Pumpkin Spice + Life Update

EDIT/NOTE: I started this post off with the intention of adding a recipe at the end. I rambled too long, and will have JUST the recipe in another post within the next day!

I know what you’re thinking.

Months without a post, what feels like YEARS without a recipe, and I show up with a basic-ass pumpkin spice bread recipe?!

(first off, I promise, this bread is anything BUT basic).

I should probably back up a little and update y’all on where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing-that is, if any of you are even still out here listening to my ramblings?

A few super important things:

1. I can say “y’all” as often as I want now, because I’m currently residing in Memphis. WHAT? I know, MEMPHIS? How did I end up here and why did I leave behind my beloved Colorado mountains? To say the past 18 months have been weird for everyone, would be a gross understatement. Though I LOVE Colorado, the hiking, the camping, the scenery and my friends, and the FOOD, it all became a little mundane. The cost of living skyrocketed during the pandemic, our landlord sold our house and we were left wanting space to continue grow our own food, have a yard for the chickens and have a sufficient kitchen for me. But even with two incomes, that’s not really feasible in most places in CO, unfortunately. I got disgruntled with Denver/Boulder as a whole, and I slowly kind of fell out of love with it. Not that I don’t miss summit beers with my favorite people in jaw-dropping places, but we were just kind of yearning for somewhere new. So those incredible clients I get to travel with, cook for and nanny for? They’re letting us stay at their beautiful spot in Memphis and I can’t accurately describe how grateful I am to have known and loved them for seven years, that ultimately lead us to Tennessee. So though it’s not permanent, I am relishing in the green space, the gorgeous kitchen and a little downtime for Andrew and I to explore new places and focus on our own health, and for me to cook for myself for once! Memphis is honestly a wonderful city, on the brink of so many health-conscious moves. Food advocacy, food access and teaching people here about healthy cooking is REALLY appealing to me, and I’d like to immerse myself in that here for a little while.

2. I am still TRYING to figure out shipping some pre-made foods to all the people I love all over the country. My Covid baby, aside from the chickens, was EatFckingPlants. If you didn’t know. I delivered cookies, sauces, pies, lasagnas, burgers to the beautiful people of Denver/Boulder people for a year, and it was a TON of work in our shitty kitchen and dropping off food in my shitty car. But, I met a lot of incredible customers along the way, it ultimately lead to me being food manager at Denver Community Fridges and it kept me occupied during most of the pandemic. My DREAM would be to have a lot of these items (mainly the mac and cheese sauce) in stores, but for now, I still want to ship them off to my favorite customers, while I figure out how to do that on a bigger scale. So if you’re potentially wanting to order from there, all my updates are on Instagram at @eatfckingplants 🙂

3. OK, this one is the toughest. Though anything you see on this page, and on my social media WILL be vegan, I, myself no longer eat a 100% vegan diet.

So this means I’m a hypocrite, right? I run a vegan food blog, review vegan products, create vegan recipes AND have a vegan food business, but am not actually vegan anymore?

While I am still primarily plant-based, our biggest reason for getting our chickens, was so that we could have eggs straight from the source, from animals we know. Over the years, I have grown intolerant of some core vegan foods-soy, most beans and especially cashews-and digestively, didn’t feel my best for a long time. I tried to stick to the vegan label, but grew frustrated with just trying to maintain a label, when inherently, I didn’t feel like I fit it anymore. I also found that vegan foods, especially in restaurants, made me feel like garbage. Lots of gluten, lots of oil, lots of sugar, things in most faux meat/cheeses, really tore my stomach up, and they were things I actively wanted to avoid in my diet. I relied a bit more on intuitive eating, seeing how different foods felt in my body and adjusted as needed. I still eat mostly vegan, but don’t beat myself up for consuming eggs or fish, and even some small amounts of dairy on occasion. I know that doesn’t sit well with a lot of hardcore vegans, especially ethical vegans. Which I totally understand. But it felt like I was doing myself a disservice to try and stay vegan, when it doesn’t feel good to try and be 100% strict about it. And I have to say, getting hate mail from vegans over the years when they find out I’m not 100% anymore, only made me want to stray further from that community.

My stance on vegan food has ALWAYS been, that yes, the world and our overall health would be infinitely better if more people ate primarily plant-based. That there are ways to make it accessible and appealing to people from all diets and all walks of life. That no, Beyond Meat products, fake, processed meats and ice creams, and sugar-ladden vegan products are NOT better for our health. That NO, there is not one diet that is going to work for every body, for their entire life. People change and so should their diets. I obviously LOVE cooking vegan, and cooking vegan for other people. I love cooking vegan food for heavy meat-eaters, because they’re the ones who need the most help, need the most shifting. But do those people need to stop eating meat, forever? I don’t think so, and I think people should be able to make their own choices, without judgement. A large percentage of people I’ve delivered to over the past year are NOT vegan. They’re traditional, working people who want to explore more plant-based meals, without being totally restrictive. I’ve come to realize being able to eat this way, truly is a privilege and it’s not always obtainable for a lot, of people, all the time. My goal is ALWAYS to make vegan food, fun, accessible, fucking DELICIOUS and not judgy. That’s always been the case, and it always will be.

Though I don’t claim to be vegan anymore, I will never stop eating mostly vegan. I will never stop advocating for and supporting businesses who ARE fully plant-based. I think every restaurant should have vegan options, that aren’t just shitty, bland boiled vegetables or something that so poorly represents what plant-based food can be. I will ALWAYS be rooted in healthy eating, regardless of what that looks like to some people, and what people THINK it should look like for me.

I’ll end this long-winded post with a picture of my beloved chickens. Who’ve proved to me just HOW important (and expensive) it is to really grow your own food. To truly source where your animal products might come from. To whole-heartedly understand our food systems, vegan or not.