meatless monday

It's time for my first post concerning a topic that I take extremely seriously...FOOD.

I will admit to you, here and now, that I seriously love any and all foods that are sugary, doughy, sticky, gooey, creamy, and all-around-awful for me.  If I could have my way, I would eat cake for breakfast, brownies for lunch, and fudge for dinner.  There isn't an ice cream I haven't screamed for; a cookie I haven't crumbled.  Chocolate? Fah-get-about-it.

As much as I crave sweet treats, and however much I believe that occasionally indulging in our favorite foods is healthy and very necessary, I've turned over a new leaf over the past year.  Literally!  Although I've been a vegetarian for almost four years now, my New Year's Resolution to become (mostly) vegan  introduced me to a whole bunch of new leaves, and then some.

With the transition into a vegan lifestyle came the farewell to many of my former favorite foods.  Admittedly, I still nick small bites of ice cream or milk chocolate every once and a great while.  Luckily these moments of weakness are few and far between, and I've been finding lots of vegan alternatives to these sugary darlings that taste just as delicious as their originals.

Contrary to what this post has made you believe so far, I enjoy the main course just as much as dessert!  Over the past few months I've stumbled across and dabbled in lots of vegan recipes.  My culinary escapades have led me to some successes, some disasters, and a few rare edible gems.  Along the way I've sparked a love for cooking within myself, and I can't wait to see where that love will take me next.

Okay, now down to the important thing; the food itself.  Even though all of my days are meatless, I thought it would be fun to start writing "meatless monday" posts here on 'have heart.'  Regardless of your dietary beliefs, values, and practices, I think we can all agree that it certainly doesn't hurt to prepare and eat animal-free dishes.  Many of them are healthy and delicious, and ALL of them are cruelty-free.  Give it a whirl!

Without further adieu or rambling, here is the very first 'meatless monday' dish!

Tofu Lettuce Wraps

  {recipe here}

Not to toot my own horn...but toot toot.  These were very good and pretty fool-proof.  I only made three changes from the original recipe:

1) Swap the vegetable oil for coconut oil

2) Use light or low-fat tofu instead of extra-firm

3) Vegans: watch out for the hot sauce.  Many of them are made with fish extract, so be careful what you buy!  I accidentally bought a brand that had anchovy extract in it, so I left it out, making for a sweeter but still delicious wrap.

Happy cooking and, more importantly, eating!