Days 4 and 5

Stomach bug!

Holy moley it was bad. I'm still a bit queasy and my stomach is still sore so no cooking for a little while. Good news though?

Lost 4lbs during the whole thing.

Now to keep it going!

Day 3

I really need to get a better control of my eating when I'm home. After class I was starving so it started with a normal dinner that put me under calories, then branched out to mindless snacking. I did work on my alien project for school though, so last night wasn't a total bummer. I also went above my water requirement and did not spend any money yesterday, so both pluses on my side.

I also made roasted chickpeas. These I have to be careful with because I looove chickpeas but they are high in calories. So when I make them, I store them in single serving bags so I don't overdo it.

I love salt and vinegar anything. Since going vegan, I've really missed crabs and vinegar, so maybe that's where I've tried to substitute it elsewhere. Anyways, super easy, super quick snack.

Salt and Vinegar Chickpeas

1 can chickpeas

Sea Salt

White vinegar

Cooking spray

Drain and rinse the chickpeas, then simmer them in 1 part vinegar 1 part water for about 10 min. Drain, place on sprayed cookie sheet and roast at 400 for 10-15 min. Shake them every few min. When you take them out, sprinkle with sea salt while they are still hot.

I like my roasted chickpeas to be a little more crunchy, so just eye their color as they roast. Enjoy!

Curry soup

I opened my fridge yesterday and noticed a drawer full of produce that was on the edge of being too ripe. Sarah had been talking about making soup on Saturday, so I thought why not? My problem though was my produce wasn't exactly soup friendly. I had in my possession: small acorn squash, yellow squash, handful baby carrots, two very small yellow potatoes, 1 green pepper, 1 yellow pepper and 1 orange pepper.

Oy.

So first I cut up (except the peppers), sprayed them with cooking spray, sprinkle of salt, and roasted them until they were all soft. Once they finished, I added them to my dutch oven that had 4 cups of vegetable stock simmering. The green pepper never made it because when I opened it up, I found a grub type worm baked inside. Soooo gross.

Anyways, I let all this simmer away on med-low with the lid on, occasionally mashing them. I decided I wanted to have this thick base which, if I had an immersion blender, would have been easy. Once everything was happily mushed, I decided on a curry soup because I had those things on hand. I added a can of coconut milk + 1/2 can water, 1 can organic pumpkin puree, 1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes and about a cup of dry brown rice. I seasoned liberally with curry powder then added a little salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, garlic and cayenne pepper. Let it all simmer on low with the lid on for about an hour, just until the rice had softened.

It turned out well. I wish I had lentils instead of the rice but still pretty good. At work I found a red pepper that was about to go, so I chopped that up and added it to the top. Made a huge pot, so at least I'll have lunches all week.

Stats: makes 8, per serving: 224 cal, 28 gm carbs, 11 gm fat, 4 gm protein

Day 2, part deux

I failed over the weekend. Yesterday started anew, today doing better =P

I even worked out over the weekend!

Breakfast was the juice of 1lb carrots, 1 grapefruit and a nugget of ginger. Later in the afternoon I mixed 1tbs chia seeds with 1/4c coconut milk and had a bagel thin with 1tbs smart balance light. Lunch is this curry soup I made yesterday with rapidly spoiling produce, which I will post more on later.

Day 2, my breakfast beats your breakfast

Did well yesterday! This is reminding me of when I first went vegan and couldn't remember what/how to eat, so I starved the first couple of days. After the pumpkin pudding, I ate cauliflower mash with shredded zucchini and a little bit of tomatoes and was starving by 3. Like, hands shaking starving. So I caved and ate a clif bar but I recovered by dinner with nearly raw spring rolls, detox salad and a little raw "chocolate" mousse. Preeetty awesome. Thursday nights with Sarah at Great Sage need to be worked into my budget.

Anyways, CHECK OUT THIS BREAKFAST. It's amazing. A champagne mango, handful of grape tomatoes and half an avocado with lemon squeezed over top.

I need to work on my presentation skills. If Julie were preparing this, it would look more beautiful.

Day 1, pumpkin pudding

So far so good! Better be though, it's only 10am. Anyways, I started my day juicing kale, a grapefruit, some ginger and half a cucumber. Then I made my current favorite breakfast.

I've mentioned over and over and over about my love of pumpkin. When I saw the recipe for this, I jumped on it and as a breakfast, it's pretty good. It has enough fiber and protein that I don't get hungry. Plus, it's fairly cheap.

Just doesn't look pretty. Anyways, it also opened my eyes to the wonderful world of chia seeds. These little things are a super food and in my eyes, better for you than my trusty flax seeds. Rich in omega-3 fatty acids, they are also full of antioxidants (so much that they don't go rancid quickly), fiber, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron and zinc. You can eat them raw, but I think the best way to eat them is to soak them in some water or whatever liquid you are cooking with and when you do, they expand 10 times their size in the water they are retaining.

For this recipe, I soaked about a tablespoon, maybe a little more, of chia seeds in about 1/2c vanilla coconut milk for 10-15 min. Really I just soaked them while I juiced then cleaned up. After, I mixed the gelatinous mixture with half a can of pumpkin, a little cinnamon and two sugar in the raw packets. For added protein, I melted 1tbs of organic crunchy peanut butter with a touch of hot water and mixed that in.

There you go! A healthy, raw breakfast.

New Goals

How did I go three months without a post? Oh that's right, I moved (again), worked a part time job at MOM's, full time job in DC, full class load, then when I had some resemblance of a break I worked more, totaled my car then started classes again. Fun times.

So currently I am no longer working at MOM's but decided to work full time in DC while in school full time. It is so draining as some of my days are leaving by 715am and not getting home til 10pm. Needless to say, my health and good eating habits have fallen by the wayside. I'm not as active, I eat later in the day/more processed things and I sleep a whole heck of a lot less. I drink less water. AND I CAN FEEL IT.

My body.

Ugh.

I just don't feel great. I juice every day which is probably my own saving grace. I've not gained weight but I haven't lost any and I've gotten soft. It's what happens I guess when you go from working out at least 5 times a week to none. So I'm making my own March Madness challenge that I want to stick with and see where it goes. These are my rules:

1. No alcohol for 30 days.

I definitely don't drink like I did in my early (eh, and mid) 20's but I've been drinking more than my waist would like. So my first challenge is no alcohol for the month of March.

2. Eat a 80/20 raw diet.

I would love to go raw. I love the idea behind it, I think it's a beautiful thing to eat only what you get in it's most natural state. So I want to make exceptions for hummus, tomato sauce and the occasional cooked vegetable meal. Tomato sauce because my coworker gave me a vegetable spiraler and it makes my squash into "pasta" noodles. I love it.

3. WORK OUT

So thanks to livingsocial and groupon, I have a 30 day membership to Hilton Health Club and the Results gym next to my job. I can use the Hilton for the month of March then switch to Results after but seriously. Something has to change, I can't lose all of my hard work and get too soft.

4. Water

Time to up the water again. I regularly drank 100+ oz a day, now I feel lucky if I drink 40. I've replaced so much water with coffee and tea, so time to get back on that bandwagon.

5. $$

I spend too much. It's my hope that limiting my going out with the above adjustments I can finally save money instead of spending too much. So, my final goal is for my savings to be $1000.00 richer by the end of March.

So that's my March goals. I can do this, right? I'll check in here periodically with recipes and updates, hopefully tracking progress like weight loss and savings increase, not "oh btw I failed."

=)