9.26-9.28.11

9.26.11
Breakfast:
fruit
Animal crackers
coffee

Lunch:
sprouts
peppers, mushrooms and onions
Corn Chowder

Snack
pie

Dinner:
Saag
Roasted eggplant

9.27.11
Breakfast:
Fruit
Animal crackers

No Lunch

Dinner:
Saag
Pizza
Potatoes

9.28.11
Breakfast:
Pretzels

No lunch

Snack:
Saag
pizza

Dinner:
Pizza
Potatoes
clementines

9.25.11

The problem with making pizza is that just like potatoes, it doesn't last.
I made the decision along time ago that I'd rather eat my cake than have it.
I know I promised no more wheat or sugar- I'm working on working it out of the diet, but I'm not ready for cold turkey yet.

Breakfast:
Coffee
Pizza
slice of raspberry, meyer lemon, poppyseed pie

Lunch:
Pizza
Potatoes
Lots of green tea
another slice of raspberry, meyer lemon, poppyseed pie

Dinner:
Veg Corn Chowder- dry mix from coop
sprouts
more green tea (stupid beginning of the school year cold!)

9.21-9.24.11

Breakfast:
Coffee
Grains and coconut milk with honey

Lunch:
Grilled eggplant
salad

Dinner:
Peppers and hummus
oil and bread

9.22
No Breakfast

Lunch:
apple and peanut butter
sprout and hummus sandwich

Dinner:
Mulled cider
Potatoes


9.23
Breakfast:
2 clementines
coffee

Lunch:
None

Snack:
Apple and peanut butter

Dinner:
Stuffed grape leaves
Sprout and hummus sandwich

9.24
Breakfast
Coffee
Toast with peanut butter
apple

Lunch
1/2 fried dough with cinnamon and sugar
apple cider

Dinner
hummus and sprout sandwich
potatoes
pizza with mushrooms, olives and artichokes
apple cider

9.18- 9.20

Consistency isn't my forte.  That's sort of the point of the 100 days.  Good news is I haven't cheated again. Bad news is I went on a potato and bread binge... details below:

9.18.11

Breakfast:
Coffee. Didn't have time to eat anything before we went major appliance shopping.
Dried apricot binge

Lunch:
Potatoes.  Lots and lots of rosemary potatoes
Dill carrots
Water
chocolate
hummus

Dinner:
More potatoes. lots and lots of rosemary potatoes
cracker binge
salad

9.19.11
Breakfast:
grains and coconut milk with honey
Coffee

Lunch:
homemade vegan coleslaw

Dinner:
peppers and hummus
bread with rosemary oil
water  cracker binge

Snack:
Can of dolmades (stuffed grape leaves)

9.20.11-- Good DAY!
Breakfast:
clementine
Coffee

Lunch:
Salad with sprouts
vegan coleslaw

Snack:
Veggie chips (on way back from coop)

Dinner:
coop pre-packaged falafel with amazing Ginger People dressing
Kumquats- yes, they've arrived and they are awesome.

9.17.11

I was so naughty today! I had a party with some grad school friends and a professor that had been planned before vegan kicked in. Between the cheese platter, the chicken riggies and the mixed cold cut and tuna subs, I was about overcome with temptation and nearly threw in the towel completely.  I almost came out perfectly...

Breakfast:
Lots of coffee
Inhaled some crackers and apple slices as I got ready for the party

Lunch:
Party time.
half of a veggie sub- shop screwed up and put mayo on.
Salad and some veggies
Coffee and apple pie

Dinner:
Where it got ugly...
Half a tuna sub- I know... I know.

Made a chocolate cheesecake for my neighbor's bday and may have licked a spoon.

I'm ashamed, but felt so gross after eating that crap that I'm making a recommitment and a promise to pick up with the veg tomorrow and take both gluten and refined sugar out of the diet from now on.

9.16.11

I was so bad today!
The cravings are nearly unbearable: I want a tuna sub with shakers and onions- hold the cheese.
I ate a ton today, but nothing is satiating me.

Breakfast:
Rye berries with honey and coconut milk.
Coffee

Lunch:
Eggplant, tomatoes, artichokes with balsamic vinegar
Bread

Snack:
Bread with pickles
Rest of eggplant, tomato and artichoke salad
Crackers

Dinner:
A ton of potato chips
sweet potato gnocci with bruschetta topping.

And I'm still craving that Gd sub!

9.15.11

Yesterday (Thursday) was such a wash that I came home, made some more rosemary potatoes and then crashed.  It's good to be busy.  It's nice to be needed.  It's exhausting to have to be out of the house for tens of hours. I didn't write yesterday down, but I'm pretty sure this is what I had.

Breakfast:
Finished off the stewed pears with rye berries
Coffee

Lunch:
Grilled eggplant and sauce
Bread and honey/ coconut milk mixture

Dinner:
2+ pounds of rosemary potatoes
Bread with homemade pickles

9.14.11

I'm very addicted to roasted rosemary potatoes.
It's like a two pound a day habit... I may need to cut them back/ out all together.

Breakfast:
slice of homemade pizza
Grains and stewed pears.
coffee

Lunch:
Grilled eggplant
Sauce
Chunk of pumpernickel

Dinner:
homemade sprout bread
pickles
rosemary potatoes

Dessert:
coconut milk, honey and macha

9.13.11

Breakfast:
Rye berries
with homemade stewed pears.
(easy recipe: 7 c fresh pears sliced, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 cloves, 1 tsp all spice)
Coffee

Lunch:
homemade pumpernickel bread
sprouts
Veg yeast
vegan mayo
Water

Snack:
homemade pizza with artichokes, eggplant, tomatoes and shitake mushrooms
dipped the crust in homemade sauce

Dinner:
More pizza, caponata (Sicilian ratatouille), veggies, lots of banana chips and some raspberries.

9.12.11

I've been super hungry today and have no idea why.

Breakfast:
Coffee
Pumpkin pie mix with oat groats

Lunch:
Sprout sandwich
pear
water

Dinner:
Again, I didn't sit down to eat.  I sort of picked at a bunch of different things as I cooked, which I know isn't a great idea.
I think part of it was stress- the house is a mess from being away last weekend and everything else going on with work.
Bread with homemade sauce
Oat groats with tomato paste, oil and seasonings
mushrooms
artichokes
grilled eggplant
Homemade pizza
pear slices
Lots and lots of roasted rosemary potatoes... these may be my new comfort food.

I resolve to start sitting down for dinner... and to stop making everything I can think of and just stick with one thing a night... too much time in the kitchen.

9.11.11

Our favorite diner in our friend's hometown was closed this morning- power outage on the whole street. So instead of amazing homefries, I wound up with fast food hash browns. It made me a little cranky, but that could also be due to the 3 hours of sleep I got last night.

Breakfast:
Coffee
Hash browns.

Lunch:
I sort of grazed as I cut up veggies and fruit and did some prep for meals this week-
a few slices of pear
half a dozen chunks of pineapple
handful of pine nuts
1 small japanese eggplant fried
pumpkin pie mix
sauce with bread
homemade pickles with bread

Dinner:
I fell asleep at 5ish and woke up at 2:40 to clean the kitchen and take care of a few other things.
Had a couple of pieces of graffiti eggplant (fried) and decided that I'm not frying eggplant any more.
Some water and went back to bed.

9.10.11

Just got back from a wedding upstate this weekend.  It was gorgeous and I got to hang out with friends I haven't seen in years- we realized at one point that the last time we were together was 7 years ago. Crazy.

I was nearly perfect- only one potential mishap: two fried pickle chips.  I don't know if there was egg or dairy in the batter. Otherwise, I did surprisingly well.

Breakfast/ lunch:
two fried pickle chips
garden salad w/ oil and vinegar
rye toast with peanut butter
Lots of coffee

Snack:
celery sticks

Dinner:
garden salad
green pepper stuffed with wild rice, tomatoes and spices- soooo good.
green beans and carrots

Snack:
Pizza crusts

9.9.11

Breakfast:
pears with oat groats
Coffee

Lunch:
Sprout sandwich on rye

Dinner:
Caponata with slice of Italian bread
chips
2 clementines
nuts

It was a late night- I had a three hour drive for a friend's wedding.  They had a cocktail/ dessert and cheese party and then we were hungry driving back to our cabin.

Snack:
fries with ketchup
crust of one slice of pizza

9.8.11

Breakfast:
Rest of pumpkin pie mix with coconut milk
toasted bread with oil, oregano, garlic, onion and salt and pepper.

Lunch:
stuffed grape leaves (canned)
rye bread

Dinner:
Bag of BBQ Kettle Chips (I know, I know, not healthy- it happens).

9.7.11

Breakfast:
strawberries and pineapple chunks
Coffee

Lunch:
Vegan sushi
cucumber melon mint salad

Dinner:
grilled eggplant, squash and zucchini
tomato, onion, basil salad
lots of bakery country wheat bread

Dessert:
1/2 can organic pumpkin pie filling mixed with coconut milk

9.6.11

I didn't sleep last night- must've been first day excitement...
I wound up eating a lot of pie and a lot of spicy thai eggplant between 1 and 3 am.

Breakfast:
Coffee
a few bites of pineapple and strawberries

Lunch:
Sprout sandwich: pumpernickel, veg mayo, nutritional yeast, hemp seeds and sprouts.

Dinner:
Left over Saag and basmati rice
a few bites of honeydew.
Two pieces of apple pie.

I'm stuffed.  Now it's time for bed.
See you tomorrow.

9.5.11

Breakfast:
Oat groats
w/ 2 Tbs coconut milk, strawberries and pineapple
Coffee

Lunch:
Bits of apple as I made pie

Dinner:
grilled eggplant, zucchini, hot pepper and squash
Homemade pumpernickel bread
Tomato, basil and onion salad

Dessert:
Earl grey with honey
Apple pie

Snack:
Sprouts

more Apple pie

9.4.11

I learned little from yesterday's lesson, but honestly, I prepped the veggies to make spicy Thai eggplant like three days ago and needed to get it made or lose them to the compost.

Breakfast:
5 chunks honeydew
Arroz con coco
2 bites of an arugula, tomato, sprout, veg mayo and nutritional yeast sandwich
6 1/2 inch bits of fried eggplant

Lunch:
Rest of sprout sandwich
2 Vegan soft pretzels- see below for more info
Lots of water.

Dinner:
Spicy Thai Eggplant
Sarson da Saag- see below for more info
On basmati rice

Dessert:
Fresh Strawberries and Pineapple with 2ish TBS coconut milk and 1 tsp sugar

Note on vegan pretzels: I went shopping yesterday and they had a pretzel snack stand.  I was craving one sooo badly that I decided I needed to make some today.  It was a humid day, so both the pretzels and the pumpernickel bread I made (that I'll be cutting into tomorrow) had rising issues.  They came out soft, but not pretzel-y. I'm not going to bother sharing the recipe since the birds and neighbors dogs wound up with the leftovers.  I will find a tasty one and share it as soon as I do.

Sarson da Saag's cousin, Saag Paneer was one of my favorite dishes pre-vegan.  My local coop has an amazing prepackaged version of it with fresh farmer's cheese (Lord, why am I talking about cheese?). I had some defrosted collard greens from last summer's garden (just put this year's up), so I decided to make it with a few pounds of pre-cooked greens. Don't be overwhelmed by the Garam Maasala recipe on the page- you can find it pre-made at coops and in the international section of decent grocery stores. I omitted the tomato and the lime and substituted ground fennel for hing, but the results were still incredible over some basmati rice.
Recipe for Sarson da Saag:
http://www.publicradio.org/columns/splendid-table/recipes/side_sarson.html

9.3.11

We're brought up thinking that there's a right way and a wrong way to do everything.  I think it's part habit, but it's also part time management.  The truth is, we can only feasibly follow one path at a time (if the metaphor stands).

This education comes at a cost.  Evaluative and critical thinking skills aren't needed until we begin to question that "holy grail" of a right way that we were presented.

This being said, there are multiple right ways to do vegan depending on one's tastes, goals and banner waving.

Today, I did it a bit wrong....

Breakfast:
arroz con coco
coffee

Lunch:
Water
Tempeh

Dinner:
Garden salad with oil and vinegar
Sweet potato fries dipped in honey.

Where did I go wrong?
I had last minute plan changes yesterday afternoon... That's why lunch was just the tempeh mix.  I was smart to eat that before we left though, because we wound up at a diner for dinner and I ordered the only two vegan things on the menu.
The fries were deep fried.  They were nothing spectacular, but by that time I was so hungry I scarfed most of them.
The fat content was off for today.  I need to be cognizant of the fact that no matter whether or not I'm partaking of animal, deep frying things isn't going to help me.

9.2.11

Took a three mile walk with mom this morning.  The nice thing about summer vacation and living close to my parents.

Breakfast:
Grapes, strawberries and arroz con coco-- now I'm getting a little tired of it, luckily I don't have much left
Coffee

Lunch:
Arugula and tempeh
water

I had sort of two separate dinners tonight- Had to stop in at my Nan's and then I was hungry again at 9ish.
Dinner:
Tomato, cucumber and radish salad (courtesy of my aunt's garden)
Italian bread

Tempeh
Sprout/cucumber sandwich
Vegan Lemon Curd
Honey dew

Yum!

9.1.11

First I've got to say, Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!  37 years and they still entertain each other and their company with middle school antics at the table.  Love you both!

What I ate:

Breakfast:

Cut melon, pineapple and mandarins- fruit salad at work breakfast meeting.

Coffee

Couple bites of arroz con coco

Lunch:

Half of my arugula and tempeh salad.

The tempeh recipe is divine. Find it here tempeh lettuce wraps

I'm beginning to realize that I need to mix arugula with other greens.  By itself it's overwhelming.

Dinner:

Garden salad with Newman's own balsamic dressing... remember to check dressing tops- I wound up drowning my salad rather than bathing it.

Water

Pumpernickel cucumber sandwich with vegan mayo, hemp seeds and nutritional yeast.

Snack:

vegan lemon curd- delicious.

toasted slice of pumpernickel with vegan mayo and nutritional yeast

Recipe for vegan lemon curd- I think it's from vegan news, but I can't find it again...

1/2 c lemon juice

1/2 c sugar

3/4 c coconut milk

1/8 tsp tumeric

3 Tbs cornstarch

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp lemon zest.

Mix all ingredients except for zest in a small saucepan and whisk over medium heat for 2 minutes.  Reduce heat to low and whisk until thick. Add zest, stir and cool.