We’re so excited to share with you that we’ve just launched our newest 10 Weeks to Vegan program for Latin America, Semanario Vegano Costa Rica! With the support of local activists, it has been possible to create a culturally relevant program that will provide support to those who want to give veganism a try. Here is a vegan take on a traditional fish-based dish!

The original version of this is made with soursop, which is native to tropical areas of the Americas. Since it is difficult to find in the United States, we have substituted oyster mushrooms. Let us know what you think!

Ingredients:

• 250 grams of chipped oyster mushrooms (approx 2-1/2 cups)
• 1 pepper
• 1 medium white onion
• 1 medium purple onion
• A handful of cilantro (coriander)
• The juice of 5-6 limes
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon of olive oil
• Avocado, chili pepper, and crackers

Directions:

Start by slicing the mushrooms in a shape that you like, finely chop the onions, and the sweet pepper, dice the cilantro and place everything in a bowl. Add the olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste and mix well. Squeeze the juice of 5-6 limes—it should be enough to cover part of the ingredients. Make sure everything is well mixed and let the ceviche bowl sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, this will intensify the flavor. Once you’re ready to eat it, add avocado on top and eat it with crackers.

Tip:

You can also change the base of this recipe with chickpeas, hearts of palm (palmitos), cauliflower, or texturized vegetable protein (TVP). If you miss the taste of seafood, try adding chopped seaweed, you’ll notice that this will make a huge difference!

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Enjoy this flavor-filled Mediterranean Edamame Quinoa Bowl as one of your plant-based meals for Vegetarian Awareness Month. There’s little to prepare, but a whole lot to enjoy!

Mediterranean Edamame Quinoa Bowl

Yields 1 large entrée-sized bowl, or 4 small servings.

Ingredients

Salad Bowl

Directions

1. Fill a large, individual-sized bowl with greens.
2. Arrange the following on top of the greens: edamame, cherry tomatoes, cooked quinoa, Kalamata olives, sliced cucumbers, sliced red onions, and pine nuts.
3. To make the vinaigrette, whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, sea salt, black pepper, red paprika, and oregano.
4. Drizzle the dressing over the salad bowl, evenly.

Click here for the original recipe.

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At first glance this salad seems simple, but don’t let her fool ya. She gets her delicate nature from the Bibb lettuce, spicy demeanor from the radishes, and a little spunk from the buttermilk dressing, made by curdling soy milk creamer with vinegar. This salad has a ton of personality.

Yields 4 to 6 servings.

Bibb Lettuce and Radish Salad with Chive Buttermilk Dressing

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Place garlic cut-side down in heatproof ramekin. Drizzle with oil. Sprinkle with pinch sea salt and pepper. Roast for 35 minutes, or until cloves are soft.
2. Combine creamer and vinegar in a bowl. Whisk gently and set aside for 1 to 2 minutes.
3. When cool enough to handle, remove 3 or 4 cloves roasted garlic from the bulb and use the blade of a knife to squeeze flesh out of skin into a blender or food processor. Add curdled creamer, mayonnaise, lemon juice, maple syrup, and remaining ¼ teaspoon sea salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Blend until smooth and fold in chives.
4. To serve salad, divide lettuce among salad plates. Drizzle with dressing. Top each serving with radishes and avocado.

Recipe Tips/Variations

• When storing radishes in the refrigerator, don’t wash them; they will go bad more quickly. Be sure to remove the leaves, however, as they leach moisture from the radishes, drying them out prematurely.

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.

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Last weekend I attended a monthly potluck for the local vegan meetup group, The Boulder (and Beyond) Vegan Meetup Group. It was hosted at a new, nearby animal sanctuary called Luvin Arms Animal Sanctuary.

It was a wonderful afternoon! Everyone’s admiration was, understandably, directed at the animals. All of the potluck attendees got to meet the rescued pigs, goats, chickens, and horses.

My inspiration to make summer-type dishes was—and still is!—running high, so I made a fatoush salad, which I will post about in the coming weeks, and a super easy potato salad.

This potato salad recipe is my aunt Connie’s creation. My aunt, who is also vegan, used to make this recipe when she’d come visit my family in the summer time. Neither she nor I were vegan during those years, but funnily enough, this salad is “accidently vegan”—meaning it didn’t have any animal food products in it to begin with!

Something that makes this potato salad unique is that it doesn’t call for mayonnaise. Therefore, it makes for a much lighter side dish and the herbs are much more pronounced than your typical potato salad.

Give it a try at your next family picnic and please leave me the reviews in the comment section!

Easy Potato Salad

Yields about 4 servings.

Ingredients

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Place the potatoes in the boiling water, cover, and reduce to a simmer.
2. While the potatoes are boiling, chop the onion(s) and grate the carrots with a hand grater or food processor. Set aside.
3. For the Dressing: Mix the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, herbs, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.
4. When the potatoes are soft, which you can determine by puncturing the potato with a fork, drain the water.
5. Dice the potatoes into one-inch cubes and combine with the onions and carrots in a large bowl.
6. Add the dressing and mix well.

Recipe Variations

• I chopped up about ⅔ cups of almonds and added them to the salad. It gave it an extra crunch and a little more texture.
• Grilled asparagus, chopped celery, or a few chopped radishes would also taste excellent in this salad.

The post Easy Potato Salad appeared first on Vegan Outreach.

We’re pretty big fans of potato salad here at Vegan Outreach. If sharing two potato salad recipes hasn’t clearly demonstrated our slight obsession—here and here—then maybe sharing a third will get the point across!

This recipe comes to us from Sylvia Norris, the mother of VO’s Executive Director, Jack Norris.

It’s fast, it’s simple, and it’s delicious. Give it a try and let us know what you think!

German Potato Salad

Yields 5-6 servings.

Ingredients

Directions

1. Boil the potatoes until just pierceable.
2. If desired, peel the skins off. You’ll want to do this as quickly as possible.
3. Chop the potatoes to desired cube size.
4. Add olive oil, pepper, salt, and vinegar. Stir until the potatoes are well coated.
5. When you’re ready to serve the salad, add the green onion and parsley. Enjoy!

The post German Potato Salad appeared first on Vegan Outreach.

1 1/2 pounds purple potatoes
3 tablespoons aji amarillo paste
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
A few twists of freshly ground pepper
4 scallions, sliced as thinly as possible
3 ripe red tomatoes, core and seeds removed and finely diced
1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pits removed and sliced
1 ripe avocado, diced into 1/2 inch chunks and tossed with 2 teaspoons lime juice
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro or parsley

Directions:

1. Peel the potatoes, dice into 1 inch cubes, place in a 3-quart pot, and cover with 3 inches of water. Bring to boil over high heat and simmer for 18-20 minutes or until very tender, then drain.

2. In a mixing bowl whisk together aji amarillo paste, olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper. Add 1 cup cooked potato chunks and with fork or potato masher, mash the potato into a chunky puree. Add the remaining potatoes, scallions, tomatoes and olives. Use a rubber spatula to fold the potatoes into the dressing.

3. Mound the salad onto a serving platter or into deep bowls and arrange chunks of avocado on top. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve immediately.

Like many recipes, the part that actually took the longest was preparing the items for the dish. After everything was measured out, chopped and whisked, creating the actual salad was almost effortless.

My biggest concern while preparing it was that it would be dry due to the starchiness of the potatoes. This, however was not the case, as the lime-salt-olive oil-aji amarillo blend created the perfect amount of moisture, with a hint of flavor that by no means overwhelmed the dish. I was pleasantly surprised as well with how much the chopped kalamata’s added a zesty complement to this side.

A couple of notes: If you cannot find aji amarillo, curry paste (available in most grocery stores) could work as well. This potato salad also tasted great reheated the next day for my lunch. It seemed to absorb more of the flavor, and some leftover peas I tossed in there were a great addition.

The post Peruvian Purple Potato Salad appeared first on Vegan Outreach.

By Toni Okamoto

National Pistachio Day was February 26th and inspired me to make this Quinoa Pistachio Salad. I was meal prepping for a weekend dance intensive and this turned out to be the perfect meal! It was protein-packed, light, and helped me sustain my energy. Give it a try!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup quinoa
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped mint leaves
• 1/2 cup dry-roasted pistachios, unsalted
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1 scallion, thinly sliced
• handful of grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

Bring the veggie broth to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Add quinoa, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender and the liquid has been absorbed, about 13 minutes. Stir in olive oil; fluff quinoa with a fork. Set aside to cool slightly.

Stir mint, pistachios, dried cranberries, scallion, grape tomatoes, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Season to taste with salt and ground black pepper. Enjoy!

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If I lived anywhere near New York City I’m pretty sure I’d want to be spending all of my free time with Gena Hamshaw, author of my favorite vegan blog, The Full Helping. I sort of feel like I already do, given that I visit her blog multiple times a week and refer to her cookbooks regularly. Knowing what I do about Gena from her blog we have a lot in common—including similar interests, like psychology related topics, and a passion for helping other people and beings.

Moreover, we both adore certain flavors and types of food, which Gena does a fabulous job of incorporating in a lot of her recipes. Today I’m talking particularly about beans and tahini. Gena has come up with some of the most unique ways of using both (I highly encourage you to check out her blog to see for yourself), and the recipe I’m about to share, Smashed Garlic Tahini White Bean Salad on Toast, is no exception.

What I love most about this salad is its versatility. The first time I ate it I spread it on toast, but it can easily be used as a dip for raw veggies, or as a bowl or salad component. A few of the veggies I topped it off with were sprouts and arugula. Oh, and I also added a few cucumbers. Gena makes some other great recommendations for salad toppers, like radishes and avocado. Don’t be fooled, though, this salad is mighty tasty just by itself. Don’t fret about extra veggies if you don’t have any on hand.

Smashed Garlic Tahini White Bean Salad on Toast

Yields about 2 ½ cups.

Ingredients

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Rub the teaspoon of olive oil over the exposed garlic cloves. Wrap the whole head of garlic in foil and place on a baking sheet. Roast for 35-40 minutes, or until the head of garlic is very soft and the cloves are lightly golden.
2. Place the tahini, water, lemon, mustard, salt, and pepper in a blender or food processor. Squeeze all of the cloves of garlic from the roasted head into the blender. Blend the ingredients on high till creamy and smooth.
3. Place the beans, celery, shallot, and dill in a mixing bowl. Add about three quarters of the dressing (you may want to hold off on using all of it until you mix up the salad and see whether you’d like to use more). Use a potato masher or fork to mash the dressing up with the beans, smashing only about half of the white beans (you want half of them to stay whole). Taste the salad, add more dressing as needed, and season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.
4. Spread the salad on toast and top with toppings of choice. Serve.

Recipe Tips/Variations

• I was pressed for time when I made this meal, so I used garlic powder. If you’re not trying to get in and out of the kitchen quickly, definitely roast the garlic. The salad will have a much richer flavor.
• I swapped out the dill for parsley, which is why my salad turned out a bit on the green side. There are a handful of herbs that would go well in this salad—get creative and throw in what sounds best to you!

The post Smashed Garlic Tahini White Bean Salad on Toast appeared first on Vegan Outreach.

For someone who enjoys making and trying new recipes, there are fewer things more exciting than cracking open a new cookbook. Unashamedly being one of those cookbook-enthusiasts, I giddily agreed to review The Little Vegan Cookbook: 500 of the Best Vegan Recipes Ever.

If you’re a member of the “Oh My Gosh, I Have To Have This Cookbook” club—like me—get excited! The Little Vegan Cookbook is about to rock your world.

This book is a bit different than other cookbooks you may have on the shelf because it doesn’t have just one author. This book features recipes from several vegan cookbooks, 500 to be exact, which means it has recipes for pretty much any type of food you might be craving.

Another great thing about this book is that the food varies in terms of preparation time. It would be a great go-to cookbook if you’re looking for quick meal, or if you’re wanting to impress dinner guests and don’t mind preparing a dish (or two or three) that take a little more time.

As you can imagine, it was really difficult to pick just one recipe from this book to share! Keeping in mind that Memorial Day is coming up, I decided to make and share a recipe that would fit the occasion: Spicy Edamame Coleslaw.

To test my theory, I served the coleslaw alongside Beyond Meat’s Beast Burgers (what’s Memorial Day without a good vegan burger?), and it got a five star review!

I have to admit that I toned down the spice because I am a wuss when it comes to spicy food, but it was still absolutely delicious! The dressing is sweet, but not too sweet, and it took me no more than ten minutes to make!

In fact, sharing this recipe will serve a dual purpose. It will hold you over until the cookbook is released on June 1, and it will make a perfect complimentary side to whatever traditional Memorial Day meal you have in store! Enjoy!

Spicy Edamame Salad

Serves about 8.

Ingredients

Directions

1. Shred the cabbage and place in a large bowl.
2. Boil the edamame for about five minutes, or just until tender. Rinse under cold water until it is no longer hot. Drain well and combine with the cabbage.
3. In a bowl, using a fork, mash the avocado.
4. Vigorously mix in the remaining ingredients until smooth. If needed, process the ingredients in a blender or food processor until there are no lumps.
5. Toss the dressing with the cabbage and edamame until evenly coated.

Recipe Tips

• Don’t want to bother boiling the edamame? Simply run the beans under very hot water and switch to cold water when tender.
• If you don’t have time to chill the coconut milk, no problem! Unless the can was sitting in a warm environment there should be plenty of cream at the top.
• To cut back on the spice, omit wasabi powder and reduce spicy garlic sauce to 1 teaspoon.

The post Spice Up Your Memorial Day Cookout! appeared first on Vegan Outreach.

By Toni Okamoto

The time for summer bar-b-ques and potlucks is rapidly approaching, so I wanted to get you well equipped with tasty and easy-to-make recipes! This is one of my favorites! It’s a light pasta salad that’s bursting with flavor and high in protein. Your friends and family are guaranteed to love it as much as I do!

Ingredients:

• 16 oz bag of pasta
• 1/4 c olive oil
• 1 small red onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 15 oz can chickpeas
• 6 oz jar artichoke quarters
• Juice of one lemon
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Cherry tomatoes, halved

Directions:

Boil pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside. In a large pan add olive oil, diced onions, minced
garlic and sauté until onions are translucent. Add chickpeas (drained), artichoke quarters, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and let simmer over medium heat for five minutes. Add drained pasta and mix well. Garnish with cherry tomatoes.

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