New Vegan Dishes

Lentil Stew

Lately I have been thinking a lot about adding some new vegan dishes into my repertoire. Since I have a stressful job, there are so many nights I get home and I am just too tired to think about what ingredients I can use to make a meal and am actually too tired to prepare anything that requires more than maybe 4 minutes in the microwave. That means vegan processed food. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of good V processed food out there, but I just think I was eating too much of it. And I lacked the motivation to ignore my fatigue and just start cooking.

So…….. I decided to just make it happen! One thing I realized was that I could consider combining a processed product with whole food products – that would get me started. One result of this idea was using a tahini sauce  that  I get at Trader Joes as a dressing with lettuce, cucumber, onions, tomatoes, parsley and dried figs. To this I add 3 falafel patties bought frozen at Trader Joes and microwaved for  1 minute – plop into the salad. This is quick, easy, pretty healthy and quite delicious.

I also wanted to make some meals with all fresh ingredients, especially ones that add protein and texture. Two I tried recently were lentils and quinoa. The lentils were another purchase from Trader Joes – a bag of smoked lentils with no additives etc. To use the lentils, I read through a few recipes both from the Web and some of my vegan cookbooks and then invented my own. I made a lentil stew with fresh grape tomatoes, potatoes, quinoa, onions, carrots, frozen corn and, of course, plenty of seasoning. The cooking aromas from the stew and the vegan corn bread I made to go along with it filled the kitchen. The result was a keeper, but the down side of tweaking multiple recipes and not writing it down means……… well, you know.

Another ingredient that I have used quite a bit is tofu. One popular preparation was a  Chinese type stir fry with other vegetables and sauce makings. It was another recipe mashup and never totally successful – very difficult timing procedures and not enough sauce. So I got lucky and was given a cookbook by a friend at work called “Vegan on a Budget” and, lo and behold, it had a recipe that was very similar to my original one, but it had a better and easier process and it provided a sweet and sour sauce that sounded delicious and made a large quantity. My assessment of this new recipe proved to be accurate and I have prepared it twice recently and despite a large batch made – there are never any leftovers!!!!!

So, I have broken through and am pursuing the vegan food adventure with renewed dedication and excitement. Will be exploring more lentil variations, researching the quinoa possibilities and tweaking the tofu for now. Oh...... and I am into roasting vegetables, fruit – seasoned cauliflower with vegan parm sprinkled after roasting; apples and squash and sweet potatoes – O MY!........ OK – gotta get back to my research – the next dinner time awaits. Compassion for all.

Urban Vegan Picture Window

Always on the lookout for vegan infiltration and progressive pockets. Recently I found one in a place where I did not expect to find anything but seafood and traditional food – Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Lo and behold there was a vegan restaurant in Palmetto Bay Marina called Urban Vegan. I took refuge from the rain on one very rainy lunchtime in the cozy space that is Urban Vegan. Interestingly enough, this restaurant shares space with Captain Fishy’s restaurant. But, according to our helpful server, they have a separate kitchen for the vegan offerings. He also told us about the chef and her commitment to natural products and experimenting with all sorts of interesting ingredients to provide the most healthy and delicious items for customers (both vegan and non-vegan). I had the vegan crab cakes that came with a quinoa and black bean rice and cornbread. My starter was a mushroom soup. The seasonings, the textures, the visuals created a meal that was perfect in every way. The prices were very reasonable and the quantity was more than adequate and I had to ask for a take-away box. After traveling on the Interstates and seeing all the chain restaurants and boring and marginal fare, it was so refreshing to see a local spot worth patronizing and VEGAN to boot!!!!! I wish them success and hope to visit there again when I head that way. They can be found at: http://urbanveganhhi.com/index.htm and the info on their website is:

Captain Fishy's Hilton Head family seafood restaurant is the island's first "2 in 1" restaurant, serving traditional southern style fried, grilled or blackened seafood, with a special menu from Urban Vegan Cafe for those that have special dietary needs, or preferences such as gluten free, vegetarian, or vegan.



Located at Palmetto Bay Marina, just across the bridge off the Cross Island Parkway, we offer inside dining, or outside on the patio courtyard which is both sunny and shady and protected from rain with views looking out over the water.

"Elephants Among Us" - Review of book about 2 performing elephants

 

When I knew I would be writing a review of this book for the People for Animal Rights Newsletter, I saw it as an opportunity to learn more about elephants and how they are affected by being kept in captivity. I was unprepared for the feelings of awe for these majestic creatures and the feelings of horror about the way that they are treated. Elephants are unique, grand and intelligent animals. They have powerful memories and experience the highs and lows of emotion. Their very nature, trainability and human curiosity have made them victims of exploitation and cruelty for human profit. I think everyone should read this book to be educated and maybe even be motivated to work on behalf of wild animals in captivity.

 

Elephants Among Us – Two Performing Elephants in 20^th Century America by M. Jaynes published by Earthbooks in 2013.

Elephants Among Us is a well-written and heart-breaking story about the lives and cruel and senseless deaths of Stoney and Mary - two performing elephants. The book begins with Stoney. He was born in captivity in 1973 and was purchased by a couple that made their living by training elephants and booking them for county fairs and circuses.  Training methods included food deprivation, isolation and the use of a bull hook. The elephant Stoney learned all his tricks and began performing in 1977.  However, his owner’s lack of attention to his needs resulted in USDA violations regarding Stoney’s environment and physical and emotional condition. Then on September 23, 1994 while performing at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, Stoney cried out and dropped to his knees having torn a tendon and leaving him unable to perform. After that, he lived in almost total isolation behind the Luxor Hotel and suffered a lot of pain and loneliness despite some efforts to restore him to health. Animal welfare advocates eventually got involved but Stoney died in August 1995 before he could be moved to a sanctuary. 

The next story about Mary is shorter since there were fewer records available. Mary was about 30 years old in 1916 when she arrived in Kingsport, Tennessee and became an attraction in a local circus act. The circus owners hired an inexperienced and unfamiliar man to be the elephant trainer. Despite the fact that this man feared Mary, the trainer rode on her in a procession to the watering hole where the elephants could drink and play. On the path, Mary spotted a piece of fruit on the ground. Even though she was whacked with a poker, Mary was determined to eat the fruit. Then, as the book states,  “Mary wrapped her trunk around him, plucked him off her back, and slammed him into a wooden drink stand.” The trainer was crushed to death and the locals cried out for Mary to be put down. On September 13, 1916, Mary was hung from a railroad crane in front of a large crowd.