Laurel Simpson

*Please note, this recipe is not vegan due to the fact that the GF crust contains eggs. However, there are vegan pie crust recipes out there.

My additions to Christmas dinner this year were a hit! My beloved sister, Kara, has wheat and dairy allergies, and avoids starchy foods as often as possible. That being said, she often gets gastronomically left out of big family dinners over Thanksgiving and Christmas, resigning herself to the beet salad and cranberry sauce.

There is a tradition in our family where my uncle, the trained chef, makes the bulk of every meal. He has a tendency to make the starchy, dairy and wheat filled dishes that we all know and love. But this year, I decided that I would put my gluten/dairy/wheat-free culinary curiosity to the test; and add sugar-free to boot!

Over these past few months I have discovered that by making simple changes such as substituting GF flour for wheat flour, soy or coconut milk for cow’s milk, and vegan cheese for regular, we can still have the foods we crave any time and they can be environmentally friendly, animal cruelty and allergy free without sacrificing flavor. For Christmas dinner, I made a gluten-free stuffing, vegan mashed cauliflower, and gluten-free/sugar-free blueberry pie. Recipes to come!

Something about winter gets me hankerin’ for some chocolatey, chewy home baked cookies. Maybe it’s the shorter days, the longer nights, or the low-hanging gray clouds ever threatening snow. Could be the drafty old house I live in, and some primeval instinct to start a fire for warmth (in this case, the oven). I don’t know, maybe it’s that time of the month.

All I know is, I got home from a long day at work (already dark outside) and was struck by a sudden and uncontrollable desire for some cookies. So, having none on hand, I decided to make my own with whatever I could find in my house.

If you’re anything like me, you probably have chocolate of some sort hidden in the freezer. And I always keep gluten-free flour on hand for my gluten-free, vegan walnut pancake hangover cure (recipe yet to be released). For some reason fruit ripens and spoils faster in this house than I have ever seen. Anywhere. Period. So we often have over-ripe bananas no one wants to eat or throw away (waste not, want not, and what not).

Long story short, I came up with the following recipe and it turned our pretty darn good. 

I recently read a blog about restoring U.S. foreign aid to health.   What really struck me was the ignorance of the vast majority of people who left comments at the end of the article.  Comments like “this president and his muslim friends hate us anyway so anything sent there will just be used to kill us…keep our money at home!”  and “We have a President…who does not like the USA..nor the people of the USA.”   First of all, who are these commenters?  Where do they come from and how did they become so bitter?   Where does all this hate come from?

Basically the commenters are against the Obama administration’s use of tax payer money for health aid in developing countries – as if no other president in the history of the U.S. has ever used tax payer money for foreign health aid. Don’t these people remember how much money the Bush administration poured into global health initiatives?  Does PEPFAR ring any bells?  We’re talking billions and billions of dollars, the majority of which was taken from beneficial U.S. implemented health programs throughout the world to be channeled to African AIDS and Malaria relief.  I am not saying that Africa doesn’t need help, I’m just saying that AIDS, Malaria, and TB are not the only diseases out there, nor do they solely occur in Africa.

One commenter said “The money we send to third world dictators only serves to strenghten these corrupt governments who torture and starve thier citizens.”  Misspellings aside, this is a pretty scathing and misguided statement about how U.S. foreign assistance is used.   No matter what anyone thinks about a president or his administration, global health funds do not go to the leaders of a developing country, dictatorship or not.  In fact, as we can plainly see with North Korea (which is not a Muslim country) the U.S. does not support dictatorships and will not supply foreign assistance to corrupt leaders.  U.S. foreign aid goes directly to fund health projects on the ground in each country.

The money pays U.S. contracting companies to develop health projects or support health projects already in existence, and, in turn, the U.S. economy is strengthened by providing jobs for U.S. citizens.  The money goes to pay U.S. contractors to develop disease prevention programs, maternal and child health initiatives, and the like.  It goes to pay contractors to go over to these countries to train health providers and scale up health service delivery so that health systems in developing countries can become sustainable; ultimately requiring less foreign assistance and making the world a healthier place.

After all, how healthy will we here in the U.S. be the day a pandemic hits a country on the other side of the world whose health system is understaffed and ill prepared to fight the disease.  How healthy will the U.S. population be when it’s hit with SARS, Avian Influenza, and Swine Flu imported from those ill-equipped developing countries?  Oh wait!  Wasn’t the U.S. hit with all three of those diseases in the last two years alone?  Remember the pandemonium our population felt as more and more Avian and Swine Flu cases were announced as clinics ran out of vaccines?

Yes, Obama has Muslim friends, but don’t most Americans?   The vast majority of Americans probably know, and are fond of, at least one Muslim person.   And these people do not hate us – whoever “us” is anyway.  99.999% of “them,” are here because they want to be, love this country and its people, and they got out of a bad situation at home.   I don’t know how or when this country fell into the “us” vs. “them” ideology, but the majority of Muslims in other parts of the world are everyday hard working citizens who have the right to a healthy life just like “us.”

People must stop the “us” vs. “them” ideology and begin to realize how interconnected our world is.  Ultimately it is the American people that will benefit from health and development aid.  Health aid strengthens our economy by securing jobs for Americans and saving trillions of dollars that would otherwise be spent on global pandemics.  Or on prevention and  treatment against diseases that have been eradicated like Polio and Small Pox.   Health and development aid ensures that people in developing countries can be safe and healthy with a roof over their heads and food in their bellies which keeps them from developing a hatred for “us” in the first place.

Links:

(http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/100877-restoring-us-foreign-aid-to-health)

Ah, the sweet smell of triumph in the morning.  To me triumph now smells, and sounds, like the ocean.  It sounds like the serene call of a chickadee in an old growth forest; like the crashing of waves in the Pacific.  It looks like ladders…..dozens and dozens of rickety, worn out wooden ladders.  It looks like suspension bridges and cable cars.  It looks like me traversing deep bogs saddled with a 45 pound pack.

If you ever wanted to test your metal, nothing is more perfect than the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island in British Columbia.  Pictures just DO NOT do this trail justice and words cannot express what it feels like to wake up each day in a tent on a beach, what a reward for a long day of strenuous hiking.  I had no idea what to expect going in – and I was really questioning my sanity within the first couple of hours of the first day.

Let me tell you…I’ve never done anything as crazy as this….and I hiked the Inca trail to Machu Pichu (a story for another time) in five days with my family, including a three year old, with only three day’s rations of food!   I guess you could say that adventure is in my blood (no matter what impression the last few years of my life grounded in school and work have placed upon me).

The idea to do the West Coast Trail came after months and months of research and preparation for the Northern portion of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT).  That portion of the PCT begins near Skykomish, Washington and ends in Canada’s Manning Park.  That portion of the PCT also includes some of the highest elevation mountain climb in the Northern Cascade range.

That’s all well and good on a typical summer, when the snow melt begins in late May to early June.  But this summer, it snowed at the end of May and the trail was still a winter wonder land in the middle of June!

Now, I’m not crazy.  Hairbrained, maybe.  Lunatic daredevil, definitely not.  Not only would we have been all alone up there, it would   have required traipsing through snow with a load of alpine gear added to our already weighty packs.

So, with less than two weeks to launch, we were forced to come up with plan B.  We had all agreed that this new adventure should take place in Canada, so we started from there.  On a google search of hiking in Canada, we came up with the West Coast Trail- a 75 kilometer (almost 50 miles for those of us Non-Canadians) hike along the western coast of Vancouver Island.

I was hooked on this trail from the words “Coastal Wilderness.”  I know what you’re thinking.  “How easily she is swayed from one adventure to another.”  I don’t know, maybe it was the thought of sleeping on snow for two weeks, but my brain was instantly rewired to prepare for a coastal wilderness adventure.   My excitement only grew when I found out this trail was built to help ship wreck survivors get back to civilization.  I saw pictures of ladders and cable cars and immediately had visions of the Swiss Family Robinson.  How many times had I watched that movie as a child, wishing I lived in a tree house somewhere in a coastal wilderness?

I was totally HOOKED!  For two weeks before the long trek from the East Coast of the U.S. to the West coast of Vancouver Island, my eyes were glued to the computer looking at pictures of the trail.  The trail was described to me, by many online with experience, as “isolated,” “strenuous,” “physically challenging,” and even “potentially hazardous.”  But I thought “nah…I can handle this.”  And you know what?  I was right!

BELIEVE ME…looking back, there were plenty of times along the trail that I would have liked to huff and puff, throw down my heavy pack and sit down forever.  But I never did.  I never gave up.  And now I feel like I can do anything; like I can get anything accomplished no matter how difficult it seems at the start.

Stay tuned for more on my West Coast Trail adventure and there will be pictures I promise!

Happy trails!

Today I chanted the Saraswati matra in an attempt at meditation: Om Eim Saraswatyei Swaha. This is loosely translated to mean “Om and salutations to that feminine energy which informs all artistic and scholastic endeavor.” I’ve been feeling in need of inspiration for my writing and I thought “hell, might as well give it a shot.” Though I’ve been practicing yoga for years (off and on) I have only recently picked the practice back up on a regular basis. Meditation, apparently, is an important part of yoga. However, I’ve never been able to get past my own drifting thoughts and the feeling of my foot or leg going numb long enough to gain anything useful from meditation. But today, I swear, after 20 minutes of chanting the Saraswati in my head, Chinese gong sounds playing in the background on my laptop, I became more creative! I could actually feel myself coming up with ideas and inspiration without interrupting the meditation! And then I wrote for a whole hour and a half without stopping. Who knows whether the mantra itself was the catalyst or if it was my own inner voice. I guess I’ll never know. But I’m going to make this a daily practice regardless.  *Namaste*

The Vegan Flan

Ah, Flan, how I do love thee. *Sigh* Yet another Latin favorite of mine full of eggs and milk. Could these ingredients possibly be substituted in such a delicate dish? My Hispanic friends would balk at such an attempt, Some may even go so far as to call it ‘blasphemy.’

Personally, I am worried that a tofu substitute for dairy in the creamy custard would taste too much like….well….tofu. Flan, when made well, has a silky, almost pudding-like texture. One thing I learned from my recent experiments with tofu mozzarella and tofu cheese cake, is that the texture leaves much to the imagination. Tofu, in and of itself, has a spongy texture, and it goes without saying that it will leave a spongy texture in anything to which it is mixed. With flan, texture is key. And I have never had a spongy flan in my entire life. Have you?

Mom came over for dinner tonight and I served some left over vegan fettucini alfredo. Complimenting the meal was the vegan flan for desert. Mix a little Italian cuisine with some Latin and you’ll have yourself a night to remember.

Mark lit some candles and placed a dim lamp on the edge of the table, giving the room a pleasant ambiance. We poured ourselves some wine and settled in to dinner. The three of us were absolutely satisfied with our meal, feeling as though we had been out to an expensive dinner. Perhaps it was the dimly lit restaurant-like ambiance Mark created in our kitchen/dining room combo. Perhaps it was the gourmet alfredo sauce. Or maybe, just maybe, it was the grand finale: the flan.

While this flan was a little spongy (as to be expected), it turned out to be a nice custard with a silky (albeit slightly spongy) texture. Everyone was satisfied with this desert. A nice ending to a great meal. Although I will say this flan tasted a little too much like soy milk and not enough like caramel. Next time I will tweak the recipe to give it more of a caramel taste. Maybe I’ll try coconut milk instead of soymilk, or almond extract instead of vanilla.

See the recipe below:

8:00 pm

Tonight I tried a vegan, gluten-free brownie recipe from the famous chef Emeril Lagasse. Fail safe right? Actually, that statement could not be more false. Emeril’s recipe called for an entire cup of cocoa powder, 2 cups of sugar, and 2 cups of vegan chocolate chips, among other things. These ingredients combined to create a horrible tasting and ugly concoction.

After allowing the brownies to cool I tried a piece. I have to tell you, these are not at all what I was expecting. The recipe said they would be dense and fudgy. The recipe lied. Actually, the end result was very bitter (due to the excessive amount of unsweetened cocoa powder and chocolate chips), chewy, and overly dense. The taste is completely overwhelmed by the bitterness of the unsweetened cocoa powder (recipe called for an entire cup). Now, I’m not sure whether I was supposed to use sweetened cocoa powder or not because Emeril’s recipe does not specify. I used what I had in the pantry which was unsweetened.

I should have known the brownies would be bitter after making some hot chocolate with the unsweetened cocoa powder and a little agave sweetener last night. I just thought the 2 cups of sugar, applesauce, and banana would take care of the bitterness in these brownies. Boy was I wrong!

Not only were these brownies bitter tasting and chewy, they were ugly. Oh the horror! I had intended on serving these at a belated (seems like the holidays are being postponed more this year than last year) ugly sweater holiday party this weekend. But the color is all wrong. They are a dark ugly brown to go along with the bitter taste and chewiness. I hate to say it but I think these brownies are going in the trash.

9:30 pm

Completely and utterly disappointed with Emeril’s recipe for gluten-free, vegan brownies, I decided to try my hand at inventing my own recipe (with the help of a hodge podge of online baking tips). This is what I came up with (notice I added ground ginger to spruce things up a bit):

(After tasting the finished product it seems that ½ teaspoon of ground ginger and ¼ of a teaspoon of salt would have been fine)

Preheat oven to 325. Combine dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Combine wet ingredients in separate bowl and then fold in dry ingredients. Pour into baking dish and bake for….. (baking time to be determined)

10:15 pm

Into the oven on the top shelf and we shall see how this turns out….

10:45 pm

The brownies already smell much better than the last ones. I took them out of the oven to do the knife check and they still need a bit more time. But I can honestly say that these have a nice texture and color to them.

10:50 pm

Laurel’s Gingerly Brownies are ready! They were in the oven for 45 minutes and came out perfect! I can’t wait to try one!

My brownies have a light brown color and spongy texture. Very easy on the eye. Can’t say the same for the last batch. No thanks to Emeril. I tried one of my brownies after they had cooled for ten minutes.

These brownies are good, not delicious and definitely need more tweaking, but they are not chewy or dense at all. However, the brownies are slightly on the dry side with a little too much ginger and salt and not enough chocolate. Next time I will reduce the ginger and salt and add sweetened cocoa powder. I will have to research on what to do to make the brownies more moist.

All in all, a good day and good learning experience! Cheers!

Tonight I try vegan pupusas. Ah, the great taste of Latin cooking. I love pupusas. Anything made of corn flour, stuffed with cheese (in this case “cheese”), shaped like a pancake and cooked in hot oil with a salt garnish, is ok in my book.

I’ve been to many Salvadoran restaurants and they all say they make the best pupusas on the Eastern Seaboard. But to me, they all taste the same; delicious. Hearty on the inside, crispy on the outside and just salty enough for my tastes, these traditional Salvadoran corn cakes have been an eating-out staple of mine since I was a kid. Unfortunately for those vegans who are fans of pupusas, they are unattainable unless made from scratch at home. I have yet to see a pupusa on any menu without pork or at least cheese inside.

Latinos are very traditional people, traditional in their home life, culture, and especially in their cooking. This means that you would be hard pressed to find vegan Latino food. Latinos are meat and dairy eaters for sure!

I began tonight’s pupusa adventure (sounds dirty I know) by making homemade vegan mozzarella to put into the pupusas. Have I bitten off more than I can chew? Who knows?…..But After making the vegan sour cream and cream cheese for the cheesecake from scratch, I thought why stop there? In fact, I’m even going to make the vegan heavy cream all by myself rather than buying it at the store, preventing more packaging from the landfill.

And since I’m off on an environmental tangent…

Dairy products are bad for the environment (as delicious as they are). Milk, cheese, cream, butter, and all those yummy foods, they come from cows, sheep, and the like. These animals are ruminants (grass-eaters) and they emit tons of methane gas into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change. Not to mention the waste ruminants leave behind, which inevitably leaks into the surrounding groundwater. But, Unlike denser cheeses, Mozzarella may be the cheese that does the least environmental harm. Mozzarella is not aged so it requires less refrigeration energy, and requires less milk to produce. Yet, the production of any cheese is energy intensive and detrimental to the environment. So, I can feel good about switching to vegan cheese (that is, if I can pull this fake mozzarella off).

I also feel good about finding an alternative to gelatin. Agar is a gelatin type ingredient which acts as a binding agent, yet is made from seaweed rather than horse or calf hooves. The recipe for the mozzarella actually calls for Agar powder, which I couldn’t find at whole foods (the only place around that I thought would have such a thing) but I did manage to find Agar Agar flakes there.

Apparently this mozzarella “cheese” is supposed to be grateable when all is said and done. We’ll see.

As for the pupusas, well, HA! They are easy enough in concept, but must take some deeply ingrained latin cooking expertise to pull off correctly. I have visions of elderly grandmothers in El Salvador slumped over the kitchen counter with their grandkids and rolling up balls of Maseca. Perhaps if I’d had years of practice I could have pulled these pupusas off better. But, alas…..I’m going to need more practice.

In the end, the mozzarella hadn’t set yet (my own fault for starting the “cheese” thirty minutes before dinner) and I scooped, rather than grated, the “cheese” onto the corn flour patty. I had also sauteed up some onion, mushroom, and baby spinach with salt and garlic to put into the pupusas. However, unskilled I may yet be at forming the patties, they ended up tasting great fried up in canola oil and doused with salt.

What’s the verdict on yesterday’s vegan cheesecake? Well, even though the cheesecake didn’t turn out as pretty as I had hoped, my family loved it. It had a custardy texture and was only slightly on the tough side thanks to my not-so-brilliant addition of the extra tablespoon of tapioca flour. The crust was delicious as well, but I think it was slightly crunchy due to the excessive amount of vegan butter. Next time I will stick to 2 tablespoons each of vegan butter in the crust and tapioca flour in the cheesecake mixture.

My advice to all those who attempt this recipe is to heat the cheesecake in the oven for a few minutes to soften the crust before serving.

Overall, I would say that my home made vegan cream cheese and sour cream turned out to compliment the cheesecake and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Never mind the extra time this takes.

I am going to play around with the texture and creaminess of the cheesecake mixture by trying out corn starch versus tapioca flour. Also, next time I am going to make the gingersnaps for the crust from scratch so that I can make the crust gluten-free. Wish me luck!

On to the next dish….