Switching It Up

I hope everyone had a great Easter! We had lunch at my MIL's house to celebrate and I wanted to give her a thumbs up for the delicious meal. Between me (vegan), my husband (no pork) and my sister-in-law (pregnant), my MIL had a lot of dietary restrictions to work with. But, she came up with a very nice spread and we all went home with happy, full stomachs.


My Easter plate: Strawberry Spinach Salad, Carrot & Jicama Salad & a Quinoa/Couscous/Rice Medley

Speaking of husbands ... maybe some of you are wondering how to pull off a vegan eating plan (or just healthy eating) if your signifigant other is not following the same path. I have been very lucky ... my husband is really supportive of me & has never put up a fuss. He is not (yet) vegan ... but I see glimpses of it in his future. At the very least, my diet has dramtically improved his! He has lost about 6-7 lbs just from eating the new foods I am making & not changing a single other thing.

I started things off slowly by making all my first recipes as vegan desserts. They were amazing and my husband loved them. If you have a partner that is sort of iffy about what you're doing ... make desserts! I mean really ... who can argue with dessert? Announce that it's vegan after it's in his/her stomach! Sneaky ... but again ... who argues against delicious?

After that I just started incorporating vegan dishes into his diet. If he wants meat he will make some chicken (or beef) and pair that with the grain or vegetable dish I make. We also started adding a salad to most of our dinners, and instead of just paltry little bits of tomatoes & cucumbers we heaped on the salad additions ... lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, alfafa, olives, pumpkin seeds, red peppers, cilantro, garbanzo beans, avocado, etc, etc ... whatever you can find in your fridge. Just throw it on to make it really colorful and satisfying. Also, no more greasy, thick, dairy-filled salad dressings ... I am obsessed with Annie's Goddess Dressing and my husband will usually use an oil/balsalmic one. If you make your salad gorgeous & colorful you will not miss the dairy laden condiments. I swear!

I changed out small things in our fridge such as the butter, cream cheese, milk, sandwich cheese, deli meat ... and let him try things here & there. Instead of making him a full on vegan sandwich for his lunch I just switched from regular mayo to Vegenaise. Then another day I switched out the cheese to a vegan cheese ... small changes that he did not notice or thought the taste was comparable and/or even better! Now for his lunches he is asking for vegan sandwiches! That is not too shabby if you ask me! I was a bit gung-ho at first and kept spewing forth any & all info I could find about how good going vegan is for you ... but I think as time passes I see that I do not need to keep preaching ... that he can see for himself how great it is making me feel and the positive effects it is having on his own body ... and when he is ready he will go for it. If that never happens ... it's ok too ... at least the diet is healthier and that is a big step in the right direction!


The veggie sandwich I made for my husband's lunch today.

*Just as a small side note ... if someone in your family is still going to eat meat, please do your very best to make sure it is the best meat you can buy. No factory farmed meat. It will cost more, yes, but the benefits are more important.


My husband made me breakfast: Bagel w/ tofutti & red onion slices and a side of Smart Bacon. So sweet.


Quinoa Loaf I made for dinner.

Breakfast: Bagel w/ Tofutti & red onion slices, side of Smart Bacon
Snack: Pomelo
Dinner: Quinoa Loaf w/ Tofu Cream and small side salad
Dessert: Strawberry Kanten