Vegan Chocolate Chip Birthday Cookies

My birthday was Friday the 17th, but I had to work so my family celebrated on the 19th. I picked out a restaurant where I could create a vegan meal with sides: Cheddar's. Not crazy about the place and the service is always terrible Last night our very elderly waitress bumped into me every time she came to the table -- usually with her boobs, bulging stomach, or crotch region. She even hit me in the head with a plate once. At least it was all very laughable. Now that my review of Cheddar's is done, here's what I really came here for:

My aunt is famous for her baking abilities. She always makes birthday cakes for us. However, the cakes are far from vegan. So this year I decided I would give her a break and I would try making cookies for my birthday (I don't really care for cake anyway).

I didn't have the proper supplies so I made the cookies at my mom's house with her help. I'm also not a baker. I love to cook, but baking? I'd rather have second helpings of veggies or fruit than any sweets. So it was interesting. I was also running on very little sleep and going from there to an overnight shift at work. All that being said, I like the cookies! They don't taste exactly like Aunt ML's cookies, but I didn't expect them to. They're just different. The general consensus from family was, "They're different, but I like them." My dad even ate 2 (which may have only been for my benefit, but I love him for it).

I think I'd like to keep trying different recipes and maybe true egg replacement stuff instead of flax eggs, but I'm happy with the experience overall. It was a yummy learning experience. And for my birthday present, my mom and dad got me a mixer and a cookie sheet so I can make things at home. Maybe I'll even start baking more now!

Oh and the best part of the day was going wedding dress shopping with my matron-of-honor, "just to look" and finding (and buying) my wedding dress! :)

Vegan Fiancé

Last night we went to a weekly get together that my boyfriend's friends in Memphis always have. I got to meet them and it was great fun! Once I move here I can't wait to start bringing vegan dishes to the get together (they're very vegan friendly but they didn't know any vegans would be there so they didn't have much for me, but I ate right before anyway).

So after this get together we got in the car. A few minutes later I realized he was driving towards downtown instead of toward my hotel. He said we were going to get some more wine at a downtown bar. We ended up at the amazingly gorgeous Peabody Hotel, where my one glass of wine cost more than the bottle we bought to take to the get together. We sat and talked and sipped on wine.

We've been discussing getting married for a while, so he said we should go look at the ballroom upstairs at the hotel for the venue. I just laughed and said, "There's no way we can afford that." I didn't realize he didn't plan to get married there, just engaged. Since I unknowingly ruined his plan, he looked for another opportunity. At that point he thought he would just wait until we were leaving and say, "Wait, I forgot one thing," and then, bam, proposal time.

However, he got a better opportunity. The hotel bar had live piano music and I noticed they were playing a song from The Little Mermaid. I'm pretty much obsessed with The Little Mermaid (even though I don't really like cartoons) and he is well aware of this. He didn't recognize the song so I said, "You know, the one that says 'I want to be part of your world'?" and I was so distracted by the song I didn't notice he pulled out a little box. Then I heard him say, "Yeah? How about you be part of my world?" And there it was. My dream ring, being handed to me by my dream man. I'm so far beyond excited I can't even sleep! I only got a few hours of sleep but I feel completely energized! I get to be this amazing man's wife. How lucky am I?!

And now begins the search for vegan and non vegan options that can co-exist for our wedding while I start my life with my meat-and-dairy-loving man! :)

Vegan Valentine

Last night, my boyfriend and I had our special v-day dinner one night early to avoid the crazy crowds and because it worked better with our schedules. We went to J. Alexander's, where neither of us had ever been. After apartment hunting all day (and finding our new place!), I was extremely hungry and a little worried about what the restaurant had to offer since they didn't have info on their website. Luckily, our waitress had previously worked in a vegan restaurant in Cali so she was familiar with what options I had and more than willing to ask around in the kitchen about stuff she didn't know.

I ended up going with the veggie burger (sans cheese) and fresh steamed broccoli. It was, by far, the biggest and best veggie burger I've ever had! It was loaded with flavor. My meat-and-dairy-loving boyfriend even tried it and said, "If you can figure out how to make that at home, we can eat veggie burgers every night!" The spices used in it seemed to have a bit of southwestern flair, though I'm still clueless as to what was in it. The only negative was that it didn't hold together very well, but it was still just as delicious on a fork as it was on a bun, so that's not even a real negative!

This picture does not even do it justice, by the way (probably because I was in such a hurry to eat it I wasn't too concerned about how the picture turned out!). Yummy!

Traveling Vegan on a Budget

Today I leave for a 5 day, 4 night trip to Memphis, partly to make moving arrangements, and partly to spend time with my boyfriend, who lives there. I will be staying in a hotel (long story). I also happen to be even more broke than usual right now. This should be interesting...

Eating vegan while traveling can be difficult. Eating vegan without a way to cook can be difficult. Eating vegan on a budget (of as close to $0 as is humanly possible) can be difficult. Eating vegan on a budget while traveling with no way to cook? Overwhelming to think about! At first.

I started by upgrading to a room with a mini fridge and microwave. The fridge, especially, will be a huge help. I figured out in advance when I will be going out to eat, picked restaurants, and found vegan options at each. Most, if not all of my dinners will be taken care of. My boyfriend's parents (of course, I'm visiting them too) have some vegan meals in the freezer and have been kind enough to offer them to me. Sweet! As a back up, I'm bringing protein/meal bars and several snack options just in case. That way, if I can't get enough to eat at their house, I don't have to worry about offending anyone (although I doubt they would be offended since they are understanding about me being vegan) or going to bed hungry. Plus, I eat small amounts all day anyway. I tend to have several snacks rather than 3 meals. For lunches, I'll be making hummus sandwiches with fresh veggies. I could eat that every day even without a good reason! For breakfast, I know I will be able to eat a few of the options provided by the hotel (fruit, plain bagel, etc), but I'm also bringing my own cereal, soy milk, and bananas. One thing to remember if you're traveling and plan to drink the hotel's coffee, it's highly unlikely that they will have a dairy free creamer available. I'm packing my own vanilla caramel flavored dairy free creamer because without my coffee, I'd be a zombie!

So after sitting down, thinking about it, and doing a little bit of planning, I discovered that traveling vegan on a budget can be done with ease!

Picture, or it didn't happen

Pictures of some of the food I've made so far!:

Vegetable Fried Rice:

Pasta Salad:

Tofu Tacos:

Hummus and Veggie Wrap:

Fettuccine Alfredo with Broccoli:

Smashed Dill and Garlic Potatoes:

Learning Vegan

In the past, when I tried being vegan, I was setting myself up for failure. I was in college, with very, VERY limited funds (and now that I have a degree and work for a non-profit, that has changed soooo much.... *sarcasm*). My knowledge about vegan options essentially consisted of what the tiny "health food" section at Kroger contained -- veggie burgers, one tofu option (which I wasn't entirely sure how to use), soy cheese (which I didn't realize wasn't even vegan thanks to casein), and tofurkey. Beyond that, all I ate was fruit and vegetables, and since I couldn't afford a lot of fresh produce, that was limited and/or frozen.

I wasn't vegan; I was deprived. As the years have passed and Kroger's health section has expanded, so has my knowledge of vegan options -- there are SO many!! One thing that helped was my palate changing as I got older. Hating beans and rice doesn't make for a happy vegan. So glad that phase is over!

This time around, I educated myself as I made the transition. Originally, I just wanted to incorporate more vegan dishes into my regular diet, for health reasons, mostly. Then I decided I would be a flexitarian (eat mostly vegan and vegetarian but be willing to bend and break the rules with little or no provocation). That lasted about 17 minutes. When I do something, it's all or nothing, which is often a bad thing. In this case, I think it was beneficial. On January 23rd, 2012 I bought groceries and came home to try some new vegan recipes. That night, I decided I would finish up the few non-vegan food items in my apartment as soon as possible (I cannot throw good food out. I did, however, give a lot of it to my meat-and-dairy-loving family). On February 1, 2012 I was officially, completely vegan.

I'm still learning daily. I often find myself saying, "Holy crap, they make a vegan version of that?!" Learning about the options is almost as fun as eating them. I'm moving to Memphis in less than 6 weeks, and I'm so excited to try some of the vegan options I've read about there (including a completely vegan restaurant). I'm also excited to have a place to talk about the new experiences I have as a vegan. I expect there will be lots of interesting experiences ahead!

What Vegan Living and Loving means to me...

I love finding innovative, healthy (and yummy!) vegan recipes and general "green" ideas for the home and testing them out. I also like to talk about it and post pictures, which is where this blog comes in (apparently, people on Facebook don't want to constantly hear about my newest vegan dish or homemade tub cleaner -- crazy, I know!).


A big challenge I deal with living as a vegan is not knowing many people who are vegan (or even many who understand what vegan actually means -- thank you, dirty south) and having lots of loved ones who are not very vegan-savvy. I hope to lead by example, showing those around me that a vegan diet (and lifestyle) is fun, easy, beneficial, and downright yummy! :)