"Do you ever wish to have some of the foods you used to eat?"

My husband posed this question to me a little bit ago. I thought about it. Because pregnancy makes my memory incredibly short, I only reflected on the last week or so of instances. "Not really," was my response. Sometimes I'm at a function, like church choir practice, and someone announces a treat they brought. In this case, white chocolate fudge. My first thought is "yum! Too bad I can't have any." But to truely feel better, and show the baker some interest in her food, I'll ask how she made it. Five minutes later I have the perfect counter argument for myself. "So you put a ton of butter and sugar, in different forms, into a pot, boil, then pour it into a pan. Do you know how much cholesterol you are consuming? Talk about a sugar rush!" Now I'm cured.

In regards to my children, I still let them have a taste. They have a right to it. I'm learning to be a "Love and Logic" parent. LL parentss know that children need to make decisions for themselves, younger the better, when the cost to do so is low. They also know that when kids are out of their home and control kids have an even greater opportunity to choose consequences for their actions. Therefore, probably to the disapproval of vegan parents world-wide, I let my kids choose what they want to consume when they aren't at home with my approved options available. My daughter loved the fudge and asked for more (definitely a girl at heart). My son totally rejected it after one lick. Not even the baker was offended saying with a laugh "well, don't force that one if he doesn't want it! That's a good thing!" Whew!

Heartburn? acid reflux?

I've been asking myself if I'll get heartburn or acid reflux this pregnancy. I guess if I am still asking, that's already a good sign. In fact, I was totally 100% vegan over the holidays and 100% nausea-free as a result. Then I came home, got totally disinterested in cooking, and in a moment of weakness took the kids to Costco and got pizza. Later that night I could feel the heartburn/acid building. My first thought was the same as all the other pregnancies, "oh, It must be the sauce that causes it." Then I stopped to think, "duh, I've had tons of marinara sauce with spaghetti and haven't had one issue." Could it be the pepperoni and cheese? What meat does pepperoni come from anyway? How is it seasoned? Bet I could season tofu in the same manner...

My husband decided to do the 21-day vegan kickstart challenge nutritionmd.org is sponsoring. I have heard Dr. McDougall's name a lot and looked up his comments. Interesting. Plant-based diets soothe the stomach lining. GERD and ulcers are a result of animal products in the system in an unhealthy manner over a long period of time.

Pregnancy does all sorts of fun stuff to a body. I might get heartburn, but I'll bet if I do, it won't be nearly as bothersome as before.

What no one has mentioned about raising a vegan child

I'm the kind of mom that doesn't freak out when my kids eat cheese at Grandma's house, or ice cream at Grandpa's house, or eat the meat that is served at big family dinners, or even help Grandpa consume all the Christmas treats he brings home from the office. All of that is considered, to me and my little family, "sometimes" food. I can't do it anymore.

First my 18-month-old had about a 4 day episode. It started with throwing-up everywhere, the moved to diaharrea. Several days later my 4-year-old started the same episode. Nothing else accompanied it; no fevers, no chills, just no appetite. My husband and I decided that it must be the animal products they've consumed; much larger quantities than normal for an extended period of time. The baby has been vegan since the day I started table food and must have a much lower tolerance.

Lesson learned: I must still act in my children's behalf and put a cap on quantities they can eat, or at least remind them how sick they will get and let them choose for themselves. I hope this helps any other moms out there like me.

Eating out in the Greater Salt Lake area

Here's a note to all those interested in vegan options in the greater Salt Lake area. I only tried a few, and since some of these are nation-wide chains, my experience can help a greater audience.

First: The favs
Vertical Diner. IGNORE the restaurant guide highlighted on vegcooking.com (endorsed by PETA). It listed four  restaurants, 2 went out of business at least a year ago. That leaves Sage's Cafe and The Vertical Diner. Both are owned by the same family, so I choose to sample the slightly less expensive one, the diner. It was good. They catered to the needs of a family member with gluten intolerance just beautifully. I loved taking a break from sending servers to the kitchen on ingredient verification and just knowing that whatever I ordered was going to be 100% guaranteed vegan. My kids inhaled their version of chicken strips, and we all loved the ranch dressing for the "chicken" and carrots sticks. They even gladly accepted my request for the order "to-go" which, upon receiving my paper plate wrapped very well in plastic-wrap, I guessed they don't get very often. My all time favorite vegan restaurant is still The Green Restaurant in Tempe, AZ; this one takes a close second.

Papa Murphy's. When a family gathering called for pizza, I put in a request for a veggie, cheese-less one. Papa Murphy's filled the request wonderfully. They don't actually have an option on the menu, but get the regular crust, marinara sauce, and veggies and it's great. I verified the ingredients on the crust, not the sauce. However, any tiny amount of animal product makes my morning sickness come back and the absence of this problem confirmed the sauce is a-ok.

Cheesecake Factory. My visits here with family mark the 5th and 6th since I've gone vegan. Everytime I visit I quiz the server, sometimes asking the exact same questions. Everytime I learn which chef is willing to have patience with the server, because the attitude is quickly translated in the server's behavior, and which ones actually know the ingredients of the items. I also do it to force the server to educate himself on the menu and let the restaurant know people with these needs come in, please accomodates us. Here's a run-down
*Bread basket. This has sourdough and a type of brown bread. While the chef's differ on whether the sourdough is actually 100% vegan, the culture usually originates in milk. I find that the fermenting process eliminates enough product that I can eat all the bread I want and not get sick. The brown bread I get differing views on. Honestly, I can't figure out who's telling the truth, so the risk is yours.
*Salads. There are about three you can veganize. You can't even depend on the vinagrette dressing to be vegan. Ordering this will require trips to the kitchen to confirm.
*Pasta. There is one. Evelyn's pasta. Beware, this dish is dripping in olive oil. I was assured the pasta is egg-free, but again, it never hurts to confirm. When we order this we eat a small amount, take it home, boil up a pot full of pasta, and toss in Evelyn's. It spreads the oil out a lot better and feeds all of us for that second meal.
*Dessert. Uh, duh it's the cheesecake factory, right? Don't even bother, right? Not so. I've only had one server with enough knowledge of the menu to point out, but not force the sell, of the bowl of strawberries - for $6.50.

And...the disappointment
Mimi's Cafe. This used to be my all-time favorite, now it's just the biggest disappointment. They have nothing for lunch and dinner. They do serve breakfast all day, and there's a glimmer of hope there. Order the bowl of oatmeal, side of fruit. They have no milk substitute, so I ordered cranberry juice instead, and asked for the sugar on the side, in case the juice was sweet enough.