Day 8: New Smoothie Recipe and Vegan Meal WIN

I promised a new smoothie recipe, and I will deliver. I am so sorry that it took so long, I have been busy all day.

1/2 cut pineapple
1 banana
1 handful kale
1 cup coconut milk
Raw blue agave to taste

I meant to take a photo, but my phone was acting up and it definitely wasn't the most attractive looking smoothie either. The green smoothies never seem to be very attractive, they are colors I have produced in other environments, let's just say. ;-) Either way, it was pretty good except it need just a little bit of sweetening. It was kind of sour and didn't have enough ice.

And on the prompting of my friend on my VZLG FaceBook page, I tried this awesome recipe for spicy posole soup. It tasted pretty good, but my mom added lemon juice instead of lime and it turned out way sour instead of spicy. So she added some sugar to offset the sourness, and then added chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, and salt and black pepper. It made it taste super awesome and kind of like vegetarian chili! She also added black beans so I would have a little protein with it. She is always worried about me getting protein, even though I eat a ton of different things. :-) Either way, she made it taste really good! :-)

Here are some photos of the soup:

 

 

Soup in the process of cooking.

 



The end result, amongst scrips, a Kay Redfield Jamison book, and an S2 card.

 

 

I am so glad to be back to being vegan! Today I have had so much more energy and joie de vivre and I couldn't be happier. I knew I had made the right decision, though Mom keeps saying she is going to add parmesan cheese and kielbasa and bacon to my soup and try to tell me it's vegan mock meat. Typical Mom for you there. Either way, I have had a great day and my favorite vegan sushi for lunch. The fiancé and I are going out tomorrow and having sushi at a real sushi restaurant, which I am very geeked out about. I don't eat sushi with meat but I do love the veggie rolls and the salad rolls. So good.  :-)

 

I hope everyone has a good evening. I am celebrating Halloween in spirit and looking forward to World Vegan Day tomorrow when I will celebrate by finding a good vegan meal and maybe a sweet treat to celebrate! :-) Be blessed all, and enjoy the journey! :-)



Day 7: Realizations and Vegan Sushi

I had the most delicious vegan sushi today. It had rice, nori, cucumber, avocado, and carrots. I am addicted. As soon as I go back to Whole Foods I am picking up some more. So good, and vegan and soy-free! Yummy.

I realized today that not everyone is on board with me going vegan. My mom, who usually has something to say regardless of the situation, said that I shouldn't be vegan because "it's a hard life." Ironically, she says the same thing about being Justin Bieber as well. Maybe that's my problem. And I went to get my supplements today and got a little bit of grief about being vegan, that I would lose muscle mass if I went vegan. I have heard for the most part that is not true, as long as your getting a variety of protein sources and you aren't, for instance, eating just greens or just lentils or whatever exclusively. A variety of sources will keep your muscle mass up. He suggested I try the protein powder because I didn't have all the dairy and such in my diet. I had the same symptoms like wicked major stomachaches and shortness of breath, so I don't think I will be including that in my protein regimen. I am going to try a Vega nutritional shake tonight and see if it's any good. I think before I didn't put nearly enough water in the thing so it turned into something gross. I got a different flavor and will mix it in a shaker bottle so we will see. :-)

I am also struggling with my faith a little bit, just because some of the things I see in the Bible, like ritual slaughtering of animals and such. I know it's a far cry from the crazy CAFOs we have today, but for some reason I'm just having a little trouble reconciling it. That's why I have always liked Buddhism, because they are so laid-back and practice compassion to all beings. I have a lot of respect for someone who can do that and really get it. But I suppose there are some Christians like that too. I don't know, we will have to see. :-)

Sorry to get real in-depth with this post, lol! I wasn't intending to go this deep at all, but I guess it kind of happened. I digress.

I hope everyone has a great night. I will be going to lab in the morning and then will chill for the weekend. :-) Be blessed and enjoy the journey!

Day 6: Smoothie Recipe WIN and Chem Exam Results

I got a 93 on my Chemistry exam. I was hoping to get a 100 but that's okay. I'll take a 93!

This morning I woke up early and chilled for a little while. I have noticed that since becoming vegan I have been able to go to bed early and wake up early with no disturbances in my sleep. I used to have vivid dreams for many years and now I sleep weird dream free and peacefully. I went to the grocery store and picked up some ingredients for a new smoothie. I got some kale for 99 cents a pound, and picked up a decent sized bunch of kale for 82 cents. I also got a carton of chocolate coconut milk (for my chocolate-covered strawberry smoothie recipe I am going to do tomorrow) and my grand total was around $3.87, so not bad.

I put in some frozen strawberries, two bananas, the rest of my vanilla coconut milk and a huge handful of kale. Granted, I think I used way too many frozen strawberries, because my Vitamix pitched a hissy fit when I tried to feed all the ingredients into the bottom of the container. Make sure you use a decent amount of non-dairy milk and maybe fresh berries and ice instead. I thought my blender was going to bite the dust. (Which would have sucked because it's my mom's Vitamix, and it was pricey, lol!) Anyhoo, after momentarily second-guessing my smoothie-making skills, it actually blended and ended up tasting really good. Here's what it looked like at completion:

Not the most appealing color but still good! :)

 

 



I know the color is a little groady and was actually quite pleasantly colored before I added the kale, lol, but it tasted sooo good and filled me up yet again. I don't know what it is about adding greens to a smoothie but it will fill you up. Despite my Vitamix almost rebelling it wasn't too thick, it was still drinkable. It may have needed just a touch more coconut milk though. I put just under a cup in, but I think I would have put 1 1/4 cups instead. Otherwise, a great drink!

I am hoping to get to the grocery store again this week. I usually buy what I can afford at the time which isn't very much, but I intend to do the spread for the next week and be a little more prepared when I go into the grocery store. I am still gathering recipes but I am looking forward to doing so. I got a whole lot of different books from the library and intend to get more soon. :-)

Speaking of, I am going to dive into another book right now. Have a great day all, be blessed and enjoy the journey!

Day 5: All About Chemistry, Literally

Does anyone remember that weird chemistry song that came out around 2004-ish? Talking about chemistry in the carnal sense, but I always think of that song when I talk about doing chemistry homework. Maybe it's just me. It wouldn't be the first time.

I started out doing a literal interpretation of chemistry research by mixing papaya, banana, coconut milk, and baby spinach together to create... well, nothing super exciting. I put in way too much coconut milk, and ended up creating two full servings of smoothie. Oops! I will remember next time to put in only a little coconut milk. :-) Picture wasn't available today... it just wasn't worth sharing. :-D

Otherwise, I've been somewhat laid-back. I went to Chemistry class this evening. Like I mentioned on my blog, I am a Chemistry major in college. My first degree was in English, specifically technical writing, but a technical writing degree without a specialization of some sort is absolutely useless. Not to mention that my internship was in the non-profit sector. I would make more money switching majors, which was eventually what I ended up doing. I went to my Chemistry class tonight and took a test, relieved that my particular brand of calculators was acceptable. (I have this old graphing calculator that my mother-in-law gave to me and it does the trick... if you can see what it says.) I think I did very well on the test, but the grades aren't posted yet. We will see how that turns out.

My crazy mama is home and is watching Twilight upstairs (only my mama... lol). She and I will probably go grocery shopping tomorrow. I have a bit limited means right now so I've been waiting on grocery shopping until she got home. Unfortunately, that's generally meant I sustained on fruits and veggies with peanut butter and hummus, respectively. Not the best way to eat, so I will go grocery shopping and make sure that I can make some different dishes this week. I would love to try out some vegan sushi as well, which the Whole Foods Market (Whole Paycheck?) sells at their display counter. They have avocado sushi as well as a variety of different things.

I have also been geeking out over some of the smoothie recipes I have seen on Healthful Pursuit which to me just look like a great excuse to make smoothies. I like smoothies almost as much as I loved protein shakes (no longer due to veganism and dairy allergies), and they seem to be a nice, less expensive substitute. Here is an example of one of the smoothies:

Apple pie smoothie. (Not sure why there is an egg in a vegan smoothie pic?)

 



 

This is an Apple pie smoothie from the aforementioned recipe site. I may well be trying this tomorrow or the next day. I also saw a pumpkin pie smoothie recipe which also sounds awesome. I am a big pumpkin lover. So glad to have found this awesome site!

 

I hope everyone has a fantastic night! I am going to crash early and hopefully work out on the bike or something. I've been way too complacent with my workouts lately. Be blessed and enjoy the journey.

Day 4: Rest Day and Church Day

It's been a laid-back, easy-going kind of day. My fiancé and I were out late last night going to see the Newsboys in downtown St Charles, and we didn't get home til around 11 at night. This morning I was feeling awesome but really wanted to take it easy as far as eating went, and use the rest of my paycheck (which is not much, but it's money) on Monday to cook something cool. :-) So it's been a easy day, I went to church in the morning, and I was delighted to see people in the front of campus waving to us. I have to commend them for being rock stars because it was super cold this morning and they were out there smiling and having a good time. I saw my friend from church and we went to Bible Study and I talked to her about my becoming a vegan (again) and how I had developed some weird food allergies.

Now, I have always been nervous about telling Christians I'm vegan. As a former Buddhist, at the temple everyone was vegan or vegetarian and I enjoyed their awesome vegan/vegetarian lunches after zazen, but as a new Christian I've kind of got the same stereotypes of Christians that I think Christians do of vegans (and Buddhists, for that matter, lol!). I'm always grateful when someone proves me wrong about a certain stereotype I present in my own mind, it makes me feel better about my choices in life. Anyhoo, my friend was very supportive and quite pleased with my weight loss and positive changes in my life. Don't people like that totally rock? :-D

Speaking of, I have hit 195 as of yesterday, with a little creep back up after eating out yesterday and going to the concert (where I had a mountain of cashews, vegan and delicious!). My fiancé and I always enjoy snapping a photo of ourselves before the concert, and we have done that before most concerts we go to without friends or parents with us. (Which are only a few like TSO with my mother-in-law every Christmas.) I still have the photo my fiancé took at a Chris Tomlin concert in March and the differences are pretty impressive.

 

3/2/2013, Chris Tomlin

10/26/13, Newsboys. My fiancé is actually smiling! lol

 

I wouldn't exactly the differences are staggering, except maybe in my fiancé who has lost a little weight since starting his new job, but I can kind of tell a difference in my face, it isn't as rotund and has lost some of the chinnage. :-) So it's a good start and I know being vegan will help with that as well as help with my health issues.

 

I hope everyone has a good night! I am about to hit the hay but I wanted to say hello and goodbye before I did that. Be blessed and enjoy the journey!

Day 3.1: A New Smoothie Recipe

I decided that since I had several ounces of baby spinach that I would try a green smoothie. I had an amazing vegan smoothie at this place called Picasso's Coffee Shop a couple of months ago and I decided that I wanted to try one of my own. The recipe came from Eating Richly, which is a great blog about eating well on a budget. I could always use help doing that! Anyhoo, the recipe is for a green mango smoothie.

Photo courtesy of Eating Richly.

 

This was actually a very easy and quick smoothie. Here's the recipe

 

Green Mango Smoothie

2 cups baby spinach

1 1/2 cups So Delicious Coconut Milk (my go-to non-dairy milk!)

1 large banana

1 1/2 cups mango

 

Blend together until the spinach is completely pureed. It will turn that gorgeous green color when it is done.

 

My review is that it was absolutely delicious! It required no sweetener at all and you can't even taste the greens in the smoothie. And I noticed that I was sooo full after eating it. It wasn't like other smoothies where you were still hungry after you ate it. :-)

 

Here are my photos from making it. I am using a cell phone to take my photos so the color is a little washed out in the photo, but it was a great color!

 

In my new purple tumbler!

Right in the blender. So yummy!

 

My fiancé is coming over in a few minutes and we are going to a Newsboys concert (yes, I'm a Christian vegan, how bout dat?). We are geeked out to see Michael Tait leading the band, though I always had a major crush on Peter Furler and still love his solo stuff! I grew up listening to Michael Tait in dc Talk and I still love the old-school dc Talk stuff. :-) I was so glad he was able to get the day off to go.

 

I hope everyone has a fantastic day! I know I will. Be blessed and enjoy the journey!

Day 2.2: A Vegan on the Go

Today, I went out to hang out with my best friend and with my dad since my fiancé was working tonight. I was worried that I would not be able to keep to my diet because in the past my friends and family have not been super supportive of it. My best friend nearly got herself in trouble when she nearly crashed her car, and wanted me to do our driving around since she was a bundle of nerves. I took advantage of my being the driver and we went to PuraVegan, a vegan café out in Forest Park. I mentioned on my Facebook page that there were these incredible looking raw vegan caramel apples, with caramel topping made from dates, as well as carob nibs, hemp seeds, and pumpkin seeds. I bought one of those beauties and a sweet potato pasta (it's a raw café, so everything is raw) and I just loved everything I ate. Even the mushrooms they used in the pasta were incredible, I'm not sure what kind but I think I'm a fan of mushrooms now. :-)

My dad has found out about my food allergies and my decision to go vegan, and he surprised me today with dinner at this fancy restaurant called Prasino, which serves both vegan and conventional meals. I saw the vegan tacos and the vegan sushi and both of them looked really good, but I decided to go with the vegan tacos with chorizo-flavored seitan and pico de gallo, with some avocados in them as well.

Don't they look awesome??? This is 100 percent vegan.

 

It was definitely a different texture and flavor than chorizo, but man was it good. I left the restaurant feeling healthy and energized. That is why I love vegan foods, especially ones with a lot of protein, because you end up feeling sooo good after you eat. Not that bloated gross feeling you get when you eat a lot of meat and dairy. And so far so good with the gut, it is very happy with me. :-)

 

My Facebook page is doing rather well. In doing Girl on Fire: From Underdog to Beastmode, I learned a lot about how to get the word out about my pages. I enjoy new viewership that wasn't there before, and I just love meeting like-minded vegan folks, since besides Arch Vegans here in StL I don't have a lot of vegan friends. :-) I am looking forward to getting hooked up with Arch Vegans again and getting to know some cool people through this page as well.

 

I hope everyone has a good day! I'm just going to dither around a bit on the intertubes and watch the end of the Joyce Meyer broadcast (it's an obsession, really, lol) and then study for chemistry. Be blessed and enjoy the journey!

Day 2.1: Breakfast Recipe and More Goodies!

I got up early this morning after a very odd night last night, full of weird dreams and such. I guess it's just from worrying about life, but that's okay because I still had a very pleasant sleep, got up at 7am, and I'm ready to roll!

I made my first smoothie this morning, with bananas, berries, and vanilla coconut milk yogurt. The recipe originally came from Happy Healthy Vegan, from their book 365 vegan smoothies (I like them already!)

Photo credit: kblog.lunchboxbunch.com

 

I loved the bright purple color of the smoothie and tried it out myself. I tweaked the recipe a bit and this is what I came up with:

 

Quiet Bluebird Smoothie, Shelly Style

1 cup blueberries

1-2 bananas, cut

1 package Vanilla So Delicious Greek Yogurt (almond or coconut milk)

1/2 cup of ice

Tiny sprinkle of raw blue agave (optional)

 

Combine items in a blender or Vitamix. Blend until ingredients are combined and smooth. Pour out and serve!

 

My pictures aren't nearly as fancy as that pic, but here are some of my pics:

 

 

Sorry about the blurry lens! Still has that awesome purple color.

 

My overall review of the smoothie was that it was very good. I love the color and texture, it was nice and creamy but not so thick that you couldn't drink it with a straw. I am freezing the other half of the smoothie overnight (oh yeah, it made a ton of smoothie as well!) and drinking the rest of it tomorrow morning or for a snack later today.

 

I have had my attention drawn to this pink bean and quinoa soup that looks super good and I think I will probably make that for dinner tonight. :-) Lunch will be out with my best friend so it should be interesting. :-)

 

I hope everyone has a great day!



Day 1: Surprise, Surprise

I never thought I'd be saying this, but Vegan365 has returned, under a different name, of course. :-) I didn't realize that my perpetual food allergies would bring me to my first love, vegan blogging.

I maintained the Vegan365 blog off and on without too many readers, just a few devout followers, mostly relatives and former professors. I started this little nondescript page called WeightLoss365 that became Girl on Fire: From Underdog to Beastmode which is now approaching 400 likes. I trumpeted my 34-lb weight loss, thinking I'd never touch this page again and drift into the sunset a thinner and changed individual. :-)

As luck would have it, life did not turn out that way. I started having severe GI issues. Like, seriously couldn't go anywhere without getting just a touch nervous type of issues. It was so bad that I had to stop running because running exacerbated the problem. The problems continued for weeks and I couldn't figure out what was causing the problems. I started tracing my eating habits and the common link between all my food I was eating was milk, milk protein, and soy. I had always had a problem with soy, it wound me up to the point of being uncomfortable when I had it in tofu or tempeh and resulted in the same aforementioned problem. So I knew that meat imitation was out of the question, and so were most dairy imitators. So, basically I would have to cook all my meals from scratch, figuring out exactly what was going into my food and avoiding soy, dairy, and meat. For someone whose idea of cooking is to throw a meal in the microwave and get a fork to stir it, this notion is scary to say the least. There are very few soy-free ready-made items at all, vegan or otherwise.

Plus, I was horrible at veganism before, my very first attempt at veganism was going to Whole Foods almost daily and eating pre-packaged dinners. So needless to say, I got very sick and weak and it was pretty damned expensive to maintain. I somewhat sharpened my technique as time went on, but many of my foods were still ready-made and I just felt so wound up and overwhelmed that I ended up burning out. As you can imagine. I almost developed an unhealthy attitude towards myself and towards my body. I did do some vegan cooking, mostly because I have a healthy aversion towards handling raw meat (I let the chef in the family, my fiancé, deal with that). But I got so burnt out on it plus the snide comments from certain friends and family members that I kind of gave it up.

It is weird how life became full circle for me. I started out with this blog, it was the love of my life for at least 2 years. Then life happened, as well as going to school full-time, and I started to lose interest. But I think now I will be able to revive the blog, mostly because if it is indeed what is wrong and I need to retweak my diet dramatically, I might as well document it. Cause someone else might find it hilariously amusing. I sometimes do, reading back on it.

I hope everyone has a fantastic day. I have a lot to think about, but I'm remaining optimistic. :-) Be blessed and enjoy the journey!