First week as a Vegan on the 90 Day Vegan Challenge

Monday 6/15

Today I discovered a few things. One, people don't really comprehend what vegans eat. I got a lot of "what do you eat now?!" and I responded with "sadness and the tears of lettuce." Actually, my diet today seemed pretty normal. There have been days I've gone vegan without noticing it. However, I tried a newish recipe this morning. I've been making okonomiyaki (a Japanese pancake that has a variety of versions https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=okonomiyaki) since mom arrived last week. I wanted to keep making it because I use a ton of veggies in the recipe. However, subbed out flour with dahl, green bean, and black bean flour (I know!!) and used flaxseeds mixed with water as a sub for egg. I put the mush, I mean, formed a pancake and placed it in the oven (I would usually fry it) and it turned out awesome!!! I have pictures and descriptions below. Usually you add okonomiyaki sauce to the dish (which I have) and mayonnaise. Guess who made vegan mayonnaise and was utterly shocked and surprised by how easy it was (and didn't taste like barf which I had anticipated it to taste like)!!??? Go ahead and guess. I'll wait. Here's the recipe I used: https://youtu.be/5r4BAWXY9sw 

Saturday 6/20

Well, almost a week has gone by and I'll do some fillers now before I put some pictures up. During the week I ate mostly the same thing for breakfast- my okonomiyaki pancake thing. Lunch was either a homemade tortilla or we went out to eat. Dinner was always the same, a chickpea salad with lettuce. Snacks were varied: homemade chickpea chocolate cookie (a protein cookie I had before I ran in the mornings), nuts, fruit, and veggie chips. I made a few things vegan: mayonnaise and mozzarella cheese. I also watched toooo many vegan videos on YouTube and discovered a culture I both like and dislike. There's a lot of "Be Vegan so you can Be Skinny" and less of the whole do it because it's the right thing to do. There are a lot of weird scummy people out there (no matter the genre) and I'll have to learn to avoid those. I also learned to avoid vegan videos involving "buy the vegan cheese/product from your local store so you can make this blah" or some cross breed of raw cooking and vegan cooking. Like I have that option of purchasing said vegan products or making "raw" stuff.  However, I found a few I'll keep watching for inspiration/ideas. I also found a lot of neat testimonials on this diet as well.

I have to be honest. I feel different. There's a few things I think are associated with this. I've eaten almost no processed sugar (except what might be in my okonomiyaki sauce and veggie chips). I've also had a lot less oils (I only cook with olive oils). I've been avoiding treats (latte's, cakes, cookies, and so forth) due to the fact it might not be vegan. I've not starved myself at all. Actually, because I've been making my own tortilla's and turning them into vegan pizza's I've felt that maybe I've been eating more carbs than usual (I'm not sure though). On top of eating vegan I've done my usual exercise routine (some type of running, walking, or other thing during the week). This week I've clocked about 48 minutes of running, 2 hours of Zumba classes with my bud Zetty, 1 hour of home Zumba, and about an hour+ walk in. I've lost 3lbs this week, so basically I feel pretty good both mentally and physically. Hoping to keep this momentum up!

Pictures of the Week:

Okonomiyaki (Jenna's Vegan Version) 
I left a link above for you to see the general gist of this pancake. I basically shredded a lot of veggies together (broccoli stalks, carrots, celery -yuck-, cabbage, sweet potato, probably chives) and mushed it in a batter made from flaxseeds, dahl flour, green bean flour, and black bean flour- probably some rice flower with water. Every morning I'd take the mush, throw it in the oven for 30 minutes, then cover it with vegan mayo and okonomiyaki sauce.
I've left this description vague because you can do whatever you want to it. Next week it'll look different as well.




Vegan Mayo
Again I think I have a link above about this. It truly does taste good. There were a few other versions of vegan mayo, especially in a cookbook called Afro-Vegan. I haven't tried any of their recipes, but watched a video with someone who tried it. I think I have a lot of things already to try before I get experimental.

Vegan Mozzarella Cheese

I've been making this cheese sauce for a while now. It's hella good. Even my mom was shocked by it's chemistry!! It magically turns into cheese. She stated it'd be good as a dipping sauce. I use it for anything that would need mozzarella sauce. Annnnnd it's like half the calories and taste pretty darn good. Suggest adding some nutritional yeast to it as well. Here's the recipe: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-recipe/how-to-make-fresh-vegan-moxarella-cheese/

Vegan Pizza

Okay there's a few things happening here. First I found two videos regarding homemade tortillas that are a perfect crust for this pizza: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmvr1ql2xAs & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVx1Fnqimmo  at least in my mind. I used dahl, green bean, and black bean flour, only because I found it in the store and was like WHAT THE and needed to use it. It gives it a lot of flavoring BUT doesn't make it work like a tortilla- hence the pizza crust. The sauce was leftover from when we had a spaghetti night dinner and of course the vegan mozzarella cheese was used. I've now had this twice. It's filling in a craving I didn't even know I had. I keep wanting more of this!! Thinking of making a mushroom sauce next time. Not sure yet.

Out to eat! Chinese Vegetarian and Japanese Food!

On Wednesday we went to our local vegetarian (mostly vegan) spot in town. All of their food is vegan, except occasionally they will serve a tea egg. I had something special though: zongzi http://i2.w.yun.hjfile.cn/slide/201305/2zongzi_1476.jpg . Dragon Boat Festival is today and traditionally zongzi's are served. They are steamed rice in a banana leaf. I usually despise them, however this restaurant made the first kind I've ever liked!! Nummmys! 

Chickpea Salad with Lettuce: Dinner Time
I'm into convenience but I'm not really into salad's, however guess which two go with each other!? The chickpea salad I made with two cans of chick peas, a red pepper (but it was a green one this week-disappointed), and one onion. I mixed it with a balsamic vinegar, mustard, and olive oil combo and let is sit overnight. This is what I added to the lettuce and tomatoes. Easy, quick, and full of protein. This worked well when coming home from Zumba.
Yesterday I modified it by adding one of my homemade tortilla's to the mess.... (it was a mess) and it was utterly delicious!!!

Snacks

Most were healthy-ish: nuts, fruit, smoothies, vegan chips, and my homemade chickpea n' chocolate protein cookie pre-run snack. Just look up any chickpea chocolate chip cookie recipe and go for it. 

Saturday Morning Breakfast: Tofu with Stuff

I wanted to make waffles, but I was lazy, so I made Frank some eggs and was like hmmmm.... substitute... obviously tofu! So I made a tortilla from yesterday's dough and threw stuff on top of it. I called it breakfast and consumed it happily. Supper good!!














Takikomi Gohan (non-fried rice fried rice)
Mine is a little different than Ryoya's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePqGCIyV_BE
Basically you put everything you'd put in your fried rice pan into your rice maker with your rice. I also added steamed broccoli to the steamer that fits snuggly on top of the rice cooker. I gave Frank a bowl with a fried egg on it, mine was straight out of the cooker. I also took the broccoli off and satay-ed it for a minute with garlic and some extra sauce. I was still hungry so I had some watermelon for dessert.



See ya next week!