I can’t recall when I first heard of Victoria Moran, but I remember that her work really caught my attention when she started her Main Street Vegan Academy. I had been looking for a new path, a chance to start fresh, after healing from the worst stages of my chronic illness. I was looking at pursuing life as a health professional, but that was a bigger commitment (both in terms of energy and finance) than I was able to give at the time. The more I looked into the Academy, the more I was completely convinced that it was the perfect fit for me. It’s a 5-day intensive, and while it’s a monetary investment, it’s far more affordable than a masters degree. Most importantly, her style jibed with me. Her faculty was impressive and inspirational. The value was immeasurable in monetary terms.
After I was accepted, I read as many books of hers as I could to familiarize myself with her message. One of them, Main Street Vegan, was part of the curriculum, but another three of them I eagerly devoured for purely my own pleasure. Continue reading
Tag: cravings
Changing Seasons, Changing Diet
Raw foods make my heart sing. I always make sure to eat lots and lots of them throughout the year. But these past couple winters, the cold has really seeped into my bones. In addition to raw foods, I also craved warming soups, cooked grains, roasted sweet potatoes, and the like.
But then it’s like clockwork; after the first day it even feels like spring is in the air (even if it’s 30-40 degrees!), my body starts craving more raw foods. We’ve still had plenty of cold days, but all I want is tropical fruits, green smoothies, and gigantic salads. I haven’t quite gone as far as banana soft-serve and acai bowls, but believe me it’s coming! I already stocked up on acai packets during the last sale at the grocery store. Honestly, if it wasn’t so cold and drafty in my house, I’d be eating an acai bowl with sliced kiwi and coconut shreds right now.
Product Review: Follow Your Heart Vegan Provolone Cheese
Follow Your Heart has been in the vegan cheese-making game for a long time. In my early vegan days, if you wanted vegan cheese it was either Follow Your Heart or Veganrella. My friends and I would get blocks of the Follow Your Heart mozzarella for pizzas, and I even convinced the cafe I worked at to order some so that we could offer more vegan options. It wasn’t really mozz-like, but it melted and had a semi-cheesy flavor. That was enough to satisfy me, but unfortunately many of my vegan friends from back then have caved in to their dairy cheese cravings.
More Vegan Cheeses Come to Pittsburgh!
After a second round of chao quesadillas, I went back to the store to pick up more of Field Roast’s new and amazing chao cheese for my partner only to find that there was none on the shelves.
While I was back there, I noticed the new Follow Your Heart cheese that is similarly made with coconut oil and decided to pick that up instead. They were out of many varieties but still had the slices and blocks in a few flavors. Not formerly being anything remotely close to a dairy cheese lover, I couldn’t figure out which flavor to purchase. I picked up the provolone for us to try out since as far as I can remember, I’ve never had vegan provolone. And since I haven’t had dairy cheese in forever, my partner will be my resident tester to determine how provolone-like it really is!
Product Review: Field Roast Coconut Herb Chao Cheese
This past fall, I was browsing the aisles of a co-op in Asheville, NC and I spotted a vegan cheese that I’d never seen before, Field Roast Chao cheese slices. I assumed that it was a product that had been out for some time. My mistake! There are new vegan cheeses launching all the time, and as someone who doesn’t eat that kind of stuff often, it’s hard to keep up with what’s new and not. I do love to try new vegan cheeses out though because 1) my partner loves cheese and 2) I can recommend them to family, friends, new vegans and have actual experience behind my recommendation. Well, my curiosity was distracted by hemp tofu, an item I’d never tried but had been dying to, on the bottom shelf which I placed in my basket before walking away from the cold cases, vegan cheese far out of my mind.
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