NEWS FOR ORCAS
Last month
our potluck movie night brought so much diverse food to try plus helpful tips
(from Engine
2 Kitchen Rescue), that everyone voted to continue enjoying more of the
same.
Thus,
we are excited to share that we're making a switch (from cooking) to hosting
Free Veggie Potluck Movie Nights on the second Thursday of
every month, at 6pm, at the Orcas Christian High School...which will
include more plant-based whole food discussion. Simply bring a veggie dish and
its recipe. All ages and families are warmly welcome to these
ongoing free gatherings.
Speaking
of which, at our upcoming potluck we will have a special presentation, "Making a
Switch: Eating More Plant-Based Whole Foods." This presentation will cover
such things as transitioning, budgeting, shopping, time management, and the
power plate of nutrients.
Last but
not least, I've been so swamped this last month that I've not been able to send
you copies of our March potluck recipes. Many apologies! We will have
copies of these for you at our April potluck. Thank you so much for
understanding. =)
We look
forward to seeing you next week - on Thursday, April 11th, at 6pm!
Thursday, November 8 - Orcas Island
We had another great turnout at the Orcas Christian School! Everyone jumped in the kitchen to make 3 soups, 2 salad dressings, muffins and a dessert. We learned some valuable lessons. For our next gathering, we're looking forward to learning some simple recipes and learning more about why we're doing this. Healthier cooking is new to most of us, so this is an adventure we're going on together!
Sunday, November 4 - Vegetarian of WA Presentation
Vegetarians of Washington presented the science behind the need for Americans to eat more fruits, veggies, legumes, and grains. Their cooking demonstration helped us learn how to make quinoa salad, tempeh, and dessert, in a quick and easy way. This three-hour event also made it possible for us to get to know others in the community, sign-up for Vegetarians of WA memberships, if desired, and view the affordable books currently available on healthier eating in our region of the Pacific Northwest.
Thursday, October 11, 2012 - Orcas Island
The first Orcas Vibrant Vegetarian gathering on Thursday, October 11, 2012, was a big success! With 21 registered attendees--19 of whom showed up!--and 5 walk-in's, the Orcas Christian School kitchen was bustling with excitement and delight.
Upon arriving, attendees jumped right in, chopping vegetables, blending new concoctions, and simmering sauces. After a demonstration on how to build a spring roll, everyone lined up to create and enjoy eating their own variations, all while socializing with new friends.
This inaugural event encouraged conversation for what everyone would like to see at future gatherings--from seasonal recipes and making soups, to playing with healthy recipes between class, and enjoying even more food next time. Hearing the fantastic feedback and seeing the phenomenal attendance numbers is so helpful to the planning--allowing us to even better meet the club's wishes at our next gathering on Thursday November 8th.
Thursday, August 9, 2012 - Friday Harbor
The Friday Harbor Vibrant Vegetarians enjoyed a delicious grilled meal in the Community Garden. There were marinated portobellos with tender asparagus, fresh picked sugar snap peas and green beans all grilled to perfection. The shish-kabobs were loaded with baby yellow potatoes, beets, carrots, sweet bell peppers, green and yellow zucchini, and garlic cloves all in a delicious fresh herb marinade.
There were also two beautiful garden fresh salads. The first one was a crisp tabouli with lime and the other was a freshly picked fava bean salad.
Dessert was a delicious freshly pick blackberry cobbler! The meal, the weather and the friendships were all perfect!
The group is looking forward to next month where Donavon will be featuring his delicious raw and healthy "Sun" Fudge and his savory gluten-free bread among other tasty delights!
So be sure to invite a friend and join us at the Friday Harbor SDA Church on Thursday, September 6 at 6 pm.
Monday, August 6, 2012 - Lopez Island
Members and guests of the Lopez Vibrant Vegetarian Cooking Club enjoyed making, baking and eating delicious pizzas. One of the members, Samantha Taylor shared her wonderful recipes for handmade crusts, both white flour and gluten free, and scrumptious pesto. She shared how to make the traditional basil kind along with a parsley variety and a fresh spinach choice as well. (These recipes have been posted for your enjoyment.)
With many healthy options to choose from for toppings, every pizza was a masterful original creation. After enjoying the demonstration, the hands on preparation and the delicious fruits of their labor, the group discussed various health topics and useful kitchen hints.
Two guests visiting us from off island, Nicole and her mom, Linda were the winners of the door prize. They enjoyed themselves so much that they are going to make our club a regular stop on their visits to Lopez! And they even offered to share some their knowledge on raw foods eating at a future club meeting.
Remember, due to Labor Day we will not be having our September club meeting. However, the group did not want to wait two months before we meet again so it was voted to have our next meeting on Monday, August 27th.
A delicious barbeque menu has been planned with a wonderful sounding fresh fruit tart for dessert! Plan now to invite a friend and join us at 6pm at the Lopez School Kitchen!
Thursday, May 3, 2012 - Friday Harbor:
May's Cooking Club meeting was a delicious success! With everyone in the kitchen the meal was ready in no time and then the devouring began with lots of gabbing and laughing. We are very excited about our upcoming June meeting "In the Garden"! That's right! The Community Garden will be hosting our June Club Meeting. They are planning a very interesting, informative and delectable time for us all! This would be a great one to bring a friend who may be interested in joining us!
Remember, our Club Meetings are always the first Thursday of each Month. So plan now to join us in the Community Garden at 76 Gilbert Lane (if the weather doesn't cooperate we will run inside the church) on Thursday, June 7 at 6pm!
Thursday, May 7, 2012 - Lopez Island:
Monday, May 7 was the first Lopez Vibrant Vegetarian Cooking Club Meeting. The school kitchen was full of ladies of all ages with all levels of cooking experience. Vegetarians and carnivores alike were all chopping, laughing, talking and "tasting" their part of the delicious creations! Many learned to work with tofu for the first time and everyone loved the colorful protein packed raw spring rolls they were able to create and devour! We learned that it is very easy to get all of the protein we need from the plant world. Issues of health, menus, activities and meeting structure were discussed with some great topics suggested for future meetings!
Remember, our meetings are always the first Monday of each month. So join us Monday, June 4 when club member, Parvin Baharloo, a wonderful Persian Chef http://www.tasteofpersialopez.com/ has agreed to demonstrate the meal! We are so excited and can hardly wait to learn and eat! Please spread the word and bring a friend with you. The more, the merrier!
See you Monday, June 4 at 6pm at the Lopez School Kitchen! Be sure and be on time so you don't miss any of the hand-on instruction time!
Thursday, April 5, 2012
If you had walked in to the meeting on Thursday, April 5 you would have been greeted with the whir of juicers, flying vegetables and laughing and talking Vibrant Vegetarian Cooking Club Members. After about 30 minutes of juicing, creating and sampling, the eager members set down to watch the moving, "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead". www.fatsickandnearlydead.com This inspiring film on the many heath benefits of juicing, is not only entertaining it is very educational and sparked many interesting discussions. Here is the link to the YouTube trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv3vEXy_EwU After the movie each member filled bags with a large assortment of fresh veggies and went home with their juicers in hand ready to make a commitment to their health and life!
We know this was a very busy week for a lot of our members who could not make it for one reason or another. If there is a big enough interest from those of you who did come, we would be happy to do this whole yummy meeting again! Just let us know!
Also, members please remember that we have a Vibrant Vegetarian Cooking Club Team in the Relay for Life happening here in June! Please log onto www.relayforlifeoffridayharbor.org to make a pledge and invite your friends to donate to this awesome cancer fighting cause! We are also considering putting on a fund raising VEGETARIAN DINNER make by US the Club members!!! So please watch for this and plan to help and encourage friends to buy tickets and attend!
And one more thing! The cooking club now has a big raised bed in the Friday Harbor Community Garden for our herbs. That way as we continue to make wonderful, amazing, delicious, vegetarian dishes we can soon run out and pick all of the fresh herbs we need right there! Yum! :)
If you are reading this and haven't joined us yet, please do! Everyone age 14 and up are welcome to attend! Some couples make it a date night too!
So see YOU next month, May 3, at 6pm at the Friday Harbor Adventist Church kitchen.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Vibrant Vegetarian Cooking Club Members gathered at the Bean Cafe' and enjoyed a wonderful feast. Various members brought such delicious dishes all with an Irish Flair in honor of St Patrick's Day.
Diana brought cabbage and potatoes, Nancy made a delicious veggie corn-beef and cabbage, Patty whipped up glazed carrots, Judy baked (well, we heard rumors that she had Loren bake for her) irish soda bread and to top it all off Virlinda treated us all with apple dumplings. What a wonderful meal it was and everyone went home with some great new recipes!
Nurse Nancy shared some very interesting information about vitamin supplements; their usefulness, safety and overuse.
Discussions ensued about our club participation in volunteering at the Seattle Veg-Fest later this month and possibly having a team for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life happening in July.
We also discussed more possibilities of where we might be able to move our Thursday meetings since the Bean Cafe' will be having extended hours in the summer.
Kevin Porter won the door prize so he and Diana took home a nice basket with beautiful mugs, a nice vegetarian cookbook and other fun useful items.
Next month's meeting promises to be delicious and enjoyable! You won't want to miss it! So join us at the Bean Cafe' at 6pm on Thursday the 5th of April!
See you there!
Kim Bryan
Thursday, February 2, 2012 Meeting
On Thursday Feb 2nd the Vibrant Vegetarian Cooking Club enjoyed a wonderful evening of delicious food, hands on demonstrations, door prizes and good conversations!
To start with everyone rolled their sleeves up, washed their hands and stretched gluten steaks. Yes, that is right we all stood around gabbing and stretching this "rubbery" like stuff and then dropped it into a kettle of amino acids and nutritional yeast broth. After we realized that it wouldn't really be ready to eat for three to four hours, Kim brought out a dish of already breaded and fried pieces. Wow they were delicious and everyone was quite happy to find that they were not rubbery at all now! It was discussed how this great meat analog can be used in many different forms such as steak lets, ground beef, shredded and used in BBQ "beef-less" sandwiches, cut up small in fajitas, sliced in strips for stir fry, and Pastor's Don's favorite: breaded, fried (in just a little olive oil) and sandwiched between two pieces of homemade bread!
Next we enjoyed a delicious meal provided by the various members. Patty made a wonderful "meat-less" meatloaf. She even made it without eggs, using oatmeal as a binder. The flavor and texture were perfect and the loaves were gobbled right up. Angelica brought cauliflower "mashed potatoes". Everyone was quite fascinated with the delicious idea of using cauliflower in place of potatoes and the whole bowl was quickly consumed with many pleasing comments. Pastor Don brought a colorful and yummy pan of oven roasted veggies with fresh herbs. The sweet potatoes, red potatoes, red onions, carrots, red and orange sweet peppers, asparagus, portobello mushrooms etc... were roasted tender crisp with a variety of fresh snipped herbs making the whole cafe' smell wonderful.
Nurse Nancy was not able to make it this month, however she did send a hand-out with very informative information on Heart health. Helpful kitchen tips were shared and then the drawing for the door prize was held. Who would win the adorable valentines apron, heart shape baking dishes and cookie cutter and some yummy sour cherry candy. Surprise, it was Virlinda, who was quite happy because her special valentine friend was coming to visit so now she would be all prepared to whip up something special just for him!
Discussion has begun as to where else we might be able to meet once summer comes. The Bean Cafe' has been perfect for us this winter but of course with summer comes the longer business hours so Erik will no longer have the privilege of having all these chatty vibrant vegetarians join him each month.
Next month promises to be delicious and informative as we plan to present gluten free vegetarian options. So plan now to join us at the Bean Cafe' on Thursday, March 1st at 6pm.
So until next month... remember... eat your veggies!
See you there!
Kim Bryan
Thursday, January 6, 2012 Meeting
This month 18 of us "veggie-foodies" enjoyed making and devouring two different types of "crab-less crab cakes". The recipes will be posted here soon so keep a watch for that! We also discussed the wonderful way to have freshly grown food in our kitchens right in the middle of winter by sprouting. The door prize was a sweet little basket full of sprouting accessories and a variety of seeds to get you growing. Kevin Porter was the lucky one to take that home. So, how is your garden growing, Kevin?
Nancy, our Health Nurse talked on the importance of fiber and shared ways to easily get the needed amounts in our daily intake.
A good discussion was shared by the participants as to what else we would like to learn and eat! And next month's menu was decided on with much "oohing and yumming".
So be sure to join us February 3rd at 6pm at the Bean Cafe' where you will enjoy "meatless meatloaf", gourmet mashed potatoes/cauliflower, a delicious vegetable dish and healthy "to-die-for" Valentine chocolates that you will get to make right there!
See you there!
Kim Bryan
Thursday, December 1, 2011 Meeting
