Souper Easy Winter Squash Soup

This soup is so yummy, and it’s so easy that even your three-legged, one-eyed rescued dog can make it. Well, maybe not, but you can give her some, and she’ll love it!

Live on this.

Live on this.

What You’ll Need (Makes 6 Cups):
• 1 Large organic Butternut Squash (You can also use Acorn or Delicata Squash)
• 1 Cube of unsalted vegan bullion (I use Rapunzel, Unsalted Vegan Buillon)
• 2 Shallots, diced
• 3 Cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1/2 Cup unflavored Almond Milk
• 2 tsp Celtic Sea Salt or Pink Salt
• 1 tsp nutritional yeast (for seeds)
• 1 tsp olive oil

Directions:
1. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil.
2. Using a peeler, skin the squash. Chop the squash into approx. one-inch cubes. Set aside the seeds.
3. Place all ingredients  (aside from Nut. yeast) in the hot water, turn down heat, and simmer for about 20 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, toast the seeds until golden, in a toaster with  nutritional yeast sprinkled on top, if desired.

Blinded by the White

Snow isn’t the only white thing out there! These bright-whites will make make any guy stand out in a crowd. The Carnaby from Vegetarian Shoes UK could point you in the right direction. Matt&Nat’s new Pool collection offers up this ‘Warhol’ shoulder bag with 100% recycled faux-suede lining. The vintage Wayfarer knock-offs can be picked up at Fabulous Fanny’s,  and the gorgeous 100% recycled glass Fern Plate collection from Riverside Design Group is perfect for a warm, winter meal. Autonomie Project’s fair-trade, organic cotton scarf will keep the chill out. Finally, what is better than Soy-Whip to top off a cup of hot cocoa?

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autonomie project - eco, fair trade, ethical fashion - hand knit organic scarf

http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/yhst-17800188898367_2029_95053http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/yhst-17800188898367_2035_2455327

Pumpkin Pockets with Smoky Seitan, Mushroom Mousse, & Braised Apple

I tested this recipe out for thanksgiving, and it was a huge hit! It’s savory, handsome, and sophisticated. It will please vegans and non-vegans alike! Try it out at your Chrismahanukwanzarammada table!

Make these now!    ©TheDiscerningBrute.com

Make these now! ©TheDiscerningBrute.com

Continue reading below for the recipe! Read more…

Knightly Knit, Cookie Pies & Music You Must

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The folks at Sound Fix, a music boutique in Williamsburg, Brooklyn – know more about good music than all of the professors at Juilliard, combined. It could be that they are located in the same spot that almost every good band has their practice spaces, or it could be that they just rule. Sound Fix has just released their top 50 albums of the year, and if you want to be in audio-bliss for the next year, you’ll get some of these albums. From Bon Iver, Crystal Castles, and MGMT – to Girl Talk and Herculues and the Love Affair – you may not have heard of them, but once you do, you’ll wonder where they were all your life.
Organic Cotton Knit Bonnet from Earth @ KAIGHT. Photo © Matt Lara

Two caps, one pup. Photo © Matt Lara

I enjoyed two caps the other day, a soy cappuccino from Gimme! Coffee – probably the best espresso ever,  and a naturally dyed cotton knit cap made by the elusive Filipino designer, Eairth from Kaight. Enzo my lil’ rescued pup (thanks to sugarmutts.org) is sporting his “Have a Heart” anti-fur pin. Believe me, it’s much more effective on him. Especially when we’re walking and I offer him up to the fur-clad :  “would you like to anally electrocute him and add a few extra inches to your coat?

Little Enzo

RECIPE: Cookie Pies!

Easy Cookie Pies!

Easy Cookie Pies! © Discerning Brute 2008

These cookies are perfect for the holidays. Add anything you want to the center! Chocolate, marzipan, jam, pumpkin pie mix, peanut butter, or even leave the sugar out and go for a savory mini pastry with mashed potato, tampenade, or a chunk of marinated seitan in the center!

What you’ll need (makes 2 dozen):
• 2/3 cup non-hydrogenated,vegan margerine or shortening (Earthbalance or Spectrum is great!)
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 2 tblsp  sunflower seed butter
• 1/3 cup organic brown sugar
• 2/3 cup unrefined, organic sugar
• 1 tblsp vanilla extract (you can also use almond or coconut)
• 1/4 cup egg replacer (Energie is great!)
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 2-3 cups all purpose organic, unbleached flour

Directions:
1. In a mixer, or with a fork, combine chilled margarine/shortening, coconut oil, sugar, vanilla, egg replacer, and sunflower seed butter.
2. Once it is creamy, add the baking powder and vinegar. It should start fizzing a bit.
3. Slowly mix in the flower until it is like play-dough, dry enough so it doesn’t stick to your fingers too much, but moist enough to roll out. Usually it’s 2.5 cups. For chewier cookies, add more flour. For crispier, add less.
4. Roll out to 1/4 inch thick on a floured pastry sheet or wax paper.
5. Using a circular cookie cutter, and a smaller circle (you can even use a bottle cap for the hole) make a solid base, and doughnut shaped top.
6. Place your base on an ungreased cookie sheet, add your filling, then place the top on!
7. bake on 350 for about 15-20 minutes or until golden.



Fresh Friday Finds

1. If you thought they couldn’t possibly be any more disgusting, the parting Bush Administration has denied dwindling, drowning and starving Polar Bears protection under the Endangered Species Act. Human generated global-warming, mostly caused by meat & dairy production, is the #1 culprit. Read the full article here.http://www.motherjones.com/blue_marble_blog/792px-Polar_Bear_2004-11-15.jpg

“This rule makes a mockery of the Endangered Species Act, our nation’s most important wildlife protection law,” said Defenders of Wildlife executive vice president, Jamie Rappaport Clark. “The polar bear doesn’t have time for political maneuvers. Its habitat is melting away, its food is becoming scarce and the science is clear that the cause is global warming – yet the rule this administration released today affirms that little will be done to save the species from sure extinction.

2. If you wear glasses or sunglasses, and you don’t know about Fabulous Fanny’s, you are missing out! Get the most amazing selection of thrift & vintage frames and shades. Buying thrift is the greenest way to shop! It’s one of the East Village’s best kept secrets, and one of my personal favs.

3. Farm Sanctuary strikes again!

Daniela Sea, Joshua Katcher, Alison Becker

Daniela Sea, Joshua Katcher, Alison Becker photo© Ecorazzi

With an awesome party, of course! With Miss Guy on the turn table, more amazing vegan food than your eyes and tummy can handle, and the most inspiring crowd of activists and celebs from Danilea Sea and Alison Becker to Jennifer Coolidge, Corey Feldman & Inder Bedhi of Matt&Nat – this Winter Wonderland fundraiser was not to be missed – but if you did miss it, make sure to make it to next one! Farmsanctuary.org

4. Our friend Karl at PARTYBOTS has designed some awesome, 100% post-consumer recycled, originally designed notebooks! These are sweet and under $6 each! Cheap gifts for everyone this holiday!

Bunny Bot Journal - Sketch Book - Handmade - Left and Right Handed Reversible, 100 Percent Post Consumer Recycled PaperBox Bot Robot Journal - Sketch Book - Handmade - Left and Right Handed Reversible, 100 Percent Post Consumer Recycled PaperTrack Robot Journal - Sketch Book - Handmade - Left and Right Handed Reversible, 100 Percent Post Consumer Recycled Paper

5. This holiday, you may be feeling philanthropic. However, be very aware of organizations Giftlike Heifer International – whose promises of alleviating malnutrition and poverty through providing animals, actually has disasterous results. Like the little fact that over 90% of the Africans who are given dairy cows are lactose intolerant. Our friends at WFAS school us on this, and tell us how we can really help:

“While this might sound good on paper, the water and land needs of livestock in areas that are often short on both quickly outweigh the benefits — instead it increases human dependence on an unsustainable food-system that depletes the environment and does not fulfill all of a community’s real nutritional or long-term survival needs” Read the full article.

6. Organic Cotton from Alternative Apparel is so much better than conventional cotton from the notoriously homophobic Urban Outfitters.

7. December 20th is National “Adopt, Don’t Shop” day.

The Saturday before Christmas is the biggest puppy-buying day of the year. This year, In Defense of Animals is teaming up with activists in dozens of cities around the country to educate the public about the horrors of pet factories (puppy mills) and encourage people to adopt a homeless animal from a shelter or rescue group instead of buying one from a pet store. Enzo and I say you should adopt!

8. In case you missed it on Ecorazzi, Chloé Jo Berman, and yours truly were interviewed about ethical fashion. Read the interview!

9. Elephants should not be in zoos. For example, the Los Angeles zoo has killed 13 elephants. Help close down this horrible slave-trade, and save Billy from the same fate that his previous 13 fellow elephants experienced. These intelligent, emotionally complex and gorgeous beings belong in their native habitat, not in captivity.

You can view video of Billy and the Los Angeles Zoo here.

You can donate to IDA’s campaign to Free Billy here.

10. The sleek Pool Collection from Matt&Nat has arrived! Get it while it’s hot,  then take a dip in the pool. 100% vegan, recycled lining, and cool as hell.

He Blue Them Away

Don’t let the winter give you the blues. Instead, get these Topman plimsole high-tops, Alternative Apparel eco-hoodie, leather-free Hunter boots, Jaanj skinny cotton tie, Rayban Wayfarers, Naked & Famous Organic Denim, an organic, Italian dress shirt from Culturata Organics, or a gift set from Pangea Organics that you can plant the packing and grow a spruce tree!

Light Blue Black White Yellow Skinny Cotton Ties in Light Blue/Black/White/Yellow http://www.hunter-boot.com/Upload/Products/UK/LoRes/W23499_NVY_2.jpg

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WeirdGuy - Natural Indigo Organic Selvedge - front http://blogs.fashionclub.com/my_weblog/images/2008/05/27/blueshirt.jpg

Pangea Gift Set

A Chimportant Place

savechimpsign

I was recently in Ft. Pierce, Florida, and had the incredible privilege of visiting the largest chimp sanctuary in the world, Save The Chimps. From the moment I set foot on this amazing 200 acre piece of land, I could hear and see the chimps playing in the distance. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. There were no fences or bars – just wide open islands separated by water, covered in gorgeously-designed chimp habitat.

Kelly Overton, Joshua Katcher, Triana Romero

Kelly Overton, Joshua Katcher, Triana Romero

Most of these chimps were torn from their families, and shipped off to spend decades (some for as long as 40 years in a concrete box) as Air Force research “tools”, biomedical research subjects, entertainment, and pets. The psychological and physical trauma most of these chimps have endured is incredible, and that is why Save the Chimps is so important.

The Sanctuary

In 1997,  Carole Noon, sued the Air Force, who was giving chimps away to the Coulston Foundation in Alamogordo, NM – a biomedical laboratory with the worst record of any lab in the history of the Animal Welfare Act. After a year-long struggle, Save the Chimps gained permanent custody of 21 chimps, survivors and descendants of those captured in Africa in the 1950′s and used by the Air Force in the original NASA “chimpanaut” program.

Dana & Thoto

Dana & Thoto

These former lab chimps now live in social groups of friends that they have developed on their own. Many walk and play on grass for the first time since they were children. Soon, the entire group of 266 chimps will all have been transported from Coulston to their permanent home in Florida as the habitat is completed.

Carlos enjoy the grass

Carlos enjoys the grass

snacking on melon

snacking on melon

Chimp Paradise

Chimp Paradise

PBS recently did a documentary called  ‘Unnatural History‘ that focused on our disgraceful history with chimps, and the efforts of organizations like Save the Chimps. You can watch a clip here:

WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP?

Jaybee

Mel

Jaybee

Jaybee

Start off by giving a chimp adoption as a holiday gift! This year, instead of wasting your money on trinkets and plastic crap – give the gift of a good life to  Mel or Jaybee or other chimps who have been through so much. Your support will provide care for all of 2009. Your gift includes a full color photo, adoption certificate and more!

HELP BRING THEM HOME!

Relocating one chimpanzee from New Mexico to permanent sanctuary in Florida costs $2,500; this includes the expense of caregiver staff on both ends of the trip, veterinary care, transport vehicle maintenance, fuel costs, and the work of bringing a new chimp building on-line in Florida.

The custom-built Save the Chimps trailer will make at least 26 four-thousand mile round trips between New Mexico and Florida (that’s equivalent to driving around the Earth four times), carrying 10 chimpanzees each time. The trailer is designed so that each chimp has a window seat and can watch their journey across the United States!
photo of the Save the Chimps trailer
You can sponsor a chimp’s trip to Florida by making a personal donation, giving the donation in a friend or family member’s name, or organizing a fundraiser at your school, business or community organization. We will provide brochures, newsletters and temporary tattoos for fundraising purposes upon request. Contact Save the Chimps for more information.

Brogue Basics

http://www.bboheme.com/images/SIMPATHIABLACK.jpg

These Portuguese-made, eco-friendly, vegan microsuede “Simpatia” wingtip shoes from BoBo are my new obsession. Great with a tux or just a pair of skinny jeans – wingtips, otherwise know as the brogue, are a boys best friend. Wanna know why we steer clear of leather at The Discerning Brute, Click Here, and don’t have a cow!

Check out all the other vegan wingtips & brogue shoes:

Mens Brogues (Black) - click to enlarge http://www.bboheme.com/images/SIMPATHIABROWN.jpgLiam Shoe (Brown) - click to enlarge

Brogue (Tan) - click to enlarge Jacob

ASOS Canvas Brogue Plimsoll

Tom

Tom Brownernest3ASOS Canvas Brogue Plimsolls

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