THE VEGAN NEWS

WINTER 2003/4

Vegan News is written and edited by P M Lloyd. Please e-mail your contributions to: paulinelloyd1@btinternet.com

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In This Issue:

Winter Recipes

Masoor Dahl

Source:  Based on the recipe in 365 Plus One Vegan Recipes by Leah Leneman (Thorsons, 1993).

Ingredients

Method

  1. Place all of the ingredients into a large pan (or wok) and cover with a lid.
  2. Bring to the boil. Then simmer for about 30 minutes over a medium heat, until the lentils and potatoes are soft, stirring occasionally. Note: If the dahl looks too watery, remove the lid for the last 5-10 minutes of the cooking time.

Serves 2

Serve with rice or naan bread and pappadums and mango chutney. 

Naan Bread

Ingredients

Method

  1. Dissolve the yeast and blackstrap molasses in the warm water, stirring well. Leave until frothy - about 10 minutes.
  2. Place the flour into a bowl, add the oil, then pour in the warm water. Mix together. Then form the dough into a ball with your hands.
  3. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes.
  4. Replace the dough in the bowl, covering the bowl with a clean tea towel. Leave the dough to rise in a warm place for about one and a half hours, or until it has doubled in size.
  5. Divide the dough into six pieces, rolling each piece into a ball. Then press each ball into a round, about 1cm thick.  
  6. Place the rounds on greased foil and then using a fairly high grill setting, grill for about 10 minutes turning half way through the cooking time. 
  7. Brush the naan bread with oil and sprinkle on the poppy seeds. Enjoy!

Serves 6

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Winter Product Review 

Rabenhorst Organic Wheatgrass Cocktail

Produced in Germany, this Organic Wheatgrass Cocktail is made from wheatgrass juice, green tea, apple juice, agave juice, lemon juice and the micro algae, spirulina. Green-brown in colour, it has a pleasant, smooth and fruity taste. Note: All of the ingredients have been produced on organic farms. Drink a 100ml portion after breakfast each day. If kept in the fridge after opening, a 750ml bottle will last for one week.  Look out for this product in your local health shop. It's also available in Sainsbury's for £2.99.

Incidentally, wheatgrass juice has truly remarkable properties and is very easy to digest.  It contains a vast array of vitamins, minerals and enzymes and is also a good source of protein and chlorophyll.  Even very small amounts of wheatgrass juice (60-90ml) can have a remarkable effect on your health and energy levels. Try to consume a small quantity of wheatgrass juice on a daily basis in order to benefit from its marvellous cleansing and rejuvenating qualities. Wheatgrass juice has also been shown to have many amazing curative properties. You can find out more about these by consulting the books The Wheatgrass Book by Anne Wigmore and Wheatgrass: Nature's Finest Medicine by Steve Meyerowitz.

Even better,  make your own wheatgrass juice, using wheatgrass grown either in trays of soil or on paper towels in your own home. However, if you intend to make your own juice you will need to purchase a special wheatgrass juicer. Wheat berries, equipment and books (including the two books listed above)  on the subject can be purchased by mail order from the Fresh Network. (Tel: 0870 800 7070 for a catalogue.)

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What's Happening in the Veganic Garden this Winter?

Winter Sowing and Planting Schedule:

All of the above seeds can be ordered from the Organic Gardening Catalogue, Riverdene Business Park, Molesey Road, Hersham, Surrey, KT12 4RG. Tel: 01932 253666 for a catalogue or order online at their web site.

Crops Available this Winter:

  • December: Leeks, Brussels sprouts, kale, endive, winter cabbage, swede, chicory, Jerusalem artichokes, spinach, celery, cauliflowers and parsnips.
  • January/February: Leeks, Brussels sprouts, winter cabbage, kale, endive and Jerusalem artichokes.
    •

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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 another two plants that are especially attractive to wildlife. (See earlier issues for details of other suitable plants.)

    Cowslip (Primula veris)

    Cowslip Although widespread in meadow lands in Britain for many centuries, cowslips are now much harder to find in the wild. Cowslips make excellent garden plants, being especially suitable for planting in a mini-meadow, although they will also do well at the front of a sunny border. They dislike acid soil and prefer more sunshine and a drier soil than their close relative,  the primrose.  Their attractive bright yellow flowers with orange markings are borne in clusters of 10-30 and are held high above the plant's rosette of pale green leaves. Cowslip's flowers provide nectar for butterflies, but the plant's main wildlife value is as a caterpillar food plant for Duke of Burgundy Fritillary caterpillars, which pupate on the plant. Cowslip flowers are also a valuable early source of nectar for insects with long tongues such as bees and moths.


    Primrose  (Primula vulgaris)

    Primroses make attractive garden flowers and are one of the first flowers to bloom in spring. They grow best of all in moist woodlands, underneath hedgerows and in other shady places, but also look very attractive, with their creamy-yellow flowers when grown at the front of a shady border or in containers. Primroses will attract many kinds of wildlife to your garden.  For example if planted in large groups they will be used by early spring butterflies such as brimstones and orange tips and they will also provide early nectar for bees, bumblebees and bee-flies. In addition, primroses are the caterpillar food plant for the duke of Burgundy fritillary butterfly and also for several types of yellow underwing moths. Birds, especially chaffinches, eat primrose seeds.

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    Christmas Gift Ideas  

    Tired of giving people socks and ties for Christmas? Well I searched through the latest mail order catalogues to see if  I could come up with something a little bit more original! Why not try out some of these suggestions this Christmas? Firstly, I discovered that Animal Aid have just launched their first book title in the Bunny Hugger Book series. Ollie the Lazing, Amazing Cat by D.A. and Steve Hutton is a delightful story for children and cat lovers of all ages. Excellent value at £4.95, in my opinion this book would make a lovely Christmas present.  Also on sale from Animal Aid are four new hemp lip balms, available in lip-smacking cinnamon, vanilla, tangerine and peppermint. Again excellent value at £2.99 and ideal for stuffing into those Christmas stockings. (Tel: 01732 364546 for a catalogue.)  In the 2004 Natural Collection catalogue I discovered a rather elegant looking nut cracker, which actually looks rather fun to use.  Made from a wooden beech block, two U-shaped brackets guide a polished granite ball down on to the nut.  Don't forget to include a bag or two of nuts to crack for a heart-healthy Christmas gift! Price £29.95.  (Tel: 0870 331 3333 to order.)  Bean lovers would probably be overjoyed to receive a Suffolk Herb's boxed gourmet collection of dried beans this Christmas. Each box contains 12 different varieties and includes many exotic sounding beans such as Christmas limas, snowcap, trout, cranberry and rattlesnake beans. Price £27.95. (Tel: 01376 572456.) Deborah King's 32-page book The Black and White Cat is beautifully illustrated and incredible value for just £1.25. You can obtain a copy of this book from the Dr Hadwen Trust by phoning 01462 436819. Incidentally, if you are looking for a vegan Christmas pudding, Dr Hadwen also offer a family-size, animal-free Victorian Christmas pudding for £3.69. I also rather liked the unusual blue, 100% cotton dolphin bath mat that I discovered in the Ecozone catalogue for £17.95. (Tel: 0845 230 4200 to order.)

    Keen gardeners would probably be glad to receive a packet of Gourmet Organic Salad Seeds, available from the Organic Gardening Catalogue for £9.95. Containing nine different varieties of salad leaves, there should be enough seeds in this packet to supply the lucky recipient with fresh, organically grown, gourmet salad leaves for the whole summer. Another possibility, also available from the Organic Gardening Catalogue, would be a packet of Pictorial Meadow seeds. These seeds are designed to provide a low maintenance wildlife area, with plenty of flowers and no grasses. Choose from standard, short, volcanic, pastel and marmalade, all of which will create a beautiful visual impression. Prices start at £5.95 a packet. Ring 0845 130 1304 or email: enquiries@chaseorganics.co.uk for a catalogue or to place your order.      You could perhaps even combine the seeds with a copy of  Pam Lewis's book Making Wildflower Meadows as well! (Price £17.50.)  Alternatively, you could forget material presents altogether this Christmas and sponsor a nest box with the RSPB instead.  For just £9.00 you receive a certificate, news of the birds using the nestbox over the summer, plus an autumn newsletter. Interested? Phone the RSPB on 01295 676454 for more information.

    I'm sure that you will also find plenty of Christmas gift ideas in the Autumn 2003 WWF catlaogue. For example you may like to consider buying a Plant-a-Tree Medallion Gift Card (£7.99).  By purchasing one of these pewter medallions, complete with gift card, you will ensure that a tree is planted in Peru, Equador, Kenya, Indonesia, Honduras, Eritrea or Burkina Faso. Also on offer is a lovely butterfly box for housing hibernating and roosting butterflies and other beneficial garden insects. Made from FSC-certified wood, this attractive habitat box costs £34.99.  Ideal for nature lovers!   Their FSC-certified, ten-coloured pencil set, inside a recycled car tyre pencil case would make a useful stocking filler (£8.99),  as would their sea life or wild life stencil sets (£3.95), which are suitable for children aged four and above. The WWF catalogue also offers a good selection of jigsaw puzzles for jigsaw fanatics of all ages.

    Finally, if you are looking for Christmas cards, then both Animal Aid and the Dr Hadwen Trust offer a good selection of Christmas cards. By purchasing cards from these charities you also help them to raise vital funds.  If you are looking for unusual Christmas cards, then Trees for Life have produced a pack of 12 beautiful cards, showing various trees in winter. Although rather expensive at £8.50, the proceeds do go to a worthy cause. Also available is a Trees For Life Calendar (£9.95) and a diary for £12.95. All three items can be purchased by mail order from the Natural Collection by phoning 0870 331 3333.  I was also impressed by the pack of 10 lovely red squirrel Christmas cards available from the Woodland Trust web site for £2.95. The WWF 2003 catalogue also has some lovely Christmas cards, including photographs of polar bears, penguins, Christmas hares and snowy cats and bears     (WWF orderline: 0870 750 7023). I would also recommend the lovely Christmas Robin wrapping paper, available from Hillside Animal Sanctuary. Six sheets, plus six gift tags costs just £4.95 and includes the postage. (Tel: 01603 736200 or email: contact@hillside.org.uk.)

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    Other Interesting 

    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 now also shop or become a member online.

    Vegan Essex 

    A site that aims to let the whole of Essex know about veganism!  You can leave a message on the message board for other vegans, find out more about current and future events, obtain vegan  recipes, or read an assortment of features including poems and interviews. This site would be especially useful  for vegans living in the Essex area.

    Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments

    FRAME is a registered charity that looks at the alternatives to animal use in research, testing and education. It advocates the three R's approach to live animal experimentation. You can find out more about FRAME's aims, their three R's strategy and the available alternatives. You can also read Press Releases, order publications, access statistics and obtain background information on exactly how animals are used in science and medicine. FRAME is especially concerned about the substantial and continuing increase in the number of genetically modified (GM) animals being used in scientific procedures.

    Scented Nectar's Page of Tastiness

    This informative web site offers links to a multitude of vegetarian recipe sites, including some sites that are exclusively vegan. I would recommend that you try looking under V if you want vegan recipes, although there are vegan recipes scattered throughout the whole site.

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    Winter Book Review

    SuperJuice: Juicing for Health and Healing  by Michael van Straten (Mitchell Beazley, 1999).

    Super Juice Michael van Straten's SuperJuice is the book you need to help you along the road to better health. Juicing is an excellent way of making sure that you get all of the life-protecting vitamins and minerals you need.  

    For ease of use the book is divided up into sections.  There are power juices to give you energy, cleansing juices to help you to detox, vitality juices that are bursting with anti-oxidants and even aphrodisiac juices, if your sex life needs a boost!  Protective juices will help to ward off diseases such as cancer and the shake and smoothie recipes are meals in themselves, being especially useful if you are convalescing. Of particular interest is the Natural Pharmacy chapter.  Here you can find out which vitamins and minerals are present in a food and look up the best juices for treating a particular illness. The book closes with some useful practical information on juicing and describes some of the juicers that are currently available.

     
     Healing Foods
    Healing Foods CookBook: The Vegan Way To Wellness by Jane Sen ( Thorsons,  2000).

    Illustrated with simple yet attractively laid out photographs, this cookery book contains just under one hundred healthy, vegan recipes that are based on fresh, whole ingredients.  The author (who incidentally is the Head Chef at the Bristol Cancer Help Centre) proposes that we aim for a 50/50 balance between raw and cooked foods. Consequently many of the recipes, but more especially those listed in the salad section, are based on raw ingredients.

    This book contains an interesting selection of savoury sauce recipes that can be used on pasta and on  vegetable dishes. The Dressing/Dips and Spreads section contains many tasty recipes, including recipes for salsa, sandwich spreads and mayonnaises and  this book also offers a wide array of hot vegetable dishes, including recipes for pilafs, bakes, stir fries and quiches.  All the desserts, cakes and cookie recipes are sugar free and eggless, although unfortunately some of these do contain honey.  Be sure to try out the frosted carob cake recipe, if you get the chance!

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