I’ve decided that for the month of April, I’m going to try to maintain a vegan diet.  I’ve been reading a lot about it, and figured that I really won’t understand the benefits until I try it.  I’m not a big milk drinker (other than the occasional Peet’s latte) and eggs are not in my diet today, but I will definitely miss eating cheese and yogurt.

As part of this diet, I’ve also decided to consciously avoid soy.  There seems to be so much controversy around soy these days, and by switching to a vegan diet, it would be so easy to fall into a soy trap to replace my usual favourites.  That being said, if my birthday cake has soy in it, I won’t complain :).

I’ve chosen unsweetened almond milk as my dairy substitute and nutritional yeast as my cheese alternative.  I made a pasta dish out of these two ingredients, and I didn’t miss the dairy at all.

1/2 onion diced and sauteed
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 basil pesto cube (from my freezer – basil from my garden was fabulous last year and I froze cubes in an ice cube tray to use throughout the winter)
3/4 cup nutritional yeast
Whole wheat pasta (or choose your favourite)
Broccoli rabe or any other greens/veggies you’d prefer
Sundried tomatoes (I borrowed my friend’s dehydrator last fall after our tomato picking adventure)