Recently I began inviting potential guest bloggers to send me their vegan/vegetable recipes, in my attempt to help create a collaborate experience. After all, I know there are plenty of families out there who aren’t actually vegan/vegetarian, but who are experimenting with vegan/vegetarian recipes.

One of the first to respond was Anne Chrétien of the blog, My Lighthearted Kitchen.

As a guest blogger today, she tells about her conversion to veganism:

“After ten years of being vegetarian, I decided to go vegan with my boyfriend… two years ago!

At the beginning, most of the recipes I tried were dupes for our favorite dishes: I bought already made sauces, seasoned tofu burgers, hummus and a ton of other already made vegan products. Because I tried to keep gluten out of the kitchen, choosing products to buy was a little bit complicated and we soon fell in a loop of the same recipes over and over again.

However, we were happy! We felt great in our bodies, and more comfortable with our conscience. We had a ton of energy, my skin cleared up, and we were not hungry all the time.

During these first few months, we tested a lot of vegan products, but quickly realized that we were better off with cooking from scratch. First because the already-made products were often filled with a lot of additives, fat and salt. Second, well, their prices started to add up, and, well, I’m just a high-school teacher.

So I started to buy some vegan cookbooks, explored the internet for some recipes and tips, but most of all, I started to experiment more. I started making my own hummus, buying in bulk, and invented some fun recipes that I share on my blog. I also learned a lot more on nutrition, what vegetables to always have on hand, how to eat a ton of greens without feeling like a rabbit and how to use avocado in a 100 ways (okay, almost a 100 ways…).

When I read stories of people going vegan, they always say that they have lost a ton of weight. Did this happen for my boyfriend and me? Yes. We started to eat vegan and turned into supermodels and made the cover of Vogue magazine.

Not really. Not really at all. Not at all.

I’m guessing that we had too much fun cooking and tasting yummy recipes of cakes, cupcakes, chocolates, nice cream, cookies, noodles, pies, soups,… what were we talking about? Ah, yes, the most important thing that we realized through being vegan is that vegan food tastes amazing and is so satisfying. I did note an amazing skin improvement however… which is pretty amazing!

Really, I don’t see myself going back to eat meat or dairy any time soon, if ever.

Not only is vegan food incredible, the ethics that pushed us to be vegan in the first place is just too present for us to be tempted to go back.

So what’s the next step for me and my boyfriend? Well, we have recently started to grow our own food, and have found new ways to do it too.

This whole process as been such an incredible learning process filled with delicious discoveries. Well, I’m going to stop here because I’m starting to get cheesy, and well… that’s not vegan.”