We all fall down

Fell off the wagon today. I tried, I did, I walked a few blocks over to Little Lads which has a Vegan buffet, and rave reviews but anyone who knows me knows I hate food buffets, and this just looked so unappetizing, so on the way back to the office I picked up falafel and rice from the street with hot sauce and white sauce (which has mayo in it), however I fully intend to make my own vegan version of the white sauce so I can eat it again without the guilt. Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, I couldn't figute out what I wanted for dinner, got a craving for two seperate things, french fries and spring rolls and grilled pork over rice vermicelli. Then realized that while the latter didn't fit into the vegan lifestyle it was the healthier option, so I had the Vietnamese food. I made it ten days and pick up where I left off tomorrow.

yea yea . . .

. . . I was good another day, nothing to report, tomorrow is day 10. This had better be worth it scale wise.

Passing over the meat

So today is day 8 of being a Vegan, and also the first time I was a little tempted. Tonight was Passover dinner and there was tons of meat on the table but that wasn't what tempted me, it was the gefilte fish and the hardboiled eggs with salt water. Now this might gross some people out, but not eating those two items are like not eating Turkey on Thanksgiving. These are things I really only eat on Passover, but I got through it by reminding myself that these items are available year round and I am CHOOSING not to have them and should I decide next month that Vegan isn't for me, I can go out and eat a whole bucket full of gefilte fish (although I'll probably just wait til next year lol). What I did eat was filling, but not too satisfying to the taste buds, so I came home and had some really yummy guac that I made. Tomorrow begins day 9 . . .

Oops

So I had a little set back today, although I did make the effort to order Vegan food from the sushi spot I like, I forgot that their hibachi fried rice, which has no meat in it, has egg. Seeing as how I'd already ordered and paid for it, I did not let it go to waste, BUT, next time I'll just ask for it without the egg. In other news, I made some vegan Mac n Cheese, not so great. In other, other news, I did some more research for vegan options, gonna have to get to Whole Foods and get myself some Gardein "Chicken" because Stop n Shop didn't have. But I did get vegan sour cream and a few other items. Next weekend I'm going to try making some items in the cook book. Ooooookay, gnite people.

That totally hit the V-Spot

Mmmm Luci and I just went to check out a vegan restaurant in Park Slope and it was oh so yummy! She had the empanadas and the platanos, and I had a pesto portabello panini with sweet potato fries. The food was sooooooo good that we each ordered things to take home and ended the meal with some mint chocolate chip rice cream. Great food, nice but slow service. There was a bookshelf offering books about being vegan and I checked out one on vegan restaurants in NYC, found a few spots around Brooklyn (including one vegan trinidadian restaurant on Flatbush and Empire thats open 24 hrs)and the book sparked a discussion on whether or not honey is vegan. According to the book, honey is not considered vegan seeing as how it comes from a living creature. I say that I can't imagine that bees are tortured and forced to produce honey, what must there environment be? A greenhouse? Honey is something they create naturally and it would be impossible to FORCE a bee to make honey, I would think that it's just that their hives are in a controlled area. And I have a hard time considering a bee to be an animal, I'm not really feeling sympathetic to the plight of the honeybee, although I do see the technicality. I'm gonna have to do some research but I'm wondering what other people think, on an intellectual level, not "thats stupid, they're bees" . . .

Yuck

Almost gagged this morning, actually I DID gag, but I did NOT regurgitate. Tried to be extra healthy, getting a shake comprised mostly of veggies as opposed to the fruit shakes. This smoothie, shake, whatever you call it, had spinach, celery, parsley, ginger, spirulina, oranges, pineapples, protein and some other veggies in it. Was not so bad if you just have a few sips, but a whole cup later and I gagged on the last sip. I can only tolerate that shake every so often. Sushi for lunch (veggie gyoza, and sweet potato roll), and now to eat some seaweed salad before I head home. Let me point out that these are all things I enjoyed eating even before I made this crazy decision.
Tomorrow I am checking out a vegan restaurant in Park Slope with a friend, can't wait!

Meh

Today was a boring food day. Oatmeal for breakfast, finished my Indian leftovers from Monday for lunch, banana and peanut butter before the gym and then an Amys Frozen meal for dinner: Roasted Vegetables inside Corn masa with black beans, good, but nothing to write home about (enough to blog about though I guess lmao). Yea, that's really it . . .

THANK GOD!

Completely stoked to find out that I can still eat my Spanish/Mexican food the way I like it "Cheese" and all. Blockheads, which I happen to love, has soy cheese, brown rice, and tofu sour cream, SCORE!!!!! For lunch today I am eating brown rice, black beans, grilled tofu and melty soy cheese, mmmmmmmmmmmmm Might sound gross to some of you but I LOVE it!
On a completely separate note, Audrey Tatou is AWESOME!

HAM AND CHEESE!

Yes, you read that correctly, I just had "ham and cheese" for dinner, and guess what, it was AWESOME! I made it in a pan with the vegan butter I got from Trader Joes, Sprouted Grain Bread and soy cheddar cheese (also from TJ) and the fake ham I got at Whole foods. Add some olive oil and a little but of salt seasoning and it made for an awesome, melty gooey sandwhich that I actually really enjoyed and found very satisfying after my work out.

DAY 2, SUCCESS!

Day 1

So I went to bed last night thinking of all the things I love that are already Vegan, woke up this morning thinking about all the things I love that sadly are not. Such as Saah Paneer, DIM SUM, the cheese and sour cream in my chipotle and the creamy soups I love, not to mention my most favorite comfort food of all Mac n Cheese. I was discouraged and the day hadn't even started. But I thought to myself, self, just follow the AA rule, one day at a time, and then I rushed around getting ready for work and was late as usual lol.
This blog is not going to be just a list of the foods I eat, although as I discover new things they will of course pop up. Working in the financial district I am lucky to have many kinds of food at my disposal. Breakfast was a shake I purchased on the street with orange, pineapple, carrot and ginger. It wasn't until i started to get hungry again that I started to do research on my options. I decided on Indian food. Seeing as how my two favorite Indian dishes have cheese in them I had to search for alternatives, but things that I'd actually LIKE, not just to keep me full or else I would never be able to keep this up. As an alternative to Saag Paneer (spinach and cheese) I got Saag Aloo (Spinach and Potatoes), it was really good! That with some Chana Masala (spiced chickpeas) over rice and some garlic non and I was SET!
I continued my research and looked through Trader Joes website and Whole foods website and found options to try for dinner, went after work with a friend and bought some items. For dinner tonight I had Amys frozen dinner of Vegetable Meatloaf, Mash Potatoes and Peas and Corn. The peas and corn were good, the mashed potatoes were good (after I put some vegan butter and salt on it) but the veggie meatloaf, meh. I didn't like the sauce. I would, however, venture to make some my own and put some good old fashioned ketchup on it. Tomorrow brings another day and more discoveries . . .

Vegan; it seems like a good idea . . .

. . . at 11:32 pm. Instead of being in bed sleeping, which I should have been an hour ago, I decided to start re-reading Skinny Bitch (which I'm sure most of the females have heard of). The first time I read it I decided to switch to brown carbs and try to eat a peice of fruit every morning before I started my real meals for the day. While I was moved on the chapter about meat before (actually, i believe the chapter might be titled something more along the lines of 'Decomposing Flesh' but I'm too lazy to go look), particularly by the part about the male chicks being thrown in the garbage, I still thought to myself nahh, I don't really eat meat too much but I do enjoy it, and I LOVE cheese. I could never be a Vegan as the book suggests. However, this time there was a variable that effected my outlook. What might this difference be, you ask? His name is chat and he was sitting 4 feet to the left of me. I thought, I love this little guy so much, how can I feel okay with eating other animals? So I made the decision right then and there to try going Vegan for a month. Now I'm not saying it won't be hard. I am a girl who loves her bacon and her cheese, and just today I had chicken chili verde for lunch and Pork Gyoza for dinner, but in weighing the health benefits, not to mention the guilt I might now feel while ingesting an animal, I have decided I'm going to give this thing a shot and THIS will be my forum for discussion, whether anyone reads it or not lol. I'm still torn on whether to include fish in my purge, but I will be posting my progress on this page and welcome anyone who wants to comment, or even join me. Let the games begin!