Animals are my friends... and I don't eat my friends. ~George Bernard Shaw

When I went Vegan a year and a half ago, I discovered something about myself that I never thought would happen. I discovered that I loved to cook and bake! I also had a talent for it. Now, I am not talented enough where I am creating my own recipes or Veganizing old recipes, yet. However,  I can cook a darn good meal and bake a pie with no major disasters.

Why is this a big deal? Well, if you had known me before I went Vegan, I was not a kitchen connoisseur. I hated to cook! When I did it was a big deal and I spent most of my time calling my father to make sure I did everything right. I hated cooking meat. The smell and the mess of it always turned me off.  So I cooked very little and often stuck with frozen or fast food meals. Vegetables and fruits always went bad because I forgot about them. Baking, that was out of the question! I once melted cookie dough - how? I am still not sure. Only once a year did I bake and it was at Christmas time for gifts and it was always a Christmas miracle when everything turned out. Needless to say, I didn't eat very well. A standard meal was sometimes a Snickers bar on my way to class and a tea.

When Nathaniel and I went Vegan, I had a lot of nay-sayers saying it was unhealthy and that I would gain tons of weight because I would only eat starchy foods. Well, I didn't let them deter me. Thank goodness that it was only a few people. For some reason, around that time I had started making a number of my friends were either vegetarian, vegan, raw or macro. It was like I was already attracting the right people in my life to help support us in this lifestyle change we were about to embark on. So with that support, I began the quest of Becoming Vegan because I wanted to do it right! To be a healthy and happy Vegan.

Within one month I felt happier and healthier. I had more energy. I was sleeping better. I didn't feel bloated after meals. I felt a deeper connection with my cats. I enjoyed grocery shopping. (Going to a Health food store is the highlight of my day now). I even lost weight and for the last year and a half, I think my body is finally at a comfortable weight. I enjoyed all my meals. I also discovered I loved to make them!!

My first cookbook was La Dolce Vegan!: Vegan Livin' Made Easy, I made many of those recipes. I was a cooking machine. It was so satisfying make a meal and watching it turn out as it is supposed to and Nathaniel enjoying the meals I made Around that time, I discovered that I loved compassionate cooking/baking and I went crazy. Meaning, I ordered tons of Vegan cookbooks and created new meals daily and weekly. Since then I have accumulated 26 Vegan cookbooks. Yes, all within a year in a half. My friends and husband laugh at me and can't believe how many cookbooks I have considering before I had one Campbell's cookbook I hardly ever used.

Why do I have so many? Well, I am an individual that enjoys variety with her meals. Yes, we have a few staples/favorites that I cook often. However, I always love a new meal and challenge to tackle. I also love having a new cookbook, reading the recipes, finding a new ingredient and adding to the pantry. I spend my Sunday nights going through various cookbooks planning the week's meals. Some days, I will sit on the couch and read recipes just for the fun of it. I even go on Amazon or Chapters to looks for the newest cookbook and try to figure out a way to sneak it in without Nathaniel knowing. I was very excited when we moved to Ottawa and I visited Chapters for the first time here in the city. They have a large Vegan cookbook section that I spent over an hour in deciding which one to take home with me. At the time, The Happy Herbivore Cookbook: Over 175 Delicious Fat-Free and Low-Fat Vegan Recipes won out. However, I have my list and I plan to add more. One day, when we have our own home, I want a large kitchen and in that kitchen will be a large bookcase with all my Vegan and Raw cookbooks  It will stand as an example to my non-vegan friends of just how bountiful and delicious Compassionate cooking can be.

Thank you to Lindsay Nixon, Robin Robertson, Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Sarah Kramer, Dreena Burton, Kim Barnouin, Alicia Silverston, Vegan Dad and many other Vegan authors for helping my husband and I live and love a compassionate life.