Shoes, Glorious Shoes!

I am not much of a fashionista; I spend most days in jeans and a t-shirt. But I do have a bit of a weakness for shoes. I recently had a mini-shoe-heartbreak while shopping for the perfect pair of sandals for my upcoming trip to Guatemala - I ordered the cutest sandals ever from a mainstream shoe website; after carefully reading the description, which described man-made uppers and rubber soles, I determined them to be vegan and ordered them. After excitedly awaiting their delivery for several days, I opened the package with great anticipation, only to discover ... leather foot beds. Ugh. Needless to say, I sent them back.

I haven't had any luck finding a replacement pair of sandals for my trip - until today. How is it possible that I have not discovered Ragazzi Vegan before today? These shoes are exactly what I was hoping to find for my trip - a little chunky (somewhat reminiscent of Danskos, but ALL VEGAN), yet still summery - comfortable, with stable soles that are easy to walk in, even on cobblestone streets - and super cute! My new problem is going to be choosing which ones to buy - I'm not sure if I can narrow it down to just one pair...

And moving beyond just sandals, how cute are these?

Food Ramblings

I haven't taken the time to post much vegan food related content here on my blog lately and I'm curious - do you miss it? I don't have a good sense of what percentage of my readership is here for the jewelry vs. here for the vegan food/lifestyle stuff (and I suppose there's probably some overlap). Anyways, I've been giving food a lot of thought lately so I thought I'd post a bit.

Basically, I've been inspired to put a stronger emphasis on whole foods in my diet after reading The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone, and I've also been slowly incorporating more macrobiotic recipes and philosophies into my diet and lifestyle.

One of the things that Alicia stresses in her book is that while processed whole grains (breads, pastas, etc.) are certainly a superior choice to white/refined grain products, we can do even better nutritionally by putting a higher priority on the grains in their truly unaltered state. This is one of those ideas that sounds so obvious and simple that I can't believe I have never heard it anywhere else, or thought of it myself. Yes, whole wheat bread is better than white bread, but a bowl of barley or brown rice is even better.

The book also encouraged me to incorporate more vegetables into my diet - both in sheer volume and in variety. I feel like I've always done a pretty good job of eating a decent amount of fruits and vegetables, but I go through phases where I do better or worse, and I think I have a tendency to go with more of the sweet fruits and less of the veggies.

And finally, I'm trying really hard to drastically reduce my processed sugar intake. It really is nasty stuff that does yucky things to your body. When I do have a craving for something sweet, I've been experimenting with using agave nectar or maple syrup in place of granulated sugar.

I've only been doing this for a few weeks but I feel really good about the changes I'm making and if there's any interest from you guys, I'd be happy to share some of the recipes/ideas that are bringing me the most enjoyment. Let me know. :-)

Strawberry Watermelon Popsicles

Strawberry Watermelon Popsicles

2 cups chopped watermelon
1 cup strawberries, fresh or frozen
1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice
2-4 tablespoons sugar or other sweetener, optional

Combine all ingredients in blender and process until smooth. Pour into popsicle molds* and freeze.

* I used these, and had just a bit of liquid left over.

Whole Grain White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Don't let the whole grain fool you - these puppies are sweet and rich enough to satisfy even the most ravenous sweet tooth (i.e., mine).

Whole Grain White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
(a healthier take on 'Big Gigantoid Crunchy Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Cookies' from Vegan With a Vengeance

2 cups flour (I used white whole wheat flour)
2 cups rolled oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons canola oil
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup peanut butter (I used chunky, but either will work)
3/4 - 1 cup sugar, to taste
3/4 - 1 cup brown sugar, to taste
1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I used vanilla soy milk)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup vegan white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium-large bowl, stir together dry ingredients (flour, oats, baking powder, and salt). In a separate large bowl, combine wet ingredients (canola oil through vanilla). Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir to combine well. Add in white chocolate chips and mix until incorporated. Scoop onto greased cookie sheets, flatten slightly, and bake for 12 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges.

My Final Plea

Those of you who are faithful readers may remember my post a while back detailing my fundraising efforts with Team Vegan. For those of you who don't hang on my every word (for shame!), here's the quick version -

Team Vegan is made up of a group of animal advocates (including me!) working to raise money for Vegan Outreach by training for either a 10k run, half marathon, or full marathon, and soliciting sponsorships from friends and family members (and total strangers).

Prior to joining this effort, my thrice-weekly runs averaged 2-3 miles each. During the height of my training, I was able to reach my goal of 10k (~6 miles), which for me was pretty huge. Since then, I've settled on 3-4 mile runs three times a week. The program helped me kick my workouts up a notch, which feels great, but the main goal is really to support Vegan Outreach and the incredible work they do to fight animal cruelty and exploitation.

To that end, I'd like to ask you one last time to please consider sponsoring me. The fundraising deadline is approaching quickly, but there's still time to hop on over and do your part to reduce suffering in this crazy world of ours. The goal for the entire team is $75,o00, and some extremely generous donors, John and Fany, have pledged to match all donations up to that $75,000 goal. I just checked the website and it looks like we are pretty darn close to that goal, but if you get over there quickly enough, you can still donate in time for your donation to be doubled by the fabulous John and Fany.

You don't have to be vegan to contribute. You just have to care about making the world a better place. :-)

Thank you!

xoxoxoxo

Tamara

Reunited (and it feels so good)

Woo-hoo! Skittles has changed their formula and these colorful, delicious candies are now vegan!

Just what I need... more sweets. (ugh.)

The magic words: GELATIN-FREE

An Awesome Article

Via Foreign Policy -

Meat: the slavery of our time

How the coming vegetarian revolution will arrive by force.

By Jim Motavalli

I have a prediction: Sooner than you might think, this will be a vegetarian world. Future generations will find the idea of eating meat both morally absurd and logistically impossible. Of course, one need only look at the booming meat industry, the climbing rates of meat consumption in the developing world, and the menu of just about any restaurant to call me crazy. But already, most people know that eating red meat is bad for their health and harmful for the planet. It's getting them to actually change their diet that's the hard part... [read more]

Pics from the road

Carlos and I are out on the road, adventuring in the bay area. Thought I'd share a few photos of our trip so far - not surprisingly, they are mostly food-related. This is like vegan food paradise compared to where I live...

View across the bay from the hills above Berkeley
(a token non-food photo)

On to lunch at Cha-Ya (an all-vegan Japanese restaurant) -

Hallelujah! - vegan miso soup.
(Can't find it anywhere in Humboldt - everyone puts fish stock in it - yuck!)

Agedashi tofu

I spotted these little cuties in a (non-vegan) bakery window just down from Cha-Ya - don't they look super easy to make and really cute?

Dinner at Pizza Plaza in Oakland, CA -

I loved this funky little place. And check out that sweet delivery van! Classic.

Vegan menu options were staggering...

...they just went on and on.

Carlos and I scarfed our pizza down too quickly to get a photo, but here's dessert -

- we shared a piece of vegan German chocolate cake. Not the best I've ever had, but it's always nice to at least have vegan options. And I'm not one to turn down chocolate.

That's all for today. Hope you're all doing well.

Easy Vegan - Pizza!

Becoming vegan (or just trying to incorporate more vegan foods into your diet) doesn't mean giving up pizza! We eat pizza here at our house once every few weeks. Usually I buy pre-made dough and sauce at the grocery store, but for today's 'Easy Vegan' feature, I wanted an even faster and simpler option. Pita bread!


Kids especially love individual pizzas (who am I kidding - adults do too!), and pita pizzas are so quick to make - just spread some tomato paste on each pita, sprinkle on some spices (I used oregano, basil, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes), and add whatever toppings you like. Some of my favorite toppings include mushrooms, olives, sauteed onions, and spinach. Today I had some leftover roasted veggies to use up, and they made a delicious topping.

Instead of dairy cheese, I use Follow Your Heart brand vegan mozzarella. I'm planning a more in-depth post on vegan cheeses in the near future, but in the meantime, here's what you need to know for melting vegan cheese on pizzas - if your cheese doesn't melt from the heat of the oven alone during baking, take it out, spritz it a few times with water from a spray bottle, then put it under the broiler for just a couple of minutes. Be sure to watch it closely so it doesn't burn!

New Work

A couple of quick things...

I made this one yesterday - the pendant is blue tourmaline and rainbow moonstone, and the necklace is vessonite. I'm not sure how I feel about this one... the color combo with the necklace stones worked in my studio light last night but in daylight, not so much. I think I might just put it on a simple sterling silver chain instead. Also, the larger blue tourmaline got a little chipped as I was setting it (argh!), so it may be gifted to someone instead of sold. Frustrating!

This is a custom order vegan 'pearl' bracelet, made to match this necklace.

A few vegan nutrition links

A reader recently left a comment asking my advice for her vegetarian/leaning-toward-vegan niece to be sure she follows a healthy plan. I put together a short list of links for her and I figured it would be worth sharing with the rest of my readers as well; maybe it will be helpful for someone else...

http://www.vegsoc.org/health/
http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/
http://www.veganoutreach.org/health/stayinghealthy.html
http://pcrm.org/health/
http://www.compassionatecooks.com/podcast.htm