2018 is coming to an end, and similar to last year, that means that there's another documentary on YouTube (by Plant Based News) that covers the "ever growing vegan movement and how it's best for the animals, human health, and the planet".  The film highlights some of our favorite vegans, including Joey Carbstrong, James Aspey, Neal Barnard, Michael Greger, Earthling Ed (Ed Winters), among others.

As always, whether you're a lifelong vegan, new to the movement, or hearing about it for the first time, we encourage you to give this a watch, as well as some of our other favorites on our blog.  For informative posts that we've written over the year, feel free to check out some of our posts at the bottom of the Index above.  We hope that wherever you are in your journey, you find the time for continued education.

Happy holidays, and we'll see everyone in 2019!

[Recipe makes roughly 2 cups].
Hummus is a dip that has only increased in popularity over the years, in the omnivore and vegan communities alike.  Besides the fact that it can be whipped up in a matter of minutes, hummus is great because of its ability to be personalized.  Sun-dried tomatoes, roasted garlic, and olives are just a few different ideas to incorporate in the dip.  Not a big savory fan?  Add some cocoa powder and a sweetener of your choice and call it dessert!

There's really no limits to what you can do with hummus...

INGREDIENTS:

1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, no salt added, drained and rinsed
(up to) 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3 tablespoons lemon juice
48 grams (~3 tablespoons) tahini
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil*
2 tablespoons water

*If you'd like to have an oil-free hummus, remove the extra-virgin olive oil and water, and replace with 1/4 cup water total.

DIRECTIONS:

Add the chickpeas to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until crumbly, roughly 10 pulses.  Add the salt, garlic powder, lemon juice, and tahini.  Mix until combined.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated.  While the food processor is running, slowly add the olive oil.  Again, scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Lastly, add the water, and combine until smooth, 30 to 60 seconds.  Transfer to the fridge to let the flavors come together, and then enjoy.

Recipe adopted from Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day by Tamasin Noyes and Celine Steen.  [Recipe makes 8 ounces of tempeh bacon].
You can't have a vegan blog without a recipe for tempeh bacon, right?

This is one recipe that we've been on the search for forever.  Who knew it would be so hard?  All recipes have a similar idea (cook tempeh in a mixture of soy sauce, liquid smoke, and spices), but the method of cooking makes all of the differences.

We love this recipe because it calls for both baking and searing.  Most of the other recipes we've tried call for just one method, and the result is disappointing.  By taking advantage of both methods, you're able to impart great flavor into the bacon while also achieving a crisp exterior.

...now before we turn you lose, we have a quick note for bacon lovers who are trying tempeh bacon for the first time.  There are many vegan recipes out there that imitate common, non-vegan dishes, in both taste and texture (macaroni and cheese, nacho cheese dip, and sour cream, for example).  Vegan bacon is not one of those recipes that claims to do so.  It's delicious, and you may prefer it to actual bacon, but tempeh has a much different texture than "regular" bacon.  Tempeh bacon packs similar flavors (the smokiness, sweetness, and saltiness), but the texture is softer just due to tempeh being tempeh.  If you give it a try without the expectation that tempeh bacon claims to be the same as real bacon, I promise you'll love it.  Grilled next to a breakfast tofu scramble, or used in an avocado BLT sandwich, tempeh bacon is a staple in our kitchen.

INGREDIENTS:

8 ounces tempeh
3/4 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon liquid aminos
1 tablespoon liquid smoke
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
(up to)* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

2 tablespoons olive oil

*this depends on how much sodium is in your vegetable broth and liquid aminos, and how much sodium your taste buds prefer.

DIRECTIONS:

Using a sharp knife, cut the block of tempeh into 1/4-inch thick slices (cut parallel to the short side for shorter strips).  In a small bowl, combine the broth, maple syrup, tomato paste, vinegar, liquid aminos, liquid smoke, cumin, coriander, salt, onion powder, and garlic powder, and whisk to combine.  Pour half of this mixture into a 9-inch by 13-inch pan, and then place the tempeh strips in the pan, laying flat.  Pour the remaining half of this mixture over the tempeh.  Cover, and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 300°F.

Bake the tempeh uncovered for 40 minutes, or until almost all of the liquid has been absorbed.  Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.

Right before you want to serve, preheat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat.  In two batches, brush both sides of the tempeh with olive oil, and cook on both sides until the desired amount of color appears, roughly 3 minutes per side.

Last month we put up a post that highlighted an insanely gifted animal rights activist from the UK: Earthling Ed.  [Side note:  If you're not familiar with Ed and his work, his YouTube channel is filled with informative videos that I could spend hours watching].
This week he posted a 30-minute talk that was so well done, we needed to share.  We've included a list of bullet points below the video that summarize Ed's main talking points, but please don't use this in lieu of watching the video.  His passion, eloquence, and fluidity on the topic of veganism is so fun to watch, so if you're looking for a library of videos to share with friends, look no further than Ed.

Before we turn you loose on his video, we do want to warn you that some of the questions he poses to viewers might sound a bit graphic and over the top, but we strongly believe that they're necessary to make a point.

• What gives us the right to arbitrarily point the finger and decide who lives and who dies?  What gives us the right to inflict pain, suffering, and ultimately death, onto an animal that wants to avoid pain, suffering, and ultimately death?
• If you were presented with a live pig, and asked to kill it "using what you're biologically given" (since all animals do this in the wild), what would happen?  The truth is that we're not effective predators with what we were biologically given.  But let's just say you were successful, and you now have a dead pig laying in front of you with its raw meat, organs, cartilage, ligaments, brain, etc.  When people think about this, it gets them sick and they can't think about food.  It repulses us, gets us angry, sad, and frustrated.  But why?  If we were naturally meant to eat animals, this sight should do the opposite and excite us.
• If you were presented with a cow and a sharp knife, would you be able to slit its throat?  If we had to guess, you'd probably refuse.  But if someone else next to you said that they would, would you object?  Would you look away or leave?  Chances are this would all be extremely disturbing to witness.  But what if it happens in a building far enough from you where you don't even know its happening?  Does it make it moral or okay?  Despite the fact that most would agree that it's not right, many of us have no problem grabbing a burger for dinner.  If we go out and support the meat industry through purchasing a Big Mac, we should be held accountable for our choices.
• What if a baby were presented with a live rabbit and a strawberry.  Which one would they play with, and which one would they eat?  Carnivores teach their babies to kill so they can survive, yet we discourage killing at young ages.  Why is this?  If the child were to go for the live rabbit to eat, we would be deeply concerned, yet as they grow up, we encourage the eating of animals?  Now imagine if every child were taught from birth that every fish, chicken, pig, cow, lamb, etc. deserves the same respect that we currently give to cats and dogs.  What would their generation look like as they grow up and are able to make their own choices?
• When you see a package of chicken at the grocery store labeled as 'free-range', what do you picture?  We say those chickens must have lived good lives (without oppression, injustice, fear, or pain).  But that's simply not true; we know that all of these animals end up in a slaughterhouse.  There's no freedom in free-range.  Some people might argue that it's done in a humane way, but let's think about this...  The definition of 'humane' is "having or showing compassion or benevolence".  So, how do you humanely/compassionately/benevolently take the life of an animal that does not want to die for unnecessary reasons?  You don't.
• Let's look at the popular saying that "happy cows produce happy milk".  Is the cow happy when she's forcibly impregnated?  Is she happy when her baby is taken from her?  Is that cow happy when she is exploited for what she naturally produces for her child?  Is she happy when she's taken to a slaughterhouse?  Is she happy when a bolt gun is placed again her head?  There is no right way to do the wrong thing, and exploiting animals is always wrong.
• Is it moral to kill a dog if it's done in a humane way?  What about if they're given bigger cages?  Or if they're labeled as free-range?  What if we brought all the dogs from countries where it's acceptable to kill and eat them, to slaughterhouses in the States that are meant for cows, pigs, and chickens, and we killed them?  No matter what, we would say "absolutely not" to the killing and eating of dogs.  So why don't we have this deep, compassionate attitude towards all animals?  If your loved pet needed to be put down due to health reasons, would you take them to a slaughterhouse?  If not, your answer tells you a lot about how humane you think slaughterhouses are.
• Just like us, animals have one shot at life.  What gives us the right to say that our taste buds override their shot at life?  Meal after meal, we justify this though.  We take their lives (worth years and years) for minutes of pleasure for ourselves.
• It's been proven that every vitamin and nutrient that we can possibly need to sustain a healthy lifestyle can be obtained through a plant-based lifestyle.  What this means is that the exploitation of animals is completely unnecessary.  We can thrive off of ingredients that were naturally provided to us on this planet.

Every time we select something from the grocery store, we're placing a vote.  It's either a vote towards animal cruelty, or a vote against it.  We have an insane amount of information at our hands now pertaining to the truth about animal cruelty, so it's no longer acceptable to claim ignorance.  What excuse or moral justification do we still have that's valid to make the choices many of us still make?

If you can't think of one, maybe it's time to make a change.

Recipe adopted from Isa Does It.  [Recipe makes 4 servings (plus additional sauce)].

Once you become vegan, the following conversation seems to become a daily occurrence:

As we all know, there is a variety of reasons for going vegan.  Some are environmental related, some are animal-rights related, and some are health related.  For those of you who are interested in learning more about the latter, today's post is for you.

How Not to Die by Dr. Michael Greger is the bible when it comes to plant-based nutritional facts.

So, in a nutshell, what is this book about? 

The book is divided into two parts.  The first section goes through the leading types of diseases and cancers and educates readers on how each can be prevented or reversed through plant-based eating, rather than medication.  The second section goes through the 12 main food groups (exercise is included in this too) that we should be consuming daily.  This checklist, referred to as the Daily Dozen, includes beans, berries, other fruits, cruciferous vegetables, greens, other vegetables, flaxseeds, nuts and seeds, herbs and spices, whole grains, beverages, and exercise.

Recipe adapted from America's Test Kitchen's Vegan For Everybody. [Recipe makes 2 cups].

I know, I know...  It's only the second recipe on the blog, and we posted yet another recipe dealing with nutritional yeast?  Yup!

Guys, this stuff is amazing.

Dip some tortilla chips or freshly baked soft pretzels in it.  Drizzle it over some tacos nestled in homemade flour tortillas.  Or even use it as a base sauce for a taco pizza.  We will warn you that this vegan cheese sauce is addictive, but that's perfectly fine, being that there's no cream, no cheese, and no chemical additives used — just vegetables and spices.

Along with the taste, the concept for the recipe is pretty ingenious as well.  The folks at America's Test Kitchen used science to turn potatoes into a silky cheese dip using nothing more than common knowledge about cooked potatoes.  If you've ever made mashed potatoes in the food processor or KitchenAid on high-speed, you probably ended up with a gummy mess that headed straight for the garbage.  This is because the pockets of starch in the potatoes were ruptured from being overworked from the blade or paddle.  Because of this, we always teach people to work cooked potatoes as little as possible.

But what if we do want a gooey mess?  We simply do 'the unspeakable' to potatoes, and blend them on high-speed for several minutes.  It sounds so weird and so wrong (we know), but the result is eerily close to Velveeta-based nacho cheese.  So the next time you're looking for a perfect dip that doesn't make you feel guilty about eating seconds, reach for your potatoes, nutritional yeast, and a high-speed blender.

INGREDIENTS:

340 grams russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
92 grams (~2/3 cup) carrot, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
46 grams (~1/3 cup) white onion, diced
1 clove garlic

1/4 cup nutritional yeast
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon cumin
3/4 teaspoon mustard powder
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1-1/2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
(up to) 1/2 cup vegetable broth (depending on how thin you prefer your sauce)

DIRECTIONS:

Bring roughly 8 cups of water to a boil in a sauce pan.  Add the potatoes, carrots, onions, and garlic.  Reduce to a simmer, and continue cooking until the vegetables are tender (but not overcooked), roughly 15 minutes.  Drain the vegetables.

Add the cooked vegetables to a high-speed blender, along with the remaining ingredients.  Blend on high speed for 2 minutes.  Initially, the tamper (that comes with most blenders) might come in handy during this step.  [Side note:  Being that your blender is going to go into overdrive due to all of the starches being released from the potatoes, we strongly recommend using a high-speed blender, rather than a more basic model].  Season to taste.

Recipe adapted from Vegan Yumminess.  [Recipe makes 6 servings].
It's official; The Mint Bunny has its first recipe post!

We decided to go with macaroni and cheese today because it's become a go-to dish at our place.  It's easy to throw together, vegetable-based and full of flavor, and reheats beautifully; win-win-win!

For someone who has never tried vegan macaroni and cheese before but is ready to cut out dairy, we'll echo what other vegans say.  And that's that cheese sauces made with nutritional yeast will not taste identical to dairy-based cheese sauces.  They'll be just as 'creamy', have a similar profile, and have a similar appearance.  But sauces made with nutritional yeast will always taste different.  And you know what?  This is totally okay because it's equally as delicious (not to mention so much healthier)!

If this is your first time making a dish like this, let us know your thoughts.  Similarly, if you're a vegan macaroni and cheese expert, what defines the perfect macaroni and cheese in your opinion?

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound dried pasta

156 grams (~1 cup) diced russet potatoes
43 grams (~1/3 cup) diced carrots
43 grams (~1/3 cup) diced onions
2 bay leaves

60 grams (~1/2 cup) raw cashews, soaked in warm water for several hours, then drained
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 cup reserved vegetable water from potatoes, carrots, and onions
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (~1/2 lemon)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
(up to) 1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons paprika
Pinch crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon truffle oil (or olive oil)
1/2 cup unseasoned panko breadcrumbs

DIRECTIONS:

Cover the vegetables and bay leaves with cold water in a sauce pan, and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, or until all of the vegetables are soft.  Discard the bay leaves and drain the vegetables, making sure to save one cup of the liquid for the sauce.

While you're making the sauce, cook the pasta, drain, and reserve.

For the sauce, add the cooked vegetables, cashews, almond milk, reserved vegetable water, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, nutritional yeast, salt, garlic powder, paprika, crushed red pepper, and turmeric to a high-speed blender.  Blend until extremely smooth.

For the breadcrumbs, heat the truffle oil in a sauté pan.  Add the panko, and sauté until lightly browned.  Transfer to a separate container once browned, to prevent the panko from burning.

If you wish to serve everything in one sitting, combine all of the sauce with all of the pasta, and serve.  Top individual servings with toasted panko.  [Side note:  We love to add roasted broccoli or cauliflower to our bowls.  Feel free to add your favorite vegetables to the dish for some bonus nutritional points and added texture].

If you plan having leftovers, we recommend keeping the three components of the dish separate.  To reheat individual servings, mix desired amount of pasta with desired amount of sauce in a microwavable bowl and heat in 30 second increments until heated through.  Top with panko and enjoy.

Hello readers!

There are a whole bunch of reasons why this blog was created, but one of the main ones was to supply non-vegan readers with enough information about the benefits of plant-based diets, with the hopes that they'll be motivated to give the vegan lifestyle a fair shot.  When you look at the information that is plastered in our current society, it's really no wonder that the plant-based diet is so misunderstood.  The current facts that people should be hearing are not widely published, while misleading 'facts' are all over the place.
By going vegan, you can decrease or even rid your body of illnesses including cancer, make a substantial positive impact on the environment, and put an end to animal cruelty.

Did you know...

• Only 5% of the population has a genetic predisposition to heart disease, yet it is the #1 killer globally.  [What the Health Film]
• Individuals who consumed the most animal protein were 22% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, compared with those who ate the least.    [What the Health Film]
• People who consume 1.5 eggs per week have nearly five times the risk for colon cancer, according to a study published in the International Journal of Cancer.  [What the Health Film]
• Red-meat eaters who switched to eating plant-based protein cut their risk for kidney disease by 60%.  [What the Health Film]
• Research has shown an association between increased risk of cancer, and the consumption of cooked meats, cows' milk, eggs and cheese, farm-raised catfish, smoked fish, and poultry.  [nutritionfacts.org]
• Heart disease is 57% lower in lifelong vegans than in meat eaters.  [What the Health Film]
• Animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions, more than the combined exhaust from all transportation.  [Cowspiracy]
• Livestock and their byproducts account for at least 51% of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.  [Cowspiracy]
• Methane has a global warming potential 86 times that of CO2 on a 20 year time frame.    [Cowspiracy]
• Agriculture is responsible for 80-90% of US water consumption.  [Cowspiracy]
• We've had five mass extinctions so far, and we're currently headed towards our sixth.  The difference though is that we're talking globally now, not locally.  We have no back-up earth.  [ScienceAdvances]
• Growing feed crops for livestock consumes 56% of water in the US.  [Cowspiracy]
• 2,500 gallons of water are needed to produce 1 pound of beef.    [Cowspiracy]
• 1,000 gallons of water are required to produce 1 gallon of milk.    [Cowspiracy]
• Each glass of milk we drink increases the risk of prostate and breast cancer by 13%.  [Larsson SC]
• 900 gallons of water are needed for 1 pound of cheese.    [Cowspiracy]
• 5% of water consumed in the US is by private homes.  55% of water consumed in the US is for animal agriculture.    [Cowspiracy]
• Animal agriculture is the leading cause of species extinction, ocean dead zones, water pollution, and habitat destruction.    [Cowspiracy]
• We could see fishless oceans by 2048.    [Cowspiracy]

We know that humans produce milk after having a baby, but most of us don't make this connection with cows.  To force cows to produce milk, they're artificially inseminated each year.  Cows are often killed after five years because their bodies wear out from constantly being pregnant or lactating, despite having a natural lifespan of 20 years.  So we're putting an insane amount of resources into raising and maintaining dairy cows, forcing them to have this inhumane type of lifestyle, all so that they can produce milk for us to drink?  And it's not even good for us...  How does this make sense?

We all agree that our planet is in dire help, but what action would have the largest positive effect in changing our current status?  Cut down on the number of large factories?  Change our transportation system?  Put more of an effort towards recycling?  False, false, and false.  Sure, they all need attention, but nothing comes remotely close to the negative impacts that come along with our addiction to consuming animals.  Environmental corporations know this, yet ignore it largely for political issues.

In short, vegans are not just a bunch of animal-loving hippies who live off of tofu and kale.  Yes, we love animals.  Yes, we eat our fair share of tofu and kale.  But this go-to definition needs to end.  Vegans choose to become vegan because they know the immense benefits that eating plant-based has on their bodies, and they know how much of a positive impact eating plant-based has on the environment.  There's so much research that has been done on the subject, and still in 2017, it's not general knowledge.  As harsh as this post might sound, we're not here to play the guilt-trip game on non-vegans.  Rather, we're here to provide facts on various subjects tied to veganism, that simply aren't common knowledge.

We're here to challenge you to challenge your beliefs.  We believe in positive transformations, mindful choices, respecting our bodies, our neighbors, living creatures, and our planet as a whole.  We are responsible for our decisions and the impact they have on ourselves and future generations.  We are here to encourage and empower you to take charge of your life.