VegInDC

Tonight my wife and I attended a Zoom lecture for Tu B'Shvat by Jewish Veg ( Jewishveg.org ) on "Modern Eco-Kashrut:Ethical Eating for Today's World". It was informative both historically and interesting to hear people's questions about veganism. Anne became vegan in 2005 and I became vegan in 2013, our dogs eat a vegan diet and we love sharing vegan cooking and illuminating kind choices for animals whenever we have the opportunity. While on the Zoom call, we realized how we need to update this space more! So, thank you to Jewish Veg, our friend, Sibyl Kleiner for hosting, and to our new blog friends - we will be updating things more here with not only traditional Jewish recipes, but things that are working their way into our rotation. Meanwhile - new favourite cookie to try: Siete Mexican Wedding Cookies - both gluten free and vegan ... but addictive!

We are in the throes of that time of year: When it's cold outside, dark, and everyone seems to be sick with something. I recently was fighting a sore throat and had a hankering for my mom's chicken soup (but, with no animal bodies in it.) So I found a bunch of recipes and combined a few that seemed to really hit the sweet spot. Also, Anne has had COVID for over a week and this is the only thing she will eat. 

Last year I started growing plants inside using an Aerogarden . It was a lot of fun! But all of a sudden I had an unwieldy crop of Thai basil on my hands, and I didn't exactly know what to do with it. I knew it is often added to Thai stir fry dishes, so I did some searching and found a few that I liked and it morphed into this dish, which Anne has told me is her new favorite. Helpful hint: you can switch out the vegetables and try different combinations. To date I have tried, green beans, red bell peppers, broccoli, kale, and Brussels sprouts. Without the rice, this takes less than 30 minutes from prep to done, so it is easy to put into the weekly rotation!  Throw some pineapple on the side or on top for fun.

I love delicious bread. The problem is, because I am the only gluten eater in the house, if I buy or bake a loaf, I end up eating all of it myself! Time to share with friends who can tolerate their gluten. I adapted a few recipes I found online to make this loaf just the way I like it.  It is easy, doesn't require any expertise and most of the time is spent letting the dough rise on its own.

For every Jewish Holiday there is at least one (or maybe two!) good kugels (casseroles). For Passover, I like to make spinach kugel and potato kugel. For Rosh Hashanah, a sweet kugel is definitely called for to ring in a sweet new year! This recipe is adapted from a few different online sources and reminds me of the kugel my mom would make for Rosh Hashanah lunch. It is sweet, crunchy, and even more flavorful warmed up the next day. The hardest thing for me to find every year are appropriate noodles that are both gluten free and vegan. The easiest thing to use are lasagna noodles by Tinkyada broken up into pieces. I have also found gluten free Manischewitz egg-less noodles made from potato starch. In a pinch any noodle will do!

Traditional dal often has cream and ghee, so its not a vegan dish. However, I recently found a good recipe online that I have adapted to suit our own tastes. This dish goes really well over some basmati rice and a side of naan. Top it with some coconut based sour cream as well for a cooling effect.

It is a southern tradition to eat black eyed peas and collard greens on New Years. I decided to go the easy route and used canned beans and greens. If I was going to use dry beans, I would have used the slow cooker and let it work on the beans all day. 1 tablespoon olive oil  2 cloves of garlic, crushed  2 cans of black eyed peas  1 teaspoon salt  1 teaspoon Texas Pete hot sauce (or your favorite hot sauce + more to taste)  1 teaspoon dried parsley  3/4 teaspoon paprika  1/2 teaspoon dried thyme  1/2 teaspoon dried oregano  1/2 teaspoon black pepper  1 can of collard greens, drained