Guest Post: The Kitchenarian goes vegan for a week!

I have a fun guest post for you today!  A few months ago I received an email from Lorie, the terrific writer and photographer behind The Kitchenarian.  She was going to try eating vegan for a week and she planned to blog about it. Lorie also wanted to offer a few guest posts during her vegan week and invited me to participate. The Kitchenarian is a gorgeous, delicious blog filled with stunning photos and inspiring recipes.   I was honored to be asked!  Of course, I immediately asked Lorie to consider writing a post about her vegan week experience for this blog.

Enjoy!

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I am thrilled and, I must admit, a bit nervous being featured here on JL’s blog.  I am not vegan, and on  most occasions, I am not even vegetarian, but don’t stop reading yet!  On my blog, The Kitchenarian, I recently explored vegan cuisine and was a self-proclaimed vegan for 7 days.  I invited JL to guest post and share a recipe in addition to sharing why she chose to become vegan.  Take a look at her guest post here.  She, in turn, invited me to guest post and share my experiences, so here I am.  Thanks JL!

In my Virginia kitchen, I try new recipes and write about them on my blog, The Kitchenarian.  I love to cook for my family – my husband, three children, three cats, and one dog.  I am not great at talking about myself or self-promotion, but you can read my blog’s About page that offers up a few more personal details about my life.  I love trying new recipes and exploring new cuisines.

When I decided to become vegan for seven days, I did it for multiple reasons.  I really wanted to learn about a different cuisine and to step out of my normal routine. I wanted to experience eating a plant-based diet and add more vegetables into my family’s meal rotation.  Many times I find myself reaching for the same items in the grocery store and preparing the same meals because I am in a hurry or just don’t think about it. Vegan Week really changed all that.  I found myself digging through recipe books, reading labels and shopping for groceries in a completely different manner.

Vegan Week was such a great experience.  I learned so much from JL and my other vegan/food conscious guest bloggers, Tiffany from Como Water and Nikki from The Tolerant Vegan.  I have adapted new cooking techniques and found new favorite recipes.  While at the moment I am not vegan, occasionally I have a self-proclaimed vegan day, but more importantly, I am more informed of where my food comes from and more aware of what is in the food I am eating.  These small steps can add up to big changes over time.

I made this corn and edamame salsa while I was vegan and have made it multiple times since.  In preparation for Vegan Week, I checked out as many vegan books from the library that I could find and I saw a recipe in the cookbook Go Healthy, Go Vegan by Neal Barnard, MD and was inspired.  Dr. Barnard’s dish was prepared as a side dish, but I mixed it up a bit by adding some of my favorite salsa ingredients like cilantro and avocado to come up with my new favorite salsa.  This recipe has multiple personalities! It is delicious as a side dish, a topping for your favorite black bean or soy burger, or served as an appetizer with chips.  I served it during Vegan Week over quinoa cakes and it was amazing!  I usually  have the ingredients on hand to make this, so it has become a “go to” favorite vegan recipe.  This can be served either warm or cold.

Corn and Edamame Salsa
Ingredients:

1 small onion, chopped
olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups white corn, fresh or frozen
1 cup shelled frozen edamame
½ teaspoon cajun seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
½ – 1 cup chopped tomatoes
¼ cup cilantro, chopped
1 avocado, chopped

Sauté onion in a small amount of olive oil for just a few minutes until soft and clear.  Add corn, edamame, and cajun seasoning and continue to sauté for 2-3 more minutes.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Take off the stove and add tomatoes, cilantro and avocado.  Serve immediately.  If you want to serve this cold as a salsa, allow the corn and edamame mixture to cool completely before adding the tomatoes, cilantro and avocado.

Kitchenarian Notes:  Here are links to two of my other vegan dishes that I made during Vegan Week.  They are also my new favs!
Marinated Artichoke Hearts and Olives
No Bake Vegan Peanut Butter Balls

Thanks again JL for letting me share my experiences on your blog today.  You are a great resource of knowledge for people, like me, who are dabbling in vegan cuisine as well as those who have committed to a vegan lifestyle.  Your casual, friendly approach to vegan living takes away a lot of the fear of this much talked about, but often misunderstood, cuisine.  Thanks!

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Thank YOU! I really enjoyed the vegan week posts on The Kitchenarian including the conversation that ensued in the comments.  By going vegan for a week you demonstrated to your non-vegan readers that it is possible and it is delicious.  The best kind of activism! 

Tags: guest post

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