THE VEGAN NEWS
THE VEGAN NEWS
SUMMER
2005
- Recipes
- Vegan Product Review
- Don't Miss! This Month's Article - For the Times; they are a Changing (M. 'Butterflies' Katz)
- In the Veganic Garden
- Review of Fair Trade & Eco Friendly Clothing
- In the Wildlife Garden
- Web Sites
- Book Review(s)
- The Wildlife Database
Summer Recipes
Portobello Supreme with Super Guac
Source: The Sunfood Cuisine by Frédéric Patenaude.
Ingredients
- Portobello mushrooms, wiped (about 2 per person)
Super Guac
- 2 cups avocados, mashed
- 1 and a half cups tomatoes, diced
- 1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped
- 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 2 Tbs tahini
- 4 Tbs flax oil
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp sea salt (I usually miss this out)
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- Cayenne pepper (to taste)
- To make the Super Guac mash the avocado flesh in a bowl. Add all of the remaining ingredients apart from the mushrooms and mix well.
- Turn the portobello mushrooms upside down and place them on individual plates. Place a generous helping of the Super Gauc on the underside of each of the caps. Serve the mushrooms with a large mixed salad for a main meal.
Variation: Spread the Super Guac inside purple cabbage or romaine lettuce leaves and eat like a burrito. Alternatively use the Super Gauc to make a nori roll up by spreading it thinly onto a sheet of nori. Add sprouts (e.g alfalfa or lentil), grated carrrots or beetroot/thin sticks of cucumber etc and roll up using a sushi mat.
Serves 4
Summer Product Reviews
Amber Shampoo Animal Aid
A rich creamy shampoo with a mild and very pleasant smell that leaves hair soft, shiny and manageable. Suitable for all hair types, this shampoo contains rosemary extract, cedar leaf, mint and jojoba oil. I also tested out Animal Aid's new Woodspice Shampoo, which contains bergamot and rosemary extract. This pale blue, creamy shampoo has a mild and pleasant smell and it also left my hair soft, shiny and clean. No conditioner really necessary with either shampoo. These shampoos cost £3.50 each for a 200ml bottle. To order phone Animal Aid on: 01732 364546 or order online. (Updated January 2009 - Product still available)
Glass Sprouter Kit
I tested out the three jar sprouting kit. I found that my sprouts grew well without any evidence of rotting. The three embossed glass jars are placed upside down in a stainless steel rack, draining into an attractive brown ceramic tray. These jars can sometimes be slightly difficult to hold due to their rather odd shape, which enables them to fit securely into the rack without rolling about. However, on the whole I really liked this compact and easy-to-clean sprouting system, especially the metal meshed lids. This Three Glass Spouter Kit is available from Fresh Express for £39.99. There's also a two jar version for £29.99 and extra jars can be purchased for £8.99. To order ring 0870 800 7070 or order online. (Updated January 2009 - Sorry yhis product is no longer available) However, The Organic Gardening Catalogue now stocks the Biosnacky Glass Jar Sprouter, although this one does have a green plastic mesh lid. Price £4.75 (SRBJ) for one jar or £13.25 (SRBJ3) for three jars.
Gaia Sprouted Wheat and Hazelnut Loaf
This delicious essene bread is made from 100% organic ingredients and contains no animal products, salt, or added sugar. Made from sprouted wheat grains, hazelnuts and vanilla, it is baked using a traditional, low temperature process and provides a steady supply of energy from complex and slow burning sugars. It has a sweet (although not too sweet) flavour with a moist doughy texture and contains lovely large crunchy pieces of hazelnuts. Yum! A 500g pack costs about £2.25. It's available from Ashlyns Farm Shop at the Van Hagues Garden Centre near Great Amwell. Look out for this product in local health shops. If you can't find it, then do ask them to stock it.
Dr Karg Organic Seeded Spelt Wholegrain Crisp Bread
Made from spelt flour with no added fats/oils, these crispbreads have a very crunchy texture, so you will need a good set of teeth to eat them! Decorated with tasty sunflower, sesame and linseeds they are nice enough to eat plain. A 200g pack costs about £1.75. Also available through the Ashlyns Farm Shop at the Van Hagues Garden Centre, Great Amwell. (Updated January 2009 - This product was still available in Holland & Barrett's for £1.89.)
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What's Happening in the Veganic Garden this Summer?
Summer Sowing and Planting Schedule:
- June: Plant out young tomato plants from early to mid June, once all danger of frost has passed. Continue to make sowings of runner beans, French beans, lettuce, beetroot, swedes and carrots. Sow sunflower seeds in situ early in the month for a fine autumn display of flowers. Make sowings of winter cabbages in trays of seed compost. June is also a good month for planting out young celery plants - plant them out when they are about 15cm high.
- July and August: Plant young leeks out in mid-July, or when they are pencil thick. Remember to make sowings of perpetual spinach, in July and August to be sure of a good supply of this nutritious green vegetable for autumn and winter use. Winter radishes can also be sown towards the end of July or in early August. Try sowing varieties such as 'Belrosa' and 'Black Spanish Round', or one of the daikon varieties. Make another sowing of parsley in August for winter use, either in an outside bed, or in a container for indoor use. Start to plant out young winter brassicas (e.g. kale, winter cabbage, purple sprouting broccoli etc.) in July and make some sowings of spring cabbage in trays of seed compost for a later planting. Stop tomato plants when 4-5 trusses have formed and feed and water plants regularly with comfrey solution and/or a seaweed solution such as SM3. You should also stop runner beans when they have reached the top of their supports. Onions can be lifted when the tops have died down and stored when they are dry. Garlic should also be lifted as soon as the tops have turned yellow.
Crops in Season:
- June: Broad beans, peas, new potatoes, lettuce, spinach, asparagus (until mid-June), broccoli, spring cabbage, spring onion, radish, gooseberry, rhubarb, strawberry.
- July: Globe artichoke, broad beans, French beans, runner beans, beetroot, carrots, cucumber, lettuce, marrow, peas, potatoes, radish, spinach, black and red currants, gooseberry, raspberry and strawberry.
- August: As for July above, plus sweet corn, onion, cherry, pear and plum.
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Fair Trade & Ecoclothing
The following companies stock a range of fair traded/eco clothing. Vegan companies are marked with a (V).
- Ethical Wares(V) Mainly a vegan footwear supplier, but was selling Namaste clothing at the time of writing.
- Gossypium - organic and fairly traded clothing company.
- Green Fibres - Organic cotton and hemp clothing.
- Namaste - Fairtrade Indian/Nepali clothing. A wholesaler, but you can find your nearest retailer at the web site.
- One World is Enough - a Cambridge based Fair Trade Organisation that only buys from small manufacturers and workers co-operatives that are carefully vetted to ensure that they do not use child labour or dangerous working practices.
- People Tree - Fair Trade and ecological clothing produced in Asia, Latin America and Africa.
- Spirit of Nature - Organic cotton and hemp clothing for adults and children.
- The Hemp Shop - Brighton-based company, selling hemp clothing and other hemp items.
- The Naked Monkey - Unusual & distinctive, handmade, funky, fair trade clothing and accessories.
- The Natural Collection - Sells a range of fair traded organic cotton/hemp clothing. Sometimes stocks Namaste clothing.
Don't forget that local charity shops/jumble sales & car boot sales are also a very good source of ecofriendly clothing!
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In the Wildlife Garden Many of our wildflowers and commonly grown garden plants are beneficial to animals and can be used to attract wildlife into your garden. Here, I will cover five herbs that are especially attractive to wildlife. Details of other suitable plants are given in earlier issues and these are now listed in The Wildflower Index for easy reference.
Chives (Allium schoenoprasum)
Chive plants grow well in containers and make a good edging plant for a herb garden or path. They have lovely purple-pink flowers, which are very attractive to bees and are occasionally used by butterflies such as the cabbage white. Chives flowers best in poorer soils and prefers a sunny position. The leaves of this edible herb have a mild onion flavour and can be washed, finely chopped and used to garnish salads and in savoury dishes.
Wild Marjoram (Origanum vulgare)
Wild marjoram (oregano) is an attractive wildlife plant, which should be grown in a well drained soil in a sunny position. It's a good border and ground cover plant, but can also be grown in containers. Its flowers will attract bees and butterflies, such as peacocks and whites, with maybe even the odd clouded yellow or gatekeeper if you are lucky. I also get quite a few small day time moths visiting my plants. Oregano is listed as a caterpillar food plant for the chequered skipper, Scotch argus, large heath and large blue. So do look out for caterpillars on it, although I haven't seen any so far. The leaves are edible and are often used in tomato dishes.
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
A slow growing shrub-like herb that does best in a poor, well-drained soil in a sunny position. Can be grown in a herb garden or in a sunny border and dwarf varieties can be grown in large containers, although try to bring the container indoors in the winter if possible. Flowering early in the year this plant is a very useful nectar source for bees at a time when not much else is available. Rosemary is listed as being attractive to butterflies, but my plant flowers so early that I have never seen any butterflies on it.
Wild Thyme (Thymus praecox subsp. Arcticus)
An excellent rockery or container plant that needs a well drained soil and sunny position. The common blue butterfly will use this low growing plant as a nectar source. However, it needs to be planted in large patches in order to be attractive to butterflies. (Avoid Golden and Lemon scented varieties, which are not used by butterflies.) Its also popular with bees, including bumble bees and is used as a caterpillar food plant by the large blue and by a few species of moth caterpillars. However, it is better to use Thymus serpyllum if you want to use thyme as a caterpillar food plant. Wild thyme makes an attractive lawn that requires little cutting.
Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)
Lavender has lovely lilac or violet, scented flowers and evergreen foliage. It's a very good wildlife plant, being especially attractive to bumble bees and white butterflies. Birds such as chaffinch, goldfinch and tits are reputed to eat the seeds. Dwarf varieties such as 'Dwarf Munstead' do well in containers and can be used to make a low hedge, perhaps surrounding a herb garden. Needs a sunny position and a well drained soil.
Other Interesting Websites
The Vegan Society (UK)
An excellent site and a particularly good source of information for the those who are new to veganism, or for anyone who is thinking of going vegan. You can also shop or become a member online.
Veggie Stuff
This site offers a wide range of vegetarian products by mail order, including food, drink, supplements, dog and cat food, baby care, toiletries, household products and vegan cookery books. All items are clearly labelled so that vegan items are easy to find and there is also a list of product ingredients.Funky Raw
Home of the funky raw tribe. Here you can subscribe to the Funky Raw Magazine (£15 a yr). There is also a discussion forum and a personal section for those looking for raw love or friendship!
Vegan Views
Download a free copy of Vegan Views Magazine as an Acrobat file. Or if you are short of time you can simply read articles from back issues online. A listing of News & Events is also provided.
Veg Out
A guide to vegetarian restaurants and eating out in the London area. This guide covers a wide variety of cuisines. Search by postcode or simply select a nearby tube station.
My Vegan Shoes
Do check out this new range of vegan shoes.
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Summer Book Reviews
Window-box Allotment: A beginner's guide to container gardening by Penelope Bennett (Ebury Press, 2003). ISBN: 0-091-88256-7.
Full of interesting snippets of information, this little book is written in such a lively style that it makes you want to start planting immediately! Ideal for gardenless gardeners everywhere, for those with disabilities and for those who simply want to make the most of every available space they have for growing their own food. Conveniently set out under monthly headings, thus enabling you to see at a glance what to plant each month, its bursting with information on all sorts of edible plants that grow well in containers. Also covers many related topics such as recipes (some vegan), indoor seed sprouting, growing saffron, windowsill and desk-top wormeries, making plant compost, the preparation of window boxes/hanging baskets, growing mushrooms on loo rolls, wheatgrass production and setting up an antery. What's more because the plants are indoors in close proximity it's much easier to see what is going on and to study nature whilst simultaneously producing a tasty supply of fresh produce on your very own doorstep. So sharpen your scissors folks and get planting! Price £6.99. It's also available from Amazon. (Updated January 2009 - Product was still available at Amazon)
Wheatgrass Nature's Finest Medicine: The Complete Guide to Using Grasses to Revitalize Your Health by Steve Meyerowitz(Sproutman Publications, 1999). ISBN: 1-878736-65-5.
A comprehensive and clearly written account providing information on how to grow and use cereal grasses to enhance your health. Covers topics such as:
- The history of human use of grasses.
- Information on early pioneers such as Charles Schnabel and Ann Wigmore.
- Nutritional considerations.
- Research carried on its health benefits.
- How to use wheatgrass juice both orally and in enemas/ implants for healing purposes.
- Real stories from people with health problems such as cancer who have been helped by using cereal juices.
- Details of the healing resorts that use wheatgrass therapy.
- Clear instructions on how to grow wheatgrass in trays indoors using both soil or soil-free methods.
- Information on juicers and juicing.
- Review of dried cereal grass products.
- Epilogue by Ann Wigmore.
Available from the Organic Gardening Catalogue (Tel: 0845 130 1304) for £11.75. (January 2009 - Product still available)
Stress Reduction & Relaxation CD produced by Natural Thinking Ltd
This CD has a playing time of just over 60 minutes and consists of three movements. The first movement employs Binaural Beat Technology and Neuro-Linguistic Programming to aid relaxation, whereas the second and third movements are more musical. Use this soothing CD to escape from the stress of everyday living for a while. And just in case you are wondering Binaural Beat Technology involves presenting slightly different low frequency sounds to each ear through headphones so that your brainwaves become entrained to the frequency that is normally present in a relaxed Theta state and Neuro-linguistic Programming increases the speed at which you descend into a state of deep Theta relaxation. January 2009 - This product is no longer available)
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