Organic Campus

In late February, Organic Campus hosted a cooking workshop featuring recipes for a complete organic vegan breakfast. Check out below to find photos from the workshop and recipes for a Good Morning Juice, "Can't be Beet" Muffins, Garlic Roasted Potatoes, Tofu Scramble, and Winter Squash Pancakes.

1.)Good Morning Juice
Both the betaine in beets and the gingerols in ginger have been linked to reducing inflammation within the body. Ginger in particular can help in reducing chronic pain for people with Osteoarthritis and can also aid in digestion. Beets are very high in folate, manganese and potassium.**source: whfoods.com Serves 3.

Ingredients:
2 medium sized beets, cut into chunks
3 OC-sized (small) carrots, washed
3 OC-sized (small)apples, peels on
1 inch of ginger

Directions:
Run all ingredients through a juicer, stir and serve. Best when consumed immediately.
Also, it's good to add some of the beet greens for additional nutritional value. Parsley is another popular addition.

2) "Can't Be Beet" Muffins
Now that you have juiced all those rich vegetables and fruit, it's time to clean out the juicer and put all that pulp to good use! Save all the pulp from juicing the beets, carrots, apples and ginger, stir the pulp together and set some aside for this baked vegan treat. Any pulp you don't want to use right away, freeze and later thaw out on a rainy day when you want a healthy baked treat to warm you up from the inside. Makes a dozen.
Ingredients:
2 c. organic whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. organic soy milk or milk alternative
1/4 vegetable oil, preferably linseed or walnut for added omega 3, especially for vegetarian/vegan diets.
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4-1 c. organic cane sugar or 1/2-3/4 c. honey (depending on how sweet you'd like them)
1 tbsp. of ground flax mixed with 2-3 tbsp water until viscous. This is the binding agent, so if you don't have flax on hand try one banana or 1/2 c. apple sauce with 1 tsp of baking powder.
2 tbsp. of wheat germ (optional) for added vitamin E and fibre. Note: if added, reduce flour amount by 2 tbsps.
1 c. pulp mix unthawed
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. clove or allspice
1/4 tsp. ground ginger (If ginger was omitted from the juice recipe and thus missing in the pulp)
1/2 c. crushed walnuts.

Directions:
Mix together all the dry ingredients in a bowl, while in a separate bowl combine all wet ingredients including the sugar, flax mixture, and pulp. Gradually add wet mixture to dry and gentle mix, but do not overmix. Fill a greased muffin tray with the mixture and sprinkle some walnut crumbs on top but pack them down to ensure they don't roll off after they bake. Then you bake the muffins in a preheated oven at 350 F for 25-30 mins.

3) Garlic Roasted Potatoes
This is a relatively quick way to roast potatoes. Garlic and spices can be adjusted to taste
Serves 6.

Ingredients:
6 medium sized potatoes or 4 large potatoes, washed and sliced into 1 inch cubes (do not peel)
2 medium sized onions cut into chunks
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp dried rosemary (or 2 tbsp fresh)
kosher salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and toss until potatoes and onions are coated (try not to break up the onion chunks).
3. Dump contents of the bowl onto a roasting pan (if it's not nonstick, coat pan with a little oil). Place in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, flipping over the potatoes and onions half way through cooking time.

4) Tofu Scramble

This is a great vegan equivalent to scrambled eggs yet can be jammed packed with veggies. The soy comprising the tofu is also a complete protein like eggs but you are able to avoid the purported cholesterol issue. Soy also tends to be fortified with calcium and does not perish easily so this dish should last in your fridge for a good while, ready to be taken out whenever you want a nice protein and veggie kick to start your day. Serves 4-7 people depending on how many veggies are added.

Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pepper (green or red)
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 pound (=1 standard package) firm organic tofu, pressed* and crumbled
2 tbsp. fortified nutritional yeast flakes (non-fortified is fine but lacks the B6&12 boost)
1 tbsp. tamari
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. sage
1/2 tsp. basil
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. pepper, preferrably ground.

* to press your tofu, remove the tofu from the fridge and package the night before and place it between two plates, or a plate and some flat surface like a cutting board. Then place a weight on top of the second plate/flat surface so it will press down upon the tofu overnight. By morning enough water should have been expelled to reduce the tofu's cooking time and assist it in absorbing flavors. For this recipe, an easier method is to cut the tofu into 6-8 cubes and then squeeze the cubes over the sink until most of the water comes out. It may take a bit of muscle, but you will end up quasi-crumbling the tofu already for the recipe.

OC Tip: Feel free to add whatever veggies and spices you'd like to this dish, it is quite versatile and can host a plethora of flavors. Some definite suggestions would be to add spinach/swiss chard, mushrooms, broccoli, and/or zucchini, as well as some chili powder. The additional vegetables will increase the necessary cooking time however and will require some more spices, so if you were to add 2-3 extra vegetables you should probably double the aforementioned spices including the nutritional yeast, mustard, and tamari.

Directions:
In a large saucepan on medium heat, saute the onions until translucent. Meanwhile, crumble the tofu into a large bowl and add the garlic, nutritional yeast, turmeric, tamari, mustard, sage, basil, pepper, ginger, and chili powder (opt). Mix lightly then add vegetables and mix again. The crumbled tofu should now be bright yellow due to the turmeric and should be coated with the spices and other ingredients as they were added before the vegetables. If you added spinach or another green and it seems they are dominating the bowl don't panic, they will reduce to only a fraction of their size when fried. Add tofu mixture to onions and mix together in the pan, spreading the mixture about evenly. Stir mixture every few minutes until the tofu browns a bit and is not terribly moist. Depending on how many vegetables you added, cooking can take anywhere from 15 min. to 30. Serve immediately either on its own, between two slices of toast, or in a wrap to make a breakfast burrito!

5) Winter Squash Pancakes
(adapted from a recipe by Laura Klein for http://www.organicauthority.com/)
These pancakes are hearty and delicious for breakfast or dessert. I have veganized this recipe for the workshop's sake, but the original called for animal products. Adjust the spices to your liking.
One final note, unless you are very comfortable using flax in baking, I would suggest going with a store-bought egg replacer. It will give you the volume that you need. Bob's makes a really useful brand available in the "natural foods" section of most large grocery stores. Serves six and makes approximately 1 dozen large pancakes.

Ingredients:
1 small organic butternut squash
2 egg substitutes (flax seed* or store bought)
1 cup of organic non-dairy milk (soy works best because of fat content)
2 cups organic whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

* flax eggs can be made by adding one table spoon of ground flax seeds to three table spoons of water, mix well and use immediately.

Directions:
1. Preheat oven 350ş F.
2. Cut squash in half, and remove seeds with a spoon. Bake squash in a roasting pan until tender about 40 minutes. 20 minutes into baking the squash, add 1cup of water to the roasting pan (this will keep the squash from drying out). As one of the lovely ladies at the workshop pointed out, you can roast the squash seeds for a delicious snack.
3. Scoop out squash with a spoon and cool. Mash squash with a fork. In a bowl, combine the wet ingredients: squash, "eggs" and milk.
4. In another bowl combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, cinnamon and cloves. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well. Let stand 20 minutes.
5. Heat the oil to medium high heat in a pan.
6. Pour or ladle batter into the pan and cook 3 minutes per side.

Hi all! Organic Campus is super excited to offer a free organic cooking workshop this upcoming Monday, February 16. The cooking workshop will show you how to create a tasty vegan organic breakfast using the produce typically found in our baskets. Plus, we'll be offering some pointers on nutrition as well as general organic info. If you're interested in attending, please send an e-mail to oraniccampus@gmail.com

What: Cooking Workshop
Where: Midnight Kitchen's kitchen, Shatner Room 304
When: Monday, February 16 7 to 9pm

Plus, even though it's the middle of February, we still have lots of organic local produce to offer--apples, beets, onions, garlic, carrots, organic eggs, and Ethiopian baked goods—so come on by the Organic Corner and fill up on some organic goodness when you can.