The Virus Chronicles Part 3: Navigating Change

So here we are about a year into this pandemic. There seems to be a glimmer of light towards the future but boy oh boy I am tired.

Rationally I know there’s a plan but I’m tired of staying home. Tired of wearing a mask…now recommended we wear two. Tired of not seeing friends. Tired of hearing about friends dying from the virus. Tired of hearing about the massive number of deaths around the country. Tired of plans made and not coming to fruition because of this damned virus. Tired of people not taking it seriously. Tired of health emergencies being treated as political (I won’t go there but you know what I mean). I could go on and on and on…

I’m sure you feel the same.

I feel like I’ve aged 10 years since this started. How about you? There isn’t enough retinol around to cure what the past 12 months has done to our faces.

I go from okay, happy productive one day to depressed, emotional, and paralyzed the next. WTH?

So what now? How do we go from all this chaos, change, emotional overload, pandemic…to continue into the future?

I wish I had an easy answer. I’m working on what that looks like for me. Staying creative has helped but it’s hard to keep creating when the world feels so heavy. But I keep trying. And I am thinking about circling back to the ideas and projects I was in the midst of last year at this time. Maybe plucking some creative gem from things that were lost to bring them forward. That might spark some joyful movement.

I feel a lot like the little viruses in the video above. Bumping into things, bouncing off, not really sticking to any one thing. But I need to find cohesion. Something to bind me to the future so I can stop wallowing in the past.

I will promise myself only to keep working and give myself some grace as the next few months unfold.

Stay tuned…

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Veganuary 2021 Easy Condiments: Vegan Ranch Dressing

https://youtu.be/AS4nrVHpJ2g

The vegan ranch dressing recipe here builds off my last post where we made mayonnaise. If time is of the essence or you just don’t want to make your own mayo substitute a store bought vegan brand of mayo.

Here we go!

Vegan Ranch Dressing or Dip

1 1/2 cups of mayo, hand made or use store bought vegan
3-6 tablespoons of unsweetened non-dairy milk. I prefer soy milk but others work too.
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons dried dill
1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste

Add all the ingredients together and stir well. Taste and adjust the flavors to your taste. It’s that easy!

A couple notes…you could make this with all fresh ingredients. In all honesty I haven’t tried it that way but I don’t see why it wouldn’t’ work. There might be some adjustments to make. As an example fresh garlic is a bit more pungent than dried also a tablespoon of dried parsley is quite a bit more than fresh so you’d want more. But give it a try…I bet it would be delicious!

Also I start with 2-3 tablespoons of the non-dairy milk and decide at the end how much more to add. If you leave it at that it makes a great dip consistency or is much more liquid for salad dressing if you add the full amount.

As I said in my mayo post this is not only super easy to make but also will save you some money. A bottle of vegan ranch dressing around here is about $5. Making my own mayo costs me around $3 then the herbs here really cost very little and I always know what’s in my food. Food for thought…:)

Place it in a covered container for the fridge and the next day it really sets the flavor and is better than the first day. This keeps at least a week…if it lasts.

This is one of our favorite recipes and it disappears in a very short time. We use it for salad, chip dip, dipping vegan chicken fingers or hot wings, carrot sticks, celery dip…etc. You can see why it doesn’t last long.

Enjoy!!

Until next time,

Susan

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Veganuary 2021 Easy Condiments: Vegan Mayo

Vegan mayo?!! Have you ever tried this before? So, so, so easy…and you can substitute your favorite oil or dial up the flavors with garlic, pepper flakes, chipotle, or whatever strikes your flavor fancy!

Here’s my favorite version of hand made vegan mayo. This is inspired again by Fuss Free Vegan. And if you’ve read my other posts but still don’t own this book you need to go out and get it. Sam has some of the easiest and tastiest vegan recipes that will help you build a successful repertoire of go to meals and goodies.

Please note that there are two mayo making videos on my YouTube channel. I decided that even though my theme was 2 minute condiments this recipe is so easy to do that i needed to show you just how easy by running the video in real time. Simple makes like these condiments can really change up your cooking and also save you money. A commercial jar of mayonnaise retails around here for anywhere between $5 and $7 dependent on brand or size. This recipe might have cost me about $3.00-ish with the most expensive part being your choice of oil. Food for thought (literally).

Vegan Mayo my way 🙂

1 cup oil…I used no taste olive oil in the video but you can use your favorite. Virgin olive oil, sunflower, grapeseed…pick one that you like the flavor of.
1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk. Again you could experiment with other milks, oat or almond, but my go to is soy milk. Just make sure whatever you try is unsweetened. Mayo with sugar is, well, just awful.
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon juice. I always use more but I like the tang lemons give to the mayo. Use your own judgement and taste buds.
salt and pepper to taste

Put the non-dairy milk, vinegar, and lemon juice into a high speed blender or, in the video, I used a stick blender and placed my ingredients into a tall container built for the tool. (the stick blender is easier to clean and works great) With the stick blender you will whiz up the mixture with your dominant hand and slowly pour the oil with the other. If using a regular style high speed blender you will run the blender while pouring the oil in slowly. Continue until all the oil has been poured in. Taste your creation and add salt, pepper, or in my case, extra lemon juice to whatever levels you like. I recommend starting with very small amounts and working up. Give it a last spin and you’re done!

At this point you can also add you other flavors…garlic, onion, dill, curry power, chipotle, a little mustard…whatever your favorites are.

Store your mayo in a closed container in the fridge for about a week. If it lasts that long. Use it with anything you would normally use regular mayo with. Sandwich spread, salad dressings, potato or pasta salad…what ever you like! This is a great alternative for anyone with an egg allergy.

Enjoy it and I hope you’ll let me know how you liked it.

Until next time,

Susan

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Veganuary 2021 Easy Condiments: Sour Cream

Oh my gosh …this stuff is so good! Who knew that cashews could make sour cream?

When I was first playing with vegan recipes I thought they would all be complicated, too difficult, and hugely time consuming. Wrong! This recipe, although a condiment and not a meal, is an example of how easy it is to eliminate animal based products from your diet. Inspired by the cookbook Fuss Free Vegan my rendition of the recipe is as follows. (if you don’t own that book you need to go get it!)

1 cup raw cashews…now you can put these into a container, cover them with water and soak for a minimum of 6 hours (you can keep some in the fridge if you’re using them a lot) OR you can cheat. I boil water, throw the cashews into a heat proof container (usually a Pyrex measuring cup), cover them with the boiling water and wait about 15 minutes. I find this works well when I don’t have cashews soaking in the fridge and I’m in a time crunch.

1/2 cup water
1-3 teaspoons of lemon juice. I like quite a bit of lemon juice, sometimes even as much as a 1/4 cup, but some may not. For me it really kicks up the “sour” of the sour cream.
1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Get your cashews ready. Then put them, the water, a teaspoon of lemon juice, and the vinegar into a high speed blender. I used my bullet blender in the video and if you have one it works great for these smaller recipes. Whiz all this up for a minute or so scraping the sides as you blend. If using the bullet make sure you stop and give it a shake then put it back on to blend some more. I stop after a bit and just rub a little bit of the cream between my fingers. If it feels smooth you know the nuts have been thoroughly blended. If you feel a slight grit then just keep blending. Also make sure to taste your creation and add salt and/or pepper (and maybe more lemon juice) to your liking. Always start with very small amounts and work up to more.

Put your sour cream into a closed container in the fridge and it’s even better the next day when all the flavors meld together. I find it keeps for about a week.

Use it on anything you would normally put sour cream on. Spicy food, quesadillas, chili, nachos…all your favorites!

I hope you’ll try it and let me know what you think.

Until next time,

Susan

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Veganuary 2021: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Now that I’ve eaten about 50 of these I can share the recipe with you. The actual recipe is in Sam Turnbull’s cookbook “Fuss Free Vegan.”

Here’s my rendition that I used in the above video:

Dry Ingredients

3.5 cups of all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix these together in a bowl, set aside for a moment.

Wet Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar lightly packed
4 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup vegan butter
3/4 cup refined coconut oil
optional approx. 1/4-1/2 cup soy milk or coconut milk

In another bowl cream sugars with butter, coconut oil, and vanilla till mixed. Add flour mixture a bit at a time mixing each time. Continue with all the flour mixture. If the dough seems too dry sprinkle in some of the milk, a little at a time, until the dough incorporates completely. (you may find you need less or more of the milk as necessary)

1 1/2 cups vegan chocolate chips (I buy the Costco brand when I can find them as they have no milk product in them and they are cost effective)
Optional: 1 or more cups of your favorite nuts , walnuts, pecans, peanuts…whatever you like. Throw them in whole or chop them up!

Tip: Divide the dough and add different things to each. My kids aren’t fans of nuts so I divide the dough in half after adding the chips. I add our favorite nuts, right now that’s walnuts, to half and leave the other half plain. Makes everybody happy!

Bake at 350 degrees for between 12 and 15 minutes.

It’s very hard not to eat either the dough as you’re making or the baked cookies. They are delicious!

if you don’t own Sam Turnbull’s book “Fuss Free Vegan” you need to run out and buy a copy!!

Here’s a link to help you out with that…
https://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/fuss-free-vegan/

Until next time,

Susan

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