It’s Meatless Monday so I thought this would be the perfect day to tell you all about a fun vegan dinner and a little (vegan) shopping spree I had last week at my friends’ Melissa and Josh‘s house. Melissa recently followed her life long dream of opening a clothing store. After years of thinking and planning for it, she finally quit her corporate job and created ecolissa – an online eco and vegan friendly shop. I am so excited for her!! When she offered to have us over for dinner and shopping, I immediately said yes. I mean, how can you say no to that? 
First things first – dinner!
Some snacks to munch on while dinner was finishing up…
I was starving and dominated the hummus + Mary’s Gone Crackers. The crackers are super thin, incredibly crunchy and surprisingly addictive. I think the pepper just kept you going back for more. Delicious!
Adam had an apple cider martini with a brown sugar rim…
I chose a lower calorie option – vino 
The main fair – an Indian feast! Pumpkin curry with chickpeas, tomatoes and peas (recipe here, she subbed peas for onions), whole wheat naan (so doughy!) and brown rice (unpictured):
I’ve never had Indian food with pumpkin. So cool! I love how flavorful ethnic food is. This is the type of vegetarian (or vegan, if we’re being specific) food I love – naturally so. There was nothing fake about it – just good flavors and lots of spice. I also discovered these gems:
These are the dipping sauces you always get at Indian restaurants. I don’t know why I never thought to look for these in a grocery store. Brilliant! 
Dessert was on me. I made Leslie’s Bad But Good bars from the Eat, Drink & Be Vegan cookbook. The recipe isn’t online but basically it’s a coconut/oat crust with the most decadent (yet vegan) fudge made of melted vegan chocolate chips, silken tofu and almond butter. Oh yeah, these were goooooood (and I want to start covering everything in that fudge). [email me if you're dying for the recipe ]
And then it was time to shop!! As I mentioned, ecolissa is eco-friendly and vegan. That means that not only does the clothing not contain any animal products (leather, suede, fur, wool, silk, down feathers, etc.) but everything is also made of sustainable fabrics such as organic cotton, bamboo, hemp, modal and tencel. I’m going to admit, I’m very conscious about ethical eating but I never really took it a step further into ethical fashion. Reading this little bit on the ecolissa website really brought it home for me:
It is a more compassionate and ethical choice. While the cruelty in leather and fur is apparent, it is not so obvious in wool, silk, and down feathers, but these materials can be just as inhumane. For example “3,000 silkworms are killed (by being steamed alive) to make just 1 pound of silk”, down feathers are cruelly plucked from live geese, and the raising and shearing sheep for wool can be exploitative and cruel.
… and I had a personal shopper/cheerleader by my side [Of course Melissa loved everything on me since she hand-picked every piece of clothing she sells.] How about a little photo-shoot?
I haven’t shopped since I gained weight but this was really fun. I actually ended up purchasing 4 things (one of them unpictured) because everything was just so comfortable and most things were quite flattering (and it felt good to not be self-conscious and comfortable for once!). Which ones would you pick?
Melissa offered me a generous discount on my loot and is also offering all Healthy and Sane readers 20% off all your ecolissa purchases. Just enter the code: “hs20″ when you check out. Good luck, Melissa!!! I know in my heart that you’ll succeed. 
PS – Voting for challenge 5 of Project Food Blog is now open. Please support me by voting HERE. Thanks!!!!!!!
[Weigh-in recap tomorrow. I have mixed feelings about this week.]
how interesting, i never thought of clothing begin vegan before. i think i would’ve picked the first (grey) sweater. looks super cute
looking forward to reading more of your blog!
Even though I’ve ceased to eat vegan, I tend to gravitate towards non-edible vegan products – I checked out the site and was impressed by what I saw…if only I could justify new clothes right now!
Your modeling pics are quite cute
Grey top, printed dress, and red top are all gorgeous! Which ones did you buy? They all look very lovely on you
I’ll tell you at the end when everyone is done guessing
they all looked really cute on you! i especially loved the last one with the two of you in the pic. is that one online to purchase?
Thanks, Tami. Yes – here is the link: http://www.ecolissa.com/Indigenous_Indi_Zip_Hoodie_p/2010-002.htm
I like items 1, 4, and 6! Very cute! I need something to wear with the crazy new jeggings I purchased. Uhhh what was a thinking?? Anyway, top number one would complete cover me up in the right places!
They ALL look great! My faves are the grey sweater, blue top and black dress. I just went to the website to purchase a top and the coupon code isn’t working?!
Sorry – let me ask her to review it again. I’ll let you know when it’s fixed!!
Hi Meghan, can you try again? The code “hs20″ should be working now. Melissa just checked it
Love, love, love! The printed dress is fabulous on you.
A lot of these things look like great comfy wear, yet dressy enough to look put together.
you look great – always feels so much better to have some comfortable clothes around!
I have some vegan and vegetarian friends and I love taking a break from meat and eating a meatless meal with them! The Indian food looks great!
I love all of those clothes!!! My favorites are the 1st grey top, the pretty dress with flowers, and the red/pink ruffle shirt. You look great in all of them!
Thanks for coming to dinner and bringing yummy dessert! I’m glad you had a good time and went home with some new clothes!
-Josh
All of those clothes are gorgeous – especially the dresses!!
Looks like a fun night and great meal with friends!
Oh wow, I love that gray dress with the black print! So darn cute!
The dinner looks tasty!
I love that red shirt on you
I’m so glad the pumpkin coconut chickpea curry was a hit! I love the substitution of peas in there too, what a great idea… and it’s too funny because I actually ended up freezing some of our leftovers when I first made this and am eating them today for lunch! Freezes beautifully and still tastes deelish – looks like a great dinner
I love the dress you wore to Mistral! And I love pumpkin curry and will be on the lookout for those chutneys. I can’t get enough Indian food!
Mmm, that pumpkin curry sounds fabulous! And what a cool store – I want to know what you got too
That belted dress is TOO cute! And I want pumpkin curry stat. Fortunately I made pumpkin soup tonight so at least there’s SOME pumpkin in my house.
Just ready through your post and I love what you bought!! I’m also trying to go vegan (most of the time) needless to say it’s challenging!
Love your blog!
All right, the round-up: I got #2, 3 and 5
… and another cute top. Maybe you’ll see me in it in a future post 
very cool! love the looks of everything
and very excited that melissa’s gotten things up and running!
The dress, the grey sweater, and the pink top are ADORABLE. I love them. Wish I could afford this store!
[...] am in love with these t-shirts! Ever since learning more about sustainable clothing through Ecolissa, I have started to think more about where my clothes come from and how they’re made. These [...]
[...] anyway. Josh is the blogger behind Lost In the Beer Aisle and Melissa is the founder of Ecolissa (remember it?). They’re both vegetarian (Melissa is vegan) so I challenged myself to cook an all vegan dinner. [...]