Got a sweet tooth?  You can still enjoy a Meatless Monday all the way through dessert.

Vegetarian desserts are everywhere!  And vegan desserts are pretty common, too.  Here are some ideas for familiar veg desserts that are easy to find in stores and restaurants– plus, most are easy to make when you want something sweet.

frozen desserts

• sorbet—try lemon, blueberry, raspberry, chocolate or mint
• chipped ice with maple syrup, Vermont’s version of a snowcone
• frozen banana, dipped in chocolate if you like– any frozen fruit or cake dipped in chocolate would be good

fruit-based desserts

Dessert can be as simple as fresh fruit from the garden– or as complicated as you care to go– and it can all be veg!

• fruit pies and tarts– it’s easy to make these without butter, milk or eggs.  Use seasonal fruits– strawberry-rhubarb in spring; peach and cherry in the summer; apple in the fall; frozen or canned fruit in the winter
• fruit crisps and cobblers —easily made without dairy or egg
• fruit compotes
• apple sauce—it’s easy to make from scratch, and delicious!
• fresh fruit salads– mix fresh, seasonal fruit with fresh mint leaves or spices like cinnamon or cardamom
• fresh fruit– without embellishment

creamy desserts

The rich and creamy desserts are usually made with dairy and egg, but substitutions make delicious sense.  Almond milk, coconut milk and bananas give can give a wonderful creamy texture and flavor to creamy desserts.

baked desserts

Most cakes, cookies and bars can be vegan, by swapping a few ingredients or techniques.  The post-punk kitchen has some great vegan desserts—they’re well-known for their cupcakes!

• ginger snaps from the store are often vegan
• your favorite cakes and cookies can be vegan—experiment!

chocolatey desserts

• dark chocolate
• fondue– make it with dark chocolate and coconut milk or almond milk

drinks—- as dessert

if you don’t like a lot of sugar, but want a sweet treat, try a sweet drink.

• in a tiny glass—dessert wine or maple syrup
• soda pop
• sweet tea

Værsågod! (Norwegian for ‘dig in!’)

fresh veggies make a vegan friendly cookout

Summer cookouts and picnics are fun— friends, food, fresh air and, with luck, sunshine.  The informal, often potluck, atmosphere makes it easy for everyone to eat what they like—  so it should be easy to eat veg.  At the same time, I find it’s also a difficult time to be vegetarian—because the main stage is the grill and the main topic is meat.

Familiar vegetarian and vegan foods at the cookout are often side dishes.  And this is one occasion where I’m usually pretty content to make a meal of food that other people consider side dishes.  There are lots to choose from—and it gives a sometimes rare opportunity to taste food made by friends and family whose cooking usually centers on meat.

Here are some of my favorite vegetarian and vegan foods to bring to the cookout; these are great choices for hosts who want to offer food that can appeal to all their guests.  I’ve linked to recipes from a wide variety of cooking sites on the web:

for the vegetarian & vegan grill

• grilled portobello mushroom— put it on a bun with all the burger fixin’s
• grilled pizza  with your favorite veggies
• burritos—why not?  just make your favorite burrito, coat it lightly with oil and put it on the grill until warmed through and crispy on the outside
• roasted vegetable kabobs
• crusty bread with grilled vegetables and pesto, hummus or red pepper spread
• roasted corn on the cob
• baked potatoes or fries
  

  marinated mushrooms are great on the grill (these are winecap mushrooms)

For grilling, of course, you can buy lots of veg burgers, hot dogs, sausages and other meat-like processed foods.  I think some of these are great, but they’re an acquired taste, so I usually avoid them at cookouts.  Depending on the crowd, you can bring some to grill and share.

hearty veg side dishes

• potato salad—made without mayo; use a delicious vinegar or mustard dressing
• cole slaw—made with a vinegar dressing, instead of mayo, it’ll be vegan and it’ll keep longer
• seven layered bean dip & chips—for a vegan version, swap the sour cream and cheese layers with another tasty treat, like shredded fresh veggies or garlicky mashed potatoes
• baked beans—some recipes have pork, some don’t
• bean salad—the classic 3 bean salad is usually veg, but sometimes people add bacon
• plus, there are more salads, fresh veggies and fresh fruits than I can list– but plenty to fill your plate!

Enjoy the party!  Værsågod! (Norwegian for ‘dig in!’)

Earth Day and Meatless Monday– a perfect pairing!

Vegetarian and vegan snacks are everywhere— and everyone loves them.  We often don’t even think of them as vegetarian, so snacks can easily be vegan without making anyone uncomfortable.

salty snacks

Most salty snacks are vegan, unless they have added flavors like cheese, sour cream or ranch.  Milk and whey show up in a surprising number of seasoning blends for chips– even when you wouldn’t expect it (some black pepper and salt potato chips, for example).  And you can’t be sure about “natural flavors” unless you check with the company and ask if the ingredients are veg.

• potato chips
• tortilla chips and salsa or guacamole
• popcorn
• french fries
• crackers and hummus or tapenade
• veggies
• pretzels
• gorp (good ol’ raisins and peanuts) and other trail mixes

sweet snacks

There are lots of sweets that are vegetarian; for vegan snacks, avoid typical candy bars and freshly-baked cookies.  Dark chocolate and ginger snaps are good bets at any store.

• dark chocolate
• ginger snaps
• fresh fruit
• dried fruit
• Swedish fish candy

This list proves that veg food isn’t always health food.  Use your own judgement about how often and how much to indulge in the less-than-healthy snacks.

When you need a little snack to help you through your earth day clean-up, hike or festival– choose an earth friendly veg snack.  They’re everywhere!

author:  Susan Ask

I’ve been thinking about New Year’s resolutions— for some better routines I’d like to pick up.  I’m inclined to draw on data to help me make plans and so I’ve looked to results from behavioral research which suggests that successful change can be made by setting positive and reasonable goals, encouraging repetition, rewarding positive change and letting go of past failures.  But, data alone don’t always move us to action; sometimes, it takes something (or someone) warmer and fuzzier to provide inspiration.

Inca, who learns new tricks. photo by joe mazza / brave lux

Inca is an almost-14 year old Belgian shepherd dog who moved in with us when she was 8 years old.  She’d spent her entire life, up until then, as a ‘breeder’.  Her main occupation was to gestate and nurse puppies.  Her puppies would be trained to be police dogs, assistance dogs and schutzhund competitors.  But Inca didn’t get the same training.  She was never even trained in the basic obedience of companion animals.  When we met her, she didn’t know ‘sit’ or ‘stay’.  Her lack of training, and meaningful human interaction, was so complete that she didn’t seem to understand that when we talked to her, we were trying to communicate.  She had never lived in a house before, and she didn’t know how to deal with people as companions.  We adopted her knowing that she was not a ‘well-trained dog’ and we were told that she ‘loves to be outside’.  We learned that was a euphemism for ‘she’s never been house-trained’.  It was obvious that Inca didn’t know it was wrong to go to the bathroom on the rug, or in the hall, or in her own bed.  She did it right in front of us.  One day, when my husband was on the toilet, Inca looked at him through the open door—seemed to think ‘that’s a good idea’— and squatted and did her business right there in the living room.  My husband couldn’t do much to stop her at the time.

So, after 8 years of doing her own thing (when and where she wanted), Inca had to learn some new tricks.  And—she did.  She changed her habits—with the help of basic principles of behavioral science:  reasonable expectations, repetition, rewards and letting go of past failures.  We began with teaching her to sit—to get her used to the idea that we expected her to respond to us when we talked with her.  We gave her lots of rewards, including praise and treats, when she did what we asked.  When she failed, we didn’t scold her.  We just moved the treat a bit further over her head, so the easiest way for her to see the treat (and to get it) was to sit.  We repeated this over and over, dozens of time per day; then, after about a week, Inca was sitting on request.  We also started working on her bathroom habits.  We took her out according to a routine schedule— first thing in the morning, after eating and before bed.  We timed the bathroom breaks so she was most likely to succeed; we praised her for going to the bathroom outside.  We avoided setting her up for failure by making her wait indoors too long.  When she made a mistake and peed on the rug (always the rug, never the tile floor), we interrupted her then took her outside and praised her for finishing her business outdoors.  We never rubbed her nose in her mistakes—a strange and unproductive practice that’s given rise to a cliché and some very distressed dogs.  It took many months, but Inca finally learned that going to the bathroom outside was a good idea, even though this new habit was obviously foreign—and inconvenient—to her.  And she came up with her own way to tell us she needs to go out for a bathroom break.

After Inca had been living with us for about 6 months, we noticed something new—something we hadn’t realized was lacking—Inca wagged her tail when she looked at us.

If she could be so transformed, I can pick up a few good habits myself.

With Inca’s example in mind, I’ve resolved to make some changes in my own habits— by setting positive goals, repeating the new practices, rewarding successes and setting aside any lapses— to make a difference for me, our animal companions and the environment.

Here are my resolutions:

Keeper, who loves to explore. photo by joe mazza / brave lux

1. to get more out of our daily walks.  Inca needs to take her walks slowly because she’s now having some trouble with arthritis.  But she still needs to go out to do her business and she likes to see other dogs and investigate tracks.  With Inca, I’ll take slow walks and take more time to observe the world at a gentle pace.  With Keeper (our other dog), I’ll increase the distance and speed of our walks, so we both get the fun and exercise of jauntier walks and we’ll return to a healthier level activity.

2. to write more often for the home ecology blog and the transit to trails blog. 

And– like Inca, I’ll probably learn more along the way.