I want to make something very clear, I did not start this journey with all the knowledge or all the skills. A few years back it would be a miracle if I made macaroni and cheese without burning it..
A few years back, I had no skills in the kitchen whatsoever. You may read that and think, Emily c'mon you must have known at least a few of the basics... nope! I was terrible. My food choices depended solely on what was cheap and convenient and nothing else. This meant that a lot of the time my meals consisted of a package of instant ramen or a bag of instant rice and a fork, and that was on a good day! On a bad day it looked more like tortilla chips and Nutella or a package of skittles I found in the bottom of my backpack. For anyone who knows me back then, they know first hand that my food choices were less than subpar, my favourite go to meal if I was really looking to get fancy was a bag of instant, powdered mashed potatoes, microwaved and drowned in BBQ sauce. I couldn't imagine having that as the entirely or even a part of my meals now but I'll tell ya, those BBQ potatoes had me feeling like a queen back then!
After a couple years of treating my diet like a last priority, feeling like garbage, getting sick all the time and being horribly out of shape I decided something needed to change. I initially went to my friends and roommates and asked for help because they were all much better in the kitchen and much healthier than I was. I was given lessons on things like making soup, putting together a homemade pizza, meal prepping properly (not just grabbing a packaged bag of something to microwave) and thanks to their encouragement, finally started taking my ass to the gym.
Little by little I began to add more skills to my repertoire, I began to appreciate food, I gained confidence in myself and I started to have a burning desire to learn more. On top of all of that, I felt better physically! It was the first time I had really considered the impact of what I was eating on my health and it forever changed my outlook on the choices I made around my diet.
Over the years that followed, I dug deep into research on cooking techniques and dishes I could try, began experimenting cooking for others and looked more into the specific effects of diet and health. I initially took to Instagram in February of 2018 to document my progress and keep myself accountable to prevent slipping back into my old habits. As my journey evolved and my knowledge grew, as did my content. Until finally, on July 11th 2020 after doing extensive research, I made the decision to go vegan. I fell in love with it, I was eating more than I ever did yet maintaining a good weight, physically I started feeling incredible and it opened a door to so many different flavours and ingredients that I had never experienced before!
As I continued to accumulate recipes of all the new things I was making I knew I needed a better place to organize it than on captions of Instagram posts and the Plant Power Living blog was born!
On this blog I have added recipes, directions and brands of vegan friendly products that I have used to help you easily navigate your way in the kitchen so you can create the same delicious meal!
I hope you'll find some value in the content I include and enjoy coming along on this journey of wellness, nutrition and all of the kick ass ingredients and flavours that this earth has to offer!
