occasionally i break from the confines of reluctant veggie world and venture to read other blogs. i have been lucky enough to have found the happy cactus.

not only is her blog great, she is a pretty cool lady too [i'm hip. i know]. and has shared some really great recipes with me that i cannot wait to try. the kindness of strangers is truly inspiring.

oddly enough, the happy cactus is also a…gasp…crafter! a graphic designer to be precise. and i totally didn’t know it. until after talking with her. and checking out her blog. so there. not everyone i talk to is from etsy.

name: aunia kahn
location: shiloh, IL
where to find: etsy, website, the motherload

i “met” aunia through the etsy forums. and boy did i hit gold! aunia is probably the most rockin’ veggie i have had the chance to talk to. i mean, just look at her picture. i feel like i am just too uncool to talk to her. kidding. sort of.

if you were brave enough to check out the motherload link, you would have found out that aunia has a lot of projects. including a beautiful tarot card set, a music project, a film, a few books, and a really cool save the animals site. makes me feel slightly lame for only having…gasp…three sites.

enough rambling. this is aunia’s story. and she’s sticking to it.

What made you decide to become a veggie?
I was allergic to milk and soy as a baby and they had to feed me meat juice to keep me from dying. Once I was old enough for solid food I highly apposed anything meet related, it grossed me out and made me sick. Even seeing it sometimes I would gag. As I hit my teens and early 20’s, I embraced being a veggie and am now vegan because of animals rights. I fight for animals rights, against fur and other things animals related. I also help out in animals rescue. If you check out my website and look at the news section you can see more about this.

What foods do you miss the most (if any)?
Nothing meat related. I would say since I am vegan cheese/yogurt, because no matter how much they try and make soy or rice cheese/yogurt taste like cheese/yogurt it does not.

What has been the easiest part of becoming a veggie?
Knowing I am saving the lives of animals. Knowing that as I am a part of animals rescue and the fight against fur and the inhumane treatment of animals that I am not a hypocrite.

What’s been the hardest?
Not to many restaurants cater to this.

Famous last words?
Save an animal. Learn more about how your meat is acquired and you might just change your mind. Even if you like meat, the inhumane treatment of animals is terrible, and really makes the meat you are getting unhealthy anyhow because of the conditions. Learn more about this, and maybe you will change your mind. At least if you are going to eat meat, go organic and get meat that comes from farms that treat animals humanely.

in my attempt to stave off boredom. or apathy. or whatever. i came across this funny site about the evils of vegetarianism. and how soy is making kids gay. [seriously, i couldn't make this stuff up if i tried.]

they also claim that some famous nut-jobs like adolf hitler, pol pot, charles manson, and genghis khan were also vegetarians, which caused them to be evil.

i also love that they have a line of t-shirts and other fun items. that can also be totally personalized. amazing. you can check out the shop here.

try saying that one three times fast. sheesh.

this is the first of the recipes that the rv household has tasted from our new cookbooks, the complete vegan cookbook. and i have to say, it is most certainly starting out on a positive note.

Classic Lentil, Tomato and Potato Stew

Ingredients:

• 3 tbs olive oil
• 2 tbs dry sherry
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 6 cups vegetable stock
• 1 cup dried brown lentils
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbs dried basil
• 1 16oz can whole tomatoes, chopped with juice
• 1lb diced russet potatoes
• 1/2 tsp salt
• ground pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tbs fresh-squeezed lemon juice

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil and sherry in large stock pot over medium-high heat.
2. Add diced onion and garlic and cook until onion is translucent.
3. Add 6 cups vegetable stock, lentils, bay leaves and basil and increase heat to high. Bring stock to a boil and then reduce heat to medium-high and cook for 30 minutes.
4. Add potatoes and tomatoes and cook for another 15 minutes, until potatoes and lentils are tender.
5. Stir in salt, pepper, parsley, and lemon juice.
6. Serve piping hot.

Notes:

1. the hubster and i loved this recipe. the only thing i would change is the amount of salt that was added. for the first time ever, i thought it was too salty for me. and that’s saying a lot.
2. this has a really hearty flavor and is great with a rustic bread. we had an organic roasted garlic bread. and it was amazing.
3. this recipe took less than 10 minutes to prepare and a total of 45 minutes to cook. which is pretty awesome considering most other recipes take around 60-90 minutes from start to finish.

hubSTAR rating: 4.27 out of 5

the hubster thoroughly enjoyed this meal. his official review: “it was good.”

i thought it was really good too. and think it would be even better in the fall paired with some fresh homemade bread. definitely going to be added to our cold weather recipe files.

like to debate? well, then i have a website for you. it’s called opposing views. and allows experts [and non-experts alike] to debate on things like: “is spanking children ok?” “alcohol before 21?” and the ever popular “should abortion be legal?“.

for you veggies out there, there is a current debate going on the topic of vegetarianism aptly titled “should we eat meat?“. and believe me when i say, there are a lot of strong opinions posted on that one. 221 of them to be precise.

not sure that i, personally, have such a strong opinion. but. it’s been interesting to read both sides of the story. that’s for sure.

if you think the big news this weekend was about the republican VP nominee or hurricane gustav, you are wrong. very wrong. because, this past weekend…i turned 30. and this sort of thing doesn’t happen every day. well, maybe it does. but certainly not to me.

and in honor of my coming of age, the hubster planned an amazing weekend. friday night, we went to the warhol museum, grabbed a drink [mmm. mojito] and some appetizers at a little bar downtown called tonic and then went to a lovely dinner. which i thought was going to be just the two of us. boy was i wrong.

the husbter managed to get my parents to fly in from arizona and to have my brother, sister-in-law and their two gorgeous babies drive in from cincinnati. it was exciting. [can't you tell from the expression on my face?!]

there were a few lot of  other people there, including a few veggies and some crafty friends. but most surprising of all, no one ruined the surprise! and with 45 people invited, that is a surprise.

the party was at a great little japanese restaurant called little tokyo. they had a lot of veggie options, and some really great eats. so, what did i eat? chicken. and udon noodles. what can i say. it was my birthday.

in fact, most of the weekend was spent eating chicken. until i got so mad at myself for eating gross, greasy, fried food that i had a salad for two meals. i wanted to cook, but no one would let me…apparently they didn’t want the birthday girl to have to work too hard.

and my mom, being the awesome lady that she is, got me two new vegetarian cookbooks: Quick-Fix Vegetarian and The Complete Vegan Cookbook. we have already made one delicious recipe from the quick-fix. i’ll be posting the recipe shortly. needless to say, i am very excited about the meals this week. which is probably a good thing, as i was getting a little frustrated with eating this weekend.

hope you enjoyed your long weekend! i know i did.

so. it was brought to my attention (in a good way) that i am not sounding so reluctant to be a vegetarian right now.

and while that may be the case, at least in writing, it certainly isn’t true all the time.

for instance:

• in the last week, i have eaten chicken 4 times. i even had a chicken sandwich last night. and it was glorious.
• the hubster won’t kill spiders any more. he has this new found love for all living things. including disgusting, scary, bugs. and it irks me. a lot.
• i have always hated picking places to eat. now that we are trying to eat veggie. it’s even harder.
• there is less variety on the menu when we do go out. why is that? and if there is a veggie option, chances are it has cheese. so, i either go hungry. eat a freakin’ salad. or have meat. meat usually wins.
• i hate the fact that i have to search for hours to find something to cook for the week. it used to be damn easy. chicken 3 times a week. pasta once. meat once. now, i have to scour through website, cookbooks, and saved recipes to figure out dinner. blech.
• last, but definitley not least, i hate how much i have to think about food and what i am eating now.

maybe one day, i’ll post a list of why i am happy to eat less meat. maybe.

yep. that’s right. they like me so much, in fact, that they gave me a blogging award! pretty cool, right. the award is called the arte y pico award. not really sure that means, really. but, i know that it’s pretty cool.

a big thank you to hyla over at ECOblog for nominating me. it was a fun surprise to see it this morning.

the arte y pico award recognizes a blog’s creativity and overall contribution to the blogger community. once you’ve been selected, please follow these guidelines and pay it forward:

1. choose 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award based on creativity, design, interesting material, and overall contribution to the blogger community, regardless of the language.
2. post the name of the author and a link to his or her blog by so everyone can view it.
3. each award-winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award.
4. the award-winner and the presenter should post the link of the “arte y pico“ blog , so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5. please post these rules.

here are my nominees [veggie related, of course]:

1. One Vain Cookie
2. Tofu-N-Sproutz
3. Underwhelmed
4. Vegetarian on the Cheap
5. Happy Herbivore

so…go check them out!

[The original website where the award started is Arte Y Pico]