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May 2004—Issue #8
Vegetarian News, Food & More!
Brought to you by VegNews Magazine
In this issue:
**Summer Veg Conferences Coming Soon
**Veg Vacations: A New Line of Guide Books
**VegNews Magazine Goes 100% Recycled
**Sumptuous Vegan Italian Cuisine
**Dairy-Free Coconut Chocolate Chews
**Preview of July/August VegNews
Thanks so much for your interest in VegNews, America's favorite vegetarian newsmagazine. The popular VegNewsletter arrives in your e-mailbox just once a month and is filled with vegetarian news, tidbits, recipes, products, reviews, and more. It's the perfect accompaniment to a VegNews subscription.
Besides the warm weather and abundance of wonderful fresh fruits and vegetables, there's another reason we love summertime. It's the season for veg conferences, and you won't want to miss them. Hit Washington DC for five days in July and learn, schmooze, and be inspired at the country's national animal rights conference. For a real summer treat, plan a getaway for you and your family to Johnstown, PA for the annual Summerfest, where you can attend educational lectures, relax, exercise and eat delicious veg cuisine. Learn the basics of veg living at one of Peta's popular Helping Animals 101 conferences, held in various cities around the country. Here are the details:
July 8-12, 2004
Animal Rights 2004
Washington, DC
http://www.ar2004.org/
888-FARM-USA
July 21-25, 2004
Vegetarian Summerfest
Johnstown, PA
http://www.vegetariansummerfest.org/
518-568-7970
Helping Animals 101
This summer in Los Angeles, Denver & NYC
http://helpinganimals101.com/index.html
757-962-8263
Vacationing in Los Angeles, New York or San Francisco this summer? Don't leave home without the indispensable new vegetarian guidebooks called VegOut. Filled with veg restaurant reviews, suggested menu items, farmers' markets, and top-ten lists, the groundbreaking series will be adding four cities to their collection each year. Seattle, Portland and Washington DC are due out this Fall. Our staff especially loved the handy foldout map at the back of the book, which makes finding destinations a snap. http://www.vegoutguide.com/; 800-748-5439.
Beginning with our July/August edition, VegNews is thrilled to announce that we'll be printed on New Leaf Paper. Setting the standard for 100% post-consumer paper products, New Leaf is paving the way for the future of magazine publishing to go recycled and eventually tree-free. VegNews wants to be a pioneer in this movement and is one of only a handful of magazines that is printed on this paper. The paper we've selected has been called "an environmental homerun," and we hope to demonstrate to other publications the environmental and aesthetic benefits of going 100% recycled.
by VegNews Food Writer Robin Robertson
Although the word "vegetarian" never passed my mother's lips, she regularly prepared a variety of delicious Italian--and uniquely vegetarian--recipes. Italian cuisine has always been comfortable with vegetables, grains, and beans. Consider the seductive richness of many pasta, risotto, polenta, and gnocchi dishes, in addition to the salads, grilled vegetables, and incredible vegetable and bean soups such as minestrone and pasta fagiole. Beans are used so often in Tuscan cooking that the people of Tuscany are sometimes called "bean-eaters." In the old days, Italian meals were sometimes meatless because the people could not afford meat. So many of today's so-called "upscale" dishes derived from what was considered "peasant food." Meatless dishes also came from the Catholic traditions where meatless meals were required for fasting.
Italian recipes that traditionally use meat or dairy can often be made vegan with a simple ingredient substitution. For example, you can make lasagna with tofu instead of ricotta cheese and use veggie burger crumbles in your favorite pasta sauce. Instead of grated cheese, vegans can use a dairy-free Parmesan, or even gomasio, a mixture of sesame seeds and sea salt. Here's one of my favorite vegan pasta recipes.
Penne Puttanesca (Serves 4)
The name of this quick and easy sauce means "streetwalker-style" supposedly because ladies of the evening often prepared it at the end of a long night's work.
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
One 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup pitted and sliced black Gaeta olives (or other imported black olive)
1/4 cup pitted and sliced imported green olives
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed, drained, and chopped
1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes (or to taste)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound penne (or pasta of choice)
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes, black and green olives, capers, and red pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes to blend flavors, stirring occasionally. While the sauce is simmering, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain the pasta and place in a large serving bowl. Add the sauce and toss gently to combine. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve hot.
Makes 18 cookies
These cookies are absolutely AWESOME. They are moist, chocolatey, and chewy--a chocolate lover's dream. They are so easy to prepare but look and taste absolutely decadent.
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup barley flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 cups shredded, toasted coconut
8 pitted dates
1 cup Sucanat, date sugar, or maple sugar
5 tablespoons water
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Sift the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of a food processor or blender. Add the coconut, dates, and Sucanat to the flour mixture. Process until the dates are chopped and the mixture comes together. With the machine running, add the water through the top; process until a dough forms. With a 1-ounce ice cream scoop or 2 spoons, scoop out 1 heaping tablespoon of the batter onto well-oiled or parchment-lined cookie sheets. Flatten the cookies slightly with the bottom of a cup or glass (dip the bottom of the cup or glass in warm water before flattening each cookie to prevent the batter from sticking to the glass.). With a fork dipped in warm water, press around the edges of each cookie, creating a fluted edge. Bake for 11 minutes and rotate the cookie sheets a half turn to ensure even baking. Bake 5 to 6 minutes more or until the cookies are golden around the edges. Let cool on the cookie sheets for 5 to 6 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. Recipe from VegNews Food Feature on Simple Treats Vegan Bakery.
We know you just gotta know what's inside our next edition of VegNews Magazine. Here's a sneak preview:
The Low-Carb Diet: Is It Healthy?
High Carb & Thriving! Six Readers Strut Their Stuff
Summertime Veggie-Qs
Dairy-Free Ice Cream
A Veg Weekend in Chicago
A Culinary Visit to New Orleans
plus... All the usual News, Reviews, Health Information, Recipes, Buzz, and so much more!
If you aren't yet a subscriber to VegNews, what are you waiting for? Subscribe at http://www.vegnews.com/ today. If your local natural foods store or bookseller is not yet carrying VegNews Magazine on their newsstand, please ask them do so!
We've got lots of great veggie tidbits and information for our next edition of the VegNewsletter, to arrive in e-mailboxes everywhere in June.
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