Potatoes are loaded with nutrients that are great for you. They have as much fibre as you can find in 6 prunes, as much vitamin C that’s in two apples, equivalent protein to 1/2 cup of milk, more vitamin B1 than a cup of whole grain pasta, and twice as much potassium as a banana.

But other than just baking the spud, there are many more creative ways to use them. Here are some of our favorites:

Spicy Curried Potatoes and Chickpeas

1 tablespoon coconut oil
4 onions, thinly sliced
1 1/2 pounds yukon gold potatoes, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
2 teaspoons sea salt, plus additional
3 tablespoons butter or nondairy margarine
1 1/2 teaspoons good, spicy curry powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (to taste)
1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed well
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup chopped cilantro, plus more for garnish
2 tablespoons lime juice

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook until brown and tender, about 6 to 10 minutes. Set aside.

Put the potatoes, 2 teaspoons of the salt and enough cold water to cover the potatoes in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are nearly tender, about 5 minutes. Scoop out 1 cup of the cooking water and set aside. Drain the potatoes well.

Add the butter or nondairy margarine to the large skillet. Bring to medium-high heat. Add the potatoes, and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the curry powder and cayenne pepper. Stir until potatoes are coated and fragrant.

Add the chickpeas, the onions, and 1/2 cup of the reserved water. Let cook, slightly mashing the potatoes, until heated through, about 5 minutes, adding additional water if needed. Season with additional salt.

Stir together the yogurt, cilantro and lime juice. Divide the potatoes into bowls with basmati rice. Top with the yogurt mixture, and sprinkle with additional cilantro.

Crispy Garlic Potato Wedges

4 pounds yukon gold potatoes, cut into wedges
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Fresh herbs, such as sage, thyme, and/or rosemary, finely chopped
2 teaspoons sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.
10 cloves garlic, smashed

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Put the baking sheet on the bottom rack and let heat up as well. Toss the wedges with the oil, herbs, salt, and pepper. Bake for 30 minutes. Add the garlic, and continue to bake until golden, about another 30 minutes. Increase the temperature to 400 degrees F. Cook until crispy, about 15 additional minutes. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.

Classic Potato Leek Soup

6 yukon gold potatoes, cut into large pieces
8 leeks, whites only, thinly sliced and thoroughly washed
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
1 bay leaf
2 quarts vegetable or chicken stock
1/2 cup flour of choice
1/2 cup melted butter or nondairy margarine
1 cup heavy cream or coconut milk1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
Sea salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Put the potatoes, half of the leeks, the celery, onion, bay leaf, and stock in a large pot. Bring to a boil. Let cook until the potatoes are soft.

Put the butter and flour in a small bowl. Mix well. Add the remaining leeks, flour/butter mixture, thyme, salt, and pepper to the pot. Stir well. Remove the bay leaf.

Use an immersion blender to puree the mixture until smooth. If you don’t have an immersion blender, puree the mixture in batches in a blender or food processor. Let cook an additional 20 minutes until thickened and flavors have melded.

Herb Roasted Root Vegetables

What better, I do ask, than a warm, comforting soup on a cold, snowy day? Not much.

And so, here are six quick vegan soup recipes that are perfect for those days you want to stay cozy on the couch.

(By the way, a good soup starts with a good starter. Learn how to make your own with our article Broth Basics.)

African Peanut Stew

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 red bell peppers, chopped
1 (28oz) can crushed tomatoes

8 cups vegetable broth
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup uncooked brown/wild rice blend
3/4 cup chunky peanut butter

Heat oil and saute onions and peppers. Stir in garlic. Add tomatoes, stock and spices to taste. Simmer on low for 30 minutes. Stir in rice, and let simmer until rice is tender. Add peanut butter, mix well, and serve.

Each year, World Vegetarian Day is celebrated with parties, potlucks, get togethers, and more – and whats even better is that it lasts all month. This is because October is home to Vegetarian Awareness Month, spreading the word on another way to live a little greener.

Regardless if you’re a vegetarian, incorporating vegetarian tactics into your weekly routine has proven benefits. By going meat-free just a couple times a week, there’s plenty of benefits to you and world around you.

Read more on why going veg is great!

We encourage you to join the thousands of folks this October who are celebrating ways to be animal free!

How to celebrate

Need some ideas to get you started? Try:

• Hosting a dinner. Visit a Farmers Market, get out your apron, and start cooking! Need some ideas? Check out the mass of recipes at vegweb.com and search your way around some excellent veg-driven blogs.
• Hire a presenter. Seek out a speaker in your area and host an event at a local church or community centre. Have donations with proceeds going to the local humane society.
• Go out to eat. Not much of a cook? Check out the veg options at a local place that highlights meat-free cuisine.
• Head to the bookstore or library. Ask them to set up a stand featuring veg cuisine cookbooks. If the bookstore is privately owned, they might offer an incentive discount.
• Host a film + potluck party. Feature a veg-driven movie and make it a meatless potluck.
• Do a wine tasting. Seek out good vegan wines and serve with tapas.

Send us your ideas and pictures from the event, and we’ll feature you in an article on Ecoki! Contact us here.

Image courtesy of happynews.com

The spring and summer are generally reserved for lighter lunches and BBQ dinners that are eaten with forks and fingers as opposed to spoons. We lay down the soup and stew ladles, pick up the tongs, and walk out to our yards/decks/patios, and enjoy the longer evenings.

With Spring around the corner, it inspired us at ecoki to bring you a Spring inspired dish, with a few flavours of the previous season still lingering. This warm salad is a marriage of wintry kale, quinoa, tomatoes and peppers, drizzled with hemp oil and a burst of fresh lemon. The combination of flavours meets an equilibrium, balancing rich and subtle tastes all at once.

Quinoa and hemp are both nutrition powerhouses, and adding leafy greens in your diet daily is one of the best things you can do for your body.

With just a few ingredients and about half an hour, this warm dish makes a perfect lunch for two or side for a couple more.

Warm Kale and Quinoa Salad

for the quinoa:
1 1/3 cup water
2/3 cup quinoa, dry
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

for the kale:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
10 cups kale, thick stems removed, sliced in ribbons (packed)

for the rest of the salad:
3/4 cup cherry tomatoes, halved, or 2 Roma tomatoes, cut into chunks
1/2 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced
3 scallions, minced (just the whites)
1 large lemon wedge
2 teaspoons hemp oil + more for drizzling if desired
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add quinoa, salt, Italian seasoning and garlic powder. Reduce to medium low, cover, and let simmer for about 13 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand about 10 minutes.

While the quinoa is cooking, heat the oil for the kale in a large saucepan. Add garlic, and saute for about 30 seconds, then add kale. Saute until softened, until desired consistency, depending how you like your greens.

When both are finished, toss quinoa, kale, tomatoes, pepper and scallions all together. Drizzle with lemon and hemp oil, and season to taste. Divide onto dishes and drizzle with more hemp oil if desired.

This is also delicious served cold.

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Read more about quinoa
Read more about hemp
Read more about greens

I’ve frequently wondered whether slow cookers and Crock Pots drain more energy than using the oven or stove top, due to the obvious 4 to 8 hour time frame it needs to develop the dish. But sometimes the convenience of throwing all the ingredients into the pot, and letting it simmer while you slip away to work, is a realistic part of our lifestyle.

After a little research, I came across some resources touting the benefits of slow cooking. According to BC Hydro, for example, most small appliances use about half of the wattage of an oven to do the same job. An electric oven, cooking at 350F for 1 hour uses 2.0kWh, whereas the Crock Pot, at 200F for 7 hours reduces it to less than half, at .7kWh.

Unison, a New Zealand-based power lines company touted similar information: the wattage of an electric oven 3000 watts versus the 220 watts of a Crock Pot.

I recommend the Hamilton Beach 3-in-1 Slow Cooker, which is most realistic for my lifestyle, and much better than my previous Crock Pot (in all ways). And because there are specific sizes, you don’t use extra energy if you just want to make something small.

Slow-cooking secrets
Slow cooking is generally easy for the kitchen challenged, but a few extra tips will ensure that your results won’t be over-cooked, dry, or mushy, and the best flavour possible, and use it to its utmost efficiency.

• Keep additional liquid to a minimum: during cooking, the liquid increases as foods release juices and break down. Adding too much will result in a water-logged waste.
• Brown it before you begin: If you are cooking meat, sear it first in a hot frying pan. This caramelizes the outside, increasing the flavour of the meat, and the overall meal.
• Adjust for altitude: for each hour of cooking time in the recipe, add an extra half hour. Legumes usually take twice as long cook at high altitude.
• Please don’t peek: each time you lift the lid, it releases heat and adds an extra 25 minutes of extra cooking time.
• Convert your coveted recipes: for every 30 minutes of cooking time in your traditional recipe, cook one hour on high or two hours on low in the slow cooker. This might take some trial and error, but it’s a good general rule of thumb.
• Foremost, it should fit: A rule of thumb is to always leave 2 inches of space from the top of the food. But also, it should be about three-quarters full. That is why I like the 3-in-1, so I can ensure a proper fit.
• Defrost first: Make sure you completely thaw any meats or poultry, to avoid bacteria build up.
• Add-in at the end: fresh herbs, noodles, rice, and frozen vegetables should be added at the end to avoid losing their flavour or becoming mushy.

Lentil Soup with Ribbons of Kale
from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson

Robin’s notes: Collards, chard, or other dark greens may be substituted for the kale. I prefer to cook the greens in advance and add them when the soup is ready to eat because cooking the raw greens right in the soup can impart a bitter flavor.

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 1 celery rib, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/4 cups dried brown lentils, sorted and rinsed
• 6 cups vegetable stock or water
• 1 tablespoon tamari soy sauce
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 or 5 large kale leaves, tough stems removed

1. Heat the oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, carrot, and garlic. Cover and cook until softened, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the vegetables to a 4-quart slow cooker and add the lentils, stock, and tamari. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

2. Tightly roll the kale leaves like a cigar and cut them crosswise into thin ribbons. Cook the kale in a pot of boiling salted water until tender and add to the soup when ready to serve.

Makes 6 servings

Image courtesy of: jewishsearch.com

Toronto-based company Truth Belts is owned by designer Renia Pruchnicki, who launched her very first belt designs back in 2001. Right from the get-go, Renia began with materials she was familiar with – and left the leather alone.

Lo’ and behold, her belts soon grew with popularity, and her reputation spread – and so did her product line.

Among her offerings are two categories of belts: Virtue and Vice. True to their names, the Virtue line aren’t leather look-a-likes and made with sustainable materials such as jute and hemp. The Vice belts are conscious clones that look and feel like leather itself – but made with polyurethane instead.

Their newest addition to their Vice belt line is the Angus belt. Built for both men and women, it’s slick enough for a suit, but casual enough for weekend wear.

Ecoki was given the opportunity to put the Angus to the test. We received the rich chocolate brown (it also comes in black), and the belt lives up to the leather-like name: alongside real leather belts, it was difficult to see a difference between the two versions.

It has a bit of a shine – not too much to make it flashy but just enough to give it some sheen – and doesn’t have that stiff, immovable feeling of a new purchase. And comparable to cheaper belts bought at your favourite retail stores? It doesn’t threaten to crack after a little wear and tear.

Two specific things we like most are the stitch size and the buckle. Having had belts in the past that have lost their stitching, we applauded their detail put into the manufacturing process, and the durability of the satin nickle buckle outshines many others in its high-quality design. (We also think that you could smash it against a window as a quick escape route, if ever need be. It’ll do the job just fine.)

“Truth” be told, It’s no surprise that Truth was named the “Best Leather Replacement Clothing Company in North America by Peta. With all of their other awesome duds – cuffs, tees, and necklaces – we think so, too.

The Angus
from Truth Belts (www.truthbelts.com)
Width = 28 mm / 1 1/8”
100% polyurethane
Available in sizes S-XL
$45.00 US / $45.00 CAN

Available from vegetarianbelts.com

It began in 1985, and has expanded ever since. Using the first day of Spring, March 20th, as a marker, the Meatout hosts educational events promoting the idea of a meat-free lifestyle.

According to their website, www.meatout.org, many health groups promote this campaign and have since launched their own, among them the American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute, Johns Hopkins University, and the American Heart Association.

The great Meatout is organized by FARM (www.farmusa.org), a non-profit national organization that advocates a vegan diet, for the benefits animals, the environment, and personal health.

Their mantra is based on “kicking the meat habit”, which can reduce health risks to disease and pathogens, raise our energy levels and lowering our food dishes. It also frees up grains and other foods to feed hungry individuals (read more), and preserve our natural resources. And obviously, it benefits innocent animals.

Thousands of individuals join together on the 20th (or so) to partake. From festivals, filled with exhibits to information tables, to classroom ideas and public meals, to lectures, walks, and parties, the Meatout is a great way to promote a vegan diet and educate others to explore the possibilities.

To join the event and host your own Meatout, register at meatout.org/action.htm; alternatively, see if there is one already planned in your area.

Hosting your own Meatout? Tell us about it and we’ll feature you!

To read more about how veganism helps the environment, read more.

Image courtesy of veggiemonth.com