Here’s what you need to whip up the snack version: frozen or fresh Brussels sprouts, horseradish (this grocery store brand has very little sodium and no extra junk in it), and plain (or flavored) hummus.

Heat up the Brussels either in the microwave (I know) or steamed, stir in the horseradish, maybe a bit of Italian seasoning, especially if making as a whole meal with extra veggies, and lastly dollop on some hummus.

The hot Brussels sprouts really bring out the aroma of the horseradish and the cold hummus makes a nice contrast. Really a simple yet satisfying and healthful, low calorie meal or snack. Hope you like it too.

Of course, there’s also Natalie Portman who reintroduced dairy and eggs into her diet during her pregnancy, but who may well be back on the diet and indeed purported to be planning a vegan documentary based on the excellent book, Eating Animals.

Anyway, I don’t mean to get down on any of these celebs, it’s just we celebrate each new big name due to their being in the public eye and their ability to spread the word, so there’s a tinge of sadness when they leave the fold.

Besides, we still have Mike Tyson and Bill Clinton, who recently endorsed The Blood Sugar Solution, the children’s book Eddie Shapes Up, and Think and Grow Thin.

And now, the good news — especially for her own health — that Venus Williams has gone vegan, and her sister, Serena has followed suit to support her. The reason? Health…

It turns out Venus has Sjörgren’s Syndrome, an autoimmune disease of the tear and saliva glands, often accompanied by rheumatoid arthritis or lupus, which has left her drained and in pain. Her switch to veganism seeks to leverage its well-known inflammation-fighting prowess. This women’s tennis fan wishes her all the best in 2012!

Powerful, don’t you think? (Hit Like or Tweet below to share.)

May the New Year find you and yours happy and healthy.

Actually, I wasn’t really planning to bake this time around. Rather, I embarked on a more ambitious project, that of making fudge. This is basically candy making, and if you’ve ever made fudge or caramel or what have you with boiling sugar, you know it’s an even more precise science than baking. Everything must be carefully monitored, the temperature and timing, with candy thermometers and kitchen timers. And, it takes a fair bit of patience too.

Anyway, I set about making this vegan pumpkin fudge recipe. I got it all up to a boil, stuck in the thermometer and was watching it to reach the prescribed temperature for fudge. Alas, I got a little nervous when it seemed to be taking longer than indicated and I thought for sure I was burning it. Nope, not burnt, just stopped to cool too early.

The above picture looks really ugly, but I assure you it smelled delicious. What you see there is a big blob of light vegan margarine and pumpkin pie spices remaining untouched, as instructed, while the pot of pumpkin/sugar mixture cooled in the sink.

Still cooling above.

Finally, I could stir… and stir… and stir… and stir… and whip… and fold… and…

Here’s when I realized, as my hands so achingly informed me, this stuff was never going to harden as it was supposed to. It didn’t reach the right temperature way back in step one, so it would forever remain a thick, sweet, pumpkin “stew.” I threw it in the fridge against all hope and pondered my next step.

Eventually, I decided to make cookies instead and figured, hmmm, I have all the sugar, fat, and fall-inspired spices one could ever want in that one bowl, why not use it in place of those ingredients in the cookies?

The result, some more decadent ingredients later, was the following happy accident. The most wonderfully spicy, thick, chewy, and sweet, peanut butter, chocolate chip oatmeal cookies you could imagine. The peanut butter definitely won the day over the pumpkin, but I knew it was in there, so that made them Thanksgiving fare enough for me.

Here’s the final recipe for the record, should you be crazy enough to ever want to purposefully create a monster…

Dry
• 30 g (1/2 cup) buckwheat flour
• 30g (1/2 cup) brown rice flour
• 60g (3/4 cup) old-fashioned oatmeal (*)
• 30+g vegan chocolate chips

Wet
• 6 Tb pumpkin fudge mix (underheated)
  you’ll still have tons left for more batches
• 4 Tb chunky peanut butter

Instructions
1. Make and refrigerate botched pumpkin “fudge”
2. Preheat oven to 350°F
3. Combine dry ingredients
4. Mix wet ingredients
5. Pour wet into dry and mix
6. Plop 8 big cookies onto parchment-lined baking sheet
7. Bake for 10 minutes
8. Rotate sheet 180° and bake another 8 minutes
9. Remove from oven and let cool
10. Eat and share

(*) If you take care to get the oatmeal not processed in a plant that makes wheat products, etc., and check your other ingredients, this recipe would be gluten free.

Backstory: Late last year, President Obama signed a bill until law seeking to improve the quality and healthfulness of the school lunch program. Here is the White House Press release with a sample menu and fact sheet.

And now, this year, with lobbyist pressure from the frozen food industry among others, Congress appears to be going about weakening the act. The LA Times coverage, both in the lead up to the vote, and after, may be some of the best on the controversy.

Want to express your disappointment with/to your “representatives?”