BiG TeA PaRtY Sustainable Living

WARM PEAR SALAD with GORGONZOLA and WALNUTS

BY ELIZABETH FIEND
Serves 4 as lunch or main course, 6 as a side salad
Time: 20 minutes

Category: Vegetarian Recipe

This salad is all about contrasts.
The pears are served warm, making this a great dish to serve on a chilly, rainy day. The sharp cheese, crunchy nuts and creamy honey-lime dressing each stimulate different taste buds providing satisfaction and a feeling of fullness. I’ve divided up one serving between the cheese and nuts so even thought you’ll be eating cheese AND nuts (both contain fat) you will be getting just the right amount of fat and protein.

There’s an optional fun part in this recipe for the kids too. Instill in them a love for vegetables by having them cut the cucumber slices into stars with cookie cutter.

Salad Ingredients:
½ pound spring salad mix
¼ head endive – tear off and discard ends; break into bite size pieces
1 cucumber (see below for treatment)
1/8 lb gorgonzola cheese – break into pieces
3 pears (any kind) – cut into slices
½ cup walnuts – break into pieces

Dressing Ingredients:
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons lime juice
Blend above with a spoon or small whisk until honey is dissolved, than add:
½ cup buttermilk (or 3/8 cup soy milk plus 1/8 cup lemon juice)
2 stalks scallions diced
1/4 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste

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THIS IS NOT A BOUQUET, IT’S MY LUNCH

Tempeh, Tomato, Herb Sandwich
Recipe and Photos by Elizabeth Fiend
Part of the series “What Fiends Eat for Lunch”

Makes two sandwiches.  Time: 45 min. Active time: 20 min. Category: Vegan sandwich.

COLORFUL, TASTY, NUTRITIOUS. WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT FOR LUNCH? 

Ingredient Notes:

* Only use home-grown flowers, or ones from a source that you know for sure are chemical free.

* Miso is a nutritious paste made from fermented soybeans. It‘s a traditional seasoning in Japanese cuisine. Miso is available in natural food stores in the refrigerated section. It comes in white, red and brown, the lightest color being the least salty.

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BASIC BAKED-TOFU

BY ELIZABETH FIEND
Time: 1 hour, Active time: 15 min., 4 servings

Category: Vegan / Vegetarian Recipe

In America in the 60’s and 70’s when tofu was first coming into recognition by the crunchy, granola eating set the suggested preparation method for cooking tofu was very complicated. It usually involved pressing the tofu under weights and marinating it for hours before cooking. I have combined all those steps into one easy method that’s basically: dry rub then bake! Baked tofu is so good and versatile to use I often double this recipe and cook 2lbs of tofu at once.

Quick and easy uses for baked tofu:
Use baked tofu in sandwiches. Slice or dice baked tofu and substitute for chicken in any of your favorite recipes. Add it to a can of soup for an instant upgrade in flavor and nutrition. Add, with vegetables, to ramen noodles, or combine with vegetables in a stir-fry. You may want to add the tofu to your dish at last minute to preserve its texture.

Ingredients:
1lb EXTRA firm tofu
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons ginger powder
½ teaspoon mustard powder
spray olive oil

Method:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Open tofu package — discard water.
Slice tofu on the shortest side of the block into 8 pieces.
Spray baking sheet with olive oil and lay slices of tofu on baking sheet.

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VEGAN COLE SLAW with Maple-Lime Dressing

written BY ELIZABETH FIEND

Category: Vegan, Vegetarian Recipe

This is one of the recipes I made when I was a guest on the Food Network’s “ROKER ON THE ROAD” TV show starring weather man Al Roker.

I developed this recipe to not only give you the health benefits of turmeric (to learn more about turmeric click here), but the added benefits of another “warming” spice, cayenne pepper.

This recipe packs even more of a punch with the vitamins and antioxidants found in red cabbage and carrots and the minerals found in seeds.

It’s also low-cal and it tastes so refreshing!

VEGAN COLE SLAW with Maple-Lime Dressing (and turmeric)
GOES GREAT WITH BBQ!!!!!

Serves 4, Time: 15 minutes

Dressing Ingredients:
1/2 cup soy milk
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt

Slaw Ingredients:
2 carrots, grated
1/4 head red cabbage, grated
4 teaspoons sunflower seeds

Directions, Easy as 1-2-3:
1.) Mix up dressing (use a container with a lid and
shake it up baby)
2.) Pour dressing over grated carrots and red
cabbage
3.) Top with sunflower seeds right before serving

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A Diet Diverse is a Diet Divine —

Eat My Brussels Sprouts and Cranberry Pasta Salad
Article and Recipe By Elizabeth Fiend

Prehistoric peoples are thought to have dined on 1,500 different wild plants. And throughout history, humans have consumed 80,000 different edible species. Shockingly, today we stick to eating about 30 different plants with only four – wheat, rice, corn and soybeans – accounting for 75% of our calories!

Adding cranberries and Brussels sprouts to your diet helps promote food diversity which is a corner stone to healthy eating. They also taste great and are loaded with goodness.

Make this easy, fantastic cranberry and Brussels sprouts pasta salad to bring to that Holiday Party you’re going to.

Brussels Sprout, Cranberry Pasta Salad
Recipe by Elizabeth Fiend

I designed this recipe as an introduction to Brussels sprouts for those that have vegetable resistors in their house. One strategy I used was to cut the sprouts in to small pieces. Another was to add some sweetness, in the form of dried cranberries, to balance any perceived bitterness from the Brussels sprouts. And finally, it’s pasta…

If you have any funny or frightening stories regarding Brussels sprouts write a comment here.

A Waldorf-like pasta salad, serve hot or cold
Serves 4; Preparation time: 30 min.

Category: Vegan / Vegetarian Recipe

Tip: The green vegetable and red fruit featured in this dish makes it a festive, and easy one-pot dish to bring to a holiday party.

Ingredients
½ lb Brussels Sprouts (reserve ¼ cup cooking water)
½ lb Whole Wheat Linguine
1 tbs Tahini (sesame seed paste)
¼ cup Pine Nuts
½ cup Dried Cranberries (aka craisins)
Salt to taste
Cayenne pepper to taste (optional)

Method
Prepare linguine as directed on package (or, if you have it, this is a good recipe to use leftover pasta)

Wash Brussels sprouts with warm water and remove any scary looking leaves
Cut the bottom stem off, keeping the mini-cabbage intact
Quarter each sprout, then cut each quarter crosswise (if some leaves fall off it’s okay)

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil, add Brussels sprouts
Reduce heat and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, or until tender but still slightly crispy (taste them) DO NOT OVERCOOK!

Drain, reserving ¼ cup cooking water

In a small bowl or tea cup blend until smooth reserved cooking water and tahini

Put pasta in serving bowl and coat with tahini mix

Gently stir-in Brussels sprouts and dried cranberries

And pine nuts right before eating

Season to taste with salt and cayenne pepper (do NOT overdo the salt, please)

Why a Diverse Diet is Important and Health Info on Cranberries and Brussels Sprouts:

Having diversity in your diet is an often overlooked way to remain healthy. Within each food category lies a cornucopia of nutrient-rich foods. And each one of these foods contains hundreds of unique substances — the good, like antioxidants and phytonutrients, and the not-so-good toxins. By eating a diverse diet, you increase your chance of getting the good and decrease your chance of consuming too much of the bad.

Increase eating the good + Decrease eating the bad = Decrease your risk of disease.

Prehistoric peoples are thought to have dined on 1,500 different wild plants. And throughout history, humans we have consumed 80,000 different edible species, with 3,000 of those in widespread use. Shockingly, today we generally stick to eating just 30 different plants with only four – wheat, rice, corn and soybeans – accounting for 75% of our calories!

Think about it? How many different kinds of fruits did you eat this week? You did eat some fruit this week, right?

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SUNSHINE PASTA SALAD

Make this for the next barbecue!

RECIPE BY ELIZABETH FIEND
Serves 4, Time: 45 minutes

Category: Vegan / Vegetarian Recipe

With the arrival of summer you’ll really enjoy this cold pasta salad which capitalizes on freshness. This tangy, light pasta salad features the color orange. It will brighten your outlook and your look because it’s made with a dressing that contains lots of healthy herbs and spices, but no fat! The spices used in the dressing weren’t chosen randomly. They taste good and have health benefits. Ginger has anti-inflammatory properties that increase circulation, give energy, alleviate aches and pains and help reduce symptoms of allergies and sinus congestion. Mustard fights stress as it is a good source of magnesium, a calming mineral. Garlic is an immune system booster.

Salad Ingredients:
1/2 lb thin whole wheat spaghetti
4 tablespoons parsley chopped
2 carrots grated and diced
1 orange bell pepper cut into thin strips
3 oranges peeled and cut into bite size pieces
½ pint grape tomatoes cut into quarters
1 cup pecans broken into halves

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Soy to the World!

Written by ELIZABETH FIEND

You wait and wait, eagerly anticipating your favorite time of the year, and suddenly, it’s here! April is National Soy Month, the most delicious month of the year!

Soy is one hell of an amazing plant, one that’s been part of the human diet for over 5,000 years. But it’s much, much more than just veggie burgers. The soybean is also used as food for livestock and it has all the properties of petroleum — except unlike petrol, soy is biodegradable.

Wow, doesn’t knowing that you could fuel up your car or feed your cow with it make soy even more mouth-watering, appetizing and desirable to you?

This bean’s potential is astounding.

Ben Franklin was so intrigued by the story of a “cheese” made from a bean he acquired some seeds, soybeans actually, and sent them to his West Philly homey John Bartram’s estate. Ben also sent along directions on how to turn the beans into curds, aka tofu.

Despite Ben’s efforts, soy never really caught on in Ye Olde America, and was primarily grown for livestock feed and oil until food shortages during WWII stimulated interest in the plant as a source of food for human beans.

Tofu, which had Ben so jazzed up, wasn’t sold in an American supermarket until 1958. Not coincidentally, I made my own debut that year.

Franklin was only one great thinker (and eater) who was intrigued by the potential of the plant from Asia. Both George Washington Carver and Henry Ford donated a great deal of their lives to this marvelous bean.

Carver, the African-American educator and agricultural genius, began investigating soy in hopes it would become a crop newly-emancipated slaves might use to gain financial independence. His soy products include candles, soups, coffee, cheeses, ice cream, flour and oil. (Click to see my in-depth article on GW Carver.)

Henry Ford also had a million projects going on involving soy and dedicated the last two decades of his life to the bean. Among other things, he unveiled a car made with soy-composite body parts in 1941 and was known to be out and about town in a suit spun out of soy.

As a food, soy can’t be beat. It’s packed with more protein than any other bean. In fact, the soybean is the only plant food source that contains ALL of the nine essential amino acids, making it equal to the protein from animal sources. But unlike animal products, soy has no cholesterol and is much lower in saturated fat.

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A SUPER QUICK and easy sandwich with a surprisingly sophisticated taste. Good quality bread and the right hot sauce make all the difference.

Preparation Time: 2 seconds

Category: Vegan / Vegetarian Recipe

Some guy made this sandwich for me while I was on tour with my band More Fiends in the Netherlands. I thought the idea was ridiculous until I tasted it — a peanut butter sandwich with hot sauce!?!? I say “some guy” because, frankly it’s all a blur. I think I was crashing in his apartment (hey don’t get funny, the whole band was there). But as for the “guy” himself, sorry dude, I can’t remember anything but the sandwich.

Later on I realized the idea for the sandwich is borrowed from the flavors of spicy peanut sauce and a Dutch guy would make this sandwich because of the Netherlands connection to Indonesia. [The later having been a colony of the former.]

For the bread, I like to use a hearty whole wheat with oats and seeds. My favorite brand of hot sauce, available from an Asian supermarket, is made by Huy Fong and called Sriracha. Its got a rooster on the bottle and a green lid. Sriracha is made from sun-ripened chilies which are ground into a smooth paste along with garlic. It is the absolutely best, most versatile hot sauce I’ve ever tasted.

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RED x THREE
Loaded with antioxidants!

Recipe BY ELIZABETH FIEND
Serves 4 – Time: 1/2 hour
Category: Vegan Recipe

Red foods generally contain more vitamins than their less showy cousins. Take advantage by combining 3 red vegetables and tofu in this spicy, Korean flavored vegan meal. You only use one pot, making this the perfect dish for those with roommates (cuz you know they never wash the dishes).

I don’t serve this with a starch (aka rice) as most people would. This keeps it way down on the glycemic index making it a most filling, but not fattening meal. For more on how you can use the glycemic index to lose weight click here.

SEASONING Ingredients
1 t sesame oil
3 or more cloves fresh garlic — minced
2 T fresh ginger — minced
HOT pepper flakes (to taste, I recommend a lot!)

RED STUFF
2 RED onions — sliced into ½ moons
2 RED peppers — cut into match sticks
1/2 head RED cabbage — shredded

PROTEIN
1 lb. firm tofu – cut into cubes and baked or lightly sauteed

SAUCE
1 T light soy sauce
1/4 c lime juice
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c chopped cilantro

TOPPING (more protein!)
1/2 c walnuts pieces

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Orange Creamsicle Cake

RECIPE BY ELIZABETH FIEND

A favorite childhood memory of mine was running outside when the ice cream truck came around my block. I would always get the Orange Creamsicle ice cream bar. Orange sherbet coating over a rich creamy vanilla ice cream bar, this treat always spelled carefree days to me! I’ve duplicates these flavors as a refreshing, fruit filled cake. Yes, there really are two pounds of fruit in this cake!!!

Quick and easy. Dress up a store bought cake or if you have a favorite recipe, make your own angel food cake. You’ll get raves, trust me!! Only takes 1/2 hour (with store bought cake).

THIS CAKE JUST SCREAMS FUN!! MAKE THIS CAKE FOR YOUR NEXT PARTY.

Category: Vegetarian, Dessert Recipe

OK, a cake’s a cake. It’s dessert and there’s no denying it. But I’ve tried made this cake more healthful by incorporating two pounds of fruit into the recipe. (I must be a genius!) Plus I’ve lightened up the custard filling by using yogurt and mascarpone cheese, a soft, sweet Italian cheese with half the calories of butter. And — angel food cake contains less fat than most other cakes.

Special tools: Angel-food-cake cutter. This looks kinda like an Afro comb. You first slide it down thru the cake poking little holes in to the cake which will enable you to then slice the cake with a regular knife. (If you don’t have one, it will be a little harder to slice, but not the end of the world.)

Ingredients:
Use your favorite recipe for angel food cake. Or to save time use a store-bought cake.
8 oz mascarpone cheese
12 oz orange-cream yogurt
Two 15 oz cans mandarin oranges (drained)
8oz prepared whipped topping (if frozen, defrost) or fresh whipped cream
½ cup sliced almonds

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