Firey leaves, cozy sweaters, hot apple cider, and ALL THINGS PUMPKIN.  That time of year is just around the corner.  Normally, I would wait until at least September to post my recipe for Vegan Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer, but an excellent article published on Food Babe yesterday, combined with a couple other factors, has me breaking out my favorite recipe early this year.

Fall is my very favorite season.  I could wax poetic for pages about the tangible magic I feel in the air throughout the autumn season (but I won’t!  I promise; no need to click away).

I will be the first to admit that I still feel some lingering trauma from the Polar Vortex that turned a glittering Michigan winter into a flesh cracking Jack Frost  Hell dragging its icy talons across the midwest all the way into MAY.  I am still joyously embracing every moment of muggy heat and asphalt fumes this August, and I refuse to openly admit that I enjoy a feeling of anticipation on the intermittent Fall-like days.  I still cringe at every buzzword mention of the Polar Vortex, whilst battling flashbacks to the 90’s and the most overused weather buzzword of all time:

And yet, even while fighting every inkling that there is yet another winter just around the corner, it didn’t take much to push me into Fall mode several weeks early.  And that little push was this incredibly well researched, and fairly disturbing, article on what actually goes into a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte.

It is completely unethical for Starbucks, or any other business for that matter, to attempt to cover up their use of unsavory ingredients just to preserve profits.  Either come up with better ingredients, or accept the fact that a lot of us don’t want that garbage in our bodies.  Especially when making something just as delicious and MUCH more nutritious is so easy.

Similar to the Starbucks confection, most grocery store coffee creamers are full of all sorts of yucky stuff: hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, and worst of all (in my opinion) factory farmed milk. The way those cows are treated is enough to make me wretch. And I can’t even bear to think about what they do to all those little baby calves.  Not to mention the stomach-turning health detriments caused by dairy.

Any way you slice it, whether it’s health concerns, sugar issues, fat issues, lactose issues, ethical, or humane issues, I just couldn’t continue buying those creamers. Your purchases say something! Not just about you, but about where you stand on various issues. I try very hard to keep my money where my mouth is, so to speak.

So here it is, my most popular recipe, which also happens to be on of my easiest, Vegan Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer:

Special Holiday Note: This creamer makes a wonderful and ethical gift.  Pour it into a clean, reused glass jar, maybe paint or glue some used wrapping paper on the cap, use strips of re-used wrapping paper to create a ribbon or bow, and pop on a gift tag made from old holiday cards or wrapping paper, and Voila!  An affordable, easy holiday gift sure to please!

Ingredients
Makes about 2 cups of creamer
2 cups Almond Milk*
2 tbsp mashed pumpkin (canned is fine, but make sure it’s just pumpkin and not pumpkin pie)
2 tbsp maple syrup**
1 tsp cinnamon***
¼ – ½ tsp nutmeg***
¼ – ½ tsp ground cloves***
¼ – ½ tsp ground ginger***
½ tsp vanilla extract*

* If you use Vanilla Almond Milk, you may not need to add any additional vanilla. You can also use Soy Milk, Rice Milk, Flax Milk, or Hemp Milk. Do not use animal milk – it will separate, go spoil quickly, and taste off.

** Adjust to taste and desired sweetness. If you use sweetened Almond Milk, you won’t need as much sweetener. Fair Trade/Equal Exchange brown or white sugar or agave nectar can be substituted for the maple syrup. The Maple just Falls up the flavor that much more.

*** Adjust spices to taste. You can also substitute pre-mixed “pumpkin pie spice.”

Directions

1. Whisk all the ingredients, except vanilla if you’re planning to add some, together in a sauce pan over medium-high heat.  Ensure all pumpkin is completely mixed in.

2. Heat until steaming, but not boiling.

3. Whisk in vanilla.

4. Pour into a jar for storage.

It’s that easy!

Shake before using, as the spices may settle.

This stuff makes my morning!

In addition to being a great gift, substituting this creamer for milk in any recipe is a great way to fulfill all your pumpkin spice desires:
Cookies,
Cakes,
Cupcakes,
Oatmeal,
Pancakes,
Chia Seed Pudding, …

What flavor would you like to see me try out next?  

What do you put in your coffee?

And as a final Fall themed bonus, I would like to share the following link in memory of my brother, Boo.  I spend days cracking up every time I read it, and I can see and hear him reading it in my head.  Fair warning, it is heavily peppered with rather “colorful” language:

It’s Decorative Gourd Season Mother******s.

You’re welcome.

The post Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer and Why to Avoid the Starbucks Version appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

I bring you the second edition of my Green News Updates (which are sporadic at best):

Those Who Grow Our Food Are Starving – If you only read one article today, make it this one.  One of the main reasons Ethical Eating isn’t a “diet” is because it focuses on issues like this.  Our food production systems or horribly, tragically, broken.  So broken that in a world when we produce 1 1/2 times enough food for every single individual on the planet, half of humanity is starving or malnourished.  Every tiny food choice you make has effects that ripple back through the system and touch the lives of those struggling to find enough to eat.

Big Win Against GMOs – Mexico has banned GMO corn!  If you don’t know how big that news is, take a peek at this article and learn the horrors of GMOs and the scary fact that the US is far behind the rest of the world in forcing companies that use these altered and dangerous products to label them.

Watch Out For Neurotoxic Chemicals in Popular Candy Brands – As if the slave labor used to produce many of these candies wasn’t enough, they’re also tainted with chemicals that deregulate our brains (and our childrens’ brains) and aggravate (if not cause) ADHD.  This article talks about M&M’s, but remember the use of these chemicals is MUCH more widespread than that.

Banksy Vs Factory Farms – If you haven’t yet seen any works of this satirical British graffiti artist, take a peek at his latest display, lambasting the disgusting factory farmed meat industry.  Culture meets activism on the streets of NYC.  Yay.

It’s Vineyards Vs. Redwoods in California Wine Country – Even though I’m an unabashed wino, I definitely fall out on the side of the trees in this battle and will be double checking my wine purchases in an effort to steer clear of contributing to any further clear cutting.

What sustainability news is catching your eye this week?  What is your take on the global food crisis?

To all my bloggy friends:  If you’re putting up a post about Food Justice, Ethical Eating, Everyday Sustainability, or similar, let me know.  I’d love to include you in a Green News Update!

The post Ethical Eating News Update appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

The Pumpkin Spice Latte is a quintessential flavor of Fall. But if you, like me, live way too far from the nearest Starbucks, or if you just don’t like to dish out $4.25 every time you want that quintessential flavor, perhaps you should try out this simple, but utterly delicious, Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer recipe.

Part of the reason I love Fall so much is because of the flavors. Hot, spicy drinks. Pumpkin, squashes, and other roasted Fall veggies. Cinnamon and nutmeg and ginger! Wonderful. And, thankfully, all things I can use to get my Fall fix even on those odd days when there are no beautiful Fall colors, crisp breezes, or hayrides and when the only sweaters I’m wearing have short sleeves.

Even though I am a complete coffee house addict, I’m still not the type to be spitting up almost $5 a pop on a regular basis for fancy coffee drinks. MacGyver and I hit up coffee houses as a treat. One of our favorite impromptu dates is always to grab coffee down by the waterfront then go for a long walk. Those rare treats don’t even come close to filling my Pumpkin Spice coffee requirements for the season, though.

Enter, Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamers. My absolute thrill at discovering these fancy holiday creamers in the grocery store was short lived. Most grocery store coffee creamers are full of all sorts of yucky stuff: hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, and worst of all (in my opinion) factory farmed milk. The way those cows are treated is enough to make me wretch. And I can’t even bear to think about what they do to all those little baby calves.  Not to mention the stomach-turning health detriments caused by dairy.

Any way you slice it, whether it’s health concerns, sugar issues, fat issues, lactose issues, ethical, or humane issues, I just couldn’t continue buying those creamers. Your purchases say something! Not just about you, but about where you stand on various issues. I try very hard to keep my money where my mouth is, so to speak.

So, while I was sitting around pouting about the fact that the nearest coffee house where I could get a soy Pumpkin Spice Latte, was 40 minutes away, it occurred to me that there really isn’t all that much to coffee creamers. I mean, really, it’s just sweetened, flavored milk, right? So why not try to make my very own Urban Earthworm Ethical, Vegan, Healthier Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer? And, that night, that is just what I did.

I kept the recipe simple (mostly because I was trying to do this before making dinner ;-)), and was surprised by what a breeze this was to make. And, like most of my recipes, it’s pretty easily customized based on what you have on hand.

Ingredients
Makes about 2 cups of creamer
2 cups Almond Milk*
2 tbsp mashed pumpkin (canned is fine, but make sure it’s just pumpkin and not pumpkin pie)
2 tbsp maple syrup**
1 tsp cinnamon***
¼ – ½ tsp nutmeg***
¼ – ½ tsp ground cloves***
¼ – ½ tsp ground ginger***
½ tsp vanilla extract*

* If you use Vanilla Almond Milk, you may not need to add any additional vanilla. You can also use Soy Milk, Rice Milk, Flax Milk, or Hemp Milk. Do not use animal milk – it will separate, go spoil quickly, and taste off.

** Adjust to taste and desired sweetness. If you use sweetened Almond Milk, you won’t need as much sweetener. Fair Trade/Equal Exchange brown or white sugar or agave nectar can be substituted for the maple syrup. The Maple just Falls up the flavor that much more.

*** Adjust spices to taste. You can also substitute pre-mixed “pumpkin pie spice.”

Directions

1. Whisk all the ingredients, except vanilla if you’re planning to add some, together in a sauce pan over medium-high heat.

2. Heat until steaming, but not boiling.

3. Whisk in vanilla.

4. Pour into a jar for storage.

It’s that easy!

Shake before using, as the spices may settle.

This stuff makes my morning!

What flavor would you like to see me try out next?  My co-workers have requested eggnog.

What do you put in your coffee?

The post Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer (Vegan) appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

      This summer, our UU congregation is reading Tomatoland by Barry Estabrook. At the end of the summer, the congregation will devote one Sunday service to discussion of the book. Sadly, we will have moved by that time so we will miss the discussion. I still want to read the book, though, so why not turn to my online bookish and sustainably minded friends to join in the fun?

      And if you don’t think this book sounds like it’s for you, why not challenge yourself and find out?  You might just be surprised by how exhilerating this discussion will become.  And it’s not like you pay to join, if you don’t like it you can always go back to reading Game of Thrones.

      There will be next to no rules (except which book to read and to not be a troll) and the timeline will be loose. Join in with a comment on this post or over on the Facebook page, and start reading!

The book is easy to come by at most libraries, bookstores and online. It is also available as a streaming audiobook from audiobooks.com, which is likely how I’ll be partaking (running with audiobooks has become an addiction for me – an awesome one that lets me fit in leisure reading I otherwise wouldn’t have time for and makes running borderline enjoyable).

Please join in and encourage your friends to read along! I’ll wait a couple weeks to start discussion so everyone has time to sign up and obtain the book, and then we’ll get rolling.

For the blog hop, I’ll open a weekly linky where anyone who writes about the book can link up to really keep the conversation rolling.

What other books are you reading this summer? Will you be participating in any other book clubs?

The post Online Summer Book Club and Blog Hop appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

“She was kept locked in a small closet and was repeatedly impregnated, only to have her babies torn from her just after birth, wailing.  She cried for days for every baby.  Her daughters often passed into the same slavery she was in.  Her sons were killed.”

It is hard to stomach the thought of such horrors happening to even one mother, let alone hundreds of thousands of mothers every single day. But you probably haven’t seen it in the news, because the mothers in question are cows.  DON’T STOP READING.

I know there are many of you out there groaning, muttering about how “it’s not the same,” and maybe it’s not.  But consider the possibility that there are some major things about the dairy industry you don’t know, and just bear with me for a few paragraphs here.  At the end, you’re entitled to your opinion – an opinion based on facts and your own conscience.  BECAUSE I HAD NO IDEA, and I know I’m not the only one who thought, “well, cows don’t die in milk production, so it can’t be that cruel.”  Once you know the whole truth about dairy cruelty, it’s your decision to make.

I can’t believe how wrong I was thinking dairy was ok compared to the meat industry.  The atrocities of the dairy industry are so extreme that I am actually more comfortable eating meat than I am any form of dairy – especially cow’s milk/cheese/etc.

The Science of Love and Suffering
      Last year, the scientific community came together and “officially” announced that animals are conscious in the same way humans are.  The timing of this announcement came as a surprise to many pet owners, because we’ve known this for decades.  Anyone who has seen a dog mourn for a missing human companion or dance happily at the prospect of going for a run could easily tell you that animals are conscious.  Consciousness is not a phenomenon unique to dogs or to “pet” animals; it is just something we notice more easily in them because we live with them.

It has likewise been proven that most mammals experience a nearly identical mother-child bond to what we humans experience.  The feeling is caused by the same primary hormone, oxytocin, and floods the same brain centers.  Meaning cow mothers feel the same way about their babies as human mothers do, and calves feel the same need for their mothers that human babies do.

      That was enough for me.  I don’t know how I had never once thought about the fact that dairy cows had to be impregnated to create dairy products.  It’s rather obvious, but we are so separated from our food production in this culture that it literally never even crossed my mind until I saw it mentioned in an article one day.  And my immediate pondrance was, “then what happens to the calves?”

And a day of research later, I was off dairy hard.  When I started on my ethical eating path, I thought cheese was the one animal product I would never give up.  Now, that thought is nothing more than a testament to how clueless I was about our food production systems.

The Source of Most Dairy
      According to the EPA, the “vast majority” of milk and milk products in the US come from “intensive production” operations, meaning factory farms.  Other sources cite the exact number at 99%.  Factory farms are not the cows you see grazing in the pasture when you drive through the midwest.  Those are the other 1% (or, more often, those are grass fed beef).  If you pick up any dairy product in the grocery store, you’re picking up the product of a factory farm (with very, very rare exceptions).

The blurb at the beginning of this article, while it may seem sensational, is exactly what is faced by hundreds of thousands of dairy cows in factory farms across the US every single day.  This is not a little problem.  In addition to the nearly incomprehensible numbers of living, feeling beings suffering in these conditions every day; in addition to the grotesque, cruel treatment they are subjected to, there is also the fact that these farms are destroying the environment.

Environmental Degradation
      Factory farming, and dairy farming in particular, produces astounding amounts of pollution – air, land, and water pollution.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that confined animals generate three times more raw waste than humans in the United States and a 2006 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) found that animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions – 37% of methane emissions and 65% of nitrous oxide emissions.  The use of fossil fuels on farms to grow feed and to intensively raise land animals for food emits 90 million tons of CO2 worldwide every year.  In the US alone, methane emissions from pig and dairy cow manure increased by 45% and 94% respectively between 1990 and 2009.

That doesn’t even touch on the effects of feed grown to support factory farming, which has devastating effects not only on the environment, but on the global economy contributing to human starvation worldwide.

The environmental hazards are also closely tied in with public health hazards.  Here are a few examples from the Natural Resources Defense Council:

• California officials identify agriculture, especially cows, as the major source of nitrate pollution in more than 100,000 square miles of polluted groundwater.
• In 1996 the Centers for Disease Control established a link between spontaneous abortions and high nitrate levels in Indiana drinking water wells located close to factory farms.
• High levels of nitrates in drinking water also increase the risk of methemoglobinemia, or “blue-baby syndrome,” which can kill infants.
• In May 2000, 1,300 cases of gastroenteritis were reported and six people died as the result of E. coli contaminating drinking water in Walkerton, Ontario. Health authorities determined that the most likely source was cattle manure runoff.
• Manure from dairy cows is thought to have contributed to the disastrous Cryptosporidium contamination of Milwaukee’s drinking water in 1993, which killed more than 100 people, made 400,000 sick and resulted in $37 million in lost wages and productivity.
• In this country, roughly 29 million pounds of antibiotics — about 80 percent of the nation’s antibiotics use in total — are added to animal feed every year to speed livestock growth. This widespread use of antibiotics on animals has been proven to directly contribute to the rise of resistant bacteria, making it harder to treat human illnesses.

And there is a heck of a lot more where that came from.  Check out the NRDC website for more on these hazards.  For more information about the environmental consequences of factory farming and the dairy industry, check here and here.

But I love cheese!
      As I mentioned, I really thought there was no chance I would ever give up cheese.  We gave up drinking milk pretty easily the second we found out about the negative health effects associated with drinking cows milk – including increased risk of osteoporosis (because, contrary to what the dairy industry has claimed, drinking cow’s milk actually weakens your bones) – increased risk of cancer and disease (have you watched Forks Over Knives yet?) – and likely causing earlier onset of puberty (which, as the mother of a 10 year old, would be 16 year old, is more than enough reason to toss the milk).

So cow’s milk was out, and it was easy and painless.  There are so many excellent alternatives that are so much better for you – Almond milk, Flax milk, Hemp milk, Soy milk, Coconut milk, Rice milk – and they are widely and easily available.  These days we usually have one carton of unsweetened regular and one carton of unsweetened vanilla almond milk in our fridge most of the time.  When making the switch, keep in mind that it takes the human tongue an average of 14 tries to become accustomed to a new flavor.  Even if you prefer the taste of cow’s milk to begin with, if you stick with a plant based milk for at least 3 weeks, you will likely find that you come to prefer it.

Plus, once I started breastfeeding I became very aware of how specially designed human milk is for human babies, and the thought of drinking cows’ breastmilk started to creep me out.

But cheese!  Oh, cheese!  I still thought cheese and I would never part ways.

Until I was confronted with the image of a mother cow wailing and fighting to reach her baby as the baby was torn from her.  Until I found out that the baby will cry for its mother, alone in confinement, for days until its throat is completely raw or until it is slaughtered.  There is no chance in the world that I will take the product of that suffering into my body.  There is no chance that I will allow a single cent of mine tell those companies that that torture is profitable.

At first, we tried a variety of cheese substitutes – fake cheeses, if you will.  None of them really worked for us.  Then I discovered Nutritional Yeast.  The name doesn’t sound particularly tasty, but this stuff is amazing.  I did a whole post on it.  I don’t look at “Nooch” as a substitute for cheese, which is part of the reason I love it.  I don’t compare it to cheese, but I do find that it works amazingly in situations where I would have used cheese before.  And then I found a flavor of Daiya vegan cheese that was amazing mixed into some recipe I was making.

I also discovered that Vegan cream cheese is a near perfect match for the suffering laced “real” stuff.  And as for ice cream and yogurt, I’ll take coconut milk ice cream any day (yogurt, too).  The stuff is amazing.  Ah – mazing.  There is nothing like some So Delicious Vanilla Bean with some Fair Trade Chocolate melted over top.  MacGyver swears by So Delicious Passionate Mango flavor.  They also make flavored coffee creamers.

Not that I’m trying to tout processed foods, but these are excellent treats.  Ultimately, though, the answer to this whole dairy conundrum is to stop worrying about what one “can’t” have and love the amazing foods we get the pleasure of experiencing.

I am a vegetable lover.  The variety and flexibility is astounding.  And not having to worry about fat content or weight gain because so much of what I eat is vegetables is amazing.  Since giving up most meat and all cow dairy products, the variety of foods we eat, and the quality and flavor profiles of those foods has increased drastically.  It’s really amazing to see what can happen when you free yourself from the programming of the factory farm industry and start looking at foods, especially vegetables, as an adventure.

What about “Humane Dairy”?
      I used to be a big proponent of “humane dairy.”  I used to think the worst part of cheese was the rennet from the stomachs of slaughtered baby cows used to make cheese.  I was wrong.  There is no one worst part.  The whole industry is disgusting.  It is killing the environment.  It is killing us.  And it is soullessly torturing mothers and babies that want nothing more than to be together in a pasture somewhere.

I still love cheese, and I am still looking for a humane source.  I know it’s possible.  I know it is possible for a cow to be allowed to keep her calf and to still spare some portion of milk for cheese making.  On a very small scale.  Like an “I want to have one cow of my own some day to make milk and she can keep her calf” sort of scale.

I have contacted many producers who claim to be humane.  Organic Valley, who I used to promote as a humane source, only allows the calves to stay with the cows for 5 days.  I sure as heck wouldn’t want my baby taken away after 5 days, so that’s not good enough for me.  And it was the “best” one I’ve found so far.  So no cow cheese for me.  And really, it’s totally worth it to avoid being part of such an atrocious system.

BUT, I do have a container of some amazing feta in my fridge from a local goat farm which was described to me (by a friend of mine) as a “goat commune.”  I’m told the kids get to stay with their mothers and all goats, male or female get to grow up happy on the farm.  We plan to visit the farm sometime soon to ensure this is true.  But we’re really in no rush, because as it turns out, I don’t miss dairy nearly as much as I thought I would.  It seems I’ve been de-programmed.

Making Informed Decisions
      It is the responsibility of any individual to gather up information and make informed choices about how they will exist in the world.  I have tried to lay out my reasons for swearing off dairy without being too confrontational.  Some people get downright angry when confronted with the very real pictures and videos of what goes on at factory farms every single day.  I’m not sure why someone would get mad when being shown something factual, but my guess is it has to do with guilt.  It is one thing to know there is cruelty and to do nothing.  It is something else to refuse to acknowledge the cruelty even exists and to react with anger at this fact.

I encourage you to do further research on your own.  I especially encourage you to read the two following articles.  They are brief, but they make a very clear and very important point about the dairy industry without the images and videos:

Cow Proves Animals Love

The Natural Lives of Cows

And if you are prepared to know the real and whole truth, arm yourself with the reality of what goes on in Factory Farms:

Farm Sanctuary

Ian Somerhalder Foundation   

Or watch some videos – if you feel like having your heart beaten up today.

Religious Connection
      We are Unitarian Universalists.  I am also Pagan.  MacGyver is also Buddhist.  And both of these tend to overlap, integrate, and basically mush together over the course of our marriage.  So we’re pretty much UU Pagan Buddhists at this point.  But what you call it doesn’t matter because any even when you pull them apart, each of these religions mandates that an individual act to end suffering.

Food and religion go hand-in-hand – communion, fasting, kosher foods, “clean” foods, etc.  What you eat becomes a part of you, and what you choose to eat has effects that ripple out into the world around you.

As such, I refuse to knowingly take the products of cruelty and suffering into my body.  I will not allow that to become a part of me.  I can think of no food more unclean than that which is tainted with torture.  Unitarian Universalism empowers me to respect the interdependant web of life of which we are all a part.  Paganism reminds me that everything I send out into the Universe will come back to me multiplied by three.  Buddhism charges us to strive for the end of suffering.  My Christian upbringing taught me to help those in need and treasure the planet as a gift.

All of that is, of course, simplified.  But the result remains the same:  Every ounce of my religion points me toward compassion, toward responsible stewardship of the Earth, and toward ending suffering.  Keeping the products of suffering out of my body is the very least I can do.

What Can You Do?
      Give up dairy.  Just like that.  Drink water.  Drink plant milks.  Explore the myriad amazing possibilities in the world of plant based foods.  There are plenty of excellent recipes right here on Urban Earthworm, and millions of others just waiting to be discovered (like on Pinterest…).

Know where your food is coming from.  Shop Farmer’s Markets and avoid anything from factory farms.  Buy Fair Trade and Equal Exchange products.  Learn.

Be a voice for those whose voices are unheard.  Write to your Representative and Senator and tell them you are NOT ok with the atrocities allowed in the factory farming industry.

Remember that your wallet also has a voice.  Don’t let any of your hard earned money go to unethical and inhumane corporations.

Show your support.  No matter where you stand on the scale of activism and awareness, there is an organization out there for you.

Check out:

Farm Sanctuary

Animal Legal Defense Fund

Humane Society

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Mercy for Animals

The list is long and varied.  Find an organization that’s right for you.  If you want to really understand these animals, follow Farm Sanctuary on Instagram, or like these organizations on Facebook.

The post Struggles with Cheese and Motherhood: Dairy Cruelty appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

      This is a problem.

       Why?  Because getting too much protein from animal sources has been proven repeatedly to drastically increase risks of chronic disease and premature death.

        People are getting too much protein because most of us have been continually fed the myth, our whole lives, that protein is hard to get, needs to be specifically sought out, and is more important than other nutrients.  Protein – all the protein you need – is naturally occurring in nearly all whole, plant-based foods, from grains to veggies.

      The purpose of this post is not to convince everyone to become vegan (though I do think it’s an excellent idea) or to win people over to any particular cause (I have many other posts for that).  I am writing this because the misconceptions about protein and the protein requirements of people in the US are outrageous and they are negatively impacting our health.  This post is just about facts:

–  The majority of US Americans get way too much protein.
–  Most people don’t realize that they get enough protein from regular plant based foods without having to “add a protein” to every meal.
–  Too much protein from animal products is very bad for you.
–  Reducing meat consumption is very, very good for the environment and the world.

      The average US American adult needs minimum of about 4-5% of total calories per day from protein.  Since other factors require that many individuals get a little more protein than that, the recommended daily amount of protein for an average adult (even one who works out for 30 minutes EVERY DAY, beyond regular daily activity), is 8-10% of calories from ALL SOURCES of protein.  It is estimated that less than 2% of adults require more than 10% of their calories from protein (these may include women at certain stages of pregnancy and those recovering from surgery; note that working out does not elevate your need for protein nearly as much as popular culture would lead you to believe). 

      In the US, the average adult usually gets at least twice that amount of proteinfrom meat alone. And most people don’t work out 30 minutes every single day, either.  The health consequences of all this excess protein (and fat!) from animal products is really quite shocking.  Take a look at this (and the read more from me below):

       If you have no desire to give up meat, that’s fine.  As I said, getting people to give up meat is not the purpose of this post.  But please don’t give in to the myth that you need to eat meat, dairy, or eggs for protein.  Protein is found in most vegetables in nearly idea amounts to meet that 10% requirement.  The protein is already there, in the foods you’re already eating (or should be), without any need to “get your protein” by adding meat, dairy, or eggs to your meal.

    I love the way Micaela Karlsen, MSPH, put it in her article: “Imagine running into a friend at the gym who was just finishing her aerobic workout. Sweaty and flushed, she downs a bottle of water and remarks, “Got to get my hydrogen!” While we may instinctively sense that there is something odd about that statement, in Western countries, and particularly the U.S., people make very similar comments on a regular basis. “Just getting my protein in!” someone will cheerfully report as they dig into General Tso’s chicken or crack open a hard-boiled egg.”

      If you’re still not convinced, check out this great chart showing the amounts of various nutrient contents, including protein amounts, of lots of veggies.

      Aside from no needing it, and aside from the negative health consequences of eating too much of it, there are huge benefits to the world as a whole from cutting down on our meat consumption.  Leading scientists believe that reducing our meat consumption could DOUBLE the world’s food supply.  As you can see from the graphic, even just one meatless (AND egg-less, and dairy-less) day a week can make a massive difference.

       Eating less meat can seem daunting if you’ve grown up in a culture that tells you to eat meat with every or nearly every meal, but with a few good recipe ideas, I honestly think you’ll be surprised by how easy and satisfying it can be to cut meat, dairy, and eggs to no more than 6oz a day.  Why not try out meatless Mondays?  Or check out my “Quick and Easy” recipes over on the right —>

      There are hundreds of resources out there that make reducing your meat consumption and eating ethically much easier.  If you need any guidance or resources, please don’t hesitate to contact me, either in  a comment on this article or asking a question on our Facebook page.

The post Meat and Protein: Myths, Misconceptions, and Unnecessary Risks appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

Carrot cake was an obvious starting point for me because our whole family LOVES carrot cake, but we rarely get to indulge.  Plus, Flintstone thoroughly enjoyed his carrot cake at his first birthday party:

But I knew I wanted to add more than just carrot since traditional carrot cake doesn’t actually have that much nutritional value. I decided on zucchini because I happened to have some very nice local zucchini from the Farmer’s market on hand, and I know zucchini bakes well.

Finally, I decided to come up with a vegan recipe. We are not technically vegan. We have backyard chickens for eggs, and I could have just as easily used eggs in the recipe, but then I probably wouldn’t have posted it. Some people don’t think twice before using grocery store grade eggs in a recipe, even with all my harping on ethical eating. So by posting a recipe that calls for eggs, I worried I would be inadvertently encouraging people to buy or use more eggs. If you aren’t familiar with the sickening practices of egg factories, including throwing thousands of baby chicks into meat grinders ALIVE, the please be a responsible human being and educate yourself about the products you buy.

It’s not like me to forget to take pictures of food, but I was pretty wrapped up in Flintstone’s birthday, so this it the only decent picture I got of his cake:

I was worried when I was making it because it had SO many veggies veggies in the batter and it looked a little dense, but it turned out really great, and it was a huge hit.  As soon as it was served, people started asking me what was in it and asking for the recipe, and it was at that moment that I realized that I needed a better picture for the post, but, alas, the entire cake was quickly consumed.  Which is why I have dubbed it my “All Gone” cake:

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp Ground Flax Seeds
6 Tbsp water
2 Cups shredded organic carrot
2 Cups shredded organic zucchini
2 Cups Fair Trade/Equal Exchange Brown sugar (white sugar is ok, too)
1/2 Cup coconut oil (or other oil, your choice)
2 Cups fun flour and all purpose whole wheat flour*
2 Tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tsp ground nutmeg
pinch cloves (optional)
1 Tsp salt
2 Tsp baking soda

* We have been experimenting a lot with alternative kinds of flour.  I actually used about 1/3 coconut flour, 1/3 teff flour, and 1/3 all purpose whole wheat flour.  Different kinds of flour are fun and can really up the nutritional value of the recipe, but be aware that they may change the liquid requirements.  I just continued adding almond milk and water until my batter reached a “batter” like consistency before I added the veggies, and it turned out perfect!

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 (or don’t, and save a little electricity).  Use coconut oil to grease and flour a 9X13 cake pan.

2.  Thoroughly blend the Flax Seed Meal with the Water – you may want to use a food processor for maximum effect.  Let sit for at least 5 minutes.  During which time, you can:

3. Grate the carrots and zucchini.

4.  In a large batter bowl, mix the flax seed goo with the sugar until creamy, then stir in the coconut oil until well mixed.

5.   Add in the flour(s), spices, salt, and baking soda, and mix well.  Add almond milk or water as necessary to achieve a “batter” like texture.

6.  Stir in the carrots and zucchini – you could also throw in some nuts in this step if you wanted.

7.  Pour/spread into the prepared pan.  Bake approximately 50 minutes until a reusable skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

Vegan “Cream Cheese” Icing:

Do you have any idea what they do to dairy cows, and, even worse, what they do to the baby cows they have to continually impregnate dairy cows with to keep them producing milk?  I, quite honestly, had no idea.  I went on eating cheese long after I stopped eating meat.  Even though I have tried to train myself to always questions where my food comes from, I was raised in a culture that takes food for granted.  And I LOVE cheese.  Love it.  It was the one food I never thought I’d give up.  Until the first time I saw a newborn calf being brutally dragged from it’s mother, both of them crying out for each other, the baby being carelessly injured in the process, and the mother remaining locked in a small cage, producing milk, set to repeat the whole process every year of her life.  Just remembering it is almost making me cry now.

I love cheese, and there are still some places I can get it, local goat farmers who I know don’t engage in these practices, and maybe one day we’ll have our own cow.  It is, after all, possible, after allowing time for cow and calf to establish a relationship, to take 1/2 the cow’s milk production humanely.  But you won’t catch me buying cheese, or any other dairy product, from a grocery store ever again.

So, please, if you can’t find or are unwilling to use vegan cream cheese, which is now available in almost every grocery store except Piggly Wiggly (ugh!), top this cake with something else.  Use Cinnamon icing, or any frosting recipe from Happy Herbivore.

Ingredients:

VEGAN Cream Cheese
Fair Trade Confectioners/Powdered sugar
Almond Milk (or your choice non-animal milk) – Vanilla flavored works great.
Cinnamon

Directions:

There are no set proportions for this recipe, at least the way I make it.  I used about 3/4 a standard container of vegan cream cheese, maybe 3/4 a cup of powdered sugar, and more almond milk than I needed.  I like my icing so that it drizzles over the cake, but really I had intended to make frosting so the cake would be easier to decorate.

Put your cream cheese and sugar into a bowl and add small amounts of the almond milk, mixing in a little at a time, until you reach desired consistency.  Adjust sweetness with more sugar.

Add cinnamon to taste.

***

Stand back, and watch it disappear.  This cake will be all gone faster than Todd Aikin’s credibility at a feminist rally.

As always, if you try it, please stop back by and let me know how you like it!

***

Today I’m linking up with Impulsive Addict and Seriously Shawn for Talk to Us Tuesday.  I rarely do blog memes, but this one has no rules, so it’s hard to resist (almost as hard to resist as the lovely hosts).

The post Carrot and Zucchini “All Gone” Cake appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

      I took a couple steps back to peek into the office from which I had heard my name.  Three or four of the judge advocates I work with were gathered for an end-of-the-day gab session.  “I’ll know what?”

        “What, exactly,” one of them asked me, “is patchoili?”

       I supressed a  bit of laughter.  “Why do you think I’d know that?” 

       The answer is obvious.  It has long been established that I am “The Hippie of the Law Center.”  I handed over what little knowledge I have of patchouli (which I consider to be a little more tied in with drug culture than the organic, plant eating, food growing, chemical free, pagan-y circles I perfer, but whatever, I did know what it was).  The conversation then went on to much more hilarious topics that I won’t be touching on here.  Ok, it may have involved plushies and custom costumes with trap doors… Maybe.

       Over the course of the last year, it has been far from unusual for my coworkers to ply me with random questions about my beliefs and lifestyle.  Always respectfully and out of curiosity, mind you.  The Marine Corps can be a pretty homogenous place, and the assumption is often that Marines are conservative and Christian.  Often, that is exactly the case.  But you also run into exceptions (like raging liberal UU Pagan Marines, ahem).  I find that most of the judge advocates (military attorneys) I’ve worked with have been much more liberal than the general military population is held out to be.

      Regardless, while many of my fellow attorneys are pretty liberal, they are also, by and large, Christians and not at all what one might call “hippies.”  Except me.  The Hippie of the Law Center.

      It is not unusual for me to find myself in a discussion about “crunchy” topics with one or two of my coworkers.  Most often, they want to know about ethical eating and why I feel strongly about it and what I’ve read lately.  About two months ago, one of them, who I’ll call Capt Curious for simplicity’s sake asked me to come to his office.  He wanted to show me a video.  He said he thought of me the moment he saw it.  He was totally right, and I LOVED the video:

     This IS me.  Really.  Right up until the point where they decide to actually go to the farm, this is me.  Okay, I’ve gone to the farms themselves, too, but not in the middle of dinner   I love Portlandia.  Everything about it.  Especially Dream of the 90’s.  I love the 90’s just as much as the 80’s.  Maybe even more because the style wasn’t quite as horrifying.  If you haven’t checked out Portlandia, you should.  Love it.  And it totally confirms that MacGyver and I have been right in our continuing desire to move to Portland, OR (though I don’t see that happening until the kids are older).

      Anyway, Capt Curious showed me that clip, which I stated was a more accurate representation of me than he probably realized, and we talked a little bit about Food Ethics.  I told him that I don’t eat factory meat becasue of the deplorable conditions – both for humane reasons and for health reasons.  A couple other Captains wondered in through the course of our discussion, but the general feel was that no one else had really thought to look into it.  Which I don’t hold against them.  That’s sort of the status quo in the US.  There is this assumption that mass produced = good, safe, healthy, etc. 

      The degree to which that assumption is wrong is horrifying once you really start to peel back the layers.  The massively negative health consequences of eating large quantities of meat, processed foods,  factory meat, and other common, accepted products are astounding.  And it doesn’t end at food – cleaning products, cosmetics (including shampoo and soap), even the materials from which our homes are built, are saturated with toxic chemicals.  But so few people even realize it.  So few people are paying attention.  And really, who has time to pay attention to all of it?  I mean, I’m obsessive about it, and I know I’m only scratching the surface.

      Our system is broken.  Just because something is in the grocery store or nicely packaged in NO WAY means it is safe or should be in your home or in your body.

      And that was what we discussed.  Or, I should say, that was the opinion I gave, to which my co-workers responded with skeptical acceptence.

      Then, a couple days ago, Capt Curiosity approached me as I was milling around outside the courtroom.

      “I saw Food, Inc. this weekend.” he informed me with obvious joy, raising his hand for a fist bump (a fist bump?  Really?  If you knew me in real life, you would know how laughable that is.  Maybe just reading this blog is enough to realize I am not really a ‘fist bump’ sort of person. Then again, none of my coworkers probably are, either… MacGyver laughed out loud when I told him.) 

      I returned the fist bump.  “What did you think?”

      Basically, he was really glad he had watched it, and he wished he had seen it sooner.  He had no idea about many of the serious issues that come into play in food ethics and how much idiocy goes on before food ends up in our grocery stores.  He told me he had decided to switch to only local, humanely and organically raised meat.  I was happy for him.

      “You’ve been won over to the hippie side.”  I told him.

      And that is when he balked a little.

      “Well,” he said, “I don’t really see it that way.  I mean, I think wanting to know where you food comes from, being willing to do the research before making decisions doesn’t make you a hippie, it just makes you responsible.”

      Huh.  Apparently I’m not a hippie after all…

The post Not a Hippie Thing appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

      But I’m breaking my cardinal rule and skipping ahead a holiday.  This skipping, however is necessary and is only preparatory.  Heaven knows I would never fully gloss over Halloween/Samhain!  But poor Thanksgiving really gets short shrift anyway, being sandwiched right between Halloween and the Soltstice holidays.

      Why start thinking about Thanksgiving so far ahead of time?  Honestly, I should have been thinking about it a few months ago and I totally dropped the ball.  The answer is simple:  TURKEY!

      Thanksgiving is a holiday that supposedly centers around giving thanks, but we all know what it really centers around, at least culturally:  Meat.  Turkey meat, to be more precise. 

      Just because turkey is a less popular poultry meat than chicken in no way means they escape the sick horror of factory farms.  Every year, hundreds of millions of turkeys are raised in sickening, tourturous conditions in factory farms. 

      I, for one, cannot stomach the idea of sitting around a warm family table discussing all the blessings in life that we are greatful for only to celebrate those blessings by feasting on an animal that lived its entire life in painful, sickening, deplorable conditions.  That is just simply WRONG.

      But I really don’t think I can get the fam on board with a meat free Thanksgiving this year, and I also don’t see it as necessary.  We still eat meat occassionally.  Probably about 3 times a month.  But we restrict ourselves from humanely raised meat from local farms.

      So I set out on a mission to find a humanely raised turkey for our Thanksgiving feast, and it looks like we’re in luck.  I found this awesome site:  Eat Wild.  Eat wild provides state by state information (with maps) on TONS of humane farms, many of which will even ship meat to you.  Not only was I able to find turkey, I also found pork, beef, chicken, eggs (not that we need any), and goats.  And I’m sure that’s just scratching the surface.  It is a GREAT SITE.

      I highly recommend everyone check out Eat Wild.  You might just be surprise by what you find in your area.  I know I was.  Before I found Eat Wild, I only knew of one or two local humane meat producers, turns out there are tons.

     Now, in all honesty, I should have started looking for a turkey earlier in the year.  Some of the farms start taking reservations for the turkeys back in June when the turkeys are babies.  But I’ve sent emails to a number of farms to see what’s available.  And if I can’t find anything in the state, I can always click Eat Wild‘s “Farms That Ship” link and find a farm that might be able to ship me a humanely raised turkey.

      Where are YOU getting your turkey this year?  Or are you even having a turkey?  How are you going to make your Thanksgiving a day of thanks not just for you, but for all the animals and humans who played a role in bringing your food to your table?

      And be sure to check out the recipes site for lots of Thanksgiving deliciousness before and after the day!

The post Turkey appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

      Monday, October 24th is National Food Day!  And, whether they know it or not, it is effectively Ethical Eating Day.  Just take a look at the 6 Principles of Food Day:

1  Reduce diet-related disease by promoting safe, healthy foods
2. Support sustainable farms & limit subsidies to big agribusiness
3. Expand access to food and alleviate hunger
4. Protect the environment & animals by reforming factory farms
5. Promote health by curbing junk-food marketing to kids
6. Support fair conditions for food and farm workers

      See?  Ethical Eating Day!  I am super excited about this, and I invite everyone to grab the button from up top and join me in celebrating food day by learning more, being mindful of what you eat and how it affects the world around you, and cooking a healthy, ethical, home cooked meal that day.

      Check out the Food Day website to sign a letter to your Congress person asking them to take notice of the issues Food Day is trying to raise awareness of and find ways to participate.

      They even have a free downloadable cookbook with amazing recipes from a ton of celebrity chefs!  I doesn’t get better than that.

      So, in honor of Food Day in just a couple weeks, I hope to see you all joining in, if even in a small way.

      Want to be featured here on Cheap Wine and Cookies?  Send me your Food Day plans, and you’ll get your very own post.

      What a fun and easy way to have a HUGE impact on our world!

The post Food Day! appeared first on Urban Earthworm.