words coming soon

collards & sausage. biscuits and gravy. combined.

green curry. jasmine rice. pineapple.

'egg'nog cheesecake

nachos! baked corn chips, homemade nacho sauce, tomatos, spinach, soyrizo&beans, avocado

breakfast plate: scrambled tofu, tempeh bacon, toast

lemon cupcakes: these weren't my best but they were pretty

tempeh&peppers, mustard greens & blackeyed peas, cornbread with EB&agave

pretty cupcakes

I don’t have much to say at this time. Seriously, this hour of the evening, but I do have a picture to share of these mini-cupcakes: coconut-cardamom with orange blossom buttercream dipped in coconut shreds and orange zest.

oh man, i’m so baked

Not really.

I did do quite a bit of baking today, though.  First, lemon poppy seed muffins.  Little sister gobbled them up! There are only 3 out of 12 left. Next up was falafel “burgers” from The Vegan Table; it’s definitely my new favorite cookbook. It’s so diverse and easy to follow and colorful. It’s divided into sections based on the type of entertaining you’re going to do which range from two-person romantic dinners to large family holiday feasts. The recipes are even divided into recipes for each season and include suggested menus.

falafel "burger" on whole wheat pita with spinach, tomato, and amazing cucumber dill sauce

For my job, I volunteered to test some gluten-free cake recipes at home. I started with the gluten freedom vanilla cupcakes from vegan cupcakes take over the world and I made a quick chocolate cream cheese frosting for the top. They’re alright. The quinoa flour tastes a littly funky in a cupcake so I think I’ll try sorghum flour next time if I can find it.

gluten-free vanilla cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting

I overstocked my fridge a bit. The Global Foods Market is my weakness. I picked up so much awesome stuff:

purple potatoes, thai red hot peppers, thai basil, yellow tofu, four different kinds of curry paste, fresh dill and parsley, soft tofu, japanese bean cakes, a tub of peeled garlic that was taking over the aroma of the fridge, wheat pita bread, tahini, lemongrass, baby eggplant and coconut milk.

I stopped by my grandma’s house afterwards and found out that she grows herbs! I came home with a couple stalks of sweet basil.  Basil and dill are my favorite herbs.  I should have a herb garden, really.

Backyard and community gardens are awesome. I was sad that I missed my chance to get something growing earlier this year. As a vegan, I’m dependent on things that are grown. However, it doesn’t mean that I’m an advocate of mass agriculture, especially not genetically modified “food.”  Commercialized agriculture not only displaces animals, but destroys entire ecosystems when forests are cut down to make space for farmland (and animal grazing land) and prairie topsoil is plowed up, used up, and can’t quickly be replaced.  Agriculture has also been the grounds for great devastation for culture and human rights through imperialism, slavery, the rich and poor gap, hunger.  The distribution of food is also to blame for the last two issues. America and other affluent wealthy nations consume far more food than is necessary. It doesn’t help, either, when imperialist nations (USA) create their empires and exploit tiny countries and strip them of their resources, leaving them even more poor and even more hungry.

Although, I give agriculture it’s faults, I’m not jumping on the “well, it’s okay to eat meat, then” train like others have such as Lierre Keith and Derrick Jensen.  Eating meat doesn’t solve anything. I believe that only when civilization has entirely collapsed and that we become just the other animals in the ecosystem that hunting would be necessarily for survival.  Just because you advocate for civilization’s collapse, it doesn’t mean you should start eating like it has, or pretending that you have all the answers.

This brings me to my next idea that’s been on the brain. Some people, such as Derrick Jensen, and a friend of mine, have been advocating that it isn’t our fault that corporations are destroying the planet and that changing our lifestyles aren’t doing anything to help.  I’m going to copy and paste a response from facebook, that I made on a friend’s page, to wrap up this post:

See, my problem here is the logic. You’re saying it’s not our fault that these large companies are destroying the earth, but it is our fault. It is the fault of the consumer, as the mass number of consumers is the reason for the companies “success” (in monetary terms). If everyone could drop off the grid overnight and stop buying into it, the companies would fail and it would be the end of their constant destruction. The flow would cease and all that’s left would be the repairs. I think most activists with a brain know that what they buy is not the solution, but it’s a step in the right direction. Change doesn’t happen instantly, it’s a slow process.

So, end point, you can’t stop the oil industry if you keep buying into it. There’s no other way to stop them. Blow up buildings, they stumble, and build more buildings. They cannot be stopped unless you stop buying it and until there is the option for everyone to stop (society isn’t set up in a way for that to work), small things, like buying fair trade, or buying local, or building with renewable materials, are the first step. I’m not supporting corporate greenwashing, here, though. Those products don’t fucking count. I mean like CLOROX greenworks? Sweatshop-produced brand new organic cotton? No thanks. I’m done.

Oh, wait. One more thing: Yes, I do recognize the inherent contradiction created by shopping at a global foods market full of foods imported from places many miles away.

smooooooth, real smooth.

This was my breakfast this morning! After work yesterday, I stopped by the store and picked up some vega* powder in the berry flavor. I blended it up with some goji berries I soaked overnight, frozen strawberries, a little bit of the cranberry watermelon GoodBelly, vanilla hempmilk and just a pinch of stevia.

Mmmm, it was so good and I felt really good, too, afterwards.

*”Vega is a Complete Whole Food Health Optimizer, an all-in-one,natural, plant-based formula that provides 100% RDI of vitamins and minerals per serving. Rich in protein, fibre, Omega-3 EFAs, antioxidants and phytonutrients, Vega is alkaline-forming, easy to digest and contains no common allergens.”  By Sequel Naturals

the hallelujah story

I listen to folk music daily; it’s just part of my very unorganized routine. A couple days ago, the song “Hallelujah! I’m a bum” by Utah Phillips started playing and the little lightbulb came on and I changed these original lyrics:

Oh, why don’t I work like other men do?

How the hell can I work when the skies are so blue?

Hallelujah! I’m a bum, Hallelujah bum again,

Hallelujah! give us a handout and revive us again.

into this:

Oh, why don’t I eat like other men do?

How the hell can I eat when the cows are so blue?

Hallelujah! I’m a vegan, hallelujah vegan again,

Hallelujah! give us some tempeh and revive us again!

I know, I know. It’s far from genius but I like it. It’s not the reason I started this blog, though. I’ve wanted to start this blog for a few years now but I never had the right feel, y’know. I mean, I created several blogs. On blogger. On wordpress, etc.  I never made any posts on them because the rest of it was all wrong.

So what makes this one any different? The inspiration for the title: radical folk music. Keyword: radical. Look forward to: talk about food that I make and issues surrounding food (ie: the industry of food and how fucked up that is), socio-political banter, and rants (because apparently being a veganarchist, vegan + anarchist, makes me a domestic terrorist and that’s lovely and you will know how lovely it is). Hallelujah!

Note: Photos of food will be here shortly. I’m working on getting a camera in good, working condition.