Alicia Silverstone's Blog, page 189

It's Cookie Week on Made Just Right - Sponsored Post

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I hope you all had fun last week baking dessert bars and submitting your recipes to Earth Balance's Made Just Right™ Holiday Bake-off sponsored by Whole Foods Market. This week Earth Balance is asking for your best cookie recipes! That means you can submit recipes for any cookie you can dream up as long as your recipe includes at least one Earth Balance® product!
 
You can submit your cookie recipe at Made Just Right™ today through 11:59pm EST on December 19 so get baking! Winners will receive a 400 Whole Foods Market gift card and a year's supply of Earth Balance® products!

Here is one of my favorite cookie recipes from Kind Lifer Tevia.
 
Tevia's Chocolate Peppermint Glazed Cookies

Ingredients

Cookies:

2 1/2 cups of unbleached flour
1/3 cup of unsweetened vegan cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup of vegan margarine
1 1/2 cups of coconut palm sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened plain soy milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsps pure peppermint extract

Glaze:

1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup cocoa
1/4 cup water
1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp of vanilla
1 tsp peppermint

Steps

Preheat the oven to 350.
Whisk the dry ingredients together in a small mixing bowl.
Blend the wet ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture to form the cookie dough.
Make 2 inch balls and bake them on an ungreased cookie sheet for 7-9 minutes.
Let them cool on a wire rack while you prepare the glaze.
To make the glaze combine the maple syrup apple cider vinegar salt cocoa and water in a small saucepan.
Bring it to a bubble over medium heat.
Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and peppermint extract.
Drizzle over the cooled cookies while it's still warm.
Quickly sprinkle them with vegan crushed peppermints.
Allow the cookies to sit for 5 - 10 minutes until the frosting solidifies.

Have fun making your cookies and remember to submit your recipes at Made Just Right™! And hey I  think it would be way cooler and tastier! if your cookies are vegan! Just saying!

have you seen food inc. yet?

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Ok if you haven't seen this film it's so insanely important that you do! This is the movie to show your resistant family members or friends because even if they don't go veggie I think it will make them hear you differently and better understand your choices. In fact the film is geared toward meat eaters – it's really not a veggie film at all. And I think that is what will get your average person to hear the important facts about the food industry.
 
I mean I'm hysterical right now over a few things! First every time there is a recall on meat how on Earth don't people go crazy? One segment of the film tells the absolutely heartbreaking story of a two-year-old named Kevin Kowalcyk who died after eating hamburger meat tainted with E-coli. His mother and grandmother are now activists who are lobbying Congress to pass Kevin's Law HR 3160 a proposal that would allow the USDA to close down facilities that produce contaminated meat. Kevin's Law was introduced in the 109th Congress and has been sitting in committee since 2005! This is insane! We need to lobby our representatives to get this bill passed. You can find your representatives and contact them here.

Another infuriating issue is that Kevin's mom is prohibited from speaking about certain aspects of her experience such as what she feeds her family now. How is that possible in a country founded on the principle of free speech?  

It also breaks my heart that every time there is a recall all of the animals who suffered horrible lives get thrown away. What a waste! Mass slaughter for nothing. And it seems like recalls happen regularly. Don't people get the message? Animal flesh-based food is not safe! It's unbelievably sad that each year 5000 Americans die from food-borne illnesses.

I am also hysterical over the issue of genetically modified seeds and the persecution of farmers who try not to use them. The corporation Monsanto is particularly culpable here. They behave like thugs going after farmers who try to plant their own seeds and threatening them with lawsuits. Monsanto has somehow succeeding in making it illegal for farmers to collect their own seeds – thereby forcing farmers to buy Monsanto's seeds. The resulting lawsuits have ruined the lives of some farmers – a David and Goliath scenario where the little guy loses every time. I wonder if I can even criticize Monsanto without being sued!
 
The website organicconsumers.org helps to raise awareness about the unethical practices of Monsanto. We can also ask our representatives not to accept campaign contributions from Monsanto. And as consumers we can be sure to avoid buying Monsanto's genetically modified foods by always choosing organic.
 
There is an organic farmer in the film who raises animals for meat but in more humane natural conditions. He also refuses to ship his meat – people have to come to him to buy it. While I appreciate what he is doing and I would take his approach over factory farming any day it still makes me sad that these animals are killed for food. Especially since the chickens were crying so much as they witnessed each other being killed as they were being put into the killing cone..I bet if everyone had to kill the animals they ate most of them would think twice about eating meat. Even when raised in humane conditions the animals suffer and are betrayed in the end. My point is that animals know exactly what's happening in front of them and they're terrified. On top of that the environment still suffers from organic farming – maybe a little less but it still makes a large impact see page 22 of The Kind Diet.

Buy Food Inc. as Christmas presents for everyone! It's not too gruesome or hard to watch. Being one who has horrible images in my head over the years from watching slaughterhouse footage I find this film to be super mild. Even so it's very powerful and informative – it's a must-see!

So please get everyone you know to see this film! And make sure they get everyone they know to see the film. Let's take down Monsanto and get Kevin's Law passed.

my hearty kinpira stew

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If you haven't tried the Hearty Kinpira Soup from my book yet you must! It's so perfect for the winter season. I suggest making it every 10 days all winter long to get the maximum superhero powers from it. It's great for anyone who wants strength and nourishment... and just satisfying yumminess – and for those of you who are pregnant make this soup! It's delicious!

Hearty Kinpira Stew

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 cup burdock sliced into thin matchstick pieces
Pinch of fine sea salt
1 cup carrot sliced into thin matchstick pieces
1 cup lotus root sliced into thin rounds
1 cup thinly sliced kabocha squash peel only if the squash is not organic
1 cup onion diced
1 tbsp sweet white miso see note
1 tbsp barley miso

Steps

Brush the bottom of a soup pot lightly with oil
Place the pot over medium heat
When the oil is hot add the burdock and a pinch of salt
Saute for 5 minutes stirring constantly
If the burdock starts to stick add a little more oil or water
Layer the carrot lotus root and squash on top of the burdock
Cover the vegetables with water and bring to a boil
Lower the heat and simmer covered for 30-40 minutes or until the veggies are very soft
Add more water as needed if the water level becomes too low
Add the onion to the pot and simmer until very soft about 10-15 minutes
Combine the misos in a small cup and dilute them with a little of the soup broth you may add more miso to taste later
Slowly add the diluted miso mixture to the pot and stir gently
Simmer for 3 minutes more taking care not to let the soup boil once the miso has been added
Serve immediately

Note: if you have to choose one miso the barley is more medicinal

What is your favorite kind of stew?

the best veggie burger in LA!

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I had the yummiest veggie burger today from O Burger in West Hollywood. The burger was handmade with roasted corn and it was crispy. It was layered with all of these great veggies and they had a choice of vegan sauces to go on it including a vegan thousand island and a vegan chipotle - I chose the thousand island. It was fantastic!

Now I haven't really scoured LA for veggie burgers but of all of the ones I've tried this was hands down the best. It wasn't too garlicky it was just good! They also make vegan milkshakes and salads.

The only bummer about this place is that they do serve meat. But the owner of the restaurant only buys meat from organic farms etc… not ideal at all but it's a step in the right direction. Hopefully one day they'll stop using meat altogether. Maybe if everyone storms the building ordering veggie burgers he will realize he doesn't need the meat!

Who in your town has the best veggie burger?

an update on plastic & reusable grocery bags

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Grocery bags have been in the news quite a bit lately for reasons both good and bad. Here's the information I've gathered about the ongoing effort to ban plastic bags and the recent reports of lead in certain reusable grocery bags.

A Plastic Bag Ban

Earlier I blogged about a bill that would have banned plastic bags throughout the state of California. Sadly that bill did not pass but recently Los Angeles County took matters into its own hands!

LA has banned plastic bags in all unincorporated areas of the city - that covers about 1.1 million residents. Incorporated cities within Los Angeles County like Santa Monica West Hollywood and Pasadena are not covered by the ban but they can enact their own ordinances. The good news is that this ban is more stringent than the bill that was being debated on the state level because it applies to all retailers not just grocery stores. Also shoppers who wish to use paper bags will need to pay 10 cents per paper bag as opposed to the 5 cents per paper bag proposed in the state bill. Now we just need to lobby our city councils to pass similar ordinances in the cities within Los Angeles County! Your city should have a website with contact information – if you're not sure where to find your city's site a simple Google search should do the trick!

Lead In Reusable Grocery Bags

Recently the New York Times and the Huffington Post among others have reported that lead has been found in certain reusable grocery bags. The Huffington Post reports:

"The Tampa Tribune tested more than a dozen bags from major grocers and found certain bags sold in Winn-Dixie and Publix stores had lead levels that concerned health officials. In a preview of a Sunday article the newspaper's website reported that some bags had enough lead they could be considered hazardous waste if residents disposed of them in household trash."

Scary! My advice is to research your grocery bags before buying. There are many brands that are making sustainable tote bags – you don't have to rely on those sold at the checkout counter of your local grocery store. Get Hip Get Green makes a great bag that is made from 100 recyclable non-woven polypropylene NWPP a material made from recycled water bottles - and the bag is also recyclable. I also blogged about some cute eco-shopping bags here. As you can see there are lots of eco-friendly choices!

What kind of grocery bag do you use?

Holiday Tree Dedications From TreePeople Sponsored Post

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This year you can give a meaningful gift that will inspire anyone on your list and also make a positive impact on the planet!
 
TreePeople is offering Holiday Tree Dedications to help support their work in the fire-damaged Angeles National Forest. The Angeles Forest is the beautiful Los Angeles mountain range that caught fire last year losing more than 160000 acres. That's critical wildlife habitat for deer fox and coyotes as well woodlands filled with oxygen-giving water-capturing trees.
 
TreePeople is working to help bring the Angeles National Forest back to life. Holiday Tree Dedications start at 25 for one tree and the loved ones on your gift list from your yoga teacher to your great-Aunt will get a personalized card announcing your gift. Give a grove of five trees for 100 and they will receive a special certificate announcing your gift in their honor. For 30 more dollars TreePeople will frame your certificate in rustic recycled wood.

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There are several limited edition holiday cards and certificates to choose from in our Tree Dedication catalog. We also have e-card options if you want to try a non-paper holiday greeting. TreePeople gives you two lines to write a message with a maximum character count of 30 per line to include your name and holiday greeting. You can order online here  or talk with a friendly tree-person at 818 753-8733.

Get your orders in early to ensure they arrive on time! Want to send a Holiday Tree Dedication to a friend in London? International shipping is available at no extra cost and all domestic cards and certificates are shipped first-class mail.

Although there won't be a sign in the forest for your dedicated trees TreePeople invites you and your friends and family to experience their work in the Angeles Forest firsthand. Join them to get your hands dirty this March through May as they bring thousands of volunteers to the mountains. This year's goal is 23000 trees! Learn more at www.treepeople.org

keeping "pets"

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If we really love animals do we even have any business keeping them as pets?  
 
That's the question I started to wonder about a while back. You see all my life I've grown up around animals and I've always loved them so much. But truly loving them means wanting what's best for them and I know that ideally a bird doesn't belong in a cage a fish doesn't belong in a tank and so on… Even having dogs live in our homes and not out in the world is a less-than-perfect life for them.
 
What's more the way we show love towards them -  the kissing and snuggling - well a lot of that is really what makes us feel better. Don't get me wrong animals need and crave affection just as much as we do. But they also have other animal needs that have to be met and are just as vital to them. If it were up to dogs they'd be out in the world in a natural state exploring and sniffing out new surroundings on long walks and interacting with other dogs. Things like that are just as important in making them happy. And we humans that care for companion animals still have to help them meet those needs since confinement to our homes doesn't allow them to do it for themselves.

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I think anyone who truly loves animals wants them to live the life that's most natural to them. This wouldn't be so complicated if there weren't animals out there needing homes locked in shelters and scheduled to be euthanized. We'd just let animals live the way they were meant to live and keep nature in nature.
 
But domesticated animals can't survive in the wild and there are millions of animals that do need saving. My dogs would not be alive if I hadn't rescued them. So even though I sometimes feel bad that they're confined to my home and yard but of course I try hard to meet their needs by taking them on long walks... If I was perfect that would happen every day for at least 30 – 45 minutes but I'm not perfect so I do the best I can it's a far better outcome than the suffering that is the alternative where even death can sometimes seem preferable to the horrific lives that neglected and homeless animals often lead. The situation is heartbreaking and sometimes all you can do is try to make the humane choice instead of the ideal choice.

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So considering all this where do we end up? To me it seems obvious that if you're going to open your home to a pet it should be a rescued pet only. That's the only way I can justify keeping animals – when they need us. But please whatever you do don't buy from the breeders and pet stores that make a profit off selling life and creating more animals. Every animal bought from a breeder or pet store represents a home taken away from another animal in a shelter and animals facing death don't care whether they're in the wild or in a house they just want to live. Anywhere.

remembering sweety

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I first met Sweety when he was a year old and living by a dumpster on the outskirts of L.A. with two pups about four months old. Along with Sweety I adopted one of the pups who I named Peanut Butter.
 
Even after he'd been living with me for years there was always some kind of wild dog spirit to Sweety. He was not into being tamed or being indoors. It made me wonder sometimes if he'd rather be wild happily roaming around. But we all know how that ends most of the time.  He would have starved or been euthanized or run over. I know it was right to give him a home but part of him was too wild and proud to ever really buy into total domestication.
 
I named him Sweety as a joke because he was quite the opposite when I brought him home. He was this intense dominating animal that always seemed to be trying to seduce me with his wild manly powers. I started calling him Sweety in the hopes that maybe the name would rub off on him – and it did! He was a sweetheart in the end. Just took a few years! As soon he felt at home with the tribe you could see how grateful he was to be saved and loved.
 
But that ladies' man side of him could never really be tamed. He always got along with the female dogs and towards the end he and Lacey had a particularly sweet kind of love. They would play and nip at each other and love fight for my attention while the three of us hung out on my bed while I would read or try to nap. It was very lovely.
 
It's funny all Sweety ever really wanted was for Sampson to be out of the way so he could be the top dog and king of the castle. As much as I miss Sampson I'm glad that Sweety at least got two years of living his dream.
 
The house seems empty now without him. It's hard to believe. I miss him already. But something in my heart feels lighter knowing he's not in any more pain or discomfort. After a long hard cry for most of the day I feel relieved for him.
 
It's so strange how quickly life carries on. There are still two old dogs here that need me and are relying on me. This senior citizen home I live in is unbelievable!

saying goodbye to a member of the family

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I just watched my husband carry our dog Sweety from our house to the car for the last time. It's a long way down a bunch of steps and Sweety is about 70 pounds at least. As they were getting ready to go Sweety stood up in the back of the car which made it worse for me because recently whenever I see the slightest sign of pain-free normalcy all I can think is "Let's just wait a little bit longer."
 
But the reality is that Sweety has only been staying alive because of steroids. We always swear we won't use meds on our dogs but then that moment arrives where they are perfectly healthy and aware -- perfect blood work tests are all normal etc. -- but their legs just won't work anymore and they can't get around. Next thing you know I'm shouting out "Steroids please!" just so they can walk.
 
So they stay alive longer but do the medications make their life better? I really don't know because they don't cry out in pain or frustration.  
 
All of this was running through my mind as my husband started the car. Then I watched them drive off. Sweety was at least 15 years old.
 
I'm crying as I write this. I know it's a better thing that his spirit will be free now and he'll no longer be disoriented and falling down struggling for breath and waking up covered in his pee or pooh. But it is devastating for me. I am grieving my loss. I miss him already.
 
The last few hours before we said goodbye we just lay together. He was so calm and seemed so peaceful with his head on my lap and in my hands that I kept thinking "Maybe I'm wrong…"  It was all just so sweet I couldn't believe it was about to go from this bliss to being over just like that.
 
In my heart I believe there's nothing worse than taking a life. It's the belief that has guided so many of the most meaningful choices in my life and that's what makes it so hard for me to know how to deal with it when I see my own animals' lives prolonged unnaturally with meds. Sweety couldn't tell me if he was in pain and every day as I carried his 70 pound body up and down stairs and cleaned up after his new found incontinence I started to wonder and feel anxious afraid that I was keeping him alive in a life of suffering because I was being too selfish to let go. At the same time I would never want to betray his will to live or give up on him or let him down. Trying to do the right thing in between those choices when your dog is quickly declining can tear you apart. So with this incredibly deep sadness there's also relief that it's over. I know it was time.
 
Two years ago I lost my best friend Sampson. I had to take his life too. In hindsight I let Sampson live on way too long – far past what was comfortable or bearable for him but I just loved him so much I didn't want to see that it was time. On that day I went with him to the vet's. I've never been able to get the image of Sampson taking his last breath in my arms out of my mind and unfortunately I sometimes think I remember that more than all our sweet years together. I cry every time I think of it even two years later. I just didn't want to leave him. I felt like I was betraying him by leaving him there at the vet's.
 
But this time my husband didn't want me to come. He wanted it to be different and he wanted to protect me. Let's face it: I don't do well in this department at all!
 
I think it's crucial to have a tribe member surrounded by another who loves them when they pass. I'm so grateful that my husband will be there to hold him and give him all his love as he takes his last breath. I feel terrible admitting I'm not there but I know my husband is right about this. I think I will go with him next time but this was just too close to my last passing with Sampson.
 
I wonder how all of you out there deal with this when it happens for you? How do you feel about meds for your dogs? How do you handle going with them or not when it's time to say goodbye?
 
I can't stop thinking about Sweety's face almost excited to be in the car again after such a long time while my husband and I cry as the two of them drive off.
 
I love you Sweety. Goodbye you sweet man!

It's Dessert Bar Week on Made Just Right - Sponsored Post

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I hope you all had fun last week baking pies and submitting your recipes to Earth Balance's Made Just Right™ Holiday Bake-off sponsored by Whole Foods Market. This week Earth Balance is asking for your best dessert bar recipes! That means you can submit recipes for any dessert that comes in bar form - brownies lemon bars rice crispy treats...you get the idea!

You can submit your dessert bar recipes at Made Just Right™ today through 11:59pm EST on December 12 so get baking! Winners will receive a 400 Whole Foods Market gift card and a year's supply of Earth Balance® products!

Here is one of my favorite dessert bar recipes from my book p. 184.

Crispy Peanut Butter Treats With Chocolate Chips

Ingredients

1 box brown rice crisps cereal
1 3/4 cups brown rice syrup
Fine sea salt
3/4 cup Earth Balance® Peanut Butter
1/2 cup grain-sweetened nondairy chocolate or carob chips

Steps

Pour the rice cereal into a large bowl.
Heat the syrup with a pinch of salt in a saucepan over low heat.
When the rice syrup liquefies add the peanut butter and stir until well combined.
Pour over the rice cereal and mix well with a wooden spoon.
Once thoroughly mixed and cooled to room temperature stir in the chocolate chips.
Make sure the mixture is cool or you will end up with melted chocolate instead of chocolate chips in your treats.
Turn the mixture into an 8"x8" or 9"x13" baking dish.
Wet your wooden spoon lightly and press the mixture evenly into the pan.
Let cool for 1 hour - if you can - before cutting into squares or bars.

Have fun making your dessert bars and remember to submit your recipes at Made Just Right™! Remember it will be way cooler if your dessert bar is vegan!