Vegan-y things and a beef recipe all in one post? Sure, why not? There’s room for everyone under this tent!
This is the part of the post for vegans, ex-vegans, and the folks who love them:
Vegan Twinkies! It’s no longer an Oxymoron! At last, the words “empty calories” and “vegan lifestyle” aren’t mutually exclusive! For the vegan in your life, you can order a custom-made vegan Twinkie, or other fauxstess treats, here. Yes! A vegan Twinkie! You can also learn more about the chef on her myspace site. It’s worth doing, if only to hear the fantastic, toe-tappin’ tune of “If I’d known you were coming, I’d have baked you a cake” that plays when you click over.
Even if you’re not a vegan, you might want to consider this option, because let me tell you something: I have proof that Twinkies are not real food. I tried to set one on fire once, back in college. We held a lighter to it for about 10-minutes. It fizzled and charred, but I’m telling you — the sucker did not burn. We also tried exploding one – I forget how, exactly, but someone had access to some form of explosives (ahh, college…). We expected pieces of Twinkies to scatter everywhere — cream filling to be dripping from every corner. Instead, it just broke into two equally-sized pieces with a heavy and highly unsatisfying thud. Other college students have performed similar experiments on Twinkies; their results probably won’t make you want to eat any (And? those same students even write haiku on the subject. I heart them).
The Vegan Question of the Day: Can anyone recommend a good starter vegan cookbook? Monique, who has contributed comments and recipes from time to time, is looking for a gift for her brother, and says there are 2 requirements:
1. understandable & easy for a non-cooker
2. good for a person with not much time of their hands
I was able to steer her toward Vegan Yum Yum, a terrific blog that makes even a non-vegan like myself want to incorporate a little more veganism into my life (look how fresh-faced Lolo is! Don’t her rosy cheeks want to make you give veganism a whirl?). She’s got a cookbook coming out soon — but it doesn’t seem to be out yet. Otherwise, I’ve got nothing. All of my vegetarian cookbooks seem to feature a hefty amount of cheese and yogurt. Anyone out there know of a good book for Monique and her bro?
This is that part where all vegans, or vegetarians, or non-red-meat-eating omnivores, should stop reading. (No, seriously. You’ll want to stop reading here).
Monique, also sent me a recipe for a great beef stew that can simmer in the Crockpot all day. If you’re part carnivore, this one is tasty and hearty and it will greet you warmly at the end of a long, cold day. Monique got it from this Crookpot cookbook, and it probably has a different name, but I call it Monique’s Best Beef Stew Evah. I like it, because it’s a great use of stew beef, which — when you’re breaking the bank regularly by buying non-feedlot, grass-fed meat — is the most affordable kind there is. I also like this recipe, because it’s goooood (don’t tsk tsk me, you vegans! You were supposed to stop reading by now!).
Note that the recipe I’m including below includes my own modifications:
1 lb stew beef
4 carrots or parsnips, chopped (I used a mix)
2 medium red potatoes, chopped
2 onions, halved and sliced
2 apples, cut and cored (I peeled, too)
1 stalk celery (I used a wrinkly old thing that had seen far better days)
2 TBSP flour, dissolved in a little beef broth (recipe calls for quick-cook tapioca)
1 cup apple cider
1 cup of beef broth (recipe calls for 1 cup water + two boullion cubes, but I kind of hate the idea of cubes)
1/4 (a quarter) tsp pepper
1 tsp fresh thyme (or a quarter tsp dried)
Directions: Brown the meat in a TBSP of oil. Throw the browned meat, and all other ingredients except fresh thyme into a Crockpot. Let simmer all day (I did low for about 8 hours, but my low setting always seems high). Add thyme at the end.
Really, the combination of apples and beef is surprisingly good, and there’s nuthin’ better than coming home to a pot o’ soup. Here’s what it looked like:
I made vegan chocolate chip cookies in February of 2006 and my house still smells of the failure. Something went terrible wrong with my carob chips and raw sugar and the smell…oh…the smell.
candlecafe.com/cookbook
While I am loving Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan, and find it quite easy, if he isn’t used to a good range of vegetables and grains that might be easiest to find at Whole Foods, then that one may not be a good starter.
If he has a sweet tooth, I love to trial the recipes at http://bittersweetblog.wordpress.com/, this is where I started with the vegan diet. She has a cookbook of desserts that just came out too. It is listed on the blog.
I have heard great things about Dreena Burton’s first two cookbooks for beginning vegans, so her stuff in general may be a good place to start. Her recipes are very easy to follow. Good luck!
For a starter vegan cookbook, I think Sara Kramer’s books are good, How it all Vegan and La Dolce Vegan. They’re pretty simple and have a good amount of variety, but they’re still straight forward.
I would recommend Mollie Katzen’s The Moosewood Cookbook, revised edition. You know, the one that is the color of natural peanut butter? It isn’t exclusively vegan but most of the recipes have notes providing a vegan option for the dish. Maybe her brother is like the rest of us that were vegan but would fall off the bandwagon for an oozy chunk of French cheese. Or a large pile of bacon.
Clearly I was a vegan for about 15 minutes.
But in that 15 minutes I used the hell out of the revised edition of the Moosewood Cookbook!
I can’t recommend a vegan cookbook of any degree of easiness because I’m a died in the wool, omnivore.
) And right now I am headed to the freezer to get out the beef for your beef stew recipe. OMG! I’m drooling already!
Seconding JJ’s recommendations…
thank you, ali, for posting my vegan cookbook question.
thank you all, who responded.
hey, ali – the clock is not working on you blog. i am not sitting here at 3am surfing the web because i have nothing better to do on a saturday night. it is 10pm & i am suring the web because i have nothing better to do on a saturday night.
how it all vegan was always my favorite…the 2nd french toast recipe in there that uses psyllium husks is amazing! my non vegan roomates said it was the best french toast they had ever had.
instead of bouillion (how the heck do you spell that word anyway?) or beef broth, i use this little pot of beefy gold goodness called “better than bouillion”. and it really is. the veggies in my stew always turn out like meat flavored candy, i swear. i can’t wait to try out the apples, it sounds awesome.
there’s probably some less than ideal ingredients, but it’s really good and i only put a tablespoon or so in a whole pot of stew. it’s usually on the shelf near the bouillon cubes.
i can’t wait to try it out with the apples, it sounds awesome!