Sometimes the best things in life are simple — like a perfectly baked, cruelty-free chocolate chip cookie. And Terry Romero and Isa Chandra Moskowitz have done it again! Craving some sweet simplicity, I finally attempted their recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies and I probably won’t be using any other recipes. These are indeed perfect!

The recipe can be found in their amazingly awesome cookbook Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar or below (recipe hails from their website).

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes two dozen two inch cookies or about 16 three inch cookies

1/2 brown sugar
1/4 white sugar
2/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (or your favorite non-dairy milk)
1 tablespoon tapioca flour
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease two large light metal baking sheets.

Mix together sugars, oil, milk and tapioca flour in a mixing bowl. Use a strong fork and mix really well, for about 2 minutes, until it resembles smooth caramel. There is a chemical reaction when sugar and oil collide, so it’s important that you don’t get lazy about that step. Mix in the vanilla.

Add 1 cup of the flour, the baking soda and salt. Mix until well incorporated. Mix in the rest of the flour. Fold in the chocolate chips. The dough will be a little stuff so use your hands to really work them in.

For 3 inch cookies, roll the dough into about ping pong ball size balls. Flatten them out in your hands to about 2 1/2 inches. They will spread just a bit. Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes - no more than 9 - until they are just a little browned around the edges. I usually get 16 out of these so I do two rounds of eight cookies. Let cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

For 2 dozen two inch cookies roll dough into walnut sized balls and flatten to about 1 1/2 inches and bake for only six minutes.

Tonight I finally made one of my favorite spring-time recipes. And yes, it’s got asparagus! It’s so easy, simple and light and o so flavorful.

The recipe is here at Delicious Living.com. Thanks to the folks at Vegalicious.com for the tip.

Roasted Asparagus with Lentils

Serves 2 / According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, asparagus is a natural detoxifier; it also contains inulin, a carbohydrate that increases beneficial gut flora. Cayenne pepper, surprisingly, is healing for your innards, unlike other peppers, which can irritate.

¾ cup dried red lentils

1½ cups water

2 large cloves garlic (or more to taste), minced

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 bunch (1 pound) asparagus, tough ends trimmed

Olive oil cooking spray

Zest of 1 medium lemon

Juice of ½ medium lemon

1 cup cooked brown rice

4 green onions, green tops only, finely chopped

1. In a small saucepan, combine lentils, water, garlic, cayenne, and coriander. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer steadily for about 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, preheat broiler and place oven rack as close to heat as possible. Spray a baking sheet with oil; spread asparagus on it in a single layer. Coat asparagus with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt and pepper. When broiler is very hot, cook asparagus 3-5 minutes, until crisp. Remove from oven and transfer to a large platter to cool a bit. Add half of lemon zest and juice, tossing to distribute flavors.
3. When lentils are tender, stir in cooked rice and green onions. Add salt and pepper to taste. To serve, fill two shallow bowls with rice mixture and top with roasted asparagus; drizzle remaining lemon zest and juice over all.

PER SERVING: 419 cal, 6% fat cal, 3g fat, 1g sat fat, 0mg chol, 26g protein, 78g carb, 15g fiber, 17mg sodium

From the CBS website:

TRENDS: Parrots!
Parrots are beautiful, they can talk, and they do tricks. So it’s perhaps no surprise that parrots are now one of the most popular pets in the U.S. With an estimated 40 million in American households, they’re not far behind cats and dogs in popularity. But owners soon learn that Polly wants more than just a cracker - Polly wants hand-prepared food, plus all your time and attention and patience.

Parrots can live to 80, they love to chew, and they have beaks as strong as can openers. Like a toddler, if they don’t get the care they need, they bite and scream. Or even worse, if isolated in a cage, these flock animals go stir crazy, mutilating themselves and plucking out feathers.

It’s all too much for many owners. The result: Flocks of parrots, set loose by frustrated owners, are multiplying from coast to coast, with 30,000 flying around cities from California to Brooklyn, even as their numbers decline in their natural habitats. Parrot rescue centers, now found in every state, are also growing fast. It’s such a big problem that the Humane Society recommends unwanted birds be euthanized.

Many owners say they love their parrots but, experts say, prospective parrot owners should be prepared for a pet that demands a lot of time, attention and patience.

For more info:

The human race imposes its ranking on top of the animal kingdom with some bizarre displays of dominance.

I think this guy’s hysterical. He’s got a 30-minute show on Comedy Central each Wednesday night. Very funny.

This video clip (with the exception of the last 40 seconds, which is still funny, but off topic a bit) , however, is funny AND looks at our (i.e., human’s) treatment of animals, focusing on our arrogance as a species and our exploitation of other creatures. I’m pretty sure Demetri didn’t mean to make a statement on behalf of the animal activists of the world, but he did! I suggest taking a gander.

From ABC Local News:

SICKLERVILLE, N.J. - July 29, 2008 (WABC) — Tipping the scales at an unbelievable 44 pounds, this corpulent kitty gives new meaning to the phrase fat cat.

“I have never seen a cat this fat in person, not even anything close to it. She is a big kitty cat,” says Jennifer Andersch of the Camden County Animal Shelter.

The flabby fur ball was found Saturday in Voorhees and turned in to the Camden County Animal Shelter in Blackwood where she had to be weighed on the dog scale because the cat scale didn’t go high enough. The volunteers nicknamed her Princess Chunk.

The animal shelter is full right now and had to move the chubby feline to a foster home because. Well, not to be catty, but they didn’t have a cage big enough.

And so Princess Chunk is temporarily staying with animal lover Debbie Wright of Sicklerville.

“She’s a lug to pick up but she’s a sweet cat,” says Wright.

Princess Chunk is just a couple pounds shy of the world record, but for all her girth she manages to get around quite well. And Debbie’s right about picking this heavyweight up - she’s a handful.

“I pick her up and put her on my hip like a child,” said Debbie. “Like when you carry one of your children, that’s how I carry her. Putting her in a dog crate, I have to put her in and get somebody to help me carry it. That’s how heavy she is.”

Except for her little weight problem, shelter officials say this porky pussycat is in good condition - likely a housecat that ran away from home. They’re hoping Princess Chunk’s owner will come forward by Friday, otherwise she’ll be put up for adoption… but to qualify you have to be able to afford the food bill.

Alas, the cynic in me is awaiting a mock-up version of the video complete with a gorier reunion. You know someone out there is working on it!

Then, I first met her when I bought a home from her, oh, about, 20 homes or so ago, but I recently read KATHY FRESTON’S incredible new book, “Quantum Wellness: A Practical Guide to Health and Happiness.” I can’t tell you how much it’s changed my life for the better. I had to have Kathy on our show to share with all of you her simple yet incredible methods of getting happier and healthier!

First Oprah, now Ellen! And Ellen constantly talks about her love for animals, yet as far as I know she still eats them! Maybe Kathy can be the force to make Ellen just say no to animals as food!

Another interesting note: Ellen has an area on her website where she shows pictures of and discusses her lunch. It may not be a carnivore’s dream, but it is not generally a vegan fare. However, she has posted two lunches for May thus far and both are vegan! Plus I’ve noticed a decrease in meat-laden meals in previous posts. Maybe she IS coming over to the bright side!!

Check here to see when ellen airs in your town! Get your Tivos and DVRs ready!

Compassionate Cook’s email is as follows. Won’t you help??

—–Original Message—–
From: Chris Marco [mailto:chris@compassionatecooks.com]
Subject: Oprah’s gone vegan! And, we need your help.

Hi everybody,

I’m emailing you today because we just found out that Oprah is doing a 21-day “cleanse” starting today. Thanks to her cleanse, she will not be eating any meat or animal secretions for the next three weeks! Additionally, she’ll be blogging about her experience everyday, sharing recipes, and encouraging folks to participate in the cleanse discussions on her message boards.

This all started when Oprah read the book, Quantum Wellness, by Kathy Freston. In the book, Kathy describes her eight pillars of wellness, practices she believes are the staples of an engaged life. You can read about “the most important pillar” in the text below which was taken directly from Oprah’s site.

There’s one wellness practice that Kathy says should be observed above all others. “The mother of all pillars is conscious eating,” she says. “It doesn’t only make a difference to our own personal health and well-being, but conscious eating means you stay aware of where your food comes from, how the animals are treated and how the environment is affected by the foods that you eat. You take in the energy of whatever went into creating that food.”

Kathy is a vegan, which means she doesn’t eat meat, eggs, or dairy. “Nobody was harmed—that’s conscious eating,” she says. “If I want to be someone with spiritual integrity, I have to think about the principles that I want to adhere to—compassion, kindness, mercy and the alleviating of suffering when I see it. … I thought, ‘If I want to further myself on my spiritual path, as well as my health path, I need to have more integrity. I need to be conscious about it.’”

I’m working with Colleen to put together a package for Oprah that will address some of the questions she asked on the show like “What’s left to eat?” We’ll also be making Oprah aware of the podcasts and Colleen’s unique style when it comes to talking about veganism, the animals, and transitioning. I believe Colleen’s approach is so similar to Oprah’s that there is no better, more compatible, voice to represent Joyful Vegans on Oprah’s show. I’ve been to Colleen’s classes and I’ve seen Colleen speak. She is funny and warm, sensitive and charming. She is the friendly vegan-next-door and we need her to go on Oprah and show people how easy and fun it is to cook nutritious, delicious, cruelty-free food.

Rest assured, we will do our part to get Colleen in front of Oprah, but we need your help. We registered our 400th member on the message boards today (welcome Haas!) I’m thinking that if 400 Joyful Vegans write Oprah to tell her about the help they’ve received from Compassionate Cooks, from Colleen’s supportive and informative voice, and from the message boards, it would go a long way toward getting her to consider Colleen as a potential guest.

I’d encourage you to read through the show’s synopsis so you can really get a sense of why Oprah was motivated to do this. If you’re able, you can watch, or TIVO, the show tonight when it airs at 1am. Every animal organization and vegan group will be emailing and sending letters to Oprah. We need Compassionate Cooks to stand out amongst that crowd. When you write, tell Oprah about your own transformation, tell her how Colleen helped, tell her how you feel about your own integrity since making this shift, tell her whatever you feel, but please, oh please, mention Colleen and ask, or suggest, that she bring Colleen on the show. You could ask her to do a show with an audience full of vegans that could speak to the joy of living in accord with their values. I know you people are all sensitive, thoughtful, eloquent vegans. And I know that to be vegan, is to want others to be vegan, since there is no sense in doing it alone. We have a chance here to put a voice that represents us !
up on Oprah’s stage. Billions of people could see and hear Colleen! Please take 30 minutes today or tomorrow to write Oprah and tell her that you love being vegan, that it brings you great joy, that you feel empowered after every meal, that you know you’re doing the very best thing you can for your health, for the animals, and for the environment. And please don’t forget to tell her how you feel about Colleen and the work she does through Compassionate Cooks.

In case you’re not certain, I really, really, really want to get Colleen on Oprah’s show. It was one of the first things I said to Colleen when we started working together. I nearly had a heart attack today when I realized it could actually happen, right now, not next year, or the year after. If she gets on the show, I will be inclined to bake chocolate chip cookies for each and every one of you. I’m seriously the happiest vegan in the world right now! Let’s pull together and make this happen! Colleen is the one and only person that inspired me to go vegan and made me believe it was easy and doable. If she did it for me, and one or two of you, you know she can do it for at least a million of Oprah’s billions of viewers. Below are the links you’ll need to write Oprah and get involved in the discussions on her boards.

Thanks so much for reading (and writing)!

With all the joy I could muster (and then some), Chris

• Here is the synopsis of Kathy Freston’s segment
• Oprah’s 21-day cleanse page (with tabs at the top for her blog, menus, recipes (uploaded daily so keep checking back), and the message boards)
• The message board discussion about this specific show
• Register to participate on the boards here
• Comments on the show
• Ideas for a show