Compassionate Cooks' Food for Thought Newsletter - November 13, 2007

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"info" Nov 13, 2007 12:11 PM ebbrewpunx Compassionate Cooks' Food for Thought Newsletter - November 13, 2007

 

 

 

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: COMPASSIONATE COOKS NEWSLETTERNovember 13, 2007

(If you're having trouble reading this newsletter, you can always view it online. A new newsletter design is coming!)

Events & Announcements!Food LoreCompassionate Cooks GiftsRecommendations Podcast Cooking ClassRecipes Essay: This I Know Our Fabulous Sponsors Sponsor this Newsletter

 

 

 

 

EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

JOY OF VEGAN BAKING WINS "COOKBOOK OF THE YEAR"!

I'm honored to be the recipient of my second VegNews Award, this time for my new cookbook. In their Nov/Dec issue, they wrote:

"In 1931, Irma Rombauer self-published The Joy of Cooking, a collection of no-nonsense recipes that became an instant classic, selling 15 million copies to date. More than 75 years later, we predict that Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's new cookbook, The Joy of Vegan Baking, will make history of its own." Again, I'm very touched and honored. I hope you're all enjoying the book!

NEW YORK BOUND

I'll be back on the east coast this week at Farm Sanctuary's Thanksgiving FOR the Birds and Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary's ThanksLiving events, speaking and signing copies of The Joy of Vegan Baking. I look forward to seeing some of you there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FOOD LORE

KALEKale is a leafy green vegetable closely related to cabbage, collards and Brussels sprouts. Besides being my absolute favorites, it is one of the most nutritious vegetables for its cancer-fighting and anti-inflammatory properties.

HISTORY: It is thought that Kale originated in Asia Minor and was brought to Europe around 600 BCE. Growing kale during World War II was encouraged because it was easy to grow and provided essential nutrients that were missing from rationed diets.

CHOOSING AND STORING: Select Kale with deeply colored leaves that look fresh, unwilted and without holes. Store in a plastic bag in the refrigerator’s crisper. Do not wash until you are ready to prepare it. My favorite is Dinosaur or Lacinato (same thing), but Curly (Red or Green), Russian, are great! I think the Dinosaur/Lacinato variety is less bitter than the curly variety.

PREPARING: Wash thoroughly. Chop or leave long and leafy. Both the stems and the leaves can be eaten, but you may want to cut off the bottom end of the stem.

RECIPES: Kale - and all leafy greens - are just fabulous sauteed in garlic, with a little lemon juice squeezed on at the end. (The citrus acid cuts the bitterness of the kale that a lot of people complain about.) A favorite kale dish of mine: chop up a bunch of kale, and steam it. Once it's cool, toss with fresh lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, and agave nectar. Other kale recipes: Garlic and Greens Soup, Butternut Squash & Arborio Rice Timbales with Sauteed Kale.

(Some content from WHfoods.com and Wikipedia.)

 

 

Lacinato Kale

 

 

 

 

COMPASSIONATE COOKS GIFTS

ORDER THE JOY OF VEGAN BAKING COOKBOOKOur just-released cookbook is in stores now - both online and offline. THANK YOU FOR ADDING REVIEWS TO AMAZON.COM AND OTHER ONLINE STORES.

DVD DISCOUNT FOR NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS Enjoy our fun, upbeat DVD to learn the basic skills and resources for eating healthful plant-based meals. Purchase DVD with discount.

"BE KIND TO ANIMALS" GIFTS! Spread compassion with our "Be Kind to Animals" gifts. Speak for animals without saying a word.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RECOMMENDATIONS

I'm thrilled I can finally point you directly to the products that I recommend - whether it's my favorite food processor & kitchen tools , the books that changed my life, my recommended cookbooks, or pantry items - in all my classes.

'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving: In this delightfully illustrated book, on the day before Thanksgiving, eight boys and girls take a field trip to a turkey farm. They have fun playing with eight exuberant turkeys but are shocked to learn that Farmer Mack Nuggett plans to kill all the turkeys for Thanksgiving dinners. So the children decide to smuggle all the turkeys home, and all their Thanksgiving dinners become vegetarian this year. The turkeys' lives are saved!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PODCAST Thanksgiving for the Birds Most people don't know that our contemporary customs at Thanksgiving, namely the serving of turkeys, were shaped and popularized by a magazine editor, Sarah Josepha Hale, in the mid-1800s. Whatever meaning we attribute to this Thanksgiving holiday is most certainly not lost (in fact, it is enhanced) by creating food-based rituals that affirm rather than take life, that demonstrate compassion and empathy rather than selfishness and gluttony, that celebrate the fact that no one need be sacrificed in order that we should eat. In today's episode, I offer a number of different menus for a beautiful holiday feast that delights the senses and reflects our values.

 

*If you'd like to receive email alerts when I post new podcasts, you can easily sign up for this service here. Each episode addresses a different issue, question, and myth related to veganism/animal rights.

 

 

 

 

COOKING CLASSES

DECEMBER 8th: HOLIDAY COOKING & BAKING Join us for our December class to help you make a holiday spread to warm your home and your belly. Two of the recipes are from the new Joy of Vegan Baking cookbook. ON THE MENU:*Savory Tofu Spread with Crostini*Cornmeal-Crusted Tempeh with Pomegranate Sauce*Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Caramelized Onions & Toasted Pistachios*Peanut Butter Cookies*Chocolate Bread Pudding

THE 2008 COOKING CLASS SCHEDULE IS NOW UP ONLINE! MENUS TO FOLLOW.

 

 

 

 

 

RECIPES

FIVE THANKSGIVING RECIPE PACKETS! In addition to the packet that I just added from our recent Thanksgiving cooking class, there are FOUR recipe packets that will help you create a delicious, sustainable, nutritious, and compassionate feast for you and your guests. $5 each.

Thanksgiving I: Harvest-stuffed Acorn Squash, Mashed Potatoes with Caramelized Onions, Sensational Stuffing with Nuts, Glazed Garlic Green Beans, Pumpkin Pie with Pecans

Thankgiving II: Squash Stuffed with Curried Apricot Pilaf, Spicy Pumpkin Soup, Autumn Tempeh Medley, Applesauce, Rice Pudding

Thanksgiving III: Butternut Squash Risotto with Sage, Holiday Cranberry Relish, French Onion Pie, Mushrooms with Rosemary, Garlic and Port, Pumpkin Spice Bread

Thanksgiving IV: Butternut Squash & Rice Timbales with Sauteed Kale, Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Apples & Onions, Mashed Yukon Gold & Sweet Potatoes, Golden Mushroom Gravy, Pumpkin Cheesecake with Pecan Crust, Hot Mulled Cider

Thanksgiving V: Autumn Harvest Squash, Fennel, and Apple Soup; Moroccan Phyllo Crescents with Curried Golden Tomato Sauce; Mashed Root Vegetables with Fresh Herbs; Rosemary Drop Biscuits; German Apple Cake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ESSAY - THIS I KNOW

One of my goals in the work I do is to “take veganism out of the box†and encourage people to see that “vegan food†is food that everyone is familiar with – it’s vegetables and fruits and nuts and seeds and beans and mushrooms and herbs and spices. People have a notion that vegan food is somehow alien food or food that’s in its own food group – but it really is everything you already cook with and already love.

And this is the case – even on such holidays as Thanksgiving. There’s a notion out there that you can’t eat in a way that reflects your values AND honor traditions at the same time - as if these two things are mutually exclusive. When non-vegetarians think of the idea of being vegetarian on Thanksgiving, they’re usually aghast. They can’t imagine what vegetarians eat if they don’t eat birds! I’ve also heard the accusation that vegetarians are flying in the face of tradition, that it’s culturally blasphemous to not eat turkeys on this day. Well, I beg to differ.

Now, I know some people have spent much time trying to determine what exactly was served on that first Thanksgiving in order to justify eating certain things on this holiday. But, for me, I don’t care what they ate in 1621, because it doesn’t matter.

THE FIRST THANKSGIVINGEverything historians today know about the First Thanksgiving is based on two passages written by colonists. One is a letter dated December 1621, by Edward Winslow in which he wrote: "Our harvest being gotten in, our Governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a more special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruit of our labors.†That is the basis of what we know about that first Thanksgiving, and you’ll note what he says: “Our harvest being gotten in,†after gathering the “fruit of our labors†they sent “four men on fowling,†not because they were starving or needed it or didn’t have food but so that they “might after a more special manner rejoice together.†What they were rejoicing was the harvest – the abundance of fruits and vegetables – the bounty of the harvest – the cornucopia – the “horn of plenty.†And just to cap it off, they went out to hunt birds.

In a second account of the First Thanksgiving, a man named William Bradford wrote a book twenty year AFTER the actual event and just mentioned that the colonists killed wild turkeys during the autumn; he doesn’t say specifically that wild turkeys were killed for the First Thanksgiving or any similar event thereafter. Though his book does give clues to what WAS on this first menu, his book disappeared for many years (it was stolen by looters during the Revolutionary War) and didn’t reappear until 1854, so it didn’t have any influence on how Thanksgiving was celebrated for many years – until a woman named Sarah Josepha Hale came into the picture.

A WOMEN'S MAGAZINE HOLIDAYSarah Josepha Hale, who lived from 1788-1879 a writer, an editor, a champion of women’s rights, a promoter of child welfare, and a fund-raiser for civic causes. She is perhaps most well known as the author of the popular nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb." As early as 1827, Hale, who became the editor of a popular magazine, began calling for a national celebration of Thanksgiving and so began a 40-year quest to make this happen.

Now remember, Bradford’s book about the First Thanksgiving was recovered in 1854, and around that time, Hale, in her magazine, began writing romantic accounts of the First Thanksgiving, taking liberties to appeal to her readership and including recipes for roasted turkeys, bread stuffing, and pumpkin pies - all the things that today's holiday meals are still likely to contain – and none of the things that would have actually been on the table of the first Thanksgiving. They wouldn’t have had flour-based bread or pie or cranberries or sweet or white potatoes, and they didn’t eat with forks.

So does that mean we shouldn’t have sweet potatoes and rutabagas and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce or flour-based biscuits or any of the things that WEREN’T on the table of the First Thanksgiving?

Read the rest of the essay....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sponsor a turkey - or any animal - at Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary and support their amazing work.

 

Read Peaceful Prairie's breathtakingly beautiful blog.

 

Learn about the "Free-Range" Myth

 

Read the Residents' Stories at Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary's website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THANK YOU TO OUR NEWSLETTER SPONSORS!

 

 

 

VEGAN ESSENTIALS

With our cookbook fully stocked, VeganEssentials is a fabulous vegan-owned online store and retail shop located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Find everything from Companion Animal Supplies, Hair Care, and Cosmetics to Food & Sweets, Outdoor Wear, and Vitamins. "Vegan Essentials: Where compassionate meets convenience."

 

 

 

 

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Compassionate Cooks is dedicated to empowering people to make informed food choices and to debunking myths about vegetarianism through cooking classes, nutrition courses, podcasts, essays & articles, farmed animal sanctuary tours, lectures and workshops, a cooking DVD, and the new cookbook, The Joy of Vegan Baking.

 

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Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.

Confucius