Do you know what’s great about adopting a pet instead of buying one? Litter box training!
I have no idea how to litter train a rabbit (or a dog or a cat). Fortunately, I don’t have to. There are places where they’ll do it for you and all for the price of spaying/neutering and maybe some vaccinations.
Anyways… these two are always up to impossible cuteness.
This is Brent and Christie, signing off!
EatBreatheYogini nominated Turning Veganese for a Very Inspiring Blogger award and we are inspired and flattered. There’s really nothing better than getting some attention from other bloggers whose work has inspired us.
Rules for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award:
1. Display the award logo on your blog.
2. Link back to the person who nominated you.
3. State 7 things about yourself.
4. Nominate 15 other bloggers for this award and link to them. (I nominated 7 because I think 15 is too many.)
5. Notify those bloggers of the nomination and the award’s requirements.
7 things about me (and Brent) and food:
1. My first phrase was uttered at the supermarket, pointing frantically at broccoli and saying, “Somma dat, mommie! Somma dat!!”
2. I spent a lot of time working on a farm growing up; I ate a lot of vegetables.
3. Brent was vegetarian at various times during high school and college, but was shamed back into eating meat.
4. My first day being vegan I failed miserably and forgot that meatballs were meat.
5. Brent’s favorite vegan food is a giant burrito wrap from a local joint that includes black beans, quinoa, Daiya, soy chorizo and other awesome sauce, smothered in sriracha.
6. My favorite vegan food is pomegranate. It was my favorite food before I was vegan.
7. Brent delights in making tofu with our TofuXpress. He’s a visionary. His kung fu… er tofu is the best.
Nominations:
1. natsukashii details the journeys of a mom, vegan, and just about every other identity a woman can have. It’s compelling stuff and it makes me tear up at times. Two Vegan Girls is a tumblr blog with awesome quickies about veganism. Sometimes they post from natsukashii (a sister blog) and it’s a bigger adventure.
2. Everything Vegan Monologue makes is mouth watering. Definitely give it a look.
3. Live Blissful has already been awarded the Very Inspiring Blogger award but this particular work inspires me. Thank you!
4. Bacon is NOT an Herb always has something fresh to offer. This blog also makes me miss the Northeast.
5. The Cruelty-Free Review is indispensable. Check it out.
6. Girl Sounds focuses on something else I love: art. Sometimes there’s food too… I like food.
7. Canned Time has already been nominated for this award but they inspire me. Deal with it.
Happy Friday!
This is Christie and Brent, signing off!
I was in North Carolina this past weekend and my cousins took me to an awesome vegan-friendly restaurant called The Spotted Dog. The Spotted Dog is located in Carrboro, which was very clearly a health-conscious town. I was so excited to eat my vegan crab cake sandwich that I forgot to take a photo, but it was tasty and splendid. Two non-vegans also got the vegan crab cake sandwich and loved it! I hope I can go back there again.
I would have loved to spend more time in Carrboro. I was hoping to get coffee from a local spot while I was away from home and The Open Eye Cafe did not disappoint with their soy au lait. I was a little disappointed, though, because they didn’t have any vegan treats while I was there. No problem — we walked about a block to Weaver Street Market and got vegan cookies and muffins which were so yummy. (Sorry, no pic of these, either!)
And now… onto some exciting stuff. We have randomly picked the first winner in our December giveaway! This week’s winner of a Bubble & Bee Lotion Stick is Erica Wollman! Yay, Erica! Everyone, check out Erica’s blog and be sure to enter our giveaway. You still have 3 chances to win a lotion stick and can also enter to win a TofuXpress.
Woohoo! Free stuff!!! –Melissa
Parties, especially formal ones, can be pretty tricky for a vegan, but I didn’t have to worry this weekend when my cousin Dan got married. I got hooked up with a dish that was delicious but so freaking simple.
My dinner entree consisted of two blocks of tofu with grilled vegetables including red pepper, portobello mushroom, eggplant, and asparagus, sitting in a tomato sauce. It was filling and tasty and, most importantly, it was vegan! My only concern was making sure not to get sauce on my dress. In addition to the entree, I had a good helping of salad and fruit. The wine and the Yuengling (confirmed to be vegan-friendly) were flowing. And a good time was had by all!
Don’t forget to check out our December giveaways! The first prize will be drawn in two days. –Melissa
More from our favorite pair of vegans. May they be an example to us all!
In today’s thrilling episode, Cassie attacks Albertson-Ames. Pro-Tip : Instead of trashing / recycling phonebooks, remove the glossy pages and covers of a phonebook, give the book to bunnies, subsequently marvel at their destructive power.
From Brent and Christie, peace out my vegans.
Hi, all! It’s Melissa here, writing to tell you that we at Turning Veganese are celebrating our one year anniversary with a month of giveaways! If you had told me when I was writing my first post that I would have stuck with a vegan diet and that Turning Veganese would still be up and running, I don’t think I would have believed you. Much is owed to the awesome vegan blogger community and all their support, creativity, education, and friendship. And I can’t even get into how much I love Christie and Brent and how fortunate I am to have them writing this blog with me.
We have a few giveaways so make sure you read this entire post! But first! Here’s something seriously important: in order to qualify to win any of our prizes, you will need to do at least TWO of the following:
Like and follow our blog (Tip: Follow link is up top if you’re logged in to WordPress and on the bottom right if you’re not.)Now for the fun stuff! Every week in December, we will be giving away a Turning Veganese favorite: a Bubble & Bee Organic Lotion Stick! Pssst… read our review here!
To enter to win a Bubble & Bee Lotion Stick in the scent of your choice, leave us a comment below telling us what vegan-friendly lotions you like to use. Make sure to provide a valid e-mail address so that we can contact you. A random winner will be chosen each week announced every Saturday starting next week.
And now… the big, Grand, UBER GIVEAWAY (and another Turning Veganese favorite)…
A TofuXpress! Yes, that is right, we are giving away a TofuXpress with a side of the opportunity to guest post on Turning Veganese! To enter the TofuXpress giveaway, we are asking you to e-mail us at turningveganese@gmail.com and tell us what you will make with your TofuXpress if you win it. The winner will be chosen randomly and will be invited to write a post for us about your TofuXpress experience!
Some fine print: The TofuXpress giveaway is open only to residents in the U.S. or Canada. The Bubble & Bee giveaway is open to anyone in the world!
I’m really excited about our giveaways but I am even more excited about our second year of Turning Veganese. Yay! –Melissa
Today was a definitive Back to Reality day. After a long and lazy weekend (though I did have to work on Friday), it was time to get back into gear. I felt a little gross about having pigged out for a few days straight, but I felt really good because I managed to have a 100% vegan meal for Thanksgiving! Though the turkey smelled pretty good cooking in the oven, I was extremely happy with the Wild Rice Cranberry Roast en Croûte that my loving sister ordered for me from Schmole Broods. Oh, what the heck! We ordered Thanksgiving from Whole Foods this year, including my vegan meal.
I wasn’t sure what to expect with the vegan roast, but it was really delicious. It tasted like Thanksgiving! Unlike turkey, it had no cholesterol and stayed delicious even though I reheated it. It looked nice and fresh before I heated it, but I won’t be surprised if this was a frozen product to begin with. Field Roast has a product that is a doppelganger for the roast if not the actual roast that I received. This doesn’t disturb me one bit. My original Thanksgiving choice was going to be a Tofurky meal since I have never tried it, but this was different, I don’t recall having seen it before, my soy-sensitive sister is able to enjoy it, and I’m totally psyched that I can buy a frozen version to have any time.
The following sides came with the meal:
I will definitely try the Field Roast version. My sister even expressed interest in getting a whole loaf for everyone to share over the holidays. I’m glad I tried the Whole Foods vegan meal, but I’ll definitely make all the vegan side dishes next time. Until then, it’s back to reality! –Melissa
Enjoy the remaining time you have with your families, travel safe and thank-you for being kind to animals.
These two just got a big snack of radish tops and are ready to nap. Our Flemish Giant rescue bunny doesn’t think anyone can see him in his hiding place. I don’t know if he realizes about half of him is hanging out…
This is Christie and Brent, signing off!
I think we all needed a push to become vegan. That last straw about how farming animals is destroying our planet, our bodies and our relationship with fellow sentient creatures probably made us angry, frustrated, sad or scared.
For a long time I made excuses for why I couldn’t quit animal products. They were the worst kind of transparent excuses. The ones that I look back on and I cringe because I wasn’t trying to convince anyone but myself that what I was doing wasn’t wrong. I started to feel guilty for having leather shoes and bags. I had thoughtlessly used living things for something as trivial as fashion. I knew I was a hypocrite for saying I cared about myself, my earth and my animal friends and it made me angry.
I’m a big fan of accountability. I like owning my behavior, even when it’s hard. I had to be accountable for my behavior. So I changed. I stopped using animals and their reproductive secretions.
I wish I could pinpoint what it was that made me change and bottle it. I suppose I’m a naturally thoughtful person. I suppose it had been building up for quite some time. I don’t think of myself as being sentimental, but I realize I am. I care about what happens to my body, I care about what happens to my planet and I care about animals. Most of all I care that my actions reflect my sentiments.
The most interesting thing about begin vegan is that it is not a diet as far as I’m concerned. Vegan is a philosophy. Veganism suggests that maybe the sentient creatures we share our planet with aren’t here just for us to use.
Not to say that the word “vegan” isn’t used as a marketing tool, but vegan as a philosophy isn’t trying to sell you anything. There’s no book you need to buy or consultant you have to hire. It doesn’t tell you there’s something wrong with you that only this seminar can fix. It tells you that there’s something strange about how people pet their dog with one hand and eat a lamb with the other. It tells you that leather isn’t a luxury for the cow. It tells you that wading through manure isn’t good for the animal or our planet.
I’m grateful for my friends who don’t give me a hard time about my choice and even the ones who do. I’m grateful for my online and real life community of vegans who I can commune with and talk about which vegan nail polish brands are resistant to chipping and peeling and which deodorants keep us fresh and weren’t tested on animals. I’m grateful for knowing what havoc dairy wrecks on my digestive tract. I’m grateful for the joy I get from our adopted companion animals. I’m grateful knowing I can do something to make the world a better place. Thanks to all of you who keep my vegan diet interesting, each with your own flare and specialties to inspire me to branch out and experiment. Thanks to all of you who preach to the coir; sometimes I need a little pep talk. This is what I’m grateful for this Thanksgiving. Thanks to you.
Some of my favorite recipes are the ones that are the result of desperation: there’s lots of little things leftover in the fridge, half a box of pasta, nothing new or exciting, just random ingredients and your brain!
I cooked some about a cup and a half of penne. Then, I heated up some olive oil, garlic, onions, and about 2/3 cup of marinara that I had leftover. I added a bit of balsamic vinegar and then I seasoned it with crushed red pepper and Italian seasonings and topped it with some capers. It was easy and delicious and I was able to finish off some of the things I had sitting in my kitchen and fridge.
On another note, today is the one year anniversary of our first post on Turning Veganese! It came up really fast and it’s been a wonderful year of learning and bonding with friends and cooking and eating and getting healthy. We have an exciting giveaway coming up to celebrate this fantastic year! But first, we shall celebrate the US Thanksgiving holiday. We at Turning Veganese are grateful for YOU! Thank you for your support and for all the fun.
Love you guys! –Melissa
Turning Veganese 