Accidental Veganism

To quote Joey Russo, "Whoa"! Surely I'm not the only Blossom fan out there... right? I'm super excited to have a blog to channel all of my creative genius through! Full disclosure: I'm not creative at all and the only subject I consider myself to be a genius in is Harry Potter trivia. The reason I'm excited about this project is because it's time for me to speak my piece about why I live the way I do (yes I did have to google whether it was "piece" or "peace"!).

It's hard being vegan because the word alone carries such a negative connotation. When I tell people I'm vegan I get one of two reactions: they get angry or they feel judged. As though I feel I'm better than them because I don't use animal products. So, to clear the air, I have never judged anyone for eating meat or dairy! You do what you do and I'll do what I do. Just don't judge me for telling you I can't eat the cookies you made. Trust me... I want to eat the cookies!

 I never meant to give up dairy and eggs. It was a total accident. I've been vegetarian off and on since I was 10. I read in Tiger Beat magazine that JTT was a veg! Surely I'm not the only Jonathan Taylor Thomas fan out there... Anyway, it's been 13 years since I've had meat but I never dreamed of giving up my milk, eggs and cheese. Those people were crazy! Flash forward 11 years and I was feeling kind of funky. I cleaned up my diet a lot by eating almost strictly whole foods and no sugar. My stepmom used to joke that I was the only vegetarian who hated vegetables. It was true. I struggled to cut out all the processed food I ate, but suddenly salads started tasting good and I didn't miss my fruity pebbles so much (mmm... Fruity pebbles). I felt like a million bucks and had the energy of a 5 year old (is that creepy?)! 

Flash forward another year to October 2011 and I started feeling funky again. I did an elimination diet to see if I was sensitive to any foods. I did a week with no soy, one with no grains, one with no gluten (worst week ever!) and one with no dairy or eggs. After my vegan week I felt great. So great that it stuck. Try being the weirdo who goes vegan a couple weeks before Thanksgiving! Lucky for me, though, my family is used to my strangeness! 

But something else happened to me when I changed my diet: I became happier than I've ever been. Sometimes annoyingly so. I read an interview with Ellen where she suggested that when we eat animal products we are taking in the emotional state of that animal. If you know me at all, then you know that I don't buy into this way of thinking, but I had to give it some thought, because a part of me felt like a huge burden had been lifted off of me. Some sort of unconscious guilt is gone, and if that has to do with me not eating eggs from sad little hens, then so be it! 

It also helps to think of all the wonderful things that my diet does for the environment. I used to get hung up on the whole "one person can't make a difference" mindset, but that's not true. My diet has inspired my posslq* to go vegan and has caused customers of mine to follow the new "Meatless Monday" trend. Even one meatless dish makes a difference, so I feel as though I can make a world of difference!

Which takes us to our recipe of the day- Stir Fry! I debated whether or not stir fry was too simple to start with and then I realized that simple is good!

Stir Fried Pad Thai Noodles with Peanut Sauce

Yield: about 6 Cups

Ingredients:

• Half a box of Pad Thai noodles, Cooked (I boiled the water, turned off the heat and let the noodles rehydrate for about 5 minutes)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 2" piece of ginger, chopped or grated 
• 2 carrots, sliced thin
• 1 bell pepper, sliced thin
• 1.5 cups broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces
• Braggs Liquid Amino Acids (or soy sauce or tamari)
• Sriracha
• Peanut Sauce, to taste

1.) Cook and drain your noodles. Rinse with warm water to keep from sticking.

2.) Prep your veggies- chop, dice, slice, who cares! Cooking is not a science, so as long as it will fit in your  mouth, you're fine

Yes, that is the biggest cutting
board in the world

3.) Heat the skillet over medium high heat. No need to add oil- I rarely use it. I know that olive and coconut oil have beneficial fats, but I prefer to get these through spoonfuls of nut butters! Add the onion and cook for one minute or until it starts to brown. If it does start to stick, just add a splash of water. 

4.)Next add the rest of the veggies. Cook a couple minutes.

5.) Add the noodles and the sriracha and Bragg's to taste. I probably use 2 T of Bragg's and 1 T sriracha. 

6.) Once the veggies are soft, stir in your peanut sauce and cook until the sauce is evenly coating everything. Easy as can be! I also like to throw in some crushed peanuts or cashews at the end.  

How about an awesome peanut sauce recipe?

Peanut Sauce

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 T grated ginger
• 3/4 C peanut butter
• 2 T Bragg's (or soy sauce)
• 2 T apple cider vinegar
• 2 T light molasses
• 2 T tomato paste
• 2 C water
• 1 T sriracha
• 1/2 t cayenne
• salt to taste

1.) Saute onion over medium high heat until soft- again, no need for oil. Just splash onions with some water if they start to stick

2.) Add ginger and cook about 2 minutes

3.) Add remaining ingredients and cook until thick. If it's taking a while to thicken up, bring to a boil for a couple minutes without stirring and then reduce to medium and stir. After a few minutes it should thicken up nicely. You can also throw it in a blender to smooth it out if you don't like the onion and ginger pieces.

Happy Stir-frying!

-Becca

*posslq, or persons of opposite sex sharing living quarters, is a term that I read to describe two people who aren't married, but have been together for too long to be considered "boyfriend and girlfriend". Seeing as how Jon and I have been together for almost 10 years, I think this is appropriate... he is not a fan of the term, however!