We all know that one of the most difficult things for vegans into fitness or on the go is something quick, tasty, and energy packed that we can eat on the run.

In my case, I’m a runner and a cyclist. I’ve always lived by the theory of eating something small and quick after a good work out to help the body begin the recovery process early. However, it can be hard to find something pre-packaged that can do this for a vegan. Rather than have you make it for yourself (I know I don’t have the time), I’ll do a quick review of the available products on the market.

Clif Bars: I love Clif Bars, not only are they vegan, but they’re mainstream. This means they can be picked up almost anywhere and bought in bulk to save money. There’s a bit sugary, but most of the time I just don’t really mind. I recommend them to anyone who hasn’t had them to see if they fit your taste.

Luna: Those among you in the know will know that Luna bars are made by Clif, and specifically for women. I’m not a woman, but I still like to eat them. They’re a bit lighter and less sugary than their Clif counterparts, and serve as a tasty post-work out pick-me-up. I would recommend these to anyone, regardless of gender, *wink*.

LaraBar: To be honest, I don’t really like LaraBars. Don’t ask me why, because it’s hard to put my finger on, but it just always seemed like I was eating them because I felt like I had to be rather than because I wanted to. Nevertheless, I know many vegans and non-vegans who like them, so don’t discount just because of me.

Betty Lou’s Organic Vegan: Again, hate to be a downer, but I had one of these in the airport once before flying back from school and while it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t delicious either. Given no other options, I’d eat it, but that said, I’d pick a banana over one any day.

That pretty much sums up my experience. I’m sure there are more bars than this out there, but they’re not easily available enough for me to have tried or try in the near future.

If you’ve got anything to add, please leave a comment! Thanks!

My gosh, I sure hope so!

But seriously, in every vegan and vegetarian’s life, there usually comes the question of how our beliefs will affect our interpersonal relationships and love lives.

I’m still a youngin’ (19 as of writing this post), so I can’t offer the life’s wisdom that goes along with finding and settling down with that one special person, but I’ll take this time to look forward and see think about how my veganism will affect my future with the ladies.

So far I’ve had two “significant” relationships, both of them with omnivores at the onset. During the first was when I made the initial transition to vegetarianism, and to be honest, it was one of the things that drove a wedge between us. She didn’t understand and didn’t want to, and the change just seemed to be emblematic of a greater drift. In the end, after we broke up, she became a vegetarian (and might be a vegan these days), but at that point I definitely felt a bit antagonized.

My second serious girlfriend also started out as an omnivore, but in relatively short order she became a vegetarian and then a vegan. Thankfully, I no longer had to worry about kissing her after she ate something I found ethically reprehensible.

Hypercritical? Maybe. Truthful? Yes.

And I think that’s really the most important thing to keep in mind here: you’re going to feel a certain way about people with different eating habits than you. Eating is a big part of life, and if you try to put those feelings aside, it may come back to haunt you. Be honest and upfront, with yourself and your partner.

That said, I really don’t know where I’ll be going. I don’t feel like I mind too much, but cooking and vegany things are definitely on my top lists of fun things to do, so it’s not easy to discount the role veganism could play in a future relationship.

Time will tell, I suspect!

Has anyone else given this issue any thought?

This is what he’d cook when he got hungry and didn’t have much time!

As I type I am preparing myself a very tasty sandwich on my roommate’s George Foreman grill. This tasty sandwich will take less than 10 minutes to prepare and will fulfill a nagging desire to eat at 11PM that only occurs when you don’t get up until after 11AM.

Everyone knows about the lean, mean, fat-reducing, grilling machine by now, I am sure. However, I never really thought about using one until my roommate brought one to college this year. At first I thought eww, most certainly from years of meat-filled infomercials where you could actually see disgusting amounts of fat draining off of that slab of junk you were supposed to be eating.

That image, coupled with the fact that I rarely eat meat substitutes prevented me from using it for a while. However, one day I remembered the vegan barbecue I put on last year and gave me a burning desire to make one of my old favorites, the chicken parm.

Read more after the jump.

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Remember pudding from your non-vegan childhood? I sure do!

Just the other day I received this recipe via email from a reader and it sounds great, so I wanted to go ahead and share it with you all. I hope some of you have the time that I don’t to go out and try it soon! Thanks, Don.

Modified vegan chocolate pudding recipe from the daily green, a great website.

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Have you ever wondered how to find vegan versions of some of the most standard meals?

Look no further than this book: Vegan Planet. I was given this book a while ago and I haven’t even scratched the surface. Not only are the recipes good, but there are so many of them that this book can hardly be considered anything but a standard for any vegan chef.

The book begins with your standard guide to vegan nutrition and eating, and then moves on with chapter titles like “Love at First Bite,” “Veggies in the Middle,” and “Dessert Heaven.” Opening the book at random and prodding around for a recipe you’ll come up with something delicious sounding like this: Strawberry-Topped “Cheesecake”

A great recipe and some more about the book after the jump.

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Three words: Eat like me.

Now now, I know it sounds awful (and even worse, it’s true), but I have awful eating habits at school. That’s not to say I don’t know how to eat well, perhaps that knowledge just makes me more aware of my unhealthy habits than others would be.

In any case, I eat badly. This is bad on two levels: it doesn’t help me feel well and it’s not helping my training for the cycling season. However, like various addicts I hope that spilling my guts will help me deal with my problem and help others avoid it themselves.

More on my awful diet after the break (and even some solutions!).

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Moist is an important quality in scones, I feel. The most common complaint about one of my most favorite foods is that they are dry and crumbly, and people just don’t like that. I can appreciate a good, dry scone every so often, but I much prefer something moist when I pick up a scone. This recipe has been one of my favorites since I began cooking, and I’ve adapted it from the non-vegan source (something my mom has made for a while, I don’t know where the original comes from).

These scones are the perfect food for almost any occasion where pastries are called for, and because they only take about 15 minutes to prepare, I often make them if I have to bake for something last minute (or just want a snack). I hope you enjoy them!

More after the break.
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I have an interesting relationship with Indian food. I’d never really eaten any for much of my life. Last summer I found myself in Japan with a friend, traveling around and needing to eat out. The most difficult thing about eating out in Japan isn’t explaining that you’re a vegan, it’s that they don’t tend so listen to you even if you are incredibly specific. So for that reason, I decided we’d spend our week of travel eating in Indian place (which there are many of in Japan).

So there my love affair with Indian food began. But as I grew to love it, the relationship became complicated. With love of food, for me, comes desire to cook it. Something about Indian food always scared me, even when I did it will. I don’t know if it’s the spices I don’t understand or the apparent ease that puts me on edge, but I’m always a bit nervous when I try a new Indian dish.

However, that all changed when I first made Aloo Gobi with a non-vegan friend. Neither of us was particularly experienced with Indian food, but somehow we managed to make an amazing dish. It was extremely easy, and I recommend for any social cooking or potluck occasion (it makes a lot of food).

I adapted this recipe from the amazingness of wikibooks cookbooks. Find the original here.

More after the break.
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This debate has gone on for quite a while, but it’s something that I find is relatively alien to newer vegans. As for me, I was introduced to the knowledge that sugar wasn’t vegan by my first friend in college. I was eating my standard snack food, bananas with peanut butter, when she grabbed my Skippy jar and announced that it had sugar in it.

“So what?” I responded. Of course I knew it was junky, unnatural peanut butter. What I didn’t know was that sugar was sometimes processed with bone char, and animal by-product. After she told me that, I felt like my very young vegan world had been spun on its head. Suddenly I become one of “those people” who compulsively read labels and held my breath waiting for sugar to pop up under the ingredients list of everything I liked to eat.

These days, when people ask my what’s most difficult about veganism, I usually respond that the uncertainty about sugar makes it difficult to eat some of the most innocuous foods.

So, that said. What is it about sugar that’s not vegan? As I’ve already mentioned, it is the troublesome nature of the bone char whitening process that makes certain sugars non-vegan. Sugar itself has no problems, whether its from sugar cane or beets (a large percentage of sugar comes from beets).

More after the jump!
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