Easter Fruit Tart and Recipe Round-Up

March 28, 2013 5 Comments

round up

It’s almost Easter, have you figured out your holiday plans yet?

Easter, traditionally, is one seriously omnivorous celebration. From dyeing to hunting eggs, to baskets full of chocolates and candies, to tables centered around a ham, it covers quite a few creatures in the animal kingdom. Stressing about what to eat? How to celebrate with children? Don’t worry, I’ve searched the web high and low and offer you my findings:

First for the menu, determined to explore and feature different blogs than those I highlighted in my  St. Patty’s Round-up, I am excited to report I found so many amazing recipes while learning about a few new blogs. You definitely want to take a look for yourself:

And for my contribution to this Cyber Potluck I bring you my fresh fruit tart with vanilla pastry cream, the dessert I brought for last year’s Easter meal. It was well received.

tart

This year I’m bringing Orange Pistachio Cinnamon Rolls, and cannot wait to share the recipe with you!

But, as I said, there is more to address as vegan parents. What about all the celebration around eggs? This year is Eden’s first year to join her cousins on an Egg hunt which happens on my parent’s farm, Fern Creek Farm. And while I appreciate her cousins are finding eggs from happy chicken, I needed an alternative for Eden. Therefore I picked up a bunch of plastic eggs and filled them with healthy, but slightly indulgent treats.

eggs

In each eggs she will find dehydrated raspberries, dried cherries, Amy’s Bunny Grahams, or dark chocolate covered raisins (although I think I’ve eaten a few of those).

I also had a lot of fun putting together her first Easter basket.

basketStuffed inside that green frog is a bunny that I crocheted for her before she was born, a coloring book, bubbles, and a few homemade eggs shakers.  I also bought The Velveteen Rabbit, a book she’s a bit too young for but I think I’ll start a tradition of reading her the book every year.

So this in my vegan Easter.

What about yours? Do you have any veg traditions? If so, please share!

 

You might also like:

Raising a Vegan

Raising a Vegan

A St. Patty's Day Round-up

A St. Patty’s Day Round-up

A Vegan Halloween: Round-Up

A Vegan Halloween: Round-Up

A Merry Christmas Round-up

A Merry Christmas Round-up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A first birthday and a lemon cake

January 24, 2013 11 Comments

cake

One year ago today I started the biggest, most fulfilling adventure of my 30 years. Unsure if I was ready for my life to be forever changed, I apprehensively went into labor. For 18 hours I labored, growing stronger as I transitioned into a changed me. In the moment I met Eden the world as I knew it faded away and nothing else matter.

I was madly in love.

baby

And somehow today I am even more in love than that moment I met her.

We started out her birthday celebration at Dovetail Bakery. Eden, who has been kept away from sugar until now, was welcomed into the sweet life with a hot-out-of-the-oven vegan sticky bun. We sat side by side sharing bites and talking about her nose (a new favorite topic). I think this may become a birthday tradition.

b.t.w. If you live in Portland or anywhere in the Northwest or anywhere, you really ought to check out this all vegan bakery. And don’t leave without a Lemon Blueberry Scone. Seriously good.

photo

In the afternoon I worked on assembling Eden’s lemon birthday cake. She did her best to help by pulling out a baking box and one by one removing every item.

photo (2)

At least it kept her occupied while I frosted and decorated this cake:

cake3

The lemon cake is my Orange Poppy Seed Pound Cake recipe subbing lemons for oranges and omitting the poppy seeds.

I used this cream cheese frosting recipe.

And filled the layers with lemon curd.

It. Was. Delicious.

cake2

Eden agreed.

IMG_2383

Happy Birthday sweet sweet child.

 

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Happy Father's Day

Happy Father’s Day

Raising a Vegan

Raising a Vegan

A day of red, white, and blue

A day of red, white, and blue

Welcome Baby

Welcome Baby

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: vegan baby Tagged With: , ,

Why I Choose Vegan: Part 3

September 21, 2012 5 Comments

Welcome back to the final week of my series: Why I Choose Vegan. The first week I discussed Animal Rights and Factory Farming and last week I tackled the global impact of our meat consumption. Until very recently that would be it. Although I knew of other benefits of veganism, that’s all they were: benefits. In the past two years, however, I have been on such an amazing journey with my mind, body, and spirit that I now place the holistic health of a vegan diet and lifestyle near the top of my reasons for this choice. 

Why I Choose Vegan: Part Three

Striving for Holistic Health

Up until recently I took my good health for granted. That veganism was the healthy choice was never much of a consideration for me in transitioning to that lifestyle. I was, in fact, making a lot of poor decisions about my health, despite my vegan diet. But then something amazing happened, something truly miraculous (and I don’t use that word lightly). I found out I was pregnant.

Being pregnant was nothing like I expected it to be. I used to think it was weakness. I believed it to be the root cause for the oppression of women for all of history. But for me pregnancy was empowering. The fact that my body was strong enough to create life still takes my breath away every single day. I began to see my body and spirit anew as I grew in respect for abilities, endurances, and compassions. This respect shifted me from the inside out and I could no longer take my health for granted. On January 23rd I discovered just how amazing my body truly was as I delivered my daughter into this world. It took a well of internal and external strength I didn’t know lived inside of me. And in that moment of pushing her out in to this world I was deeply awed by the power of the human body, and thus forever changed.

With this transition, as well as my new responsibility as a breast-feeding Mama, health became a leading reason why I have continued to choose the vegan diet. There is growing popularity and scientific discovery pointing towards a plant-based diet being the healthiest for a human body. In 2006 Dr. Colin Campbell published his 20 years research project, The China Study, which quickly became one of the most convincing health arguments for a vegan diet as well as one of America’s best selling books on nutrition. The China Study, among other influential research, writing, and film has begun a movement, altering the way mainstream Americans think about healthful eating.

Research shows:

  • Factory farmed animals are fed a cocktail of artificial hormones and antibiotics that are disrupting human hormone balances and causing developmental problems, reproductive problems, and leading to the development of cancer
  • Heart disease and diabetes can be reversed with a plant-based diet
  • There are virtually no nutrients in animal-based foods that are not better provided by plants.
  • Carcinogenesis have been found to be turned on by animal proteins and off by plant proteins.
  • Plant based food is 100% cholesterol free; reducing cholesterol levels dramatically reduce the risk of heart attack

Besides it being instinctual that eating a whole foods, planet-based diet is the best thing for my body, an increasingly large amount of research makes it difficult to deny. And now that I understand the incredible gift of a healthy body and mind, I am dedicated to honoring this gift so that I can continue to live well for myself and my daughter.

For more reading on the health of a plant-based diet:

  1. The China Study, Dr. Colin Campbell
  2. Forks Over Knives, Lee Fulkerson
  3. Sustainable Table
  4. Vegan, The New Ethics of Eating, Erik Marcus
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Why I Choose Vegan: Part 1

September 6, 2012 11 Comments

Very regularly  I am asked, “Why are you vegan?”. You’d think by now I’d have a quick, smart, and persuasive answer. Nope. I still find myself tongue-tied, not sure how long my questioner wants to hear me talk and uncertain how to articulate my thoughts without sounding judgmental. Recently, while on a walk with my dog, Swede, I was answering the question in my head (imaginary conversations are commonplace on my walks) and decided to make time and space for a thorough response.  So over the course of this month I will be giving a three part answer to this very important question. And because this is a blog, I can ramble as long as I want. Meanwhile you can graciously walk away when you’ve heard enough and I will be none the wiser.

Why I Choose Vegan: Part One

On Animals

When I went vegan in 2006 it was for one reason: animals. I had been a lazy vegetarian for several years because I had heard somewhere that feeding cattle was bad for the environment and farm animals were mistreated. But in 2006 I read “Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating” by Erik Marcus and watched Earthlings a very real (and disturbing) video. Both the book and video hide nothing as they reveal the truth behind factory farming and other misuses of animals in our world.

Over the course of the next several months I transitioned to a vegan diet and lifestyle while staying educated on animal (mis)treatment and developing my thoughts on the topic. In the beginning I asked a lot of questions. Did I believe humans were herbivores? Was there a natural food chain that allowed us to eat meat at any cost to the animals we consumed? Should animals have rights? Delving deeper into these topics I quickly realized asking if humans were herbivores or omnivores wasn’t the point. The natural food chain had nothing to do with the way we consume meat, and I eventually concluded that all animals (human and non-human) have basic rights that should not be denied.

Science has demonstrated that animals can express suffering. They feel pain and pleasure, exhibit fear, and experience loneliness and motherly love. Animals, like humans, did not ask to be put on this earth but find themselves sharing a space with a species called “humans” who have a whole lot of power over the lives of the rest of Earth’s animals—for good or ill . I concluded, along with a lot of others, that all of us who share this earth deserve certain rights, like the right to be free from the oppression of others, the right not to suffer simply so that others can derive wealth or pleasure at our expense, and the right to pursue our creaturely activities, such as caring for our young, breathing the outside air, using our legs, arms, and muscles, and living in a communal setting.

The motivation behind my abstinence from animal products and bi-products is the concern for the well being of animals. The demand for cheap and excessive meat has created a hell on earth for the animals that share this earth. Confined into cages, laying hens lack the very basic right to spread their wings and breathe the outside air. Pig are denied their longing to be communal and relational, their gentle nature turning cannibalistic in response to daily anxiety, abuse, and distress caused by extreme confinement and brutal environments. And pregnant nearly their entire lives, a milk cows birth a  little baby each year which is immediately taken away from her and the milk, naturally produced to feed her young, becomes processed for human consumption. The cow’s innate desire to feed, care for, protect and nurture her babies is stripped away from her.

As a new mother this hits home more than ever before. My emotional response to birthing Eden was so instinctual, I have to believe this is the same instinct animals feel as they bring their young into the world. Ever for those who can’t believe animals and humans share the same strength of emotions, if a cow, pig, monkey, or any other non-human mother felt even a fraction of what I felt in that immediate (and continuous) moment(s) of love and desire to protect and nurture, then we ought to think very carefully about stripping that animal of her deepest and most innate desire.

I believe these, at the very least, are the basic rights every creature on this earth deserve. There is no steak, egg, or ham worth the suffering of these animals.

Does my vegan lifestyle really make a difference?  I say yes. In six years I have seen amazing  changes in this country and world.
  • Numerous states have passed laws banning battery cages for hens, gestational stalls for pigs and crates for veal.  Laws continue to be written, voted on, and passed as this country becomes more aware of factory farming conditions. Check out some of the campaigns the Humane Society is currently organizing.
  • The number of vegans and vegetarians in the United States continues to rise and there are many mainstream movements (such as Meatless Monday) working to limit meat consumption in our daily lives.
  • Restaurants, grocery stores, and retail shops are popping up all over the country including VeggieGrill and Native Foods, two all vegan fast food chains. And yesterday I found out McDonalds will be opening an all vegetarian restaurant in India.
  • Celebrities, medical doctors, social philosophers, and social and natural scientists have been progressing in this direction and becoming leaders in the voice of veganism.
I believe we will continue to see greater awareness and movement towards a stronger plant based diet and am excited to see what another six years will bring.
So in response to the question, “Why vegan?”, this is the first and foremost of my reasons. If you’ve come this far, thanks for reading! Stop by next Friday when I will be tackling veganism and it’s global impact.

For more reading on animal treatment in the United States, check out:
Eating Animals, Jonathan Safron Foer
Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating, Erik Marcus
Animal Liberation, Peter Singer
PETA on Factory Farming
Farm Sanctuary on Factory Farming

 

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Learning How to Eat

August 31, 2012 2 Comments

Before Eden began eating solid foods I had big plans to make her a clean eater. I didn’t understand why kids had to get SO messy while they ate and simply put, pureed squash smeared across the face kind of grossed me out. Those first few days of eating I would hold her hands with one hand while spoon feeding her with the other. Her tongue explored the tastes and textures of this new experience, but that wasn’t enough. She wanted more. She wanted to feel the food between her fingers and learn how to bring the food to her mouth. She wanted an active part in this new experience of eating. And so my plans quickly changed.

Yesterday as she rubbed the pureed vegetables between her fingers before she shoved it in around her mouth, I started thinking about our relationship with food and the importance to Eden’s process became clear to me. To become intimate with our food, and thus responsible global (and local) citizens , good stewards of this earth, and learn a life-long respect for animals, maybe we need to smear a little summer squash on our faces now and again.

As I have pondered how I will raise me daughter to eat, how to make her aware of the importance of our consumption, I mistakenly thought of raising a vegan as a list of negatives, what she can’t eat. But as I watched her eat yesterday I realized that learning how to eat should not be focused on what I will keep her from, but rather the process of becoming closer to her food.

So how will I teach Eden to eat? Here are a few things I have been thinking about”

1. Grow a Garden: One of the clearest ways to understand where our produce comes from is to pull it from the earth ourselves. I hope to teach Eden how important it is to treat our soil well, how weather affects our crops, and ultimately how our life is affected by how we treat the earth. Having children watch food grow from seed, over the course of a season, and harvested moments before dinner will help them understand that growing of food takes time and labor that should not be taken for granted.

2. Know your farmer. I want Eden to know where her food comes from. We can know our local farmers by being part of a CSA or buying produce at farmers markets. We can also know our global farmers. If Jason and I splurge and buy fruit in the winter I want Eden to understand the compromises that were made for us to enjoy those fruits.  Knowing the impact of our daily food choices, help children (and us) learn the true value of food.

3. Cook with your child. I am so excited for the time Eden is old enough to cook with me. Cooking and baking has, for a long time, been more than just a creative outlet for me. When children become aware of the cooking process, they understand all the different places that food comes from, beyond the grocery store. Being part of the baking and cooking process gives children pride and creative choice, building a stronger relationship with their food.

4. Read books. My sister, Megan, shared this list of books – to read with your child, making kids more aware of their food. I haven’t read any of them yet,  but will definitely start as Eden grows into them. Food is a HUGE part of life extending beyond the kitchen and table and rightly into the bookshelf, reminding us that food and food choices affect much more than mealtimes.

Taking active steps in Eden’s food education will help develops an honest, compassionate, and creative relationship with food that will guide her as she makes future decisions. Next week I will be starting a 4 part series: Why I Choose Vegan which will allow me to delve deeper into these topics.

And in the meantime, how do you educate/plan on educating your children to be good consumers of food?

 

 

 

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Raising a Vegan

July 2, 2012 4 Comments
My Little Vegan

Last week I prepared Eden’s first meals. With a couple sweet potatoes that had been waiting in my hanging basket and a summer squash from my farm share, I boiled and baked then pureed what will soon be her first solid foods. With a piping bag I squeezed them into ice cube trays, covered it up with plastic wrap, and froze.

I am waiting for another couple weeks, until her 6 month birthday, to introduce her to solids, both for her sake and mine. Her’s because it’s recommended to exclusively breast feed for the first six months (if you are able) and mine because I have an irrational fear about her growing up too fast. I’m serious, it’s irrational. I remember staring at her in the hospital, hours after she was born, sobbing because I was afraid she’d be leaving for college soon.

Hours after she was born and headed off to college

I’ve mellowed out about the whole “growing old too quickly” thing, but I still find transitions hard. Transitioning to her own room made for some long nights. Not so much because she was having trouble as I found the couch in her bedroom quite uncomfortable to sleep on. When Jason finally convinced me I needed to do some sleep training: training me to sleep in our room, I had the monitor up so loud I was waking up to crickets three yards over.

And before I have fully trained myself back into my bed, I have to deal with yet another transition: solids. Soon I will be making the conscious decision to make Eden a vegan. Up until this point I continued my lifestyle and grew, birthed, and raised a baby out of the choices I had made for myself. Now I will also be making choices specifically for Eden, a choice with which many won’t agree. In this transition I need to be prepared for another round of, “Are you gonna make her a vegan?”.

I came across an article today on VegNews: Three Vegan Parenting Myths, Busted. by Corinne Bowen which I found to be very helpful. She writes,


“After a healthy vegan pregnancy, my daughter entered the world with all 10 fingers and all 10 toes. Despite my smooth and uncomplicated journey to motherhood, I was still peppered with questions and skepticism concerning my diet along the way. It was all well and good to be vegan before, but now that a child was involved, I was going to drop this whole plant-based nonsense … right?


Questions and criticism have continued during the first year of my child’s life and I’m sure I’ll continue to encounter the same challenges at schools, doctor’s offices, celebrations, and vacations as the years progress. Most people mean well—they care about my kid and want her to thrive—but they’re speaking from a place of misunderstanding. It’s easy to get tongue-tied and upset in these situations which is why it’s handy to have some ready-made answers in your back pocket.”

The article continues to answer three of the most common questions (and misunderstandings) with well thought out, well articulated responses.Enough from me, though, you should really just read it.

As I begin this new phase, I know I have a lot more than just personal adjusting to do. Here are a few of the conclusions I have reached:

1. It is important to be well-educated on the baby’s nutritional needs and the foods necessary to fulfill them. There are all sorts of books and websites heavy with this information. Corinne Bowen’s article is a great starting point with links to other supportive dietary information.

2. Like I said in my article Pregnant and Vegan, support is key to success. Especially with the consistent, skeptical questions. Friends, family, doctors are all great support system, but for those who lack support in those areas, find online support. The Kind Life, Alicia Silverstone’s website has great forums for vegan pregnancies and parenthood.

3. Have fun with food. I may be scared of Eden growing up, but also I am so excited to introduce her to the world of food! This process can be a lot of fun, and the more fun, I have, the more confident I will feel as I make the choice to raise my child vegan in a non-vegan world.

And because I can’t help myself, let’s just get one more look at her before she wakes up and moves out.

Filed Under: vegan baby Tagged With: , ,
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