Day 22: Not sure where my cell phone went

Spiritual Menu: Psalm 42, 43; PM - Psalm 85-86; Jeremiah 10: 11-24; Romans 5: 12-21; John 8:21-32

I'm still super busy, which is annoying, but I really just can't complain. At least I have something to do.  As my subject reads, I'm not sure what I did with my cell phone, so I can't post the cool pictures of my vegan French Toast.  I do have an amazing recipe for it, though:

4 slices of vegan bread, toasted and slightly stale
1/2 cup apple sauce
3/4 cup rice milk
2 teaspoons flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon mace
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon all spice
Safflower Oil

Cut the bread into slices. Let them hang out on a plate for a while.  Mix apple sauce, rice milk, cinnamon, mace, ginger, flour, and all spice together in a bowl.  Heat the skillet up til hot, then about about a 1 tbsp of safflower oil (to coat the skillet).  Dip the bread slices into the mixture quickly, not letting them linger, the place them in the pan.  Brown on both sides.  Serve with maple syrup.

Day 21: The adventures of Cauliflower and Eggplant

Spiritual Menu:  AM: Psalm 119: 97-120; PM: 81, 82; Jeremiah 8:19 - 9:6; Romans 5:1-11; John 8: 21-32

I finally found an eggplant to try a recipe on! I'm soooo excited!

Here's the deal - since I'm allergic tomatoes, I've had to find some alternatives. The spinach pesto sauce is still a personal favorite of mine, but I wanted something else I could come up with something that looks a little more like pasta white sauce.  I almost succeeded in this cauliflower sauce.  It has the taste, but the consistency is still a lot like very creamy potatoes.  Tastes yummy on the cauliflower and with the kale.  Here's my picture.

Eggplant with White Cauliflower Sauce

1 eggplant
1/2 cup flower
1/2 cup Jamaican water crackers, crumbled
1/2 cup rice milk
1/4 cup olive oil

1 head of cauliflower, cut
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoon Basil leaves
2 teaspoons Italian Seasonings
1 teaspoon salt

Cut the eggplant into slices.  Set up a dredging station with flour, rice milk, and crumbled water crackers.  Dredge each eggplant slice.  In a pan, heat up the olive oil.  Cook eggplant on each side for about 3 minutes. Drain excess oil with paper towels.

Steam the cauliflower with salt and water.  When soft, strain water.  Place in a blender and liquify.  Heat olive oil in a pan.  Sautee onion, bell pepper, garlic, basil leaves, and Italian seasoning.  Add cauliflower.  Heat and serve as sauce.

Backtracking Day 20: More Greenery

Spiritual Menu: AM/PM Psalm 78; Jeremiah 7:21-34; Romans 5:1-11; John 7:37-52

So I'm loving kale. It just makes me feel good inside when I eat it.  Today, I just made it as a side dish, kind of like spinach. I had it with a mushroom patty (yes, I love them!) and brown rice.  Here's the recipe for the kale:

1 bunch kale
1/2 small onion
2 tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper

Cut up the kale and onion.  In a sauce pan on medium heat, heat olive oil, then add onion.  After sauteeing a bit, add the kale, and salt and pepper to taste.  Cook until green all over.

Day 19: Kale!

Spiritual Menu: AM: Psalm 80; PM: Psalm 77, 79; Jeremiah 7:1-5; Romans 4:1-12; John 7: 14 -36

It's funny how people are starting to notice my veganism - and ask questions. Yesterday I was in Subway ordering a veggie sub (on Italian which is a vegan made bread) and the cashier asked me about it.  Today, I was in Applebee's (wonton tacos w/o chicken, and oriental chicken salad w/o chicken), and my server asked me about going vegan.  Pretty cool stuff actually.

The highlight of the day though, Kale salad. I decided to get the Kale cooked so that I can have it done finally, and it was amazing! It's a relatively easy vegetable to cook, and withstand waay more heat than even spinach.  Still maintains the crunch.  Here's the pic:

The recipe:

1 bunch of Kale, shreaded
1/4 cup pecans, chopped
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tbsp Agave Mustard

Sautee your kale in the olive oil until green and covered.  Add pecans and dried cranberries.   Add agave mustard sauce to the mix.  Take off the heat and allow to cool. 

Enjoy!

Backtracking Day 17: Down day (Mar 25)

Spiritual Menu: AM Psalm 69; PM Psalm 73; Jeremiah 5:1-9; Romans 2:25-3:18; John 5:30 - 47

Friday in our house is down day, meaning no one cooks.  So it was off to Taste of the Island again for me since I've been ripping up carpet all day.  This project should be done next week and I can get back to cooking and save a few dollars.

I have Curry Tofu today, which is always good.  I was so hungry after doing all the work that I just forgot to take a picture of it.  Tomorrow I'm traveling so I may combine Day 18-19.

Backtracking Day 16: Greens, please! (March 24)

Spiritual Menu: Psalm 70-71; PM Psalm 74; Jeremiah 4:9-10, 19-28; Romans 2:12-24; John 5:19-29

By the way, this backtracking really is bothersome.  The reading?  And I thought it was hard to keep up with before!   I think I'm going to presave some of these blogs with the readings on them.

I have been wanting the green!  All day, the craving for cabbage was so overwhelming that I high tailed it down to Taste of the Island and got a Veggie patty w/ Coco bread and cabbage.  Found out later that I'm not supposed to have the Coco Bread, but it was all soooooo good!  Well, back to work.

Backtracking Day 15: Quick Lunch (for March 23)

Spiritual Menu: AM Psalm 72; PM: Psalm 119:73-96; Jeremiah 3:6-18; Romans 1:28-2:11; John 5:1-18

What to do, what to do, what to do for lunch?  That's the question of the day.  I was out scouring the many Home Depot's and Lowe's looking for paint (very long story) and in the midst of trying to get the color exactly right, realized that I didn't have time to cook!  Oh no.  Then I saw Panera Bread, which I love!  But bread is made with milk -- shoot.

All was not lost.  I took out my trusty iphone (technology does have it uses) and did a quick search on google to find vegan Panera items and found this amazing website called www.veganeatingout.com, which had as many restaurants as you can think of with their vegan options.  I ended up having the Fuji Apple Salad with no chicken or goat cheese.  Surprisingly, I didn't miss the chicken.

Backtracking Day 14: The Week of Fast Food

Spiritual Menu: Psalm 61-62; PM: Psalm 68; Jeremiah 2:1-13; Romans 1:16-25; John 4: 43-54

I had Amy's Gluten-free, non dairy Pizza.  It's good, but pricey, which is sad because it's so small already. 

This week, I've been working on a project that literally had to out at the weirdest hours and sleeping sporadically.  Needless to say, it was hard to plan out my meals and even take time to write on the blog (or write anything else).  I did take a few pictures though!

What I found is that eating out is NOT easy for vegans, especially if you don't live near a place that caters to it.  You're pretty much reduced to a modified salad (since many come with cheese) and apple juice.  Oh, and french fries if it doesn't share the same oil as the meat.  Then when you order something, even if you specify, people don't necessarily understand the point. 

Who'd a thought this would be teaching me quite a bit of patience too?

Day ??: Fast food anyone?

So this has become the week of the fast food vegan exercise.  I'm working on a project that has just taken up most of my days (and some of my nights) and thinking about cooking, or even writing a blog post has been tiresome.  Which means I'm also behind on the reading (and we know how strenuous that is!).  I'm hooking up the blog to my phone now, so I should have no excuse.  Mobile baby!

I'll back post tomorrow.  New adventures for sure. 

Day 12 -13: Whoa, Mama!

Spiritual Menu: AM Psalm 56, 57, 58; PM - Psalm 64, 65; Jeremiah 1:11-19; Romans 1:1-15; John 4:27-42

So technically, according to the Lent rules, you have Sunday's off. But, I decided to keep my Vegan pact because I know me.  And I've been wanting both seafood and chicken a bunch lately.  I'm talking salivating and even dreaming about the next time I'll be able to sink my teeth into a piece of flesh.  Sadness, I know, but hear me out. 

First off, at church we had a reception of sandwiches, potato salad, cakes, cheeses, then fruits and vegetables. I was okay for a while, just wishing I had packed my own lunch.  Then, Sunday dinner was fried chicken, green beans, potato salad.  I ended up having fried mushrooms, green beans, and a vegan potato salad (with blue agave nectar and mustard dressing, bell peppers, and onions).  Getting creative!  It hit the spot because I'm trying to be so dedicated to this.  In essence, this blog will actually be 46 days instead of 40 so keep the Sunday's in.

Today, I was running all over the place - freelacing - and I had to consider fast food vegan options (and I still haven't research the weight piece! Ahhhh!).  I think I cheated, matter of fact, I'm sure I did, though I didn't try.  Mr. Everything on M L King, Jr. Drive near the AUC has a veggie sub that uses Boca Burger and a bunch of fresh vegetables.  In hind sight, the Boca Burger over rice or on a bed of spinach would have been better.  It does give my favorite grilled sandwich a run for it's money.  You can check out the e-commercial here to see how they make the salad.  I was so busy that I forgot to take a picture, but I'll do it tomorrow for sure when I have more pizza (Amy's again).

BTW, what wasn't vegan, I'm sure, was the bread.  It would have been closer to my diet to just get the salad, but I didn't eat a good breakfast and when I saw the sandwich it was not going to waste!  I also had a Kashi brown rice bowl for dinner (after 10pm!) because of all the trekking over Atlanta.


I'm planning to cook kale tomorrow and cauliflower.  I really want to make some mashed cauliflower and the cauliflower sauce.  Hmmmmm.  New recipes and pictures then!

Mr. Everything!

Day 11: Losing Weight? Losing Weight!

Spiritual Menu: AM: Psalm 55; PM: Psalm 138, 139; Deuteronomy 11:18-28; Hebrews 5:1-10; John 4:1-26.

So in trying to work with my vegan journey, I found a very interesting fact:  I'm losing a couple pounds!  Now, I was trying to lose a few, but it just seems to be unexpected.  So how did I figure this out?  I woke up this morning took a little look in the mirror to check under my eyes.  When I get sick, I have these dark purple rings around my eyes that give me a sunk in look, almost as if I went about 3 rounds without having to endure physical impact. I'm finally shaking the wind tunnel that seems to blow out my lungs every time I cough and it's showing on my face.  Since I was already in the mirror, I allowed my gaze to travel to my stomach and thighs which were smaller.  

I must admit, I'm not a large woman, but over the past few years, I've gained a little here and there.  Recently, at least before my vegan ventures, I was doing Zumba about twice a week, but hadn't kept it up.  I'd lost a little, but now I can see it!  So I measured and saw that I've lost two inches around my waist, the area I actually wanted to see some movement in.  I need to hit the bike or run around the neighborhood to tighten up...summer's coming!

But it got me to thinking - how much was I actually willing to lose? More than that, what could I eat to not lose more than that? You're really not supposed to lose more than about 2-3 lbs a week to do so healthily, so the absolute most I can lose is 24 pounds.  For my weight and height, that can still be okay, but then my entire wardrobe would on the fritz in two months.  Sounds fun now, but in two months, after the visa my lenten diet is providing has expired and I'm back in the land of meat (though I'll probably keep the allergens out), I don't want to return to my currently weight.  So maybe plateauing is a little better? 

Sounds like a little research is in order. New recipes tomorrow!

Day 10: That Meat Craving....

Spiritual Menu: AM: Psalm 40, 54; PM PM 51; Deuteronomy 10:12-22; Hebrews 4:11-16; John 3:22-36

I wanted meat so bad today.

It was crazy because I've been okay with thinking of new ways to eat.  It's really like learning to cook all over again, with new ingredients and really having to think and be focused on what's coming for the next meal.  I'll never take this for granted again! 

But what got me was that it's Friday.  In my house, Friday is a no cook, fiend for yourself day.  That normally equates to pizza, or hot dogs, or Chinese food, something ordered out that requires no cooking!  So after salivating over turkey burgers and grilled chicken, I decided to go to the store and find a vegan pizza.

And I did!  Amy's has a brand of vegan and gluten free pizzas that are to die for. Completely hit the spot, which I'm excited about!  Try it.

Day 9: Dips and Such

Spiritual Menu: AM: Psalm 50, 59, 60; PM: 19, 46; Deuteronomy 9:23-10:5; Hebrews 4:1-10; John 3:16-21

So today was a relaxing on food wise.  I pulled a couple of leftovers out, including one that can be shared with the family.  A while ago, I found a mango and mint recipe for tilapia that's amazing with tortilla chips, particularly the hint of lime Tostitos (which are not vegan friendly).  Here's the recipe:

Mint and Mango Salsa

1 Mango
1/4 cup diced onion
1/2 lime
2 tbsp fresh mint, minced.

Cut the mango, onion and mint into small pieces.  Place the mango and mint in a large bowl together.  In a pan, heat onions up until tender (this is the take out the strong onion taste).  Combine onion with mango and mint.  Squeeze lime over the mixture.  Stir together.  Chill then serve.

Day 8: The Trouble with Whole Wheat Pasta

Spiritual Menu: AM: Psalm 119:49-72; PM: 49, 53; Deutronomy 9:13-21; Hebrews 3:12-19; John 2:23 - 3:15

So today was a weird food day for me.  I had popcorn (using the corn kernels, safflower oil, and yeast popcorn seasoning), oatmeal from McDonald's without brown sugar, a Spinach Patty, a ton of water, Kashi cereal with rice milk, and two apples.  This is FAR below what I normally eat, so I'm absolutely upping my calorie intake tomorrow.  It was just really busy...I know, I know, no excuse.

Yesterday, I did the Mushroom Pesto Pasta with my family.  This was my first time doing the vegan version, my regular version is banging!   The Mushroom was a hit, the Pasta -- not so much.  I didn't get the seasoning right, and I don't think I cooked it long enough.  I remember watching "Kitchen Boss" before and Buddy said that pasta water should be like sea water (I love his shows).  No, the troops weren't happy (and I'm not a bad cook!).  I'm working on it so the trial and error must continue.  Here's the recipe though, maybe you can get it right.

Spinach Pesto Penne with Breaded Mushrooms

Pesto
3 cups raw Spinach
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup Pecans
2 tbsp garlic
* in some recipes, if you're not doing the vegan thing, you can put Parmesan cheese in it.

Mushrooms
2 Portobello Mushroom caps, sliced
1 cup Jamaican Water Crackers (in place of bread crumbs)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup rice milk (in place of eggs)
2 tbsp Olive oil

2 cups Whole Wheat Penne
3 cups water
1 tbsp Olive oil
2 teaspoons salt

Boil the water with olive oil and salt.  Put whole wheat Penne in the water.  Let it cook for 20 minutes.

For the Pesto, in a blender, combine Spinach, olive oil, pecans, and garlic.  Blend until a lush green sauce.

In the blender, grind the Water Crackers into crumbs.  Wipe down the mushroom with a little water (don't wash!) For the mushrooms, slice the mushroom caps into 1/2in wide slivers.  Set up a dredging station with flour, then rice milk, then water crackers.  Dip the mushrooms into each.  Heat olive oil in pan and cook mushrooms for 2 minutes on each side. 

After the pasta is finished, strain the noodles, then put them in pan with some of the Pesto (enough to coat your pasta).  Serve Mushrooms on top of Pesto.

I like to cut my mushrooms into smaller chunks and mix it all together.   The pic's..at least it looks pretty spiffy.

Day 7: Tasty Treats

Spiritual Menu: AM: Psalm 45, PM 47, 48; Deuteronomy 9:4-12; Hebrews 3:1-11; John 2:23 - 3:15

I did a ton of cooking last night!  I won't bombard you with all the recipes (not today!) but here's what we have.  Thanks to my facebook buddies Jai and Heidi for the broth pointers - it turned out great!

The theme of the day is Mushrooms (so far, I've found it easier to manage if I focused on fruit/vegetable since it gives me a place to start).  I love them, they are tasty.  In addition, it is a meat substitution that gives you the same full feeling, which makes me happy.  And there are so many types that you can experiment to see you favorite. I'm a Portobello and shittake fan, but really explore and choose what works for you.

To be honest, I was up late writing and didn't get my breakfast going.  But this is what I've been eating this week - regular Quaker Oats with the fixings (pour the oats, pear chunks, dried cranberries, and pecans into a bowl - as much as you want, then pour boiling water into the bowl and stir.  Let it sit for a few minutes and there you go!).

For lunch, I made a Mushroom Burger.  I cut portobellos and regular mushrooms (the ones you see most often in the stores) and blended them with oats and crushed Jamaican water crackers - my substitute for bread crumbs, since I haven't bought the dairy free bread.  That's the picture you see up top on a leaf of romaine lettuce and blue agava mustard sauce and the vegetables from the broth.

For dinner, I'm making a meal for my family. So far they've been pretty curious about the experiment, so I'm doing Penne with Spinach Pesto and Crusted Portobello Slices.  They are in for a treat!

Two recipes:

Vegetable Broth

4 stalks of celery
1 medium onion
2 carrots (or half a bag of baby carrots)
3 quarts of water
salt (I used vegesel)
pepper

Wash and chop all the vegetables (think big chunks).  Fill a saucepan (a medium sized pot) with water and drop the veggies in.  Add salt and pepper.  Let it cook for about an hour or so. If you taste it as you go, it'll be bland at first.  Once it all simmers together, it'll be fine.  Strain the vegetables and you have a broth. Save the vegetables for another meal!

Mushroom Burger

3 tbsp Olive Oil
1 lb of Mushroom (mixed types)
1 small onion
3 garlic cloves

2 tbsp of oregano
1/2 cup Jamaican water crackers, crumbled
1/2 cup rolled oates (raw oatmeal)
1/4 cup rice milk

Preheat oven to 350. Dice (cut small, but not tiny) mushrooms, onions, and garlic cloves.  With 1 tbsp of olive oil, saute the mushroom, onion, and garlic.  In a large bowl, mix mushroom mixture, oregano, water crackers, rolled oats and rice milk together.  On handful at a time, craft individual patties.  Using rest of olive oil to coat the pan, put patties in oven and bake for about 7 minutes.  Flip them over, then back for another 7 minutes. Serve on a warm tortilla with lettuce and blue agave mustard.

I'm off to make dinner.  Recipe tomorrow!
____________________________________________________________________________________
Meal Plan:
Breakfast: Oatmeal with pear chunks, dried cranberries, and pecans.
Lunch: Mushroom Burger on a Tortilla with Stewed Vegetables.
Dinner: Penne with Spinach Pesto and Portobello Slices

Day 6: Shopping and Cooking

Lenten Scriptures (Since that's the whole motivation.  I get them from a handbook my denomination is using.  It's truly bootcamp, but wonderful!): AM: Psalm 41, 52; PM: Psalm 44; Deut 8:1-10; 1 Cor 1:17-31; and Mark 2:18-22.  Prayer Guide: That God give each local church a burden for lost souls.

I was finally well enough today to get out and buy food!  Of course, my excitement didn't stop and I went on and cooked a few meals to walk me through the week a little.  I promise to take pictures of the things I cooked and include recipes.  Here's my shopping list:

_ Apples
_ Pears
_ Bananas
_ Portobello Mushrooms
_ Cabbage
_ Shittake Mushrooms (I couldn't find them on my side of town :()
_ Eggplant (See shittake Mushrooms :( )
_ Potatoes
_ Whole wheat pasta
_ Non dairy bread (see eggplant and shittake mushrooms :( )
_ Cauliflower
_ Non sugary cereal
_Onion
_ Celery
_ Spinach
_ Pecans
_ Cashews
_ Mangos
_Tortilla chips
_Beans (red)
_Tortillas
_Apples

My coolest find of the day though is Popchips.  They are vegan, not baked or fried (I'm still trying to figure out the process, but I love it!).  They also have cool flavors Salt and Vinegar and Original.  They have barbecue as well, though not vegan and it has other things I'm not supposed to have.  Here's a picture of the bag!

Day 5: Getting hungry!

I was a writer for a 23 hr Play Fest (thanks to Daylight's Savings Time) on Saturday so I did a lot of munching during the writing on fruits, nuts, and water.  Sometime later in the evening I found that I got hungry! Wow, did I have to take time to think about what I would eat next.  So here's what I had today.  Tomorrow I'll go shopping and actually cook a little something for myself.  I'll post the list and the recipes.

Lunch: Thai Sweet Potato Soup (repeat)
Salad with craisins, pecans, and dried apples.
Dinner: Fruit, hot corn, collard greens, cranberry juice.

I'm not trying to starve myself - I just haven't had an appetite because of my cold.  Believe me, tomorrow's will look different because it's coming back with a vengeance!

Day 4: Soup without Tomatoes?

Still recovering from my flu.  I figured out late that I cheated again on my veganism (I had homemade ginger beer that uses honey as a sweetener - ginger beer is so good though!).  My plan is to have this bad boy conquered so I can get back to cooking.  Meanwhile, I'm doing things with short cuts, which brings me to my mission for the day: Vegetable broth.

I am allergic to highly acidic fruits, which includes: oranges (hence the orange tirade), peaches, pineapple...skip down about 10 items on the list and we find tomatoes.  I'm as allergic to them, meaning, I may sneeze or not have any reaction at all, if I have a slice or two.  The same goes for lemon and lime.  But put them in a bowl of soup and voila! Whelps up and down my arms.  Really sucks actually.   So imagine my chagrin to find that all the ready-made vegetable broth soups have tomatoes in them!  Because of that, for today, my pick is Thai Sweet Potato Soup from Pacific Natural Foods.  It is higher in sodium, but has a great taste without over seasoning.

I put my Vegetable broth grip up on facebook.  Let's see what that brings back.

Day 3: Still sick

Feeling much worse.  I just ate leftovers (the tofu), cranberry juice, and water.  I did have a vegan patty from The Patty Lady (mushroom).  Tomorrow, soup and fruit.  Somebody in my house bought fruit -- a bunch of oranges, which I'm highly allergic to -- so I have to stop by and pick up some others.

Day 2: Caught the flu

So I woke up this morning with my head hurting, a fever and chills. I had hoped it would be the sniffles, but, as I checked webmd, I found I was wrong.  What to do?  I didn't even think to do a Vegan option and went straight to the Vick's Nyquil Cold and Flu (day time).  As I tried to figure out what I could eat, or rather what I had a taste for, I remembered that the Jamaican restaurant around the corner, A Taste of the Island, had Tofu.  I ordered brown stew tofu with rice and peas and cabbage.  It was a lot of food and worth two meals.

I'll find an alternative link for those interested.  One catch: if you're staying away from fried foods, ask them to bake the tofu instead.

Day 1: Ash Wednesday

So I forgot the first day about my vegan commitment and had chicken, yes, chicken for lunch.  I think that will be my down fall (note to self: stay away from Chick-fil-a!).  I did make up for it by eating boy choy and tofu my brother brought home. Here's how he made it:

Bok Choy

1 bell pepper (whatever your favorite color is - we had yellow)
1 small onion
1 bunch of boy choy
2 tbsp olive oil
salt (to taste)
peppercorns (to taste)

Chop all the vegetables.  Put them in a pan with a little water and olive oil.  Note: For bok choy, keep all the stems on (different from chopping cabbage).  Keep stirring.  Let them simmer to all one color.

Grilled Tofu
1 Carton soft tofu
3 tbsp Jerk Seasoning
1/2 cup water

Slice tofu.  Mix jerk seasoning and marinate the tofu in it.  Pull out the George Foreman grill (yes, he used the George Foreman!) and grill them for about about 5 minutes.