Reading Ingredients When Becoming a Vegan!

I've been having trouble deciphering what ingredients are vegan or not. It has made it very difficult to eat anything other then rice, beans, fruit, and veggies. Luckily, I found this super helpful list of words to look out for in ingredient lists on Vegan.com!

• Carmine 
• Casein 
• Collagen and keratin 
• Gelatin 
• Glycerine, lactic acid, mono or diglycerides, and stearic acid
• Lactose 
• Lard and tallow 
• "Whey" is a milk

(courtesy of Vegan.com)

Vegan Shopping at BJ's!

I finally went shopping for bulk vegan foods at my local BJ's. I've been struggling these past few days finding a bigger variety of foods I can eat on such a strict diet. Reading nutrition labels was something new for me, it's just time consuming. But I've gotten better and know what key words to scan for. Anyways, my shopping trip was a huge success and I was able to get guacamole packs, fruits, veggies, and vegan burgers. Also, I plan on inventing my own vegan veggie burgers, I'll post the recipe once I make some!

Fashion Love

COLORED DENIM.
I'm super excited for Spring. Yes the warmer weather is great but the true reason is to debut my colored jeans! I absolutely LOVE colored denim and there's nothing cuter than skinny colored jeans on a warm sunny day.

Here's my own favorite pair:

Here's some pricey ones and some less expensive ones so enjoy and follow the links to buy 'em!

AG Stevie Ankle $158                                                           J Brand Ankle Skinny $176       

Courtesy of Anthropology.com                                               Courtesy of Shopbop.com            

Buy Them!                                                                             Buy Them!              

Get the Look for Less from Forever21!

                                      


Fitted Skinny $15.50                                                           Vibrant Skinny $24.90
Courtesy of Forever21.com                                                    Courtesy of Forever21.com
Buy Them!                                                                          Buy Them!

Vegan Tips From Veg Blog!

Lent has arrived and I've been desperately trying to find yummy vegan foods and recipes...but...

Tips for Beginning Vegans: Label Reading

It's hard to cook and come up with good vegan foods when I don't know if the foods are vegan or not. Reading Labels has been one of the hardest parts of transferring into a vegan. I didn't know what to look for, what was good, what was bad, what all those big weird chemical terms were, and so on. So you can imagine my frustration. Luckily I found some helpful tips from Veg Blog.  

1. Check Cholesterol.  Products that contain cholesterol are animal derived. In most cases, 0 cholesterol means it's not derived from animal products. Definitely a fast and helpful tip that has helped me the most!

2. Check Allergy Listings. All foods (if not most) have their main allergy listings bolded at the bottom of the list of ingredients. This is where you'd find things like "Nuts", "Milk", etc. It's a quick way to determine if it's even worth reading the rest of the ingredients or not.

Check out more helpful hints on: Veg Blog!

Fashion Love

Blazers and Mini Dresses? YES! Thanks to the most hilarious movie of all time (Bridesmaids, of course!) I have developed a new fashion love: blazers and mini dresses! Kristen Wiig looks amazing with this chic new trend, so check out the movie AND places to steal her style!

         My Try:

Cute Combos:

Black Blazer courtesy of H&M

Purple Dress courtesy of Macys

Red Dress courtesy of Mod Cloth

Blue Blazer courtesy of Nordstom

Fashion Love

Bright Tights... hit or miss? If you love, check out these great colors from Forever21. 

At these prices, why not give 'em a try?

Forever21 Tights courtesy of Forever21

Countdown to Veganism!

Lent is tomorrow... and what am I doing for it this year? Going vegan. While I've been a vegetarian for 2 years now, the thought of going without dairy scares me... especially cheese (love those mozzarella sticks). Other then that, I don't think it will be too much of a challenge, just something to get used to. Any advice on making the transition would be greatly appreciated!