Cackleberry in California!

There is simply no excuse - good, bad or indifferent - for neglecting Cackleberry for so long. So here's one more attempt to get back on track and bring you the great recipes, vegan musings, updates on the animal rights movement and all the other good stuff I used to put out at least semi-regularly.

The news is that I moved, with My Beloved and our two rescue pups, from New England to California - finally fulfilling a dream that we'd shared for several years but never been able to act upon. However, when opportunity suddenly knocked, we leapt at the chance to make the transition from plucky New Englanders to carefree Californians. We quit our jobs, put the house on the market and high-tailed it west.

The road has been long and not a little challenging and you can read all about the actual journey at our travel blog, TheTeapotTourist.blogspot.com, which we updated each day as we drove coast to coast from Westfield, Massachusetts to Concord, California. We rented an RV - a singular experience in and of itself - and, having loaded all of our 'stuff' into a POD and shipped the cars via transporter, we spent 10 days living on the road. Why did we not just fly? Yes, I can hear you asking the obvious question! Well, the truth of it was that Darwin the Beagle, our senior pup, was undergoing a second course of chemo for lymphoma and he was too sick to fly. Besides which, neither My Beloved nor I were confident that either of the pups would be looked after by the airlines as well as we would want, so driving seemed like the only option to us. We gave him his chemo on the road and each state that we passed through offered a dog-friendly campsite that was happy to welcome a slightly shaky senior to its community. :)

And having settled in and felt the California sun on his Back, Darwin is now doing well, as are the rest of us. West coast living suits us and I am finding new interests and new meaning in my life. No, things have not worked out exactly as I had hoped, and there have been a number of disappointments and frustrations, but overall the change is refreshing and inspiring. I passionately want to get back to writing Cackleberry, to playing with new recipes, sharing new photos, and spotlighting issues within the vegan world. In terms of my commitment to veganism and to the animals, nothing has changed in the slightest.

I do not expect that the kind folks who used to follow this blog will flock back in droves, but I do hope the word might get out that Cackleberry is back: bigger, better, still uncompromising, and packed with news, updates, recipes, restaurant reviews, photos, gossip, and all things vegan and animal.

I hope to see you soon. In the meantime, stay vegan, friends!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

A Beagle's Battles: Update on Darwin

Sometimes it's easy to feel overwhelmed but all of the bad news there is about animals, especially in relation to the way we treat them. Whether it's through other blogs, my Facebook community, the forums I subscribe to, Twitter or any of the other myriad ways in which I get to hear vegan and animal-rights/abolitionist news it's usually linked to the dark side of the human spirit. So today I realised it was time to redress the balance a little and, albeit indulgent, I'm posting an update about Darwin, my beagle.

As you may know, Darwin is the first animal companion to come to live with My Beloved and I. He was rescued almost 10 years ago from a municipal 'shelter' and has been our constant and faithful companion ever since. Don't misunderstand - he is not loyal because he owes us a debt of gratitude. No, it's more that he knows which house has the biggest cookie jar. Equally, he's not faithful because he adores us...he just hasn't figured out how to unlock the front door and escape.

Be that as it may, loyal and faithful he is - despite his motivations and physical limitations (front door locks tend to require a degree of dexterity afforded only by the use of thumbs). And, from our side, we totally adore him. So it was quite a shock when we took him for a routine teeth cleaning several months ago and learned he had cancer.

They didn't immediately use the 'C-word'; they said 'lymphoma', which I misheard as 'lipoma'. Well, he's had several of those, I replied confidently, and they're always benign....When the full reality sank in and I came to understand the situation, My Beloved and I reviewed our options. Although we live in a somewhat progressive and 'alternate' area, we did not feel sufficiently confident to eshew conventional therapies altogether, so opted for a middle path of chemo combined with a program of acupuncture, nutritional therapy and chinese herbals. And it does seem to be working well: he's following a 25 week chemo protocol and has been officially 'in remission' since week #6. What's more, his quality of life is almost completely uncompromised. He does not suffer nausea or vomiting and retains full control of his 'bodily functions', he has boundless energy and a wolf-like appetite and generally does not show any outward signs of illness. OK, the food regime requires a little care, but it's a tiny price to pay for terrific benefits..

Now let me say up front that I am not a medical doctor, I do not have veterinary skills, and I am not an expert in nutrition: I am just someone who's experimented and observed what works with my particular dog. And I'm also someone who refuses to accept a paltry 6-month prolongation of life expectancy or the idea that we are helpless in the face of illness. So with that caveat out of the way, here's what we've been doing with Darwin to achieve the results so far....

As said, the whole treatment regime includes conventional chemotherapy, twice monthly acupuncture, chinese herbal treatments, nutritional therapy, a multi-vitamin and mushroom extract. Although that sounds like a lot, it's actually really easy. We changed his one-meal-per-day routine to two smaller meals per day to help him have sustained energy and minimize the blood sugar lows. Every morning he has a half portion of his dry kibble - Natural Balance, vegetarian formula (which actually is vegan) - plus about 3/4 cup of cooked red lentils. The idea with these lentils is to boost his easily digestible proteins and skew the balance of his food towards the protein and fat and away from the carbs. He also has his first dose of the chinese herbals  - one capsule hidden in a ball of peanut butter.

In the evening, he has the second half of his dry kibble, again with the lentils, but we also add in a good tablespoon of organic flaxseed oil (for Omegas), a teaspoon of liquid multi-vitamins and the powdered contents of a maitake mushroom supplement capsule. We had experimented with mashed beans instead of the lentils but he doesn't seem to appreciate the texture as much. The cannellini beans were deemed acceptable, but the red kidney beans were apparently something of an affront to his delicate palate. Perhaps had we blitzed them in the food processor that would have been ok, but as it was hand mashing them clearly didn't cut it. The bean skins were carefully isolated and spat out disdainfully onto the floor around his bowl and we were rewarded only by the most half-hearted tail thump you've ever seen. With the lentils, however, the bowl of food is inhaled more than eaten and he always graces us with a big beagle-y smile.

Last thing at night, as a little treat, he gets his second dose of the Wei Qi booster, wrapped either in a peanut butter ball or stuffed into a strawberry. Yeah, taking pills has never been so easy!

A couple of folks have asked me how the treatment is going so I guess this post is an answer to that question. So far, the combination of allopathic and complementary medicines, excellent nutrition, lots of TLC and Darwin's own indomitable spirit seem to be just what the doctor ordered. He's doing great...if you'd like to see what he's up to click here!

Enjoy and stay vegan, friends!

Recipe: The 'Toothsome Tuscan Treat'

The weekend would not be the weekend without a trip out with the boys to run in the woods. And being that one of the boys is a beagle, and therefore ruled by his nose, and the other is a wannabeagle, and therefore ruled by his big brother's nose, it is vitally important to take plenty of irresistable treats, to ensure good recall.

And so, yesterday, we used up all of the remaining pup treats thus:

The SurfDog

The Thinker

The Recall

The Reward

Thanks!

So it was time to devise another canine cookie....so may I now present: the 'Toothsome Tuscan* Treat'

You will need:

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp canola oil
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (ooohh, cheesiness!)
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes (salty, yummy and weird-looking)
1/2 cup cooked pasta (excellent way to use up leftovers)
3/4 cup water

1. Preheat your oven to 325 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Boil a kettle and pour approx. 3/4 cup water over the sun-dried tomatoes to rehydrate. This will take about 10 minutes (the rehydrating...not the pouring).
3. In a large bowl, combine the wholewheat pastry flour, baking powder, nutritional yeast and the canola oil.
4. Finely dice the cooked pasta. I used penne which diced into cute little rings, amusing me no end. I am easily amused, it seems. Add amusing pasta shapes to the flour mix.
5. When safe to do so, retrieve the now plump sun-dried tomatoes from the water reserving the soaking liquid and dice finely.
6. Add both the tomato bits and the 3/4 cup soaking liquid to the mix and stir well to combine. You may need to knead it a little to incorporate all of the pasta and tomatoes.
7. Turn out onto the baking sheet and roll the dough until it's about 1/2 inch thick. Bake for 30 minutes, cut into shapes and then bake a further 30 minutes.
8. After this second set of 30 minutes, turn off the oven but leave the cookies inside to get fully crunchy.




Yum!

Stay Vegan, Friends!
*If you're wondering 'Why Tuscan?', the truth is that I'm not sure. The pasta suggests Italian, and I like the alliterative qualities of 'tuscan' and 'toothsome'.....s'all!

Got a Date?

Dogs need love too...and what better way to show them than through homemade Valentine cookies? (Well, I suppose letting them sleep on the couch, chase the mailman and drink out of the toilet is probably what they'd prefer, but for the sake of my sanity I'm just going to express my love via the humble cookie!)

Being owned by a beagle and a wannabeagle, I have been highly trained in the art of cookie-giving. Long, loooooong years have been spent in patient repetition of the cookie-drop stance and, by Jove, I think I finally have it!

However, what is the use of being so gifted if you never actually have the chance to practice what they've drummed into you? And since most commercial dog cookies are out because they contain other animals, these vegan pups of mine have suggested strongly that I begin experimenting with making my own. And so, it is with great fanfare that I unveil the latest round of vegan cookies for our canine friends. These latest little nuggets of joy are a real winner so I am excited to share the recipe!

'Got-a-Date-With-Brown-Rice-and-Sweet-Potato Cookie Delights for Dogs'


Here's what you need:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup sweet potato, finely diced
1/2 cup brown rice, cooked and cooled
3 tbsp chopped dates (5-6 whole dates, approx)
2 tbsp canola oil
3/4 cup water

- Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees
- Mix your flour and baking powder in a large bowl.
- Add in the rice, sweet potato and chopped dates and mix so that they are nicely distributed.
- Make a well in the center of the bowl and add first the canola and then the water.
- Mix well and - when it is almost completely mixed in - abandon your wooden spoon in favour of your hands. Knead gently for a minute or so.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and turn the dough out onto it.
- Press it down with your hands and then roll out thinly (to about 1/4 inch thick).
- Bake in the pre-heated oven for 30 mins.

Now comes the fun part. Once you remove the baking sheet from the oven you can go ahead and cut the whole huge cookie into bitesize pieces. In the past I have found that a pizza wheel makes life really simple in this regard: first cut long strips and then turn the tray through 90 degrees and cut across again to form squares.

At this point, you'll notice that the cookies are still relatively soft. And this is the key: once you've cut the one giant cookie into many smaller ones, put the tray back in the oven for a further 30 minutes - biscotti-style!

After 30 minutes, turn the oven off, but leave the cookies inside to dry out even more and to cool. That way, they have that awesome crunchiness that doggies the world over will sit up and beg for!

Anyways, given the Valentine's Day connection, I felt Darwin (the Loud) and Humphrey (the Small and Irritating) deserved little bits of my heart instead.



Happy Valentine's Day, friends...and stay vegan!

Happy Birthday, Humphrey!

This weekend marks the anniversary (aka 'birthday') of Humphrey, the Min-Pin/Dachshund doglet, coming to live with us - My Beloved, Darwin the Beagle - his older brother - and myself. Rescued from a kill shelter in Tennessee and brought up north by the incredible volunteers who make up the FACES network, 'Gus' as he was called then was always a happy-go-lucky little guy. No-one is too sure about his real background, but the official story was that a woman turned him in to the shelter after seeing him hanging around her apartment for a week. He is now a whole 15lbs - and that's after 3 years with us - so you can imagine what kind of shape he was in after living alone on the unforgiving Tennessee streets...

These days, however, he is a very contented and loving little guy and this year - although he does not yet know it - he is going to have a birthday cake. And a vegan doggie cake at that! I have a recipe that I'm going to have a crack at veganizing tomorrow, using mainly a base carrot cake with Gimme Lean 'sausage-style meat'. The original calls for ground up turkeys - and that ain't going to happen! - so let's see how the soy-meat performs....

I'll definitely post some pix and the recipe (in the 'Eat Me!' section) but in the meantime why not try out the Pumpkin Spice Dog Cookies...for your own four-legged bundle of love!

Stay vegan, Friends! :)