30 Days of Vegan - Wrap Up

Sorry this is a little late, I had a few days off of school and used them to clean the house and organize myself for the rest of the semester. After doing 30 days of Vegan, my verdict is that 30 days is not long enough to see a real difference in our bodies. My weight didn't decrease, nor did my overall measurements, but being less bloated after meals made me look and feel thinner and made my clothes fit better too. Also my total cholesterol, LDL, and triglycerides we lower by about 10 points all around. So although it wasn't the life changing experience that I was hoping for, it still made us feel good about what we were eating. So our plan for now is to eat "vegan-ish", where we'll cook mostly vegan at home with the occasional addition of good quality cheese, but if we have dinner with family or friends we don't mind eating a little meat on those occasions as it is easier for the person cooking, helps satisfy cravings, but still keeps our meat intake to a minimum, and supplements our vitamin B12 intake. Things may change in the future. I am definitely still drawn to a "whole food" diet, including organic milk and cheese, farm fresh eggs, grass feed-pastured beef and pork and wild caught fish.

P.S. That last week of 30 days had me craving a bacon cheeseburger like nobody's business. I'm sure people would like to think that it was my body's way of telling me it needed protein, but I know it was all in my head. My iron levels were spot on following the 30 days so it's true that a varied diet with plant sources of protein and iron are enough to keep a person nourished and healthy.

30 Days of Vegan - What I Ate - Week IV

Monday:

Breakfast: Granola with almond milk and earl gray tea with sugar

Snack: Pita chips and hummus

Lunch: Veggie burgers

Dinner: Stir fry with soba noodles and tofu

Sweet Treat: 3 Oreos with almond milk

Tuesday: 

Breakfast: Granola with almond milk and earl gray tea with sugar

Lunch: Whole wheat pasta with peppers, onions and tomatoes
Dinner: Baked vegetable egg rolls 

Wednesday
Breakfast: Toast with honey
Snack: Popcorn, pita chips and hummus
Dinner: Whole wheat Naan with Punjab eggplant and Pav Bhaji
Sweet Treat: Two vegan peanut butter cookies

Thursday
Breakfast: Toast with honey
Snack: Tortilla chips with chili
Lunch: Lentil soup
Dinner: Pizza with garlic sauce, caramelized onions, butternut squash and apples
Sweet Treat: Two vegan peanut butter cookies

So, wondering what happened to the rest of the week? Well, although we set out to do 30 days of vegan, my birthday happened to fall on the 27th day. So, I decided that ending our vegan challenge at a nice even 25 days would allow me to indulge on my birthday guilt free. What did I indulge in? Well I didn't go out and eat a bacon double cheeseburger (even though I wanted to, and still might), instead we attended a beer and chocolate tasting with lots of chocolate (more on that soon).

I'll be back soon with another post to wrap up these 30(25) Days of Vegan. Including how we felt, if we lost any weight and how we're planning on eating from now on. Stay tuned.

30 Days of Vegan - What I Ate - Week III

Monday
Breakfast: Two pieces raisin toast with earth balance margarine
Lunch: Leftover pasta with spinach in a lemon sauce
Dinner: Eggplant lasagna
Sweet Treat: Homemade peanut butter cup

Tuesday
Breakfast: Graham crackers and almond milk w/ earl grey tea with Sugar in the Raw
Lunch/Dinner: Panera black bean soup in a bread bowl (I always study at Panera)
Snack: Potato chips
Snack: Graham crackers with almond milk

Wednesday
Breakfast: Eggplant lasagna (don't judge)
Snack/Lunch: Chips with corn and tomatillo salsa
Dinner: Jimmy johns veggie sandwich
Sweet Treat: Two homemade peanut butter cups

Thursday
Breakfast: Toast with honey, orange
Lunch/Snack: Tortilla w/earth balance margarine and sugar
Snack: Popcorn
Dinner: Pizza with white bean sauce and veggies

Friday
Breakfast: Granola and almond milk
Lunch: Whole wheat pasta with white bean sauce
Dinner: Chipotle burrito bowl w/iced tea

Saturday

Breakfast: Granola with almond milk

Snack: Pita Chips

Lunch: Subway Veggie Patty sub with vinegar/oil and a Diet Coke

Dinner: Homemade pizza with grilled veggies and soy cheese and panzanella salad

Sweet Treat: 3 Oreos (yes, they're vegan) with almond milk

Sunday

Breakfast: Granola with almond milk and earl grey tea with sugar

Lunch: Leftover grilled veggie pizza

Snack: Potato chips and pita chips with hummus

Dinner: Whole wheat pasta with peppers, onions and tomatoes

Sweet Treat: 3 Oreos with almond milk

*Protein brought to me by: black beans, cannellini beans, almond milk, veggie patties, soy cheese, peanut butter, whole wheat pasta, hummus, asparagus, and corn.

30 Days of Vegan - What I Ate - Week II

Monday

Breakfast: Toast with almond butter and earl grey tea with demerara sugar

Lunch: Pita chips with tabouli

Dinner: Stir fry with tofu and udon noodles

 Tuesday

Breakfast: Toast with almond butter

Lunch: Panera Mediterranean Veggie sandwich with potato chips with an iced tea

Dinner: Udon noodles

Snack: Multigrain crackers

Snack: Popcorn with smart balance

Wednesday

Breakfast: Toast with honey*

Lunch: vegan chili

Snack: bowl of vegetable noodle soup

Dinner: Portobello burgers

Sweet Treat: Strawberry and Chocolate Sorbet

Thursday
Breakfast: Toast with almond butter
Lunch: Vegan chili
Dinner: Greek pizza with hummus, red onion, banana peppers and beets
 Sweet Treat: Strawberry and Chocolate Sorbet

Friday
Breakfast: Raisin toast with earth balance margarine
Lunch/Dinner: Strawberry pancakes with hashbrowns
Snack: Popcorn w/earth balance

Saturday
Breakfast: Peanut Butter and strawberry preserves on multigrain bread with raspberry tea w/demerara sugar
Snack: Multigrain crackers
Lunch: Quinoa
Sweet Treat: Whole wheat tortilla with earth balance and evaporated cane sugar
Dinner: Whole wheat pasta with spinach in a lemon caper sauce

Sunday
Breakfast: Peanut Butter and strawberry preserves on multigrain bread w/Naked mango madness juice
Snack: Multigrain crackers
Lunch/Dinner: Falafel with hummus and pita
Sweet Treat: 1 homemade peanut butter cup

*Some vegans do not eat honey, and a quick Google shows it's debatable.

This weeks protein brought to me by; beans (black, garbanzo), mushrooms, peanut butter, almond butter, almond milk,  whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, alfalfa sprouts, hummus, quinoa, spinach, and tofu

This weeks calcium brought to me by; almond butter, almond milk, and calcium fortified OJ, spinach

Check out what I ate for Week I of 30 Days of Vegan

Questions or comments? Fill out the form below or send me an email: amynonymous@gmail.com

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

Happy Valentine's Day! This year, Valentine's Day happens to fall smack dab in the middle of 30 Days of Vegan, but I knew there was no way I could go without a sweet treat. So, after seeing this recipe over on Design Sponge, I knew it would be the perfect way to indulge in a decadent Valentine's day treat without cheating.

What you need:
1/4 c. crushed graham crackers
1/2 c powdered sugar
1 c. peanut butter
3 c. chocolate chips
cupcake liners

Melt 1.5 cups chocolate chips in a double boiler, or a metal bowl atop a pot, or a bowl in the microwave.

Using a spoon, dollop in about a tablespoon full of chocolate into each cup.

This part takes some finesse. While the chocolate is still warm, swirl it around the cup to coat the side. You could also use a spoon or pastry brush, but this way the cup is nice and evenly coated.

After all the cups are coated, pop them in the fridge for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the remaining 1.5 cups of chocolate and mix together the PB, powdered sugar and graham cracker...

Until it looks something like this

Take out the cups out of the fridge, they should be nice and solid. Divide the peanut butter into 12 evenly sized bowls (we did this on a plate)...

Then put them in the cups and flatten them down with your fingers.

Cover them with the remaining chocolate and pop them back in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

They come out looking like this. I was surprised how easy they were to put together and how beautiful they turned out.

 
What sweet treats are you enjoying this Valentine's Day?

Sick Day - Noodle Soup

I noticed a teeny, tiny, scratchy throat during lecture last night and by this morning I felt all congested, sore throated and miserable this morning. Nothing sounded better than some soup, so I figured I'd whip up a batch. This is a simple soup, so this tutorial is not to insult anyone's intelligence, but to provide a guide for those who are not so inclined in the kitchen.

First, assemble your supplies. In French this is called a Mise en place and means "everything in it's place" it's makes cooking much more efficient.

The base of almost any soup is usually a mixture of celery, onion and carrot and is called a mirepoix. I didn't have any celery and used olive oil instead of butter as well as added some mined garlic which makes this a soffritto which is the Italian version of a mirepoix  

Method: 

• Mince about 3 cloves of garlic
• Chop about half an onion
• Peel and cut the carrots into little coins
• Cover the bottom of the pan and add the carrots and onions. Let them cook for 5 minutes before adding the garlic so it doesn't burn.

 

•  After adding the garlic cook about 2-3 minutes more
• Season with salt and pepper

•  Pour in the entire carton of vegetable stock

•  Once it comes to a boil put in about 2 cups of noodles of your choice

• Cook about 10 more minutes to cook the noodles to al dente

Hmm, look at that steam rising...

 Of course the soup can be made with chicken or beef stock as well as adding cooked rotisserie chicken.

Enjoy.

30 Days of Vegan - What I Ate - Week I

I made it through week one of 30 days of Vegan , and I have to be honest, it wasn't that hard. However, we've been eating primarily vegetarian for about a year, so I already have a large variety of vegetarian meals that were easily made vegan. I think that anyone who eats meat as a centerpiece to their meal, would have a hard time eating vegan. So, for anyone who is interested in trying it, I recommended the vegetarian transition phase. I decided to record what I ate for anyone who is curious about what a week would look like including snacks, desserts and tea (or coffee). Here's what I ate:

Monday

Breakfast: Strawberries, blueberries and blackberry fruit salad with agave

Lunch: Pita Chips and Tabouleh

Snack: Chips and homemade corn and tomatillo salsa and Naked Green Machine Juice

Dinner: 3 homemade spring rolls with sticky rice

Dessert: 3 Back to Nature chocolate chunk cookies with almond milk

Tuesday

 Breakfast: Strawberries, blueberries and blackberry fruit salad with agave 

Lunch: Spring roll and sticky rice

Dinner: Spring mix salad with tomatoes, green onions and Annie's Natural (vegan) Goddess dressing and whole wheat spaghetti with homemade marinara

Dessert: 3 Back to Nature chocolate chunk cookies with almond milk

Wednesday

Breakfast: whole grain toast with almond butter

Lunch: whole wheat spaghetti with homemade marinara

Dinner: hot dogs with chili (both vegan) and onions on a whole grain bun with oven fries

Dessert: 3 Back to Nature chocolate chunk cookies with almond milk

Thursday
Breakfast: Strawberries, blueberries and blackberry fruit salad with agave
Lunch: Chips and homemade corn and tomatillo salsa
Snack: Wasabi Peas
Dinner: Chipotle (burrito bowl with rice, black beans, pico de gallo , corn salsa, lettuce and guacamole)
Dessert: World Market Sea salt dark chocolate (2 squares)

Friday
Breakfast: Toast with peanut butter and banana
Lunch: Chips and Salsa
Sweet Treat: Starbucks soy mocha

Dinner: Soba Noodles with Oyster Mushrooms
Dessert: 3 Back to Nature chocolate chunk cookies with almond milk

Saturday
Breakfast: PB&J on toast with a Naked Green Machine Juice
Lunch: Soba Noodles with Oyster Mushrooms
Dinner: hot dogs with chili (both vegan) and onions on a whole grain bun with oven fries

Sunday
Breakfast: Strawberries with Agave
Lunch: Vegan Chili
Dinner: Chips and salsa and popcorn (I wasn't too hungry, so we just ate some super bowl snacks)
Dessert: 3 Back to Nature chocolate chunk cookies with almond milk

P.S. Every morning, except for Saturday, breakfast was accompanied with a  variety of teas sweetened with Demerara sugar, and a glass of OJ.

This weeks protein brought to me by; beans, avocados, mushrooms, peanut butter, almond butter, almond milk, veggie dog, whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, and bean sprouts.

This weeks calcium brought to me by; almond butter, almond milk, sesame seeds, and calcium fortified OJ

Questions or comments? Fill out the form below or send me an email: amynonymous@gmail.com

30 Days of Vegan

Wait! Don't be deterred by the title. Just as we did a summer cleanse, it's time for another round of detox. With holiday overeating and an all over the place schedule, our eating has not been the best, and I'm starting to feel it on my ass. Don't worry though, it's not as if we'll be stuck eating lettuce and carrot sticks, in fact I found some
delicious looking meals around the web.

 Mandarin Orange and Avocado Spring Rolls

Whole-Wheat Spaghetti with Spinach in a Lemon, Basil Sauce

 Garlic Sesame Soba Noodles with Oyster Mushrooms 

Portobello Burgers

 Flatbread with Roasted Apple, Butternut Squash, and Caramelized Onion

Stir Fry

Saag with whole wheat naan

 Eggplant Lasagna

Wrap with Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, Sprouts and Avocado Spread

Pantry Staples

As you may have seen, I concoct a weekly meal plan for everyday dinners. As you also may have noticed, I only do this about one a month. Not really a weekly meal plan obviously, but it did start out that way. Once we moved into our own house and Mike pushed me to start stocking up the pantry, we were able to stretch out grocery shopping to about once every three weeks.

Our little walk in pantry consists of three shelves. The top shelf consists of baking supplies, including baking powder, baking soda, cornstarch, whole wheat flour, unbleached white flour, sugar, brown sugar, honey, agave and any bread mixes. The bottom shelf includes pasta, potatoes, bulk brown rice, quinoa, and potatoes. The middle shelf includes all of these staple items that allow me come up with meals on the fly after we've gone through our "weekly" meal plan.

Beans


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Now I know that not everyone likes beans, but if you do, it's great to stock up on them to use for all sorts of recipes from chili to enchiladas to brownies. Our pantry currently consists of black beans, red kidney beans, pinto beans, refried beans, cannelini beans, and garbanzo beans (chickpeas)

Breadcrumbs

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Breadcrumbs come in handy whenever you're in the food for a little buttery crunch and can be used to top baked mac and cheese or used to make homemade chicken fingers or fish sticks.

Canned Tuna

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Again, not everyone like tuna, or even fish for that matter. But tuna is an easy source of protein and makes for a hearty Tuna Casserole or Tuna Salad

Canned Tomatoes

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Canned tomatoes are cheap and and can be used in a variety of ways. Some frozen white fish, onions and a few other pantry items you could have this easy meal, or it can be used a base for chili, and homemade spaghetti sauce.

Olive Oil

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This guy is such a staple that he sits next to the stove in a pretty bottle and is used for almost every meal. Anything that is sauteed in a pan starts with an olive oil base. It's used to coat almost anything in the oven before adding a bit of seasoning and it's also used to make salad dressing and marinades.

Pasta

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Ahh, pasta. We stock up on as many varieties of whole wheat pasta as we can. Trader Joe's has cheap organic pasta on their shelves on a regular basis, and Costco carries bulk varieties. On almost every meal plan we come up with there is at least one pasta dish. It is used with a variety of sauces, baked into a casserole, even thrown into a fritatta. Often times, however, I just make a cup and eat it with a pat of butter and some chunks of fresh parmesan.

Now I know everyone has different tastes. Not everyone has or even wants these things in their pantries but I just thought I'd share how I stock up and stretch my groceries and my budget on a monthly basis. Also, the food that we makes tends to err on the Italian side since I learned how to cook watching Everyday Italian and the famous Giada DiLaurentiis. Go forth and stock your pantries!

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What pantry items are a staple in your house, leave a comment below and let me know!

Whole Wheat Penne with Creamy Pesto

The basil is growing beautifully and although we've been using a few leaves here and there for some regular recipes, I figured it was time to use it for something that would use up a substantial amount of the proliferating herb. Of course, nothing uses basil like pesto. Classic pesto always comes across a little harsh for me, so when I found this creamy version concocted by chef Rocco DiSpirito in Mike's Runners' World, I thought I'd give it a go.

-2 cups basil

-1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

-1 cup sour cream

-2 tablespoons pine nuts

-3 cloves of garlic

-small handful flat leaf parsley

-salt and pepper to taste

In a food processor (I rock the magic bullet), combine all the ingredients and pulse until smooth and creamy. This recipe makes enough pesto for 3/4 to 1 pound of pasta

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Vegetarian Meal Plan II

Black Bean Burgers with oven fries

Sicilian Penne with Mahi-Mahi and Eggplant

Quinoa with Black Beans and Corn

Black bean and Mushroom Enchiladas

Egg Salad Sandwiches

Parmesan Fish Sticks

Thai-Style Mahi-Mahi with Coconut-Curry Broth and Jasmine Rice

Baked Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta