I know the posting dropped off in the middle of the vegan month. I was incredibly busy at work…and then getting ready for Thanksgiving…and still busy at work…and then shopping for Christmas gifts. Plus our Relay for Life team sold (and baked and frosted and delivered) over 75 pumpkin rolls. And since I wasn’t quite busy enough I decided to go ahead and paint the living room before we put up the Christmas tree. Cause you know, I work better under pressure. While I had full intentions of posting every single day in November, things just didn’t work out that way.
Larry and I made it through Thanksgiving being vegan. We were discussing that it was our first Thanksgiving since we were babies that we didn’t have turkey. We did have a Tofurkey. It was delicious. It also contained no animal suffering, murder, cruelty, and/or any other bad karma. Thanksgiving this year required a tad bit of planning since we had to bring our own ‘dinner’ to dinner. But it was less planning than when Nora was a baby and we had to bring a full diaper bag along with nursing pads and a change of clothes for both of us. My grandma made vegan pie crust so that Larry and I could partake in pie at her house. This was the most thoughtful thing that anyone did for us on Thanksgiving. Something so simple, yet very much appreciated. Since neither of us had any desserts at Larry’s family get together (all eggs, milk, and cheese) we pigged out and had two pieces of apple pie…each.
The month of November went so well vegan-wise that we have decided to make this a permanent change. A new way of life. It has not been without challenges, but they have been minimal. The rewards (better energy, weight loss, feeling healthy, and being a good example to Nora) far outweigh the little challenges (like really really really wanting a Mrs. Fields cookie at the mall). We are learning more about what is in the food we eat, and in some cases food we used to eat. We are more conscientious of what we put into our bodies. We are enjoying the way we feel. Best of all, we are not deprived. We eat cake, cookies, fries, (veggie) burgers, (soy) ice cream, (cheese-less) pizza, and (vegan) chocolates. I have yet to find a good cheese substitute, but I haven’t given up yet either.
Another decision we made in November was regarding Nora. She no longer eats meat. She was (very very rarely) eating meat. Pepperoni, turkey sausage, chicken with broccoli. Towards the end of the month we decided that if the reasons we aren’t eating meat are important enough for us to abstain, then they are important enough for her to as well. We don’t eat meat because it does nothing to benefit us. It’s just not good for you. There is nothing in meat that you can’t get somewhere else. There are huge amounts of hormones in meat. There are much better things a person can eat. Also there is a huge amount of animal cruelty involved in factory farms (where the vast majority of meat you see in the supermarket comes from). If we know she has nothing to gain by eating meat, then why were we allowing her to eat it ocassionally? At first it was because we didn’t want her to be (or feel) deprived. It was our decision to be vegan. We didn’t want to unfairly subject (for lack of a better word) her to a vegan diet. But we came to realize that she was already very close to being vegan. She drinks soy milk and has never had cows milk. She loves yogurt but we very easily switched her to soy. She does like (and still eat) cheese…like mac and cheese and grilled cheese. Since I have yet to find a cheese substitute that I like, I am unwilling to force her to only have soy cheese. She is getting much less hormones and antibiotics now just by switching her yogurt and cutting back the amount of cheese she has. So why let her eat meat just because it’s Thanksgiving and there’s a turkey? Or just because the chinese restaurant has pepperoni pizza that she loves? She chows down the pizza just as quickly with the pepperoni picked off as she did when it was on. She doesn’t miss it. She’s not going to feel deprived of something she’s never really liked or eaten much of anyways. We know she gets all the vitamins and minerals she needs, and we know she is healthy. And that’s good enough for us.
Breakfast: wheat pancakes and OJ
Lunch: Taco Bell (bean burrito minus the cheese and add rice, and a mexican pizza with no cheese and meat)
Dinner: Veggie burger and potato pancakes
Snack: two Trader Joe’s peppermint Oreos
Challenges today: none especially
Today I felt: energized. I have half of my living room wallpaper border torn down…got it all done in a short amount of time. Looking forward to working on the rest in the next few days. Gotta get the living room (and hopefully kitchen) painted before Christmas…along with the shopping, ordering Christmas cards, planning Nora’s birthday party. You know…make plans to do major home painting weeks before major holiday craziness…that’s how I do things.
Breakfast: granola with almond milk and OJ
Lunch: veggie rice and 1/2 PB and cream cheese tortilla
Dinner: Veggies and rice (at Samurai Steakhouse for my brother’s birthday), and a vegetable spring roll
Snack: One more piece of that delicious chocolate cake from Kyle’s birthday
Challenges today: none specificially to speak of
Today I felt: excited to see the first big snow! I know it’s not vegan related (and it didn’t even stick to the ground), but I feel like a little kid when I see those big wet flakes flying all around. It looked like a snow globe!
I am about to bestow upon you the most delicious, fantastic, holy-shit-are-you-kidding-me-this-is-vegan?!?! cake recipe in the world. Yeah. It’s that awesome. So awesome, in fact, that the carnivores liked it too. So awesome, in fact, that they liked it better than Betty Crocker cake. If the only thing you do this week is make this cake then your life will be complete. I’m totally not shitting you.
The End All And Be All Of Chocolate Cake Recipes
3 Cups Flour
2 Cups Sugar
6 Tablespoons Cocoa
2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Salt
3/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 Tablespoons Vinegar
2 Teaspoons Vanilla
2 Cups Cold Water
Mix the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients. Stir until smooth. (I used my KitchenAid mixer.) Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Makes: 2 layers or one 13×9. Frost when cool. I did a 13×9 and it took longer than 30 minutes…I’d say it was closer to 45. I just kept checking it every five minutes or so until it was done.
The frosting I made was mint buttercream because it was my brother’s birthday cake and he loves himself some mint. I used 2/3 cup shortening, some (probably about 2 cups…maybe a little less) powdered sugar, a small amount (likely 1/4 cup or so) almond milk, and about a tablespoon (maybe more) of peppermint extract. The measurements are estimated because I kinda just eyeballed it until it was frosting consistency.
This cake recipe is the only cake recipe you ever need. Vegan or not. You seriously need to try it.
Breakfast: Maple Pecan Granola, almond milk, and a glass of OJ
Lunch: banana, veggie burger from Wendy’s (everything they put on a burger…minus the burger), and fries
Dinner: Rigatoni with pasta sauce, garlic bread, and asparagus
Snack: Vegan cake and ice cream for my brother’s birthday
Challenges today: water. water. water.
Today I felt: really good. Generic, I know. But really, I just feel a ton better than I did pre-vegan. I didn’t get lunch until 2PM and while I was hungry I wasn’t like get sick starving. It seems that the granola cereal is very filling…and believe it or not Nora likes it better than Cheerios.
Breakfast: Maple pecan granola with almond milk and a glass of OJ
Lunch: Veggie stir fry with jelly toast and WATER!
Dinner: Asparagus and pea risotto
Snacks: some vegan chocolate chip cookies, a handful of tortilla chips, and a baby sized dark chocolate bar
Challenges today: avoiding the delicious looking cheese and cream cheese dip at the Tupperware bingo event we went to tonight
Today I felt: great once again! Not sleepy at all! Feeling awesome and full of energy these days is a nice change.
Breakfast: Pecan Granola cereal with almond milk
Lunch: Banana, apple, cashews
Dinner: Veggie Burgers, peas, and sweet potatoes with cranberries
Snacks: Two Trader Joe’s peppermint Oreos
Challenges today: drinking more soda than water…again
Today I: was very happy to discover that I like the taste of the almond milk. I’m not a soy milk drinker so I’ve been avoiding cereal…although I’ve used the soy milk in pancakes and didn’t mind it. The almond milk is sweet. I can now enjoy cereal again! As for drinking it with a few cookies…not sure on that one yet…I have yet to try it ’straight up’.
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