Hello! I am glad you found our thread. :) I am fully transitioned. And basically have been since Dec. 15. I went 'cold turkey'. About 99.9% of my diet has been plant based. the only exceptions have been small things i haven't looked into like, whey in bread and croutons (which I did not know was there until I looked :P) that I ate. I also had a sip of hot chocolate that someone brought me because I didn't want to be rude. >.< But that is the extent of it! Nice to hear you have been going strong for so long! My daughter just decided on vegetarianism and wants to eventually be vegan. Was it hard to make that final transition? I can let her know what it's like! :)

- Good to know! I have the shredded. I haven't even seen brick versions yet myself. But that's great, because hopefully a brand such as Earth Balance, that has such a large following (it is mentioned in vegan/vegetarian cookbooks and recipes all over the net!), will eventually change over as well. We should find a petition site and start one or look for an already existing one. I'll let you know what I find. :)

If I find a petition I'll defiantly post it on this forum.

As a small tip, I always look at the allergen information in bold that's listed under the ingredients, it's much easier to see than the entire ingredients if you're in a hurry or something because it plainly says "Contains: Milk" c: Well how hard it is mostly depends on what your diet consists of right now, the only meat I ate before was chicken a few times a month, and I didn't like plain milk but I really loved pizza, it was my favorite food. So the pizza thing was hardest for me lol. But now I order it without the cheese and with parsley at restaurants and it actually tastes better to me c: There's a lot of alternatives to vegan foods though, like almond/coconut/soy milk, ice cream, burger patties, puddings ect. ^^

Yes! I am definitely getting the hang of that now. And yes, pizza is a big one for me. My daughter works at a pizza place and so i'm just going to bring her my 'cheese' (Daiya) and get her to make me a pizza with it. Otherwise, I would have it without too. Or, just add my own "cheese" to the pizza when I get it home is all. :) I use the Daiya shredded cheese on crackers with salsa and it's sooo dang good. But nasty when it's not heated up. It just has to be used for cooking/melting basically. So, does the parsley add flavour to it for you? Or is it just a personal preference?

Yes I love daiya cheese! c: I actually like it a lot when it isn't melted lol xD There's also a frozen pizza by Tofurky made with Daiya cheese ^^

Hey! Sorry I took so long to respond! xP

I have been wanting to try a pizza with Daiya .... my daughter works at a pizza place so I was just going to bring my 'cheese' and get her to add it on before she cooks it. I haven't yet. Surprisingly enough I haven't craved pizza on the days she is at work. xP How odd. The things I always went crazy for are not really the same anymore. I'm in love with a whole new family of foods I never even considered before. It is still exciting to me. Although, for a while there I got lazy and was eating mostly ready made stuff rather than cooking a whole lot. Unfortunately I didn't feel quite as good then.. so, back to cooking! x)

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Hey ladies! Just thought I'd post a little pick me up,and stuff that makes me happy! ^_^

[IMG]http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l158/Dorilana/Fairy%20Magnus%20-%20Dom/Veganmeal.jpg[/IMG]

And, interesting info!:

[IMG]http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l158/Dorilana/Fairy%20Magnus%20-%20Dom/WTF.jpg[/IMG]

And ...num nums! x) :

[IMG]http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l158/Dorilana/Fairy%20Magnus%20-%20Dom/YummyPopsiclerecipe.jpg[/IMG]

Hope ya'll are doing well. Take care! ^_^

@ CelticRaiN Aw, thanks for the encouraging, informative post and the recipe. It looks really yummy. :D Sorry I haven't checked in more -- life has been a bit hectic lately.

Not a problem huN! Just wanted to share. Have a great day! ^_^

I've been a vegan or vegetarian for most of my life. For me, it is so worth the "trouble" it takes to make sure you're eating balanced food. I love supporting local growers of produce, creating delicious animal product free meals, and I've been healthy and strong my whole life. Good luck on your adventures! I am excited for you. :)

Thank you!

Aw, thank you so much! I'm glad you dropped by. :D And, nice to hear! Do you remember what age you started eating that way? For me, I was 16 when I first became a vegetarian. As far as my veganism, it's been a blast learning about and eating soo many different foods. It's been 2 and a half months for me now. It feels so much longer! And I have noticed that I have to allow myself to have a couple of cravings from time to time (stuff I've eaten all my life). In the latter part of those 2.5 months I have had some pizza with cheese twice and went for one of my all time favourites ... a Häagen-Dazs bar. Blarg! But man, compared to how I was eating before, I have to say doing that very rarely is miles healthier.

Also! I have to share this with anyone else who sees this too... have you ever heard of 'The Vegan Zombie' on Youtube? It's this hilarious, and pretty cute guy who does recipes. I just love him so much and have to share! LINK.

He's just too hilarious! Anyway, take care, and feel free to drop by again to chat here (or message me) sometime! :D

Congrats on 2.5 months! That's awesome!! :D

I think the last time I purposefully ate meat was probably when I was around 6. We never ate a lot of meat in the home growing up, though, so really...meat was not hard to give up. My dad use to take my brother and I to swimming lessons and then we'd have a special date with fish sticks, chips and a sundae. My dad also enjoyed fishing and we'd occasionally have mountain lake fish for a special meal. I did miss that a lot when we stopped eating any meat, but it was more for the good times than the fish and chips. When I was close to 9, my mom decided to cut out dairy/eggs. Once again, we were never huge dairy consumers, but I missed cheese a lot for a while! And egg salad. But, really. Eating a vegan diet makes me feel good! I have energy, don't get as sick, and just feel healthy.

Now that I'm on my own, I pretty much cook and eat vegan (with the exception of honey. We always used honey, but raised our own bees and didn't abuse and starve them to get honey!) for me and my guy. I've wavered between strictly vegan and between occasionally using eggs at home. But dairy is something that I only tend to consume as a rare treat. Like you said...a pizza here and there. Or if we go out to eat (which is rarely, because I'd rather cook good food at home!), if it has some egg/dairy I don't always make a deal out of it. I think if the trend of our life is to eat healthfully, occasional "treats" probably won't kill us. But I try to keep those to the minimum! :D

Haven't heard of the Vegan Zombie! The name makes me LOL, though! Might check him out sometime. :D

ahh more vegans n_n. i've been a vegetarian since i was ten and a vegan since i was sixteen. i'm now almost twenty-one. i stick to a mostly fresh foods diet n_n, things like avacado and bean wraps, olive salads. if i ever need a chocolate fix i nip down to my local organic store and they have tons of cocoa powders that i throw into milkshakes. or i bake oatmeal cookies with cocoa chips in or banana. since being vegan you have to look at the world in a whole different light. you start eating so many vegetables that half the time you can't even name. at the beginning a lot of new vegans beat themselves up alot. they think one slip up is worth stopping for and a lot of vegans around them will be all c.c. as if no one's ever slipped off a diet when changing their lifestyle. it takes 28 days for your system to completely reset and crave different foods and roughly 38 days for your system to clear out all of the stuff in it before and literally shed all your old skin cells. you are what you eat and if youre not consuming a lot of hormones (your skin will be bam).

that's not to say being vegan isnt without its sacrifices.you have to be so careful to make sure you get lots of protein (peanut butter is your best friend and an amazing cooking ingredient) beans are also a brilliant way to make sure you're getting enough protein. i tend to avoid those processed "fake" meats because they have so many chemicals in ;_;. you have to really monitor the proportions of your intake or your hair and health will suffer :c. alot of vegans (i'm not pointing fingers guys omg) refuse to accept that eating meat is an easier lifestyle when it comes to cooking and being creative and then its super easy to regress and find a billion reasons why not to do it. i also maintain a vegan lifestyle when it comes to beauty products, household products. forever having to change what i buy because with the reccesion more companies cut corners. i don't ever regret becoming vegan or even vegetarian esp when i hear things like how theyre putting horsemeat in everything at the supermarkets and fast food places here (i'm in britain).

- That was an awesome story. Thanks so much for sharing! ^_^ I feel you are so lucky that your parents actually started you at a young age. I wish I had eaten like this my whole life. I dread the thought of all of the cholesterol that has built up in my system for so many years. >.< I had that break between the ages of 16 to 21 when I was vegetarian... but I was still eating eggs and dairy, so... But it is definitely better late than never! And yes, you must check him out, he's hilarious! :D

- Hey!! Another lovely lady...that I even already know (of). x) Good to hear hun! And, wow, 10 is such a young age to start. Were you influenced by your parents' choices as well, like springjoy up there?

Either way, I'm sure it's done you a world of good. :D And, I absolutely agree, about the fresh food. The only packaged 'fake meat' I will eat is a tofu-dog from time to time. And I laughed when you mentioned "start eating so many vegetables that half the time you can't even name". It is sooo true! My fridge is chalk full of vegetables and fruit I have never given a second thought to in the past. I cook constantly for myself and my daughter, and even my dogs! My main staples are veggies, (actual) tofu, noodles, rice, split peas, lentils, chick peas, oatmeal, nutritional yeast (in everything!), a variety of healthy oils (I buy a mixed one with hemp seed, primrose, coconut, etc.), soups, stews, stir-fry's and then I make the odd vegan eggplant parmesan, and various other dishes. It feels like I'm constantly making soups and salads though. I drink almond milk for my calcium (it's supplemented of course!). The list goes on... but yes! Vegetables are my best friend. I just love a variety of colours and such in my dishes. :D

And, it is so true, I have had many people tell me in the last month or so that my skin looks so healthy. And, products free from animal testing is something I am slowly working on. It's hideous the images I get in my head if I see animal products or anything that was made with their involvement. That keeps me away from it all! And I give my pups an extra long hug everyday lately. ^_^

Well, thank you for dropping by, both of you! And, at Jiggly - if you haven't seen this guy and appreciate cuteness and humour with your recipes you must check him out! Vegan Zombie. He's just too funny.. and has a lot of cute friends drop in too! x)

Take care loves! <3

I have my eye on those popsicle things you posted...definitely going to try those!

More recipes...I've made this Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup several times now, and it's become a favorite.

ahaha yes! hi! i saw the link in your sig on my thread and was like oooh -clickclick-

Nope! I wasn't influenced by my folks. i didn't really have uh folks to speak of. I grew up as a kid on the worst kind of diet. frozen chicken dippers and fish fingers and all that sort of thing. My actual change to vegetarianism came from going home from school one day. 40p in hand (about a dollar i think?) and i bought a cornish pasty. I took my first bite out of it and there was a cows tooth staring up at me. I double blinked a few times not fully understanding as a kid what that was or how it got there before that moment. It really hit me that it had animals in. Before I'd just thought food was food and it just appeared from the supermarket. It was at that moment i decided i could never eat another animal. I moved onto a equally healthy diet of anything that came out of a can xD hah...-still a kid and i had to cook for myself- i then hit my teens and became really health concious and realised that alot of vegetarian products are extremely bad for you. pumped full of additives and extras to make them "taste" better and exceptionally over priced. mycroprotein wreaks havoc on your colons etc p_p. I've always been dairy intolerant as well. stomach upsets, nauseous.

i still ate cheese for the longest while and realised it was making me really sick and ruining my skin. i then learnt about veganism and about how animals are treated ;; when reared for butter and wool etc. My empathy of animals was such that i cried for almost a whole day, threw out everything that was animal made and extensively ressearched brands that didn't promote animal cruelty. ahaha all of that sounds so yummy i'm coming to yours for dinner k. try baking with pumpkins if you haven't already! pumpkin pie with roasted pumpkins sprinkled ontop and apricot filling omg ;;. the nicest thing in the world i swear.

if you need any help with checking if brands are animal tested i'm happy to help n_n suggest some. ;_; i boycott l'oreal so hard. eee definitely going to check him out! i'm always on the hunt for recipes!

- I knooow, they look so great, don't they? :) Can't say as I've tried them yet though. :P ANd, mmmm, I keep seeing recipes with pumpkin and want to try something! They are not in season now however.. I don't see them anywhere, at grocery stores anyway? I don't use canned stuff, hardly ever, either so maybe that one will have to wait! And, mmm, I LOVE cumin. I stand there with the container of it open and sniff it in my kitchen..sometimes. x) There is something so...warm and spicy about it. I love Indian food and seasonings as well. I am slightly obsessed! This recipe also calls for dry sherry or white wine.. I've actually never cooked with wine, mainly because I don't care for the taste at all. Do you know of a substitute for it? Thank you so much for sharing love! ^_^

Wow. So you are a totally self taught vegan! Among other things, by the sound of it. :) Wow, that is amazing, good for you! And wow... that would definitely be disturbing to find in your food! >.< Ugh. It's funny how, once you actually think about what you are eating, that's when you are affected and make the choice not to consume certain things. I truly believe our 'body is a temple' and what we put in it is meant for our fuel and nourishment and shouldn't be overlooked and taken lightly. ... my neighbor just came over, I shall finish later! x)

@ CelticRaiN Hey, I thought of this a few days ago, but just now was able to pop in and suggest -- but maybe you should make a veggie ping group? c: I know I'd love to join. Maybe even a cult? That would be a good way for us all to keep up with one another!

Also, I'm a fan of The Vegan Zombie too. 8D I just love the silly jokes, and his recipes are always really awesome. (Plus, I'm a big fan of Indy the german shepard <3)

Omg I keep coming back and editing my posts, but, have you ever seen The Spice Goddess on the Cooking network? Her recipes are not always vegetarian, but a lot of the things she makes can be easily converted, and at times are even completely vegan. She's an Indian woman and uses a lot of spices, so I thought of her immediately when you said you liked Indian food and cumin. :P

Oh my goodness, you already watch him!? He always makes me smile.. and laugh... and appreciate what I'm eating.. and well, maybe swoon a little. x) And, yes! I am a dog lover and I just love seeing how he cares for and feeds his dog and such. :D And, actually I think I have heard of the 'Spice Goddess', she is on the Food Network, right? That's awesome, I'll have to check her out. Thank you. ^_^

And, oh, actually, I have thought a cult and ping group and such, but I am awful at keeping up with things like that. xP I think at the very least I could maybe make a ping group for us to continue posting here with recipes, links and news and such. But, for now it'll just be for this thread, sound good?

In fact... I'll go do that right now. ^_^ annnnd, here it is!

Hey all! Medi came up with a great idea to make a ping group for this thread. It is just if you want to share random info, recipes, a story or two. Anything you like really. So if you care to join the ping group is up above. It's # VeggieChat! (click the link above).

I look forward to hearing from all you lovlies! Thank you! ^_^

I just followed the link in your signature and i wanted to say hi and congratulate you on going vegan! I'm always happy to see more of us around. :D I've been vegan for three years now and i was vegetarian for nine years before that...i wish it hadn't taken me so long to go all the way, but whatever, i'm there now and i'll never go back. I was nearly vegan the whole time anyway, but like so many people, it was that darn cheese that i just didn't quite want to give up. Products like Daiya and my Uncheese Cookbook have helped me a lot with that though and now i don't even have to miss it. Speaking of helpful things, do you have any kind of veg*an festival that happens near you? We have Vegfest coming up here in Seattle in a week and a half and it's a great way to discover new products (like amazing vegan cheeses!)...they also offer lectures, cooking demonstrations and books. I'm volunteering at it and i'm really looking forward to it. I've attended off and on since their very first event and it's amazing to see how much it has grown! They used to give much bigger samples because there were fewer attendees, but i don't mind getting less free stuff when the reason is that so many more people are interested in trying veg foods. ;) Also i think it's great that you made a ping group and i'm going to join it!