Bay Area Vegetarians

Read it online or subscribe to have it delivered directly to your inbox.

* Maker Faire – Let’s Make Veg*ns!
* Thank you VIP’s!
* News Bites
* Spotlight: AnimalVisuals.org
* Ultimate Guide Updates
* Heart Smart Cooking
* Event Calendar

Photos from our April 11th tour at the Animal Place sanctuary and education center in Vacaville are now available in our photo gallery.  Here’s two of our favorite photographs.  The first shows the green hills and pastures at Animal Place, and the second features Marji, our tour guide and Animal Place education coordinator, telling us the chickens’ stories.  Humans are all queued up and interested in the chickens, and the chickens are all queued up and interested in the human visitors.

Visit our photo gallery for more photos from our 2009 tour.

Beautiful green pastures at Animal Place

Chickens and Humans, interest on both sides

Happy Mother’s Day! And that goes out to everyone who nurtures, loves and cares for someone small. BAV has some really cool parents on the list, raising veg kids, and we’ve also got countless folks who love and care for rescued dogs, cats, rats, birds, cows, chickens, and pigs. So Happy Mom Day to everyone from Bay Area Veg!

Mother’s Day seems to revolve around a big breakfast, and that just doesn’t work for me. Old fashioned breakfasts are made from lots of eggs and milk. Eggs and milk come from mother cows and mother chickens. It’s the food their bodies create for their babies, but we take it away to give ourselves heart disease and cancer. Could anything be LESS celebratory of Mother’s Day?!?

This year, try some vegan goodies for your mom (or for yourself, if all your “kids” are furry and can’t be trusted to use the stove).

Pancakes are always a winner. The following recipe is for the classic, blueberry pancakes, and they’re pretty hard to mess up. Serve with vegan butter (Earth Balance), maple syrup, sliced fruit (grill it if you want to be really fancy!), and some strong coffee or tea with Silk soy creamer. Add a side of vegan mock “bacon” that you buy at the store, or make your own (recipe below).

If your mom prefers savory, try this recipe for breakfast burritos:

And if your mom is a runner, like mine, give her some more carbs! Try a heaping plate of hashbrowns with tofu scramble. Recipes below, and don’t forget the ketchup and Tabasco sauce!

Last but not least, I wanted to share a great local resource with you. 101 Cookbooks is an award-winning recipe blog written by San Francisco native Heidi Swanson. I *love* her vegan recipes. The site is veg, heavily vegan, with gorgeous photographs and idea. Here is a yummy-sounding cookie recipe that I’m going to make for my mom. It’s worth 10 minutes of your time to browse through Heidi’s vegan recipes. You’ll be inspired.

Have a wonderful Mother’s Day Weekend!

Blueberry Pancakes
Better Than Bacon
Hashbrowns
Tofu Scramble

Read the rest of this entry »

Vegan Sponge Bob Cake made by Christine

Dust off your baking pans and get ready for the First Annual Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale between June 20th and 28th!  Make this a fundraiser for your favorite veg or animal charity, or use the organizer’s suggestions to make this a vegan food giveaway to the general public.

One of our members, Robin, is looking for co-organizers and participants to bring this activity to the South Bay.  Please email us if you’d like to get involved.