First Night Meals have become the best part of New Years Eve Celebrations around the world. From simple delicacies to extravagant indulgences people want to celebrate the end of the year with the familiar tastes of home and hearth and just a touch of something new. Here's our offering: Lefse, for when the lights have dimmed and the champagne is poured, a soothing wrap to fill with something exotic.

Lefse (Norwegian Flat Bread)
by Gladys to whom Lefse is art


Ingredients

5 Cups of mashed potatoes (no milk, butter or salt added)
¼ Cup vegetable shortening
2 Tbls soy creamer
1 ½ tsp salt
2 Cups all purpose flour



Preparation

Beat the mashed potatoes, shortening, soy creamer and salt together until smooth. Cover and refrigerate for several hours, overnight is preferable.

Turn potato mixture on to a floured surface and in small portions knead in the flour to make a soft dough. Preheat a heavy cast iron pan to about 400º Fahrenheit not using any oil.

Take an amount of dough equal to the size of a golf ball and form it into a flattened ball on a heavily floured rolling surface. Roll the dough into a circle about 8" in diameter, it will be very thin. Transfer to the pan and cook until blisters form and brown spots appear on the underside. Flip the lefse and continue to cook until brown on both sides. Place the lefse in a pie pan lined with aluminum foil and cover to store. Continue in this manner until all the dough is cooked and stored in the covered pan to cool. May be served hot or cold with a variety of sweet or savory fillings.

Serving suggestions

Roll up lefse with sweet jam or sugar and cinnamon or try it with warmed savory sage dressing and cranberries. It won't be long before you'll discover your own favorite toppings. Come to think about it you might have wanted to double that recipe when you were cooking.

Makes 20 Lefse breads
Vegan

For those of you who enjoy nature and understand trees are living, breathing creatures, we hope you will visit Fernando Ficus and his office adventure. Just click on Fernando Ficus . Coming soon..."Fernando starts dropping his leaves."

Tuscan cooking is characterized by simple food, not covered in heavy sauces made of butter or cream. Cooking is done with olive oil and fresh natural herbs like sage, rosemary and basil. Olive oil is the base for most salad dressings, drizzled over warm bread, used in soups and stews and 'Lasagna'

Tuscan Spinach Lasagna

Excerpt from: A Vegetarian Cooks' Book, The Green Cutting Board Press, 2003



Ingredients

8 ounces lasagna pasta (8 sheets), uncooked*
2 Cups of fresh spinach hand torn to prevent bruising
1 6 oz bottle of marinated artichoke hearts drained (reserve the liquid)
1 Small onion sliced thin
1 small red pepper diced
2 ounces of sliced green olives
8 ounces button mushrooms sliced
1 Tbls chopped garlic
4 Tbls extra virgin olive oil
4 ounces Parmesan soy cheese grated
4 ounces Romano soy cheese grated
4-5 leaves of fresh basil torn
pinch of rosemary

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Mix the two cheeses and set aside. Sauté sliced onions and garlic in 2 Tbls olive oil until soft, add the diced red pepper and reserve liquid from the artichoke hearts cook for about 2-3 minutes covered at medium low setting, you don't want to let the onions over cook. Turn the heat to simmer and add the artichoke hearts, spinach and olives, stir, re-cover and simmer for 2-3 minutes, remove from heat.

In a 4" x 4" x 8" oven proof glass baking dish start with a ¼ cup of the sauté mixture and layer two overlapping sheets of dry lasagna pasta and cover with 1/3 cup of the sauté, 1/3 cup of the cheese mixture and a drizzle of olive oil. Repeat the process ending with the last of the sauce and cheese mixture on top. Place covered in the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes, uncover and bake for an additional 5 minutes or until the cheese has bubbled and browned slightly.

Serves 4
Vegan

*Uncooked, the lasagna pasta does not have to be pre-cooked or boiled, the liquid from the relatively wet sauce will soften the pasta in the oven. This recipe is not only Vegan but good for the environment; energy saving.

Noël Slaw Rouge de Crucifère de Chou

Excerpt from: A Vegetarian Cooks' Book, The Green Cutting Board Press, 2003
Gladys



Ingredients

!/2 head of red cabbage chopped (about 5 Cups)
2 stalks of celery diced
2 carrots diced
1/2 medium sweet white onion diced
1/2 Cup diced green pepper
1/2 Cup sugar
1/3 Cup vineger
1/3 Cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 Cup red wine
2 Tbls sweet pickle relish
1 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp dill weed
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Chop the cabbage, celery,carrot, onion, pepper and set aside. In a small bowl mix the sugar, vinegar, olive oil, wine, relish and spices with a wisk. Pour the vinegrette over the diced vegetables and marinate for 2 to 3 hours, can be made ahead and refrigerated over night.

Serves 6-8
Vegan

excerpt from: A Vegetarian Cooks' Book, The Green Cutting Board Press, 2003
Harlan

Ingredients

8 medium yellow onions, approximately 3-4 lbs
2 cloves of garlic chopped
3 cups of vegetable broth
1/3 cup Burgundy or Merlot wine
4 thick slices of crusted French bread
4 slices of soy Provolone cheese
1/2 Cup grated soy Gruyère or Parmesan cheese
4 Tbls good olive oil
1 tsp Dijon or Creole mustard

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350º Fahrenheit
Slice the onions thinly and start 1 Tbls of olive oil in a heavy sauté pan on high heat, add the onions chopped garlic and sauté until slightly browned. Deglaze the sauté pan with wine and transfer to a 2-quart saucepan.
Add the 3 Cups of vegetable broth to the onions and bring to a slow boil, reduce heat to simmer add mustard and simmer covered for 10 minutes. Prepare 4 oven proof 1 1/2 cup soup bowls by adding a slice of the bread to each and top with a drizzle of the remaining olive oil and a slice of Provolone cheese. Divide the onion mixture evenly between the bowls, top with grated cheese. Bake the soup uncovered for10 minutes or until browned.

Serving suggestion: French Bread Crostini with sliced olives, olive oil and grated soy Parmesan

Serves 4
Vegan

I am an e-card addict and not afraid to admit it. I love to send e-cards for any occasion or just because. And the best thing about it is that they’re free! Many of my favs have switched to sign-up accounts and, frankly, I don’t want to be bothered by that. You know – they get your email address and then start sending messages by the pound, or however electronic messages can be weighed.

Anyway, I was looking around this morning for some e-cards to send to my family to thank them for their Christmas generosity and low and behold I found a great e-card site! It’s e-cards.com. The beauty of this site is that you have the option of signing up or you can send most of their cards without doing so, whenever you’ld like. The really great thing about this site? “Every card sent helps generate a donation for Nature.” There’s also a plethora of information about endangered wildlife, and a variety of green links. Try it out and let us know what you think.

In past columns this writer has had high praise for the culinary excellence exhibited on the Food Network, the cable network responsible for such luminaries of chefdom as Bobby Flay and Mario what's' name who never stops talking, that is to say won't shut up about Italian food. Sadly now it is time to balance that high praise with some even handed and well earned criticism.

I was idly tinkering with preparations for Christmas dinner the other day when my attention was piqued by the mention of vegetarian cooking with Sara Moulton, you know "Executive Chef" of Some Magazine or Other. OK, I agree, I shouldn't be watching if it's only going to upset me. I should just switch channels and watch something like oh...the shopping channel or some other ersatz amusement like that, but I didn't and now I have to write about it. So, I put down my Ginsu knife, always recommended when Sara is going to cook for us Vegetarians and began to watch in earnest as she announced the days episode "How to Cook For the 'Mixed' Family!" She meant of course the "carnivore/vegetarian" type mixed family, which she intoned in a manner somewhat reminiscent of King Herod addressing the "leper" problem. It seems that Sara is racked by despair over the thought of trying to cook something for the veg-head kid who inexplicably presents itself at the family dinner table. As the half hour show began she proceeded to unveil her peculiar solution for this dilemma: a Food Network: Double-Sided Strata with spinach, cheese and sausage prepared in two separate bowls, one with sausage and one without, which is good, that's a good start; sausage strata in one bowl and vegetarian in another. I was only mildly concerned when she kept mixing the still 'separate' contents of each bowl with the same pair of hands, but what the hell it's all in the family, right. Now with increasing incredulity I watched as Sara revealed the chefly genius in her recipe, she intended to bake both stratas in the same casserole dish. Her solution was an ingenious lining of tin foil artfully folded as to raise a dam and thus separate the two versions of the strata a la TV dinner, how cunning, and elegant to boot, only one baking dish to clean. Thus having solved the age old problem of satisfying those picky eaters that inevitably bedevil us cooks Sara blithely proceeded to finish the strata by lovingly pouring a mixture of 2 3/4 cups of milk and 9 whole eggs over the entire casserole and topping with enough cheese to sink a battle ship, both sides mind you thus bridging the gap between carnivore family and veggie family, well, so much for the vegetarian aspects of this meal. All that remains is to pop this baby into a preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or so where it will bubble and brown and co-mingle its essence dam be damned (hey, com'on what do you think happens to the oils, liquids and volatiles in a 350 degree oven. For one thing as a vegetarian I don't want my food smelling like meat, I'm sorry, I'm fussy that way), all you have to do is remember which side is the one with the sausage.

To fill the last 5 minutes of the show the host regaled her stunned audience with the reasons vegetarians should be certain to eat lots of legumes, the gist of which escaped me altogether. All I know at this point is that Sara's Secret is that she doesn't know legumes about Vegetarian cooking.

To their credit from time to time the Food Network does render homage to their vegetarian viewers but why must it be so trivialized and done with such a degree of afterthought. If Sara Moulton, who seems to be so without understanding of the principles and art of vegetarian cooking as to offer up this weird recipe, is their best talent then I say that the Food Network needs to pause and reflect on this issue: there is an increasing vegetarian and vegan community out here not to mention companies (read that sponsors) that provide national brand vegetarian food products and they should find a way to offer a reputable Vegetarian/Vegan cooking show. How about it Food Network, when can we expect a no clowns approach to Vegetarian cuisine. Cable networks are after all granted contracts for commercial use of public air waves, in return the public expects responsible, representative community programming, not lip service.

Warm Creole Potato Salad



Fast, Flashy, Fine
Serves 4-6
Vegan if you make your own Dijon*, Vegetarian if you use brand Dijon

Ingredients

3-4 medium yellow potatoes cleaned and cut into medium chunks, skins on
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/4 cup diced green bell pepper
1 stalk celery diced
3 Tbls "Veganais" soy salad dressing
3 Tbls sweet pickle relish
2 tsp Dijon mustard (the type where you can see the ground bits of mustard seed and spice)
2 Tbls white vinegar
1 Tbls "Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning"

Preparation

Boil the potato chunks until tender, drain and reserve the liquid for a gumbo base, I swear cher!
Add the next 7 ingredients to a small bowl and wisk.
Pour over the hot potatoes, hit with Creole seasoning and serve warm, say warm, yes, jes say warm shall we. That's right warm, Creole warm.

* Another recipe, easy for you, easy for me from jes outside the Big Easy.

This morning our editors added a new feature to The Green Cutting Board Page, a search engine provided by

Here is a rich source of tempting recipes submitted by cooks from all over the world and sorted into. several convenient categories. You can keep a recipe box of your favorites, test and comment on thousands of recipes and even scale the servings (great for those of us whose eyes are bigger than our stomachs, I'll have two of everything, you know who you are), the best part is that this site is almost ad free and run by its own community. Hey, that's the way it should be; I don't know about you, but where we come from we do our food shopping in a grocery store. Any way, use and enjoy this resource and visit FoodGeeks.com often, see you there.

Cajun, I’m a son of Norway, I married the daughter of a Cajun Queen and I never could look back. I’m Canadian by birth; Saskatchewan which means “Sweet Flowing River" in Cree, Sweet Grass people to be specific: ta'n(i)te' e'tohte't. kinose'wi-si'pi'hk, so I’m susceptible. First I tasted the flavours and then I sensed the essence of Louisian and I understood the connection; jambalaya, gumbo with sassafras, red beans and rice, shrimp etouffe, sweet bourbon bread pudding. Welcome to a Cajun Christmas. Il c’est bon pour nous.

So, the inevitable question was raised as we lazed around on Saturday afternoon. “What should we have for supper?" Harlan asked. His mother, leafing through a magazine said, “I think I’d like to have some curried spinach soup, and here’s the recipe.” Harlan, seldom refusing a challenge, agreed to make it and the rest is history. The soup was delicious and altered to be totally vegan. Our thanks to Better Homes and Garden magazine for sharing and my thanks to my loving husband for feeding us this phenomenal dish. By the way, this recipe was a $400 winner in the Soups & Stews Category-BHG Recipe Contest and created by Helen Spangler in Davis, CA. Thanks to you as well, Helen, for a truly tasty soup.

Curried Spinach Soup
Serves 8

Ingredients

1 large potato, peeled and chopped
½ cup sliced green onions
6 tbsp Earth Balance butter (or your favorite)
1 lb fresh spinach, washed (12 cups)
1/3 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp curry powder (Harlan increased to 8 tsp – it was great)
4 cups potato or vegetable broth (we used the broth from some potatoes H’s mom had cooked)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 8 oz carton Better Than sour cream (or your preference)

Preparation

In a large saucepan cook potato and green onion in 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat about 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Slowly add spinach, one-fifth at a time, stirring just until spinach is limp and dark green after each addition. In a food processor or blender, process or blend spinach mixture, half at a time, until smooth.

In the same saucepan melt remaining 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Stir in flour and curry powder; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Slowly add broth, whisking until combined. Stir in spinach mixture and lemon juice. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture is slightly thickened and bubbly; cook and stir 1 minute more. In a medium bowl stir about 1 cup of the hot mixture into sour cream. Return mixture to saucepan. Heat through but do not boil. Top with croutons, if desired.

I always remember my grandfathers at this time of year for what they gave me, each in his own way, one gruff and the other gentle to a fault. They were from different parts of the world; one from Lillihammer, Norway and the other from Flint, MI. but they each had the same story of Christmas on the farm, a story told to them by their fathers and by their fathers before them for generations past.

Each year on Christmas Eve a farm owner would take special care that all the stalls and coups of the farm animals were provided with fresh, warm bedding straw and made dry and protected from draughts. Christmas morning before Yule breakfast all the animals were given a special treat of their favorite food along with their usual portion. It was said that this ritual was in observance of a special day but as my grandfathers were not long on ritual or observance I suspect that this activity was more chironomy than ritual. They acted more out of habit than any special observance of the day because they were farmers, providers, fathers and care givers. They had the habit and understanding of husbandry for the animals, who worked beside them, provided for them and sometimes died for them. Farming is a partnership in labor for man and animal and respect with compassion for each partner. This is the understanding that my grandfathers gave me and I remember them for it

Next year will mark the the centennial year that my grandfather Russell homesteaded a farm in Canada.

Merry Christmas

# posted by Harlan Weikle : Wednesday, December 17, 2003

The Green Cutting Board has today aligned with Animals Voice.com . They are a singularly effective presence on the web and we encourage all of our readers who are interested to support their advocacy. To that end we created this GIF for your use. If you have a web site please link on your page to Animals Voice at: http://www.animalsvoice.com, now copy and save this image to your server. Compliments, Art Department, The Green Cutting Board Press

This publication is becoming an ever more charged mix of pleasure in the free expression of opinion and the grinding pain of responsible editorialization. Each day finds us eager to publish the good news, and each day in turn we find ourselves presented with the task of editing the bad, today is no exception. As an Editor, I assume the responsibility to regard an event with equanimity and to present our readers with a fair-minded story. As a writer I have no such obligation. Today I am a writer; let you the reader become the editor.

"Mortally Wounded, Hunted Bear Cub Staggers Onto NJ Highway"

Please read the entire story at ANC

The deplorable action by the Governor of New Jersey, Governor McGreevey and his DEP Commissioner, Bradley Campbell to, without regard for their personal integrity, authorize this slaughter of the innocents speaks volumes about not only their personal moral decrepitude but moreover the conduct of our society as a whole. There are few measures of a society more telling than its treatment of those who may be weaker and at a disadvantage. War is such a marker, as is our treatment of the elderly, the infirm and most abhorrent, the infant. This hunt is a microcosm of all these conditions combined and Governor McGreevey has "unleashed hell on earth" a hell which now spills onto a New Jersey roadway and into the sight and minds of the citizens he is elected to protect and serve. How are the children served by this Governor, how will the children who witnessed your hunt remember this in their dreams come Christmas eve, how will you?

Your hunt, Governor has turned on you and is now a nightmare of its own making which has spread not just onto one remote highway but into the press and onto the Internet. Nothing to cover with a platitude now Governor, nor will silence provide you with a haven. You are as exposed as that bear cub but not nearly as vulnerable. You have power, you have a voice, and you have a chance to do something, you can do something to give back to the children of your state, the innocence and the clear moral vision they need. You can give them back their sweet dreams of Christmas and unbloodied memories of innocence. Stop the hunt won't you Governor, for all our sake.

Send a copy of this 'open letter' to a friend or to Governor McGreevey at:

Congress.Org -- Guide to Elected and Appointed Officials

We wanted to create a flavorful Eggplant Parmesan without the traditional heavy tomato sauce. We think you'll enjoy this Green Cutting Board version which reveals the delicate, naturally sweet flavors of the eggplant and mushroom and at the same time is as pleasingly rich and satisfying as its tomato based inspiration.



Eggplant parmesan

Vegan
2 to 3 servings



Ingredients

1 medium eggplant peeled and cut lengthwise into slices 1/4" thick
1 medium onion peeled and sliced
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
4 ounces diced mushrooms
4 ounces vegan mozzarella sliced
1 Tbls chopped fresh garlic
1/4 cup sliced green olives
3 cups cleaned and dried fresh spinach
4 Tbls vegan spread
1/2 cup plain soy milk
4 Tbls white vegan wine
4 Tbls white vinegar
1/2 tsp sea salt
white pepper, oregano and thyme to taste
1/3 cup grated vegan parmesan

Preparation

Preheat a dry non-stick pan and begin to brown the eggplant slices on medium heat along with the half of the sliced onion, continue in portions until all the eggplant and onion are brown, cover and set aside. Dice the remaining 1/2 portion of onion and saute in vegan spread with garlic until translucent, add the diced mushroom, wine and soy milk and bring to a boil, add vinegar, reduce to a simmer for ten minutes to thicken, season to taste. Select an oven ready casserole and prepare the eggplant by layering with the onion mixture, sauce, spinach and cheese, sprinkle with a pinch of oregano, thyme and a generous coating of parmesan cheese. Place covered into a preheated oven set to 350 degrees and bake for 1/2 hour, uncover for the last 10 minutes to brown the top.

Serve with toasted slices of crusty French bread and a simple salad vinaigrette.

c'est chaude

2 green peppers
2 Tbls olive oil
1/2 cup white rice
1/4 cup sliced leek
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 cloves chopped garlic
2 ounces vegan mozzarella cheese
2 ounces chopped black olives chopped
1 Tbls chopped jalapeno pepper
4 Tbls olive oil
3 cups boiled water
1/3 cup vegan red wine
2 small kosher dill pickles diced
3 tsps Creole spice (recipe follows)
1 tsp dill
2 ounces vegan parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Cut the cap off the green peppers, reserve. Clean the interior and boil the peppers covered for about 12 minutes. In a small sauce pan heat the olive oil to medium high add the onion and garlic and cook until soft. Add the water, rice, leek, jalapeno, olives, wine, pickle and 2 tsps Creole spice, cook for 20 minutes covered. Salt and pepper to taste.

Remove the green peppers to a baking dish and stuff by layer with the rice mixture and vegan mozzarella cheese, sprinkle with dill and parmesan, dust with Creole spice, recap and place in a 350 degree oven covered for an additional 35 minutes.

Serve c'est chaude

Creole Spice

And yes, this is Emeril's. He gave it to us and we're giving it to you. Isn't "Creative Commons" a wonderful idea!

2 1/2 tsps of paprika
2 Tbls sea salt
2 Tbls garlic powder
1 Tbls black pepper
1 Tbls onion powder
1 Tbls cayenne pepper
1 Tbls dried leaf oregano
1 Tbls dried thyme

Mix coarsely and store in airtight container
Yield 2/3 Cup

Bruschetta




2 slices of rye bread 1" thick
2 Tbls extra virgin olive oil
several green olives sliced
some vegan Parmesan Reggiano cheese
2 ounces vegan jack cheese cut into strips

Cut each slice of bread into 3 even pizza shaped triangles and arrange on a baking sheet. Drizzel with the e.v.o.o., top with the sliced olives and cheese. Cook under broiler until the cheese bubbles and browns.

Braised Brussels Sprouts in Vinaigrette with Mushroom Risotto




Ingredients

16 ounces fresh Brussels sprouts washed and stemmed
1 cup rice
2 cups water boiled
8 ounces mushroom washed and sliced
1 Tbls chopped fresh garlic
1 small sweet onion diced
2 cloves chopped fresh garlic
2 Tbls extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbls vegan spread
4 ounces red vegan burgundy
1 cube vegetable bouillon
1 tsp dijon mustard
sea salt and ground pepper to taste

Preparation

Risotto

In a small sauce pan saute the onion and garlic in 2 Tbls of olive oil until soft, add rice and water and vegetable bullion cube , cover and simmer on low for 12 minutes.

Sprouts

Heat a small frying pan to medium with 2 Tbls of vegetarian spread, add the Brussels sprouts, dijon mustard and brown, stirring frequently, deglaze with wine, S & P to Taste.

This article on ANC caught our attention because as in spirit it so closely mirrors this journals previous post regarding the wholesale disregard of exiting laws protecting manatees, this diptych of bad news so blithely sent to us by Governors Bush and Murkowski to cheer our holiday spirit.

Aerial Slaughter Of Wolves Approved Despite Voter Opposition

by Patricia Collier

Since the early 1970s, poll after poll has found that the overwhelming majority of Americans support efforts to protect and restore wolves. In 1996 and again in 2000, Alaskan citizens voted against killing wolves from the air as a way to control wolf populations.

But a new law now allows hunters in Alaska to shoot wolves from the air, in a manner called "aerial gunning", or land and then chase and shoot the terrified wolves they had already targeted from their airplanes.

Dubbed a "predator control program", aerial gunning has now been approved by Alaskan Governor Frank Murkowski, bringing back a method of population control for wolves not used in at least 15 years.

Murkowski and the Alaska Board of Game (ABG) claim the killing of wolves from the air is necessary in order to boost " game" populations, such as moose and caribou, so that there will be more of them around for hunters to track down and kill.

"This is not something new; the board has been working on this for the last several years," said board chairman Mike Fleagle.

Hunters obviously have a stake in the legalization of aerial gunning of wolves, since they want more moose and caribou to hunt.

But, according to researchers in Yellowstone National Park, wolves bring an important balance to ecosystems and, like other native predators, almost never cause an unsustainable decline in prey populations regionally.

Karen Deatherage, with the animal advocacy group Defenders of Wildlife, said the state's decision to reinstate aerial gunning of wolves has been made on the basis of "weak numbers" rather than sound scientific evidence.

Deatherage added that the board's action is an insult to Alaskan voters, who twice in recent years have said no to the aerial shooting of wolves.

"They've trampled on the voters' wishes and opened the door to the wholesale slaughter of hundreds of wolves," she said.

The aerial killing could start as early as January 2004, or even sooner in some areas of the state.

The Animal Protection Institute (API), as well as other animal protection and conservation organizations, has pledged a tourism boycott if the plan goes forward.

The presence of wolves can help generate revenue for local economies in Alaska from tourism, as it has in the Yellowstone area. Deatherage said a tourism boycott can be an effective way of helping to garner respect for voters' wishes.

Deatherage said her group and other advocates plan a public awareness campaign to urge people to contact Gov. Frank Murkowski to let him know this is an "absolutely unacceptable treatment of Alaska's wildlife," and that they and their families would prefer to spend their vacation funds enjoying states where wildlife are not ambushed and massacred.

Gov. Murkowski can be contacted via email at governor@gov.state.ak.us, phone at 907-465-3500, or fax at 907-465-3532.

© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.

Protect manatee habitat




If you have visited the Florida gulf coast recently you have no doubt heard of the plight of our large, gentle, shore line neighbor the manatee. The manatee seeks shelter from the winter cold of the gulf waters within the warm rivers and springs of the inner coastal waterways. Unfortunately that sheltering habit, more often than not leads to increased association with humans and disaster. The manatee is too large and far-in-a-way too slow to react to the threat from, nor can it escape the churning propeller blades of a pleasure boat. The result often is that the manatee is maimed or killed. In recent years new laws controlling boat speeds in "no wake" zones have helped reduce the number of injuries. Unfortunately pressure from boaters, boat manufacturers and occasional indifference among lawmakers has begun to erode the progress. A decision to down grade the manatee from the endangered list has been temporarily postponed in part because of the renewed disregard for existing law.

It is now time to re-impress upon Floridians, tourists, developers and the legislature that no wake zones must be enforced and expanded. The safety of the manatee is not optional. The indigenous creatures are not a "pest" as some have claimed, rather they are our heritage. Editor

Please read the article, Animal group from the St Pete Times for more information and use a copy of this post to contact your legislator through the Contact Congress link in the sidebar You may reach Governor Bush @ "Governor Bush"
or
The Governor's Office in Tallahassee
The Capitol
Tallahassee, Fl. 32399
Phone: 850/488/7146
Fax: 850-487-0801

A recent CNN pole indicated that the favorite Thanksgiving day leftover meal was a hot turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy, Here's our version.

Pan Browned Roast Sandwich with Gravy

Use two slices of whole grain bread with vegan spread. Place 1, spread side down in a frying pan that has been heated to medium with 1 Tbls vegan spread. Slice generous potions of Savory Sweet Potato Roast (October 27, 2003) and lay on the panned bread, cover with some cranberry sauce and the remaining slice of bread. Brown for about 4 minutes and carefully flip. Brown 3 minutes on this side or until golden.

Serve with reheated mashed potatoes, lots of leftover gravy and cranberries. remember, we're trying to clear off a shelf in the frig so don't skimp.