My fiance and I have been meaning to go to Kama for a while now. They have one in LaGrange Park where we live, so we made reservations for Valentine's Day.

Before dinner we had hoped to go to a local metaphysical store but saw they were closed Sundays. Instead we wound up wandering LaGrange and driving around Hinsdale, looking at beautiful houses we'll probably never be able to afford. Oh well. If I had that kind of money I probably wouldn't spend it on a house anyway.

I’m writing to share a huge success story. A larger success than I ever imagined. Last year, 400 million fewer animals were killed in the U.S. than in 2007. That’s more lives saved in America than there are American citizens.

I almost said that I'm expanding my focus with this article, since I usually write about animal rights. But really I'm narrowing my focus to one particular animal: the human animal.

The other night I ordered a pizza from a popular chain. If you’ve read my other articles, you can probably guess that it was a vegan pizza. The website where I ordered it even had no cheese as a standard option. But the box they sent it in told a different story.

The top of the box named and pictured five cows. The company hailed them as their unsung heroes, calling them an important part of their team.

I guess they picked the wrong box for my cheeseless pizza.

Makes about 6 patties

• 1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 15 oz can any kind of bean, rinsed and drained
• Enough veggies to match the volume of the beans
• Ground oatmeal, 1/2 to 1 cup
• 4 tablespoons cumin
• 4 (or more!) tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon ground flax seed
• 1 tablespoon ground chia seeds
• Salt/pepper to taste

This is my aunt's recipe. Like all of her recipes, it's very customizable to suit your taste.

Vegan food doesn't have to be complicated.

Tonight I threw something together based on a delicious meal I had at Native Foods Cafe. Marinated some vegan chicken strips for about 30 seconds in homemade barbecue sauce, then put it in the oven swimming in the sauce at 350. I would have used store bought barbecue if I had any on hand. It probably cooked for about 45 minutes but really, the chicken strips were pre-cooked so it was just heating it anyway.

I decided to wake my mom up to brunch. Two trips to the store later, I was busy making a tofu quiche using The Post Punk Kitchen's recipe. Since she's not huge on broccoli I substituted asparagus and a ton of fresh spinach. I had hoped to try out kala namak - Indian black salt - for the first time, but alas, no Indian groceries were open that early on a Sunday. Kala namak is a sulfurous salt that I've heard makes vegan dishes taste eggy. Instead I added asafoetida liberally.