Kiss Me, I'm Vegan! (For 30 days, at least...)

For the past 6 months or so, I've been thinking about dabbling in a vegan diet, but have had major commitment-phobia.  No dairy?  No eggs?  I already can barely cook, how will I survive without omelets and cheese?  It takes big-time commitment to be a full-time vegan, and I'm just not ready for that.  I did decide to tackle one of the things on my 30 before 30 list: try being a vegan for 30 days.  October is the month!  Buh bye eggs, dairy, and honey!

Because I'm not much of a cook, I don't have much of a pantry at home...in fact, I barely even had spices beyond italian seasoning and garlic powder!  To prepare for my vegan month, I did some epic grocery shopping.  After perusing some blogs and cookbooks, I realized just how many ingredients my kitchen was lacking and prepared this crazy list...

I started the shopping adventures at my favorite store, Trader Joe's.  I swear, every time I walk into that store I am instantly in a wonderful mood.  If I ever burn out at teaching, I think working there might be a nice change...the employees are always so happy!  Just kidding...kinda... ;)  I managed to find a bunch of things on my list here...

Today, I hit Whole Paycheck Foods.  Another happy place!  Although because I rarely go there, I felt completely lost wandering through the store!  I found some other goodies there before heading over to Jewel to pick up some basics and the last of my list.  The haul:

The damage:

$210 later, and my fridge and cabinets are full of vegan goodness!  In order to make it through this month, I am commiting to cooking at least 2-3 real meals a week.  That may not seem like much, but that's about 2-3 more meals a week than I normally cook!  I got the party started tonight with a slightly simplified version of a recipe from the cookbook Veganomicon: Pineapple Cashew Quinoa.    This is the only cutting board I have in my apartment...Can you tell I don't cook much?  Must add that to my next Target list!

The finished product: YUM!!!

This recipe was pretty simple, fresh, light, and super tasty.  Also, it's packed with three different plant-based proteins!  Quinoa, edamame, and cashews.  WOOHOO!

Any vegan-friendly recipes to recommend?  I'm gonna need help if I'm going to make it through this month!!!


EDIT: I just found out that today is World Vegetarian Day!  What better day to start my vegan experiment :)