Notes for Feb 12

Veg Club Notes from February 12, 2013

1. Aladdin's Eatery: we will be departing from the campus Starbucks at 5:30 PM on Sunday, February 17 to go to Aladdin's Eatery in Toledo for a group dinner.*
2. Bake Sale: there will be a bake sale February 19^th and 20^th from 11:00-3:00 PM in the Student Union.
   -bake night will be Monday, February 18^th at 8:00 PM
3. Forks Over Knives: we will be showing the documentary Forks Over Knives, which discusses the health benefits of a vegetarian/vegan diet, on February 26 at 7:30 PM in Olscamp 223. All are welcome to attend.
4. Survey: we decided on the questions for our campus survey into BGSU community diets and interest in a vegetarian/vegan co-op restaurant on campus.
5. Cooking lessons: Miriam proposed that we partner with the Indian Student Association to offer cooking lessons on Indian food (much of which is vegetarian or vegan). Miriam will be contacting the association on our behalf. More details to come later. 
   
   
   *This event has already happened.

Notes for February 5

1. Movie:
   - we decided we would like to show a movie this month.
   - we decided to show Forks over Knives, which focuses on the health benefits of a vegetarian/vegan diet
   - we are tentatively planning to do the showing in one of the large classrooms in Olscamp, out of concern that the theater may be booked (and because these rooms may be cheaper).
   - the movie will be shown in the fourth week of this month, tentatively February 26 at 7:30 PM. The movie will replace our usual evening meeting.
   2.) Bake Sale:
   - we are planning to have a bake sale later in this month (tentatively the 19^th and 20^th)
   - the bake sale is also to be used as an advertising event for the movie and the club. Pamphlets for the movie will be passed out and we are likely going to create a new trifold.

3. Eat Together
   - we are planning to go out for dinner Sunday, 17^th of February to Aladdin's Eatery in Toledo.

4. Old Flyers
   -If you see old Veg Club flyers (any flyers you do see are old), please take them down because the information about our meeting place is wrong. 

5. Survey
   - we will be using the campus updates and a survey website (e.g. Surveymonkey) to deliver a survey about BGSU community diets and attitudes toward the creation of a vegetarian/vegan co-op restaurant/store on campus.

Kalamata Crepes

The beginning of this recipe is from Robin Robertson's 1000 Vegan Recipes, but with an addition of a kalamata spread of Miriam's invention.

Ingredients:
For crepes:
1 c water
1 c chickpea flour/besan (seriously, if you can get besan at an Indian grocery you will save -so- much money)
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried rosemary

For the spread:
1/2 c kalamata olives, pitted
4-5 large cloves garlic
2 tsp roasted almonds
1 tbs olive oil

Instructions:
1) In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the water and the chickpea flour until the mixture is very smooth. Add the oil, salt, and rosemary and mix until smooth and well blended. Set aside at room temperature for at least 30 minutes or up to 4 hours. (Cover if leaving out for longer than an hour)
2) Preheat the oven to 425F. Heat a large pizza pan in the oven until hot, then carefully remove in and pour the batter into the pan. Bake until the top is firm and the edges are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Be sure that the pan lies very flat in the oven, or the mixture will be too think and undercooked on one side and too thin and overcooked on the other.
3) Cut off the bottom of the garlic cloves and wrap in foil. Cook garlic foil ball in the oven at 425F for about 15 minutes.
4) After the garlic is removed and cooled, place the olives and almonds in a blender. Squeeze the garlic out of its skin and into the blender as well.  Finally add the oil and blend to your liking.
5) Cut chickpea crepe into strips and spread some kalamata mixture on the bottom and carefully roll each piece up.  Or, just spread the mixture on your crepe and eat!

Vegan Balls

If you all enjoyed Stef's chocolate peanut butter balls from last week, you can make them yourself! What follows should be treated as rough estimates that you can adjust per your preferences for taste and texture, not primordial laws to be followed dogmatically.

Half cup of vegan choc chips (melted)

2 cups of rice crispie cereal

2 Tablespoons of Corn Syrup

1 to 2 teaspoons of Cocoa

Half a jar of peanut butter

1 Teaspoon of vanilla extract

 

Melt chocolate in the microwave for about a minute and 30 seconds. Ad the peanut butter and cereal to the chocolate and mix them together.  Follow with cocoa, corn syrup, vanilla, and more mixing.

Check the texture of your mixture. If it's not sticky enough to shape, add more peanut butter.  If it is, scoop and shape golf ball sized balls.

Refrigerate for about 25 (or more) minutes and serve!

 

Notes for January 29

Veg Club Minutes from January 29, 2013

Business

1.) Vegetarian/Vegan Co-Op Research Results

• As part one of the project of trying to start a vegetarian/vegan co-op at Bowling Green each member looked into one of several existing programs at other schools or programs (Hiram College, University of Washington, Oberlin and the Co-Fed organization) and reported their findings to the club this week
• After some discussion of the various models we achieved agreement on wanting to develop a student run/cooperatively owned (non-profit?) business that would be open to all members of the Bowling Green community.
• It was also decided that, given the scale of the project, we would do well to try to involve other organizations that might have the interest in and resources to help with this project (e.g. Net Impact).

2. Monthly Events
    

• It was decided that we would like to have one special event each month, in addition to our monthly eat together
• It was also proposed that we endeavor to have one bake-sale per month, as our bake-sales have been fairly successful. We are, however, hoping to increase our variety of offerings at future bake-sales. For example, we are planning to have a pancake bake-sale.
• Special Events discussed included:
  - Participating in the Eco Fair in April (we had also wanted to bring a speaker to campus and it was proposed that we have the speaker come as part of our Eco Fair event)
  -Cooking classes: though no month was proposed, we are considering taking cooking classes
  -Documentary showing: we are probably going to screen Forks Over Knives
  -Sasha (Sanctuary and Safe Haven for Animals) Farm: we are planning to collaborate with Save in a trip this semester to Sasha Farm in order to do volunteer work for them.

Ann Arbor Adventure

This morning/afternoon, Veg Club took a trip to Ann Arbor, Michigan to enjoy a veg-friendly atmosphere and each other's company.  It's about an hour and a half drive from Bowling Green to Ann Arbor, and we had just enough seats to fill one vehicle, plus some extra driving time for directional confusion. By the time we arrived in Ann Arbor, we were fair hungry and closed in on our planned destination for lunch: Jazzy Veggie.

Jazzy Veggie is an entirely vegan cafe in downtown Ann Arbor, and we managed to arrived just as they were opening for the day.  Everyone had a phenomenal eating experience, with menu choices ranging from the sweet potato quinoa burger to the muffaletta to the ol' western sub to the jus' veggies sandwich. There was much appraisal of the coleslaw and plantain chips as well, and the servers were quite friendly and helpful.

The next stop on our expedition was The People's Food Co-op. Veg Club has a history of visiting the co-op when we visit Ann Arbor as members appreciate the values behind a cooperative business model and approve of the co-op's efforts to sell local food.  Some pleasing finds included vegan chocolate, locally produced sugar and flour, and bulk nutritional yeast flakes.

Finally, we journeyed to Whole Foods.  Veg Club appreciates the variety of products available to us here that are sometimes hard to find in the smaller town of Bowling Green.  At least one member enthusiastically carried out their shopping for the week, exalting in a franchise dedicated to supplying specifically nutritious, ethically produced food.  All in all, we considered the whole journey quite successful, full of delightful conversation and delicious food.

No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Oat Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 c vegan margarine
2 c sugar (white or brown)
1/2 c nondairy milk (we use almond)
4 tbs cocoa powder
1/2 c creamy peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 c quick cooking oats

Instructions:

Line cookie sheet with wax or parchment paper.

In a large pot, bring margarine, sugar, and cocoa to a boil stirring constantly. Let boil for 1-2 minutes, until mixture is completely melted. Do not boil over.

Take mixture off heat and stir in peanut butter and vanilla until completely melted. Then stir in the oats.

Drop teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto the prepared cookie sheet and allow it to cool. When cool, turn cookies over to dry the bottoms.

Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

Peppermint Fudge Balls

The peppermint fudge balls are an original recipe from Miriam.  Here's roughly how they were made:

Ingredients:

1 c + 1tbs of coconut oil
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1 tbs flax seed
2 tbs water
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 c flour
1/2 c + 2 tbs cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
~1/4 c broken peppermint candy

Instructions

Cream the oil, sugars, flax seed, water, and vanilla together.  Add the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT for the peppermint a little bit at a time, using the hand mixer to blend.  (You could mix the dry ingredients together first, but I don't see any reason to bother) Once everything is well mixed, roll the chocolate mixture into balls and roll them in the peppermint candy.  Eat them!!

Vegan Puppy Chow

The puppy chow recipe from our bake sale was borrowed from PETA's website.  Here it is:

1 c semi-sweet vegan chocolate chips
1/2 c creamy peanut butter
1/4 c vegan margarine
9 c rice cereal squares
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c powdered sugar

Combine the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and vegan margarine in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for about 1 minute, or until melted. Add vanilla.

Place the cereal squares in a large container and pour in the chocolate mixture. Stir gently until all the squares are coated.

Add the powdered sugar to the container and seal with a lid. Shake gently until the sugar has coated all the squares.

Place in the freezer for 30 minutes, or until the chocolate hardens. Once solidified, store in the refrigerator. (We totally ignored this entire step).

Doom Fudge Brownies

This recipe is a staple of veg club bake sales, recommended by a friend of a current member in 2009.  The recipe giver warned against altering her recipes (taking no responsibility for repercussions) but this recipe has since been tried substituting cocoa powder with carob powder (when one of our members was unable to eat chocolate) and white flour with whole wheat pastry flour.  At the most recent bake sale, the recipe was followed exactly. Without further ado, the original text:

Ingredients:

●      2 cups all-purpose white flour

●      2 cups sugar

●      1 cup cocoa

●      1 teaspoon baking powder

●      1 1/4 teaspoons salt

●      1 cup water

●      1 1/4 cups oil, preferably melted coconut or palm oil, but vegetable oil is fine

●      1 tablespoon vanilla

●      1 egg worth or your favorite egg replacer (I like ground flax seeds and water)

Directions:

●      Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 9x13 cake pan.

●      Mix all the dry stuff.

●      Add all the wet stuff.  Mix well.

●      Eat a spoonful of raw batter because you can.

●      Pour batter into pan.  Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center comes out a little gooey.  DO NOT OVERBAKE. If the toothpick comes out clean, it's too late.