Day Three & Day Four

I know, I totally slacked on Friday March 19th. It was a relatively busy day on my end.
I'll update as follows:

Day Three: Friday March 19th
BreakfastLike the reoccurring theme of the week, I woke up rather late so I sat down to a bowl of Cheerios, soy milk & some mixed fruit (blueberries, strawberries, banana). Sometimes I do have this on a "regular" non-vegan day, so this already was something I generally enjoy.

Lunch

I actually had skipped lunch & had a large, early dinner. So, yes, I did go against my plan today because I did not have all three meals...

Dinner

I had fun with my frydaddy again. I threw a whole slew of vegetables & tofu delights into the deepfryer for a quick dinner seeing as I needed to eat on the go.
Combination included: peppers, baby corn, potatoes, broccoli, sugar snap peas, tofu & carrots.
Yes, I know it's a shame that I duplicated this idea, too, but I really just needed food on the go...

Obviously this whole diet & having to cook special meals for myself is really not fitting into my schedule too terribly well. It would be so much easier to pop open a can of chef boyardee & take it with me while I'm off to work or whatever event I have scheduled, but I'm really not seeing that convenience factor in my life right now. It's becoming a real challenge to get this diet to really fit my schedule. Totally not digging it.

Day Four: Saturday March 20th

Breakfast

Actually slept in today while at a friend's house, so this made the whole breakfast-food issue an interesting obstacle. My breakfast consisted of a large soy vanilla latte. Definitely not nutritious, but at least I managed to make it fit...

Lunch

Decided to try a little experiment with my friend today... We went out to eat at a Chinese buffet & obviously trying to stick to the diet, I selected foods that I was 'allowed' to eat. I really thought there would be a better selection -- I was stuck with vegetable lo mein, white rice, & a fruit/salad bar. ALTHOUGH: They had VEGAN SUSHI. (if you know me well enough, I'm a huge sushi/sashimi fanatic.) It was tofu seasoned with spices to taste like sushi. I mean, obviously the consistency was not like that of REAL sushi/sashimi, but it satisfied a craving I've had for a couple days. Heh.

Dinner

I've still yet to make dinner. I'm going to explore some options & update with the recipe/results from what I chose.

& going back to my thoughts on my late migraines... I had a bit of a revelation. When I was on my regular, non-vegan diet, I never had to worry about what I was eating & when. Now, it's obviously quite the opposite. Thinking about it, a huge part of my regular "snacks" (IE: granola bars, some yogurts) are incredibly sugary. I'm having sugar withdrawals.
Awesomeeee.

Day Two

Breakfast

I actually slept in a little later than I wanted to today, so I didn't exactly have enough time to get up & make a new batch of breakfast. Instead, I just reheated some of the banana french toast from yesterday. I'm not too completely happy that I duplicated a meal already, but I'd rather do that than skip the meal all together. The banana bread really didn't change at all within the 24 hour period, so I have nothing new to update on the actual food or its taste.

One thing I noticed is that I was excruciatingly hungry between breakfast & lunch. Normally, this never happens when I eat my "regular diet" which I find somewhat interesting. But on the positive note, the nausea I complained about yesterday is gone (so I'm not contributing that to my new vegan diet). I'm just hoping this unsatisfied hunger doesn't stick around for the entire week. I'm really not too cool with that.

Lunch

Whipped up a rather light lunch today, seeing as I wasn't able to eat until later in the afternoon. It was a nice vegan miso soup which I've always enjoyed. I substituted spinach in place of the more traditional onion, seeing as I really want to make sure I'm getting a legitimate amount of iron.

Vegan Miso Soup	Beef Soup
-4 cups Water -1/3 cup Miso -2 tablespoons shredded Spinach -1 tablespoon shredded Nori -1/2 block Tofu (cut into small cubes)	-Ground Beef -7 cups Water -1 can condensed Beef Broth -3/4 cup chopped Onion -1/2 cup chopped Celery -2 cans Diced Tomatoes -1.5 cups sliced Potatoes -1 cup Carrots -2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce

Now, I know these soups are obviously quite different -- the Miso is not meant to be super-filling while the beef soup is more-so geared to be a dinner-esque meal. But sometimes I do enjoy having it for lunch, should there be leftovers at home. I also thought it was an interesting cultural comparison in that the Japanese influenced Miso is pretty much minimalistic in comparison to the Pennsylvania Dutch influenced beef soup...

Dinner

I'm completely unsure on dinner, especially seeing as I need to be at work in half an hour. I'm considering adventuring out to find a place that has vegan-friendly food while on my "lunchbreak" at work, but I have a very funny feeling that's going to be easier said than done.

UPDATE:
Yeah, I didn't even bother with fastfood chains for dinner. I'd probably get lucky with just a plain salad (because I'm sure the croutons contain Parmesan cheese, plus I can't have cheese, & some select salad dressings). & frankly, I hate salads... Ironic, eh?

Instead I just made a really super late dinner. I really didn't cook up anything or followed a specific recipe. I just tossed some tofu, broccoli, & snap peas into my fry-daddy (with vegetable oil, of course) & cooked up some vegan mac & cheese that I picked up from the grocery store. My fried concoction tasted delish but I really can't say the same about the mac & cheese... Vegan mac & cheese is probably one of the most disgusting things on the face of the earth. The consistency of the noodles was really bizarre & the pseudo-cheese sauce was a flavorless mixture of sludge. I don't think I'm going to ever pick that up again.

& I've noticed I've had the most ridiculous migraines today. I don't know if its allergies (which seems a little early for them already), the fact I haven't had a whole lot of caffeine today, or if it's what I heard about becoming vegan... From what I remember, the initial transition from animal protein & heme-iron to strictly plant protein & non-heme-iron can cause headaches. I'm going to have to do more research on that before actually coming to a conclusion as to what these migraines are caused by.

Day One

BREAKFAST

Breakfast was an interesting challenge. I figured whipping up a batch of vegan banana french toast wouldn't be too bad. & then I realized: I had to cook without butter.

I'm Pennsylvania Dutch. Asking me to cook without copious amounts of butter is pretty much like asking me to do brain surgery. I really had no idea how to start. Sure, I've heard of this mysterious substance: vegetable spray -- but that was an alien concept. I've used it on my shovel in winter so the snow wouldn't stick to the metal, but I've never once used it in actual cooking.

All-in-all, the actual vegan banana french toast was not bad (as long as you don't mind the over powering taste of bananas -- It was kind of like raisin-free semi-soggy banana bread), but I think it could have been a lot more visually appealing. See, it didn't become a light golden-brown like REAL french toast (mainly due to the egg & butter combo). With mine, a fine layer of dark brown crust was instantly formed on my toast the moment the bread hit the pan which made it difficult to judge when it was finished cooking (but it didn't matter too much, there's no worry in eating 'raw' banana because it has salmonella).

Vegan Banana French Toast	Non-Vegan French Toast
-2 Bananas -2/3 cup Soy Milk -2 tablespoons Maple Syrup -1/8 teaspoon Cinnamon -1/8 teaspoon Nutmeg -1/8 teaspoon Vanilla -Bread	-4 Eggs -3/4 cup Milk -3 tablespoons Brown Sugar -1 teaspoon Nutmeg -1 tablespoon Cinnamon -1 teaspoon Vanilla -Bread

So in all reality, the vegan french toast wasn't drastically different in comparison to the real-deal. I actually think I got a whole lot more batter out of the vegan recipe verses the original recipe I previously used.

LUNCH

I noticed up until now, I've been excruciating hungry. I think it's a little bit too early to say that it's because I'm missing animal protein. I mean, it could be that, it could be that breakfast has less sugar, or it could just be that I'm being weird. Either way.

Vegan Pasta Salad	Non-Vegan Pasta
-2 cups Rotini Pasta -1/2 cup Baby Corn -1/2 cup Snap Peas -Several stalks of Asparagus -1/4 cup (crumbled) Tofu -4 tablespoons (crushed) Peanuts -2 tablespoons Olive Oil	-2 cups Rotini Pasta -1 can Tomtato Sauce -Ground Beef -Dash of: parsley, thyme, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder.

The vegan pasta was definitely a lot lighter than the "traditional" kind of pasta I'm used to. Filling, but it almost feel like it doesn't "hit the spot".

DINNERDinner was a pretty easy meal. I grilled up a couple Boca burgers (because beef burgers have been a regular dinner item ever since the weather has been pleasant). Although, again, I had to change how I cook it. Normally, I'll marinade the beef burger in Worcestershire sauce. However, Worcestershire sauce contains some sort of juice from sardines (delightful, eh?) which was a complete disappointment. I was also somewhat dreading the cheese... Something about neon-orange "rice cheese" really just didn't seam too appealing to me. However, I really couldn't tell the difference. Sure, it didn't melt the way "real" cheese does, but the flavor was almost spot-on. I was impressed.

Boca Burger	Beef Burger
-Boca Burger Patty -A1 Sauce -Rice "cheddar cheese" -Toasted English Muffin -Ketchup	-Beef Patty -Worcestershire sauce -Cheddar Cheese -Toasted English Muffin -Ketchup

The really nice thing about cooking vegan dishes is that you don't have to worry about cross-contamination. I'm somewhat of a germaphobe (& I have my mother to thank for that one) so I can become super particular when I cook meat.
IE: If a surface touched raw meat, it must be sanitized the moment the meat is off of it. Once the meat is "cooked" on the outside, I'll find a new spatula/utensil that has not touched the same meat when it was previously "raw" on the outside. Yeah, I'm that insane about it.
Instinctively, though, I just wanted to sanitize the counter after the spatula I used to flip the boca burger was set down on it. I actually had to pause & remember that there was nothing "dangerous" about uncooked veggies smashed into a patty-shape. How convenient.

On an interesting note: I'm also feeling somewhat nauseous. I think it's far too soon to say it's the diet bothering me THIS MUCH already, so for now, I'll assume it's some sort of bug I must have picked up from work.

Project Preparation

Went grocery shopping today, seeing as there really are no vegan alternatives at home. Picked up some fruits & vegetables (because obviously, that's definitely a safe thing to go with) as well as some pasta. But the most difficult part of my shopping adventure was selecting the foods that'll replace my current animal-produced-meals.

Soy milk is not a big deal, I prefer soy milk over cow's milk any day.
& same goes for ice cream; I'm not a huge fan of the real-deal, I'd much rather take Tofutti's soy ice cream any day.
Plus, I have a thing for tofu.

I picked up some soy yogurt -- I'm figuring if I already dig soy milk & soy ice cream, how different can soy yogurt be from those two?
I think my biggest downfall is going to be cheese. Frankly, cheese is my Achilles' heal when it comes to food. I found a cheese substitute, but I'm not looking forward to giving up dairy-cheese.

The bill came to $41.
I was semi-shocked & assumed that only strictly-vegan purchases could ever cost that much & that it's 'unfair' that animal-friendly food alternatives should cost so much more than their counterparts. When I actually looked at the receipt, it's because I purchased fresh fruits & vegetables -- not because these vegan products are so outrageously priced. My vegan mac&cheese is $1.09 more expensive than Kraft's mac&cheese; My soy milk was $1.17 more expensive than cows' milk; My soy yogurts were (each) $.20 more expensive than my previously purchased brand of yogurt; My pseudo-cheese was $1.40 more than deli-cut cheese; and my Bocaburgers were a surprising $3.30 CHEAPER than beef burgers.
In all reality, my bill cost me a total of $.96 more than if I had purchased all non-vegan products.
Not bad if you take the time to do the math.
& if I would have looked around for coupons, I'm sure I could have actually saved a good deal.

Plan for tomorrow includes:
Vegan-friendly Banana French Toast for breakfast & a Bocaburger for diner.
I'm undecided on lunch, but it'll probably be a light pasta/vegetable salad.
I'll have recipes tomorrow.

Maybe this experiment might not be so bad after all.
(I guess it depends on the cheese.)

The Project Plan

I got an interesting assignment today. A professor wants my class to come up with a way to positively change our lives/lives of others. Some students proposed some rather New Years resolution-esque ideas: quit smoking, eat breakfast, get exercise... I quit smoking. I don't drink. If I take any sort of drugs, it's ibuprofen & the occasional antihistamine. I eat breakfast, lunch, & dinner. & I get a fair deal of exercise. So I chose a slightly different 'experiment': adopt a vegan diet for a week.

Now, I honestly can't say I know for a fact that eating vegan is much healthier or that it'll add a noticeable positive change in my life. But I have some friends that always insisted that since I'm such an animal nut, I probably should be vegan. It would almost make sense if you excluded my love for meat. I dig on meat. I love my steak still mooing. I love tender veal & lamb. I love rotisserie chicken & plump Thanksgiving day turkey. I love fresh fish & seafood. (But the only thing I won't touch is pork -- & I can't explain why, even if I wanted to.)

For a week (starting Wednesday, March 17th) I'll be eating a strict vegan diet. No milk products (IE: milk, cheese, yogurt, butter), no animal products (IE: eggs, gelatin), & most definitely no meat (IE: beef, pork, poultry, seafood, etc.)
I also plan on exploring vegan meal options. I'm only going to allow myself to duplicate a meal twice.
& all the while, I plan on keeping this blog.

I'm sure this is going to get real interesting real quick.