Here is a no-nonsense throw down bowl of hearty Mexican chow. There are no limits to what you can throw into the bowl as everything goes together and the more you mix it, the better it tastes. This bowl of warm Mexican goodness is a great meal to walk into after a cold fall day.

Ingredients:

• 2 diced potatoes
• 1 diced green pepper
• 2 diced scallions
• 1/2 diced red onion
• 3 minced garlic cloves
• 1 package of silken tofu
• 1 package Trader Joes vegan soy chorizo
• 2 slices of vegan soy pepper jack cheese
• 1 tbsp soy milk
• soy sour cream
• guacamole
• hot sauce
• lime juice
• cilantro

Pour the oil into a large skillet and get it hot! Add the potatoes and garlic. They should sizzle. Cook them for 3 minutes. Add all the other vegetables and cook for an additional 5 minutes until the potatoes are soft. Add the silken tofu block and work it into the mixture. The tofu should break apart into really small chunks. Add the soy vegan chorizo (I love this stuff). Keep on stirring the mixture over high heat until it is cooked through (2 minutes). Remove from heat.

In a small bowl, break up the slices of soy pepper jack cheese and add the tbsp of soy milk. Microwave it for 30 seconds. Take it out of the microwave and whisk it with a fork. This will give you that creamy cheese sauce (vegan, of course) that you find slathered all over your traditional Mexican burrito without having it stop your heart or simply pad it on your thighs or gut (part of that weight loss deal).

Scoop the Mexican mixture into a bowl. Pour the savory melted soy cheese over it. Add a large scoop of soy sour cream and guacamole. Stir it a little until it is nice and sloppy. For kicks, squeeze some fresh lime and sprinkle some fresh chopped cilantro over the top. Get yourself a big spoon and start shoveling in this warm, healthy, filling, fall vegan meal.

The most common question people ask us about our vegan diet is “What about X, how do you get enough of it?” The “X” is usually protein or iron or some other critical nutrient. Here is a power drink that Aleta and I slam down every morning before we start our day. The shake has all the ingredients I talked about in the “Superfoods for Vegetable Haters” posts. The recipe is below:

• 1 cup vanilla soy milk
• 1 cup of water
• 1 tbsp chia seed
• 1 tbsp hemp seed
• 2 tbsp flax seed
• 1 tbsp blackstrap molasses

Pour the soy milk and water into a shakable container. Grind all the seeds in a coffee grinder and pour into the cup. Add the molasses last. Seal your container and shake until your arms fall off. Open the container and slam down. It will taste like a sugar/gingerbread cookie.

Below is a comparison of what you just drank to an 8 oz trimmed (1/8 inch) sirloin steak.  All I did in creating this chart was use the facts printed on the nutritional labels of all the food ingredients.  Obviously, this drink does not substitute the satisfaction of gnawing on a juicy steak over a bottle of red wine on a Friday night. Still, the nutrition speaks for itself. The one thing the steak has over the shake is the concentration of protein. Still, the shake gives you 25% before you start your day with 3 meals left and plenty of nutrients to get your brain engaged (think twice about coffee, this is a natural stimulant).

We love our weekend big breakfast. Historically, this has been full of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and even biscuits. I love all the flavors and the time with my family. One would think that since we are eating vegan, we are now eating salads with brussel sprout juice for breakfast. Not a chance. We have devised a vegan lumberjack breakfast that is both tasty and filling without all of the burps, heartburn, and nodding off during church.

We start with pancakes. I found a great recipe for pancakes in the “Joy of Vegan Baking” by Colleen Patrick. I have modified the recipe to look like this:

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour (the key being unbleached)
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup vanilla soy milk
• 1/2 cup to 1 cup of water
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 3 tbsp of blue agave sweetner (you can buy it at any food store)
• 1 1/2 tbsp of ground flax seed
• 1 1/2 tbsp of ground chia seed

Combine all the dry stuff. Combine all the wet stuff (except the water). Throw it into a bowl and stir it just until it is mixed. Add water for desired thickness. The thicker the batter, the fatter the pancakes. We make ours about as thin as pea soup. Spray a griddle and spoon them out one quarter cup at a time. Cook until golden brown. Serve with a pat of Earth Balance margarine and some real maple syrup.

These pancakes will be sweet, a bit nutty, dense, and full of additional iron, calcium, fiber and protein. They (like everything else) will be lower in saturated fat and have no cholesterol. This is the one food that my two picky eater kids absolutely love. These make the Sam’s Club sack of Krusteaz taste like saliva sucking hardtack.

Moving on to eggs and meat…

Grab a half brick of tofu and break it onto pieces (like scrambled eggs). Get some veggie chorizo (if I can get it in Tulsa, you can find it) and dice it. Dice 1/4 of an onion. In a saucepan, get two tbsp of canola oil REALLY HOT. Throw in the onion and chorizo. It should sizzle! Cook until all is nice and brown. Add the crumbled tofu (another sizzle). Throw in two slices of soy american cheese and let it melt. Keep it all mixed. Throw in a dash of salt and pepper. Once all mixed through, add 1/4 cup salsa. Cook for another 30 seconds. Remove it from the heat and serve with the pancakes. Be sure to get out you mexican hot sauce.

You will be able to notice the difference in taste of the chorizo, but the tofu is almost exactly the same as eggs. In terms of the texture of it all, it should be identical to using meat products. I know as I used to eat the meat version of this every Sunday at a mexican restaurant when I lived in Los Angeles. BTW, do you know what the ingredients are in Mexican chorizo? (click here at your own risk).

There you have it, a vegan lumberjack breakfast. I guarantee you that it will be good, filling, and satisfying. Have you been trying to picture what exactly a lumberjack vegan looks like? Hemp flannel shirt, trimmed bearded, horn rimmed glasses, a ethanol burning chainsaw????

Making decent alfredo sauce is next to impossible in a home kitchen. This is because cream is very delicate and will simply “break” with too much heat. You have to make double boilers and stir until your fingers cramp to the whisk. If you can make it through the whisking, then you have to watch your heat. Too much heat and you have “Alfredo The Busted.” This will leave you with water and chunks of white stuff in your pan. Throw in your parm too quickly and you will have a glob of goo along with your chunks. Did I mention that Alfredo is cream, milk, and egg yolks? If your sauce doesn’t break, then you arteries just might.

How about this:

Take a half chunk of any kind of tofu except “extra firm”. Throw in in a blender with 1/4 cup of tofu sour cream. It will blend to the consistency of mayonnaise. Add about a cup of plain soy milk to get it to a sauce like consistency. In a medium saucepan, get two tablespoons of canola oil REALLY HOT. Throw in two chopped scallions and a quarter cup of pine nuts. Cook until the pine nuts are nice and brown. Pour in 1 cup of vegetable broth and a 1/2 cup of white wine. Simmer this until the mixture is reduced by half. Add in your alfredo sauce and reduce the heat to medium. Let the mixture come to barely a boil. Cook the sauce a couple minutes until it is at your desired thickness, add some vegetable stock if it is too thick. Season with salt, pepper, and onion powder. When the sauce is ready, throw in a shot of nutmeg…just a sprinkle and mix. Here is the good news: Tofu Alfredo does not break!

Mix the sauce in with a pile of whole wheat penne or rotini and enjoy. If you want to get crazy, cut up a handful of tomatoes, basil, and steamed broccoli and throw it in 30 seconds before you remove the sauce from the heat. If you absolutely MUST have that parm taste, sprinkle some parm cheese on all ye non vegans. You are still eating close to 80% less fat, calories, and 100% less cholesterol. Afterwards, you will not need to loosen your belt, lay on the couch, or take some Rolaids. This is because you were not beaten up by Alfredo.

Ingredients:
1/2 package any tofu except extra firm
1/4 cup soy sour cream (folks, if I can find it in Tulsa, you can find it in your town)
1 cup plain soy milk
1/4 – 1/2 cup white wine
2 scallions
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 cup of vegetable stock
a dash of nutmeg
2 teaspoons of oil
Optional:
1 cup of diced tomatoes
1 cup of diced basil
1 cup of steamed broccoli

“Vegan latte, please.”, said the skinny dude with horn rimmed glasses at the Starbucks at John Wayne airport.

“Uhhh, what?”, said the big dude with piercings all up in his face, wiping his hands on his out of character green Starbucks apron.

“Soy latte!”, fired back skinny dude.

I was watching this all waiting for my soy mocha on my first business trip eating vegan. As many of you do or don’t know, I travel 2 – 3 times per month all over the country. I was on a layover this time around, on my way home, and completely satisfied with a successful vegan business trip. I am coming to the conclusion that there is such a thing as “eating vegan” and “being a vegan”. The former is about health, the latter is about lifestyle. The dude with the horn rimmed glasses definitely fit that lifestyle stereotype.

It was  amazing to see how my whole attitude towards food was on the road. Eating vegan on the road means that there are no choices. The challenge is simply to find food I can eat. What I have found interesting is that I have a sense of gratitude and excitement when I actually found food. For example, before eating vegan I would always grab some muffins or cookies in the airline club at the airport, walking right past the fruit bowl. This time around, I had no problem heading for the apples and gladly crunching one down.

So, here is how it all played out. I started my mornings in the hotel room with some flax seed and a multi-vitamin. I actually took our small coffee grinder with me and ground the seed each morning. From there, I headed to Starbucks for a soy decaf latte (no horn rimmed glasses required). I opportunistically quit caffeine in March after catching a stomach bug 2 times in row thanks to my kids. Soy milk is vitamin fortified with the same vitamin levels as regular milk. It has more protein and 12 times the omega-3 per cup. I rounded my latte with a cup of fruit and a couple handfuls of granola I had packed. One or two mornings, I picked up oatmeal along with the fruit.

For a mid-morning snack, I had a couple bottles of smoothies I picked up from Trader Joes (please come to Tulsa Joe, I beg you). I was fortunate enough to be speaking at an international technical conference that always has vegan options for lunch as it is a multi-cultural audience. For the days I was not at the conference, I found a deli close by that had avocado sandwiches.

Afternoon snack consists of green tea available in our corporate breakroom (I was at our corporate HQ in the silicon valley) and a handful of sesame honey nuts from Trader Joes. Dinner was the easiest meal as there are plenty of choices in the San Francisco bay area. I started at a Lebanese place Monday (falafel, hummous, tabouli, stuffed grape leaves), vegan on Tuesday (lentil “meatloaf” with mashed potatoes and butternut squash gravy), and finished on Wednesday with Thai (vegan pad thai using coconut milk for sauce and tofu for “meat”).  All were very good choices and completely satisfying.

As I mentioned earlier, one of the interesting things I see from the other side is how my mind has completely shifted. I did not crave any meat or dairy at all during this business trip. I found myself much more open to fruit and salad, without a sour face or a grimace. Something has happened in my head where I just seem to be okay with all of this and don’t seem to or want to fight it. I honestly can’t believe it sometimes. It is also hard to see on the other side looking in. I know because I used to be such a critic. Just 3 months ago, I used to come home after a biz trip weighing 5 more pounds from all the wings, cheeseburgers, fried anythings, and “death by chocolate” cake I ate. I can honestly say (and still can’t believe it) that I don’t miss any of this food and was completely satisfied.

But, you won’t catch me dead ordering a “vegan latte” or wearing horn rimmed glasses.

A couple of our non-vegan friends and family are deeply concerned about our vegan diet and whether we will get enough protein. There are 4 main sources of vegan protein: soy products, nuts, legumes, and whole grains. If there is one nutrient that is abundant in vegan diets, it is protein. I can’t eat anything from the above 4 categories without eating at least 20% in one sitting.

Here is a great example: Darren’s vegan cheeseburger. Yes, you heard me right. I made up a vegan cheeseburger. Here are the ingredients:

• 2 slices of whole wheat bread: 8g
• 1 chipotle veggie burger: 4g
• 3 slices “Fakin’ Bacon” tempe (soy product): 8g
• 1/2 tablespoon soy mayonnaise: 0g
• 1 slice vegan american cheese: 4g

That is 24g of protein or 50% of my daily intake in one sitting. To take it one step further, here are the total numbers:

• Calories: 475
• Total fat as percent of daily intake: 27%
• Total saturated fat as percent of daily intake: 4.5%
• Total cholesterol as percent of daily intake: 0% (yes, not a gram!)
• Sodium: 57% (that still is a little high)

BTW, it really does taste rather good slopped together with ketchup, lettuce, and mustard. I was pleasantly shocked considering Aleta and I used to spend our date nights going through the “Annual List of Tulsa’s Best Burgers”.

I went to Wendy’s website and got the facts on a single bacon cheeseburger. It has slightly higher protein at 32g. Here are the other numbers:

• Calories: 550
• Total fat as percent of daily intake: 45%
• Total saturated fat as percent of daily intake: 72%
• Total cholesterol as percent of daily intake: 33%
• Sodium: 70%

After doing a calculation of 2 days worth of diet, I am counting an average of 2000 – 2200 calories a day, 55 -65g (115%) of protein, 10g of saturated fat (50%), and 0 (0%) mg of cholesterol.

* Disclaimer – I am no expert at nutrition, just trying to understand what I am reading. My comments are not authoritative.