Becoming a Vegetarian/Vegan

"Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."

-Albert Einstein

In the recent weeks, I have had a few requests for information about how to get started with a Vegetarian diet.

I have been officially vegetarian for almost six months, but for the year before that, did not eat much meat. I always felt so much better after eating a plant based meal, so I decided to completely eliminate meat from my diet.

Since the end of May, I have been an ovo-lacto vegetarian. That means that I ate no meat (including fish) but that I did eat eggs and milk. Another fun term is pescetarian. A pescetarian abstains from all meat except for fish.

Just recently, I have adapted a vegan diet. Veganism is the practice of abstaining from all animal products in all aspects of life. This includes dairy, eggs, honey, leather, gelatin and anything that comes from an animal. To be completely specific, I suppose you could call me almost vegan. I still use beeswax for finishing my wooden items, beeswax candles, beeswax crayons and molding beeswax.

Gelatin? Geletin is not vegan? No. Not at all. Wikipedia defines gelatin as "...a mixture of peptides and proteins produced by partial hydrolysis of collagen extracted from the skin, boiled crushed horn, hoof and bones, connective tissues, organs and some intestines of animals such as domesticated cattle, chicken, horses, and pigs."Yea....yuck. Geletin is found in Jello, marshmallows, ice cream and yogurts to name just a few things!

The key to any healthy diet is to eat a variety of good foods in moderation. This food pyramid from VeganFoodPyramid.com is useful for vegans and vegatarians alike.

If you are not cutting out dairy and eggs, the Vegetarian Food Pyramid from the Seventh Day Adventist Dietetic Association is helpful.

Vegetables and Fruit
Obviously, a major factor in being a vegetarian is eating a lot of vegetables and fruit! Many times, I will go through the grocery store and randomly select interesting veggies and find a recipe later. My favorite weekly must haves are:

• Kale
• Spinnach
• Onions (variety)
• Tomatoes
• Yellow Squash
• Zucchini
• Sweet Potatoes
• Broccoli
• Avocado
• Grapes
• Apples
• Banana

Some of the veggies that aren't always regulars, but that I still love are:

• Acorn Squash
• Butternut Squash
• Curly Parsley
• Arugula

Beans
As with everything, it's best to make them yourself- from dried beans, but for convenience sake, canned beans are fine too. Try to look for organic options with few additives. I like to keep my pantry stocked with two or three of all of the following.

• Garbanzo Beans
• Black Beans
• White Beans
• Kidney Beans
• Hummus (Fabulous snack, dip or spread made from garbanzo beans)

Grains and Pasta

• Quinoa (also a protein, must have!)
• Brown Rice
• Couscous
• Oatmeal
• Whole Grain Pastas of different varieties (they make quinoa pasta now!)

Nuts
Ideally raw nuts

• Almonds
• Cashews
• Pecans
• Walnuts

Snacks and Other Pantry Items

• Craisins
• Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Blend
• Veggie Straws
• Hemp Seeds
• Crackers (Check the ingredients if you're going vegan!)

Cooking Essentials

• Vegetable broth (canned or powdered)
• Olive oil 
• Sesame oil
• Coconut Oil
• Balsamic vinegar
• Rice vinegar
• Peanut butter and/or other nut butters
• Nutritional yeast
• Soy sauce
• Miso
• Tahini
• Vegetable or Soy margarine (if abstaining from dairy)
• Soy, almond or other alternative milk (if abstaining from dairy)
• Vegan Butter (If abstaining from dairy. My absolute favorite is Earth Balance.)

Spices
Everyone should have a well stocked spice selection. Personally, I like experimenting with different spice combinations. My favorite are:

• Chili powder
• Cumin
• Curry
• Garlic powder
• Basil
• Oregano
• Parsley
• Cinnamon
• Ginger powder
• Onion powder
• Black Pepper
• Salt

Getting Started
Ok, so I've told you most of my personal favorite must haves, but how do you get started you ask? Start by finding recipes! Google things that you know you like and find something that sounds fabulous! As an example, I love sweet potatoes. Google "sweet potato vegetarian recipe". It's easy- and fun! Find a few recipes that you like, buy the ingredients and go to town! As with everything, they will not all be winners, but experimentation is super fun!

If you aren't one to seek out recipes on your own, PETA has some excellent recipes, as well as a two week sample vegan menu! VegWeb is also a beautiful website filled with fantastic recipes.


My Current Favorite Recipes
Black Bean and Corn Chili
This recipe calls for turkey. I obviously omit that part, although sometimes I will make a separate pot with turkey included for my husband.
This, truly an honestly, has got to be my favorite chili recipe ever. The spice combination is fantastic. It also calls for Pace Salsa. I do not care for that brand of salsa, so I substitute it with my favorite salsa (Sweet Onion Salsa).

Garlicky Kale
*drools*
This is a fantastic side. It is just spectacular.

This is also my go to recipe for kale chips. If you have never had kale chips, please give them a try. You are missing out!!! Personally, I have a dehydrator. I put the Garlicky Kale in at 135 degrees for a few hours (testing out the chips every so often ^_^). If you do not have a dehydrator, no worries! Just put your kale on a pan and throw it in the oven at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes or until crisp. Keep an eye on them!! Obviously, the dehydration option is the healthier option because the low heat kills less vitamins and nutrients.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Banana Bread
OOOOOOOH my goodness.
This is an amazing banana bread. It is dense, sweet, delicious and filling.

Sweet Potato Burritos
Delicious!! Hubs doesn't like sweet potatoes, so to make this work for him, I omit the sweet potatoes and add turkey to the bean mixture.

Sweet Potato Bean Burger
I have made several different veggie burgers, this is by far my favorite. Super wicked tasty.

Zucchini & Butternut Squash Bake
This has sweet potatoes in it as well. Can you tell I am a fan?
This recipe smells and tastes like autumn! I love it!

Beet Risotto

I made this with golden beets and half quinoa and half rice where it called for rice. It was to.die.for. I can not wait to make it again! I will try it next with red beets.

Steamed Sweet Potatoes and Walnuts On a Bed of Greens

Simple. Simple. Simple. 

I steamed a serving of peeled, diced sweet potatoes (and white sweet potatoes) and then tossed them with a bit of brown sugar and a bit of earth balance spread (vegan) and crushed walnuts on top. I put that over a bed of kale, arugula, and parsley. No salad dressing necessary.

Veggie Pizza!

Naan flatbread makes excellent crusts for veggie pizzas. In this particular picture, I used a flatbread from a local bakery.

Topped first with hummus, then thinly sliced tomatoes, kale, onions, avocado, and parsley. Then I broil it for 5-10 minutes in my toaster oven.

You can put anything on a veggie pizza!

Apple Cinnamon Walnut Oatmeal

Self explanatory! Plain oatmeal, diced apples, cinnamon, brown sugar and walnuts!

Simple Veggie Wrap

Summer classic. This one has hummus, lettuce, cucumbers, radishes, tomatoes, avocado, sugar snap peas, onions and corn.

On Being Vegan in a House of Omnivores

My husband is fine with my choice to "only eat rabbit food" if I continue to make him meat. At the beginning of my journey, that did not seem like a big deal. As time goes on, this is becoming more and more difficult as preparing meat makes me completely loose my appetite.

The majority of the time, I make the him and the kids one meal, and myself another meal. Occasionally, they will eat part of my meal as their sides, but most of the time, none of them are interested. All three of them would prefer to only have broccoli every night as their veggie. (Rainbow Girl thankfully enjoys salads as well.)

I am trying to increase list of meals that we can all eat together, but the list is pretty slim currently with my husband's (and children's) picky taste. Sometimes, I will add meat to a vegan meal to make it more appealing to hubs. I am hoping that as time goes on, we find more meals that we can eat together and that the animal products in our home decrease exponentially.


Super Factoids and Inspirational Quotes From Vegan and Vegetarian Books

What Do Vegans Eat? Fast And Simple Guide To Veganism
by Andy Reece

"Animals tend to store toxins in their cells and fatty tissues, so when you eat meat, you’re actually consuming the accumulated pesticides that the animal has consumed over the course of its lifetime."

"It takes sixteen pounds of grain and 2500 gallons of water to produce a single pound of beef."


The New Becoming Vegetarian: The Essential Guide to a Healthy Vegetarian Diet
by Vesanto Melina, Brenda Davis

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. -Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)"

"Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages. -Thomas Edison (1847-1931)"

I just adore parsley lately.

Please let me know if I left something out, or you have a particular question!