Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Cheaters Never Win

My Vegan experiment is up in two weeks. Well, actually a week and a half.
Even with all the complaining I've done it has actually been a very positive experience. Being forced waaaay out of one's comfort zone is a good thing every once in a while. I've learned all kinds of delicious recipes and so much about veggies in general. Jex has been very supportive, even if he was a jerk and told me about how great the beef jerky was he was eating on our drive to Sandland while he sat there next to me filling the car with meat smell. *laughs* We're going to have Vegan Vednesdays. You know, German pronunciation... *coughs* well we thought it was clever.

Since the race and promptly after the start of my cycle I hit another "all things meat and cheese" wall. I've researched the hell out of what to eat to make sure I'm getting iron and all the protein I'd usually get from meat. Nothing I've eaten has been enough. I swear that salad burns up on entry to my stomach. I'm back to that first two week starvation period.
Jex being the loving husband that he is (probably tired of my puppy faces while I watched him eat hamburg steak) declared that I could just do a juice cleanse and shave a week off before I go Vegetarian (milk + eggs). Of course in my weakened state I was all over this idea. That's not cheating, nooooo.

Today, day 1 of the juice experiment, I learned that cheaters never win. The juicer that my mother in law gave me was fine when I tested it last week. Halfway through my breakfast juice it kind of exploded. I spent the last hour taking it apart. Everything looks fine. It's a balance issue that I can't get to without actually cutting into the case around the little motor. Annoying.
No big deal I'll just use the Ninja and juice like I have before. The ninja apparently needs ice or water or some other liquid to do it's damn job. Oh and my mesh strainer is 4 inches in diameter. Gah!!! It took me almost an hour to juice my breakfast juice.
Snack juice #1 is straining as I type.
On top of all this I just got over a head cold and my left hand is some what useless because of a deep tissue injury on my middle finger.
I'm sure there are a zillion proverbs about adversity one could whip out at a time like this.

So, let's see them.
What is your favorite saying about adversity, trouble, trials? No really I want to see them. Don't be shy interweb friends.

In any case I'm still going to juice. Because I started, there's really no stopping now. I just need to figure out a system for it. Hmmmm.

Oh yeah... race pictures. I don't have any good ones. So I stole a couple from my sister in law.

The obligatory PreRace Group Photo



Jex being all manly. That's a pipe filled with water, and I think maybe sand as well. It was really hard to keep the balance right.


The crawl under barbed wire. FW and the Sister in Law there at the bottom of the hill.
I swear there was broken glass in that mud.


And the obligatory PostRace Photo.



Till next time my lovelies!
~The Light Heart Lives Long~

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Recipes and Race Day

Hi!!!

Doing the Vegan dance is hard. We get invited over for some homemade Tuna Casserole, I have to bring a sack lunch, or we get invited out to some bar and grill where NOTHING is remotely even Vegetarian, let alone Vegan to hang out with Jex's unit mates; not being allowed to bring my own lunch I end up ordering one of those tasteless iceberg lettuce salads with a slice of lemon instead of their questionable dressings.

But that's not all. Recipes are kind of a pain too. A lot of the Vegan cookbooks I found were crap. I'm sorry but if I can't eat butter I'm not going to buy a "Vegan Buttery Stick" or any of the other pretend meats, cheeses, and egg substitutes. For one thing their probably incredibly processed, for another I'll just eat the real damn thing for cheaper. Skinny Bitch was an especially big let down. I live in a town just barely big enough to have a ligit mall. Even if I was going to eat all the Vegan pretend foods there is really nowhere to buy them.

So I've made stuff up as I went along, it's still hard some days but I'm getting the hang of it. Below is my recent favorite made up recipe. Hopefully you guys like it too.

Nonbasa
This is a spin off a meal that my dad would make for us from time to time that he called simply Kielbasa, because that was the main ingredient of the dish. 

1 Med Zucchini, cut into inch thick slices, then quartered
1/2 an Apple (Fuji, McIntosh, or Granny Smith)
1 small onion, quartered then sliced into 1/2 inch slices
1 cup Mushrooms (optional)
2 cups Cabbage (optional) 
2 Table spoons Coconut oil
Salt, pepper, and cayenne (red pepper) to taste
A cap full and a half Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar

In a med skillet with a decent lip, or wok, melt the Coconut oil on med-med hi heat and toss the onions and apples to coat. Stirfry about 10 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the vinegar, stirfry for another 3 minutes or so before turning the heat down to low and covering. Cook until cabbage and zucchini are tender, about 15-20 minutes. Uncover and add the vinegar, toss and taste, adjust seasoning to taste. Serves 1 very hungry new Vegan. 

Here are a few of my favorite places to get ideas when I have no idea what to make for dinner, or if I feel like branching out.

Olives for Dinner - I think this one is my favorite because the food photography is gorgeous.
Love and Lemons - I like the recognizable meals, like bean burgers and various kinds of root veggie fries that this blog has to offer.

Also, guys tomorrow is race day!!!! I'm going to die!!! I'm also hoping to get some pictures. Yay!

Till next time.
The light heart lives long <3 p="">