In September 2013 my husband came home from a long weekend with friends in Pennsylvania and announced seemingly out of nowhere that he wanted to go vegan. He had spent four days dining in vegan restaurants and being served vegan meals, and he had been instantly converted by friends who jokingly referred to themselves as “vegangelicals”.
He was so completely excited by the idea, that I reluctantly agreed to Google some vegan recipes and cook vegan dinners. Other than that, I told him, all bets were off. It wasn’t the thought of giving up meat or eggs that bothered me…I couldn’t imagine giving up skim milk or cottage cheese!
When the four boys were little, meat was something that we could never really afford. Ground beef, frozen chicken, and fish sticks was about all the venturing we did into the meat world. Vegetarian meals were much better for the budget! I learned to make fabulous vegetarian stuffed peppers, and we ate a lot of meals like grilled cheese, tomato soup and cheese pizza. I thought altering my vegetarian meals to vegan meals would be simple enough. I was wrong!
My first trip to the grocery store as a vegan was an incredible eye opener. I found that 95% of the items in the store had either milk, eggs, or meat as an ingredient. I must have picked 100 items off the shelf, read the label, then put them back. Who would’ve thought that croutons have milk in them?! Or granola bars? Or bread? I had never realized before that these three items are the staples of the American diet. That first trip I came home with some almond milk and some produce and little else. And I had to forget about altering my vegetarian meals, because they all included cheese as the main ingredient!
Marc was so incredibly excited about how eating vegan had made him feel, and I had promised him vegan dinners, so I made a promise to myself not to give up. As a start, I Googled “easy vegan dinners” in search of recipes. I included “easy” in the search because I knew if it wasn’t easy it wouldn’t happen. I had a full time job and way too much to do to spend any more time in the kitchen. If the recipe had a dozen weird ingredients I had never heard of or a dozen steps, I quickly moved on. I also learned quickly that recipes have to be modified. The creator of the recipe might think, for instance, that black olives taste fabulous in nachos, but I hate black olives! And yes, happily one of the first totally simple, awesome meals I found was vegan nachos!
Vegan Nachos
This meal takes minutes to make. I buy vegan black bean burgers (remember, keep it simple!) and fry and crumble them with an onion and a can of black beans. This gets poured over tortilla chips, then I top with lettuce, tomato or salsa, guacamole, and soy sour cream. Even meat eaters admit this is crazy good!
Finding other simple, quick vegan meal ideas has been quite the journey. I learned early on that I am extremely allergic to nutritional yeast, which is an incredible cheese substitute in vegan meals like macaroni and cheese. I also learned that supermarket vegan cheese is terrible. It melts and looks like the real thing, but has a taste that can’t be described. Rancid? Plastic? I’m not sure, but I am sure that I steer clear of vegan cheese! The one exception I have found is soy cream cheese, which is amazingly like the real thing, although I find it has been easier to completely change my way of thinking and to quit trying to find a “substitute”. For instance, why do nachos or pizza have to have cheese on them?
After 6 months of vegan dinners, I still held on stubbornly to my cottage cheese and tuna for lunch. I discovered long ago that a high protein lunch didn’t leave me sleepy at my desk in the afternoon, and cottage cheese and tuna was so simple! No preparation! What was I going to eat for lunch if I went totally vegan? Peanut butter sandwiches every day? By this time, Marc had been fully vegan for 6 months. He had lost 10 pounds and was constantly talking about how much energy he had. His decades of sinus trouble had also vanished! He assumed dairy had been the culprit all along and he hadn’t known. So after all of those months of Marc being a “vegangelical” I decided to go all in. My first mission was to find easy high protein lunches. I quickly found two of my absolute favorites, vegan “tuna” salad and vegan “chicken” salad.
Almond “Chicken” Salad
Chickpea “Tuna” Salad
And yes, these are pictures of my actual recipes! Vegan “tuna” salad is made from one can of drained chickpeas that are crushed with a fork. I stir in two stalks of chopped celery, two tablespoons of sweet relish, one teaspoon of Dijon mustard, and a few tablespoons of vegan mayonnaise. That’s it! It’s amazing in a wrap with vegetables like carrots, tomato, and lettuce. The almond “chicken” salad is just as easy. A cup of natural almonds are soaked overnight and drained, then put in a blender. I add a few tablespoons of mayo, a teaspoon of lemon juice, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a stalk of chopped celery and apples, pecans, and red grapes.
So it has now been almost a year since I went “all in” as a vegan. And the verdict? I love it. I just had my annual physical and my protein and calcium are normal, so it is possible to get plenty of calcium and protein with a vegan diet! I feel fabulous, I sleep better, I have more energy, and the absolute best part is that I NEVER count calories or watch portions, or join in on conversations when people at the office are talking about the latest fad diet, or fretting about the weight they gained over the holidays. I just eat! While it may seem to be an extremely restrictive diet, it’s actually very liberating. I read recently that when we are faced with multiple choices we experience stress. For instance, I used to walk into a fast food restaurant and go over the menu in my head. Should I get a hamburger or chicken? Which has more calories? And should I get the fries? Or should I get a salad? Or does the salad with blue cheese have as many calories as the sandwich? Now I never fret over what to eat. If I eat out, which is rarely, my choices are extremely limited. If restaurants have any vegan items on the menu, I usually have only one or two things to choose from. My meals are extremely simple, and nothing is easier than grabbing a piece of fruit or veggies for a snack. My weight is also more stable than it’s ever been, and, as I mentioned above, I never count calories or watch portions. I eat if I’m hungry and I stop if I’m full. I also smile when I see commercials for fiber supplements or laxatives. Those two things are NEVER something a vegan needs!
But, because I’ve got two non-vegan boys still at home, I make my vegan meals with them in mind. Potato tacos, made from nothing but vegetables, is my youngest son’s favorite! I also broil potatoes, peppers, onions, squash, mushrooms, or whatever vegetables I have on hand and serve them with a veggie burger, which is one of Marc’s favorite dishes.
Potato Tacos
Broiled Veggies and Veggie Burger
As I sit here writing this, I can tell you honestly that going vegan is a journey I never thought I’d take. I always wondered what the point of living such a restrictive lifestyle was, and why people subjected themselves to such misery. Now I understand that being vegan is actually being free and isn’t restrictive at all. I’m free from the health woes that plague so many people like diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure, and I feel better than I’ve ever felt. And, more importantly, I never have to eat anything that has a face or parents!