The most awesome apple pie

We made raw apple pie the other night - it is SOOOOO good!

Apple Pie

Crust

1 cup raw walnuts

1 tsp vanilla flavor

½ cup pitted dates

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

Filling

6 granny smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced  Six was too many, but we just put the extra apple and filling in individual bowls and heated them up later

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup pitted dates

½ cup raw agave nectar

1/8 tsp salt

For the crust: Place the walnuts, vanilla flavor, dates, cinnamon, and salt in a food processor. Process until the mixture holds together and forms a dough. Press into a 9-inch pan to form a crust.

For the filling: Place the apples in a large bowl. Sprinkle with the lemon juice and 1 tsp of the cinnamon, toss until evenly coated. Place the dates, nectar, remaining cinnamon, and salt in a blender. Add a very small amount of water, just enough to facilitate blending, and process until smooth. Add to the apples, and toss until evenly distributed. Spoon into the crust.

We heated up the apple pie in a 350 oven until it was heated through.

Namarie!

The End is Near

There are only a few days left to my vegan diet. Lynette successfully made it the 21 days she set out to do and I'm so proud of her for making it. I really couldn't have done this without her support and encouragement. It would have been a really tough thing to go it alone.

Like Lynette, I plan on sticking with a vegan diet. I like to call it being a "Level 1 vegan." Not the 5 vegan, "I don't eat anything that casts a shadow," like the famous quote from The Simpsons. What would I define Level 1 as? I won't eat any meat, dairy or eggs and I won't eat anything that contains an obvious animal byproduct. I'm also going to continue to eliminate fast food and reduce my intake of processed food and refined sugar. What I'm not going to do is carry the dictionary-sized list of food additives and preservatives that may at some point have either harmed or come into contact with an animal, with me to the grocery store. For those people that are that committed, I have complete respect for you. That has to be hard.

My husband and I, after the 21 day mark, almost broke down and ordered a pizza. But I admit the guilt I felt just thinking about it outweighed my craving for the pizza. I'm not talking about guilt for eating the cheese and whatever other animal byproducts are on the pizza, but guilt for giving up and not lasting the full month. I'm glad that we decided against it.

That's one thing I think I've gained that I'm really happy for. Will power! Before this year I probably would have given in and ordered that pizza. I always had the "I'll get back on the wagon tomorrow," mentality and we all know how well that works! Now that I've been forced to really focus and pay attention to what I put into my body for the past month I've found that my will power is stronger than it's ever been. I'm not a slave to my cravings anymore!

Now that I'm coming to the "end" of my official run as a vegan, there are things I've gained and loved about the diet, things I've hated and things that I anticipate to be hard in the future.

The Positives
* Will Power! I have it now!
* I lost approximately 5 pounds by changing nothing but my diet (I also ride 3-5 days a week)
* A turn off to fast food. I don't crave it anymore
* Very little desire for meat. The smell actually makes me sick to my stomach, but I think this is more due to my husband's meat-heavy diet than being vegan.
* I feel better! I had a cold and it lasted only two days instead of a full blown week.
* I have more energy to get out and do things.
* I have a more adventurous spirit. I want to get out and try things I've never done before or was too scared to do!
* I don't feel like a slave to my appetite. I eat when I'm hungry not when I'm bored now.
* No more random cravings for food because I see it on TV.

The Negatives
* I miss the convenience of fast food
* I miss cheese, even though I don't want to eat it really. I just want a bite or taste of it.
* It was really expensive at first and our grocery bill is still going to be a little higher each month because of my diet. It won't be as expensive as it was at the start of the month now that I have all of the basics.
* I still find that I get into the same occasional rut that I used to where I'm hungry but no food sounds appealing. Though this seems to happen less often now.
* More dishes in the sink! This is because I'm cooking more.

Concerns for the Future
* I'm afraid of social situations, like my sister-in-law's upcoming wedding. Her menu is salmon and steak and I'm sure the sides are something like mashed potatoes and veggies covered in butter (or something similar), ie: a non-vegan friendly meal. I don't want to be pushy or rude and demand a vegan meal, since there's already no choice of dish. At the same time, I know I'm going to be hungry by the time dinner rolls around and I'll have to eat. If I eat whatever isn't meat, are certain members of our family (who I'm sure by then will be informed I'm a vegan, which is fine) going to make some "I thought you were vegan?" comments? If that's the first time in 5 months I've eaten dairy or meat will I get sick?
* If I eat meat or dairy (I plan to stay away from eggs) how sick will I get?
* If I travel will it be hard to find food I can eat?

I'm sure every vegan faces these challenges and they're nothing new. I just have to stay strong and keep telling myself that if other people can do it, I can too.

I still believe that ultimately you should chose your diet based on what's right for you. If you want to become a vegan because you're against factory farms and the meat industry, that's fine. If you're doing it because you want to do your part, however small it may be, to help the environment, that's fine too. If you want to be a vegan just to see if you can do it or so that you'll be healthier, that's also fine. One of the major things I've learned is that your success or failure at being a vegan has NOTHING to do with your reason for becoming a vegan. It has to do with you and what's right for you. You can be a vegan and not be morally opposed to meat or animal products. That's okay. You can be a raw vegan and avoid even those crazy chemicals that may have at one time touched an animal, that's okay too! If it's right for you and you do so that you're certain you're getting all of the vitamins, etc. your body needs to survive, that's all that matters.

Samm's Quick Vegan Burrito

I made up this little recipe this week. It's a great source of protein, quick to make, flavorful and really filling! It's a healthier alternative to Taco Bell and frozen burritos.

1 package of whole wheat tortillas
1 can pinto beans or black beans (mixing two cans works too) drained 3/4 of the way
spanish rice, either homemade or boxed (make sure to check the ingredients!)

Put the beans into the food processor and blend until smooth and creamy.

Put approximately 2 tbsp of the beans onto the tortilla and spread it out so it almost reaches the ends.

Put about 1/4 cup of spanish rice (or less depending on the size of your tortilla) on top of the beans, but in a line down the middle of the tortilla. Do not spread out.

Fold up all four corners of the tortilla and then roll. Hold in place with a toothpick.

Enjoy!

Christmas Eve

Wow, I feel like tonight is Christmas Eve.  I want to go to bed NOW so that when I wake up, I can eat meat again!  I may even skip my run - heck, I haven't run on a Saturday morning for a few weeks now, why break the cycle?  I am very excited.  I know that I have to take it slow so I don't end up making myself sick, but I'm still really looking forward to this.

It's not so much that I miss meat or dairy.  It really is just simpler.  I've obsessed about my meals for the last three weeks, it will be nice not to have to read every ingredient in what little prepackaged food I've eaten to make sure there are no traces of milk.  No driving ALLLLLL the way to Whole Foods because I am missing one key ingredient of a recipe.  I'll have a bit more freedom now.  Even though I'm going to try to stick with being vegan four days a week, if something comes up, if my original plan for dinner somehow gets messed up, I have the option to eat a meat or dairy product.

I feel like I've whined a lot since the beginning, but I'll outline some really positive things now.

- I am content with my decision to have the freedom to NOT be a vegan on the weekends.  I think it will make things easier.  Also, I think the fact that I want to stick with this diet even part time says a lot.

- I really like how I'm feeling.  I'm sure it's a combination of the diet and the fact that I'm back into a regular workout schedule now.

- I have found some recipes I really like.

- Drinking rice milk or almond milk will make things easier for my family, since Matt is lactose intolerant.  We have been buying regular milk and lactose-free milk up until this point.

- I feel like this challenge has helped me grow.  At times, I really struggled with willpower.  But, as time went on, it felt easier to get through cravings and temptations.  I know it's only been three weeks, but it does feel like a LOT longer!

- I've always been a picky eater.  Being forced to eat things I've never eaten before, or things I don't like, has made me more willing to try new foods.

- I'm proud that I started so hard-core with the raw diet, but at the same time, I'm glad that I cut back on the raw diet after the first week.  I feel much happier and fuller, but I will still incorporate some raw food recipes in my diet.  I really like the chocolate avocado dessert.

- I've lost FIVE pounds and 1.5 inches from my waist since January 1.  Woot!

This whole experiment really was a personal challenge for me.  I am glad that I proved to myself that I could stay 100% dedicated to something for three weeks, that I never cheated.  I wish I hadn't felt so whiny about it all, but it was a pretty extreme diet to embrace all at once.  And I am very proud that I stuck with it even when I was so miserable.  Sometimes I surprise myself at how dedicated I can be when I make up my mind.

I added pictures to the previous post to illustrate the mushrooms, so if you want to try out that recipe, make sure you check it out.

I hope you've enjoyed reading my posts.  I'm sure I'll continue to update as I find new recipes. 

Namarie!

The End is Near (for me, at least)!

Tomorrow is my last day of being a full-time vegan.   Samm is apparently finishing out the month - good for her, but I have places to go and people to see, and I'm NOT going to my favorite Irish restaurant or the brunch at Drury Lane and be forced to eat only the ungarnished fruits and veggies!

The last few days have been MUCH easier.  I don't know if it's because I've finally found recipes that I enjoy, that I'm now incorporating several types of vegan diets instead of just the raw, or that my husband cooks some of the meals (normally he cooks most meals).  He loves to cook, I hate it.

Maybe it's because I've been feeling really good this last week.  I'm down four pounds - consistently - from January 1.  I do not drop weight quickly, so this has made me feel pretty good!

Or maybe it's because the end is near.  I'm planning on staying vegan Mondays through Thursdays (or, at least, mostly vegan).  I'm not going to obsess about trace milk products in my food, but I'm not going to eat food that contain significant amounts of animal byproducts.  However, I'm wildly excited about going to my favorite restaurant, Ballydoyle, on Saturday with a big group of friends that I haven't seen in a while.  I'm already drooling over the thought of Irish chips with bleu cheese dip, steak boxty, and bread pudding.

I have yet to try making my own nutrition bars, mostly because I'm not at a point in my training where they're necessary.  But, maybe that will be a good project for this very, very cold weekend that is coming up.

I am going to be careful and not scarf down a ton of non-vegan food, though.  I hadn't had bread in two weeks when I ate about a half loaf of it last Saturday (it was essentially my whole dinner, so don't judge!) and I felt the effects of it for over a day.  Nothing gross, I just felt very sluggish, and that bread really just sat in my stomach like a lump of dough.  So if bread will do that to me, I'm a bit nervous about how I'll feel after eating dairy and meat again.

Thursday nights are now California roll nights, so Matt will be rolling those up when he gets home.  Yum!  However, I want to share my new favorite recipe:  sauteed houby (mushrooms, to all of you non-Czechs out there).

Sauteed Mushrooms

2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp A-1 or Worchestershire sauce
1 pint sliced mushrooms



1.  Put the olive oil and A-1 in a cast-iron skillet; heat and stir with a metal spatula until A-1 is bubbling.

2.  Pour in the mushrooms, coat in mixture.  Stir frequently.  When mushrooms seem well-coated, cover the skillet.  Continue to stir every minute or so.




3. The mushrooms will start to reduce and the mixture will become very liquid.  When this happens, cover for another 3-5 minutes to soften up the mushrooms.








4. When there is little liquid left, uncover and reduce heat slightly.  This will severely reduce the amount of liquid.  If it seems like the A-1 is burning, you're doing it correctly.  Scrape the bottom of the skillet with the spatula to get all that goodness mixed in!

5.  When the majority of the liquid is gone, remove the mushrooms from heat.  Sprinkle with some salt before transferring to the plate!






The trick is to make sure that the mushrooms are cooking in the reduced A-1 sauce.  That's really where they get their awesome flavor!  While these mushrooms are GREAT on their own, they also make a fantastic topping for mashed potatoes.  You can also sautee some onion before you add in the mushrooms!

Namarie!

Rock Bottom

I can't say that going vegan has been 100% easy. I've had my moments and my cravings. I've been lucky in that I haven't had very many cravings. Last night, however, was hard.

We went to a restaurant called Rock Bottom for a friend's birthday. I took a chance to look up their menu ahead of time. The nice thing is that they have a .pdf you can download that will tell you if there's any milk, egg, meat, fish, nuts, wheat, etc. in each of their dishes. I'll be honest. It didn't look promising! There was milk and eggs in their veggie burger. I knew I would be limited to a salad.

I was wrong, however! Once we got there I discovered a roasted red pepper hummus on their appetizer menu. Score! I ordered that and the Santa Fe Ranch Salad, sans animal products with a balsamic vinaigrette. Both were delicious!

I won't lie to you. It was hard sitting there and watching my friends eat chicken wings, steak, fried chicken, and spinach dip. What was worse was the conversation about White Castle hamburgers! I was silently dying inside until my food came out. I wasn't about to tell any of them to stop talking about food I can't eat. That wouldn't be fair to them, but it was really hard to sit there and listen to the glory that is the slider.

Eating out with friends and food conversations are just something I'm going to have to get used to if I stick with being a vegan. I've been seriously considering sticking with it. I like how my body feels and I can't argue against that. People are telling me to supplement in the occasional animal product but I don't think I can do it. If I don't eat animal products for a long time won't my body disagree with it? Plus I've found that I don't really have a desire to eat meat, eggs or dairy. It's just not there. Instead I crave fruits and vegetables. I suppose your body is going to crave what it wants. It might as well be craving foods that are good for you!

Speaking of foods that are good for you, as a vegan one of the most common questions we get asked is "where do you get your protein from?" It makes sense since most protein comes from meat. There are several ways for vegans to get protein. There's protein in nuts mostly. That's probably your best source. Still, you have to eat a LOT of nuts to get the required protein.

A friend suggested hemp protein. It comes in a powder like whey protein (which contains dairy). The only difference is that there's actually less protein in hemp or soy protein then there is in whey protein. I think I found a solution.

At Whole Foods there's a protein supplement that's 100% pure plant-based protein. It's protein derived from hemp, soy, and a bunch of other plants that I've never even heard of. Best of all, it's low in fat (about 3 grams per serving) and has the same amount of protein as whey!

I bought the container and I've been mixing it in with my smoothies. The container suggests you use two scoops but I've been finding that two scoops is making my smoothie very chalk-like. You can't taste the actual powder but you can feel the texture. It seems to fail at dissolving fully. Still, if you're low on protein, a plant-based protein may be the way to go.

Chowpatti Vegetarian Restaurant

Tonight Matt and I went to Chowpatti Vegetarian Restaurant in Arlington Heights, IL.  It is an "international vegetarian" restaurant, but we stuck to the Indian food, as the owners are Indian.

The food was fantastic!  And, it seems that they can make anything on the menu vegan if you ask.  I do know that we had the vegan brownie and vegan cinnamon roll for dessert.  Yum!

I was so pleased with this dinner.  It was the first time in two weeks that I felt like I was eating real food.

Enjoy the photos of our dinner!  I have put the descriptions of each food (copied from their online menu) next to the pictures.

Bombey Sev Batata Puri

"BOMBAY SEV BATATA PURI consists of six crispy original wheat chips or corn chips topped with potato, onion, cilantro and three special chutneys (sauces): Spicy Garlic, Spicy Golden, and Sweet Date. All three chutneys are combined to your request of spice level and then topped with sev (crunchy chickpea noodles). Served cold. (Spiced Mild, Medium or Hot) Upon request, these items can be made very-mild."

This was my favorite dish of the night.  We got medium, but it was way hotter than I prefer.  However, the mix of flavors was amazing! I could have eaten all six.

Samosa Plate

"SAMOSA is a tasty fried, triangle crust filled with mildly seasoned potatoes and green peas."

This was totally comfort food.  Although it was reminiscent of Shepherd's Pie, it absolutely appealed to the Czech in me!

Combination Platte

Sauces from top to bottom:
Aloo Mutter - green peas and potatos
Chole Channa - chickpeas
Tarka Dal - curried lentils

Paratha - Grilled whole wheat flatbread
Steamed Vegetable Biryani - rice with veggies

Vegan Brownie and Vegan Cinnamon Roll

They use fruit juice instead of sugar.  The brownie was made with carob instead of chocolate.  They were both AMAZING!









Namarie!

Neat Loaf!

Last night I made neat loaf. You read that right. Not meat loaf, NEAT LOAF! I was both excited and apprehensive to try this recipe. Lets face it, when something is supposed to be like a meat-based food it's almost always completely different in taste, smell and texture.

This recipe was VERY easy and VERY tasty! My house smelled delicious too, just like if I were cooking real meatloaf. The taste is similar to meatloaf. The smell is spot on and the texture is close as well, and very moist! I did notice that when it asked that I combine all ingredients there was a bit of the dry ingredients that didn't get caught up in the mass. It wasn't more than a 1/2 cup worth so I just tossed it.

Here's the recipe! Give it a shot. You'll be surprised!

Neat Loaf
(Makes one loaf, about 12 slices)

1 cup cooked brown rice
2 cups bread crumbs
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 pound firm tofu
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
3 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 tsp stone-ground or Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp black pepper
barbecue sauce or ketchup for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the brown rice, bread crumbs, walnuts, onion, celery, and carrot. (You can put the walnuts, onion, celery and carrot into the food processor to save time chopping.)

Puree the tofu in a food processor or mash by hand until very smooth. Add to the rice mixture along with the barbecue sauce, soy sauce, mustard, and black pepper.

Stir with a large spoon or knead mixture by hand until it is well mixed and holds together, about 1 minute.

Transfer to an oil-sprayed 5 x 9 inch loaf pan or other baking dish and distribute evenly using a spoon, spatula, or your hand.

Top with barbecue sauce or ketchup. Bake for 60 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe from Healthy Eating for Life for Children by Amy Lanou, Ph.D., as republished in The Survivor's Handbook: Eating Right for Cancer Survival by The Cancer Project.

Gnocci!

I forgot to blog about the gnocci I made!  Oh, it was SOOOOO good!  This is one recipe I'll definitely be using again, vegan or not!  I got this recipe from TheKindLife.com  We ate almost all of it.  Yum!

Gnocci with Vodka Sauce

Kind Lifer Caseydog posted this recipe for a kind version of ‘Gnocchi with Spicy Vodka Tomato Cream Sauce’ in the forum, and it looks and sounds so delicious! I love gnocchi! Can’t wait to try this recipe. Caseydog wrote, “I love gnocchi (Italian potato dumplings) and some warm pasta sounded nice on this cold rainy night. I have been craving the indulgent vodka tomato cream sauce that I have tried at restaurants. Well, I have lightened up this version, making it almost fat free and vegan.” I just love when people take recipes that they used to love, but change them to make the dishes healthier. I love delicious food that not only tastes great, but is also kind to our bodies! Here is the yummy recipe... Let me know if you try this! And thank you Caseydog!

• Prep time: 15 minutes
• Cook time: 15 minutes
• Total time: 30 minutes
• Servings: 4

• 1 pound(s) of of gnocchi
 (I got vegan gnocchi from Whole Foods)
• 1 tbsp. of olive oil
• 2 tsp. of parsley

• 1/2 tsp. of hot red pepper flakes
  (I used ground red pepper)
• 4 minced garlic cloves
  (Four was TOO MANY!)
• 1 28 ounce can of whole tomatoes
 (I used three fresh tomatoes)
• 1/2 cup(s) of silken tofu
 (I used firm tofu)
• 2 tbsp. of of vodka


  

Steps

1. Put the gnocchi in a pot of water, and bring to a boil.
2. Boil for 3 minutes, and then drain and set aside.

3. Sauté the olive oil, parsley, red pepper flakes, and garlic cloves in a medium saucepan.
4. Add the can of whole tomatoes, and bring to a boil.
5. Puree this in a blender along with the silken tofu.
6. Transfer back to the saucepan after blended.
Heat gently, and add the vodka.

7. Heat for one minute, and then toss with the gnocchi.
   
   

 

Namarie!

Nut Mush

At Samm's request, here is the recipe for Nut Mush aka Nut Yogurt.  First you have to make Velvety Dessert Milk, which is really good.  I added cocoa to mine, and it gave it kind of a dark chocolate taste.  This is a MESSY process, by the way!

Velvety Dessert Milk

7 cups filtered water  (If I ever make this again, I will use less water for a richer taste!)

1 cup soaked raw almonds (I put them in a medium-sized bowl, cover with water, and soak for 8-12 hours)

10 pitted honey dates

½ vanilla bean  (I just poured in a little vanilla extract)

1 tsp agave nectar

1/8 teaspoon salt

Combine water and almonds in blender until smooth. Strain, but save pulp for another recipe. Rinse blender and put milk back in. Add remaining ingredients, blending until smooth and creamy.

You'll use the pulp for the Nut Mush/Yogurt!

Nut Yogurt

2 cups filtered water

1 cup almond pulp (from Velvety Dessert Milk)

1 cup soaked raw cashews (soak for 2 hours)

2 teaspoons probiotic powder (I use it in liquid form because it was the cheapest one at Whole Foods)

½ vanilla bean  (again, I use vanilla extract)

Combine the water, almond pulp, cashews, probiotic powder, and vanilla bean in a blender until smooth. Pour into glass container and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. Stored in a glass container in the fridge, Nut Yogurt will keep for four days. Serve with berries.

Namarie!

Smoothie Love

Who doesn't love smoothies? Even though there's snow on the ground, I still love drinking a smoothie. I won't eat ice cream in the winter but smoothies are A-OK!

Every morning I've been having a smoothie along with a small bowl of oatmeal topped with dried cranberries and nuts (either almond or walnut). I add a teaspoon of brown sugar to the oatmeal just to give it a little more flavor because lets face it, oatmeal is bland.

Anyway, the combo keeps me full until I take my lunch break at 2:00!

Here's the smoothie recipe I created by combining the Kickstart recipe with a recipe from the book "Skinny Bitch in the Kitch." (Which is a hysterical vegan cookbook if you don't have it!)

Samm's Smoothie

1 cup plain or vanilla almond milk (or 1 container of rice yogurt)
1 banana
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup strawberries
2 tbsp flax meal (Gotta get those omega 3's!)
1 cup orange juice
1 cup ice (use only if berries aren't frozen)

Put in a blender with the berries on the bottom, especially if they're frozen, and set to "chop." Once the berries are finely chopped set the blender to puree and run until smooth.

You can use any combination of fruit you want. It all seems to go together. Sometimes I add a bit of mango pulp to the mix for a bit of a tropical flavor. If you like your smoothies more watery add more orange juice, or less if you want it thicker. The great thing about this recipe is that you can have fun and experiment!

Yogurt

Well, the yogurt should really be called "Nut Mush".  It does taste good, though, after I added more agave nectar.  I added some blueberries at lunch, and it was tasty.  However, there is nothing really yogurty about it.  It doesn't have the consistency of yogurt, the taste, or the texture.

I'm about to go try to make my regular almond milk into chocolate almond milk.  I'm thinking some carob chips and cocoa powder should do the trick!

Also, I went back to Borrowed Earth again tonight with some friends who, previous to tonight, did not know each other.  We all had a brilliant time!  Turns out that we all watch the same geeky shows and read the same online comics (well, they do, I don't read any online comics).  It was a really nice time, and again, I felt that the food was fantastic!

Namarie!

Almond Milk

Just made my very own almond milk!  It's pretty good - a lot of work, though.  You have to soak the almonds for 8-12 hours, then put them in a food processor with 7 cups of water (which means you have to do it slowly when you have a 3-cup food processor like I do), then strain it through cheesecloth, then put the milk in the blender with dates and vanilla and agave nectar (I had to put it in the food processor again and accidentally overfilled it, which means that I had milk EVERYWHERE).

And the only reason I did it was so I could use the pulp in a recipe for vegan yogurt.  I am soaking a cup of cashews now (only 2 hours for cashews!) so I'm hoping to have yogurt for lunch tomorrow!

Namarie!

Not Safe for Work

Ah you thought you'd open this post to find some naked person dancing or other NSFW feature huh? Well you're wrong...sort of. There aren't any naked people here. Sorry!

Last night I made the Kickstart's Easy Bean Dip. It looks like vomit (as a great deal of dips do) but it's really very good!

Easy Bean Dip

1 cup salsa (mild to hot)
1 can of black beans
1/4 tsp cumin (optional)

Put all of the ingredients in the food processor and blend until smooth.

It's delicious, especially with celery. You just may not want to eat it for lunch at work. ;)

Workplace Torture

Oh God...something smells good. This happened on Friday when someone heated up pizza. Now, the woman across from me is eating Lord knows what but it smells delicious!

Yes, I could make myself a vegan pizza, but have you tried rice cheese? I made a grilled "cheese" sandwich yesterday and was all excited about it until I bit into my nearly burnt sandwich to find that the "cheese" whose package promised optimal melting didn't melt at all! Plus it tasted gross...like a grainy bad cheese flavored pseudo-paste. Rice cheese FAIL.

This is the cruelty part of being a vegan. It's now about the cruelty of your morals/reasoning getting in the way of eating the food you used to love. All of the old foods you used to love are suddenly more tempting than ever! If I look at food I don't find myself wanting it. It's when I smell it that I start to break down and crave it. Luckily, when the smell goes away so does my craving. Unless of course that craving is chocolate...

I've had a craving for chocolate for two days now. I'll have to suffer through at least tomorrow before I can get out to Whole Foods tomorrow night and pick up some vegan chocolate chips. Then I'm going to eat them ALL, or about 10 chips until I get sick of them.

Being Vegan Involves Math

That's right. Being vegan involves math...a lot of math actually. I hate math and really, I hate numbers in general. Maybe it's not so much that being a vegan requires math but being a vegan when your husband is being a caveman involves a lot of math.

What I've noticed is that every vegan recipe makes a TON of food. I'm serious. I made Alicia Silverstone's Moroccan Couscous and it made enough to feed a small army. (It was delicious by the way). I tried to eat it as a meal but it was just too much couscous. So I gave half of it to Lynette. At least her husband can eat it. Who knew my Monday morning would begin with trading couscous for nutritional yeast?

So where does the math come in? It comes in that I need to either half or quarter every recipe. What I do depends on how lazy I'm feeling. Still, I find that I have too much food and I can't finish it all in time. I think I'm going to have to stop being lazy and start quartering the recipes.

We went grocery shopping last night and again spent way too much money. Fresh produce is expensive! At the same time, we're still buying base ingredients that last a long time so that could be part of it. In addition to that we're buying a lot of nuts since that's one of the few things my husband can eat on this caveman plan. Nuts are expensive. They're also fattening and they contain protein. The grocery bill lead to a conversation about our food choices and this is what we concluded:

Eating healthy = higher grocery bills.

Don't let people tell you that eating healthy is cheaper than eating junk food. It's not. Fresh produce and the like are more expensive than the carbohydrate and salt laden instant foods many people fill their carts with. It's a trade off. If you want to eat healthy be prepared to spend money. And here we thought we'd be saving money by not eating out...go figure.

Our shopping trip did prove beneficial. In the search for rice milk at the super market, we came across almond milk. It was recommended by a friend as being just as good as rice milk. A quick read of the label and holy Hannah is almond milk filled with goodness! It's full of vitamins and minerals not found in regular milk, not to mention it's lower in fat and contains no saturated fat.

Here's an interesting article comparing almond milk to cow's milk. My husband talked me into buying both the original version and the vanilla. (This may also be why our grocery bill is so high). He's not a milk drinker but it turns out he loves almond milk! In fact, he loves it so much he wants to buy it from now on instead of soy milk and cow's milk. That it's healthier and more nutritious is a bonus too.

Did I mention that I may have squealed when my husband finally found the rice milk? I totally did. It's the little things.

Macaroni and Cheese

Last night I made vegan macaroni and cheese.  I think it tastes weird and should only be consumed in small portions.  My foodie husband thought it was fantastic.  I'm not sure I'd ever make it again.  I also made it with some portabello mushroom "steaks".  I wouldn't make that recipe again.  It was too balsamic vinegar-y for my taste (and I LOVE balsamic vinegar - it just didn't work with the mushrooms).  Next time I would probably try more of a wine-based broth.

Into Week 2 now of the diet, and today I'm feeling oddly at peace with this decision.  Samm seems to have really taken to this vegan thing well, but I'm feeling very frustrated and irritable about it all.  Part of it is having to read every single label, buy so many crazy things (like nutritional yeast).  The 3-pound loss is awesome, and I hope it stays off.  Maybe that's why things seem more positive today!

If you're a true vegan, you're supposed to stay away from as many chemicals as possible.  But, with the Thrive Diet, it goes beyond that.  For instance, Brendan Brazier says that you should stay away from quite a lot of foods, like soy, corn, sugar, etc.  Why?  Because these are not things that humans were designed to eat.  Because the body cannot process these manufactured foods correctly, it wastes energy on digestion, and thus, you aren't getting the nutrition that you need.

Also, you have to supplement your meals with things like flaxseed, maca, chlorella, and all these other things that I've never heard of.

But really, were our bodies designed to eat algae and flaxseed?  Not only that, but so many foods today are hybrids, cross-breeds, and otherwise engineered to be more nutritious, last longer, have more flavor, etc.  And if it's better for our bodies to not eat meat, then why do we have to consume so many of these strange things to make up for nutrients that we're lacking?  (By the way, Mr. Triathlete Brazier, I don't think our bodies were designed for IronMans, either.)

Anyway, I went to grad school, so I could ramble on about this for another fifty paragraphs and cite all kinds of scholarly papers.  I won't - here's the recipe for the macaroni and cheese instead.  I found this on Alicia Silverstone's website.  Samm, I'll go downstairs right now and put a container of nutritional yeast together for you.




Macaroni and Cheese

This recipe is from Kristina Brindley of Seedling Catering in LA. Seedling Catering is a beyond awesome vegan delivery and catering company. I could go on about Kristina and her yummy dishes... but for now, you must try her Mac 'n Cheese.

• Prep time: 15 minutes
• Cook time: 40 minutes
• Total time: 55 minutes
• Servings: 5  I cut the recipe in half and we still have about half of it left!!
  

• 3 cup(s) of Elbow pasta
• 1 cup(s) of soymilk
• 1/4 cup(s) of tamari Next time I'll use less tamari.
• 1 cup(s) of nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp. of paprika
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 tsp. of dijon mustard
• 2/3 cup(s) of canola oil  I used olive oil.
• 1 pinch salt & pepper 
  

Steps

1. Cook the pasta al dente.
2. In a blender/food processor combine the garlic, nutritional yeast, mustard and paprika, blend to chop garlic.
3. While the machine is running add the tamari, soymilk and canola oil and blend until creamy.
4. Heat sauce and mix with cooked noodles.
5. You can also do it as a baked Mac n’ Cheese by adding about 1/2 cup of water to the sauce and undercooking the noodles a little.
6. Top with breadcrumbs and bake in a casserole dish in a 350 oven until bubbly and breadcrumbs are browned.
   

Namarie!

Start of Week 2!

This morning the scale told me that I lost THREE pounds!  I'm hoping that's "real" weight and not just because I only drank a quart of water yesterday instead of a half gallon or something.  We'll see.  But it is nice to see that number go down, because after Thanksgiving, it just kept going up, up, up.

This morning I made blueberry buckwheat pancakes.  They were really good.  The blueberries were about as organic as you can get - they were handpicked from my farm in Michigan!  All we ever do is just prune them every other year, then walk down the rows in July and say, "boy, these look good".  I fried them in olive oil, so probably not as healthy as they could be, but I really don't like pancakes unless they're made the way my grandma makes them.  And they're filling, so that's always good.

 Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes

Dry ingredients:

• 1/2 cup whole grain buckwheat flour
• 1/2 cup white flour
• 3/4 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt 

Wet ingredients:

• 1 cup soy milk
• squeeze of fresh lemon juice
• 1 slightly heaping teaspoon of Ener-G Egg Replacer
• 1 tablespoon melted vegan margarine
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• blueberries, fresh or frozen

Directions:
Squeeze a bit of lemon juice into the soy milk and let it sit a few minutes to thicken up. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients and set aside.

Once the soy milk has thickened up, give it a stir and pour a small amount of it into a dish and whisk in a slightly heaping teaspoon of egg replacer powder. Stir the remaining wet ingredients into the soy milk mixture and pour over dry ingredients. Mix batter until ingredients are just combined. Lumps are fine. At this point you can either gently fold in blueberries (if using frozen berries, don't bother to thaw them) or sprinkle the blueberries over the pancake batter after you pour it into the skillet (they'll sink into the batter).

Cook pancakes in a lightly oiled and preheated non-stick skillet.  Sprinkle the blueberries on top of the pancake after you pour the batter into the pan. This will keep the batter from turning blue, which happens when you stir the berries into the batter.

Serve pancakes with maple syrup.

Namarie!

Vegan California Rolls

Last night my husband made the BEST vegan California rolls!  Oh my, were they delicious.   You can find the white miso and nori sheets at an Asian store.  Just so you know, the miso is in the refrigerated section and you have to make sure you get a vegan kind.  Some of them use a fish ingredient.

These were so amazing, we're going to have to make them every Thursday night.  (We normally eat some type of Asian food while we watch The Big Bang Theory!)

On a more personal note, I'm still struggling with this whole vegan thing.  I have been feeling yesterday and today like I have a bad cold or sinus infection coming on, and all I want is chicken noodle soup.  We're going to try to make our normal recipe, but leave out the chicken.  Seems pretty sad to me, but maybe at least having the vegetable broth will help.

Today marks the end of the first week, and only two more to go.  I do feel like I'm finding things that I enjoy, but having to read EVERY SINGLE LABEL is annoying.  Having a craving for something I can't have is frustrating.  Wandering around Whole Foods looking for something I've never heard of before is embarrassing.  However, I do feel slimmer.  I won't be getting back on the scale until tomorrow, and I know I haven't dropped any drastic weight, but I definitely feel my pre-holiday body coming back!  I am sad that I missed today's workout and I'm missing tomorrow's as well due to warding off this potential illness.  I always say, "oh, I feel okay enough to run" and then end up with full-blown bronchitis or something similar the next day, and then I'm knocked off my feet for at least a week.  And this ALWAYS seems to happen the week that I get back into my full training schedule!  AND it's snowing outside, which is my favorite running weather!

California Rolls

2 nori sheets

2 tsp mellow white miso

2 cups alfalfa sprouts I don't like sprouts so we used rice instead

½ avocado, thinly sliced

¼ cucumber, seeded and cut lengthwise into thin strips

¼ cup grated carrot

¼ red bell pepper, cut into thin strips

Tamari for dipping

Lay one sheet of nori, shiny side down, on a bamboo shushi mat. Using the back of a teaspoon, spread 1 tsp of the miso in a single horizontal strip anywhere along the bottom third of the nori. Along the edge of the nori closest to you, layer the sprouts, avocado, cucumber, carrot, and bell pepper.

To roll, grip the edges of the nori sheet and the sushi mat together with your thumbs and forefingers, and press the filling back toward you with your other fingers. Using the mat to help you, roll the front edge of the nori over the filling. Squeeze it with the mat, then lift the mat and continue rolling.

Just before completing the roll, dip your index finger in water and run it along the far edge of the nori sheet. This will seal the seam of the roll. Cut the roll into 6 pieces with a serrated knife. Fill, roll, and slice the other sheet of nori the same way. Arrange on a plate and serve immediately with a small bowl of tamari for dipping, if desired.

Namarie!

Recipe FAIL and success!

Before January 1st I registered for the 21 Day Vegan Kickstart program. I printed up their menus and their recipes and organized them by day the program said I should be eating them. So far I've made four of the Kickstart's recipes...two have not been an epic fail.

By epic fail I mean that the end result, even though the recipe is followed exactly, is just gross. How gross? So gross that even my dog who recently ate one of the tiki torches in the backyard wouldn't come near it. These failed recipes were the Confetti Couscous and the Raspberry Chocolate Mousse.

First lets start with the couscous. The mixture of couscous and vegetables was actually good. It's the dressing that blew. The dressing was essentially rice vinegar, olive oil and lemon juice. It tasted way too much like sour vinegar for my taste. So the Confetti Couscous is now sitting in my fridge...

The Raspberry Chocolate Mousse sounded more promising. I put all of the ingredients in the blender as instructed, then realized the blender wasn't going to mash everything up like it should have. So I switched to the food processor. That didn't help either. I was left with a grainy goopy cocoa powdered flavored mess that would probably make pretty good glue. It was so bad that I didn't even bother chilling it. It went straight into the trash.

However, the 21 Day Breakfast Rice Pudding and the Fantastic Fruit Smoothie are both great recipes!

Breakfast Rice Pudding

Makes 6 1/2-cup servings

2 cups cooked brown rice
1 ¹/₂ cups vanilla rice milk I used regular rice milk and added a little bit of brown sugar
3 tablespoons raisins
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¹/₄ teaspoon cinnamon

In a medium saucepan combine all ingredients and bring to a slow simmer. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes, or until thick. Serve hot or cold.

Fantastic Fruit Smoothie

Makes about 2 to 2 1/2 cups (2 servings)

1 frozen or fresh banana, broken into chunks
1 ¹/₂ cups unsweetened fruit juice (your choice; any kind)
¹/₂ cup sliced fresh or frozen unsweetened fruit or berries
¹/₂ cup plain, vanilla, or fruit-flavored soy yogurt (optional)

Combine all ingredients in blender and process until very smooth and creamy. Serve immediately.

This recipe is great because there are so many variations on it. I add 1-2 tbsp of ground Flax to mine just to give me some much needed Omegas. I also use rice yogurt instead of soy yogurt. You need to be careful with soy yogurt, many brands of soy yogurt are NOT vegan! They contain live cultures derived from milk. Your safest bet is rice yogurt and I find that it's more tasty too!

This morning I had a smoothie with strawberries, strawberry rice yogurt, the rest of my left over Nakked Juice Super C Machine, a banana and flax. It was VERY yummy!

Tonight I plan on trying a recipe or two from Alicia Silverstone's A Kind Life website. I'll let you know how that goes!

Not Meatballs

Tonight my husband and I almost got into a fight over my vegan meal.  Because we both wanted the rest ... !  I won, and he ate a bowl of Rice Krispies instead.

This has put my mind at ease.  There ARE good recipes out there!  We had the Not Meatballs with spaghetti and organic pasta sauce (from a jar - GASP).

Walnut Pate

1 cup soaked raw walnuts (I forgot to soak them for 4 hours, so I put them in the microwave in a bowl of water for 5 minutes.  That seemed to soften them up pretty well, but watch it so it doesn't make a mess.)

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp tamari

¼ tsp garlic powder

dash salt

1 tbsp minced fresh parsley

1 tbsp minced onion

Place the walnuts, lemon juice, olive oil, tamari, garlic powder, and salt in a food processor fitted with the S blade and process into a paste. Stop occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Transfer to a small mixing bowl. Stir in the parsley and onion and mix well.  I put all the ingredients in the food processor to get a smoother texture. Stored in a sealed container in the fridge, Walnut Pate will keep for five days.

I sauteed about 4 oz of mushrooms that I had leftover from another recipe.  After they were done, I added half the jar of marinara sauce, heated it through, and then added the walnut pate, again heating through.  It ends up looking like vomit, but it tastes amazing.  Trust me on this, I am a very picky eater.  If I think it tastes good, it must be REALLY good!  I will probably be making this once a week!

Namarie!

Quick and Yummy Vegan Chili

I'm a rider, horseback rider that is, so I spend a LOT of time at the barn. This means that I have to eat quickly and change when I come home from work so I can make it out to the barn in time for my lessons. I used to just grab whatever I could to eat and run out the door. Mostly it was bad choices like a Hot Pocket or fast food. Now that I'm a vegan I need to plan ahead.

Since I have back-to-back lessons on Wednesday nights I need something that will keep me full and give me some energy. Riding for two hours is hard work! Not to mention the grooming and tacking and everything else that goes along with it. So last night I pulled out a vegetarian chili recipe my friend gave me and decided to give it a try. I figured it would make enough for me to get a few meals out of it at least and she's always talking about how yummy it is. Boy was she right!!! It's called "Vegetarian Chili" but it's really vegan. My house smelled so good that even my husband was jealous! (He's on the caveman diet so he can't eat beans. No beans means no chili.)

I didn't have all of the ingredients listed so I'll put my substitutions in italics.

Vegan Chili

Ingredients

1 cup green peppers diced I used one red pepper since I don't like green peppers
1 cup onion diced
2 cups kidney beans I used one can of kidney beans and one can of black beans
1 cup (15 oz can) of crushed tomatoes I used one can of diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of onion powder I used 1/2 tsp of dried minced onions
1/4 tsp of garlic powder I used 1 tsp of garlic powder...I like garlic
Pinch of oregano
1 tsp of ground pepper
1/4 tsp of cumin I used Penzey's Turkish Seasoning instead (available at penzeys.com)
1/2 bag of ground soy (optional) I left this out because I didn't have any
1/2 tsp of chili powder
Olive oil
1 can mushrooms (optional) I used 1 cup of fresh mushrooms

To Make:
Saute peppers and onion in a little olive oil for 2-3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes. Add additional seasoning to taste.

Notes:
I added Penzey's Seasoned Salt to taste and ended up adding a little more of the Turkish Seasoning as well. I also added 1 tbsp cornstarch to thicken it up. It was too watery for my taste though I think most of the liquid would have evaporated anyway. I let it cool and put it in the fridge overnight. I had some this morning, I couldn't wait. It was delicious!!!

Borrowed Earth Cafe

Tuesdays for my husband are always Game Night, so for me, Tuesdays are always Me Night.  I make some good ol' comfort food in the form of my favorite frozen pizza or a Berto's Deli sub and work on sewing projects or just watch some Spike, I mean, Buffy the Vampire Slayer ... sigh ... Spike ...  Anyway, it's my "splurge" night.  I usually round out the evening with some form of chocolate.

But, I'm a vegan now.   What to do?  I decided to try out a new restaurant - well, new to me.  It's the Borrowed Earth Cafe in Downers Grove, IL, a raw food restaurant.  I'd originally planned to go with a friend, but when that fell through, I started to get comfy in my pajamas watching TV.  And then I thought, hey, I still want to try this place!  However, by that point I was more excited about watching the first season of How I Met Your Mother than going out.  So I got carryout!  (I did NOT wear my pajamas to pick up the food!)

Oh, wow, was the food GOOD!  I had the lasagna, which is made out of zucchini noodles, spinach, marinara sauce, and a nut "cheese".  I didn't quite know what to expect, as some of their reviews mentioned that the entrees were pretty small and expensive.  Well, the lasagna cost me a little over $17 with tax, so yes, it's a bit pricey, but it was fantastic.

It does seem like a small portion, but you also get three side salads with it.  Some people in the comments were complaining that the salads are just "filler".  Well, I thought they were amazing, and the dressing was absolutely divine.  In fact, I only ate half of my salads and half of the lasagna because there was so much food!  Lunch tomorrow!  Was it worth $17?  I think so.  For the first time in two days I'm excited about food again.  In fact, two hours later, I'm still full, and I have no room for any form of dessert.

I should have taken a picture, but it was in a cardboard carryout box, so the presentation wasn't as pretty as it would be on a plate.  I'm planning on going back next week, hopefully with Samm, so I'll be sure to take photos then.

Namarie!

New Recipes Crash and Burn

I tried two recipes for dinner tonight that should have been AWESOME: cream of zucchini soup and stuffed mushrooms.  Both recipes were from raw food "uncook" books and included things I LOVE:  avocados, zucchini, mushrooms, olives ... but I almost couldn't eat the mushrooms and the zucchini soup tasted more like watery guacamole than zucchini.  My husband actually ate it as a dip with some tortilla chips!

I have to admit, I got pretty depressed.  Why did I want to do this again?  I hate trying new foods!  I'm a picky eater!  But, then again, doing things that challenge us is what makes us grow.  Right?

So then I decided to make dessert:  Chocolate pudding.  It also calls for an avocado, so I had my doubts.  But I made coconut cream to go with it, and I figured, even if the pudding doesn't turn out, I could just eat that to get the taste of the mushrooms out of my mouth.

I'm still waiting to eat it, but I licked the spoon, and it tastes really good!  It was a bit too much like a chocolate avocado, so I added some powdered sugar, and that seemed to make a HUUUUGE difference.  Not the healthiest ingredient, but hey, I can eat ONE thing that's not so great for me.

I already have ingredients for the rest of the week, so I'm going to continue with my raw food recipes and see if I can hit upon something good (I've got Not Meatballs and pasta as well as spring rolls and stir-fry veggies).  Next week I'll try a few of the KickStart recipes, and the third week the Thrive Diet recipes.

Here's the recipe for the chocolate pudding (which I think doesn't even need the coconut cream)!  I added my substitutions in italics, because it seemed silly to use a "raw" version of something when I had other ingredients available (and since I'm doing a vegan diet and not a raw, it's not cheating).


Chocolate Bliss Pudding

1 avocado

10 pitted dates, soaked 15 minutes

1/3 cup water

2 tbsp raw carob powder or substitute 100% cocoa powder

1 tbsp raw cacao nibs or substitute cacao chips

1 vanilla bean or substitute 1 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp salt

powdered sugar to taste

For the pudding: Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor, process until smooth. Chill thoroughly.

Namarie.

Happy Monday!

Hi Everyone, Samm here!

I hope you all had a great New Year celebration. I know I did! I have to say that I'm deeply touched with how my friends have embraced my switch to a vegan diet. While the Kickstart is only 21 days, if all goes well and I find that I enjoy it, I plan on sticking with a primarily vegan diet.

New Years was fantastic! I celebrated with my husband and several of our close friends at our friends' new house. This friend is an amazing chef and her parties are legendary for her food. I admit I was worried that I would be putting her out if I requested vegan fare so I kept my mouth shut. I figured I would simply not eat anything else or just consume the customary veggie tray after midnight. Boy was I wrong!

My friend was sweet enough to give me quite a few vegan options including her homemade hummus that was nothing short of amazing! Without realizing it, I ended up snacking on most of the vegan food all night!

To make the night even better my bestie gave me a plate of vegan banana bread and a tin of AMAZING vegan snickerdoodles. These cookies are fantastic! She couldn't find an egg substitute so she looked online and used something else. (I forget what she said). So the cookies didn't rise but that's okay! They were crispy and even more flavorful. I have to get that recipe from her.

On New Years Day my husband and I made a trip to Tony's Finer Foods to supplement the food I bought at Whole Foods the previous day. He's trying the Caveman Diet as a challenge so our cart looked pretty weird. He can only eat fruits, vegetables and meat while I can't eat any animal products. Our bill was more expensive than usual but I was proud of our lack of processed food. Looking at other carts, ours was by far the healthiest!

RECIPES AND COOKING

Cooking has been interesting. I like to cook but I rarely do it. Being vegan is forcing me to actually cook dinner and not just order out. This is going to be a good thing. The recipes on the 21 Day Kickstart are interesting but they aren't perfect. For instance, I made their Couscous Confetti Salad and nearly spit it out. They recommend using rice vinegar, lemon and olive oil as a dressing. I found that it was way too tart and tasted more like vinegar than anything else. It wasn't for me. However, the rest of the salad should be good with a different dressing. I'm going to have to experiment.

Their Fantastic Fruit Smoothie, on the other hand, was AMAZING! It just makes way too much smoothie! So I took my extra smoothie and stuck it in the freezer. I pulled it out later last night as a sorbet-like treat! What was left I put in my blender this morning and added more orange juice. The nice feature about the Kickstart recipes is that you make enough for more than one meal.

Another great place I've found for recipes is Alicia Silverstone's TheKindLife.com. Her site has TONS of recipes and they include pictures! I'm not going to lie, they all look yummy but many have strange ingredients that I've never heard of before. Once I make a few I'll let you know and will post the results.

EATING OUT

I had my first experience with eating out yesterday. A friend and I went to a local diner after our riding lesson, so obviously, it wasn't a vegan restaurant. To make anything on the menu vegan required some substitution and creative thinking. Not wanting to be the jerk who asks them to rework their entire menu to accommodate my diet, I ordered a simple salad minus the hard-boiled egg, cheese and sliced chicken. It worked out great! There was some miscommunication with the vinaigrette I ordered (it had Parmesan cheese in it) and I had to send it back. Thankfully it was served on the side so I was able to easily switch out that for vinegar and oil.

Tomorrow is my father's birthday and we're supposed to meet up with him and my mom at a local Irish pub for dinner. As you can imagine there is nothing on the menu that is vegetarian let alone vegan. My plan remains the same, order a salad minus the animal products with oil and vinegar on the side. It's a simple solution and it doesn't put the restaurant too much out of its way.

I've read vegan sites that say restaurants should accommodate you and your diet. While that is true, it's only true to some degree. If you're a vegan going to a non-vegan restaurant keep in mind that the restaurant probably isn't going to have vegan substitutions (sometimes they might depending on the type of restaurant). Don't be a jerk about it. Remember, you choose to eat there. Instead, try your best to find something on the menu that can be easily made vegan. If you have trouble ask your waitress. They will have a better idea what's in the kitchen and they can help you come up with a great solution.

IS IT HARD?

I think the biggest thing people keep asking me about becoming vegan is if it's hard. Of course it's hard! It's a huge change in lifestyle. However, it doesn't have to be daunting. Lynette and I have done our research and we've made lists, gathered recipes, and determined what we're going to eat before we even go to the store. This has helped a LOT. But be prepared to set aside more time to go to the store because now you've got to read labels...ALL of the labels! Things that look like they're vegan sometimes aren't and vice versa. You need to read the labels to find out and that takes time and patience.

Cravings are another thing people keep talking about. Honestly, the only craving I had was for sausage and that's because I was cutting some up for my husband. I resisted and when the sausage was out of sight I forgot about the craving. I haven't had any other cravings, which has surprised me since I LOVE candy and sweets. Sure, a lot of candy can be vegan but it depends on your views on refined sugar. Some sugar is refined using charred animal bones. To be safe, I'm attempting to weed that out as well.

It's been a huge change but so far not that hard of one, at least for me. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but I'm still excited about the challenge. Remember, today is the first offical day of the 21 Day Kickstart Challenge so if you haven't signed up and you want to give it a shot, do it soon!

Second Day Struggles

Coming up on the end of the second day of being a vegan, and today presented me with a small challenge.  We went to my uncle's house with my entire family, and they ordered pizza.  Several pizzas.  After only a day and a half of being a vegan, pizza never smelled so good.  It wasn't a challenge to stay away from the pizza, but it did worry me:  if I'm already fantasizing about non-vegan food only 1.5 days in, what's it going to be like for the next three weeks?  I learned today that it will definitely be a challenge to stay on this diet for 21 days.  But, if it weren't a challenge, what would be the point?  Still, I sat there with my vegan pita bread and salad and tried to ignore the gorgeous smells of pizza wafting past my nose.  Drool.

For breakfast I had oatmeal, a banana, and juice.  Lunch was a pita sandwich, salad with walnuts and sunflower seeds, and blueberries.  Dinner is vegetable soup.

Here's how I made the pita sandwiches:

Cut 1 pita bread into 4 pieces
Spread hummus on two pieces of pita
Spread sundried tomato paste on the other two pieces
Put cucumber slices on hummus
Put carrots (or onion or sliced radishes) on the sundried tomatos
Put the hummus and sundried tomato pieces together to make two sandwiches

It was really pretty good!  Kind of tasted like a cold veggie pizza ... at least, that's what I kept telling myself ...

Namarie.