Organic living with Emily Deschanel

Maybe I'll hire your aunt to cook for me! I am switching all of my cosmetics to vegan as well as my shoes. Next, I think will be clothing. I am getting a vegan wallet (although, I think the wallet I have now is vegan). I am just disgusted by the animal cruelty that is out there. This family that I know just rescued a Chihuahua from a dog-fighting ring. Sooo sad! I don't eat much food with animal products, aside from cheese. But it is still difficult when you can't cook!

Meegs, take it from a vegan. Gluten-free and vegan is not hard to reconcile. There's a lot of vegan foods out there that's also Gluten-free (or is there? I don't know, might be the Los Angelina in me talking). Seriously, though. If you decide to take the jump and try cooking at home, I can recommend The Real Foods Daily Cookbook. The food is fantastic and the recipes are not hard to follow. It's from the founder and owner of the vegan restaurants by the same name (RFD).

And for the record, no, I don't work for them. Though I should have a stake in the restaurants, considering the amount of money I used to spend there!

Also, for anyone who wants to get informed about becoming vegan and what it entails, the aptly titled "Becoming Vegan" by Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina is a good place to start.

Wow, thanks heiro! Seriously, I will look into your suggestions. I guess I'm just not that creative, at least when it comes to food. Like I said, I am already making steps in other departments (cosmetics, clothing, etc.) but the food issue is different 'cuz I'm in such a routine. But if I really want it, I know I can do it. So, thanks again for the suggestions!

You're from Los Angeles? I SO want to move back there. I lived there for 4 months last year, and I miss it. I would just need to convince my hubby to move back.

Meegs82 wrote:Maybe I'll hire your aunt to cook for me! I am switching all of my cosmetics to vegan as well as my shoes. Next, I think will be clothing. I am getting a vegan wallet (although, I think the wallet I have now is vegan). I am just disgusted by the animal cruelty that is out there. This family that I know just rescued a Chihuahua from a dog-fighting ring. Sooo sad! I don't eat much food with animal products, aside from cheese. But it is still difficult when you can't cook!

We got one of our dogs from this young guy, who found her with her head bashed in and left to die and he nursed her back to health. And while she's not the healthiest dog, she's not the sickest, and she's such a sweet dog, with the saddest eyes. The other dog we have we saved from Euthination. I would probably go vegan except that I love chicken too much. I hate pork (minus ribs and bacon-sometimes) and I don't like the taste and texture of beef. So my choices to not eat that isn't because of animal rights, though I hate how they treat animals. I wish they wouldn't be so mean to them, considering their destination. Was it you that said Emily couldn't handle soy? Does she drink soy milk? I hate soy milk... Ugh, My Aunt made us drink it as kids, and I used to like it as a kid til one day I threw it up and that was the end of my soy milk drinking days.

That is so sad about the dog! Such cruelty out there. Meat was not hard for me to give up...AT ALL. I stopped eating red meat, for the most part, back in high school. I haven't had pork since then either. I would eat chicken and turkey and then finally, in November of '07, I said, "why am I even eating meat at all?" Now, I can't stand it. But I don't freak out if someone eats it in front of me. Like my husband. He is a carnivore

Right, Emily can't digest soy. She drinks almond milk. I can't handle soy either. I can have soybeans and that's about it. Tofu, soy milk, etc. wreaks havoc with my body.

Meegs82 wrote:
You're from Los Angeles? I SO want to move back there. I lived there for 4 months last year, and I miss it. I would just need to convince my hubby to move back.

By right if not by birth. LOL. My family still lives there though, and as much as I hated it there (and I hated it there) I also passionately loved it. Mostly, I miss my family and my friends and my everything. Still, I don't know if I would recommend anyone to move there: The prices are pretty insane (have you gone grocery shopping? ), the drivers are absolutely nuts, and the public transportation system is a joke. A bad one. Oh, and there's also the constant risk of an earthquake or a bushfire catching up and taking down your home. If you don't mind any of that, though, it can also be pretty awesome. It's like living in a different country. Hell, sometimes it's like living in a different planet. But in a crazy-cool way.

You know what's an excellent alternative to soy milk? Hemp. I love it. It's easy to digest, light and packs a pretty hard punch. It's more expensive than soy milk, so instead of buying the milk, I take hemp shakes almost everyday to help increase my protein intake. But yeah, there's also oat milk, rice, cashew and I think hazelnut, which, uh, okaaay. I have not tried <i>that</i> one.