My (Cruelty-Free) 3rd Susan Nichole Bag!

My 3rd Susan Nichole vegan handbag just arrived today; fast delivery--as usual. It's so smooth and soft. Awesome quality! I loves it!

Cruelty-Free Wraps at Hospital

So today, I went to have a TB test prior to volunteer working in the healthcare field. After I got the test at my local hospital, I went to one of the hospital's cafes and found these two vegan wraps there (click on photo for larger view)! They also had two other vegan wraps, but they were just vegetable wraps with hummus on the side.

The Tex Mex taste better; I don't like black olives, which the Famous Sicilian wrap has in it. But both are delicious.

Very nice to see some great vegan food options for staff at the hospital.

October 4th is World Animal Day

World Animal Day is tomorrow, but it dates back to October 4, 1931 when, at a convention in Florence, a group of ecologists sought to raise awareness for endangered and rare animal species. On this day, animal life, in all its forms is celebrated, and special events are planned in locations all over the globe. These 24 hours are the chance to give back and celebrate animal life in an especially special way (as every day is "world animal day") in all its shapes and sizes, from mice to elephants, and recognize the positive influence they have on our lives. Over the years, World Animal Day has evolved into a day to honor all animal life and appreciate the love and companionship of our companion animals.

October 4th was chosen as World Animal Day as it is the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals. World Animal Day, however, has now gone beyond being the celebration of a Christian saint and is today observed by animal-lovers of all beliefs, nationalities and backgrounds. Animal blessings are held in churches, synagogues, and by independent animal chaplains in parks and fields. Animal recue shelters hold fundraising events and open days, wildlife groups organize information displays, schools undertake animal-related project work like organizing trips to shelters and farms. Individuals and groups of friends or co-workers donate to animal charities or pledge to sponsor a shelter animal. People donate food/money to cat and dog shelters or adopt an animal. You could even organize an animal related quiz night to raise money for animal charities.

World Animal Day is celebrated in different ways in every country, with no regard to nationality, religion, faith, or political ideology.

Other ways to honor World Animal Day

World Animal Day Official Website

F.A.A.R.M.'s First Year Anniversary!

Today is the first year anniversary of my animal rights blog, Faith and Animal Reverence Ministry.

I'm very proud of this blog and how far it has come in development. Although I don't get many comments directly on the blog, I do get tons via my email box and there's many more people who don't contact me, but are faithful readers.

To you all:

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

I would not be doing this blog if it weren't for all of you emailing me and reading my blog. Of course, F.A.A.R.M. goes beyond this blog, and reaches many others via social media networks, educating people on the streets, and helping people to pay for education and/or treatment for their companion animals. So, again, thanks so much for the financial and readership support!

Last, I like to mention above, I just got this bracelet from Cafe Press yesterday. I will wear it every time I go out, to help bring awareness to Veganism, and to educate others about Animal Rights. I deliberately wanted to get something bold and beautiful to stand out as I want people to know I'm vegan before they even meet me! That's one way to be "loud" without being verbal. ;-)

For the Animals!

Two Vegan Voodoo Doughnuts

I was downtown yesterday at a focus group. Fortunately, to get there, I walked right by Voodoo Doughnut. Most fortunately, the line was very short; it was about a 10-minute wait in line to get my vegan doughnuts (here's a hot tip from one of the Voodoo Doughnut employees: Locals, to avoid a long line, it's best not to go to Voodoo Doughnut in the summer time and on weekends--way too many tourists during that time!).

Here is what I bought yesterday: My usual favorite--the vegan Cock-N-Balls, and my first time trying the vegan Double Chocolate. The Double Chocolate is good too, but not as good as the Cock-N-Balls.

Vegan Mabon

Mabon is the mid-harvest festival, and it is when Wiccans take a few moments to honor the changing seasons, and celebrate the second harvest. This year, Mabon will be celebrated on September 22. 

It is a time of giving thanks for the things we have, whether it is abundant crops or other blessings. 

Depending on one's individual spiritual path, there are many different ways you can celebrate Mabon, but typically the focus is on either the second harvest aspect, or the balance between light and dark. While we celebrate the gifts of the earth, we also accept that the soil is dying. There is food to eat, but the crops are brown and going dormant. Warmth is behind us, and cold lies ahead. 

Here are some vegan recipes to help celebrate Mabon:


Simple Roasted Vegetable Medley

1 medium-sized butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
1 lb. potatoes, cut into 1" cubes
1-2 onions, cut into wedges
1 head garlic, cloves peeled and crushed 
1 Tb. minced garlic 
1 tsp. rubbed sage
1 tsp. rosemary
3 Tb. oil, divided
Kosher salt and black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 450F.

2. Toss the squash, potatoes, onion, garlic cloves, 2 Tb. oil, sage, and rosemary in a large roasting pan (a "turkey pan"). Season with salt and pepper. Roast, covered, for 25 minutes. Toss once. Add the minced garlic, and the remaining oil (if necessary).

3. Roast 25 minutes more, tossing once, until vegetables are browned on the edges and completely tender.



Three Squash Soup 

4-5 cups of squash 
1 cup of rice milk (or you can use almond milk or soy milk) 
1 large carrot 
1 med-large parsnip 
1 medium onion 
2 celery stalks 
2 TBSP olive oil 
A pinch of cayenne pepper (optional) 
Salt & pepper to taste 
Herb for garnish, like parsley 

Preheat the oven to 375°. Cut the squash in half, remove seeds and compost them. Also, roughly chop up the carrot, parsnip, onion & celery.

Fill a 9X13 glass cake pan with approximately 1 inch water and place the squash face-down in the water. Take the chopped vegetables, toss with the olive oil and place on a flat cookie sheet in a single layer. Put both squash and vegetables in the oven to bake. This could take 45 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes depending on your oven, the size of the vegetables. 

Keep an eye on the vegetables to make sure they don’t burn--but you want the squash skin to brown. Once the squash is soft, remove from the oven and let cool just enough so that you can handle them and scoop the flesh out of the shells (but not cold!) and put them into a food processor. You can process the squash first until very pureed, and then add veggies and do the same thing. Add the milk, salt, pepper, cayenne at this time.  Serve warm with herb garnish. 

Alternative suggestion: Some people like their squash soup sweet, so feel free to add maple syrup or agave syrup. 



Vegan Pot Pie 

Note: You can also add extra vegetables. 

For the filling: 
1 cup diced carrots 
½ cup parsnips or golden beet 
2 cups peeled and diced potatoes 
2 garlic cloves whole and unpeeled 
1 sage leave finely chopped 
4 sprigs fresh thyme 
2-3 TBSP extra virgin olive oil 
½ tsp salt 
1 flavored vegan bouillon cube 
¼+ cup flour 
3+ cups water 
2 tsp tamari 
1 cup (approximately) of frozen mixed vegetables, thawed 

For the crust: 
2 cups all purpose flour 
1 cup barley flour 
½ tsp baking soda 
½ tsp salt 
1 tsp poppy seeds 
½ cup canola oil, chilled in the freezer for at least 30 minutes 
½ cup of ice water 
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar 

If you didn’t cook the root vegetables with the above recipe, preheat the oven to 425°. Place the vegetables (not the frozen!), garlic, sage and thyme on a cookie sheet, drizzle with oil and mix well, flatten to a single layer. Roast for 25-30 minutes or until tender. Stir occasionally. When done, remove from oven and allow to cool a little. 

While the vegetables are cooking, put a medium sauce pan on the stove at medium heat. Pour in the 3 cups water and bring to boil. Add the bouillon cube and boil until there are no pieces floating around and add the tamari. You can put the flour into a Tupperware container with cold water in batches and shake it to mix it well before slowly pouring it into the boiling water. Whisk it to evenly distribute (try to avoid clumps) and cook until thickened stirring frequently, adding more flour if necessary.  

When the vegetables are cool, remove and discard thyme  and squeeze the garlic out of its skin, place the skin in the compost and mash the bulb up then mix well with the roasted and thawed vegetables. Add just enough gravy to coat the vegetables and set aside. 

In a medium mixing bowl, combine all dry crust ingredients and whisk together. Drizzle in the canola oil and mix with your hands until incorporated and forming M&M size balls or slightly larger. Mix the ice water and vinegar together, then drizzle into flour, continue to mix with your fingers until it holds together. 

Flour the surface you’ll be working on and knead the dough onto it a couple minutes. Divide into 2 pieces (making sure to wrap up the one you’re not using with plastic wrap). You can use this as pie crust (both top & bottom) and make one big pie. Or you can make small pies by cutting out circles (you can use a 6+ inch bowl as a cookie cutter). Put a tablespoon or two on the bottom piece of dough and then place the top one over top--and make sure to seal the edges! Bake at 275° until browned about 30 minutes for the big pie, 20 for the small one. 



Apple Carrot Bread

1 cup almond milk or rice milk 
½ cup applesauce 
1 TBSP canola oil 
2 cups whole wheat flour 
2 cups unbleached flour 
¼ cup raw sugar
1 tsp salt 
1 tsp cinnamon 
½ cup grated carrot  
2 ¼ tsp (or 1 package) dry yeast (if you’re using bread machine yeast, follow the instructions on the package) 

Measure the milk, applesauce, and oil into the bread pan. Add the whole wheat flour, unbleached flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and grated carrot. Make a well in the dry ingredients and measure in the yeast. Select the basic whole wheat bread cycle for a 2-pound loaf. Baking time will be about 50 minutes. 
Serve this with homemade apple butter, peanut butter, or plain soy butter.



Pumpkin Muffins

1 ¾ cups all purpose flour 
1 ¼ cups raw sugar 
1 Tbsp baking powder 
¼ tsp salt 
1 tsp ground cinnamon 
½ tsp ground nutmeg 
½ tsp ground ginger 
¼ tsp ground allspice 
1/8 tsp ground cloves 
1 cup pureed pumpkin (Do NOT use pumpkin pie mix!) 
½ cup non-dairy milk 
½ cup vegetable oil 
2 Tbsp molasses 

Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a twelve-muffin tin. 

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices. In separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, non-dairy milk, oil, and molasses. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix. 

Fill the muffin cups two thirds of the way full. Bake 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean. 

My New Vegan Ankle Boots

I have a pear-shaped body so my legs are big, making it difficult to find knee-high boots that will fit my large calves, so that's why I buy ankle boots.

I found these two super-cool looking vegan ankle boots at one of my favorite clothing stores: Ross Dress for Less. Vegan fashion doesn't have to be plain-looking but can be very fashion forward!

These boots are awesome in the way you can wear them low or high...I love footwear with laces!

These ankle boots are cool in that it has both zipper and lace...I love the studs.