After struggling with disordered eating for over a decade, in my mid-twenties I set out to heal my relationship with food. I’d heard about the many benefits of a plant-based vegan diet, and in 2009 I started to experiment with vegan recipes myself.Excited by my renewed love for food, I began sharing these new meals and recipes on my blog, Oh She Glows. Going plant-based wasn’t something that I set out to do, but I felt so amazing eating this way that I saw no reason to go back to my old eating habits filled with low-calorie, nutritionally depleted diet foods. Since then I’ve shared over 600 vegan recipes on my blog, written two bestselling cookbooks, and developed an original recipe app. My goal is to create food that wins over a crowd in an approachable way using real, whole foods ingredients.Throughout my journey, I’ve been lucky to connect with so many inspiring people in the plant-based community. Two of my very first inspirations were Kris Carr, author and founder of Crazy Sexy Life , and Dreena Burton, author and founder of Plant-Powered Kitchen . Their books showcased many new-to-me ingredients and gave me the courage to try new recipes.That’s a tough one, for sure! It seems amazing to say now, nine years after hitting publish on my very first Oh She Glows blog post, but I think the best way to describe my career is entrepreneurship. That covers both so much of what I do day to day and what drives me to continue: as a complement to my blog and response to the wonderful feedback I received in its early days, I began my entrepreneurial work as the founder of Glo Bakery, hand-making and shipping wholesome vegan granola bars to eager customers all over North America. From the bakery blossomed my first cookbook, The Oh She Glows Cookbook , and more recently my second, Oh She Glows Every Day . Now with two books, the blog, and an app, my days are centred around continuing to grow Oh She Glows for the wonderful, inspiring community of readers I’m lucky to hear from each day. I’m really excited for the future, and the possibilities that lie ahead!I work with an independent video production house to shoot and edit my kitchen videos. Typically, a recipe shoot can take anywhere from one to three days, depending of course on the unpredictability of live cooking (no pressure!) and the number of edits or changes made to the first draft of the video.Oh She Glows was inspired by a compliment I received from one of my dear friends, Leah, as I was recovering from my eating disorder. After I’d begun eating healthier and being kinder to myself, she remarked “You have a real glow to you now!” Oh She Glows represents the happy glow that comes from the inside when you treat yourself well and lead a balanced lifestyle.Thank you! That means so much to me, as I’m completely self-taught. Since beginning Oh She Glows, I’ve read and watched countless online tutorials, always taking note of professional photography I see in cookbooks or other blogs, and worked hard to hone my own skills. I’ve always loved playing with lighting, background, and food styling, and it’s fun to dig back to my first Oh She Glows shoots to see just how far my photography has come. I think that would be my best advice: to practice, practice, practice, and experiment using different lights, styles, and backgrounds.Yikes! I don’t know if this counts as a meal, but I think I would have to give a shout-out to the original Oh She Glows recipe: my Classic Glo Bars. I developed those bars to supply me with energy, nutrition, and glow when I need it most, so I think I’d want a good stock of Glo Bars heading into those final hours on earth…And since my Glo Bar recipe only take 10 minutes to whip up, I’d have to make a big batch of my favourite green smoothie to go with it. I could easily live off of both of these recipes.Yes! One of my first series posts on Oh She Glows was dedicated to helping those interested in transitioning to a vegan lifestyle take their first steps. In brief, these are my top tips: make the transition slowly (try to add just one new food or recipe each week); stock your pantry with wholesome plant-based ingredients to form the foundation for healthy, nutritious recipes; be your own teacher and listen to your body; focus on adding vibrant foods, not taking others away; don’t expect perfection (in both yourself and your early recipe creations!); and finally get support and ask questions—there’s a wonderful community of plant-based cooks out there just waiting to help you.
Unfortunately Angela could not answer a couple of our questions, including one of our favourites “If you could invite any three people for dinner, dead or alive, who would you invite and why?”.
After everything Angela is giving to the vegan community with her recipes, for sure we are going to forgive her!
Vegan Life & Living 