Day 12 - My future food

A friend asked me today what was going to happen at the end of the month when my 4 week vegan commitment was over. And it got me thinking. . .

I have 2 weeks left and I really have no idea. Sometimes I think I want to vegan for the rest of my life - I feel great about myself, what I'm eating, and how I'm living. But other times, I really miss dairy. If I decide to not be vegan forever, I think I could do vegetarian at least. I really love pizza.

O yeah, the vegan ramen (from yesterday's blog) was great! It was really easy to make, convenient and yummy. I might go and buy some more for late night cravings of ramen noodles.

Speaking of late night cravings. . . This is my food I am eating now:

This is my favorite late night snack: Chips with beans, tofu sour cream, and salsa - YUM.

O yeah- tofu sour cream! Weird, right!? I saw it at the health foods store and I thought "I gotta try this!" - I tried it when I got home, and I REALLY didn't like it. I thought it was nasty. But then tonight I thought I would give it a second chance (and eat it with something) and it was GOOD. I was shocked but when it's mixed in with beans and salsa, it's delicious!

Day 11 - I'm HUNGRY.

As each day goes by, I am realizing that I am eating not as much food as I use to. Which, I suppose is a good thing. But I don't think I am eating quite as much food as I should be. I am struggling to shove vegan food in my mouth before dinner. This really isn't too big of problem except my stomach starts growling sometimes.

I guess I should let you all in on a secret. I have ADHD. I am currently on medicine for ADHD, and one of the biggest side effects (I notice) is lost of appetite. Before I went vegan, I had a good schedule of making sure I ate. Because I really do forget - I will go a whole day on a muffin and then at 9 PM, I have a headache and feel shaky.

So, now I am trying to figure out what to do because my hunger pains aren't as painful as they use to be (because of the medicine). I use to always get soup/sandwich/cheese bagel at my school's cafe. Well, I no longer have those options. . . So I need to (once again) plan ahead.

Here is what I did today:

I microwaved breakfast and ate it in the car. It was the left overs from this weekend's breakfast scramble. Look, I was dangerous and took a picture of my skilled multi-tasking:

Please don't the cops.

Tonight (in about 20 minutes), I am going to a meeting where dinner is being served (uggggg). I am starting to not like eating when other people are cooking (how sad). I asked if the dinner will be vegan friendly and it's not (of course) but there will be a veggie tray (o joy, veggies). So, I am bringing along a cup of vegan ramen. I am excited to try this because I love ramen noodles and I am so happy to find a nice company that makes them vegan. I hope they are as salty, fake, and unhealthy as the real ones.

Fresh Flavor in a cup. Yum.

Last thing! I got Thai/Sushi with some girlfriends last night. I was planing on getting vegan sushi but then I realized they had other vegan options. So I got Thai Green Curry with tofu. It was YUMMY. It came looking like this:

Is it soup? Wait, I'm confused.

It was served with rice and looked like soup. I was confused because I thought green curry was a noodle dish. But it was very good, I highly recommend it - but only if you like spice. It's a bit spicy. O yeah, don't worry that's coconut milk - which is vegan. Bam baby!

Yipps! Gotta run to that meeting.

Have a good night y'all! Thanks for the comments!

Day 10 -The hard part is setting in

Being vegan is starting to be a lot harder than I expected. Sure, I thought it would be hard but this is extreme.

I will start with my weekend.

Friday night: I had some plans to go to a bar with some friends. We met a bit before dinner time, so I actually packed a little dinner (PB & J and pickles) for myself because I wasn't sure if we would be going to a vegan friendly restaurant.

We ended up at Viceroy (a trendy bar that is modeled like a bar during prohibition - there is even a secret door and password to get in). And as it turns out Viceroy is (sorta) vegan friendly! So, I ordered vegan chili and french fries.

Not the best/most appetizing picture, but at least I got to eat out!

On Saturday, I had a wedding to go to. I was really nervous about what was going to be served at the reception. I thought about asking the groom (who is a good friend but doesn't know I'm vegan) if there were going to be vegan options. BUT I forgot. So, I planned on bringing some snacks in my purse. BUT I forgot that too(surprise, surprise). So, I just had to be anxious and wait to see if I would go hungry for the night.

We get the reception and sit down and I look at the menu: Salad, chicken, fish, green beans, and mashed sweet potatoes. Great! I can eat salad, green beans, and mashed sweet potatoes. The salads were soon served and look so pretty! Plus, it was easy to pick off the blue cheese. Yippies!

It was small, but mighty tasty!

Then, I get to the buffet. I am waiting in line thinking "please don't let there be butter on the green beans, please!". But of course, the green beans were DRENCHED in butter. So, I get a huge plate of sweet potatoes. Here what one of my friend's plates look liked:

Look at the chicken. mmmm!

And this is what my plate (and I) looked like:

ugh.

After about 2 bites, I realized I really didn't like them. They probably would have been good if I something else to eat with them, but they were very. . . mushy and gingery (I don't like ginger). So, I literally had 3 bites. And starved until I got some Taco Bell later that night.

ARG! I HAVE TO BE HONEST. I have a confession- the mashed sweet potatoes were probably not vegan. There is no way to know for sure because I was too shy to ask (I really gotta get over that). But I just googled recipes for mashed sweet potatoes, I noticed that all of them have butter and even some have chicken broth. ARG, because of my "I don't want to be that girl" insecurities, I have ate butter and maybe even chicken. Damn it, I should've asked.

On Sunday morning, all my friends were going to a popular breakfast place called Wolfgang's. If you ever come to Grand Rapids (and you are not vegan), go to Wolfgang's! They have the best, unique breakfast combinations - Banana Bread French Toast, Pancakes with cream cheese and fresh berries, and Skillets with eggs, potatoes, meat, and seasoning. It is SO good.

So, once again I planned ahead. I thought "I will get hash-browns with onions and peppers in it." And as a back up (if the hash-browns have butter), "I will get potatoes with peppers." I thought it was a pretty solid plan.

The plan failed - miserably. The hash-browns are cooked on the same skillet as everything else = butter, butter, butter (and maybe bacon drippings). The red potatoes are even worse. They marinate them in chicken broth - why? I don't know. Good thing I asked this time. It was really awkward as the waitress and I tried to figure something (anything!) out. I suddenly remember I could get a plain bagel. So, that is what I got.

AND IT SUCKED. Well, the bagel didn't taste bad. It just sucked watching all my friends eat very yummy cheesy eggy breakfasts while I had a bagel with jam on it. I love eggs so much. I love breakfast so much. I probably won't go to Wolfgang's again unless they get at least one vegan option.

However, I have made some yummy vegan breakfasts. Here is some photos:

This was my second time making breakfast potatoes. This time I added vegan bacon, and it tasted SO good.

This is a very interesting breakfast. It's suppose to turn out like cheesy eggs. Here is the recipe. This was an adventure of it's own. I made it with tofu and nutritional yeast. I was really worried as I was cooking it because it looked kind of nasty. But to my surprise, it tasted good. At first, I was a little turned off but the more I ate, the more I liked it. Especially when it was on my bagel!

In fact, I am eating the left overs right now. :)

This is a random shot. I get really hungry at night when I am reading and I often need a lot of food. This is what I grabbed. Vegetarian refried beans, chips, and a pickle. I love my pickles.

Lessons learned: ASK. and ask ahead of time! I should have called Wolfgang's with my questions so I wouldn't have been so disappointed, and I should have asked my friend if there were going to be vegan options at his wedding. It would have avoided a lot of sadness and hunger in my stomach. My poor stomach.

Good news! I have lost weight. NOT gained and the acne is not bad. Woop woop!

Day 6 - Purely Decadent Coconut Milk Ice Cream

I decided after popular vote of my closest friends who support me through the craziest things to continue blogging. Y'all are wonderful.

THIS ICE CREAM IS HEAVEN IN A TUB.

and

coming from me that says that a lot.

TOMORROW! I am going blog about pride issues because for some reason I feel that I am better than other people for being vegan. Am I? --> Hell's NO!

P.S. Sorry for being so whiny yesterday.

Day 5 - Snacks and Challenges

As the days go by (has it only been 5 days!?), I realize that being a vegan is hard. The fun new adventure aspect is wearing off and the "I just want a hotdog so bad" part is coming into focus. I started school today, and I think that's why I'm realizing the challenge - I have to pack a lunch and snacks on the go. Last semester, whenever I got hungry I ate a cheese bagel from the cafe or a yogurt. But now, I really have to plan ahead - I'm not good at that especially when it means:

a) Getting home after a long day exhausted and packing a lunch before I go to bed. Or

b) Getting up earlier to pack a lunch.

I always go for option b but it always end up failing. I have to find a new system.

Last night! I had the best midnight snack. Well, I should explain - when I get hungry at night, I get REALLY hungry and I eat A LOT. I really needed a snack and this is what I made:

A big ol' pile of refried beans, chips, and a pickle. I love my pickles! This is a great snack for me, maybe not the healthiest of options, but hey! - at least it's vegan. Oh, yeah I did chop up some green onion and put that in the beans. YUM.

To be really honest, I don't feel like blogging about this anymore. I don't think anybody is reading this, and it takes a lot of time. I haven't got one comment on this whole blog = no readers = I'm a loser = I feel sad on the inside. See what you have done?

Day 4 - Rules

I need to define my rules/regulations of what I can and can't have.

Before I began, I thought I wasn't going to be very strict- but then I realized if I wasn't, I wouldn't know where to draw the line. So, I am being strict and here are my rules:

Rule #1: No Meat. This is pretty obvious. But let me define further - no solid meat and no meat in liquid or powdered form. For instance, I can't have chicken broth (or anything made in chicken broth) and I can't have Ramen because they have chicken powder in the seasoning. Also, no fish- which is a small bummer because I am going to eat Sushi tonight.

Rule #2: No Dairy. Again, let me define further - no dairy in any form (milk, butter, eggs, yogurt). The hardest ingredient to deny is "dry milk" - it seems to be in a lot of stuff.

Rule #3: Eat everything else - anything that grows from the ground.

Those are my rules. I should explain something further - A true vegan would not just define themselves by the food they eat but also all other products - cleaning solutions, make-up, soap, and clothing. I am not a true vegan. I am focusing on the food aspect only. I would be overwhelmed to change all those elements at once. Perhaps, I will slowly change my mind over time (if I get use to being a food vegan) and I will change to more animal/planet friendly products. But for now, I am focusing on food.

Also, honey is still up in the air. I can't decide if it's okay or not. I have not had any honey yet. I have a big bottle of it and it's from the farmer's market so I feel like it's okay. But technically, it is an animal product.

Product Review - Newman O's

I read from a couple of blogs that these Oreo cookie copy-cats were good, so I gave them a try.

It's strange because they say "Creme Filled Chocolate Cookies" but there is no creme or milk in these cookies- which makes them awesome because they are vegan.

The first thing I notice when I opened the package was they look exactly like Oreos and smell like Oreos too (I have a strong sense of smell). And then when I looked closer, I was kind of bummed because they don't have as much creme filling as Oreos. BUT THEN, I tasted one. O my goodness! It was delicious! I would say the creme filling taste the same as Oreo's filling, but the chocolate cookie part was very rich and chocolaty. My mouth was overwhelmed with positive sensations.

I am definitely buying these again.

Day 3 - Vegan Bacon, Muffins, and Dinner!

When I went to the grocery store and I looked at the crazy vegan "meat" products, I thought "these are all really weird and I have to try at lease one." So I picked out some vegan bacon, and didn't expect much when I had plans to make it for breakfast this morning. Too be honest, I thought it was going to be disgusting.

When I opened the package, it looked gross. It's like plastic wrap that is air tight around an orange cube.

It was actually really hard to get it out of the plastic wrap. Once I did get the package open I split the slices in half - which I wasn't expecting because normal bacon doesn't do that. But when I tossed it on the frying pan, I was shocked to see that it actually sizzled!

I tried to get a picture of it actually sizzling- I swear it sounded just like real bacon! When I first open the package it had a strange smell, but as it cooked it started to smell like bacon too! I was shocked! It only takes a couple minutes to cook, so I threw a bagel in the toaster and washed some blackberries. When the bacon was done, I tossed it all on a plate:

O yeah, I put vegan butter on bagel (it spread okay, better than I thought it would). And then I tried the bacon and was shocked! It was good! It tasted like bacon! Well, it tasted like crispy bacon (I like my bacon soft and chewy) but I still ate it and enjoyed it. I was really surprised because it's made out of plants - how can plants taste like bacon?

Then! I found an awesome vegan blueberry muffin recipe. I was so excited to try them because I need some yummy snacks around this place. Here's a picture of the ingredients:

So simple, right? 7 ingredients - I was curious to see how they would taste with no butter, cream, or eggs. So, I heated up the oven, poured the batter into cute little paper cupcake holders, and of course took a picture:

I picked them up to pop them into the oven. And the oven was cold. Turns out my oven broke - bummer. So now, I have these 8 guys sitting in my fridge waiting to be cooked. Poor little muffins.

Then, dinner time rolled around. I already pre-planned to make black beans and rice. I have made this recipe many times and it is one of my favorites. It's quick and simple - plus most of the time I have the ingredients on hand. Here's the ingredients:

That's garlic, onion, and rice. The spices are cumin and cayenne.

The ingredients are cheap and simple, just what I love. Here is the finished product (actually this is the very finished product because I forgot to take a picture before eating, whoops):

Yummy!

So, that is what I ate today. I don't have any plans for eating tomorrow. I should do that, otherwise I will crave something naughty.

I haven't had any real problems being a vegan. . . yet. I don't have any meat cravings but I do have cravings for eggs. I love eggs- and I love to eat eggs with black beans and rice. Eggs are a comfort food for me. But other than eggs, I really don't miss all those other foods.

Maybe it's because I'm trying not to think of what I can't have (meat and dairy), but what I can have (plant based foods). It's really pleasant and peaceful to know that I everything I'm eating nobody had to die for. It all came from soil with no pain and no feelings.

I don't really feel healthier, as in my energy levels haven't changed. I don't think that they will because I already am energized most of the time. Maybe I will notice a difference once school starts in 2 days. I think that is when the challenges will come my way because I will be faced with eating out, and learning to say "no" to food people offer. I'm too nice - I know it's going be hard for me to say no to yummy cookies, or baguette, or pizza. YUM PIZZA.

Day 2 - Vegan Shopping and Breakfast

I went grocery shopping to only buy vegan items.

Here is what I bought:

Things I have never bought before:

Vegan Bacon: I thought this was the most interesting vegan "meat" product, so I'm giving it a try.

Extra Firm Tofu: For a breakfast scramble recipe (Suppose to be like eggs - kinda). I'm nervous that I might have bought the wrong kind because the recipe calls for "Extra Firm Tofu, drained and crumbled." I'm not sure if it's suppose to come drained and crumbled (I couldn't find it) or if I crumble it myself.

Two 5 lb bag of potatoes (red and russet): I will eat a lot of potatoes - breakfast, fries, potato chips - yumm!

Vegan Mozzarella: I'm going to make pizza bagels with this and see how it goes.

Bagel Thins: I think all bagels are vegan, these are low calorie and whole wheat.

Ground Flaxseed: I can use this as an egg substitute, plus get my omega - 3s!

Newman O's: I've heard great things about these cookies, so I'm giving them a shot.

My total grocery bill: $99.51 - $5.99 (goldfish stuff) - $1.38 (guacamole mix that I'm returning because it has dry milk, whoops) - $4.79 (wrong kind of yeast, also returning) = $87.35

That is a lot of money - hopefully now that I have some basic staples, I won't have to spend as much. Also, I did get a little excited and bought instant vegan meals because they look so fun to try.

Okay, now my first vegan meal:

Breakfast! I made these OmNom Breakfast Taters Preshuss. It was really good! It's basically just breakfast potatoes with green peppers and onions. Here is some pictures:

I made half the recipe because I am only one person. And I'm not good at eating leftovers.

This is vegan butter. It actually taste just like butter and it did a really good job with frying the potatoes, but it is not very spreadable (like at all) like normal butter.

Yay, kind of healthy breakfast!

So, things are going good. I am a little worried about the acne issue because I have started to break out. I hate having acne, especially when I'm 22. But it is only for a short period of time, so hopefully it will go away soon. For now, I will drink lots of water - lots and lots of water.

Day 1

I have been vegan for 22 hours. This is how my day went:

I woke up with some friends after a fun night of welcoming the new year. I knew my friends had plans to make waffles, so I was going to bring some granola bars to eat in the morning - but I forgot them. So, while everybody was eating yummy belgium style waffles, I ate pretzels. Suck. Then I drove home with a friend (2.5 hour drive) and we stopped at a gas station. And the only thing I could find vegan was Lay's potato chips. Suck.

I got home and took a very long nap. I had plans to make black bean and rice, but I accidently slept for 6 hours and didn't feel like cooking much when I woke up from hibernation. Thankfully, I had some vegan soups on hand AND a left over bean burrito (fresco style) from Taco Bell. I warmed up some Leek and Potato soup (added some spice for flavor) and ate my Taco Bell - not too bad. I also had vegan ice cream in freezer and I ate that too - it wasn't all that great.

So, the first 24 hours have gone okay. I need to plan tonight what I will be eating. My plan is to only grocery shop for 3 days at time because otherwise I buy too much food and it goes bad. Also, this way I can always be making recipes.

I LOVE THESE PICKLES.