Back at it again

I've been quite busy lately, going back to school, working full time, and obviously being a mom. Vegan mofo is right around the corner, and I figured maybe if I incorporate the themes with real life situations and suggestions, it could help other people out.  School is starting back up for the boy in just under two weeks. The garden is flourishing right now, and things are going pretty good. We're trying to be as eco-conscious as possible, and I'm planning on starting #project333 here shortly, because I acknowledge I am far too materialistic, and have way too many clothes (a lot of which don't even fit me anymore), and we have a tiny closet. Wish me luck, I will be documenting as I go.

VeganMoFo Day 15: Spicy

Vegan MoFo Day Day 12: Grocery store tips and tricks

The boy took care of the YouTube video today (despite technical issues that caused it to have weird, very faint audio, sorry about that) so here are some tips and tricks from me. My decade veganniversary will be January 9th 2018, so I'm soooooo close to 10 years as a vegan. When I first transitioned, I ate a lot of boca chick'n patties because that was readily available, and I wasn't much of a cook. At the time, my son was still a baby, so he wasn't eating strictly solids yet, he was still transitioning, and eating small bites, etc, so I was slowly learning to cook, because I didn't want him eating crap. The first cookbook I got as a vegan was "Veganomicon" and it was life changing, because while I can, and occasionally do eat the chick'n patties, they get old really fast. So I started buying more fresh produce, and tofu, and the occasional Amy's rice crust spinach pizza with vegan cheese. Buying beans, pasta, and grains from the bulk bins. Replacing all those analogues with more whole foods, although there were definitely a lot of great, and horrible vegan cheeses thrown in over the years. It's crazy how far the vegan cheese game has come! New vegans.... you are so spoiled, be grateful for this abundance, you don't know how it was before! 😂 In all seriousness  though, the majority of our shopping cart is filled with fresh produce, we usually grab a few blocks of tofu, sometimes we get some tempeh, grab beans/legumes whether canned or dried from the bulk bin, oats/rye/barley from the bulk bins, we used to get oil, but I've been doing oil free for the last few weeks, since I gained weight after going back to school, and becoming more sedentary. It's helping me to lose the weight, and I'm not having indigestion/heart burn like I was. I'll let the boy pick out a couple of fun convenience foods, and we grab frozen fruits to add to breakfast (like oatmeal or smoothies), and frozen veggies. Then we usually grab some type of yogurt for the boy, tortillas, pita bread, and a loaf or two of Rudi's bread for the boy's lunches.

Basically, if you're transitioning, by all means, let the analogues help ease you along, hell, even if you're not, a little every now and then is not going to kill you. Stick to the outer perimeter of the store most of the time. Make sure you are getting enough food, make sure you are filling up on whole grains, fruits, and veggies instead of fats. Don't deprive yourself, if you want chocolate, have some chocolate! Start with easy swap chocolates like the enjoy life rice milk chocolates. It can be confusing, but you'll get there!

Vegan MoFo Day 3: But where so you get your protein?

This week has been bonkers with school clubs, scouts, and popcorn sales key code 7702288304 (in case anyone would like to help the kid make it to his $3,000 goal, there aren't vegan options in our districts online sales, but there is the option to donate for military donations that get sent to people serving, and a lot of what is sent, I am told,  is the vegan popping kernels.) I wanted to make a veggie burger, but by the time we got home from selling popcorn, it was like 7:45. And I was exhausted. Then I remembered a video we made for a public speaking class. I had to make a commercial, and The Super Funtimes Vegan Holiday Cookbook had just come out, so it was an easy choice. I was sick  at the time unfortunately, so we weren't able to put a lot of time into it, but the kid's performance was awesome. For the buffalo chicpea pita section for superbowl Sunday, his line, after taking a bite of one, was "this is how I get my protein, go team!" He said it in his "manliest" voice, and it was awesome. So here is a link to the video.

Vegan MoFo 2017: Day 2: JUNK FOOD!!!

Today's theme was a good one (or bad one depending upon how you want to look at your it.) JuNK fOod!  For dinner, we kept old school with comfort foods for me that I seldom (like once or twice a year?) eat anymore... Boca Chick'n patties, on Rudi's Organic Bakery whole wheat burger buns., with homemade ranch dressing, (because it's handsdown the best vegan ranch I have had in my nearly 10 years as a vegan, and we went full fat indulgence for these), and sandwich pickle slices from Whole Foods.  We had these with Plentils which are hands down our favorite chips.I am in love with the dill and Sour Cream (which I believe I called by the  wrong name in our video,) while the boy is a Margherita Pizza fanatic.  For dessert, I indulged in some chocolatey deliciousness by way of Halloween Rice Milk Chocolate Bites which are also from EnjoyLife, that we had found at Natural Grocers over the week end. (The rice milk crisp bar is sadly not vegan.) Those are one of my favorite candy bars, and as we discuss in the video, they were a welcome reprive from insanely dark, bitter chocolates that were so common when I first went vegan. These guys and Sjaaks know how to do rice  milk chocolate perfectly. 😍 The boy chose something fancy (and I can't blame him) for his dessert...  the Persian Lime tarts from Hail Merry.  The aftermath pic is on Instagram and a video is up on the YouTube channel.

VeganMoFo 2017: Reinventing the Meal

Glad to be back to the blog! Today's theme is reinventing the meal. We've all been there, we go to a new restaurant that is supposed to have such amazing food because they have vegan options, or we're at a catered event and excited to just have a vegan option. Then the food comes..... I think the three worst things I've been served are generally, scrambled tofu, which is dry, or mushy yellow blobs with no flavor. Crunchy, dry, mushy, bland, flavorless pasta, and mushy, or crumbly and dry veggie burgers. We shared our ideal tofu scramble this morning on Instagram. We also made a very primitive first attempt at a youtube cooking video with a super fast and easy creamy pumpkin pasta. Looking forward to all of the delicious creations that VeganMoFo has to offer and all of the fun themes ahead! (Like junk food tomorrow!)

Returning

So I've been lazy the past few years after VeganMofo offered an Instagram platform. This summer after a visit to the Iowa Farm Sanctuary, the boy decided (after all this time) to go vegan. (He had been lacto-ovo for the last 3.5+ years, and even though he ate vegan at home, it was his decision to make, and not something that I wanted to force on him,) 😍😍😍😍😍 So he will be helping out with our posts this year, on the blog, Instagram, and the youtube channel we created. Looking forward to this weekend, and VeganMofo2017!