Team Vegan member Frannie Miller realized at a young age the connection between living animals and what we eat. Now, she devotes her time to creating a more compassionate world.
When she was five years old, Frannie was given a large piece of steak. She had never eaten steak before, so she asked what it was. “When I realized it was a piece of a cow,” she said, “I could not chew it or swallow it. I had to spit it out.”
That started Frannie’s journey, but it wasn’t until she reached college that she discovered there was a name for her way of eating: vegetarian.
For Frannie, veganism and activism came at the same time a little further down the road. Her daughters—undoubtedly raised by Frannie to be compassionate to all beings—became vegetarian and then vegan one by one.
An advisor and instructor at East Tennessee State University, Frannie is in a unique position to advocate for animals. She developed and teaches an online course called Food Choice and Society. She has seen several students incorporate Meatless Monday or become vegetarian or vegan because of what they learned in the course. One student, a Registered Nurse on a cardiac floor, became vegan and is educating the heart patients on plant-based eating.
Frannie enables Vegan Outreach to leaflet in Tennessee by hosting our traveling Outreach Coordinators and helping with campus leafleting. Now she is raising money for Team Vegan because, as she says, “The outreach works!”
Frannie is a brand new grandmother (congratulations, Frannie!) and wants her grandson to grow up in a compassionate world. It will take all of us to do our part—we can each find a way, like Frannie has, to incorporate activism into our lives. Frannie and her family are inspirations to me—and to many others.
Please help Frannie create a compassionate world for her grandson and all future generations!
Steve Erlsten, VO’s Northern California Outreach Coordinator, has handed out 58,740 booklets at 76 different schools this semester!
On March 16, Steve reached more than 1,700 students at Fresno City College:
Jeremy [below, left] has been thinking about cutting back on meat because of the animal cruelty involved. He’s excited to try some vegan meat products, and might go vegan!
The following day, Steve handed out 780 booklets at Merced College:
Eugene [below, right] came back to tell me it was perfect timing, because he has been wanting to go vegan! It hasn’t worked before, but he’s going to try again with help from our classic Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating!
On March 31, Steve and fellow activists handed out 1,250 Your Choice booklets at Butte College:
It was another great day at Butte! Many thanks to Jeannie Trizzino for hosting me, leafleting, and for taking me out for sushi last night and lunch today! Melissa Gillan is a first-time leafleter, and she did great!
The high point of the day was when a student, who was rushing past on her way to class, said she went vegan after getting a booklet last March!
I recently had the pleasure of visiting Portland for the first time, to meet with many wonderful Vegan Outreach donors there. Of course I had a long list of restaurants and shops to visit too, as everyone knows Portland is a haven of vegan goodness. I had some expected favorites, like Vtopian Artisan Cheese shop, Portobello, and a few others. But one place I ate surprised me and stood out.
Diane, an awesome VO donor, suggested Prasad, a little cafe inside a yoga studio, and I’m so glad she did. I ordered the BBQ Plate, made with barbecue chickpeas, jalapeño cornbread, millet, and steamed greens with jalapeño cashew cheese. It was one of my favorite meals in Portland, and that’s really saying something!
When I arrived home in Denver, I knew I had to recreate the meal. I made a couple changes due to laziness–using buckwheat instead of millet, because I had that on hand, and not including jalapeños in the cashew cheese. It was delicious! I made the dish for my parents, too, using farrow as the grain, and without nutritional yeast (a vegan sin, I know, but it’s hard to find where they live in rural Illinois!). It was delicious once again! I hope you make it and enjoy it even half as much as I did!
Ingredients:
2 cans of chickpeas
1.5 cups of buckwheat (farrow or rice also works great!)
1 bunch of kale
1/4 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce
1/4 cup raw cashews
1/4 cup soy or almond milk
1 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tbsp oil for frying
Pinch of garlic powder
Directions:
Cook the buckwheat, farrow, or rice according to directions on bag.
Meanwhile, rinse the kale in a strainer, then squeeze out water and remove stems. Rip or cut kale into large bite-sized pieces.
Blend cashews thoroughly in food processor with garlic and nutritional yeast. Then add a little milk, and blend again. This should be a cream sauce, so add more milk as needed to get good consistency. Set aside.
Heat kale on medium in big frying pan. Stir often. Remove from heat when nice green color and heated through.
Drain water from chickpeas and heat on med-low in a separate pan. Stir often to avoid sticking. When chickpeas are heated through, place in bowl and mix with barbecue sauce.
Serve the kale, chickpeas, and grains with cashew cream sauce drizzled on top. Enjoy!
By Lori Stultz, VO Rocky Mountain Outreach Coordinator
This delicious meal idea came to us from Renee Press, owner of Seattle’s first vegan, gluten-free cooking school, Fire and Earth Kitchen. We met Renee back in February 2015 when she shared her unique Sunflower Seed Pesto recipe and answered some commonly asked questions about eating a vegan diet.
I was not satisfied with leaving VO’s communication with Renee at that, so I got back in touch with her and she has graciously agreed to let us share her creations in what will be an on-going series featuring her vegan, gluten-free recipes.
If you didn’t meet Renee when we talked with her the first time, it’s not too late! However, there have been some exciting changes at Fire and Earth Kitchen since we last spoke with her—including a new, permanent location where she will be hosting her cooking classes. Until very recently her cooking school was mobile, but now she’ll have the convenience of a stationary kitchen to share her knowledge and passion for vegan, gluten-free cooking.
You can learn a little bit more about Renee and her cooking school in this more in-depth interview, and by checking out Fire and Earth Kitchen’s latest newsletter. If you’re in the Seattle area be sure to join them for their Grand Opening party on July 16!
To kick off the series, I chose Renee’s Hearty Lentil Broccoli Bolognese. My friend and I whipped up this sauce after getting back from a hot, late-afternoon hike. We were tired and the minimal preparation this meal required was much appreciated.
So the next time you want a substantial sauce to put on top of your pasta, give this broccoli bolognese a try!
Hearty Lentil Broccoli Bolognese
Serves about 4.
Ingredients
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ cup carrot, diced
½ cup celery, diced
1 cup crimini or white mushrooms, chopped or sliced
½ cup red or white wine (optional)
3 cups tomatoes, diced, fresh or canned
1 can tomato paste, 6 oz
3 cups broccoli, chopped
2 cups water
1 tablespoon oregano
1 teaspoon thyme
¾ cup green or brown lentils
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 tablespoon sweetener of choice (agave, sugar, or chopped date)
1 teaspoon salt
Black pepper to taste
½ cup fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
½ cup fresh basil, chopped (optional)
¼ cup nutritional yeast (optional)
Directions
Sauté onion, garlic, carrots, celery, and mushrooms in a bit of olive oil over medium heat, in a medium pot or a wide, deep skillet, for three to four minutes.
When softening and lightly browning add wine (if using), if not substitute water or vegetable broth, and stir well to combine. Add tomatoes and cook with lid on for five to six minutes over medium heat until tomatoes start to break down. Add remaining ingredients—tomato paste through lentils—and bring to a gentle boil then cover and lower to a simmer.
Let cook for 20 minutes or so until lentils are soft and sauce is thickening. Add remaining ingredients—walnuts through nutritional yeast. Only add walnuts at the very end of cooking; if you add them earlier and continue to cook the sauce, they will turn it black. After you add walnuts and herbs turn off heat and stir well to combine, serve over pasta of choice with steamed or sautéed veggies added in.
Recipe Variations
If you’re looking to speed this preparation up even more, I recommend boiling the lentils in a separate pot and adding them to the other ingredients at the very end.
I omitted both the wine and the sweetener and it still tasted great!
By Lori Stultz, VO Rocky Mountain Outreach Coordinator
Photo Credit: Gena Hamshaw
If I lived anywhere near New York City I’m pretty sure I’d want to be spending all of my free time with Gena Hamshaw, author of my favorite vegan blog, The Full Helping. I sort of feel like I already do, given that I visit her blog multiple times a week and refer to her cookbooks regularly. Knowing what I do about Gena from her blog we have a lot in common—including similar interests, like psychology related topics, and a passion for helping other people and beings.
Moreover, we both adore certain flavors and types of food, which Gena does a fabulous job of incorporating in a lot of her recipes. Today I’m talking particularly about beans and tahini. Gena has come up with some of the most unique ways of using both (I highly encourage you to check out her blog to see for yourself), and the recipe I’m about to share, Smashed Garlic Tahini White Bean Salad on Toast, is no exception.
What I love most about this salad is its versatility. The first time I ate it I spread it on toast, but it can easily be used as a dip for raw veggies, or as a bowl or salad component. A few of the veggies I topped it off with were sprouts and arugula. Oh, and I also added a few cucumbers. Gena makes some other great recommendations for salad toppers, like radishes and avocado. Don’t be fooled, though, this salad is mighty tasty just by itself. Don’t fret about extra veggies if you don’t have any on hand.
Smashed Garlic Tahini White Bean Salad on Toast
Yields about 2 ½ cups.
Ingredients
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 whole head garlic, top sliced off crosswise
¼ cup tahini
⅓ cup water
Juice of 1 lemon (2-3 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 cups cooked cannellini, great northern, or navy beans (or 2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed
1 large or 2 small stalks celery, finely chopped
2 tablespoons minced shallots (substitute green onion)
¼ cup loosely chopped, fresh dill (substitute 2 tablespoons dried dill, or you can try another herb of choice)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Rub the teaspoon of olive oil over the exposed garlic cloves. Wrap the whole head of garlic in foil and place on a baking sheet. Roast for 35-40 minutes, or until the head of garlic is very soft and the cloves are lightly golden.
Place the tahini, water, lemon, mustard, salt, and pepper in a blender or food processor. Squeeze all of the cloves of garlic from the roasted head into the blender. Blend the ingredients on high till creamy and smooth.
Place the beans, celery, shallot, and dill in a mixing bowl. Add about three quarters of the dressing (you may want to hold off on using all of it until you mix up the salad and see whether you’d like to use more). Use a potato masher or fork to mash the dressing up with the beans, smashing only about half of the white beans (you want half of them to stay whole). Taste the salad, add more dressing as needed, and season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.
Spread the salad on toast and top with toppings of choice. Serve.
Recipe Tips/Variations
I was pressed for time when I made this meal, so I used garlic powder. If you’re not trying to get in and out of the kitchen quickly, definitely roast the garlic. The salad will have a much richer flavor.
I swapped out the dill for parsley, which is why my salad turned out a bit on the green side. There are a handful of herbs that would go well in this salad—get creative and throw in what sounds best to you!
Steven Litrov has handed out 40,893 booklets at 76 different schools this semester!
On February 1, Tyler DeVere (below, left) and Steven had a record-breaking day at Nashville’s Lipscomb University:
We met several vegans and vegetarians who support our work and were happy to see us, and met one vegetarian, Tiffany [below, right], ready to go vegan after receiving a Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating!
On March 21, Steven teamed with Nolan Guiffre and Carol Hope of the Rochester Area Vegan Society (below), and together they handed out 900 Your Choice booklets at SUNY Geneseo:
First day back from a great spring break at home in LA. It was freezing with some snow here and there—contrast is huge from weather at home. I had volunteers from RAVS for about two hours—two great activists who have been rocking the Rochester area with leaflets this semester. They were both very enthusiastic and I believe just started leafleting this semester—definitely saved us some stops.
One student told Carol that he went vegetarian after getting a booklet last year! Lots of students said they were vegetarian. One student asked where the information in the booklet is sourced from because he couldn’t believe it—I recommended he check out other resources too.
I saw the book Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer on this small community bookshelf in the library. It was the book that influenced Natalie Portman to go vegan and she went on to influence me! Towards the end of the day I saw a girl reading Your Choice to her boyfriend [below, right].
On April 12, Steven and volunteers reached more than 1,000 students at Indiana State University:
Pretty warm and special day here, being joined by David Rojas and new vegan Rakeem Deizbarrz [below, left]. David initially joined us at Warped Tour last year and was excited to volunteer some more and brought Rakeem along. They both made interactions a priority and had lots of them [one of David’s, below, right], planting many seeds and opening hearts.
One student rolled up on his bike and asked me what I was handing out, and I said, “Info to help animals” and he said, “Hell yeah” and took one and rode off. Another student said she’s in an environmental group and was interested in talking about the impacts of animal agriculture more. I also met another student who had just recently gone vegan and is interested in starting up a club and getting more involved. Another student joined our conversation to tell us she used to be really involved, but schoolwork got the best of her. Awesome to have so much support!
You can support VO’s Adopt a College leafleting program and double your impact for the animals by taking advantage of our Team Vegan matching campaign: Donate now!
Sunday is Father’s Day, and we at VO want to give a shout-out to one of our favorite fathers, Brian Ottens!
Brian helps so many groups and individuals in the movement, and yet he is one of the most humble people we know.
He’s been integral to VO’s success for many years, and he often goes above and beyond to help. On top of his financial generosity, Brian volunteers his time to reduce animal suffering.
Brian and Emily Leafleting
Recently, Brian helped VO by volunteering at the DC and Baltimore Green Dinners, staffing a table at the Baltimore VegFest, and writing a wonderful blog post about helping vegans sustain their choices. He is also a regular leafleter along with his daughter Emily, one of VO’s best volunteers. Nobody turns her down when she offers up a booklet!
Now, Brian and Emily are raising money for Team Vegan, and they’ve pledged to create uplifting farm animal pictures with sidewalk chalk—one for every $250 they raise!
Thank you, Brian, for all you do for animals, and Happy Father’s Day!
When we think of great vacation destinations in the Pacific Northwest, most of us think of Portland and Seattle. Both are fantastic cities, but there’s a mid-size port city in between that is surprisingly wonderful too. Tacoma, Washington is about an hour south of Seattle, with a population of just a couple hundred thousand. I recently visited for two days, and I had no idea that I’d like it so much. I hope you like reading about it!
Our first night in town, my husband and I visited Quickie Too, a vegan soul food restaurant in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood. This restaurant is one of several run by Seattle’s Plum Restaurants–their others are Plum Bistro, Plum Pantry, Plum Burgers (a food truck), and Sugar Plum (for desserts). Quickie Too is their original vegan diner, and it’s in Tacoma! It’s small and seemingly unimpressive from the outside, but the food is fantastic. Brad ordered the Burro Diablo, with grilled seitan, brown rice, black beans, grilled onions, spicy chimichurri sauce, lettuce, and tomatoes.
Burro Diablo at Quickie Too
I had the Ayinde’s Chili Mac, a twist on their famous Mac and Yease. Yum!
Ayinde’s Chili Mac and Yease at Quickie Too
And what meal is complete without milkshakes? Brad ordered the strawberry, and I ordered the chocolate. They were almost out of chocolate, so they offered me a chocolate and peanut butter shake instead. It was delicious!
Milkshakes at Quickie Too
After dinner we drove about ten minutes north to Point Defiance Park, a 700-acre park with attractions that I think are great—pretty gardens, beaches, trails, and a boardwalk—and attractions I have no interest in—namely, the zoo and aquarium. We drove down Five Mile Drive, a gorgeous loop lined with old-growth forests, and containing wildlife, bicyclists, and scenic views to pull over and take photos of. Pictured below is yours truly in front of a 450-year-old Douglas fir called the Mountaineer Tree.
Mountaineer Tree at Point Defiance Park
On our short drive, we saw birds, deer, and even raccoons!
Raccoons at Point Defiance Park
I couldn’t believe how full each day felt here. There was just so much to do and see! The next day we drove two hours or so to Mount Rainier National Park. It may be cheating to write about that in a blog post about Tacoma, but I’m including it because it’s an easy drive and an incredible place to visit for anyone visiting Tacoma. We did some Googling the day before and found many trails to choose from. In the end, we chose Silver Falls Trail because, well, there was a waterfall. Enough said.
Silver Falls at Mount Rainier National Park
Silver Falls Trail is a loop, totaling about three miles. I’d describe it as easy to moderate—there were a couple of uphill portions. The waterfall was an excellent payoff at the loop’s halfway point. We admired it for a while, took some photos, and then headed back on the other side of the river.
When we returned to Tacoma, we took a quick nap followed by the perfect post-hike dinner at Viva Tacoma. We ordered the sesame ginger Cauliflower “Wings,” which were different than any I’ve tasted before. I’m used to them being flavored with buffalo or barbecue sauce, which I love, but these were great too.
Cauliflower “Wings” at Viva Tacoma
For our entrees, I ordered the Raw Enchiladas. Typically I’m not a big fan of raw food–namely dishes that are traditionally warm but are served cold or at room temperature. These enchiladas were listed as a favorite on the Viva menu, so I went for it. They came with seasoned walnut “meat,” cabbage, and nut cheese wrapped in a sweet cashew tortilla and topped with lettuce, enchilada sauce, pico de gallo, cashew sour cream, and avocado. They were excellent.
Raw Enchiladas at Viva Tacoma
Brad ordered the Viva La Burger, a veggie burger with jalapeno cashew mayo, lettuce, tomato, and cucumber. He reported that it was yummy, too. Viva was a big hit!
Viva La Burger at Viva Tacoma
Our last exciting venture was whale watching. I have only done this once—while living in Monterey, California in 2006—and Brad never has. It was pretty pricey, but well worth it in my opinion. There are many companies to choose from, and many starting points all around Seattle. We chose the Puget Sound Express because they’re family owned, and we drove from Tacoma to the Port of Edmonds to embark.
Almost right away, we saw a couple of grey whales, which the naturalists on board said is rare. They were awesome and enormous. I took a couple of photos, but they didn’t do the whales justice.
Our main attraction was a group of transient orcas that the crew could hear chattering via hydrophone. On our way to see the whales, the naturalists played their live sounds for us over the ship’s speaker system, and it was pretty neat. They also played us a sound recording of resident orcas—the two make very different calls, which was interesting to hear. Below is an image of the pod of orcas we saw. The males have huge dorsal fins, so you can see one of them the best, on the right side of the photo. The other male must have been diving at the time of this shot. On the left side of the photo, you can see a group of females and young whales.
A Pod of Orcas Off the San Juan Islands
The naturalists aboard the ship gave us some history of the area. We went past Whidbey Island, the site of the Intersectional Justice Conference some of my VO colleagues attended in March. The naturalists also told us about the history of orcas in the Pacific Northwest. They included the story of the captures that used to take place, and they recommended watching Blackfish. They told us that in 1970 more than ninety orcas were herded into a net near the Puget Sound. Since orcas are incredibly sensitive and bonded to their families, many of the adults stayed with their young and were taken too. The whales were rounded up to sell to marine parks like SeaWorld. It’s always a downer to hear sad stories of inhumane treatment of animals, but I was very thankful that the naturalists took the opportunity to educate about this. I recommend readers watch Blackfish if you haven’t yet seen it. In it, there is footage from the Puget Sound capture.
Seeing orcas in the water, swimming with their families, was priceless. I’ll never forget it, or the rest of my trip to Tacoma. If you ever find yourself in the Pacific Northwest, I’d recommend a stop in Tacoma for sure!
Sam Tucker, VO’s Australia & New Zealand Outreach Coordinator, has handed out 30,395 booklets at 27 different schools this semester!
At the University of Melbourne, Sam (above) and volunteers Savannah Rain (below), Alysha Bond, Gali Schell, and Joe handed out 2,450 booklets on March 2—a new record for the Parkville campus!
The following day, Sam teamed with Jenny Li (below), Dilan Fernando, and Kieran Watkins at Monash University, and together they reached more than 2,000 students at the Clayton campus!
At the University of Canterbury on March 17, Sam and volunteer Jennifer Riley (below) handed out 800 booklets:
It’s been a pretty massive first week in New Zealand—traveled all the way from Hamilton to Dunedin (1,300 km driving plus a three-hour ferry between the two main islands) and leafleted three different universities.
Students have been really receptive and friendly—virtually everyone has been taking a leaflet. Already had four people email the address on the back of the leaflet asking for a Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating, and ran into lots of people I knew from high school who have since gone vegan! I used the last of my Compassionate Athlete booklets at UC, which were given to anyone that was wearing a rugby jersey until I ran out.
Sam, Jesse Wheeler, and Kyle Bueno leafleted the Waikato Institute of Technology on March 22 and set a new record for the Hamilton City campus:
We leafleted at Wintec until we hit the point where literally everyone we were offering a leaflet to had already gotten one by the early afternoon, so we did the rest of the day at the University of Waikato. Huge number of people reading straight away and huge number of people who were already vegetarian or vegan.
I had a good conversation with someone who was already vegetarian and keen to go vegan, just needed some more information. On the flip side, there were also a lot of hunters and farmers, as Hamilton is in the middle of a large rural area. I handled that by saying things like, “Even if you hunt, surely you can at least agree that animals shouldn’t be kept in cages so small they can’t even turn around for most their lives,” to which most people agreed and took a leaflet.
While it’s still spring for a few more weeks in most of the country, summer is here at the Vegan Outreach headquarters in California! The warm weather has inspired us to add two new items of merch to our collection: women’s cut tanks and lightweight tote bags.
The tanks are heather black, and a racerback, and are made in the good ol’ USA by American Apparel and printed by vegetarian business VGKids. They are a tri-blend of 50% polyester, 25% cotton and 25% rayon. Available in women’s sizes small, medium and large, you can get them here for $17.
You are tote-ally going to love our new bags! (I couldn’t help myself!) Printed by VGKids, these black bags are made from 100% recycled cotton canvas and measure 14.5″ x 15.5″ with 22″ straps. Buy them here for $10.
Is there an item that you’d like to see on our merch page? Let us know in the comments below!
