1 Week Down

One week down, two pounds lost, and all I have to say is if you are sitting next to a vegan and it smells, the vegan did it! I am so gassy! Not bloated, just gassy. Gassy.

I do have to say being vegan is not as hard as I thought it would be. There are plenty of unhealthy snacks to satisfy a craving when you are vegan. For me, they aren't as accessible as, say, a chocolate chip cookie from Kneaders or a glass of chocolate milk with a sleeve of soggy Oreos... mmm...soggy Oreos. This lack of accessibility is probably what is saving me from weight gain. Aside from the chocolate almond milk, my new favorite snack is the all natural Panda licorice. I personally love the blueberry and strawberry flavors. They were 2 for $5 at Macey's last week. BTW, if you eat two bags of that, you get crazy diarrhea for 24 hours. Not that I did, I would never talk about such a personal thing online, but if you do eat tons... diarrhea.

Kelli made an awesome vegan lasagna this last weekend. Here is the link to the recipe:
http://www.4diets365daysrecipes.blogspot.com/

So, let me just say that the creator of this recipe was crazy, but in a good way. This recipe combines tofu, broccoli, sweet potatoes and the like with whole wheat noodles. I did not think I would like the whole sweet potato thing in a savory dish, but I ate about half of a pan over the course of two days. Did I mention I was gassy? Anyways, with a little salt and pepper, this was one dish I feel totally comfortable passing on to friends. I just have to add that artichoke hearts would taste amazing in this.

We also tried another recipe that was simply chopped kale, smashed avocado and the juice of half a lemon. WAY TOO MUCH LEMON, but it was edible and really healthy. I think that is the reputation for a lot of vegan dishes, so my goal between now and the next post will be to experiment with another vegan recipe and make it taste good, not just edible.

For dessert we did an Cheerybrook Kitchen Arthur chocolate chip cookie mix made with vegan butter, and instead of adding water we did vanilla almond milk. They were good and borderline great after a week without serious junk food. My kids devoured them and my husband was totally satisfied with them. I'm not sure which of those is a bigger miracle. They were gluten free as well, FYI. I don't know why, but as I ate them I kept thinking that because they were vegan and gluten free, they must be a health food. I ate three of them.
http://www.cherrybrookkitchen.com/products/cccookie.php

After dinner, Kelli and I went to see Les Mis. Amazing! How does Hugh Jackman look good in a beard pulling a boat? It defies all laws. So, I'm not mentioning this to talk about Hugh, but to tell you all that I actually went to see a movie without any concession purchases or, hold your breath, any candy shoved into my purse! I left the theater without gaining 5 pounds. Doing vegan and blogging about it is actually holding me accountable to a healthier lifestyle. AND, it is keeping my money in the bank! Cha Ching! Well, actually I will probably just go spend it on more diarrhea licorice. Blueberry.

So, the point of this blog entry was to tell the world that I am still vegan, 2 pounds lighter, and licorice=diarrhea. Happy first week in 2013, world!