Vibrant Veggie Vortex + Dazzling Dijon Dressing

They say the more colors on your plate, the more likely you'll be able to curb overeating. Or maybe they don't; but it's sure pretty to look at a spectrum of vibrant fruits and veggies and definitely slows me down when it comes to digging in.

So bye bye simple crudités and dip. This simple salad is way easier to assemble than it looks. Just slice, dice and arrange everything on a plate to your heart's desire...and to emulate that way-too-perfect food blogger on instagram who always annoys you with food arrangements so pretty you don't understand how anyone's life can be so perfect (pro-tip: It probably took them 45 minutes to assemble everything, and by the time they get to eating that warm stack of vegan chocolate chip banana nut pancakes, they are cold.)

To quote Taylor Swift, This. Dressing. Is. Sick. Mix two parts olive oil, to one part balsamic vinegar, a teaspoon of nutritional yeast flakes and red chile pepper flakes and sea salt together. Transforms any blah "using up leftover veggies" salad into BOOM! Seriously.

Ingredients:
Whatever leftover veggies and fruits you have on hand

Directions:

Arrange prettily on plate and as symmetrically as possible. Try and remember to buy enough lettuce next time. Drizzle dressing on top. Pair with copious amount of crusty  French baguette.

9 Genius Tricks for Ordering Chinese Take-out

You know those nights when you don't want to cook? Yeah, I don't really either. But on those rare nights where nothing will hit the spot quite like greasy Chinese food, here are some simple but brilliant tips for keeping it vegan.

1. Scallion pancakes. Enough said.

2. Ask what's in their brown sauce or garlic sauce. Both can have oyster sauce or other animal products.

3. If the other sauces aren't vegan friendly, here's a simple swap: Ask for the "clear sauce" instead. This simple corn-starch based sauce (sometimes studded with scallions) is vegan.

4. A great entree option (that's super healthy too) is mixed steamed veggies with brown rice and clear sauce (on the side, if you like). Extra hungry? Have tofu added (some menus already have this included) for some filling protein.

5. Sharing with multiple folks? If they're getting tasty vegan options like baby eggplant, veggie trios, stir-fried crispy tofu with chile and cumin, braised assorted fresh mushrooms, mixed veggies and tofu, etc. (hungry yet?) ask for the sauce on the side, you can avoid those that aren't vegan. And things like cold sesame peanut noodles, veggie dumplings, etc. you don't have to worry about asking the sauce issue because it either comes on the side or is vegan.

6. Ask if they have any vegan soups. (or vegetarian, I've never heard of a Chinese restaurant that adds dairy to soups, or uses any kind of dairy for that matter. When was the last time you heard of chicken Teriyaki with melted cheese?)

7. Ask if they can omit egg from your veggie fried rice.

8. Don't stress too much. If you accidentally ingest an ounce of brown sauce with animal products in it or inadvertently have a bite of something glazed with fish sauce, don't sweat it. You want to show people how simple and delicious it is to be vegan, so don't get too caught up in "rules" and worrying if your tofu was grilled on the same hot top as salmon was. You'll drive yourself crazy, and your missing the bigger picture of kind and conscious eating.

9. Get your takeout out of those sad looking containers and into pretty bowls. Not only does this make for a happier looking meal, but it'll help with portion control (ever notice how massive those Tupperwares are filled?) Nothing spells sad and pathetic pig out fest list eating your way through 2/3rds of your main course and that dinky white paper rice box and then figuring "Screw it, I'm almost done, I might as well finish it all." And then your significant other being mad at you because they find you passed out in the bed five minutes later.

Spicy Paprika-Dusted Spaghetti Squash Seeds

The above is just a fancy way of saying I roasted spaghetti squash seeds and threw a bunch of good spices on them. Consider it your reward for the nuisance that is figuring out how the hell to cut a squash in half without slicing your hand off, pulling your tricep (Life-changing tip: You can roast it whole, or throw it in the oven for 10 minutes to soften up, and then cut it in half), or both.

It's so easy, and the result is a real treat. Eat them as a snack (you'll never pay $4 for over-salted, under-seasoned sunflower seeds again) or toss them into salads as a crunchy topper or sprinkle over warm dishes as a seasonal garnish.


The ugly before...

The prettier after...

Ingredients

Seeds of one spaghetti squash, scraped out

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon chipotle powder

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Whatever other seasonings you want slash have on hand

1. Line tinfoil with spaghetti squash seeds. Pour olive oil and spices over and toss with hands until evenly coated.

2. Roast in 200° oven for 20 minutes, or until seeds have reached desired crispy-ness. 

Feel free to add to main dish, like I did below in this eggplant-onion saute, but make sure you don't try one before stirring into the mix (because once you pop one, they'll probably all be gone before you make it to this step)

Chocolate-Cranberry Bark That Will Make Your Fall Heart Melt

Right now, the three things that make me happiest are as follows (in no particular order):
1) Beer-soaked bro-country (yes, I said it)
2) My guilty pleasure obsession with 19 Kids and Counting/ 90 Day Fiance (yes, I know)
3) Eating dessert first...and second...and third...

And with no further ado, the dessert I can't stop eating: Dark Chocolate Covered Crack. Erm, Dark Chocolate Bark spiked with Cranberries and Almonds and Other Goodness. Picked up the recipe at Food Fete last week, and have subsisted on a steady stream of this healthy chocolate bark (Yes, it's superfoods-loaded) from the folks at Nature's Path ever since for breakfast, lunch, and that yes-I-deserve-a-snack-while-cooking-dinner treat. Enjoy!

Serves 12 
Prep Time: 10 minutes 
Cook Time: 10 minutes 

Ingredients
12 ounces good quality organic dark chocolate, finely chopped  (at least 70% dark chocolate)
3/4 cup Nature’s Path Qi’a – Cranberry Vanilla, divided
1 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1/4 tsp sea salt (optional)

Line a 9x13-inch pan with parchment paper so it overhangs the ends. Reserve 2 tbsp Qi’a for sprinkling on top of the bark. Place the chocolate in heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally, until melted. Remove from heat.

Stir in the remaining Qi’a and almonds. Pour onto the prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle with the reserved Qi’a and sea salt (if using). Refrigerate for 1 hour or until chocolate is set.

 Remove from pan and peel off the parchment paper. Break the bark into pieces. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

3 Surprising Pantry Staples Vegans Can't Live Without

PETA's Libby Awards made me really happy. Best vegan cheese: Food for Lovers queso cheese? Yay! Best vegan-friendly restaurant chain: Tropical Smoothie Cafe? Double Yay! (Can't get enough of their Beyond Meat options) Best vegan meat: Gardein Sizzling Schezuan Beefless Strips? Got 'em in my freezer and can't wait to toss 'em into this Chinese Stirfry tonight from The Ginger People. And best vegan snack: Dole Banana Dippers with Almonds and Dark Chocolate make a great friend for any sweet tooth, if you ask me. But here are a few simpler treasure troves of vegan deliciousness that you can find at almost any supermarket. P.S. Your stomach will thank you if you start throwing them into your rotation more often.

1. Really good cinnamon.

I love Frontier's Organic Vietnamese cinnamon, but any nice variety will do. Add it to the obvious dishes like oatmeal and smoothies, but it also makes a welcome addition stirred into savory meals like stews or spicy marinades.

2. Rice Cakes.

Sounds a bit strange to ask you, dear readers (all 12 of you!), to keep these crunchy cakes on hand, but they're a lifesaver when you're in a pinch the day or two before grocery shopping. I crumble them up into a salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing as makeshift croutons or have them for breakfast with a thick layer of almond butter, banana slices and a sprinkle of that ever-handy cinnamon on top.

3. Nutritional Yeast.

I'm consistently amazed on how well these bits of flaky goodness (you can buy it powdered too) dazzle in pasta dishes that call for parm or mixed into a big tossed salad. Basically, whenever I feel like I've been forgetful with taking that B12 supplement, I sprinkle these vitamin B12 flakes over whatever I'm eating.

Honey-Mustard Glazed Brussel Sprouts Even Vegetable Haters Will Like

 

Growing up, honey-mustard hens served over a bed of pillowy wild rice was always one of my favorite dinners to look forward to. Now, when I need that spicy-sweet fix, I turn to this super simple 3-ingredient recipe to satiate that craving. Honey...I know, I know. Some vegans don't eat it. And I've watched the More Than Honey documentary (well, until I fell asleep two thirds of the way through) on Netflix, read up on the topic, gone cold honey-turkey for a while, but alas...I hope that the fairtrade raw organic honey that I used minimizes my vegan sin committal (Though, you should probably gather from my blog title that I am not the holiest vegan whose path you've ever crossed).


Ingredients
15 or so Brussels sprouts
2 teaspoons spicy whole grain mustard
1 (very generous) teaspoon of honey*
1 tablespoon almond slivers, optional
Serves 1 as main, or 2 people for a side

*I'd imagine you can use maple syrup or agave nectar or some other vegan sweetener substitute for similar effects.

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Pour Brussels sprouts into corningware and spoon honey-mustard mixture over it. Toss to coat evenly.

2. Bake for thirty minutes or until desired crispness is reached. Warning: Crispy-crunchy caramelized bits may look like bacon. Serve warm, or let cool and slice in half to mix into salad.

The Best Chocolate Cake Ever...That Just Happens to Be Vegan and Gluten Free

I know what you're thinking. The cake pictured above cannot be good for you. And there's certainly no way it tastes good if it's vegan and gluten free to boot. It simple cannot. Admittedly, that's what I feared too. Fortunately, I thought very, very wrong. This practically healthy, fiber-rich cake from baking godsend, Vegan Divas even got my dessert-averse boyfriend and sugar-tooth lacking father sneaking seconds. Since I served the cake at a gathering to celebrate Robert Burns, known as Burns Supper, celebrating his January 25th (1759, folks) birthday, I adorned it with some crafty candles (dork alert). Fair warning: The decadent, dark chocolate-y smell of the fragrant cake might transform your guests into a must-eat-cake coma, so delay serving at your own risk.

Ingredients

6 ounces unsweetened dark chocolate, broken into pieces

1 1/2 cups organic coconut milk or vanilla soy milk, gently heated

1 tablespoon bourbon vanilla

1 14-oz can organic pumpkin puree

1 1/4 cup organic golden brown sugar

1/2 cup GF almond flour 

2 tablespoons tapioca or potato starch

1 tablespoon dry Ener-G Egg Replacer

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon or ginger

Instructions:

Place the chocolate pieces in the Vita-Mix (or a high speed blender container); add the heated hemp milk. Cover tightly- use caution with hot liquids. Turn on the mixer to high. Blend until chocolate pieces are melted. Add the vanilla extract, and pumpkin puree. Cover. Blend a minute.

Add the brown sugar, almond flour, tapioca, egg replacer, xanthan gum, sea salt, baking powder, cinnamon or ginger. Cover. Blend on high for a minute. Turn it off (unplug it for safety if you have kids nearby). Open the top and using a plastic spatula scrape down the sides if any flour is sticking to the sides- if you're using a food processor instead, do the same. Cover. Plug back in.

Blend for another minute or two until the batter is creamy and smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan (valentine's tin can) ; scrape all the batter out with a smallish silicone spatula. Smooth the top evenly.

Bake in the center of the oven until the cake is firm- anywhere from 50 to 60 minutes. Check the cake sooner if your experience indicates that flourless cakes and pies bake up quicker than 50 minutes; also, if your experience is that these types of recipes bake longer- check at 50 to 55 minutes; and follow your instincts. The center will be the last to cook- it shouldn't be wiggly.

Cool the cake on a wire rack. The top will collapse a bit- no worries. When the cake has cooled, cover and chill it at least two hours before serving. The longer the better. 

Chilling creates a dense fudgy cake.

Serve with chocolate sauce, a few ripe berries, a dusting of confectioner's sugar, or a few fresh mint leaves.

Don't think you can pull it off yourself? Fear not! Order the delectable cake here for Valentine's Day, along with a wide variety of other Vegan Divas' pastries and goodies.

Serves 8 to 10. (Or in my case, devoured by six with a side of So Delicious Dairy Free Almond Milk Ice Cream which I don't think any of my guests would have been able to guess it was vegan, too)

Whoops, got the candles wrong...

Ah, there we go. Much better.

3 Things They Won't Tell You About Giving Up Cheese

Whoever invented the expression "cold turkey" got it totally wrong. Cold turkey? Pfffft. More like "cold cheese." Giving up turkey when you go vegan is nothing compared to the difficulty in abandoning that six-letter word that plagues vegans like five-years old in a psych lab are tempted by marshmallows. Maybe I speak only for myself, but when you're recently vegan and it's 1:00am on a vodka-fueled Saturday night, you're not craving a burger. Or steak. Or even spaghetti and meatballs. You're thinking about gooey mac and cheese. Salivating over the thought of an extra-cheesy slice of pizza. And then salvation arrives in the form of a crispy grilled cheese with thick slabs of tomato wedged between its oozing slices of American and a takeout container of cheese fries and overly-sweetened ketchup.

Then you wake up the next day, feeling a tinge of guilt and flip open a copy of Rachael Ray to distract you, only to have it open to a riff of two favorite cheesy delights: eggplant Parmesan and grilled cheese.




 1. Replicate "cheesiness" with umami.
This savory taste, now known as the "fifth flavor," is found naturally in a variety of foods. Try adding briny olives, tomato paste, mushrooms or soy sauce to dishes that the old you would have doused in cheese to get that similar fix. It's amazing what a smudge of hummus (I'm obssessed with Tribe's Cocktail Time limited edition horseradishy delicious flavor) on a sandwich can also do. Also, I put umami-rich balsamic vinegar on everything. EVERYTHING (everything bagel with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil? Sure! Rice cakes with balsamic vinegar? Sign me up! Pasta spirals tossed with balsamic and tomatoes? Yes, please).

2.  Put nutritional yeast on everything.
No, it won't replace cheese, but it will make you miss it less. I swear by my "I Can't Believe It's Not Parm Sauce" (here's my super simple recipe). If I'm making pasta and in a pinch, I sprinkle a combination of nutritional yeast and GO Veggie! vegan parm with tomato sauce and merrily continue on my cheese-free but still indulgent way.

3. You'd be surprised what restaurants can do for you.
...And how good your former go-to dishes still taste. See a cheese-reliant item on the menu you'd love to have? Just ask to hold the cheese and if they can load up on extra veggies or whatever else you like in its place. You'd be amazed how good wood-fired pizza with fresh tomato sauce, basil and mushrooms (or whatever your favorite toppings are) tastes. Don't be afraid to asks! Any awesome chef will view your requests as a fun culinary challenge, and not a "goddamn this nitpicky crazy vegan eater." And if they do? Tweet up a storm to let them know you're ticked. (Mario Batali himself responded to me on Twitter once when I was upset by my service at Otto's, true story).

P.S. The Vegan Buffalo Bites (made from cauliflower!) with "Blue Cheese" Dressing on 86Lemons beats that crummy bottled stuff any day.

This Butterfinger Milkshake Sent Me to The Moon

I have a confession. I don't even like Butterfingers. Or I thought I didn't. Okay, real confession: They are my least favorite candy and when I was trick or treating growing up I used to trade all of mine for Crunch bars. Until:

BOOM! You're starting at a Butterfinger (left, and on the right, mint chip, if you're curious, also delicious, and my friend Angie and I referred to it as our "palate cleanser" between sips, well, gulps of inhaling the Butterfinger delight) milkshake from the amazing  Cafe Blossom (We went to the one on the Upper West Side). First-class Butterfinger shakes as a vegan are hard to find (let alone omnivore), but this one exceeded all expectations. My culinary school friend told me "Take it to go, it'll be even bigger," and man do I regret not doing that. Would have been the perfect breakfast. Cookie dough crumbly goodness with sweet chocolate drizzle and every sip explodes with goodness I couldn't imagine from my least favorite candy bar.  They won't divulge their secret, but I did find out it had something to do with Temptation ice cream, beyond that, and short of crack cocaine, I'm not sure what they put in it to make it so mindblowingly good, but man, all I have left to say is:  Run, don't walk.

5 Healthy Sipping Secrets from The Juice Generation

These "juicy tips" from The Juice Generation's new book The Juice Generation: 100 Recipes for Fresh Juices and Superfood Smoothies by Eric Helms with Amely Greeven are some of my favorites from the new guide to all things juicing and blending. The book is loaded with recipes and ideas that will help boost your health, make juicing easier and add a shot of delicousness to your life (trust me, all tasting betterthan that morning shot of apple cider vinegar you started taking).


1. Sip spit-ily.

Sounds gross, but by mixing your saliva (which contains digestive enzymes) muddled around with a fresh juice, it gets your digestive juices flowing and helps promote better absorption of your drink's nutrients. Also, sip slowly. Not only is savoring your juice better than chugging it down (and who wants to down it in four sips anyways? That's like $2.30 a sip, guys)

2. Use your leftover almond butter jars to store juices.

...because you've been making healthy smoothies too with nutrient-packed almond butter too, right? right? Whether it's an empty (and thoroughly cleaned!) almond butter, pickle or salsa jar, they all work great for storing juices.. Because plastic lets oxygen in, your juice's lose their nutrients at a quicker rate. Since glass slows the oxidation process, you'll have fresher juices for longer. Glass is also super easy to clean and lasts pretty much...until you drop it. Mason jars work fine too, for the trendier juicing set.

3. Pair hemp seeds with oil.
I've heard of power pairings like vitamin C and iron or green tea and lemon juice, but the book taught me that combing hemp seeds (or powder) with coconut oil helps you absorb the omega-3s in hemp twice as effectively.



4. Juice softer vegetables (like spinach, parsley, mint, kale) under harder fruits or veggies like carrots or apples.
Pretty self explanatory, but doing so helps pass the softer ones through the juicer and extract the most from leafy greens and herbs.

5. Don't get carrageenan-ed away.

This seaweed extract (it's a natural polysaccharaide boiled out from a red seaweed common in the Atlantic ocean) is often added to beverages like packaged soy, almond and coconut milk (not to mention countless dairy products). Among other things, it works as a thickening agent and as an emulsifier (such as by binding coconut oils and water together). While the FDA has given it a GRAS (Generally Regarded As Safe) status, the verdict is still out. Since some people attribute stomach problems to the additive, if you suffer from tummy upset after imbibing look for carrageenan-free brands when buying milk substitutes (or milk for that matter). Not into nut milks? Bananas, avocados, coconut water and fresh-squeezed juice all do the job. Extra ice for a frothy shake works too!

Learn more about the book here.

The 3 Things That Surprised Me Most About Going Vegan

Nope, it wasn't my boyfriend rolling his eyes at me. Or having to explain for the billionth time to someone that getting protein is easy (Coulda predicted that one too). Or that, yes, I know, I'm taking a B12 supplement, so don't worry. So maybe I couldn't have told you that I'd be eating a lot more of 86 Lemons' Chickpea Ratatouille. But read on for the three real whammies that I discovered after making the plunge.

1. "Vegetarian" options at Chinese restaurants aren't safe.

By now, I'm well versed in all the junk that gets thrown into seemingly innocuous dishes. But pre-vegan days, I thought, "Hey! Cheese and dairy are nowhere to be found on the menus of Asian restaurants. As long as I order veggies/tofu dishes, I'm totally safe. Hello Takeout!" Wrong. Turns out, a lot of sauces use fish or meat products and even items listed on a "Buddha's delight" or "Vegetarian" section of a menu aren't safe even if animal products aren't named in the description. I've searched the internet high and low to try and figure out what exactly the standard recipe is for "brown sauce," only to discover that it varies tremendously. After doing some informal surveys on my own at my go-to takeout joints, I discovered one uses chicken stock as the base for it's brown sauce (and it's white sauce too!), another is "vegetarian!" until you pry a bit and learn their definition of vegetarian means no pork and it actually contains oyster sauce, and a third is corn starch and water based, and totally vegetarian friendly. So ask, ask, ask away. And when in doubt. Order no sauce and get extra soy sauce on the side. P.S. Half the fun of take out/delivery is eating pre-made food in the comfort of your own home, so surely you could splurge for a $4 bottle of vegan teriyaki or other condiment of choice and just order your dishes sauce free and BYOS to the dinner table.

2. I have to worry about Blood Mary's.

If you know me, you know that there's one drink I crave breakfast, noon and nightcap: that savory blend of tomato juice, spice, enough olives to justify having to add it to your weight watchers point list and a (few) splash (es) of vodka. Sadly, Worcestershire sauce is typically made with anchovies, so it's not on the "safe list" (I'll trade accidentally vegan Oreos or Doritos Spicy Sweet Chili Flavored Tortilla Chips to get Worcestershire sauce on that list any day). So what's a BM-aficionado to do? Sling a bottle of Annie's Organic Vegan Worcestershire Sauce in your purse to have on call for a brunch spot near you.

3. ...But I don't have to worry about everything.

Okay, so confession: I don't actually walk around with Worcestershire Sauce in my purse (Though Annie's is darn good). And I don't even double check with my waiter at buzzy Manhattan liquor dens to ensure they're using the vegan kind (A little voice in my head likes to cajole me by whispering "C'mon Perri, this is Manhattan, of course this trendy spot knows to pick one without anchovies. I mean, they're charging me $1112 a glass, they must be splurging for the organic vegan version...") And I'm okay with that. I used to think going vegan was an all or nothing type thing. No animal products. None. Ever. But the more you learn, the more you realize how that's pretty much impossible. And striving for a compassionate lifestyle that mitigates as much animal suffering as possible is better than driving yourself insane and spending all day obsessing over your food choices. Get worked up all you want about your veggie stir fry being tossed in the same wok as a pork dish that came before it and is left unwashed (trust me, it happens), but at the end of the day, the .000000003%  animal contamination it's resulted in on your meal is probably better than the additional animal suffering that would result from washing that wok with a tallow-laced soap that led to more demand for cattle slaughter.

2-Ingredient Cleansing New Year's Soup

2014 marks the influx of a lot of food trends. Many, from the elevation of the humble lemon to dairy products getting a nutty twist (hello, macadamia nut cheese!), are actually pretty vegan friendly (Get the full list here). One of my favorite of the ten trends, however, isn't really a "food" in the traditional sense: It's tea. And my tea has escaped the mug and jumped into my bowl and plate. And maybe it's time yours hops into some other vestibules as well. Using Numi Organic Savory Tea and vegetable broth lying around in my pantry, it's five-year-old easy to make an impressive, warm and steamy bowl of soup.

So...drum roll please...the oh-so-formidable recipe.

1) Mix one part Numi savory tea with one part veggie broth.
2) Heat until boiling. Serve.



OPTIONAL ADD-INS

If you want to think beyond one-two-soup. here are a few of my favorite combos.

2-ingredient Soup Remix
Spinach Chive + veggie broth + handful of cashews (Sounds weird, but a good crunch)
Tomato Mint + veggies broth+ chopped tomatoes + splash of  unsweetened almond milk (Again, sounds weird, but remember the healing powers of that bowl of creamy tomato soup on a snowy day?)
Fennel Spice + veggie broth + roasted carrots + fresh cracked pepper
Carrot curry + veggie broth + cubes of cooked potatoes + freshly grated ginger + cinnamon

(The garden sampler contains all six blends)

The best part of this no-brainer recipe? You can still serve it in your tea mug and it still tastes just as good. Perhaps even better.

How Do You Get Fresh Herbs Year Round?

Yeah, I had no idea either. Until I stumbled upon my new vegan flavor boosting obsession: Litehouse Freeze-Dried Herbs. Since one of my New Year's Resolutions is to not sprinkle sea salt as much, on well, everything, I tried the instantly fresh salad herb blend (parsley, red onions, chives, shallots, garlic and dill). All you do is add a bit of water once you sprinkle some out to de-freeze dry them, and voila! Fresh herbs in a jiffy on a raw tomato dish, but the blends also work great in soups, pasta sauces and sprinkled atop baked potatoes. They also have other varieties like basil and oregano so if your winter garden is anything like mine and a #wintergardenfail, having these in your pantry makes flavorful cooking easy and more affordable than that $9 parsley bunch you bought for a recipe calling for a tablespoon just to have 80% of it go bad before you can even use the rest...

The Most Brilliant Vegan Stocking Stuffer Gift (And It Only Costs $9.20)

This past year, I became an accidental vegan advocate of sorts when I wrote a series of researched pieces on veganism for Reader's Digest (11 Convincing Reasons That Going Vegan Isn't Crazy, 12 Expert Tips for Becoming Vegan, etc.). It certainly changed my plate and I hope inspired more than a few others too (whether that means joining Meatless Mondays, just crowding out some bad foods by loading up on more veggies when you can, or going from vegetarian to vegan). So when I opened an envelope at work, I was so touched to see that a spokesperson for PETA had written me a note and sent me this beautiful and inspiring sheet of U.S. Postage Photo Stamps (A set of 20 is $9.20, or at least according to my .46 * 20 math skills it is...)

It'll set you back less than a Hamilton (It's okay, I had to look up who was on the $10 too, folks) and make mailing off your monthly rent check that much less painful. Okay, okay, so maybe it won't, but who doesn't need stamps? It's the perfect practical gift that everybody could always use extras. And there's something really nice about thinking that somewhere in a sea of letters, as your envelope crosses through the states, a postal worker in a mail room, your delivery person or a faceless recipient of your Con Ed bill sees the stamp and thinks "Hey, if Sarah Silverman can do it, maybe I can change my plate, too."