January’s MeetingOur January program Toward Rational, Authentic Food Choices gave all of us that attended an oportuni-ty to not only discuss the film and our feelings around eating meat, it also enabled us to confront some of our thoughts and feelings about being vegetarian or vegan. If you missed this meeting you missed a great opportunity to reflect on who you are and how you feel.

February 3, 2018

Spoiler Alert! We finally get the inside skinny on this recipe that took Fredericksburg by storm during a program with Downtown Greens last summer. From Chicken Salad to Chickpea Salad with Beth and Terry Dorn. Beth will show us how to make her popu-lar chickpea salad and they will share their experience transitioning to a plant based diet. Unity Church, 2217 Princess Anne St., 101-1A. It is located in the George Washington Executive building (across from Carl’s Ice Cream) from 11:30 to 1:00 PM. As always, bring a dish to share.

Up Coming MeetingsFebruary 3, 2018

From Chicken Salad to Chickpea Salad with Beth and Terry Dorn. Beth will show us how to make her popular chickpea salad and they will share their experience transitioning to a plant based diet.

March 10, 2018

“What the Health” 9:30 am to noon. We will meet at the Salem Church Library for brunch and to view this controversial and inspiring documenta-ry. (Please note the different meeting day, time, & location)

April 7, 2018

No More Eggs with Jane Ellen Teller. Jane Ellen’s last big hurdle to transitioning to a vegan diet was giving up eggs. She will share what she learned during the process.

May 5, 2018

Dr. Ralph Loomis, Medical Director of the Barnard Medical Center, a respected and renowned medical institution will be speaking this month. Dr. Loomis is certified in Plant Based Nutrition from Cornell University. We are really excited to be able to bring this speaker to Fredericksburg and encourage all members to invite your friends and relatives to join us at Unity of Fredericksburg, at 2217 Princess Anne St., #101-A, Fredericksburg, VA 22401.

For Animals, Planet, and Health

Veggie Newsletter

January 2018

To Supplement or Not to Supplement? That is the Question.Whenever I am speaking with a new client the ques-tion of whether or not to take supplements usually comes up.

As you are probably are aware I am a vegan or more importantly a person who follows a whole food plant-based lifestyle. (Being a vegan seems to be fighting words in some parts of the country.)

As such I always tell my clients that they should take B12 as a matter of course, even if they are not veg-ans. My thinking on this is that, the vast majority of our B12 comes from bacteria in the soil that our meat animals and birds eat when they have the opportunity to graze.

Unfortunately, the animals, milk, and eggs that we eat do not come from animals that have this opportunity instead they are usually confined to very cramped spaces and fed processed pellets, grain or other feeds that have no resemblance to grazing feeds therefore, our meat based protein sources are also B12 deficient.

But what about other supplements? The following from Dr. Michael Gregor’s How not to Die has this to say about omega-3.

“A systematic review and meta-analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association looked at all the best randomized clinical trials evalu-ating the effects of omega-3 fats on life span, cardiac death, sudden death, heart attack, and stroke. These included studies not only on fish oil supplements but also studies on the effects of advising people to eat more oily fish. What did they find? Overall, the re-searchers found no protective benefit for overall mor-tality, heart disease mortality, sudden cardiac death, heart attack, or stroke.”Greger, Michael, MD; Stone, Gene. How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease (Kindle Locations 545-550). Flatiron Books. Kindle Edition.

In fact, over and over it is shown that often the need for supplements is overstated. The following from “Whole” by Dr. T. Colin Campbell is a great example.

“REDUCTIONIST NUTRITION IN THE SUPER-MARKET AND THE HOME

Though reductionism originates in the lab, it pervades

the public imagination as much as it does the thinking of academics. Because we scientists and researchers are considered “experts,” our worldview permeates our culture’s understanding of nutrition at every level.

Pick up an elementary or high school nutrition text-book and you will inevitably find a list of known nutri-ents. There are about a dozen vitamins and minerals, perhaps as many as twenty to twenty-two amino acids, and three macronutrients (fat, carbohydrate, and protein).

These chemicals and their effects are treated as the es-sence of nutrition: just get enough (but not too much) of each kind and you’re fine. It’s been that way for a long time. We’re brought up thinking of food in terms of the individual elements that we need. We eat carrots for vitamin A and oranges for vitamin C, and drink milk for calcium and vitamin D.

If we like the particular food, we’re happy to get our nutrients from it. But if we don’t like that food—spin-ach, or Brussels sprouts, or sweet potatoes—we think it’s fine to skip it as long as we take a supplement with the same amounts of these nutrients. But even recent reductionist research has shown that supplementation doesn’t work. As it turns out, an apple does a lot more inside our bodies than all the known apple nutrients ingested in pill form. The whole apple is far more than the sum of its parts. Thanks to the reductionist world-view, however, we don’t really believe the food itself is important. Only the nutrients contained in the food matter.”Campbell, T. Colin. Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition (pp. 64-65). BenBella Books, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Are individual supplements beneficial? Of course they are, I take 1000 mg of Magnesium every day rather than taking a seriously harmful prescription for my ocular migraines. Both my doctor and I agree that if the magnesium worked as well as the prescription I would be better off taking it. It does work as well and I do take it religiously.

The point here is that mega-doses of magnesium is being used for a specific situation, but I don’t just take a One-a Day for my nutrients, I eat my nutrients the way the Lord intended—in my food.

This month was a watershed of particularly good rec-ipes shared by our members at the Vegetarian Group meeting. Give some of these a try.

You have to try Geetha’s

Black lentil or Indian Mah-ki-daalIngredients

• 1 cup whole black lentils • 1 medium onion, sliced fine• 2 medium tomatoes, pureed• 2 to 3 medium garlic cloves crushed• 1 inch ginger crushed• 1 green chili finely chopped• 1 teaspoon coriander powder • ½ teaspoon cumin seeds • ½ teaspoon turmeric powder • ½ teaspoon red chili powder • 1 tablespoon oil or ghee or butter• 3 to 3.5 cups water• salt as required

Process

1. Rinse the lentils and soak it in water for 30 to 40 minutes….longer the better, even overnight. Drain it and keep it aside.2. Heat oil, add cumin seeds, when they sizzle, add

chopped onions, fry the onions till brown.3. Add the pureed tomatoes and mix well4. Add the crushed ginger-garlic or ginger-garlic paste5. Add the all the dry spice powders and the green chillies6. Saute the mixture till the oil starts to separate7. Now add the soaked lentils, add water (about 3.5 cups) and salt to taste.8. Pressure cook on high at setting10 (on an electric pressure cooker). Once done let the pressure come down, open and mix the lentil well to get the creamy texture. If the lentils still look not done to a soft and creamy texture then they are not cooked enough, in this case pressure cook for another 2 or 3 minutes. 9. If the lentil/daal looks thin for your liking, then simmer it down without the lid, till it reaches the desired consistency.Notes

1. You can make it less spicy or more by adjusting the quantity of the red chili powder.2. If you prefer a more watery texture – add some hot water at the end of cooking process and stir it in well to blend it all together.

Recipes from the January Meeting

Cauliflower and White Bean Bake

Courtesy of Beth Dorn

IN THIS DISH, cauliflower and beans are baked in a tangy sauce—with a kick! Use any white bean you like in place of the navy beans. SERVES 6 1 medium head cauliflower, cut into florets, steamed for 4 minutes, and rinsed until cool One 6-ounce can diced mild green chiles, drained Zest of 1 lime and juice of 2 limes 4 cups cooked navy beans, or two 15-ounce cans, drained and rinsed 1 batch No-Cheese Sauce 2 tablespoons ancho chile powder 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. 2. Combine the cauliflower, diced chiles, lime zest and juice, and beans in a large bowl. Spoon the mixture into the bottom of a 9 × 13-inch baking dish. Set aside. 3. Combine the No-Cheese Sauce with the ancho chile powder and crushed red pepper flakes. Pour the sauce over the cauliflower mixture and bake for 30 minutes, or until bubbly.

No-Cheese Sauce THIS LOW-FAT SAUCE makes great Mac and “Cheese” or Baked Ziti. Best of all, it only takes about 5 minutes to put together. It may seem as though this recipe will not work in a blender, but with a little patience it does. If your onions are strong, blanch them in boiling water for a few minutes, or sauté them over medium heat for about 5 minutes before adding them to the blender.

MAKES ABOUT 2½ CUPS

1 large yellow onion, peeled and coarsely chopped 1 large red bell pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped 3 tablespoons cashews, toasted, optional 1 tablespoon tahini, optional 1 cup nutritional yeast Salt to taste

Combine all ingredients in a blender in the order given and puree until smooth and creamy, adding up to ½ cup of water if necessary to achieve a smooth consistency.

VARIATIONSUse an equal amount of roasted red bell peppers in place of the raw pepper.

Combine the prepared sauce with a jar of store-bought salsa or a recipe of Fresh Tomato Salsa, and use as a dip for vegetables. Add ½ teaspoon of nutmeg with the salt.

Sroufe, Del. Forks Over Knives - The Cookbook: Over 300 Recipes for Plant-Based Eating All Through the Year (Kindle Locations 5386-5398). The Experiment. Kindle Edition.

Black-Bean-And-Pumpkin Mexican Lasagna

Sharon Bivins

Makes one 9 x 13-inch pan, enough for 6 to 8 people Somewhere between enchiladas and lasagna you have this dish. And honestly, that’s kinda the warmest and tastiest place we could imagine being.

ENCHILADA-ISH SAUCE1½ cups vegetable broth 1½ cups plain tomato sauce* 2 cloves garlic, minced 3 tablespoons mild chili powder 2 tablespoons lime juice1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari ½ teaspoon ground cumin ½ teaspoon dried oregano

FILLING 2 teaspoons olive oil 1 medium yellow onion, chopped (the size of black beans) 1 red bell pepper, chopped (the size of black beans) 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 jalapeño, minced 3 cups cooked black beans** 1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels 1½ teaspoons chili powder ½ teaspoon ground cumin ½ teaspoon smoked paprika½ teaspoon salt 1½ cups canned pumpkin puree*** 1 tablespoon lime juice 2 teaspoons maple syrup or agave syrup 12 flour tortillas or whatever you usually buy for burritos Salsa (any kind) Avocado

First, make the enchilada-ish sauce: Pour everything

together in a medium saucepan and bring it to a gentle simmer—not a boil, a simmer—and cook for about 15 minutes to give the sauce a chance to thick-en up a little. Turn off the heat and get making the filling. You should have about 2½ cups. Make the filling: In a large skillet or wok, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until it starts to get golden, about 5 minutes. Add the bell pepper and keep cooking for about 2 minutes. Add the garlic, jalapeño, black beans, and corn. Stir that all up and let everything in the pan warm back up, about 2 minutes. Add the chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, and salt and keep cooking until the spices get all warm and start making your kitchen smell legit, about 1 minute. Fold in the pumpkin, lime juice, and maple syrup and cook for another minute so the pumpkin gets mixed up and warm. Turn off the heat. Heat up your oven to 375°F. Grab an 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Now it’s time to assemble this shit. Pour about ¾ cup of the enchilada-ish sauce all over the bottom of the baking dish. Cover that up with a single layer of tor-tillas. Yeah there will be some holes but just do your best. Smear on a layer of the filling and try to keep it at an even thickness so you don’t have a lopsided dish. Cover that with another layer of tortillas and ½ cup sauce. Repeat. Cover with the remaining sauce. Cover it in foil and bake for 15 minutes. Uncover it and bake for 10 more. Serve warm with some salsa and avocado on the side. * Not marinara, just canned, no-seasoning tomato sauce. Simple. Grab a low-sodium one if you can find it. ** You can use two 15-ounces cans of beans, drained and rinsed, because we know you are about the dump-and-stir life. *** Don’t accidently grab pumpkin pie filling at the store and think that will still work because it won’t.

Thug Kitchen. Thug Kitchen Party Grub: For Social Motherf*ckers (Kindle Locations 2379-2386). Rodale Books. Kindle Edition.

The following dish from the potluck just blew me away. I really don’t care for eggplant, just one of those hangups I guess not to mention I am slight-ly allergic to it. This dish had me arguing with my husband Bob over whether it was eggplant or not.

Thanks Paul, you really opened my eyes.

Eggplant DipPaul and Debbie Simpson

1 medium purple eggplant, peeled and cut into 2” cubes2 tablespoons olive oil1/2 teaspoon sea salt Black pepper (to taste)1 teaspoon red wine vinegar (you can also use balsamic vinegar)1 small clove garlic, mincedLemon Cashew Cheese

Lemon cashew cheese:

1 cup raw cashews1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice1/2 teaspoon sea salt Black pepper, to taste1 clove garlic

In a food processor, process all ingredients until fairly smooth (sort of Parmesan cheese-like)Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Toss the eggplant, olive oil, salt and pepper in a bowl.

Spread out onto a baking sheet, and bake for 25 minutes at 425 degrees.

Prepare lemon cashew cheese while eggplant is roasting.

After eggplant is cooked, remove from oven and return to bowl.

Mash eggplant, then add garlic and red wine vinegar.

Add lemon cashew cheese and mix well.

Serve warm on crackers, sliced baguettes, or toasted herb bread triangles.

Nutty Cauliflower Bisque With Cashews & Roasted KaleServes 4

Naked Food Magazine

1/2 cup (35g) raw unsalted cashews or pine nuts, plus some extra nuts for topping4 large organic kale leaves, deveined2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast

1 Tbsp. low-sodium tamari6 cloves of organic garlic1 cup organic white onion, chopped3 cups vegetable broth, divided (preferably homemade)1 head organic cauliflower, chopped2 Tbsp. non-GMO white miso1 cup non-dairy milk such as oat or rice2 tsp. chopped chives, for garnish (optional)

METHOD 1. Place the cashews or pine nuts in a container with 1 cup of filtered water. 2. Break the kale into a few pieces. Dehydrate the kale for 12-18 hours in a dehydrator, or, transfer to a baking dish and bake for about 20 minutes at 350°F. Mix the nutritional yeast and tamari and sprinkle over the kale leaves and use as topping for the soup. 3. In a large saucepan, sauté the garlic, onions, and 1/2 cup of the vegetable broth for about 8 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and fragrant. Add the cauliflower and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the remaining vegetable broth and miso, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low medium heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes, until the cauliflower is tender. Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow the soup to cool slightly. 4. Transfer the nuts into a blender including the soaking water. Add the non-dairy milk and blend for about 10 seconds. Transfer the mixture to a large pot heat on low temperature. 5. Pour the soup into your blender in batches and blend on high for about 1 minute, until smooth and creamy. Add the soup to the nut pot and stir well. Ladle the soup into serving bowls and garnish with the baked or dehy-drated kale, nuts, and chopped chives if desired. ___________________________________The following is for a couple of people I spoke with this last Sunday at the Food-Co-op “Eat Your Veggies” pro-gram. Several of our members in the Vegetarian Group are gluten-intolerant so these recipes are for you.The original recipe for this white bread was developed in my gluten-free bakery Ceres Kitchen in Colorado Springs. This recipe is a modification of that original loaf due to the difference in altitude. The loaf is very moist and if you don’t bake it long enough can be slight-ly gummy, but it is a far cry from the dry dusty bread that you often see in the market. Note: the vegan ver-sion will not brown as well as the vegetarian version.Sharon

Gluten Free White Bread2 eggs3/4 tsp cider vinegar2 Tbs Canola oil1 cup water

---Dry Ingredients---

3 cups 1 to 1 Baking Flour from Bob’s Red Mill 1 1/2 tsp yeast3 Tbs sugar1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350° F.Spray loaf pan with cooking sprayMix liquid ingredients. Combine dry ingredients and add to liquid ingredients.Mix together until well blended. Using a batter attachment for your mixer beat at a high rate for at least1 minutes until the batter starts sticking to the bowl and stringing from the bowl to the batter at-tachment. The batter will be very soft and resemble a thick cake frosting.Put into a loaf pan. Allow to rise until it reaches the top of the pan.Bake at 350° F. for 1 hour or until an instant read thermometer registers 200°F. (very important)Yield: 1 loaf

Vegan Gluten Free White Bread

2 Tbs Chia Seeds6 Tbs warm water3/4 tsp cider vinegar2 Tbs Canola oil1 1/4 cup Water

---Dry Ingredients---

3 cups 1 to 1 Baking Flour from Bob’s Red Mill 1 1/2 tsp Yeast3 Tbs sugar1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350° F.Spray loaf pan with cooking sprayMix the chia seeds and 6 tablespoons of water and let sit while you assemble the dry ingredients. Mix the liquid

From the Editor

The Cadets at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs call the months of January and February “the dark ages.” Although it is an apt description due to the cold and darkness of the short days it doesn’t take into consideration the quiet beauty and grandeur of this season.

This a time when nature seems to be taking a break, recharging her batteries, and reflecting on the busy spring to come. This is also a time when we can take it a little easy, also reflecting on what’s going on in our life—maybe not stopping to smell the roses, but perhaps, pause to enjoy the quiet?

Sharon Bivins719-351-7133sharon@sharonbivins.com

ingredients with the thickened chia seed mixture. Combine dry ingredients and add to liquid ingredients.Mix together until well blended. Using a batter attachment for your mixer beat at a high rate for at least1 minutes until the batter starts sticking to the bowl and stringing from the bowl to the batter attachment. The batter will be very soft and resemble a thick cake frosting.Put into a loaf pan. Allow to rise until it reaches the top of the pan.

Bake at 350? F. for 1 hour or until an instant read thermom-eter registers 200°F. (very important)

Yield: 1 loaf

Vegan Gluten Free Focaccia Bread2 Tbs Chia Seeds6 Tbs warm water3/4 tsp cider vinegar2 Tbs Canola oil1 cup Water

---Dry Ingredients---3 cups 1 to 1 Baking Flour from Bob’s Red Mill 1 1/2 tsp Yeast3 Tbs sugar1 tsp salt1 tsp Italian seasoning1/2 tsp garlic powder (or 1 tbs chopped fresh garlic)

Topping1 Tbs minced garlic1 Tbs fresh rosemary finely chopped1 Tbs Extra Virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Spray 9” round cake pan with cooking spray

Mix the chia seeds and 6 tablespoons of water and let sit while you assemble the dry ingredients. Mix the liquid ingredients with the thickened chia seed mixture. Combine dry ingredients and add to liquid ingredients.

Mix together until well blended. Using a batter attachment for your mixer beat at a high rate for at least1 minutes until the batter starts sticking to the bowl and stringing from the bowl to the batter attachment. The batter will be very soft and resemble a thick cake frosting.

Put into prepared cake pan and flatten the surface with a wet hand. Scatter the olive oil, fresh garlic and rosemary over the top of the focaccia. Allow to rise for about 10 minutes,

6. Bake at 350? F. for 1 hour or until an instant read ther-mometer registers 200°F. (very important)

Yield: 1 loaf