A little about what I eat.

I have, over the years, been asked many times what I eat on a daily basis. It has fluctuated between being vegetarian (dairy and eggs included, but no animal by products such as gelatin, rennet etc), and being vegan (no animal products at all). For me, being vegetarian/vegan also includes not buying any products that have come from an animal such as wool, leather, suede, silk, cashmere, or food that has been colored with certain dyes that are made with carmine, which is a pigment of a bright red color obtained from the carminic acid produced by some scale insects, such as the cochineal and the Polish cochineal. Anyways......  Often people associate a vegan diet with being boring. They think that they will be missing out on many of the things that they love to eat. But that is simply not true. There are so many products these days that are just as good, or even better that the dairy or meat versions. My family and I try to stick to whole foods, foods in their natural form that haven't been processed or preserved, but it's great to have vegan alternatives to say, cheese, sour cream, mayo etc around for those times that you feel like you need something naughty! :) So today I wanted to introduce you to a few of my favorite dairy alternatives.

First, there is a great company called Tofutti, and they make cream cheese, sour cream, ice cream, etc... all dairy free! Here in Lethbridge, the place to buy this stuff it at Nutters. You have to watch though, because for some reason they make a hydrogenated and non-hydrogenated version, so obviously you wan to choose the non-hydrogenated version! Check out the Tofutti site at http://www.tofutti.com/ :)

Next up is a company called Follow Your Heart. They make my favorite vegan mayo. It's so good! You can find it at Nutter and at Superstore here in Lethbridge. They also make a bunch of other wonderful products, but unfortunately I have yet to find any in Lethbridge:(

Check out their site at http://www.followyourheart.com/

Now for some cheesy goodness! This company is called Daiya. I have long been on the hunt for a good vegan cheese, as most of them leave a bad taste in your mouth.... literally! haha :) I don't even remember how I came to find out about this wonderful product, but I'm so glad that I did! Now of course it doesn't taste exactly like dairy cheese, but when used in recipes and even on pizza, it is a darn good substitute! I have made pizza, quesadillas, mac n cheese, scalloped potatoes, veggie pot pies, pig in a blanket, "chuna" melt (see earlier post for chuna... my mock tuna!), added it to spaghetti sauce..... the list goes on! Unfortunately it is not yet available in Lethbridge, but it is in Calgary at a number of their health food stores, and also at http://www.karmavore.ca/. Karmavore is an awesome vegan store that is located in Vancouver, and they also have an online store. So it's great to buy things when you can't find them where you live:) Also check out http://www.daiya.com/ for product info and recipes etc.

Do you have a sweet tooth? I do sometimes! And these little "ice cream" bars are so good! They are made by a company called Turtle Mountain (http://www.turtlemountain.com/ ), who also make pints of ice cream, ice cream sandwiches etc. They used to only make soy based products, but have recently come out with a slew of coconut milk based ones, which I love because I like to limit the amount of soy in my diet. You can buy these at Walmart (best price by far) and  Save-on-Foods.

If you are looking for a healthy alternative to your butter or margarine, Earth Balance is it! They have a variety of vegan "butters" that are both tasty and a healthy alternative to conventional items. Earth Balance is great for baking and cooking, and will give you that "buttery" taste you are looking for without the added chemicals that margarine has, or the cholesterol that butter has! If you are wondering why regular margarine isn't vegan, the reason is that it contains whey, which is a milk protein, and usually some for of lactose which is a sugar found in milk. Check out their site at http://www.earthbalancenatural.com/

Well, those are a few of my favorite vegan go-to items that I use when I feel like a need a "dairy fix". I hope that you learned a bit, and found this information helpful! :)