Joyful Vegan Family

Vegan Goodness:

Today we ate:

• Breakfast: Green smoothies for Dad and LP and some oatmeal for Mom and LP
• We stayed inside (with air conditioning) because of the heat, which also means we snacked throughout the morning!  LP and mom had some toast with butter, some cheerios and some freeze-dried mango.
• Lunch: LP and Dad had leftover curry and Mom finished off the leftover squash soup. 
• During LP’s nap Mom and Dad had chocolate bread.  After nap time LP finished off the chocolate bread and then had some more freeze dried mango.
• Dinner: Amazing chili and cornbread from a friend who came to visit with us and was nice enough to make food for us!  The chili was absolutely fantastic, and we really, really appreciated not having to cook tonight – we are both pretty tired!

Money Matters:
Today we didn’t spend anything since we stayed huddled inside with AC!

Friday Tips for Living Vegan and Living Cheap – with kids!:

Substitutions for eggs and dairy

Let me start this section by saying I truly have the best friends in the world.  With our new baby we have people flooding to our house offering to help us out every way they can, and being super kind and accommodating.  People have been bringing us tons of amazing food, and all of it is vegan!  Many of our friends have gone out of their way to make vegan dishes for us in lots of situation, ranging from gifts of food to making sure I have something to eat at a potluck.  I always feel so grateful and so lucky when people do this for us, because I know that cooking “vegan” can be daunting, and is not always easy for people who are used to doing “omnivore” cooking.  But, as many vegans know, there is few things as special as going to a potluck, party or other social event, and being able to eat most of what is there.  To all my friends and family who go out of their way to accommodate us I say “thank you, thank you!!”

As these wonderful people figure out how to provide food for us vegans, I often get questions about how to replace eggs in baking, or what to substitute for butter or other dairy products.  Today I want to share a resource that I have found useful: The Ultimate Vegan Baking Cheat Sheet from PETA.  This document is a really helpful guide for figuring out how to substitute eggs and dairy in baking, and it also gets you thinking about the role certain ingredients play in baking (if you are into the science of baking, which I find fascinating!)  And if you look at that and want to know more about how to adapt your favorite baking recipes to be vegan, go out and get a copy of The Joy of Vegan Baking, which is absolutely my best baking resource, vegan or otherwise!

So try baking something vegan today – and see how delicious it can be!