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Massel Concentrated Liquid Stock makes for vegan cooking bliss!

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imageWhen Massel, the company famous for its vegan bouillon cubes, offered to send me samples of their new liquid stock line I was really excited. I’ve used the cubes before, and I love that their products are clearly labeled “vegan” and free from questionable ingredients like MSG. So, I tried Massel’s new vegan concentrated stocks line and I LOVE it! 

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imageMy new favorite things: adding a bit of bouillon stock into a pot of quinoa cooking on the stove, using it to flavor noodle soups, or my very favorite: use Massel liquid stock to make a broth for cooking broccoli! You just add 3 tablespoons chicken-free liquid stock to 4 cups of boiling water. Steam the broccoli in the water/stock mixture on the stove and it turns the broccoli into the most luscious, savory, rich goodness imaginable. It’s magic! I have never loved broccoli as much as I do now, thanks to Massel!

According to the company website, one tablespoon of the highly concentrated liquid stock makes 1 cup of soup stock.  Once you’ve formed a stock base, you can just toss in your favorite soup fixings like veggies, noodles, leafy greens, veg protein or whatever pleases you!

My favorite flavor was definitely the vegan “chicken” flavor, and the one flavor I really didn’t love as much was the beef flavor. Here’s a great recipe reposted with permission from the Massel vegan recipe bank on their website.image

Gluten Free Vegan Sesame Noodles
Serves 2-3

Ingredients

  • 8 oz. spaghetti (gluten free, if desired)
  • 1 cup grated carrots
  • 2/3 cup water
  • ⅓ teaspoon Massel Vegetable or Chicken style Better Bouillon 
  • ½ cup peanut butter (sunflower seed butter, if you have nut allergies)
  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 2 tablespoon soy sauce (tamari sauce is gluten free)
  • 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
  • 2 teaspoon Sriracha or favorite hot sauce
  • 2 tablespoon sesame seeds

Method

1.   Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain well.

2.   While the pasta is cooking, whisk the rest of ingredients together in a bowl. Drizzle mixture over drained pasta and toss well.

3.   Serve immediately, room temperature, or chilled.

Enjoy! See this list of where you can buy Massel products.

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A FAMILY FAVORITE: MEDITERRANEAN-STYLE BEAN STEW WITH RAPINI & VEGAN SAUSAGE

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I made this the night before last for a quick, hearty supper.  We had it for lunch the next day, enjoying it just as much, and tomorrow I’ll bring the last bit for a work lunch. You really can’t find a tastier, heartier, easier, everyday dish.  It’s also high in fiber and nutrients, low in fat and calories, and quite inexpensive (particularly if you use home-cooked beans), especially factoring in how many meals a couple can expect in return!
One of the things I love about this dish is the rapini (also known as broccoli rabe or raab).  It’s what is considered a “bitter green”, but that “bitter” edge to the flavor is a great foil for the mellow beans, sweet carrots and flavorful vegan sausage.
Rapini or broccoli rabe/raab
Here’s some background about rapini from http://whatscookingamerica.net/Vegetables/BroccoliRaab.htm :
“Although it has broccoli’s name, broccoli raab is not related to broccoli.  It is, however, closely related to turnips which is probably why the leaves look like turnip greens. Lots of broccoli-like buds appear here and there but a head never forms. It is grown as much for its long-standing, tasty mustard-like tops as for their multiple small florets with clusters of broccoli-like buds. Good-quality broccoli raab will have bright-green leaves that are crisp, upright, and not wilted. Avoid ones with leaves that are wilted, yellowing, or have dark green patches of slime.
Used extensively in Italian and Chinese cooking, it is not as popular in the United States but is gaining popularity. The stems are generally uniform in size (hence cook evenly) and need not be peeled. Clean it as you would other greens, removing the bottom portion of the stems which appear tough (sometimes the stems are tougher than other times depending on the age of the rapini). They stems can be removed up to where the leaves begin, and sautéed before adding the leaves to the pan. This vegetable is a source of vitamins A, C, and K, as well as potassium. Rapini is available all year long, but its peak season is from fall to spring. To maintain crispness, refrigerate, unwashed, loosely wrapped in a plastic bag or wrap for up to 3 days.”  NOTE:  I try to use rapini right away– it doesn’t keep well.  If you can’t use it within 2-3 days of purchase, blanch it briefly in boiling water, drain well and freeze it.

If you’ve never tried rapini before (and it is available in all of the supermarkets in our area, which is NOT a metropolis!), this would be an excellent way to try it for the first time.  I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we do. 
BRYANNA’S MEDITERRANEAN-STYLE BEAN STEW WITH RAPINI AND VEGAN SAUSAGE

Serves 6

If you really don’t like or can’t find rapini, you can substitute similar green veg, such as mustard greens and/or turnip greens, or , for milder flavor, kale or chard or even Chinese broccoli (gai lan).
2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 large carrots, scrubbed and cut into small dice

2 stalks celery (with leaves), chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1/4 teaspoon chili flakes (Optional)

4 cups (or 2/ 19 oz. cans) cooked white kidney, Great Northern or cannellini beans, OR pinto or Romano beans, rinsed and drained

2 cups tasty vegan broth (I like Better than Bouillon No-Chicken or Vegetable)

2 Tofurkey Italian vegan sausages, OR 3 Field Roast Italian vegan sausages, cut into “coins”

1 lb. (1 bunch) rapini (broccoli rabe), washed, drained and thinly-sliced (See this page if you are unfamiliar with this vegetable.)

Heat the oil in a large skillet or stir-fry pan.  When hot, add the onion and sauté over medium-high heat until the onion softens and starts to brown.  Add the celery, carrots and garlic and sauté for a few more minutes, adding a squirt of water or dry white wine as needed to keep the mixture from sticking.  Add the oregano and chilli flakes, the drained beans and broth, and the sausage “coins”.  Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes, UN-covered. 

Add the sliced rapini, stirring until it starts to wilt.  Cover and cook for about 10 more minutes, or until the rapini is cooked to your taste.  Taste for salt and pepper.

Serve with crusty bread or toast.  Leftovers are a bonus!

Nutrition (per serving): 338.5 calories; 25{ae720e0b436026f867bfa0c31185c2252a138f27e85f5f152ec5acc1c10a8cc9} calories from fat; 9.8g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 486.3mg sodium; 915.9mg potassium; 43.2g carbohydrates; 16.7g fiber; 5.2g sugar; 26.6g net carbs; 22.9g protein.


Enjoy!


The kitchen journal of a vegan food writer…For the 21st
century we need to learn to cook for ourselves again,
and learning to cook vegan can be a bit intimidating.
I’d like to help with that, from my kitchen to yours.

Bryanna Clark Grogan, author of 8 published vegan cookbooks and The Vegan Feast quarterly cooking newsletter. Moderator of the beginners’ vegetarian forum on vegsource.com.

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Beyond Sushi serves all-vegan sushi with extra flair in NYC!

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imageMeave and I had the pleasure of visiting NYC’s Beyond Sushi (Union Square location) last week and we were pretty much blown away! Seriously, I didn’t know sushi could be so fun—and so vegan!

People have always told me about different places with such and such vegan roll and I’ve always been like, “whatever, I just like avocado rolls! Why I gotta go somewhere special for that?” Little did I know there’s a big, exciting vegan sushi world out there! What an idiot I was. But we live and learn, yeah?!imageWe started off with some of their yummy juices. These are not the cleanse type, which is good because that’s not my steeze. I got the cucumber mint lemonade and it was SO GOOD. Meave got some sort of watermelon juice that I refused to try because watermelon is bleh! But my juice was the yum.imageNext, we had one of their wraps. I wasn’t that excited because I think of wraps as just like a bunch of raw veggies pretending to be a sandwich. Boy was I delightfully surprised! This Nutty Buddy wrap ended up being maybe my favorite thing we had. It was full of buckwheat noodles, cashews, carrots, cilantro, jalapeño peanut butter, avocado, sesame oil, tofu, and lettuce—whoa! Plus it came with a side of sweet soy mirin sauce. I love the noodles and peanut butter!!! I could eat this every day. 

imageNext came the sushi! OMG how pretty, right? On the very left is their most popular roll, the Spicy Mang: black rice, avocado, mango, English cucumber, spicy veggies and toasted cayenne sauce. A lot of their rolls use black rice, which is actually more purple. It’s really good. It’s a bit sweeter than white rice and just has more flavor in general. imageIn the middle, is the roll of the month! Every month they have a special roll. For June, it’s this fun eggplant roll: black rice, roasted eggplant, avocado, and baby arugula topped with rosemary infused butter bean purée and roasted roma tomatoes infused with garlic and thyme. YES. I was all, “I didn’t know you could even have sushi like this” and Meave is all, “well, it’s BEYOND sushi!” Haha, indeed. 

The third roll was the Mighty Mushroom: six-grain rice, enoki, tofu, shiitake, and micro arugula with a shitake teriyaki sauce. This was my favorite! The shitake teriyaki sauce on top was so good. 

imageWe also had two of the individual pieces, baked tofu with chili mango. AWESOME. 

So, if you couldn’t tell, we love Beyond Sushi! I warn you if you go though that seating is limited. But we got there at 6:30 on a Tuesday and there were plenty of places to sit. But by the time we left, people were waiting to sit. I also advise that you TRY EVERYTHING! Because it’s so good. Oh, besides the one in Union Square, there’s also a location in Chelsea Market.imageBONUS! They have all these exciting almond butters they make in-house! I got my big bro this truffle oil/thyme almond butter because those are his favorite things and I’m so nice to him. 

Disclosure: we dined for free because we are very fancy! I paid full price for the almond butter though, and I’d do it again! Because I’m so nice to my big bro!

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Petition: Let’s Get CCTV Into Slaughterhouses

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“If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian.” – Paul McCartney Paul McCartney’s famous words ring true for anyone who’s glimpsed the terrible things that happen to animals in abattoirs. But in the UK, far from having “glass walls”, most abattoirs are not even properly monitored, allowing shocking abuse to happen behind closed doors. […]