A Compassionate, Kiss-Worthy New Year

Italy, here we come! (Photo courtesy of JWP)

I'm, writing to you today from my Dad's home in snowy South Jersey, and I couldn't be more pumped - simply because I am about to embark on a ten-day vegan adventure in Italy with the husband. After hours of planning and discovering how many yummy vegan-friendly places there were in Italy (Soy gelato in Rome? Who knew?), I am primed and ready for this much-anticipated honeymoon. Of course, I will be taking way more photos than my digital camera can handle, and you can guarantee I'll be blogging about a few of my Italian experiences on here.

In the meantime, I would love to wish each and every one of you a Happy New Year! This year flew by for me - was it the same for you? I have a lot of goals and dreams for the coming year, and I'm sure you do too, but one goal is something we can all do together. Whether you've been vegan for most of your life, are just dipping your toes into the veg lifestyle, or are a curious meat-eater, the 21-Day Vegan Kickstart Program is a perfect way to dedicate yourself to three weeks of healthy and delicious vegan living. Created by Neal Barnard, founder of PCRM (The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine), the Vegan Kickstart program will assist you with daily meal plans, community forums, nutritional resources, and videos. Best part? It's free!

I would love to see as many KMIV readers as possible pledge to spend their next 21 days with the folks over at PCRM, so:

If you're interested in pledging, go to http://www.pcrm.org/kickstart/ and register today to begin on the first of January. But make sure to share with us here that you registered, and if you love the program, feel free to shoot me an email at kissmyvegan@gmail.com to share your experience with us!

I'll be back the second week of January, so until then - relax as much as you can, hug and smooch your loved ones, enjoy a yummy vegan meal, and remember to be as present as possible. And don't forget to find reasons to smile!

Chef Leeloos

Okay, I've never been the kind of person to enjoy pre-made meals or meal services. I come from a long history of dieting, eating poorly made (and poorly flavored) Jenny Craig mini meals or counting the calories of a veggie through Weight Watchers. Now, thankfully, I can safely say that my dieting days are over, and with that, overly processed, pre-packaged meals!

Recently, I learned about an awesome chef who defies anything you thought you knew about meal services: Chef Leeloo of Leeloo's Personal Chef Service. Leeloo's is a Southern California-based service that not only provides five days worth of fresh, delicious, colorful meals to your door, but every meal is entirely vegan! Chef Leeloo was kind enough to allow me to sample three days worth of meals before I leave the West Coast today, and it was an experience that completely and utterly rocked my world, because - for the first time, I got to enjoy at-home meals that tasted homemade (because Chef Leeloo makes them that way!), but I didn't have to lift a single pan to make them. Vegan foodie bliss.  

Chef Leeloo's food was so yummy that I decided to make him my new sponsor!

 

After sampling a variety of what Chef Leeloo provided, I questioned whether I would ever cook again (okay, I decided I would, but still!) - that's how delicious this food was. My favorites included the Greek Meatballs and Bulgur, the Eggplant Cannoli, the Sun-dried Tomato Tapenade, and the Pastisada. Each main course or lunch dish includes a protein, grain, and veggie to satisfy even the most finnicky eater. Are these vegan meals enough to make your carnivorous friend or family member question their eating habits? You betcha!

Chef Leeloo's mission statement is clear, as described on his website:

I define gourmet cuisine as delicious cuisine, made from premium ingredients, presented artistically, that nourishes your body to optimize energy.  My clients are focused on Life, and I provide them with more time, energy, and focus to enjoy. 

Chef Leeloo works hard to provide healthy, yet filling, meals to the masses, and he has already found a huge fan in this vegan blogger.

If you haven't already bought holiday gifts for your family and you live in the So Cal area, why not provide a loved one with a week of satisfying, delicious vegan food to show you care? Sample weeks start at $220, and if money is tight for you this year, you could either go in on the week with a friend or spouse, or if giving a gift, make it come from a group of family members. I'm seriously considering doing another week, especially because with the way my life works, sometimes I'm at home and easily able to cook, and sometimes, I'm just plain exhausted. How wonderful to know that all I have to do is take a wholesome, homemade meal out of the fridge and pop it into the oven! Steve and I don't have a microwave, but if you do own one, heating these dishes is even easier. 

The best news about Chef Leeloo is that now since he's the new KMIV sponsor, we'll be hearing about him regularly on the blog! All the more reason to celebrate this amazingly creative and talented chef.

Wanna learn more? Just visit www.chefleeloos.com. 

And definitely let us know on here if you give Chef Leeloo a try!

P.S. I want to wish everyone a warm and happy holiday and New Year! I'll be home on the East Coast for a while to celebrate, and then it's off to Italy for Steve and my honeymoon (a year in the making!). I may not be blogging until I get back in January, so a big internet hug and smooch from the KMIV family, and definitely stay tuned for some awesome posts to come in the new year, including more podcasts, our much anticipated road-trip blog, interviews, and more!

Remembering The Forgotten R: A Holiday Guest Post by Melissa Teske

Teske with husband Dustin (courtesy of GB&Y)

I have loved reading Melissa Teske's blog, Green Beans and Yam, since its inception back in April. Aside from being all about veganism, Melissa always writes her posts in a fun, informative way and treats her readers as friends. Best of all, Melissa always encourages treading as lightly on the Earth as possible, and I couldn't love her more for that. I'm stoked to get to share a little something from Melissa just in time for the holiday season. It just may change how you view gift giving this time of year. Enjoy!

After Christmas last year, my husband Dustin and I sat down and had a long talk about gift giving and decided that going forward we wanted to focus more on spending quality time with family on special days and less on gifts.  As we all get older, we just don't need all the clutter of this accumulated stuff and it really puts a lot of stress on our planet to keep buying things we don't need.  We can’t forget about our old friend Reduce, the forgotten “R” in the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle mantra.  

We let our families know about our plan and it went well all year.  We made an effort to share a meal or engage in an activity with the birthday guy or gal and now here we are back to Christmas again.

Now, we didn’t want to suck all the fun out of the day and be considered party poopers by our families, so we jumped at the idea my husband’s sister had.  She suggested we all pick names and then buy the person a gift keeping within three criteria: 1) it must be under $5, 2) it must be used, or 3) it must be made with recycled materials.  The gift she gave us last year, a gardening book she no longer used, would be a good example and was perfect as we were starting to plan our garden.  Playing a game like this can make the gift even more thoughtful rather than just buying something off a list someone provides you.  

Here are a few other ideas for Christmas or birthdays that I thought of to keep the spirit of gift giving alive while still being mindful of mother earth:

-         The tried and true white elephant game

-          Favorite recipe trade

-          Pick names instead of buying for each person in your family

-          Make a donation in someone’s name to a charity (like a farmed animal sanctuary!)

-          Make the person a meal or take them out to eat

-          Do an activity together the person enjoys (hiking, yoga class, etc)

Another Reduce idea is making reusable gift bags.  A friend gave me a bottle of wine in one of these bags last year, and another friend told me that her Grandma has been giving them gifts in the same reusable bags since she was a child.  What a great way to save all that wrapping paper from ending up in the landfill!  You could either ask for the bag back or, even better, let the person keep it and “pay it forward” on their next gift giving occasion.

Here are some pictures of the gift bags my mom and I made this weekend (if I’m being honest, I didn’t help that much – I told my mom I felt like I was running a sweatshop just standing around while she was bent over the sewing machine in concentration).  In case you’re wondering, this requires little in the way of sewing skills.  My mom is good at many things, but an expert sewer she is not.  We didn’t have a pattern and didn’t stress about them being exactly perfect, but they turned out really cute!  

If you have any additional ideas please leave Lindsay a comment and be sure to stop by our blog to say hello!

Thanks to Melissa for this post! To learn more about Melissa and her blog, visit www.GreenBeansandYam.com.

Interview Series #18: Nick Cooney

This is a very special interview, because the guy in the hot seat runs an organization that led me to the animal advocacy job I'm working on right now. 

The guy? Nick Cooney. The organization? The Humane League. The mission? To create a more compassionate world for animals through education, campaigns and rescue.

Nick is the founder and director of The Humane League, and I can tell you from personal experience, this man is one of the most hardworking animal advocates around. Nick believes that in order to create a better world for humans and animals, we need to be focused, determined, and persistent in our efforts, and his example has led me to be more active in my own work. Whether it's encouraging me to pick up a phone and call the powers that be to help initiate change or guiding me to visit college campuses and gain the support of young people, Nick is a testament to football legend Vince Lombardi's passionate words:

"I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious." 

Well, not only has Nick been victorious in helping save thousands of animals from abuse and cruelty, but he has continued to remain humble and eager for the next challenge. The perfect makeup for a successful activist, if you ask me!

I am darn near blissful to be able to share Nick's story with you, as well as what he is most recently up to: publishing an exciting new book called Change of Heart.  Change of Heart: What Psychology Can Teach Us About Spreading Social Change is a book that examines over eighty years of  research in areas including social psychology and communication studies and distills the highlights into easy-to-use advice, serving as a psychology primer for anyone wanting to spread progressive social change.  For animal activists, Change of Heart could change the face of how we advocate for animals entirely. For Nick Cooney, this is just one step in a long journey to help rid the world of animal cruelty and promote as much compassion as possible along the way. 

Kiss Me, I'm Vegan: What was the turning point in your life that led you to veganism? Was it one huge moment, or a collective group of small moments that changed you?

Nick: In a sense it was one moment - reading the book Animal Liberation by Peter Singer. But I don't think I would have been open to reading the book and absorbing its message if I hadn't spent the past couple years getting interested in and involved with other social causes like the anti-war movement and things like that. Unlike most vegans, I had no personal affinity for animals when I made the switch. I never had pets growing up, and at the time I went vegan had never lived with animals or spent much time around them. I went vegan because it was clear that it was the ethically right thing to do.

KMIV: What have been the greatest rewards of your vegan lifestyle? What have been the greatest challenges?

 
Nick: I think the best reward of becoming vegan has been my subsequent motivation to try to spread that message of compassion to animals to others. By being vegan I can make sure I'm not causing farm animals to suffer, but by going out and educating others I can spread that impact much much further. It's rewarding to be involved in a movement that is producing so much change and affecting the lives of so many animals. It's rewarding to feel like my life matters because by living it a certain way I can help many others.

Of course, that's where the greatest challenge comes in as well - the frustration of trying to get others to change. It's very hard to get past people's psychological barriers, and get them to adopt more compassionate behaviors. So that can make advocacy work frustrating at times - it can seem like a real struggle to achieve even modest gains.

 
KMIV: Tell me a little bit about Change of Heart. What inspired you to write it?

 
Nick: I've been very interested in psychology for years:  I'm just really curious about why people do the things they do and adopt the personalities and mannerisms that they have. And with my animal advocacy work, I'm always trying to figure out how we can do a better job of getting people to go vegan. Change Of Heart combines both of those themes and looks to answer one basic question: how can we get people to change their behavior?

We animal activists don't usually ask ourselves that question. We assume we know what messages and techniques will motivate people to go vegan ("10 billion animals killed each year!" "Their throats are cut while they're still conscious!" etc.), but most of our assumptions are wrong. Fortunately, there is 80 years of scientific research that's been done that can give us clear insight into what really does (and doesn't) persuade people to make a change. Change Of Heart distills that research down into practical advice and easy-to-use tips for activists of all stripes.

KMIV: You are the founder and director of The Humane League, an animal protection organization based in Philadelphia. How has working in animal advocacy affected your life, and what are your hopes for The Humane League in the future?

 
Nick: Working in animal advocacy has really shifted my sense of what I want to do and what I can do in the world. It's kind of bizarre that just by staying active and using effective methods of reaching out to the public, I and a couple friends and co-workers can make a huge difference for literally tens of thousands of animals every single year. Realizing that we all have this potential if we approach activism intelligently is very empowering and makes me optimistic, at least about the impact of my own life.

As for The Humane League, we have full offices now in Philadelphia and Boston, plus a campaigner in DC, and a veg outreach presence that's somewhat national in scope. Our plan for the next five years is to set up two or three more offices in major metropolitan areas that could benefit from our presence. We intend to become a multi-regional organization that is doing lots of effective veg outreach, factory farming campaigns, and humane education in a handful of major US cities.

KMIV: A lot of my readers are either activists or activists-in-the-making, which is why I love them! What are some of the best ways that future activists can become involved in the animal advocacy community?

 
Nick: I think the most important thing to do is be thoughtful about your activism. Think of your work the same way that a corporate CEO would think about their company: in terms of a bottom line. Our bottom line is reducing as much animal suffering as possible. Certain issues and methods will be drastically more effective than others. For example, rescuing individual animals is nice of course but you can only save a small number of animals. Spend one hour each week passing out leaflets from Vegan Outreach (or doing online veg outreach work at sites like www.take5save5.com , or leaving stacks of Vegetarian Starter Kits around your town), and you'll probably spare about 2,000 animals a year from a lifetime of pain and misery on factory farms.

Photo courtesy of The Humane League

So I encourage all you activists or future activists to do two things:

a) focus on farm animal issues, because that's where we can help the greatest number of animals, and

b) always be looking around at the things that other activists are doing; if any of those things seem to be helping more animals and producing more change then what you're currently working on, then do those instead! A great way to find out what other activists are doing is to subscribe to the free e-newsletters of groups like Vegan Outreach, Mercy For Animals, PETA, Compassion Over Killing, and the Animal Protection and Rescue League (or us at The Humane League of course)!

Oh and wait, let me add one more:

c) You should definitely read The Animal Activist's Handbook by Bruce Friedrich and Matt Ball. Don't wait another day to order it! (And my book, Change Of Heart, is useful too - if you can afford a second book, buy it!).

KMIV: As it says at the top of the blog, Kiss Me, I'm Vegan! is a blog "for the happy vegan in all of us.". What are the most positive aspects of the animal advocacy movement for you, and what do you feel are the biggest reason to smile when doing this work?

 

Nick Cooney

Nick: The situation for farmed animals may be the most disturbing, suffering-filled situation in the world today. It's too terrible for words. But the silver lining to this is the fact that because the situation is so bad, each one of us can - by being active for our cause in an intelligent way - do SO MUCH good. Each of us can help hundreds or thousands of animals every year, and it's not hard to do. Having that power to help so many others feels good to me. It's the feeling of living in a meaningful life, and feeling that your life matters.

That being said, I also think it's also important to get our happiness from things other than veganism:  music, sports, poetry, joking with friends, and being in nature are what make me smile. My motivation for being a vegan is because I want others to suffer less, not because I want to achieve happiness or inner peace for myself.

KMIV: Okay - here's a silly one! You're stuck on a deserted island with three vegan food items - what are they?

Nick: My answer is going to be a total letdown! I eat pretty simple food, and I eat the same things all the time, so if I'm going to be on that island for a long time I'm going to have to say lentils, rice and broccoli. But if you're talking a last meal situation, then I'd pick some better stuff: angel hair pasta, Boca spicy chickn patties, and Sharon's coconut sorbet. That'd be a nice way to go out!

Nick Cooney is the founder and director of The Humane League, an animal advocacy organization based in Philadelphia, PA that focuses on farm animal protection issues. Nick has written for publications including The Philadelphia Inquirer and Z Magazine, and his advocacy work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including Time magazine, the Wall Street Journal, and National Public Radio. He holds a degree in Non-Violence Studies from Hofstra University and formerly worked conducting nutrition education programs with the University of Pennsylvania's Urban Nutrition Initiative.

Many thanks to Nick for this interview. To learn more about Nick's new book, Change of Heart, please visit www.changeofheartbook.com.

The Tourist Trail

Below, enjoy a book review of The Tourist Trail by John Yunker, written by KMIV guest blogger-at-large Liz Longacre, founder of Your Time Travels, an animal-friendly travel company. The Tourist Trail is a literary thriller about endangered species in the world's most remote areas, and those who put their lives on the line to protect them. To learn more about the book and read an excerpt from it, visit: www.thetouristtrail.com.

“Fortitudine Vincimus - By endurance, we conquer.”  

- The Tourist Trail

John Yunker’s novel, The Tourist Trail, is an epic thriller about the often unnoticed heroes who devote their lives to protecting animals. The book’s vibrant multidimensional characters and seamless plot twists will keep you captivated from start to finish. You’ll want to soak this book up in just a few days. The Tourist Trail was inspired by the author, John Yunker’s, trip to the Patagonia region of Argentina, where he volunteered with The Penguin Project. The book is based on the award winning short-story he wrote after his volunteer work.  

The Tourist Trail chronicles the lives of various characters from extremely different walks of life whose worlds intertwine to reveal their shared destiny – to protect animals. Some of these characters live and breathe their passion for animals, allowing it to drive their every decision and relationship. They’d give their lives for their cause without asking for anything in return. Other characters find themselves drawn into to this world unexpectedly as the situations they’re faced with cause them to question their own sense of morality.

Angela Haynes, the biologist, spends a few months of each year living amongst the penguins during penguin breeding season on the beach at Punta Verde, Argentina. Her beloved colony continually declines in number as they now have to travel hundreds of miles out to sea to find food for their awaiting mates and chicks as a result of modern fishing practices that have wiped the nearby waters clean of any fish. On their journey many penguins get caught in enormous fishing lines and remain the under-reported bycatch of the fishing industry. Angela’s particular love and devotion to an endearing missing penguin named Diesel pulls at your heart strings and represents the danger in getting so close to an animal whose species is subject to such peril.  

Angela is so devoted to her penguin colony and tracking their numbers that she finds little time or interest in human relationships. This devotion leads to a relatively isolated life until one day a mysterious man floats up on her shore. Luckily for him, Angela has “a soft spot for strays” but what she didn’t know was how her structured world of tagging and tracking penguins day in and day out was about to change.  

Robert is an undercover agent with a troubled history that plagues his dreams and his own sense of self-identity. His mission is to capture Aeneas, the burly captain of the anti-whaling ship, The Arctic Tern, who constantly outsmarts and evades him. Aeneas lives to wage war on fishing vessels and the unpaid volunteers on his ship would follow him to the grave and back if it meant animals would be saved in the process. The author’s descriptive accounts of the battles at sea will leave you feeling like you too are on the front lines right alongside Aeneas – Whale Wars fans, this book is for you! Aeneas’s unflagging passion seems to sustain him while he lives on a diet of whiskey and Blow Pops and proves he wouldn’t even eat a piece of meat if he were starving. His driving sense of purpose is fueled by our world’s run amok fishing practices. As Aeneas so eloquently puts it:  

“Fisherman don’t fish anymore. They slaughter, obliterate, expunge. They use vacuums, for fuck’s sake. That’s not fishing. That’s extermination.”

Underlying messages throughout The Tourist Trail reveal ironies that mimic our world’s often misplaced values. Aeneas is labeled as a “terrorist” and is pursued by FBI agents as such while poachers kill whales in protected waters right in front of authorities with no fear of repercussion. Angela expresses her detest for superficial tourists who visit the penguin colony just to take photos but not learn anything real about their plight; yet it’s this very mass tourism that keeps these breeding colonies protected while out in the ocean “fishermen kill a thousand penguins a month, and nobody hears a word.” You’re also constantly reminded of our world’s ever present paradox whereby most people would never directly participate in animal suffering yet our everyday choices are what drive the abundant out-of-sight out-of-mind atrocities committed upon them. 

“Animals take only what they need to live, and sometimes less. Humans have buffet lines.”

It’s this very paradox that drives even the most unlikely characters in the book to risk their lives to protect animals. Robert, the agent hired to take down Aeneas the “terrorist”, often found himself conflicted with his job and the alluring identity of those fighting so passionately for a cause, a cause that he himself seemed to become more and more drawn to. Throughout the book he can never escape the nagging feeling that he was on the wrong side of the law. After watching Japanese whalers brutally harpoon a mother whale and string its withering body up against the side of the ship while its hovering baby unknowingly awaited its own death at Japanese hands, Robert makes an unlikely move he’ll soon come to regret.  

And then there’s Ethan Downes, a computer tech who falls madly in love with an unlikely match, a passionate animal activist. Ethan’s path throughout the book starts as an introverted, don’t break the rules, living within the box kind of a guy who “lived his life with the comfort of a nearby undo button” and had no interest in animal rights. Through a series of unlikely events he later finds that his destined path is to take down a Japanese whaling vessel in an extremely dangerous mission.    

Author John Yunker

Animal rights activists are often portrayed by our world as a subset of extremists yet watching these characters develop in such unexpected ways demonstrates the reality that most people, even those without a passion for animals, would fight like hell to protect them if confronted face to face with the brutal atrocities men inflict on them. If only people could foresee their own sense of morality when things are kept at a distance perhaps everyone would be an animal rights activist. 

The Tourist Trail is an exciting saga full of plot twists, romance and non-stop danger. As the book progresses, the lives of the characters begin to intertwine and the emotional twists and turns become just as enveloping for the reader as the dangerous battles at sea. The book’s drama at sea and on land could capture the attention of any audience, not just animal lovers; although you may become one, or at least understand one better, after you read this book. If you are passionate about animal welfare, this story will speak to your own inner warrior and strengthen your sense of pride in being part of a movement so grounded in basic humane morality. No matter what your stance is on animal welfare, you’ll be left with a greater appreciation for the war we should all be fighting – defending Mother Nature against the greed that is destroying her.

To learn more about the book and read an excerpt from it, visit: www.thetouristtrail.com.

Liz Longacre is the founder of Your Time Travels, a travel company for animal lovers. Liz has been a lover of all creatures large and small for as long as she can remember. Her company provides animal friendly travel adventures that give back to animals and celebrate them. Whether you want to volunteer abroad with animal welfare projects (while mixing in some exciting sightseeing/adventure activities and fabulous hotel stays!), observe animals in their natural habitats through safari adventures, enjoy amazing vegetarian/vegan resorts, visit a farm sanctuary or travel with your own adorable pets, her company can get you there! You can keep up with Liz and all her furry crusades at her blog: www.yourtimetravels.com/blog  or through her facebook page.

On Gratitude.

This year, I'm thankful for Honkey Tonk the donkey.

Gratitude. That feeling you get inside that swells and swells until you can't help but smile. The deep breath you take in as you realize everything really is going to be okay. The long, loving hug you give to that special person who was there just when you needed them to be.

For me, the holidays are all about gratitude - it's that time of year when we reflect on what went right this year, what we can work on for next year, and what makes being alive such a gift. The love and company of family, delicious food, holiday music, and our yearly traditions are what I look forward to each year - and even though some traditions have adapted to my vegan lifestyle, they are every bit as sacred and loved as they were before going vegan. Maybe even more so now. 

Below, you'll find a few things on the subject of gratitude. First, a short list of what I'm thankful for this year. Second, two very heartwarming reasons to smile: our giveaway winners share why they are thankful this year and some of the delicious food they made for their families at Thanksgiving. Finally, a beautiful story my friend on the east coast sent me about her travels to Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary.

So, grab something warm to drink, snuggle up at the computer, and read on...  

Today, I, Lindsay the vegan blogger, am grateful for: 

The time I get to spend with my family this holiday season. And speaking of family, my family.

A hot mug of Teechino with soymilk sitting next to me right now.

Wonderful friends who do wonderfully kind things - namely, Joanna Wilson and blogger Brian Leahy of Joanna Wilson Photography for capturing Steve and my recent vow renewal at Animal Acres:

Steve & Lindsay Vow Renewal from Joanna Wilson Photography on Vimeo.

Despite only being here for three short months, knowing that Los Angeles has become our home. 

Feeling at home mostly because I share my west coast dwelling with the love of my life and best friend. That certainly helps. 

Four beautiful rescue kitties who are safe, healthy, and happy with us.

This delicious five-ingredient pumpkin pie cheesecake recipe I made on Thanksgiving from Healthy Happy Life.

Animal Acres. 

The basics - a roof over my head, vegan food in my tummy, clothing to keep me warm, clean water, and people who love me and who I love right back. 

Getting to spend every day helping make the world a better place for animals.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - living vegan. Best gift ever. 

And finally:

YOU. Yes, YOU! You, my readers, make posting on here each week a true delight. Thank you so much for that. 

Here is what Melissa, our first winner, had to say about what's she's thankful for this year: 

Thanksgiving is one special time of year for most of us. 

We are often so busy running around and preparing that we often forget about the spirit of thanksgiving. Coming from a native background I tend to step back and see what this time of year is really about from a spiritual perspective. The fall harvest celebrations are all about thanking mother nature for the goodness she has provided us. The wealth of produce we have procured from the plants that would not grow if we did not appreciate the land. Being vegan was a personal choice for me. It was partially due to an intolerance to dairy and eggs but it became an easy lifestyle for me to pick up. I often feel that veganism is an easy way to pay respects to my fellow animal friends and mother nature. Though some may not enjoy the thought of giving up animal flesh in their diets,  I have found it easier to transition knowing that I am living in a free country with plenty of wealth which, makes doing my part not really a chore. We get to choose what we eat and how we want to eat it. Others are not as lucky as us in this choice. The important thing is that I am thankful for the respect that is given to food choices in our neck of the woods. Thanks to all of those who are living a respectful lifestyle. 

Mel's Marvelous Spicy Tomato Soup

 serves 4 or more 

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion (maybe two, if you like onion)

 2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 carrot, peeled, and chopped

3 cups vegetable broth

1 tbsp tomato paste

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

2 large tomatoes, chopped (or cubed)

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1 cup fresh basil, chopped (or in this case 2 tbsp dry basil)

1. Warm oil in a pan or in your stock pot. Then add onion, garlic, and carrots. Cook for 5 min, on medium-high heat until carrot is soft and onions are translucent.

2. Add vegetable broth, tomato paste, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Then add tomatoes and cook on medium heat for 15-20 minutes.

3. Just before the soup is done add the basil ( approximately 2-5 minutes before done). Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. Voila! You have some great tasting tomato soup. Place in bowls and add the garnish. 

Garnish with 1 tbsp of plain soy yogurt and a sprinkle of fresh sprouts.

This soup is great as a gazpacho in the summer. 

And here's how blog reader and giveaway winner Jacquelynn responded to the question: what are you grateful for this year?

This year I am thankful for a full year of veganism allowing me to not take any medications that I use to have to take for my Crohn's/Colitis problems.  Doctors used to tell me to eat meat and avoid veggies and nuts in order to avoid flare-ups. Funny how I never felt like I was getting better, just getting by.  After reading and researching about plant-based diet healing powers, I adopted a vegan diet.  Long story short, I have never been healthier or felt better.  I haven't had a cold or flu in two years, and I haven't dealt with any signs of Crohn's/Colitis either.  I went from taking up to 16 pills a day (the maximum I ever had to take to maintain the disease) to ZERO.  So. Very. Thankful.

Jacquelynn's Creamy, Dreamy, and Kind Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese Casserole

Disclaimer: I don't cook by exact measurements, so this is the closest to exact I can remember. Add more or less of the ingredients to make it your own favorite comfort food. I am also in a high altitude, so cooking time may differ. I promise, you won't be disappointed!

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large  onion, diced (I used a sweet onion)

1 butternut squash (about 2 pounds), peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces (most stores have pre-cut/cubed squash this time of year... makes it much easier)

 14 oz. un-sweetened (not low-fat) soy milk  

Salt and pepper to taste  

1.5 tablespoons chopped sage  

3 tablespoons  nutritional yeast

4 cups (approximately) macaroni... I used around 2 cups quinoa elbow macaroni and 2 cups whole grain spirals (I didn't measure exactly, so this can be increased or decreased to your liking).  I liked the texture with the two different types.  

½ cup chopped toasted walnuts 

½ cup bread crumbs (I made my own out of Ezekiel bread, but I'd like to try it again with panko).  Add more or less to get a consistency that you like.

*for the Ezekiel bread crumbs, I coated 4 pieces of the bread with soy-free Earth Balance buttery spread and baked in the oven until toasted.  I then broke the pieces up into bits to use.

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly oil a casserole dish; set aside.

2. Heat oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring often, until softened, 5 to 7 minutes.  Add squash, soy milk, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Add nutritional yeast to the soymilk/onion/butternut liquid. Cover, reduce heat to medium low and simmer until squash is tender, about 20 minutes. Stir in sage and simmer 1 minute more. (This part can be made ahead, up to 1 day in advance, but it works just as good the same day. I'm impatient when I want my comfort food)!

3. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add macaroni and cook until tender but still firm, about 8 minutes. Rinse in cold water, drain well and transfer to a large bowl. Transfer squash mixture to bowl with macaroni. Add walnuts, salt and pepper and toss to combine. Transfer to prepared dish and top with bread crumbs. Bake until just golden brown and hot throughout, about 30 minutes. 

4. With 5 or 10 minutes to go, I added whole sage leaves on top to garnish - a personal preference. Paprika might be a nice garnish too.

Photo courtesy of the lovely Trista Norton.

And finally, here's what Trista, a friend of mine from the east coast, had to say about her first time volunteering at Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary:

The most amazing thing happened to me right before I left today, and I wanted to share it with you.

When I was getting ready to leave, one of the ladies suggested that I spend some time in the goat/sheep barn before I headed off, so I did. I walked in the barn and went over to the goats and started lovin' on 'em, when all of a sudden, I started to cry. At that moment, Jacob the goat came over to me and "hugged" me, and I started to cry even more. I tried holding back my tears because I didn't want anyone to see me crying (heaven forbid HAHA), but I couldn't. The barn was so quiet, still and peaceful with only the occasional bleeting/baahing from the guys, and I was so overwhelmed I cannot even express it into words. Long story short, I got to my car and cried all the way to the Thruway. The energy, peace and love of those goats and sheep opened up certain emotions that I had sealed up and tried to forget about/not deal with, and I felt so free and blessed. And I knew the goats knew it as they watched me drive away.
 

What are YOU grateful for this year?

Best Of Vegan NYC: The Ultimate Eats Survey!

Below, enjoy a jam-packed guest blog by Steve that is delicious enough to make you want to eat your computer (if your computer was vegan) ...

Well, we are officially at the time of year where we do a lot of celebrating.  While celebrations have different purposes, they always have one thing in common: food.  And usually lots of food.  And hopefully lots of good food.  Our stomachs just said hello and goodbye to Halloween and Thanksgiving; Hanukkah (starts today!), Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year's Eve (and New Year's Day) are coming up, so our palates and stomachs have a lot to look forward to.  

Photo courtesy of Lula's Sweet Apothecary.

Soooo, while we're on the topic of celebrations and food, Lindsay and I would love to share with you an ongoing list of our favorite eats.  As many of you know (and for those who don't, you learn something new every day!), we lived in NYC for 8 years (on and off for the first couple, bouncing from our dormrooms to our homes during the summer).  However, we were not vegan back in those days, so our restaurant choices were vastly different than some of the amazing places we're about to mention.  Our good friend, Emerie Snyder, introduced me to my very first vegan eats experience: Atlas Cafe, and their amazing Vegan Treats cakes.  Eating as an omnivore at the time, I raved to everyone about this amazing cake that didn't have any dairy or eggs in it.  "WHAT?!" was the response I'd get back, "How do you make a cake without dairy or eggs?" But, ah-ha!, a little digging into the subject and I discovered you can make delicious cakes, entrees, and other foods without animal products of any sort.  And thus began the journey, stagnant for still a few years, but fully initiating last year into a full-fledged vegan dining extravaganza.

Photo courtesy of Candle 79.

Below, Lindsay and I will share our favorite eats from our beloved NYC.  But that's not all.  I've also surveyed 16 vegan eats experts from NYC who have shared their: Top 5 Restaurants, Top 5 Dishes, Top 3 Dessert Places, Favorite Grocery/Market, and Favorite Non-Food Shopping Locale (can't eat this one, but it's still vegan!).   With our picks plus theirs, we will have determined the ULTIMATE NYC VEGAN EATS list!  Which restaurant is #1?  Is it responsible for the best dish in the city?  And where can we get the most scrumptious dessert??!?!  Get your taste buds ready for action, and enjoy the list below!

Lindsay's Favorites:

Restaurant: Blossom, Candle 79, Foodswings, Dao Palate, Pala, Peacefood Cafe

Dish: Seitan Piccata (Candle 79), General Tso's Soy Protein (Dao Palate), Drumstix Combo Plate w/Mac 'N Cheese (Foodswings), Funghi E Salsiccia Pizza (Pala), Fettucini Alfredo (Cafe Blossom), Tempeh Reuben (Sacred Chow)

Dessert: Lula's Sweet Apothecary, Atlas Cafe, Pure Food and Wine

Grocery/Market: Whole Foods (Union Square, most frequented), Back to the Land (Park Slope, BK)

Non-Food: Payless Shoes (inexpensive, stylish vegan-friendly shoes!)

Steve's Favorites:

Restaurant: Foodswings, Blossom, The V-Spot, Dao Palate, Caravan of Dreams, Pala

Dish: Chicken Parm Hero (V-Spot), Seitan Piccata (Candle 79), Pad See Ew (Dao Palate), Drumstix Combo Plate w/Mozzarella Stix (Foodswings), Feijoadinha w/Smokey Tempeh (Blossom),  Chickpea "Tuna" Melt (Terri)

Dessert: Lula's Sweet Apothecary, Atlas Cafe, Peacefood Cafe

Grocery/Market: Whole Foods, Back to the Land

Non-Food: Evolve Accessories (not much of a shopper, so a big shout-out to Kate Wolff and her beautiful jewelry! North Jersey... New York City... what's the difference! We still love her. Lindsay sports one of her necklaces now....)

And now the expert group's ultimate consensus.......

Photo courtesy of Sacred Chow.

Best Restaurant

3rd Place: Caravan of Dreams, 'SNice (West Village, SoHo, Park Slope), & Foodswings

2nd Place: Blossom, Cafe Blossom, & Peacefood Cafe

1st Place: Sacred Chow & Candle 79

Best Dish

3rd Place: Drumstix Combo Plate w/Mac 'N Cheese, Mozzarella Stix, and a Shake (Foodswings)

2nd Place: Vegan Panini, and other sandwiches ('SNice); Dijon Marinated Raw Kale, and other sandwiches/yummy items (Sacred Chow)

1st Place: Seitan Piccata (Candle 79)

Best Dessert

3rd Place: Cocoa V

2nd Place: Atlas Cafe

1st Place: Lula's Sweet Apothecary

Best Grocery/Market

3rd Place: Fairway & Trader Joe's (multiple locations)

2nd Place: Union Square Farmer's [Green]Market

1st Place: Whole Foods (multiple locations)

Best Non-Food Shopping Locale

2nd Place: Sustainable NYC

1st Place: MooShoes

Now while this is a comprehensive list of the most amazing restaurants, delicious food, and fun vegan-friendly places to shop, there are many, many, many, many (many?), many more places in NYC.  You can ask Lindsay, myself, and our other experts - choosing our top lists was not an easy task.  So I want to give credit to all of the (many?) many places that didn't quite make the cut, but found a place in our hearts....and stomachs:

Lan Cafe, Vegetarian Dim Sum House, Pure Food & Wine, Candle Cafe, Organic Grill, Wild Ginger, Angelica Kitchen, Counter, Red Bamboo, Soy and Sake, Quantum Leap, Raw Soul, Four Course Vegan (BK), Sun-In-Bloom (BK), Land, Health Nut, Uptown Juice Bar, Curly's Vegetarian Lunch, Pukk, Viva Herbal Pizzeria, JivaMuktea, Babycakes, Stogo, Champs Family Bakery (BK), Kyotofu, One Lucky Duck, Sweet Cheeks Vegan Bakery, Lifethyme Market, Commodities Natural Market, Westerly Natural Market, Perelandra Natural Food Center (BK), Queens Health Emporium (Queens), Park Natural Foods (BK), Fresh Start Organic Market (Queens), Angels and Kings Bar, Vaute Couture, Kaight, Pine Box Rocks Shop Bar (BK), Bluestocking Bookstore

(Due to the multitude of vegan locales, I've only included the links for our top faves - please check out the others on this massive list of goodness though!

A Note: while most restaurants are vegan, a few are not entirely vegan, but vegan-friendly nonetheless.)

A incredibly big thank you to my NYC vegan eats experts: Jasmin Singer (of Our Hen House),  Liubov Grechen (of Sweet Cheeks Vegan Bakery), Matt Rice (of Mercy for Animals), Marisa Miller Wolfson (of Vegan At Heart), Kate Wolff (of Evolve Accessories), Calla Wright (of Farm Sanctuary), Molly Glenn (of The Vegan Everything), Michael Parrish DuDell (of VegDaily), and fellow activists Susan Vancil, Emerie Snyder, Robyn Lazara, Ariela Rubin, David Benzaquen, Rachel Kay-Platoni, Trista Norton, and Dan Truax.

If you live in NYC, are visiting NYC, or just passing through NYC, stop by one (or more) of these amazing eateries for some delectable vegan yums!

(Coming later in 2011: Lindsay and Steve's Top LA Vegan Eats!  Leave some room for more food!)