Welcome

Hello friends and welcome to Vegan Vitality. After months of delay, I have finally succumbed to the pressure to start my own blog. Perhaps the delay was due in part to the fact that I felt the need to find an identity with my cyber-self and now feel somewhat convinced that I have accomplished that.

My point of view stems out of simplicity, sustainability, activity and compassion. How I express that is through my vegan lifestyle. I have been vegan since October 2007. No eggs, no diary, no meat – no animals (only to admire and adore them, of course). Ever since going vegan, I have noticed the connection with my food source deepen and my awareness of the world grow. My commitment to veganism is not only what I eat , but also how I live. To treat other living creatures with respect is important, but what is also important is how I treat my own body. Exercise and movement are essential to living a healthy lifestyle, regardless of if you are vegan or not.

Now, although I am vegan, I encourage anyone to read this blog. Omnivore and herbivore alike share the same air and walk on the same soil. We have the same goal – to live – and together we must make choices that will sustain the planet. After all, we only have one.

Sun and Babycakes

First day of blogging and I have to thank Leighann for getting me up and running. Today was a work holiday and what a great day! I love the mornings when I don’t have to set an alarm and the sun peaking through my window curtains can be my wake-up call.

I started my day as I do most mornings – with a protein shake. Depending on my mood, I’ll make some slight variations, but it consists of the same elements.

Green Smoothie:

1 cup liquid (water or almond milk)

1 frozen banana

½ cup frozen berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, …) or other fruit (try frozen pears, they’re great!)

1 scoop protein powder (I have been experimenting with this one. I’ve tried a few brands, but haven’t found one I’m especially psyched about)

2 tsp. Life Force TrueGreens

1 cup greens (baby spinach works very well here)

After my smoothie, I felt the sun luring me outside, so I grabbed my yoga mat and headed out the door. A walk through Central Park on a warming spring morning is very curing for the soul. No one is out quite yet and the air is still fresh (for city standards at least!).

Flawless morning. After an invigorating vinyasa class, Leighann and I met to begin my new mission – baking the Babycakes cookbook. One of the great things about living in the city is the proximity to and volume of vegan eateries. Although I rarely eat out, I do like to enjoy my vegan treats and Babycakes has time and again been acclaimed one of the best bakeries in NYC. Not to downplay Babycakes, but there are an awful lot of vegan bakeries in New York – how can one person really chose the winner? If I were that person, I don’t know how I a) wouldn’t end up passed out after all those days of dessert from a sugar high and b) fit into my pants after days of eating all those desserts. I digress. Back to baking.

This endeavor started from a conversation with a coworker. She found out I was vegan and we got to talking about this cookbook that she had (the Babycakes cookbook). I am not much of a sweets person. My favorite dessert has always been a nice fruit salad or some dried figs. Especially after becoming vegan, baked goods were pretty much out of the picture – nearly everything has eggs or dairy. This book was different. After reading through the book, I realized how pure the ingredients were and that these sweet treats wouldn’t be laden with animal products… or too much guilt. The next day I ordered the book and the ingredients.

Technically, I started my baking on Tuesday when the baking ingredients came in the mail. The book is vegan, gluten free and low sugar (using only agave or evaporated cane juice a.k.a. sucanat as sweeteners). Since the book promotes Bob Red Mill’s gluten free products (and specifically says to use them in the recipes), I knew I didn’t have them in stock, so I ordered them through a website I found called iHerb. By the way, this is a great website, full of all kinds of health store goods at reduced prices.

The first recipe was cornbread. Between the portion I ate and what I brought to work, the bread was polished off in a matter of days. Today was Apple Cinnamon muffins – at least that was the objective. In route back to my apartment, we stopped at my fruit guy’s stand to pick up apples. In the process, since my fruit guy was planning on throwing away browning bananas, he offered them to me. Of course I’ll take them! (Great for freezing and blending in my morning smoothie!) Since he wouldn’t take any money for them, he did mention in passing that he’s a fan of banana bread. Well, good thing Babycakes has a banana bread recipe!

At noon when we got back to my apartment we now had two recipes to bake (muffins and the banana bread)! The preparation was simple and the results were delicious! No animal products required. Well how can a dessert not have eggs you ask? Simple. At least for Babycakes. They use xanthan gum as a binder. I’ve never used it before in baking, but it works really well. It’s used as an additive in many processed foods – you may have noticed it when you read the ingredients on packaged foods (you all read the ingredients of your food, right? I hope so!). There are other ways to bind substitute eggs in baking , too.

Happily, at the end of the day's baking, my fruit guy got his banana bread and I crossed two more recipes off my list.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Banana Bread