For the love of gOATs...

Hello, and happy 'in between' day! 
It's time to talk about goats.

Why goats?  Why not?   You see, goats are just wonderful little things.  Have you ever met one?  (If I'm not mistaken, and when I'm baking this weekend I'll see if I can find photo proof of it).  My grandma used to let my moms goats (Billy and Jackie, exclusively) hang out with her INSIDE the house.  (My grandma was awesome like that - see where I get it from?)  Course, I, personally also had a duck that lived INSIDE the house.. but we're talking about goats.

Let's get factual about goats:
Like cattle and sheep, goats are far-ranging ruminants who spend their time in social herds, wandering the landscape and eating. but unlike them, they browse rather than graze, meaning they prefer to nibble vines, shrubbery and weeds, rather than just chew grass. Goats are extremely inquisitive and intelligent animals, and will thoroughly explore anything new or unfamiliar in their surroundings. They are also highly playful and affectionate. Female goats are well known as patient, nurturing mothers, which is why they are often used to foster orphaned or rejected lambs, calves and even foals.

Now, on to the bad news:

But on commercial and many small goat farms, mother goats are cruelly torn from their very own babies, in order for humans to drink their milk. Many more goats are killed for meat; nearly 1 million goats were killed for meat in the U.S. in 2011. On small and large farms, virtually all goats are subjected to painful mutilations without anesthetic, including castration (males) and/or burning their nerve-filled horns out of their heads (both males and females). Many goats are also killed in cruel religious or ethnic ritual slaughter practices, which require that the animals be conscious when their throats are slit. 

GAH - seriously?
Look at those guys up there?!  I just wanna hang out with them.
Why hurt them?

Grrr.
 Let's start loving our goats - and then let's ask Sheri, what the heck goats have to do with our next veganization?

NOTHING!
That's the beauty of it.  There could be the fact that the word 'oat' is inside 'goat' but we might be reaching.

That's right.. OAT.
I'm about to make Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies!

Yuuumm...
These have always been a favorite of mine.  I love anything oatmeal, and these are no exception.

Can I get a yeehaw?

Of course, we all know what's IN an oatmeal cream pie (aside from oatmeal)
Eggs, Milk, MARSHMALLOW (ugh) Partially Hydrogenated every oil ever...
NO thank you.

Let's do the numbers here:

LD Oatmeal Pie                  Lil 'Ri Oatmal Pie
Calories - 170                              128
Total Fat  - 7.0                              4.2
Cholesterol - 4.8                             0
Sodium -   190                              65
Total Carbs -26                            22.1
Fiber - 1                                          2
Protein - 1                                       1
WW Pts -  5                                    4

Strangely, not much of a difference, but still a difference none-the-less.
So, our official vegan oatmeal cream mascot for the week is Albie.
Why Albie?  He's so full of marshmallow colored love, why not!?
Click his picture to read his story.  And if you feel like being generous, donate to him and his fellow goat-mates! 
What a sweet guy!


So - this weekend (after/or maybe before) all of my outings I will be baking again.
I'll be baking for me, I'll be baking for Albie, I'll be baking for whomever wants a cookie out there.

Keep it tuned.

Music enjoyed while blogging:
A cat disagreement

Current Craving:
The OSF

Current Motivation:
Getting my Bella well.