Vegan Chocolate Mousse

Source:  Whole Foods Market Recipes   http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipe/chocolate-mousse 

 

Ingredients: 

• 3/4 cup raw cashews
• 1 cup packed pitted dates (about 20)
• 1 (15 ounce) can puréed organic butternut squash
• 3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk beverage, more if needed
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Fresh raspberries (optional)
• Grated coconut (optional)

Method: 

Place cashews and dates in a medium bowl and cover with very hot water. Let soak for 2 hours to soften. Drain well.

Place drained cashews and dates, butternut squash and coconut milk in a high-powered blender or food processor and process until smooth (this may take 1 to 2 minutes). Add cocoa and vanilla. Process again, adding a bit more coconut milk if needed to make a smooth, mousse-like texture. Chill at least 1 hour or until ready to serve. Garnish with raspberries and coconut.

World Vets - International Aid for Animals

Here in the United States, we have all heard about the overpopulation issue when it comes to domestic animals. The truths behind our farmed animal industry are being unveiled.  Archaic animal rights laws are being challenged.  But did you know that on a global basis, the situation is even more dire? Animal welfare laws and regulations are lax or non-existent in developing countries, opening the door for health hazards due to lack of infrastructure and resources when it comes to livestock, working animals and strays.  Overpopulation is a major issue; it’s estimated that 75% of the worldwide dog population are strays and even higher for cats.  This presents major issues not only from a human health perspective but also has implications on the welfare of the animal.  Most developing countries do not have the resources for spaying and neutering their strays and address the issue using methods such as shooting, electrocution and most often, poisoning. 

It’s hard to turn a blind eye to what’s happening on the global front once you learn more of the details or see it first-hand.  And that’s exactly what happened when Cathy King, a veterinarian here in the USA (and now Founder & CEO of World Vets), was volunteering in Mexico in 2002.  As fate would have it, she arrived the day after a hurricane warning so instead of performing spay and neuter surgery all week, she was busy moving dogs back to the shelter from a warehouse they were in temporarily due to the storm.  Most of those dogs were street dogs and Cathy began to learn how hundreds of thousands of these dogs (and cats) are poisoned every year to control their population and that spaying and neutering is not common in Mexico or other developing countries.  That sparked an idea and when she returned home she shared her story with other vets, inspiring them to want to volunteer.  When she began her own practice, her idea along with a donation jar on her clinic’s counter has turned into one of the largest veterinary aid organizations in the world…World Vets.  In just six years, they now work in 36 countries on 6 continents and help tens of thousands of animals each year.  Their focus began on spay/neuter but their programs now cover nearly every aspect of veterinary medicine and all of their services are free of charge.

World Vets provides programs such as:

• Field services such as spay/neuter procedures, veterinary medicine to equines and disease prevention in livestock. 

• Disaster response in times of earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and other natural disasters. 

• Annual humanitarian missions as the NGO represented on two US Navy aid missions to the South Pacific and Central/South America.  

• Veterinary medicine clinics in Latin America to train veterinarians within the developing countries. 

I asked Cathy what she thinks World Vets’ biggest accomplishment is, and while there are many to choose from, the fact that they have brought an end to poisoning street animals in several regions of the world is one that has ended so much animal suffering.  They have established formal agreements with several government municipalities to end the poisoning and in return, World Vets implements large scale spay/neuter services through their field service program to address the overpopulation issue in a humane way.  It was during one of these field service projects in Nicaragua when they met a two pound puppy near death with injuries, parasites and disease.  He wasn’t expected to live but with their round the clock care, he showed improvement.  They named him Chancho (Spanish for pig) because he looked like a little piglet with a white pot belly and a curly tail.  He was a street dog without a home and the volunteers could not leave him behind.  Luckily for Chancho, one of the vet students from Mississippi State University brought him back to the US.  Coincidentally Cathy was scheduled to speak at MSU and, you guessed it, came home with a new dog.  Cathy says “Chanco is the best little dog ever and he serves as a daily reminder to me of why we work so hard to help animals that wouldn’t otherwise have access to veterinary care.  Just because they live on the street, doesn’t mean they don’t deserve care.  They all deserve care and that’s a driving force behind World Vets.”

In staying true to our mission of giving animals a voice, I asked Cathy what she thinks the animals helped by World Vets would say if they could speak.  She said “I guess they would say thank you and please come back again!”  And World Vets does come back.  They send a team almost every week of the year to countries all over the world to help animals live a better life.

                                    

How can you help? 

Learn more about World Vets by visiting their website. Connect with them on Facebook and twitter and share with your friends .

All of their services are free but equipment and supplies are expensive.  You can donate to help them continue their great work.

Volunteers are critical to their work.  Check the volunteer opportunities and their project schedules if you’d like to volunteer your time.

Vegan Macaroni & Cheese

Source:  VegNews  http://vegnews.com/articles/page.do?pageId=40&catId=10#

What You Need:

• 4 quarts water
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 8 ounces macaroni
• 4 slices of bread, torn into large pieces
• 2 tablespoons + 1/3 cup non-hydrogenated margarine
• 2 tablespoons shallots, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup red or yellow potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1/4 cup carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1/3 cup onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup raw cashews
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika

1. In a large pot, bring the water and salt to a boil. Add macaroni and cook until al dente. In a colander, drain pasta and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
2. In a food processor, make breadcrumbs by pulverizing the bread and 2 tablespoons margarine to a medium-fine texture. Set aside.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan, add shallots, potatoes, carrots, onion, and water, and bring to a boil. Cover the pan and simmer for 15 minutes, or until vegetables are very soft.
4. In a blender, process the cashews, salt, garlic, 1/3 cup margarine, mustard, lemon juice, black pepper, and cayenne. Add softened vegetables and cooking water to the blender and process until perfectly smooth.
5. In a large bowl, toss the cooked pasta and blended cheese sauce until completely coated. Spread mixture into a 9 x 12 casserole dish, sprinkle with prepared breadcrumbs, and dust with paprika. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese sauce is bubbling and the top has turned golden brown.

Avocado Pesto Pasta

Source: VegNews  http://vegnews.com/articles/page.do?pageId=2170&catId=11#

Serves 6

What You Need:

1 pound dried linguini
1 bunch basil leaves (about 2½ ounces)
½ cup pine nuts
2 ripe avocados, pitted and peeled
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about ½ of a lemon)
3 cloves garlic
½ cup olive oil
Salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste
¼ cup chopped sun dried tomatoes (optional)

What You Do:

1. In a large pot, bring water to a boil. Add pasta and cook to package directions. While pasta cooks, in a food processor, blend basil, pine nuts, avocados, lemon juice, garlic, and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Drain pasta. In a large serving bowl, toss pesto with hot, freshly cooked pasta and garnish each serving with a basil leaf. For an extra touch of color and flavor, top pasta with sun dried tomatoes.

Black Bean Fiesta Veggie Burgers

Source:  The Lunchbox Bunch:  http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2011/04/black-bean-fiesta-veggie-burgers-slaw.html
 

Makes 5 burgers

5 whole wheat burger buns
5 round onion slices and 5 round tomato slices

Cilantro Jicama Fiesta Slaw:  

Makes about 4 cups

Burgers:
1 1/2 cups black beans, drained/canned (unsalted)
3 Tbsp fine bread crumbs
3/4 cup baked/mashed sweet potato
3 Tbsp chopped cilantro - including stems
1/3 cup diced white onion
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chopped garlic
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
2 Tbsp lime juice
1/2 jalapeno, diced/de-seeded
3 Tbsp nutritional yeast - or use more bread crumbs
a few dashes of chipotle powder or cayenne for extra heat

Special Spicy Sauce:
1/2 cup vegan mayo
2 tsp garlic hot sauce 

optional: lime-juice spritzed avocado slices  

Directions:
1. First off prepare the Fiesta Slaw:  Prep all your veggies. Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl – toss well. Customize the moisture-level of your slaw – to ‘wet’ your slaw a bit more, add in extra citrus juice. Salt and pepper slaw to taste. Chill in fridge until ready to be served. 

2. Whip up your "special spicy sauce" - set aside in fridge as well.

3. Next up, prepare the burgers. Pulse all the ingredients in a food processor. You can also mash well by hand - but a food processor is a tad faster. Next, hand-form burger patties with the mixture and place them on a lightly greased baking sheet. Roll the burgers in a touch of bread crumbs so that they have nice crisp edges.

4. Bake your burgers at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool for a few minutes before assembling burgers. The last 5 minutes of cooking - add your burger buns to the oven to warm/toast them.

5. Assemble the burgers: Warm bun, spread of special sauce, tomato, onion, optional avocado, burger, fiesta slaw and finally another slather of the special spicy sauce on the top bun.

Volunteer Day at The Gentle Barn

Mom & Dad went to Southern California a couple of weeks ago.  They said it was for meetings but we think they just wanted to get away from the cold.  Luckily they left us here in Minneapolis so we could enjoy playing in the snow!  They said their favorite part of the trip was on Thursday when they got to volunteer at The Gentle Barn.  Dad recently did an Ironman and raised over $2,000 for TGB which allowed us to sponsor seven of their animals for a year.  They were so excited to visit again and see some of those animals in person.  They came back and told us all about it and it sounded pretty cool so we thought we’d share the story with you.

The Gentle Barn is located in Santa Clarita, CA just north of Los Angeles.  They have almost any animal you can imagine from cows, to llamas and even a peacock.  All of the animals were rescued from some sort of less than optimal situation.  Some were severely abused, some neglected and some dumped, left to survive on their own.  But once they come to live at The Gentle Barn, their lives will forever be one filled with love and care.  

They met the staff that work hard every day to make sure the animals’ living area is clean and that they have food & water and they got to talk with several of the volunteers that come every week to give the animals love and attention.  To see how many dedicated people TGB has helping them to do the incredible work they do was inspiring.  Mom & Dad couldn’t wait to help out too.  They gave water to all the cows and horses, they swept and shoveled out horse stalls, scooped up old hay and shoveled poop, lots of it.  They even got to feed the horses carrots when their grooming was done.  It’s not glamorous work but they said it was one of the most rewarding things they’ve done in a long time.  The animals seemed so grateful and appreciative of everyone who is there to keep them healthy and safe. 

All of the animals have a special story, have their own personality, have their own way of showing gratitude.  It’s impossible not realize the depth of emotions and social connection all animals inherently have after spending a day there.  For instance, did you know that cows are incredibly social, familial and a mother will cry for days if her calf is taken from her?  When TGB rescued Karma, they realized later that she was a new mother so they went back the next day to rescue her calf.  Check out this video to watch Karma reunited with her calf.  Did you know pigs are very intelligent and learn quickly, even learning tricks faster than dogs?  Pigs rank #4 in animal intelligence behind chimpanzees, dolphins and elephants. Piglets learn their names by two to three weeks of age and respond when called.  Here’s a video of Biscuit’s first day at TGB, saved the day before he would have gone off to slaughter.  Wow has he grown!

Donating money is necessary to keep them up and running but the feeling of rolling up the sleeves and doing work to help them can’t be replaced.  Looking into Faith’s eyes when she comes to you for some love while cleaning her pasture is magical. When Cinnamon walks over asking for rubs while you’re filling her water bucket, it’s hard not to create a bond.  All of these animals suffered at the hands of humans, yet they continue to open their hearts and learn to love and trust again.  There's something we can all learn from that.  Meeting these animals is a life changing experience and we’re hopeful that everyone will have the chance to see it for themselves one day.

Woof, Woof! 

Sadie & Bella

The Gentle Barn is located at 15825 Sierra Highway in Santa Clarita, CA.  They are open to the public on Sundays and you can visit their animals.  Can’t get to California?  You can check out their website at www.thegentlebarn.org to learn more about all of their animals or donate to them directly.   

Smokey Mushroom Vegetable Stew

Source:  Vegan Yack Attack:  http://veganyackattack.com/2011/10/03/smokey-mushroom-vegetable-slow-cooker-stew/#

Servings: Approx. 8

Ingredients:

• 8 Cups Vegetable Broth
• 1 Cup Dried Chickpeas
• 2 Cups Carrots, Chopped
• 2 Cups White Onions, Diced
• 1 Cup Corn Kernels
• 3 Cups Potato, Chopped
• 3 Cups Zucchini, Chopped
• 1 Cup Dried Wild Mushrooms, or any earthy flavored Mushrooms
• 8 oz. Can of Tomato Paste
• 3 Tbsp. Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
• 1/2 Tbsp. Liquid Smoke
• 1 Tbsp. Fresh Rosemary, Minced
• 1 Tbsp. Fresh Curled Parsley, Minced
• 1 tsp. Dried Oregano
• 1 tsp. Dried Sage
• 1 1/2 tsp. Black Pepper
• Salt to taste

Directions:

1. In a large crock pot, turned on high heat, place vegetable broth and chickpeas. Prepare the rest of the ingredients while the chickpeas are being cooked. Then add the rest of the ingredients into the crock pot and stir together until they are mixed, the zucchini may float and that’s normal.
2. Continue to cook the stew at high heat for approx. 8-10 hours, or until chickpeas are no longer raw and hard. Stir it every few hours, although it’ll be fine if you leave it be while you go to work, etc. It may be beneficial to fix this dish up at night and leave it on until dinner the next day so that the flavors meld together better. You can always freeze the leftovers for later so that you have plenty of soup for the coming months!

Toasty Pumpkin Chickpea Fritters

Source:  Lunch Box Bunch  http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2011/10/toasty-pumpkin-chickpea-fritters.html#

makes 6-7 small round fritters

1 can chickpeas, drained
1/2 cup organic pumpkin puree (canned)
1/4 cup hemp seeds
1 tsp garlic granules
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
a few dashes of pepper, cayenne and salt to taste

optional: 1-2 tsp flour to assist in binding if needed
1 cup panko bread crumbs for coating
1/4 - 1/2 cup safflower oil for frying

*baking note: you could also bake these little cakes instead of fry them if you'd prefer! Bake on parchment paper or a lightly greased baking sheet at about 350 degrees for about 20 minutes - or until toasty. BUT the panko bread crumbs are really made for a light fry. So if you can't fry - perhaps use a finer, moister bread crumb.

To Make:

1. Add the chickpeas and pumpkin to a large mixing bowl. With a large fork or potato masher, mash the beans until at least 75% of them have been mashed together with the pumpkin.
2. Add in the spices, apple cider, hemp seeds and optional flour. Fold together until a moist mixture forms.
3. Preheat a few tablespoons of safflower oil in a large skillet.
4. When the oil is hot, for the mixture into golf ball sized balls and roll in your panko crumbs until well covered - pat down into flatter cakes and place int he hot oil - carefully.
5. Continue until the pan is full - leave about an inch space between each cake for easier flipping. Cook on each side only about 1-2 minutes - or until toasty brown. Try not to burn, although a bit of crisping is nice.
6. Transfer cooked fritters to a paper towel to cool. Serve in about 5 minutes after cooling a bit.
Store in the fridge and reheat in the oven if desired. You can freeze as well. However, these fritters are best hot off the skillet!

Sage Cream Sauce of the side (super easy)

Blend up 4 fresh sage leaves with 1 cup silken tofu, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, 1 heaping spoonful of vegan mayo and a pinch of fresh parsley. For a spicy sage sauce add in either cayenne or a Tbsp of chopped jalapeno. 

Potato Angels - A Deviled Egg Substitute

Source:  Veg Web   http://vegweb.com/recipes/my-husbands-deviled-egg-solution-potato-angels

6 new potatoes (uniformly shaped), peeled and halved
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons vegan mayonnaise
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
1 to 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
dash hot sauce
dash garlic powder
salt and pepper, to taste
dash turmeric , optional, for yellow color
paprika, for dusting

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and grease a cookie sheet. Coat all sides of each potato with olive oil. Place potatoes face down on prepared cookie sheet and bake for about 45 minutes, or until soft (but not too mushy).
2. While the potatoes are roasting, mix the rest of the ingredients (except paprika) together. When the potatoes are done, allow to cool a bit, and then use a sharp knife to cut into the flat side of each potato and then hollow it out with a spoon. You want to be left with a little cup-shaped potato.
3. Add the scooped-out potato to your mayo/mustard mix and blend well. You can then fill the hollowed out potato shells with the mixture piping it on with a cake decorating bag, or just plop it in there. Dust each potato with paprika.
 

You can refrigerate them for later, or eat them right away! 

Peruvian Stuffed Avocados

Source:  Go Dairy Free   http://www.godairyfree.org/recipes/peruvian-vegetarian-stuffed-avocado

Quinoa Salad:

• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cup quinoa
• 1/4 cup fresh corn kernels
• 1/4 cup diced tomato
• 1/4 cup cooked, diced sweet potatoes or yams
• 3 tablespoons minced red onion

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 teaspoon sugar (or sweetener of choice)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 jalapeño pepper, stemmed and seeded
  

• 2 ripe avocados
• Fresh cilantro leaves

Instructions

1. Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan.
2. Rinse quinoa in a fine mesh sieve and add to pot.
3. Cook, covered, over low heat for 12 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes, then fluff with a fork and transfer to a medium bowl.
5. Add corn, tomato, yams and onion to bowl and mix well.
6. Puree all dressing ingredients in a small food processor or blender and stir into salad.
7. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour.
8. Cut avocados in half and remove pits.
9. Place avocado halves on 4 small plates and top with quinoa salad.
10. Garnish with cilantro leaves.