Guacamole

A couple days ago I made some guacamole. It was soooo good and I ended up eating it with a spoon instead of chips.

Ingredients:
2 ripe avocados (with skin off and without pits)
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 medium jalapenos (or a handful of slices from a jar), diced
2 TBS lime juice (you can use less, I like a lot of lime!)
2TBS jalapeno hot sauce (optional, since fresh/jarred can be expensive if you use a lot)
Dash of salt (if not using hot sauce)

1. Put the avocados in a bowl and mash well with a fork. I prefer to use a fork instead of an electric mixer because I like some small pieces of avocado and it makes it heavier.
2. Add the onion, jalapenos, lime juice, and hot sauce/salt, mix in with the fork.

If you want, you can add chili powder, diced green chilies, diced tomato, and other things. You can also make this without any hot peppers at all. There are many different variations! You also could substitute lemon juice for lime, or leave it out. I've made this so many ways and its always good!! ♥

La La La Exams Are Over!

My exams are finally over! I think I did well on all of them, maybe doing just alright in history and French. I got a 97 in Math Analysis, which is considered one of the hardest classes offered in the school (and only to seniors and juniors, I'm a sophy lol). So I'm really happy because my grade went up 13 points from the first term!
I just got back from Vermont less than an hour ago. While I was there, I got a portabello burger at Patrick's Place in Randolph with my best friend. And tonight I'm going to some restaurant with family.
Tomorrow I'm going to the mall for clothes and just for fun. I'll probably get some cool vegan clothes at Hot Topic, Aéropostale, and Forever 21. And I'm going to get a new vegan purse if I can (I currently have a canvas one from Hot Topic, I need something bigger (or with a bigger opening!) to hold all my makeup (that's a lot lol), iPod, digital camera, and everything else I manage to stuff in there.

Blogging for Bars

I just recieved an email from a person working for a vegan energy bar company looking for bloggers to test 4 new flavors of energy bars! I'm really excited to try them (I asked them to send me more verification before I give them my address, of course)! But once I get them (which should be February), I will blog all about them! More info to come!

If you can't tell, I'm really happy about this, it's like being a mini-celebrity when someone asks you to try their product and write about it! :)

And a little off-topic here, but THE PATRIOTS WON!!! (My favorite team if you didn't already know). Which means we are going to the SuperBowl! So I'm going to make another SuperBowl party post for this year's bowl (red, white and blue themed, n'est pas?).

New Graphics Coming Soon

I know a lot of people love graphics (mostly younger people but hey they're cool!). I've currently been making some on my other computer (without internet) and once I get a few I will publish them to deviantART.com. My username is Sexy Vegan Chick, I haven't uploaded anything yet so don't bother checking.
So far I have a blinkie and the starts of a few other things. I'll keep you guys posted on when I uploaded stuff.

And don't worry, all my stuff will be free to use for anything you want as long as you don't claim it as your own work!

Track!!!!

I did really well in the meet today. First of all, my 4x400 relay team and I got 1st place in our heat, and 8th overall out of 17. We could have done even better if we were in a fast heat (we beat the seed time by 15 seconds). We ended up getting 4:45, which is 7 seconds away from making the State Tournament (and 2 seconds per person is pretty easy to manage). And I got a personal best in the race for 1:13 (I was already tired from the 300m).

In the 300m, I got 51.7, which is pretty decent. I came in 30th out of 54. If I had gotten a quarter-second faster I would have came in around 15th, which is how close the race was (9 heats!).

So overall it was a pretty fun day. But now I'm wicked tired!

Exams and Track Meets

Track meet tomorrow at Hillhouse in New Haven, I'm pretty excited. It's an invitational so I'm only doing two events, the 300m and the 4x400m. Which happen to be my not-so-great events. I just hope I don't get the innermost lane for the 300 because I'm not great with the tight corners of an indoor track (outdoor no problem).

And starting Tuesday I have exams :(

Here's my schedule:

Tuesday - College U.S. History, then College Chemistry

Wednesday - Honors Math Analysis (aka PreCalc), then College World Literature 10

Thursday - French III

Friday - Spanish II

I'm really mad, 'cause the schedule is periods 7,1,5,6,2,4,3. Why couldn't they have gone in order??? Why do Chemistry and History (the two most comprehensive) have to be in the same day? And why do French and Spanish have to be at the end by themselves? They are soooo easy!

Oh well. No use complaining over something that won't change. At least the meet should be fun.

For those of you who don't know, indoor meets start at 10 and go to 4:30 or so. And since New Haven is pretty far, I have to be at school for the bus at 7:30 (we get there early to warm up) and we get home around 5:30 or 6, maybe later. It's an all day experience. So pretty much we athletes hang around in the hallways and set up blankets, eat food, fool around, play music on my iFlop monkey, and watch movies if someone brings a T.V. So we do that for about 7 hours, and actually do track for maybe an hour, if that.

So I'll be bringing a smorgasbord of food with me, which shall include:

Veggie sandwich

Pb&J sandwich

Ritz crackers

LUNA bars

Dry cereal in a big

BBQ soy crisps

and anything else I can find.

And of course, my iFlop monkey! It actually can sit up and when it plays the earphones it's wearing light up! (If you didn't know, its a stuffed animal that you can plug into an iPod and it will play music!)

Don't Support Murderboro, Krool, etc!!!

Did you know that smoking cigarettes is not only extremely bad for your own health, but its cruel and horrific to animals? Here are a few experiments that are being done (qtd from Smokinganimals.com):

• Cutting holes in beagles' throats through which the dogs are forced to breathe concentrated cigarette smoke for a year.
• Inserting electrodes into dogs' penises to measure the effect of cigarette smoke on sexual performance.
• Strapping masks to the faces of rats and monkeys and permanently restraining them to force them to breathe cigarette smoke constantly.
• Forcing dogs to be on mechanical ventilators and chronically exposed to cigarette smoke.
• Restraining Rhesus monkeys in chairs with head devices and exposing them to nicotine and caffeine to determine how caffeine and nicotine affect breathing.

Smoking is unvegan (because of animal testing) if you smoke any brand of cigarettes other than American Spirit (which stopped testing). I'm not suggesting you smoke at all though, if you do so you are contributing to the approximately 3,400 lung cancer deaths of non-smokers!!!!!
However, if you do wish to continue the dirty habit, please switch to American Spirits, as they are considered the only "cruelty-free" brand, even though for years previous they have used animal testing.

SOURCES:
http://www.smokinganimals.com/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_American_Spirit
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_10_2X_Secondhand_Smoke-Clean_Indoor_Air.asp

Mum's Amazing Chili

This is the recipe my Mum has been using since before I was born, and it's probably my favorite food.

Ingredients:

2 large onions, sliced

2 large bell peppers, sliced (1 red and 1 green)

1 can of whole tomatoes, broken in pieces, along with the juice

5-10 jalapenos, sliced (depending on taste)

1-2 cans of kidney beans (depending on how much you like)

1 can garbanzo beans

4 TBS chili powder

1 tsp salt

1 TBS vegetable oil

OPTIONALS:

1 package (12-16 oz) of soy ground meat (personally, I prefer it without)

Cayenne

Other hot peppers

1. In a very large, deep frying pan OR 4-quart saucepan, heat oil.
2. Saute onions and peppers (and soy meat if using) for 10 mins in oil.
3. Add other ingredients and simmer for 45 mins.

This should make around 8 servings.

That's it! This picture was taken just after the ingredients were added. It's in a small pan because tonight my mum is making a batch with meat in it.

Ideas for A Contest?

I'm thinking about doing a new contest. The only snitch is that I don't know what it should be. But I know the prize(s) already, they would be BlogExplosion credits (between 25 and 250).

For those of you who dont know, BlogExplosion is a traffic exchange site that helps you get more traffic to your blog. Besides being easy to transfer, I also want to help support the online vegan blog community. So I guess the contest would only be open to bloggers (if you wanted the prize, and it could be any type of blog, not just vegan), but that means you could always make your own blog!

Maybe it could be a best blog contest? Or essay to be submitted to a newspaper? Or best vegan tutorial? Best vegan art? I'm still not exactly sure yet, so leave me some ideas!

Sweet Sixteen Coming Soon

In almost a month and a half it will be my sweet sixteen! (3/3)
I havent actually had a real birthday party since I was 10, so I dont know exactly what to do. I'm thinking about having some friends over, maybe go to a movie and the mall, and going home to my house for some vegan cake. If you have any suggestions please tell me because I need ideas!

Clicks To Help Animals!

Helping animals (besides being vegan) doesn't always have to take a lot of time or effort, or cost money. Here are some easy ways to help them without even leaving your computer chair, or even having to really think!

I'll be adding more sites whenever I find them!

1. PETA: Get Your FREE Vegetarian Starter Kit from PETA
   If you aren't already a vegan/vegetarian, this booklet gives you easy recipes and interesting information on the subject.
   
2. PETA: Join P!nk in Signing petition to ban Horse-Drawn carriages in NYC
   
3. The Animal Rescue Site: Click to Give
   When you click the button once per day, advertising sponsers donate .6 bowls of food to hungry animals in shelters
   
4. Care2.com: Race for Pets in Need
   Each click helps vaccinate one animal. "100% of the donations generated go to The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) Rural Area Veterinary Services"
   
5. Care2.com: Race for the Big Cats
   Each click provides habitat for Jaguars, Tigers, and Snow Leopards!
   
6. Care 2.com: Race for the Primates
   Each click provides an apple to a hungry primate!
   
7. Care2.com: Race to Save Baby Seals
   Each click helps provide funding for a Public Service Announcement protesting the Canadian Seal Hunt!
   
8. Goodsearch.com: Use this Search Engine
   Choose the charity you wish to donate to (PETA, In Defense of Animals, ASPCA, WSPA and Mercy For Animals are all good choices, maybe your local shelter will be on there!)
   
9. PETA: Send an E-card!
   PETA E-cards send more than just a written message, and are so easy to send!

Cool Vegan Video

I found this on YouTube, it's quite funny but also very factual.

2008 Proggy Awards

PETA's annual Proggy awards (that go to animal friendly people/companies) are once again out!
Check them out here

To name a few:
Best Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Line - Urban Decay
Best Cruelty-Free Personal Care Product Line - White Rain
Most Progressive Chef - Wolfgang Puck
Most Improved National Food Chain - Burger King
Most Animal-Friendly Search Engine - Dogpile

See PETA's End of Year Video

This video nicely sums up what People for the Ethical treatment of Animals (PETA) did in the year of 2007, showing some of their victories and some other events that happened. Check it out, it's very interesting.
http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/Prefs.asp?video=end_of_year_2007_petatv