My Vegan Ways

I am now six weeks in to being "two steps away from being completely vegan" as Angel Baby puts it. The two steps keeping me from being fully vegan is I still eat mayo and honey. When I think about it, though, I so seldom eat either one that it's kind of silly for me to even have them. Maybe I'll do what I did with the milk and eggs -- toss them in the trash. I felt just a tad bit bad about dumping out a half gallon of milk and throwing away two dozen eggs, but it had to be done. The three packages of unopened cheese, though, I kept. I gave those to Funny Delightful Son when he was here for the weekend. He bowed slightly when I handed him a bag full of cheese, bacon and sausage I'd had in the freezer, along with a package of frozen salmon, and said, "Thank you for your vegan ways." 

My vegan ways have me cooking a lot. I was cooking quite a bit anyways, but now I'm preparing things I've never tried before. Yesterday it was falafel with a tahini dressing. I had to restrain myself from eating all of it in one sitting. Why have I never had falafel before? Seriously good eats!

Most mornings I have oatmeal. I change up what I put in it, sometimes bananas with pecans and other times cranberries and brown sugar. This morning I went wild and put dates, cranberries, and green apple along with some cinnamon. That was tasty. 

Another daily habit I've fallen into is putting vegetables in the steamer and prepping them for lunch. I just pile them in: squash, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, Brussels sprouts, mushrooms, and cabbage. Once they're ready, I just leave them on the stove and whenever I want some, I get a bowl. I end up eating veggies all day long.

I'm also trying my hand at pickling red cabbage. I have a small jar in the fridge that's been sitting there for four days, so I think it should be ready to go. I'll give it a try with lunch today, the leftover falafel. And the whole wheat pita bread that is in the oven.

Since I am cooking so much, I decided to get an Instant Pot. Funny Delightful Son broke it in for me over the weekend. He made black bean soup, cooked up three sweet potatoes, then did some veggies. I found that alfalfa sprouts on top of a sweet potato is delicious. There's just something about the flavor combinations that hits me just right.

Another meal we enjoyed over the weekend was Thug Kitchen's Roasted Beer and Lime Cauliflower Tacos. When Funny Delightful Son went back and ate up the little bit of cauliflower that was left after we'd each had three tacos, I knew he approved. Very yummy indeed.

I really thought I would never go vegan. Vegetarian, yes. But vegan seemed like a huge stretch. It's really not. My shopping is quick and easy: veggies, fruits, beans, nuts, legumes, and non dairy milk. I'm in and out. Since I'm working from home, I can enjoy cooking throughout the day. Leftovers get eaten instead of thrown away. 

While it's way too early to say there are definite positives from going vegan, the one thing that seems to be affected in a wonderful way is my sleep. Instead of waking up every two hours or waking up at 2 am and staying awake for two or three hours, I've been sleeping for five or six hours straight. And it's not just been one or two nights this has happened. It's been nearly three weeks the sleep has been so much better. That alone is reason enough for me to continue with my vegan ways.