the mooing vegan

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things: Vegan Chicken Part 2 By: Megan               Chicken nuggets are probably my favorite form of chicken. They are the OG in my opinion. Fortunately, there are a bunch of nugget brands. Unfortunately, I have not tried a lot of them. However, the ones I have tried, I have a lot to say about.                MorningStar is probably the most accessible brand in the area. They have a lot of different amazing types of vegan and vegetarian foods . The Chik'N Nuggets are very similar to the MorningStar Chik'N Patties. They have a crunchy outer layer and the actual nugget is kind of stringy like actual chicken. They are $3.67, at my local Walmart, Kroger, and Food Lion, for a bag that has 12 nuggets. A serving size is 4 nuggets which contain 12 grams of protein, 200 calories, and 370 milligrams of sodium. These pair perfectly with fries, and a vegetable to complete the meal. T...

My Mistakes By: Megan            As a vegan, I have made so many mistakes. Most of them happened as a new vegan because I did not realize half the things that were not vegan that I was eating. Even now that I have been vegan for 2 years, I still make mistakes. This one time I was looking for a vegan alfredo sauce at a store. I had bought this product many times and could not find it, but I found one in similar packaging the only difference was this one was roasted garlic flavor. I figured I could try it and bought two jars of it. It was not until I went to make a pot of chicken alfredo that I opened the jar and tasted some. It tasted a little too much like cheese. I looked at the back and you can imagine my surprise when I found out it had milk and cheese in it. I was freaking out because I had already put the sauce all over the noodles. I quickly went online and searched for what to do. I came across a lot of varying opinions, but I came to the concl...

   These Are A Few of My Favorite Things: Vegan Chicken Part 1 By: Megan          Chicken was one of my favorite things as a non-vegan. Especially chicken nuggets. Back when I went vegan in 2018, there were not many vegan chicken options around me. Luckily, vegan products have exploded and there are so many options for everything.           One of the first vegan chickens I tried was by the brand Boca. It was the Boca Original Chik'n Veggie Patties. I loved them! They are one of the closest vegan chicken products I have had thus far. It has this smoky flavor to it that other vegan chickens do not have. They have 11 grams of protein per patty which is a reasonable amount given they are 130 calories per patty. Boca makes two different kinds of the Chik'n Patty. One is in a red box and the other is in a yellow and purple box. They are mainly the same thing except the yellow box one has approximately 300 fewer milligrams of so...

      I LOVE MOO! By: Megan               I love cows! They have been an obsession of mine over the past year. I haven't always loved cows; I used to think they were gross and smelly when I was younger. As I got older, I guess I didn't really think about cows; I was more concerned with what they made. I loved milk, yogurt, CHEESE! Don't even get me started on cheese. I used to put it on anything and everything. I loved going to the store to pick out a fresh cut of meat to douse in cheese and mayonnaise and eat on a bun. Hamburgers were probably my favorite thing. I ate them at every restaurant I went to. When I went vegan everything changed for me. I don't know exactly the moment it switched for me, but it was very sudden. I looked into their eyes and saw the same eyes my dog had. I saw them as a pet. I then discovered adorable videos of cows chasing playground balls. Maybe that was the moment that changed everything for me; I am no...

5 Things I Learned By Going Vegan By: Megan        I have been vegan for two years now. I have learned so much along the way and am continuing to learn new things every single day.      1. Just because it's vegan doesn't mean it's healthy      Many people think veganism is this healthy diet and is really good for you. I thought this before going vegan as well; however, just like any other diet, veganism can range from being extremely healthy to being super unhealthy. There are tons of healthy options and there are even more vegan junk food options. It all depends on you and your journey. Vegan alternatives can be really instrumental in converting non-vegans to being vegan in a matter of days. These include but are not limited to faux meats, cheeses, and even mac n cheese.  2. Not everyone will agree      It was a shocker when people did not agree with my lifestyle at first. Just because others...

 My Beef With the Dairy Industry By: Megan      The dairy industry is one of the most funded industries in the United States. It is funded by both consumers and the government. Many Americans do not have a problem with the dairy industry, but I do. To start, the dairy industry participates in a lot of actions that would be considered illegal if it were done to humans. Cows do not just produce milk, just like humans; they have to have a baby in order for this process to begin. Because the dairy industry is heavily demanded, dairy farmers cannot just wait for cows to get pregnant, so they artificially inseminate them. The farmers collect a bull’s semen and inject it into the cow's cervix. This procedure is also done in humans except for a doctor to perform it, they need consent from the parties involved. Last time I checked, animals cannot give consent and it would be considered rape if done to a human.  After the cow is pregnant for 9 months, they will g...

Vegan  Lasagna Ingredients ¾ block extra firm tofu 1 tbsp nutritional yeast ¼ tsp italian seasoning ½ tsp garlic powder ½ tsp onion powder 1 ½ tsp salt  2 tbsp non-dairy milk (I use unsweetened soymilk) 2 ½ cups traditional Prego Pasta Sauce 1 cup spinach ½ cup daiya cheddar cheese, shredded 1 6 oz can petite diced tomatoes, drained and rinsed About 5-6 oven ready lasagna noodles 4 -6 Gardein meatless meatballs            Instructions Preheat oven to 350℉ Press tofu for about 3 hours - see instructions below Put tofu, nutritional yeast, spices, and milk in blender and blend until it has the consistency of ricotta cheese Grease a 6 cup rectangular baking dish I use a Pyrex it’s about 2 lasagna noodles wide and ¾ of a noodle in length  Put a tablespoon of spaghetti sauce and meatballs in a pan to cook. Break apart into small pieces as you would hamburger meat. Spread a thin layer of spaghetti sauce on bottom of ...

Just a Vegan Girl, Living in a Non-Vegan World By: Megan   Being vegan is not the easiest thing in the world, especially when the world is not made to accommodate vegans. New struggles arise every day and I have learned tips and tricks on how to get around them. Here are a few struggles I have faced while being vegan.     One of the biggest struggles that I face every day is acceptance. There is a surprisingly large amount of people who believe that vegans are in a cult and are being brainwashed. A lot of people are very against veganism. This is a struggle mainly when I go out to eat because some people are cruel enough that when you order a vegan option or say “I'm vegan” they purposefully put animal products in it. There are many stories where restaurants have been saying a product is vegan and using meat products for it because it is cheaper. This is very inconsiderate and irresponsible. This is extremely harmful for people like me because animal products ar...

Why Vegan? By: Megan I went vegan (“ a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as possible and practical, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose) on November 1, 2018 (Veganism). My reason to go vegan is a little bit different than most peoples. Most people watch documentaries such as “Cowspiracy”, “What the Health”, or “Forks over Knives”, and decide they want to adopt veganism for the animals, health, or the environment. Not me though. My story is filled with lost hope and lots of doctors. In 2013, I started having random bursts of pain. I would always say my back and legs hurt. After a while of having these pains, I talked to my pediatrician about it. She brushed it off as growing pains even though I had, for the most part, stopped growing. I did not mention it for a couple years and just dealt with the pain and complained to friends and family A LOT. In 2017, I began to have constant pain in every part of my body especiall...

  In The Veganning By: Megan I’m Megan, a teen cow-loving, vegan. I adopted this lifestyle two years ago. Reading from others who had the same lifestyle brought me comfort in knowing I was not alone. Now, I have developed a sense of security in being vegan and would like to share my life with others in the hopes of providing the same comfort I was given. I want to break the stereotypes centered around being vegan. I’m not a hippie or crazy.  Some of us are just normal people who do everything everyone else does, just a little differently. Join me on my crazy journey of navigating life as a teen into adulthood as a vegan.