An Explosive Mix

So this morning I was awaken by the sound of leaf blowers and lunacy; I took my early morning wake up call to cook up a breakfast and have leftovers for a fresh lunch at work.  Like I've said before, most of my work meals are pretty generic plates of just veggies and the such thrown together; the only difference today was that it would be a fresh basic hodgepodge of things!

I've come to learn that I love making pan seared meals.  In fact to me, there's nothing easier and quicker to make than tossing some things in a pan and just seasoning away.  The only thing I had to really wait for was the rice cooker to keep up with the pace, aside from that I just started tossing things in my flat cauldron.  This morning's culinary piece consisted of rice, serrano peppers, a half dozen mushrooms, half a red onion and half a tomato. Hmm, can you really halve a tomato and expect it to stay fresh later?  I guess I'll find out.  If it doesn't turn into jello by tomorrow morning I'll be able to recycle it into another plate.

The meal turned out pretty tasty for a spontaneous breakfast, but to continue the rude awakening kind of morning I'd been having with the leaf blowers and such, my cooking feat would come back to haunt me.  I ate just enough to put some leftovers in tupperware for work today; the tab you can rack up on meals can be ridiculous sometimes.  I decided to give my food one quick shake in its new plastic prison, when BAM!!!  Rice and veggies flew everywhere!  My kitchen looked like a garden massacre had just occurred.  Needless to say, I was short time and rice, so I found myself dumping another $9 bucks on a meal.  Womp womp!!  My victory this morning was short lived but oh was it ever so tasty!

A random side note: I realized that I didn't blog on friday about the meal I made.  It was just a simple spaghetti concoction I had come up with along with more serrano peppers and mushrooms.  Anyone notice what I have in abundance from the farmer's market yet?  I forgot to take a pic of it, but I'm sure it doesn't take too much imagination to see what it looked like.  Since it was really on the fly, I didn't have much time to be creative, but the next time I make pasta I'll sure snap a pic of it for all of you.

Bake Bake Fizz

Well when it comes to dieting and experimenting, you win some and you lose some.  My no bake cookies turned out to be a bit of a flop; instead of cookies I ended up getting mounds of grains, banana and coconut.  I'm missing a key ingredient in there no?  Oh yes, chocolate!  Well I tried to find some non-dairy chocolate at my local supermarket and that ended up being harder than I first thought.  Well with all my creative culinary wisdom, I decided to buy shredded coconut thinking that it would make a good substitute.  Let's just say it didn't pan out the way I wanted to; I tried to bake them and yea..... I got some warm coconut smelling pseudo ball shaped things instead.  WOMP WOMP!!  Oh well, next time I guess I'll have to hunt down that chocolate. First prize goes to the most mutant name I could give these dough rejects!

Today I decided to cash in my cheat meal card and had some mexican food.  It was delicious!!!!  But here's the irony.  No matter how enjoyable a meal is to me outside of my vegan goals, my stomach just feels horrible after my scarfing.  I've come to realize that it's a bit masochistic of me to eat these once a week carnivorous meals, so I guess I may just scrap them all together.  The jury's still out on that.  I don't know if it's because my body has gotten done with all the processed materials found in alot of our food, but my stomach hasn't been upset since I've been on this diet; it only feels horrible when I stray from my vegan goal. 

I guess it's a sign from above that perhaps I should stick to my non-processed foods.  A question does come to mind however that I'd like to throw out there: if our stomachs get upset with conventional meals after going vegan, does it alarm anyone that perhaps it could be all the chemicals/hormones found in our everyday food that could be the culprit?  Thoughts??

Seeds, Soy and Reggae

So I've come to learn an important lesson: tofu is tedious.  Wednesday night I tried my hand at the Orange Tofu and Pepper recipe I had found online and well.... I guess you could be the judge.

I started my dinner plans idea with a mind boggling run to the farmer's market; I forgot how big that place is.  It took me almost an hour, but I'm pretty happy about my $35 bounty.  Tonight I'm going to crack away at making those no bake cookies and friday I'm gonna take a stab at baking kale chips.  But on to the tofu...

I didn't stray too far off the recipe except for using thai chilli peppers instead of regular green ones.  What can I say?  I love me some spicy food!  I really did enjoy making this meal; cooking with some good reggae music sounding in the background is what I need as a good end of the day wind down.  I was surprised though on how long it took me to make the tofu.  All in all the meal took about an hour and some change to make; I'm not the most well versed with the soy compressed produce, so perhaps there's a faster way I'm yet to learn on how to pan sear some soy blocks.  Patience is definitely key to cooking tofu, especially having to flip every piece over; let's just say I wasn't blessed with much of it.


I split the green chillis down the middle to allow them to soak and let the seeds come and go as everything was stirred.  The sauce was very tasty and all organic!  I don't know what it is about sauces and dips, but I love making them from scratch.  Sure I could cheat and buy them already made, it would keep my kitchen from looking like a war zone, but half the fun is in figuring it all out and making it happen.

I don't think the outcome could compare to the original recipe, but it turned pretty good.  I was pleasantly surprised about how much kick those ten thai peppers added.  What's life without a little bit of spice?

After all that slicing, dicing and everything else, voila!  I had dinner!  Thoughts?

Chocolate and Tofu Never Looked So Good

Culinary disaster or genius??  Ok ok, I'm not going to blow up my kitchen on this, but I have found a tasty dessert I plan to make for Thursday.  No better way to catch up with friends than some tasty and nutritious (cough cough) Frosty No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies!!!  I found this tasty treat on the blog Ohsheglows.com.  I would totally recommend that you check it out. 

They're no bake cookies so don't worry anyone, the kitchen and the surrounding block are all safe from any potential kitchen screwups!!  I wanted to venture into some more elaborate post dinner meals, but unfortunately, the budget this week is a bit tight.

However, I've also found a great dinner idea that's not only economical but looks extremely tasty!  It's an orange tofu with peppers and rice.  Nothing too extravagant, but again, I'm trying to stay financially in line these next few days.  This tasty meal was grabbed by a blog that was recommended by a commenter: Veganricha.com.  Dinner for Wednesday?  Check!

Both these sites offer great ideas for all seasoned veteran or rookie vegans.  One thing I have noticed though while on this trail to a healthier life is that this path is covered in expenses.  I'm enjoying making all these meals and exploring different tastes and flavors; the price though on some of these items have surprised me.  With a little bit of hunting and effort however, I've noticed that one can deal with the cost; I for one need to go to the farmers market ALOT more. 

Living by yourself and all the while on top of a supermarket tends to shift you towards an on demand lifestyle.  I want some eggs? Peppers? Industrial size containers of salsa?  A 30 sec trip and I'm there, all the while paying premium prices for a luxury that at times pays off.  Yet ever since I started this diet, it's seldom that I find what I need at an economical price in my local grocery store.  So farmer's market here I come!!! 

Step two that this gastronomical change forces me to do: organize.  Most people who know me know that I'm not the ummm, most structured person out there.  Hmmm, my list making skills are going to have to improve and fast!!  So now besides my health, this diet is already making me improve in other areas as well.  So far it's a win win all around.

Thankfully though, for these two meals I've already got about half the ingredients stocked up, so the dent won't be too big in my wallet.  I'll let you guys know how it turns out and you can be the judge of the outcome: my culinary ego lays in your hands.

Three Times The Repetition

So this whole everyday blogging thing... I've gotta really re-think this.  The only reason why I'm saying this is because on my days to work I pretty much have the same meals everyday: breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I guess you can say those are just my routine days; plus the fact I work ten hour days so prepping individual meals for my employment days is really time consuming.  Mass production works best for me for those days; so instead of doing a food diary on those days that's full of food and redundancy, I think I will either write every other work day about my thoughts through this all or some cool recipes I've found that I wanna try on my weekend.

Now since I'm done with that whole explanation, I will mention one other snack I have besides my granola bars that are great! 

Not only are these bean burritos cheap (you can find them at Kroger), they're surprisingly really filling.  So if you're ever on the go and don't have an extensive list of snacks aside from granola bars (cough cough!), this burrito will do the trick!

Since Tuesdays are my Fridays, I plan on making some kind of tasty late night snack or a small dessert; but I'll keep you posted about that tomorrow when my sweet tooth inspiration strikes.

Valentine's Day Trough and Aftermath

Well yesterday was Valentine's Day, Single's Freedom Day, or whatever you'd like to call it.  Consumer driven holidays aside, it was also my free meal day!!!  Cupid takes a side seat to my food! 

When I celebrate, I like to go big; and in this case it was a fish and veggie explosion!!!  Once a week I stop by mom's house to help her out with some things around the house, and catch up over a meal.  Honestly, nothing beats a mom's home cooked meal, but for V-day and to celebrate a week of going vegan, I settled for a neighborhood shrine that is the equivalent to buffet heaven for me.  I just pretty much oinked majorly on some salmon, sushi, tilapia and a vast array of veggies; I didn't want to overdo it TOO much so I used some restraint.  :-)

Incredibly enough I did have room for dinner later; even though I was able to enjoy my free meal, it was back to the vegan way for dinner and dessert.  I've never been a huge fan of Valentine's day because let's face it, one day shouldn't be labeled as the day of love while ignoring the rest of the year.  Quite a vegan smorgasbord was made at my house last night between myself and my date that included penne pasta with okra and sauce.  After a failed attempt on my part of finding the ingredients to make a cake from scratch in a repleted post ice storm supermarket, we had to settle for chocolate brownie mix with a homemade banana cream concoction.  I'm not a huge fan of baking, but ever since this vegan stage, I've started to enjoy it more due to the fact that you have to be creative with the ingredients that have to be replaced.  By the way, I think my food processor has now become my best friend.

You guys will have to forgive me; with all the pigging out that happened, I forgot to take pics of the meal.  Don't fret though!  I was able to snap one picture this morning of the pasta as my pre-work lunch. 

Apart from that, my dinner today was just a pre-made one I had ready; my work meals all consist of pretty much the same triage of things: rice and some kind of beans, veggies, and plantains. Nothing really to write home about, but tasty nonetheless.

Whatever you did for V-day or whatever you deem to call it in your book, I hope that it was atleast filled with gluttonous moments; I don't wanna feel like the only hog in the barn.  ;-)

Day 7 of Being a Venturing Vegan

So I don't know if it's been the snow and cabin fever, but for whatever reason I haven't been too hungry.  Before I get to today's tiny menu, I'll share what I had last night.

I was in the mood of making some kind of stew; so what else can you do when you're snowed in but come up with a concoction surprise?  I managed to create in my cauldron a soup made from rice, cilantro base, black-eyed peas, a bit of salt, ton of red pepper flakes and cumin.  Add in there some sauteed peppers, onions and mushrooms and you get this:

Even though it looks ummmm... interesting, it was actually pretty tasty except the fact that I made enough for an army.  So I got a part deux sampling of it today for lunch as well.  As a small side dish though, I tossed in some plantains and oven baked brussel sprouts. :-) 

Today was supposed to be my free meal day; in other words I can eat whatever I want just once.  Since tomorrow's Valentine's Day, I decided to postpone my moment of gluttony until VDay.  Putting my inner oinkage aside, today was pretty basic: some maple sugar and cinnamon oatmeal with almond milk for breakfast.  One thing I've become a fan of are the Kashi bars for in between meal snacks; the Pumpkin Spice Flax ones are delicious!!!

As for dinner, I didn't want to repeat a second helping of my invention the same day, so I settled for some lentils, rice and veggies.  Blame it on the weather, but today was a pretty simple on the vegan trail.  I hope though to enjoy my free meal tomorrow and perhaps some sweet toothing!! 

Life of an Amateur Vegan

Vegan.... It's definitely not a word that comes easily to my vocabulary.  When I first heard of this diet/lifestyle, I literally thought that one lived off of nuts and berries, a la Tarzan; comes to show you how ignorant I was about the topic.  Fast forward to present day, and I'm still not the most well versed about it, but I do consider myself more knowledgeable.

When my friends first learned about me going the vegan way, most of them were surprised.  I'm not the biggest red meat eater out there; you can blame that on my cheapness to buy overpriced cow, but I do love my fresh chicken and fish.  You add my love of poultry and crustacean with the fact I eat like a horse, then you can understand why folks find my dietary move surprising.  Yet there is a reason for my madness... Let the story begin.

As not to bore you too much with medical history, I'll just say this: since I was 16, I've been plagued with genetically high cholesterol.  It doesn't matter that in high school I did track and martial arts, my cholesterhol was so high that I was told I'd be dead by twenty if I wasn't put on medication.  So for the end the second half of my high school years I was placed on all kinds of meds that supposedly burned all the excess grease in my veins, all the while turning me red as a strawberry; needless to say that when I hit college I stopped taking medication.  As far as I knew, I no longer wanted to look like the Kool Aid man!

Well as college goes, we don't necessarily treat our bodies the best while in that ramen phase; but I survived and later after graduation decided to go a healthier route.  I rarely ate fried food, fast food or anything with lots of generic oils; mix that in with exercise and I thought I was set.  Well from a triglyceride level of 260-270 when I was 16, my levels had gone down to 237 by about two years ago; let's just say I wasn't impressed.  With those numbers in hand and at the climatic age of 30, I decided to go more pseudo vegetarian; I steamed alot of my food, used better oils and pretty much moved to fresh fish and poultry with very little red meat.  As of two months ago, my levels were at 217.  Granted, I'm sure that they would be by far lower if I took medication, but I'm just not a fan of modern medicine, especially if I can take an holistic path to health.

That brings me to present day and to this blog.  About a week ago I was goaded (well not really... let's just say I've got folks who worry about me) into trying the vegan route for a month to see if going this route would lower all my levels.  Let me be honest, me?  Vegan?  Enough said!  I was a bit nervous about it.  Not only would I have to give up my chicken and fish, but also desserts, cheeses, pastas, all the foods I hold dear.... or so I thought.

I started friday February 7th and the world hasn't ended for me!  The transition from omnivore to vegan cold turkey was a bit of shock; combine that with starting martial arts after a few months away and the reality check is tough.  Yet all the foods I thought I had to give up on this thirty day quest was just something I drew out of fear.  Since I've started my diet, I've had tofu lasagna, lots of veggies, nuts and granola bars, mixed in with some almond milk and sugar free coffee.  Oh yea, along with this vegan kick, I've decided to give up all additional sugar; so I will only consume whatever sugar is naturally found in what I'm eating or drinking.  No sugar also means no sodas, so whenever I do drink I've gotta drink my alcohol with juice or tonic.

Let me set the record straight though: I'm a complete rookie when it comes to the vegan lifestyle.  I'm trying to teach myself more everyday, but I'm a novice at best.  I know that some of my friends are hardcore vegans and may look down upon the fact that I may not be aware of certain vitamins or things of that nature that may be animal based; that's where I'd like to ask everyone for help or advice.  I got the idea of blogging about my conversion from my best friend; so here I am, six days into this diet and enjoying it all so far.

As a way to bring folks into the fold of what's going on with my gastronomical journey, I've decided that everyday I'm going to chronicle my vegan days with those who are willing to read this.  I love the fact that I can be creative with what to make now since my mind has to be open to other options, but wow, it can be tough especially when you're craving Krispy Kreme or just some sugar in your cuban coffee

.  Yet thankfully, there are ideas I've put on the stove top!

Day 6 (Better late than never right?) breakfast was Aunt Jemima whole wheat pancakes made with bananas instead of egg.  I found a recipe that stated that half a banana could make up for an egg; not only did it work, but I've never made fluffier pancakes.  Add some Mrs. Butterworth syrup and sugar free coffee with almond milk, and you have a good starting meal.

Lunch was just a hodgepodge of various veggies pressure cooked and blended together to make porridge.  Long story short, you mix some cauliflower, broccoli, onions, potatoes, spinach and some olive oil and you have yourself a tasty veggie puree.

As for dinner, I haven't gotten that far just yet, but I'll update you of that later today or in my entry tomorrow.  I think that for now, I'll start writing my posts at the end of the day so I have all my daily meals eaten and ready to be shared.

Like I said in the beginning, I'm very new to this and I'm sure I'm cutting corners somewhere inadvertently; I'm going to try my best to stay the straight and narrow route (with Thursdays being my one freedom day) but if anyone notices something I'm doing wrong on my virgin vegan journey or have any ideas or suggestions for me, please chime in with your comments.

As of six days ago, I weighed 195lbs with a triglyceride level of 217, let's see if these numbers start to go down shall we?  Thanks for joining me on this adventure!