Living Without Meat

Ever since discovering nutritional yeast, I have been trying to find more ways to use it. If you are not familiar with it, nutritional yeast comes as yellow flakes or a powder and has a cheesy flavor. It is a good source of complete protein and many vitamins including B. It can be used in recipes such as dips and sauces, or can be sprinkled on top of food as a condiment similar to Parmesan cheese. You can buy it in the bulk section of most health food stores.

My first time using it, I made Kristen Suzanne’s raw Cheezy Hemp Nacho Sauce. Since then I have also tried it multiple times with pasta and oil at the recommendation of a life-long vegetarian friend. Today was the first time I mixed it into something that was my own creation: a cheesy white bean hummus!

Cheesy White Bean Hummus

In a Vita-Mix or other high-powered blender, mix the following for one to two servings:

* 1/2 can of cannellini beans (also called white kidney beans), washed and drained
* 1 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
* 1 tsp. garlic powder
* 1 Tbsp. flax seed oil
* 1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
* 1/2 cup water, more or less may be needed depending on your blender’s capabilities
* 1 1/2 Tbsp. tahini

Blend all of the ingredients until smooth. If your blender is struggling to mix everything, add a little more water. If you don’t have tahini, leaving it out won’t make a big difference.

Serve it with crackers, pretzels, pita chips, or pita bread and a variety of chopped vegetables - carrots, celery, bell peppers, cucumbers, broccoli, baby corn. Enjoy and share!

A hot-headed teenage boy and an old, crazy homeless man got in a fight over me today.

As I was walking out of a coffee house (where I had an iced soy latte and vegan chili), carrying my messenger bag that features the Humane League’s logo with a pig on it, a man started following me yelling at me:

“I am a homeless vet and I’m hungry and I want to know why it is that your heart cares more about a stupid dog then me.”

I chose to ignore him, which only angered him more. He picked up speed and began screaming and cursing louder, telling me to answer him “or else.”

There was a young guy who was already watching to make sure I was okay and at that point he came running over. He started out polite, “leave her alone, sir.” But when the homeless man began acting aggressive toward him, the guy quickly became combative - and they were yelling about me the whole time.

Luckily it ended. Even more than being upset at the thought of being accosted by a man, I am upset that for some reason people continue to believe that animal lovers don’t care about human beings.

Everyone has strong opinions about food, especially about produce with organic fruits and vegetables being more popular than ever. Some people look primarily for an organic sticker. Others are more concerned with their food being locally produces. But then there are those of us who care about it all. We want a little SOLE in our food choices: sustainable (sometimes written as seasonal), organic, local, ethical.

Apparently SOLE food is not a new concept - I can find references online to it more than a year back - but I just read about it today (even though I have been practicing it for much longer than this) in SELF Magazine while running on the treadmill at my gym.

All four are very important to me, with ethical being the top concern. How about you? Do you care about your food having SOLE? Do you look for food that is sustainable, organic, local, and ethical?

Hearing my veg friends talk about their parents’ and friends’ constant attempts at trying to trick them into eating meat and lectures over why being vegetarian is unhealthy, makes me realize that there a lot of overly supportive people in my life that I don’t fully appreciate, such as …

* The mother of the children that I baby-sit weekly, who always has a veg dinner option in her fridge for me to have when feeding the kids. But it doesn’t stop there: two weeks ago she ordered a cheese-free tomato pie for us and last week she made vegan minestrone soup from scratch.

* My sister, who, whether or not meat is being served to her family, always puts together a meal that can easily be vegan friendly such as make-your-own pizza or salad.

* My cousin, who recently got married and, although there wasn’t the option of choosing “veg” on the R.S.V.P. card, and despite her vows’ references to hunting and fishing, had already told the wedding planner that I was vegan.

* My dad, who proudly calls to tell me every time he meets another vegetarian. He has also usually told this person all about me and even gives Living Without Meat a plug!

* My mom. There are way too many examples of things that my mother has done or said to be supportive of my diet. Just one example … while visiting me this week she was getting ready to hop in the shower and asked about using my shampoo. “I’ll know which ones are yours, right? Are they all Jason?” And that, friends, is the rarest non-veg support of a veg lifestyle ever: the understanding that being vegan extends beyond your food.

This week I interviewed and am training a new summer employee of the Humane League. She will be canvassing for us by going out into the city, telling people about the nonprofit, and asking people to sign up for our mailing list and make a small donation.

While preparing this position, I have realized that this is an excellent way for anyone to get involved in their favorite animal advocacy organization. I can only assume that most groups, like the Humane League, are always looking to bring in more money and would love to have a dedicated, enthusiastic person to help them fund-raise.

Now you can’t just start asking people on the street to give you money for a nonprofit; while the organization will appreciate the funds, they won’t appreciate having someone represent them without their approval. So here is what I recommend doing if you would like to canvass for an animal advocacy group:

1. Research the nonprofit that you are interested in. Learn about how they got started, how long they have been around, and what some of their campaigns are. Being able to answer questions is a must for street canvassing. Plus, the organization will want to make sure you know and agree with their mission.

2. Find out all the legalities of canvassing. The main thing to remember is that you need to be on public property. When I go to a new location, I talk to the manager and ask them.

3. Determine exactly how you are looking to help. Figure out how many hours you are interested in working, where you would go (outside of grocery stores is a great location), and how much your goal would be ($20 in donations per hour is our average).

4. Approach the nonprofit under the pretenses that you are interested in helping them raise money. Ask them if they canvass or if they would be interested in having you do some canvassing for them.

5. Contact me with questions or for more help by leaving a comment below!

I have had to take a few weeks off, but today Suzy Homemaker Sunday was back in full swing! After signing a new lease this weekend for a gorgeous, brand new apartment, I have been inspired to start prepping for moving. Aside from cleaning, doing laundry, and throwing junk out, I decided to make a loaf of herb bread and play around with my Euro Cuisine yogurt maker to start using up some of the food in my pantry because I hate packing and moving food.

Vegan Herb Bread

Throw all of these ingredients into your bread machine and bake it on medium crust:

2 1/2 tsp. yeast
1 1/8 c. warm water
1 1/2 Tbsp. oil
3 c. flour - half bread flour and half whole wheat
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt (2 if you are using sea salt and like your bread a little salty tasting)
1 tsp. of several dried herbs, double up on your favorite - I used basil, oregano, rosemary (x 2), and parsley
2 tsp. garlic powder

Specialty Soy Yogurts

Following the directions to make yogurt with a maker, I boiled soy milk, let it cool to room temperature, and then mixed in a small container of plain, store bought, soy yogurt. When I divided it into the seven single-serving containers in the maker, I added a flavor to each one this time. I cannot attest to their flavor yet, but to each serving I added one of the following:

* Fresh blueberries
* Agave nectar
* Cinnamon and sugar
* Raspberry jelly
* Carob powder
* Vanilla extract
* Nothing, because it is so good plain too!

Happy Suzy Homemaker Sunday!

Veganism is still growing in prevalence in the mainstream news, even in the fashion world!

* New York Magazine’s blog, The Cut, featured Olsen Haus shoes because the brand “Makes Being Vegan Stylish.” The fashionable blogger wrote about the fast-growing, young, vegan-owned design house saying: “when we think of vegan clothes or shoes, we tend to picture shapeless sacks, earthy colors, and Birkenstock-esque footwear. … But Olsen Haus is breaking that fussy image with its chic, leather-free shoes.”

* The New York Post reported that France’s own first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, reached out to PETA to talk about her semi animal-friendly fashion choices. In a letter to PETA, Carla wrote: “I do not wear, buy, or own fur or animal skin other than leather or skin of animals raised for feeding purposes. I am not a vegetarian and I don’t find it illogical to wear skins of animals whose meat is also eaten. … I would gladly consider giving away sable, fox, and other fur coats - if I owned any.” PETA responded rather maturely and anti-abolitionist, saying that they respected Carla’s forward thinking. They did not bash her for approving of leather, instead they simply sent her a pair off vegan shoes from Stella McCartney.

* Speaking of Stella McCartney … the vegetarian designer has teamed up with Gap to design affordable, sustainable clothing for Gap Kids and Baby Gap. Read all about this new venture over at Vegetarian Star.

* Vaute Couture has been working diligently on a limited-edition collection of four vegan, high-fashion, winter coats and they are finally here! The coats, one of which is shown here, are available for pre-order right now for fall 2009, and Vaute Couture is offering to match your down payment now through June 30. So if you pre-pay $100 today toward your new Vaute Couture winter coat, they will take $100 off your remaining balance.

* Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt teamed up with vegan shoe company Macbeth to create his own vegan rocker sneaker. If you want to see the shoe and read more about it, check out my post about it at VEGdaily.

After watching a little boy pulverize a bug earlier this week, at the encouragement of his mother, I have been thinking more and more about raising children that are vegan, animal lovers, respectful of life, and generally good additions to the human race. I’m not a mother myself, but I certainly have lots of kids in my life: I babysit regularly for three siblings, and have a niece, a nephew, and one on the way any minute now. But while I am close to an expert on caring for kids, I am not an authority on raising vegan ones. For that, you’ll have to turn to other resources such as …

* The Girlie Girl Army put together a thorough collection of resources for “How to Raise Socially Responsible Rugrats” that spans the realms of respect for animals and the environment, and includes games, toys, foods, activities, and more.

* VegFamily Magazine takes you from pregnancy to teenager with everything you need to know about having veg children through articles, recipes, tips from dieticians, a message board, and videos.

* Family Education has a great article, “Raising ‘Green’ Kids,” with educational and fun activities and suggestions for helping kids understand and appreciate the Earth.

* The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) has a section all about “Raising a Vegetarian Family”that includes links to several articles from Vegetarian Journal.

* Sending your kids to the right sites helps. Check out the kids clubs for animal-loving organizations such as Farm Sanctuary and PETA.

* If you want to go offline in your learning, check out what Amazon.com has to offer.

Picture this: After an early, hard-working morning, I am sitting poolside after lunch with my laptop computer doing work. The rain and thunderstorms that have been virtually non-stop the last month in Philly have finally taken a break and the sun is out. It’s a gorgeous, relaxing day. Nothing could interrupt, right?

Wrong. I am jolted back to reality when I hear the thud of a flip-flop smacking against the concrete. A little boy is going to town smashing what I can only assume was once a bug. Then I hear his mother, “Did you get it? Good job! You’re so good at that! Is it definitely dead?”

I find that when I am handing out veg pamphlets on the street (a.k.a. leafleting), kids are very receptive when I say, “info on helping animals” while handing their parents a pamphlet. More often than not, regardless of how the adult responds, the child says, “I want to help animals!” Usually it seems that kids have a strong sense of respect for all living things (when do we lose this, by the way?), but that didn’t help me feel any less sad that this mother was clearly raising an apathetic son with little or no respect for life.

In other news … the 18-year-old serial cat killer, Tyler Hayes Weinman, was charged for a string of cat killings and mutilations in the Miami area. Hmm … bet he was a bug squisher as a kid.

Want to parent your kids in a way that helps them understand respect for others? I highly recommend keeping up with Wired for Noise, the blog of Summer, a mother of three or at least read her recent post “Attachment Parenting, Feminism, and Raising Sons”.

By any PETA shirt by Father’s Day, June 19, and use the coupon code FD59 to receive $5 off any one tee shirt!

My knowledge of vegan pop culture failed me this week: I missed wishing a happy birthday to well-known, outspoken vegan advocates!

Tuesday, June 9, was the 28th birthday of the gorgeously adorable, much-loved vegan princess Natalie Portman. Then, two days later on Thursday, June 11, it was PETA President Ingrid Newkirk’s 60th birthday celebration!

Celebrating a vegan birthday in your social network? Here are some good vegan birthday cake recipes and ideas to try:

* Figure out to convert your favorite non-vegan cake recipe with the Vegetarian Resource Group’s replacement guide.

* Read up about how the Veg Family satisfies their vegan kids, complete with Elmo cakes and homemade ice cream!

* Isa of the Post Punk Kitchen has included a wealth of cake and icing recipes available on her site.

* For vegan cupcakes, you simply must head over to Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, but Vegan CupCake Recipes is a close second resource.

But birthdays are not just about the cake. Growing up, we always got to pick what we wanted to eat for our birthday dinner. I always chose one of three meals: Scalloped potatoes, homemade mac and cheese with breadcrumbs, or kabobs. The last is fairly easy to veganize, but I have never attempted to do so with either of the first two. Try one of there recipes to make a vegan version of my favorite birthday dinner:

* FatFree Vegan and Karina’s Kitchen have good vegan scalloped potato recipes.

* Everyone calls their vegan mac and cheese “the best,” including posters at Recipezaar and VegWeb. Vegan Yum Yum has a yummy sounding one, too.

Keep up with all of the vegan celebrities’ birthdays with Vegetarian Star’s regular feature, “Slice of Vegan Birthday Cake to ….”

I had a long week that left me tired and easily upset by the end. Come Friday evening I was loosing it. I need to find respite somehow, somewhere. So I suggested getting out of the apartment to my roommate and she jumped at the idea. We rode our bikes a few miles down hill into town to eat at our favorite, very vegan-friendly, Mexican restaurant.

The bike ride alone put me in a better mood, but it was all topped off nicely by a delicious meal eaten outside on a beautiful evening. We scarfed down the free chips and salsa before ordering vegan quesadillas (roommate) and seitan tip kebobs with rice, corn on the cob, and sauteed veggies (me).

While dining I was reminded why I love this restaurant so much, aside from the fact that they have soy cheese and sour cream. Our waitress saw us perusing the back page of the menu, where all of the veg options all pulled together for easy browsing, and didn’t list the all-meat specials for us. Then I overheard the table next to us asking their waitress what she recommends and she immediately replied by asking, “are you vegetarian?” And even though they said no, she still made sure to recommend several meat-free dishes.

We were stuffed, but had to manage but the straight up hill ride home: A stop at Rita’s Water Ice certainly helped break up the climb, though it didn’t really help with the overly full problem.

We came home, watched a bit of TV while I worked a little more, and are now headed to bed.

Lesson to be learned: (exercise + fresh air) x (vegan food + good company) = a much happier mood.

Apparently I am a career woman now, or so says the faculty at a local grade school who invited me to speak at career day today. I talked for about 20 minutes about working for animals with my job at the Humane League to four different classes, ranging from 4th grade to 8th grade.

I started talking to each class by telling them what a day looks like for me: Working from home on the computer in the morning, heading out into the city to work on different campaigns in the afternoon, and then working a second job teaching classes at local recreation centers in the evening.

Then I showed pictures. I held up photos of sow and veal crates, battery cages, and more. I told them that this was why I work for an animal advocacy nonprofit. I told them that the hope of changing this was why I am willing to work for pennies. Every child in every class was listening to what I had to say and looking at the pictures that I shared. I also made sure to follow the more graphic photos up with ones of animals that had been saved, while telling the a few stories about animals that were rescued.

Lots of the older kids were very curious as to what, as a vegan, I eat. Most had only heard off vegetarian, if that, and didn’t know what being vegan meant … but after today I am sure that they know now because I was not the only vegan talking to them today! There was a nutritionist and someone from a wellness center who also talked about veganism. And I’m sure that hearing the chef talk about the sea animals screaming when she boiled them alive didn’t hurt either.

Positive vegan stories have been increasingly more prevalent in mainstream news lately. There were numerous good responses to ABC’s new cartoon The Goode Family, including one at the forefront of the New York Times’ television section titled “A Clan So Virtuous Even Its Dog Is Vegan.”

In June alone, all of these and more have popped up as newsworthy articles with “vegan” as a keyword:

* Meat: The Slavery Of Our Time on NPR.com
” I have a prediction: Sooner than you might think, this will be a vegetarian world. Future generations will find the idea of eating meat both morally absurd and logistically impossible. …”

* Goodbye to meat: Switch gradually to become a vegetarian. More fruit, healthy protein likely to improve quality of life in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“As gardens get greener, farmers markets overflow with produce and our cravings for light, summer foods intensify, there’s that temptation to do the unthinkable: turn that dinner salad into a meal, then a habit. Go all the way —- go vegetarian. …”

* Vegetarianism has become mainstream: Is vegan next? in the Sonoma Valley Sun
“Vegans have to endure the resistance that used to greet someone’s announcement that, “I refuse to eat anything with a face.” Vegetarians once seemed a rather fussy lot, as if chicken stock were the equivalent of hemlock – that is, they did until vegans came along, with their laundry list of taboo foodstuffs. …”

Seen veganism in the news online or in print recently? Share it here - leave a comment!

Last night the Humane League of Philadelphia hosted a very successful dinner and lecture. We welcomed author and PETA VP Bruce Friedrich on his book tour for The Animal Activist’s Handbook as more than 50 guests piled into a small upstairs dining room at Singapore Restaurant for an all-vegan dim sum feast and Bruce’s talk about how to be an effective advocate for animals.

There aren’t many stops scheduled, just Chicago today and Washington, D.C. tomorrow, June 8, for now, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t appreciate what Bruce has to share: you can listen to the PETA podcast featuring Bruce as he talks about his new book in “Activism Questions Answered.”

Download and listen at your convenience as “PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich talks candidly about his experience as an activist and the new book that he coauthored, The Animal Activist’s Handbook: Maximizing Our Positive Impact in Today’s World.”

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Here’s what two other writers are saying about the new Handbook, cowritten by Matt Ball:

“This book is so much more than a “how-to” guide for activists. It is an inspirational and motivational opus from the two gentlest yet most effective giants in the movement. The Animal Activist’s Handbook will elevate your activism and forever alter who you are and who you want to be.” - Rory Freedman, co-author of Skinny Bitch

“There is nothing more maddening than wanting desperately to change the fate of animals and not knowing how to go about it. This book shows you how to streamline your thoughts, present information, and be the greatest force you can be for these creatures who have no voice. It is a Godsend for a movement that is gaining ever stronger momentum.” - Kathy Freston, author of Quantum Wellness