Celebrate Vegan Times

Yep you read that right today is my 1 year Veganversary!!! Today marks one year that I decided to really focus on what I put in my body. Now before I made the vegan leap my diet was not a bad one. I didn't eat any red meat, fast food turned my stomach, and fried foods were my least favorite.  A lot of people think my leap to vegan was because of my friendship with Bianca and yes she tried to convert me but that is not the reason I made the change. When I decided to make the leap it was in the beginning of my weight loss journey and an icy day in Memphis.  The weather was super crazy we had a mixture of ice and snow that decided to fall at the same time, which is nothing new for Memphis but it is by far the worst type of weather to drive in. We were allowed to leave work earlier and I attempted to take the safest route home, the expressway. They looked pretty clear on the camera so I took a chance. In my journey home I forgot about the overpass I would have to take to get to the express, the Walnut Grove overpass. If you live in Memphis you know that even in the best weather that area is a death trap and they there is a light at the top of the overpass. As I was slowly crossing the bridge to ease onto the expressway the light turned red so of course I had to stop well let's just say my car decided it was a good time to spin. Once I was done spinning my car was on the other side of the road facing the way I came from and still in one piece. The was not one car in my way. I didn't hit the curb, the bridge or another car. There was an angel in the car with me that day. Once I finally made it to where my child was located my nerves were shot to shit needless to say. It took me at least 30 minutes to collect myself. After I got myself together I decided to watch a few weight loss doc on Netflix and I learned a lot that day about the chemicals they put in our foods that are killing our bodies. Then I decided to watch Vegucated. If you haven't seen it please watch it. I even called sent Bianca texts as I watched it. Of course she asked are you going to become vegan now, my answer was still nope. I liked my cheese and my seafood. ( I learned later way I loved cheese and ice cream so much) The vegan bug hit me when a few days later when I was eating dinner. I made a turkey meatloaf and after eating it I felt sick and bloated, so I made myself a green juice to settle my tummy. The juice helped a lot but then it hit me my body was rejecting meat so I still screw it I'm done eating it but Cassi can never do ANYTHING easy and if I was going to become vegan I was going to be a RAW vegan. I damn near died!! Memphis is not the place to because a raw vegan especially in March!! IT WAS FREEZING AND I WANTED SOUP! I cold and hungry and none of the tips Bianca gave me were working , I wanted soup. So I ditched the raw route and just stuck with being a vegan.  Check out my before and after pictures. I look old pictures of myself and it turns my stomach that I ever let myself get to that point. 

Now on the the celebration food!! Last night was our monthly Vegan Drinks Meet Up ( I'll post about that later) and Pam ordered a Lo Mein dish that everybody took interest in because it was vegan!! Lo Mein is normally egg noddles but at A-Tan they use Ramen noodles and ya'll know mama loves her ramen. So tonight I decided to recreate it for my cookbook. It didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted but that is because I was rushing and I second guessed my noodle to sauce ratio. ( next go round I'll only use 2 noodle rounds I used 3)  I used the ramen noodles I picked up at the Viet Hoa and I love these because the calorie count is so low. They are only 230 or 320 calories per round. I forgot the exact because I threw away the bag but if you eat ramen you know that most bags start at 400 calories and can go as high as 1000 and the sodium is through the roof but because I made my own sauce I controlled the sodium, calories and MSG. ( I hate MSG) Also on my next go round I will drain the noodles more. Taste wise they were great but I'm still not happy with the presentation. 

Of course a celebration is not a celebration without dessert and instead of cupcakes I made cookies. ( Testing yet another recipe) Chocolate chip cookies are the simplest cookie to make but vegan chocolate chip cookies are super expensive because of the chips you have to use. The sugar angels were in my corner during a recent trip to what Bianca and I call the Ghetto Kroger. That Kroger is a vegan person's nightmare BUT they are finally remodeling and adding in better vegan options and look at what I found on close out. VEGAN CHOCOLATE CHIPS!!! These has to be chunked in the back because they I have not seen them in my 2 years of vegan baking. The only option I had was the Simple Truth Brand at almost 5 bucks a bag. Highway robbery I tell you but these chips were only $1.79 a bag!!!  I need to go back and get more because they are out of my life forever. 

So instead of regular chocolate chip cookies I made chocolate chocolate chip cookies. Its a celebration so why not indulge. As I am typing Keithon sampled one and told me that they were good. I trust him because if a flavor is off he will tell me. 

Now tomorrow night is my real celebration. My girls and I will be headed to Imagine for dinner and drinks at Greencork. So if you are in the area we will be a Imagine around 6:30 so come by and say hi!