so, one night last week, i was flipping channels and came across OPRAH. it was the episode where she challenged her staff to go vegan for a week, did you see it? i was intrigued. so the thing is, we’re already a pretty darn healthy bunch. we eat well. we don’t eat a lot of meat. we eat mostly organic. no fast food, no junk. but since the new year, i’ve been feeling like i need a little sum’sum. a little kick, if you will. so i ran this idea past the boys, and they were up for it. going vegetarian would actually be really easy for me. but cutting out the cheese/eggs/CHEESE is a bit more of a challenge. but for a week? no biggie.
yesterday, when lots of other folks were chowing on superbowl food, i hit the market for some foodies for the week. and not a whole lot different from a normal trip to the market except i didn’t come back with any animal products. no yogurt, no eggs, no chicken, no ice cream (sorry, kiddos), you get the drift. it was actually kind of exciting, and my cart looked really pretty!
so here’s my loot. kale and broccoli. carrots and peppers. hummus and tofu. edamame, rice cakes, boca burgers, etc… (boca burgers are vegan, right? better double check that. i learned that a loaf of raisin bread i bought actually has milk in it, oopsy.)
there are a couple things hanging out in the fridge that we won’t be touching this week… there’s some half & half hanging out in the back, and the eggs, i’ll give to speck. plus, there’s a drawer full of cheese – smoked gouda and brie (bad timing, but i’m sure it’ll wait for us until next week)
the mister's lunch
so i sent matty to work with a hummus sandwich, some carrots, a banana, a clementine and an aranciata. not bad, huh? i hope he’s not starving by mid-day. 
my desk this morning
and here’s my new thing that i’ve been sticking with for a little bit now… WATER. and a lot of it. i fill this pitcher in the morning and my goal is to have it finished by early afternoon, and then i do one more in the second half of the day. i noticed one day that i hadn’t had any water at all by 11 am and my body was craving it. i’m not really a big water drinker, i go through phases and sometimes i totally forget to drink it at all. but doing this thing with the pitcher at the start really works for me.
other things we cut out this week: coffee + alcohol. no wine and no beer. and i’m drinking a detox tea that’s actually, surprisingly not awful.
curious to see how good we’ll feel by the end of the week. i’ll keep you posted! also, if you are vegan and have a favorite recipe to share, send it over! i’m looking to still actually cook meals and not just serve my family chick patties and carrot sticks, heh. my friend tracy of shutterbean fame has already sent over a handful of really good looking meals, i have to decide on what we’re having tonight. 
{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
Such a great idea! How about rice noodles/Asian dishes? I love thai and vietnamese food, the flavors are incredible, and they’re extra healthy too! Btw, what tea are you using? I really need to detox soon.
totally a great idea, that’ll be dinner one night this week! we love noodles soups!!!
we have a couple boxes of teas from Triple Leaf (http://www.tripleleaf-tea.com/)
Good for you! I think any move towards a healthier lifestyle, whether for a day, a week or a month is wonderful.
I struggle to get enough water, too (and that is really all I drink, other than coffee during the day). I’ve actually started scheduling it on my to-do list each day so I’m a little more accountable. Something like “Drink one jar of water by 11:00 am, drink one jar of water by 2 pm…” It has really helped. Good luck!
Yay, veggies!
I made this recipe for Blackeyed-Butternut Tostadas a few nights ago and my omnivorous boyfriend WENT. TO. TOWN. Incredibly good stuff. (The tostadas themselves are fried – which may be counter to your whole healthy-eats thing – but you could always stuff the filling into a whole-wheat burrito, instead.) We’re also big fans of this incredibly simple chickpea-and-brocco dish, but an addiction to garlic is definitely a prerequisite.
Good luck!
awesome rachel, i was hoping you’d chime in!!!! checking out that chickpea broc dish as an option tonight… will report back!
Ok so you need to try Purely Decadent Ice Cream. It’s made with coconut milk and tastes amazing. I was vegan for a year and a half and I got so hooked on it I still eat it! My fave is the mint chocolate chip! Such a great idea! Good luck!!
ooooh i totally will! my kids are pretty used to getting some sort of ‘treat’ after dinner, usually it comes in the form of a scoop of breyers vanilla ice cream
we don’t eat a lot of meat but have been trying to cut back. last week we had grilled zucchini, onion and portabella mushroom tacos! yummm! can’t wait to hear how it goes!
oh that sounds good!!! yeah, i think eliminating meat would be no biggie for any of us… it’s more of a challenge to cut out ALL animal products (butter, cheese, ice cream for the kids) But it’s just a week! i would hope we could all handle it.
totally having veg tacos one night this week!
what a pretty looking loot!!!!! LOVE IT.
remember you can always do charred tortillas with avocado & hot sauce for snicky snacks or dinner. You might like soyrizo up in there too if you wanna make a dinner out of it!
also forgot to steer you to this recipe too!
http://www.shutterbean.com/black-beans-kale-roasted-squash/
and you can make tacos with that black bean dish too (minus the sour cream & cheese) it’s GREAT on chippies and if you are looking for some cheese- DAIYA makes a REALLY good melty cheese. I’ve made nachos with it before.
http://www.shutterbean.com/black-bean-taco-night/
also- you can totally make pesto without cheese!
one of my staples is a sandwich (toasted bread) with hummus, avocado, sprouts, shredded carrots & sliced cucumbers. It’s even tastier if you drizzle a little balsamic dressing on top! NOM.
rice cakes with peanut butter & bananas are great too!
I can’t wait to see how you feel this week. I think you might suffer from a few headaches because of the caffeine sitch, but overall you should be feeling lighter!
Good luck sweetums! I’m excited to see how you feel.
Kudos to you! I could NEVER go meatless though. I didnt watch the Oprah episode so Im not sure what their reasoning for going meatless was… better health, environmental, etc. but I think there is way too much pressure to try and get people to go meatless these days. I personally think meat is healthy and a necessary part of our diet. If you know where your meat comes from, like family owned farms not factories, where the animals are loved and have happy animal lives I dont see why eating meat should be so taboo. I agree that factory farms are disgusting and i do not support them, I buy all my meat direct from the farm or from local coops. Here is an interesting blog you may like http://www.nourishingdays.com/
Well, best of luck to you on your week, and I cant wait to hear how things go!
btw- I love your blog and store.
well… i think for me? this week i was just interested in the idea of a pretty radical diet change- mostly, i’m curious to see how if feel/hope to feel better/lighter/less stiff/less tired, etc. i thought it was interesting when one of oprah’s minions said that he was actually planning on sticking with the vegan diet, had never felt better, was used to popping antacids and various meds for headaches and such…
anyhow. i totally am just interested to see if i will feel better. AND! i think it’s ok to give the animals a break for a week. we do only buy locally raised meat anymore, either buying directly from a local farm or buying from an organic butcher shop here in town… of course it’s a bit pricier than buying big packs of meat at sams club, but we feel that it’s safer, and smarter/more friendly to the environment/community/supports small farms, etc and we really don’t eat much or too often, so it’s ok to spend a little more on a steak or a chicken because it’s quality over quantity here… i’m babbling…
one last thing! i think this is why i really like michael pollan a lot, he isn’t trying to push a vegan or even vegetarian diet on anyone, and is actually just arguing for revamping the industry/cleaning things up and taking things in moderation.
so i think after all that babbling, we’re probably on the same page!
i’ll check out the blog you recommended, thanks!
and thanks for commenting!
I figured we were on the same page! i just <3 you!
Again a sincere kudos to you and best of luck on your week!!!
ooh all that produce looks sooo good! i was vegan for a number of years (i’m milk allergic so it wasn’t a big stretch from vegetarianism for me). vegan meals i enjoyed were big warming bowls of ratatouille (onion, peppers, zuchinni, eggplant, tomatoes, garlic, mushrooms etc cooked slow) and some spicy tofu laksa soup, and also anything involving quinoa! maybe sauteed quinoa and veg. now i’m hungry! good luck with it
i think it’s awesome that you’re trying a vegan diet, even if it’s just for a week.
almost everything can be made vegan at this point so it shouldn’t be too hard. oh, and just so you know, some boca burgers are vegan (some aren’t though but it will say on the box).
tacos are a great idea as is ratatouille that pilgrim mentioned above. everything you bought from the store looks delicious. there are some great hearty recipes out there for vegan pot pies and the like. i recommend trying out seitan or tempeh if you’ve never had either before.
anyway, have fun and if you need any vegan advice, i’m happy to help.
Our family has gone vegetarian for 3 weeks now. I read the book “Food Revolution” by John Robbins (of Baskin-Robbins family) and it completely blew my mind. I doubt I will ever eat meat again. Vegan will def be more of a challenge. I lurve cheese ,dangit.
There are so many great vegan cookbooks out there. Stop by the library, your local book store, or look on-line.
Nut pates are super yummy!
We went vegan right after Fionnuala was born and have never felt so great. The Mister NEVER thought he would go vegetarian let alone vegan but here we are almost 6 months later and I suspect we will always eat this way. My Mum and sister did it too and my sisters health improved dramatically (she had bad IBS and rheumatoid arthritis and both are now gone). We don’t call it vegan though – we say Whole Foods Plant Based diet because we read The China Study and it changed how we thought about meat protein. I was vegetarian for a long time before getting married but I never thought I would give up eggs or dairy and now those are the two things I avoid the most. We make lots of iced treats (as we call them) to make up for the lack of ice cream. : ) One of the other reasons we don’t call it vegan is because we try not to sweat the small stuff. Sometimes the Mister has to eat out for work and his options are limited as far as meat-free goes (especially in our city) and so he does what he can. Sometimes we go to Great Grandma’s house for dinner and she always makes the same chicken pot pie for us and at 91 years old we just aren’t going to tell her to stop. : )
Anyway, I’m interested to see how you feel. I have lots of recipes but it sounds like you have gotten lots of great ideas for this week already.
Oh, and I wanted to say that the Mister wrote a series of posts about The China Study while we were changing our diet (and because I had JUST had a baby and had no time to blog). You can read them here: http://www.meli-mello.com/?cat=89 if you are interested.
One of my favourite vegan blogs with lots of yummy, seasonal recipes is: http://coconutandquinoa.wordpress.com/
Highly recommend!!!
definitely keep us posted! i like to experiment with the kids diet (safely of course) and i truly see differences in them when they eat crap. it sounds like a total no-brainer but i know you feel me. i think it’s actually EASIER to feed them good stuff than crap, less mess, they eat more. i let them do fries at mcdonalds if i take them on a longer car ride and they LOVE them, but i love that because it’s like a special treat then and not an everyday thing. i was lucky in the way that i grew up in the boonies so all produce was literally from the farm down the street and the same with the meat, bread was from a local bakery. now living in the city with all of these CHOICES, i get kind of overwhelmed. now i am rambling. but i respect this experiment and am excited to follow!
yes- you are awesome! looks like a fun challenge. i’m vegetarian and have been for like 4 years. i always say that i could never go vegan because i love cheese too much, but i should try a week by week trial run!
p.s. could never give up my wine
way to go!
Miss J- If you aren’t tired of comments yet, here’s my 2-cents honey. Though I’m by know means a vegan or a vegetarian, one of my favorite cakes is a vegan banana cake. I would have NEVER tried the recipe if I saw it somewhere, but I had the cake at a party and i was like, “that’s the best effin banana cake I’ve ever had” and when the hostess told me it was vegan I flipped, being a butter and bacon grease kind of gal. I know you probably have a million and a half great recipes, but if you want to try this one, hit me up and I can scan and email to ya darling.
um, i want that banana cake recipe, please! i’m totally supposed to be doing something ELSE right now, but i totally got sucked into this conversation, and i’m so glad! because i have gotten sucked into the vicious cycle of “it’s winter and dark and i’m tired and i feel like having some wine and cheese, and why am i not sleeping well? i guess i’ll have some more junk food to make myself feel better, and WHEN WILL THE TEMPERATURE NOT HAVE A MINUS SIGN IN FRONT OF IT????”
ahem. sorry about the yelling. it’s really effing cold here in minnesota and i am DONE.
obviously, it’s time to start eating better and less and this is sort of the kick in the pants i need. so thank you! i’m not sure i could ever give up meat long term, but this sounds like such a good challenge, i might just hop on the bandwagon and at least *think* a little more about what i put in my mouth.
i will totally share it with you, i have to get it first!!!!!!! you just reminded me
so… winter rut is a doozy. holidays are so gluttonous, it’s crazy. i fall into that trap every year. i’m so happy to inspire! give it a try. even a week. i feel like it has been a good wake up. a good kick in ze britches. and a habit changer too. keep me posted!!!! xo
Hello Jenny,
I am very curious to see how you feel at the end of your week of vegan eating. My favorite vegan recipe is a vegan style of bangers and mash. We use gimme lean fake sausage, its the bomb and since it comes in a log form you can roll it into little sausage links OR patties.
I am going to email you the recipe, let me know if you try it!!
Cheers!
Hi i have been vegan for a couple of years and have tried lots of recipes some really good cookbooks are vegan yum yum , the vegan table, babycakes for vegan baked goods, and this book called the kind diet by alicia silverstone which is great, It is part information, part inspiration and part cookbook. Hope these help.
Supermarket Vegan—–BEST vegan cookbook. It was given to me as a gift and my husband and I cannot get enough of it. Its a fantastic way to start
awe.some. thank you so much, will definitely check it out!!!!
So exciting! As a devoted vegan mama & wifey, I hope you stick with it! There are such amazing vegan cookbooks out there these days. I’m a big fan of the books by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. And don’t forget dessert! Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and The Joy of Vegan Baking have you covered! A blog that I find super inspiring is http://vegandad.blogspot.com/. Good luck, mama!
ok. i super love vegan dad!!!!! amazing, thanks for sharing that blog! i admit, i’m sort of like… oh no… what about cookies! what about baking! cake! no eggs?! sniff, sniff.
of course for a week, it’s easy… and i don’t really know how to Cook Vegan, so i’m pretty limited… but after this week i know we’ll add in a bunch more vegan options into our regular rotation
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