Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Monday recap- warning! if you stumble across this- there's going to be fart talk!

Soooooo Monday was the first work-day that I got through trying to be more animal-product conscious.
It went, OK.

First thing that I realized giving up cheese will be my biggest challenge. Like I hope I get there but I can honestly say I don't know if I will.

I have a coworker who is vegan, and while, contrary to what writing all about this on the interwebs might make it seem, I'm actively trying not to tell people about what I'm doing. I'm using this blog as a way to try to keep myself honest and push through, but those that know me know I have a tendency to start something and throw myself into it 100% and then drop it without another thought the next week. So I'm really trying not to make this into a 'thing' until I've got a better grasp of what the 'thing' is. Cryptic. I know.

Anyway, so this coworker who is a vegan is awesome. She operates with her dietary choices in such an inspiring way, she never complains about what's on the menu, or what could she eat, and never forces her point of view on others, but she's always quietly prepared for whatever food situations the day might throw at her, and happy to talk about her choices if someone is really interested. Clearly I am.

It's pretty common knowledge around my corner of the office that I spend my weekends watching documentaries, and there are a few others here who do too, so it's an easy water-cooler topic for Monday morning. When my coworker asked what I'd watched this weekend, I literally couldn't shove the words back into my mouth before telling her about Vegucated (she said it was a big part of her decision to go vegan), and that I found myself in this crisis area. She was so supportive, but again not pushy. It was nice to run some thoughts by/through her. Then she sent me a list of more vegan-centric documentaries  for future consumption :)

Back to the cheese issue. I love cheese, have I mentioned that?
Encouraged by my co-worker to 'do what I can now' and 'adapt over time' I'm letting cheese slide for now. If I spend all of my time getting down on myself for eating or wanting to eat or thinking about eating cheese I'll go mad, and probably quit.

So for now, cheese it is.

Yesterday felt far more normal food-choice-wise than I expected it to:

  • English Muffin for breakfast per usu (according to http://veganrestaurantshub.com/ Dunks is a-OK!) 
  • cut out the milk in my coffee (no big deal as it was really just for effect anyway)
  • lunch was ordered in, I amended my Friday afternoon order request from the appetizer sampler of ribs and chicken and chicken and crab rangoon (mmm crab rangoon) to vegetable lo mein. Probably cooked in a vat of butter and chicken broth, but menu dissection is a ways off for me. 
  • dinner was exciting. I made a salad and I was excited for/about it! I happily plowed through a comically giant tupperware bowl full of spinach, tomatoes, carrots, snap peas, parsnips, bean sprouts, broccoli and (sigh) feta. a little bit of salt and red wine vinegar & oil. so good.
  • snacked on some dark chocolate squares that didn't seem to have milk products listed on the ingredients and a few chunks of fresh (oooo so good) pineapple.
Then the farts. Oh man were there farts. I bet it was the lo mein, but who knows. It was pretty gross, and clearly worth recording.

So on that note. To Tuesday!



Monday, March 10, 2014

Again?!

Yeah yeah. I'm still going to talk about food, but for myself this time. 

I've gotten into documentaries lately. Like really into them. Nothing too good or too bad. From Blackfish to Bronies I'm burning through Netflix.

I watched Food Inc. during one of my first documentary binges. It was interesting but not life changing. What it did do was make me want to watch more food-based docs. I watched a great one called A Matter of Taste about a chef's journey toward a 3star New York Times review. Then I tried something called Vegucated.

It hit me. Hard.

Like really hard. I grew up on a farm. I'm not ignorant about where food comes from, but something jolted inside of me and I wanted to make a change.

Welcome to day 3 of my attempt at a plant based diet.

First things I've learned:
Chipotle sofritas are amazing.
Animal products are in EVERYTHING!
People are super quick to need a label. I wouldn't DARE call this attempt vegetarian or vegan, I feel like that would be a set up for failure. It's just, something I'm trying mk?

So this will be the details of that journey, hopefully I'll keep on track, but at least have somewhere to pick up if I fall off.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

shopping

I was SUPER lazy last week in regards to food... I feel like this week might be the same =$ Husband is out of town, so no worries about dinner tonight (sandwiches for lunch tomorrow lol)


Monday- Salmon, asparagus & creamed spinach
Tuesday- Chicken tenders
Wednesday- Meatball subs
Thursday- french dips


Ground turkey
beef
chicken breast
salmon
sub rolls
pizza sauce

broccoli & cheese sauce

asparagus
spinach



Saturday, November 24, 2012

Recovering from turkey-comas

Sunday- Beef Stroganauff
Monday- skillet lasagna
Tuesday- ginger garlic chicken & rice
Wednesday- this chicken http://modernmommeals.com/2012/05/omg-chicken/
Thursday-

I'm having issues figuring it out...

Beef
Ground beef
Egg noodles
Chicken thighs
Sour cream
Funky pasta

Monday, November 12, 2012

Chicken gloria thing

Eh. Not bad, but not going into rotation. 
It ends up tasting like canned mushrooms...  which I don't enjoy.

Ah well.

Friday, November 9, 2012

planning!

I'm just full of being ahead on things.

I really like the blog Seasaltwithfood it's quite unique and interesting, check it out! the ginger soy chicken is what's got me planning ahead of time this week:

Sunday- stewed chicken http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/04/chicken-with-tomatoes-and-garlic/

Monday- Chinese roasted chicken- http://www.seasaltwithfood.com/2012/11/chinese-roasted-soy-sauce-chicken-with.html
 I'll probably even make rice!

Tuesday- http://www.cookingwithsugar.com/moms-chicken-a-la-gloria-a-family-favorite-chicken-recipe/#

Wednesday- chicken tacos and pico de gallo

Thursday- simple pasta


Groceries:
10   chicken breasts
8 chicken legs or thighs

rice

1/2 cup of sherry wine
1/2 cup White Wine (or Red Wine)
1 small can of condensed cream of mushroom soup
2 Tbsp Honey
2 Tablespoons (Heaping) Tomato Paste

2 tablespoons of butter
1/2 cup whole milk
6 slices of Muenster cheese
cheddar cheese
Grated Parmesan Cheese

1 (8 oz) container of sliced fresh mushrooms
tomatoes
jalapeno 

 tortillias

























rice












Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Living and learning

I learned 2 things tonight:

1. BROCCOLI RABE TASTES NOTHING LIKE BROCCOLI REGULAR.

2. I do not like Broccoli Rabe!

So here's dinner instead-

Egg noodles
1/2 lb ground chicken
4 cloves of garlic
2 tblspn Butter
2 tblspn olive oil
Red pepper flakes
Salt
Parmasean cheese

Cook noodles, drain and mix with 1tblspn butter. Brown up garlic and chicken with half of the olive oil. Mix w butter noodles.
Rest of olive oil and butter melted up with garlic and red pepper flakes until sizzly and delicious. Mix with noodle/chicken, add parm. I also chopped up some green onions

surprisingly satisfying and delicious!