Veg Blogs and Websites-Part 2

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Several days ago, I posted a list of veg blogs and websites that focus on low fat, healthy veg*n living.  After posting the list, I either had one of those, "Why didn't I mention that one" type of moments or you made a suggestion to me about another site.  So, here's part 2 of the veg blogs and websites list.  

11.  Dr. McDougall-This site has so much to offer.  There are podcasts you can download and you can also sign up for a free e-newsletter.  Dr. McDougall is definitely one of the spokespeople for a low-fat, low-sugar vegan diet.  

12.  The Vee Word-Rhea posts some outstanding looking recipes and she also includes a lot of information about her vegan weight loss journey.  It's always great to be able to hear about someone else's journey to health and veganism.  

13.  101 Cookbooks-This site has amazing photos of the recipes!  Not all vegan, but as many of us vegans know, we can usually adapt a vegetarian recipe into a vegan recipe without too many complications!  

14.  Peas and Thank you-The author of this site is a veggie mom raising her kids.  Many of the posts focus on that which is a great resource for those of you veg*ns with kids.  

15.  Making Love in the Kitchen-A website/blog from a nutritionist.  I believe that all of her recipes are vegetarian (many of which were vegan).  Her recipes sound amazing and healthy.  I can't wait to try some of these!

16.  Choosing Raw-I am not a raw foodist, however, I definitely see the health benefits in eating a raw foods diet.  I am always interested in raw foods recipes and I am always game for trying something new.  Many of these recipes sound great and I always love how raw foods can just be a different way of looking at a classic recipe.  

17.  Vegan Cookbook Critic-I love how this site has a link you can click on to see all of the vegan cookbooks the author has reviewed.  There are so many times you are wondering if you should buy a vegan cookbook or not (because you already have 356 of them) and it helps to hear what someone else loved or hated about it.  

18.  Christina Pirello-I know I have a link to Christina Pirello on my side bar to the right, but I can't believe I didn't mention her on the last post.  I LOVE Christina!!  She is a vegan superhero.  I recently finished reading This Crazy Vegan Life and loved every minute of it!  If you haven't heard Christina's story, I would definitely suggest reading about her.  She has made an amazing journey.  

19.  The Kind Life-This past winter, I read Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet.  I really enjoyed this book.  She created a website focusing on aspects of the book.  Some of her recipes in the book are not necessarily WW friendly, but if you try to focus on the superhero recipes, almost all of them are WW friendly and very healthy.  

20.  Pure 2 Raw-Another great vegan, raw site.  So many great sounding recipes! 

21.  Oh She Glows-The author of this site is now vegan.  Some of her recipes listed are from before she went vegan.  I just wanted to make note of this.  Almost all of the recipes are vegan and she is currently vegan....I just didn't want there to be any confusion.  :)

That's all I have for now!  If I hear of any more great resources, I will plan on posting a Part 3!  

Helpful Veg Blogs and Websites

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One thing that helps me with my weight loss journey is to be able to look at other people's blogs and websites for inspiration, information, education, etc.  If you check out my blog, I am sure some of these sites I post will be of no surprise to you (the Fat Free Vegan).  However, hopefully there will be something listed that may be new to you.  Also, if you look at my list and see that I am leaving off a great veg blog or website, PLEASE let me know.  Knowledge is power and I love to have so many wonderful blogs and websites to visit.  Here's my list so far:

1.  The Fat Free Vegan (Probably the most well known of the sites I will list, but it's such a GREAT resource!  So many recipes to try!  One thing I have found with this site is that other people can also post recipes to the site.  I have had much better luck with the author's recipes.  She has her blog attached to the website and I really enjoy her recipes, photos and blog posts.

2.  The Happy Herbivore-I have recently started checking out this site.  The author doesn't use oil in her recipes which makes it very easy to cook with Weight Watchers.  Sometimes I will sub out agave nectar and stevia for the sugar that she uses, but that's no big deal.

3.  Dancing Through Life-Maintenance with Ashley-This is a blog from a vegan Weight Watchers Leader.  I love to see all of the foods she prepares and eats.  She shows pictures of mostly unprocessed gluten free vegan foods.  She's also an inspiration to read.

4.  Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine-I recently bought Dr. Neal Barnard's Get Healthy, Go Vegan Cookbook.  After reading the introduction to the cookbook, I decided to check out the website and see if it included additional recipes and it does!

5.  Spark People-Along with doing Weight Watchers, I like to track my calories, carbs, protein and fat on Spark People.  It's free and very useful.  I also like to check out their vegan recipes.

6.  Vegetarian Times Recipes-I think this is a great site to find recipes.  Their database gives you the option to really narrow your search down for exactly what you are looking for.

7.  Diet, Dessert and Dogs-An all vegan website with great looking recipes.  Also, the author makes her dogs the stars of the website-that will get brownie points with me everytime!  :)

8.  Healthy Happy Life-All vegan site with beautiful photos of the recipes.  This site was recommended by one of the people I talk with on the Weight Watchers Vegetarian Message Board (another great resource for knowledge and information).

9.  Two Blue Lemons-A vegetarian and vegan recipe site.  This site was also recommended by someone on the Veg Board.

10.  100 Best Blogs for Delicious and Healthy Recipes-This article has some vegetarian and vegan blogs listed on it (77-90).

This list is just a start.  There are so many great vegan blogs and websites out there with a focus on health and weight loss.  Many of the people I talk with on the Weight Watchers Veg Message Board have blogs but I am not going to post them here because I have not asked them if I could do that.  But I find out so much great information from reading their blogs and these listed above.

Keep Your Eyes Open.....

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You might just find a gem of a recipe anywhere!  I was at the dentist office the other day waiting and I was flipping through a magazine.  There was an All Bran Cereal recipe for a Lemon Poppy Seed Cake.  I looked at it and it seemed pretty healthy with a little tweeking and it didn't seem too hard to veganize.  So I tore it out of the magazine and decided to try it.  I don't usually gravitate towards lemon flavored things, but it was good to mix it up from my standard chocolate desserts.  So here's what I changed to make it vegan and more Weight Watchers friendly.

Lemon Poppy Seed Snack Cake 
-1 cup whole wheat flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
-1/4 cup granulated sweetener (I used Erythritol)
-1 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-1/4 tsp salt
-1 TBSP poppy seeds
-1 cup All Bran (I used Nature's Path Smart Bran because it's organic-I used 30 grams instead of 1 cup)
-1/4 cup almond milk
-2 TBSP ground flax seeds plus 4 TBSP warm water (Mix this up in a small bowl and set aside)
-3 tsp oil
-1/2 cup apple sauce (or a little less)
-1 container of lemon soy yogurt
-1 1/2-2 TBSP lemon juice
-powdered sugar (I put about 1 tsp on each piece when serving it)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray an 8x8 pan with nonstick spray.

In a mixing bowl, mix the cereal, milk, flax and water mixture, oil, apple sauce, lemon juice and yogurt.  Let stand for about 5 minutes or until cereal softens.

In another bowl, mix the flour, sweetener, baking powder, baking soda, salt and poppy seeds.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just mixed.

The original directions say to cook for 25 minutes but I have found I need to cook it quite a bit longer than that.  I cook it for at least 40 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean.

Once it cools a bit, sprinkle the powdered sugar on top and serve.  I like to serve it with a serving of vanilla So Delicious ice cream.