Byte of Beets
By Patty "Sassy" Knutson

BEETS

If you're anything like me, you just love the sweet and buttery taste of beets.  You chop, slice, dice, grate and juice this delectable veggie. 

But while you're happily munching away on your pretty and colorful beets, you may not realize just how important they are to your good health.

IT'S TIME FOR A NUTRITIONAL QUICKIE!   

The most dense nutrient you'll find in beets is folate , otherwise known as folic acid. One cup of boiled beets provides a whopping 34% of the folate you need for the day.

How many times have you heard of a nutrient, but you have no clue what it is or what it does? Folate helps to produce and maintain your body's new cells. (This is especially important when rapid cell division and growth occurs, which is why it's so vital to have a sufficient intake of folate during infancy and pregnancy.)

(Can you guess which part of your body has the most cell turnover?* Answer below.)
Folate is also needed to duplicate your DNA.  If your DNA is hindered it will affect cell division. Furthermore, if DNA forms improperly this could potentially l…

How to Pick Ripe Advocados
By short T.

Avocados can be expensive and it sucks
when you buy some and they are all ready
brown on the inside and useless. Here is
a quick tip on how to buy ripe Avocados.

The squeeze test :Pick up an avocado and
give it a light squeeze. A ripe avocado
should be firm but give just a little.

BAD PICKS- a UNDER RIPE avocado will be
hard, like a stone. They're hard to
scoop out or mash up. Can be a good buy
if you are going to wait a week or two
before you use them.

An OVER RIPE avocado will give easy when
you give it the squeeze test, and will
feel kinda mushy. 9 times out of 10,
these avocados, when you cut them open,
will be Brown and half rotten on the
inside. Avoid at all costs.

Byte of Corn
By Patty "Sassy" Knutson

CORN

Corn is just one of those foods that most people love from their earliest years.  Sinking your teeth into those juicy corn kernels can make just about everyone shudder with joy. 

Corn is a cooling food, which makes it perfect for the warmer months. And summertime means corn on the cob is in season and at its sweetest.  There are so many ways to prepare corn on the cob, including grilling, boiling, roasting and steaming, and all of them allow you to enjoy this delectably scrumptious food with abandon.  Oh, be still my heart!

But before you begin to joyfully munch away on your corn on the cob, it might be fun for you to discover just how important it is for your good health.

IT'S TIME FOR A NUTRITIONAL QUICKIE!   

The most dense nutrient you'll find in corn is Thiamin, otherwise known as Vitamin B1.  In fact, one cup of corn provides nearly 1/4 of your daily recommended intake of this important vitamin.

How many times have you heard of a nutrient, but you have no clue what it is or what it does?

Thiamin helps your body convert carbohydrates to energy — and couldn't we all us…

Byte of Quinoa
By Patty "Sassy" Knutson

QUINOA

Quinoa is one of those grains (well, actually an ancient seed!) that has been gaining in popularity in recent years.  I use quinoa in my cooking A LOT because it happens to be the grain with the highest amount of protein. 

When cooked, quinoa is fluffy yet retains a fun little crunch. It’s a fabulously versatile little food that contains more calcium than cow’s milk!  It can be used as a side dish on its own, mixed with all sorts of veggies for a delectable main dish, enjoyed as a warm breakfast cereal topped with syrup, even sprouted to make a deliciously light salad.

But there’s an even bigger reason to eat quinoa than just the insanely yummy flavor…

IT'S TIME FOR A NUTRITIONAL QUICKIE!   

The most dense nutrient you'll gain from quinoa is Manganese.  In fact, 1 cup of cooked quinoa provides nearly ½ the amount of manganese we need for the entire day!  Manganese is difficult to absorb, so the more you can get into your system, the better.

But how many times have you heard of a nutrient, but you have no clue what it is or what it does?

Manganese is required for p…

Byte of Beans
By Patty "Sassy" Knutson

BEANS

Raise your hand if a bored feeling washes over you when you think of beans. Lordy knows I felt the same way for years.  In fact, I went vegan back in 1994, but didn’t add beans to my diet (steadily) until just two years ago. 

Why? 

Well, the reason sort of centers around pure laziness — I never took the time to learn how to make beans from scratch.  Beans from scratch just seemed like such a time-consuming task for something that bored me to tears.  Of course, there's always canned beans, but if you're anything like me you shy away from anything in a can whenever possible.
 
But you know what?  Beans are pretty cool little powerhouses and not boring in the least.  With the advent of learning the "bean ropes" comes a natural understanding of how these little guys work – the difference soaking them first can make, how to add them to your diet in fun ways without eating just a “plate of beans” every day, that perfect “bite” you’re searching for that signals the end of the cooking time, the various flavor changes that can be brought to a dish simply by changing the type of bean you us…

General Tao's Tofu happens to be the most viewed recipe in the VegWeb.com data base.  Be sure to check out the 30 (at this writing) photos.  I want to thank the folks at VegWeb for the use of their recipe data base in my videos.

General Tao's Tofu - submitted by rubybean77

As always, Peace in Your Kitchen!

Renee

Welcome to the world of Indian cooking…very flavorful and exciting dishes.  Listed here are the basic spices and ingredients to put together some delicious vegetarian Indian recipes.   Use this list for reference when selecting a recipe.  Most are found in main stream groceries and some ingredients are available in Indian groceries.  Ready made spice choices help those of us who are busy but want to expand our cooking experiences.

Ginger  -  Fresh or ready made paste or a ready made ginger and garlic mix

Garlic  -   Fresh, ready chopped, ready minced or garlic paste

Onions  -  Your favorite onion and particularly the regular yellow onion

Green Chilies  -  Finger hot chilies (use with caution), jalapenos and Anaheim peppers

Fresh Cilantro  -  (commonly known in India as coriander leaves)

Red Chilies  -  Fresh (fiery red or orange pods), dried or crushed

Goan Red or Kashmiri Chilies  -  Add vibrant color and less pungent flavor

Red Indian Chili Powder  -  Much hotter than Paprika which is a mild form of chili powder

Turmeric Powder  -  Bright yellow powder…be careful, can stain plastic or wooden utensils

Coriander Seeds and Coriander Powder  -  Make your own powder in a mortar or food grinder after dry roasting the seeds  -  Aromatic fragrance

Cumin…

The following vegetarian cooking school list is researched from the Internet.   Clicking on the school title will go to the school’s web page.  This list of cooking schools is not personally indorsed by myself or VegWeb, but it has been put together for your convenience (location of each school is in bold print for quick reference).  I will be happy to check out additional vegetarian cooking school web sites…just let me know the name.

Natural Kitchen Cooking School
P.O. Box 373
Princeton, NJ 08542
(646) 283-9470
www.naturalkitchenschool.com
Email: info@naturalkitchenschool.com
Classes/services in New Jersey & Manhattan Chef's Training (Whole Foods Market, Princeton) Personal Chef Service Private Cooking Lessons, Classes & Parties

Delicious Deliveries
Pagosa Springs, Colorado
Email: quintess@care2.com
Vegan, healthy cooking classes and workshops on cooking and wholistic health.
Vegan catering and wholistic health consulting for about 15 years.
Telephone consulting.
Check out the web site and contact by email for more information.

Natural Gourmet Institute
48 W. 21st St., 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10010
(between 5th and 6th Ave.)
211-645-5170  x109
Email:  admissions@naturalgourmetschool.com
   Chef’s Training
   Public Classes
   Cooking Retreats

The Cor…

It doesn’t take long to get the hang of cooking with tofu, and making BBQ Tofu is a hit with veggies and non-veggies alike.  There are many different BBQ Tofu recipes on VegWeb, and I have listed a few below.

For these recipes, it is important to use firm or extra firm tofu, remove from the package, drain liquid and freeze.  Freezing and thawing gives tofu a different, almost meat-like texture.   Directions for thawing and pressing out the water can be found on my Tofu Video Lesson page.

There are many different brands of tofu sold at almost all markets and main-stream groceries.  After a while, you will find your favorite brand and style.  I buy tofu by the case at an Asian market.  I pour off the water, place tofu sections separately on baking sheets and place in the freezer.  The next day I put it in plastic zipper bags and return to the freezer.  All this takes a while, but I sure appreciate it later.

I hope you enjoy the recipes, and that you learn something new from the BBQ Tofu video.  Let me know if you have any questions.  Happy, healthy cooking!

BBQ Tofu - (baked) by Timbo

BBQ Tofu - (charcoal …

Cooking with tofu and finding tofu recipes can be very easy in today's vegetarian market. Internet sites like VegWeb.com are just loaded with information and tofu recipes on how to cook tofu. I hope this article is helpful and that you learn new ways for cooking with tofu.

Tofu, or bean curd as it is some times called, is made by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into blocks. It is a food of Chinese origin. Acid type coagulants are used for silken and softer tofu. Salt coagulants are used to make a more firm tofu and adds calcium.

Commercial tofu comes in aseptic packaging (does not need refrigeration) and has a shelf life of one year. Water packed tofu requires refrigeration. Silken tofu is soft, firm or extra firm. Regular tofu is firm or extra firm. In some cases the soy milk is curdled directly into the packaging and others are allowed to cool, become firm, cut into pieces and in some cases, flavored or further processed.

The process of freezing tofu makes it a meat-like texture to be used in easy tofu recipes. The moisture creates ice crystals which in turn create layered cavities. After thawing the tofu, it is then squeezed or pressed to remove the moisture. This can be done by…