compassionate women Archives - Page 9 of 31

Creamy Tomato Shells & Meatballs

June 7, 2017 by Jillian Leave a Comment

I’m going to be honest here… I’m not sure if this recipe even looks appetizing, but I’m posting it anyway because it’s 100% delicious no matter how pink and weird looking it may be. Just close your eyes and imagine perfectly cooked pasta shells in a creamy tomato sauce with sauteed meatballs seasoned in Italian herbs 👌👅

The good news is, your recipe may come out looking totally normal and non-coral. I based this recipe off of Pinch of Yum’s 3 Ingredient Creamy Tomato Shells and well, mine turned out rather awkward… but our attempts don’t always turn out as perfect as the ones on professional food blogs and that’s okay. As long as it’s delicious and/or you had fun making it!

[Read more…]

Chia Lemon Muffins

May 29, 2017 by Jillian Leave a Comment

For the longest time I hated lemon flavored sweets. I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to eat lemon candies or lemon desserts or lemon ice cream. I mean, what kind of psycho would choose lemon cake over chocolate cake? It just isn’t right. But slowly, my love for lemons began to shine through my chocolate exterior. Finally, I could admit to myself that lemon squares are delicious. Lemon sorbet? Don’t mind if I do. Raw lemon cheesecake? Even better!

So I decided to make lemon muffins for the first ever last week, and I also added chia seeds because one can never have too many chia seeds. The result? A hearty, flavorful muffin that tastes super amazing with homemade strawberry jam and a cup of coffee ☕️🍓

[Read more…]

The Taste of Injustice

May 24, 2017 by Jillian Leave a Comment

I recently went back to school to finish my undergraduate studies as a 29 year old sophomore. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, in fact, I was somewhat dreading it. I was worried that as a full time student, my free time would be nonexistent and I would be struggling to pursue any outside projects. But actually, the opposite happened. Being in school made me more proactive to work on my passion projects, and what I was learning in my classes directly affected those same projects and made them, like, 100% better. With my first semester complete, and a 4.0 GPA under my belt, I’m officially a junior woo hoo!

Going to school in a South Texas town right next to the Mexico border has certainly immersed me in a whole new culture and I’m learning more about how my beliefs and passions for animal rights and veganism parallel some of the same issues occurring in the lives of immigrants and Mexican workers. For me, it really reinforces my belief that humans will continue to struggle with peace and kindness until they can extend the same courtesy to animals. We forget how much we mirror our animal counterparts and that if we want respect and compassion, we should first be able to give it out regardless of species.

I made a 2 and a half minute video for one of my classes titled The Taste of Injustice. The main purpose of the video is to get people thinking outside of the box. The more connections we can make between humans and animals, different cultures and races, the struggles of various peoples and animals, then the more we begin to see that we all want the same thing – to be free to be ourselves.

[Read more…]

Turmeric Persimmon Nice Cream

May 9, 2017 by Jillian Leave a Comment

Summer is just around the corner! Unless you live in South Texas like me, in which case, it’s summer year round 🔥

But I’m okay with that because it means it’s always nice cream weather. I’m still going strong 2+ years into my obsession with banana nice cream and all it’s versatility/deliciousness. I used to make chocolate peanut butter nice cream all the time and I still love it, but lately I’ve been coming up with new flavors 🍌🍨

Enter Turmeric Persimmon Nice Cream. There’s something about persimmon that kicks up the nice cream game like a million notches. Persimmon adds natural sweetness, a gorgeous bright orange color, and a creaminess that I can’t even explain but it’s amazing. Bananas are one of nature’s most perfect foods and lends more natural sweetness as the creamy base for this recipe. Finally, ground turmeric balances out all the sweetness from the persimmon and banana, adds to the vibrant color, and contributes antioxidants and other healing properties.

Blend this dish up in just a few minutes, then top with coconut flakes, fresh fruit, and coconut whipped cream. I love having this Turmeric Persimmon Nice Cream for lunch, a snack, dessert – I’ve even had it for breakfast! Aside from being sweet and creamy and A++ all around, it gives you a ton of energy to go about your day.

[Read more…]

Does the Golden Rule Only Extend to Humans?

April 14, 2017 by Jillian 2 Comments

This is Jackson, my very first dog. I brought him home from the animal shelter because, well, he was a hot mess. He was so skinny his ribs were showing, he was throwing up and had diarrhea due to untreated intestinal worms, he was dirty, his teeth looked like those of a senior dog even though he was less than two years old, he flinched at every sound, and he was terrified of men. In fact, for the first several days, I had to physically carry him from place to place because he was often too afraid to even walk a few feet.

I have no clue what happened to Jackson before I brought him home. He was found roaming the streets. That’s all I know. I can only imagine the terrible things he experienced and I often wonder, if only people had treated him the way they would have wanted to be treated, he never would’ve been neglected, abused, or traumatized. To this day, nearly eight years later, he’s still extremely timid and skittish.

I recently watched a documentary on Netflix called Live and Let Live. It’s a thoughtful examination about the relationship between animals and humans, and it discusses the meaningful reasons why people choose to be vegan. It really made me think about this idea of the Golden Rule, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” which typically involves human to human interactions. But it’s important for people to understand that by not extending the same courtesy to animals and the environment, we’re not only hurting them, but ourselves. We must understand that everything is interconnected and if we want to do good, we must do good to all.

[Read more…]