eating this week

monday: penne w/ sun dried tomato pesto
tuesday: vegan enchiladas w/ avocado cream sauce
wednesday: vegan meatballs w/ this glaze
thursday: spaghetti squash + salad
friday: veggie quesadillas (vegan cheese)
saturday: birthday party (veggie burgers)
sunday: potato and spinach jalfrezi

Winners from previous weeks (thinking I've missed sharing some since I've missed a week or two of menu sharing.) The caramel tofu w/ brown rice and spicy snap peas- a-maz-ing. I mean, there's a buttload of sugar so it should be but seriously so good (so good in fact that we had it again last week.) I added a bit of sriracha as well - just a touch! The baked tostadas w/ vegan feta- again, so good. The feta could use a bit longer in the food processor to smooth it out a little more as well as a touch more salt but SUCH a great replacement! The portland porch lettuce wraps - perfection. We wrapped them in lettuce and then in a whole wheat tortilla as well. Definitely a keeper.

And, I never gave an update on my 75 mile May goal. I did it :) I actually managed 88 miles for the month (all walking...mainly treadmill but as much outdoors as I could manage.)

So, for June, I'm bumping my goal up to 80 and also re-integrating the couch to 5K program. I'm alternating walking days with running with a single rest day each week. So far, I'm right on track and at 28 miles for the month.

For our vegan"ish" May experiment - it went so well! We cheated a teeny tiny bit - we had a night out alone early in the month and a gift certificate burning a hole in our pockets so we had pizza. Only 3 or 4 days into the month and I could feel the difference the next morning after eating cheese the night before. I'm kind of glad for the early month cheat because it made avoiding dairy the rest of the month so much easier!

Oh, and the coffee creamer. That's mostly sugar anyway though, right?

Here's the difference for us between vegetarian and vegetarian + dairy/egg free. We could eat until we were satisfied/full without feeling "heavy" if that makes sense. I was consistently satisfied throughout the month without ever (with the exception of the morning after pizza) having that uncomfortable weight in your stomach.

What an awesome feeling!

We feel healthier and lighter (if not evidenced by the scale, definitely evident in our energy level.)

And guess what - it wasn't that hard. Not at all.

So, we're sticking with it. Again - not incredibly strict where we're checking every label for miniscule amounts of dairy but there is no cheese, no butter, no eggs being brought into the house and incorporated into meals. I'm finding intentionally vegan recipes. I'm modifying vegetarian recipes. We're eating a HUGE variety of meals and loving it. This is sticking and I'm so glad.

One note. I don't ever try to coerce people into eating the same way we do. No one else in our family does and probably a lot of them think we're crazy. I *wish* they would at least take an interest in learning more...by reading some of the books I've read, watching some of the movies I've watched. I love them and want them to be healthy and live long happy lives. I'm convinced that the traditional western diet is far more detrimental to the collective health of the populace than smoking or drinking drugs. In our family, we have blood pressure and cholesterol issues. Diabetes and cancer. Weight and heart concerns. Probably there aren't many families out there that don't encompass most of these issues. I believe that all of these health concerns can potentially be improved by adjusting the diet.

We try to be as unobtrusive as possible. We don't request or expect special accommodations for get togethers (there's always at least fresh veggies, right? and it's just one meal...we won't starve if we don't get the full plate treatment) I fervently hope that at least some of them will come around though. If asked, I try to provide some accessible information for them. After that, it's up to them. I would be more than happy to help menu plan or come up with ideas for transitioning slowly (or just partially.)

I can't stand "I could never do it" though. Of course you could. You just don't want to. Which is fine! Just say you don't want to. Be honest about it. You can give up meat. You just don't want to. You can give up cheese. You just don't want to. You can give up eggs and butter. You just don't want to. You can EVEN give up ice cream. You just don't want to.

Phew. Sorry. That was a long, rambling rant that I wasn't planning. Hey though! Have a great week :)