So...Wait...Where Are You Taking Me??

So one of my circle is gluten free, trying to eat better, and has a family chock full of interesting allergies and dietary business going on. So she says to me...."Wanna go to the Co-op at lunch?"  Uh...never been there. I have heard about it. Never actually experienced it. So what the hell, I'm in! Katherine, who shares a hallway with me, says "Yay!!! Lets go to the Co-op!!" Yay, we're going to the Co-op. So we jump in the Prius, and head to the Co-op...As we are driving I think to myself  "How this has happened to me?" I truly have no idea. I'm Vegan, I'm in a Prius, heading to a Co-op. Just 70-ish short days ago, I was in a cross-over, driving to All-You-Can-Eat-Rib-Night. Oh how things have changed.   I have a picture in my mind of how this is gonna go. I expect to walk through the door to find a ton of expensive organic fruits and veggies, and the smell of patchouli in the air, men in running shorts, and women in Birkenstocks with no make-up on. So...I get there and walk in and...and there is a ton of expensive fruit and veggies, and the smell of patchouli in the air. And the lady in the Birkenstocks asks me if she can help me find anything. So that was nice. I say hello to the nice man in the running shorts, who is eyeing the ridiculously expensive produce. It was a truly interesting experience. They have a ton of vegan items. So, that was cool.  I ended up buying my vegan butter (Earth Balance, I opted for the olive oil one this time), some meatless sausage to put in my spaghetti for dinner, some vegan meatballs, to put into future spaghetti, a box of cereal, after all, there is a chance I will run out soon since there are only 5 boxes of assorted vegan cereals on top of my fridge right at this very moment, and a $4 vegan cookie because no price is too high when it says right there on the package "Vegan, Oatmeal and raisin cookie, with cream fluff filling". Well, hello beautiful! I'm full from lunch, but I will still finish you off, because you are vegan and full of cream fluff filling. Oh, little cookie, I will definitely go back, definitely.

I'm BACK

I have been crazy busy at work, and just have a ton of stuff going on. I am happy, happy, happy to report...I am still vegan! I'm right about 70ish days in. I have learned so much about myself, and food, and people in these last 70ish days.

I have learned how to order at Taco Bell. I know, not exactly "healthy" but it does come in handy to know that if I am out and about, or just need to grab something quickly, I can. Here is what I order; "Crunchwrap, substitute beans for meat, no cheese, no sour cream, add potatoes and (sometimes) guacamole". Freaking fabulous. I can also order a 7 layer burrito, no cheese or sour cream, or a bean burrito, no cheese, no red sauce (no onions because I don't like them on my burrito). I have been welcomed with "Uh, so just beans in a tortilla?" Yep.

I have learned that I have incredibly supportive and loving friends and family. I have not had one eye-roll (that I have seen). And anytime anyone see's something vegan, learns of a new place for me to eat, or reads something about veganism, they report it to me. I love that.

I have learned that my husband has no problem eating my vegan food. He eats his non-vegan food, then eats my vegan food. Nothing has changed in that respect.

I have learned I truly did not care about cheese as much as I thought I did. Seriously. I don't miss it at all. Thankfully, avocados are vegan, because I would have a problem giving those up.

I have learned that smoothies are far more of a hassle then I am willing to put up with, therefore, I have had exactly two since becoming vegan.

I have learned that if you eat everything that you discover is vegan, you will end up gaining about 50 lbs. Just because it's vegan, doesn't mean it's okay to eat it whenever you want. Please refer to my statement on how to order a Crunchwrap at Taco Bell, and OMG...I can only go to a vegan bakery like once a month. Seriously.

I have learned to scan a label so incredibly quickly for something non-vegan that it's like a super power. Casein, Whey, Lecithin....no, no, nope.

So there it is, what has been going on in my vegan world for the last month.  I will write more and post some food pics soon.

It's HERE!!!

I will not hold you in suspense........I like it. I bought Taam Tov Coffee Creamer, and I LIKE IT!!! Wooowhooo! I am a happy happy girl. It adds some sweetness to my coffee because it has sugar. It's basically sugar, malodextrin, and tapioca starch. It's also kosher for Passover, so that would have been an added bonus if I knew anything about Passover. Well, now I guess I know one thing...I could have had this whilest celebrating. Yay!

I watched Forks Over Knives last night. It came at the suggestion of my friend Katherine (I have not changed her name to protect the innocent.) She pre-watched it, and said it would be good for me to watch. I cannot watch anything with animal cruelty. I'm just too sensitive for that kind of thing, I get physically ill and it causes me anxiety. I really liked the delivery of the science behind the message of the movie. It wasn't pushy. I'm glad I watched it. Plus, the old guys were just way cute. I would highly recommend it if you are considering a plant-based diet. Shout out to Katherine for the suggestion. 

I have been spending some time cooking this week.  So starting with my next blog entry,  I will be posting pictures and recipes. Lately, I have made Vegan Crockpot Corn Chili, Pumpkin Oat Cookies, Yellow Curried Chickpeas, and Brown Rice "Meat" and Mushroom Spaghetti. Some of what I make is completely from scratch, some are mixtures of pre-made vegan items and scratch, and some are products that I have found I really like to throw together for a quick and easy meal.  

One of the things I have been doing a lot of lately is throwing a bunch of beans in the Crockpot overnight on low, and when I wake up in the morning I put them in mason jars and stick them in the fridge for use later. I can add them into things. It has been working out really well. Sometimes I just do chickpeas, sometimes bean mixtures with lentils. I also make a big batch of brown rice in the rice cooker, and then jar that up too. That way when I just need to throw dinner or lunch together, I can grab a jar and be good to go. 

Fingers and Toes Crossed!

Dear Vegan Universe...I have done all you have asked of me (diet wise, I'm not gonna give up my leather Coach purses anytime soon. I am a VOID ~Vegan Only In Diet~). Please do me this one solid.......I need a decent vegan coffee creamer. Seriously, in the last 30 some-odd days, my biggest vegan related issue is that I can't make my coffee feel fluffy enough. "Milk" substitutes are WEAK, and I would rather not have 98 percent "coffee-milk" and 2 percent actual coffee. I need a good, thick, powdery, vegan Coffee-mate substitute. I have done a shit ton (which is an actual measurement) of research on this subject in the last month, and have discovered that people pretty much just deal with watery substitutes, or get used to drinking their coffee black. I have lived far too long, and gone through far too much in my life (and have a slight flare for the dramatic), for me to suffer through drinking crappy fluffless coffee. I shall overcome this obstacle if I have to become a vegan creamerologist in the process my damn self. While online looking for creamerologist classes, I ran across a post about a powered vegan creamer that doesn't have any milk or milk products in it, and it costs a small fortune so it must work, right? NO price is too high for me to have a decent cup of coffee. I have ordered this product, and shall wait until it gets here to let the masses know if the Vegan Universe has answered my coffee loving prayers.

It's My Veganversary!!

So yep, one whole month of not eating meat, or any meat products.  Nothing from a cow, a chicken, a pig, a fish, a bee, or anything else that has a face.

So what (chicken-less) nuggets of vegan wisdom have been bestowed upon me in my first 30 days? Hmmm...mostly, no one believes you will actually stick to it for the first like 28 days.

Once you get past that, people believe you are now an expert in vegan nutrition. I am truly not. The internet is a fabulous place, use it. I check vegan websites. I do research before I shop, so I at least have an idea of what I can buy without standing in the grocery store reading labels for like six hours. Trader Joe's has a great list of vegan items. The first time I went in there to stock up on vegan-friendly food, I had a list and I felt like I knew what I was doing. On the flip side of that, I now do not trust that anything that one would assume has no animal products in it, in fact, has no animal products in it. It's hidden in the oddest damned places. So, I pretty much stick to the produce section of the regular grocery store. If it doesn't have a label on it, and you are in the produce section, most likely it's okay. If it is clearly made up of one single solitary item, say..a cucumber, chances are you are good. If it has a label and it says VEGAN, or has this little "V" on it somewhere...you are still good. Also, I buy a lot of spices, but do not buy "spice blends", if I really want to make sure there is nothing "extra" in it, I can blend them myself.

I read labels.  If there is anything on a label that I cannot pronounce, or identify as being vegan-friendly, I don't buy it.  I have truly tried to stay away from "Frankenfoods", which in my world is anything that has been overly processed.  By that I mean, I mostly cook my own stuff from scratch. I know what is in it, because I put it in. I do have a stash of chicken-less chicken, and beef-less beef, and veggie burgers, that I keep on hand because when I don't have time to cook, I don't want to feel like I have to starve. Every processed food I have purchased is identified on the package as vegan.

So I know this started out as a 30-day Challenge, and technically, my 30 days ends tonight at midnight...but it turns out, I'm kinda diggin this whole vegan thing, so I'm gonna do another 30 days. I feel like I have found some of my lost willpower, so I'm gonna have to see how long I can hold on to it. And I still have veggie burgers and chicken-less chicken in the freezer, so it would just seem wrong not to keep going. Oh, and I also feel really good, so that's a plus too.

I guess I shoulda introduced myself...........

So, yeah, then there's that. My name is Rhonda. I live in Sacramento, I am 46 years old, married to a guy that I love like crazy and makes me incredibly happy, I have some grown kids that I am crazy proud of, a rescued American Bully named Poe, who aside from possibly my husband, is the most spoiled soul in existence, a turtle named Crush who lives in the backyard year round, and a small circle of friends and family that I adore. I also have a love of really really long sentences separated by multiple commas. I have a steady job, I live in a regular house that has comfortable furniture, and I leave clothes laying on my side of the bed.  I am a classic mid-range achiever with a tendency toward sarcasm. I still have all my hair and am missing one tooth, but it's way in the back, so you can't tell. I would tell you how much I weigh, and all that kind of exciting business, but this isn't a weightloss blog, so who really cares? (um...if you do you can ask though, I will tell you. It's not a secret.)

So about the blog...what this blog is:  It's pretty much just me writing about my experiences with dabbling in Veganism. I love to cook, so I will be sharing some recipe stuff. I love to shop, so I will be sharing that kind of stuff. I am at least moderately interested in the vegans with tattoos thing, so I'm sure I will talk about that. I don't have any tattoos, just kind of fascinated by it. And you never know, I may go get one or thirty-seven (once I pass the 90 day mark obviously). I have funny things happen a lot, I kind of attract that kind of thing, so I will most likely be writing about my adventures in the bizarre life of a regular chick with a steady job who lives in a subdivision and drives a cross-over, and suddenly stopped eating meat. Well damn, that should be enough right there to have people stop by here.

What this blog is not: A "be nice to pigs and cows vs. bacon is tasty" forum. Honestly, this isn't that kind of party. I am not political, or frankly that deep, so if you feel the need to exercise your right to engage in that kind of debate, I'm sure you can find somewhere to share your thoughts on those subjects. This applies to everyone who posts or comments here, including me. Also, if I inadvertently state something wrong, please feel free to correct me. If there is something you want to know about vegan business, I probably don't know either, but I can research like nobody's business, so I will see what I can find out, and cite sources.

So that is what I have to offer for now.  I will blog again when I feel the need to share something that I think you (or me, since I may be the only one reading this) would find interesting.

Rhon

I have been experimenting and dabbling at being Vegan for 27 days.

This blog is for people who care what and how I am eating, without having to suffer through the daily Facebook status of my adventures into the land of the meatless. 

 First off, I am not a Vegan...YET.  I would say to my friends "Oh, no, I can't go to All-You-Can-Eat Rib Night, I'm Vegan now." Only to be greeted with "OMG, you are not Vegan, it's been like a week!"  So, I did what any middle aged woman does when needing an answer in order to prove herself right.... I took a poll of anyone who would answer the question as to when I can call myself Vegan, in a 24 hour period. And...drumroll please.. apparently to be able to say "Hi, I'm a Vegan", you have to have not eaten any meat, meat products, or anything that came from, was made by, taken from, or been near any part of a living creature for 90 days. 30 days is an experiment, and 60 days is dabbling, but magically, 90 days means you have spent a quarter of a year dedicated to annoying people at restaurants, inconveniencing dinner hosts, and spent enough money at Trader Joe's and in the produce section of the grocery store to, according to the masses (better known as the 15 people in my life I asked), say you are Vegan. Therefore, I have 63 days left to go. Until then, I shall remain experimenting and dabbling in Vegan limbo. 

The biggest question I have been asked since this vegan business has started is... So you just eat salads? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?  followed by..I COULD NEVER DO THAT.  Well, "I could never do that", is pretty much the answer to the "Why would you do that?". To prove to myself I could.  I'm 46 and I had started to feel like I had lost any shred of willpower I once had. Funny, when you are younger, you don't realize what willpower is, you just do it, but don't know that you are exercising willpower. I could eat nothing but air popped popcorn for 5 days straight to lose 3 pounds when I was 25. Now that is willpower, it's not smart, but it's willpower. I forgot what it felt like in the last couple of years to have willpower, so I set out to find some.  It started with what I decided for my New Years Resolution would be a series of 30-day challenges. I figured I could do pretty much anything for 30 days. So the first, would be VEGAN, yes, vegan, not vegetarian, balls out vegan. The reason for vegan instead of vegetarian...I know me, and the likelyhood of me transitioning from vegetarian to vegan was slim to none, so I just skipped straight to vegan. Plus it just sounds better to say you are a failed vegan, then a failed vegetarian. If you are going to fail at something, go balls to the wall.  

So welcome to my vegan experiment-dabbling-experience. I don't know how it will turn out, but if you care to come along, check in on me every once in a while.   I'm going to be posting what I eat, what I order when I go out, and my adventures into Veganland. 


And by the way, NO, I DON'T JUST EAT SALADS. Actually, in the last 27 days I think I have eaten two.