Juice Fast, Day One (Juice 2)

It was hard at my morning bible study... The ladies always bring the most delicious (and bacon covered) dishes to share.  I was able to resist and make it to my second juice of the day.

Green Juice

4 kale leaves

1/2 bunch of spinach

1/2 bunch of parsely

1 roma tomato

3 celery ribs

2 oranges

5 strawberries

** My motto is juice what you like.  I tend to eat these on a daily basis anyways.  I don't like the flavor of cucumbers juiced but others do.

Juice Fast, Day One

Today I started another juice fast.  I have completed many.  My first was in 2011 after watching Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.  My husband and I completed a 7 day juice fast which ended with our baptism (which was kind of cool).  We lost some weight but I think we mostly started to taste our food again.  Sometimes we eat so much processed foods that we forget what real food tastes like.  Our energy was higher but eventually we went back to our old ways of eating.

We have done a few days here and there but never reached the full benefits (in my mind).  It is hard.  Being cut off from eating for 7 days is rough but after the first few days you begin to feel better, have more energy and realize that you don't need coffee to be awake through the day.

I plan on blogging about this fast... so you can see what I drink and I will try to put my moods as the days go by!!

Vampire

1 beet

1 apple

3 oranges

4 strawberries

3 carrots

Cookie Success!

We aren't a big sweets household.  We try to limit our sweet intake to once a week.  My husband's family is from Mexico and when we get together pancito (mexican sweet bread) is usually on the menu).  I have a few that are my favorite and really want to find a sub that I can bring and share.  But today I wanted chocolate (which is extremely rare since I don't really like it).  I decided to make chocolate chip cookies since we all like those.

I flipped through my Happy Herbivore cookbooks and found this recipe in the Happy Herbivore Light and Lean book.  I had all the ingredients on hand (something I love about being plant based) and went to town.  They took about 5 minutes to put together and 12 minutes to cook.  I was able to serve my sons, 6 and 4 a delicious treat that was not loaded in processed ingredients and was semi-healthy for them.

My 6 year old loved them and asked me to make them everyday.  But my incredibly picky 4 year old loved his.  I am so proud that I finally found something (granted it was a cookie) that he liked.

Thank you Happy Herbivore!  We are loving our plant based journey!

She also has a video of her making these cookies on her youtube channel... Click Here!

New Spice Drawer!!

I have been trying to make a spice drawer for the past year.  I had a few small jars in a drawer but the bulk of my spices were in my cabinet.  I kept forgetting what I had and turns out I had 3 jars of thyme.  So I decided to make the move.

I had about 7 of the cute little jars I mentioned and decided to make them my prototype.  I painted the tops with chalkboard paint.  But they weren't enough.  So I went to purchase more and I couldn't find them anywhere.  But I remembered that I had a ton of Ball Canning jars left over from our wedding centerpieces.

I went to work.  After it was all said and done I ended up painting 23 jar lids with chalkboard paint and turning two drawers into spice drawers.  I am so proud of myself.  Since becoming plant based I cook about 99% of our food from scratch and make my own spice blends.  I have also been purchasing my spices in bulk as needed and this seems to be not only a time saver but also a money saver.

I feel more organized when I cook... but the first thing my 6 year old did was wipe away the words...!!

Vegan Disneyland!!

My husband and I have decided to celebrate every other one of our sons birthdays at Disneyland.  They eat got a 1st birthday party complete with frosting smothered all over their faces.  But for their 2nd, 4th and now 6th birthdays we took them to Disneyland.  Who knew how expensive and exhausting birthday parties are?!?

This was our first trip with our new family diet.  While my husband and oldest son still eat some meat, they are mostly vegetarian.  I tried to pack an array of snacks that would not only save us money but also keep us on our plant based diet.

Snacks

• fresh strawberries (from the farmers market)
• grapes
• sliced cucumber
• roasted garlic hummus
• sweet red pepper hummus
• pita bread
• jello (pre-packed)
• goldfish crackers
• life cereal
• cherrios

We also brought a refillable water bottle to save on all those sugary drinks.  But we did decide to eat one meal at the park and have dinner at our hotel.  The only restaurant choices were IHOP and Denny's.  Since Denny's was right next to our hotel we stopped their for dinner.  I searched on my phone for vegan options at Denny's and found this website, Vegan Restaurant Hub.  I saw that the veggie burger was on there so I went with that.

I ordered it on a whole wheat bun (usually they are vegan) along with ketchup, mustard, grilled onions, avocado & pickles.  I ordered it with the seasoned fries (which I don' know if they are vegan)... but I would have to say for my first meal out being plant based, I think I did pretty good.

Our hotel was under renovations so we got a breakfast bag with a water, apple, blueberry muffin and granola bar.  I ate the apple for breakfast and snacked on the remaining fruit we had.  But we all started to get hungry.  We were at Disney California Adventure that day and I had to try to find a place for us to eat in the park.  While searching on my phone I came across a blog called The Very New Vegan and she listed a place called Award Wieners that had a vegetarian mushroom and pepper cheese steak.

The only options I changed was that I asked for it without cheese (to which the waited replied, then it would just be peppers and mushrooms?... yup) and I got it on a gluten free bun.  I was a little irritated that he asked me if it was for allergy or personal reasons because to me it doesn't matter.  Any who!  It was absolutely delicious... super oily but super good.

My 6 year old did want a hot dog so he got one... which used to be a daily food item for him.  He was perfectly happy to eat it with his rare bag of chips.

I have to say that we concurred Disneyland without eating too much (actually loosing weight) and I was able to stick to my new love of vegetables!

Dear Muesli...

I think I love you.  I am completely addicted to Happy Herbivore's Muesli recipe.  It is from the Happy Herbivore Abroad cookbook.  I have been having this for breakfast for the past week and it completely fills me up and takes almost no time to make.

My first few times having them I topped it with honey and frozen blueberries.  But that quickly depleted my blueberry stash.  So I started to experiment... bananas and honey are super delicious.  But then I remembered that I had shredded coconut in my pantry.  That quickly topped the bananas.  Then I found a lonely mango on my counter and threw that on with some honey and coconut.

I cannot wait to see what else my dear muesli can handle!

Italian Night!

I really love the ease of preparing a simple meal.  Spaghetti and Meatballs is a hit around here.  My 6 year old loved the turkey meatballs I used to make for him.  I almost had to hide them just so my husband could have a few.  But our days of eating and purchasing meat are behind us.  I wanted to find an alternative and the Happy Herbivore did not disappoint.

In her cookbook, The Happy Herbivore Cookbook she has a recipe for Spaghetti and Meatless Balls.  They are made from a soy based meat-like product which I had never tried before.  I was amazed at how they cooked up and looked just like meatballs.  I also loved that my hand weren't covered in meat that require scalding hot water to clean.  I made a simple salad of romaine and a power greens combo I found at Costco.  I topped my salad with garbanzos and pickled beets.  I opted not to put oil on my salad and just put balsamic vinegar.

My 6 year old ate all the meatballs!  I did grab two before he scarfed them down.  They tasted similar to a meatball but they just weren't for me.  I think after almost a year of being a vegetarian I just don't want to eat meat... nor anything that resembles it.  But this would be a great transition from carnivore to herbivore!  I love that I have a meatless alternative for my son that he loves!!