Tag Archives: vegan

Tending to Our Future Vegans Part 1: The Great Milk Debate!!!

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Yes, vegan kids DO have more fun!!!

As promised, I wanted to share with all of you a few vegan parenting tips I have learned along the way.  I don’t consider myself to be a “granola” or “hippie” kind of mom.  I like to call my style of raising a vegan child to be “realistic”.  I long ago accepted the fact that I can’t do it all, but I know I can make veganism work for her the same way it has worked for me.  I just need to keep things simple but also make it fun for the both of us.  Before I start on this blog post, maybe I should post some legal mumbo-jumbo and tell you all that I am not a licensed pediatrician.  In fact, I never held a license in nutrition…But one thing I do as a vegan mom is that I talk to other vegan moms and I also talk to Raegan’s pediatrician before I think about doing anything.  Luckily, Raegan’s doctor is pretty vegan savvy.  He’s not a vegan himself but I like to think he’s a well read guy who knows his stuff.  People often ask me about raising my daughter as a vegan and if you thought the usual vegan questions as an adult were stupid (Where do you get your protein/calcium, etc.), the ones regarding vegan children get even dumber… *sigh*
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Processing the Awesomeness that is Unprocessed…

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I absolutely LOVE this photo!

As most of you guys know, bloggers in general don’t get paid in money to do what they do best.  Instead, they get paid in freebies- or in my case cookbooks!  Basically, most of my days consist of cooking my way through a cookbook or a couple cookbooks simultaneously.  My husband doesn’t seem to mind as every day he gets to experience something new on his plate and as always, he loves to give me his input.  This past month or so was no different except for this time, Chuck knew that if the recipe came from Chef AJ’s book, Unprocessed, he knew it was a guaranteed winner!
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Making Veganism Work For your Family…

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Not your modern grocery cart…I wonder where she hides the box of wine?

Sometimes I try to talk myself out of looking into other people’s shopping carts.  Call me judgmental, but I tend to look over the fact that some people eat junk because they are students or bachelors/bachelorettes but it just bothers me to no end when I see a cart that is clearly controlled out of control by a mother who is in the grocery store trying to provide what she thinks is best for her family.  I’ve seen the processed foods piled high in the cart with very little produce and I also see her children begging for a super sugary item and I often wonder…Where did it all go wrong? 

Let me just admit my age right now…I just turned 30 back in April and somehow, the one thing I recalled often in my childhood is how often my family cooked for each other.  We really only used our microwave to reheat leftovers or to make popcorn.  During holidays, nothing came out of a can except for the cranberry sauce.  My family was not rich (very blue collar), and they saved money wherever they could.  Needless to say, back then the prepackaged foods were expensive and my family could not afford to eat like that except maybe once a week as a “treat”.

Now looking forward, I walk through the aisles at some of my local grocery stores and I’ll find some of the most outrageous looking processed items selling for a super cheap price like it’s going out of style.  I cringe when I see the “special” sales of soda going for 10 cases for $10….It’s even more sickening when I see the aftermath of the soda aisle (only thing missing is the tumbleweed!) when that sale goes on….

Does any store out there sell out of Kale like this???

I am pretty sure most people my age and older will admit, as major food giants master the art of making processed foods cheaper and with a longer than necessary shelf life, real food has been lost somewhere.  I’ll admit, when I first moved out on my own, I ate as much junk as I could because I never had it in abundance and somehow I was shocked on how cheap it has gotten over the years.  But these past few years, even before I became vegan back in 2008, I grew more concerned as my friends and family were getting heavier and less healthy.  Now as a vegan, my passion for food definitely goes beyond my kitchen and most vegan families I know often feel the same way.

Now the biggest myth out there is that feeding your family a vegan diet is expensive.  One of my missions on my blog is to prove to you and all the other families out there that being vegan (and a healthy one to add!) is not going to put a dent in your wallet.  In fact, you might save money or find that your grocery budget became one big colorful bouquet of different colors of produce.  Just remember that I am a housewife, which means I live in a one income household.  Although I am fortunate to have a husband who supports us very well financially where I can choose to work or stay at home, we still have to be careful about our expenses all while trying to make sure we can retire comfortably in the future.

There have been many great resources out there on the internet regarding eating vegan on a shoe string budget but no one mentions it on a very easy, family level except for one place in particular (courtesy of Meridith at vegheadfamily.com).  I also took the time to ask those who are connected to me via Facebook and the responses were very clear…it was not only easy but EXTREMELY accessible:

Let’s say you are making chili and use ground beef. Ground beef is anywhere from $2 to $6 a pound. If you make it meatless using canned beans, for that same $2 you could buy 4 cans of beans–way more than poundage for your buck than that $2 unhealthy ground beef. -Hilary R.
You can get some great deals on veggies and fruit at farmer’s markets…especially if you go just before closing time.- Cherry C.
I always buy my beans in bulk and cook them from scratch. So much cheaper (and healthier) than canned and really not that hard using my handy-dandy pressure cooker.- Meridith L.

Shopping at a Costco if you have one in your town is a wonderful way to get quality organic produce, affordable for one or twenty.- Teri S.
We have realzied that we use to eat out A LOT before becoming Vegan – we may spend more at the grocery store, but we eat at home so much more now. We enjoy searching the internet for new recepies and we do it together as a family to keep everyone involved. -Katherine B.
1 lb of uncooked/bagged beans…around $.87! Don’t tell me you can’t afford it 🙂 -Karen A.

Right now, I wish that same mom I saw at the store knew about my blog and could read those responses.  Sometimes when I see people like her and I wish I could offer some inspiration without coming off as self righteous.  Before I was the lovely vegan housewife you know and love today, I was working in healthcare for nearly 10 years.  I saw firsthand young business professionals in their 20’s-30’s taking high cholesterol medication.  Also, it broke my heart to see a young child who was suffering from Type 2 Diabetes and her mother bribing her with ice cream after her office visit.  Luckily, I had a few former bosses who were not the coddling type and confronted these people but I know this is not the case in most practices because after all, patients are like customers and you need to keep them happy and as we all know the truth hurts, which can damage “the business”.  Don’t get me wrong, I trust medicine to an extent- I’m just sick of the lack of tough love that they should be giving out!  If any of you out there has given out any “tough love” to anyone as a wake up call to their health, what was your approach???  Most importantly, did it work???

Engine 2 Diet Review Part 1…The Food!!!

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This delicious vegan Flag Cake also had vegan vanilla pudding and extra berries as filling!

Last week while Chuck was off work, I feeling pretty distracted (especially on July 4th-hence this beautiful creation you see here!).  Although we decided to stay home and not travel too far, it seemed like every day there was something to do.  Luckily, I managed to get a few things out of the way and there’s only one thing I am still working on and that’s my article for T.O.F.U Magazine!  C-ville Vegan had its first blog post on July 8th (and another on Monday!) and although I will admit in my recent post I might have come off as harsh but I felt it was rightfully so…I was lured to a restaurant with the intention of trying a popular vegan menu item that is still advertised on their website and upon my arrival, I was told otherwise and was given a substitution I could have gotten virtually anywhere in Charlottesville.  All venting aside, yesterday was the last day of the 28 Day Challenge of the Engine 2 Diet.  During these 28 days, there was a lot of information, recipes, meetings and feedback and I felt in order to give this review the justice it deserves, it was best done in two parts and what a better way than to start off than by talking about the food!!!

French Toast using Ezekiel bread

I want to first start off by admitting that breakfast was definitely a treat when the Engine 2 Diet was involved.  The lesson I learned about breakfast while on the 28 Day Challenge was that very few cereal brands out there really do live up to their claims.  Although I consider myself an expert at reading the label for vegan ingredients, I was blown away when I was reading the nutrition labels.  I seriously have been in the dark when it came to the sugar content in most cereals!  As a result, I have now leaned a bit to brand loyalty…Kashi, Nature’s Path, Ezekiel, Barbara’s Bakery, and Uncle Sam always seem to be the safest bets (just check for all vegan ingredients!).  Cold cereals aside, the French Toast and Breakfast Tacos were really good (and easy!).  I also baked a batch of Mighty Muffins but I do believe that the portions were a bit off as I wound up making 18 muffins versus the 6 that was mentioned as the serving amount (another E2 participant mentioned the same issue)…consider yourself warned 😉  Not everyone (including me!) can cook a hot breakfast but the one thing I was inspired to do during these 28 days was to freeze my Mighty Muffins and Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes in advance so during the week if I was not in the mood for cereal then I had something in the freezer that I could give a zap in the microwave and have a hot breakfast in a snap.

Now as far as lunch/dinner recipes go in the book, some were hit or miss…The best recipes in this category were the Black Beans and Rice, which reminded Chuck and I of a Burrito Bowl at Chipotle (but better!) and the Sloppy Joes, where the recipe was a dead ringer for a Manwich!  The Mexican Lime Soup was fantastic as well and definitely deserves honorable mention.  Most people I spoke to loved the Lynn’s Meatloaf  recipe but it couldn’t hold a flame to the recipe I use.  However I converted Lynn’s Meatloaf into stuffed peppers and it was even better…So much better that my meat and potato eating (but open to vegan food) inlaws loved it 🙂  Also, the Sweet Potato and Vegetable Lasagna was definitely worth the hype but it’s definitely not a meal that will be on your table in 30 minutes or less.  There was a lot of prepwork in that recipe but the end result was worth it. 

As far as the not-so-great recipes go, the Red Beans and Kale over Quinoa was just too weird tasting (and you had to mash the beans quite a bit to thicken the sauce) and the Mac and Not Cheese was not a meal I could pass off as a vegan “Macaroni and Cheese” (now if you want a great Mac n’ Cheese recipe that works well with the omnis, just click here).  The Shepherd’s Pie recipe was decent but yet again, I have a recipe (that I will blog in the VERY near future) that I normally make as care packages for my friends who fall ill or the new moms in my church who need a good meal that requires no fuss and tastes great.  Rip’s version of Shepherd’s Pie was passable but my version is easier and can be made “E2 approved” with only a couple minor modifications that no one would ever notice.  Then there’s the Red Curry Vegetables over Brown Rice that was just plain gross 🙁  That’s saying a lot since I rarely turn down anything with curry…

Then there were snacks and desserts…The Healthy Hummus was pretty good.  It wasn’t as creamy as conventional hummus but it was definitely worthy of spreading it on a sandwich or dipping your pita pieces into.  If there was one recipe worth trying but it would make anyone cringe at the name, that prize would go to Kale Butter.  It looked like green slop but it was the best green slop I have ever had!!!  I was spreading this on crackers and if I was making a sandwich, I could definitely see myself using this as a condiment.  When I posted on Facebook that I was making Kale Butter…you wouldn’t believe the comments I got as a result!!!  But most of my friends know that although I am vegan, I am all about good food and food that I can pass off to my non-vegan friends so I have a feeling that one of them gave the recipe a shot all because of my endorsement 😉  Moving onto sweets…I really LOVED the brownies!!!  I was a bit taken by how much applesauce it called for but you would have never known once you had a taste of this chocolatey confection!  It also went great with the (super easy and better for you) Banana Ice Cream that was not mentioned in his book…needless to say, Chuck and I loved our E2 brownie sundaes 🙂  In the cookies category of the Engine 2 Diet book, hands down- the Oatmeal Cookie was far better than the Chocolate Chip.  The Chocolate Chip cookie reminded me too much of a mini cake or a scone than an actual cookie but the Oatmeal Cookie was perfection.  Also I made the Blueberry Dumpster Fire Cobbler which I mentioned in a past post that was great once I modified the recipe.

Now I know I am throwing a lot of recipes out there and a lot of reviews but during my 28 Day Challenge I was cooking a lot from the Engine 2 Diet book and it would have been nearly impossible to post each recipe individually on this blog.  Even in blogs like Julie/Julia, Julie could only blog one meal at a time and here I am making roughly on average of three Engine 2 Diet meals a day…I must say I am quite the overachiever 😉  The next book I am cooking my way through, Sweetness Without Sugar, it should be easier to post individually (with more photos!) as I am only focusing on sweets in comparison to “Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Snacks”. The next part of this review will be my overall take of the Engine 2 Diet book and living the Engine 2 lifestyle.  But if you would like to try some of the recipes yourself, the Engine 2 Diet website has posted a few for you to try so you can see for yourself.  That should keep you busy until my next post…

A Working Vacation…

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Thank goodness for vacations!!!  Chuck was fortunate enough to have some “use or lose” time on his hands and I couldn’t have asked for it at a better time.  We are not planning on going anywhere big during the time he has off (which is a first) but it’s nice to have him around to take care of Raegan while I am trying to blog and get a few other projects out of the way.  Which brings me to a few great updates….

The first project I need to get out of the way this week is my article for T.O.F.U. Magazine.  They are based in St. John’s, Newfoundland and they offer a great vegan magazine composed of many contributing writers from around the world and it seems that they are always looking for people to write about things going on in the vegan community-no matter how big or small that they seem.  Their magazine issues are on a “pay as you want” basis with a minimum purchase of $0 (therefore you can get it for free but I am encouraging all of those interested to donate a little something to help out a great cause!).  I think this would be a great opportunity to not only promote my blog, but to also show readers a side of veganism that often gets looked over.  Also, I can inform people that there is a vegan movement growing outside of the “college hipster” scene and into what most people consider the typical, traditional “All American Family” or those who are considered established in their careers.  I want to thank Ryan Patey, the editor of T.O.F.U. for giving me the inspiration to write about it 🙂

The next big project is to revive a website my husband and I founded nearly two years ago called C-ville Veg*n.  It kind of fell by the wayside mainly due to the fact that back then we both had hectic jobs and were just too tired to even post once a week.  And then with Raegan’s arrival, it just gave us more of an excuse to be even more lazy about it 🙁  My chief complaint was that it lacked real direction and I feel that this “revival” is going to fix that.  In my honest opinion, I feel that every successful website or blog out there needs to have a vision.  You don’t have to aim high, it can just be a small, simple purpose that means something to you and comes from the heart.  To me, C-Ville Veg*n needed to be kept in C-ville, hence the title.  Chuck and I made a deal that we would make more of an effort to try places off the beaten path in Charlottesville that would appeal to vegans.  Afterall, there’s only so many times you can hear about the same 5 veg-friendly places in Charlottesville until you feel like you are trapped.  I think for any vegan entering our town, this website could serve to be a great resource 🙂

On another topic, I have been cooking my way through the Engine 2 Diet book and I am confident to say that I probably tried more recipes than most of my friends who are taking the 28 Day Challenge with me right now.  I promise all of you that I will provide a run down of the recipes I have tried and give you my honest opinion on each of them once I am finished with the 28 days.  My “graduation” is on July 13th so that’s merely around the corner! 

While on the topic of Engine 2, I have decided to share with you a recipe inspired by the book.  It all started when I was talking to Kristen, who is the Healthy Eating Specialist at our local Whole Foods Market, about the Blueberry Dumpster Cobbler recipe.  We both agreed that it was NOT pretty looking (OK-I referred to it as “puke” but please bear with me!) when you combine the ingredients together and the final result was a blueberry creation with a crust that seemed like there was something significant missing to truly call it a “cobbler“.  Overall it was a tasty dessert but something was definitely missing.  That conversation led to me to looking at the local peaches I had in my kitchen and the ideas I threw around with Kristen.  Needless to say, I truly believe that I invented a healthier Peach Cobbler!!!  I’m not sure if you ever watched the movie, Duece Bigalow: Male Gigolo, but in one scene Deuce is with one of his “clients” and they are playing a game of Trivial Pursuit that was based around “Cakes and Pies…Cakes and Pies!” and if there was one thing I learned from that scene is that Peach Cobbler is a pie that contains the most sugar out of all the varieties out there!  In this version I am about to share, there is only 3 Tablespoons of raw agave nectar which to me is saying a lot since is did turn out to be a pretty good cobbler 🙂  I wish I could have a picture to go along with this recipe but it was so good it didn’t last long enough for a photo session!!! 

Robin’s E2 Approved Peach Cobbler
Ingredients:
2/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
2/3 milk substitute (almond, soy, hemp…you choose!)
3 Tablespoons of raw agave nectar

2 cups of chopped peaches (I left the fuzzy skins on to keep the peaches intact but I’m sure you can peel them if you wish and get the same effect…same goes with frozen!)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Combine all the ingredients except the peaches in a medium sized bowl.  The batter will be very runny!  Pour the runny batter in a 9X9 non stick pan or a pan that has been lightly sprayed with oil and top with peaches.  Bake for 45 minutes or until browned.  A great option is to serve this with Rip’s Magic Banana Ice Cream which is NOT found in his book 🙂

Still keeping on the subject of cooking and cookbooks, last week I got an exciting email from Wendy Vigdor-Hess, RD.  She is from the Charlottesville area and has been a nutritionist, educator, speaker and consultant for nearly 18 years.  She just recently came out with her first book titled, Sweetness Without Sugar and I was offered by Wendy to cook my way through her book the same way I cooked my way through the Engine 2 Diet.  Sweetness Without Sugar is a cookbook/cooking resource that is not only sugar free but also free of other common allergens such as dairy, egg, wheat and soy (obviously all vegan!).  Now before anyone reads the term “sugar free”, I am in no way talking about using Splenda or any of those commercial artificial sweeteners…Wendy’s book replaces refined sugars with natural sweeteners and gives great alternatives to recreating your favorite desserts.  I have met Wendy at a few Vegan Meetup events for nearly two years and I can tell you, she is very passionate about total wellness.  Being offered this opportunity is so exciting that I have also decided to delegate Chuck into providing photography (it’s his new hobby and he has a serious camera to prove it!) for the sweet creations I plan to recreate from Wendy’s book.  You should expect this shortly after my Engine 2 Diet graduation.

Wrapping things up, I am pretty excited about the things I will be taking part in this summer and I haven’t even mentioned all of them!  Although this week is technically a vacation in our household, there is still so much work to be done and so many opportunities to share on my blog so…