Date Night

This morning, we tried *gulp* oatmeal. Ish. I cringe and turn away just mentioning the concept. I used rolled oats and added vanilla, cinnamon, diced apples, plain almond milk (Aldi's is the best), and pure maple syrup. It was surprisingly tolerable. Ezra LOVED it-- like ice cream. Crazy kid. Jeremiah bolted to the garbage to rid his pallet of the stuff. And Aspen was already at school, though I'm sure her response would have had Jeremiah fighting for his spot at the refuse depot.

Anyway, last night marked our first date night as vegans. It was a little disappointing to have the "restaurant" option revoked. One of the major perks of "date night" for me is wiggling out of the responsibility of cooking and, consequently, doing dishes.

But.

The money we didn't spend on food, we were able to put towards going to a movie theater. That's right. A movie theater. I had mostly sworn off the option of ever doing "dinner & a movie" again because it's so dang blasted expensive! First we spend $30 on a meal (which is a little low for my appetizer-necessitated husband). Next it's $20 just get to get in the door of the theater. Don't even talk to me about the rip-off of popcorn. I theorize that they lace it with cocaine, making it addictive and allowing for jacked up prices. But that's just me. Also, if we have to get a paid babysitter (instead of one of my amazing family members), we add another $20 or so. Then dates never happen. And that's just not good for anyone.

Wow, that was a rant. Long story short, we got to see a movie somewhere other than the Rivoli, which was nice :) A perk to being vegan.

We spent the first part of our date strolling through Woodman's. I thought I'd take Rodney down the hippie aisles so he could see what was there and share my struggle a bit. We actually ended up walking out with this drink (and of course, more V8):

It's fitting for us because Rodney calls me "Cutie" all the time :) Anyway, it has the same consistency as Naked juice. And it is YUMMY :) In case anyone is wondering, it wasn't in the hippie aisle. It was in the produce section, against the wall closet to the "white floor tile" part of the store.

Euphoria

Random fact of the day: a popped bag of microwave popcorn has fewer calories than an unpopped bag. And all this time I've been noshing the raw kernels to try cutting back. Gah!

Anyway, we're now into our third day of the vegan ordeal.

You know, back in high school I was anorexic. And I have to say that at least then, the hunger pangs subsided. *sigh* I just keep telling myself "things will get better." The OCD side of me is pretty sure that once some kind of routine develops, this will be easier.

I do have it better than Rodney, though.

He's on the road. And road food is anything BUT healthy-- let along vegan. He called me last night hoping for some counsel on which of the three peanut/almond butters he bought would be best on his as-close-to-sugar-free-as-Walmart-stocks bread. About 10 minutes after we hung up, he called me back to RAVE about V8 juice. It was amazing, and I should try some.

Side note, I've been trying to get him to drink that stuff for years. I digress.

Apparently he had been living on peanuts and water since leaving home the night before. He was in a pretty big hurry to get to his location, and gas stations weren't very provisional in the realm of produce. I guess after 24 hours of peanuts & water, a good old-fashioned V8 is all it takes to meet euphoria.

And It Starts

Well yesterday was all about binging on sugar, meat and dairy. And since it was coincidentally my birthday (yes, we most certainly DID plan it that way), most of the excess was in the beautiful form of "free." After trashing my body yesterday, I went to bed thinking, "I'm ready to have salad for lunch tomorrow."

Today is day 1 of the vegan life. It's actually going pretty well. That is if you consider feeling every moment on the cusp of starvation "pretty well." Apparently a person can ingest an unthinkable level of almonds, veggies and water and still not feel full. Hey, right now I'd settle for "not hungry" even.

I have heard that this is how it starts, so I'm not concerned. But I am uncomfortable :)

Rodney is going in this afternoon to get his blood work taken. That's the part I'm most interested in. I'm not necessarily excited about the results from today, but what the second lab work shows when this is all done.

Boy, wouldn't cha know, all this blogging has stirred up my appetite. I'm going to go rummage through my fridge brimming with produce to see what I haven't repeatedly tasted already today.

Oh, I almost forgot pictures!!

First is Rod's final burger: his rendition of "Juicy Lucy." It's the size of his plate, bigger than the bread, and loaded with cheese packed into the middle of it :)

Next is just to prove that it was bigger than the bread. And that isn't little square Wonder bread either, folks.

After that is Rodney with his last burger and of course Mtn. Dew.

Then my beautiful plate of thick, amazing, wonderful, tender ribs. Mmmmm. . . happy birthday to me!

Lastly, Ness & I went shopping this morning. I was amazed at the sheer amount of JUST fruits & veggies that I had purchased. So I took a picture to share with ya'll. Here ye be.

Still Going Bananas

For lunch today, the kids and I had chicken nuggets with the nutrient-rich side of macaroni & cheese. Tonight we're going to McDonald's. Every time I eat now, I lament that it may be the last time I eat that particular meal. I try to enjoy the crunch of the baked-on batter and the salty creaminess of the cheese sauce. When we were at Mickey-Dee's last weekend, I actually took my waiting time to look around the lobby and soak in the atmosphere. I thought of how I may never stand in that spot again with desire in my heart. And no, a McDonald's salad does not produce "desire in my heart."

Saturday I drove to the Dells for a meeting. And as I passed the many fields of cattle, I looked at all the big, stupid cows standing on the precious commodity of fertile earth. I wondered how much more of the world we could feed if we eliminated farm animals. But then I considered how much I love me some Texas Roadhouse. Oh the complicated life of me.

While Jeremiah and I made a pretty good dent in our browning bananas yesterday, there were still 4 hopefuls left hanging over my fruit basket. Coincidentally, I had the opportunity to watch my niece Malia for a few hours today. I can think of no better way to bond with a 5-year-old girl than to bake together. So bake we did. And yes, banana muffins were again on the docket. This time I followed a recipe I have for blueberry banana muffins. This recipe has oil (unlike the others) and used honey as a sweetener. Still no dairy or sugar. This one was the best of the three so far (I don't remember which website I picked up the recipe, but I can get cha a recipe upon request).

I also went to Target today and picked up a cuter binder to keep my recipes in. The recycled one I had started with was breaking, and the top ring of the "3 rings" didn't hold the pages when I turned them. That was a little irritating (to keep it G-rated). Anyway, I am posting my first ever blog photo, because I really like the dumb thing :)

Banana-rama

Guess what?! Only 8 months until Christmas! (You may proceed with a groan or a smile or whatever response that idea evokes.)

We experimented with 3 different recipes this week (2 of which are nearly identical). Sunday we had Tim & Ness over, and together we whipped up this cool little concoction. I had some reservations about it, but it turned out so VERY yummy. We're not sure which of the seasonings betrayed us, but something was way too spicy. If only we could add sour cream. *sigh* We'll experiment with it and hopefully pinpoint the Judas. Because it was quite delicious :)

This morning, my little Jeremiah really wanted a banana. But every one he opened had at least one huge, black spot of slimy nastiness looking up at him. And you know what they say, "When life hands you black bananas, give them to mom for baking." Well. . . the saying could go like that. Who likes lemonade better than banana bread anyway?

Needless to say, I proceeded to bake. I tried two different banana "muffins." One was actually supposed to be a cookie. Meh. Reading comprehension was always a weak spot for me in those scantron bubble test dealies. They still tasted good. Here's the site where the recipes came from. The cookie thing is on Day 1, and the muffins are on Day 19.

Today I started assembly on my 3-ring binder home-made cook book. Not because I'm crafty and cute, either. No single vegan cookbook contains more than, say, 5 recipes that sound edible. And I'm not about to buy my own cook book. I decided to make it with page protectors instead of punching holes in easy-to-tear, easy-to-stain paper. I also had the brilliant idea of sliding coupons for ingredients in different meals right into the slip cover. That way I can't forget to use the stinkin' things. That felt like a stroke of brilliance.

Grocer Swap?

So for the past 3 or so consecutive nights, I've had dreams of being a vegan. Last night's adventure included eating the best red beans & rice ever known to man. I was SO excited that something so ordinary could taste so amazing. Come to find out, the lady who was making them for everyone was arrested. Why? For enhancing the recipe with marijuana. Ugh, you can't win them all.

This was my first week actually shopping at three different grocery stores. Wednesday, I hit up Walmart for some basic re-stocking. Today I went to Aldi (the staple in my budget) and then Woodman's for all the "weird" stuff like bulgar, oat flour, cereal without sugar or additives, soy yogurt, nutritional yeast. I think I may be needing to make the switch to just Woodman's & Aldi. *deep breaths* Change is good. Change is good. . .

Some of Woodman's prices are definitely better than Walmart's. Overall, prices are pretty comparable. It's just hard to muster up desire to shop somewhere completely foreign. I feel like a tourist walking all slowly, squinting at the aisle-description signs. Grocery shopping (especially with wee ones) is laborious enough when I know where EVERY item in the store is located. This "new" thing is for the birds.

And does anyone know what's up with their mini carts? Who can fit more than 2 days worth of food in those things? And am I the only mom on the planet with a baby who thinks her purpose in life is to shift every item (within reach) from the basket to the floor? I seriously doubt it. With these carts, every item is within reach! Who product tests these things? Worst.Design.Ever. Rant complete.

I should just be thankful we even have Woodman's. This fast would be significantly more difficult if we were trying to do this with the stock on Walmart's and Aldi's shelves. Ness did go to the co-op today and said it's like hippie-ingredient heaven (not an exact quote). Apparently I'll have to be checking that out some time. Hopefully their hemp products don't get me arrested. Yes, vegans eat "hemp" stuff. It was news to me too.

T minus 2 weeks

First of all, I'd like to say that I intended this "user" to be named "Six-Week Vegan" and not the lame name I typed in and canNOT for the life of me figure out how to change. That being said. . .

Two weeks from yesterday, we will begin our dive into veganism. I think I just made that word up. We're feeling rather veganistic. Vegan-ish? Vegany? Ooo, we could be Veganese. Maybe we can re-title it veganarianism. Wow, a bunny trail in the first paragraph. Yikes!

Why vegan? Well about 2 weeks ago, I came home to Rodney watching this documentary. We laid in bed the next morning talking about the things he learned. What stuck out most to him was the connection between animal protein and cancer.

(There are several links between the two, and you can watch the movie to find out all about it-- because I'm certainly not explaining it here :) It's on "instant" for Netflix right now.)

The generation just before Rodney has been almost completely wiped out by cancer already. So this kind of struck a nerve in him. He wants to get blood work done before we start the "fast" and again after the 6 weeks to see if there's a noticeable change.

We have company in this. My brother and his wife (Tim & Ness) are going to join the endeavor. It's great to have someone along because I know nothing of tofu, quinoa, flax seed, TVP, xanthan gum, nutritional yeast, tempeh, or any of the many many un-prounouncable hippie ingredients that are IMPOSSIBLE to find. Clearly, everyone knows that if Walmart doesn't carry it, then no one does (I have never spent so much time gawking in foreign grocery aisles. I feel like a Kindergartner deciphering which clown is the least scary). Anyway, it's nice to have someone to experiment with, to park their butt next to mine in Barnes & Noble (whilst they try kicking us out), and to just sift things out alongside me.

My sister-in-law Julia actually watched the same movie we did and just got up and went shopping. She's already cut out a lot of dairy and most meats. That's just not fair. I'm trodding this all precariously, like a cat stepping around puddles, and she's off like a shell from a sniper rifle.

I can say that my appreciation for the internet and its wealth of information has come to closely resemble worship. It answers EVERY question I have! Right away! Awesome. How do I substitute wheat flour? What is glucose? How do I cook non-meat, non-processed, non-dairy foods?!?!?!?!?!

Seriously. We've had processed food for like what, 100 years? That means we've had 10,000 years of mommas cooking up rice & beans & veggies. And I can't find more than a handful of recipes that I can even pronounce, let alone cook. Something must be wrong with me. BUT with the amazing internet, I'm able to cherry-pick the wealth of informative websites and pull bits and pieces from where I want.

The journey is becoming less scary all the time. I'll keep ya'll posted.