It's finally here - the book we've all been waiting for since watching Terry Hope Romero's cooking demonstration at the 25th Annual Vegetarian Food Fair. Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar is finally in the TVA office, and to celebrate, we're inviting you to dine on a wide assortment of sample recipes and to score some great deals on clearance books.

Find other veg-related event listings at veg.ca/events.       

Health Starts Here Cooking Series

Join health coach Nimisha Raja of Evolving Appetites as she takes your taste buds on an exotic journey of flavours from around the world. Nimisha is a Heart Health Speaker for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and an Education Alliance Member of The Cancer Project.

 

The themes of the classses are:

Eating for the Earth: Healthy Planet, Healthy Bodies

Eat Right for Your Heart Under the Sultan's Tent

Mamma Mia! Vegan Italian

A Healthy Taste of Thai

 

All menus are 100% plant based, low fat and full of fibre. You’ll receive copies of the recipes to take home, and sample everything we make in class. Nimisha’s teaching style is fun and relaxed, and she always provides additional resources for you to explore after class. She’ll explain the nutrient value of the ingredients in each recipe and answer your nutrition related questions.

Find other veg-related event listings at veg.ca/events.       

Join one of TVA’s social groups.

It’s about healthy eating with flavour, sustainability with flair, and compassion with a side of do-it-yourself kitchen magic. It’s an international campaign called Meatless Mondays and TVA will soon be signing on and looking to you for help in making it succeed and change the behaviour of people across the greater Toronto area and beyond.

 

Do you have a friend who’s proud of taking reusable bags to the grocery store and
driving a hybrid car, but who still packs on the carbon pounds with a meat-heavy
grocery list? Do you know someone who suffers from heart disease, Type-2 diabetes
or obesity who is looking to improve their health? Do your parents continually express
their love for animals, but continue to eat them daily?

 

If you said yes, then you’re in touch with an ideal candidate for the Meatless Mondays campaign. There are probably many people in your life who, for one reason or another, have the potential to really grasp the value of reducing their meat consumption, but just haven’t been exposed to the right tools to help them take that first step.

With our Meatless Mondays campaign, we'll connect people with the resources they need to find and prepare healthier, greener, more compassionate food alternatives. Over the next few months, we’ll launch this new initiative as part of our efforts to reach out to those who aren’t yet ready to jump on the veggie train seven days a week. Stay tuned to our website and future issues of eLifelines for more information, and in the meantime, check out twitter.com/meatlessTO.

 

A new vegan bakery is set to open in Thornhill! We're still waiting for confirmation of the exact address, phone number and hours, but drive by Yonge and Centre and you'll see the big sign - VEGAN DANISH BAKERY Opening March 2nd. Stay tuned for more details.

 

Other new openings include Cruda Cafe, a raw, vegan cafe in the St. Lawrence Market (92 Front St E). They are a food court style establishment, in the lower level in the South market. 

Stay in-the-know as more updates are announced on our directory updates page.

Exploring different kinds of beans and legumes is something that most likely happens as the typical vegetarian expands their tastes and cooking repertoire. For some, they have been a staple for a long time, for others they are new green little gems. Originally cultivated in India and later migrating to China, mung beans have been a staple in the east for thousands of years. However travelled, today the tried and true nutrient value and nutrient quality of mung beans is an undisputable asset to the western vegetarian diet.

Mung beans have a bright (Shrek-like) green husk, with a yellowish flesh inside. They are small and round, about the size of pearl barley. Found in bulk food stores they are inexpensive too. Some common ways to eat mung beans include cooking them whole, with or without their skins, in soups or stews (much like lentils). Once cooked, they are very soft and smooth, presenting an almost creamy texture and sweet taste. Used raw they can be sprouted and thrown into salads for a nutritional boost.

These beans are easy to digest, an excellent source of plant protein, low in fat, low in sodium, high in fibre and a perfect food for low-calorie, nutrient-dense eating. Vitamin C is present in the sprouts, however not in the beans. Minerals that these beans contain include calcium, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and iron. Vitamins include niacin, folate, vitamins A and K. 

Combined in vegetable soup or as a stand-alone dahl, adding mung beans into the weekly meal plan will enhance your healthful vegetarian diet - one little green bean at a time.

Rinse mung beans in a fine sieve until water runs clear. Transfer to a bowl and cover with water. Allow to soak a few hours in the refrigerator. (I get them soaking in the morning so they're ready to go when it's time for dinner.) Drain well before continuing.

Add beans to food processor along with the 2/3 cup of water, the garlic and salt. Puree until smooth. Add flour and pulse a few times to combine. Pour pureed bean mixture into a bowl and stir in hot peppers, scallions, carrot and cabbage. The batter should be quite thick.

Heat a well-seasoned cast iron skillet over medium heat. Brush a little oil onto the surface. Spoon batter into the hot pan making pancakes 3-4 inches in diameter, flattening them just slightly to even out. Cook until outer edges start to brown and the top of each pancake begins to firm up a bit. Flip and finish cooking through until browned on the other side. Brush a little more oil onto skillet between batches.

Slice each pancake into three or four strips and serve with dipping sauce.

Yields 6 3-4" pancakes - enough for the two of us as a meal with a salad included.

* You can pre-measure the oil into a tiny dish and dip a silicone pastry brush into it to pick up only as much as needed, and coat your skillet as you're cooking. This will keep you from inadvertently pouring more oil into the pan than necessary, which is easy to do.

Find links to more recipes at veg.ca/recipes.

Discount Profile

Noah's Natural Foods: 10% off with TVA Discount Card

	Source: BlogTO

One of the great things about going vegetarian is learning about a wide variety of foods and food products that you may have never thought to try before! Suddenly the world has expanded and you're discovering things like soy milk and tofu, new grains like quinoa and spelt flour, and you're experimenting with meat substitues like seiten and tempeh.

Noah's Natural Foods is a natural food store where you can find these products and much more. They sell everything from organic fruits and vegetables, to bulk grains and legumes, frozen and prepared organic and vegetarian meals, and you can even make your own natural peanut butter from freshly ground peanuts. In addition to food products, they sell things like natural soaps and cleaning products.

A TVA discount card, offering a 10% discount at Noah's, will go a long way in saving money if you shop for organic and vegetarian foods on a regular basis.  

Where? Four locations in the GTA: Bloor/Spadina, Bloor/Yonge, Eglington/Yonge and Vaughan. Click here for addresses.

Veg Status? Vegan and vegetarian options

Savings with TVA Discount Card: 10%

The TVA Discount Card is available to members of the Toronto Vegetarian Association. Find a full listing of participating locations here. To join TVA and/or purchase a discount card, make a tax-deductible, online donation or phone the TVA office at 416-544-9800.

Unique and Fun Active Veggie Tours Launching in 2010

Not Just for Vegetarians! 

Diane Garvin of Travel Professionals International (TPI) is pleased to announce a very unique travel product to be launched in 2010. Active Veggie Tours are fully escorted first class tours leaving from all major gateways worldwide to exciting destinations around the world. These veggie vacations are run by experienced tour operators. All tours feature an active component such as walking, hiking, yoga or swimming as part of the day’s itinerary along with vegetarian meals. “These tours are not just for vegetarians.  Anyone who is reasonably fit and enjoys or wishes to try vegetarian cuisine while on tour is welcome to join us. The tours will be so much fun,” says Ms. Garvin. “At the end of these tours, you won’t feel unwell from sitting for prolonged periods of time and you won’t feel as if you’ve gained 10 pounds. Instead, you will feel terrific!”

The first active veggie tour is a Trafalgar Tours excursion in September 2010 to southern Spain & Portugal which will include walking, hiking and sightseeing via a luxury air-conditioned coach. The second one is a Tourcan Vacations tour to India in November 2010 which will include 10 days of sightseeing in north and south India, walking, yoga, two different types of astrology readings and a 7 day Stress Management Package at prestigious award winning Somatheeram Ayurvedic Health Resort. Upcoming 2011 and 2012 active veggie tours include Australia & New Zealand, Egypt and Peru. Should you have your own group of people to travel with and wish to choose the destination, trip length and itinerary, Diane will work with her suppliers to put together a custom veggie vacation package for your group. For more details and to sign up for an active veggie tour, please phone 613-779-5794 or visit www.activeveggietours.ca.

Reader's Classifieds

Support TVA While Shopping for a Home

Buying or selling a home? Then make it count for the TVA! Tracey Weir, Sales Representative, Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd., Brokerage, will donate $300.00 of her commission towards TVA's Support a Local Farm Sanctuary Campaign after final completion of a home purchase or sale for a TVA member in 2010. Call her at 416-236-1871 or email tracey.weir@royallepage.ca for more details.

Vegan Chocolate Party

March 14 begins National Chocolate week, so Boardwalk Chocolates is hosting a Chocolate Party on Thursday March 18. Free to attend and free samples! Siue Moffat's recipe collection Lickin' the Beaters 2: Vegan Chocolate and Candy will be launched, as well as the Boardwalk Chocolate's winning design in the Enamel Pin Contest! So much fun! So many exclamation marks! The party takes place March 18th at Panacea Eco Shop from 7-9pm.

Join the Toronto Vegetarian Association today!

What Our Members Have to Say
“Going veg is the only intervention we can make as individuals that has purely positive impact - with no negative side effects.  Since its inception, TVA has done a superlative job of promoting vegetarianism/veganism.  Providing a monthly donation, however small or large, greatly helps TVA plan and budget for activities that continue this critical mission.” -- Dinesh Parakh

Founded in 1945, the Toronto Vegetarian Association is a volunteer-driven charitable organization devoted to providing information and support to people who are interested in making healthier, greener, more peaceful food choices.

By becoming a member of TVA, you'll support vital programs such as the largest annual vegetarian food fair in North America, the vegetarian directory, a volunteer-run vegetarian resource centre and the Veggie Challenge. You'll also receive our quarterly print newsletter Lifelines, and be entitled to a free, customized subscription to VegE-News. Plus, you'll have the option to purchase our Discount Card, offering savings at over 80 veg-friendly businesses in the GTA. All donations of $20 or more are tax-deductible.

Join the Toronto Vegetarian Association today, and help us inspire people to choose a healthier, greener, more peaceful lifestyle.