A Month of Beans and Greens

I am going to post a Wednesday Weigh-In, but I just spent the last eight hours working on this post and I need a break from the computer. I may wait until tomorrow morning.

I've been putting this post off all month because I felt overwhelmed with it. I should have been more organized through the month and wrote down what I cooked in order to keep track of what I was taking pictures of. But better late than never, and "chaotic" is my middle name, so here we go...

Jerry and I had gotten into the bad habit of eating a lot of convenience foods--vegan nuggets, burgers, stuff like that. After reading about so many people in their 30's and 40's getting colorectal cancer, we decided we needed to focus on eating much healthier--no more convenience foods, at least for a while. And so I thought it would be fun to try a challenge to eat some sort of beans and greens every day day for a month.

First, I want to say that even if I was a food stylist/photographer, a lot of beans and greens meals just do not look appetizing. I would say that probably most of the photos in this post might be a turn off from the beans and greens; but remember, I am not a food stylist or photographer in any sense of the words, so please don't let these pics keep you from trying different versions of beans and greens!

Why Beans and Greens?

A grain, a green, and a bean walked into a bar...

They are pretty much the perfect meal: loaded with nutrition, lots of fiber, endless varieties of combinations, super cheap to make, easy to sub ingredients, and easy to get creative with so it doesn't get boring.

I almost always eat beans and greens with some sort of grain (95% of the time it's brown rice). A super easy "rule of thumb" for a healthy vegan dinner is a grain, a green, and a bean. (I include lentils in the beans category because they are so similar in nutrition. I also include tofu and soy curls, because they are just soy beans.

My favorite grains: short grain brown rice, brown basmati rice, bulgur, red quinoa, and barley. (If you want to switch from white to brown rice for health benefits, try short grain brown rice--it's softer and stickier than other varieties and reminds me of white rice. That's how I got my kids to like it years ago.) I would put pasta and bread in this category as well, but I don't really like bread much and I prefer rice over pasta.

My favorite greens: Collards are my very favorite because they are super easy to prep, they hold up well after cooking a long time, and they take on whatever flavor is in the dish. For this Beans and Greens Month, I also tried mustard greens, rainbow chard, kale, spinach, bok choy, and I think a couple of others. The ones I like the least are the kale and spinach, because they have a strong flavor.

My favorite beans: dark red kidney beans, chickpeas, great northern beans, black beans, navy beans. Despite eating quite a bit of them over the month, I don't really love the flavor of black-eyed peas. I usually choose beans for the texture that I'm going for in the dish: kidney beans hold up really well and don't get mushy, great northern are very soft white beans and perfect for blending into sauces, etc.

As far as lentils, I'm kind of obsessed with red lentils and black (beluga) lentils. The red lentils break down a LOT when cooked, which is good if you're not a fan of the texture of lentils or for dishes like curries. The black lentils hold their shape really well and they're very small (about the size of rice) making them perfect for salads or mujadara (a lentil and rice dish with caramelized onions--so good!). The black lentils are super versatile, so they're my very favorite.

You'll see that most of the beans and greens dishes I make are curries--some sort of sauce with spices (depending on what flavor profile I'm going for), beans (sometimes whole or sometimes blended into the sauce), and about four cups of chopped greens. I almost always serve it with a whole grain. Depending on what I'm making, I use other ingredients as well, but those are the basics.

I apologize that I don't have links for all of the recipes (honestly, I can't remember what some of the dishes even were). I'll link to the ones that I'm able. A lot of these came from the How Not to Die Cookbook, How Not to Diet Cookbook, and How Not to Age Cookbooks.

Any time the recipes called for one can of beans, I always used two. And several, if not most, of the recipes don't call for greens at all! When that was the case, I just chopped four cups of whatever greens I had at the moment and added them. When the recipe did call for greens, most of the time I subbed whatever greens I had on hand rather than sticking to what was called for in the recipe.

Here are photos of the beans and greens (and grains!) meals I made in July...

Pasta with Garlicky White Beans and Greens (How Not to Diet, p. 85). I used red lentil pasta for even more "beans", but did not like the pasta; while I love red lentils, the pasta was not a good texture for me.

Creamy Mushroom Coconut Curry by Happy Veggie Kitchen (I added chick peas and extra mushrooms and skipped the sugar and cilantro. Fun fact: when I took the DNA test a few years ago, I learned that I have the gene that make cilantro taste like soap. I never did like it!).

Slow Cooker Lentil and Quinoa Chili by Aggies Kitchen. I've made this a few times; it's super easy to throw in the crockpot and it tastes delicious! Jerry really likes this one.

Persian Black-Eyed Peas and Greens (How Not to Diet, p. 130) with barley. I used dark red kidney beans and red beans instead of black-eyed peas.

Coconut Chickpea Curry by Real and Vibrant with brown basmati rice. I can't remember if I liked this or not, but I think I remember it being bland. I used chickpeas and black-eyed peas because I didn't have two cans of chickpeas.The greens weren't in the recipe; I just added what I had on hand.

I cannot figure out what this was; clearly some sort of lentil curry!

Hoppin' John Stuffed Collard Rolls (How Not to Die, p. 158). I (obviously) didn't make stuffed rolls; I just chopped up the collard greens and added them to the sauce. Instead of rice, I served it over bulgur. 

I know this is shredded tofu and bok choy with short grain brown rice, but I can't remember what I did for the sauce/seasoning.

Coconut Curry Dal with short grain brown rice. This is currently my favorite go-to meal. (I use full-fat coconut milk instead of lite and skip the oil.) There is rice on top because I realized I didn't add enough to my bowl!

Red Bean and Tempeh Jambalaya (How Not to Age, p. 150) with purple rice. I'd only tried tempeh (fermented soy beans) a couple of times, but it had been a while. I really liked it!

I cannot remember what this was (obviously a curry of chickpeas, tomatoes, collards, and brown basmati, but I don't remember what spices I used).

This was some sort of mushroom curry, but it didn't turn out very good so I threw away the recipe.

Cheesy Broccoli Soup (How Not to Diet, p. 20). This is HEAVENLY. Noah actually asks me to make this for him sometimes because he loves it as well. (There is no cheese in it, despite the name.) It doesn't call for greens, but I added some in addition to the broccoli. The beans are blended into the soup, which makes it thick (along with the cashews). I'm actually planning to make this for dinner tonight.

Barley Stuffed Cabbage Rolls (How Not to Diet, p. 167). I used this recipe *very* loosely. I did not use cabbage; I used whatever greens I had on hand at the time. I obviously didn't stuff them; I just combined the filling and sauce to serve on top of the barley.

Black Lentil Dal (How Not to Diet, p. 137), with short grain brown rice. This is SO much better than it looks! I've made this several times (without the greens) and it's a favorite.

Smokey Black-Eyed Peas and Collards (How Not to Die, p. 127) with red quinoa. I added an extra can of black-eyed peas.

Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Butter Beans by Nora Cooks. This sauce was AMAZING. Like, I wanted to just eat it by the spoonful. This was my first time trying butter beans (a.k.a. lima beans) and I did not like the texture of them. I'll definitely make this again, but with great northern beans instead. And *definitely* with tofu.

 African Red Bean and Sweet Potato Stew (also in How Not to Diet, p. 138). This is one of my very favorite recipes ever. Like, in my top five favorite meals. It's what made me start seeing peanut butter as a savory ingredient--so good. Jerry doesn't even like sweet potatoes, but he loves this too! It doesn't call for greens, but I added what I had.

Vegan Creole Beans (with red rice). I didn't have enough kidney beans, so I used some red beans as well. It didn't call for greens, but I added what I had.

Indian-Style Soy Curls (my recipe that I've perfected over time, loosely based on butter chicken and chicken tikka masala). I make this all the time--the sauce is SO GOOD. Sometimes I make it with tofu, sometimes with beans, sometimes with the soy curls. But it's ridiculously easy--you just throw all the sauce ingredients in a blender and blend until it's really creamy. Then heat it on the stove with soy curls/tofu/beans until hot. I serve this with brown basmati rice. I will post the recipe another day soon!

10-Minute Peanut Butter Curry by Healthy Living James. This didn't have much flavor, so I tossed the recipe. It definitely needed more spices.

Doing this beans and greens experiment (not really an experiment.. a challenge?) was fun! It got me out of the rut of convenience food that Jerry and I had unfortunately gotten used to, and definitely helped me with weight loss (I lost 15 pounds in July).

I'm so sorry that I had a lot of "I don't remember" on here! I really should have been more organized. Still, maybe it'll inspire you to try some version of beans and greens for a nice plant-based meal. After working on this post, I am SO hungry--I'm going to get started on dinner. I may post my weigh-in tonight, but if not, I will tomorrow morning for sure.

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Wednesday Weigh-In: Week 7

As I was writing the date on this, I realized that it's the anniversary of when I started losing weight in 2009. On this day, 17 years ago(?!), I was 253 pounds. I *hate* this "before" photo of me, but seeing the pictures side-by-side really drives home how far I've come.

Of course, I didn't just lose all the weight and keep all of it off for all this time. I've gotten as low as 121 pounds and as high as 197. I feel my best at around 130 pounds, give or take 5. My ultimate goal for maintenance is about 133.

So where was I on the scale on this day, 17 years to the day after I started counting calories?

I was at 149.6... I broke into the 140's! It wasn't that long ago that I was super excited to see the 150's again. A few months ago, I really didn't even dream I'd ever see the 140's again. I'm now only five pounds from being a "normal" BMI (I'm considered "overweight" until I'm under 145). I've been asked several times recently how tall I am--I'm 5'4". 

I've still been doing the same stuff I've been doing over the last seven weeks: lots of fiber, no sweets or snacks (occasionally I have a piece of fruit in the afternoon if I'm hungry, or even a small portion of leftover dinner). Running three days a week, adding just a tiny bit of distance each run. I think what has helped me the most is the not snacking. I used to snack after dinner, but now I've been eating a large dinner and I don't have interest in snacking later.

For my running this week:

I've had to modify my routes so that I run past my house about a mile in (to drop off Joey at the house, which I mentioned last week). Thankfully, my neighborhood is is almost exactly a mile around the perimeter, so I take him around the neighborhood and then drop him off at home and add head back out until I hit my goal for the day.

Friday- My previous run had been 1.53 miles, so I planned to aim for about 1.60. Since I don't know a 0.6 mile route from my house, I just had to guesstimate and I overshot a little (not a bad thing!). I ran 1.70 miles at a 12:08/mile pace and average heart rate of 151 bpm. My "Joey mile" was 12:23; years ago, he would be out in front of me, pulling me along, the entire time; but now I've had to deliberately slow myself so he can keep up. I feel really bad for him; he would run with me until he legs gave out if I let him. I'm hoping once it's not so humid, it'll be easier for him. He's got SO MUCH FUR, the humidity has to be really hard for him.

Sunday- Same sort of thing. Previous run was 1.70, so my plan was to aim for about 1.80. Again, I dropped Joey off (that first mile time was 12:18) and then I did a guesstimate to continue the distance. I overshot again and hit 1.92 miles. I could have kept going in order to hit 2.0, but I decided I wanted my 2-miler to be a special day of its own. Finished the 1.92 miles at an 11:54/mi average pace (11:27 without Joey) with an average heart rate of 151 bpm.

Tuesday- The weather was GREAT for running! Unfortunately, as soon as Joey and I started out, my legs just felt heavy and I was feeling very tired. I was bummed because it was my 2.0-mile day. Since Tuesday was the last day of my running week, I couldn't put it off. I just pushed through it, and was thrilled when I hit the two-mile mark! It wasn't that long ago that I was struggling HARD to run half a mile. Now, my average heart rate is down a little and my pace is getting a little faster (without trying). I finished two miles--12:04/mi with Joey and 11:14/mi without Joey. Overall, I did 2.00 miles with an average pace of 11:39/mi and average heart rate of 152 bpm.

The running has actually done wonders for my day-to-day mood! Even after all these years, I still get really nervous before a run (even a short easy run). I have no idea why. But as soon as I get home, I walk straight to the bathroom, put the shower on straight-up cold water, strip as quickly as possible and jump in before I cool off. The cold water feels SO good! And then I feel good about it the rest of the day. It's exciting to see the improvement so far.

A few random personal things from recently...

Joey- I took him to the vet about his balance/"clumsiness", and after a thorough check-up, the vet didn't find anything concerning. We think it could be his hearing; he's definitely had hearing loss over the last year or so, and a sudden noise can startle him to losing his balance. But he has no balance issues when he runs with me, and the vet was very impressed that he can run a mile at his age. (Granted, we are not running to qualify for Boston, but running nonetheless. The vet also did some bloodwork since he's getting old, and she said there was a slight abnormality with his kidneys. She doesn't think it's alarming, but we're going to retest him in a few months and compare the results. 

When I tell him that my mom is going to come pick him up, he gets SO EXCITED. So we go outside and he stands like this, watching the end of the road for my mom's car to turn the corner.

Eli is starting the fire academy in a couple of weeks! I can't remember if I mentioned it here or not, but he wants to be a firefighter and has been working really hard to get in shape before he starts the academy. As a mom, I am terrified of him becoming a firefighter; but I am happy that he's chosen to go back to school to do something that interests him. He put in his two-week notice at work yesterday. He still lives at home, but spends most of his time at work, the gym, and his girlfriend's apartment.

Noah is still working full-time and living at home to save money to buy property (he wants to build a house). He's just now starting to look at other options for jobs. He would ideally like to get into a trade like electrical. We've been helping him explore those options. For now, he works a lot (he picks up overtime for the extra money) and when he's not working, he's usually spending time with his boyfriend (yes, you read that correctly; he is very happy and Jerry and I are happy for him!). 

Jerry and I celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary on Sunday. We did the most unlike-us thing we could have chosen... we went to the Henry Ford Museum! I have probably mentioned (several times over the years) that I hate going to that museum because I chaperoned field trips every.goddamned.year. when the kids were in school. But I've changed so much over the last 4-5 years. When I became vegan, I started reading more about veganism--which led to reading more about the impacts of diet on the environment (I *highly* recommend the documentary called "Eating Our Way to Extinction", free on YouTube). That led me to interest in politics, which led me to learning about war, which led me to learning about history. All things I never had any interest in. 

Anyway, Jerry and I went to the Henry Ford Museum and it was like looking at it with fresh eyes. I really enjoyed our time there! (Jerry has always loved the museum.) We were there for five hours and didn't even see everything. My favorite part was that there is a temporary exhibit called Fabric of America: Our Fashions, Textiles, and Technologies. So perfect for me! There were quilts (including one from the 1700's) and lots of clothing and furniture from throughout the last couple of centuries. It was super interesting (even Jerry liked it).

I was stunned to see this quilt called the Vine Quilt from the late 1800's. Every single one of the leaves and vines are hand-appliquéd! Having appliquéd petals on a couple of quilts myself, I know how much time this must have taken. And most of these individual leaves are pieced with multiple fabrics!

The cats are still spoiled rotten. Estelle is about 18 years old and just recently, she's started to show her age a little. She's gotten smaller and is starting to look a little frail, like Phoebe did for a few years before she passed. But Estelle still gets the zoomies occasionally and she always shows the "kittens" who's boss. Chick and Duck (mainly Duck) are about as needy as two toddlers, which drives me crazy. But I'm still obsessed with Duck and we are totally codependent, haha.

I brought them some "cat grass" from Eastern Market in Detroit. They LOVE this stuff!

Well, I guess that's enough update for now. I *promise* to post my Beans and Greens post by Friday. I'm writing that here so that I actually have a deadline and I stop procrastinating!

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Two Weeks of Whole Foods

I'm still struggling with things to write about. I've been wanting to put together a post of the dinners Jerry and I have been eating lately but I was hoping to wait until I have more photos. I'm starting to forget what some of these recipes even were, so I'll just go ahead and post them.

The main goal (for our two-week challenge) was to eat more vegetables, but it kind of turned into eating mainly whole foods. Both of us really loved doing this! It was interesting to see how much better we felt--physically and mentally--when eating foods our bodies like. And that was only two weeks!

I made most of the recipes from the How Not To Die and How Not To Diet cookbooks. I don't think there were any that we didn't like; both of those cookbooks have been awesome. Keep in mind that I am not-even-a-little-bit-good at food photography, so my pictures aren't exactly appealing, hahaha. There were actually a few that I'm not even going to post because it will make people never want to try things like black lentils and black bean soup!

Anyway, here are some of the ways we got more vegetables in...

Sweet Potato Waffles (I discovered that I use far less syrup if I put it in a little ramekin and dip the waffles as I eat rather than pouring it on top; I only used half of what is pictured)

I didn't mean to include this, but I definitely ate all of these Asian pears before they went bad! Haha. 

Sweet Potato Taco Bowl (brown rice, sweet potatoes, corn, black beans, seasoning)

Millet "Risotto" with mushrooms, spinach, and white beans (we didn't like this dish only because we didn't like the flavor of the millet itself; this would be good with a different grain)

I forget what this was called--I think it was some sort of stew--but it had barley, mushrooms, peppers, onions, carrots, and chickpeas.

Lentil & Quinoa Chili

I actually forget what this was, but it reminded me of a broccoli/cheese/rice casserole. It was good!

Sweet Potato Shawarma Bowl (quinoa with seasoned sweet potatoes and cauliflower; topped with lettuce, onions, cucumbers, and a homemade tahini dressing.

Stew with butternut squash, red beans, corn, tomatoes, peppers, and onions. There is quinoa under there, too ;)

This was kind of our "junk food" dinner--tofu in a sriracha marinade and baked, along with baby potatoes with "chili cheese" seasoning. 

Again, I forget what this was called. But it had sweet potatoes, cauliflower, peas, peppers, and raisins (it sounded odd to me with the raisins, which is why I picked it from the book). I don't remember what grain was under there, but it was probably brown rice. This was really good!

Well, that was the start of Jerry's and my year of being grown-ups and eating our veggies. I had really hoped that this challenge would help Jerry to like vegetables more, and he discovered that he does like sweet potatoes, mushrooms, and cauliflower (when prepared certain ways). He even admitted the cucumber in the shawarma bowls actually worked well. He has never liked cucumbers because he said that they overpower everything else and all you can taste is cucumber. I happen to love them. I think I'll make some hummus today and have cucumbers and hummus for a snack--that sounds delicious.

Now, I'm going to write up a meal plan for the week. I used to hate meal planning, but this vegetable challenge kind of made me excited to meal plan again. I'm going to try kale again this week--it's been YEARS since I tried it--and I'm hoping I'll like it better this time around. When cooking with greens, I usually go for spinach or collard greens. Yesterday, Jerry and I decided to do another two weeks of eating (mostly) whole foods. We both felt gross from eating poorly after eating really well for two weeks.

Anyway, if you have a favorite recipe that uses lots of vegetables, please share!

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Three Things Thursday: Veggies

I feel like the past couple of weeks I've been pretty zealous about getting vegetables into my diet. Remember when I first became vegan and *everything* seemed foreign to me? I had no clue what I was doing, but I had to learn fast. And once I started cooking with new ingredients, my eyes were opened to an enormous world of food prepared in ways I'd never tried.

Cooking became FUN again!

Eventually, I fell into a pretty good routine, although I still liked to cook new recipes. And now that my main goal is getting in more vegetables, I've gotten to that "Ohmygosh, I want to try *everything*!" phase. I bought the "How Not To Die" cookbook (as well as the "How Not To Diet" cookbook) and I've loved all of the recipes I've made so far. Soon, I'll do a whole post on what I've cooked.

I'm just so excited to have that fun attitude back. I actually really enjoy cooking; a couple of years ago, I never would have said that.

My focus now is making recipes with lots of veggies. So, I thought I'd write three things that have happened or habits I've made in respect to vegetables...

1. I eat a salad before every dinner.

This was taken from Dr. Gregor's list of 21 tweaks for weight loss (proven tidbits that have been show to elevate weight loss). One of them is to start each meal with a "negative calorie" food--he suggests a small salad or an apple--that is less than 100 calories. So, even though I'm not a huge salad person, I know I can handle two cups of greens. I just add some spring mix to a bowl and top with a little of a dressing that I made (again from his recipe).

The reason for this isn't just "to fill you up" so you eat less dinner. There are studies that show there are several benefits to doing this (it would take a lot to explain here, so I suggest reading the book How Not To Diet. There is even a difference in eating before the meal versus during the meal.

This has actually been really great! I enjoy the salad, which I never though I would--maybe because of its simplicity--and I feel like it completes the meal. This is a habit I think I'll continue beyond the two week challenge between Jerry and me.

2. I sit down at the table for my dinner meals.

This has always been SO hard for me, especially when I'm home alone. I want to sit in front of the tv. However, I realized that I was spending too much time trying to figure out what to watch rather than just eating. Also, having the salad *and* my meal seemed like too many dishes to eat at the coffee table. Instead, I sit down and eat my salad and then my meal. And most of the time, I'm too full to even finish the meal. (All the fiber and veggies are so filling!)

3. I have never found it so easy to NOT snack at night!

This is something I never expected to happen. I eat dinner pretty early--5:00 or so--and I always worry that I'm going to be ravenous by 7:00 or 8:00 and then I'll go digging for more food. However, because of the filling foods I've been preparing, snacks don't even really cross my mind. If I'm very hungry, I might have a single date or a couple of prunes.

Overall, I'm so glad that we're doing this experiment! It's MUCH cheaper than I thought it would be, even when I count the new spices that I got. A whole week's worth of produce was only $50.

My very favorite meal so far was a sweet potato shawarma bowl--sweet potatoes, cauliflower, shawarma seasonings, on top of quinoa, with toppings of onions, cucumber, and lettuce. Drizzled with an amazing tahini dressing. This BLEW MY MIND.

Not all mine! Just the bowl on the left. I then topped it with the good stuff :)

And last but not least, I have to mention the taste of all these recipes I've been cooking. Because what good is all that without it tasting good? I will say that probably 7 out of 9 or so recipes have been very good! There were only a couple that I didn't like (and one of them was very overcooked).

This has been such a refreshing experience. I feel happy and excited to be cooking again!

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Wednesday Weigh-In: Week 137

This has been quite the week, as far as my eating habits go! I wrote about the challenge that Jerry and I made for each other, but in a nutshell: I have to make recipes for dinner that I really want, but that I don't think Jerry will like because of the vegetables; and for his part, Jerry has to eat them and see if his tastebuds adapt to eating veggies he doesn't think he likes.

It sounds odd, right? I "have" to cook things that I really want? (Honestly, though, this is actually very hard for me; I feel super guilty making meals with ingredients--typically vegetables--that I know Jerry won't like.)  Jerry had said that he's tired of eating like a child (avoiding vegetables). He's always eaten what I make, but I have always tried to make things that I know he likes. Soooo, this was good for both of us.

We went grocery shopping together to pick out a bunch of vegetables, and it was actually kind of funny. I got so excited to put things in the cart that I don't normally buy--mushrooms, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, purple cabbage, and more. I looked through my vegan cookbooks for recipes that use a lot of the vegetables that Jerry's not into.

HE was actually very excited about this challenge as well--it was his idea! I've tried to make a good variety of food all week. It's no surprise that *I* have been loving it ;)  However, I did not expect Jerry to like it as much as he does; he even surprised himself. He was hesitant to try sweet potatoes, but he really liked them.

One of his most hated foods is cucumber, so I said I wouldn't make anything with cucumber. But I made a sweet potato shawarma bowl and cucumber was one of the toppings. I told him he could just skip that topping, but he insisted that he wanted to try to like cucumber. AND HE DID. He didn't like it when trying a piece on its own, but when it was mixed with all of the mediterranean food, he said it went together very well. (I kept raving about the whole bowl because it was soooo delicious.)

Since I've been trying to work Dr. Gregor's Daily Dozen into my diet for the most part, I've been eating almost all whole foods. So that's kind of what this challenge has turned into--eating whole foods for two weeks. It's been a week so far, and Jerry has already lost six pounds!

As far as my weight, well... I was really excited to see that the scale was actually moving down. On Monday, I was down about three pounds. On Monday night, we went to La Pita for Eli's birthday dinner. I think the last time I'd gone out to eat was when Jerry and I went to Rockford, IL last March! And you know that I *love* La Pita.

Eating vegan at a Lebanese/mediterranean restaurant is super easy--so many options. However, since I want to eat whole foods and get my weight back down, I skipped the pita bread and garlic sauce. I didn't want to eat more than I would normally eat at home. So, I got herb roasted potatoes and a side of hummus. Their hummus is mind-blowing, so I knew I wanted that; I just needed something to dip in it, haha. They were really good! And I felt good about what I'd eaten. (I actually ate a small salad at home before we left so that I would get in my leafy greens.)

La Pita has jumped on board with extra plant-based options, including Impossible "meat" substitutions! Jerry was thrilled to see that. So, he got kafta made with the Impossible "meat" instead of beef. I tasted a bite of it and it was *really* good--I didn't expect that at all. Jerry loved it, to say the least.

On the way home, we had to stop and get some frozen blueberries (I eat them with breakfast every morning and we were out). While walking through the store, I saw a Lindt chocolate bar made with Oat Milk and I just couldn't resist--I wanted to try it so badly! Since I had been eating so well all day, I figured Jerry and I could share the chocolate. (It was AMAZING. If you're vegan or plant-based, and you don't like dark chocolate, give it a try.)

Anyway, the whole point is, my weight was back up the next morning--by three pounds! I know it's not because of excess calories, so it's likely water weight. I was just hoping it would have come off before my weigh-in. Unfortunately, it did not.

It's still down from last week's 144.4, but I had been excited when I was seeing so much progress! Anyway, I'm still doing good with everything--I've eaten about 95% whole foods this week and it makes a huge difference in how I feel. I really love eating so many vegetables, and I even get excited about cooking. Jerry likes trying all the new foods, so he wants to continue to do it. It's been a fun experiment! Jerry wants to start writing on Tuesdays again, so maybe he'll write about this next week.

The year is off to a pretty decent start so far--let's hope it continues! ;)

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One Year Vegan, Part 2: Tidbits, Staple Ingredients, Positive Changes

This is continued from One Year Vegan, Part 1, where I wrote about things I wish I knew before becoming vegan as well as tips (that would have helped me in the beginning) for vegan-curious or new vegans. (You can find Part 1 here.)

Again, I didn't write this post to try to "covert" people, nor do I guilt trip or write about the ethical issues surrounding using animals for food or products. It's simply about my own experience over the last thirteen months of doing something I never thought I'd do!

Interesting tidbits I've learned:

Vegan and plant-based are not the same thing. When I first became vegan, I used the words "plant-based", because I assumed that was the new term for vegan (I see it everywhere now). A reader actually emailed me and helped me understand the difference. Vegan is to avoid all animal products and animal by-products mainly for ethical reasons, while plant-based is dietary (no meat, dairy, eggs, or honey--the typical things you imagine with a vegan diet). I chose to become vegan for ethical reasons regarding animals, factory farming, and the environmental impact of factory farms.

Cashews are a wonder-nut. I had NO IDEA the magic that happens when you blend cashews and water in a high-powered blender. Depending on the ratio of cashews and water, you can get everything from cashew milk to a thick cashew cream. And it's tasteless! You can add your own flavors to make it sweet or savory, or you can use it to add creaminess to all sorts of things from pasta to soup to vegan cheese.

Cashews + Water + Blender

White sugar is not technically vegan. What?! I was shocked by this. There aren't any animal products IN it, but white sugar is stripped of its color by filtering with animal bone char--so it's more of an ethical issue, rather than a plant-based one. Brown sugar and powdered sugar are usually made from white sugar, so they aren't vegan either. Now I buy raw sugar so that it isn't processed with bone char; and I can make my own brown sugar (vegan sugar + molasses) and powdered sugar (vegan sugar in a high powered blender). 

Aquafaba is the liquid that is left over from a can of chickpeas. And this liquid can be used as an egg replacement! I had never heard of aquafaba, let alone cook/bake with it. You can even sweeten and whip it into a vegan whipped cream. I've only used it a few times (like in a pumpkin pie that turned out amazingly well), but the last time I opened chickpeas, I saved the liquid and poured it into an ice cube tray. Once frozen, I moved them to a freezer bag. Now, when I need an egg substitute, they are waiting in small portions in the freezer.

Vegan does not mean healthy. There are hundreds of vegan junk food products--french fries, non-dairy ice cream, Sour Patch Kids, Oreos, Skittles, and a lot more. It's even possible to be vegan without eating a single fruit or vegetable (not that I'm advocating that!). 

BROWNIES!! These were amazing. Not at all healthy, but very tasty.

Gelatin is in a LOT of items you wouldn't expect. (Gelatin is produced from boiling skin, tendons, ligaments, and/or bones, usually from cows and pigs.) Even medicinal pill capsules are made with gelatin! There are several items that I guessed were probably vegan but when looking at the ingredients, I could see that there was gelatin in it.

Ingredients I NEVER would have imagined would become staples:

Nutritional Yeast- While the name of it makes it sound disgusting, nutritional yeast is called for in SO many vegan recipes. It doesn't look or taste like the yeast you put in bread or anything. You know the look and texture of fish food flakes? Well, nutritional yeast looks and feels like that, except it's a mustard-yellow color and it tastes nothing like fish food (or at least I don't think so).

I use nutritional yeast in almost all of the seasoning blends I make, pasta dishes, cashew cheese, pretty much anything that typically has cheese in it. When I read about it, people always mention sprinkling it on popcorn and basically using it as a condiment. I literally gagged when I tried eating popcorn this way--it was an ingredient I wasn't at all used to, an ingredient that tastes like nothing I've had before. Once I started adding it to things, I started to recognize the flavor and I'm not at all grossed out by it now. I buy this in bulk on Amazon--it's so much cheaper than the grocery store!

Turmeric- I don't think I'd ever used turmeric in my life until I became vegan. Then it seemed like I was using it all the time (for recipes). I've gone through 3-4 jars of it, so I recently bought a bulk-sized container that I refill my spice jar with. Turmeric is used for yellow color in a lot of vegan recipes.

Cashews- Like I wrote above, cashews are amazing. I buy these from Amazon as well.

Tofu- I can't even describe my obsession with tofu. I was missing out for 40 years! I keep silken tofu on hand in my pantry (I use this for tofu scrambles, desserts, and making seitan). I keep extra-firm tofu in my freezer and always have a couple of packages in my fridge. I use the extra-firm tofu for lots of dishes--but my favorite is to marinate it, then bake for about 45-50 minutes until it's crispy on the outside and kind of meaty on the inside. Then I heat a sauce (making an Asian-style sauce is SO fast and easy in a mason jar) until it thickens, stir in the tofu, and serve it over rice or another grain. I like to add vegetables when making the sauce--usually peppers or broccoli, but I just consider whatever I have to use before it goes bad.

This is so accurate for me. Before I started eating tofu, I saw it as the top picture!

Vital Wheat Gluten- I had never heard of this before, and the name of it makes it sound like it may cause cancer in the future or something, but it's used to make seitan--a faux meat that is actually pretty healthy! AND it's been around for centuries. Despite the "wheat" in its name, it's actually low in carbs (although we all know I don't avoid carbs) and has as much protein as meat. 

Miso Paste- I'd never heard of this before, either, but I use it SO frequently when cooking. It's described as adding a savory umami taste to things. I use it mostly in dishes where cheese is typically found.

Soy Milk- I used to buy almond milk when I was counting calories way back in the day because it was so low in calories compared to cow's milk. However, I decided to try soy milk for a few reasons that I won't get into, but I liked it so much more! It's thicker, like comparing whole cow's milk vs. skim, and possibly a little sweeter? I buy plain, unsweetened Silk brand soy milk and use it everywhere that I would have previously used cow's milk.

Pure Maple Syrup- This one was very surprising to me. Maple syrup is used to sweeten things and I use it everywhere from sauces to desserts. You can't taste the maple--it gets blended with more powerful ingredients--but it sweetens like sugar. I've also discovered that I get bloated when I eat regular sugar, but maple syrup doesn't bother my digestive system at all. Even when recipes call for brown or white sugar, I almost always replace it with maple syrup (since baking is so finicky, I don't substitute anything there; then again, I rarely bake).

Soy Curls- I'd never heard of these until I discovered Plant Power Couple, who raves about them. While a name like "soy curls" sounds like a very processed fake food, they are actually very minimally processed--they are even compliant with a Whole-Food Plant-Based diet. Soy curls are a meat substitute that are made of just whole soybeans that have been cooked, pressed, and dried--soybeans are the only ingredient. I use these anywhere that I would normally use chunks or strips of chicken. My favorite is in a stir-fry. When I get down to the really small bits at the bottom of the bag, I prepare them with barbecue sauce and it reminds me so much of pulled chicken or pork.

Black Salt- This is very common in vegan dishes that are meant to taste like eggs. I use this in tofu scrambles (the seasoning mixture that I make flavors the silken tofu). It absolutely reminds me of eggs--I would never try to fool someone, because it's not *that* similar, but I used to eat scrambled eggs frequently, and I don't miss them at all. A tofu scramble with veggies and toast with vegan butter makes a perfect meal when I'm on my own for dinner.

A few positives I've noticed from becoming vegan:

Lipid Profile: My LDL cholesterol dropped by 57 in eight month, and my HDL increased by 8! High cholesterol runs in my family, and by continuing to eat vegan, I'm hoping to prove that it can be lowered by diet alone.

My chronic fibromyalgia pain is gone. That happened within a few months of eating vegan--probably less than two months. I still keep waiting for it to come back, because it seems too good to be true, but so far, it hasn't flared back up.

When sweetening foods with maple syrup rather than sugar, I don't get bloated and gassy. It must have something to do with the unprocessed, natural maple syrup not being so hard on my body to digest.

I have an overall sense of wellbeing. It's hard to explain, but I just *feel* healthier. Even when I eat a relatively heavy meal, I don't feel gross and tired. I have more energy in general.

I've started really paying attention to the products I buy, and I learn new things all the time. I've switched brands of things like shampoo to a "cruelty free" brand (the product hasn't been tested on animals). I haven't gotten rid of my clothing and household items that have been made with animal products or by-products, because I feel that would be wasteful, but I will no longer buy them. I don't think I'll ever be a total extremist, but I do like to make positive changes wherever I can.

Going from omnivore to vegan made me love cooking again. There are SO many cooking techniques that I'd never heard of, ingredients that were totally unfamiliar, and flavor profiles that I enjoyed but couldn't quite place; I also started using my blender nearly every day, if not twice a day. And there is a vegan version of just about everything you can think of. I don't think I've ever come across a non-vegan food that there wasn't a vegan recipe for. I've used more spices and dried herbs than ever before! Each new recipe I make is an adventure--I haven't felt like that while cooking in at least a decade.

Eating vegan eliminates a LOT of the junk food I used to eat. Namely ice cream! Yes, there is vegan/non-dairy ice cream (and some of them are delicious!) but where I live, good luck finding vegan desserts. If I want something sweet, I generally have to make it myself. Being vegan also eliminates a lot of junk from menus at restaurants. There are definitely unhealthy vegan foods--a lot of them!--but it's nice to have some boundaries now.

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If you've been reading my blog for a while, you can see that my diet has made HUGE changes over the last year. It's hard believe it myself sometimes! I don't always eat healthy, but my choices are much healthier than they used to be.

This past year (I started a vegan diet on January 30, 2022) has been a huge culinary adventure and learning experience for me--and I hope that I continue to learn and experience more in the upcoming year as well :)

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