About seven years ago, my husband, Martin, decided to follow a vegan diet. What is that? I asked. He proceeded to explain that a vegan diet is one that does not include meat, eggs, dairy, or any animal products. While he’s talking, I’m thinking of all the things he can no longer eat that I cook. The list was reduced to steamed vegetables, and no butter. Are you kidding me?! What was I going to cook for him? Did he want me and the kids to follow a vegan diet as well? Oh my, that was really a tough week for me. As you can imagine, I had hundreds of questions and no answers. My head was spinning. I did Internet searches and found bits and peices of information, but nothing substantial to really help me. Later, I found books that shed some light. We’ve also stumbled upon products, stores, restaurants, and other resources along the way to help.

Today, we are a lot better at managing his vegan diet. The stores have more options and there are even restaurants that cater to vegan diets. In fact, there is one close to our home. I think my husband would have abandoned hope had it not been for the Everlasting Life and Soul Vegetarian restaurants in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. He ate at one of these locations practically every day for about a year. It took me that long to wrap my head around the notion of a vegan diet and to begin incorporating it into our home.

Trust me, we still have our challenges. I still cook multiple meals in our home since the kids and  I do not follow a vegan diet. While 50% of our diet is vegan, we still eat meat. Yes, I can hear the screams now about why do that. One word…choice.

The goal of this site it to provide tips and tools to help with the transition to a vegan diet. Regardless of the decision that brought you to a vegan diet, we will only focus on how to incorporate a vegan diet into your lifestyle.

I hope you will try the recipes and provide comments to help us all in our quest for a healthier diet.

Kim McCarley