eat, drink, and be vegan

is my new current obsession. Seriously, I love this cookbook. I’ve made a ton of stuff from it over the past two weeks. Here are my two most recent dinners:

Broccoli Cashew Teriyaki Stirfry

I ate it with my favorite grain, quinoa.

This is one of my favorite stirfries ever. I actually make it without the tofu, as I’m not a huge fan tofu.

Thai Chick’un Pizza

This pizza was great! The peanut sauce is amazing.

I highly recommend this cookbook.  I have all of Dreena’s cookbooks, but this one is by far my favorite.  Everything I’ve made has come out really well.

Hello world!

Well, I finally did it.  After weeks of debate I finally started a vegan food blog.  About me… I’m a 23 year old graduate student.  I like food.  I like cooking.  I accidentally became vegan in November 2007 after finally giving in to my lactose intolerance.  I’ve been lactose intolerant probably my whole life, but realized it my sophomore year of college.  The idea of cutting out dairy products (I was a cheese/ice cream addict) was totally terrifying.  But, I did begin to change my diet at that time.  I tried soy milk.  It was disgusting.  I tried another brand.  It was ok.  I tried soy ice cream.  It was pretty awesome.

A little bit before I gave up dairy products, I stopped eating meat completely.  I considered myself a “flexetarian” until then.  I had meatless Mondays and tried to eat as little meat as was socially acceptable in my circles.  Coming out of the vegan closet to my bf was one of the scariest things ever.  (I don’t really run with a vegan crowd.)  I had wanted to be a vegetarian since I was 7, but it was really hard to do that when my meat loving mom controlled the meal planning.  My mom is a well trained mother of the tv dinner  generation.  Vegetables come out of cans or are frozen, rice comes with pre-packaged seasoning, and meat is the center of every meal.  I was shocked the first time I saw a real yam.  Who knew they didn’t grow in perfect 1 inch cylinders??   Not me.

This whole yam thing happened at right about the time I was learning I was lactose intolerant.  All of these bits of knowledge were imparted upon me by my awesome bf.  He taught me how to shop for vegetables (you know, in the produce isle) and cook things.  I watched him bake bread and make pizza dough and eventually decided I should try some of this cooking stuff for myself.  Since then, I’ve kind of been the alpha-chef in the house.

I’m hoping to post some of my old food pictures later this evening.  I’m a huge fan of Isa and Terry’s cookbooks, as well as of Dreena Burton’s cookbooks.  Most of my food comes from there, but I’ve been getting adventurous lately.  Yay, food