No-Cook Broccoli

I found a sumptuous head of romanesco broccoli at this week's farmer's market. It's like a broccoli with psychedelic swirls on the top. How to prepare without cooking though? The following is a method what's called "cold cooking": a very simply, very useful method for raw vegans. Take:

• 1 head broccoli, minced
  
• 2 tsp celtic sea salt

Toss them together in a large metal or glass bowl. Work it for a good two minutes, or until the salt has fully dissolved. Next add:

• 1 tsp hemp/flax oil
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 spicy pepper
• 2 tbsp red onion, chopped
  
• 1 tsp ginger minced (optional)

Toss these and then apply weight to the dish. Setting some heavy plates on top of the broccoli for an hour. Put in the refrigerator and allow to marinate for 16-24 hours. Now your broccoli is soft, tender, well seasoned and ready to serve!

Hot Pink Spaghetti Alfredo

For this recipe you're going to need a spiral vegetable slicer. You can find them all over the net and at Bed Bath and Beyond type stores. If you've got enough patience and skill you can make noodles with a vegetable peeler, but spiral slicers aren't too expensive so they're worth looking into. the one on the left is available on the net.

Spiralize the following

• 2 beets, zucchini, squash, 1 turnip, or 1 garnet yam (i used chiogga beets)

Toss in a large mixing bowl along with a few pinches of

• celtic sea salt

After tossing for a few minutes cover with heavy plates to smoosh the beet noodles. This procedure can be used on most starchy vegetables with the same results: the noodles become softer and tastier.

Next blend

• 5 macadamias
• 5 brazil nuts
• 1/8 cup water
• 5+ leaves fresh basil
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 dates
• 1 lemon, juiced
  
• pinch sea salt

Once sauce has become smooth and creamy drain water from beets and pour on the sauce! Top with

• 1/4 small onion, chopped
  
• 1/4 small red pepper, chopped
  
• handful of sprouts
• pomegranate seeds to garnish

Enjoy!

Meat Eaters to Vegans: Just Stop It Already!

The College I attended is among the most progressive in the nation, both in terms of the students and the policy, diversity was embraced and even cultivated. One of the most popular classes was a gender studies course. You get the idea, not exactly a backwoods place.

And yet one of the biggest issues of contention was the cafeteria. The college's vegan population had finally forced the corporate entity which ran food services on campus to offer vegan options. These people were cheap as hell, and so you can imagine what horrible food choices were offered. Well now cut those choices in half and add equally horrible vegan food. You've got a recipe for a foodfight.

And that's what we got, on campus, in the newspaper, everywhere meat eaters complaining bitterly and blaming the vegans for the deteriorating conditions of campus chow. The vegans didn't want to eat the swill served by Aramark (yeah I'll call 'em out) so they ditched the meal plan en masse and started holding potlucks. Aramark was not pleased and twisted the administration's arm to ban any non-company food on campus. The vegans went underground.

I can see this theatre of the absurd replaying itself at Loyola and it makes me so sad

Soup! The thought pops into your head, a faint glimmer of hope at first, but soon a fantastic plan for salvation. You stride over to get yourself a nice hot bowl of hearty minestrone but gack! You are presented a choice between vegan potato leek and vegan lentil.

Obviously this guy doesn't like lentils and feels he needs actual meat. Of course he blames the vegans and just can't see why they have to be so "extreme". In between neanderthal grunts of meat-withdrawal he makes the stupid, yet pervasive argument that the existence of cage free eggs and "naturally" produced milk, whatever that means, indemnify him from any responsibility and make vegans and their "extremism" obsolete:

So, extremists, why not switch over to a more omnivorous lifestyle? I know that many of you take a moral issue with factory farming, and I agree with you. Mistreating farm animals is a horrible practice that we need to eradicate soon. But the fact of the matter is, hens are going to plop out an egg a day whether you eat it or not. Mama cows would still give enough milk to share between their calves and us, even if we stopped stuffing them with hormones. And unless you’re a baby, milking cows is a lot less creepy than drinking human milk.

Animal by-products can readily be consumed in an ethical way. If we do it right, we can promote the proper treatment of animals while living more moderate and well-rounded lives ourselves. Not to mention the fact that non-extremist soup tastes a lot better.

Translation: I have ethical concerns about this horrible food system of ours too, but have adopted the existence of less horrible methods as an excuse to not do anything about it. Your lifestyle reminds me that I'm not living up to my own inner ideals, therefore change it so I can go back to feeling like a non-hypocrite.

It's everywhere folks: Lierre Keith, the response to Foer's Eating Animals, even in your local university dining hall. And the interesting thing is, just like homophobia, the most passionate opposition to even the *existence* of veganism comes from those who most agree with the concept of veganism deep down inside. These people *are* vegans already, they just don't know it yet. They're in the closet even to themselves.

It's up to us to convince them it's safe to come out.

Raw Vegan Sushi Rolls

One of my all time favorites! I just perfected the recipe so I thought I'd share:
Pulse the following ingredients until coarsely chopped

• 3 stalks celery
• 1/4 red pepper
• 3 cremini mushrooms
• 1 handful parsley
• 1 handful dulse
• 5 green onions
  

Set aside in a large mixing bowl. Next, blend the following until smooth:

• 1/8 cup sunflower seeds, soaked and sprouted
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 jalapeno pepper
• small thumb of ginger
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 pinch sea salt
• 1 pinch kelp granules (skip this if you can't find it)

Pour over chopped veggies. Next take

• 5 sheets nori
• 1 cup sprouts of your choice (I use clover + radish)

Lay a nori sheet flat on a clean, dry cutting board. Spread a handful of sprouts across it in a horizontal line. Next pour mixture over the sprouts. Now roll it up, repeat, and enjoy!

Glenn Beck: Protecting Your Right to Heart Disease

Looks like Meatless Monday has got the right wing echo chamber up in arms. First they came for our guns, next they'll come for our hamburgers!



Glenn, please! Nobody's trying to take your Big Macs away, but maybe a meatless monday now and then wouldn't be such a bad idea unless you intend to lose your limbs to diabetes.

Pumpkin Cole Slaw

Just in time for Halloween!

Grate the following:

• 1/4 small Sugar Pie Pumpkin, peeled
  
• 1 cabbage
• 2 carrots

Set aside in a large bowl. Next blend:

• 5 macadamias
• 1/8 cup cashews
• 1 tbsp pine nuts
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 tomato
• 1/4 bell pepper
• 3 stalks celery
• 3 colves garlic
• 1 handful fresh parsley
• 1 tsp thyme
• pinch sea salt
• 1 jalapeño
• 1/4 small onion
• enough water to blend smooth
  

Toss together with grated vegetables. Add

• diced wakame

for extra flare. Enjoy!

Raw Silver Needle Pu-erh

I had to share the lovely colour of this tea before I finished drinking it.  It's tea #93 at Remedy Teas. I had thought pu erh was a type of leaf but it turns out that it refers to the process rather than the tea itself, hence the Silver Needle (a white tea) that makes up this cup.

The secret is to rinse your leaves before drinking. Not sure what is washed off in this process but it tastes 1000x better afterwards.  It's a low caffeine tea with a high caffeine taste which is perfect if you're sensitive to caffeine as am i.