Cheesy Tex-Mex Burritos

 

1 ear of corn, husk and silk removed

1 small red bell pepper

1/4 cup white onion

1 can refried beans (I like to mix mine with a can of Rotel and I love Central Market’s Refried beans, so yummy and nothing added)

1-2 Tbls of non-dairy cheese (I prefer to do a mix of Follow Your Heart’s Nacho Cheese and Mozzarella)

11-in whole wheat tortillas (Mission makes a good one, but you can get fresh ones from HEB or Central Market)

1-2 Avocados, for topping

Directions:  Remove corn kernels from the cob. I usually use a serrated knife and that usually works best. Chop bell peppers and onions to a desirable size. Lay tortillas out flat and in the middle of the tortilla layer refried beans, corn, peppers, onions, and cheese. Fold in the sides of the tortilla and roll the tortilla slowly to close. Preheat oven for 450 degrees. Place tortillas on pan and bake for 10-15 minutes. The tortillas will just start to lightly brown, that’s when they’re done. I love to serve them with fresh guacamole.

Dinner is served!

Variations:   Try adding other vegetables that you enjoy. You can also serve them with tofutti Sour Cream and some fresh salsa. Or you can even add some fresh brown rice. Yummy! :)

A Tasty Butter Substitute

 

When I went vegan I was a little sad that I would no longer be able to eat butter. I thought, gone were the days of warm toast and melting butter with jam. But alas, I was wrong. My mother (who is also a fellow vegan) turned me onto a yummy butter substitute. Earth Balance is a wonderful substitute that tastes just like butter. In fact, I made the trade to this buttery concoction months before my husband ever noticed that it wasn’t the “real” thing. Earth Balance has a variety of spreads to choose from and they are all vegan. Plus, they also carry vegan shortening and buttery sticks that are great to bake with.

Earth Balance also makes soymilk and peanut butter spreads. Check out all of their products at www.earthbalancenatural.com.

New Additions to the Blog

Check out our new pages! We have added three new pages to our blog to help our vegan Austinites. We now have a restaurant page that has a list of restaurants that have vegan options. We also have added a page with grocery stores that carry vegan products and a list of farmers' markets in the Austin area. Please browse around and check it all out.

As always please send your comments or questions to twovegansisters@gmail.com

Enjoy!

Natural Beauty

Finally, a makeup that is kind to your face and kind to the earth! Rae Cosmetics is a local brand developed by Rochelle Rae. The line is designed to withstand humidity and perspiration; anyone who lives in the Texas heat can appreciate that. It's perfect for active women or just the girl on-the-go. The line is mineral based and offers everything from eyeliner to lip gloss, what else could a girl ask for? But wait! I haven't told you the best part, it's cruelty-free and enviromentally friendly. Check 'em out online here or visit their store. Go ahead and treat yourself, you deserve it!

Rae Cosmetics
1206 W. 38th Street
Suite #1206
Austin, TX 78705
(512) 320-8732
http://www.raecosmetics.com/

A Kinder Way of Life

With all this rain here in Austin it makes me want to snuggle up on the couch with my dog and a good book. The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone is pretty much the reason why my sister and I went vegan. It is also how we got our name, Keep Austin Kind. If you have not read this book, it comes highly recommended by the Two Vegan Sisters. Alicia gives it to you straight, but not in a harsh way like some other books have. The book is loaded with lots of great information regarding our meat industry, our dairy industry, and our earth. She backs up her info with some easy to understand science and data, but nothing to hardcore to lose you. It’s forthright, funny, and wonderfully humanizing. It was without a doubt one of my favorite reads of 2010. I read it cover to cover in one day. YES, it was that good and that easy to read. Plus, there are yummy recipes in the back. I just tried pan fried mochi this morning and it was AWESOME! A post of that will be forthcoming :)
Enjoy my friends!

Handy Knowledge

I must confess that my sister and I are newcomers to the whole Vegan lifestyle. As many of you will probably vouch, it can be hard sometimes to find products that are completely cruel-free. Manufacturers are very sneaky sometimes and what you may think is an innocuous product may actually hurt rather than help. Avoiding meat as a vegetarian can be very easy sometimes, but trying to avoid all animal products can be a true test. When reading the labels of products it is sometimes a daunting task to try and even wrap your head around the ingredients' names, let alone trying to figure out what they actually are. To help make it a little easier, here is a new ingredient to add to your mental checklist when buying beauty products, Lanolin.

Lanolin is not vegan.

Although lanolin does not sound bad or like it even comes from an animal it actually comes from sheep. Sadly lanolin is a wax that is secreted by and from domestic sheep. It is this wax that sheep naturally produce that helps sheep stay dry from water and rain. That is why manufacturers use this wax in things like hand creams and lotions because it makes them water resistant.

I was surprised to find out that the aromatherapy hand cream that I had purchased recently had lanolin in it. To make it worse, I thought I had been doing a good thing by buying this hand cream because it was not tested on animals. Buyer Beware. Remember that just because it is not tested on animals doesn't mean its free of animal ingredients.

If you are looking for kind lotions, try some of these:
Island Essence, http://www.islandessence.com/
Aubrey Organics, http://www.aubrey-organics.com/
Alba, http://www.albabotanica.com/

Sweet Treats

Who doesn't love a little sweet reward at the end of the day? As a vegan it can sometimes be hard to find places that have desserts that are kind to our animal friends. However, Quack's 43rd Street Bakery has got your fix. Quack's makes their desserts fresh from scratch daily. Yesterday my sister and I found that they have several vegan goodies to choose from. We of course had to sample several, including the vegan chocolate peanut butter cup, Erin's vegan lemon cupcake, and the chocolate vegan truffle. We were impressed to say the least. Everything was fresh and yummy! I highly recommend the truffle. Even my non vegan co-workers were jealous. Make sure to stop by there on your next outing in Hyde Park. You will not be disappointed!