Nothing like Corn on the Cob

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4 meals inspired by 1 recipe

I finally got around to trying another recipe from the Real Food Daily cookbook before it had to go back to the library. Back when I first posted about this book a commenter recommended the Ying and Yang salad so I looked it up and it sounded awful good. It’s a big salad with raw red cabbage, napa cabbage, daikon, carrots and green onions and is topped with marinated baked tofu, sesame seeds and an outstanding peanut sauce. Like many other recipes in this book it was a little involved to put together but so worth it.

But what to do with all the leftover veggies? There was definitely a lot of cabbage left over. The first thing I thought about was this salad from a back issue of Vegetarian Times that we go back to on occasion. So I made the same salad from RFD but with the dressing and marinated tempeh from the VT recipe.

I really had a hankering for that peanut sauce again though so for a quick meal the next night we had pasta (whole wheat spaghetti in this case) with broccoli and that luscious peanut sauce.

And finally, I still needed to use up the rest of the cabbage so I made a bit of a German inspired meal – cabbage stewed with plenty of vinegar, and my bratwurst-style seitan patties (still a work in progress but these were petty good).

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1 in 200 American Kids Is Vegetarian

About 367,000 American kids are vegetarians, based on a brand new study by the federal Centers for Illness Manage and Prevention. And the quantity is reportedly increasing. Component of the rise is trigger by videos on YouTube that display cruelty to animals on farms, and young viewers selecting vegetarianism depending on that awareness. The 1 in 200 figure, which represents .5% of the kid population, counts all minors, but older teen vegetarian rates “could be four to six times” that percentage.

Some credit for this culinary abstinence may be attributed to the Internet, thanks to a bountiful harvest of YouTube animal slaughter videos “that shock the developing sensibilities of many U.S. children,” according to the Associated Press article.

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Going the Distance for Vegan Pizza

Can you believe it’s 2009?!? It seems like we just rang in Y2K and now all of a sudden it’s nine years later. I have high hopes for 2009 though!

To celebrate the new year, we joined some good friends for dinner at Houston’s new “green” restaurant, Pizza Fusion. Well, calling it Houston is kind of a stretch since we had to drive 40 minutes to get there (which, I know, isn’t very green to drive that far for dinner), leaving the 610 loop which we rarely venture outside of. Pizza Fusion is a restaurant chain that prides itself on minimizing their ecological footprint through the use of organic ingredients, hybrid delivery vehicles, reclaimed building materials (the floors and tables in this one were from the basketball court of a local high school), LEED certification, and recycling. All good things if you ask me! Of course, the fact that they have a vegan cheese option as well as a vegan dessert, also helped lure me outside the loop.

It was kind of surreal to see the word “vegan” emblazed on a building in the suburbs of Houston. If that’s not progress, I don’t know what else is.

After some confusion over volumetric conversions with the bartender (the 16oz glass of beer came marked in a 0.4L glass, which is equivalent to about 13.5 oz, but we were still charged for the 16oz), our vegan breadstick order arrived with a mix of both white and multigrain minis and a marinara dipping sauce. We probably would have ordered two if we knew our pizzas would take almost an hour to arrive….
But arrive eventually they did. Two specialty pizzas, a veggie medley (mushrooms, broccoli, bell pepper, onions) and a Seattle (onion, garlic, basil, balsamic vinegar, and artichoke hearts) both with FYH mozzarella on a crispy white dough crust. The Seattle was my favorite with the bite of the vinegar, the sweetness of the onion, and the creaminess of the melty “cheese”, all the flavors melded into a perfect pairing. The pizza was definitely a hit with the vegan and non-vegan parties at our table.
To make up for the very slow service, the manager gave us a few freebies… “I’m a vegan” bracelets, coupons for soy cheese pizzas, and dessert! This vegan, gluten-free brownie was a nice ending to the meal. Not as good as my homemade brownies (they were a little grainy and could have been more chocolatey), but still good.
While I enjoyed out trip out to the boonies for a vegan pizza, it’s not likely a trip I’ll make very often. Luckily, Pizza Fusion has plans to open more locations throughout Texas and the country. Maybe one will be opening close to you (and me)!

I have been in a cooking rut lately. I think last week I ate out 4 nights in a row which is very unlike me. So I’m searching for some inspiration… what have you cooked lately that you absolutely loved?

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Fun Video Explains What Organic Is

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Obama Kids’ New School Serves Organic Lunches

Today is the very first day of college for Malia and Sasha Obama, daughters of President Elect Barack Obama and long term very first lady Michelle. The kids’ new college is the prestigious Sidwell Buddies college in Washington, D.C. The college, which expenses $30,000 per year per kid to attend, serves all-organic lunches, according to some report this morning on “Good Morning America“. Michelle Obama has created it obvious in interviews that she feeds her loved ones natural meals anytime she can.

Meanwhile, at nearby Washington, D.C., public colleges, the kids of much less wealthy, much less effective mother and father are becoming served poisonous, industrial, non-organic meals. And likewise at almost each and every public college across the nation.

Throughout the campaign, all candidates, such as Obama, talked endlessly about what was usually categorized as “healthcare,” when actually it was all about healthcare insurance. “Health” nearly in no way came up throughout the campaign, nor did the US government’s massive corporate welfare plan, which subsidizes the most poisonous and unhealthy meals, although leaving wholesome and natural foods producers to fend for themselves on this uneven playing area.

Nevertheless, I and numerous others stay hopeful that the Obama’s awareness about the superiority of natural meals will result in real policy modifications that place natural foods in each and every college and each and every house, and quit the obesity, diabetes and cancer epidemics exactly where they start: with our diets.

Barack Obama: We applaud your great parenting, and your wish to consider treatment of one’s children. But starting January 20, you are our president. And we’re counting on you to consider treatment of our children, as well.

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Week of Vegan Breakfast

The last week of breakfast post was one of my favorites (and yours too), so I thought it’d be fun to do it again since I took off work for the holidays. I’ve been off since Christmas day but it took a couple days to get my bearings and I started last Saturday with miso soup. I used leftover mushroom soaking liquid from Christmas dinner, plus miso, silken tofu, brown rice and minced chives.

On Saturday night I made granola using my favorite Alton Brown recipe, so Sunday breakfast was granola with soy yogurt and homemade apple jam.

On Monday I made crepes. My German grandmother used to make me eierkuchen for breakfast when I was growing up (which literally translates into “egg cake”). This is similar to though a little thicker than a crepe, and is often served spread with jam and rolled up. For these I made a maple tofu cream with silken tofu, maple syrup and lime juice, and there was some more apple jam in there too – not exactly authentic but we enjoyed them.

Tuesday was seitan breakfast patties with hash browns and a bagel. The seitan patties were another variation on this recipe and I think I nailed it this time. I left out the apple and went back to using mashed white beans, plus I increased the salt to 1/2 tsp., the sage to 1 1/2 tsp. and the red pepper flakes to 1/2 tsp. After baking I also fried them in a little Earth Balance to get them nice and brown and crispy on the outside. If you want to see how I make my hash browns, it was my first ever attempt at a video.

On Wednesday I made Tangerine-Cinnamon Rolls. The last time we did this was on New Years Day 2007 and we thought about making this a New Years Day tradition but ended up doing it a day early.

On Thursday, New Years Day, we made Darlene’s Paula Deen veganized Praline French Toast (I also added some chopped walnuts to the topping). This could easily become a New Years tradition too.

Finally, on Friday we had Sambhar with Idli, a South Indian soup and rice dumpling that can be eaten at any time of day. We’ve made both of these from scratch in the past but this was from packaged mixes that are available in any Indian market.

No donuts this time but we managed to do something different every day and also keep it different from what we did last time. So now you have 14 scrumptious vegan breakfast ideas.

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Very Vegan Christmas Party

20 December 2008: I attended the “very vege christmas party” by Vegetarian Society Singapore. The food was simply amazing!

Vegan log cake! There is only one way to describe the taste – non-vegan. Now we know how good imitations can really get without cruelty!

Vegan meat, not like any other. This was simply the best imitation I have ever tried and it couldn’t be bought from shops. Chewing on it gives you the shudders because it simply felt like chewing on the real thing.

Vegan Shepherd’s pie made by Pauline with mushrooms at the bottom.

Pasta and mash potato…

Kheng’s minestrone soup…

And of course, with Shakib around there’s always Shakib’s salad – beautiful and healthful greens!

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