vegansaurus!

Happy day! Van Leeuwen has vegan ice cream!   »

Check it out! I haven’t tried it yet but there’s a Van Leeuwen in my neighborhood in BK. I’m so excited! Everybody loves this stuff! According to their fb, the vegan flavors will be available at all locations. HUZZAH!

Recipe: The Vegan Italian Hoagie!   »

Growing up in Philly, I ate plenty of hoagies in my pre-vegan days. Italian hoagies were my jam especially so when I saw that Diaya was coming out with provolone slices, I was like, “this is it! It’s hoagie time!” And god bless me, my vegan hoagie turned out out of control delicious!

You too can make your own Italian hoagie, here are the supplies you will need:

-Italian Amoroso-type roll (I found one at the deli at the regular grocery store—had cornmeal dust and all)
-Vegan mayo (I used Earth Balance)
-Daiya provolone
-Veg salami (I used Viana Velami, got this and the Daiya from Vegan Essentials)
-Iceberg lettuce
-Onion
-Pickle slices
-Olive oil
-White vinegar
-Salt/pepper/oregano

Slice your roll along the side (not the top like crazy Subway) and spread the mayo inside. Place your meat and cheese slices like so:

Then slice your lettuce and onions. BTW this is prob the only time I will ever recommend iceberg for anything. Don’t tear it or anything, the lettuce should be sliced into strips like these: 

And I just sliced the onion similarly. Sprinkle ample amounts of lettuce and onion on top of your open sandwich. Then top with pickle slices. 

Sprinkle a little of your oil and vinegar on top. Then the salt, pepper, and a dash of oregano. 

TA-DA!

Coming soon! NYC Vegan Cook-Off: Hors d’Oeuvres Competition!   »

Check it out NYC! A competition for my favorite food category: vegan hors d’oeuvres! Why do we eat anything else? Appetizers are really the only food that matters. Well, that and dessert. Why do we eat anything but appetizers and desserts? BECAUSE WE ARE MASOCHISTS, I THEORIZE!

Details:

The Vegan Cook-Off: Hors d’Oeuvres Competition

Sunday, June 2, 2pm
The Bell House
149 7th Street, Brooklyn (directions)
Tickets $12 advance / $15 day of to eat and vote (includes a free raffle ticket)
Free to compete. Competitor applications close Friday, May 17 at 11:59pm.

Queens elementary school cafeteria goes vegetarian!  »

While students at the Active Learning Elementary School in Queens are free to bring whatever lunch they want from home, the school cafeteria will now be serving exclusively vegetarian meals. Apparently, they had already been serving veggie meals three days a week, and health is a big focus of the educational mission there.

The school of nearly 400 students, from pre-kindergarten to third grade, was founded five years ago on the principle that a healthy lifestyle leads to strong academic achievement.

“We decided on a vision where health and nutrition would be a part of educating the whole child,” school principal Bob Groff said….

“The vegetarian menu fits right in with our mission, and we are thrilled that our students in pre-kindergarten all the way up to grade three understand the importance of healthy and nutritious meals,” Groff said in a statement.

New York schools — which provide meals for 1.1 million students daily—offer principals vegetarian and nonvegetarian lunch options. Groff worked closely with the department so that the menu changes came at no additional cost to the school.

Pretty amazing. Would you have imagined this was a possibility in today’s America? I’m amazed. I also can’t believe the beef industry isn’t breaking down the principal’s door with pitchforks. You go, Mr. Groff!

Claret makes cute vegan handbags!  »

Claret only has three bags in the collection at the moment but I’m pretty into them. And the bag above is $140 so the price isn’t that bad. I love the design details. I’m excited to see what they’ll make in the future! 

Vegan shoes on sale at Fab  »

Fab.com has some great vegan options at the moment! That is all.

Spotted: New vegan handbag line Freedom Of Animals  »

Style.com just posted about this brand new vegan company Freedom Of Animals and my dear sis-in-law sent it my way. My sis-in-law is a fashion designer and totally the arbiter of good taste so I was very stoked. Of course, the bag above is $480. So now you are probably like, “screw you, Megan Rascal, screw you!” But I got to keep you in the loop on advances in vegan fashion. 

You’ll like the company too:

Freedom Of Animals bags are sustainably sourced and consciously made. Our fabrics comply with EPA guidelines. No harsh chemicals were used in any of our products and we are 100% cruelty free.

Sound good? Sounds good! My favorite is the Melia Lia above. This pic from their site is also my favorite too:

Haaaaa. 

Dolphins call each other by their name! Because they are the best!  »

Can’t see the video? Watch it on Vegansaurus.com!

Dolphins have names for each other! I guess they already knew dolphins named themselves, but this new study discovered that they will call each other by names, especially when they are separated.

“Animals produced copies when they were separated from a close associate and this supports our belief that dolphins copy another animal’s signature whistle when they want to reunite with that specific individual,” lead author Stephanie King of the University of St. Andrews Sea Mammal Research Unit told Discovery News.

So of course they totally harassed dolphin mamas and babies to find this out but we can still appreciate the implications of the science even if we disapprove of the methods: dolphins are awesome!

If you want to help dolphins, who are slaughtered by the thousands every year (not to mention help captive in shameful zoos and aquariums), check out Sea Shepherd’s dolphin initiatives. 

Fashion Loves Animals was a huge success! Let’s look at pictures!  »

I attended Farm Sanctuary’s Fashion Loves Animals event this past weekend, they were honoring one of my favorite people: Leanne of Vaute Couture! As we arrived, I was quickly given a shot of asparagus soup (pictured above) made by new celebrity chef Jay Astafa! I was completely stoked since I had missed his popup dinner. I was also stoked because the soup was delicious! 

Here’s Jay prepping behind the scenes. 

Now, on to the Vaute fashion show! 

Yes, lovely outfit. More importantly: OMG what a cute dog! And all the pups were up for adoption. No but really, the clothes were lovely. And I love these shoes by Love is Mighty. They’re made of old candy wrappers! 

Notice the Brave GentleMan kicks. 

I love this dress. There were new versions of this dress I’d seen at Vaute’s fashion week show—now it comes in lots of pretty floral patters! Leanne said they are at the Vaute Couture store now. Yay!

Beautiful picture of the back of this dress by me. 

This puppy stole the show of course. Because PUPPY!

Beautiful picture of the end of the show by me. There’s Leanne with models in tow.

Here’s a behind the scenes shot from Max Gordon Photography (all the pics not taken by me were supplied by Vaute’s lovely PR person Meredith and are by Max Gordon or Farm Sanctuary). Also check out the sweater, I love it. I need it.

And here we have the stars of the show—and really the stars of any show they attend for that matter!: Leanne, Gene Baur, Discerning Brute Joshua.

And in closing, here’s a lovely Vine video I took:

OMG I had so much fun! Thanks, Farm Sanctuary!