Halfway through the week

We've made it! 3 whole days vegan. Well, mostly vegan. Tim cheats more than I do. My vitamins have gelatin in them, and we had some tater tots that had a hint of sour cream in them (trying to clear out freezer space for other stuff, didn't make sense to avoid them just for the tiny amount of dairy in the grande scheme).

Successes so far:

Veggie melts! I love these, and now Tim loves them too! Avocado, pesto (made w/o cheese), sauteed onions and peppers and a dash of vegan cheese on sprouted grain bread with vegan (Earth Balance) butter. Warm, hearty, and delish!

Mongolian BBQ seitan: Spicy and sweet, and Tim's new favorite. He found the recipe, and I even used the mushrooms as directed. I don't think they really added much for us (other than about $5 to the total meal cost), so we'll likely leave them out in the future.

Homemade seitan: Used it in the dish above and our usual stir fry. Cheaper and fresher than store bought!

Inspired to try these in the near future:
Mini berry cheesecakes that happen to be vegan!
Chocolate orange ginger cupcakes

Getting Ready

To prepare for tomorrow's start of weekday veganism, we've been getting ourselves ready by planning out meals for the week and making what we can ahead of time.

So far, we've made:

Black bean burgers - I leave out the egg and this works just fine. I added a little cayenne pepper this time, and I also used dried beans that I cooked to save money.

Breakfast burritos - Tim takes these to work. This isn't really something new, but just continuing his good breakfast veganism.

Energy bites - For this week, I tweaked this recipe with the following substitutions: chia instead of flax, homemade almond butter instead of peanut butter (with a few cacao nibs tossed in), maple syrup instead of honey, and added dried cranberries. Technically this isn't entirely vegan (small amount of milkfat in chocolate chips), but in the name of frugality, I wasn't going to buy new mini chocolate chips if I already had some. However, I will buy vegan ones when those run out.

2 Years Later...

Here I am again, contemplating a vegan diet (note: diet, not lifestyle. I certainly don't pretend I'm together enough to really avoid all animal products, or throw out my beloved leather purses, although I haven't really been buying things like that lately).

After lots of changes, including the birth of my now 8-month-old daughter, I'm longing for the simplicity and healthy feeling of the vegan diet that I was enjoying before I became pregnant. After mentioning this to my husband, Tim, he suggested that we become "weekday vegans". So, we will be eating a vegan diet during the week, with opportunities to incorporate some of our favorite non-vegan items on the weekends. As Kathy Freston would put it, Vegan-ish.

I'm looking forward to this challenge and all the great benefits that I know will come with it! We're not officially starting this coming week since we've got to clean out the pantry, fridge and freezer. This week will be a transition week to get prepped and stocked for a revisit of my previous vegan adventures!

Starting the Cleanse Anew - Day 1

21-Day Quantum Wellness Cleanse - Kathy Freston
Getting rid of the Big 5:
Alcohol
Caffeine
Sugar
Animal Products
Gluten

Having done the cleanse before, gluten hasn't bothered me when I added back in. Because of this, I'm going light on gluten, but not ruling it out completely. I'm also getting rid of all processed sugars, for the most part. A little bit of sweetener or less refined sugars are not something I'm going to stress about.

So, having been pleased overall with last year's cleanse, I've decided to try it again. Here I'll be talking about the yummy food I get to eat, and how it all relates to how I feel.

Today, day 1, not bad at all. A few accommodations, but pretty easy.

Breakfast: Steel Cut Oats with a little bit of maple sugar, Vitamin water

Lunch: Minestrone soup with saltines, peanut butter sandwich, Orange slices for dessert

Snack: Grapes, Brown Rice cake

Dinner: Out for Wing Night, compromised with a few onion rings with less batter
Followed up with red pepper slices and spicy hummus

Feeling good in general, other than a slight cold I am feeling good. Light, but satiated. Just excited about the new food fun to come!

Hunger v. Hankering

I knew this would be a little bit uncomfortable, at least at first, but it really hasn't been too bad so far. I've been feeling pretty alert and motivated to cook and try new things, so that's already a positive, although I doubt much can really be attributed to the diet change at this point.

I'm starting to realize that meat and cheese were such a huge part of my diet that it will take some adjustment to learn to cook and have a taste for things made without it. I'm committed to being patient with this, and today is just an example. I just had lunch, which tasted good and was made fresh from veggies and quinoa. However, I still feel somewhat unsatisfied. My stomach is full, it's just a different kind of full than I had gotten used to. Instead of the heavy, tired and overall sluggishness that I used to equate with having eaten a meal, I feel an absence of hunger and, in a sense, more free from the sometimes negative aftermath of food. It's strange to begin disassociating things that I had become so accustomed to being hand-in-hand. 

Day 1 - Seeds, Fruit and Black Bean Tacos

While yesterday wasn't totally vegan, I felt inspired to begin at lunch. So much so that I actually threw away the turkey (Panera Sierra Turkey, no less) sandwich that I had brought. Instead, lunch was a seed and dried fruit trail mix and fresh orange slices. Surprisingly, I wasn't hungry until about 6pm.

In the evening, I took a trip to the grocery store to get ingredients for various vegan dishes for the week. Got lots of beans (canned and dried), some tofu, vegan sour cream, "cheese" and veganaise, salsa, corn tortillas and shells, gluten-free pasta, brown rice, veggie marinara sauce, lots of peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, avocado, onions and some pre-made guacamole. Total ended up around $130. I anticipate spending much less in the future now that we'll have some vegan staples and condiments around the house that we won't need to buy again soon.

Dinner turned out to be easy, fast, cheap AND delicious! Made tacos for Tim, Ashley and myself. Here's how I did it: add minced garlic, some salsa and a chopped fresh jalapeño to a can of drained, rinsed black beans. This became the "taco meat" mixture that we put into hard or soft shells, topped with a little bit of lettuce, vegan cheese (Daiya brand) and vegan sour cream (Tofutti). Overall, pretty tasty. It's not the same as regular, but it is certainly delicious. I didn't end up with that heavy, uncomfortable feeling after the grease of normal tacos either. Also had some guacamole with corn chips as an evening snack. This is a great meal to have on hand when I don't have much prep time.