Weekend Impromptu Getaway Meal Ideas??

On November 1, 2010, I posted on thekindlife.com. 

My husband, Troy and I are going on a little impromptu weekend getaway vacation this weekend. Apparently, (I don't remember) we had put our names in for them to contact about deals,etc. They have a GREAT deal this weekend, so we're going. Anyhoo, I'm vegan, Troy's flirting. We're going to Elk Horn Resort in Manitoba (we're in Regina, Saskatchewan), and I'm not entirely sure what to take, I've Googled their menus, and there's not a lot of options. If it was one meal, I could make it work. If it was one day, I could make it work without too much planning, but three days?? I'm not sure, without some guidance. <smiles sheepishly>

Should I call the lady that booked us in about requiring anything special? I think we can make no fridge work, by taking a cooler, and using hotel ice. Should we take a toaster? For sandwiches, toast and such? I know I can easily take nuts and dried fruit. Should I make vegan waffles, freeze them and take them for breakfast? Toast them? Or do you think the restaurant would toast them for us?

See many questions. Maybe I should just call the resort. Thank you in advance!

 I did end up calling the resort to see if our room came with a fridge and such. No reply for a week, but I was able to figure it out, and I posted again once we got back.

For others looking for similar information, thought I put what I learned.
First, I planned our meals so I knew what to take. Luckily our room had a little fridge, and we brought our own toaster, for waffles. For breaky we had vegan waffles (recipe from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau'sThe Joy of Vegan Baking-delicious and easy). Made them the night before and froze them, took Earth Balance and maple syrup. Also took 4 bananas and a small thing of strawberries & chocolate soy milk. For lunch, we had sandwiches, with mutigrain bread, tofurkey, eggless mayo, mustard, tomato, pickles. Supper, we ate at the resort's restaurant. Really the only thing vegan was the salad Tangled Greens. Very much a rancher's steak house atmosphere. :( Not to worry, I had that and seasoned baked tortillas with white bean dip back in our room.  And I was pleasantly surprised at how accomadating the staff was. They made a special vegan burrito with sundried tomato hummus, in their lounge the next day. Delish! I also remembered that we would need cutlery and such, so I brought our awesome picnic basket, it even included a cutting board and cutting knife! It was pretty awesome.

Oh yes, for travel snacks, I made Walnut Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins (also The Joy of Vegan Baking), I brought a nut and dried fruit mix, and pumpkin seeds and for dessert we had Chocolate Almond Brittle (The Joy of Vegan Baking...again).

Everything went well. I made sure we had our stuff together (I'm very much a list girl). Any questions, just ask, if anyone would like that white bean dip recipe-it's really good!-again ask. :)

The recipe post:

Alright, it's actually called White Bean Spread, now that I've got the recipe in hand. I got it from a cooking instructor, she always gets requests for the spread recipe when she takes it to functions.

1/3 cup olive oil, 2 large cloves of garlic-minced, 3/4 tsp ground coriander, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/3tsp pepper, 1 can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed, 1/4 cup lemon juice (also good with lime juice), 1 tbsp Tahini (sesame paste), 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce, 3 tbsp frech coriander-important ingredient

Blend together olive oil, garlic, and ground coriander, salt, pepper, white kidney beans, and lemon juice, tahini, cumin and hot pepper sauce (I find the hand blender works best). Stir in fresh coriander. Can be made with different beans.

Let me know how it goes, once you get a chance to try it.  :)

So that was what I was doing as a brand-new vegan, at a month and a half.
Just took some thought and planning. Which I've found to be a valuable tool with my brain injury. Plan, plan, plan.

How My Veganism Has Helped My Brain Injury

I know that there are people in my life that don't understand how I could possibly be getting enough nutrients to help my brain.
I am getting far more nutrients than most! But I'll leave that for another post.

What I'd like to write about is the act of becoming vegan. Or of transitioning away from consuming animals and their secretions, to consuming plants, and about my brain's rehabilitation.
For those that don't know, I never cooked prior to becoming vegan. Troy likes to say that I could burn water. He did all of the cooking.
After the car collision, and the coma, and tubes and such, I started my various therapies: physiotherapy, speech language therapy, exercise therapy, occupational therapy, and eventually recreational therapy. My occupational therapy, once I mastered the basics of sitting up and walking, consisted of following simple directions to accomplish a task. The tasks would gradually get more complicated and distractions were also added to see how I would do.
Some of the activities we did was: board games and card games, puzzles and tests, baking and cooking, following a recipe, and other things that I'm sure I'm forgetting.
I have to say that the baking and cooking didn't go great the first few times. Troy had to jump in to save me(or the dish I was making) more than once!
This was prior to becoming vegan. I still saw double, and I wasn't loving reading the way I had adored it before. I hadn't started reading the vegan books yet.

It didn't take long to realize that I had to learn to cook if I wanted to be vegan. I thought Troy would never learn to cook plants. And certainly not just plants.
He adores the taste and texture of any animal's flesh!
Please don't misunderstand. I didn't stop eating animals because I didn't care for the taste of them anymore. I stopped eating them because it's wrong!
I decided that I needed to learn to cook. Namely, to not burn water! (joke)

                                           I did just that.

I bought The Vegan Table by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. Simply because I appreciate her writing style. I was familiar with her stuff from using The Joy of Vegan Baking.
In her baking book, she even gets down to how to read a recipe! Her recipes are simple to understand. Crucial to me! On account of never cooking before, and this pesky brain injury. I love how the ingredients are somewhat familiar. Lots of plants that I've never eaten before, but are commonly-found in major grocery stores! The truly beautiful thing is that, currently, we can get all of the ingredients between 2 different grocery stores: Dad's Organic Market, and the Real Canadian Superstore!  Especially now that veganism is moving more into the mainstream. Very exciting!!


Because I seem to get distracted,<ahem> and forget ingredients and steps, I take steps to prevent this from happening. Or really, just set myself up for success.

1)No music.
2) Put all of the corresponding measuring tools and ingredients on the counter. I like to place the ingredients in order on the counter, as they're added to the dish, and putting the measuring device next to the ingredient. Or just pre-measure it.
3)Put the ingredients away as I use them. This way, if vanilla extract is still on the counter, I know that I didn't use it.

I'm so happy that I learned to nurture myself, my family and friends! Learning to cook has been fantastic cognitive therapy!
Following instructions, measuring ingredients, calculating cooking times, learning the cooking terminology and techniques, meal planning, trouble-shooting, and veganizing loved dishes!
All wonderful brain exercises! All of these tasks are either exactly the same, or very similar to the exercises I did, or tried at Wascana Rehabilitation Centre.
Yes, it could be argued that I didn't have to become a vegan to do any of this. Fair enough.
But before, I didn't care enough to even try to learn! 

The Summer of Transition

Sausage Party

The summer of 2010 was spent acquiring my new food habits, getting rid of the terrible food and becoming familiar with what my brain was capable of, at that time.
We had a lot of animal meat and secretions in our home. We had the remaining bits of half a cow we bought from Troy's uncles.
"Half a cow" sounds horrifying to me now!
Plus lots of sausages and hot dogs, and even some moose! We ate up(or rather, Troy did) most of the meat that was in our freezer. The rest we gave to Troy's parents to use. I wanted to use our freezer space for frozen veggies or fruit or baking, etc.
Troy and I decided to have a sausage party with friends to use the sausages in the freezer! We used all of our eggs, butter, milk, yogurt, and ice cream. We  made the moose's ground meat into burgers using ground flax seed, rather than egg. We had already used all our eggs up, and like hell, I was ever buying them again! I will say that moose's meat is probably the best animal meat I've ever had! In the fall of 2010, I was okay with hunting. My thought was: the animals are free, then the hunters kill them. And that's that. I had a bigger problem with factory farming. At least the moose aren't in factory farms! I never considered animals 'walking' away with injuries. I just assumed, once hit, the animal dies. Often, that is not the case! Left to languish for days, till they die, or somebody else(another human or non-human) kills them. Either way, not a pleasant experience!
I have since changed my stance on hunting. Colleen Patrick-Goudreau helped me see things differently. On her podcast, Vegetarian Food For Thought, in a specific episode, How To Talk To Hunters(or anyone with whom you disagree), she talks about those hunted animals and their families. I never thought about non-human animals having families in the wild...but why wouldn't they have families?! I always just thought of wild animals as loners. Even if they live in large groups. I don't know why I thought these things...social conditioning? Maybe it's something I had to believe to deal with friends and family hunting every weekend?
Now, when I look into the wilderness, I can't help but think of those hunted animals and their families!
That summer was also my sister's vow renewal(July 23), and I remember(!!) at the end of the night, Troy and I, along with our camping/hiking/canoeing/snowboarding-trip adventure friends, Shannon and Scott took a meat and cheese platter back to our house and we all ate it.
I think that was the last time I ate processed animal's meat. Which, has turned out to be a really smart and good thing! The American Institute for Cancer Research and The World Cancer Research Fund say that bacon and other processed meats clearly cause colorectal cancer. They should never be eaten and never given to children.
I see people approaching diets and dieting kind of wrong. They don't replace what they once ate, with something better.
Eggs was surprisingly easy. Fortunately there are numerous ways to replace eggs when baking. The Joy of Vegan Baking gets into how replace eggs, milk, buttermilk and butter with plant food! But there are many websites that give you information on this. Just Google 'vegan baking replacing eggs'. It's pretty easy.
Troy never cared for eating chicken's eggs. I did. I liked egg salad, eggs scrambled, in omelets, sunnyside-up, hard-boiled. I wasn't fussy! Thankfully, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau does have recipes for 'egg' salad and scrambled 'eggs', both in The Vegan Table and in The 30-Day Vegan Challenge!
My favourite was taking an egg(sunnyside-up) and putting it on buttered toast, eating all around the yolk, then stuffing the entire yolk, with the little piece of toast left, in my mouth! It was messy, and tasted good. I haven't found a vegan version, but I've also not looked because I haven't had a craving for it.
I did have a vegan omelet when my friend, Holly and I flew to Edmonton to see Ani Difranco(we love her!) in the summer of 2011! Holly was is so gracious and nice! We went to restaurants we knew were vegan-friendly(thank you iPhone!), and it was so good! We went to Padmanadi Vegetarian Restaurant, all vegan, so good! I'll save that trip for another post!
Milk was a simple solution. There are a lot of plant milks out there! Soy, almond, rice, coconut, hazelnut, hemp, peanut, oat, cashew, etc. I know there's more! We really like almond milk. Rice milk is also good, but not ideal for baking(little too watery), and coconut milk is perfect for making thick fruit smoothies or curries. Those are the milks I have tried. They also differ brand to brand.
Non-dairy ice creams are fantastic! We make a lot of our own almond milk ice cream, using our KitchenAid!
Store-bought, non-dairy ice creams(especially made with coconut milk!) are a ridiculously rich and delicious treat!

Vegetarian Food For Thought

I started to listen to Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's Vegetarian Food For Thought in the late fall of 2010. Not too long after my first official day of being vegan(September 12, 2010). I knew she had a podcast, and it got rave reviews! 

Just so we're clear: I had no idea what a podcast even was! 

I loved her writing in the The Joy of Vegan Baking and The Vegan Table, and I wanted compassionate responses to some common questions regarding veganism. The reason I waited so long to start listening, was because I couldn't just listen, I felt like I needed to be doing something else. I started to listen to the podcast on walks. 

Which was tricky to start. My balance was not stellar at that point, and even my walking was a bit clumsy. 

But, if I've learned anything from having a brain injury, it's that practice makes everything easier! I practiced just holding up my torso, and that's gotten much easier. I've practiced printing and math, and those have gotten better. I've practiced speaking, and that's almost 100% now(I still miss words, and forget how to pronounce them, or use the wrong word, but it's better! I swear!). 

So I listened to her podcast over and over, trying to memorize her words. That was also tricky because my brain still wasn't remembering. I had many lists and notes! It was rather ridiculous actually. Now, I'm able to recall much more! Not near the number of notes required for me to function!
She's taught me to be a joyful vegan. Truly. I don't know if I would've been so steadfast in my veganism without her leadership and encouragement! 

She has a masters in English, so she really gets our language, and talks about it a lot. The way violence towards non-human animals in our language perpetuates violence in action. She encourages everyone to think of compassionate alternatives to our usual violent non-human animal idioms. 

I've recently started using 'put all of my apples in a row', rather than ducks. She has lots of examples in Vegan's Daily Companion. I've started using 'non-human animals' when talking about other species. This way of talking throws people off a bit. I appreciate how it can get people thinking.

I also started using her, 'I can eat it, if I want it, but I don't' mentality. It's helped in many a situation, and again, encourages people to think that they do have choices, whether they know it or not!

Troy will listen to her podcast on drives out to the farm, or when we're driving anywhere out of the city. He really likes her stuff.
I subscribe to her free podcast on iTunes and even got her Vegetarian Food For Thought app for my iPhone!

I know she's been crazy busy this past year and a half, but I am itchy for more podcasts!

Don't get me wrong! I love and adore all of her books!  Her books taught me to bake and cook! That's huge! Teaching people how to nurture their bodies is vital! The Joy of Vegan Baking, The Vegan Table, Color Me Vegan, Vegan's Daily Companion and The 30-Day Vegan Challenge were all fantastic, the BEST, in fact! But it isn't quite the same as a soundbite.

Beginning To Bake

I began implementing little changes to my life to get to transition, I was 'pre-transitioning'. So to speak. I started with eating fruit first in the morning. This was also the time we started to use up our cruelty foods(milk, eggs, flesh, cheese, mayo, etc). Lucky for me, Troy was very understanding that this new lifestyle required all animal-based foods out of the house. Especially at first, when I'm cleaning that stuff out of my body! I'm told that cravings are common, so best to set yourself up to succeed. (I learned that from my time spent working with rescued pit bulls, a very valuable life lesson!)
In June 2010, not too long after reading Skinny Bitch and Skinny Bitch In The Kitch, I ordered The Joy Of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick- Goudreau.

My mom's side of the family is Hungarian. I'm not sure if all families of Eastern European descent have this same love of baking that my family seems to share...they're really into their baked goods! I couldn't imagine life without baked items. My first challenge was to find vegan versions of the baking I grew up with. Colleen's book was is amazing!
I learned a ton about baking in general, and vegan baking especially.
Just so we're clear: I didn't bake or cook prior to becoming vegan. But vegan baking and vegan cooking is fun, tasty and exciting! It's really great cognitive therapy too(reading recipes, following instructions, etc) and I love sharing what I do with people!
I have bought 10 copies of her baking book, in total, so far, for friends and family. I bought the book so they can bake vegan-style and have food that I will eat. I didn't buy it for them with the intention of 'turning' anybody.
I started with learning the art of vegan baking for my new life. It's been delicious! I've learned how to deal with my brain injury and the baking, and most of these tips come from Colleen's book! Like, having all of the ingredients on the counter, and putting them away as I use them. I have had vanilla extract left on the counter when I'm ready to put it in the oven more times than I care to admit.
The same goes for cooking. I have forgotten garlic, and it wasn't good!
No music is also a rule. I somehow mess up whatever I'm making. Which is really disappointing because I love rocking out, nope, folking-out while I am doing anything(I adore Ani Difranco!). If there is silence, the house feels really lonely.