Toni's Kale Pesto from the upcoming Vegan Mashup series

Recently I read a great article touting the health benefits of kale. It’s pretty evident that the word has gotten out, with many people expressing awareness that kale is considered the new “superfood”. Every year something “new”, that actually isn’t new at all, hits the airwaves as the one thing you’ll want to include in your diet that will fight cancer, lower cholesterol, improve your memory, keep the pounds off… the list goes on. What’s not said most of the time, is that a low fat plant-based diet rich in color and variety is, hands down, the best and most complete eating plan for life. I’m not talking about having kale, blueberries or tomatoes on top of or alongside foods on the negative list, I’m talking about an exclusively plant-based diet. So while kale is the new wonder kid on the block (and don’t get me wrong, it is)  the majority of mainstream kale recipes hitting the airwaves are simply laden unhealthy animal protein sources like pork, bacon, chicken, sausage and cream  to name a few. I often wonder when I read these recipes, these “healthy” recipes, what on earth are these people thinking? It obviously doesn’t take much to ruin a perfectly good “perfect”vegetable. While it’s true that what you eat is very important it’s equally important to remember that keeping healthy food healthy depends entirely on how you prepare it. Substituting kale in any of my recipes that are made with greens like collards, spinach and chard and paired with healthy protein sources like lentils, beans and quinoa, is a good start to incorporating more kale into your diet.

-Toni Fiore
Host of Delicious TV’s Totally Vegetarian and VegEZ

But we need your help and support to make this happen! Delicious TV is currently raising funds for television production, post production and marketing. Check it out at http://www.indiegogo.com/Delicious-TVs-Vegan-Mashup. With a minimum of $10 (of course more is sublime), your help gets us closer to delivering this new, fresh and delicious cooking series to public television for your viewing pleasure! Follow the indegogo link above, give what you can and help spread the word through your friends, social networks and even in your holiday gift giving! Our goal is to pull together 6 fabulous episodes that are not only Totally Vegan but will totally knock the socks off all those tired meat based cooking programs on mainstream television. Please help make Vegan Mashup happen!  – Toni Fiore

I never really ate a lot of cheese, but I did use bits of it in and on a great many of my traditional Italian or Greek recipes. Personally I found working around not adding cheese to my food to be really easy. However, that said, there are some recipes that really depended on either ricotta or feta as a main ingredient. Once I discovered how flexible and economical tofu can be as a cheese substitute I started working on a few recipes that utilize this fantastic food in a variety of delicious and creative ways. This weeks podcast of Herbed Tofu Cheese highlights just what you can do with tofu without sacrificing flavor or texture. Once you get this basic formula down ( it’s soooo easy) you’ll see all the great possibilities! I love this “cheese” instead of feta or ricotta on Flatbread Pizza or as a filling for lasagna or ravioli. Cubed and seasoned  Tofu can also become tart feta and is wonderful when added to salads like Greek Garbanzo Bean Salad. And, as is the case with all my recipes, you can add your own favorite herbs and spices, as much or little as you like. Tonight I used the basic herbed version as a base replacing traditional ricotta in a Caramelized Onion and Mushroom Tart. The best part? Not one person missed the cheese.

Click the photo to watch the episode.

When I’m preparing vegetarian versions of classic recipes like Maryland Mock Crab-cakes, Grilled Seitan or Tofu Phish I’ll focus on recreating the familiar flavors of those dishes by using many of the same spices and flavorings that would be added to the traditional meat or seafood versions. That, by and large is fairly easy. What can be trickier is achieving similar textures and I think texture is equally important as taste when it comes to food. Over the years I’ve had a great many versions of “tuna” that were prepared with tofu, tempeh and even chickpeas. Although they were all really delicious there seemed to be something missing. There was always that texture problem. One day while I was processing artichokes for my Artichoke Pesto I noticed that chopped artichokes actually really looked like tuna! The pesto never materialized however within a day or two I managed to nail down a recipe for “tuna” that was not only tasty and healthy, but had that tuna look and feel. So, with the busy holiday season rapidly approaching and colder weather right around the corner, now is a perfect time to have healthy soup and sandwich meals ready to go. For a nutritious comforting lunch or supper try a pairing of my Creamy Cauliflower Soup and Mock Tuna Salad sandwiches.  That’s what we had this evening and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Like Cilantro it seems that people either love beets or hate them! Tonight I made Beet Burgers (recipe courtesy of Didi Emmons and in my book “Totally Vegetarian”) for a couple of friends who swore they would never (ever) develop a liking for this sadly underused root vegetable. Even though I’m seeing beets making more frequent appearances on menus in upscale dining establishments, I find that very simple preparations not only taste better but are more economical for the everyday cook. This particular recipe is really easy to pull together, full of fiber, nutrients and makes enough for a couple of meals worth of burgers. Extra plus is that there is no added fat. I cook my burgers in a cast iron pan with barely a tablespoon of vegetable oil, however in a ceramic non stick pan they can be cooked fat free. Just watch the heat! I served these crisp on the outside warm and crumbly on the inside burgers without a bun, topped with a generous squeeze of Sriracha sauce. I complimented these flavorful and subtly “beety” burgers with a simple side of rosemary roasted potatoes and sweet organic pears. I’m happy to say, much to everyone’s surprise, that the entire dish was a hit! Be sure to buy your beets with nice fresh leafy tops. Tomorrow all of those glorious greens are going to find their way into a hearty minestrone.