Oh boy, these are GOOD!

When I lived in Belgium, the real treat for riding the train to work in the morning (besides not having to fight the traffic) was the fresh pastries sold in the Ottignies train station. Honestly, I cannot say how many times I almost missed the train because I was waiting for the pastry counter to open! My favorite was a pan au chocolat (chocolate bread) that was kind of like a heavy croissant with chocolate filling. You could get them either plain or dusted with powdered sugar. Of course, they were made with butter.

Last night I had a real flashback and decided I could make a reasonable facsimile at home. I was right! I made a sweet white bread dough in the machine, then rolled it out, spread some blue agave on it, dusted it with a mixture of sugar and cocoa, and then put a few (just a few) chocolate chips for good measure. Then I folded it over itself and baked it in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes. I lined my baking sheet with parchment so it wouldn't stick. Once it came out of the oven, I dusted it (heavier than I meant to) with some powdered sugar. Voila! I'm sure my memory has faded but these were really delicious!

New Favorite Breakfast

My friend Courtney recently introduced me to quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah). It's not a grain like rice but a seed that is considered a superfood. I've been cooking it with one part quinoa to 2 parts liquid (water and/or soymilk). It takes about 12-15 minutes to cook to the consistency of oatmeal. Then I mix in about 1/2 cup of unsweetened berries (I use the triple berry mix with blueberries, blackberries and raspberries) and drizzle it with blue agave. It's got a really nutty flavor and it smells delicious while it's cooking. I have learned that it's available in several varieties. I might try the red quinoa next time. Here's the link where I figured out how to cook it for breakfast. Most people substitute it for rice and eat it with beans, stir fry, etc. It's a complete protein (11 grams for a half cup serving) so good for those of us who no longer eat more traditional sources of protein. I'm finding a mixed bag on the fat content. Fitday says 8% of the calories come from fat. I've seen as high as 15% in other places. Maybe they are including other ingredients in the nutritional count.

Anyway, it's great for a change and I find myself looking forward to having a steaming hot bowl mixed with berries. Sometimes I even throw in a few pieces of walnuts. :)

Long Time

Wow! I can't believe it's been 10 days since I have posted! There was lots of cooking done around here - and not all of it was vegan - but we were good and stuck with our new lifestyle. We cooked a 10 pound pork shoulder last Friday night - all night - and also smoked a turkey breast. We served it to 24 people on saturday. It really wasn't an issue NOT eating the pork in particular. I actually had problems pulling the pork once it was done. I have always loved barbecue so much and it just wasn't appetizing at all. I guess that's a good thing. I was pretty neutral toward the turkey. It didn't bother me so much. Anyway, John and I had potato salad made with no-fat soy spread and baked beans, coleslaw, homemade taco bread, and a nice fruit salad with a sauce made of silken tofu, powdered sugar and soy milk. We had plenty to eat and it was't a problem to leave the other stuff alone. I was glad that Brad and Chrissy cleaned up everything and - most importantly - took that evil banana pudding home with them. Banana pudding was the beginning of the end for me when I lost weight before. Seems like I fell in headfirst and never came out until this August.

We both maintained our weight during Christmas and the total now is 35 pounds for me and 20 for John.

We eat too many sweets . . .

but it's Christmas and we can do better later. I remember last year I made some awesome cinnamon rolls for breakfast while all the company was here. Those things were big as cat heads and they were delicious! Best I remember, there was a whole stick of butter in the dough and then I melted a whole stick and brushed the dough before I added the cinnamon, brown sugar and raisins. None of that this year. Butter is banned from the Clark household now. I need a reasonable facsimile of that old favorite comfort food.

Here it is. I used my white bread recipe and added just a little more sugar (1/4 cup). I made the dough in the bread machine and then turned it out on parchment paper with just a little more flour to work on it. I brushed the dough with some blue agave, sprinkled some brown Splenda and cinnamon and added some raisins. Then I rolled it up and sliced it into about 1 inch slices. I made dough for a 1 pound loaf and got 12 rolls. They are much smaller than cat heads - but they are absolutely fat-free! Now I'm not saying that there is alot of nutritional value there - the raisins are a good source of iron and potassium - but for comfort food during the holidays, they are awesome! When company comes, I'll be ready - with a double batch!

More results

We have both given blood recently. The cholesterol continues to drop - though not as dramatically as before. John's has now dropped from 203 to 149 to 137. Mine started at 189, dropped to 168 and now to 164. At least it's going in the right direction!

Morgan has been with us this weekend. She is a real trooper and is actually enjoying our vegan food. I made spinach calzones last night, scrambled tofu this morning and tacos for dinner tonight. John made an awesome chocolate cake Friday and we are still working on that.

I need to do a practice run on some cinnamon rolls. Last year I did a big batch for our company and they were a huge hit. This year I'm hoping to make some that we can enjoy too. I'll let you know how they come out.

Before and After

We made pictures of each other in our Broadway Christmas clothes last year and this year. Do you think the lifestyle change has made any difference in our appearances? John is down 20 pounds and Vicki is down 34.

Christmas Pageant Time

Well, today and tomorrow could potentially be challenges on the diet front. We have 2 performances each day and a meal is provided between the performances. We know that today they are serving hamburgers and hotdogs and Mindy's birthday cake. I think we will go to Subway and get a couple of their veggie sandwiches on Italian bread. We learned that those make pretty good road food on our Thanksgiving trip.

On another note, today I am buying a Cuisinart bread machine. Can't wait to be able to make a bigger loaf!

Calzones!

I've been thinking about using the pizza dough recipe to make calzones for awhile now. I probably got that idea from Mark. Anyway, I'm using the manual setting of the bread machine to make my pizza crust these days and it's really been very good. Last night I split the dough in half and made 2 smaller circles, spread each with some fat-free pasta sauce, some LightLife pepperoni, green and red peppers, thinly sliced roma tomatoes, and some fresh spinach cooked down with garlic and then mixed with some silken tofu. I placed them on my hot stone and baked them at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes. Once they were golden brown in the oven, I served them up with some additional sauce. Wow! This was very tasty! I will definitely do these again. They are a little more trouble - but well worth it.

Potato Soup

One of John's favorite meals is potato soup. I've always made it with lots of cream, butter and cheese and topped with bacon - yeah, right. Not anymore! But today I put together a pretty mean pot of potato soup. Since I didn't measure anything - and anyone reading this post would need to make it in different quantities, here's what I did. It's really not too precise.

I washed some potatoes and diced them to bitesized pieces - leaving the skins on for the additional fiber and nutrients and texture. I covered them with water and put them on to boil - just like I was going to make mashed potatoes. While they started to cook, I sliced an onion in thin slices and "sauteed" it along with a clove of garlic in a non-stick skillet until they were kind of transparent and beginning to brown a little. Then I dumped all of that into the potatoes and let them cook until the potatoes were really tender. Once they were beginning to get a little mushy, I added some soy milk and salt and pepper. Then I thickened it with some corn starch and water mixed up. I just added that until the consistency was right and then added some parsley flakes. That was it. Pretty easy. I had to taste test to get it seasoned right - but it really turned out great.

On another note, I gave blood today. I'll be anxious to see my latest cholesterol numbers!

Our First Vegan Thanksgiving

What a great holiday! We had such a good time at the beach. Seems like we ate like a bunch of hogs but I came home one pound lighter! That's a total of 30 pounds gone for me. Altogether, among the vegan group (Me, John, Jack and Pam) at the condo, we were 100 pounds lighter and who even knows how many points of cholesterol lighter!

We cooked a traditional Thanksgiving meal (turkey for Mom and Dad). We had cornbread dressing, green beans, cranberry sauce, homemade bread and chocolate pudding cake for dessert. Yummy! The best part was the walk on the beach afterward.

We made pizza a couple of times and some scrambled tofu for breakfast on Friday. Add to that a couple of batches of craving-cure cookies and a trip to Lamberts for the non-vegans and we ate like kings!

I am so encouraged that this continues to be easy to follow and the results are so dramatic. My choir dress will fit SO much better this year and John is sure to look much better in his tux.