Holiday Vegan Cooking Class a Big Success

Friends of the Malibu Library hosted a free holiday vegan cooking class Saturday afternoon with about 35 attendees (men and women) participating.  Believe it or not, there was a waiting list as the class was full.  A darling couple, Chef Zel Allen, 75, and her husband, Reuben Allen, 81, entertained us with great health information and many reasons why being a vegetarian or vegan is good for our health, the environment and animals.

They suggested that we all could be as trim and healthy as they are with low cholesterol and blood pressure by eating less or no SOS - salt, oil and sugar.  I’ve been a vegetarian for more than 20 years as is the hubby and most of the children, but cooking vegan always sounded like a major challenge.  Now I know better!

After having us all wash our hands, Zel put us into cooking teams and we made such delicious fare as:

Appetizer - Jolly Green Christmas Tree made of out of peas.

Soup - Tangy Cranberry Soup - (my team - yum - sweet and sour)

Salad and dressing – Spinach, apples and pomegranates (seeds come right out if you submerge the cut fruit into water)

Entree - Savory Chickpea Log or Sicilian Chili with homemade parmesan

Side dish - Hanukkah Gelt Stir Fry

Dessert - Spiced Cranberry Nog and Chocolate Truffle Mousse

Once we were all done cooking, we got to eat our feast, and it was delicious. Of course, we did the dishes and cleaned up, too.

If you are kicking yourself for not coming, and you should, you can go on a website called Vegetarians in Paradise www.vegparadise.com where you can get recipes and Zel's cookbooks.