13th January 2009

Hi! I’m Naomi Rose and I bake a lot of cupcakes. I’ve been vegan for over a year now and the difference it’s made to me has been pretty incredible. I’m lactose intolerant so just cutting out dairy alone has fixed my digestion and skin problems completely, let alone the warm fuzzy feeling you get from nothing having to suffer for you to eat.

Did you know that the vegan pledge starts soon? The idea is that you choose to go vegan for a month to see how it fits. I know a month is pretty scary, and on my site I try to help people go vegan for a week, but maybe that’s even a tiny bit too long for you? How about a long weekend? I’m going to make you a little weekend menu and shopping list that you can definitely make, nothing tricky, everything’s yummy and 100% vegan.

So let’s start from Friday evening. You’ve been at work all day and definitely don’t feel like making a big dinner. How about a smoky, filling sweet potato soup? With a crusty bread roll? YUM. Ok! Friday is sorted.

Saturday, how about waking up to some ground flax seed soy porridge with your favourite jam stirred in? That should fill you up until lunch time. For lunch you could have some crispy chickpea fritters with a big fat salad. Saturday dinner is feasting time. What about an Indian feast with aloo tikki, saag aloo, and a coconut lentil and lime curry! Phew!

Sunday morning, pancakes. Blueberry pancakes with maple syrup. Second helpings! Sunday lunch is leftovers, scoop together all those Indian leftovers and re-heat them, curry mix of the gods. You could spend Sunday afternoon baking some delicious treats. Banoffee cupcakes, pecan pie, lemon cheezecake, blueberry cookies! And now after all your efforts, Sunday evening is the time to treat yourself for managing to be vegan for the weekend, put on a pan of slooow ramen broth to slowly make your best vegan dinner yet.

If you manage to go weekend for the vegan, great job! You can find all the recipes I’ve mentioned on my site, and an entire world of help from pretty much any vegan blogger, I’ve never met an unhelpful one.

For the weekend, the main things you’ll need would be:

sweet potato, white potatoes, lentils, coconut milk, vegetable broth, some chickpeas, carrot, salad, spinach, blueberries, noodles, oats, various herbs and spices, maybe a few miscellaneous little things. Pretty sure your shopping would be cheaper than the typical weekend shopping list with the big Sunday roast in it. And maybe even more delicious?

See more of Naomi’s delicious recipes on her website The Gluttonous Vegan, find about Vegan Campaigns’ Vegan Pledge starting on the 23rd of January here or The Vegan Society’s ongoing pledge here.

Tags: vegan pledge