Week 7

Week 7 begins with a nice hot cup of coffee and soy chorizo roasted potato breakfast tacos. Can't complain.  It was in the mid-70s today but I stayed inside and transformed into Suzy Homemaker.  Part of that included soaking white beans overnight and making a rustic bean and mushroom casserole topped with tasty homemade sage breadcrumbs and served with tomato basil quinoa.  Simultaneously, I was roasting anaheim chiles to make potato and kale enchiladas (which incidentally are even more orgasmic with the addition of soy chorizo).  Finally, I made not one but TWO batches of vegan cupcakes - pumpkin chocolate chip with cinnamon glaze and vanilla almond with dark chocolate ganache.

I am noticing a trend with my cooking habits.  I become very inspired over the weekend after browsing through my borrowed vegan cookbooks, this weekend especially "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World", then want to cook until I literally need to sit down.  I believe I was in the kitchen for four hours straight this morning and it was joyous.  Jason took the kids to the library for the afternoon, so after cooking I finished the laundry and cleaned the house.  Then, I celebrated by watching an episode of The Walking Dead, which is really not cool after you've been cooking all day to see mashed up zombies on T.V.

I will take the two full meals cooked today and celebrate over the abundant leftovers so that I don't have to cook more than a couple of more times this week for the family.  Jason put the kabosh on my cupcake baking mania by throwing my favorite mixing bowls in the dishwasher.  Done and done.

Week 6

My body revolted today against all the dairy I had been glutting during the weekend.  It started innocently enough last Friday with a craving for a burger and milkshake, so I had a black bean veggie burger and pumpkin milkshake at Drake Diner with the family.  Then on Saturday, I indulged in coffee creamer in my early morning cup o' joe and a bit of cheese on my lunch sandwich.  Then, Saturday night, Jason and I went to Centro on a surprise post-anniversary dinner.  I had the Pizza Blanco, a concoction of riccotta, roasted garlic, and fresh tomato.  Saturday was a dairy free-for-all.  But I didn't stop there.

On Sunday Jason made a rockin' batch of veggie chili and I ruined it by topping it off with cheese.  Then today, Monday, I stayed home with Malea (who is currently suffering through ANOTHER ear infection) and we had cheese pizza.  That's when my tummy said, "Enough!"  Not sure if you have ever experienced your stomach actually turning on you, but it is not pleasant.  After the fourth trip to the bathroom, I promptly ran outside and threw the rest of the pizza away.

I had done so well last week.  I even made a pound of tofu and cup of cashews serve as a substitute for ricotta cheese.  To clarify, tofu is one of my four dreaded things I do NOT eat.  In repentance, I made an amazing dairy-free, fall veggie bounty dinner (that is acorn squash with vegan "butter" and brown sugar, roasted garlicky green beans, and caramelized onion and mushroom quinoa).  And I am swearing off cheese for the rest of the week.  I'm hoping that will be enough for the old tummy to forgive me.

Week 5 (ok, really only 4.5 since it's only Monday)

I have been a cooking fool for the past couple of days.  As the haze of dairy left my head, I perused "Veganomicon" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero and found some amazing recipes to try out.  First up were the Potato and Kale Enchiladas with Roasted Chile Sauce.  Holy shit, these took forever to make, but were completely worth the two hours of cook time.  Maybe it's because I'm only a novice in the kitchen but I made these on a Sunday night and went to bed exhausted.  However, I had two enchiladas for lunch today and nearly orgasmed.  If you want to have a similar experience (which really, who can resist a meal that brings you close to climax?) here's the recipe: http://epicureanvegan.com/2011/04/28/potato-and-kale-enchiladas/

Then, tonight I attempted another Veganomicon recipe requiring me to make fresh pesto.  Basil cilantro pesto as a matter of fact, with roasted mushrooms, artichokes and linguine.  Score again!  And it was not 2 hours in the kitchen.  The recipe is here, but I added the roasted mushrooms: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/SPINACH-LINGUINE-WITH-BASIL-CILANTRO-PESTO-AND-ARTICHOKES-50035577.  I added a side salad of fresh mixed greens and sorrel.  The best part about these two past meals was that I used many of the fresh ingredients we picked up at the Homestead Farm, our local CSA, on Saturday.  The potatoes, herbs, kale, onions, peppers, greens, and sorrel were all from the farm, many we picked from the field on Saturday.  To top it off, I found soy ice cream that is delectable.  You can't imagine how happy this makes me.

It's gonna be a good foodie week, I can feel it.

Week 4

This week I became up close and personal with dairy not once, not twice, but THREE times.  The first time was purposeful. I wanted a celebratory cheese pizza.  I rationalized it by thinking it will help sway my maniacal cheese pizza cravings I've not been able to shake for the last three weeks, so we went to Felix and Oscars and had the thin crust cheese.  With a side of ranch.  I'm pretty sure they put crack in their ranch dressing because it was even better than the pizza.  Now I will have maniacal ranch dressing dreams.

The second time was equally as purposeful.  The cheese pizza and ranch did not sway the cravings, in fact it only made them worse.  So I chalked this week up to a "Let's see how the old body reacts to the re-introduction of dairy."  Bad idea.  I had J.Benjamin's famous artichoke dip - the whole freaking dish all to myself.  I got about half-way through it and wanted to barf.

The third time was today during lunch and just plain stupid.  Not funny ha-ha stupid, but "Rhea WTF is wrong with you" stupid.  I was in Iowa City presenting at a conference, and lunch consisted of a delicious pasta and salad buffet.  Still stupidly calling this my off-week I opted for the vodka penne.  I had problems all afternoon.  Maybe it was the vodka sauce, or the cream in the coffee, or the butter I put on my roll.  Or the two cupcakes.  Shit. I have no willpower during my week off, so this obviously needs to change.

At least I'm noticing a trend here.  Eating out = bad idea.  I am safe in my kitchen and turn into a drooling dairy-craving zombie everywhere else.  Rationalizing that it's okay to have a cheat week.  Okay maybe not such a bad idea.  I am of course trying to make this a manageable lifestyle change after all, so a little dairy here and there is not too bad.  I did NOT succumb to eating any delicious-looking prime rib slices that were on the buffet this afternoon.  But seriously, two cupcakes Rhea?

So to atone for my dairy sins, what do I do? Headed over to Fair Grounds Coffeehouse before my trip back home and picked up a half-dozen vegan cupcakes. And nine vegan cookies at New Pioneer Co-Op.  Don't judge.  At least they don't have dairy in them and I'm sharing with the fam.

Days 20 & 21

I did it! Three weeks of conscious meat-product-free (or as close as I could get it) eating.  Before the weekend hit, I had consigned myself to a celebration of cheese pizza and artichoke dip at J. Benjamin's in Windsor Heights.  Then, on Friday, I came up with a crazy idea to congratulate myself instead by taking an impromptu trip to Iowa City with the family and eating well at their vegan restaurants there.  It seemed like a better trade-off: cheese pizza and gaining weight versus hotel/new restaurants/fun outdoorsy stuff with the family.

We had an amazing weekend tromping around at a fossil gorge in Coralville Lake, eating sumptuous vegan food at The Red Avocado and Fair Grounds Coffeehouse, and strolling the beautiful paths of Wilson's Apple Orchard.  In retrospect, I really am proud of myself of these past three weeks.  A person might think, "What the hell? It's only three weeks."  But try comparing giving up meat, dairy, and eggs to giving up smoking cigarettes cold turkey. Or a crack addict giving up crack completely.  Cheesy pepperoni pizza is my crack.  I don't deny the difficulty of trying to do this long-term, and by far the best advice I can give to any newbie going down this path is to make sure you are entering this journey with a partner or friend who is as committed (if not more committed) to making this major lifestyle change.  I don't know how Jason did it with me still scarfing down all that cheese and meat in front of him.  Definitely helps that he was a long-term vegetarian already.  And that he accepts all my crazy completely and fully.

I'll keep you updated on a weekly basis to let you know how it's going.  Next week, I plan to add an exercise program, so you know the next time you hear from me I'll be dead sexy.  Kidding...

Day 20 Menu:

• Breakfast - Orange juice and whole wheat English muffin with peanut butter
• Lunch - Basil fried rice, double veggies/no egg (if I had to choose a last meal this would for sure be it)
• Dinner - Roasted mushroom tacos, guacamole and chips

Day 21 Menu:

• Breakfast - Chocolate banana protein shake, toasted whole wheat pita w/ peanut butter
• Lunch - Whole wheat pita sandwich w/ hummus, spinach, red onion, mushrooms, and red pepper
• Dinner - Red Avocado's pasta primavera (garlic infused olive oil, roasted seasonal veggies, and capers)
• Late night snack - Vegan chocolate chip cookies from New Pioneer Co-Op (Iowa City) and soy milk

Day 22 Menu (just for shits and giggles):

• Breakfast - Fair Grounds Coffeehouse vegan mocha, vegan Bananas Foster french toast w/ maple syrup and soy butter (the breakfast here was UNREAL)
• Lunch - Subway veggie delight w/ honey mustard, chips, diet Coke