Change Can Be Daunting
Becoming vegan can seem daunting. I find this especially true when looking through the overwhelming amount of information floating around out there:
YouTube channels, Instagram posts, pins on Pinterest, blogs all telling you how to be vegan.
The right food to eat, all the hidden animal products on food labels, all the different names for all the hidden animal products on food labels…
…then you must decide what kind of vegan you are: for the animals, for the earth, for your health, for the bragging!
It seems like people have a right way and a wrong way to be vegan.
But who does this help?
Working Hard Or Hardly Working
Personally I do not like having to research for hours on end something that seems so basic and natural to me.
That is so boring and such a waste of time.
I prefer the step-by-step approach: Learn one thing and work that into my daily habits, then move onto the next thing.
When I move too fast and add too much, I end up stuck in the same place with nothing to show for it because I have basically froze under too much information and possibilities.
Does this sound familiar to you?
You are doing all the hard work of researching but then hardly working when it comes to the actions.
This is a totally normal and understandable reaction.
On the other hand, I’m sure you know someone that can just pick up something new like they have done it their whole life!
It’s incredible to watch and be around that energy, but if you sound more like me, I’m sharing one thing this week that you can add to your vegan repertoire right away!
Change Takes Time
In this article, I talk about one step to help you save time and effort in your vegan kitchen.
I like to remind people that change takes time and the easier you are on yourself and your choices, the easier the change will be for you.
For example, say you want to be vegan, but for some reason you keep on eating cheese.
Instead of berating yourself about it, accept that it happened and then look into why it happened.
If you are giving yourself comfort, for example, through the cheese, you can then try providing yourself with comfort in a different way when that cheese craving hits next time.
Having love and compassion for yourself is the best gift you can give yourself and even those around you.
What’s In Your Kitchen?
I’ve been watching The Great British Baking Show lately.
I am deeply comforted by the act of baking and this show doesn’t disappoint.
Two things I have learned while watching are:
- I wish there was a vegan competition baking and/or cooking show, and
- The tools you have at your disposal can make or break your meal/dessert attempts.
So what is my damn tip already?!
Have the right tool for the job and make sure that tool is in the best condition.
This can be a knife or a set of knives, food processor, mandolin slicer, blender, cookware, bakeware…
The Magic of a Sharp Knife
When my wife and I moved into the house we are now in, we received a knife set as a gift.
Up until that time, I was using what I think now is a steak knife for most of my chopping needs.
That knife set opened up my culinary world.
‘Oh! I can make things easier for myself?’ What a revelation!
I had never cut a tomato with a knife that wasn’t serrated.
I never had a sharp enough knife that could smoothly and effortlessly cut through a tomato without crushing the poor thing.
These knives could and it kind of blew my mind.
I thought to myself, ‘Okay! This is why people brag about their knives. They actually make a huge difference.’
You don’t need a whole knife set to change your perspective in the kitchen.
Just try one, or maybe you have a good one and it just needs to be sharpened.
So much of vegan cooking is chopping vegetables.
I’d guess that I spend 75% of my time in the kitchen dicing, slicing, and chopping.
I enjoy the time I have in the kitchen with the veggies and a sharp knife.
I like trying different cuts, seeing how fast I can go, how thin I can make the slices, and how even I can make each piece.
I often find my thoughts going deep into the act of cutting.
I think my wife is worried I am ignoring her, but really I’m just enjoying my time in the kitchen!
The Food Processor
I had a food processor long before I had a blender, and I loved it so much.
I really could do anything with it.
Plus it saves counter space by having only one rather than two similar appliances.
I also moved a lot when I was in my 20s, so it was just smarter to have only one.
To this day, the food processor is my recommendation over a blender.
You can make more of a variety of recipes with the processor than a blender.
Blenders are limited by the thickness of a recipe.
Food like hummus and thicker are for the realm of the food processor.
In my experience, they gum up the blender and it cannot effectively mix and smooth a large amount of ingredients.
Food processors can chop up and blend very thick foods as well as watery recipes.
It is very versatile.
Cookware
I still have a hard time sauteing!
I tend to burn food when using a frying pan.
I grew up with Teflon and Pam, so nothing was sticking.
Now I’m working on stainless steel pots and pans, sometimes with oil, sometimes without.
I am not the best person to give advice on cookware because I am still learning.
Pancakes are almost always a disaster.
BUT I do love the enamel cast iron pan I got a few years ago.
That was a really fun addition to my kitchen.
I am a very visual person. I love pretty things.
So this scratched that itch perfectly – and it works really well too!
Final Thoughts
I won’t go into the other cool things you can use in the kitchen because there are so many, and at my core, I am a minimalist.
I know I don’t need a whole drawer of gadgets to make my cooking taste better.
I look to see where I could use some help, and I find something that will work for me.
Here is a way to try this yourself:
- Make a note of how much time you spend in the kitchen and what you spend the most time doing in there.
- You can then decide on one upgrade you can make to enjoy the time you spend in your kitchen a lot more.
- This doesn’t have to mean you buy something new either. Maybe you have something stashed in a drawer that you forgot about; maybe you have an appliance or tool that will work, you just need to learn a new way to use it.
Simple!
You don’t need a lot of money to do this either.
Thrift stores or used online markets are a great place to look for previously loved kitchen tools for a much lower price.
They are also a great place to sell them if you find you didn’t get what you wanted out of them.
The kitchen is a place of alchemy.
You are combining and creating beautiful food for yourself and others.
You are putting your love and attention into the dishes you create, and the people in your life then carry that love and attention with them.
The kitchen is the place all this comes together.
It is a place of magic and nature, connection and gratitude…and you spend a lot of time there.
We all might as well make it as enjoyable and special as we can.
Having the right tools is one way of doing this!
If you feel like you need personalized guidance from Carly…
I invite you to book a FREE Hormone Clarity Assessment by clicking on the button below!
Yours in plant love,
Carly
