Three Books That Every Vegan Should Own

There are a few essentials that every new vegan needs to ensure a long, happy, vegan life: a few great, reliable cookbooks they can turn to when they just can't think of what to make next, a strong conviction in why they have made the choice to go vegan and the right tools to ensure they can answer the onslaught of questions you will receive for the rest of your life like "where do you get your protein & iron?" "what do you eat" "is being vegan healthy?" My mantra is a simple one - A happy, healthy vegan is the BEST advertisement for veganism. 

When I first went vegan back in 2006, I wasn't a dietitian and hadn't even thought about getting my master's in nutrition. So I was pretty clueless on the nutrition aspects of veganism. At that point I had been a vegetarian for over 4 years so I knew that getting enough protein wasn't an issue. To be honest, I didn't think much about where I would get my calcium, iron and B12. And to be honest, I still don't - because they are incredibly easy to get in a vegan diet. There are 3 books that I think are essential in teaching the lay person every thing you need to know about vegan nutrition for all stages of life (from pregnancy, to lactation, infancy, and childhood to adulthood) and give you a brief crash-course in the importance of a vegan lifestyle.

The first is Vegan For Life: Everything You Need to Know To Be Healthy and Fit On A Plant-Based Diet by Jack Norris, RD and Virginia Messina, MPH, RD. A lot of people out there claim to know lots about vegan nutrition but the fact is registered dietitians have spent years upon years learning about nutrition and food. We know what every single nutrient in your body does down to the molecular level. It is literally our life's work. The co-authors of this book are two very well respected registered dietitians and will walk you through everything you need to know about vegan nutrition from where to get your B12, protein, calcium  vitamin D and other minerals to the in's and out's of transitioning to a vegan diet. They also walk you through vegan diets for those who are pregnant or lactating, raising vegan children and teens, veganism for people over 50 and the many health benefits of a vegan diet including managing weight, heart disease and diabetes. I love this book so much because it is the book that convinced by mother that a vegan diet was not only healthy but a fantastic way to raise a child. Before she read this book she was wary of me raising my daughter vegan (but hadn't gotten up the nerve to tell me yet). In 2-days she read this book cover to cover then came to me and announced "I now feel really good about you raising B vegan." For any vegan parents out there, you know what a big deal that is!

The second book you must own is Diet For A New America: How Food Choices Affect Your Health, Your Happiness and the Future of Life on Earth by John Robbins. 2012 marked the 25th anniversary of the original printing of this groundbreaking book that will force you to raise your consciousnesses and awareness of the food you eat. Robbins solidifies the link between factory farming and animal cruelty with disease and the current state of our environment.  Just in case you aren't familiar with Robbins you might be familiar with his family. The Robbin's in his name is none other than that of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream empire. Robbins has rebuffed the family business to advocate for a healthy, plant-based, vegan diet and lifestyle and spells out with stunning clarity the importance a vegan diet has not only on your health, but the health of the planet and the health of society at large. If you ever needed a top 10 list of reasons to go vegan and stay vegan then this book is for you! A book that is an honorable mention is Robbins The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World which uncovers the dangers of many of today's most popular foods and the impact it has on our health. 

Finally, the third must-have book in your collection is the first book on vegan nutrition I ever read Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting A Healthy Plant-Based Diet by Brenda Davis RD and Vesanto Melina MS, RD. Out of any book in my collection (and I have literally thousands of books in my home), this book is the most highlighted and tabbed book I own. This book opened me up to the world of vegan nutrition and gave me a passion for it. As a new vegan I found myself bombarded with questions about nutrition that I just wasn't prepared to answer. How was I supposed to know every plant-based source of calcium, iron and protein? I knew that major organizations like the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics endorsed a vegan diet for all stages of life and I could rattle that sentence off with ease but I didn't know the science behind why a vegan diet was so healthy and great for every stage of life, let-alone have the ability to regurgitate that information to a skeptical omnivore and sound intelligent. This book gave me all the tools I needed. The authors advice is practical, easy to follow and well-presented. One great feature I love about the book too is that it shows you what a poorly planned vegan diet looks like versus a well-planned diet. We also know that vegan living off of oreos and veggie burgers, if you happen to be that vegan then this is an essential book for you! 

There you have it. The three essential, can' live without, need in your life from here to eternity books you should own. Even if you're a tried and true, long time vegan these books are great resources to get your brushed up on the basics that we old seasoned vegans tend to take for granted in this every increasing vegan friendly world. Happy Reading!

Vegans Guide to the Universe Part 5: Egg Replacer 101

After 4 years of being a cheese-obsessed vegetarian I finally went vegan. It wasn’t hard taking the cheese out of my diet, mainly because after 21 days without it I no longer had a taste for it, but it was hard to figure out how to replace eggs. All of a sudden it seemed like everything I made needed eggs in some way shape or form.

After a good deal of trial and error, Google searches, triumphant tries and complete culinary flops I finally came up with a working list of egg substitutes for nearly every recipe.

Baking (1 egg equivalent):
¼ cup unsweetened applesauce + ½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ cup pureed soft silken tofu (plain)
1 tablespoons ground flax seed simmer in 3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons water + 1 tablespoon canola oil + 2 teaspoons baking powder

Scrambled Eggs:
1 pound firm or extra firm tofu, drained and crumbled – find your favorite tofu scramble recipe and you’re off!

Quiches, Omelettes and Frittatas:
Firm of Extra Firm Silken Tofu should be used in place of eggs. Popular Recipes are the Papa Chorizo Frittata, Susan V.’s Vegan Omelette for One and Susan V.’s crustless Quiche

Ener-G Egg Replacer is also an excellent choice for replacing eggs in baked goods. 1 ½ teaspoons + 2 tablespoons warm water whisked together equals 1 egg. 1 box has over 113 servings! So it’s a great low-cost way to replace eggs in baked goods.

A Vegan’s Guide to the Universe Part 4: Vitamin B12

As a vegan you’ll be surprised to learn that you really don’t need to take any supplements to get the vitamins and minerals you need – eating a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes and grains will provide you everything you need except Vitamin B12.

Vitamin B12 is actually a bacteria that is found in soil and water which is where most animals get it from. But this doesn’t mean it’s wise to go out and start eating soil just yet. A very minute amount of B12 is needed and lucky for you many of the foods that you already eat are fortified with it. The RDA’s for Vitamin B12 are 2.4 micrograms for adults, 2.6 micrograms for pregnant women and 2.8 micrograms for lactating women. You might also be surprised to learn that over 95% of the cases of B12 deficiency do not occur in vegans, but in omnivores. This basically means that you need to be aware but not maniacal about your B12 consumption.

As mentioned before B12 is already in a lot of the foods that you eat, here is a short list:

• Vegan lunch meat
• Veggie Burgers
• Veggie Hot dogs
• Nutritional Yeast
• Soy Milk
• Rice Milk
• Raisin Bran, Corn Flakes (Kellogg’s) and many other breakfast cereals
• Road’s End Shells & Chreese (and other Road’s End Products)
• Vecon Vegetable Stock
• TVP

Although many foods are fortified with B12 physicians and dietitians still recommend that vegans take a B12 supplement of some kind. Many debate on whether it should be daily, weekly or monthly supplementation. I take a weekly sublingual supplement and might convert to doing B12 shots on my next physical just so it’s one less thing to think about.

My supplement of choice is DEVA Vegan B12 (with folic acid and B6). It contains 1000mcg of B12 which is 16,666% of the RDA as well as 100% of your RDA for folic acid and Vitamin B6. I get mine locally at Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe but you can also find it on Cosmo’s online store or if you scroll through Guinea Pig's Favorites on the left of the screen you'll see a link to DEVA Vitamin B12 as well. You’ll find that almost every health food store and vitamin shop has B12 on their shelves. Just make sure it’s vegan!

Oh and just a quick legal disclaimer. Always consults your physician before taking any dietary supplement.

A Vegan’s Guide to the Universe – Part 3: Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP)

Textured Vegetable Protein, also known as TVP, another funny word to add to your vegan vocabulary. It sounds pretty alien but it might be something you have actually already used. If you’ve perused down the frozen food isle of your local grocery store then you’ve probably seen Boca Ground Crumbles as well as Morningstar Farms Griller Crumbles. Both of these are just flavored TVP. It is also the key ingredient in many commercial meat analogs such as veggie burgers, hot dogs, chik’n patties and vegan sausage. See, it's not so alien after all!

TVP is made of dehydrated vegetables (usually soy) and is a protein powerhouse (15 grams of protein in 1 ounce). It has no real taste of it’s own so it is easily adapted to any recipe that you would have used ground flesh for in the past. My favorite places to use TVP are in Manwhich sloppy Joe's ( a favorite from my childhood), Spaghetti and tacos. But the uses for it are limitless. You can make homemade veggie burgers, mock-meat balls, chili, etc.

TVP is dehydrated so it has a very long shelf life (15-20 years !!!). To rehydrate it use a 1:1 ratio of water to TVP. When a recipe calls for a pound of ground flesh you can easily substitute 1 cup of dehydrated TVP in it’s place.

My personal recipe for re-hydrating TVP is:

1 cup TVP
1 cup vegetable stock (dark)
1 tablespoon hickory liquid smoke

Boil the vegetable stock, stir in liquid smoke and pour over TVP. Wait until all the liquid has absorbed (about 5 minutes), fluff with a fork and use in your favorite recipe.

TVP is found in the bulk section of most health food stores and I have begun to see it pop up in small bags in mainstream grocery stores as well, although it tends to be more expensive there.

A Vegan’s Guide to the Universe – Part 2: Nutritional Yeast

Chances are before you became vegan you never heard the words “nutritional yeast” muttered a day in your life and now it seems to be in every vegan cookbook you look up! So what is this stuff and why are vegans so crazy for it?

Nutritional Yeast is an inactive dry yeast filled with a healthy dose of vitamins and protein. It is coveted for its “cheesy” taste and if you haven’t already noticed nearly all vegan mac and cheese recipes call for it in varying amounts. But it is more than just a cheese-tasting substitute it adds a rich flavor and a creamy texture to a range of dishes. It’s perfect on popcorn (and yes, I’ve snuck it into the movie theatre on more than one occasion). It’s great in soups, casseroles, gravies, salads, steamed veggies, etc. Damn near anything you eat goes great with nutritional yeast. As an added bonus it is loaded with vitamins, minerals and 8 grams of protein for every 1 ½ tablespoon serving.

Nutritional Yeast is available in the bulk section of most health food stores and co-ops and is fairly inexpensive. 1 pound will run you somewhere between $5.99-$7.99 in the bulk. Typically I get a couple cups at a time which runs me about $2 or less. One important thing to make sure of when getting your nutritional yeast in bulk is that it is the Red Star brand. Red Star brand has the highest vitamin and mineral content and, in my humble opinion, the best flavor. Here’s the macro and micro nutrient content of Red Star Nutritional Yeast:

1 ½ tablespoon servings contains:
60 calories
1 gram of fat (1% daily value)
5 mg of sodium (0% daily value)
7g carbohydrates (2% daily value)
4 grams fiber (16% daily value)
8 grams protein (17% daily value)

9.6 mg Thiamine/B1 (640% daily value)
56 mg Niacin (280% daily value)
240 mcg Folic Acid (60% daily value)
22.4 mcg Selenium (32% daily value)
0.77mg Iron (4% daily value)
9.6 mg Riboflavin/B2 (565% daily value)
9.6 mg Vitamin B6 (480% daily value)
8 mcg Vitamin B12 (133% daily value)
3.2 mg Zinc (21% daily value)

Other vitamins and minerals less than 20% daily value: biotin, pantothenic acid, magnesium, copper, manganese, calcium, potassium

We’ve establish that nutritional yeast, despite it’s funny name, taste great and is really good for you now here are a couple recipes to get you acquainted with the taste of nutritional yeast.

Mack the Spork's Cheeze Sauce (Check out what other PPKers like to do with Nutritional Yeast or "nooch" on the PPK Forums)

2 cups water

1 cup nooch

4 oz. jar pimentos, drained

1/4 cup raw cashews

2 Tb cornstarch

1 Tb lemon juice

1/2 Tb mellow white miso

1 Tb dijon mustard

1 & 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Blend everything in a blender/food processor until completely smooth. Pour into a saucepan and whisk over medium heat until thickened. Add a dash of black pepper, and taste for salt/lemon.

Notes from Mack the Spork: It’s my modification of the “Nacho cheeze sauce” from Jennifer McCann’s blog (of Vegan Lunchbox – recipes are at Shmooed Food) which I think in turn is based off of something else. It’s so easy and sooooooo good. And it doesn't have that "feet" smell that some nooch sauces have. My pantry is filled with jars of pimientos and cashews because I live in fear of not being able to make this on the spot. I actually made some last night with just 1c water so it would be thicker, and a little extra nooch and cornstarch. Added thawed chopped broccoli, and stuffed it into a basic dough for cheezy broccoli pockets. Leftovers for luuuuuuncchh, blarrrrgghhhhhharghargggh *Homer Simpson drool noise*

Spicy Popcorn (courtesy of redstaryeast.com)

4 cups Popcorn
1 to 2 tablespoon Olive or canola oil
¼ cup Red Star ® Vegetarian Support Formula™ nutritional yeast flakes
½ teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Chili powder
1 teaspoon Dried oregano leaves

Place the popcorn in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle the oil and tossed well.

Place the nutritional yeast flakes, salt, chili and oregano in a small container. Cover tightly and shake well.

Sprinkle the nutritional yeast mixture over the popcorn, and toss until evenly distributed.

Guinea Pig Note: As far as cheese sauces go every vegan has their favorite and you can rarely find more than a handful who will all rave about the same recipe. I've only run across a couple I don't like and about a dozen I'm in love with. Do a google search and you'll find dozens and dozens of different variations of vegan mac and cheese trial and error will be the only way to determine which one you love the most!

One More Guinea Pig Note: Although nutritional yeast is an amazing addition to any recipe I recommend finding places where you can use it without having to expose it to the heat of cooking (as this destroys some of the vitamin B complex content).

A Vegan's Guide to the Universe Part 1: You don't have to eat tofu

Ok, you’ve done it. You’ve made the commitment to put your health first, the planet first and most importantly animal and human rights first – you’ve gone Vegan. Now I know that is a lot of “first” to cram into one title but that’s the amazing thing about being vegan. If done right you can do all those things simultaneously with little to no effort. You’ve made the big plunge into Veganism so now what? Thus far this blog has been a good to guide for all the great things that veganism has to offer from amazing cruelty-free cheeses to restaurants in your area that cater to vegans. But what about the basics? When you walk into your local health food or grocery store for the first time what the hell are you supposed to buy? From big cities to small towns you can usually find the standard meat analogs: vegan burgers, smart pups, chick’n nuggets and patties, Boca grounds, etc. But a vegan cannot exist on meat analogs alone, and frankly shouldn’t. Those are there for your transition, and for those times when life is so crazy that grabbing an Amy’s Kitchen Enchilada out of the freezer and popping in the microwave is honestly the best option for the day, or the week (trust me, I’ve had weeks where I’ve lived off of Boca burgers, nuggets and Amy’s Kitchen Dinners out of a complete a total lack of time. It’s a wonder I knew my own name by the end of the week).

Throughout the month of September (and probably a bit of October) I’m going to highlight some vegan basics that every vegan should have in their arsenal. From food, books and magazines to helpful websites. And guess what? Tofu isn’t on the list! Yep, you read right. This is a tofu free zone. First lesson in veganism, all vegans don’t eat tofu. It took me years to learn to love tofu. It really all comes down to how you cook it and how you season it (which is true for most everything you cook). But if you’re a new vegan and you’ve got a tub of that white block of soy sitting in front of you right now with no clue what to do with it, have no fear you don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to and the Vegan gods will not frown on you for it. But since you already have it, you might as well use it.

If you have resolved that you’re going to at least try the tofu you bought and not let it be a complete was of money start off with the scramble. Tofu Scramble! Tofu has the amazing ability to mimic the texture of eggs perfectly but tofu scramble is millions of times better than scrambled eggs. The very first recipe I ever tried was from Isa Chandra Moskowitz of Post Punk Kitchen fame. The basic recipe is below, however, I strongly recommend heading to her website and checking out all the comments on this recipe for a plethora of ideas on how to change up the scramble to your liking. I have two tofu scramble recipes of my own in my upcoming book Tacos & Collard Greens but Isa’s scramble was my first (thanks Isa!). The first time I made this recipe I think I cut the amount of onion in half to ½ cup and omitted the carrot. I also tried one batch with lime and one without. But play around with it, at least you’ll have one bonafide tofu dish under your belt. But don’t worry, like I said before, you don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to. It’s not in the Vegan code of ethics that you have to and there is an overabundance of other high protein options out there that are absolutely delicious. So, if you’re scared of your tofu and just not ready for the scramble, donate it to one of your tofu loving friends or stick it in the freezer until you get up the nerve to try it – just an FYI freezing tofu completely changes the texture, but in a good way. Without further ado Tofu Scramble:

Ingredients
1 lb. extra firm or firm tofu, drained and pressed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium chopped white onion (about a cup)
2 cups cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
juice of 1/2 a lime
1 carrot (this is optional, I grate it in at the end, mostly for color)



Spice blend
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon thyme, crushed with your fingers
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt

Directions
Heat oil in skillet over medium-high. Sauté onions 3 minutes, until softened. Add mushrooms, sauté 5 minutes more. Add garlic, sauté 2 minutes more. Add spice blend and mix it up for 15 seconds or so. Add 1/4 cup water and deglaze the pan, scraping the bottom to get all the garlic and spices. Crumble in tofu and mix well. Don't crush the tofu, just kind of lift it and mix it around. You want it to remain chunky. Let cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding splashes of water if necessary to keep it from sticking too much. Lower the heat a bit if you find that it is sticking. Add lime juice. Add nutritional yeast and mix it up. If it seems too dry add splashes of water. The moistness really depends on how much water the tofu was retaining before you added it. Grate the carrot into it and fold.