I’ll be starting another vegan week after I get back from my beach vacation. Who wants to be vegan on a beach trip? Not me! But although I’m not eating the vegan diet during my in-between weeks I have found several vegan staples that are creeping their way into my every day life.
If giving up dairy and animal product and by-products doesn’t fit into your lifestyle, try picking up a few of these items on your next grocery trip and give them an honest go. Going “vegan” may not be in your future, but that doesn’t mean a few “vegan” foods can’t find their way into your pantry!
Dried Fruit Bar/Leather: When I need to eat something, but I’m not really hungry (don’t lie, you know that happens to you), I grab a dried fruit bar from Trader Joe’s. Only sixty calories and straight up fruit. Satisfies my sweet tooth, and my kids happen to love them too. I keep these in their back packs for “emergency” snacks.
Silk Live! Soy Vanilla Yogurt: I struggled with almond yogurt during my first vegan week. It tasted fine, but it had a funky curdled kind of texture. I discovered, however, that soy yogurt is just fine! I now alternate between my Greek yogurt and soy yogurt. I like the protein that I get in the Greek yogurt, but the dairy-free component in the latter.
Sucanat: Essentially, this stuff is pure dried cane juice, is unrefined and retains some of its molasses content which gives it it’s brown color. Sucanat can replace white or brown sugar in a 1:1 ratio. I’ve played around with some recipes using this ingredient and the outcome has been great. If this leaves you pondering why you need to replace white sugar in a vegan diet, you can read up on it here. I don’t complete remove sugar from my diet during vegan week, but I use Sucanat instead when I can. Available at Healthy Home Market.
Silk Soy Hazlenut Creamer: I now no longer use half and half in my coffee at home. This was probably the easiest switch that I made, although I fought it for years. Let’s not tell my husband this, but he’s been trying to get me to make the switch for years. I protested, but now I don’t see why I did. It’s good. And, sweet enough where I don’t feel the need to use sugar in my coffee!
Are there any vegan foods that you enjoy? Have you tried any of these that I listed?
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