Going vegan has not been the hardest thing I've ever done. I do miss cheese and chocolate (even my cheap dark chocolate was dairy... I think. I was too afraid to look at the ingredients to know if I could buy any or not. I left it alone and will assume that little kosher designation with a "D" for dairy means I can't have it during my vegan days. Don't tell me otherwise.) Since the first few days started in the middle of the week after Passover and I was crazy getting everything ready for the last 2 days, I didn't plan well. I took my vegan friend's menu for the week and had vegan mac 'n' cheese one night and creamy broccoli soup with garlic bread for Shabbat.
Vegan mac 'n' "cheese" was not a big hit with my family. The Hubs walked in the house and announced something smells really bad! Little did he know, that was dinner...
Nutritional yeast does not go well with my family. The Hubs ate it to be nice, Buddy ate 1 noodle and was done with it. We do have an honesty policy with my cooking, so The Hubs did tell me he really did not like it and didn't want me to make it ever again. Fine. I wasn't a big fan either.
My creamy broccoli soup is always a hit. It always has been vegan (shhhh, The Hubs has always known it as non-dairy/pareve) so that didn't need any substitutes. I was short on time so made a very quick bread that was decent, but needed more flavor.
That week and the next I had horrible headaches and was constantly hungry. I didn't plan well enough and just didn't have enough of the right foods to sustain me. I thought about eating the cheese and chocolate chip granola bars and other currently forbidden foods, but I refrained and stuck it out. Here we are, about 3 weeks in and I'm doing pretty well now.
This week's menu:
Sunday: Split pea soup - YUM!
Monday: Baked potatoes with scallions (and cheese for the boys) and creamy garlic broccoli made with my homemade chummos. - YUM!
Tuesday: Oat waffles - Decent, but needed the syrup and fresh blueberries to make it good.
Wednesday: Taco salad with brown rice, tomato, red bell pepper, corn, black beans with chili powder, onion, scallions, salsa, olives for The Hubs and Buddy, who forgot to put his cheese on and still loved dinner! and tomato for Buddy and me. - YUM!
Thursday: Veggie pot pie - We'll see how this turns out. The Hubs has asked for pot pie since we got married and I have never made it. Hopefully this one is a hit!
Friday: Veggie stir fry (broccoli, corn, bell pepper, onion and whatever other veggies I find) and egg rolls with chocolate zucchini bread for dessert.
I take leftovers for lunch the next day.
I have also been working on getting to bed earlier. So instead of midnight, I've gotten to bed before 11 on most nights. I don't know if it's the sleep or the diet, but I do have more energy on most days.
I only have a few more weeks of this and am thinking about the changes I want to keep. I'll most likely add cheese back into my diet, but I'm thinking I'll stick to only once a week. I am also going to keep away from the snacky food The Hubs brings home - granola bars, chips, cookies (that he has so kindly started taking straight to work for a few months now, sometimes I don't even know he bought them!) and other pre-packaged junk. This does mean I'll have to stick with doing the grocery shopping since I make sure to bring home enough produce to last the week, but it'll be worth it to feel better.
As for weight loss? Nothing has changed at all.
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