Have you ever sighed silently when someone told you they were a vegetarian, assuming they were a dogmatic, tofu-eating hippie? If so, read this essay by Taylor Clark on Slate, debunking various anti-vegetarian myths. No, vegetarians are not (necessarily) dull-palated, content to eat mushy vegetables and Gardenburgers. No, most vegetarians aren't interested in lecturing you about your steak (unless they're just jerks), so feel free to invite them to your barbecue. No, they're not silently judging you.
So don't lecture them about how being a vegetarian is silly, bad for your health, or against God's will. And no, just because they're wearing leather shoes doesn't make them total hypocrites - "I'd still say that doing something beats doing nothing," he writes. "It's kind of like driving a hybrid: not a solution to the global-warming dilemma but a decent start."
Mom made you eat your veggies for years, so return the love with vegetarian-friendly gifts this Mother's Day. Whether her diet is strictly vegetarian or just veggie-inclined, check out these lovely presents that will surely brighten her kitchen and her day!
Subscription to Vegetarian Times magazine -- Great recipes and fun eating ideas from a magazine that your mom will love all year long.
Mother's Day petit fours from Figis -- Who am I kidding? These are for any mom -- vegetarian, meat-loving, herbivorous, sweet-toothed... Olive and Rosemary Topiary Trees from Stonewall Kitchen -- A beautiful way to present a practical gift. These will look great anywhere, and come in handy when cooking with fresh herbs.
Bamboo steamer from WokShop -- Great for veggies, and anything else.
Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian from Amazon -- My favorite cookbook. Soon to be your mom's. Bittman offers easy recipes and plenty of suggestions for a well-balanced vegetarian diet.
Soy candles from Welcome-home Candles -- These yummy candles come in great scents, and since they aren't made from beeswax, they'll please even the most conscious vegan. Vegan baking mixes from Goodbaker -- Chocolate cake, oatmeal cookies, fudge frosting, multi-grain muffins...
Anyone have more ideas for the vegetarian Mom? Feel free to share!
You know when you are eating your fourth tofu salad of the day for the eighteenth day in a row of this hell we call "diet before bikini season?" And on the salad there is a slab of stupidly healthy tofu that when you bite into it, you close your eyes and tell yourself it's actually a piece of chocolate cake?
A press release for the the just-released "Vegetarianism in America" study, published by Vegetarian Times, states that that 3.2 percent of U.S. adults, or 7.3 million people, follow a vegetarian-based diet. But that's not all - 10 percent of U.S. adults, or 22.8 million people, say they largely follow a vegetarian-inclined diet.
The Accidental Hedonist blog put in their two cents about the term vegetarian-inclined: "Let's be clear - there's already a word for someone who is 'vegetarian-inclined'. It's called an 'omnivore'."
Do you think there is such a thing as a vegetarian-inclined diet? Should there be a corresponding term for people who eat mostly meat?
As it with most of my favorite cookbooks, I picked up my copy of The New Laurel's Kitchen at a thrift store about four years ago. I vividly remember buying it for a buck, because on that same trip I bought a 4 quart slow cooker that was priced at $3.99. I got something of a thrill that I didn't spend more than $5 that day.
Originally self-published in 1976, the revised edition was brought out ten years later by the Running Press. As cookbooks go, this one is an amazing resource. For those of us who are trying to get back to ways of cooking that include making our own yogurt, baking healthy loaves of bread that don't contain high fructose corn syrup and using lots of dried beans and legumes, this is a necessary book to have in your collection. I often turn to my copy when I need reminding as to the best way to cook barley or how to grow sprouts on my dining room window sill.
This book is far more than just a simple cookbook. It also contains sections about how to cook whole foods for children, the elderly, pregnant woman and people who are extremely active as well as offering advice on how to eat healthfully on a budget. It's not glossy, the only illustrations are two-color line drawings, but they are appealing in their simplicity. This is really a good book for those people out there who want to have more control over the foods that they and their families eat and lessen their dependence on pre-processed packaged foods.
A NY-dwelling vegetarian friend of mine (shameless plug: he blogs for a few of our sister sites and you should go read his stuff here and here) mentioned that he visited a new veggie fast-food joint the other day.
Zenburger, a burgeoning healthy burger restaurant that currently exists in California and New York's Midtown Manhattan (and recently started taking online orders), definitely sounds intriguing. They carry all of your typical fast food fare, but with a twist: it's all vegetarian (though not all vegan). The store is a spin-off of Zen Palate, a NY-based Japanese veggie restaurant.
The only odd-seeming part about the place is that the fact the offerings are all veggie isn't immediately apparent from their menus or the store itself. (Apparently, one is supposed to devise that "zen" actually means "faux," which would make dishes like "ZenBeef Burger" and "ZenChicken Sandwich" more obvious).
Brad ordered the ZenHarvest Burger (a veggie burger with homemade hummus, lettuce and tomato on a whole-grain hoagie) with a side of fries, and said he was pleased, but not overly impressed with the food - it was the clean, uncrowded restaurant with plenty of seating that really appealed to him. The place also offers dairy-free "milk"shakes, and Vegenaise alongside its faux tuna sandwich.
And did it produce a zen-like state? According to Brad, not a bit. "It felt like Burger King, except I could eat everything on the menu," he said.
We've got an oldie but a goodie in the spotlight today. Diet for a Small Planet was written by Frances Moore Lappé and was first published in 1971. It was controversial back then, in large part because it promoted a vegetarian diet at a time when most people in the US were still eating bacon for breakfast, a meat-packed sandwich for lunch and a steak and potato for dinner. Some of the nutritional claims that Lappé made in the original version were revised and altered in later editions, so your mileage may vary depending on with incarnation of the book you have in your possession.
I have a copy from the 1973 printing, so it is the original text without any alteration. However, that doesn't concern me, because I don't have it for the nutritional claims as much as I keep it on the shelf for the recipes. This was one of my mother's first cookbooks (she was something of a hippie) and so it informed many of the dishes I grew up eating. So I connect with it on a nostalgic level, occasionally throwing together the Roman Rice and Beans or the Leafy Chinese Tofu.
If you're interesting in incorporating more vegetarian dishes into your diet, consider getting yourself a copy of this book, as it has lots of good ones. It's also an interesting read, as Lappé was talking about issues of resources and food sustainability long before anyone else was starting that conversation.
The Enchanted Broccoli Forest comes to us from Mollie Katzen, the woman who kicked off her cookbook writing career with the classic Moosewood Cookbook. Like Moosewood, this book is also chock full of vegetarian recipes for Soups, Salads, Breads, Entrees and much more. My copy is an old one, from the original printing in 1982. Katzen has since updated it, changing the recipes slightly to make them lighter and easier to prepare. I can't speak for this new edition, but I've always loved this book and I can't imagine that a few updates would alter my feelings.
I bought my copy at a used bookstore while I was in college and you can tell that it was well loved before it came into my life. I've used it repeatedly and there are several pages that are slightly crunchy from splatters and splashes of food (to me that is the mark of a good cookbook). For those of you who are fans of the sprout, I particularly recommend the Brussels Sprouts Soup on page 43.
Inevitably, there will be at least one person -- maybe you -- at a Super Bowl party who's going to be looking for "healthy," or at least healthier, options. Luckily, hummus doesn't taste healthy, and serving it with vegetables ups the health factor quite a bit. Of course, I serve hummus with pita chips which, deep-fried, can't be any better than potato chips. Sure, there is some fat in it the garbanzo bean puree, but it's in the form of olive oil. If you make hummus at home, make extra so you can make yourself pita-chos during the post-game.
Hummus Drain and rinse 3 cans of garbanzo beans.
Throw a peeled clove of garlic into a food processor and let it go until the garlic is fairly well chopped. Throw in the garbanzo beans and puree. For some reason, I have this weird thing about the translucent "skin" on the outside of each garbanzo bean, so I actually spend the two hours it takes to slip all those suckers off before pureeing.
Add 2 Tbsp tahini, 2 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice and begin drizzling about ¼ to ½ c extra virgin olive oil while the food processor is running until the hummus is the consistency you want.
Everyone's favorite comfort dish gets a tofu twist.
Macaroni and Cheese with Tofu From: Moosewood Restaurant New Classics Serves: 4-6
You will need: 12 oz. pasta (white or whole wheat)
Cheese sauce: 12 oz. low fat silken tofu 1/2 cup skim milk 1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt 1 up grated cheddar cheese 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese 1/2 tsp. minced garlic 2 tsp. yellow mustard 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper 1/4 tsp. turmeric
1/4 cup minced onions 1/4 cup fresh parsley 1/2 bread crumbs mixed with 1/4 cup grated cheddar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 2-qt. baking dish with oil.
Bring water to a boil, and cook pasta according to package directions.
Combine all cheese sauce ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree.
Drain pasta, and mix it along with cheese sauce, onions, and pasta, into baking dish. Sprinkle bread crumb/cheddar mixture on top. Bake for 30 minutes covered, and then 5 minutes uncovered.
Friends, we're bringing all kinds of snacks, foods, and desserts to the table for Super Bowl, but let's be real about something. Most of these foods are meaty, carb-y, and definitely go against every New Year's Resolution you made a month ago. Steak chili? Sour cream based dips? Potato chips? Deep-fried everything? Yeah!
Hayduke has a few things already lined up, but would like some more ideas (as would we!) If you have recipes or ideas to share, leave them in the comments!
At a Super Bowl Party filled with Velveeta-laden spreads and greasy potato chips, crostini can be a welcome alternative. This recipe is one of my favorites: it pairs creamy goat cheese, tart red peppers and a toasty baguette for a refreshing break from the norm.
If you're tired of the typical dips (and we don't mean that weirdo who chatted you up at the bar last night), check out a lighter, spicier alternative: peanut chili dip from The 15-Minute Gourmet: Vegetarian, by Paulette Mitchell.
Peanut Chili Dip Makes: 2/3 cup
You will need: 1/3 cup organic or natural peanut butter, smooth or crunchy 3 Tbsp. water 2 Tbsp. soy sauce 2 Tbsp. lemon juice 2 tsp. honey 1 tsp. minced garlic 1 tsp. chili powder Optional dash of cayenne
Combine pb and water in a bowl, stir to make a paste. Stir in remaining ingredients and serve. You can keep this baby in the fridge until you're ready to eat - it's great hot or cold.
And don't forget dippers - forgo boring tortilla chips for homemade pita crisps.
Have you ever stashed a Coke in the freezer, hoping to chill it quickly, then forgotten all about it, only to have it explode all over your frozen peas?
Have you ever sighed silently when someone told you they were a vegetarian, assuming they were a dogmatic, tofu-eating hippie? If so, read this essay by Taylor Clark on Slate, debunking various anti-vegetarian myths. No, vegetarians are not (necessarily) dull-palated, content to eat mushy vegetables and Gardenburgers. No, most vegetarians aren't interested in lecturing you about your steak (unless they're just jerks), so feel free to invite them to your barbecue. No, they're not silently judging you. 
The Enchanted Broccoli Forest
If you're tired of the typical dips (and we don't mean that weirdo who chatted you up at the bar last night), check out a lighter, spicier alternative: peanut chili dip from The 15-Minute Gourmet: Vegetarian, by Paulette Mitchell. 
A fraking amazing Battlestar Galactica cake
Iced Tea 101
Pierogies + cheese + onions + kraut = Parmageddon!
