Vegan

India News: Inspiring Students to Try Vegan

https://veganoutreach.org/india-news-oct-2019/

We’re wrapping up a great semester of college outreach in India and I’m excited to share some of the highlights with you.

Students Choosing Compassion

So far in 2019, we’ve reached over 400,000 students with the message of veganism!

We’ve shown virtual reality videos to over 11,000 students this year. Students are often moved to tears after watching the videos and tell us that they want to go vegan right away. Our humane education program is also changing hearts and minds across the country, with nearly 22,000 students attending classroom presentations in 2019!

All our outreach is aimed at signing up thousands of people for our 10 Weeks to Vegan program, so they receive information and motivation to make the switch to vegan eating. So far in 2019, we’ve signed up 13,000 people in India!
I love hearing from people who complete the 10-week program and I want to share some of the responses with you:

“It’s amazing to know about all the non-dairy products! I thought I would have to forget all those tasty dishes made from milk, but it seems like I don’t have to!”
— Radhika, Bhopal

“Thank you for adding me to this program. My family and I have been vegan for the last five days.”
— Shailendra, Lucknow

Exciting Campaign Successes

Green Tuesday Initiative is a new campaign to help institutions in India reduce their environmental footprint by making small changes in the food they serve.

Here are some of the exciting victories we’ve had in the last few months:

Lives You’re Changing

Meet Ranik, a student whose life was changed by Vegan Outreach.

Richa Mehta writes from Agra: “Ranik attended my humane education presentation and asked for more information after the session. A few days later, he got in touch with me and told me that he had stopped eating animals that day.

“Ranik has been vegan for two months now with the help of 10 Weeks to Vegan and he regularly volunteers with me. Witnessing this impact is truly motivating!”

Help us inspire more students like Ranik by donating today!
Warmly,

Aneeha Patwardhan
Director of Programs, India

Vegan

Mushroom Parmesan Pasta Bake (1-pan, nut-free, with soy-free and gluten-free options)

Cozy, hearty spinach cheese stuffed Mushroom Parmesan, is a one-pan dinner that your family is going to love! Even the orzo pasta bakes up in the pan with the cheesy mushrooms and marinara sauce! 1 pan, 1 baking Step!

close-up of a fork taking a bite of mushroom parmigiana

I wanted to make a simple mushroom parmesan pasta bake, because I had plenty of mushrooms on hand. And I wanted to reduce the pans and time in the kitchen. Enter this cozy 1 Pan Orzo bake!

The mushrooms are stuffed with this delicious spinach-tofu-cheese mixture that I often use to make stuffed shells, then I top it with a cruncy breadcrumb topping and pair it with a pasta, I use orzo, but other shapes will work too! The pasta and the sauce at the bottom, topped with cheesy stuffed mushrooms, and a crisp breadcrumb topping. Everything cooks in just one pan and one baking step!

close-up of mushroom parmesan in the pan after baking

The prep is very simple. Just make your spinach-tofu-cheese mixture by adding everything to a bowl and mixing it. Prep your mushrooms by removing the stems, and that’s it!

It’s an easy recipe that’s pretty flexible, too. You can add some veggie grounds or vegan ground meat substitute in with the pasta sauce to add extra protein to the meal. The recipe is already nut-free, and it’s easy to make soy-free and gluten-free, too.

You want to use about two- to three-inch mushrooms. Larger mushrooms take longer to cook, and pasta will overcook in that much time, so medium-sized works best here. I also use the mushroom stems in the recipe, so don’t discard them. Just trim away the tough end of the stem and discard that, but save the rest of the stem to chop up into the pasta sauce.

close up of mushroom parmesan on a plate

I paired this mushroom parmesan with orzo pasta, because it cooks up really easily in the baking dish and it works out just amazing. You can add a different pasta of choice, as well, just bake a few minutes longer until the pasta is cooked to preference.