Highlights

There is a good article vegetarian vs. vegan dilemma that talks about the relevant issues.

Enjoy!

Basmati rice and wild rice pilav

I wanted to make pilav but with a variation so I tried to see how this turns out. Wild rice has to be soaked overnight and cooked separately because it takes longer to cook. It took almost an hour to cook soaked wild rice on low heat in a small pan covered with a lid. I cooked 1 cup soaked wild rice and used the remainder for a salad recipe and other recipes during the week. Wild rice goes a long way in any recipe.
I cook it and use portions of it in various recipes and save the rest in the fridge for later use. Wild rice is high in protein and low in fat.

1 cup plain rice when boiled will become two cups of rice as it almost doubles. You can use the rice cooker to make boiled rice. Left over rice from the night before can also be used for this recipe.

2 cup boiled plain rice
4 tbsp wild rice cooked
4 baby carrots diced
1/2 green pepper diced
1/2 tomato diced
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp dried parsley flakes
salt to taste
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp amchur (dried mango powder)
3 tbsp canola oil

Tip: If you cannot find amchur powder at your local Indian grocery store, you can use juice of half a lime.

Rinse and dice the veggies. In a 10 inch pan on medium heat roast cumin till golden. Then saute the veggies till tender. Add the spices, both kinds of rice and mix well on low heat. After five minutes switch off the flame. Cover with a lid for a couple of minutes and fluff. Serve warm with
your favorite chutney. I served with blackberry, apple & garlic chutney, papad and sticks of celery on the side.

Wild rice is chewy and I feel full and can satisfy my hunger even with a smaller portion when I add wild rice to recipes.
A complete and nutritious meal.

Enjoy!

Vegan Tidbits!

Vegetarian peace groups want to share food with the poor. Middletown Foods and not Bombs seeks an injunction to keep Middletown from enforcing a cease and desist order that prevents the vegetarian peace group from sharing food with the poor.

Carb counting for vegans is not impossible. A salad made with SIX CUPS of raw spinach, on the other hand, contains just 42 calories and 6 grams of carbs (or about 2% of your 2100 calorie diet)
A one cup serving of brown rice, for example, contains 216 calories and 45 grams of carbs. If you are eating 2100 calories a day, that would be 10% of your calories, right there.

Enjoy!

The Vegan Cook's Bible

A new book is out by Pat Crocker called The Vegan Cook's Bible.
She mentions that she likes to eat organic and vegan most of the time. It is a great book for flexitarians who are not totally vegetarian or vegan but eat meat once in a while.

Pat Crocker, quitting cold turkey may not be easy for you but slowly easing into a vegetarian life style is equally good. Congrats, to you and your family on giving vegetarianism a serious try. You should pat yourself on your back for coming up with a vegan book.

Enjoy!

Soy yogurt, Soy milk, Soy desserts etc.

There are many vegan yogurts that are available in the market today compared to many years ago.
Nancy's Organic Plain Soy yogurt and Wildwood Soy yogurt is delicious. There are many other brands of soy yogurt such as Silk Soy and others available in stores too. These days we can even find vanilla flavored soy yogurt etc.

Soy milk is great to add to your tea or cereal or drinks, smoothies, soy milk shakes etc. Eden Soy is my favorite. I usually get the unsweetened, fortified version. I have also tried Eden Soy Carob organic which is also similar to chocolate soy milk.

I also make mango-soy-smoothie and french-vanilla-mango-pudding for my family, great to try for people with a sweet tooth.

Enjoy!

Highlights: May 12, 2009

Pets can also enjoy meatless diets. Our family dog eats home cooked leftovers all the time. She loves all vegan scraps, wags her tail happily when I am ready to put lentils, rice, spaghetti in her bowl. She has been with us since she was a puppy and is now almost 5 years old.

Enjoy!

Highlights: May 4, 2009

An article that talks about meatless dishes, I also make for Quinoa pilaf and Scrambled tofu.

I must say couscous and quinoa make a great light meal, and I usually make a soup to go with it.
When I had the cold for a week I was eating tangerines and oatmeal diluted with lots of water and cooked well to keep hydrated. It worked well for me.

Oatmeal soup

4 tbsp steel cut or instant oats
1 cup water
1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
juice of 1/4 lime
1 tbsp canola oil
salt to taste

Boil the water and oats in a 10-inch pan, on the stove top. Cook on medium flame for a few minutes. When oats swell in size add the oil, salt, seeds and lime juice.

Eat warm.

For dessert eat fresh tangerines.

Enjoy!