THE VEGAN NEWS 

DECEMBER 1997

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In This Month's Issue:

Recipe of the Month

Wholemeal Seedy Bread

This additive and salt-free bread, smells and tastes delicious. Try some as soon as it comes out of the oven!

Ingredients

Method

  1. Put the flour into a large bowl and mix in all the seeds.

  2. Make up the hand hot water in a large pyrex jug, by mixing 425 ml of boiling water with 425 ml cold water.

  3. Add the yeast, molasses and oil to the jug of water and mix well.

  4. Mix the water into the flour, with a wooden spoon. (You will probably need to add a little extra hand hot water, but the dough should be stiff.) You do not have to knead this bread, although you may need to use your hands in order to mix the flour in properly.

  5. Grease the inside of two, 2 1b loaf tins with olive oil, using a small piece of grease proof paper. Divide the bread dough into two equal halves and press half of the dough into each tin. Sprinkle the top of each loaf with poppy/sesame seeds, pressing the seeds into the surface of the bread slightly, with the back of a spoon or your fingers.

  6. Cover the tins with a clean tea towel and leave the bread to rise in a warm place. (This may take only half an hour in hot weather, but will take longer in the winter.) The bread should rise above the surface of the tin, but should not be allowed to 'flow' over the sides as this will make it very difficult to get the bread out of the tin, later.

  7. Bake the loaves at Gas mark 6/200C/400F for about 50 mins. Leave the loaves to cool for a few minutes, then remove them from their tins. If you like a crusty loaf, then return the bread to the oven for another five minutes. When ready, the loaves should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Cool the loaves on a rack.
Makes two large loaves. This bread can be frozen.

Now Some Special Christmas Treats!

I expect many of you will have your own favourite Christmas recipes already, but for those of you who haven't, I have put together the following collection of Christmas recipes for you to try out. 

First of all, some of you may like to try out my sugar-free, vegan Christmas cake recipe. I make this cake every year and it is really nice. And, anybody in the States, who fancies a change from the ubiquitous Christmas nut roast, might like try out some Tofurky, this Christmas. This product, produced by Turtle Island Foods, is made from tofu and wheat gluten and can be used as a substitute for turkey. Alternatively, there is a good nut roast recipe at vegan nut roast a la Peta which is part of the vegan Christmas menu. Sorry folks, but I couldn't find a egg-free, Christmas pudding recipe on the Internet, so if you're not able to find one either, then you may have to purchase  aready made one. And, remember Christmas isn't compulsory and you can always pack some sandwiches, fresh fruit and some nuts and go for a long walk, instead!

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December Product Review

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Travelling Tips

Once you are used to eating a vegan diet, it is usually fairly easy to stick to it. However, travelling can sometimes cause a certain amount of dietary disruption, even for the experienced vegan. All sorts of things can go wrong when you're travelling! Airlines can fail to provide the special meals you've ordered, or they can serve you with vegetarian meals instead of vegan ones. Cars can break down in awkward places and buses, tubes and trains are often late, or may even not turn up at all. And when travelling abroad, menus and ingredients can be written in an unfamiliar language, making it even harder to decide if an item is vegan or not. If you are very hungry, then it is tempting to eat whatever is available, even if it isn't vegan, or is not particularly good for you. Because of this I would recommend that whenever you travel around, you always carry a small supply of emergency vegan food with you, then you will be prepared for delayed meals and other difficulties and not quite so likely to stray from the vegan path!

When Travelling:

  1. Pack a flask of hot water and some herb or green tea bags. If the weather is hot then fill a bottle with water or another cold drink too. You'll be surprised how much money you can save by doing this and it also reduces the amount of litter produced by consuming take-away food and drink.

  2. Take a small, empty bottle (or similar container) for storing any left-over soya milk or fruit juice. Then open cartons won't spill over the car or into your luggage.

  3. Pack a supply of soya milk if you think that you will find it difficult to obtain some on your travels. You may find a supply of dried soya milk is easier to transport, particularly when backpacking or camping, or when you don't have a fridge to store things in. Allergycare make a 250g tin of spray-skimmed dried soya milk. Look for it in health food shops.

  4. If you are unable to find any soya milk, that it's possible to use fruit juice or even pureed fruit on your bowl of cereal.

  5. Always take a supply of fruit with you. It's the ideal healthy snack! And, what could be easier to pack than an apple or an orange? Buy fresh fruit slightly under ripe, if you don't intend to eat it all straight away and pack a supply of dried fruit too, if you can't be sure of obtaining a regular supply of fresh fruit throughout your trip. Dried fruit is very easy to transport and will of course keep better than fresh fruit. Packets of ready-to-eat figs, or prunes, are very good, particularly if you are prone to constipation when travelling. And, dried apricots, ready-to-eat pears and dates are also good for a healthy, high-fibre, high-energy, vitamin-rich snack. Packets of sun-dried bananas or banana chips (see product review) are also tasty and easy to carry.

  6. Unsalted nuts (e.g mixed nuts and raisins) and seeds such as pumpkin and sunflower seeds are an ideal source of calories for hill walkers and unlike chocolate, they don't melt in the heat.

  7. For sandwich making, pack some peanut butter, tahini, or a jar of yeast extract as these do not require refrigeration. Mashed avocados or bananas can also be used as sandwich fillings. Don't forget to pack a knife, then all you need to do is buy fresh bread, daily.

  8. Take a small container of nutritional yeast flakes with you. They are light to carry and can be sprinkled on salads, on top of pasta or on beans-on-toast for extra taste and vitamins.

  9. If you have access to cooking facilities, then pack some porridge oats. Light and easy to carry, they make a nice hot breakfast and can be made up with water if you don't have any soya milk. For a tasty topping, put some ready-to-eat prunes on top, instead of sugar.

  10. I usually take a supply of rye bread with me, just in case I can't find any normal bread. It keeps for quite some time. but needs to be packed carefully or it will break. Rye bread is nice with peanut butter or tahini and mashed banana.

  11. Don't forget to pack a good supply of snack bars too. These are particularly useful on walking, or activity holidays, as most of them are quite high in calories and provide 'instant' energy. Try to purchase dairy-free bars that are sugar-free and low in fat. The following types of bars are suitable for vegans and will provide you with a healthy, pleasant-tasting snack. You will find them in health food shops.

    • Barbara's Nature's choice. These fat-free, sugar-free, fruit filled cereal bars are remarkably nice for such a sin-free bar! They are available in many different flavours. I particularly like the strawberry and raspberry flavours. Full of carbohydrate-rich energy, these bars are sold in boxes but are also sold separately in some health food shops.

    • Look out for the following bars, all by Lyme Regis. Try their ginger and pear, date and fig or banana fruit bars. Entirely sugar-free, these bars are made from a blend of fruit, nuts and cereal.

    • Holly Mill fruit bars are a blended mixture of various fruits and cereals. They are available in raspberry, apple and cardamom, apricot and almond, hazelnut, or lemon flavours. All Holly Mill bars are sugar and salt-free and do not contain any artificial additives.

    • Shepherd Boy make fruit and nut bars in coconut, multifruit, ginger or apple flavours. 

    • Wallaby Natural make several types of sugar-free, gluten-free and dairy-free bars. I tried the apricot and nut flavour, but they are available in cashew and sesame and macadamia and fruit flavours, too. Imported from Australia, these bars are rather expensive. (Quite a few of these bars do contain nuts and so if you have a nut allergy, check the labels.) I found mine in a healthfood shop, but I have also seen them in Julian Graves.  Made with rice cereal instead of wheat, they make a pleasant-tasting and healthy snack, although I found the apricot and nut one rather hard and difficult to chew. Yogurt-coated, Wallaby bars are not suitable for vegans.

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What's Happening in the Veganic Garden This Month?

  1. Garden Planning

    If you have finished tidying up your veganic garden, then why not put your feet up? You deserve a rest! This month, to avoid the cold weather outside, we will do our gardening in an armchair in front of the fire. The only tools that are needed are a pencil and some paper.

  2. Harvesting

    Crops which can be harvested this month include: Brussels sprouts, cabbage, leeks, daikon radish and swedes.

  3. In The Wildlife Garden

    In earlier issues, I have often mentioned various plants that will attract wildlife into the veganic garden. Over the winter months, whilst it is quiet in the garden, I am going to introduce you to some of the animals that you are likely to come across in the veganic garden. I will start off with garden birds, as these are the creatures that you are most likely to see in the veganic garden, at this time of year, particularly if you have set up a bird table or birdfeeder.

    1. The Robin
      As it's Christmas, let's start with the robin, although I'm sure that most of you are already familiar with this red-breasted, small, brown bird. Measuring about 14cm in length, the robin is a common visitor to the garden and is also frequently seen in parks and woodlands. Although European robins are somewhat shy, their British counterparts tend to be daring, inquisitive and friendly little birds. Apart from in the breeding season, robins are usually seen alone, as they tend to be rather aggessive towards one another. They eat all sorts of insect pests, larvae and some weed seeds, too. My very tame, garden robin is usually perched somewhere nearby, whenever I am disturbing the soil and flies down and cheekily pinches my earth worms whenever it thinks that I am not looking! Robins, unfortunately, eat spiders which are also beneficial creatures.

    2. Tits
      Attract tits to your bird table by providing special fat balls and peanuts in net bags (or in special bird holders). If you don't have a bird table, then these can be hung from a tree branch or nailed to a nearby fence as tits have excellent acrobatic skills. You are probably most likely to see great tits or blue tits on your bird table or feeder, but you may also see coal tits and I often get flocks of long-tailed tits in my garden, too. The great tit is about 14cm in length , with white cheekpatches and a yellow stomach, its head is black, whereas the blue tit is similar in colour, but is smaller, with a blue head. The long tailed tit has a small body, a long tail and is black and white. Tits eat caterpillars and insects.

    3. Finches
      The commonest type of garden finch is probably the greenfinch. Greenfinches are primarily seed eaters: they adore sunflower seeds and will appreciate your old sunflower heads if you hang them up for them, or alternatively you can remove the seeds and put them on the bird table. You can also buy bags of sunflower seeds from garden centres or pet shops, if you haven't grown your own. Greenfinches will also visit the bird table if you put out some wildbird seed for them and will eat nuts in birdfeeders, too. They are yellowish-green in colour and measure about 14.5cm in length. I also get goldfinches in my garden, occasionally. They are very fond of my dandelion heads which I allow to go to seed in my lawn. They will also eat alder, birch, thistle and burdock seeds. I have never seen one on my bird table though, perhaps because they tend to be rather wary birds. Goldfinches are very distinctive in appearance with red/white and black heads and bright yellow wing bars on their black wings. Chaffinches are also commonly seen in the garden. Young chaffinches are fed on insects and spiders, but the adult birds are mainly seed eaters like the greenfinch and goldfinch. The female chaffinch is a dull brown bird, unlike the male who is more distinctive with a reddish-brown plumage and a blue-grey crown. During the winter, particularly if it has been snowing, you may also see the bullfinch. The male bullfinch is a handsome red colour with grey/blackwing tips and tail, whereas the female is duller in colour. Young bullfinches are fed on insects, but adult birds feed mainly on seeds and berries. Unfortunately, adult bullfinches can also attack the buds on fruit trees, which can make them rather unpopular with gardeners. Roy Lacey suggests that you should protect your gooseberry and currant bushes from attack by chaffinches and bullfinches, by dusting them with equal amounts of weathered soot and hydrated lime, in the spring.

      Birds are, on the whole, very beneficial creatures to have in the veganic garden as they help to control insect pests, as well as livening up the veganic garden during the bleak winter months.

    Finally, I hope that those of you who planted a green manure crop, last month, were successful. The field beans that I planted directly into the soil in October, did in fact germinate by the 9th of November, when the weather turned milder for a while.

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  4. Other Interesting Websites.

    The Vegan Society (UK)

    An excellent site and a good starting point for obtaining information for the new or intending vegan.

    Traidcraft

    Find out more about Traidcraft, their products and their overseas work. Not a vegan organisation, but some of the products, sold by Traidcraft, are suitable for vegans. 

    Ethical Wares

    Ethical Wares is now on the Internet. Visit their website to find out more about their vegan products. This company specialises in non-leather goods, such as walking boots.

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    5. December Book Review

    The Green Gardener - How to Make Your Garden Environmentally Friendly. By Roy Lacey.

    If you want to run your garden on green principles, next year, then you should read this book, this winter. It will give you many ideas, so make a new year resolution to try some of them out in 1998! The Green Gardener covers many natural gardening techniques including: how to attract birds into your garden, weed control without chemicals, composting and green manuring, water saving ideas, worm composting, wildlife gardening, safe pest control and the garden pond. Also has many recycling ideas - ever thought of converting an old hot water bottle into a kneeling pad, by stuffing it with rags? Although geared to the organic gardener, much of the information will be very useful to the veganic gardener too. Lovely colour illustrations. Well worth obtaining a copy of this book from your public library.

    A New World Order of Self Reliant, Tree Based, Autonomous, Vegan Villages. Produced by MCL.

    This twenty page booklet is now available from: The Movement For Compassionate Living.  It contains many interesting ideas. You can obtain a hard copy of it from MCL from: MCL, c/o Sumac Centre, 245 Gladstone Street, Nottingham NG7 6HX, UK. Telephone: 0845 458 9595. 

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