Can I Vegan?: First Vegan Shopping Outing and Dinner

So the kids and I have embraced today as our first vegan day - sort of. My boys, the 13 year old "Adventurer" and the 10 year old "Skeptic" will probably be more vegetarian than vegan. They'll eat the vegan dinners I cook, but they will still get regular milk, ice cream and vegetarian friendly snacks. My 17 year old daughter, the "Enthusiast" will do the whole vegan thing with me. So far there hasn't been too much resistance from the boys, although I was a little worried. While they don't exactly "love" chicken breasts, they do love their chicken nuggets, pork chops, burgers and cheese (they must take after their mother). They seem excited that I can still make things like Vegan Mac and Cheese, Veggie Burgers, and lots of other favorites of theirs with a vegan twist.

Shopping was a bit difficult. I don't live near a Whole Foods or a Trader Joes or anything even remotely close to those types of stores. Hannafords has a decent selection of produce and vegetarian/vegan friendly foods, but there were still things I couldn't find. I may have to order some of the things I need on Amazon (couldn't find the nutritional yeast I needed for a seitan recipe I had). I do think I need to adjust how I shop, because I spent more on one weeks worth of food (and I didn't really buy anything outrageous) then I usually do on 2 weeks worth. Plus I didn't even buy snacks for the boys (have a bunch in the house) or enough cereal for them.

Tonight we tried the Spicy Peanut Butter Tempeh along with Kale Chips. It was very filling!! The sauce was wonderful and creamy (I left out the spicy elements as not all of the kids like spicy), although the tempeh took some getting used to. It doesn't taste bad, it just has a weird mouth feel in my opinion. The Adventurer had two helpings, and the Skeptic rated it a 7 out of 10, which is HIGH PRAISE for him. We all LOVED the Kale Chips...they are insanely delicious and addictive!!!

For my non-vegetarian/vegan friends - THIS is Tempeh