Experimenting

I have been experimenting with some Vegan products over the past few weeks and I have some evaluations for those who are interested in trying vegan alternatives to animal based products. Remember, healthy habits = healthy lifestyles.

• Forgot the brand but Organic rice crust, soy cheese pizza - yuk! gummy crust and rubbery cheese. Just say NO! Stay away from the rice crust pizza. It was not good at all.
• Purely Decadent vegan ice cream - the chocolate obsession was really good. It's dairy free. It has the consistency of ice milk and is very chocolaty.
• Rice Dream chocolate milk - very good, tastes like a yoo-hoo however, there is a starchy aftertaste that I did not like.
• Rice Dream plain milk - good in cereal, I have not tried it alone.
• Boca Flame Grilled (not regular Boca burger) - very good
• Morning Star Farms -Good Stuff! - vegan hotdogs, vegan corn dogs, corn dog minis, egg substitute, the vegan crumbles (the Italian sausage - pass).
• Morning Star Farms - Veggie patties - not so great but their black bean patties are good, the vegan patties are passable but not as good as the Boca flame grilled.
• Amy's Mac & Soy cheese - needs a little salt and pepper but good
• Endangered Species Organic chocolate both mint and dark
• Newman's Own Organic Sweet Dark Chocolate Bar
• Newman Os chocolate sandwich cookies can rival Oreos
• Newman's Organic Fig Newman's (low fat) are very good
• Equal Exchange Organic Mint Chocolate Bar, Very Dark Chocolate, and Dark Chocolate with Almonds
• Veggie Slices (American flavor) - pass!, the after taste is not great
• Amy's Organic Flour and Soy Cheese Pizza - pretty good

Is free range really free?

Apparently not...
http://www.cok.net/lit/freerange.php

Yummy Vegan Rice Krispie Treats

This is really good.  They don't stay together quite as good as regular rice krispie treats but they taste exactly the same as I remember.  My sister tasted the mellow cream when she came by and said it tastes just like softened marshmallow.  It is delicious and would be great dropped in the top of hot chocolate or spread on the top of sweat potato casserole at Christmas.

 

1 tub Ricemellow Cream

6 cups Rice Krispies

2 tablespoons Earth Balance Buttery Sticks (vegetable spread)

 

Melt the "butter" and add the ricemellow on LOW heat.  Keep the heat low as you don't want to scald anything.  Once nice and melty add in the rice krispies. You may want to half this and make in two batches to reduce the mess.  Spread in a pan, cool and ENJOY. You might be able to use less of the spread to get a treat that stays more firm.  Either way, these are fantastic

organic vegan chocolate chip cookies

Maybe it's just me and I can't cookies anymore. I used to be able to make cookies but in the past few years my attempts to make cookies have not ended so well. I think it could be a combination of cheap bakeware and cheap ovens but it also could be me. I made some organic vegetarian chocolate chip cookies from a mix tonight and the batter was good. Whole wheat and soy, no eggs or dairy.  It was a little on the dry side and required hand kneading to stay together.  The taste was good and even fresh out of the oven they were OK.  They didn't spread, stayed small and round.  I let them cool for a bit and when I went back to put them up.  WOW, they got HARD. I could chuck them at you and knock you unconscious.  Little chocolate chip rocks.  Better luck next time.  I'll keep trying.  Maybe I'll buy that book "Vegan cupcakes take over the world"

Going Vegan

Over the years I have traveled back and forth between vegetarian, pseudo vegetarian and back again. One consistency has been the dislike of red meat. I have never liked red meat and can always remember wanting to skip steak if it were offered. In college I gave up meat to cycle back to including eggs, chicken and fish in my diet. Mainly because of laziness and lack of choices. Consuming animal products is easy but thankfully making animal free choices is becoming easier every day. My most recent dietary changes have excluded all meat and dairy products in addition to making organic choices. I made the choice to try and buy organic when possible because I believe that many of our products contain more chemicals and pesticides than is necessary and I think it affects our health as a nation.

Excluding dairy has been the most difficult choice of all because lets face it, I'm lazy like everyone else and would love an easy solution. As I read labels... dried milk, milkfat and all kinds of dried cheeses are included in a wide variety of foods along with whey, casein, caseinates, lactalbumin and lactose. I am not worried about getting enough calcium in my diet without including dairy. I do not believe dairy is the end all be all of calcium nutrition. I found this very nice article online regarding excluding dairy: http://earthsave.org/news/whatdary.htm as well as in the book Going Vegan and a few other sources. The dairy industry has their own marketing campaign including advice to adults and teens who are lactose intolerant to keep trying, eventually your body will give up and accept it. It just might but that doesn't mean that it is the best choice. The majority of adults are lactose intolerant so we take pills to eat more of what our bodies tell is not to consume. Not to mention the cruelty involved in factory farming and the dairy industry but I'll let you research that for yourself. There are hormones, antibiotics and steroids added to feeds and injected into the animals to encourage over production. These bleed over into what we consume and I don't think it's healthy. Since having excluded all dairy from my diet, I feel better overall. Dairy products in general cause more mucus development which can in turn exacerbate allergies and sinus problems and I have noticed a difference in myself even at the height of the fall allergy season. Of course, I've also cut out a few other things like soda and caffeine, except for what's in the occasional green tea.

I haven't entirely excluded the idea of returning to minimal organic cheese once in a while or adding in the occasional organic cage free egg as needed to my diet. I will never drink milk again or cook with milk or eat ice cream, there are too many healthier choices that I can substitute. My reasons for trying veganism are varied. I believe we are over consumers of protein and animal products as a society and our fixation on meat based diets is unhealthy. I believe that factory farming is extremely cruel. I believe that factory farming includes far too many chemicals, antibiotics and steroids in their feeds and healthcare. And finally, I believe there is a healthier way to eat and take care of oneself.

Anti Dogfighting

One of my interests has always been animals.  When I was a child, I always wanted a dog, a cat, a gerbil anything I couldn't have.  We did have a dog when I was very young and again when I was in highschool.  We almost had a dog in-between when my brother and I brought home an injured dog and wanted to keep it.  Of course we couldn't and off it went to either the animal shelter or the SPCA.  I wonder sometimes what happened to "Butch" that shepherd mix. I hope he was adopted but I'll never know. Now as an adult, I know the odds were stacked against him finding a home.  He was a large black and tan dog with a bum back leg and a mature adult.  I wonder if those events - not having a pet, loving animals and having to take a stray to the shelter is what helped form my devotion towards rescue. 

 

I have become part of the Virginia Anti Dogfighting Coalition and through rescue associations, our group has become involved with multiple other groups working on new animal fighting legislation.  We have been working hard in the past few weeks to produce viable drafts to present to the legislature this session.  Working with other VA groups as well as the HSUS has been a very rewarding experience. I hope that we can make a difference in VA for the dogs.

My two cents on Ellen

I refuse to clogg up any more email inboxes with continued discussion regarding this disaster of a situation so I'm going to post it here if anyone cares to know what I think. Mistakes were made on all sides of this issue from all aspects and not the least of which are the continued mistakes made by both parties, now the media and everybody in the entire world who has an opinion.

This is an issue that *should* have been resolved quietly between Ellen/her partner and the organization. This was a private matter and Ellen abusing her power as a celebrity has done nothing but continue the downward slide of this tragic event.

Rules are rules as far as dog placement is concerned and there was a signed contract between the rescue organization and Ellen's partner that was breached. This may be a case where not enough education was provided regarding the stipulations in the contract. When our organization rehomes a dog we make it absolutely clear that while ownership is transferred to the individual and it becomes their dog, we require them to return the dog to our organization prior to giving it to someone else. With adequate education, this situation may have been averted but it may not have been and there may have been education about the contract. We can all sit back in our arm chairs and say that Ellen and her partner are not good pet owners, not only because they violated their adoption contract but they have a habit of acquiring and rehoming dogs they either adopt or purchase. Ellen and her partner have had at least 9 puppies over the past several years, none of whom appear to be living with them now and had previously returned a dog to this rescue prior to getting Iggy. We can all agree that Ellen appears to feel very badly about this issue from her tearful pleas on the television - which I personally feel is an abuse of her power and may not have been an attempt to bully the rescue but it appears that way. Regardless it has resulted in death threats to the organization as well as its founders. I am not saying that Ellen is not a dog lover but perhaps not a committed dog lover.

We can also pass judgement on the rescue which clearly adopted out a dog that had not been fully vetted (or even neutered!) or evaluated to see if it would get along with cats. Who knows if this situation could have been avoided if they had tried to assess the dog's personality and temperament. Or if they had done a hands on introduction to the cats in the home at the time of adoption and continued to troubleshoot with Ellen regarding the cat issue - maybe they did and it originally went well. We can say that no rescue should ever adopt out a dog that hasn't been altered - it's the only way to curb pet overpopulation. We might say that the adoption contract was a little weird that the adopters never gain ownership?

The rescue may have been able to act more diplomatic and had a discussion with Ellen and her hairdresser but they didn't have to be. The contract was violated. Adoption contracts are written with the best interest of the animal in mind and I think that's what everyone is forgetting. Those clauses are in there so that the rescue gets the dog back and it isn't given to just anyone. Which is not the case here but it could have been and if you start making exceptions for one person, you need to make them for all persons.

The ideal situation would have been for Ellen and her partner to have read the contract, have contacted the rescue for additional help the minute things weren't working out between the cats - before she spent all of the money on the trainer and certainly before she gave the dog away. She should have established with the rescue that she was having problems and they could have discussed what was in the best interest of the dog and at that time, Ellen could have recommended her hairdresser and perhaps they could have discussed the adoption policies and worked around the "no small dogs to homes with kids under 14yrs rule.

This situation was tragic on all levels and the blame lies with how it was handled all the way around.