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I realised over the weekend that it was coming up to 1 year since I became vegetarian! I had to check back over the blog as it was more of a gradual shift in diet. I think my last ‘meat’ meal was a Turkey Subway with chilli sauce, I kind of wish I’d had something a bit nicer!

I can’t believe that a whole year has passed without meat, and I can honestly say I haven’t missed it one bit. Why would I when I’ve been eating meals like this?

Roast Vegetable Curry 

Vanilla Cupcake with Vegan Coconut Icing 

Warm Sweet Chilli Sweet Potato Sesame Salad 

Chocolate Mint Raw Vegan Cheesecake from Aloka in Brighton

Sabra hummus topped salad beasts

Smoked almond sesame tofu with brown rice, roasted veggies and spicy peanut sauce 

Baked Tempeh with roast veggies and almond butter sauce

 Strawberry Coconut Oaty Buttery Bars (vegan)

Just a few of my favourite meals and treats over the last year, and yes they are all vegan! My diet has transitioned to almost 100% plant based – I do still eat honey and some trace dairy in things like chocolate, but apart from that I haven’t had any diary or eggs for about 6 months. I’ve always tried to take a flexible approach to veganism, one which balances my bodies needs with my beliefs. The two big influences in my shift in diet were really due to reading The Kind Diet and Eating Animals (amongst other considerations of course)

I absolutely love eating this way, I feel the healthiest and happiest I have in years, and recently I have become a lot more confident in talking about why I choose to eat this way. I’m also starting to become more aware of the wider vegan lifestyle – which of course involves excluding all animal products such as leather and wool clothing. I’m completely honest in this being something that I’m working towards, and I still do wear my existing leather clothing etc.

As I’ve said many times before, I really don’t judge people on how they choose to eat. I eat to like this because it is right for me, but I’m well aware that following a vegetarian or vegan diet may not be for everyone. I think having a judgemental attitude does the vegan cause no favours. As one of my work colleagues said, her experience of vegans before me was not good – they were extremely confrontational and aggressive with their beliefs. I do think that following a vegetarian or vegan diet is worth fighting for, but I think leading by positive example is way more effective than being aggressive which simply makes people defensive and closed up to the potential of eating a more plant based diet.

If your a veggie or a vegan how long have you being following that diet? Do you ever get cravings for meat or animal products? I was probably most surprised by my lack of cheese and greek yoghurt cravings, I thought that would have been my downfall! As for meat, I’ve even found that I’m no longer going crazy for substitutes like Linda McCartney Sausages, I’ve found that I’m quite happy eating tofu, beans and more recently tempeh.

For all veggies and non veggies alike, what’s your absolute favourite veggie meal? Without a doubt, mine would involve hummus!

I started the day off in a terrible mood. I felt really down about things – particularly feeling very disconnected from people. I’m lucky in that I’m usually a pretty cheerful person (at least I hope I am!) but when I get down I usually get quite low (there were tears involved) but then I pull myself round and feel better.

I’m putting today down to the dreaded PMT but to help me get back to my normal self I just tried to think about all of the things that I’m really grateful for: My husband, my health, my job and even being able to share my passions and interests through this blog!

I have noticed that I’m becoming more content to spend time alone doing the things that I enjoy that others in my life aren’t as fussed with, i.e. exercising and cooking. In many ways my blog is my outlet for all of the things that I love that I don’t hold in common with others in my life. Can anyone else relate to this?

Anyway, I’m feeling much more my usual self now, as is so often the way with hormonal mood swings. On to today's eats! For breakfast I sliced and chopped a jazz apple and micro waved it for a minute then topped with some pumpkin yoghurt and a crumbled banana walnut muffin.

It was heavenly, such a great combo!

Mid morning I snacked on some hummus with cauliflower and carrot for dipping. Lunch was some soup that I’d made up at the weekend. It wasn’t anything special so I didn’t bother to blog the recipe but it was basically a mix of leeks, cabbage and haricot beans. I also had two yummy pears.

Before heading off to the gym I enjoyed a slice of pumpkin spice cake with a cup of green tea.

This pumpkin spice cake is so good, it has gone even stickier and sweeter as its been left, delicious! At the gym I took it a little easier, still doing half mile speed intervals but not pushing myself quite so hard after my rough day. I also did 10 minutes of intervals on the step machine and some abs exercises.

For dinner I defrosted a couple of my lentil and feta muffins and crumbled them into some tomato pasta sauce along with some shredded cabbage. I served this with two slices of olive and feta bread toasted and made into croutons and some fresh basil.

This was so tasty, just another reason why I’m not missing meat a single bit. Desert was two frozen chocolate peanut butter avocado cups with a couple of small sliced apples.

Oh my god these were amazing! After I eaten the apple I softened them in the microwave for a few seconds and they were like chocolate peanut butter puddings, just delicious!

Today I also got some goodies:

Jacc’s flavoured coffee:

I bought a decaffeinated Butterscotch flavour and a regular Gingerbread flavour. Huge thanks to Stella who blogged about Jacc’s. I can’t wait to try these out!

On my lunch break I had a scout around some charity shops and I found this stoneware casserole dish for £2 and in a kitchen store some round plastic tubs for less than £2:

Bargain! I thought the small tub would be good for taking yoghurt to work in, and the large tub for storing cooked grains like rice in the fridge. For some reason I prefer round containers instead of square, weird!

I also received my books from Amazon:

I joined The Kind Life website today and actually got a response from Alicia herself! I’m also looking forward to relaxing for the rest of the evening while flicking through La Dolce Vegan.

Hope your all having a good week, I hope you don’t mind my little ramble at the start of the post, just keeping it real! Have a great evening :-)

Big thanks to everyone who commented on yesterdays post regarding my thoughts on The Kind Diet, vegetarianism and veganism, I really enjoyed reading each comment and feel that I learned a lot!

I think I need to do my home work on freedom food / organic meat and what I feel is the better option for my values. It was also interesting to hear about some peoples experiences and opinions on soy and Quorn products. I think my approach is going to be one of moderation and variety!

I was working late yesterday so here are yesterdays eats:

Butternut Smoothie in a bowl with muesli topping (after getting my butt kicked by Jillian doing the 30 Day Shred Levels 1 and 2)

Hummus, olives, seeded flatbread crackers, cucumber, carrot and a nectarine for lunch:

Afternoon snackage of apples and babybel light then my mango and brazil bar from Goodness Direct (very tasty – lots of honey flavour, chewy like a flapjack – yum!):

After my late meeting I had some un pictured miso soup followed by some berries topped with cottage cheese, cinnamon and maple syrup:

Today’s breakfast was Mornflake 5 fruit and nut muesli with some additional jumbo oats added, a chopped nectarine, and as it was so cold, some warmed up soy milk and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Try adding warm milk to cereal on cold mornings – this warmed me up a treat! Mid morning I snacked on some cashew butter with apple slices for dipping.

Lunch was a new recipe I wanted to try out:

Fresh Asian Salad (makes 1 large serving)

• 1 large carrot, half a cucumber and 1 diakon / mooli root made into ribbons using a veggie peeler
• 1/2 cup of frozen then defrosted soya beans.

Dressing:

• 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil
• 3 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of sweet chilli sauce
• 1 inch piece of finely grated ginger.

Mix together the veggie ribbons and pile on a plate, topping with the beans. Mix together the salad dressing ingredients (I put them all in a screw top jar and shake – also handy for taking the dressing to work so the veggies don’t go soggy) Pour the dressing over the veggies and serve immediately.

This was lush! It tasted amazing - the dressing worked exceptionally well, very sweet and earthy. This could also be beefed up with some soba noodles to make it even more filling. A great salad for getting in a good few portions of raw veggies too! I also had an orange.

Before heading to the gym I had an apple, blueberry and cinnamon protein muffin.

I’m on a mission to try and eat the baked goods I have stashed in the freezer – got to make way for new stuff!

At the gym I ran 5k on the treadmill doing some speed work then ran for about a mile at a slow pace to cool down (about 35 minutes and 4 miles in total). I finished off my workout with some abs exercises.

For dinner I had half a sweet potato to use up along with loads of veggies so I decided to throw together a yummy stew type dish. I started by frying an onion then adding the cooked sweet potato which I had chopped into cubes until it had browned slightly. I also added some chopped mushrooms. I then added hot veg stock, a tablespoon of tomato puree and a pinch of hot chilli powder. I also added some shredded savoy cabbage and kale then allowed to simmer for 5 minutes before adding about half a cup of spicy roasted chickpeas.

I served it with some roasted brussel sprouts for a perfect filling vegan meal :-) Desert was some RAW zesty orange chocolate kindly sent by Goodness Direct and a large russet apple.

The chocolate was interesting. It has a different texture to regular chocolate, kind of soft (despite being in the fridge) and a bit grainy but not unpleasant. It contains no added sugars, is organic and made with raw ingredients including cocoa butter and cocoa powder. The orange flavour is also nicely balanced. Not sure I would buy as it is quite expensive but a good way of getting your chocolate fix with added health benefits. This is the second RAW product I have tried (I have also tried the crackers which were delicious) and I do like the idea of eating more raw food so could be good if your into that kind of thing.

Have you tried any products from RAW? What did you think? Hope your all having a good week, I’m looking forward to my yoga tomorrow night already! Catch you later :-)