Alicia Silverstone's Blog, page 157

have you seen the poster for vamps?

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The poster for Vamps the movie I filmed in Detroit last year just came out! I had so much fun sharing veg food on the set with Krysten Ritter and several other members of the cast and crew. Vamps comes out in 2012 – I'll keep you posted on exactly when. Anywho just wanted to share!

kind goodies: win a back to school kit from ecotools!

Calling all college-bound kind lifers and kind mamas with school age children! EcoTools is giving away three back to school kits from my collection. Each winner will receive the following items:

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4-Piece Backstage Vanity Brush Set – Comes with a countertop brush holder stocked with a Finishing Brush Angled Eye Shadow Brush and Lash and Brow Groomer

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Train Case – A carry-all for your beauty accessories school supplies or anything you need to tote around

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Deluxe Pencil Case – This handy item has a removable interior case three interior storage pockets and enough space to hold your pencils or five of your fave EcoTools brushes

All materials used in my EcoTools collection are earth-friendly and include tree-free paper a natural hemp blend recycled plastic lining as well as non-toxic inks. The brushes are the softest brushes I have ever used and are made with recycled aluminum bamboo and cruelty-free synthetic bristles. The collection is now available at Target Walmart and Walgreens so check it out next time you're at the store!
 
To enter for a chance to win an EcoTools back to school kit leave a comment below telling me how you plan to make this school year your most eco-friendly one yet!

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peters blood orange quinoa

Here's another recipe from Peter the amazing chef on the set of Gods Behaving Badly. Enjoy!

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Blood Orange Quinoa

Note from Peter: As with most of my recipes I make this in large quantities but you can halve this recipe very easily.

Ingredients

2 lbs 4 cups organic quinoa
6 cups blood orange soda available in most specialty stores - usually imported from France and sweetened with beet sugars
2 cups red beet juice
3 large golden beets roasted and chilled cut into 8 pieces
3 large red beets roasted and chilled cut into 8 pieces
3 large oranges divided into segments
1 bunch fresh mint chopped
¼ cup scallions diced
3 lemons zested and juiced
3 limes zested and juiced
1-2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ cup fresh flat parsley roughly chopped
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Note: The beets can be roasted and chilled the day before and the remaining ingredients can be prepped while the quinoa is cooking. If you halve the recipe liquid proportions are 2 liquid to 1 quinoa.

Instructions

Start with 2 lbs of organic quinoa washed and rinsed. A trick I just learned is to cover with water and soak overnight then rinse and wash again prior to cooking. This cuts the cooking time in half and makes the quinoa more fluffy and easier to digest.
In a rice cooker add 3 parts blood orange soda and 1 part red beet juice
When the liquid starts to boil add the quinoa stir and close the rice cooker. You can use a stovetop or cook covered in the oven – however I find the rice cooker cooks more evenly.
When the quinoa is done taste for softness and make sure all liquid is absorbed
Lay out on a sheet pan and cool in fridge
Pour the quinoa which will be a beautiful pinkish orange color into a bowl with all other ingredients
Add lemon zest and juice lime zest and juice and a splash or two of extra virgin olive oil
Add salt and pepper to taste
Mix together and top with parsley

Thank you Peter! If any of you try this recipe let me know how it turns out!

welcoming all kind newbies!

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I got recently got a letter from new kind lifer Laura and I wanted to share!

Hi Alicia

I first heard about your website and mission on the Gourmet Live app. Something about your message spoke to me.

I have never attempted any vegan meals before let alone vegetarian ones. But you inspired me to rethink food and my footprint here on the planet.

I headed over to Whole Foods today to stock up on a few things. I made my first vegan meal tonight a riff on quinoa with black beans and tomato.

Not only was it delicious I feel GREAT right now! Thank you for being so inspirational.

Laura you inspire all of us! Please welcome Laura and help her as she explores her new kind diet! What recipes do you recommend she try first? Do you have any special tips for her? Share them in the comments below!

If anyone else is a kind newbie please share your questions in the comments below and I will answer them in a future blog.

meet kind blogger bonzai aphrodite

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Kind lifer Sayward Rebhel has a great blog called Bonzai Aphrodite all about living green eating vegan and raising a kind baby you may remember her adorable son Waits from my 'kind cuties' post.

Here's one of Sayward's posts addressing the idea that vegans are "giving up" food that tastes good:

All I am Saying Is Give Peas A Chance
By Sayward Rebhel

Last week I got into a bit of an . . . erm . . . discussion . . . with an acquaintance on Facebook. Usually I'm good about avoiding Internet drama practicing positivity! but then every so often . . . I'm not. Sometimes it's just so hard to stay silent. Especially when it comes to misrepresentations of veganism.

In this case someone had posted a status update snarking vegans. She proclaimed them to be self-important and preachy I know creative right? Such a tired old cliché but I digress. and added a sarcastic "sure I'll give up everything that tastes good yeah right!" paraphrased. The first part has been discussed to death but this second sentiment got me thinking. And that's what I want to talk about today.

Eating is such an emotional act whether we realize it or not. And preference is a funny thing where the flavors we favor are formed by a lifetime of positive and negative reinforcements. If you grow up eating curries you'll have a taste for spice. If you eat a lot of collards you won't mind bitter greens. And if all you ingest is fast food you'll have a penchant for grease and salt. This is pure training – tongue training – plain and simple.

Even if you understand this you might not think to apply it. After all patience is not often brought to the table when one is changing their diet. But patience is the most important ingredient!

In this modern world we want a quick fix and instant results. The decision to go veg is often epiphanal – a shocking connection is made be it health animals or environment and we're inspired to act fast. We decide to go vegn all at once rejecting in an instant our whole history of habits. And when the cravings hit – and of course they do – then we cave and give up and tell ourselves "It's just not worth depriving myself of such pleasure!"

But it doesn't have to be like that! Take the story of Damian and the Tofu a parable that perfectly illustrates what I'm getting at:

A long long time ago Damian had a girlfriend. She was a vegetarian he was a meat-eater and they were together for two years. Once a week or so they'd go out for Thai. He always got the same thing – pad thai chicken and she always got the same thing – tofu yellow curry. And can you guess how many times Damian tasted her dish? None. Never. Not once. Each week every week for two years he turned up his nose because he "didn't like tofu".

Flash forward through the years and one day poor Damian's wife that's me! declares that their home is now vegan. Damian is skeptical but supportive. The wife works hard to create the most tastiest meals. Damian genuinely gives them a chance. He slowly drops meat and then removes all animal products.

And now a few years later Thanksgiving will be 2 years vegetarian! Damian is practically begging for tofu with every meal and that wicked wife just won't make that much soy haha. Tofu has become his absolute favorite full of happy memories and delicious flavor associations and a whole new nostalgia. And it's been that way for almost two years – it didn't take long for him to come around at all.

The moral of the story is that you can change your tastes! You'll never have to "give up everything you love" because if you keep a truly open mind and allow yourself some time then "everything you love" will become vegan!

Thank you Sayward! How do all you kind lifers share your diet with others in your life? And how do you deal with antagonism from non-veg friends?

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success story: kims newfound health

Kind Lifer and mother of three Kim recently shared how she was able to renew her health by adopting a kind diet. Check it out:

"I took my three kids out to the library about three weeks ago. I sat down in this big comfy chair and right in front of me in this beautiful display was The Kind Diet. I have been thin my whole life and have never been interested in dieting. But for some reason your book spoke to me! What could be 'kind' about dieting?

I come from a 'hunting' family; I love animals but was taught that they were put on this earth for consumption. So when I started to read about animal kindness I thought it was going to be 'gushy' for lack of a better word. I was skeptical!! Heard it all before mumbo jumbo! But I read anyway… and one chapter into it something changed in me.

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Before

I have always embraced my age but at 41 I was beginning to experience 'symptoms of aging.' I was sluggish and tired; my emotions were on a roller coaster; my skin was starting to break out which was new - I have always had great skin and hair; my belly was looking saggy. My mind would race; I was getting forgetful and I just felt like my brain couldn't shut down. I would wake up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep. My periods had been horrible for two years. Someone told me it was peri-menopause…at 41? Come on! Just part of getting older? I didn't think so! I was feeling like I was going crazy - that something was happening to my body and I had no control over it. My sleeping thing was bothering me to the point that I was considering hormone replacement therapy. I read that women who go into menopause too early have a huge chance of getting breast cancer ovarian and cervical cancer and that HRT is the only way to prevent that. Ugh!

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After

Anyway when you talked about the hormones and antibiotics in the meat... that hit home. It wasn't my age; it was what I was putting in my body! I read the whole book and I was sold on a kinder diet. I brought the book to work - I own a girls accessories company and I have a bunch of moms who work for me. We made the commitment to give a kinder diet a try for four weeks and at the end of the four weeks if we wanted to go back to eating meat we would.. but for four weeks we had to be superhero! Go big or go home! Can I tell you…this has changed my life. In 3 weeks all of my symptoms were gone.

I now have a clarity that I have never had before! I have energy that is natural not stimulated!"

I love this! I'm so happy for you Kim and it's great that you shared The Kind Diet with your employees! If any of you kind lifers have a success story to share private message me or write a note on your profile and "like" it. I may feature you on the homepage of The Kind Life!

crazy amazing beautiful!

labor day mac n cheese

Hooray for long weekends! If you're attending a BBQ or potluck this weekend you may want to share this yum-looking mac 'n "cheese" by Chef Chloe. I haven't tried this recipe yet but it looks like a nice dish to share with flirts or anyone who has never had the pleasure of vegan comfort food!

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Vegan Mac 'N Cheese
By Chef Chloe

Ingredients

1 lb. elbow macaroni or piccolini
3 cups broccoli florets
¼ cup vegan margarine
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups soy almond or rice milk
½ cup nutritional yeast
2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp agave syrup

Instructions

Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil
Add macaroni and cook according to package directions
Add broccoli for the last five minutes of boiling and let cook until broccoli is fork tender
Drain and return to pot
In a medium saucepan make a roux or paste by whisking the margarine and flour over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes
Add nondairy milk yeast tomato paste salt and garlic powder to the saucepan and bring to a boil whisking frequently
Reduce heat to low and let simmer until the sauce thickens
Adjust seasoning to taste and stir in lemon juice and agave
Toss the noodles and broccoli with the sauce and serve immediately

Thank you Chef Chloe! If anyone tries this recipe let me know how it goes! What do you plan to cook for Labor Day weekend?