Will I be successful and become vegan? Will I have the "big one" and die before I make it? Will I become vegan but get run over by a car? Will I find recipes or make up new recipes that wow me and my readers? Will I find ways to eat out and stay vegan? Stay tuned!
This morning at Cardiac Rehab I was planning to get my cholesterol results back from the test done last Friday. I've been almost vegan for a month - by "almost" I mean that I will occasionally have dairy products IF I can have a non-fat (low fat will not do) version. I may have written this before but I cannot give up Greek Gods Yogurt ! It's like eating ice cream or frozen yogurt - it is impossible to believe that something this creamy and spectacular is non-fat but it is! When I read Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Esselstyn, I initially committed to the "Vegan plus" diet that he requires. It's Vegan AND no nuts, no avocado, and no added oil - not even olive oil! I was thinking that I could do it to save my life - no eggs, no more meat, no dairy - wait, that means no Greek Gods Yogurt! I was discouraged but then I read that with his first group of "subjects" he allowed dairy IF it was non-fat but he changed his mind later when some enzyme in milk was connected with cancer - well not that I want to spit in cancer's face but I figure I'm much more likely to go from cardiac problems than cancer so I'm on the ORIGINAL Esselstyn Diet - the one that saved so many people's lives! Got to have the yogurt.
But I digress (I do that sometimes - go off on a tangent and forget where I was going! This morning I read a recommendation for a new book called When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead and I thought, "Damn, I wish I had come up with that title - it could be my autobiography!") Oh my God! I digressed from my digression...now what was I talking about? Oh, I was set to get my blood test results this morning in Cardiac Rehab. I checked in - we have to weigh in and record our weight and then get a heart monitor and hook ourselves up to the leads and make sure that it's working and we can see the familiar little squiggly line on the EKG screen (one of the nurses told us that if we see a flatline we'll know that we're dead - hospital humor...what would we do without it?) before a nurse approaches and takes our blood pressure and asks us several personal questions where everyone can hear our answers!
My weight stayed the same which is the first time I didn't post a loss of a pound or two at weigh-in - not great but I know all the ways to explain it (I was a Weight Watchers Leader a long time ago - all the reasons they taught us still apply - except that monthly weight thing for women that I never mentioned anyway cause it just seemed odd to bring up! - Sorry digressing again...) I'm all set to start on the treadmill and I asked, "are my cholesterol results back?" I was told to start exercising and they would pull a copy for me. SO I did as I was told and forty-five minutes later they escorted me into a "counseling room" to give me my results.
After a month of borderline vegan food and exercising five times a week my results were....
HDL - that's the good one - DOWN - that's the wrong direction!
LDL - that's the bad one - UP - wrong direction again!
Triglycerides - bad stuff - UP - wrong direction!
Risk Ratio - want that lower - UP - wrong damn direction!
Disappointed - uh YES! I had prepared myself for bad news you know like the levels stayed the same or changed in the right direction but not by much. But every measure in the wrong direction after a month of no meat -not a happy camper. I didn't say anything for a minute just trying to let it soak in and then I clarified, "After a month of completely changing my diet and exercise practices, every measure went in the wrong direction?"
She tried to come up with some reassuring suggestions -
"really the numbers are not up THAT much! You could almost interpret these as staying the same."
"probably within the margin of error. Sometimes it takes three months to have measurable impact on your lipid profile."
Seeing I was not convinced but struck silent (a condition anyone who knows me knows is rare), she started trying to make sure I wasn't going to do anything rash! "You're not going to go out and binge on steak are you?" And then, I'm wasn't sure why in the moment but I cracked up laughing! She looked at me like maybe something had snapped and her expression made me laugh harder. When I saw how worried she looked I started to laugh so hard I thought that I might pass out - I glanced through the glass pane in the door and saw two of the nurses looking at my EKG monitor and the thought of it going all screwy cause I was laughing so hard, barely able to get a breath, just made it seem that much funnier. Tears were rolling down my cheeks and I started thinking that I might really cause myself to have the big one but I was beyond control. I finally settled down and told her that it started in my head when she suggested that a steak to my heart would kill me and I thought of vampires but that's not spelled the same and then I thought about suicide by steak and I don't know it was early in the morning it just seemed funny in an English minor geeky sort of way...maybe you had to be there?
For my first meal after the bad news I had a delicious Bueno Burger and salad at Mother's Cafe & Garden - it was vegan so I am not losing control BUT in two months when I get my blood tested again if my numbers are worse - well, stay tuned...
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Meatless Loaf
Will I be successful and become vegan? Will I have the "big one" and die before I make it? Will I become vegan but get run over by a car? Will I find recipes or make up new recipes that wow me and my readers? Will I find ways to eat out and stay vegan? Stay tuned!
When I announced to my best buddy that I was going to "go vegan" he told me that he would bring a Vegan Meatloaf by that weekend - he and his partner have been vegetarians for awhile now and he said that this recipe was easy and "really good." So that weekend I looked forward to his call to tell me when I could plan on having this great meal. He didn't call but I wasn't terribly surprised because that is his way - I'm used to it - nobody's perfect and he has a lot of other great characteristics that make him a great friend - follow through, not one of his best traits UNLESS it involves some new electronic gadgetry that I've bought and can't figure out how to install or get to work - THEN he's there in a nano-second!
When he did call he was asking how my weekend was and I said (somewhat passive-aggressively but with a hint of humor), "Well we were really hungry cause we had counted on having a Vegan "Meatloaf" but it never showed up...or called!" He said, "Do you want me to make one cause I will, it's easy, or you could just get the recipe, it's in that Engine 2 book."
To which I replied, "Well duh! I can look up lots of recipes! I thought you offered to make it for me and bring it by." (That passive aggressive thing is hard to avoid sometimes!) So long story short I bought the book and made it! The recipe is called "Lynn's Meatloaf (Vegetarian)" which sounds like a contradiction to me so we dubbed it "Meatless Loaf" and I don't know why but every time we said that we were having meatless loaf for dinner we giggled like children so the name stuck! You cand find it here Lynn's Meatloaf (Vegetarian)
Just like with "meatloaf," I wanted mashed potatoes with it (the meatless loaf - hehehe) but I still had the South Beach mindset going from my last diet and thought that I shouldn't eat potatoes. This actually wasn't thought out - I was going from muscle memory when I thought that we could have Faux Mashed Potatoes from the South Beach Diet Book. This is the recipe made by steaming cauliflower until it's soft and then throwing it into the food processor with a little fat free half&half and processing until it's the consistency of mashed potatoes then spraying it with a little buttery flavored spray like "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter." I substituted Soy Half&Half but other than that made the South Beach Recipe. And of course I HAVE to have English Peas when I have mashed potatoes (for which I might add there is NO substitute!). So that was our meal. It was fantastic - even if I do say so myself. The photo below doesn't do it justice - it tasted more like meat than it looks! The newly named "Meatless Loaf" will become a regular at our house - I may even invite my friend over to enjoy it with us (not is a passive aggressive way of course!).
When I announced to my best buddy that I was going to "go vegan" he told me that he would bring a Vegan Meatloaf by that weekend - he and his partner have been vegetarians for awhile now and he said that this recipe was easy and "really good." So that weekend I looked forward to his call to tell me when I could plan on having this great meal. He didn't call but I wasn't terribly surprised because that is his way - I'm used to it - nobody's perfect and he has a lot of other great characteristics that make him a great friend - follow through, not one of his best traits UNLESS it involves some new electronic gadgetry that I've bought and can't figure out how to install or get to work - THEN he's there in a nano-second!
When he did call he was asking how my weekend was and I said (somewhat passive-aggressively but with a hint of humor), "Well we were really hungry cause we had counted on having a Vegan "Meatloaf" but it never showed up...or called!" He said, "Do you want me to make one cause I will, it's easy, or you could just get the recipe, it's in that Engine 2 book."
To which I replied, "Well duh! I can look up lots of recipes! I thought you offered to make it for me and bring it by." (That passive aggressive thing is hard to avoid sometimes!) So long story short I bought the book and made it! The recipe is called "Lynn's Meatloaf (Vegetarian)" which sounds like a contradiction to me so we dubbed it "Meatless Loaf" and I don't know why but every time we said that we were having meatless loaf for dinner we giggled like children so the name stuck! You cand find it here Lynn's Meatloaf (Vegetarian)
Just like with "meatloaf," I wanted mashed potatoes with it (the meatless loaf - hehehe) but I still had the South Beach mindset going from my last diet and thought that I shouldn't eat potatoes. This actually wasn't thought out - I was going from muscle memory when I thought that we could have Faux Mashed Potatoes from the South Beach Diet Book. This is the recipe made by steaming cauliflower until it's soft and then throwing it into the food processor with a little fat free half&half and processing until it's the consistency of mashed potatoes then spraying it with a little buttery flavored spray like "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter." I substituted Soy Half&Half but other than that made the South Beach Recipe. And of course I HAVE to have English Peas when I have mashed potatoes (for which I might add there is NO substitute!). So that was our meal. It was fantastic - even if I do say so myself. The photo below doesn't do it justice - it tasted more like meat than it looks! The newly named "Meatless Loaf" will become a regular at our house - I may even invite my friend over to enjoy it with us (not is a passive aggressive way of course!).
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Bacon
Will I be successful and become vegan? Will I have the "big one" and die before I make it? Will I become vegan but get run over by a car? Will I find recipes or make up new recipes that wow me and my readers? Will I find ways to eat out and stay vegan? Stay tuned!
Before I started my journey to avoid a heart attack or bypass surgery I would have to say that one of my favorite food flavors was (is) bacon. As a matter of fact I found this recipe online when I was looking for something new and original with bacon involved that I was actually going to try sometime! Check it out... http://www.bbqaddicts.com/blog/recipes/bacon-explosion/ I mean really, what could be better than sausage rolled around cooked bacon then covered with weaved bacon slices and bar-be-qued? Of course now I cannot allow myself to think about this because I'm pretty sure that even a tiny slice of this concoction would complete the clogging of my arteries - I would probably die with a smile but I'm not really ready for that yet!
So why the heck would I write about bacon when this is my blog about becoming vegan? I'm trying to be honest about the struggle AND I just used a vegan product that brings bacon flavor back!! It's kind like that Justin Timberlake song, "I'm bringing bacon back, them m#@her*#@kers don't know how to act...take it to the chorus!" :-) Bacon flavor that's vegan? I was surprised too - so here's the story.
My partner - the guy with whom I reside and with whom I am forbidden to marry (sorry - wrong blog see "I Am A Dangerous Man" at this link if you want that story... http://gardnerlive2learn.blogspot.com Okay, where was I - oh yeah my partner who I affectionately and with no irony refer to as BPOE (Best Partner on Earth) and I decided to try a recipe out of The Engine 2 Diet by Rip Esselstyn (it's sometimes referred to as "The Austin Fireman's Diet"). It's a diet based on his father's earlier book that I talked about in my "Why I'm Blogging" entry - like father, like son, it's vegan. So we thought we would check out his recipe for Migas Especiales for brunch today.
In the book he suggests serving the dish with a side of rice and vegetarian low-fat refried beans. I don't like full-fat refried beans so I decided to try some vegetarian/vegan black beans I bought yesterday at Sprouts. As I was cooking I tasted the beans and they were BLAND! I thought about adding onions or salsa or something but I looked in my spice cabinet and discovered something I bought more than a year ago but had not used. It was Bacon Salt and it's vegan! http://www.baconsalt.com/ I added the bacon salt to the beans and they were tasty. As a matter of fact the black beans flavored with Bacon Salt would have been my favorite part of the breakfast but BPOE made some fantastic Mimosas so...but the beans were certainly my favorite FOOD. The migas were okay - not great but okay. I'll probably try the recipe again but even if I don't I will certainly continue to spice up beans and other veggies with Bacon Salt - I grew up in Mississippi - vegetables are supposed to taste like bacon!
Before I started my journey to avoid a heart attack or bypass surgery I would have to say that one of my favorite food flavors was (is) bacon. As a matter of fact I found this recipe online when I was looking for something new and original with bacon involved that I was actually going to try sometime! Check it out... http://www.bbqaddicts.com/blog/recipes/bacon-explosion/ I mean really, what could be better than sausage rolled around cooked bacon then covered with weaved bacon slices and bar-be-qued? Of course now I cannot allow myself to think about this because I'm pretty sure that even a tiny slice of this concoction would complete the clogging of my arteries - I would probably die with a smile but I'm not really ready for that yet!
So why the heck would I write about bacon when this is my blog about becoming vegan? I'm trying to be honest about the struggle AND I just used a vegan product that brings bacon flavor back!! It's kind like that Justin Timberlake song, "I'm bringing bacon back, them m#@her*#@kers don't know how to act...take it to the chorus!" :-) Bacon flavor that's vegan? I was surprised too - so here's the story.
My partner - the guy with whom I reside and with whom I am forbidden to marry (sorry - wrong blog see "I Am A Dangerous Man" at this link if you want that story... http://gardnerlive2learn.blogspot.com Okay, where was I - oh yeah my partner who I affectionately and with no irony refer to as BPOE (Best Partner on Earth) and I decided to try a recipe out of The Engine 2 Diet by Rip Esselstyn (it's sometimes referred to as "The Austin Fireman's Diet"). It's a diet based on his father's earlier book that I talked about in my "Why I'm Blogging" entry - like father, like son, it's vegan. So we thought we would check out his recipe for Migas Especiales for brunch today.
In the book he suggests serving the dish with a side of rice and vegetarian low-fat refried beans. I don't like full-fat refried beans so I decided to try some vegetarian/vegan black beans I bought yesterday at Sprouts. As I was cooking I tasted the beans and they were BLAND! I thought about adding onions or salsa or something but I looked in my spice cabinet and discovered something I bought more than a year ago but had not used. It was Bacon Salt and it's vegan! http://www.baconsalt.com/ I added the bacon salt to the beans and they were tasty. As a matter of fact the black beans flavored with Bacon Salt would have been my favorite part of the breakfast but BPOE made some fantastic Mimosas so...but the beans were certainly my favorite FOOD. The migas were okay - not great but okay. I'll probably try the recipe again but even if I don't I will certainly continue to spice up beans and other veggies with Bacon Salt - I grew up in Mississippi - vegetables are supposed to taste like bacon!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Ridiculously Easy Vegan Meal - Vegan Sloppy Joe's
Will I be successful and become vegan? Will I have the "big one" and die before I make it? Will I become vegan but get run over by a car? Will I find recipes or make up new recipes that wow me and my readers? Will I find ways to eat out and stay vegan? Stay tuned!
I can't bring myself to call this a recipe but I've been asked to publish some "recipes" for good meals that I create that are vegetarian or vegan so here is the first one. I don't really measure so my ingredient list is a guess at quantity.
Vegan Sloppy Joe's
1 small yellow onion chopped
1 clove garlic minced
1/3 cup olive oil
1 pound veggie meat substitute (I use Gimme Lean brand)
2/3 cup ketchup
2/3 cup yellow mustard
1 cup brown sugar
Mix the ketchup, sugar and mustard together and heat over low temp in a sauce pan until brown sugar blends into the liquid.
In a skillet add chopped onions and minced garlic to the olive oil and cook until the onions are soft.
Crumble the meat substitute into the skillet and mix well together turning until the meat substitute is heated throughout.
Pour sauce over and stir just enough to cover completely.
If you serve over rice it's vegan! And how easy is that?
I can't bring myself to call this a recipe but I've been asked to publish some "recipes" for good meals that I create that are vegetarian or vegan so here is the first one. I don't really measure so my ingredient list is a guess at quantity.
Vegan Sloppy Joe's
1 small yellow onion chopped
1 clove garlic minced
1/3 cup olive oil
1 pound veggie meat substitute (I use Gimme Lean brand)
2/3 cup ketchup
2/3 cup yellow mustard
1 cup brown sugar
Mix the ketchup, sugar and mustard together and heat over low temp in a sauce pan until brown sugar blends into the liquid.
In a skillet add chopped onions and minced garlic to the olive oil and cook until the onions are soft.
Crumble the meat substitute into the skillet and mix well together turning until the meat substitute is heated throughout.
Pour sauce over and stir just enough to cover completely.
If you serve over rice it's vegan! And how easy is that?
SWAD - Southern Indian Vegetarian Food
Will I be successful and become vegan? Will I have the "big one" and die before I make it? Will I become vegan but get run over by a car? Will I find recipes or make up new recipes that wow me and my readers? Will I find ways to eat out and stay vegan? Stay tuned!
Thursday I met a friend at SWAD Vegetarian for Southern Indian food. The online reviews for the restaurant are great - even the bad one was good (some yahoo said that it was obvious that the owner did not care about "American" customers because everyone in there was from India and the food was just too spicy for him or "the average American diner"). :-) Even though I spent two weeks in India several years ago I'm not very sophisticated about Indian food (of course I had Delhi-belly most of the time there and was sick as a dog). I did know that Southern Indian food is nothing like Southern US food (brilliant right?)so I was ready for an adventure.
The menu is not very helpful unless you are actually from India because even though it's in English it's not interpreted, for example, Pani Poori is described as "seven poori served with mint..." so if you don't know what poori is...
My friend Keith asked the woman at the cash register, "We've never been here so what would you suggest? Not too spicy." We were a little nervous about the spiciness cause every table gets a big plastic pitcher of ice water. She smiled knowingly and pointed at the special. Called the Thali Special and defined as Poori (4) or Roti (4), Vegetables, Rice, Raita, Pickle, Dal, Papad, Salad & Sweet. I noticed that the special was the most expensive item on the lunch menu at $9.95 but what the heck - we were there for the adventure!
You probably know that Poori and Roti are types of bread so we enjoyed that - I remembered when it was delivered to the table because back in India when I was so sick it was bread and rice that sustained me! Of course we could pick out the salad and the rice but after that it was "the yellow one" "the one with peas in it" "the yogurty one" etc. It all gets a thumbs up EXCEPT for the smallest bowl which had something dark and medicinal tasting in it. I wish I had read this review before I went
I probably would have ordered the same thing but I would have known what I was eating!
Will I return to SWAD? Yes! But before I go next time I will Google the items on the menu so I know what the heck I'm ordering. The four people at the table next to us had what looked like a big spinach quiche and they were moaning and groaning about how great it was.
Gotta love Austin if you are vegetarian aspiring to be vegan!
Thursday I met a friend at SWAD Vegetarian for Southern Indian food. The online reviews for the restaurant are great - even the bad one was good (some yahoo said that it was obvious that the owner did not care about "American" customers because everyone in there was from India and the food was just too spicy for him or "the average American diner"). :-) Even though I spent two weeks in India several years ago I'm not very sophisticated about Indian food (of course I had Delhi-belly most of the time there and was sick as a dog). I did know that Southern Indian food is nothing like Southern US food (brilliant right?)so I was ready for an adventure.
The menu is not very helpful unless you are actually from India because even though it's in English it's not interpreted, for example, Pani Poori is described as "seven poori served with mint..." so if you don't know what poori is...
My friend Keith asked the woman at the cash register, "We've never been here so what would you suggest? Not too spicy." We were a little nervous about the spiciness cause every table gets a big plastic pitcher of ice water. She smiled knowingly and pointed at the special. Called the Thali Special and defined as Poori (4) or Roti (4), Vegetables, Rice, Raita, Pickle, Dal, Papad, Salad & Sweet. I noticed that the special was the most expensive item on the lunch menu at $9.95 but what the heck - we were there for the adventure!
You probably know that Poori and Roti are types of bread so we enjoyed that - I remembered when it was delivered to the table because back in India when I was so sick it was bread and rice that sustained me! Of course we could pick out the salad and the rice but after that it was "the yellow one" "the one with peas in it" "the yogurty one" etc. It all gets a thumbs up EXCEPT for the smallest bowl which had something dark and medicinal tasting in it. I wish I had read this review before I went
I probably would have ordered the same thing but I would have known what I was eating!
Will I return to SWAD? Yes! But before I go next time I will Google the items on the menu so I know what the heck I'm ordering. The four people at the table next to us had what looked like a big spinach quiche and they were moaning and groaning about how great it was.
Gotta love Austin if you are vegetarian aspiring to be vegan!
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