Go Veg? and GIVEAWAY!

I have posted before about being a vegetarian. I do not usually proselytize about the veggie life -- in fact, I know that many people will never give up meat (hi Dad! hi Harry!). But that doesn't mean that eating a plant-based diet, even a few times a week, isn't a good idea for all of us. One of my favorite "earth-saving" tips is to eat a meat-free meal at least once a week.

Here are some of the benefits:

• Animals raised for food are responsible for 18% of global warming emissions -- more than transportation.
• Most of the 78 million acres of razed rainforest worldwide is to be used as grazing land to produce meat for North America. This leads to global warming, desertification, and driving 80% of the earth’s species to extinction. Every hamburger is the equivalent of 55 square feet of razed rainforest.
• Producing plant foods is 5-50 times more energy efficient than producing animal products! A pound of steak is the equivalent of burning a gallon of gasoline.

Source: http://www.jewishveg.com/je.html

Judaism has always been interested in preserving our environment. Psalms 24:1 teaches: "The earth is God's in all its fullness." Our tradition holds the concept of "bal tashchit" -- do not waste, and this applies most especially to the fruits of the earth. If we shouldn't waste, then perhaps occasionally we should feed ourselves using means which do not use as many resources...

In honor of Tu B'Shevat, which is next Tuesday...can you do it? Can you go meatless once, twice, three times a week? One week each month, can you go meatless? What's the challenge you're willing to take to save even one tree, one acre of forest, one little bit of fresh air?

To get you started, here's one of my favorite veggie recipes (that doesn't use tofu!)...from one of my favorite cookbooks, the Vegetarian Family Cookbook by Nava Atlas (find this recipe and others at her website):

Seitan “Meat and Potatoes” Stew
6 to 8 servings

Seitan, a high-protein food made of wheat gluten, gives this stew a “meaty” texture. Prepared seitan is readily available in most natural foods stores as well as a growing number of well-stocked supermarkets.

• 2 tablespoons light olive oil
• 1 large onion, quartered and thinly sliced
• 2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
• 4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 vegetable bouillon cube
• 1/2 to 1 lb sliced mushrooms (optional)
  
• 1 teaspoon salt-free all-purpose seasoning (like Spike or Mrs. Dash)
• 1 to 1 1/2 pounds seitan cut into bite-sized pieces (the more the yummier)
  
• 1 cup frozen green peas, completely thawed
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Heat half of the oil in a large soup pot. Add the onion and garlic and saute over medium heat until the onion is golden. Add 3 cups of water along with the potatoes, carrots, bouillon cube, and seasoning. Bring to a simmer, then cover and simmer gently for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the potato and carrots are tender. Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a large skillet. Add the seitan pieces and saute over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until most sides are nicely browned and crisp. Once the vegetables are done, use the back of a wooden spoon to mash enough of the potatoes to thicken the base of the stew. Stir in the sauteed seitan and peas. Add a bit more water if necessary. The consistency should be thick and moist, but not soupy. Cook over low heat for 1 to 2 minutes longer. Season with salt and pepper (use salt sparingly, if at all, since the bouillon cube and seitan add a salty flavor), then serve in shallow bowls.

Some of my other vegetarian-friendly posts:
Mushroom Barley Casserole
Five Great Vegetarian Cookbooks
Tortellini Tomato Soup (yum)
Why be a vegetarian?
Kosher Bacon?

Don't forget the Tu B'Shevat Giveaway!

Eco-Libris is trying to balance out our books -- planting a tree for every book. They've generously offered to plant 10 trees for one lucky reader, with accompanying stickers to put into your own books to proudly show your "tree offset" and your commitment to the environment. Check them out -- they offer gift cards and easy payment via Paypal. Their blog is full of great greeny stuff.

How can you win?

1. Make a comment here or on any of my Tu B'Shevat posts. Say something nice about trees or the earth. Make a meatless pledge? This is your entry! You can enter each day - once per day. Come back and visit all week for this and other giveaways.

2. For an extra entry, post on your blog or tell a friend about this giveaway and Eco-Libris and link back to me. Use my button:

<a href="http://imabima.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc126/imabima/tubshevatparty.jpg" border="0" alt="Birthday Party for the Trees at imabima.blogspot.com"></a>

3. Don't forget to give me a way to get in touch with you if you win!

4. This giveaway ends on Tuesday, January 15th (that's today) at 9pm Central Time. Winner will be announced Wednesday morning, along with the next Tu B'Shevat Birthday Giveaway!

Come back all week for the Tu B'Shevat Birthday Party and more green green green....hug a tree!

Previous Tu B'Shevat Birthday Party Posts:
For the Love of the Trees

Tasty Tuesday - Mushroom Barley Casserole

So delicious...this recipe tastes like mushroom barley soup, but without the soupy part. Mm...perfect for a cold fall day.

And since it's still Vegetarian Awareness Month (and I'm still a vegetarian), no meat involved in this puppy.

Barley and Mixed Mushroom Casserole
Recipe from Jeanne Lemlin (Food Network)

Ingredients
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium onions, finely diced
1 carrot, very finely chopped
1 celery rib, thinly sliced
3/4 pound (4 1/2 cups) thinly sliced mushrooms (such as shiitake, button, baby portobellos, and oyster)
1 1/2 cups pearl barley
/2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme, or 3/4 teaspoon dried
3/4 teaspoon salt
Generous seasoning freshly ground black pepper
4 1/2 cups boiling vegetable stock

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the onions, carrot, celery, mushrooms, barley, thyme, salt and pepper and saute, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms begin to brown, about 10 minutes. Scrape the mixture into a shallow 2 1/2quart baking dish (such as a 10 by 10inch Corning Ware casserole) and pour in the boiling vegetable stock. Cover tightly and bake 60 to 75 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed. (Be careful of the steam when removing the cover.) The barley should have a slightly crunchy texture when done. If it is too hard after all the stock has been absorbed, add some boiling stock or water and cook 10 to 15 minutes more.

See more recipes at Crazy Hip Blog Mamas' Recipe Rally

5 Great Cookbooks - Go Veg!

Here are 5 of my favorite Vegetarian cookbooks, in honor of World Vegetarian Day (yesterday) and Vegetarian Awareness Month (October):

The Vegetarian Family Cookbook by Nava Atlas (who has a whole host of great cookbooks, including Vegetarian Celebrations which is great for holidays with meat-eaters at the table as well) Favorite recipes: too many....Creamy Tofu and Broccoli Skillet, Baked Risotto, Seitan "Meat and Potatoes" Stew (which I once served to a family of serious meat-eaters and they loved it)

Moosewood Cookbook, by Mollie Katzen...a very old standby, I have the 20th anniversary edition and let me tell you, it rocks. Favorite Recipe: Stuffed Eggplant, made Mediterranean Style. Yummmm!!! (I also love Enchanted Broccoli Forest.)

Claire's Corner Copia Cookbook by Claire Criscuolo. The Deep Dish Gourmet Pizza is awesome and so is the Mushrooms Stroganoff.

Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. Who says slow cookers are only for tough cuts of meat? Try the Moroccan Style Lentil and Chickpea Soup. Mmm....

Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. Maybe I just like the title. Maybe I just like the photos. Nope, I actually like the cupcakes too! The "basic" cupcake is great, but I did make the peanut butter ones once to no success -- no one but me liked them. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

I'm sure there are others, but these are the most dog-eared in my kitchen:-)

Also check out Crunchy Domestic Goddess's roundup of food additives and (gulp) gum!

What are your favorite cookbooks?

Spoon Love...Best Shot Monday, Veggie Recipe, and Pink!

It's all about Spoons here today..And for the recipe for a delicious, spoon-licking good soup...(so easy you can have it on the table in 25 minutes):

Tortellini Tomato Spinach Soup (adapted from Kathleen Daelemans)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onions (about 1 small onion)
1 garlic clove, minced
4-6 cups vegetable broth
1 (14 ounce) can whole tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 (9 ounce) package fresh tortellini or dried tortellini
kosher salt
cracked black pepper

oregano

basil
10 ounces fresh spinach or frozen spinach, defrosted and chopped

1 can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (optional)

In a soup pot, heat olive oil over medium high heat.
Saute the onion and garlic, stirring often until onions are translucent, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Add broth and tomatoes, turn heat up to high, and bring to a boil.
Add the tortellini and cook according to package instructions.
When tortellini is almost done, add chickpeas, spinach, basil & oregano and taste, adjusting seasonings with salt, pepper.
Serve immediately.
Garnish each serving with a sprinkling of Parmesan.

This is one of those fabulous recipes for which I can have every single ingredient hidden away in the pantry, pull it out, and make it in literally a half hour. I keep the chopped onions frozen to make it even faster. If you don't have whole tomatoes, you can use the chopped canned ones, and I once used stewed tomatoes in a pinch. All good. Seasonings to your family's liking.

Happy World Vegetarian Day!Oh, and by the way -- I'm PINK for October! (see the badge on the right) It's a little much for me, but I'll get used to it...Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness, by the way, in case you've been living under a rock for the last 5 years:-) Thanks to Rocks in My Dryer for her link.

Why be a Vegetarian? (and contest & 5 places)

Tomorrow is World Vegetarian Day. I'm a big fan of any day that gets people to think about the food that they put into their bodies.

I am a vegetarian, although technically, I'm a pescetarian because I do eat fish on occasion. (Someday, I think our family might end up being best classified as "flexitarian" There are a number of reasons for this. First, I think it's healthier and better for me and my family. When I was beginning to feed my oldest (now almost 6) solid foods, I did a lot of research and was very concerned about food additives/hormones. I decided that the best choice would be to go meat-free for him, and thus for our household. My husband still eats meat, either out or whenever he can convince my dad to make him a steak (which is pretty darn easy). The other reason for eating vegetarian both in and out of the house is the concept of kashrut, or keeping kosher. We don't technically keep kosher, but by not mixing milk and meat (because there isn't any) we keep a form of it. I read labels rather than hechshers (the markings that indicate a kosher certification) because I feel that organic products are often a better "kosher" choice for me -- as in, they are usually environmentally-friendly, worker-friendly, etc., things that a kosher certifcation is largely unconcerned with.

I have a dream (spurred by an article that I read once -- anyone else read this article and can remind me where I read it?) that one day there will be a new kind of kosher certification -- one that takes environmental and fair business/labor/land practices into consideration along with the Jewish dietary laws.

So go veg for a day or for the whole month! I guarantee you won't regret it:-)

Tomorrow....I'll find one of my favorite vegetarian recipes to post in honor of the occasion. (Along with my Best Shot Monday, I'm sure!)

Stop by Crunchy Domestic Goddess (definitely a favorite read of mine) to read more about World Veggie Day and also to see the adorable t-shirt that she's giving away from her online shop Cute as A Bug...which by the way I'm planning to win, so you don't even have to go enter her contest (ha ha).

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Five Places I've Been This Week

Remembering Marcel Marceau (did you know he was Jewish?)

Tees for Change (positive message shirts)

Etrog Liqueur (I am so buying some of this next year. Etrog-tinis anyone?)

One Laptop Per Child

Downtime from Murder (NY Times Op-Ed...SS officers frolicking)

from my del.icio.us
Where have you been?

Kosher Bacon? Works for Me!

So...this was not the original Works-For-Me-Wednesday post that I was going to use, but it works for me:-) to follow the "theme" set forth for this week's blog carnival.

What brand works for me? I actually had to think long and hard about this because we're really not very brand-loyal in our house. The first thing I thought of was Costco, which isn't exactly a brand, but they do have their own house-brand which we buy a lot of...but then I thought of this one:

Yes...the brand that Works for Me is Morningstar Farms....maker of "fake" stuff -- chik'n nuggets, chik'n patties, sausage links, veggie burgers, corn dogs, and even...bacon. Yep, we eat the stuff like it's going out of style. Dominick's had a sale yesterday, I stocked up. This pic is of my upstairs freezer (I must admit I straightened up before shooting this picture). Downstairs....yep, there's more.

So it brings me to an interesting question/dilemma that plagues me and, perhaps more annoyingly, my husband. Does it "count" to be a vegetarian (for primarily reasons of keeping kosher) if we eat these "meat substitutes"? If I would never in a million trillion years eat a piece of real bacon (it's meat, but more importantly, it's not even remotely kosher), why would I eat this (kosher) substitute? And, in doing so, am I giving off the wrong impression that I might be eating something treyf (not kosher)? In Jewish custom, this is known as morit ayin, giving off a bad eye (loose translation) -- as in, someone could see me eating this "bac'n" stuff and think that it's "okay" to eat because I am an "authority figure" in Jewish life. But if I only eat in the privacy of my own home?

It really bothers my husband that I am a fan of the meat substitutes. I don't even really like most of these foods in their "real" form (some I've never even eaten) but here in the Morningstar Farms varieties...well, they work for me.

What do you think????

See more Works for Me Wednesday here at Rocks in my Dryer.