Day 40 of eating vegan!!!!!!!

Yes I have not posted in a while but I am still eating vegan! yippee! Last week my family joined a local health club and we have been going everyday which is one reason for my absense here on the blog. The other reason is that have been the past three days with sort of zombie sinus/head cold thing. Today I have decided to got to the doctor because I don't want my three day weekend coming up to be ruined.
So today will a quick update and this evening or tomorrow I will post all my new recipes that have been hits...and some flops.

K, so up until a few days when I came down with whatever it is I have, I have felt great!!!! More energy than I have ever had before going vegan. My clothes fit better each week and some activities are just easier in general.

The family is now on board....well at least not complaining.....about me only feeding vegan foods in our home. I have noticed hubby making healthier choices when we go out as well.

Speaking of hubby, since going vegan at home he has brought is blood pressure down quiet a bit. He is still in the high zone but at least he is out of the "bout to have a stroke" zone. His chiropractor he saw a few days ago has been very impressed and I am super proud of him too.

I have had some folks tell me I got sick this week because of my vegan diet. Yes thats like saying eating  a twinkie will make you well....stupid. Honestly though, being sick once in almost two months is kinda a record low for me because I tend to spend half my days feeling like pooh anyway.....so yes I got sick but I still feel I am winning.

Ok thats all I have time for right now, got to head to the doctor now. Have a fabulous day everyone!!!!!

One Month Eating Vegan!!!!!!

I have passed the first month mark of eating only vegan!!!! I hate to brag, but yeah, I am so proud of me. It has not been easy the entire time thus far but when I compare how I am feeling now versus before going vegan, it is easy to stay on track. Some weight and inches have come off although I am not sure how much yet because I have not stepped on a scale but my clothes are fitting better and I feel "lighter" in general. I have an appointment with my thyroid doctor coming up this month so I will find out then how I am doing. For once I am super excited about this appointment, normally I am nervous about what the blood work and scale are going to reveal each visit. This time I am excited to see the positive changes in the data that I feel confident are there.

I realized real quick last week that if I am going to only serve healthy vegan food at home to the entire family, I had better provide lots of yummy vegan snacks to ward off the whines from my family. My husband and kids love chips, which are mostly vegan but also loaded with chemicals and fat. I discovered roasted chickpeas this weekend and they were an instant favorite. These yummy bites remind me of corn nuts and you can season them with just about anything you want. I have used plain salt, taco seasoning, a dry bbq rub which makes them taste like bbq flavored chips and plan on doing a vinegar and salt  version this week. These babies are so good that I have a hard time keeping them made because they disappear as soon as they are cooled.

To make these all you need to do is buy some dry chickpeas/garbanzo beans from your market. You can used the canned cooked version but for ultimate crunchy goodness start with the dry ones instead. I bought mine from the bulk bin and filed a good sized container for less than a few bucks so this is also a very economical snack as well. Once you have your dry chickpeas you will need to rinse them then place them in a bowl of water to soak. I let mine soak overnight or for approximately 4-5 hrs, you want them to be almost double in size and soft enough you can bit into.

Next drain and rinse ans spread them out on a towel of some sorts. I use a big flour sack cloth on my kitchen counter for mine. Let them dry for about 2 hours, you don't want them wet because they will chewy instead of crunchy in the end. If you are using the canned chickpeas than you will want to drain and rinse them and lay them out to dry in the same manner.

Once your chickpeas are fairly dry, spread them out on cookie sheet or shallow pan. I put the tiniest faintest amount of non stick spray on mine but if you are not concerned about the fat you can just toss the chickpeas with olive oil first. Bake on 350 for about an hour, stirring every 15-20 minutes. As soon as they come out of the oven season them and place somewhere they can cool. I usually just pour mine onto a plate to let cool.
Once they are cool you can store them in any container really, keep them in a baggy in your purse, a jar in your office or car....they are yummy and easy anywhere.

I have so many more new recipes to share with you, I can't wait....but I must because I have a ton of errands to run today and I best be getting with it.

Have a lovely day everyone!

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.