Questions I get asked. Number 2: How did you become a vegetarian?

This is a little story of how one day, little Catherine, who was a voracious omnivore, turned into a pacific vegetarian.

The first sign was when I was five years old. I was watching Lamb Chops on television. By some horrible coincidence, my mom made lamb chops for dinner.

I cried my eyes out, but darn if those lamb chops tasted good.

The second sign was when I was twelve, again with my dear mom. She showed me an image on Internet that she thought was funny : a sad piggy holding a sign saying 'Will work for roast beef'. I adore pigs. I remember getting mad at my mom and crying a lot for the poor pig. But I was mostly frustrated that we had to eat meat, we had to kill them to eat - at least that's what I thought.

A year later, I was thirteen, I was in the process of moving countries, my parents were divorcing, and I thought it was the perfect time to be a rebellious teenager. I told my parents I wanted to be vegetarian. My dad told me 'If you don't eat meat, your boobs won't grow.' What sort of teenager wants to hear that? I continued eating meat.

Two years later, parents were divorced and I was settled in at Florianopolis. I'd met other vegetarians. I knew then that it was possible. So I delcared myself vegetarian and launched into an anti-meat campaign. My mom agreed with me and became a vegetarian, also. We suffered the first social awkwardness together.

But neither of us really knew how to take care of ourselves. Eating instant noodles and pizza does not a vegetarian make. My mom got anemia after five months and started eating meat again. I held on a month later, but without my mom's moral support, I lost the will to be vegetarian and started eating meat also. But I entertained the idea : One day, I'll be vegetarian again, and I'll know how to make it work.

That day came on my eighteenth birthday. My last meal was a celebration lunch, with octopus salad and seafood. It was the cut-up octopus that made me think: I can't eat him, I've seen him swimming in the sea before. This is wrong. And if this is wrong, eating cows has to be wrong, to. I shoved the octopus around my plate, got home, and told my mom that I was a vegetarian again.

The next days I spent on Youtube. First I made myself watch all those horror movies: pigs being slaughtered, stoned, tortured. Mother cows getting separated from their calves. Hens being plucked alive.  I had to make sure that this time, I would stay vegetarian. I made a promise to myself: If I ever want to eat meat again, I would watch those videos again and see if I could live with that.

The next part was research. I trawled through dozens of articles online. I visited blogs, recipe books, stories of teenagers like me. I went to the bookstore and spent hours there, reading books. I made calculations: How much protein do I need? Where can I get it? I made lists of protein-rich foods and iron-rich foods. I quickly learned that the main problem for vegetarians is getting IRON, not protein.

I planned out my meals, using my new knowledge. I had lunch 5 times a week at my university, so that was easy: I had rice, beans, salad, assorted cooked vegetables and a fruit for dessert, which is basically the perfect vegetarian meal. On weekends, I cooked. My mom and stepdad were the first to try out my experiments.

Three years later, I'm a vegan. I've never had anemia. I've actually gained weight, which is great, because all my life I've always been too skinny. My allergies have vanished and my skin is healthier. All in all, I feel great to be a vegetarian and I hope that this blog will show you, too, that is possible and it can be one of the most amazing changes in your life.

How vegan am I?

Me at Lemon Festival

This isn't a question I get often. Rather, I get a 'AHA! You ate my chocolate cake! You have abandoned your principles and caved to the mighty chocolate god!'

I then explain that I'm not 100% vegan. What does that mean, for me?

It means that I'm against eating eggs, milk, cheese, yogurt, and other dairy products because it's against my personal convictions. I know the suffering cows and chickens go through in farming industries, and I know that eggs and milk is a by-product. So, I boycott all animal-related products because of that.

I won't buy any of the products mentioned above. If I go to a self-serve restaurant, I won't serve myself something that I know contains one of these products. When I cook, I choose 100% vegan recipes and on my blog, I promote being vegan.

But I will eat dairy products on special circumstances, for example: My friend invited me over, and offered me a slice of chocolate cake. I'll accept it and eat it without asking if it's vegan or not.

Why?

Because being vegetarian in a world where 90% of people aren't, you're already an anomaly of society. People might not understand your decisions, but they will accept the fact that you don't eat meat. Now, you don't eat meat AND eggs AND milk? How am I supposed to offer you food?

So I keep it simple for my friends: I don't, won't, eat meat/chicken/fish/pork/other meats on ANY circumstances, because for me that's like signing an animal's death sentence. I'll accept your food that has eggs/milk in it, because I want to be polite, and I think you might be more receiving to me and open-minded of what I have to say if I make some concessions on my part.

I make similar concessions when I'm at a restaurant with my friends, and there's no vegan option. I also make concessions when I travel and when it's hard to find vegan snacks. I keep it easy for me: I'm allowed to be only 'vegetarian' while traveling.

So in between accepting the occasional non-vegan snack, going to a restaurant (very rare for me) or traveling, I'm vegan.

I hope I cleared up any doubts, and kudos to you that have succeeded in being 100% vegan :)

Preparing for your vegan picnic

Hey guys!

Since I study environmental science, I get to go on a lot of field trips and I do a lot of outdoor sports with my friends. Every time this happens, I know that I'll have to plan my food in advance- mainly because there's not a snack-shop in the middle of your hiking trail. And even if there is, odds are that they will sell ham & cheese sandwiches, tuna sandwiches, chicken breast sandwiches . . . you get the idea. It's hard to sell fast snacks to a vegan.

But I have some clever ideas I've coined up over the years. This is one of my favorite: the roasted eggplant sandwich. There are many variations: you can dice the eggplant and fry it with garlic and fill your sandwich with that. This is the best, yummy alternative I came up with, but it has downsides. It's greasy with olive oil and it's not really nice eating garlic and not having a place to brush your teeth later. But it sure hits the spot, and can be eaten hot or cold.

Diced eggplant & garlic, served on pasta.

Another alternative is picking the roundest eggplant you can find at the supermarket, and slicing it so that you have a plump disk that is roughly the same size as a hamburger. Cut it a little thicker, though, as it will flatten.

Bake it for about 20 minutes with a sprinkle of salt. It will be charred on the outside, slightly gooey on the inside, and substitutes perfectly a hamburger/ham/meat option. 

Then add lettuce, mayonnaise, tomatoes, and everything else you like in your sandwich. I added black olives


to mine.

Other ideas for vegan sandwiches:

-Grilled bell peppers, roasted shitaki mushrooms with lettuce and tomatoes

-Shredded carrots & shredded beets with a hint of olive oil and salt on whole wheat bread

-Lentil or bean burger (this takes considerably more time. Best if made way before, and frozen for when it comes in handy)

Other ideas for vegan picnic:

-Pasta salad with diced celery, spinach, green beans

-Cold rice salad with diced carrots, cabbage and veggies

-Bean salad with chopped veggies

-Tabule

Hopefully I'll get to show some of my other ideas with pictures.

This is my baggy, all set to go spelunking. I added cashew nuts, tabule, peach and iced water in addition to my eggplant-burger sandwiches.

Bon appétit!

Economias inesperadas numa loja de alimentos naturais

Sempre que posso, eu vou numa lojinha de produtos naturais e orgânicas que tem aqui na minha cidade (tem váriasm eu prefiro a que se chama Biocoop). Eu vou preparada, sabendo que vou pagar um pouquinho a mais por alimentos de melhor qualidade e produzidos sustentavelmente, do comércio local. Mas essa vez que eu fui eu percebi...

Que no total, o que paguei nessa lojinha foi menos que eu pagaria no meu supermercado de costume. Como assim?

Biocoop, lojinha de produtos naturais

Acontece que essa vez, eu optei por comprar meus alimentos a granel. Ou seja, peguei sacolinhas ecológicas de papel e enchi com arroz integral, lentilha, feijão, cereal. . .Pesei tudo e coloquei etiquetias. E deu uma economia tão grande que pagou a diferença dos produtos mais caros que eram orgânicas: frutas, verduras, etc.

Compartilho essa dica com vocês para que vocês possam aproveitar das economias e preferir de comprar alimentos em lojas orgânicas, dando mais valor à produção sustentável :)

Lentilha verde 

Musli para um café de manhã especial (o novo ano letivo)

Gluten-free fluffy pancakes

Hey guys! I decided to do an extra post this week, dedicated to all my gluten-intolerant friends.

So I was making gluten-free bread, something I'd promised to do countless times for my gluten-intolerant friends, and I had a little flour mix left, about a cup. The recipe I'd found online asked for 350 grams of flour mix, and 350 grams of water. I figured I'd use the cup of flour mix that I had left, and add one cup of water to that, since they were equal measurements, right?

Wrong, it turns out. Very wrong. I added more flour, but didn't have enough to make up for my clumsy mistake. So I was left with a batter that I couldn't do anything else except...

Pancakes!!!

And those turned out VERY GOOD indeed.

My vegan pancakes for a celebration brunch :)

So this what I used for ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup gluten-free bread mix (it comes with all types of flour: rice flour, sorghum, etc. You can buy it at a natural food store or at some supermarkets).
• 1 cup warm water, soy milk or another vegan milk
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 8g of Brewer's yeast or 'beer' yeast (A pinch of baking powder will work as well).
• A teaspoon of salt 
• A teaspoon of sugar
• Margarine or oil for frying

Steps

#1. Mix warm water/milk with the brewer's yeast.

#2. Add olive oil.

#3. Add flour mix, salt and sugar. Mix until the batter is homogeneous. 

#4. Place oil or margarine on a skillet, and heat it up.

#5. When oil is sizzling, scoop batter with a ladle and place it in the middle of the skillet.

This is the tricky part now- realizing when one side is done. The bottom side is done cooking when tiny bubbles are piercing the top side, and the top side isn't as shiny anymore.

#6. Flip the pancake and cook the other side.

Enjoy!!

Curry de lentilhas rosas com abobrinha

Olá pessoal!! Estou começando o novo ano letivo, o que significa que eu vou voltar aos compromissos que assumi. Um deles é esse blog. A partir de hoje, vou publicar um novo artigo cada sábado. Enquanto isso, vocês são bem vindos a descobrir meu outro blog que comecei essa semana, Tracking Stories. Esse blog terá novos artigos cada quarta-feira.

Hoje abri meu armário e dei de cara com essas lentilhas corais que eu tinha guardado. Essas lentilhas são diferentes das outras que conheço, são mais delicadas e não precisam ficar de molho a noite inteira, como as lentilhas verdes. Apenas 15 minutos já basta.

As lentilhas corais, ou cor de rosa. Fonte: Wiki Commons

Pesquisei como preparar elas. Tem muitas receitas na net, principalmente indianas, que conselho a provar. Como eu não tinha muitos ingredientes em casa, inventei minha própria receita baseada nas que eu vi, e deu super certo!

Compartilho com vocês minha receita de Curry de Lentilhas rosas com abobrinha.

Ingredientes (para 2 pessoas) :

-metade de uma abobrinha, picadinho
-metade de uma cebola, picadinho
-folha de louro
-uma colher de chá de curry (pode comprar já feito ou fazer você mesmo)
-100 g de lentilhas rosas
-azeite

Passos:

1) Primeiro coloque as lentilhas de molho numa tigela por cerca 15 minutos. Enquanto isso...
2) Coloque um pouco de azeite na frigideira e quando o óleo estiver quente, acrescente o curry. Misture o curry para que dissolva no óleo. Frite então a cebola para que fique dourada e acrescente a abobrinha e a folha de louro.

Antes da água...

3) Quando a cebola estiver cozida, acrescente as lentilhas depois de escorrer elas. Misture bem por um minuto, depois cobre por um copo de água. Coloque sal.
Estará pronto quando quase toda a água evaporar. Leva menos de meia hora para cozinhar as lentilhas e é fácil inventar receitas com elas.

É uma ótima opção para aquele dia que queria comer feijão, mas esqueceu de colocar eles de molho na noite anterior. Quase fiquei com vergonha de ter esquecido essas lentilhas no meu armário, e agora elas vão fazer parte do meu estoque de 'COMIDAS RÁPIDAS', ao qual também adicionei polenta instantânea e aveia. Miojo não tem espaço aqui não! Hehe.

Zucchini curry Masoor Dal

Hey everyone! It's back to school for me, and that means I turned a new leaf and I'm sticking to my commitments. From now on I'll be posting every Saturday- so stay tuned for new tips and veggie recipes!

Today I was looking for something new to write about while emptying my pantry. I noticed that there was a bit of red lentils left over, also known as Masoor Dal. I'd bought them just because they were pretty, but I'd never eaten them before. My first experience cooking them was a disaster : I thought that they needed to be soaked overnight, like other lentils I knew of. The result was mush. It turns out that cooking this pearlies are much easier, you need to soak them for only 15 minutes before cooking.

This is what Masoor Dal looks like (red lentils). Source: Wiki Commons

There are many recipes on the internet for these lentils, most of them are Indian, very tasty. Since I didn't have the required ingredients for many that I saw, I made up my own recipe using tips and matched ingredients I had with ingredients I saw in some recipes. The result turned out to be quite good!

I present to you the Zucchini Curry Masoor Dal.

Ingredients (for two people):

-a teaspoon of curry spice (you can make your own or buy it ready)
-olive oil
-half a zucchini diced
-half an onion, diced
-about 100 g of red lentils
-bay leaf

Steps

#1. Cover the red lentils in water and soak them from 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile. . .
#2. Sprinkle olive oil into a frying pan or wok. When hot, add curry. Mix for 30 seconds. Then fry onions, and add the zucchini and bay leaf.

Here's what it looks like while cooking.

#3. When onions are transparent and zucchini is slightly cooked, add lentils. After everything is mixed together, for about a minute, add a cup of water. Add salt. Wait until the water is almost completely evaporated and then - ta da! It's done. The cooking takes less than half an hour.

Finished product!

It's an ideal recipes for those who really wanted have protein and forgot to soak their beans/lentils overnight. Having Masoor Dal on hand proves to be really useful, and now I'm slightly ashamed it was sitting in my pantry for all these months.

Enjoy the marvels of Indian cuisine! I sure love it.