Kale Salad with Avocado Dressing

Linda Tyler’s previous article published by VRG features Kale Salads. These recipes will inspire you to eat your greens! Find recipes for:

Thai-Inspired Coconut Kale Salad

Kale Tabbouleh

Pear Balsamic Salad with Candied Walnuts

Apple and Kale Salad with Curry Dressing

Kale Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing

Rainbow Kale and Grain Salad

Read the entire article here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2021issue2/2021_issue2_kale_salads.php

To subscribe to Vegan Journal in the USA, see: https://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

photo from Rabbit

The Vegetarian Resource Group maintains an online Guide to Vegan/Vegetarian Restaurants in the USA and Canada. Here are some recent vegan restaurant additions. The entire guide can be found here: http://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php

To support the updating of this online restaurant guide, please donate at: www.vrg.org/donate

Here are some new additions to VRG’s guide (Note: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many are doing take-out and/or delivery now):

Craft Roots, 17230 Monterey Rd, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Locally owned and family-friendly, 100% plant-based menu. Seasonal specials and an ever-evolving menu. Extensive craft beer and cocktail menu. Bites, salad bowls, burgers, wood-fired pizzas with desserts. Gluten-free items also available. Try a Hummus Plate, Seasonal Veggie Bowl, and Coconut Chocolate Mousse. Outdoor seating also available.

Full Taste Vegan, 5255 Peachtree Blvd Suite 106, Chamblee, GA 30341

For Starters on the dinner menu you’ll find Trumpet Mushrooms in an herb white wine sauce, Cajun Deviled Eggs—Coconut milk eggs, garbanzo yolks, and smoked maple sauce to note a couple. Some entrees gracing the Dinner menu are: Truffle Burgers with Cashew Smoked Cheddar, Jackfruit with sauce Au Poivre, Butternut Ravioli with vegan butter cream sauce, and a shiitake ragout with truffled white corn grits & fresh herbs. Also enjoy mocktails, and a variety of desserts including Coconut Cream Pie with Lavender Ice Cream and Salted Caramel and Maple Pecan Pie with Ginger Ice Cream and Belgian Chocolate sauce. Lunch Entrees are similar to dinner plus a few different options like Bagel with Carrot Lox and Dill Cashew Cream Cheese and Shiitake Spinach Frittata made with mung bean eggs and caramelized onions. Brunch is served on Sunday.

Goji Berry Café, 1325 Grand Ave., Ste. 8, Phoenix, AZ 85007

Located in the buzzy food vibe of Grand Avenue, the menu offers mocktails, refreshers, coffees, lattes, acai bowls, smoothies, salads, paninis, desserts, ice cream, and pastries. A great stop for any time of the day.

Mother Fool’s Coffeehouse, 1101 Williamson St., Madison, WI 53703

Serves soups, pastries, other baked goods, and more. Try an artichoke spinach roll, cold brew coffee, and chocolate bar to go. Enjoy live music on the weekend.

Rabbit, 122 E. 7th St., New York, NY 10009

Rabbit offers a plant-based raw food tasting venue. The chef and manager serve more than a dozen courses to a limited number of diners at the bar. The seasonally rotating menu features dishes such as tomato and watermelon gazpacho; beet ravioli with smoked pine nuts; and avocado tartare with tomatoes and plantains. Each tasting menu includes a dessert such as a blackberry and lemon tart. Low-alcoholic cocktails include freshly squeezed juices and infused waters.

The Sushi Samurai, 1817 Queen Anne Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98109

Menu items include fried dumplings, miso soup, plant-based sushi rolls, and alcohol. Outdoor seating available.

The Vegan Vato, 16838 D St., Victorville, CA 92395

After losing family members to health problems, owners Damion and Amber Carlos are motivated to try to help spare others from having to endure similar pain. Feeling healthier since they’ve adopted a vegan lifestyle, they want to enjoy and share family recipes while striving to promote health and so The Vegan Vato blooms in the High Desert. They use fresh local produce. Most dishes are graced with combinations of traditional Mexican seasonings such as lime, cilantro, chipotle and jalapeno. Entrees include Burritos, Tacos, Taco Salad Bowls, Enchiladas, Nachos, and Loaded Fries. They are located on Historic Route 66 in Downtown Victorville.

Tithi from New Jersey said: I have been a vegetarian my whole life, but only last year did I realize the biggest advantage vegetarians have: we can grow our own food. I started growing my food last year and have been actively involved in sharing my passion with friends and family alike. Now, they love it too! Vegetarianism and vegetarian food are often deemed as boring when that is simply not true; the benefits of vegetarianism exist not only for the animals that you save but also for you–from eating cleaner and saving money to getting to bond with your family while you can grow your own food. Here, I become “Brocco Lee” and show the power of vegetarianism. See her video at https://www.vrg.org/veg_videos.php#tihimehta

See other videos here: https://www.vrg.org/veg_videos.php

The deadline for The Vegetarian Resource Group’s next video contest is July 15, 2023. See: https://www.vrg.org/videoscholarship.php

Nothing beats a simple graphic to get the vegan message out! The Vegetarian Resource Group created My Vegan Plate to display on outreach tables at various events. If you live in the United States, you can request copies of this handout to distribute by emailing us at [email protected]

You can view the handout here: https://www.vrg.org/nutshell/MyVeganPlate.pdf

This same handout can also be read in Spanish here: https://www.vrg.org/images/miplatovegano.jpg

We also have a version you can print out for kids to color on: https://www.vrg.org/nutshell/MyVeganPlateCP.pdf

Donations towards this outreach are always appreciated: www.vrg.org/donate

Have you ever noticed how many different types of rice there are? Chef Nancy Berkoff’s article The Long and Short of It – Meet Red, Black, Green, Gold, and Purple Rice! explains what the differences are and how to prepare vegan dishes using a variety of rice. Enjoy Sofrito with Carolina Gold Rice; Spanakorizo; Walnut & Wild Rice Salad; Cashew Coconut Purple Rice; Green Herbed Pilaf; Mango Sticky Rice; and Red Rice Pilaf.

Find the entire article here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2021issue2/2021_issue2_long_short_of_it.php

To subscribe to Vegan Journal in the USA, see: https://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

A perfect easy dessert or brunch dish to share! This simple recipe by Leslie Gray Streeter will come together in a snap and please any crowd. Toss together chopped apples (or pears) with seasonings and an oatmeal crumb topping. Everything goes on one sheet pan and into the oven. For a decadent treat, serve with a scoop of vegan vanilla ice cream!

Go to: https://youtu.be/WAQ6pPsqMnI

Dining Services at University of Maryland College Park has made it easy to find out what is vegan. Menus from each dining hall are posted two weeks in advance at nutrition.umd.edu  You can set filters to find out what is vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free etc. The choices for one sample vegan breakfast included: (Vegan) Chicken Breakfast Tacos, Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Spinach and Carrots, Vegan Breakfast Sausage, Vegan Chocolate Chip Pancake, Vegan Cinnamon Apple Barley Pudding, Vegan Cream Cheese, Vegan Sour Cream, Vegan Vanilla Soy Yogurt, Hash Brown Patty, Grits, Oatmeal, Blueberry Compote, Earth Balance Soy Free Spread, and Vegan Pancake.

Take a look at other meals at  https://nutrition.umd.edu/

The contents of this posting, our website, and our other publications, including Vegan Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.

Recent topics brought up include:

– How to easily find vegan options in UMD dining halls

– Vegetarian hosts being sought for veggie foreign exchange students

– Vegan books for children

https://www.facebook.com/groups/VRGparentsandkids is intended to be a group that offers support for families raising children on vegan diets and for vegan kids around the world. We envision it as a place to get advice about a wide-variety of topics: pregnancy, birthday parties, school lunches, Halloween, non-leather apparel, cruelty-free products, summer camps, and more. Please use it as a place to share your wisdom, seek advice, or just find a sympathetic ear. The goal is to offer support.

Consequently, any profane, defamatory, offensive, or violent language will be removed. Feel free to disagree, but do so respectfully. Hateful or discriminatory comments regarding race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or political beliefs will not be tolerated. We expect that posts should relate to vegan diets and lifestyles. The Vegetarian Resource Group reserves the right to monitor all content and ban any user who posts in violation of the above rules, any law or regulation, SPAM, or anything otherwise off topic.

Please share this information with any veggie families that you know! Thanks.

By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

Phytosterols, also called plant sterols, are substances found naturally in plants that have a chemical structure similar to cholesterol. When we eat plants, we also consume the phytosterols that are found in those plants. Phytosterols are not well absorbed by humans because their structure is different from cholesterol which is more readily absorbed.

Studies involving human subjects fed people 1 to 2 grams of phytosterols a day, an amount higher than most people get from foods. The subjects experienced, on average, a 10% reduction in total cholesterol and in LDL-cholesterol (1, 2). This reduction in cholesterol has been attributed to reduced cholesterol absorption. Even if your diet is free of cholesterol, you still absorb, or more accurately, reabsorb cholesterol that your body produces. If you reabsorb less of this recycled cholesterol because you’re eating plant sterols, your body has less cholesterol to deal with.

Vegans and lacto-ovo vegetarians have higher intakes of phytosterols than do nonvegetarians, on average (3).  Corn oil and canola oil are especially good sources of phytosterols, supplying about 0.1 gram per Tablespoon. Pistachios, cashews, soybeans, and almonds are other foods that contain generous amounts of phytosterols, although other fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains also supply phytosterols (4). Food companies have added phytosterols to foods including margarine, mayonnaise, orange juice, and yogurt, although most of these products are not vegan or are not widely available. Phytosterols may help to explain why vegans and vegetarians have a lower risk of heart disease.

References

1. Andersson SW, Skinner J, Ellegård L, et al. Intake of dietary plant sterols is inversely related to serum cholesterol concentration in men and women in the EPIC Norfolk population: a cross-sectional study. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2004;58(10):1378-1385.
2. Klingberg S, Ellegård L, Johansson I, et al. Inverse relation between dietary intake of naturally occurring plant sterols and serum cholesterol in northern Sweden. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008;87(4):993-1001.
3. Jaceldo-Siegl K, Lütjohann D, Sirirat R, Mashchak A, Fraser GE, Haddad E. Variations in dietary intake and plasma concentrations of plant sterols across plant-based diets among North American adults. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2017;61(8):10.1002/mnfr.201600828.
4. Linus Pauling Institute. Micronutrient Information Center. Phytosterols. https://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/dietary-factors/phytochemicals/phytosterols. Updated, 2017

Plant-based meatball subs are now available at Lion’s Choice restaurants in the St. Louis and Kansas City area. You can order this item without the cheese. For more information, see

https://lionschoice.com/vegetarian

https://lionschoice.com/locations (Locations)

For information about other chains, see https://www.vrg.org/fastfoodinfo.php

For information about veg restaurants in the USA and Canada, go to https://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php

The contents of this website and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal and Vegan Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.