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Let’s have a little chat. Do you have a moment?
Let’s talk about how my favorite thing to make for dinner used to be reservations. Things have changed. We now eat out once a week, and I couldn’t be happier.
Over the last year, we have continued to finely tune our diets. We want our food to make us healthy. The girls and I follow a strict vegetarian diet. I say strict because I know “vegetarians” that eat fish or an occasional chicken breast, but that’s not really vegetarian. I explain it to others that we don’t eat anything that could cause an animal to die. I don’t mean it in a dramatic way, more in a way that makes it easy for others to understand. Clearly eating a filet of fish or a chicken breast would cause an animal to lose their life.
I’ve also been a vegan off and on. I love how I feel when I’m on a vegan diet, but the cheese gets me every time. I crave mac n cheese like it’s nobodies business and I cave in and eat it. That starts a spiral of adding even more dairy products and then I’m back to being a vegetarian. *Edited to add- I follow a vegan, plant-based diet again*
Then last December my oldest {13 year old} decided that she was going to become a vegan. She spent a few months researching how to get all the nutrients vegans need and I supported her decision. Her choice jump-started my resolve to take our healthy eating up a notch. I’m so lucky that my husband is open to eating healthy too. He loves a good beef hamburger and will never be meat-free, but he also knows that meat should complement your diet, not be the main attraction. He is happy to eat my healthy creations and enjoys when I make the occasional unhealthy sweet treat. *Edited to add… Pete has been vegetarian for almost 2 years now*
This all leads me to where I am today. I’m not a cook or a baker naturally, it was never something that I enjoyed because I never thought I was good at it. I would joke about how me, in a kitchen, was a bad idea.
I am prone to accidentally burning and cutting myself. My husband makes sure that he is always within shouting distance when I’m doing anything in the kitchen. He’s my go-to guy for taking things in and out of the oven. He avails himself to my beck and call when I need something hot, lifted and drained. He’s the muscle behind the kitchen and I would be lost and probably terribly burned and sliced up without him. His support has helped me evolve into a strong family meal maker. Because of all of this I was able to find my kitchen groove.
I love to cook food that is easy and comforting. Food that is healthy 90% of the time with a little less healthy thrown in there every once in a while. Vegan and dessert dishes are my favorite to create. If there are too many ingredients or steps I lose interest so you will notice that I take short cuts if I can without hurting the nutritional value, taste or adding artificial ingredients.
This is where I am food wise. This will be my main food focus here on It’s a Lovely Life. It’s nice to finally find my food groove!
I hope you will join me as I mainstream vegan eating and bring it to everyone, even the pickiest meat eaters {I’m up for the challenge}. You don’t have to become a vegan yourself to hang out here with me… maybe you can just try adding a couple of my hearty vegan dishes and see how it goes? Are you up for the challenge?
