Why are YOU a vegetarian?

Man, Have I been busy lately! I could give you a laundry list of why, but you probably don't care. I'll be sharing another TVP recipe soon, but until then, I thought I'd share this article. It highlights some interesting issues that may not be extremely pertinent to you (should all vegetarian inmates be accommodated?), but it's a good read, none the less.

Most interesting excerpt: “My belief in not hurting animals is more powerful than any religious belief.”

That's slightly offensive to me, but I have to admire the passion. And why are YOU a vegetarian? Is it for health reasons? The environment? A love of animals? Something else?

Jail Time Yields a Clash on Vegetarian Meals

Classic Lasasnga with Quorn Beef Style Grounds

I have a love hate relationship with lasagna. I love my lasagna, but I usually hate other people’s. It might sound a little self important, but I’ve had WAY to many potluck/cafeteria/freezer lasagnas. Since restaurant versions usually have meat, I really haven’t experienced a lot of those, although Old Spaghetti Factory has a pretty good veggie one, FYI.

Typically, my problem is that they’re too dry. People buy one jar of sauce and think that’ll do it. Well I don’t think it does. Also, a lot of people just slap ricotta on each layer, not bothering to season it and using too much. Ricotta can be great, but the store bought stuff usually isn’t very flavorful. And then there are the overcooked noodles. Don’t get be started on that.

My basic formula for lasagna is simple: Don’t be stingy. Use plenty of sauce, plenty of cheese, plenty of veggies and if you so desire, plenty of veggie burger. Lasagna doesn’t demand meat, or fake meat for that matter. It can be so good with a colorful assortment of vegetables. It’s great in the winter when a lot of the summer vegetables you’re craving aren’t quite as flavorful and need a little help, but it’s also great in the summer when you realize that your eyes were bigger than your fridge at the farmers market (or your garden is being productive!). You can really load it up. Lasagna noodles are thick and sturdy for a reason.

I’ve done all sorts of combinations of sauce and fillings. I LOVE making lasagna with alfredo sauce and whenever I do a vegan one, I use lots of vegan pesto, but this time, I did a classic lasagna; red sauce, Italian cheeses, a few simple veggies and a new faux burger.

If you haven’t tried any Quorn products yet, you should! Their chicken-esque products are super yummy (in my humble opinion), but this was my first time trying the Beef-Style Grounds. Before I tell you what those were like, let me give you a little Quorn background.

Although Quorn products seem to be just catching on here in the states, they’ve been selling in Europe since 1985 and according to their website, they’re “the #1 retail brand of meat-free foods in the world!” They also claim to be the best selling, frozen meat-free brand in natural food stores in the U.S. That seems sketchy to me, purely based on the availability of MorningStar Farms products, but I guess they’re talking about natural food stores and not regular supermarkets, so who knows.

Unlike the name might suggest, Quorn products are in no way made with corn. Their website states that:

“The principal ingredient in all Quorn products is mycoprotein (“myco” is Greek for “fungi”). The mycoprotein comes from Fusarium venenatum, which was originally discovered growing in a field in Buckinghamshire, England. In the late 1960s, initial product development began, and mycoprotein’s potential as an efficient and nutritious protein source was soon recognized.”

If you take a look at their website (quorn.us), there is a LOT of mycoprotein propoganda on there. I’m guessing this is because it’s caused some controversy when it first showed up on the American market (Bet you didn’t know my blog could be so edgy!). Some entities, like Garden Burger, The American Mushroom Institute (year, seriously), and the Center for Science in the Public Interest, were cranky about the fact that the Quorn was saying their products were made from mushrooms. While they do us fungus, it’s not mushrooms. Also, they were using battery eggs (eggs hatched by chickens in a teeny cage, leading an unhappy life), which the Vegetarian Society did not approve of. Eventually, they phased out the use of battery eggs and stopped saying their products were made with mushrooms so people quieted down. You can check out Quorn’s Wikipedia entry for the full story.

So now I bet you’re all dying to try some! It’s understandable if eating a weird fungus sketches you out, but just for the record, I like it. The texture of their products are top notch, Beef-Style Grounds included. The flavor was much more mild (read: not as salty) as, oh… MorningStar Griller Crumbles. I think this is good, since you don’t have to worry about the overload of sodium and you can flavor it however you want. I didn’t do anything to it for the lasagna except sauté it with some onion.

On the nutrition side, they’re low in fat (zero trans fats), low in calories, fairly low in carbs, have a reasonable amount of sodium (only 170mg, compared to 230mg in the MorningStar version), five grams of fiber, 13 grams of protein and only three ingredients. Hopefully we don’t find out 20 years from now that mycoprotein causes cancer or something…

Anyhow, these beefy grounds would be great for taco’s, chili, burgers, etc. And like I said, they were great in the lasanga!

Red Lasagna with Quorn Beef-Style Grounds

Serves 8

1 pkg dried lasagna noodles

olive oil

½ medium onion, diced

1 pkg Quorn Beef-Style Grounds

5 c tomato sauce (about a jar and a half)

3 c cheese (I used mozzarella and parmesan)

1 zucchini, thinly sliced

1 summer squash, thinly sliced

Prepare noodles according to package instructions. Be careful not to overcook! When they’re ready, run them under cold water and then lay them out on a plate to pre

vent sticking.

Heat some olive oil in a large pan and sauté burger and onion over medium heat for about 6-8 minutes.

In another pan, sauté zucchini, squash and garlic in a little olive oil for about 3-5 minutes.

Set up your work area and begin! Put some sauce on the bottom of and 8x11 casserole dish. Lay out three to four noodles on top of sauce. Put spread some more sauce on top of noodles. Layer about 1/3-1/2 of the zucchini-squash mixture on top of that. Cover with cheese and then top it off with another layer of noodles. Repeat once or twice depending on how many noodles you have and how deep your casserole dish is.

Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes.

After 40 minutes, remove from oven and set oven to high broil. Sprinkle cheese over top and return to oven for 5 minutes. Let set 5-10 minutes before serving.

Tips: If you’ve made a pretty tall lasagna, you may want to stick a pan in the oven on the rack below to catch any sauce that might bubble over. And experiment with lots of different veggies and fillings!

If you're un unhealthy vegetarian...

Some people think that a vegetarian or vegan diet is automatically healthy just because you're skipping meat and/or animal products. This is definitely not the case. Meat, dairy and eggs have some really good for you things in them :) And not just calcium and protein either.

I found this article whilst Stumbling (my new favorite time waster). It's definitely a great refresher on what we need to be deliberate about including in our diet. Give it a looksy!

6 Foods to Eat If You're Skipping Meat

Good to know...

Knowledge is power! Which is why I've been sharing pertinent articles lately. I've been coming across a lot of good ones! For me, a good article that addresses the issues of eating meat/not eating meat is one that tries to address the facts (instead of just the feelings) and be as unbiased as possible. We are SO far beyond vegetarianism/veganism being a diet for hippies and weirdos. It's common place enough these days that people can discuss or debate the issue without it turning into a huge emotional mud slinging fest. I like that.

Anyway, on that note, here's an article for anyone interested in how their eating habits affect our planet. It's pertinent to people of all diets. Check it out!

The #1 Best Protein for Your Health and the Environment (and the Worst to Avoid)

Special K Loaf

Sometimes I wish I could do this for a living. Blog that is. I follow at least 20 recipe blogs and it appears that several of the writers are doing just that. Testing recipes, setting up the perfect lighting to take pictures of their dishes, editing photos, writing articles, and doing it every day. They have literally thousands of followers, tons of sponsors, add dollars just flowing in and publishers knocking on their doors for book deals. Sigh…. That is the LIFE! Maybe someday, but right now, I have fewer than 50 followers, most of which I know personally.

However, occasionally I’ll get a follower I have never met before and this is always the highlight of my DAY (sometimes week). And it’s for these few followers (not that they’re even following regularly…) that I’m going to give a little background to today.

I’m a card-carrying, lifelong member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Some of our beliefs are similar to other faiths, some are vastly different. One integral aspect of Adventist culture is what we like to call the health message (not sure if that warrants capitalization or not…). In a nutshell (which is sort of a pun if you know much about the health message), this “message” advocates for clean, temperate living. Some strict no-no’s are unclean meat (if that sounds weird, just google it), alcohol, tobacco and drugs in general, including marijuana (which I guess is pretty standard unless you’re a Rastafarian J). While vegetarianism used to seem like a must, at least among Adventists in America, it’s by no means “required.” Regardless, many of us were raised in vegetarian homes.

Growing up, Mom almost never prepared meat, except for an occasional turkey at Thanksgiving. However, we sometimes ate meat at restaurants or at relative’s houses. What we did consume on a regular basis was veggie meat. For better or worse, Adventists were the leading pioneers in the creation of veggie meat. The oldest companies specializing in faux meats (think Worthington, Loma Linda, Cedar Lake), were originally all Adventist owned. Although meat knock-offs can be found in almost ANY grocery store now, this wasn’t always the case. Once upon a time, you had to go to Adventist owned grocery or book stores to get your supplies. Happily, that’s not the situation anymore, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the price: it’s always been expensive.

For this reason, Adventists had to find ways to make something seem “meaty” without actually using even a fake meat. I think the best example of this has GOT to be the Special K Loaf.

Named for the corn flakes that play a leading role, this dish is a church potluck blockbuster. It’s not much to look at, but it's super easy to make and to adapt. And it's very yummy. The recipe I’m sharing is my mother’s version. You can find many others online, but they’re more complicated and in my opinion, just not as good. I’ve had MANY Special K’s in my day and I’m telling you, my mom’s is the best. A lot of other recipes go the “golden” route, using vegetarian chicken seasoning instead of beef. In my humble opinion, this is a mistake. It comes out way too yellow instead of actually looking more like meatloaf, and it’s not as savory.

I plugged the recipe into Caloriecount.com and it got a B+. It's kinda high in fat, but the majority comes from the walnuts, which means that only 3.7 grams are saturated. It’s LOADED with protein (26.4 grams per serving!) and it’s also high in vitamins B6, B12 and selenium. I’ll cover some ways to improve it health wise in the tips.

Special K Loaf
Serves 8

I large onion, chopped (or 1 pkg Lipton's Onion Soup)
1/4 c of corn oil
5 eggs beaten
4 cups of small curd cottage cheese
4 cups corn flakes
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1 1/2 T. McKays Beef Seasoning (omit if using Lipton Onion Soup mix)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.

Place in a lightly greased, 11 X 9 inch casserole dish and bake for one hour.

Tips: The pictures actually show this recipe cut in half, so don’t be alarmed if it looks like too much. If you don’t have a food processor, don’t actually CHOP the nuts. Throw them in a baggie and pound them with a rolling pin, heavy cup or bowl, etc. If you’d like to get the cholesterol down in the recipe (which is definitely something to think about), you could start by using egg whites instead of whole eggs (I’d do 6 large egg whites). An egg replacer would work fine too. Firm tofu instead of cottage cheese is another option. I would add some additional beef seasoning to punch up the flavor in that case.

Hot Topic

I'm sure no one has been obsessively checking my blog, waiting for me to post, but it has been a while. We were gone for a long weekend and then lost power (and water!) for about three days. Sigh... I thought I left that behind in Yosemite. Anyway, here's a link to a really great article on the meat vs. vegetarian dilemma. They're basically compiling all the best arguments from both (or all) sides. Good stuff. Give it a read! And look out for the meatless meatloaf recipe I'll be posting in the next few days.

Meat or No Meat: Tell Us What You Think And Why

Shish Kebarbeque Kebobs

I don’t know if other parts of the country have been experiencing this, but the weather in Southwest Michigan for the last few weeks has been… disappointing. I mean, it’s JUNE for crying out loud! We’ve had so very much rain and so many cool days. I was really getting tired of it. That’s April and May weather, NOT summer weather! But I believe the worst is finally over and you can thank my friends and me for that. We did the opposite of a rain dance to usher in the sunshine: a grill out.

Donnie and I try to host grill outs on a pretty regular basis. We have the space, we have the time, and we have a grill, which is more than a lot of people are age can say (priorities are a funny thing, aren’t they?). However, this grill out was not hosted by us. It was hosted by my friend Kasper who had the sensational idea of doing shish kebabs instead of burgers! Maybe some people out there do this on the regular, but for some reason, doing kebabs on the grill with a big group had never crossed my mind. I’m guessing Kasper was inspired by his recent trip to the Middle East. Regardless, it worked out so well. I was in charge of telling people what to bring, so instead of having them bring cheese slices or buns, they brought peppers, onions, pineapple, summer squash and so on. We whipped up a couple of marinades, built our kebabs and totally enjoyed hanging out while they cooked.

It was one successful shish-kebarbeque (as we took to calling it) and it was even documented and rapped about by my other half. If you’re interested, you can view the video on my facebook page under the videos I’m tagged in.

Anyway, I’m not just sharing this so I can brag about the awesome time we had. I’m sharing because you can recreate the same kebabs at home, whether you have a bunch of friends over or not. The following recipe is just what we used, but you can really get creative with it. I’m not going to tell you amounts, because it really depends on how much of any particular thing you’d like to use. And when it comes to the veggie meat, pretty much anything that’ll stay on a stick will do. We had a few options, but Worthington Super-Links seemed to be the favorite! Where the marinade is concerned, I mixed up a homemade one based on a recipe I got off of the Foodnetwork website, but the store bought one Kasper provided was really good too. It doesn’t really matter, as long as you have SOME kind of marinade to slather on.

Also, there’s a few different ways you could do this: on the grill, in the oven, or even on the stove (I draw the line at the microwave…). Check the tips following the recipe for oven/stove instructions.

Shish Kebarbeque Kebobs

Kebabs
Peppers (we used red, yellow and green)
Onions (we used red and white)
Zucchini
Summer Squash
Baby potatoes
Mushrooms
Pineapple
Grape Tomatoes
Veggie Meat (we had Super-Links, Chic-ketts, Grillers, and Worthington vegetable steaks)
Kebab skewers

Marinade
3 Tbls vegetable oil
1 tsp ceyenne powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
3 Tbls lime juice
2 Tbls water
2 Tbls fresh cilantro, chopped (use 1 tsp if dry)
1 Tbls tomato paste
1 1/2 tsp honey
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt, to taste

If using wooden skewers, follow prep directions (you’ll probably need to soak them).

In a small bowl, mix marinade ingredients together until smooth.

Boil potatoes until you’re able to easily pierce them with a fork, but they’re not quite soft enough to eat (about 10-12 minutes).

Cut peppers, onions, zucchini, summer squash, potatoes, pineapple and veggie meat into kebab size pieces (no smaller than a square inch and no larger than two square inches).

Skewer desired ingredients, lather on marinade with a basting brush and lay over hot grill. Watch cafefully and turn occasionally until desired tenderness is reached (this totally depends on how hot your grill is, but the marinade should be partially soaked into the veggies).

Tips: If you don’t have a grill, one option is to roast them in the oven. While I haven’t tried this yet, I would set the oven to 425, and either lay them out on a greased roasting pan, wrap them in foil, or lay them on a pan with parchment paper. I’m guessing they’d need at least 35 minutes, but probably more. If you happen to have a grilling pan for the stove, that will work great too. Searing them in a regular, well-oiled pan would work, but it would take a while. If you want to try that, I would cook them at no higher than medium heat and maybe cover them part of the time. Like I mentioned before, you can really go nuts with ingredients, if you can skewer it, you can grill it. I think an all fruit kebab with a sweet, buttery marinade could be amazing. I’ll let you know if I ever try that.

Their vegan pants are on fire...

I just found this article on the Huffington Post website. Apparently VegNews magazine was using pictures of (gasp!) REAL MEAT. I actually think it's pretty funny, but apparently some people were seriously upset. It's a short article, so give it a read and tell me what you think. Would this make you mad?


http://www.slashfood.com/2011/04/14/vegan-magazines-faux-meat-recipe-photos-actually-real-meat/

You can also check out the original article from quarrygirl.com here.

Beef Chili with Bob's Red Mill TVP

I don’t know about you, but I usually try to avoid eating things that sound like chemical compounds or plastic materials. Seems like a good rule to live by, right? I’m sure it is about 99% of the time, but this weekend I made an exception for TVP.

Even when you use it’s real name, Textured Vegetable Protein, is still doesn’t sound like something you’d want to cook with. But in fact, you do. At least I do. I’ve had recipes that use TVP over the years and experienced varying degrees of enjoyment (tamales were a winner!), but this was actually my first time preparing it and here’s why I think you’d like to cook with it too:

A) It’s inexpensive – I’m sure this would depend on where you got it and who made it, but my name brand Bob’s Red Mill TVP set me back two dollars and change at the local grocer, and it was a pretty good sized package. A can of the same amount of veggie ground beef would cost, oh I don’t know, five times as much?

B) It’s versatile: While Bob’s only makes one sort of TVP (ground beef-like in appearance), my local health food store sells several different versions, colored and shaped to look like various meat products. I’m guessing you can buy it pre-flavored as well, but Bob’s brand was ready to be whatever I wanted it to be, which was nice.

C) It’s healthy: This stuff is legit. Low in calories. Fat free. Only TWO mg of sodium (yeah, you read that right), while still packing in 4 grams of fiber, 12 grams of protein and 15% of your daily iron in just one serving.

I rest my case.

Now I know it’s not really chili season, but I had some tomatoes and beans to use up, and I figured it would be a foolproof way to test out the TVP for the first time. Luckily I was right. The textured vegetable protein made the chili hearty, but not heavy and the summer squash freshened it up while adding some nice color as well. It was a winning batch. Since I’d never used the TVP before, I started by preparing it according to the package, just to see what it was like. But for this recipe, just throw it into the water unless you’re curious like me.

Beef Chili with Bob’s Red Mill TVP

Serves 4-6

4 c water

1 c TVP dry

1 can black beans

1 small or medium onion, chopped

2 large cloves of garlic, minced

3 Tbls vegetarian beef seasoning (I used McKays)

1 Tbls taco seasoning

1 large tomato, chopped

1 summer squash, chopped

1 handful of fresh cilantro, chopped

salt

In a large pot over medium heat, add water, TVP, beans, onion, garlic and beef and taco seasonings. Cook until onions are beginning to soften, stirring frequently.

Add tomatoes and squash and continue cooking for another five minutes or so.

Add cilantro, then taste and add salt to your liking.

Tips: Since the beef seasoning and taco seasoning are pretty salty, you may not need to add any

additional salt. My taco seasoning was hot, so I didn’t need to add any extra spice, but you can always throw in some minced jalapeno (or other hot pepper), red pepper flakes, or cayenne. If you don’t have taco seasoning (or don’t like using prepackaged goods), just use a combo of cayenne, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper. It’ll get the job done. You can also add whatever other vegetables you need to use up. The more the merrier with chili (and most soups). Just be

sure to think about how fast they’ll cook and when you’ll need to add them.

What the WHAT?

So I just stumbled across this article on the online Huffington Post. Apparently someone can make fake chicken that'll fool ya. I don't actually know how I feel about that... Check it out!




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/07/fake-meat-vegetarian-chic_n_602967.html