Yay!

Kris from Kris' Cruelty Free Kitchen has been so kind as to nominate me for an award! :D awesome!Now, here are 7 BRILLANTE bloggers who deserve this fancy award too:
(I'm sorry if you've already been nominated by someone else- guess that just means that you're EXTRA brillante!)

(in no particular order, of course)

1. Paulina of Veggie Delight
2. Bazu of Where's the Revolution
3. Cherry the Teenage Health Nut
4. Vegmomma's Vegan Family Dinners
5. Carrie of the House of Simon
6. Don't get mad, get vegan!
7. Atxvegan of Eat'n Veg'n

:)

Also, I've got some DANG exciting news. I'm managed to turn two friends onto veg*nism!

One, H, is an avid environmentalist and was interested in the 'green' aspects of going meat-free. I lent him Diet for a New America, and soon after he decided to go vegetarian. Exciting!

The other friend, F, got all my information diluted through H, and he's totally gone vegetarian too. This is quite surprising, really, since F used to be the most enthusiastic carnivore I've ever known. He's made jokes before about how "one day, Peggy's just going to SNAP and run into a field, and just take a big bite of the nearest cow."

So yes, I am very happy about that.


Also, today I had a lovely picnic with some friends. It was definitely a great time- decent weather, a fun game of rugby, just good fun with my friends. But most awesome of all, was the face that H and F brought vegan chili! YUM! It was Sarah's Delicious Chili from How it All Vegan, and it is highly recommended.

H, another friend, and I are also starting to plan out a vegan lunch program for schools. We're going to try it out at their school first, but we've got some good brainstorming down and I'm fairly confident that this might turn out. Maybe I'd even be able to start the program up at my own school, once we have a package put together and everything! It'd start out real simple- perhaps just some veggie burgers and vegetables on a barbeque with whole wheat buns, plus snack-size boxes of soymilk. I can't wait to see where this will go, so I'll do my best to keep you all updated!

Remember last year when I went to the Heritage Festival? Well it's that time of year again, and I'm heading down their tomorrow! I can't wait to eat some injera... yum!

See you all soon... hopefully!

(Also, I am heading off to SAN FRANCISCO in 10 days, yay! Needless to say, I am very excited)

Kinda the best day ever, so far....

Mmmmm, saskatoon berries! These are kinda the best berries ever... they look similar to a blueberry but have a very distinct taste. I can't really describe it- kinda 'wild' and a bit like a blackberry, but they aren't as overly sweet as other berries... As far as I know, saskatoon berries are only found in Western Canada. :)

Anyways, if you've seen the blog post title you're probably thinking "WHAT IS IT THAT HAS MADE THIS DAY SO SPECTACLULAR?" Well, here's what I've done today:

First, for breakfast, I had a big bowl of oatmeal, as always. :) With blackstrap molasses and cinnamon and apples and flaxseed. Mmmm.

After digesting a bit, I went for a really nice run-bike with my mom... I ran and she biked. It was maybe 20-25 minutes, which was great. We went down into the river valley and I ran around the trails by Laurier Park. Edmonton is so beautiful in the summer! And we saw some lovely saskatoon berries during the run and we just HAD to stop and stuff our faces.

Later, I started to make the yummiest lunch ever:

A summer salad,

(1 tomato + 1 bell pepper + 1/4 of a cucumber + 1 handful of spinach, chopped + a bit of leftover onion, chopped + basil and oregano + balsamic vinegar + apple cider vinegar + flax oil)

And a modified version of my garlicky baby bok choy!, plus ginger, some tamari-marinated tofu, and some green chili pepper.

When my mom got home later, after a stop at Safeway, I plated some of the salad and bok choy for each of us. :)

She loved it! You know, I think she would indeed like to be vegan. Well, she loves my food, at least. Plus, she's always saying how 'great she feels when she eats like me'.

Then, this afternoon, I made a green smoothie... I should have taken a picture, because it was sooo beautiful and sooooo green- and soooooo goood! My youngest sister has a friend over and both she and the friend loved it. Even when I told them that it had spinach!

Peggy's green smoothie

serves one

2 handfuls of spinach
1 kiwi, peeled and quartered
2-4 cubes of frozen watermelon
About 1/2 cup to 1 cup of water.... whatever you need for the right consistency

Whirl it all in the blender, and enjoy!

And when life couldn't get much better... it looks like we'll have a storm tonight. Woohoo!

Rishi's party and the cookies, plus the amaranth pic

Remember those cookies I made?
Well, I went to the year-end bowling/arcade/mini-golf party yesterday, and those cookies were GONE in like 5 seconds. Everybody seemed to like them, most people went for seconds or thirds or more (!) and some people asked if the recipe was vegan. Hah.

And Monica, my friend (?) who seems to hate me and everything about veganism, had three, I think. Who's counting? All that matters is that they realized how good vegan food can be. :)

Anyways, later on we had pizza, and Rishi told me that there was a vegetarian one. I really appreciated that, but told him nicely that I wouldn't eat it "because there was cheese, but thanks anyways". He then INSISTED that he'd get something else for me and just told him nooooo, that it was fine. Well, Rishi ended up buying a vegetable tray, juse for little 'ol me. Aw. What a nice guy. I probably thanked him a million times, but most likely more than that.




And, here's a picture of the blueberry amaranth recipe from the other day, but with some satsuma mandarin oranges too. :)

(No chicken for THIS Iron Chef)

ARGHARGHRGAHRAGRHGAR

Here's my latest rant, posted at the Vegan Freak forum.
(http://www.veganfreaks.net/forum/showthread.php?t=14230)

OK, so I've decided to sign up for my school's Iron Chef competition. I love cooking so I thought that it would be fun, plus give me an opportunity to challenge myself a bit more.

In any case, we get to know our "secret ingredients" ahead of time. And guess what I was told today?

RICE

BROCCOLI

and... CHICKEN

Yes, chicken. Needless to say, I was pretty annoyed- not only are these ingredients kinda boring (I was expecting something fun and exciting like lentils, eggplant, or quinoa even) but CHICKEN.

SO NOT VEGAN.

So, I tried to explain to the coordinating teacher:

"Chicken? Um, that wouldn't work so well with me. I'm vegan, you see.."

"Oh, sorry but we can't change it. And, well, YOU don't have to EAT it"

"No, that doesn't matter. I don't feel comfortable cooking it"
(I wanted to say 'flesh' but held myself back)

"Oh, well you could just have somebody else do it"

Argh. I still didn't say if I would be participating for sure. But seriously- chicken? Don't they realize that SOMEBODY out there, other than me, could be vegetarian, if not vegan?

ARGHGHARGAHRGAHRGAHRGAHRGARHAGRAHGR

There's NO WAY I could feel confortable cooking flesh.

Plus, my guitar broke today so I was already kinda bummed out. But it's all fixed now, so that dilemma is solved.

#3 Be Passionate

#3 Be Passionate




This one is pretty simple: LOVE being vegan and show it!



Bob Torres of Vegan Freak emphasizes the importance of doing vegan outreach through something you're good at, like cooking for omnis to show how yummy vegan food can be, or showing off your artistic ability by selling paintings then donating the profits to a worthy cause.



Me, I'm very passionate about cooking. My family makes fun of me for staying up late reading cookbooks and recipes, of all things, and even though I'll admit that IS weird, it's who I am. And by feeding my culinary curiousity, I've been able to really experiment with omni-turned-vegan dishes and my own creations as well.



Also, I've been so excited about veganism that I write about it any chance I get- that means in essays for school! I'm sure that 4 out of the last 4 assignments I've had to do have had something about veganism in them, and I love it.



Of course, blogs work too! If you spend a lot of time on the internet, you might as well put that time to good use.



There are so many ways to show your passion about veganism out there. SO MANY.

Personally, by showing so much passion and happinesss in living a compassionate lifestyle, my family as more readily accepted me for who I am: a VEGAN!





Anyways, I just got back from Hawaii and it was absolutely fabulous. I can't even put it in words. It really sucks to come back to Edmonton, where it's -10 Celsius... In any case, I finally tried tempeh for the first time (I can't find plain it anywhere here) and it was great.

(the Iao Needle, in Iao Vallery State Park)

More pictures later!

#2 Be Strong

BE STRONG!

DON'T let your parents/friends/teachers/relatives think that it's "just a phase".
If living a compassionate lifestyle is important to you, let them see that! You'll show that you're serious and want to make a real change.

While many transitioning vegans/vegetarians may find it difficult to eliminate certain foods, you'll have it extra tough because your friends and family might be wanting you to slip up. Yes, I know that it sounds weird, but it's true. Some omnis take pleasure in showing that you're not 100% vegan, that you're not pure. The solution to this is either: a) try not to eat animals and their secretions in the first place, or b) take their silly criticisms in a calm way, telling them that you're doing your best and/or stil transistioning.

Also, don't let awkward situations comprimise your values. Sure, you might feel a bit bad for not eating some of Aunt Bertha's famous scalloped potatoes because of the cheese, but by acting in accordance with your values, you show how strongly you believe in abolishing animal exploitation.

I could write pages and pages on this subkect of being strong in your beliefs, but I've got to pack for HAWAII. I'm leaving at 1:00 this afternoon, and won't be back until the 1st or 2nd. Woohoo!

#1 Be Informed

(sorry that I haven't posted in a while, life's been rather hectic)

In my opinion, before confronting your family to tell them that you would like to become vegan, it is ESSENTIAL that you really know what you're doing. Read up not only on the accounts of agribusiness' cruelty towards non-human animals, but also on PLENTY of nutrition-related reports and articles.

Actually, since many parents oppose veganism mostly because they think you won't get enough nutrients ("Where do you get your protein?"), it's cruicial to learn everything you can about the health benefits of veganism. Make sure to check articles about each specific nutrient that you know they'll ask about, like B12 and iron and calcium. Then, when they ask you these questions, you can respond intelligently and be taken much more seriously.

This doesn't just apply to teen vegans, though- any aspiring vegan can take this advice.

When you say "I'm vegan because I don't believe in the exploitation of non-human animals, because I believe that it is the way humans were meant to live, and because there's no nutrients you can't get from not eating animal products", you'll probably sound much more well-informed and be taken much more seriously than if you say "I'm vegan because I don't want to eat animals", even though both of these explanations make perfect sense.


Here are some *incomplete* lists of books and sites to check out:

Recommended reading:

Diet for a New America by John Robbins
Becoming Vegan by Brenda Davis
The China Study by T. Colin Campbell
Vegan Freak: Being Vegan in a Non-Vegan World by Bob and Jenna Torres

Links:
http://www.veganhealth.org/
http://www.compassionatecooks.com/
http://www.organicathlete.org/
http://www.veganoutreach.org/
http://www.tryveg.com
http://www.goveg.com/
http://www.veganfreak.com/

Vegan, vegan, everywhere

Ever since I've become vegan, it seems like there's opportunities to talk about it EVERYWHERE.

Like, in the past 2 weeks we've had to write 3 essays in various subjects, and so far I've written about veganism in each one. And, today in Religion class we were debating about whether obedience stifles creativity,. I almost stating going on an angry-vegan rant about how the media feeds us lies and our parents are also so imposing of MEAT and DAIRY and EGGS on us. But I restrained myself.

And sometimes somebody says something like AHHH I LOVE CHEESE and I can't help but tell them that it's got caseio morphine in it. (caseo? caseio?)

Also, today some guy from an Angloquin first nations tribe did a presentation at school, and he was saying something like this: (translated from french)

"Oh, and us Angloquins have vegetarians too! Some of us don't eat meat. The word vegetarian comes, actually, from a word from our language meaning BAD HUNTER"

And of course people laughed and I was all argharghargahgrhg.


Anyways, I've typed up a bunch of recipes, but I don't want to post them until I make them again and take lovely pictures.