Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing – Pizza Fusion Blog
by Alex Vidal on 05/02/10 at 1:39 pm
Wolf in sheep’s clothing
This morning I happened to catch this interesting question on twitter; “How do vegans feel about non-vegan companies selling vegan products?” I think it’s a pretty relevant question, which is why I want to extend Vegan Mainstream’s concept here on the Pizza Fusion blog to see what others think. Now if you know me, you know I’m not a super strict vegan, but I do my best. I think the important thing to consider here is, what is a vegan company? I’m sure it’s safe to say we’re all familiar with businesses “going green”, but let’s get real, the only “vegan companies” must revolve around a vegan product or service, right? Or maybe I am missing the point. Sure it bothers me when company’s pretend to be something they’re not, but does the rising trend of cruelty-free products help or hurt the industry? I say it helps.
Either way, this post reminded me of a conversation which took place between my brother and I a few weeks ago during lunch @ Pizza Fusion Fort Lauderdale. While enjoying my Very Vegan personal pizza and him his Free Range Roasted Chicken Sandwich, he asked me, “What does free range chicken mean?” Basically, I replied, “it means your chicken got to at least enjoy it’s life sort of before you ate it.” We both shared a laugh and finished our lunch.
For more go to Pizza Fusion.
What is a vegan substitute for an egg bath when you are frying foods?
I am newly vegan and my dad has requested I make eggplant parm next week, which requires you to dip the eggplant in egg before frying it. What would be a good substitute for the egg?
blended silken tofu works as an egg substitute for things like french toast and would probably work for eggplant parm too. I would look it up on vegweb.com, though, to find some tested recipes.
How do you make vegan cookies?
My friend and I are becoming vegans, and we’re trying to make vegan cookies. Anyone have any good recipies?
Vegan means no animal products whatsoever. Meaning, no eggs, no milk products, no milk chocolate chips, no butter etc.
Don’t bother telling us why we shouldn’t be vegan. It’s a choice we’ve already made. We’re just looking for a recipie. Thanks!
"Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies
Submitted by Isa
prep time: 30 minutes | cooking time: 15 minutes + | makes 40 cookies
There are chewy, gooey and… I can’t think of anything else that rhymes. They are peanut-y oatmeal-y good! They will feed an army so half the recipe if you need to.
Equipment:
A good ol’ fashioned baking sheet
Ingredients
6 oz firm silken tofu (1/2 a package of the vacuum sealed kind)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup soymilk
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
2 cups sugar or sucanat
4 teaspoons molasses
2 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups quick cooking oats
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Directions
Prehat oven to 350
In a medium bowl, sift together whole wheat pastry flour, oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
In a seperate large bowl, cream together peanut butter and sugar with a spatula until well combined, 3 – 5 minutes.
In a blender, crumble the tofu in, add applesauce, soymilk and oil. Whiz on high until completely smooth. Add this mixture to the sugar mixture and cream together until well combined. Beat in the molasses and vanilla. Fold in the oats/flour mixture.
Drop by rounded spoonfulls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten the tops by lightly pressing with a fork in a criss cross pattern. Bake for 15 minutes.
Optional: Fold 1 1/2 cups raisins or semi sweet chocolate chips (or both) into the batter"
from http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=31
"Raspberry Heart Cookies
Crisp and light, these will make your sweetheart swoon
(You will need one 3-inch and one smaller heart cookie cutter for this)
1/2 cup almonds, toasted and ground fine
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. light almond or canola oil
3 Tbsp. brown rice syrup
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1/2 cup natural raspberry jam
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush lightly with oil.
Mix together first four ingredients. Stir together the rest of the ingredients except for the jam and then combine with the dry ingredients, stirring until well combined. If this is too sticky, add more flour a little bit at a time.
Roll out cookie dough to approximately 1/8 inch thick or less between sheets of waxed paper. With the 3-inch cookie cutter, cut out hearts and transfer to the baking sheet. With the smaller cutter, cut a small heart out of the middle of half of the cookie shapes.
Bake until cookies are very lightly toasted along the edges, approximately 7 – 12 minutes.
When cool, spread 2 tsp. of jam on a heart cookie, then place another on top of it. This looks nice placed in small scoop of non-dairy ice cream or just by itself."
from http://www.veganstreet.com/veganliving/recipes026.html
What is a good age to become vegan?
I’m 13 and I saw a commerical about how awful animals were treated. I told my mom that I wanted to become a vegan and she said that I still all the vitamins and nutrients from meat because I’m still growing.
To answer your question, at what age is good to become a vegan? At birth.
You’re still growing, so you need lots of macro nutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, fats), and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). Oh yeah, and water, duh, lol. All macronutrients and all micronutrients are found in plant foods. There is absolutely no human nutritional need to consume flesh or anything else from animals. Not even in infancy is animal’s milk needed, that’s what mother’s milk is for.
Eat plenty of veggies, fruits, grains (oatmeal, rice, barley, breads, cereals, pasta, etc), legumes (beans, peas, lentils, peanuts – yes, peanuts are legumes and not nuts), eat a few seeds and nuts (cashews, almonds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, etc), take a daily bit of healthy oils (2 tsps of olive, canola, safflower, or flaxseed oils a day), take a multi-vitamin daily, take a vitamin B-12 daily, and drink plenty of water. Do this, and you will grow beautifully. Really.
As for the fancy soy products out there, they are nutritious and yummy but not necessary. If your mom doesn’t want to get these soy products, your health will not suffer from it. Just eat a variety of the stuff listed above, and you will be healthy. Besides, veggies and grains and beans are a lot cheaper than meats and dairy, so your mom won’t have to spend as much at the grocery store. Trust me, she’ll certainly like that.
How to transition from Vegetarian to Vegan at a college campus?
My college campus has very limited dining options for vegetarians to begin with. Basically all they have for us to eat are salads,fruits, salad sandwhiches, peanutt butter and banana sandwhiches, french fries (I don’t eat fried foods), Amy’s mac and cheese, and Thai Pavillion noodles. How can I go vegan under these circumstances. I need some good tips/advice. Also, I have a meal plan on campus.
If you talk to the chef about your dietary needs, he or she may add more options for you and your fellow vegans. Most chefs are willing to cater to student’s particular diets. Or, if not, you may be able to work something out where your meal plan gives you the ability to purchase food that is better suited to you, instead of eating at the dining hall. The best thing to do is talk to the chef or head of dining services about it. Good luck.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AkFvoTXJMW572iQPFpGx7RHsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20100131103930AAv6Gwe
What are some vegan/vegetarian recipes that I can add meat to so they will taste better?
My friend is vegan and coming over for dinner tonight. I want to make her a nice vegan meal, but I want it to be flavorful. I thought if I add a little round steak or sirloin this would really amp up the flavor.
So, what recipes would go good with beef?
thanks!
Aloo muttor gobi is very popular among the vegetarian Indians I run into all the time and I always share my aloo with them but they never seem to notice that it has pork in it. I get the pork from a Chinese restaurant and stir it in. Yummy!
What is the easiest vegan cake recipe you can suggest for me?
I feel like eating cake, but I don’t have any vegan recipes. I want a fluffy cake, any flavor really, if I could choose I would say vanilla flavor, plain cake flavor because then I can improvise.
I want an easy recipe, and I don’t have egg replacer, unless I can use a banana instead.
Thanks!
This is a light and fluffy vegan yellow cake recipe – it’s not heavy, like some vegan cake recipes. A basic vegan yellow cake is good for children’s birthdays or other special occasions. See also: More Vegan Cake Recipes
Ingredients:
* 1/2 cup vegan margarine, softened
* 1 cup sugar
* Egg replacer for 4 eggs (use banana)
* 1 3/8 cup flour
* 1/2 tsp baking powder
* soy milk as needed
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease the bottom only of a 8-inch square pan.
Cream the vegan margarine with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar gradually. Add the egg replacer and mix well. Add the flour and baking powder and stir. If the mixture is too dry, add a few drops (up to 1/4 cup) of soy milk.
Spread the mixture in the prepared pan and bake for 30-40 minutes. Allow the cake to cook and frost with your favorite vegan frosting, if desired.
How can I transition from eating everything to eating vegan?
I WANT to become a vegan. I feel strongly about alot of things, but I find it hard to stick to just because alot of foods I eat are due to convienience. I don’t have time to make my food and end up buying things. Then I as I’m eating it, I go, oh yeah, this has meat in it… Just because I’ve eaten it for so many years, It’s just habit. How can I transition from eating everything to vegetarian and then eventually vegan? Any tips?
I was the same way as you before I became a vegan and its only been a few weeks now but I dont miss it at all to eat meat, dairy or eggs.Buy yourself a book like skinny bi…. or the kind diet from Alicia Silverstone.Both of these books explain to you why you should go vegan and how bad it is for your health,the animals and the enviroment to eat a diet with a lot of animal products.Its hard to eat out at the begining because so many things have meat or eggs in it and are made with butter or some other non vegan product.Just do your own sandwiches and meals for the first weeks..you can find a lot of easy recipes online or there are also tons of vegan recipe books out there.Buy a lot of veggies,fruit,grains,beans,legumes.There is a vegan substitute for everything…go to trader joes or whole foods and check their vegan products..its amazing how many different fake meats are out there.What is more important in your Life than you and your health?!NOTHING…you do something good for yourself every day you eat a planed based diet and dont be so hard on yourself if you have a little slip just be on track again at the next meal.Look in your fridge and give everything away to your neighbour or friend that has animal products in it..read ingredients.And then go shopping and have fun..its not hard at all…
oh and dont listen to what other people say its your life and your body and you can do whatever you wanna do with it.
How can i find the motivation to go vegan?
I’ve been a lacto-ovo vegetarian for almost my whole life. I’m addicted to cheese and egg products. I was a vegan for a year but my health deteriorated and i was constantly exhausted.
Would i really be saving THAT many more animals by being a vegan in stead of a vegetarian?
Ugh.
By your question it sounds more like you are looking for "Motivation to NOT go vegan" Like you are fishing for us to hold your hand and tell you it’s okay, eat what you want to make you feel better, Just one person could never make a difference so don’t worry about.. **Hugs**
Vegetarian do it for health reasons
Vegans do it for Moral reasons and the health is just a big plus.
I think you should stick to be a vegetarian cuz your heart is not really in it to be Vegan
What are some of your favorite vegan dessert recipes?
My best friend is vegan and has a major sweet tooth. I want to make him a few yummy and Christmas-y desserts like cookies, cupcakes, and other sweet treats. Share some of your favorite vegan recipes with me or if you want to offer some suggestions for making traditional recipes vegan that would be most helpful too. (BTW it would be easy for me to look up some vegan recipes, what I want are recipes that others have tried and found delicious!)
Thanks guys!
I like pretty much every recipe in "The Joy of Vegan Baking" by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. There are over 150 dessert, bread, and sweet drink recipes included. It’s a really great cookbook.
http://www.joyofveganbaking.com/
I also love "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. It’s a cookbook just about cupcakes.
