Vegetarians ( and Vegans ) Thread!!! - Page 75

I am a raw vegan and love sweets.  I always have a batch of my chocolate candy on hand.  Takes 10 minutes to make!

 

Easy:  1/4 cup walnuts

           1 3/4 cups cashews  (or almonds)

           1 cup dates (soak and drain them for 30 minutes if you are not using medjool date which are soft)

           1 cup raisins (or 1 cup mixed raisins and dates) 

           1/4 cup cacao powder

 

Mix all ingredients together in a food processor until it forms a glossy, smooth ball of dough.  The dough will seem a little oily (from the walnut oil).  Options are to pat into a pie plate and refrigerate and then cut into wedges later or roll the dough into balls and refrigerate or freeze in a container. You can also roll them in unsweetened shredded coconut if you like before refrigerating. They are very chewy (kind of a caramel texture) and it's quite satisfying to eat only a few!

 

Enjoy!  

 

 

Someone posted this on Facebook the other day. I personally am glad I found it. Now when someone asks 'why' I'm vegan, I can say.. "Watch This".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es6U00LMmC4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I completely respect those who chose a specific diet as in vegetarian or vegan. I personally do eat meat 2-3 times a wk n the other days r giant salads or pastas. With that being said, my husband did 22 yrs in the army and I had to wait til he retired to fulfill my dream of a few backyard chickens. I am anxiously awaiting for my first organic eggs because we love farm fresh organic ones. I also just enjoy watching them do funny chicken things and they bring my family relaxation n joy. They r dual purpose birds but we'll never eat them. Just continue to feed them until they die of old age. Yes, that's crazy but I feel if they give us yummy eggs n joy thier whole lives, they deserve to retire w dignity. What bugs me even more are those who feed thier kids junk n wonder why they r obese. Ok, I'm jumping off my soap box now lol. Have a great day everyone!!

It's really SCARY! The stuff people feed their kids mine have been vegan since born & the older ones have chosen to have dairy or meat when they've gone out. As a parent you should just educated them as best as you can about caring for their bodies, we only get one;)
I am glad you've decided to keep them and let them retire. I just lost my first chicken she was such a brat!! Most of my friends knew her well LOL she liked following them around looking for a treat. They couldn't believe how smart and funny she was & (like myself) they were amazed when they seen the silkies. I have two families that actually have chickens now, for pets but use their eggs. They believe it's an added bonus, they dont have roosters, so won't have any fertile eggs. I personally had to have my white Silkie rooster "Roo", he is such a big baby!
Someone just sent me this Chocolate vegan cake recipe.. Have not tried it yet tho lol

Not only is this recipe easy, it also happens to be vegan (no animal products used). Originally a Grange recipe from the depression era. Eggs in short supply, y'know.
Thanks to Daniel S. for the metric equivalents.

Ingredients

3 cups flour (680 grams)
2 cups sugar (450 grams) (read this first)
6 tablespoons cocoa (100 grams)
2 teaspoons baking soda (10 cc's = 10 ml)
1 teaspoon salt (5 cc's = 5 ml)
3/4 cup vegetable oil (200 cc's)
2 tablespoon vinegar (30 cc's)
2 teaspoon vanilla (10 cc's)
2 cup cold water (480 cc's)
Directions

Mix the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients. Stir until smooth. Bake two greased, floured pans at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Makes two layers of a two-layer 9-inch or 8-inch round cake, or one small sheet cake. When cool, frost it.

This is just a comment, and I really should keep my mouth shut because I really don't care much what people do and do not eat as long as they don't try to foist it off on me.  I have eaten all the brown rice I am ever going to in this lifetime. But there is all this publicity about what is and what is not a healthy diet to ensure a long healthy life, and a lot of it is based on some very questionable science.  My family, and it's a large one, on both sides ate all the things health food aficionanados would tell you are pure poison, and they all died, with the exception of my father who smoked and drank, in their very late 90's.  I have a cousin who is getting ready to celebrate her 100th birthday.  She is in great health, sharp as a tack, and her diet would give most of you apoplexy.

 

If you prefer a vegan diet for moral and ethical reasons, or because you just like it, fine.  But it is not a natural diet for homo sapiens.  I cannot think of a single primate, none, who eat a strictly vegan diet.  They all consume a variety of animal protein in the form of insects, grubs, etc. and chimpanzees occasionally hunt and kill other animals for food.

 

That said, there was a vegan food columnist in the San Jose Mercury News who would occasionally publish some vegan recipes that even I would like.  One in particular I remember was a salad that had all sorts of good things in it like chopped nuts and dried cranberries. Unfortunately, I didn't save it .  I have been meaning to try to replicate it.

I feel there are a lot of myths about vegan/veggie diets out there. I am sure soon enough I'll be raw vegan. Thankfully being vegan for myself and my family has worked great for us. I think one of is sick every couple of years with a virus, which we tend to get rid of pretty quickly with some elderberry & garlic NOT mixed together of course.
I grow most of our food when it's possible(spring/summer) and freeze what we don't trade or give away. I steer clear of the GMO foods as well.. Which with Monsanto taking over everything gets harder everyday.
I agree genes and life style have a lot to do with longevity and not just diet. I could die tomorrow in a car crash, not something our lifestyle or diets will save us from. I am truly a vegan for ethical and moral reasons. Funny though most of the people I know in my area are vegan/veggie for dietary reasons, and love to argue with me about why I'm vegan LOL
No ones ever far from someone that's want to judge everything you do. We had to get another dr for the kids about 15yrs ago. I was told me and the kids would die from not having animal products even though I had 6 healthy pregnancies and 6 very healthy kids they just wanted to harrass me every visit. I told them to call children services and well see what they say. Of course they didn't, they had no basis. It's always an ongoing fight to defend our diets.. No matter what you eat someone has something to say
I just grew up this way (well veggie) and even though, I became vegan for my own reasons I understood why my parents were the way they were. Sadly my father and older brother both died from alcohol, being vegetarin

Wasn't going to help them. Sorry I hit the 'reply'. Hard to type on this phone

 

Maybe when we were cavemen a vegan diet wasn't natural for us. But we've evolved so much since then. A lot of people actually go vegan now to become healthier. I personally went vegan to stop supporting animal slaughter and abuse, but I defenitely saw a change in my health, both phyically and mentally. I felt better about myself and had a better outlook on life. I did my regular checkups with my doctor and passed every part of the exam with flying colors. I stayed at a healthy weight and I was more active than I had been before.

But when you say it isn'y natural, I think most of the bad cases of people going vegan are people that are ignorant to the facts. Like if they cut out meat from their diets, they forget to take supplements for iron or get other sources of protein. Or if they cut out dairy from their diet, they don't take in enough calcium. My aunt, when she was a kid, was vegan. She actually started to turn a little blue, believe it or not. She was lacking nutrients and she was paying the price for it. But that never has once happened to me. And it's because I follow the facts. To say that being vegan for anyone is not natural is far from the truth. It's as natual as you make it. It's when you lose hold of the facts is when things start to go downhill.

Can you make a vegan diet work?  Certainly.  Is it natural?  No.  I stand by that.  Humans, however, can and do subsist on just about anything.  That is one reason we have been so successful as a species. 

 

Two things that modern people eat that, in all probability, really aren't good for them, are sugar and refined flour.  Both of those things can be eaten on a vegan diet.  I am not saying you do, or should, but you can and still be vegan. Whether or not it is a good idea is another thing entirely.

I've tried a vegetarian diet cuz I love veggies n could live on them but after a week I felt awful. I really craved meat so I have in cuz I do like to eat meat, pork n chicken. I guess I'm just not disaplined enough and definatly could never do vegan cuz I love dairy products, especially eggs. That's why I have laying hens. Did u feel awful at first when u cut meat out of ur diet? Doesn't your body go thru alot of changes w/ such a drastic dietary change?