Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Tweleve Days of Goodies: Part IV

I wanted to make one vegan "goodie" during my holiday baking extravaganza. I saw a recipe in Vegan With a Vengeance for "Sparkled Ginger Cookies," and since ginger cookies were on my list, I decided to try it. I made up a batch this morning, and let me just say: "Lordy, Lordy!" These are some seriously good ginger cookies. In a taste-test, I'm sure they'd match any non-vegan variety. The recipe makes a pretty small batch, so I'm definitely going to have to make at least one more! Also, the dough was much easier to work with after being refrigerated for 10-15 minutes.

As I was working on these little gems, I listened to something new that Sleek recently put on my iPod. It's a Talking Heads compilation that just RULES!

6 comments:

HopSkipJump said...

OK, Mama. I literally just pulled two rib-eye steaks out of the freezer to thaw for dinner tonight. If you have time, please explain to me the vegan bit.

In the past, I've known only one vegan. An angry, bitter woman (which I assume was unbalanced because she was STARVING). Why do you do it? What is your reasoning?

Know I'm not being a cheeky... it's a genuine interest from a man who grew up with a majority of his family proud to be hunters (meals were planned around the meat).

olives and more said...

IF: That's funny the angry, bitter vegan....

DM: Love Talking Heads....cookies sound yummy too. coming up tomorrow...i have an interview!!

Susan Chipley said...

IF: Obviously, I don't do vegan all the time. I do like to eat vegan meals a lot. Mostly for health reasons. Environmental reasons as well. That said, I don't believe that meat-eaters are unhealthy. I definitely believe that eating meat can be part of a healthy diet.

Factory farming really grosses me out. The conditions in which the animals are kept, the things they are fed. Yuck. Grosses me right out.I know that not all meat is raised that way, and many people have access to local farms where they can buy grain-fed, humanely raised meat, milk and eggs. That is much healthier for people and the environment. (I do have access to local eggs, but I have to buy factory milk, which bothers me.)

Really it comes down to getting grossed out when I think about putting animal flesh in my mouth. It's weird because fish is different for me. It doesn't feel as "muscle-y" to me. Plus, I don't eat farm-raised fish. I only do wild, and when possible only buy fish that is fished in a sustainable way. (Short-line caught, as opposed to using nets.)

As for hunting, I live in WV, so obviously there is a lot of that going on. I believe eating wild meat is much better (health-wise and environmentally) than factory-farmed meat. I have absolutely no problem at all with hunting.

So, that pretty much sums it up. Enjoy your steak! ;)

olives: Yay! That's awesome!

carrie said...

Some information about the environmental impact of farming animals for meat, if you are interested.

DM, we eat locally raised eggs too (well, most of the time, they aren't always available when I need or want them). And, I do have access to locally produced milk, but my little one is lactose intolerant, so I have to buy Organic Valley LF milk for her (can't get LF milk locally, lol).

carrie said...

By the way DM, the cookies look great. Mairin's been dying to make gingerbread men for Christmas, do you think the dough for these would roll and cut easily??

Susan Chipley said...

carrie: There is no way in all of hell that this dough would roll out and cut. It says to roll it in balls, then flatten into disks. I used a little scoop, then flattened, and it still stuck to my hands like crazy. It's pretty darn sticky and "loose" if you know what I mean.