2015 Resolutions - Appetite For Reduction

2014 was, for me, a pretty good year. Unlike 2013, I actually made a net profit from being a full-time musician, and, in traveling to all of the various Renaissance Faires, conventions, and SCA events at which I performed, I got to try so much delicious food! I took tons of pictures from the various places at which I ate in St. Louis and Kansas City, and I plan on getting those posted to the blog this year (Procrastination, thy name is musician.)

Due to a combination of all of the delicious food I ate through 2014 and the fact that I messed up my right knee jumping on a trampoline in late August, I ended 2014 heavier than I started it. My goal weight is 140 lbs, and I'm currently about 176 or so. I have been using the My Fitness Pal app on my iPhone to track my calories, but eating out at restaurants is very difficult to track, unless you're at a big chain (MFP knows *exactly* how many calories are in a tall soy mocha with no whip from Starbucks!) Since I want to lose weight, since restaurant food is so hard to track, and since I'm such a fan of "Julie And Julia", I've decided to cook and blog my way through Appetite for Reduction: 125 Fast and Filling Low-Fat Vegan Recipes in 2015. I think it'll be fairly easy to cook 125 recipes in 365 days, and I imagine I'll be repeating some recipes that are really good. I'm also planning on having lots of healthy smoothies throughout the year, as well as getting more use out of my juicer, and eating a few raw meals.



I'm going to allow myself one "cheat day" a week (where I can eat pretty much whatever I want - mmmmm, vegan donuts), but at least six days out of the week I'll be eating as healthy as possible. One of the things I love about "Appetite For Reduction" is that each recipe has full nutritional information listed. Talk about easy to track in my app!

Since yesterday was January 1 (Happy New Year, by the way!), I started with "Hottie Black-Eyed Peas & Greens". My sweetie and I went shopping on Dec. 31 to pick up black-eyed peas and collard greens, so I was set to make this yummy-looking recipe. My sweetie swears up and down that he hates collard greens, so I made just half of the recipe so that he can eat some black-eyed peas plain.



I thought this was absolutely delicious! I ended up using both paprika and Tabasco sauce, and the flavor was amazing. My sweetie ended up trying a couple of bites, and decided that he loved the dish, but still isn't fond of the bitterness of collard greens. He's going to use the recipe, minus the greens, to prepare his half of the black-eyed peas, though.

Weight - 181.4 lbs. Recipes to go - 124.

In Which The Hedgehogs Make April A Faux Egg Salad Sandwich

After a long day of faire, April discovered that she had an unwelcome, unexpected visitor. She drove home, and the hedgehogs sent her to relax while they made dinner. Since April had been planning on making the Faux Egg Salad from page 50 of "Vegan a Go-Go!: A Cookbook & Survival Manual for Vegans on the Road", the hedgehogs decided they'd make it for her.



The hedgehogs had almost everything they needed, but realized they didn't have any garlic or pickles. However, they had a GIANT bunch of parsley, so they added lots of that.


Buttercup says that Hedgie is going to owe her BIG TIME after this.

After mixing everything together and tasting it, they decided it was good, but needed a little something. They added about 1/2 teaspoon of Kala Namak (black salt) and two yolk's-worth of The Vegg, and mixed some more. This time, it tasted really good!

Hedgie and Buttercup made a sandwich with some of the Faux Egg Salad and some avocado, and toasted the whole thing.


"Hey, Hedgie. How are we going to get it up the stairs to April?" "Oops."


Full Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate links included in this post. I receive a small commission if you click through to Amazon and purchase products using these links. That being said, I'm currently in the process of trying to pay off a $34,000 hospital bill, so if you want to buy something, feel free to click!

RECIPE REVIEW - The Vegg Baked Frittata

Today, April and the hedgehogs are going to tell you about their latest experiment with The Vegg. Are you sitting comfortably?



Good. So, the hedgehogs woke up this morning, and Buttercup thought she saw a bird outside, but it was really just a couple of leaves, and Hedgie told her she was being silly...



...and we've lost your attention. Sorry. So, The Vegg experiment! Last time, April and the hedgehogs made an omelet from The Vegg Cookbook. Even after baking it in the oven for a bit, April's omelet was very soft and not nearly as "set" as she would have liked it to be. Interestingly, Jen from Living the Dream @ Deer Run had made the exact same omelet just two days earlier, and found that her batter was too thick even to pour!

This time, April decided to make Chris Dixon's Baked Frittata on page 57 of The Vegg Cookbook (also posted on the blog here). Her hope was that something that *started out* being baked would set up better.

At her host Duane's house, April only has access to a mini food processor (her camping blender has gone on walkabout somewhere in her van, and isn't ready to come back yet). The Vegg powder, garlic, water, spices, and arrowroot powder all fit in one batch, but the 12 oz. of silken firm tofu would not. April mixed a bit, poured it into a big bowl, added a bit more tofu to the food processor, mixed that, added it to the bowl, and continued until all the tofu was mixed. She then finished mixing the "eggy"mixture together by hand.



For filling, April used an onion, two large mushrooms, 4 slices of Upton's Naturals Seitan Bacon, and six small potatoes. She wanted to add some broccoli, but was afraid that there would be too much veggie matter for the eggy mixture to set well. After roasting the veggies for 30 minutes and seeing how much they cooked down, she realized that she could have added the broccoli (and the second onion, and the third mushroom, and some more bacon). Well, knowledge for next time.


The hedgehogs wait patiently for the frittata.

After baking the frittata for 35 minutes, the very top looked somewhat set, so April sliced into it. Unfortunately, it was still quite gooey underneath.



She put the frittata back into the oven for another 20 minutes, at which point the top had puffed up like a souffle and was looking very brown.





It was a bit more solid than before, but was still like a very thick custard under the top layer. April used 8 tablespoons of arrowroot powder instead of the 6 called for in the recipe, as well. Duane thinks that a wider shallower pan might work better next time (April was worried about a larger pan fitting into the toaster oven, but Duane swears it will fit).

As for flavor, both April and Duane thought that the frittata was very good. The creaminess of the eggy mixture paired well with the roasted veggies. Duane ended up adding extra salt, pepper, and garlic to his second slice, and said that it helped, so April will double the amounts of those things in the eggy mixture next time.

Vegg Omelet & Chocolate Peanut Butter Bacon Fauxnut Holes - From The Vegg Cookbook (and Bonus Taco Tuesday!)

In yesterday's post, April and the hedgehogs had decided to use April's brand new The Vegg Cookbook and Upton's Naturals Bacon Seitan to create some delicious food that would impress her omnivorous host, Duane. For the main course, April decided to go with Mimi Clark's Vegg Omelet (with seitan bacon and veggie filling) from page 15 of The Vegg Cookbook.

The hedgehogs helped April gather all the ingredients for the omelet.



April poured the Vegg/tofu mixture into the pan. The recipe had said to cook it for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges set. After 15 minutes, April's mixture was still kind of soupy.





She let it cook for about 20 minutes total, when it looked as if the top was starting to solidify a bit. She grabbed two wide spatulas, went to flip the omelet in half...



...and watched in dismay as it glooped partway over the veggies and bacon. She turned the heat up a little bit, and continued to cook the omelet for another 10 minutes or so. Unfortunately, April's finished omelet didn't really look like Mimi's finished omelet, so April slid her resulting half-set mixture into a loaf pan and put it in the oven for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees F. The result was an omelet that, while not nearly as solid as a traditional omelet, still held together and tasted pretty good. Duane's review was that it had a "good flavor (not quite as egg-like as real eggs) and interesting texture." He wasn't fond of the cooked spinach (a fact which April will keep in mind for the upcoming Vegg Fritatta), but thought that the seitan bacon was "fantastic". April has a sneaking suspicion that, since she was using a propane stove, the heat wasn't high enough, and will try raising it the next time she makes the omelet.



For dessert, Duane had chosen Mina Azarnoush's Peanutbutter Bacon Chocolate Donuts from page 78 of The Vegg Cookbook (she has also posted the recipe here). Instead of buying a donut pan, April decided to use Duane's mini-muffin pan instead, resulting in Fauxnut Holes.



Instead of instant coffee, April used her existing canister of Cafix. She also used powdered peanut butter (PB2) for the glaze, and cut up cooked pieces of seitan bacon for the topping.

The fauxnuts cooked perfectly in the mini-muffin pan, but the glaze was VERY liquid-y. Buttercup suggested adding some arrowroot powder to thicken it, and Hedgie suggested putting that mixture into the freezer for a bit, but the glaze was still not thick enough. April ended up drizzling the glaze over the fauxnut holes on the plate instead of dunking each fauxnut hole into the glaze, and then sprinkling the bacon bits over the top.





April and Duane both loved the fauxnut holes. They were extra cocoa-y, and the crunch of the bacon was a great addition. Duane mentioned that some powdered ginger would taste good in the glaze, so next time, April will add ginger and use a bit less liquid, as well as cutting the bacon bits smaller so they're easier to eat.


BONUS PICTURE - since it's also Taco Tuesday, here's a picture of the tempeh soft taco April made for lunch. It has heirloom organic green tomatoes and salsa.

This Week's Plans - Seitan Bacon (and Vegg) Challenge!

While April and the hedgehogs were in the kitchen making lunch, Buttercup noticed April's host, Duane's, "meal planner" -



Joke or not, Hedgie insisted that they take up the challenge, and make a few yummy dishes using the seitan bacon they'd picked up at Green Acres.

Buttercup suggested that they combine that challenge with the goal of using the new Vegg cookbook April had bought, and April thought that was a capital idea.



April ran down the recipes in the book to Duane, and they decided on a Vegg Omelet (with seitan bacon and veggie filling), a Baked Frittata (possibly with added seitan bacon), and Peanutbutter Bacon Chocolate Donuts (which may necessitate April buying a donut pan).

April also wants to make a few things from "Vegan a Go-Go!: A Cookbook & Survival Manual for Vegans on the Road" (a cookbook she's had for a while but hasn't had the chance to use yet).



Hedgie and Buttercup would like to know - do any of their readers own "Vegan A Go-Go"? Do you have a favorite recipe from the book that they should try? Let them know in the comments!


Full Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate links included in this post. I receive a small commission if you click through to Amazon and purchase products using these links. That being said, I'm currently in the process of trying to pay off a $34,000 hospital bill, so if you want to buy something, feel free to click!