Happy Birthday to THREE employees of Vegan Outreach! Donate $10 or more today, February 2, in honor of Jack, Breege, and Sarah, and we’ll send you a coupon for a free Tofurky product*!
www.VeganOutreach.org/Donate
*Offer only available in the U.S. Coupon will be snail mailed to you.
Great news!
Excerpts from Time.com, January 28, 2015, Vegan Meatballs on Ikea Menus Soon:
“The vegan twist on the Swedish meatball will be sold in IKEA stores starting in April. It’ll join new vegan and vegetarian options from Chipotle and White Castle, among others.”
Reviewed by Toni Okamoto
Complete with familiar and easy-to-follow recipes, Mistress Ginger brings fun into the kitchen with her hilarious book, Mistress Ginger Cooks!. Her lighthearted approach to vegan cooking is welcoming and approachable, which makes attempting a new style of cooking less daunting.
My favorite thing about the book (besides her personality) is that Mistress Ginger doesn’t assume the reader knows basic cooking skills. Although, some of the recipes are more complex, she walks you through them step by step and in detail. She also caters to both health conscious groups, as well as those seeking comfort foods, with tasty recipes including: French-Kissed Toast, Blueberry Stud Muffins, Tofu Gone Wild, Miso Sexy Soup, and many others with equally creative names.
I chose to review Tie-The-Knot Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pie and Presto Pesto. Both were extremely delicious and copied straight from her book, you can see my notes below:
Unfortunately I couldn’t get a good enough photo of this pie, but it was seriously amazing! I recommend following the recipe as written, but if you’re impatient like me, you can have the pie “chill” in the freezer to expedite the process. Also, I only used 2/3 cup of sugar instead of the 1 cup of sugar and it was still sweet enough.
Another note: the second time I made the pie, I made it gluten free by lining a pie dish with gluten free ginger snap cookies instead of using a prepared graham cracker crust. It was delicious!
Tie-The-Knot Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pie
1 cup nondairy cream cheese, softened
1 cup unsalted smooth peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 can full fat coconut milk, chilled for 6-8 hours
1 prepared vegan graham cracker crust
1/3 cup nondairy milk
2/3 nondairy semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons vegan buttery spread, softened
Dearly beloved, we have gathered here to make a pie. Using an electric mixer, blend the nondairy cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl until well combined. Rinse and dry the beaters.
Remove the coconut milk from the fridge, but do not shake the can. (When chilled, the cream from coconut milk rises to the top.) Gently turn the can upside down and carefully remove the lid. Pour the watery liquid into a storage container and reserve for other purposes. Scoop the coconut cream from the can and put it in a large bowl. Using the electric mixer, beat the coconut cream on high until fluffy, about 5 minutes.
Fold 1 cup of the coconut cream into the peanut butter mixture. Using the electric mixer, blend on low speed until smooth. Scoop the mixture into the pie crust, smooth the top with a rubber spatula, and chill for at least 2 hours.
Heat the nondairy milk in a small saucepan over medium heat just until it begins to steam and bubble. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate chips until melted. Add the vegan buttery spread and heat over low heat, stirring until smooth. (This chocolate sauce is not only delicious on peanut butter pie. Try spreading it on you lover … but wait until it cools).
Pour the chocolate sauce evenly over the peanut butter filling. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula and chill for at least hours so the chocolate topping becomes firm.
Store loosely covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator and use within 1 week.
Consider extending marriage rights to other foods in your pantry. Why should peanut butter and chocolate be the only ones allowed to wed? Lets spread the love, broaden the spectrum of flavorful pairings, and brighten our plates with glittering diversity. Amen, sister friend!
As you can see from the photo below, the Vegan Outreach staff LOVED this dish! Josie and Jack ended up thumb wrestling for the last serving, and you can see from the picture who won the battle. Josie loved it so much that she couldn’t even wait to serve the pasta in a bowl — she ate it straight out of the giant pot.
The only thing I changed about the recipe was adding nutritional yeast. It’s totally a personal preference, but I enjoy a little cheesy-tasting kick to my pesto. I added 1/8 cup and it was perfect!
Presto Pesto
2 cups stemmed fresh basil, firmly packed
1/2 cups walnuts
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus more as needed
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more as needed
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
Combine the basil, walnuts, garlic, lemon juice. salt, and thyme in a food processor. Pulse until just mixed and still chunky. Stop as needed to scrape down the work bowl with rubber spatula.
Process the mixture while adding the oil in a steady stream. Stop processing as needed to scrape down work bowl. Continue processing until completely mixed but still a little chunky. Pesto should be mostly smooth with just the right amount of stubbly texture, like my men.
Season with additional lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste. The flavor of the pesto by itself should be very bold, also like my men. Wow, I never realized how much my men and pesto have in common. That must explain why I cannot get enough of either.
By Toni Okamoto
I’m currently training for a marathon and I’m in the market for new shoes. Could this pair be the winner? If you have any feedback in running with the vegan Asics, please share in the comments below!
Excerpts from Kicks on Fire, January 17th, 2015, Asics Gel Lyte 5 Vegan – Navy / Burgundy:
“Now adorned in an appreciating colorway of Navy and Burgundy, the silhouette flaunts a vegan composition which is essentially a microfiber material that is specifically designed and used as an animal-friendly substitute. The upper boasts a mixture of mesh, [faux] leather and suede draped in the respective palette, while resting atop a crisp White midsole and a stark Blue outsole to complete the aesthetically pleasing design.”
Order a Sofritas burrito on Monday, January 26th and get a free veggie burrito voucher! Give it a try and let us know what you think about them!
Vegan protein?! Jack and his short little pal know about protein! And for the next two days – through Thursday, Jan 22 – a $10 donation to VO will get you a coupon for a free protein-packed Tofurky product!* www.VeganOutreach.org/Donate
*Offer only available in the U.S. Coupon will be snail mailed to you.
By Toni Okamoto
Far too often, cats are mistaken for having a selfish, bad attitude. Masha would like to prove that misconception wrong. When she found a baby on the cold streets of Russia, she kept him warm until she had the chance to alert human passersby of his presence.
I love all kitties and I think they’re all wonderful, but if you’re skeptical about their awesomeness…read more about Masha’s story below:
Excerpt from NY Post, January 15, 2015, Hero Cat Saves Baby From Freezing to Death:
Masha, a long-haired tabby cat, saved the life of a baby abandoned in the streets of Russia — after she climbed into the box he was discarded in and kept him warm, health officials said.
“The baby had only been outside for a few hours and thanks to Masha … he was not damaged by the experience,” a hospital spokesman told Central European News.
The whiskered hero even meowed to get the attention of a passerby.
“She is very placid and friendly, so when I heard her meowing, I thought that perhaps she had injured herself,” said Obninsk city resident Irina Lavrova. “Normally she would have come and said hello to me. You can imagine my shock when I saw her lying in a box next to a baby.”
By Toni Okamoto
It’s currently 43 degrees in Sacramento, CA and I’m wrapped in a blanket with the heater on full blast. Usually I wouldn’t be thinking about ice cream in this chilly weather, but New York City’s newest vegan ice cream shop has my belly grumblin’ for some creamy treats!
Read more about DF Mavens below:
Excerpt from Well+Good, January 12, 2015, Introducing New York City’s Biggest Vegan Ice Cream Shop:
DF Mavens just opened in the East Village, and it’s New York City’s biggest vegan ice cream shop yet, with all kinds of creative flavors, a juice bar, and other treats for the meat- and dairy-averse.
Situated on the corner of St. Mark’s and Second Avenue, the shop is owned by Malcolm Stogo, an ice cream business veteran who has a long list of frozen treat accomplishments. (He’s credited with inventing the Cookies ‘N Cream flavor, for example, in 1977.)
His first dairy-free outfit operates out of a small factory in Astoria and sells its 37 pints at natural food shops (and select Whole Foods) all over New York City. “The demand was there, so they decided they wanted to open a shop,” says the store’s general manager (and eight-year-vegan) Pamela Amatucci. “The idea is to eventually have a chain of them.”
Ice creams at the shop are made with a variety of “milk” bases—soy, coconut, and almond—which makes the flavors range in texture. Coconut milk-based options are creamier, for example, than almond milk-based ones, which are harder. There are also sugar-free options made with stevia, and all are gluten-free except for the Almond Cookie Monster. Prices start at $4.50, for one large scoop.
Ely is one of the most prolific Adopt a College leafleters of the fall 2014 semester: he traveled to 17 different schools, directly handing Vegan Outreach booklets to more than 10,000 students!
In October, Ely teamed with VO’s Southeast Outreach Coordinator, Yuri Mitzkewich, and together they reached 2,000 students in a single day at the University of North Florida:
Another solid visit today for Team VO FL! Got a very friendly reception from the UNF students we met here throughout the day. The take rate was decent, and as the day progressed, the number of students stopping to talk increased steadily. Between me and Ely, we talked the issues over with nearly two dozen curious students over the course of the day.
Among the highlights for me was meeting Mike [above, right] – two years back he’d gone vegetarian to vegan from receiving a leaflet here! Today he’s a musician playing in hardcore punk band No Restraint, who spread the vegan message through their music.
Also super cool was meeting freshman Jackie, member of the UNF vegetarians/vegans club. She got super excited seeing we were on campus spreading the message. We exchanged contact info and she said she’d contact her fellow group members to come out and help leaflet in the spring. She was the first to offer her help, then three more people we talked to ended up wanting to get involved too!
Ely also scored some great conversations; even a few times following interested students, walking with them while talking, so they wouldn’t be late for class. Towards the end of the day, Ely blew me away, doing something I’d never in a million years thought I’d get to see. Handing off to student Zheng Huo [with Ely, above, left], he got her into an extended conversation on everything covered in the Your Choice by switching the discussion over to Mandarin Chinese! So great hearing them get into it; she had questions for him on everything from dairy to the killing of male chicks, to protein, to milk and other dairy and meat substitutes. By her reaction walking off, there was no doubt she was changing her eating habits drastically from their meeting today. More amazing work coming from this awesome new volunteer of ours!
—Yuri Mitzkewich, 10/22/14
By Toni Okamoto
We’re sad to announce that California has taken a huge step back by overturning its ban on the sale of foie gras.
It is more important than ever for us to continue spreading veganism, since we obviously can’t rely on laws to protect animals.
Excerpts from The New York Times, January 7th, 2015, Judge Overturns California Ban on Foie Gras:
Foie gras is back on the menu in California. A federal judge on Wednesday struck down a state law barring sale of the fatty duck or goose liver, ending a ban that had lasted more than two years.
Animal rights groups have long decried foie gras, which has traditionally been produced by force-feeding ducks and geese, as inhumane. And in 2004, California became the first state to outlaw it; the ban took effect in 2012.
Many chefs across the state, who had lamented the loss of a favored ingredient and led protests against the ban, exploded in celebration after the ruling was announced. “We are freaking out,” said Jon Shook, one of the chef-owners of Animal in Los Angeles. “The person who buys our foie gras called us from the courthouse crying with happiness.”