Vegan Days 7-11 (Catch Up)

Workouts:
Day 7 - Six Week Sixpack Level 1
Day 8 - 30-day Shred Level 1
Day 9 - 30-day Shred Level 2
Day 10- Sunday
Day 11- Six Week Sixpack Level 2. I know these are all the shorter workouts - I really need to discipline myself to get to bed earlier, because I want to do the hour-long ones but I also don't want to get sick from sleeping less than 7 hours a night all the time. I got sick in mid-June and it TOTALLY threw off a 10-week streak of consistent workouts and decent eating, and it sure seems like a lot of tummy flab came back in a very short amount of time as a result. So although working out six days a week is a very high priority for me right now, so is getting as close to 8 hours of sleep a night as I can. There's this nasty time-vortex when I come home from work each night, though, and I always find myself getting to bed after 11PM. Rats!

Weights:
Day 7 - I forget, but I guess it doesn't really matter anymore, does it?
Day 8 - 136.8
Day 9 - 136.6
Day 10- 136.4
Day 11- 137.4 (yes, I weighed it twice to make sure - and yes, you bet I'm annoyed. I know the .2/day decrease is little, but it was consistent and I was hoping things would keep going in that direction. It's not like I pigged out yesterday!)

Food:
- Continued leftovers
- Dr. Praeger's California Veggie Burgers from Costco. (MorningStar veggie burgers and black bean burgers are not vegan, in case you didn't know, and Boca Burgers are made of soy.) Will grilled these patties and we piled on the condiments - pickles for Will, tomatoes for Gretel, and romaine, non-high-fructose-corn-syrup ketchup, mustard, and Daiya shredded cheese on top for both of us (one patty each on a bun). With all the fixins, these were really good. If you didn't have fixins, they'd be nasty. I also made some Sweet Potato Fries (no dip, of course) which were good but not as good as the last time I made them - I think it was the potato quality.
- Last night Will's mom made a YUMMY dinner that I think I will crave at least weekly, and which is entirely guilt free (we've had similar stuff before, I just need to remember how much I love it and make it more often). About a dozen red potatoes, sliced really thin, six carrots also sliced thin, two chopped onions (we could even do more next time), salt and pepper. Dump all in a LARGE frying pan (potatoes on bottom, then carrots and then onions on top) with 1-2 cups water. Cover tightly and cook on medium/high I think until you hear it start to dry out, then uncover and move things around frequently so they don't burn on the bottom (much, anyway - I like them a little burnt!). When the water has mostly cooked off, serve 'em up with some ketchup. The potatoes just melt in your mouth and the flavor is fantastic.
- For lunch today, I had a lettuce/tomato/hummus sandwich, and I absolutely LOVED it. Might not ever need to pay for lunchmeat again...SO good!

DESSERTS:
I have found that I absolutely must have some kind of dessert to look forward to at night. If I don't, I think I honestly will go crazy. Here are two FABULOUS vegan recipes that I challenge non-vegans to try and tell me they're not delicious. I also want to note that I replaced the oil with applesauce in both recipes and they were STILL amazing. Will and I make sure to keep our portions small, but just something little to reward ourselves helps us carry on with this stuff.
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Pudding Cake (very close to the Hot Fudge Pudding Cake from America's Test Kitchen. I say it rivals the richer cousin, but Will would want to try them side-by-side. I think that was a hint.) I used almond milk instead of soy.
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies (I doubled this, used half whole wheat flour and it ended up needing more flour at the end. Possibly because I used agave instead of evaporated cane juice?).
-Currently cooking up (still) some Apple Butter (used agave and brown sugar instead of white sugar, and at Will's mom's suggestion included some lemon juice and apple cider vinegar). We had a huge bag of apples from Costco that we weren't eating and were taking up room in the fridge, so that's why I decided to make this. It's throwing me off, though, because the kitchen/house smells like Autumn! Whoops! :-)

Lastly to report, I got our first Bountiful Baskets order on Saturday morning. Excited to get started on it! Bananas, honeydew, tomatoes, nectarines (I think), kale, romaine, broccoli, cauliflower, blackberries, and mangoes. YUM!