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Saturday, November 10, 2007

Welcome to my vegan journey

The road to being a vegan is different for everyone. The reasons why one may make this lifestyle change varies. For whatever the reason you make this choice, it can be done. But remember, that you will do it in your own time and your own pace. Depending on how much you liked certain foods before and what your reasons may be for changing to vegan, will play a part. I use to think I would not like tofu but now I enjoy it. It is so versatile you can really have fun with it. It is exciting when you take a meat dish or dairy and make it vegan. On September 16, 2007 I became vegetarian. About two weeks later, I was vegan. I take it day by day and at the end of the day, when I have eaten the way I have, I feel good and look forward to tomorrow.
I decided to do this blog for various reasons. I love to cook and now creating recipes has become more intriguing due to my change in lifestyle. As a new vegan, I felt it may be helpful to make a blog discussing my new journey and help others who have decided to take on this path. I decided to share my experiences, new findings, recipes, helpful hints, websites, etc. to my fellow vegans. Your tips and advice are also welcome. I read various blogs and saw the need for vegans to come together and support in their decisions. I feel that why someone has become vegan is a personal choice so this blog will not be about why one is vegan. But If I find a website that may be helpful in explaining how certain foods are processed, I will post it for anyone to go to if they wish for their personal interest and knowledge. Here are some helpful tips to help you get started. I found a handout from the organization PETA helpful. If you go to this website.
http://www.petaliterature.com/ , look to the right and you will see "vegetarian starter kit". This is a magazine I picked up walking to the subway. If you click on it I see where you may be able to download it. I hope it will work because I still use it as a reference. Just be aware, that some of the information in there is graphic, telling you about where your meat, eggs, and dairy come from. I was not expecting to read that, that day so I wanted to inform the readers of that. Here is a website part of PETA as well. http://www.vegcooking.com/ I think you may be able to read about the various products and information that is in the handout I read. Just click on being vegetarian and scroll through. I read through the magazine and took note of the various replacement products. Then I took a trip to my grocery store. I went into the organic section/ produce section and was amazed at all the products they had. From meatless crumbles (like a chop meat), Italian "sausage", "Kielbasa", "chicken and beef"strips and even smart dogs (resembling hot dogs). Even Bacon.. I bought a variety that day and started experimenting. I also bought soy milk and starting using that with no problem. I was never really a big milk drinker anyway. I find the soy nicer because it is more creamier to me. Then I went to the local organic store and felt like I was in a toy store. I bought my first non-dairy ice cream and I enjoyed it. The ice cream sandwiches are very nice. The brand is tofutti. Once you explore the various options, start at your own pace. I took it day by day, and started to take recipes I use and started replacing. For example in a stir fry, try the chicken strips and see if you like them or just add more vegetables. Maybe replace it with tofu. Here is a website about tofu and the different types. http://www.soyfoods.com/soyfoodsdescriptions/tofu.html. It says you can freeze tofu. I think that will be a personal preference. I have heard from others that it changes the color and does not always freeze well. But, it also makes it more like a "meat" texture for people who may want that. You could always try it and see if it works for you. If not, what I do is have a few recipes on hand once I open the tofu, because it has to be used in a week. And remember, change the water daily. A good book I use is by Nava Atlas, the 5 ingredient vegetarian gourmet. There is a section in there on tofu and that is where I had my first taste of tofu. The recipes are easy to follow and help you see a variety of vegetarian recipes. It is not a vegan book, but you can omit cheese or use vegan cheese if the recipe calls for it, replace milk with soy milk, etc. Remember, once you learn the replacements, you can make a non vegan recipe vegan.. Step by step, recipe by recipe, day by day. Another tip is go to http://www.meetup.com./
You can search for vegetarian/vegan groups in your area and join. They have group meetings where you can meet others who share in your lifestyle . You pick the group/s you may be interested in and join. I will try as often as I can to share new information with you, such as nutrition information (I am not a nutritionist, so it will be not be a source of your personal dietary requirements. For that you would to speak to your personal nutritionist/ doctor), websites to buy vegan products, my daily menus, some of my recipes, recipes I have made vegan to show you how, and recipes I find online. I will share with you questions I needed answered and the results from my search. I am happy to be vegan and look forward to sharing the experience with other vegans. :) I will end this today with some websites where you can buy vegan groceries. It will help you to see what products there are for vegans and that there are replacements out there. And with the holidays coming it may help you when you are doing your cooking. For instance, I have a recipe from a betty crocker book which calls for gelatin and sugar. well, there is vegan jello and vegan sugar. So I can still make those recipes. I will post all about why sugar and jello are not vegan. But for today here are the sites where you can get an idea of vegan products.

Online vegan stores

http://www.veganstore.com/

http://www.vegangoods.com/

http://www.veganessentials.com/

http://www.veganchocolate.com/

http://www.cosmosveganshoppe.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc

http://ethicalplanet.com/food-and-snacks.html



thank you for coming to my blog. I will post as often as I can so please come back again.



Gnewvegan

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