And I ate (and ate): veganish

Lemon Israel Couscous

Well the Family weight loss challenge is in full effect.  8 days in, 6lbs down (since Jan 10th) and about 90% vegan . Being a cook that lives in Norcal probably makes eating vegan allot easier. Just like with my vegan and/or gluten free baking for Engineered Cupcake, I view vegan cooking as a fun challenge to create delicious food. Although the one thing about vegan meals is that (for me at least), it involves planning in advanced.
This week I had some amazing meals. I'm surprised at the sheer variety of fruits and vegetables I  ate this week. If you think about it though: 5 cups of fruits and vegetables over 7 days...that's 35 cups of fruits and vegetables! Variety is the key, that could get monotonous real quick.

Monday had lunch with Snow Pea shoots salad with edamame and avocado inspired by this recipe.  For
dinner that night I had Lemon Israeli Couscous with kale and sweet potatoes. Toasting Israeli couscous really brings out an amazing flavor.

Tuesday was couscous left-overs. Carrots with an impromptu edamame guacamole. Red grapes helped save me from the cravings of fruit snacks That night, the baked good cravings had started up. So I made a
pretty wholesome muffin with whole wheat flour, flax, fresh blueberries, and ginger for Wednesday breakfast. Also roasted some brussel sprouts, apples, and onions

Thursday was one of those days when I had ran out of lunch ready left-overs. So I had another muffin for breakfast, for lunch I had brown rice and Saag Paneer (dairy), and snacked on grapes, peppers, and raw broccoli throughout the day. For dinner, I cooked some vegan bacon to go with the rest of the brussel sprouts and had some pan fried tofu.

On Friday I was out in the field, climbing onto things, inspecting things the joys of non-profit energy effiency (I love it!). I drove over 120 miles for work, praise be for Zipcar, wheels when you want 'em.  My field days I definitely need to plan better. I spent most of that day driving resisting fast food. Didn't eat as regularly as I should. For breakfast I had some watermelon and berries. Had salad with greens, peppers, mushrooms, and edamame for lunch with my buddy at sunpower, sipped on chocolate peppermint protein shake the rest of the afternoon. By the time dinner-time came along I was at one of my favorite diners: Can't Fail Cafe, devouring a buffalo tofu salad (with a bit of blue cheese dressing) and Blue Moon beer.

The weekends are always the hardest for me. No regime, no routine, no telling.  Honestly on Saturday, I mostly grazed on a blood orange and raspberry  fennel salad, went and did some grocery shopping and later did some juicing.  Sweet potato, carrot, ginger, apple juice may just be the best thing I've ever drank in life.   Supper was a vegan version of "Beef and Brocoli": Sauteed garlic and onions with shoyu, add the "tofu beef", and then some fresh kale and frozen broccoli. served that with some vegan mashed potatoes.

Sunday I went over to my buddy's place to watch the 49ers/Seahawks game. Their household is on a gluten free kick as is most of the Bay area. So I made sure to eat a good meal before I went over there. Took the left over mashed potatoes and kale, added some soyrizo and made a vegan Shepard's pie in my donburi. That turned into Monday's lunch. A definite East meets west delicious dish.  I brought along some vegan muffins and they served up bacon and brussel sprouts cooked in cream.  The bacon wasn't so bad but my body was not feeling the cream at all. I was standing up after the game and I could feel my body shaking its metaphorical fists at me.  Lesson learned.

While I'd love to take credit for coming with these ideas from pure imagination truth is, Springpad is my go-to source for finding good recipe. In fact, you can find these recipes and more on my "5 a day" Springpad.