
5. Bake for 20-30 minutes.
6. Serve with fresh blueberries.


recipe: sesame ginger bok choy salad

Last night for dinner Zach and I had this great, simple salad with miso soup. The greens and cabbage are bitter, but the sweet dressing provides a nice contrast.


Ingredients:
(6 servings)

2/3 c water
1/2 cup tahini (I use Trader Joe's brand)
3 T lemon juice (about 1-2 lemons)
1/2 T miso
1 1/2 T minced fresh ginger
3 dates, pitted
2 cloves garlic
two bunches bok choy, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 small head red cabbage, chopped
3 large handfuls of sprouts
Sriracha or red pepper flakes to taste

Directions:

1. Mix first seven ingredients (water through garlic) in a blender. Add more water if you want a thinner dressing. Dressing can be stored in fridge for a week.
2. To prepare salad, toss bok choy, green onions, cabbage, and sprouts with dressing. Add hot sauce or red pepper flakes to taste.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

i'm not vegan because i love animals; i'm vegan because i don't like vegetables

List: Best things about eating vegan

1. Reduce amount of fat and processed foods

So it is definitely possible to eat poorly on a vegan diet because you could technically get away with eating tons of bread, pasta, peanut butter, and “accidentally vegan” snacks (like oreos!). But for the most part, following a vegan diet will force you to remove a lot of fat and processed foods from your diet. When I first started reading ingredient labels I was surprised to find how many companies sneak milk and eggs into products that you wouldn’t guess would contain dairy.

2. Feel great

Both Zach and I feel like we have a higher, more consistent level of energy since we’ve changed our diet. Our digestive systems also seem happy, since we never get stomach aches and enjoy a very regular “schedule.” And an added bonus that I wasn’t expecting is clear, blemish free skin.

3. Prevent cancer and loads of other diseases

A diet high in vegetables and fruits and low in animal products has been proven time and time again to prevent most of the chronic illnesses that affect Americans. I won’t go into all of the data, but if you’re interested you should read Dr. Furhman’s book Eat to Live. Zach and I accept all of the data presented in the book as accurate, so it feels good knowing that we’re significantly reducing our risk for developing cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and more in the future.

4. Significantly reduce personal energy consumption

There’s really only one political issue that I’m really passionate about and that is protecting the environment. So an extra benefit to being vegan is knowing that by avoiding animal products (which have a significantly larger carbon footprint than vegetables), I’m doing my part to lower my overall energy consumption.

5. Make clean up super easy

Zach and I were pleasantly surprised to discover this advantage. You no longer need a special cutting board just for meat! There’s no more spoiled milk and moldy cheese! Once you get rid of animal products in your kitchen it’s a lot easier to clean up after cooking. And if you take oil out of your diet too, cleaning gets even easier.

Notes:

Being vegan has great benefits, but it’s not all a walk in the park. At times it can be very hard to eat in a way that is so opposite from the way everyone around you is eating (especially when their food smells so good!). It’s still worth trying though. If you’re interested just try the diet for a month and see how you feel. Then you can determine if the benefits outweigh the inconveniences.

recipe: avocado and hummus wraps

During our Bryce Canyon hiking trip we ate these wraps for lunch while on the trail. They were a bit messy since we overloaded them with vegetables, but the taste made up for it. They'd be a lot easier to prepare in a "controlled environment" and I'd recommend them for a quick and easy lunch.


Ingredients:
(makes 1 serving)

-whole wheat tortilla
-chopped bell pepper
-chopped cucumber
-chopped spinach
-sprouts
-Trader Joe's hummus (Eggplant and Tomato Basil have the least amount of oil)
-1/2 mashed small avocado

canyons are gorge-ous

Trip Report: Bryce Canyon National Park

Zach and I spent this past Memorial Day weekend camping and hiking at Bryce Canyon. The trip was an overwhelming success since the weather was beautiful, the park wasn't that crowded, and we had two great hiking days. 

On Friday we drove down after work and arrived at our campground with plenty of time to setup camp and explore our campground before sunset. This was the first time we've camped without making a fire and roasting marshmallows! I was missing that tradition a little, but I know our bodies will thank us for the change in the long run. Everyone around us had large raging fires with burgers and treats which were a big contrast to our little backpacking stove diligently heating up a pot of mushroom soup (which was yummy).


Once the sun went down we went to bed so we could get up early to hike. It got pretty cold at night so we wore all the clothes we brought and wrapped up in our sleeping bags to stay warm.


On Saturday we woke up early for our first day of hiking. We hiked from our campground along the rim trail to Fairyland loop and back for trip totaling about 10 miles. We followed a park ranger's advice to hike the trail clockwise in order to travel in the direction with the best views, and we were very impressed with the gorgeous landscape along the way.








On Sunday we opted for a shorter hike (about 6.7 miles) along the Navajo loop, Peekaboo loop, and Queens Garden loop. This hike was great because we were hiking down at the bottom of the canyon. We were surprised at how green it was in the canyon, since from the top of the rim it seems very dusty and desert-like.




After the Sunday hike we drove home and spent the rest of the long weekend recovering, cleaning the house, relaxing with Cheetoh, and preparing meals for the next week. 

Notes:

Bryce Canyon was a great park. They had good amenities (including free hot showers at the general store) and good campsites. The park was really small so we were able to hike all of the "must see" trails. For this reason, it may be a while before we return since I feel like we saw all there is to see. I would definitely recommend stopping by the park for a day if you're in the area, since the hoodoo structures are remarkable and truly one of a kind.