This past week of vegan eating has consisted mostly of grains, veggies, fruit and soymilk. I feel lighter and more energetic from not eating meat or dairy and have found I'm eating less food overall. I don't snack as much and feel full faster from eating high fiber meals. My cravings for sweets has decreased quite a bit and while I did buy some soy ice cream for an after dinner treat...I don't feel like I "have" to have it.

So far, I haven't relied much on recipes form cookbooks or blogs, but have taken ingredients that I like and tried to create meals around them...some being more successful than others.

Breakfast:

• Typically, I make oatmeal and add in some honey, peanut butter and soymilk
• Today, I experimented with a recipe I found on Vegan Yack Attack for Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal, which was VERY rich. I used steel-cut oats instead of old fashioned and canned pumpkin instead of fresh. Not sure if I would try this one again...
• The leftover pumpkin for the oatmeal came from a previous breakfast, pumpkin pancakes. Again, not my favorite recipe. Next time, I would add in cooked oatmeal to make the texture less rubbery (not how I want to describe my food, regardless of how healthy it may be).
• And the one morning I didn't want oatmeal...I blended together a peanut butter and banana smoothie using a scoop of pb, 2 frozen bananas and some soymilk...it was delish!

Lunch/Dinner:

This past week, I started working at SeaWorld and have put in long days (relative to what I'm used to) and as a result dinners turned into lunches and lunches into dinners.

•  My favorite purchase this week was a bag of uncooked tortillas which makes for fresher, doughier tasting wraps/burritos. I made fajitas with beans and rice, stuffed them with roasted sweet potatoes, onions and rice, and snacked on them plain. Each tortilla is has about the same caloric content as a piece of bread. 
• I also experimented with quinoa this week. My first attempt was to mix quinoa with romaine lettuce, avocado, frozen raspberries and a white basalmic dressing...not a huge fan. I think quinoa goes better with spinach and the salad was too mushy witht he avocado and raspberries. My second attempt was much, much better. I mixed in cucumber, tomato, red onion, parsley with the quinoa and added bit of lemon juice and olive oil for a delicious and filling salad. 
• Last night, I attempted to make my own hummus as I had purchased a cup full of dried chickpeas (garbanzo beans). After soaking the beans overnight and cooking them for a few minutes on the stove they then sat in the fridge for a few days while I tried to figure out what to do with them. Tons of recipes call for chickpeas, but I'm not sold on them yet. So I threw them in the blender with some water, lemon juice, garlic, tahini and salt. The hummus isn't as good as Trader Joes roasted red pepper or spicy hummus, but it passed the taste test and I'll be having more today with carrots for a snack. 
• Speaking of snacks, I've been packing a bag of veggies (this week carrots and sugar snap peas) as well as a bag of fruit (this week grapes) to take to work. I also splurged and picked up some carrot cake muffins from People's Co-op which have been a healthy afternoon treat!

Dessert:

• My friend Mollie gave me some bite-size coconut chocolate chip cookies and I bought some So-delicious soy chocolate and peanut butter ice cream...definitely not the same as treats with milk/cream/eggs, but still satisfy the sweet tooth!

Two more weeks to go on my vegan adventure! This week I hope to try some more exciting recipes and eat more dark leafy greens!