Cook Books!

My new vegan cook books finally arrived! I'm really excited, if you couldn't tell. Here they are! Aren't they lovely?

I haven't made any recipes from them yet, but there are a few dessert recipes I can't wait to make!

Wednesday's meals:

Breakfast- Cold cereal with almond/coconut milk

Lunch- Avocado on french bread with a touch of salt

Dinner- Gnocchi with creamy tomato basil sauce

This Gnocchi was super easy to make. Again you boil the gnocchi for a few minutes just until they float to the top of the water. For the sauce I just used canned pasta sauce and added about 1/3 cup of coconut milk, and bit of freshly picked(from my mini planter garden out front) basil. I tossed the gnocchi into the sauce, to soak up all that creamy saucy deliciousness, a few minutes before I served it. I had a lovely piece of fresh french bread with vegan butter to accompany it.

Thursday's meals:

Breakfast- Cold cereal with almond/coconut milk

Lunch-  Veggie salad- diced tomatoes, sliced carrots, broccoli, lettuce, chick peas, and italian dressing.

Dinner- Veggie pizza

I was really in a veggie mood on Thursday. This salad totally hit the spot. It was fresh, delicious, and filling. I didn't use very much lettuce (because i didn't want that much), but all the other veggies were perfectly splendid.

This pizza was quick, easy, and super delicious. I think it was about 15 min. from start to finish. The trick is having a pizza crust mix. I use Namaste's gluten free pizza crust(pictured below). It is SO tasty! I used marinara sauce, vegan shredded cheese, tomatoes, red and yellow bell pepper, portobello mushroom, fresh oregano, and fresh basil. It was delightful!

I don't always eat gluten free foods, but this crust is so delicious, and easy to make I love to use it. All you do is add water and a little bit of oil and it's ready to be spread on a pizza stone. It cooks in about 15 minutes then I simply add my toppings, heat for a few more minutes and enjoy.

Friday's meals:
Breakfast- Cold cereal with almond/coconut milk
Lunch- Snacks- leftover pizza, chick peas (yes, I ate them plain), green peas, etc.
Dinner- Refried bean and onion lettuce wraps and corn on the cob

The bean and onion wraps probably seem weird, but I watched a vegan cooking video a little while back where he made these. I started out by sauteing the onions. But to save a few calories I started by cooking them down with water first before I added a tad of olive oil to really make them nice and carmely. Then I mixed in fresh oregano, some brown rice, and a can of refried beans(I would have mashed my own black beans, but waited too long to make dinner). I grilled up some corn on the cob in my grill pan and called it a meal! It was actually quite tasty, filling, and really very healthy.


On a different note, It has been exactly 3 weeks today since I started this vegan journey. I don't know what my cholesterol looks like, but I am feeling SO GOOD! And I have lost 6 lbs. so far. I think 2 pounds a week is pretty good. I just need to keep it up!

Istanbul not Constantinople

     In this post I would first like to give a shout out to Kate, for being the inspiration for yesterday's meal. Kate shared a recipe with me, which I am still going to try, but it inspired me to try something else. As for the rest of my meals, I know you are all probably wondering why I keep making the same foods. I believe that my best reasoning is that they are tasty. I have been making a lot of veggie wraps for lunch and burritos for dinner. But they are all so simple to make and delicious to eat. Why fix something that isn't broken?

Monday's meals:
Breakfast- Cheerios with bananas and almond/coconut milk
Lunch- Veggie wrap
Dinner- Falafel in homemade pita pockets with tomatoes, cucumbers, avocadoes, and roasted garlic veganaise
falafel recipe(http://mideastfood.about.com/od/maindishes/r/bakedfalafel.htm)
pita recipe(http://mideastfood.about.com/od/breadsrice/r/pitabreadrecipe.htm)

Maybe I should stop taking pictures of my wraps. They all look the same...

The pita pockets didn't turn out as well as I would have liked, but I found another recipe that I like better, so stay tuned for bigger and better pita pockets. I would have just used store bought pitas, but I just went grocery shopping before I decided to make them and didn't want to go back to the store. The falafels were quite tasty though. I definitely recommend them. Also if I had sesame seeds I would have made a nice tahini to go with. Maybe next time.





Tuesday's meals:
Breakfast- Pita bread and juice (Yes, this is a weird breakfast but it's what I ate. It was just that kind of morning)
Lunch- Leftover falafel, homemade hummus with cucumbers, carrots, and pita bread
Dinner- Tofu and veggie red curry over coconut brown rice

I made the hummus by putting a can of chickpeas (with some liquid from the can), olive oil, garlic, and salt&pepper into my food processor. It was decent, but not to die for. I think the quality of my food processor played a big role. It couldn't get all the little chunks as smooth as I would have liked. But overall a nice tasty snack. I might just opt for store bought hummus next time.

This dinner was probably my favorite so far. But I did take a little short cut. I used a jar of red curry sauce instead of making my own using coconut milk, curry powder, and anything else it requires. I cut up yellow and orange bell pepper, broccoli, mushrooms, potatoes, and tofu. I put them in a pan with the jar of "Thai Kitchen" red curry sauce and let them simmer until the vegetables were soft enough. While this was going on I had brown rice in my rice cooker cooking in a half coconut milk half water mixture. The rice was so creamy and flavorful and the curry was just plain awesome! I recommend this recipe to anyone!

I really appreciate comment and suggestions. So if you have recipes or just opinions I would love to hear them!

Busy little beaver

     The weekend is coming to a close and I find myself wishing for another day to actually relax.  Saturday was a super packed day for me. And my wonderful husband was so willing to take care of Simon all by himself all day long. Friday was pretty uneventful (at least from what I can remember). Saturday morning I did a booth at a Saturday's market with a couple other Mary Kay consultants. Then I headed straight to Rexburg and held 4 appointments. I got home and flopped on the couch after a very warm and very tiring day. Today has been lovely. We finally got our swamp cooler fixed, so we aren't dying of heat exhaustion.

     Well enough about me, on to the meals. Friday my friend Melissa let me go pick strawberries out of her garden. This picture was taken after I had already eaten quite a few. Mmmmm don't they look tasty? Well other than snacking on a few at a time I didn't even use them until Sunday. But boy did I use them!







Friday's meals:
Breakfast- Cold cereal with soy milk
Lunch- veggie wrap
Dinner- Chinese cabbage salad (http://jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-08-31T00%3A05%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=3) you have to scroll down the blog a ways to find it.

Inside my spinach wrap is vegan cream cheese, roasted garlic flavored veganaise, yellow and green bell peppers, tomatoes, avocados, and spinach.

This picture really doesn't do this salad justice. Before I was vegan I would make this recipe with chicken. And I have to say that it tastes amazing either way.









Saturday's meals:
Breakfast- Cheerios with strawberries, bananas, and soymilk
Lunch- Salad
Dinner- Tofu burrito

     Like I said earlier Saturday was a busy day. So I didn't actually get any pictures taken. But my breakfast was tasty, lunch was at Pizza Pie Cafe (I ordered the salad bar), and dinner was put together quickly because I came home starving and wanting fast food. My burrito was delicious though. It had tofu fried in coconut oil, refried beans, tomatoes, avocados, cilantro, vegan sour cream, and vegan shredded "cheese".

Sunday's meals:
Breakfast- Cheerios with bananas and almond/coconut milk
Lunch- vegan pancakes (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/vegan-pancakes/) with homemade strawberry syrup and hash browns
Dinner- snacks

This may not look very appetizing, because my photography skills and camera quality are not the best. But boy is this stuff TASTY!!!!! This is homemade strawberry syrup. I blended fresh strawberries and a handful of frozen huckleberries with a cup of water. Then I added about 1/2 cup of agave nectar. I used this mainly so I wouldn't have to heat up sugar and water to get it liquified. I found that it didn't need anything else.






Again a not so wonderful picture. I poured a lot of syrup on top, because it's so delicious, then realized you can't even see the pancake. Speaking of the pancakes, they are super duper tasty. I think I even like them better than regular pancakes.










And to finish off my post today, I wanted to show you my adorable son. We were playing with packing peanuts from my delivered product. They are made out of rice, so when they get wet they stick. And i decided to see how many Simon would let me stick to his head. This is the end result:

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer as much as I am and having as beautiful weather as Idaho is!

Lazy days

     I would like you all to know that when I say lazy days, I don't mean in every aspect of my life. Only my cooking was lazy today. I was actually working very hard, and because of that I didn't want to give too much energy to cooking. So I ate left-overs for lunch and snacked for dinner. I would also like to point out that Brett wasn't hungry for dinner when I got home, so he was not neglected at all.
     Now on to my meals. Wednesday's dinner was really quite simple. I started by cooking some whole wheat penne pasta. While that was cooking I sauteed green and yellow bell peppers, onion, zucchini, and portobello mushrooms in a bit of olive oil. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, and italian seasonings. When the pasta was done cooking I threw it in the pan with the vegetables and added some pasta sauce and a tablespoon of vegan cream cheese. Once it was all incorporated I put it in an 8x8, covered it in vegan shredded cheese, and baked it at 350 until it was nice, warm, and melty. (Vegan cheese doesn't melt the same as regular cheese, but it is still tasty)

Wednesday's meals:
Breakfast- Steel cut oatmeal with flax seed, brown sugar, and almond/coconut milk
Lunch- Left-over mushroom gnocchi
Dinner- Creamy baked pasta with sauteed vegetables
Snacks- Chocolate peanut butter muffins

This is the chocolate peanut butter muffin recipe (http://www.egglesscooking.com/2009/10/13/vegan-peanut-butter-muffins/) They are seriously SO tasty! I wouldn't even know they were vegan if I didn't make them myself.

Thursday's meals:
Breakfast- Cold cereal with almond/coconut milk
Lunch- Left-over baked pasta
Dinner- A chocolate peanut butter muffin

I know that it seems pretty pathetic that I ate a chocolate muffin for dinner, but it was just one of those days.

If anyone has any suggestions or questions please feel free to comment!

Shopping spree!

     If there's one thing I've learned through this process it's that being vegan isn't hard if you have the right kinds of food to cook with. Yesterday I went shopping at a health store called "Wealth of Health". They have all sorts of natural remedies, vitamins, supplements, and whole foods. And my absolute favorite part of the store is the back. Here they have all sorts of fun foods like vegan cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, ice cream, etc. Needless to say I had a lot of fun grocery shopping yesterday. Here are the fruits of my labor:

In my goodie basket: veganaise, coconut milk ice cream, vegan cream cheese, vegan sour cream, silken tofu, vegan shredded cheese, nutritional yeast, powdered egg replacer, and a few other things you can get anywhere (red curry sauce and coconut oil cooking spray).

I've really been missing these food items. It's hard to eat burritos without sour cream. Or make sandwiches or wraps without mayonnaise.

     After I got home with all my goodies, I had to decide what amazing meal I would make first. It was getting kind of late and I needed something fast. So i decided on making a mushroom gnocchi. Gnocchi only takes 3 minutes to cook, and I figured it wouldn't take me too long for the sauce. I first sauteed up some onion garlic and portobello mushroom until the onions were clear. Then I added some white cooking wine, almond/coconut milk, and a few tablespoons of flour and cooked it down until i was a nice thick reduction. (Don't worry, I cooked all the alcohol out of the wine). Then when it was the right consistency I added a tablespoon of vegan cream cheese, a tablespoon of vegan butter and seasoned with salt, pepper, and italian seasonings. Right before it was finished I popped the gnocchi into a pot of boiling water and cooked them until they floated to the top. I threw the delightful little gnocchi's into the sauce and let them suck up all that savory flavor. I enjoyed them with some fresh green beans and a dinner roll. 

     And that my friends is why it isn't so hard to be vegan. If you still don't believe me you should come spend the evening at my house.

Tuesday's meals:

Breakfast- Cold cereal with coconut almond milk

Lunch- Lots of small snacks, nectarine, grapes, almonds, fried polenta

Dinner- Gnocchi with a creamy(vegan) mushroom sauce

 

     Stay posted for some exciting and delicious recipes in the next few days!

Just another manic monday

     Today wasn't really that manic, I have just had that song stuck in my head since I heard it on the radio earlier today. Today was a somewhat productive day. I skipped out on Zumba this morning because I have been super tired. I'm probably going to keep this post short and sweet so that I can go to bed in just a minute.
     Breakfast and lunch were pretty ordinary, but we got to share dinner with my wonderful friend Orchid. I made tofu fajita burritos. They were delicious and very filling. I waited too long to decide what to make for dinner (because I was cleaning the house a lot today). And when that happens I usually end up making some type of taco, burrito, or just random stir fry. I sauteed some red, orange, yellow, and green bell pepper slices with onion and tofu in a tad of olive oil. I added salt, pepper, and cumin for flavor. Then I heated up some black beans and cooked some brown rice. Throw it all together in a tortilla with some diced tomatoes and lettuce and you have a lovely dinner!

     I remembered half way through dinner to take a picture :)

Monday's meals:
Breakfast: Steel cut oats with flax seeds, brown sugar, and soy milk
Lunch: Leftover teriyaki tofu with coconut rice and mixed vegetables. (There wasn't a lot left, so I added some tofu.)
Dinner: Tofu fajita burritos
Snacks: Grapes, almonds, and left over oatmeal cookies.

I'm really enjoying how my body is feeling. Other than not getting enough sleep (which is totally my fault, I just love to stay up late with my wonderful hubby). I do notice more energy throughout the day. By the way I am down another pound. 4 lbs. down in a week and a half! I'm loving my new lifestyle!

Happy Fathers Day!

      Happy Father's Day everyone! I posted a little collage of Brett and Simon pictures the other day, but I wanted to give a little shout out for my fathers today. I have been so incredibly blessed with the men in my life. I had a wonderful caring father, and after he passed I was blessed with the best bonus-dad anyone could ask for. I love you Billy, and I love you Daddy!

     Saturday was a pretty eventful day. It started out with me waking up and getting ready to go to Zumba. Only problem was that the Zumba class was cancelled and was instead being held after some parade in Rigby. But I had a nice 30 minute drive to start my day off. When I got home Simon was awake and Brett was feeding him breakfast. After he finished breakfast, I made some steel cut oats for myself and an omelet for Brett. After we had both finished eating we went on a family bike ride. It was such a nice way to start off a Saturday. I think we biked over 5 miles. My legs were feeling it at the end, and I was really glad. If I wasn't able to do Zumba I'm glad my legs could get a good workout.

     After getting ready for the day I packed up my stuff and headed to Rexburg for a baby shower and to do a facial for some college girls. I didn't get home until after 5, and Brett and I had been hoping to go on a date. We couldn't find a sitter, but decided to get dinner to-go and then watch a movie (Megamind, Brett's fathers day present) after Simon went to bed. 

     We went to Rumbi, island grill. It was so good! And they have tofu on their menu! It was a nice treat after driving around trying to find somewhere with good vegan options. There is one vegan-friendly restaurant in Idaho Falls and most of the dinners are around $25 or $30 a plate. So we decided to leave that for another time. 

Saturday's meals:

Breakfast: Steel cut oats with flax seeds and brown sugar

Lunch: Veggie wrap; lettuce, tomatoes, red and yellow bell pepper, and avocado wrapped in a tomato basil tortilla wrap.

Dinner: Hawaiian teriyaki tofu with grilled vegetables over coconut milk rice and red beans. Oh and it was accompanied by a delicious mango lemonade.

     Today was very nice. I had to play piano is sacrament meeting for the primary program. I was super nervous, but I at least ended the songs on the right notes. Then we went to a friends for a father's day BBQ. I brought some pasta salad, and that was the only vegan item there. I was really glad I brought something to share, otherwise I wouldn't have had anything to eat. 

     After the BBQ we went and visited Grandpa Ringel and Grandma Verdene. Simon really enjoyed being there and was having quite a fun time showing off. He's pretty darn cute. 

     Overall it was a really lovely Father's Day. Oh I almost forgot. Kitty was almost eaten today. Apparently our neighbor's (a few doors down) pit bull terriers know how to escape from their yard and wanted to enjoy kitty for their lunch. The neighbors across the street told me that they were chasing kitty all around our yard and cornered her several times. She managed to make it into a bush to hide where the dogs couldn't reach her. I'm just really glad she is okay. That would have been a very sad thing to happen on Father's Day. But besides that little ordeal it was a really nice day.

Sunday's meals:

Dinner: Pasta salad made with tomatoes, broccoli, red and yellow bell peppers, and italian dressing

Dessert: Vegan oatmeal cookies (http://ohsheglows.com/2010/09/11/the-ultimate-vegan-oatmeal-raisin-cookie/)

The cookies turned out pretty good. I didn't have any raisins or anything yummy to put in them (I really need to find some vegan chocolate chips) but for being made without milk, eggs, or butter, I think they turned out pretty well. And I think Brett enjoyed them too.

     This weekend was a little trying on me. It is hard to go out to eat and see all the delicious options that I used to love. But I am really happy with how things are going. We will just have to do things like go bowling or watch a movie for our dates now, instead of going out to eat. It is just too painful.

     Well I hope you all are enjoying this journey with me. I know I am. Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful fathers and grandfathers out there!

Temptations

     If you got on yesterday or this morning expecting to see a post and didn't, I am sorry. But I have been staying up way too late to write at night. A lovely reminder from the best bonus dad helped me to really see this. I think I am going to start blogging in the morning, when my mind is fresh and I remember events from the day before.
     This weekend has been great! To be honest I'm having a little difficulty remembering exactly how Thursday and Friday went, but I know they were good. Summer in Idaho is so nice! Not too hot, not too cold. And when the sun shines, there's nothing better. When Brett came home for lunch on Thursday (he works 5 minutes away so I get to see him for lunch every day), we all went for a little family bike ride. We have a super awesome InStep bicycle trailer for Simon! And he absolutely LOVES it! At some point I will take a picture of it. We are planning on having many many more bike rides.
     My Thursday evening was a little jam packed with me running around like a chicken with my head cut off. So we ended up just grabbing some fast food on our way to Rexburg. If there's one thing I learned this weekend, it's that fast food restaurants are not the best place for a vegan to go. Especially not Arby's...
     This vegan process has been actually pretty easy. That is up until Thursday night. Having to sit in the car next to Brett eating a cheesy roast beef sandwich made me feel a little jealous, sad, and hungry. I guess this just means I can't be lazy about dinners. Oh and I have a little funny story about my salad too. I had them not put chicken on my salad, but forgot not to ask for cheese. So while I was smelling the fragrant fumes from Brett's sandwich I was tediously picking grated cheese strands from every nook and cranny of my salad. It was pretty pathetic.

Thursdays meals:
Breakfast: Cold cereal with soy milk
Lunch: Fried tofu, brown rice, black beans, avocado, and tomato wrapped in a tomato basil tortilla wrap.
Dinner: Garden salad with balsamic vinaigrette
Dessert: Fruit salad and soy milk ice cream
Snacks: Grapes, almonds, chocolate soy milk

This is Thursday's lunch. It was scrumptious. 

Friday's meals:

Breakfast: I know it is so boring, but I had cold cereal again. It's just so easy.

Lunch: I'm pretty sure I just snacked all day on Flour tortillas with vegan butter and cinnamon sugar (I had a sweet tooth), grapes, and nuts.

Dinner: Tofu chili and vegan cornbread.

For the chili I kind of just made it up. I started by sauteing red and yellow bell peppers, onion, and tofu in olive oil. Then I added a can of kidney beans, a can of corn, and some home canned tomatoes. I added some tomato paste and some water and finished it all off with some chili powder, crushed red pepper flakes, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. It was quite delicious.
Here is the cornbread recipe:
http://www.theppk.com/2007/10/vegan-cornbread/
It's not fantastic... but it doesn't have milk or eggs in it...

     I think I am going to save all the exciting things that happened today for tomorrow's blog. And I will start a new habit of writing one day at a time the morning after.

     I hope everyone has a wonderful Father's day. I am grateful for all of my fathers and my incredible husband who is an amazing dad.
This is the day Simon was born. Being held by his proud daddy.

Being a dad can be tiring some times. But naps always help.

Simon likes to play at the park with daddy!

And dad likes to show Simon how to play video games.

But most of all they just like to spend time with each other.

Zumba, sunrises, and tofu tacos

     I really need to quit postponing my blogging until after 11:00 pm. I find that the more tired I am, the more severe my writers block is. But even with a non-functional brain I managed to come up with a title that isn't just counting how many days I have been eating only vegan food. In  case you were wondering I am writing about days 5 and 6. It has almost been a whole week and I am feeling fantastic! I am down 3 lbs. and feeling so full of energy it is amazing!
     Yesterday was a little bit of a lazy day. We had gone to bed really late the night before, so when I woke up with my energetic little one year old I was not ready to be up for the day. I fed him and made him go back to sleep. We both slept from 8:00-10:00 am. It was a very much needed nap for the both of us. And it allowed me to rest up for the busy day that I had today.
     My day today began at 5:30 am. I popped out of bed right when my alarm went off, I put some exercise clothes on, threw my hair in a pony tail, applied deodorant of course, ate an energy bar and left for Zumba. If there's one thing I love about summer, it's how early the sun rises and how late it sets. As I was driving to class I got to enjoy a beautiful Idaho sunrise. It was the PERFECT way to start out my day. And because I got up with the sun I didn't feel tired at all today.

Tuesday's meals:
Breakfast- Honey bunches of oats with almond milk.
Lunch- Fried tofu soft taco/burrito with refried beans, brown rice, avocado, tomato, and sauteed mushrooms.
Dinner- Portobello mushroom cap marinated in balsamic vinaigrette and grilled. Served with brown rice, green beans and grapes.
Snacks- Almonds, chocolate soy milk, and grapes.

This is my lunch on Tuesday. I feel like I have been eating a lot of Mexican inspired food. But it is just so easy to get a complete protein with beans and rice. And what goes better with beans and rice than a taco?

And this is Tuesday's dinner. It was thrown together pretty quickly, but the mushrooms were hearty and full of flavor.











Wednesday's meals:
Breakfast- Energy bar before workout and almonds and chocolate soy milk after. (I realized after I got home that there is milk in the energy bars...
Lunch- Tofu tacos with black beans, brown rice, avocado, and tomato. And later a veggie sandwich.
Dinner- Potatoes, tofu, tomato, and avocado all cooked up together and thrown on a plate. I was in a hurry...
Snacks- Almonds, sunflower seeds, pepitas(pumpkin seeds)

     I kind of had 2 lunches today, because I got up so early and only had a snacky breakfast. I made tacos around 10:30 and went out for a business lunch with some girls at 1:00. I didn't take a pic of my veggie sandwich, but it was pretty much just a sandwich made with veggies...

     Dinner was kind of just thrown in a pan and onto a plate. I was in a bit of a rush to get to my success meeting tonight. And I didn't even take a picture. I got a little hungry while at my meeting, so i snacked on some nuts and seeds. And when I got home I made Brett a burrito and stole a few bites. 

     I have to say that I am really loving this journey. Even though  some of my food may seen a bit repetitive it is all so tasty! If you have any questions about recipes, please feel free to comment and ask. 

I might as well finish off this post with an adorable picture of my beautiful family!

These are the people I would do anything for. They are fun, silly, wonderful, and mine! We're always playing around here. Because what is the point of life if you don't have joy. I hope that the changes I am making in my life today will allow me more time with these incredible people!

Days 3 and 4 (I need to be more creative)

     So apparently I like to wait 2 days between blogs. This isn't intentional. I think it's the procrastinator in me trying so very hard to keep me from staying on top of things. I was going to post something last night, but ended up chatting with sisters and then deciding to go to bed instead of staying up late. Tonight is different. I just got home from Zumba and am on a bit of an endorphin rush. So even though it's late and I should be sleeping now, I think I will stay up and document my days instead. Okay, i just have  to put in a little side note for Zumba though. It is so much FUN!!! And I can seriously feel the burn!  That is my exercise throughout this process. In case you thought I was just going to change what I eat and nothing else. Don't worry people, this is a total 180 degree flip for me! My life will never be the same!
      Okay lets get down to business now. This week has been so wonderful. I am feeling so great! I feel like I am a better wife and mother now too. I really believe that when you take care of yourself first, you will be more fit to take care of those around you. We usually think of motherhood as such a selfless thing, (and I do believe that it is). But when I take the time for myself to put good food into my body, to exercise, to have special time for meditation and for the Lord I am able to then give 100% of the rest of my time to my sweet baby boy and wonderful husband.
     Now onto my meals. Let's see if I can remember what I ate yesterday (It's a good thing I have been taking pictures).

Sunday's meals:
Breakfast: Honey Bunches of Oats with coconut milk (I bought 3 different kinds of milk so I don't get bored of any of them)
Lunch: Fried polenta with sauteed mushrooms, onions, avocados and tomatoes.
Dinner: Whole wheat rotini pasta topped with grilled portobello mushrooms, grilled onions, and tomatoes. Topped with a white wine vinaigrette sauce with fresh basil, dried rosemary, and a mix of italian herbs. With the most delicious honeydew melon I've ever tasted.
Dessert: Some chocolate peanut butter soy milk ice cream. I really shouldn't buy any more of this. Even though It's not made of cow's milk it still has a lot of calories...

Pictured here is my lunch. What you see is only half of what I ate. I just remembered to take the picture half way through my meal.

And to my right is dinner. Our friend Robby was able to join us because he was in town for a class. He approved of this meal. I do have to agree. It was quite tasty. I really like using portobello mushrooms. They have such a dense meaty texture.








Monday's meals:
Breakfast: Honey Bunches of oats again. But this time I had it with vanilla almond milk.
Lunch: Fried polenta with sauteed mushrooms, onions, refried beans, cilantro and tomatoes. I know it looks similar to lunch from the day before, but I was in a hurry and it was very accessible.
Dinner: Tofu and portobello fajita burritos.
After-Zumba snack: Water and grapes

As you can probably tell by the name, tonight's dinner was kind of an experiment (most of my cooking usually is). It started out as fajitas and turned into burritos when I realized that I wanted a bit more substance. I seasoned(salt, pepper, chili powder, and cumin) and grilled up some extra firm tofu then sauteed some portobello mushroom, green bell peppers, onions, and carrots. Then I heated up some refried beans and cooked some brown rice. I threw it all in a tortilla and called it a meal.

     



Tonight's dinner really needed some vegan sour cream. I am definitely going to have to start planning all of my dinners for the week ahead of time. Also I think I will be needing a vegan cookbook. If anyone has any suggestions I would love them. If not I will probably go to Barnes & Noble and check out the options.







     Well we didn't have any crazy incidents these last two days (surprisingly). But I am really loving life. I can't wait to see where else this journey takes me! And I'm glad that all of you are coming along for the ride.

Days 1 and 2

One day down and I'm still alive! I would consider yesterday a success! My meals for the day: Breakfast-a delicious bowl of steel cut oats with pumpkin seeds, bananas, and chocolate soy milk.
Lunch- mostly just a bunch of snacks. Rice crackers with avocado,  almonds, fried rice (leftovers from dinner the night before). And I just realized there was a little tiny bit of egg in the fried rice... oops. Not totally in the habit yet.
Dinner- Absolutely delicious vegan enchiladas (recipe below) accompanied with brown rice, black beans, pinto beans, tomatoes, avocado and lettuce.

Vegan Enchiladas

• 12 corn tortillas
• 1 cup onions
• 1 cup potatoes (boiled, peeled, and diced)
• 1 cup canned beans, your favorite kind
• 1 cup zucchini, diced
• 1 cup olives, sliced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon Lawry seasoning
• 2 cups enchilada sauce, canned
• 2 cups spaghetti sauce, from a jar
• Non-stick spray (optional)

I didn't have any zucchini, so I found some green bell peppers and mushrooms and used those in it's place. Then just like you would with any other enchiladas, I mixed all the goods together put them in a tortilla with a little bit of sauce layered them in a casserole dish, poured the enchilada sauce (mixed with marinara sauce) over the whole dish and baked for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

I do have to share a few funny stories that happened during the enchilada making process. As I was mixing all the delicious ingredients together I pulled the tortillas out of my cupboard only to realize that I only had 4. So I sent Brett to the grocery store to get more. While he was gone I let Simon explore and play in the kitchen and living room. I didn't think this would be a problem because I cleared the floor off. What I didn't think about what how tall my "little baby"has gotten. Well apparently he's tall enough to reach bowls of enchilada sauce on the counter and pull them off. And this little fiasco happened right before dad came home with this...

Yep, that's a gallon of cookies and cream ice cream. The very first day of my vegan diet. When I asked him why he bought this, he responded that he was being mischievous (the day earlier while at the grocery store he wanted to buy ice cream and I didn't let him. So he thought it would be funny if he got some on his solo grocery shopping trip). And when I kindly reminded him that I was starting my vegan diet that day and that excludes ice cream, he definitely felt some buyers remorse. So to make up for having to see that in my freezer we went to the grocery store the next day to get me a treat that I can enjoy.

Chocolate peanut butter soymilk ice cream. It is incredibly delicious. And I don't even feel left out of the ice cream eating festivities! 

While I'm at it I should just post how today went. Everything above was yesterday. Today my meals were: 

Breakfast- The same as yesterday. Steel cut oats with banana, pumpkin seeds, and chocolate soy milk. 

Lunch- A hand full of grapes.

Dinner- Left over enchiladas, but with refried beans instead of black and pinto. I also added some cilantro to the whole meal.

Dessert-Chocolate peanut butter soy milk ice cream. Mmmmmmm

Midnight(9:00) Snack- 2 apricots and a handful of rice crackers.

 I know that lunch looks pathetic. I accidentally skipped it. This is very uncommon and probably won't happen again. But I was busy working in Rexburg and all I had was a hand full of grapes at my friend Cortney's house. Anyways I ate dinner around 4:30 because of it, and not long after dessert I was ready for another snack.

 Oh and I was just realizing that I didn't put my weight or BMI in the last post. I will let you all know so that I can more effectively track my progress. (Again, try not to judge) I am starting out this process weighing 150 lbs. with a BMI of 29. My goal is to get my weight and BMI in the normal zone. Hoping to be around 125, with a BMI of 24. 


I have been truly enjoying the beginning of this journey and am excited about what the future holds!

Why Vegan?

     If you know me well, then you are probably wondering why I decided to adopt a vegan lifestyle. And if you don't know me very well, let me give you a little background info. My name is April Jensen and I am 22 years old. I have a wonderful husband and a beautifully rambunctious 1 year old baby boy. I like to consider myself to be a culinary connoisseur. I LOVE food. I grew up watching the food channel and preparing fun recipes for my loved ones. And for someone who delights in a platter of exotic aged cheeses, or an expertly prepared rack of lamb, or delicious italian gelato, a vegan lifestyle would probably not be their first choice.
     Now let me explain to all of you why I am making this drastic change. I recently participated in wellness testing with my husband's work in order to lower our insurance. We did blood tests, balance/flexibility tests, and strength/endurance testing, along with taking body measurements and calculating BMI. The results I received were pretty shocking. I am going to share my results with you because later on I would like to do more testing to see if I improve. I'm just going to share blood results now because I didn't get a copy of my other results. But they weren't terrific either.
First I will tell you where normal levels should be:
Cholesterol total-              130-200
Triglyceride-                     30-150
Direct HDL cholesterol-   40-60
Non-HDL-                        0-130
Coronary risk-                   0-4
LDL-                                 0-100

Now you get to see how unhealthy I am (please try not to judge me):

Cholesterol total-               253  -HIGH

Triglyceride-                     211  -HIGH

Direct HDL cholesterol-   45    -Normal

Non-HDL-                        208  -HIGH

Coronary risk-                   5.6   -HIGH

LDL-                                 166   -HIGH

      

     You can lift your chin off of the floor now, because I'm sure you were as shocked as I was. I'm just a "spring chicken" (according to the trainer performing my tests), I can't be this unhealthy! After hearing my results I did what any one would do. I called my mommy. Apparently high cholesterol runs in the family. 

     I am going to back track a little bit now. A little while ago I watched an incredible documentary called "Forks Over Knives". In this film they examine the claim that most degenerative diseases that afflict people can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods. If you get the chance I highly recommend watching it. Anyways, I showed the documentary to my mom, who decided she was going to eat a strictly vegan diet and see how it affected her. She stopped taking her statin cholesterol medication and changed her diet! I am pleased to let all of you know that her cholesterol has gone down drastically, she is filled with energy and feeling great! 

     Seeing the positive change for my mother has inspired me. I did some research on how to have a complete healthy diet while omitting all animal products and decided to take a leap! Starting today I am changing my life and you all get to be right there with me! I am going to track my progress and share healthy and fun vegan recipes with you. I hope you enjoy this journey with me!