Join The VRG with $25 via our donation form,
and receive the Vegetarian Journal for one year and a copy of Meatless Meals for Working People: Quick and Easy Vegetarian Recipes!

Meatless Meals for Working People by Debra Wasserman shows you how to be a vegetarian within your hectic schedule. This book features 100 quick and easy recipes, convenient frozen food ideas, and a chapter on fast packaged foods. A vegetarian spice chart, vegan meal plan, and seasonal party ideas for twelve assist the reader who wants to do more.

Fast meals include Rigatoni Combination and Easy Tostadas. Just a few of the lunch ideas are Mock "Tuna" Salad, Rice Burgers, and Corn Fritters. For dessert try Coconut Clusters, Rice Pudding, Fresh Fruit Salad with Peanut Creme, and Spicy Date Nut Spread.

By Lindsey Siferd

VRG Interns Jessica, Lindsey, and Yasmin staffing the VRG booth at the School Health Interdisciplinary Program conference in Towson, Maryland.

This past Monday, August 1, two other VRG summer interns and I staffed an outreach booth at the School Health Interdisciplinary Program (SHIP) conference in Towson, Maryland. Considering that the last two booths I worked at were an outdoor festival and a farmer’s market in Baltimore, this conference was a very different experience.

SHIP was taking place at the Sheraton North Hotel, and I arrived bright and early on Monday morning. The VRG had a table with a tablecloth and comfortable chairs already set up, and I received a nametag as well. Since SHIP is a conference catering to health professionals, teachers, and anyone involved with the school system, we had packed a lot of materials that were directed towards children. I set up our booth with these materials, which included the “I Love Animals and Broccoli Coloring Book” and lesson plans, my new “My Vegan Plate” coloring page, the vegetarian chapter from the Pediatric Manual of Clinical Dietetics, handouts on veganism in pregnancy and childhood, being a vegan teenager, and many more. We also had all of our books on display and a colorful VRG sign.

Soon after I set up, the other VRG interns, Jessica and Yasmin, arrived. It was great to do a booth with just interns, because we were able to talk to each other about our experiences with interning this summer, and also share different points of view with the people stopping by our table. Yasmin is a vegan who is head of UMBC’s veg club on campus, Jessica is a nutrition major at the University of Maryland, College Park, and I am a vegetarian English major from St. Mary’s College of MD, a small liberal arts school. All of these different backgrounds came together in an unique way, and we had many people ask us about why we chose to intern at the VRG and about our experiences with a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle.

Several visitors to the booth were interested in materials for their students, and they were pleased to see materials that dealt with nutrition for children. One woman took a sample of all of our materials, and said she wanted to show these to her contacts in the school system in order to help convince them to serve healthier school lunches. Several also said they wanted to check out our website’s section on teens, family, and kids.

We were also surprised by the number of people that wanted materials for themselves, or their children or relatives. In this aspect, the SHIP booth was like the other two booths that I worked– people were personally interested in a meatless lifestyle, and wanted the tools to maintain one. One woman had even subscribed to our journal for several years, and was interested in buying our “Vegans Know How to Party” book for an event she was having later that month.

I think it was important for the VRG to have a table at the SHIP conference– we were able to reach a group of professionals who work within the school system, many of whom advocate for a healthier lifestyle for their students. Many people expressed their excitement at our presence at the conference, and were glad that we had free Vegetarian Journals and a variety of handouts for them to take. For the interns, it was also a way for us to experience tabling at a professional event, something which we all learned from. I hope that the VRG can continue to table at events like SHIP, and further help those in the school system aid students in pursuing a healthier lifestyle.

If you are interested in volunteering at a booth like the one above, please e-mail [email protected]. For a list of other ways to volunteer and get involved with the VRG, please visit http://www.vrg.org/getinvolved.php.
Donations from individuals like you help the VRG continue to sponsor outreach booths like the one mentioned above. To donate, please go to https://www.givedirect.org/give/givefrm.asp?CID=1565.

California Pizza Kitchen [ http://cpk.com/ ] is a casual eatery with restaurant locations across the United States. Their menu of pizza, pasta, salads, sandwiches, and more includes both vegetarian and vegan items. Additionally, CPK’s website features ‘Vegetarian & Vegan Information,’ a 3-page pdf that defines the different types of vegetarians. It also provides guidelines for each type as well as menu items that are acceptable or can be modified (and how to modify them). The document was last updated June 1, 2011 and can be viewed here: http://cpk.com/menu/pdfs/vegetarian.pdf

For more restaurant information, please check out the following:

Fast Food Information:
http://www.vrg.org/fastfoodinfo.htm

Top Restaurant Chains for Vegetarians & Vegans:
http://www.vrg.org/restaurant/top_restaurant_chains.php

A Sample Vegan Meal Plan If You Are Eating at Restaurant Chains:
http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2009issue3/2009_issue3_sample_chain_vegan_mealplan.php

I’m spending a month this summer working on a trail crew. I said I’d help plan meals. What are some cheap, easy vegan foods that work for camping?

Vegan marshmallows roasting over the fire are a picture-perfect camping treat. But are you looking for more filling, less pricey alternatives for your next camping trip? The foods below helped sustain me and nine other hungry trail workers this summer, on a budget of less than $5 per person per day.

Oatmeal: If you’re only planning for a few days, oatmeal packets are convenient because they come in a variety of flavors. For a longer trip or more people, though, buying instant oatmeal in bulk saves money. Try adding peanut butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, and/or dried fruit.

Soy milk: Since most soy milk only needs refrigeration after it’s been opened, two or three people should be able to finish a carton before it goes bad. You may also want to try powdered soy milk, which is fine as an ingredient but tastes grainy and watery to me if I just add water.

Bread: My trail crew baked sandwich bread each night for the next day’s lunch. If you have time and a small oven-box that sits on your camp stove, this is a fun way to save money. We used a simple yeast bread recipe—just yeast, sugar, water, flour, and salt—and sometimes mixed in ingredients like cinnamon and raisins for pizzazz. Of course, store-bought sandwich bread is an option as well.

Gorp: A camping classic, gorp technically stands for “good old raisins and peanuts,” but often refers to a delicious mixture of nuts, dried fruit, chocolate, and anything else you’d like to add.

Fruits and vegetables: Some types of produce, like apples, citruses, onions, potatoes, and carrots, seem to hold up better than others. My group also ate blueberries, cherries, watermelon, celery, broccoli, corn, and bell peppers. Canned and dried fruits and veggies are great, too.

Peanut butter: Peanut butter is a staple of any camping trip because you can put it on almost anything for more nourishment and flavor—sandwiches, of course, but also apples, tortillas, hot or cold cereal, celery, carrots, chocolate, pasta…

Gado-gado: Although I can’t attest to the authenticity of this dish, the peanutty pasta that we called gado-gado was one of my favorite dinners. To make it, cook pasta in one pot and sauté vegetables (like onions, carrots, broccoli, and peppers) in a pan. Mix peanut butter, soy sauce, brown sugar, and hot water until you have a sauce with your desired taste and consistency. Drain the pasta, and add the veggies and sauce, plus crumbled tofu if you’d like.

Burritos: When you’re camping, almost anything is fair game to roll up in a tortilla, but I’d recommend rice, beans, salsa, and sautéed veggies such as onions, carrots, corn, canned tomatoes, and/or bell peppers. If you have leftover tortillas, try making breakfast or dessert quesadillas by heating a tortilla with some combination of peanut butter, fruit, and chocolate chips folded inside.

One of the main challenges of camp cooking is the lack of refrigeration. In my experience, some foods that I would refrigerate at home lasted for several days or more at room temperature. However, if you have any concern at all about the safety of a food item, don’t eat it.

Written by Sarah Alper, a VRG volunteer and lifelong vegan

This article originally appeared in Vegetarian Journal Issue 1, 2009, in the article A Relaxing Weekend Brunch by Peggy Rynk. To subscribe, either: join VRG online with $25, call us at (410) 366-8343 and order by phone with your Mastercard® or Visa®, or complete this form.

Strawberry Pancakes

(Makes approximately 16 pancakes)

These tasty pancakes don’t even need syrup, but they are good with syrup, too.

• 2 cups unbleached flour
• ¹⁄₄ cup cornstarch
• 2 Tablespoons granulated vegan sweetener
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• ¹⁄₄ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups chopped fresh strawberries
• 2¹⁄₂cups soymilk
• 2 Tablespoons canola oil
• Additional canola oil to prepare griddle

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, blend together the dry ingredients. Add the strawberries and stir until coated with the flour mixture.

Make a well in the center and add the soymilk and oil. Stir to blend well, but do not beat.

Brush a griddle lightly with additional oil. Heat the griddle to medium heat and ladle on the batter, using enough batter to make 4-inch pancakes. Cook over medium heat until lightly browned on the bottom. Flip each pancake over and cook on the other side until lightly browned as well. Remove from griddle and repeat process with more oil and batter until all of the batter has been used. Keep pancakes in a warm oven until all are finished.

This study of vegan toddlers is being conducted by researchers at Loma Linda University. Children residing in the U.S. or Canada should be generally healthy, vegan, age 1.5 to 2.5 years, and not currently breastfeeding.

To learn more about the study, go to https://myllu.llu.edu/apps/public_health/veganchildrenstudy/. For specific inquiries, send email to [email protected].

Vegans looking for a source of calcium should know that many brands of frozen concentrate orange juice are calcium-fortified but don’t list vitamin D on the label. This is in contrast to most cartons of ready-to-serve orange juice which contain both calcium and vitamin D. The vitamin D in cartons of orange juice is typically vitamin D3 (derived from sheep’s wool).

Here are some brands of frozen orange juice concentrate that contain calcium, but don’t list vitamin D:
Giant 100% Pure Orange Juice – Frozen Concentrate with Calcium

Minute Maid Frozen Concentrate Orange Juice with Calcium

Stop and Shop Frozen Concentrate Orange Juice with Calcium

ShopRite Frozen Orange Juice Concentrate with Calcium

Old http://rtetracyclineuse.com Orchard 100% Juice with Calcium

If you find other brands, please let us know. You may notice that some brands of frozen orange juice contain calcium lactate.This is not a dairy-based ingredient.

Since vitamin D promotes calcium absorption, be sure your diet has vegan sources of vitamin D like fortified plant milks (most use D2) or vitamin D supplements.At least 10 to 15 minutes of summer sun exposure two or three times a week is another way to get the vitamin D that you need. Don’t forget the sunscreen once those 10-15 minutes are up!

For more information on ingredients, see
http://www.vrg.org/ingredients/index.php
To support Vegetarian Resource Group research and education , you can donate at https://www.givedirect.org/give/givefrm.asp?CID=1565

The contents of this posting and our other publications, including Vegetarian 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 judgement about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.

VEGAN INDIAN DINNER
Sunday, September 25, 2011, 6:30 pm
San Diego, CA
Royal India, 329 Market Street

Sponsored by The Vegetarian Resource Group during the American Dietetic Association Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo
Meet Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, Catherine Conway, MS, RD, and other vegetarian dietitians.

BUFFET MENU:
Salad
Samosas
Veggie Pakora
Aloo Gobi
Bengan Bhartha
Green Beans Masala
Veggie Mango Pineapple
Channa Masala
Peas Pulao Rice
Rice
Salad

RESERVATIONS AND PAYMENT MUST BE MADE IN ADVANCE. Refunds will only be made if we can replace your seat.

Name:
Address:
City:
State:
Telephone:
E-mail:
Attendees:
___ Number of adults X $25 before August 20, 2011= $_____
___ Number of adults X $35 after August 20, 2011= $_____
___ Children X $20 before August 20, 2011= $_____
___ Donation for outreach to dietitians $_____

Please send payment to The Vegetarian Resource Group, P.O. Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203; Call (410) 366-8343 9-5 AM Eastern Time, Monday to Friday, or pay at online here. Please write San Diego dinner in the notes field and the name of attendees.
(The early registration price is limited to the first fifty registrants.)

by Jeanne Yacoubou, MS

VRG Research Director

A reader contacted The VRG in July 2011 telling us that she had heard reports from a manager at her local Moe’s® Southwest Grill in Florida that the black beans at that restaurant chain possibly contained non-vegetarian calcium stearate. She also had heard that the whole grain tortilla contained honey. The reader asked The VRG to confirm if this information was true.

We contacted the Moe’s® manager asking him for more information regarding the black bean seasoning. He learned from a senior level employee at Moe’s® that the calcium stearate in the black bean seasoning was all-vegetable. A Singapore company which manufactures the calcium stearate used in the black bean seasoning sent an official declaration letter to him stating that “stearic acid, the raw material for the calcium stearate, is of vegetable-based origin (palm oil).”

The VRG also received confirmation from Moe’s® Southwest Grill that honey is an ingredient in the whole grain tortilla.

A manager at Moe’s® Southwest Grill told The VRG that all-vegetable bread products are available at Moe’s®. He stated that “the flour tortillas are vegan but contain enriched flour….Tacos can be made on a fried corn tortilla or a soft corn tortilla. All items can also be made without a tortilla.”

In a follow-up email requesting further clarification on the all-vegetable tortillas at Moe’s®, the manager told us that “whole wheat tortillas can be used for burritos and quesadillas. Corn tortillas can be used for tacos. Flour is the “standard” tortilla and can be used for any entree. Of these, only the whole wheat [tortilla] is non-vegan.”

Concerning other menu items at Moe’s®, The VRG was informed by the Florida Moe’s® manager that he has “…checked our pinto bean seasonings and they are vegan, as well as the rice and pico de gallo (all of which have their own seasoning additions).”

The contents of this article, our website, and our other publications, including The Vegetarian 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 employees or company statements.Information does change and mistakes are always possible. Please use your own best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. Further research or confirmation may be warranted.

For more information on food ingredients in menu items at quick service and casual dining restaurant chains, please visit our website at:
http://www.vrg.org/fastfoodinfo.htm

For updates on menu items at restaurant chains and other information of
interest to vegetarians and vegans, please subscribe to our free
enewsletter at
http://www.vrg.org/vrgnews/

For ingredient information, see
http://www.vrg.org/ingredients/index.php
http://www.vrg.org/mobile_apps.php
http://www.vrg.org/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=8

There are many ways to stay connected to The Vegetarian Resource Group!
Get our blog delivered right to your inbox:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheVRGBlog
Visit us on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/#!/VegResourceGrp
and friend us on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/thevegetarianresourcegroup

Your support allows us to continue ingredient research and make updates as new information arises. Please consider making a donation at:
https://www.givedirect.org/give/givefrm.asp?CID=1565

by Jeanne Yacoubou, MS

VRG Research Director

A concerned reader wrote to The VRG in June 2011 asking about the natural flavor listed as an ingredient in Kashi’s® Whole Wheat Biscuits Autumn Wheat® cold cereal. He asked The VRG to look into the matter.

We emailed and called Kashi® about the natural flavor in the Autumn Wheat® cereal and received quick responses as well as a follow-up call back by the same consumer specialist one day after our initial inquiry. Victor told us that the natural flavor in the Autumn Wheat® cereal is “natural maple brown sugar flavor” composed of “maple syrup and brown sugar.” Victor added that “barley malt flavor is added to enhance the flavor of both.” According to Victor, Kashi’s® Autumn Wheat® cereal is all-vegetable.

The VRG further inquired about the processing method for the brown sugar. Victor called me back to say that no cow bone char was used to filter the brown sugar.

We also received an email from Rick, another Kashi® consumer specialist, who wrote generally about Kashi’s® natural flavors: “The natural flavors we use in our products are a proprietary blend of plant and/or herb extracts, nothing from any animal, egg, or dairy origin. All of the ingredients are natural and do not contain MSG.”

A list of Kashi products that do not contain ingredients derived from animals, eggs, dairy or honey appears on their website. These are the following:

Ready-to-eat cereals:

• Kashi® Autumn Wheat® cereal – organic
• Kashi® Cinnamon Harvest® cereal – organic
• Kashi® Island Vanilla® cereal – organic
• Kashi® Strawberry Fields® cereal – organic
• Kashi® Heart to Heart® Oat Flakes & Blueberry Clusters
• Kashi® GOLEAN Crisp! TM Toasted Berry Crumble
• Kashi® 7 Whole Grain Puffs
• Kashi® 7 Whole Grain Nuggets
• Kashi® 7 Whole Grain Flakes

Hot cereals:

• Kashi® Heart to Heart® Maple Instant Oatmeal
• Kashi® Heart to He art® Apple Cinnamon Instant Oatmeal

Wholesome snacks:

• Kashi® Heart to Heart® Original Woven Wheat Cracker
• Kashi® Heart to Heart® Roasted Garlic Woven Wheat Cracker

Frozen entrées:

• Kashi® Black Bean Mango entrée
• Kashi® Mayan Harvest Bake entrée
• Kashi® Tuscan Veggie Bake entrée

For more information about ingredients, see:
http://www.vrg.org/ingredients/index.php
http://www.vrg.org/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/guidetoveganandvegetarianfoodingredients/id443466136?mt=8
http://www.vrg.org/mobile_apps.php

Your support allows us to continue this ingredient research and make
updates as new information arises. Please consider making a donation.
https://www.givedirect.org/give/givefrm.asp?CID=1565

The contents of this website and our other publications, including Vegetarian 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 judgement about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.