Eggnog Cookie Sandwiches

By John Deetjen, Outreach Coordinator

Eggnog Sugar Cookie 3

One of the best things about the holidays is the holiday-themed cookies. Growing up, I always enjoyed dipping cookies in a cold glass of eggnog. Something about the sugariness of the cookies and the creamy, spicy flavor of the eggnog is such a great combination and always reminds me of the winter holidays.

Flash forward several years, I still enjoying this holiday treat as a vegan, thanks to companies like So Delicious who makes delicious plant-based eggnog.

This recipe is one my wife, Sam, came up with. It’s an upgrade on the cookies and eggnog concept, but made into a sandwich with two buttery shortbread cookies and a creamy eggnog cheesecake filling that’s sure to bring joy to your world these winter months!

Eggnog Sugar Cookie 2

Eggnog Sugar Cookie 1

Shortbread Cookies

Yields 10 cookie sandwiches

Cookies

  • 2 ¼ cups flour
  • ⅓ cup sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • Dash of salt
  • ½ cup vegan butter—more if needed, see instructions
  • ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Sprinkles—optional

Eggnog Cheesecake Filling

  • 1 container plain vegan cream cheese—we used Daiya
  • ¼ cup vegan eggnog—we used So Delicious
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 310℉.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients.
  3. Using a fork, add vegan butter and vanilla extract. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients.
  4. Mix ingredients into a ball of dough using your hands. Add 1 tablespoon butter at a time if still crumbly.
  5. Roll ball of dough into a sheet about ⅛ inch high. Use cookie cutters to cut shapes. Alternatively, shape cookies with hands for a rustic look.
  6. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper, place cookies on the cookie sheet, and bake for 15-20 minutes.
  7. While the cookies are baking, combine all cheesecake filling ingredients and whisk thoroughly.
  8. When done baking, remove the cookies from the oven. Let cool until firm enough to handle.
  9. With a butter knife, spread the filling on a cookie and put another cookie on top. Put in refrigerator to cool for at least one hour.
  10. Enjoy alone or dunk them into a glass of non-dairy eggnog or milk.

Mythology Diner

By John Deetjen, Outreach Coordinator

Myth Diner

It’s freezing cold and snowing in Toronto, Canada, yet a crowd is gathered outside of a new restaurant waiting to be seated. This restaurant is called Mythology Diner, and it’s the latest creation of Toronto-based, vegan chef Doug McNish and The 5700 Inc.

Mythology Diner is the city’s first all-vegan, late-night diner, and it bills itself as, “The Classics, Veganized.” Through a series of teasing posts on their social media accounts and news coverage from Toronto news outlets, the city’s foodies—vegan and non-vegans alike—were abuzz with excitement to try this new restaurant.

The location is right in the heart of Parkdale, which has been nicknamed “Vegandale” because of how vegan friendly the neighborhood has become. The 36-seat restaurant has everything you could want in a diner—an enticing menu, a sizable bar, funky artwork, and a warm ambiance. A DJ played hip-hop music to the packed restaurant of patrons enjoying their plant-based creations. It wasn’t surprising that we had to wait for almost an hour to be seated.

Myth Diner

The menu is exactly what the restaurant advertises—veganized classics. Appetizers include wings, poutine, and garlic bread. Main course options include meaty sandwiches, mac and cheese, and Salisbury-style steak.

After much consideration of what to order, we decided to order french onion soup, cheesy garlic bread, and “The Bloomer”—a breaded Vidalia onion with chipotle sauce. We also ordered the “Classic Burger,” cinnamon bun pancakes, and a root beer float for dessert!

The french onion soup was hot, had great flavor, and was topped with two pieces of bread with vegan mozzarella melted on top. It was the perfect appetizer for a snowy Canada night!

The garlic bread was soft and covered with the restaurant’s house-made, cashew-based cheese and topped with colorful, edible flower petals!

The Bloomer was amazing! I’ve never tasted anything quite like it. Fried, perfectly crispy, and paired with a creamy chipotle sauce—it’s a match made in vegan food heaven!

The Classic Burger was fantastic. The mushroom tempeh patty was grilled crispy and topped with maple chipotle barbecue sauce, caramelized onions, and shaved pickles.

Garlic Bread
Fench Onion Soup
The Bloomer

My wife and I both agreed that our favorite dish was the cinnamon bun pancakes. They were topped with cinnamon sugar swirl and cream cheese frosting, accompanied by house-made cashew butter, maple syrup, and tempeh bacon.

The root beer float was a delicious, sweet, and bubbly treat to round out our meal. It was topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream made from tiger nuts.

The Classic Burger
Cinnamon Bun Pancakes
Root Beer Float

Mythology Diner is busting every myth that you can imagine about vegan food, and it joins Toronto’s massive and growing vegan restaurant scene as a true creative gem! If you’re ever in the area, it’s a restaurant you’re not going to want to miss.

Vegan Inreach!

Helping Vegetarians and Vegans Sustain Their Choices

Hi! My name is Brian Ottens and I’m honored to be today’s VO guest blogger. Thanks for checking out this piece about vegetarian retention and recidivism.

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My daughter and me, celebrating meeting our 2013 Team Vegan goal.

The Situation

I went vegetarian almost 20 years ago and took out the eggs and dairy 14 years ago. Like so many, my heart is in the farm animal advocacy movement, but my employment isn’t directly related to it. So throughout those 14 years, I’ve volunteered with VO and have been fortunate to find a group of friends who are also veg. The social connections, both in-person and remote, are the primary reason I remain veg and in the movement. Thank you friends!

An after dinner photo with an extraordinary group. Having dinner is one of my favorite forms of socializing, and is so easy. Maybe you have a veg-friendly restaurant that others would appreciate an introduction to?
An after dinner photo with an extraordinary group. Having dinner is one of my favorite forms of socializing, and is so easy. Maybe you have a veg-friendly restaurant that others would appreciate an introduction to? 

But for most vegetarians and vegans (current and former), I suspect having good veg social connections is the exception, not the rule. And veg recidivism, a regression from making the best choices you can for animals, is rather high–a 2014 survey found there are five times as many former vegetarians and vegans in the population as current ones.

The research group Faunalytics estimates a random sample of 100 people would have 10 former vegetarians or vegans, 2 current ones, and the remainder (88) never veg. (Faunalytics)
Faunalytics estimates a random sample of 100 people would have 2 current vegetarians or vegans but 10 former ones.

But you can help. Because humans are heavily influenced by our friends and environment, you can be a positive influence to help current vegetarians and vegans sustain their lifestyle as an effective complement to recruiting new vegetarians and vegans.

Influence Others to Remain Veg!

Research has shown that it’s important for vegetarians and vegans to make social connections and make the lifestyle part of one’s identity. This means you can do a lot to prevent recidivism by connecting with vegetarian or vegan acquaintances. Whether they be be co-workers, neighbors, fellow churchgoers, classmates, or sports teammates, you have a unique connection to them, so develop that connection into a social one.

Whenever you meet someone who is vegetarian or vegan, see if they have other connections with you. Maybe you have friends in common? Maybe you like the same restaurants? Maybe you enjoy cooking a similar cuisine at home?

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A veg co-worker and I staff the registration table at a Servathon volunteer event in Washington DC. From dining to recreation, almost any activity is an opportunity to be social.

Of course there’s plenty of non-veg things that could be a social connection – humor, recreation, worldview, etc. The point here is to find ways to make social connections in order to fight veg recidivism. You don’t have to change their views or diet–they’re already veg. You’re just making a friend. Can it get any easier?

What Opportunities Work For Me?

I work for a large employer and I use that opportunity to develop a community of vegetarians, vegans, and veg-minded coworkers. Every month or two, I arrange a meet-up. It can be lunch at a veg-friendly restaurant, an invitation to the local vegfest, or another common interest. Sometimes a lot of people show up and other times only a few. But there’s always good conversation because we have an important connection. My veg co-worker group currently has ten members, so I’m not talking about major organizing. Scale it to as many or as few as you’d like.

A social connection happens whether they attend or just read my invitation and decline. Tip: My invitation is usually personalized with more than just a meet-up invitation which can lead to a better response.

Some veg & veg-minded co-workers as we get ready to do a Thanksgiving morning 5k. I enjoy working out with friends who are also veg. I’m not the fastest or strongest, but try to have the funniest jokes.
Some veg and veg-minded co-workers as we get ready to do a Thanksgiving morning 5k. I enjoy working out with friends who are also veg. I’m not the fastest or strongest, but I try to have the funniest jokes.

By choosing to develop social connections with vegetarians and vegans, you’ll reinforce their habits as well as increase the overall quality of life for you both. Because there’s such a large percentage of vegetarians and vegans who cease to identify with those labels, if you influence their commitment to staying veg, you’ll be doing a great service for the animals!

Now get out there and make some friends!

Making friends is easy – ask these 3 year olds! This is my daughter and the son of another veg co-worker, taken when we were at work and our families were together.
Making friends is easy – ask these 3 year olds! This is my daughter and the son of another veg co-worker, taken when we were at work and our families were together.

Gardein Chick’n and Cauliflower Curry

By Lori Stultz, Outreach Coordinator

Chick'n Cauliflower Curry

I’m always a little skeptical when I come across a new recipe that claims to be a “quick meal.” On a number of occasions I’ve set out to make one of these quick meals and it has taken longer than anticipated. So for anyone who has shared a similar, frustrating experience, I’m here to validate that this recipe is, in fact, quick!

I bring this up because preparation and cook time wasn’t actually my motivation for making this dish, but it was a much-welcomed bonus! And I figured other quick-meal-seekers, curry lovers, and Gardein fans would appreciate it!

Chick'n curry ingredients

Chick'n patties

I encourage you to add or substitute any other kind of vegetable you like!

I added broccoli, and if I had eggplant on hand I would have added that too. I served this meal over long grain white rice, but it would taste excellent with whatever type of rice you have available. Keep in mind that some types of rice can take up to an hour to cook, so in the spirit of keeping this meal quick make sure you consider the amount of time it will take to cook the rice.

Chick'n Curry

I highly recommend this recipe to anyone who is attending or hosting an event where there will be non-vegans. The flavors are so rich and the chick’n is so flavorful that even meat eaters will enjoy it!

Let your meat-eating friends know that Gardein is a favorite of David Carter—a 300 lb NFL player!

Gardein Team with David and Paige Carter
David and Paige Carter at Gardein Headquarters Tasting New Products

And keep checking Gardein’s website and your grocery store freezer section—they’re coming out with new products all the time!

Gardein’s Chick’n and Cauliflower Curry

Serves about 6.

Ingredients

  • 1 package Gardein Chick’n Scallopini
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 large onion, thinly sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1″ piece fresh ginger, minced
  • 2 bell peppers (red, yellow, or orange), cut into short strips
  • 1 can (14 oz) coconut milk
  • 1 tablespoon agave syrup
  • 2 tablespoons curry (adjust amount depending on strength of curry)
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 large head of cauliflower, cut into small florets
  • For garnish: chopped fresh cilantro and green onions

Directions

  1. Cook scallopini according to package instructions. Let cool slightly, then shred into small pieces and set aside.
  2. Preheat non-stick deep skillet with olive oil at medium heat. Add onion, garlic, ginger and peppers and cook, stirring occasionally until soft, about 5 minutes.
  3. Add coconut milk, agave syrup, curry powder, flour, salt and pepper and stir well. Bring to a boil and add cauliflower. Return to boil, then reduce heat, cover and cook for 15 minutes.
  4. Add the scallopini pieces and cook another 5 minutes.
  5. Serve the curry chick’n and cauliflower over your choice of rice and garnish with cilantro and/or green onions.

Grilled Sausage and Pepper Hoagie + Garlic Potato Wedges

By Jamila Alfred, Maryland/DC Events and Outreach Coordinator

Tofurky Hoagies

The winter season calls for savory items, carbs, and hearty eats—or all of the above if possible.

You see, “Junk Food” is my middle name, so I couldn’t help but pair two awesome recipes to make the ultimate comfort food dish! This hoagie and wedge combo hits the spot in more ways than one, and it was super easy and fun to make. Warm yourself up with this delectable delight and enjoy!

Grilled Sausage and Pepper Hoagie

Yields 4 servings.

Ingredients

  • 2 red, yellow, and/or orange bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and cut into ½” thick rings
  • 1 large onion, peeled and cut into ½” thick rings
  • 2 tablespoons preferred vegetable oil, divided
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt, divided
  • 1 package Tofurky Italian Sausages
  • 4 vegan hoagie buns

Directions

  1. Prepare a hot grill fire.
  2. On a medium baking sheet, toss peppers with 1 tablespoon oil and ¼ teaspoon salt. Place onion rings on same baking sheet and drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil and sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon salt, keeping layers intact.
  3. Grill peppers, onion, and sausages, turning as needed until vegetables are softened and partially charred and sausages are nicely browned.
  4. Grill buns briefly to lightly toast, then divide sausages, peppers, and onions between buns.

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Garlic Potato Wedges

Yields 4 servings.

Ingredients

  • 3 cloves peeled garlic, minced
  • ½ cup Italian parsley, minced
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano
  • 4 organic russet potatoes (or about 1 ½ pounds of baby Dutch yellow potatoes), cut into wedges
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper

*Note that you can get every ingredient the Garlic Potato Wedges recipe calls for—aside from the olive oil, salt, and pepper—directly from Melissa’s Produce!

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
  2. In a bowl mix together the garlic, parsley, and oregano.
  3. Roll the potato wedges in the mixture to coat all sides.
  4. Coat a baking sheet with the olive oil and place the wedges in a single layer. Season with salt and pepper.
  5. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until fork tender.

You can find the original Hoagie recipe here from Tofurky and the Garlic Potato Wedges recipe here from Melissa’s Produce. Thanks for the delicious meal, Tofurky and Melissa’s Produce!

Half-Roasted Hemp Chowder with Hemp Seed Chick’n Bites

By Alex Bury, VO Organizational Development Consultant

Chowder, Ready to Eat!
Chowder, Ready to Eat!

When my coworker asked me to make a recipe using a hemp food product for Hemp History Week, I thought of chowder right away. Hemp seeds have a mild, natural sweetness. I had already been craving a good chowder, and I knew the sweetness of hemp would be a perfect flavor.

Hemp seeds are high in quality protein, and they contain the omegas stearidonic acid and gamma-linolenic acid.

I created the delicious, nutritious recipe below, and I’ll definitely make it again!

This is a rich, filling soup with added protein from Tofurky’s Lightly Seasoned Slow Roasted Chick’n strips.

Tofurky Chick'n
Tofurky Lightly Seasoned Slow Roasted Chick’n

Hemp milk gives the chowder a wonderful creaminess. I roasted half the veggies for extra flavor—the deep caramelization of roasting adds a layer of taste. If I’d roasted all the veggies, it might have been too “roasty” and less like a delicate chowder. Simmering half and roasting half turned out perfectly!

If you’re wondering about the cabbage, trust me! When cabbage cooks, it becomes sweet and a little earthy. It adds a great background flavor that you won’t even recognize.

Veggies for chowder
Veggies—Half-Simmered and Half-Roasted

Serves about 6.

Ingredients

  • 2 stalks celery, chopped
  • ½ yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • ¼ green cabbage, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
  • 2 bags frozen organic sweet corn, or the kernels from 4 ears organic sweet corn
  • 4 medium red-skinned potatoes
  • 1 32-oz container vegetable stock (or substitute with plain water)
  • 2 tablespoons safflower oil
  • 1 box Tofurky Lightly Seasoned Slow Roasted Chick’n
  • 1 container unsweetened hemp milk
  • ¼ cup fresh hemp seeds (I found them in the spice section of my store, but you may need to ask your grocer)
  • Water as needed
  • 2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • ¼ cup nutritional yeast

Directions

  1. Mix the chopped vegetables together in a big bowl (celery, onion, carrot, cabbage, garlic, corn, and potatoes). Divide in half.
  2. Heat the oven to 450°F.
  3. Add half the veggies and the entire container of stock (or equivalent amount of water) to a large soup pot. Bring to a boil, then let simmer.
  4. Spread the other half of the veggies onto a cookie sheet or baking dish. Drizzle with the oil and then roast in the hot oven for about 15 minutes. The timing depends on your oven—you want them nice and brown but not burnt. It’s okay if they’re not tender all the way through.
  5. While the two batches of veggies cook, make the Chick’n strips:
    1. Toss the Chick’n lightly in about 1 tablespoon of hemp milk.
    2. Coat with hemp seeds and toss.
    3. Carefully arrange on a baking dish (I used parchment paper and they came out perfectly) and bake in the same hot oven for 10 minutes. Set aside.
  6. When the oven veggies are the color you want, carefully add them to the soup pot. Add water if you need to. You want enough liquid to cover, but it should still be on the thick side. Simmer for about 10 minutes until all the veggies are very tender.
  7. Turn off the heat. Stir in the hemp milk, salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast.
  8. Puree about ⅓ of the soup. An immersion blender is best for this step, but if you need to use a blender or food processor instead, wait until the soup cools first.
  9. When the soup is partially blended, it should be rich and creamy with lots of tender chunks of vegetables. Taste and adjust for seasoning. If you used water instead of stock, you may want more salt. Add it carefully!
  10. Serve hot bowls of chowder topped with baked hemp Chick’n strips and salad. I sprinkled more hemp seeds on my salad!

I’m enjoying the rest of the hemp milk in my morning coffee and I’ll have leftover chowder for lunch. It was a hit here at home, and I hope you like it too!

Goulash with Lightlife Meatless Crumbles

By Toni Okamoto

This great recipe for Vegan Goulash comes from Vegan Outreach friend Bob German. You know a vegan lifestyle is spreading when The Salina Journal in Kansas is publishing vegan recipes!

I made it this past weekend and it was so tasty, I ate an entire pot in one day! I highly recommend it.

P1050712

Ingredients:

Directions:

Cook macaroni in separate pan with water until almost tender. Brown crumbles and onion in skillet. Add cooked macaroni, tomatoes and V8 juice. Let simmer until juices are almost gone. Garnish with chili powder.

Variations: add small can tomato paste when adding tomatoes and V8 juice; add can of drained mushrooms when adding tomatoes and V8 juice.

P1050708

Above is a photo of the vegan ground crumbles I used. If your local grocery store doesn’t have this brand, I also recommend Yves Meatless Ground Round Original!

Since they don’t sell V8 at Sprouts grocery store, I picked up this R.W. Knudsen Very Veggie juice instead. I followed the recipe directions and everything tasted delicious! I also added a handful of Daiya cheddar shreds when I was cooking the tomatoes, and it was a yummy extra touch.

P1050704

Cheesy Breakfast Hash

By Lisa Rimmert, VO Director of Development

Quorn, a readily available vegetarian meat substitute is now offering vegan versions of their popular meat-free products!

Having tried my share of vegan meats, I can easily say Quorn’s measure up! The texture is spot on—not too chewy, not too tough, and so flavorful. It would please vegans and meat-eaters alike!

The only issue I had with these vegan meats was deciding how I wanted to cook them and what I wanted to enjoy them with.

I whipped up some gravy to pair with the Vegan Breaded Chicken/Chik’n Cutlets. I added a side of slaw I had leftover in my fridge, and it was a great, filling meal! These cutlets are the perfect main dish, especially for meat-eaters incorporating more vegan food into their diets.

Quorn Breaded Chicken Cutlets
Quorn Vegan Breaded Chicken/Chik’n Cutlets

And with Quorn’s Vegan Chicken/Chik’n Tenders, I put together a delicious, cheesy breakfast hash.

Your stomach is growling now, right? No problem! My tasty hash recipe is listed below.

Before you run out to get yourself these vegan meats, check out the store locator on the Quorn website. You can specify which products you want and locate the stores closest to you that are carrying them.

Breakfast Hash
Cheesy Breakfast Hash with Quorn’s Vegan Chicken/Chik’n Tenders

Cheesy Breakfast Hash

Serves about 2.

Ingredients

Hash

  • ½ of a 32 oz bag tater tots
  • 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
  • ½ bag of Quorn Vegan Chicken/Chik’n Tenders
  • 2 vegan sausage patties (I used Hilary’s Apple Maple Veggie Breakfast Sausage)
  • ½ cup broccoli florets
  • ¼ cup edamame
  • ¼ cup raw cashews

Cheese Sauce

  • 1 cup non-dairy milk
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • ¼ cup nutritional yeast
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon onion powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Directions

  1. Preheat oven and heat tater tots according to instructions on bag.
  2. While the tots are cooking, heat oil in a large skillet. Add Quorn Vegan Chicken/Chik’n Tenders, vegan sausage, broccoli, and edamame. Cook over medium heat.
  3. When heated through, add cashews and lower heat.
  4. Meanwhile, for the cheese sauce, combine milk and flour in a small saucepan over medium heat and mix thoroughly.
  5. When sauce begins to simmer, reduce heat to low and add nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt.
  6. When tater tots are finished cooking, carefully add them and the cheese sauce to the skillet and mix well. Serve hot and enjoy!

December Community Events

CE Dec

Vegan Outreach’s Community Events team ended 2017 with some awesome events! From cooking demonstrations to a vegan hip-hop event, the vegan message was spread far and wide!

Gwenna Hunter, Greater Los Angeles Community Events Coordinator, organized a Holiday Soul Food event at the Alma Reaves Library in Los Angeles, CA. Chef Sol—AKA Josue Solis—captivated the audience with his personal story about going vegan. The room was packed to its capacity, and attendees enjoyed a tasty vegan meal. Chef Sol served macaroni and cheese, collard greens, cornbread, and “chicken” casserole made with Gardein products. Daiya Cheezecake was served for dessert!

CE Dec

CE Dec

Roopashree Rao, Indian American Community Events Coordinator, organized a vegan food tasting event at the Jain Temple in Sunnyvale, CA. Approximately 450 people enjoyed sampling a vegan dish, which included Kite Hill unsweetened plain yogurt in place of dairy yogurt, a popular food used in Indian cuisine. Roopashree assisted the chef and learned how to cook for 500 people. She also gave a presentation on the connection between Ahimsa and veganism.

CE Dec

CE Dec

Nzinga Young, Greater NYC Community Events Coordinator, organized an adult vegan cooking class at the Brownsville Recreation Center in Brooklyn, NY. Attendees learned how to make a massaged kale salad and discussed the ethical, environmental, and health benefits of adopting a plant-based diet. Immediately after the class, some of the attendees met as a group at their local grocery store and purchased the ingredients they’d used in the class. What a fantastic moment it is when we see how our message motivates people!

CE Dec

CE Dec

Victor Flores, Greater New Mexico Community Events Coordinator, organized an event at the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice, in Albuquerque, NM. The Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice provides resources and a space for organizations and individuals working on peace and justice issues to network with one another and share information. Victor teamed up with local rapper I.Q. The Professor and organized—in just eight days—The Conscious Eating Hip Hop event. The event featured a number of other local hip-hop artists and delicious vegan food.

CE Dec

CE Dec

The Community Events team would like to send a big Thank You to all the volunteers and donors who make this work possible! We truly appreciate your support!

May ’16: No-Bird Noodle Soup + Eat Like You Give A Damn Cookbook Giveaway

By Lori Stultz, Outreach Coordinator

Eat Like You Give A Damn Cookbook

Vegan Outreach has partnered up with Herbivore Clothing’s Michelle Schwegmann and Josh Hooten to give one lucky Vegan Outreach supporter a copy of Eat Like You Give A Damn: Recipes for the New Ethical Vegan!

This cookbook also happens to be written by Michelle and Josh, a busy vegan couple managing a business and a household. They write:

Often we are asked for the ‘one cookbook’ that would be good for new vegans…. and we think this is it. From breakfast through dessert, simple to sorta fancy (but not really fancy because we are not!), healthy to decadent and always, ALWAYS totally yummers. We honestly live on these recipes. Baked oatmeal? At least twice a week. Kale salad? All the time. Beet burgers, tahini dressing, spinach salad, tofu feta, Sweetpea snickerdoodles… better go, I am getting hungry.

Along with the cookbook, Michelle and Josh are also going to send a combo pack of Herbivore Clothing’s stickers, buttons, and magnets.

This giveaway will run from Tuesday, May 17 through Saturday, May 21. We’ll announce the winner next Tuesday, May 24.

And while you wait for the results of the giveaway, we thought we’d give you a little taste (literally and figuratively) of Michelle and Josh’s book. This No-Bird Noodle Soup recipe comes directly from Eat Like You Give a Damn and sounds absolutely delicious!

Tofu Chicken Noodle Soup

No-Bird Noodle Soup

Serves about 4.

Ingredients

Tofu Chicken

  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 8 ounces extra-firm or super-firm tofu, cut into ½-inch cubes
  • 1 tablespoon reduced-sodium tamari
  • 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes

Soup

  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 1½ cups finely chopped carrots
  • 1½ cups finely chopped celery
  • 1 cup finely chopped onion
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 teaspoon dried parsley
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 6 cups no-salt-added chicken-style broth
  • 8 ounces angel hair pasta, spaghetti, or fettuccine noodles, broken into bite-sized pieces
  • Salt
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

  1. To prepare the tofu, put the oil in a large skillet (cast iron if you have one) or mist with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. When hot, add the tofu; it should sizzle. Don’t crowd the tofu (cook in batches if your skillet isn’t large enough to hold the full amount). Let it cook undisturbed until crispy and brown on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Turn the pieces over and let the other side cook undisturbed until crispy and brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
  2. Sprinkle the tamari over the tofu and shake the skillet to coat all the pieces evenly on both sides. Sprinkle half the nutritional yeast over the tofu and shake the skillet to distribute it evenly. Turn the tofu over and sprinkle with the remaining nutritional yeast.
  3. To prepare the soup, heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. When hot, add the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion starts to brown, about 5 minutes.
  4. Stir in the bay leaf, thyme, parsley, and a few grindings of pepper. Add the broth, increase the heat to high, and bring to a boil.
  5. Add the pasta, decrease the heat to medium, and cook, stirring once or twice, for 6 minutes.
  6. Stir in the reserved tofu and any nutritional yeast in the skillet. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Season with salt and additional pepper to taste. Stir in the lemon juice just before serving.