Quick Check In

Tonight I did a four mile run along the Mississippi in Saint Paul. It felt great! The sun had just set and the path was well lit, winding through a lovely little neighborhood.

It's tough to squeeze in a run while finishing up final projects and trying to avoid the common cold but I'm so glad I did.

Cheers to this last push before the holidays!

I'm back!

Hiiii, I'm back! This is going to be a quick post but I just wanted to write to say I've got some new goals and some big life changes that have happened since I last wrote.

1. Welp, I'm no longer vegan. I just love ice cream too much and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. A change that stuck with me from my vegan stint, however, is that I don't eat dairy/eggs at home (i.e. they're no longer part of my grocery repertoire) and I'm really happy with this and think it's a positive change. And I can still go to Culver's once in a while and feel like that was an awesome choice.

2. We moved! To Milwaukee!

3. I got a full time job!

4. I'm in grad school!

5. I'M SO BUSY SOMETIMES IT'S HARD TO BREATHE.

6. I finally, finally, finally, fully recovered from my stress fracture and running and dancing and jumping is fun again!

So, anyway, the focus of this blog is going to change a little. Less focus on the vegan aspect, obviously (though I am trying to hold myself accountable for not eating all the left over Dominos from work, ha). More focus on running. I want to do a half-marathon in August and that's my goal now and I want to use this blog to hold myself accountable and puzzle through any challenges that may come my way.

Betsy and I did a 5K race on Thanksgiving and that went surprisingly well! I ran two miles yesterday and that was my first "training" run.

#smallsteps #writelater #hashtaghashtag

Hopping Back on the Vegan Wagon...

You may have noticed I’ve taken a bit of a break from this blog (Claire, I’m lookin’ at you). And that’s because, well, I fell off the vegan wagon.

I know, I know, I know. But there were Cadbury mini eggs to be eaten! Cheesecake! A Colectivo brownie the size of my hand! I fell victim to the on-slaught of cheap candy the day before Easter at Walgreens and my mom ate all my soy ice cream so what was I supposed to do except eat the real stuff??

Tomorrow, April 15^th, I am recommitting to veganism! I finished off my Cadbury eggs this morning and threw away the 10 day old slice of cheesecake floating around in the fridge. Let’s get back to it! (Now that it’s nice out, I am having growing concerns about ice cream, particularly considering we live within walking distance of some of the best ice cream in the world. So, I’ve decided I can have real, dairy-laiden ice cream twice a month. No reason to take away all the fun.)

In other news, the Dane County Farmers’ Market picks up again on Saturday! SO EXCITED! Even though the first Farmer’s Market of the year is only has cheese, baked goods, and root vegetables it’s really exciting to think about all the fresh produce that’s on its way! I’m excited to use farmer’s market finds to try new recipes. Speaking of which, I just got two new cookbooks so there are plenty to try.

More updates soon!

"The Experiment", or The Day My Vegan Blog Went to Sh*t

Tomorrow is Saint Patrick's Day. You are probably aware that Saint Patrick's Day has many traditions, many of them hokey and more representative of American commercialism than of an Irish Catholic saint. There's one such tradition that holds a dear place in my one-fifth Irish heart:

McDonald's Shamrock Shake

I LOVE Shamrock Shakes. So minty! So lime-y! So florescent! Oh, the whipped cream! And they only come once a year!

Freshman year of college, I was lucky enough to encounter another soul as enamored as me by the Shamrock Shakes of our youth. In March of 2010, Grace and I trekked to the Wisconsin-Illinois state border in 30 degree weather in the middle of the night to indulge in the illustrious drink. Kismet, some might call it. The following year, we spent spring break at Grace's parents house and became fans of shamrock shakes spiked with peppermint schnapps (so innovative! so naughty!). Needless to say, this once a year tradition has become an integral part of our friendship.

Swing forward to year two of post-grad life and Grace and I are once again living in the same city during Shamrock Shake season!

If I'm gonna throw veganism out the window for a day, it's gonna be for Shamrock Shakes. Since mid-February, it's been difficult to drive by McDonald's with signs that proclaim, "Shamrock Shakes are back!" and not be inundated with creamy cravings. The McDonald's that I drive past most frequently is located near a local custard chain called Michael's. Michael's has been brandishing a sign that beckons one to "Come on in for a Leprechaun Shake!". What is a Leprechaun Shake? Is it anything like a Shamrock Shake? How dare anyone else try to tread in the Saint Patrick's Day milkshake market?!

And so was born the idea for what I will now refer to as "The Experiment", our grand scheme to determine a true Irish-American milkshake winner. Below, I will detail our research process using the scientific method, based off photos, memories, and careful notes taken during shake consumption.* 

Question: What the hell is a Leprechaun Shake? How does it stake up against a Shamrock Shake? Does schnapps, in fact, enhance both milkshake experiences? (probably)

Hypothesis:  Shamrock shakes trump all. Schnapps trump shamrock shakes. 

Method:

First, we drove to Star Liquor pick up some schnapps. They didn't have any. (What kind of liquor store does not have peppermint schapps in March? Needless to say they've lost all hope for future business from us). We rallied and proceeded to another liquor store conveniently located next to Michaels. They had so many schnapps options! We got a "medium sized" bottle for $4.99. Score! Then it was onto McDonald's. They offered us three different sizes of Shamrock Shake. I was prepared to spring for the large, but Grace's better judgement suggested we get a small. This included whipped cream and a cherry. We then circled back to Michael's, where I went up to the counter and confidently questioned the teenage register attendant, Kye. The following conversation ensued: 

Me:"What is a leprechaun shake?". 
Kye: "Hmmmmsunlblened" 
Me: "What?" 
Kye: "Hmmmsdkfsndnchchocolate". 
Me: "What?" 
Kye: "Hmmasdoianfsomintandchocolateaoindng" 
Me: (Huh? Kye, I'm literally going to have to hop over the counter to get any closer to you.)"Could you say that again, please?" 
Kye: "It's, uh, like, green mint and chocolate chips."
Me: "Perfect! We'll have one of those." (1)

Experiment: 

Back at Grace's house, we divided the shakes into 8 glasses. This way, we'd both have our own set of shamrock shake, leprechaun shake, shamrock shake w/ schnapps, leprechaun shake w/ schnapps. For some reason, figuring out this set up was really difficult... (2) We sniffed and tasted the shakes in the following order: leprechaun (no schnapps), shamrock (no schnapps), shamrock (w/ schnapps), leprechaun (w/ schnapps). Schnapps shakes contained one shot. 

Additional note on price - Shamrock Shake (small): $2.84, Leprechaun Shake (small): $5.42 (yikes!)

Observation:

Leprechaun (no schnapps) - This shake set the precedent for the sniff test - we noticed right away that this shake had a definite mouth-watering minty scent. Something that really set this shake apart for it's corporate competitor were the pieces of shaved mint chocolate mixed into the shake. They melted in your mouth! This shake was very thick, with an obviously high dairy content (shout out to real ice cream). While the shake was being prepared, I saw a worker put a little dropper of something green into the shake. Was this food coloring? Organic spirulina? We may never know. 

Shamrock (no schnapps) - Right away we were excited to do the sniff test with the shamrock shake because the leprechaun shake had such a distinct mint chocolate perfume. However, we were disappointed to discover that the shamrock shake had no scent. None at all. The minty flavor we remembered tasted fake in comparison to the leprechaun. There was a distinct acidity as well - reminiscent of lime jello. This was odd, to say the least. Grace and I, saddened by these discoveries, began to wonder if the formula had been changed since our childhood? The whipped cream and maraschino cherry are new additions and the shake we were tasting at present seemed to be drowning in sugar. 

Leprechaun (w/ schnapps) - Adding schnapps to the leprechaun shake turned it bright blue. Like almost a turquoise color - some sort of chemical reactions?! The chocolate all sunk to the bottom - we questioned the density of the ice cream vs. the schnapps (how interesting!) and ultimately scooped these out to eat separately. After a few sips, it became apparent that the liquor had also sunk to the bottom of the drink. This drink had a distinct coolness - like Listerine. We decided it would be best to put the schnapps on the side next time.**  

Shamrock (w/ schnapps) - This shake was very foamy - must have been those chemical reactions again! This one did have a distinct minty smell. However, upon tasting, we realized the schnapps did not mix with the ice cream at all. This one was not drinkable and we ended up pouring it down the sink. 


Analysis & Conclusion:

We decided we liked the Leprechaun (no schnapps) shake the best but were not sure it was worth the price. Or the tummy ache. Or the headache. Or the gas. 

Do we still love Shamrock Shakes? YES! But, I guess there's a reason we only have them once a year...

(1)

Shamrock on the left, Leprechaun on the right

(2)

Eight way testing system

Grace, ever the model!

*Experiment not endorsed by the CDC, FDA, NIH, etc. but they'd probably do research exactly like we did, just sayin'. See below:

Our meticulous notes

**This led to "Experiment 2: The Shot Test". If you want to replicate this at home, simply take a shot of peppermint schnapps and chase it with St. Patty's Day shake of choice. Me: "This tastes like medicine..." Grace: "I like it!!! Ahhh, that's good!!" Que sera, sera. 

Vegan Vacation

Soooo I had myself a big ol' vegan vacay this weekend... Partially dictated by work, my desire to expand my eating horizons, and America's addiction to sugar.

On Friday, I waited at the Edible Insect Banquet as part of the Adult Swim: Sustainability Sideshow fundraiser at the museum. I'm not one to pass up on eating insects and we had a professional chef come and make all the meals soooo that meant trying lots of non-vegan foods (although I do think insects fit well into vegan philosophies - they're so so so sustainable to raise/eat. Everyone go read Edible by Daniella Martin - I am serious.) The insects were the least of my concerns - I think the bigger faux-pas was the traditional vegan no-nos. The chef disguised the insects in several dishes with lots of dairy and, of course, bacon. So, Friday was a very not vegan day but lots of fun eating all around! Please read this article about the event.

On Saturday, Joe went with me to sell some clothes at Plato's Closet. When you sell clothes at Plato's Closet you have to wait like an hour for them to sort through your stuff and give you an offer (I made a wopping $4.80 from this endeavor, FYI). So what were we supposed to do for an hour? Go get a cookie. Well, actually, this all started because being in this part of town was the perfect excuse to FINALLY try out a french bakery I've been meaning to check out for like a year, vegan or not. Joe and I picked out this awesome almond croissant to split and we were checking out, debit card in hand, when the cashier informed us that they only take cash. Womp womp. They had an ATM but that would turn a $3 croissant into a $6 dollar croissant and is that worth it? No. We were disappointed and revved up about sugar so we were bad and went to Barnes & Noble for a s'mores cookie. IT WAS AWESOME.

It's Monday now and I am back on the vegan train. Justin's nut butters were a whole FOUR dollars off at Hy-Vee on Sunday (making the $12 jars $8 - still not cheap, but cheap enough for a treat)!!! Please try their butters if you have not. So good! And much less sugar than other nut butters (i.e. Nutella, which is basically frosting).They're just way too expensive to get without some sort of sale. We stocked up on the chocolate hazelnut butter and the maple almond.

We'll see if these jars make it through the week. 

End of February Round-up!

February flew by! For some reason, February is usually the longest month but I think not getting sick and staying busy helped it speed by. And now it's March 2nd and very sunny! Albeit still in the teens with lots of snow predicted for tomorrow but whatever.

Welp, anyway, I think I got this vegan thing down pat. Easy-peasy.

Sorta.

But really, it has been easier than anticipated! I thought I'd be craving pizza all the time but I think that's only happened once or twice (and I can't even pin-point exact moments). While I have had a little dairy in the last few months (mostly via projects for work), I haven't had any cheese. I've noticed that I no longer "crash" after lunch. Could this be due to the lack of cheese? Perhaps.

I really enjoy making my own hummus and granola bars. Both are easy, cheap, and feed me all week. I love dates! Dates are my new after-a-meal sweet snack. I'm not sure I'd ever had a date before a couple weeks ago. I think my tolerance for refined sugar has also diminished because by default I'm eating a lot less of it. I got a sugar headache after eating a couple mealworm flour chocolate chip cookies on Friday (more on those later - in the meantime, read this). It was probably the most sugar I've eaten in the last two months.

Anyway, I think this is starting to veer away from experiment and towards lifestyle change - I really enjoy veganism! My goal for March is to vary what I eat a little more. It's difficult with my busy schedule and I'm finding myself in a bit of a rut where I'm defaulting to some meals over and over again. I'm going to revisit my initial goal of making something from Angela's book every week.

I'm excited to keep cookin'!

Dreaming about...

a big buttery cookie to go with my coffee!

Pioneer Kitchen

At the museum, I run a program on Wednesdays called "Pioneer Kitchen". As I'm sure you know, pioneers were not vegans so animal products inevitably make it into this weekly cooking extravaganza. 

Normally, I do this program outside in our historic log cabin but when it's below 20 degrees I'm forced inside so I don't freeze to death (like a pioneer). I can't use a hot plate inside (not very pioneer anyway) because that might set the building into a plume of smoke. So today we made butter! Simple but I haven't done it since kindergarten. 

I decided it was okay to eat this butter because I made it myself and it was for the children's sake, goddammit. Now I have a little bit of a tummy ache, but it was worth it!

Store bought butter on the right for comparison. The homemade stuff was fluffier and much tastier!

Valentine’s Day Re-cap and a Bootilicious Stress Fracture

Lots has happened and not much has happened since I last wrote. Two main things: Valentine’s Day and finally being properly diagnosed with a tibial stress fracture.

I’ll talk about Valentine’s Day first. Joe and I, ever the planners, didn’t decide where to go out to eat until after I got home from work on Saturday. After making a few phone calls about reservations, expected business, etc. we decided to try out Monty’s Blue Plate Diner. Monty’s is one of those Madison fixtures we’ve always wanted to try out and they’re always too busy. They may be a diner but in the spirit of Madison’s hippier east side, they have lots of vegan options! Before dinner, we worked up an appetite trying out rock climbing at Boulder’s Climbing Gym. That was fun! And tiring! I finally figured out what triceps are for. I am still sore on Tuesday.

At Monty’s, we had to wait about half an hour for a table but it was worth it. I ended up getting a falafel wrap with waffle fries (YUM) and a vegan brownie. Not exactly  full of veggies, but I was treating myself! Joe got a burger and a huge shake. We were SOOO full. We topped off the night at Ideal Bar, a dive bar across the street from the craft brewery that we were trying to go to that was at capacity. It was a good choice! We met a man named Little Rock who shared with us his love for classic rock and views on legalized marijuana. A successful night all around.

Now about that stress fracture. Yesterday I got an MRI and today I was fitted with a boot. I look so cute! (lol jk) I’ve been battling shin pain for over three months now so I guess it’s good to finally figure out what’s really wrong and be on the path to recovery. I’m also supposed to be using crutches. I’ll wear the boot for three weeks. But I still have to drive… and teach ballet… soooo I’m not totally sure how realistic all of this is but I guess we’ll see how things go. I can’t wait to be back to running. I feel like I was finally getting to be “not a beginner” and it’s been really discouraging to be injured. I’m trying to figure out what sort of fitness things I can do for the next few weeks because I can’t even cycle. My gym membership comes with pool access but unfortunately the pool is not at the gym - it’s about five miles away so I’m not sure swimming fits  into my tight schedule. And where’s my bathing suit? Yoga? Maybe I’ll lift some heavy things instead.

Here’s a photo of me lookin’ fiiiiine in my boot:

I got an Applebee's giftcard for Valentine's Day

***from http://munchyymenus.com/applebees-vegan-menu/

"Here’s the complete Applebee’s vegan menu.

It’s not the largest menu out there so I suggest you opt for a restaurant with a more decent vegan selection.

Applebee’s Vegan Menu

• salad greens with fruit and veggies
• salad oil

Thanks for reading and be sure to check out this amazing vegan restaurant listing you absolutely can’t leave home without!"

Someone then commented that you can also order a plain baked potato.

Anyway, I think I'm going to trade in this gift card and another random gift card I have for Outback Steakhouse on www.cardpool.com. The Amazon credit will come in handy! New cookbook, anyone?

Dramatic Reading of Mac 'n Cheese Ingredients

This pretty much sums it all up. 

The Common Cold

Last winter, I got a cold every few weeks. From November through about May, I'd have a cold (or the stomach flu, or bronchitis...) for about two weeks, be well for a week, and then find myself waking up with the sniffles all over again. Part of this definitely had to do with the fact that I started working on the floor at the museum 20+ hours a week (meaning I was constantly touching stuff little kids were touching all the time, which I don't do quite as frequently in my current position) and upped my dance teaching schedule (i.e. my contact with 3 and 4 year olds). I had a cold on Valentine's day, visited Karin in Maine at the beginning of April with a cold, and brought a cold with me to London in late May. Joe joked that I was going to the doctor virtually once a week. The cycle didn't stop until I got back from Europe and all of a sudden it was summer.

Since the summer (so, about July), I've had two colds - one in September that lasted a full two weeks and I lost my voice completely and another teeny-tiny cold I'm not sure is even worth mentioning in December. My throat was a little scratchy and I had a bit of a cough, but nothing to sneeze about (ha). 

So what's changed? Two big things I think - I'm exercising more and eating better. 

I'm fortunate enough to live right next door to a really great gym that has a lot of fun classes that fit into my weird schedule. While it's a little expensive, I think it's worth it because I feel motivated to go because it's so near my house that there's no excuse not to drag myself out of bed for a morning workout. As a result, I've been (at minimum) getting the recommended 30mins/5 times a week of exercise, usually more.

Last winter, I think I ate a lot frozen pizza, stir fries with just rice, edamame, oil, and soy-sauce, pre-packaged indian food, and granola bars from a box. Not a great range of whole food nutrition. In the month of January, I've had a smoothie once a day, every day. Right there is a helluva lotta fruits and veggies (mainly spinach) that I wasn't eating at all before. Cutting out cheese has forced me to move past my staple quesadilla lunches and replace them with more nutrient dense foods (i.e. green beans, brussel sprouts, brown rice, sweet potatoes, black beans, etc.). I've also had to become more creative with what I bring to work since I can no longer pop a frozen mac n cheese in the microwave. I really like carrots and hummus. Sweet potatoes reheat well. 

Anyway, so that's my theory as to why I am not getting sick as much. Not eating as much sugar is helping too, I think. Watch, I'll end up with a cold this weekend and it will negate all of this but oh well. I can't imagine any of these changes are hurting me. I certainly feel more energized on a day-to-day basis so I'll stick to it for now!

One Month!

Welp, we've officially reached the one month mark! How's it going? While the rest of the country is gearing up to binge on cheese curds and mini hot dogs today, I'm thinking about the smoothie I'm gonna have here in a minute. I think that's good! Not that I've ever really celebrated the Super Bowl in the first place but I can't deny that it's good excuse to order more pizza than usual.

I made a trip to our local food pantry on Friday to get rid of food that been lying around since August that Joe and I will never touch. While Joe is still eating meat and eggs and whatnot, he's really trying to cut down on sugar/processed food in general. So that meant he wasn't going to eat all the chocolate my dance kids gave me for Christmas. Remember that big bag of cheddar? Donated that. This food pantry is awesome in that they can find a use for everything. I feel like pantries I've dealt with before only take non-perishable foods, which is why I didn't consider donating earlier. They even took my rando stick of butter!

I made hummus this week! I subbed a dab o' PB for tahini because what the hell is tahini (it's ground sesame seeds) and it turned out pretty good! Considering a can of chickpeas is $.69 at Aldi, I think I'll be making it again.

We did our grocery shopping yesterday. It was a little more expensive than usual because I bought some things I don't by every week, like Ezekial bread and a big-ass jar of PB. The stores were really busy in anticipation of the Super Bowl and the snow storm that's happening today. Avocados and carrots were $.49 at Aldi!!! Wooooohooo. Snacks for days. I find it always pays to stop at Aldi first.

Anyway, I'm still really excited about veganism and don't feel burned out at all. I feel like I'm learning something new every day and it's been a lot of fun figuring out new meals to try. Here's to February!

Salads, maybe?

I think I said I was going to post a little more often than I actually am but that’s okay! Things are busy, how I like ‘em. A couple of my jobs take a hiatus around the holidays because they revolve around children and the school system calendar but now things are back in full swing. Which means…

I don’t have a lot of time to cook. I had Sunday this week, which was nice. I was able to make an ample supply of granola bars. Next week, and for the following 11 weeks, I won’t have Sundays anymore. I already didn’t have Saturdays… or evenings… or mornings…

But I do have lunches! The best thing about my crazy schedule is that I am typically home with time to kill from 1pm to 3 or 4ish. I love getting to come home for lunch. I don’t have to rush through it and Joe isn’t home to pester me ;). I get to listen to WBFO. I get to eat and make good food. Brussel sprouts, anyone?

Something I need to get better at is dinners I can make ahead over lunch. Mondays through Wednesdays I sit at a desk during the dinner hours and have only a microwave to “cook” anything I want for dinner. Unfortunately as well, ventilation is not great in the small building and anything that has a strong scent is a big turn off to people coming in for fitness classes. Salads, maybe? I’ve always wanted to be more adventurous with salads! (Sorta. Suggestions welcome.) Thursdays I teach until about 8:30 and don’t have the desire to cook when I get home. Having something already made is a must or else chips n salsa it is.

Anyway, I have a bunch of left over veggies this week because I had a weird tummy ache for a lot of last week. Green beans, brussel sprouts, kale, cauliflower, and carrots galore! It saved me quite a bit on my grocery bill. I’m still on a taco kick at the moment, so I’ll see what I can come up with these veggies. Grace, Molly, and I went to a local mexican restaurant on Saturday night and Molly got a sweet potato taco and I wanna make something like THAT.

Just gotta get over my fear of sweet potatoes. But more on that later.

"Sooo that means you don't want any beef jerky??"

Yesterday, Joe made beef jerky from a rump. A rump! Rumprumprump. 

Anyway, our apartment smelled rump-a-licious (sorry) for the better part of the evening. He was happy with the final product and I patted him on the rump.... er, uh, shoulder...for his efforts. Like kimchi, I declined to try any but it's exciting how many new food things we've been trying out since the new year! I think this is lots of fun. 

Okay, enough with the rump.

This weekend, Grace, Emeline, and I headed to Milwaukee to meet up with Yessssica. Lots of fun and a vegan paradise! We went to Bel Air Cantina for dinner and it was amazing! I had three tacos: soy chorizo, broccoli&artichoke, and black bean&corn (no cheese/crema). Sooo good! We went their last time we visited too and I think it's safe to say it has become our go to place. They give out super cool stickers instead of mints at the end of the meal, too!

In the morning, I made vegan pancakes for everyone. I brought a Bob's Red Mill buckwheat mix and made it with almond/coconut milk and ground flax. They turned out well! It was all of our first times with buckwheat and they are a little denser than traditional pancakes but still very good - they also have more protein to boot. We covered them in strawberry jam for lack of maple syrup and it was a very tasty substitute. 

I don't think I have had any dairy/cheese in the last week.... Wait, that's not totally true. I had a moment of groggy early morning weakness via free bagels at the museum on Saturday morning BUT THAT'S OKAY. It was to celebrate our new penguin exhibit! Surely penguins eat bagels with cream cheese.

My tummy has not been feeling great at all today. I hope I am not getting sick. Currently sipping on some ginger tea and saying a prayer for better days ahead. Will have some oatmeal when I get home from work.

Readin' Vegan

Right now, I'm eating oatmeal with peanut butter and banana. Joe and I make steel cut oatmeal for breakfast every morning and sometimes I eat it and sometimes I don't. I'm having it for dinner at work because I've begun to realize that maybe the highly fragrant curry-type dishes I usually reheat in the closet microwave probably don't mix as well with a HIIT workout as they do with my desk job. Oh well. It's yummy, vegan, and no sugar added!

Why no sugar added? Well, I just finished reading A Year of No Sugar by Eve O. Schaub, per Kate's recommendation (of course). I took the book at a slow and steady pace, allowing myself about a week and a half to work through it. While I'm not going to do a no sugar challenge at the moment (veganism is enough to tackle for now!), reading this book has really made me take a second look at my sugar consumption for the past few weeks. Veganism by nature cuts out some fructose monsters - traditional chocolates and cookies being prime examples. But do I really neeeeed to douse my oatmeal in maple syrup? Nah, guess not. At the end of the book, Eve reflects on her family becoming much more selective about the sugar they choose to consume as a result of a year of cutting out all sugar entirely. I think this is an approach I'd like to adopt in the coming year - just taking a second to consciously think about sugar going into my body and enjoying treats as treats. I'll keep you updated.

Oh, that brings me to another update! In my initial "plan" I said I was going to use MyFitnessPal to track carbs, fats, proteins, etc. I've decided not to do this, mainly because the app has a large focus on calories and counting calories and in general being worried about how many calories one consumes. I've found that going by how my body "feels" for the past two weeks has been working well and I'd like to continue along this trajectory. Hungry? Eat more. Low on energy? Eat more.

You get the picture.

Now I'm going to start reading "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollen because rumor has it it's the Bible of the real food movement. Again, I'll keep you updated.

Weekend Vegan

This weekend was pretty good for my veganism. I had cheese in my lunch yesterday - still transitioning away. I have hidden the big bag of cheddar in the very far back of the fridge. Outta sight, outta mind! I had a chocolate after dinner - only two left! And, dun dun dun, the one unconscious vegan slip up I feel really silly about - I put half n half in my coffee at Starbucks on Friday. I don’t even like half n half! I just did it to cool down my coffee, not even a second thought. I only realized my slip up after I’d slurped the whole thing down. Whoops.

Joe and I went grocery shopping this morning. We did our best to avoid processed food and WOW it was amazing how much cheaper our groceries ended up being! My typical $40 bill was reduced to $25. Joe’s bill was $40. Why? He accidentally bought $13 cashews - ha! He promptly returned them when he realized what he’d done.

Joe and I typically buy two containers of 16oz salsa for $8. This week, we decided to try to make our own salsa. We got all of our produce and spices from Aldi and got enough of these things to make two batches to the recipe’s specifications. Turns out one recipe makes like, 5 POUNDS of salsa! So much salsa. We now need to have a salsa party. I also made another batch of glo bars for the week (with the addition of chia seeds and slivered almonds) and roasted brussel sprouts and potatoes for dinner. We also have lots of leftovers from the Lao restaurant we went to last night! Yumyumyum.

Here are some salsa pics. Come on ovaa.

I feel like this photo diminishes the amount of salsa but TRUST ME it was a lot. 

Vegan Junk Food

Two nights ago I had my first experience with vegan-sanctioned junk food. I went out to a local vegan restaurant with Grace and Brooke that I've always wanted to try. The menu was amazing and varied and I’m super excited to go back. However, I made the mistake of ordering junk food. I ordered the mega nacho plate, which the menu described as corn chips with black beans, pico de gallo, peppers, avocado, vegan cheese & sour cream, and olives. Yum! I pictured it loaded with beans and veggies, but “sprinkled” would be a better descriptor. Turns out that this dish was about 80% corn chips, 20% other stuff. I really had to dig around to find the black beans I’d been craving and vegan cheese is still greasy.

I’ll order something different next time. “Next time” should be in the near future, because I discovered yesterday that this restaurant has a Groupon special and said special was ON SALE. Score!

I’ve been having lots of fun with smoothies all week. Avocados errrrrywhere. Today on the TODAY show they said that an avocado a day keeps the doctor away. I am thinking about getting this tattooed on my body. I also ordered a big bag of chia seeds off Amazon (they’re like half the price of the grocery store, kids!) and made the mistake of trying to blend them into a smoothie. Since chia seeds expand and get sticky when wet, this just caused them all to glue onto the blender blade which was wasteful and hard to clean. I explained this to Joe and he then explained to me that you always put the chia seeds in AFTER you blend the smoothie, ya dingus. Right. Got it.

Today we had an all staff cleaning day at the museum, complete with pizza lunch. I decided to have the pizza becaaaaaause my plan had been to come home and use up some cheese for lunch anyway. Might as well eat it there. No harm, no foul.

But I still have a giant bag of cheese to get rid of.

Pesto Fails and Emergency Brussel Sprouts

I’m happy to report that the weekend was good to my new found veganism. The only dairy/eggs things I ate were a couple of cookies and chocolates left over from Christmas… gotta get rid of them somehow!

I left my last post with the intention to make Angela’s creamy avocado sauce but that didn’t go as planned. I have everything ready - basil, salt, pepper, lemon juice already in the blender - and cut open the avocado only to find that it had a shriveled, barely existent pit and was all brown. It was extremely bizarre - I should have taken a picture. I tried googling what this means but couldn’t find anything. Did I have a martian avocado? I don’t know.

Anyway, Joe burst into action, running to the nearest grocery store to get a replacement avocado. Alas, this avocado was not ripe enough to use and saved for later. I ended up making a more traditional pesto sauce - basil, sunflower seeds, and olive oil blended in the blender. While it wasn’t what we had planned for dinner, it turned out pretty good! I used the rest of the pesto today on a naan bread pizza. Joe also requested more glo bars for the work week, so we made some more of those too.

There it is again - my naan bread pizza crutch. I only have one slice of the bread left so I should be through with it tomorrow! Same with the asiago cheese. My new approach this week is to only have dairy at lunch, in an attempt to use up my cheese supplies. So far, so good. I had a smoothie and a glo bar for breakfast and we roasted potatoes, brussel sprouts, and cauliflower for dinner. I also cracked open the not-yet-ripe avocado from Saturday and it was perfect!

I had a bit of a brussel sprout emergency today. Yesterday, we did our weekly grocery trip and after visiting two grocery stores I still wasn’t able to find any satisfactory sprouts - everyone I encountered just looked old and gross. I thought fine, I’ll just go without brussel sprouts this week. But then, a mega craving hit as I was thinking about what to make for dinner when I was out running errands this afternoon. I needed brussel sprouts! So I found myself at a grocery store I’ve only been to once my life, buying two pounds of sprouts . Whewwww. Crisis averted.

I will not make the same mistake next week.

New Blender!

At 7:00pm last night, my new blender finally arrived! Although I was quick to unpack it as soon as it came, I didn’t have a chance to try it out until breakfast this morning. I decided to use a classic smoothie as its first test and it turned out SO YUMMY. My smoothie included roughly one cup vanilla almond milk, one very ripe banana, one cup spinach, ½ cup frozen blueberries, ⅓ cup each strawberries, blackberries, and pineapple. It was perfectly sweet and thick, with zero trace of the secret spinach.

Tonight I’m going to whip out the blender again to make Angela’s 15-minute Creamy Avocado Pesto - wish me luck!

Hidden Dairy

I’d like to report that my first 24 hours of veganism were right on track, easy-peasy lemon-squeezy. That would be a lie. A horrible lie. Why?

Hidden dairy.

It’s everywhere! Maybe it’s naive of me to have not paid attention to what products contain dairy in the past but I’ve discover in just the last day that so many foods I consume on a regular basis have dairy.

I think one reason I didn’t think about hidden dairy when deciding to go vegan is because I’ve never liked milk. I saw this as one less hurdle to cross. I love cheese but please don’t make me drink a glass of milk - yuck! Of course, my parents were of the mindset that healthy children grow by drinking cow’s milk but in order for me to drink it, it needed to be loaded up with chocolate syrup/powder. I don’t think drinking milk was very “healthy” for me as a kid.

Remember how I am trying to ease into vegan eating by using a 7,6,5,4...etc. method? Yesterday, as I said in my last post, I had pizza for lunch. Check one for dairy. Then I got to thinking about the granola bar I had for breakfast… it had caramel chips with… dun dun dun… milk as a main ingredient. Okay, check another one for dairy. In the evening, I went to make dinner and figured I’d use up some tikka masala that had been sitting the cupboard for months over lentils. But wait, the masala sauce has yogurt as a main ingredient… and the naan I wanted to have on the side was made with milk…. ARGH!

Yesterday, I put four out of seven strikes in the dairy/eggs allotment box. How am I going to get through the rest of the week?! Well, by continuing to eat dairy. After dairy strike number 4, I took a few minutes to go around my kitchen and evaluate what has dairy/eggs in it. A lot things. There’s a lot of cheese in the fridge, sitting next to 11 eggs. A cookie mix to be made. A whole other package of naan bread…. Although I’m feeling a little discouraged, I also know that it would wasteful to throw these things out. Thus, I’ve decided to not be so hard on myself this week. I’m going to continue to eat these things this week and plan to not buy any replacements during my weekly grocery trip.

That being said, I’m on my last traditional granola bar so I decided to try out Angela’s recipe for Classic Glo Bars this morning! The recipe contained several items I didn’t have on hand - brown rice syrup, hemp, shredded coconut, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds… which prompted a trip to my local food co-op to peruse the bulk food section. I also ended up FINALLY buying a co-op membership, after having lived in this city for a year and a half. Mostly, I’ve been hesitant to get a membership because two other grocery stores in town also have pretty thorough bulk foods sections. However, many to trips all three of these stores has finally led me to conclude that the co-op does indeed have the best selection. You can even buy spices and oils in bulk! I love bulk foods because they allow you to keep prices down by only buying what you need. Which is exactly what I did!

The Glo Bars turned out really well! The recipe was very easy and took about 15 minutes to make. You don’t even have to put them in the oven - just mix the brown rice syrup and peanut butter over medium heat, pour onto the dry ingredients, press the mixture into a pan, and put in the freezer to firm up. Voila! Glo bars for days.

Now I’m anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new blender aka my Christmas present to myself. Amazon.com says its out for delivery - I’m ready to make some smoothies!

Hey! Hi! Welcome!

Why Veganism?

I’ve been a vegetarian since boldly declaring in the 7th grade that killing animals for food is the worst things a human can do. Have I eaten meat since 2003? Yes, particularly during a study abroad in Brazil when NOT eating meat meant missing out on rich cultural experiences. This is an approach I plan to take with veganism as well - there’s no reason veganism should get in the way of trying new things and having “big picture experiences”.

Since 7th grade, my reasons for sticking to vegetarianism have evolved from animal rights advocacy to desire to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I will eat meat on “special occasions” but I just don’t think about meat in my day-to-day meal planning.

Here comes a confession: I’m a bit of a cheesetarian… I’m currently lunching on naan bread smothered in leftover spinach and kale dip, topped with melted asiago cheese. I estimate I eat cheese at 14 out of 21 weekly meals. I love cheese and I default to cheese. I mean, what’s a New York transplant to do in the great state of Wisconsin?! I went to cheese fest this fall and it was glorious! But cheese two-thirds of the week? No bueno. I know my tummy will be happier without it and I’m exciting to be adding veggies into my ‘default’ meals.

Why Now?

I had a chance to catch up with my dear college friends Kate and Betsy over winter break. This year for the holidays, Kate is gifting to people some of her favorite books and I was lucky enough to be the recipient of “The Oh She Glows Cookbook: Over 100 Vegan Recipes to Glow from the Inside Out” by Angela Liddon. This book is BEAUTIFUL! Kate jokes that Angela feels like a friend and I can see why. Her approach to veganism is very, well, approachable. I was 3 minutes late to work on Tuesday because I was reading this book. Sitting down and reading this book has become my new favorite hobby. It finally makes veganism something I am ready to tackle. I remember trying to go vegan once in the 8th grade, about a year into my vegetarianism.This amounted to me eating lettuce and strawberries for a week, neither of which I am particularly fond. Not sustainable. Angela’s book presents a whole foods approach to veganism: no 24/7 tofu, fake cheese, and empty substitutes. I’m ready to approach veganism by educating myself and trying as many new standards as I can.

2014 was also plagued with tummy-issues and running injuries. I’m hoping veganism will leave me happier and with more energy!

My Approach:

I’ve decided to come up with some steps to make this transition to veganism gradual and to not become overwhelmed. Here are my initial goals:

1. Cut back on cheese/dairy consumption using a 7,6,5,4...etc. approach. The first week I will allow myself to have dairy products 7 times during the week, the next week I’ll cut back to 6, then 5, and so on until I have cut dairy out of my diet entirely. I will track this in my planner.
1. Why not the same approach to eggs? Well, I don’t really eat eggs. I’m not imagining eggs/egg products to be as much of a struggle. Who knows, I may re-evaluate and add a similar approach if eggs seem to creep up on me.
2. Make a new recipe from Angela’s book twice a week, documented on this blog.
3. Use MyFitnessPal app to monitor fat/protein consumption. MyFitnessPal shows me that my current diet is very fat/protein heavy and I’ve heard that veganism tends to shift the tilt in the other direction. My goal is to find a BALANCE and I believe MyFitnessPal paints a good picture of where one needs to increase/decrease carbs, proteins, and fats.
4. Write in this blog three times a week. Evaluate how I feel physically, mentally, and emotionally. Report on ups/downs/progress. Keep flowing in a positive direction.
5. I am giving myself a three month time frame: January, February, March. I am allowing myself to “really make up my mind” about veganism come March. (Final evals due in March, so to speak.)

That’s it for now. I’m going to take it easy going into the New Year - for today, at least! Time to do some dishes, take a shower, and roast some green beans for an afternoon snack. Happy 2015 and wish me luck!

P.S. I will add that I welcome comments and suggestions, as I’m willing to take all the help I can get!