Five Days as a Vegan

Sometimes I like to challenge myself, just little things like running the New York Marathon or moving to a city where I don’t know anyone.  Easy.  Being a Vegan? Well, anyone can do anything for five days.  I strategically picked the week days because brunch is my favorite meal and I love eggs too much.  So, I embarked on the mission with excitement and enthusiasm.  Seriously, I was actually excited and walked into Whole Foods with a whole new outlook of reading labels and avoiding the cheese aisle.  To start off, I made a giant batch of beans and rice.  I soaked the beans for eight hours.  This was the first time I cooked dry beans and would definitely recommend soaking overnight as they turned out a little al dente (even after simmering for almost three hours.)  During the last hour I added chopped garlic, onions, pickled jalapenos and a green pepper.  I also dumped in the rest of the jalapeno juice which gave the beans an extra kick.  For two lunches and one dinner, I had beans and rice.

Next I whipped up a veggie-tofu stir-fry.  Nothing magic here.  Just a bunch of veggies in the wok and I served it with soba noodles.  I marinated the tofu in rice wine vinegar, sesame oil and soy sauce and added a ton of sriracha to the dish for spice.  For two lunches and one dinner, I had stir-fry.

My other staples consisted of oatmeal or cereal with soy milk and fruit for breakfast.  This wasn’t a stretch because it’s my usual.  Yes, I actually prefer soy milk.  I also whipped up a few protein shakes consisting of soy milk, almond butter, bananas and flax oil.  I did end up eating some fake chicken nuggets for dinner one night.  Not that bad, but I purposefully avoided the seitan and the other fake meats.  No thanks.

For one dinner I made a salad of pea shoots, roasted beets and avocado with a lemon and olive oil dressing.  This was the most delicious of all the meals.  Pea shoots are the leaves of peas.  They taste more like pea pods than peas.  I got a ginormous bunch for $1 at the farmers market.  

If you’re not board yet, you should be.  I was totally bored on this diet.  Even for five days the lack of variety got really old.  I can’t imagine eating so many naked beans.  They just scream for cheese and sour cream!  And, I was a bit hungry during the day.  I got some yummy crackers and tasty vegan cookies for snacking, but nothing seemed to be filling and it was a lot of carbs.  Additionally, I avoided restaurants because I didn’t want to smell the meat products.  The whole time I craved a turkey burger with blue cheese. 

The story is probably different for actual vegans.  I’m sure there’s lots of good recipes out there.  There’s even a great vegan Mexcian restaurant that I’ve been to before. I’m sure you’re asking Mexican without cheese, WTF? But, they have cashew cheese, which was surprisingly very good.  Yes, I said cashew cheese.

The moral of the story is I enjoyed my stint as a vegan.  I truly stuck to it for five full days. (There might have been one minor accident involving a tater-tot). But the only thing that kept me going was knowing that on Saturday morning, I was going to devour a bacon, egg and cheese.  Don’t worry bacon, I won’t ever ditch you again!  

Me enjoying my return to meat and dairy!