1. Deb’s Lemonade

Don’t be scared by the picture of a yellow liquid in a jar sitting on a windowsill! This is just a simple recipe for not-to-sweet lemonade. I’ve been looking for a good sour lemonade recipe and this one just about fit the bill. I used freshly squeezed lemon juice and used just a touch less than a 1/4 cup, but I think I may want to go just a touch more than a 1/4 cup next time. It’s really nice to have a lemonade that’s not completely sweet.

2. Vegan Butter Recipes

Still trying to throw off the Earth Balance shackles? Give these recipes a shot. They look pretty good. (via Sheryl, I think)

3. King Oyster Mushrooms

Anyone know where I can find these penis mushrooms? I really want to make some Baked King Oyster Mushroom Calamari.

Dominique is a former co-worker of mine who was pescatarian when she worked with me and went vegan shortly after she left the company. She now owns her own business, Zizania, where she teaches people in the Northern Virginia area how to live, eat, and cook in a healthy way through veganism.

It’s so exciting to see a former co-worker go on to do such positive things. Rock on, Dominique!

Thankfully, Stephanie’s not leaving us hanging. Instead, she’s moving over to work on a new group blog, Animal Rights & AntiOppression at challengeoppression.com. She’s blogging alongside Deb Durant from Invisible Voices, Mary Martin from Animal Person, Kelly Garbato from Easy Vegan, and Marji Beach from the Animal Place Sanctuary blog.

I’m super excited about this new project of theirs — one that I didn’t know anything about until Stephanie’s announcement today (well done keeping the secret!) — and I think it will prove to be one of the must-read blogs of 2010. What’s funny is that I had long thought to myself that Deb, Stephanie, Mary, and Kelly should start a group blog together, but never mentioned it to any of them. So, hey, I’m glad y’all read my mind like that.

The blog’s mission statement is simple and clear: “Challenging oppression and injustice, against nonhuman animals, humans, and earth — one vegan, environmentalist, feminist, social-justice-loving, all-around-progressive post at a time… That’s right, trolling conservatives. It doesn’t get more liberal than this. Brace yourselves.”

It’s enough to make Glenn Beck throw up in his mouth a little.

So, here are some ways to help get you through the holiday season stuffed and happy.

Get to cooking!

Whether you’re spending a quiet Thanksgiving at home or braving an evening of stupid questions and taunts from 20 family members, there are some great resources online to help you get cooking and make sure that you not only have something to eat, but something to wow the rest of the family as well.

I got a peek at Nava Atlas’ significantly updated version of A Bountiful Vegan Thanksgiving e-book and it’s mighty impressive. It features 65 recipes in all, including Nava’s own as well as contributions from all your favorite veg cookbook authors and bloggers (among them: Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Dreena Burton, Jill Nussinow, and Bryanna Clark Grogan). The e-book sells for $8.95 and all profits go to “humanitarian charities concerned with hunger, microfinancing for women in developing countries, and the alleviation of human trafficking.”

Then, over at Vegan.com, there’s a guest post from Robin Robertson (author of many cookbooks, including the new and massive 1,000 Vegan Recipes). A full Thanksgiving menu is presented. The Triple Cranberry Relish and Ginger-Dusted Pumpkin Cheezecake sound mighty good. (Last year’s guest post is also still available.)

Go to a real Thanksgiving…

And by that, I mean a celebration that doesn’t involve killing turkeys. Why not hang out with some turkeys instead? Sanctuaries around the country have vegan Thanksgiving get-togethers. The one at Poplar Spring is my favorite event of the year — imagine a vegan potluck with 300 people bringing dishes. Hot damn.

Below is a sampling of sanctuaries and their Thanksgiving events.

• Colorado – Peaceful Prairie’s Living at Thanksgiving (sold out)
• Maryland – Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary’s Thanksgiving for the Turkeys (November 21)
• Maryland – Thanksgiving Vigil for Turkeys (November 20, leafleting event)
• Montana – New Dawn Montana monthly potluck (every second Saturday)
• New York/California – Thanksgiving Celebration FOR the Turkeys (November 21)
• New York – Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary ThanksLiving 2009 (passed – catch it next year!)
• New York – Safe Haven Farm Sanctuary’s Celebration for the Turkeys (November 22)
• New York City – Thanksgiving Celebration FOR the Turkeys (November 22)
• Oregon – Lighthouse Farm Sacntuary’s Gentle Thanksgiving (November 21)
• Utah – Ching Farm Vegan Thanksgiving Dinner (passed – catch it next year!)

Vegetarian and Vegan organizations also tend to do Thanksgiving meals on or around Thanksgiving, so check in with your local groups to see if there’s any thing to get involved in.

Read Things

This is a good time of year to dig into More than a Meal: The Turkey in History, Myth, Ritual, and Reality by UPC’s Karen Davis (here’s a Google Books version). The level of detail is impressive — you’ll learn something. Trust me.

Feel free to share your favorite vegan Thanksgiving events, recipes, or books.

(You can also follow her on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook. Profits from her Etsy store will go directly to helping vegan causes and organizations.)

I became a soap nerd.

An interesting thing about running this site is the stuff I get to review.  I get cookbooks, food, and, now, soap, thanks to Howard from Howard’s Vegan Soap.  And I’m not ashamed to admit I look forward to trying new soap.

Howard’s comes in three varieties: cinnamon, liquorice/poppy seed, and basil/lavender.  All three contain natural, food-grade exfoliates.  The cinnamon one has the most intense feeling exfoliate, actual pieces of cinnamon stick ("great for rough, dry skin, eczema, or psoriasis").  The poppy seeds and dried basil act as milder exfoliates in the other two soaps.

The soaps all smelled wonderfully gentle, not overpowering and I’ve gotta say, the rough exfoliation that the cinnamon bar provided felt really good.  My naturally dry skin definitely benefited.

Howard’s site has a lot of great information about his soap-making process and why vegan soaps are better for your skin as well as the animals.  One thing I learned: soap companies will actually add chemicals to make their own product deteriorate faster.  Well that explains why I went through so many bars in college…

So, consider this a recommendation.  If you prefer buying from vegan businesses, you’ll want to add Howard’s Vegan Soap to your list.

You’ll also want to check out Howard’s new project: Vegan Jobs Online.  The site is aiming to become a central location to find vegan-owned businesses whether you’re a consumer or a vegan job-hunter (the only type of hunting permitted by The Rules of Veganism).  Though it’s still in its infancy, it’s off to a good start.  Keep an eye on it.

I have one piece in this issue, a piece of humor co-written with Josh Hooten titled “ BestiaPass: Wash away your vegan sins, it’s easy!.” The idea is like TerraPass for vegans. Say what? Here’s an excerpt:

Offense: Stepping on an ant.

Offset: Pour something sweet on the ground to attract more ants. This will accomplish two things: it will ease the surviving ants mourning and benefit the ant community at large as you’re providing nourishment and a safe place to grieve. Ideally you will do this somewhere other than where you killed the ant in the first place to avoid more senseless death at the hands… no… feet… of otherwise kindly souls… no… soles. Bonus points for using agave nectar so as to extend your circle of compassion to include diabetic ants. Extra bonus points if you hang around for at least a half hour redirecting any foot traffic that may be headed for your grieving pile of shitfaced-on-agave ant mound.

Other articles include “Meet Tally and Darcy,” a piece by Deb about two of the elder stateshorses at Poplar Spring, an article about Dutch AR group Wakker Dier, and a load of recipes.

Adsense is gone for a while (no more Omaha Steaks ads!), though I’m toying around with the idea of reviving it in the RSS feeds, because it’s generally pretty unobtrusive there.  Feel free to tell me this idea sucks.

It’s really amazing how many great vegan blogs (and blogs by vegans) have popped up over the last few years.  When I started the Veg Blog, there were no others that I could find.  Now there’s so much amazing stuff out there to read, no matter what stage of your vegetarian/vegan journey you’re at.

Rock on, Deb, and keep up the great work.

The walls of a room will be completely covered with thousands of receipts so the viewers will find themselves surrounded. The food products that contain animal derived ingredients will be underlined. Shopping receipts are the proof (real, symbolic and legal) of what we consume, an activity that has a underestimated effect on non-human animals. Supply and demand. Daily actions and their repercussions.

Here’s what she needs:

I’m asking people to please collect receipts from supermarkets and other food stores and send them to me by postal mail. I already have hundreds but I need thousands!

• They must contain primarily food products.
• I need both vegan receipts and non-vegan ones.
• It doesn’t matter if they are wrinkled, dirty, badly printed, or what country they are from.
• Make a small pencil mark on the side of the products listed you know are not vegan.

If you’d like to help out, visit her site and drop her a line. You get some goodies if you participate, too.

I’m glad both blogs are rolling again… I love it when companies, particularly small ones, blog openly about stuff going on behind the scenes. Pictures of George the dog, shipments of new shirts as they come in, new design ideas, updates on the storefront… it’s all a great way to connect with readers and customers. It reminds people that Herbivore is not driven by nameless, faceless drones. Trust me, Josh has a face. I’ve seen it!

Issue 12 is on its ways to the printers. I can’t wait to see this issue up close and personal. It’s the “activism issue” and I was lucky enough to get the cover story inteview with Spearhead’s Michael Franti. Lots of other goodness in that issue as well. Now, get to clicking.

• Knocked Up Vegan is the best weblog title I’ve heard in a while. Dating back to September of last year, the baby is due any time now. This blog’s strength comes from how personal it is, sometimes to the point I feel embarassed for reading it. Good luck, Miriam!
• Veggie Pregnancy has lots of great recipes and an ongoing compendium of facts important to those experiencing a vegetarian pregnancy. There is some non-vegan stuff in there, but not enough that vegans should turn away. Good stuff.

Any other blogs by pregnant vegetarians that I’m missing?

Bottom line: if you’ve subscribed to Erik’s podcast through Itunes, the most current episode won’t be his when you download it. You can go to vegan.com to get the real episode. Until Apple/Itunes straightens their directory up, you may want to unsubscribe from his feed on Itunes and sign up for Erik’s reminder e-mail list to be notified of new shows.

I best the podcast hijacker eats meat.

I got a copy of Sarah’s latest, La Dolce Vegan, to review. Huyen and I have made a bunch of stuff from it already and loved it all, so expect a glowing review to appear here soon.