December 10, 2007
Cookbook winner
As usual, I found it almost impossible to choose one entrant over the others for the Fridge Magnet's latest cookbook giveaway. The book is "Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.
How do you turn down a woman who has congestive heart failure? A guy who wants to strengthen his bond with his little sis by cooking her something healthy and delicious? A lady who wants to help her mother improve her eating habits in preparation for a double lung transplant?
You guys are killing me!
Each and every one of you deserve this book so much (except maybe Rich and Henry. You guys are ornery but we love you anyway). I wish I could obtain several more copies of the book so that I could play Santa and hand them out to everyone.
I have finally decided, however, to award this book to the reader who seems most dedicated and enthused by the cause: Corey Wrenn.
Corey is a graduate student at Virginia Tech who has been a vegan for 7 years. She is president of the animal rights group at Tech and is even a big fan of one of the authors, Moskowitz.
When I emailed Corey to find out if she is a she or a he (sorry, Corey, I know you get that a lot) her response email even had a picture of two cute, tiny little piglets!
Jeez, girl, you're killing me! Don't get me started on all the pork loins I've consumed in my lifetime.
I believe that Corey will really use this book. In fact, if we checked back with her a year from now, it would probably be dog-eared and stained with saffron and mole sauce.
Because Corey is also a member of a Roanoke vegan group that hosts monthly potlucks, I'm sure she won't be the only one to benefit from these recipes.
I'm going to share one more recipe from this book with all of you before I give it away to Corey.
And if you really are serious about changing your eating habits, I would encourage you to go online or to a book store and pick up a copy of the book for yourself.
Creole Stuffed Peppers
4 large bell peppers
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
2 jalapenos, cut in half, seeded and sliced finely (for extra-hot, don't remove seeds)
1 cup finely diced carrots
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 dried bay leaves
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
2 tsp. smoked paprika
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 tsp. salt
1 (15 oz.) can diced tomatoes
2 (15 oz.) cans black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed (about 4 cups)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and greast a 9-by-13-inch casserole dish with a little olive oil. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Cut the peppers in half lengthwise through the stem end. For aesthetic purposes, try to leave the stem intact on one side. If you cannot manage, no problem. Remove the seeds and membranes and submerge peppers in boiling water. Cover. Let boil for 5 minutes and drain immediately. Rinse with cold water to cool them down a bit.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Saute onions, jalapenos and carrots for about 10 minutes. You want the veggies to brown, especially the carrots. If it looks like they are steaming instead of browning, raise the heat a little bit. Add garlic about 5 minutes into the cooking process.
Add bay leaves, other herbs and spices and the salt; saute for 1 minute. Add tomatoes and peas, stir and cover and cook for 10 minutes. If it seems to liquidy, remove the cover and cook long enough to reduce some of the liquid. Mix in the parsley.
Remove bay leaves and thyme sprigs. The mixture will be hot, so you may want to remove the herbs while filling the peppers.
Spoon a little less than 1/2 cup of the veggie mixture into each pepper half. Place the pepper halves in the casserole dish and bake for about 25 minutes.
Source: "Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook."
Comments
[December 10, 2007 7:37 PM]
Steve CoxonOnly vegan for 7 years? That's a good start. More than 200 animals didn't die or suffer confinement because of Corey's simple, healthy choice. I think the future will see animal and animal product consumption like we see smoking now. It's worse, really. More Americans die from hamburgers than tobacco. Animal products are killing millions with heart disease, diabetes, and many cancers. I was a meat and potato man 11 years ago when research into my diet left me unable to eat animal products any longer. My diet is much more varied (not to mention healthy) since I've been a vegan. Vegetarianism--really cheesitarianism--is hypocricy: Animals caged for eggs and cheese are treated worse than animals used for meat (and those caged chickens and cows will end up as cheap meet in a few years), cow and chicken waste are environmental disasters, and cheese is not healthy, it's fattening. Kudos to both Corey and the author for promoting the only critically considered diet. A vegan cookbook is the simple answer to the old question of what to eat when you don't eat meat. Tonight we're having black bean enchilladas!
[December 11, 2007 9:38 AM]
RichAfter reading the article, I got to the recipe part, and read it as 'creole stuffed piglets'. Yikes.
Congrats!
[December 11, 2007 11:13 AM]
HenryAny stuffed pepper is made better by stuffing it into a Cubanelle or Pimento pepper. They are sweeter and usually less bitter than a store-bought bell pepper.
[December 11, 2007 11:23 AM]
Amy Hanek : →http://www.houseonthegladehill.blogspot.comAlas... I will have to dig deep into my pockets and buy this book for my mother myself! (lol)
Congrats Corey!!
[December 11, 2007 6:19 PM]
JulieFor Steve: there are many natural and humane ways to raise meat so that you do not contribute to the commercial (or is that chemical?) manufacturers. I do not disapprove of or question those who seek a strictly (and truly) vegan diet, and I don't wish to start a version of the standard arguments in this blog. However, I would argue that there are ways to eat some meat to balance the diet; and also that many vegetable growers contribute just as much pollution using pesticides and herbicides. That said, we made a decision 2 yrs. ago to live closer to the land, and as such enjoy a varied diet as nature intended. This year we raised organic, free-range chickens and eggs; composted the manure for the garden and canned much of our own crop; and raised organically fed fish in our pond. The freezer also shares space with venison and locally raised, organic beef. I believe it's not just the product, but the scale of the operation that hurts this planet. But again, I do not discount your choice of vegan, as long as you avoid hypocricy by not buying or using any animal products, including leather and even some soaps.