Two days ago, I was in the car asking my friend “Do you think we will ever have a vegan president?”
“Ha! No.”
I was quiet. That made me sad.
Yesterday, I was at work, and a different friend of mine said, “Hey! Did you know Bill Clinton is vegan?”
I smiled. That made me happy. Then I read this article. I watched the video included, and felt nostalgic for Bill Clinton being the butt of so many jokes. So many good jokes.
Anyway… Thanks, Bill, for being the most influential vegan in the world.
Me lazy in summer. Easy dinner. Has proteins. Good for eating.
Cook pasta of choice. Drain.
Heat olive oil in separate pan. Add garlic, ginger and onion. Cook until onion is translucent. Add tempeh. Season with pepper, chilipowder and turmeric. Add broccoli and bell peppers (or whatever you want) then add Braggs liquid aminos. Stir while you fry. After about 3 minutes, turn off heat and squeeze lemon over stir fry.
Pour stir fry over pasta. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Like gourmet, but cheaper faster and easier.
Eat. Nom nom nom.
Chicken and I went for a nice little hike today, and we discovered a few things… First we discovered that the creek where the Chickens learned to swim is all dried up. But while walking along the dry creek bed, we discovered blackberries!!! Fresh, delicious, blackberries grown in the bright California sun and ripe for the picking!! Tons of them. I was so excited, I picked and ate blackberries until my teeth were full of seeds and I had been stabbed by blackberry brambles more times than I could stand. The best ones were of course out of reach, but I tried to get them anyway, resulting in more bramble stabbings. It was so awesome and delicious… For a few minutes I wished I was a bear so I wouldn’t care about the brambles and I could eat all the blackberries… I don’t even know if bears eat blackberries, in fact I doubt that they have the digital dexterity to pick them, but if I was a bear would so get down on those berries…. Chickens didn’t really care for the blackberries. She found some nice horse poop to eat instead.
Mmmmmmm……
Asian flavors
Love to savor
Like special treat for lunch and dinner
(use chopsticks for make extra good to eat)
I eat seaweed
I eat gobo
I eat pad thai, kimchi and miso!
Asian treats
So good for eat
Make me want to tap my feet
And fill my bowl
With all lots vegetables (no meat!)
Go back for seconds
Not once or twice
But for three-peat!
I am lucky enough to live in a city where there are vegan restaurants on almost every other corner, and most of them even deliver. I am spoiled, I know, and I am very aware of this because every time I leave Los Angeles I have to pack an arsenal of vegan snackies. Some people would argue that I make things more difficult than necessary because I don’t like to eat at restaurants that serve meat and dairy (I had some bad experiences with cross contamination, like, sour cream on my guacamole!! I am forever paranoid now). But it makes me all the more grateful to get home and order vegan sushi… Only in LA friends. It’s not a paradox. It’s part of the cult.
M Cafe makes some killer sushi, but it’s super easy to make at home…
1 cucumber or zucchini
1 carrot, grated
1 avocado
Nori (seaweed) sheets
Sprouts
Soy sauce, Braggs, or your favorite sauce for dipping (I combine a tsp of miso paste with a tbsp of nutritional yeast and a little water for my sauce)
Thinly slice cucumbers or zucchini.
Lay a few slices on a sheet of nori, top with carrots, avocado and sprouts. Feel free to include rice for a heartier meal. I also like to spread my sauce inside the sushi instead of dipping. Roll that baby up into a cone shape and grub. Chew well, then repeat. Join the cult.
This is a new segment inspired by Sam, Lunchbox and Dylan (and Hansol, too!)
I was at work and just happily working away when I heard someone call my name.
“Hey, Meggan! Is this vegan?”
I turned around to see who was asking me and assumed it to be the beginning of a joke, like perhaps they were holding up a picture of a dog licking another dogs butt. But there sat a group of my favorites, looking bright eyed and oh-s0-innocent holding up a can of Kern’s nectar or Goldfish pretzels or lollipops or some other random food item.
“Let me see the ingredients,” I replied.
After examining the slightly disturbing list, I paused, deliberating over how exactly to deliver my answer.
“Well…. it is technically vegan, but I still wouldn’t eat it.”
“What? Why? Is it because it’s not organic?”
“Yes… But also mostly because of these 2 words: natural flavors.”
Dude, natural flavors are far from natural. Those 2 words can contain 28 or more different chemicals, compounds and fragrances.
“A natural flavor,” says Terry Acree, a professor of food science at Cornell University, “is a flavor that’s been derived with an out-of-date technology.” Natural flavors and artificial flavors sometimes contain exactly the same chemicals, produced through different methods. Amyl acetate, for example, provides the dominant note of banana flavor. When it is distilled from bananas with a solvent, amyl acetate is a natural flavor. When it is produced by mixing vinegar with amyl alcohol and adding sulfuric acid as a catalyst, amyl acetate is an artificial flavor. Either way it smells and tastes the same….
A natural flavor is not necessarily more healthful or purer than an artificial one. When almond flavor — benzaldehyde — is derived from natural sources, such as peach and apricot pits, it contains traces of hydrogen cyanide, a deadly poison…. Natural and artificial flavors are now manufactured at the same chemical plants, places that few people would associate with Mother Nature.
-Eric Schlosser, in his book Fast Food Nation.
Either way… Eating something that has added flavoring, “natural” or otherwise, indicates you are eating a highly processed food…. Which as a level 10 vegan, I just can’t do.
Sometimes my person takes me on really awesome adventures to parks with nice ponds and lots of good smelling. Sometimes there is other chickens like me to play with, and birds and bunnies to chase. Sometimes my persons play with me, and I chases them and tackles them so I can kisses their face. They are slow so I can catches them easier than the bunnies. They try to tackles me back, but persons are slow and weak so I am always winning. And you know what they says… If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the Chicken.
You can use whatever fruits you have around to make these babies. Just chop larger fruits into small chunks (think blueberry size!) or if using frozen, do not thaw.
2 cups rice flour
2 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp Himalayan crystal salt
1 cup coconut palm sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil (extra virgin)
1 cup milk (I make fresh hemp milk)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups fruits
Heat oven to 350. Grease muffin tins or line with little paper cupcake cup thingies.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, xanthan gum, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, mix oil and sugar. Add milk and vanilla, mix. Then stir in flour mixture until just mixed. Mix in fruits, fill muffin tins and then bake for about 30 minutes, or until edges are browner and muffin top is firm to touch.
I baked mine in baby bundt tins… I just love the shape!!
I used to love cheesy noodles, all warm and melty… Lately I’ve been craving something comforting like Mac n’ cheese, but I can’t hang with that boxed stuff, even if it is technically vegan. So I whipped up some delicious gluten free pasta with a cheesy sauce I created. If you are expecting this to taste exactly like salty cow fat, get over it. It doesn’t. It tastes like warm, nutritious deliciousness and I can totally hang with that.
Boil water for pasta. Cook pasta. When pasta is just cooked add chopped broccoli and zucchini, then drain immediately.
While pasta is cooking
Combine in blender:
2 tbsp hemp seeds or cashews
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/3 small red bell pepper
Dashes of pink salt, onion and garlic powders, or whatever spices you like
Turmeric for color
Enough water to get to your desired consistency, about 1/4 to 1/2 cup
Mix everything until smooth. Pour over noodles and vegetables. Stay a child forever.
Just under 2 years ago, a friend who shall remain nameless held a 10 week old puppy in my face and said, “Can you give her a home?” Somehow, he must have equated being vegan with having a soft spot for cute, cuddly animals. I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive, but they sure do go well together, like curry and rice. Anyway, this cute, fat cuddly puppy was dangling in my face and I said, “Sure…. I don’t think my parents will mind.” I made arrangements to pick up the puppy the next day, and went home trying to figure out what I had just done.
First, I asked my mom, “Can I get a puppy?” She laughed at me and said, “No! We already have 2 dogs. We don’t need another one. I don’t want to clean up any more poop.” I laughed and changed the subject immediately, now even more worried about the decision I had just made.
The next day, I went to go pick up the puppy. She had a tearful goodbye with her short term caretaker, and he loaded up my car with all of her belongings: crate, chew toys, bags of food. I knew at that moment that I saw the bags of Purina dog chow that I was going to have an issue. What am I going to feed this beast?? I can’t in good conscience feed her meat, but I knew nothing about the dietary requirements of dogs. She curled up in my lap as we made the long drive home, and I knew had a ton of work to do.
Baby Chicken asleep in my lap, on her way home for the first time. 10 weeks old.
When I got home that night, I set up a little pen in the corner of my room, covered the floor with puppy pads, and played with my new best friend. She quickly fell asleep on the next of my old sweatshirts I had made for her, and turned on the computer to start making research about vegan dogs. I read everything I could, and eventually came across a book called Obligate Carnivore by Jed Gillen. I immediately purchased it. In the meantime, puppy ate organic puppy chow made with some sort of meat.
The next day I had to go to work, and I decided I would leave the puppy just for a few hours. While I was at work, I texted my little sister and said, “Go look in my room. Call me later.” She went in my room and of course discovered a tiny, adorable, puppy. She carried the little monster down the stairs and presented it to my parents, saying “Look what I found in Meg’s room!” They all fell in love with the miniature razor-toothed pitbull, and I was off the hook.
At this time, all puppy did was eat and sleep. While she was sleeping, she grew. Every time she woke up, she was a little bigger. It was amazing. I had received my book and devoured it in a matter of hours. I learned it was okay and actually healthy to have a vegan dog and I immediately made the switch over to vegan dog food, at first supplied by V-dog, later by V-dog and other sources. I got her organic vegan treats and a hemp collar, and an organic recycled bed. I treated this puppy like she was my child, and I wanted her to have the absolute best while leaving the smallest carbon footprint possible.
She eventually came to be known as Chicken Marie. This wasn’t always her name. At first she was called Miriam, by her first owner, which I thought was a terrible name and she needed something better. For a while, I called her Adagio, after my favorite part of ballet class, but this name was too complicated, both for her and people. Whenever we would play, I would call her funny animal names, like “puppy kitty” or “chicken monkey.” Eventually, these were all shortened to just Chicken. Not long after that, one of my co-workers gave her my middle name, and she became known as Chicken Marie.
It has been almost 2 years now, and my little puppy has grown into a giant monster. She is the sweetest Chicken ever, with not a single mean bone in her body. She is the most loving and loyal dog, and she is my very best friend. I care about her as if she were my own flesh and blood, and I look forward to many, many vegan years ahead of us. Happy birthday, Chicken Marie!! I love you!!
Chicken Marie, almost 2 years ago.
Chicken Marie, today, all grown up with vegan power!!
