Going Vegan Step 1

Okay, a lot of people think vegan and they think salad.  I know I did.  I knew they ate more, but I figured the only tasty thing they ate must be a salad.  But when it comes to food (just like in life) I am pretty picky and so is my family.  We are all just picky in different ways.  However, with my son's allergies, my husband's family history of heart issues, and our desire to eat healthier, we started learning more about food.
We watched a lot of documentaries about food, where our food came from, how it affects our bodies, and so on.  We finally came to the agreement that while we do not believe that killing an animal for food or clothing is cruel (however some companies are and it's disgusting), eating animals and animal bi-products must be unhealthy.
So we are taking the plunge.  I have stopped buying meat.  Remember my son's allergies, dairy and eggs are pretty much out of our house.  We do still have some yogurt and some mayo, but as soon as those are out they are gone.  I had found soy yogurt, but I don't know if we will miss it that much.  I have decided we will use honey since it's a natural sweetener, no one is allergic (that we know of), AND it's really not about cruelty.
While we still have some meat and stuff left in the house, I have made a few vegan meals just to see how easy it is.
So, salad yumminess-
Do you  like taco salads?  We love them.  We adore them.  We turn them into dip for tortilla chips.  Well, here is the latest yummy salad I have made.
Lettuce of some sort (I just used baby spinach) washed and torn into bite size pieces, corn cooked and drained (frozen is a very easy substitute), red bell peppers sliced, onions chopped, and guacamole as dressing.  You can make it homemade or use store bought (just make sure avocado is the first ingredient).  You can even do half guacamole and half salsa if you wish (just as yummy).  If you want to go more in depth, you can cook black beans with seasoning you would use for tacos and use that in place of the meat.
What about you guys?  Any salad ideas?

Jalapeño Bites

Be forewarned. I got this recipe from another mommy in cafemom.com Cuties With Cloth Booties is an amazing group of women and I am going to test more of the recipes they posted. Ingredients: 16 jalapeños, 1 block of cream cheese (Hubs bought two smaller boxes), and a package of bacon. You will also need: Gloves, aluminum foil and toothpicks Directions: 1) preheat oven to 350* 2) put on gloves and cut jalapeños in half longwise. Use a spoon to dig out seeds and as much of the white flesh as you like. The more you dig out, the less hot it will be. I dug most of out and I was able to eat them. Not a fan of jalapeño heat... 3) cut cream cheese into chunks and mold into jalapeños. It won't melt. 4) cut bacon in half and wrap aroun the whole thing. Stick it with a toothpick. 5) if you were smart, you would have the cookie sheet topped with aluminum foil. I had to ask hubs to do it. Arrange the bites. I got it all on two sheets. 6) bake for about 25 minutes. 7) wash your hands thoroughly now that you can take gloves off and enjoy.

Chili Spaghetti

Okay, that's not what the dish is actually called.  While watching yet another episode of "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" with Guy Fieri (really hope I spelled his name right), my husband and I saw a restaurant where they served chili on spaghetti with beans, cheese, and onions as options.  Well, we thought it sounded good at the time.  Then my husband decided he wanted to try it.  We had all the ingredients so he went ahead and made it the other night.  Needless to say, he didn't like it, though I kind of did and my son ate it up.
So today, we tried to make it again.  We did it by cheating...
I used two cans of hot dog chili sauce, a can of chili with beans, 4 hot dogs, a half an onion, and spaghetti (half of it was wheat).  I chopped the onion and hot dogs and threw them in a hot skillet.  I boiled the noodles and added a little salt.  Then, once the onion and hot dogs were cooked to our liking, I added the sauce.  My husband grated cheese, took the bread out of the oven, and plated it all for me since I was busy.
He even made the veggies (with a little salt, pepper, and butter).
We ate it up.  It's very filling, so we know to make less next time.
Go ahead, steal it.  Make it your own way.  It's actually pretty good so long as there's more sauce than beans and/or hot dogs.  You can nix anything you don't like.  You can add pureed veggies if you have them in hand (we didn't).  I think it would be excellent with cornbread since that naturally goes with chili anyway.  You can even nix the cheese if you want it even healthier or make your own chili from scratch for the healthiest version.