Vegan

A few months ago, I did a quick little "guide" to Asian greens as the beginning of my re-acquaintance with my Asian self. Part One covered bamboo shoots, bok choy, Chinese broccoli, lemongrass, and mizuna. This is Part Two, with the potential for Part Three, if I can find more Asian greens and vegetables that inspire me.

Napa Cabbage - Napa cabbage is a Japanese cousin of the green cabbage with which most of us are familiar. Though it has the same mildness of flavor, it is sweeter, much more watery, and looks different. The leaves are white, broad, flat, and extend to a pale green on the ends. Napa cabbage can be prepared, cooked, and used in the same way as other cabbages, and we often see it sliced or chopped, part of "Chinese Chicken Salads." I happen to love Napa cabbage, as part of stir-fries, in shabu shabu, and of course, my favorite preparation of Napa cabbage, Korean kimchee.

Pak Boong - Pak boong goes by a number of names, though "swamp cabbage" certainly doesn't sound all that appetizing. The vegetable is common in south and southeast Asia and is a semi-aquatic plant, meaning it grows in water or in very moist soil. It is prepared and cooked in the same way as other leafy vegetables - in stir-fries, as Chez Pim did as part of a homemade Thai meal.

Today while pimping Slashfood for the Blogger's Choice Awards, I came across what seems like a whole sub-blogosphere of vegan food blogs. I knew there were some, but who knew there were enough to fill an entire page of nominations!

Now I ate vegan for about six months for no good reason other than "just to try it." It was hard. I had to cook all the time, and after a while, because I'm not very innovative in the kitchen, I was eating the same things all the time. However, had I had access to something as gorgeously delicious as this Eggplant Napoleon as prepared by food blog Vegan Yum Yum, I might have eaten vegan out a little bit longer (but not forever - I do need to taste a rare steak every once in a while).

When I think of shortbread, I think of nothing else but butter. Butter is what gives shortbread that rich, crumbly, crisp-in-some-places texture, so I couldn't imagine how someone could make vegan shortbread -- without butter.

But vegan food blog Vegan Yum Yum has done it, and has gone the extra step of making it a Lavender Shortbread! The simple recipe has but five ingredients, one of which is Earth Balance, a butter substitute that seems to work quite well for this shortbread. The recipe is on the post.

A few years ago, I got over my fear of the artichoke. I absolutely love eating artichoke hearts, but I had never before tackled a fresh one myself. That giant bulb, all those spiky leaves, and the warning about the "choke" -- I just resigned myself to ordering them in restaurants. Then I finally did it, and got over myself.

Then I discovered baby artichokes, which are even easier to handle, and in my book, tastier for their tenderness. Jaden of food blog Steamy Kitchen has done a simple, yet beautiful thing, of frying baby artichokes. Their fair green color and of course, the browned edges from frying, are gorgeous! If you want to try them, too, you only have a few months -- artichokes are in season until the end of May, and baby artichokes? Well they're growing up fast!

With it being Spring and all, perhaps you're feeling a little...garden-ish? If that's the case and your feelings are manifesting themselves in the way you eat, then maybe you should eat a Gardenburger!

The folks who make Gardenburger (the brand of vegetarian and other dietary-preference foods) are sponsoring a contest once a month in which the prize is a Gardenburger t-shirt (not that we're all that excited about a t-shirt), and free food! The contest is a photo contest -- not a recipe contest, so you don't even have to be all that creative in the kitchen. Contestants just have to dress up their Gardenburgers within the theme of that particular month, take a snapshot, and upload the picture to the Gardenburger Flickr pool. Gardenburger will pick the winners from there.

Eating healthy, and a chance to win! We like the sound of that!

You've probably heard of the Great American Smokeout, an annual event that is supposed to help lend support to those who want to quit smoking. Next week, you can join in the Great American Meatout, which is a similar event that started over to raise support for the vegetarian movement and to help "kick the meat habit."

The 23rd annual Meatout is coming up on March 20th and various organizations will be joining in to encourage greater consumption of fruits and veggies. Check local papers for events coming up in your area, or just participate by having a meat-free day of your own.

You don't have to "kick the meat habit" for good if you're an omnivore with carnivorous leanings, but it is worth noting that eating vegetarian sometimes can potentially lower the risk of heart disease. Better yet, it is a good excuse to branch out from your normal cooking routine and try out some of the recipes on some of the great vegan food blogs out there!

I have no idea what Marmite tastes like, but from what I hear, you either love it or you hate it. Whatever the opinion may be, what Marmite is is a supposedly nutritious British foodstuff that is made from the yeast residue from the beer-making process. It is often used as a spread on toast.

Well, just in time to prepare for St. Patrick's Day...a little Irish love for Marmite from Guinness Beer (another love it or hate it thing -- personally, i can't stand Guinness)! Marmite will use the yeast residue from making Guinness to make a limited run of about 300,000 jars of Marmite. Apparently, the stuff was available in the UK as of February 19, 2007.

[via: Cool Hunting]

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If you're not in sunny southern California, you might not even be able to get a trowel through the top two inches of ground in your yard these days, but that shouldn't stop you from planning now if you want to have red ripe tomatoes and fragrant herbs in your garden come Spring.

According to finance blog Get Rich Slowly, February is the perfect time to start planning your vegetable garden. Their post, Plan Today for Summer Success, has some great, basic information about how to plan, including such probing questions as "Do you actually like to eat vegetables?" and tips on how to make best use of the space you have. Since it's the last day of the month today, you still have time!

[via: LifeHacker]

Larabar specializes in making healthy, delicious snack bars from a blend of fruits, nuts and spices. Their energy bars are completely unprocessed, uncooked, non GMA, gluten free, dairy free, soy free, vegan and kosher - and despite their simple makeup (each has less than six ingredients) they taste great thanks to the natural sweetness of the high-quality ingredients that they use.

Last year, they added Lemon Bar and Cinnamon Roll to their lineup of bars, bringing the total number of bars in the line to ten for a few months, but the reaction was so positive that they just announced that another pair of new flavors are being launched on March 5th: Key Lime Pie and Pistachio. Hopefully, the Key Lime Pie will have the same bright, almost juicy flavor that the excellent Lemon Bar does.

The other recent addition to Larabar's offerings is the Jocalat line. Jocalat has evolved from the Maya bars that the company was offering last year and are a more candy-like product than the standard Larabars because they use fair trade certified organic chocolate in each one, in addition to their standard fruits and nuts. The bars are available in Chocolate, Chocolate Orange, Chocolate Coffee and Chocolate Mint (the coffee is my favorite) and each has just 190 calories, in addition to being entirely organic, high in fiber, protein, good fats and antioxidants.

As I said yesterday in my post about the ham and cheese pasta bake, there are few things more comforting than a baked pasta dish. This Polenta Lasagna with Portabellas and Kale is a nice illustration of this point, although it doesn't quite use pasta, substituting polenta for the more traditional noodles. It also shows that you don't need cheese to have satisfying comfort food because the dish, made by Susan from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen, is completely dairy-free. The dish is made by first making the polenta, spreading it into a thin layer on a baking sheet and leaving it to set up in the fridge. Once it is firm, it can be easily sliced into noodle-like layers. The filling is made with garlic, kale, mushrooms, marinara sauce and "cheese" sauce, which uses ingredients like tofu, cashew butter and soy milk, as well as a number of spices and some corn starch, to add a creamy mouthfeel to the filling. If you're not vegan and don't want to go through the trouble, adding a bit of ricotta in place of the "cheese" sauce would make this a lovely vegetarian dinner.

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