Favorite Vegan Resources (for non-vegans too!)

Lately, I've been looking for some new cooking challenges. I feel like I've cooked a chicken every way possible, and because I don't eat mammals, this cuts back on my potential cooking explorations. There are only so many things you can put an egg on before you've exhausted the list.

I've also cut way back on dairy products. Aside from the splash of milk in my morning coffee, I'm eating dairy only once or twice a week.

Which brings me to vegan cooking.

Eww, you might be thinking. Isn't that a bunch of twigs and leaves in a bowl?

Luckily, vegan cooking has come a long way. Even better, there are now lots of resources for vegan recipes that are also made from whole foods. I don't know about you, but a lot of vegans I've known have eaten as much processed crap as carnivores. As whole foods become more popular and readily available, vegan recipes are popping up more often to use them (and it's easier to find recipes without soy products, which I try to avoid because a) gross; and b) there are questions about how healthy they are for women).

(And I don't have to tell you that diets high in plant foods are way better for the Earth. Activism on a plate).

Recently, about 2/3 of my diet has been vegan. This means new techniques to learn and new cooking questions to answer, such as: how do you make foods full of vegetables not turn out mushy? And: how many ways can you actually use a cashew to mimic a dairy product?

Along the way, I've found some favorite resources that anyone, even carnivores, can enjoy:

Oh She Glows (cookbook and blog)

My mom bought me the cookbook for my birthday, and when she handed it to me, she said, "I don't mean you have to become one." Vegan, she meant. She just thought that the recipes here looked healthy and delicious. And boy, was she right. Every single recipe I've tried has been great - easy, interesting, and filled with wholesome things. Many of the recipes are gluten-free as well as vegan, meaning that they have all kinds of fun alternative grains. I've cooked fewer things from the blog than the cookbook, but author Angela Liddon has filled it with variations on some of her popular recipes, including lots of yummy-looking desserts.

Smitten Kitchen (cookbook and blog)

This is not a vegan or even vegetarian site, but author Deb Perelman was once a vegetarian and she continues to elevate humble vegetables into delicious and creative meals and sides - her website has both vegan and vegetarian categories in the index. Simply the recipe for slow cooker black bean ragout would make it one of the most highly used resources in my kitchen. (The recipe is from the cookbook and you can also find it here). I make the black bean ragout every few weeks, doling it out into zip-locs and freezing portions for use in any recipe that calls for black beans. Canned black beans seem positively blah in comparison.

Pinterest

Pinterest is a home cook's best friend. Not only can I peruse the recipes for hours on end, but it allows me to keep my recipes organized. Every week when I make my weekly meal plan, I get out my favorite cookbooks and my Kindle with Pinterest open on it -- I often find that I'll plan a whole week of meals just from Pinterest. It makes it easy to find recipes for any kind of special diet, and it can lead you to great blogs that you never would have discovered otherwise. (My veggie/vegan board is here).

The Post-Punk Kitchen (blog, and author Isa Chandra Moskowitz has also written some cookbooks and made videos and done all kinds of fun stuff).

Have you ever had a cookbook where everything you make from it is always a success? That's how I feel about the recipes I've made from the Post-Punk Kitchen. Ancho lentil tacos (see here)? The bomb. Brussels sprouts fried rice? To die for. Red lentil Thai chili? So warm and delicious. I admit, I haven't gotten as deep into the playlist on this site because I keep coming back to these awesome favorites. Isa loves to play with interesting flavors and the spices, and lots of her recipes are beloved by non-vegetarians as well. I'm pretty excited to try the stout shepherd's pie with a potato biscuit topping...

These are the resources that have gotten me started in this new cooking adventure. Any others I should know about?

Internet Round-up

Hello!

I'm in the throes of either a burgeoning sinus infection or an allergy event, but whatever ... it's resulted in me spending most of Saturday on my couch. And couch means lots of internet time.

What has struck my fancy on the internet?

Fab!
Like most folks, I get daily coupon and sales emails from a variety of sites. But the only one that I always open? My daily update from Fab.com. Fab is a sales site like MyHabit or Plum District, but it's the site for design-minded folk. Every day, I feel inspired by the creations that are presented on Fab.com.  However, I am REALLY good at not buying stuff. After all, consumption makes Mama Earth sad.

I've been needing some new reusable shopping bags, however, so I was super psyched to see that the makers of my favorite reusable bags, Envirosax,  was having a Fab.com sale. I bought two bags from the Nomad collection.  I can't wait for that gorgeous bag to arrive!

Envirosax bags are awesome! They roll up into a cylinder that fits in your purse, and they are durable and washable. The bags hold up to 40 pounds. I have several, and I absolutely love them. Plus, they have tons of great prints.

Roots
I'm loving the blog Back to Her Roots. It's full of the things I love: recipes for clean eating, generosity of spirit, and a concern with health and happiness.

Great Job!
If you're a busy person, the AVClub feature Great Job, Internet! is your one-stop shop for all that's awesome and weird on the internet. If you don't have time to troll YouTube or Facebook for things that are funny, you can just leave that to people who get paid (I hope!) to do that for you.

My recent favorite? This mash-up of Lana del Rey's "Video Games" and the Hunger Games:

Little Talks
One thing I love about the internet era is that music videos have made a comeback (since MTV doesn't show them any more). This video for the song "Little Talks" by Of Monsters and Men, is just beautiful and basically contains most of my aesthetic loves: owls, monsters, fairy tales, and steampunk-circus imagery. I recommend watching it in full screen for maximum awesome.

Interweb Round-up: Menagerie Edition!

RHINOS!

This photo* is of a black rhino in South Africa being airlifted to a poacher-free life. There are only 5,000 black rhinos left in Africa, and poachers kill them because their horns are ground into a powder and sold as possessing healing powers.

Apparently, this is the safest and easiest way for rhinos to travel! It's estimated that up to 400 rhinos will be killed this year, but the South African government has managed to fly 120 to safety. Slow but steady progress is being made.

OWLS!

I love owls, as you might know.

That's why I love the FREE MAKE MY OWN OWL CALENDAR!!! It's over at My Owl Barn, a blog that I love because it is all about owls.

The calendar is customizable, downloadable, and filled with beautiful artwork of -- yes, owls.

I've already printed mine, and I'm hoping to put it together over the Thanksgiving holiday. When I do, I'll of course post some pics of how I decided to make it. Just click the picture to get your own!

CATS!

This is my cat, Wily, and this is what he looks like when I'm packing my suitcase.

He doesn't like me to leave, so I'm happy to be staying home for a few weeks. I'm also happy because it will allow me to complete some home organizing, which I will tell you about soon.

As I've organized, I've learned some things about what you can recycle and what you can't.

TURKEYS!

Thanksgiving is right around the corner for us Americans (holla! to my Canadians and friends around the globe!). It's a little weird that we celebrate our gratefulness with a whole bunch of consuming. And of course there's that really weird "holiday" called Black Friday (which you can protest by taking part in Buy Nothing Day).

But if you want a little greener Thanksgiving, here are a couple of articles on cutting down the excess:
NPR reminds us that we should eschew the paper plates, among other tips. Eco-fabulous has some ideas on greening your meal, as well as some ideas for gifts for your eco-fantastic host or hostess.

*Photo courtesy of Zoe.

Odds and Ends

Howdy-do! Just a few odds & ends and random musings for you:

First off, check out this amazing short video from the World Wildlife Fund. It features Bill Nighy, a Bond girl, and some of the most recently-discovered animal species (including colossal squids and the world's larges insect!). If this doesn't make you want to start conserving resources, I don't know what will.

Note: it's worth watching full-screen!

Speaking of cool British accents (a comment that won't make sense unless you've watched the above video), I HIGHLY recommend that you watch the premiere of The Hour tonight on BBCAmerica, or free download from iTunes, even though it doesn't have anything to do with the environment. It does deal with the media's responsibility to truth, however, which - as you'll read below -- is crucial to the green movement and the movement for sanity. I actually watched it a few days ago, taking advantage of the promotional download. It tells the story of journalists working at the BBC in the 50's, and the creation of a new news program called The Hour. It stars The Wire's Dominic West and prestige-drama vet Romola Garai, along with Ben Whishaw. A lot of reviewers have been comparing it to Mad Men, but so far the period details and the cocky male lead are the only similarities I've found. I loved the premiere and am looking forward to the rest of the series.

Now... to totally switch gears, this weekend I was in Seattle and visited Trophy Cupcakes, the virtues of which one of my close friends has been extolling for years. Cupcakes aren't exactly my thing; I'm more of a pie connoisseur. However, I have to say that the chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting I had was absolutely delicious. I was also happy to read that they use local butter, free-range eggs, and organic peanut butter. It's always a plus when delicious and green collide.

Kids love cupcakes and kids love SpongeBob (nice segue, right?). But FoxNews does not love SpongeBob. They recently criticized Nickelodeon for pushing a global warming agenda because the Department of Education hosted an event in which kiddos were given a book called SpongeBob Goes Green!: an Earth-friendly Adventure (click here to buy the book and piss off Gretchen Carlson). Fox also claimed -- erroneously -- that the kids at the event were shown a cartoon in which a character said, "Thanks to global warming, the temperature will soon go through the roof, and we'll have an endless summer", but didn't qualify his comment by noting that the man-made origin of global warming is "disputed." Huh? A) Take a joke; I know it's hard for y'all at FoxNews, but really? B) The stupidest part of all this? White House spokespeople actually had to take the time to respond to this idiocy.

FoxNews also doesn't seem to be too fond of Ron Paul either, giving his candidacy short shrift compared to other conservatives. Although I disagree with many of Paul's positions, I have an odd affection for him (but wouldn't vote for him - don't worry). I live about five blocks from the Federal Reserve Houston Branch, where Paul or his supporters can sometimes be seen holding little protests. He's a part of my neighborhood life. He's also ideologically consistent. On the environment, Paul retains his ideological consistency - he's not in favor of spending government money to reduce emissions, nor is he in favor of subsidizing oil companies. He thinks conserving resources is a good thing. Ideological consistency, hewing to one's core beliefs, that's something I think we can all learn from, even if our beliefs aren't the same as Paul's. However, FoxNews-style conservatives treat him as a joke, probably because they feel threatened by someone who actually stands by his beliefs. Like Dennis Kucinich on the left, he's painted as crazy ... and isn't it weird that we see people who actually stand for something as crazy?

And that's all the odds and ends I have to report! Any interesting things going on in your brain today?

Saturday Interweb Round-up

Ah ... home.

There are productive things I need to do. I desperately need to clean my closets and unpack my suitcase and renew my vehicle registration. And there are productive things I want to do, like make a skirt and look at apartments for a spring trip to Barcelona and read this week's EdWeek. Instead, I spent a good part of today catching up with all of the TV shows on my DVR and spending some quality time on the internet. Sometimes, vegetating has to come first.

Here's some fun stuff I came across in internet land:

• Ever wondered what your carbon footprint is? There are lots of fun online calculators to help you figure it out. I would love to say that mine is lower than average ... and it is, until I add in the number of flights I have to take for work. Then my footprint jumps up. Where's a transporter beam when you need one?
• The Huffington Post Green section has great slideshows, and many of them don't preach at you, but just try to get you to marvel at the natural world. Check out their slideshow of "Adorable or Ugly" animals and see the craziness that evolution (and humans' ability to breed animals for certain qualities, such as hairlessness) produces.
• Halloween is just around the corner. Want to make a statement about the environment? The New York Times featured a BP oil spill-themed costume last week. If you want to be really green, you could make your own from thrift store duds.
• The oil spill has been making its mark on TV as well. On CBS's The Good Wife, our favorite ethically-compromised barristers drop a mention that they're defending BP. While on Community, a fundraiser to help the Gulf goes hilariously awry (Click here to watch the whole episode). This week's 30 Rock also featured shenanigans involving the NBC recycling bins. Green culture - taking over TV!

And finally ...

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Tiny Triumphs - Environmentalist Ear Pollution
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive

Weekend Interweb Round-up

I love the weekend - sitting around, drinking coffee, wasting WAY too much time on the internet. Here are a few of my recent internet finds:

• Lots of people have asked me where I got the stone paper notebook that I wrote about in August. The answer is Walgreen's, but I haven't found any stone paper there since I originally bought the notebook. (In case you're wondering, stone paper is usually made with limestone that's a by-product from other manufacturing processes and uses much less water than normal tree paper). However, today at Target, I found lovely stone paper notebooks (decorated with an adorable floral motif) for sale, as well as banana paper, and regular recycled notebooks. Go, Target! I tried to find them online for you, but they didn't seem to have them. If you want one, you'll have to go to your local Target. However, Walgreen's online is selling stone paper notebooks online now.
• The New Yorker has a short piece on the size of the Transocean oil spill, accompanied by some eye-opening flyover video. And if watching that video bums you out, I recommend you head over to the Oceana website. Oceana is a non-profit that works to protect the world's oceans and marine wildlife. On their website, you can sign a petition to stop off-shore drilling, donate to the cause, or find out about other ways to help. While efforts to staunch the flow of oil continue to fail, making those of us in the greenosphere feel helpless, it's good to be able to do something, even if it's just to send some money through PayPal. (In case you're wondering, Oceana has a four-star rating from Charity Navigator).
• Speaking of Charity Navigator, I've come to love this website! It rates charities by how efficient and effective they are. They have dedicated a page to organizations that are helping address the oil spill. Check them out, and you'll find lots of great organizations that are working to solve problems that might spark you compassion.
• With all of this depressing news, you might want to cheer up. If so, I recommend watching the "Modern Warfare" episode of NBC's Community. This doesn't have anything to do with being green, really (although the show's themes of whether morality is subjective or objective, and what that means for us as beings who live in community with one another, is inherently of interest to greenies). I just think you should watch it. This episode was filmed as an "action movie" (taking place during an epic game of paint ball), and was even directed by action director Justin Lin. The half-hour is pure comedy genius, both celebrating and satirizing the action movie cliches that so many of us grew up with. It's amazingly shot, hilarious, and -- who'd have thought Joel McHale had those guns?

What have you found on the interweb lately?

Interweb Round-up - Yeehaw!

Well, the Houston Rodeo and Livestock Show is just winding down, so I thought you might like a little HOWDY! in your round-up today. So, let's begin the fun!

• One of the great things about the blog world is that you have the opportunity to learn so much from the people who are online. It's amazing all of the areas of expertise that converge electronically. Recently, I wrote about how I sometimes get tired of opening junk mail to get rid of the plastic windows in envelopes, and got this response in the comments from David: "You don't need to tear the plastic window out. Take it from someone who works in a paper recycling plant" Folks, you heard it here.
• I love owls. In fact, I have a collection of owl-related bric-a-brac. That's why this is the coolest thing ever - A livecam of a barn owl sitting on her eggs. I just watched the mom, Molly, dig into a half-rat for her breakfast. Yum! But seriously, it's amazing. And yes, I realize that it is affiliated with a hunting website. That being said, hunters ("sportsmen") are often big partners is conservation. It is because they want to kill the animals, but it's a complicated relationship. Never mind. Just watch the owl.
• My recipe for pumpkin-chocolate-chip bran muffins was featured in [1Thing]PDX. One of the readers said she made them for her six-year-old and I was psyched because healthy, delicious food for kids is so important. I've been playing with this recipe, and have come up with a couple of variations: 1) instead of pumpkin, you can use two containers of organic sweet potato baby food. So Southern! 2) Substitute 3 bananas, whirled in your blender with 3/4 cups of vanilla soy milk (instead of the regular milk) for the pumpkin; 3) don't like such a whole wheat explosion? Instead of using a cup-and-a-half of whole wheat flour, use 3/4 cup whole wheat and 3/4 cup regular all-purpose flour.
• Speaking of healthy food for our kids, I'm totally psyched for Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, in which Jamie is going to try to change the eating habits of an entire American town. Jamie is a real evangelist for natural, healthy food, and totally gets that how we eat is inextricably linked with how we treat the planet. As a former first grade teacher, I was appalled but not surprised to see the clip below.

So watch and then go round-up some fresh food for your little ones.

Saturday Morning Interweb Round-up

Oh, interweb ... I have missed you.

If you've noticed a bit of a blogging lag lately, it's because my work recently has involved a lot of intense computer time, and I just haven't felt like getting on the web when I get home. This morning, however, I spent a good couple of hours in bed with my world's best oatmeal, my organic, fair-trade coffee, and my computer, Dora. (the Spanish word for computer is computadora, and I sometimes say, "Where's my computadora?" To which my nephew once answered, "Here's your computer Dora." Ah, 7 year olds!)

I found some great sustainability (and some just fun) stuff and wanted to share:

• First of all -- and you can tell how scattered I am by the fact that I haven't posted this yet -- Light Green is being featured on a "real" sustainability website, [1Thing]PDX! You can visit to read Light Green posts, and also read about other great sustainability ideas such as this post on how to avoid BPA.
• Over at Finding My Feet, there's an absolutely adorable upcycling project that turns some old playing cards and a Lay's Stax can into a quiver and arrows for a little Robin Hood. As a former archery instructor, I totally get the allure of weaponry; as a big fan of Robin Hood movies, books, etc., I'm happy to see the younger generation is loving that old story.
• Maybe you'd rather read a book than read online. Still, the web is a great place to check out new releases. I just received my copy of Alabama Studio Style, the latest from sustainable stitcher Alabama Chanin. Natalie (or "Alabama" as she's known) Chanin is a couturier who's committed to using sustainable materials while creating unique pieces that are like wearable art. And Michael Pollan, one of my personal heroes, has just come out with a new book, Food Rules, which goes further in-depth to his three rules for eating "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
• Valentine's Day is coming up. Last year I wrote this post about having a DIY Valentine's Day. This year I'm totally enamored with the photos on i am baker. I'm not saying I'll be able to replicate any of that, I'm just saying I love to dream.
• As you know if you've read this blog for more than a week, I'm a little obsessed with healthy and natural foods. For that reason, I loved this week's episode of Parks and Recreation. In it, Leslie Knope goes up against a food company that is trying to sell "nutritious" snack bars in the Pawnee City Parks, and they try to trick the residents into believing they are natural. Click here to watch online.

Hope you enjoy this round-up as much as I enjoyed finding these sites to share. Have a great weekend!

Green Reading Round-up

Here are a few great articles and websites I wanted to share:

• At The New Yorker, Nick Paumgarten tells us all about "Food Fighter" John Mackey, the founder of Whole Foods Markets. Mackey's an interesting character, as he's a fiscal conservative hippie (one of those "only in Texas" characters). If you shop at Whole Foods, or if you buy organic at Wal-mart, Mackey's been instrumental in shaping the options you have for natural and organic eating.
• In the Southwest Spirit magazine (yes, an airplane mag!), Paul Heller writes about "The Happiest Man on Earth." Apparently, that man is Logan Woods-Darby, a 24-year-old who has been raised in a unique manner, allowed to pursue any interest he chooses. The author goes on an ultralight hike with Woods-Darby, and the article will make you reflect on how much each of us really needs to be content.
• Alicia Silverstone starred in my ultimate guilty pleasure movie Excess Baggage. I know this is a strange choice, but its combination of very weird plot, a cutey (and also weird) Benicio del Toro, Red House Painters' song "All Mixed Up", and some of the most awesome production design I've ever seen, make it an annual must-watch for me. That has nothing to do with green living ... but Silverstone is a vegan activist and her lovely website thekindlife.com, is a wealth of recipes, stories about the benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle, a healthy, positive vibe.
• I always enjoy the musings of Eco-Yogini. She has been trying a lot of the same green-living changes that I have, and she's full of inspiration and challenges.

Happy reading!

Coming up soon: my adventures with eco-friendlier shampoos and deodorant! Could be disaster ...