First Days Interning with Compassion Over Killing and a Tofu-Kale Benedict on Homemade Muffins

As I mentioned in my last post, last Saturday I trekked from my beloved Vassar home in New York to my summer residence in Washington D.C. Just north of the nation’s capital, Takoma Park, MD houses the headquarters of the phenomenal animal advocacy and vegan outreach non-profit known as Compassion Over Killing, for whom I’m proud to intern until mid-August.

In 1995, current vice president of the Humane Society Paul Shapiro founded COK as an all-volunteer high school club and served as its campaigns director until 2005, when my current boss and tireless animal activist Erica Meier took over the organization. Though COK has always functioned with a small staff and limited budget, it has and continues to tremendously impact the lives of farmed animals and spread the message of compassion for all beings, both human and non. In fact, COK has carved out a public reputation comparable to much larger animal advocacy organizations like PETA and Mercy for Animals. To name a handful of COK’s impressive campaigns, the organization has exposed numerous factory farms of egregiously cruel practices with undercover investigations, aired national pro-vegan commercials on MTV, worked with Morningstar Farms and Boca Foods to drastically reduce or completely eliminate (respectively) eggs from their products, and filed a successful lawsuit to end the egg industry’s continued use of the deceptive “Animal Care Certified” logo on egg cartons. Currently, COK works with Subway to provide more substantial vegan options than simply veggie subs with guacamole, hosts the U.S. Veg Week in April and the D.C. Veg Fest in September, continues their undercover investigations, and enacts strong legal pressure on the egg industry to stop misleading labeling practices. I could not harbor more pride toward working for a noble organization, uncorrupted and uncompromised in its core values thanks to its perpetually small size, and led by a strong-willed woman—one of the only female leaders in the American animal rights movement.

While I’ve only spent a mere week interning with COK, I’ve already contacted numerous locations of a national restaurant chain to inquire as to what vegan options they offer, handed out nearly 100 leaflets, staffed the first and wildly successful Rehoboth Beach Veg Fest, which took place just this weekend, and helped launch the Twitter campaign to promote national restaurant chain Tropical Smoothie’s recent addition of Beyond Meat chicken-free strips to its menu. Thanks to help from COK, Tropical Smoothie now offers the option of substituting with no extra cost the acclaimed Beyond Meat for the animal-based chicken normally used in its salads, sandwiches, wraps, and flatbreads. If you live near a Tropical Smoothie location, from now until June 30 you can help raise money for my darling organization by snapping a photo of your Beyond-Meat-ified Tropical Smoothie meal, sharing the photo via Twitter or Instagram, and tagging both @TSmoothieCafe and @BeyondMeat in the post. If Tropical Smoothie and Beyond Meat receive 500+ posts before June 30, Beyond Meat will make a donation to COK. Yay for animal-free options in national chain restaurants!

Though my 9:00 am-4:00 pm internship doesn’t allot me much free time, especially if I decide to attend a yoga class at my newly adopted D.C. studio of Yoga District after work, I’ve still managed to spend a good healthy chunk of time in the kitchen. My most recent endeavor in the surprisingly well-equipped kitchen of my D.C. apartment featured a vegan take on the brunch classic of Benedicts. Looking for a means of creatively employing the muffins I adapted from the Buckwheat Batter Bread recipe in Gluten-Free and Vegan Bread, I stumbled upon Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s “Tofu Benny” while paging through the COK office’s copy of her cookbook Vegan Brunch, and decided that regular muffins would prove just as delicious as the English variety normally featured in Benedicts. After adapting both Isa’s recipe for marinated tofu and Kristy’s recipe for cashew hollandaise sauce, as well as adding a succulent sauté of kale and mushrooms into the mix, I created a truly delectable dish that would put any cruelty-based eggy Benedict to shame. Indeed, since COK devoted much of its attention toward combatting the egg industry, it seems perfectly fitting that my first recipe post since beginning my internship would feature a compassionate version of a dish normally based in the suffering of hens. Erica and the rest of the COK staff—this one’s for you.

Tofu-Kale Benedict—Nut Free, Low Sodium.

Serves 2-4.

Ingredients:

4 Buckwheat Muffins (recipe below)
1 batch Smoky Miso Tofu (recipe below)
1 batch Cashew Hollandaise (recipe below)
1 batch Kale-Mushroom Sauté (recipe below)
4 cherry tomatoes, halved or 4 slices of heirloom tomato

Carefully slice the muffins in half horizontally, taking care not to crumble the more delicate muffin top. Toast the muffin halves to your liking. Spoon a dollop of the Kale-Mushroom Sauté on top of the cut side of both of the muffin halves. Layer each half with a slice or two of tofu, a generous drizzle of Cashew Hollandaise, and either two cherry tomato halves or a slice of heirloom tomato. Serve.

Four-Grain Muffins

Makes 4 muffins.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup medium grind cornmeal
1/3 cup teff flour
1/3 cup buckwheat flour
2 tbsp + 2 tsp brown rice flour
1 tsp coconut nectar or maple syrup
2/3 cups water

In a large mixing bowl, mix together all of the ingredients until very well combined. Cover with a dish towel and let rest in a warm spot (about 70 degrees) for 10 to 12 hours, and up to 24 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease four tins on a muffin tray and dust with flour. Pour the rested batter evenly into the four tins. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Smoky Miso Tofu

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients:

1 lb extra firm tofu, sliced into about 16 slabs
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp sweet white miso
2 tsp tamari
1/2 cup vegetable broth or water
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1-2 tsp liquid smoke
2 tbsp olive oil, divided

Combine all the marinade ingredients, using only 1 tbsp of olive oil for the marinade, in a shallow dish. Lay the tofu in the dish, taking care that each slab of tofu comes is contact with as much contact with the marinade as possible. Marinade for at least an hour and up to overnight, flipping the tofu halfway through the marinating process.

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Place the tofu slices in the skillet and cook for about 5-7 minutes each side, until a golden-brown crust forms on the outside. Reserve the unused marinade (you will use it in the Kale-Mushroom Saute).

Cashew Hollandaise

Makes about 1 cup.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked at least 1 hour
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Water to blend

Combine all of the ingredients in a blender, adding as much water as needed to reach the desired consistency (I used about 6 tbsp of water).

Kale-Mushroom Sauté

Serves 1-4.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp coconut or olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 bunch kale, chopped
4 cremini mushrooms, sliced

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Stir in the cumin and paprika, then add the kale and mushrooms. Sauté for about 7-10 minutes, until the kale is wilted and tender.

Recipe submitted to Waste Not Want Not Wednesdays, Allergy-Free Wednesdays, Healthy Vegan Fridays and Wellness Weekend.

Until next time, Ali.

Curried Carrot-Coconut Salad

Every Sunday and Wednesday nights mark the biweekly grocery shopping excursions embarked upon to replenish the Ferry House refrigerator with its usual bounty of fresh produce. However, because a house full of 21 hungry veg*n college students shares this bounty, it disappears into happy tummies. Fast. So fast that by the time the upcoming grocery shopping trip rolls around, one will most likely find a quite empty Ferry refrigerator. Case in point:

This temporary dearth of veggies proves most disheartening to the Ferry House members responsible for cooking dinner on Sunday and Wednesday night, seeing as grocery shopping happens after or during dinnertime. This Sunday, my spunky fellow Ferry-er Tamsin and I faced the refrigerator displayed above while charged with creating a satisfying meal for our 20 other house members. Containing nothing other than tomatoes, carrots, green bell peppers, garlic, lemons, and the previous night’s leftovers, the refrigerator essentially defined our dinner menu: a salsa of roasted tomatoes, peppers, and garlic; leftover adzuki-amaranth patties refurbished into a “pilaf” with lemon juice; and a shredded carrot salad.

Amazingly, Tamsin and I managed to create three rather phenomenally flavored dishes, but the carrot salad in particular stood out as the highlight of dinner. Tangy, succulent, and refreshing with the coconut’s tropical hint, the curry’s mellow spiciness, and the maple syrup’s deep sweetness, this salad earned multiple compliments from my dear Ferries. Though not available to Tamsin and I in the house’s brief food shortage, raisins and scallions would make lovely additions to this salad.

Curried Carrot-Coconut Salad—Raw, Soy Free, Nut Free, Low Sodium, Low Fat

Serves 8-10.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs carrots (about 8 large carrots), shredded
2/3 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
3 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1-1 1/2 tsp curry powder
Black pepper and salt to taste

Combine the shredded carrots and coconut in a large bowl. Mix well until combined.

Whisk together the maple syrup, oil, vinegar, and curry powder. Pour over the carrot mixture and toss until well-coated. Serve and enjoy!

Recipe submitted to Healthy Vegan Fridays and Wellness Weekend.

Comment Provoking Questions: What are some of your favorite improvised dishes?

Until next time, Ali.

Review of Numi’s New Savory Teas

A couple weeks ago, I entered and very unexpectedly won the Numi Organics Savory Tea giveaway hosted by Sonnet at the top-notch blog For the Love of Food. Confident that I would immediately adore Numi’s savory tisanes based upon my ardent enthusiasm for tea, veggies, and Numi’s products, I eagerly awaited my sampler pack of Numi’s new line of savory teas. Upon arrival, I thoughtfully tasted each tea individually on separate days, steeping them for 10 minutes as instructed before taking the first sip and then allowing the tea to continue to infuse as I happily lapped the savory pick-me-up. Each flavor of Numi’s savory tea combines organic dehydrated vegetable bits, herbs, spices, and naturally decaffeinated green or black tea to create a broth-like, immensely comforting beverage perfectly accustomed for afternoon contemplation. I’ve recorded my thoughts on each of the savory tea flavors below.

Spinach Chive
Ingredients: Spinach leaves, chives, dried lime, dill, onion, decaf green tea, coriander, turmeric, garlic.

Undoubtedly my favorite of all the savory teas, the Spinach Chive tasted like the essence of a comforting herbed spinach soup. The savory dill and onion predominated in a prevalent yet not overpowering manner to imbue the tea with a light, springtime flavor. Rather unfortunately, I chose to enjoy this tea first out of the six flavors in my sampler pack, causing the remaining five teas to pale in comparison.

Beet Cabbage
Ingredients: Beet, cabbage, dried apple, decaf black tea, mustard seed, parsley, orange peel, coriander, clove, honeybush.

Boasting a much more succulent flavor than Numi’s other five savory teas, the Beet Cabbage derived its pleasant earthy-sweetness from the complementary combination of beets and apples. While the clove predominates in both flavor and aroma, I could still slightly discern the cabbage’s cruciferous undertones, which verily impressed me.

Carrot Curry
Ingredients: Carrot, curry, cilantro, onion, ginger, turmeric, decaf green tea.

Though I usually find overwhelmingly spicy the flavor of curry powder, the Carrot Curry tea nicely balances the curry’s intensity with the carrots’ slight sweetness and the cilantro’s mild citrus undertones. Though a quite nice tea, the Carrot Curry did not harbor as complex a flavor as some of the other five savory teas, and thus tasted a bit one-note.

Tomato Mint
Ingredients: Tomato, onion, mint, lemon peel, parsley, cinnamon, black pepper, decaf black tea, allspice.

Probably my second favorite of the five savory tea flavors, the Tomato Mint offered the unmistakable summery aroma of tomatoes and somehow managed to capture the fruit’s juicy succulence, as well. The individual flavors of every ingredient in the tea come through to create a symphony of brightness: the onion lends its savory bite, the hint of mint recedes nicely into the background for a refreshing aftertaste, the citrus offers a barely discernible yet much needed tang, and the cinnamon enhances the tomato’s natural sweetness.

Broccoli Cilantro
Ingredients: Broccoli, celery leaves, allspice, onion, cilantro, decaf green tea, garlic, black pepper, sage, turmeric.

While I held high hopes for this tea based on its tantalizing aroma, the Broccoli Cilantro unfortunately lacked a depth of flavor present in some of the other five teas. The allspice overwhelms the tea, forcing the earthy cruciferous and bright citrus notes of the cilantro to recede well into the background.

Fennel Spice
Ingredients: Fennel, celery root, orange peel, onion, dill, decaf green tea, honeybush, black pepper.

Similar to the Broccoli Cilantro, the Fennel Spice left me a bit disappointed. With my deep adoration of any and all things fennel, I wholeheartedly wish that the unmistakable anise flavor would have made its presence more obvious in the tea. Instead, the dill overpowered the fennel, causing the tea to taste more like a less oniony version of the Spinach Chive rather than a distinct tea in its own right.

All in all, Numi’s new line of savory teas verily impressed me, and I fully intend to order more of both the Spinach Chive and Tomato Mint flavors. I’d highly recommend these savory teas to any tea-lover for a delicious twist on their normal tea routine.

Note: Numi did not contact or pay me to write this review. The opinions expressed in this post are completely my own, uninfluenced by Numi.

Until next time, Ali.

How to Cook for a 20-Person Veg Co-op and a Recipe for Slow-Cooked White Beans with Snap Peas & Caramelized Onions

As occurs every two weeks, this Monday I once again donned the Ferry House chef hat to provide a fabulous vegan meal for my 20 fellow co-op members. Planning the menu for my biweekly scheduled night of cooking proves consistently provocative of critical thought, as it requires serious contemplation of a recipe that normally serves 4-6 people to decipher whether or not it would suit itself well to a five-fold multiplication of ingredient amounts. Casseroles, bean & mixed veggie salads, grain pilafs, stews, curries, and veggie burger patties all lend themselves quite nicely to large-scale preparation, whereas recipes that require individual portion preparation—such as stuffed veggies, cabbage rolls, and sandwiches—as well as those which call for a large amount of ingredients that cook down to a small size—such as roasted veggies and sauteed greens—necessitate more preparation and/or resources than we Ferry cooks would prefer.

A Ferry chef must also consider ingredient availability when planning a House dinner. For example, the House grocery shoppers do not purchase fruit (other than our weekly bushel of farmers market apples), including avocados; certain bulk items such as canned coconut milk, specific dried bean varieties, tahini, or gluten-free flour may have run out before the delivery of the upcoming bulk order; and less familiar vegetables such as fennel, certain types of squash and root veggies, and herbs do not make it into the regular grocery rotation. Clearly, not every entry in my cookbooks or 43-page-long Word document of recipes to try—especially those featuring more specialized ingredients—proves well-suited to serving 20 rather budget-minded college students, so I find myself every other Sunday analytically sifting through my arsenal of recipes to unearth a perfect one for Ferry dinner.

This week, I decided that a version of the Kale and Slivered Brussels Sprout Soba Noodles from Sprouted Kitchen, as well as a cannelinni bean stew inspired by both Peter Berley’s White Beans with Sugar Snap Peas & Mint and his Savory Adzuki Beans, served as this Monday’s “perfect recipes.” Case in point: a 5-lb. bag of dried cannellini beans sat largely unused alongside a heap of brown rice noodles in the pantry while the refrigerator positively exploded with leafy greens and brussels. These recipes practically begged themselves to be made.

Plates laid out for dinner.

My changes to the original soba noodle recipe:

• Used olive oil instead of sesame oil. Ferry did stock toasted sesame oil in the pantry for a brief period of time, but house members ultimately decided that we preferred olive oil instead.
• Substituted apple cider vinegar for the rice vinegar. No rice vinegar in Ferry! Just your run-of-the-mill apple cider variety.
• Replaced the soy sauce with Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, the soy-based seasoning of choice in Ferry.
• Used cayenne pepper instead of red pepper flakes since the Ferry spice cabinet had just run out of the latter.
• Substituted brown rice noodles for the soba noodles. The latter noodle variety cost significantly more than the former, plus many soba noodle brands contain gluten, which we try to avoid including in House dinners for those who must avoid it (i.e. me).

Man, did that industrial-sized pot of cooking water for the noodles take just about an eternity to boil, but the fresh-tasting and pleasingly toothsome dish that it helped to yield surely merited the wait.

A whole mess of brown rice noodles, kale, and brussels sprouts.

As for the white bean dish, I somewhat combined two of the bean recipes in The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen to produce a delightful hybrid dish. Deriving the Asian-style ingredient list from the Savory Adzuki Beans and the snap pea-white bean mix from the White Beans with Sugar Snap Peas and Mint, I created a light, springtime bean stew rife with crisp-tender snap peas and caramelized onions that provided a lovely sweet contrast to the savory cannelinnis. The recipe requires little hands-on preparation, involving no more than throwing beans, minimally prepped veggies, and seasonings into a slow-cooker, and quickly sauteeing the onions and snap peas, yet yields quite yummy results.

Big ol’ pot o’ beans.

Slow-Cooked White Beans with Snap Peas & Caramelized Onions—Nut Free, Low Sodium, Low Fat.

Makes about 6 cups.

Ingredients:

2 cups uncooked white beans (cannellini, Great Northern, etc.), soaked overnight and drained
1 medium onion, peeled and halved
4 cloves
6 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
1 4-inch piece of ginger, cut into big chunks
2 tbsp maple syrup or agave
1-inch piece kombu seaweed or 1 bay leaf
2 tbsp tamari, soy sauce, or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
1-2 tbsp coconut or olive oil
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
8 oz sugar snap peas, cut in half on the bias

Stick two cloves into the rounded side of each onion half. Place the cloved onions, soaked white beans, garlic cloves, ginger, maple syrup or agave, kombu or bay leaf, and enough water to cover the whole mixture in a slow-cooker. Set the slow-cooker to its highest setting and cook the beans until meltingly tender, about 2-5 hours. When tender, drain the beans and remove the onion halves, garlic cloves, and ginger chunks. Stir in the tamari, soy sauce, or Bragg’s.

In a medium saute pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until caramelized, about 10 minutes. Add the sugar snap peas and cook until bright green and crisp-tender, about 3-5 minutes. Remove the saute from the heat and stir into the beans. Serve.

Until next time, Ali.

Raw Granola Adventures and a Recipe for Sprouted Hemp & Green Superfood Granola

After unintentionally undergoing a three-month-long hiatus from my weekly granola-crafting ventures, I’m thrilled to say that—aided by my new best friend Mr. Ferry House Dehydrator—I’ve returned with a vengeance to the ever-rewarding realm of granola-making. Desperate to whip up some crunchy raw breakfast goodies in my ancient Excalibur, I turned to one of the best sources I know of for guidance in the ways of raw granola: Fragrant Vanilla Cake. Though deciding between Amy’s array of tantalizing cereal recipes proved quite difficult (how could I not have had trouble when presented with titles like Raw Carrot Cake Granola, Raw Strawberries and Cream Granola, and Raw Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Granola?), my enthusiasm for the always pleasing combination of bittersweet chocolate and tart berries drew me toward the Raw Chocolate Berry Love Granola.

Unfortunately, my impatient hankering to slip a batch of granola into the dehydrator prevented me from taking the time to sprout some buckwheat, and I thereby had to change up Amy’s original recipe a bit. My tweaks to the recipe include:

• Substituted gluten-free rolled oats for the sprouted buckwheat.
• Used sprouted almonds and sunflower seeds in placed of the soaked nuts for which the recipe calls.
• Used maple syrup as the sweetener and reduced the amount from 1/3 to 1/4 cup.
• Omitted the cacao nibs (I didn’t have any on hand).

Incomparably flaky, unbelievably clustery, and beautifully aromatic, the results of my first endeavor with dehydrated granola rendered me wholly unwilling to return to oven-baked granola anytime soon.

Indeed, my immediate conversion to dehydrated granola inspired me to sprout a batch of buckwheat and experiment with my own recipe. Perhaps you recall the mention of my current favorite packaged granola—the Hemp and Greens Superfood Cereal from Living Intentions—during my recent journey to Austin. Since the Vassar area boasts no Whole Foods locations (the closest market is in Connecticut, for goodness’ sake), out of my yearning to once again enjoy this particular granola I decided to create my own homemade version of it. A gander at the Living Intentions ingredient list aided me in formulating my interpretation of the cereal: the buckwheat sprouts, coconut, banana, and vanilla extract remained, while I substituted date sugar for the coconut sugar; chopped dried figs for the sultanas; hemp, chia, and flax seeds for the sunflower sprouts, rice bran, and sesame seeds; and Amazing Grass Green Superfoods powder for the green protein superfoods blend. While 2 1/2 cups of the packaged version of the Hemp and Greens Superfood Cereal costs a pretty $8.59 ($1.70 per 1/2 cup), 4 cups of my homemade iteration costs approximately a mere $5.59 ($0.70 per 1/2 cup—a whole dollar less!). Saving money, invoking a sense of accomplishment, and enjoying delicious granola? What a win-win-win situation.

Sprouted Hemp & Greens Granola—Raw, Soy Free, Oil Free, Nut Free, Low Sodium, Low Fat.

Makes about 4 cups.

Ingredients:

1 cup buckwheat, soaked and sprouted
1 large ripe banana
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1/3 cup dried fruit of choice, chopped (I used figs)
1/4 cup date or coconut sugar
2 tbsp chia seeds
2 tbsp hemp seeds
2 tbsp flaxseed meal
1 heaping tbsp green superfoods powder (I used Amazing Grass)
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, mash the banana. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Spread the mixture evenly over two dehydrator sheets and dehydrate at 115° for 8-12 hours, or until nice and crunchy.

Recipe submitted to Waste Not Want Not Wednesday, Allergy Free Wednesdays, Raw Food Thursdays, Foodtastic Fridays, Healthy Vegan Fridays, Wellness Weekend.

Rest assured that you, dear reader, will see plenty more dehydrated granola adventures in the blog’s future.

Until next time, Ali.

Brunch with the Vassar Animal Rights Coalition and a Recipe for Apple-Raisin Waffles

Within a week of arriving at Vassar last fall, I had discovered a thriving community of likeminded vegans and animal rights activists joining together to promote the message of compassionate living throughout campus. Individuals in this community soon became some of my nearest and dearest companions, upon whom I can now consistently depend to validate, question, contemplate, discuss, and commiserate about the myriad vegan/animal rights/social justice-related musings constantly running through my psyche. Formally, I and my fellow members of this community call ourselves the Vassar Animal Rights Coalition (VARC), and this year we have proven an inexhaustible force, both on and off campus. Below, I’ve compiled a list of our endeavors throughout the past few months.

• Continued our ongoing Meatless Monday campaign, in which nearly a quarter of the Vassar campus currently participates.
• Handed out a large amount of animal advocacy leaflets and literature at the Arlington Street Fair—an annual event that takes place just outside the Vassar campus.
• Hosted multiple special event vegan dinners in our campus dining hall, mostly surrounding the holidays (go Tofurkey and pumpkin pie!).
• Toured the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary (led by none other than sanctuary owner and author Jenny Brown) before enjoying lunch at Woodstock’s incredible vegan eatery known as Garden Cafe on the Green (check out my summary post of our visit to the sanctuary here).
• Attended the “Finding a Niche for All Animals” ecofeminist conference at Wesleyan University, where we had the immense honor of meeting such animal rights tour de forces such as Carol Adams, Sarah E. Brown, Lori Gruen, Lauren Ornelas, and Mark Hawthorne.
• Worked with Poughkeepsie community members to combat the deer cull enacted on the Vassar Farm and Ecological Preserve, including organizing a public protest and communicating with Vassar administration to discuss alternative deer management measures.
• Hosted the first annual Students for Critical Animal Studies Conference.
• Attended the 2nd annual Ivy League Vegan Conference at Yale University and interacted with an impressive array of passionate young collegiate activists.
• Attended the New York City Vegetarian Food Festival.
• In conjunction with Vassar’s Health Office of Education, hosted a campus screening of the top-notch documentary Forks Over Knives, the impetus for my own mother’s veganism.
• Planned how to approach Vassar’s science departments to discuss the implementation of a warning on course descriptions for classes that engage in animal testing (this endeavor is still in the works!).
• Most recently, we launched the Veg Pledge as part of Vassar’s Earth Week events, hosted in part by Vassar Greens and Slow Food. Within the first four days of tabling for the event, we received over 120 signatures from students promising to adopt a meat-free diet for Earth Week.

Whew, I didn’t realize the extent of the above list before I actually scribed it! Next year, I and my dear friend Katie have the honor of leading VARC as the club’s co-presidents, and you can rest assured that we plan to greatly add to this already commendable list of vegan outreach, activism, and education.

Tofu scramblin’ for the VARC brunch.

Brunch–the prime venue for animal rights discussions.

Of course, we’ll also continue to host various informal VARC get-together, such as the vegan brunch we enjoyed last Sunday. That morning, I whipped out my handy dandy waffle iron to create a batch of fluffy Apple-Raisin Waffles (recipe below), and sauteed up a gorgeously unctuous tofu scramble with spiced peanut butter sauce based upon this recipe from Ashlae at Oh, Ladycakes. While savoring delicious morningtime goodies, I and my fellow VARC members discussed in depth our thoughts on the profound and hugely important article by author and psychologist Melanie Joy entitled “Speaking Truth to Power: Understanding the Dominant, Animal-Eating Narrative for Vegan Empowerment and Social Transformation.” I urge you all to take a good long gander at the article, published on One Green Planet, and to also read Dr. Joy’s truly consciousness-shifting book—Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows. Why not do so while dipping the following Apple-Raisin waffles in a good hearty dose of maple syrup?

Stack of tantalizing Apple-Raisin Waffles.

Apple-Raisin Waffles—Can be Soy & Nut Free, Low Sodium, Low Fat

Makes 5 Belgian-style waffles.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour blend (I used Bob’s Red Mill, but you could certainly craft your own; if gluten doesn’t upset you, you can substitute whole wheat flour and omit the flaxseed meal)
1 tbsp flaxseed meal
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup applesauce
1 1/2 cups plant-based milk of choice
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 tbsp maple syrup or agave
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup raisins

Preheat your waffle iron.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, flaxseed meal, baking powder, and cinnamon until well combined. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the applesauce, milk, oil, maple syrup or agave, and vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Stir together until well combined. Stir in the raisins.

When the waffle iron has heated, spray it with oil. Cook waffles according to the instructions specific to your waffle iron.

Serve immediately, keep warm in a 200° oven, or freeze the waffles for up to one month. Reheat frozen waffles in a toaster.

Until next time, Ali.

Granola of the Week #7: Vanilla Bean-Sprouted Sunflower Seed Cereal & Why Honey Isn’t Vegan

I regret to say that I’ve recently fallen off my weekly granola-crafting track, preferring the succulently sauteed breakfast greens featured in the Ayurvedic Vegan Kitchen accompanied by soy yogurt and fruit instead of my previously habitual green smoothie topped with granola. Last week, however, the insatiable urge to make granola once again gripped my being, compelling me to bake up a pan of grainy-nutty goodness that I hold so near to my heart. However, rather than producing yet another variation on my never-fail template recipe for fresh fruit-sweetened granola, I opted to experiment with a breakfast cereal more akin to crunchy squares rather than clustery bites. As my inspiration, I utilized the sprouted granola recipe that Juli Novotney highlights on her clean-eating blog, PUREmamas, to yield a pan of intensely fragrant, hearty, golden-brown cereal ideal for stirring into soy yogurt (can you tell how crazy I am about soy yogurt lately?).

Below, I’ve listed the changes I made to Juli’s original recipe:

• Substituted cardamom for cinnamon, because cardamom holds the title of Ali’s favorite sweet spice, far above the more conventionally used cinnamon.
• Substituted flaxseed meal for coconut sugar. I fully understand that these two ingredients fulfill completely different functions, but allow me to explain my choice of substitution: I prefer minimally sweet granolas, for who wants to wake up to a sugar shock (just humor me and pretend that people don’t eat Froot Loops or Cocoa Puffs for breakfast)? Instead, I like for my granolas to contain a generous amount of fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, and various superfoods. Flaxseed meal fulfills all three of my aforementioned breakfast cereal preferences while not contributing added sweetness, and harbors the same powdery texture as does coconut sugar. Thus, flaxseed meal=coconut sugar for all intents and purposes in this particular granola experiment.
• Substituted maple syrup for honey, because honey ain’t vegan, folks! Not only do bees require their own honey to provide their means of sustenance, many commercial apiaries function essentially as bee factory farms, “stacking honeybee colonies in interlocking boxes and treating them much like the dairy industry treats cows: as biological honey machines to be milked for profit,” according to the March+April 2013 issue of VegNews magazine. The article also offers this unfortunate information about large-scale honey production, which most likely serves as a contributor to the recent epidemic of colony collapse disorder:

“…bees make honey so their colony will have enough food to survive the winter. Many beekeepers sell all of that honey and replace it with nutritionally deficient sugar water or corn sytrup. Additionally, queen bees can live for five years but are routinely killed and replaced after only one or two to increase the hive’s honey production. Some industrial beekeepers destroy entire colonies after the fall honey harvest because it’s cheaper for them to simply start new hives in spring than to maintain them over winter.”

Though some vegans seem to regard honey as permissable, I personally find it equally as unacceptable to consume as dairy and animal flesh. Why shouldn’t our compassion extend to insects? Why draw the line of humane living at animals of the mammalian, avian, marine, etc. domains? Frankly, I don’t feel comfortable consuming honey for the same reason I don’t feel comfortable consuming other animal flesh and secretions: it’s not mine to take.

• Used 2 tbsp coconut oil + 1/2 small apple in place of the 4 tbsp coconut oil. I also prefer to limit the amount of oil in my granolas, simply because oil does not offer as many nutrients as the vast majority of my other staple granola ingredients, including the ever-popular and oh-so-healthy apple, which provides adequate moisture to replace oil when pureed.
• Omitted the salt, because research conveyed by the lovely Dr. Fuhrman purports that vegans and vegetarians actually must pay closer attention to their sodium intake than meat-eaters, since the arterial plaque build-up that ensues from eating animal-based saturated fat actually protects the fragile blood vessles from rupturing (but also causes coronary heart disease, so…).

What an unexpectedly interesting discussion of a range of vegan issues, and all from a simple breakfast cereal recipe! What can’t granola accomplish?

Until next time, Ali.

Farmers Market Vegan’s 2nd Cooking Show Episode

This February, I along with the rest of the Multimedia team at Vassar’s campus newspaper the Miscellany News launched a vegan cooking show hosted by your’s truly. The first episode featured a tutorial on how to make vegan sushi, and the second, just released today, showcases a novel recipe for vegan deviled eggs, inspired by the lovely ladies at Lagusta’s Luscious vegan & fair trade chocolate company in New Paltz, NY. Check out the video and snag the recipe here.

Until next time, Ali.

What I Ate Wednesday #66: My Last WIAW

Yes, I understand that another “What I Ate Wednesday” constituted my last post, as well. Yes, I understand that recipes, ethical/philosophical musings, and restaurant reviews serve as vastly more intriguing topics than my weekly eats do (perhaps some of you may argue to the contrary, but that’s simply my humble opinion). However, in the midst of authoring an important piece for a vegan-related, non-blogging outlet as well as beginning my second essay in my three-part series exposing Michael Pollan’s ulterior motives, I’ve devoted much of my intellectual/writing-related energies toward venues other than my beloved blog. Fear not though, dear readers, for I hope to soon channel these energies back to the world of the vegan blogosphere. Once that happens, I intend to no longer participate in this weekly meal recap as I have for 66 past Wednesdays, for I’d prefer for my blog to cultivate a more professional atmosphere fostering intellectual discussion among innovative recipes. Hopefully, the elimination of What I Ate Wednesdays from my blog will allow me to provide more intriguing content on a more regular basis. So now, for the last time, please enjoy another round of my stupendously intriguing meals.

Breakfast: A breakfast salad of baby spinach, amaranth, brown rice, goji berries, wild blueberries, and chia seeds tossed in a dressing of plain unsweetened soy yogurt, homemade sprouted almond butter, and Amazing Grass Green Superfoods Powder, sprinkled with the contents of one capsule of Rainbow Light’s Advanced Enzyme Systems digestive enzymes.

Breakfast Checklist: Protein—soy yogurt, sprouted almond butter, chia seeds. Whole Grain—brown rice, amaranth. Fruit—goji berries, blueberries. Leafy Green—baby spinach. Superfoods—goji berries, chia seeds, Amazing Grass powder.

Morning Tea: Rooibos Red Tea from Alvita.

Lunch: An open-faced sandwich of a lentil-brown rice-roasted sweet potato & broccoli burger on top of a brown rice cake slathered with tahini, sauerkraut, and dulse seaweed flakes, accompanied by a bowl of mushroom, leek, and spinach soup sprinkled with nutritional yeast.

Meal Checklist: Protein—beluga lentils, tahini. Whole Grain—brown rice. Vegetables/Fruit—sweet potato, broccoli, cabbage, leeks, spinach, mushrooms. Leafy Greens—spinach, broccoli, cabbage in sauerkraut.

Afternoon Beverage: Kukicha Twig Tea from Eden Organics.

A bottle of GT’s Kombucha in Cosmic Cranberry flavor.

Dinner: A breakfast-dinner of savory Sweet Potato Belgian Waffles (made with my new, very own waffle iron!) topped with Coconut-Braised Kale and served alongside strips of Tempeh Bacon, courtesy of Kathy Patalsky—my biweekly dinner contribution to the Ferry household.

Meal Checklist: Protein—chickpea flour, fava flour, tempeh. Whole Grain—sorghym flour. Vegetables—kale, garlic, onions, sweet potato. Leafy Greens—kale.

After-Dinner Beverage: Traditional Medicinals’ Organic Eater’s Digest tea.

Happy WIAW!

Until next time, Ali.

What I Ate Wednesday #65

Before I dive into regaling my weekly eats, I’d like to direct you toward the essay on Michael Pollan’s that I recently published on the blog. In it, I demonstrate how Pollan manages his audience’s emotions in order to persuade him both of the acceptability of eating meat, and of the impossibility of vegetariansim. I also argue that Pollan wrote the book essentially to justify his own meat-eating. I do hope you’ll check out the piece. Thank you.

Breakfast: A plate of baby kale water-sauteed with cumin and fennel seeds, wilted down, and mixed with nutritional yeast, Bragg’s liquid aminos, ground ginger, and coconut oil—my new favorite way to prepare greens, introduced to me by The Ayurvedic Vegan Kitchen cookbook. I accompanied the greens with a bowl of Whole Soy’s unsweetened plain soy yogurt, 1 tbsp homemade sprouted almond butter, about 3/4 cup Hemp and Greens Superfood Cereal, and about 1 tbsp goji berries.

Since returning to Ferry Haus from my two-week-long spring break, I’ve eschewed my habitual morning smoothie in favor of this new breakfast pairing of lightly cooked, ridiculously flavorful, and (dare I say…) downright buttery greenswith a crunchy-creamy bowl of granola, soy yogurt, goji berries, and almond butter. After returning from Austin, I ventured straight to Whole Foods to purchase more of the absolutely astounding raw sprouted granola from Live Superfoods that I enjoyed while in Texas. To my sheer glee, Whole Foods now stocks that very granola in their bulk section, along with a fairly large selection of other sprouted granolas, trail mixes, nuts, and grains. I also partook in a large bag of sprouted almonds, with which I pureed up a batch of homemade sprouted almond butter. After experiencing the ease and frugality of homemaking nut butter, I’m never again purchasing another jar of the stuff. Yay, economics! I’ve seen on a number of blog posts offering directions on how to make almond butter that the almonds take quite a long time to transform into creamy lusciousness; however, my sprouted almonds made the shift from ground to buttery relatively quickly—after about 7-10 minutes as opposed to the 20 that I’ve commonly heard other bloggers experiencing. Moral of the story: if you want more digestible almond butter more quickly, use sprouted almonds.

Breakfast Checklist: Protein—soy yogurt, sprouted almond butter, sprouted sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, hemp protein. Whole Grain—sprouted buckwheat, brown rice bran & germ. Fruit—coconut, bananas, sultanas, goji berries. Leafy Green—baby kale. Superfoods—spinach powder, spirulina, chlorella, alfalfa powder, dandelion leaf powder, goji berries.

Morning Tea: Eden Organic Genmaicha tea.

Lunch: A waffle sandwich of two herbed carrot-chickpea waffles slathered with pesto chutney from the Ayurvedic Vegan Kitchen and encasing a brown rice-beluga lentil-roasted sweet potato & broccoli burger inspired by Gena’s Leftover Grain & Bean Burgers. I served the sandwich alongside a simple salad of mixed greens and dulse seaweed flakes tossed with Liquid Gold Dressing and topped with brown rice and kimchi.

Waffles: A savory take on my Spirulina-Mango Waffles with Goji Berries that omits the cardamom, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and spirulina while replacing the mango puree with the parsley and thyme carrot sauce in the Modern Vegetarian Kitchen, the plant-based milk with salt-free vegetable stock, and the goji berries with chickpeas.

Pesto Chutney: a generously herbed and spiced spread of tahini, dulse seaweed, lemon juice, flax oil, dill, parsley, fennel seeds, and cumin based on the recipe in the Ayurvedic Vegan Kitchen. Perhaps due to my minor substitutions as well as my accidental purchasing of lemon-flavored flax oil, the pesto imparted much too harsh of a flavor for my liking and adopted a displeasing bitterness after a few days of refrigeration, even though the directions assure that it will keep for up to three weeks.

Burgers: Based on Gena’s instructions, in a food processor I mixed together 3 cups of leftover short-grain brown rice; 2 cups of a salad of beluga lentils, roasted broccoli, and sweet potatoes in a lemon vinaigrette (a take on this recipe from Cookie and Kate); and 1/4 cup flaxseed meal to create 14 hearty patties of smoky, crispy deliciousness.

Meal Checklist: Protein—chickpea flour, fava flour, flaxseed meal, chickpeas, tahini, beluga lentils. Whole Grain—sorghum flour, brown rice. Vegetables/Fruit—carrot, parsley, dill, sweet potato, broccoli, dulse seaweed, kimchi veggies. Leafy Greens—broccoli, mixed greens, dill, parsley, cabbage in kimchi.

Afternoon Beverage: Choice Organic White Peony tea.

A bottle of GT’s Kombucha in Original flavor.

Dinner: The French Lentil Salad with Creamy Yogurt Dressing from the Modern Vegetarian Kitchen served alongside roasted brussels sprouts and brown rice.

Peter Berley, author of the Modern Vegetarian Kitchen and former executive chef of 37-year-old NYC vegan restaurant Angelica Kitchen, combines toothsome French lentils; finely diced carrots, celery, and bell peppers; and plenty of fresh herbs with a tangy dressing of yogurt, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, and olive oil in his French Lentil Salad with Creamy Yogurt Dressing. Naturally, I substituted soy yogurt for dairy-based, added mixed greens along with the rest of the veggies, and served this refreshing, light salad to my fellow Ferries for dinner to yield rave reviews.

Meal Checklist: Protein—lentils, soy yogurt. Whole Grain—brown rice. Vegetables—carrots, bell peppers, celery, dill, parsley, brussels sprouts. Leafy Greens—mixed greens, parsley, dill, brussels sprouts.

After-Dinner Beverage: Traditional Medicinals’ Organic Eater’s Digest tea.

Happy WIAW!

Until next time, Ali.