Podcast Monique Podcast Monique

27. Going from Vegetarian to Vegan, Natural Hair & Juicing | A Conversation with Naturalee Happee

In this episode, I chat with Naturalee Happee about: 

  • Her gradual transition from vegetarian to vegan 

  • How natural hair (we both have locs) empowered her to care more about the way she ate

  • Why she's doing a juice cleanse to help curb her love of vegan junk food

  • Oh, and I found out sweet chili Doritos are vegan Yasss!

Listen here.....

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How to reach Naturalee Happee:

Instagram

YouTube

Website

Her Store    

Resources mentioned:

Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food by Alicia Simpson

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead

The Vegan Girl's Guide to Life by Melisser Elliott

The Goat - vegan-friendly restaurant in Nashville

Dreads by Alice Walker

Back Then song by Mike Jones

PETA'a Accidental Vegan list

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Podcast Monique Podcast Monique

26. Vegan Kids, Cookies & Helping Your Spouse Go Vegan | A Conversation with Kawani Brown

In this podcast episode, I chat with Kawani Brown about how her children inspired her to start a healthy vegan life.

Listen here....

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We also chatted about:

  • How she was able to encourage her husband to start his own vegan journey

  • How the support of her family makes all the difference in the world

  • Why you don't have to go vegan overnight

  • Why organic food is so important to their family and everyone else

  • Why coconut oil is magic (it sure is!)

Contact Kawani:

Instagram

Her website

Long Beach Vegan Life

Kawani was featured on my blog back in 2012, check out that interview here 

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Podcast Monique Podcast Monique

25. Stop Spending All Weekend On Meal Planning!

I received an email from a lady who said that she spends her whole weekend meal planning, prepping and cooking and how it was making her overwhelmed as a new vegan and has her thinking about quitting.

I remember those days and ain't nobody got time for that!

In this podcast episode, I share basic meal planning tips to save time and money. 

Listen here....

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Recap from the episode:

  • One meal/theme for breakfast & lunch each week

  • Save all of your "real" meal planning for dinner -Where to find recipes? food blogs (here's my recipe page), Instagram, YouTube, cookbooks, Findingvegan.com

  • Think about meals that are easy for leftovers like red beans & rice, chili and....

  • Keep a food journal to track meals you like using a spiral notebook or software like Evernote 

Check out these blog posts with more meal planning tips and recipes:

Here's a blog post with meal ideas, recipes and tips on handling breakfast.

Meal planning ideas for lunch is on this blog post.

Add a convenience meal and a go-to meal for those days when you don't feel like cooking. Here are some of our family's go-to meals Also, here's a post about why go-to meals are so important.

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Podcast Monique Podcast Monique

24. How to Serve Your Family An Affordable Organic Vegan Lifestyle | A Conversation with Saudia Green

 

In this episode I chat with Saudia about:

  • How her husband inspired her to research a vegan lifestyle

  • How & why she serves her family an organic diet

  • How she got her sons to embrace a vegan lifestyle

  • Why it's important to treat your meat alternatives like traditional meat

Listen here…

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Saudia's tip for cleaning conventional (non-organic) produce: use a tablespoon of activated charcoal and water to clean the produce.

Check out Hey Fran Hey's video about how to do this here 

Resources mentioned:

Forks Over Knives

Earth Balance soy-free margarine  

Vegan Gourmet sour cream

Field Roast Chao cheese

Daiya cheese

Beyond Meat crumbles

The Complete Book of Juicing

Squeaky Green

Contact Saudia:

Instagram

YouTube

Back to Your Roots Herbs

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Podcast Monique Podcast Monique

23. 6 Tips for Eating Out As A New Vegan

I love eating out and I don't let being a vegan slow that down for me.

In the beginning of this journey I did because it was just too much to think about and I didn't like asking the server a million questions. It feel like it was taking away from the experience. *sigh*

Anywho, like I said, I love eating out.

In this podcast episode, I give you tips to feel more comfortable about eating out at restaurants and family/work-related events. 

Listen here…

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Quick recap:

  • Check out the restaurant’s menu online before you get to the restaurant

  • Use happycow.net to find vegan-friendly restaurants near you

  • Think about what the chef has in the kitchen

  • Don’t be afraid to make a meal out of side dishes 

  • Bring a dish to the event, so you’re guaranteed to have something to eat

  • Eat before you go and after you leave- keep emergency snacks in the car because life is too short to be hungry

Since I mentioned this this in the episode, here's a pasta salad recipe & potato salad recipe

Get more tips on this vegan date night post

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