The Best (and easiest) hot cocoa recipe

It's a cold and rainy Boston night and I find myself drinking too many cups of my favorite hot cocoa - and given the ingredients it's about as guilt free as hot cocoa can get.

This is oh-so-easy to make.  Here's the deets:

• 2 cups Silk soy milk (the vitamin fortified version has B12 and other goodies)
  
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (unsweetened and alkaline free)
  
• 2.5 tablespoons organic blue agave nectar 
  
• 1/4 teaspoon organic vanilla extract 

Whisk all of the ingredients together in a sauce pan over medium heat until desired temperature is reached.  

This is the perfect hot beverage to enjoy when the wind is howling outside the window and a bad case of the Sunday Scaries has set in!

Thanking turkeys this Thanksgiving

I've just shored up Thanksgiving plans and this year (like last) I've opted not to travel down to Georgia to spend the Holiday with the family.  Yes, yes, I love them and all but I just don't feel like dealing with the travel and all the questions about why I'm not eager to tear into the dead carcass that will once again be the centerpiece for the annual big dinner.

Instead I'm having dinner with good friends Jer and Pete at their house here in Boston.  Some others will join, too.  None are vegan or vegetarian (in fact most, like my family, can't conceive of a meal that doesn't include meat).  But all are totally respectful of my choices and that's enough for me to feel thankful for eating with them.  Plus they're just great fun.

As we all prepare to give thanks for the amazing things in our lives: our health, our family and our friends, the animals that share our homes, etc., let's also give a special thanks to the turkeys who, this Thanksgiving, will have a much rougher go of it as they ultimately end up on the dinner table.

And I'm sharing a page from PETA to reinforce why it's a good thing to leave turkeys off of our forks this Holiday season.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Could veganism end world hunger?

It's one thing to not care about or recognize the connection between the food on the plate and how it got there.  But to understand that world hunger could all but end if the West adopted a meat-less diet should (I'd hope) encourage more people to go veg.  

And this CNN story makes a persuasive case for veganism.  There are finite resources that we all need to share and the massive amounts of grain consumed by animals raised for food could be put to much better use nourishing starving families around the world.  I hope reading this spurs people to pledge to be veg.

Successful cupcakes!

The cupcakes were really terrific: buttery with a rich, thick chocolate taste.  The recipe makes about ten cupcakes so if you're going to a party or a vegan potluck it's best to double it (or if you're having a party for one, then halve it).  The frosting is simple to make and delicious - but I didn't sift the powdered sugar and ended up with some small chunks.  And the recipe makes a LOT of frosting; so again, halving it is a good idea.  

I left my camera at the office and couldn't muster the will to go out in the fierce wind we had this weekend to go pick it up.  So no pictures of this batch; but I will photo future batches.

Just downloaded some recipes for macaroni and "cheese" which I hope to try this week.

It's cupcake weekend!

I'm really excited to try a *very* basic recipe for chocolate cupcakes.  I downloaded the instructions this afternoon and trekked to Whole Foods after work to pick up the ingredients. I'm new to baking and while perusing a number of cupcake recipes it became clear that the following ingredients belong in the kitchen of any aspiring vegan baker:

• Apple cider vinegar
• Baking powder/baking soda
• Vanilla extract 
• Almond extract 
• Agave 
• White Flour
• Whole Wheat Flour
• Canola oil 
• Powdered sugar 
• Regular ole sugar 
• cocoa powder
• shortening 

If you want to try these cupcakes (and it looks painfully simple) you can download the recipe at www.chow.com/recipes/10794

I need to head back to the office this weekend to pick up my camera - which I left in my desk drawer - so I can snap and post photos of the cupcakes.  Can't wait to try them - wish me luck!

Stocking a vegan kitchen

I get a ton of questions about what I eat and whether I'm healthy. All I can say is that I exercise often, I rarely get sick and I have boundless energy. Is it because of my vegan diet? I'd say that has a lot to do with it. I also think it's really important to keep a positive, curious outlook on life and to reduce stress wherever possible (I know, but a guy can dream, right?). And I highly recommend - but rarely get - a full eight hours of sleep per night.

To continue finding new, healthy and interesting things to eat, however, all vegans need to have a few staples. Here's a quick list of stuff you'll always find in my pantry, on my counter and in my fridge:

• Organic root vegetables: carrots and potatoes mostly - so easy to cook, and great comfort food!
  
• Organic onions and garlic - I do a ton of stirfries and you need to have lots of these tasty, super healthy staples
  
• Red Star Nutritional Yeast - I love the stuff: over pasta, in stir fries. It's the perfect grated cheese substitute.
  
• Lots and lots of whole wheat pasta and brown rice
• Polenta - my favorite is made by Monterey Gourmet Foods. You can get it at Whole Foods and other health food stores. And I like it prepared in a very basic way: pan fried in olive oil with some salt and Earth Balance. Yummy!
• Earth Balance Buttery Spread - all natural, healthy and so good you really (really) won't believe it's not butter. I prefer the original flavor but there's also a "whipped" flavor that includes soy; it's good, but the original cannot be beat.
• Silk Soy Milk - vanilla is delicious and it's the kind they use to make soy lattes at Starbucks. Great for cereals and any recipes that call for cow's milk
• SoyBoy organic tofu - the firm kind is best for stir fries and you can get it at almost any grocery store
• LightLife organic tempeh - ditto. Look for it at any grocery store. Tempeh has a rich, satisfying "meaty" texture.
• Spices of all kinds
• Beans, beans, beans - in bags. In cans. Beans are the food of gods
• Lots of fresh, organic fruit
• Lots of fresh, organic veggies - broccoli, chards, kale. Great for stir fries!
• Almond butter and peanut butter - perfect on a side of toast when you're runnin' late for work
• Agave nectar - the perfect substitute for honey. Great for tea, oatmeal and in recipes as a substitute for honey or sugar

All of the above are widely available and relatively cheap. Go stock your kitchen today!

Welcome to my blog!

Okay, let me say first that I'm really excited to have started this blog.  And I look forward to sharing with anyone and everyone the things I'm passionate about.  And I hope to learn from readers, too.

Why am I doing this?  It's simple.  I'm passionate about a number of issues: animal rights, human rights, the environment, politics, etc., etc..  I have a lot of interests: travel, sport, yoga, art, cooking.  Movies.  My cats.  Other peoples' cats (and dogs, and fish).  I love clothes and I love to swim.  I love hiking and Europe and photography.  

You get the picture. 

What will I be blogging about?  Anything that inspires or moves me.  I'll blog about the animals in my life and why I choose to be vegan.  I may blog about yoga or a hike with friends or politics.  I'll probably also write about some yummy vegan recipes that I've tried lately.

About me:  I'm 33, I'm a guy, I live in Boston and work in technology public relations.  I have a great, diverse group of friends, a steady job, two crazy but lovable cats and a healthy, stable and enthusiastic outlook on life.  If you like what I blog about then please comment!

Peace, love and veganism -

Rob