how it's going: 15-day vegan challenge

So far, the challenge is going semi-well. I have been tracking my meals by taking pictures of them and writing my thoughts on a notepad.

I have had a rough start. My first weekend trying to be vegan, I was just out of a hectic week at work and all I wanted was to order pizza and hibernate under the covers. After my first vegan breakfast (coffee and baguette with jam instead of butter), I wasn’t really sure what to eat and I hadn’t gone grocery shopping, so I made rice with some sesame seeds and Japanese seasoning. Very simple, and I made so much I was able to make onigiri with pickled plum paste the next day. After two days of rice, I figured I could explore more vegan stuff, so I invited a vegan friend over and we cooked together. She showed me how to turn cashews and nutritional yeast into a creamy sauce. We made chickpea pasta with our fake-cheese sauce and some heirloom tomatoes! Delicious, easy, and I had leftovers! 

The next day I was inspired and went grocery shopping. I decided that I was going to try to turn meals I usually make into vegan food, so I made a one pot chili and substituted the ground beef with textured vegetable protein. It was delicious. At this point though, the lack of dairy in my diet made my stomach a little upset; stomach acidity became a problem with veganism pretty fast. I also feel like I was overdoing it with the spice to compensate the lack of fattiness or creaminess in my dishes. I am thankful for aloe gel, that can be mixed with water and soothes acid reflux, and is vegan!

It became easier once I didn’t try too hard to modify omni recipes with vegan substitutes. To me, cooking is a form of art and I feel creative when I just combine ingredients together. I base my recipes on staples I know will taste good (ramen noodles, rice, pasta…) and throw a bunch of greens and seasoning and voila! 
I was tempted by dairy multiple times. Also honey - apparently honey isn’t vegan. So there goes my honey almond granola for the morning. However, simple and creative substitutions helped me make the process a little easier: instead of cream cheese on my bagel, I now eat orange marmalade. Very different, but still as good!

In group settings, outside of the house, it is a little harder to be fully vegan when you are invited some place. You either have to ask if there will be vegan food, bring your own, or just skip the meat and eat the sides - depends on how rude you’re okay to appear. In my case, I ate carnitas tacos sans carnitas - it was still good but I could have eaten a little more. So I caved in and got a piece of the red velvet cake that was for dessert. Oops! 

This was my first time cheating on the vegan diet this week. But I do miss butter…
So far, I think I could reasonably eat vegan most of the time if I can indulge in some pastries or cheese from time to time. Giving up on meat would be really easy - really the only thing that prevents me from getting rid of meat completely is my ravenous husband. The cost oF going vegan isn’t prohibitive because not buying meat and other animal byproducts really makes room in my budget. On top of that, going vegan has had some other positive side effects: I need to buy more fresh veggies, so I am walking to the nearby grocery store more often, and because I’m walking, I can’t bring back Costco-sized grocery loads - so I save on food waste because I actually have time to finish all my fresh food. I take that as a win for a sustainable lifestyle, good metal health, and regular exercise. 
To make veganism easy, I think people need to feel inspired to cook creatively. Honestly, I think baking vegan is beyond my reach, but cooking vegan has become very natural, fun, and creative. 
Let’s hope I won’t cheat at all next week!