As a vegan, I spent quite a bit of time thinking about nutrition and health.   I even have little obsessive stretches where I track and log everything I eat on caloriecount.com, which produces a nutritional analysis, letting me know if I’m getting enough calcium, iron, protein, fat, etc.  What I’ve found is that, without fail, I eat between 140% – 200% of my daily recommended value of fat.   Why?  Because I love avocados, nuts, coconut milk, and olive oil.   I won’t worry about it because I’m pretty darn healthy, and I’m convinced that healthy fats can’t hurt me.  But you know, I’m not a scientist or a doctor, so if I told you that fats are good for you, you don’t have to believe me.

However, you might want to give a listen to health writer Tom Naughton, maker of the documentary, Fathead:

I think my favorite bit was the discussion on clinical studies vs observational studies and confounding factors.  Ever since my statistics class back in college, there are all these little bells that go off in my brain when people start new weird weight loss diets based on “science.”

Basically, I’m not going to cut back on my peanut butter and coconut milk any time soon.  Bring on the fat, baby!

Update: While I liked his lecture, I tried watching FatHead and couldn’t make it past the beginning.  I’m sure some good science pops up in there later, but the part where he made fun of vegetarian food made me very promptly turn the thing off.  He’s anti-vegetarian and doesn’t acknowledge that when done correctly, vegetarianism and veganism can be very healthy.

If you’re vegan, you probably see waffles and immediately think, “Eggs and milk,” and then perhaps sigh a bit to yourself while munching sadly on a lone apple slice.

*sigh* waffles

If you’re on a gluten-free diet, you might stare longingly at the waffles and think, “Wheat, gluten, poison!” None for you.  And none for the vegans.  Let’s just keep working on that fruit plate.    *sigh*

But they look so good!

If you’re keeping kosher for passover, you probably saw these pictures and hated me for a minute.   “Dina, don’t you know I can only eat matzo for the next week?   Away with ye, evil temptress!”

Ah, but I have a surprise for you, ladies and gentle-diet-restricted-folk.

These waffles are made with almond flour.  They are vegan.  They are gluten free.   And by many accounts, they are kosher for passover.

Yay Waffles!

Wait a second… come again?   Vegan, gluten-free, and OK for passover?   And they were even GOOD.   How is that even possible?

Magic, science, and a good look at the traditional definition of “chametz” makes it possible.   The only questionable ingredient in these waffles is baking soda, and according to the New York Times, and several other articles I’ve read, baking soda AND baking powder  can be totally legit for passover.

Lise Stern, author of “How to Keep Kosher” (Morrow, 2004), said: “Chometz, which means sharp or sour, denotes bread that has a sourness to it caused by fermentation, occurring when liquid is added to any of the five grains mentioned in the Torah. This refers to yeast, not baking powder or baking soda.”

Rabbi Soloveichik said: “They’re just minerals. What do we care about minerals?”

Well said.  And Rabbi Lerner seems to agree:

Historically, one could use seltzer as well to make matzah balls to rise, but one needed a hechshar for the seltzer as according to some opinions certain brands used carbon dioxide derived from factories making beer, hence derived from hametz. Today, I believe that carbon dioxide is made chemically if only for purposes of efficiency and cost.

The only issue that some rabbis seem to have with baking powder is that it is often made with corn starch.  However, I have seen several little cans of “Kosher for Passover” baking powder at the supermarket, so if you’re worried about corn, then just use that!

Anyway, enough talking.  Here is the recipe!

Almond Waffles (makes 2)

• 3/4 cups almond flour (aka almond meal)
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 tablespoons flax meal
• 2 tablespoons potato starch
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon agave nectar

Directions:

1. Preheat waffle iron.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine almond flour, salt, and baking soda.   In a smaller bowl, combine flax meal, potato starch, water, oil, vanilla, and agave.  Stir to help the potato starch dissolve into the water and let it sit for a minute to allow the flax to thicken.   Combine wet and dry ingredients… there is no gluten so feel free to stir all you want!
3. Make waffles in waffle iron according to manufacturers instructions.
4. EAT.

And… that’s it guys. Fricken easy.  Fricken good.  It only makes two waffles, but they’re like 100% nuts so they’re very filling and I myself was only able to eat one waffle.  But feel free to double or triple the recipe if you see fit.   Or make lots of  little tiny waffles.  That’d be super cute, too.

A note on almond flour: It’s possible to make your own almond flour by first blanching the almonds and then grinding them in a food processor until smooth, but before becoming almond butter.  However, that’s time consuming and I just went and bought myself a bag of Bob’s Red Mill certified gluten-free almond meal.

What a fast, delicious, and protein-filled breakfast!   Win.

Passover starts tonight and I am, as always, overly excited.  I love holidays and religious traditions of all shapes and sizes.   I really enjoyed passover in college because my roommates were Jewish and we’d drive up to High Point to go to a seder with my roommate’s family.   I miss the passover chocolate, the charoset, the bitter herbs, the matzoh, and the challenge of baking desserts both vegan and kosher for passover.

I find myself wanting to make matzoh ball soup, chocolate covered matzoh, and all sorts of goodies.  My brain has been churning out passovery recipes and I can’t turn it off.   I no longer have Jewish roommates… in fact, I don’t know if any of my California friends are Jewish.  It’s quite sad.    So, I really have only one choice… in a show of solidarity and in order to challenge myself in the kitchen, I, too, am going to keep kosher for passover.  Well, at least until Sunday.   I’m afraid I get really excited about Easter and I don’t know if I can pass up cinnamon buns during brunch.

However, I’m most excited about passover this year because I have grown leaps and bounds as a baker and a chef over the past few years.   In case you don’t know what I mean by “Kosher for Passover,” here is a little excerpt from the About.com article:

In addition to avoiding leavened bread, Jews are also supposed to avoid foods made with wheat, barley, rye, spelt or oats – unless those foods are labeled “kosher for Passover.” The reason these grains can be eaten under some circumstances is that the rabbis determined foods containing these grains must be cooked in 18 minutes or less in order to be considered kosher for Passover. They felt that was just enough time to prevent any natural leavening in the grains from making food rise. “Kosher for Passover” foods are made with flour that is specifically prepared for Passover consumption and are usually made under the supervision of a rabbi.

All five of these forbidden grains are collectively called “chametz.” (Pronounced ha-mets.)

In the Ashkenazi tradition there are additional foods that are usually forbidden during Passover. These foods are called “kitniot” (pronounced kit-neeh-oat) and include: rice, millet, corn and legumes like beans and lentils. These foods are off limits because the rabbis determined they violated the principle of ma’arit ayin. This principle means that Jews should avoid even the appearance of impropriety. In the case of Passover, kitniot can be ground up and cooked with like flour, so they should be avoided.

In Sephardic communities kitniot are eaten during Passover. It is also not uncommon for vegetarians who identify as Ashkenazi Jews to follow the Sephardic tradition during Passover – it’s tough to be a vegetarian during Passover if chametz and kitniot are off the table!

It recently occurred to me that gluten-free folk keep kosher for passover by default.  Wheat, barley, rye, spelt, oats?  Those are all the glutenny flours!   And as you may know, I’ve recently been experimenting with gluten free cookies and bars and the like.   So as far as Passover goes, I am excited to make the traditional sorts of goodies with matzoh and matzoh meal, but I’m even more excited to explore the world of almond meal, coconut flour, quinoa, etc.   I’ve got some pretty big plans for this week and I can’t wait to go home and get started.

You know you want to come.

Artwork by Yoga With Amey

I found this article really interesting, and crazy obvious.

There are three basic types of oats. There are old-fashioned rolled oats, which are whole oats rolled flat. Then there are quick oats, which are rolled oats that have been ground up a little bit more to make them cook faster. Finally, there are the steel cut oats, where the whole raw oat was cut into smaller chunks.

They all start from the same grains, but they are cut differently. Rolled oats are steamed slightly to make them cook faster, but otherwise, they aren’t any different from steel cut oats.

The extra processing isn’t a big deal, because you have to remember this process called digestion where you break down food to absorb it. So these oats are all the same once they get past your mouth.

So you see, rolled oats and steel cut oats are the same food, just cut differently. Saying they’re vastly different in nutritional value is like saying a sandwich cut straight down the middle is healthier than a sandwich sliced diagonally into triangles!

I, too, have heard people say that steel cut oats are “better” for you.   However, the idea that they contain more fiber or protein than rolled oats is a little preposterous.  They’re the same grain, people!

I like steel cut oats because of the texture.  It’s very satisfying to be able to bite and chew your cereal.  Also, they hold up better to multiple bouts of reheating.  I tend to make one big pot of oats a week and just reheat little portions for breakfast.  This makes my breakfast faster and easier to prepare, and helps me make less noise in the morning.  :)

I love religious holidays.  I’m not picky about the religion, I just like observing religious holidays and traditions.  I myself grew up in slightly less than usual circumstances– namely, in a Vaishnava (Hinduism– worship of Vishnu) community in West Virginia.  We had a Palace of Gold and giant statues and peacocks and an elephant and lots of Indian food.  Don’t believe me?

Palace of Gold. Photo credit: www.palaceofgold.com

That’s just a little place I like to call home.

And my dear, extraordinarily talented father happened to make a lot of the statues and deities.

Nrsimhadeva and Prahlad

Nrsimhadeva is my favorite.  I used to ask my dad to read me the story every single night before bed.  It got to the point where I completely memorized every word.  I didn’t understand all the words, but I knew them… It took me years to figure out what “no avail” meant.    I never understood why the Kumaras wanted to “know a veil” … but my point is that I love Nrsimhadeva cause he’s awesome.   Half man, half lion, total badass, God of all.

Vaishnavism seems to have an endless parade of holidays… appearance days, disappearance days, and just seemingly random days when we fast from all grains and legumes.  Well, OK, Ekadasi isn’t actually random, but it sure seemed like it when I was a kid.

In addition to our Vaishnava observances, we also celebrated Christmas and Easter… and then I started taking on more holidays.  But it didn’t seem fair to just commandeer the fun holidays from all the various religions.  I wanted to observe the more austere traditions as well.   I viewed each holiday as another way to show God how much I loved and appreciated him.  So, I started fasting from grains during passover and giving up things for Lent.  (I eventually had to stop the passover thing because giving up grains as a vegan on a college campus was leaving me rather malnourished).

This year, I’ve given up TV for lent.  Including Hulu & Netflix.  And let me tell you… I have found myself with an extraordinary amount of free time these past few days!

Take today for example.

I’m like… well, I wrote three blog posts, ran 4 miles, applied to some jobs, made a great breakfast and lunch, photographed my breakfast and lunch, edited some photos, cleaned up my closet, watched a basketball game, made some chickpea spread, ate a delicious dinner, revived my poor drowned phone, did the dishes, cleaned the stove… I’m not really sure what to do next.  I could read some of my french novel, I could start on a project for my nephew Azlun’s birthday, I could paint this big peanut butter pretzel tub and turn it into a cookie jar, I could draw, I could start that toxoplasmosis painting I’ve been wanting to do, I could play with my new watercolors …

Not having TV has made me so aware of all the things I could be doing and having so many options is a little paralyzing.  I’m an indecisive girl.

A couple in Greece was recently barred from adopting because they were vegetarian, and the officials feared that the diet would be “imposed” on the child.  I don’t think the Greeks have a very strong handle on nutrition if they think this is true:

A child needs to eat fish, seafood and dairy products among other things, without meat being essential.

I myself was raised vegetarian and have been vegan since the age of 10.  My whole family was raised vegetarian… and we’ve all turned out alright!   Not to mention the gazillions of vegetarian Hindus in India… It’s not like vegetarianism is this new fad diet or something.   Thank goodness people in the US have begun to accept that it is possible to fulfill all your nutritional needs from plant based sources.  The Greeks may have invented philosophy and democracy and the Olympics and olives and all that, but they really need to re-examine their approach to nutrition.

The thing about being a vegan, and a pastry chef, and a girl in today’s society… is that I have a rather delicate relationship with food.  I’m not so unusual in that way.

I didn’t know how to eat in High School, and I thought an apple was a perfectly respectable lunch. I thought 800 calories was a good healthy dose of calories for a day.   I ate a plethora of fruits and veggies, but would avoid fats and heavier carbs at all costs… until I would crash and absolutely fill myself with the fats my body needed.  Craved.   It wasn’t until I finally went to see the nutritionist in college that I finally got my eating more or less straightened out.  She made me keep a log of everything I ate, and while I was absolutely and completely NOT allowed to count my calories, every time I ate I had to check off a box saying that there were plenty of fats and protein in my meal or snack… and furthermore, I wasn’t allowed to go more than 4 hours without eating at least a snack.

Do you know what happened? I lost weight.  I ate regularly, and I lost weight.   It turns out that I was causing my blood sugar to spike, which would later cause me to crash, which would later cause me to binge… and I would feel ill from the constant spiking and crashing, coupled with the general illness of being constantly malnutritioned (Ok. It’s not a word.  But I used it.  So.  There.  I’m like fricken Shakespeare).

What the nutritionist had told me at our first meeting was that I did not have an “eating disorder,” but that I had “disordered eating.” And the entire time, I was hiding it all behind my false idea of “healthy.”

And so, I’ve become a champion of eating… eating balanced meals.  I’ve become a champion of fats and proteins.. of complex carbohydrates.  Folks!  Your body needs it!  Seriously.  I know it seems funny coming from a vegan because it seems like we restrict our diets in so many ways… but I don’t cut out an entire basic food type.  I ensure I have protein, fat, and carbs with every meal or snack.  I won’t even eat an apple without some nuts or something to balance it.

I’m not saying to eat french fries and hamburgers and donuts. I’m saying don’t shy away from nuts, avocados, fruits, coconut milk, and whole grains.   And you know, eat an occasional cookie.  Dark chocolate is great for you…. a glass of red wine is healthy for your heart… whole grain cookies sweetened with agave have so many fantastic properties I could probably write 5 pages just about that.

Don’t deny yourself bread or nuts or chocolate treats.

Eat well and mindfully.  If it helps you, keep track of what you eat.  Calorie Count has a really fantastic and comprehensive database and breaks down everything you eat into nutritional content so you can see whether or not you need to include more fats, proteins, carbs or calcium into your diet… or any other mineral or vitamin for that matter.

I may be vegan but I make sure I get enough protein every day.  And I make sure they’re complete proteins.  I combine whole grains with my tofu, I eat quinoa, I do not skimp on the beans… I drink fortified soymilk… Nutrition keeps me sane and keeps me eating well.

Now that I know how my body works, I don’t think I could ever go back to starving it.  It’s awfully tempting when Christmas rolls around and perhaps I’ve eaten quite a few pieces of vegan “cheesecake” … or more cookies than I’d like to admit … but I respect my body and want it to be well… I want to feel well.  And so I continue eating.  I always keep eating.

And you know what?   It really doesn’t hurt to eat  a few pieces of pie or some cookies during the holidays either.  Life is short! Enjoy yourself!

So to sum up:

For the love of God… please, Eat!

For the past 5 years, I’ve been receiving a “Word of the Day” from Dictionary.com, and most of them don’t elicit much reaction.  I am disappointed every time I receive a “Word of the Day” and it’s a word with which I’m already well familiar!  The point is to expand the vocabulary.

Let me tell you, I love words.  I love big vocabularies.  I find it to be one of the most attractive traits in a man.   If someone knows more words than I do, I automatically like them.  I can’t help myself!  I want to be in their presence and absorb their words.  Like absorbing a power.  An invisible and awesome power.

There is something enchanting about a word… every word.  They have histories.  They have stories.  They are pieced together out of little words that mean different things to different people throughout history.  Isn’t that beautiful?  And sometimes they encompass absolutely haunting concepts and ideas.   Sometimes a single word is a poem.  And every time I discover such a word, I am eternally grateful that it exists.

Today’s “Word of the Day” is:

liminal \LIM-uh-nl\, adjective:

Relating to the point beyond which a sensation becomes too faint to be experienced.

Yes, it was luminal, here where he stood; at the very juncture between all those heaps of culture – he poked at the air behind him with his elbow – and all this thoughtless sea.
– Jane Alison, The Marriage of the SeaIt was only as I emerged from that woozy, luminal, state that I remembered Miranda coming into the room in her white robe to tell me the story of her uncle Richard’s murder and to find some consolation in my arms.
– Siri Hustvedt, The sorrows of an American: a novel

Liminal derives from the Latin limen, “threshold.”

Isn’t that haunting?  Literally! Haunting.  A sensation becoming so faint, you cease to experience it, and the tingles are left to haunt your bones.  What a positively enchanting word.  How did I ever express myself before today?  Liminal!

And here is another one that will no doubt become a permanent part of your vocabulary:

So today, why don’t we all go around and softly pat a callipygian on his/her callipygian behind, and let our liminal grope fade away into the echoes of a callipygous memory.

Arrgh. Words be fun.

I have had an almost inexplicable crush on Bill Clinton for years.  I don’t know what it is!  Is it the way he plays his saxophone?  His smooth southern accent?  The way he can charm the pants off of almost anyone (or the dress, as it were)?   The way he can balance a budget?  Mmmm  surplus!    I even have a talking Bill Clinton doll — my favorite things he says are “I did not inhale,” and “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Monica Lewinski.”    Yeah, I’m crazy about him!   I get giddy with delight when he does anything basically.

But, I was not prepared for this!  I didn’t need more reasons to love Bill Clinton, but he has gone ahead and given me a good one.  Are you ready?   Ok.   Here it is:

William Jefferson Clinton is now VEGAN.  Bless his newly functioning heart!

I love the look Wolf Blitzer has on his face when Bill mentions drinking almond milk! Heh. What a role model!

Thank you, Mr. President.

Man, now I want to bake some vegan goodies for him…. if you know what I mean!