Hi all and welcome to my new blog! Just a bit about myself to get started –
About Me
Family - I am an almost 46 year-old crazy redhead. I have a wonderful husband who I have been married
to for almost 21 years now. “J” is an
active fire fighter who supports me in our vegan adventure and my main taste-tester-of-the-new-recipe
go to person! Together we have to
wonderful teenagers who are non-vegan and trying to deal with their crazy
parents. I grew up in Michigan and was
born a meat, gravy, potato, dessert kind of girl. My family has never really been overweight,
but after having two kids I have always done this up-and-down kind of thing with
my weight. I am blessed to have such a wonderful and supportive family. Even though I am almost 46, I tend to act like I am still in my 20's...just ask my daughter, she'll totally agree.
Athletically - I have also never been into
sports, hated running, doing anything outside an scared to death of balls flying towards me! That has pretty much changed since meeting J
and learning that I could camp, get dirty and be alright. My one goal would be to learn to be a good runner. I might not be able to learn to "love" running, but would the thought of running and finishing a 5k is my ultimate goal! Side note - I am still afraid to death of flying balls, but have learned to love watching football and baseball!!
Hobbies - For a few years I worked
as a professional scrapbooker and designed product, wrote how to books and
traveled all over the USA teaching classes.
It was the most amazing time of my life!
I however left to stay home more and since then working full-time, but
not in a creative area. Always looking
for a creative outlet, just need more hours in my day! Hopefully soon I will be able to open a small online store to share some fun product with you for purchase.
Volunteer Work - My other passion – animals. We have a house full of Cavalier King Charles
(really, houseful..not kidding!) and then Jack our mix from Mexico. I do rescue work for Cavalier Rescue
Foundation and LOVE IT! Our first two Cavaliers were purchased from breeders in Arizona, the third was an owner turn in as she is VERY active, number four was a puppy mill rescue from Missouri and the fifth...we'll J and I drove 2600 miles to save him. Any of the treats my dogs eat are also vegan and made by me! They love sweet potatoes or left over smoothie mix that I freeze in ice cube trays for them.
Let’s see…what
else about me…I try to be a positive person, hate confrontation and hope to
inspire others throughout my life.
Being Vegan
J and I have played around with a vegan diet many
times. I love cooking, so it was always
fun but pretty much we just winged it.
In March of 2013 my co-workers and I started a company weight-loss challenge,
and I was really in need of dropping some weight. I was 100% in, but knew my main issue was my
diet. I loved me some sugar – donuts,
cakes, breads…oh yea, loved it all! The
thing is, J and I are not stupid. We knew
how we should be eating and that we needed to exercise daily as well. I turned on Netflix one day and we watched
Fork Over Knifes – changed our way of thinking.
We knew we needed to eat plant based.
Now J is in it more for the diet, myself – the diet and the
animals. While watching Veguated and
seeing how the male baby chicks were thrown into a grinder because they were useless…put
me over the edge. I can’t eat animals
anymore. Period, the end. As we have been reading more and more about
eating plant based (love the Engine 2 Diet and My Beef with Meat!) we are
cutting out more and more from our diets such as salt and oils. Hopefully you’ll enjoy some of my favorite
recipes and realize that even cutting meat from your diet one day a week might
help you and the animals!! Begin vegan
does not make you a freak, only strong and healthy!
I'm asked for tips on eating plant based and how to keep it easy. Here is pretty much how it works for me:
- Create a menu for the week and buy only what you need. I found this helps me from throwing out bad fruit or veggies. Pinterest is my #! go to place for recipes!!
- Sunday is my "slice and dice" day. Any fruits and veggies that need to be cleaned and sliced for the week are done and put nicely in the fridge. Makes pulling for lunches or snacks quick and easy!
- Sunday I also make one big lunch up for the week so J and I can pull quickly. We both don't eat out during the week...saving $$ for buying those hot new clothes as you're dropping weight! Normally I will cook up a big salad, pot of soup or a sandwich spread that we eat on top of spinach. Make it a fun event - turn on some music to get you moving or watch your favorite movie!
- In the mornings I make a green smoothie, so come later in the week if I haven't eaten some of the fruits in the fridge I will start freezing those up to be tossed into my smoothie the next week. Waste not!!
- When making dinner I like to make enough to have the next day for J to take to work for dinner and/or freeze up for a quick reheat dinner or weekend lunch.
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