Support groups. You hear of support groups for handling a death, a divorce, addictions, financial issues. Well, there are support groups for food concerns too. For lack of a better word, I consider the Forks Over Knives FB community a support group through this battle, I mean challenge. I have found that everyone is potentially taking this step to a new lifestyle for differing reasons but all health related. They could have high blood sugar or cholesterol or blood pressure. They could have just come out of major heart surgery. They could be battling arthritis. They may want to lose weight. The reasons differ but the support is pretty tremendous. I have found great ideas and recipes and tons of motivation as well.
I have also found unrivaled support from the NP at my County's Wellness Clinic. She has been plant based for quite a long time and her putting up with my constant daily questions, concerns, photos and moanings have been so greatly appreciated. I'm still having a hard time believing that at the end of this I'll end up not even wanting cheese anymore, but we'll see. It's hard to deny the story of her French/Italian mother, who at the age of 74, has been plant based for a year now and doesn't even want a piece of cheese anymore, after growing up with it and eating cheese like it's candy.
One thing she did say that made me happy was that bread was ok as long as it was healthy bread. She suggested a brand called "Dave's Killer Bread" and I hit Fresh Market in search of it. 21 grains and thin sliced. Of course, I'm not going to eat the whole loaf in a day (although it's tempting) but I did decide to have a toasted slice this morning with a thin layer of almond butter! Considering, I hate breakfast, a slice of Dave's bread and a few strawberries made this girl very content!
At 10pm last night, Hubs thought I had lost my mind. Well, it wasn't the first time but that story's for another time. I was baking. What? Baking. Yeah, I know. I don't bake. I have said that numerous times. I cook but I don't bake. Well, I found a recipe for flourless muffins and thought that would be something easy for me to handle for breakfast if I could make them correctly. Come to find out, these grain-free, oil-free, soy-free, refined sugar-free muffins weren't difficult to make and would prove just fine for my purpose!
Here's the full recipe. I made the 12 and not 24 minis but other than, I used this recipe step by step. http://ohsheglows.com/2018/03/01/flourless-bite-sized-breakfast-muffins/
I'm sure that some people would want butter or jam or something on them but I don't think they really need it. Bananas, almond butter and cinnamon. God bless you, cinnamon.
For lunch, I may have played it safe but that's ok. I had the corn, avocado, tomato, cilantro with fresh squeezed lemon and some sunflower seeds on top again. Refreshing, filling, delicious and easy. No chance of me being angry or disappointed about this one. Gotta set myself up for success sometimes.
Buckwheat noodles are fat free and cholesterol free and are a good source of nutrients such as manganese and thiamine. Buckwheat noodles are a rice noodle so I'm allowed to have those noodles on this challenge. You may have seen rapini, or broccoli rabe, in your grocery store and thought oh it's some fancy broccoli thing. But it's actually not. It's a leafy, cruciferous (I love that word) vegetable closely related to the turnip! Rapini is supercharged with Vitamin C giving your immune system a kick and it's also good for your heart - with tons of Vitamin K which is believed to reduce the risk of artery hardening. My sweet Bayley, my Netherland Dwarf rabbit, loved rapini and I would often get it at Whole Foods for him but I never tried it myself until tonight.
I found a recipe for broccoli rabe and peanut sauce soba buckwheat noodles and it looked so delicious and interesting, not to mention hearty, quick and healthy! Trim old raab, sautee him in the skillet with some vegetable broth 'til he softens and throw in some portabello mushrooms so he won't be lonely. Boiling the water for the noodles took the longest!
Making the peanut sauce myself was a huge win for Hubs because it's one of his favorites. I used Earth Balance vegan creamy natural peanut butter, liquid aminos (or you can use reduced soy sauce or tamari), rice vinegar, a little agave nectar for sweetness, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes.
Throw everything in a pot and stir!
My only complaint was that it tasted extremely salty to me. I'm not a fan of salt and I never salt my foods. If you want to salt it afterwards, knock yourself out, but this girl doesn't use or like salt, unless the steaming of blue crabs are involved. That's the only time.
I'm guessing it was probably the liquid aminos that gave me the overly salty flavor.
Liquid aminos are essential for those eating a plant-based diet because it's more difficult for us to find the essential amino acids without consuming animal products. They are a fancy version of soy sauce which contain plant proteins and amino acids which are the building blocks of proteins but it looks like they have quite a alot of salt in them. There's no added salt though. However, they don't contain wheat and aren't fermented so it's a great swap for soy sauce.
I'll use less aminos next time because this dish definitely has potential.
I'm not a huge dessert fan but I do love chocolate. However, I need to stay away from sugar and don't need those calories. So I found a recipe for chia pudding. It wasn't chocolate but I figured it was a safe start. It was enough to fill two ramekins and it's a good thing, again, that Hubs enjoyed it because I did not.
First of all, it doesn't look like pudding and this girl was not a fan of the texture AT ALL!
One thing I have to realize is just because it's referred to as vegan pudding or vegan lasagna or vegan pulled pork, the key word is vegan. I see the name and expect it to taste like what I'm used to eating. Uh, no. Wrong.
I wish people would just come up with another name because it's never going to taste like the real thing.
Day 4.
Not a disaster. Not brilliant either.
Some things to tweak. Some things to keep. Some things to never do again.
I'm trying to enjoy the journey, dude.
I really am but sometimes it seems like I'm right on the edge of that prison cell being closed and locked down for good.
Upward and onward......
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