My life has been a bit hellish, though I’m not going to bore you with that.  Instead I am going to tell you how I have remained vegan despite 8 days of illness, crazy work hours, and being out at all hours, and having a dysfunctional kitchen.

I must say I have become the expert at ordering out vegan food pretty much anywhere I go.  Somehow I also managed to coordinate a lunch with my parents and in-laws at a restaurant where everyone was happy.  I’ve had cheeseless pizza loaded with veggies, burritos, countless orders of french fries, loads of chana masala and other indian delicacies.  Along with dishes I don’t know the names of from the Yabba Pot, and lots of Thai.

When I’m on the run, which is often, I’ve been getting lots of Amy’s and other varieties of vegan instant food.  My new favorite is Amy’s line of burritos and hot pockets which are filling but come in little tiny boxes.  When I do have a moment to throw something together I’ve been making 10 minute salad with my food processor.  There are times when I just need an easy snack and those are the days when I go for the blue corn chips and salsa.

I’ve been in a survival mode, and those tend to be times when I have trouble eating at all.  A few weeks ago I was in very poor health, but I have quickly turned that around.  If I can manage to be a new vegan in these stressful times, then I think it is really possible for anyone.

Earthlings was produced by a group of ethical vegans.  The film examines five forms of human exploitation of animals: pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and vivisection.  It is a full length documentary, and it bears witness to the suffering of our fellow animals.

I’ve heard from some vegans, that vegans do not need to watch this film, since we are already aware of the suffering therein.  Though I encourage all vegans to watch it and bear witness to why we do the things we do, and know the the best extent that we can what is happening to animals.

After watching Earthlings in it’s entirety, I don’t know if I would show it to just anyone, and certainly without preparation for what they are going to witness.  I believe in showing an equal level of compassion to all sentient beings. However, I do see the film as an important tool that can illustrate this suffering to those who have never been able to understand it before.

If you have a high speed connection Earthlings is accessible to you on google video and  you tube.  Or you can be real .

Christmas is a special holiday for me and my family. We have reinvented it time and time again to the point where it has actually become a day of love and giving. My parents always try to get me the things I really want but would never buy for myself, and I try to do the same for them.

This year is hard, it is going to be my first vegan Christmas. Many of the typical girly items that I love and adore now have to be vegan. Including candles, lotions, bath gels, and other smelly things. I want to give my family some choice, while ensuring that I won’t get things that I would scowl at and then discard.

I’m also highly considering putting my foot down and making Christmas dinner entirely vegan. While my family is awesome, and my parents are really progressive people, even with them things like that get dicey.

In my head I am pleading with the world that this will be the hardest holiday season for me, and that after this my wonderful family will just know what to do. I have high hopes given my family’s track record with adjusting to my lifestyle that is the way things will play out. Though for the moment it means juggling some hard politics.

Last night I came home from work feeling ill. I had barely eaten all day, and was in dire need of some wholesome nourishment. I wanted soup, and my pantry was getting a bit mangy. Also, I should add that I had never made soup before. Less than a day later I had made two awesome soups, both taking at most 15 minutes of prep, and maybe a half hour total cook time.

I am no kitchen genius, so how did this all occur?

First, I almost always have a few staples in my cabinets. I keep in stock a very large spice collection which I have built from the basic basil and oregano to cardamon and a spices from a wide variety of cuisines. I’m no spice picking genius either, but I leave the story of the spice rack for some other time. Anyways, I also almost always have yellow onion and garlic. In the pantry I have things like lentils, rice and various pastas and grains. There are also the canned goods like black beans, chick peas, and diced tomatoes.

When I decided that I wanted soup I immediately turned to my Quick Fix Vegetarian cookbook, but it failed me. I had the makings of several soups, but I was either lacking a few key ingredients, or I didn’t like the seasoning. I ended up recombining four recipes from Robertson’s book plus some of my own crazy ideas into the following two recipes.

Curry Chickpea and Lentil Soup

• 1 smallish yellow onion
•  2-3 whole cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• cumin to taste
• ground coriander to taste
• 1 cup washed and picked red lentils
• 1 15 ounce can chick peas
• 1 15 ounce can petite diced tomatoes
• 4 cups vegetable broth (from paste)
• 1 cup water

I chopped the onion in my handy and aggression relieving Ikea chopper, threw it in a pot big enough for the soup with the garlic with a tad of olive oil and sauteed on medium-high for about five minutes. Meanwhile I got out my spices and opened and drained my cans, and washed the lentils.

I have crappy McCormick curry powder right now, so I threw that in and the lentils, canned goods, and added four cups warm water and melted in my veggie bouillon paste. I love using the paste because it taste better, and doesn’t come in cumbersome packaging or need to be pre-made. I always have some in the fridge.

At this point I brought the heat up to high and added salt, fresh ground pepper, ground coriander and cumin to taste. This evened out the evil of the cheap curry powder. I let everything come to a boil, and then reduced to a simmer for about 20 minutes, adding water as needed after the first ten minutes.

Alternatives: Try wilting in some baby, or shredded spinach in the last five minutes or so, instead or with the chickpeas. Or whatever sounds good to you!

Wholesome Chili Black Bean Soup

• 1 smallish yellow onion
• 2-3 cloves garlic minced
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground oregano
• dried basil to taste
• cayenne to taste
• 1 can rinsed black beans
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes
• 3/4 cup quick cook barley
• 5 cups veggie broth (from paste)

Once again I used my handy dandy chopper on the onions, and then used my mincer on the garlic. Threw it into the pot I planned to make my soup in with a tad of olive oil on medium heat and covered for about five minutes. While waiting I drained, rinsed, and prepared my spices.

Then I added the chili powder and ground oregano, beans, tomatoes, 5 cups water which I mixed with bouillon paste then I threw in the barley and kicked the heat up to high while I was waiting for things to heat up I added cayenne to taste along with the basil. I let things cook for about 20 minutes lowering the mixture to a simmer once it began to boil.

Alternatives: If I had them on hand when making this soup I would have added some mushrooms and possibly some greens.

I finished off my day of soups with Vegan With a Vengeance Mexican Chocolate Rice Pudding.

At this point I rarely think about being vegan, it is what I am.  Label checking happens on it’s own, but not as often because I have a better sense of what I’m buying.  I’m getting the hang of ordering at restaurants, I can figure out how to cook anything in the microwave at work.   When I get hungry I know what snacks to get at the 7-11, I have an abundance of vegan cookies and chocolate in the house.  I drink my espresso with raw sugar when I run out of soy milk.  On a cold rainy tired night I have a secret stash of frozen ravioli for dinner.

I’m spending a lot less time wandering around looking lost at the super market, and know which stores will have which items.  Whole Foods shopping has been limited to a bare minimum.  Nearly everything I make for dinner is tasty.  This feels natural, it feels good, most importantly it feels right.  Which also leaves this blog in a lurch, as I am not constantly thinking of new vegan related topics, or if I do I now lack the energy to write about them.  I’m going to see how things play out the next couple of weeks, and post when I have the willpower.

Like everyone else, I hate Whole Foods, I had a mixed experience with them this week.  They were completely out of things like black beans, and in house soy (the only kind that comes in recyclable containers).  I went to the kiosk and told the woman behind the counter, she was very apologetic and told me there were major changes going on in the grocery department, but was otherwise ineffective.  I made it clear that I was thinking about no longer doing the bulk of my shopping there, and I was told to try again later.

Instead, I am probably going to place a bunch of bulk orders with my small really cool natural food store.  I think I am going to give up on recyclable soy milk containers, and kill the environment with my waste until I learn how to make my own soy.

Anyways, I want to order canned goods, that often contain refined sugar, the ones I order obviously wouldn’t.  I’d get a case of canned corn, and petite diced tomatoes.  Along with a couple pounds of raw sugar, bulgar wheat, quinoa, rice noodles, barley, a case of pure lemon juice, and pure lime juice.  I might also consider getting a new freezer for the basement and bulk ordering some Amy’s vegan meals.   Oh and several cases of Vitasoy.

I have another local resource for a lot of vegan cosmetics and body products, and everything else I should be able to get at my local grocer, except lemon grass, damn lemon grass!

However, my bathroom is supposed to get ripped to hell starting this coming Tuesday, to become beautiful within the next several weeks, so this may need to be a piecemeal thing.  I also have no idea how much of this she would be willing to order for me at once.  However I think it’s a grand idea.  Avoid Whole Foods, and patronize some local businesses.

I work in the healthcare field, one of the fringe benefits is drug luncheons where I get a nice free meal, and get to spend some quality time with coworkers.  I always of course ignore the lecture.  Most of these luncheons are small buffets that are brought to the workplace, usually these are not inclusive of my veganess.  However, the one I went to this week was at a restaurant and we could order whatever we wanted.  It was still risky that I would find something to eat, but I was in the mood for adventure and went anyways.

It was a quaint little Inn, and I was in luck a grilled vegetable sandwich, on bread that was likely to NOT contain honey was on the menu.  I ordered it with no cheese, and I made sure the waitress repeated it after me.  BUT when the meal came out, alas, there was melted cheese in it.  The waitress did what she should have done and took it back without a fuss, and was very apologetic.

My coworkers were also awesome about it.  I could have been treated like a complete freak, and instead they treated it like a standard affair.  Eating out still makes me paranoid though, and I spent most of the afternoon questioning the possible ingredients in my food.   When I eat food out it is rarely satisfying, and always has the potential to not actually be vegan.  I know that this is an aspect of my “newness” eventually I will be braver when placing orders, and have more confidence in picking out the elements that are not vegan.

I love my doctor, the shame of it is, that everyone else loves him too, so it takes forever to see him.  I had to schedule my appointment a month in advance, and when I got to his office there was an hour and a half wait.  He notoriously runs behind because he likes to spend time with patients and provide good care.

He came into the office and asked what was new?  I told him a lot was new.  I was upfront about going vegan, and he was actually a little confused about a vegan was.  Though he didn’t mind when I told him I don’t eat any animal products.  He agreed with me that we should check my absorption of my major vitamins to make sure I’m getting what I need.

He also said he thought whatever I was doing was working for me, and was amazed that I hadn’t really lost any weight since my last visit, in reality I did I gained 7lbs and lost 7lbs, but that I looked healthier and slimmer than my last visit.  The only complaint I had was night time allergies.

This was a happy appointment because in the past I have struggled with migraines, and flareups of some other medical conditions I have.  This was the first time in a year or so that things were going well.

It all started with an incident on Sunday involving a burrito and sour cream, and continues into this morning with stinging hands.  I was tired and lazy, and thus not careful when cutting up my hot peppers.   Also yesterday I had to run to the grocery store on my way to work because I didn’t have any food prepared for lunch and dinner (I work 12 hours on Mondays).  My kitchen is a mess, I am incredibly behind on dishes, and nearly out of food, and don’t know when I’m going to get a chance to go shopping.

I’ve read experiences of people going vegan where it all sounds like that, and there is no joy.  I’ve had a lousy couple of days when it comes to food, however, it has not gotten me down.  Probably because I made awesome vegan stroganoff over the weekend, and had a kick ass week full of recipes last week.

I’ve learned throughout this whole experience that so much of it requires good perspective and planning.  I’m beginning to think that the ten years I spent working towards being successfully vegan were worthwhile.  Because in those ten years I learned the basics of cooking, about nutrition, about alternative food stuffs.  It got to the point where I knew so much about being vegan that it would have been ridiculous for me to continue to not be one.

It’s hard then, for me to advise people who are having trouble, because I went vegan from a different place in life than most.  I picked a natural stopping place for dairy, so I don’t crave that much, I knew many of rights and wrongs of preparing food.  I know what to tell these new vegans, in terms of how to make shopping easier, how to make cooking easier, but the emotion level of it?  I simply don’t understand, and I wish I did.  All I’ve got to say to them is, hang in there, and learn as much as you can in the meantime.

Today we decided to head over to my parents’ house. Along the way I knew I would be hungry so we stopped by David’s Natural Market to pick up some bulgar and some lunch. It was kind of a sad homecoming, I used to work there, and when I did the cafe was nearly completely vegan. I had a rough time finding something I could eat there and had to order my food without bread because the only options were whole wheat, which usually contain honey. However, their soups were vegan, and were very delicious. David’s continues to have a very large selection of foodstuffs, though the staff these days don’t seem to be as knowledgeable, though the management is largely the same.

I got a new winter coat today, picture to come, it isn’t anything special, and comes from JC Penney’s. So the labor practices are somewhat questionable. The coat is mostly synthetic (though I prefer cotton), and is very nice looking but practical. It also has a removable lining, and is of course, vegan. It was on sale for $80, which is pretty good for a new versatile, completely machine washable winter coat. Since I lack photos, here is one. I know I could do better, but this was what was feasible this time around. I’ve been searching the union and fair trade companies on the internet and haven’t found anything comparable to this.

Then we went and got new glasses, that actually match our plates, and also I got some bar mops for the kitchen, several different kinds. I am hoping to phase out paper towels completely, but I know that will take awhile. I will soon also be making my own laundry detergent using Dr Bronner’s, Borax, and washing soda (equal parts). I’ve already switched to using citrus cleaner in the kitchen, and it has been working really well. Not only are these products vegan, and not tested on animals, they are also better for the environment which I think is important as well. I say it in nearly every post so I will stop the spiel there.

When we got home I hit the kitchen and started making Seitan and Portabello Stroganoff, from a recipe I got from Vegan with a Vengeance. It came out 110% delicious. Today was also the day we decided to do Thanksgiving at my parent’s house and I will be making a ton of vegan dishes to contribute to the meal. Over the past few weeks I have become so confident in my cooking abilities. I am now tackling more complex recipes, and feeling comfortable making some adjustments. Considering that I started this process barely able to cook at all, I think I am living proof that cooking is a learned skill just like everything else. I don’t think I will ever be a cooking genius, but in a short period of time I feel like I’ve become confident.