The SmartGirlVeg Blog

Teen-friendly vegetarian nutrition, easy meat-free recipes and real-life advice for school, restaurants, holidays and college, from the team behind The Smart Girl's Guide to Going Vegetarian. Browse by topic: Recipes · Nutrition · Restaurants · Parents · College · News · Inspiration · Friends · Event Design.

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[Kitchen Experiment!] Cooking Up Carrot Lox

[Kitchen Experiment!] Cooking Up Carrot Lox

If you’ve ever eaten lox (also known as smoked salmon), you’ll know that it has a very distinctive flavor and texture. It seemed impossible that one might mimic the feel and taste of smoked salmon with a crunchy, sweet root veggie. Until we gave this recipe a try.

[Veggie Voyager!] Plant-Powered Eating in Charleston, SC

[Veggie Voyager!] Plant-Powered Eating in Charleston, SC

Summer travel season is here, woo hoo! Today, we’ve invited SmartGirlVeg intern Leah Negrin to share her experiences eating as a gluten-free vegan in the decidedly Southern (think buttery grits, buttermilk biscuits, and so on) city of Charleston, South Carolina.

[No cook recipe!] Mother’s Day Coconut Chia Breakfast Bowls

[No cook recipe!] Mother’s Day Coconut Chia Breakfast Bowls

Mother’s Day is the perfect excuse to whip up a delicious breakfast that the whole family can come together and enjoy, regardless of their individual dietary preferences. Check out our beginner-safe, completely vegan (but everyone will love it), perfect for Mother’s Day brunch recipe: Coconut Chia Breakfast Bowls.

[Read it!] The Reducetarian Solution

[Read it!] The Reducetarian Solution

If you’ve read The Smart Girl’s Guide to Going Vegetarian, you know that we do not promote an “all or nothing” approach to plant-based eating. That’s why I was so excited a few years back when I learned of a new term that fit right into the plant-based eating spectrum: Reducetarian. The word was coined by activists Brian Kateman and Tyler Altermann, and means “a person who aspires to eat less meat.”

Spotlight on: Sharon Palmer, RDN, The Plant-Powered Dietitian

Spotlight on: Sharon Palmer, RDN, The Plant-Powered Dietitian

Sharon Palmer, RDN, the Plant-Powered Dietitian chats with us about avoiding labels when it comes to plant-based eating, keeping the conversation positive, and making various dietary preferences work in one family (without a chef on staff!).

Craving a Pumpkin Spice Latte? Four ways to #PSL Smart Girl-style!

Craving a Pumpkin Spice Latte? Four ways to #PSL Smart Girl-style!

It’s fall, which means pretty much everywhere you look are pumpkin spice lattes. Between ads on the radio, Facebook, and TV, and in the windows of coffee shops, it can be hard to avoid these seasonal beverages this time of year. Read on for four options for any Smart Girl to get her PSL fix. 

Get a Bee-Free Honey Fix

Get a Bee-Free Honey Fix

Honey. For many the word brings up some great memories; drizzled on a bowl of oatmeal, a huge spoonful to go in tea, honey cake for the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. If you’re vegan, however, honey may not have the same sweet connotation. Here are six ways to get your sweet and sticky fix without bugging any bees. 

SmartGradVeg! Six Great Gifts For Your Favorite Vegetarian High School Graduate

SmartGradVeg! Six Great Gifts For Your Favorite Vegetarian High School Graduate

It’s finally graduation season! If your favorite teenage vegetarian is headed to college to live in the dorms and experience what it's like to live on her own for the first time, she (or he) may be anxious about finding food—especially if she doesn't have access to a kitchen, like most first-year college students. Ease her worries by gifiting her with a graduation present that will help her make the transition to plant-powered eating on campus!

[recipe!] shiitake bacon/DIY mac ‘n cheese bar

[recipe!] shiitake bacon/DIY mac ‘n cheese bar

This year in preparation for the Superbowl, we’ve decided to bring back an old comfort food fave, and give it a fresh, but totally easy, spin. Remember your cozy old friend mac ‘n cheese? We’re going to dress it up like it’s going to prom.

[recipe!] Smoky Butternut Hummus

[recipe!] Smoky Butternut Hummus

We love hummus, really, we do. But face it—sometimes it's the only thing us vegheads can eat at parties. And that gets a little boring.  This Superbowl Sunday, we want you to do a little better. Our new smoky butternut hummus is a little sweet, a little savory, and a lot yum—and something that everyone at your party will love.

7 Days to Veg! Day 6: Viva Veggies

7 Days to Veg! Day 6: Viva Veggies

Now, you don’t need to like vegetables to be a vegetarian, and many a vegetarian has existed on pizza and fries alone. But…would you be surprised to hear that we don't recommend that (nah, we didn’t think so)? Eating vegetables is central to being a healthy vegetarian. Learning to love them will make following a good-for-you plant-centric diet come naturally. For today’s mission to make you a more plant-based eater, we’re going to put the spotlight on the true stars of the show: Vegetables.

7 Days To Veg! Day 5: Try a New (Veggie) Restaurant

7 Days To Veg! Day 5: Try a New (Veggie) Restaurant

Congrats! You’ve made it to Friday of The Smart Girl’s Guide To Going Vegetarian’s 7 Days To Veg! Now that it’s almost the weekend, we have a totally fun assignment for you that we hope you will be able to find time for over the next few days: Go to a restaurant. Not just any restaurant, that is: A vegetarian one. Read on to find out why, and how to find a veg restaurant in your area. 

7 Days To Veg! Day 3: Embrace the International Year of Pulses

7 Days To Veg! Day 3: Embrace the International Year of Pulses

2016, as proclaimed by the United Nations, is the International Year of Pulses. Get on board and you’ll be well on your way to a more plant-powered diet. So what, exactly are these precious pulses? Check out Day 3 of our 7 Days To Veg to learn more!

7 Days To Veg! Day 2: Plant-Power Your Pantry

7 Days To Veg! Day 2: Plant-Power Your Pantry

How is being a smart-girl vegetarian a lot like being a Boy Scout? Each knows it’s always best to "Be Prepared." Stocking your pantry with plant-strong foods that will help keep you satisfied is one of the keys to your success as a vegetarian, vegan, or part-time veg. Here's how!

7 Days To Veg! Day 1: Celebrate Meatless Monday

7 Days To Veg! Day 1: Celebrate Meatless Monday

Happy New Year! Wondering how you can plant power your diet in 2016? We created a 7-day starter guide that will give you tangible tips to help you eat more plants and less meat. Try a new goal out every day for one week, and by the end you'll be a little more plant-strong than you started—and ready to take on the year. Today's mission: Celebrate Meatless Monday.

[recipe!] Crispy Roasted Chickpeas

[recipe!] Crispy Roasted Chickpeas

Holiday season is in full swing, and all us vegetarians want for Christmas (and Chanukah and Kwanzaa and New Year's and Festivus) is a guarantee that there will be something satisfying for us to eat at the many parties we're getting ready to attend.  Sure, we love chips and guacamole, but there's got to be something more...like our crispy roasted chickpeas.

Celebrity spotlight: Chef Chloe Coscarelli

Celebrity spotlight: Chef Chloe Coscarelli

Have you heard about the hot new vegan restaurant in NYC's West Village, by CHLOE.? At its helm is 28-year-old Chloe Coscarelli, a smart girl if we ever met one. We were lucky enough to interview this super chef who's attracting long lines and celebs like Miley Cyrus and Anna Kendrick with her mac and cheese with shiitake bacon, kale cookies and cream ice cream, and more (all vegan, and uh-mazing).  

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