WELCOME TO Stress Less Be Healthy!

Where we can strive to Stress Less to Be Healthy!

At Stress Less Be Health, we believe that we can be kind to all living things and eat delicious food. That irresistible and mouth-watering food can also be nutritionally dense and good for you. And that everyone can enjoy vegan food, whether you’re vegan or not, any step towards a more sustainable or healthier diet is a step in the right direction!

Profile picture of Shawna, the owner, recipe developer, photographer, and food videographer of Stress Less Be Healthy.

About Shawna

Hi, I’m Shawna, the creator of this website and the yummy recipes that reside on it. I started Stress Less Be Healthy at the end of 2016, but have been developing vegan recipes for even longer!

Ever since my oldest child was just a couple months old (so for 10+ years), I needed to figure out how to get dairy out of my diet, because I nursed them and they became colicky whenever I ate any dairy. 

Before that, I chose to become vegetarian when I was only 7 years old (thanks to the book ‘Charlotte’s Web’). I also didn’t learn to cook until I had my first child, so learning to cook and develop my own recipes really felt like a true science experiment! 

Luckily, I’ve come a long way since those days and have actually been developing recipes for other websites for the past two years as well, along with doing the photography for those recipes.

Before starting this website, I graduated from Binghamton University with a psychology degree (focused on child development and neuropsychology), and before developing and photographing recipes for other bloggers, I graduated from Pretty Focused (an intensive food photography program geared towards taking photos for food blogs).

Since then, I’ve also graduated from Foodtography School, and have taken many other courses when it comes to photography, videography, and health & nutrition (along with reading many plant-based books written by doctors, such as How Not To Die, The Starch Solution, Eat to Love, Disease Proof Your Child, Becoming Vegan – by an RD, and many more)!


Connect with me

Join me on social media for tips & tricks in the kitchen, and the latest recipes I’m testing out!


Making all your favorite foods a little bit kinder
and vegan!

About Stress Less Be Healthy 

Believe it or not, this website did not start off as a food blog, it started as more of a lifestyle blog. So, if you end up on a random post about motherhood or moving across the country (which I’ve done several times), that would be why .

Over the past 7 years, this site has turned into a resource for parents to raise healthy vegan kids; from tips and tricks for feeding picky eaters (which my psychology degree comes in handy for), to meal planning, and of course delicious vegan recipes.

But, you don’t need to be vegan to enjoy the recipes on this blog! Not many people in this world are born vegan, so whether you’re curious if eating more plants is good for you, wondering how to make them taste good, or are fully vegan already, I invite you to try out my recipes!

About the Recipes 

All recipes on this website were developed, tested, photographed (& videographed) by me. Many of the recipes were also tested by my husband, my 2 picky eater kids, and my one veggie loving kid. (With the rare exception of this white bean cookie dough recipe, which I was asked to review by the author of the cookbook the recipe came from.)

You will NOT find any recipes on this site using meat, dairy, eggs, seafood, or alcohol.

Most of the recipes are super kid friendly and family friendly, with the few rare exceptions being coffee drinks, because we all know we need coffee as parents!

If you ever have a recipe that you need veganized, feel free to reach out and I’ll see what I can do!

Vegan Minestrone Soup in a white dutch oven with some lifted up on a ladle.

Some of the MOST POPULAR recipes on this blog are:

Recipes Favorites

Have a question, or want to keep in touch?

With the way the internet is, there are tons of ways to keep in touch!

  • Leave me a comment on posts. I get an email each time a new comment comes in and love to hear when people try them, or if they have any questions about them!
  • Follow me on Social media. Whether you enjoy TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or Pinterest, I am there, so be sure to give me a follow! 
  • Email me. Reach out to me directly at [email protected]
  • Sign up for my newsletter. Sign up to get new recipes sent to your email for free!

Need to contact me for another reason, such as working with me?

Be sure to check out my Work with Me page! I’m always available for freelance recipe development, food photography/videography, and would love to hear more if you’d like to partner together!