The Convenience Issue!

This post couldn't come at a more appropriate time.

You see, I am in the midst of a massive juggling act as I navigate the waters of life in Los Angeles as an actor, vegan blogger, and animal activist. What was once a weekly pastime for me - blogging on here every other day for you beautiful readers - has become something I have put at the bottom of the priority list, mostly because I've had to file "breathing" and "eating" above it. Bottom line, I am one busy girl!

I hate (yes, oh-so-positive Lindsay wrote hate, so you know I mean business!) to admit it, but this week, I reached a point where I even considered taking a long-term hiatus from Kiss Me, I'm Vegan!. Like my dad always says, I'm a hurricane with my passions in life - I either want to do them with 110% of me, or not at all. But, after hashing it out with the hubby, I decided to keep trucking along, even if that means my weekly posts may turn into bi-weekly posts. Such is life. I hope that you, my glowing, kissable supporters, will continue to truck along with me, and we can continue to growing together, all while allowing for the natural ebbs and flows of any good relationship. And of course, I have to share my reason to smile today - this month is the two-and-a-half year mark of this blog! I simply cannot stop now.

But, back to this post - convenience. I know I'm certainly not the only vegan in this community itching for ways to make the daily efforts of cooking, eating, buying, and living just plain easier. For many of us, the commitment to living vegan seems most daunting when it becomes inconvenient, which eventually happens from time to time. For vegans-in-training, when everything involved in living this way becomes too much to tackle, it's easy to throw in the towel, because (as I wrote above with my blog situation), we feel that if we can't do it right, why do it at all? 

So, today, I'm here to help you do it right, with a few fun suggestions to help make the transition to eating and living vegan as easy as cruelty-free apple pie. Lucky for me, I have some help. Namely these awesome, kiss-worthy publications:


Vegan in 30 Days 
by Sarah Taylor

The 4 Ingredient Vegan 
by Maribeth Adams (with Anne Dinshah)

My Vegan Recipe Journal 
by Mara Conlon

In Vegan in 30 Days, blogger and author Sarah Taylor masterfully breaks down the process of transitioning to a 100% vegan diet by giving readers a month of daily exercises to incorporate the elements they need to grow into a strong plant-based eater. Complete with success stories, tips, fun facts, and recipes, Sarah takes the mystery out of cruelty-free eating, and does so with ease, joy, and simplicity. Daily assignments vary from "Take a Tour of Your Local Health Food Store," to "Learn How to Say, 'No Thank You, I'm Vegan", to my personal favorite, "Meet Other Vegans," an essential for maintaining your strength and self esteem while eating vegan. Sarah even devotes an entire assignment to reading what I consider to be one of the all-time greatest books about veganism, John Robbins' Diet for a New America. Vegan in 30 Days is the perfect book for anyone looking to slowly incorporate veganism into their life, and it is definitely a convenient choice for those of us who need that little extra nudge to go vegan with our whole heart.  


Ever think to yourself, "I want to go vegan, but I don't know how to cook for myself"? Then Maribeth Adams' new book, The 4 Ingredient Vegan is the book for you! Maribeth provides us with delicious, and most important, convenient recipes to add to the vegan toolbox using, you guessed it, only four ingredients. Recipes include Ginger-Kissed Butternut Squash Soup, White Bean Nacho Dip, Stuffed Bell Peppers, Crispy Artichoke Hearts, and Vegan Fudge, which all happen to be the perfect kind of dishes for a dinner at home, a cruelty-free picnic, or a vegan potluck with friends. Whether you're looking to simplify your vegan cooking, add easy, quick recipes to your personal cookbook, or learn how to cook vegan food for the first time, The 4 Ingredient Vegan is just the right book to get you there. 


Finally, there's Mara Conlon's My Vegan Recipe Journal, a creation that I believe will change the way people view vegan cooking. Broken down into specific recipe sections, My Vegan Recipe Journal is a fun, informative, and easy way to keep all of your vegan culinary creations in one place. And it doesn't hurt that Mara also give you convenient (yes, I said it again!) and simple tricks to veganize all of your favorite recipes, along with space in the back for you to jot down your favorite grocery stores and vegan websites, along with Mara's personal favorite list (which happens to include Kiss Me, I'm Vegan! - thanks, Mara!) One of my favorite aspects of Mara's journal is that she has created more than just a space to place your recipes, she has also given you a mini vegan guidebook, making it impossible not to turn the process of cooking and eating delicious vegan food into a fun habit.

And now, for the most convenient part of the post - a GIVEAWAY! Book Publishing Co., the publishing company responsible for Vegan in 30 Days and The 4 Ingredient Vegan, is giving readers a chance to win one of their newest vegan titles. Just click here to enter yourself in the contest, and make sure to get over to Book Publishing Co. as soon as possible, since the contest ends on April 30th!

What are YOUR go-to tips for making vegan living convenient and easy? Share them below in the comments section!

Comments

I love your blog, and would surely miss it if it were on a hiatus. BUT - i definitely know how it goes when you want to blog... but there just aren't enough hours in the day!

Thanks for the information on those books. They all look good, but the Vegan Recipe Journal looks super intriguing. I can't wait to check it out!
You just relax, girl, and lift the guilt and pressure right off your shoulders -- they can only slow down the rise of your productive star! I'll still read KMIV whenever you have time for it!
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