Tag Archives: vegan

Vegan Challenge Recap

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Howdy, again!  Thank you for being patient with all these blogging-free days.  My online class has been as hard (if not harder!) as I was expecting.  The fact that I’m in catch-up mode (I had to print out all the hand outs, write up my profile, etc) is definitely adding to the stress though; once I’m on top of things this weekend everything will run more smoothly.  I actually have my first exam today, so no food post now, but I wanted to do a Vegan Challenge Recap.

Overall, the last month was very satisfying.  I will straight up admit that yesterday (June 30th) dinner was a big cheesy plate of jalapeno nachos!  Amazingly, it was the first time all month I even wanted anything that wasn’t vegan.  I had several people ask me over the course of  month what foods I was missing, and the honest answer was nothing.  Vegan foods can be easy, tasty, and satisfying.

Will I be permanently changing my eating style then?  No.  I still believe the things I said in my Challenge Introduction Post –

  • Eating many vegan meals each week contributes to a healthy diet.
  • Vegan cooking and baking can be fun and satisfying.
  • Veganism is kind to our planet and can be a great way to conserve energy.
  • The current industrialized dairy and meat industries are immoral (even though in theory consuming meat and dairy is not) and the best way to vote is with my wallet.

But I also believe these things as well –

  • I personally feel healthier when I am eating some animal products (especially Greek yogurt, eggs, and lean fowl).
  • Going out to dinner is a lot easier and more enjoyable, especially in Buffalo, when your diet is less restricted.
  • I enjoy foods like eggs and Greek yogurt.  And even though I didn’t really miss them during June, I don’t want to cut them out of my life forever. 
  • I don’t drink a lot of cow’s milk, but soy milk in iced coffee just isn’t the same.
  • We are going to be broke as hell next year and not using my year’s worth of free eggs just isn’t an option.

 For all my ‘traditional’ readers – have you ever done a vegan challenge?  What were your final impressions?

8hours in the Car Later

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We started off this morning with another bike ride!

Actually, my mom and I biked around and my dad and Adam walked behind.  It was a short ride because our main destination was coffee.

Piqua gas stations aren’t exactly floating in soy milk so I ended up having to use Irish crème non-dairy creamer, yetch!

For breakfast I pulled a Coconut Acai Prana Bar out of my snacks bag.

This was not enough food and I was starving the minute we hit the road.  I ate a bag of honey mustard and onion pretzel thins,

and I opened some honey roasted cashews.

Miracle of miracles, we managed to find another healthy road trip food option!

I have major adoration for Einstein Bagels anyways, but this was by far the healthiest car lunch one could eat.

I got the veggie sandwich – red onion, cucumber, tomato, lettuce on a sesame bagel thin – and subbed in hummus for cream cheese.

Filling, healthy and delicious.  It even came with an apple as a side.

A mealy and disgusting apple that I ended up throwing out the window, but at least it came with one! 😀

Things were going well until we realized we missed an exit and added 2.5hours to our trip.  Arrgh!  At least, when I was starving and things were looking grim, we found a Sheetz, with fresh fruit.

Watermelon,

and grapes.

And pretty road sign flower sculptures across the street.

When we did finally get back to Buffalo we quickly unpacked before grabbing dinner from the Co-op.

Baked veggie rolls,

and baked tofu with cilantro ginger sauce.

I hope everyone else had a great weekend!

Put Another Veggie on the Barbie

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Our day just got better and better 😀

After my bike ride I grabbed a small bowl of fresh fruit for breakfast.

Melon, blueberry, raspberry, grape.

Then the family set off toward the 2nd Street Market –

It ended up reminding me of a mash-up between a farmers’ market and Quincy Market in Boston.  We didn’t end up buying a whole lot, but we did see all sorts of neat things.

I did “lunch” in bites.  My dad and I bought a pint of cherries to split.

Adam gave me one of his grape leaves.

And I ate a pack of Bananamon Funky Monkey.

After the market we did shopping that was even more my style.  We went to Trader Joe’s to stock up on Sun Butter and then to Dick’s where I got my birthday gift early – new running shoes!!!  I can’t wait to start breaking those bad boys in!

On the way home we stopped at George’s (like Dairy Queen, but owned by a family friend, and better) so the husband could demolish a double cheeseburger and chocolate malt.  I went with a much more reasonable extra small grape/strawberry slushie.

This was one of the times I appreciated the vegan challenge; George’s has a long blizzards list and besides the fact that I really don’t need a huge ice-cream choosing a flavor gives me anxiety 😉

I did finish up dessert with a small serving of gummi cola bottles at home though.

Dinner was the first time this month that the vegan challenge was actually a challenge.  My grandparents adore Outback so that’s where we went, but my options were beyond limited.  I ended up ordering three sides.

Side salad (no cheese, no croutons) with balsamic vinegar.

Side of steamed veggies.

Side of french fries.

Not the healthiest meal by any stretch.  I rounded it out with some fresh watermelon when we got home.

Adam and I just got our butts kicked at Euker and now it’s bedtime.  We’ve got an early morning tomorrow before we head back to Buffalo, see you at home!

We Like To Ride

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Almost magically, we spotted a Chipotle around 7:30 yesterday.

Real food on a road trip?!?  Count me in!  I got a vegetarian burrito bowl.

Underneath all that lettuce was rice, black beans, guacamole, roasted corn salsa, and fresh tomato salsa.

It was the perfect fuel to get me to Ohio.  Perhaps a bit too much fuel, because we ended up keeping my parents awake chatting until almost 2am!

My mom was able to lure me out of bed at 8am with the thrill of a bike ride.  My grandparents live right next to a fabulous running/bike path; I’m so jealous!  My mom and I started our day off right with a good workout – biked 7.6miles.

Now I’m off to find breakfast before we start the rest of the day’s activities.  Hope everyone else is having a good weekend!

Rainy Daze

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Today’s weather was a strange mix of torrential downpour and beautiful blue skies; on the whole it left me throughly confused.  I felt like I muddled about in a bit of a daze all day.  The only thing I didn’t muddle through was my sociology test – 24/25 😀

Breakfast, on the go, was delicious.

Applemon Funky Monkey.  It was like a grown up version of those caramel apple chips that used to be around when I was a kid.

After class I did ~1mile of my walk home, stopping at the Spot to study.  While I was there I ate a vegan peanut butter chocolate chip muffin for lunch.

It was during that time that the skies really opened up.  Fantastically, Adam randomly got off work early and came to pick me up in the car.  When we got home we had to plan a couple of things for the rest of the week and I begged him to lay on the bed and cuddle with me while we talked.  —> enter 2 and 1/2 hour nap!  It was way too long to be asleep in the middle of the afternoon and left me totally disoriented; still worth it though.

Dinner was one of those meals that was so simple and so tasty.

I went ahead and made leftover for tomorrow as well so the amounts listed are for 2servings – 2cups frozen okra, 1.5cups frozen corn, 1cup black beans, paprika, s&p.  Perfect.  I topped today’s bowl with green salsa pinched from Moe’s.

On the side I had one of my favorites, beer bread.

My mom always makes this (and save the ends for me!) when I’m home but this was my first time making the recipe on my own.  Also definitely the first time it was made with a vegan butter substitute 😉  It was so fantastic I ended up going back for a second hunk, spread with a bit of Smart Balance Light.

This bread seriously takes less than 5minutes to put together, make it!

What is your favorite food recipe that involves booze? 

When I Dip, You Dip, We Dip

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I’ve been pretty productive since last posting… For example, while I ate my watermelon (❤) I watched an episode of “The Dollhouse.”  I discovered it this weekend and I’m in love; why do I always discover shows after they’ve gone off the air?!?  Meanwhile, Adam and I split a serving of Salsa Kathy’s Krackers.

How gorgeous is that?

Also, I joined Adam for a trip to the gym.  Since I’m turning 25 in a month I don’t think my incidental exercise walks are going to cut it by themselves.  I did an easy season on the treadmill (remind me that I’m NOT to run for more than 15minutes until next week!), that was actually not that easy.  Can we say out of shape?

  • 5minutes walking warm up
  • (3minutes running + 2minutes walking) x 3 = 12minutes intervals
  • 6minutes running
  • 4minutes walking

I ended up covering 2.5miles in my 30minutes.  Then I finished up with some stretching and pt.

Post-shower I made a delightful, dippable dinner.  Boco Meatless Nuggets,

oven roasted yellow squash, zucchini, and potato.

All together, with honey mustard dipping sauce.

I was still feeling hungry after dinner, probably because my day was pretty light on proteins and fats, so I made myself a revolutionary snack.

Protein pudding sans icky fake protein powder – into the blender went

  • 1 large banana
  • 1 serving silken tofu
  • 1T maple syrup
  • 1T peanut butter

And finally, I worked on my oral presentation for Thursday.  I actually have a test tomorrow but I’ll work on that in the morning 😉

Now I’m going to go accomplish bedtime.

What is your favorite dipping sauce?  Mine is 1000island, with everything!

Good + Great = Better

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Today started off with a healthy, hearty breakfast.

A serving of Van’s Buckwheat and Mixed Berries Waffles with 2T maple syrup,

and a chopped nectarine on the side.

Perhaps not so hearty though, since I’ve basically been ready to chew my arm off all day!  We haven’t had peanut butter in the house for months (we can’t find the brand we like here) but I bought some yesterday to have for a recipe.  Apparently I missed it?

Yes, there was a lot of spoon-dipping going on this morning 😀

Adam wanted to go super early today so I ended up driving to and from school instead of walking.  My toe ring toe has been developing a callous so perhaps my feet with thank me.  We got out of class 30minutes early due to a fire drill, so that was good news.  And I was glad to leave early because I felt like my stomach was eating itself!

A rocking lunch is a great cure for over-dramatic hunger pains.  I stared with a So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk Yogurt.

I think I might have a So Delicious addiction.  The carton came with great nutritional stats and a fun fact –

This yogurt is awesome because it doesn’t pretend to be “normal” yogurt, the coconut flavor definitely peaks through.  The vanilla scent was unbelievable.  And the texture; oh the texture!  It wasn’t Greek (that’s asking a little much of a vegan product) but it was soooo perfectly thick.

Really, can you improve on yogurt like that?  Hells yes!

Oh yes that is watermelon, and it was fantabulous!  This is the sale watermelon I lugged home the other day and it might just be the best watermelon I’ve ever had.

The combination was pretty much to die for.  Watermelon with yogurt easily takes down roasted brussels sprouts and joins my top 10 foods list!!!

I also munched my way through the rest of the Siracha Peas.

And since, as I might have non-dramatically mentioned, my stomach is eating itself, I’m off to find a snack!  The plan for the afternoon is couch + South Park, so I’m leaning toward the fries, popcorn direction.

Any fantabulous new food combos you’ve discovered lately?

Hunger Monster

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I have a test tomorrow morning (and you know I haven’t studied!) so I’ve got to keep this quick.  I didn’t eat anything that exciting today anyways.  Mostly I just at a LOT.  I was a hunger monster today.

For breakfast I made the husband and myself smoothies with silken tofu, frozen strawberries, honey, and So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk.

How awesome is that color?

During my 2.5mile incidental exercise walk home I snacked on a vegan chocolate chip cookie.

And when I got home I tried something new to me – Rutabaga Fries!

The husband peeled and sliced a big rutabega up for me yesterday and today I baked it for 30minutes at 400*.

I’ve seen this all over blogworld recently but I wasn’t sure I’d like it so I only used part of the rutebega.  Well one bite in I hopped up and put the rest of it into the oven!

It was amazing.  The flavor and texture are a lot like oven baked potato fries but they had this awesome nutty aftertaste.  I highly recommend that you go out and get a rutabega and try this for yourself.

I’d been wanting popcorn all day long so I finally caved and bought a bag.

I tossed the lame bag popcorn in some melted Smart Balance Light and 2T sugar to make some homemade vegan kettle corn.  Mmmmmmn!

I was still hungry so I made some homemade pizza dippers.

I sliced up a mini pizza crust and sprinkled it with garlic salt before baking.  Dipped in marinara.

And for the second half of “dinner” I ate a serving of Van’s Homestyle Pancakes with maple syrup.

Not my healthiest day by far, but a very very tasty one.

And I’m out.  See you after my test tomorrow.  Don’t forget to enter my yogurt maker giveway!