Saffron rice, roasted vegetables, field roast vegan sausage, Trader Joe’s vegan creamy dill dressing, and hemp hearts

Hello folks. Yes, I’m still alive. For all of our two or three avid followers, who were wondering. 😆

Life has been good, but I’ve certainly had some ups and downs. I’ve had days when I was crying my eyes out over certain disappointing things that happened and other days when things really went fabulously. Hey, that’s life.

To our Veganish Dot World readers, thanks for being here. Remember that this is a space where you can be an author, and get your ideas on Veganish topics published. I love writing, too! I will eventually get around to posting the dozens of posts that I have queued up.

For right now, I figured I would share my dinner today. It is: saffron rice, roasted vegetables, field roast vegan sausage, Trader Joe’s vegan creamy dill dressing, and hemp hearts.

The saffron rice and roasted vegetables were leftovers that I heated up in the microwave. The field roast vegan sausage was store-bought. I removed the plastic sleeve, sliced up the sausage, and tossed it in with the stuff in the microwave. Normally I would sauté the sausage in a pan, but I was too busy and didn’t bother.

Remember that I normally eat all vegan or “big picture vegan” (not obviously non-vegan) food. That being said, I’m not strictly vegan or vegetarian. I am willing to eat meat, dairy products, or eggs, if that is what is available and proper vegan food is not available.

Does it happen very often that I eat obviously non-vegan stuff? No, but the possibility is there, thank God. I definitely won’t be the chump who eats nothing (or, “just a dinner roll with no butter” 🙄) while everyone else is having an extravagant feast.

If you’re somebody, who does that, it’s totally fine, because (in my opinion) people should feel empowered to eat only what they feel comfortable eating. (If other people see you as a chump, who cares!!??? It’s your life,)

At the same time, I don’t believe this behavior of strict abstinence is very helpful to animals, because you’re cementing in the minds of everyone else, exactly why they are not vegan or vegetarian.

Of course, if you’re strictly avoiding certain foods because of your religion or a food allergy / medical restriction, people will understand, but they are also relieved that they don’t have that problem. Now, if you are abstaining from certain foods to help animals, is that good advocacy for animals, to live in such a way? Inspiring people to think, “Whew! Glad that’s isn’t me” … ?

Meanwhile, it’s totally OK to simply eat what you feel comfortable eating (being strict about everything 100% vegan, 100% vegetarian or 100% whatever) and not to worry about how your behavior affects animals. I do plenty of things that aren’t for helping animals. For example, I go on trips to visit friends and family. Does that help animals? No. It’s something I do for myself. And that is totally fine. YOLO! 🙂

As veganish, vegan, vegetarian people, not everything we do “has to be” to help animals. Sometimes it might be just to get the food that we feel comfortable eating or to get the animal-free / vegan / vegetarian food that we know won’t make us sick.

When I point out that vegans and vegetarians aren’t necessarily helping animals by being so strict, many of these people get very upset. “But the whole reason I’m vegan or Vegetarian is to help animals!”

I get it. That may be true, on a macro level.

However, on a micro level, remember that you are doing some things (example: being very strict about not eating anything, even though there is food there, which is only slightly tainted with meat, dairy, or egg, in such small quantities that it would not make you sick if you ate it), because it makes you happy to abstain (it would make you unhappy to eat whatever the thing is) or actually a bazillion other very good possible reasons, but none of them are about helping animals.

You may have brainwashed yourself into thinking that your strict abstinence is required for helping animals, but it’s clear to most other people that the results are the opposite of what you intended. When your life is more difficult or you miss out on sentimental shared food occasions, you may pat yourself on the back, thinking you’re being noble. Alas, the realty is that you are reminding people why they are happy that they are not vegan or vegetarian,

Not good for the animals, but eating what you want is GOOD FOR YOU personally. Sometimes I do insist on vegan food, even in situations where I’m being a pain in the butt. You know why? Because I’m worth it. I do want all vegan food. So, if I feel up for it, I will go through extra hassle to get what I wanted.

The fact that I may go through extra hassle to get vegan food doesn’t make me more “ethical” than someone who doesn’t. Quite to the contrary, in many situations, “going with the flow” is the most ethical choice for animals. But there are other considerations, too, like how about a person getting food that they would actually enjoy eating and that they know won’t make them sick? Etc.

Now ..,, after that HUGE detour … Back to my dinner tonight . 😆 Check out the nutrition on the Manitoba Harvest hemp hearts, product of Canada (THANK YOU, Canadian hemp farmers 💓), and the Trader Joe’s vegan creamy dill salad dressing.

Both of these are so tasty, I add them to all sorts of things for an additional yum factor, Plus extra omegas and protein from the hemp seeds. The Trader Joe’s vegan creamy dill salad dressing isn’t for “adding nutrition,” but the great thing is that it doesn’t offer negative things like many salad dressings do.

The Trader Joe’s vegan creamy dill salad dressing had ZERO grams saturated fat, only 120 mg sodium, only 1 carb, and zero sugar. Basically it’s just 8 grams fat (all unsaturated, from canola oil), plus one complex carb, and a bit of flavor and creamy texture to make my food yummy! Win win.

Digging in! Saffron rice, roasted vegetables, field roast vegan sausage, Trader Joe’s vegan creamy dill dressing, and Manitoba Harvest hemp hearts.

Not sure when I’ll post again. Life is very full right now. Not sure when things will let up so I will have more time to write. Hope you enjoyed this one!