Earth Balance - Butter Solution?

How About Butter?

Most of people ask me how can we bake something without butter! Well, there are many ways, I may confess but living in north america you can solve the issue by going to the supermarket. One brand that is easy to find and is Earth Balance.

Despite liking it for being practical, I think that this butter have some problems but what really bothered me is that they use palm oil on its products.

As we know, the exploration of palm oil causes great destruction on Malaysa, Borneo and Sumatra (to give examples) rainforests and kills lots of orangutangs (these animals have been found killed by being buried alive, burnt or by a machete) and other animals. It also has great impact on people, like the indigenous population loosing their lands and child labor. Because of that I am avoiding palm oil as much as I can. The brand claims that they do it in a sustainable way, using only certified palm oil and supporting conservation organizations. I disagree that this is an asset, this is the minimum and shall not be something that you use as marketing to attract more people.

In this sense, earth balance might be directly vegan, once it is not dairy but thinking about their production chain, it is not that vegan at all once that it uses palm oil.

If by chance you are on a rush and need butter earth balance is a solution but I strongly sugest that you start trying doing your own =)

Here goes a link that might help people understand the impacts of palm oil and why we should avoid it at all costs: Say No To Palm Oil

Onion Biscuits

Onion Biscuits

As one can see, taking pictures is not one of my talents. But I bake pretty well =)

These onion biscuits is my grandmother´s recipe and one of the best tested so far. I baked them again yesterday and I am ready to share the knowledge.

2 Cups of Flour
200g of Butter (I used the vegan one, Earth Balance)
1Tbs of salt
1 Medium Red Onion Chopped

In a large bowl, mix with your hands the flour and the butter until you get a soft even dough (Probably you will have to keep pressing it for 20-30 minutes until you get there).

Once your dough reaches the point, pour the chopped onion and mix until you have it well incorporated with the dough.

Transfer the dough to an even surface and with the help of a rolling pin, spread the dough on the table and cut it in your favorite shape.

Bake it for 5-10 minutes (KEEP AN EYE ON IT! THEY BAKE FAST!) in medium heat.

Let it cool and enjoy!

Vegenaise... Yummmmmy

Vegenaise as the name alreay tell us is a type of Mayo free of animal products.
In taste it is super similar to the normal mayonese with the difference that it tastes better an it is cruelty free.
I know people that change the normal mayo for vegenaise (including my boss) because of its delicious taste!
In Canada the vegenaise from Earth Island can be found anywhere on vegan or health food section from the supermarket.

In the U.S there is a very famous brand called Hampton Creek with its Mayo called "Just Mayo". Hempton Creek was a huge success and several cuisine chefs started to use it in their dishes, intead of the giant from Unilever. Hellman's even sued Hampton Creek Just Mayo for deceiving the consumer and that they should change the name of the product. T.T

If you are curious about it, this site can help you understand in details all the issue.

Now, if you are reading this from outside north america and are wondering how all this might taste and feeling sad because they didn't arrive in your country yet (or are just too expensive) fear not! Part of living the vegan lifestyle is learning how to cook and developing patience for that. There are several websites that have different recipes of Vegenaise. Personally speaking, I never tested any so I will just post a link from one of the recipes that I found on the web <3

Vegenaise Recipe Untested

Good luck!

Where should I start? Shopping, of course!

Once you watch very graphic movies about the dairy and meat industry (Earthlings is a good example) it is very difficult to shut your eyes and keep participating on that for the mere pleasure of eating something or using an animal tested brand.

If you are the person that just decided to go vegan you are probably struggling now to find the ingredients, cleaning products, beauty products, clothing.. basically, everything.

Nobody said that seeing the world with new eyes would be easy but there are some easy things to do that will make the transition easier.

If you live in Canada, almost every supermarket have its organic/natural food section where you can find nice treats. Missing mayonese? No worries! Earth Island have a list of different types of Vegenaise (talk about it soon)! Can't live without butter? The same company produces butter. It is called Earth Balance and it is delicious. Milk? Almond is my favorite but you can have coconut, cashew, rice, hemp....And this is only food.

The vegan world is amazing and the sky is the limit. Soon you will start to make your own "cheese".
For cleaning products, just go to the same section of organic/natural products and you can find nice personal hygiene, cleaning products and other needs. All cruelty free. I will talk about the brands and my tests.

Bye bye!

First Post

I have always liked writing but I also have always lacked discipline to keep doing it and normally I drop everything I start. Hopefully this time I won't do this again.
Hopefully this time I will get people to enter my blog and keep encouraging me to continue writing.
Hopefully.
Everything regarding my beliefs will be recorded here and open to people come, see it and even discuss it.
Thanks for reading. Let´s start with a few posts.