An 18-year vegan

At 47, it's difficult to believe that it's been 18 years since that amazing day when I was 29 and decided to no longer participate in all of the cruelty that was happening in order for me to eat meat. I became a vegan.

I have never really looked backed.

No, it hasn't been difficult.

Difficult is being tortured, living in fear, being constantly abused and beaten and then eventually slaughtered just so someone can eat.

In the last 18 years veganism hasn't changed at all. It still is the simple notion that I can be healthy and live an amazing life without having to consume meat or animal by-products. If you are just learning about veganism, it means no meat and also no dairy, eggs, honey, etc. For me it also means that I do not wear animals, products like leather or even silk.

It is super easy.

My annual physical with my doc has  become a testament to what veganism, and paying attention to putting good things into my body, means to my health. Uber-low bad cholesterol. Great numbers when looking at protein, B12 and other things that tend to be a concern for people who are not vegan. My doc even tells me now that there is a huge difference between blood tests of someone who eats meat and someone who doesn't. As in those who do not eat meat get better results.

Kale? Yep. I love it. I also love dates, blueberries, Swiss chard, collard greens and dark cherries.

Miss cheese? No way. To me dairy cheese means cruelty. It means veal calves and inhumane actions that I just can't support.

Last year I did my first half-marathon. I'm not saying that if I ate meat I couldn't do it, I'm simply saying that as a 47 year old vegan I did it.

Vegan athletes are everywhere. The strongest dude in the world is vegan.

And so are elephants. Yep. And rhinos.

Thinking about veganism? Go for it. There are a ton of helpful links right here on our blog page to help you out. And we would help you too.

Thanks for reading!

VeganMofo Day 10: Eat your veggies!

 
Eat your veggies! is my post for Day 10 of Vegan Mofo, a month of vegan food blog posts. Since I am not a food blogger, most of my posts for Vegan Mofo will not be recipes, rather experiences I have with vegan food and sharing people, places and things that have brought me and continue to bring me amazing vegan food.

NOTE: I realize that a post titled "Eat your veggies!" won't get a lot of reads. I still wanted to write it.

I remember those frozen packages of peas and carrots growing up. We had them a lot. And frozen corn. There were years that we had a garden and I remember being excited about my mom serving veggies from the garden.

I don't think I was one of those kids who didn't like his veggies. As much as I love sweets, I love veggies even more these days.

Mike has this incredible garden in our back yard. This year he is growing kale, Swiss chard, butternut squash, potatoes, cheery tomatoes, zucchini and squash. I love all of them.

Kale, who have thought?! I love kale. I have written about it several times. Whether in a smoothie or as a side dish sauteed with garlic, I could eat kale every day. Same with peas, Swiss Chard, spinach and, wow, this could be a long list.

Then there are those veggies that I am just learning about, like the purple bell peppers below. Yes. Purple.

I had never seen purple bell peppers before. I have this same experience at new farmer's markets, especially when Mike and I travel. Being vegan means we will never, ever be bored with food. There are just too many options.

I digress. So eating my veggies is not just something I do because I like them. It's so important, as a vegan, to make sure my body gets everything I need. Nutritionists say anywhere from four to eight servings a day. That may not seem easy but it is.

And adding veggies to any meal, or using them as the main dish, is awesome! Every vegan cookbook has a dozen recipes for dishes like this, and each of them bring a variety of flavors, textures and colors to your plate.

So go for it. And if there is a veggie that you just love, more than any other veggie, let me know!

Thank you for reading!

VeganMofo Day 5: Daily doses of goodness

Welcome to Day 5 of Vegan Mofo, a month of vegan food blog posts. Since I am not a food blogger, most of my posts for Vegan Mofo will not be recipes, rather experiences I have with vegan food and sharing people, places and things that have brought me and continue to bring me amazing vegan food.

I have always felt like being vegan is super easy. It's also easy to forget that food sustains and that it is important to get all of the right foods in you to be healthy. As one who loves sweets, I have to pay particular attention to this.

I'm not a nutritionist. I'm a 47 year old guy who tries to be as healthy as possible. So I read a lot and pay attention to people who are food nutritionists, especially ones who are vegan. ( I have web links to a couple of them on the main page of our blog.)

Here are a few things that Mike and I always have in our fridge and cupboards. They might be for a snack, a full dinner or as a side.

Kale. Yes, we hear all about the goodness of kale and I sure am a believer. Whether it is from our garden, one of the local Farmer's Markets or a grocery store, we buy and consume a lot of kale. I like it in smoothies and lightly sauteed with salt, pepper and garlic. Mike makes kale chips which are delish.

Blueberries. Frozen blueberries to be exact. A constant in smoothies. In season we buy fresh ones for cereal and salads.

Swiss chard. Oh my. This is one of my all-time favorite veggies and another one of those that is uber good for you. In a salad or pasta, smoothie or with garlic as a side dish. Mmmmm.

Vegan yogurts. Vegan yogurt? Yes, there are plenty of choices out there. Great for snacks or for breakfast. I like any peach or dark cherry flavor.

Hummus. No surprise here. Store bought or home made. So good for you and so delish.

East Pastry cookie dough. Vegan cookie dough. In your fridge. Enough said.

This is a very short, just some of my favorites. For people newly vegan or checking veganism out, I hope this helps. For everyone else, I hope there is something here that you are curious about if not already eating a lot of.

Thank you for reading and for supporting my attempt at Vegan Mofo!

A new vegan world

Vegan chocolate croissants? Check.

Vegan chicken made from pea protein? Check.

More people knowing what "vegan" means? Check.

Vegan fashion shows? Check.

Last week Mike and I went to the Colorado Symphony. We took the new light rail downtown and decided to grab a bite to eat at BD's Mongolian Barbeque before the concert. We had eaten there before and knew that they had tofu and also that they totally took care of vegans. They even give the grill an extra clean if you let them know you're vegan.

What surprised us was that next to the tofu they had meats. Well, they had Gardein chicken and Gardein beef! I couldn't believe it. What a wonderful surprise, and we both really enjoyed being able to add some of both to our dinners.

The world is really changing for vegans. In my 17 years of being vegan there have been huge changes. And just in the last couple of years we have Daiya, Gardein and most recently Beyond Meat. Aside from the processed foods I would bet that the amount of people who know what kale is has grown significantly!

All of these changes make me happy. I love to eat, and new vegan eating adventures seem to be all over the place.

There are also more of us, and I'm sure that's why our selection just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I also think it's because many of us have stopped settling. We want better. Better food, better service, nicer restaurants. And when we keep asking for (and demanding for) better, sooner or later we get it.

I conclude this post with another amazing part of our vegan world: vegan ice cream. Yes, check that off too. Sweet Action in Denver. With flavors like salted butterscotch and peanut butter oreo, you definitely get the sense that we are living in a new vegan world.

Thanks for reading!

Cooking out of my comfort zone

Mike and I have a joke for what most of my meals were like before we got together. My typical dinner was a veggie burger or burrito with tater tots. It was just me so no need to go crazy. I also would make beans and rice once in a while, with instant rice of course. And on a crazy day I might add spinach or kale just to make it a little more nutritious. We refer to this as "a Dan meal". Whenever one of us doesn't want to cook and we really don't want to go out, Mike will say "let's have a Dan meal".

Over the years I have gotten a lot more comfortable in the kitchen. Mike is the main cook in the family but I certainly enjoy it. I also have found that I love to bake.

The other day I was on Twitter and someone I follow had posted a recipe for an African Peanut Stew. I had always wanted to try this type of stew and I had the whole day. What the heck, I thought. The recipe didn't seem too difficult, and we had most of the ingredients in the kitchen. The process to make the stew seemed lengthy, but not too complicated.

Off to the market I went to fetch the ingredients we did not have. When I got home I re-read the recipe and also read all of the comments so I would be as informed as possible while making this.

I seldom take a recipe off of a blog or recipe website and make it. I have thought about it many and usually give up before long.

Not this time. I had the ingredients, I brought my lap top into the kitchen, the dogs were settled, my Colombian Vallenato music was playing and I was good to go.

The recipe ended up being a lot easier to follow than I had first thought. Speaking with folks who have made a lot of recipes from blogs I realized that this is often the case.

Mike was on his way home and it was time to do the finishing touches. I did those and then set the table, lit a candle and I was good to go.

Dinner came out perfectly. It was delicious on many levels. So many flavors. A great comfort meal.

Lesson learned. Getting out of my comfort zone is easy, fun and delicious! Try it. Grab an online recipe and run with it. Let me know how it goes!

Here is the recipe if you would like to try it: http://www.choosingraw.com/vegan-yam-and-peanut-stew-with-kale/

Thank you for reading!

Cooking at home

We know several people who have decided to explore veganism in 2012 and we want to support them as much as possible. One of the ways we promote veganism is by feeding people amazing vegan food. Many people who are not vegan yet are completely surprised by how delish "our" food is.

One doesn't need to be a chef to create a simple, scrumptious vegan meal. There are many, many vegan recipes out there, and to find some amazing ones just click onto one of the links we have here and check out some of the bloggers we adore who blog about cooking and post recipes. You'll go from WOW to YUM in a matter of minutes as you create their recipes.

I am a great example of one who thought cooking vegan would be tough, but love it. Mike does most of the cooking so me warming up leftovers from his creations is easy. Yet I am pretty good in the kitchen too. One of my favorites is cooking up some fresh kale or swiss chard. It is this easy: heat up a little olive oil in a cast iron skillet. Chop up the kale or swiss chard and add it to the heating olive oil. Add a tiny bit of salt and a nice amount of cayenne pepper and boom, there it is. This is more of a side dish but if you add your favorite bean and maybe some beets it can become a full meal.

We use the cast iron skillet a lot. It's a great tool for cooking.

Another easy dish is a simple scrambled tofu. Most vegan cookbooks have a recipe and they are simple. I love making this on a Sunday morning, just add toast with my favorite mango pepper jam! Scrambled tofu is just firm or extra firm tofu crumbled up in your perfect cast iron skillet with a little olive oil, some onions (I usually saute the onions first, then add the tofu), nutritional yeast, tumeric, some kale or swiss chard, a tiny bit of salt, some pepper and you are on your way. When I want to be decadent I add Daiya cheese. Mmmmm.

Cooking at home is so much fun. I love cooking with Mike. It adds to a perfect date night. And each time you make something you can change the recipe a bit and begin creating a whole new dish.

Try it out and let us know what you made. And we'd love to hear about your favorite vegan recipe. Finally, don't forget to check out some of the vegan cooking blogs linked from our site.

Thank you for reading!

My favorite foods Part II

In trying to keep the last blog post from going out of control, I decided to break up our favorite foods into two posts. Remember, these are not in order, just foods that we love!

Daiya cheese. A staple in our fridge. I have heard some people don't like it at all but we love it. Great for a quick quesadilla, to add in a tofu scramble, and of course for Mike's famous vegan enchiladas.

Eat Pastry cookie dough. Vegan cookie dough in your fridge, to use whenever you wish. You can bake three cookies or up to 16 with one of the containers. Chocolate Chunk is our favorite. We love to bake by scratch yet we don't always have time. Plus, although we haven't met them yet, we love everything we have learned about the couple who started this company.

Brazil Nuts. New to us. We just started eating these this year. Delish and nutritious!

Brussels Sprouts. One of Mike's all-time favorite foods and I love them too! So many ways to cook them, I love them roasted.

Kale Chips. Expensive but an awesome snack. Mike loves the nacho Rhythm ones.

Apples. One of Mike's all-time favorite foods for sure. So many kinds to choose from, and here in Colorado we have so many kinds to choose from.

We hope all of you have the chance to try some of the foods and products we have listed in these two posts. We would also love to hear about your favorite vegan foods!

Thanks for reading!

My favorite foods! Part I

After writing about animal torture, Syrian protesters being massacred, and bigotry towards Muslims, I needed a break from heartbreaking stories.

I'm sure all of you realized a long time ago that our blog is not a food blog. There are plenty of vegan food blogs out there, some of our favorites linked from our site.

We love food. Being vegan means having so many more food opportunities, choices, flavors, textures than I could ever have imagined.

I love to eat. And I have a sweet tooth. So keep all of this in mind before you read my list. Some of my favorite food items are good for you, most are just good for making me grin and feel good inside. My list includes actual food as well as food items that have a brand.

So here we go!

My favorite meal is blackened tofu with mashed potatoes. This comes from the days when I used to eat at WaterCourse Foods. Now I make it at home and love it. Add any steamed or sauteed veggie to make it a bit healthier.

My husbands vegan cinnamon rolls. I blogged the recipe a few months ago if you're interested.

Kale. I know, it's all the rage. But I really love it, especially fresh from our garden. Chop up some kale, throw it in a cast iron skillet, add olive oil, cayenne pepper, and YUM!

Wayfare Foods "We can't say it's cheese" Hickory Cheddar cheese spread. This is a common snack in the Hanley-Nelson kitchen. This on crackers and Mmmmmmm!

Patty's Pantry Mango Jalapeno Pepper Jelly. I found this at Mike's high school's annual holiday market a few years ago and buy a bunch of it every year. All I can say is "oh my!". She sells it online so you can buy it from anywhere! I love it with a little bit (OK, more than a little bit) of Earth Balance on toast. Add it to vegan cream cheese for an awesome dip. Oh yeah!

Blueberries. This is a healthy favorite. On cereal or in a smoothie. The taste is great and your body will really appreciate it.

Mighty-O donuts from Whole Foods, the Vegan Old Fashioned kind. We don't live in Seattle so the next best thing is going to WF and picking up one or four donuts. Addictive is probably an understatement.

Amy's vegan mac-n-cheese. Need i say anything else?

I think this is a good start, enough to get you salivating. More to come in the next post!

Thanks for reading!