Driving Home

I'm grocery shopping. On the way home I get a text from hubby, "I'm hungry. Feed me."

Of course, he was joking, but my maternal instinct kicked in and I thought, "What could I grab on the way home?"

Worst experience ever. You thought it was bad trying to figure out what to get on a low-fat diet? Vegetarian? Low-carb? Try whole food, plant-based.

Taco Bell? Nope.
Long John Silvers? Nope.
Subway? Nope.
McDonalds? Nope.
Burger King? Nope.
Greek Restaurant? Probably but that isn't exactly fast food.

So what did I do? I gave up and went home.

So if I REALLY needed to grab something, what would probably be the best places to go?

Probably Whole Foods for one, for best selection. I could have also gone to Boston Market for some grilled veggies. El Pollo has beans and mixed veggies. If I have absolutely no other choice, I could have grabbed a salad without meat from a fast food place, but don't forget the dressings have massive amounts of sugar. Italian would have sufficed or maybe even some lemon.

Can you think of any other "fast food" place? What would you get?

Comic-Con aka Eating While Away

Okay, we had Comic-Con for four days on top of hubby's birthday this weekend. So what to do when you're on such a restrictive diet? You cut yourself some slack. Here are some things that worked and some that didn't.

- We brought an amazing amount of healthy treats. Oranges, apples, Kind bars, Kashi bars, water. We ensured that at all times, we had a choice. That we didn't eat from desperation.
- Didn't completely blow the diet. We went in thinking we would blow it about half the time. I think ultimately, we did a little worse, but we also didn't beat ourselves up about it. Thursday night was pizza, but only a bit. Topped with an apple and water.
- Tests and meds were still done diligently. Scores weren't awesome, but they weren't awful either.
- We took snacks with us. Backpacks and purses full of water to stay hydrated, not to mention save money, and keep bad decisions at bay. Hungry in an hour long panel? No worries, we have Kind bars!

At the end of the experience we found that we hadn't completely demolished all the good things we did for the past two weeks. If anything, all those good habits set us up for a happy experience. We didn't feel miserable because we couldn't eat, and we didn't feel miserable because we didn't go wild either. It's all about moderation.

And now that we've celebrated, it's time to go back to healthy habits!

Pancakes

My old roommate had left a box of Eating Well pancake mix from sprouts. I should have taken a picture of it while I had the chance, but honestly I don't know what type of mix it was other than whole wheat I believe. When I first attempted to make these pancakes, I used almond milk and a little canola oil. It actually worked out pretty well.

However, we had to replenish our pancake mix and the closest I could find to what we eat is this.

This works for carbs and plant based, but not necessarily for Whole Foods. I decided to give it a chance though since hubby really loves his pancakes. 

I mixed in the almond milk and the oil. Fired up the pan. And cooked the mix. 

It was horrid. It didn't cook all the way through and just the taste of it (even after adding cinnamon) was unplatable. Did I mention it was horrid?

So careful of what you get, some work, some don't. Just keep on trying. 

Staples

I have created a staple for our house! I'm very excited because it's cheap, easy, and delicious!! This is a good starter meal if you are new to the PBWF lifestyle and aren't much on cooking with a lot of ingredients. This can be done via cooktop or crockpot.

1 can garbanzo/chickpea beans (strained)
1 can cannellini beans   (strained)
1 can black beans (strained)
1 can diced tomatoes (substitute with fiery diced if you like spicy)
1 tbsp fresh garlic
salt/pepper to taste

Just dump it all in the pot and cook until hot. Serve on top of brown rice.

Enjoy!

Went a little overboard

Life is all about making mistakes, acknowledging them, learning from them, then moving on.

Someone's glucose reading was a little high yesterday. But I suppose it's to be expected. We partied a little hardy. Ate a few things we weren't supposed to. And drank some things we weren't supposed to.

However, this is not the time to kick ourselves, berate ourselves, or generally feel devastated by our lapse.

This is the time to refocus, rejuvenate, and learn.

In an effort to get back on track, I am going to plan out meals (lots of fruits and veggies) and make bulk foods (rice and bean chili.)

Veggie Fail!

So tonight, we had our Big Lebowski party. Just 8 of us, but with varying diets. So when I went shopping, I purchased what I had "assumed" to be faux cheese. Dairy free cheese. Vegan cheese.

The title of it was "GoVeggie" cheese. Assuming that veggie meant, I dunno, veggie, I just grabbed the pack of provolone cheese and headed home.

Proud of myself for selecting a vegan cheese for my husband (I also made portobello mushrooms, onion, and bell peppers for the "cheesesteak), I left it out on the counter for any to enjoy. I even produced it with a slight hint of suggestion, "Hey this cheese is vegan, but if you want to try it, go ahead!"

The sister looked at the ingredients: "FILTERED WATER, CASEIN* (MILK PROTEIN),"

If you can't tell, that was copied and pasted from their website. I mean come-on! This is the package!

 Okay granted it does say "Lactose Free" on the package. But I was in a rush and all I saw was the "Go Veggie". Which I once again ASSUMED was veggie!

This is not the first of my mistakes. My roommate also suggested trying some Almond Butter she purchased from the store. We had attempted some al natural peanut butter, but it was such a pain mixing the dry peanut paste with the oil. So I figured one morning I would attempt the "Almond Butter". This is the jar...

Do you see the issue here? I took a bite and exclaimed, "OMG! This tastes like buttercream frosting! This is amazing!" Then the brain finally clicked into place and figured something was wrong. This was not Almond Butter, this was HONEY with ALMOND FLAVORING. Not even almond, almond flavoring. Ugh.

You can clearly see that these bottles are labeled correctly. However when your in a rush, or just excited to find something new, make sure you ALWAYS turn over the packaging and read the ingredients.

Holiday Time

This weekend is full of a vegan/PBWF eaters nightmare. Actually let's start with last Wednesday.

My son had just "graduated" Preschool. So they decided to have a "picnic" in which we all bring our own lunches. Aside from the fact that it has to be prepared ahead of time, what does one bring? I racked my brain for something healthy that could be consumed an hour after preparation. Cucumber sandwich? Hubby told me no. It won't last. PB Sandwich? Ugh, no, I really didn't want the old standby especially since the "PB" I purchased was not that flavorful and required a commercial mixer to mix up the peanuts and the oil. Couldn't do chips anymore. So, what to do?

I bit the bullet and went to Whole Foods, which was right next door to school. I perused the prepared sections at an awkward time, between breakfast and lunch. Ultimately, I ended up getting falafel (if you haven't tried it, I suggest you do), a veggie wrap, and some brown rice and strawberries. The kid ended up consuming the brown rice, hubby was satisfied with the wrap, and I devoured the falafel.

One down, two to go.

This weekend we are hosting a "Big Lebwoski" viewing party. However, two of our eight, are big time meat fans. So I decided to go halfsies. I plan on making a portobello mushroom, onion, and bell pepper "faux" philly cheesesteak. For our meat eaters, I will throw in strips of chicken. I have purchased both regular swiss cheese and the faux provolone for choices. And because I shopped at Frys, I had to surrender and buy regular hoagie bread. For sides, I have corn based tortilla chips with faxseed, and also making sweet potato fries (baked, not fried.)

Monday, is of course, Memorial Day. This one isn't so difficult. I'm bringing the veggie burgers from Costco (they are made from chopped up various vegetables and have a nice cumin taste to them.) If there is leftover "provolone" left, we'll throw that on top. Then I'm making the avocado potato salad (you can find on my pinterest board.) Then probably munch on some fruits to top it off.

Hopefully all of this will go well, and for now, I have to sign off because I have massive amounts of slicing and chopping to do.