Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Vanilla_Bean_Ice_Cream-Jun17
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream / Kate Lewis

You may remember the delicious Down-Home Seitan Fried Chicken recipe we shared a few weeks back, courtesy of our friends Jenny Engel and Heather Bell—the women behind Vegan 101!

Guess what? They’re back again with another wonderful recipe to share! This Vanilla Bean Ice Cream recipe couldn’t have come to us at a better time since we’re headed into the warm months of summer.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Yields 1 quart.

Ingredients

  • 2 ½ cups soy milk creamer
  • ¼ cup brown rice syrup
  • ½ cup evaporated cane sugar
  • 3 tablespoons arrowroot powder, dissolved in 3 tablespoons soy milk creamer
  • 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
  • ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
  • ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Heat a small saucepan over medium heat. Add creamer, brown rice syrup, and sugar. Heat until sugar is dissolved, about five minutes. Add arrowroot mixture and stir until thick.
  2. Add seeds of vanilla bean pod by scraping small seeds out with the side of a paring knife. Stir well to incorporate seeds into the mixture. Remove from heat.
  3. Add sea salt and vanilla extract to milk mixture. Whisk to combine.
  4. Let mixture cool completely, about 30 minutes on the counter, then 30 minutes to one hour in the refrigerator.
  5. Transfer mixture to ice cream maker and process according to directions, about 30 minutes or when desired consistency is reached.

Recipe Tips and Variations

  • Be sure to put your ice cream maker’s freezer bowl in your freezer at least 24 hours before making ice cream.
  • You’ll find arrowroot powder in most health food stores. You may see a small jar in the spice section, but keep looking for a big bag near the flours in the baking aisle. Getting a larger quantity will save you some dough and you’ll have a big supply ready to make ice cream anytime.

Jenny and Heather, are co-owners of Los Angeles-based vegan cooking school Spork Foods, which travels to universities, health care companies, hotels, markets, and restaurants all around the world to teach chefs how to prepare tasty vegan meals.

You can learn more about Spork Foods and Jenny and Heather’s cookbook on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Video: Tips for Traveling as a Vegan

By Lori Stultz, Communications Manager

If you’re packing your bags for a summer getaway and worried about how you’re going to maintain vegan eating while you’re away from home, look no further.

Kim Sujovolsky with Brownble has put together a comprehensive video that will alleviate your concerns. She provides easy food ideas for when you’re driving, riding, or flying, and she also gives good tips on what to do once you’ve reached your travel destination.

Tips For Traveling as a Vegan

A Mother’s Wish

By Josie Moody, Office Manager

Josie and family

I recently had my 20-week ultrasound and got to see my little bun-in-the-oven’s eyes and nose. I already feel a strong emotional connection with them—and it’s made our work at Vegan Outreach that much more important to me.

The bond between mother and child is incredible—and not just for humans. I’m sure you’ve seen a mother goose bravely defend her goslings. And did you know a female octopus will protect her eggs for about 160 days—only to die shortly after they hatch?

The bond between mother and child is powerful and impressive. But sadly, when it comes to animals raised for food, this bond is not honored—often it’s not even permitted.

A cow in the dairy industry is separated from her newborn calf shortly after he’s born. Often, she cries out for him for days and vice versa. Sometimes she tries in distress to find him—and she mourns her loss when she can’t.

Sad Calf Chained at the Neck

What we do to cows and other animals breaks my heart. Now, as someone who’s expecting my own baby, I find it even more harrowing.

I do my part to reduce suffering by working for Vegan Outreach, volunteering for animals on the weekends, and donating what I can to make more outreach and education happen. Violence towards animals is overwhelming, but I feel better when I do something I know makes an impact.

Will you join me today by giving a gift that will make twice the impact for animals?

Other donors have pledged to double your gift—for every dollar you donate, they will match it with a dollar of their own!

Your donations have built a movement of vegans and activists who stand up against violence towards animals. But our work is far from over.

We need to do more, and we can’t without you.

I wish that no mother—of any species—had to endure the torment of being separated from her young. With your financial support today, we can create a vegan world sooner so fewer animals will suffer. Give now to have your donation doubled.

Magic Green Muffins

By Wendy Gabbe Day, Guest Contributor

Green Muffins

Raising Vegan Kids—Snackin’ on Greens!

These muffins are moist, delicious, completely fruit sweetened, and very green! What a fun and easy way for the whole family to pack in some extra veggies. Each muffin has a solid ⅓ cup of spinach, and you can’t even taste it!

If your muffins are coming out dense, try checking your baking powder freshness. Combine 1 teaspoon baking powder with ⅓ cup hot water. The mixture should bubble vigorously. We figured this out the hard way, after baking a batch of muffins and wondering why they turned out so dense. A quick trip to the store for some fresh baking powder remedied the situation. Happy green muffin making!

Green Muffins

Magic Green Muffins

Yields 12 muffins.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup rolled oats—or oat flour
  • 1 cup coconut shreds—or coconut flour
  • 1 cup whole spelt flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ½ cups water
  • 1 cup dates—pitted
  • 1 ripe banana
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 4 cups spinach—chopped and packed

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
  2. Lightly oil a 12-muffin tin or use silicon muffin cups.
  3. Blend the rolled oats and coconut shreds in a blender, or use already prepared flour.
  4. Mix the flours, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
  5. Place the remaining wet ingredients—except the spinach—in the blender and blend until smooth.
  6. Toss the spinach in the blender with the wet mixture and blend until smooth.
  7. Thoroughly mix the wet ingredients into the dry ones.
  8. Fill muffin cups and bake 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
  9. Let muffins cool thoroughly.

Recipe Tips and Variations

  • I enjoy blending coconut shreds and rolled oats in the blender to create fresh homemade flours. However, feel free to buy commercially ground flours. As such, I’d suggest adding an extra ¼ cup of water as commercially ground flours are finer and absorb more liquid.

Breakfast Tortilla Pesto Pizzas

Breakfast Pesto Pizzas
Renee Press / Fire and Earth Kitchen

Fact—Pizza is one of those meals that’s so delicious it can be eaten at any time of the day, including breakfast time.

A big thanks to Renee Press, founder of Fire and Earth Kitchen, who clearly understands this very important fact. Forget your bowl of cereal tomorrow morning and give this recipe a try!

Breakfast Tortilla Pesto Pizzas

Yields 1 personal pizza.

Ingredients

  • 1 tortilla

Pesto

  • ¼ cup nuts or seeds of choice—pumpkin, sunflower, walnuts, pine nuts, pecans, or almonds work well
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup spinach—kale, Swiss chard, or arugula will also work
  • ¼ cup fresh basil—parsley, mint, or cilantro will also work
  • ⅓ cup water

Suggested Toppings

  • Thinly sliced potato
  • Mushrooms
  • Onions
  • Corn
  • Chives
  • Spinach
  • Greens
  • Peppers
  • Avocado
  • Broccoli

Directions

  1. Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400°F.
  2. For the Pesto: Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and process for 30 seconds—scraping down the sides a few times—until creamy.
  3. Pour onto tortilla and spread out evenly with a spoon. It should be a nice thick layer.
  4. For the Toppings: Prepare desired veggies as needed and arrange on top of the tortilla. Place tortilla on baking tray and bake for 10 minutes, or until it starts to brown and gets crispy and toppings are soft and cooked through.
  5. Remove from oven and top with avocado, salt, pepper, and any other favorite flavors. Cut into slices or roll up like a burrito. Enjoy!

Recipe Tips and Variations

  • If you’re using avocado slices, don’t add them to the pizza until it comes out of oven.

For Renee’s original recipe, click here.

Easiest Mac and Cheese Plus Peas

Gena-Mac-Cheese
Gena Hamshaw / The Full Helping

Get ready for a bowl of mac and cheese that’s pea-licious!

A big thanks to our good friend—and vegan food blogger—Gena Hamshaw, who shared this unique and tasty recipe.

Enjoy!

Easiest Mac and Cheese Plus Peas

Yields 4-6 servings.

Ingredients

  • ⅔ cup (about 3 oz) raw cashews, soaked in water for at least 2 hours (and up to 8), drained
  • ½ cup cooked cannellini, great white northern, or navy beans
  • 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 2 tablespoons miso (mellow white miso or chickpea miso)
  • ¼ cup nutritional yeast
  • 1 clove garlic
  • Dash cayenne
  • ½ cup water
  • Salt
  • 12 oz elbow pasta (for a gluten-free recipe, use brown rice pasta)
  • 1 cup green peas (frozen or fresh)

Directions

  1. First, make the pasta sauce. Place the cashews, beans, lemon juice, paprika, turmeric, miso, nutritional yeast, garlic, cayenne, and water into a blender or a food processor and blend/process until totally smooth. The sauce should yield about 1 ½ cups. Set it aside until you’re ready to use it.
  2. Bring a pot of salted water to boil and add the pasta. Cook the pasta, stirring frequently, until the pasta is tender, using the package instructions to help inform cooking time.
  3. While the pasta is cooking, cook the peas accordingly—this will depend on whether you’re using fresh or frozen.
  4. Drain the pasta and return it to the pot. Add the cooked peas. Add the sauce and fold everything together gently, until the pasta dish is creamy and evenly coated. Adjust seasoning to taste. You may not need to use all of the sauce—if you have a few tablespoons left over, you can reserve them as a dip or a dressing for a salad or a grain bowl, or you can use them to top leftovers.
  5. Divide the mac and cheese onto four plates or bowls and serve. Leftovers will keep for up to three days in an airtight container in the fridge.

You can get Gena’s original Mac and Cheese recipe here.

Video: Cozy Cream of Broccoli Soup

By Allison Rivers Samson, Guest Contributor

Cozy Cream of Broccoli Soup

In the spirit of Vegan Outreach’s June giveaway, we’re bringing you a recipe from The Dairy-Freedom Cookbook! Co-author Chef Allison Rivers Samson demonstrates how easy it is to transform plants into delicious, familiar dishes like this creamy broccoli soup.

Cozy Cream of Broccoli Soup

Yields about 6 servings.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup raw, unsalted cashews, soaked at least 4 hours, and drained
  • 8 cups water, divided
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cup diced yellow onion
  • 1 medium head cauliflower, leaves removed, cored, and cut into medium chunks—about 3 cups
  • 3 medium stalks broccoli, separated into bite-sized florets—about 4-5 cups—and peeled stems cut into medium chunks—about 1-2 cups
  • 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1⁄4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

  1. In a blender, process cashews and 1 cup water to make a completely smooth cashew cream.
  2. Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat and add oil. Sauté onion, cauliflower, broccoli stems only, and marjoram for 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook for 2 minutes more. Add remaining 7 cups water, cashew cream, and salt. Bring to a boil, then lower to medium heat, cover, and cook until vegetables are very soft—approximately 20 minutes.
  3. Using an immersion blender, or carefully in 2-3 batches using a standard blender, purée soup base until completely smooth. Add broccoli florets and cook over medium heat for 5-7 minutes until broccoli is bright green and tender. Add pepper to taste and serve hot.

Recipe Tips/Variations

  • This soup is exceptionally versatile. If broccoli isn’t your favorite, feel free to substitute different veggies instead—like potatoes, mushrooms, asparagus, or corn.

Visit World of Vegan for the original recipe.

Doormét Adds Vegan Cheese Pizza!

By Taylor Radig, Campaigns Manager

doormet

Vegan Pizza Customer

Vegan Outreach is proudly working with Doormét in Tampa, FL to launch their newest menu addition—dairy-free cheese! The cafe is known for its wide range of sandwiches, salads, pasta, and pizza, so expanding their cheese offerings to include a vegan option was an easy addition.

Tampa locals can enjoy a vegan pizza with Daiya cheese melted on top of their regular or gluten-free crust—both are vegan—with red sauce and endless combinations of fresh herbs and vegetables.

Want to support our efforts in veganizing restaurant menus? Make a small donation today!

Four Reasons to Donate—and a Bonus Fifth Reason!

FourReasonsToDonate
1. We go to colleges throughout six countries—educating students with pro-veg booklets, Animal Equality’s iAnimal virtual reality slaughterhouse videos, and humane education presentations.

Question: Do you ever wonder how our staff and volunteers can be on the ground throughout the U.S. and five other countries, representing veganism with a smile and talking one-on-one about going vegan?

Answer: Because donors pay to print and ship leaflets, provide food samples, and everything else that goes into making our widespread grassroots activism happen!

2. We are committed to diversity and inclusion. We want to cultivate a diverse staff, promote women to leadership, foster social justice conversations, and engage more communities in learning about veganism.

3. We make connections that help people stay vegan. We have connected more than 2,800 veg-curious people in 60+ countries to individuals who are helping them move toward and maintain a vegan lifestyle. Teaching people about speciesism and introducing them to vegan food is only the first step—these critical social connections will help people cope with family pressure, avoid common nutrition mistakes, and stick with their decision to be vegan.

4. We measure our effectiveness. We want to ensure what we’re doing is what we should be doing. We test our booklets and make improvements to our information and approach. We partner with experienced researchers to conduct measurement studies.

Bonus—A Fifth Reason to Donate Now:

As part of our Team Vegan fund drive, your donation will be matched dollar-for-dollar by other donors! Your $20 becomes $40! Donate now to have it doubled!

Thank you!

New Vegan Alternatives Food App!

By Lori Stultz, Communications Manager

Vegan-Alternatives-homepage

Let’s be honest—there’s an app for everything these days. I don’t think I need to provide an example list of the apps many people use on a daily basis to prove my point. In fact, always being two steps behind in the technology world, many of you could probably provide a longer list of apps than I could.

You may be saying, “A vegan food alternatives app—big deal. Something like this has already been done.” Well, not quite.

The simplicity and audience size that this app serves is what sets Vegan Alternatives apart from the others. I’m not kidding when I say that this is probably one of the easiest and simplest vegan food alternatives apps out there.

Made for veg-curious folks in Europe and the United States, this app provides hundreds of recommendations for vegan food alternatives, including vegan meats, dairy, eggs, and even foods like honey and gelatin.

Other cool features include product prices, as well as a link to the website of each recommended brand. It’s even got vegan recipes and a news page! You’ve seriously got to check it out for yourself! There’s more that awaits!

Vegan-Alternatives-200

The app developer, Ayush, is a 15-year-old student from Europe! Pretty cool, right? He developed this app because he personally found it difficult to transition into a vegan diet, so he wanted to do something to promote the benefits of a vegan lifestyle and help make life easier for new vegans.

This app will be continually updated, and Ayush has requested feedback from Vegan Outreach supporters regarding the types of vegan alternatives you all use! Folks in Europe and the United States, let’s help Ayush out by telling him what vegan products you use instead of animal food products! Feel free to contribute in the Comment section below!

Vegan Outreach has also recently updated our Meat, Egg, and Dairy Alternatives page! Like Ayush, we want to help make it as easy as possible for people to replace animal products with tasty, vegan product alternatives. We encourage you to check out this page in addition to looking at the Vegan Alternatives app!

Currently, the Vegan Alternatives app is only available for Android. If you download the app and have feedback for Ayush, please make sure you leave a review at the app site!