Take That, Morningstar Farms!

I finally made the black bean cakes.... YUM. I doubt I will ever buy veggie burgers again. Great change of pace from the usual dinners of beans n rice, beans n quinoa, beans and beans...

3 c cooked black beans
2 T olive oil
2 T creole seasoning
1 T minced garlic
2 T diced onions
1 T dried cilantro

Bake the black beans on a cookie sheet for 20 mins at 350, cool, then toss everything into a food processor and blend. Refrigerate for a few hours and then form into patties. I fried one in canola oil, and I'm going to see if I can form the rest into patties and freeze for future use. I think they might bake pretty well too.

The recipe called for "lime peppered vegan mayo" that I did not make, instead I went with a squeeze of lime juice directly on the patty, a smear of aioli, and some chopped jalapenos. Yum.

Note - they were kinda crumbly, definitely not as sturdy as your usual soyburger. I don't have a food processor and I doubt the blender I used really chopped things up as well as was needed, though.

Protein

Protein has been my main problem and I'm feeling the lack. Despite attempting to include protein sources at every meal and as snacks - nut and nut butters, beans of every kind in every form, tofu - and sticking to quinoa whenever possible for grains, despite all the protein you can get from leafy greens and brown rice, I'm racking up all of 40 or 50 grams a day, and that's just not enough.

I was discussing this with my running guru, Marathon Girl, and she insisted on sending me home with a carton of protein powder. She's using the Designer Whey, 100 calories for 18 grams of whey protein. It's not the most "natural" substance in the world but I'm really not sure what else I can do at this point, so breakfast today is almond milk, one scoop of protein powder, the last banana and some blueberries. We'll see if this perks me up a bit. (I should clarify that Marathon Girl is a long-time vegetarian and definitely not a vegan naysayer in any way!)

Here's the list of protein sources from Bob Harper (however one may feel about the show, I think Bob really knows his stuff, and he is a vegan)
1. ALL kinds of beans (black, kidney, great northern, chick peas, black eyed peas, green peas, lentils, pinto beans, lima beans)
2. Tempeh
3. Seitan
4. Tofu
5. Veggie burger
6. Quinoa
7. Oatmeal
8. Brown rice
9. Whole wheat bread
10. Nuts
11. Peanut butter
12. Soy milk
13. Hemp Protein
14. Green Pea Protein
15. Brown Rice Protein
16. Vegan Protein Powder
17. Chlorella
18. Plenty of rich green leafy vegetables

I'm not currently eating tempeh or seitan, I'll have to learn more about these. I'm opposed to veggie burgers and soy milk because of the whole soy issue (still undecided on whether soy is bad, but I do tend to think that less processed food is better). That leaves me one of the vegan-friendly protein powders and Chlorella, whatever that is.

Marathon Girl had some friends visiting, including one who went vegan for 3 months when living with her vegan brother. She mentioned nutritional yeast for the best mac-and-cheese ever - she tells me she still makes this though she is not at all vegan. Apparently the nutritional yeast can also be used on raw cauliflower for a veggie snack. Sounds like I need some of this stuff too, so a trip to the health food store would seem to be in order.

One more week, and I know I can get through the 21 days, but it's definitely a "finish what you started" kind of mentality. I've learned a lot about food and I definitely see this experience re-balancing my overall food choices, but I can see that all-vegan, all-the-time is not for me. And I'm not convinced it's really healthy or sustainable for bodies that evolved to be omnivores. Yes, we're over-reliant upon meat and animal-derived foods, but I don't think the complete rejection of those foods is the answer.

Moderation in all things... including moderation.

Whole Foods: Extreme Edition

I made a stop at Whole Foods to reload on some supplies. I had a list but also I knew I still had a fair amount of food from the first grocery runs, so I really only needed to fill in a few holes. One $60 bag of food later, here's what I had:

- Gnosis chocolate bar ($8.99 and WORTH IT. Delicious)
- Dried apricots
- Dried Calimyra figs
- Organic grape tomatoes
- Organic bulk quinoa
- Ailoi (for the black bean burgers I still haven't made)
- Jar of curry simmer sauce
- 360 brand organic white corn tortilla chips (disappointing. Too sweet. Maybe better with very spicy salsa.)
- Shiratake noodles, 2 packages
- Organic red grapes
- Cinnamon raisin Ezikiel bread
- Organic blueberries

The bulk aisle is definitely a help on this plan. They have the machine to make fresh-ground almond butter, which I think I will get on my next trip.

Eating Out Part III

Okay, the dining out this week is getting a little out of hand, but S and I really wanted to get out for a while. Her favorite place recently is the Canal Cafe, which has Palm beer on tap and a nice view of the water (okay, the water is in the canal, but it's still pretty). They make some awesome PEI mussels and clam fritters as well.

This one was even more of a challenge than the Mexican place. Every single thing on the menu was meat-based. There were some vegetable spring rolls on the menu which I suspected would not turn out to actually be vegetarian, let alone vegan, but that was about it. And I was super hungry.

S and I both enjoy the spinach and goat cheese salad, so we decided to split one with all of the goat cheese going to S. She went ahead and got the fritters, which looked very, very tasty. I ended up with a tostada that was supposed to come with a striped bass fillet. I was going to just have the hold the fish, but then when I thought about how I was going to end up paying for it anyway, I asked for the fish on the side, thinking that S could add that to her dinner.

This was a good example of how sticking to the vegan plan even when it's difficult can really expand your food horizons. I would have skipped this dish usually as I am not a fan of refried beans, but I gave it a chance because it was really all that was available to me. It was amazing. The beans were hearty and delicious, and I ate every scrap.

The salad greens on top tasted like the fish had initially been served on top of the tostada and then removed, though, so I was a little disappointed by that as well. Restaurants really are not set up to accommodate vegetarian and vegan requests, I think, and are not interested in the fact that "cross contamination" is a bigger issue than someone getting huffy that their food isn't exactly how they want it. I know that people who do not eat animal products for a long time can actually become ill when exposed to those again. So scraping off "most" of the cheese or "quick, get that fish fillet off of there before she sees it!" or, worst of all, failing to disclose on the menu or when asked that an item was cooked with meat may be superficially helpful, but does not address my actual needs.

Eating Out Part II

Today I arrived home (after a 90 minute drive in a raging thunderstorm) to discover that the power was out. I went out with friends to the Blue Cactus, which is an awesome margarita joint here in the Hamptons that also happens to serve Mexican food.

Eating out vegan is _not_ easy. If you can select the place and plan ahead you can probably do better, but this definitely required some improvising. It seems Mexican places are a pretty good choice, since beans figure so prominently in the food.

I opted for a vegan taco salad and side orders of black beans and rice. I find that restaurants seem to understand "no meat" pretty well, but "no cheese, sour cream, or other dairy" doesn't seem to connect. I had to send my taco salad back for a non-dairy version, which was disappointing after I had explained to the server what I needed and why.

So I did manage to cobble together a decent meal, but the other bad part is that you pay the same for a taco salad that is minus all the expensive ingredients. In any case, the vegan jalapeno margarita was delicious, and it was fun to have an unexpected evening out with friends. The evening did prove that it's possuible to stay with the vegan plan even in unfavorable circumstances.

Eating Out Part I

A group of girlfriends here organizes a monthly "Girl's Night" dinner, and having missed several of the last gatherings, I really wanted to attend this time. I emailed my friend who was hosting this time in advance that I was eating vegan at the moment but that I would bring along my own entree. I just wanted her to know not to prepare a meat portion for me, not knowing what she planned to cook. She was very supportive and told me there would be several vegetable sides available, so it looked like it would work out great.

It was fun getting to talk to a new group of people about my vegan adventure, and I got some new ideas, perspectives and resources. EY told me about a vegan support group run out of Southampton Hospital where they actually have classes and medical supervision for people trying a vegan diet for health reasons. That sounds pretty interesting, and reminded me that with how vocal the vegan and vegetarian communities can be about their meal plans, there are probably many cooking classes, lectures, and other resources out there to learn more about how to maintain this kind of diet.

For the cocktail hour, M had provided several delicious looking types of cheese. There was also a bowl of nuts out so I snacked on those instead. It wasn't too hard to resist, but when the conversation turned from eating vegan to all the wonderful ways this group of awesome amateur chefs have come up with to cook meat and fish, well, I admit that even 2 more weeks of beans sounded like a very, very long time.

When we sat down for dinner, I was really excited to see 2 vegan-friendly dishes: a stringbean and red potato salad, and a rice salad that was loaded with currants, veggies, and all kinds of things I cannot hope to identify. I loaded up my plate and even though I had to skip the grilled pork tenderloin and the skirt steak, I did not feel at all deprived. I barely touched the serving of chickpeas and quinoa I had brought for myself!

I did ask my friends about whether the dishes were vegan, and they were very accommodating. Unfortunately I did NOT ask about the dressings they used for the salads, and so did not find out until much too late that both were doused with red wine vinegar, a headache-inducing allergen for me. This came up when I did remember to ask that question before the salad course.

Oops.

End result, I had to cut the evening short and head home with a bit of a headache, but that passed fairly quickly and all was well. I did enjoy the food very much and I was very appreciative of how supportive and interested my friends were about the whole thing.

Shiratake?

I've seen these in the grocery before, next to the tofu (also something I wouldn't have purchased before this experiment). I couldn't really figure out why one would want to make noodles out of tofu, though. Why not just eat noodles?

Well, a week into this whole vegan thing, I've noted that I have a tendency to eat too much starch, trying to "fill up" with familiar foods. This means I'm eating way more carbs than I need, and not exactly meeting my calorie goals. So when I read the nutritional info on the package of shiratake noodles - 40 calories for the whole package? - I was curious enough to give it a try.

Here's a littleinfo about them from about.com: "Shirataki comes from the root of a plant (Amorphophallus Konjac, or a few other closely-related species) grown in various parts of Asia, and given many names in different places, including Konnyaku potato (or just konnyaku), konjac, konjaku, elephant yam (although as far as I can tell, they are not related to any other plant commonly called “yam”), and others. The fiber is also known as glucomannan." They type I bought are blended with tofu, which About.com says is to give the noodles a less rubbery texture.

The prep instructions are a little unusual. You're instructed to first thoroughly rinse and then par-boil the noodles for several minutes to, um, "Reduce the authentic aroma." Now, I'm a marketing girl, so I can easily translate this as "These things smell like the insides of your sneakers on the last weekend of August," so I was prepared for the worst when I opened the package. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the "authentic aroma" consisted of a mild fishiness, which washed away easily.

The Angel Hair version I bought was very stringy but quite noodle-like. I sauteed some squash, tomatoes, spinach and misc veggies in olive oil and garlic, and threw the odor-reduced, par-boiled noodles in for a minute.

I ended up with an ultra-low calorie pseudo-pasta primavera that was actually very tasty. The noodles definitely have some spring in the texture but were really quite palatable. I think these would do quite well (unsurprisingly) in Asian dishes, a noodle stir-fry maybe. I expect I will buy these again.

Groceries Week 2

Stop N Shop

- Corn chips (seriously need to slow down on these)

- 2 cans organic chickpeas

- Organic fresh salsa

- Organic strawberries

- Shiratake Noodles

$18.72

Whole Foods:

- Store brand hummus (1.99 instead of 3.50! Wow!)

- 1 lb bulk chickpeas

- Medjool dates

- Organic extra-firm tofu

- 2 bottles orange Poland Spring sparkling water

- 2 limes (making Black Bean Cakes this week)

- 8oz fresh ground peanut butter

- Organic baby spinach

$21.23

In the pantry from last week:

- Fingerling potatoes

- Onions

- Apples

- Massive quantities of cooked organic black beans, froze a bunch

- 1/2 pineapple

- 1 or 2 servings of pearled couscous

- White beans

- Jar of organic marinara sauce

Days 4-7

Massive slack on the blogging portion of the experiment, but it all felt like repeating myself since I've been incessantly discussing it with my sister throughout!

Week 1 has taught me a lot already. First of all, being vegan and NOT fundamentally changing the way you eat just does not work. If you just go out and buy vegetarian/vegan versions of all the things you'd eat anyway, how is this better in any way?

I'm eating too many corn chips and peanut butter sandwiches, and I am already _done_ with salads for lunch. Best new lunch so far has been my makeshift vegan "tabouli", which was quinoa, tomatoes, squash, onions and chickpeas, with a mint spice blend and a drizzle of that amazing orange-infused olive oil. 

That grocery shopping I was talking about a week ago, where I couldn't see how that would possibly be enough food? Excellent lesson there, too.  It was more than enough, and I actually have loads of leftovers that I'm working through before I go to restock. 

Failure To Thrive?

I've been doing a lot of research on the whole experience, looking for recipes and food ideas. Today I wanted advice on how not to get so over-hungry as I did last night, and my Google wanderings turned up this article: http://www.beyondveg.com/billings-t/comp-anat/comp-anat-9b.shtml where the author talks about possible long-term unhealthy results from a vegetarian/vegan diet causing the same symptoms that are diagnosed in infants as "Failure To Thrive" (FTT). FTT is a general term that seem to more or less cover anyone who doesn't feel good but probably should be healthy. (Of course it's more defined than that, that's my paraphrase).

I can see how the lack of trace nutrients in a limited diet could cause this, but thinking about it, I'm wondering if the same FTT idea could be applied to people who eat a non-vegan but severely limited diet -- which in the US is a lot of people. With the amount and variety of food available to us every day, it's astonishing to me that anyone of even moderate income could actually be malnourished, but given what makes up the so-called "Standard American Diet" it's easy to imagine many people are missing out on trace nutrients.

Vegans know they need to supplement with B12 at the minimum, and also benefit from flax seeds and other items that are lacking from a wholly plant-based diet. On the other hand, most omnivores probably need to supplement their diets with plants (and eat less crap, but that's another topic). I find it interesting that maintaining this ultra-healthy diet plan depends upon introducing processed supplements and additives, and that's before even considering the heavily processed vegan food substitutes that are so common in the diet today.

Thank You Vegan Burritos

If I make it through these 3 weeks, it's probably going to be due in large part to Chipotle veggie burritos. Yum.

Day 3

Already ranted to Jess that this is not very much fun. Now I know it's not fair to reject a food experiment 3 days in, but man, this is HARD. Yes, I know, that's the point! And admittedly I am definitely seeing habits and patterns in my usual eating style that would be good to change.

Important lesson though - I got too hungry yesterday and overate by a lot last night. All at least technically vegan, but way too much of it. After my rice and beans dinner, I tried a pretzel to get over the munchies, but that didn't work, so then it was corn chips, then some fruit, then a PB sandwich. I have no idea how I managed to eat that much, but I was definitely hungry - not just bored.

I am already overwhelmingly sick of salad for lunch. Today's salad is kind of taco salad inspired with salsa instead of dressing, jalapenos and black beans. I may step out to buy corn chips to go with it. I do still love my berries. I'm a little too dependent upon peanut butter sandwiches still, though.

Breakfast: PB&J (overslept a LOT!)

AM Snack: Strawberries and blueberries

Lunch: Taco salad, salsa, black beans

PM Snack: Apple

Dinner: Veggie Burrito - Chipotle

Day 2

Woke up late and made a PB sandwich for breakfast, but since I left that sitting on my kitchen counter I'm safe from those fat grams.

On the 21 Day Kickstart you're not really supposed to track your food but I did anyway, mostly because I keep hearing from people "be sure you get enough protein!" Protein for yesterday was a little low at 58 grams but oh boy, did I get my fiber. 42 grams of it. Given how much of my life I have not gotten nearly enough fiber, I find this pretty funny. Relying on beans totally changes the overall nutrition picture.

Awesome food discoveries so far:

- Plain blueberries and strawberries are amazing at this time of year. I usually would have 1/4 c blueberries with some cottage cheese for breakfast but this week I'm just having the berries, and they are delicious. I do insist on organic berries, but at this time of year they're fairly reasonably priced and all things considered I think I can have as many berries as I want.

- I had a bottle of fancy blood-orange infused olive oil that I am using for my salads with some balsamic vinegar, after I realized my favorite Newman's Own dressing contains feta cheese. I have a new favorite dressing, and I like that it's a step closer to whole food.

- Kashi GoLean Crunch is vegan, so if I'm worried about my fiber, I can always... oh, wait.

Tomorrow I really need to have something for lunch that is NOT chickpeas and salad, though.

Breakfast: Homemade almond milk and Metagenics UltraMeal

AM Snack: Blueberries and strawberries

Lunch: Spinach/romaine salad, EVOO/balsamic, chickpeas

PM Snack: Seedless black grapes

Dinner: TBD, leftover bb&r or maybe Chipotle veggie burrito