Doesn't this poster remind you of the Chick Filet restaurants' ad where the cows are always telling you to eat more chicken? Every time I see one of those ads, I always wonder why they think a cow would think it was alright to eat a chicken but not a cow.I've been thinking a lot about veganism and why it is as popular as it is and why it isn't more popular. (It's been around since 1944; did you know that?) According to the American Vegan Society (www.americanvegan.org), being a vegan (vegans (pronounced VEE-guns) live on products of the plant kingdom, i.e. no animal products)is more than just eating in a more healthy way. "Veganism is a[n] ... way of living in accordance with Reverence for Life, recognizing the rights of all living creatures, and extending to them the compassion, kindness, and justice exemplified in the Golden Rule... AHIMSA is a Sanskrit word for non-killing and non-harming. It is not mere passiveness, but a positive method of meeting the dilemmas and decisions of daily life. In the western world, we call it Dynamic Harmlessness. The six pillars of this dynamic philosophy for modern life (one for each letter: A-H-I-M-S-A) are:"
ABSTINENCE FROM ANIMAL PRODUCTS
HARMLESSNESS WITH REVERENCE FOR LIFE
INTEGRITY OF THOUGHT, WORD, AND DEED
MASTERY OVER ONESELF
SERVICE TO HUMANITY, NATURE, AND CREATION
ADVANCEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING AND TRUTH
I was reading a review of a book I'm reading (Eating Animals) where the reviewer (Tim Challies) indicated that he was very moved by the facts presented by Mr. Foer in this book but didn't quite know what to do about the information he now had: And yet I don’t quite know what to do about it. As I read this book I felt guilty when reading about the conditions of the animals on their factory farms. I felt positively sick reading about the conditions in many of those slaughterhouses. And then I ate a ham and egg sandwich. It was delicious.
Are we so addicted to our lifestyle that the facts are meaningless to us? Are we (as a society) determined to lay the realities aside so that our personal "needs" can be met? Are these "facts" just fabrications of lunatic minds? Veganism is obviously more than a decision to live in a more healthy way which explains why we are in what might be considered both the best and the worst of times.
On a friendlier note, our mostly vegan family menus (we use honey sometimes) are based on the requests from our customers, and this week one of our customers asked for some items we haven't made for a while, so that's been kind of fun. We get in a rut like everyone else I suppose.
One thing we've really enjoyed this week on our salads is surf n turf. This is a play on words because the surf is some delightful arame seaweed, and we mix it with shredded carrot, onion, and sweet pepper for the turf part. We mix it with a nice vinaigrette: 1 tablespoon nama shoyu or liquid aminos (the liquid aminos are gluten-free), 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil, ¼ cup white or black sesame seeds, 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon minced ginger, ¼ cup miso, and ½ teaspoon salt. The result is a fantastic salad topping that is power packed with lots of nutrients.
Our big "new" thing this week is Skinny Mints. I made a chocolate cake base similar to what we use in our chocolate mousse cake except it has peppermint extract in it. Then I frosted it with chocolate ganache. Since it is not a baked cookie, I keep it frozen, but it's not lasting too well around my kitchen, if you know what I mean. Darius has already requested it for one of his birthday dinner treats later this month. He thought we might call it "I Can't Believe It's Not Thin Mints..."I also experimented with a new cheese called Pimento Cheese so named because of the addition of paprika. It also has miso and tahini, so that's a first for us in any of our cheeses. It is very savory. I used it to stuff some nice little banana peppers, and served it with Raita (crema with diced cucumber and cilantro) and Harissa Sauce. This was an interesting pepper sauce I found in one of my books: fennel seeds, caraway seeds, sun-dried tomatoes, red bell pepper, garlic, yellow onion, lemon, coriander, red pepper flakes, curry powder, cayenne powder, sea salt, and a little olive oil. Sounds exotic, huh? It was really nice and not so hot you couldn't enjoy it like so many hot sauces are. We're going to use the Pimento cheese as a dip for one of our meals this week with celery and carrot sticks, and cucumber circles. It will probably be good with cherry tomatoes too.
Our cashew cheese has been amazing lately, and we loved the queso dulce we made from it. Nothing beats this "sweet cheese" as a dip for celery. Celery isn't in season here in Florida anymore, but the ones we've been getting from California are gorgeous, so we're enjoying it as a couple of our meals every week besides everyone of our salads. Honey Almond Butter is good with celery too, so we get to switch it up...
We've got some Hawaiian granola in the dehydrator so that will be ready for the market. I always laugh when people ask for the recipe for this. I formulated the recipe one day, and then when I made it, I wrote down the cost of each of the items I put in it. It makes almost a dehydrator full (which is only enough for a week around here!), so it is a large batch, but it cost about $60 for the ingredients. People think they will save money by making their own, but sometimes it is worth it to let someone else do it for you, especially since we don't add anything in for the labor or even the electicity for the equipment. Gold-plated you say? How can it cost that much? Well, I don't know, but here's the ingredients: sprouted buckwheat, flax seed, almonds, sesame seeds, dates, raisins, pineapple, coconut, and honey. Simple, yet amazingly delicious, and totally alive. This and the crunch meister are our two favorite treats I'd venture to say. Also on the bread menu this week are the veggie chips formerly called pita chips. We had to change it because we made a new bread this week that smelled just like "real" pita chips baking, and it tasted like them too. We're going to try to make them more flexible next time and do more experimenting with them. We decided they'd be our new pita chip, so we decided to call our old ones Veggie Chips since they are so loaded with veggies: cabbage, carrot, sweet and hot peppers, garlic, parsley, sprouted buckwheat, and sprouted sunflower seeds. The newly named pita chip is surprisingly made from coconut meat, zucchini, onion, and a little salt. It is hard to believe something so simple can be that tasty.
Since the pita chips and veggie chips put us in a Mediterranean mood, we decided to make some Sprouted Garbanzo Bean Hummus, so we'll be having lots of dipping dinners this week. It will taste nice with a swirl of Harissa sauce on it. Considering this is made from a raw sprouted legume, it is surprising that it doesn't taste starchy like you'd expect. We love making our hummus from a sprouted legume (which we consider a vegetable once it's sprouted) so that it can still be a live food. We've also got some East Indian Sprouts (made from sprouted lentils) in the dehydrator that will be out in time for the market.
Since a customer requested No-Net Tuna, we got to make this treat again. It is a great addition to a summer menu as it is such a great topping for our salad. I like it as a stuffing for tomatoes too. It is made from sprouted sunflower seeds with lots of celery, some walnuts, a little onion, dill pickle made into sweet pickle relish, and seasoned with dill weed, kelp, and mustard seed. We dress it with our avo mayo, a very simple dressing made with avocado, honey or agave nectar, lemon juice, and a little salt. Delicious...And, since we made Avo Mayo, we decided to shred some carrots so that we could have carrot raisin salad we all love. Avo Mayo is a delicious untraditional dressing for this rather traditional salad. It is a nice change of pace from our usual Ranch Dressing (even though we still go through a gallon of that a week!).
While we were in the avo mayo, we also made some waldorf salad topping: diced apples, celery, walnuts, raisins, lime zest and juice. This time of year it's all about lots of different toppings for the salads.
A customer also requested some sweet potato souffle. I don't think we've had this since Thanksgiving, so it was a nice surprise for our family. This is reminiscent of that traditional sweet potato casserole with the marshmallows on it sans the marshmallows of course. (Did you know marshmallows and anything with gelatin is made from horse hooves? GROSS!) I did go to a pot luck once where a lady made vegan marshmallows, but I guess I'm too lazy to do that. We like this one just as well without them: sweet potatoes, some cashews and macadamia nuts to add creaminess, vanilla beans, Medjool dates, cinnamon, and nutmeg. The recipe called for lemon juice, but I forgot that when I made it this week, and it tasted good. I also added some extra honey to make it a little sweeter. Who knew you could eat sweet potatoes raw? We are getting some very nice Covington sweet potatoes out of North Carolina with which we have 
been very happy. Whenever I think of this dish, I think of little Carl, a son of one of our customers that loves anything we make that's orange it seems since this is one of his favorite dishes along with the pumpkin pie. Besides the pumpkin pie, we also have the yummy key lime pie that is so refreshing on a hot day.Surprisingly, we're still getting some great cherry tomatoes out of the garden, and I've been wanting some avocado tomato salad. It's like a very chunky guacamole with lots of tomatoes in it, and I love it on top of salads and in sandwiches. I'll close on that note. You know I'm hoping you have a wonderful week enjoying all the fresh, ripe, organic fruits and veggies available this time of year. Don't forget your melons! We have one almost every morning. I keep thinking I'll get sick of them, but every morning I awake yearning for just one more day of it.
4 ripe avocados (not too soft) peeled, seeded, diced into medium sized pieces
1/2 lb tomatoes diced into same size as avocado
1/2 bunch cilantro chopped
1/2 sweet onion chopped small
1 lemon juiced
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
Place all ingredients into a large bowl and gently fold in all ingredients making sure not to smoosh it up too much.
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