Vegan cookies?? Yummy???

I have officially made...

Ready?

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies!  And oh boy are they good! 

As you may or may not know, I have personally abandoned the vegan lifestyle because I was gaining weight doing it.  Some may suspect that I actually had meat but that's entirely untrue! I was eating exactly what my husband was eating and no cheating!  He has lost almost 20 lbs and I'm very proud of him.  I have gone back to my regular way of eating but have modified portion sizes and have lost the couple of lbs that I've gained.

I've heard from other women who have tried the vegan thing and they have complained about weight gain as well which is kinda weird, dontcha think?  Also I found that I was eating a lot of carbs on the vegan thing which wasn't a good thing for my borderline diabetes.  That's one thing I really have to watch out for...and really all I have to do is lose weight!  So, I figure if I stick to 1200 calories and exercise, I'll be golden.  I've been using myfitnesspal.com and it's free and easy.  Hooray!

So, back to the Vegan Chocolate Chip cookies...

I used silken tofu for eggs, whole wheat flour and Earth Balance for butter...that's it! 

The thing about the whole wheat flour is that it makes the cookies smell a little "bready" but once you bite into them...mmmmm...so good....

Ciao!

Great Vegan Adventure: Wrap Up (for now)

Well...that was sort of a disaster for me but a huge success for my husband.  Which is great!  Pep is still doing it!  I admire his dedication to it and he's lost 14 lbs which is what he set out to do.  I, however, gained a couple of lbs.  Not good.  Maybe I wasn't doing it right, I dunno.  But it seemed very carb heavy to me which, with my diabetes, didn't agree with me. 

I also think that I didn't weigh out food and follow a decent plan.  It was sort of catch as catch can and make things up on the fly. 

Frankly, I hate to plan out meals.  Well, I don't hate it.  But I do find it to be kind of a pain in the boo-tay. So that's why we did it meal by meal.

Pep is lucky though...he doesn't have the hormones to contend with. And I think I've shot my metabolism because I wasn't exercising enough.

Now that I'm back to eating the way I had been,  I find it easier to make the effort. 

I absolutely support Pep.  He's decided to continue eating vegan until the beginning of summer.  (He misses hamburgers.)  But that may not be the case when the time comes.  He may decided to keep going.  He also supports me, which is good.  It doesn't make things easier as far as shopping but really it's OK. 

Oh!  I must tell you about my vegan Banana Pecan Chocolate Chunk Cake!  OMG!  It's really awesome!  And really easy too!

I took a basic recipe from the Fannie Farmer cookbook for Banana Cake and modified it.  Here's how:

Whole wheat flour for regular flour

1/4 of soft tofu for each egg (Can't even taste it!!)

Earth Balance buttery spread for the butter

The recipe asks for 1/2 cup of sour cream or sour milk.  I just used Almond Milk.  Yumm!

Then I added chopped pecans and chopped Ghiradelli chocolate squares to the mix. 

The texture was much lighter than I expected and it even had sort of a pleasantly crunchy top.  It's sort of halfway between a banana cake and a banana bread. 

I'm telling you...you can't even taste the difference!  How awesome is that!

Then the piece de resistance...a delicious "butter"cream frosting made with Earth Balance, Confectioner's sugar and vanilla. 

Sweet!!  But not too sweet.  It went really well with the nuts and chocolate.

So, ta daaaa!

Now you can do your own!

Oh, on a last note:  I donated platelets today for cancer patients.  I guess they're pretty low and need it desperately.  It's a good feeling!  Go do it!

Great Vegan Adventure: I've lost count...

Yesterday was...a disaster!  Well, a bodily disaster.  I have to admit that when I go out of town I'm prone to eating bad things and making bad food choices...which I did...yesterday. 

I'm in LA trying to get some work, go on auditions, visiting family and whenever I do that I always go off track and off my routine.  I'm still trying to stick to the vegan thing but yesterday wasn't so good.  I went to Pink's Hot Dogs because I discovered that they have vegan dogs.  Of course the wait was long and the line was around the corner but I figured it would move.  I waited at least a half an hour before I got up to the order window.

"I'd like two vegan hot dogs and..."

"Oh, I'm sorry, we don't have those today..."

Argh!  I came all that way just to try the vegan dog!  Well, I wasn't going to leave empty handed!  So, I got fries, onion rings and a regular hot dog...for my sister...yeah, that's it...  

I hadn't eaten anything all day and was at an audition for two hours so I ended up eating the onion rings on the way home, half the hot dog when I got there and most of the fries...with Ranch...

Truth be told, the hot dog wasn't very good, the bun was kind of mushy and I don't think that guacamole belongs on a regular hot dog.  The fries and rings were good though!  But there's nothing like a Chicago Hot Dog (or Polish!) with the mustard and the onions and the poppy seed bun...sorry, Pink's.  You just didn't cut it.

Here's the lesson:  I felt like crap for the rest of the day and bloated with salt when I woke up.  Pep admonished me like a good husband and I had to remind him that I needed support and not lectures to which he said a rather anemic "you can do it".  I know he means well.  I think he gets frustrated with me when I fall off the wagon because it's hard for him too.  But he says that he doesn't miss meat...but I wonder... 

So what is life for if not to experiment?  I'm determined to go back to the vegan way and went to Whole Paycheck to get supplies. (Whole Paycheck definitely lived up to its name today.)  I'm also trying to get my sister to do this with me.  She's skeptical.  But I had my vegan breakfast of sesame tofu with a tamari/agave glaze, a couple of felafel with some scallion parsley hummus, kalamata olives and marinated mushrooms.  What a tasty treat!  And I feel better too!

I told Pep, before we started this, that I was going to have corned beef and cabbage on St. Pat's day which is...today!  Happy St. Pat's all you Irish and wannabes! Come on...I have corned beef and cabbage one day a year.  Besides...I have special dispensation...from the Pope...

Cheers!

Great Vegan Adventure: I've lost count...

Wow!  I haven't been here in a while!  Sorry about that, readers!  And, I believe that there are actually people reading this blog!  How great is that?

I'm watching The Punisher...it's hard to believe that there are no people in Puerto Rico to help Thomas Jane...but, isn't that why we suspend our disbelief?  Besides...I actually think that Thomas Jane is rather attractive. And Wow...there sure are a lot of commercials on FX.  But I guess they have to pay the bills. But I digress...

So, honestly I've decided that I don't think I'll be vegan after the 40 days.  I like eggs and cheese too much.  Besides, I've always struggled to get the right amount of vegetables in my diet...probably because I've never liked them all that much.  I've developed a taste for them over the years but not enough to keep my entire diet plant based.

Hey, I'm just being honest here. 

The interesting part of it, though, is just when I think I'm going to fall off the veggie wagon, I find something interesting to eat.  The challenge is going to be when I go to LA tomorrow and spend a couple of weeks with my sister.  She's a very healthy eater and devotee of cauliflower, almonds, turkey and sour cream.  If she could just eat that every day, she probably would.  But she has her moments, trust me.

She's threatening me with boot camp every morning at 5am.  She looooves boot camp.  I'm not such a lover of boot camp...well, a lover of boot camp at 5 O' FRICKIN' CLOCK IN THE MORNING!

But I'm psyching myself up for it.  That which doesn't kill us makes us stronger after all...and maybe I'll rediscover my muscles!

This is all good for me though...and I need to focus on what's good for me as opposed to what feels or tastes good in the moment. 


Well, that's all for now!

Cheers!

Pep is banned!  Banned I say!  Banned from reading this blog!

He's throwing my words back in my face and making too much sense!

It's true...I was talking about breakfast because I'm trying to meet a couple of Baylor ladies in the morning.  Sooo, I was salivating about Toast on Damen Ave in Chicago.  The reviews make the pumpkin pancakes sound prit-tee tasty.  So, of course Pep pipes up and says that I can't have them unless they're made with whole wheat...what?? That's ridiculous I whine...

Yes!  You can have oatmeal, or fruit! He exclaims.  Here you are on your blog saying that you're overweight and you have to commit to...

Hey!  You can't throw my blog back in my face!  You're banned...banned from reading my blog.  Banned I tell you!

But...he has a point, dammit!  I did say that I was going to do this but hey, pumpkin has a LOT OF FIBER!  And I didn't say that I was going to eat the eggs, did I??  DID I??

Argh. 

I don't know...I think that the whole wheat thing is his thing. No, that's not true.  I prefer whole wheat and whole grains and I'm with him, mostly, but I'm not a stickler when it comes to eating out.  I'm not a fan of eating just fruit for breakfast and oatmeal...I can get oatmeal anywhere.  Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and I would usually eat an egg white omelet with potatoes but now I have to be more creative and I'm not going to eat a bowl of fruit!  Honestly the only way I like fruit is in one of Pep's fruit shakes.  He puts in various fruits, some veggies, various powders and they're great!   But I don't really like to eat fruit.  Weird. 

So...there you go...banned.

I guess...

Cheers!

Great Vegan Adventure: I've lost count...

I am not hungry...what??  I think I've had so much fiber it's filled me out!

This evening, Pep told me not to be so hard on myself...which was nice actually.  He said I was too hard on myself in my last post.  I guess I can see what he means...I just get frustrated sometimes.  I've been very motivated to get the word out about my show to different conferences, expos, etc but one of the hardest things to do is to lose weight.  I wonder why that is?  What do we tell ourselves that makes it so difficult?

We eat to live so of course it's tough to give it up if you know what I mean...

OK, enough ruminating...

Here's a thought!  Never eat shiny things! I have a thing for cupcakes and there's this cupcake store out at Old Orchard Mall.  (I had yet another eye doc appointment.  Yet another membrane to be removed.  I gotta tell ya, this thing has been bad.  My vision is blurry and my eye was throbbing yesterday so I'm back on the steroid drops and can see through tall buildings with a single glance.)

Anyway, cupcakes...so, I wanted to see the cupcakes.  I'm a spectator now that I'm being vegan.  I walked in and instantly knew that everything in there was made with Crisco.  Ugh.  You can tell right away because everything has an unnatural shine to it.  Buttercream has more of a matte finish.  And there were these kids eagerly downing cookies that I'm sure were laden with Crisco.  (All I could think of was that the Crisco was going to solidify in their bloodstreams!)  The woman behind the counter had unnaturally painted on eyebrows and a little too much blush.  She was pleasant enough though.  And from what I could tell, the cupcakes were waaayy overpriced!

What has happened to good food?

Hey!  We just got a delivery of my dog, some Mexican brown rice from the Mother in Law and curry lentil soup that my sister in law made!  I guess that's what happened to good food...it gets delivered by the in-laws!  I had some rice with the lentils from the soup...really really good!  Yummm! (Sigh...more fiber...)

But why do the cake people feel like they have to cut corners with lard?  I remember the first time I had cake with real buttercream frosting.  It was in Abilene TX of all places.  I just remember it tasted so...real!  There is such a big difference between real and fake food and I don't think that we should cut corners anymore. Make food with real ingredients...don't cut corners anymore...savor it.  That could solve a lot of problems!

Cheers!

Great Vegan Adventure: Days 17 and 18

Tonight it's a combination of Alien and the Oscars...an interesting way to avoid the commercials...and sort of ironic...

Anyway!  The adventure continues.

Pep was very adventurous yesterday and made vegan pizza!  An oxymoron, I know, but it wasn't too bad actually.  But lets face it...vegan cheese ain't cheese.   So, again, what's the point? It was OK though!  Vegan "sausage", onion, kalamata olives...good!  I was so impressed! 

Oh!  And lunch was even better!  Bandera on Michigan Ave really did a great job of accommodating  us. A veggie burger, topped with avocado, tomato and onion with a side of Spanish rice.  Pep was really surprised at how much he loved it!  Oh, we left off the bun though since it wasn't whole grain but actually I think I prefer it that way.  Not so much bread. 

I decided to take full advantage of the exempt Sundays rule for Lent and have some eggs and cheese.  I have to admit that breakfast is my favorite meal of the day so I was really missing eggs...and wanted cheese.  So, we go to the Casino (which is very close to the house) for the buffet which I am normally really against because I ALWAYS OVEREAT AT THE BUFFET!  ARGH!

Today wasn't much of an exception.  *cough*

So, I have my egg white omelet with veggies and cheese and...meh...not great.  It was disappointing actually.  I did have a little bit of chicken (good but salty) but mostly ate vegetables...and tater tots. 

I know I know!  TATER TOTS!

They were so tasty though.  Believe me, I don't go out in search of tater tots but when they're there...well, you get the idea. 

But I HATE *coughlovecough* buffets!  I inevitably overeat and there's this buffet mentality of "oh my GOD I HAVE TO EAT $20 WORTH OF FOOD (or more) RIGHT NOOOWWWW!!" 

Even if it was free...you see, my mother in law had a bunch of coupons for the buffet.  She likes the casino from time to time...to time...and buffets...

Pep didn't think I did too badly but I felt so bloated when I left.  I actually wore jeans that are a little snug to remind myself not to eat too much, which maybe I didn't but I picked all of the wrong foods.  It's easy to assign blame...I blame myself for eating all the wrong foods, for making the bad choices, my mother in law for having coupons...but there it is.  I'm tired of making bad choices and being  overweight and tired of the neverending cycle of blame myself, then eat, then blame myself.

Is Pep right? He's very self disciplined.  When he puts his mind to something he really goes for it.  It's an admirable quality.  But is it just a matter of self discipline?  Or do I acknowledge that I always overeat at buffets and just don't go?  I think that the latter is more realistic.

And...I had cupcakes.  Well, those were good...worth it for me...sort of...

But that's all we had today, well, except for some pita chips and hummus tonight for a snack.  I have to be careful with the "what the hells".

"Oh what the hell...it's Sunday so I'll have another serving of hummus and pita chips...and potato chips."  (Geez! This damn potato chip thing!)

"Oh what the hell...I'll go up for some more food.  It's all I'm having today."

"Oh what the hell...I'm fat already so..."

No more "what the hells"!!

Cheers!