More on the Vegan transition

Well, it is the first month of my transition from vegetarian to mostly vegan. I say 'mostly' because I am not an absolutist and there are things I may not give up, like honey for my tea. we shall see. So far, to replace my daily snack of cheese and crackers, I have enjoyed pita bread and Sabra brand hummus; my favorite flavor is roasted pine nuts. I warm the pita bread for 50 seconds in the microwave and especially in this cold weather, it makes a very satisfying snack. I have tried other kinds of hummus and Sabra, to me, tastes the best.

For another alternative to cheese as a snack, there is peanut butter, walnut butter, and almond butter. I usually buy walnut butter because I love the flavor of walnuts, and for an extra taste boost, I add a little Nutella hazlenut butter which has cocoa in it. By the way, on another subject - SMOOTHIES - I make Nutella smoothies and you can heat a cup of it on low for 1 or 2 minutes and it makes a delicious hot drink! I have transitioned away from my favorite SIGGIES yoghurt to Silk, soy yoghurt. It is not an improvement. First of all Siggis has less sugar and a denser, thicker, creamier texture. The Silk hoghurt is kind of gluey and too sweet, but I only use it for smoothies so it isn't a big deal. I wouldn't eat it for a yoghurt choice though. To make a Nutella smoothie just throw a handful of walnuts into the blender, followed by two bananas, a cup of yoghurt and two heaping tablespoons of Nutella, then fill to an inch from the top with Almond Breeze extra creamy milk and hit the whip blender button. It makes three or four pint size glasses of smoothie, or two large glasses and a cup of hot smoothie. I tried the Bowl and Basket brand of hazlenut spread and it wasn't as good as Nutella - less flavor.

It takes time to make a transition like this so I am giving myself permission to take it slow and have an occasional dairy product if needed - such as on Sunday, I enjoyed a piece of cheesecake for a friend's birthday. For me, I believe it makes it easier to make the switch.

I hope you are having fairly good luck with your resolutions. My three - to review, were to read Quaker Practice, to transition to vegan from vegetarian, and to ride my exercycle a little each day. On point three I have not registered even one success yet, but I haven't given up hope. All I did so far, was get on it one day, to make sure I still could and turn the wheels a little to try it out. My back room, where the exercycle is, is super cold and to make it habitable, I would need to remember to turn on the wall heater in the morning when I let the dog out. The wall heater would have to run for about half a day to heat that room.

Now it is time for me to do my daily reading as it is too cold and too icy to do my usual daily routine which is to walk the dog. She hasn't had a walk for 3 days (counting today) It is too cold and I am afraid of slipping on snow and ice and falling. That's what happens when you get old and have fallen a time or two. The last time I fell, about a month ago, I lay in the drive-way until I could phone my neighbor and tell him it was an emergency. My neighbor across the street, Mark, is very kind to me and his elderly mother is a friend of mine. He came over and got me a chair from the porch to use to get myself up. It works better than any other method I have found. So now, I am afraid of falling and the driveway is very lumpy with frozen snow over ice. Fortunately, plenty to do in my beloved bungalow to keep me happy, reading and painting and my laptop. It is only my dog who feels the loss, but yesterday I took her for a ride in the car to the ShopRite, so at least she got out.

Happy trails, my friends! Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com