We Need Vegan No Oil Snacks

I am not going to reference vegan and PBWFO together any longer in my posts.  Just “vegan”.  But please consider thinking about becoming vegan as becoming “plant based whole foods oriented”.  For me it is much easier to wrap my brain around that than thinking “I am becoming a vegan”.  Also, I have found the reactions from my friends are WAY less severe and include FAR less laugher when I say I am becoming plant based whole foods oriented in lieu of saying “I am becoming a vegan”.  Just a thought.  Whatever works right?

Today was a very interested shopping episode at Trader Joe’s www.traderjoes.com.  Our goals were to find a replacement for potato chips and for soda.  I was trying to find some low sugar juices as my husband is diabetic.  Behind me I hear oodles of rattling paper.  I turn around and my husband and mom are ravaging through all the snack bags trying to find one that doesn’t have some kind of oil as an ingredient.  You would think they never had a snack in their lives.  It was so funny.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time, energy or patience to read EVERY LABEL ON THE SNACK shelf.

The two of them ganged up on me and bought low oil content snacks…oh my goodness where they good, but were they vegan without oil…no…cheaters!  So we need help replacing potato chips, any ideas?

TODAY WE REPLACED THE FOLLOWING NON-VEGAN ITEMS WITH VEGAN:

  • Diet Soda (this was a tuff one for me as I drink TONS of diet soda) replaced with;
    • Fruit Juice and Seltzer Water, it’s not bad.  More calories than diet soda due to the calories in the fruit juice, but I only use about ÂĽ cup juice to 8oz of seltzer water.
  • Honey and Sugar replaced with;
    • Agave Nectar, haven’t tried this yet. 

      Vegan Food Agave Nector Good Replacement for Honey and Sweetener

  • Meat as a main entrĂ©e for dinner replaced with;
    • Polenta it is boiled cornmeal and we fried it in a non-stick pan.  It was good!
    • Black Beans and Rice with onions, garlic and salsa.  Okay, we cheated, they were from a can and we rinsed the beans.  Cooking our own beans will come soon.

January 21, 2011 · Dalaine · One Comment
Posted in: Becoming Vegan

Becoming Vegan Slowly Replace Bread & Milk

Becoming vegan or as I like to think of it, becoming Plant Based Whole Foods Oriented, (PBWFO), sounds so much better than “Vegan”, not sure why, but being a psychology major, I know words and self talk are very important. 

Anyway, on becoming vegan/PBWFO my family has decided to do it…S—L—O—W—L—Y.  Since we can’t afford to throw all the non-vegan/PBWFO items out, when we run out of something, we’ll replace it with vegan/PBWFO things. 

FYI:  We purchased the book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease:  The Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition-Based Cure by Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, one of the doctors in the movie, Forks Over Knives, www.forksoverknives.com.  In his book it is recommended to have no oil.  Therefore, we are striving to become vegan/PBWFO without oil.

It has been a challenge to find things without oil, even extra virgin olive oil, EVOO, is a no no.  You’re probably wondering why his book doesn’t include EVOO, I thought the same thing.  Wait a minute, I switched to EVOO years ago when it was found to be healthy for you and way better for you than vegetable oil.  What’s up with that?  I am afraid it is more duping from the government, media, corporations and popular opinion.  EVOO is covered in my blog page, Believe it or Not.

TODAY WE REPLACED THE FOLLOWING NON-VEGAN ITEMS WITH VEGAN:

  • Whole wheat bread that contained oil replaced with;
    • Exekiel 4:9 Sesame Bread – no oil and complete protein!    

      Vegan Food Exekiel 4:9 Bread Contains No Oil

  • Fat Free Milk replaced with;
    • Trader Joe’s Rice Drink – Non-dairy Beverage – has 1.5g of monounsaturated fat.  We may need to find a replacement for this, not sure, will research and include findings on my blog page, Discoveries. 

      Vegan Food Rice Drink Replacement for Dairy Milk

This trip to the grocery store took about 1-1/2 hours.  All we bought was two items, fresh fruit and veggies.  Brother, gotta get better at shopping.  This is crazy.  At least next time we won’t have to search for vegan no oil bread!

January 17, 2011 · Dalaine · No Comments
Posted in: Becoming Vegan

Making My First Vegan Meal

This was way too much fun, and if you knew me, you’d know that me having fun cooking is an oxymoron!  It was an easy recipe until I came to “mincing” the jalepenos including the seeds.  Rinsing cans of beans and corn was a no brainer, but what does “mincing” even mean?   I didn’t know I was “mincing” in a wrong way until I shared the recipe with some friends and told them what I did to “mince”.  I have very supportive friends, they all belly laughed and I think some even rolled on the floor! :lol:   What’s so funny, the meal was a huge success!

Hey, I know, I own a garlic press and I think that’s how I “mince” garlic, so it must be good to “mince”  jalepenos too!  So I cut up those critters and shoved them into the garlic press.  Tons of  jalepeno juice came out with some jalepeno stuff.  I thought this worked great, but it took the entire jalepeno to make 1 tablespoon.  I’m glad jalepenos aren’t expensive.

This recipe was suppose to make very hot Vegan Texas Chili.  I don’t like very hot things, and I loved this.  In fact, when I took it to my very first NWVeg potluck, ( www.nwveg.org ) it was gobbled up.  I was very proud.  However, I have learned that “mincing” a jalepeno through a garlic press is not conducive to a hot meal.  So for those of you reading this, if you want the flavor of a jalepeno without the heat, put it through a garlic press!  I have since learned that “mincing” means cut up very finely.  Who knew?  I guess my next stop will be a cooking show…..stay tuned for what NOT to do in the kitchen but have fun doing it!

January 16, 2011 · Dalaine · One Comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,  Â· Posted in: Vegan Recipes