PETA's Vegan College Cookbook

Check out PETA's Vegan College Cookbook
at peta2.com.

I just took a look at PETA's Vegan College Cookbook at the bookstore. I was surprised at how simple the recipes are. It's full of really convenient vegan recipes. They are super-easy.

And none of the recipes require a stove!

Simple satisfying dessert

Yesterday I went to a local farmers' market. I admit to being lucky that there are several in my area and they all boast bountiful amounts of fruits and veggies, as well as nuts, olive oils, breads, coffee, and more. I set my calendar to remind me of the Saturday morning farmers' market because I am always forgetting otherwise. So now I go more often.

I bought three quarts of organic strawberries there. When I got home I stole some oranges from a neighbor's tree. This tree grows untended and its fruits spill over the fence separating our lots, so it's fair! It's also true that I can get these fruits but my neighbors can't reach them without going into my yard.

I looked on the web for simple recipes featuring these two fruits, and came across the following on ChefMD:

Sweet Balsamic-Glazed Oranges and Berries
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 3 minutes
4 servings
194 calories per serving, 4% from fat

Ingredients
4 navel oranges
4 cups hulled strawberries, sliced
One-quarter cup balsamic vinegar
One-quarter cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon juniper berries, crushed (optional)
One-quarter teaspoon nutmeg, preferably freshly grated
Pomegranate seeds (optional)


Preparation
Peel oranges and cut crosswise into one-quarter inch thick slices. Arrange on four serving plates. Arrange strawberries over the orange slices. In a small saucepan, combine vinegar, brown sugar, and, if desired, juniper berries. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Strain out juniper berries if using. Drizzle mixture over fruit; top with nutmeg. Garnish with pomegranate seeds, if desired.

Substitutions
If you can find them, use blood oranges—their flesh and juice are tomato-red, but orange-sweet.

Tips
The balsamic glaze thickens as it sits. If you use the juniper berries, be sure to strain them from the glaze before serving. Their aroma lasts just long enough to perfume the sauce, and deepen its flavor. These berries are too strong to eat by themselves. The optional pomegranate seeds provide crunch and visual delight. When they are in season in the fall and winter, make sure to buy a whole pomegranate, just for the wonder of those nuggets of tartness and crunch, and to make this dish exceptional.

Nutritional Analysis
Total fat (g): .9;Fat calories (kc):8.1;Cholesterol (mg):0;Saturated fat (g): .1;Polyunsaturated fat (g): .3;Monounsaturated fat (g): .1;Fiber (g):7.9;Carbohydrates (g): 48;Sugar (g): 40/;Protein (g): 2.7;Sodium (mg): 11;Calcium (mg):11;Magnesium (mg): 38;Zinc (mg):.3;Selenium (mcg):2;Potassium (mg):645;Flavonoids (mg):7.4;Lycopene (mg):0;Vitamin A (RE): 43;Beta-carotene (RE): 96;Vitamin C (mg): 184 Vitamin E (mg): 1.09;Thiamin B1 (mg):0. 19;Riboflavin B2 (mg): 0.17;Niacin B3 (mg): 0.9;Vitamin B6 (mg):0. 17;Folic acid (mcg):83
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The recipe is easy to make, delicious, and rather gourmet in effect. You can see the recipe on the website here:

http://www.chefmd.com/recipe_display.php?id=18

Also on this page is a video showing the doc-chef talking about the virtues of strawberries and making the dish. Excellent.

Dipping: not just hummus any more.

I made this white bean dip this morning. It contains roasted garlic (five cloves), rosemary, cannelini beans, lemon zest and juice, a bit of olive oil and red wine vinegar. Oh yeah, and some salt and cayenne pepper. It was easy to make (using a food processor) and tastes really good.

The recipe is in the 125 Best Vegan Recipes cookbook. I recommend this book to anyone just starting out as a vegan - it is nonthreatening, the recipes are clear and easy to make, and so far they have all been delicious. Well, I recommend it to any vegan really. Or nonvegan.

Convenient Vegan Cookbooks

It can be difficult being vegan. Especially when you're a new vegan and you don't know all the "ins and outs" of vegan shopping and cooking. Sometimes you can feel like being vegan is so hard that you might just think about dropping your new vegan habit.

STOP.

Please don't give up on veganism. Giving up on being vegan is giving up on yourself. You're not giving yourself enough credit. You CAN do this! You can!

Here is a list of some cookbooks that can help. These books make vegan cooking simple, easy, convenient, and cheap:

Specifically about vegan convenience and ease:

• Conveniently Vegan
• Easy Vegan Cooking
• The Everyday Vegan
• Skinny Bitch in the Kitch
• The Vegan Family Cookbook
• The Simple Little Vegan Slow Cooker

Specifically for quick vegan meals:

• Simply Vegan: Quick Vegetarian Meals
• Fresh and Fast Vegan Pleasures
• Vegan Microwave Cookbook
• Raw In Ten Minutes
• Vegan Express

Specifically for cheap vegan meals:

• Vegan on a Shoe String
• Student's Go Vegan Cookbook

Specifically for single vegans:

• Raw Food Made Easy For 1 or 2 People
• Vegan Bites: Recipes for Singles
• Vegan Meals for One or Two
• The Single Vegan

And here are some great beginner books for the newly vegan:

• Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide
• The Vegan Sourcebook
• Vegan Handbook
• Vegan Planet
  
• Being Vegan

Ode to the pressure cooker

There are specialized pans to have, and specialized pans to not have. The pressure cooker is one to have if you ever cook at all.

Pressure cookers are good for vegetables, grains and dried beans, use much less energy and time to cook and therefore are also good for the environment and for you.

For example, you can "presoak" dried beans in a pressure cooker in five minutes, and then cook the beans (with all the trimmings) for about a half-hour or 45 minutes and you're done. With prep time (chopping onions and carrots and so on) and time to bring the pot up to pressure, then, getting dried beans on the table, cooked perfectly, will take about an hour and a half - or less. Cooking beans conventionally can take up to eight hours for presoaking plus two to three hours for cooking, not including prep time. I have learned that sometimes the beans I buy are not the freshest (yes, there is a difference in dried beans) and they take a really long time to get done. Even the tough ones give in to pressure cooking, though.

Pressure cookers do an admirable job on fresh veggies, like carrots, and on grains like rice and can even be used to make some interesting desserts. You might be lucky, like I was, and get one for free on freecycle or craigslist, but however you get it be sure to use it!

Hash!

So you decided to cook the other day? Or you went out to dinner and couldn't finish? So there are bits and pieces of leftovers in the fridge? And maybe you are a little leftover-phobic? Hash might be the solution. Hash can be made with a wide variety of leftovers, combined with a few fresh ingredients if you like.

Hash usually contains potatoes so if your leftovers don't include any you might want to zap one in the microwave. Hash usually contains some sort of protein thing, too, and bits of whatever else might go with it. My general method is:

Heat a tablespoon or so of oil in a frying pan. Chop up a bit of onion, toss it in. The onion usually goes first, if you are going to use it, because it needs the chance to soften up. Add any other fresh veggie type ingredient, like bell pepper, and any fresh protein thing, like the fresh mock sausage (gimme lean is one type) so these things can cook a bit and even get a little crispy, then the chopped cooked potato. Turn the heat up a little to crisp it up (I think hash should have some crispness to it), then it's nice to add a bit of spinach or other bright green leafy veg (I use frozen). Sprinkle with some paprika or red pepper (depending on your heatness tolerance and what's in the hash) and some parsley and pepper, and that's it. At the table you can give it a shake of salt if you like.

The hash pictured has onions, leftover half baked potato, leftover cooked portabello mushroom, a bit of fresh gimme lean sausage, 1/4 red bell pepper, a bit of firm tofu, sliced, and a sprinkling of spinach. It tasted great!

10 Minute Vegan Meals

The Urban Vegan has posted another installment of 10 minute vegan meals.

Here are some examples of the meals:

• Throw 1/2 cup of canned pumpkin in the food processor with 2 T olive oil, 4 or 5 garlic cloves, and a cup of beans. Spread on a toasted, Earth-Balance-spread baguette.
• Make a grilled vegan cheese sandwich. Don't forget the sliced onion and tomato.
• Fried rice: In a hot wok, saute an onion in canola oil until soft. Toss in thawed frozen veggies (peas & carrots, for example). Toss in rice, and coat with oil. Add soy sauce, Bragg's or Nasi Goreng paste, to taste.
• While boiling pasta, toss in some chopped Swiss chard and loads of sliced garlic. Drain, toss with extra virgin olive oil, salt and red pepper flakes. Top with vegan parmesan or nutritional yeast.

Take a look at both of them:

• Summer 10 minute vegan meals >>
• Autumn 10 minute vegan meals >>

Chili impromptu

Chili can go together with a few basic ingredients, plus odds and ends. The variety makes it fun and possible. You can throw this one together in 20-25 minutes.

Chop up a small onion. Saute in a little neutral oil until soft, a couple of minutes. Chop up a few other veggies if you have them. I used some zucchini and carrots. Throw those in, cook for a couple of minutes. Toss in a 14.5-oz can of beans (in this case I used Cuban black beans, which means they come with some nice extra ingredients well suited for chili), a 14.5-oz can of chopped or stewed or diced tomatoes, and as much chili powder as you like. I used maybe two tablespoons. I also added a healthy shake of cumin for that extra smokiness.

In a pinch, use frozen chopped onions or dried onions or onion salt, add dried veggies and skip the saute steps.

Heat until it all until hot. Break up large pieces of tomato if you like. I served it over brown rice, which I had in my freezer. When cook rice, I make big batches in my rice maker and freeze serving-size amounts in freezer bags. They microwave perfectly in about two to three minutes.

Boxed Indian Meals

Much of Indian cuisine is vegetarian or vegan. Indian convenience foods are great prepackaged options. Tasty Bite brand labels their vegan foods prominently, just look for the check boxes on the back. I like Punjab Eggplant and Spinach Dal.

The boxed foods found in the grocery aisle with rice and dried beans are often a good bet for vegan convenience foods. There are various rice mixes, couscous mixes, and other traditional "side dishes." Vegan meals can be made by combining various side dishes to make complete meals.

Often that grocery aisle also has the premixed spice packets. These are great for adding flavor to tofu, seitan, veggies, or beans. Just read the ingredients carefully because not all are vegan. However, ignore the pictures on the spice packets. Taco seasoning made for meat tacos can work well for tofu tacos too. Marinade meant for chicken or beef can work just fine on non-meat items like potatoes or TVP.

Quick Sweet Gnocci

This vegan meal is SWEET. It’s gnocci (ptato filled pasta) with carmelized carrots and rosemary.

We used frozen gnocci, available at almost any grocery store. We cooked according to the directions on the label.

In a separate frying pan, we cooked sliced carrots with a little oil, a little sugar, and a little sherry.

We added the carrots to the cooked gnocci and topped with some rosemary.

Healthy Vegan Top Ramen-ish Soup

This is a cheap, simple, quick, nutritional soup, especially when paired with a multi-grain slice of bread or a baked potato. It’s basically a healthy Top Ramen. (Not in the noodle sense, in the cheap and quick sense.)
The ingredients: vegetarian/kosher soup bouillon, frozen vegetables, nutritional yeast, and water.

The instructions: bring 2 cups water to a boil, add a handful of frozen veggies, a tablespoon of nutritional yeast, two tablespoons of bouillon.

The ingredients shown here:


The soup shown here:

Crossposted at Elaine's diary.