DAY 10 AND 11

Homemade pasta sauce recipe from Peas and Thank You. No, thank you! Hubs made it Wednesday night and we enjoyed it last night. Got to love that when we find a recipe he is happy to make it and I am sure we will be making this again.

I have been ask if I feel different eating a vegan diet. I don't ... yet. I have always favored fruits and vegetables over chicken, beef, and pork ... with the exception of bacon ... which I would have on occasion. I often had yogurt for lunch which has been placed with sliced veggies (right now I am loving yellow and red peppers) and hummus sandwiches. My afternoon “sweet bite” which was usually chocolate or cookies have been replaced with raisins. Supper has just been fine-tuned. Homemade sauce for the whole wheat pasta instead of jarred, more salads, and homemade soup. It might take a few more days, weeks, or months of a vegan diet to feel differently. Think I will find out!

DAY 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

How do these days go by so quickly? Challenge is ... well, not so challenging. After the movies on Saturday the "hubs" and I went shopping. We had looked at recipes, had our list, and were ready to go. We filled our cart with fruits, veggies, beans, rice, oatmeal, dates, etc. Pretty much everything I would need or want. Although he is trying to wrap his arms around this, he is struggling giving up his turkey sandwiches, breakfast eggs, and milk.

The irony of timing is that, as I am perusing vegan cookbooks and blogs, I am also working on designing and laying out a cookbook for a friends mother, Mrs. B. This has been a little more challenging. I have ran across many of the same dishes I had growing up. My mom's chicken and noodles, meatloaf, my Aunt Violet’s chocolate sheet cake, Aunt Marie's spice cake with caramel frosting ... ah, "food memories."

I also wonder how what has been easy now, will be at Thanksgiving. Or Christmas? When tradition means turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, sugar cookies? I am feeling optimistic. A chance to try out new recipes along with the regulars. I did see a recipe for vegan sugar cookies ... now you know where my heart lies!

DAY 4
Be prepared. Might be the most important mantra for this challenge. A well stocked cupboard and fridge is essential to making good choices. Saturday morning I will be making a grocery list and going shopping!

DAY 3
I bought a vegan cookbook on the way home from work last night, Peas and Thank You. Like most books I buy, it was the layout and color photos that appealed to me. Luckily, beyond that were recipes that looked delicious and easy. Looking forward to trying them and eating something more than fruit and veggie salads and beans and rice – that is my familiar – my safe food!

DAY 2





How did this all start? Ken (the husband) was watching a CNN documentary, The Last Heart Attack, with Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn who had written the book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. There is a history of heart disease in his family and it got his attention. Halfway through I sat down and watched it with him. After it was over I ask him if he wanted me to get the book. He did. I downloaded it and started reading some of the things we should eat and some we shouldn’t. His general response was “I have to eat that?” or “I can’t give that up!” But I thought we should give it a try.

Since that evening he often reports he had eaten “a face” ... cow, chicken, or pig. Or their milk. Or their eggs. And to make sure I understood how hard this was going to be for him he showed me that his sandwich REALLY did have a face. This morning he stared at the carton of soy milk for his cereal, then decided on scrambled eggs. (That is chicken Ken.)

But this is my challenge ... started the day with a soy latte made at home this morning ($8.06 saved ... sorry Starbucks) and packed a red pepper humus sandwich for lunch.

DAY 1


30 day vegan challenge ... can I do it? I spent last week testing this concept before I actually committed to the challenge. Love fruits and veggies. Beans, whole grains, we have those all the time. Can’t eat anything that “paws a hoof, flaps a wing or flips a tail. Nothing with a face or a mother, living on land or in water.” Well when you put it like that, who would want to eat it anyway. The first thing to tripped me up was “no dairy”. I rarely sit down to tall cold glass of milk, but I do enjoy a Starbuck latte every morning. Was this going to be the deal breaker? Soy latte? I gave it a try. Ordered a tall soy latte AND a large, no fat latte (my usual) for back up. It was a little different, almost like a vanilla latte. Drank half of the small soy and then polished off my regular latte.

So here we are, day one. Had a soy latte that I prepared at home ... and didn’t stop at Starbucks for a backup! Looks like I may even save some money during this challenge!