I'm noticing a pretty big improvement in my skin. Also, I have a feeling of being generally more awake than I felt previously. My head feels less cloudy.
Today we made vegan cupcakes to nurture my sweet tooth. They are nut, dairy, egg and gluten free. Mmmm... and they were amazing. I bought vegan frosting too. Generally, I'm not much of a mix person. Most of my baking is done from scratch. I noticed that this mix lacks the chemically taste that mixes often have. They sort of taste like glazed chocolate donuts. The consistency of the frosting stinks. Even after they cooled so much it melted right into them. But, it creates a really nice glaze that tastes good.
I really like that this sort of food is so easily accessible to me. The Whole Foods Market is just a 10 minute walk from our apartment, which makes is so much easier to eat animal free.
3/23/2009 04:50:00 PM
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Today is my fifth day on a vegan diet. I am half way through my 10 day challenge and I have to tell you that I am feeling pretty great!
We ran out of coffee and coconut milk, so this morning I was forced to go downstairs to Starbucks and grab a latte with soy milk.
Last night we had company for dinner and I told Jay to get something he'd like to eat. He went out to our local organic market and butcher and came home with prime rib!!!! That's my husband for you! I ate leftover eggplant, which was just fine by me. It was delicious!
I served the prime rib with roasted red potatoes and mushrooms in rosemary and parmasan cheese and steamed asparagus (which our friend Jack tried for the first time in his life last night.)
Jay got merlot to go with the meal (but I didn't have any) and got two kinds of cheese and some amazing hummus with animal free crackers. YUM!
Funny though, when he came home he was like, "I got you brie!" But it wasn't brie. He misread the label. Brie is the only kind of cheese that I really like. So, when he apologized I was like, "uh... I'm glad it's not brie because I love brie... and I'm not eating cheese." He forgot. It's funny to me how many people don't think cheese when you say dairy. Almost as if they think it should be its own food group. Ha!
3/22/2009 10:05:00 AM
Saturday, March 21, 2009
It is day four of my dairy free challenge. So far so good! I haven't struggled at all, actually. I'm making a huge meal for Jay and friends tonight, but I shouldn't want for too much because I have leftovers from last night and the night before for myself. Believe it or not, I'm looking forward to eating them!!!
Last night I made the most incredible thing. I called it "Vegan casserole." It sounds disgusting, but it was really delicious. As I was creating it, I was like, "I don't know about this, but I get a big gold star for creativity!"
I layered the vegetable tomato sauce that I made the night before. It had broccoli, mushroom, zucchini and onion in it. I topped that with white rice, and topped the rice with lentils that had simmered in vegetable broth. I was going to curry them, but when I added the tomato sauce, I decided not to. I topped the lentils with butternut squash mixed with vegan butter and coconut milk. Then I baked it in the oven for about a half and hour and served it with Pillsburybread sticks (which upon examination do not have animal products but DO have lots of other terrible stuff in them! YIKES! I will not be buying them anymore.) About 70 % of this meal was organic!
Bunny LOVED it. She kept scooping more and more and more and more onto her plate. I made she and Lila corn too. Look at how much is on her plate!!!! And she ate a ridiculous amount of that. She really, really loved it, particularly the lentils.
3/21/2009 07:17:00 AM
Friday, March 20, 2009
It's my third day and I have just missed something for the first time. Ranch Dressing. Lovely, delicious, Hidden Valley Ranch.
It's not unusual for me to eat salads for lunch. Today I made the revealing discovery that I do not like salad. I like dressing. It happened when I was standing at my fridge, thinking about what to put in the salad I was about to make. I had already ruled out the crunchy sprikles I like so much because all eggs, milk and butter were listed in the ingredients. But this I am able to deal with. When it occurred to me that I couldn't have ranch, I explored my other options which were raspberry vinegarette or oil and vinegar. Unfortunately, it's just not a vinegar sort of day. So I put my veggies away and made a sandwich instead.
I should mention that yesterday I felt a big shift in my energy. It was WAY up. Generally speaking, I feel great.
What I Put In My Mouth Today
2 cups coffee with coconut milk one avocado sandwich. (2 pieces of whole wheat bread with avocade and garlic salt) vegan casserole ( layered whole grain rice cooked in veggie broth, curried lentils and butter nut squash mixed with coconut milk and veg butter, then baked.)
I'm not sure if I'll want a snack or not tonight. If I do, it will likely be on one of my energy bars that I made a few weeks ago and froze, a potato or cereal.
3/20/2009 09:49:00 AM
Thursday, March 19, 2009
This is Homemade almond milk and it is delicious! Email me for the recipe: annapholler[at]gmail{dot}com
So far, I'm not struggling with vegan eating at all. I mean, it's only day two... soo...
Last night, for a snack, I had two scoops of natural, organic peanut butter with two scoops of vegan fluff. I ate them with a spoon (because I'm sticky that way.)
I have bought only a few special vegan products. The fluff I got a week or so ago... just to see what it tasted like. I was interested in making vegetarian fudge... but never did it. But I've found another use for my fluff. I just eat it straight (because I'm a hard core motherfluffer.) Other than that, I have only bought the vegan butter and the coconut milk. Without them, I couldn't be successful. I have always thought that vegan living would be too expensive, and I know a lot of other people who think this too. The butter cost exactly what organic butter costs... and the coconut milk was less than organic cows milk. I don't' remember how much the fluff was.
While label reading today I made an awful discovery. The whole wheat bread that I've been putting in everyone's belly has high fructose corn syrup listed as its second ingredient!!!!!!! I was totally shocked. I guess I'll be reading ingredients at the grocery store more often!
What I Put In My Mouth Today
2 cups of coffee with Agave nectar and coconut milk one gigantic sandwich with an entire (I was really hungry!) avocado, two pieces of whole wheat bread, veg butter and garlic salt. ice tea and for dinner I am making a cheeseless, eggless, eggplant parm with spaghetti and homemade catatoire sauce. If I stay up late tonight and want and after dinner snack, I'll either have a baked potato or a small bowl of raisin bran.
3/19/2009 10:05:00 AM
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Okay, It's my first day of 10 in my vegan trial (I am just taking this one step further.) For the next 10 days I'll be examining food labels and consuming 0 animal products. On day 11, I doubt that I'll go back to my milk and yogurt soaked diet, but I will most likely loosen up a bit. Unless, of course, I love eating animal free and feel a billion times better. It's an interesting experiment. We'll see what happens.
So far this cleanse thing isn't working for me. It is SO GROSS. I have only taken my first two doses of it... but in both cases I have barely held them down. Maybe if I could put them in orange juice rather than water it would be easier. But will that ruin the effect? The directions say "water" rather than "liquid." But,I can't take it!
What I Put In My Mouth Today
1 cup coffee with "So Delicious" Coconut Milk (not great, but doable. I think that I will get used to it.) Step one of my cleanse Step two of my cleanse 1/2 cup raisin bran with 1/2 cup coconut milk (This is the point in my day when I gave up on my cleanse. I am simply not a strong enough person to do it.) A baked potato with vegan butter (prepared for your mind to be blown! Vegan butter is BETTER than real butter.) And for dinner, I treated myself and my girls to dinner at this completely amazing place that will make a vegan version of anything on their menu. I had an animal free version of the veggie griller, which was GIANT. I could only eat half of it.
3/18/2009 07:47:00 AM
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
I feel ready to cut a few more animal products out of my life.
I am saying good-bye to dairy.
My hesitance to do had its spoon in coffee. I do not want to put soy in by body because I react so poorly to it. That said, I couldn't fathom what kind of milk I would use in my coffee each morning. Then, I discovered a coconut based milk. Oddly, it doesn't taste coconutty at all and I can totally imagine using it in my coffee.
Butter is another reason I was hesitant. I like and use butter on a lot of things. Even smart balance has animal products in it. I'm okay with that. But I've discovered this butter that is animal free (But it may be soy based... I don't think I checked! Yikes!) I also decided to do a natural, gentle, two weeks cleanse for optimal digestion, which I am totally scared of. I'm not sure yet, but I think that they just make you poop a lot. ew. I'll keep you updated, or not!
3/17/2009 01:51:00 PM
grains
I'm a vegetarian who is trying to minimize the amount of animal products she consumes
I also make good food
