Simple Vegan Quesadillas

These quesadillas are excellent, and they don't use any nasty vegan soy-cheese, which tastes horrible when it "melts." Instead, avocado is used because its creamy and almost has the texture of cheese.

Ingredients:
1 large flour tortilla (or 2 small tortillas)
2 TBS of EarthBalance or other veg margarine
1 Small ripe avocado, skin removed and cut into slices, discard pit
Salsa (the more flavor the better, my favorite is Tostitos All-Natural Medium)
Vegan Sour Cream (optional)

1. In a medium skillet, heat the margarine until melted and hot.
2. Add the tortilla and cook until thick, browned, and crisp on both sides (do this for both if using two small tortillas)
3. Put on plate and put avocado slices on one half of the tortilla (if using 2 tortillas put avocado on all of it)
4. With a spoon, add salsa on top of the avocado.
5. Fold over the tortilla (or place second cooked tortilla on top.)
6. Viola! Serve with vegan sour cream (optional) and enjoy.

FYI: Because avocados have a pit, they are technically a fruit, not a vegetable.

Vegan Candy List

I happened to find a list of vegan candy on one of PETA's websites cuz ya know, candy is awesome.

http://www.petakids.com/candy.html

Recalled Pet Foods!

As most people know, Iams and Eukanuba have recalled many foods due to renal (kidney) failure in dogs and cats (mostly cats.) The maker of the feed, Menu Foods, has disclosed that only 10 animals have died so far (1 dog, 9 cats), though 7 animals died in their testings of the contaminated foods (those bastards, they shouldnt be using animals to test something they know is deadly, then again this is P&G.)

While the most common brand names for the foods are Eukanuba and Iams, there are MANY other brands that Menu Foods produces feeds for. The complete list of recalled foods for cats and dogs are as followed:

~ ~ Cat Food ~ ~

Americas Choice, Preferred Pets
Authority
Best Choice
Companion
Compliments
Demoulas Market Basket
Eukanuba
Fine Feline Cat
Food Lion
Foodtown
Giant Companion
Hannaford
Hill country Fare
Hy-Vee
Iams
Key Food
Laura Lynn
Li’l Red
Loving Meals
Meijers Main Choice
Nutriplan
Nutro Max Gourmet Classics
Nutro Natural Choice
Paws
Pet Pride
Presidents Choice
Price Chopper
Priority
Save-A-Lot
Schnucks
Science Diet (The recall affects only 3-ounce and 5.5-ounce cans of Kitten Savory Cuts Ocean Fish; 5.5-ounce cans of Feline Adult Savory Cuts Beef, Chicken and Ocean Fish, and 5.5-ounce cans of Feline Senior Savory Cuts Chicken.)
Sophisticat
Special Kitty Canada
Special Kitty U.S.
Springfield Prize
Sprout
Total Pet, My True Friend
Wegmans
Western Family
White Rose
Winn Dixie

~ ~ Dog Food ~ ~

Americas Choice, Preferred Pets
Authority
Award
Best Choice
Big Bet
Big Red
Bloom
Bruiser
Cadillac
Companion
Demoulas Market Basket
Eukanuba
Food Lion
Giant Companion
Great Choice
Hannaford
Hill Country Fare
Hy-Vee
Iams
Key Food
Laura Lynn
Loving Meals
Meijers Main Choice
Mighty Dog (The recall affects only 5.3 pouch products that were produced from Dec. 3, 2006 through March 14, 2007.)
Mixables
Nutriplan
Nutro Max
Nutro Natural Choice
Nutro
Ol’Roy Canada
Ol’Roy U.S.
Paws
Pet Essentials
Pet Pride - Good ’n Meaty
Presidents Choice
Price Chopper
Priority
Publix
Roche Bros
Save-A-Lot
Schnucks
Shep Dog
Springfield Prize
Sprout
Stater Bros
Total Pet, My True Friend
Western Family
White Rose
Winn Dixie
Your Pet

IF YOU KNOW ANYONE WHO HAS A CAT/DOG, please email them this post so they can see this list, I had to hunt for it on the 'net.

Sources: Recalled Products List: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17689821/

Testing of Products: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17650075/wid/11915773?GT1=9145

2006 PETA Annual Review

The new 2006 report has been released by PETA, which tells all of their victories for animal of all kind (circus, clothing, dinner, etc)

Check it out at http://www.peta.org/feat/annualreview06/index.asp.

Broccoli Topped Quinoa

Sorry about being late posting this, I've been so busy with school, but here it is as I promised! The recipe is very yummy, and extremely easy to prepare.

Ingredients:
1 cup frozen broccoli florets
1/2 cup quinoa (rinsed)
1 1/4 cup water
2 TBS EarthBalance (or other veg*n margarine)
1 TBS canola oil

1. Boil water in saucepan, add quinoa. Cover and cook on very low heat for 15 minutes.


2. Heat oil in skillet until hot.


3. Add broccoli florets and cook until heated through.


4. Lower heat, and add margarine. Stir until broccoli is coated in margarine. Turn heat off.


5. Remove quinoa from heat, put in dish.


6. Pour broccoli and margarine on quinoa and stir.

Now you have a balanced 1-dish meal! (fat=margarine, protein=quinoa, carb=quinoa, veg=brocolli)

Salmonella Found In Wild Kitty Cat Food

Wow, what is with pet food recalls this week?

Reuters reported that this Tuesday, the FDA warned cat owners against buying Wild Kitty cat food, which is a frozen raw food. This is because salmonella was found in certain batches of the cat food while the FDA was doing a routine analysis on the food.

The FDA says the infected batches were Wild Kitty Chicken & Clam food (3 other flavors are also made). The agency warned pet owners not to buy any more of the food, and safely dispose of whatever they may have.

[Wild Kitty] advertises itself as a raw food that does not include any artificial
flavorings or preservatives and is sold in frozen, single-serving and 1 pound
containers.

Besides the fact that the contaminated food is harmful to the cats, humans who come in contact with the pet food are also at risk for salmonella poisoning, along with those who come in close contact with infected animals.

The people with the highest susceptibility to salmonella poisoning are the ill, the elderly, people with weak immune systems, and young children.

Another Reason To Not Buy Iams Brand

According to the Associated Press, 60 MILLION containers of Iams and Eukanuba wet pet food has been recalled. (Iams owns Eukaneuba, both are under Proctor and Gamble.)

Many dogs and cats have had kidney failure and vomiting from eating the food, and 10 animals DIED.

“At this juncture, we’re not 100 percent sure what’s happened,” said Paul
Henderson, the company’s president and chief executive officer.

The pet foods that were recalled had been using a new supplier for wheat gluten (protein), which may have caused the fatalities.

The recall covers the company’s “cuts and gravy” style food, which consists of
chunks of meat in gravy, sold in cans and small foil pouches between Dec. 3 and
March 6. The pet food was sold by stores operated by the Kroger Company, Safeway
Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and PetSmart Inc., among others, Henderson said.

The specific products that were recalled (by Proctor and Gamble) are as followed:
CANNED:
3 oz.
5.5 oz.
6 oz.
13.2 oz.
FOIL POUCH
3 oz.
5.3 oz.
(These products are made for dogs and cats.)
The recalled products bear the code dates of 6339 through 7073 followed by the plant code 4197

The products are produced under Menu Foods, but they are sold as Iams and Eukaneuba brand pet food. SO PLEASE, If you own ANY wet food by Iams and Eukanuba, throw it out or get your money back and choose another pet food company.
(to read the entire article, click here)

Besides this new incident, Iams is ownded by Proctor and Gamble (P&G), a company with one of the worst animal testing histories, not only for their dog food, but for cosmetics and other human products.

Iams has been known to cut out sections of thigh muscle in living dogs to "test" their food. Also, many of these "supermarket" pet foods are not very good for your pet. Most of these products use corn as a main ingredient, which is a "filler" and has no nutrition value. They are also pumped with artifical ingredients, and are essentially processed foods. If you wouldnt eat junk food every day, don't feed it to your pets please.

Newman's Own makes great pet foods, though it can be expensive. Other non-organic (and thus cheaper) pet foods that are still natural include Solid Gold (my doggie eats this, she loves it!), Old Mother Hubbard, PetSmart, and Chicken Soup.

Fake Fur Not So Fake

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has found out that most fake fur sold in stores isn't........ fake.
The HSUS bought coats from high-end stores that were labelled with "faux" or "fake" fur. After testing the fibers for protein sequences, they discovered that the fur was real, and that a lot of it came from domesticated dogs.
The brands that sold the coats included Tommy Hilfiger (a personal friend of Beyonce, another fur whore) and Andrew Marc.
Many of the retailers (including Nordstrom) are allowing buyers to return the vests and coats because they were mislabelled as fake. The HSUS is pleased with the reactions from the retailers.

Other retailers the Humane Society said sold mislabeled raccoon dog fur
included Lord & Taylor, BergdorfGoodman.com and Neiman Marcus.com. Designers
whose clothes were mismarked included Donna Karan’s DKNY and Michael Kors. A
coat from Oscar de la Renta advertised as raccoon had raccoon dog fur.
Neiman
Marcus, which owns Bergdorf Goodman, said it removed Bogner and Andrew Marc
coats from its Web sites. Michael Kors said it was investigating, and a DKNY
spokeswoman said the label was unaware that raccoon dog fur had been
used. (To read the full article on MSNBC.com, click here.)

This is absolutely disgusting. As if fur wasn't bad enough, regular people who are trying to make a difference by not wearing animals are wearing them without knowing. The only 100% accurate way to check if fur is real or not is to do protein analysis. And if you are in a store, that's not really possible. However, if you are a savvy consumer, there are other ways to make sure aren't wearing Fifi or Fido. (Personally I do not like fur, real OR fake)
Here is an eBay guide on how to tell the difference between faux and real fur, even though it is sort of guided towards those who wish to purchase real fur, it still will help you to tell the difference.
Sometimes though, it is hard to do some of those things to a garment you see in a store. Also, not everyone can be sure of checking a garment by how it looks if they are not very experienced. If that is the case, snip a tiny amount of fur from the item and go into the mall bathroom and burn it to check the scent if it is real or not. Real fur will smell like burning human hair when burned.

Another idea not mentioned in the guide is that real fur smells like formaldehyde and other chemicals used to preserve it. While faux fur is still synthetic chemicals, it will not smell like an embalmer's office!

The easiest way not to make a mistake? Don't buy real or fake fur! Even fake fur (though it may look chic) still sends the message that animal pelt is "cool", even if it is not real.

Quinoa

The quinoa turned out really yummy. I made it plain and topped it with brocolli sauteed in Smart Balance. Later on I will post a picture and the complete recipe for it.

Just got some quinoa

I just bought some quinoa... (pronounced keen-wa)

It looks like a grain, but its really from a spinach-related plant. It's gluten-free, and it happens to be a complete protein (contains essential amino acids). I've tried it once before, but I really don't remember how it tastes so tonight I will try to make some.

I'm 15!

Yesterday was my birthday!

My mom made a vegan cake w/ vegan chocolate frosting. For dinner, we did Mexican so I got a vegan mexican pizza and guacamole.

Currently, I'm eating the leftover guacamole with a spoon, it's really yummy.

In the gift department, I got a ceramic hair straightener (yay!!!), Hot Topic gift card, some cash, and vegan chocolate bars (endangered species brand.)

I don't have school tomorrow or Tuesday, it's in-service and town meeting day for VT.