Pumpkin Cookies

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We all know I'm not a great baker but last week we had a big snow storm and I needed a project and wanted to have cookies for my sister-in-law and husband for the holidays!

ingredients:
1 cup evaporated cane sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp each cinnamon and nutmeg
1/4 tsp all spice or ginger
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flower (or 2 cups all purpose whatever)

icing:
3 tbs canned pumpkin
icing sugar

Beat sugar, pumpkin, oil and vanilla.

Mix dry ingredients in separate bowl and add to liquid mixture in 3 or 4 parts. Mix until smooth like a thick mixture.

Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes (I thought they were better cooked less)

While they cook mix together frosting and frost cookies when cool. I included iced and un-iced cookies although Tom says that iced is the only way to go.

Simple Veggie Chili

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Ingredients:
1 sweet onion
2 cloves garlic
2 or 3 bell peppers (I like to use different colors for fun)
small can green chillies
2 or 3 chipotles in adobo sauce (international foods isle in a small can)
1 small can diced tomatoes
1 small can crushed tomatoes
1 can black beans or dark red kidney beans
2tsp each cumin, chili powder, cayenne and whatever else you like
your favorite textured vegetable protein I like quorn or yves meatless taco stuffers (optional)
Chopped fresh cilantro and red onion or scallions for garnish

saute diced onion in evoo and add diced peppers when onions begin to soften. This would also be the time to add any other veggies you want (carrots, zucchini, squash). Once ingredients gain some color, crush garlic in and stir for 1 minute. Add diced chipotles with as much of their sauce as you want (HOTT). Add all cans and spices. Cook on medium until sauce is thick (about 30min). Mix in vegetable protein if you want at the end and serve with garnish and multigrain chips!

This takes a little longer to cook but is great to make on weekends and bring for lunch.

Prep time: 15min
Cook time: 30-40min

Spinach and Squash

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This is a great side dish for a pasta or a light dinner. Split acorn squash into four pieces or like me have someone stronger do it. Toss with evoo and roast at 375 for about 1 hour. Scoop out flesh and place in blender with a 2 or 3 roasted garlic cloves, 1TBS smart balance, salt, pepper and a dash of cinnamon. Meanwhile saute 2 shallots in evoo put baby spinach on top and steam until just wilted so it stays green. Serve on top of squash puree.

Tom's Easy Pesto

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I call this Tom's Pesto because he's become an expert at making it on nights I'm coming home late. This is really easy and economical but is also tasty enough to serve to guests. I served this to my dad with a salad, roasted squash, and a nice glass of wine and we were all happy!

In food processor combine 2 handfuls kalmata olives, an equal amount of basil, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 or 3 tablespoons pine nuts and salt and pepper to taste. Add extra virgin olive oil and pulse until smooth. Toss with warm whole wheat pasta and add sun dried tomatoes.
UPDATE: add half the sun dried tomatoes into the food processor and blend then mix in the rest with the pasta.

Time: 15 minutes make pesto while boiling water and pasta mix and serve! This is why Tom likes it so much

Wine party book club

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I have 3 friends who are some of the smartest, coolest women I know and in an effort to get to see them more, despite our busy schedules, I started book club. Now you should know that this is really more of a wine and food club and part of my plan to feed people delicious vegan food. I am not a very fast reader and would rather cook, go out or shop than read on a typical day so I, of course, finished the book the day of and spent the rest of the day prepping the italian themed party. This actually ended up serving as a light meal for four people.

Spinach salad
Dressing:
2 TBS EVOO
1.2 TBS dijon mustar
1/2 TBS agave syrup
splash of blasamic vinegar
lots of black pepper

This dressing is sweet with a slight tang and should be thick enough to coat the leaves nicely. Add candied walnuts or pecans and dried cranberries.

Stuffed mushrooms
These were made the same way as in this post: Italian Entertaining
although I used red wine instead of white.

Polenta and eggplant rounds with balsamic onions and tomatoes
I haven't worked with much polenta but I was interested in it when I saw organic polenta at Trader Joe's. It comes in a tube which makes slicing it in rounds easy. I sliced pieces about 1/4in thick and toasted them up in a non stick skillet. I then took slices of salted eggplant and pan fried them. For the sauce I caramelized one onion in EVOO for about 30min on low heat. I then added 1TBS of balsamic vinegar and 4TBS of diced canned tomatoes and let cook down about 15min. Place polenta rounds on baking sheet top with fried eggplant and about a TBS of sauce. Place in oven for 5 min before serving. For extra flavor and a contrast to the sweet onions add an oil cured black olive to the top or on just some in case people don't like olives (crazy).

Roasted garlic and white bean dip with crostini and veggies
While the mushrooms were baking I roasted a whole head of garlic. To do this, cut off the top of the garlic head, create a pouch of tin foil and place garlic inside with a drizzle of EVOO before closing up the pouch. After 45 min in a 350 oven, remove from pouch and squeeze out roasted garlic into the food processor. Add one can of cannellini beans, 2 TBS EVOO, and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with crostini (brush slices of bread with EVOO and toast for 10min in oven) and raw veggie sticks.

Olive crostini
Blend kalmata olives, basil, EVOO and fresh garlic in a food processor. Spread slices of bread with kalmata olive pesto and bake in 350 oven for 10min. So yummy with wine!

Vegetable Panini

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Tom and I got married 2 years ago and when you get married you get a lot of stuff/crap. Granted it's crap that you want or at least you wanted it after two hours of walking around linen's and things with a laser gun (so fun), but soon you realize that maybe you don't need every appliance, bowl, and wine glass known to man. This is the case with our most highly debated appliance: The Panini Press! I wanted it more than life itself, Tom thought it was unnecessary. Needless to say it was only used once at our very popular "make your own panini party", but now that I'm vegan it is back and better than ever. We've used it a lot to make these delicious panini's.

The most important and delicious part of this sandwich is the black olive spread. I make it by combining kalmata olives, fresh garlic, basil, and olive oil in the food processor (another appliance we registered for). Spread this on half of your bread. For the picture above we used forcaccia.

For the filling we used roasted red peppers, sauteed portabello mushrooms, fresh spinach and fried eggplant. Once filed with your favorite topping press in panini press or place in skllet with a heavy pan on top to press and toast bread. Eat and enjoy.

Lasagna Pasta

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After the success of the lasagna earlier this month I was inspired to make something that incorporated the same flavors but was easier to make. I used to make this with sausage and ricotta so that was out of the question but this is really just as good!

Sauce:
I made a basic tomato sauce but added big mushrooms, olives, and frozen spinach in order to mimic the flavors of my lasagna. At the end of cooking I added meatless meatballs to simmer and warm through. You could also add your favorite fakey sausage.
Ricotta:
Pulse firm tofu, olive oil, and basil in food processor until crumbly in texture. Do not add fresh garlic like in previous recipes as the flavor will be too pungent. You could add roasted garlic but I added mine in the sauce.
After sauce is cooked take off the heat and fold in tofu ricotta. Serve over whole grain pasta.
Prep and cook time:45min

Sarah and John's Guacamole

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I'm honored to be a guest blogger on the site and contribute our guacamole recipe (as referenced in this post). We had a housewarming party last night and made a good amount of guac(4 avocados worth!), but it was devoured in less than an half an hour.


2 scallions (green onions), finely chopped
2 plum tomatoes, finely chopped
2 jalapenos, cored and finely chopped
4 avocados
juice of 2 limes (we like ours pretty limey)
a few tablespoons of chopped cilantro (to taste)
salt and pepper

Chop up the scallions, tomatoes and jalapenos first and put them in the bowl. Then, slice and chop up the avocados and put them in the bowl and immediately add the lime juice to prevent browning. Then, mix and mash until you reach your desired consistency, adding the cilantro, salt and pepper along the way. (You don't need to mash it that much; John prefers it to be more of a relish than really smooth). Cover with plastic wrap until you're ready to serve.

Tip: You can keep the avocado pits in the guacamole at the end which also makes the presentation interesting and keeps it from browning, but only one or two pits is really necessary. =)

Enchilladas

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I was intrigued by this soy chorizo which is a new product at Trader Joe's that came out about a month ago. I'm typically wary of "fake meat", but this was pretty popular with Tom and I admit it is good. I also think these would be great with just a veggies and black bean filling or with lentils. It is super cheap and easy to make and very satisfying as comfort food. If you don't like the refried beans used below just add your favorite beans to the filling.

Filling:
1 package soy chorizo
1 clove garlic
1/2 small can roasted green chilles spicy or mild
1/2 can diced tomatoes and jalepenos or chilles
2 or 3 diced scallions
handful chopped fresh cilantro
1 can vegan refried black beans (Amy's are sooooo good)
Flour or corn tortillas

Sauce:
1/2 small can roasted green chilles spicy or mild
1/2 can diced tomatoes and jalepenos or chilles
1 jar hot taco sauce
1 pinch cumin, peprika, and chille pepper or whatever spices you like
1 pinch cinnamon

Combine all sauce ingredients and let thicken on medium heat in a saucepan while making the filling.

Heat skillet and warm chorizo (unwrap chorizo from its plastic package). Add clove of crushed garlic. Add chilles and tomatoes and jalenpenos. Once warmed through add cilantro and scallions. Spread each tortilla with a thin layer of refried beans and add 3 or 4 tablespoons of chorizo fillng. Roll up and place seem-side down in a baking dish. Pour sauce on top and bake for 30 min at 350.

Prep: 15min
Cook: 30min

Italian Entertaining

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Spinach and Eggplant Lasagna
This lasagna is time consuming but well worth it. It is a crowd pleaser and in Tom's opinion "The best fake-out meal" thanks to the delicious tofu "ricotta".

Tofu Ricotta (adapted from "Skinny Bitch in the Kitch"):
One package of firm tofu
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons EVOO
4 or 5 leaves fresh basil
salt and pepper
1/2 package of defrosted frozen spinach (this is my edition and really makes it yummy)*

Blend ingredients in a blender or food processor until it is grainy in texture and a beautiful bright green. Refrigerate and save for later.

Eggplant:
Take one Italian eggplant and slice in 1/4 inch slices. Lay out on paper towels and sprinkle both sides lightly with salt. This will remove some of the bitterness by drawing out the bitter liquid inside the eggplant as well as season them. Let these sit for 30minutes to an hour to give off their liquid. Warm EVOO in a skillet and pan fry the eggplant untill light brown and nice and soft. This makes the eggplant smooth and delicious.

While the eggplant is salting (not a word) prep your sauce and boil a package of whole weat lagagna noodles. I made a sauce with onions, garlic, capers, kalmata olives, crushed red pepper and crushed tomatoes and fresh basil, but you can use a jar sauce if you're lazy (I'm judging you).

Layer the lasagna in a baking dish as follows:
a ladle of sauce on the bottom
noodles to cover
ricotta
fried eggplant
sauce (I like a lot)

Continue untill you have about 3 layers and end with noodles and a bit of sauce on top. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes with foil on top and then uncover for the last 15-20min. Let cool about 20min until you cut and serve.

Prep time: 60min
Cook Time: 60min and 20min cool time

Spinach Stuffed Mushroom
This is adapted from my grandmother's recipe that uses a lot of parmesian cheese. These are just as good and with the added benefit of spinach.

1 Package white mushrooms (you can use stuffing mushrooms but I wanted small ones)
1 shallot diced
2 cloves garlic
3 or 4 tablespoons white wine
1/2 cup while weat bread crumbs
1/2 package of defrosted frozen spinach*

Clean mushrooms by wiping with a damp paper towel. Remove the stems and reserve for later. Place mushroom caps on a baking sheet sprayed with pam and bake at 350 for 15 minutes to pre-cook them. They will give off some liquid which you should reserve. Set aside caps to cool.

Sautee diced stems and shallots in EVOO untill soft. Crush 2 cloves of garlic into the mixture. When it becomes fragrant add the white wine and mushroom liquid and cook down. Then add spinach. Turn off the heat and add bread crumbs and salt and pepper to taste. The mixture should be crumbly but wet enough that it sticks together. Use it and stuff into caps. Bake at 350 for 10 min or untill tops get crispy. Serve as an appetizer or side dish.

Prep time: 30min
Bake time: 10min

*To defrost spinach place in microwave safe bowl. Take spinach and place in clean dish towel and squeeze out water until spinach is drained.

Portabello Fajitas

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I love fajitas and the taste of these meaty mushrooms makes this easy meal very satisfying. Just start by sauteing one onion (sweet or red is great) when they start softening add some peppers and sliced portabellos. Once all items are cooked add chile powder, cumin, salt and pepper to taste. Warm tortillas in a warm skillet until soft and top mixture with your favorite toppings. I like:

black beans (warm organic black beans in a pot and add fresh cilantro and scallions)
fresh salsa
pickled jalapenos
and Sarah and John's famous guacamole!

This is a fun meal and you can set up a topping bar and have a fajita party with friends!

Happy Halloween

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Happy Halloween!

Check out this link for a list of vegan candy: http://www.petakids.com/candy.html

September Entertaining Menu

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Cranberry Pear Salad
Our friends Joanna and Dan came over this weekend for my first entertaining experience since being a vegan. I decided to serve them a three course meal and started with this salad, which turned out to be something that I would eat any day of the week!
This salad is easy but so pretty so the key is getting really great ingredients. I used locally grown red leaf lettuce, organic frisee and red pears. Tear the lettuce and slice the pears as thin as you can. The dressing is a shallot vinaigrette of one part balsamic, two parts EVOO, one sliced shallot and a little agave syrup. The really special part of this salad are the toppings, and although they are simple and easy to find they really make it more impressive. Sprinkle sliced toasted almonds, dried unsweetened cranberries, and fried onion pieces from Trader Joe's. I had never had these before as my family never had this "green bean casserole" I've heard so much about, but they are totally delicious. RELAX about the calories and remember that you're entertaining and it is supposed to be indulgent and remember you're probably eating a small amount.

Lentil Soup
The next course I served was lentil soup. Below is the recipe for the soup and the garlic croutons on top!
2 Tbsp EVOO
1/2 a diced onion
2 Cloves Garlic
1Tsp cumin
1Tsp cayenne
3/4 cups green or brown lentils
1 cup of canned peelled tomatoes and their juice (about three of the tomatoes)
4 cups low sodium organic vegetable broth (I used Trader Joe's)
1/2 head escarole
Cilantro or parseley (optional)

Start by heating the EVOO and sauteeing the onion untill translucent. Add crushed garlic, cumin, cayenne, and brown lentils. Stir untill garlic is fragrant but not browning, then add liquid (tomatoes and broth). Bring to a boil and then turn down to simmer for about 40min. Then add the escarole to cook and finish with cilantro or parseley before serving.
This soup has a lot of room for variation and as long as you keep the ratio of 3/4 cup lentils to 5 cups liquid you could use whatever you like to flavor it. I was thinking next time I might use some leeks instead of onions or add some potato (sweet or otherwise) after adding the liquid. enjoy making the soup anyway you like!

Roasted Garlic Croutons
1/2-3/4 loaf french bread day old or fresh
4 cloves roasted garlic
1/4 cup EVOO
Tbsp Lemon juice
salt to taste

Roast garlic for about 30-45 minutes at 400 degrees or untill cloves are light brown, soft and yummy! Mix EVOO, lemon juice, and garlic into a paste using a fork. Toss to coat bread and lay in one layer on a baking sheet. Toast in oven for 10-15 minutes at 350 tossing every five minutes.

Three Berry Crisp
This dessert is adapted from a rasberry rhubarb crisp in What To Have For Dinner: The Best of Martha Stewart Living it can be done with almost any kind of fruit but I wanted to utilize the last of the summer berries.
3 Cups strawberries
1 pint rasberries
1 pint blackberries
1/3 cup evaporated organic cane sugar*
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Zest of one orange

1 cup all purpose white or whole wheat flour
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 Tsp cinnamon
8 Tbs unsalted butter substitute
1/2 cup rolled oats

Preheat oven to 350
Combine strawberries, zest, juice, cane sugar in a bowl. In another bowl combine flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Use your fingers to incorporate butter until large crumbs form. Add oats and combine. Pour the strawberry mixture into a baking dish, 1 and 1/2 quart is suggested, and scatter rasberries and blackberries on top. Add crumb mixture evenly and bake for 45 minutes until top is crisp and juices bublling. Let cool for 10minutes before serving with your favorite non-dairy ice cream.

*If using rhubarb or green apples, increase evaporated cane sugar to 2/3 cup

The Real Lauren

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In case any of our 3 readers are thinking to themselves: 'Gee, this Lauren girl is cool, but what is she REALLY like?' I have a picture that sums it all up. Imagine, if you will, that you have recently been married (as our good friends, Josh and Rachelle were, just a couple weeks ago). You've just returned from your honeymoon, and you've started reviewing your wedding photos. You are lost in the memories, adrift in a sea of smiling friends and family, all calmly posing for the camera in honor of the greatest day of your life.

And then you get to our table:


That's my wife. And that's why I love her so damn much.

Vegetable Puttanesca Sauce

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This past weekend, Tom and I went to my parents, and in my mom's never ending quest to find out what I can eat and feed me, she made some delicious veggie pasta sauce. She sent me home with some veggies from her garden and I also had a lot of leftover odds and ends in my kitchen, so I decided to re-interpret my mother's sauce with a little more salt and spice. Puttanesca sauce has hot pepper, black olives (oil cured or kalamata), capers, garlic and anchovies. My vegan version has all of that, except the anchovies, and a lot more veggies which makes it a nice healthy meal. I started caramelizing one and a half sweet onions and when they were about halfway done I added thin strips of red and yellow peppers and diced carrots (it sounds weird but they get nice and sweet). Once those had softened, I added diced kalmata olives, capers, and 2 cloves of crushed garlic. This would be the time to add some crushed red pepper if you like it spicy (which we do). I then de-glazed the pan with some left over red wine (yay there was a glass left for me). I added a jar of Trader Joe's pomodoro sauce, but you could use any jar sauce or a large can of crushed tomatoes.


I served the sauce over some special pasta that our friends, Sarah and John, brought us from Italy. (Which reminds me: Big thanks to both of them for designing the look of our blog!)


Prep Time: 1omin (to chop everything)
Cook Time: 20min

Mustard Tarragon Potato Salad

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My friend Jenelle came over tonight. We both love animals and she is a vegetarian. She owns an amazing spa in Lexington called Jenelle Marie Esthetics (http://jenellepetit.com/) and I wanted to make her a healthy spa-like meal. I started by boiling some red potatoes (the littlest ones I could find). Once they were close to done I added the broccoli for 5 minutes and then added some green beans just for a minute. The point here is to just soften the veggies. Make sure they stay nice and bright green. While the water was heating up to boil potatoes I made the dressing with EVOO, Dijon mustard, a splash of red wine vinigar (or lemon juice), taragon, dill, and some diced red onion. Once the veggies were done I drained them, cut the potatoes in half, added some fresh plum tomatoes and tossed with the dressing. Easy peasy one pot meal that is light and delicious.

Chocolate-y goodness

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Ever since I've become a vegan I've been really happy. Along with animal products, I also cut out refined sugar, white flour, and processed foods. This is great for me, but less fun for those around me - especially the ones I work with. I used to bring donuts to meetings, have junk food parties during really stressful parts of the year, and have "ice-cream Fridays" in the summer. Now I eat soup, salad, lentils, veggies, tofu and fruit. So this post is for them. I made something I've heard some people call "monkey munch". I just call it yummy:

I melted two 3.5 once dark chocolate bars. Once it was smooth and creamy, I took it off the heat and stirred in some puffins cereal and slivered almonds. I spread a thick layer on a baking sheet lined with with wax paper and cleared some room in the fridge. Once it hardened, I broke it up and packaged it for my favorite co-workers! Some people make this recipe and add peanut butter during the chocolate-melting stage and put powdered sugar on it once hardened. I like to think that this version is a little healthier and could be good with raisins or cranberries in it. Think of all the anti-oxidants!

Prep time: 10min
Cool time: 45min

Italian Stuffed Tomatoes

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WARNING: you will not like this post if you like cooking with a recipe. I promise when I do more formal meals I will write a recipe but during the week I just don't cook like that. I don't shop with a list either just an idea of what I want to cook that week, so sorry guys you're out of luck.

So obviously this week I was feeling inspired by the idea of stuffing things because I bought some crazy big tomatoes at the farm stand this weekend with an intention of stuffing them and some peppers this week. You've seen the peppers now here are the tomatoes:

I cut the very bottom of the tomatoes off (just a little) so they would not roll around and cut the top off in the same way and proceeded to scoop out the inner cell walls and seeds. I set them into a baking dish with a little EVOO at the bottom. I made the filling by sauteing onions and garlic and putting in semi-cooked (pre-al dente) brown rice. I added everything in my fridge that I thought had some Italian flavors (I'm Italian so I'm allowed to make those kinds of decisions): Eggplant tapenade, capers, some of that olive salad, and crushed red pepper flakes. Basil would be good, too, but I didn't have any. I stuffed the tomatoes and baked them at 350 for 30min. I also stuffed an extra pepper I had cause I'm a rebel like that!

I think the stuffing here would be a really good side dish. It was salty spicy and pretty good for a rice dish which I think are often bland. The tomato kind of exploded in the baking process but was really sweet and yummy. I served this to Tom in a vegetable bisque soup from Trader Joe's. Would also be good in their red pepper tomato soup or squash soup or just plain with a salad.

Prep Time: 20min
Cook time: 30min

Peppers Stuffed with Mexican Pilaf

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Tonight I used a new product: Trader Joe's Multigrain Pilaf. It has millet, soybeans, and cracked wheat as well as southwestern spices, and some tomato (paste, I'm guessing). I started by sauteing an red onion, adding crushed garlic, then the pilaf, which I microwed for 1/2 the time recommended since it will cook in the oven later. When it was all heated I added fresh cilantro and a half-cup of olive salad I picked up from our farm stand, and then stuffed the whole mix into the peppers. The filling completely stuffed 3 peppers, which was great because we had one left over for lunch. I sprayed the red pepers with cooking spray and baked them for 30 minutes at 350, flipping halfway through (tricky).


This is a great light meal with a salad and Tom felt that the "filling gave it a meaty texture." We both felt it could use more of a spicy kick, but then we go through hot sauce like water. You could stuff a tomato or any kind of pepper with this mixture, and if you can't find the pilaf you could use brown rice (just don't forget to spice it up). Make your own olive salad with olives, oil, vinigar, garlic, parseley, lemon juice, hot pepper (and this one had walnuts).

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cooking Time: 30 Minutes

Welcome

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I think it is time to hear from the "crazy" wife in question. It's true. I am probably the most unlikely vegan out there, because I love meat. I didn't use the past tense, because even though I haven't eaten it in 8 weeks I KNOW I STILL LOVE it, but not eating it has made me happier healthier and sexier than ever before. The other upside to this whole lifestyle switch is that I have been completely re-inspired to cook and create new dishes. Like many I had fallen into a routine of the same weeknight dinners and even the same dinner party menus. I LOVE entertaining and cooking even more than I used to love meat (see I can let it go), and I want to chronicle my journey of finding new dishes. Tom and I will post here with our reviews for vegan convenience foods (garden burger riblits you are dead to me), easy meals, and entertaining menus. I hope you enjoy but really I hope I just keep losing weight!

Why Reading is Dangerous

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About 6 weeks ago, driving back from a relaxing vacation with my family on the outer banks, somewhere along the New Jersey turnpike, my wife turned to me and said:

"I think I'm going to become a vegan."

Had she ever shown interest in being vegetarian, let alone vegan before? Nope. In fact, I was vegetarian when we met, and she convinced me to stop.

"Ummm... You do know that you have mercilessly teased every vegetarian we've ever known, right? I kind of remember you once saying that you thought vegetarians were a 'lesser form of people.'" She really did say that - in her defense, it was mostly humorous. I think.

"I've been reading this book Skinny Bitch, and it says we all eat way too much meat. And you'll shit a brick when you see how much weight you lose by not eating dairy." My wife has always had trust issues with dairy. "Plus, the meat industry is really cruel to animals, and its bad for the environment."

And that's how it began. My wife has been scouring the web for vegan recipes, trying different meat substitutes (her vegan chili is excellent) and generally dragging me along through this experiment. I have to admit, she's done some pretty impressive stuff so far, though there were those faux-ribs that, as she put it, 'tasted like crying'. We aren't perfect about it - there's been some cheating - but we're getting pretty good. This blog is our attempt to share what its like to try and throw away everything you've ever known about eating and start over again. It's about eating better, and how an otherwise totally normal (OK, mostly normal) couple gets by eating vegan in a meat-obsessed society. It's about how to do all that and still eat stuff that tastes really good.

Mostly it's about why you shouldn't let your wife read.