A Milkshake

Here's a fun thought activity you can try at home. You are trying to find ingredients to make a quick and easy vegan dessert to satisfy your sweet tooth on a sweltering day. Brainstorm the five worst grocery stores where you could attempt this task. Take five to ten minutes and report back.

Back? If 'a Wal-Mart in Topeka, KS' was not on your list, please repeat the exercise.

You know you've acclimated to your privileged, blue state life when you are genuinely surprised upon failing to find at least two shelves of vegan ice cream in the ice cream section of a grocery store. Today's selection at the Wal-Mart on Wanamaker consisted of exactly one choice: Vanilla ice cream made with coconut milk.

I guess I can understand why some people think that vanilla is an acceptable flavor for a dessert. If I'm given a dessert that isn't chocolate, I can make do. For lunch today my mom made some baked apples and they were really good. On rare occasions, I might even choose a non-chocolate dessert when a chocolate dessert is available. But if I'm being honest, dessert begins and ends with chocolate for me. So, the vanilla was a set-back.

I decided that I could salvage this vanilla business with some dark chocolate to sprinkle over the ice cream. As it turns out, the luxury chocolate selection at this particular location was a bit slim as well. I'm not a connoisseur at all; I usually just get a Chocolove Almonds and Sea Salt bar every week or two and call it good. What I got tonight tasted pretty good in my unrefined opinion. Both bars were from Chuao. I got one Caracas bar, which has a few different kinds of nuts in dark chocolate. The other was a Panko bar, which has panko bread crumbs and sea salt in dark chocolate.

By the time I got home with the ice cream I had decided to make a milkshake. My friend and fellow CU philosopher, Dan Lowe, is a vegan milkshake ambassador. He inspired me to make a shake back in Boulder a couple of weeks ago. I had some chocolate soy ice cream in my freezer that was growing some interesting freezer fuzz, so I threw it in a blender with some almond milk and the results were perfect, which is to say very creamy and very chocolate-y.

Here's what I used tonight:

A few scoops of vanilla bean ice cream (almost the whole tiny carton)

A cup-ish of unsweetened almond milk

A tablespoon or so of cocoa powder

About 1/4 of a chocolate bar, crunched up

Blend it up and drink it. It's not rocket science.

Frankly, this shake was not my favorite. If I had it to do over, I'd probably just leave the chocolate bar and cocoa powder out. It had the color of a chocolate shake, but the vanilla flavor of the ice cream was the only thing I could taste. It was like a cruel joke every time I took a sip and discovered that I was not drinking a chocolate shake. However, if I liked vanilla more, I think it would have been great. The chocolate chunks were a mistake because they just clogged the straw and I wasted some good chocolate because I couldn't get all the chunks out. The shake might have benefitted from the addition of some fruit to cut the richness of the vanilla. Raspberries sound about right.

The panko bar deserves its own special plug. I'm a sucker for sea salt with dark chocolate (who isn't?), so this was right in my wheelhouse. The panko breadcrumbs made the bar light and crispy, like a Nestle Crunch bar if Nestle Crunch bars tasted good.

Finally, let me say something in defense of Topeka. I could have gone other places and found what I wanted (chocolate vegan ice cream). The new Hy-Vee is great. Akin's is the classic place for this kind of stuff. Even the fancy Dillons would have been better than Wal-Mart. But, my parents wanted to stop there to buy cookie dough and I didn't want to be left out of the dessert party so I did what I could.

Go forth and shake!

Eat Seitan Keep Slim

One of the dominant features of the skyline in my hometown is a grain elevator that reads, "EAT BEEF KEEP SLIM". The sign is painted either red or purple each year, depending on the outcome of the K-State/Nebraska football game.

Obviously, I don't eat beef. But, since I'm back in Kansas, I have a nice down home meal for you. My Mom made mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy, and a barley salad and I made breaded, baked seitan cutlets. We got the barley salad recipe from this month's Cooking Light magazine. I couldn't find it online, but this recipe from a year ago looks similar.

Here's how I made the seitan:

I cut the seitan (which I made using what I could remember from the VwaV recipe) into cutlets about 1 cm thick. Then, I breaded them. First, I dipped each piece in flour, then in some soy milk, then in a mixture of bread crumbs (unseasoned), pepper, salt, and cayenne pepper to taste. Then, I put them on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper and baked them at 350 for 25 minutes. Then, I increased the temperature to 425 for about 7 more minutes. I flipped them halfway through and sprayed some cooking spray on each side because I'd forgotten to do so at first.

They came out very firm and crisp, but not very flavorful. I should have added more spices and especially salt. Frying would have also been more tasty than baking, I'm sure. It was a nice, stick-to-your-ribs kind of meal even so.

Oatmeal

Oatmeal might just be the most amazing food ever. It has tons of fiber, it's good for your heart, it fills you up, it's fast, and it's cheap. But, it's sort of gross plain, which turns people off. Plus, those little pre-packaged flavored oatmeal servings are not nearly as good as the real thing. I eat oatmeal almost every day. Here are a couple of my favorite ways to do it.

The basics:

Pour about 1/2 or 1/3 cup of quick cooking oats in a microwave safe bowl.

Put just a bit of salt over the dry oats.

Cover the oats in water, just enough so that there are no dry oats and there's some water pooling on top.

Microwave for just over a minute (depending on your microwave). If I go much over 75 seconds the oatmeal starts to cook over the top of the bowl.

Let the oatmeal sit in the microwave for 30 seconds.

Now you're ready to add stuff in!

Peanut Butter and Cranberry

This is my go-to recipe. I have this for breakfast most days.

1 or 1 1/2 tablespoons of peanut butter (or almond butter, apple butter, etc.)

handful of dried cranberries

That's it! It's so good!

Blueberries and Spice

I made this one this morning because blueberries were cheap at the store.

1/2 tablespoon of brown sugar

a bit of cinnamon (1/2 teaspoon?)

1/8 cup of soy milk

handful each of blueberries and dried cranberries

When I add in soy milk I usually microwave the oatmeal again for about 10 seconds to warm it back up. I also meant to crumble a ginger snap over the whole thing for some crunch, but I forgot.

Vegan Carne Asada Burrito

Hey y'all! I know it's been a while, but hopefully this will make it up to you.

Over the weekend I made a batch of seitan as per the Vegan with a Vengeance recipe. The seitan is amazing, I can't say enough about how great it is. So far I've made Buffalo seitan, cold udon noodles with peanut sauce, and just now I made a burrito. It was delicious and easy.

Vegan Carne Asada Burrito

(These are the ingredients I put in my burrito, but only because I had this stuff around the apartment.)

Rice

Refried Beans (I had some in a can)

Tabasco

Vegan Ranch (I made it this weekend to go with the Buffalo seitan, it's really good)

and the seitan (which I cut into small strips/chunks and fried in a little vegetable oil with salt, pepper, cayenne, onion powder, and garlic powder until the outsides were crispy).

A bit of chopped onion.

It was really satisfying and came together quickly!

Life Without Eggs, One Step at a Time

A few days ago I decided to take the plunge into veganism. I had already given up animal milk for about a year, so really this just means no more eggs/cheese. The biggest hit for me is the eggs, because I really love a good egg. As a result, I've been eager to find recipes that can help me not miss them. So, last night I decided to make a batch of breakfast burritos.

First, I fried some potatoes. You really can't go wrong with fried potatoes. I normally keep a bag of frozen potato chunks in my freezer (so-called 'southern style hash browns'). But, this time I did it the old fashioned way, starting with real potatoes, some vegetable oil, and a cast-iron skillet. I fried them for a while and put a lid on them after they were crispy so that they would cook all the way through. After they were done I poured them on a paper towel to sop up some of the oil and so that I could use the skillet.

Next, I started in on the rest of the filling. I started with the recipe for scrambled tofu in Vegan with a Vengeance (I'm not going to include the recipe because you need to purchase this book). I followed it for the most part and the results were better than expected (come on, crumbled tofu, that doesn't sound good, but it is). I bought some Soyrizo, which I had never tried before since I never liked meat chorizo in the first place. I put some of it in the skillet with some more oil and browned it for a bit before adding some red onion, green pepper, and jalapeno. Then I added garlic and the spice mix in the book (minus paprika, plus cayenne, black pepper, and a little bit of chili powder). Then, I added the tofu, put the potatoes back in, and scrambled away. After that was done, I wrapped the filling up in large tortillas, eating one and freezing three. I am not a very good burrito-roller, I'm afraid, but it'll do. All in all, the burritos are very good!

They are just the right amount of soft (from the tofu and soyrizo) and crunchy (from the potatoes and vegetables). If I'd had some vegan sour cream and/or cheese, I would have added that as well. They are definitely as good as (or better than) egg-based breakfast burritos. I highly recommend that you make your own version of these very soon. They're obviously amenable to alterations and experimentation, so go wild!

Recipe: Jicama Salad

Jicama Salad (vegan and probably gluten free)

I am kicking around some ideas for posts about restaurants here in Topeka (where I am visiting my parents for the holidays), but I have to share this recipe with you first. I made it for the first time about two years ago. It is not an original, but I have made minor modifications. The original is here at What We're Eating, a lovely website. A small but notable swap is capers for anchovy paste, which makes the recipe vegan (and a bit cheaper to make). I apologize for the poor picture quality, the only camera I have with me is on my phone.

The most time consuming thing about making this is cutting up the jicama.

Ingredients:

The Business
1 jicama, the one I used was probably the size of a grapefruit and a half, and yielded about 2 cups of julienned goodness
1/3 red onion sliced thinly, or however much you'd like... don't go overboard or you'll overwhelm the rest of the ingredients
1 granny smith apple, shredded, don't substitute here because the tartness is important... so I guess substitute at your own risk
1/2 cup or so carrots, shredded
1 jalapeno, seeded and sliced, I sliced it down the middle and took out the innards then did small slices on each half
1/3 cup cilantro, or to taste
1/3 cup peanuts, ground

The Dressing
3 limes, juiced up
2 1/2 tablespoons chili garlic paste, if you don't keep this stuff on hand then you are making a big mistake. I basically put it in everything I make. Everything.
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
Roughly 10-15 capers, put through a garlic press
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, put through a garlic press, OR 1 teaspoon of dried ginger
black pepper to taste
3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (the original calls for asian peanut oil, which I would absolutely use if I had any... note to self: get some)

Instructions:
Put the first set of ingredients in a bowl.
Put the second set of ingredients (sans oil) in a small bowl and whisk them together.
Slowly whisk the oil in with the rest of the dressing ingredients.
Pour the dressing over the rest of the stuff and toss it all together. I used tongs to do this. Beware, though, I pinched my palm with the tongs!

Introduction

Welcome to my blog, City of Pigs.

What’s with the name?

Socrates: “They will feed on barley-meal and flour of wheat, baking and kneading them, making noble cakes and loaves… drinking of the wine they have made… of course they must have relish—salt, and olives, and cheese, and they will boil roots and herbs such as country people prepare; for a dessert we shall give them figs, and peas, and beans; and they will roast myrtle-berries and acorns at the fire, drinking in moderation” (Republic 372).

The above is an initial description of how people in Plato’s ideal state would eat. After providing this description, Glaucon chastises Socrates for the diet, saying that it is identical to the food one might provide for “a city of pigs” (Republic 372d). Socrates then agrees to add cakes and other luxuries, all the better to see how injustice will arise in the state. “In my opinion the true and healthy constitution of the State is the one which I have described. But if you wish also to see a State at fever-heat, I have no objection. For I suspect that many will not be satisfied with the simpler way of life” (Republic 372e-373a). John Stuart Mill famously invokes both pigs and Socrates some 2000 years later, “it is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, are a different opinion, it is because they only know their own side of the question” (Utilitarianism Ch 2). Apparently Socrates would have been quite satisfied with the pig’s diet (though perhaps not its intellectual life).

I tend to agree with Socrates. Bread, cheese, olives, and figs? Sign me up! This penchant for (or, perhaps, idealization of) a simple diet is somewhat common among philosophers. Jean-Jacques Rousseau writes of his own preferences, “I did not know, and do not know even now, better cheer than a country meal. Anyone may feel sure of entertaining me handsomely with milk-food, eggs, vegetables, cheese, black bread, and tolerable wine” (Confessions Book 2). This blog title (like all of philosophy, says Whitehead) is just another footnote to Plato.

Who am I?

I like to eat, cook, and learn about food. I am also getting a PhD in philosophy at the University of Colorado at Boulder. I call myself a foodie, but only in the sense indicated by the first sentence of this paragraph. I don’t eat meat, by the way. I suspect I ought to give up eggs and cheese, too.

What will I write about?

Restaurants: Boulder was recently named America’s Foodiest Town and I like to get out and experience what the town (and environs) has to offer. This blog will serve as a discussion and review of restaurants, new and old.

Recipes: I like to cook when I don’t go out for food and sometimes I’d like to share my successes with the world and get tips from others. I bake sometimes, too, but I'm considerably worse at baking than I am at cooking.

Other: I don’t know, we’ll see where it goes. Maybe I'll even take up some philosophical questions regarding food! Or, maybe I won't.