San Francisco Girl By The Bay's hand silkscreened reproductions of the vintage WWII era poster shown here in juicy orange. LOVE. Visit the etsy shop here

From Hijirik Studios:: Letterpress Prints and Cards with Love visit the etsy shop here

Natural 'Beauty'

Not only have I become super conscious about what I eat, but I have also become slightly obsessed about my exposure to everyday toxins and chemicals. From cleaning aids to beauty products - I am all about weaning myself off of the few remaining chemical laden products I use in my home and on my body! The way I see it - there are so many things (environmental factors) that are beyond our control - but what we choose to eat or clean our homes with or use on our skin are things we absolutely can control - so why shouldn't we be conscientious about the choices we make there? Aside from being better for the environment (reason alone to switch from chemical to natural) - products free of harmful additives are also better for us and aren't we worth it?

Because skin care products in particular (as all girls know) are generally quite an expensive investment... I decided to do a little research and product testing - and would encourage any of you to do the same before making a purchase (or switching brands). You can do this quite easily (as I did) simply by writing an email to any of the companies whose products you are interested in and requesting tiny samples.
I'm sorry, but in my (not so humble) opinion, any company worth their weight... any company who stands behind their product 100% that is not just feeding you some bullshit marketing scheme, should be more than happy to not only take the time to respond to your inquiry, but being a potential customer, they should also be more than willing to share a few samples with you as well. Some of you may have beauty regimens that are tried and true and which you don't wish to change. If it's working for you, stick with it! I happen to be a bit of a product whore and I love to try new things, so any excuse... : ) But I am also just appalled at the amount of harsh chemicals and other bad-for-you ingredients typically found in most skin care products and have become increasingly interested in making sure the products I use fall into the more natural and holistic categories - and I definitely seek out products that are not derived from or tested on animals.
I contacted 14 companies who to my knowledge fit this description - ranging from small, lesser known companies, to larger companies with a huge and well known presence within the beauty industry. It's been almost a week and so far I have heard back from 6 of these companies - and as I suspected would be the case - it was all of the smaller companies who responded immediately!

Over the course of the next couple of weeks - as the samples arrive, I'll be posting my reviews here. If any of you have had your own personal experiences with any of the companies mentioned - I'd love to hear about it! Or.. if there is another company whose products you've used and either loved or hated - I want to hear those stories as well.
Here is a list of the companies I contacted:

Dr. Hauschka
Juara Skin Care
Jurlique
Red Flower Organics
Origins
Pur~lisse
Fresh Skin Care
Sundari
Caudalie
REN Skin Care
Skyn Iceland
Sk-II
Amore Pacific
Korner Skin Care

I've already recieved some of the samples in the mail which is enough to make me smile in and of itself -  it's like xmas in April! I am so excited to try these products that it just may result in some fun giveaways ladies...
Tomorrow I'll be posting about Dr. Hauschka so stay tuned!!!

New Beginnings

For anyone who has visited this tiny blog more than once (anyone? Bueller?) you'll notice I have changed the format and the intention somewhat. I am no longer doing the numbered days journal entry thing - primarily because I am no longer embarked on the 100 day manifest challenge - which was the thing that propelled me into creating this blog in the first place. What can I say? I have a short attention span... and that grew dull after about two weeks of religiously updating my posts on a daily basis. Blah...

I have also put the whole vegan baking business on the shelf... for the time being. One of the things I've discovered since becoming all health-conscious and particularly since going vegan, is that I am super passionate about sharing all of the information I have and continue to learn along the way. Keeping this blog kind of brought that to light... I have always been really interested in health and nutrition and in particular, I have a soft spot for preventative medicine, holistic healthcare and 'natural' alternative treatments for illnesses.

Anyway... so as not to bore you all to tears... to make a very long story short, and to not give too much of my long term plan away (just yet) -  I've decided to actively pursue going back to school this coming Fall. I'm not going to talk too much about that just yet, as I have a tendency to get all hopped up on an idea, tell everyone I know, and then let those ideas fall by the way side as soon as I become interested in something else... (some of you are totally rolling your eyes right now!) I'm not saying that will happen this time around as well... in fact I feel more sure about this than I have about anything else (even baking!) in a long time. But time will tell how this all pans out. When things start to really progress I'll keep you posted! In the meantime I will bake vegan cupcakes for free for any friend who wants to come over and share one with me sometime :)

Instead this blog will be more of a scrap book and catch all for all of the people, projects, places and ideas which inspire me on a regular basis. It will be a place where I can share information with you all - including information about products that I have used and loved (or hated) and which some of you may or may not have heard of. I'll share links to other blogs and websites that interest me and that I hope may interest you as well. I'd also love for it to be a place that creates an open forum for discussion about really any and everything - but primarily about health and happiness and creativity - all issues close to my heart - so if any of you have something you'd like to share or want to discuss, I'd like to encourage you to bring it to my attention. You can do so by posting a comment or sending me an email. I would love to hear from you!

So... until next time :)

Dairy Schmairy

Going vegan was pretty easy for me - I have never been a big meat eater. Eggs, milk, cheese, butter, yogurt and ice cream on the other hand were a little harder to part with... but giving them up has seriously been the best thing I have ever done for my body - and I am thoroughly convinced that I am at least mildly lactose intolerant. It took some research and a little trial and error finding products to replace the dairy products I used most frequently - but here are a few exceptional products that I now cannot live without.

Veganaise. This is truly a must-have in a vegan pantry or for anyone looking for a cholesterol free alternative to regular mayonnaise. Veganaise is an eggless, soy-based, expeller-pressed canola oil, mayonnaise substitute and is by far the best tasting faux-mayo on the market. Canola oil has the lowest saturated fat of all the widely-used salad oils and this product delivers all of the rich taste of real mayonnaise without the usual cholesterol and preservatives. It's awesome on sandwiches - I have added fresh herbs, garlic, fresh chopped jalapeno etc to great affect - but it's also really good plain. I've made delicious salad dressings with veganaise - it's especially excellent for creamy potato salad...  I go through this stuff like crazy. Look for the high Omega-3 version for an extra healthy, good for you boost.

I used to cook with and eat a lot of butter (Mmmm butter...) These days I cook exclusively with cold-pressed coconut and extra virgin olive oils. Since I am no longer a big consumer of bread or bagels or other things that require a spread of something... I don't find much need for a regular butter replacement. In those rare bread instances I prefer a nut butter... BUT I do love to bake (hellooo... cupcake obsession!) and so I do occasionally need a good butter substitute. The best I have found is Earth Balance non-hydrogenated vegetable oil spread - which comes in tubs and the more-convenient-for-baking sticks. Some hard core activists may take issue with this product given the company's use of palm oil and their supposedly unethical harvesting practices. I am not going to go into all of that here... if you're interested in learning more about that you can google it. What can I say? I am not that hardcore an activist and at the risk of sounding smug - I hope my being vegan in general and the positive affect that has on the environment offsets some of the negative practices using this product may support. I use it rather infrequently and alas... am not perfect. Unless someone can suggest a comparable product of the same high quality as Earth Balance that does not use palm oil, I am sticking with this brand. Incidentally... I do have several cake recipes that call for plain canola oil instead of butter - so this may be a good alternative as well. (just be sure to use the correct conversions) Oil in cake recipes usually makes for a very moist cake :)

Now that I've been doing the vegan thing for a while and my body has gone all 'pure' - I really don't even crave dairy anymore... I used to love yogurt - but I miss it so little that I've not even gotten around to trying some of the yummy sounding soy and coconut yogurt alternatives out there. (if any of you have tried them, I'd love to hear what you think!) I even successfully gave up ice cream - and I used to consider myself something of an ice cream connoisseur!  These days when I want something sinfully sweet, I grab one of Turtle Mountain's Coconut Mini 'Ice Cream' Sandwiches or a Tofutti Cutie ... which are so yummy-licious that I can't even imagine ever wanting to eat the 'real thing' instead ever again. For reals! If you've never tried them you should... healthier on the heart and better for your kiddos too if you have 'em...
Tofutti (the company) makes lots of other dairy substitutes as well - but the only other one I have tried is Tofutti 'Better Than Cream Cheese ' which frankly, I think is not better than cream cheese at all... and pretty icky tasting if you ask me. Some of you might like it though - so don't let me discourage you from trying it.

As far as eggs go... again, I really don't miss them very much. I do enjoy a good tofu scram as an occasional breakfast alternative :) In baking I always replace eggs in recipes with applesauce or other fruit purees with great success - and that usually has the added benefit of making baked goods extra moist as well. I've never tried the 'flax seed mixed with water' trick as an egg replacer in baking - has anyone else?
Milk? In all honesty I was never much of a plain milk drinker before I went all vegan, but I am now a big proponent of almost all of the milk alternatives on the market including soy milk - especially chocolate soy milk, which does a very good job of satisfying my pesky sweet tooth and which I am somewhat addicted to... Love the EdenSoy brand. Rice milk (my personal favorite for drinking plain, smoothie-making, or having in cereal - Rice Dream is the Best!) and nut milks such as almond milk. I have yet to try hemp milk - but I've heard good things about it as far as taste and nutrition goes so I look forward to giving it a try soon.

I know there are also a lot of faux cheese products on the market (such as Daiya ) I probably shouldn't knock something I've never tried, but I feel the same way about these products as I do about faux meat products - no thank you. But that is just my own strange food preference... if you don't have an issue with them - by all means give them a try. I tend to lump them into the same category as non food-stuffs... overly-processed junk -  and so I don't eat them for that reason as well.

That's it. That's my list of non-dairy must haves for the vegan kitchen - or for anyone looking for healthy dairy substitutes. If you have something to add to this list - or would like to share a dairy-free product or experience with the rest of us, I'd love to hear from you! I hope this post was informative to those of you who may have been unfamiliar with the products that were mentioned... even if you are not a vegan and have no interest in becoming one - perhaps you are just health-conscious - I would definitely encourage you to give these products a try some time.