Sound the trumpets!  I can now safely say I have been 100% vegan and gluten-free for over a month. After spending two full gluttonous months eating deliciously exotic chapatti, ghee, and paneer loaded dishes in India I came back with a resolve to go the extra mile. I needed something new to do. And I was tired of the afternoon fatigue at work.

I’d been a vegetarian on and off since I was sixteen, young and susceptible to god-awful screaming metal bands, Hot Topic, and PETA propaganda. All the cool punk kids with long, greasy bangs and hopelessly skinny jeans were hopping on the vegetarian wagon. Perhaps they did it mainly to defy the mainstream culture and appear emo. For me it had more to do with Kelsey Leonard, who I found to be the most up-to-date on alternative knowledge in our small Iowa town.  I didn’t even need to see the horrific YouTube videos or pig slaughtering; I took Kelsey’s word for it and swapped out the Juicy Lucy for the Boca burger in the frozen foods aisle. I was probably the unhealthiest vegetarian on the planet; all I ate was peanut butter and macaroni.

Gradually, as I moved out west, where composting is a habit and eating raw organic is a normal lifestyle choice, I changed my unhealthy habits and started eating a healthier vegetarian menu. I started biking more, hiking more, and doing yoga as if my life depended on it. And everytime I entered Natural Grocers or New Frontiers, I became more aware that eating fresh vegetables and whole grains wasn’t all that hard to adjust to. In fact, your body starts to crave it so much eating a processed, packaged bag of Lays Sour Cream and Onion chips feels like the most miserable kind of death sentence.

After my return to Prescott late this summer, finding my cupboards and fridge empty, I took the plunge.  The very first day I decided to go vegan and gluton-free I biked to Peregrine Books and bought a book by Brendan Brazier called “Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life” and adopted it as my food bible. I take it with me to the store, because it has a grocery list of about 20 necessary food items for a proper nutrient rich vegan diet. Below are the staple items that you’ll consistently find in my kitchen as recommended by the author:

Vegetables: Avocado (I decidedly love the avocado!) I get my essential fats, carrots, Kale, garlic, ginger, mixed greens, onions, black beans, chickpeas, lentils, peas.

Pseudo grains: Quinoa, wild rice

Fruit: Apples, bananas, blueberries, lemons, limes,

Oils: Coconut, extra-virgin olive, flaxseed, hemp

Grains: Brown rice, oats

Sweeteners: Agave nectar, blackstrap molasses (a good source of iron)

Vinegars: Balsamic

Herbs: Basil, Cilantro, Thyme

Spices: Black pepper, cardamom, cayenne, cinnamon, cumin, turmeric, nutmeg, curry powder (couldn’t live without these to add life to my cooked dishes!)

So there you have it, I’ll be posting more about my new food journey, as well as my favorite new recipes!

 

Seattle hipsters beware! Prescott young folk are getting off the trails and packing into the grungiest coffee shops they can find to dry their sodden hiking boots. The rains have been reoccurring every day, from morning till evening, the drizzle is relentless and steady. Clearly this is either an extension of the mid-summer monsoon season or something entirely different. Did someone say global warming? Why indeed, I sure see the tell-tale sights.

This morning I gazed out our kitchen window at the dark brooding sky and had to remind myself that I moved to this high northern desert town because the city website claimed a wholesome 300 days of sunshine a year. And for the most part the city has held up to its standard. Until now.

A few short months ago I would have struck my fist at the thunderous sky and cursed Zeus and all his accomplices. Now, after spending a solid month in Dharamsala, one of the rainiest places on earth, I think differently. I am slowly evolving into that woman who draws the shades, drinks too much tea, and plays Chopin while reading the latest Paulo Coelho novel. And I used to be so outdoorsy! But what choices do I have in with the latest weather patterns? Yoga is the only active thing I seek daily.

My time in Dharamsala, another high elevation town in Himachal Pradesh, India, is known for its heavy monsoons. Their year average rainfall is 3000 mm, or 120 inches. The term humid subtropical climate applies here, as their monsoon can begin as early as April and might not let up until September. This year I was there during the heaviest rains that caused the Ganges to flood down in the valley, killing thousands of people and displacing many more. I bet that didn’t reach the news back home much did it?

Point made, I know monsoons. I can now handle record amounts of rainfall. And I find I actually like a rainy day, really. It brings us into a cocoon like state. We want conversation and warm drinks and fuzzy slippers. I’ve read almost as many books this summer as I did in middle school when I wanted to have the record for the most Accelerated Reading points. Now that bordered on the OCD scale…