Chili Dogs

I was so hungry, I couldn't even wait to take a bite.  Yum!

For these dogs, I used:
1 Arnold Select Wheat Hot Dog Bun
1 Lightlife Smart Dogs
Galaxy Nutritional Foods Vegan Cheddar Soy Cheese, shredded
Chili


You can use any chili recipe you like, but I chose to veganize my mother-in-law's recipe for my husband.  Hopefully she doesn't mind me sharing her recipe with the world! 

Chili
2 cans light red kidney beans
2 cans dark red kidney beans
1 can black beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 package Boca Crumbles
Dark chili powder, hot pepper seeds, and sugar to taste.

Cook the Boca Crumbles in a frying pan on the stove until "browned" or cooked to taste.  Usually I cook the chili on the stove, but today I decided to use give the crock pot a try.  Dump all of the cans with juices into the crock pot with the Boca Crumbles.  Cook for 3 hours on low.  Add chili powder, hot pepper seeds, and sugar and stir. 


For the chilli dogs simply cook the vegan hot dog of your choice by it's directions, put in a bun, add a few heapings of chili, and shred the cheddar over the dogs and voila - vegan chili dogs!

Black and Yellow Couscous

Today my husband, Eric, decided to take a turn at cooking and made this dish from the McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook all by himself!

He skipped the tobasco sauce and green onions; and opted for the fresh cilantro instead of parsley, but otherwise followed the recipe. 

Verdict:  Delicious!  I definitely want to add more whole grains to my diet, and couscous is delicious. Good job, hubby!

Vegan Pizza Day

Today is Vegan Pizza Day, so it was only fitting we make some vegan pizza! 

I used this recipe to make the pizza.  Mmmm! Yummy! 

Quesadillas

I have a thing for Mexican food, so naturally when I saw the Skinny Bitch in the Kitch Quesadilla recipe, I had to try it.

The recipe said to cook covered on medium for about 4 minutes, however that completely charred my tortilla.  I switched the next one to medium-low for about 4 minutes, flipped and left it on for another 3-4 minutes until both sides were slightly browned and the cheese was melted.

Verdict: The finished product (the non-charred version) was yummy!  Quick and super easy.  The hardest part was making the guacamole (but not really), also from Skinny Bitch in the Kitch, but it was the best guacamole recipe I have ever made.  I even doubled it for chip dip for my guests I was having over later that night and the guests and I both approved, but next time I think I'll spice up the guacamole a little bit with some onion and garlic powder.

Fettuccini Alfredo

I used the recipe from Skinny Bitch In The Kitch's Fettuccini Alfredo.  We did everything to the recipe, but it didn't really taste like a good alfredo.  The recipe called for a tablespoon and a half of salt in with the pasta which made for some REALLY salty pasta.  And the alfredo sauce could have cooked a little longer to melt the grated Parmesan better and added more cream.  Overall, not bad, but could have been better with a few tweaks. 

Pizza Burger

Well, I do not have a picture of this one because I was so hungry at lunch I scarfed it down before I remembered to take a shot.  lol

Pizza Burger
1 Boca Vegan Burger
1 slice Vegan Mozarella
1-2 Tbsp Pizza Sauce
2 Slices of Bread


Microwave the Boca Burger for 45 seconds, flip, then place on the cheese and microwave for another 30-45 seconds or until the cheese is melted.  Take out of the microwave and place the bread in the microwave with the sauce on both sides for 15-30 mins.  Put together and enjoy!

Brendan Brazier - Vega

A few nights ago our local natural foods store, Nature's Food Patch, hosted an evening with professional athlete and Vega founder: Brendan Brazier.  

 

He had some very interesting things to say about vegan nutrition.  Obviously promoting his product, Vega, but at the same time talking about how nutrition affects our lives.  I would have really liked to get his book, Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life, but I am majorly lacking funds at the moment.

He mentioned cortisol creating issues with quality of sleep, tiredness during the day, hard time losing excess fat, craving of starches and sweets at night, and more which all seemed to make sense.  The stress from life as well as eating foods hard to digest and with poor nutrition can cause the cortisol to increase.  I would definitely like to read more up on this.

I did try all the samples of his products and the only one I could stomach was the Vega Whole Food Health Optimizer line, except for the natural.  The taste of all his other smoothies and drinks were not so good.  The Whole Food Vibrancy Bars & Vega Energy Bars weren't too bad, but the Maca Chocolate Bar (although I can't seem to find the link for that one) was QUITE tasty.  All of his products are said to provide complete nutrition with daily RDA's of vitamins and more, and are said to help cleanse the body of bad things, but I'm not sure if I am sold for the price. 

What are your thoughts on supplemental nutrition?

Hummus Wrap

Last week at a green market in our town, I bought some hummus from a local vendor.  I ate part of it by dipping in some green peppers, but had about a half a tub leftover and decided to make something with it.

 

Ingredients

Mission Garden Spinach Herb Wrap

Market Fresh Spring Mix Greens

Hummus

Really this is a "wing it" kind of recipe so you can put as much of the ingredients as you'd like.  I didn't have many spare veggies on hand, but feel free to add some! Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers, Onions, etc. 

Cilantro Pesto Pasta

I adapted a Cilantro Pesto recipe from the McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook and added a few things to make a pretty decent pasta dish.

Ingredients:

4 cups Cilantro Leaves

¼c Cashews

1 Tbsp Lemon Juice

1 tsp Soy Sauce

1½ Tbsp Water

The recipe said to use a food processor, but I don't have one so I used a blender.  I am not sure what the difference between a food processor and a blender is, but it seemed to make a difference because the recipe did not blend too well.  I ended up adding more water than they called for and had to stop and mash down the ingredients a few times.  After a few minutes, I gave up.  

The pesto was very thick and I was not sure what to do with it in it's current state, so I warmed up ¼ cup olive oil in the microwave and mixed in a a bit of the pesto until it was a little more liquidy.  You can add as much olive oil as you like until you reach a good consistency.  The pesto is VERY strong, so a little bit goes a long way.  We added some to plain elbow macaroni and voila!

Slow Spanish Beans and Rice

Today was the first time I have used my Crock Pot since I got it when I got married 2½ years ago.  People tell me how wonderful crock pots are, and it was not until today I understood why!

Slow Spanish Beans & Rice
1/2 Yellow Onion, chopped
1 Green Pepper, chopped
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
¼ Tomato Paste
2 tsp Chilli Powder
2 15.5oz cans Kidney Beans, drained & rinsed (I used 1 light red & 1 dark red)
1 14.5oz can Diced Tomatoes, with juices
1½ c water
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
Sea Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper to taste
2c Cooked Brown Rice

Cook up onion, green pepper, and garlic in olive oil until soft (about 5 min)
Add cooked onions, peppers, & garlic to crock pot with all other ingredients minus the rice.  Cook on low for 6-8 hrs[we cooked it for about 6½ and it came out great].  Add the rice to the crock pot about 10 minutes before you are ready to eat.

To cook the rice we used a rice steamer.  I got this steamer from my mom to sell at a garage sale and decided to keep it for myself.  Used it a few times for veggies recently then read on a vegan blog about a rice steamer, and decided to give it a shot.  A rice steamer is a god send!  We could never get the rice to cook just the way we wanted it using the stove, but it always comes out great.  Invest in one, you wil not regret it!

Verdict: Loving it!  Tasted great on it's own, or with some tortilla chips.

I will be trying to use the slow cooker more often, especially since going back to work.  Not sure how I feel about leaving a crock pot on all day when no one is home, any thoughts on this reader?

Cream of Celery Soup

This wasn't the prettiest of dishes, so I didn't get around to taking a pic this time.

I made my own variation of the Cream of Celery Soup from the McDougall cookbook.

Ingredients:
5 Stalks Celery
1/2 Onion
2 Carrots
2 Potatoes
9c Water
2/3c Raw Unsalted Cashews
1/3c Whole Wheat Pasty Flour
1/3c Soy Sauce
Dash of Dill Weed
1tsp Basil
Ground Pepper to taste

Cook the celery, onion, carrots, potatoes & 8c water in a pot for about 30 minutes (or until vegetables or tender). Once cooked, take 4 cups of vegetable mixture and put in a blender with cashews, pastry flour, and remaining 1c of water and puree. Add mixture to the remaining vegetables in the pot, bring to a boil, and stir until it thickens. Add soy sauce dill, basil, and pepper. Cook 5 more minutes and serve.

Verdict: Definitely not a pretty looking dish, and taste was just ok. I subbed out fresh parsley for basil, and left our cayenne they suggested due to not having them in my house, but other than that didn't change much. Not sure if I'd make this one again.

Black Bean Sloppy Joes

Can I say again that I love The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook? Go pick up a copy and try some recipes for yourself! Super fast, tasty, and healthy meals!

I subbed the honey for Madhava Light Agave Nectar and I served on Arnold Select whole wheat bunes, which appear to be vegan (tell me if you know otherwise).

Another new recipe to add to my "love" list. Hubby loved it too!

Pineapple & Green Pepper Pizza

Finally, a working oven and some new guests to try my pizza!

Pizza Dough - http://vegweb.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=96af27e894ae2fd4187eff3006107ebe&topic=8128.0

We changed up the way we made it a little again. We let the dough rise for 2 hours this time, it seemed to make it fluffier.

We put the oven at 450° and baked the pizza with Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella 'cheese' and sauce for 20 minutes. We put the pineapple in the oven separate for 5 minutes to dry it out a little because I was worried about the 'cheese' becoming runny like with the toaster oven pizza. With about 5 minutes to go we added the green peppers and pineapple to half the pizza. At the end it seemed the cheese was still a little sloppy, so we put the pizza back the oven on broil for 5 minutes to cook the 'cheese' a little more. This seemed to work really well, except the pizza was already cooked at this point so it cooked a little more than I would have liked. Next time we are going to try to cook the pizza for 15 minutes on bake, then put it on broil for the last 5 minutes.

I served to the pizza to my guests, Christy & Colin, and not only did they take one slice, but 3 each. Later on I was told Colin said he liked it so much he consider would making the recipe himself. It always makes me happy to hear people like new vegan foods, especially ones I (and my roommate Paul) made.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pancakes

Yum! I have a friend in town and wanted to make her some of my favorite vegan meals! This is by far my favorite breakfast: Vegan Pancakes (click for recipe) with Peanut Butter & Co's Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter.

Eating Out: Rainforest Cafe

Today was the first time I have been to a restaurant since going vegan. A friend is in town visiting and I wanted to take her to Orlando to Citywalk and Downtown Disney. I remember loving Rainforest Cafe last time I was here and did a quick Google search for vegan options; turned out my meal I got last time was vegan. Pictured is the Natural Burger with lettuce, tomato, and guacamole. I had to request the buns be cooked without butter (most restaurants do that now for some awful reason), but other than that relatively easier to order. Would definitely recommended for vegans on vacation or just out on the town!

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Day 10: Confetti Beans & Good News

Good News: Our oven is FINALLY fixed! Our awesome neighbor gave us a part and fixed it. What an awesome guy! He's definitely getting a gift card or an awesome home cooked vegan meal very soon!

Tonight was Confetti Beans again from the McDougall Cookbook (p228). I love this guys book for the simple fact that it's vegan (minus the occasional honey he ads, but I sub it for Agave Nectar) and the ingredients are cheap and easy to find.

We put the beans over pasta and it worked rather well. I did a slight variation.

Ingredients I used:
1 can Black Beans, drained & rinsed
1 can Kidney Beans, drained & rinsed
1 can Garbanzo Beans, drained & rinsed

1/2 Onion
1 Green Pepper
1 Red Pepper
3 Cloves Garlic

1 15oz can Italian Stewed Tomatoes
2 Tablespoons Chilli Powder

Cook the beans in a pan until soft. While beans are cooking sautee onion, peppers, and garlic until soft.

Combine beans & sautee mixture with tomatoes & chilli powder. Cook for another 10 minutes covered on low.

Makes quite a bit! Recipe only called for 3 cups of beans, but I wanted a variety and since the cans were already opened, I used them. Just more leftovers and less I have to cook.

With so many leftovers, I may have to hold off on cooking tomorrow, but I have a guest coming Wednesday through next Tuesday and I plan on cooking her wonderful vegan meals every night we are home (I even snuck in a recipe for dessert!).

Day 9: Potato Curry

After multiple trips to the store for forgotten items, I made Potato Curry from the McDougall Cookbook (page 220).

So far everything I have made from his cookbooks is pretty good, but kind of bland. I like a little kick to my foods, so I usually add some pepper or more spices.

The recipe today had potatoes, frozen peas, onions, garlic, ginger root & a ton of different spices (surprisingly curry wasn't one of them!), but all put together you didn't taste much but the potatoes. Not sure I'll make this one again anytime soon, but a nice add in to break up the usual menus.

Day 8: Taco Night

Well, my fridge still had refried black beans, tomatoes & green chilies, & tortillas left from the enchiladas, so I decided to make it a taco night before it went bad.

My tacos are very simple, and you can put practically anything in them.

Taco 'Meat':
1 package Boca Crumbles
1/4c McCormick Taco Seasoning
3/4c Water

Put the Boca crumbles into a frying pan and heat until warm and it starts to firm up a little bit. Add the taco seasoning and 3/4c water. Stir until it absorbs all the water and maybe a few more minutes to cook after.

For the tacos/burritos I used a medium sized tortilla. Added the Refried Black Beans, tomatoes & green chilies, some leftover cheez from the vegan mac, and romaine lettuce. Yum!


For lunch I whipped together a similar concoction before I went shopping for taco night and had a bean, cheez, & rice burrito. That worked rather well too and reminded me a little of the one I used to get at Taco Bell.

Great to whip up leftovers in a new way!

Day 7: One Week Vegan & Toaster Oven Pizza

The oven finally got looked at today, but won't have a part until Monday, so yet again, I had to improvise.

I have made the vegan pizza before using the same recipe and it's always turned out wonderful! Cooking it in the toaster oven, it didn't turn out quite as well, but was still a tasty pizza none the less!

I used this recipe for the dough: http://vegweb.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=96af27e894ae2fd4187eff3006107ebe&topic=8128.0
This recipe is GREAT, but instead of cooking it at 500°, we cook it at 450° for about 20 minutes. It also works great for bread sticks.

The sauce is a special recipe made by my roommate, Paul, but you can use any recipe for pizza or pasta sauce you would like.

I used Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella. It melts nice and tastes really good! Mmmm.

For this pizza I added pineapple chunks and raw green peppers cut into pieces both that I added after it was cooked. Only problem with adding the pineapple right after it comes out of the oven was the juices made the cheez runny before it fully set. So might want to wait a few minutes until it hardens, or squeeze the pineapples dry. Still yummy even runny!

Day 6: Pancakes & Getting creative with Toaster Ovens

Back to making interesting foods again!

Breakfast: This morning I made some very tasty Vegan Pancakes! I used the recipe below:

http://vegetarian.about.com/od/breakfastrecipe1/r/veganpancakes.htm

The pancakes cooked very well, but I put it on a little lower of a temperature for a little longer so it didn't brown as much.

After watching Cory eat his pancakes with peanut butter, I had an idea: Adding Peanut Butter & Co's Dark Chocolate Dreams Peanut Butter and making a pancake sandwich! It reminded me of a place I loved in North Carolina called Stack 'em High. My new favorite breakfast!


Lunch: A bit of leftover Tofu Scramble

Dinner: For dinner it was time to get creative. I had a recipe for 'cheesy' enchiladas, but realized I used the last of the nutritional yeast on the tofu scramble. So instead I mixed a few different enchilada recipes I had.

I used this recipe to make refried black beans http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=20765.0

For the enchiladas I used:
1/3 cup tomato & green chilies
2 cups instant mashed potatoes, cooked
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
Refried black beans from previous recipe
1 10oz can enchilada sauce
4 tortillas

Seeing as my oven still does not work, I had to use the toasted oven. I used a 6x6in (I think that's what it is) pan and covered the bottom lightly with enchilada sauce. Mix the mashed potatoes, corn, and tomato & green chilies together. Spoon on an even amount of the potato mixture and the refried beans onto a tortilla and wrapped it up, placing it in the pan. Repeat 3 more times to fill the pan and pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the burritos (I could have used another can of enchilada sauce, but apparently I only bought one instead of 2). Place the pan in the oven (or toaster oven in this case) and bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

For a toaster oven meal, it turned out pretty well and still one leftover for lunch tomorrow. Hoping to hear about the oven soon, but the toaster oven works well in a pinch.

You Are What You Eat

I spent this evening educating myself by watching some very eye opening documentaries on my last day of Netflix before the free trial runs out.

King Corn: King Corn seemed very unbiased in it's presentation, but after the information it presented, I have decided to stick to my views on removing a great majority, if not all, of the High Fructose Corn Syrup and unnecessary additives in my diet.

Food Inc: Food Inc presented many things I already knew, and some things I still did not agree with, but I think it is things some people need to see in order to make the change to healthier, plant based diets. So many people are blind to what they eat and the suffering, filthiness, and disease associated with it. I cannot even fathom the things I once ate so blindly.

And it is really scary just how much power the food industry has in the world. It really is making me think twice about where I shop and what I buy.

Food Matters: Probably the most important documentary I have seen in my lifetime. It confirmed my thoughts of the last year about doctors, pills, foods, and health. I feel EVERYONE in my life needs to see this documentary and I will be recommending it to them all. It shows you examples of curing physical and psychological illness through nutrients. We live in a society where the taste and custom of eating food has become more important than our health and values.

I hope that my emotional rants do not discourage, but encourage you to examine your lifestyle and choose what is right for you, your family, and the environment. Just remember: You are what you eat.

Day 5: Another day of repeats, but tomorrow is a new day!

Other than breakfast, I had nothing new today.

Breakfast: Thomas' Cinnamon Raisin Bagel w/ Tofutti 'Cream Cheese'. Most of the time I don't need the "substitute" foods, but days like this morning I am glad there are things like Vegan Cream Cheese!

Lunch: You can guess... Vegan Mac & Cheez! Had extra elbow noodles, so decided to make some more 'cheez' to curb my late night 4th meal habits. Once the leftover 'cheez' is gone, I am removing it from my thoughts for a week or two so I don't overdue it.

Dinner: Remake of the Tofu Scramble & Home Fries.


Trying to find things I can do with the ingredients I had, since half of the recipes I planned for this week required an oven that is no longer in service, so I had to improvise. Making sure to plan accordingly next week until our oven is fixed, or replaced.

Excited to try new things again tomorrow, and get creative with a toaster oven! Until then!

Day 4: Bump in the road

After planning my meals for the week, I realized some will be rather difficult to make because our oven has bit the dust. The stove top still works, thankfully, but no oven. Out with my pizza and enchilada plans.

So today was another quick day of easy meals, goes to show being vegan doesn't mean being in the kitchen all day, although those meals are probably the healthiest!

Breakfast: For breakfast I had some oatmeal and cinnamon.

Lunch: 2 Yves vegan hot dogs w/ Arnold Select Wheat Hot Dog Buns, ketchup, mustard, and I finally got my relish.

Dinner: A quick stir fry with the cook-in-the-bag brown rice I forgot to use in my black bean burgers yesterday, and a bag of Great Value Deluxe Stir-Fry Frozen Vegetables cooked in a steamer. Added a few shakes of soy sauce and a super quick meal.

After Dinner: For dinner I had a super small portion of stir fry, so by 11:00P I was hungry again. We still had a lot of elbow noodles left, so I decided to make some more of the vegan mac & cheez. I have been addicted to that stuff since we first made it, just thinking about it now makes me want some more. Mmmm.

Not sure what is on the menu for tomorrow without an oven. I am debating attempting my enchiladas in a testy toaster oven tomorrow. We'll find out!

Day 3: Black Bean Burgers

Another lazy morning/afternoon with quick and easy and leftovers.

Breakfast: Great Value Rice Chex and Silk Original Almond Milk

Lunch: Leftover Mac & Cheez... mmm! I was craving it so bad I went to the store JUST to get elbow noodles to use the leftover 'cheez'. One of my new favs!

Dinner: For dinner I attempted to make Black Bean Burgers from scratch. I used this recipe:

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/01/hash-browns-and-black-bean-burgers.html

However in my hurried cooking for a hungry hubby, I used a whole green pepper instead of half and forgot to add the rice. For missing and too many ingredients, it didn't turn out too terrible. In it's current state, not one of my favorites, but we'll have to see how it goes when it is cooked correctly!

Day 2: Leftovers, Packaged Meals, & Potato Soup

Today I have been feeling rather lazy since I got up and didn't feel like making much.

For breakfast I had my leftover Granola Bowl from yesterday and a banana.

Lunch I ate 2 Yves 'Hot Dogs' with Arnold Wheat Hot Dog Buns, some Heinz Ketchup & mustard. Quick and very easy for the lazy days and I found both the hot dogs and buns at a Walmart Market near by. I LOVE veggie dogs and was excited to find them so close and cheap! Now I just need some dill relish to complete the meal. :)

For dinner I made a Potato Soup I found online some time ago. Super easy with minimal ingredients.

Easy Potato Soup:
1 medium red potato, cut into cubes
1/2 small carrot, sliced thin
2/3c celery tops and leaves, chopped
1c plain unsweetened soy milk
dried dill, garlic powder, and black pepper to taste

Boil the potato and carrot in water until soft (about 15 mins), drain. Lower the hear, add remaining ingredients, and simmer to combine the flavors

The recipe makes 1 big serving, or two small bowls; so I quadrupled the recipe, subbed soy milk for rice milk, and used parsley instead of dill since I did not have it. I think I put a little too much pepper in, but still turned out pretty good. Nice and simple meal to use up those leftover veggie parts.

Day 1 - pt 3: Dinner - Mac & Cheez, Shopping

Finally got the house cleaned and got to go shopping. For a weeks worth of meals and a few extras, we only spent $23 at Save-A-Lot (mostly on Produce) and $68 at Walmart, with a few needed and unnecessary things added in there. I'd say for the weekly meals we probably only spent $50? Not sure if that is good or not, but we'll find out as time goes on.

We already had some elbow macaroni made and we were sick of the usual pasta sauce or garlic and olive oil we had been using, so we decided to find something new. Thanks for my cheese loving friend Ally, I looked to the "The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook" and decided to make a 'cheez' sauce for some mac & cheez. Due to copyright laws I am not sure if I can post the entire recipe here, but if you own the book I used the "Amazing Mac 'N Cheez Sauce" on page 64. It used flour, nutritional yeast, salt, onion powder, garlic, paprika, mustard, olive oil, and rice milk. I'm not sure how that combination of things give you the slighly cheezy taste it does, but it works and was quite tasty! If you are looking for it to taste like cheese, I don't think it really does, but it is definitely worth a try!

Day 1 of Veganism complete. Wonder what I'll make tomorrow!

Day 1 - pt 2: Lunch - Granola Bowl + Bananna

Well, I rollerbladed up to the natural foods store in town to find out it was closed. Got in a good workout (27 minutes and the first time I bladed in YEARS), but that means no pizza for dinner as planned.

We are running out of food in the house since I was gone for two weeks up north, so I had to wing it for lunch until we go shopping this evening.

Granola Bowl:
3/4 cup Bare Naked Granola
1/4 cup Emerald Cocoa Almonds
1/4 Cup Skippy Natural Crunchy Peanut Butter

Side: 1 banana
Drink: 1/2 large glass of water, 1 glass Country Time Lemonade (not the best choice, but a treat until I buy my lemons tonight for lemon water or homemade lemonade)

The granola bowl actually tasted really good and very filling! Half-way through I decided to save the rest for tomorrow's lunch. I find not having food in the house is forcing me to get creative with my "cooking".

Hoping to clean the house, shower, then head to Save-A-Lot and the Walmart Market. The list I made keeps getting larger as I am finding some key staples in vegan cooking, and hope to buy a few items at a time.

Well, hi-ho, it's off to work I go.

Day 1 - pt 1: Breakfast, Exercise, and Day Planning

Today is my first day as an official Vegan and starting myself on a healthier path of life.

I will admit, last night I went out with a bang: I ate and drank the most unhealthy things possible. Probably not the best idea in hindsight, but I was out at iHop with friends and knew that would be a place I would probably never go again after that night. I got their Cinna-Stack pancakes: Pancakes with cinnamon roll center and icing. Very tasty, but after I few bites I felt like it was too much sweets. I also had some of Eric's hash browns and 3 Mountain Dews... ouch! I will have to be working off those calories this week!

This morning first thing I did when I woke up was went straight to the Wii Fit. It was the first time I had been on it in 341 days according to the Wii. My weight is 109 (using the -2lbs for clothes weight if that is even correct) and my BMI is 20.56.
I worked out with a few of the balance games and all of the yoga moves for 40 minutes.

After my workout I ate a serving of Quick Oats oatmeal with tons of cinnamon, a few handfuls of Emerald CoCoa Roast Almonds (which I think are vegan), and a full glass of water. I plan to do more cardio later in the day by rollerblading with Paul and then biking once Eric gets home.

To add to my day I also would like to clean the house and rid if of the last few Christmas decorations and I need to go grocery shopping for my meals for the week. Last night I planned out all of my meals and figured out which stores I thought would have the ingredients I needed for the cheapest. I tried to use recipes with things I had or I knew were cheap and easy to attain at stores like Walmart and Save-A-Lot, minus a few items I will need to get at a natural foods store in town.

Being Vegan and changing my lifestyle is going to take not just knowledge and will power, but planning to fit everything into my week.

I will write more after lunch and dinner to tell you what I have accomplished!