Last Minute Christmas Links

Wishing my readers and their families a wonderful Christmas. I hope the links below help those of you, like me, who haven't totally organised their Christmas yet.

Recipes :

1) Vegan Christmas or Yule by Vegan Family House  :  Includes recipes like Cashew Nut Roast with Sage and onion stuffing, Creamy mushroom Puff, and Easy, Last Minute Christmas Fruit Cake.

2) Christmas Recipes by Cherry at Parsley Soup : Includes recipes like Chestnut Roast, Orange and Walnut Mince Pies, Vegan Mincemeat and Chocolate Brandy Truffles.

3) Simple Vegan Candy Recipes by Bryanna Clark Grogan at Vegsource : Includes recipes like One Pan Vegan Fudge, Chocolate-Soy Ganache, Vegan Coffee Truffles.

4) Raw Food Christmas Recipes by Hayley Nichols at Suite101 :Includes Mock Turkey and Raw Pumpkin Pie.

5) Gifts from the Kitchen: Vegan Sweets Extravaganza! by Care2 Green Living    : Includes Raspberry-Chocolate Cookies, Vegan Lemon Biscotti and Vegan Mixed Dream Cookies

6) Vegetarian/Vegan Barbecue Recipes by About.com : Includes Barbecued Stuffed Acorn Squash, Curried Grilled Seitan Kebabs, Spicy Chili Potatoes and Tequila-flavored Portobella Mushrooms.

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A Few of My Favoutite Bloggers' Christmas Posts :

a) Christmas Treats from Eat'n Veg'n Vegan Food   

b) New World Wassail: A Drink to Your Health from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen  

c) Dairy-Free Homemade Bailey's Irish Cream from Go Dairy Free

d) I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas from In The Raw 

e) Karen's Christmas Punch from Living in the Raw

f) Whole Grain Apple-Almond Cake to Serve Holiday Guests from Vegan Feast Kitchen 

g) Last Minute Holiday Treats from Seitan is My Motor

h) Green Your Christmas from Urban Sprout

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Talking Turkeys

by Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah



Be nice to yu turkeys dis christmas

Cos' turkeys just wanna hav fun

Turkeys are cool, turkeys are wicked

An every turkey has a Mum.

Be nice to yu turkeys dis christmas,

Don't eat it, keep it alive,

It could be yu mate, an not on your plate

Say, Yo! Turkey I'm on your side.

I got lots of friends who are turkeys

An all of dem fear Christmas time,

Dey wanna enjoy it, dey say humans destroyed it

An humans are out of dere mind,

Yeah, I got lots of friends who are turkeys

Dey all hav a right to a life,

Not to be caged up an genetically made up

By any farmer an his wife.



Turkeys just wanna play reggae

Turkeys just wanna hip-hop

Can yu imagine a nice young turkey saying,

'I cannot wait for de chop',

Turkeys like getting presents, dey wanna watch christmas TV,

Turkeys hav brains an turkeys feel pain

In many ways like yu an me.



I once knew a turkey called...Turkey

He said "Benji explain to me please,

Who put de turkey in christmas

An what happens to christmas trees?",

I said "I am not too sure turkey

But itÕs nothing to do wid Christ Mass

Humans get greedy an waste more dan need be

An business men mek loadsa cash'.



Be nice to yu turkey dis christmas

Invite dem indoors fe sum greens

Let dem eat cake an let dem partake

In a plate of organic grown beans,

Be nice to yu turkey dis christmas

An spare dem de cut of de knife,

Join Turkeys United an dey'll be delighted

An yu will mek new friends 'FOR LIFE'.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

A New Favourite Book - The Urban Vegan

I have been a fan of Dynise Balcavage's blog The Urban Vegan for years. I love reading about her daily life, her food, her cats, and trying out her delicious Vegan recipes.

Dynise describes herself as having been cooking since the age of seven. She lives in a large city with it's variety of food and has travelled to 30 countries with their special local foods. This is probably why she has many ideas to choose from when she decides to create or adapt a recipe for Vegans.

I was therefore thrilled when Dynise decided to publish a cookbook as I knew I would enjoy it. The book is called The Urban Vegan - 250 Simple, Sumptuous Recipes from Street Cart Favorites to Haute Cuisine. My copy of the book arrived on Friday.

The large format paperback and the fact even the longer recipes fit onto one page, will make it easy to work with in the kitchen. An added bonus to the tasty recipes given are that each one is accompanied by an interesting description. I have one word to describe the dishes...scrumptious. They will be loved by both Vegan and Omnivores. There is even a Happy Hour or Sundowner section as I call it.

The first couple of recipes I tried out were the Sweet Potato Gnocchi with the Basil-Fennel Cream and the Easy Passion Fruit Mousse. They were both delicious.

I suggest you pop out and get this book or order online as I am sure, like me, you will add it to your favourite cookbooks.

Herbs Glossary

W

Wheatgerm Flour: It is used as body massage when mixed with double cream. It is useful for cleansing and softening.

Wheatgerm Oil: It is rich unsaturated oil, rich in vitamin E. It has healing properties.

Witch Hazel: It is made from alder bushes. It is widely used in skin tonics for its astringent properties.

Y

Yeast: Brewer’s yeast is rich source of Vitamin B and Protein. When taken internally, helps acne and dryness of skin scalp. Powdered Brewer’s yeast is used I cleansing facemasks.

Yarrow: Yarrow has grayish, feathery, ethereal–looking leaves and small daisy–like flowers. Yarrow has been used for headaches, fever and influenza. It also cures diarrhea and excessive menstruation.

Yoghurt: It is fermented liquor made from milk; natural yoghurt contains enzymes. It is used as base for cleansing and cleansing facemasks.

Z

Zinc Oxide: It is a heavy white powder. It has mild astringent and antiseptic properties. It is used as dusting powder with benzoated lard to make soothing ointment. Calamine lotion contains a small quantity of zinc oxide.

Trick or Treat with Peanuts

When witches go riding,
and black cats are seen,
the moon laughs and whispers,
‘tis near Halloween.

Rather than give out too many sweets this Halloween why not try some healthy peanut butter treats? Use a pure, raw, organic, peanut butter.

Peanuts are actually legumes, like beans and peas, and not nuts. They are very nutritious, containing a complete protein and are high in polyunsaturated and mono-unsaturated oils. Peanuts also contain dietary fibre, manganese, vitamin E, niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5), folic acid (folate), tryptophan, copper and silicon.

Health wise peanuts are one of the best snack foods. Only one ounce of peanuts contains as much as 70mgs of Resveratrol which is said to protect against atherosclerosis by preventing the oxidation of the LDL cholesterol causing plaque build up in arteries. Chicago Health and Ageing Project, did a study on niacin-rich foods such as peanuts and found they can lower the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Eating peanuts can also boost your antioxidant intake.

Note: Approximately 2% of the population are allergic to peanuts. So be cautious when giving to children for the first time. They are also high in calories/kilojoules so eat sparingly if on a weight-loss diet.

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Halloween Links

The Official Guide to Vegan Halloween Candy
Vegan Halloween Treats
Vegan Halloween : Tricks and Treats
Summoning the Spirit of Vegan Halloween
Martha Stewart Halloween Central
What to do with Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkins for Halloween

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Halloween Peanut Butter Recipes

Spiders
From VegWeb Halloween Recipes

200 gms / 7-8 ozs cooking chocolate (dairy-free)
100 gms plain fried noodles
1 tbsp of crunchy peanut butter

Melt chocolate and peanut butter together. Add noodles and stir until noodles are covered in chocolate. Put teaspoons full of the mixture on a tray. Put in fridge until set (about 15 minutes). Serves: 30


Easy Vegan Peanut Butter Fudge
From AllRecipes

3/4 cup / 170gms vegan margarine
1 cup / 260gms peanut butter
3 2/3 cups / 460gms confectioners' sugar

Lightly grease a 9"x9" / 23cmx23cm baking dish. In a saucepan over low heat, melt margarine. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter until smooth. Stir in confectioners' sugar, a little at a time, until well blended. Pat into prepared pan and chill until firm. Cut into squares. Serves 24.
Flawless Fudge Advice : Once the fudge reaches soft-ball stage 240F / 115C, do not stir it or even shake the pan until it has cooled to about 110F / 43C. When pouring the fudge from the saucepan to the serving pan, don't scrape the sides or bottom of saucepan or you may introduce unwanted sugar crystals into your finished fudge.

Health Fudge (RAW)
From 100HealthyRawSnacks

½ cup walnuts or almonds
½ cup raisins
½ cup dates
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup peanut butter
½ cup carob/cocoa powder
½ cup sesame seeds
½ cup desiccated coconut

Place nuts in a food processor and process until coarsely chopped, add dates and raisins and blend until smooth. Add all other ingredients and blend until well combined Press into dish or pan and chill, covered for several hours to harden. Cut into squares.


Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats
From HealthDiaries

1 cup organic brown sugar
1 cup brown rice syrup
1 cup pure natural peanut butter (no added oils or corn sysrup)
7 cups puffed organic brown rice cereal

Combine sugar and brown rice syrup in saucepan and bring to a near boil while stirring often. Continue stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Add peanut butter and mix well. Add puffed rice and mix well. Press the mixture into a greased pan and put in the fridge for several hours to cool and harden. If you want it to harden faster, stick it in the freezer for about an hour. Cut into squares and enjoy!


Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
From Big Oven
Fantastically soft cookies bursting with peanut buttery goodness!

6ozs / 170gms silken FIRM tofu
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup soy milk
1 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
4 tsps molasses
2 tsps vanilla
3 cups quick cook oats
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsps baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

In a medium bowl mix flour, oats, soda, salt and cinnamon. In a large bowl, cream peanut butter and sugar. In a blender or food processor crumble tofu, add apple sauce, oil and soy milk. Whiz until smooth. Add to the p/b - sugar mix. Beat in molasses and vanilla. Fold in oat/flour mix. Drop onto ungreased cookie sheet and flatten slightly. Bake 350* for 15-17 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before moving off cookie sheet. Cool completely and store in an air tight container. Yield: 45 Servings

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