Still here

I'm alive! Despite my lack of posts, I am still here and doing the Vegan thing.
Speaking of which, if you want to win a awesome cookbook for vegan desserts click here.

And thats really the purpose of this post, so do it.

I promise I will have a update soon about hows it going!

Day 20: I actually made food.

Be amazed, I made the Mac Un-Cheese dish that I told you about. It came out a freakish yellow color that instantly made me wonder what color it would make my poo and maybe thats why I didn't like the dish at first.
At first the sauce was too runny, so I added flour to it to thicken it, which was fine if I was going to eat it all right then but since that wasn't the case, I had to add a little water or almond milk each time I ate it. And even though I wasn't so big on it the first time, I really liked it the next day and even better when I added a side dish of veggies (not in the dish though. Freakishly yellow veggies don't look as appetizing.) I also made some delicious pancakes which I ended up ruining by adding some disgusting dried blueberries from Costco. Alls I could taste was the chemicals, bleh! We learn by trial and error I guess.

On to books now. I just finished reading this book: Vegan Freak: Being Vegan In a Non-Vegan World. While  it was a good book and I learned a number of useful things, I wouldn't recommend it to someone who was considering going vegan because the Torres seem to talk about things as if you already have done research on the going vegan. For someone who is considering going vegan and doesn't know much on the subject, I would suggest  Diet For A New America or Becoming Vegan as these authors seem to go more extensively into why you should go vegan. Also I should mention that the book Vegan Freak was considerably shorter than the other two and that may be why there wasn't much detail.

Day 14: Food, Books, And My Ability To Save Lives

Day 14 has come and gone and I've yet to actually make a vegan meal from scratch. Really slacking off in that department. I did make an effort to make this Mac Un-Cheese dish, the only ingredients I was lacking were the pasta and turmeric. So I set off to Ralph's to pick them and a few other groceries up. I was doing so good, reading all the labels, making sure everything was vegan and if possible, organic, but failed to check the pasta. Made it all the way home and opened the package before I thought to check the ingredients. Egg whites, unfortunately, was the third ingredient listed so project Mac Un-Cheese has been postponed until I'm not so lazy busy. I did, however, find time to make more of these delicious cookies. I always add cranberries, pecans, and chocolate chips to mine which make them even better, yum!

I also found time to finish Diet For A New America. Quite possibly the best book ever and I recommend it to everyone. In fact, I called and told my Father about it and told him as soon as I buy one I would send it to him to read. It just so happened, after having a delicious lunch at Native Foods and then donating blood (pat on back) at the Aliso Viejo Library, I found a copy in great condition at the Friends of the Library bookstore for a whopping 50 cents! I also found seven other great books at the same price. Friends of the Library bookstores are fast becoming my favorite store.

And speaking of donating blood, I've always had trouble keeping my iron levels high enough to donate blood. Hemoglobin levels are required to be at least 12.5 and mine were quite often too low and at one point was down to 8 so I wasn't allowed to donate. Its been over a year since I've tried to donate last but this time my hemoglobin levels were at 13.something! Yay! I can donate and save seven lives now :) You should too! Go to redcrossblood.org and enter your zip code and find a blood drive close to you. Whenever I donate I always feel like a hero. I strut around with my neon colored bandage on my arm thinking, "I am equivalent to Superman." Yeah, its a good feeling, go try it.

Day 2: Finding Food

Day 1 was a busy day since I had to work at 9am and hadn't done laundry since family was in town.
I was up at 6:30am 7am  doing laundry so my breakfast consisted of a banana and a cliff bar. It sufficed and would have been fine I suppose if I would have eaten a better meal later on but that wasnt the case. While at work I was constantly snacking on bread, french fries, and strawberries. Once I got home, I ate steamed beets, one potato, bread with nutritional yeast and then later snacked on toast covered with my mothers delicious homemade cactus apple jelly. Thats not too bad and I certainly could have done worse, but one of the main points of this "trial" is to be getting wholesome, well-rounded, healthy meals. I have a long way to go.

Yesterday I also brought home from work a cheesecake that was too small for Cathy and Manny. When Cathy got home she was trying to be all sensitive to my new diet and was worried that she couldn't eat cheese and cheesecake in front of me. It didn't bug me in the least of course, I'm surrounded by both all day! I think she was pretending to worry mainly to see what I would do. I cant say much on day one when my resolve is strong, it's the weeks ahead that'll show that I can do it.

Today I started off the right way with steel-cut oatmeal mixed with berries, and a tablespoon of flaxseed oil, followed with a multi-vitamin. But now noon is nearing, my stomach is starting to mumble and I have to make something.
I just came across this website that has really simple but super delicious vegan food.Compassion Over Killing. It's now in my bookmarks...
Although I have slowly started to buy things for my vegan lifestyle, I still have to buy stuff every time I make something and I suppose it'll be this way for a while.

Regardless of the constant purchases, I'm still very excited about this new change and I'm currently reading Diet for a New America, by John Robbins. Only a few chapters in but its so great!

Also Brittany, a girl from work, is doing this with me! We are gonna have Vegan Day every week (if my bank account can handle it!) and go try out new vegan restaurants. Last week we went to Native Foods and I tried the Buddha Bowl. I didn't think it was that good, but the watermelon lemonade was phenomenal and Brittany loved her Quesadilla. I'll certainly be going back to try other things!

Here's What This Is All About

Alrighty, so if anyone actually reads my other blog, Trying on the Blog, (it's doubtful but possible) then they would already know that I will be giving Veganism a 30 day trial. Why a thirty day trial? Going Vegan is a big step and a lot of friends and family are skeptical. I've never done it so I cant say its easy, but I think I have enough reasons (ethical, environmental and health) for going and staying vegan. Telling people I'm gonna give it a thirty day trial seems to appease people, if you will, and sorta stops them from trying to tell me I cant or shouldn't do it. And at first it was also for myself, to prove to myself that I could do it. But as I read more about it, I realize its not something you just do for 30 days and see how it goes. There are real problems out there caused by people consuming animal products and I just don't feel good about eating/using it anymore.
So this blog is just about the food I'm eating and the books about veganism I'm reading and I'll also post links to cool vegan websites and videos. Day One begins on May 3rd.
So Welcome to my Vegan Blog :)