Alicia Silverstone's Blog, page 186

new years hangover tea

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New Year's Day can be less of a holiday and more of a hangover day for a lot of people. So in honor of NYE recovery day I'm sharing my Cure All Tea recipe from my book p. 290.

Cure All Tea

Ingredients

1 kukicha tea bag if you're using loose-leaf tea follow the package instructions
1/4-1/2 umeboshi plum pit removed and chopped very fine
3-5 drops shoyu

Steps

Steep the tea in 1 cup of boiling water
While the tea steeps place the umeboshi plum into a teacup with the shoyu
Pour the hot tea over the umeboshi plum in the teacup and stir well
Drink hot
The umeboshi pit is also good to suck on if you want

Also remember when you have a hangover you might think you want a bunch of heavy junk the next day - but the cleaner you eat the better you will feel quickly. Green juice brown rice or steamed greens like kale are great hangover foods. But in my ancient party days I noticed a huge difference between a veggie burger and fries and cakes versus the clean food.

What are your favorite hangover cures?

happy new year everyone!

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It's New Year's Eve again and whether you're getting ready to relax or paint the town we kind lifers have a lot to celebrate! We also have a lot of work to do in the next year – but before we get to that I'd like recap some of the successes we've had this year.

Congress passed a child nutrition bill that will make school lunches a little bit healthier not perfect but it's progress!
Congress also passed a food safety bill that will empower the FDA to prevent food contamination also not perfect but we will take it for now!
NASA halted its proposed radiation experiments on squirrel monkeys – what a major precedent-setting victory. I'm so happy about this one!
Los Angeles enacted a plastic bag ban for all unincorporated areas in LA County partial victory – let's lobby our cities to do the same if they haven't already!
A bunch of major power players became vegan! Bill Clinton Mark Zuckerberg Steve Jobs Biz Stone Steve Wynn…can't wait to see who else goes veg in 2011

2010 was an amazing year! Let's all continue to make the world a kinder place in 2011. What are your kind priorities for this coming year?

cookies and hot chocolate for a cozy night in

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After a big holiday blow-out there's nothing better than spending a cozy night in! These Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies from my book p. 187 and my yummy Hot Chocolate p. 211 go perfectly together. Eat them while watching your favorite movie!

Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients

Cookies

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup brown rice flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup safflower oil
2/3 cup maple syrup
2 t vanilla extract
1 t fine sea salt

Chocolate Coating

2 cups grain-sweetened nondairy chocolate or carob chips
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 T safflower oil

Steps

Preheat oven to 350
Combine the flours and baking powder in a large mixing bowl
In a separate bowl whisk together the oil syrup vanilla extract and salt
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to form a smooth dough
If the mixture is too crumbly add a bit of water 1 teaspoon at a time and up to 1 tablespoon more oil until the dough just holds together
Roll the dough out to ½" thickness between two sheets of parchment or wax paper
Use cookie cutters or a knife to cut the dough into desired shapes
Arrange the cookies on the prepared baking sheet
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned
Transfer the cookies to a baking rack to cool completely
While the cookies are cooling combine the chocolate chips syrup and oil in the top of a double boiler and place over simmering water
If you don't have a double boiler place a stainless steel bowl over boiling water and melt the ingredients in it
Turn off the heat cover and let stand for 5-10 minutes or until the chocolate melts
Stir until smooth
Dip each cookie halfway into the chocolate sauce and place on a sheet of wax or parchment paper
Chill in the refrigerator until hardened

 

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Hot Chocolate

Ingredients

1 cup soy/rice milk blend
1 t unsweetened cocoa powder
1 T grain-sweetened nondairy chocolate or carob chips
1/4 t vanilla extract
1 t maple syrup
Optional toppings: vegan marshmallows nondairy whipped topping or chocolate shavings

Steps

Whisk the milk cocoa powder chocolate chips vanilla extract and syrup together in a small saucepan
Place over medium heat
Cook until the chocolate chips are melted whisking occasionally
Serve naked or with your choice of topping

What is your favorite movie-night snack?

my thoughts about celebrating the new year

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This is an updated version of a blog I posted last year about ideas for celebrating the New Year as well as reflecting on the previous year and your goals for the next. I highly recommend journaling on or around New Year's Eve to look back on the year and get perspective on your goals for 2011. I've shared a few other ideas for having a fun eco & safe New Year's below too!

For the past 4 years Christopher and I have been keeping special New Year's journals. We sit down on New Year's Eve and write down everything that happened that year... the highlights highs and lows accomplishments things we were proud of meaningful events or maybe things that were sad. Next we write about what we want 2011 to be like. Then the next year when we go and look back at what we wrote it's really cool to see if those things ended up happening... a great way to start the new year.

Here are some of our resolutions and other New Year's thoughts:

Eat Right

This one is an on-going one but eat right!!! Do what you can to get whole foods and fresh veggies greens and plant based proteins into your diet.  Get your hands on The Kind Diet and go nuts! Make the Mixed Berry Cheesecake or the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups and have a party!

Get Rid of Old Stuff

It is a perfect time to go through all of your old stuff and recycle/give away all the things that you have been meaning to get rid of. This will make you feel so much lighter and happier! Go through things like your medicine cabinet and kitchen cleaning supplies. Give them away and replace them with more eco friendly choices. Go through your closet and sell your clothes to your local recycled clothing store or give them to Goodwill.

Get Out Of Debt

Another great thing to do on New Year's is to get out of debt! Start saving money if you haven't already... it's never too late to start doing this! And doing things like washing your clothes in cold water turning off lights and unplugging things you don't need plugged in can make a difference in your monthly bills... ok not an insane difference but every little bit counts right?! Remember 50 of your electricity bill is just plugged in stuff that sits there! You can sell your old TV's or other things on Craigslist and make a few bucks!

Go Outside

Get out there and be active! Enjoy a day in the sun or rain! on a nice walk or bike ride. Find a local hike near your home.  Hang out in your own yard or courtyard area! Make a little area in your yard that can be special just for you or you and friends. Use pillows blankets yoga mats whatever you've got.

If you take a little vacation for a New Year's celebration remember that most travel companies and forms of transportation now offer carbon offset programs for your trips. Make sure to ask about them.

About New Year's Eve

Choose Organic

Go for organic wine beer and spirits when you can – I love Merchant Du Vin for great organic beer! Organic is better for you better for the people who grow the ingredients and produce it and better for the planet. When you drink organic wine you are keeping up to 250 chemicals that are used to produce non-organic wine out of your life and out of your body! Organic wines also mean the possibility of little to no hangover... fewer chemicals and fewer sulfites mean a better feeling head the next day. Localharvest.org  is a great site to find organic vineyards and breweries in your area.

Bottom line is that with organic wines anytime you can find wine made with organic grapes wines that use 100 organic ingredients biodynamic wines... go for it! They are a big eco step-up from conventional wines. Trader Joe's has a good one called Our Daily Red.

Don't Drink and Drive

Another note... Make sure that you don't drink and drive! There are now green taxi services so you can help the planet and also ensure that you get to and from your destination safe and sound. Just Google "green taxi service" and find one in your area. If you can't find a green taxi a regular one will work just fine too!

Cure That Hangover

Don't forget... if you are feeling the consequences of a fun New Year's Eve the Cure All Tea from my book p. 290 works wonders on a hangover!

Have a warm kind fun filled New Year's!

new freecity store in hollywood!

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One of my dearest friends Nina has opened her new Free City store in Hollywood at 1139 Highland Ave! You may remember the post I wrote about her and Free City's awesome clothes last May.
 
This place is sooo special! Her Santa's Workshop where they make everything locally is right around the corner. The vibe of the store is so beautiful and groovy and happy. You must run there! Here's why:

They sell Kind Kreme ice cream and if you can't make it to the valley to get this or you're closer to Hollywood…run! The coffee chip flavor will blow your mind. I'm eating a tub of it that I got from Freecity yesterday as I type! They also sell Life Food Organic Chocolate Almond Milk…yummmm! I drank it with my husband like a milk shake.
The store is an art gallery so basically from the moment you arrive from the street it is just one big happy creative experience. Free City employees are really friendly and super cute too.
I love Nina! She is one of the greatest smurfs ever to walk the planet.

They also have a bike rack so you can ride your bike there! Here is the full address of the Hollywood Freecity store:
 
Freecity Supershop
1139 N Highland Ave
Los Angeles CA 90038
Neighborhood: Hollywood
 
Check it out and tell me how you like it!

my animal acres birthday food & flowers!

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At my birthday party we had a delicious meal too! We served hummus from Beverly Falafel - a must go-to in LA for great falafel sandwiches or for the falafel plate. I always get the falafel plate minus the falafel - it's so good! We also had field roast sausages the smoked ones and people were freaking out over them! This is the perfect "wow a meat-eater" food. Sooo good!

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For beverages we bought a keg of Fat Tire beer I love a keg! It feels very environmentally friendly if you also use eco cups. Fat Tire is vegan but not organic - but it is a great microbrewery. We also had my favorite vegan beers Samuel Smith Pinkus and a Samuel Smith alcoholic cider from Merchant Du Vin. For the kids we served Dr. Hansen's Whole Foods-brand 365 sodas and apple juices. We also served filtered water from our home in big apple juice jugs that we'd saved.

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We rounded out the spread with Kind Kreme and the Crispy Peanut Butter with Chocolate Chips Treats from my book. Here's a quick tip: if you make these be sure your measurements are exact! Too little rice syrup will make them hard and some natural peanut butters have a lot of oil separation so make sure you stir it up really really well so you end up with oil evenly distributed. If not you could end up with lumpy dry peanut butter at the bottom of the jar and that will make for harder treats.

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We made sure to use all compostable or biodegradable plates and cups and our very thoughtful friend who is a florist Annika created some beautiful organic flower arrangements to accompany everything - I'll blog about this soon! Instead of gifts I asked that people make donations to Animal Acres.

It was a lovely day!

If you live in LA and have never been to Animal Acres you must run there...at least to make out with Cowboy before he grows up! And bring all of your friends - have a kids birthday party or adult party there! It's the best! Please get everyone you know to Animal Acres. It brings out the best in people and it's truly heart-opening.

Animal Acres offers awesome Sunday tours that are free to the public. And if you're interested in volunteering there you can do so any day of the week!

my animal acres birthday - my husbands band!

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For my birthday party at Animal Acres my husband got together with his musician friends and made up a band called the Frog Mountain Band!

The other band members were my dear friend the gorgeous and talented Leisha Hailey of Uh Huh Her Bobby who was in S.T.U.N. with my husband and is now in the Street Drum Corps and Chris Murphy along with his talented men.

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This little boy was rocking out with the band and in the video from my party you can see the little girl rockin out too!

It got freezing at the end of the day when they started to play so we had to find clothes to put on Leisha. Her super cute outfit was way too cold – so she might be horrified to have you see her in this outfit! They played wonderful music. It was sweet to see my husband play - he never invites me to his gigs so this was special :

What's your favorite kind of music?

my animal acres birthday sweet cowboy!

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At my birthday party at Animal Acres there was also a baby calf named Cowboy...I fell in love! Animal Acres rescuers found him in West Hollywood where he was left beside an apartment building caged in by shopping carts - the only barrier separating him from a large dog. He did not have any shelter from the scorching heat and had been left with only a small water bowl which he was too young to drink from.

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When he was rescued Cowboy was very thin and weak and had large patches of hair loss on his back. He was placed into a rehabilitation pen at Animal Acres and his daily treatments and special feedings began. Day by day he grew stronger and less fearful and on the seventh day he did a little calf dance kicked up his back legs and his caretakers knew he was well on the road to recovery.

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It's horrible to imagine what would have happened to Cowboy had Animal Acres not been able to rescue him. They believe he might have been used for dog fighting bate a backyard barbeque or a similar horrific fate. At Animal Acres Cowboy thrived with nourishing food and lots of bottles filled with electrolytes – kind of like cow gatorade and tender-loving care.

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Cowboy loved to play with visitors and pretty much everyone who met him fell in love! So much so that he was recently adopted by a family on a neighboring farm. It's wonderful when animals find loving forever-homes because that means Animal Acres can rescue another animal in need.

Have you ever fed a baby cow?

my animal acres birthday the animals!

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Little girls and big boys too told me chickens were sitting in their laps and that they were petting them just like they would a dog!

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The goats and sheep at Animal Acres are adorable too as are the donkey baby pigs and the huge pigs who are unfortunately selectively bred and genetically engineered to be enormous so they produce more meat.

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Modern breeding practices produce pigs that are growing so fast and so abnormally large that they reach "slaughter weight" when they are only 6 months of age.  

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Even little piglets that are rescued and brought to Animal Acres and receive no growth hormones etc will grow to be excessively large – typically 900 pounds by the age of two. At Animal Acres they are cared for with love by the staff and volunteers. At my birthday party they named the largest fattest pig after me! And it's an honor!

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It was great to watch all of these adults and kids feed hay to huge I mean the hugest I've ever seen! cows. They were all lined up so sweetly. One of the cows was the baby rescued for Morgan Spurlock's "30 Days" episode about a hunter living with animal rights activists. That was a great episode.

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Do you have an animal sanctuary near you?

my birthday party at animal acres

For years I have dreamed of inviting a large group of people who are not veggie and who have never been around farm animals to a sanctuary for a fun get-together and yummy food. I did this for my 25th birthday and here we are 9 years later!

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In the video you'll notice how surprised I was at how huge the cows were! They were literally the size of horses... I'd never seen cows that big in my life and I have seen some cows in my day... These guys were amazingly big!

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This year I had a post-birthday celebration about a month after my real b-day at Animal Acres a wonderful sanctuary just 45 minutes outside of Los Angeles in Acton California. There were so many adorable animals and great people at my birthday shindig so I'm sharing all my pictures in a series of blogs – this is just part one!