Turkeyless Day 2016

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  I love the smells, the decor, the family and friends, and the weather.  Yesterday's forecast suited my taste well.  It rained pretty much all day long.  Nothing like watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade while drinking coffee, snuggling with the "kids" and listening to the rain come down.

This is our second Thanksgiving cooking completely vegan, and we are getting pretty great at it!  We made homemade cranberry sauce, cauliflower stuffing, cauliflower mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy, brussel sprouts, pumpkin pie, and a turkeyless turkey!  My love for animals extends past cats and dogs, and I just didn't want to be responsible for a turkey's life. 

I love making things from scratch so my favorite thing to prepare was the pumpkin pie!  Who knew that homemade pie crust was just flour, water, and salt!?  Not me!  We had a leftover pumpkin from Halloween so I even made my own pumpkin puree.  It's the simple things that really make me happy!  The "turkey" was fun to make as well, especially since we made the loaf into the shape of a turkey.  GOBBLE GOBBLE!

There are so many things to be thankful for.  I'm thankful for my "Partner in Farm", my family, my job, all of my furry and feathery kids, and lots of vegan websites that helped us prepare this cruelty free feast!  Happy Holidays!!

   

Resolutions

It's crazy to think that it's been only, and already, 2 years that I decided to make a change for the better and eat a more plant based (vegan) diet.  I actually had to go back through my facebook time-line and find a picture to confirm.  At first I though it was only a year ago, but at the same time I'm thinking "what took me so long!".  It's too bad that the word "vegan" has such a negative connotation.  I remember thinking being vegan was not only weird (okay well I am!) but also so far out there.  I mean, how could you live without eating meat or cheese!!

I started seeing things so much differently when I started working at the Oregon Humane Society.  Here I was devoting over 40 hours a week to a cause that I passionately believed in, but did my love for animals stop at dogs and cats?  And chickens just because I had them as pets?  A couple of weeks after I started we rescued a group of cats from a hoarder.  I remember being appalled at the conditions that these furry friends came from, but I also left thinking "how about the animals we eat every day".  How can I be so dedicated to bettering the lives of cats and dogs, only to clock out and eat a dead pig or cow that came from comparable (if not worse) conditions?  It's a very touchy subject for most because nobody wants to face the truth..it hurts, I know :(  I had a few vegan coworkers that I started talking with, and one of them gave me a book to borrow called The China Study.  My husband hadn't read a book from start to finish in years, but he really enjoyed it!  A few documentaries and books later, and we were both sold on the vegan lifestyle.  We balance each other out perfectly because I do it for the animals, and he does it for the health benefits.  As a bonus, the both of us are in the best shape of our lives!  My husband ran his first triathalon in 2015 and I ran two full marathons in addition to 4 other road races!
 

Plant Powered!

 When we first started our journey towards following a more plant based diet, I discovered Isa Chandra's website The Post Punk Kitchen and it's the best!  She has great recipes for some all time favorite "comfort foods" that you can easily be made at home without any animal products.  Now that the way we eat has become a way of life, we find that our cupboards are always full with delicious staple foods that help us make delicious meals.  I often look in the fridge and think "we don't have anything to make for dinner" only to discover that whole, plant based meals are at our fingertips!  A few days ago I made Mushroom Stroganoff and one of my go to "we have nothing to eat" meals is Stir Fried Quinoa and Eggplant.