All the decisions I’ve made, and the steps I’ve taken over the last 2 years, haven’t been easy. I’ve come to have a whole new respect and appreciation for people who pave their own paths and do their own thing. For those who decided to pursue their dreams and take risks. I’m very proud, and so lucky to have ALL the friends that I do, but this particular post  is to recognize those friends and acquaintances who have raised the bar, ventured out on their own, who are trying (and who have) made a name for themselves over the last few years. After recently realizing how hard it really is to get from A to B, I believe they deserve to be recognized for who they are and what they’re doing.

The majority of these people have also chosen a vegetarian or vegan diet which makes them extra cool in my book. Not only are they making an effort to improve their personal lives, they are making an effort to save animals and help better our world. YOUR world.

First and foremost, I am inspired by my mother. I have yet to convert her to vegetarianism, but I’m relentlessly working on it. Regardless, she’s the biggest bad-ass on earth for raising me as a single mom for most of my life. I’m glad she has someone to take care of her now. She deserves the break. Go veg mom!

My husband Flori. The “serial entrepreneur”. Between obtaining his BA while on tour with his band ZSK, running his own marketing and advertising company in Germany, managing his co-owned clothing company, doing contract work for PETA, managing Cinnaholic, and putting up with my moody ass, he is my hero.

Ben and Laurel Powers. The most incredible wedding photographers on the face of the earth. I met Ben at Disneyland when I was 16 years old and he was running his own vending machine company. Since then, he and his wife have created Powers Studios which received ‘Portland’s Best Wedding Photography Studio’ award in Oregon Bride Magazine 2009. We’re lucky enough to have them shooting our wedding!

Hendrik Thiele. Author and Editor of HRVST. HRVST features various people who have roots in the underground / punk / hardcore environment. Be it painters, graphic artists, writers, musicians, photographers, label-guys, or whatnot. Hendrik is one of my husbands good friends and also works for PETA. 

Jack Norris and his wife Alex Bury. Jack is the President and co-founder of Vegan Outreach. Vegan Outreach produces informative vegan booklets, and has distributed over 11 million copies. In 2005, he was elected to the Animal Rights Hall of Fame. Alex, his wife, does an amazing job helping raise funds and organize things at the Oakland PETA office.  

Jesse Miner. Vegan personal chef. Jesse received the Personal Chefs Network’s November 2008 Pacesetter award, was awarded “Best Vegan Magician” in The San Francisco Bay Guardian’s Best Of The Bay 2008, and is currently San Francisco’s #1 personal chef on yelp.com. This guy is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to food, ingredients and where to get the best coffee.

Karine Brighten. Karine Brighten Events is a full service event-planning firm based in the San Francisco Bay Area, specializing in affordable eco-friendly events that are kind to animals and the planet. A ‘green’ event planner so to speak. We met Karine at the Farm Sanctuary ‘Walk for Farm Animals‘ event. We were so impressed with the way she organized everything that we hired her for our wedding! 

Check out her upcoming ‘Women Entrepreneurs Showcase Event’ this Sunday HERE!

Laura Beck. Laura is the vice president of Rocket Dog Rescue, a community manager for the world’s largest vegetarian recipe website, VegWeb, founding editor of Vegansaurus.com, a columnist for VegNews Magazine, and can be found contributing “colorful” commentary and real talk to many online newspapers, journals, and blogs. Laura is one of the funniest people I know, not to mention a huge supporter of Cinnaholic.

Melliser Elliott. Vegan baker, blogger and author. Melisser runs a vegan bakery called Sugar Beat Sweets and manages a blog called The Urban Housewife. She’s in the process of releasing her new book titled ‘The Vegan Girl’s Guide to Life‘. When I went vegan and started Googling ‘SF vegan bakers’, I came across her blog. After reading up on who she was and what she was all about, I felt like I finally found someone I could relate to in the vegan scene. She has been a source of inspiration from the very beginning of my vegan baking career.

Mike Park. Although I am personally not connected to Mike Park just yet, my husband and many of his old band friends are. Mike Park is a well known musician, the founder of Asian Man Records, progressive activist, role model and… our wedding officiant! Through some mutual ties, we were connected with Mike a few months ago and he plans to marry us in our backyard this June. Read more about his awesomeness HERE.

Shani Campbell. President of East Bay Animal Advocates. Also, the most hardcore vegan I know. East Bay Animal Advocates is a non-profit organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Their mission is to examine and analyze the impact of the California agricultural industry on animals, humans and the environment. This lady never misses an opportunity to fight for an animals right whether it’s leafleting, playing the part for a protest, or simply attending vegan functions in the Bay Area. She is the most dedicated & compassionate person I’ve met in a long time.

Sarah Smart. Personal chef, ice cream maker & pastry artist at Millennium in SF. This girl can cook! For REAL. We met Sarah while we were interviewing caterers for our wedding. We’ve been swapping ideas and tips back and forth over the last few months and we’re stoked that she’s decided to open up her own vegan gourmet ice cream business! You can try some this Sunday at Karine Brighten’s ‘Women Entrepreneur Event‘!

These entrepreneurs inspire the hell out me. You should check out their stories and listen to what they have to say. Their knowledge is invaluable. I’m so thankful to be surrounded by such talented, driven, and compassionate people.

There is a saying that goes, “you’re only as good as the company you keep”.

I sure hope so.

After choppin’ it up a bit, being the nice guy that he is, he graciously offered to buy us 2 pints and challenged us to compare his brand to Veg News’ ’2009 Veggie Award Winner‘. HELLS TO THE Y-E-S. Despite the fact it was 50 degrees outside and raining, our happy asses skipped into Whole Foods like it was the middle of summer. 2 pints of Mint Chocolate Chip and we were two very happy campers!

Right off the bat I noticed the ingredient difference between Alkemie and the leading brand. While Alkemie had just a handful of ingredients, the other brand had an uber huge, long list. The second thing I looked at was the nutrition content. Although they were both pretty close in comparison, I noticed that the fat and saturated fat was way higher in the Alkemie brand. According to Alkemie’s website the fat that is in the ice cream is ‘healthy fat’ though. My ass sure hopes so.

As I continued to browse the site, I discovered that they use no refined sugars of any kind (besides the trace amount of organic evaporated cane sugar in the chocolate chunks) which means it’s safer for people with Type II diabetes. Grandpa will be stoked! It was also gluten-free, rice free and mostly soy free. They claim to use organic ingredients from certified organic suppliers and their products are 95% raw which we LOVE!

So, there’s all this good stuff that’s sold me so far. How does it taste though?

We packed up our pints and headed over to my friends house to have an ice cream party with her and her two adorable little girls. It was time for the taste test! First, the 5 of us tried the leading brand. YUUUUUM! Next, was Alkemie. Another YUUUUUM! The difference? While we preferred the leading brands chocolate, we liked the texture of Alkemie better. It was smooth, thick and creamy as opposed the the thinner, more icy/watery texture of the leading brand. The mint in Alkemie was subtle where as in the leading brand, it was more pronounced and had more of a strong, artificial flavor. We did notice that the Alkemie brand had a slight aftertaste. Cashews maybe? We’re not really sure.

The result? 2 of us liked the Alkemie better, and 2 of us preferred the leading brand. 1 was er… undecided? She’s 1 and pointed at both so… The verdict? Both were awesome for different reasons.

Either way, we’re stoked to have a new vegan ice cream on the market made from mostly organic and raw ingredients. It’s nice to pick up a product, read the label and understand the ingredients in it instead of seeing a laundry list of those we can’t even pronounce. A big thank you to the guys at Alkemie for the complimentary pints. Deeeeeelish!

Want to try some yourself? DO IT! Check em’ out at any Nor Cal Whole Foods store NOW!

My fiance and I have been considering adopting a dog for a while now. I’m well aware that dog’s are not just cute, little play toys that you feed whatever they’ll eat and play with them when you feel like it. I realize that dog’s are a HUGE responsibilty. It would mean no more spontaneous sleepovers and lots more cleaning up and babysitting. Somehow my fiance is not so convinced and has given me some ‘required reading’ before we even consider browsing the shelters.

I’ve been reading the book “The Dog Whisperer: A Compassionate, Nonviolent Approach to Dog Training” by Paul Owens. Stupid title; great book. Somewhere in chapter two it touched on the nutritional importance of your pooches diet. Being super into nutrition and health myself, I was intrigued.

It talks about the “4 D’s”. DISEASED, DISABLED, DOWNER and already DEAD animals when they arrive at the slaughterhouse.

What does this have to do with your dog’s nutrition, you ask? Uh…your dog is probably eating it.

After reading further on what actually goes into the majority of most dog foods (and cat food), I was HORRIFIED! Dead, sick animals and even peoples pets that had been euthanised and pumped full of chemicals?! Barf.

I did a Google search and found some excellent info on The California Dog website in an article by Deb Dempsey that basically reiterates what the book says. Please read it here.

All I can say is don’t be a dumbass and feed your pets anything you wouldn’t eat. If you have decided to take an animal in and treat them as one of your family members, at least have the decency to do a little research on what you are going to be putting into their systems every day.

Read the label on your pet’s food. Choose diets that do not contain harmful by products and chemicals like BHA, BHT, and ethoxyqin.

Some brands worth looking into are Nature’s Variety, Eagle Pack, California Naturals, Innova, Wysong, Old Mother Hubbard, Halo, Dick Van Patten’s Natural Balance or any of the diets in The Natural Health Bible for Dogs & Cats.

Image by Chrissie_Un

It turns out that China is actually the worlds largest producer of peaches and Italy is the worlds second largest producer. The United States only produces one-quarter of all the peaches in the world. Out of those one quarter, I’m pretty sure I ended up with half of that on my kitchen table. Each year, my family and friends pawn off the fruit from their trees whenever they can. This usually means anywhere from April/May through October, I’m elbow high in peach juice and batter.

Since peaches have no fat and average about 37 calories a piece, I love to cook with them. Anything that is sweet, low in fat and low in calories… I’m all over it. Not only are they nutritious but peaches are known to have chemical compounds called phytochemicals, which act as anti-oxidants. They have been shown to be preventative of certain diseases and ailments, and to help skin stay healthy and “glowing like a peach”. The phytochemicals in peaches also help prevent the clogging of arteries that lead to heart disease and other conditions caused by aging. Also, the phosphorus in peaches help to protect nerve cells. Be careful not to eat the pit though. It’s poisonous! Betcha didn’t know that, huh?

OK, so I have all these peaches… now what the hell am I suppose to do with all of them?

I decided to bust out my favorite gluten-free baking book (BabyCakes NYC) and flip through to see if anything caught my eye. ‘Hmmm… Ginger Peach Muffins sound kinda interesting…’ Unfortunately, I didn’t have all the ingredients it called for so instead of driving to the store, my lazy butt decided to work with what I had. I ended up substituting several ingredients and modifying the recipe quite a bit but I couldn’t imagine it coming out any better than it did.

The first part of the recipe said to slice 4 cups of fresh peaches, coat them with an agave/lemon mixture and bake for 30 minutes. That, I did and OMG. My kitchen smelled incredible!

After the peaches had cooled, I mixed up the gluten-free batter. I decided that I wasn’t really in a muffiny mood so I pulled out my trusty bundt pan. I gently placed the agave marinated peaches in pretty rows along the bottom of the pan Julia Child style. One for the pan… one for me… one for the pan…one for me…

I plopped the batter on top of the peaches and drizzled what was left of the agave syrup mixture on top. Time to throw it in the oven. 30 minutes later, my entire house smelled like a peach orchard.

After it was done, I let the cake cool for about 15 minutes in the pan. I flipped it over onto my cake tray, watched the steam rise and immediately got teary eyed (OK, not really) but it was one of the most beautiful gluten-free peach creations I’d ever seen.

“Hmmm… did it taste good though?” I went in for the kill.

It was perfectly soft and moist with a grainy cornbread type texture. There was a tiny hint of sweetness from the agave and a kick of ginger that left a slight aftertaste. I’m really not a ginger person but the amount that the recipe called for was perfect. The best part was the soft, warm, spicy peach chunk with the tart lemon and sticky agave coating on top. I ended up putting a giant dent in the cake and calling it dinner. I brought the leftovers to work today. I’ve had to create blinders with my hands to shelter my eyes every time I scurry past it to avoid eating the whole damn thing.

I’ll be honest, gluten-free anything sounds horrible. I get it. Even the word gluten sounds ridiculous. Trust me though, there is no way anyone would know unless you told them that it was gluten-free. Even my carnivorous-hunter-manly-refinery co-workers were mowin’ down on it and they normally refuse to touch anything that’s labeled vegan.

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, toss together the peaches, agave nectar and lemon juice. Spread the peaches evenly on the prepared baking sheet and bake on center rack for 20 minutes, rotating the sheet 180 degrees after 12 minutes.
3. Let the peaches cool for 30 minutes.
4. Keep the oven at 325 degrees and grease a bundt pan with non-stick spray or oil.
5. Pour the non-dairy milk into a small bowl and add the vinegar. Do not stir. Set aside.
6. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, salt, cinnamon and ginger. Add the oil, agave, applesauce and vanilla to the dry ingredients and stir until batter is smooth. Pour in the non-dairy milk mixture and mix.
7. Lay roasted peaches in neat rows along the bottom of the bundt pan covering the entire bottom. Pour batter on top and smooth out with a spatula.
8. Bake on center rack at 325 for 30 minutes rotating 180 degrees 15 minutes into baking.
9. The cake will be golden brown, and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.
10. Let cake cool for 15 minutes, flip onto serving tray, sprinkle with nutmeg and slice!

*Cake is best kept in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days*

Next time you have some overly ripe peaches lying around or if your crazy neighbor tries to dump them over the fence into your yard or something, you should definitely give this recipe a try.

That is the question posed in the film Food, Inc. Filmmaker Robert Kenner takes a peek into our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized processes that have been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the sustenance of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment.

We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, vegetables that don’t spoil, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are engulfed with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

Food, Inc. exposes America’s industrialized food system and its effect on our environment, health, economy and workers’ rights and reveals shocking truths about what we eat, how it’s produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

This isn’t another animal rights, slaughter house film that pushes veganism. This movie brings light to what’s really going on with our food and how it’s affecting each one of us in so many different, devastating ways. Some of the issues that are touched upon include:

- Finding Organic, Local Foods

- Diabetes and obesity

- Factory farming

- Pesticides

- Environmental Impact

- The Global Food Crisis

- Kevin’s Law: Foodborne Illnesses

- Nutrition Labels on Restaurant Foods

- Genetic Engineering

- Farm Worker Production

- Cloning

To learn more about these issues and how you can take action, you can click on the links above or visit Takepart.com. Each one of us can change the future by making just a few subtle changes starting with simple steps like these:

1. Stop drinking sodas and other sweetened beverages.

You can lose 25 lbs in a year by replacing one 20 oz soda a day with a no calorie beverage (preferably water).

2. Eat at home instead of eating out.

Children consume almost twice (1.8 times) as many calories when eating food prepared outside the home.

3. Support the passage of laws requiring chain restaurants to post calorie information on menus and menu boards.

Half of the leading chain restaurants provide no nutritional information to their customers.

4. Tell schools to stop selling sodas, junk food, and sports drinks.

Over the last two decades, rates of obesity have tripled in children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 years. To help ensure that the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act assures healthy food choices, you can sign this petition.

5. Meatless Mondays—Go without meat one day a week.

An estimated 70% of all antibiotics used in the United States are given to farm animals.

6. Buy organic or sustainable food with little or no pesticides.

According to the EPA, over 1 billion pounds of pesticides are used each year in the U.S.

7. Protect family farms; visit your local farmer’s market.

Farmer’s markets allow farmers to keep 80 to 90 cents of each dollar spent by the consumer.

8. Make a point to know where your food comes from—READ LABELS.

The average meal travels 1500 miles from the farm to your dinner plate.

9. Tell Congress that food safety is important to you.

Each year, contaminated food causes millions of illnesses and thousands of deaths in the U.S.

10. Demand job protections for farm workers and food processors, ensuring fair wages and other protections.

Poverty among farm workers is more than twice that of all wage and salary employees.

Vegan or not, I HIGHLY recommend seeing this movie if it’s playing in your area. To check for tickets, go here.

What we put into our bodies and what we feed our kids doesn’t only affect our health, it effects the environment and the entire world.

As the Dead Kennedy’s would say, “Give me convenience or give me death!” Well, that’s just where we’re headed if we don’t start making some serious changes, fast.