Sunday Menu š„š„š® no. 26
The gentle and sustainable way our family transitioned to a vegan lifestyle. Plus a heap of easy recipes we've been enjoying lately.
The Sunday Menu is a look at what Iām cookinā up, kitchen sounds, fave ingredients, and other reflections on all things delicious. Grab a snack and letās hang out in the kitchenā¦
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Happy Sunday! I hope you are enjoying warm sunshine and feeling well. š
This week, Iām sharing something I am asked about often: How our family approached our transition to a vegan lifestyle. The journey, which began 7 years ago, was gentle and sustainable. Weāve now been vegan for 6 years. Everyone is on their own journey, and this is a judgment-free zone, so whether you are looking to do the same or simply wanting to add more plants to your plate, I hope you will find something beneficial. Iām also sharing recipes and meals weāve been enjoying through this season of baseball and end-of-school-year busyness. I hope you have something yummy nearby to sipā letās chat!
Iām not going to tell you why you should go vegan. If that interests you, Iām happy to recommend books, documentaries, podcasts, and other resources full of rich information, science, and testimonies that do a much better job than I could.
But I will tell you why I went vegan: for the animals. I stay vegan for them too. And now that I am a parent, raising children in a rapidly warming world, responsible for the food that goes into my four childrenās bodies, and invested in my long-term health, I also stay vegan for the planet and our health. And I wholeheartedly love it. I love the way I feel. I love eating a rainbow of foods. I love the creativity I get to lean into when making a meal. I love knowing that the decisions I make multiple times a day have a positive impact.
Since childhood, Iāve struggled with the concept of eating animals. So the moment I gained 100% agency over what was on my plateā the day I graduated from collegeā I cut meat out of my life. That was 16 years ago.
My decision to go vegetarian coincided with my first time living on my own (in college, I lived in the dorms for one year, then spent the remaining three years living in my sorority house) so I was learning to cook for myself for the first time, and thus, I learned to cook without meat (so yes, it would be wise not to let me cook meat for you!).
A few years later, when my now husband and I moved in together, I prepared our meals, and what we ate was what I ate. When we would go out to eat, my husband would eat meat, but everything we ate at home was vegetarian.
At that point in my life, I swore I could āneverā live without eggs or cheese. I remember chatting with a vegan friend, and the thought of her eating pizza, without dairy cheese, was horrifying to me. I also couldnāt imagine a cup of coffee without half and half or a breakfast burrito without eggs.
But then I started learning about the experiences of animals who are used for their milk and eggs, and I couldnāt unsee it. This was around the same time I became a mom, who produced milk for my own children, and the connection felt like a revelation to me. I was ready to go all in, but my husband was extremely resistant to it and how it would shift our lives, so I knew I had to approach our transition gently.
Every week, I added one vegan dish to our meal plan. The ones we enjoyed stuck around, and within just a few months, our entire meal plan was vegan. During that time, I also slowly stopped buying animal products. One day, I simply didnāt purchase eggs and havenāt since. Same with dairy products like half and half, yogurt, cheese, etc.
Six years ago, the plant-based replacements landscape looked very different from how it does todayā things have already changed so much in such a short amount of time, as demand continues to increase (I now believe the notion that consumer demand drives change). As we began trying vegan alternatives, the same approach appliedā things we liked stuck around. What I discovered was that the further away I was from dairy, the less I wanted it (turns out that dairy is addictive since its purpose is for a calf to grow), and the more delicious everything else became.
The last step in the process was eliminating animal products when traveling. After a trip weād taken as a family, I decided that if I wanted to see more plant-based offerings out in the world, then I needed to play my role in decreasing demand for animal products. I was letting myself believe the narrative that we wouldnāt be able to eat āanythingā when we traveledā Iāve since learned that couldnāt be further from the truth (and it gets easier every day as more and more people adopt a plant-based lifestyle). I learned about the app Happy Cow, and now I gleefully enjoy vegan food wherever I am (and for the rare occasions when I canāt, like I simply prepare in advance: aka gobble down a massive sofritas burrito from Chipotle before a wedding or event... or keep a bag of nuts and a protein bar in my bag when trapped in a small airport).
In the summer of 2019, I asked my husband to listen to a podcast episode that outlined the experiences of animals used for their byproducts (specifically dairy and eggs), and after listening to that, he went from omnivore to vegan overnight, despite all of his initial resistance. We have also raised our kids vegan ever sinceā Iāve had two vegan pregnancies in the mix too. By the summer of 2019, I was officially vegan, and so was my family.
One vegan meal a week snowballed into an all-vegan lifestyle before I knew it. Six years later, my only regret is that I didnāt do it sooner.
A couple of tips for adding plant-based meals to your weekly lineup:
Start with what you already love and swap plant-based options for animal-based options: beans or sweet potatoes in tacos, tempeh as bacon, TVP or vegan meat alternatives like Beyond Burger or Impossible (both are so good!) in pasta or for burgers, marinated tofu on kabobsā the options are endless.
Follow vegan recipe creators on social media, borrow vegan cookbooks from the library, or check out all my past Sunday Menus for recipe inspirationā pick one to add to your lineup next week.
Think about all the meals in a dayā breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks (here are 50 snack ideas from yours truly!)! There are so many ways to explore with plant-based options.
Get curious about what is in your food and where it comes from. Ask questions and seek answers. Mindfulness is powerful when it comes to what we eat.
Expanding my thinking and continuing my understanding of the implications of animal-based products fuels my investment in my choices. Listen to podcasts, read articles, watch documentaries, and read books that support you along the way.
Try different vegan alternatives and know that you wonāt love them allā keep the ones you do in rotation.
Do what feels right to you. I donāt want my kids to miss out on key childhood experiences, so they enjoy vegetarian foods at birthday parties and eat their non-vegan Halloween candy. I want them to see their lifestyle as one that feels sustainable and joyful.
Vegan baking is perhaps the easiest entry point because there is rarely a noticeable difference between vegan and non-vegan baked goods. Use ground flax meal or Bobās Red Mill Egg Replacer for eggs, plant milk, and vegan butter in place of animal-based options in your favorite recipes and see what you think. Look up vegan recipes of your favorite treats and try them out. You might be surprised by the results. :)
As you are shifting your diet, itās always important to consult your physician. A vegan diet can provide everything you need and more (the supplement industry was valued at 177.50 billion in 2023, and with only 1% of the population being vegan, itās likely not the vegans who are purchasing all those nutritional supplements), except vitamin B12, which everyone is at risk of being deficient inā even meat eaters. I found this book to be the best crash course in understanding the various nutrients in foods and how to get them into our diet.
Check out local spots in your area that offer vegan dishesā these arenāt just for vegans! Iāve found delicious vegan food in so many placesā from Oklahoma City to Savannah to Dallas, and beyond. Gather inspiration from the pros. Check out Happy Cow to see whatās near you. If you need recs, holler at your girl!
Practice grace and time. It doesnāt have to be an all-or-nothing overnight switch. You wonāt love every vegan meal or vegan replacement, I certainly havenāt! But that doesnāt mean you wonāt find vegan food delicious. Approach it at your own pace. Small efforts add up to big changes.
If the thought of going vegan terrifies you (as it once did me!), but you want to incorporate more plant-based meals onto your plateā be it for the animals, the planet, or your healthā then forget the all-or-nothing. Eating mostly plants, but enjoying a frittata on Sundays, a burger at the lake (ok, but have you tried an Impossible Burger?!), or cheese pizza on Fridays is still going to make a difference. Every little action adds up; perfection isnāt the only way.
If you would like me to share more of my favorite resourcesā books, creators, podcasts, etc, let me know. Iām also an open book; if you have specific questions youād like me to answer, drop a comment or send me a direct message. You can find my favorite cookbooks here, and of course, in all of my past Sunday Menus you will find heaps of recipes and meal plan ideas because yeah, Iām vegan and love animals, but I also f*cking love delicious food.
