The INAUGURAL Talking About Our Thursday Food Choices

So, on my The RA Vegan facebook page, we’ve been talking about making healthy food choices.  It’s a constant theme in my life, to be honest.  I mean, things are certainly healthier since I became a vegan, but you can still be a junk food vegan.  (The day I found out oreos were vegan was NOT a good day!) In the discussion it was brought up that I’m not the only one having these issues which got me to thinking……  So very much like ‘What I Ate Wednesdays’ (WIAW) we’ve decided to have  ‘Talking About Our Thursday Food Choices’ (TAOTFC – LOL).  So, every Thursday I’ll write a post about what I ate that day.  (Or, in the event of being super busy, on Friday.) On the facebook page we’ll discuss our choices through pictures or posts or whatever we decide to use to share.  That way there is 1) Some accountability and 2) we can get some ideas about what others are eating!  You can share on your blog or through facebook; or you can just read.  Whatever you’re comfortable with! I have to admit that knowing that I would be doing this tonight *did* make me think more about my choices.  When I did WIAW I would often decide ‘well, I just won’t count today’ and would eat something crazy.  Today I had no choice!  That said, this is NOT about shame.  If you eat 5 soy ice cream sandwiches then oh well.  Not judging here. For breakfast I had leftover pizza.  This is homemade pizza on wheat crust with sauce, broccoli, onions, mushrooms, and vegan mozzarella from Trader Joe’s.  I often don’t eat much for breakfast but I ate 2 pieces of this.  Interestingly, after one piece I thought ‘I don’t need another’ but I still ate it.  I got about 3/4 of the way through the piece and decided I was done.  Next time I’m hoping I can listen to that inner voice earlier!

Then I packed my lunch for school.  As you can see, it didn’t take much!  This is leftover Easy Red Beans and Rice and 2 clementines.  I have started taking time to sit in the teacher’s lounge with others and eat the last few days.  Typically I eat at my desk, working, but really that’s not the best thing for my emotional health.  When I went to get up after just a few minutes today (I had eaten very quickly) one of the women I eat with told me to ‘sit down.”  She was right.  I need to take some time to talk with adults during the day; to think about my needs. Not long after, though, I realized that this wasn’t enough food and went into the stash of food I keep in my desk.

  There was only about 2 of these left but they were definitely good!  Then I taught the rest of my day.  On my way to work with one of my special girls I enjoyed 3 of these macaroons.

YUM.  I got these for Christmas and I’ve enjoyed every pack.  Truth is, that every pack seems to be getting better!  After working with my girl and a quick trip to the thrift store (as my 13 year old said, at 7 am, that he needed more track pants.  Seeing as how I couldn’t handle this request at 7 am, I handled it at night!) I came home to an amazing dinner that Mark made.

Salad, Vegan Lasagna, and a gf/vegan brownie topped with strawberries!  (There might also have been a piece of vegan garlic bread in there that I didn’t get to photograph!)

So, all in all not the worst day or the best day.  I need to eat more fruits and veggies and less processed foods.  I have already put the leftover salad in a container to take for lunch tomorrow, and have a container of pomegranate seeds to take in my lunch as well.  I feel like the snacks I had in my desk weren’t bad, but I think maybe I should pack more in my lunch so that I have better options like some extra fruit.  And today had more vegan cheese then I think I’ve had in the last 6 months; It just worked out that way.  That won’t be normal.

So how was your day today. both food-wise and non food-wise?  I hope it was a positive day and that, whatever food choices you made, you don’t beat yourself up about any of them.  Each moment is a chance for a new beginning!  (Now I need to stay out of the brownies as I put them away!)

Sick and Tired and Tired and Sick – Or why I’ve been gone

My last post published here was in August right before school started.  Summer is usually when I have more time to blog since I’m not working full-time so I expected my post frequency to decrease.  But I didn’t expect it to stop.

But we can’t always see what’s coming, can we?

I started teaching in a different grade this year and found that my responsibilities increased and therefore my planning time increased.  This happened right at the same time my husband, Mark,  left a profession he found unfulfilling without knowing exactly what would be next.  I’m a big proponent of “leap and the net will appear”  and I also firmly believe that life is too short to be miserable so I was supportive, but financially it changed quite a bit for us.

To be honest I had been growing unattached from wanting to blog.  I had loads and loads of pictures and things to share but very little desire to blog.  I had no desire to cook and wasn’t enjoying food or thinking about food or talking about food.  With all this going on, and a really negative comment on my facebook RA Vegan page that caused me to question myself, I decided that I needed a break.  I needed to not feel obligated to photograph my food every time I cooked or ate.  I needed to feel like I was making healthy choices for me, not because I was going to be telling others about them.  And I needed to decide if I wanted to continue with this blog and the facebook page.  So I announced on facebook that I was taking a break and I just went about my life.  Not only did I not post anything but I didn’t read or comment.  I took a break from being The RA Vegan and was simply Jen.

Mark found a job he loves and a new calling.  Financially it’s made us make choices, but I’ll choose happiness over money.  Just to be clear, I’m not talking about choosing happiness and losing everything.  I’m talking about still being able to pay our bills but giving up some luxuries and things we had grown used to in order to be happy.  Things were looking up.

But I kept getting sick.  Not that unusual as someone who takes immuno-suppressants, but the frequency was unusual even for me.  One infection after another until I lost my voice and ended up at my doctor’s on November 5th expecting her to say I had yet another sinus infection.  Instead she prodded and looked and sent me for blood tests, telling me she suspected mono.  When she suggested, in her office, that I might need to take some time off I told her she was crazy.  I was the main breadwinner (and gluten free & vegan bread is pricey!) and I was just going to have deal with it.  I agreed to take a few days off, maybe even a week, but that was it.

I felt worse and worse and realized that sometimes you just have to deal with the reality in front of you.  So I took a month off.  We got even more creative with finances, but we made it work.  And I basically spent the entire time either lying in my bed or lying on the couch.  I didn’t leave the house for almost 2 weeks and I sent my family off to enjoy Thanksgiving in a different state without me because I couldn’t make the trip.  Once, when I got my haircut, I came home and took a 2 hour nap.  It wasn’t a pretty time.  I read quite a few free books on my kindle and ate more peanut butter and jelly than I’d like to count.  I didn’t have much of an appetite and was forcing myself to eat for much of the month.  Luckily things started to turn after Thanksgiving and I started feeling human again though slowly.  And as I started to feel better I realized I was thinking about food and cooking again; that I wanted to connect with the community I had become a part of again.

So I started posting on facebook, and reading some things.  I started making a few comments, and I pulled my camera out again.  I started cooking again and enjoying it.  And slowly I felt like Jen and The RA Vegan were becoming one again.

This is not a prolific blog and will probably never be.  I don’t make any money from doing this, it is simply an opportunity for me to express myself and talk to amazing people.  But I missed it.

Though I did learn that I can’t feel obligated to post, it will only make me want to do it less.  So I’m going to post when I want, and not when I don’t want.  I’m going to chat on facebook about veganism and having an autoimmune disorder and life but not feel guilty if I go a few days without saying anything.

Life is for living well, and being sick and tired is not a way to live if you can help it.  I don’t have control over the auto-immune disorder (which was still there during what I now refer to as ‘the mono invasion’) but I have control over how I respond and live my life.  I want to be happy, so as long as writing this makes me happy I’ll keep doing it.  If it doesn’t then I’ll stop.

I hope your second half of 2012 has been good!  My hope for us all is that we find joy and happiness and health in the New Year!

Now who wants to see the pictures of meals I’ve eaten?  LOL

My boring vegan life?

Ok.  I don’t really think my life is boring.  I mean, any life that has this happening in it can’t be boring, right?

Yes, the dog jumped onto the lime to be with the kids.  Of course, the dog can’t get out of the pool so when she does this it necessitates some assistance at getting her back to land.  So nope, it’s not boring.

Last week I spent the week at the Arts in Motion Academy at Salisbury University learning about ways to integrate the arts into my teaching.  My favorite part was beat-boxing and this article showcases some of what we did.  (My group is not up there, but we did something similar.)  I also did a play to demonstrate how early man discovered fire could do things wherein I played the very difficult role of a bird shot down into the fire!  I learned to paint on screens and how to dance mutiplication patterns.

This screen painting was supposed to be folk art of fruit but it really turned out to look like a clown face!  I might not be the most gifted visual artist, but life is not boring!

We went out to lunch 4 of the 5 days and I got some wonderful Vegan food including this Vietnamese food and Mediterranean food.

And while I was taking this class my niece and nephew were staying with us and attending nature camp with my kids.  They swam in the mucky disgusting pond everyday and came home smelling, um, interesting.  I got very talented at spraying out their shoes with the hose!  Not boring.

And today, the first weekday after my class, I got caught in a torrential downpour, had 5 kids running around my house, and cleaned out my fridge.  How could you think refrigerator cleaning is boring??

But the thing is, I haven’t done a ton of cooking so I haven’t been able to post any recipes.  I do have two posts in the works.  One is about being a “bad vegan” and the foods I don’t like.  The other is a review of the fantastic new cookbook “Great Gluten Free Vegan Eats” by Allyson Kramer.  But, I don’t always post what I’m thinking about because I don’t want to bore you.  So, what would you like to hear about?

Are you interested in how I navigate being the only vegan in my circle of friends?  How I deal with the pain of RA?  How I relax?  How I deal with teaching all day and raising my kids while having RA?  Restaurant reviews?  Something else?  Or are you mostly looking for recipes?

Seriously.  Are there any specific topics you’d like me to cover?  My brain tends to jump around pretty intensely and it will probably still do that, but I’d like a little help focusing on what you’d like to read about.  Because I know you’re not here to see my beautiful screen painting!  LOL

Because one size does not fit all or even most…

I am not an expert on health.  I am just a mom, a wife, and a teacher who has some sort of an auto-immune disorder that still lacks a diagnosis.  (You can see my About me page for the specifics.  They thought it was RA and still think it might be but are not sure due to the fact that I am sero-negative.  My medical treatment is pretty traditional for RA, though.)

The choices I have made for myself are just that, my choices.  I’m trying to do the best I can with what I’ve got.  The problem is that even the experts disagree.  Last year I attended the Take Back Your Health Conference in Virginia.  One of the things that I found both fascinating and difficult was that the speakers are all very different.  From one talk to another completely different information was presented.  This was intentional.  The creators specifically wanted us to have lots of different options because we are not all the same.  What works for one person does not necessarily work for the next person.  We are all different and this difference is precious.

But that definitely highlights the fact that a one size fits all mentality no longer works.  It’s why some of us are seeking alternatives to traditional western medicine.  But that logic would also hold that alternative treatment is also not a one size fits all situation.

I have chosen, for myself, a combined method.  I still take medication but I also have made some major lifestyle changes in order to help me best deal with my auto-immune disorder.   It helps.  I know there are other changes I could (and maybe should) make to my life and I’m doing them slowly.  At my own pace.

The reason I’m thinking about this is because I attempted a juice fast when school got out.  I’ve been talking about it on my RA Vegan facebook, which means people know.  I’ve gone almost three days and while there have been good things there have also been some things I’m a little concerned about.  Nothing awful but enough that I think it’s time for me to stop.

I know I *could* go on.  But *should* I?

And I’m a little worried about saying that publicly for fear I will look like a quitter by those who feel strongly about how long one should do a fast.  Of course, to some of my friends and family just saying I was doing it made me look crazy anyway.

But one size does not fit all.  I’m trying to make the best decisions I can for myself every day.  Good choices are good choices even if they are not the same good choices others make.

It’s hard when you’re public about things you are trying, because then everyone knows when you stop.  I’m glad I tried and I might try again.  But, for now, this is what I need to do.  For me.

Ordering Vegan Food: Whoopee Pies!

I’ve talked before about how the Eastern Shore of MD is not particularly vegan friendly at the moment.  When I went to PA a few weeks ago for an amazing 10 course vegan meal and mentioned where I lived someone said “You’re vegan in Salisbury MD?  Isn’t that Perdue country?  They let you live there??”  (For a recap of the night check out this great post by The Vegan Version.  I forgot my camera at home.  I know!  Bad blogger!)

Meals out are getting easier, actually.  I’m finding more and more places that have alternatives that are healthy, tasty, and vegan.  Rarely, though, do I find a place where I can get dessert other than sorbet.  And sorbet is good, it’s just not what I want all the time.

Now, there are a few options.  Pemberton Coffeehouse has a rotating flavor vegan cupcake, and I can occasionally find Alternative Baking Company Cookies locally.

But there is no place where I could go in and choose from a full menu (or even more than one or two) of vegan choices either main dishes or desserts.  This is not NY, unfortunately.  Wait.  Let me take that back.  As much as I love NY I’m actually happy to live where I do.  The open space, the beach, the fresh produce.  It’s lovely.  But I can’t just decide I want some vegan baked goods and go buy them like I could in NY.

Yes, I could make them.  And I usually do.  But last week was the very end of the school year which is, by far, the craziest time in my life.  I was tired.  I was depleted.  And I wanted dessert.

So what did I do?  Why, I ordered dessert of course!

Yes!  This box of awesomeness was delivered right to my door.  Vegan Whoopee Pies!  And man were they good!  I put them in the fridge and found that I preferred them cold.  They were fine at any temperature, but I liked them cold best.  My favorite flavor of this assortment actually surprised me.  Being a chocolate person I figured that’s where I would find my favorite but, actually, it was pumpkin.  They were all tremendous, but pumpkin was my favorite.  The packaging was great as well and it’s where I got that vegan tag I’m playing with in the first picture!

We won’t talk about how quickly I ate them all.  But they were wonderful and it was worth it!  You can find these and other vegan confections at the Veganville etsy store.

It was a fabulous gift to myself as I ended the school year.  Do you order vegan food online?  What are your favorite places to get it?

Wye Mill and Stone Ground Cornmeal and Accidental Discoveries

Sometimes the best things are found by accident.

Last weekend we set off on a Park Quest.  We were driving the hour or so to Wye Island Maryland to do a quest that involved hiking and solving a crossword puzzle.  Except, on the way, we discovered that we were low on gas.  So I used the gps to try and find the closest gas station.  While looking at the closest it did occur to me that it might not be in service since the name did not contain anything that sounded like gas, but we decided to turn off the main road and check it out.  Sure enough, it was closed and there was no gas so we had to get back on the highway.  On the drive back to the highway we drove past a small place with a sign outside that said “Open” and one that said “Stone Ground Cornmeal.”  The kids, who have always loved interesting places, wanted to stop but our sights were set on getting gas and right away!  As we got back to the highway we were going to turn left and go the 7.3 miles to where the gps said we would find gas when T said “Mom!  Look!  Over there!” and there, peaking through the trees right across the highway, was a gas station.  So after gas the kids begged to go back to the stone ground cornmeal sign and since it was less than a mile away we figured we’d stop for a second and then be on our way to the hike.

Well it turns out that The Wye Grist Mill is on the National Register of Historic places and that the history is fascinating.  Since one of the only things my kids like more than exploring is museums, we were hooked!

The volunteer who did our tour was amazing.  He took us through each piece of information and really involved the kids in the conversation.  We were there over an hour learning about the history of the mill, the area, and milling in general.  The entire visit was free though they do take donations, and is located just off of Route 50 if you’re on your way over the bay bridge going to the Eastern Shore of MD.  On the first and third Saturdays of the month, spring to fall, they actually grind things in the mill which I think would be very interesting to watch.

We bought some stone ground cornmeal, some stone ground buckwheat flour, and some strawberry jam.  As we were buying it I started thinking about how there really are so many different options when it comes to buying things even though we don’t always see them or think about them.  I have been trying to seek out local places to buy things (which is what lead me to joining the CSA with Taylor’s Fresh Organics) when I can.   I love the farmer’s markets locally and really need to get there more.  But it’s also nice to find the out-of-the-way places to buy things.  When I bought my flours I felt good knowing I was also preserving history while spending my money.  And yes, we did leave a donation.

After the tour we indeed went and did our Park Quest.  We loved the hiking and it was a great day.  But what an amazing find to be able to watch an old mill really grind flour!  What places have you discovered “by accident”?  Discovering places like this makes life more enjoyable, in my opinion.

Funky. Funky. Funky.

Lately I have been in a funk.  Nothing awful.  I’ve gone to work everyday and kissed my children and husband.  I’ve chauffeured and cleaned and written lesson plans.  But everything except loving on my family felt rather, well, blah.

I haven’t posted a blog post in a few weeks and  I haven’t been nearly as active on my facebook page.  To be honest, I haven’t really cooked much.  A few things here and there but very very little.  No motivation.

Apparently I haven’t been the only one.  Dacia at Thirty Four and Fabulous recently posted about a funk and A Gluten Free, Vegan, Mom Who Knows posted on my facebook page that she too has been in a funk.

Maybe we push ourselves so much that sometimes we just hit a wall.  Maybe we get overwhelmed.  Maybe it’s something else.  But it happens to most of us.

But I am happy to report that I feel refreshed and much more “like myself.”

I took some time for me.

A friend and I escaped this weekend to Jim Thorpe PA to a 10 course vegan dinner.  It was amazing to try so many wonderful courses and I will try to fill you in, with pictures, later.

But along with wonderful food what I found was the chance to feel like me again.  This friend and I talked all weekend.  I didn’t worry about what I was supposed to do.  I simply did things.

It was just what I needed.

I feel refreshed and full of life again.  Ready to re-focus on what is important.  And that is taking the best care of my family I can.  To do that I, of course, must take care of me as well.

The end of the school year is almost here and soon I’ll be in summer mode.  My CSA starts delivering in a few weeks and there will be produce to savor.  It’s time to pull out of my funk and jump back into joy.

I hope you are well.  Because to paraphrase my friend Kristen at The Healing Spoon, this webpage is not just about me.  It’s about us.  It’s a journey that I am honored and blessed to be taking with other people.  Without you there would be no point in doing this.  Because sharing together is what makes this worthwhile.

I feel bad that I have been absent lately but I needed to recharge.  And now I feel ready to move forward.

Have you felt funky lately?  How have you handled funks in the past?  Do you think they are inevitable?  Or do you think they are preventable?  What do you do to keep yourself charged up?

Thank you for being a part of my life.  Let’s move forward together!

When it rains it pours, or craziness in my vegan life!

This is the time of year when things heat up in the world of a special education teacher.  We’ve got IEPs (Individualized Education Plans) that must be re-done every year and many of them come due now.  We’ve got the end of the year coming which is always a push to get them done.

So that’s part of the reason I’ve been absent.  The other reasons range from our family trip to Disney to sickness to all the kid events we’ve had lately.  And to top it all off the last reason I haven’t posted lately is:

I dropped my laptop and shattered the motherboard.

Yep.

I wish I could say I had a good story for what happened.  (Zombie Apocalypse?)

But nope.  I just dropped it.

A dear friend, who is our tech guy, was able to recover my pictures which is phenomenal.  But this means I haven’t had any way to download new ones (hence the lack of my post on Disney) or a computer set up for me to blog on easily.  Plus, and I have to admit this, I hate Mark’s laptop.  Something about it doesn’t fit my hands correctly so it makes it tough to use.

But last night we went out and bought a new laptop just for me.  It’s the right size for my hands and I can customize it for blogging which is a wonderful thing.

Tomorrow night is a the Slow Food Delmarva event at Hobo’s where I gave away tickets so I’m super excited.  Saturday is FanCon and then the Salisbury Festival.  Sunday I intend to relax and hopefully get all those Disney photos downloaded and my post written.  But please know I have missed blogging and am glad to have the opportunity to get back into it.

I leave you with a few photos of the recent happenings here.  Just no Disney pictures.  Those deserve their own post!

The first weekend back E’s Destination Imagination team competed at the state level.  Mark and I are enjoying a beautiful day on the University of Maryland Baltimore County Campus.  I was super impressed with the vegan food options but less than a week back from Disney and just after 2 days of having a stomach virus (all vomiting and no eating) it was a tough day.

I’m still cooking and eating, but there hasn’t been much that was super fancy.  The rooster and I enjoyed a vegan orange julius.  The rosemary bread was topped with hummus and tomato, and we took advantage of the early spring to do some strawberry picking.

Last weekend T went to engineering camp about 3 hours north of us with the members of his competitive lego robotics team.  He went up on Friday with the parents of another child but Sunday the 3 moms drove up, in the pouring rain, to get the boys.  We stopped at a Bonefish Grill for lunch where I was pleasantly surprised by what they could fix me.  This was rice and lots of veggies with a tomato basil sauce.  6+ hours in the car in the rain didn’t do great things for me, though.

So from my crazy life to your, hopefully, calmer life.  I hope you are well.  I hope you feel strong and healthy.  And I look forward to getting back in touch more regularly.

So tell me, what have you been up to?  Is your life nuts right now too?  Have you ever dropped a laptop?  (Please.   Someone have done this!  LOL)

Not Sick Enough – Thoughts on an Auto-Immune Disorder

This post has been percolating in my brain since my last doctor’s appointment on 2/15.  Then I read My Take on RA Treatment and Decisions and my brain started moving more.  Today I read Kelly @ RA Warrior’s Post “Can We Treat The Whole Person or At Least The Whole Disease” and I decided it was time to finally finish getting my thoughts down.  This is mostly a vent; Where I don’t expect anyone else to fix it but I need to get it out.

When I was in my 20’s I had “an episode.”  There was a lot of pain involved and no one knew what was wrong.  There were tests run and no definitive diagnosis was made.  There were some bandied about but, basically, the doctor wanted me to be quiet and leave him alone.  He didn’t know what was wrong and there was nothing he could do for me was the general consensus. He implied it was all in my head.

So I quit my job and did something less stressful and felt ok enough to keep going.  When I got pregnant all those pains went away.  (I hesitate to say “When I got pregnant I felt great” as I had hyperemesis gravidarum with my pregnancies.  Fancy words for ‘throw up all the time.’  So I didn’t actually feel great.)  And the pain stayed away for close to 10 years.  I ran a marathon, slowly.

JENNIFER PITONIAK (F29)

6:33:48

1400

473 / 92

F25-30

6:31:36

WARR ACRES, OK

I worked at raising my kids and lived in 3 states.  And I felt good.

But a few years ago things started to hurt again.  And I realized that, honestly, my hands had pretty much always hurt but I had ignored it.  I started with my gp who very quickly told me that he had no idea, that it was out of his expertise, and sent me to a specialist.  It’s the same rheumatologist I continue to see and she is very very good.  But there are limitations.  In fact, I have had multiple diagnoses since beginning this journey but nothing definitive.  If you’ve read my About Me page you’ve seen my disclaimer that my diagnosis varies from appointment to appointment.  It’s probably RA, and when I started this blog that’s what they thought it was, but there is nothing official that says that anymore.  (I’ve got it written on some old documents but things keep changing.)  She sees me about every 3 months but sometimes more frequently.

I have to go over the Bay Bridge to get there

To get to her I have to drive between 2.5 and 3 hours in each direction which means I have to take a whole day off of work.  And often I hear the same thing

“Well, *pause*, your blood-work still looks great.”

Normally having great blood-work is, well, great.  But in this case it means my data doesn’t show what we want.  I don’t look sick enough.  I am sero-negative and, due to my treatment, do not appear very swollen.  But I still hurt.

I’ve switched jobs.  I’ve changed my diet.  I’ve reduced the stress in my life.  I’ve added in extra time to relax.  I’ve made sure I am getting 8+ hours of good sleep a night.

And still I hurt.  I “shuffle” around the house at night because my ankles hurt too much to bend.   I stopped wearing my wedding rings some time ago because my hands were too swollen.  While the swelling has gone down with the daily prednisone they still hurt too much to wear.

But without the definitive proof there isn’t a whole lot more we can do in the treatment department.

Now, my doctor does not think it is all in my head.  She is very supportive but she is also a realist.  And a realist knows that the insurance company will not pay for certain treatments without definitive proof which we don’t have.

I’m not sick enough.

I could go off my current treatment and see if I swell up substantially and/or develop some more obvious things we can target as visible clues.  But I’m functional right now.  I get up and go to work every morning as a special ed teacher and I am part of my family. I might not participate as much as I would like, but I am functional.  I’m worried about what would happen if I went off that treatment.

So I feel like I’m stuck.

At least she doesn’t think it’s all in my head.  But again, I’m not sick enough.

I look pretty good.  I’m not running any marathons but hey, not everyone does that anyway.  I look “normal” but I hurt pretty much all the time.  But yet we don’t quite know where to go from here.

There are side effects from medications and, like is said in the article on treatment, there has to be informed consent to choose these treatments.  I’m not saying I am desperate to go to the next level of meds.  I’m actually scared of it.  But I really don’t know where I go from here.

I guess I just keep doing what I’m doing.  But I wish there were more answers for people like me.  Yep.  Those who are not sick enough.

Vegan Food for Non-Vegans: The Basics for Breakfast

I am the only vegan in my family. Wait, that’s not quite correct. I have 2 cousins who are vegan. But I am the only vegan who lives in my house. And, for the most part, I am the only vegan in my circle of friends. Which means that I am generally the only one advocating for plant based food at any meal. As I’m sure I’m not the only person in this situation I thought I’d start a series on foods that I have successfully fed to the non-vegans in my life. This will take more than one post and, for some people, seem very simplistic. But the truth is that sometimes we need to start with basics.

So if you are brand new to eating a plant based diet or trying to feed some people who are very uncomfortable with your choice, here are some ideas to start. Some of these are going to seem like no-brainers, but I think that sometimes it is easy to forget that starting at the beginning with something is ok.  Remember when I say basic I really mean BASIC.  I read somewhere a quote that some people think there is some secret list of “vegan foods.”  Really, it is much simpler than that.  So if you are feeling overwhelmed here are some things to start with.

This series is going to take a little while because I plan on breaking it down into meal ideas.  Of course you could have breakfast for dinner or lunch for dinner or lunch for breakfast or breakfast for lunch or or or… lol.  But this gives me a good way to break things into categories for future referencing.  I hope this series helps someone to feel a little more confident in their choices and eating!  Oh, and I hope that you will add some comments at the end.  Comments are a very important part of this blog as I am just one person and I love all the different perspectives that others can add!

Basic Breakfast ideas

• Healthy Cereal with Soy Milk or Rice Milk or Almond Milk (Wait a minute!  As much cereal as I eat I don’t have a picture of this.  Really??  Oh well…)

Look for something where sugar is NOT the first ingredient and that does not include honey, eggs, milk, or butter in the ingredients.  Some people will tell you this is not the healthiest breakfast and, well, they would be correct.  But if you’re just starting a transition to veganism sometimes you need somethings that are very similar to what you ate before.  A similar option would be to make your own granola.  It’s not hard at all (there are tons of recipes on the web) and it still seems like cereal.

• Oatmeal  

I like mine with peanut butter and maple syrup, to be honest.  But there are many different combinations that work and don’t contain animal products.  This would be a good place to introduce earth balance and soy milk or almond milk.  Almond butter and almond milk would be a nice duo.

• Waffles  

While this picture shows some frozen vegan waffles topped with a vegan chocolate frosting and blueberries, there are many good vegan waffle recipes out there.  My kids can’t tell the difference.  Some goods ones are my sick girl waffles with chocolate chips and this whole wheat vegan waffles recipe I like to use.

• Pancakes  

Very similar to waffles; in fact you can use the same recipes and just ladle them onto a griddle.  My kids can’t tell the difference.  Yes, we sometimes like ours to be a little decadent!

• Fruit smoothies

I don’t really follow a recipe for my smoothies.  Basically I fill my blender between half and 3/4 full of fruits, add a little liquid (often rice milk or soy milk), and then blend.  Once it’s very well blended I often add in between 1 and 2 cups of greens, usually spinach but sometimes kale and then drink.  I do need to let you in on a dirty little secret, though.  No one else in my house likes it with greens in it.  I truly believe it doesn’t change the taste, but something about the color is off-putting to them.  I’ve fought that battle over and over again but have finally decided to give in a bit.  I make the fruit portion and give some to my daughter, then add the spinach to my part.  At least she’s getting some fruit and I figure that, eventually, she’ll get used to it and have it with greens.  In my opinion having a big glass of fruit in the morning beats a doughnut at least.

• Toast with nut butter 

Seriously, does it get any easier than this?  But I think we often forget that this is a vegan breakfast.  Add a banana and some soy milk and you’ve got a fine easy breakfast that most people, vegan or not, are ok with.

• Fruit 

Sometimes, particularly in the summer, I have just fruit for breakfast.  A big bowl of fresh fruit.  Maybe I’ll add a muffin (yep, that one is next on the list) or some toast with nut butter.  But the fruit is the main thing.  Why not get all that yummy goodness on a spoon?

• Muffins 

This is something you can make ahead and freeze for a quick breakfast.  There are lots of good recipes out there but two I like are Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Muffins and Banana Chocolate Chip muffins, both of which are also gluten free.  These blueberry muffins from Happy Go Lucky Vegan were a recent hit around here.  With a bowl of fruit, or a smear of nut butter, or just a banana these can make an easy breakfast that even non vegans won’t mind.

Let me make something clear:  This was, by no means, an exhaustive list.  I could go on and on about other breakfast ideas I enjoy like casseroles, tofu scrambles, things that involve tempeh bacon, etc.  But those things are not easy to present to a non-vegan.  They tend to take some getting used to.  This was a list I came up of very basic vegan breakfasts.  Now I’d like you to add to the list.  What are some breakfast foods you would be happy to feed to non-vegans?  What are some very simple things to start your day?