Still in Mexico!

Hey guys! I just wanted to let you all know that I´m still in Mexico and having a great time. I haven´t struggled in the least bit finding vegan food. The super markets are stocked with great plant-based food and everything here is so natural. I´ve been eating loads of ¨paletas¨aka popsicles and beans. There´s also other favorites like ¨gluten¨aka seitan made by my mom´s friend´s vegetarian husband. I´m still mad at myself for forgetting my camera when I sat down to eat it. But let me tell you that it was absolutely delicious. I´ve honestly never tasted a more yummy seitan dish than the one he prepared for me. So I´m thankful my mom knows a few vegheads here in Mexico.

Despite the fact that I´m surrounded by satisfying vegan food and family members that are more than willing to accomadate me, I still deal with the tempation of eating things that aren´t necessarily vegan. My sweet tooth is my downfall. I have to have dessert at least once a day and back home, eating a vegan dessert is not a problem. When I´m not at home, it is. It´s hard seeing my relatives enjoying their dairy based icecream and homemade cakes. Several times I´ve been tempted to compromise but then I remind myself of the many reasons why I´m a vegan. That and also listening to Colleen Patrick Goudreau´s Vegetarian Food For Thought podcast really helps me. However, I have fallen off the wagon a few times while here with my family. It wasn´t anything big, I just decided to have a piece of a donut but I still felt guilty. But I didn´t allow myself on dwell on it at all, because after all, I´m not a perfect vegan and I honestly don´t think any of us is. I just try to do the best I can to eliminate suffering and take care of my body.

Other than that, it´s really easy being vegan while in a different country. People just forget that you´re always going to find whole plant foods wherever you travel. You just have to think past the processed vegan food we´re so used to here in the U.S.

Alrighty then! I´ll be back with pictures and plenty to say next week.

Pizza My Way

I love pizza because it's so versatile. The topping possiblities are endless. People just need to look beyond the usual cheese and pepperoni and discover a whole array of healthful plant ingredients.

I made my own delicious personal pizza using a standard crust recipe. For the topping, I chose chickpeas, onion slivers, and kale. The red sauce you see is an organic marinara sauce we buy at Costco. My pizza came out great except for the fact that the kale turned crispy and the middle wasn't cooked that well. I also forgot to add that I sprinkled some nutritional yeast on top to act as the cheese (well, kinda). I'm a nooch lover now! When I first started out as a vegan, I wasn't sure how I felt about nutritional yeast, but now I'm hooked.

Right now I'm in Mexico enjoying my vacation (no, this isn't the mission trip yet!). I'll be sure to take lots of pictures so that I can share them with you guys later this week.

Crazy Rumors Vegan Lip Balm

Hey guys! I've decided to do a post on vegan cosmetics/body care because I just haven't done one before. Crazy Rumors is a company I discovered through listening to Colleen Patrick Goudreau's Vegetarian Food For Thought podcast (which I highly recommend by the way).

On their website, it says that their lipbalms are 100% natural and vegan. They're also made with organic ingredients. Prior to discovering these lip balms, I had been using Chap Stick but was not at all happy with it because of its chemical taste and ineffectiveness. Now that I've tried Crazy Rumours lip balm, I'll never go back to any other brand again. I honestly have never bought a lip product that worked as well as this one. For my first balm, I chose to go with the Chai Tea flavor from their Brew collection because Chai happens to be a favorite tea of mine. Not only does it smell divine, but it doesn't taste unpleasant at all. In fact, it is virtually tasteless (that's a good thing!).

What kind of vegan cosmetics/products do you use? I'm curious to know!
Right now, all of my cosmetics are drugstore brands because that's all I can afford. But ideally, I would like to be using cruelty-free products that are better for my skin.

"Veganism isn't a list of ingredients or a set of rules. Being vegan is about doing our best to help animals."

~Bruce Friedrich

Noochtritious Pasta

I've been eating way too many carb-y things lately and don't really know why. It's weird because you'd think I'd be gravitating towards more raw food now that it's summer. I just hope I don't end up gaining more weight :(

At least I make sure all my carbs come from whole grains like the pasta you see above. I used the recipe for Gee Whiz Cheese (I think that's what it's called) from The Uncheese Cookbook and just added some water to thin it out and then chopped up some Italian parsley and an onion which I added to the pot. It was a really satisfying meal.

I've recently rediscovered a favorite website of mine that I used to rely on for recipes during my early days as a vegetarian. It's called VegWeb as I'm sure most of you know. I mention it now because I added a few pictures to some of the recipes I submitted a while back and those pictures are being featured on the front page! You'll see a beautiful picture of the couscous cake that won me first place in Robin's cake contest a while back. I've also updated my profile complete with my picture and everything. I guess I've been spending a little too much time there haha! But do check it out.

Mock Tuna Sandwich

I found a super easy looking recipe for Mock Tuna on the Vegan Heart Doc blog. Basically, you just mash a cup of chickpeas together then add some finely chopped celery, finely chopped red onion, two to three tablespoons of vegan mayonnaise and some salt and pepper. If you want, you can add in some kelp or nori to give it more of a fishy taste.

This was my first time eating something with vegan mayo in it and let me tell you that I was definitely missing out! It was absolutely yummy! In fact, I think that's what I'll be having for lunch again today.

I'm so proud of myself because I did about thirty minutes of cardio upon waking up. Usually, I wait until after breakfast to fit in a workout and sometimes I get lazy so I just skip it. But today, I pushed myself and ended up having great fun dancing and shimmying to Hemalayaa's Beautiful Belly workout dvd. I have been doing yoga using her Yoga For Urban Living dvd for quite some time now so when I was at the library yesterday, I decided to check out one of her other dvds, Beautiful Belly and was not disappointed! She has become my favorite fitness instructer because she actually makes working out fun.

To end, let me just clarify something about my previous post. When I said I'd be looking into other churches, I meant other denominations within the protestant christian religion. I guess one of my readers thought this meant that I was opening up to other religions, but that couldn't be further from the truth.

All right, that's it for today!

Fat-Free Eats

To start off today's post, I'd like to say thank you for all of the very informative and helpful comments you guys left me regarding the situation surrounding my diet during the mission trip I'll be going on this summer. Reading your comments made me realize that I have to stay true to my beliefs and not let other's opinions on the matter pull me away from my convictions. Just because a certain leader tells me I'm going to eat whatever is placed in front of me regardless of what I may think, doesn't mean I have to do that. I am reminded of a situation in elementary school when one of my teachers literally forced me to drink a juice that I didn't want to drink. No one can force you to do anything - no one. I know that if I were to eat meat or consume dairy, I would fall sick. Not only am I lactose intolerant, but I've been a vegan for two years now. I'm sure my body would not like it very much if I were to eat a couple bites of meat for the sake of not being rude. Besides, I'm sure our hosts and hostesses will be understanding of my diet. It's never been a problem for me these last two years. The only reason why I'm freaking out is that I felt I would somehow fail my team if I didn't comply with their wishes. But if I need to, I'll just say that I'm allergic to dairy and eggs and then say that I don't eat meat also.

Whew! Sorry for throwing all that out there, but I felt like I just had to get it out.

The other day, I received The Almost No-Fat Cookbook by mail and just knew that I would be making the French Toast recipe for breakfast the next day. Because I was all out of my usual whole wheat bread, I decided to use sourdough instead. I know that's a really weird choice for french toast, but it was pretty good! In fact, I ate not one, but two big slices! This is the only recipe I've tried so far because most of the others rely on soy pretty heavily. At this point, I'm not so sure how I feel about soy, but I do try to stay away from it for the most part. Tofu is no longer a part of my diet because it makes me feel bloated and heavy, but I do let myself indulge when my family and I go out to eat.

In other news...

As many of you know, I am a Christian and I feel that vegetarianism and Christianity can go hand in hand. The church I currently attend is non-denominational and not very receptive to vegetarianism at all (as I've come to find out). Most consider it extreme and are even against it. Because of this, and other reasons, I've come to feel that this church isn't for me. Don't get me wrong - I'm still a Christian as I'll always be, but I plan to visit other churches in the near future until I find the right one. Right now, I'm very much into the Seventh-Day Adventist church because of its emphasis of health and nutrition as well as its history of vegetarianism. In fact, most of these churches hold frequent vegetarian potlucks. This week I'll be attending one of them and seeing if I like the atmosphere as well as the people there. It'll be exciting and I think it's an important step in becoming independent. The church my family and I currently attend was chosen by my parents. I had very little say in it. So that's why I'm anxious to see where I fit in.

Thanks for reading all my random musings! That's what I love about having a blog. It's a place where I can share my thoughts with all of you and I really enjoy reading the feedback I get, so please keep it coming!

Have a blessed day!

Colorful Curry

Hey guys! I have a long night ahead of me because I want to be one of the first people to register for college classes online so I'm "forcing" myself to stay up well past my usual bedtime. It'll pay off though! Besides, it's summer and I have nothing planned for tomorrow.

Yesterday I made a delicious curry from La Dolce Vegan which included a whole array of colorful veggies and spices. On the side, I had some brown rice cooked in creamy coconut milk.
In keeping with my Indian mood tonight, I'm listening to a track by a group called Aradhna which I believe means worship in Hindi (but I could be wrong so feel free to correct me!). If you're like me in that you love world music, you'll love this group.

I'll leave you all with a picture of my baby, Nacho. I love going out into the backyard and sitting crosslegged because that way my little dog will crawl into my lap and turn onto his back to be scratched. I don't even have to ask him!

Today I had a meeting with my mission trip group that lasted (I kid you not) nearly six hours. So basically, I was at church all day. But I did make sure to bring plenty of yummy vegan food such as a black bean burrito, a couscous salad, some vegan goldfish crackers, and a vegan rice krispie bar. Everyone is always curious about my food so I end up having to do a little "show and tell" when I'm with them. I don't mind though. What I don't care so much for is all the comments and questions that aren't all that thoughtful. But if I want to continue living as a vegan, I might as well get used to it all. The thing that has been on my mind for quite a while though, is the fact that my mission trip expects me to make an exception about the food when we're eating in other people's homes. I've shared this with you guys before, but I'm still uneasy about it because I feel so passionately about my veganism and I know it would be extremely hard for me to eat the flesh or secretions of animals just because I might hurt someone's feelings if I don't.