Last night, Day 15, the halfway point of this whole food, plant-based challenge, I was extremely weak. Not physically weak, but mentally weak. I had three meals planned that I could have prepared for dinner but I truly didn't want a single one of them. None of them sounded remotely good to me.
All I wanted was pizza.
A Sicilian pizza from Southern Shores Pizza.
Hubs could pick it up like he usually does and I'd get the plates and beer ready for his return.
Lots of sauce, gooey cheese, Italian sausage and pepperoni on a thick soft-in-the-middle, crispy-on the-outside-crust
If we were gonna cheat, we were gonna do it right!
I wanted that pizza so badly I could taste it and smell it. But I didn't get it.
The only reason I didn't is because Hubs was home. He wanted it too but wouldn't let me do it. (Damn, I love this man!) I've made it this far. I'm halfway through.
We're on the downhill stretch now, right?
So many people are telling me that they stopped even wanting cheese by now. Seriously? My love of cheese has not faded one bit. "Give it time", they say. Honestly, I don't want to lose my taste for cheese. It's not like I dream about cheese. I didn't even crave cheese before but I do like high quality cheese as a snack, with a glass of wine and bread, or to top off a burger or melted in pasta dish.
Some studies say that cheese is as addictive as crack because of a chemical called casein. Casein triggers the brain's opioid receptors which is linked to the control of reward, pain and addiction. Other studies say that the real science behind it is much more complex and highly-processed foods are the extremely problematic ones - high in carbs, salt and fat.
I was told from the start that if I cut out all dairy and processed foods that I would reach the goals I set for myself at the end of this 30-day challenge. 14 more days and we'll see. So far, physically, it is working but mentally is a totally different story!
Since I'm not allowed to have cheese, pizza was out. And no, don't even think about telling me I can do pizza without cheese - that is NOT going to happen. I'd rather not have it at all.
In the vegan and WFPB world, jackfruit is all the rage now.
Jackfruit is a species of tree in the fig and mulberry family native to southwest India.
This tree has the largest tree-borne fruit weighing as much as 80lbs!
High in fiber and with the look and texture of meat, jackfruit is, with good reason, very popular among vegetarians.
I needed to see what all the rage was about and chose the Tex Mex version over the original BBQ version, hoping it would be more flavorful. Plus, if I'm going to have BBQ, I'm having High Cotton or Pigman's pulled pork BBQ. I don't want a knock off - just can't mentally do it.
I made fresh salsa to go on the jackfruit tacos.
mango, red onion, red pepper, jalapeno, cilantro and fresh squeezed lime juice
It's good thing, I made the salsa because that's pretty much where the flavor came from. The jackfruit wasn't disgusting. It wasn't offensive. But it also wasn't anything extraordinary. I'm still waiting for something to "wow" me.
Was it better than the lentils and walnut "taco meat" from last week?
Yep, but I truly believe that was a texture thing and not as much of a flavor thing.
There was only enough jackfruit for Hubs and I to have two very small soft tacos each so that was disappointing because we were pretty hungry. So, I cut up some sweet potatoes into fries, tossed them in turmeric, onion powder, black pepper and paprika and baked them for dessert.
I didn't have much to clean up in the kitchen.
Our stomachs weren't growling any more.
It wasn't a complete waste.
But I still wanted the pizza.
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