About

I am a 2 year vegan, and former 2 year vegetarian. I never ate much meat in general, and we were/are never the kind of family to go out for fast food and such. It all started when I gave up meat for lent in 6th grade. I ate dairy, but not on Wednseday and Friday. Before Lent, the rest of my family and I find it funny that I went on a really random, short kick where I wanted steak. I think my body must have known that I was going to be a vegetarian...Anyways.

After lent, I figured that I could try being vegetarian. I ate fish, dairy, and eggs. But no gelatin. Later that summer, I slowly dropped fish from my diet. The main things I ate then were grapes and trail mix, to tell you the truth! Not too diverse...But I was a peanut butter lover. I didn't really have any cookbooks, I just ate vegetarian. I got into being a lot healthier, and ate my veggies more. I have always liked veggies, but I made an effort to have more.

I remember in 7th grade, I had the same thing for lunch every single day!! I had a yoplait flavored yogurt, trail mix, usually from trader joes with dried fruit, almonds and other nuts, and chocolate chips. And a green apple. I don't know why it was that particular, but it was!! For lent, I did give up dairy on wednseday and friday, but still continued to not have meat.

Soon, I began to slowly give up eggs, cheating only once or twice. We went on an amazing vacation to Greece, and I had so many χωριατικι σαλατας (greek salads!!) I learned how to say no capers, (οχι καπαρι) and that pretty much was what I survived on. Greek salads with feta cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, and no capers. Since there was bread and olive oil at every table, I had that as well. You could say I was picky, but whatever.         

I have a memory of around the middle of July, some family friends gave me the cookbook Vegan with a Vengeance. Little did I know that cookbook would change my life a year later:)

Soon, I excluded eggs completely. Around the beginning of August, I was going out to dinner with my parents. I had talked a lot about veganism, but only lightly considered it. My dad told me he ordered me a vegan meal, since the restraunt was Eve, a fancy place downtown, and it's hard to eat vegetarian, more less vegan there. Eve was actually on Top Chef!! Their food is great. Back to the story. I was a bit confused about why he ordered a vegan meal, but I went with it. I do think I had a bit of herb butter on my bread, but my main meal was vegan. I did a lot of research about veganism, the benefits, and why it's ethical.

I started to be vegan completely, and got really excited about it. I didn't really do much cooking from cookbooks, I remember my mom saying "you should really pick up that cookbook and use it!"

School started, and I did a little cooking, but not much. Some stir fries here and there, but I was not into baking. (yet!!) I packed lunch, took care of breakfast, and dinners most nights.

I bought Fresh and Fast vegan pleasures in late August, and I remember making one or two dishes. But later on, in December, I got The Kind Diet for christmas. I thought it was awesome!!

For Thanksgiving, I know I cooked for myself, and made quinoa and mushroom stuffed peppers and curried split pea soup from Vegan with a Vengeance. By the way, curried split pea soup is my favorite soup ever!!!

Now, you probably think I would be doing a ton of baking for the holidays-but I still wasn't really into it. I sure will be this christmas.

The cooking started really in '10. I picked up those cookbooks, and made some dishes.

I was going crazy!! I was discovering so many new foods, like tempeh, quinoa, flaxseeds, and sweet taters. And the baking! I learned about different flours, sugars, egg replacments, blah blah blah. I was making granola, bread, and muffins.

I didn't really think about making a blog until I read the kind diet. I went to their blog page, and from there, I discovered vegan blogs. They were so cool! I could spend hours just reading them. One night, I decided that making one would be awesome. So here I am...cooking my way through 3 cookbooks.

If you have any questions or comments, my email is oroumel@yahoo.com.

THanks for reading!!! :)

P.S. You may hear a lot about my beloved kitty, Bourby.

 Here he is :)