An Unexpected Outcome

My last post explained how I was making my first ever vegan bread.  It was a seven grain, 2 lb. loaf and it took about four and a half hours to bake.  Originally I was trying to wait up so that I could take it out right when it finished, but the bread machine directions said that once it is done, it can stay in the bread machine for however long necessary.  So of course, I fell asleep on the couch and when I woke up in the middle of the night, I went straight up to bed and didn't think once about the bread.  When I went downstairs this morning, this is what it looked like:

I'm not really sure what the final product was supposed to look like, but this loaf was half the size of the usual breads my family bakes, yet it weighed the full two pounds. The thing was like a square brick.  Anyway, after sawing through it and taking a bite, I was a little happier because the taste wasn't too bad, it was just extremely dense.  I still had some for lunch and dinner, and Andrew even tried it and I think liked it somewhat. It's not the best plain, but it's pretty good with peanut butter or other toppings. If and when I decide to make another bread, I think I'll try a new recipe, just to see how they compare.

The struggles of baking,
Maggie

Facing National Pancake Day

Today was a very special day considering that it was national pancake day.  Since sophomore year I have enjoyed taking the fifteen minute car ride with my friends to IHOP where we happily sit and devour our short stack of free buttermilk pancakes.  They are so delicious and filling, which made waking up this morning that much more of a disappointment, knowing I couldn't participate in the tradition this year. Though I couldn't eat the pancakes on this very special holiday, I still went with my best friend, Eleanor, to the IHOP at lunch. I guess it worked out because one of our other friends couldn't go, so I just took my free pancakes back for her. All in all, this national pancake day was successful.  Even though we got lost going back to school and ended up being late to fifth, it was definitely worth it. Seeing those pancakes didn't make me wish for them as much as made me want to make my own vegan versions. I was strongly considering making some for my dinner tonight, but instead, I had a grilled portabella mushroom.  I figured since my family was grilling for dinner, it would be out of place if I was eating pancakes. Maybe I'll do those another night, but the mushroom was delicious. Portabellas are extremely "meaty".  My brother, Grant, tried it, and he was really surprised how closely it resembled his pork chop that he was eating at that moment.
Officially, we have now made it one week as being vegan.  I have a slight confession though. I was in the grocery store with Eleanor before we went into IHOP because I was hungry and didn't have a lunch, and we were trying to decide what granola we thought looked the best.  I was looking at the ingredients of basically every single one of them when I realized that honey was a consistent ingredient used in most all of them.  Then, I looked at the granola that is my favorite and is currently what I've been eating since becoming vegan, and unfortunately I overlooked the honey ingredient in it. There is much debate about whether or not honey should be vegan, but technically it is still an animal product since bees make it.  I feel bad, but oh well there's not much I can do about it now. I think I'm going to start making my own homemade granola, or test out new brands with no honey. I'm hoping the new one will taste just as good as the old. Speaking of making homemade vegan foods, tonight was the first night I baked something.  I made a loaf of seven grain bread, and it's still baking now, but I'm excited to see how it turns out. The recipe called for a tablespoon of honey, but I just substitued brown sugar for it. It takes forever to bake, so we'll see how it tastes tomorrow! I love learning something new everyday, and though I couldn't eat my free pancakes or learned that I'll have to give up my favorite granola, I'm still so happy that I'm doing this.

One week down and excited for the rest,
Maggie

Temptations Everywhere

I work at Cafe Carolina and Bakery in Meadowmont, and today I worked from 8-6. I was completely surrounded by cupcakes, brownies, gooey butter cakes (my favorite, even though they are so bad for you), muffins, cookies, etc. So yes, it was ten straight hours of torture.  Thankfully, I stayed busy and didn't really have a chance to think about all the delicious non-vegan foods around me, but it was still harder than the previous days.  It was definitely strange for me to resist taking random bites out of various baked goods, but I liked the challenge. Plus, I got more work done which is good because if you ask anyone that I work with they will tell you I work at a slug's pace.  My one guilty pleasure at the Cafe is a soy latte. Even before this vegan diet I always made a latte with soy milk, so I'm glad I can continue to have this drink.  I'm excited to see how work continues to treat me, and I'm hoping that the temptations go away or at least ease up.

My sister, Hayley, picked me up from work because she borrowed my car for the weekend, and on the way home she told me about her afternoon with my mom which I thought I would share. So, my mom is extremely supportive of me being vegan, and Hayley was telling me how she was excited to make a dinner that the whole family would like, and have it also vegan for me. She decided to make a big pot of hominy which is a puffed corn.  Hominy tastes starchy so it's a very filling dish. Anyway, Hayley was explaining how they were going to make one batch with vegetable stock, celery, and carrots, which I would eat, and then for the rest of the family, they would just add sausage.  Basically everything was cooked and my mom was extremely satisfied when she took a taste and stated that it "tasted too buttery".  Apparently, she turned around panicked, looked at Hayley, and said something not very characteristic of my mom. Hayley, confused, didn't know how to react until my mom explained how vegans can' eat butter and this huge pot of "vegan" hominy had so much butter in it. When Hayley and I got home, I saw the big buttery pot, and then on the other burner I saw a small skillet of hominy that Hayley said my mom cooked separately for me.  This story not only made me laugh, but it made realize how easy it is to cook a meal and accidentally forget about using non-animal products. 
I wanted to thank you, Mom, for a wonderful hominy dinner, and all the hard work that you put into it. I know you easily could have lied and pretended that there was actually no butter in it, and honestly I probably wouldn't have ever known, but it means a lot that you didn't.

Successful weekend,
Maggie

Soy Good

Yesterday night was my first time dining out while being vegan. With Maggie, I went to a Vietnamese restaurant named Lime and Basil. This was an interesting experience as I had to navigate the menu according to my vegan diet. I had to automatically rule out a lot of items on the menu but I was still left with lots of options to choose from. After much deliberation, I ordered the Soy Chicken Stir Fry and Maggie ordered the Vegetable Curry. I had never had any fake meats before and I thought that this would be a good time to try it. When my food came to the table, I was hesitant to eat the soy chicken because of how closely it resembled real chicken. After Maggie's brother Grant tasted it and reassured me of its "fakeness", I was able to start eating. This is a picture of my dish (half-eaten):

The taste of the soy chicken was nearly identical to the taste of real chicken which was relieving because of the stories I had heard in the past regarding vegetarian meat products. The texture of the chicken was the only way to differentiate it from real chicken. But this texture difference, in my opinion, made the soy chicken taste better than real chicken. Grant, an avid meat eater, agreed with this statement and I encourage everyone to try this soy chicken and judge for themself. The rice and vegetables that accompanied it were also very good. 

Here is a picture of Maggie's Vegetable Curry:

Her dish contained tofu which I was able to try. This was my first time eating tofu and I liked it. The spongy texture was different than I expected but I enjoyed it. I think that the surrounding ingredients of the tofu were what gave it its flavor and I can not say for sure that I would enjoy eating tofu plain or without any marination. 

This morning, my Dad prepared vegan french toast.

The batter was prepared using bananas, soy milk, and vegan margarine. I really enjoyed this and I would like to prepare this and similar things to this in the future. My siblings also tried it and liked it as well.

So far, being vegan for me has been relatively easy and very fun. Besides the occasional food commercial, I have been able to avoid any cravings of non vegan food. I hope that these cravings will die out as I get further along into these forty days. I've enjoyed the new foods that I have been able to try and look forward to all the accompanying experiences of this journey. 

Thanks for reading,

Andrew Jessup

Feeling Good

It is finally the weekend and I'm excited to experiment with many new vegan recipes. Hopefully if any turn out really well I'll post the recipes! Being vegan for three and a half days has already changed how I feel.  Earlier this year I was vegan for one and half weeks and it made me so tired and sluggish. I don't exactly know why this time I feel so much more energized, but I was able to run 8.3 miles this morning and felt so good doing it.  I'm pretty sure I have more energy because I'm eating a variety of foods.  Before when I tried to be vegan, every single day, I ate oatmeal for breakfast, nuts, fruits, and carrots for lunch, and a salad for dinner. Realistically that just doesn't cut it.  Most everything I ate had no substance at all, so therefore, I had no energy.  This week I think I've eaten something different for almost every single meal.  I've eaten a variety of foods and also have incorporated a lot of protein into my diet as well, for example, last night I ate a delicious tofu curry dish.  I definitely already feel healthier and I'm going to try and continue eating a wide variety of foods, both for energy purposes and just so I don't get bored.

Hopefully this feeling continues,
Maggie

Baby Steps

The second day is now complete and I'm happy to say that this vegan diet is still going really well. Even though only two days have passed, it has definitely been a challenge. We had a delayed opening today and for many of these days in the past I have enjoyed a big, delicious breakfast with some friends. Even though being vegan doesn't prevent these same sort of breakfasts from happening, it just makes it difficult to come up with something that myself and everyone else can all enjoy.  That being said, Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen was definitely out of the question, and since I decided to sleep in, I happily just ate some oatmeal.  Though today's delayed opening was spent much more layed back, maybe for the next one I can indulge a little and attempt to make vegan pancakes or waffles.  I might have to test out recipes before serving any to my friends, considering just yesterday someone from school informed me that the Trader Joe's vegan waffle mix "tasted like butt."  Hopefully I can find a recipe where the waffles taste a little bit better than that.
The rest of the day went well. I went out to dinner with my sister and friend, Eleanor, and we went to Mediterranean Deli on Franklin Street. Looking over the menu it seemed like there were many vegan options, but I took the safer route and got the fattoush salad. When we got our food I started to doubt a lot of what I thought was vegan. I had no idea how these people made the tahini dressing which was white and looked like milk, and I didn't know what the ingredients were in pita bread.  It is a good thing that both Hayley and Eleanor have iPhones because I was able to look up how to make both of the questionable foods, and luckily both were vegan.  Tahini dressing is made from a sesame paste which coincidentally looks just like milk, and pita is simply made with yeast, flour, salt, and sugar. All of it was delicious and it was very filling. It's going to take me awhile to get familiar with all the foods that are safe to eat, and recognize those that can potentially have animal products in them, but I guess that's part of the challenge.
I'm hoping this is of some interest, and like what Andrew said before, feel free to comment or offer suggestions.

Excited for tomorrow!
Maggie

Reflections of Day 1

As Day 2 begins, I reflect on the first day of my vegan diet. All went well and I did not find myself craving animal products or feeling tired. I was able to avoid hunger and even ran for a while as part of my half marathon training. As mentioned previously, prom and the half marathon are on the same day which is just very unfortunate. There will be other half marathons and I will continue my training and writing about any effects on it because of my diet.

Last night for dinner, I enjoyed a thai sweet potato soup. This soup had a distinct sweet potato taste which, in retrospect, I should have expected and it was pretty filling. I think I will try to routinely incorporate soup into my diet as it is easy to prepare and good for various meals. In the past, I have found soup not to be so filling, but this was different. I thought that the full feeling I felt after eating the soup would be something that I would not easily achieve during this diet, but I have found it easier to come by than imagined. This diet will force me to try new things, something which I may have been hesitant to do in the past. I look forward to sharing my food experiences in the future.

Health is wealth,

Andrew Jessup

Please feel free to comment with ideas for posts, complaints, or anything you wish to share.

Day 1 and Starting Off Strong

So, today is Day 1 of our vegan challenge and it went really well (for me at least, Andrew might have had a different experience).  I was on a field trip with my English Lit class which lasted the entire school day, so I was thankfully distracted from thinking about my vegan diet as I tried to understand the three hours of the Shakespearean play, Henry V. It is now night and I'm surprisingly full and satisfied from the day. I don't want to speak for all people, but many individuals who I've talked to about being vegan always state how I'm going to starve and never be able to eat.  Thankfully, that is not the case. As long as you aren't super picky, finding vegan foods isn't as hard as everyone may think.  Hopefully this mentality lasts throughout these forty days and I don't actually starve, but after today I am able to say that I will definitely be able to find satisfying foods to eat.

 Today, I encountered a slight problem which doesn't regard veganism. Andrew and I had a realization. April 14 is the date of our half marathon which we've been training for, but our senior prom is that day. Even though I've been to many dances throughout my high school experience, it's senior prom. This dance may be lame or it may be super fun, but if we don't go, we'll never know. That being said,  running can wait. Though Andrew and I won't be participating in this race, I am going to continue to run so I'll continue posting how this vegan diet is affecting my runs. Can't wait for Day 2!!

Staying Strong,
Maggie

To Top It Off?

Not like this vegan challenge isn't enough, Andrew and I are training for a half marathon that will take place on April 14 in Chesapeake, Virginia.  My sister, Hayley, who is a sophomore at UNC Chapel Hill, along with some of her friends, convinced me to do this half marathon with them, and then I was able to convince Andrew.  I honestly can't say how being vegan will affect our training, but I'm guessing it isn't going to be a piece of cake (haha).  I can't directly say how energy levels are affected by not consuming meat since I haven't eaten any in awhile, but both Hayley and Andrew have noticed significant energy losses after not consuming meat even for a few days. So, being vegan might be a tad more noticeable.
I can't speak for Andrew, but I am prepared for the suffering that may (will most likely) occur during these runs. Along with documenting our struggles and achievements as being vegan for these forty days, Andrew and I are also going to note how avoiding all animal products will affect our ability to train for this half marathon and exercise in general.

Wish us Luck,
Maggie

The Last Day Before the First

Today, Fat Tuesday, has been both exciting and scary, knowing that starting tomorrow I will be giving up many of my favorite foods. I am embarking on this Lent adventure of veganism with one of my best friends, Andrew Jessup. Though I have been a vegetarian for five years, I have a strong weakness to most all other animal products (especially cheese and yogurt) so I am expecting this to be a great challenge. That being said, I can't wait to see how these forty days affect me.
I can't wait to begin tomorrow but who wants to hear about how I celebrated my last meal of freedom?  Just a few minutes ago I finished off a bowl of Starbucks caramel macchiato and Edy's thin mint ice cream. Yes, I'm going to miss it, but I'm willing to take the risk of leaving these foods behind.
In less than three hours I am going to begin one of the most mentally challenging experiences of my life.

-Maggie

Inspiration

I can not credit a single source for the inspiration for this undertaking but instead there have been various sources from which I gathered the encouragement and confidence for this enterprise. Through all the Netflix food documentaries I have watched and various internet sites and blogs I have visited, none have been as influential as my reading of the book "Skinny Bitch" by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. This brash and sometimes vulgar book goes into detail about the inner workings of the meat and dairy industries and the governments part in it all. This book preaches veganism as a way to achieve physical health as mentioned in the title of the book, but it also teaches the way the body reacts to food and the potential benefits of a vegan diet. After reading this book a little over a week ago, I was instantly sure that I wanted to try being vegan for Lent.

I would be lying if I wrote about inspiration for this cause without mentioning Maggie Booterbaugh. Maggie has been a vegetarian for as long as I have known her and (hopefully) she will join me on this blog as she also is avoiding the consumption of animal products for the next forty days.

Health and Wealth,
Andrew Jessup

Fat Tuesday

Today is the end of my life as I have known it. I say this because for my entire life I have consumed animal products with little thought about what I was consuming or where it came from. Tomorrow, Ash Wednesday, February 22, in an attempt to better my health and awareness, I will embark on a journey of health and wellness in which I will (attempt to?) eliminate all animal products from my diet for 40 days. I expect this to be an adventure in which I discover the effects of the consumption of animal products on myself and on the world around me  I hope you find this blog interesting and amusing. Thanks for reading and stay posted.

Yours in health,
Andrew Jessup