Being Vegan in a Non- Vegan Family - Yes You Can Make It Work

I am the only vegan in my family, my husband is the complete opposite and potatoes in french fry form are the only vegetable he eats on a regular basis. My adult children and their partners eat a standard American diet, although one son is vegetarian. My grandchildren eat a standard American diet.

On Sundays we always come together as a family and my husband and I prepare a meal for everyone. I would love to be able to say that the meal is vegan but it is not the case. So compromise is the name of the game. Yesterday my husband made ribs for everyone, I made vegan side dishes, it worked well. My vegan side dishes were curried potatoes with basmati rice, chocolate chip-banana muffins, fresh pineapple, and vegan Waldorf salad. Everyone enjoyed the side dishes, the grandchildren ended up eating vegan because they don't like ribs. I always make a plate of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as an alternate choice for children who might not want the "grown up" food.

I made the curried potatoes, Waldorf salad and muffins using recipes from my Happy Healthy Vegan cook book.  The curried potatoes served with rice are a meal in my opinion. To make them dice potatoes, put them in a skillet with water, they don't have to be covered, let them cook until tender, then add fresh green beans, let cook until tender, add cut up tomatoes, by now the water should be almost boiled off. Season with curry powder, I used garam masala, and red pepper flakes. I added salt. Serve over basmati rice. Very tasty!

The Waldorf salad is lovely, the usual ingredients are in it, apples, grapes, celery, walnuts, raisins, cut up orange, use all of these or whatever you have on hand. Rather than using a mayo for the dressing take a quarter cup of orange juice and five or six dates and put in the blender, pour the pureed mixture over the fruit and stir. A very tasty, refreshing salad.

As a vegan it would be lovely if my entire family joined me, but everyone has to choose their own path in life. 

Pachinko

Last week while at our local library branch I noticed a book on the new fiction shelf called Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee. The cover art initially caught my eye and I picked the book up and read the inside cover to get an idea of the story. Deciding that it might be something I would enjoy reading I checked the book out and I am glad I did. It is a family saga beginning in 1902 Korea and continuing through present day. I like the pace of the story, it doesn't linger, but is isn't rushed. It is interesting to me as it is set in a culture I am not familiar with yet the struggles the characters go through are familiar to all people.