Viva la soul! Review of Vegan Soul Kitchen

Bryant Terry's new cookbook, Vegan Soul Kitchen, takes "soul" seriously. Instead of focusing on traditional soul foods and simply replacing the animal products, Terry tries to define what the soul in soul food really represents. It's as much a book about a culture as it is about food. But that doesn't mean it is filled with dense gray pages of type. It also doesn't mean Terry is preaching or trying to convert anyone.

Why do I mention this book in this blog? Because many of these recipes are absurdly easy to make, and the others, while they may require a few pots and bowls and a little time, go together easily. Also because the cookbook includes directions for making several home-made condiments, which can enhance your convenience food!

Baked sweet potato fries

When I first opened this book I was confused. The book is not divided in the usual sections: appetizers, main dishes, side dishes, dessert, breads, blah blah blah. Instead it is divided into sections that are important to those southerners who swear by soul food. That means we get a whole chapter on watermelon. And drinks. And condiments. Along with the expected (but differently categorized) chapters on vegetable side dishes, grain dishes, protein dishes, desserts and other sweet things.

The whole of it adds up to a focus on the lighter parts of the meal. It's a great book for parties, right out of the box. It's also a good book for home-made staples. You can create a light corn broth, a zinging cajun-creole seasoning mix, pickles and ketchup and salsa and chutney and more. Terry is also interested in keeping his meals healthy, so you'll find little emphasis on fat and lots of emphasis on fresh.

cajun-creole spice mix

In other words, this book is more for the edges than the center. You will find red beans and rice and you will find "not-so-dirty rice" and hoppin' john, yes. There are many main dish recipes. But the bulk of the book is in the seasoning, the introduction, the end of the meal. Not to mention the melody.

Every recipe is prefaced by the name and performers of a piece of recorded music. The cookbook itself begins with the score for "Blessing" by Donald Bryant. After the song we are usually treated to a little bit about the food, where it's from, memories, some hint of how it came to be.

Some nuts and bolts:

* Every recipe starts on a new page, at the top.

* There is a section on equipment at the beginning.

* There are color photos sprinkled through it.

* Although some of the recipes take several steps, none require the skill of a kitchen magician. You can make these.

corn broth on its way to becoming succotash soup

I tested several recipes and enjoyed them all. When I made Succotash Soup with Garlicky Croutons I told my daughters that this one recipe was worth the price of the book. I am now using the cajun-creole spice mix that I created from the chapter on condiments, and I know I don't have to settle for anything commercial again.

straining the succotash soup. easier than I thought.

File under "entertainment", "basics", "staples", and "VEGAN".

crossposted at Vegan Soapbox

Cheap, Easy, Healthy

Jeff Novick, RD at the McDougall forums offers this cheap and easy vegan meal:

1 28 oz Can Whole Tomatoes (no salt added)
1 16 oz Bag Mixed Frozen Vegetables
4 oz Frozen Chopped Collard Greens
1/2 Large Bag Success Instant Brown Rice

This took about 10 minutes to make, only because the rice takes 10 minutes to make. I put the tomatoes and the veggies in a pot and as soon as the rice was done, i added it.

You can read about the nutrients here >>

Vegan Cranberry Cabbage Coleslaw

This is a really simple, highly nutritious side dish or snack.

It takes about 15 minutes to make and just about anyone could make it. You can chop the veggies by hand or with a food processor, whatever you prefer.

By the way, WH Foods says this about cabbage:

Cabbage is an excellent source of vitamin C. It is also a very good source of fiber, manganese, folate, vitamin B6, potassium, and omega-3 fatty acids. Cabbage is also a good source of thiamin (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), calcium, potassium, magnesium, vitamin A, and protein.

Cabbage also contains phytochemicals called indoles and sulforaphane, the breakdown products of compounds called glucosinolates.

For an in-depth nutritional profile click here: Cabbage.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 head of cabbage, chopped
• 1/2 head of red cabbage, chopped
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 1 tablespoon agave nectar
• 1 cup Vegenaise or other vegan mayo
• 3 tablespoons cranberry sauce

Directions: Mix everything together in a bowl. Serve cold.

Chains & Fast Food for Convenient Vegan Food

These are the old standbys for when there’s nothing else available at that time or day, at that price point, or in that quick time-frame. Being vegan doesn't mean you have to eat healthy, home-cooked, unprocessed meals all the time. Though a whole foods diet is best for your health and the environment, chain restaurants and fast food have a place in modern society. Here are just a few places where you can find convenient vegan options:

Subway
For vegetarians, order the veggie sub. For vegans, get the veggie sub minus cheese on Italian bread (other Subway breads have animal products like cheese or egg in them).

Carl’s Jr.
Most Carl’s Jr. locations offer a salad bar, baked potatoes, and a few other vegan meals. If you’re on a budget or in a rush, this might be a good choice.

Del Taco
Just like Carl’s Jr., this is a good option if you’re budget is tight or if you’re in a hurry. Get a plain bean burrito without cheese or customize another menu item to omit the meat and dairy.

Taco Bell
Same as Del Taco - get it without cheese, meat, sour cream, etc.

Wendy’s
For baked potatoes or salads.

7 Vegan Convenience Foods

There are more vegan convenience foods than some omnivores imagine. You just have to know where and how to find them. That's where this blog comes in. We help you make veganism convenient through quick and easy cooking as well as vegan convenient foods.

Erik at Vegan.com listed a few vegan convenience foods in his last podcast. We thought we'd share that great resource.

Here are the vegan convenience foods Erik recommends:

1. Clif, Luna, Lara, and Probar Energy Bars
2. Kettle Chips
3. Tings
4. Late July Crackers
5. Almond Butter Balls
6. Primal Strips
7. Annie’s Goddess Dressing

Personally, I enjoy Lara bars and Luna bars the most. I don't much care for Probars, but we're all different and you might like them a lot. Energy bars are an excellent emergency food to keep in your purse or backback for those times when you're stuck with omnivores who refuse to accommodate your eating preferences. Or, obviously, they're great on hikes or bike rides, too :)

Convenient: CousCous

Here's one of the most convenient vegan foods available: couscous.

Couscous is a wheat product that cooks in only 5 minutes. You can eat it where ever you'd eat pasta or rice. So you can eat it with stir-fried veggies, baked tofu, or beans. Or you can eat it alone with some spices. No matter how you eat it, couscous sure is convenient.

Wikipedia says this about couscous,

"The couscous available to buy in most Western supermarkets has been pre-steamed and dried, the package directions usually instruct to add it to a little boiling water in a pot and covering for 5 minutes to make it ready for consumption. Another quick and easy method is to prepare it by placing the couscous in a bowl and pouring the boiling water or stock over the couscous, then covering the bowl tightly. The couscous swells and within a few minutes is ready to fluff with a fork and serve. Pre-steamed couscous takes less time to prepare than dried pasta or grains such as rice."

You can even cook couscous in the microwave. Just boil the water in the microwave and add the couscous, let it sit for a few minutes and then fluff it up and eat it.

Saying no to Veggie Brothers

Today I decided to place an order with Veggie Brothers. I noticed that all of the entrees and appetizers are varieties of fake meats. Several were on the order of "hot and spicy chicken wings", however, and I remembered just how tasty such concoctions can be. Not too long ago I ordered some from a vegan Thai restaurant on Melrose in Los Angeles (yes, vegan Thai, and no, I do not know why spicy chicken wings in a Thai restaurant).

The other items for sale include "home cooking" items like mashed potatoes, pasta, veggie chicken noodle soup. What is nice about the Veggie Brothers offerings is that you can order a single serving, a family-size package, or even a "food service" pack. Because I had not tried their food before I chose several single serving items and one family pack (yes, southern fried "chicken"). I looked at the shipping information and did not see any cost information at this point so I went ahead filling out the order.

My total was about $50, which seems a good amount for a trial of this sort. The items are frozen so I knew there would be some expense involved in the shipping, as there is at the other two vegan food delivery services I have tried (Hungry Vegan and BuyKind).

I knew shipping would be more than amazon but I wasn't expecting to be socked with a $50 "special handling" charge on top of the shipping charge. I looked into it and learned that deliveries west of the Mississippi must go by air, which requires the use of dry ice, which is what the extra charge is for.

So curses. I just couldn't justify it for my order. And I don't want to order a huge amount in case I don't like any of it. So I won't be ordering from veggie brothers until they open a plant closer to home.

Now it's up to you! If you live east of the Mississippi and have tried veggie bros or want to, please do! And let us know about your experience.

Vegan Valentine's Day Chocolates

My mother-in-law (who is not vegan) sent these terrific vegan chocolates to me and my husband for Valentine's Day!

The chocolates are from Rose City Chocolates and their description of the chocolates says:

"Go Vegan! The Best Vegan Chocolates Will Amaze Your Valentine. This splendid selection of vegan specialties has been made without any animal products of any kind, with no sacrifice in flavor or to our commitment to all natural and fresh ingredients. Additionally, all of the sugar used in making these chocolates is processed from the sugar beet - there are no animal products used in processing or filtering the sugar. The chocolates in the selection are shown below. Each Box is beautifully wrapped in a hand-tied ribbon."

We didn't wait for Valentine's Day to come. We opened the box and tasted a piece. They are fabulous!

So, if you're looking to get some vegan chocolates for yourself or a special someone, consider these from from Rose City Chocolates!

Ordering in again

I just made my second order from a vegan food delivery site. This time it was buykind.com. This site offers various meal items from several restaurants in different parts of the country. By going through the restaurants and placing an order, I learned this much:

1. There are a total of six restaurants so far. One of the restaurants does not yet offer online ordering; you have to order by phone or email. I decided against that option simply because I want to stick with getting it all done online.

2. You have to complete an order at one restaurant before going to another. They are separate orders.

3. Delivery information is incomplete and seems to vary from restaurant to restaurant but I may have that wrong. To be safe, I ordered from a restaurant in Venice, California because it's relatively close to me (about 200 miles). And imagine my surprise when no shipping charge was made at all! But then I got a call from Jody at buykind saying they calculate shipping after the order is placed, and they offer a flat rate per box which is quite reasonable for me. She said I could add up to five more items for the same rate, so I am going back to choose a few more items.

4. The website could use some work. As a web designer myself I tend to be sympathetic. It can be hellish getting it the way you want. Also, this is a brand new business.

5. Because I ordered Saturday the order will be prepared and shipped on Monday and will arrive Tuesday. Sounds good to me.

Vegan Food Brands

Here's a list of some food brands that tend to be vegan/ vegetarian (not in any particular order):

1. Fantastic Foods
2. Cliff Bar
3. Luna Bar
4. Boca Burgers
5. Alternative Baking Company
6. Silk
7. Garden of Eden
8. Lightlife
9. Cascadian Farm
10. Tofutti
11. Foods Alive
12. Gardenburger
13. Earth Balance
14. Newman's
15. Walnut Acres
16. Health Valley
17. Muir Glen
18. After The Fall
19. Natural Feast
20. Now and Zen
21. Chocolate Decadence
22. Santa Cruz Organic
23. Galaxy
24. Annie's Natural
25. Seeds of Change
26. Loma Linda
27. Morningstar Farms
28. Yves Veggie Cuisine
29. Celestial Seasonings
30. Natural Touch

Just be sure to double check the ingredients and/or look for a label that says "vegan".

Convenient Burritos Not Vegan

Cedarlane Foods had a labeling problem that resulted in a minor recall. The burritos use soy cheese but it's made with dairy casein. The large boxes are labeled properly, but the individual burritos were not.

Sadly, if you thought these burritos were vegan, you were mistaken.

From the FDA recall news feed:

"Cedarlane Natural Foods of Carson, California is conducting a voluntary recall of Cedarlane Low Fat Bean Rice & Cheese style Burritos because they contain undeclared casein, a milk protein. People who have an allergy, or severe sensitivity to milk run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume these products. No illnesses have been reported to date.

The reason for this voluntary recall is due to the fact that an allergen, casein, (a milk protein) was not noted on the printed packaging of the individual units. Specifically, the printed outer carton contains the word casein in the allergen statement. The individually wrapped burrito however does not reference casein in the allergen statement. The labeling error was detected by a routine review at Cedarlane Natural Foods as well as the Food and Drug Administration.

Cedarlane Low Fat Bean Rice & Cheese Style Burritos are available in a 6 oz plastic film wrapped packaging as well as cartons of an 8 count, 6 oz family pack. The affected open code dates are from "062808A" (June 28, 2008) through "082908A" (August 29, 2008) and is located on the bottom right, after the heating instructions, of the print plastic wrap of the individual burrito. The open code date of the outside printed carton is similar to that of the individual units but without the 'A' and can be found on the right hand side panel, near the bottom of the carton.

Cedarlane Low Fat Bean Rice & Cheese style Burritos are distributed through all 50 states (U.S). Consumers that possess this product with the respective open code dates are advised by Cedarlane Natural Foods to return the product to the store of purchase for a full refund. Refunds can be obtained until June 1, 2008.

Grocers and distributors have been advised by Cedarlane Natural Foods to withdraw the product with respective open code dates listed above from sale and hold it for pick up from the company. Consumers with any questions may contact the company either by telephone at (800) 826-3322 and speak with Linda Manzo, extension 800, or by e-mail at we-care@cedarlanefoods.com"

I'm thinking Cedarlane needs a few emails sent to them asking that they make their burritos the vegan way.

To get the FDA recall news, sign up with your email here or get the feed for a feedreader here.

Vegan Pork And Beans

A very simple, easy vegan dish is the vegan version of pork and beans.

Here's how you make it:
Take a can of vegetarian beans. Red beans work well, but you can use whatever you like. Then take a vegan hot dog or two and cut the hot dogs up into chunks. Heat up the beans, add in the hot dogs, and voila! You're done! Eat it with rice or toast.

I decided to showcase here a slight variation of veggie pork and beans. I make this version often.





Ingredients:
1 can of spicy navy beans
2 Italian flavored veggie sausages
1 cup of cooked macaroni noodles

Prearation:
Heat everything up in a pot on the stove for about five to ten minutes.


Another variation I like to make is the caserole version. Take the pork and bean mixture and pour it over crackers or toast in a caserole dish. Top with crackers or toast and bake for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees F. You can even add a bit of shredded vegan cheese on top if you like.

Southwest Vegan Enchiladas

Ingredients:

* 1 package of tortillas (corn or flour, whatever you like. I prefer corn.)
* 1 can of vegan baked beans
* 1 large jar of salsa (I like mild or medium southwest style.)
* 1/2 bag of frozen veggies (southwest mix or corn and peppers)
* 1-2 cups of shredded vegan cheese (I like Monterey Jack flavor)

Preparation:

Mix beans, veggies, lots of salsa, and most of the cheese in a bowl. Pour some salsa into your baking dish (I like a rectangular casserole dish). Arrange your tortillas sort of like tacos opening upwards. If you have a round baking dish or just a few tortillas, make a pie instead by lying the tortillas flat on the bottom of the dish. Scoop your bean and veggie mix into the tortillas (or on top of them if making an enchilada pie). Then roll up the tortillas and dump more salsa on top (or layer again with tortillas if making a pie, then spread salsa over them). Spread the salsa around with a spoon or rubber spatula so all the tortillas are smothered in salsa.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes.

Then sprinkle a little more cheese on top and bake another five minutes or until cheese is melted.

You can serve it with vegan sour cream, guacamole, rice and beans, or alone. It's a yummy, easy meal that almost everyone enjoys.

Tofu, Quinoa, Artichoke

The tofu: I took a 16 ounce chunk of tofu and cut it up into 6 large slices. I marinaded it in teriyaki sauce and then stuck it in the oven at 350- 400 degrees F on a greased baking tray for 30 minutes. (You can broil it too to get a crispier texture.)

The quinoa: I put half a cup of dry quinoa in the rice maker with 1 cup of water and turned the rice maker on. Quinoa is incredibly easy to cook, you can make it like rice or polenta. It's super high in protein and good for you; it's basically a vegan power food.

The artichoke: I cut off the stem, the leaf tops, and the outer leaves of an artichoke. Then I boiled it for 30 minutes (you can steam it instead), cut it in half, scooped out the fuzzy stuff and dropped a dollop of margarine or vegan mayonnaise inside.

Vegan Groceries Online

Shopping for groceries on Amazon sounds weird, but it's definitely easy and convenient. Here are some vegan selections:

Easy Vegan Recipes

The vegan web is growing. More and more vegans are sharing their stories and recipes online to help each other and expand our network of information. Here are some other websites with simple, vegan recipes:

• Compassion Over Killing - easy vegan recipes
• Fat Free Vegan - Quick & Easy Vegan Meals
• Real Food - Cheating Easy Vegan
  
• The Veggie Table - Easy Vegetarian Recipes
• Vegan Outreach - easy meal ideas
• Fantastic Foods brand - easy, simple vegetarian recipes
• Savvy Vegetarian - salads
  

Miso Soup

Miso soup is really easy to make, but since this blog is about vegan convenience food, there's an even easier way to make miso soup: prepackaged.

Most miso soup is vegan, but check the ingredients to make sure. Some brands are not vegan.