I think I need to read this.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/12/09/249352711/in-meat-we-trust-argues-we-got-the-meat-industry-we-asked-for

Eggless Foods on the Horizon?

The new hot thing in the marketplace is food start ups, especially catering to real and persieved allergies and problems with food. But we all can agree that eating low on the food web is better for the economy, the environment and for your body as well. A new company Hampton Creek Foods have found egg replacements in beans. While eating an egg is better than eating a chicken, it is still a tenth as efficient as eating the beans fed to chickens to make eggs. As a chef I look forward to getting a hold of the raw materials for baking.
Read about it here
Go Meatless!
VegitariMan!

People Are Attracted to Vegetable-Colored Faces - D-brief | DiscoverMagazine.com

People Are Attracted to Vegetable-Colored Faces - D-brief | DiscoverMagazine.com

For fun

Stuffed Zucchini VegitariMan! Style

VegitariMan's Dinner of Stuffed Zucchini

Today my minions we will make a delightful dish, food for you, easy to make vegan, looks good, tastes good and is cheap!
Our ingredients are as follows:
A large zucchini
one yellow onion
three cloves garlic
4 Tbls. Olive oil
2 Tbls grape seed oil or other frying oil with a high smoke point
1 cup dried mushooms
one cup TVP
4 Tbls Steak season
4 Tbls liquid smoke
Ok here we go. first cut open your zuch lengthwise and spoon out pith and seeds. I then flip the halves and trim the bottoms so they stay flat. When zuchs get this size they are no longer considered a thin skinned squash so you might just peal the bottoms away, but leave the sides!

Notice the classy canister I keep my TVP in!

 I brush the halves with olive oil and put them into a 9 x 13 dish and bake at 350-375 (175-190C) Now get out your veggy side kicks: TVP and 'Shrooms!

Take about a cup of dried mushrooms and soak them in two cups warm water.

After the shrooms are rehydrated, save the yummy water for our TVP!

Add an equal amount of TVP to the water, and if you want add some more TVP and some more water. Microwave or use hot water and let sit for a few minutes, then mix up with a spoon, much like you would oatmeal. I then add the beef flavored steak marinade and some liquid smoke.

I then french an onion and smash and chop a few cloves of garlic and cook on the stove the TPV until it gets hot and browns all through. I also added the mushrooms too!

When the squash gets nice and tender I spoon in the TVP mixture, some marinara sauce and some cheese (vegan or otherwise) put back in the oven for about 15 minutes, cut into serving pieces and serve with some of the TVP/marinara mixture on the side. Left over TPV can be used as a sloppy joe mix too. Eat well my minions and continue your quest for meatless foods!

Pretty much a gorgeous vegan dish you can take to any pot luck and impress them!

VegitariMan! is nuts,

And in other news Captain Obvious is stating what we already knew. Before I was a vegetarian, I used to hate nuts in my food. I didn't mind eating nuts, but they weren't really a big part of my menu. Now that I have my super powers, I have found that nuts are an essential part of being a vegetarian, unless nuts make you die, then they are not.  Nuts is also voted the number one answer to Nazi surrender demands ever. But nuts also have some really good things for you as well.

A new paper found in the New England Journal of Medicine, tracked people who ate one ounce of nuts per week, four times a week and every day to see how their overall health was affected. It turns out eating nuts just once a week gives you a pretty big jump in your overall health, and that increase in health increased with nut consumption per week. An ounce of nuts is a shot glass full, or a hand full.

The cool thing was, nut eaters were thinner, had better cardiovascular health, lower cancer rates and overall lower rates of death by natural causes. All types of bodies were looked at by BMI so it wasn't just that healthy people ate nuts, but unhealthy fold who ate nuts did better than those who didn't with the same habits. It also didn't matter what types of nuts were eaten, mixed nuts or peanuts (actually a legume)  were looked at as well as other categories of nuts. No word on processed or semi-processed forms of nuts were studied, so we don't know if almond butter is as good as almonds, nor do we know if cooking with nuts gives the same effects.
But nuts are high in good fats and protein, and lots of essential vitamins and aminoacids. One aside, cashews have some problems with the harvesting of them, so I tend to avoid them until a monitoring system is in place to help the harvesters of that fruit.
Also a friend of mine insisted that onions are the only thing that would make her cry...so I threw a coconut at her...now ya'll go nuts!!!

Vegetarian Conundrums at the Thanksgiving

Many of us find our vegetarianism an issue (along with global warming, equal rights, Obamacare etc) challenged by our family during Turkey day more so than any other day. So how do you not get guilted out by your family "I slaved all day....you should try this deep fried turkey....sorry, no tofu at this table" and the like. I've seen two type of folk in this problem. Some just hang back and take just a few veggy side dishes, and try not to be seen not eating the meat(s) du jour.
Others will take ALL the potatoes and say, "Hey this is all I get to eat here so I'm entitled." Well don't be bashful, but also don't violate Wheaton's Rule. Instead try all the veggy items on the table but also never come to any table (food or idea) without something to add. A basket of sweet taters is never turned down, nor are other veggy sides, but one thing you can bring is a main dish that can be a side for those who are not vegetarian and you might win some converts. At least you will have a better chance than winning that global warming argument with Uncle Bob...

So Happy Non-Turkey Thanksgiving to ya'll. And keep eating low on the food web.
Pictured is a sweet potato and carrot satay with forbidden rice, goat cheese and peanuts.