Why Are You Vegan?
We connect with a lot of vegans through our work writing books and teaching vegan food preparation. We would love to know why you decided to be vegan.
Please tell us more about why you decided to be vegan in our comments.
2 comments December 29, 2009
Vegan Fusion Raw Food Intensive – Los Angeles, California
Vegan Fusion Raw Food Intensive
Los Angeles, California
April 2 – 4, 2010
Discover the essentials of raw food cuisine from Mark Reinfeld, coauthor of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Eating Raw and winner of the Aspen Center for Integrative Health’s Platinum Carrot Award for Living Foods.
During this three day intensive you will learn how to create energizing soups, superfood smoothies, granolas, seed and nut milks, pizza, pasta, crackers, raw salads, plant cheeses, pates and nori rolls, raw desserts such as puddings, parfaits, pies and more.
also included is
Yoga in the Yurt with Michelle
Join us at a beautiful private home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. We will begin our day at noon with an hour of relaxing yoga in a magnificent yurt by Michelle Mazur. After this we dive into the world of raw food cuisine. Its a hands on opportunity to learn techniques from one of the leaders in the vegan and raw food movement. There will be plenty of food to sample! Then its back to to the yurt where we end the day at 6pm with a 15 minute restorative yoga session with Michelle.
In Michelles’ words, “Sometimes in our busy lives we do all the necessary things we need to stay healthy and feel great. However, quite often the stresses of everyday living take over and effects our nervous system which effects our digestion, assimilation and elimination of food. Even if we eat the healthiest of foods the state of our mind can directly decide how we will respond to the glorious things we put in our mouth. Together we will explore how yoga can help. Taking basic principles from ayurvedic medicine (the science of life) along with some understanding of the three gunas which are the qualities of nature (Prakriti).
I will teach a set series of asanas for different conditions that may occur and upset the natural healthy order of things. Students will leave this retreat with a list of asanas to do on their own for different situations that may arise. I will also teach different restoratives every day to culminate the work in asana and cooking to relax the physical body and thinking mind. “
Includes:
Daily raw food lessons and raw gourmet meals
Vegan Fusion raw food recipe manual
1+ hour yoga instruction in a beautiful yurt by certified yoga instructor Michelle Mazur
Michelle Mazur has studied the movement of the body for over 30 years. She focuses particularly on how and why we injure ourselves and live in pain. Twelve years ago she began practicing yoga after spending her life trying to heal from injuries of the spine, lower back, and hips created from years of ballet dancing. She began studying with many of the master teachers from around the world and immersed herself in the study of yoga, its philosophy and its therapeutic aspects.
Spaces are limited. To register and for more information please call us at 808.822.0820 or email info@veganfusion.com
1 comment December 22, 2009
Go Dairy Free – Review of The 30-Minute Vegan
| The 30 Minute Vegan: Over 175 quick, delicious, and healthy recipes for everyday cooking |  |
 |
 |
The 30-Minute Vegan by Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray (Book Review)
I’m not vegan, but I do love vegan recipes. As someone who is dairy-free and who loves their veggies, I am always looking for new and creative ways to enjoy them. Vegetarian cookbooks are typically filled with cheese and milk … I have never understood why such authors feel the need to drown their produce that way! Vegan cookbooks tend to rely more on using seasonings, fresh pairings, and unique cooking techniques to bring out the flavor in natural foods. That said … so many vegan cookbooks spend the majority of their recipes trying to recreate non-vegan foods by using various soy products and faux meat and cheese alternatives, but not The 30 Minute Vegan. Honestly, this cookbook was breath of fresh air.
First, it is packed with recipes. But second, there doesn’t seem to be a specific agenda beyond good vegan food. Yes, there are some recipes that use dairy or meat alternatives and yes, there are some recipes that are variations of “old favorites,” but there are also countless recipes that pair delicious seasonings with fresh produce, and even numerous unintimidating raw recipes. In other words, there really is something for everyone in this cookbook … and the recipes really do take less than 30 minutes! At first pass, I encountered so many recipes that captured my attention that my copy was already riddled with dog-ears within 24 hours of receiving it.
I started with the Seasoned Spuds.
Rather than roasting, these taters are steamed and then bathed in a unique mixture of seasonings and a little bit of oil just before serving. This different technique intrigued me, especially since you could actually use high quality oil without fear of its smoke point or breaking it down. The seasonings included fennel, rosemary, soy sauce, fresh garlic, salt, pepper, and paprika. I was amazed by the resultant smoky taste. Though my husband and I tend not to like fresh garlic, when crushed and added to the hot potatoes, it cooked just enough to keep it from being to strong, which was nice. Also, I loved the instructions and cooking technique. I am very slow in the kitchen, but their steps of “put this on,” “do this while that is warming up,” and “do this while that is cooking,” really worked. The dish, along with the rest of our lunch, came together in no time.
For my second recipe, I made the Chocolate Sesame Bonbons.
These babies could be in The 5 Minute Vegan cookbook (if it existed of course)! I wasn’t sure how they would turn out, so packed full of seeds and with so little sweetener, but they were positively delicious. The sesame seeds gave these little snacks a delightful rice crispy-like crunch. I will definitely be making these, and variations, again.
In the end, what impressed me most about The 30 Minute Vegan was how well thought out and executed the recipes were. The ingredient amounts and instructions were spot on and well-tested, no adjustments needed (surprisingly rare among the sea of cookbook errors and untested recipes). Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray have really delivered in this cookbook.
Other cookbooks by these authors include:
- The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Eating Raw (Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray)
- Vegan Fusion World Cuisine: Healing Recipes and Timeless Wisdom from our Hearts to Yours (Mark Reinfeld)
- The 30-Minute Vegan’s Taste of the East (Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray) – available in July, 2010
This is a third party review by Alisa Fleming, author of Go Dairy Free: The Guide & Cookbook. The 30-Minute Vegan is available to purchase on Amazon
1 comment December 3, 2009
Blossoming Lotus Vegan Fusion Chef Training on Kaua’i
We received such a strong response to the Blossoming Lotus – Vegan Fusion Chef Training program that we are scheduling a second training in February!
Join us in paradise for a two-week immersion into the world of vegan and raw food cuisine
Monday – Friday
February 15th – 19th, 2010
February 22nd – 26th, 2010
Whether you are an experienced cook, looking to get a job in the vegan restaurant industry, or simply interested in deepening your knowledge of vegan foods, you can learn from the pros how to prepare healthy world-class vegan cuisine!
We are accepting only 6 students
for this special program
This is a rare opportunity to study intensely with Mark Reinfeld, the founding chef of the Blossoming Lotus Restaurant, winner of the 2006 ‘Ilima Award for “Best Restaurant on Kaua’i”. Classes will be taught in a private home on Kaua’i – its an intimate setting where all of your questions about vegan food preparation will be answered.
Class topics
Week 1
| Monday, February 15th | Preparation Basics – Vegan Soups |
| Tuesday, February 16th | Salads, Dressings and Spreads |
| Wednesday, February 17th | The World of Grains and Beans |
| Thursday, February 18th | Tempeh and Tofu Dishes |
| Friday, February 19th | Casseroles and Sauces |
WEEKEND BREAK – surf, snorkel, kayak, hike, explore the magical paradise island of Kaua’i. Sandy beaches and tropical waterfalls await!
Hanalei Valley
Kalalau Valley
Week 2
| Monday, February 22nd | Wraps, Sandwiches and Rolls |
| Tuesday, February 23rd | Healthy Desserts |
| Wednesday, February 24th | Raw Cuisine 1 – Superfoods, Smoothies, Elixirs, Juices and Tonics |
| Thursday, February 25th | Raw Cuisine 2 – The art of the Raw Entree |
| Friday, February 26th | Raw Cuisine 3 – Raw Desserts, Final Exam review |
For those off island, we will happily assist you in finding accommodation near by
Rates
$1600 per student – payment received before before January 15th, 2010
$1800 per student after January 15th
Includes special gifts, a Vegan Fusion chef training manual, one vegan meal per day and signed copies of Vegan Fusion World Cuisine, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Eating Raw and The 30-Minute Vegan. You will also be the first to sample recipes from our upcoming book, The 30-Minute Vegan’s Taste of the East, due out in July 2010.
All students who successfully complete the end of course exam will receive a certificate of completion from Chef Mark Reinfeld
For more information please call us at 808.822.0820 or email info@veganfusion.com
1 comment December 2, 2009
Outrageous Vegan Thanksgiving Feast
Here is a post for the foodies among us!
We had an incredible vegan Thanksgiving feast. It was the most variety and flavor we have ever had at a meal – holiday or otherwise. It was living proof that vegan meals rock! Fourteen of us each contributed one or more dishes. Some highlights included pumpkin tamales wrapped in banana leaf with cranberry relish and coconut sour cream; grilled breadfruit, tempeh and tofu cutlets with onion shiitake gravy; mashed potatoes; seitan field roast; big organic salad with cranberry dressing; homemade breads; steamed vegetables, potatoes and squash; marinated herb roasted mushrooms and zucchini. Oh…and fondue with a creamy pumpkin sauce!
For dessert we stuck with the fondue theme, this time it was melted dark chocolate and soy creamer as the dipping sauce. For dippables we had homemade peanut butter cookies, candied ginger, bananas and apples, banana bread, homemade fruit bread, chocolate cake. Live pumpkin pie as well as apple pie with vegan whipped cream, all served with the famous Blossoming Lotus Chai. So much to be thankful for!
1 comment November 28, 2009
Cooking for a Vegan Lover’s Blog reviews The 30-Minute Vegan
The 30 Minute Vegan
The 30 Minute Vegan is filled with a variety of great easy, quick, and delicious recipes that are (mostly) under 30 minutes. I received this book to review and had the most difficult time choosing recipes to try from it, not because I couldn’t find any but rather because I want to make everything. That was my first indication that it had the potential to be a great cookbook. However, the true test would be to see if any of these great sounding recipes actually turned out to be as good as they sounded.
After hours (yes hours) of flipping through this cookbook I finally decided that I would make the Batter Baked Tempura with the Spicy Mustard Sauce, We Will Rock You Three Layer Nachos and Eggless Egg Salad. The Batter Baked Tempura was delicious especially with the mustard sauce, however I am not sure if it totally resembled tempura but rather it was more like baked onion rings/veggies. Nevertheless it was amazingly delicious and unfortunately was the only item I ended up taking the time to photograph.
The We Will Rock You Three Layer Nachos were next on my list of items to make and they were so good. I made both the tempeh bean mixture and nacho cheese sauce which I put over baked blue corn chips and baked then topped with salsa, pickled jalapeno and avocado. The recipe made so much sauce I only used half of bean mixture and nacho cheese for the nachos and saved the remainder to make a Tex-Mex Mac and Cheese the following night with mushrooms, onions and cherry tomatoes.
My husband’s favorite recipe that I made was the Eggless Egg Salad and it was certainly one of the best recipes for it that I have tried. I served the Eggless Egg Salad in whole wheat pita halves. The great part about this recipe is that it made enough for 2 days worth of lunches!
Overall I love this book and find that although not all of the recipes are 30 minutes with prep time and cooking they are still quick, fast, healthy and fun. You can order your own copy of The 30 Minute Vegan on Amazon.
You can also check out other reviews of The 30 Minute Vegan on the following sites:
Chow Vegan where you can find reviews & recipes for Mango Gazpacho& Baked Tempura
Vegan Fusion – The authors blog
2 comments November 10, 2009
When walls fall down
Remnants of the Berlin Wall
We were in the lobby of our guest house in Berlin when someone wheeled in a television set on a cart to the center of the room. People began to gather around it with shouts of glee. I looked at the screen and it appeared as if cars and people were streaming through a toll booth. “What’s going on”, I asked, not knowing the language. “They just opened the Wall!” people shouted. It was November 9th, 1989 and we had just become a part of history.
At the next moment, we were on our way to Check Point Charlie, the main artery connecting West and East Berlin. We stood on the side of the road and joined the throngs of Berliners in the most jubilant celebration ever. Families and friends were welcoming loved ones they have not seen in decades. We laughed, and cried, and drank champagne in the streets. It was clearly a ‘moment’ that we would treasure for ever.
I had just arrived in Berlin a few days earlier, having hitchhiked from Amsterdam to Berlin with Kathy from San Francisco. Just the day before the wall opened, we visited East Berlin and took part in a demonstration where students and other East Berliners – young and old, were marching in demand for democracy. “Freedom of Speech”, “Freedom of Press”, they shouted. It was unbelievable to us that people were living without these basic rights – ones that we took for granted in the West. We saw people throwing flowers at soldiers saying “these are our weapons.”
Returning to West Berlin, I saw someone painting on the wall. It was a fascinating to witness how decorated the wall was on the west side and how utterly empty it was on the east side. The west was filled with artwork, poems, slogans, and graffiti – a colorful canvas for the voice of the people. I asked if I could borrow their paint brush and wrote “Love thy neighbor”. Who could know that the wall would be no more on the following day.
We never did get to see people tearing down the wall. That evening we were on a train to Warsaw. Our path led us through Poland and into Prague, Czechoslovakia, just in time for the Democratic uprising there!
Twenty years later and I can still recapture that excitement and sense of purpose we all felt. There was such a strong sense that something wonderful and historic was occurring. May the walls continue to crumble. The walls that stand between us and our life’s calling. The walls that stand between people of different beliefs. And the walls that stand between us and the other creatures with whom we share this precious planet.
Add comment November 9, 2009
Cardio Health E-book Now Available!
Pure Wellness Series: Cardiovascular Health takes what you think you know about heart health and turns it inside out. This e-book celebrates the achievements of the cardiovascular warriors in medicine who decided to buck the system and change how we think about cardiovascular wellness.
The e-book features 20 vegan heart healthy recipes by award winning Vegan Fusion chefs and contains exclusive coupons for featured products at Pure Prescriptions.
Visit Here to Order Now
Only $3.97
All proceeds from the e-book go to the Healthy Ohana Foundation
The Healthy Ohana Foundation was formed to educate the public on the vital importance of a healthy diet and lifestyle. The founding members have vast experience in the health and wellness industry and intend to share their knowledge to help people live healthier, more sustainable lives. This charity promotes health education in under served areas through plant based diets and CAM (complementary and alternative medicine).
Add comment November 6, 2009
Vegan Fusion Chef Services
Are you looking to incorporate more healthy foods into your life?
We have over 20 years of experience preparing delicious natural foods, specializing in living foods
|
♥ Custom-created meals for pick up or delivered to your home ♥ Private classes and healthy lifestyle training ♥ Specializing in live food cuisine ♥ One-on-one supervised cleanses and fasts ♥ Using fresh organic and locally grown ingredients |
Ask about our mainland private chef services!
Contact us at info@veganfusion.com or
call 808-822-0820 for a free initial consultation
Mark Reinfeld
Coauthor, The 30-Minute Vegan, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Eating Raw, and Vegan Fusion World Cuisine
Mark Reinfeld is the author of three books and the founding chef of the Blossoming Lotus Restaurant. He is the recipient of a Platinum Carrot award given to America’s top “innovative and trailblazing healthy chefs”. He has offered chef trainings across the country to clients that include Google, Credit Suisse First Boston, The Peninsula Spa, Aspen’s Explore Bistro, Malibu’s Pacific Coast Green’s, and more. Mark has offered private chef services in Malibu, The Hamptons, Hawaii, and New York City. To learn more about the healing quality of foods, Mark received a Masters Degree in Holistic Nutrition from The Clayton School of Natural Healing.
Jennifer Murray
Coauthor, The 30-Minute Vegan, and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Eating Raw
Jennifer Murray co-developed the original menu for the award-winning Blossoming Lotus Restaurant as well as the Lotus Root Juice Bar & Bakery. She is currently working on her third cookbook due out next summer. Jennifer teaches classes nationally and internationally. Designing fun, mouthwatering food that looks as good as it tastes is her way of spreading vegetarianism.
Add comment November 6, 2009
Raw Food Class on Kaua’i
Fun with the dehydrator!
Learn from Blossoming Lotus founding chef Mark Reinfeld the basics of using the dehydrator to create crackers, pizza and granola. You will also learn how to create nut milks and cheeses.
When: Saturday, December 5th 3-6pm
Where: Wailua Homesteads
Cost: $65/person includes recipes and tasting
Recipes include:
Pesto Pizza
Herbed Flax Crackers
Cashew Cheese
Orange Cranberry Granola
Almond Milk
Spaces are limited. Contact Mark at mark@veganfusion.com or call 808-822-0820 by Wednesday November 25th to register.
Add comment November 6, 2009
