toe MAY toe, toe MAH toe

Some of the people I work with are very patient and sweet to listen to me gush about different meals I make. They usually lead to good, quick conversations that I really appreciate and help me to think further into the choices I’ve made.

Co-worker: It must be really hard to grocery shop and find the sort of foods you need to eat. Where do you shop?

Me: I just shop at the normal grocery store. I go to the health food store to get a lot of things in bulk just because it’s cheaper.

Co-worker: So, you said last night you made a version of Eggplant Parmesan…I guess it’s just about making the type of meals you normally would eat and just learning to substitute out certain ingredients?

Me: (thrilled) EXACTLY!!!

It's the little things, isn't it?

Dried Tomato Skins

Tomatoes are a precious food to me, so when I get the opportunity to use fresh tomatoes to make my marinara, I hate throwing out the skins. Instead, I lay them out, dry them in the oven and grind them up to use later as a garnish or mix with olive oil to create a tomato paste.

 

 

Sharing the Love

My dear girlfriend that is ultimately responsible for kick starting me into my vegan diet has started her own blog, 'Mindful Living'. She focuses on small changes that make huge impacts and are very realistic. I admire her thoughtful words so much, I hope you enjoy her posts as much as I do!

http://peacefulcoexistence.wordpress.com/about/

Boundaries

Claiming to be ‘Vegan’ in itself is pretty broad: Do you only apply your veganism to diet? Purchases? Drinking? Every second of every day? Or do you give yourself ‘cheat’ days?

For myself it’s truly been a day by day experience. People like to ask me a lot of hypothetical questions, such as ‘But what are you going to do if someone holds you hostage and says the only way they would free you is if you ate chicken??? Would you eat it then???’

Sigh.

Everyone’s boundaries are totally different and personal. I know people who are strict with their food consumption and others who are a little more lax. For me, I understand that going out to eat or eating at someone else’s home will provide certain challenges and I’m ready to accept those challenges with a little creativity and reasonable compromise. Sometimes I may just decide to throw in the towel, though.

Today we went out to eat for lunch, which is a HUUUUGGE event for us. My husband suggested a place we love and I knew would have extremely limited vegan options. In the end, I decided on a crab cake. The horrors, right? And guess what – it was delicious. Not in that, ‘What have I been missing?’ way but ‘What a nice treat!’ sort of way.

That is another misconception – just because I choose not to eat dairy or meat doesn’t mean I suddenly think it all tastes disgusting. Shrimp tastes good. Chicago style pizza tastes good. But they make me feel so bad. And obviously there’s a reason for that.

I didn’t physically feel horrible after my meal but I didn’t feel great, either. Honestly, I like having a time or two like this, few and far between, and think is good for keeping me on track and reminding me why I love eating the way I do. I also know that I’m doing more good than bad in the overall scheme of things, which is the most important thing.

Pick Up Lines

Lately I’ve had a few conversations about my vegan eating that have had me walk away incredibly frustrated. Not because the individual had been argumentative or unwilling to listen to what I’ve had to say – rather, I had a few precious moments where another person was genuinely interested in learning more about an issue they had a differing opinion on and I came up shamefully short.

Nothing makes my day more than someone interested in my ‘alternative eating lifestyle’. I know people are especially intrigued because I am not what you would expect of a Vegan – I am not the red paint throwing, animals rights screaming, angry activist so wonderfully painted by previous extremists (because nothing makes someone with an opposing view want to listen to what you have to say like acting like a screaming nut). I love country music, drink my fair share of a variety of alcohol and work in a seafood restaurant.

Whenever someone asks me why I choose not to eat any meat or dairy products, I freeze. I just can’t find the words. Not because there are so few, rather because there are so many. Health. Politics. Environment. My daughters bodies. My Boys bodies. Self healing. Narrowing the chance for disease. I could elaborate on all of these and more. But I don’t have all day, and neither do they.

I feel like I need that ‘hook’…that line that keeps them wanting more, piques their interest and continues wanting to hear what I have to say. That line that allows me to sum up 5 months of research in one sentence and prove why that ‘health bar’ their eating isn’t so healthy. That line that makes them think, ‘Huh, maybe she’s on to something…’

Needless to say, it’s a work in progress. While I certainly don’t expect every single person to eat 100% vegan 100% of the time, I wish safe eating for everyone and wish more people had an interest in understanding where their food comes from. I can only imagine how much I *still* have to learn and hope to share these things with others down the road.

 

Black Bean and Quinoa Burger with Portabella and Cashew Cheese Sauce

 

 

Saturday Night Live

I have some rare 'Me' time tonight and thought I'd celebrate with a little somethin' yummy. A cupcake from an extra batch I keep in the freezer + 2 frozen strawberries + one last square of chocolate I found in my purse

EQUALS.....

Now I am taking this, my glass of wine, cuddling up on the couch and scaring myself rediculous with my favorite new show, American Horror Story. Happy Saturday Night, y'all!

Sick Day

To put it simply, I am not feeling well. The type of ‘not feeling well’ that normally would call for only one thing: Chicken Noodle Soup. Which clearly isn't an option. Obviously I knew there had to be a substitute for what I was craving, but off the top of my head I wasn’t sure what that was. The craving began last night right before I was to head off for (a very early) bed. My sweet, loving husband offered to go to the store and pick up some soup for me. Knowing that there are a lot of hidden ingredients that make things not vegan, I told him to simply look for a telling label on a soup item and get whatever he could find.

What he found was Black Bean Soup.

Now, I like Black Bean Soup. But when it’s 8:00 at night and you feel sick, that’s not typically a go-to. I believe it was all he could find (either the New Year’s resolution people or couponers seemed to have cleared the shelves), but I just couldn’t bring myself to eat it.

Today, feeling worse, I knew that I had to come up with something. And fast. A 25 month old and 4 month old don’t allow for much cooking time during the day. But thankfully what I was able to create was just what I needed.

I didn’t want anything other that a clear broth soup and I also wanted to make sure it was really full of flavor. I started with the bible ingredients of veggie stock: carrots, onion, celery and mushrooms (even if you don’t like mushrooms, I HIGHLY recommend using them in the base of a veggie stock).

 

 

After they sautéed for a bit, I threw in some water and added some kale. Now, here’s where I stopped thinking and just ‘did’. I felt like along with taste, I just needed any type of nutrient my body could get.  I have no idea what made me think of it, but I had this box of frozen veggies in the fridge that seemed to be a perfect match. A lot of Green Giant medleys have butter in them (booooooo) but even after a Google search, nothing seemed to point to anything dairy related in the mix.

 

 

Last, I threw in some endamame, chopped tomatoes, salt, more water, and barley.

 

 

 

The whole thing *maybe* took me 15 minutes. Simmer for another 20, and I was on my way to better health and deliciousness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holiday Survival

I went to bed an hour ago and yet…here I am. I am always behind on things as it is but for whatever reason tonight every detail on my ‘to do’ list is swimming frantically in my head. Clearly, a new post is long overdue, so at least I’m being productive.

I have to admit it, and I’m sure I sound crazy but – I am SO GLAD the holidays are over! At least when it comes to food. Lack of farmer’s markets and baked sweets have gotten to me. If you didn’t know, let me tell you now, eating vegan does NOT always equal healthy! I have had waaaaayyy to many processed flour, sugar treats and fried things lately. I am beyond eager to get back on track and very happy to be a self proclaimed ‘plant based Vegan’.

Speaking of the holidays, I will admit – I derailed Christmas night. We were invited to a family members house that we are becoming increasingly close with, but are still getting to know each other and we didn’t know anyone else that had been invited. Simply put, I wasn’t comfortable coming out as a Vegan and didn’t want that to become a main topic of conversation. Do I think it was worth it? Yes.

I had a game plan: certainly I made sure to eat well at home prior to leaving. As my dish to pass I made a generous serving of the green bean casserole from Thanksgiving and also brought mixed nuts, hummus, pretzels, mixed berry pie, and chocolate coconut cupcakes. Because, let’s be honest – should a meat eater look down on your vegan ways, you can usually stop them in the tracks with a good chocolate cupcake. Or at least confuse them.

This was a formal dinner affair, though, complete with a long table beautifully decorated and everyone shoulder to shoulder. I didn’t want to offend anyone by not eating their cooking (because I know *I* am sensitive when people won’t eat what I’ve cooked) so I dished up what veggies I could find, trying to take larger servings of the ones that appeared to have the least amount of butter pooled in them. Bottom line, everyone had a great time, I didn’t go hungry, and everyone loved the pie and chocolate cupcakes – never knowing they were vegan. As far as I’m concerned, it was a successful night!

To start the New Year, I made a late day breakfast dish. Maybe it was because I was so hungry, but it was goooooooodddd. How anyone could eat this and categorize Vegans as ‘boring’ is beyond me!

Cranberry, Kale & Wheatberry Salad, Oven Pancakes, Hashbrowns with Kale & Tempah, Biscuits & Gravy