The Vegan Apprentice is Pregnant!

As I sit here typing I can feel my unborn son wriggling and kicking.  It is an amazing feeling.  I am 27 weeks pregnant.  Just 13 weeks to go.  Does that at least partly excuse my absence from the blog world recently?  I thought that I would post about the my exciting news months ago but somehow the last few months have just flown by.

I don't usually post photos of myself but as this post is a special one I thought I could make an exception.  This is me at 27 weeks pregnant at my cousin's wedding on the weekend.  I am feeling good, healthy and excited and about becoming a mother.

Vegan and pregnancy go together very well I am finding.  Lots (actually most) of the foods on the banned-due-to-listeria-risk list are non-vegan and I really have not changed my diet much at all.  Well, except I ate much less in weeks 7-14 and a little bit more since then. 

So what changes have I made?  I am taking iron and vitamin D supplements more regularly.  I stopped taking Udo's oil in first trimester (flaxseed has a small association with increased rate of miscarriage).  I started taking it again in second trimester to make sure I am getting that bit extra omega.  I changed from regular Udo's Oil 3:6:9 to the one with the microalgae DHA added.  I have only been taking this about twice a week because unfortunately I have had yucky reflux and although I don't mind the taste of the Udo's oil on the way down I don't like it one bit when it tries to come back up. (TMI?)

I must confess I have not been 100% vegan during the pregnancy.  I have still eaten Vegetarian when out, particularly in situations where there is no Vegan option.  And I have had a few things with a little dairy in them at home on a couple of occasions.  But I would say I have been 99% vegan and I am not going to feel guilty about the 1%.  I think that for me this journey to veganism is about being kind to the planet, animals and myself, doing my best and not sweating the small stuff.  I think that right taking care of myself and the baby is more important than being a fundamentalist of any stripe.

Some catch up posts on what I have been cooking and some vegan pregnancy book reviews to come.

"Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism" by Dr. Melanie Joy

I just listened to this amazing talk on YouTube: "Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism." by Dr Melanie Joy. It is a little longer than the usual YouTube clip (it's a whole hour) but it is well worth taking the time to watch. 
It is so good I found myself furiously taking notes.  Then I thought "Why don't I just buy myself a copy of Joy's book?" and save myself the trouble of trying to get it all down.

I highly recommend that you make some time to watch this fantastic lecture.

It left me feeling glad that I have already made a big move towards being vegan and fueled my determination to reach my 100% vegan goal.  I particularly related to Joy's description of the denial that it takes to continue consuming animal products. 

A few weeks ago I was chatting with some friends over dinner (most of who are vegetarian/vegan) about our reasons for making the change in our approach to eating.  My initial state reason for becoming a vegetarian was for environmental reasons.  However, once I had made that decision I paid more attention to the animal welfare issues.  I can see that previously I was suppressing any awareness of the animal welfare issues because I did not want to be confronted with the violence inherent in my diet.  Once teh switch was made the flood gates opened and could see very clearly the horrendous implications of meat eating. 

So why did it take me so long to take that first step towards veganism?  Again - more denial and suppression of any thoughts contrary to my desire to consume dairy and eggs.   It has been very interesting to see this veil lifted. 

And now I am wondering what other areas of my life have I built a wall of blindness around?  Peter Singer's "The Life You Can Save" is still sitting unread on my shelf.  The last time I read a book by him was "The Ethics of What We Eat" and that sure had a life changing impact.  I think it is time to quit stalling and read the next book and perhaps embark on the next chapter of my life.

Living Graves by George Bernard Shaw

Living Graves

- By George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

We are the living graves of murdered beasts,
Slaughtered to satisfy our appetites.
We never pause to wonder at our feasts,
If animals, like men, can possibly have rights.
We pray on Sundays that we may have light,
To guide our footsteps on the path we tread.
We're sick of war, we do not want to fight -
The thought of it now fills our hearts with dread,
And yet - we gorge ourselves upon the dead.
 

Like carrion crows we live and feed on meat,
Regardless of the suffering and the pain
we cause by doing so, if thus we treat
defenceless animals for sport or gain,
how can we hope in this world to attain,
the PEACE we say we are so anxious for.
We pray for it o'er hecatombs of slain,
to God, while outraging the moral law,
thus cruelty begets its offspring - WAR. 

I don't think I need to add anything further to this post.

Happy First Anniversary

Has it really been a year already?
Actually it has been just over a year.  The anniversary on the 19th of April slipped by without me even realizing.  But I am still going to mark the occasion - complete with reminiscing, goal setting and celebrating!

Some highlights of the year:

(Not in any particular order)

1. Vegan MoFo Iron Chef Callenge - I loved creating new recipes and seeing how other vegan bloggers responded each week to the challenge.  The Bounty Slice I made was a big hit and so delicious.  I may never have made it without the Iron Chef Challenge to inspire me.

2. Finding out how easily my taste buds can adjust.  They went from saying "Yuck!" to soy milk in tea to now loving it and being disappointed if I ever drink tea with regular milk when visiting a friend's home.  I am now going to train my taste buds to like black tea so that if I am visiting and the host does not have a non-dairy milk available then I will just smile and take my tea black.

3. Finding that there are so many "accidentally" vegan products on supermarket shelves, including Oreos, Hob Nobs, Lindt 70% Dark Chocolate and many flavours of Corn Chips, Rice Crackers and Potato Chips.  This week I also discovered that Glucojel Jelly Beans (sold in Phamacies here in Australia) are vegan.  I don't recommend eating Jelly Beans on a regular basis but if you have a lolly craving these may just hit the spot.

4. Getting to know other bloggers - both vegans and the not-so-vegan.  I have loved connecting with people and sharing ideas.  I have received so much inspiration from reading about how other people confront the challenges in their lives and how they respond to their convictions - whether it is to live more sustainably, frugally or authentically.  And of course I have loved the recipes! 

5. Sharing vegan cooking.  I especially love baking something yummy and not telling people that it is vegan until after they are hooked.  Vegan "sausage" rolls and vegan chocolate cupcakes with swirling chocolate icing have been big hits with omnivorous friends, family and co-workers.


So, one year on, am I a Vegan, or still a Vegan Apprentice?  Unfortunately I have to say that I am still just an apprentice.  I am not quite ready to graduate and accept my Vegan badge of honor.  But I am ready to take the next step.

*** Drum roll ***

I commit to being 100% Vegan at home!  I have been 99% vegan at home for a while now, but have balked at finally filling in that dotted line.  Now I think it is time to do so!

Phew, that wasn't so hard was it?
(I am sure there are many people who would think "What's so hard about it.  Why hasn't she already made this commitment?".  I guess they won't be lining up to join my cheer squad.)

Vegan when out and about?  Well that is another story.  I am not quite ready to accept the restrictions and social implications of going 100% vegan 100% of the time.  Please don't hate me Vegan community - I am sure I will get there eventually.  And every step towards Veganism is a step in the right direction, right?

My way of tackling Veganism is to see it as something I am learning, just like an apprenticeship in any other area.  I know my approach is not perfect, and I am not perfect.  In someways I guess I am just another person who does not live up to their ethical convictions.  But I hope that my approach can help others who want to make the change but are not yet ready to dive in.  One step at a time, one challenge at a time, and refusing to feel guilty for trying.

Now, on to the celebrations!  Celebrating?  Yes celebrating.  An no self-respecting celebration would be seen without some kind of special celebratory food, right? 

I have been thinking about what to make for my 1st Vegan Apprentice Anniversary for the last couple of days.  I was thinking it would have to be something chocolatey but now I am leaning towards trying to make my first vegan cheesecake. Cheesecake has always been a favorite of mine but vegan + cheesecake, apart from the obvious misnomer, just don't seem to go together naturally.  But if I am going to stick with this 100% vegan at home I am going to need a good vegan cheesecake recipe to indulge myself from time to time.

So, go ahead and inundate me with your vegan cheesecake recipes!

What have I been up to?

I set a challenge for myself this year to try one new vegan recipe per week.  I have been trying a few new recipes but not really keeping up with the one a week, and I certainly haven't kept up with blogging the recipes I have tried.

The recipe-per-week challenge stagnated a bit when dear husband decided he wanted to lose some weight.  I decided to go along for the ride and over the last 7 weeks I have finally lost that 5kg I have been wanting to lose for a long time! It really wasn't that hard which makes me wonder why I didn't do it years ago. Though I guess the thing that made it easier this time was doing it with dear husband as our pooled motivation seemed to have a more than additive effect and was enough to keep us both going strong. 

So for the last 7 weeks we kept to a very healthy and fairly low calorie diet.  Typically it went some thing like this:

Breakfast: 3 Wheat Bix with low fat soy milk, or two wheat bix and half a banana
Lunch: Hummus and mounds of raw veggie
Afternoon snack: A handful of nuts eg almonds, brazil nuts, cashews
Dinner: Stir fry with tofu/tempeh, or a mountainous salad with 2 veggie sausages, or a big bowl of legume+veggie soup
Supper: Mini fruit platters (yes I know that all the conventional weight loss wisdom says not to eat carbs like this late at night but that is when my sweet tooth attacks and demands to be fed)
Extras during the day if hungry: low fat soy milk, or more nuts, or fruit
Exercise most days: alternating cycling, light weights, jogging, and what we call "body resistance" which includes things like sit-ups and squats

Not much experimenting with new recipes other than hummus and a few variations on the soup, so I haven't had much of interest to blog about by the way of new recipes.

I just happened to be reading Skinny Bitch around the middle of this 7 weeks.  It was recommended to me by fostermummy in a comment on a previous blog post.  I found it an interesting read (review to come on Mandy Reading Room).  As much as I am very happy to promote a vegan diet as a fantastic tool in a healthy lifestyle, I am not sure that promoting it as a weight loss tool is really a good idea.  It is very important on any low calorie diet to make sure that all your nutritional bases are covered.  I am concerned that if people switched to a vegan diet primarily for the purpose of losing weight they may not meet all their nutritional requirements.  This may result in them feeling lethargic, losing muscle mass as well as fat, and at the extremes may even result in anaemia or other health problems. 

Unfortunately people who suffer side effects of a "bad" vegan diet sometimes become one of those people who proclaim that "vegan diet are no good for you".   I wish that all the omnivores who suffer side effects of their "bad" meat eating diet would go around proclaiming that eating meat is bad for you - but perhaps the noise of this would be enough to cause tectonic plates to move so maybe I better not wish for that.

Also, it is blatantly obvious that switching to a vegan diet certainly does not guarantee that you will lose weight.  I am sure I am not the first person who actually gained a little weight in the excitement of trying lots of lovely new vegan recipes like Bounty Slice, Ginger Kisses and Midnight Cookies.

That's not to say that cutting out meat and eggs and dairy can't help you lose weight.  It can.  I just feel uneasy about a vegan diet being promoted as the means to the ends of losing weight.  But I guess that if the result is more people switching to a diet that is better for our planet and results in less animal abuse - surely that is a good thing.

I think I need to think about this a bit more!

A Very Vegetarian Christmas.

It has been over 2 months since my last confession blog.  I am feeling like a very sheepish vegan apprentice.   The time pressures of study, moving house, and all those other tasks that life throws at you gave me an excuse to turn to convenience and take away food - which was all to often non-vegan.  And the festivities of dear husband's birthday, Christmas and New Years gave me a sense of licentiousness that has seen me eating vegetarian treats a plenty.

Becoming a vegetarian was easy.  I decided.  I changed my eating habits.  I have never looked back.  I have never even felt like looking back.

Becoming a vegan has been harder.  It has been a much bigger challenge for me.  But that doesn't mean that I am giving up.  No sir.  Not me.  Excuses and festive licence are now behind me and this Vegan Apprentice is back in training.  Let the vegan trumpets sound!

I am still working on my resolutions for this year, and it will be another week or so before I have crystalised my plans and goals for this year.  But one has already been decided on and I am about to declare it to the world (or at least that teensy part of it that is listening).

Resolution: Be a better vegan apprentice.

Goal: Try one new vegan recipe per week.

Ok so I might be a little behind because it is the 8th of January and I haven't tried a new one yet. But I am not going to let that little fact upset me.  I am not even going to be making a new vegan recipe today.  Dear husband put in a special request for Chickpea, Ginger and Peanut Curry so I made that today.  Yum, yum.  We really love this one.

So trying my first new vegan recipe for 2012 will happen tomorrow.  I have already chosen the recipe, bought the ingredients and gotten all excited about it. 

Many thanks to a dear friend who has encouraged me and is joining me in this venture.  (Love you Sarah!)  She has already tried out a new recipe from the PPK website and enjoyed it.  I will be trying it very soon too and will let you know how it goes. 

I am very interested in hearing from other vegans and would-be-vegans about what has helped you to make the transition.  And if you have any tried-and-tested vegan recipes that are on regular rotation at your house - please share.  Help a vegan apprentice out.

Happy New Year!  I have high hopes for 2012 and I hope you do too.

Vegan Solidarity

I am enjoying checking out lots of vegan blogs that are taking part in Vegan MoFo.  I open the blogroll on veganmofo.com and then randomly click on a bunch of blogs with interesting sounding names.  I have come across all sorts of interesting people and yummy recipes.

In day to day life it is easy to feel like an odd ball for your diet choices.  So it is really nice to be reminded that you are not alone.  There are so many vegans out there.  From many walks of life and with many different motivations for choosing a vegan diet and lifestyle.  It is very encouraging to a vegan apprentice to encounter all these wonderful vegans and, of course, their mouth watering recipes.

I am also very grateful to have lovely friends who are vegetarian and are very vegan friendly.  And who have shown an interest in my apprenticeship, loaned me vegan cookbooks and encouraged me in blogging about it.  Thanks!

Glitters123.com

That's me on the swing.  See how happy I am?

And I am also very grateful for dear husband.  He lead the way to vegetarianism many years ago.  And now he is being so supportive of my vegan apprenticeship.  He has applauded all my efforts and encouraged me to stick with it and keep blogging.  And he helps me with technical computer stuff when I get stuck.

Glitters123.com 

Yes that's me too, in my rainbow outfit.  So photogenic.

Sure I get some good natured teasing at family get-togethers (that is what brothers are for isn't it?).  But overall family, friends and work colleagues have shown only the occasional eyebrow raise and have for the most part been supportive.  In return I am trying not to be a militant vegan and respect others food choices.  But that doesn't mean I can't make yummy things to share to show that being vegan is not all about eating rabbit food!

No that's not me.  It is a winking lego head.

Vegan Envy

Moving further along the food spectrum towards Veganism has been a pretty smooth ride.  With all sorts of vegan "milks" in the supermarket and quite a few vegan convenience foods available it has been roughly 10 times easier than I thought it would be!

A friend sent me this link to a recipe for Pumpkin Muffins on the PETA website.  They look and sound scrummy, but as I scanned the list of ingredients I found it included vegan cream cheese. 

Well vegan cream cheese may be lining the streets in New York and San Fransisco, but good luck finding it within a 10km radius of my home!  Now I know that I can make these muffins and improvise on the topping and they will still be delicious.  But it is times like this that I feel a little vegan envy.

I know I should be grateful for the stacks of vegan convenience foods that are available in most shops now.  In fact, really I should just be more than grateful for 3 square meals a day.  But sometimes, like when I see a recipe for Vegan 4 cheeses pizza, I feel a little envious of the big city vegans who have such a great range of vegan products available and many more options to eat out.

At times like these I remind myself to focus on the yummy food I can eat rather than feeling envious of the animal-ridden food that I am trying to avoid.  Rather than thinking "boo hoo, no pizza or cream cakes today",  I try to think "hooray, cherry ripe cookies and vegan sausage rolls."

I admit it doesn't always work, and I still occasionally buy something from the evil, tempting, corrupting bakery down the street.  (Note to self: do NOT go past the bakery when you are pre-menstrual!)  But most of the time it does work and I very content with my (mostly) vegan diet.

I do feel very glad that I am veganizing at a time when so many vegan options are available.  It must have been much harder work, and so much more restrictive, for people taking this journey 20 years ago.  Now I don't even have to miss out on chocolate biscuits!

And of course it is going to get even easier.  As more people make the move towards a vegan diet there will be more demand for vegan products including vegan choices in restaurants, and even, gasp, more vegan restaurants!

This rambling post has reminded me that I haven't shared my recipes for vegan sausage rolls yet.  RecipeS is correct because I have more than one version already, and I have a few more variations in mind.  You can hardly go wrong when you wrap just about any tasty filling in puff pastry.  

Vegan MoFo

When I hear the term MoFo the first thing that comes to mind is a rather less PC term than Month of Food.  But that is what it stands for in the case of Vegan MoFo.

The concept was started over at The Post Punk Kitchen.  Nothing surprising here as lots of good things start over at PPK such as chocolate cupcakes and other mouthwatering treats.

"VeganMoFo was originally created on the Post Punk Kitchen, as an homage to NaNoWriMo. Because we do want to write novels, but sometimes cooking gets in the way. So why not combine them!"

Now that is an idea that I can get behind (although I am not letting my self off the hook re: NaNoWriMo).

The idea is to write at least 20 blogs (one each weekday - you have grace on the weekends) in October that somehow relate to veganism.  After September's abysmal 87% (just kidding) I did not quite feel ready to commit to another month of blogging pressure.  So I have not officially signed up for Vegan MoFo but I don't plan on missing out on the fun entirely! 

For a list of the blogs of the intrepid souls who have signed up look here:  The definitive list of all MoFo-ers in 2011.   I am certain you will find some very interesting reading and inspiration.  (What do you think I have spent half my afternoon doing?)

My plan for October is to catch you up on some of the highs and lows, triumphs and challenges, of my vegan apprenticeship.  Yes I know that I said I was going to write more experience posts at the beginning of September and then I didn't (chalk that up as another fail).  But this time I really mean it. 

As a sneak peak I can tell you that this vegan thing is mostly easier than it looks.  (Phew!)   But there have been some challenges and I am still a long way from being 100% animal product free. 

Over the next month I aim to update you about how my vegan quest has been received by friends, family and cafe staff, the easy changes to make, the accidental (and intentional) stuff ups, the foods I have missed and the quagmires of trying to avoid vegan self-righteous fundamentalism.

And somewhere along the way I will make a decision for a challenge bigger than my vegan apprenticeship - whether to sign up for NaNoWriMo this year, or use the move to a new house in November as my excuse for putting it off for another year.

Easier than it looks!

Thanks MaliceInWickedland for the photo.

Progress report on my vegan apprenticeship:

✓ Taste buds adjusted to soy milk in tea.

✓ Taste buds adjusted to soy milk on cereal.

✓ Trying new vegan recipes and loving the results.

✓ Finding alternatives to replace old non-vegan grocery items.

✓ Discovering that Oreos are vegan :)

So far my vegan apprenticeship is proving much easier 

than I thought it would.

I used to think that it would be very hard to be vegan.  I thought that a vegan diet would be boring and difficult to maintain.  But I am happy to report that I was wrong!  I also thought that vegans would be skinny - how could they possibly be fat?  Seems I was wrong about that too - there are plenty of options for vegan pig outs.

So what is the next step for this for this vegan apprentice?  I am still sticking to my strict vegan day once a week on Mondays.  And I am also finding that I am naturally making vegan choices on other days too.

Should I just focus on stretching to 2 then 3 strict vegan days etc?  I think the tricky thing is going to be sticking to the plan when not at home.  So many restaurants/cafes etc have a good range of vegetarian choices, but vegan - not so much.  And I can't really expect all my friends and family to keep soy milk on hand just in case I pop in for a cuppa.

Perhaps it will be easier to focus on making all my meals at home vegan first.  That should not be too hard.  I can manage without eggs in meals and baking at home.  But there are plenty of useable items in my fridge and pantry that "contain milk products".  Wasting them would not be environmentally friendly!  So I will use up what is already in the fridge and pantry, but have started reading all the labels carefully when I am shopping.  Reading labels is a pretty scary enterprise.  I had not realized how many basic foods have "flavors" and "colorings" added.  Hmmmm!  So I am trying to avoid artificial nasties like that too.   Admittedly Oreos have the ubiquitous "flavor" added.  But I have to have some vices.

So here goes:  My next goal is to be totally vegan at home.   I am aiming to tick this box by the end of June.

Dinner tonight - barley, split pea and vegetable soup, with a good splash of Chardonnay.  Smells delicious!  Just perfect for a cold, rainy day.

I will have mine with Soy Milk thanks!

Hooray!  It is official.  I now like my tea better with Soy milk than with cows milk.

I have been drinking tea with soy milk when at home for the last 3 weeks as part of my vegan apprenticeship.  My taste buds protested for only a couple of days, then became apathetic, and now are enthusiastic converts!

But I have still been drinking my tea with regular milk while away from home.  Today I am at uni and ordered myself a cup of tea.  I didn't even think about stipulating what kind of milk I wanted.  Now here I am sipping tea with cows milk and not really enjoying it.

Just goes to show how adaptable we are.  For anyone else out there who has ever thought of making a change in their diet, I would say "Give it a Go".   You just might surprise yourself!  Whether it is to reduce salt, or sugar, or to go dairy free, I am convinced that you will not only adjust but come to love your new and healthier diet. 

In other news my one day per week of strict veganism is going really well.  I have changed my vegan day to Monday as it suits better with other things I am doing.  Yesterday was a breeze!  I even tried vegan chocolate and really liked it.

My next challenge:  adjusting to soy milk with cereal.  So far I love it with porridge but haven't quite come to love it with cereal.  But I am sure it won't take long!

Day 1 of my Vegan Apprenticeship

Well first a disclaimer:  This was not my first day of eating only plant based food.  For a few months in 2009 my husband and I had one day a week of eating only fruit and veggies.  But the idea behind that was just to have a day each week of detoxing from consumerism and the processed foods it promotes.  It was different because I had no intention of trying to expand the weekly fruit/veg restriction to the rest of the week.  The current challenge is to investigate a Vegan diet, try new recipes and find out about Vegan nutrition with a view eventually eating almost exclusively a Vegan diet.*
 
The hardest thing about Day 1: 
Tea without milk!  This will take some getting used to.
I bought 3 kinds of soy milk and tried them all.  My verdict: the "So Good Lite" was the most palatable in tea.  I know that taste buds are adaptable so I am certain that if I stick with it eventually tea with soy milk will taste great to me, and tea with regular milk will taste blah.  Hmmm, may take a while!

So to make the transition easier and quicker I am going to stick with soy milk in my tea when practical (ie at home), even though I my plan is to only do one day of strict dairy-free per week at the moment.

The easiest thing about Day 1:
Enjoying scrumptious vegan Chewy Cherry Ripe Cookies.
One downside for me of transitioning to a Vegan diet is chocoholic tendencies.  But hooray!  This vegan chocolate-fix alternative was very satisfying.  I will post the recipe.

Biggest Disappointment on Day 1:
The hot cross buns I had bought (without checking the label) not only had milk but also shortening and "animal fat".  What they mean by animal fat I am not exactly sure but the name says enough.  So no hot cross buns for me this Good Friday.

Cool Find for Day 1:
Nuttelex brand of margarine alternatives.  I bought the "Olive" version, which, unlike the other brand of olive spread already in my fridge, does not have milk solids.   Pictured below is my dinner of hearty and delicious Vegan Corn Chowder and the dairy-alternatives that helped make it.

*I say "almost exclusively Vegan diet" because I have a lot of work to do on the nutritional and health aspects of a strict Vegan diet to see if it is a good long term option.  In Western society these key concerns of B12 and Iron are made easier by the "fortified" soy milks available, but I think that I philosophically feel more inclined to aim for a "natural" diet rather than one dependent on supermarket products.  However I have a lot more reading and thinking to do yet around these complex issues.  I am currently reading The Ethics of What We Eat" by Peter Singer and Jim Mason which I am finding really useful at this stage in my journey. 

The Apprenticeship Begins.

Today is the first day in my quest to change to a vegan diet.

I have been a vegetarian for nearly 5 years.  And honestly, changing to a vegetarian diet was so easy!  I have occasionally missed gelatine (oh marshmallows how I used to love your squishy sweetness).  But I really have not missed other products that animals have had to die to produce.

For quite some time now my conscience has been nudging me towards veganism.  But convenience and taste buds have been bitterly opposing.

Last night I watched the "Farm to Fridge"  - thanks to my meat-eating mum posting it on facebook.  And teary eyed and feeling terribly guilty about the cows who have suffered to feed my dairy addition, I decided it was time to make real commitment.  And so my vegan apprenticeship starts today!

Certainly I am against animal suffering.  But my main reason for wanting to go Vegan is environmental.  The dairy industry has an enormous ecological footprint.  More on that in future blogs.

So my challenge is to cut out dairy.   One day at a time.  And I do mean 1 day at a time because right now more than one day dairy free seems daunting.  I know - I am a wuss!

Step 1 - one dairy free day per week.  If you knew how much I loved my cups of white tea you would know how hard this is going to be for me.  No, soy milk is just not the same.

And I will start to try out new vegan recipes, both sweet and savory.  I will aim to try at least one new vegan recipe per week.  I plan to post recipes,  nutritional info and my veganification experiences here.  Posts about other issues I will continue to post on my regular blog:  Mandy's Musings.

Well, now I am off to the supermarket to buy some soya milk.