I feel like a new woman since cutting out dairy.  Seriously. 

I’ve had a lot of fun veganizing my own recipes and trying the recipes from Veganomicon.

I made a vegan version of my

Strawberry Pie

I made a whole wheat crust with whole wheat pastry flour.

The filling was a blended strawberries, fresh halved strawberries vegan sugar (still sugar but I let it slide) and cornstarch

I topped that with CoolWhip’s healthier cousin

Mallard ,who still does not like vegan food, …  ate half.

I tried to make Veganomicon’s cupcakes.

I usually pride myself if being a fantastic baker

Not this time

Cupcake Flop

Was it the time?  The preparation?  The world may never know…

I spoke with Alyson about different ways to add fats into my diet since the only source of fat for me in the last 6 months has been nut butters. 

I guess I just love them so it’s an easy way get my fat in.  I really don’t use oil in everyday cooking.

There must be some variety though.

Choco-cadoats

1/2 cup of oats cooked in 1 cup water

1 tsp cocoa powder

1 tsp Nustevia

1/4 smashed avocado

 I’ve seen this tooling around health blogs

So I gave it a try

Wow.  I may love that more than peanut butter.

However, I plan to experiment with making my own nut and seed butters soon.

In reading about minimally processed vegan food, I have come accross a lot of fantastic info on raw food.

Though the title lacks creativity, the book itself contains some great info and tasty-looking recipes

Beet Burgers

Raw Carrot Cake

Of course there is a lot more to raw food than just pink burgers and pretty desserts. 

The whole concept intrugues me.  In fact, I may go completely raw through pregnancy if I am to have another child. 

It seems to make the pregnancy and delivery easier on the body.

I know one high-raw mama who is proof of what raw can do for vitality in general!

I can’t imagine what a raw diet must do for energy levels.  Switching to a vegan diet has made me feel so much more alert and I don’t even drink caffeine anymore.  The only caffeine I have is the cocoa in my oats once in a blue moon.

Sharing what I have learned about health has become such a positve force for me.

Mallard and Snuff had a family birthday party to attend (I had to study for exams)

I sent a simple pasta salad.

1 box of whole wheat noodles cooked until aldente

one package of organic tomatoes

two chopped bell peppers

and about 2/3 of a bottle of organic Italian dressing

I mixed it the night before and put it in this vintage tupperware that my grandma gave me when I got engaged

I can’t help but laugh when I look at it.  But the concept of the lid design actually works!

When I press the center of the lid, the sides latch.   Go 1973!

I also made this vegan bean dip

I have kind of unofficially decided to incorporate more raw foods and eventually become high raw vegan.

But I have had some Amy’s meals and burgers in my freezer for months that need to be eaten or given away.

Amy’s All American Burger

Ezekial bread

Kale

Nayonaise

Organic Ketchup

yum.

I’m pretty sure I can get Mallard to eat some of the dinner meals when he is “hungry but doesn’t know what he wants”

So, I made some of the above

Mallard has told me that he doesn’t fancy vegan food…

Exhibit A

…uh huh. 

I found the recipe here.  I omitted the sugar and used agave because I really don’t buy sugar anymore. 

Two years ago, I was baking every week at least once and I always had white flour and sugar.  ugh.  No more.

Once in a while is okay but I don’t really want refined white powders to be my pantry staple.

…well maybe if it’s this

I also made Veganomicon’s Collard recipe

with a side of black beans. 

Hooray I like collards!

Onto grocery shopping…

I buy Whole Wheat bread for Snuffy.  I buy Arnold’s brand because it is one of the few that doesn’t contain HFCS

People can say what they wish but in every study,

the rats that ate HFCS got fat or fatter and the rats that ate sugar maintained their weight or gained less.

So, we are as HFCS free as possible for that reason and because I am looking to help not hurt our farmers.

  The massive amounts or corn used to make junk drives the prices of corn down and thus hurts our farmers. 

Moving on.  Although Arnold’s brand doesn’t contain HFCS, it does contain soybean oil.

Great, now I am feeding GMO, chemical filled soybeans to my two-year old.

Plus, using GMO soybeans in everything is not helping our farmers either.

Don’t get me wrong, I like soy in moderation if it is supposed to be in something…like tofu or soy yogurt.

It’s not supposed to be in Whole Wheat bread.

So, I looked for a bread not containing soy bean oil…

I’m sure it’s not an essential ingredient and it’s wierd to put it in bread anyway.

Every loaf of bread in the aisle had either soybean oil of HFCS

A testament of what is wrong with our food system.

Does anyone have a recipe for vegan whole wheat bread?

It doesn’t necessarily have to be vegan

I don’t make Snuff eat vegan as she would demolish my Dyson if I took her Stonyfield Yo-Baby away

 

First of all CONGRATS TO JANETHA AND MARSHALL …what a gorgeous bride Janetha is!

Let’s get right to it

I am still working with Alyson.  The experience is bringing so many things into focus. 

I have only lost a couple,  literally a couple of pounds.  But, this experience is so much more about learning how to take care of my body and understanding what drove me to gain these 10 pounds.

  I am really getting in tune with my body.

I’m realizing what I really like and what I eat because I think I should.  I found that I truly love healthful foods (no surprise there )

I am also discovering how different foods work with my body…or against it.

Now, it’s time to get real…

I have had digestive issues for almost a year.  I didn’t think much of it.  I assumed it had something to do with all the veggies I eat.

So I grudgingly cut back on veggies and…no dice.

Next was one of the most common allergies, dairy.

Some of you may know that I was vegan when I met Mallard 5 years ago.  I was vegan for a total of 2 years and completely vegetarian for about a year following. 

I went vegan for animal rights reasons.  I had very little money and was living in government housing (the projects) and working two jobs while I went to school. 

Don’t feel sorry for me, I did it to myself after partying my way through freshman year

Anyway, I lived mostly on lentils, beans, rice and processed vegan food. 

Then I met Mallard and moved to a much much bigger city. 

 There was organic dairy from “happy cows”.  I slowly transition to a pescstarian diet.  That was years ago.

Since I had been vegan before, I had a basis of what to eat.

Plus, I already don’t eat red meat or fish and rarely eat chicken.

But I do love Oikos

 and Naturally More!

Oikos is of course dairy and Naturally More PB has eggwhites in it no bueno

Well, after testing the vegan waters for a few days,

I found my digestive issues to be almost non-existent!

Now to find replacements for my non-vegan faves…

This is okay but a little more expensive than I would like

Heather has a recipe for almond milk yogurt, I just need to find agar flakes.

(PS :  I am SO EXCITED that Heather is going to have a little almond butter lover of her own!! )

As for a new peanut butter, I am at a loss.

I tried this because it was cheap and natural (TWSS?)

SO YUMMY.  I used to love Jif.  Unfortunately, it has added sugar. So much for cheap and natural.

Next up was this guy from Target (French pronunciation)

Meh.   I also tried Crazy Richard’s…no thanks.  Blah

Moving on with my vegan ventures

I love love love BBQ and I saw that Mama Pea (awesome blogger, coolest mom ever) made BBQ tofu in a slow-cooker!

I gave it a whirl with this sauce

I wanted to like this sauce but it was too acidic and not sweet enough for my taste.

I did love the idea of tofu in the slow cooker though

Thanks Mama Pea!

Next I tried this sauce

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE

I kind of want to eat it for every meal.  It’s spicey and sweet.  It’s everything I hoped for

So, why did I decide to go back to veganism instead of simply cutting out dairy?

When I became pescatarian, I thought that organic dairy and poultry products coincided with my animal-friendly beliefs.  After more research, I’ve found that to be far from the truth.  I was so upset.  Cage free chickens are still crowded together most of the time. 

CAGE FREE CHICKENS ARE STILL DE-BEAKED.  This means there beaks are seared off with a hot knife. 

[source]

Organic dairy cows still live lives of nothing but pregnancy.  There offspring are taken away after birth.  They still get nipple infections.  They are still “disposed of” after there production declines.

[source]

The only truly humane dairy farm I have found is Stonyfield.  They seem to be the best at what they do and how they treat their livestock.  So, Snuffy’s beloved Yo Baby is safe

Like I said, the first time I was vegan I relied too heavily on processed foods…when I was able to afford them.

I ate beans, lentils and rice for a week and soy cheese and veggie dogs the weeks that I recieved my paychecks.

This time is different

This is like a vegan bible.  I wish I had this years ago!

First up, Black Beans In Adobo Sauce.

I used my immersion blender to make the sauce.

I served the beans and sauce over raw zuchinni noodles…made with a peeler because I don’t have a spiralizer

Of course I mixed it up and uglified it. 

It was a tad spicy.

As in:   my nose was running from the spiciness while I ate it…nice.

Another recent delicia

I used an Ezekiel tortilla and nooch with this sauce

I ended up throwing some sauteed portabella on top too.  But, I didn’t take a pic bc I am a bad blogger

Have no fear, Mallard still gets to enjoy his carnivorous loves.

Low-Carb Beef-Loaf cooked on the Grill

Low-Carb Italian Chicken Fingers

Oh the life of the carnivore…

If I had not already decided to go back to veganism, this book would have done the trick

I am the last person in the health blog world to read this book so I was pretty much already aware of it’s contents. 

I liked it a lot. 

The recipes are not my fave though.  They rely waaaaayy to heavily on processed foods like soy cheese and fake meats. 

There was one thing in the book that I never realized.  I didn’t realize that decaf coffee was not so great for my body.  Apparently, it makes the body acidic. 

Bummer.

I have successfully broken my caffeine addiction. But, I have been making my own coffee slushes

I used Vanilla flavored Stevia drops

Alyson suggested these and they are well worth the $.

I have used them in everything from plain yogurt to coffee drinks and I love them every step of the way.

What else is new?

I took Snuffy to the biggest farmer’s market in the Cincinnati area

She tried gelato for the first time

That was her first and last bite….and a waste of my $3.95

We also met the coolest man ever.

Snuffy was amazed that he knew her two favorite songs without even asking her!

It was the best rendition of  “ Wheels On The Bus” and “ Itsy Bitsy Spider” I have ever heard.

So,

Anyone have any good vegan recipes?

How has your diet evolved over the years?

I forgot how good I feel when I eat vegan