Well Noble Reader, we're nearly two weeks into the new year and halfway through Veganuary. If you have elected to take the challenge to go vegan with me, how are you making out? Have you made any new discoveries about yourself? Have you been tempted? Or maybe it's been easy for you and if that is the case, I'd love to hear how you've sailed through it all.
There's a reason that I personally hadn't ever taken the full plunge into an entirely plant-based diet up until now and I can sum that up for you in one word -- CHEESE. I confess, I'm one of THOSE people. The people who learn that someone is a vegan and say to them - but what about cheese? How can you possibly live without cheese? I used to put it on everything - from pizza and pasta to salad, nachos and sandwiches.
Lemme take you back a bit to how I originally became a vegetarian as a teenager. All it took for me was meeting a cow. Seeing her face to face, looking into those sweet brown eyes, I knew I could never eat her. And those adorable pink little piglets? Fluffy white lambs? Forget about it. Eating animals was out of the question. But I'd never made the connection about the harm dairy causes cows and what having a fried egg means for the chickens who produce them or who are unlucky enough to be born a boy.
Cut to years later in my thirties... I'm busting my ass working out with Tracy Anderson's Metamorphosis workout and I just couldn't seem to shed my muffin top and someone said these magic words - "you must eat more lean protein." So I added fish to my diet. It was then, I believe, that I began to lose my way. My vanity vetoed my compassion for fish and I was oblivious to what we were doing to this planet's oceans. Did I lose the muffin top by adding fish to my diet? Initially maybe yes, but I was following Tracy's prescribed diet at the time which amounted to about 800-1000 calories a day - so yeah. I lost it. But once I started eating normally again, my middle grew again. Turns out sugar was the real culprit. For more on that you can check out My Solution for cutting out sugar.
But even though I managed to kick the sweet stuff, I never gave up the fish. So I thought going vegan was going to be doubly hard, being that I had to let go of eggs, dairy and fish. What the hell was going to eat? Maybe you've asked yourself the same question. Or maybe I'm alone in this giant crazy universe. Either way - I haven't starved. In fact, the opposite has happened.
Making the choice to be plant-based in my diet has opened me up to so many more options than I'd ever thought possible. And one of those options is cheese. Yep, you read that right. Cheese. I stumbled across this fantastic Toronto-based company called Culcherd who specialize in butterless butter and Tree-nut cheeses and it is the best thing ever! I'm telling you, if I didn't know the difference, I'd swear I was having cream cheese.
This is the flavor that my love affair started with. It's fantastic on Mary's Gone Crackers vegan gluten free crackers.
The best part is that because I got brave enough to try something new {fussiest eater on the planet over here} I've been venturing further afield and have been experimenting more in the kitchen. In fact just this morning I made glorious Banana Muffin Tops from Oh She Glows. And yep - they're sugar free, gluten free, vegan and most importantly DELICIOUS! Thanks Angela!
I even spoke with my Mother In Law this morning and it's been five weeks since she's eaten meat! She's turned into a little vegetarian. Incredibly, she cooked a roast dinner for the family this afternoon but she didn't eat the meat. I'm proud to puddles - she makes me weep this woman, honestly. If she can be a vegetarian then for crying out loud I can be vegan. And in fact am happy to be.
Today is another day that no one had to die to feed me. That's pretty darn cool people. Would love to hear how you're doing with it all. Leave me a comment below.
xoxo
Shan
It's my last weekend before I head back into the office, so wanted to write a post to share some really great news! You know that old expression - where there's a will there's a way? Well, I'm amending it to - where there's a will, Amazon has a way! I'm not saying we can shop away all our troubles, but when you're addicted to your instant foamy milk drink and said foamy milk drink contains dairy and you need a way to create a foamy milk drink at home that is both instant and dairy free -- well my dears, look no further than Amazon.
I don't know if I've ever shared this, but I have a tiny kitchen. I mean to tell you it's the size of a postage stamp. It's so small you have to leave it to have the space to change your mind, you hear what I'm saying. You know the beautiful vegan feast I made over the holidays? That was possible because I was staying in a rental cottage that had a palace of a kitchen. Mine? Not so palatial. In fact I think the bathroom in a palace would put my kitchen to shame. In fact I know it would.
So anyway... I have been oooohing and awing over getting an espresso machine that has a foamy milk maker attached to it but as I was doing all the research, I found out a couple of things. The really good ones cost you an arm and a leg - both of which I need for work on Monday -- and even the crappy ones take up a boat-load of space - which if you've been reading - you know I do not have! In my desperation {frustration} I googled milk frother because I wondered if there was such a thing as just the foamy milk maker. Ha!! Turns out there is. Who knew?
Did you know? If you knew, why didn't you friggin' tell me. I've been dying over here. Compassion - that's my virtue for January so I guess this means I can't hold a grudge so you're forgiven. {This time. But don't let it happen again, you gotta tell me shit, I don't get out much}
After a bit more research -- BAM! I was ordering and having a foamy milk maker delivered by Prime so of course it came the very next morning and voila! Look look look!
Isn't she gorgeous! And she's only knee-high to the base of my vitamix, so petite, so pretty, yet so powerful! Omigod it's love. I've been experimenting and she froths soy the best. Almond is a close second. Cashew milk? Not so much. Yuck. I've made cappuccinos and chai tea lattes for He Who Shall Not Be Named. So quick and easy and no muss no fuss.
Don't give up. If you have a favorite food or beverage that you fear going vegan will make you sacrifice, think again my beauties. There is always a way to veganize everything. So do me a favor will ya? Get your butts over to Veganuary and sign your ass up if you haven't done so already. This movement is growing.
Speaking of growing, that's the other bit of amazing news I have to share. We spent the Christmas holiday with He Who Shall Not Be Named's mom, my mother in law. She came over from England and spent the whole holiday being my fabulous sous chef in the kitchen. And she did confess before she came, she was really worried about being holed up in a cottage in the woods for two weeks with a coupla plant-eaters. We did tell her she could have chicken or fish or whatever she felt she needed. But once here, she decided to go with the flow.
She did so well. The only thing she had that wasn't vegan was cheese. The woman lives on a dairy farm for crying out loud, cut her some slack. In any case, that isn't the news. The news is that once she got back to England, she went to spend a couple of days with her daughter, my sister in law. On her second day there, her daughter offered to cook her up a roast lamb dinner for the following day {I even find that hard to type as I have never ever eaten lamb - except for one accidental and very unfortunate incident that I rarely like to talk about} My MIL said she thought that would be okay.
On the day in question, she woke up, went to her daughter and asked: Would it be okay if I had a vegetarian meal instead? What? Whaaaaat?! When she shared this with me I burst into tears of joy. Mary's little buddy was safe for another day. She of course told me that she was in no way going to become a vegan {Sure Jane, it's just a matter of time love} and that she wasn't even sure she could be vegetarian because she'd still like to cook her roast dinners for the family on Sundays. To me, this was a massive victory for the little animals. If someone like my Mother in Law could find it in her heart to make better choices, so can the rest of the world. If you can't be a vegan, try vegetarianism. If that seems too hard still, then do it a couple of times a week, or one meal a day. You choose. But the sooner we lighten the load off animal agriculture - the better off our whole world will be.
Enjoy your weekend.
Loads of love,
Shan
And PS I adopted a pig.
Well, I didn't adopt so much as sponsor - it already has a home on a cozy farm sanctuary - I'm just chipping in to help pay for food and stuff. Cool right? You can too - check out the directory to find a sanctuary near you and pick an animal that you can help.
Hi Darlings!
How have the first few days of the new year been for you? I'm not sure how you felt but I was sort of expecting a magical shift when the clock struck midnight on the first day of 2018 - and then nothing happened. I was still me. Still stressed about the same old stuff. Still dealing with the challenges that I was working on prior to the fireworks.
Still, here's hoping as the month progresses, the oppressive energy of that December Mercury retrograde {and pretty much all of 2017 let's be honest} will lift and things will lighten up.
If you've been popping by here, you may be aware that in December I chose to take the vegan challenge by signing up for Veganuary and as I was educating myself or as I've taken to saying: I got vegucated, I started the journey earlier than expected, December 10th to be precise. At that point I was on hiatus from the writing room and was headed to a cottage for the holidays. I planned well, shopped right, and made some incredible food and thought to myself, this ain't so bad.
But now that I'm back in the city, gearing up to get back to work and all that that involves, I've had to start thinking -- what am I gonna take for lunch? I need to plan for snacks! I still haven't found a decent foamy milk drink to replace my favorite instant dairy one. Then whoa is me {let's be reasonable here - I say whoa, but it's not that bad. I'm taking creative liberties, just go with it} I was digging through my work bag and I found a left over pouch of my cappuccino! Dude, I wanted it. Everything in me said just have it. It was left over from before. It was already purchased. The cow already suffered. You want to now make her suffering in vain by tossing it out? On and on my nasty little mind went!
You'll be pleased to know I did NOT drink it. I didn't throw it out either though and here's why. You can get to watching all these documentaries and learn about the horrific conditions and swear off every animal product you've ever had -- but A) you can still be tempted by your old faves and risk falling back into old ways of being...
and B) What a great reminder not to judge those who have not yet chosen a plant-based diet.
I did say that I wanted compassion to be my virtue for January and that doesn't just apply to having compassion for animals. It means having compassion for myself in moments of weakness and compassion for those making different choices than me.
With that crisis behind me, I went to a doctor's appointment that I had and planned to hit the grocery store afterwards to pick up some things for tonight's dinner. I didn't think to eat before I left, knowing it would just be a quick appointment. What I hadn't counted on was that the Doctor would be running late. {I know what you're thinking. Really Shan? Doctors are always late, and where are you going with this damed story anyway?} Getting there. Patience Noble Reader.
As I left my doctor's office, I was starving and thought how easy it would be to just grab something on the way to the grocery store, but it seemed like every restaurant and take-away joint between the two only had animal products on the menu. It occurred to me that I am going to have to be a helluva lot more of a planner because vegan gluten-free is not always going to be an option. It's going to take thought and a bit more work as I learn the ropes, because in spite of how committed I feel to this lifestyle shift, I'm still a newbie! It's not always going to be easy. But... all we can ever do is do the best we can with what we have and from where we are, right? Right.
All 'a you new vegan beauties out there, stick with it. Your health, our planet and the lives of precious loving animals are so worth it!
Love,
Shan
Whoa, two posts in one day, what is she, cray?
Well, I don't know how much time I'll have after January the 8th when I get back into the writer's room and I want to hold myself accountable as well as offer support to you where I can, so yeah - two posts in one day my lovelies.
If you've decided to join me and try vegan for the month of January, thank you so much I always appreciate the company and you know how I love to moan about the hard shit so thanks for being here. If you're a hard-core carnivore and there is no way you could ever imagine your life as a vegan, but you've elected to try being a vegetarian for a spell - I'm so proud of you. I hope you enjoy trying some new food options. {My mother-in-law has been over this holiday from England and she lives on a dairy farm and she's been such an inspiration, rolling up her sleeves with me in the kitchen and pretty much going vegan. For the holidays! Whaaat? And she still loves me. Amazing}
As for those of you out there who are already on the green brick road of a plant-based diet - thanks a million times over for paving the way --
Thank you for being the consumer that demanded more which has lead to fabulous options and recipes for newbies like me. I'm ever so grateful.
If Christmas day and New Year's Eve were anything to go by, we are going to want for nothing this month and who knows, by the time February rolls around, we might be so good at this vegan thing, it just may stick.
First thing you need to know is I am no chef. I'm not great in the kitchen, getting me to try new things is like pulling teeth and I'm plain old lazy most of the time. However, since I had some time this holiday, I decided to go for it a little bit. Oh, don't get excited, I didn't step too far outside my square but I wanted to share what was created for these two rather momentous holidays {Christmas and New Year's Eve} to show you that if I can do this, then so can you. So can your child and likely so could a well trained monkey. I can't take credit for a single recipe here because as I said - not a chef - but Ima link you to all the stuff I tried. And you should also know that my Mother in Law made the bestest sous chef ever and I could not have pulled any of this off without her.
Lemme start with Christmas day. Like many of you I'm sure, I grew up on turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy - plus some other less traditional stuff like cabbage rolls. Years back when I was vegetarian, I'd often relied on the old Tofurkey for special occasions, but since learning I had a gluten allergy, that option was glitterally {literally dressed up in glitter} off the table. So yeah, that's something else you should know - being gluten free presents its own challenges - but I'd always thought: Geez Louise, there's no way I could be vegan too, I'd starve to death. Au contraire my pretties. I've been extremely well fed these past few weeks.
Allow me to keep this as simple as possible. Our vegan Christmas feast consisted of homemade Tofurkey --
If you'd like the recipe, go here. It was kind of a lot of work, but nothing so complicated that a kid couldn't do it if they followed the directions. But I'll be honest - I didn't love it. Sad face. I think I may have preferred just plain old baked tofu.
All was not lost however --
We also made vegan gluten-free stuffing, with vegan gravy {which was out of this world and I was eating straight out of the pan, lil piggie me} mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, steamed veggies and really awesome vegan cabbage rolls {again, I couldn't get the rice mixture in the cabbage fast enough because both my MIL and me were eating it straight out of the pot} so when I go to do this over, and I definitely will next Thanksgiving - I'd do it all exactly the same, but save the effort on the tofurkey and bake my tofu. Simple. Check out the spread.
As you can see, I did NOT in fact starve, rather I was STUFFED! I did have extra stuffing which I wrapped in foil and baked and it was still fabulous, so no need for the tofurkey.
Now listen, I know we're not going to go to the trouble of all this every time we get in the kitchen to make a meal - very few of us are Martha Stewarts - so I wanted to keep it plain easy for New Year's Eve.
What we came up with was filled with familiar nibblies and comfort foods that could easily be made for your carnivore family or friends. {I mean my MIL loved it and she makes a roast dinner every Sunday night so that should tell you something right there.} Again, I didn't want to do anything too off the wall. I thought, I want appies that we can snack on through the evening, be light enough not to put us to sleep, but hearty enough to carry us through to the midnight hour. So we created a menu of favorite finger foods and simply made the vegan alternatives. It was a snap! Take a look.
Complete with champagne!
Obviously we wanted a good selection of fresh veggies which we served with hummus and a delicious smoky cauliflower and white-bean dip {added bonus, because this dip is made with awesome stuff like cauliflower, beans, and tofu, when I found we had leftovers, I molded it into pancakes and fried them in a pan for brunch New Years Day. Omigod - it was even better the next day warmed up! Two-for-one}
Along with the veggies we had a good selection of crackers - both gluten free and regular - and all we had to do for those was open the box. Yay for small victories! These were served with olives and a beautiful vegan walnut mushroom pate and that was the hit of the night! Brilliant.
And as anyone who drinks champers knows, it's easy to get carried away so you should always having something bread-ish to soak up the booze so...
We had fantastic bruschetta on French stick as well as GF bread, along with bites of fresh snappy guacamole in crunchy mini tortilla bowls.
To finish off the snacks, I had a hankering for something warm and chewy, dare I say... meat-like?? Yikes. And I'd had all the tofu I could handle so I found a wonderful stuffed mushrooms topped with an unbelievable vegan parmesan cheese. I am not even kidding, I was eating the stuffing and fake cheese right out of the bowls before I could get it into the baked mushrooms . Another huge hit.
Sorry I'm not a food photog but trust me, these little babies tasted way better than they looked. I'm telling you, I didn't miss the cheese tray one bit and that was ALWAYS my first and favorite stop at any party.
I also really enjoyed browsing through these vegan cooks' websites. There is so much inspiration out there, we only need google.
I hope this has inspired you to try something plant-based or new. Once again, all the best for a sparkling 2018 my beauty.
xoxo
Shan
Happy New Year to you Noble Reader. I saw this image and message on the IG page of fashion designer Bethany Yellowtail and I was like hell yeah! Some years just kick our asses and it's all we can do to hold on.
And if 2017 was that for you - as it was for so many of us - I'm thrilled to let you know you made it. 2017 has finally given way to 2018. New week, new month, new year, new energy. That's some powerful voodoo shit right there. How often do we start a new month on a new week let alone a whole new year? And we have a powerful supermoon to boot!
So charge up your batteries, put your feet in the starting blocks, and get ready to launch yourself into your best year yet.
If you've made a new year's resolution, do your best to stick with it, one minute, one hour, one day at a time. Know why you've chosen to do that. Try to avoid the pointless meaningless resolutions like lose five pounds - unless getting that five pounds off will help you conceive that baby you've been longing for - you hear what I'm saying?
Write down your reason and stick it to the bathroom mirror, refrigerator, bedroom wall - where ever you'll see it and make it happen. This is the year for your dreams to come true.
I have so much love in my heart for you, let's achieve our personal best together this year. For me - I want 2018 to be filled with compassion and I can ensure that compassion on the planet grows by choosing a plant-based diet. I'm doing it for the animals - hands down - no question!
If you're curious to dip your toe into the pool of plant-fuel - check out Veganuary, take the pledge to go vegan this January {now} and they'll send you so much support it will make your dairy-free cup runneth over.
Big hugs and all the best for this spectacular new year!
xoxo
Shan
