Monday, May 21, 2012

One Good Reason #2

Happy Meatless Monday!
Here's One Good Reason to go vegan for a day (or more!) -
I often hear people talking about conserving water, and while I'm all for low flow toilets, short showers, and turning off the water while I brush my teeth, the very most important thing I do every day to conserve water is to eat a plant-based diet instead of meat. According to studies reported by PETA, it takes an astonishing 2,400 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef, but only 25 gallons to produce a pound of wheat. Almost half the water used in the US goes to raising animals for food... "You save more water by not eating a pound of meat than you do by not showering for six months! A totally vegan diet requires only 300 gallons of water per day, while a typical meat-eating diet requires more than 4,000 gallons of water per day." (From PETA: Meat Production Wastes Natural Resources)

How about that?

Tonight I'm using up some good leftovers from the weekend. We had company, and I was too busy to photograph a new recipe for you, so today I want to steer you over to a recipe I posted a while back - Sweet Beans. As summer bar-b-que seasons rolls around, these good beans go great with all the vegan treats you toss on the grill, like veggies, tofu, tempeh, and veg-burgers. My original recipe calls for black beans, but I used pintos last night, and they were just as good. I'm going to revise the fried pineapple-kale that's shown with the beans, and see if I can make it just as tasty without the coconut oil. I bet I can!