5K Fundraiser

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Hi Everyone!

As you may or may not know I have been volunteering with a wonderful therapeutic riding program for the past few months (learn more about Lovelane from the link and video below). By volunteering I have experienced great joy and I now have the great opportunity to give back! On June 13th Tom and I will be running a 5K to benefit Lovelane and the many families they help. It's going to be a really fun day with kids activities, food, and of course running. I'd love it if you could be there to cheer us on with a donation and/or in person.

Love

Lauren and Tom

Watch this video Learn more about Lovelane Here Donate Here

Derby Day: Chips, Dips, and Big Hats

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I'm not a huge Kentucky Derby fanatic or anything but in my family, any excuse for food and drink is great! My aunt hosted a great party with hats, snacks, a little betting, and lots of family fun! I brought a layered that was pretty popular (we started scarfing it before I got the picture).
It is easy peasy to make:
1. Tofutti cream cheese mixed with 2-3 TBS taco seasoning (Trader Joe's has a spicy one)
2. Amy's re-fried black beans mixed with a little hot sauce
3. Chopped black olives and pickled jalapenos
4. 1/2 cup black beans (make sure to rinse and dry these or they will make the dip wet)
5. Guacamole
6. Fresh salsa
Just layer everything in a nice shallow dish. You can get creative about what you use. Serve with chips and veggies. We also a great dinner with roasted veggies and a rice and bean salad with herbs, spices and veg and LOTS of Gin and Tonics!

Here's a picture of the ladies lookin pretty! My hat is so big I couldn't see!

Thanksgiving!

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People can't imagine what I eat on this meat-heavy holiday. There are lot's of things I can think of and this year I made corn bread stuffing with apples, celery, carrots, onions and apple sage field roast sausage. Below is the yummy and healthy meal we had at my aunt's house. She of course had a free-range organic turkey but she also made me eggplant Parmesan-vegan style! She baked slices of eggplant that she dredged with plain soy milk and then dipped in plain breadcrumbs. She then sauteed mushrooms and garlic and layered them on top of the eggplant. We made a spicy sauce with onions, hot red pepper, garlic and capers and tomatoes and baked it until heated through. She also served super tasty brown bread with smart balance, steamed green beans, acorn squash puree, roasted baby potatoes with pearl onions! I made cranberry orange sauce which was great with the squash and on the brown bread. Everything was healthy and delicious! We of course had apple pie (made with Pillsbury crusts that are vegan) and a strawberry rhubarb crumble!

Happy Halloween

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Happy Halloween!

Check out this link for a list of vegan candy: http://www.petakids.com/candy.html

The Real Lauren

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In case any of our 3 readers are thinking to themselves: 'Gee, this Lauren girl is cool, but what is she REALLY like?' I have a picture that sums it all up. Imagine, if you will, that you have recently been married (as our good friends, Josh and Rachelle were, just a couple weeks ago). You've just returned from your honeymoon, and you've started reviewing your wedding photos. You are lost in the memories, adrift in a sea of smiling friends and family, all calmly posing for the camera in honor of the greatest day of your life.

And then you get to our table:


That's my wife. And that's why I love her so damn much.

Welcome

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I think it is time to hear from the "crazy" wife in question. It's true. I am probably the most unlikely vegan out there, because I love meat. I didn't use the past tense, because even though I haven't eaten it in 8 weeks I KNOW I STILL LOVE it, but not eating it has made me happier healthier and sexier than ever before. The other upside to this whole lifestyle switch is that I have been completely re-inspired to cook and create new dishes. Like many I had fallen into a routine of the same weeknight dinners and even the same dinner party menus. I LOVE entertaining and cooking even more than I used to love meat (see I can let it go), and I want to chronicle my journey of finding new dishes. Tom and I will post here with our reviews for vegan convenience foods (garden burger riblits you are dead to me), easy meals, and entertaining menus. I hope you enjoy but really I hope I just keep losing weight!

Why Reading is Dangerous

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About 6 weeks ago, driving back from a relaxing vacation with my family on the outer banks, somewhere along the New Jersey turnpike, my wife turned to me and said:

"I think I'm going to become a vegan."

Had she ever shown interest in being vegetarian, let alone vegan before? Nope. In fact, I was vegetarian when we met, and she convinced me to stop.

"Ummm... You do know that you have mercilessly teased every vegetarian we've ever known, right? I kind of remember you once saying that you thought vegetarians were a 'lesser form of people.'" She really did say that - in her defense, it was mostly humorous. I think.

"I've been reading this book Skinny Bitch, and it says we all eat way too much meat. And you'll shit a brick when you see how much weight you lose by not eating dairy." My wife has always had trust issues with dairy. "Plus, the meat industry is really cruel to animals, and its bad for the environment."

And that's how it began. My wife has been scouring the web for vegan recipes, trying different meat substitutes (her vegan chili is excellent) and generally dragging me along through this experiment. I have to admit, she's done some pretty impressive stuff so far, though there were those faux-ribs that, as she put it, 'tasted like crying'. We aren't perfect about it - there's been some cheating - but we're getting pretty good. This blog is our attempt to share what its like to try and throw away everything you've ever known about eating and start over again. It's about eating better, and how an otherwise totally normal (OK, mostly normal) couple gets by eating vegan in a meat-obsessed society. It's about how to do all that and still eat stuff that tastes really good.

Mostly it's about why you shouldn't let your wife read.