Why You Should, and Ways to Drink Green Tea

Hey everyone! So, it's not New Year's Day, but I'm going to be talking about resolutions anyway. It's still pretty early in the year. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you might be aware that I wrote a New Year's post last year. The stuff I'm writing about today is completely different. But the things in my last New Year's post is, at least in my opinion, are all pretty good ideas for resolutions, and they're super-relevant. So, if you want some ideas for animal rights and environmentalism related resolutions, click here!

So I have actually made a legit resolution this year. I have resolved to drink a minimum of 3 cups of green tea per day. To me, that really doesn't sound like a lot. However, when I told several of my friends, they were surprised and kept saying how that was so much green tea! Come to think of it, maybe they meant the cumulative amount of green tea. Whatever. It's not that much.

But why green tea? Why 3 cups? Well, that's the average amount that most things I've read have suggested for daily consumption, though some suggest up to 5 per day. And at that amount, it's supposed to have all sorts of positive side effects. Well it's common knowledge that drinking green tea can boost your metabolism (which means that if you've made any weight loss or muscle toning resolutions, they'll be easier to attain!) According to About Food it can help prevent or alleviate rheumatoid arthritis. My family has a history of arthritis, so if I can avoid it, I'd love to. According to SFGate (disclaimer: this article cites some studies which involved animal testing which I do not endorse, and am strictly opposed to.) drinking green tea fights bacterial infections, (which can help with acne problems,) and may prevent certain viral infections including the flu, and certain STDs. According to Livestrong, the antioxidants in it can also prevent certain types of cancer, as well as heart disease. It's like freaking magic. I'd say those are some pretty great reasons to drink the stuff.

Now admittedly, if you are drinking 3 cups of green tea per day, you'll probably go through boxes of tea fairly quickly, and while it's a lot cheaper and better for you than carbonated beverages. However, it could feel like you're spending a lot more money than you used to. Now, I know Trader Joe's carries pomegranate white tea (which is the same as green tea, only it has more antioxidants (the stuff that helps you out so much, and less caffeine,) and I'm pretty sure they carry green tea as well. If you're not as familiar with Trader Joe's, they normally have some of the lowest prices of all the health food stores. But, Costco also carries green tea in huge bulk. I'm talking a case of 100 bags of green tea. It's their store brand, and I can't remember exactly what the price is, but I know I did the math once, and it was pretty much the best price I could find. It's technically matcha green tea, which means that there are super-fine particals which stay in the water after you take the bag out. Actually, normally a lot of them have already come out of the bag, and are loose in the individually-wrapped packages. You just pour them into the cup or mug you're preparing it in. The only set back is that instead of paper tea bags, they use nylon tea bags, so they're slightly harder to compost. You have to tear or cut the bag open to compost the leaves, but it's really not hard to do. I don't know if they carry any flavored green tea, so if you're wanting tea infused with fruits or something, you can either add them yourself, or you can just look for coupons and buy those sorts of teas at a regular grocery store. But if you're willing to give the normal green tea a shot, this stuff is great. Admittedly, I am not a big fan of any real tea plain. By real tea, I mean black, green, or white tea, which is actually made from a tea plant. Herbal stuff doesn't count. But there are several ways that I make it that I think are really delicious.

Tea Latte: So, basically, you brew your tea, and then put it in a cup with equal parts green tea and your favorite alternative milk. I usually go with soy. Sweeten it to taste. Easy enough. Your tea latte will have only as many calories as the amount of alternative milk you put in it, just in case you're counting.

The second way to make it is also really easy, but can be made entirely with bulk items purchased from Costco. (Though, I guess if you bought soy milk at Costo, you could make the other one entirely from Costco bulk products too.)

Tea Lemonade: First, you brew your green tea. Then add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. (Costco carries TrueLemon.) Then Add 1-2 packets (I use 1 1/2) of Truvia, or your preferred sweetener. (Also available at Costco.) The advantage of this version of green tea, if you're counting calories, is that it has none. (Unless you use real sugar of course.)

Hopefully, I've convinced you that you need this in your life. So, let me know in the comments if you want to start drinking more green tea! If you don't, I'd still love to know. If you have any yummy, easy recipes for gren tea, please share! Thanks for reading everyone! I hope this has been helpful.

(Vegan) Cream Cheese Comparisons

A thousand apologies everyone, for somewhat vanishing this past semester. College is a lot busier than I expected it to be. Being an art student, I don't have the luxury of plain and simple homework that you just have to get done. Art homework, such as sketches, and also in my case, apparel construction (sewing), takes a long time. I just didn't have a lot of time to blog. I probably would have died of never sleeping if I had. Anyway, I'm going to try to post a lot over the break, and get more posts ready to post during next semester. Today I am not blogging about a TVCC recipe, but instead offering a bit of insight for choosing between brands of vegan cream cheese, as the title suggests.

Seeing as a lot of holiday recipes call for cream cheese, like dips, or cheese balls, or cheese cake, or marble brownies, or cheese danish, etc. and presumably, my wonderful readers might want to veganize their classic recipes, I would like to offer you a bit of insight as to what brands to choose for what. Here are my top 3 favorites.

#3: Go Veggie!

This cream cheese is a good one for recipes. The taste is just fine. There is just something off about the texture. It doesn't have the real cream cheese feel to it. The texture is what gives it away as fake. If you can get over the weirdness about the texture, then feel free to enjoy it spread on whatever you like, but I just would only use it for cooking or baking recipes where the texture gets lost in the other ingredients.

I must say though, I can totally get over the texture to put the strawberry cream cheese on gluten-free, vegan English muffins. I know strawberry-flavored stuff doesn't really taste like strawberries, but I'm a sucker for it anyway.

#2: Daiya

 

Alright, so I haven't tried the strawberry version of this stuff yet. That is on my list of things-to-do. However, as far as the plain goes, it's pretty good. The texture, while not 100% perfect, is at least MUCH better than Go Veggie's. The taste is also pretty good, though I find it a little on the salty side. It tastes like they used the same base as they use for their vegan cheeses. So basically, it tastes a little bit like a cheese spread and not cream cheese. Really though, it isn't bad. The flavor is really growing on me. I think it is best in recipes that are more savory. I haven't tried it in any dessert recipes, but again, it is  more on the salty side, and I'm afraid of a recipe not turning out right because of that. But I'm sure it would be great for holiday dips and spreads, cheese balls, etc. It would also taste pretty good in vegan sushi, or roll-up and wrap sandwiches.

#1: Tofutti

 

I gotta say, this stuff is still my ultimate favorite. It gets the flavor extremely well, and the texture is PERFECT. It is great plain, or in whatever kind of recipes you want to use it in. It also tastes great with cinnamon-sugar on toast by the way. If you've never tried it, you need to. This is my go-to for vegan cheesecake too. OMG. That is amazing. (Last year I posted about vegan eggnog cheesecake that I'd made with this stuff. Check it out!) I really really really love this brand. For example, in high school economics class, we had a project in which we had a fake budget and spent our fake money on stocks and managed a stock profile and stuff, and this was a company that I kept on my stock profile. By the way, if anyone is looking to buy stocks in vegan food companies, Tofutti's stocks tend to be pretty steady. They don't always grow that much, but you at least won't likely lose a lot of money. (That tip was free, by the way.) And who knows, if everyone starts using this amazing stuff more often, maybe it will grow in stock value. Whatever. The only thing that isn't amazing about this stuff is the package design. I think that the package looks a little bit outdated based on the colors and design scheme, but hey. Don't judge by outward appearances right? The package doesn't make it taste any less amazing. 

Okay. I hope that was helpful to everyone! If you make any recipes with vegan cream cheese, I'd love to hear your thoughts and see your pictures! Who knows, maybe if I like your stuff, I'll feature you! I'd love to do some features on this blog, so go ahead and impress me. I love vegan cream cheese recipes. Good luck everybody, and Happy Christmas!

Purple Carrots for Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day everyone!
I didn't realize they existed, but look what I found in my local organic grocery store. . . Speaking of earth. Isn't that cool? I mean, I knew Indian corn comes in different colors, but I had no idea that carrots could be multicolored. Veggies are so cool!

Vegan in a Meat World

So, on Christmas my mum didn't want to cook anything for dinner. I think that she actually just didn't want to deal with the clean-up. But who can blame her? Well anyway, not very many places are open on Christmas Day. We ended up going to T.G.I. Friday's which is one of those restaurants where I can't eat anything. The only appetizer I could have was pita wedges and hummus without the added tomatoes (just because I don't really like them,) cheese, yogurt, and whatever else it was that they put on it that wasn't vegan. It wasn't bad hummus, but I felt like I was getting WAY over-charged for it. Though I must admit, soft, grilled pita bread is amazing. The only vegan entree I could find was a black bean burger though I had to order it without all the toppings except the avocado. I have recently developed quite a liking for avocado. It also came with candied onions that are vegan, but I really don't care for onion.

I put a layer of french fries on top of the avocado and gave the rest to my sisters. The burger was really good! It was spicy enough to have a good flavor, but not too spicy. And the creaminess of the avocado helped make the burger not too spicy. I loved it! If you are ever there, I would recommend trying it. Granted, I probably wouldn't pick T.G.I. Friday's as a first choice for restaurants probably because my meal choice options are so limited, but I survived holiday meals with my family. Though, afterwards, I went out and bought myself an avocado. I want to get some spicy black bean burgers too. I've heard that Gardenburger brand spicy black bean burgers are amazing. Maybe I'll do a post later about recreating this entree.

F.Y.I. They have no vegan desserts other than their fruit cup, but that was really lame. I could have made the same thing or better from the stuff in my fridge. (Same with the appetizer honestly.)

Well, if you happen to try this veggie burger, let me know what you thought. Happy Holidays, Everyone!

Fur Fight

I don't know who made this picture. A friend of mine emailed it to me a while ago. However, the message is still true. I have never been a big fan of wearing fur, leather, or any other animal products. I hardly even wear faux fur, or faux leather. I try to avoid the appearance of evil, so to speak. 

Not all people share my views on wearing animal products, especially certain celebrities, such as Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, (The Trollsen Twins, as Peta2 dubs them,) and don't even get me started on Lady Gaga's notorious Meat Dress and other cruel fashion atrocities! 

People need to understand that these beautiful animals actually have to DIE for them to wear fur. Now, some people wouldn't be phased by that, in which case, they may have some deeper problems to deal with. Some people just don't really think about it enough. I know that when I was very little, I thought that wearing fur just meant that the animals would be running abound nekkid. Of course, I understood that it was mean to take their fur away, but it didn't really occur to me that the skin comes with the fur, and that the animals die when people take it. 

Let's raise awareness and spread the message that only beautiful animals, and ugly people wear fur. Share, and upload this image to your social networks to help keep people from making fashion a faux-pas!

Vegan Snickerdoodle Fail

So, normally, I have only amazing things to say about anything PETA-related. Today though, I tried the vegan snickerdoodle recipe from their Holiday Survival Guide, and I was really not impressed. At all.

 They looked amazing. They smelled amazing. They tasted like Play Dough. Well, Play Dough with cinnamon-sugar on the outside, but Play Dough nonetheless. I was so immensely disappointed by them. I remember thinking, as my sister and I were measuring ingredients, that the recipe called for a lot of salt, ( a whole teaspoon for a batch of 20 cookies!) but I followed the recipe anyway. I would like to make the recipe again, but I would only put in 1/4 teaspoon of salt next time. I'm sure that, other than that, the cookies would be fine.

I haven't tried any of the other Holiday Guide recipes, so I can't say whether or not they're any good. Maybe I'll get around to making them later.

Lemony Vegan Eggnog Cheesecake Recipe

This is my second eggnog recipe in one week. I don't know if that's enough to count as a streak, but here it goes. Earlier today, I was browsing the boards at Peta2 and I stumbled across this post which had a link for vegan eggnog cheesecake at the bottom of it. 

Now before I went vegan, I was an absolute sucker for cheesecake. I started making them for any celebration or excuse I could find, and people started ordering them from me and I was making some pretty good cash. I stopped making them as much when I found out I am lactose intolerant. Then when I went vegan, I stopped making them altogether. That was one thing that I did kind of miss, though I got used to no cheesecake pretty fast. It didn't occur to me until recently that I could make vegan cheesecakes with vegan cream cheese! However, I haven't really had the time, so this vegan cheesecake is the first one I have ever made! I'm pretty excited about it. SO excited, in fact, that I forgot to take any pictures as I was going.

So, the recipe at Fat Free Vegan Kitchen called for a pre-made graham cracker pie crust or an oatmeal pie crust that she has a separate recipe for. I'm not a big fan of oatmeal stuffs, and my past cheesecake-making days told me I could do way better than a pre-made graham cracker crust. Now, my sisters are girl scouts, and they always get more cookies then they can sell, so we have plenty sitting around the house, and since the recipe also calls for lemon juice, I figured I could make a crust with Lemonades Girl Scout Cookies, which are vegan. (And delicious.) 

Crust Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 - 2 boxes of Lemonades Girl Scout Cookies (Thanks-a-Lot Girl Scout Cookies work too if you want chocolate instead of lemon, or you could use any other 8.5 oz package of crunchy vegan cookies, preferably a relatively plain cookie, or it will distract from the flavor of the cheesecake.)
• 6-7 tablespoons of vegan butter (Earth Balance brand works well.)

To Make The Crust:

• Empty a box and a half of the cookies into a gallon zip-lock bag and zip the bag shut. If you prefer thicker or higher crust use the entire second box. 
• Use a rolling pin, tenderizer, large baking spoon or whatever large hard-to-break kitchen utensil you can find, and take out all of your days frustrations on those cookies! Beat the cookies with your utensil of choice, until the crumbs are finely crushed. 
• Empty the bag of cookies into a medium bowl, and set them aside. 
• Put vegan butter into a microwaveable container, and heat for 30 seconds. Most of the butter should have melted, but should there still be any unmelted, stir for a few seconds until all the butter has turned to liquid.
• Pour the butter into the bowl of cookie crumbs and stir until all the crumbs are evenly coated with the butter-stuff. (If you want, you can use your clean hands to mix the butter and crumbs.) It will begin to clump. That's okay. 
• Scrape the mixture into a meduim (9") springform pan. With clean hands, (or formerly clean hands now slightly coated in vegan butter and cookie crumbs,) press the crumb mixture evenly on the bottom and along the sides of the springform pan. Make sure there aren't any holes in the bottom of your crust. 
• When finished, set the pan aside.

I followed the original recipe for the most part, except for a few ingredients and some of the preparation. I didn't want to use brandy or rum because that's unnecessary calories, and I can't buy any for myself anyway since I'm under-aged. So I was going to use imitation rum flavoring that we already had in the pantry, except when I checked it, I didn't have enough. So I used extra vanilla and I think it turned out just fine. I also simplified a lot of the preparation, so there are fewer steps, and it works better for a blender than the original instructions.

Filling Ingredients:

• 1 12.3-ounce package extra firm silken tofu (Use a light version for fewer calories.) 
• 1 8-ounce package vegan cream cheese (Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese works well.) 
• 3/4 cup vegan sugar 
• 1/2 cup vegan eggnog (Silk Seasonal Nog, which I used in my Vegan Nog Waffles, works great.) 
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice 
• 3 tablespoons vanilla 
• 1/2 rounded teaspoon ground nutmeg 
• 1/2 rounded teaspoon cinnamon 
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch 

To Make the Filling:

• Preheat Oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 
• Drain tofu. 
• Crumble tofu into blender or food processor (I used a blender.) Add the package of vegan cream cheese, vegan eggnog, lemon juice, and vanilla. Blend or process until you have reached a uniform, creamy consistency. 
• Add sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cornstarch, and blend until sugar and cornstarch have dissolved, and cinnamon and nutmeg are evenly suspended. 

Final Preparation:

• Pour filling into crust. Filling may fill the pan above the top of the crust, which is perfectly fine. 
• Place springform pan on a cookie sheet (To prevent dripping melty vegan butter from making a mess all over your oven,) place it in the oven, and shut the door. 
• Bake for 50 minutes, though I'd recommend checking the cheesecake at 45 minutes just in case it is already starting to brown. The center should still be slightly jiggly. 
• Remove the pans from the oven with oven mitts or potholders etc., and place the pans on a cooling rack. 
• Leaving the cookie sheet on the cooling rack, place the springform pan with cheesecake in the refrigerator to chill. Allow to cool for at least an hour before serving. 
• To serve, remove outer edge of springform pan, and if you are brave, slide the cheesecake onto a serving dish. If you would rather avoid potentially making a huge mess all over your kitchen, throwing away your cheesecake, and having to bake a second one, just place the whole bottom of the springform pan on a serving dish, or just eat the cheesecake now off of the pan without getting an extra plate dirty. 
• Enjoy! 

So, if you try out this recipe, let me know what you thought of it! I would really love to have some feedback, and I would be happy to try out any variations that you all come up with. Have fun baking!

Vegan Nog Waffles

Well it's been a while since I've posted, and I apologize for that. I've been getting way too busy for my own good, but that's beside the point. Since today is Christmas, I figured I'd give you all a quick holiday food post!

Making waffles for breakfast today was kind of an excuse to try out the Ener-G Egg Replacer that I bought for recipes. It was also an excuse to use up a partially empty box of Belgian Waffle Mix from my family's overstocked pantry. I also just got back from a trip to northern Vermont, and you can't leave Vermont without buying at least one kind of Maple Syrup. We picked up Raspberry, Cranberry, and Chai flavored syrups, (the Cranberry is my favorite,) but I couldn't find them quickly because we hadn't unpacked them yet. (I'm not the most patient person in the world, so I used light Agave Nectar which I had also bought for the first time recently and haven't had a chance to try yet.) I basically followed the directions on the box, which are going to be pretty similar but could vary depending on what brand of mix you get and how many you're making.

In a small mixing bowl, I mixed 1 1/2 tablespoons of egg replacer mixture with 2 tablespoons of hot water with a whisk until a uniform consisteny was reached. In a medium-sized bowl, I mixed 1 1/2 cups of waffle mix, 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil, 3/4 cup of Silk Nog (instead of milk or water), a dash of nutmeg, a dash of cinnamon, and added the egg replacer mixture (instead of eggs obviously), stirring until I reached a uniform consistency with no lumps.

I poured half the mixture onto the center of my non-stick waffle iron and closed the lid to cook it. When it was ready, I put it on a plate, and as soon as I took a picture of it, I opened a few Christmas presents while the iron was heating up enough for the second waffle. Then I scraped the rest of the batter into the iron with a spatula, and let it cook. When it was done, I set it on top of my other waffle and poured a generous amount of agave onto them and dug in. I could only finish half of them, so I shared the rest with my sisters who thought they were delicious even though none of them are vegans.

You may have noticed from the picture that my waffle isn't really square. That's because I've had too many experiences with waffle batter dripping down the sides of the hot iron and making a huge mess that I have to clean up later. So, I just make slightly less visually attractive waffles that mean I don't have to clean up so much after myself because I'm sort of lazy. Okay, really lazy. But hey, it would be wasting perfectly good waffle if I made a mess.

By the way, I was really impressed with the Ener-G Egg Replacer. I've tried some other ways to replace eggs in the past, like flax seed for example, and those were less-than amazing in waffles. The Ener-G stuff didn't alter the taste of the waffles to make them taste like some horrible gruel, it kept them light and fluffy, and they're only 15 calories per replaced egg! (Eggs are 70 calories each.) I can't wait to try the egg replacer in other recipes.

If you try my little recipe, let me know what you thought of it, and if you made any other variations. I'd love to try out anything you all come up with. Personally, I am going to be trying something similar with some gluten-free mix that I found, though I don't know if I'll be using vegan nog. Maybe I'll try my vegan chocolate chips. . . Well anyway, happy holidays everyone! I hope this season has been wonderful and relaxing for everyone! Happy New Year!

P.S. Nog is a really funny word. Makes me want to laugh every time I say it.

Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Share this photo, compliments of PETA2, with all your friends to remind them that meat's not green! Meat is incredibly bad for the environment because raising it wastes water, causes land degradation, adds to the global food shortage, adds to air pollution, and wastes fossil fuels!

If you liked going vegan for the day, try going for a week! Follow this link to pledge to be vegan for 7 days!