Veg-Head of the Week: Mia Bissette

This week I have the honor of presenting our “Veg-Head of the Week”, Mia Bisset. She’s not only a vegan, but an animal lover and a distance athlete that uses her racing as a means to raise money for animals in need. It’s difficult for us to sum-up all of her accomplishments (because it's such a long list!), so we’re going to let Mia make the introduction in her own words. Welcome Mia!

My name is Mia Bissette and I am honored to be Veg Head of the week :) I so appreciate the wonderful vegetarian/vegan community here in the DFW area and I look forward to meeting more and more of you!

I had the great blessing of being able to retire as a hair stylist after 15yrs (in 2006) and really follow my passion which has everything to do with the welfare of animals large and small. I became a vegetarian in April 2006 as well, after a friend described to me how she was stuck in traffic behind a chicken transport vehicle and the horror she witnessed. Ten months, after learning the truth about the dairy industry, I became a vegan. I still fly high everyday knowing that I no longer contribute to the mistreatment of any animal.

I've had the great fortune to work with groups who do everything from rescue and rehab dolphins and whales off the TX coast (www.tmmsn.org) to caring for exotic cats (lions, tigers...) in a wonderful rescue sanctuary (www.insyncexotics.com) and finding homes for unwanted dogs and cats (http://www.pawsinthecity.org/). I also became a certified veterinary technician after 2 yrs of school and passing the state and national boards. Finishing first in my class was a proud moment for me. In the future I'd still like to be part of rescue teams who find homeless animals after major disasters.

My most recent accomplishments have involved doing triathlons to raise money for a rescue group or farm animal sanctuary that I choose because it touches my heart. Two yrs ago I raised over $1000 for Animal Acres in Acton, CA (http://www.animalacres.org/) by completing a sprint triathlon here in Dallas. Last year I raised close to $3000 for Ruff Houzen Rescue (http://www.ruffhouzen.org/) run by my friend Ashley Paige in Los Angeles, CA., who has single-handedly rescued and found homes for over 600 cats and dogs. Ashley is definitely one of my heroes and a great inspiration to me.

This year I completed my first Olympic distance triathlon and raised just under $4000 for PETA! (http://www.peta.org/) I've also rescued and found homes for 15 dogs this year, one of whom has become another hero of mine and one of my best friends. The other 14 went to loving homes.

During this past year I have become very interested in eating mainly a living raw food diet. I still love some vegan goodies as well but mainly stick to raw these days. I went to a wonderful class to learn some preparation techniques and raw food recipes here in Dallas when we were so fortunate as to have Jackie and Gideon Graff here from Atlanta, GA. I'd love to share one of the recipes with you. From the great minds of the Graffs I give you the Raw Apple Pie with Raw Nut and Date Pie Crust…

Nut and Date Pie Crust
1 c. almonds, soaked for 12 hrs., drained and dehydrated
1 c. pecans, " " " " " " "
1 c. walnuts, " " " " "
1 1/2 c. medjool dates, pits removed
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp vanilla powder (5 vanilla beans + 1/2 c. buckwheat groats in a blender till powder)...store this in airtight container in fridge or freezer
~or~ 1 tsp liquid vanilla

• Place almonds in food processor and process until it resembles flour
• Add salt and vanilla and process well
• Add pecans, walnuts, and dates to food processor and process until mixed well
• Press mixture into 8-10 inch glass pie pan

*Crust may be made ahead of time and refrigerated or frozen

Apple Pie
1 nut and date pie crust
6 golden delish or fuji apples peeled and cored
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp cinnamon
4-6 medjool dates pits removed
1 tsp vanilla powder
1 c. raisins
2 tsp flax seeds, ground fine

• Prepare pie crust
• Place 1/3 of apples, salt, cinnamon, dates, and vanilla powder in food processor process until mixture is almost consistency of apple sauce
• Continue adding apples, processing only until apples are chopped into small to med. size pieces
• Add raisins
• Stir in ground flax seeds and mix well and let sit for 15 mins.
  The raisins and flax seeds will soak up the juice from the apples
• Place apple mixture in pie crust

Optional: top with chopped walnuts and a few more raisins

I encourage everyone to look into raw foods and to incorporate them into your diet. Thanks to Jackie and Gideon for this wonderful and easy recipe (http://www.sproutrawfood.org/).

Thank you, Mia, for that great write-up! We look forward to seeing more awesome things you do for animals in the future!