Love

The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.
—Charles Darwin, English naturalist (1809–1882)

Moooooo

  

Amazing Watercolor Paintings!

My dear friend Sasha has finally created an Etsy page to sell some of her amazing watercolor paintings! Sasha paints fruits, veggies, animals and nature scenes that are both realistic and etherial.  I am lucky enough to have a few of her pieces hanging in my apartment, and I love and cherish each of them.  Check out her amazing work on Etsy, and get your own amazing piece of art today!  Sasha's Etsy Page

Vegan Couture

Check out this awesome new line of couture vegan clothes. Right now they have cute t-shirts and amazing winter coats. It's not the most affordable, but the designs are beautiful, vegan, and sustainable! Check them out!

Vaute Couture

Veg for Life

VegForLife.org is an awesome site I came across today.  It is part of the Farm Sanctuary's initiative to get people to eat less or no meat, and to help educate us about the effects factory farming have on our environment and our health.  I found it to be really informative and easy to navigate.  They have TONS of awesome information about becoming a vegetarian or a vegan.  Take a look!

Great Article for Veg and Meat Eaters Alike!

Farm Forward is a non-profit advocacy group dedicated to transforming the way our country eats and farms.  Its board is made up of vegans, vegitarians, and meat eaters, so their articles are well rounded and non judgey.  Their whole site is awesome and has a ton of great info about farms.  I think it is a great resource for anyone who wants to make informed choices about what they eat!  The article that I am featuring here is about the effects our food choices have on the world around us.  I thought it was really interesting, and worth a read no matter what your food preferences are!

Check it out here: Farm Forward Article

Farm Sanctuary

This is an eye-wateringly cute article about the newest rescue to the Farm Sanctuary in upstate NY:  Meet Petunia

I am so thankful that this place exists and is dedicated to rescuing and caring for farm animals.  

Enjoy!

Eating Animals

This is an amazing, enlightening, heartbreaking book that anyone who loves animals should read.  If you care about your food and your health, and if you are prepared to really see and understand where your food is coming from and the effect it has on you, I highly recommend this book!  I think everyone, vegan or not, should read this book.  It was hard to stomach at times, but it really opened my eyes up to a lot of interesting information, and changed the way I think and live!  

Check it out!

YUMMY!

I made a vegan meal for dinner last night that even my meat eating, cheese loving boyfriend Phil loved.  People have this misconception that vegan food is weird, or not filling enough.  Last night I made veggie burgers and broccoli soup, and they were both delicious, filling, and totally vegan!  I had to make a few tweeks to the soup recipe because it called for cheese, but if you have a dairy eater in your family, they can just add the cheese to their own bowl at the end! Everything was so delicious on it's own, Phil didn't even end up wanting or missing the cheese! The burgers were made with sweet potatoes, quinoa, and black beans.  It was basically a burger cornucopia of super foods that fill you up and make you heart healthy!  If you are looking for something hearty, easy to make, and good for you, give these two recipes a try!  Thank you Sasha for the suggestions!

Broccoli Soup

Sweet Potato, Quinoa, and Black Bean Burgers!

Love,
Melissa

14 Days and Counting....

So far this is not as hard as I thought it was going to be!  The world seems to be ok with me doing the vegan thing.  Everyone I have told about my new adventure, while curious and concerned, has been very supportive and non judgmental!  Restaurants don't mind making me a veggie plate even if it's not on the menu.  My mom bought me a 12 pack of vegan soup from Costco.  My dad said he was proud of me for learning so much about food and making educated choices, but suggested that I check in with a Dr. to make sure I'm as healthy as I think I am (which I agree is a great idea for anyone trying something new with their diet)!  After only 14 days, I am not as tempted by cheese as I once was. Whole Foods has so many vegan options,  and there are so many cook books and web sites dedicated to this life style!!!

Even the Oprah show did a special on being vegan! Check it out: Vegan on Oprah!

Love,
Melissa

Read This Book!

This book has changed the way I look at food and the way I live my life!  If you are at all curious about where your food comes from, read this book!  

The Face On Your Plate

Going Vegan!

No more eggs, 

 No more cheese, 

 No more fishy 

To eat for me.

I have been a vegetarian since I was 11.  It started because I didn't want to eat things that had cute faces and has grown exponentially from there. I have never been one to preach.  When asked why I am a vegetarian, I usually just say the thing about not wanting to eat something cute to avoid the lengthy conversation, and to avoid -as my 9 year old niece would say- "yucking anyone's yum".  The topic of food choice can get as heated as a conversation about God or politics, so in the past I have mostly tried to avoid it. I am not writing this blog to try to convert anyone into being a vegan, and I am not sitting in judgement of anyone!  I am mostly writing this blog as a way to support and encourage myself on this journey, and to hold myself accountable for the choices I am making in this life I have been given.  If someone happens to learn something they didn't already know as a result of reading this blog, then that is great!  The more I learn about this stuff, the more confident and excited I am about my choices!  

So, vegan huh?? In the back of my mind, I have always felt that eating meat was wrong.  Still though, I have continued to eat fish (because I love how they taste, and they aren't cute and cuddly) and cheese (insane amounts of cheese) and eggs (I make a killer omelet).   But, I have had an "ah ha!" moment, and I can't continue to eat these things in good conscience, no matter how good they taste.  For a moment on my lips (at the cost of suffering to countless animals, the devastation of our environment and the support of a system that goes against everything I believe in) it just doesn't feel worth it. Yes, fish are tasty, but they are animals too (they also get grossly mistreated in factory farms, and fishing in the wild is destroying our oceans) and I think they deserve the same quality of life that I would wish for any living animal.  So, no more fish for me.  Cheese comes from cows, and eggs from chickens.  Like it or not, most of us get our cheese and eggs from animals who are grossly mistreated.  Our cheese and eggs are filled with the same hormones and antibiotics that the factory farm fills those poor animals with.  And it turns out that even "cage-free" is a hoax, those animals are almost no better off than their caged brothers and sisters.  While I fully encourage, support and respect anyone who seeks out their local farmer and farmers markets and buys legitimately cage free, local, farm raised, cruelty free products, for me that is simply not enough.

So here I am.  This is not a simple or easy choice for me.  While I am already a vegetarian, I have thoroughly enjoyed all things cheese and everything tasty that an egg contributes to making. However, my desire to change is fueled by my beliefs that all animals deserve to live cruelty free, and that our consumption of meat and animal products is ruining our planet.  I am making a change for myself, however small and insignificant to the big picture this change might be.  I can't in good conscience, knowing everything I know about the food industry, continue on this path of eating whatever I want simply because it tastes good, and because it's easier.  I care about where my food comes from, and to the best of my ability, I want to avoid contributing to the torture of animals or the loss of life in the name of "tasty" food!

Wish me luck! As I mentioned above, I am making this blog to encourage myself and to hold myself accountable, and maybe inform and inspire a few people along the way.  I have no doubt that this is going to be tough!  I'll be posting about my daily challenges and victories, facts I find interesting or informative, vegan recipes that don't suck, conversations I have with people about the topic, and book recommendations, etc.  I am taking this one day at a time.  I am going to do my best to stay the vegan course in a very non-vegan society.  Encouragement, comments, and criticisms are welcome!!

Love,
Melissa