Tuesday, January 26, 2010

day of being vegan

so, we're applying for life insurance. that requires a physical for the good husband. being a lover of all things buttery and cheesy we decided he needed to go on a crash diet before the blood draw. he agreed (even suggested) that he would basically live like a vegetarian for the week - okay, only three days he reminded me, but i'm excited about those three days! yesterday morning i took my vegetarian cook book to the gym with me to peruse while using the elliptical. i made up a good list of ingredients and dog eared some recipes. when i got home i cross checked some of them online to see if i could figure out which ones would be most delicious and appeasing to a man used to animal products. finally i settled on three recipes i'm going to try: tofu and veggies in peanut sauce, asian mushroom soup, and lentil and spinach soup. bret loves mushrooms and i think he liked a pad thai dish we once had. while looking over the options allrecipes had i came across bbq tofu - they supposedly are like eating chicken wings but without the bone and veins and gross fatty stuff. since all these recipes were on the internet i decided the vegetarian cookbook is going to the di. anyone want it before i send it off? it's lovely, just not necessary. anyway, i took a walk to the asian market in the afternoon and picked up some firm tofu, a head of cabbage, and green onions (i also got more nori paper since bret's discovered his love for home made sushi and we were running low). back home i made up the bbq tofu strips, sampled them, decided he might like them and put them in the fridge to reheat later for dinner. i also made the tofu peanut stuff. i decided i better get the tofu over with in one night since i didn't think bret would be a big fan of it. turns out - he LOVED the bbq stuff. he also really like the peanut stuff and said we should make it when we have our neighbors over again - the ones that are vegetarian. we had a side salad (which i must admit i allowed him to put ranch dressing on - not much - his only "treat" for the day) and then orange slices for dessert. it was delicious. he loved it so much i got extra hugs and kisses and he couldn't stop commenting on how happy he was. by the way, for lunch i sent him off with a tub of homemade hummus and baguette slices, along with carrot sticks, an apple, and a banana. i figure he might be extra hungry so i gave him extra fruit to fill up on. he said he was satisfied the whole day. i hope this new vegetarian kick can last longer than three days! it might do us both some good. he doesn't weigh himself often, but he did this morning and it was four pounds less than the last time he weighed and that made us both happy. hooray for positive reinforcement!

4 comments:

Tricia said...

Welcome to my Vegan world! Although really I'm a Flexi-Vegan. That flexibility part is a must in my world. Have fun!

plainoldsarah said...

i hope i can keep it up! i know he'll never let us leave milk - he loves it too much and is convinced i need it - especially after our friend al broke her femur due to some osteoporosis problem related to child birth. but i think i can handle my two dairy servings a day. good to have supportive friends!

jenniferhoiyin said...

i love this! we've been eating cleaner too. and you could totally do milk. I thought I couldn't live without it, but it's possible, and I actually really like it. There are so many other things that you can have to get the things milk offers.
good luck!
btw, here's a couple of my favorite vegan blogs, just if you like to peruse. :)
http://veganyumyum.com/
http://madcapcupcake.wordpress.com/
http://rawmelissa.com/

plainoldsarah said...

thanks jen - we have no milk issues and bret is HUGE on milk so i think we'll be keeping it. but we'll definitely be eating more vegetables and legumes. so here's the blog of one of my friends who is into raw food - maybe you'll enjoy it.
http://rawrecipebox.blogspot.com