Day 1

It's official! Today was the first day of my first round at vegan eating.  I woke up excited and a little nervous about saying no to animal products, especially after I had a dream about last night's grilled peaches and fantastic vanilla ice cream (seriously). Jason and I rounded out last night by cleaning out the house of all the food crap in our fridge and cupboards.  It left me with a couple of grocery bags full of beef jerky, mac and cheese, and canned tuna to donate to the AIDS Project of Central Iowa where I work.  Jason was particularly ecstatic about doing this, citing that cleaning out the house and having me eat vegan was better than the Macbook Pro I got him for his birthday and made him open two weeks ago. WTF?!?  I should have saved my money.  But his sex appeal does seem to increase exponentially when I see him poking around on his new Macbook, so backlit and all.

Anyway, I was particularly productive this morning, cleaning out the house to prepare for my parents visiting from San Diego this week.  All that productivity left me tired by noon, though, and we didn't have groceries in the house to make lunch.  We decided to go out to eat, which made me a little nervous since 1) I LOVE to eat out. More so than cooking. 2) I've never tried to order vegetarian, let alone vegan, at a restaurant. I've witnessed Jason having to do it, and it did not seem like a pleasant experience.  After foregoing a trip to Jason's Deli (I just did not want to tempt myself with free frozen yogurt), we settled on going to On the Border.  And I gotta admit, it was a really tasty lunch.  We had the Build-Your-Own Fajitas with grilled mushrooms, zucchini, red pepper, and onions.  The waiter recognized I was ordering a vegetarian dish and even suggested I opt for black beans instead of the refried and lime cilantro rice instead of the mexican rice.  How kind!  I wish more waiters were thoughtful like that.

Later this afternoon, after a very long and wonderful nap, the family and I held a taste-test contest to decide our plant-based milks of choice.  The adults chose unsweetened vanilla almondmilk and the kiddos preferred coconut milk and vanilla soy milk.  Thank goodness for Trader Joe's.  Day 1 ended up being pretty pleasant.  It's 8 pm and I feel great. No headaches and lots of energy today.  Only one slight craving when I saw our daughter Malea's cheesy bean nachos, but I got over it.

Day 1 Menu:

• Breakfast - Kashi Heart Healthy Honey Nut Oats w/ Almondmilk
• Lunch - On The Border Build-Your-Own Fajitas "El Diablo" style w/ a buttload of jalapenos, chips and salsa, lime cilantro rice and black beans
• Dinner - Salad greens with grapes, tomatoes, green onion and balsamic vinaigrette; roasted garlic hummus and sea salt pita chips

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