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Meatless Monday #88: Tomato, Avocado, White Bean, and Basil Salad

I’ve been all about adding beans to salads lately!

Ingredients (in case you couldn’t guess them):
Tomato (chopped)
Avocado (chopped)
White Beans (Cannelini Beans, or Navy Beans, or Great Northern Beans all work)
Fresh Basil (chopped)
Olive oil
Vinegar (red wine or balsamic are my favorite) OR lemon juice
I topped mine with some seasoning from a grinder

Directions:

1. Mix everything in a bowl.

Meatless Monday #87: Burrito Bowl

Ingredients

All of some of the following:
Rice (brown rice is best, instant rice is fastest)
Black or Pinto beans
Canned corn
Chopped bell pepper
Chopped avocado
Chopped green onion
Chopped cilantro
Chopped tomato
Chopped jalapeno
Salsa

Directions:

1. Cook the rice according to the package. Heat the beans either on the stovetop or in the microwave.

2. Mix the rice and beans with all of the chopped veggies and the salsa.

Meatless Monday #86: Spinach, Artichoke, and Tomato Pizza

Another pizza this week. I think that pizzas (ones that aren’t loaded with cheese!) are one of the best ways to easily, healthily, and deliciously consume a large amount of vegetables! This combo of spinach, artichoke hearts, and tomato is one of my all time favorites (I also use this combo often over pasta).

Ingredients
Pizza crust
Fresh spinach (frozen will work too, but I just think fresh is SO MUCH tastier!)
1 can artichoke hearts (quarter them if they are not already quartered)
Sliced tomato

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Sautee the spinach, artichoke, and tomato in a pan to soften them up a bit. I like to use just a little bit of the artichoke juice (from the can) to do this. You could also use water or olive oil.

3. Top the pizza crust and bake until the crust is warmed through (10-15 mins), or according to the directions on your pizza crust.

Meatless Monday #85: Pesto Pizza

Ingredients
Pizza Crust
Pesto Sauce (homemade or from a jar)
Pizza Toppings, I used:
Broccoli
Squash
Spinach
Daiya Mozzarella (vegan)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. (Optional) Steam the vegetables until they are slightly soft. Or you can just let them roast in the oven, without steaming them, if you want them crunchier.

3. Top the pizza crust with pesto, and toppings.

4. Bake at 350 until cheese is melted and crust is heated through, about 15-20 mins (or follow the directions on the crust packaging).

Meatless Monday #84: Couscous with Nuts, Raisins, and Veggies

Ingredients
Couscous
Vegetable broth
Raisins
Walnuts, chopped
Carrots, shredded
Tomato, chopped
Green onion, chopped
Parsley, chopped

Directions

1. Cook the couscous according to the directions (using the vegetable broth).

2. Once the couscous is cooked, stir in the raisins. Then mix in the veggies and walnuts.

The Ag-Gag Bill

I feel like I haven’t written a real post in forever. But today’s news about Iowa passing the first “Ag-Gag” bill made me sick and I simply can’t keep quiet about this.

For those who are unfamiliar with the so-called “Ag-Gag” bill, it is legislation that makes it illegal to film undercover footage of animal abuse and unsanitary conditions on factory farms. Illegal. And punishable by years of jail time.

Just in case you don’t have this straight, allow me to further explain: The people abusing the animals do not go to jail. The person who films them doing it in order to expose them does.

This is one of the most infuriating pieces of legislation I’ve ever heard of. First of all, whistleblowing is a legally protected right in America. But we have just exempted the animal agriculture industry from public scrutiny via undercover video, the most significant way to expose cruelty and unsafe practices in the food industry. And we have now further limited the rights of agricultural workers (a group that already has so few legal rights to begin with).

But besides the legality of it, the intent of this law is what really makes me irate. It is obvious that this bill was passed to allow animal agriculture to continue its heinous, abusive practices without the public knowing about them. The Iowa lawmakers and ag industry representatives claim that the law was put in place to “protect the animals from outsiders who could bring in disease.” How a worker wearing a hidden camera poses more of a disease risk than a worker not wearing a hidden camera is a total mystery to me. It is obvious that big industry and money drove this decision, instead of morality. How can anyone possibly think it’s ok to protect animal abusers?

At a point in time where the welfare of our food animals is just beginning to break into the public consciousness, this is such a huge step backwards. Just this month McDonald’s vowed to phase sow gestation crates out of their supply chain. Yet here we are making legislation to protect not only gestation crates, but also even more malicious and deliberate acts of animal abuse. What an awful move in the wrong direction.

Earlier this week I went to a talk by Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States. He made it very clear just how contradictory our society is towards the treatment of animals (especially food animals). In this country two-thirds of people have pets, there are 80 million self-proclaimed wildlife-watchers, and there are over 20,000 animal protection groups. Just think about all that time, energy, and money that goes into loving animals! Yet every year, 9-10 billion (with a ‘B’) animals are slaughtered, and most of them are treated miserably and cruelly. Why do we not see the contradiction in our actions? Why do we have such a huge disconnect? And why do we divorce our moral values when it comes to economics?

I have to believe that slowly, eventually, our society will realize that what we are doing to these creatures is wrong. And I believe that when people look back on how awfully we treated these animals, they will be ashamed… of us.

“We can’t plead ignorance, only indifference. We have the burden and the opportunity of living in the moment when the critique of factory farming broke into the popular consciousness. We are the ones of whom it will be fairly asked, ‘What did you do when you learned the truth about eating animals?’” - Jonathan Safran Foer

____________________

Breakfast: Evol tofu and spinach burrito
Lunch: Veggie ‘sushi’ wrap from How Do You Roll
Dinner: BLT sandwich with tempeh bacon, baked sweet potato fries, and salad

Meatless Monday #83: Crispy Baked Tofu Nuggets

Ingredients
Extra firm or Firm tofu
Soy milk (or other non-dairy milk)
Panko-style breadcrumbs
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tbs nutritional yeast (optional)
Olive oil to grease a pan
Sauce for dipping (like BBQ, Ketchup, Ranch, etc.)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. And grease a pan with olive oil.

2. Mix the breadcrumbs, onion powder, garlic powder, and nutritional yeast in a bowl. And cut the tofu into squares.

3. Dip each tofu square in the soy milk, then in the breadcrumb mixture, and place on the greased pan.

4. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, flipping once half-way through.

Meatless Monday #82: Fennel and Grapefruit Salad

Fennel and Grapefruit Salad

I’d never bought fennel before, so when it arrived this week in my CSA box, I wasn’t quite sure how to use it. A quick google search revealed that really the only part worth eating is the bulb (technically you can eat the stalks and fronds, but the stalks are tough and the fronds are really just more of a garnish).

Fennel

So for my first experience with fennel, I went for a basic fennel and citrus salad. And I absolutely loved it!

Ingredients
1 fennel bulb
1/2 grapefruit
handful of walnuts (or almonds or pine nuts)
a few pinches of dill
apple cider vinegar (red or white wine vinegar would work as well)
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Cut the stalks (& fronds) off the fennel bulb and discard the stalks (& fronds).

2. Slice the fennel bulb as you would slice an onion.

Sliced Fennel Bulb

3. Add cut grapefruit pieces, walnuts, and dill to the sliced fennel.

4. Dress with apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and salt and pepper.

Fennel salad, served with turnip greens and rutabaga fries

Austin’s Vegan Grocery Store

A vegan grocery store? I’d never heard of, or even imagined such a thing as a fully vegan grocery store! Until I heard about Rabbit Food Grocery. Rabbit Food Grocery will be Austin’s first vegan grocery store! (Do they have these in other cities?!)

As Rabbit Food Grocery prepares to open its doors, they will be selling some items online. Take a look at their virtual store and place an order – you don’t have to be in Austin! But if you are in Austin, you can take advantage of free delivery.

I, for one, am super excited about this place!

Meatless Monday #81: Two Recipe Remakes

When I first started this blog, I posted quite a few Meatless Mondays without knowing how to create easy to follow recipes or photograph the food I’d made. When I look back at some of those early recipes I have posted, I cringe at how some of my favorite recipes don’t come across as appealing because of my horrendous photography skills! Even though I’m definitely not an expert recipe-writer nor expert photographer, I’m better than I used to be, so I’ve decided to occasionally remake some of the originals and hopefully better show off their tastiness!

Recipe Remake 1: Hummus Pizza

This is one of my very favorite dinners. It is so quick and easy to make, it’s actually really healthy, and it’s super tasty! Check out the recipe here.

Recipe Remake 2: Cheese Enchiladas

Cheese enchiladas (which I now make with Daiya or Veggie Shreds) are my guilty pleasure. When I have time and want some really savory enchiladas, I’ll make my own sauce, or when I just want to make these quickly, I’ll use store-bought sauce from a jar or can. Enchilada and homemade sauce recipes are here.

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Meatless Monday #88: Tomato, Avocado, White Bean, and Basil Salad

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Meatless Monday #87: Burrito Bowl

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Meatless Monday #86: Spinach, Artichoke, and Tomato Pizza

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Meatless Monday #85: Pesto Pizza

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Meatless Monday #84: Couscous with Nuts, Raisins, and Veggies

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The Ag-Gag Bill

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Meatless Monday #83: Crispy Baked Tofu Nuggets

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Meatless Monday #82: Fennel and Grapefruit Salad

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Meatless Monday #81: Two Recipe Remakes

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