Monday, October 17, 2011

Success!

I was feeling a little down this morning because my pasta last night did not taste too good. Either vegans have much more sensitive taste buds than me or they just don't like tasty food. It's depressing to constantly be trying new recipes and most if not all of them taste like crap or like Bragg's Liquid Aminos (which is tasty, but gets old). I don't know if it's the recipes or my lack of cooking skills.

But today's lunch recipe was definitely a success! It was a mushroom, carrot, kale, and barley soup recipe that I got at veganfoodsnob.blogspot.com. You can find the original recipe here. I changed the bok choy for kale (only cause I couldn't find any) and then souped up this soup with Vegebase vegetable seasoning, a little bit of vegetable broth, red pepper flakes, black pepper, and a lot of celery seed. It was pretty sodium free tasting so I added a little bit of Bragg's. Totally delicious!

I ate this with a delicious salad and am super full wishing for one of my baby food packets ( I love those things! They are like dessert). Alas, I ate my whole stash.

Trying to change my diet has definitely been a slow process (I've been rollarcoastering through for well over a year now). But today was a reminder that not only does practice make perfect but that changing life long habits takes time, patience, and a lot of self-love.

Instead of getting frustrated I need to remind myself to look at what I am doing right and well or what I'm getting better at.

So here is my list:

1) Cooking in general. I just realized that while my husband was gone I cooked almost all my healthy meals completely by myself. Before this amazing new progress I would have fed myself on the following: Chef Boyardee, Mac and Cheese, tasteless baked chicken, or something that came in a microwaveable box or a meal in a bag (If I didn't hit McDonald's or Taco Bell instead of even grabbing a can opener).

2) My chopping skills have gotten a lot better which means my prep time is getting faster and faster.

3) Eating vegetables. I've probably eaten more vegetables from the ages of 29-31 than I had for the entire previous years combined.

4) Tried lots of new foods. Most I still don't like but am trying: broccoli rabe I'm looking at you!

So there is my list of positive vegan thinking. Tonight the chef is making vegan mashed sweet potatoes and collards and very non-vegan turkey meatloaf. I'm not sure I will ever be 100% vegan and turkey meatloaf is lower fat than most other meats. I also think I could kill a turkey myself if I needed to, so turkey passes my meat test. Plus I like eating some whole meals with my husband and he can eat the leftovers. This meal will definitely be delicious!

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