Food From The Garden

I have been trying to do away with refined wheat products in favor of whole wheat and gluten free options. The one thing that makes that difficult is that I come from a family of pasta lovers and growing up, it was (and remains) a staple in our house. We will never be caught without a shelf in the pantry devoted to pasta and various sauces. Knowing that I was not ready to give up my pasta in taking up this mission, I decided to try various whole wheat and gluten free pastas and see which one I like. My first one is quinoa based because I love quinoa in my salads so I thought it would be fun to try it in pasta form. This one is the Organic Brown Rice and Quinoa Penne from LiveGfree, voted best new product by consumers in 2017. My family is very supportive of me in my endeavors to be a successful vegan (my mom actually helped me start this blog!) so I decided to sometimes have some family members try some of the things I've been eating and share their thoughts (and mine) on the blog...

If there's anything most of us don't like doing on a Monday morning, it's having to run errands before they get to work for the day. And gettibg stuck in traffic. I had to run a couple errands this morning and I got stuck in traffic but there are a couple things that make it not so bad. 1. A sunny day. My dog wanted a morning walk she doesn't normally get. She didn't want out. She wanted a walk. There's nothing she loves more than when I walk her on a sunny day. So I decided that treating her to a brief morning walk wouldn't be spoiling her. And it's good for me too. I love bonding with my dog. 2. People's random acts of kindness. When you get stuck in traffic first thing in the morning, instead of focusing on the many rules of the road that people break because you know, road rage, try focusing on when someone does something good. What about that person tailgating you on the entrance ramp and you don't know if they're going to let you merg...

How often do you want an easy dessert? Or a late night snack and you think that's a perfect excuse to have some junk food? Look no further than Oreos. As a vegan, many baked goods on the market are things I can't have. If I want cookies, I usually have to make them myself. I don't regularly get Oreos as I don't want to be tempted to indulge in them nonstop but when on occasion a friend gives me a few, I don't turn them down. I allow myself an occasional treat of them because they're vegan and I don't have to make them. As much as I enjoy cooking and being responsible for making my own food, I also like knowing that there are products out there that are easy to come by made with the convenience of people like me in mind. Health reasons may be my primary motivation for being vegan in the first place but I firmly believe an occasional treat is 100% okay. I draw the line at occasional treats that aren't vegan. I don't eat non vegan food at all but I'...

Contrary to what the title may make one think, this post has nothing to do with sports. I have no intention of becoming a professional athlete and I'm just not into professional sports. You can call me crazy but it's true. A recent post from @earthyandy on Instagram inspired this. She encouraged instagrammers to post to Instagram using the hashtag #eatlikeapro and 1 euro will be donated to UNICEF to end childhood obesity for every post with that hashtag. So I decided to post about what eating like a pro means to me. Eating like a pro does not mean you can't have an occasional treat. Who doesn't need and crave an occasional treat? Sometimes you just have bad days and all you want is chocolate to make it better. A healthy diet and lifestyle does not mean you can't have that. Eating like a pro to me means that you find foods you enjoy eating and letting yourself enjoy eating them while still trying to educate yourself on healthy eating habits and being willing to step...