good:
“AIDS IS NOT A BAD PERSON’S DISEASE, ROSE!”
Golden Girls, so ahead of its time.
(h/t http://barebackcontessa.tumblr.com)
#30DaysofGOOD Day 27. Document Sunday Morning. Babysitting my baby niece :))
#30DaysofGOOD Day 26. Document someone you love. xxoo
#30DaysofGOOD Day 25. Document a stranger.
#30DaysofGOOD Day24. Document giving thanks. This is one of the many ways the company I work for shows gratitude to it’s employees.
#30DaysofGOOD Day 23. Document a mentor. Friends, colleagues, mentors.
Squash Pecan Casserole With Dried Cranberries
Ingredients:
- 4 cups cooked, puréed winter squash
- 2 Tbsp melted butter, ghee, vegetable oil or non-dairy spread
- Optional: 2 - 4 Tbsp raw or packed brown sugar
- 1 tsp allspice
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- Optional: 1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
- 1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries
- 1/4 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/2 cup pecan halves
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
- Oil a casserole dish or place hollowed-out squash shells on an oiled baking sheet
- Purée the squash, butter or veggie spread, allspice, and lemon juice together in a food processor
- Transfer to a bowl, and stir in the crystallized ginger and dried cranberries
- Add a small amount of salt to taste if you feel it’s needed
- Spoon into the casserole dish or squash shells, and spread evenly. Decorate the top with the pecan halves
- Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F
Morrissey - Meat Is Murder Glastonbury 2011
At last night’s show, Morrissey tugged at compassionate heart strings & challenged the less sensitive crowd-goers, as he performed a dark & somber rendition of The Smiths “Meat is Murder”, while showing a terribly graphic factory farming film on the screen behind him. Needless to say, I saw about 10 seconds of the film & had to cover my weeping eyes. The mood in the house changed from that point on & I am hoping that was because people were thinking & calling their choices into question. I’d love to think I can speak for most of the crowd when I say that I understand why he showed it & appreciate the message he was trying to convey. It is the absolutely horrifying truth. Morrissey has always been known for his outspoken activism & compassion for animals. That is partly why I’ve been a die-hearted fan for more than 20 years.
While I left that show with a bit of a heavy heart, & also left with validation & gratitude for the vegetarian lifestyle that I have chosen. And, while I have not been a strict “vegan,” I certainly think I am ready to be. I just don’t have the heart to contribute to cruelty of ANY kind. It isn’t enough to refrain from flash. The meat, dairy, egg industries - they are all connected. Thank you, Moz, for the reminder.
It’s hard to believe that he wrote “Meat is Murder” in 1985, & the message is still so relevant, if not more so now than ever. We’ve come a long way, but still have so much farther to go.
On this Thanksgiving eve, remember…
“And the turkey you festively slice - It is MURDER. Do you know how animals die?”
#30DaysofGOOD Day 22: Document the Thing You Spend Most of the Day Looking At. The BF & I are practically inseperable, this is a picture of the denim pretzel we create on a daily basis. Both of us, denim whores.
As a vegetarian, the #1 question I am asked is: “How do you get enough protein?!?!”
This question is especially annoying because the people who ask are obviously un-educated as to what a well-balanced meal really looks like (their idea of a hearty meal is steak/pork chops/meatloaf, fried potatoes, a dinner roll, and a diet coke or tea.)
For those of you curious; vegetables, soy, legumes, fruits, nuts, seeds, and grains all contain protein.
Vegetarian Protein Reality:
Over the last few decades, wide spread practical experience of vegetarian diet, knowledge of traditional cultures, and hundreds of health/diet studies, all tell a different story.
- Too much protein is as harmful as too little, and is linked with shorter life expectancy, increased cancer and heart disease risk, widespread obesity and diabetes, osteoporosis, kidney stress, and bad digestion
- High protein-diets bring about temporary weight-loss, at the expense of overall health, and people quickly regain weight once they return to a normal diet
- A varied vegetarian diet with a balance of protein, fats & carbohydrates, and adequate calorie intake provides more than enough protein
- Complete animal protein is not superior to complete protein from more than one plant source – they give the same result in different ways
- Protein from plant sources doesn’t include excess calories from fat, toxic residues, or an overabundance of protein, which stresses the kidneys
Protein deficiency is very rare in the US and is generally diagnosed in people living in countries suffering from famine. It’s been estimated that the average person in this country eats two - six times more protein, usually from animals, than is needed for good nutrition.
So then comes the question on Thanksgiving. Am I REALLY NOT going to eat TURKEY on Thanksgiving. And to be completely honest, if i WERE going to eat meat, TURKEY on THANKSGIVING would be the last piece of meat on my list because I know the facts:
There are 300 million turkeys killed each year—more than 40 million during the holiday season alone—for human consumption. Turkeys on factory farms have their beaks and toes cut off without pain relief. They are crammed by the tens of thousands into dark, stifling warehouses where disease, smothering, and heart attacks are common. Today’s turkeys are genetically bred to grow so quickly that their bones and leg muscles often give out under the stress of supporting their huge upper bodies. Millions of turkeys die every year from heat exhaustion, freezing, and accidents during transport.
Thousands of free-range turkeys are raised in a single warehouse-like structure forced to stand on accumulated fecal waste and breathe in ammonia fumes. These turkeys are then taken to the slaughterhouse through transport containers where they are hung upside down in shackles. There they cry out in fear and pain as they await their own slaughter. Think of how much it hurts when we get a little speck in our eye, and we might understand the degree of suffering that the turkeys are been forced to endure day after day.
The Union of Concerned Scientists points out that 70 percent of the antibiotics sold in the United States are used to treat healthy livestock.
Throughout the week, we will be busy creating our very own little Thanksgiving meal. On the menu: Sweet Potato Pie, Sweet & Spicy “meat”balls, Red Cabbage with Carmelized Onions, Cranberry Clafouti, Pumpkin Pudding, & Sprouted Multi-Grain Apple Walnut Stuffing - mostly made from scratch. THAT’s enough to be thankful for. (did i ever mention that we LOVE cooking in our kitchen??)
I will once again be humbled on Thanksgiving Day. I will pour one for all my Turkey homies that were literally plumped to death for your dining pleasure.
