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Vegan Challenge Recap

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Right now I’m walking to Wegman’s to study and enjoy a (non-vegan) lunch with the husband.  I just finished my first big interview for the program my fingers and toes are crossed that I get accepted to.  I’m going to post a recap with all of my thoughts on the Vegan Challenge tomorrow, but for now I wanted to share some of the highlights and things I learned.

Cheese is good, but quesadillas can be even better without cheese.

The healthy-living blog community is a great source of fantastic vegan recipes.

Vegan food can be fun to dip, especially in Stubbs BBQ Sauce.

Veggie sushi will rock your socks.

When cookie dough is vegan, you can eat it with a spoon.

This tastes just like apple crisp.

You can make a burger out of eggplant.

I love chia seeds. 

I’m obsessed with cocoa. 

You can totally make a banging casserole without cheese.

I think my peanut butter noodles I good enough to enter in a contest.

You don’t need cheese on your pizza either; at least some times!

Banana Foster really is my favorite dessert in any form.

Finally, I learned that vegan meals can be fun, but I like diet wiggle room better.

February Vegan Month Challenge

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Welcome to February, the month of slushy snow and Hallmark holidays!  Around these parts it’s also the month of a vegan challenge.

I’ve done the vegan challenge before, two weeks last February and a month with Allison last June.  While I never plan on going vegan long-term, the short stints were a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to the challenge.  Here’s some relevant background information about my beliefs –

~ I do not believe that a vegan diet is healthy for everyone HOWEVER I do believe that most modern Americans would be healthier if they adopted more vegan meals into their diet.

~ I do not have a moral issue with the consumption of animals (although I personally chose not to consume mammals) HOWEVER I have a major bone to pick, pardon the pun, with modern practices within the meat and dairy industries.  Since we can’t afford to buy a lot of ethically sourced dairy and meat we chose to lower our consumption.

The main impetus for this challenge this that fact that recently we’ve been relying a lot on take out and I’ve been spending less and less time preparing healthy food.  I love to cook, and I know I just need a push to get back into it.  While there are some fabulous vegan restaurants, they aren’t many in Buffalo; hopefully this challenge will get me back into the kitchen.

So the challenge is pretty simple, here’s what it entails –

  • 1 month
  • no meat (turkey, chicken, tuna, salmon…)
  • no dairy (milk, yogurt, cheese, ice cream…)
  • no eggs
  • no honey
  • no processed items containing meat, dairy, eggs, or honey

How do you define your eating style?  If you are an omnivore, have you ever done a vegan challenge?

Chew On This

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So this is going to be my smile for approximately the next year –

That’s actually more of a grimace, but you get the point.

If you are thinking “this is a food blog, I don’t care about your embarrassing mouthware!” then chew on this fun fact- most of the nutritional problems in the elderly are directly related to issues with their teeth.  Dietetics definitely recognizes the link between the health of your teeth and your overall health; we had several lectures last semester devoted to dental carries alone.  As much as I wish they wouldn’t, my trips to the orthodontist are definitely going to have an impact on the way I eat in the coming months.

I can take the retainers out to eat and brush my teeth, but ideally they need to be in my mouth as many hours a day as possible.  This has a couple of scary effects on my diet –

  • I can no longer be a grazer.  In order to maximize my retainers-in-mouth time I need to generally stick to three meals and day and they need to be as short as is realistically possible.
  • I cannot really eat during my classes.  I suppose I technically could, but I don’t plan on taking out my retainers in the middle of a lesson.  I’m not really sure how this is going to work, especially with my 6-8:40pm class.

After I was done reliving my teens I spent the morning running random errands.  We’ve got quarters for laundry, a new stock of stamps, and my mouth looks like it belongs on someone who gets felt up in the hallway; done and done.

My mouth doesn’t really hurt yet (it will), but the crunchy salad I had planned for lunch was not happening.  I ended up walking down the street for a slice of buffalo chicken pizza.

Followed by some nice cold ice-cream.

And I’m glad that lunch was calorically heavy because it ended up also being dinner.  I’m not sure whether it’s the after-effects of yesterday’s migraine, all the extra spit I have going, or a combination of both, but the thought of eating dinner was just sickening.  I’ll have an extra big breakfast tomorrow!

Suggestions needed!  What the heck should I do about eating on campus?

Minimums and Maximums

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Minus the fact that I lengthened it by forgetting my lunch until I was a block away, my walk to school actually wasn’t so bad!  I was cold, but not oh-my-gosh-I-think-I’d-rather-just-curl-up-in-the-snow-and-die-cold.

My first day of classes went well (this semester is going to be hard!) and p.s. my packed lunch ended up being delicious and satisfying.  To top off my good day, I even headed to the gym after class.

1mile in 9minutes 10seconds, followed by a quick .25mile walk cool down.

(This next bit is mostly on here for my records, feel free to skip ahead.)  I’m excited to get back to the gym, and I’m even more excited about a fun fitness thing that might be happening the second week of March.  I want to make sure that I am (1) ready, as in, in shape and (2) ready, as in, not injured so I made a loose workout plan for the next month.  In addition to strength training, the following are my minimum and maximum workout goals for each week.

  • 1/24 – 1/30:  run 1 mile; x-train 20-30minutes
  • 1/31 -2/6:  run 1.5 miles; x-train 25-35minutes
  • 2/7 – 2/13:  run 1.5 miles; x-train 30-40minutes
  • 2/14 – 2/20:  run 2 miles; x-train 30-45minutes
  • 2/21 – 2/27: run 2 miles; x-train 30-50minutes
  • 2/28 -3/6:  run 2-3 miles; x-train 30-60minutes

With between 4-6 cardio sessions each week, all done on the treadmill and elliptical.  Basically I want to get back into shape, but to force myself to move slowly so I don’t mess up my legs again.  I can walk as much as I want, but I want to stick to the maximum miles running on any given day.

Anyways.  When I got home this evening I was treated to a killer migraine, but I managed to push through and ended up with a banging dinner.

Lemon-Artichoke Risotto, a la Rachael Ray.

This was my first ever attempt at risotto and it ended up being pretty painless.  Stir, stir, stir, and you end up with a nice creamy dish.

Add leftovers and a few steps on the side, and you’ve got a great dinner.

Risotto,

leftover bbq chicken from yesterday’s pizza,

and some steamed brocoli.

Also a side of cheese, we watched The Initiation of Sarah while we ate 😉

Have you ever made risotto?

Welcome 2011

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I love New Year’s Day!  Actually, I love the start of a new year, the start of a new school year, the start of a new month; I guess I’m just excited about fresh starts.

My case of fresh-start-itis has given me perspective though – when you set new goals they need to be clear and manageable.  I think my new resolutions fit within those parameters, and also fit within the picture of the life I’m trying to create.  I’m not sure why, but I can already tell that 2011 is going to be my year! 

  1. Officially lose the 10lbs I gained when we moved to Buffalo.
  2. Create a written record of my experience as a teacher.
  3. Run another half marathon; one for which I’ve actually trained!
  4. Work on becoming a less negative person*.
  5. Read at least one new book each month.

*This goal is more vague than I would recommend, but I haven’t decided yet how to tackle a slow shift of perspective.

Do you set goals for the new year?  What’s on your list of 2011 resolutions?

Drilling for Coal

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Ta-ta for now, Buffalo!  We packed in another full day and body, mind, and spirit are all willing and ready for a trip tomorrow to St. Thomas!  Errands of both the boring and holiday variety, elfing, and celebrating are all complete……now I’ve just got to worry about packing!

We started our morning with a little anxiety, and got all the not-so-fun stuff out of the way first.  Brat that I am, whenever someone talks about scares at the dentist I always blurt out “I’ve never even had a cavity!”  Well fate finally decided to shut me up, and today I got my first filling.  My cavity was teeny tiny so it ended up being quick and painless but I about scared myself to death in anticipation.

Fun fact – I was totally dressed as an elf today.  As I said to the husband; “if you’re gonna get drilled you might as well dress in costume!”

Yes that does look like a dressing room mirror, our main errand of the day was trip to the mall!

That crazy Christmas-week-at-the-mall feeling is probably why we thought sharing a mini Reindeer Blizzard was a good breakfast.

This had caramel, pie pieces and toasted coconut so I was expecting to like it more than the husband, but he went to town, practically ripping the spoon from my hand!

Waiting to find a Christmas party outfit until the day before we left probably wasn’t my brightest idea, but I ended up getting 2 super cute outfits!

Also on the agenda was Adam’s belated birthday lunch at Cheesecake Factory.  Sourdough bread with butter.

And one of the husband’s avocado eggrolls.

For my meal I ordered the lunch portion of the barbecue ranch chicken salad.

It was ok, I mostly ordered it for the corn and black beans, but the dressing was lacking the tang I was looking for.

Seriously though, this is the half-portion?!?

I couldn’t even eat half of this monster.  Though I did have room for a couple of the husband’s fries.

For dessert, we split a peppermint stick courtesy of J.Crew.

Honestly JC, you don’t have to bribe me, you’re already my favorite!

I thought I was stuffed, but after lots and lots of mall-walking (maybe those grandma’s in the ’90’s were onto something?!) I was ready for a snack when we got home.

Two servings of Silk Soy Nog with nutmeg.

Leftover cheeseball.

I wasn’t going to share this recipe because it’s both simple and similar to one’s found online, but so many friends raved about it at the party that I figured I should –

Spicy Creamy Cheeseball

  • 16oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese (aka neufchatel cheese)
  • 1/3 cup hot pepper peach preserves (I used Stonewall Kitchen’s)
  • 2Tbsp chopped white onion
  • 1Tbsp chopped long hot pepper (if you use the spicier jalapeno I’d cut back a little)
  • 1/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar
  • 3Tbsp chopped pecans

Allow the cream cheese to soften.  Add all ingredients together in a bowl and mix well to combine; we found it was most effective to use our hands.  Shape into a ball if desired, and store in the refrigerator until serving.

My plan for dinner is the rest of my lunch salad.  I planned on blogging it, but – it’s 9pm now, I still haven’t packed, we have to leave the house at 5:30am tomorrow; you do the math!  Speaking of spotty posting, I just want to give you guys a heads up that my posts will be sporadic during my days in the islands (like anyone cares!).  I’ll recap everything in full, but I’ll be doing fewer, longer posts.

See you from the beach!

Ten Things

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1.  I stole this post idea from The Daily Garnish.  I had fun reading hers, and knew it would be a fun post to write.  Plus, with a name like hers you know she’s a smart cookie!

2.  I always try to dress professionally for school – a lot of students come in sweats but our teachers have already told us that they watch our every move before we apply to the next level of our program – but my hair looks like this pretty much every day.

3.  Adam said that my Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Brownies are the best brownies he’s ever had.  I’m over the moon; I have a tendency to get inappropriately excited about making things he likes.

4.  I really like pigs.  I want to own two, and I’ve already got names picked out – General Sow and Sir Francis Bacon.  I want a piglet the way other women want a baby; in fact, I regularly tell the husband that “my ovaries hurt for a pig.”  He hates me.

5.  We both really want a hedgehog.  Did you know that the spiky darlings are illegal to keep as pets in both New York and Miami?  Adam’s not entirely convinced our inability is a bad thing.  He thinks that just because I’ve prenamed our future hedgehog “Sonic,” that I plan on dying him blue.  He’s right.

6.  Contrary to the image #2 belies, I do own some hair accessories.  I store them in a refurbished fruit basket.  I came up with that idea all on my own, and I think this is far more clever than it actually is.

7.  The parking situation is the only thing we don’t love about our neighborhood.  For no discernible reason, there is M-T-W and T-F parking on opposite sides of the street.  Adam is so on the ball, that he kept us from getting a ticket today (Thursday) by moving my car to the Thursday side of the street in the morning.  Yesterday (Wednesday).

8.  Sometimes I have so many clever ideas – pet names, interior design, world domination schemes – that I stress myself out and can’t sleep.  So I put a notepad and pen at the head of my bed.  I’ve never written in it.

9.  I’m most excited that school is over because now I have time to work on my magazine binder projects.  Our dining room table (our only table) has looked like this for months.

10.  This will be my only post this evening.  Dinner was candy and booze.

What’s 1 thing about you?

I’m Done!

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For real this time – I’m done!  I’m done!  I’m done!

And, in further cause for celebration – I found out I scored a 93% with the curve on the Anatomy final, which means my final grade for the semester was a 87%!  And I think we did a great job on our presentation today.  Booyah!

This morning started off with a chocolate mint strawberry smoothie.

For two (I love that Adam likes these!) we mixed 2 cups of frozen strawberries and 2 cups of chocolate peppermint soy milk.  I know that picture is a little grim, but that what it’s like outside in Buffalo at 7am and 12*.

Our final presentation went well; not gonna lie, I think ours was the best.

Plus, I might have bribed everyone by brining in Tamarind Candy!

After a quick meeting I was free, free, free!  I spent almost an hour walking down Elmwood, just happy to be outside.  I can’t believe I don’t have class again until late January.  Or that I’m going to St. Thomas next week!

Lunch needed to be walking distance from the apartment, celebratory, and in my budget.

Chicken fingers drenched in Buffalo sauce?  Don’t mind if I do.

I scarfed this entire thing, got a bit sick to my stomach, and was totally in heaven.  All I need now are some sweatpants.

When does your holiday break start?