Ingredients: 1 cup white flour 1 cup whole wheat flour 1 cup water 1 cup brown sugar 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ¾ cup cocoa powder for baking ½ cup vegetable oil ½ teaspoon baking powder Optional: ½ - 1 cup chopped nuts, ½ - 1 cup vegan chocolate chips Instructions: Spray a 9 x 13 baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Combine flour, water, brown sugar, and salt. (A wire whisk works best). Stir in vanilla extract, coco powder, vegetable oil, and baking powder using a wooden spoon. Spread evenly into the baking sheet and bake at 400 for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted on the sides comes out clean
Early in 2019, 200 pigs were discovered, barely surviving at an illegal slaughterhouse in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Emaciated, starving and close to death, they had survived by eating whatever they could... building debris, bits of old cars strewn around the site and the corpses of their dead brethren, those unlucky souls who had already succumbed to this hell-on-Earth in which they had been consigned to end their tragic lives.
Officials quickly rehomed many of the pigs, but 53 of them - perhaps the most desperate ones, perhaps those who had fought hardest to survive - were condemned to be slaughtered under a Government 'Destruction Order'. The reason for this was that, because they had been forced to eat the carcasses of their fellow prisoners, there was a risk they might now be diseased.
After all they'd been through, their 'rescuers' were now condemning them to be put to death! And that is where their story would have ended, but for the compassion, commitment and dedication of one woman, Sasha Bennet who was not going to sit back and watch the destruction of these 53 innocent boys and girls. After a nine-month legal battle, with help from an amazing firm of solicitors, Advocates for Animals, Sasha won the right to rehome these traumatised survivors at her animal sanctuary 'Beneath The Wood'.
During their time in the Government holding facility, however, some of the pigs had given birth so the herd had grown to 74 and soon after they arrived at Beneath The Wood Sanctuary, more piglets were born, bringing their total number to 91. This unexpected influx of extra piggies was not going to stop Sasha, however, who along with a small and dedicated team of helpers, set about starting to raise funds for the feeding, care and intensive upkeep of the new guests.
Thus was born the Pigoneer 2000 Club, a Global Vegan Crowdfunder campaign to help ensure the pigs would never go hungry again. Now that the piglets are grown and each weighs up to half a tonne, they each cost £1.80 a day to feed. Although this might not sound like very much, when you multiply that by 91 the total cost is around £5000 per month. The aim of the Club is to find 2,000 volunteers (or Pigoneers, as we are called) to each commit to donating just £2.50 a month to cover these costs.
It wasn't just the feeding, housing and mucking-out that needed attending to. These pigs had been through Hell and come out the other side, but it had left them scarred and traumatised by the experience and they had to be shown love. They had be shown that not all humans are monsters.
If you can spare just £2.50 a month and would like to become a Pigoneer, then please visit the Fundraiser page here. With your help, we can do this.
But let's not sit on our laurels. These pigs were the lucky ones. There are many, many more who are suffering untold torture, misery and death every single day. So before I go, I want to share another message from Sasha Bennet:
"There's so many pigs that need help! I rescued 91 from one cruelty case. There are lots more 91 pigs out there to be rescued. Anyone can rescue them. It just takes some commitment, but anyone could do it." Please help show your support by hitting the Tweet button below and sharing the story of the 91 Pigs. Lentils make a delicious, nutritious and cruelty-free substitute for the traditional beef that usually goes in tacos.
Ingredients: 1 cup dried, brown lentils 1, 8 ounce can of tomato sauce 1 packet taco seasoning mix (vegan) Corn tortillas or taco shells Shredded romaine lettuce Cucumber slices Chopped, fresh tomatoes Soy sour cream Salsa Guacamole Instructions: Soak the lentils in a large bowl until soft, about one hour. Transfer to a saucepan and mix with tomato sauce and taco seasoning. Add about ¼ cup of water. Simmer on low until heated through. Spoon into taco shells or tortillas and top with things like sour cream, salsa, lettuce, cucumber, and tomato. Animal Rebellion deserve a medal. Very early this morning activists under the Animal Rebellion banner turned up at all four McDonald's UK distribution centres, set up blockades and shut them down, thereby preventing any potential deliveries to all 1300 McdDonald's restaurants in the UK.
It's no secret that McDonald's are one of the world's largest abusers of animals, directly responsible for the slaughter of billions of innocent individuals every year. The environmental destruction funded by this company is also well documented, with huge swathes of rainforest being destroyed to feed cattle destined for Big Macs and greenhouse gases created by the cattle a major contributor to climate change. Opposition to McDonald's has been gathering momentum for decades. You may remember the Mclibel trial during the 1990s when McDonald's sued Helen Steel and Dave Morris of London Greenpeace for handing out leaflets informing the public of the truth about McDonald's practices and the impact on animals, the environment, human health and human rights. It became the longest ever UK libel case and McDonald's threw everything they had at the two unemployed activists for many years but failed to suppress the truth. In fact, attempts to silence the activists only served to draw even more attention to the atrocities with campaigners all over the UK distributing leaflets every week and a huge amount of media coverage as a result of the many blockades, occupations, marches and protests by activistsall over the world. But thirty years later very little has changed. Despite McDonalds introducing a rather sorry handful of vegan options, they are still one of the world's largest players in the animal agriculture industry. In the current climate this kind of destruction on such a large-scale is simply unacceptable. Consuming such huge quantities of meat and dairy is quite simply unsustainable and so Animal Rebellion are demanding that the company commit to going 100% plant-based by 2025. As I write this, ten hours after the blockades began, they are still ongoing and activists plan on remaining in place for at least 24 hours, not only disrupting McDonald's entire UK network but also highlighting the frailty of the company's distribution chain and sending a clear message that these kinds of practices will no longer be tolerated. It turns out that those who threaten life on Earth are in many ways just as vulnerable as the ecosystems they destroy. Best of luck to all the brave activists involved. Update: I asked my vegan Twitter followers whether they'd eat at McDonalds... you can read the results here We're all used to seeing "What I Eat In A Day" videos on YouTube where, for some reason that I've never quite understood, these seem to be really popular. Sure, I can see why people who are looking to lose weight or put on muscle might want to see some examples of what their role models eat, how much and how often, etc. But very often these kinds of videos are put out by people with very poor to zero nutritional knowledge and can even be a dangerous source of nutritional advice. What would make more sense to me is to look for examples of what we should be eating each day, not based on some YouTube celebrity or an adherent of some fringe or extreme diet, but based on real scientific evidence. It's absolutely insane that in an attempt to justify their bad eating habits and addiction to meat and dairy, people would rather follow dietary advice from idiots like Sv3rige or Nikocado Avocado instead of highly qualified experts on the subject. If only there was someone who had the time to wade through in great detail and really analyse all of the peer-reviewed scientific nutritional studies that were published, in order to discern exactly what we should be eating for optimal health and wellbeing. Thankfully, Dr Michael Gregor from nutritionfacts.org has made it his life's work to wade through all of the studies available, on an ongoing basis, in order that we don't have to! Now, as a result of his years of intensive study, Dr Gregor knows that all of the evidence adds up to show that a whole food, plant based/vegan diet is the the optimal diet for human health and nutrition. However, not all plant foods are created equal. For example, if you were to eat only potatoes it would be a whole food plant based diet but wouldn't give you optimal nutrition! So he's compiled lots and lots of videos and blog posts about the different nutrients available in various different foods and you should head on over to his website and his YouTube channel to have a look at some of these. But what he has basically done is condensed all of this huge wealth of information down to what he calls his daily dozen - twelve essential elements that you should be trying to incorporate every single day as part of a balanced and varied lifestyle and I've summarised these below. I cannot delve into all of the different food groups here to talk about all the awesome foods and near-miraculous components within each group or why these are so important so again I would urge you to head on over to NutritionFacts.org or get the Daily Dozen app from the app store so that you never again have to rely on random YouTubers giving you biased advice on what to eat... Legumes Hummus or bean dip, cooked beans, split peas, lentils, tofu, tempeh, fresh peas or sprouted lentils. Berries Fresh, frozen or dried. Other Fruits A wide variety of fresh and dried fruit is recommended. Cruciferous Vegetables Things like, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, watercress, Brussels sprouts or broccoli sprouts and horseradish Greens Both raw and cooked. Other Vegetables Raw and cooked, leafy and non-leafy veg, vegetable juice, mushrooms. Flaxseeds One tablespoon ground Nuts and Seeds Quarter cup of nuts or seeds Two tablespoons of nut or seed butter Herbs and Spices Quarter teaspoon of turmeric Any other salt-free herbs and spices you enjoy Whole Grains Hot or cold cereal or cooked grains, pasta or corn kernels, tortilla or sliced bread, bagels or English muffins, popcorn Beverages Water, green tea, herbal and lemon teas are ideal. Exercise Daily exercise is so vital to a healthy and balanced life. Try to take 90 minutes of moderate exercise or 40 minutes of vigorous activity. B12 Made by microbes in the soil, the results of vitamin B12 deficiency can be devastating. The form of B12 you should be looking for is cyanocobalamin, which you can get through eating plenty of fortified vegan foods. However, it is so important that it is also advised to take a supplement. If you enjoyed this post, don't forget to let me know by Tweeting it using the button below so I can create more content like this for you in future.
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