Hey Good Lookin' What's Cookin?

Pinterest has been a blessing to this newlywed who never cooked before marriage. Since going down the vegan path, my world has opened up to new tastes and smells. Some of my favorite newfound blogs that have great vegetarian/vegan recipes are Oh She Glows, Chocolate Covered Katie, and That Was Vegan?

Check out the recipes that I've recently tried and some are actually "Sean Approved." A little background on this term, my husband used to be known as having the food palate of a child. Chicken fingers, pizza, and meat was all his diet consisted of. Don't even think about asking him to eat vegetables! So, when I started my vegan adventure and no longer wanted to consume dairy, things started changing for the best around here. Sean was actually trying AND liking some of the recipes I tried. If this carnivore could eat and like vegan cooking, ANYONE could!

First up - 

Belgium waffles

Sean will tell you he married me for my waffles. I'll admit, they are pretty amazing! I simply followed a recipe that came with my first waffle maker and that was it. My first attempt to make them vegan failed miserably when I tried to substitute 2 eggs with applesauce. Epic fail! My second attempt worked like a charm and was Sean Approved!

Belgium Waffles

1 cup vegan butter/margarine

1 cup sugar

1 Tbsp vanilla

1/2 tsp sale

2 eggs equivalent*

2-1/4 cups flour

Mix butter and sugar in a mixing bowl of stand mixer. Cream together on medium-low. 

Add vanilla and salt. Increase speed to medium.

Add eggs equivalent. Mix well until smooth.

Decrease speed to low, add flour. Mix well.

Bake in waffle hour about 3-5 minutes or until steam no longer escapes. Yields 4 waffles.

*Baking powder egg replacer: 

2 tsp baking powder

2 Tbsp of water

1 Tbsp oil

Mix well until combined and gelatinous. Makes one egg.

Next - 

15 Minutes Creamy Avocado Pasta

This recipe was NOT Sean Approved but definitely Meagan Approved. It was the avocados that sealed its fate against Sean! Find the recipe on Oh She Glow's blog. I added tomatoes to add a bit of texture.

Next - 

Blueberry Coconut Oatmeal

Another, just Meagan Approved recipe that was originally vegan and is oh so yummy!  

Photo from Fresh Family Cooking Blog

Huge difference in my photography skills and the creator of the recipe, huh? My breakfast looked no where close to her beautiful breakfast! Haha! Get the recipe on Fresh Family Cooking's blog and start baking!

Lastly,

Non-Dairy Alfredo Sauce

This was definitely Sean Approved and he continued to eat it when I told him it was made with tofu! I found the recipe on Food.com. The side of broccoli was not SA though! I guess I can't push my luck too much if he's willingly eating tofu!

I know it looks like all I eat is pasta and blueberries but I promise I have more variety!

Reader question: Have you been "P"inspired to cook or bake something new? 

Love, 

The Battle of the (Vegetarian) Veganista

“Vegetarian veganista?” you might say. Why yes, that is me! You see there has always been no secret of me being a vegetarian and choosing to not eat meat. My diet/lifestyle has been in the works for years and by now, my friends and family are used to me being complicated when we go out to dinner.

It might sound a little like this between the server and myself, “May I order the Calypso Shrimp Linguine but with the shrimp of the side and add broccoli, asparagus, and mushrooms?” (The shrimp on the side is for my husband, duh!) … almost always the server asks, “Are you a vegetarian?”

Don’t worry, I worked in the restaurant industry for years and know how both customer and server etiquette should work. I always ask nicely for my complicated requests and the servers have always been awesome.

So where does this “veganista” come into play?

This one time at an animal rescue dinner event, our entrée choices were: chicken parmesan, eggplant parmesan (vegetarian option), and spaghetti without tomato sauce (vegan option.) You ordered your meal way ahead of time when tickets were purchased and I selected eggplant parmesan. I was served spaghetti. (Enter: reassuringly checking my ticket, clearly seeing eggplant parm.) When I politely pointed out the incorrect order to the server, he was confused as to why a vegan would eat cheese. Who said I was vegan? Not me! After much discussion in the kitchen (if you’ve ever been to Buca, you know that kitchen is wide open!) I was finally served what I ordered.

Here comes dessert. I was served carrot cake instead of cheesecake because I was “vegan.” Gimme that cheesecake because I AM NOT VEGAN!

I got my cheesecake and my family and I joked about my new diet for the rest of the night.

A few months after my vegan Buca run in, I learned how naïve my vegetarian lifestyle was all because of parmesan cheese. Ironic, right? I cringe at that word because it has been forever emblazoned in my brain as something evil and now disgusting. In short, cheese is not vegetarian. Which lead to learning milk is not vegetarian. And finally, eggs are not vegetarian. Even dairy cows end up being served at McDonald’s with the egg laying chickens. Need further clarification? Go do some research. It’ll be life changing.

What?!

And let personal war wage inside me. I gave up meat to not take part in horrific factory farming practices but all the while I was still a contributing factor with my organic dairy purchases. I also learned that the words “organic” “cage free” and “free roaming” don’t mean squat. I'm not okay with the idea that an innocent animal had to die a horrible death just so I can eat. No thanks. 

So, the questions that beg to be answered are “why didn’t I put two and two together all these years” and “why didn’t anyone tell me?”

Some days I think being a vegetarian is a joke and you might as well eat meat. The way I see it, there should be two black and white diets: meat eaters and vegans. Other days, I drive myself INSANE when I check food labels. The one item that infuriates me is non-dairy coffee creamer. Assuming I was safe, I bought it. No, “contains milk” was listed right on the back of the bottle. It was then I became a label reader. And heads up, milk or milk products (i.e. casein) are in a TON of food products.

Photo from: Daniel Vitalis

So where do I draw the line between sane and insane? It’s a struggle that I go through every day especially since my husband, Sean, is a meat eater and will always be one. I just have to find out what works for me especially when eating at restaurants. My biggest worry is I don’t want people to be inconvenienced by me. Honestly. I went to a wedding once where the groom panicked after dinner while talking to me. “OMG, we completely forgot you were vegetarian. Did you get enough to eat?” Ah, my heart wanted to break because the sweet bride and groom had much more important things to think about on their wedding day than what I had to eat. Don't you worry! I’ll be fine.

When I cook and bake, the transition has been a bit easier. Replacing actual milk has been relatively easy because there are many alternatives out there. Sean and I really like Almond Breeze’s Vanilla Almond Milk and I love Silk’s coffee creamers. Butter has been super easy to replace because our butter was already actually vegan, Smart Balance Light. I’m still working on the egg replacer and determining when I should be binding or leavening!

 Sean has been amazing and so supportive of my struggle. It is a HUGE step when he tries my vegan cooking/baking. I have even received the “Sean-Approval” on many of my dinners and bakings which really makes me feel great! I've even noticed that I'm feeling better with less stomach aches and my headaches are gone. I’m not sure I can ever fully commit to a vegan lifestyle which leads me to really respect those that do. It’s a tough lifestyle in an unforgiving world but I do feel like I can make conscious decisions to have a better and kinder lifestyle as a vegetarian veganista!

A Few Pictures, A Few Thousands Words

Goodness, y'all! To say we have been busy is an understatement! Between Pinterest projects, weddings, new diets, Sean studying for grad school, and baseball games there hasn't been a moment where I feel like sitting down to write. Bear with me during my blog hiatus! Here's a few thousand words via recent pictures :)

And Pinterest strikes again! Going clockwise...

*Easter Butter Cake Cupcakes - OMG good!

*Our sweet wedding cards are finally all neatly together

*Our wedding vows that we each wrote to one another

*Who doesn't love a hydrangea wreath? So Southern!

Introducing... Skinny Bitch the Book of Vegan Swaps! Okay, so I'm not committing to a full vegan lifestyle {yet} however after all my research and new found knowledge of the benefits, it's can't hurt to improve my diet. Plus this book is amazingly written and hilarious! So um, no more butter cake cupcakes?!

Clockwise again...

*Mr. and Mrs. Phillips on Easter

*One of my best friends, Rosalie, is getting married and I get to stand up with her!

*My heart still belongs to the Braves but I like the Rays as an American League team

*Beautiful wedding cake of our dear friends, Mr. and Mrs. Davison

Okay yall, that's it for now ... I'll be back soon!