Holiday Cookies: Gingerbread

With the holidays coming up, many of you might be gearing up to make your favorite holiday cookies. With the right ingredients, your favorite holiday treats can be made without any animal products whatsoever! One of my favorite cookies is the gingerbread cookie. The Post Punk Kitchen has a very easy and delicious (and vegan!) gingerbread cookie recipe (click here or see below):

Ingredients
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar (I used turbinado sugar)
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup plain soy milk

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour (I used unbleached flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

spice blend:
1/2 teaspoon each ground nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon (Feel free to add a touch extra cinnamon if you would like)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

Directions
In a large bowl beat together oil and sugar for about 3 minutes. Add molasses and soy milk. The molasses and soy milk won't really blend with the oil but that's okay.

In a separate bowl, sift together all the other ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet in batches. Mix together with a firm spoon or spatula until well combined. You should have a pretty stiff dough. Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for an hour or up to 3 days in advance. If you chill longer than an hour you may want to let it sit for 10 minutes to loosen up a bit before proceeding. (Chilling the dough before baking is especially important if you want soft cookies).

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease your cookie sheets.

*If you want to make gingerbread cut outs:
On a floured surface roll you dough out to a little less than 1/4 inch thick. You can do this in 2 batches if you don't have the space. Cut out your shapes with your cookie cutters and gently place on cookie sheets (if you are using them to decorate with remember to cut a hole with a straw or something before baking).

Bake cookies for 8 minutes.

Remove from oven and let them cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet then move to a cooling rack.

*Wait until they are completely cool before icing.

These cookies are delicious! I highly recommend them for vegans and non-vegans alike!

Vegan Pie!

Sorry for the onslaught of Vegan Thanksgiving posts, but last night I had the most amazing Vegan Pie ever!

I got it at Whole Foods (best place to get vegan food ever!). It's called Wholly Wholesome and they have (as far as I know) four VEGAN flavors of pie. I got Pumpkin, which I LOVE (sorry about the overload of caps)! But, they also have apple, cherry and I want to say peach, but I could be wrong. It was so good.

And, on that note, Whole Foods also sells an amazing vegan ice cream called Purely Decadent. It tastes just like ice cream. So now if you want to get fat and eat a lot of sugary, VEGAN food, you can. Oh, and also Tofutti Cuties are delicious and especially fatty. =)

New York Time's Op Ed on Animal Rights!

In this Sunday's paper I saw a really interesting op ed piece about animal rights. I found it here online so all of you can read it, click here.

For those of you too lazy to read it (which I understand!), the article talked about how meat-eaters can eat meat without feeling guilty. The author claims that meat-eaters, by eating organic of free-range meat, forget about their guilt because they are more focused on how healthy they are being. They overlook the fact that they are eating a dead animal. He also references the Bible and how it almost supports eating meat (ironic since Jesus preached equality). Read the article though! It does a much better job explaining than I could ever do!

I hope this doesn't turn you meat-eaters away, but it is nice to see a vegan stand-point shown in an international newspaper at Thanksgiving (the most meat-eater -ish holiday that there is). I think he gives a fair argument with ample support.

Thanksgiving Humor and Helpful Links

If you happen to see a turkey running around this Thanksgiving, make sure to have a disguise readily available (but you might have to tape its mouth shut).


Just kidding. But seriously. There are lots of turkey-friendly options out there for this year (outlined very nicely Tucker's post on Friday). Not vegetarian, but inviting a veg*n to your Thanksgiving feast? If you're unsure how to go about feeding them check out these quick step-by-step guidelines. And if you do decide to go the Tofurky route...click here for instructions on how to cook your feast (complete with pictures)!

Vegan Thanksgiving?

I know a lot of people may be wondering, considering the time of year, what do vegetarians and vegans eat on Thanksgiving? Well, there are lots of options.

Personally, I love Tofurky, which is basically a meat substitue made of tofu in sausage form - therefore it is vegan. I usually have that as my main course on Thanksgiving night - or any other night for that matter! I also know that Smart Dogs (thanks to Katherine!) are also vegan, and are just as good as Tofurky and easier to spell!

One can also make vegan mashed potatoes. You can substitute the butter and milk for vegan butter and soymilk, and it tastes just as good. Most veggies are vegan, you just have to make sure to use vegan butter or olive oil instead of butter with milk.

Of course, what Thanksgiving feast would be complete without dessert? Many organic stores, like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, sell pre-made vegan treats which one can buy. However, there are also ways to "vegan-ize" a recipe. For example, eggs can be substituted with a flax seed and water concotion (recipe here - http://theppk.com/veganbaking.html).

Overall, Thanksgiving can be enjoyable for all, if you take a little effort to include vegetarians and vegans!

Jonathan Safran Foer on Eating Animals

The advent of one of America's most meat-centric holidays inspires many vegetarians to reflect on their dietary choices. On Nov. 1, National Public Radio's program All Things Considered aired "For Foer, Meat Is Murder . . . And Worse," an interview with Jonathan Safran Foer, professor and writer-in-residence at New York University's Creative Writing Program, and the author of the novels Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. The interview coincided with the release of Safran's third book, Eating Animals, inspired in part by the birth of Safran's first child and his subsequent deliberations about whether to raise his son vegetarian.

Describing the book, the article claims, "Eating Animals isn't just an anti-meat screed, or an impassioned case for vegetarianism. Instead Foer tells a story that is part memoir and part investigative report. And it's a book that takes America's meat-dominated diet to task."

In an excerpt that follows the interview, Foer discusses how adopting a puppy caused him to start thinking differently about animals. The NPR piece makes for an interesting 6-minute listen; the book might make for a good holiday break read.

Your Favorite Musicians...Are Vegetarian?

Anyone who has been to concerts or music festivals knows that there are many vegetarian or vegan musicians out there. Even better, these musicians are for the most part very open about their vegetarianism, and very active in spreading knowledge about a veggie lifestyle to their fans. Rise Against, a band with all vegetarian members, is highly active when it comes to animal rights; they are known to do PSA's for groups such as PETA and in general for being very outspoken about their vegetarianism. Other animal-friendly musicians include the members of AFI, Anti-Flag, Silverstein, and Good Charlotte, Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie), Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day), Chris Martin (Coldplay), Travis Barker (Blink-182), Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance), Gabe Saporta (Midtown, Cobra Starship), Fred Mascherino (Taking Back Sunday), Krist Novoselic (Nirvana), Paul McCartney, Michael Madden (Maroon 5), Rivers Cuomo (Weezer), Thom Yorke (Radiohead), Tom Morello and Tim Commerford (Rage Against the Machine), and many many more (but this is already a ridiculously long list...there are tons websites out there where you can find out if your favorite musicians or celebrities are vegetarian!). One final note: these artists love their vegan food. For example, Derek Grant and the rest of Alkaline Trio loved the vegan baked goods at Vegan Treats (a vegan bakery run by Danielle Konya in Pennsylvania) so much that they wrote a song about it (hear it here; and while you're listening, read a Q&A with the baker herself). Personally, I think they sum up the amazingness that is vegan baked goods very nicely.

Mac 'n' Cheese

By definition, macaroni and cheese seems impossible to recreate vegan, especially considering how the vegan cheese market hasn't quite been able to hit the mark with a really good cheese substitute. But, this recipe from vegnews.com proves otherwise. Warm and fresh from the oven, this delicious, 'cheesy' meal is the vegan version of classic comfort food.

Serves 6

4 quarts water
1 tablespoon sea salt
8 ounces macaroni
4 slices of bread, torn into large pieces
2 tablespoons + 1/3 cup margarine, divided
2 tablespoons shallots, peeled and chopped
1 cup red or yellow potatoes, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup carrots, peeled and chopped
1/3 cup onion, peeled and chopped
1 cup water
1/2 cup raw cashews
2 teaspoons seal salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon paprika

1. In a large pot, bring the water and salt to a boil. Add macaroni and cook until al dente. In a colander, drain pasta and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

2. In a food processor, make breadcrumbs by pulverizing the bread and 2 tablespoons margarine to a medium-fine texture. Set aside.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan, add shallots, potatoes, carrots, onion, and water, and bring to a boil. Cover the pan and simmer for 15 minutes, or until vegetables are very soft.

4. In a blender, process the cashews, salt, garlic, 1/3-cup margarine, mustard, lemon juice, black pepper, and cayenne. Add softened vegetables and cooking water to the blender and process until perfectly smooth.

5. In a large bowl, toss the cooked pasta and blended cheese sauce until completely coated. Spread mixture into a 9 x 12 casserole dish, sprinkle with prepared breadcrumbs, and dust with paprika. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese sauce is bubbling and the top has turned golden brown.

I highly recommend adding your favorite tomato sauce to your personal bowl - it definitely enriches the dish! Serve with a few slices of lightly toasted bread, margarine, green beans, and chocolate soymilk, and you have yourself a delicious, comforting meal perfect for these cold winter nights.

Here's the link for the recipe incase you want to print it out:
http://vegnews.com/web/articles/page.do?pageId=40&catId=10

Hodo Soy Beanery at our Palo Alto farmers market

For another inimitable source of fresh tofu, wander through the lively, jostling crowd at the California Avenue’s Sunday farmers market to reach the Hodo Soy Beanery stand. Once there, brush aside the leafy carrot tops escaping from your neighbor’s canvas bag and sample an array of organic artisan soy products.

The essentials—fresh tofu and soymilk—are simple, pure-tasting, and utterly fresh. The company’s creativity shines in their ready-to-eat dishes, including soy omlettes, chewy, flavorful tofu jerky, and soy noodle salads with touches of cilantro, sesame, or spice. The Kung Pao Yuba Salad is smoky and delicious, with a crunch of peanuts that complements the softer tofu. Their delicate sheets of yuba make excellent spring roll wrappers.

“Hodo” means “good bean” in Chinese; I cannot accuse this company of false advertising.

Hodo also has stands at several San Francisco farmers markets, and their new Beanery in Oakland—a candy factory and bakery in previous incarnations—apparently offers tours.

Nak's

In downtown Menlo Park, there is a tiny Japanese Store called Nak's. It has the best Japanese snacks and the widest variety of Mochi I have ever seen. But, what makes it so appealing to vegans and vegetarians alike is the fact that they get fresh tofu everyday. While this may not seem like a huge deal, the difference in taste and quality are immense, at least to me! Whenever we want to make some dish with tofu, we always run down to Nak's to get some because it's not the same without it!

Nak's also has some other speciality items, especially from Japan. The owners are extremely nice and help to add to the charming atmosphere of the store.

It's located at 1151 Chestnut St. Menlo Park, CA 94025. Highly recommended for tofu and other speciality items not typically found in supermarkets.

Shopping Like A Super Vegan

As we all know a large amount of clothes in the world are made out of wool and other animal products. Whether you feel this is wrong or not is up to you, but there is a large growth of vegan artier in the world.

There are several companies (mostly online) that supply vegan clothing and shoes. The largest one is probably World of Good. this website provides alternatives to current clothing and house hold objects, though not all are vegan the majority are. Also a lot of there stuff is official Fair Trade products.
If you are like me and have a hankering more towards shoes, there are plenty of site where you came find them. Possibly the site I find most convenient is Zappos.com. Though not totally vegan they do make it remarkably easy to choose.
Simple Shoes is another one. this is more geared towards the environmentally aware people. they love to, and strive to, reuse recycled bits of anything. They use tires, cork, cardboard, hemp, inter tubes, plastics, silk, bamboo... the list continues.
Though vegan clothes may be hard to find all you really need is a quick google search to find places like:
Alternative Outfitters
Ragazzi
Moo Shoes
and many more

Before I finish I must also remind you that Tom's Shoes also has vegan shoes. If you don't know what they are (Tom's), check it out.

Time Article: Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food

This is an interesting Time article/expose about the costs of the meat industry. It focuses mostly on the environmental and health impact of the way the industry is set up. I have included a link, but also some excerpts here for a quick glance. The article is lengthy, but very interesting and easy to read, definitely worth checking out.

"And perhaps worst of all, our food is increasingly bad for us, even dangerous. A series of recalls involving contaminated foods this year — including an outbreak of salmonella from tainted peanuts that killed at least eight people and sickened 600 — has consumers rightly worried about the safety of their meals. A food system — from seed to 7‑Eleven — that generates cheap, filling food at the literal expense of healthier produce is also a principal cause of America's obesity epidemic. At a time when the nation is close to a civil war over health-care reform, obesity adds $147 billion a year to our doctor bills. "The way we farm now is destructive of the soil, the environment and us," says Doug Gurian-Sherman, a senior scientist with the food and environment program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)."

"But cheap food is not free food, and corn comes with hidden costs. The crop is heavily fertilized — both with chemicals like nitrogen and with subsidies from Washington. Over the past decade, the Federal Government has poured more than $50 billion into the corn industry, keeping prices for the crop — at least until corn ethanol skewed the market — artificially low. That's why McDonald's can sell you a Big Mac, fries and a Coke for around $5 — a bargain, given that the meal contains nearly 1,200 calories, more than half the daily recommended requirement for adults. "Taxpayer subsidies basically underwrite cheap grain, and that's what the factory-farming system for meat is entirely dependent on," says Gurian-Sherman."

If you are interested in learning more about corn subsidizing, I would highly recommend reading Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilmemma" where he traces four meals back to their origins (conventional, organic, beyond organic, and hunter-gatherer). See the link at the bottom of the page to buy it off Amazon, or check your local library.

Cafe Gratitude

A wonderful treat for Bay Area vegetarians and vegans is "raw food" restaurant, Cafe Gratitude. Every item on the menu adheres to a raw diet vision of eating, which means not only that every dish is vegan, but through creative and innovative techniques they are uncooked, unprocessed, and organic. The restaurant also lays particular emphasis on running a environmentally conscious business.

Each dish is named in the format "I am...", which makes ordering a unique and fun (though occasionally awkward upon first visiting) process. Tables aren't exclusive, so if you come with friends don't be surprised if you end up seated with a few friendly strangers. The menu is a vegan's dream, but my personal menu looks something like this, and I'd advise any unsure patrons to order the same. First, get some "I Am Awed" to drink, as this lemon and ginger hot tea pairs perfectly with the fresh and hearty main dishes. For appetizers, share the "I Am Insightful" spring rolls. With a plethora of veggies wrapped in lettuce with fresh avocado, accompanied by an outstanding coconut-almond dipping sauce, it's a guaranteed good start. For your main course, try the "I Am Accepting" sushi bowl. No raw fish required, this Bhutanese rice bowl is warm, filling, and spectacular. Lastly, I cannot recommend their Key Lime Pie highly enough, and their nut-milk ice cream is otherworldly, if you still have the room to eat it.

Cafe Gratitude has a number of locations in San Fransisco and Berkeley, check their website for a full menu and lots more information!

Going Veggie

It's always interesting to me to hear why people "go veggie". The other day I was online searching for some recipes and I stumbled upon a series of links that brought me to a page called The Vegetarian Resource Group. After just taking a quick look around I've already found it to be very promising (highlights include cool articles, statistics, a quiz rating your "level of vegetarianism", a restaurant guide, and tons of information on basically everything veg*n). The really exciting thing, though, was the group's annual essay contest (more info. here). There's a list of past winners' essays, which really got me thinking about when I decided to stop eating meat--and exactly what led to it. It was neat to see vegetarians and vegans of all ages writing about why they made the switch, or even just talking about an aspect of their veggie-fied lives. Browsing through the essays, I saw people who wrote about becoming vegetarian for health or environmental reasons, and people who told stories of traumatic experiences. People who had realizations thanks to strangers. Animal-loving people who simply came to realize that they didn't want to eat something that had once been as alive as themselves. I read through so many reasons, and with each passing word I found myself nodding along, thinking about my own vegetarianism, many years in the making. I realized I can't really pinpoint one event that caused my own switch, except it just suddenly felt like the only right way to live. I love hearing other vegetarian/vegan's stories because they make me reflect and I feel insanely happy to be a vegetarian all over again.

Frittata

Vegan readers will have to pardon me. One of my favorite vegetarian dinners--ridiculously simple but also versatile and delicious--is the classic Spanish frittata.

I grew up more familiar with the frittata's French cousin, the omelet. I love the way, in an omelet, the light, fluffy envelope of beaten eggs folds over itself, enclosing sauteed mushrooms and parsley, or whatever flavorful tidbits I've decided to add.

A frittata offers other excitements, though. When a thick pool of beaten eggs has cooked in a skillet until the eggs are just setting, you get to throw the whole thing into the oven and watch the eggs puff for a final minute, forming a gentle billow. (Yes, you should be using an all-metal pan.)

Another highlight: because of a frittata's taller profile, it can accommodate the layering of zucchini rounds, or spinach, or mushrooms, or thin slices of potato, or shredded cheese -- until a cross section looks like some fantastically tempting piece of archeology. And cut into wedges, it's wonderful to eat cold.

Zen Palate

The Zen Palate is a vegan/vegetarian restaurant in Manhattan (one possibly coming to LA!). They serve healthy but amazingly delicious Asian-fusion.
My personal favorite dish is the "Sizzling Medallions", which sounds a little vague and therefore sketchy, but is absolutely amazing. They are made out of seitan (vital wheat gluten). According to the menu, they are 'crispy wheat gluten filet a l'orange, with fresh asparagus, mushrooms, string beans and red onions on a sizzling platter". 
One time I ordered the dish with my Grandma, who loved them and was shocked to discover that they are vegan!
Also highly reccomended are the yam fries and onion pancakes.

Loving Hut

In downtown Palo Alto, there is an amazing vegan restaurant that many fellow Bay Area vegans may have heard of. It is actually a chain restaurant, but it serves amazing food, and best of all it is all vegan.

My personal favorite entree is the Pesto Divine, which is soy chicken with pesto on a really, really good French roll. They also sell many basic vegan supplies, such as soy cheese.

Loving Hut is a really great restaurant and everyone should support their cause. Not only do they advocate for animal rights, but they also try to create a greener world.

Butter Substitute

This is a butter substitute that reportedly (via a friend)

The recipe is for a Prune Purée and is as follows:

Combine 1-1/3 cups (8ounces) pitted prunes and 6 tablespoons hot water in container of food processor; puree until smooth. Makes 1 cup. Keep refrigerated for up to 2 months in a tightly sealed container.

You have probably heard of prune purées before, but this is my recipe.