Have a Vegan Halloween

Yes, I made my own pumpkin head, and you can, too!

Enjoying Halloween usually means gorging on candy that was either brought home by your kids after trick-or-treating or that was laying around at work.  Most chocolate Halloween candy is made using milk chocolate.  Candy makers use milk chocolate because it is the most inexpensive type of chocolate and is easy to work with.  But there’s good news for candy lovers who want to go vegan; dark chocolate is not off limits because it does not contain milk!

You can be a vegan and still enjoy all the dark chocolate you want.  Dark chocolate is a more decadent type of chocolate that is pure cocoa.  As with other types of premium specialty foods, a little bit goes a long way with dark chocolate, so one tidbit can be slowly savored in the same amount of time it would take you to wolf down five or six mini Snickers. 

Keep in mind that many candies contain gelatin, which is made using fat from pigs or other animals.  Look for candies that do not contain gelatin or shellac (the shiny outer coating found on Skittles, for example). 

If you like candies like Starburst, substitute with Mamba, another type of fruit chew that does not contain animal fat.  

For your next campfire marshmallow roast, look for Pangea or Sweet & Sara vegan marshmallows.  Again, these do not contain animal fat and are healthier than real marshmallows.

If you must indulge, think about making a healthier Halloween snack, like toasted pumpkin seeds.  Making toasted pumpkin seeds is an activity you can share with kids, and the flavor possibilities are endless.

Here's a recipe for toasted pumpkin seeds.

Welcome to Healthy Vegan Cooking for the Rest of Us

My name is India, and I love to cook.  I enjoy discovering new and delicious recipes I can share with my boyfriend.  Most of all, I like easy and healthy recipes I can make using basic ingredients and simple processes.  I am not a professional chef, and I don't really have time to experiment as much as I would like in the kitchen.  And I'm assuming the people reading this don't have that much time to cook, either.  Most of us have day jobs and just want to go home and have a hassle-free healthy meal they can enjoy with their family or friends.

But easy meals are often not so good for you.

Microwave dinners, fatty cuts of meat, and canned meals can be extremely high in fat, sodium and cholesterol.  Anyone who has had a run-in with high cholesterol, high blood pressure or obesity can tell you it is not a good feeling when you realize your meal choices may have played a contributing role to your present condition.  But there's great news; these conditions can often be reversed.

Thanks to modern science, we now know what types of foods contribute the most to these well-known health conditions.  We can take steps to make healthier choices every day.  Even if you are young and fit, your cholesterol could be elevated without you even knowing it.  This may not be a problem now, but it will be when you get older if you continue down the road you're on.  And now I'm starting to sound like a mom!

This blog is dedicated to sharing my new journey into the wonderful world of healthy vegan cooking.  I am not 100% vegan, however we have started eating vegan meals as much as possible due to recent health concerns.  I am 31, and my boyfriend is only 27.  Both of us have experienced high blood pressure among other symptoms related to bad food choices, however we are both carnivores and love steak, bacon, hotdogs, and pizza.  When we found out we needed to make a change, I began looking for meat replacements first off, because we love meat! 

As we take this journey together, I know that I will mess up.  You will see me cook meals that neither look good nor taste good (don't worry, I will be honest).  But this will all be for the greater good.  Hopefully you will see that cooking vegan isn't some "out-there" way of life or an unhealthy extreme.  Many people have decided to go vegan, albeit part-time for us, and improve the quality of the food they eat on a day-to-day basis.  And I encourage you to do the same.

.....Now let us figure out how to cook vegan food.   I know virtually nothing about it and have been a carnivore my entire life, but we will learn as we go.  Let's get started!