So I'm totally obsessed with food. Not in a bad, eating-disorder type way, I just really love to cook and eat. Other than being a new mama, it's probably my number-one obsession right now.

I have a long history with vegetarianism and veganism. I was vegetarian many times growing up, and while my family was pretty supportive, my dad is and remains a very meat-and-potatoes type of guy, and we never had a ton in the way of fresh vegetables (mostly canned or frozen) so until I was older and cooking for myself, it was hard for me to stick it out. I went from omnivore to vegetarian to vegan very quickly around age 17, and remained vegan for almost two years. Things got really hairy when I moved into my college dorm. I'm a BIG fan of variety (I'm kind of bad at eating leftovers unless I can transform them from their original incarnation) and eating cilantro pesto pasta multiple times a week got really, really old. Oh and there were absolutely NO cooking facilities in our dorms. So I went back to plain old vegetarianism for my psychic health, if nothing else. I remained so until just last Christmas, when at the ripe old age of 27 I craved the fat-salt-protein of meat - which I blame on raging pregnancy hormones, since I was about 4 months pregnant at the time. I remained an omnivore until very recently (about 3.5 months post-partum), when I learned that my mother has breast cancer - again. That was it for me. I went back to vegetarianism, which wasn't hard at all, and now I'm researching and psyching myself up for the vegan way of life as well. I know my family is going to be thinking "OY! Not the no-cheese thing AGAIN!" but I've seen and read too much about all of the health/environmental/animal suffering arguments to do anything else.

My husband is supportive and will play along (he's been a vegetarian for like 13 years) but he has no intention of being strict about the veganism. I'm not sure how strict I'll be either. And thus, this blog was born!

I intend to chronicle my food joys and sorrows here, the successes and failures, the ecstasy and the misery. If nothing else, it will remind me of good recipes to make again! In all my cookbook-lust, sometimes I make something that's great and then forget all about it. And hopefully I can see just where I stand on my committment to veganism.

Oh, I should mention that I abhor wasting food, so we intend to finish up all the food we have on hand (cheese, yogurt, frozen pizzas, lasagne, and stroganoff - all veggie but not vegan) before we replace them with vegan alternatives. So I have to use up my 2 last sticks of butter before I buy the Earth Balance, knowwhatimean?

So this is my adventure - exploring the world of veganism from several angles, learning all I can to hopefully make this a permanent choice for myself, my husband and my son.

Food Log for 10/18/06
Breakfast:
Warmed up Baking Powder Biscuits with Tempeh-White Bean Gravy (from Vegan with a Vengeance - YUM!!!! Will definitely make this again). Used up some butter in the biscuit recipe.
OJ

Lunch:
Met Chad for Lunch at Family Dining type of establishment. LIMITED options.
Hummus and pita
Grilled veggie sandwich on foccacia (Not terrible, but eggplant was pretty inedible.)

Dinner:
Honeybaked Lentils (YUM! So easy and delicious)
Brown Rice
Green Salad
Pumpkin Muffin (out of Vegan with a Vengeance - best damn muffins under the sun!) with a scoop of Vanilla Soy Ice Cream

Dessert #2: Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies (also out of Vegan with a Vengeance - will defnitely make these again, too)