Archive | Cheese

RSS feed for this section

Final Making Vegan Easy Weekly Round-Up for 2012

December 31, 2012

At the beginning of 2012, I created a vision board for a vegan world and decided to provide a daily vegan tip on my Facebook  page to make being vegan easier for others. Below are the last 10 tips of 2012. I plan to delve deeper into my favorites vegan tips in 2013, so stay tuned for more vegan goodness. Happy new year!

Tip #356: Watch and share: Mercy for Animals 2012 Year in Review.

Tip #357: Adorable video promoting the boycott of horse-drawn carriages. Watch and share.

Tip #358: This year after all the Christmas presents are opened consider saving the used wrapping paper and gift bags to be used next year. Remember: Reuse before recycling!

Tip #359: Tomorrow is Christmas! It’s another holiday where families gather around the dinner table and meat plays a central role. I will be making a vegan breakfast of pancakes, faux sausage, potatoes and fruit cake for six people. I’m the only vegan. I’m not always comfortable being the only one, but that’s okay because the animals and the planet are better for it. Dinner will be out at a vegetarian restaurant that has vegan options. Remember, it’s not all about the food though. Enjoy being with your family and friends.

Tip #360: It bears repeating: Recycle, recycle, recycle. Keep this in mind when you and your family are opening presents this year. Merry Christmas!

Tip #361: My favorite new cookbook of 2012 is Artisan Vegan Cheese by Miyoko Schinner. I’m slowly working my way through it. My current favorite is Pub Cheddar with Chives. If you haven’t picked it up yet, you might want to treat yourself.

Tip #362: When I’m battling a cold, I use a neti pot. Years ago when I bought my neti pot, I let it sit in a closet for nine months before I gathered the courage to use it. Turns out, it feels really good and gives me some relief when I have head cold. Let’s hope you don’t get a cold this winter but if you do, you might want to try a neti pot.

Tip #363: My favorite non-fiction book of 2012 is Jenny Brown’s memoir, The Lucky Ones. Inspiring! If you like to read memoirs, pick it up today. (I found it at my local library.)

Tip #364: Palm oil is a nightmare for the environment, indigenous people and many animals including Orangutans, Bearded Pigs, Rhinoceros, Sumatran tiger, Sun bear and more. There’s a good article in the current issue of VegNews on the problems with palm oil (not online yet). If you haven’t given up palm oil yet, read up on it — do a google search — and decide if now might be the time to avoid it for good.

Tip #365: Go all the way in 2013. If you haven’t made the commitment yet to living vegan, watch this 60-second video from PETA. It may be just what you need to change your mind and go vegan for good.

Bonus Tip #366 (2012 is Leap year.): Tell everyone you know it’s easy being vegan. Shout. Sing. Speak. Whisper. Write. However YOU feel comfortable, use your voice for change. I’m so happy to walk this path with you. Thanks for being here.

Comments { 0 }

What Does a Vegan Eat on a Sunday?

October 15, 2012

VeganMoFo continues all month. My VeganMoFo 2012 is demystifying vegan food. Through a photo diary of my daily vegan meals, you will see what the average vegan really eats. Sometimes the food I eat may seem weird or unfamiliar but mostly you’ll find I eat food which is familiar — just without the animal products. It really is easy being vegan.

Hover over each photo for details about the food.

Food Notes

  • You can find the Pumpkin Steel Cut Oats recipe here.
  • The vegan sharp cheddar recipe comes from Artisan Vegan Cheese.
  • I make my own seitan. The simple recipe can be found here.
  • The Cheezy Broccoli Rice recipe can be found here.
  • The Fruity Snack Balls and Corn Pudding recipes are from Vegan Cooking for Carnivores, which I checked out from the library, but now want to buy the book. It’s a good one.
Comments { 0 }

Turning the Menu Upside Down on a Friday

October 13, 2012

October is VeganMoFo. My theme for the month is demystifying vegan food. Through a photo diary of my daily vegan meals, you will see what the average vegan really eats. Sometimes the food I eat may seem weird or unfamiliar but mostly you’ll find I eat food which is familiar — just without the animal products. It really is easy being vegan.

Dinner food for breakfast and breakfast food for dinner — that’s about as weird as it gets around here! Hover over each photo for details about the food.

Food Notes

  • Frank’s Hot Sauce is my favorite condiment.
  • Toffuti brand vegan sour cream is my favorite. It’s taste great and is less expensive than other brands.
  • We made the vegan cheddar cheese using the Artisan Vegan Cheese book. It’s fairly simple to make but it takes about four days to complete the process.

Comments { 0 }

Why I Gave Up My Favorite Food

October 11, 2012

Yesterday Mercy for Animals released a new undercover video from an Idaho dairy farm. It documents horrific animal abuse. Workers are shown beating, kicking and jumping on the cows while the cows struggle and moan in pain.

After I learned about the video, I posted it on my personal Facebook page and wrote this:

There is just as much cruelty in a glass of milk, grilled cheese sandwich or egg omelet as there is in a hamburger. That is why I’m vegan. This video is hard to watch but it shows what can happen at a dairy farm.

Almost immediately someone disagreed because “family farms” from her experience were humanely run. This video is from a large “factory farm” and I agree that this type of cruelty is less likely to happen at a family run dairy farm. The men in this video behave like barbarians. However, family dairy farms are far from humane. Consider the following:

  • Humans don’t need cows milk. We are the only species who drinks another species milk. Human milk is for our babies just like cow’s milk is for theirs.
  • Dairy cows are artificially inseminated, even at small family farms.
  • Once the calves are born, the males are taken away from their mothers to become veal.
  • Once dairy cows are spent, they are sent to the slaughterhouse to become beef.
  • Cows can live as long as 20 years but cows raised for food often live just five short, miserable years.

Watch this short video to learn more:

Cheese used to be my favorite food. I ate it everyday and smothered salads, pizzas, quesadillas, crackers, hamburgers then veggie burgers, and omelets with it. I was one of those people who often said, “I could never give up cheese” and yet I did. It’s been over seven years since I’ve had it. I don’t miss it — despite being certain that I would.

After eating cheese and drinking milk most of my life, it was hard to change. Change is hard, but there are great non-dairy foods available that make the change easier than it’s ever been.

Homemade Pizza with Vegan Cheese and Sausage

My favorite dairy substitutes include:

Cookbook Resources

If you believe the cruelty at this Idaho dairy farm is an isolated case, you will find more Mercy for Animals undercover investigations here. MFA has filmed at four dairy farms and has documented animal abuse at all four farms.

Comments { 4 }

Making Vegan Easy Week 32 Round-Up

August 13, 2012

Every day in 2012 I am posting one tip on my Facebook page to make living vegan easier. It’s going to take an army of vegans to move the world in a more compassionate direction. Join us today!

Tip #218: 20 ways to use nutritional yeast from Ecorazzi. Lately my favorite way to use these cheesy flakes is on a salad. Just sprinkle on the salad before adding olive oil and apple cider vinegar for the dressing, then mix. The nutritional yeast gives the oil and vinegar something to hold on to.

Tip #219: Check out the documentary, HOME. It’s about the evolution of planet Earth and how everything is connected. Watch it for free on YouTube.

Tip #220: A good way to show omnivores that vegan living is easy is to share a meal with them. How about inviting an omnivore to lunch this week. Choose a vegan-friendly restaurant. Don’t talk about being vegan. Just BE vegan. Sometimes education happens through observation alone.

Tip #221: There’s a new cookbook out: Artisan Vegan Cheese. I can’t wait to try some of the recipes. Anyone have it yet?

Tip #222: Check out EthicalCommunity.com to buy and sell ethically made products.

Tip #223: The documentary, Flow: For the Love of Water, is now available online for free.

Tip #224: Lots of people are moving toward a vegan diet and It’s Easy Being Vegan is here to help. I love answering Ask-A-Vegan questions on my blog. Send questions to itseasybeingvegan@gmail.com.

Hey friends, have you shared these tips with your family and friends yet? If not, do it today. Join me on Facebook to read these tips daily and to learn more about what’s going on in the vegan world.

Comments { 0 }