When I first went vegan, there was one thing that absolutely intimidated me - tofu!

Why did it intimate me? I wish I knew. Perhaps it was the daunting task of having to drain and press it. Because, really, what is a tofu press, how do you use it, and why? Maybe it was fear of the taste or the taboo that the white brick seemed to carry.

The other day I put up a poll over on Instagram asking for feedback on what you want to hear about most. The overwhelming answer was my health and allergy journey. Well, you’re getting your wish! Just remember what you asked for 😉 This is a long one, if you want a video version (though this is more organized) you can watch me tell my story on YouTube.

My three favorite sauces and dressings

So, my days get busy. That’s nothing special. It seems we all have places to go and things to do every waking moment of the day. Since I don’t have the ability to stop and grab food wherever between all of the busy moments of the day, it makes it incredibly important to not only have food batch cooked and stashed away for easy grabbing, but to have ways to keep those foods interesting.

A couple weeks ago I was walking through the grocery store and finally found the Mary’s Gone Cheezee crackers. I had seen people posting about them on social media, but this was my first time seeing them in the wild.

Ah, pancakes. A delicious breakfast staple! Who doesn’t have childhood memories of sitting down drench those sweet little fluffy bites of batter with way too much syrup?

Lasagna, baked ziti, creamy sauces, oh my!

These were all foods I thought I was going to have to give up when I went vegan in 2019. When I learned of my severe gluten intolerance, it had been hard enough finding those things without gluten. Adding the removal of dairy alone seemed like a tall ask, let alone eggs and meat.

For those of you who don’t know, I grew up in Minnesota. My absolute favorite food as a kid was creamy chicken wild rice soup. When we’d go out to restaurants, that’s what I would get 100% of the time.

Here’s the deal, despite my love of the taste, I always felt like absolute trash after eating it. It all made sense as an adult when I discovered just how bad my gluten and dairy intolerance is.

A review of the Louisville Vegan Toppins’. Since going Vegan almost five years ago, there’s very, very few things that I miss. In fact, the thought of consuming animal products makes me sick. It mostly has to do with texture vs. the taste for me. There are a few things that I miss the flavorings of such as pepperoni and bacon.

Having unique food restrictions means it’s often hard to find things pre-made in store. That’s ok. Several years ago I started to make as much as I can from scratch and found that it wasn’t as hard as I was expecting.