welcome to my vegan blog

So if you know me you know I've attempted regular blogging before. This time I have decided to start a little blog about my recent choice to be vegan. This blog is mostly for my friends and family who have asked me what I eat now, so they can know that I'm not wasting away into nothing and so they can know what food to feed me should I ever pay them a visit or go to a restaurant with them. It's also for myself so I can keep track of what I've been eating, post recipes I want to remember, and maybe hopefully get some tips and advice from my vegan friends. I also want to prove that you don't have to break the bank to be vegan- how to be vegan on a budget! :)

I do not want to be and will not be that vegan who thinks she's better than everyone else because she's vegan, nor will I try to turn you vegan. I will merely take you along with me, via my words and some pictures maybe, on my educational journey.

What made me decide to try to be vegan?
My good friend Danny stayed over at our apartment on New Years Eve. He is vegan and I wanted to cook us all a nice breakfast when we woke up on the 1st. I woke up naturally at 9:30am and got a recipe for vegan blueberry banana pancakes. Sounds yummy, right? It was. I went grocery shopping with the mindset of a vegan, and it was just interesting and informative. I liked actually seeing everything that was in my food, by actually reading the ingredients lists on the food in the store. So I made the pancakes (doubled the recipe and ended up making SO MANY!) Luckily, maple syrup is vegan. Yum. I spent the day asking Danny "Is this vegan? Is that vegan?" It got me to realize that a lot of stuff is actually vegan! Before, I always kinda thought, oh vegans, they can't eat anything, and especially not anything too tasty and filling. I was so wrong! So on Jan 1st and Jan 2nd I ate all vegan foods, except for dinner both of those nights, because I had not decided to actually full out try to be vegan yet.

By the end of the day on the 2nd I decided to gradually see how many days I could just eat vegan, kind of as an educational experiment, so I could continue learning all about what's vegan and what's not. My thought process was, when people go off of being vegan or vegetarian they always do it gradually, so why not go in to being vegan gradually just the same? Today is Jan 11th and I have eaten only vegan stuff since the 3rd.

So now I will do a quick catch up of some of the kinds of things I have been eating up until now.

Breakfast I have had:
-vegan PANCAKES. See recipe below this post. When the first batch ran out I made more just blueberry pancakes, no banana, and I never used walnuts- too expensive. They are good leftover too, and as a vegan anything warm and hearty is so welcome!
-shredded wheat cereal with soy milk
-oatmeal, variety pack! (tip for being vegan- find as much variety in whatever you can!)
-oh and of course, COFFEE is vegan! with just sugar, no milk, which I stopped using a while ago anyway :)
-orange juice

Lunch/Dinner I have had:
-peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat bread
-peanut butter on corn tortillas with banana slices
-roasted pears, sliced and peeled, made with sugar and lemon juice (fresh squeezed from a lemon I picked myself from someone's backyard in San Jose! I love this state.)
-salads! The ones I've made at home have had some combination of lettuce, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, olive oil, pepper, and this awesome veggie salad seasoning Patrick found at the store and got for me. Salads are a good thing to get when I have to get food at work. There's an okay salad bar with lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, and balsamic dressing. I even tried this raspberry vinaigrette once but didn't like it.
-Rice and broccoli
-Whole wheat pasta, with mushroom based tomato sauce, or olive oil and pepper and garlic. I LOVE pasta!

Snacks and other stuff: (I've really been eating more frequently and less portions at a time throughout the day. I love eating so it makes it more a part of your day when you have to think about it more often and do it more often!)
-apples (often with cinnamon, yum)
-bananas
-pears
-celery (and PB)
-vegan trail mix. They had packs of this in the odv office at work and I ate like three or four. yum
-there's a really good vegan protein bar at the caf at work. yay protein!
-whole wheat triscuits
-wheat thins
-tea tea tea teaaaaa!
-Coca Cola. It's vegan. I looked it up. But it's not vegan in Europe apparently. lol idk.

And as a special treat one night I had some vegan chocolate that my roommates had lying around! So great!

There might be more stuff I am forgetting. And today we did a good shopping trip and got more fruits and veggies. I'm most excited to break into that cantaloupe. How to do vegan on a budget- stuff like soy milk is more expensive than regular milk, but fruit is SO CHEAP! It's awesome and delicious.

Well I will post more later, especially as I find more interesting recipes. And I'll try to include my thoughts on how it's going as I continue this.
Happy eating!

Vegan Bluberry-Banana Walnut Pancakes

These are tender and fluffy and make the perfect vegan breakfast.

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup unbleached flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 banana, mashed
• 1 1/4 cups non-dairy milk (I like oat milk)
• 1 Tablespoon granulated sweetener
• 1 cup blueberries, fresh or (defrosted) frozen

1. In a large bowl, sift the flour and baking powder together. In a small bowl, mash the banana with a fork and add 1/4 cup of the milk, mixing together until there are no lumps. Add the banana, sweetener, blueberries, and remaining milk to the dry mix and stir together until "just mixed".

2. Heat a nonstick pan or a lightly-oiled frying pan. Using a measuring cup of your choice, scoop batter onto pan to make cakes. Let sit on medium heat until the bottom turns golden brown. Flip and cook other side. Repeat process until all the batter is gone. Makes 2 or more servings.

They came out blue because I stirred the blueberries in too soon I guess, but hey BLUE PANCAKES, COOL! :P