Deep Roots: Animal Rights Blog

Erik Marcus over at vegan.com IM’em me yesterday to inform me that Oprah is going vegan for a 21-day cleanse. Here is what Oprah had to say:

I had recently come to the conclusion that after spending weeks reading and rereading A New Earth and being on line with Eckhart Tolle that bringing a higher level of awareness to my eating was the solution I’d been avoiding…

How can you say you’re trying to spiritually evolve, without even a thought about what happens to the animals whose lives are sacrificed in the name of gluttony?

So this 21-day cleanse gives me a chance to think about it differently and see what my attachments are to certain kinds of foods—and what I’m willing to do to change.

Ok, so on the tattered piece of paper that I first wrote this recipe almost two years ago, I actually titled these the Best Damn Cookies. But I didn’t really want to make such claims since some folks just don’t like oatmeal cookies. But if you like oatmeal cookies and lots of sugar, you should try these out. I promise my next recipe won’t be a dessert. I’ve just been on a baking kick now that its getting cold.

Ingredients:

• 1 banana
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup + 1 t. oil
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 1/4 cups oats
• 3 tbsp. water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mix oil, sugars, and water.
3. Add banana and vanilla

I just found out that November is Vegan MOFO (Vegan Month of Food), which is great because I wanted to share some recipes anyway. Today, I want to share a dessert that a non-vegan friend of mine made and five years later remains my favorite vegan cake recipe. It is a Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting that is easy to make and absolutely delicious.

The Cake
Dry ingredients:
2 cups dry sweetener
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
egg replacer (2 eggs worth, i use cornstarch and water)

Wet ingredients:
1 cup soy/rice/almond/whatev milk
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tsp vanilla

Last minute ingredient:
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well. Add boiling water to mixed ingredients. Pour mix into a greased 9×13-inch pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes.

In the past few years, I’ve noticed an increase in the frequency with which I hear the question, why not just eat local eggs? While I’m happy to see a growing awareness about food miles and the importance of eating local, I’ve maintained my position that eating local eggs still isn’t enough if you care about the animals. I have two main reasons for this. Allow me to briefly explain:

1. Death is death.
There is a common misconception that the egg industry (small-scale or large) does not partake in killing. This logic makes sense if you look only at the chickens that are currently producing the eggs. But, you must ask yourself, from where do those egg-laying chickens come? After producing fertilized eggs, the chicks are then separated by their sexual organs. Male chicks are either immediately killed, raised as food, or, at best but not likely, raised to fertilize the eggs. It is impossible to predetermine the sex of the chicks, so the death of the males is inevitable.

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