It's World Go Vegan Week, October 24-31!!!  In celebration of the vegan lifestyle, go to http://www.worldgoveganweek.org/ and take the vegan pledge.  "A plant-based diet not only improves your health, it significantly reduces your carbon footprint and preserves resources for future generations".  My family has been vegan for over three years now and we have never been happier or healthier.  My kids are proud of their veganism, and let other people know without having to be prompted to do so!!  They are "protectors of the animals and a friend to all living things"... superheroes.  Be a superhero and give veganism a try for at least a portion of the time.  If you need tips and ideas for meals and more, scroll back through the posts here at Vegan Family Values!

COK's Subway Campaign

Compassion Over Killing is one of my favorite animal rights groups, and they have come up with a great idea!  Whether you are concerned about animal rights or not, vegans and vegetarians alike might be thrilled to have Tofurkey slices or something like them available for the Veggie Delight sub.  If this is something that you are interested in, go to their website and leave a comment...the more the better.  I spoke with a few members of COK at the Green Festival this year and they were excited about the campaign.  Even if you are perfectly happy having the Veggie Delight sub without the slices, leave a comment in support of those of us who would LOVE it!!!!  Go to http://www.welovesubway.com/ and check it out!

Green Festival 2010: Sunrise Catering

We made our annual trip to the Green Festival is Washington, D.C. yesterday and it was great!  We always learn something new, see lots of great people, and eat some good vegan food!  It's one meal that I look forward to all year long (well, that and Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, my birthday, everyone else's birthdays...alright, I just love to eat!).  My perennial favorite is the food cooked by Sunrise Catering out of D.C.  They do an amazing job making sure that they offer a lot of variety and they do not substitute quality for quantity.  They rock.  The whole menu is vegan and vegetarian.  Entrees include roti, BBQ "steak", "shrimp" and veggies, and more.  It's the sides that always get me.  They offer mac and "cheese", veggie rice, peas and rice, cabbage, greens (amazing, seasoned, and fresh), fried plantains, curried potatoes and chick peas, broccoli tempura, veggie rolls, and pumpkin.  The prices were vaer reasonable and the service was good.  So if you are in the D.C. metroplitan area and need a good vegan caterer, these guys will FILL YOU UP!  Their website is www.sunrisecatering.vpweb.com and their mantra is "Eat to live, don't live to eat - let your food be your medicine"!

Another New Favorite: Philly-Style Vegan CheeseSteak Subs

 It didn't really take much...some Daiya mozzerella cheese, Tofurkey Philly Steak Style slices, some sauteed peppers and onions and mushrooms (cause I love mushrooms), some hoagie rolls, and a little vegan mayo.  Our veganized Philly Cheese-Steak Subs were awesome and I could have eaten more but I was so stuffed!  By the way, I didn't want anyone to think that Tofurkey was giving us money or anything, we just really like their products.  I wish I had time to cook more because I love to cook, but most weeknights we are in a bit of a rush (translation: we are CRAZY busy!).  Tofurkey products make creating a wholesome, semi-homecooked meal for my family possible!

Indian Naan

One of the parents at the school where I teach surprised me with a homemade vegan Indian-Style dish to share with my family.  On my way home I was trying to decide what to serve with it and I finally decided on curried vegetables and homemade vegan Naan, an Indian-style flatbread.  Often when we go to Indian eateries, I see Naan and would love to have some, but it typically has Ghee (butter) in it.  Here is a great recipe for your own homemade vegan version of this terrific bread!
Vegan Naan
Ingredients:

    1 - .25 ounce package active dry yeast
    1 cup warm water
    1/4 cup sugar
    3 tablespoons soymilk
    1 egg replacer, beaten
    2 teaspoons salt
    4 1/2 cups bread flour
    1 teaspoon minced garlic
    Margarine and/or oil
Procedure:
1) In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes.  It will look frothy. Add and Stir sugar, soy milk, egg replacer, and salt.
2) Add enough flour to make a soft dough. I drop in 1/2 cup at a time and stir/mix until doughy.  Knead for 1-2 minutes on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise for at least 1 hour.
3) Push down dough, and knead in garlic slowly. Make sure garlic is spread throughout and not concentrated into one area. Pinch off small handfuls of dough and roll into 2 inch diameter balls.  Place on a cookie sheet or other tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise for 30 minutes.
4) Heat a griddle on the stove top at medium heat.  Make sure to lightly oil griddle between each Naan.  (I use cooking spray.)
5) Roll one ball of dough out into a thin elongated circle/oval with rolling pin. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Flip and cook another 2 to 4 minutes. The air bubbles that form in the dough while cooking should be the dark browned parts of the naan.  Don't press bread down to cook through.  Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.
Makes: 12 to 16 naans, Preparation time: 1 hour 45 minutes, Cooking time: 30 minutes
Be sure to check out VegWeb.com for other great recipes!

PawFest 2010

 Last month Dale and I set up the New Leaf Vegan Society tent at Paw Fest in Winchester, VA.  The event was held to raise money for the local SPCA.  They were great to let us set up and pass out vegan goodies for everyone to try!  We had a great turnout and gave away 6 different kinds of baked goods and multiple varieties of plant milk.  Yummm...I sampled quite a bit!  It was great to be around so many animal lovers and we all had a great time!

Stuff We Love: Tofurkey Pizza!

 After seeing the ads for Tofurkey Pizza in VegNews Magazine, we finally got our hands on a few of them!   I have to say, it is by far the best vegan pizza that I have had yet.  I am a big Amy's brand fan, but this pizza rocks the house.  The toppings are, of course, by Turtle Island Foods.  So if you love anything Tofurkey, this is a no-brainer.  The cheese, interestingly enough, is by Daiya.  Daiya makes a vegan cheese that is not only great-tasting, but has the texture of real melted cheese.  Cheese was very hard for me to let go of when I made the transition from vegetarian to vegan, so this was a great treat for me.  I can get bags of shredded Daiya mozzarella and cheddar at the grocery store, so I added  extra cheese.  Where can you get Tofurkey Pizzas?  We got ours from the My Organic Market, but there are other sources as well.  Just use your favorite search engine and look it up.  The "pepperoni" was a big hit with the kids, and my husband and I preferred the italian sausage and fire-roasted veggie pizza.

Mouthwatering Brownies

We just finished tabling at the SPCA PawFest and I have not had enough time to download pictures, but I wanted to make sure that I added this brownie recipe that was such a big hit.  We were honored to bring such great vegan treats to a new event!  Here is the recipe, and I will add pictures and more details a little later.  Right now I am worn out!  This one we modified from the deluxe cocoa Brownies in Vegan Cookies Take Over Your Cookie Jar!

Deluxe Orange Cocoa Brownies

Ingredients: 3 ounces of firm silken tofu like Mori-Nu (1/4 of the package)

                  1/4 cup of non-dairy milk (like soy or rice)

                   1/2 cup of canola oil

                  1 cup of sugar

                   2 teaspoons of vanilla

                   1 cup od flour

                   1.2 cuo of unsweetened cocoa powder

                   1 Tablespoon of cornstarch

                   1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

                   1/2 teaspoon salt

                    Zest of 1 orange and a teasppon of orange extract

1. Preheat the oven to325 degrees F.  Line an 8 x 8 inch brownie pan with parchment paper; it should cover the bottom as well as curve up and cover the sides.

2.  Puree the tofu, nondairy milk, and oil in a blender until smooth and fluffy. 

3.  Transfer the tofu mixture to a mixing bowl.  Us a fork to mix in the sugar.  Add vanilla.

4.  Sift the flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.  Us the spatula to fold and mix the batter until smooth.  Transfer the batter to the pan and then smooth out.  

Cook for 10-12 minutes!!

 

Back to School!

Yeah, back to school!  My house is cleaner already!  Seriously, I love my kids, but they are so creative that they just cannot help leaving disaster in their paths wherever they go!  So now they are back to class, my youngest started Kindergarten and my daughter is in 2nd grade.  "So what do they do for lunch?" you are, of course, wondering.  Well, when it comes to lunch, one word comes to mind: PACK!  I do not let my kids buy lunch, it is very unregulated.  I usually start with a sandwich, as they both love sandwiches.  Peanut Butter and Jelly or soy cheese and vegan mayo are their favorites, although sometimes I buy Tofurkey slices (faux turkey lunch meat) or make seitan to add.  Occasionally I will mix things up by giving them peanut butter crackers or Tofutti cream cheese and jelly crackers.  I cannot send things that need to be heated.  I give each of them a half of a sandwich.  Then I will follow that with two other choices: fruit or a fruit cup and something like veggie chips, teddy grahams, trail mix, or the like.  I also started buying Capri Sun flavored water pouches to avoid all the calories that come with juice.  They like them a lot.  Throw in a napkin and a wet wipe, and that's lunch.  You, of course, can get more creative than that if you are packing your own lunch or your kids' lunch.  Look around the grocery store and find bulk items that you can divide into individual pouches for quick access.  Anyway you look at it, packing is the best option because you KNOW what is in it!

New Family Member!

My husband and I decided this year that we did not want to have any more kids. We thought about it LONG and hard, believe me!  It just was not the right choice for us.  Our two beautiful children fill our lives with so much happiness, and we are blessed, but we reasoned that we have each "reproduced ourselves once.  So when we are gone, we will not be contributing to overpopulation.  Plus, our whole lives revolve around having two kids!!!!  What I have ALWAYS wanted, though, is a miniature potbellied pig.  So my husband took me and the kids out to visit a farm that had a litter of piglets that they could not keep.  And we left with one!!  I have to say, he is a wonderful pet, although it is a lot like having a puppy.  This might be a true testament to the vegan lifestyle, though.  We talked to the kids about befriending and loving a creature that most people just think of a "bacon".  I will give updates on the progress of our little Oliver, cause he is just so darn cute!!!