Vegan MOFO: day 1

orange banner via vegan mofo, eating meat is dumb image by our designed life

Hi friends. Throughout the month of October I will be participating in Vegan MOFO {month of food} where I will share my favorite recipes, local San Francisco eateries, tips and general vegan issues. Now don't get me wrong, I am not here to judge anyone, so please, I ask the same to you. For some the topic of herbivores vs. carnivores can be very touchy but I assure you, I come from a very loving heart {for all things, not just people} and am doing the best I can to maintain a healthy diet for myself, my husband and my growing baby belly. Heck I even have a dog who's favorite snack is oranges and brussel sprouts, but more on that later! I will start each vegan post this month with the bright orange banner, if you would like please participate- it will be fun! If not, just skip on down I will continue to also bring my meat eating friends daily design and lifestyle inspiration, but I do encourage you to give a few recipes a try. You never know, you may even find yourself surprised with how simple a vegan diet can actually be, not to mention cheaper!

Now that that is out of the way, welcome to my very first vegan MOFO post! A little about me: I have been vegetarian for about 6 years now, vegan for the last 5 months {right when I found out I was pregnant with my first itty bitty}. The {then fiancee} and I took to a vegetarian diet a little slow at first, in fact, our first go round in college we gave up and gave in to the calls of cheap and fast food. But after learning a bit more have been growing to find a great balance in what works for us and what doesn't. It wasn't until about 2 years ago that I can say we really got it. We tried our hardest at being good veggie eaters but it was hard. Especially for me coming from a large Mexican family where everything was centered around food and animal products. Not so say we don't struggle every now and then {still to this day when I pass by a doughnut shop and the wind is just right my mouth still salivates} but we give it our best we possibly can and really that's all I can ask for. 

Now for all of you that may be unfamiliar with a vegan diet you may be wondering what the heck am I doing 5 months pregnant and not eating meat or dairy. Well friends, eating a balanced diet not only works for my growing belly it is giving me a head start in providing a healthy environment for my baby. When I was a meat eater not only was a little heavier then need be but I was also at a risk for high blood pressure and cholesterol. Today I can proudly say I am nice and healthy. And in case you are wondering I get my protein from many natural sources- did you know you can actually get more from some whole foods then from a piece of meat? True story.

Well, enough about me- this post is verging on the longest I have ever written- its about time we get to the food! Join me tomorrow as I share with you one of my {and my husband's} favorite breakfast foods that you can whip up in less then 30 minutes from start to finish. And a big ol' welcome to those that have stopped by from Vegan MOFO. I can't wait to get reading and find fantastic recipes that everyone will be sharing!

If you are interested in finding out more from this huge vegan community please check out the 2012 Vegan MOFO blogroll where you will find hundreds of folks sharing all things food.

Make this: Cold soba noodle salad

One of my most favorite blogs to read has got to be Cakies, a site filled with love, family, crazy crafty goodness and mouth watering meals. And when Ruby posted about her family meals consisting of that cold soba noodle salad my mouth started salivating on the spot. When we lived in L.A one of my favorite eateries was M Cafe, I could eat their soba noodle salad all day long so seeing this recipe not only brought back fantastic memories it made me long for those flavors all over again. So thank you Ruby for sharing I cannot wait to get my hands on these ingredients and try this for myself....seems easy enough.

image via cakies

Make this, Salad pride

Holy smokes my mind has just been blown. Now that our community garden is starting to provide us with enough food for entire meals I've been scrambling to find ways to use up everything before it goes bad and I think I may have found my dream come true in Salad Pride. Yep, with a name like that you can expect amazing concoctions like this lentil, parsnip and cranberry or the pumpkin, tofu and mint. Who's hungry?

photos via salad pride

Feeling better, finally

Hi friends, hope you had a relaxing extended weekend. It took until Sunday for both the husband and I to finally have enough strength to walk around among the living, poor guy was sick for over a week and my allergies played a nasty game with me. Thank goodness for having Monday off, it was like we got a redo of a weekend. Though we took it easy, taking the dog to the park to play and a little shopping of course made it in. But the highlight, new grub.
For a while now, I have been eyeing the menu over at Source, an amazingly delicious vegetarian and vegan eatery here in San Francisco and thanks to an impromptu trip across the city for a DIY project, we were finally almost in the area to stop in for a tasty lunch. Lets just say it was totally worth the second bus and additional half a mile walk to find it. With plenty on the menu to satisfy any craving, the husband decided on the Avocado oink bits mozzarella burger with fries and I the Chicago bow wow. They sound a little on the odd side but oh.my.gosh. Guys. I never thought I would have that char-broil flavor as a vegetarian but Source has found the secret to amazing flavors. And its totally worth another 45 minute train ride all the way back for more.

 

This photo doesn't do it justice, the 'hot dog' was amazing! Its somewhere under all that relish and tasty goodness. 

photos for our designed life