Crazy for Memes

Thanksgiving with the Turkeys 2013

 Here are some photos from our annual trip to Poplar Springs Animal Sanctuary in Poolesville, MD, USA to have Thanksgiving with the Turkeys.  This is always a great opportunity to meet other vegans, eat without worrying what's in our food, and enjoy time outside with the animals.  To visit Poplar Springs' website and find out what else they have going on, click here.

 

Veggie Awards Flash!

I LOVE VegNews Magazine!  I love it so much that I begged my local grocery to carry it for two years and they finally started carrying it a year ago.  For over five years I have waited in anticipation of VegNews' yearly Veggie Awards...the best of the year for the Veg world.  You must pick up a copy or subscribe for the full details (so worth it), but here are some of the highlights from the 2012 awards, as voted for by VegNews Readers!

Person of the Year: The Vegan Athlete (Many were profiled in the article)
Restaurant of the Year:  Vedge in Philadelphia
Product of the Year:  Victoria Vegan Sauces
Company of the Year: VEGA (like, the vitamins)
NonProfit of the Year: Humane Society of the US
Book of the Year:  The Lucky Ones by Jenny Brown
 There was also a section of the Veggie Awards dedicated to highlighting some of the newest vegan celebrities on the scene, which I found interesting!  New to the vegan list this year are:
Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor
Anne Hathaway
Scarlett Johansson
Mischa Barton
Michelle Pfeiffer
Larry Hagman (of Dallas fame!)
Rosie O'Donnell
Chaka Khan

Time Flies!

I cannot believe it, but this month marks our FIVE year anniversary as vegans!  I guess five years in kid years is a long time...my two don't remember being omnivores.  My youngest was breast fed for a year, and when we went vegan he was only two, so this lifestyle is pretty embedded in him.  It's certainly not always easy, and we do miss out on what the "Joneses" are doing every once in a while (although we have never been too concerned with what the Joneses are doing...they don't look like they are having any fun and they are always a little grouchy), but it's just such a part of now that I cannot imagine living any other way!  Everyone benefits!  Let's put this into perspective with a handy-dandy statistic (from Vegan Heights):

Water saved in one year by being vegan - 1,400,000 gallons

Water saved by 4 people being vegan for 5 years - 280,000,000 gallons

This Not-So-Little Piggy

So if you have been following my blog for a while, you remember that back in August of 2010, my husband bought me an adorable teeny pot-bellied pig.  We call him Ollie.  At almost 2 years old, Ollie is now as tall as a Labrador and WAY heavier.  Well over 100 pounds.  Now, I think he is just the most handsome pig in the world, but most of our friends and family are shocked at how big he has gotten.  He even has some nice tusks, to boot!  I meet people all the time who want a pig when they find out that I have one, they see videos on YouTube of a sweet little football-sized piggy doing tricks.  It is a myth that even the famed "teacup" pigs stay really small...a mini potbelly can get up to 200 pounds!  And SO, this is the problem with fad pets.  Fad pets are pets that suddenly become popular and everyone "has to have one".  The problem is that many folks will acquire a fad pet and not think about how much work it is to take care of one.  For example, even our yard has to be pig-proof.  Ollie will tear up trash if it is left around.  He needs to be fed and watered regularly.  He needs a pool of water and a warm, dry bed.  He even has his own pig house, and comes inside often during the cold months.  These reasons contribute to why so many fad pets end up in sanctuaries or abandoned.  People just do not educate themselves.  If you have the time and the patience, a mini potbelly is a great pet.  If you like your yard hole-free, your furniture upright, and your time to yourself, it is not a good choice.  Of course, you can say that about most pets.  If you are not willing to love them unconditionally, perhaps you should reconsider owning a pet.  If the demand goes away, the population of these animals will naturally go down over time because humans will stop intentionally breeding them to sell as pets.

Valley Earth Fest Pasta Salad!

Wow, it has been SUCH a long day! I can't believe how much fun it was to table at the Valley EarthFest today...I met a lot of great people and passed out a ton of samples and literature. I want to post more, but being as tired as I am, I am just posting quickly for those of you that I promised the pasta salad recipe to! It cannot be easier...or tastier :) Chick'N Pasta Salad
What you need:
Two packages of Gardein Chick'n Scallopini (frozen food section)
 One box of pasta shells
 One jar of vegan mayo (I used Nayonaise, but Vegenaise would also be great)
Diced: cucumber (seeded), bell pepper, celery, black olives, spring onions
 Two TBSP olive oil
 Salt and pepper to taste
What to do:
 Cook your pasta and drain it well. Add olive oil to the water to prevent sticking. Put into a large bowl. Put some olive oil into a skillet and sauté your Chick'n Scallopini cutlets. What is nice about Gardein is that it caramelizes if you cook it for long enough! Once they are cooked, set them aside to cool for a bit. While the cutlets are cooling, add the veggies to the pasta. Add about half of the jar of Nayonaise and stir well. add the salt and pepper...I said to taste, but I add about a half of a teaspoon of salt and an entire teaspoon of ground pepper. Stir again. Dice your Chick'n, and put it into a container. Chill the rest of the salad. When you are ready to serve, add the Chick'n. If you add it too soon, it will not have the same chicken-like texture. Serve and enjoy! Thanks to everyone who stopped by to see me today, I hope you take the time to read some of my earlier posts, there is all sorts of useful information, especially if you are like me...working full time and trying to create a healthier lifestyle for my kids at the same time. If you were lucky enough to talk to my fantastic children today, you know what I mean!! Check back again soon for more about my experience at the Earth Fest today, including my thoughts on some of the topics that you lovely people brought up to me today!

Rolling Along with vegFund

I mentioned in an earlier post that I am tabling at the Valley EarthFest (VEF) in Berryville, VA this month...April 22nd to be exact!  Well I decided to apply to VegFund for a grant to be reimbursed for the costs of literature to hand out to festival-goers as well as the ingredients for all of the samples that I will be handing out.  VegFund "empowers vegan activists worldwide by funding and supporting effective outreach activities that inspire people to choose and maintain a vegan lifestyle" (from the VegFund website).  In the past when I set up an informational table with my friend Dale Ball from New Leaf Vegan Society, she applied for VegFund to cover the costs of the materials that we used.  Now that I am going solo for VEF, I knew that I needed some help.  I definitely cannot afford to do this without a little monetary support.  It was a long application but I finished it in about an hour.  GREAT NEWS...It has been less than a day since I sent in my application and I have already been approved!  I am so excited, I cannot wait to get started cooking so that I have plenty of great vegan food to entice people to try MORE plant-based delicacies :).  Stay tuned for more updates as I decide how long it is going to take me to MAKE all this delicious food!  Probably going to start cooking DAYS ahead of time!

"But Humans Were Meant to Eat Meat, RIGHT?"

Wow, do I get into this discussion a lot!  It just happened again the other day, where someone was trying to convince me that because we are ABLE to eat meat (sort of), we HAVE to eat meat.  What I WANTED to say was, "Who are you trying to convince, me or yourself?"  But I didn't, because I care :)  What I wish I could do is show everyone the following movie for several reasons.  First, it is backed up by scientific facts, and I love facts.  Second, it makes a great argument without being too, well, IN YOUR FACE!  I love a civilized vegan discussion.  Last, it is kid-friendly (watch it first before you show it to kids, only you know what's truly appropriate for your child!) and HILARIOUS!  No joke, I thought it was great and so did my kids!  Take a look, it's an interesting 5 minutes!

Guest Post: Women's Image

Here is something new at Vegan Family Values: a guest post!  This was written by my husband, Mike Neese, in response to an unfortunate post that we viewed via FaceBook. 
When seen as a joke in passing, I can see the humor, but when the implication is taken seriously this becomes propaganda.

 

 Jokes aside, justifying an argument based on one example is fruitless. Second using women’s beauty as a metric to validate a point of view is not just stupid, but insulting. I mention this only because I have seen this same picture comparison for women as liberal, conservative, republican, and democrat. To that end not only is it offensive and propaganda, but exploitative, and sends the message to women that they are both ugly for what they believe, and that their attractiveness is more important than their beliefs. Third this is an unfair comparison, using cherry picked photographs to “prove” a point; using an airbrushed glamor image of one and a candid/real image of the other.
 I suppose I could start posting actual research on the benefits of veganism to individual health, like the evidence shows:
Vegans have lower total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides, while having about the same HDL cholesterol as Lacto-Ovo and Non-Veg.
Vegans have lower rates of high blood pressure than Lacto-Ovo and Non-Veg.
Vegans have a lower BMI and body fat percentage than Lacto-Ovo and Non-Veg. People who have been vegan for more than 5 years have the lowest BMI of all diet groups studied here.

Or the many other interesting things found here at Vegan Health but my guess is if you are taking life style advice from anonymous picture posting on the internet I should just post pictures of ugly people for you to laugh at, clearly this is acceptable behavior.
My apologies for the rant, but these images irk me on two levels, first propaganda (which is basically a form of lying) and second the exploitation/degradation of women.  Honestly people have enough of a hard time making informed choices without funny lies floating around, and women have a hard enough time battling self image issues with current media standards without having their belief system tied into the mix.
Food for thought:

Vegan (and healthy)

Not vegan (clearly this road goes both ways)