Shopping and Prep

Yesterday was grocery day and time to prep for next 2 weeks of meals. The food for the next two weeks is pictured above.  I finally broke the $200 barrier with the cost being 186.84. Buying a whole butternut squash and dried beans would have lowered the cost, but I like the convenience. I also bought premade Italian bread, English muffins, and a baguette.  I still have quiet a few staple items like olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper spray oil, whole wheat flour, and spices.  I keep thinking that the week will come when I have all that stuff on hand. I did have the dried cranberries, walnuts, and nutritional yeast on hand that I used in making food for yesterday and today.

One of my goals was to start making my own faux meats. First up are meatballs.  I used one pound of the textured soy protein shown above with almond milk soaked Italian bread slices, nutritional yeast, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper. For the egg I used  ground flax seed, olive oil, baking powder, and potato starch. I tried to mix everything together with my hands like you would do with regular meatballs, but the soy protein  would not mix well.  I had to use the food processor to incorporate everything.  The result looks very meatball like. I will see how they taste later in the week.  This recipe idea came from an old Bon Appetite magazine for traditional meatballs made with sirloin.

They are a light color, but the recipe I will use calls for chicken meatballs.  My other prep for the week included roasting yellow and red peppers.

And a loaf of whole wheat bread

My other 'meat' attempt is to make a sausage.  I rehydrated 8 oz of Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) and crumbled in 8 oz of flax seed tempeh. I added a small baked potato for texture, sage, salt, pepper, marjoram  and cayenne pepper. I used the immersion blender to reach the right texture. I rolled them to look like bulk sausage.  One  roll went into the freezer for later. I will fry the other one up later in the week.  The idea for sausage came from a Breakfast cookbook I have.  The recipe I looked at used 2 pounds of pork butt.  So, I  improvised a bit.

I have finished up the recipes in the Vegan Kickstart program .  http://www.pcrm.org/health/diets/kickstart/kickstart-programs . 

So from this point on I am finding recipes and ideas from other sources.

Pizza

Started the day with the basic cereal, strawberries and almond milk.  I am using the whole foods brand frosted flakes for cereal.  Their frosted flakes has less sugar than Kellogs corn flakes.  Lunch time was a big salad.  I used romaine lettuce at the base and added, roasted red peppers, croutons, tomato, asparagus, broccoli, black beans, onion, sun chokes and mushrooms.

Dinner was pita pizza. I spread a quarter cup of the garlic hummus I made on Monday over a pita and topped with olives, roasted red pepper, mushrooms, tomato and sun dried tomato.  I had a side salad of mixed greens with grapes, tomato, and chickpeas with a freshly made Soy Sesame Vinaigrette.

Snacks for the day were raisins, orange, and some bread.

Baking day

Today I am starting week 2 of the Kickstart Program. Technically it is the 15th day of the program, but I am behind because we have eaten out some and made use of the leftovers.  It does mean eating at home until the weekend and that means more nutrition and variety in my meals.  Since veganism is not vegetarianism, eating out is a little bit of a challenge.  It generally means asking for a dish without something.

Breakfast is the Apricot Oatmeal that I made yesterday.

For lunch I had a Smoked Tempeh, Alfalfa Sprout and Tomato Sandwich on whole wheat bread with carrots. I broiled the tempeh to give it the same texture as crispy bacon. The sandwich is similar to the powerhouse sandwiches at some restaurants.   It was a little bit of a cheat. Instead of buying a vegan mayonnaise, i used a jarred pesto sauce.  Pesto traditionally has some Parmesan cheese in it.  Later I will make some without the cheese.

Dinner was excellent.  A Cuban Black Bean Soup with Potatoes and a Spinach Salad made with some leftover orange fennel salad are the evening's fare. Tommy paired a very nice Pinot Noir with it.

We ended the meal with some bread.  I made a very large batch of Peasant Bread with herbs. The 2 loaves, 3 baguettes, and oval should last a month.  The extra is being frozen until needed.  The only thing I did different from previous breads was skip the eggwash on top, so the top is not as brown.  Otherwise, this is old school rustic bread.

Grocery Day

Breakfast was an easy one. I made a fruit compote that was served over regular oatmeal.

The weather was a little bit warmer today (we were promised 60 degrees but that did not happen) so we had lunch at Panera www.panerabread.com outside with the dogs. I had the Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich minus the feta cheese with a side of potato chips.

Dinner was all leftovers, the Portabella Tacos for Tommy and the Couscous with peas and carrot for me.
Today was grocery day for the 2nd week on the Kickstart Program.  Most of the recipes are 4-6 servings, so we take 2 weeks to go through 1 week of food.  I also use this day  as prep for the coming week.  I made the sponge starter for some peasant bread that I will finished up tomorrow. Next up  was a Garlic Parsley Hummus.  Then I roasted some  red peppers and a bulb of garlic.  Finally, I made the Apricot Oatmeal for the week.  I am using the steel cut oats that take 40 minutes to cook.  It is much easier to prepared it ahead of time, then microwave it at breakfast.

One of the nice things about changing to a vegan diet is the cost of groceries.  Previously I spent about $250 every two weeks at Whole Foods when we are not in CSA season.  Now, I am spending about $210 for the same time period.  $80 is a nice monthly savings.

Football Weekend

I started out the day  with a repeat of yesterdays Ginger Banana Smoothie.  For lunch I toasted some corn chips to go with a Mango Salsa. That was paired with a salad made from what is leftover in the fridge.  It had romaine, cauliflower, grape tomatoes, cucumber, almonds, blueberries, chickpeas and carrot.

Our afternoon plan was to watch the Baltimore - Denver game at the Lighthouse Tavern.  However, the crowd was just too much for us.  We spoke with the bartender the next day and she stated it was the biggest day in the history of the bar.  So we ended up watching the game at home. Of course, that also meant that we ended up drinking more, 2 bottles of wine to be exact. At half time I microwaved some of the leftover Chickpea Ratatouille.  After the game, I had a peanut butter and cherry preserves sandwich on whole wheat bread. Later that night I snacked on a Oatmeal Banana Bite.  Oh, and the Ravens won 38-35.

Sunday started out lite with a Oatmeal Banana Bite and some peanut butter.  For lunch we thought it was just warm enough to eat outside the dogs.  We ventured to Mama's on the Half Shell which has outdoor seating most of the year.  The menu was not the least bit vegan friendly.  The only option besides combing sides was on the kids' menu.  I had pasta with marinara sauce and a side salad. It was good, but I now know it is the only thing I can eat there.  That is a shame since it was one of our go to places for eating out with the dogs that was also in walking distance from home.

Dinner was more emptying out the fridge. I roasted a batch of Kale Chips and mixed the last of the Chickpea Ratatouille with the Couscous with Peas and Carrots. 

Today was the second time this week I have had a migraine.  I usually have one a month.  I hope the change in diet is not a cause.

Do all smoothies look the same?

Today was a tough day because I have been battling a migraine all day.  That just made we want to eat all day which I did.  I tried to make the snacks healthy.  It also made me crave food like cheese and bacon which I have not been doing since starting the vegan regime.

Breakfast was a Ginger Banana Smoothie made with blueberries and strawberries.  It looks pretty much like the green smoothie.  I used the blender this time, so the texture was more uniform and pleasing.  Although it was large, it did not fill me up.  I can't imagine being on an all juice diet.

Lunch consisted of leftover Wild Rice Soup and a White Bean Hummus with Chives and Basil served on whole wheat toast. Since it is Friday, we had a Rose Cremant to accompany the meal.

Dinner was the leftover Israeli Couscous with Carrots, Peas and Red Wine Vinegar and the Seared Cauliflower with Garlic and Tamari.  My various snacks during the day were an apple, a oatmeal banana bite, half a slice of bread with minced sun dried tomato, and a wasa cracker with peanut butter.  I was pretty much munching all day and night and I still have the headache.

Leftovers

For the next few days I will mainly be eating the leftovers from the last week.  I started the day with the last of the Apple Oatmeal.  For lunch I had the Balsamic Zucchini Sandwich which was the last of the zucchini, bean and pepper spread, and corn rolls. Also I had a bowl of the Wild Rice Soup that I made before the Kickstart Program.

Dinner was leftover Moroccan Bean Stew with Sweet  Potatoes and Couscous.  That was finished up as well.  I snacked on an Oatmeal Banana Bite and some Facon Bacon.  I think I was a little hungry because of the low calorie count yesterday.

On of things I do for my dogs is make dog food. I buy meat that is on sale at Safeway and mix it with eggshells, and veggie pieces and vitamins.  It feels strange buying 3 family packs of chicken breasts (this week's special at $2.69 a pound.) when I am not eating meat. The eggshells were from the veggie omelet I made Tommy last night since he did not like my meal. I know there is vegan food for dogs, but I can't imagine given that to dogs.  They love their fresh meat, (I cook it because Jack will not eat raw.) and vegan dog food is heavy on brown rice.  Jack has always had an adverse reaction to rice.  So I will continue to chop up meat, throw it in the food processor  and bake it.

Cute Dog Day

Nothing exciting today, just some good basic meals. But who doesn't like a picture of two adorable dogs?  I started with a Tofu Breakfast Scramble and some fresh berries.  Turmeric makes the tofu look like eggs and some potato was added to the dish.

Lunch was an Artichoke and Tomato Salad over greens with chickpeas and almonds and a the last of my ginger vinaigrette.

Dinner was an Oven baked cauliflower with garlic and tamari and Couscous with peas, carrots, peppers and onions and some red wine vinegar.

For an evening snack I tossed some fresh strawberries with balsamic vinegar.

I only had 985 calories today, but it didn't seem that low.  I had more fat than usual because of the almonds in my lunch salad.   My other stats -

Fat -       37 g      31%
Carbs -  133.2 g  49%    Fiber 39.1 g
Protein -  53.2 g   20%

New Year New Plan

It is 2013 and I am going to restart this old neglected blog page. 

I am doing something new this year, something I said I would never do - try a vegan diet.  It all started with this article   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/vegan-diet-cancer_b_2250052.html   Women with a vegan diet had 34% lower rate of cancer for the 'women's cancers'.  This caught my attention since both of my parents died from cancers in their early 50's.  My mother had uterine cancer and 2 separate instances of breast cancer.  I will be 50 this year and really do not want my genetics to catch up with me. 

An interesting part of the study was the meat eaters.  The study group was the Seventh Day Adventist population, many of whom are vegetarians or vegans.  The meat eaters in the group ate less meat and fast food than the general population and there was still the 34% difference in cancer rates.  I already only ate 'happy meat' or meat that was treated in a natural and humane way during its life. Everything was free range and grass fed.  When eating out, if I didn't know the source of the meat, I ate fish or vegetarian. 

So why not try the lifestyle?  Starting on the 1st I said goodbye to meats and dairy.   That was particularly hard because we had a party at a friend's house. No salmon, cheese or sausage for me.  Pumpernickel bread, olives, dolmas, orange fennel salad, polenta (I think the polenta had chicken stock but not sure.  I am not going to quiz friends about every ingredient in a dish.) and pears were enough for me.

Starting tomorrow, I am  following the 21 day kickstart from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.  http://pcrm.org/kickstartHome/   I spent today making wild rice soup, salsa, corn rolls, ginger vinaigrette, roasted red peppers, stock, and my steel cut oatmeal for tomorrow's breakfast.  I am also hoping to revive my cooking skills that result in everything being made in house.  I am using premade whole wheat bread and spaghetti this week, but everything else will be from scratch.

This will be more of a challenge for my husband, since he does not plan to be a vegetarian during the year.  I have some meat, cheese and eggs around for him.

So, here we go through a different rabbit hole.