Behold: the Nostalgia CCP-509 Old Fashioned Movie (Fun) Time Popcorn Cart, in all its glory.
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Though Shane and I only sporadically exchange gifts for our birthdays, a few years ago I decided to spring for something extra-nice and super-special. Namely, one of those old-fashioned movie theater popcorn cart replicas. And not the countertop model, either. Nope, I went all out, opting for the full-sized version, working wheels and all! We were getting set to move into our first home at the time, so this was also a bit of a housewarming gift that we gave ourselves. (Awwww!)

After some shopping around, I settled on the Nostalgia CCP-509. (Though this model doesn’t appear to be available on Amazon, they do sell the 510 for $205. Free shipping, yo! I’m pretty certain I bought mine from a certain evil box store. Free site-to-store shipping, yo!)

Let’s turn to Overstock.com‘s specs for the 101, shall we? (The product manual I managed to dig up is all but useless. Unless you want to know the history of popcorn, in 250 words or less. As I said, useless.)

Dimensions: 27.0×20.0×59.0
Materials: steel, rubber, polycarbonite, glass
Model No: CCP-50

o Your very own 4-foot-11-inch tall theater-style popcorn cart will look great in your game room and will be the hit of every party

o Full-sized, 4-ounce popper will pop up to 1.5 gallons of movie-house-quality popcorn per batch

o Specialty appliance features a large, stainless-steel kettle with a built in stirring system and kernel catcher to keep out the unpopped kernels

o Supplies compartment in the base of the unit for storage of oil, kernels, bags and more

o Popcorn cart offers an easy-to-clean design and, though it’s perfectly sized for the home, is approved for commercial use

Construction and durability: Constructed primarily of steel and weighing in at 50 pounds +/-, the cart’s a pretty solid appliance. We purchased it just before a major household move, so it certainly made the rounds before we assembled it – manufacturer to box store warehouse to local box store to Kansas home to Missouri home – and yet everything was intact when we finally cracked the box open. We’ve had it set up in a spare room for about three years now, shuffling it here and there as home maintenance projects have necessitated, without any problems or even visible wear. We only use it to make popcorn sporadically – mostly for special occasions or trips to the drive-in – and it has yet to fail us.

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This is a much, much milder version of Shane’s (award-winning!) Sweet and Spicy Chili. For the dogs, that is. (Yes, I feed my dog-kids a vegan diet. No, I’m not sacrificing their health and well-being at the alter of my own selfish ethics. For new visitors: you can find additional details and a disclaimer of sorts here.)

This recipe makes about 20 cups of food, or enough to feed 5 hungry little doggies for a week or so. If you’re not a borderline animal hoarder like moi (joking!), probably you’ll want to cut this recipe in halfsies.

chili sin carne, para los perros

Ingredients

olive oil
3 Boca Burgers (optional)
OR 1 16 oz brick of firm tofu (optional)

water
1 16 oz can of diced, unsalted tomatoes
1 6 oz can of low salt tomato paste
2 cups of sundried tomatoes

24 ounces dried beans OR 6 16 oz cans of cooked, low sodium beans (chef’s choice!)
(I used 8 ounces each of dried pinto, black and red beans.)

3 cups texturized vegetable protein (TVP)
3 cups fresh or frozen mixed vegetables
1 cup diced green peppers

brown sugar to taste (I used 4 tablespoons)
dried mustard to taste (me: 1/2 teaspoon)
paprika to taste (me: 1/4 teaspoon)
chili powder to taste (me: 1/4 teaspoon)
cumin to taste (me: 1 teaspoon)
black pepper to taste (me: 1/4 teaspoon)
lime juice to taste (me: 1 tablespoon)
flour to taste
water and/or low sodium tomato juice to taste

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As promised, today I bring you a monster link roundup of all the yummy recipes I bookmarked with delicious during the past week. Though the series title is shamelessly lifted (“borrowed”) from Stephanie, this Friday Food is different in that it includes recipes published at any time in the history of the intertubes. I do a lot of browsing and surfing – even more so given the massive Vegan MoFo blogroll and RSS feed bundle – and thus, not a little backtracking. Most of these recipes are newish – many posted just for Vegan MoFo – but don’t be surprised if you stumble upon one from 1999. In which case, par-tay like – well, you know the drill.

And also, I am a junk food junkie. Judging from the unhealthy bent of this list, even more so than I realized. Problems, I got ‘em. Sigh. So many sweets, so little time.

Chocolate-coconut truffles (recipe here). CC image via floridecires on Flickr.
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Food, delicious food!

Homemade Tofurkey with Brown Rice Stuffing Recipe from Chow, by way of vegansaurus!

White Trash Tater Tot Casserole with Daiya, Mac ‘n Teese® Cheese Casserole, and Cranberry Apple Crisp with Maple Syrup from SnarkyVegan

Blueberry and Earl Grey Scones from Cookin’ Vegan & Jessica @VeganFood

Vegan Black Bean Tostadas with Corn Relish from Veggie Terrain

Vegan Sweet Potato Naan from Cook’s Hideout

Kelly Beth’s Vegan Deviled Eggs (a.k.a. Potato Angels) from Vegan Etsy

Chocolate Coconut Truffles (above) from Veggie Wedgie

Super Fudgy Brownies (AKA Crusty Fudge) and Chocolate Viennese Whirls from Not a Rabbit

Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Mousse, Berry Compote and Almond Milk Ice Cream and Fried Lemon Pie and Salted Caramel Ice Cream from vegansaurus! (and Project Just Desserts guest-chefs Melisser and Bianca)

Black Bean and Chipotle Dip from Wednesday Food Blogging

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During last year’s VeganMoFo, I launched a new series about how to live frugally as a vegan. The idea was to both offer helpful tips for those vegans looking to save money, while also providing a counterpoint to the idea that veganism is necessarily expensive. Loosely titled “Frugal Vegans…,” the series unfortunately fizzled and died with October, in part because I don’t do a whole lot of food blogging outside of VeganMoFo. But hey, look on the bright side! VeganMoFo is back, baby! And with it, “Frugal Vegans…”

As a sort of refresher course, here are the topics we covered last year:

• VeganMoFo, Day 12: Frugal Vegans…Say “Hey” (Hey!)

• VeganMoFo, Day 14: Frugal vegans think outside the box (plate?).
• VeganMoFo, Day 17: Vegan Treats On (Vegan) Etsy
• VeganMoFo, Day 20: Frugal vegans stockpile staples as though the dead are reanimating.
• VeganMoFo, Day 22: The New Four Food Groups (A Tutorial)
• VeganMoFo, Day 23: Frugal vegans freecycle (or is that freegancycle?).
• VeganMoFo, Day 26: A Penny-Pinching Monday Mashup
• VeganMoFo, Day 27: Frugal vegans prep their own ingredients.
• VeganMoFo, Day 29: Frugal vegans have spoiled vegan dog-kids.

(I also have an entire category dedicated to frugality, though it’s mostly comprised of the posts listed above.)

Today’s tip is short and sweet: hoard your deliciousness. By which I mean…well, go see for yourself: www.delicious.com/easyvegan/recipe

Now look. I’m all in favor of supporting one’s favorite vegan cookbook authors and chefs (especially those who are also vocal advocates for oppressed animals, both human and non!). And you can and should support them by purchasing (and promoting) their cookbooks (and blogs, podcasts, appearances, etc.) when possible. But not everyone can afford to buy a new book every week, month or even year. Libraries rock – and, imho, borrowing cookbooks from the library, thus increasing demand for these titles, counts as support – but not everyone has ready access to a library or library services.

Luckily, there are plenty of recipes and ideas to be had for free online, as is amply evidenced by VeganMoFo. (Speaking of which, have you seen the tragically awesome RSS feed bundles yet? You will never leave the house again!) Just search for “vegan recipes” (over 4 million hits on Google!) – or hop on over to my blogroll of vegan foodies for a more whittled down version – to get started.

But how to keep track of all this vegan nom? delicious to the rescue! With delicious you can bookmark, tag, sort, share and comment on your favorite links.

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Yesterday, I reviewed Wheeler del Torro’s The Vegan Scoop, otherwise known as MY FAVORITE COOKBOOK OF ALL TIME. (It’s a must buy for all ice cream-loving vegans. In other words, all vegans.) Since most of the recipes contained within require an ice cream maker, I thought a review of my own machine might be fitting.

In Christmas 2008, my lovely mom gifted Shane and I an ice cream maker. Specifically, a Cuisinart Ice-45 Mix-It-In Soft-Serve 1-1/2-Quart Ice-Cream Maker. It retails for $185 on Amazon, but at the time of this writing, you can score your very own for just $87.95 (with free shipping!).

When it comes to purchasing an ice cream machine, you have several styles from which to choose:

Manual vs. Electric:

[Manual] machines usually comprise an outer bowl and a smaller inner bowl with a hand-cranked mechanism which turns a paddle, sometimes called a dasher, to stir the mixture. The outer bowl is filled with a freezing mixture of salt and ice: the addition of salt to the ice causes freezing-point depression; as the salt melts the ice, its heat of fusion allows it to absorb heat from the ice cream mixture, freezing the ice cream.

This type of ice cream maker is inexpensive, but inconvenient and messy as the ice and salt mixture produces a lot of salty water as it melts, which the user must dispose of, and the ice and salt mixture has to be replenished to make a new batch of ice cream. [...]

[Electric machines] have an electric motor which drives either the bowl or the paddle to stir the mixture.

Counter-top vs. Self-freezing:

Counter-top machines use a double-walled bowl which contains between the two walls a solution that freezes below the freezing point of water. This is frozen in a domestic freezer for up to 24 hours before the machine is needed. Once frozen, the bowl is put into the machine, the mixture is added and the machine is switched on. The paddles rotate, stirring the mixture as it gradually freezes through contact with the frozen bowl. Twenty to thirty minutes later, the solution between the double walls of the bowl has thawed, and the ice cream has frozen. The advantage of this type of electric machine is low cost, typically under $100. The disadvantage of the pre-frozen bowl approach is that only one batch can be made at a time. To make another batch, the bowl must be frozen again. For this reason, it is usually possible to buy extra bowls for the machine, but of course these take up a lot of freezer space. [...]

More expensive, and much larger, machines have a freezing mechanism built in and do not require a bowl to be pre-chilled. The cooling system is switched on, and in a few minutes the mixture can be poured in and the paddle switched on. As with coolant-bowl machines, ice cream is ready in twenty to thirty minutes, depending on the quantity made. These machines can be used immediately with no preparation, and any number of batches of ice cream can be made without a delay between batches.

As you’ve no doubt already surmised, the Ice-45 is an electric counter-top model. Keep this in mind while reading my ratings, since each is in comparison to other electric counter-top models – versus, say, a high-end $1,000 self-freezing machine.

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The Vegan Scoop: 150 Recipes for Dairy-Free Ice Cream That Tastes Better Than the “Real” Thing by Wheeler del Torro (2009)
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WHEELER DEL TORRO’S THE VEGAN SCOOP IS MY FAVORITE COOKBOOK OF ALL TIME. The end. Shortest book review ever.

I kid, I kid – but just about the last part. In all seriousness, The Vegan Scoop really is a personal favorite. I love everything about this cookbook: the gorgeous, glossy pages. The luscious, lovingly-photographed balls of frozen deliciousness. The easy-to-follow – yet terribly creative – recipes. The sometimes-sneakily subversive “tasty tidbits” that grace each page’s margins. The way del Torro encourages readers to experiment with different fruits, spices, seasonings and – yes! – even vegetables on their own. The freaking color palette. Simply put, The Vegan Scoop is all kinds of awesomeness.

Besides, who doesn’t *heart* ice cream, hmmmm?

The book, which – have I not already mentioned? – itself looks yummy enough to eat – features 150 recipes for vegan, dairy-free ice cream and ice-cream related foodstuffs. (Disclaimer: all of the ice cream recipes require an ice cream maker. I’ll be reviewing my own model tomorrow, so stay tuned!)

del Torro arranges his frozen concoctions into nine categories:

While many of del Torro’s ice cream flavors are incredibly imaginative (Seaweed! For reals?), all use the same base as a jumping-off point, namely: 1 cup of soymilk, 2 cups of soy creamer and 2 tablespoons of arrowroot powder, with 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar, depending on the dish. (This is the same foundation on which many of the recipes at A Vegan Ice Cream Paradise are built. Frugal vegan alert!) The cool thing about this, of course, is that uniformity leads to familiarity, which – in this case – breeds confidence and self-esteem. After a little time spent practicing with the recipes in The Vegan Scoop, even this amateur felt comfortable enough to experiment with her own fantasy flavors.

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The terribly charming exterior of The Owl House, a vegan-/vegetarian-friendly and sometimes-gluten-free eatery located in Rochester, New York.
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Happy World Vegan Day! Happy VeganMoFo! Happy happy joy joy. Now if only the Missouri weather would read the shiny happy vegan memo. (Seriously, sun, my faux-you lamp is busted and I’ve no idea how much of this yuckiness I can tolerate. Come out, come out, wherever you are…)

Ahem. Anyway. If the pre-veganmofo tweet/buzz is any indication, it seems that most every mofo’er has a theme this year. Being, shall we say, not culinarily inclined, my “theme” (if I must choose one) is reviews: books, mostly (I have almost a dozen titles in the queue, oy vey, and veganmofo seems the perfect excuse to knock a few of ‘em off the list), but also kitchen gadgets and restaurants!

And so, to kick off the fourth annual VeganMoFo, I present to you: my first-ever restaurant review! During the recent trip I took to my hometown of Rochester, New York, my family and I visited The Owl House, a new-ish eatery with plenty of vegan and vegetarian options. (Cue: vacation photos! Don’t say I didn’t warn you!) Let the mofo’ing begin!

The who: My family, including my sister, Michelle (a vegetarian/aspiring vegan; imho, “freegan” is the label that she wears best); my brother, Mike (a shameless omnivore/carnist); my father, Steve (a longtime vegetarian); my mother, Wendy (a guilty-but-stubborn omnivore); and my grandmother, Vita (an omnivore who’s not altogether ignorant re: all things vegetarian, since she raised my father and all) – and myself, of course.

The what: The Owl House, a vegan-/vegetarian-friendly, slightly upscale-in-a-yuppie-hipster-kind-of-way restaurant located in downtown Rochester. [website; Facebook page]

The when: mid-September 2010, on a Thursday night, just before the dinner rush.

The where: 75 Marshall Street, Rochester, NY 14607.

The Owl House’s too-cute menu, which is also available on its website.
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While my sister (who currently lives in Sacramento) and I were in Rochester, our mom was eager to try out all kinds of “vegan stuff” (here, loosely defined as “animal-friendly”) with us: meals, bakeries, restaurants – sanctuaries, even. Unfortunately, it proved tough to make plans, let alone keep them (so busy was she caring for some of our older relatives), but we were able to visit The Owl House. I guess it helps that Thursday night was Dinner with Grandma Vita Night, and since her schedule was rather tight as well, rescheduling was not an option. So anyhow, this was a family dinner in which the non-veg members were more than happy to accommodate their vegan and vegetarian counterparts.

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Today, dear grasshopers, is Blog Action Day – the fourth annual. Held every October 15th, the goal is to focus attention on a given topic via mass participation (this year, the White House is even getting in on the act!). Whereas previous year’s topics have included poverty, the environment and climate change, Blog Action Day 2010 is all about water. Pollution, scarcity, waste – you name it. Water it is.

As I noted last year, pretty much any and every topic under the sun can be tied to veganism and animal advocacy in some way, shape or form. Last year ’twas simple; the consumption of animal flesh and secretions is a major contributor to climate change. So too does our exploitation of nonhuman animals impact water, in myriad ways: waste from animal agriculture operations pollute our waterways; the production of “meat,” eggs and dairy requires the use (waste) of more water than does eating lower down on the food chain; and, by contributing to climate change, animal ag. has a further negative impact on weather patterns, including precipitation. Etc., etc.

Unfortunately, looking at change.org‘s Blog Action Day page, one might not know this. Of its 18 featured post ideas, only one mentions “meat” production, and with little context – only by clicking through to The Water Project’s website does the reader learn of “meat’s” “water cost” relative to, say, an apple. Since most of us consume three meals a day throughout our lives (while only purchasing a new cell phone or pair of jeans sporadically), food should really be a primary focus of this action day as opposed to an afterthought, don’t you think?

Because I’m feeling both lazy and cynical (the former perhaps owing to the latter), I really don’t have the heart to delve too much more into the topic. Luckily, Elaine did, so instead I shall direct you to her post, and leave you with the following tables to consider:

Table: The water cost of food
Source: The Water Project. Click through for a plain-text version.
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Blog for Choice Day 2010:
Trusting Women, Honoring Dr. Tiller

I wrote the bulk of this post last June, in the days and weeks following the murder of Dr. George Tiller. Initially – and still – intended as part of a series called “Killing in the Name of,” this piece attempts to reconcile my pro-choice and vegan beliefs, which as it turns out, isn’t a difficult task at all. Harder still is defending some of the “terrorist” tactics employed by the animal rights movement while condemning similar tactics when used in service a “pro-life” agenda. It’s an emotional and confusing endeavor, and one I’m still working on. If ever I do figure it all out, I’ll post Part 2 of this series.

In the meantime, I’d like to share my thoughts “On being a pro-choice vegan” as part of today’s Blog for Choice Day (5th annual, bitches!). It doesn’t exactly fit with this year’s theme, but seeing as “Trusting Women” was chosen in honor of Dr. Tiller, I think it’s appropriate anyhow. If you disagree, hop on over to Animal Rights & Anti-Oppression; my post there follows the assignment to a “t” (“v”?).

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“Killing in the Name of”: Introduction

My apologies for the brief blogular absence. I’ve got a ton of posts lined up in the queue, but my attention has turned elsewhere – from animal rights to reproductive rights (which aren’t completely unrelated) – since the murder of Dr. George Tiller on Sunday.

News of Dr. Tiller’s death came like a kick in the gut. The last time an abortion doctor was murdered was in 1998; I was only 20 at the time, and somewhat apolitical. Even though Dr. Barnett Slepian’s murder occurred not far from my hometown, I really can’t recall what I felt – if anything – at the news. But now – now I know better. Dr. Tiller’s murder, far from an isolated crime committed against a single individual, was intended to terrorize abortion providers and reproductive health clinics all over the United States. Doctors and clinics that provide vital health care, primarily to women. Scared women, marginalized women, women in need, women with nowhere else to go. To this end, it was an atrocity perpetrated against women everywhere, women who want nothing more than control over their own lives – and bodies. Women who simply want to be regarded and treated as fully human.

Dr. Tiller was one of a handful of doctors who perform abortions in the later term of pregnancy (whereas “late term” defies definition, and may mean anything from 3 to 6 months on). He saved countless women’s lives, even in the face of unrelenting threats and danger, including an assassination attempt and the bombing of his clinic. Dr. Tiller was a hero – a hero who became a martyr. It’s difficult to describe, but Dr. Tiller’s murder – and all the anti-choice rhetoric that’s littered the media since – well, it’s hit me. Hard. It feels like women are under siege, our very bodily sovereignty up for grabs.* We’re so, so much worse off without him.

Of course, our collective loss pales in comparison to the loss suffered by his family, which includes his wife, 4 children and 10 grandchildren. My heart bleeds for them.

Naturally, many on the left have labeled this an act of domestic terrorism, and criticized the media and government for not doing so. They also point to the extreme right wing rhetoric that inflamed passions against abortion providers, implicating it in the murder. Scott Roeder may have pulled the trigger, the reasoning goes, but pundits and anti-abortion crusaders put the gun in his hand.

All of which has brought to the fore related issues with which I’ve been grappling for quite some time, particularly those involving parallels between the animal rights and anti-choice movements. For example, while animal rights “terrorists” have never killed a human, they do engage in campaigns of harassment and intimidation against individuals involved in animal exploitation – campaigns that are uncomfortably similar to the forms of “protest” carried out by “pro-lifers” against abortion providers. While animal rights activists are deemed the #1 domestic terrorist threat, anti-abortion groups (not-so-)curiously slip under the radar. And yet, is the answer to label them “terrorists” – or to rethink the very definition of “terrorism”?

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It’s Time for a Green Book: 1 Day, 100 Bloggers, 100 Green Books, 100 Reviews

Today at 1:00 PM ET, 100 bloggers will simultaneously review 100 different books as part of the Green Books Campaign. Organized by Eco-Libris, the project aims to promote “green” books (i.e., those printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper) – many of which discuss “green” topics as well: environmentalism, climate change, wildlife protection, activism, “green” frugalism and food (including vegan cooking!) – are all represented in today’s carnival. You can view a complete list of participating bloggers and their books here, with campaign updates here. As participant #94, I’ll be reviewing Glossary of Terms for Anti-Oppressive Policy and Practice from CommonAct Press. (Stay with me here!)

I found out about the project rather late in the game, so there was only a handful of unclaimed books from which to choose. Normally I would have picked a title more directly related to veganism – in particular, The Simple Little Vegan Dog Book caught my eye, and although it was already taken, the publisher was kind enough to send me a review copy anyhow; keep an eye out for a post or two in the coming weeks! – but given time and other limitations, I chose Glossary of Terms for Anti-Oppressive Policy and Practice. The monograph introduces students to anti-/oppressive terms and concepts – a useful exercise for anyone interested in social work and/or justice.

As I’ve argued here and elsewhere, animal liberation is closely tied to other, human social justice movements – if not traditionally thought of as a social justice movement per se. As advocates, it’s our responsibility to develop a working knowledge of prejudice and oppression in all their forms, and to avoid further marginalizing one group of already-marginalized animals on behalf of another. Practically speaking, this strategy can help us to build bridges (rather than burn them) and attract potential allies (rather than alienate others). More importantly, fighting for/alongside oppressed peoples – human and non – is also the right, the moral, the vegan thing to do. For these reasons, methinks A Glossary of AOP Terms is right at home here.

Review: Glossary of Terms for Anti-Oppressive Policy and Practice, edited by Bill Lee, Sheila Sammon & Gary C. Dumbrill (2007)

Though compact, Glossary of Terms for Anti-Oppressive Policy and Practice packs quite the anti-oppressive punch into its 37 pages. Editors Bill Lee, Sheila Sammon and Gary C. Dumbrill (who are themselves social work educators) touch upon a number of terms and concepts that students will encounter in both theory and practice.

Through my own college studies (primarily women’s studies courses), as well as several years spent pouring over progressive blogs in lieu of the Democrat & Chronicle, I was previously familiar with many of these phrases: sexism, patriarchy, institutional racism, other(ing), relativism, dominant ideology. Even so, a few terms (service users’ knowledge, internalized oppression) were new to me.

Glossary of Terms for Anti-Oppressive Policy and Practice seems most appropriate for students taking advanced sociology or social work courses. (Indeed, a Google search for the book’s title reveals a number of course syllabuses in which the glossary is included.) However, these are terms with which all adults – particularly those taking up the mantle of “progressivism” – should be acquainted.

While the book’s breadth of coverage is generally good, there are a few areas of concern.*

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In honor of World Vegan Day, a small (?) group of vegans spent much of yesterday tweeting their thoughts on veganism. Many of the tweets coalesced into the theme of vegan stories: that is, the many paths that led to and continue to reinforce participants’ veganism.

Similar to August’s oink, oink fracas, part of the goal was to launch #vegan into Twitter’s trending topics. Unfortunately, I don’t think #vegan ever did make it into the top 10, but we put on a good show nevertheless.

I wasn’t able to join the party until much later in the day, but I did do a fair share of tweeting in the evening. I’ve come to enjoy these Twitter hijacking parties; I don’t know many vegans in the “real” world, and banding together (however briefly), in pursuit a tangible, common goal (however humble) creates a much-needed sense of community.

It’s also interesting to observe different patterns in each person’s tweets – for example, which aspects of veganism and animal exploitation an individual always returns to. Consciously or not, many of my tweets focus on intersectionality – a topic I didn’t give much thought to until the past few years. Now, it seems to be the cornerstone of my activism. And I’ve veganism to thank for that.

Anyhow, here are all my tweets from yesterday. I didn’t do many retweets, but there were a number of dedicated vegans hitting the twitters in full force: see, for example, VeganMudblood, vegansNVRsayDIE, veganmcveganson, kveggiegrl and BeaElliott, for starters.

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And the consumer becomes the consumed!

It’s October 31st, folks! You know what that means: Halloween and the end of VeganMoFo. Thirty-one days, thirty-one posts. I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted….and totally looking forward to VeganMoFo IV!

The Mr. and I will spend the day taking in an orgy of Halloween horror movies and vegan junk food, so I don’t have enough time to put together a cohesive post. But that’s okay, because hopefully you don’t have time to read a cohesive post.

On the schedule for today, movie-wise, is:

- The Alphabet Killer (2008)

The Alphabet Killer is based on the double initial killings in Rochester, New York in the early 1970s. Eliza Dusku stars as Megan Paige, a police officer who is highly committed to the job. She develops schizophrenia, lasting for more than six months, and includes one month of active symptoms such as illusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior. Megan’s obsession leads her to a breakdown and a violent episode which lands her in the hospital. She eventually loses her fiance, Kenneth (Cary), and her job. Two years later Megan is back working as an advisor, but her more or less normal life goes to hell again when another murder is called in. Her fire rekindled, Megan sets out to find the killer, and this time she plans to get the job done, with or without the department’s assistance.

Fairly B-grade stuff, but it’s set in my hometown, so it’s a no-brainer. Still waiting on the Arthur Shawcross Lifetime movie-of-the-week.

- Ginger Snaps (2000)

Is becoming a woman analogous, in some deep psychological way, to becoming a werewolf? Ginger is 16, edgy, tough, and, with her younger sister, into staging and photographing scenes of death. They’ve made a pact about dying together. In early October, on the night she has her first period, which is also the night of a full moon, a werewolf bites Ginger. Within a few days, some serious changes happen to her body and her temperament. Her sister Brigitte, 15, tries to find a cure with the help of Sam, a local doper. As Brigitte races against the clock, Halloween and another full moon approach, Ginger gets scarier, and it isn’t just local dogs that begin to die.

Feminist horror: yes, please! (See also: Teeth. No, seriously, go watch it. Now!)

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Since VeganMoFo is coming to a close, I decided to spend the afternoon experimenting with two recipes I’ve been meaning to try, namely, Green Tea Cupcakes and Black Bean Brownies. You may recall that I vowed to try the former at the beginning of the month – and what kind of VeganMoFo’er would I be if I broke that one teensy-weeny little promise?

(Actually, funny story. When making the black bean brownies, I spent five+ minutes trying to coax the cover of the food processor to lock into place. Turns out I had it on backwards the whole time. But wait! That’s not all! Later on, I set the oven timer to what I thought was 30 minutes. It went off 30 seconds later. Oy. Turns out I’m not much of a MoFo’er after all!)

First up: Green Tea Cupcakes with Matcha Glaze from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. Two words: Fucking. Awesome. Seriously, these things rock. Assuming you like green tea, which I totally do.

The Matcha Glaze is kinda funky; before looking the recipe over, I thought the frosting would be a variation of Isa’s iconic vegan buttercream concoction, but as the name implies, it’s really a glaze. It’s different, but nicely so. Also a bit of a relief, because the sugar-heavy buttercream tends to give me a sugar headache. (Any tips for reducing the sugar content? Should I just add more shortening/less sugar? Anyone?)

Matcha is on the expensive side, but most recipes don’t call for all that much. I originally purchased a small box to try out in the Green Tea recipe from Wheeler del Torro’s The Vegan Scoop (also awesome, btw); now, methinks it’ll remain a pantry regular.

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Though I hope to eventually pen a piece about canine nutrition vis-à-vis veganism and vegetarianism, this isn’t it! Since I don’t have much time for background research, and don’t want to half-ass it, I’ll have to save that topic for another time. Instead of convincing you to feed your dog-kids a vegan or vegetarian diet – assuming you have dog-kids, that is – this VeganMoFo post is all about feeding your dog-kids a vegan diet (or foodstuffs), frugally.

Granted, commercial vegan and vegetarian dog foods are more expensive than their non-veg counterparts, and feeding your dog-kids a diet consisting solely of homemade food requires enough expertise that I don’t recommend it. Or rather, I can’t advise you on how to do it. You see, even though I occasionally feature recipes for homemade dog food, I primarily feed my kids commercial kibble: ’twas Nature’s Recipe Vegetarian formula for awhile, but we recently switched to V-Dog. Though it’s a little more expensive, it’s also confirmed vegan (DelMonte never would respond to my inquiries). The homemade goodies are more of a “topping,” if you will, to add a little variety to their meals. So all in all, we do spend a pretty penny on dog food in the Garbato-Brady household, homemade goodies notwithstanding.

Luckily, there are other ways to cut costs:

- Make your own dog treats. As with vegan dog food, vegan dog treats can be a little pricey, so you can save some cash by baking treats yourself. In contrast to food, which must meet your dog-kid’s nutritional requirements, treats are extras, so diy is just fine! Just go easy on the fat, salt, sugar and calories, mkay? Also, always check and double-check the ingredients to confirm that they aren’t harmful to canines.

Dogs also tend to be less discriminating eaters than people (well, me), so experiment with abandon, and don’t be afraid to substitute in less expensive ingredients when necessary. Chances are, your kids will enjoy whatever you create. Plus, is there anything cooler than giving your dog-kid a treat you baked especially for her, with nothing but love? (And an oven!)

For treat ideas, check out It’s A Vegan Dog’s Life, Yummy for Dogs and the Innocent Primate Vegan Blog, for starters.

The obvious downside to baking your own biscuits is that they don’t keep as well as the store-bought stuff, so it’s a little harder to keep some on hand at all times (you never know when you’ll need to entice your dog-kid away from a found animal corpse, am I right?). However, this brings us to the next tip:

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Though I’ve been focusing on healthy, frugal vegan foods this month, I have a confession to make: I’m a pizza addict. The Mr. and I have pizza for dinner several times a week. And it’s not exactly the healthy, low-fat, veggie-loaded, cheeseless kind – not even close!

Usually, we make these cute lil’ mini-/personal pizzas using pita bread as the base, but every few weeks or so, we go all out and make large pizzas from scratch.

Okay, well, not totally from scratch: the dough is fresh, but the sauce is canned, as are the black olives. I guess you could say that the faux pepperoni and soy cheese are made from scratch, just not by us (our artisans of choice are Lightlife and Follow Your Heart, respectively). The sundried tomatoes may or may not be homegrown and homemade (read: dried); while I still have a batch from 2008 stashed in the freezer, our garden was a huge fail this year, and we’ll probably deplete our stores by the end of November. But it’s too painful a subject to discuss quite yet. Sigh.

Anyhow, the pita pizzas make for a quick and convenient meal; not only does the pita bread allow you to forgo the dough-making step, but the pita is also small enough that the pizzas are edible as-is, no cutting required. The larger pizzas are another story.

While fresh-made dough requires some planning ahead, it’s more time-consuming than difficult. Rather, we’ve found ourselves plagued by a problem of a different sort: namely, slicing the layer of thick, gooey vegan cheese and through the crispy crust underneath. Though I’ve never had dairy-based cheese (I’m allergic to milk, making the transition to veganism that much easier), Shane swears that pizzas with vegan cheese are infinitely harder to cut than their non-vegan counterparts. For a while I assumed that the problem lay in our cheap-ass cutlery, but we always manage to make a mess of our pizza toppings, no matter the sharpness (or dullness) of the knives used. We even tried a few of those charming little pizza-cutters-on-a-wheel, with little luck.

About twelve months ago, Shane started going on about an idea he had for “the perfect pizza cutter.” I rolled my eyes not a few times, especially since he was going through this Billy Mays* / Anthony Sullivan fascination phase. But he kept on with it, contacting local metallurgists and welders in his spare time. I more or less humored him, thinking that it would be so insanely expensive to commission a custom-made piece from a professional that the idea wouldn’t go anywhere. And a few metalworkers did give crazy high quotes – we’re talking $500 and up (thanks, but no thanks). Still he persisted, and got in touch with a welder – with experience in kitchen utensil development, to boot! – who was willing to do the job for fee low enough that I couldn’t say no.

And so the Perfect Pizza Press was born!

I have to hand it to him: he came up with a really kickass idea.

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Okay, so this might seem like a rather obvious tip, but it’s been a long, exhausting day, and I just have to do this one last thing before I can retire to bed with a pint of Purely Decadent and the remote control. I will have a perfect VeganMoFo III record, dammit!

So, where were we? Ingredient prep. When you purchase ingredients that have been prepared beforehand – for example, lettuce that’s already been shredded, pre-mixed spices, growth-stunted carrots, etc. – you’re paying not just for the price of the food, but also for the additional handling and processing, as well as the added convenience to you, the consumer. Sometimes the cost is negligible; other times, the markup can be significant. By purchasing raw, unprocessed ingredients and preparing them yourself, you can save a little extra money every week. Time spent in the kitchen translates to cash in the wallet.

For example:

- Baby carrots usually cost more per pound than full-sized carrots. Whereas you have to peel, wash and slice large carrots, baby carrots just require a quick bath in the kitchen sink before they’re ready to eat. Luckily, peeling carrots: not that hard. Just invest $5 in an ergonomic peeler, and you’re good to go.

- A whole head of lettuce is cheaper than bags of shredded lettuce or pre-made salad. Again, lettuce isn’t that hard to prepare for use. However, unless you’re able to consume a whole head before it goes bad, bagged lettuce might prove less expensive in the long run. On the downside: all that wasted packaging.

- Corn that has been pre-husked and tethered in plastic to a Styrofoam board: just don’t do it. Seriously, no.

- Spice mixes are sometimes (but not always) marked up more than the cost of their individual spices. Before you buy a seasoning blend, ask yourself if it’s something you could make on your own. The most egregious example of this I’ve seen is a newer phenomenon: cinnamon and sugar packaged together in a blend. I bet I could teach my smartest dog-kid to combine 1 part cinnamon with 1 part sugar in a small tupperware container and shake ’til mixed. Hell, I do it in a half-groggy morning stupor once every few weeks – and I don’t function well before 10 AM.

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Green Giant Steamers, I can’t believe this is the last week of October – and of VeganMoFo 2009! It’s been rather exhausting, this daily blogging, and yet I feel like I’m just getting started – there’s so much more to say! It’s all good, though; since I’m vegan 365 days a year (366 in 2012), I can get my VeganMoFo on whenever, wherever, with whomever I want. (Um, just don’t tell Shane I said that.)

Anyhow, for our very last Monday Mashup of the month, I decided to go with a frugal vegan theme. All of these dishes are made with relatively inexpensive, readily available ingredients. You name it, we’ve got it: veggies, fruits, pasta, grains, beans, tofu, pancakes, cookies, pie, breakfast, lunch, brunch, dinner and dessert – represent! Veganism: truthy, yes; inconvenient, not so much.

Now if you’ll excuse me, those twice-baked potatoes are calling my name…

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Ozzy is not amused by all this talk of pumpkin-flavored dog food.

The dogs finished off their last batch of homemade food yesterday, so I had to throw something together in a hurry. I decided to try a seasonal Halloween version of the “Have-a-Hearty Hound Loaf,” which basically consists of a base of mashed tofu and/or beans, dressed up with various goodies (Italian Tofu Styley, anyone?).

This time around, I mixed mashed tofu with pureed pumpkin, black beans, ginger, cinnamon, dried apples and cranberries, and a bit o’ carob chips to give the loaf an orange/candied feel. My initial instinct was to use a sweet potato puree in place of the pumpkin, but little Miss Rennie doesn’t seem to care for sweet potatoes, so I decided against it. (I made a sweet potato soup/gravy for them a few weeks back, and she so disliked it that I had to make an extra dish of mixed veggies and beans just for her. Hmph!) But you can sub in sweet potatoes if you’d rather.

Also, I was running a little low on pumpkin puree; I thought about mixing in some rolled or quick oats, but didn’t want to dilute the pumpkin flavor too much, so decided against it. Add extra pumpkin and oats if you’ve got ‘em – don’t be shy!

This dish is meant for the dogs, but you can probably play around with the seasonings and spice it up to your own liking. The finished loaf holds up well, retaining its shape and integrity, even though the center is rather moist and crumbly. The dogs sure like it, and as an added bonus, it gives off a very autumnal odor that will linger for hours – until well after you’ve cleaned the dishes and stashed the leftovers in the fridge.

Have a Pumpkin (Not a Cow!) Loaf

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Close on the heels of last week’s Blog Action Day for Climate Change comes today’s International Day of Climate Action. With a focus on the number 350 – “as in parts per million, the level scientists have identified as the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere” – the campaign’s goal is laudable:

350.org is an international campaign dedicated to building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis–the solutions that science and justice demand.

Our mission is to inspire the world to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis—to create a new sense of urgency and of possibility for our planet.

Our focus is on the number 350–as in parts per million, the level scientists have identified as the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere. But 350 is more than a number–it’s a symbol of where we need to head as a planet.

To tackle climate change we need to move quickly, and we need to act in unison—and 2009 will be an absolutely crucial year. This December, world leaders will meet in Copenhagen, Denmark to craft a new global treaty on cutting emissions. The problem is, the treaty currently on the table doesn’t meet the severity of the climate crisis—it doesn’t pass the 350 test.

In order to unite the public, media, and our political leaders behind the 350 goal, we’re harnessing the power of the internet to coordinate a planetary day of action on October 24, 2009. We hope to have actions at hundreds of iconic places around the world – from the Taj Mahal to the Great Barrier Reef to your community – and clear message to world leaders: the solutions to climate change must be equitable, they must be grounded in science, and they must meet the scale of the crisis.

If an international grassroots movement holds our leaders accountable to the latest climate science, we can start the global transformation we so desperately need.

Certainly, we need bold, cooperative, global action to combat climate change – and we need it now. Yet, 350′s campaign materials do not so much as mention vegetarianism, let alone veganism – this despite the fact that animal agriculture is a major contributor to greenhouse gases, including methane and nitrous oxide (which have a global warming potential 23 and 296 times greater than C02, respectively). Given the world’s burgeoning human population and rise in “meat” and dairy consumption, we cannot stop and reverse climate change – not to mention, air and water pollution, deforestation, habitat loss, species extinction, world hunger and poverty – without transitioning to a vegan diet. Our exploitation of nonhuman animals echoes in our exploration of the earth, and of one another.

While I’m happy to see that many of the planned actions include vegan meals, this isn’t enough: the International Day of Climate Action must include veganism as its centerpiece. Talk about C02 and Copenhagen, yes, but don’t stop there: speak also of veganism and the politics of what’s on your plate. Anything less is dishonest, regressive, hypocritical. Suicide and murder, both.

I get that “350″ is a cute, catchy, universally-understood campaign gimmick – so why not make next year’s theme 365? As in, GO VEGAN!: not just meatless on Mondays, or meat- and dairy-free on on November 1st, but vegan 365 days of the year. That’s real, meaningful change, and with minimal effort, too. Omnivores, vegetarians and vegans: we all already shop, cook and eat. To do so in a compassionate, (truly) green manner requires little to no extra action, especially in the long run – and living vegan will only become easier as demand and support for veganism increase.

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