Standing With Cancer

When Dave and I were in the early stages of IVF we learned of a company called Fertile Future.  Fertile Future is a national charitable organization that assists with fertility preservation for cancer patients.

We spoke with Executive Director, Liz Ellwood, in 2010 about the time we began our IVF journey.  She told us about a bursary that they were developing to help ease some of the financial burden faced by cancer patients who choose to undergo IVF to preserve fertility. Now two years later their “Power of Hope” cost reduction program is up and running! This is GREAT news for cancer patients looking to build families with the help of ART!

More recently, I was contacted by Andrea Unikowsky.  Andrea is co-chairing an event on May 10 for Fertile Future called, “An Evening of Hope”.  The event promises to be an evening of fun and entertainment.  There will be a live artist painting to the inspiration of a concert pianist, delicious food and wine, and the MC for the event will be CTV’s, Anwar Knight, a Hodgkin’s Lymphoma survivor himself.

In addition to the wonderful food and entertainment provided, there will be speakers, raffles and a silent auction.  One Toronto based lawyer is even auctioning off a surrogacy (or egg donor) contract, so a lucky intended parent has the opportunity to bid on the contract and get a great price!

The event itself is being held on Thursday May 10, 2012 at 7:30 pm at the University of Toronto’s Hart House.  Tickets are $100/each or $170/pair.  You can find out more information for this wonderful event here.

Today I got a call from my friend, Kathryn, who’s coworker, Suzanne, had some tofu questions.  I don’t remember if I’ve ever written about my first experience with tofu, but it was NOT GOOD! I had no clue about the different types of tofu and that some were better suited for entrees than desserts etc, and I could not for the life of me figure out what to do with all the freaking water they pack it in.  Needless to say we bought dessert tofu, and did not press out the water very well that took well over an hour to cook!  What we ended up with was a slimy, disgusting mess that we both swore we would never eat again! Oh boy!

Fast forward to present day, and what I swore I’d never eat again has become one of my favourite foods!

Dave and I use it for a lot of different things, frozen dessert, chocolate pudding, as a creamy “cheese” substitute in things like lasagna, croutons for our vegan caesar salad and just plain on its own.  We really only buy 3 kinds: firm, extra firm and silken dessert tofu.  The firm one we buy comes packed in a ton of water, the extra firm doesn’t have quite as much and the silken dessert one we buy comes in a box, but all 3 we find in our refrigerated section (although I’ve seen other silken ones just on the shelf in the aisle too).

When we first started cooking tofu  I found other vegetarian/vegan blogs that explained how to prepare/cook the tofu that made it taste so much better!  Daily Garnish has a really good tofu tutorial here, that describes how to press tofu if you don’t have a press already.  Dave and I used this method for probably close to a year, but the amount of towels/paper towel we went through was insane trying to soak up all the water and since I have a super smart husband he figured we had to be able to make our own tofu press somehow- and he did! FOR CHEAP!!!!!

Our tofu press is 2 small plastic cutting boards with 4 holes drilled in the corners of each board.  Then he used 4 carriage bolts and 4 wing nuts so we could screw it down tighter to press the block of tofu.

From both angles for Suzanne

This whole press cost under $8!!! Yippee! And it’s amazing!!

All you do is place the tofu in between the cutting boards and twist the wing nuts down until there is pressure on the block. Let it sit for a while on a plate/on top of a bowl (so it collects the water) then tighten it some more until there isn’t much water dripping out. For the best results I like to leave it pressed overnight and then let it sit in the marinade for the day so it’s absorbed all the flavour at the end of the day when I’m ready to cook it.

The more water you can get pressed out the crispier the tofu will be (which is the way I like it best).  My favourite way to eat it is seasoned with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, cooked on med heat in a frying pan. Other (probably more healthy) ways to cook it is by baking it with whatever marinade you plan to use

Basically, 3 days in to eating a plant-based diet Dave turned and said to me that we HAD to find a good chili recipe.  He loves chili and just about anything made in a slow cooker. That was almost TWO years ago, whoops! We’d talked about making some a lot over the course of the last two year but for some reason just never saw it through.  I figured, since yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday, that that would be as good a time as any to try a good chili recipe- and GOOD, it was!

Inspired by Oh She Glows Protein Power Chili with Walnut Burger Crumbles

We called it 456 Chili- 4 hours, 5 veggies, 6 beans!

456 Chili 

Ingredients

1 can stewed tomatoes

1/2 jar of mild salsa

2 jars of strained tomatoes

1/4 cup of chili powder

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp chili pepper flakes

2 tbsp oregano

1 tsp cumin

3 bay leaves

1 tbsp non-dairy margarine or butter (i.e. Earth Balance)

1tsp of bbq sauce (we used jalapeno hot sauce)

1 block of extra firm tofu, crumbled (optional)

2 onions, diced

4 tbsp garlic, minced

1 red pepper, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 container (227g) white mushrooms, sliced or chopped

3 celery stalked, chopped

1 can kidney beans

1 can pinto beans

1 can black beans

1 can navy beans

1/2 can chicpeas

1/2 can fava beans

1/2 can whole kernel corn

salt and pepper to taste

Directons

Turn crock pot setting to high

Pour strained tomatoes, stewed tomatoes and salsa in the crock pot

Add in dry spices (chili powder,cayenne, oregano, cumin, chili flakes, bay leaves,salt and pepper) along with 2 tbsp of minced garlic

Add in your chopped celery to your crock pot

Next, in a hot pan over medium heat, add diced onion and garlic with a bit of olive oil

Blot as much moisture out of tofu as you can with some paper towel and crumble it into the pan

Next, add in your bbq sauce, and stir occasionally until tofu is golden brown

Once tofu is golden brown add the pan of onion, garlic and tofu to the crock pot, stir

Return pan to heat and a tbsp of non-dairy margarine/butter (i.e. Earth Balance)

Add in your chopped peppers and mushrooms and sautee only for 2-3 minutes, then add those ingredients in to your crock pot, stir

Next, strain and rinse your beans then add those to the crock pot as well, stir well

Finally, add in your corn and fold it into your crock pot

Place lid on crock pot and let it cook away

I promise the wait and effort will be worth it! It made up for the Patriots loss.

We had our chili alongside these Herb Garlic Knots (minus the parm), also from Oh She Glows- these went SO well together!

Special thanks to Dave for helping me fold these!

SO GOOD!

Yay for super quick, very filling, delicious lunches from the Vitamix!  Today we had minestrone soup compliments of my Vitamix recipe book.

This soup took a total of about 10 minutes from start to finish, and I think, would be easy to recreate using a hand blender, or food processor if you don’t have a Vitamix.

Minestrone Soup (Says it makes 8 cups)

2 cups veggie broth

4 fresh tomatoes, quartered

1 garlic clove (we put in 2)

1/2 small carrot

1 small onion peeled and halved

1 celery stalk

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp tomato paste

1/2 cup chick peas, drained and rinsed

1 cup zucchini, diced and steamed

1 cup kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup canned corn drained (we actually didn’t have this, but it still turned out great)

Directions

Place all ingredients, except the last 4, in your Vitamix or pot (if using a pot be sure to chop/dice all veggies first)

If using a Vitamix select variable 1, then turn on machine and slowly increase to 10.

Blend all ingredients for about 6-7 minutes or until you start to see steam

The add in steamed zucchini, kidney beans, chick peas and corn

If using a Vitamix blend for 15-20 secondss

If using a pot, stir ingredients until warmed.

No long explanation this morning, gotta run out the door in about 5 minutes, but since I missed posting my dinner last night (oops!) I wanted to be sure and get this one up.  I work up really craving some sort of oatmeal this morning, so we made Oh She Glows Banana Split Vegan Overnight Oatmeal!

Since I didn’t plan ahead and soak everything the night before we made this a warm version, freshly cooked on the stovetop. We added in the almond milk and spices and then added in the oats and cooked it on medium for about 8 or so minutes. In place of maple syrup we used Agave Nectar and stirred it into the oatmeal while it was cooking.  We also chose to leave out the chocolate protein powder and instead added about a tsp of cinnamon for some extra flavour Delicious!

These 3 things (plus the banana) are what make this oatmeal recipe incredible!

And the end result is this!

Banana Split for breakfast- yes please!

I’ve never really been a big fan of lunch.  When I was younger, my poor mom had such a tough time trying to figure out what to send me to school with.  Even on days when I helped pick/make my lunch for school I often came home with most things untouched.  To be honest, I still haven’t really figured out what it is I don’t like and in truth, I would rather just snack throughout the afternoon than make a real “lunch’.  However,  obviously now that I’m older I know it’s better to eat something around lunch hour, but some days are easier than others.

Today’s lunch was taken from Kris Carr’s Crazy Sexy Diet book- Vegan Caesar Salad.  When I first bought her book a little over a year ago this was one of the first recipes we tried.  It was was one of the most familiar and both Dave and I really like the traditional version of this meal. To be honest, you can’t even tell that there is anything vegan about this- so it’s a great item to serve to people are slightly unsure about eating any vegan food! The book is also filled with a ton of other great recipes as well!

Vegan Caesar Salad

1 cup Veganaise

1 1/2 tsp Dijon Mustard

1 clove garlic (we usually add in 2 ’cause I like my garlic)

1 tbsp water

1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 tsp nutritional yeast

salt and pepper to taste

I’m not quite sure how many this would serve because it really depends on the size of your salad. We also like to sprinkle nutritional yeast on top for some extra ‘cheesy’ flavour. Mmm

This morning my lovely mom joined us for breakfast.  Toby and Mitch, her dogs, have their vet appointment tonight in town so they are visiting for the day and having a play day with Diesel- that will make one very tired puppy by tonight

We made another smoothie this morning- The Spicy Date (from the Vitamix recipe book)

Spicy Date Smoothie  (Serves 1)

1 cup of unsweetened almond milk

3 Dates, pitted

1 banana, peeled and frozen

1/8 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp raw oats

1 tsp flax

2 ice cubes

This smoothie was DE-LI-CIOUS!! Both Dave and Mike said it reminded them of some sort of Christmas drink. Definitely one we’ll have again.

Tonight’s dinner is probably one of my favourites for two reasons:

1) It’s easy to make

2) It makes enough for leftovers

This Butternut Squash Mac n’ Cheeze, from Oh She Glows, is super creamy and packed full of good stuff.

Start out by roasting your butternut squash

And about 45 minutes later you end up with this:

Our favourite mix in is kale

This meal is super filling and reminds me of when I was little and used to eat the other Mac and Cheese, only much better!

See ya in the morning with breakfast #4

So let’s just start this off by saying I have FANTASTIC news! Yep, my oncologist said I looked great and all is good and healthy, so I don’t need to go back now until my next 4 month follow up  YAY! So glad to have that over with.

We decided to celebrate by going out for lunch on our way home.  We are actually kind of lucky, by both Sunnybrook and the fertility clinic there are Freshii’s about 5 minutes away

Today we both ordered the Asian Noodle Bowl, but swapped the chicken for tofu.

I thought it was pretty good, but I think mine could have used a bit more sauce.

I think I may try to recreate this at home in the near future

And as an added bonus for me they had VEGAN cookies!!!  Definitely needed to have one of those to celebrate.  They only cost $1.00 and the proceeds went to Sick Kids so it was well worth every penny.

This picture really doesn’t do it justice-It was so delicious!!

I’m off to take little Diesel for a walk and relax a little before dinner…I think the adrenaline is leaving my body so I’m crashing hard.

See you at dinner

Good Morning,

I slept pretty good last night, I think all my anxiousness and worrying left me mentally exhausted and I passed out at 10:30.  To try and keep my mind off of my appointment this morning Dave made us a bigger, heartier breakfast, something I could sit down and really enjoy.  It worked….for now

This recipe was inspired from a recipe from everydaydish.tv

Tofu Scramble (Serves 4-6)

1 block of firm tofu (packed in water and rinsed)

1tsp Onion salt

4  tbsp nutritional yeast

extra virgin olive oil

1-2 tsp garlic, minced

1 small onion, sliced

Pepper

Spinach

Tomato

Mushroom

Red Pepper

Directions:

Blot/press water out of tofu with some paper towel.  Do your best to get as much moisture out of it as possible.

Crumble tofu into medium high heat pan with 1-2 tbsp of olive oil (so that the bottom of the pan is coated)

Let tofu cook, stirring occasionally, until pieces are golden brown

Add onion and garlic and sautee until onion is clear and garlic is golden

Add in nutritional yeast and stir for a minute or two

Next add in red pepper, tomato and mushroom, sautee until slightly soft

Then add in spinach and let it wilt

Finally, season with salt/pepper and enjoy!

For those interested, you can watch Julie make her tofu scramble here

I’m off to see my oncologist for my follow up…bah! I’ll be much better when I’m back with good news