Tag Archives: vegan

Best practices for food manufacturing

**Update 04/19/2018**

**Update 2 04/26/2018**

This was going to be a part of my AMA and FAQ, but when I started responding to her to explain best practices for food manufacturing it started getting long so I made it into its own article.

Recently I got some feedback from one of my viewers, Diana. She wrote

“FYI, chocolate chips by ghirardelli, guittard, hershey and other general chocolate makers are not vegan. These companies use the same equipment to make milk chocolate and dark chocolate and DO NOT clean the equipment in between batches of milk and dark chocolate. So there will be a significant amount of milk in the dark chocolate. You have to buy from a company with separate equipment for dairy free chocolate to get vegan chocolate. Enjoy Life makes vegan chocolate chips.”

Click to read my response

The Dirty Vegan cookbook review

*Disclaimer* I was given a free copy of this book from the author for a honest review of the book.

I have been following Cathrine Gill on Instagram and Twitter for a while and I was given the opportunity to review her new book; The Dirty Vegan.

The Dirty Vegan cookbook.
The Dirty Vegan cookbook.
I spent some time reading through her book and decided to make three of her recipes. The recipes I decided to make were her spinach and artichoke dip, meatloaf, and no tuna salad sandwich.

The recipes seemed simple enough, and I went out and bought the ingredients I needed and throughout the week I made the recipes.

Click to continue reading the article

Distinguishing veganism from organic and gluten-free

So as a suggestion a friend wanted me to write an article that explains the difference between veganism, eating organic, and being gluten-free. These three things intertwine with each other and sometimes it can be hard to understand the difference. First of all let me start with organic.
Click to view the rest of the article

So, you want to be a vegan?

So you want to be a vegan? Whether you are seriously considering it, kicking the can around, or have a friend or loved one who is considering it I decided to write an article to tell you everything you need to know. I am providing tips from my own experiences to keep you from failing.

When I made my decision to be vegetarian and eventually vegan I didn’t take it lightly. It was a time of my life when I was still cooking in restaurants and I was heavy and wanted to lose weight. Cows and pigs were in my mind the most fatty things I was eating except for deserts so that is what I decided to cut out of my diet at first. I did a lot of research on nutrition, and this was in the early to mid 90s when the internet wasn’t around, I didn’t have a computer or anything, so a lot of it was going to the library, and subscribing to newsletters and magazines. As well as my culinary knowledge. Over the next two years I slowly cut out other animals out of my diet as I learned more about how the animals were treated and at the same time I was finding out more about myself and rejecting things that were taught to me in my childhood like religion, while finding my own beliefs. click to read more

Something just slightly different

Sooo….

I am going to talk about something a little unusual today. Something a bit off topic if you don’t mind. It is related to veganism in a way, in a way that we try to have less of an impact in the environment. For those of us that drive, and it is unavoidable for those of us who live in smaller cities and towns that don’t have a great public transportation infrastructure, there are certain things that are unavoidable for maintenance. Oil and tire changes, replacing brakes, and replacing your air filter. The thing is, replacing your air filter is avoidable. How you might ask? Well there are air filters that are cleanable. I personally have one, made by K&N.

Now the main drawback is there is a bit of an upfront price. $40+ (USD) to buy the filter, and you also have to clean and reoil the filter every 50,000 miles. The cleaning/oil kit costs $14 a piece, however they will last for 2-3 cleaning cycles. However if you compare it to the cost of a regular air filter that you are replacing every 10,000 to 20,000 miles, it is a lot cheaper in the long run, plus you are not throwing away an air filter either.

For the data people out there, let’s compare. Currently my car has 150,000+ miles on it, so I will use it as an example.
Click for the rest of the article

Raspberry Cupcakes

Today I am making vegan raspberry cupcakes, and this time I have a few helpers. Meet a few of my nieces and nephews and watch them have fun helping me make a fun kid friendly recipe. This was a big hit! If you made this, let me know. Don’t forget to follow me on your favorite social media websites and donate! Thank you!


Click to view the recipe!

Gingerbread Cookies

Today I will be making my grandma Wolf’s frosted creams or gingerbread cookies. This recipe was passed down to my mom and then to me. This is one of my childhood christmas time traditions where mom would make and bake the cookies and the kids would help frost the cookies and lick the beaters. Now I am sharing her recipe with you.

“Wish Background” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Continue reading Gingerbread Cookies

Tip and technique – lasagna and other casserole like dishes

Although I am giving a recipe for a lasagna, this should be used as a general guide. Make it your own. Use the tips I give in this video as a way to make your lasagna and other casserole like dishes a hit and it coming out perfectly well. The ricotta recipe can be used for lasagna, manicotti, ravioli, and anything else you would want to use ricotta for.

Music by Memento Dubstep
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Click for recipe