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!

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.

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?

* 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.

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!

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!

* 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.

* 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.

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”.