Black Bean Soup

This has got to be one of the best recipes I have discovered since becoming vegan.

It has been over two years and in that time I have not only gotten married but also moved a few times.  One of my favorite ways to make friends and get to know people is to have them over for dinner.  That then means that they will look up some awesome recipes to bring over and thats how I discovered this one.

I love it because most of the ingredients are super cheap and easy to find.

Broke and vegan?  use bottled lemon juice instead of the fresh lime and cook dry beans up. I usually cook half a bag up at a time and freeze the extras for later.

(I plan on inserting pictures)

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil - sometimes I just use water
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups vegetable broth - I make my own and will add a link here one day about that
2 cans (15 oz. each) black beans, rinsed - about 2 cups of cooked beans
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt


1 avocado, cubed
Juice of 1 lime
2 oranges, peeled and chopped
1 cucumber, chopped

Preparation:
1) Heat oil (or water) in the pot you plan to make the soup in. Add the onion and garlic and cook until translucent. Next add in your vegetable broth, beans, and seasonings. Bring this all to boil and reduce to a simmer.

2) While that is simmering away chop your avocado, orange, and cucumber. These all get put into a bowl and have lime juice squeezed all over them.

3) For serving ladle some soup into your bowl and add a heaping spoonful of the fruit mix on top. Enjoy!

Why you should be vegan too!

Happy week five of being vegan!    So while im sitting here reading a bunch of research on healthy diets and lifestyles for all my classes I feel the need to share with everyone my feelings of why you should be vegan too.  Here are my top 5 for week five

1) A diet high in fruits and vegetables and low in red meat is a protective factor agains CVD, type 2 diabetes, and even cancer!     We all know someone if not many someones who has one of these chronic diseases.  And I don't know about you but I like not having one of these, because living is Awesome!

2) You will feel great!   The saying is true you are what you eat so why not eat great things to be great!    Since being vegan I have found that I not only have more energy but I also sleep better and focus better.

3) You get to learn how to cook.   I must admit I never cooked much from scratch before I was vegan but now I am always in the kitchen.  It is so fun, I actually get to use my Pintrest recipe board

4) You can actually eat more.     Because of a theory called volumetrics which explains how fruits and vegetables have less calories by volume than many other popular foods.  Also they contain more of the nutrients that your body needs!  So all this eating more makes you feel fuller which means you also feel happier.

5) Self mastery.  Just think about it we can actually choose what we want to do! So that means choosing to treat our bodies well and using them the way we want to.  No more being a slave to those donuts or that candy bar by the Walmart check register. When you control what you eat you can start to control other things in your life a little better to.  Maybe you can control your temper better or if your like me you can start to control your sassy sarcasm a little more.

So try it!   Take the Vegan challenge and enjoy the benefits!

Week one!

So week one has gone rather well.    I have been discovering that there are just a lot of substitutes for food that I would normally eat.  For example yesterday I discovered that there is vegan butter!   That means today's big meal will include a baked potato!    

I've also discovered that I tend to have more energy lately and can make it through the day without desiring a nap (unless I stay up till 1:00 then I'm still a bit tired.

The hardest part of being vegan I have learned is that in our society we tend to have food for any social event and that's tough to explain why I'm not eating is because nothing there is actually vegan.  But it makes for great conversation and others a little more aware of their health

Other exciting news is that yesterday I weighed in at 120!

The Rest of the World

So today was one of those days that I realized that American culture is not very Vegan friendly.   I was first at a gymnastics meet where they provide food for the coaches to find that there was NOTHING originally planed that could be vegan.     It was a good thing I threw a couple Cilff Bars in my bag.  

The next issue was going out to dinner of an entire menu at a restaurant I could only find a total of 3 things that were vegan - rice, and 2 types of salad.    

This really proves to me just how unhealthy the American diet is - we will grab a piece of pizza far before an apple and we will eat some hot wings before a nice salad.   I guess thats what this whole experiment is about after all.

The Secret

So I have one major Secret on how to survive a vegan diet

Yep.  It's a wonderful thing that chocolate cream filled Oreos are vegan!

Day 3 going strong!

Flatbread and a Fedora

HAPPY DAY 1

All day today during class I thought and thought about how my lunch could go with my outfit.   And then I remembered one of my favorites from the mission was a flat bread wrap!

So Heres what I used:

• whole grain flat bread
• Some pinto beans I had cooked a couple days ago in taco seasoning
• lettuce
• tomato
• some humus to glue the edge together

Wrap it all up nice and tight and EAT!

Last Treat

So Today marks my last day before I start my Vegan experiment!  
To celebrate I had my last BYU donut - also my first since getting back from my mission.

So Cheers to going vegan!