Ta-Da 2 weeks vegan!

So it's been two weeks as a vegan and to tell you the truth, I feel no different yet.  The upside is that I certainly don't feel any worse for lack of eggs and dairy.  I do crave cheese a lot when I make grilled cheese for the kids, but it's not so bad.  It's too soon for me to make any determination about what my food future holds...

Here are some of the things I've eaten recently:

These are smoothies with frozen blackberries, bananas, ground flaxseeds, water, and the green stuff, which is Purslane in English, Regilat in Hebrew.  High in those Omega-3's! 

(The kids did drink these but said to tell the blog readers that "we've had better").

This is The Breakfast Cookie from http://www.fitnessista.com/

I had to modify the recipe a bit based on ingredients available to us here in Israel.  The original recipe can be found on her blog as linked above.

1/3 cup oats
1 T tahina or peanut butter
1/8 cup non-dairy milk (I used rice milk)
cinnamon
cardamom
raisins

You just mix it all together at night.  Then spread it into a plate and refridgerate overnight.  In the morning it's a solid-ish cookie and perfect pre or post workout.  (I had it before a Friday morning jog).

And then there's this...

This... is a cupcake.

But it's a vegan cupcake!

Vegans have to go to birthday parties too.  It was my nephew's big boy 2nd birthday tonight so I brought the vegan cupcakes!

I can't put the recipe for these babies here because it's not mine, but rather from this cookbook:

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

Here's a hint though: That luscious chocolate buttercream? It's made with tofu and it's sooooo delicious!

Day 11: Recipe Catch-Up

Here we have Tex Mex Cornbread:

1 1/4 cups plain or vanilla soy milk
1 1/4 Tbsp white vinegar

Mix soy milk with vinegar and set aside.  It will curdle.  That's what you want.  This is how to make non-dairy buttermilk.

Preheat oven to 180 C.  Oil a 23-cm square baking pan.

1 1/2 cups cornmeal
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 T baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 T sugar, honey, or maple syrup, if using plain soymilk

Mix all ingredients together until just well combined.  Pour into pan.

Top with any of the following.  Don't stir in, just lay on the top and it will sink while the bread bakes.

Cooked beans
Green onions, chopped
Chopped Peppers, raw or roasted
Corn kernels
Black olives

Bake 20-25 minutes until golden and firm.  Serve wedges of cornbread topped with salsa, chopped lettuce, tofu sour cream, etc

And here we have Curry-Coconut Vegetables

1 T coconut or olive oil
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 inch ginger, minced
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 head cauliflower florets
1 T curry powder
1/2 tsp tumeric
1 dried hot pepper (optional)
salt and pepper to taste (or soy sauce, which is weird, but worked)
1 cup coconut milk
1-2 cups frozen peas

Saute onions, garlic and ginger.  Add tomatoes and saute until they release their juices.  Add cauliflower and spices.  Saute until golden.  Add coconut milk and frozen peas.  Cover and cook 10 minutes until all is cooked.  Serve over rice

Day 9: A Day Without Hummus

I was embarrased by all the hummus eating, so I made an effort to not eat any today.  ;-)

I also didn't take any pictures or cook any new food.  Boring me. Yeah, well I do have a business to run.

I woke up and had tea with almond milk and then an apple.

Then to Dance class.

I brought a giant smoothie with me to the gym which I enjoyed after class.  It was like 85 degrees F here today - eat your heart out North Americans!  My smoothie had: 

1 banana
2 kiwis
1 clementine
2 T ground flaxseed/pumkpin seed mix
1 T hemp seeds
2 cups water

Lunch was BIG and lasted for quite a long time:

Rice cakes with an entire avocado and lots of lettuce leaves
2 whole tomatoes
1 whole red pepper
The end of the tofu-broccoli leftovers
The last piece of the foccacia
Some halvah & a handful of raw cashews
A big bowl of popcorn (popped on the stove - not microwave crapola please)
More tea with soy milk this time

Whew!  I was hungry today!  But then by dinnetime, the hunger had passed, so I skipped it.  This way of eating - with the largest meal mid-day and then a light, or no dinner is a very healthy way to live.  Digestion is strongest mid-day, we are moving around the most, metabolism is burning hot.  This is the ideal time to fuel up with quality calories.  Incidentally, the Israeli way of eating mirrors this format.  Israelis will often eat a large, cooked meal mid-day and then just a light snack at night.  I guess I live in the right country!  I sleep so much better too when I don't go to sleep with a full belly.

Day 8 & Going Great

Today I woke up and drank my lemon water, followed by this:

That's 1 apple, chopped, 1 pomegranate, about 1/4 cup granola and 1/2 cup soy milk. And cinnamon. It was yummy. It fueled a 5K jog.

For lunch I had leftovers from Shabbat:  Tofu-Broccoli-Peanuts and Roasted Sweet Potatoes.

Snacks were hummus on brown rice cakes, (now that I'm logging this food for the whole world to see, I realize that not a day passes without hummus...), dried apple slices, and lots of herbal tea.

For dinner I made White Bean Soup with Rosemary & Sage and Foccacia with Sauteed Onions, Peppers, Garlic and more Rosemary:

Dig that fancy salad I made?  Yes, it's just lettuce leaves!  I mean, how many dishes can one person make on a workday, ya know? 

I made a double batch of dough and made pizza for the kids (No picture of that though!).  Just topped the dough with jar-tomato sauce and some grated cheese.  Everyone was happy.

Vegetable Foccacia

Dough:
3 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 cups Bread Flour
2 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 T olive oil
corn meal or wheat germ to dust the pan

1.  Mix yeast with 1/2 cup wrist-warm water,  Stir and let sit for 5 minutes.
2.  Mix flours, sugar and salt in a large bowl.
3.  Mix in olive oil, yeast mixture and remaining 1 cup warm water.
4.  Mix it all together with your hands until it forms a soft dough.
5.  Knead on the counter for 5-8 minutes until smooth.
6.  Lightly oil bowl, put dough back in a rotate so all sides are oiled.  Cover with a dish cloth and place in a warm spot to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.

Preheat oven to 200 C.

7.  Punch dough down and knead for a few more minutes.
8.  Split dough in half and roll out into 2 flat pans or pizza pans that have been lightly greased and sprinkled with corn meal or wheat germ.
9.  Brush top of crust with olive oil
10.  Top with sauce and cheese for pizza or with sauteed veggies* or herbs for foccacia.
11.  Bake 20 minutes until golden and puffed.

*For one tray I sauteed 1 onion, sliced, 1 red pepper, sliced, 2 cloves chopped garlic and 1 stalk rosemary.

White Bean Herb Soup
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 bulb fennel, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T olive oil
sea salt
black pepper
1 stalk rosemary leaves, minced
2 tsp dried or fresh sage
pinch saffron (optional)
2-3 cups white beans, cooked
about 6 cups water

Saute veggies in oil.  Add everything else.  Simmer 30 minutes until fragrant and thick.

1st Vegan Weekend Report & Meal Planning

I'm still here and doing much better now.  I got over my week one hump and now things are going more smoothly.
Here are some of the yummy vegan things I've eaten in the past couple of days:

That is the juice of 3 oranges and one pomegranate which I shared with my sweet husband.

Tofu w/Broccoli in Peanut Sauce

We went for hummus in Tel Aviv on Friday.  It took me awhile to get into the whole hummus-as-an-entire-meal thing they do here in Israel but now I can't get enough.  I want to blog about the meal/experience sometime but this time we fell on our plates so ravenously that by the time my conscious mind registered "camera" "blog", we were already licking the plates clean.

So instead, I offer you, The Mediterranean Sea:

Some other yummy vegan things we ate this weekend were:

Tomato Soup

Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges with Rosemary, Garlic and Olive Oil

Arugula Salad with Pomegranate Seeds and Tahina Dressing

And I ate Challah on Shabbat before realizing that Challah is made with eggs.  Ooops.  Will have to try that again.

HEALTH COACH TIP:  Today I will spend some time menu planning for the week ahead.  I always do menu planning once a week and it's something I seriously recommend to everyone who is having trouble with food or weight, or wishing to transition to a healthier diet.  Just take an hour or so, while watching your favorite tv show or whatever.  Look at your date book and map out the week ahead. 

Which nights will you have time to cook?

Which nights will you need to have something prepared in advanced?

Who will be home for what meals?

When will you have a chance to shop for food items?

I have a blank chart that I made with slots for all the meals.  I will send it to you if you send me an email Emily@TriumphWellness.com.  I start with dinners and fill in those first.  Then I move on to lunches, which are often dinner leftovers.  Then I plan in snacks and breakfasts.  It doesn't matter if you stick to this plan perfectly or allow changes that come up to change your meals.  I just find it helps to have a general idea of what you are going to cook when and it's a great stress reliever to not walk into the kitchen starving at 5pm on a busy weeknight and think "WHAT am I going to make for dinner?"

Here in Israel our weekend is over tonight and we wish one another a Shavuah Tov, or a Good Week.  For those of you in countries where it's still weekend, enjoy the rest and relaxation!

Blogger has apparently done away with the spell check feature?!  I am opening an actual dictionary for the first time in about 20 years.  Forgive me for mistakes I don't catch.

The Munchy Monster Arrives on Day 4

As promised:

Pumpkin-Peanut Butter Muffins
(There's only one in the picture because that's all that's left a mere 12 hours later!)

Preheat oven to 160 C.  Line muffin tray with paper muffins cups.
Place in the blender:
1 cup leftover cooked pumpkin (or squash from those cheezy potato skins!)
1/3 cup vanilla soy milk (or water or apple juice)
1/3 cup vegetable oil, I used sunflower
3 T peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 T ground flaxseeds (NOT optional!)

Blend all until smooth and light.  Set aside.

In a bowl mix:
1 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until just mixed.  Spoon into 12 muffins cups and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of one comes out clean.

NOTE:  The flaxseeds are standing in for the eggs here, so don't leave them out.  When mixed with liquid, flaxseeds turn into goo and that's what we're going for here.

I tasted the muffins and they were indeed wonderful, but because I try to stay away from sugar, I concocted the smoothie in the picture above with some of the same ingredients for similar taste with a lot less damage:

Carrot Spice Smoothie
1 banana
1 carrot, grated
1 Medjool date
1 T ground flaxseed
1 T tahina or peanut butter
few dashes of cinnamon
drop of vanilla extract

Holy Beta-Carotene Batman, and your blood sugar will thank you too!

Wow, then the rest of the day got really wierd.  I'm having some strange physical symptoms which could just be fighting off an illness or...could I actually be detoxing the dairy?  Or maybe that bit of wheat and sugar is messing with me, or it's a lady thing....who knows, but I just sort of munched and munched on a lot of things today.  Some healthier than others:

I had mashed potatoes which I made from the leftover potato innards from the potato skins, with sea salt and nutritional yeast.  Then there was whole grain toast with olive oil, zaatar and sea salt.  I had some dried fruits, a lot of nuts, some 70% chocolate (non-dairy), more nuts...  see where I'm going with this?

Dinner was salad with leftover avocado dressing and Mudjaderra, aka Persian Rice, Lentils & Fried Onions.

and everyone ate it, kids and all, yay!

Tomorrow will be a new day and I will be spending some time working to re-gain balance with my eating.  It is important not to just look for physcial or food reasons when we become crave-y with food.  Quite often there is some sort of underlying anxiety or stress and once we get it out and dealt with, food no longer becomes an issue.

Day 3 and please remind me never to go to a Bnai Akiva event again

Sorry, but those Bnai Akiva shows should just be for the kids.  I am seriously wishing I had not been there to see that sort of behavior.  All the Israeli parents reading this know what I'm talking about.  The rest of you just be glad that you don't.

OK, so onto the food...

Breakfast this morning was one of my giant green smoothies (I have one of my clients to thank for the evolution of this smoothie. You know who you are!):

This one had:
1 banana
2 persimmons
1 Medjool date
5 walnuts
1 T ground flaxseeds
2 cups spinach leaves
1 cup wheatgrass
3 cups water

Was it tasty-yum, you ask?  Well, I'm not going to lie to you.  It wasn't the yummiest thing I've ever eaten, but it wasn't bad either.  The fruit keeps it sweet and the greens aren't so prominent tasting.  It's better with a mango or oranges, but all I had were those persimmons today.  BUT, look how in one meal, I have had 4 servings of fruit, 3 servings of fresh, raw green vegetables, healthy essential fatty acids and fiber from the walnuts and the flax.  If the rest of this day should happen to fall apart foodwise, I have already consumed what my body needs at breakfast.  This makes me feel really good.

Anyway, that makes an entire blenderful and it took me about an hour to finish it.  I was not hungry again until 1pm when I finished working.  I had taught another class today so I had the leftovers of a new batch of tempeh chili and cheezy potato skins.  Then I had 4 brown rice cakes with hummus.  Green Tea.

For a mid-afternoon snack I made my healthy brownie balls (recipe here ) but this time I used mint extract instead of vanilla and had a delish minty-chocolately treat!

Dinner was the leftovers from last night's rice noodles with veggies.

Rice Lo Mein

(this is so easy it's ridiculous)

Boil 1 package rice noodles per instructions on package.

Rinse thoroughly in cold water.

Stir-fry your favorite veggies in a bit of sesame oil until tender crisp.  (Here I used onion, carrot and broccoli)

Add noodles and some soy sauce and toss all to combine.

Top with mung bean sprouts.

Would be good with chopped peanuts too.

And yes, my kids will eat this!

I also made a batch of Vegan Pumpkin-Peanut Butter Muffins.  They were amazing.  I didn't photograph them yet so I'm going to make you wait for the recipe tomorrow with a picture.

Until then...

emily