Christmas in paradise and goodbye 2012

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Sarina @ Earthgiven Kitchen

Happy new year! This also marks my 100th post. Big thanks to all of you for sticking around! I hope 2012 was as kind to you as it was to me.

Looking back on the year, here are my three most popular recipes of 2012:

1) Chocolate Banana Cookies

2) Creamy Avocado Chickpea Pasta

3) Crispy Tofu Strips

These are some of my favourite recipes too! I’m thrilled to hear the feedback when people make my recipes and enjoy them. Thank you for all your comments.

I’ve recently returned from the Mayan Riviera, Mexico, where I spent the week over Christmas swimming in the ocean, soaking up some vitamin D, and relaxing with my family. (What better place to spend December 21, 2012 and the end of the Mayan calendar than with the Mayans?!) It was a fabulous holiday! And certainly my personal highlight of 2012.

Some photos of the beautiful resort, the Xcaret Grand Occidental…..

This photo was taken of my husband and I at the resort a few years ago, one of my favourite photos of all time.

There was plenty of wildlife to see: Coatis (also known as Brazillian Aardvarks), agoutis (a large rodent that my son described as a cross between a rabbit and a miniature hippo), iguanas, geckos, howler monkeys, spider monkeys and dozens of species of beautiful birds. In the ocean: sergeant majors, angel fish, needle fish and countless more.

This was my fourth trip to the resort, the second time as a vegan. When I first visited in several years ago, I was a meat-eater and was only mildly bothered that the resort kept monkeys in a cage. The last time I visited, I was a vegan and was pleased to see that the monkey cage was empty. So I was disappointed on this year’s trip to see that the caged monkeys had returned. The monkey cage is completely redundant as there are wild monkeys to see at the resort anyway. I loved getting to show my children monkeys in the wild. Watching them dash through the trees, they almost looked like they were flying, they were so fast, and you realize the vast space (including height) that monkeys need to thrive. They moved so fast I never got a great photo. (Howler monkeys’ cries sound like a lion roar, we could hardly believe that those little guys could make such a ruckus, but it’s clear how their moniker was earned!)

There were also flamingos and deer in enclosures; they appeared more humane than the monkey cage, but all confined animals sadden me. The animal captivity was the only part of the resort that was a negative for me, it was otherwise a wonderful place to stay: clean rooms, great service, lush grounds, so much to do. I doubt if I’ll return to this particular resort, but I love the Mayan Riviera, it’s a little piece of paradise. The weather is hot year-round, the ocean is spectacular, the people are friendly and it’s less than a four hour flight from Toronto.

For future travel, can anyone recommend a great family vacation spot? Perhaps a veg-friendly resort?

Coming up next post: the food!

The search for environmentally-friendly carpeting

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Sarina @ Earthgiven Kitchen

We’ve been in desperate need to replace our carpets for a long time. 8 pets have lived in this house at one time or another and they’ve all been hard on the floors. Wanting to be as environmentally conscientious as possible, we researched our options. Not everything labeled “natural” is harmless, of course. We debated getting renewable sourced wood, bamboo and cork but we worried hard floors would be too slippery on the stairs for the kids. We didn’t want to do natural carpet from animal sources like wool, and we were interested in products that had used some recylced component like plastic bottles. The question became: how do you really know how “green” these really companies are? And what good is a carpet that uses some recycled material when its slathered in toxic glue? Polyester and polypropylene carpets are more environmentally friendly to produce than nylon but they can’t be recycled, and they aren’t as durable so you’ll replace them faster. There wasn’t a perfect choice, we concluded, and we would just have to make the best decision we could.
We ended up going with a Nigella carpet by Richmond and are quite happy with the choice. The pretty colour is “Chocolate Chip” which was chosen to 1) match the dark brown in our decor and 2) hide all the cat barf stains we are in store for with two old kitties in the house. Gotta be practical.

Speaking of my dear cats, here they are being all cute and stuff. Don’t be fooled by their sweet faces, they are putting their heads together to plot something destructive in the house.

The carpet backing is reportedly 50% from recycled and renewable resources. The carpet doesn’t smell at all, which I *hope* means its not off-gassing thanks to its PVC-free backing, it wasn’t outrageously priced, and it feels luxuriously soft. As one of my kids said “it feels like I’m walking on a chocolate cloud!” When we need to replace more carpeting in our home, I think we’ll go with Nigella again.

Any thoughts on “green” carpeting? I’d love to hear from you.

World Vegetarian Day and Vegan MoFo day one!

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Sarina @ Earthgiven Kitchen

Happy October everyone! And Happy first day of Vegan MoFo!

Here’s the scoop on Vegan MoFo (short for Vegan Month of Food): 500+ bloggers including myself have signed up to post at least 20 times in the month of October, promoting the awesomeness of veganism.

If you’re new to Earthgiven Kitchen: My blog’s focus is vegan city homesteading. Beyond eating delicious and (mostly) healthy cruelty-free food, I am always looking for ways to simplify life and be more environmentally-conscious and self-sufficient. This means making more of the products I use to buy (like shampoo, salsa and jam), growing my own organic food and challenging myself to keep learning more about sustainability and compassionate lifestyles. It was only seven years ago that I was eating fast food chicken and barely bothering to recycle, so my offering is the journey of someone with a new-found passion for veganism and homesteading and not someone who has it all figured out. Thanks for joining me!

October 1st is World Vegetarian Day, did you know? A fitting first day for the start of a month celebrating plant-based eating. So today’s post is a celebration of vegetarianism.

“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”~ Albert Einstein

Why go vegetarian? To live longer, feel healthier, to be kind to animals who suffer greatly in factory farming and to be gentler on the planet. Global Animal has an excellent summary of the the top 15 reasons to go vegetarian.

Why I went vegetarian: Before I was vegetarian, I was nearly vegetarian for several years, since I was a teenager. I had made the connection with some food animals –like lamb, pigs and cows and couldn’t imagine eating them– but was still eating chicken or fish a few times a week. In 2005, I was reading Harvest for Hope by Jane Goodall which showed me how unkind the meat industry is. The message was starting to sink in. Then, one day, as I was driving to the grocery store, a seagull hit my windshield and died. It was a horrible thing to watch. Even though the bird hit my car and not the other way around, I felt terribly guilty. I wondered how old the bird was and if he or she died painfully. I thought “I know it is just one bird, but every animal matters”. Then I walked into the grocery store and reached for a roast chicken and stopped.
*Click*.
I made the connection to the dead bird on the road and the dead bird in the grocery store, and the one in my hand had certainly suffered a great deal more in life and death than the seagull. I could not pretend to be blameless when I was paying for it. Why was I eating animals at all? I didn’t need meat to enjoy delicious food and I certainly didn’t need meat to be healthy. Eating meat felt like a bad habit I needed to break. I never considered eating an animal again after that day seven years ago.

I was fortunate enough to meet Jane Goodall in 2008 and thank her for Harvest for Hope. She said it was a very difficult book to write, but she was glad the message was out there.

In early 2011, after educating myself on the horrors of egg and dairy farming, I went vegan. I’ll spare you the details here but please do some research, if you eat dairy and eggs, to learn the price animals pay. I was practically addicted to cheese, but was committed to a compassionate lifestyle, even if it meant pining for cheddar for the rest of my life. I am pleased to report that after just a few weeks without dairy, I stopped craving it entirely and feel MUCH healthier without it. (I am often asked if I cheat and eat cheese occasionally. I assure you that dairy’s siren song is lost on me. In fact, if you eat cottage cheese in front of me, I think I will barf.) I fervently wished I had made the switch to veganism sooner. So much better for the animals, the planet and our bodies.

Thinking about going veg? Want to get inspired? Some books I recommend:

The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safron Foer

Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr

Harvest for Hope by Jane Goodall

Chloe’s Kitchen by Chloe Coscarelli

In closing….. Go warm your heart by viewing the Top Ten Cutest Photos of 2011 on Cute Overload. Come on, look at number 5. Is that the sweetest face you’ve ever seen or what?

Thanks for joining me for Vegan MoFo. Have a wonderful October!

Donkey Day and Mango Chutney

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Sarina @ Earthgiven Kitchen

On June 10th, my family and I attended the annual Donkey Day fundraiser at Donkey Sanctuary of Canada, near Guelph. We sponsor a donkey there so it was a nice opportunity to see the rescued donkeys in person and give them some pats. There are over 60 donkeys and mules receiving care at the 100-acre sanctuary.

It was such a gorgeous, hot day! The rain held off and over 2,400 people joined us to celebrate the donkeys and the work of the non-profit sanctuary, which is run entirely by private donations. If you have a moment, read the inspiring story of founder Sandra Pady.

We also wanted to give our kids the experience of seeing animals not in a zoo or entertainment environment, and we appreciated the spirit of respect for animals at the sanctuary. A sign posted by the barn:

Among the food vendors there was Mango Chutney, from Cambridge. For lunch, we ordered their vegan platter which had pakoras, samosa and a chickpea avocado salad with chutney, which was all delicious. Mmmm, I love Indian cuisine. Great flavours without being too spicy. Their menu features seven vegetarian entrées; four of them are vegan.

The Donkey Sanctuary is open for visitors Wednesdays and Sundays May through October.

Brad Pitt and other uninvited guests

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Sarina @ Earthgiven Kitchen

When we moved to our home in the city, it was a relatively new neighbourhood with no mature trees. There weren’t even squirrels around. Twelve years later, our backyard looks almost forest-like and an assortment of wildlife has made itself at home in our yard, for better or for worse.

I love all animals, I really do. I want them to have food to eat, so I don’t mind sharing some of what we grow with them. But in the last year, a groundhog and a family of rabbits have done significant damage and we’ve had to implement some measures to keep them from taking everything.

First, the groundhog moved in. He is so audacious, he comes up to our back door. We’ve named him Gus because he is so aggravating that we figured we would either have to name him –like a pet we pretend we want– or want to kill him. And since I try not to even step on spiders……Gus it is. He moved in just over a year ago so I guess he’s renewed his lease.

Here he is at our door, and one of his holes he’s built for himself in our garden. If you fill in his holes, he will just re-dig it, bigger the next day. We would like to serve him an eviction notice, but there are no removal options that are particularly humane, so I think we have to live with him.

Second, the rabbits are destroying our plants. We named the one we see regularly Brad Pitt, so it will feel exciting when we spot him the garden, like Oh look! Brad Pitt is here! Then we saw another bunny with him (Angelina of course), and we think they live under our pine tree with a family of rabbits (the Jolie-Pitt bunnies). Brad Pitt’s favourite food appears to be our Saskatoon berry bush, so earlier this spring I wrapped a tarp around the bush to impede its destruction. I hope the bush recovers enough to give us berries this summer. Unlike the human Jolie-Pitts, the rabbits are camera shy and I haven’t gotten a photo of them yet.

Others who have taken up residence…..

There’s a robin’s nest in our rose arbour for the third year. Those turquoise eggs are a beautiful sight.

My daughter is obsessed with snails this year, and there seems to be thousands of them, they are everywhere, to her delight. Big snail and baby snail, pretty cute, right?

Lots of bees doing their pollinating thing.

And squirrels. Always squirrels!