Vegan Iron Boost Salad

I hate it when friends or family invite me out and, when I ask what kind of food the restaurant has or whether they have any vegan food, they respond, "They have salad." Vegans don't eat nothing but salad!!!! I love hearty, savory food. To me, salad is a side dish, not a main dish. So I generally don't eat just salad. But of course, there are exceptions. I eat this salad as a meal. It makes me feel zippy! Probably because it doesn't weigh me down and the iron helps my blood deliver oxygen to my body. As easily psychosomatically influenced as I am, I also think it helps me feel warmer when my extremities start feeling constantly cold (my nose, my hands, etc.), which I blame on poor circulation. Also, it is great if you, like me, have issues with portion control - too much of this salad this isn't quite as harmful as too much spaghetti!

I created this salad because recently a loved one was diagnosed as anemic. So I went over and made her this fabulous, iron-rich salad. She is a card carrying carnivore, but I know that some people say that vegans don't get enough iron. So I thought I would share this information and this recipe for anyone who needs a little extra iron in their diet. The spinach, peas, and chickpeas give this salad a hearty, earthy flavor. Then the hearts of palm, bell pepper, and mandarin orange slices add a whallop of zing. If you have never tried hearts of palm, the white, crescent shapes in the picture, I recommend them. They are unlike anything else I have ever tasted. I find them in a can above the olives and pickles at wild oats. I rinse them thoroughly first to get that canned water taste out of them. In the picture above you can also see little dark spots - that's balsamic vinegar because I put balsamic vinegar and oil on as a dressing. I think anything else would overpower the rest of the flavors. However, my husband enjoyed it with green goddess dressing and my daughter enjoyed it with annie's french dressing. There's usually enough for me to save some and take if for lunch for a couple of days.

As for the nutritional content, the spinach, peas, chickpeas, and surprisingly the hearts of palm are good sources of iron. The chickpeas also add a little protein. The bell peppers and mandarin are there for the vitamin C, which helps, if not is essential, for iron absorption. Also, avoid calcium in the same meal, as it reduces iron absorption.

1 bunch of spinach, rinsed and torn into bite sized shreds
1 can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup frozen peas, cooked
1 fresh bell pepper, chopped
1 can of hearts of palm, rinsed and chopped
2 mandarin oranges, peeled and segmented

Combine all ingredients, add dressing and enjoy!

Apple Maple Bran Muffins

I am not a muffin fan. Nor am I a muffin connoisseur. So don't take my word for it when I say these muffins are acceptable - because I don't have a clue. I do like the rich and sweet flavor. I also like the moistness. But, to me, the muffins also taste the exactly the same as the gooey batter that I put in the muffin tin before baking, which manages to hold together after being cooked. So if anyone has suggestions or recipes for knock-off-your-pants-fabulous (take that however you want) vegan bran muffins (that a 5 year old would also eat) I would appreciate them.

I started experimenting with bran muffins for the sake of my 5 year old, who, well, let's just say that after a trip to the doctor I increased her fiber intake by as much as I could. I tried several types. But this recipe is the favorite so far.

2 tbsp vegan margarine
2 cups apple sauce, sweetened or unsweetened
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 apple, peeled and diced
1 cup unbleached flour
1 1/2 cups oat bran
3 tbsp ground flax seeds
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease muffin pan.

In a large saucepan heat the margarine and applesauce together over medium heat until the margarine is just melted. Remove from heat, stir in molasses and maple syrup. Set aside. Combine the dry ingredients. Add the diced apple and wet ingredients, stir quickly to moisten, and pour the batter into the muffin pan.

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Peace

Sorry, today's blog is not a delightful recipe, even though I have a few that I will share as soon as I can get to it. Today is a late reflection of one of my heros: Martin Luther King, Jr. One of the many motivations behind my veganism is my love of peace. Martin Luther King, Jr. sought peace. He spoke out against the Vietnam war, and I find the things he said particularly relevant today. Here are my favorite quotes from his famous speech, Beyond Vietnam.

And as I ponder the madness of Vietnam and search within myself for ways to
understand and respond in compassion, my mind goes constantly to the people of
that peninsula. I speak now not of the soldiers of each side, not of the
ideologies of the Liberation Front, not of the junta in Saigon, but simply of
the people who have been living under the curse of war for almost three
continuous decades now. I think of them, too, because it is clear to me that
there will be no meaningful solution there until some attempt is made to know
them and hear their broken cries.

...

What do the peasants think as we ally ourselves with the landlords and as
we refuse to put any action into our many words concerning land reform? What do
they think as we test out our latest weapons on them, just as the Germans tested
out new medicine and new tortures in the concentration camps of Europe? Where
are the roots of the independent Vietnam we claim to be building? Is it among
these voiceless ones?
We have destroyed their two most cherished
institutions: the family and the village. We have destroyed their land and their
crops. We have cooperated in the crushing of the nation's only noncommunist
revolutionary political force, the unified Buddhist Church. We have supported
the enemies of the peasants of Saigon. We have corrupted their women and
children and killed their men.
Now there is little left to build on, save
bitterness. Soon the only solid physical foundations remaining will be found at
our military bases and in the concrete of the concentration camps we call
"fortified hamlets." The peasants may well wonder if we plan to build our new
Vietnam on such grounds as these. Could we blame them for such thoughts? We must
speak for them and raise the questions they cannot raise. These, too, are our
brothers.

...

At this point I should make it clear that while I have tried in these last
few minutes to give a voice to the voiceless in Vietnam and to understand the
arguments of those who are called "enemy," I am as deeply concerned about our
own troops there as anything else. For it occurs to me that what we are
submitting them to in Vietnam is not simply the brutalizing process that goes on
in any war where armies face each other and seek to destroy. We are adding
cynicism to the process of death, for they must know after a short period there
that none of the things we claim to be fighting for are really involved. Before
long they must know that their government has sent them into a struggle among
Vietnamese, and the more sophisticated surely realize that we are on the side of
the wealthy, and the secure, while we create a hell for the poor.
Somehow
this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother
to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid
waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I
speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes
at home, and dealt death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the
world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as
one who loves America, to the leaders of our own nation: The great initiative in
this war is ours; the initiative to stop it must be ours.

. . .

A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast
of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas
and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia,
Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the
social betterment of the countries, and say, "This is not just." It will look at
our alliance with the landed gentry of South America and say, "This is not
just." The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others
and nothing to learn from them is not just. A true revolution of values will lay
hand on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not
just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our
nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate
into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and
bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot
be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after
year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift
is approaching spiritual death. [sustained applause]
America, the richest
and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution
of values. There is nothing except a tragic death wish to prevent us from
reordering our priorities so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over
the pursuit of war. There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant
status quo with bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a
brotherhood.

. . .

We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent
coannihilation. We must move past indecision to action.

. . .

If we will but make the right choice, we will be able to speed up the day,
all over America and all over the world, when justice will roll down like
waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. [sustained applause]

Product Ditty

What's the best way to celebrate New Year's? Snockered, of course! I myself enjoy wine. But my husband does not enjoy it so much. And I am an old fuddy-duddy that can't drink a whole bottle by myself. Also, neither my husband or I enjoy beer. Except for one type. It tastes much more like a wine cooler, which is about the strongest caliber joy juice I can handle. And, by george, it's vegan according to this website. It's Lindemans Belgian Beer. Now, I must warn you that it's a bit on the expensive size. One bottle runs about $6 in my town. They also make wine size bottles (750 ML) that sell for the low, low price of $7.99 (I guess the bottle is the expensive part). It is infused with various fruits: cherry, raspberry, peach, apple, and others. So my New Year's Eve was spent at home with my husband, a bottle of Lindeman's Lambic, and a trashy novel. I know, I know, we shouldn't party so hard - Britney might not be able to keep up!

My Christmas Gingerbread House Nightmare

The *wonderful* thing about having a small child at Christmas-time is helping her make Christmas presents for the whole clan. The list of people she makes presents for is a long one, even though I whittle it down to VIP's (i.e., grandparents, aunts, uncles) only. And to make matters worse, this year I was . . . Well . . . Lazy. I didn't get to the hobby store in time to buy easy-to-make/paint/color ornaments like I did last year. So we had to resort to making something from scratch. And then it hit me - AHA! - gingerbread houses. How cute, right?

I found instructions for making a vegan gingerbread house from scratch online. The recipe follows. However, I needed to multiply it by 8. I figured I would do 4 double batches of the dough. Just the first double batch was enough to change my mind. The double batch turned out to be a little too much for my stand mixer to handle and the dough ran up the beaters to the top of the mixer (does anyone know if there is a way to stop that from happening?). So I resorted to the handheld mixer, which started smoking, but it wasn't in very good shape to begin with which is why I have the other mixer. And the whole process took a very long time. Also, I ended up using blackstrap molasses, which made the color of the gingerbread a bit too dark.

After much time, sweat, and mixerbreaking labor I pulled the cooked gingerbread walls from the oven. When it came time to remove them from the cookie sheets. . . CRACK! Oh, the heartbreak! Oh the humanity! After all that time!!!! I had to give up on the homemade gingerbread idea. My husband gave me a wary look as I threw the cookie sheet in disgust into the sink and covered the cookies with water to soak them off while he was in the middle of cleaning some dishes.

Nonetheless, my other options (cookies, etc.) were few, so, undeterred, I ran to the store and stocked up on four boxes graham crackers (cinnamon, I hope they are vegan) and the necessary candy listed on PETA's accidentally vegan list. It took all four boxes of the graham crackers to find enough unbroken sheets to make the eight gingerbread houses. My daughter will be eating graham crackers in her lunches for the rest of the school year. But I digress.

I tried the "glue" recipe from the same online instructions. First I tried putting it into my cute little metal syringe-looking cake decorating tool, but it immediately hardened and would not come out of the tip. I literally ended up boiling the metal writing tip to dissolve the "glue" out of it. What's worse - it didn't really hold the graham crackers together. One minor burn and another level of frustration later, I again turned to PETA's list of commercially made garbage for the icing. I used some Duncan Hines frosting and it held the graham crackers together just fine. By that time, however, I had thrown out all notions of aesthetics, and slapped those puppies together as quickly as possible. I didn't even bother making little frosting doors or windows (my cake decorating tool was still clogged up at that point). Having run out of the tubbed frosting I then had to make my own, from a standard tofutti cream cheese frosting recipe I had. Then I frosted the bottom of a plastic plate and handed them over to the 5 year old for decorating. The picture above shows the results: one of 8 mass produced vegan "gingerbread" houses. By the way, the blue dum dum sucker is a tree (not a lightpost). And that's a wild oats brand chocolate truffle holding it up.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend against using the recipe below. But I would recommend having a lot of time, possibly using light molasses or even corn syrup or glucose, and either oiling and flouring the pan or perhaps lining it with tinfoil which could at least be peeled off the back of the gingerbread walls. I would definitely recommend a regular frosting recipe over the glue recipe below. If anyone has any success - let me know!

Basic Gingerbread House Dough

1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup molasses
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbs baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsps ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 Tbs soymilk, or as needed

In a saucepan, combine the shortening, brown sugar, and molasses over low heat. Stir occasionally until the shortening is melted and the sugar is dissolved, but still slightly grainy. Remove from the heat and let the mixture cool to lukewarm.

While the molasses mixture is cooling, sift or stir together, in a large bowl, the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon. Gradually add the molasses mixture to the dry ingredients, mixing until well blended. Add enough soymilk to make a firm dough. Gather the dough into a ball, and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for at least 20 minutes. (When tightly sealed, the dough will keepfor up to 1 week in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before rolling.)

Preheat an oven to 325 F. Position rack in the center of the oven. Have ready 2 ungreased baking sheets. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out the dough 1/4" thick, and cut out desired shapes. Bake until the edges are slightly brown, about 15 minutes. Makes enough for 1 small gingerbread house (8" x 8"). Recipe from "Great Gingerbread," by Sara Perry

Sugar Glue for Gingerbread House
1 cup water
2 cups sugar

Melt slowly in sauce pan until clear.
This makes a quick-hardening, edible glue.
*Caution, this is VERY hot, do not taste or touch!! Use rubber gloves when handling this glue.

Eggplant, Zucchini and Red Pepper Stew

I have a co-worker who makes fabulous creations. She brought this into work one day and I had to have the recipe. Most of her creations are ad hoc, so extracting a "recipe" from her took some work, but it came out most satisfactory.

Okay, for my first recipe stew may seem a little boring. But it is winter so I'm all about the soups and stews right now. If you're looking for a hearty comfort food you found it. As I made it it is loaded with olive oil, as you might detect from the picture. It can be made with more or less olive oil depending on your preferences.

Prep/cook time: 3 hours

Serves 6-8

olive oil as necessary

salt as necessary
2 large eggplant or 4 Japanese eggplant

2 small onions or 1 large onion, chopped

2-4 cloves of garlic, pressed or diced

2 zucchini, chopped

1 small jar red peppers, juice and all

2 fresh tomatoes or 1 small can of diced tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato paste

about 8-10 cups water

two handfuls fresh basil or 1 tbsp dried basil, diced

1 tbsp oregano

1 bunch of kale, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit or if you would prefer to grill the eggplant fire up the grill. Slice the eggplant about 1/4 inch thick (into circles if using the big eggplant or lengthwise if using the Japanese). Coat generously with salt and set in a colander for 30 minutes to drain out the bitter juices. Rinse thoroughly, pat dry, and generously brush with olive oil. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or grill about 6 minutes per side.

While the eggplant is cooking chop and saute the onions in 1-2 tbsp olive oil for about 5 minutes on medium heat. Add garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the zucchini. Chop the red peppers and add them along with their juice to the stew. Chop the tomatoes and add the tomatoes and tomato paste. Add the water, basil, oregano, eggplant and kale. Cook for 30-60 minutes, until the vegetables (particularly the zucchini, tomatoes and kale) are desired tenderness. Enjoy with hearty bread.

First post

This is my first post. I plan on putting up lots of vegan recipes and links about life in general up here.

A little about me? Well, I would like to claim that I am elegant and classy, but as the picture might reveal I am more down-home and suburban. I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico and I hope to share some tasty Mexican/New Mexican recipes. I work full time, I'm a mom (to minnie mouse there), and wife. I am a vegan surrounded by carnivores - not even my daughter is veggie. Since becoming a vegan I have become addicted to cooking, and now I am taking up flogging, another habit I don't have time for. But since I constantly try new recipes I might as well keep a record of the ups and downs, the failures and successes, and what-not. Most of all I just love getting and giving vegan recipes.