Feeling Good

So, it's Friday and I'm beginning to get the hang of this vegan thing! Or so it seems.

For supper I bought tortilla's and put cheese and leftover chicken on them, then melted them on my griddle for my family. For me, I put refried beans and vegan pepperjack cheese on my tortilla, then grilled it. Added salsa and vegan sour cream - delicious!

I made a cold cous cous salad for a "bagged" lunch I needed this week when I went on a field trip with one of my children.

Planning and being prepared is the key here! Cooking several recipe's at a time is also important for me.

Now, I've also noticed that I no longer need to take an afternoon nap! YEAH! Somehow I have more energy during the day. That's really important to me. Keeping on!

Nutritional Yeast?

Well, it's been a difficult week. I've wavered, too. Where did my resolve go??? I think it is a byproduct of lack of meal planning. So, I would just sit there with nothing in particular to eat. I resorted to eating potato chips dipped in hummus, or vegan re-fried beans and salsa as a dip with corn chips. Not real nutritional and very fattening. Thus the lack of weight loss.... ENOUGH!

Today is a new day, and I will start with fresh resolve. I also started with some amazing worship outside with the Lord. He has inspired me to plan, plan, plan and cook, cook, cook.

Then it happened, I found the BEST website: www.vegweb.com

Every vegan needs to go to that website. It's free and there are HUNDREDS of recipe's to look at. They offer a "recipe box" tab, and a meal plan tab, as well as a grocery list option!! I'm so excited.

Also, my mother decided to join me on this journey and called me this morning with several great recipe's.

So, why the weird title? Because I am really missing my egg breakfast with my honey on Saturday mornings more than any other animal product so far. On my new found vegan website, I found a recipe called, breakfast scramble and it calls for "nutritional yeast" well what is that? It's similar to brewers yeast, and has all of the B vitamins we need!! It also tastes creamy like cheese, so mixed with tofu and a few other ingredients, I'm going to once again have breakfast with my honey on Saturday!!! Wooohoo.

It's the little things that make me happy. :-)

September 9th

I haven't had a chance to post for 8 days! That should tell you that I've been way too busy.

Tough weekend to be a Vegan! My husband and I were in a dear friends wedding on Saturday. Friday night's rehearsal dinner was STEAK and chicken on the grill, with cheesy baked potatoes, salad and rolls. I was STARVING, but persevered. I had salad, a roll and the bottom half of my potato.

Next the wedding day. I had a big lunch, but we were there from 1-8:30!! The reception was again geared toward meat eaters. I could only eat baked beans, grit cakes (?) and a small dollop of potato salad.

Sunday we had supper at a friends house, and I made some special food just for me. Boy, eating out is not so easy now.

My weight went up instead of down! I weighed in at 128 (most I've ever weighed!) which is not logical to me. I'm not eating a ton of food, in fact, I'm hungry quite a bit. Anyhow, I decided to bite the bullet and give up my glass of wine and Dr. Pepper. Within two days, my weight has gone down to 127.

I'm also trying to drink lots and lots of water (something I didn't do before). I went out to lunch yesterday and ate a salad, cup of black bean soup and unsweetened iced tea. Not bad.

My next challenge will be to try and eliminate butter... It's a process! Knowing that I'm doing this as "unto the Lord" has made all the difference for me. If I'm tempted, it's for a brief second, and then I know I'm resolved NOT to give in to the desires of my flesh. God is good!

Day 3 On My Vegan Journey

Today was different. Let me back up to Monday.

On Monday I woke up and after weeks of contemplating this journey, I said, "I'm a Vegan today." It was as simple as that.

Next I had an appt. with my plastic surgeon to have stitches removed from two different cancer sites. While waiting in the waiting room, I picked up the Sept. 2010 copy of Cooking Light magazine and began thumbing through the pages. Much to my delight (and feeling it was a sign from God that I had made the right decision) I noticed that one entire section was devoted to Vegan main dishes!! Whoohoo! I needed some good recipe's.

Well, I haven't picked up a copy of the magazine yet, but I did manage to remember one recipe.

I went grocery shopping on Tuesday and bought the ingredients: 2 large portabella mushrooms, one yellow bell pepper and one orange bell pepper. I also needed olive oil, seasoning (I used one called SPIKE) and balsamic vinaigrette dressing. I simply sauteed the food in the oil and dressing. Next I put it on a sandwich thin (they look like large cookies) and I also used Veganaise (substitute for mayonaise). DELICIOUS!!!

Now fast forward to tonight. I had one mushroom and some leftover peppers in the refrigerator (thankfully!). I needed to make a quick dinner for the kids, so I slipped into Foodlion to buy a rotisserie chicken. DE-BONING THE CHICKEN was the first time I was truly tempted to eat animal flesh. God is good, and I did not give in to my intense desire. I kept thinking that I'm doing this as unto the Lord. It really gave me strength. It also helped knowing that I had such a yummy dinner waiting for me.

God is good!

Side note: I started this thing weighing 126.5lbs (HARSH!) I plan to keep track of my weight to see if I lose any. (I'm hoping I lose about 15lbs!)

I also have noticed that I'm not nearly as hungry as I used to be. Is it because food is no longer an idol to me, or because I do better on a vegan diet? Not sure, just thought I should make a note of that fact.