About a month ago I found myself wandering the aisles of Trader Joe’s in search of vegan food. I stood in front of the bread section for a good 5 minutes attempting to read the ingredients. Eggs? Whey? Milk? My eyes couldn’t focus and my brain was a fog. “Why the heck didn’t I research this crap beforehand?!” I drove home with only a couple items and complete anxiety.
Just a couple days earlier, Al and I watched the documentary Vegucated. The little summary on Netflix said it was a movie about three people going vegan for 6 weeks. At the time I thought Vegans were pretty extreme people so I was curious to see what would happen to a regular joe in that situation.
Long story short, these people had to watch a movie on the negative side of animal agriculture and we the viewers got to see a bit of it. Sure the movie might be skewed a bit, I don’t know but man was I affected. Even Al who’d eat steak almost every day if he could was shaken.
Funny/cruelly enough, we had a 5 course beer dinner (that we had already paid for) the next night. Every. Single. Dish. Was. Meat. I was conflicted but it was perfect timing, a last supper of sorts. I even ate pork belly which is disgustingly good!
Anyways, we’ve been transitioning to a vegan diet ever since. We both love animals so much and enjoy helping them. I mean we already rescued four, why not help even more? I think of it as part of the ‘green’ movement. Every little bit helps whether you’re growing your own organic vegetables, eating less meat, or just using a little less water. You’re doing your part to help the planet.
Helping the planet one tofurkey (gross) at a time. 
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As for transitioning, I went to the library, found as many vegan cookbooks that I could find, and then chose the ones with the prettiest pictures. It’s true, I have to have pictures in my cookbooks. I’ve also turned to healthy living blogs like Oh She Glows. I’ve been reading Angela’s blog for years and never realized that she was vegan! Her recipes are so tasty.
In the beginning I was horribly confused but now that I’ve gotten a bit more organized things are getting better.
I’d say the main thing I miss is convenience food. When I’m lazy, I want it. Surprisingly though, it’s easy for me to make the decision not to order pizza because I’m doing this for others and not just for myself.
It’s all about food prep now. Today I made two dinners, rice, squash, tofu, and muffins to last us for the rest of the week, maybe longer. Now when I/we want to be lazy, I’ll have options to choose from.
The muffins I mentioned are from, excuse my french, Skinny Bitch by Kim Barnouin.
I think I’ve already had 4 or 5 today. Mainly because they didn’t all fit in the tupperware that I was using. That’s a good reason to eat them right?
The best thing about vegan baking is that you can eat spoonfuls of the batter! No eggs. No salmonella. This is spectacular news because I lick the bowl clean every time, you can ask my family.
I thought vegans were pretty crazy before realizing why some of them became vegans. Now that I’ve converted to their lifestyle, it feels very ‘me’. I feel more content, more comfortable with my food choices and what I eat. Maybe I had some guilt for eating meat before? I don’t know. But now it’s just… nice.
It’s funny how the world works.
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Now that I’m having to try a lot of new recipes you’ll be seeing more on the blog for sure. One of the dinners I made today from The Kind Diet is crazy good. Like Al wanted thirds but resisted. I look forward to sharing it with you!
