Some vegan recipes circulating in the online news

The Allentown Morning Call has a recipe for Chocolate Ganache Cake from new cookbook You Won't Believe It's Vegan! by Lacey Sher and Gail Doherty. TV's WRAL is featuring what sounds like an incredible recipe for Sun-Dried Tomato Falafel in Pitas from Beverly Lynn Bennett's Vegan Bites: Recipes for Singles cookbook.

Chocolate ganache cake and falafel -- does it get any better?

Ask, and Google News Provides: More Vegan Recipes in the New

The Canadian Press is circulating an Asian-inspired recipe for Sesame Sugar Snap Peas from The Whole Foods Market Cookbook by Steve Petusevsky. It's also circulating a recipe for Bean and Mushroom Burgers from The Vegetarian Cookbook published by Reader's Digest Canada.

The Guardian had a really scrumptious sounding recipe for Garlic Soup and Harissa a little over a week ago. The butter called for can be replaced with Earth Balance or another vegan butter substitute.

Another article I think I missed was in Vancouver's goold old Georgia Straight on April 24. The article is about the benefits of a well-planned vegan diet and features a recipe for Shiitake-Miso Gravy adapted from Nava Atlas' Vegan Express, a bookbook I'd really like to try out soon.

(I just discovered the hard way that blogging about recipes when you're on the second day of a juice fast is akin to watching running water when you really, really have to pee.)

Vegan.com's Top 10 Vegan Recipes of 2008

Vegan.com recently featured on their site what their collective taste-buds have assessed as being the top 10 recipes of 2008 (and it's only May!). The Top 10 include:

- Moroccan Phyllo Rolls from Dreena Burton's Eat, Drink & Be Vegan.
- Baked Ziti from Beverly Lynn Bennett's Vegan Bites.
- Italian Stuffed Crepes from Bryanna Clark Grogan's Nonna's Italian Kitchen.

For the rest of the recipes, check out Vegan.com's article here.

(Listening to: Patti Smith's Radio Ethiopia)

Vegan recipes in the news

The Kansas City Star had a recipe for Cashew Manicotti w/ Sundried Tomatoes tucked into an Earth Day related blurb about veganism. It's from Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook.

The Canadian Press is spreading around a recipe for Tomato Curried Lentils, from Angeline Linardis' V Cuisine: The Art of New Vegan Cooking. I think that Linardis has a blog (unless the blog's name is just a coincidence), but it seems to be a 'by invitation only' sort of thing.

The Baltimore Sun has a piece today about the rising cost of food and how to eat frugally by incorporating vegetarian meals into your week. In it, the writer of the piece contributed her adaptation of a Curry of Eggplant and Peas recipe from The Vegetarian Epicure.

A Maritimer's vegan take on Egyptian cuisine

A couple of years ago, I spent some time testing, tweaking and sometimes (when needed) veganizing some Egyptian recipes I found across the internet. In some cases, I took 2-3 or more similar recipes and sort of merged them according to my taste buds. The experiment culminated in a scrumptious feast that left even a really fickle omni friend delighted (and stuffed). Here are a couple of the recipes; I'll have to dig out the others over the weekend.

Orange & Olive Salad with Cumin

What you need:

8 oranges, peeled and with the white pith removed, sliced (or in segments)
3/4 cup good quality black olives*, cut in half and pitted
1 red onion, sliced very thinly
juice of one medium-sized lemon
1/2-1 tsp ground cumin (to taste)
a pinch of cayenne (or more to taste)
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbs olive oil

What you do:

Toss together the oranges, olives, onion. Mix together the lemon juice, cumin, cayenne and crushed garlic and then mix into oil. Toss with the rest of the ingredients, salt and pepper to taste, chill (you don't really have to, but I did and liked that the ingredients had a longer chance to marinate) and serve. Serves 6.

* Don't skimp on the olives by getting those canned rubbery things.


Couscous with Currants and Cumin

What you need:

1 cup water
1 cup couscous
1/2 cup currants (or raisins)
2 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs fresh ginger, finely grated
1 tsp cumin seed, toasted
the grated zest from one orange
1 Tbs fresh cilantro, finely chopped
salt
hot chili flakes

What you do:

In a saucepan, bring water to a boil. Stir in the couscous and currants. Cover and remove from heat to let stand for around 5 minutes. During this time, heat the olive oil in large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic and ginger. Sauté 3 minutes or until tender and then add the cumin seeds. Sauté an additional minute. Fluff the couscous and currants with a fork, then stir in the onion mix, the zest and the cilantro. Add salt and hot chili flakes to taste. Serves 3-4.

Vegan recipes in the news

The Erie Times-News has a recipe for vegan Macaroni and ''Cheese'' from Angeline Linardis' V Cuisine: The Art of New Vegan Cooking.

The Wilkes-Barre Times Leader in Pennsylvania is featuring a story on the very vegan-friendly Mill Hollow Café in Luzerne (check out their menu). The recipe is for Cashew-Tofu Cutlets.

More vegan recipes in the land of online news

Carolina's News 14's website is featuring a recipe for Vegetarian Chopped Liver. I couldn't help but laugh when I first saw it. ''What am I?''

The Irish Independent has a really hearty sounding tofu recipe -- Tommy Tofu, by health journalist Michael van Stratan.

Finally, just in time for Passover, the Jewish Journal has three recipes from Faye Levy's Healthy Cooking for the Jewish Home (not a vegetarian cookbook). There's Braised Calabala Squash w/ Chiles and Ginger, Cucumber, Jicame and Orange Salad w/ Black Olives, and Ethiopean Spiced Vegetables. Given the variety of colourful ingredients and spices, these recipes must be gorgeous as well as delicious.

More vegan recipes in the news

The Bangor Daily News is featuring Zesty Soyrizo Penne, Quinoa Salad, Cilantro Pesto Tofu and finally, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cherry Cookies (which was reprinted from the Post Punk Kitchen website).

Sprouting 101

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to fix myself up a batch of something I used to have on hand almost constantly just a few years ago. I decided to try sprouting again. I popped over to the local health food store to load up on some extra organic Speerville Flour Mill kamut and spelt berries -- grains I usually boil or steam to eat instead of rice, or I'll throw them into the bread machine with other ingredients to make a really chewy and nutty-tasting bread (with a really crunchy crust).

I don't use a store-bought sprouter, although if I were making sprouts for more than one person (or decided to up my own sprout intake significantly), I'd consider it for the sake of convenience. A simple clean Mason jar does the trick for me right now, though, providing me with enough sprouts to throw into salads and stirfries. A second Mason jar to sprout something different might be useful, though. So here's the scoop on everything you could possibly want to know about sprouting (I'm not going to go over every facet of it here and there are bunches and bunches of other places online where you can go to find sprouting FAQs that aren't commercial sites like this one, but this particular site is just really simple to navigate and has a lot of usable info for low-tech sprouting).

*Make sure that your hands and sprouting tools are clean whenever contact is made with the sprouts, incidentally. And ensure that the grains (or other things) you sprout are clean and have been stored well before you used them. There are indeed safety concerns revolving around sprouts that haven't been stored or handled properly.

Here's the "My Face Is On Fire" crash course: Take around a half cup of a mixture of kamut and spelt berries (I've read that spelt doesn't sprout particularly well -- you may want to stick to kamut or something else for your first try at sprouting). Take a bunch of grains and pick out the broken or discoloured ones. Rinse the grains off in a colander and place in a jar. Add 2-3 times the amount of water (so, a cup to a cup and a half) and let the jar sit overnight. In the morning, check to see if any grains are floating on top and if so, press down on them to see if they'll sink. If anything's still floating, pick it out, then rinse your sprouts well over the sink, saving the water for later for your garden or houseplants. Wrap a layer of cheesecloth over the jar's mouth and tip the jar to let the water out. I tend to keep the jar tilted mouth-downward with the cheesecloth on it and kept in place with a rubber band to ensure that there's no water left in the jar, which could cause spoiling. You can rinse and drain them once or twice a day at 8-12 hour intervals and they should be ready in around three days. You can sprout them for a longer period, as long as you keep rinsing and draining them; they're alive. Here's an "Instructable" on how to grow sprouts, just to show you how easy it really is.

There are a zillion other things you can sprout successfully -- all kinds of grains, nuts, seeds and beans. Soaking and sprouting times vary accordingly. Some sprouts store well in the fridge while some don't. Remember that Google is your friend. As many options as there are to make sprouts, there are just as many uses. I like to sprinkle sprouts on salads, throw them in wraps or in sandwiches, add them to stirfries / casseroles / soups, or use them (e.g. the larger ones -- use your common sense) when you bake breads or rolls. You can even make sprout cereal, either hot or cold, or even sprouted oatmeal. The possibilities are endless and it's all trial and error, baby.

(Listening to: A Vegan Freak podcast while taking photos in me kitchen.)

Vegan soup recipes in the news

The Victoria Times Colonist ran a decent article by Eric Akis the other day. It's well worth reading just for the great instructions on how to make a flavourful vegetable-based stock (and includes a recipe for one). As a bonus, he included recipes for Curried Yam Soup w/ Coconut and Lime, Classic Mushroom Soup and Lentil Soup w/ Herbe de Provence.

A couple of veg recipes in the news...

Carolina's News 14 has a recipe for Vegetarian Borscht today. Opt for vegetable stock and a soy-based ''sour cream'' like Tofutti's and the recipe is easily veganized.

The Orillia Packet & Times has an Asian-Style Vegetable Noodle Bowl recipe from Eric Akis' Everyone Can Cook Midweek Meals. (The egg noodles are easily replaced with an animal-free alternative.)

Recipe: Brazillian Black Bean Stew (aka Feijoada)

This is a recipe adapted from one found in an old issue of "Vegetarian Times". Traditionally, feijoada -- a dish popular in both Brazil and Portugal -- is meat-laden, but this animal-free take on it is delicious, as well as more nutritious and much lower in fat and cholesterol. Feijoada is known as Brazil's "national dish" and it's apparently commonly served in most restaurants there, however fine the dining. The "Vegetarian Times" article suggested serving it with steamed Swiss chard wrapped in warmed tortillas. Traditionally, it's a thick stew served with a pot of hot pepper sauce and the following side-dishes: rice, chopped and refried kale or collard greens, lightly roasted (coarse) casava flour (called farofa), and orange segments. Sometimes it's served with deep-fried casava or deep-fried bananas. It's usually enjoyed with caipirinhas (a popular Brazilian alcoholic beverage) or beer.

Brazilian Black Bean Stew

1 Tbs olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2-3 medium garlic cloves, minced or crushed
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 large red bell pepper, diced
1 (or more) hot green chili pepper, minced
half a large (28 oz / 796 ml) can of diced tomatoes -- don't drain 'em
2-16 oz cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted and diced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 tsp salt

Optional: Cooked rice, chopped steamed (and fried, if you'd like) kale / collars / Swiss chard, orange segments.

Heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until it's softened. Stir in the garlic and cook an extra 3 minutes until the onion is golden.

Stir in the sweet potatoes, peppers, tomatoes w/ liquid and bring to a boil. Lower heart and simmer around 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are tender but still firm. Stir in the beans and simmer uncovered, ever so gently, until everything is heated through.

Stir in the mango and cook another minute, until heated through. Stir in cilantro and salt to taste. Preferably using ceramic bowls or platters for authenticity, ladle the stew on top of a mound of rice. Place the chopped greens and orange segments (if using) around the edges of the dish. Sprinkle the chopped greens and orange segments with farofa (if available) and splash some hot sauce on the side of some of the stew. Eat while hot! Serves 6.

Veganism in the news -- a recipe and more!

The Canadian Press issued a recipe from Laura Mathias' ExtraVeganZa -- Quinoa Three Bean Salad w/ Toasted Almonds.

The Weymouth News featured a guest article -- accurate and concise -- about the cruelty inherent in the production (and associated consumption) of eggs.

Perhaps most significantly, there are reports all over the news this morning about a recent study that shows that a gluten-free vegan diet raises natural antibodies and lowers bad cholesterol (no surprise!), and may help sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis by reducing what is currently their elevated risk of having a stroke or heart attack.

Recipes: Got a date?

These are simple no-cook recipes for healthy snacks that are great for kids or adults.

Date Treats

1 lb pitted dates
1/4 cup peanut (or other nut) butter
1/2 cup chopped pecans, walnuts or other nuts or seeds

Mix the nut butter and chopped nuts / seed and stuff dates with mixture. Yum!

(This was adapted from The Deaf Smith Country Cookbook.)

Date Balls

1 cup cooked dates
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup chopped nuts
2 cups organic cereal flakes
coconut (optional)

Cook the dates in water until they're soft. Add the nuts and remove the mix from heat. Stir in the cereal flakes and shape into one inch balls. Roll in coconut. Serve immediately.

(This was adapted from a regional Seventh-Day Adventist cookbook.)

More vegan recipes in the news

The Star features a recipe adapted from Dreena Burtons's Eat, Drink & be Vegan -- Avocado, Bean & Corn Tortilla Lasagna.

The Erie Times-News has a recipe for Penne w/Spinach Cilantro Pesto and Arugula from Laura Mathias' ExtraVeganZa: Original Recipes from Phoenix Organic Farm.

The Chicagoist has an Easy Tomato Bruschetta recipe.

The Washington Post has a recipe for Spicy Stir-Fried Broccoli w/Tomato-Chickpea Ragu by chef Tracy O'Grady, as well as an Okra Gumbo from the Creole Restaurant and Music Supper Club in East Harlem.

The Janesville Gazette has one for Garlic Mustard Pesto from ''America's best-known forager'' Steve Brill (see my link to his website to the left of your screen).

And finally, to cap things off without a recipe, but on a related note -- Indystar.com has a clever little story in their Lifestyle section about the modern-day dilemmas facing people trying to throw together dinner parties.

Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut, which in German means "sour cabbage", is this food that people either seem to love or loathe. Long regarded as a digestive aid, sauerkraut is quite nutritious, containing Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, folate, iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium and copper, as well as probiotics. It also contains isothiocyanates, which have been found in some studies to have anti-carcinogenic properties. A friend of mine who got me thinking about the stuff recently swears by Bubbies sauerkraut.

On the other hand, sauerkraut is also quite high in sodium (according to a the nutritional information on a jar of it, a cup contains around 23-25% of the maximum amount of sodium one should consume daily). There are other health risks to consider that stem from sauerkraut's content of potentially carcinogenic nitrosamines, which are commonly found in salted, preserved foods. A couple of Google searches will show you that nitrosamines are frequently injected into lab rats to induce tumors for cancer studies. Vitamin C prevents the creation of nitrosamines, however, and there seems to be a lot more information circulating about sauerkraut's cancer-fighting abilities than there is about its being a potential trigger.

YouTube has a couple of videos on how to make sauerkraut. This one pretty much illustrates the basic no-frills method. I've never tried to make it myself, but intend to do so over the next few days. A small batch, anyway.

People have all kinds of variations on it. Many involve adding caraway seed or sour apples (or both). Some add fennel or celery seed, minced dill, scallions or shredded carrot. Red (or purple) cabbage makes a particularly attractive sauerkraut. I think that my first (or second) experiment may very well involve red cabbage, shredded carrot and some caraway seed.

Cheap Eats: TVP (and a recipe for TVP Gyros)

TVP is textured vegetable protein made from defatted flour. It's ridiculously inexpensive bought in bulk in supermarkets or health food stores (e.g. I pay around $1.00 for 2-3 cups of the chunks from the local health food store's bulk bin). It's quick to cook and is usually used as a meat substitute. It comes in granular form or a variety of chunk-like shapes. Usually tasteless by itself, it will readily absorb the flavour of whatever liquids and seasonings are used to rehydrate it.

It's loved and used by vegetarians, as well as by people interested in frugal living. It's light and stores well, and is also sometimes used by campers and backpackers because of this.

The granular form is fantastic in chili, Sloppy Joes, tacos, cabbage rolls -- anywhere you'd use crumbly hamburger in that sort of way. The chunks are great in stews and casseroles. A quick Google search will bring up all kinds of recipe ideas. For example, you can find a bunch here, including instructions on ratios to follow to substitute the granular form of it for hamburger. One of my favourites is is a recipe adapted from Dorothy R. Bates' TVP Cookbook. I've made it for omnivorous friends and they've liked it as much as I have.

Gyros

Soak for 10 minutes:

1 cup TVP chunks or slices
1 Tbs ketchup
1 cup boiling water

Cover tightly and nuke in a microwave on high for 5 minutes. Check to see if tender and then chill in refrigerator.

Mix the following ingredients for the marinade / dressing:

1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbs red or white wine vinegar
1 tsp each basil and oregano
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Mix marinade with the cooked, drained and chilled TVP for a few hours. You can also increase the amount of marinade and let the TVP marinate overnight.

Get the veggies ready:

1 large tomato, diced
1 cucumber, thinly sliced
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
1/4 cup kalamata olives, sliced
2 Tbs fresh mint leaves, chopped or 1-2 tsp dried mint (fresh is better)
3 cups lettuce, shredded

You'll need:

Six (6) pita breads, cut in half (you can warm these in the oven in advance if you prefer). Toss the veggies w/ the TVP and fill the pita pockets. I usually opt to cut a pita bread and tuck one half inside the other to make a stronger bread. Alteratively, I also like to take a whole pita bread and treat it like a wrap (i.e. the way pita is usually wrapped around donair meat in the Maritimes), securing it with aluminum foil or waxed paper to hold it together and to keep it from dripping. If you fill half-pockets, you'll get 12 gyros, and if you use either of the other two methods, you'll get 6.

Vegan recipes in the news, redux.

I think that, just for kicks, I may turn this into a daily post. Or at least do a summary every other day. The concern with newspaper websites is that links change and that content sometimes disappears, otherwise I'd consider doing it weekly. I'm not even sure if anybody's actually checking these out, so any feedback is welcome.

Oregon's The Register Guard spotlights the raw food diet by offering up recipes for Zucchini Linguine, Parsnip Veggie Dip, Pecan Pie, Raw Bloody Mary and a Groovy Green Garden Dip.

And yet again, more vegan recipes in the ''news''

Hungry?

The Welland Tribune offers up Vegetarian Chili Pie (easily veganized if the cheese is switched to a dairy-free soy cheese).

The Orillia Packet & Times has a recipe for a dill-seasoned Tofu ''Egg'' Salad (Nayonaise or Vegenaise can be used instead of the real stuff).

The Atlantic's Megan McArdle features recipes for Mushroom Crostini and decadent Chocolate Pancakes w/ Berry Sauce.

The Daily Dispatch has recipes for Nearly Instant Thai Coconut Corn Soup, Tortilla Casserole from Nava Atlas' Vegan Express, as well as Macaroni and Four ''Cheeses'' from Skinny Bitch in the Kitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin.

The Killeen Daily Herald has a great article on vegan nutrition that features a recipe bonanza: Smokey Curry Veggies and Basmati Rice, Mediterranean Vegetable Pizza for starters, then Penne Vodka from Veganomicon, (by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero) and a Scrambled Tofu recipe from Vegan With a Vengenace (by Isa Chandra Moskowitz).

More vegan recipes ''in the news''...

The Toronto Star has a Sesame Lime Soba Noodles w/ Shiitakes & Snow Peas recipe from Canadian cookbook author Dreena Burton's book Eat, Drink & Be Vegan (which a vegan friend of mine who is remarkable in the kitchen recently recommended to me). From the same book, they feature a Chipotle Lime Two-Bean Hummus recipe. Vegan Freak Radio interviewed Dreena about her book last November; you can listen to it here.

The Guardian (UK) has a short article on another Canadian cookbook author (one of my absolute favourites!), Sarah Kramer, and features a Portobellos Mushroom Bake that sounds delicious, as well as Brainless Banana Pancakes and Sarah's Blueberry Dilip (which is a kind of crumble).