Vegan Challenge 2K11: The End

me^^

Well readers, if you've been following, you last saw that I ended my Vegan kick the other day, after 2 weeks of no meat, no dairy, and no eggs. Like I said in the beginning, my main goal was just to make it to the 2 week mark, and if I decided to go any further then that would be awesome. But obviously, I didn't make it all 40 days of Lent. But that's quite alright with me.

I must say, I didn't think it was that hard until about a week and a half in. That night we went out for crepes - or rather when I watched my friends eat crepes - was the first time I felt weak, like I couldn't do it anymore. Just give in and eat a damn crepe. But I managed to carry on til that 14 day mark. And I must say I'm proud and impressed with myself.

What have I learned from this exercise? Well, first off, I don't know how real Vegans can do it. There is a lot of food out there that may seem like it doesn't have ingredients like dairy in it, but it does. Giving up the meat wasn't the hard part for me. It was the cheese, milk, cheese, etc. Not to say that Vegans can't eat anything, because there's actually plenty of good replacement foods out there that is just as good as the real stuff. It's just hard for a carnivore and dairy eating person like me to give all that up completely.

Another thing I learned from this challenge is that I can actually cook some decent items that are not only Vegan, but healthy. Hell, I learned I actually don't mind cooking as much. The best part about this is that I actually feel like I'll continue to eat healthy items like the rice cakes, almond milk, and fruit smoothies on a more regular basis. I'm even thinking about incorporating 'Meatless Mondays', just like Oprah did. It's exactly how it sounds.

My advice for anyone out there considering to try out Veganism or even Vegetarianism for a bit is to not completely give up your favorite foods for the foods you can eat but hate. Like I've mentioned before, I thought it would be an easy transition for me because I like a lot of fruits and vegetables, tofu, nuts, potatoes etc. that a Vegan can eat. Although it seems like I did this overnight, it's actually a gradual process. Those beef strips and gluten pancakes didn't make an appearance until halfway through the challenge. Ease into your new diet change with foods you like and enjoy eating. Then you can try out those chickenless nuggets (which BTW, are actually DELICIOUS).

In saying that, you can't be a picky eater to try this new lifestyle change out. If you don't like trying new foods that you're not familiar with, don't do it. If you're going to change your eating habits, you're going to have to open your mind to new things, or else you'll never get through it.

Well, I guess that's it everyone! Thanks for reading and caring about the 2 weeks I went certifiably insane. It was a good time. Who knows, maybe I'll try it again some day...too bad Oprah's show won't be along much longer to tell me what to do.

Vegan Challenge 2K11: LOVE CHEESE

well folks, here it is. I decided to break the veganism at my favorite restaurant, aroma cafe. with all the delicious choices available, I went with an item that had basically everything I haven't been able to eat. meat? check. eggs? check. CHEESE? check. let me tell you, this is one of the best meals I've had in my life. Breakfast Enchiladas with chicken and spinach, topped with cheese and red sauce, and a side of eggs and black beans. oh not to mention the vanilla latte I'm having with real milk.

to make everything 10 times better, I'm sitting outside & the sun is currently shining, and I'm listening to Adele on repeat. life. is. good.

Vegan Challenge 2K11: Social Food Life Ruined

Another thing that's difficult about being Vegan is going out to eat. I have OBVIOUSLY never had this problem before, but eating at restaurants or deciding where to eat with friends suddenly became more of a deal than ever before. If going to a new place, I usually do some research to see what items I could eat, but now I find myself looking at the menu to see if there is even anything for me to eat there! My friends have become concerned as to whether the place we pick to eat has anything I can eat. Sometimes, we even forgo going to places (read: Yogurtland) all together. It's a pain in the arse.

Ejemplo 1: The Great Crepe Adventure. Caitlin and Jennie, and I planned an outing to Little Tokyo to a cute little crepe place a month ago, reminiscent of our time in Europe eating crepes. So the day came, and it just so happened to land during my Vegan Challenge. Ugh. I thought it would be easy to just get the items inside sans crepe, but alas I couldn't. I had to watch them eat these delicious crepes:

.... and I had to just sit there and drink a frozen mango freeze item. It was great, but still. I could have been eating nutella and bananas in a warm blanket of crepe made out of eggs and butter. But, again I did this to myself.

It was that night, for the first time since starting these shenanigans, that I had a craving for the food I've been banned from. I wanted every single crepe there, covered in cheese and ice cream (savory and sweet, respectively). I wanted to go to any number of the restaurants in Little Tokyo and eat rolls and rolls of sushi, fried pork dumplings, and chicken and beef made in any way possible.

That's when I decided I would make good on my promise to do this for at least two weeks and give the jig up at the 14 day mark. I even started making a list of all the foods I wanted as soon as this thing ends. I also decided I'm not sharing that list on here because it's getting a little too embarrassing. But it is probably the best list I've ever made in my life. Just sayin.

Vegan Challenge 2K11: Kitchen Nightmares

You know what's hard for me about being Vegan? Having to cook all the time. Breaking News: I'm lazy. Once every like 2 months I have the urge to cook ... like REALLY cook ... like buy 10 different ingredients and mix them together then bake for an hour cook. Otherwise it's defrost/microwave/pop in the oven trader joe's item for the next three nights for dinner. Needless to say, it's been a bit of a challenge.

But thanks to the cookbook I purchased (Student's Go Vegan - and yes I find the irony in the 'student' part), there are plenty of easy recipes to make in a short amount of time. Take these twice baked broccoli stuff potatoes for example. Delish! No sour cream or cheese, but i did add some 'buttery spread'.

Of course, there's the classic vegetarian/vegan staple: tofu. I actually really like tofu, so not a big diet change for me there. Just more of it than I usually eat. I made fried tofu, which my dad made when I was growing up, so it was easy enough. I'm just glad I pulled it off, sauce and everything. This picture probably makes it look not appetizing at all, but after frying the strips for a few minutes, I dipped them in a soy sauce/olive oil/sugar mixture and it turned out great!



I also made tofu burritos from the cookbook which turned out scrumptious too! Tofu, onions, peppers, rice with seasoning, lettuce and salsa and I had a great burrito that was almost as good as the ones I usually make with cheese, sour cream and chicken! I didn't take a pic of the burritos, because frankly, I forgot since I ate them so fast. oops.


Thanks to Eva, I'm now a pro at cooking green beans, so I made some of her famous veggies too! Garlic, olive oil and salt and pepper and we're good to go. I actually used some of the same fried tofu sauce on this too and it added an azn kick to it. So good.




Ok, so the act of cooking itself isn't too hard. I'm just lazy. Did I say that already? Being Vegan is hard.

Vegan Challenge 2K11: The Report Card

Well folks, we're halfway through the first week of the challenge. And I'm still in it. I even gave up free Ben & Jerry's ice cream to keep in line!! Don't worry, I am so buying Jimmy Fallon's ice cream as soon as this is over.

One of the reasons why I thought becoming Vegan might be possible was because a lot of the items I saw on the suggested Meal Plan from Oprah's website were either things I already eat or things I've eaten before that I didn't think were disgusting. Bagels? Check. Tofu? Check. Fake butter? Check. It also probably helps that I'm not that picky of an eater, so I most certainly will try those beefless beef strips.

Luckily, Trader Joe's also has a handy list of foods they carry on their website that are Vegan friendly. Below is a a report card of a few of the new items from TJ's that I've never tried before - and will never try again.

First up are the Dairy and Gluten Free pancakes. Overall, I'd give these a B+. For some reason, I expected them to be bigger, but they're actually like silver dollar size that you would get from Perkins or something. I prepared them in the suggested method of cooking, in a toaster, which surprisingly made the centers soft and the edges a little crispy. But as far as the texture goes, that's where I deducted some points, as it got to be a little ... spongy? Overall taste was pretty decent, if I didn't know these were dairy and gluten free, I probably wouldn't have known the difference.

Next up is the Vegetable Pad Thai. This was a winner, winner, charlie sheen dinner. The sauce, noodles, tofu and spices were perfect. There might have been a little too many bean sprouts, but still amazing none the less. This one gets an A!



Finally, we have the beefless beef strips I mentioned earlier. Now I decided I'd get all Bobby Flay and mix these strips up with some garlic, onions and peppers, and put them over some rice, as suggested on the front of the box. Look how nice it came out:


Yeah, no. Looks are decieving. This was me:

I couldn't even finish this. The "beef" is made out of obviously NOT beef, and like beans and veggies instead. I just could not handle the texture of it, and the other shit I put in did not mask the disgustingness of it. So basically, Fail with a capital F.

I have higher hopes for the veggie burgers and chickenless nuggets... well, maybe.

Oprah Made Me Do It: Vegan Challenge 2K11

Well folks, Lent is upon us again, and while in the past years, I've decided to give to others rather than give something up, this year I'm going back to the giving up idea. And it's all Oprah's fault.

Tracy Jordan: So what's your religion, Liz Lemon?
Liz: I pretty much do whatever Oprah tells me to.

Last week, I finally watched an episode of Oprah that I DVRed back in like December, where she and 300 of the Harpo staff members took a week long Vegan challenge. They changed their diets, habits and lives all within one week. From the episode, it looked easy enough, and seemed to make everyone healthier than they ever been. So here we are. I've decided to go for the same challenge.

It seems a little unlike me (and insane for that matter) to go straight from being a meat eater, by passing the whole vegetarian nonsense and going straight for veganism. But hey, why not? So to start, I raided my kitchen for all the things that contain animal or animal product, and let me tell you, I was barely left with anything. (I'll miss you, cheese. The most.)


After purchasing a Vegan cookbook and making a list of all the essential items I need, I went to Trader Joe's and bought these items. Really looking forward to the chickenless nuggets. But really.


Day one here we go. I'll try to update my blog with the stuff I make and if I'm even surviving this thing. Who knows how long this will last, but I'm determine to do this challenge for at least 2 weeks! And if I make it to Easter, I'll make tofu for everyone!!!