Week One: What's on the Menu?

I've learned that the best way for me to stick to a diet is to make it as simple as possible.  Our family loves to eat out, and loves convenience food.  In order for me to succeed, I need to make my new food simple and convenient.  This is where batch cooking comes in.

Breakfast Oatmeal

Saturday, I looked through numerous cookbooks and vegan websites to pick a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner.  My only requirements were that they were vegan, followed the Eat to Live requirements (as closely as possible), and provided a week's worth of food.  I found a delicious recipe for oatmeal, red lentil and carrot soup, and vegan chili.  I made my grocery list to include all the things I didn't have in the house already (which was 99% of the ingredients).  Sunday morning, we headed to the grocery store and purchased my list, as well as non-vegan items for the family.

Red Lentil & Carrot Soup

My grocery cart looked very, very different at the end of this shopping trip - and it made me very, very happy. Normally, I leave the grocery store with a feeling of sadness.  I feel guilty for buying processed food, both for myself and my son.  I feel like I'm neglecting his health, and setting a horrible example for him.  He has agreed to go vegetarian with me, but is reluctant to give up his dairy products.  He loves milk and cheese. I'm really hoping that this journey sets an example for him, and becomes something that he wants to do as much as I do.

Vegan Chili

Last night, I spent the evening cooking up a storm.  I prepared, cooked and portioned out the soup for this week's lunches; and then, I prepared some of the ingredients for the chili so they were ready for the slow cooker this morning. I was up bright and early to throw everything in the slow cooker and turn it on, and then prepared my breakfast.  Luckily, the extra work that goes into breakfast is countered by the fact that lunch just needs to be thrown in my bag for the day, and that it yields two servings (so I only need to make it every other day).

I have to say, everything turned out pretty well.  The breakfast was quite good, although not as sweet as I would have thought.  I'm sure it will get sweeter as I my taste buds adjust to no sugar.  The soup for lunch was absolutely delicious! I even received a raving review from my vegan coworker! I was shocked at how great it tasted given the amount of onion in it.  For me, the chili was just OK. I think, next time, I won't include so many tomatoes, and I'll add in a significant amount of mushrooms instead.

All in all, I think this week will be pretty successful!

~ Alisa ~