Want to spruce up your brunch menu or learn to cook some new, tasty vegan brunch dishes? Join AmyLeo from Vegan Affairs on Saturday, April 26th from 10am – Noon at the Lake Calhoun Whole Foods Market in Minneapolis for the ‘Add Punch to Your Brunch’ cooking class!

The class will be held in the Cooking Classroom at the Whole Foods Market and costs $30 per person. You must pre-register for the event at the Customer Service desk or you can register online.

On the menu for the cooking class is:

• Luscious Vegan Breakfast Scramble
• Savory Seared Tempeh with Rich Garlic Aioli and Fresh Greens
• Ancient Grain Griddle Cakes with Caramelized Fruit
• Molasses Sweetened Multigrain Granola

Each dish will help you enhance your plant-based breakfast routine or help you impress your friends at your next vegan brunch! This compassionate cooking event will have good food, good friends, and good conversation, so be sure to register today!

Mark Bittman has long been supportive of the vegan diet and in VB6 he draws a road map for those who want to move to a more compassionate diet for health reasons. I’m also in the midst of reading Veganomics by Nick Cooney, so forgive me if I pepper a few statistics from Cooney’s book as well: Most people become vegetarian or vegan for either health reasons or to help animals. However, people who successfully stay with a compassionate diet adopt more reasons the longer they maintain their diet. For example, if they started out vegan because of the desire to help animals, they’ll stay vegan because they feel it is healthy and they’ll also realize the environmental benefits of their diet, adding these to their list of reasons. My point is that if you want to become vegan to help animals, not for health reasons, Mark Bittman’s book is still a great read.

Bittman is compassionate and forgiving of the reader by reminding us that changing our diet is not easy. It involves creating new habits, changing our taste buds, and creating strategies that don’t isolate us from others that may not share our dietary convictions but still want to eat out with us. Even as a lifelong vegetarian that knows the value of cooking large quantities of soup that can be frozen into lunch portions and quickly thrown together stir-fry “recipes,” I found his book delightful. Reading it inspired me to set down the cookies and crackers and do some serious meal planning. I loved his tips on what vegetables you can cut and prepare in advance to make cooking in the evening a cinch (celery and carrots – which also make for great snacking!). I took to heart his advice that ‘if you buy it you will be more likely to eat it and cook it.’ My fruit intake has probably tripled since I started reading this book.

There are lots of great vegan cookbooks, but what Bittman did in VB6 is help the reader understand how to switch not only to a vegan lifestyle but also to a healthy lifestyle. I love that all his recipes center on basic easy-to-find inexpensive foods (well, sadly fruit doesn’t always qualify for the “inexpensive” category). And although he does have one chapter on non-vegan recipes (to be eaten after 6 or sparingly), you can always skip that chapter (like I did). Nowhere does he insist that anyone “needs to eat animal products.” The inclusion of that chapter is for those who aspire to reduce the animal products in their diet, but don’t think they can do it full time. I love this inclusive message. As Nick Cooney points out in Veganomics –  10 people who eat only one meal day with animal products have much more significant impact than 5 people who become 100 percent vegan. So whether you fall into the former or latter camp, if you want to eat a healthier plant-based diet, I highly recommend reading VB6.

Thanks for waiting patiently. We finally have the winning recipe for the 5th Annual Vegan Chili Cook-Off. There’s no way around it: this recipe is a lot of work! Thanks to Jacob Carrigan to providing his recipe!

Though you’ve been able to find a few vegan or vegetarian items at Target Field in Minneapolis in the past, such as popcorn, peanuts, and pretzels, they’ve upped their game this season with lots of delicious veg options that will surely make you want to head out to Target Field – and maybe you can even watch the Twins play, too!

New vegan and vegetarian options this year include Field Roast veggie dogs and burgers, which are both vegan, a baked potato bar, hummus with pretzels, veggie taco, veggie kabobs, and veggie burritos. Now you can stop sneaking in those Larabars and enjoy true ballpark food while taking in a game this summer!

Before you head out to Target Field, make sure you check out their entire list of the veg options available as well as the directory  to where you can find all of the delicious plant-based foods throughout the stadium. They also have a ton of gluten-free options, so you’re sure to find something the whole family can enjoy!

I’m happy to announce we’ve hired Justin Leaf as our new Communications and Events Coordinator.

A long time Compassionate Action for Animals volunteer, Justin has helped plan the Their Lives, Our Voices conference, raised funds, distributed literature, helped with administrative tasks, and much more. He has written a vegan cookbook, Mistress Ginger Cooks, which is being released next month.

Justin has been a professional dancer, a singer, a performer, choreographer, and a yoga instructor. He has organized numerous events and has extensive experience in communications including email newsletters and videos.

Beyond his experience, what excites me about hiring Justin is his commitment to gently helping people embrace compassion.

Kicking off on Meatless Monday and the day before Earth Day, Compassion Over Killing’s US VegWeek 2014 (April 21-27) is a weeklong celebration exploring the benefits of vegetarian eating. This year’s celebration will be bigger and better than ever!

Join the fun! Thousands of Americans nationwide are taking the 7-Day VegPledge. Sign up now to get your FREE Vegetarian Starter Pack. You can also get free recipes, dining tips, discounts, and other info via email to keep you smiling and help make your week a shining success!

We’ll be hosting our Vegan Food Showcase on Friday, April 25, from 1 to 4 pm in front of Coffman Memorial Union at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, as a part of US VegWeek.

Are you wondering about Compassionate Action for Animals’ Veg Week, our week-long celebration of events? We will not be hosting Veg Week this year because of the timing of Twin Cities Veg Fest 2014, but we expect to host our next Veg Week in the spring of 2015.

Here are some of the recipes from last Thursday’s 10th Annual Banquet. If you enjoyed the food, you can make it again! If you missed the banquet, you can make the dishes yourself!

Hors D’ouevres

• Bean and Sauerkraut Dip with Crackers
• Satay Turnovers
• Phyllo Knishes

Main Dish

• “Beef” and Veggie Skewers
• Garlic Tarragon Mayo
• Soy Hoisin Sauce

Soup

• Tomato Basil Soup

Sides

• Twice Baked Potatoes
• Balsamic Brussels Sprouts
• Ginger Carrots