our life as vegans*

a few weeks ago, matt and i watched a movie one of his co-workers had recommended called forks over knives.  while we were watching the movie i pulled up their website to see if there were any recipes - there were and they looked good too.  next i went over to the local library's website and requested a hold on the book from the movie and the cookbook.  (we also watched fat, sick and nearly dead which was about juicing/fasting.)

i have been trying to warm matt up to the idea of more meatless dinners.  we eat fairly healthy, relatively speaking, so the change was more of an economic issue for me.  we try to buy organic meats, eggs and cheeses because having these foods without hormones and antibiotics is important to us, but organic grains are a lot cheaper.  i just look at us having four teenagers who are going to be consuming a lot of food and how can i feed them most economically.  (i have been playing with things like baking our own bread, making our own yogurt, adding more fiber and grains to standard recipes just trying to increase the 'full' feeling and decreasing the cost.)

when the books were ready at the library, we decided to give it a try for a week and see how it went.  it happened that we went vegan* over spring break.  we were not strict vegans (vegan is no animal products - egg, milk, butter, cheese).  we did have homemade yogurt, a little butter (baking our breakfast cookies (but i did substitute the second stick of butter with a banana), our trip to the chocolate factory with samples, and finishing off some items already in the refrigerator.  it was great!  not all of the meals were winners; they weren't bad, just not something we would make again which happens with traditional meals as well.  there were several, however, that were great - hearty nachos with a 'cheese' sauce made from cashews and a bell pepper, meatless spaghetti and 'meatballs' and raspberry brownies.

we also learned that madelyn is a natural vegan.  she likes meat generally but she loved everything put down in front of her!  she was the best eater and she can sometimes be the worst.  she also stopped complaining about her stomach (although it returned when she went back to school so we feel it is a stress thing and are working with her teacher).

the other amazing part was that over the weekend we had pizza on my birthday, bacon and eggs on easter and more leftover pizza.  monday i was all over the place emotionally!  the kids were crazy too which made me realize that we had no fighting or behavior issues over spring break.  all that had changed was our food.

so we ate vegan again this week!  again, we aren't super strict but all of our dinners and as much of the other meals and snacks are vegan.  we found some more great meals that we will keep in the rotation!  and the kids have not complained one bit about the changes.  in fact, we were discussing how they haven't even noticed.  madelyn even called our grain-based meal last night "chicken".

i am getting ready to meal plan for week three.  while some of the ingredients are expensive (hello, organic bell peppers), the overall grocery bill is down.  we are finding that we are full on much less and aren't hungry later.  i have noticed that i don't need my coffee in the morning either.

so we are going to keep at it.  i have picked up more cookbooks from the library for meal ideas and to stretch me with ingredients (my pantry has become quite impressive and exotic).  i love a good challenge!  i think we might be in this one for the long haul.  again, we won't be strict vegans, we still plan on having a turkey at thanksgiving and we love our yogurt (although i am going to try making it with almond milk).  but you never know.  love.