A Vegan Meal for My Steak and Potatoes Man

People are often surprised to learn that Brian isn't vegetarian, let alone vegan.  I get a lot of questions about what we eat for dinner and how we handle our different diets.  I even had some strangers ask me recently if I was vegan when I met Brian if we would even have gotten married!  (Uh, I think our shared love for Ben Folds would have trumped the dietary differences, thank you very much!)

Sure, there are times when Brian and I don't eat the same thing for dinner.  Sometimes I'm in the mood for a big salad and Brian will order a pizza or pick up a sandwich from Potbelly.  Sometimes in the summer he'll get something meaty to throw on the grill alongside my black bean burger.  Although more and more he wants to eat the black bean burger himself...

But over the past few years, I've began to refer to Brian as an "at-home vegan".  He's swapped his 2% milk for almond milk, butter for Earth Balance, chicken for chickpea cutlets, and scrambled eggs for tofu scrambles.  Brian certainly didn't turn into an "at home vegan" overnight.  It's been a gradual transition.  I can honestly say I haven't been pushy about him eating vegan (right, Brian?) and he's been really accepting of my choices and open to trying new foods.  We plan and prepare meals together so I'm making sure they are meals he enjoys, as well. 

All that being said, Brian still loves meat.  I mean, really, what guy doesn't?  If he wants to cook up some meat for himself, fine, but obviously we aren't going to share that meal together.  So when we found the recipe in The Happy Herbivore Cookbook for portobello steaks that promised to be a great replacement for a meaty steak, he was very excited to try it.  We made it once and had it on ciabatta rolls, which was pretty good, but last night we had it the way it was meant to be eaten - with rosemary roasted potatoes and asparagus.  Sooooo goooood!  Even if you aren't a meat-lover at heart, you'll love this hearty home-style classic.  

We used very small potatoes, called "creamer potatoes".  You can use either Yukon Gold or red skinned potatoes.

For the Portabello Steaks: Get the recipe at the Happy Herbivore blog.

For the potatoes: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Rinse potatoes and cut in halves or quarters, depending on size.  Spray a baking sheet with olive oil spray and lay potatoes in a single layer.  Spritz with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper and fresh snipped rosemary.  Bake for 30-40 minutes, turning every 10-15 minutes or so until crisp and browned on the outside, creamy on the inside.

For the asparagus: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Rinse asparagus and snap off the ends.  Line a baking sheet with olive oil spray and lay asparagus spears in a single layer.  Lightly spritz with olive oil and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper.  Roast for 15-20 minutes.  Drizzle with fresh lemon juice.


Making Your Mixed Marriage/Relationship Work

• Don't be pushy - you wouldn't want him to force you to eat meat; don't force him to eat tofu.
• Cook meals where you can have both meat and veggie options, such as tacos.  He can have ground beef and you can have tofu, TVP, tempeh, or just beans and veggies.  (FYI - that's what we used to do and now Brian doesn't even bother with the ground beef so you never know what may happen down the road...)
• Get him involved in meal planning - he's more likely to want to try new things if he helps pick out the recipes.
• Cook together - Brian and I have so much fun in the kitchen and we never cook without good music in the background.
• Find vegan replacements for favorite recipes.  Try Two-Bean Chili, Chickpea Cutlets, and Black Bean Burgers.
• Let him eat cheese!  So he's vegetarian, not vegan.  That's pretty damn awesome.  
• Don't judge him for ordering a burger or steak when you go out to dinner on the weekend.  If he makes plant-based decisions for breakfast, lunch, and dinner throughout the week, let him live a little!  I do. 

What vegan "steak and potatoes" meal would you feed to a non-vegan?

Our Christmas Feast

Big Gary the Gingerbread Man mug says, "Merry Christmas!"

This is a little late but I will post it nonetheless.  Every year on Christmas morning Brian and I start the day out with a special breakfast.  We make pancakes, French toast, or waffles - usually some recipe that we either haven't made or don't make often - and some vegan sausage and fruit.  This year I used a recipe from The Vegan Slow Cooker for a French toast casserole that has sausage and pears cooked right into it.  I was able to prep everything the night before, combine it in the morning, and turn it on to cook while Brian and I exchanged presents, made coffee, and did some prep work for having my family over that evening.  It was so easy and delicious and by far the healthiest French toast recipe I've ever made.  The leftovers warmed up deliciously the next day.  The recipe called for whole-wheat bread but we used Corktown Cinnamon Raisin from Avalon.  (A worthy substitution!)

Pear and Cardamon French Toast Casserole

{I'd love to share the recipe but I can't post it without permission from the author or publisher.  Let me know if you're interested, though, and I can send you an email.}

My parents and Andrew and Jaime came over for dinner.  We had an amazing feast.  This was the first all-vegan holiday dinner we've had. Brian didn't make a pork loin like he did two years ago to go alongside the chickpea cutlets. Andrew didn't smuggle in turkey through the back door like he did last Thanksgiving.  Jaime made her mashed potatoes cruelty-free so as not to sully the integrity of the vegan table.  And we drank only red wine since almost no white wines are vegan.  

Every dish was delicious and satisfying.  We were definitely full but because it was all healthy we weren't left feeling overly stuffed and weighed down.  The pie I made for dessert was only so-so (and the texture was, to be honest, quite disturbing) but with so many other holiday treats around - such as all the vegan cookies, fudge, truffles, and cinnamon roasted almonds - that was okay.

Lentil loaf

Gravy

Jaime's mashed potatoes

Roasted root vegetables (recipe here)

Avalon rolls - regular and multigrain

Mom's low-sugar cranberry applesauce

Dijon-Herb Green Beans - Happy Herbivore Cookbook

Coconut pudding pie (similar recipe found here)

What was on your holiday dinner table?

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we celebrated in the usual way - lunch with Brian's family and dinner with my family.  (This year at my grandparent's house.)  It always works out well.  Brian is more than happy to eat two meals and I just eat salad for lunch so I don't end up eating too much.

We took a big garden salad to both places.  The salads were perhaps a little, uh, too big but what's Thanksgiving without leftovers, right?

I also took Dijon-Herb Green Beans from The Happy Herbivore Cookbook to my grandma's.  For dinner I had a plate of side dishes - stuffing, sweet potatoes, and green beans.  Everything turned out delicious.  (For dessert there was a non-vegan pumpkin pie so I had some PB2 Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls when I got home.  Hmmm...should have tried them with pumpkin...)

My favorite part of the meal was the sweet potatoes that my mom made.  She used coconut milk and ginger - that's it!  No sugar or margarine.  They were the smoothest and creamiest sweet potatoes I've ever tasted!  She was kind enough to let me share her recipe with you. 

Creamy Sweet Potatoes
(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

9 small-medium sweet potatoes
2/3 cup regular coconut milk [*See NOTE]
2 tsp. ground ginger

Directions:

1. Boil yams until soft.  Cool and peel.

2. Place in bowl with coconut milk and ginger; whip until smooth (a stand mixer works best).

3. Pour into a casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes or until heated through.

Makes 8 servings.

[*NOTE]: The amount of coconut milk will vary depending on how creamy you want the potatoes.  She used regular but you could probably use lite.  I'm not sure how that would affect the overall creaminess, though.  Leave a comment if you try it.


What was on your Thanksgiving plate?