Day 5: try new things

Try new things, new foods. Get new taste experiences. Look at the plating of your food. Are you accustomed to having meat be the center? It's a cultural difference from say the way Indian food is plated with it's mix of what we normally consider "side dishes".
It's all what you are accustomed to.
Today in Patrick-Groutreau's 30-day challenge, we take what we know, like a favorite soup, and use vegetable broth instead of chicken. Easy substitution.
Or use a teaspoon of liquid smoke in the bean soup to give it the smoky flavor associated with meat.
Making the same old dishes again and again would bore any palate, vegan or not.
But I do hate the veggie hot dogs I tried the other day.They're made by Veggie Patch and I have to say they were awful. Dirt taste, far too non-salt of the earth for my taste.
But never give up and I'm on to find other things to add to my list.
Oh, and if you have a Smashburger near you, try their black bean burger. It's wonderful. Filling and delicious and great.

Vegan grocery

Did you know there are vegan grocery stores online? I had no idea.
Suzannes Specialties

Vegetarian Online Food Store

Veganmania

Black Duck Imports

Vegan Essentials

Very interesting.

Day 4, Know your grocery store

Four days into the vegan challenge and I'm just grossed out by all the facts and info I've been given. Today's challenge is to learn the grocery store, that the whole foods are mostly around the perimeter of the store while preservative filled and filler-foods are on the aisles.
But she says that the non-animal products are generally housed right next to the animal products, we usually just don't see them.
Makes sense.
And check out the Asian food aisle, as most of their foods do not include animal by-products.
And still, to always remember we don't have to be perfect vegans, just conscious people trying to make a difference in what we eat and how we treat the world.
That's good, because so far this week I have been vegetarian, but not vegan. I still have half a gallon of milk, which is remarkably slow ingestion for me. Usually I'd be on the second gallon for the week and so maybe the information is working it's way into my brain pan.

Day 3 of Vegan Challenge: Gelatin

Day three is about labels, reading them and learning what those ingredients really are. Best advice: read the label, buy the stuff with the least stuff in it and make sure you recognize the stuff.
Easy enough.
Lard: pig stomachs.
Lanolin: derivative of sheep wool.
Urea: used to give pretzels that familiar brown tint.
Gelatin: wait a minute...
I know what gelatin is, right? Jell-o? "Watch it wiggle", Bill Cosby commercials, good stuff.
Nope. According to Patrick-Goudreau, gelatin is made of slaughterhouse leftovers, like skin and bones and oh my gosh who-knows-what-else. I believe the author, but I don't really want to.
Because marshmallows contain gelatin.
Marshmallows? Aren't they supposed to be just fluffy sugary goodness? Made from love and happiness and extra light?
Now I have to find an alternative for my S'mores.
And gummy candy and vitamins, they all have gelatin, too. Makes sense, of course, I just hadn't thought gelatin-of-my-youth was a problem.
This "thinking about it" stuff is no fun.

Day 2, Vegan challenge

Today is noting how to compare between vegetarian and animal proteins and how the cost trickles up to health costs, et cetera. Not very exciting stuff.
I did try the Morning Star Meal Starter, the sliced "chicken" for dinner. I told my son, Bubs, it was poultry but didn't use the air quotes. He didn't exactly fall for it. But he's particularly particular when it comes to food, so he's not the best judge of taste. I liked it. Covered it over with beans and zucchini and bell pepper and called it a gastric feast.
Then I went running for five miles.
I was a carbon emissions violation waiting to happen...

Day 1, Vegan Challenge: It's on

According to the book "The 30-Day Vegan Challenge", Day 1 is purge the cabinets day, find out what foods I already have that are vegan and acceptable so I can eat something and not die.
I have: peanut butter, noodles, marinara sauce...that's pretty much it.
Obviously I'm off to the store for all things vegetable and non-animal-fied!
Whoo hoo! Watch the tracks of my Mighty Taurus as I round the corner of nutrition!
I still have three-fourths of a gallon of cow milk. Today I might be more vegetarian than vegan.
One things I rely heavily on is the author -- Patrick-Goudreau -- and her advice that being vegan isn't about being perfect -- Whew! -- but trying as hard as you can to make conscious choices.
With that in mind my challenge lessens a little, perhaps to a more attainable level for this city girl.

Okay, Vegan World -- here I come

I read Foer's Eating Animals. I'm probably redundant, I've told so many stories from this book.
Stories that make me say ick.
ICK! I tell you.
I'm off eating animals for the duration of the memories of those stories, anecdotal evidence of the world of animal "husbandry" that exists outside the domain of my grocery store freezer aisle.
Horrendous.
So why not jump with both feet into veganism? I see no reason not to.
I'm taking a 30-day challenge to do so. Starting tomorrow.
I'm pretty sure.
I still have this unopened package of Oreos that I have thoughtfully walked past all day. It is indeed unopened, I repeat, and that alone is a remarkable feat for me. I'm an Oreo junkie. AND they're double stuff. I've ignored twice the stuff!!
So. Tomorrow the journey begins into the world of meatless Mondays and Tofu Tuesdays. I'm off!
Wish me luck...