Post-Thanksgiving Report

How was your Thanksgiving, vegan America? I hope it was delicious!

Once again this year I made my Mini-Wellington recipe (from Vegan Lunch Box)into one big Wellington for our Thanksgiving centerpiece dish. I decorated the loaf with branches, leaves, and acorns made from extra puff pastry. Isn't it pretty?

I know, I've caught some slack over the years for using puff pastry (yes, Pepperidge Farms frozen puff pastry is indeed vegan, but it's certainly no health food!)

This year the idea of eating transfats with my Thanksgiving feast just didn't sound like any fun, so I tried something new: at the same time I made the puff pastry version for my family, I also took the same loaf mixture (without the peanut butter or sage, plus extra Dijon), wrapped it in cabbage leaves, and baked it with tomato sauce and lemon. Ta da! Vegan Cabbage Rolls, lower in fat, healthier, and absolutely to-die-for. People who tried both even liked the cabbage version better!

We also enjoyed veggies with vegan ranch dip, sushi rolls, fat-free vegan gravy and mashed potatoes, and my sister made a perfect batch of Best Brussels Sprouts. For dessert, my mom made apple pie and huckleberry pie with organic shortening in the crust.

How did your feast go? Did anyone have Tofurky?

Around the World: Caribbean Beans and Rice

It's a taste of the tropics! Today I made Caribbean Beans and Rice: black beans and rice cooked with coconut milk and spices. Cooking beans and rice with a touch of coconut milk is a common practice in Jamaica and other parts of the Caribbean. (That's a green onion curl in the middle, trying to look all fancy-shmancy. Mine doesn't look as good as the one in the instructions picture...)

On the side is Spinach Bhaji, an Indian-style spinach recipe from the island of Trinidad. There is a large Indian influence on much of the cooking of Trinidad, where hundreds of thousands of Indians came as indentured servants to work the sugar plantations.

And for dessert, fresh pineapple with googly-eyed flamingo food picks. (I love these flamingos! They appeared in my birthday cake this year and made me squeal with delight -- their little eyes even roll around!)

It's all pictured in a Lunch on the Go lunch box from Bed Bath and Beyond (bought cheap with the coupon!).

Verdict: Seriously, best beans and rice EVER. That little touch of coconut milk transformed it from a humble meal into something so tasty and satisfying! Beans and rice and greens was a perfect combination. 5 stars.

Around the World: Chick'n Paprikas

Paprika is serious business in Hungary. Unlike here in the states where paprika is paprika, in Hungary it is available in a wide range of heats from mild to hot. The sweet-hot flavor of paprika is essential in Hungarian cooking, as in this vegan version of Hungarian Chicken Paprikas -- chicken-style seitan simmered with tomato, green pepper, and paprika. A small container of vegan sour cream is on the side to stir in at lunchtime.

Below the paprikas is another Hungarian dish: Noodles with Poppy Seeds. Normally this dish would be made with egg noodles; I substituted campanelle. Next to the noodles are steamed kohlrabi and peas, one of shmoo's favorite combinations. And for dessert, tender stewed apricots cooked in orange juice.

Verdict: Shmoo loved the seitan chicken, but not the green peppers. My husband loved the green peppers, but not the seitan. I liked a bit of both, and we all enjoyed the noodles, kohlrabi, and apricots. Something for everyone! 3 stars.

Around the World: Kasha Kupecheskaya

An old Russian proverb says, "You can't feed a Russian without kasha." Here is kasha kupe- cheskaya: cooked toasted buckwheat kernels, carmelized onions, and tofu (taking the place of the traditional hard-boiled eggs).

I would add to that old saying that you also can’t feed a Russian without mushrooms. I have never eaten mushrooms as delicious as those made for me by a Russian immigrant friend, who told me of how they would hunt for wild mushrooms in her native country, and how mushrooms were considered an important meat replacer during the Orthodox fasts. These are chanterelles (I don't know if it's the same everywhere, but our local Costco has 1 lb. fresh chanterelles for $8.99!!).

The other containers hold a small salad with dressing, a pear, and two Russian Tea Cakes (little cookies rolled in powdered sugar).

And could it be? Yes, it's another new lunch box! This is the new three-tier To-Go Ware container. To-Go Ware has a brand new look, with two-tier and three-tier containers and, best of all, the small stainless steel dressing containers we've all been hoping for. The new lunch boxes also come apart so you can carry just the top tier for a light snack.

Verdict: Ochen' vkusno! (very delicious!) The chanterelles were heavenly, especially with the kasha. 5 stars.

Around the World: Black-Eyed Peas and Potatoes

Here is another menu inspired by my recent study of African cuisine. This lunch features three more foods used widely across the continent...

In the bottom container, I seasoned black-eyed peas and potatoes with touches of cilantro, cumin, and lime juice. Tender black-eyed peas and other cowpeas (also called "crowder peas" here in the U.S., because they’re all crowded together in their pods) are served all over the African continent.

On top of this dish are oven roasted okra pods. I love okra so much! Here in America we tend to think of okra as a southern vegetable, but it, too, has its origins in Africa. Whole roasted pods are fun to pick up and eat with your fingers.

In the top container are honeydew melon slices and a serving of plantain chips, a popular snack in West Africa.

Verdict: Everyone in the family was happy with this meal, although shmoo wouldn't even try the okra (more for thems that likes em!). The plantain chips were interesting, like a cross between potato chips and banana chips. 3 stars.

P.S. Speaking of plantains, have you ever visited the sad little monkey who bought the wrong bananas? Too bad he didn’t know the difference between bananas and plantains!

What I Did On My Vacation

Last week some of my girlfriends and I left the husbands and kids at home and took a trip to beautiful Portland, Oregon.

It was undoubtedly the most fun I've had in a long, long time. We ate and shopped and ate some more (Nicholas Restaurant has out-of-this-world Lebanese and Middle Eastern food, btw).

We stopped by Powell's Books for Home & Garden on Hawthorne Street, and look what we found! It's Vegan Lunch Box right up front, with a hand-written staff recommendation sign! Woo hoo! Powell's, you so made my day!!

Shmoo Review: Dr. Fuhrman's Eat for Health

Hey, Dr. Fuhrman's Disease-Proof Blog has a new look beginning this week. I was asked to be a guest blogger this week; you can visit and read an edited version of my Summer Veg Out post on the wonders of smoothies.

Speaking of Dr. Fuhrman, he also recently produced a new set of books and a DVD. As most of you long-time readers know I'm a huge fan of Dr. Fuhrman, so I couldn't wait to pick up a copy to review.

First, I read through his new two-volume set Eat For Health.If you've read the previous books Eat To Liveor Disease-Proof Your Child,Eat for Health doesn't offer too much in the way of new information. The basics are all the same: lose weight and live longer by making nutrient-dense foods the foundation of your diet, eliminating salt, exercising, obtaining healthy fat from nuts instead of oils, etc.

What is new is the slower step-by-step transition to nutrient-dense eating, which may make it easier for people who are just getting started, and the attention paid to emotional issues that may stand in the way of healthier eating. As an emotional eater myself, I appreciated the acknowledgment that sometimes healthy eating is easier said than done, especially when issues of addiction and self-worth are standing in your way.

Book One addresses all the basics while Book Two is made up of the exciting let's-get-to-it stuff: menu plans for each phase in the transition to healthier eating, dozens of new recipes, and information on how to shop.

Next, I was absolutely delighted with the new DVD Secrets to Healthy Cooking.Dr. Fuhrman and his wife Lisa demonstrate how to make the staple dishes central to his eating style: smoothies, salads and nut-based dressings, vegetable soups (including my favorite), a stir-fry, and sorbet. The production quality is excellent, the demonstrations are fun to watch, and best of all, each recipe section concludes with a recipe template showing you how to make up your own recipes using his model. Brilliant!

Around the World: Jollof Rice

Here is a little lunch box ode to Africa.

Jollof Rice is a dish served in many West African countries, including Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, and Gambia. I replaced the traditional chicken in the dish with chicken-style seitan, and cooked it in a base of tomatoes, tomato paste, ginger, onion, and green pepper, along with peas and carrots.

On the side is a dish of cooked collard greens served in a very African way: with a spoonful of peanut butter! Peanut butter, called groundnut in Africa, is added to a lot of savory dishes in ways we wouldn't expect here in America. It adds creaminess and flavor along with extra protein and fat.

For dessert I packed two more of those lovely baby bananas, which our guests from the African Children's Choir said were just like the ones in Uganda. I will always think of that now when I see baby bananas!

Verdict: My husband and I agreed, this was one of those dishes that you just didn't want to stop eating -- soooo good!! Shmoo was happy after we handed him almost all our big chunks of seitan and took his share of the green peppers. 5 stars.

African Children's Choir Lunch Box

This weekend we were honored to act as a host family for some members of the African Children's Choir while they were in town as part of their U.S. tour. The children are ages 7 to 12 and come from several African nations (our guests were from Uganda). Many of the children have lost their parents to AIDS and other diseases, and all of them come from situations of extreme poverty. They sing and perform to raise awareness of the plight of these children of Africa, and to raise money for relief and education.

Each host family was asked to send their children off today with a packed lunch. Hey, I thought, I can do that!

Since we won't be seeing them again I made improvised bento boxes out of disposable plastic containers and used frozen water bottles as ice packs. Into each lunch box went a homemade pita bread filled with my favorite Wild Garden Hummus and six baked falafel balls. Next to the falafel is a bento-style plastic food cup filled with lemon cucumbers and cherry tomatoes, with a squeezy-fish of dressing and a little food pick. Underneath the cup are some baby carrots you can't see.

I quickly ran out of room in the main container, so I used small side containers for the last strawberries of the season, fresh from Saturday's farmer's market. (I was going to pack some baby bananas, too, but they were all eaten up; they are "like the bananas in Uganda", I was told.)

Verdict: Well, the Choir is on the way to Spokane now, so I won't really know how they like their lunches, but I hope they do. It was so much fun to meet them, to listen to them singing and playing, and to watch their amazing performance this weekend. (I think they burned like 8 million calories up there!) If the choir is coming to your town next, don't miss it.

Maple Syrup

One of the things that struck me right away about vegan cooking was the amount of maple syrup called for in many recipes. It seems that a lot of vegan cooks rely on maple syrup to take the place of honey and sugar in recipes, particularly in baked desserts.

I love me some Fruit Butter Bars in the fall, but with the price of real maple syrupgoing up and up (along with most everything else), I just can't afford to use that much of it anymore.

So, I devised this recipe for Homemade "Maple Syrup".

It's very simple, made with brown sugar, a bit of cornstarch for thickening, and a spoonful of natural maple flavor.

I bought 2 ounces of the maple flavor at my local health food store for $2.49; at one teaspoon per recipe the little bottle will make 12 batches of syrup. I know it's not the real thing, but in these trying times it's sure a tasty alternative, and with none of the chemicals and preservatives of storebought imitations.