Victoria Moran’s new book Main Street Vegan was just released and she’ll be paying us a visit to talk about it. Victoria is an amazingly inspirational speaker so you won’t want to miss this! She’ll be on hand after the talk to sign books. The event will take place on June 2nd from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m at Barnes and Noble Booksellers, 395 Route 3 East, Clifton, NJ 07014.

What: Victoria Moran Talk and Book Signing

When: Saturday June 2nd, 1:0m

Where: Clifton Commons Barnes and Noble

395 Route 3 East, Clifton, NJ 

Hollywood celebrities are doing it. Corporate moguls are doing it. But what about those of us living in the real world—and on a real budget? Author and holistic health practitioner Victoria Moran started eating only plants nearly thirty years ago, raised her daughter, Adair, vegan from birth, and maintains a sixty-pound weight loss. In Main Street Vegan, Moran offers a complete guide to making this dietary and lifestyle shift with an emphasis on practical “baby steps,” proving that you don’t have to have a personal chef or lifestyle coach on speed dial to experience the physical and spiritual benefits of being a vegan. This book provides practical advice and inspiration for everyone—from Main Street to Wall Street, and everywhere between.

Victoria Moran is the author of 11 books, and is also an inspirational speaker, monologist, and certified holistic health counselor (HHC, AADP). She is the founder of Main Street Vegan Academy, training vegan lifestyle coaches. Victoria’s latest book is MAIN STREET VEGAN: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TO EAT HEALTHFULLY & LIVE COMPASSIONATELY IN THE REAL WORLD, written with the able assistance of her daughter, Adair Moran, an actor, playwright, stunt performer, and lifelong vegan. Among Victoria’s other titles are the best-selling Creating a Charmed Life(in thirty languages), and the plant-based weight-loss classic, The Love-Powered Diet: Eating for Freedom, Health, & Joy.

You might have noticed that I haven’t done too many blog posts lately, and I’ve been sort of absent from Facebook. So where have I been? Well, Dennis and I bought a house last month! We’ve been spending every spare minute fixing it up and getting it ready to move into.  With all of the DIY that’s been going on, I haven’t had much time to experiment with recipes or review cookbooks. I have been making a lot of salads and my slow cooker has been working overtime making our dinners. We’re planning on moving in later this week, and we still have quite a lot of work to do. I’ve tried to put Archie, Clementine and Tallulah in charge of packing, but all they’ve done is sleep on the job!

 It’s probably going to take us a few more weeks to get settled, and it’s going to take me a while to get used to cooking in my new kitchen. Blog posts will still be sporadic, but I promise I’ll be back soon. I will have some really great things going on this summer and I can’t wait to tell you about them!

Kathy Stevens is the founder of Catskill Animal Sanctuary,an 80-acre haven for abused and discarded farm animals located two hours north of Manhattan. She will be in Montclair to talk about the sanctuary and tell us all about the animals that live there. Kathy is the author for two wonderful books about rescued animals: Where the Blind Horse Sings and Animal Camp. She is an excellent speaker, so you won’t want to miss this event!

Kathy’s books Where the Blind Horse Sings and Animal Camp will be available for purchase, and Kathy will be on hand to sign copies after her talk.

Saturday, April 21st, 5:00pm

First Congregational Church

40 South Fullerton Avenue

Montclair, NJ

This event is free and open to everyone. Please bring your friends and family!

Curry is one of my all-time favorite cold weather dishes. Any type of curry will do – broccoli and tofu, slow cooker, mango tempeh – you name it, I’ll cook it and eat it! The weather is starting to warm up here in New Jersey, so curry season is almost over, but I think there’s enough of a chill in the air to make just one more!

Ingredients

• 1 large sweet potato, cubed
• 2 medium carrots, cut into half moons
• 1/2 pound green beans, cut into 1″ pieces
• 1 medium red onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 2 1/2 tablespoons green curry paste
• 13.5 ounce can light coconut milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoons cashew butter
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced basil leaves

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add carrots. After about 3 minutes, add the the sweet potatoes. After two more minutes add the green beans. Once the green beans have cooked for 5 minutes, turn the heat off and drain all of the vegetables. Do not over cook them.
2. Heat coconut oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes, until it turns translucent and starts to brown a little.
3. Stir in garlic, cashew butter, curry paste, broth and coconut milk. Bring mixture to a simmer. 
4. Add the vegetables and cook for 10 minutes. 
5. Remove from heat, serve with brown rice and top with sliced basil leaves. Enjoy!

Dreena Burton’s cookbook Eat Drink and Be Vegan is a favorite of mine, so I was super excited when I heard that she was working on a new cookbook. And I was not disappointed when Let Them Eat Vegan arrived in my mailbox! This book is packed full of mouth watering recipes such as Three’s Company Pie (chocolate, peanut butter and banana), Breakfast Cookies and Truffled Cashew Cheese.

Since there is information on kitchen appliances and a section on pantry basics, Let them Eat Vegan is a good starter book for those who are new to vegan cooking, but it’s also an excellent book for seasoned cooks who are looking for new recipes to add to their repertoire. The dishes here are easy to make, but are creative and flavorful. And they are sure to please just about everyone – kids, adults and even the most hardened carnivore. The recipes are all plant-based, so there are no packed-processed ingredients, and quite a lot of them are food-allergy friendly. Luckily for me, everything’s wheat free and there are many gluten-free options. Let Them Eat Vegan has already seen lots of use in my kitchen and is sure to take it’s place among my favorite cookbooks soon! (Just as soon as I put it down long enough to put it back on the bookshelf!)

My friends and I decided to be super geeky and we had a pie potluck for Pi Day (3.14). There are so many good pie recipes in this cookbook that I had a hard time choosing. In the end I went with Yellow Sweet Potato Chickpea Pie with Basil. I ended up using an orange sweet potato instead of a yellow one, but it didn’t take away from the taste of the pie. This was delicious! It’s the perfect dish for a potluck, and my friends loved it.

And since I’m a Gemini and can never pick just one thing, I decided to make a dessert pie for the potluck too. This Three’s Company Pie was absolutely amazing! The three things that are “company” are chocolate, peanut butter and bananas. A few of my friends are allergic to peanuts, so I used cashew butter instead. This pie was quick and easy to make and everyone loved it. This is exactly the kind of dessert you can impress your friends with because it’s delicious and it looks like it took a lot longer to make than it actually did!

I just can’t resist a tempeh recipe, so I made Tempeh Tickle. Halfway through making it, I realized I had originally intended on making the Tempeh in Lemon, Thyme and Caper Sauce on the opposite page. I guess the name “Tempeh Tickle” just called to me. It was what my high school art teacher Mrs. VanBlarcom would call a “fortuitous accident” because it was quite yummy. I still have the capers and lemon juice waiting in my cabinet, so the other dish will be made sometime in the near future.

I’m a total sucker for peanut stew, so I HAD to make this Peanut Thai Vegetable Stew. It was so good that I was disappointed when I was full and couldn’t fit any more of it in my belly. My advice to you is to just get this book and make this dish.

I’m also quite a sucker for chickpeas and curry of any kind, so also HAD to make Thai Chickpea Almond Curry. I substituted cashew butter for almond butter because almonds make my mouth itch, so this was really a cashew curry. I also added broccoli, because broccoli and chickpeas are a favorite combination of mine. This is one of those dishes that comes together so quickly that it pretty much cooks itself. Again, don’t take my word for it  - get the book and make it!

And since I’m now hooked on pie and think it’s a good idea to have most of my meals in pie form, I made this excellent Potato, Shallot and Pepper Frittata. Sometimes I can’t decide between potatoes or a tofu dish for breakfast, but this recipe helped me out by combining both of them. After I cooked it, I realized that I forgot to add the topping (oops!) but it was still super yummy so it wasn’t missed.

There are quite a few more recipes in this book marked with sticky notes, so it’s not going back up onto the bookshelf any time soon!

I’m very excited to announce that Farm Sanctuary’s President and Co-Founder Gene Baur will be coming back to the Montclair Area for a visit! 

When: Saturday, March 10th at 1:00pm

Where: Barnes and Noble, Clifton Commons, 395 Route 3 East, Clifton NJ

 Gene will be on hand to sign copies of his national best-seller, Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food after his talk. Those who buy a copy of the book from the store will have an opportunity to talk with Gene one on one. 

This event is free and open to everyone. Please spread the word and invite your friends!

Whenever I get a new cookbook, I like to curl up with a cup of tea and blanket and read through it as if it were a novel. Terry Bryant’s The Inspired Vegan is perfect for my little ritual, as it’s full of personal memories, tales of inspirational people and stories about social movements. Oh, and there’s quite a bit about food too! The book is divided into two parts – Basics and Menus, with an Interlude containing a list of recipes in between.  

The Basics section covers all of the basics of cooking, food preparation and nutrition, and includes simple recipes such as Basil Pesto and Basic Tomato Sauce. The Menus section takes the guess work out of meals and combines recipes that work well together. The menus are listed seasonally and all include soundtracks and a book or film. The recipes are extremely creative, and your mouth with start watering while just reading through them. Chewy Lemon-Coconut Cookies with Lemon Icing, anyone?

The menus use fresh, seasonal, plant-based ingredients, so they’re super healthy but without sacrificing any flavor. At first glance, the recipes may seem a little daunting, but they really are easy to make and come together quickly.  This really is an incredible cookbook – with it, you can impress your vegan friends with your fancy cooking, or show your carnivore friends how incredibly delicious vegan meals can be.

I started with Tortillas Stuffed with Swiss Chard, Currants and Spicy Guacamole. This was fast and easy to make, and was incredibly delicious. I used gluten-free tortillas, which is why they look a little shiny. 

Roasted Winter Vegetable Jambalaya was the perfect dish for a chilly winter’s night! This is a creative take on a meal that’s typically made with meat. It took a while to cook, but it required very minimal time in the kitchen. I chopped the veggies, put them in the oven, set a timer and did other things around the house while they roasted. 

I had planned on making Jerk Tempeh with Cilantro Sauce, Purple Slaw and Double Garlic Rice for dinner on Valentine’s Day, but we decided to let someone else do our cooking that night and ordered takeout. I made this dish later in the week. Had I known how amazing it was going to be, I probably would have insisted on making it as planned. This was a really incredibly meal. The jerk tempeh was delicious on it’s own, but the cilantro sauce added a little extra kick to it, and the rice and purple slaw complemented it perfectly.

My copy of The Inspired Vegan is already full of sticky notes marking other recipes I want to try. Hmmm… what should I make next?

Ingredients

• 1 medium sized eggplant, diced
• 1 summer squash, sliced
• 1 zucchini, sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 cup cannellini beans (1 14 ounce can)
• 28 ounce can diced tomatoes, in their jucie
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon Herbs de Provence (or 1 teaspoon each of dried thyme, rosemary and basil)
• Sea salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Add everything but salt and pepper to your slow cooker and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.
2. Add salt and pepper to taste, serve and enjoy!

 Ingredients

• 16 ounce block of firm or extra tofu, drained and crumbled
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 leeks, cleaned well and sliced
• 10 -12 mushrooms, sliced
• 6 ounces of baby spinach, chopped
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 1/4 teaspoon tumeric
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon all purpose seasoning mix
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
• Sea salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup olives, chopped
• 1 tomato, chopped

Directions

1.  Cook the leeks in the oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat for about 10 minute, until they start to brown and caramelize. Stir often.
2. Add the crumbled tofu, the spices and the nutritional yeast. Let cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the broth to prevent the tofu sticking to the pan. You can add more than 1/4 cup if the tofu seems dry.
3. Add the mushrooms and cook until they soften, about 5 more minutes. Add the spinach and cook a minute or two, until it wilts.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste and top with chopped olives and tomatoes. 
5. Serve and enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 16 ounce block of firm or extra firm tofu, drained and crumbled
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon tumeric
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1 small red onion, chopped, about half a cup
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 2 cups greens, chopped – kale, spinach or chard
• 1 cup beans – black, kidney or pinto
• 1 cup salsa
• Handful of Daiya cheese
• 1/4 olives, chopped

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and cook the onion until it’s translucent and slightly caramelized, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the crumbled tofu to the pan, along with the spices and nutritional yeast and mix everything together. Let cook for a minute or two and then add the chopped peppers. Cook until the peppers are soft, about 5 more minutes.
3. Add the salsa, stir to coat everything thoroughly. Mix in the beans and greens and cook for two or three more minutes, until the greens are wilted.
4. Sprinkle the top with Daiya cheese and top with olives. Let cook until the cheese melts. 
5. Serve hot. You can top with sour cream and hot sauce for a little extra kick.