The Sexy Vegan ~ March & April 2014

For March and April of 2014, the cookbook I have chosen to cook from is The Sexy Vegan: Extraordinary Food from an Ordinary Dude by Brian L. Patton.

I first heard of his work while listening to a podcast. I can't recall if it was Our Hen House or Red Radio...mmmm...Red Radio! It came out just in 2012, and I bought it right away.
I'm embarrassed to say I cooked from it only once, and it wasn't long ago. About a month ago, we had "Food Day" where I work. People were encouraged to bring food to share. A bunch of people were on a diet (after Christmas tradition), so I thought I'd bring something (absolutely vegan) that wasn't cupcakes or doughnuts. I wanted something without gluten (co-workers are gluten-sensitive), and without soy because I don't like how non-vegans often assume that all vegans eat is sprouts and soy.

I perused my cookbook collection. I wanted to see what The Sexy Vegan had to offer. All sorts of dishes I wanted to make! I decided on the Marinated Eggplant Pasta Salad. I've never cooked with eggplant before, and I was excited to try something new! In my pre-vegan days I never ate eggplant. But it's really good! Now, as a vegan,  I've eaten it in a few dishes offered in restaurants in Regina, but never cooked it on my own.

Everyone at work loved the salad! One woman even remarked that she normally doesn't care for eggplant, but she really loved it in this dish. I was so happy. In fact, my container of salad went 'missing' when I came to work the next day. I still don't really know what happened to it, but the container was empty and clean on my desk the following week. I won't ask questions.

Brian L. Patton, the author, has a YouTube cooking show. It's hilariously awesome. My understanding is that he started with the cooking videos, then got a book deal. He named the YouTube videos, "The Sexy Vegan" so that people (namely men) would click on his videos. Well, it worked. His cooking show has loads of episodes, and he now has two cookbooks published.
Nicely done Brian!

Need To Rewrite That Last Post

Ch-ch-ch-chia pudding

So, I read over what I wrote the other day and I'm not happy with it.
I somehow never finished certain thoughts, and I didn't connect other thoughts together. It's a mess.
So I will be editing that last post.

Clearly, I was too tired to be writing.

I have amped up my physical activity, and increased how much raw food I eat.

Recently listened to an Our Hen House(episode 103), and they were interviewing a nutritionist, Gena Hamshaw, the creator of Choosing Raw. This blog focuses on raw vegan food, with recipes and tips. In the interview, Gena says that ideally, we'd be eating 60-70% raw.
Geez! I eat like...10% or 20% raw! Yikes!!
So I've taken Gena's raw food tip of starting with one meal and increasing.
Breakfast has been fruit smoothies and chia pudding.
Lunch, it's either all salad, or salad with some leftover supper.
Snacks has been carrots and snap peas with hummus, or celery sticks with peanut butter.
And supper is the usual, cooked dish. Last night we had Spring Vegetable Risotto from the The Vegan Table.
It's been yummy and I've been satisfied, and enjoying how I've been feeling.

For my physical activity, I usually take the dogs out, one at a time. Now I am running on the treadmill for 30  minutes as well.
Well, not running the entire time. 2 minutes of walking, 2-3 minutes of running.
I have found that on days that I run, I do end up needing a nap in the afternoon. Which is a bit disappointing, but not all that surprising. I don't sleep near the amount of sleep I needed, even a year ago. It's getting better.

Dr. Gregor-NutritionFacts.org

Dr. Michael Gregor is a founding member of The American College of Lifestyle Medicine, a physician, author, and internationally recognized speaker on nutrition, food safety & public health issues. He has lectured at The Conference On World Affairs, The Institute of Medicine, The National Institute of Health. He testified before Congress, and was invited as an expert witness in the defense of Oprah Winfrey in the infamous meat defimation trial. He is a graduate of Cornell University School of Agriculture & Tufts University School of Medicine. Currently, Dr. Greger serves as the director of public health and animal agriculture at the Humane Society of the United States.

Dr. Gregor also runs NutritionFacts.org. He posts short videos(usually under 3 minutes) about the latest in nutrition. Basically what he does, is he goes through piles and piles of research. He posts a new video each day. 365 a year.
He's vegan. He advocates a vegan diet. <thumbs up>
He really knows what he's talking about. And I love his voice. It's very relaxing.

I found out about his videos because my friend started posting on Facebook his videos often. They were really good.
I also heard the wonderful interview with him on Our Hen House in October.
And just a few weeks ago, I even won one of his DVD's by commenting on a story on Our Hen House's website, I had entered my name in a draw! And I won!! It was very exciting!

Year of the Dog

This story started a few years before I became vegan.
My husband and I adopted Chaos. It wasn't long before I was involved in the pit bull rescue community, helping pit bulls and others find loving homes. At one point we were given a Bloodhound puppy that our friend had rescued. He took the dog from the owner because the owner wasn't getting his dog's broken leg fixed. The owner had looked into how much fixing the leg would be, decided it was too much, so didn't do anything for days. Actually it had been broken for a full week. The dog broke his leg because he jumped from the moving truck bed while on the Lewvan(a quick paced road in Regina, Sk).
Why he wasn't tethered in, to prevent injury, I can only guess.
That's when our friend intervened. He brought the broken dog to our house. We quickly figured out which clinic could actually do something for his leg, and got him there. We paid for his leg to be fixed. It was pricey, he required pins and such. The poor dog was sent back to his owner. I don't really know what happened to him. I hope he's okay and happy.

Anyways! In 2007, I was taking a look at one of my dog magazines and there was a short story about a new film, Year of the Dog, with Molly Shannon. It talked about how the film was all about this character's concern for dogs. I talked Troy into renting it with me and we watched. It was, meh.
For me, it was sad. It made me sad. In fact, it made me a bit uncomfortable. I thought this was because it was sad. Nope! The entire film is about Molly Shannon's character, Peggy, and her transformation into becoming vegan.

This summer, I heard a great review on Our Hen House about this movie! I couldn't recall anything that they said happened in the film, so I watched it again Wow! I saw this movie back when it was released, but clearly, I didn't!
I had no idea it was all about becoming vegan! And it's actually a comedy! Despite the really sad parts that make me cry, it is a comedy! It really is!! It's a rather absurd comedy because she does so many absurd things! Things, that as a vegan, I have considered, however briefly, doing. But I haven't because I would really seem crazy. You probably have to be vegan to understand and appreciate the humor, but wow! Was I so blinded to her veganism the first time, that I couldn't appreciate or see the funny bits?

She does the stuff that ethical vegans have thought about doing, but don't. Cause that would be . . . inappropriate. 
I don't know how, but I totally missed her becoming vegan. Actually, it makes sense. I had blinders on. I didn't want to see it, so I didn't.
I watched again because I wanted to see which parts I had missed the first time.
It was the entire film.
I think I must had seen the first 10 minutes and another 10 minutes in the middle, and that was it. Because she clearly states several times throughout the film, "I want to be vegan", "yup, vegan", "there's no milk, butter, or any animal product in them. No animals were harmed in the making of those cupcakes". She even sponsors farm animals for family gifts. Delightful!
Is this what everyone goes through? I mean, does everyone really not see vegans? How did I wake up?
Does everyone really need to get bashed in the head to wake up?

Our Hen House

I have listened to each and every episode of Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's podcast, probably a dozen times.
I wanted more. Colleen has been busy this year! With Vegan's Daily Companion, Color Me Vegan, and The 30-Day Vegan Challenge, all released in the last year, she just hasn't had time to release many podcasts.
I started trying other vegan podcasts on iTunes. They were okay. Some really challenged my thinking, like, Animal Emancipation, hosted by Gary L. Francione. Some were video podcasts, which I didn't want. Audio only please. I finally asked on TheKindLife.com, and Our Hen House was recommended.
Boy Howdy! I am glad I asked other vegans what they listen to!

This podcast is hosted by Jasmin Singer and Maryann Sullivan.
Maryann is a lawyer and an adjunct professor of animal law at Brooklyn Law School and Cardozo Law School, and will soon be also teaching at Columbia Law School.
Jasmin was the campaigns manager for Farm Sanctuary, and — with Our Hen House — stayed on as a consultant through September 2010. She is a contributing writer for VegNews Magazine, a host for VegNews TV, and was also named by VegNews as one of twenty stand-out stars of the animal rights movement. She has also written for Satya Magazine and Heeb Magazine, and contributed to dozens of blogs.
Great podcast!
Each episode is about an hour long, sometimes a little longer, depending on the news, current events, and such. They interview inspiring vegans each week, talk about what's currently happening in the world of animal rights, and review products, books and movies!
Their website is full of inspiring content! Articles, videos, books, artwork! They've got it all! 
My understanding is that they're working on making Our Hen House into an online magazine! I think that will be rad! I am so excited to see what it'll be like!
They are completely listener and reader supported, which is ultra-cool!
Troy and I don't have cable, so we don't pay for TV, but I have zero problem with paying for content I actually want! So I do. Happily!
They have lots of tips on how to be an animal activist in creative, non-violent ways, from baking to visual art, and documentaries to literature! Our Hen House really makes their tagline their mission!
A Place To Find Our Way To Change The World For Animals.

This podcast helps me feel more connected to the vegan community. I know I've talked about the importance of community, but I will say it again. Community is important! Even if that community is online! We are social animals, so secluding yourself in a vegan bubble is not helping anybody!
Plus, Our Hen House has great thank-you gifts! Like the tote bag pictured here!(I have one!)