Success!

Success!

We found the pup a home.

YEAH!!!  More pics to follow.

PSA - Find This Dog A Home

We found this sweetie yesterday and are now trying to get him a great home.  Sweet young boy pup.  About 1 - 2 years.  Knows "sit" and is super in the crate.  He slept in the crate overnight with no barking or messes.  A sweet love that deserves a good home.  He's a bit skinny but won't get too big.  I'd say he's about 40 pounds right now.

Contact me via FB, Twitter or a comment here if you know someone in NC or surrounding areas who wants to add to their family.

Sweet Dreams from Sugar Bean Bakery

I have been sooo busy in the last few weeks. From traveling for work, to just working, I feel like I've been out of action.

 But I had to add one more thing to my plate. It was a ton of work, but also a ton of fun.

 I decided to do a Sugar Bean Bakery booth at a local art show on Saturday.  I spent a good 12+ hours baking and packaging and a few days before that planning my decor.  When Saturday came around, I was glad it wasn't raining!  I pulled out my favorite cake stands and set up my goodies.

All proceeds are going to a local farm animal refuge that is in development and, since we totally sold out, I will be getting to give them $360!

I really really loved my booth (as you can tell from the tons of pictures with more going on Flicker), making delicious vegan goodies and can't wait to do it again in the fall!

New Site - Outdoor Herbivore

Excited to checkout a new site filled with options for vegans and vegetarians - Outdoor Herbivore!

Juice Feast

As we talk about a lot on here, we are vegan.  We have a pretty good diet in that we don't eat any animal based foods, we make our own vegetable stock and are working to lower oil usage.  So we're not getting any external cholesterol (only animal based foods have that), we're getting good amounts of fiber and we're not adding a lot of salt.

But we know that we can improve how we eat.  We're bad about planning our meals.  We eat out a lot and, yeah, we end up eating the same meals out of laziness and convenience just like everyone else.

We figured we needed to get in more nutrients, especially greens.  So what does that mean???

JUICE FEAST!!!

The good thing about juice feasting is that you get tons of nutrients in an easy to add way and lots of stuff I don't like to eat, like carrots or kale, I'm happy to drink.   For the past week and a half, most of our calories have come via juice.  Good thing they sell 25 lb bags of carrots!

Each day we're making enough juice so that each of us drinks at least 3 - 4 quarts of juice.  We tend to do a mix of our favorite ingredients, including:

• Carrots
• Apples
• Oranges
• Grapefruit
• Mango
• Lemons
• Limes
• Pineapple
• Celery
• Ginger
• Parsley
• Kale
• Spinach
• Cucumber
• Beets
• 1 tbl of ground flax seed added to the completed juice

It's actually really surprising how easy this can be.  I find that I'm not hungry afterwards at all.  My cravings for junk food goes away and I'm not dizzy or headachy or anything.  Plus, I tend to be very bad about drinking enough water.  This way I'm getting plenty of fluids so that helps too.

We haven't had many "detox" issues because we already eat pretty well, but if you did plan to do a juice feast, it's best to know what to expect.  You are more likely to work through any icky feelings if you know they are going to pop up.

One logistic that can make things easier is to make up your juices for the day and then vacuum-seal them for transport, just shake them up before you open them.  We use 1-quart mason jars and drink one for breakfast, one for lunch and then one late afternoon around 4pm or 5pm.  Then I might be set for the night.  We have been having a few "meals" here and there, as well as some solid snacks, so it's not a 100% thing for us.

Some people will go through some weight loss when doing a juice feast, especially if they have had a poor diet or health prior to making this change.  We may have dropped a few pounds but overall our goal is to add nutrients which we definitely are doing.

Juicing can be anything from adding a juice to your meal all the way up to a 100+ day juice only program.  It's always best to have a doctor's review before you make a major switch, especially if you have any health issues.  If you're just supplementing your diet, then juice away!  And have fun with it.  Mixing up flavors is the best part.  You don't know how delicious it can be until they go through the juicer and mix with the other flavors.  It's like a fun surprise in a glass.

Don't Kill Your Canary

A happy and healthy heart (and sex life) come from clean clear arteries... 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Meet Briar the Goat

We're so excited to FINALLY get these pictures out of our new boy, Briar!

Briar comes to us, as so many of our family has, through Red Dog Farm.  Briar (formerly Oreo) was brought out of a really bad situation through the goodness of three kind ladies who felt for this poor little boy.

Briar was tied up on a dangerous lot filled with metal and cans, with only a picnic table for shelter and no hay at all to eat.  The women would untangle him and bring him food and, eventually, convinced the owner to sell him to them.  They then brought him to Red Dog and the minute we saw him, we knew he had to come home to us!  I mean, how can you resist this face???

We think that he is half pygmy (what Tulip and Petal are) and half fainting.  He's the same age as Petal (3 years) but a bit smaller... and a lot fuzzier! 

Not only was Briar starved nutritionally, but he was very lonely as well.  Goats are herd animals and they are very friendly and affectionate.  When he met the girls they got along right away and started running all around the paddock.

Briar has been neutered so we will not be having any baby goats to contend with, so that's good.  And we plan on expanding the paddock area in the spring, as well as adding a giant rock from them to climb up on.

It's amazing that Briar is as good-natured as he is.  He has a few food protectiveness issues, not surprisingly, and some bonking that we need to get in line, but other than that he's a sweet boy.  I was able to put a collar on him (for safety) with no problem the first day.  You can see tons more pics on Flickr too.

So welcome, welcome, welcome our sweet boy!!!

Beating Back Butter

One of the concerns that I had when we were making the switch to veganism was butter.  I love to bake and I love toast, especially toast slathered with butter and jam or cinnamon sugar.  So more than anything this was an ingredient that I worried about a bit.  But we are very luck to be vegan in a time when this is a total non-issue. 

Because there is EarthBalance!

EarthBalance is the greatest food product I know.  It comes in sticks and several spreadable varieties and because of it, I've never given the switch from dairy butter a moment's thought or concern. 

The sticks are perfect for baking and sauteing, just like dairy butter sticks.  It melts, separates and softens just like dairy butter and makes perfect flaky biscuits and pie crust too.

I've used this when making heavily butter-based cookies, like shortbread or the Mexican Wedding Cakes/Russian Tea Cakes shown below, with no change in the texture or flavor.  I've made rouxs and risotto and sauteed mushrooms too.

Here I've creamed two sticks with sugar when making the Tea Cake cookies.  Looks just the same, right?

with the added flour...

baked and nicely browned...

Done!

EarthBalance tastes and acts just like dairy butter but with out all the cruelty and cholesterol. In fact, I don't know why more bakeries and chef's don't use it exclusively.  You open up your menu to more people and reduce the negative elements. 

So, if you are ready to make some cookies (or want to make me some!) grab some EarthBalance and you are good to go!

Comic Commentary

A few thought provoking images and social commentary for you...

... and, just for the holidays...

Meet our new girls - Butterscotch & Tellicherry

As mentioned in the previous post, our Meggie (Nutmeg) passed away on Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Jake was very sad and we knew he needed some companions.  So we spoke with Red Dog Farm, the rescue group that many of our animals have come from, to see if they had any hens who could be placed with us.  Lucky for us they did and we were able to bring home Butterscotch and Tellicherry (Telli for short) on Friday.

They are such pretty girls.  I have already taken a ton of photos of them, but here are a few...

Jake and girls get along great and he is already acting as their protector.  Telli and Butterscotch were perfect in the car home and became accustomed to their coop after just one night.

We're so happy to have new members of the family!

Welcome to Butterscotch and Telli!!!

Meggie - 11.22.11

We are sad to report that our girl, Meggie, passed away last evening in her sleep.  We found her this morning and it is a bad dark day for us all. She had come to us just about four years ago and was a wonderful girl.

Jakey is very sad as well and we are talking to Red Dog Farm about what we can do to ensure that he stays happy and healthy.  We don't want him to be sad or lonely. 

Here are some fond memories of Meg:

We love you, Meg.