Day 23

OK, don't call social services, I went to the grocery store!

Breakfast: our basic cereal

Lunch: Mini vegan corn dogs and apples with peanut butter

Dinner: lasagna and garlic bread with a nice salad

Ahhhh, feels like home again.  We have a table top full of apples, bananas, plums, and even an Ugli fruit! The fridge has juice, carrots, jicima, broccoli, lettuce and spinach, zucchinis and cucumbers!  The pantry is filled with crackers and cereals and whole wheat pastas!  And, well, the freezer is filled with things like veggie burgers riblets, and vegan corn dogs (reality).  It was $200 well spent and I think about a third of it was gone by 2:00pm.

My Thoughts (T)

So, we're almost done with the whole vegan thing. It was pretty cool to experience what being a vegan feels like. I didn't notice much of a change except I had more energy and wasn't always hungry.  The hardest part was being around all of my friends who always had snacks that I can't have, but it was a lot easier than I thought it would be.  I'm eargerly awaiting the final week to see what's in store for me!  Will I feel any different the last week?  How will I feel after we are done?  Will I go back to all my old ways?

                             

Day 22, right?

Friday was Day 22.  Given the fact that we had basically no food in the house, it sort of became a free for all.  Mom and dad both had to work late downtown so the kids were trying to torture each other until we got home at about 7:00.  I knew the smart thing to do would be to buck up and go to the grocery store but after a long day at work and still a lot of pain from Tuesday's surgery, I just couldn't bring myself to put on shoes and get in the car.  We foraged for whatever we could find, cereal, peanut butter, the last apple, popcorn.  Luckily, the kids had breakfast and lunch, so they didn't actually starve.  I promise tomorrow I will go to the store.  seriously.

Everything salad

It's one of those days...so I ended up opening the fridge and basically putting EVERYTHING in a bowl.  Last night's lettuce and spinach, broccoli and cucumbers, crumbled tofu from earlier in the week, the last tomato, the entire avocado (that had to be eaten before it went bad), seitan from last night, sunflower seeds, sprinkled with nude food powder.  It is official, if I don't go to the grocery store, we are going to starve.

Day 21: 3 Full Weeks!

We were supposed to have vegan chili nachos, but I have made a new rule that when it is snowing enough for a 90 minute delay from school and mom is on percoset, we should have fried seitan, mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy for dinner.  With a big ol' salad, it hit the spot!

Of course, yesterday's breakfast and lunch was typical cereal, smoothies, peanut butter and fruit/veggies.  E took a nude food bar and had a few bites at snack time.  They are super filling.

We desperately need to go to the store for a veggie and fruit run, but it's been "one of those weeks" so the poor kids get 1/2 a tiny kiwi each in their lunch, along with a slice of black bean brownies and peanut butter rolled up in a whole wheat tortilla (we are out of bread, too).

Day 20

Breakfast:
cereal and smoothies

Lunch:
standard peanut butter, fruit and crackers

Dinner:
Noodles and salad

Busy night with mom at school, and still slightly sedated, so we went with simple.

Day 19 Single Dad Day

mom was knocked out all day after her little surgery so I think dad took the kids to Pizza Hut for dinner.  Just kidding!  The kids had the standard breakfast and lunch and he made veggie burgers for dinner.  They are becoming quite the staple around here and, although they are not exactly a "whole food", the one's we get are far less processed than a lot of other "vegan" prepared foods.  And dad did serve veggies along with the burgers so it was not just "fake foods", which I think are really important remain a seldom-eaten emergency item.


yes, it's vegan, but it still has 470 calories and 22 grams of fat!

Vegan cookie with 500 calories and 16 grams of fat, yikes!

That takes me to my next little soapbox; feel free to stop reading now.  Just because something is vegan, does not mean it is healthy.  Oreos are vegan, most of those Little Debbie crap snacks are vegan as well, so... you know. 

I appreciate vegan recipe blogs, really, but it seems like 85% of them are vegan desserts.  And they'll have comments like, "none of my friends could believe it was vegan!"   Well, yeah, I am sure cinnamon rolls made with white flour, vegan cream cheese frosting and margarine instead of butter are pretty darn delicious.  I am happy that people are sharing the vegan love but wow-ing with margarine and sugar isn't exactly going to get the world munching kale and quinoa.  The vegan junk foods will do the same thing to you as any other junk food: make you tired, bloated and fat.  Desserts are still a special treat and a cupcake is still a cupcake, whether it has eggs in it or not.