Hello and welcome to the Bottomless Vegan blog!
My name is Wini Smith and my absolute favorite thing to do is to cook scrumptious vegan food. Although my love of cooking goes back more than a decade, it’s only recently that I’ve been creating vegan recipes. So, let me tell you how I got to where I am today…
I grew up in beautiful Northern California with my amazing parents and the best brother a girl could ask for. I lived my life as a traditional American, eating a wide range of animal products never thinking twice about where my food came from. My mom is an amazing cook (I know a lot of people say that, but my mom really is a whiz in the kitchen), so when it was time for me to leave the nest I had to figure out a way to continue to eat delicious meals in my own home.
As a my own “intro to cooking”, I used a combination of my mom’s recipes and ones I found on Pinterest. It seemed like my passion for cooking blossomed overnight and I quickly found myself looking forward to my time in the kitchen. Before I knew it, I was using every excuse I could think of to cook for my friends and family.
In 2011 I met and started dating my now husband, Brady. We did the typical dating stuff: going out to dinner, seeing movies, having drinks with friends; but the one thing that we loved most was staying in and enjoying a nice home-cooked meal. Side note: I’m pretty sure my cooking was what sealed the deal for him because it wasn’t too long after I first cooked for him that I was happily cooking every meal for him! What can I say, I love to cook, he loves to eat 😉
In 2015, Brady’s job relocated us to Wisconsin. This was an exciting/scary time for us as we were moving to a place neither of us had ever lived, and we were away from our family and friends. Aside from the winters, the Midwest was wonderful place to live. There was always so much to do (especially since we were just a quick train ride away from Chicago), and even more things to eat. We found ourselves dining like locals and indulging in food like: butter burgers, deep fried cheese curds and beer brats. My inner/outer fat kid was in heaven. Then the most wonderful thing happened…BRADY PROPOSED!!!! And that’s when our eating changed.
I had (not surprisingly) gained some weight while living in Wisconsin, and I wanted to slim down a bit for the wedding. On January 1, 2017 (New Year’s Day…how cliché, am I right?) I decided to cut all meat and dairy out of my diet (and Brady’s since I was doing all the cooking) to lose weight. And what do you know, eating fruits, veggies, beans and whole grains helped me lose weight. It was awesome!!!
Something else happened to me during the time between New Year’s Day and our wedding: I discovered the impact adopting a vegan lifestyle has on our planet and the living creatures on it. I watched many documentaries (like Earthlings, Forks Over Knives, Vegucated and Cowspiracy) and did some of my own research. With all this new information, there was no way I was going to go back to my old ways. I decided after the wedding I was going to continue eating and living in a compassionate way.
Since going vegan, I have revamped my approach on food. I still enjoy the same foods I did before going vegan (burritos, pizza, sandwiches, etc.), just without the animal products. My greatest “ah-ha” moment was when I realized vegan does not have to mean boring. That’s why I started my blog; I wanted to share my recipes with people who love food, whether they be vegan or not. I really love showing people that vegan food can not only be approachable but can also be just as delicious (and in some cases, even more so) as food containing animal products. I create all my recipes with the philosophy that food should be tasty and easy, without the use of crazy ingredients or complex cooking techniques. As the Bottomless Vegan, I strive to create endless deliciousness that everyone can enjoy. Thanks for visiting, I hope you enjoy my food 🙂
Love,
Wini aka the Bottomless Vegan
