I remember I started a vegan challenge about two months ago, that ended about 1 month and 27 days ago. So I succeeded to eat vegan for three days. A round of applause please! I had even started to write the food diary on the second day of the challenge and here's what I wrote:
"Who's vegan since yesterday?
- Meeeee!
Who's keeping their promises?
- Meeee!
Well almost, I promised to keep you updated on what I'm eating during this week daily, but I skipped yesterday. Ooops....and yes I did it agaaain - I forgot to take pictures of my lunches today aaaand yesterday. Because when it's that time of the day (lunch!!!) I become a big fat pig *grunt grunt* and as you probably know - pigs do not take pictures. They just sit in front of a computer and eat. They do! Seriously, I've seen them with my own eye of the tiger.
To answer the obvious question, popping into your mind just this second - yes, this is hot millet with peanuts and banana, sweetened with some agave and flavored with cinnamon. You seem to be very observant. Probably not exactly the food that would make you drool all over the place now, and would chase you in your dreams later, BUT (and it's a big butttt) it could make you very pretty because it has so many minerals that are essential for good skin and hair like zinc, iron..... And don't we all just want to be very pretty??
Come on! Just admit it, it's a safe place here. Stand in front of the mirror, start banging your chest like King Kong and say I feel pretty, oh so pretty. Then put on a big fat Cinderella dress, a crown, take your vegan lunch and go to work.
That's the way all of my days go. Living the dream ha?
Yes so where were I with the diary - millet, banging the chest, Cinderella, work....ooooohhh yessss! Lunchtime!!!! Which as I told you was not documented in pictures, but looked something like this..."
...aaand now I can not even find the photograph of lunch. Anyway two very delicious recipes came out of this challenge.
Number 1 - The Burnt Vegan Burger-Balls.
What did I put in those??? It went down so fast, but I believe: lentils, onions, herbs, almonds, oats, sunflower seeds, *breathe in - breathe out*, peppers, garlic and cauliflower..... I had these burger-balls as lunch with a salad, but also just as a snack, for breakfast (ok not for breakfast).
Number 2 - The most beautiful peanut (not butter) bars *this of course is sarcasm - I can also see them*
I put peanuts, agave, vanilla, salt and some crunchy stuff inside. For the chocolate I melted dairy-free chocolate - stupid right. I wanted to prepare my own vegan chocolate with cocoa, agave and coconut butter, but I could not find coconut butter. And I didn't have time - so this is the result. And even though these are not that pretty in appearance, they are pretty addictive. I made them probably 5-6 times since then.
Next week I will make the burger-balls and the peanut-bar again, take better pictures and give you the detailed recipes. I hope the part with the pictures and the burning goes well this time.
As a summary I say eating vegan is not for me, as much as I appreciate the food - it is very tasty and healthier than non-vegan/non vegetarian (mostly because of the higher fruit and vegetables consumption). The limitations that I had, made me actually experiment with food more and this way I discovered new ways to use ingredients. My food horizon widened extremely.
For example - using oats in a burger? Are you kidding me? Laughing in your face. But in vegan burgers? Oh yes! Those were crunchy (not because they were burnt), spicy, savory, I just loved them.
The main reason why I can not be vegan, beside the fact, that a vegan diet lacks essential nutrients, is because you have to plan and prepare pretty much everything you eat. This for me is exhausting and might turn easily into an obsession, which as we all know is not that healthy.
So next week expect another challenge, which does not go into extremes!
