An apple a day can keep the doctor away, the oncologist that is. Researchers at Cornell University have identified compounds in apple peel which may help to inhibit cancer growth. This is both good news and bad news for me. The good news is, I love apples; Fujis and Galas in particular. Jane and I even have two separate, specific apple vendors we favor at the farmer's market we usually attend. And come apple season, we buy pounds at a time. The bad news here, is that we usually peel our apples before eating them.

Overall though, this is very exciting. Some of the compounds identified in apple peels reduce the size of tumors while other compounds slow the spread of the cancers.

"We found that several compounds have potent anti-proliferative activities against human liver, colon and breast cancer cells and may be partially responsible for the anti-cancer activities of whole apples," says Rui Hai Liu, Cornell associate professor of food science. Liu is affiliated with Cornell's Institute of Comparative and Environmental Toxicology and is senior author of the study, which is online and published this month in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

From Science Daily, June 3, 2007

According to Fowler Farms, some varieties of apple performed better than others. Among the stars: Fuji, Spartan and Red Delicious.

Hmmm, maybe I can prevail upon Jane to make an Apple Pie this weekend. It's vegan and cancer inhibiting. That should count for something!

– If you haven’t signed our petition to Oprah asking her to do a piece on factory farming, please consider doing so. We can all work together to make a difference.

Just to prove I'm specifically picking on Canada... Here's a link to a story about the annual Japanese Dolphin Hunt. The dolphin hunt runs from September through April and results in the slaughter of thousands of dolphins annually. Thirteen fishing boats force the dolphins into a shallow cove in Taiji, where a number of them are selected to be sold into "swim with the dolphin" programs or to aquariums. The others are slaughtered and sold as food. However, most (if not all) dolphin meat has toxic levels of mercury, and is therefore inedible.

Here are some facts which might just relieve you of your sushi cravings permanently. They cured us:

• 70% of the human race relies on seafood as a major source of protein.
• Pollution of our seafood is now the greatest public health threat that humanity has ever faced.
• Mercury bio-accumulates in the food chain. Top ocean predators like sea mammals and tuna have high levels of mercury in their meat. These range from 5 to 3500 times the amount of mercury allowed by Japanese law. 0.3 parts per million (ppm) is the published safe limit. The highest concentrations of mercury are found in the animals’ organs.
• Mercury is a neurotoxin and is particularly damaging to fetuses and small children.
• All tuna, including canned is potentially harmful.
• High-grade sushi is the worst source of mercury and other pollutants. Since the best cuts of the meat are from the bigger, fattier fish, more pollutants have bio-accumulated in the meat.

source: Oceanic Preservation Society

In order to bring all of the above information to the attention of the public, the Oceanic Preservation Society has clandestinely filmed the Taiji Dolphin Hunt and created a documentary, entitled The Rising. This film is slated to be released this summer.

As I continue to read more about how we are poisoning ourselves and our planet, and as I read more about how badly we treat our fellow inhabitants of the planet, I am very happy to proclaim I am a vegan.

– If you haven’t signed our petition to Oprah asking her to do a piece on factory farming, please consider doing so. We can all work together to make a difference.

This month the Daring Bakers Challenge was Cheesecake Pops. (This is cheesecake scooped into little walnut sized balls, stuck on a lollipop stick and then dipped in melted chocolate, and decorated as you desire.) Yum. But what to do about a vegan cheesecake? I've had a few successes with vegan desserts, but other than the amazing vegan brownies I made recently, I've been somewhat disappointed with the vegan desserts I've tried. Cheesecake seemed particularly daunting, as it is so incredibly delicious as an omni dessert. How could it possibly live up to the original? Time to do some research.

First, I was excited to learn earlier this month that there are enough of us now to have formed a splinter group of Alternative Daring Bakers, wholly sanctioned by the original Daring Bakers. We all play along and follow the same challenge, but because of our varied dietary regimes (vegan, gluten free, etc.), the group has a special forum and held a "bake along" this month. I couldn't participate because it was too early in the morning for me, but I did get some pointers, and many recipe options. Ultimately though, I adapted the Vegan Eggnog Cheesecake recipe from Fat Free Kitchen; if there'd been any vegan eggnog around, I'd have made the original. Anyway, here's my adapted recipe:

2 12.4-ounce package extra firm light silken tofu
2 8-ounce package Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese (make sure to buy the one in the yellow package -- it has no partially hydryogenated oils!)
1 ½ cups sugar
¾ cup almond milk
3 tablespoons lemon juice
6 tablespoons Myer's Coconut rum
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons cornstarch

Drain the tofu and place in food processor along with the cream cheese. Blend well. Then incorporate the sugar. Susan at FFV, suggests letting the food processor run for at least three minutes, and I wholly concur. It really blends things together. Then I added all the remaining ingredients and let the processor run for another few minutes.

Because I wasn't making a cake I poured this mix into two small pyrex dishes. This way I could more easily keep an eye on what was going on. If you are making a cake, you might want to consider the traditional graham cracker crust. Susan also offers an oatmeal cookie crust (in her Vegan Eggnog Cheesecake recipe) which sounds pretty good. Or you could simply press some almond pieces onto the sides of the cake after you've removed it from your springform pan.

Bake at 350° F for anywhere between 45 and 75 minutes (no, I'm not kidding -- this is based on what my fellow ADBs experienced). It took me 75 minutes, but you don't want to burn this, and you'll want to make sure it sets a bit before removing it from the oven. That's a delicate balance. You really have to make a mental note as to how "jiggly" it is before you put it in the oven in order to gauge how much the cheesecake has set. It will definitely still jiggle when you remove it from the oven. It will set further while it's cooling and once you refrigerate it. I let mine brown a bit on the top because I was very concerned that it would be too watery. That worked well as Lane got a bowlful of the browned bits to nosh on as I assembled the pops.

If you're making a cheesecake you definitely want to make sure to use a water bath. This prevents the cake from cracking. If you're making the pops, there really is no need, as you can scoop around any cracks that might form. I used the water bath anyway, because that's the way I've always baked my cheesecakes in the past. That may have accounted for some of the additional baking time.

The cakes need to be refrigerated, I let mine sit overnight. Then you scoop out 2 ounces (about the size of a walnut) and roll it into a ball. These go onto a sheet of parchment paper (on a cookie sheet) and into the freezer for at least two hours. After which you dip them into melted chocolate and decorate as you wish (sprinkles, nuts, white chocolate, icing...) My experience was a little harrowing as it was 96° here today, which meant it was probably about 80° in our kitchen. By the time I got to the end of my pops, they were starting to free themselves from the sticks. Why it didn't dawn on me to leave half of them on the freezer is beyond me. Suffice it to say, I felt a little silly when it finally did!

These were a birthday cake for our cousin who is going to be 60 on Tuesday. So I wrote one pop said "Happy" another said "BDay" and a bunch had 60s and squiggles. There were also all the other pops that I simply put on a plate (not as part of the "centerpiece"). I was pleased with the aesthetics of the individual pops, and the overall presentation. I think this makes a fun take on the traditional cheesecake. And the recipe was DELICIOUS! It even passed the omni test (meaning people asked for seconds, and those who didn't know it was a vegan cheesecake, didn't guess).

The Daring Bakers group now has a message board with two public forums. So, if you'd like to see what we're up to, or get tips from other Daring Bakers -- here's the link.

-- Cheers, Jane

– If you haven’t signed our petition to Oprah asking her to do a piece on factory farming, please consider doing so. We can all work together to make a difference.

So I'm standing at the stove, fluffing the rice and putting the finishing touches on our dinner, when Lane calls me. He's a few blocks from home and he tells me to come out and meet him.... There are two peahens walking up our hill.

Now for some of you, this might not be a strange occurance, but we live in Los Angeles. And I'm not talking about the canyons of Los Angeles where all the movie stars live, where you might expect to see the occasional mountain lion or bear. I'm talking about the Los Angeles where you can practically open your window and hand your neighbor a cup of coffee if they have their window open too. I'm not complaining (that much), I mostly love where we live. We're on a hill so the houses are pretty staggered as far as eye-level is concerned. And we live in a part of LA where there are actually trees, so you have the illusion of some privacy. But peacocks? That was a first. We've got raccoons, and the occasional coyote, and red-tailed hawks. But peacocks?

What else could I do? I turned off the stove, got the camera and keys and rushed out to see for myself. Sure enough, there were two peahens out for an evening constitutional! I'm guessing they're either someone's pets because we're not all that close to anyplace else where they might have logically escaped from. Or they must have recognized that I'm vegan, they didn't seem too concerned about me. They were close enough for me to reach out and touch them, had I any desire to get my fingers pecked at!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed today's version of the Wild Kingdom.

Cheers -- Jane

– If you haven’t signed our petition to Oprah asking her to do a piece on factory farming, please consider doing so. We can all work together to make a difference.