Experimenting with Soya

When I was in London last weekend I ordered Sweet & Sour Tofu and egg fried rice at a lovely Chinese restaurant, however when doing this I got asked if I was a Veggie. I explained my issues with meat (my Mom's horrible cooking!) but the more I think about it I could very well end up a veggie or a vegan.

Lately I brought Soya Milk into the house. I've not had a glass of milk in decades and try to avoid it as much as possible. When I do have something with milk I sound like I have a mild head cold for a few hours. So far I've tried Soya Milk in:

Coffee

Tea

Oatmeal

Cup Cakes

Cereal

Mashed Potatoes

I've loved it in everything! I was a bit wary baking with it, but they have a version of single cream that is Soya based and it work as a substitute to butter milk.

Since I've been on my own brand of diet from December 30th 2011 I've taken to veggies as my lunch choice on the weekend and using them as a large portion of my dinners. This means I'm eating healthier and I'm eating foods that I really do love. Peas, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, sweet potato, corn, brussels sprouts and green beans. Yes, I said brussels sprouts. I love them!

With this added veg and Soya infusion into my diet I could really see myself as a veggie. Though I will admit a nice cheese burger may be my downfall ;) Bacon actually was my downfall on the six days I was a veggie and it took me 2 hours to realise what I'd done. So maybe I'm just a bad vegetarian?

Though I do like the idea of being a vegan, there is a lot of thinking about what you're eating that would come into play and let’s face it. I'm lazy.

I have found some really great recipes that are easy and vegan. My vegan chilli for instance.

Vegan Chilli:-

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 tin green ready to eat lentils

1 tin baked beans

1 tin chopped mushrooms

1 tsp chilli powder (you can adjust this to taste)

Pour everything into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Then simmer for about 10 minutes.

Makes about 4 to 5 servings.

You can have it with rice as well but I find the lentils make the chilli heavy and nothing more is needed.

Root beer!

One of my favourite soda's (or pop if you prefer) of all time is Root beer. Now I'm not a huge fan of soda in general, its calorie heavy and sticky sweet but there is just something so refreshing about Root beer.

We ventured to the wilds of London for the Kapow Comic Book Convention. Specifically Islington (where I came down with the plague) one of my favourite burger joints was discovered last year called Byron (http://www.byronhamburgers.com/menu/) I highly recommend it if you are in the area. However do avoid what they call American Cheese, it's really sweat collected from real cheese and made into orange plastic slices.

The best thing in my opinion about Byron's is they serve A&W Root beer! True I paid £2.85 for a can but damn was it worth it.

There is a place in Leeds that says it serves Root beer but it's not A&W.

We also hit Pizza Express where I felt obligated to have an American Pizza, which is Pepperoni Pizza and a Chinese restaurant where I had Sweet & Sour Tofu.

I also went into a Kebab place (alone, armed with a knife as always) for some chips.

Cyber Candy was also at Kapow, however I was disappointed by the selection this year. I ended up with a 3 Musketeers Bar and a Twinky (£2.90 for both). I was hoping for odd M&M's or at least Pop Tarts.

The best thing about the weekend was the Root beer.

Red Velvet

My all time favorite cake, Red Velvet. It's a red cake batter that has an amazing velvet like texture. I've not made it in nearly 9 years. The first time was my first birthday in England. I spent it alone and made a cake for myself to celebrate. This time I made it for a cake sale at work.

The one issue I had was finding white vinegar, I'd gone to Sainsburys (local grocery store) to find it and they only seemed to have balsamic which is great but not in a cake! I ended up buying something called White Condiment and crossed my fingers that it was what I wanted (it was, nothing else on the planet smells like vinegar!).

Red Velvet Cup Cakes


2½ cups plain flour

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 cup buttermilk (substitute 1 cup of milk mixed with 1tsp lemon juice, let stand for 10 minutes or until curdled)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons red food coloring

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1½ teaspoons baking soda

1 tablespoon white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350/180

Mix butter & sugar, add in eggs, vanilla and food coloring. Mix in coca powder, baking soda and vinegar. Alternately mix in flour and butter milk.

Pour into bun cases and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese (this should be one standard container of cream cheese, be careful otherwise you'll have too much - as I did)

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups confectioners’ (powdered) sugar

Mix all ingredients together in a high sided bowl, spread onto cooled cupcakes.

Meat

I grew up in the standard meat and potatoes family. You had both at most meals. Italian food was the only time you didn't have potatoes. Or occasionally when Dad wasn't around we'd order Shrimp Chow Mien, because that was the only Chinese food my Mom had ever had.

Pretty sure I've said this before on here, Mom wasn't a great when it came to cooking. She cooked a chicken to the point once where the cats wouldn't eat it. I swear the thing could bounce.

Pot Roast? Well, my friends and I used to have chewing contests on how long it took to chew a bite. I think we got well up into the 60's. This could be one of the reasons I'm not a huge fan of meat. When I'm at a restaurant I'll 99% of the time order the veggie option, for one it's normally cheaper and I'd prefer it. I ordered my first steak (a whole 6oz one) at the Outback steak house in Delaware when I was in the US last year, first time ever I've ordered one at a restaurant it was nice. I preferred the sweet potato fries though.

Mom however could make a few things, sloppy joe for one but the one she always got perfect was Meat Loaf, which I never got the recipe for so I thought I'd never be able to make it properly. However when Mark said he'd never had it I thought I'd best find a recipe. Betty Crocker's cook book came to the rescue again (the cookbook was published the first time in 1978 and has been helping me since I was 7).

Mom's (Betty Crocker's) Meat Loaf



1.5lbs mince (ground beef)
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 garlic clove chopped
1 egg
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1 small onion chopped
1/2 cup ketchup

Heat oven to 350/180

In large bowl mix all ingredients except ketchup. Shape in to a loaf like shape. Place in loaf pan.

Spread ketchup over top

Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes. Make damn sure there is no pink showing in the meat loaf.

Let stand a minute or two and then slice and serve.