Vegan for a Month

Around the end of December Kyra decided that she wanted to follow a vegan diet for a significant period of time.  This has now been defined as the month of January to be repeated periodically through the year.

If you are not familiar with the term vegan - it not only means no meat but no animal products like dairy and eggs.  I have often referred to the diet we regular follow because of Allen's food allergies as vegan plus meat.

So if you know our family diet restrictions due to Allen's allergies and Kyle's sensitivities it looks like this:

• no milk, cream, sour cream, etc
• no cheese
• no butter and most margarine
• no eggs
• nothing with any of the above in them
• no nuts
• no beef
• no peas
• white flour based bread/pasta in moderation

And Kyra's vegan month has now knocked chicken, turkey, fish and pork off the list of available food as well.

Honestly, I don't mind the food - fruits, vegetables, grains.  It's healthy.  I have good cookbooks and because of Allen's allergies we are most of the way to veganism anyways.  The biggest annoyance to me is menu planning.  I'm not used to cooking exclusively vegan multiple days a week.  I've had to do some extra time with my cookbooks and extra time cooking recipes I don't know by heart.  By the end of January I should be in the routine and then Kyra will want meat again.