You know what I Love? Lent.

This is absolutely, 100% NOT a religious post.
In fact: Im not Catholic. Its true.

But I do {Love} Lent.
My vegan life started with Lent. 
For me Lent never meant giving something up, per say. It was a time for me to do something good for someone else. Whether or not your Catholic or even religious, you can take these 40 days to change yourself for the better. Once you do something for 40 days you find that it becomes easier to incorporate into your every day from then on.

So I love lent. Doing something good for someone else makes me giddy.

I don't think anyone would argue that factory farming is awesome for the animals involved. I don't think that's ever the argument made. But maybe you don't think you could/should give up meat/animal products forever. And you know what?
If its not for  you then rock on with your bad self.
But why not try it for Lent? 
Its something you can do for someone else {and for your own health} for 40 days. And after those 40 days you will have a range of vegan foods you fell in love with that you can incorporate into your every day diet. Lowering your cholesterol and your funding of factory farming all at once. Double Rainbow Winning.

40 days vegan can seem really intimidating for someone who's never tried it before. I know, I was there.
So instead of starting with 40 days, why not try 7? 
Give it a go. It will lower your risk of heart disease and will help you add healthy eating habits to your diet.
I will be right here posting recipes and snack options  for you and I will set you up with a plan for each day of the week. All of the recipes in our 7 days vegan will be delicious and easy, I promise.

7 days of Vegan Deliciousness.
Day 1

Spiced Quinoa- Easy Vegan Recipe

Yessica's Spiced Quinoa
*Prep time: 10 minutes  *Cook Time: 20 minutes *Servings: 3-4

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon onion powder

2 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 cup quinoa

1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon garam masala

1-2 pinches crushed red pepper, depending on how spicy you like it

6 cardamom seeds

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

1 (14 oz) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

1/2 cup raisins soaked in hot water and drained

Step 1: grab a pot and put it over medium heat. Pour in olive oil, garlic and crushed red pepper. Cook until the garlic is a toasty brown, being careful not to burn. 

Step 2: Stir in quinoa, all of your spices (except for the red pepper, which you've already tossed in) and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and simmer 20 minutes. 

Step 3: Once the quinoa is finished cooking stir in your drained garbanzo beans, toasted pine nuts, and raisins. This dish is super delisious warm or cold, so its perfect for left-over snacking. 

That's it. Your done. Love this recipe, its delicious and so freakin easy.

*A note on Cardamom: this can be tricky to find and its totally omit-able. It adds a really nice pop, so if you know of a wholefoods or Indian grocery near by you are sure to find it there. Some targets also carry it. 

Vegan Stuffed Banana Berry French Toast

Borrowed from VeganYumYum. 

Not only is it an awesome blog, its a more awesomer cookbook. 

When my beautiful cousin Kimmy asked me if I had a vegan french toast recipe I didn't have to think twice about which to give her. Sadly, it's not of my own design: but it is completely amazing.

 And you doubted vegan french toast? 

Shun!

Stuffed Banana Berry French Toast

recipe by Lauren Ulm

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup soy milk

1 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon allspice

1 tablespoon sugar

1 pinch salt

1 loaf quality day old bread (sourdough is perfect)

1-2 tablespoons Earth Balance margarine

1 pint strawberries, hulled and sliced

3 large, firm ripe bananas sliced

1 pint blackberries, blueberries or raspberries

Maple syrup (the REAL stuff) to serve

Powdered sugar, to serve

Step 1: Whisk the soy milk, flour, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, sugar and salt together in an 8x8 in brownie pan until frothy. Set aside. 

Step 2: Slice 3/4-inch slices of bread from your loaf. Slice each in half again, without cutting all the way through, to form a pocket. Place the bread in the batter and let sit for a few minutes. 

Step 3: While the bread is soaking heat a nonstick pan over medium heat. Melt a teaspoon or two Earth Balance margarine on it. When the margarine bubbles your ready.

Step 4: Take the bread out of the batter. Place a few bananas and strawberries into the back of the pocket to open it just a little. You'll add more later, so take it easy. Carefully stuff the fruit deep inside so it wont fall out when you flip the bread. 

Step 5: Brown the bread on both sides, then set it onto your serving plate. Add more berries and bananas as you like it. Top with maple syrup and powdered sugar and enjoy the weekend. 

Vegan Pesto Rocks my World

I LOVE pesto. Before I went vegan I would put it on anything, and I really mean absolutely anything I thought had even the remote chance of being good with pesto.

So when I decided to come up with a Vegan pesto recipe, I decided it had to be a really amazing one. What makes it even better? Its as simple as simple gets.
I promise, vegan or no, once you make it your never going to bother with another recipe. If you do then we probably can't be friends anymore.

Basil Loves Cilantro Vegan Pesto

Ingredients

2 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves

1 cup loosely packed cilantro

1/3 cup pine nuts

2 cloves of crushed garlic

4 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice (1 large lemon should cover it)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup olive oil

Throw everything minus the olive oil into your food processor. Blend it for a few seconds until it has started to turn into a paste- don't forget to scrape the sides. Then drizzle the olive oil in and blend to pulverization.  If you don't have a food processor you can accomplish the same delicious end with your blender. 

Its a perfect go to for snacking. It really is good on anything: bread, tortilla chips, carrots, a spoon- 

Try slicing up some mushrooms and mixing them up with some pesto. Its really light and completely delicious. 

Enjoy!  

Vegan Hazelnut Dark Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

This is a delicious, easy treat to whip up when you want to have a luxurious evening and you don't want to cook. 

Eat while playing Zelda Skyward Sword and drinking chilled Merlot and you've got a sinfully decadent night. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 pint of fresh strawberries
• 1 1/2 cups ghirardelli semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup raw chopped hazelnut

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350F. Spread your hazelnuts in a single layer on a shallow baking pan and let them sit in the oven for 15 minutes. Stir the nuts halfway through to make sure they cook evenly. When you pull them out the skins will be almost black and the meat will be a toasted brown. 
2. Wash and dry your strawberries. 
3. Put 1/2 cup of your roasted hazelnuts into your food processor and pulverize away. 
4. Take the other 1/2 cup of roasted hazelnuts and break them up even more with a pestle and mortar (or with a ziplock bag and something heavy...)
5. Pour the chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high at intervals of 10 seconds, stirring every 10 seconds. Be very careful not to burn the chocolate! Never let them cook longer than 10 seconds without taking the bowl out and stirring. Once the chocolate is creamy and easy to stir its done.
6. Mix your pulverized hazelnuts into your bowl of melted chocolate and stir them in well. 
7. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. 
8. Dip your strawberries in the chocolate and lay them on the wax paper.
9. Sprinkle your crushed hazelnuts over all of the strawberries. 
10. Stick them in the fridge for about 15 minutes and then stuff your face. Store in the fridge and eat them within a day or so. 

Favorite Quick Vegan Meals & Foods You Can Buy at the Store

Don't get me wrong, I love cooking. Its akin to meditation, gets my Chi all ocean like and calm.
But, I'm busy- Often. So, some quick foods that I can just put in my mouth come in handy.

Keep an eye out on this post, just like my list of awesome alternatives this one will keep growing as I keep eating.

Quick Meals

Annie Chun's Deliciousness

Annie Chun makes a whole line of microwavable foods. Take a look at the bottom of the box and you will see little symbols and what they signify. Talk about convenience.

Here is a list of her vegan options:
Teriyaki Noodle Bowl: for a microwavable meal this is freaking amazing.
Udon Soup: again, for fast microwavable meals these are pretty fantastic.
Miso Soup: Totally uninspiring.
Kung Pow Noodle Bowl: Havent tried this one yet
Korean Sweet Chili Noodle Bowl: Havent tried this one yet, but I really want it. Its new so don't hate, I'll get it and then I will tell you about it.

Where I buy it: Walmart, Target, Publix

Amy's Organic
For a frozen dinner Amy's makes a mean meal and she has plenty to choose from. She has way more vegan options than I have listed here, these are just the one's I've tried.

Asian Noodle Stir Fry:  better than average yummy
Indian Mattar Tofu: better than average yummy
Indian Vegetable Korma: I love cashews. Super Yummy (for a microwavable meal)

Where I Buy it: Target, Whole Foods
(Don't write Whole Foods off right away, if your there check it out, sometimes they have really great sale prices on Amy's products)

Healthy Snacks- 

Melissa's Microwavable Edamame
I love edamame. The beautiful think about Melissa's edamame is that is comes sans salt, so you can go without or add as much/little as you want for all of you trying to keep your sodium intake at a somewhat reasonable level. Also, you can slide the box out of the container to look at the edamame beans and pick the freshest looking of the lot.


Where I Buy it: Target






Unhealthy Snacks- 
because sometimes you need an Oreo

Halloween Oreos

Yep, there is nothing that is actually real food in here. Healthy, no way. Vegan? For sure. 3 cheers for make 

believe milk product! 

I'm not rating these, they are freaking Oreos. You know what they taste like. 

Most Back to Nature Cookies-

This includes California Lemon ( my favorite, by the way), Chocolate Chunk (also my favorite, yes I can have two equal favorites, don't judge, and Chocolate Delight Granola. And while they might not be good for  you, they are definitely not as bad as eating the oreos I told you about. ll get 5 stars out of 5. 

Where I buy them: Walmart, Whole Foods






Marshmallow Fluff

Yep. Again, all make-believe ingredients. Terrible for you? Probably.
Will I still eat it? Yes.











Cracker Jacks! 

The 'prizes' that come in the bags are always so creepy.

Mambas

I LOVE Mambas! If you've never had them go to your local gas station creepy little store (during the day, and it doesnt have to be the creepy one- that just makes it more exciting) and purchase them.
5 out of 5 stars
Where I buy it: Gas Stations 


Nutter Butter Cookies

Yep.










For more easy to find Vegan food this list is pretty comprehensive. 

My Favorite Vegan Food Replacements / Alternatives

Finding good alternatives can be an expensive, time consuming experience that is likely to result in several really gross eating experiences. So, here is a list of some of my favorite alternatives. Hopefully this will save you from those completely un-appetizing finds. They can be so painful.

Vegenaise

Where I normally buy it: Wholefoods
Stars out of 5: 5
This stuff is delicious.

Tofurkey Deli Slices

Where I normally buy it: Publix, Wholefoods
Stars out of 5: 3.7
These are the best vegan deli slices I have had yet. Very yummy. If you come across the Tofurkey Turkey Roast around Thanksgiving my advice would be to try it wearily. Its not the most amazing thing in the world but it is better than having nothing to eat. The deli slices are far superior to the roast.

EnergG Egg Replacer

Where I normally buy it: Wholefoods
Stars out of 5: 5

This is hands-down the best egg substitute you can buy. A box of it can be a little pricey but it will last you forever. Mine is at almost a year and I bake perpetually.

Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Where I normally buy it: Wal-Mart

Stars out of 5: 5 

These are perfect for baking but they are even better for munching. I always have a bag in the fridge so that I can stuff them into my mouth when I need a chocolate fix. 

Vegan Marshmallows by Sweet & Sara

Where I buy it: Wholefoods

Stars out of 5: 5

Sheer perfection sans gelatin. It really doesnt get any better than this.