my vegetarian/vegan/Lent challenge

So, while drinking my soy latte and doing some deep soul searching at Panera (aka people watching and Youtubing), I decided that I am officially becoming a vegetarian with some provisions. And I warped this into “I want to go vegan for Lent” but as I debated last night, I can’t afford that. So I started thinking and thinking… Lent, while I am not religious, is a part of my life as I was raised in the church. To me, it now signifies more of a personal challenge to strip away something in your life and challenge yourself to live without it. Since I want to go vegetarian anyways, it is a perfect time to officially bring it into my life and phase into it. Also, a good way to let Mona and Jeff know why I’m not eating the shrimp they made tonight.

Caveat: this weekend I’m visiting my uncle and aunt (the chef) and Mona, Jeff, and one of their twins/one of my best friends Jeremy are coming to the house to meet my aunt and uncle and have a meal. Which is paella. My favorite and one of my aunt’s best dishes. SO I am a vegetarian with the exception of visiting my aunt and uncle this weekend as they had already planned meals on me coming before I decided this on a whim at Panera today.

Back to the vegan part… I am certainly not going to go totally vegan any time soon, I just like eggs and some dairy and I have a hard time grappling with that when it is not directly killing an animal (I know, I know their conditions are still abysmal…). But, something is better than nothing I suppose. And since I can’t afford to do it for the 40 days of Lent, I’ve decided to challenge myself to explore new vegan alternatives a week/until my supply runs out and I have to buy something new. Exhibit A: Vegan cheese. I’ve always been scared of soy cheese.

2 pieces whole wheat melba toast, 1 slice cheddar flavored vegan soy cheese, red pepper flakes

I wanted to amp up the class, so clearly microwaving soy cheese is the way to go. It was good but the texture was too much like American cheese for my liking. I bet this would be good on a sandwich or melted and mixed into another dish. I give this a B-.

I should mention that on my way home from Panera, after making these decisions, I stopped at the grocery store for a few things, one important one being tofu. I’ve never prepared it myself but I’ve heard good things about the Nasoya pre-cubed super firm tofu, so I gave it a try for dinner. I was craving BBQ, so I marinated the tofu in 2 types of BBQ sauce and made baked parsnip fries. AMAZING. I wish I had made more tofu, but I wasn’t sure. I used about 1/4 of the package (it says 3 servings are in it).

Tofu marinated in 2 tbsp BBQ sauce; 1 medium parsnip roasted with olive oil, salt, pepper, and paprika w/ 1 tbsp ketchup; 1 cup green beans

For all interested, I let the tofu marinate in the BBQ sauces for about 20 minutes (while I prepared the parsnip and let the oven preheat). I then both together at 425* for 25 minutes. I wish the tofu had been pre-cubed into bigger cubes, but seriously this is a keeper.

Then I tried my next vegan adventure: vegan “ice cream”. I was super skeptical and opted for the vanilla flavor to play it safe. This was the only brand that Harris Teeter had, but it especially caught my eye because on the side of the carton it talks about saving sea turtles! While I lived in Mexico, I spent a week living on a beach in a hammock and saving turtles, so this “ice cream” holds a new special place in my heart. And did I mention it was SO DELICIOUS!?

Purely Decadent Vanilla

1/3 cup Purely Decadent vanilla, 2 tbsp naturally sweetened granola, 1/2 pear (microwaved), cinnamon

This version of pear crisp > regular. Seriously. The faux-cream has a really clean taste to it. Does that make sense? Can food taste clean? It wasn’t as sticky as normal ice cream and didn’t leave me feeling sticky and sugary. And it has 5g fiber in 1/2 cup. Wow! This is a keeper. Thank you, Purely Decadent, for this amazing product. A-.

Anyone have fun vegan food suggestions? Good cookie or muffin recipes? Good store-bought products?

body image

Oh I had an early morning! I woke up an hour earlier than usual, which would have been fine if I had fallen asleep on time. But no, even the melatonin didn’t even work. And I think I know why. Before bed I was packing up my stuff for the gym, etc. and getting organized and I started having a body image crisis. I try not to “fat talk” myself and really try to feel good about myself, but some days not even Operation Beautiful works. I kept myself up last night because I was upset about what I look like. Some days I can’t forget the way I used to look 70 lbs ago and I still don’t like how I look now, which is a huge improvement from before. But there are days when I feel ugly, fat, and like a failure. And I can’t believe I wasted sleep on this last night! But it put me in a funk, of course. I woke up tired, sluggish, and still feeling down.

Ate a snack, pre-gym:

1/2 banana with 1/2 tbsp natural PB

When I got to the gym, I absolutely did not want to do my planned 4 mile run, so I got on the stair stepper, which I HATE. I don’t know what possessed me to do this. But, not surprisingly, I hated it and didn’t even break a sweat in 15 minutes. By this point I was more awake and feeling better about life (endorphins!) so I saw a cute boy and an empty treadmill conveniently next to him! What was I supposed to do? So I ran a nicely paced mile and called my workout quits to get ready for my morning. I ate my breakfast in the car while commuting over to the court house complex.

2 clementines; 1 piece multigrain bread with 1/2 tbsp Sunbutter and 1 tbsp pear butter

Clearly I’m on a fruit kick this morning!

Got out to the complex and found my way to the substitute teacher orientation. I am happy to report that, after 4 of the most boring and pointless hours of my life, I am a “Guest Teacher” (not substitute, we have fancy names!) for Va Beach! Oh but I have to wait 1-2 weeks for an “approval letter” to come by mail (even though, technically, we’re approved once we complete the orientation). So I turned in my application the 2nd week of January and I still have to wait 1-2 weeks before I can start working. How absurd! But the orientation was painfully dull and full of college students/recent grads (like yours truly) and middle aged stay-at-home moms who were bored. It was a weird dynamic. And seriously, these middle aged women asked SO MANY STUPID QUESTIONS. Now, “there is no such thing as a stupid question” but I’m sorry — if the question has been answered once or twice before, don’t ask again! LISTEN! Rant over. I ate this snack during our break at 11am:

1/4 cup Bare Naked Fit almond vanilla granola (its all gone now!), 4 slices dried kiwi, 5 TJ's dark chocolate edamame

Came home to make myself a yummy lunch, moving on to get some veggies and beans in my diet.

The before picture: 2 small TJ's whole wheat & flax seed tortillas, 1 Laughing Cow Original Light wedge, 1/4 cup black beans, a handful alfalfa sprouts

And after: YUMMY! Should have drained the beans a bit more, though...

And some pumpkin yogurt!

1/2 cup low fat, plain yogurt, 1/2 cup canned pumpkin, 1 tsp agave nectar, cinnamon, nutmeg

Tastes like cold pumpkin pie in a bowl. What could be better??

I am certainly not a low-carb zombie, but I feel like I’ve eaten a lot of carbs lately. Pasta twice this weekend, bread on my black bean burger last night, and this morning at breakfast. BUT, the TJ’s tortillas are low-carb (picked up accidentally, but joyfully) and I’m enjoying them. They’re awesome and make me feel a little better about my intake. Some days you just need a piece of bread At least they’re whole wheat carbs!!

The construction noises from my bathroom renovation were too much to take so I am taking refuge in Panera. I was going to go into the office this afternoon post-orientation, but they’re having a slow day and said to not bother. Therefore, afternoon free! If only I had friends in Va Beach… so instead I settle for people watching and blogging at Panera. To compensate for the free WiFi I’m using, I got myself a treat: a soy latte!! I wish they had sizes, though. This is huge!

1 Panera Soy Latte

Toodles, bloggies! I’ll be back later!