Day 2!!

Wow!  Today was a busy one. Sorry for not posting at all (I say this like people actually read this blog), but I was very busy. 

Breakfast consisted of a delicious green smoothie made with Kale, banannas and strawberries. It was fantastic!  Then around 9am I had some overnight oats. If you have never had overnight oats, you are missing out. I take a cup of oats and a cup of coconut milk, 2 tbsp of organic Peanut Butter, chia seeds and fruit of choice, throw it in a mason jar and refrigerate over night.  What a delicious way to kickstart the day!

Lunch consisted of Red Beans and Rice. I think I might have strayed a little. There was some sausage in there, I picked it all out and don’t eat any. I asked the server if the dish was prepared with the sausage or if it was added afterwards and she said it was added after. So I felt it was OK. What do you all say?  Hindsight I could have asked for another serving without the sausage. 

For dinner, I made some soup from scratch. It was very tasty. I have a habit of keeping all my vegetable “trimmings” and I freeze them for when I want to make a stock. Well I made a delicious veggie stock, there some salt, Cayan pepper and lentils in there. Topped of off with gnocchi and chopped Kale. It was AMAZING!!

Two days in and I already feel a difference in my energy levels. It’s amazing. I think tomorrow I will venture into the world of Tofu!  If you have any great Tofu recipes, comment or  shoot me an email!!

Dinner was a success!!

Damn!  That was a delicious dinner. So after my lunch fail I went in search of an easy to make, yet flavorful dish. I stumbled across a blog of someone I follow on Instagram, @elavegan (click the IG tag to go to her blog). She has tons of great recipes and I stumbled across this gem. It is a Vegan Chickpea Curry recipe. FANTASTIC! 

I was blown away by the fantastic flavors and ease of the recipe. This recipe gave me a renewed excitement. 

I have to give a shoutout to my wife!  She is being very supportive. We went to the store today and I scored a ton of fresh veggies and fruits.  I picked up some Tofurkey Italian Sausage. I know I, I know! I didn’t learn my lesson. Lol. Hopefully it has a better taste and texture to me than the Beast Burger. I also picked up some vegan Cheese and cream cheese. Curious about those 🤔

Day 1 is almost in the books and I feel fantastic !

Lunch 😬

Ahhhhhhhhhhh. Well I wasn’t as enamored with my lunch as I was breakfast. I picked up a Beyond Meat Beast Burger yesterday. I went in with no expectations, because I didn’t have a clue what to expect. It was not terrible. It was not awesome. It had some burger flavoring in there. The thing that got me the most was it was a little dry. I ate it as just a patty, no condiments or bread. I think some ketchup and a bun would make it a palatable option for lunch or dinner. 

I do believe I’m going to have to be more of a “make it myself” type. I’m not and have never been big on prepackaged foods. I love to cook and mess around in the kitchen. 

I need to hit up google and find some recipes. 

I ran 4 miles today, so I will need that fuel to get me through runs and the day!  Help me out folks. What do you do?  Shoot me some recipes and suggestions!  

Breakfast day 1!

Well I had these grand plans of doing delicious overnight oats with almond milk, blueberries and peanut butter. But I failed and forgot to prep it the night before. 

Son my on my first day, breakfast was a raisin bagel with peanut butter on it. Not a big change from the norm, simply replaced my cream cheese with peanut butter. It was solid. 

Surprisingly the Silk Almond Creamer I got is very good in my coffee. The only thing is the color of the coffee. It doesn’t have that creamy look. The taste is there, but we all know with food, aesthetics is half the battle. 

I brought some carrots to munch on and will be having a black bean burger for lunch!!
Ciao!!

I’m excited

I just found out one of my favorite breakfast items is vegan!  I am a bagel kind of guy. My favorite is with toasted Asiago Cheese on top, but I can do without that. Bagels are vegan!  Whatttttt. I thought all breads had milk or egg in them!  I bake my own breads pretty regularly and while the amount of milk and a single egg is not a lot. It is still not vegan. I guess bagels are boiled. 

But what is a bagel without cream cheese?  Exactly, it is a dry hunk of gluten. Fear not!  A quick Google brought me to this delicious looking (haven’t tried it yet) vegan cashew variant. Over at Yup..it’s Vegan they have a recipe. It has great reviews and I cannot wait to try it. 

It all starts tomorrow. Hopefully a healthier lifestyle I can enjoy and ride for longer than just the 30 days!

I got a head start….kind of

Tonight, as is the tradition in my house, we went out for Mexican food. Normally I would have gotten a mixed fajita or some kind of nachos with chicken, beef and shrimp (I will miss seafood most of all) along with some cheese dip!  Instead, tonight I ordered bean burritos and a bean enchilada combo with rice. No Cheese!  It was delicious of course and filling. 

After dinner we stopped by Publix so I could get some Beyond Meat products as well as some other things. I live in Mardi Gras country!  My kids wanted some King Cake (click here if unfamiliar) so I obliged them. As usual, LOL. Well as a send off to a February and to welcome in my Challenge, I had a small slice of King Cake. How do Vegans do bread and baked goods???  I’ll have to research this. 

Challenge starts tomorrow!  I have some blueberry oatmeal with chia and flax planned to start my journey!

Why a 30 day Vegan Challenge?

So I was browsing Facebook and I saw a friends post about considering going Vegan.  She asked a few friends for some guidance.  This is something I have considered for quite a while!  I wanted to cut back on red meats and then with the news of chicken containing arsenic along with all the other nonsense, enough was enough.  So I watched a few documentaries (Vegucated, Cowspiracy) and plan to watch a couple more.  This made me decide to try it for 30 days!

I am not an environmentalist or an animal activist.  I am doing this for myself.  For the health benefits.  I am 34 years old, slightly overweight, and I want to meet my Great Grandkids and I want to teach my children how to live a healthy lifestyle.

So please, join me on my journey of a plant based diet.  I will post all my meals, challenges and other thoughts on my journey right here.  This is my first ever attempt at a Blog, but I am doing to keep me honest during this process.  If any of you have feedback (good or bad) please feel free to comment or contact me!