I've been living in a state where I'm perpetually waiting for the other shoe to drop for years. It's given me anxiety. It's caused me stress and at times, it's taken a toll on my relationships. 

It all started about three years ago when I was let go from my fancy lawyer job after I'd complained about sexual harassment. Losing your job is upsetting but being sexually harassed is devastating. I'd always thought of myself as a strong woman, a woman …

Blogging. Am I blogging? Blogging feels so.... foreign. I know that sounds crazy coming from me... after all, I've had a "blog" for three years but the whole time I never felt like a blogger or looked at Happy Herbivore as a blog. Happy Herbivore has always been a thing, my companion--the place I store all my recipes with spurts of my life mixed in for good measure.

Aside from the occasional anecdote about a trip or the even more rare …

Recently I was at a vegan restaurant where I ordered a sandwich on the menu with some modifications. It went something like "hi! I'll have the veggie burger, but hold the onions and can I get the multi-grain bread and dijon dressing instead? thanks!"

After I ordered, my friend ordered his sandwich by name and followed it with "and I'll take it just like the chef intended it to be."

He said it in a way that offended me slightly, like …

One of the most popular questions I get via email is: 

"How can I convert your [recipe] to be gluten-free?"

My go-to response has always been "Maybe try a commercial gluten-free all purpose mix?" which, of course, I'd feel bad giving, but I really didn't have much else to offer. Gluten-free baking isn't my forte or even something I have much experience in. To be perfectly honest, gluten-free baking has always intimidated me.

I think what scared me off, more …

My poor blog has been neglected while I've been busy writing #2, I apologize. 

I'm nearly done -- 160 recipes and counting (my goal is finishing somewhere between 175 and 200). It's hard for me to believe that just 7 week ago my recipe count was 0! 

Anyway, here are some pictures I took yesterday. These are not the pictures that will be appearing in the book, and they're completely unedited, but they'll give you an idea all the same.  …