Peanut Butter Ice Cream Pie w/ Oreo Pretzel Crust

The name pretty much says it all... A DELICIOUS creation by one of our members. Seriously, YUM.

Ingredients
For the crust:
2 cups Oreo crumbs (about 16 Oreos)
2 cups pretzel crumbs
1/2 cup vegan butter, melted

For the filling:
1 8oz container vegan cream cheese
1 cup peanut butter
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup vegan vanilla ice cream
2 tbs vanilla extract

For the topping:
1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips, melted
Also try pretzel and Oreo crumbs

Instructions
1. Find a method of crushing Oreos and pretzels. If you have a food processor, great! We used a hammer and some creativity...
2. Mix Oreo crumbs, pretzel crumbs and melted butter and press into a pan (we used an 8x8 square pan). Bake at 350F for 15 minutes. Then refrigerate.
3. Mix cream cheese, peanut butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and ice cream. Fill the cooled crust with this mixture.
4. Decorate the pie either before or after freezing, drizzling melted chocolate, sprinkling Oreo and pretzel crumbs on top... go wild!
5. Place pie (covered with plastic wrap or aluminum foil) in freezer for at least 2 hours. Keep (and store) in freezer. Serve with vegan ice cream!

Happy Badger, Epic Bake Sale, Amazing SASHA Trip

On October 3rd, Veg Club met for lunch at the Happy Badger in BG for delicious, veg-friendly food! The atmosphere of the Happy Badger is really unique; glass jars are used for drinks, and there are all sorts of little knick-knacks and interesting decorations (including a functional record-player/juke box). We found a stuffed badger too and we just had to take a picture! After lunch, we ended up roaming around downtown and shopping (a little too impulsively and excitedly...) at Ben Franklin's. It was a really fun afternoon. :)

On October 17th, Veg Club baked together at the Common Good in preparation for today's bake sale. It got a little messy and chaotic, and we had a couple baking mishaps but this just made it more fun! We made so much food: brownies, no bake cookies, chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookie sandwiches, puppy chow, Oreo cupcakes, and cookie dough pretzel bites/sandwiches (an invention by one of our members). The recipes we used (although we halved many of them) can be found here. On October 18th at the bake sale, we actually sold out of all of our items and ended early! Based on our tallies, we made $62! Great job and thank you to everyone who helped out and to everyone who stopped by to taste just how delicious vegan food is! :)
  
(Guest written:) After waking up on an early Sunday morning (October 20th) and trugging along the road for two hours, the Veg Club made it to it's destination to SASHA in Jackson, Michigan. After arriving, and signing a liability waver of course, our crew went to the pastures. Here we were left with the task of cleaning up after the horses, which we didn't mind! But the day could of turned for the worst when one the donkeys pushed it way past us and out of the pasture. Luckily, due to two great members, the donkey was retrieved and put back into the pasture. Thank goodness! So, we continued with our work. After about two hours, and making the pasture more green than brown (LOL), we decided it was time for a break. First came pictures that I (Ciara) had the honor of taking and it went really well. We had alot of fun and decided we wanted to take a tour of the farm before eating our lunch. This resulted in seeing our the animals that the farm had taken in to take care of, from goats, horses, mules, donkeys, cats, sheep, dogs, chickens, emus, birds, and cows! 

Speaking of cows, we had quite the experience with them. I, was butted by one and so was someone else but then we had one poor member be actually thrown to the ground from an unfriendly, injured cow. But she's okay and we were able to laugh about it! Although after seeing the cows so up close, I am a little bit intimidated by them! We had alot of fun with all the animals and then we ate our vegan lunch we had packed while petting Fearless who was a very friendly dog that was just roaming around. I managed to get a picture with him and one of the members. He was such a magestic dog! After eating our lunch, we helped the man running the farm with some walnuts that needed to be disposed of. By then it was close to three and we decided to head back to Bowling Green. But we were really thankful to be able to volunteer (and even hear about a possible internship!) and help all the animals. It was wuite the experience and we hope to be able to do it again soon! :)

Experimental Granola Bars

These granola bars were an experiment by one of our members. The beauty of granola bars is that there is no perfect recipe and it is open to creative modification... so go wild and have fun, using this as a simple guide.

Ingredients
1.5 cup oats
0.5 cup roasted pepitas
0.5 cup raisins
1 large overripe banana
2 tbs syrup
2 tbs oil
1 tsp salt
0.5 tbs vanilla
1 tbs cocoa powder
2 tbs cinnamon

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Toss oats in oil and salt and toast the mixture in the oven on a cookie sheet for 15-20 minutes.
2. Mash the banana in a bowl with a fork until nearly liquified. Add to the mixture syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, cocoa, raisins, and pepitas.
3. Add the finished oats to the bowl, mix, and pour into a small brownie pan, pressing the mixture down to pack it tightly.
4. Turn the oven down to 300 F and bake for 35-45 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and then cut into bars. Sprinkle extra cinnamon etc. on top if desired. Store in a container in the fridge. Enjoy!

Meeting Notes for Sept. 24

At our meeting last night, we discussed upcoming events of interest being put on by BGSU and by SAVE. We also decided on dates for Veg Club events that are happening in October. We will be eating together at the Happy Badger on October 3rd, hosting a vegan bake sale on the 18th, and volunteering at SASHA Farm on the 20th. To help take pictures at these events and more, we unanimously elected Ciara as our new historian! It was a pretty packed meeting, so check out the slideshow for the details.

Campus Fest, Baby Otters, Chili Cook-Off

On September 13th, (despite a few threats of rain), we had our first event of the year: Campus Fest! Over 300 organizations set up tables outside the Union for BGSU students and community members to check out. It was refreshing, exciting and almost overwhelming to see so many people come together to get involved in a spirited, lively environment. The positivity, interest and curiosity of those who stopped to inquire about Veg Club was really encouraging. Lots of interesting conversation! We ran out of several piles of literature and all of the Oreos we were serving, and we filled three sign-up sheets with new e-mail subscribers! What an awesome start to the semester! Hopefully, we will see some new faces around and continue to grow as a group... Let's make an amazing year together!

On September 18th, we had our first official meeting of the year, complete with veg music, banana chips and cheeseless veggie pizza! Everyone introduced themselves and we talked about our favorite animals and our shared veg experiences (e.g. the protein question *gag*). It was pretty much unanimously decided that baby otters are the cutest. We also tossed around a few ideas for this year and shared what we would like to get out of being part of Veg Club. Everyone is really looking forward to finding support from fellow veggie friends this year!

On September 21st, a few friends from Veg Club and SAVE took a trip last night to SASHA Farm Sanctuary and Safe Haven for Animals in Michigan for a Fall Festival and Vegan Chili Cook-Off. Before grabbing baked potatoes and sampling some delicious vegan chilis which people were voting on, we strolled around the farm and said hello to our animal friends: goats, sheep, pigs, cows, chickens, ducks, emus, horses, donkeys, turkeys, dogs and cats. It is truly heart-warming and moving to see how free and happy they are there, and it was exciting and comforting to be surrounded by so many people who support SASHA and love animals. In the evening, everyone gathered around a giant (and extremely hot) bonfire to enjoy the lovely autumn-night weather and roast vegan marshmallows. Yum!

Summary of Notes/Events Spring 2013

Things we did Spring 2013:

• Get Involved Fair
• Pay Per View (pay people to watch an AR video) with Mercy for Animals
• Bake Sale to fundraise once a month
• Screen documentary "Forks Over Knives"
• Eat-Togethers once a month (Happy Badger, Aladdin's, potlucks)
• Ann Arbor Trip
• SASHA Farm Sanctuary Volunteer Trip
• Eco Fair
• Surveyed Campus for idea of vegan food co-op
• Worked with Dining Services to plan vegan station Shoots at the Oaks
• Made amendment to our constitution to include all animal products as our focus (not just meat)

Berry Cobbler

Mallory's delicious berry cobbler recipe comes from chooseveg.com, although it seems the authors of that post took it from a book called Healthy Eating for Life for Cancer by Vesanto Melina, M.S., R.D. As we get further into summer, Veg Club suggests looking for fresh berries at the farmers market to use instead of frozen ones.

Ingredients
5-6 c frozen berries of your choice
1 and 1/4 c all purpose flour
1/2 c and 2 tbs sugar
1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 c vegan milk of choice

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 375 F
2. Spread berries in a 9 x 9 in baking dish. Mix in 1/4 c flour and 1/2 c sugar, then put the pan in the oven for about 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, mix the remaining flour and sugar, as well as the baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add the milk and combine into a smooth batter.
4. Take out the berry mixture and pour the topping over them. Spread evenly. Then bake until golden brown, about 25-30 minutes.

Pad Thai

This is another Robin Robertson recipe from 1000 Vegan Recipes. Again, we recommend buying this cookbook! There's all kind of great stuff in there!

Ingredients
12 oz dried rice noodles
1/3 c soy sauce
2 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs tamarind paste (Miriam used tamarind and date chutney instead)
2 tbs tomato paste
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
3 tbs oil
1 lb extra firm tofu, drained and pressed, cut into 1/4 in thick triangles
4 green onions
1 c bean sprouts
1 c mushrooms (shiitake recommended, Miriam used white mushrooms)
1/4 c chopped cilantro
1/3 c chopped dry roasted, unsalted peanuts

Instructions
1. Follow the instructions on the rice noodle package for preparation. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce, lemon juice, tamarind paste, tomato paste, red pepper, and 3 tbs water. Set aside.
3. Heat a skillet or wok and lightly cover with oil. Add the tofu and stir fry until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer to platter and set aside. (For tofu frying help, see Isa Chandra's advice on the subject)
4. In the same skillet or wok, heat the remaining oil over medium heat. Stir fry the green onions and garlic for thirty seconds, then add the tofu and mushrooms and fry for another 5 minutes. Add the noodles and toss to combine until heated through.
5. Stir in the sauce and cook, tossing to coat. If you food's sticking to the skillet/wok, splash in some water too. Serve with the peanuts and cilantro as garnish.

Roasted Asparagus with Herbs de Provence

Veg Club loves asparagus, as evidenced by our quick demolition of Mallory's asparagus dish. This one comes from allrecipes.com. It's simple yet delicious and definitely worth trying at home.

Ingredients
1 bunch of asparagus, fibrous ends trimmed off
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs herbs de provence
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Put the asparagus in a large bowl and coat with oil, then toss with the herbs, salt, and pepper.
3. Roast in oven until tender, about 12 minutes

Deviled Potatoes

This recipe was inspired by the Post Punk Kitchen. What follows is a cross between Miriam's version and Isa Chandra's (that is, what would have been served if Miriam had followed directions better).

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs yukon gold potatoes
1 tbs oil
1 15.5 oz can great northern beans
1/2 c vegetable broth, plus more if needed to blend
1/2 tsp tumeric
1 tsp kala manak black salt (or 3/4 tsp normal salt)
1/8 tsp asafoetida (optional)
2 tsp lemon juice
black pepper to taste
paprika

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Slice potatoes across the waist and place on baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Rub potatoes to coat, and place cut-side down on the baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, until potatoes are tender.

3. Drain and rinse your great northern beans.  Add them to a blender with vegetable broth and blend until smooth.
4. Once potatoes have been removed from the oven and cool enough to handle but still fairly warm, scrape out the centers. Mash the centers until smooth. Then add the bean mixture and the rest of the ingredients and continue to mash. Put in the refrigerator for about a 1/2 hour to thicken.
5. Put the mixture in a pastry bag if you have one, or in a large ziploc and cut about 1/4 in off one corner. Use this to fill the potatoes. Sprinkle with paprika.