Category Archives: Articles

Best practices for food manufacturing

**Update 04/19/2018**

**Update 2 04/26/2018**

This was going to be a part of my AMA and FAQ, but when I started responding to her to explain best practices for food manufacturing it started getting long so I made it into its own article.

Recently I got some feedback from one of my viewers, Diana. She wrote

“FYI, chocolate chips by ghirardelli, guittard, hershey and other general chocolate makers are not vegan. These companies use the same equipment to make milk chocolate and dark chocolate and DO NOT clean the equipment in between batches of milk and dark chocolate. So there will be a significant amount of milk in the dark chocolate. You have to buy from a company with separate equipment for dairy free chocolate to get vegan chocolate. Enjoy Life makes vegan chocolate chips.”

Click to read my response

Knife safety, cutting techniques, and buying guide

Today I am bringing you something different. I am going to show you some knife safety and handling tips, cutting techniques, and a buying guide to choose the best knife to work with. This video is split into four segments, so look at the time table below and forward to the segment that you want to see if you don’t want to sit through the entire video.

00:47 Knife Safety
07:51 Knife Handling
12:11 Cutting techniques
33:44 Buying guide

Some handpicked knives for your consideration. All inexpensive and good quality tools:
This is a complete Victorinox knife set with a wooden block
If you want to piece your knife set together:
Knife bag to protect your knives when not in use
Victorinox 8 inch chef knife
Victorinox 10 inch honing steel
Victorinox bread knife
Victorinox paring knife
Victorinox serrated utility knife
This is the cutting board I have. It is 15×20 (38x50cm) which is right in the middle of being too small and too big.
Medium cutting board
If you would like a slightly smaller cutting board then this may be an option. It is 12×18 (30x46cm)
Small cutting board
Know the temperatures of your food
thermometer

Click the link to open the article and read more safety tips

The Dirty Vegan cookbook review

*Disclaimer* I was given a free copy of this book from the author for a honest review of the book.

I have been following Cathrine Gill on Instagram and Twitter for a while and I was given the opportunity to review her new book; The Dirty Vegan.

The Dirty Vegan cookbook.
The Dirty Vegan cookbook.
I spent some time reading through her book and decided to make three of her recipes. The recipes I decided to make were her spinach and artichoke dip, meatloaf, and no tuna salad sandwich.

The recipes seemed simple enough, and I went out and bought the ingredients I needed and throughout the week I made the recipes.

Click to continue reading the article

Distinguishing veganism from organic and gluten-free

So as a suggestion a friend wanted me to write an article that explains the difference between veganism, eating organic, and being gluten-free. These three things intertwine with each other and sometimes it can be hard to understand the difference. First of all let me start with organic.
Click to view the rest of the article

So, you want to be a vegan?

So you want to be a vegan? Whether you are seriously considering it, kicking the can around, or have a friend or loved one who is considering it I decided to write an article to tell you everything you need to know. I am providing tips from my own experiences to keep you from failing.

When I made my decision to be vegetarian and eventually vegan I didn’t take it lightly. It was a time of my life when I was still cooking in restaurants and I was heavy and wanted to lose weight. Cows and pigs were in my mind the most fatty things I was eating except for deserts so that is what I decided to cut out of my diet at first. I did a lot of research on nutrition, and this was in the early to mid 90s when the internet wasn’t around, I didn’t have a computer or anything, so a lot of it was going to the library, and subscribing to newsletters and magazines. As well as my culinary knowledge. Over the next two years I slowly cut out other animals out of my diet as I learned more about how the animals were treated and at the same time I was finding out more about myself and rejecting things that were taught to me in my childhood like religion, while finding my own beliefs. click to read more

Something just slightly different

Sooo….

I am going to talk about something a little unusual today. Something a bit off topic if you don’t mind. It is related to veganism in a way, in a way that we try to have less of an impact in the environment. For those of us that drive, and it is unavoidable for those of us who live in smaller cities and towns that don’t have a great public transportation infrastructure, there are certain things that are unavoidable for maintenance. Oil and tire changes, replacing brakes, and replacing your air filter. The thing is, replacing your air filter is avoidable. How you might ask? Well there are air filters that are cleanable. I personally have one, made by K&N.

Now the main drawback is there is a bit of an upfront price. $40+ (USD) to buy the filter, and you also have to clean and reoil the filter every 50,000 miles. The cleaning/oil kit costs $14 a piece, however they will last for 2-3 cleaning cycles. However if you compare it to the cost of a regular air filter that you are replacing every 10,000 to 20,000 miles, it is a lot cheaper in the long run, plus you are not throwing away an air filter either.

For the data people out there, let’s compare. Currently my car has 150,000+ miles on it, so I will use it as an example.
Click for the rest of the article

Tofu is a gift from the Gods

When you think vegetarian, most people think tofu. When you think tofu most people think bland white rubbery substance. This makes people think that vegetarian food is bland or must be bland. A lot of people are put off by tofu because they buy a package of it and their first experience cooking and tasting it is bad. It is bland and gross – how do people eat this crap?
I am telling you now that tofu is a wonderful white glob of protein rich substance and it can taste good. I have been cooking with it for a long time now and I am going to share with you my most intimate secrets.
Click to view the rest of the article

Quick cooking techniques, tips, and tricks

Hello, I decided to do an occasional article that may not merit a video, some quick tips or techniques or other information that would be helpful to you. Some of these articles are from one of my old websites that I thought would be helpful to you here. This article is one of those. Let me know what you think of these articles.

There are good cooks out there and there are bad cooks out there. I have included several tips and techniques to help make good cooks better and bad cooks good. Hopefully you will bookmark this page or take at least one of these suggestions to heart and use it in your everyday cooking.

Thickeners:

Roux

This is a thickener using equal amounts of flour and fat. It is the most common thickener used for soups sauces and gravies. To make it you melt the margarine or heat up oil and then add the flour and cook it over low heat for at least 5-10 minutes to cook out the gluten flavor out of the flour. You then slowly add in the liquid stirring constantly. Then you cook it down until you get the consistency you are looking for. You can make a large batch of roux and then refrigerate or freeze until needed. If you are watching your fat intake you can take some flour and slowly toast it as well. There are several different kinds of roux and you use them according to what you are trying to cook and accomplish color and flavor wise. A pale, or blonde roux should be straw-colored, a brown or black roux will be deep in color, have a nutty aroma, and is used in brown sauces and Cajun cooking.

Click to view the rest of the article

Learn how to make roux~!

Hello, I decided to do an occasional article that may not merit a video, some quick tips or techniques or other information that would be helpful to you. Some of these articles are from one of my old websites that I thought would be helpful to you here. This article is one of those. Let me know what you think of these articles.

Roux is a thickener using equal amounts of flour and fat. It is the most common thickener used for soups sauces and gravies. To make it you melt vegan margarine or heat up oil and then add the flour and cook it over low heat for at least 5-10 minutes to cook out the gluten flavor out of the flour. You then slowly add in the liquid stirring constantly. Then you cook it down until you get the consistency you are looking for. You can make a large batch of roux and then refrigerate or freeze until needed. If you are watching your fat intake you can take some flour and slowly toast it as well. There are several different kinds of roux and you use them according to what you are trying to cook and accomplish color and flavor wise. A pale, or blonde roux should be straw-colored, A brown or black roux will be deep in color, have a nutty aroma, and is used in brown sauces and Cajun cooking.

Click to read the rest of the article