Saturday, January 7, 2012

Out of the Fire and Into the Pot ......

....and so it begins, the dawn of time and man discovers fire.. with it , he learns to cook his food over an open fire, he grunts and life is good.  Until he invents the stove, so that his meals can be made comfortabley in the cave, only some how, the art of cooking is lost on man and his wife has to take over.....

One of the first things I have discovered with my new life style is that 70 grain brillo buns with hummus can get really boring, really fast.  Vegan chili is not going to keep anyone happy for long except the "Beano" corporation.  So I now have the new challenge of learning to cook all over again.

As it was 20 years ago, when my marriage was new, I was young, Tyler ate from a bottle and out of a jar, my only bewilderment at dinner time was, "do I make the Hamburger Helper or the Tuna Helper?" and even that depended on what the cost was of ground beef that week.

Like so many people here in North America, I turned to already pre-packaged, processed foods.
Rice-a-roni (the San Fransisco treat),  instant potatoes, mac & cheese, canned strews etc.  It was cheap and it was EASY.  (like a Surrey Girl on a Saturday night )
But has I grew up and became wiser and older, I slowly learned to take individual ingredients and turn them into meals.  Meat loaf, shepherds pie, frozen veggies etc.... and then as I got even older, wiser and fatter,  I came to realize, WAIT !! I need to take fresh healthy ingredents and turn them into healthy choices meals ... fresh soups, lean fish with veggies, grilled chicken with brown rice, and so on... it has taken me 2 decades to discover this and not just that, but actually learn to COOK these items. 
However, here I am, back to the very beginning... not having a clue how to cook dishes that dont require meat or dairy products... because , thats all I know.  What the heck is tempeh, quinoa, couscous.. who the hell comes up with these name??? If I can't pronounce them, how the hell am I going to cook them??
But the sad realization is,  unless I want to live on 70 grain brillo buns, hummus, raw veggies and canned beans, I don't have much choice, but to learn to cook all over again.

Or go out to eat.  But Wait !! eat out?? Preposterous!! That is so hard to do and find stuff you can eat.
Well my friend, welcome to Vancouver!! North America's answer to the dodge drafting hippies in a "some what" warm climate.  Where salmon saving, tree hugging, granola eating , yoga masters live amoung the common locals, protesting their healthy ways amongst the masses.  In other words, there is no shortage of vegitarian/vegan restaurants in the lower mainland.!!   but for cost and time sake...I think I better learn to cook.

So I find myself once again, turning back to the Pre-packaged Vegan products. And amazingly enough, there are tons out there.   
Taking my first serious visit to Planet Organic, I have walked into an amazement of sights and smells.  I'm first greeted by their deli section... which is full of vegan choices.. or gluten free, or just simply organic.  This is easy I'm thinking... but realistically , its 2 towns over and I can't run over there every time I want to eat. Despite this notion, I grab a small container of vegan potato salad and had it for lunch.AND its very yummy. However, I have been since advised by the "low fat vegan fairy" , that this item is most likely not Low Fat Vegan !! and therefore not worthy of the low fat vegan way of life.  Granted this is true, however, its lower in fat than the greasy cheese burger and fries I use to eat..so I'm not feeling to guilty just yet. But I AM thinking its a dish I must learn myself and make it low fat !!

Moving right along through the isles, this store is filled with multiple offerings of bulk grains and seasoning..I was so very over whelmed to the point that I didn't know what to buy except pre-packageed items, as I did in the days of my youth.  A few of the items purchased was a package of ...wait for it... here it comes... yes, the facon bacon!!! and not just any facon bacon, but maple flavored, facon bacon !! score. I think? I have not yet journeyed into this foreign food, so how it turns out, you will have to tune in next week.  Or gaggingly next month, as this stuff is good until April 2017.
I also picked up my plastic bag of "Nutritional Yeast". Though, I dont know how nutritional it actually is, but its the vegan version of powdered cheese... yes folks, I said the magic cheeeeessseee word.  All the delectable delights of a cheese sauce that tastes like I first ran it through a dirty sock..but none the less... cheese sauce. Or I may mix with my favorite air blown popcorn for extra yummy snack. *mmmmmm*
Next we grabbed our most required jar of apple butter to help tame the "dry like a desert" texture of my morning toast, as well as a carton of almond milk for my morning coffee. Mostly after the experimental failure of the rice milk.  I'm not sure how they milk a grain of rice, but from the taste and lack of texture, I'm not convinced they found the utters.

  But remember my friends, this is just the beginning of my travels. As I slowly look into more and more recipes, I know where to find my source for strange and exotic ingredients. And as I really learn my products, I will discover that they are 1/2 the price at Super Store.
I am at least grateful that I do have the "cooking" skills required to make this new journey into the strange and healthy, but a learning experience it will be.... just thank freaking god there are no exams at the end of the course.!!




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