image from riptheskull

Thanksgiving is technically about giving thanks and spending time with loved ones, but it’s really just an excuse to eat copious amounts of delicious food- depending on what you consider delicious.

A holiday nicknamed “turkey day” certainly does not bode well for vegans and vegetarians, especially those spending the day in a crowd of meat-eaters. Annoying vegetarian jokes aside (snappy comebacks here), the day’s emphasis on poultry heightens the omnivore/herbivore rift. The veggies worry about what on the Thanksgiving table will be edible, while their omnivorous hosts worry about what to cook that meets the criteria. After a few Thanksgivings of going through this myself, I’ve found there are a few things to do to circumvent unnecessary conflict.

If you are vegetarian:

Let your host know what you eat and don’t eat. It sounds like a no-brainer but can be surprisingly difficult, especially if you are dining with a group you do not know well. Perhaps you’re worried about judgment (what, no turkey? What’s wrong with you?) and feel you can slip beneath the radar. Or you may not want to trouble your already stressed-out host with an additional concern. However, it is a host’s duty to make sure their guests, including you, are comfortable. Plus, he or she will be offended if you do not eat anything, and possibly upset that you didn’t say anything sooner.

Offer to bring something. Your host may not know what to make, so ask if there is anything you can bring. Thanksgiving dinner may not be the best occasion to showcase your famous carob-tofu-agar pie. Instead, bring something delicious that you know everyone will want to try and enjoy.

Eat before and pocket an energy bar. If you are nervous about what on the table will meet your dietary requirements, eat a small meal prior to leaving the house. At Thanksgiving, it’s better to be too full than hungry. If worse comes to worse, have a safe snack on hand that you can slip away privately to eat.

Understand that there will be dishes you cannot eat. Your host won’t please everyone, but hopefully they will offer enough to satisfy you.

If you are hosting a vegetarian guest:

Ask what they would like to eat or if they can bring something. You may feel ungracious asking a guest to help with the meal planning or to bring a dish, but most vegetarians will be happy to lighten your load and relived to know that they have at least one thing on their plate.

Make accommodations. You do not need to ensure that every dish meets your guests’ needs, but have enough dishes that do so your vegetarian guests leave as full and happy as the rest of the crowd. Simple tricks can make this easier. Cook some stuffing outside the turkey. Bake a plain yam in the oven with the candied yams. Swap out butter for olive oil. Make universally acceptable vegetarian dishes, like roasted root vegetables, stuffed pumpkin or an elegant salad. Even an act as simple as microwaving a Field Roast loaf goes a long way. Discretely point out to your guest what foods on the table fit their diet.

Any additions?

A few meatless recipes for the Thanksgiving table:

Holiday Loaf

More thoughts on the matter:

• Tips and recipes from NPR by Nicole of Cucina Nicolina
• Cheap Healthy Good: Veggie Might: Vegetarian Thanksgiving Tips, Part I- The Main Dish
• Healthy.Happy.Life: Vegan Thanksgiving 101: Tips, Advice and the Basics.
• U of C Vegan Society: Vegan Thanksgiving Tips

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• Beer for Thanksgiving

Categories:	Holiday • Meatless Monday • Vegetarian • vegan	4 Comments
Tags:	Thanksgiving

There’s no meat in the fridge, no canned salmon in the cabinet, not even a packet of spam. What’s a woman to feed a carnivorous husband? So I found a recipe for raw tacos! Walnuts? Check. Spices? Check. Soy Sauce? Check. Food processor? Not so much, but I’m resourceful and make do with a coffee grinder.

After grinding, mixing, and using over sized lettuce leaves as shells, I served these tacos to my husband. He protested a little, but he tried a bite. And he liked it! He and I both agree that thanks to using the same spices that you would normally use in taco meat, it tasted just like a normal taco. He even enjoyed the lettuce leaves as a shell. Children might like this recipe too, ok maybe not the lettuce leaf.

Try it for yourself! Just drop a glob of guacamole, mango rawlsa, and some rawesome sour cream and you’ll have a meatless, vegan, gluten-free meal! Feeling adventurous? Try making your own raw taco shells, maybe even explore some other raw, meatless international food like Raw Pad Thai or Rawssian borscht!

Today is National Nachos Day, so how about you mix up a little meatless, raw nachos by making Spicy Corn Raw Tortilla Chips, Raw Nacho Cheese,  and Raw Refried Beans. Of course you could also just use meatless refried beans if you don’t want to go all out raw, but hey, guacamole can always be raw right?

Photo by Geoff604.

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Categories:	Meatless Monday • Mexican • Nuts • Vegetarian	1 Comment
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Though overshadowed by their pumpkin cousins, squash have an appeal all their own.  Their mottled orange and green skins, excessively bumpy or smooth, and many different sizes and shapes draw us to the piled-high grocery store bins.  A symbol of fall, squash is a food that is versatile and even healthful.

All squash can be designated as “summer” or “winter”.  Winter squash has a hard skin that allows it to keep well without spoiling and is usually picked before it is fully ripe.  Though available throughout the year, the peak season of winter squash is right now.

Look for squash that are heavy for their size, with dull-colored skin (shiny skin means it’s not ripe) and firm shells.  Avoid squash with damaged spots or cracks.  There are eight types of winter squash, including familiar examples such as butternut, turban, acorn, and spaghetti.

Winter squash is also able to retain nutrients throughout storage.  It’s a great source of vitamins A and C as well as potassium, dietary fiber, beta-carotene and manganese.

Cooking squash is easy – just slice the squash in half through the stem, then scoop out the seeds.  At this point, you can bake, steam, or microwave it until tender.  Cooked squash can be eaten simply with butter and salt, or added to soups, casseroles, breads, curries, pies, and more.

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Categories:	Fruit • Vegetarian • Veggies	Leave a Comment
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Nothing compliments a delicious vegetarian meal better than a glass of wine or beer- except when your wine or beer is not vegetarian.

Wait a minute. Beer is usually water, malt, hops and yeast. Wine is fermented grapes. What’s not vegetarian about these ingredients? The answer lies in the filtering, finings, and additives.

• Gelatin and isinglass are sometimes used to clarify beer and wine. Most vegetarians understand that gelatin is made from animal products, though isinglass may be a new term: isinglass is derived from the bladders of fish. Both products are often used to process cask beers and white wine; when added to the liquid, they cause excess yeast to clump and sink to the bottom of the vessel. A vegetarian alternative is Irish Moss.

• Egg whites are sometimes used to clarify wine and reduce tannins and astringency. Albumin, a protein found in blood and eggs, and pepsin, derived from pork, are also used for this purpose and sometimes added to beer to improve head retention. (Contrary to popular belief, a foamy, long-lasting head is actually a good thing in beer- except when that head is due to animal products.)

• Charcoal can be used to remove impurities and odors from wine; charcoal is frequently made from animal bones. Refined sugar, added occasionally to beer and wine to enhance sweetness, is also filtered with charcoal, meaning it too has animal blood on its proverbial hands.

The FDA does not mandate that breweries and wineries label spirits processed using these methods. So, how do you tell if your beer or wine is vegetarian? Look online.  My favorite resource is Barnivore, a site run by a couple of vegans that lets consumers know what beer, wine and liquor are and are not veg-friendly.

Unfortunately, while the popular Guinness is not vegetarian, there are a host of other delicious beverages that do make the cut. What’s your favorite vegetarian drink?

More information:

• Beer for Vegetarians and Vegans
• Vegan Wine Guide
• Vegan Wine: what is it? How to find it?
• Vegan vino? Sure, but it comes with a few catches

Image by Greencolander

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Categories:	Vegetarian • beer • wine	1 Comment
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Our omnivore’s attempt to go vegetarian for a week of Meatless Monday led us to the discovery of a new food – the breadfruit, native to the Pacific Islands. We’d seen it before in Asian markets, but for some reason, were never compelled enough to buy one. This week we finally did, and I have to say, it is now one of my favorites.

I have a deep love of potatoes and breadfruit is quite like the potato – starchy, bland and high in carbs – but ready and able to take on any flavor. The football-sized fruit is also fast-growing and high in fiber and protein, which makes it a great food for combating world malnutrition. See this interesting article in Newsweek titled Breadfruit to the Rescue. If you were a fan of Mutiny on the Bounty, you’ll find it quite fascinating!

Most recipes we found called for stuffing it whole with any combination of meat and vegetables, then grilling it on an open fire. Since it’s quite cold now here in Seattle we opted out for the outdoor cooking, and instead cracked open the fruit and cut the flesh into cubes. We then simmered it in coconut milk, turmeric, garlic, ginger and a bit of chili powder – a delicious concoction we’ve named Breadfruit Coconut Curry.

For the full recipe and instructions click below:

Here are some other interesting breadfruit recipes:

• Find  breadfruit appetizers, main dishes, desserts and more on National Tropical Botanical Garden
• Breadfruit Cake from GroupRecipes
• Vegan Breadfruit Pizza from Child of the Nature Isle
• Breadfruit Casserole from Nevis, West Indies

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Categories:	Fruit • Meatless Monday • Vegetarian • vegan	2 Comments
Tags:	breadfruit • coconut curry • curry • malnutrition • Meatless Monday

A couple of weeks ago, we announced that we are participating in Meatless Mondays, a campaign run in association with the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. The goal of Meatless Mondays is to raise awareness of the health and environmental benefits of eating less meat; reducing our meat consumption by 15% (equal to one day a week) can make a huge difference.

We’re in our third week, and things are going well. In order to prove that it can be easy and fun (or at least not all that painful) to give up meat on Mondays, the Foodista Blog is going meatless all this week. Every day, we’ll feature exciting and delicious vegetarian dishes. For some members of Team Foodista, a week without meat will be easy; we already do not eat it or eat it sparingly. For others (particularly the Mangalitsa Lard Chicken Confit lovers), it may be more of a challenge.

Whether it’s permanently or even for just a day, the prospect of going vegetarian can be intimidating to some people because they feel they will need to give up their favorite foods or learn how to cook in an entirely new and unfamiliar way. While it’s true that vegetarian cooking can be an excellent way to experiment with different recipes and techniques, it doesn’t need to be. Many of our most beloved dishes are already meatless. Is a day, week, or lifetime of eating falafel, hummus, polenta, baked ziti, or muttar paneer really all that terrible?

Here’s what a Meatless Monday might look like:

Breakfast:

Lunch:

Dinner:

Dessert:

What are your favorite meatless dishes?

A few blogs also participating in Meatless Mondays:

• Ezra Poundcake
• Suburban Spoon
• Powered by Produce

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Categories:	Meatless Monday • Vegetarian • vegan	1 Comment
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Between candy corn made with egg whites, milk-laden chocolate bars and gelatin-based gummies, Halloween can be a vegan’s nightmare. Whether you’re hosting a party, need a festive treat to bring into the office, or just want to spice things up around the house, here are some ideas.

Cupcakes are hot: you can’t go wrong with cupcakes right now. Chocolate and vanilla are always good, but why not try pumpkin? Look beyond the basic orange icing with chocolate sprinkles: get creative. Most store-bought marzipan is vegan (be sure to check): use it to sculpt pumpkins, bats, decapitated heads, zombie hands- whatever suits your fancy- to decorate your favorite vegan cupcake and frosting. Or, cut stencils out of stiff paper and arrange on top of cupcakes, then sift orange sanding sugar or confectioners’ sugar generously over the cut-out.

Apples are in season, and candied apples are a completely vegan Halloween tradition, provided you don’t have any objection to corn syrup.

Popcorn balls are another classic. Swap the butter for non-hydrogenated soy margarine and wrap them in orange cellophane for a festive treat.

Use a cookie cutter to make bat-shaped tofu cutlets; serve with ketchup “blood.”

Since Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, start the morning right with pumpkin pancakes. Make jack-o-lantern faces with chocolate chips, and douse with maple syrup.

When in doubt, pumpkin is a proven Halloween winner. More pumpkin ideas:

Indian Pumpkin

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Spread

Pumpkin and Avocado Oil Soup

image by Sevenmarie

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Categories:	Holiday • Vegetarian • vegan	2 Comments
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It’s funny how our tastebuds change as we age.  Not too long ago, eggplant was on my shortlist of foods I didn’t like, now it seems I can’t get enough of it. One day I looked at the plate of baba ganoush my friend had ordered and it just clicked, “I’m going to like eggplant now!” The same thing happened with onions, black licorice, and avocados. One minute I hated it, the next I suddenly can’t get enough of it. There’s no gray area either, I don’t ease these new ‘likes’ into my diet, I go whole hog. The first time I ate raw onions I didn’t just squirrel them into a salad, no, I made an onion sandwich! Crazy, I know.

Now that eggplant is on my radar I find that I’m consistently searching for new, unique ways to prepare and satiate my addiction. I recently discovered this delicious Moorish dish, Badenjan – a creamy smokey dip with deep notes of saffron balanced by fresh mint – and in two weeks I’ve made it twice. Both times I’ve prepared it as a condiment of sorts to our main dish. The first time, to accompany aromatic lamb meatballs (filled with garlic, onions and mint), the second time an addition to a Moroccan-style grilled chicken.  The perfect addition to both meals. I’m telling you, this is some serious eggplant goodness.

Click below for the recipe:

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Categories:	Cooking tips • North African • Vegetarian • Veggies	Leave a Comment
Tags:	appetizer • condiment • dip • eggplant • moorish • north afri • side dish

Here in the Northwest we are blessed with a variety of wild fungi. It only takes a little bit of rain after the summer heat to suddenly ignite the growth of one of my favorite wild mushrooms; the delicious, velvety chanterelle. Every fall I say to myself, “this year I am going to forage for my own mushrooms!” and then I walk to the farmer’s market and I see overflowing baskets of porcini, lobster and golden chanterelle mushrooms and I instantly cave.

The idyllic vision of seeing myself with tall rain boots, scrunched up hiking pants and a thick rain jacket while tromping in the woods and seeking out chanterelles suddenly fades once I’m at the market. Now all I see are images of me tossing fettucini with chanterelles, cooking roast chicken and chanterelles or dipping my fork in to rich, gooey soft boiled eggs with sauteed chanterelles and toast. Getting hungry? Me too! Since we are celebrating national mushroom day, I suppose it’s only appropriate to inspire you with some earthy, umami recipes. Here is a recipe for a decadent Rib-eye with Chanterelle Mushrooms a frothy, vegan  Mushroom Cappucino soup, Salmon with Chanterelles and Slow Cooked Tomatoes or Lobster Mushroom Penne.

Need More Shroom Recipes!?
Christina Choi’s Porcini with Bay Leaves
Adventures in Shaw’s Mushroom Pizza
Too Many Chefs’ Creamy Polenta with Mushrooms

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Categories:	Cooking tips • Fish & Seafood • Vegetarian	Leave a Comment
Tags:	chanterelles • mushrooms • national mushroom day • salmon recipe

Open your fridge. Can you tell the exact history of where one item came from? Eating local doesn’t seem like a hard challenge until you start thinking about it. Last Sunday night, a group of us got together and cooked a meal that was made almost entirely with local ingredients. The best part of it all was that we didn’t intentionally mean to have a dinner made completely of locally sourced ingredients, but once we realized we had the beginnings of one, we made it our goal to get as a close as we could to a completely local dinner.

When you start learning where your food really comes from, you learn how much labor, transportation and energy and resources go  into everything you eat. Eating local doesn’t just mean you help out the farmers, gardeners and butchers in your area, you are also saving other costs that add up, including energy, gas, storage and other hidden resources used to get those items off a truck and onto a shiny display. Challenge yourself to make it a personal goal to eat one thing at one meal a day that is sourced locally, not only will you feel good, believe me, it will taste better!

The Menu

Locally Caught Salmon with Lemon, Herb Butter: The salmon was caught locally by my friend Neil. Oregano, thyme and dill all from Washington state. Our splurge was the lemon, salt and pepper and olive oil, purchased from the grocery store.

All Blue Potato Salad with Fresh Dill: The all blue potatoes came from a farm that I was apprenticing at, about 20 miles away. Fresh dill and a sweet onion came from the Ballard Farmer’s market that morning. Our splurge was purchased Dijon mustard, mayonnaise and salt and pepper.

Summer Corn and Tomato Salad: The corn, basil and sweet onion came from the farmers market. The tomatoes were grown in my garden. Our splurge was olive oil, red onion and salt and pepper.

Winter Greens with Garlic and Lemon: The Swiss chard, kale and collard greens were all from the Ballard farmer’s market, our splurge was olive oil, lemon, garlic- (although it should have been bought at the farmer’s market), and Parmesan Reggiano.

Katy’s Blackberry Pie with Lemon Verbena Infused Fresh Whip Cream: The blackberries were purchased at the farmer’s market, the whip cream was from a Washington state organic creamery and the lemon verbena was from my friend Katy’s lemon verbena plant. Our splurge: organic pie crust from PCC, lemon juice, purchased spices.

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Categories:	American • Baked Goods • Cooking tips • Fish & Seafood • Organic • Salads • Uncategorized • Vegetarian • Veggies • desserts	5 Comments
Tags:	all blue potatoes • blackberry pie • corn salad • eating local • eating local in the northwest • salmon • winter greens