Vegan 16 Bean Soup with Kale

I am having a love affair with soups! Autumn is approaching and I am already living off soup--what a great reunion!  Soup is so hearty and filling and I just love how soup gets better the next day! Not only is making my own soup healthier--I control what goes in and it's basically veggies, beans, herbs and water--but it is also cheaper! I made a Vegan 16 Bean Soup with Kale today and I must say it was so comforting and filling. I love how I can sneak kale into just about any soup and it tastes good!

Today was another succesful Vegan day. I am slowly learning how to eliminate more foods and the things that are left are the things we all should be reaching for anyway: fruits, veggies, whole grains and legumes. Aiming for a Vegan diet really does make eating healthier easier for me because it gives me boundaries and guidelines and basically forces me to eat healthy food. But, I am a foodie so I do not like to sacrifice flavor, so I make sure everything I eat still bursts with bold, fresh flavors. I have noticed that I feel so much better now after eating Vegan meals than I did when I was basing my meals around meat. I used to get so hungry late at night and crave snacks, but last night all I had for dinner was a bowl of vegan black bean and butternut squash chili that I made and it kept me full all night! I didn't feel a spike in my blood sugar level in my body and I wasn't hungry late at night like I usually am. It was a great feeling and it was another reward for me for eating Vegan another day. I am still taking this challenge one day at a time, but as each day passes and I make it through another Vegan day, it gets easier and easier. I think it is getting easier because I am feeling the benefits in my body already--I just feel better after eating a Vegan meal and I want to keep that feeling going...like I need my next "hit" and that motivates me to stay on track. Gosh, if I didn't know better, I would say that eating Vegan meals is addictive! Could I be a Vegan addict? I hope so, because I am enjoying it so far!