veggie vites

For today's Vegan MoFo post, I want to write about vitamins -- supplements, specifically. Now, I have always been more of a "get your vitamins from food" kind of person, but I also believe that taking a multivitamin can't HURT, and it can be a good insurance policy for days when I don't eat as healthfully as I'd like to, for whatever reason.

Many vegetarians have difficulty sourcing vitamins and supplements from "traditional" drugstores, because many commercially-produced, inexpensive supplements contain gelatin or other non veg-friendly ingredients. Because of this, I've looked at the vitamins from my co-op, and frankly, the prices make me CRY! WHY does being healthy have to be so damn expensive sometimes?

Or does it?

Nope! Enter Vitacost! This is one of my all-time favorite websites, and a place I frequently order huge amounts of stuff from. (Really. Like I even by toilet paper from Vitacost, because it's cheaper than buying it at the co-op, and buying recycled TP is important to me.)

Here's what I take:

I have been taking this once daily multi for several years, and am quite happy with it. Vitacost keeps it affordable, at 40% off the retail price, and it has a nice balance of vitamins and minerals, with the all-important calcium, iron, vitamin D, and B-12, four of the hottest vitamins for upper-midwestern women (and vegetarians,) if you ask me! However, I like that there's only 20% of my RDA of calcium and 33% of my RDA of iron, because I do feel I get these nutrients from my foods, too. (Insurance policy, right?)

Recently, I've also started taking this:

I had a helluva time finding a vegetarian omega-3 supplement! While we do use largely olive and canola oils in our house, (and I do add flax oil to salad dressings, and ground flax seeds to our granola,) I'm still not sure we get enough omega-3s. Dan takes fish oil, (since he's not a veggie, since fish oil is much cheaper, and since he has high cholesterol -- needs to take more than I do, with my low cholesterol,) but I have added this supplement to my daily routine, and have been very happy with it! It isn't nearly as awesome a deal as the multi I take, (this product is only 10% off retail,) but I seriously haven't seen it in a single retail store, and I order so much from the website anyway, the $4.95 flat shipping rate usually pays for itself in the first couple of items!

So, what's your take on veggie vites? Do you supplement? Why or why not?

shopping, shopping, and more shopping

I have been away from the blogosphere for a variety of reasons: life/work/being insanely busy, having no food in the house (and subsequently, not cooking,) and just not having much to say. My apologies. :) However, I'm back, with a full kitchen's worth of groceries, and a picture of the largest avocado that I've ever seen (and ever purchased!)

This is called a Simmons avocado. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet -- probably just an insane amount of guacamole. (Need to cut up some tortillas and bake some chips, too!)

My co-op has started doing the coolest thing -- listing the total dollars spent and percent of purchase on local products/companies on your receipt. Isn't that cool? Yesterday, I spent $40.97, or 28.2% of my total purchases on local items. Not too bad, since I wasn't even trying. :) Next time, we'll see if I can get that number even higher!

I discovered the greatest website/resource the other day -- Vitacost.com! A friend of mine had told me about this website ages and ages ago, and I have just not gotten around to checking it out . . . and placing an order. They have a ton of natural health and beauty products at super-deep discounts (we're talking anywhere from 30% to 70% off retail price,) and charge a flat $5 shipping rate, no matter the size of your order. (As an example, the face moisturizer I use is so cheap on Vitacost, if I buy just one of those, the shipping pays for itself, plus I still save, like, two bucks.) Check it out!

I need to head down to the store after work tonight to buy a new stick blender. My old one died, (it literally fell apart in my hands while I was using it,) and I have been sorely missing it! I want to make soup and smoothies and hummus and other great stuff!

I have very little to do this weekend, other than clean up the kitchen and turn around and mess it up again. Cooking projects planned over the next couple of days:

tabouli (to take to a baby shower for one of my coworkers,)
spring rolls with peanut dipping sauce
tomato soup (to pop directly into the freezer,)
gnocchi with roasted eggplant
lasagna rolls with roasted red pepper sauce
falafel
possibly a giant batch of guacamole (I'm so excited about the ginormous avocado!)

I also may cook up a bunch of the dried beans that I bought at the store yesterday. But, I've been eyeing several recipes in Madhur Jaffrey's "World Vegetarian," and she often calls for the bean cooking liquid, so I may just wait for now. :) We shall see . . . stay tuned!