Well, it's day 13 and so far so good - day 13 of vegetarian, day 9 of vegan! I would definitely say that vegan is much more challenging, and when I say I have done it for 9 days that's admittedly not knowing if all the bread, etc., has truly been vegan. If I cook it myself, I am sure, but if not, I just do the best I can.
So I have had some recent outings that have been fun. In the spirit of the beginning of summer vacation I took a day to do a nice hike up the South Ridge of Dorr Mountain, followed by a nice lunch in Bar Harbor and a couple hours at Sand Beach. I found the hike beautiful and invigorating, and though it sounds corny, feel an even deeper appreciation for nature than ever. Lunch was interesting - I went to Rupinuni's in Bar Harbor (which has some veggie options) and ordered a vegetarian panini. I asked them for no cheese, and the waitress came back to check and make sure I was serious. "You know that without the cheese it's just vegetables and bread?" she said, and I felt a little snicker sneak out - of course I did! Heaven forbid you don't order the cheese!
The weekend continued with a nice day and night at our camp. I found cooking vegan at camp to be relatively easy - We made veggie packets on the grill - no meat for me, turkey sausage for the rest of my family. Not too bad a compromise! Breakfast was granola with soy milk, and lots of fruits and salad between.
Last night's dinner wasn't too successful - corn on the cob was a hit, but I was the only one who wanted to eat the brown rice and red beans. I thought it was yummy, my husband ate pizza later on after dinner. Hmmm.... and my daughter ate two ears of corn, no rice or beans. Guess that one wasn't so successful!
We also baked this weekend. My daughter loves to help in the kitchen, so together we made two delicious recipes. The first was homemade cranberry-coconut granola (following the Bit$h in the Kitch recipe). This is soooooo yummy, and the coconut is one of my favorite flavors. I've stored it in the fridge to keep it from being too sticky when I go to snack on it. The second recipe was also from Bitch in the Kitch and was vegan zucchini-raisin muffins. This involved many new things for me, from shredding zucchini to using egg-replacer powder and coconut oil. I am happy to report that they, as well, are delicious! And I also love a recipe that says it makes a dozen, and then actually does make a dozen! So many times, they really only make 8... or 6... this had enough batter at the end to make 12 full-size muffins.
Today was interesting because I had class in the middle of the day. This caused me to only drink a protein shake (made with soy) for lunch, but dinner was awesome. I sauteed kale with garlic, mashed sweet potatoes, and fried strips of tempeh in liquid aminoa (soy sauce substitute) for me, while grilling pork chops for my husband. Yum! Despite this great dinner, again my husband ate pizza after dinner. I think he's trying to tell me he's not getting enough to eat, so I have some work to do with planning portions and making sure he's fed. Tomorrow - home-made pesto, cheese-free for my portion. We'll see if pesto is as good minus the parmesean - I have my doubts!
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