A Pound of Food

Happy Weekend!  Yesterday slipped away and I skipped reporting on the Vegan Challenge, as well as my own eating challenge so let's go!

The vegan challenge went well on day 5 and I'm still going strong.  A challenge that I imposed on myself due to laziness and not being able to keep up with my own produce consumption this week was burning out and not packing a lunch on Friday.  No worries- I stocked up on some food and came to the realization that I can pack away 1.31 pounds of food in a sitting. Impressive, no?  I went to the local hot bar/salad bar near my office and got this bucket of food.

This feed pail contains spinach, kale salad, sprouts salad, roasted squash, broccoli salad, kim chee, and 2 falafels.  I'm 99% sure this was all vegan and it was shiny just how I like it.  Topped with a little hot sauce and I was a happy girl.  I could have eaten another one after this, but at $8 per pound, I need to save my money on other shiny objects.  I think that overall, vegan eating can be really easy and delicious.  What I thought was an obstacle in buying lunch was not really an obstacle. I found a vegan, soy-free option and it was delicious. 

In other eating news, things have been going well on the self-imposed holistic approach to food.  I think that I need to start trying more new things because I have started getting bored with my current staples and sometimes I just want a cookie so I'm on the hunt for a recipe that I can enjoy.  The 'deadline' is the last day of February and I only really have 2 weeks to go, but the masochist in me will probably keep going.  I like that I have become less dependent on sugar, but I still want a cookie (see a theme here)?  The only thing that keeps me from jumping head first into one is that my husband is following the plan and I have to be a good example and all.  This accountability is definitely something that makes me more successful because when you have to confess to someone, it makes the alternative, or messing up not worth it.

I'm off to take a yoga class, grocery shop, and to maybe do some damage at a couple of clothing stores.  I need to see the pretty spring clothes and pretend it's getting warm outside ;)

Potatoes Are a Snack Food

Side note: I'm watching Man vs. Food and it's making me gag a little big. This guy is eating 5 pounds of nachos.  Who does that?!

This afternoon on Day 3 of the Vegan Challenge, after a particularly stressful situation at work in which I worked through 'lunch', I realized that I had only eaten the first part of my lunch (a salad with a black bean burger if you care) and was hungry about 2 hours later. 

Luckily I had more food with me in my enormous bag of food but my typical poor planning left me with a sweet potato.  I'm sure my Eastern European ancestors were proud of me for eating a potato for a snack, but I just went for it and it was really good, unconventional but good.  It was sweet, salty, filling, and warm.  Kind of like a chocolate chip cookie, but in potato form ;)

Onto other things- I wanted to share another grain with you- buckwheat.  Does anyone else think of The Little Rascals when they hear 'buckwheat'? (picture source)

Buckwheat (the grain) is a great source of manganese, fiber (~5 grams per cup), and flavanoids, making it really good for the heart.  It also helps to prevent diabetes and gallstones, and is great for those avoiding wheat or gluten.  It's also a fruit seed, rather than a grain and is eaten throughout the world.  (picture source)

I've been cooking up the fruit seed (?) for the last 3 weeks for hubby's breakfast.  He heats it up and drowns it in almond milk- a twist on the traditional serving of buckwheat in Russia minus the full fat milk.  It can also be eaten as a savory food in place of rice or quinoa.


Do you ever have unconventional snacks?  I think a sweet potato tops my list.

Black Bean Burgers

I really enjoyed reading your comments to my last post.  There were a lot of thoughtful responses (which I love) and a lot of great food rules.  I encourage you to read the comments here.  While the jury is still out on the mystery cheese (vegan cheddar) I am still enjoying my vegan eats.  I can't really say that I have felt limited since I live in my own bubble. I bring my lunch to work daily and most of our friends and family already know that we have made some modifications in our foods, and the others just know that the food I eat is 'weird and healthy' and I'm perfectly fine with that.

Given my fear of mystery meat, I still wanted to make something that incorporated some protein that I could eat.  This week I cooked up a ton of black beans and I made my first attempt at Black Bean and Millet Burgers.

Serving suggestion ;)

Here is the recipe- it can use a few tweaks like more spice, but it worked for me and is a great base recipe.

Black Bean and Millet Burgers:

• 1 cup cooked black beans
• 1/2 cup cooked millet
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 2 Tbsp coconut milk
• Cumin
• Salt
• Pepper

*Place all ingredients in food processor and whirl until ingredients are combined
*Scoop the 'burgers' onto sprayed cookie sheet (my recipe made 5 large burgers)and bake at 370 degrees for 20 minutes
*Enjoy with your choice of sides

I baked these while I made my husband some baked chicken and some other sides.  I also popped in my Shape Pilates DVD and did a quick workout while my food baked- multi-tasking at its best!  While I was doing my DVD I was thinking about Melissa's post today about blog comparisons and how long people generally work out.  I used to work out for hours but now I keep my workouts to 60-90 minutes for yoga classes, or 30-40 minutes for cardio.  I know some bloggers spend a lot more time than this and a lot of 'real life' people spend a lot less than this and either extreme can create a triggering reaction.  It took a while, but when I read people's routines I think 'well that's nice' and love to read the variety and people's goals, but I don't internalize it.  Most of the time workout posts motivate me to try harder but I know my bad knees won't let me run a marathon, so I move on to the next delicious cookie post.

Question for you: Do you ever make your own burgers?  What kinds?

I Like A Challenge

If you missed yesterday's guest post from my hubby, please check it out here. 
What I'm here to blabber about today is the Vegan Challenge that is going on right now in the little ole blog world.  While I have never wanted to label my eating style, I think it's safe to say I don't usually eat a lot of animal products.  I'm not sure why, but I have never been overly carnivorous and I tend to not eat some animals because I think they are cute.  My perception of dairy is usually pretty passive, unless ice cream is involved- then we're talking.  So when the challenge came up, I decided that one of the richest and most powerful women in the world could do it, this challenge was my next step to ruling the world. 

Challenge accepted. But I would have my own rules:
1. I would eat whole foods including fruits, veggies, and grains
2. I would be soy free
3. I would still maintain my gluten free and food combining as much as I could
4. No fake meat
5. Limit of 2 substitute products (described below)

The reason behind all my rules is that I wanted to see how normal people did it, without relying on Whole Foods and other specialty markets or frankenfoods that don't make any sense in my head.

I did choose to experiment with a couple of items that I have been wanting to try and had fairly recognizable ingredient lists.  I purchased both of these items with my own money and these opinions are my own.
SO Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt

Loved it!  With 12 grams of sugar and 90 calories per serving, this was a perfect afternoon snack.  It was a lot thinner than regular yogurt and I bet it would be delicious in a smoothie. 

The other product I tried was Daiya Vegan cheese.  The ingredients in it are below:
Filtered water, tapioca and/or arrowroot flours, non-GMO expeller pressed canola and /or non-GMO expeller pressed safflower oil, coconut oil, pea protein, salt, inactive yeast, vegan natural flavours, vegetable glycerin, xanthan gum, citric acid (for flavor), annatto.

I was honestly freaked out by this 'cheese', but it melted.  Not that I didn't believe other people, or the package, but I had my doubts. 

Before:

After:

I gave my husband a bite and he said it was good, but didn't taste like cheese.  I agreed.  It was OK and I'll finish it, but it tasted like some other substance that I couldn't describe.


I think that by trying these two substances early in my challenge, it will be much easier to just eat real food.  I honestly enjoyed the roasted veggies I made today much more than the specialty products I tried.

Roasted butternut squash and zucchini
 

I think the rest of my week will be filled with some of my favorite real foods and that's just how I like it.

Question for you: Are you doing the vegan challenge?  If not, what are your personal food rules?