Day 21-24 of eating vegan only-Ok I may have lived it seems......

Here I am at Day 24 of my vegan year and going strong! I don't really mean to start off each post saying how amazed I am that I have made it this far but thing is, I really am amazed! This is the longest I have ever stuck with a eating plan in my life and darn tootin I am proud of myself.

When I first began this journey I decided and explained on this blog that I was NOT going to drag  my family into this whole vegan eating thing. Well it seems I may have been making a liar out of myself. The more I delve into the vegan world the more I learn and the more concerned I become for my loved ones. I would have loved it if I had had a better healthier start on life  myself, who knows, I could have avoided many of the diseases my body is now plagued with. My parents did the best they knew to raise me healthy, the information about nutrition and healthy back then was just as misleading as it is today and even harder to access. They fed me and taught me what they felt was good for me and I couldn't have asked for more from them. However flash forward many years and I now am armed with the information that my parents didn't have.

Since beginning my journey to eat vegan only for 365 days, the responsibility to give my children the best the start in life and to feed my family as a whole only things that are good for them and nothing harmful, has grown immensely. As a parent I would never let my children play with a firearm or run with scissors because I know it harmful to them so how is giving them a piece of food that I know is harmful to their health any different? In my opinion it's not.

I made the decision to not buy any animal or over processed foods from now on. I will gradually phase out the bad foods in our home by simply not replacing them on my grocery trips and instead making better healthier purchases. This seemed all good and find except when I took my children grocery shopping with me over the weekend and I said "No" to many of their favorite animal products and junk food. My teenager especially was just plain mad. He explained to me that he is so young eating healthy is not a priority at this time, he says he has plenty time in his latter years to get healthy. I explained to him the connection between hormones and animal foods and that by just eliminating dairy he could possibly clear up his skin. He wasn't sold but he stopped grumbling some. I bought more fruit than normal to replace their sugary snacks and my kids seemed ok with that because they love fruit anyway. One of my children's biggest concerns was that we wouldn't be able to go out to eat anymore, something our family enjoys doing, so I made a deal with them....and my husband. When we go out to eat they can order whatever they want (I will only be ordering vegan of course) since going out should be a treat.....and because I intend to a lot less of going out. Dr. McDougall says that if you can at least eat vegan 80% of the time than thats a huge step in the right direction so I figure going out once a week and letting my family order what they please is a good compromised for now. My hopes of course is that they will start learning better food choices and eventually not be wanting to order the greasy chicken fry  or cheese oozing burger. We will see. For now however I explained to my family that in our home I will buy and serve good healthy vegan meals only.

When I let my family know my new plans for our whole family eating better my teenage popped off and said "Well at least I can eat decent food at school!" I hated to tell him that he would be taking his lunch from now on and the news went about as well as I expected. You see my son attends a very large jr high that like many schools in America give the students  wide range of food options at lunch time. Most of the choices are unhealthy and with the heavily subsidized government provided dairy and meats (more on that in another post) that dominate the school menus it is hard to find a good choice for a meal at my son's school. If my son orders the typical tray lunch it comes with a meal consisting of a small starch, a main entree full of meat and other chemicals, a small serving of veggies and fruit and the only drink available is milk. If he doesn't want milk is only other option is water from the drinking fountain or a sugary soda pop from the vending machine. The other options include lines where, if students wish, they can purchase a giant pastry, chips, pizza, hot dogs, etc for their meal instead. I found out a few weeks ago that my son has been eating a giant cinnamon roll and Cheetos for lunch most days and he washes it down with a energy drink sold in the school vending machine. I don't know about most parents I am not sending my child to school with lunch money to have them get junk every day. Anyway, my son is now taking his lunch as of this week. I won't say he is happy about it but even the healthy items I put in his lunch are better than going hungry so he eats it and doesn't complain too awfully much.

Packing a healthy vegan lunch for my husband has been easy because he has access to almost a full kitchen at his office for reheating and preparing food. My son's school however does not have any way for students who bring lunch from home to heat their meals. I bought a thermos for warm foods over the weekend but it turns out it didn't keep his food warm until lunch time so I will have to see if I can find a better  one. I did buy some bento boxes however. I love the ones I got because they are easily slipped into my son's backpack without risk of the food getting squished and without  my son having to carry a lunch box which he says is totally lame. lol Today in his lunch I put nut butter and fruit preserves on whole grain bread, basically a healthy pb&j sandwich. In the other areas of the bento box I put mini rice cakes and an assortment off mixed chopped fruit. For a drink he took iced green tea with lemon which he happens to adore. I plan on doing a whole post of packing vegan lunches but first I must do my research and learn some more ideas and tips for doing so. If anyone has any great ideas for vegan lunchbox ideas I would love to hear them! :-)

Well this the part where I sign off, take the dogs out for a potty break, gripe to myself about all the snow and realize a neighbor saw me outside in my pj's, snow boots and bed head. Have a terrific day everyone!

Day 16-20 of eating only vegan-A New Yummy Split Pea Recipe!

Today is day 20 of my vegan year. I am feeling better today than I have in years. In fact each day I am on this journey of eating no animal products and very very little fat I feel better than the day before. It is hard to imagine how I will feel at the end of my 365 days, I am excited.

Life has been a whirl wind of activity since I last posted. My husband was out of state on business and life always seems "off" when he is not home. The kids and I ate mostly easy meals of pasta, sandwiches, soup, fruit and leftovers. Nothing special really but it was still good and vegan.

A few days ago I discovered my love of split yellow peas. I still can't believe I am say I love spit peas but there ya have it, I LOVE SPLIT PEAS! hahahahaha Somewhere overhead pigs are flying I am sure of it. :-)
I was craving something both spicy and sweet and earthy. I knew split yellow peas cook down to a wonderful thick and creamy texture and I had some on hand so I started with those. This is the recipe I came up with and have made again because it is soooooo yummy.

1 cup split yellow peas
2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup water
about a tbsp of each....sage, cumin, curry, dry mustard, cloves, garlic powder, ginger, vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tbsp salt
Cheyenne to taste

Put in slow cooker on high for a few hours, stirring ever once in a while. When it is all broke down and has the texture of about mashed taters or refried beans it is done. If you are cooking it on the stove top bring to a boil then reduce and cover and simmer until the peas are broke down.  This is one of those dishes that you kinda taste at the end and see what other spices are needed. I usually end up added a little extra of something just depends on what I think it needs.

My husband ended up really liking this too so he has eaten each time I have made it. It smells ridiculously good while cooking so I don't think he could resist trying it. I really love this recipe because it is cheap, easy and nutritious....the trifecta of a perfect meal in my opinion. We just eat this by the bowl but I think it would be good as a side dish too or even on a bun or tortilla or something.

Well I am off to attack some of the delicious jonigold apples I bought today!

Day 15- My New Most Favorite Eat It Daily Dish!!!!

Yesterday was Day 15 of eating vegan for 365 days and boy do I feel awesome!!!!! Today I put on a pair of jeans I have not worn in about three weeks and they actually felt looser! How is that even possible?! It has only been 15 days ya know. At the library today I actually ran up the steps and it didn't kill me, I was shocked because I have not been getting any exercise lately just changed my eating habits. Since  feel so great I think I may start actually exercising.

I wanted to share with you today my favorite food right now, a dish I eat every day, sometimes twice for the past week.

This is what I call Island Rice. I discovered a similar dish at a Hawaiian cafe not too long ago because it was the only vegan item on their menu. I immediately fell in love and looked online for recipes so I could recreate the dish. I found lots of versions of this but they all had more fat in them than I wanted due to the coconut milk. While reading The Starch Solution the other night I saw that you can make your own coconut milk by just adding coconut extract to rice or almond milk. This worked great my first batch but I still wanted to cut the rice milk because of the fats so now I just use water with coconut extract and it taste the same but without the fat. I am eating this with a healthy terryaki (how do you spell that!) sauce I found at the store but plan to try and make my own soon. This dish is yummy without the sauce though too.  Here is my recipe for Island Rice.

In a rice cooker add.....

2 cups of rice (sometimes I use brown short grain sometimes I use brown shortgrain, just whatever rice you like, it doesn't have to be brown but I prefer it)

4 cups of water

1-2 tbsp coconut extract depending on strong you want the coconut flavor

2 tbsp agave nectar or sweetener of your choice

1 can of beans rinsed and drained (I use pinto but I think any kind of bean would be good)

Mix all the ingredients around in your cooker and start it up. Thats it!

If you don't have a rice cooker just cook everything but the beans on the stove top and then add the beans the last 10 minutes or so.

This smells sooooo amazing cooking!!!!!

Day 14!!!! Yep two weeks on vegan diet!

Two weeks ago I was only hoping I would be able to write this post, now that it is here I am so happy  that I am here two weeks later sharing more of my vegan year with you all. Yes folks I have been eating vegan only for 14 days now!!!!! Doing my happy dance!

Has it been hard? Yes parts of it were hard. Once I got passed the first three or four days though, eating only vegan became much much easier. Now two weeks behind me, the cravings for high fat animal foods have pretty much hit the road. I don't know if the cravings stop because my body has rid itself of so much toxic junk by now or if it is because I now know and understand how bad the animal foods are for us and how much the animals and the environment suffer just to provide that greasy hamburger to stuff our fat faces with. It is probably all of the above.

As of right now my biggest craving I fight it for my favorite food, peanut butter. Yes peanut butter is vegan but it is also high in fat. I bought some all natural nut butter however to have as a treat ever once in a while but in the past I ate lots of peanut butter every day because I just love it so much. The extra oils and fats in my food don't agree with my stomach since going vegan and I feel awful after eating things with oils and fats in them so this helps curb the cravings for those foods a bit as well.

Over the weekend I made a dish that did have a little oil sprayed on the top for cooking purposes but I blotted it as much as possible before eating it. It was really really yummy and the whole family seemed to really enjoy it. I will make it again in the future but I would love to find a way to cook the phyllo dough without the oil on top first.

I got the recipe for Spinach Artichoke Pie here. I followed the recipe pretty much exactly as she posted it except I used as little oil as possible.

So two weeks later I feel better than I have quiet honestly in years! And it has only been two weeks!!! I think that is what shocks me the most, how fast eating clean and vegan can change your body. It feels like my whole is breathing, letting go of all that crude and sludge on my cells, in my arteries  and even in my mind. That may not make sense to everyone but it is the best way I know how to describe it. I have not sat foot on a scale either but I can tell I am losing weight and even my husband said last night as he was tickling me that he could feel a difference. Certain activities feel different than I did two weeks ago, easier, lighter and less cumbersome. I can't wait to see how I feel after a few more weeks of eating vegan. 

Day 12-Lesson Learned the Hard Way

So many lessons in life have to be learned the hard way. I really hate that part about life don't you? I have been doing really good on my low fat vegan way of eating but last night I folded and had some vegetable oil.....big mistake!

My family and I went out to eat last night and after doing my research I learned that the establishment's fries were completely vegan friendly....some cook them in oil that has been used to fry meats so beware. I ordered my vegan burger but instead of getting the fruit salad side like I should have, I got the basket of fries the burger came with anyway. I really didn't eat too many of them, maybe a third of what was on my plate but it was enough to teach me that added oils were not my friend. I got stomach aches, felt zapped and visiting the little girls room more times last night than I care to share. Before bed I picked up The Starch Solution and re-read the section of oils and fats and decided to learn from my lesson and avoid these added oils in the future. 

Day 8-11....feelin good

This week has gone by too fast! I am glad though because if I feel the week is going by fast than that means I have been busy and productive which is alot more than I can say about last week. My first five days of going vegan my body was in detox mode and I felt like crap most of the time. This week however I have noticed a marked difference in the amount of energy and overall general lightness or cleanness. In fact I feel like I would love to burst out of the door at times and just run......and I don't run......ever.....unless maybe I was being chased by a killer zombie or something. With temperatures being in the negatives however, running will have to wait.

Overall I have noticed my edema(severe water retention and swelling) is pretty much gone, my belly which always had some swelling (not counting the fat) has gone down and even though I have not stepped on the scale once, I am positive I have lost weight. The one thing that has gotten worse has been my scalp. It is dry and has flaky red spots that itch. My nurse friend says this could be from my body still detoxing a bit or simply the new shampoo I am trying out. If it doesn't improve I will have it checked out but for now I am just dealing with it.

Although I have not slipped and have eaten pure 100% vegan this entire time I have slipped and ate some vegan items that were higher in fat like nut butters and a little oil in my cooking. Of course the amount of fat I have eaten over these entire 11 days has been less than I use to eat in only one or two days so I feel I am making progress anyway. I know I feel better and that is what counts.

I find that mornings are when I crave something sweet the most so I did myself a favor and made me a vegan friendly chocolate smoothie in my new Ninja. It is basically just some bananas, a little vegan friendly sugar, vanila, unsweetened cocoa and ice. Simple but satisfying.

I did make some vegan lasagna this week as well but it was not that big of a hit with myself or the family so I will try a different version next time. One thing that did make a big hit was a yellow split pea soup curry type dish. I got the recipe here. I followed the recipe exactly except I used yellow mustard seeds since I couldn't find the black mustard seeds. Also I used white sweet potatoes by accident. I will say that this soup smells fantastic cooking and simmering on the stove. My youngest was even willing to try it for lunch because she had smelled it for a few hours cooking and thought it smelled yummy. We had a bowl for lunch  and then since I had such a huge pot leftover, I served it over rice for dinner that night. Hubby and son both liked it as well and I have a new found love of yellow split peas. 

Day 5,6,7.....woot woot! a whole week eating vegan!

Sorry for the lack of posting these past few days. I got lazy over the weekend plain and simple. Here is a recap of the past few days....

Day 5

I had a smoothie for breakfast, leftovers for lunch and for dinner I made what we call Squashed Squash. Squashed Squash is more like a squash soup or stew I suppose but it is an old family recipe that we often eat as a side dish but it is so good we like to eat it as our main with maybe a side of bread. To make Squashed Squash all you do is peel some yellow squash, cut it up into chunks and boil until soft. Next drain most of the water off then add a little salt, pepper, sugar non dairy milk and mash a little with potato masher. That's it. :)

Day 6

Saturday we slept in which was wonderful. By the time we woke up it was almost lunch but I made breakfast anyway. I used this recipe here for vegan pancakes. The only difference I made was that I used almond milk instead of soy and applesauce instead of oil. These were light and fluffy and really quiet yummy. I am thinking I may pre mix my dry ingredients and keep in a container so I can make this quickly in the future.

We ended up running some errands Saturday afternoon so we went out to eat. I was a little nervous about finding something on the menu that would actually  fill me up since I was starving by then. We choose Red Robin and I ordered their vegan burger with quacamole and substituted fruit for fries. I must say it was very tasty and satisfying. I was very thrilled once again that I could still go out with my family and eat at one of our favorite places.

Part of running errands included picking up this beauty!

I don't have a food processor, my blender is on the fritz and I don't have a stand mixer. A great deal of the vegan recipes I find include using one of these and this Ninja Kitchen System 1100 does it all. I made homemade dog food, smoothies and brownies in it already and it works perfect!

Day 7
I made breakfast burritos yesterday morning. They were not fancy burritos but they were still tasty. All I did was cook some onions and peppers, then added some crumbled extra firm tofu to act as my "eggs". When that was all cooked I moved them to the side and added my hash browns.

Once the hash browns were cooked I mixed it all together and heated up the whole grain tortillas by simply placing them on top of the mixture for about 30 seconds.

The rest of yesterday we just kind of snacked around all day. I had mostly fruit and leftovers.

So that brings us to today and I have been on a vegan diet for a whole week! I think I am pretty much over the detox and honestly I feel pretty good. I feel lighter and cleaner than I did before going vegan and my thyroid and insulin resistance side effects have been less than normal.

Today school was canceled due to it being too cold so I will be trying to get my Monday housework done while keeping the kids under control. lol

Have a marvelous Monday everyone!

Day Four- Shut the front door "meat" loaf recipe!!!

Yesterday was Day Four of my vegan year and it was such a good day. It blew snow all day yesterday so my daughter and I just stayed home and hung out which was exactly what I needed. I even got to sleep late which was also sorely needed. This is going to be a short post today I am afraid because unlike yesterday I have gobs of stuff to do.

For breakfast I put some bananas, frozen pineapple, vanilla, a smidge of almond milk and water in a blender and  made me a quick smoothie. It was very satisfying and quick.

Lunch was leftover enchiladas, also satisfying and quick. lol

Dinner was fabulous! My family adores my meatloaf and one of our favorite meals is meatloaf, mashed taters and peas. I wanted to replicate this meal as best as possible so when I found this recipe online I was excited to give it a go.

At first it seemed daunting, way more steps than my traditional meatloaf, but it was actually pretty easy. The smell of the lentils, bay leaf and veggie stock cooking on the stove was soooo delightful. I normally don't let my daughter help me when I prepare meatloaf because I have this phobia of food borne bacteria and such being transferred from the meat to other parts of my kitchen or that she won't wash her hands well enough and will get some sort of horrible e coli or something. I get very paranoid when handling raw meats and so I just don't let anyone else in my kitchen when doing so. One thing I am loving about preparing vegan foods is that I don't have to worry about this anymore! It is a surprise advantage that I had not really considered until last night when my daughter asked to help make dinner.

My daughter mixing the loaf

This really was an easy recipe once I got everything organized and it smelled wonderful cooking as well. 

Here is the loaf right out of the oven

We always have mashed taters with our meatloaf so I made them vegan friendly by leaving a little of cooking water from boiling in place of the milk and added nutritional yeast instead of butter. After taste testing the taters I added a little salt and pepper too. They were just as yummy as the butter and milk filled ones I normally make. 

last nights dinner plate, lentil loaf, mashed taters and peas

My daughter was the first one to taste the lentil loaf since traditional meat loaf is one of her favorite foods. She went nuts for it and proclaimed her love for lentil loaf right away. Touch down Mom!!!

Hubby tried it next and he also really liked it although he said it was a bit drier than my traditional meatloaf but he still really liked it and said he would like for me to make it again. My son said he couldn't tell much difference between the lentil loaf and the regular meatloaf so I take that as a success too. 

Myself, I thought it tasted absolutely wonderful! I raved about it the whole meal which was bragging yes but I really enjoyed the meal. I really think any meat lover would go ga ga over this lentil loaf, its just that good. 

Stay tuned to tomorrow when I discuss eating vegan on a budget. :-)

Day Three- OMG they are everywhere!.....a knock out dish my family even loved

Yesterday was Day Three of my vegan year and I came to really harsh realization......it is almost impossible to get away from meat and dairy and processed foods in our nation today. Whats a vegan to do when they have little choice but to eat at one of these establishments or not eat?

I awoke yesterday morning early and ready to tackle the world. As I hopped out of the shower I noticed my   little furbaby(your pet that is like your own child to you) staring at me. I didn't have my contacts in yet but I could tell something didn't look right about her sweet little face. As I bent down to further inspect her face I was alarmed to see that the bottom portion of her eyelid was basically hanging opening and there was a deep puncture like hole right below that. I will spare you the gory details but lets just say it was gross and pretty bad. I began to fuss over my poor eldest furbaby when our new furbaby appeared and then directly ran into her kennel to hide. That is when I knew what had happened. Our fur children like our human children fight over their stuff and our dogs in particular will get into spats every once in a while over chew bones. They have never hurt each other but it appears this time was the exception.

Within an hour I had dropped our oldest child off at school and we were on our way to the vets office. It wasn't until we were waiting for the vet to return to tell us the news that I realized myself and my youngest had not eaten breakfast at all. I was in such in a hurry to get the dog to the vet I had completely forgotten about eating! Whoops!

It turns out the injury to our beloved pet wasn't as serious it looked. The vet didn't want to put stitches in it because of it's location so they used some skin glue and ointments and put her back together again. We were sent home with cleaning instructions and a prescription of antibiotics. Once in the car my daughter reminded me that we had not eaten breakfast yet. I had a list of errands I had to run so I didn't have time to go all the way across town and eat breakfast at home so I looked for other alternatives. I needed something fast and something I could get without leaving the car because I couldn't leave the dog in the car. Fast food wins again! After doing a quick search on my phone for fast food chains that had vegan options for breakfast we went to chic-fil-a. My daughter ordered those wonderful yummy chicken minis that use to be a favorite of mine too. I ordered the oatmeal bowl which came with separate packages of dried fruit, nuts and brown sugar. After stirring in the dried fruit I dug in. Honestly it was not that spectacular, the oatmeal I make at home is ten times better BUT it was good enough and I felt good that I could still eat at "normal" food places and have a vegan option.

Once home I had set up the two dogs in separate areas since I was unable to supervise them at the time and was just about to get some housework done when hubby called. He was on his lunch break and running some errands and wanted to know if my daughter and I wanted to meet him for lunch. He didn't have much time so it would have to something quick...fast food wins a second time in one day....grrrrr! Sure I could have said "no thanks" to his invitation for lunch but ya see I kinda love that man a ton and I truly cherish any opportunity I have to spend extra time with him....I am kinda sappy that way. Hubby offered up a few suggestions but I couldn't think of anything on the menus of those places that I could eat or would want to eat. I could tell he was beginning to be put out with me for being so difficult and then I remembered Wendy's, they have baked potatoes on their menus!

On the way over to meet hubby at Wendy's I started feeling like when you are a vegan in a typical american town it feels kinda lonely. I felt like I couldn't eat at any of the places my friends and family eat at and began to really get down about my future social life. Honestly it is pathetic that more places don't have something decent on the menu that a vegan can eat. Pretty much every item on menus these days contains either dairy, meat or both....and all contain added oils. I suppose if I liked salads it would be easier, hopefully one day I will learn to like salads and can bring my own dressing from home. I wonder if this is how other vegans feel? Like they are some weird out crowd that can't participate in normal societal traditions or conveniences. Seems funny that I am eating the most natural diet for a human beings while other drink the milk of another species and yet I am the weird one.

Anyway, at lunch with hubby I ordered a baked potato with only chives and sea salt, a garden side salad(figured I would at least try) and a lemonade. The tater was really good and very satisfying and I kinda of picked at my salad but since I am determined to eat more greens I managed to swallow down half of it. Hubby ordered a bacon cheeseburger and it really smelled good but I could also see the poor pigs and cows being slaughtered to make that burger every time hubby or anyone else around me took a bite. Whatever desire I had to eat a burger too was quickly put to rest when I remembered the images I have seen on videos of how they really treat those poor animals going to slaughter. Of course the images of all that lovely animal protein feeding cancer cells also helped to curb those cravings too.

Our dogs have made up it seems after the eye injury incident yesterday morning. They are now happily growling and barking together at every squirrel, cat and leaf that crosses our yard.

I was glad to be home away from all the overwhelming reminders of how out of societal norm my diet is. Makes me think I need to make some vegan friends so I can enjoy a nice social dinner ever once in a while.
I was reminded again however when I had to run to wal-mart while my kids were at basketball practice since I ran out of foil and milk for the family. Grabbing my shopping cart I set out for the grocery section and again it hit me. Pretty much 75% of the items were not vegan friendly. Of the remaining 25% only half of those were unprocessed and didn't contain extra added oils and sugars. I found the foil, placed it in my basket and headed to the dairy section. I never realized how large the dairy section is, I mean seriously! Aisle of stuff that as I vegan and informed person I wouldn't dare put in body! At the milk freezers I  decided to forgo buying the cows milk and bought almond and rice milk for my family instead. They have had it before when I tried to force the whole family to go vegan last year and they didn't mind it too much so I figured why not. If they complained I would get them their beloved cow's milk because as you may remember I don't want to force them into anything. Once the plant based milk was in my cart it was a long straight shot to the produce section passing aisle after aisle of foods that I now know aren't really food. I didn't buy anything in the produce section since I had already gone shopping on Monday but I wanted to look at the only section in a huge store that I could eat from. There really is a wonderful amount of dishes one can make only from the produce section. Eating only from the produce section doesn't upset me or make me feel deprived, it makes me feel concerned and sad that all that other "food" in the store isn't fit for people to eat and live healthy lives. In line I felt it again. The family in front of me was all overweight as myself. Their cart was filled with piles of meat packages, lots of dairy products and heaps of processed foods like chips, cereals, sauces, boxed meals and snacks. Not one single fruit or vegetable. The mother was chatting with the cashier and I overheard her say they were doing their twice a month grocery run. All of that filth was the only thing this family would be eating for the next two weeks until they did yet another grocery run.....not a single vegetable or fruit....so sad. As I looked around me though all the other carts pretty much looked the same.

Last night I made very very yummy dish! I had planned on lasagna again but with the time constraints I needed something faster so enchiladas it was. I remembered an enchilada recipe I had made last year off of the Dr. McDougal website and although I didn't remember the exact recipe I remember it had potatoes at the main filling so I just went from there. The result was a knock out fabulous dish that everyone liked and I will definitely be making again. I can even see taking these to a pot luck. Here is my "recipe" or rather instructions.

I took a medium sized mixing bowl and filled it half with left over mashed taters(vegan of course) and then added a bag of frozen corn, a can of fat free vegan pinto beans(drained and rinsed), some chopped up  leftover sauted peppers, about three large tablespoons of nutritional yeast and mixed it all up. Next I took some whole grain fat free tortillas and filled each one with the filling, rolled them up and placed them in my casserole dish that before hand I had put a thin layer of enchilada sauce on. Last I poured the remaining enchilada sauce on top and covered it with foil and baked it for about 35-45 minutes on 350.When it started bubbling I knew it was done. My one compliant was that the red enchilada sauce was really spicy and added more heat than I prefer but they were still really really yummy. In the future I will use a much milder sauce when making these.

The great thing about enchiladas is that are some easy to try lots of different fillings and sauces on to make a completely different dish. These are going into my meal rotation when I get one set up for sure.

At the end of Day Three I was feeling better physically but a little sad over the realization that meat and dairy industry are literally everywhere you turn your head in the form of fast food chains and aisles of super market fake foods. I was very encouraged however that I managed to eat at two fast food chains in one day and still was able to eat vegan and also that I made a vegan dish my whole family loved for dinner that night.

I am on Day Four today and so far it has been great with a new breakfast item I made today.......but more on that in my next post.

Have an amazing day everyone!

Day Two- Detox Headaches!!! Grrrrr

After the way I slept last night....or didn't sleep rather....I am not sure if I can call this Day Two of my vegan year or just a long continuation of Day One. I am not sure how long I was asleep last night before the headaches started but I know they didn't really stop until around 10:00 am this morning. Sleep never really occurred and so it is hard to feel like this is a separate and new day when yesterday never seemed to end.

I have never been one to get headaches very often. Ever once in a while I may get some sinus or tension headaches but nothing very serious and certainly nothing that ever lasted for hours. I feel truly blessed in this because I know many people that get debilitating headaches on a regular basis. Today I got a little taste of what that might be like. I couldn't really do anything except lay there and think about how bad my stupid head hurt, nothing helped and everything made it worse. Finally after taking some pain meds and getting some oatmeal in my stomach, the pain began to be manageable and I was able to to get on with my day. I had stay on top of my headaches the rest of the day by taking some more pain medicine throughout the day but  it wasn't too bad most of the time.

After talking with my best friend who happens to be very knowledgeable about natural foods/remedies and has also done lots of research about how horrible the american diet has become, I think I know the reason for my headaches. (Oh and did I mention that she and her husband were/are both nurses) She suggested that my body was most likely in the detox stage of getting all that yuck and filth I have been putting in my body out my system. I have experienced this kind of detox many times before but not with such intense headaches but I have eaten worse in these past few months than I have in a long long time, so my filth more detox I suppose. My friend warned me that day two is when the detox symptoms start but that days three and four are the worse but by day five I should be feeling much better and probably even better than I have in a long time. Bring on day five!!!! :-)

Due to the headaches and my general state of uselessness, my menu for today was pretty easy and bland which with the way I was feeling I didn't really care. For breakfast it was oatmeal again with the apples and cinnamon cooked in it (I will post the recipe soon) and for lunch I made my old McDougall diet stand by, the tater sandwich. I first learned of this simple but delish sandwich in the first Dr. McDougall book I ever read. I made it one day and it was an instant hit with the family plus it is very satisfying. The recipe can be found on the Dr. McDougall website but I will give it to you here as well.

First you simple wash a few taters, yukon golds taste the best in my opinion. After you wash them just prick them with a fork all over and nuke them in the microwave for a few minutes until soft. If you don't like to use a microwave you can bake them in the oven but of course that will take longer. Once they are soft slice them up and "fry" them in a pan. I use my cast iron pan and never have to use any oil, a non stick pan would work as well.

Once your tater slices are "fried" I put them on some toasted bread with whatever healthy condiments and fixings you like. My kids love it with just a healthy bbq sauce on the toast with the taters. The best thing is you can add all sorts of veggies you want to really personal and mix this simple sandwich up. I think it would taste amazing with some carmelized onions, peppers and mushrooms or some humus and sprouts.....definitely gonna try those two in the near future. One thing that makes it so good is the bread as well. We have a really excellent bakery here that makes vegan friendly bread with wonderful whole grains and none of the junk. I use this break when making sandwiches all the time even when I am not eating vegan.

Here are the sandwiches I made for my kids before I put on the top piece of bread. They look pretty bland and I should have taken a picture of mine which was much more colorful but by the time I got it assembled I was so hungry I gobbled it down without a second thought. hahaaha! They are soooo yummy!

This afternoon and evening we got hit with more snow and because I was unable to do any of my errands earlier today I got stuck running around town in the weather. My husband had to work late which was fine since I ended up not getting home until later as well. Once home the headaches started again and the yummy vegan lasagna I had planned for tonight seemed like a huge chore....honestly a bowl of cereal would have felt like a huge chore with the way I was feeling. My family decided to heat up some stuff I had in the freezer instead(I know I am a horrible mother/wife and yes I feel guilty that they had to heat something up rather than have me prepare them a fresh meal, but they are such troopers, I am so lucky) and I made myself another tater sandwich and called it good.

As I write this I am already in my pj's and ready for bed, I missed so much sleep last night I figure going to bed early and catching up would be a good idea. My hope is that tomorrow I feel better and don't have the headaches. I am planning on a yummy kale salad for lunch tomorrow and that vegan lasagna I didn't get to tonight for tomorrows evening meal. I am hoping my friend is wrong and that day three is not worse than day two but I am afraid she is usually right on most things. Perhaps being prepared for it will help though this time because today I was totally thrown off by my headaches and lack of sleep......speaking of which I need to get to bed. Goodnight everyone out in blog land and check in tomorrow for day three of my vegan year.

Day 1 Of My Vegan Year!!!!!

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 Yep it's true! As of today I am officially a vegan. No I didn't wake up to streamers and recycled confetti falling all around me but I was excited to start my journey just the same.

 This morning was a whirl of activity since our oldest child returned back to school after Christmas vacation today. I decided to let him stress over where he last left his back pack, locker combo and shoe while I sat down and enjoyed a hot bowl of oatmeal and fruit. I was hungry enough I could have eaten a seven course meal but time did not allow and besides I had yet to go grocery shopping .

Grocery shopping was alot more stressful than I had anticipated. The last few times I had gone vegan I still ate "vegan junkfood" and it was easy to find a fake version of my favorite foods because I didn't care much about the fat content or all the chemicals that were in the products. This time I had to look at every single label over and over. Sherlock Holmes would have been proud of my investigative skills I am sure! More than  once I held up traffic in the grocery store aisle because I was taking so much time discerning over which items to buy. One man actually threw his hands up in the air and said some not so nice words under his breath as he pushed past me with his cart full of steaks and chips. Honestly I didn't mean to be such a nuisance to my fellow shoppers but I was on a mission and I could care less who I made mad.

In the end it took three different grocery stores to find every item on my list and it was as I was leaving the third store that I realized I was probably over complicating this whole vegan thing.

Once home I was famished and suffering from a caffeine headache. I normally have a soda pop everyday between breakfast and lunch and my body was missing the sugar and caffeine rush it was use to. To be totally honest and fair I will admit to wanting so very badly to eat one of my kid's pop tarts and chase it with a cold soda pop. Or even better, heat up the leftover mac and cheese sitting in the fridge with my name on it.
I knew I had to do something quick before I broke so I made the fastest thing I could think of.....bean burritos.

Trust me it taste better than it  looks

Luckily I had found the low fat whole grain vegan tortillas on my list today so I grabbed a can of no fat vegan refriend beans and decided they would do. I should have loaded this burrito down with some yummy veggie extras but I had little time and will power to chop, dice or even wash any sort of produce so plain bean burritos it was and you know what they were actually very satisfying. I ended my simple lunch with a large handful of red grapes and I was full.

By the time dinner rolled around I was pretty hungry again and my afternoon had been non stop activity. I decided to try the Chili Mac recipe from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.

For the sake of trying to get my kids to even think about eating this I left the Kale out. I had meant to add it only to mine but I forgot completely. This was a simple one pot kind of dish which is just what was in order on a busy day as today had been. My daughter didn't like hers at all but I think that is because I made it a bit spicier than the recipe calls for. To my husbands I added mushrooms since that man will eat anything you put a mushroom on. In the future I will add the Kale and less onion and spice but I will definitely be making it again because it so darn easy and perfect for an evening that you just want something simple.

Overall my first day of my vegan year was actually less colorful and rich than I had planned but it was still ok.  Now that my fridge is stocked with more vibrant foods I am looking forward to some more interesting and exciting meals this coming week. Health wise I am feeling so so . I know there is alot junk that my body is trying to get rid of right now so I don't expect like a million bucks just yet. I definitely don't feel worse or even the same as normal, just slightly better than average. At least it is a step in the right direction.

Well I am off to look up a recipe for steel cut oats cooked overnight in the crock pot. I adore hot cereals in the mornings but my kids like something with a little more kick in the morning so I am hoping that waking to the yummy smell of breakfast cooking will entice them to give it a try. And if they don't more for me later! hahahaaha

Goodnight and I will see you all tomorrow on Day 2!!!!

How is this Vegan Year going to work?

So here I am about to start my year of only vegan eating and I thought I lay a few ground rules to start with.

First off my 365 days of eating only vegan starts tomorrow January 7, 2013. Why didn't I start this on the first day of the new year? To be honest I wasn't sure if I really wanted to embark on this endeavor and 2nd is that we were on the road traveling home after Christmas break on the first day of the new year. I also knew that if I was going to be successful I have to set myself up for success right from the beginning. One doesn't just wake up in a typical american home with a typical american fridge filled with the foods a typical american family eats and go vegan. I needed time to prepare, make a plan, go over a list and really make sure I do my best to set myself up to avoid failure.

As part of my preparations I have had to decide how far I would take this vegan thing in our home and daily life. What I decided is that I will not drag my husband and kids into this new way of eating. All attempts to do so in the past have ended up with everyone being mad at me and lots of sneaking banned food into the house. I would love for my entire family to be healthier but I know my family and I know they need to be gently exposed to changed and that they don't react well to anything that is forced. So, with that said I plan to make many vegan dishes for all of us to enjoy but I will by no means tell them they can not have their other  favorite foods. There will be some meals where we can all eat the same foods and others where I eat a modified vegan version of what I prepare for my family. I am sure there will also be meals where I prepare something totally different for myself. For example my family loves chili dog night but I don't like any of the vegan versions of chili dogs so that night I may just make myself something totally different. It will be a pain on days that I have to make two separate meals at a time but I feel it is worth it to not be the kind of parent or spouse that forces their family to do something they do not want to do. Of course I will be thrilled if they come to like  many of the vegan dishes I prepare but I am not crossing my fingers.

The rest of my preparations involve just deciding what I will and will not eat. Obviously I will be eating vegan but there are actually some different variations of vegan eating I have learned through experience. First of all I have yet to decide about the honey issue so until I do I will just avoid honey. I also don't want to fill my meals with lots of "vegan junk food", those processed chemistry experiments that come in the form of traditional foods but are actually not they are suppose to imitate. Sure these products are vegan but they are also mostly chemicals and additives and are about as much as food as twinkies are. I plan to eat foods that are close to their natural form as possible. Also unlike many vegans I will no be overloading on soy products.   They jury is still out on how soy effects those with thyroid issue and would rather just not risk it until I have more information and research on the matter. I will use tofu however since it isn't made from soy bi products like most soy products but because tofu can be high in fat I won't use it all the time. This leads me to my next guideline for my vegan journey....I will be eating a mostly fat free or low fat vegan diet. Ever wonder why so many vegans are still fat, its because of all the fat they still eat in the form of oils and such. So I will be using very little to no oil in my cooking. For more information about low fat vegan eating check out Dr. McDougall's website. It is mostly his plan that I will be following.

Now for what I will be eating. Yippee! I will be eating lots of veggies particularly the starchy ones and the green ones. Also on my menu will be plenty of wholesome grains, rice and pasta....yes carbs but the good kind. Oh and fruit also! Love me some yummy fruit. So really all I am "missing" is meat and dairy products and eggs. Before when I was eating this way and felt so wonderful my typical daily menu would be something similar to this....
Breakfast- a bowl of oatmeal or breakfast buritto(taters and veggies only) and some fruit
Lunch- baked tater or  pasta with veggies
Dinner- whole grain rice with veggies or just a big plate of my favorite veggies like mashed taters, corn, peas and carrots.
Snacks- fruit, veggies, rice balls, smoothies, etc,....

I also made lots of vegan style casseroles since we love casseroles. One dish I prepared was the enchilada recipe I got off of Dr. McDougalls website, my family really really loved it so I made it alot since it was great eaten as leftovers too.

As far as drinks go, I very very rarely drink any type of alcohol although I do cook with it at times. I will pretty much be drinking water mostly,  fruit juices and my beloved ice tea as well as my  hot herbal teas.

I think my biggest challenge will be eating out. We enjoy eating out and I know it is going to be very hard finding something on the menu that is vegan or that I can have the chef veganize for me. If I liked salads I would just order a salad but I don't like salads so..............
I figure Asian type places will be easy since I can just order some plain rice and veggies. Mexican will be hard because most places put loads of fat in their spanish rice and beans which is what I would normally order when trying to eat vegan. Typical American style establishments will not be too horrible hard so long as somewhere on their menu is a baked potato that I can order plain. It will be a challenge for sure but I am up for it and hopefully will find some new places to eat that we had not considered before.

I have not gone shopping for my new food stuffs as of yet but I have some oatmeal I am planning on having for breakfast tomorrow and then I will head out and go grocery shopping. Today I am working on finishing up my menu and grocery list for this week so I will be prepared.  I plan on posting my menus and recipes on this blog to share with everyone as well.

Admittedly I can't decide if I am excited or scared about this new challenge I am giving myself. I know I am excited because I have already gotten a taste of amazingly better I feel when I eat this way but at the same time I know how hard it is going to be simply because it is hard to alter your way of life. I am a southern gal who loves real southern food after all.

I think it is important that I clarify right now that this is not weight loss diet. It's not really a "diet" at all just a change in the way I eat with hopes of achieving better health and to be more environmentally friendly. I have deeply held beliefs that make it very easy to be an ethical vegan as well which I will share in more detail on this blog at a later date.

So tomorrow is the first day of my vegan year and hopefully the first day of better health.

The Typical Introduction

The first post on a new blog is always sort of awkward ya know. No new blog author wants to start off their blog with a typical first post of an introduction and a life story, they want something unique, something with pizzazz. Unfortunately introductions must be made and information much be dispensed to the new audience and so the new excited blog author has no choice but to write a semi boring first post about themselves and why they are writing the blog.....and that is exactly how this post is going to pan out I am afraid. So please bear with me as this first post falls into the pits of cliche-dom. (Yes I make up my own words)

First, my stats. I am a stay at home mom of two and best friend to my hubby of 14 years. Our children are in the tween and teen stage of life and my husband and I are in our early 30's. We live in north west region of the United States but we were both born and raised in the south. Being from the south we are pretty critical of our food and have a strong bias toward southern cooking. We spent Christmas with family in our home state this year and one of the big things we looked forward to was the food.

My husband and I have both always been on the chunkier side throughout our lives even though we both have had periods were we were more fit and trim. I can't say much for my husband's side of the the family but I know part of my family history includes several members with diabetes, heart disease, thyroid issues and everything that goes with those types of health problems. I suppose that is why I was not surprised to learn about five or six years ago that I also had some major thyroid issues as well as insulin resistance. I was just following in family tradition it would seem.

My diagnosis was very bittersweet. Ever since I graduated high school I had been gaining weight, having brain fog episodes and hormonal imbalances. Doctor after doctor couldn't figure out what was wrong with me until one day years later one of them decided to run a few extra blood test. Why the first set of doctors didn't do this I will never know. The test revealed that my thyroid was basically non functioning and that I also had insulin resistance. To go along with the news was that my doctor found a large tumor on my thyroid which he feared was cancerous. Thankfully after having part of my thyroid removed it was discovered to be benign and I was able to move on with my life and learn how to manage my health issues and my new arsenal of prescriptions.

I will never forget my first doctors visit after my surgery. My doctor was explaining all the new meds he was putting me on, two of which he explained I would have to take the rest of my life if I wanted to live. Yikes! When it came time for me to ask him questions I immediately asked how long it would be before I could start feeling and seeing a physical difference. I was tired of the brain fog, the never ending fatigue, the constant weight gain despite what I ate, the fibromyalgia pains....heck I was just tired of being tire. With extreme sincerity, my doctor looked me in the eye and said the chance of those things going away or getting any better were pretty slim. He explained that the meds I was now on were simply to keep me alive and kicking and any increase in their dosage could result in severe organ damage. I was devastated. Was he actually telling me this was as good as it could get!? Naturally I went to another doctor.

My new doctor gave me a little more hope. He changed up my medication some and said that I should some marked difference but to remember that thyroid disease and even insulin resistance was not something many people can improve on. Basically these were the cards in life I was dealt and I just had to play the game as best as I could but not to place to many bets on winning. Nice.

Another year passed and my husband got a job promotion which had us moving 1600 miles. A new town naturally meant a new doctor which I gladly welcomed. My new doctor changed up my meds which did seem to help in some areas but not in the areas that meant the most to me. I told him I wanted to feel better not just survive and I wanted to lose weight even though all my other doctors told me with my diagnoses was almost impossible. The new doctor decided to put me on a diet to which he believed would help me lose some weight and feel better overall. It was a low carb diet and I had never felt worse in my life.

This new diet my new doctor put me on was essentially the Atkins diet. I could have all the fat I wanted just little to no carbs. One meal suggestion was to take a chicken breast and put melted cheese and bacon on top and then on top of this some mayo and a little chopped tomatoes and serve it on a piece of lettuce. A no bun blt. Basically a fat salad. I was told for breakfast to eat sausage or bacon and eggs, for lunch another hunk of meat with a little vegetables and dinner could be anything so long as it was carb free. Snacks were to be cheese, nuts, yogurt or any sort no sugar diet type foods. I was not allowed to have fruit, breads, grains, beans, any starchy vegetables, rice, pasta or anything with sugar in it. I could have a big steak and all the buttered covered vegetables I wanted but no tater on the side and definitely no side of rice. I will admit I did lose weight although I know most was water but still I was happy to see the scales drop twenty pounds in such a short period of time. That was where the happiness of it all stopped. I had thought that the brain fog ones gets when they have thyroid issue was bad but it was nothing compared to the brain fog and headaches I developed while on the low carb diet. I was use to being tired and constantly fighting fatigue as part of thyroid disease and insulin resistance but I had less energy than ever on the low carb diet. My skin went to heck, my whole body hurt and smelled and guess what my blood test got worse! For the first time in my life my blood test were showing high cholesterol, high triclycerides and high everything else that was bad for you. I began having high blood pressure for the first time in my life and my sinus issues tripled as well. I felt horrible my health was getting worse not better.

I took my concerns to my doctor who said this was all normal and to give it time, so I did. Time proved however that this way of eating was doing more harm than good. Thankfully my doctor is fairly open minded and decided to look a bit further into the diet he had put me on and at my next visit he suggested I do two things, add a bowl of oatmeal to my breakfast and a cup of rice to my dinner. I started feeling a little better but still not enough to make an improvement on the majority of my health issues. I asked my doctor if any of his patients had had success on this diet he was putting me on and he said very few but most are simply not able to stay with it because the side effects are so unpleasant. Duh!

Honestly I think my doctor is just as perplexed about nutrition as the rest of us. You don't have to take a course in nutrition to get a medical license in our country so essentially our doctors know almost as much about nutrition and it's role in diseases as the rest of us. Reassuring isn't it. Sadly it wasn't until I started ignoring my doctor's advice on nutrition that I began to feel better.  So now I basically just go to my doctor to get my medications refilled which he is happy to do every time.

Ok reader, thanks for hanging in there with me for this long, I have given you my background and now it is time for the purpose of this blog.

This past year or so I have done lots of research on nutrition and it's role in disease and health in general. Included in my research was further investigation into how we get our food, where it comes from and the effects these practices have on our world. I will give more information on my research  in details on this blog later but for now I am just going to state that I believe that a vegan way of eating is the best possible diet both for ourselves and the environment.

I have "gone vegan" many different times while doing my research and each time I always felt sooooo much better. My longest run was three weeks and in that short time my sinuses completely cleared up, I lost fifteen pounds, I had more energy and my fibromyalgia pains pretty much stopped. Why did I stop you ask? Because I am human and I have a hard time saying "NO" to things I enjoy....like cheese...yummmmm.
There was also lots of outside pressure from folks saying my vegan way of eating was strange and even wrong and it became increasingly hard to feel like I actually fit in with society. Typing that sounds insane but it truly made me feel like I was the creature from the lost lagoon. It took a series of stressful months, the failing health of some of my loved ones and the fact that I simply feel worse now than I ever have, to make me not care what others think anymore. I still have the battle with my cravings to contend with but my brain fog, sinus issues and pains have been so intense lately that I only need to remind myself of what my favorite foods do to me health wise and I can usually control the cravings.

So even though I have many good reasons to partake and stay with a vegan diet I know I still need one extra kick in the pants to keep me on course......accountability. That is the primary reason for this blog, accountability. I know that if I have people reading about my journey and goal of eating only vegan for one full year that I will be  less likely to slip up. Also setting a goal makes a huge difference in how I find success or failure in anything I do. Before when I went vegan I just left it open ended and said it was for life which made it seem daunting. By saying I am going to do this for a year, it gives me an ending point to look forward to and strive for. Naturally my hopes are that when my year is up I will feel so good and have seen such great results that I will continue eating vegan long past my initial year. It is going to be a hard year but should be very interesting and I invite you all to follow along with me as I try out lots of vegan recipes, meal plans and learn more about nutrition and where our food comes from.