Day 14 - The End

Well this is it for my valiant attempt at a vegan cooler 1.  Instead of drinking the big glass of red wine that I've been craving,  I went shopping today for some new clothes.  And I fully intend on getting rid of the two pairs of pre-baby jeans that I just can't fit into.  For now I'll just be "good"!  I'm happy with my job, I'm happy with Mark being home, I'm happy with my life!  Joy is a choice and I'm choosing it! 


Breakfast -oatmeal and a smoothie

1/2 cup GF oats
1/2 apple
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp almond butter
unsweetened almond milk
water
decaf coffee with soy

1 banana
3 tbsp natural peanut butter
1 scoop unsweetened protein powder
ice
unsweetened almond milk

Lunch - salad

2/3 can of Eden chickpeas
1 tomato -diced
1/2 orange pepper-cut
2 leaves of kale - finely chopped
(dressing of olive oil/ balsamic/apple cider vinegar/1tsp honey mustard)
basil

1/4 of an english cucumber
apple
water

snack-
roasted chestnuts (about 5)

Diner - lazy tuna casserole

can of tuna (low sodium)
3tbsp salsa
2 cups steamed broccoli
1 orange pepper
olive oil
couple sundried tomatoes
water

snack - popcorn and tea

1/3cup corn kernels
1.5tbsp coconut oil
chili powder
sesame+nutritional yeast (blended in bullet mix)

rooibos and herbal tea mix with almond milk

Vegan Update

In 2 days I will have been vegan for two full weeks.  I think I passed the ultimate test this past week.  Saying no to both bacon and GF non-vegan treats.  Actually I truly don't miss the meat.  I've been eating so many new dishes because I'm being forced out of my comfort zone.  I realized that if I really wanted bacon, I could make it from young coconut.  Or just go to the Naked Sprout, they have a vegan BLT!

 Anyway I wanted to share with you that being vegan in a house of meat eaters isn't that hard.  Last night I made nacho's for 5 of us.  Mine was vegan, Patrick's was dairy free, Luke's didn't have tomatoes, Mark's had no peppers... you get the point right.  Everyone likes their food just a little different from the other.  Sooo this is what it looks like in my kitchen on a typical diner!

Right: ground chicken with garlic and chili powder... Left can of aduki beans, mushrooms, chili powder and garlic

I heated it until the mushrooms wilted and turned dark.

The assembly station. 

In the oven at 350F for 20 minutes. 

So just for the record, I didn't go vegan because I have any animal right's issues.  I've gone vegan to try to clean out my system.  I want my body to run as efficiently as possible and from everything I read meat as a source of protein just isn't what I want.  I am amazed at how much my training has improved over these last few weeks.  In fact I can't even remember the last day that I took off training.  I've done something every single day and doing it well at that.  I biked 52km yesterday and today ran 7km.  Tomorrow I've got a 25k planned and a short run. Tuesday is power yoga and tri-training with the club, Wednesday is swim/bike....you get the picture!

 I'm eating tons of seasonal fruit (I love that I can do that) I am not hungry because I eat often and really well, my body is shedding the extra weight it gained in July, I am able to run further, bike further/faster, swim faster, with less rest needed between, and all while keeping a lower heart rate!  All in all, not to bad.  I've also been reading Brandon Brazier's The Thrive Diet book and learning tons of fun new tips.  Like how yummy nutritional yeast is, but to boost it's already awesome nutritional content, put it in the coffee grinder with raw sesame seeds, place in a shaker and add as a "cheesy" topping!

 Tonight I made air popcorn, melted coconut butter over it, and used my new topping (plus a dash of salt)... wow it was amazing! I also put a bit of chili powder on it to see if I would like them together... Duh! of course they went well together, chili cheese popcorn!  Clean and healthy!

The food I ate today!

The food I eat in a day... are you curious?  I hope I can remember everything I ate actually.  Today was a long day. 


Breakfast:
1/2 GF Oats
1tbs raw almond butter
small peach (cut into chuncks)
a dash of cinnamon for flavour
2 tsp chia seeds

coffee
water

and because I wasn't satisfied with this I made some turkey sausages on the bbq, and made a salad. 

Snack1 - salad
1.5 turkey sausages
a handful of cherry tomatoes (my cute daughter picked them for me)
cucumber cubed
herbs from the garden (basil/parsley/oregano)
flax seed oil
apple cider vinegar

water
coffee with almond milk and ice

Lunch- stir fry
tempeh
green beans
broccoli
spinach
onions
a splash of curry sauce (no salt added)

Snack
vega chocolate smoothy in unsweetened almond milk
water with electrolyte pack (I'm using Nuun right now, mostly just because I have them)

I did a 90minute hot yoga at this point so I had another nuun water

Post workout snack (not healthy but I felt like I earned a treat)
Bumblebee bar
apple

Diner
sliced browned tempeh (with a tiny bit of coconut oil in my cast iron pan)
giant spinach salad
onions
cucumbers
1/4 apple sliced in it
a handful of GF Food Should Taste Good Chips (the multi-grain ones)
2 tbsp hemp hearts
dressing: 1/2 pack of vega tropical smoothy mixed with apple cider vinegar, flax seed oil and water
a handful of grapes for desert

water
1 can of Growers dry apple cider

snack-
1/3 cup popcorn (made a-la brown paper bag method)
1tbsp melted coconut cream (it is less refined than the oil and has a stronger coconut/sweet taste)
1 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tsp of chili powder 
a pinch of salt (some good stuff because I rarely use it) = mix the oils, chili powder and salt together first then drizzle over popcorn -then mix it up to coat

more water

ps. every time I write water I am consuming about 700ml of water (it's the 20oz (venti) starbucks water bottle)

All in all not a bad day for eating clean, I did watch Forks Over Knives today and am wondering if I'm getting bloated because of the meat I'm eating.  Otherwise I feel amazing! I basically eat like this most days, I'm getting most of my protein from vegetable sources (either tempeh/vegetarian protein powder/vega -One or smoothy/lentils/legumes).  But I do still have poultry in my diet and fish.  I've cut out completely gluten (that's been a while) eggs, red meats and dairy.  Interesting to note, my mom has an egg intolerance. ???  And now I have discovered that my son breaks out into a rash when he has dairy.  We had him off for a while and the rash cleared up but this week he stole some ice cream out of the freezer when we weren't looking and hoovered a ton of it and Voila rash on his face is back!  Well we have since found the freezer key and looked the freezer.  Casein...  I must really do some more research on this protein! 

Clean Fast food (from a can and the freezer)

Ok I get it, we are busy, too tired, feeling blah, long week... etc... So today I made my cheat meal.  So good and healthy and something that you can find in the freezer at the grocery store and with the cans!  Seriously the places we are told to stay away from. 

Try it, mix them together and warm in a pan!

All fast food is served in a fast food container.  In our house giant coffee mugs are the dish to be had!  Served with Multigain chips (Food Should Taste Good)

And Desert!!!!!

Turkey Chili and Chili Taco's!!!

It's all about saving time in the kitchen, I get it!  It's all about making food that takes no time, that is nutritious and that tastes good enough for toddlers (and husbands) to eat! One of my absolute favorites is chili.  Really you can make it anyway you want.  This time I had ground turkey in the fridge, some leftover bacon, oh and the rest of the halloween pumpkin (pre-cooked), and some cans of chick peas and beans.  I also had the spouted bean mix.  So here are the pics.

Ground turkey and mixing in pumpkin. I added alot of chili powder at this point (when you add the seasonings early they tend to soften up, so I also add some later in the cooking process)

... pretty much all the ingredients!

My absolute FAVORITE brand of canned beans... no salt added and BPA free lining of the can!!!  woot, the crushed tomatoes also have no salt added.

These carrots are still from our garden!!! seriously pretty awesome, and the bacon is low sodium (Kirkland brand from Costco)

After adding all the veggies, tomato sauce and canned beans, I added a can full of water and the dehydrated sprouted beans.

Sshhh my secret ingredient!  (I also add more chili powder, garlic powder, paprika and cumin)  Simmer for 30 minutes!

sooo good!

 Now the next day's meal took only about 5 minutes to prep. Actually it was ready even before the oven was fully pre-heated.   

Organic blue corn chips, chili, tomatoes, spinach and some mozza cheese.

Bake at 350 F for about 25 minutes!