Vegan Rant

I find it as a vegan very irritating that others feel the need to criticize my diet. I get it that there is this stereotype of a "preachy" vegan that sets everyone on edge with their views telling non-veg heads that their diet is wrong etc etc. I am not one of those by any means. I feel that if my diet is something that interests you then you will be naturally curious and ask me about it. For me my choice of food is about my life and philosophies not just simply what I choose to eat. I come at it from a very Buddhist point of view in terms of wanting to be compassionate, gentle and non-harming. I also feel that I do not have the right to decide that anything else's life is any less important then my own. Each creature has it's own purpose and agenda and I do not have the right to treat that as a commodity. I also feel that there are a lot of great thinkers, revolutionaries, athletes, spiritualists and artists that are vegan and that is something worth emulating. I want to evolve and leave as small of an imprint on the earth's consciousness as possible. I want to be a friend to all those I encounter, a gentle soul.
But that is just me. My personal views which I in no way push onto others. I have a bible of factoids in my head that I can spew on a dime about why we should invest in a plant based diet but again nothing turns people off faster. I don't bother wasting my time or trying to convert people.

Having said all that I am human. And as such there are times when I am not strictly vegan. There I said it. For me meat wasn't an issue to give up. It was dairy. I am a bonafide coffee addict: double double ( 2 creams, 2 sugars for you non-Canadian readers, or Timmie's fans.) For years I rationalized not being able to give up real cream, substitutions all sucked. I tried them all. But finally I was able to first kick the sugar and then slowly the cream. To me the dairy industry is one of the worst; and I noticed that perhaps due to the hormones I hit this plateau with my weight; my curves got curvier and there wasn't a thing I could do about the bloating. And after a few  months of giving up cream-13 pounds came off. But I am getting off track.. I will on occasion indulge in a piece of cheesecake or a piece of salmon or tuna. X-mas time there may be turkey. Again this is so few and far between say maybe 5x a year that I choose to consume meat. I am anemic and went through a period where my hair was breaking and falling out- so I thought maybe I should try animal protein. Now I simply know it is time to vary my diet and I haven't had that problem for a long time. But the point of this confession is the fact that I love how meat eaters feel the need to point out my lack of veganism at these times. Like I don't harp on a carnivore for the time they choose to eat a salad and tell them they are a bad hypocritical meat eater. Like for some reason this constitutes a failure of some sort. Never mind that the other 360 days a year I uphold my beliefs or diet. I once read this book by raw foodists saying that once you choose to go with a plant based diet you will notice that an invisible line will be drawn between you and carnivores. And there will be aggression towards you for your choices. Truth be told I have noticed this time and time again. As soon as I say I don't eat meat people's backs get stiff and they either feel the need to state well I ain't gonna become a vegetarian-it's not going to happen without me so much as bringing up idea at all. Or people justifying not being able to give up or survive without their protein or asking me stupid questions like how do I get my protein.

I really just wish people would just stop making such a big deal about the whole thing..

 

Vegan Food Swap

I was looking for something to participate in and I came across this: a pen pal vegan food swap. I love getting fun mail and I love food so this was perfect. The idea is that each month  you send an email to the blog linked below in either the US or Canadian version and she in turn sets you up with a random partner in your private email address. You send to them and someone else sends to you. The limit is under $20 and once you get your package you write a little thing about what you got and add a picture.

So here is what my lovely partner sent me.

The sweet potato cookies were full of chocolate chips and walnuts and so delicious they didn't last long at all. I need to find me a recipe for those. And the coffee was rich and yummy and totally on the spot as I am a coffee addict but it has to be gourmet coffee for me. And I've always wanted to try something by The Merry Hempsters so the lip balm was an awesome treat. Everything was wonderful and yummy and I am so happy that I signed up for this.

It's also really fun to search out vegan products to send to your partner. It seems like people really put a lot of thought into it and try to find items that are local. I know I had a lot of fun checking out the health food store and now when I am at a grocery store I make mental notes of things I see that could be used in the next swap. This is definitely way more fun than getting bills in the mail!

If you want to sign up here is the blog..http://meshell.ca/blog/veganfoodswap/

Easy Peasey Hummus

I found this recipe in Chatelaine magazine. It requires nothing fancier then a potato masher and a fork to prepare. It also doesn't require any fancy measurements ( or any of the sort for that matter), I go by texture. it is meant to be a rougher texture of hummus instead of a smooth spread.

Take  1 can of chick peas drained and rinsed, add olive oil and mash roughly with a potato masher until desired texture is achieved. It is meant to be thick and chunky. I mash it with my masher then to make it smoother I use a fork to break it up further, I then add minced garlic, a splash of lemon juice and a small splash of sesame oil for a nutty undertone flavor. I serve it on oven baked bread - the thicker the better or scooped onto celery.

This recipe is not only easy but it is cheap as well. For slightly more then the price you pay for a store bought pre- made brand you can purchase the majority of the ingredients ( minus the bread) and have enough lemon juice, olive oil, sesame oil and garlic to use in a plethora of other recipes and you skip all of the un-natural preservatives used in processed foods. The only ingredient that is a stretch to the wallet is pure olive oil but it is worth the money. I pay around $7.99 for aprox. 600ml. Olive oil is a good source of Omega oils and it also raises your good cholesterol and lowers the bad.