You can help Lucky the Elephant!

Sometimes it feels like I read nothing but bad news.  I read all week (month? year? my whole lifetime?) about the republicans attempts to deregulate everything and help ruin all life on earth. Today I read they are working hard on destroying  the rest of the manatee in Florida. I also learned that “conservatives” are less likely to buy the same lightbulbs if you tell them it will help the environment.

Instead of wallowing in depression I’m going to try and raise some awareness for Lucky the elephant. Lucky was a wild elephant who was captured in Thailand and brought to the San Antonio zoo. Over the years she has watched as her companions have all died and now she is the last of her kind. Female elephants aren’t supposed to ever be alone. In the wild they always travel in packs. When they pass a spot where one of their number died, they stop and take a moment to mourn. Here is a video where you can watch them. Even many years later they will stop at the same spot. Elephants are giant animals and they also need a lot of space. In the jungle they actually make the paths that all the other animals follow on their never ending quests for food.

The San Antonio zoo doesn’t really have enough room for one elephant, much less two. It could be that these substandard arrangements have led to the death of so many of Luck’s companions. They are trying to petition their own trade organization to break it’s rules and keep Lucky by herself from now on.

 One World Conservation says ”According to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) guidelines, elephants should not be kept alone in captivity. It’s emotionally traumatizing. That’s why we’re asking that Lucky be removed from the San Antonio Zoo and sent to a facility that offers social grouping, natural substrates, strictly enforced protected contact management, high-end veterinary care, and the space to better meet the needs of her species.”

If you would like to help the first step is to sign the Change.org petition. There is also a link to call and email the AZA directly because they are going to be making this decision on whether or not to grant the San Antonio Zoo’s request very soon. There is also going to be a demonstration outside the zoo in San Antonio this Saturday, if you can make it they will even have signs and stuff available. You can also invite your friends on facebook to join the cause.

This is an animal that we can help.

 

Texas VegFest 2013: a resounding success

If you look at my tweet cloud of the words I say the most “excited” is by far the number one. I’m usually excited about something. If I’m not, I get completely melancholy about how I have nothing to look forward to. For Texas Vegfest I think I might have just been too excited, I missed it last year because it was my bff’s wedding and thought that was one of the best events of my life, missing vegfest and hearing all about it just built up the anticipation even more for this year’s fest..  The night before I went to ATX Vegan Drinks with my friends from North Austin Vegans and had a fun time playing trivia even though my team abandoned me for the final round. Saturday was a freaking gorgeous day and by the time I finally got to the fest I’d already missed some events and sat down to see Dr. Montgomery talk about cardiology.

He was a great speaker, he talked a lot about how preventable heart disease is just by cutting back meat and that a lot of people know that and just replace beef with chicken. It’s not enough! He was dressed in his surgeons gear just in case any meat eaters showed up. I wanted to pay close attention but I just couldn’t sit still. I really wanted to get a shirt from Herbivore before they sold out. Then I got distracted by tacos.

Good Karma Kitchen had rolled in from Fort Worth to bring us their delicious tacos and noodle dishes. I got the barbecued Korean tacos with jalapeno cream sauce, sliced vegetables, and ginger pickles and they were amazing, and my favorite thing I ate all day.

I couldn’t believe the line for Arlo’s next door was a million times longer since Arlo’s is usually parked just down the street. They do have my favorite veggie burger in the world and people were waiting over an hour! I went looking for the Herbivore booth after trying some tempeh on a stick and then I ran into friends who wanted something sweet. We headed to Sinfull Bakery, I was stoked to finally try their Kolache after not being able to find one on a recent trip to Houston. I also tried one of their dark chocolate cookies and both were fabulous.

There were 5,000 people there and I saw so many folks that I have met over the years. It was sweet to see so many kids.

Actually, my favorite story of the whole day was hearing about a teacher that brought a group of her school children to volunteer for the day. Apparently she takes them to different places every other weekend to help out in the community and they had never even heard the word vegetarian before. They were really excited to see Omowale talk about boxing and wanted to try some of the food, but the teacher didn’t have the money buy them all expensive festival food and mentioned she would have to take them somewhere cheap like KFC. The Texas Vegfest staff heard about this and pitched in to buy them awesome local food from the vendors and they loved it! Meanwhile I was spending tons and tons of money gorging myself and Dan. I got him a plate from Aster’s Ethiopian because we don’t get up there enough and we love it.

We got to watch a very happy young lady dance for a while before she was joined by others,

But then I remembered I wanted to hear Colleen Patrick-Goudreau speak about how we are all taught to have compassion for animals but then we are taught to eat them too. She such an inspiring speaker. If you are considering trying to go veg I recommend checking out her 30 day program and her cookbooks. Halfway through the talk I remembered that I still hadn’t gotten my Herbivore T-shirt and by that time they had ran out of the one I wanted! Damnit! At least I’ll be in Portland soon enough. I drowned my sorrows in funnel cake.

and I got completely covered in powdered sugar.

The funnel cake completely did me in and I bought more treats for later.

And I missed so many other places I wanted to try. Mostly Unity Vegan Kitchen which I head everyone raving about. And the Happy Vegan Baker’s Mac & Cheese. And Capital City’s Cheesecake. And Counter Culture’s Sweet Potato Salad. And Sweet Ritual’s Salted Carmel ice cream in a Waffle Cone. There was a lot of food. I was so sunburned and exhausted I had to go home. It was all too much. As we were walking out Dan said, “you know the only vegan I didn’t see was Wes” and then there he was, waving to us goodbye Big Tex style.

It was that kind of a day.

Texas VegFest is coming April 6!

I still haven’t caught up with sleep and chores from South by Southwest last week and now, here we are gearing up for another festival Texas VegFest! We just never stop celebrating in Austin Texas. I think it will be a little bit more chill than last week but a great time with all sorts of food and speakers to entertain and educate us. I am so excited that I caught up with my pal, board member and fellow blogger Molly of the Lonestar Plate to learn some details. 

So Molly, can you tell me a little about your role in the festival this year?

This year, in addition to my role as a board member of Texas Veg Foundation (the group that organizes the festival), I’m in charge of social media. As a board member I have a really macro view of the festival, looking at the overall schedule, content, reach, advertising strategy, and so on. But I’m also the person tweeting at everyone to come volunteer. (Really, sign up to volunteer. It will be fun!)

What are some of the differences between this year’s festival and last one, (besides that I will get to go to this one?)

This one is bigger, in terms of expected attendees, number of vendors, and the kinds of activities we can provide. We have almost a hundred vendors, six bands, and a ton more kids’ activities (tennis! yoga! cooking demos!).  This year’s festival is more local. Due to some logistical issues last year, many of Austin’s vegan and vegetarian restaurants and food carts couldn’t attend. This year just about all of our food vendors are small, local businesses. And of course, our Premier Sponsor is Wheatsville Co-op. I also think this year’s group of speakers is a bit more diverse, which was a big goal for us this year. The vegan demographic is white, female, and young-to-middle age. And that’s not because that’s what it takes to be vegan; it’s because we’re not doing a good enough job reaching out to other demographics.

 So tell me about the speakers that I as a white, young-to-middle age female might not know about.

We have six fantastic speakers this year. Omowale Adewale is a champion vegetarian boxer from NYC.  In his free time, he works with kids who might be struggling, both bullies and the bullied. He teaches them how to work through their emotions with boxing, exercise, and other healthy habits. His presentation will be really interactive.

Ayinde Howell is an actor, entrepreneur, and executive chef. He started his first restaurant, Hillside Quickies Vegan Sandwich Shop when he was only 20 years old. He blasted hip hop music and made food that *he* wanted to eat. And that turned out to be really successful. His sandwich shop became a gathering spot for artists and traveling musicians like Erykah Badu and Common. The shop eventually turned into a local group of restaurants (Plum Bistro et al.) that his sister now runs.  He’ll be cooking comfort food, including Broccoli Cheddar Soup, Texas BBQ Rubbed Seitan, and Mini Sloppy Joes.

Dr. Baxter Montomgery is a cardiologist from Houston who works with chronically ill patients, showing them how to improve their health through a healthy diet. There are some big names in the healthy vegan community, but one of the people who has been working at this for more than ten years is right here in Texas.

Christy Morgan, The Blissful Chef, is an Austinite who trained in macrobiotic cooking at the Natural Epicurean. She’s made a reputation for herself cooking healthy food that doesn’t taste “healthy.” Christy has teamed up with PlantFusion to show us how to make healthy, protein-packed snacks that everyone will love.

Vegan superstar Isa Chandra Moskowitz (you might have heard of her!) was kind enough to come back for a second year. She’ll be making cashew-based cheesecake. And, yes, there will be samples!

And finally, we’re really excited to have Colleen Patrick-Goudreau come this year to give a presentation she calls “From Excuse-itarian to Vegan.” If you think you could be vegan, except for cheese! Or that it’s too expensive/hard/limiting to be vegan, Colleen will guide you through whatever’s keeping you back. She’s that wise, funny friend you wish you had.

Omowale Adewale is a boxer and his presentation is going to be interactive? Does that mean he is going to hit me? 

Are you going to insult his mother?

I do make a lot of “your mom” jokes so I’m kind of worried. How do I force people to attend Colleen’s lecture? 

>>see below

Will there be tacos?

Arlo’s is serving tacos. And there will be also be nachos, donuts, funnel cake (from two vendors!), cannolis, and lots of ice cream.

Are there going to bands and other entertainment, like maybe interpretive dance? I’d love to express my rutabaga love.

We’ll have six bands:

·       Edison Chair

·       Ray Prim

·       Mighty Mountain

·       Silver Ships

·       The Asteroid Shop

·       Technicolor Hearts

There will be guided mediation by the lake. We should have the schedule for the bands, speakers, cooking demos, kids’ activities, and mediation up within the next few days.

What logistical info do I need to know, is there parking? Will I need cash? Can I bring my dogs? Are you annoyed that I’m not just looking at the FAQ section of your website?

There are a few parking lots near Fiesta Gardens and street parking to the west of the park. But everyone knows that biking, car pooling, and taking public transportation are way cooler than driving a car all by yourself, so we recommend people do that. In theory, you could even canoe up to the event, though I don’t think I know anyone *that* cool.

Bringing cash is a pretty good idea. A lot of our vendors will have Four Square or other ways to take credit cards out in the world now, but cash is a lot more dependable. You never know when you’ll need to buy a Vitamix or a shirt from Herbivore Clothing. (Psst. Someone buy me a Vitamix!) We will have an ATM though if you’re like me and can’t ever remember to carry cash.

Please leave your dogs at home. We love animals, but with all the crowds and food, it’s just not a dog-friendly environment. To be clear: dogs will not be admitted into the park.

Canoeing to the event sure sounds like a challenge…hmm. OK, last question, what do you think people will be most to eat and do at the fest? Predictions?

I think funnel cake will be popular, because, well, it’s funnel cake. Unity Vegan Kitchen will be busy since this is their first appearance. They’re a new Austin food truck that serves comfort food. And everybody loves something new. Good Karma Kitchen should be popular, too, since they’re from out of town and serve gluten-free food. I’m hoping the Atkinson candy booth will draw a crowd, mostly because I love Chick-O-Stick, and they make it. And it’ll be a crying shame if there’s not a swarm of families at the kids’ area because there are some really great kids’ activities this year. (Don’t worry, Lazy Smurf, you can easily avoid that area.)

Ouch! I like kids, my street is full of them happily screaming their lungs out 24 hours a day.

 

Thanks for answering my questions Molly!

Please help SARA animal sanctuary keep the lights on

Sometimes reading about animal sanctuaries can be really heartbreaking. SARA Animal Sanctuary, which is down by San Antonio, takes in all sorts of animals but mainly dogs that were abandoned or abused. There is probably no one I love more than my dogs so when I read their rescue stories about owners shooting their dogs or throwing them out of car windows I can hardly stand it. Dogs are just so full of love and and their need to please people can be overwhelming. They can be the best friend you ever had. It’s appalling that anyone could abuse that trust.

But lots of people do.

So we are really lucky that there are so many organizations like SARA animal sanctuary that will take the unadoptable, the abused, the anti-social, and the starving dogs and give them some food, medical treatment, and a place to live. If the animals they help can be socialized they do put them up for adoption. But many will have to live out their lives at the shelter.

There are many ways to help. You can become a volunteer, or foster a dog or a cat, raise funds, sponsor an animal, or just go to their site or their blog, read about what they do and paypal whatever you can. If enough people want too, maybe we can have a bakesale too.

Right now they are in critical need because their electric bill is passed due. I can only imagine how it must feel for the caretakers to be in this position so please help in any way you can.

Miss Willow knows you want to help

Heading West

Since I’ve lived in Texas I’ve flown to the west coast many times but I never had a good enough reason to drive out there. When my Mom got a new job in Sacramento I realized the time had finally come to drive out there together with a bunch of her stuff and, of course, Miss Sasha.

We rode through west Texas on the first day and stopped at Balmohea State Park in the morning to get a nice swim in before barreling through the heat. The water was so clear that many people were snorkeling and I regretted not bringing mine. I now have an even stronger desire to take a trip out here and visit Marfa and Big Bend… someday when I get a more roadworthy vehicle. 

We drove through New Mexico and then Arizona and saw every different kind of desert. There were so many rocks and cacti I wanted to take home.

It was too hot to stay in our friend Terry’s guest trailer in Tucson, which is where we made it too later that evening, 

but we did have some outstanding Ethiopian food at Café Desta. As we drove further west the next day it got hotter and hotter. In Yuma Arizona it was 117 and I couldn’t even keep my skin against the car window.

We finally made it through the mountains and stayed in Escondido with relatives who have the most wonderful backyard I have ever seen with avocado, orange, lemon, lime, fig, apricot, peach, and even a couple avocado trees surrounding the swimming pool. The perfect set-up.

Sasha was happy to get out of the car and relax under the lemon tree which had the biggest lemons I have ever seen.

As we got closer to the coast the weather got even cooler and I really wondered why everyone keeps moving here from there. 

There are tons of beaches and the weather is gorgeous and avocados are just as plentiful as beef is over here. And there are vegan restaurants everywhere. We stopped in Laguna Beach at The Stand so we could bring the dog and grab a bite. I had a towering potato bow.

We drove past Malibu to Santa Barbra and the temperature dropped so much I couldn’t even get in their lovely water, we did walk along though and got Vietnamese food.

It was lovely.

Sunny Days in Texas: Recipe Roundup

I didn’t get to every recipe I wanted to try in the Sunny Days zine this month because my leg is in a cast and I still can’t walk so I have to scoot around on a walkin scooter. I am still looking forward to trying Vegan Hope‘s Stuffed Peppers and Peach Cobbler, Counter Culture‘s Fried Green Tomatoes with roasted red pepper aioli and her Daikon salad, Sugar-Skull‘s, Chickpea Tuna salad and Cowboy cookies, The Spiral Diner‘s Ranch and Wheatsville‘s Cashew Tamari Dressing, Wes‘ Boudin sausage, hummingbird cupcakes, and pralines, the Blissful Chef’s Magical Raw Tacos (I even bought all the stuff!) and nectarine cobbler smoothie, Ariane‘s Chicken Fried Tofu, any of the drinks, or Two Vegan Boys‘ Yummeos (homeade oreos)

It sure sounds like I missed a lot! Everything I did try was fantastic though! It was an intense month of Texas Eating for sure. Notice that I hardly went for any of the healthy recipes or desserts, it was almost all crazy queso filled delicious main dishes at my house this veganmofo.

Jalapeño Popper DipOatmeal Cream Pies

Nice Ass Greens

Blackened Tempeh Caesar WrapBreakfast Tacos

King Ranch CasseroleJackfruit Brisket Taco

Popcorn Tofu Po’Boy Texas Chili in Frito Pie Mexican Hot DogZucchini MigasI don’t think I could even pick a favorite. We did make the chili twice but that might be because KellyCVegan merely mentioned frito pie on twitter. I do love how easy that recipe is. I kind of want to make the Mexican Hot Dog again just so I can take a better picture, oh and because I loved it and still have some chipotle mayo.

All this deliciousness can be yours too! If you already bought a copy of the zine, thank you so much! I hope you love it and if you blog about it let me know! I would love to hear what other people think. I am still working on getting it for sale in DFW and book people but it is taking a little while. If you want to get it, the black and white versions are going to sell out very soon and after this month I’m not going to make any more. The color versions and the PDF version are welcome to you.

I would love for you to Donate to Team Sunny Day! You could win a copy of the zine, Blissful Bites, everything you need to make some Texas Chili, homemade oatmeal cream pies and pralines, and some Food For Lover’s queso. It’s the best prize package ever and not a lot of people have entered so chances are really good that you could win it all.It has been a good month! I feel so lucky to have such a fantastic vegan community here in Austin and all over the world united by a love of vegan food and animals!
Every post this month for Veganmofo will be celebrating the recipes in the zine Sunny Days in Texas, a fundraiser cookzine to help Sunny Day Farms Animal Sanctuary.

Sunny Days in Texas: Zucchini Migas

Migas are a regional Mexican dish created to use up leftovers from the night before. Traditionally, cooks fry up some onions, peppers, and spices, add the leftover meat, and then scramble with eggs and cheese and then mix in last night’s tortillas. Restaurants in Austin have about a zillion spins on this, sometimes using chorizo or queso instead of cheese, or using tortilla chips instead of dried out tortillas and, of course, the migas breakfast taco. So… maybe not quite a zillion but more like 10 different ways. Mr. Natural has the best tofu version I’ve tried.

I think the first vegan food blog in Austin that I was aware of was Two Vegan Boys.  Krys is always cooking up amazing vegan comfort food for her family and has lots of tips on being frugal and gardening. I was really excited that she donated her recipe for Zucchini Migas to the Sunny Days zine because I love migas and everyone always need more recipes for zucchini!

It took me quite a while to get the technique for making migas right. I think the trick is to keep a low heat once you add the tofu and to turn over the tofu instead of stirring it. The recipe called for firm tofu but for some weird reason I only had soft tofu on hand and I was pleased that it worked so well. I also ended up baking some tortillas to make chips because I didn’t have any on hand. Next time I’ll use queso instead of cheese and serve with some roasted potatoes. Or migas con hongos is always good too.  It is a great flexible recipe, now I’m even more excited to try her homeade oreos, also in the zine!

Every post this month for Veganmofo will be celebrating the recipes in the zine Sunny Days in Texas, a fundraiser cookzine to help Sunny Day Farms Animal Sanctuary.

Sunny Days in Texas, the vegan cookzine for charity, is now available!

.

"Please buy this zine, it's for the animals"

This past summer in Texas has been brutal. We had the most 100 degree days in a row ever, the worst drought ever, and a few weeks ago much of our beautiful central Texas Hill Country was engulfed in flames. The community here in Austin has done truly amazing work. Following  Austin Pets Alive’s attempts to save all pets from Bastrop filled my heart with love for people again and on Saturday October 1st, we held a mega city wide bakesale that raised almost 13,000 dollars for relief efforts. The people, for the most part, will survive and hopefully rebuild but for the animals the fires and the drought have been completely devastating. The strangest part for me as a city dweller is that all the bugs are dead and critters have eaten my remaing cacti and succulents which are certainly not their typical food. I learned that in Texas you have to water your trees…. and your house or the foundation will crack.

At Sunny Day Farms Animal Sanctuary in La Coste the cost of taking care of all the animals, without access to grazing grass and water, has risen dramatically. Poor Brooke, who runs the farm, told me that her days are spent at the river collecting water with 5 gallon water totes. As you can imagine, watering three hundred animals everyday has definitely proved to be a challenge. The vegan community in Austin has been doing what we can to help and I have been working on putting together an awesome recipe zine to raise money. Many of Texas’ best writers and restaurants have donated Texas themed recipes to the effort and I have put together three different versions online for sale, though if you live in Austin you can pick a copy up at MonkeyWrench books and in Portland at Herbivore and Food Fight!

The zine has been a labor of love for sure, it is packed with fabulous recipes for everything from Ranch Dressing to Mexican Hot Dogs to Cowboy Cookies to Raw Tacos to Jackfruit Brisket. There are healthy recipes like Tex Mex stuffed peppers and Blackened Ceaser Tempeh wraps and then there are recipes for 40 pounds of battered and deep fried popcorn tofu, Oatmeal cream pies and homeade Oreos. It is also illustrated with pictures of Sunny Day Farm’s most adorable residents and available in several different ways.

My favorite is the full color print on demand version that also comes with a free digital download. For real, check out the preview on Mag Cloud.The sections are all color coded by type which makes it really fun to flip through and easy to find stuff and the animals are so cute you will be smooching the pages. Through the preview you can also see every recipe.

you know you want to kiss that pig

A black and white version is available on Etsy, these might take a little bit longer to ship but they are pretty much the exact same thing but in black and white on regular paper and with a different cover and I have to put each one together so really buy the color one!

Finally, if you don’t want to waste any trees feel free to email me at veganlazysmurf at gmail.com and for a 10 dollar paypal donation I will email you just the color PDF of the Mag Cloud version so you can look at it on your zune or whatever. Actually, please don’t ask me if it will work on your crazy device, it is a standard PDF file and I have an iphone so everything works like magic for me.

100 percent of the profits are going directly to the farm. If you would like to just help out without purchasing the zine please make a donation to Sunny Day on paypal to the email info@sunnydayfarms.com or sponsor an animal for a few dollars each month. Also check out the indomitable Molly’s Lonestar Plate post that includes other ways to help as well. And thanks Molly for all of your help (and the garlic stuffed olives).

For veganmofoI am planning to cook recipes from the zine all month long so stay tuned to see what all is cookin’ !

Just when you think things can’t get worse

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/how-to-help-during-wildfires-outbreak

The record breakingly awful drought coupled with the most hundred degree days ever has made Texas a pretty miserable place to live and it has been a disaster for wildlife, farms, animals, and trees. Our beautiful city is looking more like an old western all the time. It is so dry and windy that fires are starting faster than you can say Labor day and last night we had the worst of it yet.

There is devastation all around central Texas. To the east bastrop has been consumed with fires burning between 14,000 and 25,000 acres, 300 473 over 800 homes and some of the most beautiful forrest I have seen in Texas went down in flames. Dripping springs, Steiner ranch and other beautiful spots are all in serious trouble. It seems like everywhere around us is on fire. It’s pretty scary.

Last night on twitter I saw that Austin Pets Alive was begging people to foster the dogs and cats they already have so they could make room for all the animals from the Bastrop animal shelter.

We rushed over there and the scene melted my icy heart. It was 11pm on a Saturday night and the parking lot was packed with dogs, people, volunteers, and lots of love. Even though there was kind of a chaotic panicked vibe everyone was keeping their cool and just waited to do what they could. I though the dogs would be crazed and nervous but they all seemed pretty happy! We saw chihuahuas and pit bulls and puppies and all the other usual suspects as we filled out our form and waited about 2 minutes before we were given an adorable puppy and sent on our way.

Charm is such as schmuppy that the beagles don’t know what to think! Her legs have grown so fast that she can hardly walk and instead kind of flops around adorably. She already climbs on my lap when she is scared of something and walks between my legs when she doesn’t know where to go. Her tail leaves a path of destruction in it’s wake and she is so full of love and excitement for her new life that it is rubbing off on all of us!

If you can, Austin Pets Alive needs homes for these dogs and are waiving adoption fees. They also need donations as quick as possible because many are injured. This tragedy would have completely overwhelmed any other rescue organization but APA somehow is still helping everyone. They continue to amaze me.

http://www.austinpetsalive.org/2011/09/bastrop-evacuations/

Also the red cross is taking donations and asking for volunteers. They are only taking money right now but check this round up from KLBJ for other ways you can help. People are in shelters and I’m sure they will soon need people food, dog food, and cat food among everything else.

And if you have a weather machine that can control the rain, please now is the time to use it!

Help Sunny Day Farms!

Earlier this year I was able to volunteer at Sunny Day farms and meet some of their wonderful rescued animals, like Betty Lou the horse that was a pet until she went blind and the owners dumped her at an auction. If it wasn’t for an act of compassion she would have been shipped to Mexico where the animal slaughtering regulations aren’t has tight. I also pet Barnaby the goat who had been first rescued by animal control when they found he him chained to a tree starving, where he’d been his entire life. There were so many wonderful sweet animals and each one had a sad story with a happy end: being rescued to live in a farm animal paradise.  That is why it was even more distressing to learn that Sunny Day, which saves so many lives, is in big trouble because of the drought and onslaught of 100 degree days.

Since all the grass has dried up at Sunny Day, they are buying more hay than ever–and it was already their biggest expense. And due to the drought, the cost of hay has doubled, making an already bad situation almost impossible. The vet has already had to put one very sick horse down, and we are so worried that there will be even more casualties.

The Good News!

Texas vegans and animal-lovers have banded together with bake sales, hay bale challenges, and even a marathon fundraiser to raise whatever money we can to help these animals and there are lots of ways you can participate.

Several of Texas’ most amazing bloggers, restaurants, animal lovers, companies, and even a cookbook author donated recipes to the Sunny Days in Texas cook zine which has 30 recipes (including a world famous popcorn tofu recipe) to the zine which is going to be available at the Vida Vegan Convention, and online soon. The Black and White Version will be available soon on Etsy but an adorable color version- that includes a digital download- is on sale now. It is a little more expensive because of the cost of prinying and shipping, but I got one and I love it!.

The zine is chock-full of more than 30 recipes from ever aspect of Texas vegan cuisine, from ranch dressing to raw tacos. I am so excited to try every one of the recipes like the Blackened Ceaser Tempeh wrap, Jackfruit Brisket, King Ranch Casserole (with food for lovers queso baking in the flavor), and homemade Oreos!

It will also be sold at the vegan bakesale this Saturday at Monkeywrench books which is also benefiting Sunny Day. During the bakesale the Sue will also be donating a portion of her sales at Counter Culture so eat please join us in eating a lot of tasty vegan food to save animals!

 If you can’t make it to any of the events or want to help more check out Sunny Day’s hay bale donation program.

And thanks to everyone that donated recipes  Wes Allison, Kristen Blackmore, Natala Constantine, Kristen Davenport, Molly Frisinger, Krys Kagan, Ariane Leverett, Anjanette Martin, Christy Morgan, Sue Purr, Margot Rochon, Chris & Chrystal Tate, The Spiral Diner, and Wheatsville co-op.