Corey, Katie, Sean, Wendy and others have all offered some pretty convincing arguments for winning this week’s free cookbook, “Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook.” It’s going to be quite hard for me to decide.
From personal and family health to animal welfare, the arguments for switching to a vegetarian or vegan diet are compelling. If I may wander slightly from the topic of food, I’d suggest that anyone interested in animal welfare watch the new HBO documentary, “I Am An Animal: The Story of Ingrid Newkirk and PETA.” Newkirk is the founder of PETA, and whether you come away from the doc thinking she’s a saint or a loon, it is a fascinating and thought-provoking experience.
Watching the part about undercover slaughterhouse investigations made me even more glad that I bought my Thanksgiving turkey from a local farm this year. Besides that, the darn thing just tasted scrumptious.
Moving right along, since it seems that a few of you are dreaming and drooling over this cookbook, I’ll share an awesome recipe from the chapter on salads to tide you over until you either win it or purchase it yourself.

Portobello Salad with Spicy Mustard Dressing
(Serves 4 as a main dish or 8 as a side salad)

Dressing:
1/4 cup spicy, smooth mustard
3 Tbsp. grapeseed oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup

Salad:
8 cups mixed greens (whatever you like)
1 avocado, peeled, halved, pitted and thinly sliced
1 small red onion, sliced into very thin half-moons
1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 recipe for Roasted Portobellos (below)

Prepare the salad dressing by whisking all ingredients together.
Toss together all salad ingredients, except the mushrooms, in a large bowl. Pour on dressing and toss with tongs.
When ready to serve, place the dressed greens on plates and top with slices of warm portobellos.

Roasted Portobellos:

1/2 cup cooking wine
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 cloves of minced garlic.
2 large portobello mushroom caps

Mix all ingredients except mushrooms and place in a glass baking dish. Marinate mushrooms in the mixture for about 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 and cover baking dish with aluminum foil. Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the foil and use tongs to flip the caps. Cook, uncovered, for another 10 minutes.
These can be placed directly on a bun and eaten like a burger or cooled slightly and sliced in a salad.

Source: “Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook.”