The Vegg Vegan Egg Yolk is a 100% plant-based egg yolk replacement used to make vegan omelets and a variety of other vegan foods that are usually made with eggs. I've been interested in trying it, for a while,  and recently came across a good deal on VeganCuts, The Vegg Combo Pack, which consisted of a can of The Vegg Vegan Egg Yolk and The Vegg cookbook.

I wanted to see what it was like, without a bunch of extra stuff to hide the taste, so I decided to try a basic omelette. When I first opened the can, I noticed the texture was almost exactly like nutritional yeast - which makes sense, because that's the base of it - and it did have a distinct egg smell, which comes from the black salt. I have a jar of Kala Namak (black salt), that I've been using it my tofu scrambles, to give it an "eggier" taste so I knew that's where the smell came from.

The only omelet recipe I found involved tofu, so I decided to use the crepe recipe instead. Cutting the crepe recipe in half, I made an omelette. It's basically The Vegg powder, flour, soy milk and butter. Now, I don't know if the batter was suppose to be thick but, when I did it, it was very thick so next time I'm going to use more water or soy to thin it out a bit more.

It definitely looked like an omelet, but it wasn't as eggy as I would have liked but I can see how it would probably taste really good mixed with some peppers, onions, garlic, spinach and maybe a little extra black salt - which I think that I'm going to try to make, tonight, for dinner.

Overall, I was happy with the results. There are plenty of recipes, on the website, so I'll definitely be checking those out.

I subscribe to the list of free and discounted Kindle books from Pixel of Ink. Yesterday, they had "Paris Letters" by Janice MacLeod for $2.99 and since I saw the word "Paris" of course I had to check it out. One of the reviewer's on Amazon described it as: "A memoir, a travel log, a romance, a self-help guide, all rolled into one exquisite and delicate confection." Right up my alley! I was sold.

Little did I know that it also included a tid-bit about one of my other passions - veganism! Granted, the author doesn't stay vegan - at least up to what I've read so far - but it was nice that she gave it a little shout out and even acknowledged that going vegan actually saved her money!

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(Chapter 5: Cut Down on Groceries. Starts on page 37 of the Kindle Edition)

"And then came the vegan thing. I never really thought much about veganism or vegetarianism beyond my mother and aunts huffing at having to make a vegetarian lasagna because a few of my veggie cousins were coming by for dinner . Then after the dinner, when everyone had left, someone would wonder aloud if vegetarianism was a healthy choice. How can you feed your children on a vegetarian diet, for heaven’s sake? How can you possibly feel satisfied without a decent piece of meat? That’s just it. Films and books were coming out about factory farming, and I became aghast at how there are hardly any decent pieces of meat left. Factory farming made up 99 percent of the meat in our grocery stores. To find that 1 percent of meat that came from animals that had a good life and a humane death was so difficult that I threw up my hands. The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone provided me with all the logic I needed to become vegan. I want to be healthy. I want to be kind to the planet. And I could do them both just by not eating meat? I bought into the kindness factor. Sign me up.

Turns out saving the planet didn’t cost near as much as ruining it. After deciding to go the veggie route, I saw I could save a lot of money, which was appealing if I were to ever quit my job and hit the road. Without the dairy and meat in my diet, my grocery bill was halved. Did I mourn the loss of burgers? Nah. Did I mourn the loss of cheese? You betcha. Great big sobbing mourning about not getting to have melted cheese slathered all over and oozing out of everything. Science has proven that cheese is actually addictive. The primary protein in milk is casein, which gives that satisfied reverie we cheesists feel on a soul level. I was a happy cheese addict. But I knew if I took out the meat from my diet, I’d overdo the cheese. I know me. I know what I’m capable of. My path to veganism had to be paved with oatmeal. I thought veganism would be hard when I went out to eat. Not so. I discovered that in California, all restaurants must have at least one vegetarian meal on the menu. I started appreciating the limited options. I remembered what I learned from clearing out my closets: There is a certain freedom in not having so many choices. And my body didn’t seem to mind one way or another if it had meat. I was already tired and miserable all the time. I was still pretty much tired and miserable as a vegan, except now I had a glimmer of hope that it could actually be possible to save enough money to buy myself a year or two of freedom from my advertising job. And that little nugget of hope was more delicious than a chicken nugget any day of the week."
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Also, reading that reminded me that Alicia Silverstone should pay me a commission for the amount of books I sold for her at Farm Sanctuary's "Celebration FOR the Turkeys" in NYC a couple years back. I kept pointing out the recipe for peanut butter cups and we sold out of her book within an hour or so! The other people at the Merch Table were very impressed with my selling skills :)

My boyfriend shared this article with me. Now, it's not the article, itself, that got me riled up - it's articles like that, in general, and the comments that follow.

There were a few things, in the article, that made me raise an eyebrow, but hey, it's what the guy believes, so I really can't fault him. He did his research and cited his sources but I don't necessarily agree with his findings.

Here are a few excerpts:

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"Vegan diets, in particular, are almost completely devoid of certain nutrients that are crucial for physiological function. Several studies have shown that both vegetarians and vegans are prone to deficiencies in B12, calcium, iron, zinc, the long-chain fatty acids EPA & DHA, and fat-soluble vitamins like A & D."

"I do not think it’s possible to meet nutrient needs on a vegan diet without supplements—and quite a few of them. Vegan diets are low in B12, biovailable iron and zinc, choline, vitamin A & D, calcium, and EPA and DHA. So if you’re intent on following a vegan diet, make sure you are supplementing with those nutrients."

"While it may be possible to address these shortcomings through targeted supplementation (an issue that is still debated), it makes far more sense to meet nutritional needs from food. This is especially important for children, who are still developing and are even more sensitive to suboptimal intake of the nutrients discussed in this article. Like all parents, vegetarians and vegans want the best for their children. Unfortunately, many are not aware of the potential for nutrient deficiencies posed by their dietary choices."

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I was going to reply to some of the comments but figured that it would fall on deaf ears. Every time an article like this is posted, the vegans get all up in arms, the meat eaters fire back and no one actually pays attention to anything the other person is saying.

It's also about knowing your audience. The site also promotes "Paleo Weight Loss" - AKA the Caveman Diet - which is high protein, low carb. Plant-based diets, by design, are going to be are higher carb so anyone following that site would most likely frown upon it.  If there's one thing I've learned, over the years, it's that you should pick your battles. When people are resolute in their beliefs, and you're on a site where people obviously feel a certain way about something, there is no chance of having an open, engaging,discussion where both parties can respect each others views and opinions. In those cases, I just step away.

There was one thing Chris said that I agree with is about B-12.  On a plant-based diet it is more difficult to get it and that you have to either take a supplement or make sure you eat and drink things that are fortified with B-12. As for everything else? In my personal experience, it's not true. I get my blood tested, for all the things he mentioned, every year or two and I've never come up deficient in any category. I even donate blood whenever the Blood Mobile is in the area. They test your hemoglobin levels (the iron-containing oxygen-transport metalloprotein in the red blood cells) every time you donate. If it's below a certain number, you're turned away. I've been turned away twice, for low hemoglobin since I started donating, 17 years ago, and both of those times were before I went vegan.

ANYONE can be deficient in the nutrients he mentioned. Eating meat and dairy doesn't ensure that you're going to have a healthy diet. Eating plant-based doesn't ensure that you're going to have a healthy diet either. It's up to the individual person to make sure they do their best to eat as healthy as possible, not matter what diet you choose to follow - that's what it boils down to.

The truth is that, on the internet, anyone can find "scientific fact" to support their viewpoint/opinion. Be sure to read ALL the "evidence"  - both for and against your argument - and then, with an open mind -  look at all the information provided and figure out what is right for you.