Invisible Victims of BP

I don’t usually watch a lot of late night news…so the whole “Anderson ‘Sexy’ Cooper” thing is a bit lost on me. After going to a friend’s concert last night though, I was flipping through channels, not expecting to be moved in the way that I was. After a night of “not thinking” of all the crap going on around me, I was quickly brought back to remembering how much help this world needs right now. And Anderson Cooper, holding a tiny, scared little puppy in Louisiana, reminded me.
Since the BP Oil Disaster, I have donated the little money that I could to the Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research Foundation. Seeing the images of these poor, innocent and terrified birds, turtles, and other wildlife has honestly haunted me the past couple of months. However, I hadn’t even thought about the domestic pets that are being affected too, and as Mr. Cooper said, they haven’t even seen a drop of oil.

What I’m talking about is the families who have been financially burdened in the Gulf by America’s selfishness and dependence on oil. So many people right now have had their livelihood taken away from them. People can’t pay their mortgages, their utility bills; put food on their table, all because of oil. And in times like this, people have to start looking at what they can and cannot afford, and make adjustments accordingly. Sadly, the family pet, like it or not, has to become expendable. Families in tears and ashamed that they can no longer pay to put food in the mouths of their four-legged family members are having to take on their last resort by surrendering their beloveds to shelters, which are quickly becoming over-populated. These are not stray animals, or violent dogs, but loving, nurturing members of a family who are scared, confused, sad, and hurt; who do not understand why they’ve been abandoned. They are surviving for now in shelters that kill, so their time here is being cut short, for no reason other than BP not getting their act together. These families have had to put even more stress in their lives by being forced to make a decision that nobody should have to make. It’s truly a terrible situation, not only for the families, but for the animals, too. The fear and terror in these poor dogs and cat’s eyes was enough to not only make me cry myself to sleep, but to see their faces in my dreams all night.



Now, you’re probably wondering why I’m talking about this situation that seems all but helpless. I’m not trying to depress or upset anybody, because I want you to know that there are ways that we can help. Since the need is so strong, the Louisiana ASPCA is looking for foster homes outside of Louisiana, as well as in-state, so please contact them if you are interested. You can also send supplies, like dog or cat food, kitty litter, etc. directly to them, or make a monetary donation. I’m currently looking into the possibility of adopting, although I have not gotten a response at the moment and don’t know if they will adopt to someone thousands of miles away, but the thought of at least saving one animal’s life is worth the effort of finding out, in my opinion. So please, if you are able, see how you can help in this dire situation.




To see the CNN Story (please do), click this link

To Donate to the Tri-State Bird Rescue, click this link

To Donate to the Louisiana SCPA, or see how you can help, click this link

Taking Comfort Food to a Whole New Level

I promise, you won't be able to eat just one serving!!!

I’m pretty sure you can all bow down to me as the goddess of ooey, gooey goodness now!! I am pretty certain that I have mastered the art of comfort food by combining two of my favorite non-vegan dishes and veganising it for the most delicious treat you can give yourself! Seriously, to me, there is nothing in this world that is yummier than a super thick and creamy macaroni and cheese or a savory green bean casserole. Well, I wanted both of them the other night (go figure), so I took one of my favorite sauce recipes and made some little tweaks here and there, and came up with a dish that my omni loverboy couldn’t even get enough of! If you’re not so much a fan of the green beans, you can also do this dish as an incredible macaroni and cheese, which honestly, I like this recipe more than any REAL mac and cheese I’ve ever had! All you have to do is use elbow macaroni, remove the green beans, and that’s it! Easy as that!

Southern Comfort Cheesy Green Bean Casserole•3 1/2 cups whole grain penne pasta, cooked and drained
•1/2 cup Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Spread
•1/2 cup flour
•3 1/2 cups boiling water
•2 tsp. salt
•2 Tbsp. Braggs Liquid Aminos or Shoyu
•2 tsp. garlic powder
•Tumeric to taste
•1/4 cup oil of your choosing (for this, I just use regular Canola Oil)
•1 cup nutritional yeast
•2 cups frozen green beans, thawed
•Fried onion straws (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a saucepan, melt Earth Balance over low heat. Mix in the flour. Stir continuously over medium heat until smooth and bubbly. Stir in the boiling water, salt, liquid aminos, garlic powder, and turmeric. Continue whisking until dissolved. Once the sauce thickens and is bubbling, stir in the oil and the nutritional yeast flakes. Mix about 3/4 of the sauce with the noodles and place in a casserole dish. On top of the noodle and sauce mixture, layer the green beans. Cover with the remaining sauce and sprinkle with a layer of fried onions, a la green bean casserole. Bake for 15 minutes, or until heated through.


Now honestly, if this recipe doesn’t take care of your comfort food cravings 100%, then feel free to completely rip me and this blog a new one...but seriously, give this recipe a try. Do it.

A Little Rock and Roll Couldn't Hurt...!!!

Me, rocking out with some of my favorite peeps!


So, I watched a film last night on my computer called “Edge” about the straightedge subculture amongst the punk-rock scene.
Being somewhat of a “rocker girl” myself, I found the film quite interesting, as it seemed to go hand in hand with one of my all-time favorite books, Dharma Punx by Noah Levine. The book is an interesting tale of punk rock and religion, and how the two can truly become one entity. The film I watched last night was very similar. A lot of it was about the drug-free movement amongst certain punk rockers and a sober, yet still totally rock and roll lifestyle. There was also a part in it about animal cruelty, and being completely drug-free and cruelty free, and still being rock and roll. Now, some people may think that you can’t be hardcore and rock and roll without the “extreme” lifestyles of debauchery and drug usage and the biting off of bat heads (I love my Ozzy, but this thought gives me nightmares!). I mean, I’m not saying that you can’t have a good time…I’ve been known to throw down a 5th of Jack before a party has even started, but that’s beside the point! What I’m getting at is, you don’t have to fit into a mold to be who you are. Just because you are vegan doesn’t mean you have to run around smelling like onions because you don’t shower and don’t shave and hug every tree you see. Just as much as being rock and roll or punk rock doesn’t mean you have to live your life in a drug-fueled, hate-fueled haze.
Anyway, I think that this is an excellent movie, and everyone should definitely try and watch it, vegan or not. Like I said, it’s just a small part about animal cruelty in it, but I think that it speaks volumes. It was also produced by Compassion Media, which is a great production company to support. Give it a watch, and tell me what you think! And, if you don’t believe you can rock the stage until the sun comes up without animal protein, check out this small compilation of musicians (just that I know of, I’m sure there are more) who go out and do it every night!!


Joan Jett
Prince
Karl Buechner of Earth Crisis/Freya
Ray Cappo of Youth Of Today/Shelter

Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat
Bull Gervasi of R.A.M.B.O.

Chrissie Hynde
Quinn Allman of the Used
Fiona Apple
Hunter Burgan of AFI
Davey Havok of AFI
Terence “Geezer” Butler of Black Sabbath
Dave Davies of the Kinks
Boy George
Dave Goodman, original producer of the Sex Pistols
Alanis Morissette
Reggie Riot of Three Man Riot

Pat Thetic of Anti-Flag
Weird Al Yankovic (no, I’m not kidding!)

So there. And like I said, I’m sure that this is not all of them, just ones that I have heard of around the grapevine. So you can have your rock and be cruelty-free, too!!!

Hahahaha

Okay, so some may find this slightly offensive, but hey! My blog, my rules, right?! I know this has nothing to do with recipes, but it’s the little things like this that just totally make my day. Julian and I were flipping through the channels last night while I was turning my Banana Cake recipe into cupcakes for the office. All of a sudden, on one of the channels was a home video of a deer kicking the sh*t out of a hunter! Like, not just getting a kick to the gut, but seriously beating the hell outta this guy, a la Fight Club! I nearly peed myself laughing, and in my head wondering if that guy would think twice from now on before pointing a gun at an unarmed creature. Unfortunately for the buck, the guy survived, but it’s the little things like this…seeing an animal get its justice, which put a smile on my face!


(Not really sure of the source of this photo...but sometimes I wish I could see this driving down the street rather than vice versa!)

Chocoholics-Anonymous Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Like I said in my last post, when it’s someone’s birthday, I can’t help but make massive amounts of baked goods. That kick-ass banana cake was just the tip of the vegan goody iceberg! Once again, this recipe is super super simple, and no crazy ingredients (I don’t think). I know that a lot of people have fears of vegan cooking and baking because they see all these recipes with crazy ingredients that they’ve never heard of or have no idea where to buy such items. I try really hard to keep it simple. I’m very lucky that, even though I live in the Dairyland now, I’m surrounded by stores that carry all that “funky” stuff, but I know that there are people who do not have many of those stores around them, so I try to keep my ingredients as basic and user-friendly as possible. So, here’s another variation on one of my old non-vegan recipes that once again, tastes better veganized!



Chocoholics-Anonymous Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
3/4 cup canola oil
2 cups turbinado sugar or sugar in the raw
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon whole flax seeds
1/2 cup soymilk
2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F.

Grind the flax seeds on high in a blender until they become a powder. Add soymilk and blend for another 30 seconds or so. Set aside.

In a large bowl sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

In a separate large bowl, cream together oil and sugar. Add the flax seed/soy milk mixture and mix well. Add the vanilla.

Fold in the dry ingredients in batches. When it starts to get too stiff to mix with a spatula, use your hands until a nice stiff dough forms. Add the chocolate chips and mix with your hands again.

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and flatten into a disc that's about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet about an inch apart.

Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes, then set them on a wire rack to cool completely.

Kick-Ass Banana Birthday Cake!!

Look how happy this vegan cake made him!!!
So Friday marked the 26 anniversary of the birth of the most amazing man in my life! And the way I see it, there’s no better way to celebrate something like that than eating delicious foods! Now, I know some of you were followers of my old baking blog, and I know I haven’t really updated as many of my treats as I wanted to by now (the whole “losing weight” thing makes it hard to have baked goods in the house too often!) but I took one of Julian’s favorite cake recipes of mine, and worked my magic in turning it vegan. To my surprise (to his, also!), the cake turned out BETTER than my non-vegan original recipe! Not only was this probably the easiest cake I’ve ever made, but it was so delicious. I didn’t tell his parents that it was vegan until the end, and they honestly couldn’t believe it one bit. It was so moist and literally melted in your mouth. It was also my first time experimenting with Tofutti vegan cream cheese (I’ve used their sour cream product before) and I must say, it made an excellent base for the cream cheese frosting! So, if you have a birthday to plan, or if you just feel like baking something sweet, delicious, and cruelty-free, I give you:

Go Bananas! Vegan Banana Birthday Cake

•2 cups flour (I use whole grain, but use whatever you care to)
•1 1/2 tsp baking soda
•1/2 tsp salt
•1 cup sugar of your choice (I use Sugar in the Raw)
•1/4 cup oil
•4 ripe bananas, mashed
•1/4 cup water
•1 tsp vanilla
2 tblsp cinnamon

Preparation:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-inch round baking pan.
In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt and sugar.
Put water, bananas, vanilla, and oil into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Pour in bowl with dry ingredients and stir until mixed well.
Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

And for my new take on Amazing Cream Cheese Frosting:
•1/4 cup Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Spread, softened
•1/4 cup Tofutti Vegan Cream Cheese, softened
•2 cups vegan confectioner’s sugar, sifted
•1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Makes enough to frost one cake.

Yummmmmmmm.....


I promise you, this is so simple you’ll be amazed! And, you’ll want to make this every day…it’s just that good! And honestly, look at those ingredients…it’s not even *that* bad for you!! Make it without the frosting, and it’s still super delicious and even more on the healthy side. I really hope/know you’ll all enjoy this so much!


I dare you to only have once slice!

Recipe Recommendation: Masoor Daal

Photo from the amazing blog of Spicy Habibty.



I love lentils. They’re little protein-packed bursts of goodness that can really be built into any meal. Unfortunately, I have a man in the house that is not a lentil fan.

Well, when he went out of town a while back, I made this amazing lentil dish for myself from a dear friend’s blog, Spicy Habibty. It’s a Pakistani dish called Masoor Daal, which is a Red Lentil Soup that I make really thick and pour over a bed of rice…not exactly a breakfast dish, but as I write about this at nine in the morning I instantly crave it! Now each and every bite of this dish is an incredible flavorful experience that your palate will thank you for, I promise! I enjoyed it so much that I just KNEW I could make this for Julian, whether he’d like it or not! So, the other night, he seemed distracted enough with the television for me to begin cooking this dish like a stealthy little ninja. Little did he know that those amazing smells coming from the kitchen would be his new favorite dish…a lentil dish, at that!

Not only is this dish amazing, but seriously, it’s one of the cheapest, yet most filling meals you could possibly make! I don’t know what prices are everywhere, but where I’m at in Madison, a 25-pound bag will run you $20…that’s it! And believe me, 25 pounds can last you a LOOONNNNGGG time! All of the spices are super cheap, and ones that I’m sure most people have in their pantry’s already, so if you have a family to feed on a budget, than this is the perfect meal. My math skills, dividing the price of the lentils with how much I used, with the rice and spices comes to about three pennies per person for this meal, so it’s definitely budget friendly. So anyway, I’d like to direct you to the amazing and incredible blog of Spicy Habibty to check out this amazing dish!!


I keep these lentils stored in jars after I open the large bag to keep them fresh.