Fruit Salad, yummy yummy!

Sorry my post have been behind the past few days.  I was in Banner Elk, North Carolina for a retreat.  While I was there I had a splendid talk with a retreat chaperone who has been vegetarian for many years.  We talked about how some times its just not practical to be a vegan/vegetarian while traveling or in some everyday experiences.
I used to be a really strict vegetarian who would never eat salad if it was on the same cutting board as meat or eat a "garden Burger' that had been grilled in the same greasy spot as the burgers. I was always trying to make sure my veggies were not contaminated with meat, but being in college that can be hard and leave me hungry at times.  When I moved in with my current roommate I thought wow this will be great I can cook what I want and I can be a strict vegetarian again.  Well that was all well and good until I realized that she can make some killer chicken and dumplings.  So needless to say that now I claim to be an almost vegan or a vegetarian most days but when she makes chicken casserole or chicken and dumplings I don't turn her cooking down.  So back to this being something practical, at times it would make no sense for me to make a separate meal and dirty up our kitchen a second time just so I can have a chicken free dinner. Now I don't love it so much I am willing to go against what I think about meat companies and start eating meat again.

This weekend in my conversation with Liz and while eating camp food we decided that there would be no easy way to be a vegan and be at this retreat.  One day lunch was chicken sandwiches so the veggie option they provided for my self and Liz was just a grilled cheese (possibly my favorite vegetarian sandwich) and when dinner was pasta with meat sauce the vegetarian option was just mariana instead.

• Grilled cheese: pretty much the most unvegan thing I could have eaten.  Its bread (which in this case was white and I'm sure made with eggs and milk), fried in butter and covered in cheese... For lunch if I would have stuck to being a vegan I would have eaten some peach slices and maybe foraged for some berries on camp grounds later when I was hungry again.
• Pasta: Now this is not as bad but vegan friendly pasta is hard to find and can be costly and I am positive the camp just orders "Sams Club" size pasta when they have big retreat weekends.

So although I love being an "Almost Vegan"  I know that some times will have to be a non vegan and just live with my vegetarian choices.  Some things about eating healthy you have to learn on the road there, not before you start the journey.

With that being said and me now being home lunch and breakfast today were 100% vegan!  For breakfast I had a smoothie with spinach, blueberries, and grapes! YUM!  Now for lunch as I am blogging and eating I have a big bowl of fruit salad.  I am now getting excited that the weather is warming up because fruits that we haven't had in season year are soon to be coming back and that means I will be a much happier vegan!  Now when I prepared the fruit salad I took the lazy route.  Today I threw some grapes, strawberries, and banana slices in a bowl and ate it just like that.  You can get fancy though!  Apples are great to add if you want some crunch and keeping them from getting soggy is easy!  Just cut up the apple how ever you like and toss it in a bag with some lemon juice, shake up and then you have an apple that wont turn brown or get soggy in the salad!  Pineapple is my favorite to add, I could eat it straight or throw it in too! I will sweeten the salad and I think the juices off the pineapple will be great to drink when you reach the bottom of the bowl!

Well bloggers and followers have a wonderful day and check back tomorrow to see what wonderful food I had for dinner! :)