Alicia Silverstone's Blog, page 163

peanut butter apricot cookies!

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I found these Peanut Butter Apricot Cookies from Michelle's Naturally and I have to say they're pretty darn good. My husband Christopher's favorite kind is Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter.

Now these aren't the type of cookies that I would tell you to run out and get for your non-veg friends to show them how yummy veg food can be. But if you are trying to avoid sugar and still want to have a treat every once in a while... Like my husband... Then these do the trick.

They are made with love and with great healthy ingredients... And they taste pretty darn good! I just ate 3 of them. Oops sorry husband for eating your cookies!

What's your favorite vegan cookie?

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Published on July 15, 2011 08:00

my husband and bobby alt!

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I came across this old photo and wanted to share it with you all! It's a little personal picture of my husband's old band S.T.U.N. This picture was taken in probably 2005 or 2006 and it was from the last show that they ever played. They were playing at an animal rights benefit/festival for John Feldman Goldfinger with My Chemical Romance.

Anywho I just think that Bobby the drummer and my husband Christopher the one screaming into the mic are so cute and cool in this picture! I had never seen this photo before someone sent it to us recently... And I thought it was so rockin' and wanted to share!

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Published on July 14, 2011 12:00

sleeeepy kitties!

Via LA Unleashed

I love this video! It made me and Christopher giggle hard. These kittens sleeping all in a row will melt your heart! Do you have any rescued cats or kittens?

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Published on July 13, 2011 08:00

arisas kind pregnancy

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I met Kind Lifer Arisa at a book signing in Pasadena. She has a great story about switching to a kind diet during pregnancy. Check it out!

"I grew up believing meat and dairy were an essential part of my life. I couldn't live without my bacon cheeseburgers. I was sure vegetarians had no clue what they were missing otherwise they wouldn't give up meat. And I figured vegans had to have had a serious brain injury to willingly give up cheese. Despite my high protein diet I was sluggish suffered from frequent colds had been diagnosed with reflux of the esophagus allergies and severe headaches from TMJ. I thought since I was in so much pain as a teenager I probably wouldn't live past thirty.

When I was in my third trimester of pregnancy with my first daughter my health spiraled even further downhill. I wasn't sleeping at night; I had heart burn pain from my reflux and no energy. Although those are all "normal" aches and pains that go with pregnancy I believed that with life growing inside me I should be feeling my best. So I decided to change my diet. I remembered a raw diet I had come across when I was in high school and switched to it immediately. I had lots of juices salads and beans; soon my pain disappeared. I felt better than I had in years. The head aches from my TMJ even lightened up because I was sleeping so well at night. I felt light something I never imagined I would feel while being pregnant. My belly grew and I continued to gain weight but fat on my love handles and legs disappeared all thanks to my improved diet.

I had a home birth and it was the greatest experience of my life. It felt right. Like that was the way I was meant to give birth in a place where I was comfortable with few rules and no one pressuring me to get the process done a certain way. I was allowed to trust my body. Sure it was totally painful but the midwives and my husband had so much faith in me that I was able to deliver naturally and it was such an overwhelmingly beautiful bonding experience for our new little family. Our daughter Thérèse was born not breathing and the midwives handled it with ease. We have pictures of my husband cuddling our newly born baby and feeding oxygen through a tube to her not even an hour old. We were glad we weren't in a hospital where they would have whisked her away immediately and we wouldn't have been very involved."

Arisa also shared this update with me:

"Both my in-laws have become vegan and they love their new lifestyle! Their cholesterol and weight have dropped so much with just the change of diet that my mother-in-law's doctor wanted to know if she had been exercising more. They are such an inspiration to me and help me stay focused."

What a beautiful family! You guys look like teenagers! Your picture is so great - like an ad for cuteness. For more about Arisa and her family you can check out Arisa's blog here.

If any of you Kind Lifers have a success story you'd like to share private message me or publish a note to your profile and "like" it. I may feature you on the homepage of The Kind Life!

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Published on July 12, 2011 12:00

makeup brushes

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Kind Lifer Megan recently wrote to me asking how animal bristles are obtained for products like makeup brushes and paintbrushes so I talked to PETA to get the downlow about brushes made from animal bristles.

According to PETA it's tough to get concrete information from a good source on this topic. But here is what we know:

Many brushes are made from animal hair such as squirrel pony goat sable and mink. Every year millions of these animals are trapped cruelly beaten and killed for their hair and fur. Additionally a small amount of badger hair is imported into the United States from China but it is expensive and strictly controlled so it is not typically used by brush manufacturers.

Makers of pony and goat hairbrushes claim that the hair is collected during grooming. PETA says that given the number of goats and horses on farms this is possible but difficult to prove. On the other hand hair obtained from wild animals most likely involves killing the animal - it's hard to imagine anyone giving a badger squirrel or mink a haircut.

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If you already have brushes that work well don't go out and buy new ones - enjoy the ones you have. Just be sure to buy kind versions next time you need them! If you do need some vegan makeup brushes my EcoTools brushes are 100 cruelty-free and earth-friendly. If you are on the market for vegan paintbrushes Winsor Newton makes some synthetic brushes – they also sell brushes made from animal hair though so make sure to double check the materials from which your brushes are made.

Have any of you kind artists found a great brand of vegan paintbrushes and art supplies? And what are your favorite eco-friendly hairbrushes?

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Published on July 11, 2011 08:00

madeleines vegetable stock recipe!

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Madeleine Ignon is an artist and vegetarian chef based in San Francisco. Her vegetable stock recipe is great because it allows you to use all the parts of your veggies instead of throwing them away or composting them. You can use vegetable stock in almost anything from cooking rice to making hummus. Check it out:

Homemade Vegetable Broth
By Madeleine Ignon

I find myself constantly cooking with vegetable broth. Buying good broth is expensive and I never know what to do with those boxes with the screw tops. I also hate seeing perfectly good parts of vegetables go to waste. So out of necessity economy and a concern for my overflowing compost bin I started making my own vegetable broth. It is easy only takes a few hours saves money and lets you get the most out of your produce.

I add it to tomato sauces and homemade hummus. I use it to cook beans chilis or when un-freezing frozen vegetables. Cooking brown rice in vegetable broth gives it a richer taste and adds a deep brown color. I have to give my mother credit for this technique—it was one of the first things she taught me about the basics of cooking. Cooking with homemade broth gives dishes a more personal touch and you will be more in control of the flavors. If you're feeling creative try a few versions with different vegetables or buy specific vegetables you think will complement each other.

When chopping up an onion a head of broccoli a cucumber—any vegetable that leaves you with skins ends or cast-offs—save them and store them in your freezer. Leek and kale stalks artichoke leaves potato skins carrot tops and tomato cores all work really well. You can even include fruit: if you're hulling strawberries toss their tops in too but banana peels and apple cores are out. When you've amassed a significant amount of frozen scraps dump it all in a big pot on your stovetop and add about twice as much water. No need to get technical or precise since it's just like making a pot of stew or soup with your leftovers.

Madeleine's Vegetable Broth

Ingredients

2-3 cups of frozen vegetable/fruit scraps depending on how much stock you want to make and how strong you want it to be
4-6 cups of water again depending on quantity and concentration
½-1 teaspoon salt
½-1 teaspoon pepper
2 bay leaves
Dashes of whatever extra fresh or dried spices/herbs you like suggestions: rosemary basil dill paprika sage…depending on what vegetables you use it's nice to think about what would complement the flavors.

Steps

Add scraps salt and pepper and spices and get water up to a boil then leave it on a low to medium heat for a few hours stirring occasionally.
After 2-3 hours on the stove let it cool and strain it with a pasta strainer.
After that it's ready to get put into containers and stored in the fridge. Madeleine usually use a couple mason jars. Without an airtight seal the jars or cans of broth will keep in the refrigerator for about two weeks which is plenty of time to use it up. Or you could even pour the broth into an ice tray and stick that in the freezer until you are ready to use them like vegetable bouillon cubes. In most ice trays the cubes will come out as roughly a large tablespoon.

Thanks Madeleine! Do you Kind Lifers have any other tips for using kitchen scraps and reducing waste?

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Published on July 08, 2011 08:00

birds on my balcony

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Last spring a family of birds decided to make their nest in the pull down blinds on our balcony. They lived there for a while and every time I would come outside the bird watching the nest would fly away then return only after I left. The eggs were so vulnerable! One day they hatched and I could see the fluffy little things all inside the nest.

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While there were babies in there our friend Anna picked one up. I was concerned that it was bad to touch the baby bird - that maybe the mama bird would reject it - but it seemed to be fine as all the birds flew into the tree next door while they learned the ways of the world. The whole process was sweet to watch.

I suppose ideally you leave them alone. What do you think about touching baby birds? What wildlife do you see often?

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Published on July 07, 2011 12:00