Lol I'm a total "Elle Woods" preppy girl and I love The Post Punk Kitchen. They have cooking videos on YouTube as well! When I'm bored I'll just watch them cook. So fun.

Hey Tyler,
I've been vegan for 7 years and I didn't think I could EVER give up cheese, but I use Joanne Stepaniak's Uncheese Cookbook, and it's got lots of recipes for cheese sauces and even fondue! It's got a couple of different mac & "cheese" recipes in it, as well as stuffed shells, etc. It's probably the book I use the most, and I have a fairly extensive vegan cookbook collection.

Now, the vegan cheese doesn't taste like dairy cheese, of course, but for me it's close enough.

Oh, another author I love is Sarah Kramer who wrote La Dolce Vegan, Garden of Vegan, and How it all Vegan. I use those books a lot too.

Let me know if you want me to send you a few recipes to try out.

Darby, I'll see if I can find some of those at the library! Thanks for the suggestions! I'm glad to hear another cheese-a-holic was able to go completely vegan.

Michelle, they are fun to watch aren't they!? I love their whole attitude!

I'm having me first fully vegan day today. Yay! All the non-vegan stuff that was "mine" is either gone or DH has agreed to eat it so it won't go to waste. My meal plan for today:

B: 1/2 bagel with 1 TBS peanut butter, strawberries.

L: Soy chick patty sandwich (mustard, lettuce, tomato, onion, roasted red peppers and sweet green peppers) with zucchini sticks on the side.

Snack: Blackberries and red seedless grapes.

D: Rice with madras sambar and a salad full of veggies on the side.

Day 2 all vegan!
Yay!

WTG! There will come a point when you'll wonder how you ever ate any other way.

This really was the perfect time to go vegan because I'm not having any transition problems at all. I'm so focused on healthy eating that I was avoiding most dairy anyway, so I feel like I haven't even given anything up! And it feels really good to be eating in a way completely supported by my ethics, yay!

How are you doing so far with variety and getting all your nutrients in?
I've been vegetarian for a full week now and feel much better but already the dairy products I'm using are weighing on my mind pretty heavily. I'm thinking the vegan switch may happen sooner then later.

Yay! I say DO it!!!

Oh yay, Heather, you should do it!

I'm loving it! I don't miss the eggs or dairy at all! I feel really, really good, as good as I've ever felt. In fact, I'm having a hard time not blathering on and on about it to my family and my husband -- who are NOT receptive to vegetarianism much less veganism. And there has been NO negative impact on my energy or training!

And I love that I'm not feeling guilt over my food choices, it just feels so... right!

OMG I've been a blathering fool already!! I'm so excited about some of the new foods I'm trying - mock tuna salad - it's better then the real stuff!! My family and friends are cautiously receptive but as soon as I mention I'm thinking about going vegan their faces get this weird look
I'm going to work on phasing it out slowly but surely. I'm more worried about all the things I don't naturally think about like whey for example. I'm sure it'll come in time just can't expect to be perfect at first!
I think I can do it now that I've discovered non-dairy ice cream

Ah, the "you're a vegan freak" look. Yeah, welcome to holding a minority opinion. I plan to own my freakness though. Great vegan site (and great book too): www.veganfreak.com. They have really cool forums, too!

The non-dairy ice cream is killer isn't it? Soy Delicious "Purely Decadent" brand is SOOOOOOOOOO good that I don't keep any in the house and haven't had any since I started eating more healthy. Because it is just TOO good, just SO yum! But I like knowing it is there, ready for me on that special day I decide I want a fabulous dessert treat!

I get the Soy Delicious ice cream sandwiches. 150 cal each comes in both chocolate and vanilla. Great treat to have in the evening without blowing the whole day. I just make sure I have enough calories left in my day to have one.

I've always enjoyed waving my freak flag over other things so why not this too =P Wait is there an actual vegan-flag?
OMG I love Soy Delicious!! I have to have a sweet fix about once-twice a week. It cuts into my calories but keeps me on track at the same time!

That book sounds awesome, I just read some of the excerpts- calling my bookstore to see if they have it!

So you guys have convinced me (wasn't that hard really!) to make this step. I know off hand I have eggs and a small amount of cheese and some crackers that have dairy in them at the house. I'm not going to waste these but not going to buy more either (or order in a restaurant) even though I'm not completely tofurky yet!

Yea!!

Thought I posted a reply to this thread. Oh well...

I've been going back and forth between veganism and vegetarianism for the last year and a half (not because I find it hard to go vegan but because stress drives up my cravings for non-vegan junk food and I had a lot of changes in the past year and a half). But I promised myself 2008 would be my year to stay vegan and started out really well in Jan, did it for two months straight without any junk food binges (my weakness) and lost weight (didn't weigh myself, so don't know how much). Then decided to vary the menu to try a raw vegan diet, which was my downfall. I love the concept of raw veganism, but I have way too many food issues to be able to stick with such a restricted plan.

I was doing a little dairy for three weeks, but came to my senses and I've been vegan now for about a week. I didn't find giving up cheese too difficult, actually, once I gave it up cold tofu . But I also decided to give up coffee at the same time and I love coffee with half-and-half, so the HAH was a bit harder. But now I like iced tea .

I'm trying to eat "clean" (i.e., whole foods) and not too many carbs (even the good ones, when I overdo them, cause cravings for me) so I eat a lot of veggies, beans, some fruit and whole grains, and good fats. I actually upped my fat intake a bit because I was eating 1200-1300 calories before and I know it wasn't enough. Now I'm at about 1500 and so far it's working much better.

Can't say how much weight I lost yet but I definitely feel the difference. I also developed a terrible rash around my thigh/other unmentionable areas around the time I started adding dairy back into my diet (go figure ...) and they are now much better, almost cleared up.

Best of luck!

Tam