The Kind Diet: Review

I've read a lot of people and their opinion on this book. I just got it from the library last week. I spent a few days looking it over and reading it, and it's actually a really nice read. Alicia Silverstone talks about her own experiences with being vegetarian and than becoming vegan. It was great to see that she had many things that reminded me of my own journey through vegetarianism. Her writing style is informative, but also funny. There are some points that I did have to crack up and I loved to no end!
Alicia also has sections describing how you can change your lifestyle in different levels. The first one is pretty much putting your foot in the water, then vegan, and then a superhero! (; The end of the book is full of delicious recipes that I'm excited to try out sometime soon. I enjoyed this and would recommend anyone to read this and get some insight into another veggie's life!

The First Month

Well, all I can say is that becoming vegetarian is one of the easiest and best choices that I've ever made for my life. I can't believe how such a simple solution can change a whole person's life. The food is better, the life is better, and I know that I will not be hurting a single animal just to take care of myself.

Vegetable Tofu Stir-Fry

This is the first meal that Steven and I have made with Tofu. Personally, I think that they turned out really good. (: I thought that I would share it!

Ingredients:

½ block of extra-firm tofu

½ large green bell pepper

½ medium red onion

3 mushrooms

1 ½ carrots

2 celery stalks

1 handful of spinach

1 handful of broccoli florets

2 tbsp olive oil

Sweet Baby Ray's honey teriyaki marinade

SPICES:

Basil

Ginger

Crushed Red Pepper

OPTIONAL:

Wheat noodles or rice

Flax Seeds

DIRECTIONS:
You begin by putting your noodles or rice in boiling water until they are done. Don't make them too soft, though. Put it in a separate bowl or plate until it is needed, later. But this step is option depending on if you even wanted the noodles or rice with it.

You need to drain your tofu and cut your half-block into cubes. Throw the olive oil in a pan or wok. Once it's heated up, brown your tofu. You can put in some of the marinade after it's browned. Have your cut bell peppers, mushrooms, and onions ready and then put them in the pan with a little bit more of your marinade and let all of that cook together for a while. After the vegetables are cooked decently, you can continue to cut up all your other vegetables.

Get the rest of your veggies in your pan gradually. You can put them in any order you prefer. We put in the carrots, spinach, celery, and then the broccoli. Once everything is in, you may put a little bit more of your marinade so everything can get different degrees of the flavor.

If you have noodles like we did, you can put them in with a tiny bit more marinade and let them cook for a few minutes in the vegetables so that they can soak of flavor. If you made rice, that can just keep that out and put it on your plate when you are done. You can pretty much gauge when you want it to be complete at this point. Everything should be thoroughly cooked and it should turn out delicious!

This is our finished plate. (:

Vegetarian Shopping

First thing's first. A new layout for the whole blog has been implemented! It was created by Steven. The dinosaur was created by me. (: We are attempting to think of a name for him!

Steven and I were able to shop for the first time with enough money to pretty much get everything we had wanted to get. In the end, it was great! We have a fridge stocked with fresh vegetables, drawers full of canned veggies and a few other things, packages of dried beans and lentils, hummus dip, rice chips, and so much more. It was actually a really nice shopping trip! After this, I noticed how easy it really is to be a vegetarian.
We ended up shopping at Woodman's, which is a fairly cheap grocery store that has a marvelous organic and natural food section. They had frozen faux-meats and lots of really nice stuff, including these delicious Natural Harvest Rice Chips. After this shopping trip, I'm positive that I will be posting recipes and recipe reviews on this blog so that way I can get some delicious things out there!
While getting to know some of the things in this store that were in their organic and natural foods section, I found some cereal that is from the Puffin brand. I think it was really cute. I haven't eaten any yet, but I'm pretty excited!

I'm mostly excited for the fresh veggies that we got! I happen to be a huge fan of spinach, so I had to get some of that fresh. I'm making a salad tomorrow of mostly lettuce and then some romaine lettuce with french dressing. I'll discuss my meals from tomorrow, most likely. Especially that beautiful green spinach. That's a favorite, alright!

Other then that, I've never been a huge fan of bell peppers or onions, but since I became a vegetarian, I've found new ways to get around my dislike for them and they are actually growing on me. It's a surprise to my mom that I'm eating things that she always thought I hated. In the end, I've just never been properly exposed to some of these things. I'm proud of myself for upholding a vegetarian diet and not even considering going back.

Over Two Weeks!

So, this is going great. I've held fast to my vegetarianism for over two weeks. I went to see my dad yesterday and I weighed myself. I've already lost ten pounds, so I'm really glad about that. I also got to eat at Hu Hot again, only to see that three sauces use fish and shellfish--luckily none of the ones that I ever use.

This morning, my mom bought Steven and I some food to eat until we can go shopping in another two days or so. She actually did really well! I was surprised that anything she got was actually okay for me to eat! I ended up telling her that we didn't need anything, but she brought up a simple salad dressing with iceberg lettuce, Boca burgers, and Boca chicken patties. It was great. So We made burgers and salads for lunch! Tonight is boxed pasta salad. Yum!

The Problems + Update

I've already been running into a few of the problems that I expected. My dad, whom I do not live with, is cool with everyone. However, my mom, whom I DO live with, is not exactly the best person to be with right now. Whenever she's eating(it's always meat), she asks if I want any. Not to mention, my mom does this almost every time she eats! I hope that this will straighten out and she'll stop asking, soon. It's getting on my nerves. I will not eat it.
My mom is one of those people who have to eat meat, apparently. She says there's no food in the house, when there obviously is, I suggest her an idea, but she rejects it. "That's not food!" She says. I ask her why it isn't, and her answer is always, "Food is meat!" It's kind of disgusting.
I'm always having to rewash the things she has washed, because there is still meat residue and I can smell it and feel it when I run my finger over the pans and bowls. It's grossing me out, and driving me mad. I don't know why she can't just properly wash things and scrub them well before putting them in the draws. I've already confronted her on this, and nothing has changed.

On a brighter note, I've been researching and looking through so much. Whenever I see meat, cooked or not, I feel a little bit sick. Just the thought of me eating it again is becoming so unappealing. I've also been complimented on loosing some weight, lately. That makes me feel great because I know that I'm getting healthier.

Steven bought me Subway, in which I had one on 9-grain bread, american cheese, lettuce, spinach, olives, with some oregano and black pepper. It was delicious. Having a Subway across the street from where I am currently living is kind of a blessing. It's an easy vegetarian meal that happens to be really good tasting. However, I have decided that I really like spinach. It's leafy and it's green, not to mention great for you!

Steven and I are going to go shopping in the next week, so I want to post pictures of some of the dishes we make, the recipes, and we'll see where it goes from there. I've been living off of a few little things that we could manage until then, but now we will have a constant flow of beautiful green food to eat.

I graduate from high school on June 2. It will be in Madison, Wisconsin, which is a two and a half hour drive from where I am. I attend an online school, so that would explain my long drive. I talked my mom into allowing me to choose a place for us all the eat out, and I have my mind between two vegetarian restaurants in the Madison area. Is it a good idea to be taken there with everyone else who isn't vegetarian?

Day 10

I'm still doing great, everyone. There isn't much to say at the moment, but I will get to do great grocery shopping sometime this week. I'll get an update for everyone when I get that done with. For the moment, I'm working on getting a job as well as my new-found vegetarianism.

Day 7: The Week Is Over

I've finished my first week or being vegetarian! I'm very proud of myself and my confidence that I can do this has been raised. I'm so glad that animals will no longer be killed for my personal consumption. I'm glad that I can do this for both myself and for the tortured and abused animals in the world who would have to die just to feed me. I will never be a part of that in which society partakes in so easily.

My dad gave me money to take my boyfriend and I out to Hu Hot. Whether you are a vegetarian, vegan, or carnivore, I think that you may love this place. You go up to tables full of things to put together, such at meat, noodle, vegetables, and then the sauces. It's an all you can eat joint, which is pretty cool. If you are anywhere near a Hu Hot, I would recommend that you give it a try! It's been my favorite restaurant for years. I'm glad that becoming vegetarian would still permit me to eat here. (:
I ate two plates while I was there. The first was a type of noodles, mushrooms, cabbage, carrots, parsley, baby corn, pea pods, and broccoli. My second plate was really sweet since I put a little bit of the three noodle types, mandarin oranges, pineapple, and a bit of parsley and cabbage.

I am completely in love with this as a lifestyle. I would encourage anyone else to give vegetarianism a try--even for a week. It's a wonderful experience, not to mention you'll probably get to be a little bit healthier.

I was also hoping that I could find a way to meet other vegetarians or vegans to make like-minded friends whom live around me. Anyone have any good ideas on how to meet these kind of people?

Day 4: New Favorites.

Hey everyone!

I've found a new snack that I'm in love with. Sunflowers seeds are delicious. I can't get enough! That's always nice since it's a bit of protein for me. (; I've never really tried them before now, actually! I'd recommend them if you haven't tried them. You can also get the outside of the seed flavored.

I've kept meals today really simple. Breakfast consisted of cereal and orange juice. Lunch was just sunflower seeds and a bite or two of fudge. Dinner is being made just as I type. It is simple spaghetti noodles that I'm just going to cover in a little bit of butter and salt for taste. I'm a huge fan of pasta. I guess that's a good part about being vegetarian.

Although, as another day gets added, my body is already feeling so much better. I feel lighter and freer than I had before this diet change. I'm pleased with it. It feels a lot better to be like this.

After a few days of being vegetarian, my mom isn't really too accepting. She said, "You never used to do things like this." and similar phrases. Although, I did speak with my dad today, who was pretty cool with it. He's taking me out to a vegetarian-friendly restaurant this weekend.

In case anyone wanted to know, I found a beautiful website that helps to find vegetarian and vegan restaurants! Just put in a location and search! There a vegetarian friendly restaurant near me, and a vegan restaurant across town. I thought people would find this cool.
http://www.happycow.net/

What is your favorite vegetarian snack?

Day 3: Still Doing Great.

I'm starting to feel better in general since I dropped meat. It does feel a little bit better. Once a full week had passed, I'm excited to see how great I feel! Not to mention, I'm looking around for foods I can eat in my house until we can go shopping. For breakfast there was Maple and Honey oatmeal. And lunch is herb and butter rice with green beans. (: Delicious!

I decided that I like being vegetarian. This isn't even hard to do, yet. It makes me so hopeful that I can do this. I really want to thank everyone for being so supportive. This blog was meant to encourage me to go through with it, as well as give the thoughts of someone who is become vegetarian. You are all wonderful people for the support and knowledge. I really love to hear from anyone who is a vegetarian of vegan now. If anyone has anything they'd like to give me for advice, I'd love to hear it!


I've also decided what animal products I would want to take out of my diet whenever I get the chance to thoroughly go shopping. Anything else that I should maybe think about watching out for?

Ambergris – From whale intestines.

Animal Fat – Carcass fat.

Animal Oil – Carcass oil?

Aspic – Savory jelly derived from meat or fish.

Blood – From any slaughtered animal.

Bone Char – Animal bone ash.

Bone Meal – Crushed of ground animal bones.

Cerebrosides – Fatty acids and sugars found in the covering of nerves.

Cetyl Palmitate – [see spermaceti]

Collagen – Fibrous protein in vertebrates. Usually from animal tissue.

Gelatin – Protein obtained by boiling skin, tendons, ligament, and/or bones in water.

Glycerides – [see glycerin]

Glycerin – A byproduct of soap manufacture (normally uses animal fat).

Glycerol – [see glycerin]

Glyceryls – [see glycerin]

Glycreth-26 – [see glycerin]

Lactic Acid – Found in blood and muscle tissue.

Lard – Fat from hog abdomens.

Lipase – Enzyme from stomachs and tongue glands of calves, kids, and lambs.

Monoglycerides – [see glycerin]

Pepsin – Enzyme from a pig’s stomach.

Rennet – An enzyme taken from the stomach of a newly killed calf.

Rennin – [see rennet]

Spermaceti – Waxy oil derived from the sperm whale’s head or dolphins.

Sperm Oil – [see spermaceti]

Stearamide – [see Stearic acid]

Steramine – [see Stearic acid]

Stearates -[see Stearic acid]

Stearic Acid – Fat from cows, sheep, and from dogs, cat euthanized in animal shelters.

Stearic Hydrazide – [see Stearic acid]

Stearone – [see Stearic acid]

Stearoxytrimethylsilane – [see Stearic acid]

Stearyl Lactylic Acid - [see Stearic acid]

Suet – Usually made from animal fat.

Tallow – Rendered beef fat.

Tallow Acid – [see tallow]

Tallow Amide – [see tallow]

Tallow Amine – [see tallow]

Twlloweth-6 – [see tallow]

Tallow Fatty Alcohol – [see tallow]

Tallow Glycerides – [see tallow]

Tallow Imidazoline – [see tallow]

Whey – By-product of the cheese-process. Contains rennet.