let's pretend we're somewhere tropical.

Remember that time I talked about how the last time I was vegan, all I would eat was microwaveable crap, pasta, and corn and bean salad? No? Well, here's a reminder!

My goal to experiment with different vegan cooking and to steer clear from pre-made things is going better than I imagined. I've been eating some of the most interesting and most healthy things, and it's wonderful. I've been on a cooking and baking rampage. The other day, I made spaghetti and beanballs. Yes. Beanballs. Meatballs sans meat, plus mashed up kidney beans, along with some other random ingredients. It doesn't taste as weird as it sounds, pinky promise. It was amazing. Today I baked banana wheat germ muffins.Also, I've been eating quinoa, with avocado, chickpeas, and cilantro up the wazoo. Did you know that one cup of chickpeas provides you with more than your daily requirement of protein? So yes, I do get more than enough protein, thank you mucho! That was me going off on a tangent. I'm here to share with you a super interesting, and super tasty gnocchi recipe. Gnocchi is heaven sent. For those of you who don't know what gnocchi is, it's basically pasta made from potatoes. It's sort of like a dumpling pasta lovechild. 

pumpkin-y gnocchi with tropical salsa fresca

ingredients:

1 package of pumpkin gnocchi (I got mine at World Market!)

1 cup pineapple, chopped into 1/2- inch chunks

1 avocado, peeled and pitted, and chopped into 1/2-inch chunks

5-ish cherry tomatoes, halved. (really, it's however many you want. cue you saying, "I do what I waaaaant!" you sassy reader, you.)

juice of one lime (about 2 tablespoons)

directions:

1. boil a pot of water, and start cooking your gnocchi. Gnocchi is awesome because it takes like, hardly any time to cook.

2. mix all of the other ingredients together. 

3. dance around in excitement until your gnocchi is done. make up a song about the many wonders of gnocchi. Also, try not to eat all of the salsa fresca before it's done. It's hard not to, trust me. IT'S THAT TASTY. 

4. drain your gnocchi, let it cool. 

4. relish in this tropical summertime pasta and pretend you're on a beach watching dolphins swim by. HIIIIIII, FLIPPER!

droooooool.

note: the recipe for the salsa fresca makes about three cups, so you can adjust the amount of ingredients, depending on how many people you're making it for!

my vegan explanation.

Last February, I went vegan. I was already a vegetarian, and after reading some articles involving the way they treat the animals, I decided to make the switch. I thought it would be a lot harder than it actually turned out to be. I used to be a milk drinking fiend, and I loved cheese. But after a lot of thought, and some words from my mama, I decided to switch. My mom had some really insightful things to say about it. For example, who's idea was it to drink the milk from another mammal in the first place?

fact: grown humans aren't made to digest milk or really any other dairy product.

fact: humans are the only mammals to drink another animal's milk.

Anyways, I was vegan for about seven or eight months, and then I had foot surgery. I decided to revert to just being a vegetarian during this time, because I thought the lack of dairy in my diet would hinder the healing process. I stand by that decision. What I didn't realize was that after I was all healed it would be really hard to switch back to vegan. I tried a few times, but I just couldn't do it. Pressure not to do it from important people in my life, and my own lack of control made it really hard.
Here are some things I've noticed since switching from vegan to vegetarian:
1. I feel bloated and gross and sluggish ALL of the time. When I was vegan, I was just a big ball of energy.

2. my skin glowed when I was vegan. I'm serious, my skin was beautiful and so clear. Since adding dairy products back to my diet, it's so incredibly hard to keep the blemishes under control.

3. My hair has lost it's luster. I know that sounds silly, but it's true. I noticed that when I was vegan, my hair was shiny, soft, and not as frizzy as usual. Now, it's not as shiny and it's frizzier than ever.

Story time... back at the end of December/ beginning of January, I had a personal struggle where I completely stopped eating. There were quite a few days where I didn't eat anything at all. This lasted for about 2-ish weeks. In that time, I lost about 13 pounds. I don't know how many of you are aware of this, but that kind of weight loss is the worst kind. When you gain it back, you gain back double the amount you lost, basically. So when I did start eating again, I couldn't regulate. And now, I've gained that weight back, and then some. This is something that I've been really self-conscious about lately, and I've been trying to lose the extra weight in the healthy way, but it's just so hard. Weight is something I've never had to worry about before, so this is completely new territory to me. I'm hoping by being vegan again, this will help in that area. Did you know that weight loss is 80% diet?

Anyways, these slight changes may not be THAT noticeable to other people, but it has been extremely noticeable to me. While I was in Pella over the weekend, Amanda and her lovely friend from South Africa completely inspired me to take up veganism again. I want to have my energy back, and I want to feel good about myself again. Yesterday, I was completely dairy-free, today I slipped up a few times, but I dub tomorrow my first official day as a born-again vegan. I will most definitely be keeping you lovely readers up to date on this journey. I'll share recipes with you, and tales of being a vegan in a small town where not many people understand my reasoning.

xoxo, Sophie

also, I recommend you read this post. It's my go to page when I need motivation.