Ask A Vegan: Pt. 20

Gosh it has been a while since I have posted one of these, and the silly thing is I have had this wonderful woman Barbara who owns Gone Pie baked goods answers floating around my inbox for months. I really don't have an excuse for my laziness, and I am truly sorry I didn't share her with you earlier. Gone Pie bakery has been around for over 25 years and has served the Vegan community countless delicious pies, cookies, brownies and more. Barbara excels in tasty gluten-free products as well creative and delicious flavor combinations. If you are lucky and live in New York you can get Barbara's pies delivered to your door, and if you live out of state...good news, all of her other deserts can be delivered to you! I mean really, who doesn't want to answer the door and find a package of tasty gluten-free coconut brownies?

Name: Barbara Sitomer
Age: 53
Location: New York
Website: www.gonepie.com



How long have you been Vegan?
Not sure exactly. It was such a natural process more than an historic event. I guess about 20 years.

What made you decide to go Vegan?
I was running a bakery in the lower east side of Manhattan. Most of my business was selling to health food stores. I became instantly drawn to the challenges of baking for folks with allergies or philosophies that left them with limited choices. I was educating myself about veganism before I was vegan, so I could provide treats for vegans. I didn’t feel veganism yet, but I understood how to bake for vegans. I hired a young person that was a very passionate vegan and a devotee of my products. She was shocked I was not vegan. We became quite close as we worked long shifts together. At some point, she knew me well enough to know what would make me feel veganism. She gave me a copy of “The Dreaded Comparison”. I read half the book and was so upset that I became a vegan. So you see, it was a process over time. We worked together for quite a while before she gave me that book. I pretty much ate vegan food, but I was not a vegan until the day I understood veganism as a philosophy.

How do you feel health wise with this diet choice?
Excellent! But veganism is not a diet. It is a philosophy. Embracing the philosophy makes me feel peaceful and happy.

Are you open about your Veganism?
Extremely.

If so, are you involved in any activism i.e. protests, leafleting etc…
Yes. I work for many local campaigns in New York that involve ending animal use.
I only put my support behind campaigns that end use, never those that encourage
continued use through animal husbandry reforms. I don’t believe we have the right to negotiate for our non-human friends. Campaigns that advocate for less than full end of use I actively oppose. I believe they encourage continued animal suffering. I don’t want anyone comfortable with their non-vegan habits. I believe the so called “welfare” reforms prolong use and make people feel better about animal consumption.

I work actively with Friends of Animals. We have active campaigns to ban horse drawn carriages, wild horse round ups and protect animals in the wild and their disappearing habitats.

I also strongly support the work of Humanemyth.org.

I give away a lot of baked goods - tempting people into veganism through tasty treats is my favorite form of activism.

What do your family, friends, co-workers think about your diet?
I think they think I am extreme and it makes them uncomfortable to a certain extent. I think if they are uncomfortable they are thinking about their actions, so I am OK with this. I certainly wish they would just wake up already. I honestly believe it is within every person to understand the importance of veganism - particularly the environmental benefits of the diet -and I am unrelenting in pushing them to do so. We only have one planet and we can’t waste time protecting it, it is in crisis. The challenge is helping them see that veganism is the key to saving the planet without freaking them out so they no longer listen to me. I almost never mention animal rights to people that are uncomfortable with veganism. It is not something everyone can relate to and easier to dismiss for most people. I absolutely never use health as a tool as it leads people to thinking about themselves, I am pretty sure this confuses my friends and family. Veganism is not about us humans being healthy, it is about all the living beings on our planet having a right to exist on their own term unexploited for our needs.




What advice would you give those interested in becoming Vegan?
DO IT!!!! You won’t believe how much better you will feel on every level. If you are even thinking about it, just take the plunge. I know from my experiences, that there comes a time when you truly understand what veganism means. You don’t have to understand the philosophy to embrace the diet. Over time the diet will change your perceptions. I never think of being vegan as a sacrifice or miss non-vegan foods. For me, they are just not an option and must be forgotten about. Celebrate what you embrace by making this choice and don’t dwell on what you no longer can have. Veganism is a process of awakening and enlightenment.

Would you eat at Mc Donald’s if they carried a Vegan burger?
No!

What is your least favorite question that you are asked about your diet?
How could you give up (fill in blank)

What is your favorite dish?
I am a very simple eater for the most part. I eat a lot of giant salads with olive oil and sea salt. I eat a lot of greens with olive oil and garlic. I love baked tempeh. I love cold sesame noodles that I make at home. As a baker who follows recipes for a living, I pretty much never cook from a recipe. I am all about winging it when I eat savory. If I eat out, I love Ethiopian food and Indian food.




What do you typically eat at Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving is a very busy season for me. I used to sleep and fast all day to recover from being so busy. Last year, for the first time, I attended a vegan feast. We celebrated the harvest and seasonal vegetables. It was a magical experience and I hope to do something similar again this year.

If I could make you any flavor cupcake in the world what would it be?
I don’t like cupcakes! I don’t understand why vegans are obsessed with them. It particularly bothers me that most of these cupcakes have tons of frosting. The frosting is generally made with margarine. I find the frosting overly rich rather and unpleasant to eat and often it contains palm oil which I boycott.

If I absolutely have to have a cupcake, it would be chocolate with a small amount of chocolate glaze. I make a gluten free chocolate spice cupcake with super rich dark chocolate frosting and chopped hazelnuts and crystallized ginger as a garnish. I think it’s quite good, but I would prefer someone just order a cake. I don’t understand the fascination with cupcakes. I am repeating myself.....
-Though I do not agree with Barbara on the point of cupcakes, I do understand her distaste, if you will, for the palm oil industry. I do use Earth Balance in my frosting as well as Organic Spectrum vegetable shortening, both containing palm oil. I am not going to defend or argue any side of the palm oil issue, but I will say that change does start with the consumer. If we can urge companies to use fair trade and ethically harvested foods for their products, everyone wins.

Please share your favorite Vegan recipe.
I don’t really have one. Everything starts with saute onion garlic and ginger......

So Sweet and Simple

Recently one of Timmy's coworkers and his lady friend made peanut butter cups and were kind enough to share a few with us. Now if you have ever had peanut butter cups, you very well know that only one or two is not nearly enough. Timmy and I got hit hard with the peanut butter chocolate craving and since I am a chocolate addict it wasn't long until I was popping peanut butter cups like a fiend.

The peanut butter cups I made had a slight twist to them as I made mine not only with peanut butter and chocolate but also with caramel and pretzel pieces...yum!

First I melted down 1 and 1/2 cups of bittersweet chocolate and lined mini muffin lines with the melted chocolate and tucked away into the freezer for an hour. While those were chilling I used all natural peanut butter (1/2 cup) and mixed in 1/4 cup powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of maple syrup then I tossed in a handful of pretzel sticks and with a spoon mashed the pretzel into the peanut butter mixture.

On the stove top I boiled 1/2 cup soymilk, added 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup brown rice syrup, mixing until golden brown. One mixed, I removed the pot from the stove top and added 2 tablespoons of Earth Balance, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 tsp of baking soda, mixing well. I let it cool on the counter top then transferred to the fridge to thicken.

When the caramel sauce was cool I dropped a teaspoon of the peanut butter mix into my chilled chocolate cups, drizzled in the caramel and put back in the freezer for about 15 minutes, then melted down more chocolate and covered the tops, chilled and ate the heck out of them! They were very tasty and similar to take five bars.

Tracy And I Had A Date

to obtain our LLCs but instead we ate this


and played Wii boxing. But seriously could you blame us? The cake was fantastic! I had an event to bake for and 1/2 of a can of coconut milk and 3/4 of a can of crushed pineapple that would have gone to waste had I not made this. It was really a matter of conservation...really.




A pineapple/carrot cake made with coconut milk, golden raisins and walnuts, and topped with a gooey orange zesty frosting and blackberries. Yum!

Painful Cake Decorating

When I use the word painful, I am not talking about my inability to decorate cakes, I instead am referring to actual, physical pain. Yesterday my wonderful friend Brian was to pick up a cake from me for his work. Brian is vegan and wanted to be able to enjoy his co-workers' birthdays by singing the familiar birthday tune and also devouring a slice of sugary goodness. Anyone who works in an office knows the joys of co-worker birthdays; that five minutes away from the hustle and bustle, the free soda and slice of cake. I made a delightful chocolate cake and heavenly peanut butter frosting. I had already baked the cake and made frosting roses when I was hit (not literally) by a truck. Those of you who know me well know that my lady bits (mainly my ovaries) are trying to kill me. That is why I fondly call my womanly time "shark week."

I was attacked with an ovarian cyst that drop kicked me to the floor and left me there paralyzed in pain for a good hour. The purpose of this post is not for sympathy but for advice. I have a doctor's appointment in a few weeks but I was curious if any of you have ovarian cysts and how to you handle them? I have heard that cutting back on soy or caffeine helps to prevent them from forming, but what do you do in the midst of the pain? I tried white flour oil, deep breathing and even vicodin but the pain is still unbearable. Does a hot bath help? Please if you have any advice I am open to anything. Thanks for reading this extremely personal post and here is what the cake looked like when I had enough energy to stand up.


my hands were shaking like crazy so it looked pretty crappy.

Accidental Sausage

Yesterday, I had planned on making seitan stroganoff and from this post title you can see I made sausage instead. I had my vital wheat gluten heating in a pot and was waiting for the water to boil to reduce to a simmer but I got completely distracted and when I remembered my seitan on the stove top, it was too late. The seitan had boiled for way too long and was quite spongy. I still let it sit at a low heat before straining and cooling but the texture didn't seem like it would improve much. Instead of chucking it in the bin I decided to fry it up with a little olive oil and the end result was much like the texture and taste of cooked Gimme Lean sausage. In other words, it was delicious!




I used the recipe for the basic seitan from Veganomicon and added:
2 teaspoons garlic powder,
1 teaspoon black pepper,
1 teaspoon dried oregano,
1 teaspoon dried basil,
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon of dried parsley

Now I had no idea I was going to end up with sausage, had I known I would have added fennel as well. I still decided to make pasta and dinner was a success! I sauteed onions, mushrooms, zucchini and spinach along with the sausage and threw it on some locally made basil pasta noodles. I will have to try later for the stroganoff, but until then I have quite a bit of tasty accidental sausage in my fridge.

Simple Sandwich

A wonderful farmer's market just opened in Tempe and only about three miles from my house too! This last Saturday Timmy, Bonnie and I biked over to check it out, and although it is quite small we were amazed with the amount of vegetables we were able to purchase that were grown in our own neighborhood. There was an adorable woman and her son selling veggies she grew in her own backyard. This gave Timmy and I hope that was can one day have a successful garden in our own yard. We have quite a lot to do until we get to her superior level of gardening, but we are slowly learning. She had these beautiful tomatoes and wonderful cucumbers that we purchased and I made a delicious sammie with them and some fresh dill from another Tempe vendor. This sandwich is so simple I can't really say this is a recipe, but if ever hungry and in a hurry this makes a great lunch.




2 pieces bread
2 T. Vegan cream cheese (I use Tofutti)
1 tsp. chopped fresh dill
1 persian cucumber, thinly sliced
1/2 tomato, sliced
a squirt of mustard

Now if I had an avocado that would have been the icing on the cake! Whip the cream cheese with a fork and add in the dill. Spread on two pieces of bread and well...make a sandwich. If you are like Timmy and the layers have to be arranged a certain way I suggest tomato in the middle of the cucumber slices so the bread doesn't get soggy. But really, no one is that picky? Right?


check out this yummy big salad I made with the farmer's market veggies, homemade croutons too!

I apologize for my lack in posts lately, I just haven't been feeling like sharing too much lately. The job I was so very excited to get, I am no longer working there, it was not the golden goose I thought it was. That sent me into a bit of depression that I haven't really shared with too many people. The stress and disappointment really made me sluggish. I have just recently started riding my bike again (crazy seeing as how I am madly in love with my bike) and I started doing household projects to keep my depression at bay. Now I am in the process of starting my own business and I have been very slow at getting things going. I am taking my food handler's test on Friday then registering for a business license and all of that fun stuff that comes with starting a catering business. If you know anyone in the Tempe/Phoenix area with a licensed kitchen for rent please pass on that info to me.

I am hopeful that once things get going I will feel happy and motivated once again. I promise to post more, and also to share my adventures in home improvement. I hope everyone is having a great start to 2011 and I miss reading all of your posts and hearing from you. I promise not to be such a stranger.

Hugs,
Rikki Cupcake

Local Arizona Crafters and Artists Please Read

My good friends at Vanity On Mill, a gorgeous little hair salon located in downtown Tempe, are having a bridal show. This will be unlike the bridal shows that they have in Phoenix every year as this will focus on local and handmade. This is where you come in if you have a skill (i.e. letterpress, photography, sewing garments, making floral arrangements etc...) please email me at rikkicupcake@yahoo.com.

We are planning on having the bridal show on February 13th so please contact me within the next week or two if you are interested in being a part of this. We are also looking for someone with some computer skills to help us create an elegant flyer for advertising the event.

Thank you!
Rikki Cupcake