Tag: vegan and cruelty free

Vegan Food

Easy Homemade Vegan Bread

Samantha

Bread. My worst frenemy. I love it so much, but my hips feel otherwise. I don’t normally eat sandwich bread (lies, because avocado toast is now my new best friend), and the one time I hoard bread in my cheeks like a hamster is at Italian restaurants. So we made pasta one night and I thought, hey, why not make some bread, instead of going to the store to buy some with ingredients I don’t know about? My quest filled my home with the heavenly aroma of fresh baked bread. I know you smell it as I read it and want your home to smell the same too. Well do it. If the bread doesn’t come out great, at least you can thank it for the heavenly scents. Give it a shot and let me know what you think!

VEGAN HOMEMADE BREAD – WHAT YOU NEED

DIRECTIONS

  1. Prep one half of your work surface with a dusting of flour
  2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt and yeast
  3. Put your wooden spoon in the middle of the bowl and create a medium-sized hole–fill this hole with the water and the oil
  4. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and work the mixture into a large ball
  5. Put your dough ball on the surface covered with flour
  6. Grease your second large bowl in preparation for the dough
  7. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes then place the dough in your greased bowl, loosely cover it with a thin towel or tea towel and let it rest for about 2 hours
  8. After 1.5-2 hours, preheat your oven to 375 degrees, then knead the dough on your floured work surface until you remove all the air bubbles
  9. Divide the dough in half. Set one half aside and the other half in your pan and into the oven once preheated
  10. Bake for 40 minutes
  11. Once this roll is ready, let it cool on a rack and use the same pan for your second roll of dough
  12. Voila! Enjoy with vegan butter.

Question of the Day

What is your guys’ favorite baked bread?

Vegan Cruelty Free, Vegan Desserts, Vegan Food

Vegan Orange Cranberry Scones

Samantha

Do you ever walk into a Starbucks coffee shop and just ogle the baked goods case, because girl you know I do, and 0/10 something entices me…mostly because there’s absolutely 0 things vegan and partly because ya girl is trying to lost some L Bs.

I was working out of our Chicago office one day and a scone was calling my name when I went to get my latte. And so, the vegan orange cranberry scones below were born and let me tell you, ya’ll will take one taste and thank me. Not to toot my own horn (toot toot) but I verbally said I’m proud of myself after I tasted this scone so if you need a nice little self-esteem boost, make these vegan scones stat. It also works as a quick and easy vegan breakfast recipe or vegan dessert recipe.

Vegan Orange Cranberry Scones – What You Need

  • 1 medium sized orange (for zest and 2 tbsp of juice)
  • 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill Unbleached All-purpose Flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/4 cup vegan sugar (I used Truvia and don’t care for the after taste, so I would recommend another vegan sugar of your choice)
  • 3 twists of salt
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 1 cup canned coconut milk – be sure to not use the low-fat one
  • 1 cup dried cranberries (or cherries would work well in this too)
  • 1 9-inch circular baking tray

DIRECTIONS

  1. Combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sugar)
  2. Add in the orange zest and add in 2 tbsp of orange juice
  3. Melt the coconut oil and stir it into your dough
  4. Stir in coconut milk
  5. Fold in the dried cranberries and mix until combined.
  6. Move the dough into your baking tray, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes
  7. Preheat the oven to 400F
  8. Pull the tray out of the fridge and draw a knife through the dough to make even triangles
  9. Bake for 30 minutes, then cool for 10 minutes

The scones came out nice and soft and somewhat crumbly, and one will certainly fill you up!

If you try these, let us know what you think!

Question of the Day

What is your favorite vegan baked good?

monthly favorites, Vegan Cruelty Free, Vegan Fashion, vegan lifestyle

February Favorites

Samantha

Happy March VCF family! Not unlike January, February was equally short as it was long. Losing two to three days at the end of the month is bittersweet; happy because March is full of exciting things for our family and sad because, well, it’s two days less of time! Any who, you’ll see some February Favorites that are classic OGs and others that are new. What have you been loving this month?

Swiss On Shoes

I’m trying to pick up running again. My schedule barely leaves me time to breathe so I’m trying to fit it in where possible. I know once we move into the new house, my fitness will get back on track, but for now, my treadmill in my living room (ew) will have to do, and these shoes I bought when we were in Manhattan Beach, CA a couple years ago have regained my love.

Best of all, according to PETA, On is 100% vegan.

iPad Pro

I’m constantly thinking about work and things I have to do. Instead of carrying around numerous notebooks and post-its and notes, I now do everything on my iPad. Don’t get me wrong–I miss my old fashioned writing and still write in my gratitude journal every morning, but this iPad guys…game. changer.

Ember Cup

Hasn’t failed me so far. I use this Ember mug once if not twice a day, morning and night.

Faux Fur Infinity Scarf

Polar vortex. Snow. Ice. Slush. I hate it all, but this faux fur infinity scarf is coming through to keep my neck nice and warm. Best of all, it’s a Target find, for less than $15 (at least when I bought it a couple years ago).

Question of the Day

What are you guys loving this month?

Vegan Food, vegan lifestyle

5 Tips on How to Become a Vegetarian or Vegan in 2018

Samantha

There are two theories on setting resolutions for the New Year: 1. Yaaass honey fresh start clean slate I’m gonna slay this year, or 2. Ahem, you shouldn’t have to wait 365 days to start a new resolution. I hear you both. But there is something especially special (redundant?) about January 1st this year…it lands on a Monday. What’s more resolutiony than that? Whether you decided to stop eating meat (yay you!) On November 25th or want to start fresh at the beginning of a new year, more power to you! It never matters when you start, it just matters that you start a change and most importantly, that you stick to it. Here are 5 steps to help you become a vegetarian or vegan so that you can make 2018 better not only for you, but for the plant and all the animals on it.

Step 1: Tell Everyone

There is absolutely zero shame in you wanting to a) better your health and b) better the planet. The latter is pretty much the foundation of every religion, right? And no one will bash you for what you believe in (go away trolls!). And if you do happen to deal with those negative naysayers who make fun of “vegan food” or act negative around you, just shroud it out with your good vibes cause that’s all you’re putting out and lettin’ in sistah. Some show on Blue’s Clue’s (hi, 80s baby here) told me that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it. If you’ve tried to nicely explain your way of life or amazing decision to stop eating meat to someone and they just don’t get it…move on. You do you.

Step 2: Expect Bumps In the Road

Giving something up is never easy. If you’ve eaten meat your whole life, it’s hard to go cold turkey. Know that you may have a setback here or there but one setback isn’t the catalyst to failure. Just get back on the buggy.

Step 3: Educate Yourself

Piggybacking on step 2, the main reason most people fail at resolutions, regardless of what it is, is because they’re doing it for the wrong reasons. Someone may want to lose weight because they just want to be skinny and may get there the unhealthy way. Setting up a resolution should come from a desire for change. If you want to become vegetarian or vegan, but aren’t sure why or what to say when people ask you why, then it’s time to educate yourself! Once you feel compassionate about your cause, your resolution becomes less of a goal and more of an intrinsic belief. Check out numerous documentaries on Netflix and YouTube, get a vegan starter kit from PETA, and follow inspirational social media influencers to surround yourself with likeminded individuals.

Step 4: Plan for Success

You may be stuck on your daily ham and cheese sandwich for lunch or chicken and broccoli for dinner. As with every resolution, becoming vegetarian does need some work, but minimal at best. Googling vegetarian versions of your favorite recipes, new recipes all together, finding inspirational meal planners on social media or YouTube, these are all things that can help you plan for success.

The easiest way to start is to take a weekend and meal prep 2-3 vegetarian meals or vegan meals you can use for lunch and or dinner. It’s as easy as even preparing the ingredients you need to pull the meal together in minutes once you get home from work or after picking the kids up from school.

I have some What I Ate Wednesday videos on my YouTube channel with ideas to get you going!

Step 5: Enjoy the Journey

This resolution you set to not eat meat shouldn’t be a stressful one. Your body takes about a month to detox all the blood, spirit and chemicals from the meat products you’ve eaten over the years. Expect withdrawals, bad skin (a part of detox) which turns into amazing skin, stress and pressure. But all this in such a small period of time will lead to your best self.

Please always consult your physician before making any drastic physical or dietary changes.

Question of the Day

What is your resolution for the New Year?

I’m giving up processed sugar of any kind for the month of January. If all goes well, then another month after that and so forth.

Vegan Cruelty Free

Sephora & Vegan Beauty Haul

Samantha

What else do you do when you have a coupon for Sephora? You spend your life savings and withdraw from your 401(k) to spree is what (jk–but am I really). Well I’m on a tight budget (hello dream house), so I really only got the things I need. Come snoop through my cart!

1. Fresh Sugar Lip Caramel Hydrating Balm

If you need a new lip balm that smells like divine heavenly angel food cake and caramel on a plate, then you need to get this. Not only that, it feels dang good on the lips–your boyfriend, husband, girlfriend, lover, cat will thank you.

Unfortunately guys, I learned some tragic news thanks to Ethical Elephant: Fresh is NOT Cruelty–Free! Sadly, this doesn’t look good for Fresh considering all imported cosmetics into Mainland China are required by law to be tested on animals and by Fresh choosing to sell in these stores, they must consent and agree to have their products/ingredients subject to animal tests.

2. Farsali Beauty

Ya’ll, I am BEYOND excited about these two. I only got the mini sizes of Farsali Beauty Unicorn Essence and the Rose Gold Elixir because I wanted to test them out first, and also because the full-size options are hella expensive (bye bye dream house), so I opted for the little bottles. Also I like Farah, so I had to support her.

From their website:  Our naturally inspired products are always cruelty-free, and made with exceptional-quality in mind. YAY! <– not from their site, only my enthusiasm.

3. Asili Naturals Bath Bomb

I mean, you know I can’t go a couple weeks without talking about my #1 homie, Asili Naturals, my most favorite VCF brand of all time. So of course, this Rosemary Jasmine bath bomb joins the haul party.

4. Fresh Sugar Roll-On

Aside from the fact that Fresh Sugar is NOT VCF (did you hear that noise? That’s my heart breaking), I am most excited to try this product because it’s both an anti-perspirant AND deodorant and most “healthy” deoderants are only the latter. This will most likely go back because it’s not VCF. Womp womp.

P.S. I also got a little sample of the Solid Beauty Blender cleaner because I love my Real Techniques Beauty Blender…is that cheating to us the BB cleaner for my Real Techniques sponge?

Question of the Day

What have you guys picked up lately that you’re loving?? We want to snoop!

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