Week 5

Hi Everyone!

Well its here!! I have been a vegetarian for 1 whole month!! Justin on the other hand not so much but he has been doing better with eating better and has stop drinking soda so that is always a plus.

This week was Christmas and I survived my first holiday with no meat. It was actually a lot easier than I would have thought but then again we did go to Justin's family for Christmas and they don't know that I am not vegetarian besides his mom. So no one really noticed me not taking the ham. I just had mashed potatoes, corn, green bean casserole and lots of desserts. Probably really unhealthy but I lived. If I would have had Christmas with my side of the family it would have been worst because my family would have gave me a lot of crap most of my family are big animal hunters and all eat a lot of meat. My mom on the other hand doesn't really say much she keeps thinking I am a vegan and is like you can't have eggs and stuff anymore. But she is excited for me.

This week I weighed in (at home no longer on weight watchers) and only lost .2 but I thought that was excellent since I ate really really bad at Christmas. I also went shopping with my mom and even got a size smaller in jeans. I have gone down 2 sizes pretty exciting.

I have finally finished all my application stuff for my clinical training after I graduate I was hoping to mall it tomorrow but read the fine print and it says I also need an official transcript so I spent 17 bucks to get it rushed to me I hope it comes soon because Bismarck's is due on the first and Jamestown started accepting theirs since December 1st.

Tonight I made a delicious dish I want to share with everyone it was so good. Justin's grandfather even liked it. Justin sadly didn't get to have any because he is sick and he didn't feel like eating. Good thing for leftovers.


The recipe came from another blogger Vegetarian Nation 
http://vegetarianation.blogspot.com/2011/04/spinach-black-bean-enchiladas.html

Ingredients ( unfortunately they don't have any amounts of stuff so I just winged it)

pound of mushrooms, sliced
garlic
cumin
chili powder
salt & pepper
tons of fresh spinach
a few cups of cooked rice
black beans (1 or 2 cans, drained)
one bunch of cilantro, chopped
bunch of green onions, finely diced
cheese (we used a non-dairy cheese substitute)
whole wheat tortillas
green enchilada sauce
sour cream
optional toppings: olives, avocado, tomatoes, extra cilantro

1) In a large pan, sauté the garlic and mushrooms in a little olive oil.  Add cumin, chili powder, and salt and pepper to taste.  Drop in as much fresh spinach as will fit in your pan since it cooks way down.  Cook until just wilted.  Transfer this mixture to a large bowl and add a few cups of cooked rice, chopped cilantro (reserve a little for garnish on top), green onions, black beans, and a cup of shredded cheese.  Add more spices (same ones you added in the sautéing stage) as needed.

2)Spray a pan with some Pam and put a small amount of the enchilada sauce on the bottom (just enough to barely cover the bottom of the pan.  Pile mixture into the middle of the tortillas and then roll up and put in the pan.

3)Add a few big scoops of sour cream to the remaining enchilada sauce and then pour over the top of all the rolled up tortillas.  Sprinkle the top with some more cheese and olives if you like them!  Cover with foil and put it in a 350 degree oven for about 40-45 minutes.

To make it pretty and even tastier, garnish it up with chopped avocadoes, tomatoes, and cilantro!

Here is a picture of mine

I also made baked chile cheese sandwiches they were really good too.

That one came from Simply Vegetarian cookbook

Ingretidants
3 1/2 cups grated cheese , such as cheddar
1/2 cup butter, softened plus extra for baking
4 fresh green chiles seeded and chopped
1/2 tsp ground cumin
8 thick slices bread

1) preheat the oven to 275 mix together the cheese and butter in a bowl until creamy then add the chiles and cumin
2) spread the mixture over 4 slices of bread and top with remaining slices
3) spread the outside of the sandwiches with extra butter and bake for 8-10 mins until crisp

I paired mine with tomato soup :D

Well that is all I have for this week. 

Week 4

Hi Everyone!!

Sorry I am behind this week. Busy with finals and the holidays. I will just get you caught up until Sunday. This week I stayed the same weight didn't gain or lose which is OK. Justin and I are continuing on trying new brands and really getting used to our new lifestyle. I have been having some cravings for like Pepperoni pizza and burgers but my friend Marissa told me about the brand Yves that I want to look for this weekend when we go grocery shopping and I have been really liking the veggie burgers we have been eating. We also this week had our "first" greasy food on Saturday I know its bad but I did great no meat still just greasy cheese sticks they were so good.

In other news my family, outside of Justin and I, are getting to understand what I am doing they keep asking me lots of questions like can I have this or this. Everyone thinks I have gone vegan because they keep stating I can't have eggs or milk but I definitely til them straight. A lot of people give me crap about no eating meat but they just don't understand how easy it really has been. I thought I was going to go through all of these withdrawals but I don't.

Last week was the final week of my Fall semester. I am so ready for a break unfortunately it is only 3 weeks. I finished the semester with an A, B, B, B not to bad for going to work and school full time.

Well that's all I have this week I will have my next post done by Sunday to let you know how my first holiday with no meat went lol.

Week 3

Hi Everyone!

Thought I would post a fun picture -- need to brighten my day some how..

I can't believe I have made it 3 weeks with no meat!!! It has been great trying new recipe and new brands of food products. We have been trying burgers brands - like MorningStar, Gardenburgers and Boca Burgers. I have to say out of all of them I like MorningStar the best. Tonight we just tried the Gardenburger veggie melody and it was really gross. But its kind of nice to do a trial and error.

This week was amazing in other news on Saturday I weighed in at Weight Watchers for the last time I lost 3.2 lbs!!! I was so excited to from March til now lost 23.8 lbs its so nice. The reason I say the last time with Weight Watchers is because I wasnt using the program anymore I was no longer tracking or counting points and havent been doing it for months. So it was expensive to pay 47 bucks a month to just go weigh in. So it will be nice to have that extra money too.

Saturday I also go my hair done :D Was pretty exciting. Also went shopping with my mom to try and get more Christmas shopping done it was horrible the mall was busy.

Sunday I tried out a new recipe it was so SO good thanks to my bestie.

this pic is kind of blurry

This was SO SO good....

Skillet Chick'n Pot Pie (if you are vegan here is her recipe but since I am not I changed some things in red)

Ingredients:

1/3 c. + 2 TBSP Earth Balance [divided]  ---   ( I used regular unsalted butter)
1/3 c. All-Purpose Flour
3/4 c. Vegetable Broth
3/4 c. Mushroom Broth
1 1/2 c. Unsweetened Soy    --- ( I just used regular almond milk no flavor)
1 1/2 tsp Creole Seasoning 
1 Lg. Yellow Onion [diced]
8 oz. Mushrooms [sliced]
4 c. Diced Chick'n [I used 1 bag of Morningstar & 1 bag of Gardein] --( I used just  1 bag of Gardein and seem to be enough but I have been unable to find these lately)
2 c. Frozen Cubed Hash Browns
1 c. Matchstick Carrots
1 c. Frozen Sweet Peas
1/3 c. Chopped Fresh Parsley

1 Package Refrigerated Pie Crusts
1 Vegg Egg [1/8 c. water + 1/2 tsp Vegg] ---  (I used real egg)

Preperation:


1. Prepare Filling: Preheat oven to 350°. Melt 1/3 cup Earth Balance in a large saucepan over medium heat; add flour and whisk until bubbly. Gradually add broth and milk and whisk every minute or so until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat, and stir in Creole seasoning.

2. Melt 2 Tbsp. Earth Balance in pan over medium-high heat [I used the same pan that I cooked the chick'n in to make less dishes]; add onion and mushrooms, and sauté 10 minutes or until tender.

3. Add onion, mushrooms, chick'n, hash browns, carrots, peas and parsley to the sauce.

4. Prepare Crust: Place 1 piecrust in a lightly greased 10-inch cast-iron skillet. Spoon chicken mixture over piecrust, and top with remaining piecrust.

5. Blend Vegg and brush onto the top of the pie crust. Follow with cutting 4-5 slices into the top of the crust to vent.    

6. Pop in the pre-heated oven for 1 hour to 1 hour & 5 minutes until golden brown. 

  

Week 2

Hi Everyone!
Sorry this is a day late I was writing a 14 page paper that took me ALL day yesterday. But anyways I have completed my very first week of no meat and no fast food! I am so proud of myself. For my meals for the week they were pretty simple Sunday I had made the mushroom stroganoff it was very good although the mushrooms smelled up my house for the rest of the night. Monday I made another pasta dish with spinach and grape tomatoes and sun dried tomato sauce it was very good. Tuesday was an easy day just made salads. Wednesday I made a pizza with kale, tomatoes, red onions and Gouda. It was delicious I found out I really like Gouda. Thursday I made veggie burgers they were delicious. Friday Justin and I went to dinner at Johnny Carino's I had baked tortellini with Alfredo and Justin had gotten his usually Chicken Bacon bow ties. Which like I stated before he is going to have meat occasionally but I am staying strong about no meat. Saturday I tried to make a veggie soup but I was using a very old crock pot because I don't have a big enough pot to cook it on my stove. But anyways the reason I said tried is because I was not cooking fast enough by 7 pm Justin and I were starving so we decided to order pizza I had gotten a spinach and feta pizza was really good and Justin got a Steak and Cheese one. Sunday we were able to FINALLY have the soup but it was HORRIBLE lol. It was a recipe I got from the Forks over Knives cookbook and it was not good at all. The recipe called for 6 cups of water and just had vegetables in it. So it really had no taste so I will NEVER make that one again. Tonight I used Morningstar ground "beef" to make tacos it was so good. I was very excited when I saw it. Probably will buy that again in the future.

In other news I have been kind of struggling to try and keep Justin interested in doing this. He was upset this weekend when we went grocery shopping and spent another 150 bucks so in the past 2 weeks we spent 300 dollars. Which is ridiculous for 2 people. So we are going to think of a different approach so we don't have to spend so much. I know every week we will still have to buy bread (because our house is so dry it drys out in one week) and fruits and vegetables. Otherwise I think we need to start thinking of other ways to be able to feed us for the week. So if anyone has any suggestions how to keep it cheaper please let me know.

This week is my last full week of school. I have my final for my math class tomorrow which is good. Tuesdays are a bad day I work from 8 to 430 and have class from 520 to 8 so it kind of sucks.  This week at weight watchers I lost another pound :D . So now I am at 211.6 lbs. I only have 11 lbs to go to be finally under 200 I can't wait.

Well that's it for the week. Better go study for my final.

Week 1

Hi Everyone!

So after a week of many questions to my bestie Marissa an doing some research. Even read a couple of books also join the 30 day Vegan Challenge by Collen Patrick-Goudreau. So after looking at everything.. I am still moving on with my plant based new lifestyle. At this time I am only subtacting meat from my diet maybe in the future it maybe be different. Justin has also decided that he will have mostly a plant based diet and cutting out all the junk food and not drinking as much pop but he said that he won't totally cut out meat he will just have it occaionlly. I support his decision and told him that I will still cook him so meat when he wants it.

On other news we went grocery shopping for the first time buying all healthy and organic food it was very interesting I had looked at all the different vegetables out there that I never knew existed. But I was also getting very stress and overwhelmed at how exteremly expensive healthy food is!! But we have picked out a couple new receipes for the week. I will keep you updated next week on how we did.

Today December 1st is the fist day with no meat. I think I am doing pretty well so far of course its only been 1 day. But for the first day I made Mushroom Stroganoff the receipe was in the Forks over Knives cookbook. I thought it was good and Justin thought it was kinda blah. I probably will be trying other kinds of Stroganoff until I can find one we both like.

Over the past week we had a lot of "last" stuff. I had my last meat Holiday which I didn't even eat a lot of turkey so it wasn't that bad. I had my last pepperoni pizza Justin and I eat pizza every Wedsenday it was a tradition that we started many years ago. Probably why I haven't lost as much weight. But I LOVE pizza. Good thing I had bought a new cookbook from Weight Watchers this week called Veg Power that had a great looking pizza in there I can't wait to try this Wedsenday.

This was my "last" meat pizza.. I even got wings but they smelled really funny so I didn't eat them.


I have been in Weight Watchers since March 2013 and have only lost 20 lbs. I know that is a big accomplishment but for the last few months I have been stuck :( I have gain and lost a lot but I have been unable to move past the 20 lb mark. This week I weighed in ( I usually weigh in on Saturdays) I managed to lose 1.8 lbs. brings my total to 19.6 so I am hoping with my new lifestyle I will lose more. I am also probably going to be cancelling my membership with them also due to the cost of it I am broke so the money for that could pay for all the spendy food :)

This pic is very recent it was taken in Oct. So as of today I weight 212.6. I really want to lose this weight I am not happy with the way I look. If I keep going with my ways I will be like my father and other members of my family who are diabetics and I don't want that to happen. I am happy to be making this change now in my life. I will keep you all posted with all the new changes. I thank you all for the support and I am so thankful to have my best friend Marissa to help me with everything.

The Decision

Hi Everyone!!

My name is Marlana, I am 25 years old. This is the first time ever I have blogged so whoever reads this don't judge I write like I talk so my grammar sucks!! I am engaged to my best friend Justin, 28 years old, we have been together for almost 7 years. And last night he made a decision that will affect the rest of our lives. We have decided to change our entire diets to be vegans! It is going to be a very BIG change and I would like to blog our journey changing over. The main reason we are doing this is to be healthier. Justin's background story is that everyone on his mom's side is diabetic. His mom, grandpa, both aunts and uncle. He wants to fight the odds and make sure that he doesn't become diabetic also. Most of them who are diabetic are also overweight. His grandfather two years ago was diagnosis with lung cancer and has gone through chemo and is in remission (thank goodness). My side on my dad's both my dad and grandma are diabetics and on my moms side has heart disease. So after watching on Netflix Forks over Knives it really opened up our eyes. To be able to know what we are eating and how we are eating is killing us years before we should and how changing to a simple plant based diet could reverse the damage we have done so far and help prevent us from future damage. I was so SHOCKED that Justin wanted to do this because he drinks soda like its water everyday all day and we have a very unhealthy diet especially with us eating pizza every Wednesday. This will be a new journey and it will be tough I think but as long as Justin and I do it together with the support of my best friend Marissa I think it will be better for us in the long run. For this week we are doing our research figuring out what we will be changing into. Plus this week is Thanksgiving so it would be extremely tough to change. We are going to finish as much as we can of the "bad" food in our house and whatever we don't use we will donate it to family or a shelter. I will keep everyone updated hopefully weekly depending on school. Thank you for reading!