Bitchin Mac n Cheese

Prehat oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients
3 cups of Macaroni Shells
3 cups of boiling water
1/2 cup Earth Balance Margarine
1/2 cup flour
2 TBL Tamari
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
pinch turmeric
1 cup Nutritional Yeast
1/4 cup oil

Directions
Boil 3 cups of water in kettle
Boil water for the Macaroni Shells
It's a good idea to get all of your ingredients laid out while the water is boiling
because once the Earth Balance melts- it's GO TIME :)
Once your water has boiled and your macaroni is cooked and waiting, melt the
1/2 cup Earth Balance in a sauce pan.
Add the 1/2 cup flour and whisk into a roux
Once combined, add the boiling water and stir contantly until it reaches a creamy,
thick consistancy.
Add the 2 TBL Tamari, pinch of turmeric, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp garlic powder and
stir to combined.
Once completely mixed, add the 1 cup of Nutritional Yeast and 1/4 cup oil.
Stir until dissolved and the mixture looks like delicious cheesy goodness.

Pour Macaroni Shells into a baking dish and top with the cheese mixture. Bake at
350 degrees for 15 minutes and then another 5 minutes on Broil.

Optional Topping
Almesan (from the cookbook "Veganomicon"...one of the best vegan cookbooks ever!)

1/4 cup Almonds
2 TBL Toasted Sesame Seeds
1/8 tsp salt

Process in a food processor until resembles coarse crumbs.

Optional Side
To 1 TBL Coconut Oil add sliced peppers, sliced onions and Field Roast Apple Sage Sausage
D-LISH!

Go Vegan :)

I have found that once people see animals as "beings" and not "food" ...they begin to gain a whole new appreciation for life.
It wasn't until I went vegan and was vegan for at least 6 months that I realized how desensitized I had become with regard to my food.

I used to be able to grab a burger and eat it with no thought to anything other than the food that filled my belly.
Since becoming vegan, I have more intent and purpose with my food. I feel a deeper connection to the earth and the spirit of life. All life.

It's time for us to sensitize ourselves to the living beings around us and realize they feel pain and sickness...just like any human would. To live under the pretense that a being doesn't feel pain just because it can't tell you it does, it a fairly abysmal way of thinking. All you have to do is look into their eyes to realize...they are just as present as we are.

As human beings, it is our responsibility to be the caretakers of the world. To honor and respect all creatures placed on this earth and learn to live with a deeper love for our mother.

Kwan Yin

Perspective.

But how do you get enough protein if you don't eat meat???????

Just as this article says...it's the first question I get after telling someone I'm vegan.
This article has some great ideas on protein sources. Moving forward, I'll try and incorporate them into recipes and share them here :)

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4491/My-Top-7-Sources-of-PlantBased-Protein.html

Ahimsa

Wow. My first blog on my very first vegan blogsite :)

How exciting.

The idea to blog came to me the other day when I was reading about "Ahimsa". A term meaning quite literally "the avoidance of violence".

From Wikipedia:
It is an important tenet of some Indian Religions such as Hinduism and Buddhims. It means kindness and non-violence towards all living things including animals; it respects living beings as a unity, the belief that all living things are connected. Avoidance of verbal and physical violence is also a part of this principle, although ahimsa recognizes that you can use self defense when necessary, as a sign of a strong spirit. It is closely connected with the notion that all kinds of violence entail negative karmic consequences.

For me, the path to vegan eating began when I became a Buddhist. I always held vegetarian tendencies but it wasn't until I started to explore this faith that I could feel the truth rippling through my soul.

One of the beliefs of Buddhism is that all living beings are sacred. It didn't take long for me to realize that I wanted to become a vegetarian. Not because I HAD to..but because I WANTED to. The meat I was eating didn't taste good enough for me to forget that I was eating another beings misery. I begin explaining it to my friends as "I wouldn't eat anything "with a face".

After about a year and a half later, I was watching a British show with my husband that featured a vegan cook. As she spoke I could feel the resonance of her words and how they affected me and I knew then that I was going to become vegan. Forever.

What everyone says (after they ask you how you get your protein) is "I would be vegan...but I couldn't LIVE WITHOUT CHEESE".

I thought that too..up until the day I knew I was destined to be vegan.

Because this has been such an exciting and magical transition, and because I want to share that with anyone and everyone who might be thinking the same thing- I decided to start a blog.

My intent with this is not to preach...or try to convert. But to spread love and the kindness and to learn even more as I make my way on this ever evolving journey. It's also meant to disseminate information and help people to understand so they can make their own spritually informed decisions. Whatever they may be.

We are not human beings on a spiritual journey ...but spiritual beings on a human journey.

Let's make this life count.