Chocolate-Zucchini Muffins

The Happy Herbivore, page 45. 

Yum! Easy to make and taste divine.
I made both mini-muffins (about 10 minutes in the oven) and regular sized muffins.
My batch:

• Gluten-free with Bob's Red Mill GF Mix and 3/4 tsp Xanthan gum replacing the regular flour.
• And as you can see, I also added walnuts (1/2 cup).
• Used only one chocolate chip on top of each muffin instead of the 1/2 cup option.
• I used the low-sugar (1/2 cup) option and I think it could have gone even lower.

My DD loves them and I had a hard time not eating them all in one evening.

Did the DD eat it? Yes! Loved them!

Would I make this again? Yes! Easy and tasty and healthy. I might reduce sugar even further.

Rating: 5 out of 5 Forks

Five books and the Photograph Uproar

Who'd a thunk there'd be SO many vegan diet cookbooks out? I'm flabbergasted as I guess I am coming late to this party.

I've just discovered Alicia Silverstone's book and have added it to the blog. I knew it existed, I just wasn't aware that it was a weight-loss cookbook.

As soon as I decided to make this a larger book blog, my personal and professional life got very busy. In my case, this means not much time for experimental cooking, photography and blogging.

I promise to get this up and running and up-to-date with all my previous posts channeled over from the Moskowitz and Me Reduction Project blog in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, I have become aware of an uproar at VegNews Magazine (one of my favorites, I'll admit) about their using SO many stock photos of food that in fact, are not vegan at all, but photos of the unhealthy stuff the rest of the world eats: meat, dairy and eggs.

See more info at the original blog that "broke" the story from www.quarrygirl.com: http://www.quarrygirl.com/2011/04/13/rant-veg-news-is-putting-the-meat-into-vegan-issues/

Let me tell you right now that all my photographs are:

1. My own photographs that I took with my sweet little hands. (Except for cookbook covers.)
2. My own cooking effort from a recipe in one of the five books.
3. All vegan. All the time. I'll tell you when I deviate from the recipe, but it won't be non-vegan even when I do.
4. If I use a stock photo, it won't be of a recipe. Any stock photo will be non-food or clearly vegan. (Like flowers, people, sunsets, tomatoes, etc.)

The Books are here!

All three of the new cookbooks arrived at once and guess what....I'm overwhelmed! I'm prepping for leaving for a few days for a professional conference and am barely cooking any kind of meals, much less cooking from any of the cookbooks and photographing results! But I promise, once I'm back next week, there will be additions to this blog. Chef AJ's book STARTS with desserts...so I have a feeling you'll see some of those.

Making Almond Milk

This is Margaret's recipe. I'll post a picture next time I make it.

Makes a little over 1 cup
1/4 cup almonds (you can soak them first 1 hour or overnight)
1 cup water

Optional
1 tsp vanilla
1-3 tsp agave nectar

Put the almonds and water in a blender (works best in a high-powered one like the Vitamix).
Blend, blend, blend until as creamy as possible.
Now you can either just add the next two ingredients, blend and drink or use or you can do this next step. (Using it now without filtering retains the protein and the fiber of the skins–but it's a hassle.)

You can filter out the skins by repeatedly pouring through a strainer or using a nut milk bag or cheesecloth. This gets messy and time-consuming, but it gives you a creamier, not-gritty milk. If you choose to filter, you can keep the pulp, dry it and save it as a nut flour (you might have to grind it in a coffee grinder) and add it to baked goods, or throw it in other recipes for added protein.

Other sites for nut milk instructions:
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Milk-an-Almond-fresh-homemade-almond-milk/ 

http://www.living-foods.com/recipes/almondmilk.html

and one use for the left-over almond meal:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-Vegan-low-carb-homemade-breakfast-cereal/

Think Yourself Skinny

 I just watched a DVR episode of Dr. Oz (so I have no idea when it aired–probably this week–March 25 maybe) who presented two doctors who were talking about studies they had done with people and how much food they ate.

The gist of it was this: they had their subjects pretend to eat a whole plate of food (they had an empty plate in front of them), "tasting" it in their mouths, "feeling" it on their tongues and savoring every "bite." Being very mindful of the "food." The subjects then were given a plate of real food and were told they could eat as much as they wanted. These subjects ate 40% less than the subjects who hadn't had the "air" meal. They were satiated (felt full) much more quickly.

Sounds like a pretty easy thing to try before each meal–and I did it tonight. I cheated a little...I stuck my spoon in my curry and rice several times and licked the spoon without really eating anything. We'll see over time if this helps me to lose weight more quickly or I feel full with less. Important to not load up the plate or bowl and keep my real portions small and make myself go back for more if I truly am not full yet.

Sounds safe (no side effects except the intended one), cheap (air is still free at my house), and easy (I'm happy to imagine myself eating a slice of carrot cake with vegan cream cheese frosting!).

The ethical question is this...what if want to imagine eating real cream cheese, or brie on crackers or some other thing I know I like the taste of, but no longer eat for allergy or ethical reasons? Hmmm...maybe I can settle that question by pretending it's vegan and only tastes just like the real thing...


This technique reminds me of a story...

One day a poor man who was often hungry – on account of his being poor – walked past a cafe where meat was being grilled. He ate his bread, which was all he could afford, outside the cafe so that he could smell the delicious smell of the meat while he ate. But the owner of the cafe came outside and was angry. He demanded that the poor man pay him for smelling the meat! When it became clear that the poor man could not pay, the cafe owner took him to Goha who had become a judge. After hearing the story, Goha paused and thought. He asked the man how much he wanted to charge for the smell of the meat. “5 piastres,” he replied. So Goha took a 5 piastre coin out of his pocket and span it on the table. When it fell, he asked the cafe owner, “Did you hear the sound the coin made?” When the cafe owner said he had, Goha said, “Take the sound of the coin as payment for the smell of your meat.”