I know I shouldn't complain, but...

I cleaned out my pantry of anything containing milk, egg, or meat products (the cans of tuna were obvious but my Lemon Herb marinade contained traces of anchovies???) and got a big reality check. Even the brown rice label said it contained milk! I can understand the pasta but the rice! And the cereal contained honey, so that was a no-no. And none of my soups would work either. These are all things that I eat regularly. Well, the cereal won't be so bad since I barely ever eat it and I usually don't add honey to anything (I'll have to use maple syrup in my baking instead). Worst of all is the hot cocoa that has dried milk (or something) :( That's my dessert alternative!

So what the heck am I supposed to eat? Well, here's a vegan food pyramid that might help me out:

I still need to get rid of some leftover milk, yogurt, 50% off Valentine's milk chocolates from Walgreens (one and a half boxes... sniff...), some mozzarella cheese balls, and a whole carton of eggs. This means I have to go grocery shopping again, which I just did this past weekend. And I still have to get used to the taste of my SoDelicious coconut milk... it's great for baking but I'm not too sure I like the bland flavor just drinking it straight up. I think I'll get used to it though.

Some of the stuff I did keep was Rozini brand pasta, although it did give the warning that it was made in a facility that may have used eggs (I'm assuming that this means it was made in the same factory as eggs were being used for something else? I took out everything that said "may contain traces" of this or that). And of course some lentils I bought this weekend, my decaf coffee bags, some crackers, and other stuff that didn't contain traces of anything except wheat or soy. 

I'll give in to the soy since it would be such a small amount, and eating those products never affected me before. It's just straight up soy products like beans or milk. I still want to try tofu, though. An interesting point about soy - my mom said that Dr. Oz said that soy is good for you unless you have a history of breast cancer in your family - which we do - in which case it might increase the likelihood for breast cancer. I guess my allergy is more of a blessing than a curse!

Or at least that might hold true until I go out to eat somewhere. I searched menus of several vegetarian restaurants around Milwaukee and the only veg alternatives I found were tofu or soymilk.... So I won't be able to eat the regular stuff nor the veg alternative. Hmmm. Looks like I'll be sticking to sah-lahds and hummus for a while. But I guess it's not all bad...

Yes, this is vegan.