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37 Days of Vegan Eating!

In June, I started considering veganism. I had been feeling really sluggish and had some joint pain and headaches, and a frequent upset stomach. In the early part of June I started eating vegetarian meals. By June 19th, I was eating completely vegetarian. The vegetarian eating was actually ok, so July 1 I decided to give vegan eating a go for a month. I do feel much better. The most noticeable things for me have been the increase in energy I have had, the lack of headaches, and the fact that my stomach is no longer upset. I have to be honest, I expected that a vegan diet would go hand in hand with weight loss, since there are so many things you cannot eat. All products with any form of an animal product are out. You'd be surprised how many foods have to be cut out! Since I started I lost 4 pounds. Kind of disappointing.... but I do feel so much better. I do not like a lot of the meat replacements that you can eat when you are vegan. I have been getting my protein from soy products, nuts, beans, legumes, etc. The meat replacements that I do like tend to be higher in carbs than meat would be. Also I have had to take a supplement tablet to get my iron, zinc, calcium, vitamin D, riboflavin, vitamin B12, omega-3s and iodine.

All in all I have not had a bad time eating vegan food. I didn't intend for it to be a permanent lifestyle but I was curious to see how I would feel after a few weeks. I feel so good that for now I plan to remain a type of vegetarian--I will leave out dairy, but I will be adding fish to my diet. Out of the list of the types of fish to eat that are best for you, I like tuna. Lol!! I am going to start trying to enjoy salmon, as well. :-/ I don't so much hate the taste of salmon but I do not like the smell in the house. I can't stand that fishy smell. My favorite fish is swordfish, which is not a very fatty fish (therefore not as good for you as other fish) but I will have to learn to like salmon. After the different foods I have developed a taste for in the past several weeks, I think learning to like salmon will be a breeze.

I enjoyed my dinner tonight with a side of tasty tunafish. I put in smoked chipotle peppers, vegenaise, chipotle mustard, a bit of relish and salt & pepper. Yum!

We Played Tennis!

So Rich & I played tennis today. We have a tennis court, sand volleyball court, gym & 2 pools in the community. We bought tennis rackets for Christmas in...2009. :-) Mine was still wrapped in plastic...um...yeah. It seemed like such a good idea at the time. I would say we played tennis for about an hour, but that isn't quite the truth... It seemed like my arms wanted to play baseball. If we were keeping score in home runs, I would have won by a million. My balls were sailing through the air, out of the enclosure, sticking in the chain link fence, going up so high that I could barely see them anymore. It was about 90 degrees outside with 100% humidity so you can only imagine what we looked like after an hour. My rosacea had flared up so bad, my face was the color of tomato sauce and we were dripping in a mixture of sweat and humidity. GROSS!!!! We had a great time though. I learned a few things tonight. 

1) Buying a tennis racket with a picture of Maria Sharapova on the packaging does not, indeed, impart any special Sharapova skills to your game.

2) Wearing tennis shoes does not make you a tennis player.

3) Tennis is fun! 

This past few days have definitely been busy for us! Rich had yet another start up week starting last Tuesday and has been working a TON. He's left the house by 7am every day and hasn't gotten home till 11pm-1am. This week he got his second raise since we've moved here! He is such a hard worker and a killer business man and I am sooo proud of him! God has really blessed his station since we moved here.  Even though I normally only work 3 days a week, I had four last week to cover for someone else. I ended up work 7am-7pm Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, & Saturday. Normally 3 twelves in a row would be ok, but our air conditioner was acting up all week and so the office was about 85 degrees. I was exhausted & irritable by the time 3 days were through! I was pretty tired Saturday night but I still needed to go shopping for a baby shower. I spent almost an hour at Babies R Us only to find that tons of stuff off the registry was not in stock. I finally found a few items from the list and filled in a little basket with a couple other things. I have never heard so much crying in all my life in just one short hour as I heard inside the Babies R Us!!! Sunday was church, then I went to lunch with some friends, had the baby shower at 2:00, choir at 4:30 and nursery duty during the Sunday night service. I wanted to go home right after but there was a massive thunderstorm. Far be it from me to traipse out in rain like THAT with perfectly good heels on. After waiting around an hour the rain finally let up and I made it to my car without drowning or ruining my shoes.

Today Rich & I both got to sleep in some. He didn't go to work today till about 10:45. I have spent a few hours today cleaning up the house and I still have a bit more to do. As usual I get most everything done and the one thing I never want to do is fold and put away laundry. Thankfully I have tomorrow off too. I'm kind of glad the weather is yucky this week since the pool is being resurfaced. Maybe next week the rain will go away for a few days so I can get back to working on my tan. I'm also thinking about changing the name of my blog. With my slight ADD tendencies I get bored with repetition. Cheers!

Vegan Lasagna

I found a recipe ricotta-style tofu. I thought it was ridiculous until I made tofu fries yesterday. The texture of the tofu really reminded me of ricotta cheese. With that in my head, I decided to make vegan lasagna for dinner tonight. The original recipe calls for lasagna noodles but I didn't have any on hand so I just used 2 cups of cooked mini shells. It was pretty easy and pretty yummy. I used Morningstar meal starters (basically a ground meat replacement) and vegan pepperoni for a little flavor! Easy!! I don't know that there is really a recipe for what I made and I fully realize that I don't know anyone who would be reading my blog and actually want to make a vegan lasagna. But here is the recipe for the ricotta-style tofu:

14 oz extra firm tofu, crumbled

3 cloves garlic

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (I used light tasting)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano (I used 1 tsp dried)

1 tsp fine sea salt (I used kosher salt, 3/4 tsp)

Pulse to puree in a food processor. 

I layered marinara sauce, pasta, meat, & ricotta in the pan two times. On the last layer I added a bit of marina on top of the ricotta and sprinkled it with just under 1/4 cup of daiya mozzarella style cheeze. Bake at 400 till done. If you don't know what done is, I can't help you! 

Since there is no way I could eat the full recipe that they gave, I used a 1/2 recipe and I will easily get 3-4 meals out of it. I made it in a loaf pan. It was definitely not the gooey, dairy-filled delightfulness that you'd expect lasagna to be, but I will say it was a reasonable substitute. I actually quite enjoyed it. 

Southwest Burger & Tofu Fries with Spicy Vegenaise

All in all, eating vegan has done amazing things for me. I feel a lot better than I normally do. Since the basis of vegan food is vegetables, you end up feeling a lot less bogged down after meals. I have also had more energy. LOTS more energy! A couple of days ago my cousin Becky (find her awesome blog HERE) told me about Martha Stewart's tofu fries. I decided that I would try them. Now just to be clear, for those of you who get thoroughly confused about vegan eating: yes, I can eat normal french fries. However tofu is good for you. So far, in the past 5 weeks I have avoided eating any plain tofu. I have eaten it in the past and have not really enjoyed it much. I do buy soy meat replacement products, and I've been pretty impressed with them. Once I bought buffalo chick'n wings, and served them to Rich. He didn't know that they weren't meat until I told him. They were delish.

I took pictures of how I made my meal. The fries were definitely an experience. I'm not sure that I would make them again since I can have the real McCoy. I don't eat french fries very often anyway (being vegan keeps me out of fast food & burger joints). However I will say they were a lot yummier than I expected. If I try them again I think I will drizzle the tofu with olive oil, minced garlic, and herbs. In fact I may have to try them again that way cause I still have a pack of tofu. :)

Started with a 14-oz pack of Nasoya extra-firm tofu plus. Tofu plus is simply vitamin fortified. 

 Here is the square of tofu. It strangely reminded me of some type of cheese. I drained off all the liquid and dried it with a paper towel.

 I sliced it into four sheets, per the Martha Stewart directions. It was still a bit wet for me so I wrapped each slice in a paper towel and plated it for a while so that more of the moisture would be absorbed.

 I bought a can of chipotle peppers. I used 2 peppers to make a spicy chipotle mayo for my fries. I figured I could use it on the burger as well.

 I minced up the peppers with a large knife.

 I added about 3-4 tablespoons of vegenaise. It tastes pretty similar to mayo (can't have real mayo cause of the egg). 

 I added only half of the peppers to start with. I wasnt' sure how hot they would be.

 Stirred it up and tasted it. The chipotle flavor was very mild. Not at all the way I like it! 

 Added the rest of the peppers and put the finished spread into a 4-oz dish.

 I sliced one sheet of tofu into 1/2" pieces like the directions said. Apparently I was supposed to slice them vertically instead of horizontally but oh well. I salted & peppered them and placed them under the broiler. Every 3 minutes I flipped them to a new side so all 4 sides got nice and crispy. (12 minutes total cook time.)

 This is my "test batch." I actually liked the test batch and ate all 8 of them. For size reference they are on a saucer in this picture. 

I tried them like regular fries with ketchup. How disgusting. I thought they were pretty great with the chipotle mayo. 

 I made an avocado spread also for the burger. I have made this before and I love it. I slice half the avocado for the burger and then mash the rest. Add 2 tbsp of your favorite salsa and a pinch of kosher salt and you are ready to go.

 My whole wheat vegan bun (from Rudi's bakery. yum.) topped with the avocado spread and chipotle mayo.

 On the bottom I put 3 slices of avocado and plenty of sliced onion.

 Then I add my Morningstar Farms spicy black bean burger, 2 slices of tomato and 4 dill hamburger chips. I sprinkled a little kosher salt over the top. For the burger I spray it with "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" spray and broil it. It is sooooo good!

 My extremely delicious Southwest Burger. I think I am ready for a vegan burger Throwdown with Bobby Flay. haha!

The 2nd batch of tofu fries weren't as done all the way through since doing vertical slices as Martha said did not allow them to crisp like the test batch. I even put them under the broiler for a few more minutes but they just tasted a little soggy. The upside to these fries is--the whole 14-oz pack of "fries" has 315 calories and 12 grams of fat. There are 380 cals and 19g of fat in a medium McDonald's fry.

 The dog is my vegan test buddy. Since dogs are non-obligate carnivores (basically they are carnivores with opportunistic omnivorous tendencies), he isn't against sharing my vegan fare.

 Frankly he thought these fries were pretty great.

He ate four of them and stashed two in his doggie bed for later.

Basically the burger was bar none--delicious. The fries were good, but I liked the way that I slice them better than the way that Martha Stewart says, cause nobody likes soggy fries of any kind. Also I did not like them with pepper. It conflicted with my perfect chipotle mayo. And, I remain insulted that Martha's recipe says these fries taste great with ketchup. They didn't. I will help Martha rewrite this recipe and give her the recipe for my chipotle mayo when I finish my Throwdown with Bobby Flay.

My Little Mexican

Some Chihuahuas make great US Citizens. Mine does not. He understands Spanish and has a serious craving for Mexican food. When we have tacos he goes crazy as soon as he smells beans! He loves to eat leftover tortillas and beans. He can grab a tortilla, inhale it at the speed of light, and beg for another before you can say "Cinco de Mayo!" 

Step 1: "Snatch tortilla and take it to my bed!"

Step 2: "Rip up tortilla into bite sized pieces."

Step 3: "Demolish tortilla at a speed faster than the camera." 

Step 4: "Stuff my little Mexican chipmunk cheeks full of tortilla..."

Grandma is Here!

I always love having my grandma come to visit me. We always have so much fun together and add to that she and I are kindred spirits in many ways! As I've been eating vegan food she is an ally :) She has never been one to eat much meat and she loves her veggies so she has been thriving on vegan cuisine :) Tonight for dinner I made us spicy black bean burgers, roasted spiced sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli, and salad. Yum-O.

 Toss romaine with sun dried tomatoes (the kind in olive oil) and pepperoncinis) add your favorite herbs, salt & pepper and the oil & vinegar from the peppers and tomatoes makes a tasty dressing.

On this burger, bottom to top: fresh yellow onion, hot house tomato, black bean patty, and avocado slices. With the remaining "unsliceable" pieces of the avocado, I mashed it and added a tbsp of salsa for a southwest spread.

Tomorrow I think we'll spend the day relaxing! I need to work on my tan :) We'll have to take a picture together tomorrow....but today I look pretty crazy!