What I’ve been reading for the past, oh, month

In case you need more reasons to stop eating meat

WTF why the Field Roast hate, Canada?

’10 things I wish all Americans knew about the meat and dairy industries’

Is Thug Kitchen cultural appropriation? This writer says, ‘yes’

Moby with some great talking points on meat for the next time someone debates you

NY Times: Enforcing the legal rights of animals

The world’s first vegetarian city – is this the right approach?

’10 things that would fix the food system faster than GMO labeling’

Do herbies have to be perfect? (I’m so big on Lindsay Nixon’s positivity – it has made my herbie transition possible)

Awkward moments every vegetarian understands

For the next time someone asks you, ‘But where do you get your protein?’

Mark Bittman: Two rules for a good diet

This is gonna be a thing!

Profile of plant-based badass T. Colin Campbell

SEATTLEITES, THIS EXISTS

Vegan crowdfunding in Seattle

Hey! Throw your support to these vegan Seattle businesses hoping to get off the ground!

Vegan hot dogs by bike (I need to try ALL OF THE FLAVORS)

Plum Cafe is turning into a vegan dessert shop

Vegan ice cream!

The day arrived on Saturday afternoon at the New Moon Farm Goatalympics in Monroe.

I saw it in person: Seattle Cookie Counter.

A sight for longing, hungry eyes.

It was tough to choose a flavor. I wanted all of them. Ice cream was just about my favoritest thing as an omnivore and I hadn’t had anything quite like creamy ice cream in ages. Sorbet, yes, and some So Delicious ice cream sandwiches, but a place where I had more than one choice of dreamy ice cream on a hot day was such a delight.

I picked coffee chip ice cream snuggled between two snickerdoodles.

Insert into face.

It was so wonderful! The ice cream was cold, but creamy enough that I didn’t have to jam my teeth through it and give myself an ice cream headache. The cookies were sufficiently chewy but held together. It was delightful. What a wonderful combination!

Perfect start to my visit with my boyfriend to the Goatalympics. Let me tell you, the goats were not impressed with the contests. They required, er, coaxing.

Anyway, go see Seattle Cookie Counter if you’re in town!

Never again

My office went generally apecrap for the U.S.-Belgium World Cup game last week, complete with tacky decorations, pizza (my boss ordered me a cheese-free salad, lovely woman she is) and a slew of sugary, artificially-colored store-bought desserts.

I feel less bad about this photo being crappy.

These concoctions never really appealed to me. So much sugar, not very tasty and I typically felt like crap after eating them. But in these situations, though I was reasonably good at resisting such fare, I would often spring for a cookie or cupcake, just because they’re there. I’m a journalist – eating free food is a biological imperative. It might be all you eat that day.

But now I look at this stuff and it’s such an easy decision to lay off. It’s not like I’m dieting – I don’t tell myself “you can’t” or salivate while feeling deprived. Rather, it’s an automatic decision. Instead of thinking, “I can’t” eat that stuff, I just know that I don’t.

It’s a little empowering. A great excuse to eat better. There’s no wrestling with my nutritional conscience. Conventional baked confections? Not my style.

Previously in office food battles

I pretty much read food articles during my lunch break

Recently in pertinent food news:

26 films every food activist must watch

Talking cows take on factory farms “Matrix” style

Norway’s military does meatless Mondays for the climate

Fruit juice vs. soda: Both beverages pack in sugar and health risk

James Cameron-backed school to terminate meat and dairy

Not vegan but Maya Angelou is a goddess and my heroine: Recalling Maya Angelou’s love of cooking

Another plug for the Seattle Cookie Counter

Is this a health tax? What say you? Tax proposal draws protest from Capitol Hill gyms, yoga studios

A meat giant gobbles up another meat giant

I LOVE FOOD AND MAPS

Support vegan ice cream in Seattle!

Gee golly has it been a long time since I’ve posted here. I have tons of posts in the queue, but work and life have been crazy. You know how that goes.

Now even though I have plant-based adventures to share with you, this piece is time sensitive and I should have posted it sooner!

Last week I found out about Seattle Cookie Counter – a vegan ice cream sandwich project that will travel throughout Seattle in a VW bus selling ice cream sandwiches to the masses.

It’s raising money on Kickstarter until 11:59 p.m. tomorrow and you should pitch in! It only requires a $1 minimum donation.

Now I didn’t really have enough dough to donate as much as I wanted until today and fortunately, it has already surpassed its minimum goal of $18,000. Hooray! This is now a reality!

But I think local, vegan small businesses are peachy keen and wanted to pitch in, anyway. And cash in on an awesome little reward for donating.

Plus their video on their Kickstarter page made me drool. I lurrrve sorbets and stuff, but their ice cream looks like the rich, creamy stuff I have honestly missed since going plant-based. Now I want it in my tummy!

Here’s what they promise if they exceed their goal:

-A permanent curb space in the U-District
-Wholesale sammies at small, local businesses
-A private ice cream sammie party for all the backers

Support them now.

Easter candy

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I can’t believe weeks have passed by since Easter already.

Easter used to be my favorite holiday. I loved dyeing eggs, hunting for them the next morning and gobbling up Cadbury creme eggs and jelly beans.

Pretty much all of that is out for me now. (RIP my longtime love affair with Cadbury creme eggs.)

I didn’t want to go completely candy-less when I went to my parents’ house for Easter, so I whipped up vegan versions of two of my favorites: peanut butter cups and peppermint patties.

(True story: My Christmas list every year used to be headlined with “a peppermint patty.”)

They’re a smidge labor-intensive (but I’m also Miss Can’t I Just Put Everything In A Pot and Let It Go?) and it’s hard for me to make them pretty (follow the links to the recipes for pretty), but what do you know – they worked beautifully! And tasted every bit as good as their commercial counterparts, but with little to no added sweetener. They did have to be kept frozen or refrigerated, but don’t most good things?

My whole family loved them. My boyfriend, well, he preferred the big, fat Reese’s peanut butter egg in my parents’ candy dish because it’s sweeter, he said. I mean, who DOESN’T like the big peanut butter egg, but I was glad to have my yummy peanut butter cups. And they were made out of pantry items!

I think I have to make these for Christmas, too.

Now if only I can find an easy Cadbury creme egg alternative.

How do you substitute traditional holiday sweets?

What vegans eat

I always love vegan food porn where I can peep what other people eat, like what Bianca at Vegan Crunk does now and then.

So I’ll offer up my own food porn. Captured by my crappy cell phone camera. Sexxxxxi.

I’ve had so much fun with my new cast iron skillet. My first dish was Isa’s Ohama yakisoba. My new love in life is udon noodles. So chewy and satisfying.

I’m still trying to stay on the breakfast train, with varied results. I’m not the most consistent. But I tested out the Isa Does it chickpea scramble for something new. Thumbs up!

My parents helped me celebrate my first vegan birthday with a delicious cake from Bearded Ladies in Olympia. Funfetti with blackberry frosting. Sweet, but not too cloying. Dense yet moist. Such a perfect cake.

For my birthday with my family I asked to go to Darby’s Cafe in downtown Olympia so that I would have hippie stuff to eat and the rest of my family could have an omni dinner. I love this place! This is the Spice World burger with a blackened vegan patty, avocado, jalapeno, Daiya and other veggies. Complete with a heap of shoestring fries.

I typically forsake three-course meals for something that all goes together in a bowl or on a plate. But this one, courtesy of Happy Herbivore Light and Lean, was so easy! Lemony asparagus, mashed potatoes (which I topped with barbecue sauce) and meatloaf bites covered in marinara.

Kale and tofu rice bowl with curry peanut sauce from Isa Does It. I could have straight drank up this sauce.

Got to use my new toy I got for my birthday! Blasted Isa’s cheddary broccoli soup from Isa Does It.

Cheddary! With Happy Herbivore Light and Lean drop biscuits.

I spent a few days in Darrington for work, near the site of the Oso landslide that killed dozens. Clif bars and veggie burgers got old, so I stopped by the Mount Vernon Safeway to grab veggies and hummus to eat in the car during the final hour of my trip home.

Boyfriend and I discovered Razzi’s Pizzeria in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle, which is omni but has separate menus for those who are vegan and gluten-free. I got a calzone with Daiya mozzarella, pesto and sundried tomatoes. It was actually good! New place for the man and I to go and both be fulfilled.

I’ve been pinching pennies here and there with baked potatoes. I like to top mine with salsa, hot sauce, homemade vegan sour cream and plenty of nooch. Scallions if I have fresh ones handy.

Oh yeah, holidays

I have 5 million posts in my head, but I moved right after Thanksgiving, so whenever I’m home and not cooking or sorting through my crap, I’m binge-watching MasterChef.

ZOMG I HAVE MY OWN KITCHEN NOW.

But! Thanksgiving!

People thought it would be super hard for me to have my first vegan Thanksgiving, but literally the only thing that was different this year in terms of a dish I didn’t have was turkey. And my parents make excellent turkey. But I didn’t miss it.

Instead I made myself a stuffed Thanksgiving burger patty and that was my main dish. Then my mom set aside stuffing and potatoes for me that were mixed with veggie broth and almond milk (respectively) instead of chicken stock and milk. I also made myself the scallion gravy from Happy Herbivore Abroad for my alternative to the stuff made from meat juice.

Also, I made vegan pies. Isa pies.

Pumpkin cheesecake

Maple pecan pie

FREE STUFF: Win a copy of Happy Herbivore Light and Lean

NOTE: This giveaway is closed to new entries. We have a winner. Thanks for your interest!

As one of the hosts of the Happy Herbivore Light and Lean book tour, I get to let one of you mooch some swag.

Damn straight.

BenBella Books wants one of my lucky readers to get their hands on this fantastic cook book.

Get this shit

I received it a little more than a week ago and my omnivore family let me go to town making Sunday football grub from the book, like the roasted chickpeas and sweet pea guacamole. We had banana chocolate chip scones before the game started. And I made my mom a pumpkin spice latte from the book. (Go Seahawks!)

Everything was demolished before I could snap crappy cell phone photos.

It also has trusty, handy recipes Lindsay Nixon tends to print in all of her cookbooks, like a version of nacho cheese, vegan sour cream, vegan mayo, gluten-free flour blend, and more.

When my BFF comes to visit me tomorrow, I plan to make the HHLL ruby chocolate muffins with her.