Vegan Days 12-13

Weights:
Day 12 - 137
Day 13 - 136.2

Workouts:
Day 12 - Level 3 of 30-day Shred (20 min)
Day 13 - No More Trouble Zones (a 55-min workout - finally!). Between yesterday and today I finally am starting to see some good definition again in my abs. I can't tell you how motivating that is!

Dinner on Day 11: Vegan Vegetable Dumpling Soup (adapted from Chicken and Vegetable Dumpling Soup from melskitchencafe.com):

Vegetables:
4 stalks celery, chopped
4 large carrots, sliced (12-14 baby carrots)
2 onions, chopped

Put the above in a large frying pan with 1-2 cups water and saute until the vegetables are tender. In the meantime, put 9 cups vegetable broth in a large stock pot and heat to boiling. While that's heating, chop about 8 medium red potatoes into 1" cubes. Add potatoes, vegetables and the following seasonings to the stockpot:
3 t salt
2 t dried thyme (ground is best)
1/2 t ground black pepper

In a small bowl, whisk together 1 cup cold water and 1/2 cup flour until smooth. Whisking the stockpot mixture vigorously, slowly pour the flour mixture in. Add 1 cup frozen peas to the stockpot and stir gently.

Dumplings: Mix dry ingredients first, then add and mix in the wet until combined. Don't overmix.
1 c white flour (we might trade 1/4 of this for flaxseed meal next time - Will's mom's idea)
1 c whole wheat flour
4 t baking powder
1 t salt
1/2 t dried thyme or sage
1 c almond milk + (add enough until the consistency is like a very thick pancake batter)
2 T oil (we used canola)

With the stockpot mixture boiling, drop the dumpling dough by teaspoons onto the surface of the stockpot mixture in a single layer - should cover the entire surface. Reduce the heat to simmering, cover, and cook for 15 minutes (don't lift the lid during this!).

This was ever so yum. I am not exaggerating when I say it was tastier than 70% of the non-vegan recipes I've made for dinner. Will's mom pointed out that the broth can be thickened with plain whole wheat flour (not mixed into liquid) - we did that to make some additional broth last night (Day 12), and with the salt, pepper and thyme, it made a DELICIOUS vegan gravy that we'll have to use in the future on mashed potatoes.

Another interesting note about this vegan thing is that I got SUPER full on one bowl of soup (a bit unusual as I've been known to be capable of packing a LOT of food in my tummy in one sitting) - then in a couple of hours, I was getting hungry again. I've been noticing that phenomenon in general, actually - my body wants to eat smaller amounts more frequently. This is something I've been told to do time and time again (but I've ignored the advice in the past, partly because I grew up with two 6-foot-4-and-up brothers and became a competitive eater from trying to keep up with them at mealtime). With the vegan lifestyle, though, it's just naturally occurring that my body WANTS to eat that way. I find that very intriguing!

Last note for today is a hearty thank you to my awesome visiting teachee, Alyssa Woolstenhume, for recommending foodgawker.com to me. LIFE-SAVER! This is my new favorite website. Allrecipes.com, my old comfy go-to for recipes, has a LOUSY vegan selection. Very disappointing. But at foodgawker, I can type in a single main ingredient in the searchbox like broccoli or mango or blackberries, limit the search to vegan recipes only, and see at LEAST a dozen mouth-watering pics of recipes that I can link right to to get the recipe from a blog. I have to sift through a few (no soy, and no "vegan buttery spread" - the latter must be for people who are vegan for moral reasons instead of health reasons, because I've seen the nutrition info on that buttery spread and it is appalling!!), but so many of the recipes are fairly simple, many are RAW (wow!), and there's just an endless resource to turn to for keeping interest and variety in what we're eating. Just knowing this is there makes me think that a vegan lifestyle could be sustainable for me long-term (overall. I still think we'll have some meat/eggs/dairy every now and then, but far less of it and far less often). The one thing I wish is that the blogs had more reviews of the recipes (most comments are, "wow, this looks delicious! I can't wait to try it!"), but in many ways not having the comments as a fallback makes me rely on my own skills and instincts in deciding what to change in a recipe to make it suit our tastes and needs. So maybe it will make me a better cook in the long run. I hope so!