Anything You Can Make, I Can Make Vegan: Creamy Cajun Linguine

Check it, this was one of Mike's favorite dishes that I used to make a few years back. Well here it is veganized for all of you, and it tastes just as good as ever!

Oh How The Days Do Fly: One Year Later

Happy Veg-iversary to me!! (cough... actually it was yesterday...). Scoff if you must, but it's something I'm very proud of. Seriously through all the crap and the odd questions I get on a regular basis and all the struggles figuring out how to do it the right way, it has been one of the best decisions of my life.


I had always been curious about going meatless when I was younger, I even pretended to once. But it wasn't until my husband bought me the book "Skinny Bitch: Ultimate Everyday Cookbook " did I give it any actual thought. And after reading though the introduction sections of the book, I felt like I had to make the change.

At first I just planned on eating less meat... two days later I figured I would just try being a vegetarian that still ate eggs and dairy (octo-lacto). Of course then I was hit with another wave of my famous stomach issues (nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and best of all sulfur burps... attractive I know) and down and out for a few days. This sort of thing was happening more frequently. I had tried adjusting my diet before but nothing ever seemed to help. So frustrated, I decided to say "F*** it" and gave up eggs, dairy, meat and poultry on the spot. (though

In the beginning, I was really unsure of the whole experience. Not to mention the reaction of my husband and family (some of them were not thrilled). I wasn't sure how to balance out my diet and as a result felt fatigued for a good month and a half... that and criticism and comments I was getting off the bat from a lot of my friends and loved ones (people whose opinions meant a lot to me) were almost enough to make me through in the towel... After doing some research on proper vegetarian nutrition and supplements, (and a little pep talk from my Mom) I decided to give it one more month.

Today I feel amazing! I have energy like I've never had before. I rarely ever get sick, and if I come down with anything I'm only out for a day. My muscles heal faster. For the past few months I've been able to pull off working 60-70 hour weeks, not that that's good for me but that's beside the point, ha.

My stomach issues are gone, except the couple of times that I've been in a situation that I had consumed (to my knowledge or not) something with eggs or dairy... family situations mostly (I really try to be polite, I never want to be snobby about it).

My hair, and skin have never looked better!! Neither of them really get oily, and in fact I can easily go a few days in between showering and you'd never be able to tell the difference (which is super weird because before I would be a grease bomber the day after showering, it never failed).

(click to see larger)
I'm aware that I make the same face in pictures.

I guess over all I just feel happier, life doesn't seem to drag me down like it used to. I wake up in the morning with a smile inside and out... In this past year I've met so many amazing people, tried so many amazing new foods, had some of the craziest experiences of my life thus far, learned many new things, I guess overall it's nice to be able to say that I'm happy.

Best of all I found there are those of you who take the time to read all of this and enjoy what I put up here and I really just wanted to say thank you for all of your awesome love and support! You guys mean so much to me!

Here's to 2011 and all the new exciting things to come in 2012!!