This Is Going To Be Harder Than I Thought

Although I don't have too much time to fool around in the kitchen this month, I decided to sign up for Vegan MoFo (Vegan Month of Food). The idea is to join about 700 other bloggers in writing about vegan topics as much as possible throughout the entire month of November.

Challenge #1:
Fresh Direct is no longer stocking my staple items from Gardein, or my beloved SmartWings, or Quorn chik'n nuggets. Boo FD. Boooo. Not to mention they broke my fricken' pickles last week and my husband won't stop complaining about the lack of pickles! Oh yeah, have I mentioned there are NO grocery stores near my home?

Challenge #2:
I was forced to endure the crowds at WholeFoods in Union Square, only to discover the Gardein shelf almost empty. And no Field Roast sausages! I did find some other interesting items, like egg-less mayo, nutritional yeast flakes (for making cashew cheese) and Earth Balance vegan margarine. They even had the SmartWings for $3.50 - a savings of $2.50 compared with Food Emporium across the street! The other bonuses included free Udon noodles that didn't scan properly, and nice paper bags for my recycling.

Challenge #3:
My priorities are all over the place. I'm in the midst of busy-season at work, my fitness level needs more attention, and there are just too many holidays requiring social activities (last week Halloween parties, this weekend Diwali, in a couple weeks Thanksgiving travels).

Challenge #4:
I'm just beginning to understand that some things I thought were vegan are actually not. I've been using margarine without realizing it contained dairy - I thought it was just oils. There are little traces of dairy in so many vegetarian things. Even the Smart Wings have egg white powder - crap.

So I'll do the best I can. I won't make any empty promises of being entirely vegan for the month. It's hard enough eating about 75% vegetarian (including eggs is the only way I survive that). This may be harder than I thought, but hopefully I'll learn a thing or two.