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Vegan Registered Dietitian Jack Norris explains how easy it is for vegans to get their protein!
Author: Lisa Rimmert
Video: What I Eat Vegan in a Day
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By Toni Okamoto
Michelle Cehn from World of Vegan and I have started a new series called “What I Eat Vegan in a Day!” Episodes will usually contain quick meals that are easy to throw together, as well as what we order when we go out for food. In this episode, we start our morning at an all-vegan coffee shop in Oakland, CA called Timeless, and for lunch we made a Jackfruit Noodle Soup from the Vegan Outreach blog. We finished the day eating a vegetable soup from our favorite Japanese restaurant Cha-Ya, and of course we couldn’t forget dessert … heavenly Divvies cookies!
This particular video was made on a busy day where we ate out for two meals, but we plan on doing a lot more of these types of videos while we’re cooking in the kitchen!
Hope you find this series helpful and inspirational! As always, if you have any questions about vegan food, feel free to shoot me an e-mail: [email protected]!
Potluck and Comedy Show Raises Funds for VO
By Lisa Rimmert, Director of Development
I recently had the opportunity to bring together my three top passions: comedy, vegan food, and raising money to help animals. It was a wonderful evening, and I want to share a bit of it with you.
On Saturday, February 27, more than 60 people gathered for a potluck and comedy show in Denver. The Denver Vegans host a potluck once a month, and while they usually host a speaker, they invited me to plan a comedy show, and I’m so glad they did! Attendees savored delicious Italian-themed vegan dishes, then enjoyed a hilarious performance of improvisation and stand-up comedy.
I invited a group of local improvisers that included vegan, vegetarian, and “veg-leaning” folks, and they opened the show with some short form improv games–making everything up on the spot while incorporating suggestions from the audience. Assembled for this event only, the troupe named themselves The Crispy Tofurkys, a fitting tribute to a great vegan company!
Rahul Shah had the audience laughing with his gut-busting jokes and wonderful timing and delivery. You may recognize his name from the caption above, as he was also one of our improvisers. A true jack of all comedy trades!
I was very excited to have talented comedian Nancy Norton as our headliner for the evening. Nancy performs as a stand-up comic as well as an inspirational speaker. She has been heralded by the Denver Post and the Boulder Daily Camera, and she was so very funny, as always!
Thank you to everyone who came out and supported Vegan Outreach. We raised almost $300 to put toward outreach on college campuses all over the world! Thank you to the organizers at Denver Vegans, to all the performers for their time and talents, and to my wonderful friends who helped to set up the sound, sell merchandise, pack up after the show, and so much more.
Get in on the fun! Make a donation today and I will send you a Lisa Rimmert original joke!
Quinoa Pistachio Salad
By Toni Okamoto
National Pistachio Day was February 26th and inspired me to make this Quinoa Pistachio Salad. I was meal prepping for a weekend dance intensive and this turned out to be the perfect meal! It was protein-packed, light, and helped me sustain my energy. Give it a try!
Ingredients:
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup quinoa
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped mint leaves
- 1/2 cup dry-roasted pistachios, unsalted
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1 scallion, thinly sliced
- handful of grape tomatoes, halved
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
Directions:
Bring the veggie broth to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Add quinoa, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender and the liquid has been absorbed, about 13 minutes. Stir in olive oil; fluff quinoa with a fork. Set aside to cool slightly.
Stir mint, pistachios, dried cranberries, scallion, grape tomatoes, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Season to taste with salt and ground black pepper. Enjoy!
San Antonio, Texas
By Lori Stultz, Outreach Coordinator
Howdy! I hope the month of March is treating y’all well! … Did you catch that? That is my inner Texan, who I didn’t know existed, coming to the surface. But really, how could she not? I have been in the state for nearly a month, and let me tell you, it has been a wonderful experience!
I started in the northwest part of the state, in El Paso. I had an amazing reception from the students at El Paso Community College and the University of Texas at El Paso! The students were very friendly and expressed a great deal of curiosity about the issues surrounding farmed animals.
San Antonio was my next stop. I put in a full week of leafleting there and in and around the nearby city of San Marcos. The most memorable day of leafleting was when I was at Texas State University (TSU). Volunteer Morgan (who is a student at TSU and president of the TSU Animal Rights group) and I passed out 2,000 leaflets in a little over two hours! It was a crazy two hours, but so much fun!
TSU was not the only school where I couldn’t pass out leaflets quickly enough! When I was farther south in Edinburg at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley a week later I had a similar experience. In fact, the leafleting was happening at such a rapid pace that I didn’t notice a bee buzzing around my boxes of leaflets. When I reached down to grab another handful of leaflets, I must have made the little fella angry—he stung me. Luckily it didn’t hamper my progress and it was still a fantastic day of outreach!
Right now I am in Houston, and today was the last day of a week-long Houston leafleting marathon. Three volunteers from a local Houston vegan group joined forces with me and we handed out more than 1,600 leaflets at the University of Houston. We heard from several students who were already vegan or vegetarian, and we had a few conversations with individuals who had some great questions about farmed animals. Between the local Houston group and a new animal rights group at the University of Houston, there are going to be many more days of leafleting at this campus!
In addition to the rewarding days of leafleting, I’ve had the opportunity to participate in many fun activities during my time in Texas. I had the pleasure of doing some sightseeing and spending time out in the 80-degree weather when I was in San Antonio. My San Antonio host, Kaz Sephton, chauffeured me to several really unique places including the Alamo and the heart of historic downtown San Antonio, where we took a boat ride along the famous San Antonio River Walk.
She also took me to four different vegan-friendly restaurants in the city, none of which disappointed in yumminess.
The first restaurant we went to was an entirely vegan, gluten-free Tex-Mex restaurant called Viva Vegeria, where Kaz and I enjoyed the nachos and street tacos.
The second eatery was another entirely vegan Tex-Mex restaurant called Señor Veggie. This restaurant offered its own versions of delicious Mexican food, and after staring at a menu for about 20 minutes, Kaz and I finally ended up ordering two dishes, sharing the Portobello Fajitas and Mini Chalupas.
The third restaurant I had the pleasure of trying (twice!) was Green Vegetarian Cuisine. Green offered a wide array of dishes that could be made vegan, ranging from American cuisine to Mediterranean. I fell in love with the Protein Salad, which I ordered both times, and Kaz enjoyed the Artichoke and Portabella Quesadilla with mashed potatoes and the daily special, which was a Sesame Tofu Bowl.
Green’s sister restaurant, Earth Burger, is a vegan fast-food burger joint that offered a ridiculous number of vegan veggie burgers. Regretfully, I didn’t take any pictures of the food, but I can tell you that the best option on their menu isn’t a vegan burger—it’s the coconut soft serve ice cream. Yes, that’s right–they had a coconut soft-serve ice cream machine! Who votes that we get one of those machines in every restaurant that serves dairy soft serve? I do, I do!!
Well, as sad as it is to say, I imagine my inner Texan will slowly retreat as I move on to Kentucky and Tennessee next Friday. Beaumont, Nacogdoches, and Tyler will be my last three stops in The Lone Star State.
I am thrilled to say that the next time I write, I will have my wonderful intern, Holly Brown, with me. Holly will be joining me on the road for a little over five weeks (mid-March to mid-April), and I am so excited! I am looking forward to not only having consistent help leafleting, but am also happily anticipating the opportunity to share the experiences on the road with another person. I will properly introduce y’all to Holly next time (my inner Texan lingers!) as well as update you on how our joint leafleting efforts are going as we make our trek through the South.
Until then…
New York, New York
By Cynthia King, Guest Blogger and VO Supporter
How thrilling–more vegan food joints in New York! Terri‘s third location in Midtown East is a breath of fresh air–currently under some standard-issue NYC scaffolding. I went with my son on Wednesday last week, their second day up and running. The place was bright and bustling and the staff was warm and welcoming.
I dug right in to an amazing Kale Superfood salad, which was bursting with fresh kale, avocado, sweet potato, quinoa, chickpeas, and a thick yummy lemon tahini dressing. It was huge, filling, and delicious!
My son thoroughly enjoyed his Breakfast Scramble wrap, which was filled with scrambled tofu, Italian “sausage,” and Daiya Cheddar Style Shreds (he had them hold the spinach and hot sauce). He described the tofu as savory and fluffy–similar to the one at another of our regular vegan haunts, Champs in Brooklyn. The “sausage” was flavorful and the Daiya added great texture and taste.
We also tried the Protein Bowl and Southwestern salad, and they were both scrumptious. There was an assortment of cookies, brownies, and other vegan treats. We had Banana Walnut Bread for dessert, which was deliciously moist and sweet.
We look forward to returning soon for their famous Butterfinger Shake and Breakfast Slam. Being vegan is so simple, and with more incredible places like Terri’s to satisfy anyone’s appetite, there’s no reason for anyone to not go vegan! Remember, “Peace begins on our plates.”
Cynthia King is director of Cynthia King Dance Studio and choreographer whose work frequently examines the lives of animals, shedding light on the suffering they endure as victims of the food, entertainment and fashion industries. She is the creator of Cynthia King Vegan Ballet Slippers and mother of two vegan B-boy activists!The Butcher’s Son
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By Toni Okamoto
Oh my goodness! This place is amazing! The Butcher’s Son is the newest all-vegan restaurant in Berkeley, CA. They have a delicious house-made mozzarella, and it is absolutely perfect served fresh on the Caprese sandwich or on the Fried Mozzarella and Meatball sandwich.
Watch the video above for a sneak peek inside!
Flacos Restaurant, Berkeley, California
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By Toni Okamoto
Join Michelle Cehn and I as we give you a peek inside one of the tastiest all-vegan restaurants in the Bay Area: Flacos Authentic Vegetarian Comida Mexicana!
Traffic Talk Episode 2
By Toni Okamoto
In our second episode of Traffic Talk, Michelle and I discuss cheap eating tips for college students, quick and easy meal ideas, our favorite inexpensive cruelty-free shampoos, and more!
We’d love to hear your answers to vegan questions too! Leave them in the comments below.
Tofu Scramble
By Toni Okamoto
I’ve made this tofu scramble a million times and it has always come out perfect! The recipe was originally created by my friends Gina and Jeremy on Plant Based on a Budget, and I modified it slightly for the Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating.
Like a lot of our recipes, you can mix and match ingredients based on what you have on hand. For the scramble photographed above, I kept it simple with spinach and red bell pepper, but in the past I’ve added olives, or finely chopped potatoes, tomatoes, etc.
It’s a great breakfast entree that is delicious paired with potatoes, toast, and vegan sausage! Let us know how you try it!
Ingredients:
- 12 oz firm tofu
- crumbled 1/2 yellow onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 2 tbsp non-dairy margarine
- 1-1/2 tbsp turmeric
- 1 tsp oregano
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- your favorite veggies
- salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
In a large frying pan, cook the tofu, diced onions, and minced garlic in the oil for a few minutes. Add margarine, let it melt, and stir so that it coats the tofu. Add in the turmeric, oregano, and nutritional yeast and stir again. Add in most of your veggies. If you are using veggies that cook longer (such as broccoli, carrots, or potatoes), you’ll want to let them cook for about 10 minutes before adding in veggies that cook fast (such as mushrooms, kale, spinach, and tomatoes). Cook the whole mixture for about 15 minutes.