And a site related note: I put an order in for more Veg Blog stickers, so those of you that have been patiently waiting for yours, they’ll be on the way as soon as I get them in.

We hadn’t made our own pizza in a while, so last week we fired up the oven and put together the best nearly-vegan pizza we’ve made yet. I tell you, I’m loving Veganrella’s flexibility more and more. It worked great on the pizza. We only used one kind of faux meat (Safeway’s soy selection was pretty poor): chopped up Momo’s Veggielicious Drummettes, which were quite good, even without the sauce. We used no dairy except for the bit that was already in the Boboli pizza crust. Anyone have a tried and true vegan pizza crust recipe that you’d sell your soul for?

The Veganrella also came in handy last night when I made Rice and Peas with Curry Cheese Sauce from Nava Atlas‘ Vegetariana. It took a little while to make, but most of the time was spent cooking the rice. The curry cheese sauce was mighty good, and I used Veganrella with great results. This stuff would be excellent over some steamed broccoli. The final result was a tasty, but relatively mellow, blend of Indian spices (tumeric, cumin, etc.) and easy to find ingredients. This was another “not-quite-vegan” dish, as I used a 1/2 cup of plain yogurt (I couldn’t find plain soy yogurt).

If you haven’t heard, some insurance firms in the UK are giving discounts to vegetarians because they’re likely to “take health matters more seriously and are less likely to be taken ill…” See “Veggies travel cheaper” for an overview of one company that’s discounting their travel insurance for vegetarians.

The most interesting part of this article, though, talks about what could be dubbed “falling coconut insurance.” Yup: they’ll insure you against falling coconuts. According to the article, each year 150 people are killed by falling coconuts and another 1,000 are injured.

A reader of my Vegan.com journal wrote in and passed along some interesting stories…

The first is about a woman that was talking to patient who had just had open heart surgery. The woman told the patient the health benefits of eating a vegetarian diet when the patient told the woman that her doctor said that it’s “OK to eat steak, just don’t eat the whole cow.” It’s amazing, and frightening, that a doctor would say this to someone who just had open heart surgery.

The reader also mentioned a vegan friend whose family went out for a steak dinner to celebrate the success of his mother’s quadruple bypass surgery. Can you imagine? That’s like going to a cigar bar to celebrate a successful operation for throat cancer.

Remember the suit against McDonald’s for their use of beef tallow in cooking their fries? Well, it’s just about settled. The proposed settlement, according to a “confidential draft” calls for McDonald’s to pay $6 million to vegetarian charities, $2 million to Hindu/Sikh groups, $1 million to promote children’s hunger relief, and $1 million to support kosher dietary practices. The settlement also calls for apologies in various magazines and for McDonald’s to form an advisory board to counsel the company on vegetarian issues. Beyond that, $2.4 million would go to the plaintiff’s attorneys. It’s important to note that McDonald’s “does not admit to any wrongdoing.” (Thanks to Paul for pointing this out.)

For a quick lunch, I have got to give props to Heba’s Health Foods, a company (individual?) that has some really tasty pre-made vegan lunches available in Northern Virginia health food stores. I’m particularly fond of the Meat Free Veggie Chicken Orzo, which has orzo, non-GMO soy flour, green and red peppers, onions, garlic, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, and tumeric in a small plastic container for $2.80. I’m a huge fan of orzo and the faux chicken has a nice consistency.

Heba’s doesn’t have a web site, but I called them up to ask a few questions. They offer about 25 different packaged meals including hummus, baba ganoush, and a few different pestos. Almost all of their offerings are vegan (apparently one or two items have dairy) and are available in Virginia, DC, and Maryland. She is looking to expand to the Carolinas as well. If you’d like to get in touch, Heba’s address is 7210 Nathan Ct / Manassas VA 20109. She can also be reached at 703-361-2958.

Meals, minus the beef: More colleges branching out into vegan, vegetarian cuisine

“At Smith and Bowdoin colleges, dishes like tempeh cacciatore… have become standard fare.” Wow… tempeh at college. When I was in college, I didn’t even know what tempeh was.

According to the article, Smith and Bowdoin colleges, both in New England, are two of the top ten vegetarian-friendly colleges, according to PETA. Other colleges on the list are New York University, University of California-Santa Cruz, Columbia University, Indiana University, College of Wooster (Ohio), Virginia Tech, Vassar College, and Elmira College.

Though I wasn’t vegetarian when I was in college, I can definitely say that the food service folks didn’t cater towards vegetarians. And all the vegans I knew opted out of the food plan all-together. I don’t ever remember seeing a tofu dish anywhere. The best chance for vegetarian meals came on rare theme nights where they would serve up ethnic dishes. It’s curious, though, since a large percentage of college students are vegetarian (the article says 20 percent, though that seems a bit high, from my own experience). Of Smith College’s 1900 students, 200 are vegan and 300 are vegetarian.

My cousin, who just entered college, has been vegetarian for almost ten years. She said that there aren’t exactly many vegetarian options at her school either, which is kind of surprising, as she attends a major university.

I think if I were back at college now and living off of the meal plan, I’d raise an issue with the food plan. Vegetarian college students need more options than cheese pizza and vegans need more choice than side dishes.

It took nearly a year, but a recipe I submitted to AllRecipes has finally been published on their site. I’ve mirrored the recipe, but I invite you to look at the original as well: Garlic and Leek Ditalini (lacto).

By no means is it a healthy dish, but it is a mighty rich and tasty dinner.