#8 Go Vegan For a Week- A Recap

I am done with my week of eating vegan, so I thought I would share some of my thoughts on my little challenge.

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First off, I am no expert. I did this for a week. That is nothing. If I were going to continue this, I would do a lot more research.

1. There are tons of really yummy looking vegan recipes/blogs out there. Hungry Hungry Hippie, Vegan Stoner, and Oh, She Glows were three that I will turn to again for more recipes.
2. I felt like I was eating a lot and not really getting full. I probably wasn't getting enough protein.
3. I really didn't like eating different meals than the Mister. He would try my vegan food, and then make something for himself. I have always thought of dinner time as family time, and even though we don't have any littles right now, I don't want to be in a habit of everyone eating different things.
4. It kind of put a small damper on social stuff. Food is social. Going out to dinner/coffee/happy hour is a social thing. I turned down a couple of social invites because I was unsure about what I would/could eat. I did end up going out twice in the week, and had to think really hard about what I would get before I went into the restaurant. Again, I only did this for a week. If this was a full life style change, this would get easier.
5. I became really aware about what I was eating. I was surprised about all of the milk in foods.
6. It completely cut down on my snacking, which is a good thing. AND the snacks I did end up eating were mostly fruits and veggies.
7. For the most part, this is a really healthy lifestyle, but there are a couple things that have a hard time grasping. The first is that honey in my tea is a no go, but technically I can have all the high fructose corn syrup and Diet Coke I want. That seems weird. It also is weird that Oreos are vegan-- sort of. Google it and you decide.

Probably one of the most asked questions I get from my friends/co-workers is will I continue? Well, no. But, I will continue making some of the vegan recipes that I had this week, and I will also try more recipes from the blogs.

Have you ever tried a diet or big change in your eating habits? Do you have different eating habits than your hubby/significant other? How does that work in your household?

Recipe Thursday: Vegan Spring Rolls and Peanut Sauce

Most of the vegan food I have been eating this week has been recipes from the Internet. Today's recipe is a little different. The sauce is a recipe that my friend's sister Christine sent me. Egg Spring rolls seemed like a yummy thing to dip in the sauce. I had never made egg spring rolls before, so I looked at a couple of recipes on the Internet and came up with this.

Vegan Spring Rolls and Peanut Sauce

There is a bunch of stuff in this pic that I didn't end up using:
avocado and red bell pepper. I also forgot the sugar and the oil
for the picture. Oops.

For the Sauce
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 clove garlic minced
1 t sugar
1/2 lime juiced ( I had a small lemon)
1/2 t hot chili oil
2 t soy sauce
2 T warm water
cilantro (I forgot to use it)

Egg rolls
package of coleslaw mix
some tofu
egg roll wrappers- they are also called rice paper wrappers
garlic, soy sauce, canola oil



To make the sauce, whisk everything together. Taste it. Add more of what you want. Done. Simple and yummy.

To make the egg rolls, first I cut up the tofu into small pieces. This is the second time I have ever made tofu and I have no idea what I am doing with it. Tofu is weird. I then sauteed it in about a tablespoon of oil with some garlic and soy sauce.

After I was done mixing it around the pan mindlessly it was cooked through, I added the package of coleslaw mix and cooked it until the veggies started to get soft. I also thought about putting the red pepper in the mix, but I was too lazy to pull a knife out I decided not to.

Lay the wrapper down in a diamond. Then start to fill the rice paper wrappers with the veggie/tofu mixture. Fold in the sides and then roll the wrapper up. If I wasn't eating vegan I would have used an egg wash to seal the seam. So I mixed up some cornstarch and water to keep them closed. Repeat until out of stuff. I made 12 rolls.

Pile of egg spring rolls



I pan fried the rolls in a small amount of canola oil.

Pile of cooked egg spring rolls

Serve with the peanut sauce.

How was it?

I really liked these. I will be making these again for sure. They are cheaper and healthier than the deep fried egg rolls from the Chinese places. I may use bay shrimp or a small amount of ground chicken instead of the tofu. The sauce was pretty good. I have made a really yummy peanut sauce before, and I really like that recipe.

Do you have any recipes that you make instead of take out?

#8 Go Vegan For a Week: Day 2 &3

I have always considered myself a label reader. Before I buy a new food, I take a moment to look over the nutrition label to see what the fat, calories and nutrients are in the food. However, I don't usually look at the ingredient list. This little exercise is forcing me to look at the list and it is surprising to see what foods have hidden dairy products in them. My heart goes out the the lactose intolerant people out there (& mommas with lactose intolerant littles!) With that said here is the breakdown of my food for the last two days:

Monday

• Breakfast: bagel with avocado (A+++++) I love avocado. The end.
• Lunch: PB & AB sammy and apples
• Dinner: Vegan Pad Thai (B)- I kind of combined this recipe with one that my friend's sister sent me. The sauce was delish, but I overcooked the rice noodles. This also was my first attempt with tofu. Tofu is weird. The Mister was unimpressed. He ate leftover chicken.
• Snacks: lara bar, chips and salsa

best. salsa. ever.

Tuesday:

Today I took a little trip to Trader Joe's for some veganaise and vegan cheese. While their I got distracted by pretty much everything else. The vegan mayo is actually pretty tasty.

• Breakfast: Peach Rice Pudding: (A) Oh my word this was good. I used brown rice, because that's what I have, and I think white rice would have been more pudding like, the brown gave it a "bite" (does that sound like the crazy food network judges from Chopped?) so it was more like oatmeal. Probably next time I will also cut down a bit on the coconut milk so it isn't as soupy, but it had a really yummy flavor.
• Lunch: Vegan Boca Burger and sweet potato fries- I like boca burgers so this wasn't bad at all. I LOVE sweet potato fries, and my usual dipping sauce is honey mustard, however I learned that honey isn't vegan. Boo. Instead I dipped them in catsup, which is not as good as honey mustard.
• Dinner: Potato and Black Bean burrito with avocado, salsa and vegan cheese. To be honest, I couldn't really taste the vegan cheese with all of my delicious salsa and burrito fillings. I tried to eat just a piece of it by itself and I didn't really taste anything.

#8: Go vegan for a week (day 1)

Day one down of my vegan experiment.  The hardest part was during dinner, for two reasons. First, the Mister decided to use his Traeger and grill today. This was good and bad. Bad, because I love when he grills chicken, but good because he made me a yummy baked potato and grilled zucchini. The other bad part was that I REALLY wanted a glass of milk. The Mister had a delicious-looking glass of milk sitting right next to me and I just wanted to drink it.


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Today's Meals
Breakfast:

• Oatmeal with dried peaches, cinnamon, & brown sugar (B-) I made the oatmeal with water, and I think I cooked it too long so it was kind of pastey, but the stuff I added to it was tasty

Lunch/Dinner:

• Traeger Baked Potato: Potato covered with Cajun spice, margarine, and mustard-wrapped in foil and put on the Traeger for about an hour (A) Yummy! The Mister had one too and we will be making this one again.
• Grilled Zucchini: yum (A++++) This is a Traeger staple in this house

Snacks:

• Handful of peanuts
• Vegan Snickerdoodles: (B+) These cookies were soft and chewy, just the way I like my snickerdoodles. Overall, they were a nice treat. The Mister said "I guess they're good, for the limitations." He's cute.
• Raspberry-Pomegranate Tea

A typical Day

#8 on my 30 before 30 list is "Eat vegan for a week." My plan is to start on Sunday, and go through Saturday, however the Mister's family is having a Harvest Party/get together and there is always really yummy food and cake, so I might put it off until Monday if we decide to go to it. Anywho, my friend K's sister has been eating vegan for quite awhile now and she sent me some recipes to try out. I am really excited to try Soba with Miso-Tahini Sauce, Mushroom & Squash Casserole with Green Confetti, and a bunch of yummy sounding desserts she sent me.  I also have been pinning things like crazy to prepare. Here are some of the yummys I am drooling over...

Quinoa and Black Beans

Avocado Pudding

Peach-Rice Pudding

Vegan Pad Thai

At first I thought eating vegan wouldn't be that huge of a change. I don't eat a ton of meat, in fact I haven't had red meat in 16 or 17 years, but I do eat chicken, fish and the occasional pork dish. But today, I really thought about what I was eating, and realized this vegan thing will change quite a bit. Let's take a look at today's meals:

Breakfast:
Bagel, cream cheese, small glass of milk
Egg Nog Latte

Lunch:
Chicken Salad Sandwich(with feta, low fat mayo and dried cranberries), peach yogurt

Dinner:
Shrimp, baked potato (margarine, green onion, sour cream), salad (ranch on the side), Diet Coke

Snack:
Cherry Cutie pie and a glass of milk.

I think if this was my vegan week I could eat the bread from the sammy and the salad without the dressing. Clearly, I heart dairy products. I will update the blog with my eating adventure next week and let you know what recipes I try out, and how they are!

Do you have any yummy vegan recipes that I must try? Would you give up dairy/meat for a week?